Short dressage school last night; started out not great and progressed to decent, which I’ll take.

Upping the Pentosan frequency was the right decision; he was much more laterally supple than this time last week, and the hopping in the trot into canter was virtually gone.

Only about 35 minutes: 15 minute walk warmup with leg yields & shoulder-in, then 15 minutes of trot/canter work. The idea was to get him forward and through and the trot had some nice moments. The canter never really got unstuck but it is still lightyears better than before the training rides, so I’ll take it.

I was hanging on to his face waaaaaay too much, and had to keep reminding myself to release. I was sad and frustrated at how much better he went when I sank deeper into my seat & stirrups and stopped flapping my legs around. I need my own fitness back to help him go better.

Today’s plan was to hack around the fields, but they are predicting severe thunderstorms complete with hail, etc. Many places are canceling outside activities starting at noon. We’ll see what it looks like, but tonight might be a quiet one at home. I’m setting a new rule about not schooling in the indoor two days in a row; it’s too nice outside and he gets too sour too quickly.

Vet scheduled for next Wednesday. Not sure how I’m going to pay for it yet – but I’ll figure something out.

Until last week, this was the only fly mask Tristan has ever worn.

It has held up through eight years: games of halter tag, rainstorms, endless rolls, six barns, countless different turnouts. It has been retrieved from mud and puddles and knee-high grass and once, when he had an eye funkiness going on, snow.

It’s a Wrangler Fly Mask, and had I my choice, I would never buy another kind. I bought it almost by accident at first. I wanted something with a better edging over the nose, since it hits exactly at his halter scar, and this has a line of nicely stitched neoprene at the nose.

I had bought a replacement for it years ago because I loved how well it held up. They were not easy to find even a few years ago, and given that a Google search now turns up only some scattered Ebay listings, they’re no longer made.

I rode out one last time to find this one, and located it quickly in the tall grass, but upon picking it up and examining it, realized it was probably time to retire.

I won’t throw it away, because I have Issues, but it’s no longer in active use.

Rest in peace, best fly mask ever.

I think I mentioned in an aside a few days ago that we were on foal watch. (I mean “we” in the most general sense; my only contribution to the effort was chatting with some people as they set up their cots and eating their M&Ms.)

Baby was born early on Tuesday morning. Mom is a large, big-boned mare – I believe Warmblood of some type. (Either that or one of the heavier TBs.) Dad is UB-40.

Baby will be faaaaaaancy! Here he is at 12 hours old.

Tristan is officially on strike against going back in to full time work. Last night was fitness work: 10 minutes walk warmup, 8 minutes trot + canter warmup. Nothing more accomplished than FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HORSE MOVE YOUR FEET. Not even really that accomplished.

Then we progressed to our trot sets: two sets of round, deep trot for 6 minutes each, interspersed with hill walking. Trotting up and down the gentler of the hills we have. Then a long, slow canter up part of the hayfield hill – I timed it, and it’s 45 seconds for the short segment of it that we usually do. If I can bribe someone to mow down further I can easily double that and it would be a really good canter stretch. For the first time in a while, he was still strong at the top of the hill, though puffing quite a bit.

I think it’s about 50/50 “don’t wanna” and “stiff and tired.” For the former, nothing to do but keep on kicking, keep on pushing him through. Keep adding fitness so it comes easier.

For the latter, I’m going to bump his Pentosan up to every 3 weeks. That was always the option in hand; I think it’s not at all uncommon for some horses to go through it faster than monthly. It’s cheap, available, and it makes a difference for him. Easy call.

He’s also not coping terribly well with the heat, which is interesting. It’s not something I would have expected of him, considering he grew up in the desert. It could be a side effect of ageing; it could be the long winter. It seems to be mostly showing up in his breathing, which is recovering fine but getting labored sooner than I would have thought, and he’s coughing more than usual in the warmup. It has been awfully humid for Vermont, so it could be that. Something to keep an eye on.

Tonight, he’ll get the night off; tomorrow, a long hack out. Saturday might do a dressage school (fiance and puppy are out of town, whoooo!), Sunday a long hack and tack cleaning.

Most exciting: as of today, the barn is officially on FOAL WATCH! Mare’s projected due date is July 17 but she is starting to look like she could go any day now. Mom is a big Warmblood-y thing, dad is UB-40. (Between you and me, we are hoping dad contributes a smaller size + general refinement, whew.)

I’ll be honest: the first ride in our new summer program was, quite frankly, not a lot of fun at all. It was muggy and hot and Tristan was not interested in playing.

He was so, so painfully behind the leg when we got started, and every time I put my leg on opted instead for a hopping, half-bucking, disjointed canter. I left the reins long and loose and kicked harder.

It will surprise exactly no one that he took immediate advantage of that and threw his head down and arched his back. I had a brief moment of “ohshitwhathaveidone” and then sat two or three of the best bucks he’s thrown in quite some time before I could snatch the reins back.

After that, he lost his loose rein warmup privileges and I put him in boot camp. It was one of those gritted-teeth, wet saddle pad rides. I was actually pleased at the way it ended, with some really lovely canter work and one or two very good transitions.

We finished with a walk around the fields and a trot/canter up the hayfield hill, then a bit of a hose off and some hand grazing.

Tonight: fitness work. Trot sets. Yaaaay.

I have ever so many blog updates planned and written in my head, you guys. Things are happening, albeit slowly and sporadically!

Short version:

– training rides continue to be awesome

– hacked Tristan out on Sunday with some trot sets included and he was tired and awesome

– Arya (puppy) had her first extended visit to the barn on Monday, about 2.5 hours, and she was a rock star who slept like the dead after coming home. Win-win!

– I am starting to believe there’s a life after Expo (my work event). Said life includes GMHA member days, volunteering at other events, and a polo clinic (!).

Now, if I can just make it to the end of June…

I have zero plans to write about wedding planning on this blog (for one thing, reading about me planning a wedding would be even less interesting than reading me writing about paint dry), BUT.

Wedding cake perfection, amirite?

I got engaged last week. Yay! Not a huge surprise (have been with the boyfriend 5+ years now) but still a happy thing. I was chatting with a friend over the weekend about wedding registries and confessed that I have no clue what to register for. I have every kitchen gadget known to man already. I’m not terribly excited at the idea of matching guest towels. So now I am wondering: registering for horse stuff, kosher or not? Can I surreptitiously slip my Smartpak wishlist in with the invitations? (okay, fine, I wouldn’t really do that, but it does seem like a waste of a gift-giving opportunity if I don’t ask for something horsey…)

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeee!

I spent a little bit of time cleaning out my stuff in the tack room yesterday, and finally got around to taking a picture of this grooming box. It belongs to a young girl who leases an Appy cross.