Amazing.

That is what my horse is. Amazing!

We're still working on her weight, but her butt's really filled out and she's looking a lot healthier than she was. Slow progress (ugh, TBs!!), but progress nonetheless! We're going to get her a super duper worming pack, too, which will most likely help pack some extra weight on her. Yay!

Yes, yes, still thin... but tell me she doesn't look better!

So, I've ridden her - really ridden her! - for the first time in a long time. The first time was Sunday, and we had a few "baby" moments, but they passed pretty quickly and she settled down at the end of the ride really nicely and we had some fabulous walk/trot work at the end there. It was also foggy, there was traffic, and I rode her at first in an open field she'd never been in before. I can't really fault her baby moments; it was a very spooky day!

Today, I rode at dusk, and she was even more amazing! She didn't rush her gaits at all and we walked, trotted, AND cantered! She was excellent (although slightly rusty on those canter departs! But we never had walk/canter departs down at all anyways). She even got her leads every single time!! When I let out the reins and asked her to stretch out and down to me, she did. Every time. I didn't think it would work, and I expected her to be confused and try to speed up instead, or at least take a little while to understand what I was trying to tell her. But it took her no time at all and she did it consistently and very relaxed! It was a fabulous feeling and I'm really glad I took the chance to push her training just a little bit.

I rode her while they were feeding the rest of the horses in the barn, and she acted like she didn't even notice. She was on her best behavior, stood perfectly on the crossties for me before and after our ride, and was very polite all night. Everyone was super impressed that she didn't get pushy or impatient after our ride for her dinner, but she was too busy snuggling me and enjoying all the attention she was getting, I think!

In any case, I'm so very proud of her and I can't wait to start really working her again.

Recovery!

Hello, everyone!

I have fabulous news. My back is better enough for me to start riding again! I'm still not feeling perfectly well, and I have to rest a lot inbetween rides so far, but I'm hoping I'll be able to build up those muscles again to the point where it won't hurt so much. I'm already seeing improvement.

More good news... Rei has stopped cribbing so much, and she only has to wear her collar at night! Hooray! She's gaining weight a lot better now - I just compared her old photos to a picture I took of her the other day, and she's looking a looooot better. I can see the progress and it's heartening!

I've started to go out more since I got a new car and my back isn't keeping me in bed, and we've started back up working on polishing her manners and teaching her new things. I've gotten to where I can walk up to her in the field and touch her shoulder and get her to walk off after me, stop when I stop, and pay attention to where I'm going without even a lead rope around her neck. It's lovely!

Lookit how cuuuuute!

So Reina shares her field with 2 ponies, and, naturally, she is the boss. Jeff owns the 2 ponies in question, Lily and Abby. They're super adorable! But Jeff is 6'2 and I am 5'1 so... he asked me to ride said ponies for him! Lily's my favorite; she's super sweet, and really super cute mover, and has a great mind. I'm going to make her into a little hunter show pony! I'm so excited!

I've ridden her twice and she's already getting better with her canter departures.

Rei cribs while I ride the ponies to cope; she needs a new coping mechanism... she's such a diva. She's just about fat enough to where I'll feel comfortable riding her again, and I can't wait! I think we'll start off in the roundpen a little bit to get her back into working and then I'll start riding maybe once a week or so. She's amazing, and I have faith that she hasn't really forgotten anything... she's really good about that.

Isn't she looking better!?

So... yes! All good news. I'm really excited about Rei's progress and she's still such a good girl, really. I'm so proud of her. She's like a completely different horse - do you know that the barn owner had to put her in a stall the other day, and Rei went in and stayed there, totally relaxed, didn't crib or anything!? When I told her she used to not be able to go into a stall without freaking out she was completely shocked.

Well! That's about it for now. I'm away for a part of winter break and made the mistake of seeing War Horse while I wasn't within driving distance of my girlie. Amazing movie; but be sure you have horse access after it!! I miss her even more now, lol.

So, yup. Back better, new car, Rei still being amazing, and I get to get myself back into riding shape to start training Rei again by riding an adorable little pony. :)

Life is good!

Unfortunate News...

Reina's fine! Just for the record. I know the title sounds ominous, but the unfortunate news doesn't involve her, except for the fact that she's being neglected. My poor baby!

I got into a car accident a few weeks ago... I would like to say that I'm fine, but the muscles in my back are pretty messed up at the moment, and I'm having trouble even getting to class without pain medication. It's pretty terrible, I won't lie! My car is totaled, too, but the good news is that means I get a brand new one. My parents can be pretty awesome.

In the interim, however, I'm hurting, and I have no way to get to Reina. I took a cab today all the way out there because I was so desperate to see her, but it cost me about $100 round trip (yikes!). It was totally worth it, but I'm not made of money, so I probably won't be able to do that very often. Can't wait 'til I get my new car!!

