Now THAT'S A Trot!

Ich Bin Liebte!

2012-01-26T12:54:00.003-05:00

Oh hey, an award! And I'm actually mentioning it! Wowie-zowie, Batman, it must be a slow day at the doughnut shop. (Disclaimer: I do not work at a doughnut shop. Nor is it actually that slow of a day . For that matter, I don't even know Batman.) PS, I apologize to any native speakers if the subject line is more awkward than Google Translate would have me believe.

Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on this blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award.
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

I actually got this from two bloggers! :)

Kim from Make Mine a Draft, who very recently came over to Blogspot (and is in need of more followers)! She and her horse Gali are a hoot and it's nice to have at least one friend that can sympathize with having to find tack in size Giant.

Emily, writer of Born to Trot, also sent the award my way. Emily is another young blogger with a Super Standardbred, and she and Jet even tried out a version of skijoring with their friends recently. I was actually going to pass this to her when Kim first tagged me, so definitely check out her blog!

In accordance with the award rules, I'm going to pass this along to five newer or lesser-known blogs, which is a daunting task in and of itself, since I follow a few hundred and there are quite a few that are both eligible and deserving, but I'm picking some that I haven't seen tagged yet, that I think my readers will also appreciate.

Bakersfield Dressage -- Karen hails from a different coast and a different sport, but it's still amazing how many ideals we have in common! I'm not actually sure how many followers she has, but her blog is still fairly new so you should check it out if you haven't already. She puts a lot of thought into her posts and updates frequently.

Leaving a Giant Impression -- I can't fumble around with German words and not include Eryn, who currently happens to be transplanted in Germany and thus speaking it far more proficiently than I. Eryn started off blogging about another Standardbred, but now she shares some of the challenges of adjusting to life in a different country, including the horsey culture.

Redheaded Standardbred -- Saxon is one of those uber-rare non-brown Standardbreds that people don't believe exist, and a quite adorable one at that. His owner is a lovely and accomplished horsewoman that has already brought one Standie along through quite a decorated show career, so it should be fun to see how she brings baby Saxon along.

Memoirs of a Horse Girl -- Another Jersey girl striving for classical dressage with a non-classical horse, Val is a very thoughtful writer and I enjoy hearing about her progress with Harley as well as the other horses that helped her along her journey.

Horsez-R-Us -- I've known Stasha for a few years now, and I'm so glad she's finally getting more horse time in her life. She is a willing and enthusiastic learner and it's fun to relive, through her eyes, those days of discovering horses from the ground up.

That's all for now! Real updates coming by the weekend, I hope.

The Moose Goes Public

2012-01-16T23:27:00.004-05:00

This morning we continued with Project: Take Jabby New Places. Holidays usually don't mean anything for me, but since my boss recently reminded me that I DO actually get a few vacation days per year, I decided to take advantage of the fact. A group that usually holds hunter/jumper shows was hosting an open schooling day at the Horse Park, with a full course of well-decorated fences set up in the indoor. For a small fee, you could trailer in and have full use of the facilities -- so long as there were no private sessions booked, anyway! I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to expose Jabby to both new jumps and a hectic schooling area, plus give him even more ship-out mileage. I know he showed a bit before, but we still haven't trailered together all that much and I want to know what I might be in for before taking the plunge and signing up for a show, low-key atmosphere or not.

Even though it was a "day off" for me, I actually had to wake up earlier than usual to get dressed, feed myself, feed the little barn, and make it to the Horse Park with enough time to sign paperwork before our 9AM start time. The world was still dark when I rolled out of bed, and when I checked the forecast, the current temperature was in the teens -- just barely.

Jabby wasn't thrilled with the idea of another outing so soon, or so early in the morning. When I went out to retrieve him he turned and walked away from me! He wasn't too hard to grab, though, and once again I saddled him up before loading him into the trailer, this time with two heavy coolers to combat the chill. With the dashboard thermometer still providing a dismal reading, we headed off to the park.

For once in my life, I overbudgeted my time, and arrived with half an hour to spare. I signed in and took my time getting ready. Dom and her boyfriend Mike were coming out to take pictures, offer moral support, and serve as ground crew if I needed it. By the time we walked down to the indoor, the ring was freshly dragged and things were ready to start. As it happened, Jabby and I were the first ones in, which was exactly what I had wanted. We had the ring to ourselves for a bit, so he got to walk around and take in all the sights without the other horses' antics rubbing off on him. We took our time casually brushing past every single jump in the ring so that he could get a look and possibly kick sand at it without actually approaching head-on. There were a few worried ear swivels, but other than the jump with a liverpool bunched beneath it, which got a healthy snort and a side-pass around the perimeter, nothing caused him too much concern. We had even trotted and cantered both ways of the ring by the time everyone else started trickling in, though I'm not sure if we were just over-prepared, or everyone wanted to gawk at the ungainly pair of creatures tromping around the arena.

