Jumping Again

Check this out. I did not even have pretend time to ride Izzy with yesterday, so here is the mare herself with Stephanie on board. I would have gotten some sweet action shots, but I only had my phone on me. It does neither action nor distance.

Anyways. Izzy was introduced to the magic of spurs. Steph asked her to go forwards, Izzy pretended she didn't notice, and BOOM!! Izzy leaped forward and said 'Yes Ma'am'.

I didn't get to watch the whole thing (the whole time problem...) but Steph assures me Izzy was pretty good and actually thought it was the best she had ever seen Izzy come out, attitude-wise. Yay!

And today. Unsurprisingly, Izzy was marvelous after her little tune up. She was nicely forward, walked, trotted, and cantered willingly, moved off my leg nicely, and just felt so balanced... I love it.

I also love the Del Grange saddle I was riding in, but that's another story which sadly doesn't involve me ending up with it.

The jumps were just set as little crossrails, so Izzy and I cantered around and jumped them. All by ourselves. I can think of a host of things we need to improve on (steering, braking, planning, actually doing related distances) but it went nicely. We were both balanced and comfortable and I didn't freak out when Izzy went more forward than I wanted. It may seen like little things, but for us, this is really, really good.

Plans for Pony Mares

Last week, Izzy was supposed to get clipped and get a new set of front shoes.

So here's a picture of my unclipped barefoot horse. Sigh. Mareface said no to shoes during her appointment. (How? Every time the farrier picked her foot up, she'd rear or charge forward or both.)

Farrier is all "Oh noes! Poor thing is in pain!!" and I'm all "Poor thing will be in pain when I get through with her" and then no shoes were put on.

Of course, Izzy was all footsore and uncomfortable and unridable and I spent all weekend stewing about how angry I was about the whole thing. Well, that and some other horrible things.

The picture above represents Plan B. I decked Izzy out in her new cheapie dressage bridle. (Yes, Dover Suffolk bridle bought USED on ebay. How cheap am I...) You'll note it has a flash, which she's never worn before. I am an advocate of making her wear all kinds of crap to teach her it's ok, so I went ahead and put it on prior to our 40 minute lunge session to prep for farrier appointment round #2.

40 minutes later, here's the left side of Izzy's face.

Insane.

She is getting more foamy lately, but I have -never- seen foam like this. Ever. For anyone or anything.

I'd be a total flash convert, except for this:




Hm, yeah. The right side of her face is only slightly foamy. Now, this is a much more normal amount of foam for her on both sides, but I am extremely curious as to why there is such a marked difference.

Yes, right is her stiffer side, but still? Tiny foam vs giant foam? Huh?

We are definitely going to have to do a ride with the flash and see how things feel. Just... not today. Or tomorrow.

\
PS My nefarious plan worked. Between turnout, lunging, and judicious application of the stud chain, Izzy was a total doll for the farrier this time.

A Day for the History Books

Y'all are familiar with Izzy, my super-alpha-bitch mare. She doesn't always play nice with others.

She has grown up a lot in the last year, but I think today she proved just how different a horse she is now.

Since we only have one large pasture to turn out in, the horses go out in sets. Due to her reputation as a hussy, no one was excited about her going with geldings and the only other mare is a confirmed mega bitch who must go out alone.


Enter Tatiana, Steph's new upper-level prospect. She's an 11 year old Dutch warmblood who currently runs around prelim.

I like her.

Yesterday, she an Izzy were grazed together to see if they would get along. They did. Then they got turned out together and had a ball.

Today, it was my job to turn them out together. The logistics of the barn demand that you make all trips as efficient as possible--it's about a half mile (I think) from the barn to the pasture and takes about 10 minutes round trip to walk briskly.

Sooooo. I brought Izzy to the main barn, crosstied her, got Ms Tatiana out, unclipped Izzy...

and I lead them to the pasture.

That's right, folks. A half mile. Two mares. One handler. Not a pinned ear between them.

Off they go! When I left, they were cozied up next to each other at the bottom of the pasture, grazing with their muzzles almost touching.

Oh.
My.
God.

