Long time gone & Backward steps

I'm sorry for the lapse in posting. I got busy in the fall, and then just kept pushing the catch-up further and further back. Then there was this huge thing with the computer, getting a new computer...Suffice to say, there were a lot of excuses.

Toler and I ended the fall in top form. We started doing quite a bit of hill work, mostly trotting downhill and cantering uphill. I found the best hill in one of the paddocks that became empty in the afternoon after the horses were brought in, and Toler and I would sneak inside it to work. The hill was temperate and the footing was excellent, plus the "new scenery" made it far more interesting.

We also had some excellent trail rides. My trainer trailered a bunch of us from the stable to our favorite nearby equestrian park three or four times before the season ended.

Toler had a little hiccup into the winter when he developed a stifle issue. Whether it was just a strain or something psychological (which, to be honest, is sometimes hard to determine with Toler--he often internalizes his injuries and creates an emotional aspect to them), it made us ease up on our training for a short time.

Training was getting back into full swing--after incredible amounts of counter-bending on the rail and other straightening exercises--when we heard that Steffen Peters would be returning as a clinician for this year's Midwest Horse Fair. Having sized up "the competition" the previous year, I was determined to apply with Toler. We had two weeks to prepare ourselves for a video for the application.

I quickly found the new 2011 dressage tests online (scoring copies are available as free downloads on USEF) and memorized all of First and Second levels. Having to shoot our video in the small-dressage-arena-sized indoor arena at our barn, I knew that we would be unable to ride an actual test, but I'd intended to select specific movements and adapt them for the application video.

And, as our luck would have it, a few days into working, I arrived at the barn one cold, icy day to discover that Toler's left knee was incredibly inflamed. No doubt he'd slipped and fallen on it. He was not lame, but riding was decidedly out of the question. So too was our application.

Toler has recovered well so far. He has a slight amount of remaining fluid in his knee, but there is no further swelling and Toler has decided he feels more than fine to do practically anything he wants. Including a rather huge set of bucks while I rode him bareback one day. I am riding him, but it is straight rail-work-only. No bending, no circles, no lateral movements of any kind. Nothing that would put additional weight or strain on his knee, which gets better day by day. It's a good time to step back and work on my sitting trot, really.

Some friends at the stable did apply for the clinic positions, and Toler and I wish them luck. As for us, there will be other opportunities, and, as I suspect, there will be always be next year.

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Just Wanna Have Fun

I was super pumped to ride with Toler's new bit today (it came yesterday afternoon while we were at the stable, just as I knew it would). Sadly, plans were totally derailed.

He must have recieved a glancing blow to his left shoulder while out with his chums, because he had a bit of swelling just in front of his shoulder. It didn't seem to bother him at all and wasn't very warm to the touch, which was good at least. Then his right foreleg was hot and swollen (not terribly) with a tiny nick on the inside of his cannon. I guess they had a bit too much fun out there. It was a bit odd because in the past few years, Toler really doesn't involve himself in the fights. He's alpha and wards off challenges, but most of the horses know better than to test him. Especially since he can easily kick them when he's out of their reach. But, maybe the mares were in heat or something and they got all riled up.

I tricked him into eating some tablets of bute from my hand (with butterscotch treats). He didn't realize my cunning until he was almost done chewing the last one. I could see "the wheels turning" as he was eating them, fully aware that his treat nibblets didn't taste like they ought to. He pouted at me after trying to slobber the last bits out of his mouth. Poor pups. (Yes, I frequently call my horse "pups" or "puppy" or "pup-dogger," and yes, I do realize that he is in fact not a canine. But, I also call him my moose, so you'll just have to get over it.)

I put liniment on to ease the ouch, and wrapped his leg with a standing wrap for the night, then put a pair of support boots on his stall to be put on when he goes out tomorrow. He was still moving fine, so I fully expect him to be back in riding form for a workout Friday with the new bit. =)

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About Us--Why a Training Blog?

Welcome to Not Quite Hercules!