Not quite relaxed yet, but attentive

I probably should have taken the opportunity to get him going over fences while we were alone, but the truth is, I chickened out a bit! As I mentioned, all of the jumps were fully decorated, which is exactly why I came, but I had visions of Willie's first formal jump outing lodged in my head and I was afraid of crashing through a jump while we were the sole focus of those in attendance. So Jabby got a nice walk break, and stood around next to his puppy buddy for a bit. Once other people started trotting and cantering, we started again, too. I did my best to stay out of everyone's way while gauging how he would react to other horses passing him head-on. Once again, I have the distinct advantage of a horse that has sort of done this before -- entered a warm-up ring, anyway! -- but it was the first time we were doing it together. I was happy to find that he really didn't react to the other horses at all. He's a social butterfly, unlike standoffish Willie, and the sessions were being capped at ten horses to keep them from being too crazy. I think we had a bit less, maybe 6 or 7 besides Jabby, and the Horse Park indoor is quite generous.

Finally, someone else started tooling over the smallest and most inviting jumps, so I put Jabby in line a few horse lengths back and let him play shadow. His first jump was awkward, as he trotted up and only seemed to remember at the last second that his job was going over. The second had people standing next to it that probably distracted me more than him, and when he felt my attention waver he faltered. I clucked and brushed his shoulder with my crop and he tumbled over. Grace, thy name is Jabby.

That hesitation was the only one, and while it took a few more fences to get him really picking his feet up, he kept the forward motion over everything. By the end of it he was cantering down to the fences and finding better spots to them, though I didn't package him quite as well as I should have so he got in a bit long to most.

We didn't hit every jump today, but I was honestly not sure we would even be jumping at all -- I just wanted to get him out and about and into the chaos of a jump-filled warm-up, and walk/trot/canter in company. The jumps were just a bonus.

At the end of the hour we finished with a hand-gallop in each direction and a few loops of stretchy trot to undo my "yes-maybe-okay-sorta-this-one" riding. The organizer had offered earlier to deconstruct the liverpool jump so that we could walk over, and I decided to go for it. Jabby walked right over in each direction, no snorts, no panicked leaps, no drama. It seemed like the perfect note to end on.

We hacked out to the cross-country fields to cool down, and I decided to take advantage of that opportunity, too. We walked down through the big water complex (now drained and crusted with ice) and up the "island" in the center. The ground was too treacherous for jumping, but I thought that a fun social hike with our friends would provide the perfect excuse to let him get a look at the sort of things we might one day encounter on cross-country.

Obligatory Thumbs-Up Horsemanship™ endorsement

We wandered to the back field and found our way into the small water complex. Some of the steps up and down looked inviting enough, so I pointed Jabby at the smallest. He started to walk around it, but when I put my outer leg on he realized what I wanted and hopped right up. We came around again and he offered to trot the approach on his own. He missed the distance ever so slightly but we still got up, and we repeated the manuever one more time from the walk. We threw in a few baby down banks, and he surprised me by being totally chill and "plopping" over the edge the way Willie does, like he's done it a billion times. I'm really glad he doesn't seem to be one of those horses that launches off a drop like he's being driven by Thelma and Louise!

One last cruise before calling it quits.

We stopped by one of the driving hazards, just because it's one of those odd things that some horses don't know how to approach, and then casually brushed past some of the giant, permanent XC fences. He couldn't have cared less about any of them. On the way back to the trailer, we took a detour up and down the ramps of the bank complex, all on a loose rein.

All in all it was a positive outing. There's certainly room for improvement but he listened well and the mistakes of the day were all mine -- the only way he could have jumped better is if I had ridden him better. I have my homework and will set better goals for both of us next time. But that's why we're doing these schoolings now, to get them out of the way before investing in an entire day of competition!

Much kudos to the Moose for tolerating his pilot errors with aplomb, and thanks again to Dom, Mike, and Herbie the Wonder Pibble for recording the experience and keeping us company.

