SprinklerBandit

Giant Gelding, Round 3

2012-01-27T15:00:00.004-07:00

In keeping the my theme of riding giant geldings, today I decided to tackle Foster, the giant Irish spotted boy. By "I decided" I mean "the schedule most conveniently allowed".

I think most of you have seen his face before. I rode him a month or so ago, and could barely get him to move. At all. I was sore for days afterwards.

I didn't have high hopes for today, but he was on the schedule and there was no particular reason why I couldn't ride him. I decided that my goal for the ride was to get him to canter.

Also, I put on really sharp spurs.

To my advantage, there was a jumping lesson going on the in the indoor at the same time. Foster LOVES jumping, and he was pretty sure we were part of the lesson. He was actually fairly forward. I got a nice walk, a decent trot, and shockingly, he has a lovely canter. He gave me all three of those gaits with a minimum of grunting and kicking and humping the saddle on my part, which was awesome. He is completely unperturbed by people cantering by right next to him and was only minimally bothered by the other boarder's horse that was acting like a complete loon.

For the first time in my riding career, I had to manage two sets of reins--Foster's early training was... laughable... so he goes in draw reins about two days a week (down from every ride. yay!). Anyways, it wasn't pretty. I couldn't seem to keep the reins at reasonable lengths while going forward and steering. It wasn't like one set was a little wonky; no, I just pretty much had no reins. Clearly, we need to work on this.

IZZY UPDATE: Mareface has figured out that stall rest is way less awesome than she thought it would be. There is no wrapping, no mashes, no pool boy, greatly reduced attention, and NO COOKIES ANYWHERE!!!!! Scandalous, really. She got a funny look on her face when one of the girls went in to clean her stall, and apparently came bursting out when the girl tried to leave. Wondermare escape #1. I'm pretty sure it won't be her last attempt, either.

Giant Geldings Galore

2012-01-26T13:50:00.004-07:00

Day one of stall rest is complete. I pulled Izzy out for a quick grooming and she was ridiculous--wiggling all over to make sure I curried her thoroughly and making faces at me while begging for treats.

What can I say? So far, the time off is definitely agreeing with her.

I pulled her braids out to let her mane rest for a day. It's all on the correct side now, yay!

That's all the news on the Izzy front.

I forgot to take a picture of his face, but here's the giant gelding I rode today. He's like 17+ tall. He's much more attractive than Seamus (I think), but he also doesn't jump. So it goes.

I rode in a dressage saddle for the first time in ages, and actually felt ok. Laddie has the same sire as Izzy, but his dam must have been fancier. He's like riding around on a giant, fluffy, slow cloud. He is deceptively elegant to watch--big moving, graceful, pretty.

He also has a fused vertebrae in his neck and isn't always sure where his hind legs are at any given time, so he is prone to falling if he gets to stretch forward too much. Still, he's a sweetie. A large, dumb, sweetie.

I think I'll be investing in a pair of spurs here shortly though. I'll be lucky if I'm not sore tomorrow from all the leg I had to use to keep him forward.

The Verdict

2012-01-25T13:57:00.004-07:00

Izzy was jogged, flexed, and examined.

She is not sound. She isn't worse, but she isn't better. There's still heat in her right front and she's quite sensitive to it. Conclusion: I can call a vet who can do all sorts of tests and tell me she strained something and give her 30 days of stall rest and charge me for the opinion. I can take her in to the hospital for all kinds of fancy treatments and spend thousands of dollars, or I can give her thirty days off to recuperate.

I took this picture yesterday. Hope Ms Mare enjoyed the view, because all she's seeing is her stall for a long, long time.

Despite literally everything else going well for me right now, I feel like I got punched in the gut. I spent most of the morning telling myself I would not cry about how frustrated I am. I even tried to stay optimistic and make a list of positives coming out of this:

1) Izzy is getting great care and has attentive, knowledgeable people around her constantly.

2) I can ride other horses and learn without messing her up.

3) Maybe a little break will be good for us.

4) I have more time to get work done since I'm not riding her.

5) I won't have to find someone to ride her for me when I'm out of town for shows.

Of course, there is an equally tangible negative to each one of those.

1) I am paying very expensive board for a lame horse that will not leave her stall for 30 days.

2) Izzy and I were finally starting to make progress. Now she's just losing fitness.

3) We already had a break and it wasn't exactly world-altering.

4) The whole point of working is to get better at riding my own horse.

5) I guess this one doesn't really have a negative. She's super low maintenance right now.

I also got paid today and a jumping lesson on a much more broke horse than Ms Mare. Meet Seamus. He's a training/prelim horse who is currently being leased by one of Stephanie's students. When she can't come to the barn, I get to ride his big, stupid, ugly self.

I should be more charitable. He's a fun ride, but he's not attractive and he's a gelding. He is an excellent jumper, so it was fun to ride a horse I knew I could trust to go.

Ugh. I wish I could say something more positive, but I'm trying not to cry. And I'm at work, so that would be super awkward.

Cross Your Fingers, Say a Prayer

2012-01-24T15:05:00.004-07:00

Just another day at the barn, you know, with horses and deer! I didn't actually see the deer, but I was out walking Izzy on a trail and saw the footprints. Fun times.

Tomorrow is the big day. We re-evaluate Izzy's soundness level and behave accordingly. I'm crossing everything I have right now... She's been looking really solid at the walk and moving forward nicely, so I hope that she gets to go back to regular turnout and at least light work under saddle.

Also, a funny story to share: Izzy's former farrier and I had some ideological disagreements, which resulted in him trimming her hooves and putting on one shoe, then us deciding he was done working on her. I offered to pay him the value of his work so far, but he declined. The new farrier came out and put the other shoe on her. He charged me $25.

Yes folks, I just got front shoes and a trim for $25. Beat that.

Winter Days

2012-01-23T14:18:00.004-07:00

Izzy continues living large and enjoying life. She's been getting IV bute because she's good for shots and it's cheaper, plus she gets wrapped every night and unwrapped every morning. I hadwalk her twenty minutes a day and give her a thorough grooming.

All that and she does NO WORK. We better move this thing along or she's going to start hurting herself recreationally. Ms Mare loves all this attention.

I'm spending my free (haha! as if) time taking pictures and video of other students and then watching jumping videos on youtube. It's to the point that I really want to actually ride my horse and jump something, but can't right now. Definitely progress.

I braided Izzy's mane to help train it to lay on the correct side. Just another luxury for the wondermare. It's a little long right now, but I figured that would make the braiding process easier anyways.

Other than that, not a lot is going on. Well, unless you count getting actual winter weather and me riding lots of other horses both indoors and on hacks and over jumps. Those things are happening.

Also my beagle is adorable. Who wouldn't love his little funny face?

Wet

2012-01-19T15:31:00.004-07:00

The barn is currently lakefront property. After all the snow we got yesterday (like 6+ inches, which is oodles for us), the temperature soared up to like 36 and the downpour started.

It's been raining nonstop for over 24 hours on top of 6" of snow. I'll leave the rest of it to your imaginations.

Anyways. We're obviously confined to the indoor for now. (Did I mention it's also a bit slick?) The indoor is a good long walk from the barn, so we take the horses over in pairs and then tie one while the other works. At least, that's what we start out doing, but we keep adding more horses...

Here's where Izzy was tied. Those woodchips? Yeah. She made them. She objects strongly to straight tying, so she spent the entire 30 minutes she was standing there throwing a massive fit--pawing, bitting, pulling (but never back), spinning around, all the good stuff. One of Steph's clients was watching her horse being worked and got kind of worried about Izzy.

"She's just having a temper tantrum and she's way too smart to ever hurt herself," I assured the lady. True to form, Izzy pitch a fit, then stop and look at us to see if anyone was watching.

I tacked her up and brought her out. She was reasonably quiet on the lunge line, but quite prancy. She looked ok to the left, but again (still!) just ever so slightly off on her right front when going right. The theory is that she strained something in the initial incident of being completely wild in soft footing a week ago, then continues to restrain it every time she comes out and is wild again. Like today. Or Tuesday. Or any other time she sets foot outside her stall. Yay.

Current plan of attack is five days of bute, wrapping every night, and minimum 20 minutes walking (aced if necessary) every day. That should allow her to heal without stressing anything else.

We will stick to that schedule like the world's most official corgi is looking over our shoulders.

Snow Days are for Tack Whoring

2012-01-18T11:31:00.005-07:00

We have 6" inches of snow and more is falling rapidly. The ground was dry 5 hours ago. I got the day off at the barn because Steph didn't think my car would be able to make it there. Pretty sure she was right--this picture was taken two hours ago.

So let's talk tack whoring. We haven't done that for a while. I considered dressing up in my $3 knee high socks (TJ Max), $20 kerrits breeches (eBay) and my $30 danskos (also eBay), but I'm at the work where stretchy pants are less socially acceptable right now.

I'm by nature a fairly happy and obsessive person. I also like Izzy to look perfect. I also have a budget that flutters around zero. Hence, I am a compulsive bargain hunter. Even if I have the money to buy something I want off the shelf, I rarely do. My only exceptions are hoofpicks and undergarments. You just don't want those used. ;-)

So here are my rules for bargain hunting:

1) Know the market. At home (where I am internetless), I stockpile catalogs. I keep current copies of Dover, Smartpak, Bit of Britain, and Bartville Harness Shop.

2) Know your item. If I'm shopping for my favorite breeches ever, I know they run around $110 new, can usually be had for around $100, go on sale for $70-$80 this time of year, and pop up on eBay occasionally for less. That means that if I go to a store and see them on the shelf, I know -exactly- where they fit into that scale and whether or not it's a good deal. Hint: just because it's 30% off does not make it worth buying.

3) Have good sources. I mentioned the catalogs I keep at home. Here is my analysis of them:

~Dover has the most selection. They're excellent to get an idea for what's out there. Their list prices are ridiculous, but their sales are palatable, especially with the $10 off shipping coupon they sent out. I rarely buy from them, but I reference them frequently.

~Smartpak has free shipping on orders over $75, which I adore. Their selection is less than Dover, but still pretty sweet and their customer service is fantabulous. They have good sales occasionally, but in general are my go-to for non-discounted purchases.

~Bit of Britain is like eventer heaven in store format. They have all the coolest stuff and pretty good sales and discounts. Their shipping is reasonable and they are good to deal with.

~Bartville Harness Shop is a little Amish owned place in Pennsylvania. If you call them and leave a message, they'll send you a catalog. They make many of the leather goods for Bit of Britain, but sell they for quite a bit less money. Like 40-50% less.

Other sources I use a lot:

~eBay is pretty self explanatory. You have to know key words and sort through a lot of junk, but there are some cool deals out there. My favorite sellers are gorge-us.girls for clothes and lancamishgoods for strap good from Bartville that are magically sold online.

~Bits and Barter board is a collection of people selling peer to peer. It's not as reliable as eBay, but you can get some super deals if they have what you want.

4) Do Your Research-I got my dressage saddle off of a website I'd never heard of, but I researched it on the Chronicle Forums and heard good things. Conversely, there are sellers (and brands) that I've done similar research on and decided to have nothing to do with. I like the Chronicle because it's an established community with members you can research further through their posting history. You know, "sure she thinks that saddle is great, but she rides in a wintec according to her prior post, so she's hardly a judge of leather quality". It takes a little time, but it pays off.

5) Network. I have very little luck with craigslist (thank you cow country USA), but I've had considerable luck with fellow bloggers and equine friends. I got a steal of a deal on my much-beloved Ainsley XC saddle from blogger Gingham and the exact XC vest I wanted from blogger friend Rinsie.

Here's last fall's ensemble. The only thing I paid full price for was the custom saddle pad and ear bonnet. Those totaled around $50.

Otherwise, we have this list:

Five Star Tack Magnolia Bridle: $120 (used, tacktrader.com)

Thinline Reins $70 (new, sale at local store)

Korsteel bit $10 (new, local sale)

Black dressage boots $40 (new, from blogger friend)

Passier dressage saddle $800 (used, online)

Thinline pad $130 (new, ebay)

Kerrits breeches $40 (new, Dover)

Ariat half chaps $40 (new, Dover)

And so on. I firmly believe in buying higher quality good that will last longer and need less replacing. I also believe in buying the thing you want, because otherwise you will spend a great deal more buying multiple unsatisfactory replicas of it.

Wild Ponies!

2012-01-17T17:27:00.002-07:00

Izzy is cantering around on the lunge line. Who knew my phone could take action shots?

It's supposed to snow a ridiculous amount tomorrow (like 6") and the horses were all completely batty. Izzy was no exception--mareface was rearing and bolting in hand while I led her to the arena.

I ran the lunge line through one bit ring and she TOOK OFF!! Fortunately, I still had both ends, so I was able to recapture Ms. Crazy brain and get things properly attached before she had a bolting/bucking/leaping fit on a circle.

Is she sound?

No.

She's looking a lot better, but there's still that little unevenness and tiny head bob that tells me she should in no way be acting like a nutter like that.

On the other hand, her pain tolerance is so ridiculously low that I can generally count on her not to make herself worse. I guess that's sort of a win.

Changes

2012-01-16T15:17:00.006-07:00

In the absence of Izzy as a regular mount, I've been riding other horses. I'm moving beyond my comfort zone, and consequently, my comfort zone is expanding. It's a good thing. The only problem is that I'm currently itching for a jumping lesson, but that is a no go with an unsound pony.

Yes, I just said that. Me, the generally terrified chicken rider. I. Want. To. Jump.

It's taken a while, but I'm finally there. My riding has changed so much and my confidence has improved enough that I actually want to do what I'm here to do. It's good.

The ears aren't black, but here's the view from my saddle.

Me, the long-time arena rider, took the upper level prospect mare for a 45 minute hack in the mountains by myself.

I also somehow earned the title of 'hacking queen'. Go figure.

Other excitement: I got to body clip my second ever horse today. I had zero notice, but I think I did a pretty ok job. Much better than last time.

Strangely, the clippers died so there was no way for me to remove the cutesy lil' heart on his butt. :-D

No, I would never do something like that intentionally.

Izzy update: pony mare is making strides towards soundness. She is on limited turnout and we are tack walking as much as I can stand. I'm hoping for limited trotting tomorrow, but that depends on whether there's any time to ride.

Living Large

2012-01-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

Pony mare still off.

Sadface.

Wondermare At Rest

2012-01-11T15:28:00.002-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Izzy got a day off. It was partly because I had this ridiculous schedule that left me with 20 minutes to tack up, ride, and put her away, and partly because I didn't even want to deal with her.

It's not that she's been so bad lately (although she has), but because her left front was puffy. Being the logical, rational person that I sometimes am, I immediately leaped to a Kristin and Laz styled scenario. I didn't want to know any more about it and Stephanie told me she'd wrap her leg before leaving for the night, so I left Izzy in her stall and instead watched a dressage lesson for 20 minutes.

Thankfully, Stephanie didn't let me know that when she went to wrap Izzy's left front fetlock, the problem area, both front legs were puffy, particularly through the tendon area. Izzy was sensitive and sore and seemed quite happy for the extra attention. I say fortunately because I would have promptly freaked out, left the family gathering I was at, headed to the barn, and continued freaking out in the cold to no specific end.

Instead, I showed up this morning to find that both Izzy's front legs had been bandaged, but Ms. Mare had started removing the bandages. I left her alone while I fed and started the turnouts because I know she's way too smart to do anything to hurt herself. Then I unwrapped her, bracing myself for the worst.

I should have taken a picture of Izzy's cold, tight legs. She looked perfectly normal standing still. Stephanie had me jog her out, and said it looked like she had a grade 1 (non severe) lameness in her right front, but despite lots of manipulating and palpating, even the drama princess mare didn't have a response to any localized pressure.