Izzy made a friend.

It's 11/11/11 and Vetran's Day. Go hug someone. Izzy did already.

I Rode My Own Horse

There is nothing like working with other people's horses to remind me of how much I love my mareface.

Nothing.

I've been so busy between having two jobs (yay!! down to two!!) and taking care of stuff that rides on Izzy have been short and rare. Thankfully, Rinsie took video of us on Sunday, so you get to see that today.

A couple of thoughts:
1) Yeah, a black horse at dusk. Not a recipe for good video quality. Sorry.
2) Since we're at an event barn now, the default get up seems to be jump tack instead of dressage, which is my comfort zone. It's good for me to branch out and just ride more, but it's a learning curve for sure.
3) No jumping yet... we're supposed to have a lesson sometime this week I think... but also it's the biggest home game of the year on Saturday for my football team and I have tickets, so we'll see what fits where and when.

Funny Story

The competitors are all back from Galway, but since they got back really, really late last night, I was on my own for the first part of the morning. Stephanie texted to let me know which horses needed to go out and who to lunge.

As I was bringing the lunge horse back to the barn, one of the girls who works there calls to me, "Hey, your turnout horse jumped out. I caught him..."

My response: "Seriously?"


So yeah. You all remember the loveable Zymon, the AWS mutt. Apparently, he can jump a 5' fence from a standstill without touching it just because he's bored of his turnout buddy and wants to go hang out with the horses in the breezeway.

Oh, and to him it's such a non-event that he just stood there and let the nice girl catch him with no fuss at all. Darling bastard.


It gets funnier. I text Stephanie: "So Zymon can jump 5'."
She responds: "I know, that's why you have to turn him out -with- somebody."
Me: "I did. Then he turned himself out alone."

Ha! Quite funny, since no one got hurt.

In other exciting news, I might get to go to Thermal. OMG!! I totally wanted to, but I assumed as 'general barn help', I would be relied upon to stay home and take care of things. Nope, they want a groom.

Excuse me while I happy dance.

Continuing Adventures

It is apparently winter here. We had our first snow, so of course I trooped out to the barn with a camera to take adorable pictures of Izzy in her halter.

Izzy explores the snow.

Since it was a rolicking 20f outside, I opted to bundle up in non-riding clothes and focus on the artistic qualities of a black horse on white snow. Or something.





Izzy was not convinced it was a good time to leave breakfast and get turned out. Too. Cold.

After meandering around the pasture, I took her in the indoor for the first time. She was completely crazy, as you can see in the video.






Ok, so maybe "queenly" is better than "crazy". She keeps walking around like she owns the place, eyes bright, ears pricked.


Pony mare being adorable. I have oodles more to talk about, but I guess I'll save it for a slow news day.

New Toys!!

Since I am a consummate tack whore, when I found out Izzy would be moving into a fancy barn with an actual trainer, I promptly bought her a crapload of stuff. Some of it you've already seen... I think... Anyways, more cool stuff showed up yesterday.



Check this hotness out. Perhaps not the most flattering shot of Izzy ever, but this is her spiffy new "grown up" halter from Danzig Brothers. It's thick, supple leather that's super nice quality and it came with her name on it. So nice.

You should notice the lovely English chin. Mmhmm, no more nasty crap adjustable chins for me! It fits her exactly how I like it and looks stunning, if I do say so myself.


As much as I love the halter, I also wanted to go for a ride before it started snowing. Fun fact about having her in the mountains: I can watch all the nasty storm clouds build up in the valley below before they start rolling in.

Izzy was most excellent. I keep expecting her to do something stupid, and she's just stellar. Two things about riding today:

1) I'd been putting off riding in the jump tack because I'm just way more comfortable and secure in my dressage saddle, and I wanted to be ready for when she tried something. Oddly, when I got on today, I felt just as connected and secure as I do in dressage. So. Weird. I mean, normal for good riders, but weird for me. I'd argue it's because we're working with a trainer now, but she's left for Galway before Izzy showed up.