Shiny Pretty Things

2012-01-15T23:51:00.001-05:00

After my last post we continued our crafty ways, and more jumps were built, painted, and assembled at our increasingly DIY little farm:

It was fun and sort of cathartic; I used to draw all the time and still frequently feel a need to make things with my hands, and this definitely fit that bill. I'm loving the bright colors (Reject paint cans for $0.50 each? Heck yeah! Bring on Barbie's Pony Playland!) and having a lot of fun brainstorming new patterns, too. I'm just sad our pile of materials has dwindled to scraps, although it might be better this way, because I would probably still be painting! We're slowly going to add a few more sets of standards and more poles/planks/fillers when we get the chance. It's definitely cheaper to build your own but still requires a lot of time and energy, which is usually taken up with pesky things like feeding and cleaning and earning a paycheck. Dratticakes.

In addition to letting my creative flag fly, I'm using the opportunity to re-do one thing I overlooked when I was first starting Willie's jumping career: create as many different and unusual-looking obstacles as possible to better prep Jabby for anything he might face in the show ring. Back in the day, my teenaged bumpkin self never thought that perhaps a horse that skipped over plain wooden poles and solid cross-country obstacles as high as my hip would need a slower introduction to painted crossrails... Hoo boy was our first jumper round a trip. (And yes, we are making sure to keep a set or two of "natural" rails, in case we want to give the hunters a try!)

Naturally, we set out all these nice, pretty jumps and winter finally decided to show up. Not to be a fair-weather rider, but Friday morning the wind knocked me down. Twice. Mega frowny-face. In any case, I'm currently looking at three days off in a row, so provided it warms up enough that strolling across the grass doesn't produce clippy-cloppy noises, I'm sure I'll try them out soon.

---

Yesterday the wind abated a bit, and our favorite kidlet stopped by again. Willie took her on her first ever trail ride. Her grandmother had been asking if an escorted trail ride would ever be possible, and I said we could try it whenever they were ready. Naturally, being terminally infected by the horse-bug, kidlet jumped at the chance, even as the temps hovered around freezing.

I borrowed a saddle to ride Jabby, and clipped a lead rope to the D-rings just in case. Willie, of course, was a super star, and he carried his charge quite placidly around the farm while we did a pre-flight check. Then we wound off across the soyfields, through the playground, down the back of the nursery, and then back up the street to home before it got dark.

We even did a little bit of trotting towards the end, and Willie snuck in a few canter steps before obliging kidlet's request to whoa. She's a good little rider but I didn't want her getting bounced from the tack if he broke gait -- his itty-bitty kiddo trot is much different from the fall-down-onto-the-forehand trot, and she's not yet skilled enough to get the balanced transition. But she was grinning from ear to ear, and he marched proudly home, like, "See? I cantered without dropping her!" We were oh-so-cold but everyone had big smiles all around.

I think wistfully of how our shows and big adventures together might be a thing of the past, but I'm glad Willie's a good enough horse that I can confidently share him with other people. The boy was born to be a schoolmaster, even if he didn't really come with the proper skill set for it.

---

Today Jabby got to go back to our friend's indoor. It was so cold and my morning so packed that I almost bagged it, but I'm glad I didn't. Jabby loaded up with his saddle on, and I bridled him next to my car before walking down to the indoor. In my haste to load up I had completely forgotten my paddock boots, so I had to ride in my K*ty Lake Boots, which are quite comfy but not what I had in mind for a dressage school! Still, they worked... If you were wondering, I still wear these boots all day every day, and still completely love them. :)

After a long walk warm-up, we moved into trot and then on to the GoGoGo! exercise. We go down the long side and I push him as forward as he'll go without breaking gait or hollowing, use the short side to collect and rebalance, and then lather, rinse, repeat on the next long side, with the occasional circle or stretchy line thrown in to keep things from being predictable.

We caught our breath, and Jabby made friends with an incredibly handsome Standardbred living at one end of the arena. (Hint: His name was Ybbaj.) We picked up work again with the canter, focusing on quiet transitions and then asking for, and getting, a few shallow canter loops -- coming out of the corner, traveling to the quarterline or just past it, then traveling back to the long side without losing balance or rhythm. We also practiced simple changes across the diagonal, which are easy-peasy for him, but since it's required a certain way in competition, I thought we'd take the opportunity to practice the proper geometry.

This is only the second time we've had a real arena in nearly a year (and never with such nice footing!) so I decided to do a complete run-through of a dressage test, too. The indoor is roughly the size of a large dressage arena, and has all the letters handily labeled, so I thought it might give me a good idea of what to expect before -- Ulp! -- sending off an entry form for a local schooling show. I decided to go for glory, and flipped my test book open to Training 3. I haven't ridden any of the 2011 tests completely through, and while I read all of the new patterns when they first came out, I hadn't needed to memorize any of them yet.

