Ride # 6 I haz a headache... but I went for a ride.*grin*

Luckily the headache didn't start till I got back from riding. Probably just the effects of my swelled head from doing so well with Mandy. :-p

I went out alone again today but we went about 6 miles. She continues to be sound on everything except gravel. I got off for the last mile and walked her home. Triple benefit, I got in a little extra exercise, she didn't have to carry me, and by the time we got home she was all cooled out.

Today was snorty day. FOUR jig snort spooks before we finished the first mile. Amazing how she's TOTALLY not ouchy on gravel when she's spooking. Lol.

Then there was a fertilizer bag that was gonna eat her so we spent about 5 minutes circling that and going round and round. Finally we got close enough to acertain that it was relatively harmless and 5 minutes after that we walked over it. Twice.

Once we got down into the citrus I decided since she was settled, and going well we would do some loose rein work. I steered her through the trees asking her to cross over about every third tree first using my seat and eyes then a little bit of rein if she didn't get it.(at a walk) By the end of the row she was getting very responsive to my seat and we managed a nice halt without using the reins. Just sitting back and a quiet whoa and she halted. GOOD GIRL!!! I'm also by necessity(taking pictures, opening my coke bottle etc.) using my reins one handed on a fairly regular basis and she seems to be picking up a little on neck reining just from that.

When she's listening, and not distracted, we are consistently getting a decrease in speed by sitting back and just lifting the reins for a halt if the seat doesn't do it. When she wants to eat grass or turn around it's still a whole 'nother story. It will come. We have time. I'm still watching that crack on her LF, but it hasn't widened and the toe has chipped itself so there's no direct pressure on the crack edge. For now it's just something to watch I think.

Someone mentioned the possibility that her hoof soreness may be caused by something in her diet. It's possible(anything's possible), but considering that her daily grain intake is two(baking) measuring cups of Omolene 200(one morning and one night) I doubt it. It's really just enough to mix the biotin and apple cider vinegar into. If I could get what I WAS feeding(straight oats) I would be much happier but this is Belize so I'm making do. I did find a pelleted feed that's molasses free in Belize city, and we're going to make the switch to that over the next two weeks.  I'm kind of pissed off that I haven't been able to buy straight oats anywhere in Belize now for * counts *

FOUR FREAKIN' MONTHS.

How pathetic is that? I may have to start importing my own horse feed. I will NOT use the local feed it has Far FAR too much molasses in it and I don't trust their quality control. (remember all the dead dogs from using moldy corn in the dog food?) The last time I tried to buy oats the bag had a few holes in it, (suspicious me asked to open and check it before I accepted it) It was FULL of weevils. Not just a few... FULL. I refused it and asked for another bag. They told me they had lots of oats but they were all like that. Yeah, and that goes into their local mix. No thank you. I don't even like the Omolene, but it's the best I can do for the moment. :-\ Ahh, the tropics, isn't it wonderful?