All Moved In

housework is better with a bonus dog

Despite my well-intentioned panic on Friday, the weather man was wrong (as per the usual, huzzah for being back to that!) and the weekend was downright liveable.

Or at least, it would have been if we didn't start it with 8 inches of snow. And ice.

But three days of almost 50f temps later, the roads are safe!

I ditched the housework and with the help of my wonderful BOs (miss them already, not even kidding), Courage got all moved in to the new barn on Sunday afternoon.

freaking enormous stall

I'm petty excited about the facility. There are maintained grass turnouts (didn't take a pic), a large outdoor arena (also no pic), a nice shedrow with a covered aisle (sensing a theme?), two horse barns (see pic!), and get this: AN INDOOR ARENA.

Courage lives in this huge stall. I should measure it. It's like... 15x15? Maybe 20? I don't even know. Massively huge. The attached run is pretty tiny, but it's enough to let him out in the sunshine on nice days.

He does have a very rambunctious neighbor who already tore a cooler of mine (bastard!), but there is now hot tape around the top of the fencing, so hopefully that's contained.

very impressed

After making sure he understood the stall essentials, I took him off for his first-ever indoor arena experience.

As you can see, he was wild.

We did a little groundwork. Somehow I have misplaced my fancy custom lunge line and since I don't know anyone, I didn't want to start out by borrowing, so nothing too exciting.

Not gonna lie, I really wanted to hop on and ride. I guess there is a limit to how many real life responsibilities I can blow off on any given day though.

this is me going minimalist

I put Courage back in his stall and got my stuff organized in the tack room. I'm trying the whole "less stuff" thing to see if that works for me. Plus I don't want to be the jerk that moves my fancy horse in with all my toys and then stages a hostile takeover in the tackroom. You know that person. Everyone hates them.

I tried to fit all my stuff (not including winter blankets currently in use) in one trunk, one saddle rack, and a couple of hooks. As you can see, I've already sprawled onto a second saddle rack for my cooler and quarter sheet, but I'm telling myself it's seasonal.

plus Courage got a girlfriend

There are a lot of great features at the new place and everyone I've met seems really nice. I'm looking forward to the shorter drive and extra free time to allow me to start running again. Or maybe clean the house. Or something.

I'm a little apprehensive about fitting in to a new barn group and there's a part of me that wants to go running back to our old barn, but I know this is where we need to be right now.

So. Here goes winter 2014. It should be interesting for sure.
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Ushering in a New Era

This is my 501st post. It is 11/1/11.

And Izzy just settled in to her new home.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier.

To make up for my previous deficiencies as a blogger, I took a ton of totally interesting pictures.


For example, here is my living room this week. It is completely strewn with what my husband lovingly refers to as 'horse crap'. Fortunately for him, he doesn't know what 'horse crap' means in my universe.

Anyways, he's very glad that Izzy (and most of this stuff) has moved on. For some odd reason, he actually wants to sit on the couch. Pssh. Who has time for that?




Here's a shot of the old barn. It's so darn pretty this time of year, especially since the bugs have finally started dying.

I love all the colors, but I won't miss the parking lot being completely coated in ice... haha.









And the view. Just plain lovely as the sun comes up over the hay fields.

I have no idea how you people who live in big cities cope. If I can't see a full 180 degrees of sky, I start feeling claustrophobic.

It was about 30f this morning as I got started. I had to pick up Izzy's feed bins, western bridle, and cookie bucket.




And we were off.














Izzy checks out her new digs. Note that there is a hill behind her. Folks, those mountains you can see from the old barn? We now live in them.

Pony mare was completely cute about the whole thing. She was a little reluctant to go into the barn at first, but when she found the hay, she settled right down.






Over-the-butt view of Izzy's new barn--she gets to live in the first breezeway barn (aka where poor people like myself can sort of afford it). She has a 12'x12' covered area with a 12'x24' run. It's really quite nice.

While she munched breakfast (again) (did I mention she's about triple dosed on her ugard right now?), I did chores.



Does anyone remember when my little tack-whoring self freaked out about moving in with a trainer with high standards? And I ordered Ms Mare a fancy custom leather halter with a nameplate?

Yeah, that hasn't showed up yet, even though my order was a month ago. Sigh. In it's place, we have this:


It's not so much that I feel the need for a sharpie-ed name on her halter and it's less than I'm concerned about such a priceless halter wandering away. The simple fact is that with all the horses moving around at the new barn and Izzy being brand new, I want the feeding people to be able to check her name against their list if they need to.

So yeah, super classy.



After I finished doing work, Izzy and I went exploring. Fortunately, we didn't leave all the brilliance of fall behind us.

