Getting Ready

I'm still in a money-free wasteland, so aside from a couple of side jobs shopping for other people's horses, life is pretty quiet. No shows or clinics and only occasional lessons. (Perk of working for trainer: even when poor, I get lessons. Win!)

HOWEVER, we are getting ready for something exciting. In 10 days (eek!) we are moving from our current facility and it's beautiful trails to a whole new barn. While I will miss the trails like crazy, the new barn has some promising features.



Like a giant gorgeous arena.

A fancy set of jumps with a brick wall and a liverpool.

Grass turnouts.

Auto waterers.




And I'm sure many other cool things. I haven't actually been to the new barn yet to check it out, so I totally stole these pics from someone else.




Here's a view of the barn. There will be runs attached to all the stalls. I hear nothing but good things about the new place, and I am really excited to be jumping regularly this winter.

There is not an indoor, so it will probably be cold and wet for a while... but this being Idaho, the water never lasts long.





Stay tuned! The giant bambi horse will be exploring new horizons soon.

Rubber Meets the Road

I am fond of getting clothes for my horse. Most anyone can tell you that within 30 seconds of me starting to talk about him. As frivolous as it might seem, it actually has an immensely practical side, too.

I call this his 'bambi face'. So glad I got a pic.

Here's Cuna after our ride this morning. We did a 40 minute trot set in the hills, capped off by galloping up our favorite stretch and speed walking down the backside. Thanks to his rocking TB recovery rate, his respiration was completely normal by the time we got back to the barn. However, he was still damp with sweat. He's growing in a winter coat (that I can't wait to clip off) and it was barely 50f outside, so way too cold to hose him off outside.

I love this horse

Enter shopping win!! I pulled his tack off, threw on an irish knit I scored off of FB a few weeks ago, and let him finish his breakfast in peace while I did chores. When I came to get him for a quick grooming to take any sweat marks off, he was dozing in the sun, dry and warm.

Perfect.





PS Have I mentioned how badly I want to clip him? He has like .25" of hair and it's KILLING ME to have to deal with it. I like my horses bald.

This is my Brain on Drugs

We had a lesson this morning. I've been feeling progressively better every day, and I'm down to only taking dayquil 1-2 times in any 24 hour period. Excellent.

It's brisk and the sun is coming up as Cuna and I trot and canter around the arena. He's forward and sound and feels great. I am balanced over my feet and in an awesome position. I get winded easily, but that's ok.

As we canter off to jump our first exercise, I am stuck by how balanced and 'with' my horse I feel. Oh yeah. Can't touch this. He chips in to every jump, but since I didn't jump up his neck, I figured we were golden. Honestly, I was surprised to see the look on Steph's face as she asked, "Soooo when was the last time you jumped?"

"Last time you saw us... two weeks ago?"

"Let's try putting some leg on. He might not be that forgiving next time around."

Oops.

I could not seem to remember a course for anything, but I did finally get my leg on and my reins short and kept my brain calm around a super tight rollback turn to a 2'9" vertical, so that was good. Maybe not as good as I thought it was, but good.

On the last exercise, I needed to focus on jumping the center of the jumps instead of letting him drift right. It was difficult because after every jump, Cuna just accelerated into the corner, which I was trying not to anticipate.

This horse. Amazing.

After we raced around semi-straight over the center of the verticals, Steph stopped us. "You can't seem to keep your leg on and hold a contact today (hence the rocketing post-jump). You did get him straight over that last fence, but then you almost fell off the right side and he caught you. I think that's good for today."

Oh my.

Really. I'm not usually like this. I actually can ride a straight line over a low vertical with my leg on and hold a contact, just not while on cold medication.

The flip side is that I still feel completely awesome about how I rode. Totally rockin'. Maybe I should take cold medication every time I want to feel competent.

Still Sick

I feel less like death today, can actually breathe, and might have a lesson tomorrow, so it was definitely time for a ride this morning. Plus, while my head still feels like it's stuffed full of cottonballs, at least they weren't spinning in circles. Win! 

The weather is changing into fall--we still have bugs during the day, but it's dropping into the 30s and 40s overnight, so I was greeted by this unusual getup when I came to the barn.