Mostly likely, the limited turnout induced by the rather icy conditions mean that Izzy isn't exercising herself at all. That would explain why she was completely wild under saddle on Sunday and why when I turned her out in the indoor on Monday (had a hunch) that she galloped and bucked like a maniac. Unfortunately, galloping and bucking like a maniac in soft footing is not the best for soft tissue and she probably tweaked something.

Due to the low grade stiffness and Izzy's gorgeous legs this morning, the best thing for her is to go back to work and sleep in bandages for the next few days. She tried to get a couple mashes and a pool boy, but no luck.

The wondermare, chilling out.

Drivin' a Truck

2012-01-10T17:39:00.003-07:00

Wondermare is out with a minor issue, so I got to spend my time this morning driving (and backing) the big rig around the barn parking lot. It probably doesn't sound all that exciting to non-horse women, but OMG BIG HONKING DIESEL TRUCK AND 4 HORSE GN LQ TRAILER!!!

We're taking multiple road trips in the near future and Stephanie thinks that I should be able to drive (and back) the rig.

She had a lesson to teach, so we hooked up the trailer and I got to go nuts. I'm so glad that most of you understand how exciting this is. It means that 1) I am being entrusted with something important and 2) I am actually useful and 3) I got to play with a giant truck.

I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but I really don't learn with people yelling at me. To just have a half hour to drive in tiny circles to learn about the turning radius and back up and pull forward and spend some time with the trailer was immensely helpful. I'll keep processing the information I gleaned to day, and hopefully will be even better next time I get behind the wheel.

Oh, and that will be soon. The current plan is for me to drive the truck every other day. It went kind of like this:

Steph: "I think you need to learn to drive the truck."

Me: "Awesome. I'd love to."

Steph: "My plan is for you to just work for me full time and make lots of money."

Me: "But you don't make lots of money, so it'd be impossible for you to pay me lots of money."

Steph: "But I make more money teaching than I do hauling, so if you learn to do the hauling then I can teach more and we both make more."

Me: "Let's do it."

Brain Training

2012-01-07T19:48:00.004-07:00

In my continuing quest to discover how I misplaced my confidence, I ran across yet another excellent blog post from Cherie at Go Lightly Sport Horses.

The essence of her post was this: confidence is a skill like any other, so it must be trained like any other.

Simple, brilliant.

It makes so much sense.

Part of the training she (and the USOC) recommend is to write down a single line every single day of one positive accomplishment.

I can do that. It's measurable and manageable.

I didn't ride today (grrr! projects!) so I'll do a quick photo acheivement update. I took Izzy from this:

Five year old unstarted baby Izzy who reared up and almost kicked me in the head right after this was taken.

To this:

Eight year old broke Izzy who actually looks like a dressage (and occasionally jumping) horse.

We are going to do this together.

An Interesting Idea

2012-01-05T13:37:00.002-07:00

I'm getting sick, so I took nyquill last night. Have you ever tried to work at a busy barn while your head is in a complete and unshakable fog? Yeah, it was pretty bad.

I took Izzy to the indoor, but Steph ended up doing most of the riding because Izzy had a little meltdown about things going on., to including bolting and bucking and generally wigging out on the lunge.

My apologies for the crappy phone video. Again, mental fog.

Anyways. I hopped on after Steph rode and Izzy was perfect. It made me wish I could afford training or something.

The point is this: one of Steph's more advanced students (a solid training level rider looking to move up) is trying to jump a lot more jumps without riding her horse into the ground.

Izzy needs to jump a lot of jumps.

This rider can't possibly screw Izzy up any worse than I would.

There might be a connection.

It's an intriguing idea--theoretically, Izzy would be getting a solid jumping education from a competent rider under Stephanie's supervision, since the rider is wanting to do a bunch of lessons. Depending on the scheduling, it could also help me out because I have trouble fitting in mid week rides. If the other rider rode 1-2 days a week, I would still be doing dressage on Izzy and then probably jumping once a week.

That would reduce the frequency that I could jump, but it would also further Izzy's training to a point that maybe she would actually know more than I do and like, you know, pack me around.

So... we'll see what happens. The other rider might jump at the chance or might not. She might ride Izzy once or twice and I decide I don't like what's happening and pull her. Steph might think I need to be the one putting miles in the saddle and not want me sharing.

Videos

2012-01-03T14:07:00.004-07:00

We're trapped in the indoor! It rained a lot and froze, so despite beautiful sunny skies and temperatures in the 40s, we can't get out. We were just doing flatwork, so although you see jumps, I do not jump over them.

I feel like things are getting better-my riding is certainly improving every day (a wonderful feeling). My confidence comes and goes, but I'm at least to the point when I enjoy riding Izzy on the flat, don't freak out when she spooks, and am starting to actually want to jump when I'm not in the saddle. Put me on a horse pointed at a fence and it's a different story, but it's progress.

And this. I had a to do list longer than my arm Monday, and a nice fellow boarder was sitting around while her horse was turned out. Fortunately, she is the daring type, so she rode Izzy while I rode the giant black horse in her left hand. Ms Mare behaved herself quite nicely.

And since this is such a media-heavy type of day, here's a cute video of my beagle:

Inner Game

2011-12-30T14:20:00.004-07:00

I had a fabulous ride yesterday. We flatted (har har) in the big arena. I kept Izzy forward and flexible, and then we headed out and hacked part way up the little hill by ourselves. Away from the barn and friends and food. Izzy was really, really good. I turned her around earlier than I wanted to, but at the same time, I wanted to keep it pleasant and happy for everyone. This can be fun. I felt great and couldn't wait to jump again.

And then I stressed out all morning because I was so nervous for my jumping lesson (which went great, btw).

It's so frustrating to deal with mental/confidence issues. I'm fine one moment, gone the next. I'm a very self-contained and self-controlled person normally, so it's driving me absolutely batty to not be able to deal with this effectively.

Blogosphere to the rescue!! I read a post by Cherie at Golightly Sport Horses dealing with sports psychology and the mental game that all athletes face, particularly in relation to their confidence. Then Ellie at Cedes of Change (yes, the amazing photographer) wrote another post about dealing with mental issues in her chosen sport, dog agility (which is wicked cool). Her post talked about making a list of five things you love about your chosen sport. Not goals, not plans, but the things that you actually enjoy, the reasons you got started in the first place. The idea is to help you refocus and figure out why you do what you do.

I gave it a shot. Here's my list of the five reasons I train for eventing:

1) I love the puzzle. Feed, farrier, vet, chiro, barn management. I like the challenge of finding the problem and fixing it.

2) I love the partnership. Finding what makes me horse tick and how to get the most out of her and myself.

3) I love the people. I'm constantly surrounded by people who share my same driving passion and interests.

4) I love the purpose. Each phase helps us develop as a well-rounded team, the strongest and most effective we can be.

5) I love the pride of working toward perfection and being judged by an objective standard. Because we can fail, we can also succeed.

The nerdier among you are appreciating my alliteration right now.

I feel like I'm starting to get my bearings. Writing out why we're working with an eventing trainer when jumping still scares the sh*t out of me helps clarify my position with myself. I always see eventing as the end goal of any training schema--you need the power and poise of dressage, the forward adrenaline of cross country, and the exacting discipline of show jumping. Maybe you don't--I do. It makes for well-rounded riders and horses and keeps riding interesting.

I am moving forward. I had an excellent (and non-terrifying) jumping lesson this morning. I do not understand where this fear came from, but I am attacking it from every angle possible. The more I ride well and get comfortable, the less fear I will have from the actual experience. I am trying to spend some time each day visualizing jumping well and safely so that I can start seeing myself being successful. I am also interested in reading up a bit on the mental game. Any sports psychology book recommendations, helpful blogs, or websites out there for me to look at?

2011 in Review (oodles of pictures)

2011-12-29T13:51:00.016-07:00

A look back at the progress we made this year.

In January, we were happily boarding on the south end of the valley, playing around with western pleasure and sporting new dressage boots from Denali's Mom.

Feburary 1, we celebrated two years together.

Izzy also got her teeth done, which made for some interesting tack configurations.

Tack whore note: I still own this saddle pad. Everything else has moved on.

March brought mildly warmer weather and more fun toys to play with. Izzy sports a Micklem bridle that she looks perfectly adorable in.

Also in March we had a fun photoshoot and got some super cute pictures.

And our riding progress in March. Note my odd position and Izzy's even odder response to it. Her tail looks nice though.

April brought pretty weather and a sleek, shiny pony who'd wintered well. She moved into pasture board with the horrid geldings, but our dressage work was coming along nicely.

We also sold our old dressage saddle to a friend and came up with one that works well for both of us. The saddle fitting journey begins!

In May, Ms Sexyface made too much trouble in the pasture (hellooooo raging hormones) and ended up with a solo turnout gig that worked out swimmingly.

We sold another saddle and got a jumping saddle that actually works for us. It also matched all my tacked, which means it will probably live with me forever. (Thank you Gingham!!)

We also had our first jumping lesson, which was ridiculously bad. Apparently I tend to get nervous: who knew?

It was also the month of pony rides. Izzy was so calm and relaxed (and behind my leg) that she gave lessons to several of my friends. Here she canters with everyone's favorite Megan.

Tack whore note: I still own all the tack in this photo except the boots.

June put us firmly in the jumping tack. Izzy and I were learning together and making some decent progress.

We even conquered the scary blue barrels. We weren't pushing hard, but we were gearing up for what was supposed to be a kick-ass show season after the EHV-1 died down.

We conquered XC!!

All except one little hiccup. The day before what was supposed to be our first show, I managed to break three bones and ground myself for 6 very long weeks.

Still loving my pony mare.

In July, Izzy and I spent time trail walking in absence of my ability to ride. We enjoyed the view and had some good times.

A fellow boarder did some dressage on her, for which I am very grateful.

And our favorite western trainer both rode Izzy and put her into ground work bootcamp 101.

I had to watch it all from the sidelines. It was hot and wearing a splint was unfun. Eating smoothies became a way of life.

In August, Izzy got a stunningly pink halter, but spent most of her time hanging out in the pasture.

I was at least functional enough to pull her mane, bang her tail, and wrap her for lunging.

Finally!!! Back in the saddle in mid August after what seemed like the longest six weeks of my life. Izzy had picked up some interesting habits after all this training by other people. Some things were good, others were odd, but by golly, I was finally getting to deal with them!

After spending a grueling month with no stirrups, September brought Izzy and I to our best ever dressage form. We worked hard and the best Ellie I know was there to document it.

I still love this picture.

Jumping needed work, but we had a lesson here and there and were making progress.

Izzy remained generally fabulous and completely gorgeous. Slobber was a new thing for us.

In October, we began prepping for winter. We had to get it done early, because there was something exciting on the horizon for us.

(Only horse in this sequence who is not Izzy).

I started as a working student for our jumping instructor because I knew we needed lessons and could never afford them in the necessary volume. I get to take care of a whole barnfull of beautiful horses and it's wonderful.

Izzy got the short end of the stick for a while, but out in her big, green, grassy pasture, I don't think she minded.

In November, Izzy joined me at the new barn. She was a bit perplexed as to where her solo pasture had gone, but as a newly-grown-up pony, she integrated shockingly well.

She also tested some boundaries and got to play with Stephanie occasionally.

December was an exciting month of learning and growing for us. Izzy saw the chiropractor, went to her first show in years, and started to really develop.

We tackled new and more difficult challenges. I had a crisis of confidence, but we worked through it.

And then Izzy was shaved for the new year. We can't wait to attack next year's challenges together!

Progress of an Unchartable Nature

2011-12-28T13:50:00.005-07:00

Earlier this week, I went into full-on meltdown mode. I decided I couldn't ride my horse, couldn't do anything right, would never make any progress, and might as well sell her and get it over with. (Irrational and unprompted. Hormones?)

I then proceeded to get on her and actually have a fabulous ride.

The other working student rode her yesterday since I had to go to work. She texted and told me that Izzy was "a dragon lady, but still fun".

Hm. At least I'm not the only one who occasionally has issues with her, right?

Pony mare today.

After riding two others, getting on Izzy was just so easy. I felt comfortable and in control. I didn't have to nag her too much. I got her nicely forward and maintained it. Despite there being three other horses in the arena with us, we had a really, really good ride.

The difference? I'm riding better certainly, which makes me more comfortable. Specifically, I think I'm starting to ride well enough and Izzy is throwing enough at me that I can say, "Alright. Let's fix that." She spooks, I stay on. She runs forward, I make her halt and back. She gets behind my leg, I go for a gallop.

Our ride today was in a bit she's never gone in on a saddle not specifically fitted for her with something other than her special pad. And guess what? It was marvelous. I've honestly never felt this optimistic about our future together (hormones again? Maybe).

Here's how confident I felt: when Steph and another client were talking about hauling out for an XC school in the next couple months, I wanted to go along*. I think we can do it.

*Then I spent two seconds thinking about the sad state of my bank account and the ridiculous expense of hauling out of state and giggled at the idea that I could afford it.

Experiments

2011-12-26T20:12:00.003-07:00

I've been riding alone due to the holidays, which means one thing in particular: I've been playing with toys. I rode Izzy in a flash on Christmas day because I had one and why not? She looked adorable, fussed about it a little bit, and went just fine.

Today I pulled out the dressage saddle for the first time in a while. I also put spurs on. I've never ridden her in them, but Stephanie has and had good results.

It felt weird to have them on and I was -very- careful with how I used my leg because I didn't want to apply them unnecessarily. That said, I had some of the best lateral work I've ever gotten out of Izzy. She was nicely forward (more on that another day) and just a light touch with the spur reminded her to move over instead of just fighting me about it constantly.

I'm a big fan of the horse learning to do something because I SAID SO not because of my equipment, but I'm also a big fan of Ms Mare actually using her backend. I'm thinking it may be time to invest in my own pair.

Goal Acheived!

2011-12-23T16:41:00.002-07:00

One of my goals going into my current position working for Stephanie was to be able to wear a barn logo shirt at a show and not embarrass anyone, myself included. Basically, I wanted to be able to ride well enough that I looked like I knew what I was doing. I knew it would take a while and I never mentioned it to anyone because I didn't want them sitting around thinking I needed ego stroking.

Guess what?

Yep. Hat and vest.

I am ridiculously excited.

Thought Process

2011-12-22T14:19:00.004-07:00

Grid line--2' vertical, one stride, 2' vertical, one stride, ground pole. Hard left corner--remember to get the lead change before the turn or it'll be too late. Vertical, three strides, swedish oxer. We can do this. It's just a mini course.

We start with a right lead canter circle. I open Izzy up along the rail, then half halt back to a nice, forward canter. I can go faster, I can go slower, she is ahead of my leg.

Look for my fence. Approach. Straight between my legs. She is forward--don't add leg--that would increase too much. Don't freak out about the second fence. With this canter, they could be twice as high. Stay on your line. Shoulders back, body still.

Jump.

One stride.

Jump.

One stride.

Half halt. Lead change, got it in one stride. Balance around the turn. Boom! Weight in my hands. Half halt NOW. Now positively to the base of the jump. She's forward, don't change, stay the same. Distance will be close but ok. Heels down, hands still.

Jump.

One.

Two.

Three.

Jump!

Landed in the correct lead. Good girl!

It was five fences and none of them were big, but we made it look easy. Scratch that. It was easy. It was smooth. It was balanced.

Amazing what a dash of forward will do for you.

We've got this.

Progress!!!

