Colorado! and progress

Well, the weather has been ridiculous. I did get to go to Colorado, which is BEAUTIFUL! I had never been before so it was an experience.

Went Snowtubing....there was a lot of snow. :)

 

 Did I mention it's pretty there?

    

OH and they have a hella lot of breweries there to visit!!!! My favorite was Syntax. Absolutely delish liquors and mixed drinks!

And then I came home to....you guessed it....even more snow. See, we don't really get snow that much here. But we got 8-12 inches (depending on where you are). As you can imagine, it shuts NC down! We stop functioning. We don't know how to handle that capacity of snow. So it's put a little damper on my getting to ride, but it doesn't seem to have affected America much. Actually, he's doing really, really well. He has lost weight and he's looking nice and trim. Next step is to get that topline back. All in time! 

Here is a comparison picture of Last April until now. April is what he looked like before I started working with this trimmer. 

This may not look like a big deal to a lot of people but it really is. This is progress. The biggest thing is showing the comfort of his body. See how in the top photo he is closed up with his right side. That's how he always stood. I have so many pictures of him standing exactly like that. It was his comfortable pose. But slowly, he is standing more natural and square. He looks more comfortable. I am also wondering if getting that extra weight off of him is helping him to hold himself  up better as well. Hm......

Here's a photo from all last year until now....Look how huge and fat he is in the second to last picture!!!! Uhhh so glad I was able to get that off of him easily.

 

I love the progress of health you can see in this set of photos. He got healthier and healthier and the dapples exploded. Then he got fat and winter came. We had lymphangitis and a minor colic and digestive issues and no dapples. But now that we are back up and running. We are gold! Only upwards from here!

What is your ultimate goal in riding?

Last week, while mentally prepping myself for my first lesson in months upon months, I started to think of the questions my new trainer would be asking me. The history of my horse, what have we done together, how old is he, how long have I been riding. What is my riding history. And my favorite

What is your goal with riding?

For some, you would think this would be an easy and fairly straight forward answer.
-I want to get to 3rd Level dressage  - or-
-I want to get to 3' Jumpers and successfully -or-
-I want to compete in HUS world champions


oh no, not me. Mine is much simpler. Much less focused.

I want harmony. Sounds simple enough but what a process and intricate idea it really is. Because my goal is not aimed at one particular place in time. I want my horse and I to be harmonious. For us to be in sync and balanced. I want us to be as one. I want us to get to that place in our training where I can think, balanced and be balanced. Where we flow as one into the canter, balanced and methodical. Where we flow as one over jumps, landing on the other side and moving forward as if there was no jump at all. Harmony between rider and horse. It's simple but difficult. It takes time and trust and patience. Of which, I am have an ample amount. So I know that with guidance, we will get there.

That is all I want. Right now. :)

I believe our goals change as we achieve them. But for now, I'll aim for this!

So ask yourself these questions...

What is your ultimate goal? 

And are you riding with your horse, or are you riding your horse?

OFTF is off to a fantastic start!

I am SO EXCITED to share that we are on the right track. America is doing AMAZING! In fact, he is more sound now than he has been in literally months. No funky break over on that front right. He's not even tender footed! Granted, it will take some time to get his feet to where we need them to be but we are most definitely on the right track and he is doing great!

My trimmer is actually going to be doing a case-study on America so I should get lots of feed back as well! A few things she did mention:

• Derp needs to lose 100 lbs.
• He HAS to get exercise and lots of trotting. This will help with the 100 lbs. But lots of trotting. 
• He needs lots of stretching and bending. 

 So we have begun the process. He is back in work and is doing really well considering he has been ridden maybe three times in 9 months. From Lymphangitis to his mystery offness to the xrays and funky shoeing...it's been a while. We are also going to have a lesson on Sunday. I'm excited. We are only doing walk and trot but I could use some help making sure I am helping him use his body correctly. I'm pretty excited!!! I was feeling pretty down in the dumps about his soundness and was very concerned that that  negative palmar angle was going to be a very long and extensive problem. Or even worse that it had caused permanent damage. Luckily, i've found a fantastic trimmer who looks at his entire body and is helping me rehab not only his feet but his entire body.

