Eight Years Apparently.

The other day, Teresa and Leah pointed out that my blog archives are kind of... extensive... and I looked to see just how far back they went.

Eight. Eight years since I got my first horse as a newly-married college kid and started blogging for the stated reason of not driving my husband nuts. I was hoping to find some like-minded souls to connect with so I'd have someone to talk to about all things horse.

Since then, I've been through three horses:

Izzy 2009-2012

Cuna 2012-2014

Courage 2013-present

EIGHT (count 'em) barns:

1) first trainer, old barn

2) first trainer, new barn

3) first time on our own

4) second trainer, first barn

4) second trainer, first barn, second horse

5) second trainer second horse, second barn

6) sans trainer, second horse, third barn

7) second horse, final barn

6) third horse, repeat barn #6 (omg baby C!!)

8) third horse, repeat first trainer, brand new barn

I can't count the bridles that have passed through my care or the number of amazing people I've met along the way, both in real life and through the blog. There are lots of things I love about blogging and certain things that drive me crazy. I started the blog to meet new people, and that's definitely happened. Also awesome has been the opportunity to mark our progress through the years. I'm definitely not the same person who started this whole things eight years ago, but I like who I am a lot more now.

sass

Here's to friends and fun and new adventures and dear god let's stop moving barns omg.

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. :-)

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

MADE IT

sick enough to think this was a good pic. can't explain.

Holla everyone. I'd say happy Monday, but I'm only halfway through my coffee and I blew through my Black Friday wad already, so less celebrating and more crossing-fingers-cyber-monday-kinda-sucks.

Anyways. I'm still sick (wtf body), the temperatures are single digit lows with teens/low 20s highs, and my world is covered in snow and ice. Actually, maybe my body is on to something. Let's hibernate!

Ahem.


More importantly, the ridiculous and stupid weather has meant one thing: INDOOOOOOORS. No kidding y'all. This is why I put up with crazy people and board at a busy barn. Almost no one else comes out to ride with a RealFeel of 9f, so Courage and I are putting in the time.

Due to the whole sick-cold-medication thing, I have been lunging Courage some to make sure I don't die. 

I'm feeling the black and teal. And Martingale. <3 martingale.

Don't let me fool you either: I don't think I've cantered in a week or ten days at this point. Instead, we're working on working through tension, creating swing, and coming back to me after he spooks out of his skin at that divot in the sand (yes, again. it's scary EVERY TIME. i need to remember to kick dirt over it today.)

It's not glamorous, but these are the building blocks I need to put in place to make first level a reality next year.

my new obsession

So. Gold star if you survived the first round of holidays, the deep freeze, or this post. I'm excited to be back in the routine, so we can do stuff like learn how to wrap these:

And other fun things.

Teach Me Tuesday: Blanketing

wild horses!

It was 19f here this morning (nicely below zero for you Celsius peeps), which means it is officially blanketing season. I used to be a a fancy, full-training type barn with 2-3x daily blanket changes and full body-clipped horses, so it wasn't much of a thing.

But our current barn is less hands-on (and hella cheaper. not complaining).

prisoner says 19f is poo

If I were less serious about riding, I could probably let Courage run around blanket free. But. He hates being groomed, LOVES getting dirty, and is in pretty hard work, which means clipping is critical to keep him comfortable. I'm trying to work a compromise with a partial clip for the present, so his blanketing is flexible, then will hopefully full clip in January.

But there are so many ways to handle this situation. How are you blanketing this year (or at all)?

Teach Me Tuesday: Boarding

Courage mostly cares about grass

Some days, I envy those of you who don't board. Other days, it's 5f and icy (SUCKAS).

Anyways. I've been thinking about boarding lately. I've been at a growing number of barns and each one had pluses and minuses. Two I wouldn't go back to. The rest I would under the right circumstances.

What really makes a boarding place worthwhile? It obviously has to fit the budget, but when we're talking luxury item (horse), the budget is fuzzy. We can do cheaper board and more lessons or more board and lots of auditing. You know the drill.

or awesome ribbons. do those sway you?

There is certainly the "what is the board paying for" mentality--I'll pay X for standard board and X+2 for board with extra amenities.

And then there are non-negotiables like horse care. Except they totally vary from person to person.

And commute time. How far am I willing to drive give tn above list? How much time can I just slice out of my day every time I want to go to the barn?

Trainers on site? Trailer parking? Jumps? Trails?

What is your ideal barn and how close is your boarding barn to that ideal?

Havens

i could look at this all day

I told myself that after the ongoing cluster that was last year, this year had to be better. Right?

Well, yesterday was on a mission to single-handedly prove me wrong and all the situations are ongoing. Huzzah.

For the past year and a half or so, I have really embraced the ammy life. Horses are a hobby and the barn is a haven. I don't go there for stress or drama or weirdness. I want to enjoy my horse. That is all. I'll admit to being rather abominably rude to my fellow boarders by being completely unsocial for most of the winter because I just needed time alone.