Unfortunately Jabby's quarter was about up, even after taking another break before trotting up "centerline." We got to the first canter transition and I stopped to regroup. He was completely tuning me out again. He's been doing so well lately that it was frustrating, but I also know that there is a very real possibility of show-day stress completely cooking his brain, so it was good practice all around.

As we trotted up centerline again, he was still grumbling a bit, but we got through the pattern without any more incidents. That is, until the last canter, where I mistakenly added another change across the diagonal and ended up doing our stretchy trot circle in the wrong direction, needing to take yet another turn across the diagonal to finish up centerline. Minus 2 points for me! Through the last half of the test, he did start to relax again, and was even "singing" his way around at some points.

I'm still undecided... I like this test for him because the transitions come up quickly enough to keep us busy, instead of T-1 and T-2 where there are lots of long, straight lines to start worrying about people in the stands and whether E is a monster turning its head sideways and if I remembered to turn off the hose at the farm when I fed that morning. We both do better when we don't have time to overthink things. The quality isn't quite up to par on the average days -- T-3 should be a preparation for First Level, requiring the start of thrust, self-carriage, and uphill balance -- but I also know that we can get all the movements. There's nothing wrong with starting out again at Intro, either, but there's the same problem with long lines and, frankly, Intro tends to get crack-of-dawn ride times at schooling shows and that seems infinitely less pleasant in winter, LOL! Our first outing, whenever it finally comes, will be all about the learning experience, so I'm not all that concerned about scores. All the same, I would like to show at the most appropriate level and make sure I represent Jabby fairly, too.

I still have a little time to figure things out. There is actually a whole slew of schooling shows coming up nearby so I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to ~~make a fool of myself~~ practice!

Wanted: More Magic

2012-01-11T00:12:00.001-05:00

This week has been an even wilder roller coaster of emotions than usual. After one facet of my life finally stressed me nearly to the breaking point, I thought I had stumbled onto an amazing solution that was going to solve most of my problems at once. (Albeit one that came with nonstop backbreaking labor, but hey, I was game.) Alas, it wasn't meant to be, and once again I feel like Charlie Brown to the universe's Lucy... Without fail I take a running start at that damn football every single time.

But this is a happy post. In the few days I had to get my hopes up, I started to slowly rally the troops, and I was reminded just how amazing people can be. You all know who you are, and I can't thank you enough for the support.

Back to business, the ponies have been doing fantastically even if I've been running around in a manic haze for the majority of this young year. I've ridden Willie a grand total of twice since the calendar turned but I'm okay with that. He's fuzzy and filthy and loving life, and I can't wait for spring so he can go back to being my sleek and shiny butterball. I do have to say, though, one night it got down into the single digits (or less, with our windchill) and he was completely and totally fine being outside and naked. I know this because I was out at the farm at 5AM dashing around in the dark to get ponies fed before a long drive to a longer interview, and though the tips of his ears were chilly everything else was comfy-cozy, on him and be-bundled Jabby both. It's a relief to know that my precious old man isn't completely made of China. (Though I still treat him like it all the same!)

Other than that one nasty night and a few more cold ones, the weather has been blessedly pleasant and I have taken full advantage of it to put Jabby back into boot camp. Last Friday he trailered out to a friend's indoor, where we schooled a few pieces from the dressage tests I'm eyeing, and then he got to stand around quietly while I watched my friend take her lesson. Then he loaded up in the dark, needing only a little reassurance from me. I'm hoping by the time spring rolls around he'll self-load as well as Willie; for now he still needs a little convincing that he can, in fact, fit into my old and admittedly "cozy" trailer, but once on he stands quietly while I go back to get the ramp up all by myself.

Yesterday he did his first real conditioning ride of the year, where I picked a direction and decided to just go until one of us got cold. It didn't quite work like that, but instead we were both tired, sweaty, and happy by the time we got back, having taken a new loop through the cornfields and spent most of the ride chugging along at a trot or canter.

Today we had an arts & crafts day at the barn. J worked the power tools while I finished painting. I dug out my old flowerboxes, and rigged one set with duct tape to try and prevent the flowers from falling victim to our fierce winds, and stuffed the other with the last of my fake pine branches. Then I got creative with some other things lying around in storage and made lots of evil hypothetical jumps... But mostly I just painted and moved stuff around to make it "interesting" but still inviting. (Read: Picture 4 did not get jumped. ...Yet.)