2011-12-21T12:27:00.003-07:00

Stephanie's working students from the summer are back in town for Christmas break, and we've been having a lot of fun. Here we are going for a lovely hack in the mountains. I'm riding Topaz the appy gelding, and directly in front of his ears is Izzy with a senior student up.

She looks good, doesn't she? She was calm and relaxed throughout, as long as she didn't have to lead. It's good to get her out there and good for me to see her behaving herself so I'm better able to try next time.

After such a leisurely Tuesday, I was supposed to have a jumping lesson today. I also have work commitments and a ton of crap to get done before the weekend, so I had to abridge it rather sharply. I got on a walked a bit, then Stephanie told us to gallop. I asked Izzy for her right lead, which she gave me from a walk, and we were OFF!!

Not like falling off; no, mareface went gallopity-gallop down the long side and around the turn and was going faster than I have ever felt her go before.

And I was having a blast. I mean, OMG MY HORSE WAS FORWARD!!! I jumped the pony yesterday, who is a totally different ride, and rode Steph's big grey mare the day before, so I've really been mixing it up lately. Anyways. We galloped one way, then changed directions through the middle (yes Izzy does perfect flying changes. What?) and GALLOPED the other way. Not a canter. Not a hand gallop. Not me sitting there nagging her with my leg. Nope, mare was going.

We trotted and cantered over one of Steph's massive crossrails (if it's not at least 2' in the middle, it doesn't count apparently), focusing on staying straight and balanced and maintaining lines of direction. It was incredibly weird to have to rate Izzy a bit on the circles--usually all I do it kick, kick, kick to keep her going.

Wow. I love forward Izzy. Also, I noticed that our girth was just a tich loose when we went over the first jump. Great incentive to stay balanced over the middle! I have never been so bummed to cut a lesson short. There is a super fun looking course set up that we totally could have rocked if I didn't have to leave.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: Show Recap!

2011-12-19T13:48:00.004-07:00

First off: I apologize for the complete and utter lack of pictures. It was indoors and at night, so you can imagine why there was absolutely zero point in even trying.

The Good:

1) Izzy unloaded like a pro and came out pretty calm. She looked around and walked around with me, but had no major issues with anything, including heavy equipment buzzing around, two herds of donkeys braying, and ponies galloping by willy nilly.

2) I achieved all my goals for the show. I was calm and relaxed (mostly), I remembered my course, and I had a great time.

3) I stayed balanced on kept Izzy between myself and the ground. Win!

The Bad:

1) When we went into the show arena, Izzy reverted into total brain melt mode. The sensory input was so much that we stopped at every single jump.

2) Most of them more than once.

3) Some we never even got over.

The Ugly:

1) Stephanie got on at that point. Izzy decided she'd had enough for one day, and tried to park at the first jump.

2) Stephanie backed her up about three steps and made her jump from there.

3) The rest of the course was in kind--Izzy said no, and Steph made her go. I have never been happier to watch someone ride my horse than I was then.

They ended up going in for a second round, which was much smoother and better to watch.

Overall, I'd say it was a good experience. I felt incredibly comfortable on Izzy--I expected to get on and feel precariously perched again, but no. I was riding. I was in balance. I felt fine. Even with all the stopping and awkward leapings that was our attempt at a course, I felt ok. I stayed in the middle and didn't get off balance or flustered. I expected to be tossed out of the tack at every fence, and I wasn't.

Also, for those of you who wonder why I boot Izzy perennially, here it is.

Green and freaking out mare at show ripped a massive chuck of her boots. It tore through the strikepad, neoprene, fabric, everything, but there isn't a mark on her leg. If she'd left a hunk of leg on the fence, I'd have a vet bill (most likely) and and a horse who didn't want to jump because the jumps will eat her.

Don't forget to VOTE FOR ZYMON AND STEPHANIE!!!

Vote for Us!!

2011-12-19T13:31:00.005-07:00

A couple weekends ago, I dragged Ellie out of bed in the pre-dawn hours in order to put fishnets on a horse.

This horse.

This is Zymon, one of my favorite horses in the barn. He fractured his patella in a pasture accident, and is now laid up for months. He is also adorable and compliant, so Ellie and I came up with a costume and got Stephanie on board.

We're one of the top 20 on Eventing Nation.

Go vote for us!! (It's under the name Stephanie--it was a group effort, so she submitted it.) Help Zy find a way to contribute even if he's on stall rest for a few more months.

OMG PONY RIDE

2011-12-16T14:25:00.004-07:00

Since we are going to a show tomorrow, I had to get Izzy out today to make sure all the nuts and bolts were where they should be. Besides, Izzy seemed pretty happy post-chiro-work, so I thought we'd be ok. I saddled up and realized I'd forgotten my whip. Oh well... I wasn't anticipating having troubles with forward.

I tightened the girth (very important, boys and girls), and swung my leg over as Izzy stood politely. After I got my reins situated, I squeezed my legs.

WOW.

Izzy walked calmly off. For the first time in my entire history with her, I felt movement behind the saddle. Crazy! Her walk was much more forward, and I didn't have to keep nagging her with my leg to go, although it was a little more work to keep her straight.

We walked a bit, then trotted serpentines. Her trot felt big and floaty and super cool. I have never, ever felt her like this before. She felt good too--she was experimenting a bit with carrying her head differently. She started to curl over the bit a little (bendy ponies like that), but with a little encouragement, I got her marching forward from behind into the soft, light contact.

She moved right over off my leg both directions. We rolled into a big canter. It has never felt so completely effortless for her. Usually I have to gallop her a bit to get any semblance of a forward canter, but not today. We could go forward and back and do flying lead changes in one stride, and drop to trot and come back up and it felt incredible. I just wanted to do a light work because of tomorrow, but I also didn't want to stop riding.

We ended by walking out to one of the trails we (are supposed to) ride on. I didn't want to actually go up it, since I was weaponless and she reminded me that feeling good or no, she wasn't yet convinced she actually had to do it.

Tack and boots are clean. Pony is clipped and blanketed.

Ridiculously tiny schooling jumper show, here we come.

Riding and Repairing

2011-12-15T14:44:00.003-07:00

Izzy and I had an interesting jump lesson yesterday--Stephanie set three jumps on a curve in the end of the arena. They were just group poles to start with. She gave me this speech about finding the middle of the horse and getting her in front of my leg, all while fiddling ominously with a lunge line.

Then she clipped the lunge line on the bridle, had me drop the reins, and we started jumping.

With no reins.

It was pretty fun. I didn't have to worry about steering although I did have to give the occasional kick since Izzy is aware of the limits of a dressage whip held by someone with a lunge line. Stephanie had me focus on solidifying my leg position and finding my balance on Izzy. I had to have excellent eye and body control.

Izzy being who she is, things did not exactly go according to plan.

Ms. Mare got bored of the endless circling and going forward, so she refused the ground pole.

Then she jumped the standard (which was tipped over to facilitate lunging, but still about 2'6"ish from a halt).

Unfortunately, I had tipped forward when she stopped at the pole, and nearly catapulted off at the subsequent leap. My heels went flying over my head, but I caught her neck and the girth was tight, so I managed to sit back up when she halted. Whew. Close one.

We stayed with tiny little jumps--part of the reason Izzy is not super forward has to do with a hind-end funk that was going to be worked on later in the day.

At the end of the lesson, I felt more balanced and confident than I have in a while. I'm finally starting to learn the mechanics of what is supposed to happen when I point Izzy at a fence, and that makes things so much easier.

As for the repairing section of this post, well, Izzy had an encounter with a chiropractor yesterday afternoon. She's had minimal bodywork done before, and always been extremely reactive, to the point of being dangerous (see here and here, for the last few times we tried). We took it to the next level--instead of using the local lady, who can't even touch her anymore, we used to expensive, out-of-state guy.

He is kind of crazy.

As I lead Izzy out of her stall and up to him and his assistant, I hear them muttering "Oh, she doesn't look good" "mumble mumble" "Yeah, really sore on her right front". All I can thing is, "huh?" Her left front is her crappy foot (that is improving), so I might expect a little there, but right? Weird.

He proceeded to work away on her. As before, she was really, really reactive when he tried to touch her chest and her withers at the same time (this connects some fort of accupressure point that Izzy cannot stand). Her withers were a complete mess-he probably spent almost half of his time just fiddling with that. Then he moved down her spine--mid back (like where the saddle goes) was completely fine, but lower back was a hot mess.

Apparently, it is now a sufficiently fixed hot mess. He explained (after much prying from me) that there were some things that were very wrong with her back and they'd probably been that way a long time, based on how she reacted. That caused her to overcompensate with her front end, which caused the mess in her withers and neck.

Also, she just hates accupressure. His words.

She got today off with some turnout, but I'm hoping to be back in the (very cold) saddle tomorrow. I'm excited to see what kind of changes we're looking at.

Shifting Gears

2011-12-13T13:39:00.004-07:00

I spent all morning puttering around the barn thinking, "Why in the world did I enter a show? I'm not good enough, Izzy will freak out, I'll probably just fall off and die."

Yes, completely the most rational thing ever.

Then everyone's favorite Rinsie texted to let me know that I wasn't on the show schedule. My immediate thought: Excellent!! Unfortunately, her note didn't pander to my nerves and pointed out that we were in this together. Rats.

I don't want to beleaguer the point, but I didn't even want to ride Izzy today because I felt like she'd somehow act the total idiot and I'd go flying, which is completely unfair to her. She's really a pretty fabulous horse 98% of the time (thank you Ellie for constantly reminding me of that).

I saddled up and rode.

You know, actually rode. Kept my eyes up, my weight in my feet, and my hands steady. We did changes of bend and flying lead changes (oh yes we can do those).

Specifically, I focused on shifting Izzy's gears within gaits. When we are approaching a jump, Stephanie always wants us to be in a rhythm that allows us to either speed up or slow down without breaking gait.

I'd open Izzy up and GALLOP down the long side (mare loves it!!), then shorten to the tiniest canter we could find at the end, then circle in a medium gait, then do it again. And then a flying change*.

I won't lie--I'm still a little freaked out about the whole going-to-a-ridiculously-tiny-show thing, but I feel better now. Izzy is a damn good horse and I can ride her. We may not blow everyone away with our awesomeness (although that would be nice), but we can certainly go canter around a nice little course.

PS For the fashionistas out there, I totally broke out the CO helmet today. It fits me so much better than the horrid thing I was wearing. Love!

The Baldest Horse

2011-12-12T13:51:00.007-07:00

Thanks to the end of regular season football for the NCAA, I finally had time to body clip Izzy this weekend.

She hadn't seen a pair of clippers in two years, as far as I can remember. I pulled the little clippers out Friday and trimmed up her face.

That got us from yak-face to this. I was so proud of Izzy--it was one of those little things that remind me of why I actually like this horse. She stood like a statue and made no objections whatsoever, even when I did her jawline and whiskers.

Aw. Cute pony.

Sunday morning I came out as soon as the sun was high in the sky, which translates to about 12.30 right now. After getting everything situated, I got the medical professional who is also Stephanie's client to come and apply the happy sap to make things calm and easy.

Before doing the injection, she wanted to test the clippers, so she fired up the big ones that sound about like a small chainsaw, and mowed a strip on Izzy's side.

Mare didn't blink.

Cool.

We ended up doing an intramuscular injection anyways because while Izzy was fine having her sides and chest done, she was less enthused about the whole butt, back, and underbelly part of things.

Sleepy bald pony. This is only a small, small fraction of the hair we generated. It's by no means the best or smoothest clip job in the world, especially since Izzy was dirty (can't bathe humanely when it's 30f outside) and it was my first time to ever wield the mighty body clippers.

I love this shot of her. She looks almost majestic, despite being bald and high. There aren't a lot of horses that can pull this look off.

When I turned Izzy out this morning, she took off running around and trying to get Tatiyana to play with her.

Note that she is now decked out in cold gear, which includes a liner blanket and neck cover. So expensive, but she's snuggling warm.

Yana thought running around was a stupid idea. She's like that, though. Kind of aloof.

With her legs and dark smoldering eyes, she can play aloof all day long and still the boys come running.

And lunging today. Look how ridiculously shiny Izzy's coat is, even just 24 hours after I clipped it. Crazy.

Izzy ran around and bucked like a maniac and rolled over about 6 times, but then she settled right down. Now we're really ready for winter.

The Great Helmet Debate

2011-12-09T14:04:00.004-07:00

As I hope you all are aware, it is critical to replace your helmet any time you fall off and land on it. If you don't, it simply isn't protecting you.

As such, when I fell off and landed on my helmet, I went to replace it. First I went to my local tack store, but that was a massive fail (don't even get me started). I tried to order online with overnight shipping at two different retailers, but both were backordered for a couple weeks. Useless! My next move was to call Smartpak (yes, the number is programmed into my phone) and check their availability. They had the beautiful helmet I was eyeing and immediately sent it via three day shipping for a minimal charge.

Unfortunately, this process had been dragging out and I wanted to be back in the saddle. A fellow boarder had purchased a helmet in the wrong size and offered to sell it to me. Problem: it was the ugliest helmet I had ever seen:

Ugly or not, it was better than a broken helmet and cheaper than a permanent brain injury, so I gritted my teeth and bought it off her.

I continued riding in it until my lovely new helmet arrived.

Here it is! Charles Owen JR8. I actually ordered it in black, but they sent the black/charcoal, and it's pretty too.

Anyways, here is my problem. Now that I have the pretty helmet, I don't want to ride in it. I recognize that if I fall off, I'll have to replace it. I'd far rather break the hideously ugly helmet and have this...

Consciously, I know I should just get over it and wear the pretty one. That way I can punish myself for falling off by making myself wear the ugly one until a new pretty one can come. It's a good incentive. It even makes sense--wear the one you like, keep one in reserve.

I have only taken the pretty one out of the box to try on, though. I can't imagine getting it all dirty and yucky.

What to do?

Getting the Hang of It-My STP

2011-12-08T14:30:00.004-07:00

Again, only time for a short ride on Izzy today (oh, and I haven't cleaned my tack in TWO DAYS. Such a rebel). Anyways. I'm working on doing lots of serpentines in walk and trot, specifically while opening my inside rein and pushing my hands forward. It seems like such a little thing, but since I had such a hard time with it over fences, I decided to break it down into chunks that I feel comfortable with.

Izzy is responding really, really well. She learns quickly and does seem to like going forward, despite not being an overly forward horse.

Actually... I'd say Izzy is a medium-forward horse. She goes forward willingly, but it's not her default gear. She's not an ambling lazy thing, but she's no upper level event horse, either.

Then we galloped. I guess I should clarify. To me, it feels like a mad, all-out gallop. It's probably just a respectable canter. At any rate, we'd shorten (via body aids) in the short ends and run down the long sides. Izzy really enjoys it and I do too... The more I move my upper body around in balance and really get comfortable in the saddle, the more fun I'm having.

For those of you that remember our whimsical adventure of a few weeks ago, rest assured: I haven't given up. My thinking is this: I need some time to rebuild my confidence with Izzy in our comfort zone, the arena. In that time, I'm emphasizing her forward cue--aka, you go NOW. I'm also riding other horses, which is helping me feel more confident as a rider in my ability to deal with all kinds of shenanigans.

Next week, I plan to corral someone with a solid trail horse and take Izzy out, first to the easy hack by the pastures and if that goes well, back up the mountain. I realized (after a long discussion with everyone's favorite Ellie) that most of the whole "riding outside" problem with Izzy is simply that she isn't educated to do it at all. It should be simple, but since it isn't, I need to give her a chance to learn and set her up for success. The same goes for me--I do not have the amazing riding foundation that Ruffles is getting by galloping around the countryside, so we're both on a sharp learning curve.

