Bonding (or "It Doesn't All Happen at Once")

Hacking through the fields

Ever since I met Courage last year, I knew I liked him. I admired his brain and approved of his feet. I spent a while in that crazy limbo of "I want to like you, but don't dare get too attached in case something happens". Then he came home with me.

The poor dude was stuck in this crazy vortex of always playing second fiddle to Cuna and getting the leftovers of time, money and attention. I mean, I still liked him well enough, and I had fun with him, but he just wasn't my priority.

Not the best idea ever

I'm a person who makes emotional connections slowly and takes a long time to recover when they're severed. This year has been hard for me on a lot of levels, but the little man has been my constant. He's so reliable, so dependable, so personable. All the things I wasn't able to be.

And then finally I started getting some closure in the non-horse part of my life and C-rage hit a downward spiral. It sounds weird, but I was so glad he waited until I had the emotional energy to deal with it. I was able to really engage with him and it was ok that he needed time and attention. We could work out training and relationship issues at our own speed.

My little man

I feel so much more connected to him now, even while I'm gaining a better appreciation of his strengths and flaws. His ridiculous deer leaping scared both of us, but the challenge of finding a plan to get both of us past that has really cemented the bond that started when I first brought him home.

I think it's really through this process that Courage has finally become "my horse". Not just the cute little bay face I see every day, but the one who sneaks into my day dreams. The one I can't wait to see.

Love this. So much.

We're both a little cocky, a little lazy, and a lot independent. We're finding out how and where we want to fit into the world.

He'll never replace my old man horse, but he's come into his own.

Let the Good Times Roll

So much exciting pony news and only a little bit of it is mine. 

Bacon over the teeny box. Photo credit: me.

I spent the whole weekend out of town playing at a horse show pretending to be a pro photog. And that's all that happened.

OH UNLESS YOU MEAN THAT ALYSSA AND BACON WERE ALL WHUPASS AT THEIR FIRST OUT OF TOWN SHOW.

So there was that. But yeah, I had oodles of fun crewing for them and totes took a bajillion (actual number) of pictures with her ridiculously fancy camera.

Babysitting ears

And then there's redheadlins' news, which is pretty freaking fantastic as well.

I got back from the clinic and hopped on my little man for the first time in 4 days. He babysat Prisoner for his first in-company arena ride and was a total champ. We even hacked though the fields on the buckle while P-man cantered around and all was well.

<3 my little bay horse.

So much Ogilvy goodness!

The only problem is that redheadlins let us use her Ogilvy baby pad.

WANT

That is all.

Well, that and the fact that I toasted my legs in the sun so badly that I can't put breeches on right now. Look for creative solutions until that situation resolves.

PSA: Loving all Six Legs

Six legs in flight

One of my favorite English teachers in college said, "How can you know what you think until you see what you say?"

And he's right. The great feature of being a regular blogger is that constant stream of information and updates that is easily accessible. I can watch my progress, yes, but I can also observe how I talk about my horse and how I'm feeling. I love my little man and I want him to succeed.

Definitely a horse thing

As a person with a giant eating, pooping pet that I like to dump money in to on a monthly  weekly daily hourly basis, I think it's really important to care for that pet. Love it, even. Horses are such an integral part of our lives because we choose to put them there.

Horses are great teachers of life lessons. We learn about hard work, humility, honesty, fun, safety, and thought processes. We learn to interact with another beautiful, powerful creature in a way that empowers both us and them. It's important to express in my writing that I adore him, instead of tearing him down and propping up my pride by blaming him for the fact that he's a horse and does horse things.

Can't have one without the other

I think it's important because I think this sport is way too damn dangerous to do any other way. I think it's important because if I"m going to spend this much money, I better be having the time of my life.

Most of all, though, I think it's important because I realize that my horse and that way I talk about him is a reflection of myself and the way I talk about me.

The best at snuggling his nose

I love watching other bloggers go through the same processes I do as we train and learn and laugh and cry together. It bothers me when they are negative about their horses, though. Not just because I frequently think it's unfair to the horse, but because I care about my blogger friends and I know it reflects on how they feel about themselves.

I know very few bloggers in person, so all I can see is what they say. Instead of tearing down our horses and disparaging ourselves, let's remember that we all get beat up by day to day life. There's no need to do it to ourselves.

It's time to love all six legs.

HOLD THE PRESSES COURAGE JUMPED

I know, you're all like "wtf SB, that horse jumps all the time". The answer is yes. And also no. The compelling reason that I am running this hastily-thrown together photo smorgasboard instead of the very thoughtful post I actually wrote is that Ellie is in town (for obvious reasons) and redheadlins came to the barn (for equally obvious reasons) and so I snagged a training ride for Courage and Ellie photographed it!! Alyssa did too, but I don't have those pictures back yet, so there will be more later. Just added them too!!


