the warm before the storm

It was absolutely gorgeous today - sunshine and 62 degrees with a very nice wind blowing. Keil Bay and I had a ride, and he started out by stopping in every corner of the arena, then on the second circuit stopped between B and F and finally did what I think he was meaning to do the entire time - dropped manure. (for those wondering, yes it was quite normal, believe me, I checked!) He's never done that stopping thing before but maybe he decided that since I have become so obsessed with the mounting block being perfect he will create his own ritual!

We got on with the ride and did much more trotting today, which was nice. He was being quite alert to our surroundings and about halfway through the ride, 4 of the November Hill felines emerged from various spots along the woodline, which I think explained Keil's intense focus at times as we passed by. 

I am really enjoying the trot these days and also loving our new dismount routine. I think I wrote here previously that I am now dismounting onto the mounting block, which is a regular 2-step block that I put on top of two stacks of cinder blocks near the far corner of our arena. It puts me quite high up so that I can mount very easily without pulling on the saddle.

However, it is a little precarious - mostly steady but not completely balanced. When I dismount, Keil Bay has to get in the exact right spot and then stand like a stone so that I can take my right leg over and onto the block, then take my left foot out of the stirrup, which I do quickly so I have both feet on the top of the block.

At that point Keil Bay very kindly, in a move he made up himself, steps gently back so that I can use his neck as a "rail" to climb down to the ground. We have got this down pat at this point and as a thank you I immediately rub the sides of his face for him, then loosen the girth and run the stirrups up.

What for awhile was a sort of nightmare for me - mounting, then later dismounting - has become a very sweet routine again. Only now customized to my needs!

Today's high of 62 is dropping to 20 overnight with a high of 29 tomorrow and 2-5 inches of snow in the forecast. The wind is gusting outside, supposedly up to 35 mph, so hay is being served in the barn tonight and we will likely have a couple of days off from riding again. What a roller coaster this winter is being. The ice piles by the troughs just melted down today. It looks like with lows in the teens tomorrow night and single digits Wed. night we can make new ones. Thankfully Keil Bay does well with a 2-3 day on, 2-3 day off routine. I think at this point I'm the one who needs the daily ride!!

warm and a nice ride

We finally warmed up from the very cold days and even colder nights we've had since Wednesday. I was determined to get in a ride and did so. Keil Bay had been looking so young and so athletic for the past few days I was dying to get in the saddle!

I am still riding him in halter and clip on reins, as there are aspects to his movement that I really like when he doesn't have the bit in his mouth. I can't say for sure it's connected, but if he goes well this way I'm going to keep riding him this way. It has to be easier on him and I love seeing his mouth free of the bit.

Today we did a fairly long warm-up. We walked at a slower pace for awhile, then at a nice big walk for awhile. He was going deep into every corner but the one by the hay tent (which was billowing) so we worked on not avoiding that corner and got things back to a full arena work-out.

His trot was really pretty lovely from the moment we transitioned into it, but it got even better as we warmed up. We did a fair amount of leg yield at the trot, shoulder-in/out (there is a wonderful exercise where you shoulder-in through the corner, straighten, the shoulder-out down the long side, then straighten, rinse and repeat. He really got into this and was doing it on his own without my anything but riding it. His shoulders became much freer and the trot was nicer after we finished this.

We trotted a pretty pitiful 20m circle and then cleaned it up quite a bit the next few times.

I did my backbone work-out before the ride today and felt again that it really freed ME up so that I could stay out of Keil's way as we rode.

We had Pixie-kit and both donkeys in with us today - they really seem to enjoy the rides as much as Keil and I do.

In other news, I am cranking along with writing routine each day. In the mornings I work on the new book; in the evenings I am revising/rewriting Never Not Broken. And finally, after several years without a writing group, a new one has started up. We're meeting two evenings a month and we started this past week. It's already energized me and I'm so happy it's back on my calendar again.

Tomorrow looks like a gorgeous day to get another ride in, and then tomorrow night we dip down low again. Tuesday and Wednesday look cold and windy and possibly snowy, so we'll see how things go.

snow day (sort of!)

Yesterday we were at close to 50 degrees at noon, with predictions of a huge catapult to temperatures in the teens overnight, and snow.

It almost defied belief that the bright, sunshiny morning was going to morph into anything having to do with wet, cold stuff, and I was determined that if the next few days were going to be bitterly cold, Keil Bay and I could get one more ride in before it hit.

I rode in a cotton turtleneck and no coat, no gloves, in halter and clip-on reins and his saddle. This was our third day in a row riding without his bridle. The first day I noticed that he was moving very well in 20m circle work, the second day I noticed that he was in near perfect bend through the very deep corners he was actively choosing to move into, and yesterday I realized that the funky little hind leg step he had been doing fairly reliably in warm-up was completely gone. 

Now, it could be that riding three days in a row and doing some lovely trot work each of those days worked out a kink. It could be that chiropractically his pelvis was slightly rotated and now it's not. It could also be something to do with the bit. It could be the spine-stretching work-out I did fixed a kink in ME and that has helped fix it in Keil Bay. But I was really happy to have that funky step worked out of our riding routine.

We had a great ride. At some point during our time, the sun disappeared and dark stormy clouds begin to move in. Black vultures were playing up in the sky, circling and spinning, and some cold rain fell. We finished our ride and I planned to help daughter get stalls set up for the horses and donkeys to come in. Then, just as quickly, the clouds moved on and the sun came back out. So the herd went out to pastures to clean up all the remaining scraps of hay. 

Daughter and I left mid-afternoon to run into town. We came back with a load of shavings and just as dark fell and the real precipation started, I got stalls set up with fresh new shavings, husband arrived and helped with water buckets and trough topping off, and we got hay into the barn for munching.