To infinity and beyond!

Rebuilding Confidence

2011-12-07T14:14:00.004-07:00

Pony mare sporting her navy amigo blanket. Stupid old blanket was rubbing even with a shoulder guard on.

Due to some bad planning on my part, I had to abridge the morning's pony activities, which made for a short ride on Izzy. Good news, though--all I needed was a short ride.

I got on and focused on directing Izzy to do something. We started by walking figure eights to let her warm up a bit. Then we trotted serpentines, again, with me focusing on sitting up and riding. When Izzy tried to get looky about the spooky bush, I took her in should-fore with an open inside rein and made her stay off my inside leg around the whole corner. Ha!

And then it was off to the races. Not only do I need to get comfortable galloping, I need to teach myself to let Izzy maintain her own pace. As Steph says, "Let her take you there". So I did. I asked Izzy to gallop by sitting up and kicking (funny how much more precise that is than tipping forward and taking leg off, haha) and then I focused on balancing over my feet while she went forward. If she backed off, I'd send her more forward. I reminded myself that this was fun on the first lap... and then it actually was.

I always think of Izzy as not being a terribly forward horse, but the more we galloped, the more she wanted to. I'd ask for trot, and she wanted to just shorten her canter. Interesting. I'm excited to develop that more.

We finished up by jumping a 2' vertical a few times. I cantered in slowly, staring at the jump. Izzy halted squarely in front of it. "Right," I said, "I didn't actually want to jump it". I circled and came again, this time at a convincing canter. I thought about what I wanted her hind legs to do on the far side of the jump, and I kept my eyes focused two strides ahead.

Boom. Jump.

Once more to make sure it wasn't luck, and we had another good jump.

My takeaway is this: I am working towards being more decisive as a rider and allowing Izzy to do her job. That's why we gallop, that's why I sit up and kick, that's why I push my hands at the jump instead of take back. It's hard for me to process mentally, but I'm getting there. Izzy is being honest with me, but if I'm going to ride her, I need to want to. Period. No pointing at a jump and saying, "well maybe I think but ummmmm" and then expecting her to go.

Building Up

2011-12-06T14:28:00.004-07:00

Here's the view from my saddle lately:

The lovable Foster, aka 'giant unbroke pony'.

Ms. Tatiyana, Steph upper-level prospect.

Both of these were taken in the arena, but have no fear boys and girls, I've been taking them out. Like in the mountains. Walking, trotting, cantering, doing stuff. I actually haven't ridden Izzy since Saturday (life and work getting in the way) but my butt has been in the saddle on multiple horses most days.

It's a good thing. Izzy and I have a long history together and we understand each other pretty well. Riding other horses forces me to, well, RIDE. I can't just tip forward and cluck to get Yana to canter--I have to sit up and kick. Other horses have other issues, but the important thing is that they're not -our- issues. I'm getting saddle time and working on stuff from our lessons on horses that I'm not used to. Specifically, on horses that are a little more generous in ways Izzy is simply not.

I realize it's not doing a whole lot for Izzy, but I think the variety is helping me. I have to just go saddle up a horse and ride it. No time to worry or build up stress or anything. Just go.

It's a stretch for me, but I'm enjoying it. What's more, I'm learning from it. I'll be back on the pony mare tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing how things are going to change for us.

On an unrelated note, it is SO FREAKING FUN to gallop a prelim horse up a mountain. Anyone want to buy Yana for me? I'm having a little love...

Notes and December Goals

2011-12-05T14:17:00.004-07:00

I had another lesson on Saturday. It was one of the hardest lessons I have had in my entire life, and I am including the one where I fell off and broke bones.

It was over crossrails and I never left the saddle.

In an effort to quiet my upper body and encourage Izzy to use her body correctly, Steph had us do like a 10 meter trot circle over a 12" crossrail. I had to keep my inside rein open and both reins forward, pushing toward the jump. I had to keep Izzy out on the circle with my leg and keep my upper body absolutely still. That presented the jump to Izzy, but allowed her to stumble over it, take a flying leap, or jump from a normal distance. It gave me enough to think about that I couldn't anticipate, and it was fast paced enough that I was forced to trust that Izzy would actually jump.

As Steph kept saying, "trust her with everything except your hips". Ha!

We expanded the exercise to include a serpentine of crossrails, all with turns that were about the same or less than our initial 10m circle. Again, trusting Izzy with everything but my hips. Riding forward, pushing hands forward, never pulling back, never anticipating anything.

It seems ridiculous because it doesn't even sound hard when I describe it, right? The underlying problem is my confidence. I gain mental security by hanging on like a crazed monkey. I rationally understand that the "crazed monkey cling" is not accepted as riding protocol because it's counter productive, but that doesn't mean I can just switch to something more logical.

Even though I know I can generally stay on in good form when Izzy stops, even though I can ride her massive leaps most of the time, it completely TERRIFIES me to just let go and trust her to do her job. I don't know why--she's a very game jumper, she rarely stops unless I tell her to, and she's extremely honest. I don't understand this mental block, and I want to overcome it.

It's not as easy and concise as it sounds above. I spent the rest of the weekend wondering why I was even trying to do all this. I can merrily ride Izzy around and do dressage on her and never jump again if I want to. There is no one forcing me to jump anything. I don't have anything to prove to anyone, myself included. I don't know why I even want to event--I mean, if crossrails are scaring me, what do I think XC jumps are going to do?

The truth is, I'm not sure. I do know that if I quit jumping, I want it to be my choice made free of fear. I won't stop because it irrationally scares, though I probably would if it rationally scared me.

Honestly though, the last time we did the serpentine, I took a wider turn to the last crossrail, kept her straight between my hand and leg, and galloped forward. I saw her ears lock on to the jump. I have never felt more confident as a rider than when I pushed my hands into her mane as she lifted off right out of stride.

A dichotomy? Yes.

With that in mind, it's time to set December goals. I didn't have any goals for November because I didn't know how the month would shake out. Now I have things to work on outside of class, though.

1) Gallop on. I can get Izzy out in front of my leg; it's just that it takes me the whole arena at a gallop to do so. In light of that, I need to gallop or extend every time I feel her duck back.

2) Get comfortable. I realize that the point of working with a trainer is to challenge me, but I need to readjust some of my basic thinking. I will focus on staying light and balanced over Izzy and being comfortable with her moving at speed.

3) Press your hands. That's what Steph says to me every time we turn to a jump. The crazed monkey wants to grab the reins. What I need to do is put my hands on Izzy's neck and ride positively forward.

Jumping Lesson with PICTURES!!!

2011-12-02T15:56:00.009-07:00

OMG. I am so excited to have fabulous jumping pictures. If you have a brain in your head, you're insanely jealous of my luck in having Ellie as a friend. She came out Thursday to take pictures of Izzy and I in the freezing cold and did an absolutely fabulous job, as per her usual.

Without further ado:

We came into the arena and immediately started galloping around. I'd shorten around the ends a little, then let her go really forward down the longer sides. I wanted her forward and in front of my leg.

Zoom zoom zoom!!

Then we started doing transitions to sharpen her up. Gallop. Halt. Trot. Leg yield. Gallop. Walk. I flexed my body left and right and remembered to stay light and balanced over her, using gravity to stay in the saddle instead of sheer deranged-monkey-grip.

Soft, forward, responsive. That's how we want to start a lesson. Look how shiny her browband is, too. Mmhmm. Someone broke out the brass polish this week.

And we're off! The exercise was a line of bounces. We were working on staying balanced and letting the horse do her job. We started brilliantly.

Then we had a little role confusion. Izzy says "OH MY GAWD that is big, mom".

Straightness. It's important.

Of course, if you miss your line in a grid like this, Izzy can jump pretty darned high. Look at us go! I'm absurdly proud of this picture, even though the reason we're jumping so high is because I screwed up.

Two things:

1) While not perfect, look how much better I'm riding. Amazing what lessons can do.

2) I actually don't mind how I look in breeches right now. Could be better, but has been worse. Winning!

2011-11-29T13:34:00.003-07:00

Almost as long as I've owned Izzy, I've grappled with this question: is she too much horse for me? I am a chicken-shit-scared re-rider adult ammy. I am not well endowed financially and I do not have ridiculous aspirations of international level competition.

Izzy, on the other hand, is gorgeous, athletic, wicked smart, talented, and has a rather sick sense of humor. She's way more horse than I -need-, sure. On the other hand, she will always have a nice reserve of talent to draw on if I mess up.

I'm in no way saying that I think I'm holding her back--I fall squarely into the camp of people who think that horses do not have goals and she's perfectly happy to plunk around over 2' jumps and play in the pasture as long as I want her to. My issue comes more from incidents like Saturday or our massive crash in June or any number of other episodes we've been through together.

I -can- ride Izzy. It's just that she challenges me every single day. Because of her intelligence, there is no "trotting around" on her. She gets bored, and if you don't give her something to do, she will find something to do. (This is always and unequivocally bad). She is not the pony-ride type horse. She is not a husband horse. She is a proud and fiery mare, by turns brilliant and hormonal.

After our lesson Saturday, I once again seriously questioned what I was doing. I mean, I love riding her when she's good. Jumping through the angled grid? Definitely one of my proudest riding moments ever. Super fun. Losing it from a ridiculous explosion like that? It honestly makes me wonder if I'm one of "those women", the over-monied* and over-mounted scared adult ammies.

In a different situation, I'd probably have to seriously consider my options as far as selling, leasing, or rehoming was concerned. Let's be honest. There are times when Izzy scares me to death. On the other hand, we're actually working with a fabulous trainer now. I am confident that we're going to get through this and come out even better than before.

It just takes more. More discipline, more trust, more assertiveness, more energy, more time. More.

We're going to do it.

*Ok, well minus the over-monied part.

First Fall Post-Crash

2011-11-28T13:38:00.007-07:00

Check out this action. This is the jump set up for my (and Devon's) lesson on Saturday. It looks pretty cool and a little confusing, and it totally is.

We started out by doing some position exercises--mostly two point at the walk. As the sun came up, we went to trot around the whole arena, and just as we passed the spot where I'm standing to take this picture, Izzy took off like a bat out of hell. I give you this section from Izzy's perspective:

"So I'm totally trotting around with mom bopping along on top of me. I have no idea what she's doing (nor.mal.) so I'm just looking around at these big pretty bushes. Clearly mom has no idea what's going on-she's just kicking me forward and keeping the reins loose. Doesn't she have any idea what -might- be in there???? OMFG GIANT ATTACK BUNNY RABBIT!!! RUN RUN RUN GET AWAY SAVE YOURSELF!!! SADDLE SLID!!!! ZOMFGZFZFZ THERE IS A DERANGED MONKEY HANGING OFF MY SIDE WHERE DID MOM GO MUST GET AWAY FROM MONKEY!!!!#%^#@%!!!"

At this point, I fell off. Izzy stopped a stride or two later and gave me a bit of a look. Her saddle was twisted off to the side. Thankfully my breastcollar kept it from going under her. Nothing like a loose-ish girth and a round horse, is there?

Anyways. There were drag marks in the arena from me. I landed on my butt and my neck and it hurt like crazy.

I got up, rearranged everything, and got back on. After all, I am having a lesson. I'm not going to lie. It was terrifying. It was all I could do to bite back the tears and grit my teeth. I MUST finish. I WILL finish. I hurt, but I will.not.quit. At least, not until the lesson is over.

After all, I still had this to do. (NOTE: video is of Stephanie on Foster. This is to demonstrate the exercise we were doing.)

Do you see the line? Not yellow to yellow. Low yellow to red to red. Three jumps. One stride between each. 45 degree angles. One straight line.

There is no time to make adjustments or use the reins. You have to come in perfectly straight and stay perfectly still.

Izzy and I totally rocked it. I may have been terrified to trot around the perimeter of the arena, but I could canter complex courses. So it goes.

Sunday was not my best day ever. I couldn't turn my neck and I was in constant pain. I opted not to ride, but I noticed that after I came off, Izzy was still super spooky every time we went through that corner. I had to grab mane each time just to keep from hitting her in the mouth.

So Sunday I booted her up and we went to lunge in the scary corner.

Damn, she looks good.

I made use of our groundwork training from this summer, really getting her to be responsive.

I kept her forward, made her stop and reverse directions on command, and let her work the kinks out. All without turning my head. Ouch.

No worries--I am/was the expected level of sore, so nothing is broken. It just hurt.

I have not been back on yet. I was all alone at the barn today and am in process of replacing my helmet, so I decided that plus the residual pain made it a bad idea. Still, I am playing through my head mental video of what happened and trying to change my reactions. I need to correct this 'cling like a deranged monkey' trait. It's really not helping anything.

Minding Her Ps and Qs

2011-11-23T15:02:00.003-07:00

What a serene looking picture.

I was scheduled to have a jumping lesson today, so I was pretty bummed about needing to have Steph take Izzy out on a hack to establish a little sanity.

She started by warming Izzy up in the jump arena. As I expected, Izzy was completely free and forward and happy. Armed with spurs and a whip, they decided to go out and have a little hack. When they came back, I was still on the schedule to have a lesson. WOOHOO!!

Devon, my lesson buddy, warms up pony. In our Finding Nemo universe, he has been entitled "guppy".

Nothing like a lesson with a pony clubber on a pony to remind me that I am -almost- ready to ride with competent children.

Unfortunately, I was not quick enough to get out and see Izzy's hack, but it wasn't all butterflies and flowers. Izzy pulled her "backing and running sideways" stunt and Steph made her back up the hill. And keep going. Backwards.

Funny thing, Izzy figured out pretty quickly that it was a stupid idea to do that. She apparently behaved herself otherwise, but Steph said we would talk about it and she would give me some tools to ride through--particularly, she wants us to stay at the trot when going away so that I can maintain Izzy's momentum and she doesn't have a moment of suspension that she could use to "freeze".

I'm looking forward to doing more with it, because it is killing me not to be able to go canter Izzy up a mountain right now. Dumb mare.

Anyways, the lesson was a total blast, though Ms Mare was a little shocked about having to continue to work. Steph is having me work on getting comfortable actually riding forward to fences. It feels to me like I'm madly galloping around the arena and careening around the corners, but she assures me that I'm barely cantering. Sadly, she's right. I also am focusing on keeping my upper body and seat quiet so that I can ride forward from my leg and not interfere with her.

I apologize for the lack of jumping pictures. Hopefully, that will be remedied next week. Cross your fingers for the return of the amazing Ellie.

A Whimsical Adventure

2011-11-22T14:44:00.004-07:00

Since it is Thanksgiving break for those who are still in school, Stephanie's weekend pony-clubber help is here all week. Her name is Devon and she's quite fun.

Today, we were supposed to take Izzy and Foster out on a hack in the hills.

You all know Izzy.

And the lovable Foster.

The hills behind Izzy in the picture is where we were supposed to go. We merrily tacked up and headed out. Neither of us took a whip--me because I've been riding without one and Devon because she'd only ridden Foster once before and no one told her she needed one.

We made it about a hundred feet up the hill before Izzy decided she was DONE leading. Foster tried to pass and led about 30 feet before her was also DONE. I could get Izzy up to his throatlatch, but them she would start running backwards and panicking. I don't know if you've ever ridden in mountains, but "running backwards and panicking" is a very, very bad way to do it. Devon being a tiny little thing and Izzy not cooperating, we decided to pow wow.

We couldn't go forward. Foster was completely immobile and Izzy was a nut bar. We had no leverage of any kind. We decided to ride back to the barn and get whips, then try again. As we start down the hill, Izzy trots. I try to pull her up and she's having none of it. She lunges forward a few strides, which culminates in running into Foster, who then kicks at her. It's like the four stooges. Or something.

