Formal Attyre

Got My Christmas Present a Day Early

2008-12-25T09:34:00.004-05:00

My dad asked if he could come out to the barn with me. I always find it nice when he does...makes me feel special since he doesn't frequent out as often but seems to at least once when I'm home from school (guess he misses me!).

It was a nice 50 degree winter day, though still windy so I took Ty to the indoor. I gave him a nice long warm-up doing a lot of bending work. I only worked him into the trot, but really messed with his brain a lot to keep him focused and in check. A lot of serpentines, circles, half-circles, figure eights, etc. really helped.

I was fortunate enough to have my dad record a good portion of the ride, so alas I have a video...perhaps one of the first in nearly a year. Feels good to be back in action!

Frostbitten Fingers, Frozen Toes, & All Smiles

2008-12-22T16:07:00.003-05:00

I went to go ride Ty today, the first time since I last wrote.

I had taken him off grain (except for a handful, which he gets with his medication) and wow did it make a HUGE difference! He's lost a lot of the tub he had and looks significantly better. And I have to say, it seemed to make a big difference in his attitude undersaddle as well.

It was 24 degrees and blowing wind, so I thought it'd be best to not let mother nature kill us and ride indoors. He stood by the mounting block nicely and then we started warming up. I really wanted to focus on a nice long warm-up to get him focused: serpentines, figure eights, circles, etc. were key. It's always nicer to ride a flexible horse rather than a 2x4.

I then asked him to go into the trot, which he did in a relaxed fashion (yay!) and continued working on suppleness throughout the rest of the ride. He started collecting and rounding...man, I feel like I'm starting to get my horse back!

Despite the cold, I couldn't have been happier. I'm so proud of my big man and am still amazed that he's sound. We've come so far, had a lot of struggles with health, but it's made us a stronger team in the end. He means the world to me, honestly the world, and I could not ask for a better horse.

Burr up the Bum

2008-11-28T12:01:00.003-05:00

I went out to the barn yesterday with Lauren , Edd, and our puppy (Sydney).

After taking Ty out of the field, my sister lifted up Sydney up to Ty and they both sat there calmly smelling one another. Despite Sydney's past fearful reactions to bigger dogs, she wasn't phased by a 1100 lb horse (go figure!). It'll be nice to bring her out to the barn more with us when she's older.

Ty tacked up nicely and I walked him up to the outdoor arena. He definitely had a burr up his ass the first few minutes, so I made sure to get him stretched and focused by doing lots of bending work around my leg. It made a significant difference, especially when we picked up the trot as he was well-behaved and attentive to my aids.

He did start getting a tad hyper later, and unfortunately I couldn't pinpoint a reason why. None of my aids had changed, nor my body position (which is an aid in itself). There was a bit more wind, so that might have been a contributing factor.

Still a lot of work to do with him, but the progress mades in the limited and spread out rides we've had has been substancial. I'm very happy with him.

Getting There

2008-11-23T18:27:00.003-05:00

I was able to go out to the barn with my sister and our best friend this afternoon. Ty was a very good boy. He's starting to get the idea of going into a more consistent rhythm again, so I tried some inside leg to outside hand. He responded very well, softened, and even rounded around my leg nicely. We're making strides, but at this point it's still one stride at a time. But time is what we have and I'm more than patient.

Wind Dixie

2008-11-22T10:40:00.003-05:00

Ty had a farrier appointment yesterday, and thank goodness. Last time I had come home I was incredibly upset to see how bad of shape his feet were in. My mom, who is not a horse-person whatsoever but certainly tries her best, said she would place a phone call into our regular farrier who had been unable to shoe Ty over the past three shoeings due to a back injury.

I rode him first to get him good and tired, but unfortunately the wind was excessively strong and the time I had to work with him was short. He did well considering the circumstances, so I knew when to call it quits. As we were walking back from the outdoor ring, I dropped my cellphone. I jumped off, picked it up, and preceded to walk him back to the barn in hand. All of a sudden the wind picked up to an incredibly strong gust. Ty went nuts.

He reared up.
I yanked him down.
He tried cantering with me in hand.
I pulled on the reins and jabbed my elbow into his chest.
That calmed him down slightly, but he started jigging.
I repeated the process.
He calmed down.

At this point he was walking calmly with his head low. My farrier had only seen him at the point when he was walking relaxed next to me, so he figured I had really tired him out!