After a slightly longer lunch break than intended, we got back with just enough daylight for me to try a new bit on Jabby, the eggbutt mullen Happy Mouth I'd previously used as Willie's driving bit. He goes "okay" in his current bits (essentially the same oval-link eggbutt, one in copper and one in stainless), but I'm trying to find his "magic" bit the way I did for Willie, the one that causes an aura of light and a chorus of angels the moment it goes onto his face.

This bit comes close, but it's not quite it. He was mostly steadier, but when he did fuss it was with a twist of his head instead of just playing with his mouth. He salivated a TON more and he seemed pretty happy in it, but got a little heavier on his front end, too. So I'm going to experiment more as much as money allows... I'm thinking the next step is a loose ring version of the mullen Happy Mouth, or maybe a jointed one -- if anyone out there in Blogland has a similar variation in 5.5" or bigger that they would let me try (and possibly buy) give me a ring.

The real good news about today is that Jabby completely blew me away with the jumping. He hasn't really jumped in at least a month or two, since HJ Lady moved out and took her fancy fences with her, but he didn't miss a beat. We had a brisk warm-up that went from our usual long walk, to a forward trot that detoured rather quickly over some 12" verticals, and then just sort of went directly into cantering and popping over proper (if still small) jumps. The sun was setting and I wanted to get things done, so we just did. In our non-warmup I trotted and cantered him right past the new and unusual jumps and fillers, and he gave the pseudo-brush a bit of a hairy eye but kept his body and feet straight past everything. He chug-chugga-chugged right along at the same steady rhythm, trot or canter, with minimal input from me, and took on every fence without a single look, not even the brushbox of doom. He occasionally got a wobble behind when landing off his weak lead, but calmly came back and fixed it without any drama.

It was one of those days when I was probably only in the saddle for 20-25 minutes because the only thing left for me to do was screw up. Days like today are why I struggle so hard to get on and stay on the right track with this horse! The fences weren't big but it was good, productive work all the same, and I can't wait until we both get to the point where we can start pulling out the fun stuff.

Next on the agenda is more trailering out to different places, including hopefully another trip to the regulation-sized indoor so I can do a full run-through of some dressage tests, an open schooling over fences I did not build, and maybe, just maybe, an itty bitty schooling show in the very near future. We will keep you posted. :)

New Year's Ride

2012-01-01T22:37:00.003-05:00

Happy 2012!

The local show groups are slowly releasing their first dates of the season, and it has me itching to get out and about. I've been stuck riding at the barn or the surrounding areas because the Big White Truck is out of commission, and my Exploder is technically capable of towing a trailer but it's a rather underwhelming vehicle and if we get above a certain speed, things start rocking and rolling in a most unpleasant way. It was an unfortunate discovery that I made a few weeks after first getting the car, but at the time we had the other truck and it was not such a big deal. Now, though, I'd rather not chance it and tow with my car for more than a few miles, and I don't know many people in the area with a spare slot in their trailer -- certainly not many with enough room for a warmblood-sized horse! Thus, adventuring has been limited to wherever we could "hoof it."

The thing about Jabby is, I've had him for over a year and I've never really taken him anywhere. I moved him a short distance when we changed boarding facilities and trailered him to another farm to split the vet call when he got his spring shots, but that was over eight months ago. Everywhere else I've taken him, we've ridden. Luckily for me his previous career means he did see the inside of a trailer quite frequently, but that's one of those things that everyone does differently, and when you get a new horse, you never really know!

I wasn't too concerned about loading him up and traveling, though. He'd been easy enough to load into my trailer and hadn't fussed at all. I just wasn't sure what to expect when we finally did get somewhere new and I first threw a leg over...

After hemming and hawing all morning, at about 2PM I decided I was going for it. I drove over to the little farm when I was done with work, moved a small batch of hay, and hooked up the trailer -- which thankfully I've been cleaning and checking as part of my CLEAN ALL THE THINGS spree this week. I took a quick drive up the road to do an unloaded dry-run, and everything still seemed to be in running order. So I packed my equipment, gave Jabby a quick grooming, and loaded him up. I took the back roads, driving even more like a granny than usual, and we arrived safe and sound at the Park around 3:15, just me, my rig, and my Moose.

