Summer Camp

Tucker and I are at Summer Camp this week and it's been an absolute blast.  If you recall I occasionally farm-sit for a good friend of mine at her beautiful place (which is about five minutes from my house) and Tucker and I just love it there.

My buddy Linus

Stopping to smell the flowers

Pretty farm house

It's beautiful, peaceful, and quiet here all the time. All the animals (horses, dogs, cats) are happy and relaxed. It's probably more like a week at a spa than a week at summer camp. I ride, I go for long walks with the dogs, I take long baths, I read my books. Did you just sigh reading that? I sighed writing it. It's a horse-lovers' paradise, basically.
I got to the farm Sunday night and got all the horses tucked in to their stalls, since it was raining.  Monday night I went to my farm and picked up Tucker, and once I got him settled in I turned everyone out for the night.  Tucker tried to make friends over the fence with Shadow (an adorable paint, the "husband horse" on the farm), who promptly squealed and told Tucker what's what.  Tucker turned around and looked at me like, "Mom he's being mean!" Once he realized Shadow was not, in fact, interested in becoming his new bestest friend in the whole wide world, he moved onto more important matters, namely a gorgeous field full of lush spring grass.

The next morning he wasn't too sure about finishing his breakfast, so I went out and picked up a few tubes of UlcerGard for the week (more on that in another post).  By the time we were ready for our ride, he seemed to be feeling better and we hopped over a few crossrails in the ring, which were uneventful.  That night I turned everyone out again and this time grass was the only thing on everyone's minds, which was good.

We had a lesson yesterday with Alicia, who came to the farm to ride one of my friend Chrisie's horses, and Tucker was fantastic.  As much as the dressage has been kind of an uphill climb for both of us, it SO pays off when we go to jump around a course.  He is so straight that it's like steering a car, and balancing his canter to add a stride in a line is about ten times easier.  Chrisie had a nice little course set up and Tucker and I had so much fun jumping it, two outside lines and two singles on the diagonal, nice easy hunter-ish stuff.  First time we've jumped an entire course in, I don't know, forever?  Tucker was of course perfect.

Today we put the dressage tack on and went for a lovely ride in the big grass meadow with the sun shining and a cool breeze blowing.  Tucker felt amazing.  We even got the big canter that we worked on in our fix-a-test, and I felt that awesome moment when his shoulders lift and he truly moves up leg-to-hand.  I am pretty sure I heard angels singing on high.

I think all the fun of summer camp is catching up with him though.  I've been trying all week to get a more photogenic shot of him, and what I have is a phone full of many variations of this:

Shhh...  it's nap time.

It's a rough life.

Tucker's First Fix-A-Test

OnTheBit from A Horse and a Half (who also did the fix-a-test with Lucky) was kind enough to video our test during the fix-a-test we did on Sunday, so you all can see how adorable Tucker is looking these days.

I loved the Judge, Mindy Elgart.  She gave lots of helpful criticism but was extremely nice to all of us.  The comments about Tucker were very complimentary which made me beam with pride.  After we ran through the test we worked on my position (which is still pretty hunter-ish, despite Cindy's efforts to fix it) and worked on getting a bigger canter and a better canter transition.  Tucker was wonderful for all of it, and since he did exactly what we asked and he was blowing pretty hard with the extreme heat yesterday, we opted not to run through the whole test again.  Overall, though it wasn't perfect, I was super happy with him.  No invisible monsters anywhere in sight yesterday.  Good boy!

After the test we stood and talked to the Judge for a bit, so when I gathered my reins back up he thought maybe he'd try some of his spooky/stuck stuff, but I was able to sit and support and send him through it without incident, so I am pretty happy with myself too!

Here's the video:

Doesn't he look ADORABLE in his white polos and dressage tack? 

This is a Test... Repeat, This is Only a Test.

There comes a time in every equine's life when he wonders to himself, just how prepared are my humans in the event of an emergency?  Would they know what to do?  Will they perform under pressure?  At such a time, a horse has no choice but to perform a test of the Equine Emergency Broadcast System.

