DON

Well, here is an update on Don. He wasn't getting any better in his hindend, so his owner came a picked him up to take him to the chiro/vet. Vet ended up injecting his stifles and said that he could return to training. Owner brought him back. He still did not show any improvement and still seemed very unstable. I started him on bute with the owners permission. He does seem more comfortable, but the instability is still there. As per owners request, I have begun riding him lightly. He moves relatively well as long as we are going forward. He is uncomfortable being still and gets quite scary to ride at a trot. I haven't even attempted a lope. He is very heavy on the front and likes to lean on the bit. I switched to a sidepull and that helped somewhat, but he is still sluggish to respond. He can tolerate a short 20 minute ride, and then he begins to stumble and drag. I am working on making him lighter in the bridle and instilling a good whoa. I am still wondering if there is another underlying condition. The stifle injections did not seem to help much at all, and he still shows general overall discomfort. I am trying to keep him as comfortable as possible, while still continuing his training.

JAZZ

Well Jazz attended her first show this week. We took her to the 4H District show and showed her in Mares 5 and under. She did pretty well everything considered.

Sunday - She received her first full bath and clipping and then my husband finally had time to trim her feet at midnight under the security light.

Monday - Loaded horses at 6:30 am and the rain began. It poured on us most of the way to Ardmore. She did not want to unload at the show, but finally launched herself out. Walked her around the grounds and settled her into her stall. She handled that fine, but if Cash got out of her sight, she had a bit if an anxiety attack. Learned a new personality quirk about her. When she feels anxiety or pressure, she balks and sulls up. Yay, fun.

Tuesday - Up bright an early to band mane and get her ready to show. She stepped into the arena for her class at 9:00 am. She walked and trotted for the judge beautifully and then sulled up in the middle of the arena. Would not move. Rendi maintained her cool and repeatedly offtracked her until Jazz finally walked to her spot in the line-up. She finished 7th out of 12. Jazz went back to her stall for the rest of the day and we loaded back up to go home around 4:00 pm. By this time, she was done. She refused to load and to reduce the risk of it becoming a bad situation, we led her to the door of the trailer and locked arms around her but and loaded her. She looked at us like we had spoiled her fun and began to nibble her hay. When we got home, she again did not want to unload, so we left her to unload into the pasture when she was ready. As soon as she did not have an audience, she hopped out. All in all, she did very well for a young filly that had really never been anywhere.

VEGAS

We sold Vegas to a family with a couple of kids. We will keep her for a month to tune her up for them and provide the kids with riding lessons.

CASH

Rendi and Cash had mixed results at District this year. Cash placed 8th in Halter. He has never placed worse than 4th. In western pleasure, Cash placed 8th out of 11. Believe it or not, that is a real improvement. Cash maintained smooth even gaits, correct leads and a cool head. What killed them was Rendi's hat flying off and Cash just does not move like a western pleasure horse. Too much knee. The capp to the day was Rendi and Cash's first place finish in HUS. This was only the 4th time that Cash has ever had an english saddle on! The horse just fits into the HUS class. Rendi decided to just show in HUS at state.