Anywhoodle.

Commence epic photo smorgasm.

Really loving the new bit on him. Contact, what what?!

Check out that uphill canter!

Lil warm up vertical. 

Oxer!!! Love both their expressions.

Air time

And from Alyssa:

Jumping across!

So grown up

Confident and respectful

We measured the oxer after their session and it's full on novice height, 2'11". That's the biggest jump he's ever done under saddle and he took it like a champ. No deer leaping, no nervousness. (thanks to redheadlins for the fantastic ride, too!)

It's days like these that make me feel good about my approach with the little guy. Yeah, I'm going slow and taking my time. I know so many people would probably get it done quicker, since he's obviously talented enough. You know what? He attacked this jump with total confidence. He believes in himself and he knows what he's doing.

That's worth waiting for.

Weekend Fun: Meet the New Guy

Courage says "HELLOOOO TRACK HORSE"

Those of you who follow me on instagram or facebook have probably noticed a new face started popping up last week. I mean, I always have random cute racehorses, but one was cuter than the others and then he was meeting Courage and going under saddle...

Yep. Dapple bay and all.

A couple of you have asked about him. I mean, it's hard not to. His face is ridiculously adorable and he's built like a champ.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Prisoner, pedigree here.

He's a Kentucky-bred 2007 model TB who we put the OT on last Saturday. He's something less than a stunning success on the track, netting just over $4,000 in four years of racing.

Yes, you read that right.

Looking cute on the back side

As I rule, I stay away from horses for sale on the backside because I want (almost) all of them, but this guy is special. I had my eye on him, and when his trainer said he was available, I immediately started taking crappy pictures of him and sending them to my good friend Ellie. I really can't be doing two boarded horses and a car payment, but this guy needed a soft landing with lots of love and Ellie needed something sweet and fun and pretty.










Because she is brave (and knows us really well), Ellie agreed to buy him even though she'd only ever glimpsed his adorable white nose over the stall for like ten seconds one time this summer.

Prisoner (working on the new name, ok?) moved in to Courage's barn for the next month to get nicely restarted. I think he's looking at much the same schedule Courage had--light riding through the fall, winter off, and then getting going for real next spring.

First ride off the track. HE'S SO FANCY I COULD DIE.

In the mean time, yours truly gets to play with him and take pictures of his cute little face. Redheadlins is doing the heavy lifting in terms of training, but Alyssa and I can do useful things too and of course Ellie will join us as much as her schedule allows.

He's aimed for a dressage/trails/open shows/all around type career and yes, Ellie assures me she will blog about him. Plus she is a kick ass photographer, so expect to be inundated with pro-quality pictures instead of my usual camera-phone business.

ERMEGERD KISS HIS NOSE ALREADY

If I had room in the budget for two, I'd never let this little guy slip away. He and Ellie are going to have so much fun together. I'm glad I got to be a part of his rehoming team and I look forward to their continued adventures together!

And yes, you can always count on me for Prisoner updates. This is my first time helping out with a resale, and he sort of feels like my little god pony already.

Saddle Shopping II: Well That Was Easy

Want. Can not have.

So last week I mentioned that I was giving it up and actually looking for a saddle that I could ride in that also fit my horse, since I had collected four that didn't work for us. We had a super attractive trial saddle, but it just wasn't quite going to work for us. (Lovely 17.5" adjustable gullet Pessoa with forward flaps, wool flocking, super nice leather, and matching calfskin leathers. Contact Gingham if you're interested!)

I've gone back through the barn and tried on pretty much everything without any great results. C-rage is medium-ish with a pretty average back, but I need something pretty specific and nothing was really working out.

As reference, here are just some of the things we've tried to date:

18" narrow

Lovely Jimmy Wofford Cross Country saddle. Too narrow. Way too narrow for his big ol' shoulders. Not going to work, since I own it.

18" mw

Berney Brothers all purpose-y saddle. Width about right, but is just sits on him funny. Look at how the back of the panels don't touch his back. Flap also does nothing for me.

17" mw

Borrowed custom Stubben saddle. Fits me ok, too wide for him. We can make it work with lots of shims, but hard to find this model online, especially in the width I need and ordering new is not in the works this year.

Because why not? 

I was bummed out and decided to just give it up  completely and buy a western saddle.

And then redheadlins came back from her extended vacation and was like "NO NO NO JUMP SADDLE FIRST". She followed that up by going to our local tack store and telling me I had to come in because there were two that might work for us. I sort of doubted it, but I at least wanted to order a trial of the Ovation monoflap saddle to see if that would work.

Enter local tack store.

17.5" medium? 

