White Zin

I have finally decided that this week is my week. Screw the rest of the world. I will get caught up on laundry, contain the giant plant out front, and relax. I, as mentioned before, am not even to go see Dodge. I kinda miss her right now to be honest, since I have been out there pretty much every other day since I got her. I will not break down. Haha!

I have a glass of white zin right now that I'm sipping on. I'm in bliss. I went food shopping tonight and stocked up on everything we need for the next month, well hopefully. I know I've probably forgotten something.

So if you don't see a new post that is why.

Progress, kinda

On Friday I had in my mind I was going to ride Dodge and so I did. I didn't have a goal in mind I just wanted to hop on and see what happened. I rode in the round pen for my sake and hers. Couple things I noticed:

1.) She does not have a good stop
2.) She thinks its go time the second you hop on
3.) She is a great mover and needs a strong rider.
4.) She is a very strong willed horse.

Things I need to work on with her:

1.) The stop
2.) standing still until I ask for movement


I was quite suprised with myself that I stayed on and rode as well as I did. Granted we only went in a circle, but she had some rough bouts and some lopes and smooth gaits in there. I wasn't asking for anything really, just seeing what happened.

I am going out in a week and we're going to work on stop. I think I can do this in a week with her. Basically, next week I'll go out and saddle, go into the round pen, and work on it. I am not going to be pulling on the bit, that is stupid. I plan on being out there for an hour or two each time. My goal for day one is get a stop in. That's it. I have a feeling it is going to take awhile. I plan on letting her do her thang in circles like she does. I will "quit" riding and see what happens. I'll keep her in a circle, but I won't be active in it. When she stops when I quit riding I'll praise her and let her have her head for grazing, peering over the fence, talking to her buddies, or just getting her mind off of moving for 10 minutes or so.

When I hit it out there again I'll work on producing the woah with the riding quit and then eventually the rein pull. I'll keep her in a circle, when she loses the circle she loses her attention on me I've noticed. That is not what I want.

After woah we'll work on walk, right now she needs to stop.

No riding last night

Trust me I really wanted to, but it was hot. Stupid hot. I was sweating standing still, so I know Dodge had to be hot.

Her hooves were done on Tuesday and look great! I am happy to report that the foot with no frog in March now has a large healthy looking frog! I felt bad making my BO hold Dodge for the farrier, but since I work in the daytime she offered to do it for me. She said Dodge was awesome and that she wished every horse was that easy. She said Dodge almost fell asleep throughout the procedure. Haha!

I want to do something nice for the BO. She really is being beyond helpful, to the point that I am not paying her to do some things. Like hold Dodge for the farrier, give me semi lessons when we ride, spend 30 minutes yesterday helping me find a blanket size for Dodge. I mean its all these little things that are above and beyond what I expected out of a boarding stable. I think I may get her a 50 dollar gift card to SSTack or Jeffers, the two places I know she shops the most. I don't want to get her a useless gift, so I think a gift card will suffice.

I like her a lot. I ask her a TON of questions and she always comes back with an answer for me and lets me get some insight on how she does things to make it easier. The walking Dodge out with me to show me how to correctly use a stud chain on Dodge? The sitting around just to watch me for days while I worked with Dodge and the herdiness to make sure that I wasn't making confusing cues? The helping me with my bit usage on Dodge, while we rode, to not confuse my mare with the direct rein versus my normal indirect rein.

I thought I would be moving Dodge to another stable in the fall, just use this place as a halfway point for her to gain some weight. Now I know that I won't move her till I move tot he farm and can house Dodge at my own house. So Dodge is going to be at this place for a while.

Training wise, Dodge has come so far in what seems like so little time! The best feeling ever was when instead of not paying a lick of attention to me a few weeks back when in the stall for feed, she now turns around and faces me with her ears pricked. She walks to me now and watches everything I'm doing. I even led her without the stud chain yesterday!

The only thing that has a slight concern on me is yesterday she was not in teh mood to be caught. She was really agitated, which isn't really like her. After catching she was a little sweaty, which was odd as none of the other horses were. Like dried sweat. I don't know. I'm going out there tonight, so I will look her over then. It could be nothing though, never know.

Oh well, I need to get a shower so I can go to work!

