I Went Shopping (again)

I've been promising a tack write-up, so here goes an explanation of Zoe's latest outfit acquisition. 

she is cartoon pony

Labor Day weekend was... stressful... so I voted to allow myself one good, solid splurge on related tack sales. I'd just started riding Zoe bareback, so I was leaning towards that Thinline Bareback Pad that I have wanted since the Izzy days. It was 20% off with free shipping, which is tempting. 

But.

There was a local tack trailer (that I love) at a local show (that I was going to). I waited to pull the trigger on the pad until I got to the trailer to peruse their selection. I was the first customer up the ramp like WHAT HAVE WE HERE when the owner took the one bridle I've been drooling on for well over a year now and stuck it on the sale rack. 

It was still substantially more than the bareback pad. And I have a Zoe bridle. 

But. SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES, AMIRIGHT. 

teeny supports local shows. unrelated man supports teeny.

Plus I explained how Zoe is a custom fit girl and the shop owner was 100% on board with letting me try it on her and then swapping out parts to get the fit right.

Plus notorious spend-thrifts Alyssa and Nadia were both on site. They always tell me no to everything (and are like "spend your money on lessons/shows" because they are haters) but they both saw the bridle and the sale price and went "yeah the bareback pad will always be there GET THE BRIDLE".

When hell freezes over, you don't question it. You just get your skates and go for it. 

 (Leah and T were obv on board as well. I believe they voted for "both".) 

my trunk is busy, ok?

Unfortunately, the downside to having a SMOOSHY FACE to shop for is that I don't have smooshy measurements memorized (yet) and I'm not solid at just eyeballing her size either. 

I pranced out to the barn the next day. Put the bridle on the Zoe. 

Zoebird is not impressed

...and found out that apparently it was dinosaur sized. Whoops. Fortunately, my mobile tack shop lady makes barn visits and when I sent her the photo, she brought me the next size down. Ladies and (maybe) gents, I give you Zoe in a horse sized bridle:

kyoot

Dear bridle makers: if your horse size fits my 100% custom mare face, you are doing it wrong. 

So that happened. And that was certainly enough. I pretty well blew the stress shopping budget out of the water there. 

#worthit

But I was wandering around the internet, as one does, and I ran across a saddle that Roxie's mom and I had discussed as a potentially good fit for Zoe. It looked like it would work for me. It looked like it would work for Zoe. It was priced at like 40% of what I'd expect given the brand and condition. And yeah, there were like 7 people in front of me in line for it. 

So I kinda forgot about it for a few days, then followed up. 

And got an invoice. 

And then a box. 

quite a box

A real big box. 

i should have made a better selfie face. oh well.

With a fancy dressage saddle inside. 

Again, I pranced out to the barn to dress up Ms. Zoebird.

baby mare!

And uh. Does she look like a fantastic little future dressage mare or what? 

I regret nothing. 

And if you're looking for my checking account, it's definitely not in the shallow grave in my back yard. HUSH YOU.

NQR, Responsibility, and Budgets: An Honest Look

You may have noticed that actual Courage-related content on the blog is sort of disjointed and infrequent.

bridle game strong

That is intentional.

Homeboy is developing well and his muscling looks great and he's getting pretty solid on the ground and blah blah blah. Lunging makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon.

But something isn't right.

He'd get bodywork and then a week or two later, be just as bad as he was before. Under saddle, he'd walk for about 10-15 minutes and then it was just tension, Tension, TENSION AND SIDEWAYS INTO THE WALL. Didn't matter if I rode or my trainer rode. Didn't matter if we adjusted a number of variables. He wasn't "naughty" per se, but he'd get more and more and more upset.

Which is weird.

A+ there captain obvious

But hey. I get anxiety and pain and wanting to murder everyone in the room or running out the door and never coming back. I really do.

And all those things scream I'M NOT OK. Language transcends species.

And thus we begin down the NQR rabbit hole.

