Teach Me Tuesday: Stable to Street

Marissa made a couple of posts lately about what being a horse girl means in her life and it got me thinking: how does your interaction with the horse world change the way you interact with the rest of the normal-people world?

I know it's changed me.

From Izzy, I learned that I was tougher and braver than I ever thought. I learned how to peel myself up off the ground, get back in the saddle, and just keep kicking.

I also learned when to say enough. I learned that it's better to be a little smarter and a little less brave than to just keep forcing something that's never going to work.

From Cuna, I learned that partners are there for each other, that life is supposed to be fun, and that a relationship means you take care of each other no matter what.

Courage is still with me and I hate to draw conclusions because that is just too ominous, but I will say that the relationships forged in the barn have proved over and over to be the strongest and most meaningful in my life. No one understands a horse girl quite like another horse girl.

So what about you--how have the people and horses in your life made you a better, stronger, or more interesting person?

Hoarders: Tack Trunk Edition

Most of you saw and/or participated in the "what's in your tack trunk" blog hop that was going around. Y'all had tidy little inventories of useful things and it was cute.

I was over here like "I have no goddamn clue what's in that giant abyss and I don't really want to find out". As Lindsey can tell you, I've been promising to go through it for like... a month. And hadn't. Oh and yes, it was/is my daily driver. I'd just sort of sit on the lid to squish it down and latch it each day.

But due to some unforeseen circumstances the other day,  I finally had time to go through it. Here's what I found:

bridle rack above

jumbled mess below

 I tried to make a bet with friends that there were 8+ sets of polos in there, but no one would take those odds.

stuff

This photo shows 7 full sets of polos in various states of cleanliness. There are also 3 pairs of polos and there was another full set ready for put on C-rage. That doesn't include two full sets of bandage liners or two full sets of boots.

I also had:

two sad pairs of bell boots

Two whips and a lunge line

eight bonnets

Plus there was this pile:

STUFF

So yeah, that's a quarter sheet, saddle cover, ogilvy pad, mattes shims, and you can just see the tboots. All good things, but possibly not things that actually fit in said trunk. This list actually isn't comprehensive. I had my CO sparkle helmet in a bag with a spare hat and gloves, plus my beater Ovation helmet and winter gloves, plus a couple of mismatched gloves and of course my brush box.

In my defense, I cleaned out the brush box a few weeks back to make room for fancy new brushes, so that part actually wasn't terrible.

I took everything out of the trunk, sorted it by whether it needed to be thrown away, given away, washed and put away, or washed and brought back. Then I threw away the trash, anonymously shoved shit to give away in barnmates' stuff, and tossed the other piles in the back of my car.

WE MUST REBUILD.

Obviously, an empty trunk helps no one, so it was time to start over. 

all I need is one cooler HAHAHA no

Here you see the bottom section of the carefully restocked tack trunk.

That's better

We started with a cooler, then added in the fancy CO for clinics and spur-of-the-moment photoshoots, included the tack cleaning kit (oh yeah, that was in there too), stowed the "bad boy" halter, the lunge line, and a dressage whip. My full set of DSBs (the only acceptable princess boot), one set of liners, and one clean-ish set of polos (much preferred to DSBs), and my mattes half pad. 

And look at that. You can still see open space in case I need to add something else. I do plan to keep two sets of polos and liners in there eventually, but laundry needs to happen first. 

 Add in the brush box and life is looking good.

o0o0o0o0o

 A couple caveats here--Courage's blankets live in an oversized rubbermaid tub outside his stall. You can barely see my wash bucket in the bottom right corner of the picture above--it also doesn't live in the trunk. I have an extensive horse-shit-organization system at home in my garage (which it looks like I'll be going through and cleaning asap).

Oh and I cleaned ALL the leather tack at the barn and reorganized. Now it looks like this:

three bridles, one martingale, one drop

I will admit that it's rather refreshing to actually know what I have around. Plus maybe now I look less like a hoarder? Just try not to think about how all that shit is now somewhere else. (such as in my car. hush you.)

Project Selfie

I'll be the first to loudly proclaim admit that I'm anti-selfie. My general opinion of them is that they're taken by people who have no friends to take pictures for them.

