Year End Wrap-Up

Well, a lot has happened since the last post almost 3 months ago. My siblings and I sold the family farm and settled our parents' estate. The barn and paddocks got built(!!!!!!!). And just after all that got wrapped up, it rained. We're in the middle of a drought that has gone on for several years now so the rain was needed and (sort of) welcome, but I mean, it RAINED. And rained and rained.  So we became a soggy mess around here and the arena was too wet to ride in without damaging the base. The good news is, all the grading and rock work that was done at the barn site paid off, and the horses were high and dry, for the first time ever.

So needless to say, Dublin got neglected the last few months. It seemed fine with him. My focus went from riding to working on his ground manners, particularly around having his feet trimmed. He and I have worked things out to where I can handle his feet with no problem, but it hasn't affected his manners when his feet are trimmed. Kicking, pulling away, biting, you name it. Julia suggested being just a little less polite with him when I handle his feet. When he arrived here (2 years ago!), he had some "issues" that probably came from his handling at the track, but after a long time of being handled nicely, his behavior around his hoof trims is now mostly just beligerant and dominant. So I went to a somewhat less gentle approach, handled him quite a bit more firmly, and put up with a lot less. In other words, I asked him to step up to the plate and let me do what I wished while handling his feet. He was a bit surprised and there was some resistance, but it paid off. He got his feet trimmed last week and was a perfect gentleman, even when a small abscess was discovered and had to be cleaned out.

My goal had been to be cantering him by the end of the year. A bad spill (from Cowboy, not Dublin) in February put a halt to riding for quite a while, and then, well, if you've read the posts, you know that the whole plan went to pieces. But so many things have been taken off my plate, and the weather finally cleared about a week ago and we've had sunshine, that I actually got to ride both horses a couple days ago. Dublin went right back on track like I had never been off him. And today when I rode, I asked for a canter and after a lot of fast trotting, we got a nice canter across the arena! I didn't think about it at the time, but since today is December 31, we accomplished our goal!

And by the way, here are a couple pics of our completed new barn!