DefinitelyDressage.com

heddylamar

Glad you have a good GP! I am finding out how we mostly don't get blood tests that test what we need, and the test results don't show what we really need! If it's not on the regular CBC, most docs don't think to test for it. I'm perpetually low on iron, magnesium, and D3, and I always have to remin...

heddylamar

My new primary care physician took one look at my long list of weird, seemingly unrelated, problems that have been increasing over the last 5 years, and asked if anyone's ever tested my B12 levels. I was low. So low that I'm on my third month of weekly shots. I don't know if there's a correlation, b...

heddylamar

That's pretty pricey, LSP! I was looking at $100/foot for glue-on shoes with Maia's latest adventures. Does Lynx need extra special shoes??

heddylamar

Smartpak is having a 20% off sale on helmets right now.

heddylamar

Maia is sound-ish? Or at least I'm no longer feeling ill? In the past few days, she's turned a corner. We were on bute 2x a day for a week, spent 5-6 hours inside in Easy Boot Clouds, then Venice turpentine when I took the boots off and turned her back out. Much to my abject horror and joy, Maia sta...

heddylamar

I have really narrow feet, and find Ariat's paddock boots to be fairly narrow. Mountain Horse and Ovation tall boots are far too wide.

As for helmets, get something with MIPS. And get something that is comfortable, doesn't shift, and doesn't have hot spots. That's sooo individual.

heddylamar

I'm so sorry for your loss, Khall. Maia greeted me at her stall door, walked around a bit, and actually walked for the vet. 100% more comfortable on grass than the concrete aisle, or asphalt. The vet ruled out laminitis and PHF, phew. He agreed with my initial assessment — before I started spiraling...

heddylamar

Is it something we did? I just had to call the vet for Maia too. Trimmer was out yesterday, and Maia walked off a bit tender. Today she refused to move at all. No heat. No fever. No parking out or shifting her weight, nothing particularly odd beyond refusing to pick up the left front which would shi...

heddylamar

I think all these exercises would work but I can't do them in the middle of a dressage test :lol: she can turn on the tension at a moment's notice! To your second point, I am close to trying some chemical assistance to calm ME down. I have NO doubt I'm adding to this.... I do breathing exercises an...

heddylamar

I've had three gens of tense and forward, and very little crossover in what works best to disarm their often explosive tension. Some of things that have worked: – Warm up with counter canter (literally walk to the arena, immediately start cantering, and after 5-10 minutes we could warm up properly) ...

heddylamar

Integrating critical thinking into the curriculum needs to be a top priority for the US Department of Education.

heddylamar

Those flaps aren't forward enough for you, StraightForward, and the cantle looks like it's shoving you forward. Maybe a different configuration would work, but I wouldn't go through the hassle — and expense — of custom making it if it's not at least close. And it isn't. If they make it, I would try ...

heddylamar

I'm so sorry, goldhorse.

heddylamar

And that, right there ...

Biden needs to go enjoy hanging out with his great grandkids in retirement. And we need an age limit on who can run for office.

heddylamar

Oh no khall, that's terrible news. Many jingles for Rip.

Maia's laminitis stall mate in Texas got through the triple digit summers with AC, alcohol baths, and ice baths.

heddylamar

This week's SCOTUS ruling is terrifying. And as someone who works politics-adjacent (campaign fundraising), I cannot get away from it. Everyone outside work wants me to weigh in, and I just want to go for a long run and bury my head in the sand. Fortunately, DH recognizes I need downtime, and refuse...

heddylamar

Get something that works for both of you. If it fits both of you, but doesn't meet your needs (e.g. lower cantle), keep searching. There will be something out there! I was going to suggest Stubben, but the cantle is higher than I recall. I ride in an older Laser 747 with has a medium deep seat. It's...

heddylamar

We've made zero progress the past two months ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I did ride a good bit before leaving San Antonio. Then Maia was a giant, explosive nutball during our two-week layover at Mom's farm, so we just did some groundwork. The second half of trailering went much smoother with five new trailer tires, n...