Apparently, Tucker found himself in such a quandary yesterday, and had to find out just how capable we were of handling an emergency, should one ever arise.  So promptly upon coming in from turnout, he began his little experiment.  Lest we not a be particularly clever group of humans, he chose to exhibit textbook signs of distress: he pawed, he kicked his stomach, he swished his tail, he rolled, and refused to eat his hay.

To Tucker's relief, everyone snapped into action.  Cindy (my dressage trainer and our barn manager) texted me right away to see when I could get to the barn, put a scrim on him since he was wet from the drizzle this morning, and took his temperature.  She put him on the cross-ties and he stretched his hind legs out behind him, which made us all suspect it was a gas colic, if anything.  Anyway, Tucker found this course of action and her prompt attention to his broadcast signals most satisfactory.

Ricardo (who works at the farm and helps take care of the horses) took Tucker for a walk around the indoor until I arrived, and remained visibly concerned for Tucker's well being for the remainder of the afternoon, regularly inquiring after his health.  Tucker likewise approved of these efforts and was truly touched by his concern.

Thankfully, I was working from home so I think I also passed his little test. I pulled on breeches and a fleece in under three minutes and raced to the barn like the hounds of hell were close on my tail.  He must have been timing me and I must have made his deadline because as soon as I arrived, he took a deep breath and started munching his hay. He still had a quiet gut on the left side, but plenty of noise on the right side and didn't seem the least bit distressed.  But hey, I'll take a scare that amounts to nothing over a real colic any day.

I'd say we passed Tucker's emergency-preparedness course with flying colors, because we even managed to have Tucker's vet arrive within the hour (he was there to do some injections on another horse, but Tucker doesn't need to know that).  It was a good lesson about crying wolf, I mean getting to stay home from school and watch cartoons is one thing, but a trip to the doctor... well, let's just say Tucker has heard what happens when the vet thinks you are colicking and didn't particularly relish the idea of an arm up the you-know-what.  So once he saw Dr. S in the aisle, he promised he was feeling 100% better.  No need for poking and prodding, thankyouverymuch.

Thankfully, it seems he must have just had a gas pocket or something. I blame the drastic change in weather.  After a worrisome half hour or so, he seemed to have gotten over whatever was bothering him and I even ended up riding him (figured it wouldn't hurt to get the gut moving).  He ate his dinner and all his hay, temp was normal, and by the time I left he had pooped three times. And yes, of course I texted a picture of the pile of poop to my concerned horsey friends!  What are horsey friends for?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

You know how much I love Devon!  In my opinion, the Dixon Oval is the most magical place on earth (Disneyland-shmisneyland).  I am headed there for a few events next week to do some work for Sidelines, but in the meantime, here is the broadcast schedule for all the events at the Devon Horse Show streaming live on the USEF Network:

Friday, May 24, 8:15pm – 9:15pm, Jr. Jumper Gamblers Choice
Saturday, May 25, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Jr. Jumper SJHOF Classic – II,2(a)
Sunday, May 26, 6:30pm – 9:30pm, NAL Pony Jumper- II, 2(a), Adult Jumper-II, 2(b), Open Tandems
Monday, May 27, 7:00pm – 8:15pm, NAL Adult Jumper- II, 2(a)
Tuesday, May 28, 7:00pm – 8:00pm, Open Jumper-II,2(b)
Wednesday, May 29, 7:00pm-8:45pm, Open Jumper Hit & Hurry, Ladies Side Saddle, Three Gaited Show Pleasure-Limit, Hackney Pony-Open, Five Gaited Special
Thursday, May 30, 7:30pm – 10:00pm, Prerecorded sights and sounds of Devon, Wells Fargo Grand Prix of Devon
Friday, May 31, 7:00pm – 10:15pm, Open Jumper Gamblers Choice, Coaching, Park Horse Stake – Amateur, Western Country Pleasure, Fine Harness, Hackney Pony, Friesian Horse Pleasure, Three Gaited Stake, Hackney/Harness Pony, Saddlebred Show Pleasure Driving, Roadster Pony, Five Gaited Stake
Saturday, June 1, 3:10pm – 5:00pm, Open Jumper Stake AND 7:00pm – 8:10pm, A/O Jumper SJHOF Classic
Sunday, June 2, 10am – 1pm, USHJA Hunter Derby