Anyways, I saw her today, after about a month, and she pouted at me a bit when I went to catch her. She warmed right up, though, and dropped her head for lots of snuggles and I-missed-yous. It was so sweet. I missed her so much!! She's still a very polite girl and I believe she's putting on weight (finally). She seems less sensitive over her bones when I go to groom her, so I think she's slowly but surely gaining pounds. She's also gotten considerably fuzzier... winter is coming, and Reina's coat knows this! Ha. I definitely didn't miss trying to curry a dirt-caked, fuzzy horse! She's adorable in her fuzziness, though, so it's okay.

I have to say, she was wonderfully well-mannered while being groomed. She remembers all the manners I worked so hard to teach her when I got her in January/February. She picked up her feet like a champ, super quiet, dropped her head to be brushed, stood still with very few wiggles (she mostly munched on grass, which was fine by me), and even let me clean her mare parts without fussing at me. I love my mare, really. I do.

We worked a little bit in the round pen after I groomed the snot out of her. I want to work on her leading; she stops, backs, and moves really easily when I ask, but she gets stuck sometimes when we're walking forward. We worked on forward, forward, forward! in the round pen. It was pretty silly, she would rather snuggle me than work on the rail and walk/trot when I ask. I had to get rather stern (it was really tough to turn away horse snuggles, but alas, I had to be strong!) to get her to the rail, but she picked it up fast once I started clicking/treating for her paying attention to me and moving when I asked. I think I worked so hard when I got her to make her understand that I'm a good human and she should love to come to me that when it comes time to do groundwork, she never wants to leave me! Well... at least I did a good job. ;)

In any case, she was much easier to lead back to her paddock after our short little roundpen lesson. :)

I missed my girlie. Life gets in the way of horses far, far too often!

Playing Catch Up

Hello, hello!

I know, I've been a stranger. The good news is that I've been seeing my horse more than I've been posting on here. That's a start, right!?

I'll keep it brief and just try to update you on what's happened.

We're still with Jeff. He's a fabulous caretaker and has been helping me a lot. Rei's put on a bit of weight and is happier and healthier and getting better every time I see her! She's still one of the smartest, most well-behaved horses I've ever been around and I still feel absolutely lucky to have found her.

We went on a trail ride or two with Jeff and she behaved perfectly. In fact, she was more spook-proof (albeit more energetic and less bit-wearing) than Jeff's tried-and-true trail horse he puts beginners on. I was a very, very proud mom!

We did arena work and she learned to stand still for mounting really quickly. It took only once or twice around the dressage arena for her to realize that nothing was out to eat her (we played "touch it!" with three objects, a total of 5-10 minutes, and she was totally fine after that). We had a bit of an issue leading from the barn to the ring but otherwise she was perfect.

Jeff moved to a different facility, and we followed him there. I trail rode Rei over there on the side of a country road alone (don't worry, it was only a 10-minute trail ride, I had my phone and Jeff waiting on the other end timing me). We had a few bumpy spots where she was quite certain she didn't want to go forward, but we got through them alone and with me still mounted! The little traffic we saw didn't bother her, and she was a champ! She didn't even try to take off when we got to the new barn and her friends were yelling at her; she waited and listened and was very polite (albeit vocal). So proud. :)

The new barn has tons of grass for my girlie to munch on and she's made lots of friends and is generally a very happy pony. We got her teeth floated and a vet to look at her; the vet was super impressed that she was so trusting and well-behaved and wanted to know all my secrets! She also told me I was on track with Rei and doing everything I was supposed to be doing and that it would take several months for her to make a full recovery still (6-8). But... I'm on the right track, Reina looks like she's bouncing back well and that I could call her if I had any questions.

She even made Rei the patient of the month because she was such a good girl!!! :D

Apart from that... I saw her today after a few weeks of various things keeping me away - out of the country, then the new semester started... all excuses, naturally, but true nevertheless. I gave her a bath today and loved on her and she rubbed on me and acted generally very pleased to see me after she pouted for a minute or two. She's such a prima donna... she loves baths, and getting her tail brushed. Silly.

So that's been our summer in a nutshell. No conditioning, not too much training... just fun and playing and moving barns and getting her better (and me being busy). Hopefully I'll be able to start making more time to see my baby and play with her more; she still remembers her food manners, how to back up and move sideways with a touch, and what a peppermint wrapper sounds like! Some things never change, hm? :D

Success!!

After the terribleness that was her last trailer loading, Reina responded to the trailer with an "oh-HELL-no" look as soon as she saw what we were walking towards. Some clicks and treats later, and I had her loading halfway into the traler quietly and sniffing around. Finally, we got a bit of grain and willingly bribed her into it. Not the way I wanted it to go, mind you, but she was relatively relaxed the whole time and there was no drama whatsoever. The whole thing took maybe 15-20 minutes. Once Jeff gets his new trailer, I'm going to borrow it so that we can have trailer loading practice and bribes won't be necessary anymore.

Anyways! She rode really quiet and was a very good girl on the way to Jeff's barn. She backed out a little fast but was otherwise unphased; so I walked her to her new barn and into her new stall. She was up and wide-eyed but very obedient and responsive to me. I coaxed her into the barn with little to no issues, and then I walked her into her new stall and, much to my surprise, she walked right in and settled almost immediately. Good girl!