Long week thus far

I have so many pictures to post yet just haven't gotten that far. .....


Shadow has been at the vet since Monday. Poor old dog got kicked by a cow and we were just sure her leg was broken. Turns out not broken at all but the leg was just really swollen and painful. She is home now, the vet wanted to keep her on cage rest until today, which is good because I had a blood panel done on her to see if anything odd was going on in her since she is so old. Vet said that was clear too! So 330 bucks later, Shadow has a clean bill of health, little swelling left, perscription drugs for swelling, and a very happy husband that she is home.


Dodge is doing much better! Apparently she got trimmed yesterday, thank god. I was starting to hate looking at her feet. I rode her on Monday and she is getting much better. We actually made it the entire loop this time around the trail instead of halfway before she started freaking out. I like the feel of the English bit in her mouth. I am getting used to keeping such a tight rein on her, but she is responding to it. Not neck reining is really hard, I caught myself trying to do it twice and it just confuses her. Must stick to direct reining.

I ordered a used curb bit so hopefully by the time it gets here Dodge will either be greatly improved on the o-ring or in great need of the curb. Either or.

Dodges Progression shots

I'm pretty sure at this point, the pictures speak for themselves.....



Today:







Her move:







A couple months in:






When I first got her:




These pics are from March until this last week. She looks amazing and totally different. Love. Her. To. Death.

I will get pictures....

I hope to have lots of pics posted next Monday... I know a long time but there are alot of pics that I want to post! I need to organize them accordingly.

Dodge:

I am going to take alot of pictures of saddeling tomm. So that there is some sort of timeline of things. I'm also going to dig out her first pictures and give a timeline that way. She has gained SO much weight! It's been an amazing journey and she is the most awesome first horse. She really is, I'm learning so much from her!

On Monday I wanted to ride her and that was my full intention, I'd hadn't ridden since our last "first" ride. So I go to catch her out of the feild and I notice some blood on her hind end. I didn't think too much about it and put her in the stall to grain her and do a groom. Turns out she had a rip on her vagina. How in the hell?

I got the BO and asked her if she noticed the rip and she said she hadn't. Which makes sense because it was still bleeding so it was fresh. Me and her both kinda freak out, start washing the area off and make a frantic call into the vet. The vet said there really isn't much to do just watch the area, keep it as clean as you can and then wait for it to heal.

I went back out on Tuesday and it was healing just fine! I rinsed the area and put a healthy dose of Furazone on it and turned her out. Hopefully when I get out there tomm, it will be almost completely healed and I will go riding! Hopefully.... She seems to heal really quickly from things.

On Tuesday she also got her teeth done for the first time! She was sedated as we weren't sure what to expect from her, but it was a light sedation. She was awesome. Everything worked out really really well. Hopefully she'll get that last bit of weight she needs on her.

Last thing she now needs is a farrier. I'm waiting on another horse at the barn to get her feet done and I'll throw Dodge into the farrier mix. Her feet are long but still look "ok". If I can't get them done by next week I'll start calling farriers, it does make me nervous to have her hooves growing out. Her frogs though, look really healthy and she just has a teeny bit of thrush left.

That is the Dodge update!

It's been almost a week!

... since the last time I posted anything! And I have pictures! .... but not uploaded. FAIL.

Anywho, let me get the recipes up first!

Fried Green Tomatoes:

1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Green tomatoes
Spices
Oil for frying
Red pepper aoili

Mix the spices, corn meal, and flour together in a large flat pan. Whisk eggs and milk together in a bowl. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a deep wide saucepan. Dip sliced tomatoes in the flour mix, then egg mix, then back in flour mix and fry till golden. Drain on paper towels. (note: I kinda go heavy on salt with these as compared to my normal recipes) Plate and drizzled with the aoili.

Red Pepper Aoili:

1 large red bell pepper
1 egg yolk
Olive oil
Dash of cayenne, paprika, and salt
1-3 garlic cloves
2 wedges of lemon, juiced

Roast the bell pepper in two halves under the broiler until blackened. Place in a zip baggy and throw in the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove and peel the blackened skin off the peppers and pull out the seeds. Place the skinned pepper in a food processor. Add the egg, spices, lemon juice, and garlic and process until blended. With the processor running at low speed slowly drizzle in olive oil. Just a tiny bit at a time until the mixture thickens. Reserve in the fridge for topping for tomatoes.