I've been riding for (gosh) 11 years now, maybe slightly longer. I'm an eventer at heart, though I've never been able to ride cross-country, but I do love dressage. And I'm not just saying that like most eventer-types say that. For me, dressage isn't a necessary phase or way of training. Dressage, for me, is an art as much as my photography, more so than jumping. Despite my affection for it, I wouldn't say I'm the next Steffen Peters. Far, far from it. But hey, riding is all about learning, right? All about attempting perfection. Riders, especially and particularly dressage riders, know that no horse and rider can attain perfection. It's simply not possible. But that doesn't mean we don't give it our all each and every time we climb into the saddle.

I also have to admit that I wasn't always so affectionate about dressage. You might say it's a recent development, even. I have always loved those moments of total harmony and union between horse and rider that I think dressage brings about better than other disciplines, but I was still more of a jumper. I was that gutsy, obviously crazy short girl who galloped down steep hills and leapt before looking. But somewhere along the way, I've grown up. That's not to say I still don't gallop down hills (well, I haven't, but as soon as Toler's in shape...) and that's not to say that jumping doesn't give me an incomparable high. I am more cautious, though. Perhaps I'm simply more in tune with the fragility of human and equine bodies. Pretty fair bet, actually. Two summers ago I was involved in a jumping accident. My friends are probably sick of hearing about it, but it has affected me more than even I would have thought. I won't delve into it hear, but let's just say that neither myself nor my horse are quite fully recovered from it. He's much further along than I am, of course.

Itolocus (aka Toler, pronounced like "taller"), is my 11 year-old Hanoverian/Thoroughbred gelding. He's 18.1 hands tall, coppery chestnut, registered as both Canadian Sport Horse and Canadian Warmblood, foaled near Winnipeg in Canada. "Itolocus" in Greek mythology, was the best friend of Hercules (hence my self-proclaimed witty blog title), and quite the ladies charmer. Which is true of the horse (or moose, as I like to call him), as well. His Hanoverian sire, Icarus, was lead stallion of the RCMP Musical Ride for a few years before making his life as a dressage horse. His Thoroughbred dam, Little Mary, started in a few (apparently succesful) races before making her heyday as a stadium jumper. I got him just as he turned 3, already 17 hands, and rather gawky as a youngster. But I knew from the moment I first saw him we'd share something special. I even thought his noble nose and overgrown ears were adorable.

I probably should have recognized from the get-go that Toler was creative when it came to injuries. When we bought him, he already wore a long scar at the top of his right foreleg--a yearling attempt at escaping a fence, we were told--but only superficial. Training came naturally to him and virtually hiccup free. At first, at least. We did have to teach him that riding outside did not mean he could play (i.e. buck or run alongside the paddock fences). And we have always had to be rather patient with the simple notion that he has 4wD.

He learned the hard way that branches should be avoided (scratched his cornea), though he takes particular pleasure in finding the low branches to go under when I'm in the saddle. When he was five or six he acquired a hematoma on the inside of his left stifle (to this day we can't figure out how), the first injury that resulted in a major training setback. A few years later, time for college came and I was two hours away from him for more than half the year. Three winters ago he slid in the paddock and cut his left hind leg quite severely. A laceration to the cannon that required four months of stall rest and hand walking, light indoor turnout only at the end. It was six months total by the time he was ready to be worked again (also the soonest I was back at home for the summer), and rehabbing was slow. At this point we'd started the process of retraining twice already.

But that third time wasn't to be the last either. Two summers ago while jumping just over 3', Toler caught a pole between his legs that brought us both down. While he was largely unscathed (shaken up, bruised, and sore, certainly--with a chunk of mane missing to boot), I came home from the ER with a concussion, chipped tooth, broken nose, a hole in my upper lip, gashes in my mouth, sand/gravel bits in my sinus cavity, and a slew of bruises, cuts, and scrapes all over. We spent the rest of the year mostly just picking up the pieces and figuring out how far back to go.

Starting last summer, after the completion of my BA, I have started to kick it into high gear. Derailed only for the time it took to recover from a bad delayed reaction to the intranasal Strangles vaccine, we are now going strong. Slowly, but strong.

From here on out, it's only forward movement.

So, if you're interested, this is where I'll record the day-to-day progress of our (re)training. I'll include overall progress, diagrams, exercises, thoughts on equine nutrition, tack, training philosophy, rider fitness...anything and everything. From dressage to jumping to trails. From silly character stories, random rants, posts from the horse's perspective, to equine book discussions. I hope you stay with me, and above all, enjoy the ride.

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