Outsmarting the Smart Horse

So now that all Tucker's physical issues are behind us, I've spent many an hour contemplating how to improve the behavioral issues, and at about 1 a.m. one night lying on my couch staring up at the ceiling, it dawned on me:  nothing is going to get fixed until I start riding through it.  There's really no other way a round it, no amount of pro-rides or different tack or schedule changes or feng shui stall arrangements are going help anything unless I start taking the wheel again.

After many, many hours of deep thought (I'm not the only one who does this right?) I came to a few conclusions:  Tucker is not a mean horse, and in fact probably doesn't realize how scary his leaping and spooking and spinning really are.  Tucker is a smart horse, who likes being challenged and likes being rewarded for a job well done. Tucker is an evasive horse, who would rather not work too hard if he doesn't have to and has realized that spooking is an excellent diversion from work.

So driving to the barn last night, inspired by some of the exercises in the George Morris clinic, I decided I would set up an exercise that would make Tucker think a little bit and would help work on forward/straight and involve some transitions within the gait.  Time to outsmart my horse, right?  Of course, when I arrived at the barn to find him spinning in circles in his stall, convinced that the driving rain pounding on the roof would lead directly to his death, I questioned just how smart this horse could actually be.  Two ear plugs later, however, calm and order were restored....

So in the indoor I set up four ground poles set on a circle, that walk six strides between each one using a natural bend like you would on any circle.  One of the poles was a skinny rail (5' instead of 10') for a bit more of a challenge.  Like so:

(Sorry, the Tucker-cam was a little shaky)

I am happy to say that Tucker was wonderful and we got a lot out of the exercise.  I'm working on getting him to give me a better walk (something other than a Sunday stroll or a death march), and an actual working trot, so at the walk and trot we worked on getting him to take me to the poles.  He understood this much better than me just nagging him to go forward on an ordinary circle.  We did outside bend and inside bend, worked in some quarter-turns when I needed to for straightness, making figure-eights, and lots of changes of direction, so the exercise stayed fresh.

At the canter, at first we just worked on controlling his shoulders (not letting him fall in or bulge out), not worrying much about what strides we got.  Once I felt like he was listening to me laterally, I asked for six even strides between each pole (he was doing either five or six before), with some simple changes of direction.  Once that was smooth on each lead, I asked for five strides between each pole, and I'm happy to say he moved up really politely, I was sort of afraid he'd start dragging me around but asking him to think about turning and the next pole kept him focused.

I ran into some protesting when I asked him to come back and give me six strides again, so I skipped every other pole and worked on using my seat and leg more, until I had him sitting down and using his hind end instead of fighting my hand.  Once the canter improved, we went back to every pole and were able to get six strides, and then seven, between each pole in a nice collected canter that felt pretty balanced.

On another night I might have then asked for five strides and back to six again, but I thought it was good to end on a positive note like that, so we stopped there.  He helped me put all the poles away and I decided to take it as a good sign that he was still dutifully following me, stopping when I stopped and turning when I turned.  The cowboys like when they do that, right?

The Long-Awaited Tucker Update

Let's see... how to sum up how we've spent the end of winter and beginning of spring.

As the winter progressed and Tucker got bored with seeing the four walls of the indoor, those four walls began hiding dangerous (read: imaginary) predators.  My patience wore increasingly thin, Tucker's theatrics grew increasingly more... spectacular (and I do not mean that in a complimentary fashion). Finally, just as I was ready to give him a vacation until the snow melted, I went back through the blog and figured out that every time he stops listening to reason, I can usually fix it by treating his tummy for ulcers.

