New Faces, Old Problems

say hello to Bowie

I continue taking advantage of opportunities to sit on horses. Part of that is to broaden my skills as a rider. Part is because I want to suss out if I'm missing out on something in terms of horses. I mean. I know Courage isn't the easiest, but I need to know for me what I'm ok with. 

I'm learning a lot right now--for example, as much as I don't think Courage is an "ideal" rehab horse, other options aren't necessarily better. Courage is very much a horse where you need to sit still and stay out of his way. He's not a big mover and his back doesn't swing a lot naturally. 

and he really loves the velcro game his auntie taught him

It's not ideal for dressage. 

But. 

I think I got back to riding much more quickly because of it. The horse I sat on yesterday was a big-moving (for me, not compared to "big movement" horses) young warmblood gelding. And like. When said big, loose-moving horse loses his shit, it is very lost. VERY. Oh and also said horse is super quiet and normally totally fine, but horses are horses and sometimes you just have to run and buck and leap and spook like an idiot. Because horse.

and then i ride like a super defensive monkey

So it's not only a gauge of "what do I want to do" but also a range of "what nope responses am I okay with". 

Courage is a known quantity to me. I know he can't buck for shit. I know he'll bolt if he's scared, but I also know he's not a dick about it and he'll try to warn me first. He's not a spook. He doesn't spin (usually). I'm okay with those things (unless it's a show warm up in an open field by the road. Long story.) 

plus totes adorbs

Other horses certainly have less dramatic responses. The two lovely mares I rode were more like "ehhhhh I put my head up and nooooooo" and less "LEAVING NAOW BAI". That was a nice switch, but conversely, they were a lot more physical to ride. Which is not a bad thing. It's just a thing that rehab girl here has to think about.

oh no! she's a bit curled! 

I'm definitely becoming a better, more aware rider because of the opportunities I have right now. I'm incredibly grateful that I've gotten to sit on some legitimately nice horses and ride through my issues. 

And hours after my lesson, I'm sitting here trying to convince my back it doesn't have to be pissed about the big horse.  

It doesn't believe me. 

Help a Sister Out: Half Pad Problems

My guiding principle #1 on half pads is that they are a primarily trendy item and as long as they don't make your saddle fit worse, it doesn't much matter what type you're using. When Courage was scarily attempting jumping, we used an ogilvy half pad, because they're all the rage in that ring and I like being on trend. 

sheep represent

Then we switched over to dressage. DQs are big on dead sheep, so I snagged a mattes correction pad with shims for like $90 and have just rolled with it. Sans rolls. Ha! #halfpadnerdjoke

I have never noticed Courage care AT ALL about what half pad I put on his back, so in keeping with guiding principle #1, I haven't messed with it. Arguably, I could ride him without one and see what happens, but my brain just likes a little something extra in there because I don't trust myself enough as a judge of saddle fit and I feel better knowing there's some margin for error. (Noted: Courage is an EXCELLENT judge of saddle fit and as you would expect, lets me know when things are sub-optimal, so this is probably frivolous. You're just going to have to accept my human frailty on this point.)

so classic

HOWEVER, whilst tacking up the other day, I was futzing (it's a word??? who knew) with my much-used-shimmable-mattes and noticed that one of the shim pockets is creating a ridge of pressure under the panels of my saddle. I tried adjusting the pocket and screwing with the velcro, but it looks like the pad is just old enough that it's not going to cooperate with me. AKA, it's fine if I have shims in it (probably?), but since I don't, it's not quite laying flat, which means it might be causing me problems, which means it's in violation of principle #1.

And see, we're asking Courage to do hard stuff like lift his back and while he does settle in and do it eventually, it's a learning curve, it's going slowly, and my trainer has commented that he doesn't quiiiiiiite want to give in and lift through his withers. That's probably mostly a training thing, but if my half pad was stabbing me in the back, I'd hesitate too.

so. what to do.

hair hair everywhere and it's covered in dust ewwwwww

I rode Courage this past weekend in his jump ogilvy pad under his dressage saddle, which to me is a very non-flattering look. Of course, I'm also anti-winter-fuzzies, so basically this entire picture is just nails on a chalkboard to me.

If you separate out how I felt about the dust+hair combo (SO GROSS MUST CLIP OMG), I actually had a really superb ride. Which is interesting.

This brings us to options.

1) The mattes problem is all in my head. Carry on with what we have and assume it won't cripple the princess. This is obviously a stupid idea and is pre-discarded. I'm just listing it here so you know I considered it.

2) Use jump ogilvy. Carry on like it's not aesthetic hell. This is obviously a temporary idea. It needs to end. The sooner, the better.

