Photo Perfection: Pro Edition

I am relatively public about my equine life and I get lots of feedback from people I've never met on the internet. Most of it is positive, some of it is weird, and some of it is super shitty. But I'm the one that chose to be public.

identity concealed to protect innocent parties

If you follow Courage Has Opinions on instagram, you've probably recognized fellow bloggers and their horses on there. Those shots were all sent to me to become memes and are used with the direct permission of the featured riders of the horses. (And if you want to be featured, definitely send along a fail. It keeps me pretty entertained).

Courtesy of Confessions of a Dressage Barbie

Those riders have something in common: they're not professionals. They don't have a special image to maintain. They aren't selling their skills to the equine public. There are certainly the rare pros who are ok with fail pictures, but most of those specialize in green horses with green moments and their market understands that green things happen. (Not all. Most.)

But that's just it: I CAN feature fail photos because I don't have anything riding on this. Pun somewhat intended. I don't get paid more or less or gain or lose clients because of anything to do with horses, but that is 100% the case with a professional. They are their business and the images of them that circulate the internet can definitely haunt them.

As a blogger, I try to be very upfront with the equine professionals I've worked with--my blog is about me and my horse. Period. I don't snitch on clients, I don't share gossip, and I most certainly don't run professionals through the mud without very, very, VERY good reason (seriously two years later that post is still getting comments). Now that Courage is in training with a professional (omg!), there are some different factors at play.

me in the irons

I have trusted Courage's training to my trainer and the work she is doing is not up for internet dissection. Period. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle this on the blog--I've very happy with the progress he's making. I'm very confident in my trainer's abilities and I love her way with horses.

But she didn't sign up to get attacked by the clown wagon and I DO NOT want there to be an assumption that if you ride a blogger's horse, you go on the internet. Her agreement is with me and Courage and that's all.

clown wagon represent!

So as I decide how to process and share (or not) this next section of our relationship, help me out. What are you standards for sharing pictures/media  of a professional on your horse? On their horse? What is their assumption of privacy? How do you chose to represent those in the equine industry on your personal blog or social media?

Teach Me Tuesday: Equine Professionalism

A common denominator for people who make their living with horses is that their schedule is at least in part set by thousand pound animals who sometimes have nothing better to do than screw up your carefully laid plans. True confession: sometimes my horse is the one doing the screwing and to everyone else whose appointment was behind or cancelled, I apologize.

also this picture is awesome

That's why I accept it when a call back is slow or an appointment is late and it's why I generally put up with things I would NEVER be ok with in the non-horsey world.

But at the same time, good business practices apply across all worlds and if I'm paying good money for a service, I want to actually receive the service.

and now he gets lunged hard before every farrier appointment

So where do you draw the line? What levels of tardiness, non-communication, or other less-savory business practices do you put up with in the horse world that you would not accept from a normal business person?

WELCOME TO HELL

never been so excited to be here

At the recommendation of my farrier, we pulled Courage's shoes for a cycle this winter. There are lots of advantages to doing that--letting the nail holes grow out and the hoof wall get stronger and the heels expand out and yadda yadda yadda.

What it came down to is that Courage has been on and off for six weeks because his poor tender OTTB feet were not so happy about the frozen ground in winter. Oh, and then it thawed and he started soaking them 24/7 in his muddy run. Guess how that went???

it helps a little when they sparkle

Exactly like you'd think. Someone doesn't have a run anymore.

Anyways. Farrier comes back tomorrow to put shoes on (YAY AND HOORAY I CAN'T EVEN WAIT OMG), and I just realized what that means for us:

A one way ticket back to bell boot hell.

Dammit.

fleecy bell boots

Don't get me wrong: as a confirmed tack ho, I have lots of bell boots in many different shapes, styles, and colors. It's a great collection.

It's just that it's a lot less fun when you're under strict instructions to use them at all times.

snowflakes and sparkles

I'm trying to tell myself it won't be all bad, but the truth is I probably can't use pull ons and just leave them alone until the mud dries up (June?) and until then, it's that same stupid drill, over and over and over.