The herd was infinitely patient as all this was done, but as soon as he saw his stall was ready, Keil Bay started banging on his back door with a hoof - he is not a horse that likes to be out in the rain or the snow. He wants in. 

We got a dusting of snow which was mostly gone by sunrise. Today we won't get above freezing, so the offering of warm drinking water has begun and will continue on through the day and at least until our bedtime tonight. Looks like several nights of teen temps, then we move back up to the 20s.

I won't ride today, but maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile, on the book front, I created a playlist for music for my new novel, claire-voyant. Once I get a playlist going you can be sure I'm getting pretty deep into the world of the new book, so this is a milestone. Ever since watching the final episode of Breaking Bad, I've been obsessed with the old Badfinger song Baby Blue - yesterday it was the first song in the new playlist and I've been playing it over and over again. Not WHILE I write, but almost as a conveyor belt into the story. 

Just FYI for any writers reading here - I have a book of essays on the writing process called Don't Miss the Magic. It's available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Miss-Magic-Writing-Process-ebook/dp/B009QO0BYQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390400695&sr=8-2&keywords=don%27t+miss+the+magic

Long and lovely day

We had gorgeous weather today and I had another good ride with Keil Bay. Halter and clip-on reins again and today I noticed he had perfect bend in the corners. I'm going to continue these bridle-less rides and see where it leads. 

Now we're at daughter's lesson and I'm gazing at the winter sky waiting for her. As the sun set it got significantly chillier - we're on a cooler trend now with possible snow tomorrow and three nights of temps in the teens. Ugh!!

I am loving the work on the new book. And can't wait for the first meeting of my new writing group later this week. Busy, happy days!

great day, great ride

This afternoon I ventured out in this lovely sunny and near-perfect day (54 degrees, a very slight breeze) with three peppermints I collected eating out in Asheville last weekend. I sometimes get peppermints when they have them and instead of eating them myself I bring them home to Keil.

I treated him to the first peppermint when he met me at the pasture gate and marched through, the second when he came back to the barn from the hay tent so I could groom him in the stall again, and the third after our very nice ride.

For some reason it occurred to me today that instead of the bitless bridle I might put the clip-on reins on Salina's old halter and ride Keil in that. I had also done some new spine-stretching exercises I found on Mark's Daily Apple a couple of days ago. I've been trying to do them each morning along with plank exercises, and I think today, riding just after doing these stretches, I felt a noticeable difference in the relaxation of my back. I don't tend to hunch over much but I sometimes arch my back without noticing or meaning to and I can see that in my shadow. Today my shadow back was very straight - who needs mirrors! - and I also felt like I had a much clearer feel for what Keil Bay needed to do to warm up, i.e. where his stiffness was.

We warmed up and then moved into walk/trot/walk transitions, then on to doing shoulder in/out at the trot on a huge arena-sized oval. This really freed up his shoulders and at that point he was more than ready to move into bigger trot work.

We had one big spook when Dickens the cowboy cat snuck up from the back forty and leaped out at us - but it was a very controlled spook, and the only issue I had with it was that somehow I sliced a  small chunk out of my ring finger with one of my other fingernails. It bled like crazy!

I felt Keil was moving well and feeling good so I asked for some very engaged trot on the 20m circle today after we had fully warmed up to it. We had the best trot work we've had in weeks. I suspect my back being nice and stretchy and straight helped.

Might I also add that I have been on the Doris Rapp elimination diet for almost a week now. I wanted to clear my system and see if I could identify any foods I'm possibly reacting negatively to.

I have not cut out my half and half in my morning coffee, and I am still having red wine most evenings, but other than that all I've eaten are fresh fruit, veggies, and local meat. (potato chips with no additives are okay - thank goodness for Trader Joe's olive oil potato chips and Cape Cod chips - I needed something salty and crunchy to get me through the week!) I am noticing that I am more flexible, have probably lost a bit of weight, and generally have more energy. On Tuesday I add dairy back in all the way (for me this means whole fat yogurt, kefir, and cheese) and I'll see how that goes. I suspect wheat is the source of some of my issues, but will test that later in this process.

I also had a chance to review the video of Keil Bay's walk and trot in the arena. I haven't yet figured out how to put that here - I am able to view it frame by frame on my iPhone so not a true slow motion, but in some ways better because I can see every single frame of the footfalls. He is landing heel first on his left front, both hinds, and is landing "level" on his right front. That's the hoof that he uses to splash in the water trough (not so much this time of year) and that's the frog that tends to get thrushy on and off. Right now it's okay (no thrush that I can see) but frog development not great - I think this might be why he's not landing heel first on that hoof. I can treat the sulcis and try to get it healthier - and then re-video. 

Next I want to video on a harder surface and see how that looks.

I've been allowing his hooves to self-trim for the most part. We have done minor trimming/touch-up but he is not needing much. They aren't perfectly round but they are balanced and the concavity looks great.

The only other thing I've noted is that he periodically does a funky step behind during warm-up. His pelvis was rotated out last time and the chiro felt this was contributing. After the adjustment it was much better (and still is better) so I'm hoping when she comes back in February and tweaks it again we'll be in good shape with that. I'm getting ready to put him back onto his full-blown joint supplement protocol - I had rotated him off chondroitin and glucosamine (kept him on Mov-Ease and HA gel) and we'll see if that makes any difference. For 25 years old he is moving beautifully, in my opinion. 

Our warm weather has come in and now it's going to go back toward cold again - highs in low 30s, lows in teens. I need to find my helmet cover that comes down over my ears - that makes it bearable to ride if there is any wind along with the cold. Now that I think of it, husband is at the barn right now and if I run out there I can get him to get the bins down for me!