Lucky 13

Mazy's 13th drive went off without a hitch. No pun intended. In fact she worked better than A-Mazy-ing so Yay!

In prior drives we have worked on some of the prelim level stuff and this time we worked on it a bit more. She has given me a collected trot in the past and yes we do need to revisit and expand on that, but one of the things she excels at and really seemed to enjoy and do well- the lengthened or extended trot. She's going to be Tough to beat in that catagory....  

When I say she has a lot of power and she's not afraid to use it....  She has a Lot of power and she is definitely Not afraid to use it! Mazy was cruising along in a working trot and as I slowly let her have more rein and pushed for a little more- she responded in spades. Mazy was rocking it like the Badass Boss pony that she is. No complaints here. 

Coming down the long side of the arena at a strong, ground covering trot like hers is an exhilarating feeling. It is an adrenaline rush to feel all of that power literally in your fingertips.  When I asked her to slow things down and come back to a regular working trot, it was about as fluid as it comes. 

This pony is really turning out nice. If I can get a friend of mine to video her in harness soon, I will. There has been a Lot of interest in her recently but then I have had several people who are well respected in the horse industry tell me, "She's a really nice pony and those are not easy to find." "Save your money, buy a marathon carriage and show her yourself."  and my favorite- "Don't let this one slip away. You've made her what she is and yes she belongs at the top, but so do you. She can take you very, very far."   

Boss Ride!

 Last night I had one of those "Breakthrough" rides on Mazy. The one where it's like all of a sudden everything just clicks into place, all of the cues suddenly make sense, leads and diagonals are nailed. Softness, lightness, straightness and rhythm are all acheived without effort or discussion.... You know- all the things happen like it should and feels perfect. Yeah that kind of ride.

So what changed you might ask? I found a different type of bit and took a chance on it. I also went into the ride thinking I would change a few things on 'how I am asking' for this or that.   

Mazy has never offered, let alone given me long and low work. Trust me, I have tried and it just never happened. Guess what I got? A lot of long and low work. On a loose rein nonetheless. Never happened until now. Now I let her have the reins and she swings along, thru the back, coming up under herself behind, reaching and rolling along in the front, head down and all that... Just wish i had pics of it.... 

Oh wait. Let me dig thru my screenshot file..... 

Yep. Looks long and low to me.

Long and low there too

Still there

A little more active and forward

I wish this one was a little closer and more in focus but still a nice shot

Yep still has it goin' on

I had to throw this one in because my friend "L" is always saying "She has too much knee action!" Sometines it's because Mazy likes to rock back on her rear end and really Lift the front end. While another friend of mine told me, "When you first got her, Mazy had a Lot of action up front while her ass end seemed to trail along in the dust. Now that she has learned to move properly and is balanced, she has just as much action coming from behind. Well done!"   

That was so nice to hear.  Also the saddle seems like it fit. With Mazy reaching out and down, her back isn't shortened or hollow so much as a little bit- making the saddle 'bridge' on her front to back. Hopefully we can keep the mojo going...  

 

Hoof fairy

The new farrier came out last weekend. We had drive #12 before he got there. Didn't work too long or too hard, just enough to go over a few things and then turned her out with her pony friend.

Gotta say I'm super impressed with this guy. Although Mazy apparently doesn't grow much hoof (and is now on supplements) the last guy had her angles off. She was tight and also sore in the shoulders, especially the left one. Which explains a few things. 

This guy also does Equine Flexion Therapy so Mazy loves seeing him. Last trim he addressed the soreness in the left shoulder and also the right side of her neck and right hip from compensating. This time around he kept saying- she is so much better and I see so much improvement! A little bit of body work and she's Gucci now.  As he is working on her, Mazy is rolling here eyes, chewing, licking her lips and putting her muzzle on him every chance she gets. She clearly adores him. 

The prognosis- she had a series of what he called honeycomb abscesses in left front hoof. They were all small and dried up already but they were there. This adds the the column of- that explains a few things. Lol 

In the train of thought where everything is tied together and "that explains that....."  Last time I had been riding more prior to the trim and Mazy was coming off having bad angles - the kind where none of her feet matched- and since I didn't spend much time looking at her feet, figuring that I was paying for someone to do their job and do it well... Yeah, no. He wasn't. 

Although the abscesses (5 of them all in a row) never presented as soreness or lameness, they may have in a different way that I just wasn't see or feeling. Another woman from the old barn came over the other day to watch her work. She noticed Mazy wasn't "slapping the ground" with her front feet like she did at the other place. "She moves more freely here". This would be because the arena has better footing. Barn owner is also talking about bringing in more sand and working it in. Yay! 

With the series of abscesses in the left front hoof, the tightness in her shoulder and issues with saddle fit, I explained to farrier J that it all made sense now that going to the right, I have nothing on the outside rein. No contact in my left rein. She just wasn't there. I'm not really sure how else to explain it. Switching over to driving and staying off her back while she continues to grow and change just seemed like the obvious choice. Without saddle fit issues, without anyone on her back, without footing issues.... there is now contact in the left rein when we're going to the right. 

There may be a little bit of residual tightness in a few places but for the most part, Mazy is loose and relaxed, feet are now balanced with the correct angles and she is working like she should. Because all things are right in her world- shes a much happier pony.