3) Acquire an non-shimmable, non-corrective mattes pad. This eliminates the pressure ridge problem by not having pockets. We stay on-trend for the dressage ring. The major drawback is that this is the $230 answer to the $90 question. Or the $210 answer, if we go without rear trim. Thoughts on rear trim?

hmmmm rolls

4) Be enough of a nerd to know that Blueberry (yes, THE Blueberry) has actually eschewed sheepskin in favor of space age gel. His particular model is lined with sheepskin, which is $ more and seems hard to clean, but there's also an option that's cheaper and simple to clean that would just disappear under my saddle. In addition, the non-sheepskin option would potentially be the $100 answer to the $90 problem, so that's something. There's even a $50 knockoff I could almost justify instead, but if I'm changing brands, I want to get the nicest thing and evaluate it on it's own merits, not sort of half ass it and then be pissed it doesn't work.

it's definitely a look.

5) Explore other options. I mean, I'm actually really interested in the Invictus half pad innovations--if the rumors are true (and I've handled one, so I believe them), the pad essentially eliminates pressure points by distributing weight, which is basically what we're trying to do anyways. I'd buy one RIGHTNOW, but this is the $280 answer to the $90 problem. If you're keeping track, that's by far the most expensive option we've considered so far. It's also not particularly attractive, but I guess that's neither here nor there if it actually does what it claims.

the sadly unattractive invictus

6) Go ogilvy/ecogold/equifit routes. This is another one I'm just listing for your benefit. I've had the first two and handled the third. I kinda lump them all in the same heap. They're fine, but they're not on-trend enough in my ring to satisfy guiding principle #1 and I'm not excited about them.

equifit pretties

Ideally, someone will pipe up and say "hey give me $100 and I will give you this invictus half pad", but that seems like wildly unrealistic speculation at this juncture. Talk to me blog land--what are your half pad solutions/opinions/ideas? What else should I be considering? Do you deeply hate one of the options listed?

Try and Fail: Follow Up

Because my addictive personality requires that I obsess over everything and because I realize I a little bit sounded like a princess in my post about Courage and I having troubles, I thought I would clarify a few points here. 

this is good

1) I have a plan. In consultation with an actual vet, Courage is getting his teeth done hopefully this week.

In fact, before consulting said actual vet, I consulted Dr. Google, DVM (through COTH, source of all knowledge), and ran across this factoid:

Teeth problems would (maybe) explain a lot of things. Fingers crossed on this one for sure.

1b) I have taken other advice under consideration--we're ruling out teeth first. Might be behavioral and we can address that as well. Might also be something much worse and scarier, but we'll cross that bridge when/if we get there. My money is on teeth.

2) The showing thing.

clearly not showing

I made a comment that there were no recognized shows for me if this doesn't resolve something like instantly.

That comment was made for a very specific reason.

There are two (count 'em) recognized shows in my area. One is in May, entries due ASAP and the other in in June, entries due shortly. So while I have no doubt we'll have this whole thing sorted out this summer sometime, there exists a very real possibility that it won't be sorted in time to make either show worthwhile for me. Plus, May show will be a very large chunk of change for me and I simply can't justify it if Courage is a wild card.

Which he is. More than normal. Right now.

3) We all know it's not proper obsessing unless it necessitates a tack change.

hm

So we're trying that too. I can't make the dentist happen any faster than the current rate (glacially slow, if you're wondering), but I can try new toys.

How are y'all feeling about the drop?

Saddle. Poo.

I guess it was bound to happen.

Courage has been offering really good work lately. He's built an honest-to-goodness start of a dressage neck. He's filling out and muscling up and yeah.

I've never loved the sweat marks under his dressage saddle. (Can you guess where this is going?)

because his neck isn't the only thing changing

I've sort of closed my eyes and pretended everything was fine for a while, but we recently got a classy new pad. I used it for like 5 days in a row, and there's no denying it.

The sweat marks are worse. Dry spots are larger.

I mean, it's not catastrophic yet. He isn't exhibiting signs of back soreness or objecting to the saddle/girth, BUT he is a total princess and I know the fit could be better. A lot better.

hot ass horse

And I know I'm money ahead to get out in front of this before it gets worse.

It really does make sense. Courage has added all kinds of muscle lately and we're finally pulling out of a summer-long awkward phase. (You notice how you haven't seen him without a saddle in months? Yeah, that's why.)

I tried to placate myself with a new, fancy half pad, but no. It's not enough right now.

it's a great outfit

We've officially scheduled an appointment with the saddle fitter. Fingers crossed she can make some easy tweaks, because this is one of two dressage saddles I've ever sat in that doesn't tip me forward.

