Horse Pictures Everywhere

Deep breath. Here goes "ammy horse ownership, round 347". 

HAI INTERNETZ

I was kinda coasting along with training rides and not going to the barn, but as discussed, that got prohibitively expensive and then the whole lease option did not pan out.

The current plan is that I'll just create time in my schedule to ride 3x a week.

Yes by magic.

JK. I'm working with a supportive SO and a constant level of high-functioning anxiety, coupled with a lucky break about not having to travel for work as much lately.

Straight up, I cannot (CANNOT) do the 6-7x a week rides and lessons and shows and clinics and all the shit I used to. It's just not a thing. I also cannot spend $$$ to buy custom Ottos from Germany tho my strong suit has always been bargain hunting and my weakness has always been collecting horse shit.

So.

We're finding a new normal.

I picked three days a week to make an appearance.

I have a fantastic barn buddy who can meet me out there more often than not to help motivate both of us.

And.

I'm mixing it up. We jumped for the first time the other day. Zoe LOVED it. LOVED. Like. Forward going. Taking me to the fences. So honest. So adorbs.

Seriously guys. This mare. If I had any other horse right now, I'd just admit the timing in life is bad right now and I can't do it all, but she's the once in a lifetime sort of horse that literally makes everything easy, so here we are.

oh hi jumping position. cool you're still around.

I've been playing in the jump saddle because I feel more successful that way and less like an abject failure. (Dressage is brutal, ok?) Today I threw the dressage saddle on to see if my sad, non-existent riding muscles wanted a workout. 

Fun fact: I actually rode better than expected.

lil baby mare starting to grow up

That's not to say it was great, but more that I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to stay balanced and hold my position and ride accurately based on a decent baseline level of fitness, even though said fitness is not from riding horses. 

It's all a work in progress. 

I literally couldn't be getting through it with a better mare and hey, any day that ends like this:

Really can't be all bad. 

My phone is full of horse pictures again.

The Terrible Fives: Baby Draft Mare Style

So last year I get this absolutely fantastic baby horse who is the champion of all things baby horse. She's calm and honest and straightforward and adorable and sweet and fun and brave and yeah basically I think she's perfect.

can you even? you cannot.

But anytime I said, "she's four" to other people, I straight up got the JUST YOU WAIT FOR THE TERRIBLE FIVES.

Which like. 1) Whether or not I'm having fun with my horse does not impact the amount of fun you can have with yours, so chill TF out about that. It's not like there's a finite fun pile and my heaping portion is taking away from yours. 2) While horses certainly start to push boundaries once they understand them, the whole point of ZB is that she's not evil or fried, so while yes, some resistance is expected, it's not like she's going to turn into some horrific hellion harpie.

well i mean. this aside lol. 

Now my baby mare is the dreaded five. She's been in training for a while and she's starting to really understand what we're asking her and where the boundaries are.

I've gotten a couple texts from trainer lately indicating that ZB has been less than 100% foot perfect. Which is still like 95% foot perfect, which I think is pretty damn good.

But hey. After spending most of a week out of state, it was time to hop on and reassess what was going on.


If you're not a video watcher (like me!), here's the relevant stills:

R LOOK AT CHAMPION BABY MARE

Her good moments were really super. 

R SHOW MOM HOW ZB R CANTER CHAMPION

Yup. 

She was cracking me up. She juuuuust figured out how to put the pieces together in terms of canter being an expected behavior under saddle so now she's like "HOKAY MOM I R CANTER LIKE GOOD BABY" and then after 1-4 strides she's like "R BERRY TIRED PLZ TO STOP NAOW HOKAY". 

But like. Constantly. Before I snagged this video, I couldn't get ten strides of trot without popping into the canter. Also #babyhorseproblems, we can't really canter and steer yet. 

R NEED COOKIES NAOW

I mean, when your baby mare "acting out" is just her being proud of herself for learning something hard? 

That's basically the cutest thing ever. 

Oh and this is what her good moments look like right now:

omfg baby mare champion

I was going to write a sarcastic comment here about "too bad she's not more fancy", but again after almost a week out of town, I came home and got on my baby mare with zero prep and had a super excellent ride and yeah... ZB is the best. I adore her. That is all. 

The Very Best Lady

I'm a little bit struggling with blog content right now just because things with ZB are so good. 

our take on handgrazing

I go to the barn. She whinnies at me like an actual Disney horse. I pet her and kiss her and feed her cookies and we toodle around and everything is awesome.

champion trail lady

We've been exploring the ditch bank together. I know from ZB's previous owner that she tends to be a bit herd bound, so I'm getting her confident going out in groups and working on installing buttons in the arena, and eventually I expect to have a calm, confident partner on solo trail rides.

And she might be that now.

tour guide!

But why go alone when you can take a friend?

she actually thought up this one

Even when we're hanging out at the barn--I try to find unusual things to address like standing on a random board or climbing in the sand pile or moving jump standards and opening gates from the saddle.

