Where We're At, Right Meow Style

So much going on, so little time. Needless to say, Ms. ZS Zoëbird has been completely fabulous. We have:

Acquired a sheet

Acquired a cooler (with a more fancy one on the way--anyone up for sacrificing a virgin to USPS so they'll start delivering to my house again?)

Played outfits (a lot, clearly)

We've been riding too. Nothing huge or ground breaking, but it's really fun because Zoë learns from day to day and the ride on her changes accordingly.


Since our last check in, I'd say she's more forward and more consistent in the bridle and has gotten more comfortable seeking the contact from time to time.

Are you feeling nimbly bimbly?

It Went Shopping

It's been a stressful... while... and as I'm sure y'all assumed, I weathered that storm with my usual coping mechanism of buying all the shit I could find. It started out innocuously enough: Lindsey pointed out that smartpak had a killer deal on my favorite breeches, so I bought two pairs because they don't last the longest.

This was like the day before Thanksgiving.

Then what happened... hm... Peony listed a set of Le Mieux bell boots and I wanted to give them a whirl.

pictured with mini-Courage

And then Amanda started hyping the If the Bonnet Fits BOGO Black Friday sale. I'm a sucker for bonnets, but I can't even count the number of black and navy bonnets I have right now, so if I did it, I needed something different, you know? I came up with one (custom, undisclosed) design on my own and made husband-of-the-year go through an extensive ITBF photo album until we found the perfect design for C. (Noted: hubs didn't even get annoyed. The man is a wonder.)

yeah want it need it hurry up already

But then I had colors on the brain so I stole this whole Le Mieux outfit from C's auntie Crystal:

FANCEH

It looked so fantastic that auntie Crystal bought him his own outfit. (Hey look! Something I didn't buy!)

I was having some attacks of conscience over the amount of $ spent though, so I listed a bunch of things I didn't need any more and Jodi contacted me to offer to trade TSF girths since we each had the size the other needed.

so anatomic!

Of course, around this time I got completely walloped in a car accident so I actually haven't put said girth on said horse since receiving it, but dammit I know I could. If I could lift the saddle. We'll see. Whilst lying on the couch suffering/recuperating, I received this super fantastic blogger secret santa present from Stacie, along with tiny candy canes and hot cocoa mix and lovely festive wrapping!

so cool. so blue!

When I finally peeled myself off the couch for a pre-Christmas outing, I ended up coming home with this fantastic monster sweater for teeny dog!

so badass

Ok yes this is a horse blog and y'all don't care about my dogs but OMG HES TEENY AND WEARING A MONSTER SWEATER.

Whatever. My goal is to be the crazy teeny dog lady when I'm old.

Anyways, then my blog stickers showed up (which means if you wanted some and I haven't told you I mailed them to you, contact me and I will).

stickers!

And my dad got me a sportsball-themed halter and lead rope for Christmas, so I snagged a matching santa hat for C and did a sportsball photo shoot.

are we cute or what?

 And then Riding Warehouse had a site-wide 20% off sale which included the new Majyk Equipe dressage boots. If you're over here like "wtf SB last time you put Majyk Equipe boots on C, he completely lost his shit", then yes, we're on the same page. But I bought them because they were purple and I wanted them.

plus they were $55/set with free shipping

 But as we all know, one purple thing requires another. I have very marked preferences in saddle pads and that preference is Ogilvy. Well, technically my favorite is the flannel Mattes, but I loathe and despise the foam Mattes which is way more common and both Mattes are 2x the cost of Ogilvy, so Ogilvy it is.

hullo

 The point is, there's some seller who has a few colors of brand new dressage Ogilvy pads on eBay and one of those colors contained purple to match our new outfit. Plus, when I put all the purple things on C, he was fantastic and apparently completely forgot how much he used to hate non-slip liners in boots. Maybe he was holding out for purple?

sexy

In non-purple news, I also tracked down a set of Vienna reins (that you've already seen), ordered some sparkles that you will see when they show up, and possibly have been sitting here waiting for a biggish-ticket item that I ordered over a month ago and the shipping gods only saw fit to release a couple days ago. Oh and another thing. Not including the things I got for other people. And possibly some things I forgot.

and this other thing. and maybe a fauxssoa.