I love it.









The barn entrance. You're also looking at trail access into the mountains. Can't wait to get out there with Izzy and someone on an older, reliable horse. ;-)











Brave exploring pony with custom halter. She only had one tiny spook and other than that, just marched around surveying her territory. Sweet.

Also, I'm thinking more sharpie decorations on the craptastic nylon halter are in order. Not sure what, but might as well, right?







And hanging out in the huge ol' pasture she gets turned out in. Super cool indoor is behind her here.











Pony at rest. We'll have more adventures tomorrow.

End of Hell Month

October is one of the most beautiful months of the year. It is also completely insane, so I'm incredibly happy to see it go.

Don't believe me? I have been out of town every weekend this month except the last one. I work 30 hours a week at my office job and 10 hours a week at Izzy's current barn. A week ago, I tacked on another 20 hours a week with our beloved event trainer.

Oh, and I have a house, husband, two dogs, one cat, and some rabbits to take care of. Plus, eveything is far apart, so I spend a good chunk of every day in the car.


Beautiful or not, I can't want for tomorrow. This pretty pony face will be moving to the event barn with me, and the crazy will subside a little.

Funny story: I was riding Izzy on Sunday. As we walked to the outdoor arena, she proceeded to have a massive heart attack over 1) a bush 2) a tree 3) the road) 4) a trailer 5) the indoor. All in the space of like 3 minutes.

Ok, moving on... HEART ATTACK!!!! Her roomie, a sweet little morgan mare, was calmly walking over to the outdoor to go for a ride. She was just getting over the drama of there being ANOTHER HORSE in the arena with her when...

ZOMBIES OF DEATH AND FIRE EYES!!!!!! OMG PASSAGE PIAFFE PANIC PANIC PANIC!!!!!!#%^$&@#

Yes, two of her friends were coming back from a trail ride. Clearly a cause for anxiety.

The only thing worse than calm trail horse returning to the barn was OMFG THERE IS A WATER TROUGH!!!!

I have no idea what's gotten in to her, but it was pretty hilarious.

PS This is my 500th post. Cool!

MOVED!!

As of 1pm this afternoon, we are officially all out of our old place and settled into the new barn. I was quite impressed with how well Izzy did. I put her in the stall while I labeled my feed bin and did a few moving-in things.

This is the barn we're in. The picture above is a converted dairy barn that the owner's horses live in.
Her stall: (Why yes, we're number 1. )
I gave her a handful of senior with her new ulcer meds just to see if she would eat them (and I figured double-dosing on a stressful day wouldn't hurt) and she gobbled them up. They don't look appetizing (brown powder), but they smell like caramel.
Her view from inside the stall down the row looks like this:
A new horse moves in next to her Monday. All the other stalls are full. Oh, and there's a very-productive apple tree across the parking lot.
Happy ponies. While I unloaded tack, I decided to turn Izzy out. Nothing usually settles her down like green grass and open space. To do that, we had to walk down this aisle.
And turn her out in a lovely, green place with shade trees and safe fencing (smooth wire and electric.)
It worked. Happy pony.

The goofy mare missed me, though. How weird is that? I didn't think she was that attached. She was pretty happy for about 20 minutes while I set up. Then she started whinnying every time I was out of sight. I went over to see her.

She waited for me, then walked next to me by the fence.

I went in and wandered around with her for a while, then put her back on the halter and we went exploring. I didn't take my camera for this part, so I'll take more pictures tomorrow or Monday. We went across the road, by the other horses, into the indoor arena (which apparently isn't that scary), through the dark aisle (which was a little scary), by both the outdoor arenas, and even stopped to chat with a boarder who was excited to find out that we'd love to go trail riding with her.

Good times.

Extras

My head is almost literally spinning right now. This week is nuts. Last week was more nuts. I'm hoping for a slower pace next week. I think I have all Izzy's stuff squared away--feed, feed bin, coggins picked up, mane pulled and leg washed (not required but looks better), tack locker mostly cleaned out... I just need to go out to the new place and take Izzy's stuff with me to get her set up Thursday and then bring her out (with some transitional hay) on Friday. Also finish cleaning out my tack locker. And probably wash my saddle pads.

First impressions, right? I wouldn't want the new barn to think I ride with MILDLY DIRTY SADDLE PADS!! (gasp!)

Not that anyone would care. In fact, it's mostly an adult facility and I ride in the mornings, so odds are that I'll have the place to myself. Still. It's like clean underwear. You always wear it so that if you get in an accident, the EMTs won't think you wore dirty stuff.

Right?

Oh... back to the to-do list of real life. That's the head-spinning part.

