November 19th

I was feeling very lazy yesterday, so I didn’t get out to the barn until late, like around 2.  Gave him a good grooming, and got on.  Now, since we had an awesome lesson the day before, I was expecting to not do to much, just have it be a little fun hack day.  So I rode him in one of the paddocks, just to switch things up a bit.  Everything was going great, until a man riding his Tennessee Walker started riding his horse all around the perimeter of the property.  Ollie grew about 5 hands, he was so unsure of the other horse.  Now I don’t know if Dana, the trainer, even allows people to ride on her property, but this man came on the property, riding in the middle aisles between the paddocks.  I thought Ollie was gonna blow, he was holding in s much energy.  So I asked the man if he’d walk his horse next to Ollie, with the fence in between us.  He did and Ollie seemed to calm down a bit, until we said goodbye and headed for the barn (Ollies brain was so frazzled at that point, I just trotted a “nice-ish” circle and called it a day) and the man decided to start, i think its called the rack, all the way down the paddock aisles, fast as he could go.  Poor Ollie, didn’t know what to do, should he run to? Stop in his tracks? His brain was way to overloaded.  But I managed to walk him “calmly” back to the barn, and walked him around the barn once to get him nice and relaxed.  My main goal, even though I knew we were’t going to make any real progress after the TW, was just to get him back to his relaxed self before I got off.  So while I didn’t get to do what I really wanted, I did finish on a good note.

He obviously calmed right down 🙂

So yesterday I was just looking at Ollie, noticing all the things that have changed since I’ve gotten him, he has more muscle tone, shinier, overall a good looking boy, and I noticed one thing that has really improved.  His tail!! When we first got him, the seller had advised us to feed him red wine vinegar, otherwise he would try to itch his tail off.  Well I kept forgetting to get some, so he hasn’t had it since he’s been here with us, but I have attributed his tail itching to the fact that his sheath needed, and still does, cleaning.  I removed a bean, and it seems to have cured him completely!! Just thought I’d share this picture, as I am a tail person, so I now can’t keep my hands off of it 🙂

Gorgeous!!! Nice and full, and although you can’t see it, the top of his dock is nice and smooth!