Flatwork and Bodywork and Something Works

Daytime silhouette

Courage is a touchy guy, but he generally takes good care of himself. This past shoeing cycle was a little dicey--not only was I dealing with bad feet, but he just has some weird on/offness that looked more like body soreness than a deeper problem. I called our bodywork lady and got a time set up for Monday.

When she came out, she asked what specifically I'd been dealing with.

"He's funky about his right side," I said.

Funny shot, but I liked it

She started working around his poll. "Well that's why he can't turn right," she said as she got some big releases.

And then six inches farther back "and that".

Another six inches "and that".

And so on pretty much all the way down to his sacroiliac area, which was fine. Yay for good hips, I guess.

It did seem to help.

It was probably forty minutes or an hour of solid working on the little bay horse, but it did seem to help him. He covered more ground where he stood and was willing to hold his back legs farther apart. (Don't misunderstand--he still is and always will be narrow behind. His back feet just don't have to be, you know, touching or something.)

After all the work she did, she wanted the little man to have a solid 48 hours of rest. Wednesday was his first day back. I took him for a hack in the field in his jump tack, figuring we'd just do some long and low at all three gaits.

Look at us not falling towards the arena fence.

My immediate impression was "whoa, don't remember his back swinging this much".

After a good long walk, I picked up the reins and Courage tried to stick his head up. I put my leg on, he went on the bit, and the rest of our ride was pretty much magical.

He really stepped things up to a whole new level. I haven't been able to get this kind of connection in his rubber mullen before. As long as I kept him forward, Courage was stepping up from behind and going into the contact like a pro. He moved off both legs and was incredibly pleasant.

I'd say he's pretty fancy

Courage is starting to feel less green and more like a horse that's just straight up fun to ride. I'm thrilled with my horse and happy with how I rode and completely jazzed for how he's going to look when this sort of correct work is an every day occurrence.

Yay for flat work and body work!

Perfect Sit of Sweden Bridle Review

the pretties

I maybe possibly went shopping. I KNOW I'M ON A BUDGET AND BLAH BLAH BLAH BUT THE 900FBPONY MADE ME DO IT.

So go check out her blog and assign lots of blame.

Anyways. I own a lot of bridles (no shame) and I was sort of running out of things that interested me. Figure 8? own it. Plain cavesson? Have two. Micklem? Got it. Crank? Yes. Normal crown? Yes. Monocrown? Yes. Laced reins? Rubber reins? Soft grip reins? Web reins? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

So what's a tack ho to do when she has the shopping itch and all the bridles?

Courage needed it too

Why, shop overseas of course!

Amanda (the bitch) turned me on to Perfect Sit of Sweden with all her obsessing over the High Jump Revolution bridle, which I grant you is interesting and different at the very least. It didn't call my name, though. It was like the European version of a micklem, which is ok, but not like MUST BUY NOW sort of thing. You know, since I've owned two micklems and all.

But I got browsing around the site and ran across another model called the Flat Out Revolution.

Cavesson with flash detail

I can't explain what happened next. It just called my name and I needed it. I sold two bridles in record time and snapped it up.

Here are the things that I absolutely love about it:

Pretty details

so soft and wide

Padded crown (with mystery buckle? still figuring that one out)

love this feature

Snap-on browband that can be changed while the horse is bridled. Also if you forgot your fly bonnet. Not that I would ever do that.

Again.

mmhmmm

Nifty martingale stops. I'm forever losing these or having them on the wrong set of reins. Love this set and the unusual design.

And that's not even including things like the easy-to-hold narrow rubber reins and the so-convenient snap ends on the cheeks and reins.

Or the total lack of the throatlatch, which I think is brilliant. Here's the thing with throatlatches: they're supposed to hold the bridle on when foxhunting through heavy brush or (maybe) if the rider comes off over the head.

still on the fence about the swoopy brownband

They don't. Even if we aren't talking about the resent spat of bridle-fails (srlsy all the time now), the mechanics of the throatlatch are such that if it's done up to prevent it from coming off, you are actively throttling your horse. Maybe it's different when you're galloping through woods with an open throatlatch, but if you want your horse's head down (ever), the throatlatch is not helping you.