Progress! (Again)

I had a lovely ride on Izzy this morning. We've been doing some concentrated dressage work lately and I think it's really paying off. Jimmy Wofford told us that there are three keys to dressage: position, position, and position, so I'm really focusing there.

I try to think about draping my legs around Izzy's barrel and really relaxing in to that feeling. I keep my shoulders back, my hands up and together, and stretch my chest up to keep my upper body from collapsing.

Wow.

What a difference. We had good moments last time I rode her, but this time, we had actual stretches that were good. It's amazing--when I give her a steady contact and ride into it, she accepts it, pushes from behind, and even carries herself a little. We have a long ways to go even to get to first level, but it's just so much progress from where we were that I feel a little blown away.

Moving day is coming up quickly. Cathy already has another training horse coming in to take Izzy's spot, which is fabulous for her. I bought Izzy a rodent-proof grain bin yesterday and a bag of the senior feed she's used to. I know Frizzle talked about switching to something else (maybe because it was low starch?). I'll have to look into that. I took Marissa's advice on smartpaks and I think we're almost ready to move... Am I missing anything? Big day is Friday.

Knee Deep in Euphoria

I think Izzy is settling in to the new place well. I didn't make it out to see her yesterday because the weather was lousy and my grandma was having a good day. Since time with grandma is limited, Izzy lost out. (As a rehash, Izzy was a nutcase on Monday.)

Here is Izzy today:
Why yes, she is knee deep in green grass. If only the pasture fences were in... oh well. One thing at a time.

Anyways. After a week of not riding for various reasons, I got to ride both girls today. Now I'm going to brag about it, because I'm pretty proud of how it went.

CASSIE:
Cassie is an 18 year old OTTB who I've known and ridden for years. She's also Izzy's mom. On Monday, she was actually pretty quiet, so I got her out first today. Today was not as quiet. She didn't like being by herself and out of sight of other horses that she knew. To deal with this, I turned her loose in the (cool big) arena. Galloping is relaxing for Cassie and she has an amazing recovery time, so I'm not concerned about wearing her out. She galloped quite a lot and whinnied at her friends some. When she was a bit calmer, I got on. I noticed that there's a spot in the windbreak by the arena that lets her see her friends pretty well, so we rode in a big circle by that spot.

We started out cantering. I took no contact, since Cassie isn't big on it anyways. We did a lot of shorten/lengthens in the canter, then did a few trot/canter transitions. We didn't go around the whole arena, but when she got strong, I just took her on a bigger circle (maybe half the arena) and let her gallop some. Remember, we're trying to relax in a new place, not do a dressage test. When she settled and was more or less listening to me, I dismounted and took her back to her friends. I think this is important. She needs to learn that she goes to this arena to work, then goes back home. Once she figures it out, I think the anxiety will disappear.

IZZY:
Izzy is cut from a different cloth than her mother. She likes to gallop, but she doesn't have momma's ability to focus or her almost tireless gallop. Thus, I needed to get her accustomed to working in the new arena without wearing her out. I can wear out her body long before her brain and that's a bad situation. Instead of turning Izzy loose to run and look at stuff on her own, I put her on the lunge line. We just started walking the perimeter of the arena together. When she stopped, pricked her ears, and snorted at something, I'd let her look at it. When she looked away, I'd ask her to walk a 5ish meter circle around me and past the scary thing. When she could walk the circle without changing pace or gait, we would continue walking the rail. It probably took half an hour to get all the way around, but it was worth it. We finished that off by lunging both ways, w/t/c just to get her going forward and listening to me.

She didn't offer any real disobedience, so I hopped on. I'll confess that we only went right today because the wind is still ripping through here and I didn't want to push her too hard, but she was really good and almost relaxed, so we did some walk/trot/canter transitions and then I got off. I untacked her at my car (since we don't have the tackroom area set up yet) and then put her halter on and took her out in the field to graze. She only whinnied to her friends once while I had her out in the arena, and not at all while she was grazing.

What a day!

Maybe Pictures?

Still having picture issues. Oh well. Cassie is settling in nicely and I have high hopes for a ride tomorrow, but Izzy is acting like a total nut (whenever she can drag her face out of the tall grass), so we'll see where that goes. I'm sure a full day to look around will improve her outlook substantially. I would have ridden Cassie today, but it started pouring rain and the indoor has a bunch of crap in it while some stuff gets worked on, so I'll have to wait. Besides... I'm not sure Cassie's ever been indoors. She didn't do the doom bubble.

