Birthday Girl!!

I know y'all are probably beyond sick of hearing what a splendid lady Ms. Zoebird is. 

Buuuuuut here we go again.

I officially celebrated her 5th birthday on April 13th because I feel like I saw that somewhere, but after digging through her official binder, I can't find why I think I saw that. Regardless, it's an easy date for me to remember and now I have to tell people she's five. 

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She'll always be my baby mare tho omg. 

birthday cookies!

Here's what she's been up to lately:

western toodle pony!

Brave ditchbank riding pony!

Giving adorable pony ride pony!

rocking the outfits pony!

leading the trail ride pony!

crushing the dressage pony!

This little lady guys. <3 She is just fantastic every day and I am so lucky to have her. Can't wait to see where 5 takes us. 

A Very Smooshy Christmas

Good news internet: I officially have a barn friend who is down for random photo shoots. (I guess that's bad news if you hate totally adorable Zoe photos, but I sort of don't believe that person exists.) 

d'awwww

I also have officially the cutest Christmas pictures of all time.

SMOOSH STOCKING

Prepare yourselves to be spammed.

oh and happy holidays! 

One Year of Dressage!

I meant to do this wrap up a year to the date from moving to our current barn (11/24) and that didn't happen. Instead you're getting it more or less a year after our first-ever dressage lesson (12/6ish).

Here's an honest trotting shot from our first-ever legit dressage lesson. In the post, I talked about how Courage had a short, quick stride (thanks to me), just dropped his neck at the withers, and took multiple laps of the arena to do a single decent transition from walk to trot. At this point, the plan was to do dressage for three months, then go back to jumper land in the spring.

December 2014

 December actually brought nicer weather and more lessons. Courage and I were making great, if elementary, progress. Our next shot in in another lesson. You can see Courage is taking much better strides and starting to go forward. He's pretty well on the forehand, but he's at least thinking about the contact, even if that thought process=gaping mouth. Still in jump tack, still aiming for jumper land.

December 2014

Don't worry--I'm not going to make you look at a trot picture from EVERY SINGLE MONTH (not today, at least). If we fast forward a year, we have this:

It's been a long, personal struggle, but Courage and I are committed to dressage. It's a great fit for us right now. We've spent the year doing lessons and clinics, plus getting out and showing in pursuit of a more broke, less-green horse. We did decently at training level for the year and have now doubled down in pursuit of first level next spring. This shot is Courage in a clinic a couple weeks back. I just love the engagement and connection he's showing.

November 2015

 And then this is less spectacular, but it's me riding on my own in the almost-dark at the end of the month. Courage has really starting accepting the contact and letting me ride him. We've switched over to dressage tack, my position has started changing for the better, his neck is developing like whoa, and GODDAMN look at the difference in his ass(/topline).

November 2015

We have been through a lot together in the last year. Courage is turning into a really awesome horse, I'm learning things I never knew about dressage, and I'm excited for our goals together.

More than that though, I love what this year has done for our relationship. After everything this spring, we finally reached an accord. Courage is really MY horse now. I don't threaten to sell him after another giant spook at whatever-it-is this time--I just laugh at his antics and put him back to work. I've had a crappy history as an adult with horses in which the longest I've had any creature is 3 years.

I'm looking forward to blowing that number out of the water with this little guy. <3

Why Horses

I have a problem that I suspect most of you share: horse obsession. It colors my waking hours--how soon can I get to the barn, could I ride here, why isn't this golf course a cross country course, do you think they're calculating the year end points right? It's not that I can't focus on my job and my non-horse life and be a productive human being, because I certainly do all those things.

It's just the thing that drives me to be better, try harder, do more, and most importantly, always keep on learning.

I come by sportsball honestly

But why? Why do I (from a totally non-horsey background) have that equine fire?

I distinctly remember that as a little girl, my favorite color was pink. My favorite animal was pigs. Because pigs were pink. Obviously.

Then one unforgettably traumatic day, I got a book on pigs from the library. In fact, very few varieties of pigs are pink. They're mottled and multi colored and ugly and I found myself sitting on my bed (in my room with pink walls and a Beauty and the Beast mural), trying to pick a favorite animal. There were no poignant pink animals left, so I had to find a new criteria.

living the dream

I remember sitting there, not more than five years old, and saying to myself, "Well, I want something I can ride."

Thankfully, that translated as horses to my young mind instead of camels or elephants or reindeer or the like.

And here I am, decades later.

Why do horses captivate my imagination and dreams and plans so thoroughly? Why didn't I ever "age out of it"? 

I don't know, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's face it--the rest of you are here with me. How did you get here, anyways?

A Fundamental Shift

Early this spring, I started riding with a new jump trainer. He's an eventer and I'm kinda not, but he gets the OTTB brain thing and did some really good stuff for Courage in just two lessons (and then I started showing and had no dollars and haven't been back, but I will get there. Eventually.)