Rant over.

Anyways. The bridle shipped to me this week and came with cool extras like a bridle bag, conditioner, and Swedish horse cookies, which Courage LOOOOVED.

now we just have to go to a show

I've ridden in it twice. I love how it fits Courage's face. I'm actually quite happy with the leather. I think it will soften up to Nunn Finer-esque levels when broken in. The clips are as-advertised. I emailed USDF and ascertained that it is legal for any dressage competition that allows snaffles and it's of course legal in the jumping phases of eventing or for show jumpers, though it would obviously be non-traditional for hunters.

Prisoner being adorable

The sizing is pretty standard. It fits Courage well--it came adjusted on the middle holes. I think I put the bit up one and the cavesson down one. For reference, Courage has a bit of a long, narrow head that is very, very cob sized and I bought the cob size model.

We also tried it on Prisoner. He's even more petite than Courage, so we shortened it up a little more. I'd say it's true to size.

It's fun. It's different. It wasn't even that expensive, coming in around $170 including shipping. I tend to be a buy and sell type of girl, given my tack ho tendencies, but I honestly think this on is going to be a keeper. I mean, OMG, if I don't use the flash, I literally only have to do one buckle to put my bridle on. How is that not awesome?



Noted: this is a first impressions post. I will do a more thorough write up in a few months when I've gotten to spend a lot more time with this particular piece.

Also noted: I have tried to answer any questions I've already gotten about it. I'm happy to answer more. I really quite love this bridle.

Ho Boy We Take a Lesson

Awkward and teeny, but look at my hands!!

I find that the best recipe for getting myself out of a riding funk is to take a solid lesson and learn some new skills or dust off old ones. We got on S's schedule for this past weekend and then I promptly got redheadlins and Alyssa talked in to coming out to take video and pictures respectively.

Oh wow. What to say?

Theme: HANDS FORWARD

The thing I love about S is her ability to really meet me where I'm at in terms of training and confidence and then push me within that level so I come out of a lesson feeling more confident in my horse and my skills and our ability to do things together.

She's also really technical, which helps my overachieving brain fixate on something useful instead of just random anxiety. The theme for the day was to put my hands together and just ride forward from my leg.

Possessed right hand in check

On the circle of death!

Omg! I maybe should add that I'm one of those twisted weirdos who thinks the circle of death is a super fun exercise and I sort of love it.

We started the exercise by using simple lines and leaving fences out to let Courage and I get combobulated. By the end of the lesson, we were able to do the full circle both directions and I EVEN HAVE VIDEO!!!

Barrel issues: mastered!

I usually hate video, particularly of myself, but I'm actually pretty proud of this one. I mean, I know I have tons to work on and I'm hardly perfect, but I'm riding forward and making good decisions and my position is alright and it's all perfectly appropriate for the level we're at.

Throughout the whole exercise, I just felt so solid. I was comfortable in the tack and on my horse and I was being asked questions that I was able to answer. The great thing about having the jumps on a circle like that is they just keep coming up and you have to ignore mistake and keep riding forward.

So focused

It reminds you to stay in the middle and keep your leg on. It also lets you just jump in balance out of stride, over and over and over, until the feel of it just sinks into your brain.

I've done this all before, really I have. Courage and I are just starting to change of that "green horse" ride, where you do whatever needs to be done at the moment to more of a "broke horse" ride, where the horse has a grasp of what is supposed to happen and becomes more responsible for himself.

Just loping over the wee thing

It's all good things and I'm happy and excited. In fact, I almost didn't know what to do with a lesson where I didn't have to ride through mind-altering fear. Seriously. These jumps all looked safe and tiny to me (which they are), and that's ok.

I may not have all the answers, but even I can see that Courage and I are improving together and having fun. There's nothing like progress to shake off that nasty funk. :-)

Demand and You Shall Receive - Saturday Quickie

Trottin' so fine

(My thanks to JenJ for the title wordcraft!)

After two days of intense good flatwork, I wrapped up the week by actually having redheadlins as a witness to the general badassery.