Step One:

Routine teeth + sheath with our regular vet and talk over options.
Cost: $150 (but also it's just routine maintenance so whatevs)

I know all the manuals say you should have a relationship with your vet, which is a scary idea if you're broke ass and avoid seeing them. But. Our vet is fantastic and was more than willing to answer questions and educate.

Step Two: 

Chiropractic appointment with acupuncture vet
Cost: $80

This step isn't required, but I wanted another set of eyes on Courage. I'm still so so on acupuncture, but the most valuable thing that came out of this for me was thoughts on where to look for issues. She said front feet and hocks lit up with pain markers.

Step Three:

X-rays and Hock Injections with regular vet
Cost: $290

Initially, I was all "must change one variable at a time like good scientist". But like. If there's pain in one part of the body, the other parts are compensating for it. I decided to do the 1-2 punch and go for it. My vet is consulting with our farrier. Vet also recommended adding in a vitamin E supplement for muscle recovery and Cosequin for joint support. (We can have a separate post for me kvetching about how much I hate feed throughs, but vet said try it, so damnit we will use it.)

Step Four:

Regularly Scheduled Farrier Appointment, now with X-rays
Cost: $80 (standard maintenance)

Once we knew what was going on inside Courage's feet and front legs, we were able to make some informed choices to change his shoeing. This is the great thing about having a solid team in place--the farrier listened to the vet recommendations, looked at the X-rays, and made the changes. He also brings a wealth of experience and presented me with some more options. Basically, we can try this, but if it doesn't work/is not enough, there are other things on the table without getting too expensive or crazy.

Step Five

See what happens.
Cost: free

The nice thing with this process so far is it's not like "OMG LEG HANGING OFF AT FUNNY ANGLE MUST FIX NAOW". We do something, see if it made a difference, and then try something else. Everyone I've worked with has been very upfront about costs and willing to work with me. I'm building my own knowledge base and learning to make educated guesses about my horse.

At the end of the day, I know my horse. I even like him. I know that the way he's acting isn't right for him and I want to know what's up. I get money problems (omg trust me on that), but with the ability to space things out and know prices in advance, I can plan for costs and mitigate them.

I don't know where that leaves us--round one of injections, X-rays, and shoeing is done. Let's see what happens.

It Went Shopping, Part the Second

As y'all are aware, Courage is a dressage horse. As you are probably also aware, I wish he would jump. I mean, the horse jumps likes this:

But for complicated biomechanical reasons we aren't going to get in to right now, he is better off not jumping regularly with me. The point is, I have a jump saddle. The saddle really doesn't fit me great and it really doesn't fit him that well.

So while I'm out wandering the internet and buying anything in plain sight, I stumbled across a certain French Gentleman.

In case you weren't aware, Canadian dollars are basically monopoly money, so omg super cheap!! And yes, of course I know both Courage and my specs in the various French saddles. It's just part of being a tack ho.

Anyways. I went all crazy-go-nuts and bid on the French Gentleman and then drove Teresa and Leah nuts counting down the hours on the auction (quote: "you're giving me a saddle ulcer."). Those of you penny pinchers out there ought to be proud of how I didn't just completely freak out when I got outbid in the final minutes and let the Frenchman go to someone else.

too much monopoly $ for me

But here's the thing: just because I missed out on on wildly excellent deal I didn't need doesn't mean I can't look for another. #youmightbeatackho

I tried to be objective about it. I don't need a shiny new Frenchman. I only jump a few times a year. I just want something that fits both of us well enough to be safe and balanced. I don't jump enough to spend a lot.

And I want a monoflap.

Dammit.

I do.

So I scoured the entire internet. Sadly, all the monoflap Frenchmen were 3-5k+, which isn't in my price range for a saddle for a discipline I actually do, much less one I dabble in once a quarter.

and it has been reasonably pointed out that i'm not even riding right now

But then I stumbled across this one saddle:

18" medium tree monoflap saddle. Reasonable asking price. A friend has one and raves about it, but she rides a horse different than mine and I've never sat in it. It's a bit of an off-brand and it's not French, but it's affordable.

