Pressure

Some people say, the only pressure that exists is the pressure you put on yourself.  I happen to agree with this statement, although I do think outside influences can indirectly affect you, if you let them.  Unfortunately, I'm a person who puts an extraordinary amount of pressure on myself and feels pressure indirectly from those outside sources.  I'm feeling it now, with regard to Alex... 

I don't really know why I'm feeling such pressure at this very moment, but I am.  Mostly, it's the pressure I put on myself, although if I'm being honest, some of it stems from my perception of what other people think. The logical side of my brain tells me I'm being stupid, the only things that should matter are my own personal goals, my partnership with Alex and that when it comes to horses nothing is easy.  

"I can't tell you what it really is, I can only tell you what it feels like..." -- Eminem

The emotional side of my brain has tinges of insecurity.

At times it feels like those outside sources are pushing... why is it that if I talk about challenging situations, I must be frustrated?  I'm not frustrated, I'm patient, understanding and above all, realistic.  I've ridden my entire life, but I'm not a professional (I did come from one, but that doesn't count).  

All I can do is keep trying to move forward, no matter what obstacles we meet, Alex and I have to get through/over them together.  Although situations like what we faced last night are frustrating (especially when my planning brain had a completely different agenda), they are learning experiences and we just have to deal with them and move on.  I count last night as a success, because it could have been SO much worse.

Maybe I need earplugs.

Bird/Raccoon Fight Club

Tonight I was looking forward to another great ride, full of encouragement from our work last night.  Sadly, the farm creatures had other plans.  Right about the time I led Alex into the indoor and was getting ready to get on, a pair of birds started fighting over various prime real estate in the up near the ceiling.  I seriously haven't seen birds in the indoor since October, where these two came from and why they picked this particular time to fight, I have no idea.  This started Alex off on edge.

About one minute after I climbed into the saddle some of the raccoons that live in the ceilings/lofts of our barns got into a screeching hissing fight and then it sounded like several others were tromping around to see what the fuss was about.  

Alex immediately went into giraffe mode and refused, with more gusto than usual, to go into the scary end of the arena.  

It was a difficult ride and although he stretched, did some flat-work and attempted to do as I asked it was just never a settled ride. I had to content myself with the fact that I had won the battle, no matter what started it and we had managed to get a little bit done.  

It was quite the crazy night, poor Alex, some days he can't win for trying.  Tomorrow he's getting the day off, hopefully there will be less "activity" going on during our ride on Saturday :-)

Birthday Pony!!

Today Alex officially turns seven. I'm feeling a little conflicted about this, because it seems time is flying and we've got so far to go in our accomplishments. 

At any rate, despite the cold nasty weather, Alex and I had a fabulous ride tonight! It was one of those nights, where I wasn't particularly hyped about putting on the layers and trudging out to the farm (so hard to ride in so many clothes!) but I'm glad I pushed myself,  because it was a good night. 

After our ride, I felt less conflict and more hope for the year.  There's no press
ure,  but the pressure I put on myself.

Also Alex got to try out his new "butt warmer" aka quarter sheet. I think it looks pretty snazzy :-)

Stay warm everyone, winter isn't letting go yet.

Snow & Ice

The weather here has been less than stellar the last 48 hours. Snow Sunday night and now we're in the midst of an ice storm... it would be so easy to forget that it was 60 degrees on Saturday! As so many people say, "Kentucky, if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes, it will change!"  

I did get a ride in Monday night and Alex was fairly good.  He's still got a thing about the "scary" end of the arena and although he'd walked completely around the arena both directions, when we started trotting in that direction to the left, he flat out tried to STOP.  I literally had to "boot" him around through the corner several times, before he would get back to work.  After that little interlude, the ride moved along nicely, progressing to the point of nice bouncy happy trot work!  After all that we've been through (which at times I feel is never ending), it's so nice to feel that Alex feels good.  Our canter work was just ok, although it's still improving, we have a long way to go.

No riding tonight since we're in the middle of icegedon 2014, but I did get out to the farm, before the weather went to shit, to tuck in my big guy and give him a kiss :-)   

Storm Ready!

Super Bowl Anybody?

Being that I'm a Green Bay Packers fan (like crazy insane... I'm not kidding, seriously), I didn't have much opinion about who on this Super Bowl, but I thought both of these pics were pretty funny :-)  

For those who didn't notice, I took a little hiatus from blogging.  Honestly, with all the cold weather we've had around here, it's been all I could do just to keep riding.  Alex and I have been pretty hard core, still working on the flat (in the indoor in a quarter sheet of course) in temps down to about 8 degrees.  Mostly, I'm just trying to keep us in a routine, without putting too much emphasis on meeting goals.  