This time instead of treating him with a prescription ulcer medication I kept him on his SmartGut and added a  half-cup of aloe juice to each of his meals.  On the advice of one of Tucker's vets, we give him the aloe for ten days and then two days off, so his stomach pH-levels stay normal.  The spooking has become less frequent and much less explosive (ponies and children no longer cower in fear while we ride) .  Either the invisible mountain lions living in the indoor have decided to migrate elsewhere, or he's feeling slightly better.  So that's where we're at on that front.

The more we worked over the winter, it became clear that Tucker had a weakness in his hind end -- which is part of the reason we started doing dressage in the first place.  We decided to give him until Spring and keep working on strengthening.  When the "weakness" started looking like slight unevenness, I made a vet appointment for him, and we ended up injecting his hocks.  He wasn't seriously lame, but Tucker is not exactly stoic when it comes to pain. Delicate little flower that he is.

So, we had three days of hand-grazing and then gradually back to work.  I took some great pictures while we didn't have much else to do.

Day 1: Stopping to smell the dandelions

Day 2: Making friends with the retirees next door

Day 3: Raining, so we went inside and met a really good looking horse

That was about three weeks ago (sorry, I wanted to make sure he was back to work and sound before I wrote about it), and he's feeling really great now.  An expensive vet visit, yes, but well worth it.  I'm just happy that this was the first time I've had to inject my eleven-year-old horse.  Unfortunately they only come with a ten year warranty...

As for me, I am loving dressage and what it is teaching me.  I feel like I've got a whole new toolbox full of ways to deal with all my horse's various evasions and to get him really working to his full potential.  He's always been like one of those smart kids who goofs off in class, so I'm trying to find the right balance between keeping him challenged and motivated, and not letting him think life is getting too hard.  We go back to jumping this week, so I imagine that will make him happy.  Hopefully not too happy.  

For right now, I'm a little too worried about the EHV-1 threat in New Jersey right now to take him to any shows, so we are going to stay home a while longer and keep working away.  I know it's probably ultra-conservative of me, but there's only one Tucker, so I'm not taking any chances.

Anyway, that's where we are at.  I'm going to start providing more regular updates on the blog, so we can avoid these somewhat tedious summaries in the future.  Thank you for reading... it feels good to be back in the blogosphere!

ShowSheen TryPak Giveaway!

So, what better way to re-introduce myself back into the blogging community than with a giveaway, right?  Sort of like showing up at a friend's house when you haven't seen her in ages because you've been a terrible correspondent with a really nice bottle of wine, yes?  (C'mon you totally want to let me and Tucker come over for dinner).

I have three Absorbine ShowSheen TryPaks to give away, containing three adorable travel-sized bottles of ShowSheen ShowRing Shine, Stain Remover & Whitener, and 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner (roughly a ten dollar value -- not a bad freebie!).  It is the perfect size to keep in the trailer or your grooming box, and makes a cute gift for a trainer, groom, or barn friend too!

ShowSheen has long been a staple in my grooming box - I use it on Tucker's tail at least two or three times a week, and in the winter I spray it on his shoulders, hips, and belly to help prevent blanket rubs.  My longtime readers will recall that I was once the proud owner of a little girl with very long white legs, at which point I also became a huge fan of the ShowSheen Stain Remover & Whitener.  I will be testing out the Shampoo & Conditioner this weekend and will report back on my findings.  Tucker might hate baths, but there is nothing I love more than a clean horse!

So I am giving away three ShowSheen Try-Paks on Tucker's facebook page.  Here is what you have to do:

1.  Like Tucker the Wunderkind on Facebook (if you haven't already).

2.  Either in the comments section below or on Tucker's facebook page, post your best equine travel photo, or travel story (adventure/drama/comedy/happy memory), or packing list for truck & trailer, or anything else along those lines.

Points for originality people, and please make me laugh, you know I love a good laugh.

Incidentally, if you are a fan of free stuff, I highly recommend that you like Sidelines on Facebook too.  Their giveaways are much better than mine (more about that coming soon!).

Good luck!