It wasn't that I did anything so differently--just that I stepped up and wouldn't take no for an answer. For anything. Walk out of the cross ties, promptly. (I absolutely refuse to drag horses around.) Stand at the mounting block. March when I say go. Stop when I say whoa. Keep your body straight. Pick your shoulders up.

ZOOM

Courage and I are just in the zone and it feels amazing. We've hacked away at canter lengthening (not dressagy, but for jumping) for I dunno, months? And yeah, Friday I pushed the reins forward and got this:

BOOM.

DO WORK.

And it totally pays off.

He does this now

After a nice long warmup and then some chatting stretchy walk on the buckle, Courage carried on like a champ, complete with 3 loop serpentines up and down the arena with flying changes both ways.

OH YEAH YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

I'm really getting a feel for that forward, flowing stride that makes Courage stand out and he is making tons of progress.

Cross your fingers for a lesson Sunday. :-D

Tale of a Tail

January 2013

July 2013

October 2013

December 2013

April 2014

July 2014

September 2014

I hadn't done a tail progression yet. Ha.

Wherein Courage Almost Gets Sold

What farrier day normally looks like

I know you're all like "WTF SB, you tried to sell your horse?" 

The answer is no. 

But I seriously considered it. 

What I expected

You remember how Courage threw his shoe a week ago? Well, my life is an ongoing shit show (cross your fingers it gets better in two weeks!) and the farrier was booked up, so we just kept our normal scheduled appointment for this past Monday. No big deal, right? The little man is probably a bit body sore and five days off wasn't going to make or break us. 

I wrapped his foot in highly attractive duct tape with flying pigs on it (Thanks J!) and let him live his normal life while I dealt with other things. 

Then came Monday. I pulled Courage out of his stall for the farrier and was surprised to see that my little bay horse was showing the whites of his eyes. 

Huh. Never seen that before.

It pretty much went downhill from there. Despite neither the farrier nor I doing anything offensive or crazy or weird, Courage just progressively lost it. We were trying to keep things calm in hopes of his brain returning to orbit. I even took him back into a stall to eat hay and chill out for a good 20-30 minutes to see if that would help, and nope.

How bad was it?

Well. 

sorry

At the end of two hours, he had one shoe on and I legitimately thought I was going down under him on cement. Oh, and he was rearing/leaping straight up in the air every time the farrier picked up his foot. And kicking. 

We had to abandon the entire idea. We scheduled another appointment for Wednesday and I was given strict instructions to work that ****** down. 

But here's the thing: 

I'm an ammy. I absolutely 100% refuse to own an animal that behaves like this. Yes, I understand that I could just drug him every time he needs shoes, but I am not willing to go that route. A horse like that gets his ass sold down the road with full disclosure. I realize other people are willing to deal with that, but I'm not. 

It's dangerous. I'm not interested in dangerous. I don't care how talented Courage is and how much fun we've had. If this is a thing for him, or if he learned from the experience how to get out of a shoeing, then we're done. 

Plain and simple. I don't play games with this stuff. 

Now known as "riding weather"

The next two days, I worked the shit out of Courage. In one shoe. In a wet arena. Til he foamed. I don't really think I've ever just intentionally worked a horse down for the hell of it before, but it was very productive. I'd actually venture to that my pent-up rage made it very easy to be clear and directive and not take no for an answer from him. 

I rode like a total badass. "OH YOU WANT TO SPOOK AT THAT ******** WELL I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO SPOOK AT". I felt totally secure in the saddle and Courage was bloody brilliant. We had prompt, crisp transitions and correct bend and counter bend and leg yields both directions on and off the rail and lots of ring figures. I kept changing the questions which kept his brain engaged.

Correct work is exhausting

Honestly, those are probably the top two best flat rides I've ever had on him. He was light and connected and responsive and forward and even floaty. It was pretty great. 

And then the farrier came out again on Wednesday right after our ride. I had just enough time to curry the foam off and take some deep breaths so I wouldn't be channeling any extra nerves to him. 

And Courage dozed on a loose rope and was perfect. I probably could have ground tied him and walked away, but I still want my farrier to like me. 

So. Little bay horse. Not getting turned into hamburgers or sold. Definitely is going to step his flatwork up to the next level, though. 

Product Review: Noble Outfitters Ready to Ride Glove (and bonus!!)