Daylight was in short supply, so I moved as quickly as I could without getting rushed, which would have just made us both antsy. I had packed his cooler but not dressed him with it, so was a bit dismayed to find he was a little chilly when he stepped off the trailer. I had worried about him overheating, but I guess I underestimated the temperatures! The cooler went over his haunches as I tacked up.

I didn't see many other vehicles at all, but since hunting is allowed in the WMAs on Sundays now, I dressed to alert any potential hunters as best I could. I put on an obnoxious reflective vest, and the Moose wore a string of blue and yellow rhythm beads made by a good friend a few years ago. He was a bit of a looky-loo, and walked away from me at the mounting block (read: trailer fender) once, but on the second try I made it into the saddle and off we went.

** Safety note: I always keep my cellphone charged and on my person at all times. However, since I was completely by myself, I called a friend and let them know where I was and where we were heading. If they couldn't reach me in 45 minutes, they had the go-ahead to call for reinforcements! **

He jigged a little bit at first, and never truly relaxed all the way. There was much "snorfy snorf" to be had, and the periscope ears were on high alert. But he listened well, and even lowered his head and neck to walk on a loose rein for a little while. He had trouble halting quietly at first, but did relax enough to stop, look around, and graze when I gave him encouragement. We walked most of the way, but trotted in short intervals and even had a brief canter uphill where he tucked his butt and got all War Horse on me -- a good sign, as he was having fun!

We only covered about 2.5 miles, so it was really a very short ride! For today, though, it was just the right amount. Dusk was drawing close, and with it, the clouds bearing tonight's near-freezing rain. Any longer and I would have had to feed our farm in the dark!

About five minutes from the parking lot, a pair of endurance riders trotted up on some fuzzy little Ay-rabs. They said he was handsome and complimented his condition, which made me squee all down the inside, and when they heard I had brought him for our first outing together all by myself, their reaction was, "Oh! Oh really? Well, bless you! What a good boy!"

I agree. :)

They asked if it would be all right to pass by at a trot, and I waved them on, citing a need for education on Jabby's part. He fussed a little and snuck in a step of trot or two, but for the most part, walked quietly back to the trailer even as the others remained just visible down the trail home.

Better still, we got back to the trailer, and after peeling off my tack, rubbing out his saddle marks, and throwing on his cooler, we were loaded up and pulling out of the driveway before our newest friends were even done making a pitstop at the cabin. They beamed and waved as we drove past, calling, "Good luck!" It's nice to have a pack-and-go horse, and nicer still to find people who appreciate it.

This park is one of my favorite places in the world, and I'm happy to have now shared it with both of my horses. Now that I have my permit, and have Jabby's "first" trip out of the way, maybe we'll go back to visiting more often!

A Year in Review: 2011

2011-12-31T12:54:00.004-05:00

I've been trying for a week to write this post. My fingers have objected heavily, and my brain was no help either. I tried to tell all parties involved that all we had to do was copy, paste, and paraphrase, but nooo. I finally discovered the wonders of Vicodin and in my loopy and pain-free state, decided that BLOGGING MUST HAPPEN NOW and so here we are.

Despite the beautiful weather outside, I can't help but listen to this song as I write:

Today is a good day, but the last few weeks (and months, and years, in their ways) have been tough.

Anyway, here's a look back at 2011.

BUT FIRST

I have a quick favor to ask: Could you guys help me kick off my first resolution of 2012, to be less of a pack rat? I have way too much stuff sitting around my house waiting for the day I might find a use for it, and I need to start saving up for a saddle that really fits Jabby (and me!) better than the 30-year-old Passier we've been knocking around in. I would be forever grateful if you could help me kill two birds with one stone -- and BUY SOMETHING!

The Review

-via Dom

At the start of the year Jabby and Willie were living in a pasture at work with Dom's horse Ozzy. There was much silliness, and even more snow, with Jabby's presence inspiring more goofy antics than usual, but he and Oz kept each other entertained and out of Willie's hair, so it worked out well for everyone. Dom got a new puppy, Herbie, who became fast friends with Jabby. When we added a saccharine oldies tune, the thing skedaddled across the interwebs and we had ourselves a viral video.

It wasn't all fun and games, though. After two long months of emotional rollercoasters and around $1400 in vet bills, we said goodbye to one of my beloved kitties. It was the second kitty loss in two years, after his brother died abruptly in 2009. For the first time I was in charge of the decision to let an animal go, and while I still second-guess the timing I know that ultimately I gave Calvin the best gift that we as humans can give our beloved companions -- a peaceful departure in a familiar, loving setting.