I realize horses mean different things to different people and I am learning to respect that.

But for me, the barn is where I go to unwind. I need to feel safe. I need to relax. I need to have fun.

Because sometimes the rest of my life is the opposite of that and I need one place I can get away from it all for an hour or so and just breathe.

I'm not denying reality, but I can't handle it all the time. It is so freeing to ride my horse. I can focus on our connection and improve our ride and push all the other thoughts out of my mind.

I've been really lucky at my past thee barns--each one has been a uniquely wonderful place that has allowed me to heal from different hurts.

I love to pull into the driveway and let out a sigh of relief. For a few minutes at least, I have a safe haven to relax in.

I don't know what I'd do without it.

Barn Visit in Pictures

Step one: tie wet horse in stall with cooler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step two: hang blanket to dry in tackroom

Step three: get goodies out of my awesome trunk

Step four: leg protection!

Step five: admire how awesome horse looks

Step six: ride

Step seven: gratuitous sexy ass shots

STOP LOOKIN AT MI BUM

Making It: Tack Ho on a Budget

Bridle selection at the old barn

As I mentioned before, tack buying is not so much for me right now.

My very mature response has been: poo. And possibly sticking my tongue out.

The good news is, I have an end around that lets me keep having tack fun without all the expense of buying.

Remember how I'm going for the whole "minimalist" thing at the new barn? I have a trunk, a saddle rack, and a couple of hooks instead of a huge locker plus a trunk, plus blanket racks, plus all the space I want in the tack room.

I mean, yeah, I could add more hooks

That means the rest of the pony toys got cleaned and conditioned and put away in (dun dun dun) THE VAULT.

aka my garage.

Yeah, I even washed and rolled all the polos. There is a WHOLE RUBBERMAID TUB of boots. Don't even get me started on the bit box.

I don't spend a lot of time in the garage day to day, so when I'm feeling the need for a change, I just run out and rummage through rubbermaids until I have enough fun toys to keep me entertained for a few days. It's like the best store ever because everything is free and whoever stocks it has immaculate taste.

argyle polos and aramas bridle

I'm a total out-of-sight-out-of-mind person, so it works really well for me. I mean, it's obviously not completely the same as pulling the trigger on fancy new toys. However, I can just swap out a bead string on a browband, grab a bridle I haven't used lately, and pick the cutest polo wraps, which makes it almost feels like shopping.

Can't argue with the results, right?

The 3 Types of Trainers: a TSB Guide

We look good

Riding, teaching, and training are three completely unrelated and highly precise skill sets. Being one does make necessarily make you another and rarely is someone a master of all three. Hell, SOME OF US like to point out that even George Morris, that esteemed rider and teacher and god of US show jumping didn't make his own horses. Someone else did all the training for him.

And there's nothing wrong with that. We need people in all three capacities and they certainly don't all have to be the same person. Besides, it's not like you can master "training" and then automatically fail at "teaching" and "riding". Everyone is a mix of the three, but some are stronger in one area or another.

Not the face of a broke horse

What it means for amateurs like me is that when we are being advocates for our horses, we need to realize just what sort of help it is that they need. With Cuna (very broke), I had a huge range of options available because he was a made horse. I could work on me and screw things up wily nilly and it wouldn't bother him. Moreover, I didn't have to worry too much about who I rode with, because Cuna already knew what he was doing. It wasn't like one bad lesson would set him back months.

Enter Courage. Not only does Courage face wholly different challenges in his life, he's bright, flaming, neon green (like if a gas station caught on fire. Bear with me.). That definitely changes the game in what we need for an instructor.

Just because I'm happy doesn't mean I'm good

In general, I'm perfectly happy to do almost all the riding on him because we get along well and I'm fairly confident in my skills at this point. Because of that, I'm not worried about finding a really competitive rider. If they can ride, great, if not, no worries. I'll ride him through most things. I really like having a great teacher for my own sake, but the #1 MOST IMPORTANT CAN NOT COMPROMISE issue right now is that I need a trainer.

This needed to happen

Not in the generic "random person yelling instructions from the middle of the arena", but in the very specific "someone who truly understands my horse and how to help him progress" sense of the word. Don't get me wrong--I'm not knocking the people we have worked with. Redheadlins was invaluable getting us from the track to here (and you bet your britches I'll snag her any time she can come out) and our beloved S was beyond helpful and hopefully will continue to work with us when our schedules mesh again.

Also this

Which brings us to now. Yes, I moved to the new facility for the indoor, but the truth is, I've been wanting to ride with this trainer for months now. She's a great rider, but not a big competitor. Her focus is on calm, happy horses and her program is full of adult ammies enjoying their quiet, well-adjusted, diversely-bred horses.

She's a trainer of horses, through and through.

This is where we need to be.