Deep breath. Good news is, there's a saddle fitter in our area now. That's new.

Linear is for Losers or "How My Lesson Went"

hey look! a stretch!

It was pointed out to me that some people think Courage is perfect because I only ever post nice pictures of him. (No one thinks I'm perfect because LOL you've all seen pics of me.)

Regardless. He isn't. He's a cool horse with a great brain, a ton of talent, and stubborn streak, and sometimes things don't go according to plan. You saw the outtakes yesterday, so here's the story behind them.

Courage ran for 6+ years as a successful racehorse. He's been off the track a little over a year and a half, and the process of changing his body from racehorse to sporthorse is a long, ongoing, and sometimes painful thing.

So I had him adjusted before his dressage clinic, and then proceeded to have two spectacular rides, a day off, and then possibly the best ride I've ever had on him.

And then he was a little wonky.

And then he was a little more wonky in our jump lesson. (Remember that weird "can't turn right thing" before the jumps? That is weird.)

just fine

So we warmed up ok for our dressage lesson. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't very good.

We worked on some stuff with my position and effectiveness and that was all fine and dandy. Courage felt... fine...

I mean, he wasn't bad by any stretch. He just wasn't really applying himself or making big improvements.

so focused

We did left lead canter and I actually had some really nice moments. Not spectacular or amazing, but soft and rideable and engaged. It's amazing what happens when I break up the tension and use my body properly, right?

Ya know.

Courage was being good. I was happy with him.

And then we "tried" to go right.

The quotes might be more accurate if I put them like this: and then we tried to go "right".

so dramatic

Regardless. Courage pretty much lost his good lil' mind to the right at the trot. He blew through my aids and galloped sideways at the fence and nearly trampled our intrepid photographer (who had to climb the fence to get out of the way).

I rode through it a few times, but I wasn't really getting anywhere other than to the fence sideways and in a hurry, which has actually never been a goal of mine.

So I asked C to get on. I probably win "least favorite client of the week". Oh well.

When he's good, he's really good

C rode through the hijinks and worked on some aids while Courage continued to escalate to levels I hadn't seen from him before.

And then C stopped and told me that to her, it felt like a pain thing.

Which makes sense because 1) while Courage can be an asshole, he's not that committed to the thug life and 2) given all his recent work changes, body-soreness, stuck spots, and pain are part of the transition.

I finished the lesson with 2 (count 'em) successful circles to the right at the walk and trot and promptly made an appointment with Courage's main bodywork person.

We'll be back at 'em, but not until after the appointment. Apparently.

The Screw Ups

yes more of this

I know I post lots of beautiful pictures of my horse dressaging like a pro. I love beautiful pictures and Courage is doing really, really well given his life history and my ability to teach a sport I barely know at all.

That's just one side of it. Sure, there are pretty moments and breath taking progress and and the fun times.

The hard things and the challenges and the failures are WAY less fun to talk about and post pictures of.

That last shot exemplifies where Courage is with his left lead canter. Yeah, I look like a hunter rider (but yay I'm effective so w/e), but Courage is soft with his hind end engaged and in a great balance and frame for a wanna-be training level horse.

brace ALL THE THINGS

And trust me, I wish that was our normal.

It isn't.

To the right, Courage is a whole different horse. I don't know if it's a right hand/right rein problem or a left hind problem or a chiro problem or a race horse problem or even a structural asymmetrical-ness in me. Maybe all of them together.

Maybe something else entirely.

if it was our first canter under saddle, it would be great. it's not.

I've been really frustrated about this particular issue lately, because I've attacked it from every angle I know how to and NOTHING has made a difference. I know one side is going to be harder than another, but does it really have to be this ugly?

I was debating training rides and gadgets and various expensive ideas, but I wanted one last ride to rule out poor riding. I took Courage in the indoor. That's a much smaller space, so the wall would serve to steer for me and I could just focus on riding.

We started very basic-- walk on the buckle to working walk. Then working walk to free walk. Then walk to trot to stretchy trot to walk to trot.

mid transition, but so balanced

Every step in a slight shoulder fore. Any resistance and we came back to walk to start at the bottom again.

Wouldn't you know, after about a solid 40 minutes of work, I had a LOVELY trot/canter transition to the right. We immediately took a walk break on the buckle as a reward, and then we started over again.

The next time only took about 15 minutes.

And then we were done.

this used to be hard

It's not exciting to read, though it's quite interesting to ride. It's just thorough, slow, methodical training.