The farrier appointment did not go exactly as I had hoped, mainly because I was right about how awful his feet were. The last farrier had just messed them up. Put nail holes in random places, and had essentially eliminated enough of his hoof wall in the back to prevent us from sticking on the regular shoes he was getting. We had to give Ty regular aluminum ones instead (at least it was in the back and not the front where navicular is present).

When I let Ty go out into the field he ran off snorting and neighing like crazy. He's definitely the kind of horse that needs work six out of the seven days.

Bloody Good Ride

2008-11-09T20:11:00.003-05:00

I went to ride my chubby monster today. It was sunny with a breeze, so I decided to take him to the outdoor riding ring and see how that went. I hopped on him and got him settled in nicely. Overall he was wonderful...slightly fidgety, but for my expectations I was pleasently surprised. The ride was going very well until I realized his right nostral was bleeding, so I hopped off and got a towel to wipe it from a guy across the ring. Seemed like the cold air didn't agree with him, poor boy. The bleeding luckily stopped shortly then.

I untacked him, gave him a couple of peppermint treats, kissed him, and let him know that I'd be seeing him in about two weeks. Always is sad to say goodbye...but at least I know there's a hello in the near future.

Ouch

2008-11-08T17:31:00.002-05:00

I'm home, and of course took a visit to the barn this afternoon to play around with Ty for a little before I had to go back due to other obligations.

I got a whisker comb and tried to take them off of Ty, but he freaked. I didn't want to push him, and I tried taking out the hairs on the comb with my fingers...and then I cut myself...through my new leather glove. Oh geesh, now I really had an understanding as to why Ty flipped. Poor guy.

After proceeding to calm him down, I pulled his mane with a solo comb, which he was pretty good for (surprisingly).

It was nice to leave knowing he didn't look so mangy in the field. Tomorrow I'll be able to ride.

I'm Coming Home!

2008-11-03T13:21:00.007-05:00

I got a phone call from my sister asking if I could make the trip home this weekend to help her film a project for her history class...so home is where I will be heading on Friday...and the barn is where I'll be spending any free time.

I'm very excited.

I've gotten a few pictures of Ty from a friend who has gone out to take care of him (and thank you so much if you're reading this, Kelly).

I miss him.

Rebuilding, Remolding, Refreshing, Restarting

2008-10-27T10:53:00.003-04:00

Somehow the decision to put on my big girl panties and step out into the world of blogging seemed like a good idea when it hit me at 8:00 in the morning. While I had blogged in a more tight-knit forum community's journal feature before, I now feel the need to break away from it and begin my own that I can format to my own designs (sometimes I feel my call for creativity is a curse).

Considering that you as the reader might not have prior information about me and my horse, it'd probably be rude not to go ahead and give you some background information. So to not make a poor impression on you, I will do so...

Formal Attyre and I
I am a college student majoring in psychology with a love for horses and the sport of three-day eventing. I'm petite (5'2", slim), but make up for any physical shortcomings (no pun intended) in attitude and drive. I am incredibly partial to thoroughbreds, especially those off the track, and adore being able to work with them.

I am lucky enough to own my dream horse, a 1999 model off the track thoroughbred bay gelding named Formal Attyre aka Ty. In the upcoming three years that I have owned him, we've gone through a significant amount of drama, which included multiple hospitalizations (for both him and I -- mine non-horse related) and most recently a diagnosis in navicular disease for him. We had a difficult time with coming up with a final diagnosis over the past year, but recently found our answer back in late August. Since then he has been put on Isoxsuprine and given corrective shoeing...and so far so good!

Now we are back in work and ready to go...sort of. As I am in college, I am currently 5 hours away from him and cannot continue working with him at this point until I am able to get a car and bring him down here with me. In the meantime, I am working with him whenever I get a chance to go home and will have a lengthy opportunity to do so over the winter holiday.

When I was last home, yesterday, I went out to go play with him. I really didn't expect too much, as the last time I was out there was on the 13th of October. I was pleasantly surprised when I got on a fairly calm horse (I use calm with a "not-doing-everything-he-can-to-kill-me" connotation, not a "push-button" connotation) who actually understood the concept of a trot, which I had to spend previous rides drilling into his noodle. It's encouraging that he remembers a little of what he was trained so well to do prior to his year off due to lameness (although he does not quite remember the concept of leg pressure yet...but all in due time). Hopefully in being able to bring him down to college with me, we can start rebuilding up a more solid foundation again.