I've said before how I'm pretty sure Siaga is a gift from above, a being meant to move through life with me. He's been in many near-death situations, including apparent starvation, several bouts of colic, and a near run-in with long wood splinters from a tree struck by lightning.
Last night was different. Last night I wasn't there.
I had to work 12:30 to 9pm at Walmart. About 4:30 or so I had my lunch break and went to sit in my jeep and watch the storm roll in. I went inside before it started pouring.
When I got home dad was waiting outside, and informed me of all of the following: First, we have no power, so if Siaga needs water, you'll have to haul it from the neighbors pond. Second, we hope you have hay in the jeep because there's none in the barn (I had hay.) Third, two trees fell in your paddock. Siaga was outside.
These two trees fell in such a way that Siaga was trapped in a little tiny area, unable to get out of the rain and into the barn. One of the branches went through the roof over the stall (which is sheet metal, basically) and looking at that long spear of a branch, I can't help but think how easily that could have been Siaga. Thanks to my brother and my dad, they got most of the trees trunks out of the paddock and temporarily fixed up the fence.
Siaga is completely, totally, one hundred percent whole, entire, and ok. Not even a scratch.
My dog... on the other hand... got a fish hook stuck in his bottom lip last night and without electricity to see it well, we couldn't remove it, so he got to go to the vet this morning. He's still recovering from the tranq. But he's ok. :)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
So Glad
I'm super glad that when I took the opportunity to buy Siaga a new saddle, that I bought a Wintec with the Easy Change gullet system. I only have the extra wide gullet for the saddle, which fit last fall, but it is now too wide since he lost top line condition through the winter. I just placed a bid on the wide size (red) gullet on Ebay, here's to hoping I'll win that.
I'm glad I only have to fork out $10-20 for a new gullet rather than several hundred for a new saddle. Besides, I'm really daggone fond of my saddle. It's certainly the most comfortable saddle I've ever put my bottom in!
For now, I'll double up my pads and use a regular square pad and the fleece pad to help protect his spine. The saddle appears to fit when it's just sitting on his back, even when I girth it down, but once I'm on there it squishes down almost to his withers.
But thankfully, not a big problem! Easy fix, hip hip hooray!
I'm glad I only have to fork out $10-20 for a new gullet rather than several hundred for a new saddle. Besides, I'm really daggone fond of my saddle. It's certainly the most comfortable saddle I've ever put my bottom in!
For now, I'll double up my pads and use a regular square pad and the fleece pad to help protect his spine. The saddle appears to fit when it's just sitting on his back, even when I girth it down, but once I'm on there it squishes down almost to his withers.
But thankfully, not a big problem! Easy fix, hip hip hooray!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Well...
Siaga and I went for a ride today. Instead of the normal routine, I took everything up to the barn and got him ready in the paddock and we rode around there after a lunge for a while, working on "whoa" and "go." And then we went for a while down the road.
Here is what I have learned today.
The good: Siaga will now usually whoa when I ask him to, and will usually stand still after that. Siaga also will usually turn direction with a shift of the reins of the reins and a press of the leg and a turn of the seat bones. Siaga will, almost without fail, start walking when I ask for it by walking my seat bones. These are all VERY wonderful things, and I can see in him a truly wonderful dressage horse in the making if we ever get over our fears.
The bad: Can we say... barn sour. Only he's sour for the yard, not the barn. He actually doesn't want to go back to the barn and pitches a fit if I try to ride him back to the barn. He just wants the yard with the grass. Sometimes he was ok, moving forward easily, stopping when asked, turning when asked, other times, he'd get himself stuck in reverse and back up in the ditch and try to turn around and I lost count of how many times I popped him with the riding crop. A few times I even got off and walked him through the sticky areas and remounted when we got past it. But there are so many deep ditches, and he through a fit by a bridge where the drop off is 5 or 6 feet, and it's just sooo dangerous.
I'm planning on getting him to the barn where I take my lessons (when I can afford them again) and having my instructor work with both of us at once.
He also has issues with standing still while I am mounting up, though I can actually mount from the ground in the dressage saddle now if I need to.
The ugly: He only works when he wants to, or when there is no grass to distract him, or when there is no barn or yard to run back to, or no dogs to scare him. UUUUGH.
He really is like riding a giant troll. lol.
Here is what I have learned today.
The good: Siaga will now usually whoa when I ask him to, and will usually stand still after that. Siaga also will usually turn direction with a shift of the reins of the reins and a press of the leg and a turn of the seat bones. Siaga will, almost without fail, start walking when I ask for it by walking my seat bones. These are all VERY wonderful things, and I can see in him a truly wonderful dressage horse in the making if we ever get over our fears.
The bad: Can we say... barn sour. Only he's sour for the yard, not the barn. He actually doesn't want to go back to the barn and pitches a fit if I try to ride him back to the barn. He just wants the yard with the grass. Sometimes he was ok, moving forward easily, stopping when asked, turning when asked, other times, he'd get himself stuck in reverse and back up in the ditch and try to turn around and I lost count of how many times I popped him with the riding crop. A few times I even got off and walked him through the sticky areas and remounted when we got past it. But there are so many deep ditches, and he through a fit by a bridge where the drop off is 5 or 6 feet, and it's just sooo dangerous.
I'm planning on getting him to the barn where I take my lessons (when I can afford them again) and having my instructor work with both of us at once.
He also has issues with standing still while I am mounting up, though I can actually mount from the ground in the dressage saddle now if I need to.
The ugly: He only works when he wants to, or when there is no grass to distract him, or when there is no barn or yard to run back to, or no dogs to scare him. UUUUGH.
He really is like riding a giant troll. lol.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
What the heck happened?
When I was fired from the barn, the horses there were still covered in winter fuzz. But... you could see they were still healthy. Their coats were shiny, if covered in mud, and they were spry and full of energy.
But today... that isn't the case. They have shed out, but they aren't shiny. None of them have much energy, some of them have big scrapes and cuts, one of the mares has cracks up the toes of her feet almost all the way to the coronet band, and hair rubbed entirely off of her face. Some of them are too skinny, some I can't even feel the ribs of. All of them were huddled in one of the shelters except for the one mare, instead of out grazing, and its not even a hot day.
Some had open fly bites on their legs and faces. The one mare, when she walked, looked stiff and in pain, taking short, stiff steps and only going a little way at a time. None of them seemed to have much energy except for the ponies, who seemed to be just fine.
I'm just really confused. What happened? :/ I mean, Siaga gets minimal care to ensure he is healthy and happy, because I'm limited on time and what I can do, but even though he's still a little skinny, his coat is shiny and gleams like the sun and he's full of piss and vinegar and just entirely LIVELY.
:/
But today... that isn't the case. They have shed out, but they aren't shiny. None of them have much energy, some of them have big scrapes and cuts, one of the mares has cracks up the toes of her feet almost all the way to the coronet band, and hair rubbed entirely off of her face. Some of them are too skinny, some I can't even feel the ribs of. All of them were huddled in one of the shelters except for the one mare, instead of out grazing, and its not even a hot day.
Some had open fly bites on their legs and faces. The one mare, when she walked, looked stiff and in pain, taking short, stiff steps and only going a little way at a time. None of them seemed to have much energy except for the ponies, who seemed to be just fine.
I'm just really confused. What happened? :/ I mean, Siaga gets minimal care to ensure he is healthy and happy, because I'm limited on time and what I can do, but even though he's still a little skinny, his coat is shiny and gleams like the sun and he's full of piss and vinegar and just entirely LIVELY.
:/
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