Events

Mondays
Jumping Fun Classes at Canterbrooke, (Ames)

Tuesdays
Riding Communication Classes at The Paddock (Truro) .

May 8-9
Clinic at Catalpa Corner

April 10 and 11
Clinic at Catalpa Corner.

June 4-6
Clinic and Schooling Show Catalpa Corner
(Iowa City)

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Waiver form

"Only way that horses will win is to sit there and spend time with them. Show 'em that you're trying to help 'em. Love 'em. Talk to 'em. Get to know 'em. Now that's what you gotta do. You love 'em and they'll love you, too. People might call me crazy, but that's the way it is."

-Eddie Sweat, groom for Riva Ridge and Secretariat

9/15/05 His cut continued to heal well. Karen came and picked him up and took him home to an exciting and well-loved new life with her daughter Hayley. I'll miss him.

9/12/05 I went out and checked on him in the early morning. His scratch looks improved already and since it is an overcast cool day there are not flies bothering it. I put some fura-zone on it to keep it soft and healing well.

9/11/05 In the morning when we came out to feed, the mares and foals in the adjacent pasture to Bravo's paddock had somehow opened the swinging gate between them and come in. Bravo was standing calmly in the barn, looking out proudly over his paddock and his herd of mares and foals. I got over my surprise and sent the mare and foals back out the gate. This did not sit well with Bravo, who immediately and simply jumped the 3'6" low spot in the fence. He ran around with the mares a while in the pasture. In doing so he apparently did not see a T-post that was one of many staking young trees on a berm. He took 30 minutes off my aggregate life as he galloped at it. At the last minute he jumped over it. The T-post had a plastic cap on it. The covered post produced a scrape from just inside his left front leg, across the loose skin there, behind his elbow, across his lower ribs and back to his left hip. He landed sound and continued to trot around with the mares in grand style for several minutes. I caught him and brought him in. Our host is a very good horse vet and he looked at it right away. It bled some and we cleaned it up and we were both relieved to see that it was entirely superficial. We put fura-zone on it, thanked God and put him in a stall for the rest of the stay. Our host says that it should heal up beautifully. Because of the location of the scratch, Bravo won't tolerate a girth until about Thursday, our friend says. Another friend staying there is also a good horse vet and he concurred. Bravo trailered home fine and settled back in to his herd at home with out comment. I put swat on the scratch to keep any evening flies out of it.

9/10/05 Foxhunted in the Tipton hunt country. It was a beautiful day, but dry, so we expected secnting to be poor and it to be a slow hunt day. Ha! There was a lot of cantering, wending through woods, stream crossing and coop jumping going on. Bravo was a living star as usual, exuberant, steady and polite. A lot of horses were very tired at the end of the day, but he was looking fabulous at the end. Fit thoroughbreds are nice that way. He drank well and had some hay during brunch and then we took him to our friends' place a few minutes away and put him in a stall to rest and munch. Later in the evening we put him in a paddock by himself with some nice hay and he was quite content.

9/9/05 Dressage day. Did a lot of transitions within and between gaits. He did very well.

9/8/05 Conditioning ride. He was a little lazy in the first few minutes, I think I interrupted a nap. But he came alive soon enough and we had a wonderful swinging trot and some nice canter work on the two mile hack. I asked him to canter on at about 450 mpm for a while and he felt great in it.

9/7/05 Arena transition work. Lots of walk halt, to trot to canter to walk to trot to walk to halt to canter, etc. Up and down the scales. Steady work and he got better and better.

9/6/05: Since he had a few days off (we were out of town for Trott Brook Horse Trial), I took him on a road hack to get him moving again. We walked for a quarter mile, then trotted the next 3/4 and he felt great. Then we did a quarter mile of canter which went well. Quarter mile walk and then trot and canter work the rest of the way home, saving the last bit for a warmdown. He felt great and was happy to go.

9/1 Two mile road hack for conditioning. He felt fabulous. Lovely groundcovering trot and some very nice walk and canter work.

8/31 Dressage work in the pasture. We did a lot of walk halts to remind him of the fact that he needn't lean up against the bit in downward transitions. Then on to walk trot walks which went well. We had some very nice canter departs and canter work. Yay. We closed the day with a little jump school around the place in which he was very good and had fun. Cookies and hose and back out to pasture.

8/29 I took him for a two mile road hack. We walked the first quarter mile, trotted and cantered the next 3/4, took a walk break to recover and then trotted and cantered all but the last quarter mile which we walked. He was just a delight. Hose, cookies and out to graze.

8/26 Raining out, so dressage work in the arena. He carried over the work from yesterday and produced some very nice transition work from walk to trot and trot to canter and down the scales. After he cooled out I wormed him with ivermectin suggested and provided by Diane.

8/25 I worked in the arena. We started out with some quiet walk work, asking him to come through his body. Then on to walk halts, focusing on him staying through his back and soft in his body through the transition. This was difficult at first for him and it is the work that needs to happen in order for his canter departs and transitions to trot to improve. We graduated today to trot halt and halt trot with improved softness. Very good.

8/23 Bravo is entirely re-set all the way around now, so we were back to work. We went on a 2 mile road hack since the shoulders of the gravel roads are at a forgiving consistency at the moment. He felt very good, even with all the time off. We walked the first quarter mile, varied between trot and canter the next mile and a half and walked the last quarter mile home. We had some discussions about the preferred option of staying soft in his jaw which went well.

8/19 Bravo is doing fine. Now that I know that only two of his shoes were re-set last Tuessday, I can totally see a difference in hoof length. I don't think it is advisable to ride him when he is so uneven (and as an aside, I could strangle the farrier for making such a decision, especially since it was a front and a back shoe!) He is due to be trimmed and re-set on Tuesday morning and he'll be back in work then.

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