But.

One of my favorite pictures of all time is this shot from last year:

 And you know what? What I love the most about this shot is that we're ALL in it--no one standing back to take the picture.

So we're doing something new this year: barn selfies. I'll keep a collection of all the wonderful people that make the barn special complete with Courage's silly face. Here's what I've got this year (and one from Christmas Eve, but it counts!!)

just us

old friends in new places

plus redheadlins and horselessinhalifax

 So far, I really love this. :-)

Cuz Tommorow's Christmas Day

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

Teach Me Tuesday: Barn Families

because sometimes you need a tiara on your tophat

I'll come right out and admit that I'm wicked jealous of all you peeps out there who have horsey families. Mine isn't. At all. On any branch. My parents made sure I was self sufficient at horse shows as a kid by literally not knowing how to do anything remotely horsey.

It worked for me.

I'm lucky enough to be perpetually surrounded by wonderful people that I claim as barn family, even though we're not related. It's actually a big part of picking a barn for me--I spend a lot of time and social energy there, so it needs to be a place that I can feel safe and at home.

um yeah unrelated and completely adorable

So far, it's been good. I have met some of the most incredible people and role models through the various barns I've been at and the bittersweet thing about changing barns is always the friends I leave behind.

So what about the rest of you? Is having blood relatives as awesome as it sounds or do you go the adoptive route too?

So Far, So Good

you know how sometimes blogger hates pictures? that is today.

It's been a little more than a week now that Courage has been at the new barn. I'll be really honest here and admit that I was petrified to move him. We LOVED our old barn and I was 100% confident that he was absolutely perfectly taken care of at all times. There were only a few horses, so I always knew the BO had time to keep an eye on him and treat him like her own (ie crazy spoiled) and we shared very similar horsekeeping ideas. 

So much space

And it's not that the new place is weird or scary or bad. It's just different, and different takes some getting used to. For example, at our lovely old place, Courage had a large stall, PLUS a big, bedded, covered run. It was awesome. He was never, ever wet or dirty. All winter long, I could just spritz his tail with showsheen from time to time and it was perfect.

Enter outdoor run.

Courage thinks it's AWESOME. He's always liked standing in the rain, he thinks rolling in the mud is TEH SHIZ, and he likes his afternoon sunshine naps.

I'm happy he's happy, but my inner show groom dies a little bit every time I see that thick, full, muddy tail of his that I won't really be able to wash until spring.

I mean, yeah, I could clean it, but he's just going to roll in the mud again.

Courage has a turnout buddy now. He LOOOOOVES him. Apparently, they play like idiots and the only harm is a couple of bite marks that I'm sure he deserved. It's good for Courage to have to learn to be a horse without me micromanaging him and I know that. 

overlooking the turnouts on a sunny day

I'm having to let go a little bit, and that really is good for both of us. Besides, every single ride, Courage is reminding me of why I wanted him in the first place. He has this incredible brain and he takes changes in stride. So far, he hasn't batted an eye at things like these:

-first time in an indoor

-first time with a buddy in the indoor

-first time having a buddy leave him in the indoor

-first outdoor ride on new property

-mules

-changes to indoor scenery

-ice breaking up on the roof of the indoor

-epic rainstorm while in the indoor with three girls and a puppy

-lunging in a small space

-cantering in a small space
-watching another horse zoom around on the lunge
-standing on the buckle while another horse spooks

In fact, the only thing that has bothered him was his good old fashion nemesis: dark spots in the sand. 

I'll take it. 

First lesson is set for this afternoon. Can't wait!

Share Your Barn Blog Hop!!

It's blog hop time! Since most of us are just passing time until it's riding weather again, we might as well look at what range of facilities and horse keeping styles are available across the country. I find the different barns and set ups fascinating, so I hope you're willing to share. Here goes!

As per the usual, one picture really isn't enough for me, so I included several.

1) A view of the barn

I had to take this yesterday. I guess I'd never taken a real barn shot before. The main barn has five stalls, plus indoor crossties, a fancy ass tack room, and an upstairs storage area that is very useful for taking big pictures of the arena. (It's come up).