Take two. With whips.

This time Foster was leading. All was going along merrily until he imagined that he saw something. He leaped and jumped sideways and ran a few strides. Izzy, never one to be outdone, started booking it down the hill back to the barn. I managed to slow our descent with a pulley rein, but Izzy would alternately run backwards and sideways and never take a step closer to the top of the hill and frequently weasel towards the barn. We made it around a bend in the trail (going towards the barn) and Foster started panicking that she was out of site. Izzy backed into a tree, lunged forward, slammed on the brakes, and started to rear when I asked her to go forward.

Hm... I decide that this is not my hill to die on, literally. I slipped off the side, grabbed the reins, and started marching the idiot pony up the hill. Foster followed meekly, clearly happy to not be in the lead. I huff and puff my way about a half mile up the hill and then stop to reassess. Foster seems fine: Izzy is bug eyed and prancing for god knows what reason. Remounting? Yeah, not going to happen. I am also NOT taking her back to the barn for this absurd behavior. I mean, it's not like she's never been on a trail ride before. ALSO, if she wants to act like a moron, she can do it going forward. Period. None of this 'run back to the barn' business.

Of course, I'm on foot, so this is not the most exciting decision I have ever made. I keep Izzy in the lead, since Foster is much happier as a follower, and we continue on up. Of course it's up... Who doesn't need a good workout on a cold, windy afternoon? As we march boldly forward (my legs are killing me), Foster catches sight of some OMG PEOPLE ARE WALKING I HAVE NEVER SEEN PEOPLE BEFORE IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!

I keep Izzy going along, thinking he will just mindlessly follow her, but no. He starts having a mini meltdown, but if you weight 1400 pounds, even a mini meltdown is enough. Devon hops off and joins me in the foot patrol. It would all be very tragic if we weren't laughing hysterically. We entitled it the 'finding nemo' trailride, which make Izzy the pufferfish, Foster as Dory, Me as Marlin, and Devon as Nemo, since her arm started hurting from Foster trying to drag her along.

Izzy continued jigging and acting the idiot throughout, but thanks to the immense abundance of groundwork I've done with her, she mostly stayed out of my space. I certainly didn't envy Devon in that department.

The score is as follows:
Izzy 1 for making me get off
Aimee 1 for making Izzy stay on the trail

Tomorrow, Stephanie is taking Izzy out hacking because I think a certain pony learned that if she put on enough of a show, she wouldn't have to work. I have zero interest in riding her through that show, but Stephanie can and is crazy enough to not even think it's that big of a deal.

Maybe I'll get video...

We're Doing It

2011-11-21T15:21:00.003-07:00

As I mentioned, I had a grand jumping lesson on Thursday. I felt like I learned a lot and was able to do some difficult things with Izzy that exceeded my expectations for my perception of my ability. When I rode by myself on Sunday, I jumped Izzy through the exercises that were still set up from a previous lesson, and it went really, really well.

Really well. We were both relaxed and confident and in rhythm. Thanks to limited tack room space, my jump saddle lives at the barn and my dressage saddle lives at home, so I've done a lot of time in the jump tack lately, which in turn makes me more comfortable in it.

So. I've set a goal.

In order to keep up our tradition of attending one show per year, Izzy and I are going to attend the Northwind Winter Jumping Show on December 19th. We are going to jump in the 2'3" and 2'6" classes and I am not going to freak out. I am going to stay relaxed and loose and know my courses and have a good time.

Wish us luck!

Wintertime

2011-11-18T15:20:00.003-07:00

The ever lovable Zymon waiting for the storm to come in with me. He has a dreamy face, if you ask me. The big blaze, the long forelock? Total ladies man.

Yes folks, we had snow. It didn't stick, but it's not going to clear up, either. I think winter has begun.

I'm hoping to sneak in a ride on Izzy tomorrow before volunteering at a show all afternoon. Pony mare is being fabulous.

JUMPING LESSON!!!!

2011-11-17T14:08:00.004-07:00

w00t

I had a lovely impromptu jumping lesson this morning. My apologies for the lack of pictures, but my photographer is in another state and had zero notice. Unfortunately, she doesn't just hang around the barn waiting for me to do immensely photogenic things.

Actually, that may be a good thing. If she did, not only would it be creepy, but also you'd have around 500 photos of me pulling manes, which is simply not that interesting to watch.

Just because it's not interesting doesn't mean it's not cute. Halfie pony ftw!!

So lesson. We started out cantering through two poles set about 22' apart. It was set to be good for one or two stride, but we had to choose which we were going to do in advance, and then DO IT. Stephanie pointed out that while we were making the distances, it was more because Izzy is good at figuring out what she's supposed to do than because I was actually riding and saying "one stride, two strides" to her.

I rode more assertively and she did great.

Then we jumped little crossrails with a specific pattern--trot in, canter out, circle. Again, it's stuff we can just 'get through', but the point was for me to ride and actually be in charge. I'd turn to trot in and if Izzy got chargy or tense, we'd circle out and do something else. I had to really focus on riding from my legs (DO THIS NOW) while just letting the rest of my hips and body stay soft and loose. That way, I would tell her the rhythm and direction, but if she took off long or short, I was poised to go with her.

Sounds easy. SO HARD.

Despite being a challenging lesson, it was rather ego-building in small ways. Stephanie pointed out that I'm a good, balanced rider (omg i did something right!!!!) but that I get tense when I'm nervous which throws Izzy off. I need to stay loose. Another exercise we completed by the skin our teeth. Stephanie thought it was luck, but I protested that while it was mostly luck, there was some tiny bit of skill involved. Her response: "The skill involved was that you've done such a nice job with this horse that she did it for you."

:-) Happy. I did something else right, too.

The lesson culminated in a super cool exercise as shown in the diagram. (Grey is ground, brown is arena fence).

We began with a trot circle to the right, then trotted over the red jump away from the fence and had to turn and immediately and jump the yellow from the canter, then continue on the right lead and finish with a nice, balanced circle.

For reference, there are about 5 strides between the two and they were each set as 2' verticals.

The first time through, Izzy and I totally nailed it.

The second time was not quite as pretty, but the last time, I turned to trot in and immediately felt my hips get tense. I relaxed them, and rode it beautifully! Winning!!

Jumping Again

2011-11-16T14:40:00.004-07:00

Check this out. I did not even have pretend time to ride Izzy with yesterday, so here is the mare herself with Stephanie on board. I would have gotten some sweet action shots, but I only had my phone on me. It does neither action nor distance.

Anyways. Izzy was introduced to the magic of spurs. Steph asked her to go forwards, Izzy pretended she didn't notice, and BOOM!! Izzy leaped forward and said 'Yes Ma'am'.

I didn't get to watch the whole thing (the whole time problem...) but Steph assures me Izzy was pretty good and actually thought it was the best she had ever seen Izzy come out, attitude-wise. Yay!

And today. Unsurprisingly, Izzy was marvelous after her little tune up. She was nicely forward, walked, trotted, and cantered willingly, moved off my leg nicely, and just felt so balanced... I love it.

I also love the Del Grange saddle I was riding in, but that's another story which sadly doesn't involve me ending up with it.

The jumps were just set as little crossrails, so Izzy and I cantered around and jumped them. All by ourselves. I can think of a host of things we need to improve on (steering, braking, planning, actually doing related distances) but it went nicely. We were both balanced and comfortable and I didn't freak out when Izzy went more forward than I wanted. It may seen like little things, but for us, this is really, really good.

Plans for Pony Mares

2011-11-14T15:43:00.004-07:00

Last week, Izzy was supposed to get clipped and get a new set of front shoes.

So here's a picture of my unclipped barefoot horse. Sigh. Mareface said no to shoes during her appointment. (How? Every time the farrier picked her foot up, she'd rear or charge forward or both.)

Farrier is all "Oh noes! Poor thing is in pain!!" and I'm all "Poor thing will be in pain when I get through with her" and then no shoes were put on.

Of course, Izzy was all footsore and uncomfortable and unridable and I spent all weekend stewing about how angry I was about the whole thing. Well, that and some other horrible things.

The picture above represents Plan B. I decked Izzy out in her new cheapie dressage bridle. (Yes, Dover Suffolk bridle bought USED on ebay. How cheap am I...) You'll note it has a flash, which she's never worn before. I am an advocate of making her wear all kinds of crap to teach her it's ok, so I went ahead and put it on prior to our 40 minute lunge session to prep for farrier appointment round #2.

40 minutes later, here's the left side of Izzy's face.

Insane.

She is getting more foamy lately, but I have -never- seen foam like this. Ever. For anyone or anything.

I'd be a total flash convert, except for this:

Hm, yeah. The right side of her face is only slightly foamy. Now, this is a much more normal amount of foam for her on both sides, but I am extremely curious as to why there is such a marked difference.

Yes, right is her stiffer side, but still? Tiny foam vs giant foam? Huh?

We are definitely going to have to do a ride with the flash and see how things feel. Just... not today. Or tomorrow.

\
PS My nefarious plan worked. Between turnout, lunging, and judicious application of the stud chain, Izzy was a total doll for the farrier this time.

A Day for the History Books

2011-11-11T13:13:00.005-07:00

Y'all are familiar with Izzy, my super-alpha-bitch mare. She doesn't always play nice with others.

She has grown up a lot in the last year, but I think today she proved just how different a horse she is now.

Since we only have one large pasture to turn out in, the horses go out in sets. Due to her reputation as a hussy, no one was excited about her going with geldings and the only other mare is a confirmed mega bitch who must go out alone.

Enter Tatiana, Steph's new upper-level prospect. She's an 11 year old Dutch warmblood who currently runs around prelim.

I like her.

Yesterday, she an Izzy were grazed together to see if they would get along. They did. Then they got turned out together and had a ball.

Today, it was my job to turn them out together. The logistics of the barn demand that you make all trips as efficient as possible--it's about a half mile (I think) from the barn to the pasture and takes about 10 minutes round trip to walk briskly.

Sooooo. I brought Izzy to the main barn, crosstied her, got Ms Tatiana out, unclipped Izzy...

and I lead them to the pasture.

That's right, folks. A half mile. Two mares. One handler. Not a pinned ear between them.

Off they go! When I left, they were cozied up next to each other at the bottom of the pasture, grazing with their muzzles almost touching.

Oh.
My.
God.

Izzy made a friend.

It's 11/11/11 and Vetran's Day. Go hug someone. Izzy did already.

I Rode My Own Horse

2011-11-09T14:32:00.003-07:00

There is nothing like working with other people's horses to remind me of how much I love my mareface.

Nothing.

I've been so busy between having two jobs (yay!! down to two!!) and taking care of stuff that rides on Izzy have been short and rare. Thankfully, Rinsie took video of us on Sunday, so you get to see that today.

A couple of thoughts:
1) Yeah, a black horse at dusk. Not a recipe for good video quality. Sorry.
2) Since we're at an event barn now, the default get up seems to be jump tack instead of dressage, which is my comfort zone. It's good for me to branch out and just ride more, but it's a learning curve for sure.
3) No jumping yet... we're supposed to have a lesson sometime this week I think... but also it's the biggest home game of the year on Saturday for my football team and I have tickets, so we'll see what fits where and when.

Funny Story

2011-11-08T14:15:00.004-07:00

The competitors are all back from Galway, but since they got back really, really late last night, I was on my own for the first part of the morning. Stephanie texted to let me know which horses needed to go out and who to lunge.

As I was bringing the lunge horse back to the barn, one of the girls who works there calls to me, "Hey, your turnout horse jumped out. I caught him..."

My response: "Seriously?"

So yeah. You all remember the loveable Zymon, the AWS mutt. Apparently, he can jump a 5' fence from a standstill without touching it just because he's bored of his turnout buddy and wants to go hang out with the horses in the breezeway.

Oh, and to him it's such a non-event that he just stood there and let the nice girl catch him with no fuss at all. Darling bastard.

It gets funnier. I text Stephanie: "So Zymon can jump 5'."
She responds: "I know, that's why you have to turn him out -with- somebody."
Me: "I did. Then he turned himself out alone."

Ha! Quite funny, since no one got hurt.

In other exciting news, I might get to go to Thermal. OMG!! I totally wanted to, but I assumed as 'general barn help', I would be relied upon to stay home and take care of things. Nope, they want a groom.

Excuse me while I happy dance.

Continuing Adventures

2011-11-07T13:01:00.003-07:00

It is apparently winter here. We had our first snow, so of course I trooped out to the barn with a camera to take adorable pictures of Izzy in her halter.

Izzy explores the snow.

Since it was a rolicking 20f outside, I opted to bundle up in non-riding clothes and focus on the artistic qualities of a black horse on white snow. Or something.

Izzy was not convinced it was a good time to leave breakfast and get turned out. Too. Cold.

After meandering around the pasture, I took her in the indoor for the first time. She was completely crazy, as you can see in the video.

Ok, so maybe "queenly" is better than "crazy". She keeps walking around like she owns the place, eyes bright, ears pricked.

Pony mare being adorable. I have oodles more to talk about, but I guess I'll save it for a slow news day.

New Toys!!

2011-11-04T13:31:00.009-06:00

Since I am a consummate tack whore, when I found out Izzy would be moving into a fancy barn with an actual trainer, I promptly bought her a crapload of stuff. Some of it you've already seen... I think... Anyways, more cool stuff showed up yesterday.

Check this hotness out. Perhaps not the most flattering shot of Izzy ever, but this is her spiffy new "grown up" halter from Danzig Brothers. It's thick, supple leather that's super nice quality and it came with her name on it. So nice.

You should notice the lovely English chin. Mmhmm, no more nasty crap adjustable chins for me! It fits her exactly how I like it and looks stunning, if I do say so myself.

As much as I love the halter, I also wanted to go for a ride before it started snowing. Fun fact about having her in the mountains: I can watch all the nasty storm clouds build up in the valley below before they start rolling in.

Izzy was most excellent. I keep expecting her to do something stupid, and she's just stellar. Two things about riding today:

1) I'd been putting off riding in the jump tack because I'm just way more comfortable and secure in my dressage saddle, and I wanted to be ready for when she tried something. Oddly, when I got on today, I felt just as connected and secure as I do in dressage. So. Weird. I mean, normal for good riders, but weird for me. I'd argue it's because we're working with a trainer now, but she's left for Galway before Izzy showed up.

2) We completely ignored all the fun lateral work I was doing in dressage and just went forward. To get Izzy relaxed and focused, we did canter figure eights with halts in the center to change the lead. Yes, I mean canter/halt/canter transitions. They're not perfect, but she was doing them with just a stride or two of trot, and then when I asked, she NAILED a simple change with one trot stride. I know it's not really eventer-kosher to have flying changes before you need them in dressage, but dammit I want them. We'll get there.

Pony mare wants changes too. DRAMA!

Ok, back to tack whoring: here's Izzy's getup today. Notice anything?

Like the absence of a horrid fleece girth?

Oh yeah, we did get a super pretty new fancy stitch leather girth. It may be a smartpak cheapie, but it looks way classy and I love it. Plus, it just cleans right up. No washing required (die fleece die!!).

Plus Izzy is still looking fab. This is pre-clip, too.

The whole get up for today. No warnings about dropping reins and walking away--we are in an enclosed arena with the gate shut. I mean, yeah, she could jump out, but she's never been that motivated before.

Anyways. My tack is spotlessly clean. My horse looks amazing. If I were I person other than me, I'd be completely jealous of me.