Despite what you think, I'm a pretty frugal person. I hemmed and hawed and tire kicked and gave Leah a jump on another saddle ulcer. Oh and I definitely didn't tell Alyssa because she's a bit of a hater on the tack purchases unless they're purple. But I didn't want a purple monoflap.

did want  purple polos. got them.

The seller agreed to a trial, but we went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth on price and details and weren't really coming to an agreement. I will close a deal NAOW if I really want something, but I didn't neeeeeeed it per se and I didn't know if it would fit and ehhhhh that's a big risk for me.

Finally, I told the seller I'd keep looking. (Translation: try to sell my current saddle so I actually have a budget and can start making sexy eyes at Frenchmen on ebay).

She said toodles.

Then she countered with an offer lower than my last offer. And the trial I wanted. And threw in some accessories. So I guess it was less like "countered" and more like "caved".

celebratory dinner party for one

I paid her. Things got weird.

Funny joke no. They were already weird. But once I paid her, the weird hit new and bizarre levels, including the seller messaging me to demand more money because she'd rather get more than than she told me she'd sell for, which is a fascinating way of doing business to be sure.

Not gonna lie, it was three days of sheer entertainment. The negotiations kept getting crazier. I laughed out loud a lot.

But at the end of day three, I was out $$$ and didn't feel like shelling out more to get a saddle I only half wanted and didn't actually need. So I asked for a refund, and to the seller's credit, she promptly complied.

SAY HES A BIRD

And that is the story of how I both bought and didn't buy a saddle, but sold a bridle to finance it and thus ended up with a hearty paypal balance and we all know paypal money isn't real money, so I rolled that balance into purchasing...

DUN DUN DUN

to be continued...

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.

The Myth of Forever

I hate the term "forever home". 

One thing that really bothers me is when I see ads for horses "looking for a forever home". 

Even if we ignore the blindingly obvious "why does someone else have to keep a nag forever when you've clearly decided they're not worth it", that transitions on to a bigger problem:

You aren't guaranteed forever.

You see this horse?

so cool

That was a cool horse. I rode her all through highschool. She was batshit crazy and I loved her. I was so, so excited when my first horse as an adult was her baby. I was going to keep that baby forever.

Remember her?

about a half a second before I got rodeo bucked off and broke 3 bones

Yeah well then I wasn't. The mare and I were NOT a fit and keeping her "forever" would only have made both of us miserable. I was scared of her, which meant I wasn't the rider or owner she needed and neither of us was going to improve together.

So I sold her.

And that's one of the easier stories. Possibly even more common in my age group (late twenties) is having a horse, but then having life commitments crop up. Marriage. Home ownership. Children. It's one thing if you can afford it all, but most of us have to make choices and hopefully most people choose their spawn over their livestock. Seems like a pretty serious moral issue and all.

And those scenarios are overlooking things like chronic illness in yourself or a loved one. Bankruptcy. Job transfers. Economic fluctuations. The fact of the matter with horses is that they are a large luxury animal requiring a lot of time and care and money. Lives change and sometimes what we thought would be forever, isn't.

No one's fault. Life happens.

What's more, different people want horses to do different things. I know SO MANY people who have horses with atrocious or borderline-dangerous ground manners that are passed off as "oh, I shouldn't let him, but I don't mind X behavior".

But here's the thing: if something happens to you and horsiekins needs a new home, will that behavior be the thing that ends him up at a low end auction bound for a double decker and Mexico? You think it's cute that he bolts off on the lunge line. Someone else gets scared, he gets passed around, and things go from bad to worse.

A horse's life insurance is its' job. Plain and simple. We as owners have an obligation to our horses to teach them the job they excel in to the best of our abilities SO THAT should the unforeseen happen, the horse isn't reliant on the mercy on strangers.

knew job inside and out

We've all seen those ads--15yo OTTB gelding, hasn't been worked in 5 years, probably not sound, no papers, no training. Do you know where that horse goes?

I do.