I was totally blown away. They had not one, but TWO (!!) forward flap medium tree-ish saddles more or less in my (hypothetical) price range. One was the cross country model of the Berney brothers saddle in a 17" seat and the other was a 17.5 Barnsby Diablo. I wasn't optimistic about the Berney Brothers since I already own one, but the Barsby? Haha. Not only have I run across them when doing research for saddles before, but they came up again last week when chatting with sometime blog reader K (hi K!).

I took both saddles on trial, marched out to the barn, slapped them on C-rage and found...

The Barnsby fits like a glove.

The panels make even contact all along his back. He has plenty of wither clearance. The flaps hang along his side instead of sticking out like would-be Pegasus wings. I even hopped on and rode for a few minutes in the 100f weather on Sunday and it was great. Good balance for me and still looked great with no objections from him.

It's older and needs a little love, but I'm thrilled. This is the easiest saddle shopping round I have ever done.

Because this post needed a cute Courage picture

So... who wants to buy my other saddles? Haha. Guess you'll see me posting those around now.

Weekend Fun: Courage Jumps

He is the best at air time over a tiny X

So much awesome pony stuff happened this weekend! I'm going to break it down by theme. Let's start with jumping, because that was awesome.

Friday morning, Alyssa trekked out to take some pictures. I threw Courage on the lunge line and set a jump. We had a lesson coming up and I wanted him to work through the physical jumping process one more time before I tried to ride him.

When I'm lunging him over jumps, I usually use the jump blocks as the inside standard, so there's nothing for the line to catch on, but I still have tons of adjustability. The drawback is that they tip over easily and don't get very tall. Up til this point, that was ok, but I wanted to push Couage a little and see what happened.

3' baby oxer

So we used barrels.

It was his first time ever seeing jumps that big, much less jumping them. He's definitely got his mojo back, because my brave little man didn't even blink.

I set it up and widened it very gradually. We started with poles on the ground, then an X, then a vertical, then oxer.

Much better than a tantrum

The reason I lunge instead of free jump is that we are specifically addressing HOW he approaches and departs, not really just the jump. Thus when he deer leaped a vertical and landed on all four feet (which is uncomfortable for everyone), he launched forward and started pissing off.

I just reeled him in and made him pay attention while completely skipping the jump until he was ready to approach quietly again.


In the end, I had about a 3'3" face with almost a 4' spread.

He just jog-trotted in, rocked back, and BAM.








Oxer.

Technique-wise, I'm very attentive to the fact that this is hard physical and mental work for him, so I only have him jump each jump once or twice each direction before moving it up. I want jumping to be fun and interesting, not uncomfortable and scary.

Not enormous, but big for us

I'd say it's working--we had a lesson bright and early the next morning. We addressed our biggest under-saddle jump yet.

He was great. He understood how to use his body, and I understood how to let him.

Couldn't be happier with how he's coming along.

Long Term Plans (or "How to Make my Brain Explode")

The best at being cute with a mask on

I gave Courage a couple days off this week while I thought about the big picture--what we're doing and where we're going. (I am NOT a big picture person in general, so yes, I do have to set aside time to figure that sort of thing out.)

First things first: we adjusted our goals. My nervous riding+Courage being green was not helping anyone out in the XC field. I made an executive decision to just be ok with not doing that anymore this year. I'm not ruling out chucking redheadlins up in the tack and sending them off, but it doesn't need to be me at this point in time.

We are also not sort of hoping to scrape it together and do the little hunter derby in August. If all went according to plan this year, it wasn't out of reach, but nothing has worked out the way I meant it to. If Courage goes to the jumper shows in August, he'll do the 2' division and a flat class or something. And again, not ruling out trainer rides for that. I need calm, positive experiences just as much as he does.

Of course I wish it was a dee

We're also mixing up the tack front a little bit. I dropped us down to an even softer bit and am taking a couple rides to just solidify the things we worked on for cowpony day. Great takeaways there, really happy with what our western fling did for my little man.

Wednesday we just did w/t/c both directions on the buckle and let everything flow forward. I think it's good confidence building for me and it relaxes him because I'm not picking at all. It was a surprisingly great ride. Maybe next time we'll try using the new bit? Hard to say.

Not gonna lie, totally want a stock saddle right now. I need to get other financial ducks in a row first, but how cute would C-rage be as a pony horse? Team penner?

Too cute.

What can I say? Sometimes I stress buy. Ebay loves me.

So that's where I'm at. I'm an ammy. It's summer. My horse is cute. At the end of the day, I want a calm, all-around horse who I can have fun on, whether that's doing an XC clinic or winning a belt buckle at some crazy western event*. I'm not going to keep freaking out that I'm overfacing my horse and ruining him or that I'm not challenging him enough and he'll never amount to anything.

You know what? I'm having fun with him right now, and that is the whole entire point.

Mission.

F******

Accomplished.

*Hey, I can dream. Belt buckles are possibly cooler than ribbons because it's socially appropriate to wear them around and show off.

