Sweating again

Sorry for the radio silence, ya’ll.  Have just had a lot going on the past couple of weeks and haven’t had much of a chance to sit down and write. 

We are counting down the final days till we get to close on our new house, so have been busy with checking on the build progress and doing paperwork for that, along with packing.  I have also been looking for a new job – one with slightly better hours so I can have a more stable barn schedule.

I did get to the barn over the past weekend though, and since we had some cooler weather decided to take Otter for a short walk to see if he would start sweating.  I was going to just ride him bareback around the fenceline – then thought better of it since he hasn’t been ridden in over a month, plus there was a photography clinic at the barn that day.  Really didn’t want to take the chance of any antics that might happen getting immortalized.  So I threw his saddle on instead and we went for a walk.  I shouldn’t have doubted him – he was a perfect gentleman the whole time.  I am very happy to report that he started sweating like normal again – even on our short walk he had sweat on his neck, between his hind legs, underneath the saddle and girth, and also under his bridle. 

I made about as much fuss over him it was like he suddenly figured out one-tempis, but I am so happy we are back to normal.  I went for another walk last Sunday and during our rides this week I have started incorporating small bits of trot.  He is definitely a bit out of shape right now, and I don’t want to work him too hard and stress his body out again.  However, my trainer believes that if all goes well with bringing him back, we could definitely aim for Holly Hill at the end of October.  We are still keeping him on the One AC till it gets cooler, and he still has his mister fan on him when he is in the stall – I think we are afraid to change anything in case it sends him back to no sweat land.

Random barn cat, since I have been horrible at taking horse pictures lately

Also, so a few people at the barn have also been struggling with the funk on their horses.  One lady who has a bit of a medical background thought to put Vaseline on her guy’s spots, and it was a bit like a miracle on how quickly they healed up.  She told me about this, and I was dubious about it – I’ve definitely been trying to keep things dry – not put more moisture on the areas, but I couldn’t discredit how much better her guy looks.  So with some trepidation last weekend, I greased Otter’s hindquarters up, thinking that they couldn’t get much worse that they were already.  The next day when I went out –it was amazing.  He let me curry all the spots, and all the funk came up easily, and the skin underneath was left soft and not ouchy.  So all this week I have been continuing the Vaseline treatment, and even putting it on his legs.  It has been seriously amazing – his hiney has cleared up and is regrowing hair at record speed, and so are his legs.  The best part is that he doesn’t even mind it, nor does it leave him greasy (I guess because it absorbs into his skin?)  I definitely recommend this course of treatment if any of you are bold enough to try it. 

I also had a jump lesson on Rocky this past week.  He has been great for my jump position.  I’m not sure if I blogged about our last jump lesson or not, but if you don’t maintain a correct position while jumping – he lets you know it.  His antics in the barn are legendary.  Our first jump lesson was quite interesting with some bucking after the jumps – luckily I have a lot of experience sticking bucks from naughty ponies, but it was a good immediate correction for me when I was not correct or soft/allowing enough in my position.  This time, we had no bucks, and I definitely could feel the difference in my position.  I am hoping that this will carry over to Otter when we start jumping again.   A long time ago, I was very correct in my position, but since then I have ridden so many horses that allowed me to get away with being sloppy that it’s been hard for me to be better. 

I am not sure how much I’ll be able to post over the next week or so, we are finally closing on our house this week and will be moving out of the apartment all next weekend since we have to hand in keys on the 31^st.  I will try to post at least a quick update –or maybe I will finish up the content that I had meant to use during my honeymoon and use it now.