heddylamar

Heddy, I thought you were already THERE! Guess I missed the flight plan memo ;) We had a 10-day layover at my mom's farm in Tennessee. That's quite the trek all in one go, and both of my co-drivers had some funky scheduling issues we needed to work around. But we're here now, and Maia's out with a ...

heddylamar

We are underway!!! Only 800+ miles to go. All the unplanned trailer densensitization has paid off — 15 minutes of a bite or two of timothy pellet mash (with a small handful of grain to sweeten the interest), and Maia marched all the way in, shoved her face in the bucknet, and gobbled. Of course, the...

heddylamar

Memory loss is such a roller coaster. We've been through it with all the grands, and at 78(!) my dad's well into it himself. The early onset is probably a side effect of all of his other medical problems. We'd know more if we could get him to see a neurologist, but that's a whole huge ordeal that in...

heddylamar

The other day my friend was walking home and a peacock started to display right in front of her very high-strung TB mare. That was an interesting morning. Peacocks elicit some interesting reactions! Mom's very placid gelding turned into a snorting, prancing monster when he encountered a flock at a ...

heddylamar

Thanks! We need all the luck we can get at this point ;) Luckily I was hauling with my mom. We're both pretty non-plussed when playing whack-a-mole with disaster after disaster. The only real stress point was tire number two. That extra two hours was pushing us into 18 hours on the road, and we were...

heddylamar

Leg one of the epic trailering journey is done. Finally. The highlights: — Three days of remedial trailering work after Maia decided she doesn't trailer any more — Three extra nights in a hotel (we kept checking out, then checking back in :lol: ) — Five fingers/hands dinged in feeding a very hungry ...

heddylamar

The packers have come and gone. I've moved 20+ times, and this is the first move I can recall where they did pack and load in one day. And I got all of the last minute cleaning done too. We're ahead of schedule! I told the DH that I'm going riding tomorrow :lol: (Maybe!) The cars get picked up tomor...

heddylamar

A week from now, the piggies, DH, and me will be flying to Maryland. I'm coming back for the houseplants and Maia too at the end of the month

heddylamar

Ouch, Paula! You might want to look into working with a personal trainer or physical therapist. They can help you build a program tailored to strength, balance, and movement.

heddylamar

You don't know the power of the dark side ;) We're a month out from leaving Texas, and still haunted by that darn abscess! I'm hoping the farrier can trim Maia's foot in a way that relieves a bit of the pressure tomorrow. For the most part she's sound on it ... but 10 meter circles are painful. Hope...

heddylamar

Maia's been battling a teensy fingertip-sized abscess since early January. It's finally reached surface level, and it's a bit too ouchy now to ride through.Not too sore to be out bucking and running :roll: After over a week of soaking, plus a few days of drawing poultice, hasn't popped. I'm almost a...

heddylamar

Yep! We'll get nearly 3.5 minutes here!

heddylamar

@Kelo What a cutie! He's got the big butt like my mom's retired barrel horse/pasture ornament/very occasional dressage horse :lol: (I give her shade for not riding very frequently, but he's the perfect horse for that) My first horse was a redheaded QH mare. She taught me so much, and I still ride he...

heddylamar

Maia likes to swap behind too if I'm not giving her to space to really open up. So cantering in the arena is a disaster. Outside is great, and even better if it's uneven ground ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ One of the suggestions I got from my bodyworker is lateral work, specifically things like shoulder/haunches in. W...

heddylamar

Have you tried cantering on uneven ground, or over ground poles, StraightForward? Maia can be very creative with her legs too, but if we're on uneven ground she's really dialed in. And, yeah, this move is happening quick! We went from "maybe" to "we're doing it" in a few weeks. I...

heddylamar

@khall what a cutie! I went back to your link for more pics, and OMG, baby playing :D Momma's looking good too! And @blob, fabulous turnout! The pink coat is perfect for you both :mrgreen: If you hadn't told us, I wouldn't know he's foot sore (or is he not here?) I don't know if you've tried anythin...

