Back to Dressage!

ok - back to blogging about my and my OTTB's simple efforts at dressage...

Let's start with the 20 yr old former racer turned hunter/jumper and our lesson. Toby was feeling darn good about himself. The minute I got on he started to crow hop around the indoor arena. He wanted to roll and let loose. Betsy hadn't arrived so I got off him, untacked him and let him rip. He immediately rolled then got up to buck and fart his way around the arena. Once he got that out of his system, I tacked him back up and began my lesson with Betsy. Needless to say he had some energy but was very tense and really never relaxed.

We are continuing to work on getting him into and keeping him in a good frame. I can get him into a nice frame much quicker but keeping him there seems to be the challenge. He tries every trick in the book such as pulling, inching slowly upwards with his head and neck, etc. I'm trying very hard to maintain his limits and keep him round.

If you need a short nap, I highly recommend this rather boring video of our work:




While the video may be boring, I think it's fun. I love riding and learning. I know I'm not the best out there but I have the time of my life doing it. Isn't that what riding is really all about?

Now let's talk about Ollie and his leg. I had left thinking his infection was under control. Well, this is what I came back to...



Lots of proud flesh sprouting and super ugly. I called my vet, Tanja Molby, for her help. I emailed her the above picture and she immediately put Hola on antibiotics and she outlined a cleaning regime for the wound. By this morning it had shrunk down to 1/2 the size it was. Tanja rules in my book! For many reasons including some outside of her medical practice! One main reason is for her stance against horse slaughter and that she petitioned her own organization to change their stance on it. She also rocks for taking a stand against people who misuse her services and advice to take advantage of people's good will on the internet (perhaps this gal will straighten up her act now).

So Hola will get better quickly now that he's on his antibiotics, which I managed to get for free thanks to the generosity of Meijer's!

I call Hola, Ollie most of the time so that's why the meds say Ollie on it. I had to sign for it since the meds were going to a minor. ;) I showed the women at the pharmacy counter some pictures of my gray man. They were duly impressed and had a better understanding why he receives 13 tablets twice a day.

I'm grateful to Meijer's for their generosity and fantastic program for free antibiotics for people's pets. It's cool that horses are included in the program! Just goes to show you that horses are thought of as companion animals too...