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Here are the updated photos of his feet. He definitely needs to grow more foot in order for her to get everything in the correct place. But she did darn well considering he has no hoof on one foot and the other is wonky in the front.

 

LEFT FRONT

RIGHT FRONT

LEFT BACK

RIGHT BACK

Derpy Days needs a new name

So my website, and small "company" need a new name. I don't think that Derpy Days is very inviting or shows what we do at all.

www.derpydays.com or www.facebook.com/derpydays

I make handmade horse things. Right now, i'm working mostly on Stirrup covers aka totally useful for everything bags. But I will be venturing into other avenues eventually. I customize them as necessary and will add extra bling and such for customers who ask.

So with that said, does anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to keep the name Derp in there as he is my inspiriation. :D

Another day

Tomorrow the trimmer comes. I'm very excited about this as I feel this is a great step for us in the direction of soundness and balance.

We went for a short ride last Thursday. I'm sure some of you have heard of when you get on a really weakbacked horse or a heavy horse or a horse that's just unbalanced in general and they feel like two different horses front to back. Well he felt like two completely different horses left to right. It was so wonky and off feeling. Just so unbalanced with one super tall foot and one super short and underrun. Hoof soreness though, he was probably a 3 on a 1-10 scale so not too bad. Really he was just short. We didn't do anything, ended up doing some stretching and walking. Did a few trot strides but not much. I felt like he needed a little movement and circulation to those feet though.

I'll be super interested to watch his shoulders even out once his feet get evened out. Right now he's still got one super wonky large shoulder and one regular one. It's also going to completely change my saddle fit but once we get that far, i'm going to take it as an accomplishment and a huge step in the right direction!

Update on OFTF!

I got pictures of his feet. They don't look horrible but his right is really bruised in multiple places, toes are long. Left heel is underrun. Meh, it's to be expected. But we are at the beginning of our two weeks of "relax" with his feet. I also ordered some Keratex to help harden his soles as well. And the adventure begins!

Only five days until the trimmer comes. Looking forward to seeing what she thinks of his feet.

LEFT FRONT

 FRONT RIGHT

 The Keratex is helping tremendously. I tend to veer away from putting anything on my horse that is full of chemicals, but i've come to realize that sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone if it's something that will help. And this stuff helps! In all the time he was barefoot before, I never once saw him this comfortable. He's still got a little ways to go but I now have no doubt that we will get there!

Keratex

Operation Fix those Feets!

Well today is the day. Another farrier has been kind enough to pull America's shoes for me to give his hooves some time to grow out before the trimmer comes in two weeks. This is step one in Operation Fix those Feets!

I'm so looking forward to having a sound horse and I truly believe that his highest possibility of getting there is through being barefoot. I've already noticed his heels getting underrun. I realize that wedges and pads would take time to fix this negative palmar angle, but in one shoeing, his heels are worse than they were. I also do not notice much, if any, change as to the angle of his hoof. I'm terrified of what I am going to find under that pour in pad. I am so worried it will be thrushy under there, or something. But I will not know until this afternoon. Fingers crossed. I will also be taking some pictures this afternoon to compare.

*We have also had a bit of a hiccup with his diet. He was on only fescue hay and it really irritated his stomach to the point where his anal leakage aka wet farts were horrible. I believe it was also partly my fault because I misjudged his bodies ability to handle change and changed too much at once.  So we took a huge step back, and made everything super simple for a while. I changed him to only orchard hay. Removed the TNT for now, went back to just Dynamite and his other basics. Give his belly time to recover from the fescue. I know a lot of horses do just fine on it, but he just doesn't for some reason. It doesn't matter why, just matters that I figured it out (with the help of some nutritionally savvy friends). This is working wonders. Once I feel like he's better and has healed, I will slowly transition him back onto the TNT.

(If anyone ever wonders why I make a blog that barely anyone reads, it's because it helps me remember things. haha)

*We haven't ridden since Christmas. I am hoping after this 7 degrees we have coming tomorrow that we will get back to it, depending on his feet of course.

Oh and America turned 15 on the 2nd! Happy Birthday to my Derpy!!!!