ZB Hits the Mountains!

I board at a fabulous barn with some ladies that inspire me.

And they like trail riding.

And when I got a mid-week text like "let's go to the state park!", I was like "...but the bugs are super bad there waaaaaah" and found an alternate location.

I also found coffee because humaning is hard

Fortunately, they were all on board for an excursion to the mountains. 

ZB always up for an adventure

It's such a different world for me--I can't get my head in the game for horse shows, but I was thrilled to go hit the trails. We haven't hauled out since last fall, but I know I could count on ZB. She's just such a champion. She loads and hauls like a champ, then gets off the trailer like a pro and yet again, led the way for the first chunk of the ride. 

Lil lady has a motor on her. 

tasty bush

Even when we hit some challenges that I didn't quite anticipate, ZB's "NOT R WANT MUM NO" response is to stop and stare at something.

Not lose her shit.

Not buck me off. 

Not leave the county. 

and the skies were completely stunning

We kept everything calm and easy and went out for about two hours over a variety of terrain, including a couple water crossings, plenty of rocks, and lots of different grades up and down. 

It was Zoe's first time in the mountain and OMFG YOU GUYS I COULD NOT BE MORE THRILLED. 

i adore this mare

She led. She followed. She saw dirt bikes and mountain bikes and runners and heard guns and saw wild life and dealt with all of it like an old hand. 

She's still learning how to cross water (cross your fingers for a legit training post tomorrow!), but she made a good effort at everything we tried. 

The best part is just how much fun she is for every step. 

So honest. 

So game. 

goal: ride in the mountains = achieved!

I mean. It isn't even just the riding. It's how Ms. ZB shows up and tries no matter what. Hauling to a new place? 

No probs. 

Tying to a trailer for the first time?

She's got it. 

BOOM

I know basically my whole blog now is like ZB R PERFECT AND I SUPER LOVE HER, but I can't even apologize for it. 

I took my baby horse to the mountains. 

She exceeded expectations and those expectations were already irrationally high on account of how lovely she is. 

remind me i need to break in my new latigo so we can go full old west

I mean. I always say that some day the little lady will have a bad day, and I won't even be able to get mad at her, because she's so freaking perfect most of the time. 

But yeah. 

It hasn't happened yet.

Gender in the Horse Show Arena

Instead of talking about how I'm super bummed that our schooling show this weekend got canceled, let's talk seriously about gender and horse shows. 

Everyone knows that equestrian events are the only international sport in which all human genders compete side-by-side on equal footing.

It's what's under them that I find fascinating. 

HORSES. Stop being pervs. 

Anyways. 

being a good gelding

I've always thought geldings got the short end of the competitive stick, metaphorically speaking. I mean, let's face it: they never ever get to know what all that junk is for, but they still have to pack it around. Oh, and everyone's all:

"You can't beat a good mare"

"There's something missing from geldings"

"Geldings are reproductive dead ends"

And some people even argue in favor of stallions. I know I did in my stall-cleaning days. Those buggers are freakin' TIDY. 

I mean, I maintain that people tell themselves lies about mares to make up for the misery of owning them, but I realize I'll get some hate for that. I have no interest in owning a stallion for any reason, and I think most ammys are there with me. I feel like geldings get run down for not being "brilliant enough", 

Then the other day, I listened to a mare owner (the poor, deluded soul) explain to another how her brilliant creature needed special riding and care because of her giant opinion, all I could think was:

photo via internet

VALEGRO.

Thank you, Blueberry, for striking a blow for gender equality, common sense, and brilliance. 

Bridles Part 1: Aesthetics

I love bridles. I suspect most of you have picked up on that by now. I bridle shop enough to know just what type of bridle I like (giant, fancy, padded, monocrown, preferably with sparkles somewhere), but I also know that not every horse can wear every style. I always wished that someone would write a useful style guide for those of us who only had one horse to shop for and didn't want to just buy and return stuff constantly.