Gloves!!

The kind folks at Noble Outfitters contacted me a while back to do a review of their Ready to Ride gloves. I'm always in need of gloves, so I was all in. Then the package showed up at my house... not only did they send me beautiful brown riding gloves, but they tossed in a pair of Suregrip Gloves AND a pair of Xtreme Soft Boot socks. Woohoo! I love new things and I REALLY love surprises, so it was definitely a good day.

Brown gloves. So perfect.

First things first: The Ready to Ride gloves. I wanted these in brown because I have a thing with brown. My last set of brown gloves were the heritage brand gloves. They held up pretty well, but they always kind of stunk and we a little stiff. The Noble Outfitters gloves COMPLETELY outclassed my old set and I'm not even just saying that because they were provided to me free of charge for a review.

Plus my horse looks great

Here's what I really love about these gloves: THE VENTS. The back of the knuckles and along the backs of the fingers are stretchy fabric instead of the leather-look material. Not only is this a little bit cooler, but it allows the glove to be very fitted and still move with my hand. Bloody brilliant, I tell you.

If I was being waaaaay over the top ocd picky, the velcro doesn't meet up over the back of my hand absolutely perfectly, but hey. We're talking about an afford glove that's pretty enough to show in. I'll take it. I'll be buying another pair when I wear these ones out. I mean, I've had them for about two months and they still look new. I will definitely buy these again.

Even arty shots of hands

Next up: Suregrip Gloves. These gloves are in way too fun of a pattern to pass up! I kind of love just looking at them. I was even admiring them at a horse show the weekend before my own pair arrived. Because I wanted to do a thorough testing of both sets of gloves and produce a review in a timely fashion, I stuck these ones on Redheadlins to try out for me. She rides multiple horses a day and isn't afraid to take up contact, which is to say, she used the SHIT out of these gloves.

And guess what? They are still eye catching! She says they grip all different rein types really well. They're fun to put on and wear and they're light weight and not too hot in the summer. They fit well and look good. They are starting to show a little wear, but she uses them pretty hard.

Releasing like a champ

And who doesn't love a good pair of socks? The Xtreme Boot Socks were a fun surprise for me. I'm always squirreling away socks, but I'm really picky about how they fit. Specifically, I HATE HATE HATE socks that slide down, bunch up, or move around. These socks are AWESOME.

They're about $12/pair. They justify that price by having enough structure to stay exactly where you put them while still being lightweight and vented enough that I don't feel like my legs have been embalmed when I take them off. You know what I mean.

All in all, I was really impressed with the gear from Noble Outfitters. Everything is solid and as-advertised at a reasonable price point. It's a bit like a gateway drug--now that I've tried the gloves and socks, I'm poking around their website to see what else I need.

Teach Me Tuesday: 12x12 stalls

The best at mixing things up

Well, I suspect I already riled up the natural horse care side of things, so this week's round of Teach Me Tuesday will probably rile up the other side of the aisle. Here's another thing I totally do not understand about the horse industry:

12 x 12 stalls.

What.

Why. 

Does not compute.

I mean, I get them in the case of medical emergencies sort of depending on what is going on. Beyond that? No. A horse is a huge animal. I live in a tiny house and I think my bedroom is about 12x12.

It's a stall, but he has a run too.

I may be fat, but I'm not exactly horse sized.

Can someone explain the logic here? Or where they came from? Or anything? This whole thing just draws a blank for me.

Disillusioned

photo by horselessinhalifax

Don't take my ridiculously emo title too seriously. I'm sitting at my computer sipping a screwdriver (best.drink.ever.), listening to the rain outside with a snuggly puppy on my lap. Life is good and I'm not complaining.

Noted: I am writing this on Sunday night, so it's not like I'm some Monday-morning-boozeaholic. Everyone knows the only thing you can drink in the morning is mimosas. Or Bloody Marys, but I'm not into those.

Anyways.

Everyone needs puppy bath spam

Courage threw a shoe on Wednesday and I haven't sat on him since. He's supposed to get completely reshod on Monday and that's all fine and dandy and the time off is probably good for him. It's definitely good for me. Not only do I get more puppy cuddle time, but also I get to think about what exactly I'm doing and where I'm going with Courage.