Rosemary Cornish Game Hens:

Preheat the oven to 400F. Rinse the hens in cool water and pat to dry. Chop up a large amount of fresh rosemary and garlic. Place 1/2 stick (1/2 per 4 hens) of room temp butter in a bowl and add in the rosemary garlic mix, stirring well. Rub this mix all over the hens and make sure to get some under the skin. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until a meat therm comes back at 160F in the thick thigh area. Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes.

Roasted Onion and Fennel Mashed Potatoes

1 med onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, core removed and chopped
2-3 tabls butter
1/2 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
1-2 cloves garlic
4-5 potatoes


In a large saucepan heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add fennel and onion to the saucepan and walk away. Chop the potatoes and add to a large pot of boiling water along with he garlic. Cook until tender, drain. Watch the fennel mix until it starts to brown and caramelize. Begin turning with a pair of tongs every few minutes to ensure even browning. Once the onions and fennel are soft, remove from the heat and add to a large food processor. Add the potatoes and remaining ingredients to the processor and process until smooth. Adjust milk until it reaches desired consistency.

To plate:

Take each hen and cut in half. Place potatoes in middle of plate and put each half side by side on top of the mashed potatoes. Garnish and serve!



The pastry cream I don't remember 100% so I will have to look that one up later. It's the only dish I didn't get a picture of though....

We Rode!!!!

The BO showed up last night and asked if I wanted to try to ride with her for a few minutes to see how Dodge is coming along. I said sure!

The BO rode Kash and he is so good and calm on the trail. Dodge did amazingly well! I'm not going to say she was perfect, she was not, but a lot better than I could have expected her to be. Her ears were pointed forward the entire time, which I like them to be in a more relaxed position, she at least wasn't in a pinned back upset frame.

She stood still for the saddling and still for me to hop up on her. The saddle pad moved back again, I'm not sure what I'm going to do there. It is brand new pad so I will use it a few more times to decide, then chuck it if it doesn't stay where I want it to. Anywho, so I hop up on her and she starts playing games almost immediately..... she ran me into the barn. While I'm trying to get my bearings on her she is running off. Oh Dodge.

The BO helped me back her and turn her around. Dodge had two options here, to run back to the barn or run out forward, she was trying to do both. Kash comes up behind us and I cluck Dodge forward. She went forward with some ease, trying to turn around a few times on me. As long as I kept her forward movement going she was fine, just needed a few corrections. She kept trying to break into a canter and I had to keep her at a trot, but the whole ride went well I thought.

Near the end her buddies were screaming in the pasture and it made Dodge instantly dumb. I had to jump down and walk her back. I would have rode it, but I didn't have my helmet on me and my brain is slightly important to me, so I would much rather walk than actively fight her.

I'm hoping to do this a couple times a week to get Dodge used to being ridden and get her used to going out on the trails. She isn't exactly attached to Kash, so it does make it a little harder with her to keep her under control. I would say she is NOT a beginners horse at all. If somebody would have given me her when I first started lessons I would have left the barn crying. I am questioning putting Joe on her, but she could settle down and be calm with time. I would say she is more of an intermediate or beyond that at the moment. Only because she needs firm consistent training.

I noticed a few things about the new bit, I think the bit is fine. She isn't trying to pull through it, does well on a direct rein, and will stop with enough force applied. (I don't like to do that but at the moment she needs it. More groundwork with woah is needed) I want to switch to indirect reining but right now its more important to me to know that she is going to move out without flipping out, than it is to focus on reining methods.

All in all, im very optimistic about riding her next week. Probably won't be able to get out there till Sunday or Monday due to work and blah blah blah, but I can't wait!

So much going on!

Dodge:

I haven't worked with her since Saturday. Sunday I spent the day with the hubby lounging around being totally lazy with him. Really cleaning the house, but laziness and lots of 10 minute breaks ensued. Anywho, Monday I went out and it rained and rained and rained. The only positive thing about it was she is paying attention to me now and walking up to me. Where as before she really didn't give a shit what I was doing as long as I left her alone.