And like.

I can't phase her. Lil lady is brave and smart and curious and wonderful and I don't even get worried about weird shit anymore because I know we're going to be fine and we'll get through everything together.

OH HAI INTERNET FRENDZ

I mean sometimes I get all serious and am like "ZB WE DO THE DRESSAGES" and she is like "HOKAY MUM I JUST BE PERFECT THEN" so like after 20 minutes, I'm thrilled and then I feel like we pretty well covered everything I expect out of her right now.

whoops apparently no recent dressage media

She's a nice moving little lady with a solid go button and she's 110% try every single day, so she's a total blast to work with. The other day we did w/t/c transitions on the bit and some baby leg yields and yeah color me impressed. She's already borderline the best dressage horse I've spent time on and she makes it so much fun.

I did get a text from trainer the other day telling me that ZB had been naughty. APPARENTLY she tried to stop and visit every time a new friend came in the arena.

Cough.

I'd plead innocence on that one, but my barn buddy was sitting right there and almost fell off her horse laughing like "GEE WHIZ I WONDER WHO TAUGHT HER THAT".

So uh.

#itsme

i taught her other things too ok?

The snow is melting off the mountains and I'm lining up people to go trail riding with. It's weird for me to be excited about attacking new challenges and not think I might die, but here I am and it's a total blast.

The Expert's Guide to Toodling

A large percentage of the time I spend in the saddle is what I call "toodling". I field enough questions about what exactly that means that I now give you the definitive expert toodling bible.

love this pic

What (is toodling):

Toodling is undirected meandering, generally on a loose rein, with loosely defined goals and limited rider input.

Why (is this different than hacking):

When someone says they're hacking their horse, they generally mean they are riding outside the arena in some sort of purposeful way. Toodling is in or out of the arena and while sometimes yes you're going in a direction with a purpose, you're also not hitting a step goal or fitness angle.

toodle time!

When (is toodling appropriate):

All toodles all the time. I mean, not really, but horses are pretty smart creatures. I'm all for a couple "work" rides a week, but above and beyond that, it feels like drilling to me and I find drilling intolerable. Toodling is a way to spend time in the saddle, but relax and rest sore muscles. It keeps riding fun and engaging on both sides so saddle time isn't always work time.

bliss

Where (does one toodle):

Anywhere, really. In the winter, we toodle around the indoor and smoosh things. In the summer, we go all over the property and should I ever get my rear in gear to haul out somewhere, we can do that too.

ditch practice

Who (should toodle):

I'm a highly motivated go-getter type of person. It is SO EASY for me to fixate and drill and push and suck the fun out of relaxation. (I'm terrible at vacation. Sigh.) I like to have a clear delineation for "this is fun and easy and simple and just be happy". If you're a person who needs more structure in your life or you're prepping for an imminent Olympics, then toodling is maybe not for you.

How (do I start toodling):

Slip the reins. Hold the buckle in one hand. Look at the world around you. Pet the horse. Wander the fields. Find a buddy to laugh with. Ride under the stars. Stop and watch the sunset.

Courage was a horse that was deeply sensitive to pressure--I probably had to toodle 3-4 times for every 1 time I schooled him. ZB is totally not worried about pressure, but I want her to have time to develop strength and recover, so it's probably more of a 1:1 ratio (counting training rides, haha).

As for the looming question, "aren't you a shitty trainer because you choose to have fun with yourself instead of actually teaching them something," well, no. Walking on a loose rein is a skill. Standing still is a skill. Boldly navigating terrain is a skill. Learning to not micromanage is a skill.

picking incredible browbands is also a skill

And that is how you toodle like a pro.

On Rider Issues

I'm guessing most of you remember Courage.

110% solid sex appeal

Beautiful. Tempestuous. Not an ambi-turner.

He had this sweet move where we'd go to turn right and he'd drop his shoulder and bolt left.

For better or worse, I stayed on. HOWEVER. The mechanics of staying on with those G-Forces involved putting all my weight in the left stirrup and staying to the LEFT OF CENTER every time we thought about turning right. (You'll notice this biomechanically compounded the not-turning-right issue. I never said it wasn't a shitshow.)

plz send your hate mail directly to my spam folder

Which, whatever. We dealt with what we dealt with and I owe y'all a post on C and how he's doing and some final thoughts, but that's a story for another day. 

The point is that now I ride my glorious ZB who is the champion of the entire world. 

champion of outfits too

Fun facts: baby mare is a-ok with turning either direction. Canters on both leads. Has zero baggage about racetracks or pressure or whatever. See again: champion.

Now, I had someone else put the first 10 rides on her because I knew my brain wasn't up for it. AND. She gets twice weekly training rides by my trainer because again. I want her to be started well and not just haul around my baggage for me. 

and clinics!

