Cruise

So, a long update because I've been feeling rather unmotivated with nothing to do other than eat, sleep, and ride. My life is hard, I know ;) I got my grades today, and while not stellar, I survived the semester from hell and somehow managed to get a B in organic chemistry (WAHOOOO).

Our recreation of the cover of War Horse

Where to begin? First off, since Limerick got home, my trainer has texted me on multiple occasions about something that concerned her. It all started with a sneak attack of rain rot, which he didn't have on the Thursday I shipped him home, but had developed by that Saturday... I came home that weekend and positively drenched him in MTG, which was slightly terrifying given that I've read some horror stories in which it caused horses to lose all of their hair. However, despite Limerick's redhead sensitivity and skin reactions to most products, the pony wony survived and won the battle against the dreaded rain rot. It took all of 4 days, but I still felt guilty and had visions of all sorts of terrible skin ailments.

Handsome goober

Next were the nerves and the chewing. Get this, Limerick actually took large chunks out of his rubber stall guard and sort of nibbled it to death. He and Houston are currently stalled next to each other and are totally bad influences. They egged each other on and took turns eating the stall guard, which I had to replace and was totally out of character for Lims. He doesn't nibble on it when his door is closed, nor does he chew on it when Huer's door is closed, so at least it was probably a social habit. The nerves relate to E's and the groom's belief that Limerick is now scared of everything. Yes, he has been jumpy, but he has always been a bit of a nervous nelly and I don't think he has been any more spooky than usual at a "new" place. However, it might be time to try another round of ulcer treatment, as he moved farms, lost all of his friends, and took an hour and a half trailer trip.

Chubby man in his goofy fly mask

Selfie..... 

No, he did not spontaneously turn bay. This was after my ride on Sunday and a 20-25 minute cool down walk

Then, we had our first lesson back with E, and I'd say it was a success. I don't remember many of the details now (BAD), but we jumped and Limerick was decent. She definitely gave a more thorough critique of my position than I'm used to with S, which sort of annoyed me at the time but I'm happy about now. Apparently I sit ever so slightly more on my left seat bone, which leads to a lot of the discomfort I experience cantering to the right. E had Hillary record some of it, but she has yet to send me the youtube links. I do remember, as Gingham over at Pia's (and Prairie!) Parade likes to say, that Limerick's "gerbils" were certainly awake and running maniacally on their little brain wheel that day. They reared their fuzzy little heads specifically at the far arena gate, which Limerick was dead certain would eat him if he got too close. Folks, I'm talking repeated spooks/scoots numbering in the teens. Not once, not twice, but nearly every time we passed it, which led to one very unhappy and frustrated K. Luckily, this sort of behavior is not all that uncommon for him, so I'm past being scared of it and now just get pissed when he deliberately says FU to the rational part of his brain. Moving on, rant over...

A few days after that, Monday of this week, E had her first training ride over fences. Let's just say it was rough... he actually managed to jump so humongously out of a line that she got unbalanced enough to fall off.

Here's a partial video of her training ride.

 I did take to heart that Limerick isn't super fit, so we devised a conditioning schedule:

1. Walk for 15-20 minutes
2. 3 sets of trotting, 5 minutes each
3. 2 sets of cantering, 3 minutes each
4. Walk for 15-20 minutes

Lim huffed and puffed for at least 20 minutes after my ride on Sunday and E's ride on Monday, so I expected him to be a sweaty, huffing mess after our conditioning ride on Wednesday. He was definitely drenched, but not overly foamy or huffy, so I have concluded that the extreme heat flash on Sunday and Monday (shot from 60-70 to 90s in one day) led to his seeming out of shape-edness over the weekend. Regardless, he will be a total beast by the time we go back to school in the fall, just in time to get fat again while I'm busy with the crazy known as owning a horse in college :(

Notice the flies congregating on his face, even with the mask

Limmers and Huer are turnout buddies now!

Doing our trot/canter sets! 

What Houston and Lim (no, this is obviously not them) did when I turned him out after my ride today... comforting. It was sort of like they were hugging, but I worry that their theatrics could escalate or actually cause damage to one/both parties