A Wee Update

The main reason I moved Zoe from our old barn to the new one was for trail access. I realized I just didn't want to do any sort of arena discipline and while I did buy a truck (barely) before the Covid price/interest rate insanity, I did not have a trailer. Getting one when people were charging 8-10k for a 1980s 2 horse is just not a real thing. 

so gorgeous

So I moved to a barn with trail access. 

But. 

(and I knew this) 

To get to the trails, you have to hack beside a busy road with giant farm vehicles blasting past at high rates of speed. Which I did. And I'll be honest, that is a DEEP fear of mine so didn't love it. Also I sort of conveniently forgot how it's easy to ride at home and it's easy to load ZB and haul somewhere to ride but if you ride a horse that defaults to a little bit buddy sour, it isn't always the funnest time you'll have. Especially not next to a busy road. Especially not if you are also mid panic attack due to your own issues with traffic. 

Full disclosure: it's not a "busy" road like with traffic and lights and shit. It is a local access road in farm country with a high speed limit. 

10 years ago sprinklerbandit hops on her horse and motors off and rides through it. Today sprinklerbandit is like "nah bro". 

After a somewhat electric experience at the beginning of the year, I made some changes. 

1) I put ZB on a gut supplement to see if that was an issue. Her barn also has everyone on a slow feeder so she has food in front of her as long as possible every day.

she was a fan of extra snax

After 8 months of it and then running out and not restocking, my conclusion is "eh not really no".

2) I made it a point to be more consistent and a stronger leader for my horse from the saddle. This meant starting to ask her to do harder things and provide guidance so she didn't think she had to figure it out and take charge.

do love a trotting picture

3) This wasn't really part of the solution but it was part of the process so I'm including it. 

Our new barn is really good with maintenance/drainage/cleanliness, which is AWESOME. That said, part of the their structure is that the areas outside of the area/runs is a pretty stiff road mix and Zoe was struggling with getting very footsore on the rocks, which meant I couldn't really do much. I don't like to play "is it training or do her feet hurt" all that often so we waited out a couple cycles and then I remembered how horses wear shoes and it's fucking normal. 

pictured: horse who DGAF about shoes

The relief was immediate. Turns out I hadn't trained my horse to have the most perfect western jog--actually her feet hurt more than I thought so I'm really glad we resolved that. 

4) LESSONS

Ha ha.

I haven't had a lesson since last time I blogged about it... so that was a really long time ago. A horse friend from ages ago lives just down the road from the barn and she reached out about doing group lessons at her place. 

the best black draft crosses in the land!

I made the executive decision to handwalk ZB over to her place, gave myself plenty of time to lunge, and ZB never really settled down. 

This was actually great because the tension I get taking her away from home is completely opposite from the horse I ride at home. She's not naughty--she doesn't really spook, she keeps all her feet on the floor--but she's super super reactive and screaming and it's not great to deal with if you're in the fetal position. 

Cough. 

Which I was. (thankfully no pictures of this)

HEART EYES

You could also feel Zoe say FINALLY when I was coached into sitting up, riding from my leg, and settling her vs just sort of letting everything crash and burn. 

It's definitely a different ride--Zoe tends to not be reactive so I'm usually sensitizing her by only using leg when I mean LEG NOW but obviously for a reactive horse, it's a lot more leg on and desensitizing. It's all stuff I've done before but not on her and not in the last 7 years so this has been absolutely clutch.

 

um hello also she is just pretty

That's where it's at--we've had a couple lessons, there's more on the schedule. We're enjoying life together. I absolutely love the quiet barn we're at--I can just show up and enjoy my horse and if I want to push myself, cool. My goal is just to get more comfortable handling her in stressful situations so that I'm able to feel safe and have fun. 

Is there a trailer on my horizon? 

Maybe. 

Let's not jinx it.