Gymnastic morning

I had Thursday off from work as well, but due to some appointments in the afternoon, and camp being out at the barn during the days now that school is out, I wanted to get to the barn fairly early to get my ride done before the kids got there.  I woke up slightly later than I wanted to and ended up opting to grab some coffee and a bagel from a shop on the way to the barn instead of waiting for it to brew at home (total laziness, I know).  I really wanted to jump, but wasn't sure if I was going to have enough time to set something up in the ring before camp started.

Got to the barn only about 30 minutes after I wanted to, and gave Otter a quick but thorough brushing - because of course he had rolled in the mud the night before.  Luckily there was another woman at the barn who was also trying to get a ride in before camp, and she had planned to jump today also.  She had a gymnastic line set up in the ring already, so asked her if I could work over the line also.  She didn't have a problem with this, so I quickly finished tacking up and headed to the ring.  By this time the camp kids (mostly consisting of the kids who normally take lessons at the barn) were starting to show up and they ended up jump-crewing for us.  Definitely one plus to them being at the barn during the day!  They are great kids, and while they make the barn more crowded during the day, they are fun to listen to and are always willing to lend a hand.

Quickly warmed up so I would be ready to go when the other rider was, and we started through the line, alternating who was going.   I was actually really glad she had a gymnastic line set up because it has been a really long time since we had done one - thinking 8 - 12 months? - and I was eager to see how Otter would do with them.  Historically he's always gotten a little backed off during gymnastic work or would flail over his own feet.

We started off with three trot poles, then quickly moved to the three trot poles followed by a vertical.  When the other rider was ready we added one stride to another vertical and then ended up with three trot poles to a vertical, one stride to a vertical, one stride to another vertical.  We kept the jumps fairly low because the other rider is just starting her mare along, and I didn't want to push too much after our lesson on Sunday.

Sorry for the blurry picture, dunno what my phone was doing.

Otter was great throughout the whole thing - he was soft and relaxed and really using himself over the jumps, and stayed balanced even after the line.  I did have to remember to keep my leg on over the trot poles or he would lose some impulsion and struggle over the first vertical, but after a few repetitions, I was much better about it.  It was great to have him be so soft and relaxed over the jumps, but still being snappy about his knees and legs.

After our ride I hosed him off, cleaned my tack, and then put rubbed some liniment into his legs.  While grazing Otter on Sunday, I was talking with a few of the other girls and we got to talking about windpuffs.  Otter has had some moderate windpuffs on his hindlegs pretty much since I got him.  He raced fairly heavily for 5 years, so I really wasn't surprised.  They aren't the gnarliest ones that I have seen, and they do go away if he is wrapped.  The vain part of me wishes that they didn't exist on his legs, but considering that they are just a visual blemish, I usually push them out of my mind.  Anyways, the girl said that on her old horse she had good luck with getting windpuffs to disappear with rubbing Surpass into them.  When she retired the horse, she still had pretty good results with rubbing liniment into them daily.  So I'm going to try the liniment route for a month or two and see where we get with that.