Loop de la loops

I've recently discovered a cool exercise that is extremely beneficial to T-Bone's suppleness. It's nothing new, but something I've never tried before.

We've been having some issues with tension in the neck - especially when attempting counter canter and even the First-4 canter loop. With all the work in collected canter we've been doing, T-Bone has a tendency to hollow and tense his back ... some accidental flying changes have started to occur on occasion too. Ooops. SO ... my instructor gave me this exercise as homework: Canter on the true lead, counter flex and leg yield off the rail mantaining the true lead.

What do ya know ... suppleness instantly improves. The First-4 canter loop still needs polishing, but I'm glad that at least we're on the right track now to fixing that. The canter serpentine (which I believe appears in Second Level) should also become easier.

Hopefully this will also help leg yielding at the trot. Leg yielding right is really no problem, but T-Bone is resistent when yeilding left. He hollows, comes above the bit and gets fussy and resistent when I try to supple him within the leg yield. A massage may be in order, but at the same time he has to learn to accept flexion to the right.

Shoulder-ins continue to get stronger, travers is strong and half pass is continuing to improve. T-Bone's collected canter is freakishly amazing for a horse who's so early in his training. Flying changes will be no problem when we go down that path. (Famous last words eh?).

I need to work on keeping my toes straight ahead and keeping my leg underneath me.

But we're on the right track for tackling First Level this summer. Woohoo!

that is all.

mind vomit

I am so sick of winter.

Now that that's out of the way, in other news T-Bone has been fabulous lately. Despite the fact that riding days have been somewhat scarce due to weather, life, sickness, etc. Mostly the bitter cold. T-Bone no longer lives outside 24/7, but rather goes out all day and spends the night indoors. I think this suits him well, as he's lost some weight over the winter and coming indoors gives him ample opportunity to eat some grain and a good chunk of hay without worrying about other horses.

Anyhooooo ... the rides we have had have been wonderful and I can't wait until show season gets here. I need to seriously get my act together and take lessons once or twice a week before that happens tho.

What else ... uhh.. saw The Bucket List last night, I thought it was pretty good. Love Jack Nicholson.

Maybe a more detailed update later. My brain isn't functioning today. Whoduthunkit.

ooooooooo

I have some exciting news concerning the horses.
But for now, it's too damn cold to do much of anything. Arraggh.

Will update later.

T.C. ... January 7, 2008

Sometimes I forget about this damn blog. My bad.

My week did not start out well, to say the least. Monday morning my cat, T.C., died. It was one of the most horrifying things I have ever witnessed, but as the days have passed I am sort of glad I was able to be there with him so he didn't die alone.

It was just so weird .. and while it's all a blur in my mind, I remember he was totally normal as I got ready for work. He sat by my feet and purred while I did my hair. I gave him his morning pill, he bit me (as usual). He had slept by my side the entire night before, and demanded I fill his food bowl before I did anything else that morning.

I went to the kitchen to call the dentist and shortly after I heard him moan ... and I knew instantly that something was wrong. I went into my living room and found him down on his side, struggling to breath. Now I was REALLY worried, so I went back to the kitchen to find the # for the vet (I hung up on the dentist) and then I heard all this commotion in the living room and ran out to see T.C. flopping around like a fish out of water - slamming into the filing cabinet, my chair, the couch - fur was flying everywhere. There was this blank stare on his face and his pupils were diliated. At this point, I was hysterical and was frozen with fear. All of this probably lasted no longer than a minute until he finally quit and was gone.

What I think happened (after consulting the vet) was the blood clot in his left atrium moved and lodged somewhere in a vital organ (lungs, brain, etc.). And while it was dramatic and extremely upsetting, thankfully it was very quick and I really hope he didn't feel any pain or have any idea what was happening. Poor little guy. My parents were nice enough to drive all the way up here to get him and take him home, where he is now buried next to my childhood cat (who died at 16 years old in 2002 I think?).