There's no guarantee of forever, not for you, and not for your horse. Instead of trying to create more and more ironclad legal documents that are completely unenforceable, it makes more sense to focus on creating a horse that a reasonable person would actually want to keep.

not a jumper, hard to ride. impeccable ground manners, hacks on the buckle.

If you love your horse, give it a damn job.

Teach Me Tuesday: The Purpose-Bred Horse

There are certain times I wish I had a more "suitable" dressage horse than a tight-backed OTTB who requires a zen master approach to life just to catch him in the mornings.

Then there are times where I see ads for those horses:

And I remember that there are 150,000 reasons I have the horse I do.

YES ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND. Omg.

I'm not anti-purpose bred horse because I'm not an idiot and I certainly recognize that the job would come more naturally to a horse that was literally born to do it. On the other hand, isn't half the fun learning to teach your own horse how to do things with you?

I don't know.

Sound off internet. Do you or have you ever had a purpose bred horse for your sport and how has that altered your enjoyment of it?

When to Sell

the wrong horse

Denny Emerson has been going on lately about the right horse and what it is and how to know. I think that is a fantastic conversation to start. I mean, when a blogger is debating the merits of their current horse, I am frequently the jackass who jumps right in and tells them to sell the horse.

As I've chronicled ad nauseam, I went through this situation with a horse  I owned when I first got back into riding as an adult. It was a dismal experience and it almost made me quit riding. But here's the thing: just because you have doubts about your horse doesn't mean you should sell. Look at it this way instead:

1) Do you look forward to riding YOUR HORSE each day?
2) Does seeing YOUR HORSE's face over the gate make your heart go pitter pat?
3) Are you happy and confident while riding YOUR HORSE?
4) Are you safe (both in your own estimation and that of relevant pros)?
5) Is your horse physically/mentally/emotionally capable of pursuing your realistic goals?
5b) If not, are you willing to change your goals to suit your horse?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, keep your horse. There is literally no reason to sell it. But wait! Go through this next set of questions too.

6) Has your horse put you in the ER/hospital?
7) More than once?
8) Do you sometimes think it would be ok if your horse had a tragic pasture accident?
9) Does the idea of doing your chosen sport with your horse make you nervous/upset/worried?
10) Do you keep your horse because you're afraid it might end up as hamburgers if you sell?
11) Have relevant professionals expressed apprehension about your ability to flourish in this partnership?

If you answered yes to questions 6-11, SELL THE HORSE NOW. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

what dreams are made of

I know that when I first joined the ranks of re-riding adults, I had illusions of forever homes and rainbows and glitter and all, but the horse I started the journey with was wrong for me in every way and there was no one to stand there and say "WHOA. Not. Ok."

It took a long process (and hospital visits) and a lot of money wasted and finally meeting the horse of my dreams to convince me to let go.

But it didn't have to be that hard. I wasn't safe. I was scared and miserable, but I didn't have the framework to understand that because for 3 years, the only horse I rode was that one horrible mare.

All partnerships have rough patches and many of those rough patches are worth seeing through. BUT. As adult ammies, we aren't in this to save the world or go to Rolex or whatever. We're here to have fun.

So if you find yourself on the fence about whether or not your partnership is working out, here's the #1 thing I recommend: (IMPORTANT)

1) Put a timeline on it.

Last fall, Courage and I hit a seriously rough patch. I wasn't having fun. He wasn't improving. Things were getting out of hand. I wasn't unsafe, but the rides were sapping my enjoyment of horses.

So I told Courage and several friends I trusted to hold me accountable that if I wasn't having fun by March of 2015, I would sell him and find something more suitable.

That doesn't mean I gave up on him--I did pro rides and lessons and changed barns and trainers and did some time off and explored every relevant avenue because I wanted to make things work.

fav

By the time March rolled around this year, Courage and I had reached a new agreement and we are progressing happily. He's staying, but I don't regret what I said in the fall.

There will be rough patches, but they have to stay patches. If they sprawl out and seep into our perceptions of "normal" life, we very quickly find ourselves with the wrong horse in the wrong place at the wrong time. And that makes no one happy.

And if no one's happy, you have the wrong horse.