So I wrote one. You're welcome.

Here's a look at the facial types I've dressed and what looks work best for them.

good

Izzy

Oldenburg Mare
Facial type: bold lines and features. Simple markings. Straight profile.
Dressing difficulty: easy

Izzy was well bred and a nice mover, but clinicians always called her a "handsome" mare and she was frequently mistaken for a gelding. Her face, while expressive, was plain. That allowed me to dress it up just as much as I wanted.

Here she's rocking the Nunn Finer event bridle. I chose brass highlights because I knew she could handle the extra pizzazz without being overwhelmed. It worked ok for her. There was nothing wrong with the look and it was always clean and workmanlike. That said, her face could handle something more.

better

Naturally, she also had a figure eight. This is a Five Star Tack piece--I don't remember which model. Again, because her face is simple, the white contrast stitching and padded monocrown worked really well for her face.

She had just enough white to set it off without so much that I was worried that the details would get swallowed up.

best

This was absolutely Izzy's signature bridle. It's another Five Star Tack model that has unfortunately been discontinued. It's the Magnolia bridle. She's actually wearing it in oversize because that's the only one I could find.

It's hard to see the details in this shot, but it had a 1.5" noseband with a detailed browband and white contrast stitching. I loved all the details, right down to the buckles, and it looked fabulous with the simple lines of her face. The width in the noseband helped refine her otherwise common lines and the details added visual interest. If I still had Izzy, I would still have this bridle, no question.

OH MY GOD NO

Cuna

OTTB gelding
Facial type: complicated lines, small muzzle, very refined, lots of detail, slightly dished face
Dressing difficulty: HARD

Cuna was immensely difficult to buy tack for, which just meant that I bought a lot of it. I tried the bridle on him that was perfect for Izzy, and we were all horrified and amused. The details that made it pop on her completely overwhelmed his face and looked atrocious.

also no

Then I went in the opposite and tried understated. This is a plain raised, horse sized edge wood bridle that I picked up for cheap somewhere.

Horrible.

In trying to get away from the overdone look of the Five Star bridle, I screwed up and got everything wrong. Cuna needed something simple, but this was too refined for a 16.3 hand gelding. He can't do complicated, but he is too big for this to work and the unique edgewood leather pulls all the wrong colors out for a red horse.

He looks sick.

not quite

I put him in the Nunn Finer. Because it is such a basic bridle, it worked pretty well for him. That said, I bought it with brass details to set off a plain head (Izzy) and brass+chestnut is pretty much a no-go.

Between his adorable fluffy forelock and bright red color, the brass was just too much.

We compromised on this one. The bridle wasn't "bad", it just wasn't best for him. I pulled the brass browband off and we made do.

getting there

Then we tried the hunter bridle route. This was sold to me as a Hadfield bridle, but I've never found a maker's mark to prove it. It worked ok on his face.

Ok, I actually quite like this bridle on him and still have it, but the truth is that his conformation and movement style are NOTHING like a hunter, so while nice, it was a bit superfluous. Still. We were on the right track. His face is busy, so I needed something simple and elegant without being too refined.

handsome

The next attempt was the strangely nice Ovation wide noseband bridle. I dressed it up with a fancy brownband and experimented both with and without the flash.

What I really liked about this bridle was that it balanced the 1.25" plain raised cavesson with very refined cheeks and simple buckles. It really set Cuna's face off very nicely.

While it worked for his face, it never quite satiated my need for "pretty". It was workmanlike and effective and slightly prettier than the Nunn Finer. It did the job.

Best

Then I found something new. This is a Mark Todd bridle imported from England. I actually love how the unique curves of the bridle balance the delicacy of his face with his large size.

If I'd spent more time playing around with it, I think I would probably have removed the flash just because Cuna doesn't like it or need it.

The buckles are technically brass, but they're a matte finish that is quite innocuous. Can I just say I love this bridle?

