I know, I’ve been bad, not writing or posting about Eddie. It’s been a stressful time in my life.

On Oct 2, 2010 we took Eddie to the Autumn Classic in Albany, GA. We went into two halter classes and didn’t place in either. I was to go into a couple of riding classes but we never made it that long. While we were in the warm up area, he threw a tantrum and reared up. We fell over and he landed on my left leg. I ended  up in the ER instead of in the class. I haven’t been on his back since.

Eddie is with a new trainer now, a local one, where I can go and see him whenever I want. I’ve been on a different horse three times since the accident, but all in either late Oct or early November and not since. Ed has also reared up with this new trainer, a couple of times actually. We’re at a loss of what to do with him now. If things haven’t gotten better by the end of February, I’m probably going to have to get rid of him…

Test post to see if the DB is updated.

Despite being sick, mom had me go out to the barn today. She told me to lunge him while she cleaned his pen. Well, being sick, I felt that going around in circles wouldn’t work well with me. So instead I saddled up, and road him. He did very well, in fact we trotted some for the first time (at least for me)! Now I know you don’t post when riding western, but I had to post…because I could feel how ready he was to go into a canter. I didn’t want a canter because I’m still not sure how much control I have over him. So I posted in the western saddle to keep him in the trot. It worked well. We trotted twice in both directions. I feel really happy about the progress!

Ok, new photos uploaded to Flickr.

Ok, so I went out and worked with Eddie yesterday. I tied him up to the post in the pasture and he decided to paw … an ant bed… then couldn’t understand what was going on. Had to take him up to the wash rack and hose his legs down. Then I took him up to the round pen and let him loose. Ran back to the barn and got my truck, drove it up to the ring. Then I got the lunge whip and went and lunged him for a bit. Then took him to the ring and tied him up. Got the saddle out of the truck and saddled him up. Rode for about 10…15 minutes? My leg started hurting, otherwise I would have ridden longer.

Today my mom and I went back out to the barn with the intent of working on trailer loading. To our suprise… lots of people were at the barn, many people in the ring. Talked to Carol and apparently there was a photo shoot going on. So we drove down to the barn and I brushed Eddie really quickly and took him up there, getting to participate in the photo shoot. I’m hoping to get a copy of some of the photos. After that, I took him to the round pen and lunged him some. Then had mom come in and hold him while I got up on his back without a saddle. He was very well behaved. We then took him to the trailer and attempted to get him on. Honestly there was too much activity going on to get him on really.

So we’re going to have to work with Eddie more on loading. But now I’m just tired and need to rest.

Yes, I’ve fallen down on the job again. Let me see if I can’t catch everything up on Eddie.

Eddie went to the Trainer in the beginning of May. Getting him there was a bit of an ordeal…well, getting him on the trailer was at least. It rained a good bit in May, so Tom (the trainer) wasn’t able to work with him much that month. However, Tom said he was going to make sure he got a full 30 days worth of work in on Eddie. He ended up keeping Eddie into the first week of July (but that was partially because my family and I went on a vacation). We went out the first weekend in July to see Ed. I got to watch Tom work with him, and I even got to ride him.

The feed Tom had Eddie on (and he’s still on it) is Purina’s Strategy. He also put Eddie on Purina’s Amplify Supplement. Ed has just blossmed with this feeding program, along with the good exercise Tom was giving him.

Granted, since Eddie’s come home, I’ve only been able to ride him a handful of times. But he still looks great. So much better than the near-dead horse he was back in December. I’m really thrilled with the outcome.

I sold Ed’s mother to Tom. In exchange, Eddie will be getting more training in the (hopefully) near future. Tom would like to see Eddie’s knees mature a bit more though before he puts too much more work on him. We don’t want bad knees, so that isn’t a problem for me.

Now I need to go upload newer pictures of Eddie to flickr. But at least I have some updates done. I’m going to try to update more often… here’s hoping at least!