heddylamar

Very cool!

heddylamar

congrats, Heddy! I hope the rest of the moving process goes smoothly as well. Have you found a barn? Sort of? I'm on two wait lists. One is too far now, and the other is a bit quirky ... I need to decide how quirky is too quirky for me. I'll be back in two weeks, and hope to look at three more plac...

heddylamar

My warmups have always been very horse dependent, and most of my trainers have wanted to see what I do (and possibly tweak) v. replace wholesale. Our offer on a house in Maryland was accepted :D Fingers crossed this all goes as easily as the move to Texas! Considering that this is my 20+ something m...

heddylamar

Where are you headed, Heddy? We're headed back to Maryland ;) Lots of fabulous memories, friends, and in-laws in Maryland, but we lived there too damn long for this military brat! I was absolutely loving the dry heat and sun of San Antonio, and was looking forward to moving somewhere else entirely ...

heddylamar

Its going to depend to a great extent whereabouts you are located when you break down, though, as they contract with local services. Yeah. That does definitely factor into the usefulness. I'm going to be hauling across the US again with an old truck — great condition for 21yo — and don't have the p...

heddylamar

I'm back in town Saturday, Maia has bodywork Sunday, then I'm gone again Thursday – Sunday, and Friday – Wednesday, and suddenly there's only a handful of days left in the month. Oh. Yeah. And we're on the move again, likely leaving Texas by this summer

heddylamar

Is US Rider still the gold standard? I'm hauling with a geriatric — in truck years — vehicle, and need some extra coverage.

heddylamar

Maia had body work the other day, and she noticed the same tension I've been seeing since the lameness in December. And there was a bit of a muscle knot on the inside of her upper back leg (gracilis). We got that all worked out, and I worked on it a bit more the next day while we waited our turn wit...

heddylamar

I'm so sorry, Exvet. Making that call is never easy.

We lost one of the oldsters at my barn this morning too. He was a sassy boy to the end.

I get it Mountaineer. Both of my mares can be super reactive to certain people, mainly a certain vet.

heddylamar

Not a whole lot horse related, but it is horse-adjacent. Behind/under the bench seat are a set of spare fuses, heavy duty bolt cutters, torq bar, ratchet set, new wiper blades, tow strap, oil, winter wiper fluid, shopping bags, sunscreen, hand sanitizer. And in the glove box are spare masks, leather...

heddylamar

That is terrifying, Exvet! How is Junior doing today? How are you?

Maia chokes too. I'm saving this post so I have more guidance in case it happens again.

heddylamar

It varies a ton state to state, county to county. You need to ask the right questions. Grandma was in a home with daytime only nursing staff. After a hospital visit, we moved her across the street to a different assisted living, and there's a nurse on staff 24/7. OTOH, my dad is in a fully staffed n...

heddylamar

Those modeling choices are always super amusing. And incredibly frustrating if I am in a hurry to buy something. But, really, nearly all clothes modeling photos are useless. The main places I buy from have gotten into the "model is XX tall, weighs XX and is wearing X size" with a carousel ...

heddylamar

I was really good about hitting my weight lifting and aerobic goals in 2023, and it's showing. The bum shoulder is in a much better place than in 2020(?) when I started this whole weight lifting lark. It was super hard the first year+ to stay on track when my shoulder screamed daily. I need to get m...

heddylamar

Squeee!!! I love how plump and fluffy babies are! Soooo cute!! I need another baby horse <3 In good news: no visible separation of the bone! I have a new "scar on the bone" (whatever that means), and can't do anything weight bearing, or fall/impact risk for the next 6-9 weeks. Please expla...

heddylamar

Maia and I had a collision — on the ground — a few days before Christmas with my non-horsey DH as witness, and despite the all clear from the urgent care doc, my wrist is clearly NQR, so I saw an ortho. Definitely a break in the scaphoid. But because I've broken the scaphoid before, he ordered a CT ...

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