Yes folks, only my horse can justify wearing a sheet and a flymask at the same time.










The nice thing about cool mornings is that no one else is out riding, so we spend time in freshly worked arenas. Since I only have our hoofprints to contend with, it's easy to see where I'm giving up the outside aids or letting my mind wander and not even trying to go straight. Although Cuna isn't a bendy horse, he does require me to ride him straight from my leg every stride or we just make squiggles.

Oops.

The Cuna history hunt goes on. No definitive leads yet, but I have inquiries out and some helpful blogger friends. I'm sure we'll find something.

Confessions of an OCD OTTB Owner

I'm sick. Sick enough that riding even the world's most dependable and awesome Cunafish sounded like a terrible idea, but not so sick I feel compelled to call upon the medical profession. Where does that leave me?

Compiling a spreadsheet of every race Cuna ever ran, his trainer/owner/rider/results, and any relevant notes. I'm hoping to track any trends in his career and see how consistently he was handled and owned. Maybe I'll be able to break something loose that will lead me further back in his career to PICTURES(!!) of course. 

Oh, and Johnson-DeHority Enterprises, Inc., I'm looking for you. It's a Texas-based corporation that bred Cuna. I somehow need to find them because I think they're the key to giant red baby bambi pictures. Any ideas?

Because who doesn't want to see his baby pics?

Checking In

I took a weekend away from all things horsey. While it was lovely (and I got to go to a dog show, so fun!), I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a car that's overheating again. Good thing I'm all happy and relaxed and coping better now.

I'm supposed to have a lesson tomorrow (I think) and hopefully then I can get some solid feedback on the whole "I'm-asymmetrical-and-my-horse-is-suffering" thing I'm worried about and then we can jump over stuff because I'm getting tired of flatwork with stirrups.



In the mean time, I'm playing with my super awesome old man horse and enjoying the beginnings of fall.

Let's Shop

Sad truth: I shop for horsey things when I'm bored or stressed*. It's an expensive habit, but due to my OCD nature and the internet, it's not nearly as expensive as it could be.

That said, I work in a barn. I do not exactly pull in the big bucks here, so I can't just prance in to your local tack store and march back out the door with all those lovely, name brand items new off the shelf. That only happens in dreams.

Dressed for the party

However, despite being surrounded by lovely people with real jobs, my horse always looks the part. He has the right clothes, the right tack, and the right care. I am not wearing head-to-toe Gersemi (if only!), but I'm certainly not the rag tag barn help. Care to join? Here's a couple of things I do to make this whole horse habit more affordable.

Always only ever buy high quality items. Cheap leather will break. Cheap blankets will leak. Cheap tack will fail. Beyond that, if you ever get bored of something, the resale value of a name-brand item over some generic is ridiculous. It's easier to search for, it's easier to sell. I know, now you're saying, "But SB! If I could afford high quality items, I wouldn't need to read this post."

True. But here you are.

Dover boots. Seen in catalog.

Here's my process: I figure out what I want, usually from reading detailed item descriptions in the Smartpak/Dover catalogs. I figure out what the new price is. Then I hit the internet. My first stop is pretty much always eBay. This is where buying name-brand comes in handy. Searching "Rambo" brings up a whole list of fancy blankets. Searching "horse turnout" brings up lots of random crap you probably don't want your horse in.

I generally check used items first. I don't mind a little rip or tear that is repairable, as long as the item itself isn't compromised. I look for super sales. I prefer buying from individuals vs storefronts, because I find I'm more likely to get a good deal from someone just wanting to unload stuff than I am from a for-profit business.

Here's the trick to eBay, though: Know what you will pay. It's easy to get sucked into a bidding war on an item and not pay attention to how much it's really costing, particularly once you factor in shipping. Once you've set your max price, LEAVE IT ALONE. There will be another item.

If you've scoured ebay and nothing is available, I move on to the next most obvious location. Facebook! Seriously. With the blossoming of social networking has come a plethora of tack exchange groups. Here are some of my favorites: English tack trader, Used Horse Blankets. You have to wade through a lot of crap, but I have found some stellar deals.

Irish knit from facebook. $20.

