The Grass IS Green

Things have been so busy lately! I guess that is what happens every year in the spring.

The gash on Willows leg is starting to harden up. It is still pink and fleshy, but in the early process of scabbing. I was told by my trainer to go to the local feed store and get a product for cows with mastitis (utter inflamation) called Today. Evidently it is an antibiotic, so whenever you have a puncture type wound, it helps clean it out. It has worked wonders so far, compaired to any other ointment I have tried on this wound! I think she must have gotten stuck in a bunch of branches on the ground in the woods. She has a bunch of superficial scratches under her legs and hind end. How do these horses manage to get into trouble...!!

On the riding end of things...Last week the mares were in season, and crazy! Now all is well and back to normal. Willow has been making great progress. She now walks around the whole ring instead of standing by the out gate and throwing her neck up and down. She is starting to get it, and realized she can trust me. She going the directions I tell her to go without a fight. We are even walking cavaletti! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will start trotting. She is learning so fast! Maybe by the fall, we will canter, but that is as far as we will go this year. Her knees are still wide open, so nothing to extraordinary!

Here are some new pictures of Willow, showing how much weight she has gained since I have gotten her, and how great her coat looks. I will post pics of when I first got her this weekend so you can compare! Enjoy!

And here is a picture of Lilly last March for our first Hunter Trial. I just cam across them on my computer. She was so excited and ready to go! But she was also well behaved!

Mare's in Season

Well, all the mare's were crazy today....they are all in season.....together....... I got Willow out of the field, and cross tied her as usual.  She would not stand still what so ever, then all the mares started running from one end of the field to another.  When I was grooming her, and also trying to get a closer look at the kick marks all over her back legs, she kept trying to give me her "warning kicks".  (I now she is only 2, but the person I got her from should have worked on this with her, considering how big she will get!)  So I decided that I would not ride her today, however she would be lunged to get some of her energy out.  I had only about 20 minutes of lunging time with Willow, my lesson was starting earlier than usual.    

Lilly did pretty well during the lesson, however, my trainer and I could totally tell she was in season.  She was just acting up a bit, in many different ways.  Going to fast, spooking, bulking to the right between lines, but by the end of the lesson, she settled down and jumped the jumps perfectly.  We jumped the highest Lilly has jumped today...2'9".   It was no problem for her.  I wonder how high she will eventually jump?  She does have a lot of jump in her, especially how little she is.  

After I was done with Lilly, I got Willow out again to hose off her back legs.  Most of the kick marks were just superficial except for one.  It is a pretty deep cut, but nothing they could stitch.  I will keep hosing it and appling medication.  Hopefully we won't need any antibiotics!

I have noticed lately that the hoof supplement and hoof ointment I have been using on Willow has been working wonderfully.  The hoof ointment is called Effol made in Germany.  The supplement is from the local feed store, and is making my filly's coat shine!

Sunrise Over Hilltop

So I got to go to Pimlico yesterday. They open it to the public for 3 days before Preakness to watch the horses workout early morning. It was a rainy day, but well worth it!

After I watched a few horses that aren't in the Preakness work out, I turned around and saw crutches....Guess who that was! Mine that Bird's trainer, so the horse was about to step out on the track. He breezed by a few times and looked great! I also saw Pappa Clem train in the am, but those were the only horses in the Preakness that I got to see.

I walked around the track to where the stakes barn was, and there was news crews everywhere. They give tours thru the backside, but I didn't have time to wait since I wanted to ride Lilly before I had to go to work.

Once I got to the barn, I tacked Lilly up and went for a quick ride. We worked on bending and collecting. Can never have to much of that. We have also have been working on simple changes, hopefully soon we will get a flying....

Most of the mares were switched to the back field where there is plenty of grass so the regular mare's field could get a rest. Lilly was one who was kept in the old field :( Sometimes she can be hard to catch for some people, and we don't want her to founder on all that grass. The days that I go ride in the pm, she can go out with the rest of the mares because she always comes to me.

I have another long day at work tomorrow, but TGIS.....the weekend is almost here and I can go play in the mud!

Ramblings

The blacksmith didn't come today...So hopefully my girls will get trimmed on Friday.  Willow's feet really need it!

Tomorrow morning...early...I am going to Pimlico for Sunrise Over Hilltop.  They open up the track to the public to watch the horses train in the morning the three days before Preakness.  I try to do it every year. It's something everyone should do.  They provide drinks and pastries as well as give tours along the backside. News crews are there, parents with their kids, and old school horse people.  I love it.  I have never actually been to Preakness, but I think I might like the mornings even better because it is so intimate.  

Till tomorrow...

Almost Full Day at the Barn

So I actually had a full day I could spend at the barn, so I tried to get some things done. I went out in the field to get Lilly, since she would be the easy one, but guess who met me in the field...

It's Willow girl!  She seems so much happier since she first came to the barn.  She really does love to be around people.  I put her on the cross ties and had to take some more pics of her.  I love the ears she got from the Dutch Harness sire.

I wanted to get some deep cleaning done, and for the past few days noticed some gray roaning on her back leg.  When I got her she was pure black, and after she shed out a bit, she is more like a dark bay.  I wonder if she is going to gray out.  

I started working on her feathers....Goodness does she have feathers.  I took most of it off the front, but I left a little near her pastern because she hasn't perfected giving me her hoof.

I have been worried about the condition of her hooves.  She has been getting a hoof supplement for the past month.  Today I also got a new hoof ointment that I hear is pretty good called Effol from Germany.  It is made in the same factory that human cosmetics are made.  So it must have great ingredients in it.  I cleaned her hooves when we were finished and applied it to her hoof walls.

I lunged her for a bit.  She goes really well to the right (voice commands and all), but hates to go to the left.    She stops and turns on a dime and trots the other way.  I guess we have some work to do.  After lunging, I got on her for about the 6th time.  She is starting to listen to me a little more.  She will finally walk away from the gate.  She will stop as well as back up, but we still need to work on steering to where I want to go.  I am now on her back for about 15 minutes until she gets a little impatient.  

I rode Lilly for a bit working on bending and collecting, however my sore throat was getting worse and I needed to go to Patient First, so we didn't do any jumping.  Now that I have the new filly, I can see how far Lilly has come.  She is so smart and willing.  If only she could get over the ghosts that are in the woods next to the ring when the wind blows.  BOOO!

The farrier is coming tomorrow and I have to work at 11.  Lori, the barn manager said she would hold them, but my horses sometimes only behave for me.  I guess we will see what happens.