In retrospect, adding trot back in under saddle on a lesson night where there were a ton of other horses crowded into the covered arena was not the best decision I could have made. I don't think that ultimately I harmed our progress physically, but it did not give me the space mentally to do so. I can see that now that I have temporal distance.
Cassie's back though!
It also meant that I asked Chriss to ride Gwyn for our next session so I could also make sure that my judgement of the situation had more than one data point. I do not regret this because it gave both of us more information! Chriss says a lot that Gwyn and her gelding Quinn are very similar. They have the same kinds of evasions and conformation struggles. When she got onto Gwyn, she was able to confirm this thought and feel what I'm feeling and working against in the saddle.
Gwyn 'hleped' her organize.
The biggest thing we learned is that when I describe Gwyn as dropping her shoulder and falling in, it's actually her haunches that are forever trailing to the inside. The horse is not straight. Chriss immediately got to work on a boot camp session to straighten her out. Gwyn was
After this lesson, Chriss 'prescribed' a couple weeks of me really focusing on asking her to straighten her hind end and travel straight. In just the few rides I've had Gwyn has immediately picked up on me asking. I've not only been trying to correct her biomechanics here, but also my own. So asking with inside leg when I start to feel things shift out and if she ignores it, tapping her hip with a dressage whip.
After the intensive with Chriss, the next time I rode it still took a few times using the whip as a reminder, but she started correcting off of the leg first by the end of the ride. In my last ride, I barely touched her with the whip. It was amazing. She's traveling much straighter and requiring less reminders about it as well.
I also had a lesson with Emma and we worked on under saddle trot again and wow. Making sure Gwyn has impulsion to move forward is a current solution. She's really been offering a floaty trot when I get her straight, and using that haunches cue is now starting to transfer to the trot as well as the walk so she's carrying herself even better under saddle.
Today I had to be out for my appointment with my hoof trimmer so I opted to long line Gwyn prior to the appointment to get some brain work in for her, but also limber her body up prior to the appointment. Firstly, Gwyn was a spicy meatball. Wow. But also WOW. She cantered, not initially because I asked, and she was reaching underneath herself with her hind legs and not bunny hopping in the back end. She was reaching into contact on the lines at the walk and the trot. She looked FANTASTIC.
You guys, she held this stretchy trot for SEVERAL CIRCLES
When Corrie arrived we were back in the barn and decided to see how Gwyn did without hay as a distraction from her balance and her body. She was stable and balanced through the WHOLE trim. I'm so thrilled we're seeing progress in all these different areas. The rehab has really been great for the both of us.
Corrie keeps cookies in her pockets and Gwyn KNOWS
All the equine clients had to pose with the reindeer antlers
I'm tentatively penciling in show dates for 2023. I think we're heading into a really really good place.
Work was being stressful in September and with the change from summer to fall (you could smell the difference once day), I needed some forest time on horseback. I asked Cortney if she had plans and we were going to make a big day of things down south with another person who was just cleared to go back to riding.
Unfortunately, she couldn't make it after all, so rather than drive down to her, we adjusted for a more local ride. Cortney and Robin would come and meet me at Lord Hill Park. Robin had never been and given the forecast, it would be the most ideal spot for us.
We met at the south parking lot, which is a shared lot, and to my surprise, there were a ton of people! Usually that's due to an event at the park and this was no exception. Search and Rescue was practicing that day. The lot is big, so there was plenty of room for our two rigs.
Starting in the south lot means that you start at the bottom of Lord Hill and have to climb. The 'usual' horse lot is at the TOP of the hill. I do like starting from the bottom because the climb up is a nice leg stretcher.
The forest was nice and quiet. Robin and Cortney are always down for adventures so I was able to finally figure out where that trail went (that my barnmates were convinced was not a trail - it is)
Cortney rode her older mare, Splendid and ponied Reign. Reign has been changing so much that her saddles aren't fitting well. Hopefully the new saddle she ordered will be perfect! It arrives at the end of October!
We stuck mostly to the horse trail and had a good, quiet time in the woods. We encountered a few hikers, mostly near to the main parking lot.
I always feel like I'm in a fairy tale when I ride through here. The best part is, it mostly stays this green through winter.
The video I have below is from the section in the above few pictures. Just gorgeous!
