Monday 25 May 2015

Jump Around, Jump Around!

This weekend's theme was jumping.

If you don't get this reference, you need to check out
Hyperbole and a Half right now.
Friday night I abandoned left Maizy to relax at home so I could get some serious riding done. Maizy is an excellent farm dog and I am allowing her more and more freedom at the barn, but sometimes I need to just focus on the horse.

Lilly, my 8 year old TB who I just got back from a lease, recently had a bone infection which really should have killed her, or at least left her with some permanent damage. She had an abscess in her hoof which went up the leg instead of coming out - thankfully after months of wrapping, soaking, bandaging, heavy medication, lots of x-rays and excellent vet work, Lilly is 100% back to normal. I'm just starting to bring her back into work (we had to be extremely careful even after the infection was gone, because she had - and still has - giant holes in her hoof).

I've been popping her over the occasional little x-rail, but Friday was our first day jumping an actual fence. It was not very large - less than 3' - but still a pretty good accomplishment. I'm so excited to have her back under my care.

Not bad considering neither of us have really jumped in about 6 months!
One of the things I want to work on is improving my leg and core strength, which will help me have a more effective and secure position over fences. My position isn't horrible, but it's not great either.

Saturday I was not feeling well, so Maizy and I spent most of the day snoozing. We went to the park and played fetch in the morning and in the afternoon, and then I took her for a walk in the evening. She was more than happy to laze about and watch TV with me.

After our restful day, Maizy and I were up and out the door by 8:30 on Sunday. We headed to the park and played fetch for an hour. Then we headed to the barn.

We started off the day by doing some "agility" practice. This is great for cardio, teaching Maizy to focus on me and my body language, and reinforcing off-leash control. Plus it's super adorable to see her go over the horse jumps.

The ears give her extra air time. #Adorable
After playing around over the jumps, I tacked up Lilly and we hit the trails. We did lots of trotting, so Maizy had to run to keep up with us. She absolutely loves it - such a pleasure to have on trails. I really don't think there is anything more enjoyable than heading out with my dog and my horse for an hour or so ride. After riding, we hung out at the barn for a while. My friend, who rides and competes my other horse, brought her dog too.

The Spaniels are taking over the barn!
After all of that, we headed to a tack shop about 45 minutes away. I realised just as I was getting on the highway that there was a hornet in my car, so that was a terrifying drive. Thankfully it didn't bother me or Maizy. We spent about an hour looking at saddles (Lilly needs a new one as my butt is too large for her old one) and then headed home. Maizy was out and about from 8:30 till 4:00, so she promptly passed out when we got home, and I did the same thing!

A very good weekend, in all. I have a post about vaccination that I've been working on for a while coming up next, so look out for that in a day or too.

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