Of course, as soon as I got Cuna's bridle selection hammered out, he went and retired and I got to start over with facial type #3.

too big

Courage 

OTTB Gelding
Facial Type: Long, narrow face. Lots of space to fill between jowl and mouth. Flashy white. Plain lines.
Dressage Difficulty: Medium

Courage is funny to dress. His big blaze should dictate simple lines because it takes up so much visual attention, but the lines of his face are rather uninteresting.

I started him out in the go-to Nunn Finer bridle. We put a figure eight on it because after 6 years of race training, there was a lot for him to learn about what was and was not acceptable. Unfortunately, despite being 16.1 and 8 years old, he has a tiny little face and the horse-sized piece just hung uselessly on him.

ok

Next we went to Cuna's surprisingly nice Ovation bridle.

This worked pretty well, aesthetically. The refined cheeks didn't overwhelm his narrow head and the cavesson/flash filled up space pretty well. That said, it was a horse size bridle and he was on the last hole of pretty much everything.

It wasn't going to be our long term solution.

good

Our next step was the micklem bridle. For those who have aesthetic complaints about the design, I don't disagree. It's different. I find them a bit distracting when I'm looking through event pictures, but if they stick around, I think that will be overcome. Let's face it: they're not as ugly as (god help us all) drops. Ew. Hate those. (And yes, some horses go well in them. Life goes on.)

Regardless. Because of his facial structure, the micklem actually worked surprisingly well. It's very busy between the jowl and the chin and that is PERFECT for Courage who has a lot of space there without a lot going on. I've used both the bedazzled browband and plain, and they both work with his face.

This bridle is actually cob sized and fits him quite well. That said, it's unconventional looking and no horse of mine can have just one bridle, can they? The horror!

nope

We borrowed a flat hunt bridle in cob size from our barn owner.

I have to say, I'm glad I didn't buy it. Although it fit well, the bridle was all kinds of wrong for this face. It just emphasized how narrow his head was without showing off his character well at all.

I tried it on twice and the results were the same. Although he is a super cute horse, this bridle isn't aesthetically the best choice for him.

best

Here's my favorite so far. It's the cob sized Dover Circuit bridle. It's very similar leather to the edgewood that totally didn't work for Cuna, but Courage is a totally different color and the slightly red tone looks LOVELY on him. (Note: I would never, ever put this on a black or black bay. HATE that combo.)

The figure eight fills up space nicely and the contrast stitching on the plain raised section is just enough detail without trying to overrun his big blaze.

I will say that I also stuck a d ring bit on it because I knew it would look cute. That's not a concern for under saddle work, but I was dressing him for a photo shoot and cute was at a premium.


And that's not even all the bridles I've ever owned. Please, no one go through and total up the cost for that list for me, haha. Not every bridle works for every horse. This post is just about the aesthetics of the bridles I used. I'm planning another one on function and quality, because hey, I love bridles, and Courage is on Christmas vacation at least until all this nasty ice melts.

Anyone have a picture of a bridle on their horse that is just stunning? Maybe one that is less than stunning? Email it to me. (hakunamatata@gmail.com). I want to do a set with reader photos too. Please include the bridle make/model (if know) and any relevant details about the horse. Headshots are easiest to look at bridles.

Just Can't Shake It

I haven't talked much about confidence lately because I've been feeling really good. I do fine in company for the most part, am ok taking some horses on the trail along, and haven't had that nasty, gut-wrenching fear in a while.

Until today. I was the only one on the schedule to ride and I was alone at the barn except for the morning care crew. The schedule had me riding two relatively uncomplicated horses in the indoor and lunging one. I lunged first--lil' guy was pretty good for being four.

Then it was time to tack up my first ride for the day. I tried to think of any excuse to not do itm but I kept coming back to this: when Stephanie comes back, how are you going to explain to her that you were too afraid to ride one easy horse in the indoor? How are you any help as a barn worker if you can't execute simple tasks?

You're not.