She got hay and got to look out her stall's back window and got fed grain as well. We turned her out with the other horses and they ran her a little bit, but settled in quite nicely without any mare drama to really speak of. She's already relaxing quite well and I'm loving the barn and its owner/manager! It's so nice and I have a really good feeling about this place. I feel spoiled already!

We have our own bridle hook in the tack room and a spot against the wall for my stuff as well as a saddle rack. Reina has the stall right next to the tack room (score!!) for when there's bad weather or during feeding time. Jeff's already working on setting up her feed schedule so that she'll put more weight on, and I simply can't wait!

Jeff and I walked to the back paddock with Reina and the other horses to watch and make sure they were getting along with one another nicely. Reina, my alpha mare, shockingly didn't put up much of a fight and was rather passive! It worked out fine, though, because the other horses seemed to accept her pretty readily. Perhaps she was just out of sorts and feeling less sassy than usual because she's in a new place and everything. The good news is that her trotting around gave Jeff a chance to see her move, and he commented (all on his own; I didn't ask!) that she was a pretty mover. Yay!! And on top of that, she was awfully adorable, loving on me and whuffling at me when she got nervous throughout the ordeal. I'm so glad she can look to me for emotional support!!

Rei had gone out to eat grass and was pretty far away while Jeff and I were talking. Suddenly, she turns and starts walking towards us, ears pricked, head low. I was like, hmm, what's she doing? There's no grass over here! She walked right up to me and off to the side a little bit, and stood there quietly until I came up and petted her shoulder. She turned her head around to look at me like "hi, Mom! Whatcha doin'? Will you stay with me just in case?" and she dropped her head in my hands and I rubbed on her for a few minutes. She's such a big baby!

She left after while, though, to go graze again and inch closer to her new herd. Jeff and I left them and I went to go home.

Did I mention that I have a great feeling about this place??

Here's to Hoping!

Yesterday I spent a bit more time with Reina doing targeting work. She caught on fast - as usual - and soon, I had her following my lunge whip in circles around me (to both sides) and walking with her following it with her nose. It was adorable.

This is all in preparation of trailer loading day... which just happens to be tomorrow! Oh my goodness, I'm nervous. I hope she walks on all right! Our last experience with the trailer was shaky at best, but our relationship was also next to nonexistent then as well. I'm hoping that her loving and trusting me now will make her less skeptical when I tell her trailers are not, in fact, scary horse-eating monsters.

Jeff (the owner of the new barn I'm going to!) will have his horse in the trailer already, so maybe that will add to her not being so scared? I hope.

Anyways, I've done all I can really do in preparation so I just have to wait and hope that it'll turn out well!

Will keep you all updated. :D

I Fail at Blog Upkeep

Hello, everyone! Sorry, I know I've been neglecting this blog. I have not, however, been neglecting my horse! Which is good.

Anyways, a few things have happened. I've mostly been keeping quiet because my plans were rather up in the air, but it's settled now. I'm moving barns! Reasons for this... I won't go into. It's not pretty, though!

So, I visited Reina on Tuesday and worked undersaddle in one of our makeshift arenas. It was like 92 freaking degrees outside (ugh!!) so we didn't last long, needless to say. The good news is that we worked in a different paddock than usual, and she was super good and didn't really spook at anything!!

Reina enjoying a drink post-ride!

Not too much to report about that, but she was a very good girl! We worked on stopping and rhythm and not rushing her gaits. She was "up," naturally, because I hadn't ridden in a while. She was responsive though and we really only had one tiff where I got impatient. We trotted around the ring like 5 times until we were both huffing and puffing from the heat and then she decided that maybe she didn't want to rush headlong around the arena, lol!

Then we worked on trail horse things and I taught her to open the gate again with me on her. She was confused, though, and got a little nervous, but she kept trying different things - back up? turn around? sideways? - until I clicked. Then she realized that I was going to help her get the right answer and that she shouldn't feel abandoned or overfaced, and she calmed right down and kept trying until she got the right answers. It was wonderful!!

Then I rinsed her off completely, and she looked like a drowned rat (and kept giving me pathetic looks about it, too!).

And then, like all wet horses, she decided to...

ROLL! Ack!!!

Afterwards she was half Reina, half Sawdust Monster. I tried to brush her off as best I could, but there was only so much I could do at that point! Sigh, horses.

Yesterday I went out again, and we only did groundwork with my brand new, adorable, multicolored "stock whip". It was awesome and she was amazing. She catches on so fast; seriously, she is sooo smart!!

We worked on targeting! We'll be moving soon and I want to make trailer loading as stress-free as possible, and following a target is one of the easiest ways to make a horse feel comfortable. So! We worked on targeting, and my whip made a perfect target. She caught on fast and was soon tracking it and following it a bit!

Then we worked on responsiveness and stepping forward when I asked and yielding her hindquarters. She caught on fast and was almost a pro by the end of the session. What a smart girl! We ended on a happy note and didn't do anything else that day; I wanted to give her time to really soak in those lessons because they're very basic and she needs to have them down pat before we advance to lateral work on the ground.

So! That's it! More about moving and my new barn soon; oh my goodness, I'm excited, it's going to be sooo fabulous!