I am going back out today, since her attitude improved so much last week I think I am going to saddle, lunge, and then maybe take a short ride. Her woah is much better and so is her walk. As long as I can keep her under control and give her precise commands I think we might be ok. The BO mentioned she wants to ride so we may go out together.

Dodge's feet need to be done again. Their starting to chip a little. I am assuming this is just normal wear and tear on hooves when they run around all the time. Her hooves are aslo going to take a year to grow out into the new ones. The old ones are kinda soft from the conditions she was in and have a TON of fever lines on them. The new growth feels good on her though, so I am hoping that is positive!

My BIL is also picking up her vaccine for Rhino on Friday for me. Bless his little soul. I was going to order it online, but after shipping, it was the same amount to just have him pick it up. Then I can ensure that it stays cold.

Next week Dodge also gets her first dental! I am hoping after this is done that she puts on even more weight because she can now eat properly. I need to pick up another bag of grain... remind myself...

Saturday:

I am soooooooo excited! I am going to go to work Sat morning, then I get off at 3:30pm. I am making dinner for Joe's brother and his friend! Check this menu out:

First course:

Fried Green Tomato's with red pepper aoli

Second course:

Pan seared Fennell scented duck with garlic mashed potato's and a pinot noir sauce

Dessert:

puff pastry with strawberries and pastry cream

How effing yum does all that sound? As usual, for these dinners, I will post the full thing here. Just for reference, this whole dinner will start technically tomm night. I am also making a loaf of my ever famous homemade bread. That will start on Friday night.

Anywho, here is the layout for this meal in steps:

Tonight:

Buy the duck breasts, fennel, pinot noir, puff pastry, strawberries, fennel seeds, heavy whipping cream, eggs, and whatever else that I need for this meal. I have flour, yeast, potato's, garlic, green maters, and ext already at home.

Thursday:

Prepare the puff pastry, wrap between paper towels and keep in microwave until Sat. Prepare pastry cream and set in fridge until Sat. Make the red pepper aoli.

Friday:

Prepare the duck and place in marinade. Start the bread and put biga in fridge for a long slow rise for developed flavor.

Saturday:

Is a put together. First course will need to be done first, obviously. Pick the tomato's and then fry. Drizzle with the aoli and bam!

The deserts will be put together first, before the first course, those will have detailed instructions but will go in desert bowls.

The bread follows since that is the second longest thing to be completed. I will probably have Joe take it out of the fridge about 2pm to give it two hours to come to room temp, so when I get home I can start that.

Thent he taters go on the stove and the duck begins to be prepared. After this its all easy, since I will have the deserts done, the bread is simple, and the maters will have already been made.

Fancy establishment here I come!

PS: there will be pictures!

Yesterday another near perfect lesson!

Had another great time with Dodge yesterday! I am going to leave her alone for today and I'll be out tomm to go over some things again. Her ground work is coming along great! It's amazing what one week of consistent work will do. She is no longer bumping into me, she is listening to me, she doesn't try to figure out how to run off, and she isn't sweating when I take her out of the pasture anymore! Woot!

She is also standing still while tied. We still have a little more to go, but she isn't dancing around or looking to get away! I even tied her and walked away to get something out of the tack room and she was still calmly standing when I got back.

I may try to lunge her tomm. May. We'll see how that goes. I will probably take her up to the roundpen with the lunge line and let her go. The lunge line will help me keep control of her if she decides to run into fences, but her demeanor the last few days has clued me in otherwise.

I'm also pretty certain I can loose the stud chain in another week. I do feel bad about one thing with the chain, it cut her chin. :( Yesterday when we were leading a dog ran next to her and made her jump then try to rear. It caused the chain to dig in a little into her cheek. I'll route the chain over her nose until that heals. Hopefully I won't need the chain after next week.

I also put the bridle on her yesterday. She was being so calm that I decided to test the waters a little. The bridle fits perfectly! The bit fits just as well! She chomped on the bit for a second and then calmed right down. Standing like an angel for me. She may be almost ready to ride. Need to saddle her a few times beforehand. I just want to make sure she is not going to act like a fool and I want to show her that every time she is saddled that she doesn't have to work. (in the start anywho)

I might be able to do the first ride with the BO. Which would be perfect because her horses are pretty calm. It would help Dodge mellow out. Then I'll need to break her of trail buddies, but I have to start somewhere. Haha.