PS I know I keep editing my swears. I go back and forth between "HAHA BITCHES I'M A GROWN UP" and "oh my god, kids read this blog". That is a big picture question for another day.

VCBH: Interested Parties

In the latest (I think?) edition of the Viva Carlos blog hop, L asks, "What made you interested in your current horse that lead you to buying them in the first place?"
 

Racing in CA before he lost his tail

This is a bit of a complicated question, because I wasn't interested and didn't buy him. I mean, I liked him well enough, but I already had a horse, didn't want to own two horses, and certainly wasn't planning on augmenting the herd.

First time I saw him

So there's that. I went to the races with my friend Ellie (aka "our personal photographer"). I knew redheadlins could get us on the back side, so I called her up. As we met the horses in her barn and casually chatted about who they were and what they were doing, we met this cute little blaze-faced bay horse. He was calm, even with races going by, and quite friendly.

When we left, Ellie said, "That's going to be your horse."

I blew her off.

Don't tell me he can't handle bling

Then I started spending my free time at the track, trying to find a way to enjoy horses without all the stress of show barn/lame horse problems. Courage was one of the more senior horses in my friend's barn. I told redheadlins to find me baby Cuna. I wanted a clone. She and Alyssa (yay track friends!) also decided that Courage was supposed to be my horse.

He didn't exactly run the walker

So they sort of just set us up. I groomed him. I bathed him. I put him on and off the walker. I spent lots of time with him, and I really came to appreciate that same quiet brain I saw the first night I met him. He's confident and brave and cocky and he takes care of himself, but at the same time, he's sweet and endearing and loves attention.

Because he is.

I've blogged before about how it is that he ended up coming home with me, but I will add that it wasn't until the night before he left the track that I realized what I was getting in to. Redheadlins and I took a series of pictures of him. As I drove away from the track, she texted me a conformation shot.

"Oh my god," I said to myself. "He's f***ing beautiful."

Saddle. Shopping. Why.

The best at showing off saddles

Not too long ago, I made a comment about not liking my saddle and the inestimable Gingham offered to send me one of hers to try. (This is the secret to saddle shopping--friends will let you try things out.)

I of course told her no because 1) I wasn't saddle shopping and 2) I own four saddles and 3) I had no saddle budget.

And then I started to think about it. Here's a rundown of my current saddle inventory:

Y U NO WORK FOR MEEEEE?

1) Ainsley Cross Country Saddle, 18" seat, wide tree, super forward flaps. I love, Love, LOVE this saddle. It fits me better than anything short of a CWD. The balance point was made for me, the leather is soft and good smelling, and what else is there to say? Oh yes. My skinny little OTTB could go canoeing in this saddle and not get wet. It's a true wide. He isn't and never will be. It breaks my heart because I love it so much, but it will.not. work for him.

(And before you ask, yes I have borrowed a medium Ainsley and tried it on him and I just didn't love the fit. Wasn't mean to be, I guess.)

J Wo in action. So wish this fit.

2) Jimmy Wofford model Harmon & Scott XC saddle, 18" seat, narrow tree, super forward flaps. This was Cuna's saddle and it fit his shark fin withers beautifully. The balance point was good for me, the leather is actually pretty nice, and I've put a ton of miles in this saddle, both in the arena and (mostly) out in the open. Only problem is that this saddle was too narrow when Courage walked off the track and he isn't getting any narrower. I tried putting it on him the other day and definitely discovered that he lets you know when something doesn't fit.

So that's out.

Looking fly in the very useful Stubben

3) Stubben Sigfried (I think?) 18" seat, medium (I think?) tree, AP flaps. I snagged this thing on Ebay when Courage first came home because I needed to ride him in SOMETHING. It's ancient, but the leather is in great shape and it's a sturdy saddle. It's actually less slick and more comfortable than you'd think for a Stubben of this era. It fits Courage quite nicely, and it does nothing for me, especially if I try to jump. Hurzzah for having unusual riding conformation!

Which brings us to our latest model.

Berney Brothers is pretty

4) Berney Brothers AP saddle, 18" seat, MW tree. This is a lovely saddle that I picked up on English Tack Trader this spring. It's a nice saddle in great shape. It works better for me than the stubben, but it really isn't great. I need a really forward flap to accomodate my wonky leg, and this is just a nice, normal flap. It also doesn't fit Courage great. I think my lovely Ecogold half pad was helping out a lot, because he isn't back sore at all, but the saddle is doing us no favors.

Gratuitous jump photo for no reason

So there you have it. I have two saddles that fit me and two that fit my horse and nothing in the middle. Hence, I revisited Gingham's offer and her saddle is currently here with me on trial. Cross your fingers for us... oh, and email me if you want one of my saddles. Seriously. They are all kept in a way befitting a tack ho.