And the truth is, I don't know. I know I don't have enough knowledge to bring him along on my own, but I also know that a show situation is all wrong for us. Show people have show goals that are more important to them than the slow, steady upbringing of a horse. That's all well and good if you have a horse that's a little thick and takes pressure well, but if you have a Courage, it's a recipe for disaster. Just because he can jump a big fence doesn't mean he should.

Don't want to ruin this face

If anything, it means that he should jump less of them until he's got a solid grasp of the flatwork and basics that he needs, because the temptation to just jump up will be too much. It's not that big jumps are bad. It's that if he doesn't have the strength and balance to jump them correctly, he can't handle the pressure and we start taking mighty metaphoical leaps backwards.

photo by horselessinhalifax

And maybe I just sound like a whiny ammy babying my precious pookykins. But you know what? 1) If I am, that's my prerogative and 2) Not every horse person in the world is ramming and jamming horses up the levels. I'd venture to say that the better ones don't.

I know all that.

I just feel kind of alone in knowing it. At this moment, there isn't a trainer I trust with Courage's development. (excluding S. She is awesome and I love her, but she doesn't exactly train full time due to the "real person job" thing". I feel desperately alone with no way to fix it. I know I'm not the be all and end all and I know I don't want my horse ruined by going too fast or by me putzing around and messing things up.

I've seen what that does to horses (haven't we all) and I want no part in it.

Maybe we will master standing still.

So yes, I will continue to plunk along mostly by myself and not rush and I know we'll get somewhere eventually. It just absolutely kills the perfectionist side in me to feel like I'm not progressing and training my horse the way I think I could with more oversight. I want the ability to move him forward confidently.

I want it and I can't have it. It's out of reach.

It makes me want to say "**** it" (you're welcome kids. you win this round) and just take up western. Or pull his shoes and give him the winter off. Or almost anything other than keep hacking away at something I know I can't master on my own. Is that so very unreasonable?

Gone to the Dogs

I guess they needed a brother

This is a horse blog, but I have dogs too. Cute ones who are well trained and good to be around. If you've been here a while, you're familiar with Lewis the giant corgi and Chaucer the beagle.

They are great. They get along well, they're happy to hang out, they know our routines, all that. I like having two dogs. It is the most dogs I have ever had and I think it is plenty.

little brown dog

Fun fact: we are super short handed at my job right now, so instead of normal office flunky/other duties as assigned, lately it's been all "other duties aka field work" and yeah, when you work in construction, that shit is hard work.

Regardless. I show up at the jobsite on Monday and there is a random little brown dog running around. No one knows where he came from, the jobsite is right off a busy highway, and we're running heavy equipment all over the place. It's no place for a dog.

The construction dog

I do the grown adult thing and call animal control. He's a cool little dog and I feel bad for him. I'd love to go knock on some doors on find his owners (who must be frantic), but that whole work thing was getting in the way. I left my number with the super nice AC officer just in case, but he was way too cool a dog to be alone.

Or so I thought.

After the requisite three days, I get a call from the nice AC officer telling me the brown dog was abandoned and no one is looking for him. And she picked up another one just like him the same day, like someone dumped littermates.

and he cuddles like a champ

Ugh. I told her to list him with the local rescues and see what happens, but I also poked around local rescue websites and discovered that they were all full.

And the poor guy had just been dumped on a busy highway, then locked up in doggy jail.

And my husband is as big a softie as I am and said I could do whatever I wanted.

I called Animal Control again, just sure that someone had snapped him up or claimed him, but the little guy was  hanging out at the pound.

And so I took a long lunch and drove up and got him.




I initially thought he was housebroken and about a year old. I now think he's a puppy puppy, like under six months :-/ eek! Long time since I have had one of those. Best guess is that he's a dachshund/chihuahua cross, which sounds horrific. Thus far, he's been calm and quiet and puppyish, but not bad. We're crate training and potty training and he's integrating into my little pack well.

I'm still picking out a name. No clue on that one. The vet laughed when I made an appointment for "unknown breed and age, name Brown Dog".

I didn't want three dogs, but how do you say no when they find you?