The bit is going better

Lilly is doing much better in the snaffle; she's been stopping better, going over the jumps better, ect ect. Which makes me happy :). I have been trying a new kind of training, where I am using leg and seat aids only. It's going okay. I haven't started doing it at the canter yet, and barely at all with trotting, just because I'm taking is slow. (I drop my reigns when I do this, so I figured we shouldn't canter til she's got it down). Anyway yeah :). And I changed my name yet again, because nobody was calling me Ellie. I will be Sofiee now, and I hope that this one sticks. I'm a bit tired of changing, lol.

New blog

I will still be writing on this one, but I have created another one for completely randmoness. Check it out if you're bored :)

http://sofieeblog.blogspot.com/

Show!

On Saturday Lilly went to her second show! I am extremely proud of her! She did so well loading in the trailer, she gets better each time. When she got to the barn she was staying at for once she wasn't crazy in her stall, trying to barge out, which makes me very happy. The first day we went down the street to the barn that the show would be held at, Soaring Eagles. I rode with my friend, which also means Lilly had to ride with another horse, something she doesn't do a lot. She was very, very good. She did get a bit bull headed to try to catch up to my friends horse, Kuni, but other than that she acted like a complete pro. On the second day we also went down to Soaring Eagles and rode with two horses. Lilly was also extremely good for this :). Then it was Saturday, show time. There was a lot going on, a lot of horses, a lot of people, a lot of noise. But Lilly acted like she'd seen it all before. She only spooked once, other than that, she was totally "Been there, done that", something I never thought she would be. We placed first in eq. on the flat, and second over crossrails. I am so proud of her, and I can't wait for the next show, she just gets better everytime!!

Working on another bit

Lilly and I have been working in a broken Kimberwick for a long time now. My trainer is having us do a lot of bending, getting on the bit, that sort of stuff, and she said it might be easier to do in my snaffle, and if it wasn't, it would give us a challenge (Yeah, because we need another challenge).So yesterday I switched bits and gave it a try. She started out okay, just a little bit speedy and head strong, but that was fine. The real problems started when we began to canter and jump. Lilly is 6 (Thursday was her birthday!) So she still is young and hasn't figured out her striding, which means we already have a few problems with crashing through jumps, but with this bit we had major problems. She couldn't get her striding at all, she crashed through the jump about 5 out of 7 times we went over it. With me not being THAT much of an experienced rider, I don't really know how to set her up correctly so that she won't crash through it. I can help her out, but with this bit the helping out wasn't enough. She also didn't want to stop while cantering. I got her to stop, but when I asked for the trot she still cantered about 6 strides, a few times I ended up having to circle her. We ended up getting over the jump, and stopping quicker, but I still wasn't that satisfied with her performance over all, even with out the big problems. I decided to call it a day, but I will be working on these issues.

xoxo,Ellie

Almost back to normal

I certainly hope I am not cursing myself by writing this post :O

Lilly seems to be all better. Her face is no longer swollen [we think she got into nettles], and the diarrhea is pretty much cleared up.

We think the diarrhea was being caused by here licking mud. There is shelter in one of her paddocks, and I looked out the window and saw Lilly just sitting in there, licking the dirt [I have a strange horse] so I closed her out. She still needs to put some weight back on, because she got pretty skinny from the absolutely terrible diarrhea. I am going to put her back on grain soon.

The only reason she isn't already back on grain is because the vet said the one I was using before isn't recommended for draft breeds, and the one he said I should use- well I am having problems finding someone that carries it. But a friend of mine uses it, so I might get some from her :).

Once Lilly is back on grain we should be good to go. I have been taking it easy on the riding though, just so Lilly can get back in shape.

Today, however, Lilly showed me she was feeling better, by trying to take off a few times, and giving me some very large bucks. Normally that would irritate me, but considering she has been a little down lately, it made me rather happy.

Getting better

Lilly seems to be all better for the most part which is great :). I'm going to talk to the vet to see when she can go back on grain.

more medical problems

Lilly seems to just want me to have to worry about her 24/7. Between the runs that have yet to clear up, and the summer sore that STILL isn't better, I'm nearly constantly applying ointment or getting a new supplement, and worrying about her. Well today I went out to take her blanket off because it was getting rather sunny, and I noticed her entire face was swollen and puffy, and around her throat a little bit. Of course being her over protective mommy I freaked out. I went inside to tell my mom to call the vet immediately. I was worried it was strangles [ Their throat swells up and they sort of..die if you don't get medical attention A.S.A.P] We called the vet and got no answer, so then we figured we'd better go ahead and make it an emergency call. Dr. Garcia said he didn't think it was strangles, and that he thought because of her age, it had to do with her teeth [she is due for her teeth getting done soon]. So it's a fairly short story but I figured I needed to post something :O.]

OH and yes, I changed my name to Veronica [Not legally..not yet anyway] although I am still working on convincing my family to call me that but...yeah. lol. Oh and does anyone know how to get the web adress VeronicaandLilly.blogspot.com instead of the one with Sophia? Thanks :)

Puddles!

It has been especially rainy where I live lately, which made me pretty upset, because I didn't think I would be able to ride, due the fact that my field has been replaced with a lake. But I was wrong; I went outside and saw Lilly edging around a puddle, and I thought to myself "Oh god my horse really hates puddles" Which is true, Lilly despises them. So I then realized, the rain had given me an opportunity.

I saddled up and we set off for our puddle training course. I started trying to make her walk through a small one, it was probably only a foot wide. She went around it at first, but after trying a few times, she eventually went through it. We went through that one a few times, and then we tried some bigger ones. The same thing happened, but we did end up getting them.

After getting her pretty used the the puddles, I began to wonder what to do next. Then I saw something fun. In my pasture there is a small ditch [I should take a picture to show you guys]. It really isn't even a ditch, more like an indentation in the ground - circular- that's about a foot deep and a foot and a half wide. It had filled up with water. I walked Lilly over to it and let her sniff it, she's always hated this ditch even when it doesn't have water in it. After walking around it a few times I started trying to get her to go through it. I must say, this was quite the challenge, though I might make it sound pretty fun on my blog, Lilly is the farthest thing from an easy horse. After about 2 minutes of her refusing to walk through it, I took a brake from it. I figured I could come back to it later.

Setting up a line of poles in the middle of my field going through a puddle, I made Lilly trot them. She didn't like it at all, and it was a little wobbly, but she did it, and that's all I was asking for.

Coming back to our ditch puddle, we tried walking through it again. I didn't get mad at Lilly when she went around it yet again, because I knew this wasn't Lilly being stubborn, she really was scared of this. I just tried and tried over and over again, calmly, but firmly,and we did get through it. It wasn't too graceful at all, it wasn't even right through the middle, but she touched the water, and that is good for Lilly.

-Sophia

Possibly good news

I finally got a hold of the vet to talk to him about Lilly's poop problem [lol]. He said it sounded like she had gotten sand in her system. She's on a strict hay diet, and he'll be out her the 9th to have a look.

Uh-oh

Lilly has developed a bad case of the runs. She may be loosing a bit of weight from it too. I'm going to make a vet app. I'll keep you posted.