Let us evaluate...

We've had some struggles since the beginning.

Many people chalk them all up to "She's an Arabian."
Others may say, "It's just because she is still green and inexperienced."
Then there is the camp that insists, "She just isn't strong enough, yet."

I don't disagree with any of these statements, but sometime your gut says, "There's more to it!"

I agreed with MT that Fancy Pont needed more muscle and further development of her topline.
This photo is from the very week she had her massage (around August 15, 2013):

notice the knotted muscle on the left side...

We have focused on relaxation and coming through and swinging in her back.  We've been massaging and tail-pulling and scratching our way to getting her lifting her back...
A month later, she looks like this:

Holy cow!  We really have put some muscle mass on her!

Comments and evaluations still say she is undermuscled in her topline.  Everyone has suggestions for putting that muscle on, but why are we so behind the curve in the first place?

We are ruling out ulcers this week.
We suspect an electrolyte imbalance is bringing on muscle cramps that aren't helping the muscle tension in her hips and back.
We are starting a muscle-building supplement.
Progress will be slow, but we're hoping to see realistic differences and an increase in strength over the next few months.

What do you all do to strengthen your horse and build topline muscle mass?

As Promised...

Oh, yeah!

As promised, we are showing off our brand new leather halter that we won in Lauren's blog contest: http://www.shemovedtotexas.com/horze-halter-giveaway/

Do we look professional now, or what?
I think it's hard for people to get beyond her color, sometimes... ;)

I am SO PROUD of this HORSE!

Champion Breed Award - Arabian at the National Dressage Pony Cup and so much more!

What a long and exciting weekend!
The venue was amazing, the people were outstanding, the ponies were to die for, and we all want to go back!

Scores and placings have been posted to the RSA Talk ofthe Street page.  I'm sure we will explore the details further, but here is the overview and highlights:

Fancy Pony is a ROCK STAR!

National Dressage Pony Cup Reserve Champion Intro Level Pony (AA)
Breed Award - Champion Arabian Pony
We now have a QUALIFYING SCORE for Arabian Sport Horse Regional Championships!

Fancy Pony is braided and ready for some excitement!

She didn't care that we drove 10 hours to get to the show...  She was just the same as always!

she tried to eat the sponge?

She loved watching the horses at the Kentucky Horse park!  Who wouldn't want to live there?

official, card-carrying pony!

We have a Permanent Pony card, now!

we really did it!

She really takes me breath away!

Fancy Pony trots fancy!

More photos and stories to come!

On The Road Again...

We head out in the morning.  Destination: Kentucky Horse Park!!

National Dressage Pony Cup, here we come!  I am so excited, I can't contain myself!  I've never travelled this far for a show before.  Do you think Fancy Pony will notice how far away we are going?  or will she just treat it like another ho-hum outing?  Will we WOW the world?  Maybe not, but I expect we'll put in a good showing, nonetheless!

Wish us luck!
I'll give a full report when we return!




Go Pony Power!

 PS - We won a new leather halter!  Thanks so much, Lauren!
http://www.shemovedtotexas.com/horze-halter-giveaway-winner
http://www.horze.com/

Gus is a fun guy. Or not.

As the heat has increased, I have noticed how humid our tack room stays. And how the still air never circulates.


I was worried about my saddles. It never occurred to me to be worried about my riding gloves!

what exactly is this reaction to my riding gloves?

So, one day, I noticed a reaction on one of my hands.  After riding the next day, it was worse!

Cat Scan! ;)

Suddenly, the trend set in. I ride in my gloves, I get a rash/reaction/thing. So, I decided to try riding without my gloves.


Oops. I should have known better.

Duh!  Riding with gloves all the time = no protective calluses...

I finally dug up an old pair of crochet-back gloves.  I am spraying Tinactin Powder Spray in my leather gloves.  I am also treating my hand with Tinactin twice a day.  It seems to be helping.

less angry-looking

I’ll avoid riding in my leather gloves until it quits being so hot and humid.

Gus, feel free to depart my presence and do not return to haunt me!

We want to win a halter!

So, I entered to win a new leather halter for the Psycho Mare!
You can enter here: http://www.shemovedtotexas.com/

As you can see, we don't currently look the part of Seriously Fancy Dressage-and-Eventing Pony.

...And we would like to change that!

We think a brand new leather halter will help us pull off the look we want!

Progress?

We finally had a lesson with DQ after our massage. She could see the difference, too!


In our lessons, we have been working on the most basic basics, so our lesson looks like the endless 20-meter circle around the instructor. The connection at trot was so consistent this time that we moved on to riding the long sides and long diagonals! Hooray!

Again, she gave me more canter to work with, but she is just not accepting the outside aids. To set us up for success, DQ had us start with a little bit of haunches in then make the canter transition from the walk. We made progress in explaining to Psycho Mare that we want her to accept the outside aids. In true Psycho mare fashion, however, she stepped into counter-canter. Kudos for me, as I have been riding this mare consistently enough that I could tell DQ exactly *why* she was picking up the wrong lead. Regardless, we made more canter progress than we had made in a little while. At least this time she maintained the gait long enough for DQ to see what evasions she normally throws at me when we are working in general.

At the end of the lesson, we discussed my ‘homework’ (I always ask for homework). We have instructions to work on leg-yield in earnest! She also advised 15-meter canter circles and more haunches in.

She looks so excited about it, doesn't she?

Psycho Mare has really been relaxing into my massaging efforts!  Her head gets droopy…  Her eyes get sleepy looking… She sways in time with my massage strokes!  MT advised DMSO with my massage efforts, and she seems to have accepted it pretty well.  She had reacted a little to Absorbine, so I’ve been experimenting with other stuff.  Bigel Oil went over nicely, but she REALLY seemed to like the Equi-Spa Cool Muscle Wash!

let's get some muscle on this butt!

I'm interested to document any changes we get over the next severl months.  Hope you enjoy butt shots!

just relaxing - we don't work hard ALL the time!