If that fails, continue onwards! My local craigslist always=fail, but people in more equestrian-oriented areas can have good luck with it. I also love tack selling forums--the Bits and Barter board and the Outside Course. It's a mixed bag of both sellers and items, but I haven't had a bad experience yet.

Again, focus on buying quality items from recognizable brands. Many times I've snapped up an item I thought would work, then sold it on for more than I paid when it didn't work out. I'm not good enough to make a business of it, but let's just say saddle hunting has been a profitable endeavor for the most part.

Plus you have to wait for shipping

The biggest thing is having patience. Just because I want something RIGHTNOW doesn't mean it's available right now. I also pick items up at odd times of the year. In the past few weeks, I've gotten a show bridle, a waterproof quarter sheet, summer breeches, and paddock boots. Some things, like breeches and paddock boots, I search for nearly every time I'm online. They rarely go on sale, and I hate paying full price.

A corollary to the above principle is simple: be prepared. I've been winter blanket shopping since August. I won't actually need a winter blanket for probably another month, but just keeping my eyes open means I have a better chance of getting exactly what I want for exactly what I want to pay.

So there you go... that's my process for keeping Cuna in nothing but the best without completely breaking the bank.

*It bores and stresses me to shop for pretty much anything else. Ergo, I have needed black flats for two years. I live in the largest city in my state. Ask if I've done anything about that.

Having a Moment

Cute ponies eat cookies

Cuna is a stereotypical chestnut OTTB, right down the his ridiculously sensitive skin. I literally can't keep hair on this horse and I have NEVER had that problem before him. For being as smart as he is, he does some really dumb things, like peeing in his stall and sleeping in his run, thereby giving himself hock sores. Yay! 

Anyways. Last week, I noticed he was starting to get a rub -under- his saddle. The saddle hasn't changed, his muscling hasn't changed, the pad hasn't changed, the detergent hasn't changed. I assumed it was the super hot, dry weather we've been having that has been aggravating his skin issues anyways. To treat it, I switched to putting a sheepskin under the saddle pad, and then put equyss moisturizer on his rub spot after every ride. 

The only weird thing was that there was a rub on his right side, but not the left. 

Huh. 

It finally hit me. The saddle isn't rubbing Cuna--I AM. Dammit. It's my asymmetry affecting his conformation. It explains why on our long hacks my right hip has started cramping. It's probably compounded by the fact that I've been doing a lot of riding without stirrups and hacking, but zero dressage to keep me in the middle of the saddle. He is showing me my latest and most fun weakness. 

Red ears always make me feel better

I spent yesterday having a fun emotional meltdown and making a huge deal out of stupid things. It didn't help that I made a great plan to treat our asymmetry including a pilates instructor, a physical therapist, and a riding instructor with a degree in exercise something or other, but all of them are unavailable for the next few weeks. Cuna and I went for a walking hack, because I needed to be with him, but didn't want to make him worse. I focused on keeping my weight even in my stirrups and getting my butt out of the saddle. 

Today, I had to stay close to the barn, so we worked on dressage. I practiced riding straight lines in the freshly worked arena and being very conscious of his body movement and how I affected him. We circled and serpentined as I focused on keeping his hind end engaged without driving from my seat. I tried to keep the weight even in my stirrups and sitting bones, which is remarkably easier on flat ground than it is in the hills. We were actually having some excellent work, right up until I had to leap off and meet the vet for another horse. 

I'm going to keep the sheepskin next to his hair, and back off the no stirrups while I get myself sorted out a little bit. I'm keeping an eye on his rub spot, and I think we might actually make some positive changes here. Finally. 

Goin' for a Trail Ride

Since Cuna does poorly with days off, we are trying a new theory: no days off at all. It seems weird, but he's a stiff horse on a good day. The more days in a row I ride him, the better he is. Even one day off sends him spiraling back to his usual inflexibility and two days off? Heaven forbid. It's like starting all over. In an ideal world, he'd spend his days off prancing in a green pasture with a few old friends, but...

Yeah. He hates turnout. 