My apartment is SO quiet and lonely that I can hardly stand it. I miss him terribly, and I will still walk in the door and expect to see him pop his head up from sleeping on his red pillow.

I miss how he would cock his head sidways when you spoke to him, as if he could understand what you were saying.

I miss how he would make himself at home on my lap when I watched TV - purring so loud I would have to turn up the volume. I loved how he would butt his head up again my face and try to lick my nose. Here he is snuggled up next to my leg ..



I miss sharing my dinner with him (especially Arbys and KFC, his favorites) and how he never missed an opportunity to sniff what I had on my plate, and try to nab a piece of two when I wasn't looking.

I miss his two little fangs that would stick out all the time. And how he loved when I put catnip on a sock. This would entertain him for a good while.

I miss how he would fall over on his side when you pet him - demanding a belly rub and more attention.

I miss the little white puff on the end of his tail.

I miss having him wake me up in the morning - seconds after my alarm went off, he would be right there. Meowing (obviously hungry) and purring - happy to have his human awake so he can have more attention. He loved to sprawl out on the bed (like the above photo).

I miss how he would slam himself against my bathroom door and meow when I would shower - how he couldn't stand to be shut off from me. I miss having him sitting there outside the bathroom door everytime I opened it to come out.

He could always make me laugh and no matter how bad my day was, I always looked forward to spending time with him. He was my best friend. He was a good beast.

But, I know he has good company up there.

Ouch!

Well crap.
T-Bone came up lame today. He's always had stifle issues, but it has been manageable. Today I went to lunge him and it was REALLY bad. So I put him in a stall and he's to get bute and stall rest for a day or two to see if that helps. I'm not sure if he slipped outdoors or something, or if this is his stifle problem blowing up in my face. Guess we'll see. In the meantime, I'm going out to ride tomorrow to work with other horses. So, at least I'll get some time in the saddle.

ugh.

It's cold, but that doesn't stop me

Finally got out to the barn today to ride the horse. My plan was to stick with the basics and make everything really easy for him. 1) Because it was friggin cold and 2) because I hadn't ridden him in a week. (Shame on me, but in my defense I had a busy week!).

To my surprise, he started out swinging over the back like a pro! The trot tempo was relaxed, even and fluid. But, I still stuck to my plan and worked on loosening, suppling, etc. with some serpentines, circles, transitions. Toward the end, we were both warm so I threw in some shoulder in and travers. Hell, we even did a nice travers down the center line. I ended up working a little on counter canter too, starting with the loop from First-1 and endding up doing the canter serpentine from Second Level - both leads! Sweet! It isn't perfect, he still tends to get tense in the neck during CC, but I think that now he has the concept down and has gained some confidence, he should start to relax and that will go away. Like most horses, he gets most tense in the neck when you introduce something new or difficult - but has you practice and get better, the "falling down neck" slowing returns. Annnnd it makes the easy movements even MORE easy. :-)

I'm hoping I make it out a few more times this week and maybe we'll start to go back to some more of the diffcult stuff. I have a lesson Saturday as well, so I can get some more feedback.

peace!

My cat.

Today I learned that my beloved cat, T.C. ("The Cat") has a heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Bascially, his heart has enlarged and can longer efficiently pump blood through his body. As a result of this, T.C. has also developed a blood clot in his left hind leg. This clot is capable of traveling to other parts of his body at any time.

If he were a human, this condition would require a heart transplant.

Basically this means that my time with T.C. is now limited. The vets have said that because this was caught reasonably early, we may be able to extend his time left. But, in reality, it is still only a matter of months. (Unless he throws the blood clot). He will eventually enter into congestive heart failure.

There is no cure for HCM.

I can't even describe how heartbroken I am. He's my cat you know? We're buddies. He's been there for me through thick and thin, and has always been there to jump on my lap and make me laugh when I'm sad. My job now is to keep him as happy and comfortable as possible (he has some meds to help) ... and be strong when the time comes to make a decision, because no animal of mine will suffer. God bless him.

So, with that, I am going to back to eating unhealthy food and sobbing.