Forward!

Dodge did SO much better yesterday! The barn owner suggested on Monday that I need to start the training in the field as opposed to once I get out. Dodge got the chain the second I haltered her and I was there to do business at that point, not be her friend. I then practiced walking her out of the barn then back in the barn, out of the barn, back in the barn. Ever so slowly increasing the distance and direction I was going with her. If we stopped and she stood for me, then I would take her back into the barn.

She was CALM. There are still some kinks to be worked out, it's not over yet, but I have such a better feeling about tonight that I can hardly describe it in words.

Relief? That sounds about right. Once we were in the barn we practiced "back" alot. I also stole an idea from Mugwump and started giving her pressure. I would ask for "right" and put my thumb on her side. 1,2,3 training method and after about the third time of hard pressing into her side she would just start passing to the right upon my thumb being there. This action had a two-fold reaction from Dodge. 1.) She started moving to the right 2.) She stayed out of my space the entire time

That's right people, she didn't try to run me over!!!!

She also started to anticipate the chain. I think I've gotten good at popping her with it and releasing. The barn owner made the comment to follow her head and give her short quick pops. I think I have got it with a few kinks left in it. When we were walking away Dodge would start to move faster and when she got so far ahead she would throw her head up and slow down. I hadn't even popped her yet but she was understanding what the action would be for her moving so far ahead.

I call this progress. Today's lesson is going to be a repeat of yesterday's lesson. My sweet sweet Dodge is coming back to me! I think. I could go out today and have Mrs. Nutface on my hands again.

If she is doing this well by Saturday next week I may start trying to tie her again. I want to be able to get her up to the far gate today and out to the far hay barn storage today. Then tomm push her to the owners house and then past the far gate. Then on Saturday start trying to get her tied to the hitching post again. I probably won't introduce a saddle for a while from now, but I want to be able to groom her again.

She is so freaking smart, thats what I love about her! She has a response to everything I do and picks up on every freaking thing.

Day 2

Yesterday we had flooding across Kentuckiana. If you pay attention to news, Louisville actually made the national headlines! I'm fine, my house is fine, and nothing got water damaged that I own. The rest of Louisville, really just downtown, got spanked by the rain.

Needless to say I didn't get anything with Dodge done. The barn owner said her driveway looks like a swamp right now. That's cool. I'm going out today to get todays lesson in with Dodge. It will be the exact same as before. Just walking away, having her stand still, and then walking her back. It's ugly but it will work. I also am going to throw a few figure eights in there and work on back. She got back suprisingly well on Monday. I was working her with the herd, but she got it very easily.

I've also been going back to her after I put her back up with the herd. I go back out with the halter and lead rope but don't put it on her. I just pet her and stand next to her then walk away. My point here is to let her know that I am not always going to take her out of the pasture. I don't want her running from me all the time.

So here's to another fun filled night of working on my nervous horse!

Some progress

I worked with her two ways today. Once with the herd and once without. I have figured out her comfort zone, its about 10ft from the herd. So we worked that.

The barn owner came out and helped me put the stud chain on correctly and use it correctly. That was a relief. I have an issue with holding the chain tight instead of releasing immediately, therefore I am negating the true value of it. We worked in a small tiny 10 ft area away from the horses. We got her to stand quietly but she did want to trot a few times instead of walk. She has Woah down and so now I am going to start asking for the walk. We also practiced "back" a few times. She is smart, just in tune with the herd.

I know this all sounds really pretty and blah blah blah. It was honestly really ugly. She is somewhat hard to handle and requires firmness. My BO said I am too relaxed in working with Dodge, if I want Dodge to pay attention I need to be more into a working position if that makes any sense. My total inexperience in this line of work is making this somewhat difficult for me. But I know I can work through this and I know it will be worth it in the end. I just know it. The first ride with her where I can get everything perfect will be awesome and just put a giant smile on my face.

