Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Friday, January 24, 2014

In the Arena #153 - She says jump, I say how high...

There was a method to my madness. Dragging the paddock yesterday allowed me to "spy" on Val overnight. My last after dark visit to thaw the remote water bucket showed that Val had barely moved. This morning I could see he had rampaged around some. There were several trails leading into the run-in, as well as missing water and hay. Not anywhere near what is usually consumed, but a safe amount.




nom, nom, nom... guarding is hungry work!


staring + chewing, better than just staring


The sign that Everything Really Is Okay Now was when he followed me around as I picked the frozen manure, resting his head on my shoulder and sighing. I loved on him a bit, and served up a tasty hot morning mash surprise.

Newest theory is that maybe there's an animal, possible dying or dead already, holed up out in the marsh at the back of the property. In the rare instances when it has gotten this cold, for this long, I've run across frozen critters that crawled into bushes and pampas grasses to survive.

Whatever it was, my sensitive boy was very disturbed. Perhaps because he's an only horse, he takes his guarding the perimeter duties very seriously. Standing in one place staring I can handle. Not eating and drinking in sub freezing weather  - a recipe for disaster.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Just before Polar Vortex 2.0 triggered the 24 hour obsession, Val and I spent a fantastic afternoon together. First we did a bit of at liberty ground work, sans treats. Just praising to reward his attentiveness. Walking, halting, turns on the forehand, a bit of trotting. He stayed at my shoulder and seemed happy to be doing something together. I was happy to be doing anything horsey besides grooming, cleaning or worrying. ;D

Then on a whim, I pulled out the jump standards and a few poles. I set up a ground pole initially. After spooking as I brought the equipment in, Val investigated everything; knocking over the standards, lipping the cups, rolling the pole. He walked around the standard rather than through at first, so I grabbed a few cookies.

After walking through several times, I asked him to trot. He got a funny look on his face - oh, I remember this - rocked back on his hocks and waaaay over jumped the pole. Such an effort - it totally cracked me up. Val's not prone to expending extra energy, so he was having fun.

I know if there aren't pictures it didn't happen, but I purposely didn't bring the iphone out because I wanted to really focus on Val, not documenting. I don't have the tack, or the desire to jump Val, and his prior vet advised his jumping days were over, but playing around with free jumping some cross rails would be a nice way to change things up a bit, get some exercise, and enjoy ourselves. We'll have another chance for pictures...

9 comments:

  1. I love playing with Winston and fee jumping too. I don't want to be on him when he jumps but he sure enjoys it.

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  2. Glad he's eating and drinking. Can't be too much wrong with him with all those hoof prints in the sand. He was just guarding the perimeter. Nice to have a watch horse to protect the place.

    Sounds like you both had fun with the jumps. Wish I could go out and do some jumps on someone but all my jumpers are gone now. I really miss it, so much fun. Anyway, I seldom take pictures when I'm working with the horses it's too distracting. Have a good weekend.

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  3. It's always so nice to get to spend some quality time with the ponies - glad you and Val had fun! I'm also glad that he's moved on from his obsession - at least enough to eat and drink!

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  4. Sounds like everything is back to normal - relief! And what a fun day of playing and jumping for joy! Yay!

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  5. I'm glad that Val decided he was going to live and has started engaging in other activities again!

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  6. Glad he's back to seminormal behaviour

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  7. I'm here to tell you that yes, life happens even if there aren't photos. And even if there aren't blog posts to document it too! :)

    Glad you had some fun with Val. That's the most important part, not the "internet evidence."

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  8. billie -

    I probably should have used some quotation marks - my intention was to gently mock. I've been working on being present with Val lately, and often the camera takes me out of that zone. :D

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  9. Sand in the box, that's interesting! Everything is there so different as Finland. Would you do a post about the stable and stable's environment?

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