Sofia's chiro appt and a breakthrough with my niece

[Jenni]

Decided that I would have the chiro check out Sofia since Kelsey wants to start doing more cantering. She's gotten her into that gear a few times on the way back to the timer line but it was messy and tentative. Also Sofia will trot her little hooves off and not fall into a lope like most horses would. So start with chiro for no excuses. She actually had quite a bit going on in her back end. The chiro I have uses more the touch and release type adjusting than structural but had to do a number of structural pops in Sofia's lumbar/sacral area. She also is tight in her shoulders so she showed Kelsey how to massage her there.

There is another little boy who is Kelsey's age and riding a pony a little smaller than Sofia. He gallops most of the patterns. I asked his mom last week how they got a pony that small to be patterned so well and she said that her son and the pony were mostly just trotting patterns up until a few weeks ago and then suddenly they took off. She felt that the pony just knew when her son was ready and figured the same would eventually happen with Sofia. Until then I am trying to work on proper positioning and aids with Kelsey to create that muscle memory for when she does speed up. They really are coming along by leaps and bounds.

My breakthrough came in that my niece brought her horse to be adjusted. My niece (B) is 19 and grew up with horses but her mom is very "old school" and not open to new ideas. Several years ago I was watching B ride and I suggested to her mom that she get the horse in for a dental (he was throwing his head up with the slightest touch on the reins) - she said I feed all my horses cob corn so they don't need their teeth floated. 2 weeks later he reared up and knocked B off his back and gave her a concussion - then they sold him. I quit trying to give advice. Fast forward a few years and she has a new horse who is supposed to be a barrel horse - but they never rode her or saw her ridden before they bought her - bought her on bloodlines alone because her mom's friend said they were so great (B can't even tell me the horses registered name or why they are so great).

Last week I hauled B and her new mare with me to the Thursday night show and she ended up getting bucked off. She trotted her a bunch and went in another event and the mare got bucky again. Then she did some more trotting and trotted a clean barrel pattern. She went to a little local show on Saturday and as long as she went slow the mare was fine. Well my SIL (who basically raised B) brings her dogs to see my horse chiro and I lined up an appointment this week. I was going to ask B if she wanted to bring her horse to get chiro issues ruled out but my SIL must have already put in a plug and B said "I was thinking maybe I should bring Vegas to your place for the chiro" DING DING DING! I told her it was a good idea. I had noticed the mare moved a little bit wonky in the hind end and couldn't put my finger on it. B had to lie to her mom though - she told her she was coming to my house to ride - otherwise her mom wouldn't have ok'd it because she doesn't believe in chiro. So when she came I led her horse so that the chiro could explain and point out what she saw. There wasn't anything major but enough that you could see changes in her movement. Hopefully she'll see enough improvement to become a believer, lol... B is going to school to be a vet so I think she'll start to question her mom a lot more.

[Idaho Linda]

You have been busy, haven't you? I love the updates. The story with the little boy and the pony makes a lot of sense--especially now that chiro issues have been worked out.

Until chiro can fix something that the mom can see with her own eyes, she won't believe. Sometimes it is better just to do as you are doing.

I so admire how much you are helping folks with their horses and raising horse kids of your own. Great job! Thanks for sharing and let us know how this horse is doing.

[Yip]

I can't wait to see Kelsey in gaming videos! She has a lot of guts!

[Jenni]

Oops guess I was on the wrong board when I posted this. No wonder I couldn't find it over there, lol.

We were all pumped to go to last night's event to try out the new and improved Sofia - unfortunately mother nature had other ideas and a storm bubbled up right at the start of the event so it was cancelled. Instead we went for a short road ride and then Kelsey went through the patterns in our little grass arena. I got a different bit for Sofia and for once she doesn't seem to be putting her tongue over the top of it. She was starting to put her head up to avoid and get away from Kelsey's hand but I think it was mostly because with more steering came pain because she insisted on putting her tongue over the bit. Then she discovered with her head up she didn't have to listen. With this bit in our practice area she kept her head where it belonged but she usually does so we'll have to go somewhere to try it out for real. Today, tomorrow and sunday are supposed to be hotter than blazes so probably no horse stuff for the weekend.

This is the new bit - one of the few shanked bits I could find in pony size that weren't tom thumb or solid curbs. It swivels at the port and at the barrels and it's pretty too.

[ride4fun]

Nice bit. Its so nice reading about the pony adventures. Your kids and ponies are blessed to have your wonderful knowledgeable horse care to bring out the best in the ponies.

[Jenni]

I just watched Sofia trot out to pasture and she was tracking much straighter behind. She was kind of swinging her hind legs out and around at the trot, today they pretty much just went straight forward.

[snelson]

I had never had a horse truly "stuck" before. Had adjustments done but nothing that made a huge difference until this year with Pebbles. Night and day. So glad your niece is willing to try something. To bad her mom is set against it, makes it hard to change her mind. And corn cobs for the teeth? That is a new concept for me...does she feed it with the corn on the cob?

Did your niece notice a difference in Vegas once she got back on him after his adjustment?

So glad Sofia feels better

Edited to say...LOVE the pony bit.

[Idaho Linda]

Hey, Jenni--if you have a long, smooth, not-too-steep uphill with good footing, try having Kelsey ride her pony alongside of you. Trot or lope--whatever it takes to make Sophia break from her trot. It is much easier to canter uphill than to trot. Maybe she will find she actually likes that gear. And, nice-looking bit!

[Jenni]

I tried that on the flat a couple weeks ago. We were riding in the field across the road and I was trotting alongside her on Fancy. Fancy naturally broke into a lope but Sofia just kept trotting along. Now that she's been adjusted we'll have to try it again, I do have some nice hills I can do this on.