My fingers are crossed, but taking the tiny amount of cob out of Willig's grain might have been the hivey golden ticket. It was Wednesday that I put up the note to change it, so in the best case (and I think the morning grain was already mixed) he's been cob-free for three days. The left neck hives were flatter and going away, the couple of scattered body hives (small ones) were deflating, the right neck hives were flatter and going away, and I didn't see a single new hive.
We'll see.
I started him on omeprazole, which he wouldn't eat, and probiotics today too. I thought maybe he didn't like the homemade applesauce, but I ate some when I got home and it was fine, so the omeprazole must smell pretty strong. I really don't want to have to syringe it down his throat.
In other thoughts, the last couple days I've been upset because he was bad again for my rider. My friend who rides dressage said I should really just go ahead and sell him as a dressage horse. Here's how (sorry for the repetition from like every other post), I view the options:
- Willig is just a slow learner, and if I'm patient (aka stubborn) and just keep trying, eventually the light bulb will go off for him.
- Willig will never enjoy jumping, and it will also be kind of nerve-wracking and not very much fun. I want to jump in the last 20 years I think I could reasonably do it. (I figure 55 should be my retirement from jumping and just switch to dressage for the "last" (?) 10 years of riding.)
Actually, I guess that's the range of his response.
So then my options are:
- Sell him as a dressage horse. He is really quite a nice mover.
- Keep stubbornly trying to jump him for another year (?) and see if he's a slow learner or if he really, truly hates to jump. (Him being bad for J is my proof that it isn't just me. For the last year, I thought it was just because I was timid on him.)
- Give up on jumping him and just ride him dressage.
And the one I like:
- Stubbornly stick out this year, if he still hates it, ride him dressage, and then in about five years, get a second horse who can jump. I'll only get one more jumper and then one more dressage horse out of my life, but ...
I'm kind of fond of him. It's really, really cool to be able to ride the 1st level tests and work on the 2nd level movements. I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I'm just not ready to not jump yet.
I just don't know which it is - is he going to catch on eventually? Or am I trying to fit him (a square peg) into a sport he doesn't like (a round hole)?
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
2 comments:
I'm going to straddle the fence here. I am 60 and still jumping so don't set an age to quit. Quit when you feel like you don't want to jump anymore, for whatever reason. But on the other side of the fence, I don't trust a horse for jumping that doesn't like it and get it. It's a partnership and sometimes you help him out and sometimes he helps you out. They have to like it and have confidence to do that.
If you want to event and jump, you should find a horse that loves to jump. It makes such a difference! Why struggle with a horse that doesn't? You can learn just as much from a different horse, since that is often your argument. Yes, you have learned a lot from Willig, but that doesn't mean you have to keep riding him forever. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I just think you could be having so much more fun and a lot less difficulty with a different horse!
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