In case you're keeping track, the number of times I've ridden since getting any of these things is 0. And my PT says I'm still grounded. But dammit, I'm so ready.

Bay Horse Brag

In our continued quest to find common ground and have fun, Courage and I started back over fences. I know, wtf, most people who can't turn right in an intro dressage test shouldn't be like "EFF YEAH JUMPS MAKE IT BETTER", but well... We jumped a lot last year and Courage is good at it and so we're doing it.

I already talked about how we jumped two jump blocks side by side with nary a blink from C Rage. I joked to someone about how a single barrel was next, and then I was like "um yeah why not".

yes i did lunge and take this on my phone #badass

I did pop him over it on the lunge first just to help us have a good experience. He didn't blink or question it, so off we went.

True confession: for my entire life until Courage, barrels have always scared the crap out of me. I don't know why.

But on C, they just aren't scary. He gets them, I get him, it's all good.

The first time, I walked in and held a steady contact with my leg on, then asked him to trot a couple strides out.

He popped over.

I even got a barnmate to video:

in case you hate videos like me

I mean, yeah, we can all sit here and pick my eq to pieces, but hello quiet, easy ride on a greenie over A SINGLE BARREL.

Damn guys. I'm impressed with us.

We hopped over it both directions, then went for a hack on the buckle because we're badass and that's what we do.

In fact, if you get really ambitious on my youtube channel, you'll even find a video of us walking through a puddle. Which is obviously riveting. Give me the Oscar now.

Someday, we'll get back in the dressage tack again and I'll try to remember how to sit up, but for now? I'm having fun. :-)

Friday Fail: Craft Edition

so pretty

You remember how I said Micaylah is a crafting goddess?

Well maybe not, but she is.

So when we had craft night this week, she randomly decided we (she) should make bridle charms.

They are splendid.

I kind of love this picture

And then I made this ooooooh so pretty bonnet I was pretty stoked about.

I mean, it's sparkly and cool looking and fabric bonnets are coming in. I made the pattern off of a sort of trace of another of my bonnets that fits Courage well.

Not gonna lie, I was super pumped to go put it on C-Rage the next day.

Face cropped for anonymity

Until I actually did it.

Haha.

Um.

So I'm trying a new pattern I created with some serious modifications this time around. Are there any mini mules with low self esteem out there who want the first draft for something?

Jumping Skinny

You might remember two weeks ago when Courage and I tackled our first skinny jump like rockstars. I was pretty proud of him and then there were skinnies set all over the arena on Monday and after two days of flat rides, it was definitely time to try something new.

Definitely.

Note improved pic quality. YAY NEW PHONE.

After a nice warm up in which I reminded myself that my ass goes to the back of the saddle and my heels always only ever go down, WHILE MY HANDS ARE FORWARD AND UP, we trotted in to our first wee jump.

It's teensy, but that's not the point. The point is accuracy. Also the point is that at this time last year, Courage thought this HUGE and MENACING black tube was some sort of devilish apparition that completely blocked all forward motion and I couldn't lead him over it, much less ride.

And yeah, now it's not even worth jumping properly. I call that a win.

Loving my position here. Note ass out of saddle post-jump.

Next we moved on to the little rows of jumps blocks.

He's jumped these before lots of times, but never on a tight bending line and never so few at a time. In order to jump them well, I had to keep my hands really forward and my leg very tight and just stay in balance and wait.

It's harder than it sounds, I swear. Anyways. He jumped them super well and I was proud.

take off!

We cantered around (oh yes I canter skinnies NO FEAR BITCHES THEY ARE TINY) and Courage was being awesome aside from the one time that I pointed him at the narrowest jump we had, then leaned up his neck and took my leg off. Then we detoured because wtf did I even want anyways?