After walking Izzy around and watching her freak out, I decided to turn both girls out in the arena together. The runs that they will live in aren't quite done, so they're staying semi-peacefully in the round pen together. (Yes, we have a roundpen now. I'm taking a bit of peevish delight in occupying it which annoys someone I'm not a fan of. Still, it's temporary. Tomorrow I'll hopefully get things straightened out.)

So, here are the hooligans themselves.
Izzy's fabulous butt. Admire.

This was towards the end of her racing around madly. She was tired and wanted to come see me. Behind her, you can see the wall of the indoor arena.

Look, no hooves!

Sadly, I don't have many cool pictures of Cassie from yesterday. In my defense, Cassie is way fast and hard to take pictures of.

I'm kind of impressed by what Izzy's doing here. I'm not sure I ever want to ride it. I'm also not super excited by the play equipment next to the arena. Seems like all kinds of fun that I'm not sure I want to have. Still, the fencing (railroad ties with metal rails) is solid and free of sharp edges.

Cassie and Izzy make a lap. Cassie, an OTTB to the core, is balanced and fast with an amazing recovery time. Izzy pretends to be a dressage horse, albeit a wee bit downhill. The sand piles in the background will be spread over the arena. Oh, and I should mention that our old arena was like 90 x 120 or something. This one is pretty dang big.

Izzy thinks that weeds growing in the arena is one of the best things ever. Cassie thinks that getting out and running around is the best thing ever. I have to say I'm happy with Cassie's attitude, but I do think Izzy will get it together.

Exciting Times

I finally did it. I made the trek out to the new barn location. I hadn't been before because I've been busy and it's a long ways away and the move seemed so far away.

Well. Now the move is supposed to be this weekend and I'd still never seen it. I'm still busy, but I made the (very long) run out to the property this afternoon. This is my only quibble with the old thing. The current location is 22 miles (round trip) for me. It's about 15 minutes each way, depending on traffic. The new location is WAY out. It's amazing and there are trails and all that, but it's going to be a much longer drive. Fortunately, it's out on country roads with few stops signs and comfortable speed limits, so I should be getting maximum fuel efficiency.

Also, I'm going to be out of town this weekend. I'm secretly hoping that the horses don't get moved until Monday, so Izzy and I can go exploring together, but we'll see what happens.

That said, here are some pictures.

Ok, no. There are no pictures. I have them, but either blogger or my computer is choosing not to upload them and I don't have time to sort it out. Have a great weekend! I'll try again Monday.

Making Plans

I feel much better today, but Izzy was still very up and stiff going to the left. I think it's partly because she's stiff on her right side. When we go right, she stretches through her left side, but she's probably hollowing her left side just a bit. When we try to go left, she's stiff/sore, and doesn't want to stretch her left side.

At least, that's my opinion. I finally understand what a wonderful dressage clinician tried for years to drill into my head at least. She'd be thrilled, if a bit dismayed that it took me so long to get here.

There is probably more going on that I'm aware of. I know my equitation isn't what it once was, so now that we're working on refining the aids, things that I did that didn't matter now matter a lot. With that in mind, I'm on the schedule for a lesson next week, or sooner if someone else cancels. Cathy owes me a couple lessons anyways for working while she was out of town, so this should be good.

It's also possible that this is like Izzy's rearing on the lunge. We'd work through it, then it would come back, then we'd work through it, then it would come back... every time we worked through it, she understood a little more, and now she hasn't done it in quite a while. (Knock on wood.) At any rate, if she's not going forward, there is absolutely no point in trying to push her into jumping, so we're just waiting again. I was really hoping to get her started this fall, then let her have the winter off, then pick it up again next spring, but it's more important that she understand the basics well than that she can half do a bunch of advanced moves.

Oh, horses.

New Idea

As I was perusing craigslist the other day, I found an ad for boarding at a facility with an indoor arena. Now don't misunderstand me; I love my trainer, love my barn, and ever like most of my fellow boarders. That said, it sure would be nice to be able to ride in the winter when the weather is crap, since we do not have an indoor arena. Out of curiosity, I emailed the people and googled their facility.

It actually looks nice and they sound competent. According to their email, they provide all the services that we get now (feeding, mucking, turnout). I'm intrigued. I wouldn't switch barns permanently, especially because they specialize in gaited horses, which while interesting, doesn't really get us anywhere. It would be so wonderful, though, to have somewhere to ride in Jan/Feb and maybe March, while the weather is rotten.

So... I'm going to go visit on Wednesday, I think. If I like the facility, the people, and everything feels right, and they end up having a spot for us at that time, we may be trying something new. I'd probably still work for Cathy to hold my spot at her barn, but the facilities aren't that far apart, so commuting between them shouldn't be a problem.

Any recommendations for questions to ask?