August 31- Ride #7, sick day

Horrible head cold all week but still had to work since my boss was out of town. Hard to hold down the fort with half a brain. Hopefully not too many mistakes.

Training journal again to the rescue.
Sunday- Ride #7. Took Sherlock away from his breakfast. Quick groom and fly spray, knelt when cleaning R front foot. Saddle and rope halter. Balance checked when dismounting. New riser pad makes back od saddle really high.  Just a few minutes walking to check saddle fit. Cantle too high. Impressed that he takes such good care of me even when he isn't feeling 100%.

Monday- Gave grain (CoolCalories added) and groomed. Very good boy. No balance checks but didn't work. Fly sheet back on. New bites L barrel, Blackie back in pasture. T told me they are getting an increase in alfalfa/grass hay this week.

Wednesday- Fed grain- held the bucket waist-high and he stood more square while he ate. Looks good, cheerful. Watching for loose stools with CoolCalories but no problems.

Thursday-Fed on the other side of the shelter. This area seems to vanish out of the consciousness of the other horses. Nice quiet feeding time and he doesn't spill as much if he's not always looking.

Friday- Fed on the other side of the shelter. Sherlock remembered once I called him and came right around. Some new bites and a scrape inner L cannon bone. All healing well, Fly sheet home to be washed.

Saturday- Fed on the other side of the shelter. Sherlock waiting for me at the gate remembered and came around. Trying to be quiet witht he grain so the others don't realize what they're missing. Added flax seed with 1/2 scoop CoolCalories and he really cleaned it up. Measured again for blanket, 72 inches should be a better fit. Weight taped 874#. Too thin but looks better than before move to pony pasture.

August 24- ride #6 &weekly wrap-up

Where did the week go? Thank you, training journal.

Monday we had Bath Day- sponged with apple cider vinegar, which is helping the hives go away. Also started groundtie training for hoof cleaning, just in case of balance loss.  Safer to be away from fences and tie rails.
Tuesday we explored the grounds a bit further. We found the hay barn and behind it the hay fields and the pond. There are dirt roads to ride on back there but we didn't go too far. The pond was showing off with Canadian Geese, lots of dragonflies and even a blue heron.

Wednesday, ride #6. Just walking, but using the whole round pen. Nice medium walk today. Sherlock started swishing his tail and then stomping and I emergency dismounted to shoo away a big fly keen on his sheath. How rude. I rubbed a handful of SWAT on the area and re-mounted for a few more minutes. Good whoa today. Holding up well to ponies,  but the old horse wouldn't let him drink so I moved the old fellow for a minute so Sherlock could have a nice long drink.
I have realized that Sherlock hates fabrics that are not natural. He does very well in the wool felt pad  but the fake felt one he tried to roll with me! So I'm looking for a used leather bridle and found a wool felt English pad. The riser pad should fit between the saddle pad and the saddle, so it won't touch him.

Thursday just groomed and gave him his grain. Gave grain next to grain storage trailer, anxious about trailer but went to bucket when he saw it. Riser and Cool Calories arrived in the evening.

Friday very muddy! A said he might have slipped in the mud, maybe with the right front, which is the one he always puts forward when he lowers he head for anything. Fed in barn aisle (first day Cool Calories, I am not at ALL paranoid about driving to the stable with a big ziploc of white powder so I stored it there) and scraped the majority of the mud off so fly spray could be put on. Free longed Sherlock in indoor arena w/t just to see if he was sore but he looked okay.

Saturday woke up with screaming sinus headache! DayQuil and Cold Season tea and went out a little later than usual. Lots of riders getting tuned up for a show. Gave Sherlock his grain in paddock since everyone else was out working. Ponies are Annie and Tooie (the mini). Groomed the rest of the mud off and got it out of his mane, ACV on hives and put on the fly sheet.
 I went out to the outdoor arena as lessons were switching out. Ground work with squeeze game, he was trying to circle behind me towards the gate so I made a barrier of the swinging rope- he got hit just once, and then was a little anxious but careful, and we used that impulsion to get a decent sideways game both directions. Then we worked on "stand" while we watched the lesson horses get started, and went for a walk around the barn and back to the paddock. I now give him a handful of fresh grass or alfalfa if I was able to pick some, every time I put him away. He is slowly getting more willing to go back in the paddock.

August 19-Photoblog

Luna at Carr Park

This morning I was thinking of my dear friend W- some time ago she sent out a challenge to photograph a sampler of your day. I was heading out for a hike that day, so my photoblog turned out very nice, full of Eldorado Canyon scenery and flowers. Well, I decided to do it again today.

This is a fairly typical Monday with freelance work but no job searching. Here we are in the little park close to home. It is the first day of school and the street was packed, but I'm not photographing that chaos as I don't want to worry about permissions and such.

Sherlock has breakfast

Gray at KT's

Then I headed out to the stable. I worked Sherlock a little, cleaned his hooves, and bathed him with apple cider vinegar. It did help the itchiness, but it's not repelling flies. I didn't take my phone to the bathing area, so no pics of Sherlock biting the hose. He had his breakfast and a drink of water, then back to the corral with the ponies. He is starting to stand up to the smallest ones now, at least for food and to meet me at the gate.