This is actually not new, but here Izzy's rocking her fancy cooler. Good thing I bought one last year so I didn't have to this year, right? (Of course I'm not considering getting another one. You must be thinking of someone else.)

And another shot of the wondermare wearing both halter and cooler.

Musing on Tack

2011-11-03T12:20:00.000-06:00

I like pretty things. I like matching things.

As you can see, Izzy has very coordinated outfits. (You'd think this would spill over into my personal fashion department, but no).

All pretty havana brown leather for our jump tack. Black boots all around.

And dressage. All black, all matching. It's not that everything is the same brand, just that I make sure everything coordinates. I keep it clean and shiny and all is well.

Here's the rub: Stephanie cleans tack after every ride. Every time. As a result, her tack is soft and lovely and all, but it's completely the same color. You know, the lovely white contrast stitching I adore on my dressage and figure eight bridles? It would be gone.

Hm. I took the easy way out and just brought my lovely (and non-contrast-stitched) Nunn Finer bridle out to ride in.

Problem: when I ride in my dressage saddle, my bridle doesn't match. Havana and black? No thank you!!

I'm sure you're all relieved to know that I'm choosing a sensible solution instead of taking the obvious route and simply buying a havana dressage saddle. No, I am considering picking up a second dressage bridle. Der. You know, one without contrast stitching that I can use the crap out of and not worry about. I mean, tons of people have show tack and regular tack, right?

Right?

First Ride

2011-11-02T15:47:00.004-06:00

Obviously, this is not a riding picture. Ms Mare is learning to love her new turnout space.

It was quite cool this morning, so I decided I would lunge Izzy, and if she was good, go ahead and ride. I expected that she'd be spooky, nutty, and naughty, so I didn't even change out of my mud boots.

Izzy just acted like she owned the place. She didn't spook or panic or anything--she marched boldly around, surveying her kingdom, and was her usual self on the line.

We saddled up. I decided to modify our warm up (the loose, flying reins) because while Izy was being really good, she had a lot of tension and was pretty looky, which meant if I was going to need my reins, I'd need them -rightnow-. Instead we worked on staying soft and forward at the walk. I'd let her look, but she had to keep doing what I wanted, and if that meant shoulder-in away from the rail, so be it.

Oddly, I've had quite a surge of confidence lately. I have no particular reason for it, but when I ride, I don't feel precariously straddled over an unpredictable object--I feel plugged in and connected, in tune with Izzy's motion. It didn't bother me that she was looky. I just kept her forward. She was actually a little stiff, which is unusual for her, so we did a few suppling exercises like spiral in/spiral out and over bending in or out.

Trot was not quite as forward as I wanted, but marching and steady in the bridle. Then came canter. It wasn't her biggest, fastest canter ever, but my-oh-my she had suspension. Boom boom boom (pause) boom boom boom. Relaxed suspension? Is this even my horse? It felt amazing. We did transitions up and down, and then called it a day.

Say hello to the queen.

PS I did try to take a picture of her wearing a new saddle pad and looking completely adorable, but my camera went back to bed instead. Maybe next time.

Ushering in a New Era

2011-11-01T15:03:00.014-06:00

This is my 501st post. It is 11/1/11.

And Izzy just settled in to her new home.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier.

To make up for my previous deficiencies as a blogger, I took a ton of totally interesting pictures.

For example, here is my living room this week. It is completely strewn with what my husband lovingly refers to as 'horse crap'. Fortunately for him, he doesn't know what 'horse crap' means in my universe.

Anyways, he's very glad that Izzy (and most of this stuff) has moved on. For some odd reason, he actually wants to sit on the couch. Pssh. Who has time for that?

Here's a shot of the old barn. It's so darn pretty this time of year, especially since the bugs have finally started dying.

I love all the colors, but I won't miss the parking lot being completely coated in ice... haha.

And the view. Just plain lovely as the sun comes up over the hay fields.

I have no idea how you people who live in big cities cope. If I can't see a full 180 degrees of sky, I start feeling claustrophobic.

It was about 30f this morning as I got started. I had to pick up Izzy's feed bins, western bridle, and cookie bucket.

And we were off.

Izzy checks out her new digs. Note that there is a hill behind her. Folks, those mountains you can see from the old barn? We now live in them.

Pony mare was completely cute about the whole thing. She was a little reluctant to go into the barn at first, but when she found the hay, she settled right down.

Over-the-butt view of Izzy's new barn--she gets to live in the first breezeway barn (aka where poor people like myself can sort of afford it). She has a 12'x12' covered area with a 12'x24' run. It's really quite nice.

While she munched breakfast (again) (did I mention she's about triple dosed on her ugard right now?), I did chores.

Does anyone remember when my little tack-whoring self freaked out about moving in with a trainer with high standards? And I ordered Ms Mare a fancy custom leather halter with a nameplate?

Yeah, that hasn't showed up yet, even though my order was a month ago. Sigh. In it's place, we have this:

It's not so much that I feel the need for a sharpie-ed name on her halter and it's less than I'm concerned about such a priceless halter wandering away. The simple fact is that with all the horses moving around at the new barn and Izzy being brand new, I want the feeding people to be able to check her name against their list if they need to.

So yeah, super classy.

After I finished doing work, Izzy and I went exploring. Fortunately, we didn't leave all the brilliance of fall behind us.

I love it.

The barn entrance. You're also looking at trail access into the mountains. Can't wait to get out there with Izzy and someone on an older, reliable horse. ;-)

Brave exploring pony with custom halter. She only had one tiny spook and other than that, just marched around surveying her territory. Sweet.

Also, I'm thinking more sharpie decorations on the craptastic nylon halter are in order. Not sure what, but might as well, right?

And hanging out in the huge ol' pasture she gets turned out in. Super cool indoor is behind her here.

Pony at rest. We'll have more adventures tomorrow.

End of Hell Month

2011-10-31T16:12:00.004-06:00

October is one of the most beautiful months of the year. It is also completely insane, so I'm incredibly happy to see it go.

Don't believe me? I have been out of town every weekend this month except the last one. I work 30 hours a week at my office job and 10 hours a week at Izzy's current barn. A week ago, I tacked on another 20 hours a week with our beloved event trainer.

Oh, and I have a house, husband, two dogs, one cat, and some rabbits to take care of. Plus, eveything is far apart, so I spend a good chunk of every day in the car.

Beautiful or not, I can't want for tomorrow. This pretty pony face will be moving to the event barn with me, and the crazy will subside a little.

Funny story: I was riding Izzy on Sunday. As we walked to the outdoor arena, she proceeded to have a massive heart attack over 1) a bush 2) a tree 3) the road) 4) a trailer 5) the indoor. All in the space of like 3 minutes.

Ok, moving on... HEART ATTACK!!!! Her roomie, a sweet little morgan mare, was calmly walking over to the outdoor to go for a ride. She was just getting over the drama of there being ANOTHER HORSE in the arena with her when...

ZOMBIES OF DEATH AND FIRE EYES!!!!!! OMG PASSAGE PIAFFE PANIC PANIC PANIC!!!!!!#%^$&@#

Yes, two of her friends were coming back from a trail ride. Clearly a cause for anxiety.

The only thing worse than calm trail horse returning to the barn was OMFG THERE IS A WATER TROUGH!!!!

I have no idea what's gotten in to her, but it was pretty hilarious.

PS This is my 500th post. Cool!

Mighty Irish

2011-10-28T14:06:00.007-06:00

Stephanie's out of town to teach a clinic, so I thought I would just breeze through morning chores at the barn.

Feed? Check.
Rinse buckets and prepare beetpulp? Check.
Begin morning turnouts? Check.
Pull manes and touch-up clip all horses going to Galway on Monday?

Nuts.

I got it (mostly) done, but it took a while. Thankfully, I really like pulling manes. The two horses I did not have to do are the lovely Irish chaps. Now, anyone who knows about my equine preferences knows I hate Irish horses. It may be because they make me insecure, but they're just so bullheaded and sensitive and intelligent and cold blooded and I don't really like anything about them. I don't mind watching other people ride them, but I have never wanted to ride one myself.

So here they are:

This is Vivika, a 3 year old Irish mare. I hate greys and I hate Irish, but she is pretty sweet. Since she's three, Galway isn't in her future this year, and I did not pull her mane, though I suspect she will get tidied up next time I have free time. Lovely.

And here is Foster. He's very flashy and fancy and is a big, dumb love. I did his mane yesterday, because he is most definitely Galway-bound.

He's basically the size of a tank. You know how you can usually pull the bottom of a horse's mane just fine but need a stool to reach the top? Yeah, I need the stool to reach the bottom of his mane. For serious.

He's also roughly as wide as he is tall, and none of it is fat.

FEED FOSTER NOMS!!!

He likes his cookies.

Pony Loves

2011-10-27T15:24:00.003-06:00

I'm currently juggling three jobs. I'm not in college any more, and I can tell.

My house is in a very central location--it's 25 minutes south to see Izzy. It's 25 minutes north to work for Stephanie. Thank God, my non-horsey-job is about 2 minutes from my house.

So you see my dilemma--Izzy and one barn job are about an hour drive from Stephanie and the more important and consuming barn job. Oh, and the whole horse thing is facilitated by many hours at the actual job.

I am not doing a very good job of keeping up, sadly. Yesterday I was at Stephanie's barn from 8.30-12.30. Then I was at work from 1-6. Then I went home, fed my husband and the creatures, and sprinted out to the barn to fulfill my duties as stall cleaner as darkness fell. With the help of my incredibly awesome light-up hat (I so need to take a picture. I love this thing.), I made it to Izzy's pasture in the pitch darkness. I petted her and put her shoulder guard on and fed her cookies. Awww. I love her.

Then it's 25 minutes home to change clothes and take the dogs for a run in the dark.

Rinse and repeat.

November 1, you cannot come soon enough (except I have a massive amount of crap to get done this weekend, too).

Wherein I Fall in Love

2011-10-26T13:40:00.005-06:00

For the record: my life is amazing. Yes, I'm beyond busy and barely have time to sit down (shhhh, I'm working) but OMG I have a pony and a pony job and a real job and everything is awesome.

My official duties as barn worker are getting squared away. I'm responsible for turnout, grooming, feeding, and morning blanket changes. I also do other things as needed.

Today was brilliant. Stephanie told me yesterday that we were going trotting, which meant that I would be on someone other than Izzy, since she hasn't moved in yet. I told myself I was excited for a chance to ride a fancy trained horse and not terrified because they're all a bit nutty and we would be on a trail up a mountain.

Here's the horse I rode:

This is Zymon. He's a 6 year old mutt gelding who is training to be Stephanie's personal horse (I think). Mutt is technically defined as American Warmblood Something x Appendix. Despite his breeding, he is a lovely mover and quite sweet.

Also, he's flipping awesome on trails. This is important because 1) I am not and 2) trails in Idaho are fairly strenuous. Seriously. We rode up a mountain, down the other side, back up, and down again. It's trot sets, Idaho-style.

Despite being a cute young greenie, Zymon boldly lead the way most of the time. He's opinionated and egotistical and completely adorable. He's kind of like a corgi, minus the funny conformation. Dare I say it? Izzy has a small reason to be jealous, at least until he pulls a stupid gelding stunt. I must say, it was the most fun trail ride and/or trot sets I have -ever- done.

He had one semi-big spook right before we got on the trail at some birds flying up, but between my full seat breeches, his easy movement, and the completely amazing saddle I was riding on (custom CWD jump saddle. OMG), it was no big deal.

Why it's a bad idea for a tack whore to intern with a trainer with a lot of nice tack is a whole 'nother story for a different post. Wow.

First Day on the Job

2011-10-25T13:56:00.002-06:00

I have committed a serious blogger faux pas--I started my new and pretty danged awesome job this morning and I took no pictures. Oops.

Also, I tried Izzy's old winter blanket that she hasn't worn since she was 5 on her last night. It barely buckled and her tummy hung out below it. Awesome. Unfortunately, it was also stupid cold last night, so she had to wear it anyways. Again, no pictures.

So here's the basic rundown. It was 22f this morning (ack!! cold!), so I didn't even have to be at the barn until 8.30am. Whoa, way late. I even got dinner in the slow cooker and housework done before I left. We started out by setting a full jump course in the upper arena. That is a quick way to warm up--solid wood poles and standards are heavy.

After that, I got to move tack trunks around (whee!) and alternately turn horses out, bring them in, and tack them up for Stephanie to ride. This is like the horse job from heaven--I do not have to clean stalls. As a person who's spent more than half of my life shoveling manure, I really enjoy this perk. Thus far, they have mostly been pleasant, well behaved creatures, so I'm hoping that stays as is as much as possible.

Also, I may be riding an actual horse tomorrow. It's been a really, really long time since I've ridden any horse other than Ms. Mare, so we'll see how that goes.

Win a Sweet Prize!

2011-10-24T14:09:00.002-06:00

I'm sure you're all aware of my fly bonnet fixation. (It's only a mild problem, really.) Anyways, my little heart fluttered when I found out that I could win one. OMG!

Go here to enter to win a De La Coeur fly bonnet. Just don't beat me. It's all I ask. ;-)

Overachiever Drama

2011-10-20T09:43:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, as I was browsing through blogs and horsey websites, I came across something I had never seen before: a blanket sizing chart from the manufacturer. OMG. Usually, if anyone like myself, who lives in english-riding-hell (ie no tackstores, period) wants to buy something, they have to first find it on the internet, then read ridiculous amounts of reviews, then check for sizing comments by end users, then evaluate the end users to see if they are actually credible, then make a guess as to what size options are necessary.

It's painful, but it's all we've got. Anyways. Based on the official manufacturer chart that I found, Izzy's new blanket that was sitting in my living room was completely the wrong size. Meaning, it would be about a foot too big.

I promptly freaked out. How am I going to come up with money to buy more blankets right now? OMG. Ouch. Not happening! Nerves! As soon as I could get away from work, I raced home, threw it in the car, and drove to the barn.

Fortunately, it fits absolutely perfectly. I'd actually never taken it out of the box before and I must say, I'm completely smitten. The leg arches are SO FREAKING COOL and it's really, really soft, which I did not expect from a turnout.

In fact, I'm -highly- tempted to continue saving pennies and get her a second one new. >.> We'll see how that goes.

Poor pony mare was not overly enthused about trying on her winter blanket over her winter coat in 65+ degree weather.

My plans for the day had already been derailed because my boarder friend wasn't able to ride with me, so instead we tacked up for a dressage ride.

Is she adorable or what?

The more tack-whorish, ahem, astute among may be aghast that Izzy is sporting open fronts with dressage tack. I have one thing to say to you:

If I pay $70 for a set of boots, I am going to put them on pretty much everything with legs all the time. Besides, the black and white motiff looks cute.

We had a nice, if unspectacular, ride. I still don't feel like we're connecting right and I'd really like a lesson to sort it out, but that's another story for another day.

Finding Our Way

2011-10-19T09:37:00.003-06:00

I rode Izzy on Monday night, our first ride in almost a week. We had to ride indoors, so it was dusty and I felt cramped in the small area, plus the footing sucks.

Plus neither of us had worked in 6 days.

I could make a whole list of excuses, but it was a totally lackluster ride. We had a few moments that were ok, but nothing worth talking about. After stewing about it all day Tuesday at work, I came up with a new plan.

So yesterday I put the jump tack on Izzy--not to jump, but just to ride around in. I put her super cute boots on and we went to the outdoor area. Solo's mom had mentioned working over variable terrain get Izzy to watch her footing more, and if the footing in the outdoor is anything right now, it's variable. (Someone tried to work it with the tractor while it was still basically a lake. Now we have ruts! And sinkholes!)

