Eli’s follow-up visit with the chiropractor last Wednesday went well, and I took off work to meet the chiropractor/vet. The doctor, thankfully, had a good sense of humor about Eli’s attitude and was able to work on him without sedation again. We joked that although Eli hates him, this visit he hates him less than the time before. Eli will have regularly scheduled adjustments in the future.
Since these initial adjustments, Eli’s left to right lead change has been pretty solid. Still some drama, but I can get one without too much effort & fuss. This played out in our lesson Saturday, and my trainer was thrilled with this development. Eli played hard after every fence–no more derby horse imitation–maybe he just felt really good with his bones back in place?–but he zeroed in on every jump two to three strides out, so I didn’t really care about the in between antics–I just have to steer a little more forcefully with my leg.
After we warmed up, trainer raised the jumps a few holes and set me on some courses.
I kind of hope the jumps get moved again soon, because there is not a lot of room for variety with the way they are set now. The turn from 5 to 6 was particularly challenging, though, because Eli played really hard and didn’t quite see the skinny until we were really close, and we wound up taking a super chippy step and bunny hopping over it. But Eli jumped 7 fantastically, so I guess he thought our effort at 6 was as funny as our spectators thought it was (everybody laughed, including me and my trainer).
I looked a bit late for the first rollback in the next course, but looked early for the next rollback, which helped Eli to land on the correct lead and balance up a bit better.
The courses we worked on weren’t particularly long–my lesson was a little later than usual and it was getting pretty hot. My trainer praised me for finding every fence and riding through Eli being so playful. He expended so much energy in between the jumps, but I was glad he still gave a good effort at every fence once we got there. Ideally, he’d conserve energy in between the fences, but handiness has never been at the top of Eli’s list of advantages, so I know to expect his commentary. He was jumping the single oxer going away especially well each time. The trade off is worth it.
Another note of praise for Lo-Ride breeches–I wore them during my lesson and they were completely dry after. In morning humidity. In Texas. In August. With all the sun. And 90-something degrees.
Breeches dry as a bone. Shirt soaked through. These really are high performance, sport-oriented breeches–don’t let the traditional look fool you.
I also crafted over the weekend. Yes, me. I crafted. But it was the easiest craft project ever–making elastic hair ties. Buy spool of elastic ribbon, cut into 10 inch strips, knot ends. Done.
Eli got the day off and a bath on Sunday. He really enjoyed having his mane scrubbed, which I hadn’t noticed before.
Scrubbing the tail, not so much. I also had Nutella-filled cupcakes from HEB, a local grocery chain that always has an amazing bakery, among other things.
If you are looking to destroy your pancreas and crash into a sugar coma for a few hours, have a Nutella cupcake.
Maybe next weekend I’ll remember to beg a barn minion to film my lesson!
I need to make my own hair ties. Amanda did that a few weeks ago and I was jealous. I think that’s a craft I could handle.
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I am not at all crafty! But this was so easy, and a bit less expensive than just buying some.
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Those are nice looking breeches, although the whole outfit looks good. You certainly take your lessons in style!
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I like to dress neatly to show respect for my trainer, my horse, and the sport. 🙂 Thank you!!!
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Love the hair ties! Also, those breeches are magic.
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They are totally magic.
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Love chiropractors. I want to set up a regular maintenance schedule for Tucker too. It’s definitely noticeable how much better they feel after. Glad your lesson was good. That cupcake looks delicious!
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It really is very noticeable. I’m still skeptical of chiro generally, but it seems to help Eli so I’ll keep it up.
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Woohoo! Those courses look super fun! And you’re slowly persuading me to try out a pair of those Lo-Ride breeches, because sweaty-breech-butt is definitely a thing…a thing that I don’t need.
I miss me some HEB, that cupcake looks amazing 🙂
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I will over share and tell you that I usually have sweaty breech everything, but not in these breeches.
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All the bloggers need to make hairbands, then we can do one big massive trade with each other and end up with a variety pack.
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That is genius.
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I second Amanda’s idea.
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Omg those breeches, must have, you’re slowly eroding my willpower
And “da heb” as I affectionately call it, is the bomb. For July 4 I bought a cake shaped like a hamburger from them, complete with cake cut to look like French fries. Love them.
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I am addicted to the heb cinnamon chip muffins! How do people outside of Texas even eat without heb?
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We struggle to eat without the heb.
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Droool nutella cupcake:)
Those breeches are so awesome. I like the shirt in that photo too (I like red and nautical….so that’s pretty spot on for my taste!)
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The anchors & horseshoes print was basically irresistible!
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ok i’m officially very interested in those breeches!!! also – you won my blog give away – congrats! send me an email at fraidycat.eventing{at}gmail.com and i’ll send you the prize 😀
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Yay!! I’ll shoot you an email shortly 🙂 and the breeches really are nothing short of awesome, I highly recommend them!
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Yeah I think I really want those breeches. I had never thought to make my own hair ties, brilliant. And the idea of an exchange sounds fun, too.
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Oh, yeah, you do want these breeches. And I didn’t think to make my own hair ties, either–totally stolen from Amanda.
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