Weekend update

This weekend was my off weekend from work, so I was able to go out to the barn Fri, Sat, and Sun.  I went out later in the afternoon on Friday because of some appointments in the morning - ended up getting there around 3:30/4pm.  When I got there, I noticed that Otter's mister had been switched to just the fan mode on accident, so his stall was a bit warmer than it has been with the mister on.  However, while checking him over, there was a bit of sweat on both shoulders, so he is regaining some sweating function!  He still isn't fully up to par, as he was still breathing quite heavily in his stall.  I gave him a bath and scrubbed his funkiness - it's gotten quite bad with the mister on him all day.  Trying some old school remedies on them - witch hazel/Listerine after the bath then a topping of Gold Bond Medicated body powder to help dry things out.  We used the Gold Bond at a barn I worked at in Georgia, and it worked well then, so hoping it will help me get on top of his nastiness. 

Just a hint, but it's there!

 

Saturday was my first ride on R.  He's a 19 yr old schoolmaster-type TB.  He competed up to second level, but wasn't able to go further because he wasn't able to sustain the collection needed for the upper level work.   It was definitely interesting riding him - all of my various shortcomings were quickly pointed out to me.  For instance, I'm not sure if my right side aids are just that much stronger, or my left side is that much weaker, but R was very insistent on popping his left shoulder out.  It's been a bit of a struggle that I've also had with Otter, but I had thought that it was mostly due to his stiffness - guess I was wrong about that.  We kept the ride pretty short - due to R being out of work for a little while.

 Sunday's ride was a lot better - as long as I rode correctly.  The moment I would lean forward, or look down, he would get heavy.  He's definitely a super cute horse though.  He is like a slightly dopier version of Otter.  I'm looking forward to more rides on him and how they will improve my riding.