I had to have a laugh the other night though. I was riding with a barn buddy in the indoor. 

not this night. a night we actually put on saddles. 

We walk/trotted around to the left and ZB was KILLING IT like the champion she is. 

And then we changed direction. 

INSTANTLY she was overbent to the right with her left shoulder popped out and completely unable to turn right. 

photo by Courage Has Opinions

I tried changing a number of things with my hands and reins and that didn't really help at all. 

I had to just stop and think about it a while. 

ZB is TOTALLY FINE for my trainer, which means it's a me issue. 

return of the dik dik

And oh yeah, the way I survived the HARD BOLT LEFT was to get all my weight to the left.

If we're keeping track, ZB is super round, which means my weight left means my saddle slides left.

It didn't even matter how much I told myself to step into the right stirrup--I'd just drop my weight into it, brace against it, and twist my saddle ever farther left. 

you're making dik dik jesus cry

I find the timing here interesting. This problem hasn't really cropped up for us until right now. I'd wager it's because we're stepping up the work. Zoe is performing at a similar level to Courage when he stepped down, which means my subconscious is kicking defense mechanisms into high gear from sheer force of muscle memory.

It's frustrating, because my conscious brain isn't even slightly rattled. I'm building a new thing with Zoe. She's an incredible force for good in my life and I enjoy every moment with her. 

also hats are itchy. fyi.

I have a plan. I have a trainer. We're going to fix this. 

But omfg body. GET ON THE BUS. 

Sometimes I Ride Too

If you're sitting over there like "yes SB is shopping and thinking thoughts about horses, BUT WHAT IS A ZB DOING PRECIOUS?", well, this post is for you.

SHE IS WEARING POM POM HATS

When we left off, Zoëbird had just figured out cavaletti and I took a lesson her.



 That's pretty much where we are.

Ha.

Before all y'all Zoëbird fans riot on me, the little lady is doing fantastic.

We're in the middle of a streak of unseasonably warm weather, which means we got to put in record-early first rides outside the tiny dark indoor.

Full disclosure: every time I rode C-rage outside the indoor the first time, he bolted with me. Baggage much? YES.

EARS OUTSIDE

I am pleased to inform you that ZB was a freaking CHAMPION OF OUTSIDE and like.

I R REAL TIRED MUM

Yeah one of our best rides lately and she didn't put a foot wrong. What's more, I'm starting to trust her and expect that and I was actually able to keep my stupid brain stuffed in it's head and things were good.

Then we had our second ride outside, so like honeymoon's over.

pic actually from first ride, but is representative

Yup still a champion. The one big thing I'm learning is that if I want to work her hard when it's above 40f, I will definitely need to clip her. I'd been avoiding clipping because I was so much enjoying not blanketing and she seemed super happy with our mild winter buuuuut that's just going to have to happen.

I do make an effort to mix things up, so I set a wee tiny jump for her.

Uh.

It's a work in progress.

10/10 cutest horse

I definitely wondered how it would be to start with a baby draftie type. Would the training be boring? Would my brain get on board?

What I've found is that my favorite part of horse training is learning to communicate with the horse, which I am already doing with Zoë on a basic level and she certainly has no shortage of things to communicate right back.

Plus.

I cannot say enough about how fun this little lady is. She shows up and tries her hardest every single day. She wants to do the right thing. She's sassy and opinionated and just a darn cool creature.

Training the Not-Hot Horse: Brain Problems

Fall weather is here. It's great, because I LOVE cloudy days and rain and cooler weather and pumpkin spice and hot tea and basically everything about it. 

Mirrors are amazing

Except.

After spending a good number of years on hot, reactive horses who, well, REACTED to wind and weather and things blowing around and strange noises, I'm realizing just how much baggage I drag in with me on any given night. I get tense. I spook at noises. I look for scary shadows.

ZB don't care. ZB is STONE COLD.

It's definitely a conscious process as I start to re-program myself to ride Zoebird. We've done a couple sessions in the indoor that were just groundwork or lunging, because I needed to know she'd be ok. (ZS Zoebird gives Zero Shits, obviously.) I have to remind myself to breathe, relax, look where I'm going, and just ride like it's any other day.

O HAI ZB INNA MIRROR

the great thing One of many, many great things about Zoe is that she's such a solid citizen. Gusting wind and pouring rain and creaky indoor noises and dark shadows and missing a day of turnout?

No problem.

It literally is any other day to her.

awwwww

For real. I turned her loose in the indoor (since no one else is crazy enough to ride on nights like that), and we just practiced our round pen ground work while she was foot perfect.

Then we saddled up and had a lovely ride, once I remembered to sit deep, not brace my knees, and keep breathing and moving. I mean. It was fine when I wasn't doing those things, but she isn't worried, so there's no reason for me to be.

unrelated selfie because the light is terrible at night

It sounds real weird to say I'm rebuilding my confidence on a four year old who was only backed this summer.

But I am.