Spring..is that you?

After Punxsutawney Phil decided to F’ us all over in the mid-atlantic states for probably one of the worst Februarys I have seen here in awhile, this weeks weather is finally starting to make up for it. Pretty much all the snow and ice are melted up everywhere with small remaining piles left. Luckily no additional rain has kept the pastures relatively dry and mud free, because that is the next season we are all inevitably going to experience.

Between the bad weather and Luna’s fence accident, both of my horses ended up getting pretty much getting the entire month of February off. Last week was the first week I could put a couple more rides on Montego before our trailer out dressage lesson over the weekend. Our trainer comes up from VA once a month for a weekend of lessons in our area. While Montego was out of shape, we worked on some really good suppling exercises and have a good plan going into the spring to prepare for our show season.

Luna also got ramped back up this week, well slightly. I love the personality of this mare, but damn has she brought on her own set of problems. She has a thing for throwing her LF shoe about every 3 weeks after the farrier comes out. Its happened 3 times since I’ve owned her. She usually gets it off clean with no damage to the foot, but I am sure my farrier does not love seeing her that frequently. Last week when she pulled it, I am pretty sure she got some bruising from it being off with the frozen ground and has been a bit ouch this whole week. I’ve been doing about 15-20 mins of lunging before she starts favoring it, so taking it slow but really excited to get her working again.

Yesterday I was able to hop on her after 10 min on the lunge to get her zoomies out, and she was perfect! We worked on some walk trot transitions focusing on her ability to seek for contact in the bridle and come over her back in her upward and downward transitions. I think I had a smile on my face the entire time, she is just such a lovely baby to work with and such a quick learner. I am still keeping her sessions pretty short to keep her brain engaged and build up her strength without hurting the LF. At night I have been stuffing it with Magic Cushion in hopes that by next week she’ll be 100% good to go soundness wise.

The saddle fitter is coming out this weekend for both of them. I currently have two saddles: a Frank Baines Dressage Saddle and a Michel Robert Prestige Jumping saddle both originally bought for Montego, but I have been using the jumping saddle on Luna in the meantime. I have been having some serious issues with both my saddles shifting right when riding Montego ultimately making my left stirrup significantly shorter than my right. Whether its saddle fit or the way I am riding its not good either way so I am hoping to narrow down the source of this issue to start a plan to fix it. The saddle fitter coming out is independent so I am hoping she can recommend some saddles that will fit Luna best. Despite being a TB, Luna resembles more a Dutch Warmblood and is definitely a wide with a taller wither. I am hoping my jumping saddle does fit her because I LOVE riding in it, but open to suggestions. When I did Luna’s PPE the vet mentioned that her back x-rays were closer than typical, not indicating Kissing Spine but something she commonly sees in bigger horses. Her recommendation was to find a saddle that she can really come up over her back to stretch the spine while in work, so I want to make sure my saddle for her accommodates that.

The warm weather is ending for a quick bit this weekend, but the 10 day forecast looks promising towards consistent warmer weather soon. Spring is my favorite season so I am glad we are almost out of the depths for winter, and very excited for extra daylight in the evenings this weekend.