Houston, GO for Launch!

For the past couple of months I've been trying to figure out Serenity's issue with not having a forward mentality. All she wanted to do while I was riding her was to walk. A very slow plodding walk at that. I know she has a very nice forward, active walk. But, she wasn't doing this nice forward walk. I might get a couple of trot steps when asked, but then she'd go back down to that slow walk.

Was it saddle fit? Was she in pain somewhere? Did she hate her Easyboots?

I fiddled with saddle pads, taking one off, adding one on. Changed saddle position, forward and back. I checked her back for pain after every ride. No hint, there. I took off her easyboots, she was okay on the dirt road but couldn't walk on the gravel portions. Put the easyboots back on. I found a used Wintec saddle on EBay for a good deal. It's much lighter than my American Flex saddle. And while I didn't see any soreness from that saddle, I thought I'd take a chance and try this saddle. It fit pretty good, but it's a little wide, so I added the extra pad. Perfect fit now. But, I still don't know if that was the cause.

In 30 years I've never needed spurs. But, I bought some for Serenity. I know she's lazy by nature. It was a way to see if she's being lazy or if she really does have some issues that I'm not finding. Today, Serenity found her trot! She's just plain lazy. Go figure...

She is now volunteering trot! Was it the combination of a better fitting saddle and me not putting up with her laziness or just laziness? I'll probably never know. But I'm so Happy that she now has a GO button!

Trotting and One Sided-ness

Yesterday I finally trotted Serenity for an extended amount of time. Long enough to figure out that she is REALLY ONE SIDED. I believe I know the cause, now to fix the problem.

I believe I'll lunge her after riding her, starting with 5 mins on each side. I would love for this to be fixed while out on the trail, but haven't found a blog/website that describes what exercises I can do while out there. I do know that lunging builds muscle and balance if done correctly. So, I suppose, I'll have to  use lunging.

In the meantime, I'll count sits on each diagonal. And change the diagonal that I sit on EVENLY.

Second Hoof Trimming

Trimmed Serenity's feet for the second time today after a 3 mile ride. I didn't take anything off the bottom of her feet. I just beveled the edges, shaped them a bit, and put on the mustang roll.

Saddle Fit

Yesterday I rode Serenity long enough to determine if my new to me saddle really fits her or not. I'm going to say it does not fit her perfectly as there was some rubbing in her loin area. Granted I didn't have the SMX Air Ride half pad on her yesterday, but still for a really good fit, I shouldn't need any extra padding to make it fit right. There is obviously some bridging going on here, and I do not want this happening in longer/faster rides. Today, I used the Air Ride pad under the saddle and it did help, but I'm not happy with that solution to the problem. To me, that's just a band aid. I've ordered a demo model of a Specialized Saddle in hopes that that saddle will solve my problem.

As you can see in the photos, hair has been rubbed off in the loin area and somewhat rubbed in the shoulder area.

Back in the Saddle Again

Today I climbed on Serenity and rode her! She did great. When I first got on her, she hunched her back. But otherwise she was pretty laid back about the whole thing. I took her down to the mailbox and back a few times. I was able to coax her into a trot a couple of times before being done for the day.

Catching Some Rays

I came home from picking up a load of hay and saw Sam I Am and Serenity catching some rays after a long bout of rain. I thought this was really cute, so I ran in the house and got the camera before they had the chance to get up.

Sam I Am, is my Welsh type pony that was rescued from going to the auction barn in June of this year. He is the coolest pony ever. He helps me around the place as a draft animal when needed. Like pulling the dead tree out of the driveway in our last rainstorm. When he isn't used for work around the place he pulls my Pioneer fore cart down the road. He loves to buggie!

I saddled up Serenity for the first time since I've had her and she did great. I then started teaching her to stand next to a tree stump so that I am able to mount her out on trail without to much hassle. Being that she's tall and I'm short, it's easier for me to teach her to park next to something that I can stand on now rather than when I really need her to know this. Also, it's better for her back, not to put that much torque on her from the saddle twisting while I'm trying to get on.

Ground Driving

Started teaching Serenity to ground drive today. She caught on quickly on what Whoa means. She is doing well with softening her head/neck when I ask her to. Changing directions was a little difficult for her as ground driving requires that she turn AWAY from me as apposed to round penning requires her to turn TOWARD me. But, she did catch on. And I was able to get her to back on cue as well. She accepted the new bridle with S hackamore with no problem. I really love the quality of the bridle I bought from Wind Rider Tack. And their customer service is outstanding.