I am thinking this could be months worth of work ahead of me. The BO made the comment that we should probably teach Dodge like a 2 year old horse and start from teh begining with her. I think this may be the best idea. Dodge is learning, she really is. I need to be a little quicker with my let go of the chain though, I will make a concious effort of this tomm when I go out. I won't go out if its raining though or if it just rained. It's too dangerous. Dodge hops around too much and if she falls both of us could get hurt.

I also didn't like the stud chain in the begining but I do see its purpose now. Dodge is downright dangerous. I wouldn't want my own mother to see Dodge right now, I'd be afraid her inexperience would get her seriously hurt. (not saying I'm all that great)

My 1000lb peice of work.

Discouraged...

Yesterday I wanted to work on leading with Dodge being away from the herd. Like I did a few days ago in the round pen. My plans were to take her up to the pen area and lunge her for a few minutes, work on the walk, and then let her just be her in the pen before calmly walking her down to the pasture.

Nothing worked out.

I got her out of the pasture and tied her to the hitching post that sits right next to the pasture. I went to put her fly mask away and she had already untied herself from the post and was beelining it back to the barn. I caught her and retied. I should have thought everything through then. Sigh.

I made her lead rope into a stud chain again and walked her up the the pen. She made me do circles on the way up about 5 times. Meaning she wasn't listening to the stud chain or me, so we did a small circle to reset ourselves.

And then I've never been so let down and feel so horrible in my entire life. I let her off the lead rope in the round pen and she started running into the fences. She was frantically trying to get back to her buddies and it didn't matter what I did, she would take off into a fence. I was mortified and embarressed. Here is this gorgeous horse acting like a fool and her stupid owner completely dumbfounded to her new behavior.

I clipped her lead rope back on her and started to walk her around trying to get her focus on just walking. Instead she was ramming into me, not watching where she put her feet, and screaming for her friends. I eventually got so fed up I tied her to a gate and walked away for a second to cool down. What we were doing was not working. Her mind was on her friends and nothing else. Even being tied to the gate she was nervously pacing it and sweating horribly.

I would say we were out there for maybe 20 minutes and she was dripping with sweat. I wasn't even working her into that type of sweat. She was so nervous and focused on getting out of the pen that she brought herself into a panic.

I did not have a lunge line with me but did have the lunge whip and her lead rope. That was just going to have to do. I untied her and started trying to walk with her again. Once again she started acting like a complete idiot. I let out all the slack and made her work. I had her trot, canter, walk, ext. Just a few circles, maybe 2-3. I would say "woah" and when she stopped I would give her a pat and we would restart walking again.

Near the end of this she would stop dead in her tracks on the woah and was leading very nicely. Still not as nice as I wanted but it was a dramatic improvement. I decided that enough was enough as she was starting to act like there was a brain in her head and started to walk her back down to the barn.

Then she got dumb again. Sigh. I can deal with a few little pulls on the lead rope from her but when she starts trying to trot in front of me I can't deal with that. So, I know I looked like a fool infront of the other boarders, but I just worked her again. I let out the slack and made her do some transitions. I would ask for the woah and then give her a pat and continue on like nothing happened. I think that went on about three times and she walked once again like a brain was in her head.

Then she got dumb again once I put her int he wash pen to rinse the sweat off of her. She was pacing the fence line and being generally very rude. At one point she pushed me into the fence. I WAS PISSED. I gave her a good wallop on the side but it didn't even phase her. I think I'm going to get a small whip and use it on her when personal space is invaded. I mean she was dangerous to the point where I feel helpless.

I am just at a loss that my sweet sweet horse has gotten this out of hand. I spoke to the barn owner today and told her I am going to be out there every day this week. I HAVE to get Dodge over this behavior. I am not going to ride her till she acts like she has a effing brain. I've been reading up on a few boards and the whatnottery about this behavior.

I think I have made the problem slightly worse because I take her too far out of her comfort zone from her other horses. Thus compounding my problems into something explosive before I even get started. My game plan is her issues start when she leaves the pasture. I mean right when she leaves it. 1 ft from leaving it. It's like she can't function once she is away from her buddies.

I am going to work her here. Right in front of the barn. Some figure eights, working on bending to the right (which she will NOT do right now), and some back and forth. When she finally relaxes to the point where she will stand still, then I will take her out anther foot and repeat. I will work her with her buddies if I have to.

Sigh.