Bell boots to ride.

Bell boots to turn out.

Bell boots to travel.

Bell boots to eat.

Bell boots to pee.

I can't be the only one. Who else has a permanent residence here?

Moving A Green Horse Up the Levels

He is the best at tiny panels

After my super awesome pictures from yesterday, several of the commenters raised an interesting point--Courage obviously has great form over fences and is plenty scopey--how soon do I move him up?




I've thought about it. There are a lot of different answers to that, so I've made a a helpful graph to illustrate the rates of speed at which a horse moves up the levels.

<----Slower         Faster---->

As you may have noticed, I tend not to push horses. Courage came off the track at the end of July last year, and we spent the whole fall putzing around and having fun. We did the ground poles at a local show and a baby cross county clinic (which doesn't count because we only jumped crossrails in an enclosed field). We worked on things like "not doing giraffe impersonations" and "going forward".

No more giraffe

And then he took a couple of months off.

When he came back this spring, I had a whole new horse. His body felt great and his brain had some idea of what to do, so we have progressed in leaps and bounds.

I also think our cross country weekend was really good for him--we got to ride twice a day and figure somethings out and just make pure, unadulterated progress.






My philosophy on training is to increase the pressure, then allow the horse to get comfortable before increasing the pressure again. I realize there's an element of the horse learning to deal with more pressure and running that line more closely, but I am nothing special as a horse trainer, so I prefer to go a little slower and take things easy because I'm the only one who has to pay if I screw up.

So to me, this shot from the other weekend shows a horse that is completely comfortable.

And yeah, so cute

And this shot from Monday shows a horse that is _very_ impressed with a jump.He's still plenty safe, but he's feeling the pressure of new questions.

He's tidy and clever and all is well. Because I want him to end up being a happy, fun, comfortable ammy hose (for me), I want to let him get comfortable with the height and level of fill that we're presenting him with before I move him up again.

So easy

Much like our flat work, it's going to get easier as we go on. It's already "clicked" for him that when I point him at a jump, he is to jump over it. Now I need it to click for him that even if the fill is scary, he's going to be ok.

This jump is actually taller than the panel or the barrels and he's just fine with it. I suspect in another ride or two, he'll be completely over everything we've introduced thus far.

New favorite picture

And then we'll introduce more. Oxers are on the list. Rails over barrels. Jumps in fields. Related distances. Bending lines. Triple bars. 

The list goes on.

Courage has a lot of aptitude for jumping. He's good at it and he enjoys it. He's a wicked smart horse and he tries his little heart out. As his owner/rider, my prerogative is to let him develop without pushing too hard and frying him. 

Good news for him, I am the best at not pushing horses.

He'll move up when he's ready. When we're both ready. I suspect it won't take too terribly long as long as I keep things fun and interesting. So yes, a more competent ammy or good pro could probably move him up a lot faster without frying him. I'm working within my specific knowledge base and set of limitations and everyone's having a good time. Seems like a plan to me.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Sooooo...

The chiropractor came out yesterday and I had him look at Izzy's saddle in relation to her back. The good news is that we have a problem which can be fixed. The bad news is that school is about to start ($$$) and I have a saddle that "doesn't really fit well"($$$).

Sigh.

At least I decided to go through with having him look at her, rather than leave her uncomfortable.

Anyways. I've checked the saddle numerous times, and it seems to fit. It clears her spine with a perfect three fingers all the way through. The panels make steady, even contact with her back. The only trouble was that after I got done riding, there was a slightly odd sweatmark kind of under the stirrup bar. Nothing to unusual, just not quite kosher. Cathy commented on it as well.

According to the chiro, the problem occurs because the saddle's tree goes like this: | | while her withers go kinda like this: ) ( . Because of that, her saddle bridges a little bit and puts pressure theoretically on her withers and back, though I've just noticed it on her withers. Either way, the saddle is too narrow for her shoulders. I'm inclined to think that this is the result of working her. When we started (and when I got this saddle), she had never really been worked. Now that her muscles are developing, things don't fit how they used to.