RIP handsome boys ♥

We unwound again with freejumping sessions, and as the winter dragged on I started exploring different ways to exercise the horses. I still struggled with my prematurely aging body, and in an entirely unrelated incident, hacked off Willie's mane. When an unpleasant situation got out of hand I moved Jabby to a separate boarding facility, intending it to be temporary, and began to make do with unconventional riding spaces.

-via Dom

I said another goodbye, to a horse that I did not own, but spent a year loving and caring for all the same.

I said hello to a kitten, who tumbled into my life quite accidentally and never left, as proof that nature abhors nothing so much as a cat-shaped void. I never did get around to blogging about her, but here's Harley Quinn in action:

-via Dom

Nine months old, and nearly ten pounds already!

She's grown into a gorgeous, opinionated little (huge!) lady and whoops, completely and totally grew a personality to match her namesake. When we calculated her birthday it even came to on or about April Fools' Day.

I finally got to visit the classic Devon Horse Show, and also wrote about a more local event near and dear to my heart. Willie's eyes started acting funky again, and I eventually moved him to Jabby's new home when I decided I needed a better say in his overall management. I started a new feature where I show off my shiny ponies and talk about how I keep them that way. (A feature I am currently slightly overdue to update... Oops.) I threw Jabby over fences again, and experimented more with ways to keep him happy and invested in his new lifestyle.

Safe & sound after Irene passed through.

I took another trip to an awesome place, found some awesome shiny things, and survived a not-so-awesome hurricane. I tried, very hard, to deal with things the universe kept throwing at me without being able to blog much about it. Dom left our workplace and our zany pony adventures ground to a (hopefully temporary) halt.

We said yet another goodbye, to a mare that I never met in person, but shared space in the blogosphere for several years.

I celebrated a year of ~~insanity~~ two-horse ownership, and FINALLY introduced Jabby to the chiropractor.

Then I celebrated five years of ~~pretentiousness~~ blogging! I can't believe you guys haven't gotten sick of me yet!

Goofiness. Dis how we do.

I did another review on a really awesome pair of boots, which came from a really awesome company, and my best (and only) Christmas present this year was the fact that they are still going strong! You have no idea how many outfits I've designed for me and the boys based solely on the things that one can find on that website...

As autumn drew to a close, I tried more new things with Jabby and tormented him by making him work in all kinds of terrible conditions. Meanwhile, Willie got back to some old tricks, and I lamented the fact that he seems destined to spend this winter as a filthy hairy yak.

Over the last week, Jabby has done some slow hacking and a few bareback rides, one of which I had captured on some super dark and fuzzy cellphone video:

Willie toted our resident junior rider around again, even trotting a full circuit of our open-sided "arena" (see above) without stopping. Her six-year-old sister got on and practiced lots of walk-halt transitions with minimal assistance, and after we were back in the barn the littler one said gravely, "Willie, you are such a good and calm horse." Which is stuff I've known for years, but hearing it come so candidly from such a little kid just about made my shriveled heart grow three sizes.

For some news that I normally wouldn't blog about, but feel I should mention anyway, last weekend we checked in on my 83y/o great-aunt who had not answered her phone or door for at least two days. My mother ended up calling the fire department to break into the house, and found her, alive but severely confused, sitting in the tub in her bathrobe. Turns out she had a stroke and a heart attack, and after a few days in the hospital is finally stable and waiting to be moved to a full-care facility. Her sister, my grandmother, has also been under the weather due to recurrent heart problems lately, and it's apparent that I come from a long line of hard-headed ladies that have difficulty listening to medical authorities. (Whoopsies.)

It's been a year of extreme weather, extreme emotions, and extreme adjustments. I can't say I'll be too sorry to see 2011 go.

The Future

On the days that I do feel like sitting down and inflicting my thought process on a hapless monitor, I have some ideas for new features and such, like Karen's idea to do a "barn life" series. So while I gather my thoughts, share some of yours. Is there anything you want to see more (or less)? Anything you want to know about my daily routine, the farms I keep, or the horses in general? Some details I can't really share but I'll be happy to try!

I am trying really hard to get back into going out and about this year, particularly with Jabby, although I'm entertaining the idea of finding a willing and able kiddo that would want to try bringing Willie, too. Shipping will take some creativity but I'm determined to find a way! And if my GMO ever gets back to me, I have lots and lots of volunteer credit I can use towards schooling shows and clinics.