I kept Izzy on a long, loopy rein as we walked, trotted, and cantered around. I focused on keeping her forward. We went through the ruts and over the sink holes. I tried to adjust my position so that I felt secure just trotting around.

And slowly, things started to change. With no rein contact, I had to ride more with my body. Stephanie is always telling me that it's ok if Izzy looks--that means she's attentive, which is good. When Izzy looked at something, I kept her going forward and just turned my body the opposite direction to make sure she was still tuned in to me. She was.

I started putting the reins and whip in one hand, then reaching my other hand up over head or back, to allow myself to move my body without disrupting our balance. Then I'd switch hands while Izzy just kept motoring along.

After I felt like we'd gone forward enough, I dropped Izzy back to walk and we wandered the whole barn area. Around the indoor, past the dry lots, across the road, over the bridge, around the track. I felt more relaxed and in tune with her than I have in two weeks.

On the agenda for today is a trail rider with a fellow boarder who has a nice quiet horse. Watch for the reappearance of the western warmblood.

An Open Letter to Der Dau

2011-10-18T09:51:00.003-06:00

Dear Smartpak Catalog and Der Dau Boot Company:

Every time I flip through your glossy pages, my eyes settle on these gorgeous, luxurious boots. Their graceful shape, their intelligent cut, their quality leather, even the little detail on the pull tab, all call to me.

They are my dream boots.

I will never own them.

No matter how beautiful your boots are, no matter how perfectly your custom options might work for me, I absolutely refuse to spend $800 on some foot protection that I will be tromping through horse urine and rubbing with sweat, inside and out.

You may make the most beautiful boots in the world and I may be a ridiculous tack whore, but I will never, ever own them. I simply cannot imagine spending a saddle's worth on money on boots.

Respectfully,

TSB

Pony Feet

2011-10-17T09:48:00.005-06:00

Rest assured my friends: despite my inconsistent riding and blogging, my tiny little brain has been churning like mad lately. Here's the root of the issue: hoofcare.

A huge number of bloggers keep their horses barefoot with pictures of healthy hooves, sound horses, and even competition results to go along with them. Of course, there are plenty of you out there who do the same with shod horses, but...

Izzy spends most of her time barefoot, in general. I like it because it's cheap and I'm poor. She got front shoes on this summer because she was not dealing well with flood irrigation and the ridiculously rocky footing we have in the desert. In theory, I'm fine with this. I wholeheartedly believe that some horses can go barefoot and some can't, and there's no point in worrying too much about it one way or the other.

Here's the kicker--while I will never pretend to be any sort of high performance athlete, I do run to keep myself fit to be a rider. I have found that I am at my best when using the very least in footwear--minimalist shoes that allow me to feel "barefoot" while protecting me from the hazards of an urban environment. I am more balanced, have better posture, am more comfortable, and am far more aware of how I am using my feet and my body.

Furthermore, Andrea mentioned some months ago that in her observation, horses were frequently more clumsy when shod, to the tune of tripping and stumbling more often. At the time, I wrote it off as circumstantial evidence from a biased observer (sorry), but that was when my mare was barefoot and almost never tripped on anything.

On to the past month. We still have nasty, rocky footing. Izzy is fine walking over the rocks in her shoes, but when we work, I've noticed that she tends to trip a LOT more than before. Yes, the footing is crap, but it's been crap all along. It's just that now her ground feel and feedback is reduced that she's begun having problems.

There is an obvious solution to this: pull the shoes. This is what I'd do this time of year anyways. The only problem is that as of 11/1/11, Izzy and I are moving in with beloved event trainer to spend 6 months working hard. That is exactly two weeks from now. (OMG 2 weeks from this very second I will be with my pony at the barn!!!!)

Two weeks simply does not seem like enough time to try and re-transition Izzy to barefoot in preparation for a serious training regime over presumably also-rocky terrain. In fact, it seems rather hair-brained. I'm going to contact my (very pro-barefoot) farrier and get an opinion, but I'd like some thoughts from you guys, too. How long would it take to successfully switch a shod horse back to barefoot? Have you done it? Are you currently (or have you in the past) dealt with barefoot performance horses?

Am I completely insane to even think about this? My plan was to stay in shoes for 6 months, then go back to barefoot when we moved back to our current barn, but 6 months is sounding like a long time of a stumbly horse.

If you have a barefoot horse with occasional tenderfoot issues, how have you dealt with it? Please, share your thoughts. Obviously, if I'm going to move on this, it needs to be sooner rather than later.

World's most beautiful big mare appreciates your opinions.

Dressaging Pony

2011-10-13T11:29:00.005-06:00

When I was in highschool (ie taking regular riding lessons), I got up to 1st level dressage stuff before taking a long break. As I think most of you are aware, I haven't had any semblance of "regular" lessons since then. I just get a smattering, here and there.

So. At this point, I'd say I've pretty much taught Izzy everything I know about dressage. She goes willingly forward into contact at the walk, trot and canter. She can do small transitions within gaits, and is reliable at leg yielding (both directions) and shoulder in (confirmed left, very close right). We do nice trot/halt/trot transitions, she has a decent reinback, and she's just plain fun to ride.

All that said, Izzy is starting to get bored. Now that she's mastered what I'm asking of her, she can do it and let her attention completely wander. She's like me--we need challenges.

The only problem is that I have nothing to challenge her with. I started a new exercise last night--we'd ride deep into the corner before the longside, then leg yield out to quarter line, straight for a stride, and leg yield back before the next corner. It was fun and challenging for both of us. My thinking is that it will force me to be more correct and ride straighter, which will hopefully prep her for lateral movements that move in the direction of the bend, instead of away from it.

I'm also adding in canter leg yields. I'm hesitant to do too much with the canter without further instruction because I tend to ride her too slow and short and I've never really had any instruction in it.

Thanks to the gorgeous pictures that Ellie took, I have been able to correct some rather glaring position flaws (not visible in this picture), so I'm riding it better, but I still don't know what to do.

And I guess I'm saying all this today because I have been able to coordinate absolutely zero lessons for Izzy and I this month. Nothing. Nada. The dressage trainer who owes me two lessons and lives 10 minutes away is "too busy" and the trainer we're going to be moving in with soon is of course, way busy moving down here anyways. Oh, and October is the month from hell for me anyways.

So... Izzy is enjoying some pretty easy weeks while I try to stay afloat. She's muddy, fat, and happy, and I keep reminding myself not to stress.

After all, boot camp for both of us starts in just less than three weeks.

Godspeed

2011-10-11T09:52:00.003-06:00

It's been a long road and Gogo says it's time to let go.

Godspeed, Gogo. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Andrea.

It's Raining

2011-10-06T08:36:00.003-06:00

The weather is remarkable only because we broke a record last month for the hottest September on record ever here. Also, it hadn't rained since the first week of June.

Izzy is taking full advantage of the weather. She got yesterday off and spent it standing in the rain (outside her perfectly good shelter) and rolling in the mud. Hey, at least she's happy.

It's pouring rain again today, so I'm thinking it's time for that annual ritual we all enjoy: mud boot shopping.

Hard to Say Goodbye

2011-10-04T13:19:00.004-06:00

I know most of you have tracked with Andrea and Gogo through their blog, Eventing-A-Gogo. They've had their ups and downs, but lately, it's unfortunately been mostly downs. Last month, I teamed up with some of my favorite other bloggers to put together a parting gift for Andrea, just like she did for Brooke and Denali last year.

All the time, we were hoping against hope--wishing for a miracle. Denali pulled through somehow, and even as I typed, I was praying for another solution, for something to change for the gregarious Gogo.

I number among the many bloggers who never met Gogo or Andrea in person, but have followed and been impacted by their lives and shenanigans from afar. I've laughed alongside many others as Gogo lorded her queenship over her tiny herd, and now I find myself in tears, thinking of Andrea and what she's facing.

Denali's Mom, Stacey, Checkmark115, and I talked last month about putting together a gift for Andrea as a memorial to Gogo. We are along the road to having it completed, but if you would like to contribute, please paypal any amount you can afford to rehabdenali@yahoo.com . If you want to know what we're planing or have ideas to contribute, contact any one of us for details.

Running on Fumes

2011-10-03T13:10:00.008-06:00

It was a crazy busy weekend (and fun!), so I haven't had time to put some cohesive goals together for this month. I'll think about that and instead distract you with some pretty pictures.

Here's what an equestrian does when the beagle needs a walk and the leash is in her husband's car. Yes, that's a rein.

For good measure, here's both my dogs. They are ridiculously adorable.

In keeping with the cute theme, here's Izzy getting ready to go ground driving. Of course she has to wear her super cute new boots. :-)

I had the saddle out because I meant to ride, but was too tired.

Pony mare hooked up to drive. She's pretty cute.

Since I am not the world's best groundwork person, at one point I got Izzy totally tangled up in the lines. Fortunately, she's a smart cookie, so I just dropped everything and said "whoa".

She stopped and gave me this look that just said, "Get over here and fix this, idiot".

Check this out! As a belated birthday present, Rinsie and Rev got Izzy and I a fabulously orange glowing nylon bridle. Yeah, pretty amazing. I'm going to deck her out in her orange and blue polos with orange bridle sometime this week.

Nothing like a dressage pony turned football fan, is there? Ha.

Yeah, we're pretty awesome together.

Dressage Rundown

2011-09-30T10:27:00.013-06:00

One of my goals for this month included changing the way I warmed Izzy up. I got the ideas from an odd amalgamation of sources, really--Cathy (dressage trainer) wanted her relaxed, Susan (backup rider) wanted her moving laterally, and Stephanie (event trainer) wanted her Forward.

All of the methods seemed to have their strong points, but since I'm the one who spends the most time with Izzy, I found a way to put them all together that just works for us.

We start out walking on a long, loose reins. It's no pressure, just easy going. She's forward, but not enough to stress her or make her think about breaking into trot.

Comfortable.

Relaxed.

Almost immediately, we start leg yielding across the long sides of the arena. Off the right leg, around the corner at a forward walk, off the left leg.

I try to sit squarely in the saddle, use the reins only to keep her straight, and activate my outside (inside?) leg, but reinforce with the whip as needed. If she feels particularly sticky, I'll do a turn on the forehand or haunches to loosen her up.

As this exercise progresses and expands, we start moving gradually more forward and take up a tiny bit more contact.

Then we move into the trot. I keep the reins long and make no attempt to put her together from the front. We just go FORWARD. Big, loose, moving strides, covering a lot of ground. If she starts to run on the forehand a little, I sit up more and ask her to push from behind, but again, keeping it loose.

We start out looking about like this. Forward, ok, nothing special.

We gradually move into this frame as her balance changes and her tempo steadies. She's starting to stretch herself, just a little bit.

Each day I ask her for a little bit more--more from behind, more balance, bigger tempo. This is all seat/leg though--the point is to warm her up and keep the reins loose.

After trotting both directions for a roughly even amount of time, we roll into the canter.

As you can see, the reins are flying in the wind.

I'm staying in a light 3 point seat, really trying to allow her to use her back and reach under herself. The focus remains on forward--big, rolling strides are what I'm looking for.

Gradually, I start to pick up the reins, keeping in mind that before any rein contact, I have to add more leg to avoid just pulling on her mouth. Izzy starts to come up and relax a little bit more.

I develop a good, strong, forward working canter, which is a sign of the end of our warmup and moving into work.

I bring Izzy up in front of my leg, hold a steady contact, and just hold slightly with my seat--and voila! We are trotting.

Because of our methodical warmup, Izzy is now forward into the contact and carrying herself. BOOM.

At this point, I'd say we maybe training-level-schooling-1st, so we don't do anything too complicated, but we work on leg yielding and shoulder in both directions--here's the kicker--without losing any of that lovely forward momentum.

She's definitely sharpening up her leg yields, and when I feel her start to loose steam in the should in, we do a big, forward circle, then come back to it. The quality of the movement is more important than it's duration.

I'm starting to play more with the lengthen/shorten aspect of her gaits to prepare for 1st level, but it's so hard to teach yourself to shorten without altering the contact even a tiny bit. Yikes! We'll get there.

Once I have her established at the trot, we move back into canter, this time to actually work. We don't do a whole lot yet, since I still want to develop our comfort level with bigger, longer, bouncier strides, but I try to throw in the occasional leg yield to remind her that everything is still loose and flexible.

And back to trot again. I absolutely love this picture. At this point, we are so connected that it's ridiculous--I'm finally to the point where I'm starting to feel the difference in my position and how it affects her, not just what it's supposed to look like.

I put a little more leg on, ask her to stay up in front, tighten my core a little...

And we're walking. After she takes a few polite, forward walk strides, we're done. I like to cool her out with a few laps around the arena, then just head out and wander the entire barn area. It's a more interesting view for sure.

So there you go. It's nothing breath-taking or earth-shaking, but it's where we're at and I'm really happy with it.

That said, I would -love- to have a dressage lesson right now. Last time we had one... was maybe April?

Schedules

2011-09-29T13:27:00.004-06:00

I'll just be honest: I don't really believe in giving horses days off. The way I see it, nothing I ask them to do is all that inherently hard or foreign for them and they spend 22 hours a day eating and sleeping, 1 hour being groomed and petted, and 1 hour actually moving around. Who needs a break from that?

However, I'm starting to re-evaluate my views a little bit. I feel like Izzy and I are actually starting to advance enough that the things I'm asking her to do are building new muscles and maybe even getting her a little tired. While that's good, it also needs to change our work schedule a little bit.

For example, when I have a really brilliant dressage ride one day, I feel like she's just a little slower and backed off the next day. Not off, not stiff, just a little slower, which would be consistent with her being a bit body sore from moving things that didn't used to move.

At this point, I'm specifically talking about dressage. Obviously, our jumping isn't exactly pushing her yet.

Yesterday we had an absolutely brilliant dressage ride.

Today I didn't know what to do. I'm too tired (long uninteresting story) to set jumps or ride terribly well, and yet I hate to give Fattypants Mare a day off.

We compromised on groundwork--we did a little lunging and some ground driving, which was very fun. Izzy had to work a little mentally, but it also allowed her muscles to relax and heal for a day.

Am I completely off my rocker? Do your horses get (intentional) days off?

PS I took an absolutely adorable picture of Izzy geared up to ground drive, but apparently forgot my camera cable at home. So sorry.

Unlocking the Secret

2011-09-28T12:45:00.005-06:00

As I've mentioned before, I'm really working on riding Izzy freely forward, especially in our warmup. It's doing amazing things for her. Last week, after a good solid warm up, I picked up the contact and started asking Izzy to go to work.

All of a sudden, her back end felt different.

OH SH*T!!!! With visions of career-ending injuries racing through my head, I LEAPED off Ms Mare immediately. Of course, there was no one around to help me move or evaluate her at all. I didn't want her to trot, certainly didn't want to lunge her, but I had to know what was going on.

As I lead her to the arena gate, I anxiously watched her hinds legs move...

...and realized that they were not only tracking up, but overstepping by nearly two hoof prints.

D'oh.

What I had felt was not some horrendous and terrifying injury; it was Izzy actually starting to swing her pelvis and really MOVE. Amazing feeling, really.

Of course, after that, we were not able to recapture the sensation. I think it was new enough for Izzy that when I stopped her, she thought it must have been the wrong answer somehow.

Until today.

It was brisk and breezy and Izzy was looky, so after starting with a lot of loose lateral work in walk, we went into a forward trot. Then a more forward trot.

Like this, only in dressage tack.

