2010 Wise County Wrangler's Novice Champion

Yesterday was the final Wise County Wrangler playday and I won Champion in the Novice class. While I still didn't lope, I felt my riding looked really good (my opinion :)). In October I will receive a buckle!!!! It would be great if I could wear it to Cedar Creek. Kid was awesome.

Lesson Recap

We practiced barrels today and I had a great time even though Kid did not. I trotted the entire barrel pattern several times without stopping. Yea!!!

3 Weeks and counting...

In three weeks we are having the next WCW playday. I am currently in first place for the Novice class and if I don't start loping, I am in danger of losing.

I am trying very hard to ride every day until the playday. Today I rode Kid for about 20 minutes in the pasture but had a few issues:

-he keeps tossing his head (check hackamore fit)
-he wanted to run back to the barn (made him stop and stand periodically)
-he and voodoo were both jumpy but that was probably due to the cows/bulls in the pasture

Tomorrow is lesson day!

Each post does not require a photo!

I have put off posting because I wanted to include photos but I'm not going to worry about that anymore.

Since my last post:

-Two playday events
-Rupert got shoes and a resulting abscess
-Kid has been trying on the ground but I feel like we are still making progress

I'll post details later.

Backing Off

I'm still working on gaining Kid and Rupert's respect. I feel we are making progress but I need to figure out what method works best when correcting them.

More cloudy and cold weather today but Bethann and I got a quick ride around the pasture in. We would have ridden longer but the large collection of wild pigs down by the arena discouraged us.

Someone is 6 today

Happy Birthday, Kid. You've only just begun.

HYPP Sucks

As I mentioned on Thursday, I felt that something was wrong with Kid. It turns out I was right. Last night I got a call about 15 minutes after I drove by the barn that Kid had gone down and they were having trouble getting him back up. The vet had been called and was on his way. I left Steven at Cody's house and left for the barn.

When I arrived, Kid was up and tied in the aisle. I knew immediately when I saw him that he was in the middle of a HYPP attack. His neck, shoulders, and the upper part of his body were rippling with muscles out of control. I decided to walk him around hoping he wouldn't fall over but needing to keep us both busy until the vet got there. Kid was subdued even though his muscles weren't. I would rub his ears periodically which he seemed to find comforting. When I stopped, he nudged me for more.

I bought Kid knowing he was a HYPP N/H horse. I figured if I bought him or someone else did he would still have the same chance of having attacks. I knew I would love him and take care of him, making sure he had everything he needed. He is on daily medication now that should keep attacks at bay but it will be constant vigilance every day.