We even found bones on a log, it looks like they were laid there by humans, but were not human in origin.
I was supposed to have a dressage lesson with Trainer E last wednesday but as I started warming up, one of the boarders went "Is Gwyn lame?"
I trotted a little bit more, and yep, things felt weird. I hopped off, had the boarder hop on and video'd so I could see what was going on and sure enough, Gwyn was just... wonky... in her hind end. There was definite uneveness but she also was perky and sassy and nothing was out of character.
There was no heat in either hoof or leg, but I think it's her SI again. Dressage lesson got cancelled. I lunged her to get more video just in case.
I went back out on Sunday, letting her have a few days to chill. A vet was already coming out to the barn so I snagged an appointment on that farm call. I'm thinking I'll also get a chiro out, or take her to Pilchuck for an appointment and maybe ask for a round of adequan and look into muscle or joint support. Argh.
Sunday, I pulled her out of the pasture and lunged immediately to see where she was and I got a fire breathing dragon...
She's a sassy asshole who then ripped the line from my hands and required some free lunging to be reminded that I decide when she gets to move faster or stop her feet from moving. I had bought some foam pads for the both of us to stand on for stabilization and I brought them with me to see what would happen. I know there are horse specific versions but I'm cheap so I just got two pads from amazon meant for humans and tossed a towel on top.
I think she liked standing on them and was swaying gently back and forth. I lunged her again, this time in long lines and she was stretching nicely, she seemed to have more even footfalls but I definitely noticed that she doesn't track under evenly at the walk and I can't remember which side is which. So one leg would plant down in front of the front hoof print while the other hind would land ON the front hoof print. I switched directions to see if it was the bend of a circle that was causing it and still found a similar pattern (i.e. it wasn't due to a leg being on the inside).
I did ride on Sunday but kept it short and simple. We worked on a lot of lateral bending and asking those hinds to step under her body and walked across ground poles at angles.
E suggested DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and I think that could be a possibility and the timeline does match up. So if you have any feed through suggestions I could add to her supplements, I welcome advice. Right now she's on Cal-Trace Plus and some garlic. She also gets timothy pellets and timothy hay. That's it.
Y'all, this ride was no joke. Check out that elevation mapping.
As I mentioned on Gwyn's birthday post, I had gone out to meet folks for a trail ride at Harry Osborne/Les Hilde. This is DNR land that's open for recreation since it's not built up (i.e. no park service amenities). There were pit toilets here that I diligently wiped down with lysol wipes before touching surfaces. Otherwise I was operating solely out of my trailer and not really contacting anyone else.
I need to join Backcountry Horsemen, at least to support them monetarily.
I met Cortney at the trailhead. It was about an hour and 15 minutes north of me, making it equidistant to travel either to Cortney's/Taylor Mountain or come here. That's not too bad. We were meeting up with a bunch of other endurance riders. Two (besides Cortney) I knew, one I didn't.
I could tell this day was going to well when two of my trail companions broke out their alcohol to sip from as we headed out from the trailhead. The day was warm and promised heat. Lots of people were out soaking in the vitamin D. Thankfully the parking lot was huge so we could distance, and also there's hundreds of miles of trails and we were the least casual group out there. We saw other riders twice, both back to back. And a few people on foot as we returned. Otherwise, we were alone in the woods and it was glorious.
Gwyn settled fairly quickly when we didn't do ANY trotting away from the trailers. She was very quickly working off of my seat half halt and I didn't have to hang on her face to keep her off of other horses.
This trail was SUPER rocky. Watch the video with the sound on for max effect. Gwyn just ate these stones and never had a wrong step. Good girl!
We popped in and out of dense evergreen forest and some deciduous as we climbed up in elevation. Occasionally we'd come out into recent clear cutting. This place is also used for logging and sometimes trails can be lost as a result. If rider groups work nicely with the loggers, often the loggers do make an effort to preserve the trails that are in place.
I was hoping, given the clear skies and how far north we were, that we could be treated to stunning views of Mt Baker. Unfortunately, terrain got in the way and we never had northeasterly views. Still stunning though.
That's Mt. Josephine just to the left of the rider ahead.
A beautiful stream where the horses drank their fill.
Everything was green and lush. We've had decent rain lately (and snow in the higher elevations, good for reducing fire risk) and the spring growth was rampant. We're further along in our spring growth than typical northern states and the forest was filling in well.