And then she kicked things into a whole new gear I didn't even know she had. WOW. Whole body swinging, leg pumping, totally and completely engaged. I just kept a nice light contact and stayed in balance with her. We rolled into canter and Izzy practically barreled around the arena, balanced, cadenced, forward.

I have never felt any horse move like that. It's addictive.

This isn't just a pretty moment for us right now. This is starting to be how she works, all the time.

Making Lists

2011-09-27T09:20:00.003-06:00

In light of Izzy and I moving in just over a month (gasp!!) to work for our most favorite eventing instructor, we have a shopping list.

Specifically, Izzy will be body clipped for the first time in her entire life, so she needs an appropriate winter wardrobe. I emailed Stephanie about it, and she said that since I already have one medium weight blanket, I need another, plus neck rug, plus stable blanket for extra insulation when it's really cold.

Sounds easy, right?

You realize who you're talking to?

After a thorough scouring of the internet, relevant catalogs, and friend recommendations, I have made progress in the blanket search (stay posted). However, I've also added a few items of my own to the list.

Things Izzy Also Needs:

Black Leather Halter with Nameplate: She's a grown-up pony and merits her grown up halter. I like the fixed chin and white stitching.

Fancy Stitch Hunter Girth: To replace our nasty cheapie fleece girth that scares me.

Rambo Fleece Quarter Sheet: So ponykins doesn't get a cold tukus.

Adorable Fly Bonnet with Rhinestones: Well, duh. Who doesn't need this?

Wouldn't that all look so classy?

Odd Coincidence

2011-09-26T17:13:00.005-06:00

On Saturday, I went to watch the Region 6 Dressage Championships with Ellie. She has a post with a ton of photos here, if you're interested.

The coincidence was this:

I found this bumper sticker, which is pretty much perfect for me. I'm stickler for clean tack and horse and proper turnout.

I bought it, but I also hate bumper stickers (they distract from the natural beauty of the car, right?) so I am looking for a magnet to stick on and attach to either my car or refrigerator.

Then I went out to ride Sunday morning. Due to my ridiculous standards of equine cleanliness, Izzy usually looks like this when I get her:

A tiny bit dusty, but otherwise clean.

Ha! On Sunday, Ms Mare had apparently slept and rolled in the horrid sticky weed of doom and her entire body was COATED in sticky nastiness. Yes, I should have taken a picture, but I was so overwhelmed by the amount of yuck, that I immediately tried to groom it off.

No go. The dust came off and she did some end of summer shedding, but the icky goo stayed put. If I put a saddle pad on this horse, she will gunk it up.

Cue BATHTIME!!

Again, I didn't take a picture, but here's an approximation of what Izzy looked like after the bath:

Unfortunately, Rinsie was not here to help this time, but I got the job done.

Of course, by then it was hot. I rode for about 25 minutes, but a hot wind was blowing in off the desert and it was over 90 and I still had stalls to clean.

It was a short ride, but I am convinced that the estimable GM would approve. You cannot and should not ride if your horse is covered in nasty stickiness.

Loot

2011-09-23T14:30:00.008-06:00

As mentioned before, Ellie and I planned a grand tour of quality tack establishments in the greater Seattle area.

Our plan flopped massively when we found out Olson's Tack Shop was having a full on fall sale. Conveniently the same weekend we already planned to be in the area, they were having 15% off footwear and fall clothing, plus a tent sale, plus a coupon for 20% off the most expensive item you purchased (saddles and custom items excluded). Oh, and if you showed up early, the first 25 shoppers in the door got a gift bag. AND items in the tent sale were 10% off between 9 and 10am.

OH.

YEAH.

We basically went crazy. I have winter coming to prepare for and Ellie has a brand new horse to shop for.

At 8:35 we were in line, numbers 23 and 24.

At 9:01 we were in the door, goodie bags in tow. Yes!! Score #1 for us. We immediately plowed our way through the horde of well dressed ladies to the tent sale. I snagged a Kerrits Cinch Lite jacket (retail $119) for $49, a pair of winter tights that retail for $119 for $49, a pair of Sport Gloves (retail $24) for $12, a pair of over pants (retail $69) for $49, and some Kerrits long underwear (retail $49) for $24.

Plus 20% off the most expensive item and an extra 10% off of everything because we scooted over quickly and got in line right before 10am.

Tent sale FTW!!!

Ok, take a breath. We're halfway there.

Naturally, the smartest thing to do was grab the coupons out of our shopping bags and head back in for round II.

The madness continued... This time I kept waffling on what I wanted. After the first splurge, I needed to be budget conscious, but I also didn't want to pass on something I'd definitely regret later. I oogled a pretty girth, since I really do need a new one for my jump saddle. I touched nice stirrup pads that I wanted. I looked at things that are actually on my list to buy this winter, like blankets for Izzy.

Then it happened.

The kneeling lady in this picture is a brand rep for Equifit, makers of the incredible looking t-foam boots.

She was chatting with some other customers while I browsed the boots selection. I picked some up. I played with them. I swooned a little over how amazing they felt. I put them down. I picked them up again.

Then she asked if I had any questions.

Oops.

I learned all about the most amazing boots I'd ever felt. Specifically, they are breathable and anti-microbial. The liners can be easily removed and washed in a standard washing machine. They look sharp. They stay on. They absorb impact like crazy, and the material was actually developed to be used by astronauts. She even knew what size to recommend, based on my description of Izzy.

I was torn--they were amazing, but at $95-120 for a pair of open fronts...

Then she mentioned that due to the sale, if I bought them today, they'd also be 20% off.

Sold.

Here they are once I got them home. So pretty.

I rounded out the trip with a pair of Back on Track socks for my husband and a pair of Super Comfort Stirrup Pads.

Total spent: Don't want to know.

Amount of fun had: Oodles.

Amount of cool stuff brought home: Tons.

I mean, here's the back of Ellie's car by the time we were done:

It was totally worth it.

For example, that super-flattering coat I was wearing yesterday in the jumping pictures? Yeah, totally from the sale.

More Pictures!!

2011-09-22T14:54:00.011-06:00

It remains pony picture extravaganza week! I was so thrilled to have those amazing Izzy dressage pictures that Ellie took. I mean, they look great, Izzy looks great, I look ok, what's not to love?

Oh, and then she offered to come out and take jumping pictures this week. How did I live before I had blogger friends in my area? Seriously. Between Rinsie and Ellie, I'm pretty much set (until Ellie moves away to be with her pony. Poo).

So, here's today:

We started early. Izzy kind of looks like a skinny adorable baby horse here, but I like how cute we are together.

Oh, and this is a touch narcissistic, but can I just say I'm so much happier with how I look in stretchy pants? I still have work to do, but apparently eating well and running my ass off have done wonders.

Also note my new Kerrits coat, a total score from the Olson's Tack Shop sale we attended this past weekend.

This is just us getting ready, but I love how noble Izzy looks here. My goofy pony is getting all grown up.

Fortunately, she's growing up just in time to go be a fabulous eventing-working-student pony, which is useful.

I'm sure the more tack-whorish among you have already noticed Izzy's new boots. Why yes, I also scored a pair of open front Equifit tboots (valcro closure) for $70. Uh huh. That amazing. They are so freaking cool and I may be biased, but I think they look fab on Miss Izzy. It's official: they're cooler than my Romas. I'll probably have to do a post on why I love them...

And we're off! I've been really focusing on letting Izzy go forward on a loose rein in our warmups and and wow, is she responding.

Yeah, I just like looking at this picture. So pretty.

Are there words for how much I like this picture?

Izzy is balanced. I'm comfortable and over my feet (mostly). I'm looking up and focused and she's quiet and responsive. Honestly, I think this is the counterpart to my most favorite dressage picture of us of all time.

Yeah, this one. Amazing.

And jump!! For some reason, I was ridiculously nervous about jumping today. Not sure if it was the colder weather, the giant camera, or the fact that my coat reminded me of being at a show, but it took me forever to settle in and just ride.

Regardless, I think we look pretty great here.

The lighting was not as absolutely perfect as it was last week, so of course, we're going to try this again sometime soon.

So Ellie claims this one is blurry and unacceptable, but I'm all like "OMG PONY JUMP PICTURE", so here you go.

I guess this post is getting long, so we'll close with a super nice headshot of my pony mare. So pretty. So peaceful. So foamy.

Progression in Trot

2011-09-20T14:00:00.012-06:00

Here's Izzy a month or so after I got her. She's 5, fat, and never had any muscle tone to speak of. This picture is sans tack and rider because she hadn't yet learned to carry any of those things.

Six months later, she was sort of going under saddle.

That fall (October 2009) she was going reasonably well under saddle. Steering was sketchy on a good day.

May of 2010 Izzy and I tried out XC for the first time. She's shiny and well behaved, but we aren't really jumping anything.

September 2010. Izzy is a lean, mean racing machine, sporting ulcers and a crazy brain. She's fast and flighty, but not so fun to ride. She's also lost all her baby fat.

October 2010. We moved, medicated, and tack-changed as necessary to facilitate a quiet pony brain.

March 2011. After an uneventful winter, we're riding outside.

June 2011. Lots of work and elbow grease later, Izzy is looking muscular and fit. She's about to get a long layoff, though.

September 2011. I've been back in the saddle for just over a month and correct work is doing wonders for both of us. She doesn't even look like the same horse, does she?

We Are Amazing

2011-09-18T10:34:00.002-06:00

Pretty pony feet shot.

Moving into the trot:

And canter:

Pictures!!

2011-09-15T17:22:00.010-06:00

The lovely and talented new horse owner Ellie came out and took pictures of us today. True to form, they are fabulous.

I'm posting a couple of favorites today, but I'm sure I'll have more (and analysis!) later on.

Izzy in her pasture. Love her cute face peeking at us.

Pony Mare's grown up face.

She sure wears that bridle well.

Leg yielding at the walk. Look, we have some crossover! Plus, my rear is squarely in the saddle, not leaning off to some ridiculous place.

Warming up at the trot on a loose rein.

Warm up continued. Love the backdrop here, too. Trees are pretty.

Speaking of pretty... A little swoon her.

Ok, that's all for now, folks. Look for more Izzy by Ellie loveliness later.

Dressage News

2011-09-14T15:00:00.002-06:00

I freely admit that we did dressage today because I was too tired to think about setting jumps. That's a little sad, but it is hard when you have to set jumps, reset anything knocked over, then disassemble and put them away all by your onesies and you're short on time.

Anywhoodle. We stuck to the warmup plan and things went brilliantly.

How brilliantly? At one point, I let Izzy go to stretchy trot. She made two laps around the sizeable arena on the buckle and stayed completely in balance. No running on the forehand, no falling forward. It was incredible.

You may see pictures tomorrow...

Things I Hate About Pasture Board

2011-09-13T15:07:00.004-06:00

As I've mentioned before, Izzy lives out in a big, green, grassy field by herself. She's on a dry lot at night, but out for about 12 hours every day. She has friends on both sides, and by most account is living an ideal horsey life, right down to the number of cookies consumed in the cross ties every day.

Happy pony in pasture. (Halter only on for photo, no worries).

There are many advantages to a pasture kept horse. For Izzy, those advantages are this:

-Calmer

-Clean hoof wall

-Happy

-Cheap

-Calmer

Mostly, she's gone from being a not-very-spooky horse to being the horse that never spooks at all. Also, I don't even have to lunge her. Those are all nice things.

On the other hand, nobody ever talks about the darker side of pasture board. I miss most of the bad stuff-since Izzy is alone, I don't have to worry about idiot horse beating her and fights and cuts and stuff. I still get to deal with this kind of excitement:

1) BUGS. For some reason, just the presence of irrigated pasture brings bugs. Lots of them. We have flies (not so bad), gnats (nasty bastards that burrow into her skin and ears), mosquitoes (even nastier bastards who are eating her alive) and various and sundry other yuck creatures, who suck blood in varying amounts. GROSS. Plus, they hardly limit their blood sucking to horses. No, these sanguinarians suck the life out of all living creatures, myself included. I know you're all yelling "fly spray!" and "fly sheet!"

Well folks, there are limits to the abilities of fly spray, even the really nice stuff, and the pony princess cannot wear sheets, especially in summer heat. Period.

2) Food. Because Izzy can eat all day, well, she does. Ms. Mare is as fat as a tick (ha! another bug!) and there's no really great way to limit food intake. I don't trust grazing muzzles for unsupervised use, and due to Izzy's ulceric issues, I don't want her dry lotted for much more than she already is. Food intake is good for her, but she does eat a lot. Conversely, I have friends who keep their horses at a different barn in a group pasture and their mares always look way too thin to me. Sucks to be low mare on the totem pole, huh? Nature isn't kind.

3) Distance. A pasture big enough to keep a horse or a group of horses in is big enough to be a pain to walk through. Yes, in an ideal world, Izzy would whinny and gallop up and meet me at the gate. I'm always jealous of those of you whose horses do that, but Izzy isn't that kind of girl. (Neither am I, really.) She's always happy to come with me, but she knows that I come to her. I blame this on her stupid leopard appy bf who I hated--he had this attitude and she hasn't gotten over it since their relationship ended.

4) Weather. Although Izzy has a super nice run in shed all to herself, obviously she can't eat while under it, so she only uses it in truly inclement weather.

That means she's always out (not wearing a sheet) in whatever we get. Rain, snow, bugs, wind, lightening, there she is. I know she's a horse and can deal with it, but some days I really miss a nice, dry, clean stall.

5) Water. The thing about irrigated pasture in this part of the world is that they have to actually irrigate it.

This is where I live. It's gorgeous. It's cool. It has great weather.

There is precious little water.

We combat that by collecting the melting snow in reservoirs, then sending it through an impressive canal system to farms all around the valley. They then "flood irrigate" their farm land and pastures.

That is just what it sounds like: 4-6 inches of standing water on top of soil. With my horse. Awesome. Now, admittedly, Izzy is on her dry lot for this process, which occurs about every two weeks, but the earth being what it is (not flat), that gets partially flooded, too. Izzy is not the kind of girl who can just stand in the 20'x30' dry area, so her hooves get totally soaked and soft. And sore. Yay...

So there you go. Pasture boarding has it's upsides (have I mentioned cheap?), but there's plenty to hate, too.

The Joy Never Ends...

2011-09-12T14:21:00.002-06:00

My life is going along just swimmingly. I had grand plans to write about how I rode Izzy really forward in dressage tack today and OMG WE HAD WHITE FOAMY GOODNESS, but two things came up:

1) By the time I got to my camera, the ponymare had swallowed said foam

2) This. Ellie is a long time blog reader and even longer time friend of mine. We rode together as kids. I admit, I hated at first because I was so ridiculously jealous that she had a horse and I just rode the schoolie (hey, I was 9). We made it past that, but our situations had been oddly reversed.

Until today.

Red horses seem to be falling out of the sky. Solo's Mom got one (her second, lol) and now Ellie has a red mare all her own.

Meet Penny Lane.

Exciting News Part Deux

2011-09-09T15:55:00.004-06:00

Oh boy. It's not quite as cool as Solo's Mom's Big News (capitalized for a reason), but it's still cool.

I so have a job(-ish thing) with my eventing trainer. Wheeee!!! Izzy and I are moving (temporarily) to her base camp barn from Nov 1 through May. The link is here (but you have to swear not to stalk me in a creepy way). I confess, I've never actually been out there, but it has a reasonably good reputation, and where we'll be doing our own turnout and such, I'm sure it will be fine.

On the other hand, I'll probably go out and oogle it soon. Oooooh. Bouncy bouncy so exciting.

PS Had a great lesson today. Sorry, no pictures other than this:

Izzy munching a variety of weeds while waiting for our friend with a trailer to have her lesson.