It's teaching Courage that yes, he can canter on the right lead without flinging his head in the air and running.

He can slow down and balance and carry himself from behind.

In all fairness, he did not know that before.

And it's really hard for him.

he does have a great face

I don't usually post ugly right canter pictures because no one wants to look at them, but it's an important part of our journey. This is Courage and I, learning and progressing at our own pace.

I'm not a dressage expert or any kind of trainer. He's a talented and opinionated horse who refuses to be forced in to anything. We'll never compete on a national level or make some sort of team or set a speed record for advancing up the levels, and we aren't trying to.

At this point we'll be lucky to pull out a decent training level test this year and I still don't know how I feel about showing over jumps.

I don't want to get to caught up in showing the pretty part of riding to blogland and neglect the challenges. Screw ups aren't usually brag-worthy (hopefully), but they still happen. And someday, we will have a right lead canter to be proud of.

Old Cripple Woman Here

shown: flex composites

Soooooo about a week ago, I popped on the jump tack. I had switched my regular irons (equiwing composite flex model) to my dressage saddle and just borrowed some non-flex composites for the jump saddle until I settle the whole novelty stirrups dispute. ;-)

All I was planning to do was a little two point for myself and trot through some raised cavaletti for Courage.

Off we went.

For like 45 seconds.

Just us looking attractive

My ankles started burning. My thighs seized up. I made it maybe two minutes AT THE POSTING TROT before I had to walk and drop my stirrups to let my legs recover.

The whole ride was probably 25 minutes. More than 50% of it was walking without stirrups.

When I got off, I was crippled. My legs burned all night and my ankles were about to peace out.

I mean, I knew I hadn't ridden in jump tack in a few weeks, but this seemed a little extreme. I spent YEARS without sitting in a dressage saddle. Why this? More importantly, how in the world was I going to jump if I couldn't even trot a lap around the arena without wanting to die?

Let's look at this pic for a while

I wanted to flat in jump tack Saturday just to see if I'd have the same problem. It was cold and I also wanted to hide in the tackroom for a while, so I switched my flex irons back over to my jump saddle.

And um.

Guys.

It was totally 100% fine. Walk/trot/canter, whatever. No pain. No burn. No failing joints. No old lady cripple problems after the ride.

I jumped both days in my flex irons and I'm not even remotely sore despite not having jumped since October.

On the one hand, that makes me really happy. On the other hand, I now apparently require flex irons just to stay alive. I'll find out this week whether I can dressage in normal irons without dying. Don't hold your breath, I guess.

5 Things that Make January Go By Faster

1) my horse looking dramatic in jump tack

I'm having trouble writing solid content because all I want to do is whine about how much I hate this time of year. Even with the indoor, it's cold and dark and we never see the sun (yay freezing fog ALL THE TIME) and just say no to winter, folks.

So instead, I'm sharing five pictures that make me happy right now.

2) riding around with no reins on said dramatic day

3) the faces he makes when I'm not feeding him

4) Micaylah coming over to make bridle charms

5) screwing around with making fabric bonnets. that sparkle.

 So yeah, not exactly riveting. I'm mean, I'm so crazy go nuts on winter that I literally set up a craft night and went to the fabric store all of my own volition. AND I'm actually crazy excited about my fabric bonnet and enjoying whacking out a prototype and making patterns and figuring out the fit.

ME. I DON'T CRAFT.

Until now. You win again, January.

2013 Year in Review!!

Probably my favorite aspect of having a blog is just the ability it gives me to look back over my life and see where I've been and where I'm headed. I love this time of year--I look through my posts from the past year and pick out one per month that really summarized what that month was about. I usually try to do a goals wrap up, but that was an epic fail this year for reasons completely out of my control. Instead of worrying about that, let's look at what happened in 2013!

I hate winter

January: 

This goes down as the second most miserable month of my life and I was I was being hyperbolic. I was laid off from my office job and picked up full time hours at the barn just in time for Idaho to experience three weeks of record breaking cold. Highs in the single digits, lows below zero, and I was struggling just to put gas in my car. Did I mention the barn had no power and the hydrants all froze and I was hand-carrying buckets to all 17 horses? Here's a post I wrote just before the cold really got bad: Winter Sets In.

Best Valentines

February: 

Basically I just appreciated what Cuna and I had going. I wrote One Year and One Day to celebrate our first anniversary. The real take away from February was just reflecting on what great things Cuna had been able to do for me.