I decided to do the easier horse first. Audi may be green, but she's a black mega bitch mare, which is exactly how I like them. Because she's a total bitch, I know she doesn't mind being alone in the arena (although she very seriously minds being left behind). Besides, some of her issues are similar to Izzy's, so I'm familiar with how to deal with them.

I tacked up and headed to the indoor. She was good and quiet when I led her around it, so I went ahead and mounted. Lil' mare was a star. After a quick reminder, she remembered the lightness off the aids we'd worked on last time, so we started to adjust her downward transitions. Instead of letting her just drop all her weight onto her forehand and crash through the downwards, I started asking her to stay up and forward through the whole transition.

By the end, I'd say her trot/walk transition was at least 80% better. I rode for around 25 minutes and mostly felt good. When I started to get nervous, I'd intentionally relax my hip flexors and ask her for more forward. This would ease the tension she was feeling and make me more confident because she was ahead of my leg instead of ducked behind it.

Then I took her back to the barn and trimmed her face up so she'd look more like a real horse and less like a yak. Success! Mare didn't seem overly familiar with clippers, but she was sensible about introducing them and let me clip away merrily.

Overall, I feel good about today. I can't expect those feelings to just magically disappear and since I'm now riding well enough that I don't really -need- to be afraid, it's time to conquer the vestigial feelings and move forward.

A Day for the History Books

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.

Exciting Times

Car got fixed yesterday and I was off on an adventure! Which is to say, I was having a very busy Wednesday, but the ever-lovely Gingham shipped me a jumping saddle to try and forget what was supposed to do, we were going to try it.

As I was driving up to the barn, the BO stopped me with some news about the little hussy.

Yes, this hussy. The one with the messy morning after forelock who's making her sexy face.

Apparently, she was still in a flaming heat on Tuesday and persuaded the gelding in her field that he was a stud... with predictable results...

Sigh. They were going at it in the field along the road, providing the neighbors with lots of entertainment.

Izzy is now on a double dose of Mare Magic for the foreseeable future. We'll see how it goes.

Anyways. Saddle. It's an Ainsley, like the one that totally ruined me. It's wider, but I was trying not to get my hopes up too high in case it didn't work out.

Hm. Look at it. Hm.... I know it looks very similar to the one we tried before with no success, but it's ever so slight different.

You might even say it sits a little low in front, which would be a problem if someone's mare didn't WANT her saddle that way.

I was intruiged. I pulled out our old trusting front-lift foam pad, but it was a little too small for the saddle and I thought lifted it just a hair too much.

Fortunately, we now have plan B. I grabbed the thinline pad which I have 1 front shim in and that goes beautifully with our dressage saddle, VOILA!! it looks great.

Please pardon my dusty saddle pad that doesn't fit the saddle. :-/

As you can see, I girthed it up without incident. Izzy didn't make nasty faces and I didn't feel the need to obsess about anything. I had spinal clearance all the way through and everything looked to be sitting right.

Unfortunately, due to a certain incident of a gelding mounting Izzy, her back was a bit sore, so I didn't want to ride her. (Note: she has apparently ovulated and come out of heat, since we escaped the vast gallons of pee she was dumping for all to see before.)

I just lunged her in the round pen to see what we had.

As you can see, she's going along happily, looking around. Her ears aren't locked on the saddle and she isn't making grumpy faces.

Canter is relaxed and comfortable.

This one is a little harder to see in this size, but look how well she's using her shoulders and neck... I had trouble keeping her hind quarters engaged and lunging and taking pictures, so this maybe isn't the best sampling.

Yeah. She was lovely. It was great. I'm going out this afternoon to ride and check on it. Cross your gingers for us. If all goes well, I'll be selling my Collegiate and buying this lovely thing.

Sure is a good thing I took pictures of it last time a cleaned it, huh?

Mare Problems

Izzy is in mad, raging heat. Last time around, this caused us all kinds of physical problems and drama, but her brain was ok. This time, her body is a-ok, and her brain is completely whacked. I'm not sure which is better.

