Archive for the ‘feet’ Category

The days are getting easier every day. I can now tell people that he is gone without crying or choking. I can look at his pictures with crying.

The first day was the hardest. We had to move Little Dude into Lookie’s stall the day we put Lookie down. That was hard for me to do, but I had to. The horse next to him needs a companion at night.

The Friday after, the farrier came out for LD & realized that there was no more Lookie to have done. No more seeing the farrier every 3-4 weeks. No more frantic phone calls and texts telling dennis that lookie had lost his packing &/or shoes. I get to see the farrier in a more normal time frame now.

I miss Lookie & his antics. There is no more dancing horse asking for treats next to the fence. The gates are safe for the moment, as niether LD or Deseo are as smart as Lookie. Don’t get me wrong, LD is a character, just a different type of character. He dives fences. He plays with me in the pasture. He give hugs and kisses (as long as you get down on his level).  It is going to take me some time to adjust to this new life.

As far as a new horse, We am looking for one, but it is going to take time. We won’t just settle for just anyone.  It is got to be a lot like Lookie. We will know the horse when we meet him. I don’t think that we are going to seriously look until after the winter season is done. The show season is really busy for Paul & I, but you never know.

LD will be showing this season with me as his driver (I hope). Wish us Luck. If everything goes as planned, our first public outing will be September 18th, 2010 in Wellington, FL.

I am sorry for the timing of this post,
but I just didn’t know where to start. I had to do some griefing & some rethinking about things.

So, let me begin. Lookie was put down on July 5th, 2010, after an almost 3 year fight with laminitis. I did what was best for him, not what was easiest for me. I loved him so much, it hurts. We had plans for the winter show season, but they were not meant to be.

We always dreaded the summer. Lookie’s feet were always at thier worst during this time of year. This year was no different. What began like an abcsess or an injury in his rear left leg, became the catalyst for that foot & his front feet. They just couldn’t hold together long enough. 

We will carry on. Little dude will have To learn to show without his big brother & Port Mayaka will be emotional for me. I think about him everytime I’m around the barn.

Lookie is with us in spirit & I will never forget him. There will be other horses in our lives, but lookie will always be special in my eyes. I just hope we can live up to the expectations that lookie had for us, now that he is gone.

To everyone who visit regularly, sorry for the long delay in writing. To everyone else, welcome to Lookie Lou dressage. I haven’t been blogging much because I don’t believe that any one is reading them. I hope that my web traffic picks back up if I write more…

So, to catch everyone up since the last post…

First of all, The November show at Deer Run went terribly. Lookie lost a shoe entering the ring for the first test. It would not have been that bad but his packing stayed attached to his hoof and Deer Run’s ring has very firm footing. I had felt Lookie limp for exactly 2 steps, but that was it. The first test we got eliminated for exiting the ring. The judge did say that she didn’t realize the we had exited till I made Lookie circle to go back in. At that point we hadn’t realized that the shoe was missing yet, so we did a really hard workout between the tests and as I entered the ring for the second test, I thought we would do much better. WRONG!!! As soon as he hit that footing, I was in for the worst ride I think Lookie has ever given me. We got a 46.4% on that one. Only afterwards, went I had dismounted and Paul was walking Lookie to the Trailer, did Mary notice that the shoe was missing. Even though he had a reason for being so bad, it still took me a while to cool off. I was so mad at him.

Next, Lookie and I have been supplementing our training with Paul, by going up to Pat Woodrow in Cocoa. I learned about her from a flyer that we received at the show. it was for a clinic. The price was good and we decided to go. I am glad that we did. She has been good for me and Lookie. She has been working with me on getting over my fear of Lookie (more like the fear of his antics at times). Lookie knows that he can over power me and he (at times) takes full advantage of that fact. Lookie is now starting to get more comfortable with me, because I am riding more upright and stronger. I really hope that it carries over to the show ring, where we seem to get the most tense.

Our next show is the Space coast Arabians Dressage show on January 11 and then we are off to Ocala for our firstWalk/Trot/Canter rated show. Right now I am signed up for Training Level Test 4 for both days, but those test might change. I have not decided. I have to decide soon though. I am a little worried because I have not been able to put together a clean training level test yet (any test). I just want a test where I didn’t struggle with Lookie and he is relaxed. I don’t think that I am asking to much. I do realize that I have to get my nerves under control for this to happen.  Wish me luck…

Here of late, I have found it increasingly hard to find time for everything I want to do everyday. Posting to the web site, has not been able to make it to the top of the everyday list. I did start twittering almost every day. You can see my posts on the side of the left hand side of the web site. You can follow my twitters by going either to my site or if you use an New Feeder you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Mind you, twitter goes down a lot, but I can twitter from my iphone.

Also, I have decided that my photos are going to be hosted by www.flickr.com(http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/). I have been having issues with finding ways to upload the pictures and organize the way I wanted to in a time efficient manner. That area of the site will be in transition for a little while. Also, I host the Dancing Horse Dressage & CT Pictures thru my account on flickr as well, so there are some pictures in my flickr account that are not Lookie related.

A couple people have stated that they would like a forum for exchanging ideas and other information regarding dressage. I have created one for this very reason. Please note that it is very very new to me, so be patient and email me if something is not working the way you think it should. You will have to register in order to post, but it was the only way I could secure down the forum. The same user will grant you access to hidden areas of the website if and when I set them any of them up.

On Lookie News, Lookie has been sound for over a year!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!! We have been very diligent on his feet and checking his health over the summer and (knock on wood…..) we have managed to keep him from itching himself raw and kept him very very happy. We took him out to Wickham Park a week or so ago, just to school him around other horses and a show environment. He did very well. I am looking forward to the show season this year. We still don’t have the right lead down (I got 13 steps of right lead canter before he switched the lead) but I am still going forward with the show plans. (Paul can get him get do the right lead all day long). Dennis has been kept very busy this summer with Lookie’s feet (just because he has been growing lots of feet and loosing his shoes/pads).

I have been going to the gym as I said that would. I am really enjoying it. It has helped me a lot with the trotting aspect of riding. I have been featured on their web site (www.treasurecoastcrossfit.com) several times. I would recommend this gym to anyone. It is very different from a regular gym. if you are not in my area, check outwww.crossfit.com and you can see if there are any gyms near where you are.

(okay, for not thinking that I had anything to post, I had alot. I will try not to wait so long next post)