Anyways. He said something that stuck with me: "Once we get the thoroughbred to work for us, they are very cool horses."

And I remember that when he said it, I was just kind of upset. Courage and I were having lots of problems (like not turning right) (or getting along) and I just wanted to scream "THIS HORSE FIGHTS ME EVERY STEP OF THE WAY".

Which is true. He did.

But since then, we've ridden in several dressage clinics and taken a good number of lessons with our on-site dressage coach. And if I were more competitively-minded, I'd complain about how slow we're going with Courage and how we ought be farther along.

But you know what?

I put a solid dressage ride on Courage the other day. He started out stiff and unbending. We worked through it. Then he got rushy. We worked through it.

Then we were just trotting along in a perfectly fine training level balance to the left, and like... Courage slowed his cadence a little. Kept his stride length the same. Reached down into the contact. Maintained impulsion from his hind end. Swung through his whole back. We were probably going 40% slower than we had been 2 steps earlier, but now my posting took twice as long and we were covering the same amount of ground.

And I hadn't even asked for it. That was Courage, working for me, trying to figure out what I wanted.

Guys. A tear.

What's more, I was able to consistently replicate it going to the left. We aren't quite there to the right yet, but that's ok. We always get things to the left first.

I'm really kind of overwhelmed. Yeah, this year has been slow in terms of progress, but by taking things slow and really showing Courage what I want and helping him understand, we've built a whole new partnership. We certainly still have our spats (and I suspect always will), but there's an element of our relationship that didn't exist before.

You guys. He's trying for me now. And that is very cool.

One Year and One Day

2/6/12 - Our first day together

Febuary 6, 2012 an old red horse waltzed into my life and stole my heart. He's kind and grumpy, forward and lazy, smart and goofy, handsome and adorable. He took me so far so fast that looking back doesn't even seem real any more. I'm not the rider I was, I'm not the person I was before I met him.

May 2012

For me, he is the right horse at the right time. Buying him was a risk--he was 17 and had been in inconsistent work the past couple of years. I couldn't seem to keep him sound the first few months as he decided he needed new boots, a more expensive farrier, and some solid ($$$) hock maintenance, but he made it worth every penny as he taught me cool new skills and made every day a fun learning experience.

July 2012

We conquered cross country together--he took me from my panic-stricken first ride back since the wreck to learning how to appreciate a horse who loves his job in one of the best sports in the world. He did in a couple of days what I thought would take years to change--he let me enjoy the ride.

August 2012

Once he brought me back to being a functioning member of the team, we were able to compete in a horse trials and show some of the potential that a been-there-done-that rocking event horse and his favorite person are capable of. We surprised even ourselves with an accurate test and he brought me through some show nerves to a clean stadium round and the best XC trip of my life to date.

Winter 2012

Through it all, he's been an absolute joy. I love his silly grumpy face, his "I'm a bastard" attitude, and his silly, kind personality. He's learned to pose for pictures and milk photo sessions for all the peppermints I own. I've learned that I can do absolutely anything with this horse, and there's no reason to be afraid.

Winter 2012

Together we've reached new heights of competence and confidence, and he's turned me into a "happy horse evangelist". There's no prize for sticking it out the longest, folks--if you're scared or not having a good time, just move on. Life is too short to be having anything other than the time of your life 9 rides out of 10.

366 days with Cuna are just the beginning of our journey together. I don't know what this year is going to bring, but I know that whatever Cuna and I tackle together will be more fun just because he's there with me. He's carried me through some serious character building and helped me be a stronger, better person. Because of him, I've overcome obstacles I would have given up on. Because of him, I get out there and push myself, every day.

He made 2012 amazing. I don't know what I'd be without him.

Gratuitous Friday Photo Spam

It is high time we review all the cutest pictures of Cuna taken since he came to me early this year. 

Day One

After some lesson badassery 

The day before we left for Thermal

At our first show together

Just hanging out

First photoshoot with Ellie

Playing the role I  really needed him to

Jumping giant jumps together

Being adorable

So photogenic

Snuggly cuteness

Having a gallop

XC instructions: Just hang on.

First canter in the water

Chilling with the vet

Being so cliche

Fancy showjumping horse

Learning to love the XC

Highlights

Picture taking still isn't Cuna's favorite thing ever, but he's learned to put up with it. It's obvious just how much he has done for me--I came to him completely traumatized and riding poorly,and look where we are now.

I will say that he has just blossomed now that he has his own person. He was pretty stand-off-ish when we met, but now he nickers and snuggles and throws hissy fits and is just generally adorable and hilarious. He may be a total doofus most of the time, but so am I. <3 the old man horse.