She has always been and is genetically programmed to be a psycho-dominant-alpha-amazonian-style-female. Apparently, hormones screw with that, even to the extent that her horrid gelding boyfriend is currently dominant in the field. When I take her into the barn, she pees for her other boyfriend, the gelding in stall #2. When I say pees, I don't mean "lift the tail and waft some scent". No, she full on pees, depositing gallons of hormone-scented urine right in front of his stall door. She whinnies to him and her other boyfriend and generally makes herself annoying.

Sigh. Mare. I am planning on investing in some raspberry leaves. Maybe they will help, because the smell of urine just isn't doing it for me.

In other news, she's been lovely under saddle. She's more reactive to stimuli then normal, which means she's started spooking again, but on the other hand, she also listens to me better. I can actually get a halt/trot without touching my whip. I have been lunging her in side reins for a few minutes before riding to help with the whole consistent contact thing, but I think I over did it. She got a little over bent yesterday. We'll lay off that for a while.

Not The Blog I Wanted to Write

I wanted to write today about the nice dressage ride Izzy and I had yesterday; about how she's learning to step under herself and we're really making progress; and how the only mystery at the moment is why she stocked up last night after a light walk/trot workout yesterday. Yes, that was the blog I was going to write.

Instead, I went for a ride this morning. It started well--Izzy was responding and I was prepared to build on yesterday. She was just tense in one corner for no particular reason. As I rode her through it to see why, she leaped into the air and bucked, then plunged forward and bucked again. I'm pretty sure I didn't sit up like I should have, but I yelled at her and managed to get her head up and turned in a circle, so we stopped. I regained my stirrups and asked her to go forward gently. I was immediately glad that I had only asked gently, because I could tell in that instant that she was ready to buck again.

Grrr.

It didn't help at this point that there was a massive freaking out draft horse in the arena with us and another one in the round pen. Not their fault, but it wasn't helping my mood.

I decided the best course of action was to hop off and put Izzy on the lunge line. She galloped around like a maniac. My usually-lazy warmblood took off running around me. I didn't even need the whip I was carrying. She ran at least five minutes one way, then we switched directions and she ran the other way. I got back on after that and we tried to work again. Just when I was starting to get her attention, the lady got off the one freaking out draft horse, tied him up in the arena, and brought the other one in to ride.

Instantly, I lost Izzy's focus. I tried asking her to canter, and she tore off. Since she very nearly fell over when bucking, I took my time turning her in a circle so we didn't have a catastrophic wreck. I got her back under control, did two walk/trot transitions, and got off just as one of the draft horses tried to take the arena fence down. (To all the good drafts and draft owners out there: I'm not hating on you. It's just that these two are extremely destructive and strong willed and I can't stand them most of the time. Especially when I'm cranky.)

As I led Izzy out of the arena, she nearly ran over the top of me. Just because. That made me madder than I already was, so I took her to the round pen instead of her pen, took her tack off, and turned her loose. She galloped around like a maniac. I even pulled the (empty) water trough off the rail because she was acting dumb and my cousin had an accident with a horse, a water trough, and a round pen.

I put my tack away. I wandered around. She finally more or less settled down, so I went and caught her. She was completely soaked in sweat, so I tied her up and thought, "Huh. Here we have a teachable moment." I mean, she's hot, sweaty, and tired. She stocked up last night, so cold hosing is in order regardless. Besides, I was sure she was tired enough to stand still.

Again, I was wrong. She had a royal fit when I started spraying her (lightly) with the hose. However, she was securely tied, she knows better than to pull back, and I was in a mood. I sprayed her until she stood still and gave up. When she was thoroughly rinsed and hosed, I left her tied (good practice!) while I went to find a sweat scraper. (Apparently, mine has wandered off.) She more or less stood, but by the time I found one, the arena was empty of riders.