From the day we met <3

I realized the value of a schoolmaster and overcame some lingering mental blocks about what I perceived as failures on my part with the mare I sold last year. Here's the post that sums up my feelings on the matter: Honesty and Horsemanship

handwalking is not his favorite

March: 

Cuna and I were taking some dressage lessons and advancing quickly. In Fancy Pants Dressage, I talk about the progress we were making. My blogging was down that month--Cuna was having some odd problems that didn't make sense. Little things here and there were popping up. None of them were concerning on their own, but putting the pieces together wasn't making a lot of sense. Cuna tied up on a trail ride in March, summed up in the post: A Scare

flicky toes

April: 

More changes. Cuna and I kept working hard at the dressage with an occasional jump lesson. Elbows on Fire is a post where I talk about our breakthroughs. I got his hocks injected again and he was in fine form. His body looked like a proper dressage horse and his neck was incredible.

hacking out

We were also getting pretty burned out on arena work. He and I started hacking down the roads around the barn to visit friends and meet new people. I could trust him in the worst of conditions and one of our friends took pictures of him in her field, chronicled in Coversation Starter.

more handwalking

May: 

The shit hit the fan in May. Cuna was brilliant in our jumping clinic and exceptional at our dressage show. That was the last time he was sound. Again, little things weren't adding up and I blogged about it in Stuck.

His team at work

After his public successes, Cuna continued to get progressively more lame despite all the management changes that were made. We made a joint appointment with his vet and farrier and took him in. It wasn't all smooth sailing. I summarized the appointment in Cuna Update.

a moment in time

June: 

There was nothing easy about June. Cuna was trying to get better, but it was a very long process. He made strides at first and we took his picture in Happy. Shortly after that, he regressed. I kept away from the show barn as much as possible, because it was just too hard to watch everyone else doing what I knew Cuna couldn't.

still together

I spent in a new part of the horse industry: the racetrack. It went from a fun night out with friends to showing up to help out several times a week and get my horsey fix as noted in At the Track. At the end of the month, I made the decision to retire Cuna instead of torturing both of us over something we couldn't change in the post Towards Healing.

after a bath

July: 

It started out slow. We hit record high temperatures while Cuna hung out in the shade at his new home. In The New Normal, I talk about the dealing with the emotions of letting go of a career for the horse I love the most. His shoes got pulled and he just got to be a horse with no plans or goals.

meet Courage!

I spent increasingly more time at the track. I was having fun out of the saddle and things were going along just swimmingly until I accidentally ended up bringing a second horse home. It was the beginning of a more hopeful era summed up in The Road Goes Ever On and On.

important Cuna stuff to do

August: 

Courage came to join us, but Cuna was still my main man. He was taking it slow in the field, which I talk about in Can't Forget Cuna.

bay ears!

Courage came straight off the track and started under saddle. He continued to prove that he was the second most awesome horse on the planet by going on field trips to group lessons and getting his first set of real horse shoes which he tried to eat in Taking Off the Gym Shoes. He learned important skills like eating cookies and lunging and was the first bright spot for me all summer, which I talk about in One Month of Awesome.

first show!

September: 

I was dealing with the emotions of letting Cuna retire. In Honesty, I talk about how hard it was for me when our relationship changed. Courage was helping me stay focused and upbeat. He demonstrated his road-warrior brain when he didn't even flinch about going to his first horse show in Showtime for Courage.

artsy fun!

Based on our success there, I took him to his first ever XC clinic and wrote the Wrapup here. As long as we were out and about, I also took him to a big group lesson so we could practice having horses go by and jumps fall down. He rocked my world in Only the Best Idea Ever.

love them

October: 

In keeping with our up tempo pace, Courage and I participated in the two point challenge. I talked about the year for Cuna and why I decided to retire him.

SEE ALL THE THINGS

Courage continued to impress as he went on his first ever trail ride and acted like a total pro. Ellie came out to visit with us. She got to be in the Cuna photoshoot and she did the first ever proper pictures of Courage.




Courage got his own micklem bridle and he finally started to figure out this whole jumping thing.

November: 

We carried on, full speed ahead! We went on another trail ride with an exciting adventure. Courage started to really get this jumping thing down. He got clipped for the first time as a sporthorse and rocked out with his stars. We also had to work through some residual groundwork issues.

the best at lessons

We hit the lesson circuit hard at the end of the month.

legit cold lesson

December: It's been really quiet this month. We did get to ride one time. I talked about my past and why I make some of the choices I do in Amateur Hour. The boys are taking some well-deserved time off due to absolutely miserable weather that refuses to end.

love this

It's been a wild ride! This year went absolutely nothing like I planned or expected it to. Let's face it: I started the year working full time at a show barn with Cuna all set to move up and ended the year sans barn job but with two horses.