I took Buck to a dressage clinic today about an hour from where we live and I just have to say, he was phenomenal during the clinic. I didn't get any pictures or videos unfortunately (I'll explain why the camera was forgotten in a minute), the day started out horribly.
I didn't ride until 1:30pm but I wanted to make sure I got up in time to pull his mane and make him semi-sort-of presentable. He's pasture bound now most of the time due to the lack of stalls (there's a barn but the horses can go in and out as they want right now). It has been raining and nasty off and on all week long (yesterday was a particularly gorgeous day though, go figure). and he was a MUDDY mess.
I woke up at 8:30, already running behind and went out to feed and work on his mane while he was eating. It was FREEZING this morning, a whopping 45 degrees! On top of that there was a steady rain coming down and he was a God awful muddy mess. His mane was easy it just needed a little tidying but the rest of him was pretty nasty. I was lucky he had blankets on so his whole body wasn't covered in mud but his neck and head took a unbelievable amount of elbow grease to clean and I resorted to spraying his legs off with the hose because I was pretty sure there was no way I was going to just brush that off.
Shawn hooked the truck and trailer up and we were ready to start loading him at about 10:30, I figured he'd just get in and I could run in, change my clothes and we could go... WRONG!
I may have forgotten to mention since the accident with Dolly my mom gave me her retired barrel horse, Sweetie (21 years old) to be Buck's pasture buddy. She was very upset he was leaving, trotting back and forth and calling out to him. I can't wait until we get a barn where I can put her in a stall so I don't have to worry about her while we're gone.
Because she was freaking out he started freaking out and was rearing up on the end of the lead rope and would NOT get in the trailer, at this point it had gone from a steady rain to a pouring rain by the way. He did finally get in and then started bouncing up and down and kicking in the trailer!!
I raced inside and changed my clothes, forgetting my cellphone, clinic application and coggins results (and the previously mentioned camera) in the process so when Shawn went in to change he had to grab all of it for me. It only took him 5 to 10 minutes but it felt like forever because I stood out in the rain making sure Buck didn't do something crazy while we were waiting to leave and I was getting soaked through (next time I should remember to wear jeans and just change into my breeches once I get where I'm going!).
We finally left and everything was cake from there, Sweetie had gotten over him leaving before we even pulled out and was back to eating her breakfast and stopped calling out to him and the trailer trip went on without a hitch.
He was perfect during the clinic (Claudia Misner was teaching) and she even got him to really bend on the circle in all three gaits which we were having considerable problems with (OTTB). I also noticed I sit kind of crooked on his back which could be due to me compensating for him being crooked (which only makes him MORE crooked) so I had to concentrate on straightening myself out. Helped to make him A LOT straighter. When he bent at the ribs he felt almost light and floating... it was incredible. I can't wait to get back on him again. I really wish I had pictures, he was working from the rear and looking amazing... I'm so excited!! Also, it stopped raining long enough for me to get him tacked up, warmed up in the outdoor arena, through the clinic, and back in the trailer and headed home, it was amazing. I'm so glad I didn't decide to back out because of the bad morning we were having.
Claudia was amazing and I highly recommend getting involved in one of her clinics if you should ever get the opportunity.
No comments:
Post a Comment