2) We completely ignored all the fun lateral work I was doing in dressage and just went forward. To get Izzy relaxed and focused, we did canter figure eights with halts in the center to change the lead. Yes, I mean canter/halt/canter transitions. They're not perfect, but she was doing them with just a stride or two of trot, and then when I asked, she NAILED a simple change with one trot stride. I know it's not really eventer-kosher to have flying changes before you need them in dressage, but dammit I want them. We'll get there.

Pony mare wants changes too. DRAMA!






Ok, back to tack whoring: here's Izzy's getup today. Notice anything?

Like the absence of a horrid fleece girth?

Oh yeah, we did get a super pretty new fancy stitch leather girth. It may be a smartpak cheapie, but it looks way classy and I love it. Plus, it just cleans right up. No washing required (die fleece die!!).

Plus Izzy is still looking fab. This is pre-clip, too.



The whole get up for today. No warnings about dropping reins and walking away--we are in an enclosed arena with the gate shut. I mean, yeah, she could jump out, but she's never been that motivated before.

Anyways. My tack is spotlessly clean. My horse looks amazing. If I were I person other than me, I'd be completely jealous of me.





This is actually not new, but here Izzy's rocking her fancy cooler. Good thing I bought one last year so I didn't have to this year, right? (Of course I'm not considering getting another one. You must be thinking of someone else.)










And another shot of the wondermare wearing both halter and cooler.

Musing on Tack

I like pretty things. I like matching things.

As you can see, Izzy has very coordinated outfits. (You'd think this would spill over into my personal fashion department, but no).

All pretty havana brown leather for our jump tack. Black boots all around.










And dressage. All black, all matching. It's not that everything is the same brand, just that I make sure everything coordinates. I keep it clean and shiny and all is well.

Here's the rub: Stephanie cleans tack after every ride. Every time. As a result, her tack is soft and lovely and all, but it's completely the same color. You know, the lovely white contrast stitching I adore on my dressage and figure eight bridles? It would be gone.

Hm. I took the easy way out and just brought my lovely (and non-contrast-stitched) Nunn Finer bridle out to ride in.


Problem: when I ride in my dressage saddle, my bridle doesn't match. Havana and black? No thank you!!

I'm sure you're all relieved to know that I'm choosing a sensible solution instead of taking the obvious route and simply buying a havana dressage saddle. No, I am considering picking up a second dressage bridle. Der. You know, one without contrast stitching that I can use the crap out of and not worry about. I mean, tons of people have show tack and regular tack, right?

Right?

First Ride

Obviously, this is not a riding picture. Ms Mare is learning to love her new turnout space.

It was quite cool this morning, so I decided I would lunge Izzy, and if she was good, go ahead and ride. I expected that she'd be spooky, nutty, and naughty, so I didn't even change out of my mud boots.

Izzy just acted like she owned the place. She didn't spook or panic or anything--she marched boldly around, surveying her kingdom, and was her usual self on the line.

We saddled up. I decided to modify our warm up (the loose, flying reins) because while Izy was being really good, she had a lot of tension and was pretty looky, which meant if I was going to need my reins, I'd need them -rightnow-. Instead we worked on staying soft and forward at the walk. I'd let her look, but she had to keep doing what I wanted, and if that meant shoulder-in away from the rail, so be it.

Oddly, I've had quite a surge of confidence lately. I have no particular reason for it, but when I ride, I don't feel precariously straddled over an unpredictable object--I feel plugged in and connected, in tune with Izzy's motion. It didn't bother me that she was looky. I just kept her forward. She was actually a little stiff, which is unusual for her, so we did a few suppling exercises like spiral in/spiral out and over bending in or out.

Trot was not quite as forward as I wanted, but marching and steady in the bridle. Then came canter. It wasn't her biggest, fastest canter ever, but my-oh-my she had suspension. Boom boom boom (pause) boom boom boom. Relaxed suspension? Is this even my horse? It felt amazing. We did transitions up and down, and then called it a day.

Say hello to the queen.

PS I did try to take a picture of her wearing a new saddle pad and looking completely adorable, but my camera went back to bed instead. Maybe next time.

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.