Picked Luna up and went to lunch with Gray at KT's BBQ, we like to eat there Mondays as they have excellent Mac & Cheese on Monday.

Going to hike

Teller Farm

Took Luna over to Teller Farm for a short hike. Very close to KT's and to my old workplace. Hot out (high 80's) but I let her get down in the irrigation ditch for a drink.

I like this hiking trail as it's flat and easy with paths through tall grass. The minus is very little shade.

Then I stopped in at the bank and headed home to work. I am taking notes on an audio program that will come out later in the year with author Danielle LaPorte.

Ezio awakens

My desk!

What passes for breaktime- a quick trip to the backyard with Luna, and the dwarf-slayer to tackle some of the dandelions popping up. Then some laundry - here are the 4 loads that are clean from yesterday. I am good about doing laundry but not so much on the folding and putting away.

Gray's home, it must be dinnertime! No pictures of pork chops and stuffing- but here is a screencap from my fave game on my phone, Dragonvale. All my shiny gemstone dragons!

Dragonvale!

And now that dinner is done, reading aloud to each other from Blood of Tyrants until bedtime. I love these books, they are about the Napoleonic Wars but if there was an aerial corps made up of dragons.

Candi and Temeraire

Good Night!

August 18- Ride #5

First ride at the new stable! Sherlock has lost some weight from the transition so I have not been keen to really work him, just feeding him his grain and walking tours of the arenas. Clearly I have been letting the hoof cleaning go a bit, as he was quite bad for his feet today. He would rather concentrate on clearing out the weeds in the round pen. I suppose I either have to weed or I have to get him on the tie rail in front of the barn.

I was hoping to have pictures but G was too worn out to join me at the stable. We spent part of every day Thursday- Saturday at the Wake Up Festival, put on by his workplace Sounds True. It was really fun but our first-ever yoga class left us both pretty sore.

But today I got my saddle out and the blue bridle and got on in the round pen. I was feeling a bit nervous, since he hasn't really been lunging or anything all week and I've been pouring Strategy into him every day. He walked well, but was still weeds-fixated so I dismounted and walked him over to the outdoor arena.  Got on there with a real mounting block instead of my lawn chair, how civilized. He liked to circle back to the gate, so I just let him relax and asked him to walk faster. He got a really strong walk going towards the gate and stretched his neck down, and circled larger. So we practiced whoa a few times and I got down and took him back to the round pen for his grain.

A nice first ride in the new place, I have to remember to get him used to the new area slowly as he was just really settling nicely in the round pen at the old place. And here I am in our first ride here trying the full-size arena! Pretty bold. Sherlock did great, just as quiet and kind as always and stubborn about the feet. I think we probably could have trotted, but it was hot and we was sweaty afterwards with just the turbo-walk work.

I find myself watching him for neurological signs now, but Sherlock is more footsore than anything else. I found my bottle of sole toughener and it was dried out. Bummer. The one people suggest is $40. My horse extras budget for the month is blown already with the purchase of a safe fat-booster for his feed (add weight withour getting bucked off!) and a riser pad to keep my saddle from sliding back and pinching his withers. I cut a little bit off his tail for my darling niece Sara, perhaps a bracelet?

August 14- Pony pasture

Stable Manager A called and said she'd like to move Sherlock to the pony/oldtimer pasture, as he was still getting chased off both hay and water. I headed right out and we moved him. Still very avoidant of the other horses, but his corner to hide in this time includes the waterer.

Poor Sherlock is sure that everyone is out to get him. He was improved today, though. The ponies like to wander together down to the other end of the pasture to work on the weeds, and while they are away, Sherlock gets the hay pile to himself.

When I went out this morning, they were just moving off and Sherlock was creeping into the edge of the hay. I brought my brush box in and groomed him while he ate, then gave him his grain (I mixed carrot bits in, and he avoided them). I decided to give him the day off from the little walks and light lunging of the week.

He followed me along the fenceline and waited while the tiniest pony drank, then he drank. The pony came back and he let the pony drink from the side of the waterer he wanted, while he drank from the other. Still giving way to the Shetland, but not as scared anymore.

August 13- Settling In

Sherlock is getting used to things at the new stable- I've been there every day giving him his grain, moving hay into multiple piles in the paddock, strolling the grounds, and doing a some very light work in the round pen. Today we gave up on the "tough horses" paddock and moved Sherlock to the "pony and old-timer" paddock.

He looks better settled already- drinking a lot. He did trot the fenceline a bit at first but came for a mint. He outran them easily when the herd wanted to greet him.

 Of course the first day he arrived I walked him to the paddock on the rockiest road on the place, and he bruised his sole and chipped a front hoof as well. So he's a bit footsore- I need to find my sole-toughener stuff...

August 10-moved

Sherlock is safe and sound in his new home!

Trainer Joe Andrews came all the way from Loveland this morning for 20 minutes of work. Sherlock got on the trailer with very little reaction, and rode to the new stable peacefully.

I put him into his new drylot pasture, and he was greeting the other horses very nicely, then charged headlong for the round bale of hay and got kicked by the alpha mare. Then he retreated to the corner by the gate and stayed there. I brought him some hay and a couple other horses ate with him.

Looked pretty peaceful when I left, though alpha mare was out being ridden. Maybe I'll stop back in after dinner.