Under the overhang, we have the feed/spare blankets/additional storage area. It's completely out of reach of horses, so we don't have any unfortunate accidents involving grain. There's also a shedrow with a few more stalls and several dry lots with shelters.

2) Your horse's living space:

I love this about our barn. Courage has a 14x14 fully enclosed and insulated stall with a window into the main aisle (for feeding cookies) and a barred window (no glass) between him and the next stall so he can see other horses. 

It has an attached 12x24 run that is completely covered and bedded. As the picture shows, the panels can't be kicked through on the bottom and then block the wind in winter. Oh, AND the runs have a mister system installed for cooling in the summer time. 

Picture from this summer

PLUS

All the horse get turned out 6-8 hours a day, depending on weather. Right now, that's not terribly exciting due to excessive amounts of snow and ice, but in the summer, there are acres of maintained, irrigated grass that is neither muddy nor dusty. 

For this part of the world, that is heaven. 

3) In the tack room

Not my bridles, believe it or not

I love this. 

Super pretty cedar paneled tack room with custom painted bridle hangers. I also have a pretty sweet tack locker that I neglected to get a picture of. 

It's heated. 

There is also a tack hook for cleaning that's set up on a pulley system so we can lower it to use it and then retract it so it's not in the way.

Coolest thing ever.

4) Where you ride:

Misery

Yeah. We don't have an indoor. 

In the non-icy months (eg everything except December and January), it's a lovely sand ring with sprinklers that gets worked pretty much every day and watered as needed. 

5) My favorite feature:

C-rage inspects a sand pile from a now-complete project

Quite honestly, it's the barn owners. They give personalized attention to every horse. They constantly do maintenance and projects to keep the place going and even just to make life easier or nicer. They are always going above and beyond and are some of the nicest people I am fortunate enough to know. 

They even help out with my projects--when Redheadlins and I decided to enter the success Equestrian contest, they were in on the action. They gave suggestions, took pictures, and even told all their friends to vote for us. 

Taken by the BO

It's blog hop time!! Ashley at The Process of Learning wanted to do a "show us your barn" series to give us something to think about other than winter. Thanks Ashley!! 

Friday Fun Challenges

Trapped inside

If you obsessively stalk my blog, it's possible that you remember the time Courage had a bad day, all because he was completely incapable of stepping over an obstacle that was 12 inches high. Never mind that he doesn't bat an eye when he jumps twice that height--it is completely impossible to be led over a tiny obstacle.

I kept meaning to work on that at home, but it's so ridiculously stupid that I just put it off. I mean, his ground manners are great. I can lead him with just body language and he has no problems going forward. I kept meaning to lunge him over some little stuff and gradually work up to leading him over it (yeah, how backwards is that?), but I just didn't make the time.

And then I wanted to clip him. The BO warned me that closing the roll-down front door of the barn can be pretty spooky for horses already inside the barn, so I closed it before I got him out of the field and then just led him in through a stall.

His cute little face was right by my shoulder as I walked into the stall and then all of a sudden, it wasn't.

I'm standing in the stall. He's still out in the run. There is a HUGE AND TERRIFYING OBSTACLE between us.

Yes, he had to step over a 6" tall board to get into the stall.

Now, we can argue that there is a light/dark change* and it's a new environment and WHATVER, but the fact is that he lives two stalls down in the EXACT SAME BARN. Yeah, his stall is just a step up without a little board to step over, but I'm not buying it.

Of course, I'm dealing with a very athletic and expressive horse. I can't ask the lovely couple taking care of their 26 year old retiree to come over and kick my horse in the rear because if he were to express himself, I wouldn't want them getting hurt. The BO is in the house and very, very sick, so I really don't want to call her either.

It's just me and C-rage. Not going in a stall.

Great. I cannot be both behind him for encouragement and in front of him for guidance. I do know that he would do almost anything for a cookie. I grab a whole hoodie pocket full of cookies and try bribery. I think all four of his feet got within about 12 inches of each other and his whole neck was stretched into the stall, but he didn't care even try to step in.