We passed a picnic area with tables and a firepit. The trees looked like they would be good for hi tying, but no camping is allowed out here. Soon after this, we started the switchback climb.
Serious switchbacks up the mountain
Gwyn pulled her usual "I'mma take care of myself" on this ride" so I kept her to the back on the bigger climbs as the day progressed. She would pause, catch her breath, and continue on. I do wonder if she's smart enough to do this so there could be some distance and she could power up the hill in a trot without running into the other horses.
At the end of the switchbacks, we hit our lunch spot. It was beautiful. We tied or hobbled the horses and they greedily ate up the grass.
I do find the saturation difference interesting between my cell phone (above) and the go pro (below)
Some of my gear set up.
I tied Gwyn to a sapling and ended up having to tie her to multiple saplings because she was just pulling the lone one over as she grazed. Mare gave no fucks about it though and was content to chomp on grass. I might figure out hobbling. She'd probably like it more.
We had all packed food and lots of water. We took our time here, resting.
After lunch and pee breaks it was onward and more climbing.
Trails alternated between logging roads and single track. There are no motorized vehicles allowed out here (unless for logging) and we were deep into the trail system at this point. There was no road noise and it was just glorious.
Cortney had brought her dog, Kara, who at one point went bounding after something in the woods. One of my companions, Isabela, thought she saw a bear in the woods and adrenaline started to rush in until it became a little more clear that the bear was actually an elk and that's what Kara was chasing. But phew!
Some serious climb that I was hoping we wouldn't have to come back down. Ha. Ha.
The path veered up. It was amazing. And I had a powerful mare who bounded up. Have the video because it was thrilling to ride.
Not long after this we found the trail blocked by some downed trees. This then led to us trying to find the trail... and we did! Isabela and Robin scouted off and up into the woods. Soon after they called down. Isabela had found the trail! So we picked our way through the soft ground and fallen logs to join them.
Then there was more climbing, most of which was a stream. And finally I think Gwyn just had enough. There was a bigger step, she tripped and went down and I rolled over her shoulder. Because of the steepness, I actually didn't have far to land... But at that point I opted to stay off her for a bit and start walking back down on foot, since it seemed like the trail wasn't actually going to connect anywhere and I was worried about pushing Gwyn too far and getting either of us injured.
The rest of the group ventured up a little more and found the snow line. Meanwhile, Gwyn and I practiced tailing down the mountain and stepping carefully when the human goes first. As the rest of the group caught up, I got this hilarious picture of Gwyn tilting her head to try and catch the sound of the group above us.
Mom, I swear I'm feeling better.
I eventually reached the part where we had to go off trail and we rested there. Gwyn peed and seemed to immediately relax. I felt good about my decision to hang back.
From there we retraced our steps. Eventually I remounted and we did go down that super steep portion of trail which didn't feel so bad after what we'd been doing, lol.
The views were still incredible and I realized that we were able to see all the way to the Olympic Peninsula. It was hazy, but present. That's near 100 miles of visibility.
As we made our way down further, Reign continued to just have a fit. Cortney was speculating that the crupper was engaging quite a bit given the steep descents we were traversing and she was getting upset.
So this happened:
Cute little waterfall stream
We traversed the switchbacks down with Gwyn in the lead who suddenly was not tired. She had a ground eating walk as we descended, often leaving the Arabians behind her.
We took a slightly more direct route back to the parking lot, drinking once more at a stream along the way where I tested out my sponge leash and cooled Gwyn's neck a bit. Our rigs were the last in the lot, a striking difference from 6 hours earlier when there was limited socially distant parking left.
I had prepped some alfalfa mash for Gwyn to have as a post ride snack/rehydrator and she dug in greedily. We'd all brought enough water to sponge. I also did a short liniment bath for Gwyn and the warmth of the day was still strong enough that she was dry before I ever loaded her, smelling minty and feeling soft.
I poulticed her legs and loaded her up. We stopped in town for take out burgers. I had an elk burger and it was the most delicious thing ever, though that could be the heat and exertion talking. But seriously, delicious. From there, to the barn to unload, and then home after that.
Apparently, the next morning when Gwyn was turned out, she walked sedately to her pile of hay, rather than her usual exuberant leaping. It was a good day.
