JR Ride 15; Wizard Ride 58: Peel Me a Grape

Monday, 3/16/09

Peel me a grape, crush me some ice
Skin me a peach, save the fuzz for my pillow
Talk to me nice, talk to me nice
You’ve got to wine and dine me

Don’t try to fool me bejewel me
Either amuse me or lose me
I’m getting hungry, peel me a grape

When I was at the market before I went to the barn, I picked up a jar of molasses. Alibar was on my mind and I decided to spoil Wizard in his honor. When I arrived at the barn, Wizard was lying down in his stall like a little lamb, head to toe covered in bedding. I walked into the stall and he stayed lying down and nickered expectantly. I dutifully dipped a carrot in the jar of molasses and fed it to him.

When Alibar took his naps, he used to do the same thing- he’d stay lying down and wait for me to walk to him and feed him carrots. His funny little mouth would open like a hippo, waiting for treats. My mom always joked that he was saying, “Peel me a grape.”

I gave HRH Wizard some Hi-Fi and some UlcerGard and let him dine while I rode JR.

JR has an appointment with the chiropractor on Wednesday morning. He feels backsore and my friend noticed that he carried his tail to the side. A crooked tail can sometimes be a sign of a horse who is out of alignment. I also noticed that JR was resistant to leg aids today. I started out the session by longeing him for about 15 minutes as a gentle warmup. For variety, I longed him over two trot poles. He took them pretty well the first 2 or 3 times but knocked them a few times after that. I changed it back to one trot pole.

Under saddle, JR was forward but he felt tight and not comfortable. I’m really glad that I called the chiro when I did since he feels tighter now than he did during our last ride. I REALLY hope it’s not a saddle fitting issue. Since JR is not my horse, it seems a little crazy to get my saddle reflocked to fit his back, but I’ll see what the chiropractor has to say. We did light work, mostly walking and trotting with just a little canter. I worked on walk-trot transitions and I worked on my own position by riding with a loop in the reins and doing my best to sit back and correctly align my arms. When I felt JR relaxing his topline, I called it a day for him.

I longed Wizard for about 15 minutes. I’ve increased his canter time on the longe to about 4-6 rotations in each direction- it is working well because he can now balance himself nicely without rushing. I hopped on and rode for about 20 minutes. It was a wonderfully pleasant ride! Wizard is a classic Thoroughbred in many ways; he is very responsive to me when I talk to him and he’s very willing. We worked on our trot and he understood exactly what to do and performed his task beautifully. To the left, I was able to keep the reins slack and work on my seat while encouraging him to stretch into the bit. To keep my hips aligned, I actually post with my inside hip pointed to his outside ear. While this sounds counterintuitive, it actually straightens me to the correct alignment so I’m not overbent. To the right, Wizard was a little more unsteady, but still remarkably relaxed. It put a big smile on my face to think of how far he has come. I’m really proud of him. I even trotted him over a ground pole at the end of the ride :^)

After Wizard was cooled out, I walked him back to the barn, untacked, groomed, and put him to bed. His honey-colored eyes watched me through the slats of his stall wall as I prepared him another tub of Dengie. He stood politely but expectantly as I drizzled just a taste of molasses on his bedtime snack.

Pop me a cork, french me a fry
Crack me a nut, bring a bowl full of bon-bons
Chill me some wine, keep standing by
Just entertain me, champagne me
Show me you love me, kid glove me
Best way to cheer me, cashmere me
I’m getting hungry, peel me grape

Send out for scotch, call me a cab
Cut me a rose, make my tea with the petals
Just hang around, pick up the tab
Never out think me, just mink me
Polar bear rug me, don’t bug me
New Thunderbird me, you heard me
I’m getting hungry, peel me a grape