I don't know.

Anyways. I ended by cantering a sort of course, culminating in downhill (my kryptonite other than oxers and tall jumps) over the narrow barrels.

jump!

I was so thrilled with how I rode and how Courage jumped. He was soft and forward and balanced, which makes seeing a distance easy peasy and he's so athletic and brave that he really doesn't care if we're a little close or long.

He knows his job is to jump and I'm figuring out that my job is to steer and not pull on his face, and we're golden.

I dunno. I mean, I realize that thse jumps are not large, even for me, but I'm asking a more difficult question and Courage is emphatically answering "YES I GOT IT".

It's just so ridiculously fun to ride. Seriously.

land!

I really love where the two of us are at right now. Heck, I even pretty much love my position in these pics. I'm finding the balance between giving the big release that Courage requires and keeping myself in balance in the saddle without ducking my upper body or losing my legs.

Maybe it's our classy new five point breastplate (thanks JenJ!) or the pretty boots or Courage showing off for the much-improved phone camera or maybe (dun dun dun)...

It's so very him.

It's that his cookie monster bonnet has finally arrived!!!

I mean, it's that or admitting that this ride has taken over a year of boring, slow, consistent training that only advances as fast as the horse is ready for it, even if that means time off for sore bodies and bad weather.

Nope, definitely the bonnet.

I love it.

So much.

I think I have another bonnet coming. What kind of magic will it produce?

PS We also trotted through 4 poles like a normal horse and didn't try to leap them one single time. That's big for us.

When Things Don't Go According to Plan

Not like poles. Poles are pretty freaking linear.

Horse training is not a linear process.

Horse training is not a linear process.

Horse training is not a linear process.

Horse training is not a linear process.

Horse training is not a linear process.

I think I need that tattooed on something I look at on a regular basis. Not my forehead, because who sees that anyways?

Look at us floating through trot poles

Sigh. I wrote up this bubbly happy training post about how Courage is going really well on the flat and I can feel progress every ride and we can trot and canter through lines of poles and jump single fences and all is well. 

And then I set up a perfectly logical trot in grid. 4 poles, 9' to a crossrail, 18' to a little vertical, 9' to a placing poles. Or thereabouts. 

The best at launching over placing poles.

And yeah, epic fail. In case you doubted his scope, I can assure you that my little man is capable of clearing both an 18" vertical and the placing pole set after it in a single bound. Multiple times in a row. 

Since I wasn't doubting his scope at all (let's face it people, the horse hasn't even had to try yet), I was not thrilled. Especially since I couldn't really make it better. We knocked the vertical down to poles and got the back side slightly more combobulated, but it was never what you'd call good and his brain was perilously close to just fleeing the scene altogether.

No, I don't know why this placing pole is ok.

So we finished up with something else and called it a day. 

I've pretty well been in a funk since then, despite two days off and a pretty kickass ride (with no poles) on Monday. 

Don't misunderstand me here--I'm not mad at Courage or blaming him or even upset with our program (such as it is). I know it's green horse stuff. I know we'll work through it (or not. And then just never do grids, which I guess isn't the end of the world either. It's not like we're aiming to be competitive grid jumpers). 

I have wanted these so so long. Finally mine, argyle polos.

I know all that. I'm just frustrated right now.

I tried making myself feel better by playing with racehorses, but I just got hit in the face so hard that I couldn't see straight. 

So then I thought I'd try retail therapy. 

That helped a little.

Making the bitching wait time worth it

Then this happened... I think I feel a lot better now. 

So I don't know where I'm at. My inner traditionalist screams that it is impossible to have a jumper who can't do grids, which are the very foundation all of decent jumper training. 

My modernist side reminds me that we must tailor the training to the horse, not the horse to the training. 

My rational brain keeps chanting "NOT A LINEAR PROCESS" and whatever's left is like "STFU I GOT A DAMN COOKIE MONSTER BONNET."