I've decided to keep a log of my riding with my horse Gypsy. She and I are in training for dressage and we both have already come so far in the 22 months I've owned her. She is my first horse and when I got her in February 2010, I was a total beginner rider. I'd like to have a record of our rides so that I can see how far we've come. Gypsy is a North American Spotted Draft Horse (Percheron/Paint Draft cross). She was a PMU foal who was born in Canada and shipped to Ocala, FL when she was about 6 months old for dressage. Her owners had some financial troubles and she ended up in TN, owned by a friend of mine. My friend had back surgery and could no longer ride her. She heard I was in the market for a horse and I always wanted a Draft, so she gave Gypsy to me! Gypsy is 9 years old, 16.3hh and 100% attitude.
When I first got her she had quite a lot of attitude because she had been a pasture puff for 2 years. Well, let's just say I learned how to deal with her outbursts and sit her bucks pretty quickly! Since I've had her, she's lost probably 300 pounds of pure fat and is in nearly top shape! I'm proud of that.
Unfortunately in February 2011 she came up lame in the rear. After a few weeks of on and off lameness I took her to UT for a lameness exam. After some flexion tests, nerve blocks, and x-rays, it was determined that she had some arthritic changes in her hocks. We had her hocks injected and put her on joint supplements. She is on strict no cantering, no collected work, and no small circles orders until her hocks fuse, which at the posting of this blog they have not yet. She has definitely made huge improvements and is nearly sound, but it has been a slow, slow year.
Right when she came up lame we were preparing for a Spring show season at some local schooling shows. That was put on hold until she isn't off at the trot anymore. We've spent these months working on our walk, leg yields, trot, and transitions. Our work has really paid off as she has improved in leaps and bounds. Hopefully with a careful training over the winter, we'll be in good shape for this spring season!
I haven't gotten to ride her in two weeks as I have a knee injury from a trailer-loading mishap, plus Christmas. Tomorrow I plan to do a good hour-long dressage workout in the arena, after trying out my new clippers and giving her a good trace clip. Her Canadian Yak coat is just too much! :)