It's sad, really. I love my saddle.

I have already tried every non-dressage saddle in the tackroom on her. They don't fit. Wintecs, particularly, I don't like. (Which sucks, because that's what my other saddle is.) The wintec profile is just too curved for her, so the saddle is effectually a rocking chair. That's no good. I posted an ad on craigslist to see if anyone had a 17.5" close contact saddle with a wide tree to sell me, and I've had one response from a lady who has just the thing: a Barnsby Skleton. After looking it up online, I've come to two conclusions: 1) It looks like a fabulous saddle 2) Used ones are well beyond my budget.

Here's hoping the lady has no idea what her saddles are worth.

Speaking of budget, I'm thinking that if this (or another saddle) works, I could sell my current two saddles to make money/room for it. Izzy's not going to get narrower, so the close contact one is done and I never really liked the wintec. It was a nice first saddle, but now that I've had leather, I don't want to go back.

So if you were selling a saddle, would you do consignment through a tack store, craigslist, or another online listing? Or what?

Professionals

I know several people who I will not name that have within the past couple of years decided to become "professional" horse people. Now don't get me wrong; I definitely believe that if you've invested blood, sweat, and tears into a career with horses, and have spent time training with good trainers, doing what you want to do professionally and you now have lots of practical experience and want to help bring students and horses along, that's a good thing. Obviously, not everyone's background is going to look the same. So let's say you want to teach Hunter/Jumper riders and horses. In my book, that means you took lots of hunter jumper lessons. You showed hunter/jumpers successfully on the local level. You graduated from the local level and traveled in your region, still showing as an amateur. Now get this: you worked under a nationally-renowned trainer and showed successfully for let's say a year.

At this point, you may not be national trainer quality. You're almost certainly not. In fact, if you were, I would probably lose all faith in national-level trainers. But at this point, in my mind, you could come back to the local level and start coaching your students up through the levels while riding and training horses yourself.

The point is, you need to have done SOMETHING. I know horses are expensive. I know Idaho isn't frequented by many english riders of renown. If you're young and/or have the capability, get off your butt and go do something. I don't mean go to a local schooling show, though that is a start. If you expect me to respect you as a person and I trainer, I have to believe that you can do something and have done something worth while.

The people I was speaking of earlier now promote themselves as equine professionals, yet their only claim to anything is "I re-trained an ex-racehorse". Whoop de freaking doo. I did that too. I have over a decade of experience with horses from the ground up. I have successfully showed locally in H/J, eventing, dressage, and 4-H. I have started numerous young horses for my trained (who did do something before going pro), and she used to have me ride problem horses for her back before I started college. I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL. I know that. Just because I have some of the basic groundwork does not make me qualified. I'm getting to the "do something" stage. Maybe I'll go there. Maybe I won't. If I don't, I will not be setting up a shingle claiming that I'm qualified because I retrained an exracehorse. Even if I do, I'm not sure it's a job I'd want. I love horses, and I don't want to change that.


And on a related note:

Colored horse equipment.

I'm not talking about nylon halters and leads. I mean colored boots, colored wraps, colored pads, colored saddles, all that crap. While I'm not a fan of it, I do have some. When I was eventing, I bought royal blue splint boots and a royal blue saddle blanket for Cassie. That's the extent of it. I would like to upgrade the boots, but I'm not sure which direction Izzy will go yet, so it doesn't make sense to buy her anything sport-specific yet and they still work ok.

Seriously though, people. Show some respect for your sport. If you've spent any time reading the estimable Mr. George Morris, you will perfectly comprehend my position. These glaring colors distract from the turnout of the horse, look and are tacky, and have no place in english riding. When I see grown women riding around with zebra polo wraps IN A DRESSAGE CLINIC, all I can think is how completely out of place and classless it is.

Oh, and did I mention that zebra polo queen is pretending to be professional now? It rankles me.

I don't think I can do justice to my disgust today. Next time, maybe I'll talk about those co-dependent students who drive me up the wall.