I know an opportunity when I see it. I had already figured out that this mess was most likely caused by having a weekend off, followed by light work and no turnout. Someone's mare is in good shape, has engaged the TB side of her brain, and she had no way to express it. Sigh. The trials of horses.

Anyways. I seized my opportunity and turned Izzy loose in the arena. She galloped off. I watched her run around like a maniac for five or ten minutes, then thought, "Well, I might as well get the other girl." I put my old TB mare out with her, thinking that she'd just run Izzy into the ground like she normally does. Instead, Cassie (the TB) galloped merrily around for a while, but apparently wasn't in a hard running mood. They played for at least 20 minutes, but Cassie decided she wanted to be done, so I caught her and tied her outside the arena. That lured Izzy over long enough to catch her, and then I was able to take them both home.

Leave it to Izzy to turn a 40 minute ride into a two and a half hour meltdown.

Lesson learned: when turnout is scarce, institute an arena turnout schedule for Izzy so she has some time to relax and be a horse. I'll have to work out something more concrete for her.

The Bubble of Doom Revisited

Yesterday, we made Izzy's third trip ever to the doom bubble (aka the neighbor's indoor arena. It's inflatable). A friend of mine was having a lesson on Dart, the schoolmaster, so we trooped over together.

To my surprise, Izzy was actually fairly good. She still wouldn't go in the dark 10x10 box we have to enter and close off to keep the arena from losing air pressure, but when Cathy came out and encouraged her, she stepped right in. She managed not to run over the top of me when I opened the door to let her in the arena. She was quite happy that Dart was there.

We lunged for probably 20 minutes. I tried to pretty much ignore the fact that we were in a scary bubble of doom and focus on getting good transitions while on the lunge. She did a couple of aeronautical leaps when launching in to right lead canter, but other than that, she was good. So good, that after 20 minutes, I was actually ready to get on. (You may remember last time, in which we simply lunged for 30-40 minutes and she never really settled down).

Cathy held her for me to mount, but after that, we were on our own. It was no where near as good as when we rode outside, but I maintained that feeling of security I'd had outdoors. We did a lot of walk trot transitions, but the half of the arena farther from the door is where Izzy was comfortable, and that was also the end that the lesson was on. Dart is a good old boy, but he moves really SLOW, even when he's actually excited. After about 20 minutes of trying not to run him over (which he wouldn't have minded, but his rider probably would), it must have started to warm up outside. The snow began to slide off of the translucent roof in sheets. I have to admit, to a frazzled mare, that probably looks like the sky is falling, and she reacted accordingly.

I was staying on all right, and she was being better than could be expected, but I figured that was enough. I hopped off, snapped on the lunge line, and we just stood and watched the rest of the lesson and the snow sliding off the roof. To her credit, Izzy only spooked one more time, and then seemed to realize that the snow wouldn't hurt her. She stood quite well for the rest of the time.

Dart has some pretty serious separation anxiety issues, so the lessoner took him out first. Izzy, the typical cranky mare, could care less if she was left alone. I was impressed. She even walked home very calmly for the most part.

Whew. I look forward to taking her back over there tomorrow.

One Less Nightmare

I've been spending a lot of time lately reading about the troubles with buying horses, from dishonest sellers to unbroke horses to undiagnosed physical problems. I was fortunate enough to avoid all of these so far. I knew her owner wanted $8000-10000 for her, and I knew that she would never, ever be able to get that much for a mare with almost zero training and breeding that was ok, but not spectacular.

The mare's mother was my longtime show partner, which gave her sentimental value to me. When I traded for her, I knew exactly what I was getting: a gorgeous, untrained, sweet, smart, and dominant mare. I don't know if her owner would have been honest about her training level, but it would have been hard to hide as soon as she tried to put a halter on her.

I'm very glad that I didn't have to spend months looking for the perfect horse. Miss Izzy is everything I wanted. She's young, athletic, pretty, and sweet. We're working with her dominance issue, and soon she and I will be able to go wherever we want to.