In other news, I did put Alex on Succeed and he seems to be doing well on it.  We're not quite 30 days in, so once we've done the suggested 90 days, I'll let you know what I think of the product.  We're also in the process of switching feeds from McCauley's ALAM to Hallway Fibrenergy.  Again, once Alex is firmly on the Hallway feed, I'll let you know about that too.  I'm overhauling our feeding program, so there will be more changes to come.

Hope all you in cold, colder and coldest climates are managing to survive this cold weather, I don't know about you, but I'm counting the days to spring!

Wanted: Opinions & Reviews

Due to his attitude and picky eating, Alex has been getting another gastric ulcer treatment with Omeprazole for the last month.  Although his eating and attitude have improved, he's still not quite happy.  The feed tub is never licked clean, he always manages to leave just a little feed behind, and I know this isn't just because of the supplements, be cause when he's really eating well, he licks the pan.  He's also still just a little bit grouchy, not like aggressive grouchy, which is how he gets when he's really ulcery, but just not totally content.  Alex is a mouthy horse, in no way do I really ever expect that to change, but this is different. 

I've been wondering if he might have hindgut issues, which is something that Omeprazole doesn't treat.  His current diet includes a low starch pelleted feed and rice bran pellets.  Our supplement regimen is foot, joint and probiotic along with U-7 Gastric Aid for ulcer prevention/maintenance. 

Since Alex still seems a little off, I've been looking at other options.  Basically, I've narrowed it down to three things... Succeed, EquiShure (hindgut buffer) and RiteTrac (this is both a foregut and hindgut buffer) both made by KER.

Although I am warming up to Succeed, with every great review I read, I still feel hesitation.  The KER products are also tempting, but expensive and since they are a LOT of powder, I don't even know if I can get Alex to eat them!  At least the Succeed comes in tubes I can give him orally at first.
 
I've talked to my vet about this and he said that if I don't feel like it's all gastric since I've treated with Omeprazole, he had heard good things about Succeed.  Other than that, he's kinda non-committal, because otherwise, Alex is in great shape and being fed like a king.

So, in an effort to gather even more information/opinions (my brain is on overload, I've been researching this to death) I thought I'd reach out to my fellow bloggers for any opinions/advice/cautions you might have.

So let me have it, don't be shy :-)

Goodbye 2013: Year of the Snake

 

“Success is not final…. Failure is not fatal… it’s the courage to continue that counts.”

-- Winston Churchill

 

Feeling a little bit like I'm jumping on the bandwagon, but since 2013 is now gone, look back at the year seems appropriate. 

 

After an especially after a rough day with Alex on Sunday, I started thinking hard on this post.  To say 2013 has been up and down would be putting it mildly.

 

In January, we were just coming out of 3 months of abscess in Alex's left front.  After a long hard winter of soaking, wrapping and waiting, I was so hopeful for the coming year.  We made a lot of progress on the flat and even over small jumps up until mid-April when the wheels came to a grinding halt. 

 

Back soreness and crud.  Hock injections, back injections and muscle relaxers.  At one point after the hock injections, Alex was so sore that he tried his best impression of the Tasmanian Devil to get me off his back.  After that adventure, I was out of the saddle for a long time, waiting and hoping.

 

In July we had a County saddle fitting, I learned that saddle fit was the cause of Alex's back problems and we started saddle hunting.

 

August brought a new (used) County Stabilizer XTR and utter joy, quickly followed by the crushing blow of discovering the tree was badly broken.  While my saddle went back to England for repair, County saved my ass by loaning me a saddle, so Alex and I could keep on, keeping on.

 

Early September was our first field-trip. Alex surprised me by not losing his shit the first time off the farm, giving me confidence that maybe someday we'd get to a show.  October was truly the month of trick or treat, bringing my saddle back from the County factory and then another crushing blow when the saddle fitter determined Alex had outgrown the medium tree! After a few weeks search I finally made the huge decision to order a brand new County Stabilizer XTR fitted to myself and Alex.  A first in my life, as I have never ever had a brand new saddle in 30 years of riding.

 

November and December were Alex's wild months of adjustment to the change of seasons for the first time (last winter we were treating his abscesses and he was only being lunged). There were bucks, leaps, hops and even an altercation with the indoor arena wall, but we managed to suffer through.  

 

This year has been full of lessons in tenacity and patience for both myself and Alex.  I fully admit there has been a lot of sweat, some tears and even a little blood shed, but it has been worth it.  I continually see unlimited potential in my horse and I know we'll get there.

 

2014 is the Year of the Horse, coincidence?  I think not :-)

 

Our last photos of 2013:

 

 

 

 







Stubborn faces on us both.  We're a match!

Bye 2013!