Jynx update!

Never underestimate the power of a really terrible barn! As most of you know, we moved barns a year ago and things were going well but going into winter, Jynx STILL wasn't gaining weight despite my best efforts (you can only pump so much food into a horse once a day). So I paid for a box stall and the nightmare began - 6 months of essentially being cooped up in a stall for 16 hours a day, with about 8 hours of turnout in the world's smallest paddock with 6 other horses AND being pumped full of complete feed and sweet feed because the help is too incompetent to handle anything complicated like beet pulp. Combined with my scoliosis making me ride crooked, and problems with her left lead, I think Jynxy's brain just sizzled.

She's been off for 2 months off, and the vet came out 3 weeks ago and diagnosed her as psychologically demented and not actually in pain. For those just catching up, 2 months ago in the middle of a ride Jynx shut down and ever since has REFUSED to canter without pitching a bucking/kicking fit, and more recently wouldn't even TROT without pitching a fit under saddle. She was also limping, leading us to believe it was pain but has actually been figured out as a sort of "shuffle foot" by being constantly alert and ready to be asked to canter.

Due to my back problems, Shay-la agreed to ride her for me today, the first ride since the vet diagnosed her. She's been at the new place for 2 weeks and is doing fantastic - a massive 10+ acre pasture to romp in, good food and good treatment. She's been so quiet and docile, we decided to at least TRY riding her and seeing exactly where we stand - if we have to go right back to the beginning, so be it, but if escaping the hellhole was all she needed, great!

I think we've officially determined escaping the hellhole was all she needed! She IS still anxious and squirrely to the left, as can be seen, REALLY worried and frantic about that left lead (which she ironically got every single time she was breaking into a canter). However, NO limping, eventual progression of relaxation at the left, and working GREAT to the right in comparison! This is the first time she's cantered under saddle in 2 months that wasn't met with ANY sort of resistance or frustration!

So we're going to continue taking her niiiiiiice and slow, we are NOT worrying about left direction canter, I want her to get some bend and start relaxing and enjoying being ridden again. Looking forward to the future!

http://www.youtube.com/v/F6XV3_XKfaM
Starting to the left - at no point was Shay-la asking for the canter, she was simply using her leg to try and straighten her out a bit or at the very least stop her EXTREME counter bending to the outside.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Q7oVG15ErXI
Starting to slowly relax to the left a little and soften

http://www.youtube.com/v/Bp2Zxau4U2A
To the right! MUCH better, very impressed with how well she did, we called it a day after this and walked back on a loose rein, glad to have my Jynxy back!

EDIT - If ANYONE can PLEASE tell me how to make these STUPID new YouTube links work as an imbed, I would be forever in your debt!

Gosh, Jynx is just adorable and quite a personality. If I may say so much without offending you, I believe that she is actually MM in equine form . I have been following your threads although seldom commenting as it seemed enough was being said at the time.

Good work getting her back under saddle and I am glad that she has been given the all clear physically. As for her becoming a looney tune after being in a stall and pumped full of sweet feed, well, many horses would go loopy like that too! Of course in your part of the world it is much more difficult to arrange the perfect lifestyle for horses and I understand that. Glad you have it sorted now though. The mental health of our horse is just as important as the physical health but notoriously harder to work with and/or diagnose.

I see that this is in the training section so I figure it is OK to make a suggestion? If and when you do decide to begin canter work, it might be a good idea to make the circles much bigger. She has been out of work for a while and may struggle cantering on a 20m circle (yours seems to be roughly this size or a tad smaller). If the big grassy area that we see in the vid is safe to ride in, I would double the size of your circle to begin with and get back to smaller circles when she is fitter and stronger. Especially if she has trouble with one particular side, in Jynx's case the left, as the muscles on that side will be underdeveloped initially.

But great work and I wish you guys all the best with continued success!

Thank you very much! Yes, she is definitely starting to come out of her shell more and develop quite a personality! I think she took me by surprise, and I was convinced it was pain just because I was flabbergasted Jynx could care this much about anything! She's been so docile and willing in the past, I really have a bad habit of forgetting how sensitive she is.

Thanks for the advice! I definitely agree - the field is wet right now, but it's absolutely MASSIVE and completely mown and free of any holes and is mostly level so I am very eager to get some schooling done out there with so much room to move. I think being ridden in an arena so much this winter did NOT help her sourness. Going to work on massive looping circles and serpentine's to get her confidence back and hopefully have her going nicely again for the show this October! AND our camping trip! *fingers crossed*

Glad to hear she is coming around!!! Keeping fingers crossed for further break throughs!!!

Good job! So glad to hear she is getting better :)
She moves fabulously, and she's so cute! :)

I rode Jynx today and she was a DOLL. I swear I almost teared up again, it finally feels like my Jynxy is back! We rode Western, on a loose rein, and I had absolutely zero problems. Granted, I really wasn't asking her for anything, just moseying around the field in most straight lines or HUUUUGE looping circles and serpentine's at the trot with no resistance and total relaxation. Right back to her easy Western jog. She also didn't care a WIT if Justus was at the other end of the field and practically out of sight.

We even did a little canter on the straight away and *GASP*, she CHOSE her left lead! That hasn't happened in over 6 months! Beautiful, easy, relaxed lope through the field, and didn't change tempo at all when we loped right past Justus.

I only rode for half an hour, kept it light and simple and spent the next hour shampooing her legs and tail in a desperate attempt to battle the mud. She looks RIDICULOUS now, I got a pic on my phone, I'll post it in a bit, she's like a reverse bay now, hahahaha.

She was just telling me "MOM, I CAN'T TAKE THIS PLACE ANYMORE, WE NEED TO MOVE!"

*GIGGLE SNORT*

You may be asking why I didn't just finish her legs. Well, it's to cold for a bath, it started as just rinsing the mud from her legs so I could apply Satin Sheen and I figured maybe shampoo would also help repel mud - so I started soaping her legs, and basically just got myself into a time crunch and didn't have time to finish! It's ok, I'm sure she'll have them matching the rest of her in NO time.

I soooooooo do not envy your mud right now...Lol!

Sounds like the move was what you both needed to get back on track...it's amazing what certain places will do to, or for a horse...negative or positive. I've had experiences where the BOs weren't even necessarily mean or nasty folks, and the horses were still spooky or neurotic...it's like they could still sense that something wasn't quite right about the feel of the place. And then when the animal was moved, it would be a night/day difference.

I second this, I think it is a match made in heaven.

So pleased that she is looking so good, she just has some fire to her which makes you perfect for each other MM.

Jynx is a very pretty girl and with loads of personality plus!! I saw all that in the first 2 videos. I want to share a mistake I made with my horse and what I did to try to correct it which I did with some success. Before I decided to do some basic schooling on her I would let her pick up a canter and sometimes a gallop on a straight away with safe footing. Then when I started schooling her on the circles she wanted to pitch a fit when I asked for a canter. It took time working on this with her, but we finally got some decent canter work and bending through her body on the circles and serpentines.