Yesterday was non-day-off #1. AKA "slow hacking". This is so far from being something that interests Cuna that it's almost funny. He does NOTHING slowly. Ever. In order to slow my brain down and keep things easy, I brought my phone along to document our fun.

What's it going to do, bite us?

Here's the beginning of the trail. Yes, we are badasses, going right around the 'No Trespassing' sign. (Noted: I think it's for motor vehicles. Horses are allowed.)

We are approaching the 'Angry Birds Tree', the big green thing ahead. It's also the only tree on the trail. Many young, green, or otherwise nervous horses are afraid of it. Cuna is not.

This looks way more fun.

We climb up the hill to the saddle where the trail branches off. Since we have walked this far, Cuna is already bored. If we turn right (pictured), we can go up our favorite long gallop stretch. And not walk. Despite Cuna's enthusiasm for the idea, we continue to the trotting loop. At a walk.

Ok, boring, but we get to trot the uphill.

We wind through the hills and finally start heading down towards the valley. Usually, there are panoramic views of the city spread out below us and all the way to the next mountain range over.

Today, there is smoke. Lots of smoke.

We also usually come across plenty of hikers, bikers, and walkers at this stretch, but pretty much no one is outside in this air. Just us and the lizards.

Not sure why this is complicated

There are certain parts of the trail that I never worry about because I have Cuna (aka 'the most awesome horse in the world') but that my barnmates prefer not to attempt without me. This is one of them. There is a sharp drop off on the left and straight ahead and we have to go on a single track trail around a barb wire fence that is barely standing up. Don't spook is all I have to say about it.

Cuna knows the drill. In fact, it is his mission to prove that a ridiculously long 17 hand horse can make that turn without ever bending his body.

We are not seriously walking all the way up?!

We finally reach the bottom of the trail and turn to go up. This is normally where we let the horses trot and use the hill to build muscle and stamina.

Because it is a "slow hack" day, I make Cuna walk. He is less than amused. Not only am I making him go slow, I am screwing with his routine. NOT OK.

Routines are very important.

Always walk on the wrong side.

The trail goes up from here. Up, up, and up some more.

Into the smoke.

I practice staying in balance up off Cuna's back (ENGAGE CORE. MORE CORE.) while he picks the trail up the mountain.

We do run across a solitary walker. Cuna gives him a single giant bambi eyes look and we move along.









And we're at the top. Cuna looks super cute here, but he's actually really annoyed with me for stopping him yet again to take pictures.

The pictures don't really show it, but his winter coat is just starting to come in. He's at the only fuzzy stage in which I think horses are cute. Hair is just a tiny bit long and so soft and fluffy, but not so thick yet that it's hard to dry them off. :) <3

Fun times.

Hang Time

In a nearly unprecedented turn of events, Cuna and I got two lessons in one week. Pretty amazing. It was weird to not really have time to work on stuff between the lessons. I've never really had that feeling before.

2'11" square oxer from Monday

I took a screen cap off the video from our last lesson and was pretty impressed with how good we looked. I don't 100% love my leg, but all in all, I've improved a ton and I am relaxed and confident, so let's not nitpick too much.

Eyes are up, back is flat, straight line from elbow to mouth. Those are all good. Just need to get my leg a bit more under me.


Since our last lesson was Monday, I gave Cuna Tuesday off, then we hacked lightly yesterday and I rode without stirrups for a bit. That was it. Cuna was stiffer than I'd like today, since he's not the sort of horse that handles time off well. Steph gave us a cool exercise to use to help supple him up without fighting him, and we were ready to jump.



Again, if you like us, you should watch this. It's only 15 seconds long and there are no endlessly boring trot loops or anything, so you should be good. This was our last ride down through the grid. I was working on keeping weight in my feet while riding straight.

Oh, and not completely losing my mind about the MASSIVE JUMP at the end. I actually did really well--not one panic attack or moment of nausea. That's a huge leap for me.

You know what else is a huge leap?

Another screencap. We need real pictures again soon.

This monster. After the lesson, I hopped off and measured. Yes folks, Cuna and I jumped a 3'3" oxer. More than once.

And we lived to tell the tale.

As you can see in the picture, we had hang time. All feet off the ground.

What a feeling. <3 my old man horse.