I tried clucking and pulling. I tried giving him time. I made it very clear that I wanted him in with me. I opened the front stall door so it wasn't claustrophobic. I established that he can stretch his neck out a very long way and that he was trying very hard, but he just. wouldn't. do. it.

Finally, I leaned out of the stall, picked up his left front leg, and set it inside the stall with me. Then I backed up and held out a cookie.

The impossible horse trap

He looked around and walked right in. I praised him, gave him pats and scratches, stuffed him full of cookies, and walked in to the barn aisle.

The little blazed face was suspiciously missing.

Yep. There was another board to step over.

This time, I got him over in about a minute. He was very suspicious of the hoof lifting technique, since the last time I did that, he some how ended up levitating into a magical horse trap.

That said, he really, really wanted the cookies.

He had to think about it, but he finally made the step into the aisle.

Of course, it remains to be seen if he would have gone in at all if he knew that I was about to clip stars on his butt. ;-)

*Also there was no light/dark change when he first pulled this stunt. We were outside on a sunny day with safe footing.

Taking Off the Gym Shoes

It's been a slow news week for me. Cuna is busy standing in a field, which he loves, but it's terrible blog fodder. C-rage (his gangster name) was a superstar last Wednesday. I gave him Thursday off and he came in without a shoe on Friday. 

Fancy pony!

So. My weekend was spent watching other people horse show and waiting for the farrier. Again, really exciting reading.

It's probably just as well. That dull grey in the background of this photo is some pretty intense smoke from all the wildfires around here. Breathing=fail. My head hurts and I have a sore throat, yay.

Chillin' in the barn, dwags

Anyways. The smoke is disgusting, but it's still hot out. In order to give our farrier the best possible chance of doing a good job, it was a good day to learn to stand (dun dun dun ) INSIDE THE BARN. Up til now, I've just used the outdoor crossties because they're closer and I'm lazy and it never rains here, but winter will come eventually and I'll want him trained by then.

The advantage to my BOs thinking that Courage is the kindest and most adorable OTTB of all time is that they have taught him a very useful skill: cookie consumption. He was a little squirrely when we first went in to the barn, but then he was all "Hang on. I just stand here and you feed me cookies and give me scratches?" and I'm like, "Yes, that's the idea." And he's like "Why the h#11 didn't I do this sooner?"*

The jump jump farrier is so slow

I had a nice chat with the farrier about how his leg conformation changes his hoof growth and the difference between sport horse and race horse shoeing. We ended up pulling his remaining three shoes and putting a whole new set on. I don't know that he's ever worn steel shoes before. After the farrier put his fronts on, Courage picked up his right front and tried to chew the shoe.

Goofus.

I was expecting it, but I was strictly admonished that a certain little bay horse now only goes out or is ridden in bell boots, especially as his hooves/balance start transitioning to a whole new way of going. Sigh. Will I never escape bell boot hell?

I will say that I think of Courage as a veritable midget, especially next to the behemoth that is Cuna. After seeing him inside the actual barn alongside a normal-sized horse, I guess he's sort of big (in an adorable, cuddly, tiny, badass sort of way).

*He's a track veteran. Language is what it is.

Barn Dogs, Round One

I've been working long days at the barn. Every day, I feel guilty about leaving my little dogs at home for so long. I wish I had time (and ambition) to take them running with me again.

Cuna sniffs the tiny pet

And then Monday, I decided it was time for a change.

That's right. Lewis the corgi and Chaucer the beagle are now barn dogs in training. It's finally warm (ish) enough and dry enough that it's not completely disgusting.

Lewis (herding group, not a surprise), took to it like... well, like a herding dog to a ranch. He monitored everything, did as he was told, and learned to watch out for the horses without causing trouble. He was friendly when clients showed up and generally got along well.

And then there's the beagle... Beagles are hounds, and I describe mine as a low functioning autistic. He's absolutely brilliant at what he was bred to do--I've never seen a better, more intuitive hunting dog. At everything else, he's socially awkward and very, very unaware. I was pleased with his barn performance. He only wandered off once and managed to stay out of the way. When he got really tired at the end of the day, he was actually very good.

And then they came home and slept for two days.

Today we try again. Wish us luck!