Work, the Anti-Crazy

The past week and a half or so I've been attempting to manage Wanda's energy level by longeing her in a halter and chain. I've cantered her vigorously for 35 minutes with ten minutes of warm-up/cool down on either end and still had a horse who left the stall each day with her eyes trying to escape from her head! On Monday I spoke to the vet about it and she agreed we could start longeing her in a longe cavesson, surcingle, and side reins. Tuesday afternoon I had my friend show me how to adjust the cavesson properly, tacked her up, and took her out to the arena.

From the moment I connected the side reins Wanda was in "work" mode. Her eye got very soft and she was really focusing. Even better, she actually stretched into the contact and rounded her back. The bottom of her neck was relaxed and her eye stayed quiet. It was such a welcome change. One of my concerns with longeing her in a halter was that she was going around braced in the neck and back which wasn't stretching those back muscles at all. The other advantage to longeing her in side reins is that she gets tired much more quickly since she hasn't been using those muscles lately! Today I tried the suggested route of giving her ACE just before beginning work (she longes for 30 mintes and then is turned out for an hour per the vet). This resulted in a horse who couldn't hold her lower lip up after the first 18 minutes of longeing so tomorrow we're going to work first, have our ACE while we untack, and THEN get turned out. I may also use a little less tranq since she's worked well the past couple of days in a row.

I cannot tell you all how pleasant it was to see my horse "working" again. She's clearly happy to have important work. After all, everyone needs important work!