Sky is Back

So we went down last Sunday to ride Sky. It all went well until I took him in his stall to get the bridle on, so he wouldn't bolt out the door. (we have been doing this since he has been acting up) I got his halter off fine, but he would not let me get the bridle on! I put my finger in his mouth, that still didn't work. When i finally got him to take the bit, he clenched it between his teeth and held his head up high. Since we only had an hour to begin with (we had to head to a soccer game), i decided to give up on the bridle even though i didnt want him to think he could get away with that every time. Then i couldn't get the halter on, i tried for 40 minutes, he would turn around, put his butt to me, and put his head in the corner. I finally left him in his stall and mom called barry to let him know why he was in. Sandi then decided she would go down tuesday. She called, he was fine. Then i had a lesson on wed. he was fabulous, he didnt care about the bridle on or off, he didnt spook at anything, he was great! I went down again today and rode. He was as normal as could be. Whatever it was, it went away as mysteriously as it came!

The Saddle Pad and the Bird

So i brought home Sky's saddle pad to wash since it hadn't been washed since last fall! He was sheddind, so it was really hairy. Mom told me to leave it on the porch so we wouldn't get hair all through the house. A few minutes later, we looked out and this little bird was picking off the hair and then flying away. She came back to get mouthfulls three or four times to make her nest!

YAY

So last night Sandi and I met at the barn and she rode him!! he was great, then i got on and he was fine, no jumping for a while though. So the problem is something with having something behind his ears. When you take the halter off or the bridle he goes crazy! Not putting it on just taking it off. So i have to use natural horsemanship to get him to trust me 100% before i take it off! It isnt that hard, and it is kinda fun, plus i get to spend time with him doing it! Sandi and I each took it on and off a couple of times and he is already getting better, so it will just take some time. He must have gotten caught on something and just remembers it. My sweet little horsey is back!!!!!!!!

So

Since sky is being such a pain, we are having a girl named courtney out to ride him, if that doesnt work and he is still a bum then i am either going to lease a horse or take lessons on a different horse and send him away to get trained. I hope it doesnt come to that, but i am sick of getting thrown so right now i have almost given up on him (which so many people have to me not to completely do) and its sad but he has completely shattered any of the trust i had in him:(

Welllllll...............

So the saddle fitter came and there was nothing wrong with the saddle. Sooooooo we are back to square 1

Vet

the vet came today and there is nothing wrong with his ears! But his back is very very very sore, so were are having the saddle fitter out at 10:30 on saturday!!

Record Broken.....ouch!

Well we when to the stables to have my lesson on friday, since it was so nice outside, Sandi decided that we would set two jumps up outside. So I saddled up and we went out in the field to have my lesson! Everything was going great, he was doing wonderful on the flat, and sandi said i should take him over two trot polles, about 8 feet apart. He wen tover the first one just fine, he stepped over the next one and then all four feet came off the ground and he corkscrewed in the air and took off galloping, leaving me sitting in the dirt. Sandi asked if I was alright and I hopped up and went to get Sky. I got back on and took him over at the walk, each time he would bolt for a stride in a canter after the pole, but this time i was ready and managed tp stay on each time he did. We got him relaxed and then she said take him over at the trot and he did it perfectly fine. I took him over a few more times and he never batted an eye, so Sandi put up the smallest crossrail i think is ever possible. I trotted him up to it, he took one look at the jump and stopped dead in his tracks. We thought it was the strangest thing since you cant keep him from getting fast and excited when he sees a jump. She put it down to a really small verticle about 5 inches off the ground, and told me to take him to it again. I trotted him up and this time he wheeled so fast around and started galloping wildly around the field! I again bounced back up, but was getting very frustrated. He galloped wildly around the field for about 2 minutes, while mom and sandi were joking that they would still be on the ground from the first fall. He finally slowed to a canter and eventually we caught him! I got back on again and we walked and trotted him over the poles and then worked on the flat. We wanted to end on a good note and he was so worked up and sweaty we didnt want to try jumping again. I stopped him and was getting ready to dismount, had one leg over his back and he shied away and took off again. Well me on the other hand i slowly got back up this time, and Sandi said i hit my head pretty hard, that we better watch for a concussion. I got a headache almost instantly. We caught sky adn headed back to the barn, sandi offered to untack and i gladly accepted. She went to put the halter on and the reins were still over his neck and she got to about his nose with the halter and he did a little mini rear, wheeled around, and took off out the back of the barn. The bridle was wrapped around his leg when Sandi caught him. ( nothing broke which is pretty amazing!) She put him in his stall and mom went to get Barry to tell him we were having a bit of trouble and couldnt get sky's halter on. He came in and we got him untacked and the halter on which he wasnt to happy about. Barry then said he had been a little jumpy when they took the halter off. Meanwhile averyone said i looked more like a played football then rode a horse, with major grass and dirt stains, grass in my hair and dirt everywhere possible!We lead him back over to the field and he was a docile as ever. We got home and i watched a movie, and did little things to keep me awake since mother wouldnt let me sleep in case I had a concussion. Mom and Sandi were calling back and forth wracking their brains on what went wrong with Sky. I told them to just chalk it up as a weird day, and Sandi said we should go down Saturday morning to ride and prove to myself and Sky that it was an off day. The end of the day drew to an end with a recorded broken, i got scored a ten from Sandi on a scale from 1 to 10 on one of my falls, and i got thrown three time in one day!! Mom gets the brillant idea that she needs to wake me up every few hours to see if "i was still with it" everytime it felt like i just got to sleep and she came and woke me up! i got up the next morning geared up for round two of the rodeo, every muscle and bone in my body pretty much hurt. We went down and i went to get him out of the pasture. The one side of the halter was up over his ear and i tried to get it on and he would not let me, he backed away and jerked his head out of my reach, I was like fine i will take you in like this and put it on once you get in the crossties. He did the same thing for me and Barry, so Barry went up behind his neck and pulled it on over his ear. He flinched and jerked away, and i was like " what the heck is wrong with my horse!" I got to thinking he had "crud" last spring and we tried to look in his ear but he wouldnt let us. Barry said let me try and went up and gently touched his ear. That was like a button to sky and he exploded. He reared up as high as the crossties would allow and backed up until we thought he was going to pull them out of the wall. "I think we found the problem" He settled down and as much as i wanted to prove to him that he wouldnt get away with throwing me off when dismounting, i knew there was no way we could get that bridle on. We all decided it must be and inner ear infection. The vet should be coming monday or tuesday, but they will have to sedate him to look at his ear:( We put our heads together and looked back over the past two weeks. On wed. i kept telling mom he wasnt himself, he spooked at the crossties banging on the wall, and the sound of the gate grating on the rock, a bird flying in the barn. He would also blow so i couldnt buckle the girth. He stumbled all the time which would have something to do with his balance in his inner ear. And Barry said on Sat morning Sky walked past his hay and was walking around in circles in the field tossing his head. That is very abnormal for Sky, he always wants food. All the sounds he spooked at would be because he probably cannot hear normally, so everything sounds muffled. i feel bad for not catching it sooner, but we didnt realize how much pain he was in. ANs he knew that landing after jumping probably really hurt his ear. Ill let you know what the vet says later this week. haha my butt and neck hurt soooooooo bad:/