I do have one happy thing to report about 2011 -- I kept one big goal and lost about 15 pounds, which I had not been able to do since blowing out my knee and turning into a blob with a limp. Thank goodness the equestrian look is "in" right now, because I haven't been able to replace my wardrobe yet. I've been wearing my breeches everywhere since they fit me far better than any of my jeans. But if anyone asks, I am just that fashionable.

Here's to a better and brighter year in 2012. Stay safe and kiss your ponies as they all celebrate unofficial birthdays tomorrow!

Wild Woollies

2011-12-23T18:56:00.000-05:00

I tried something "new" with Willie this year. I left him (mostly) unclipped, and as he's tried to do every winter I've had him, he grew a nice, extra-plush coat, some 2-3" long.  When I clip I usually do so to keep him more comfortable, so he doesn't overheat when worked and then take hours (literally, hours) to dry off completely.

You can't take away a horse's natural insulation without replacing it, and that means blankets. Even with a horse that can technically keep himself warm, I found that blankets help SO MUCH in keeping them clean -- an extra-thick winter coat holds the dirt and grime like no other, and a coat that gets soaked to the skin and/or completely caked with mud cannot insulate a horse as well as a dry, fluffy one. Willie, as we all know by now, is also a bit of a princess and pretty much breaks out in hives when the wind changes direction.

Even so, I recently decided to try leaving him unblanketed for the first time in years. Since his workload has lightened considerably, he's no longer doing anything to work up enough of a sweat to worry about overheating or finding a hair dryer to bring to the barn. Since I didn't clip him, he technically doesn't need a blanket to keep warm.  When I tuck him in for the night, he's got piles and piles of hay, a shed, a heated water tub, and a giant Moose to use as a mobile windblock, the combination of which (Moose jokes aside) is enough to keep most healthy horses quite comfortable in the winters here.

This has been a tough process for me, since, well, he's my baby, and I've been clipping and/or heavily blanketing him for the last three or four winters. The last few have been wet and/or bitterly cold right off the bat, and I found that even with most of his hair intact and several blankets, he was really, really cold at night and had to be stalled out of the elements. This year, we've been lucky enough to have mostly dry and cold-but-bearable weather. So far, Willie has been comfortable au naturale even as the temps sink into the low 20s.

It isn't like I just took off his blanket in the freezing cold one day, though; when the temps hit 60, his blankets all came off, and as it slowly got cooler again, I kept putting off the blankets while I toyed with the idea, until suddenly it was below freezing and he was greeting me with perky, happy, WARM ears in the mornings.  I have upped his grain by another 1/2 lb per feeding to make up for the extra calories he's burning just regulating his body temperature. He had been maintaining his weight well, but I didn't want that to change. If he gains or loses noticeably we'll adjust again.

When the forecast calls for steady freezing rain or heavy snow, I do think I'll keep blanketing him, but as long as he seems happy, he can stay naked for now. Other than needing some hand-holding on the really cold nights, I just need to come to terms with the fact that my fuzzy old pony's coat will not really sparkle until spring rolls around -- I curry the snot out of him on a daily basis, but there's just no way to get all the dust and dirt out of all that hair without washing or vacuuming.

How Willie looks before grooming...

How the floor looks after.

But he's handling it well, and that's what matters.

I just have to keep telling myself that... ;)

My Intentions Were Good...

2011-12-22T00:56:00.001-05:00

Poor, poor Jabby.

It's been raining on and off for the last two days. In fact, just a little while ago I observed that the sounds coming from outside my window happened to sound remarkably like those made by a washing machine. (It's also windy, but I think I already went over that in the last post...)

We don't have an indoor at our humble little co-op. We don't even have a real ring. My choices in footing around the farm are regular ol' grass (great, when it's not slippery or frozen), the wintering soyfields (generally soft soil but a little wild at times!), or asphalt (for walking only). It's a little too easy to justify days off when the weather is unpleasant, but safety (and long-term soundness!) do come first.

Jabby has been doing really well on the 5-6 day work schedule, though, and I had only ridden once since his adjustment on Saturday. He'd been cleared for walking on straight lines on Sunday, but my trail ride with Willie took longer than planned; Monday I rode someone else's naughty pony and then Jabby got his long hack; yesterday Will and I babysat the Red Mare on a much-needed Chill Out Ride, but by the time we got back it started to pour. Today, I had to fetch seven horses for the Most Awesome Trimmer immediately after work. But I hate how Jabby feels when he sits for too many days, so I tacked him up even though the rain was still cycling.

At some point over the last couple of years I picked up a Classic Cover-Up quarter sheet, GoreTex and everything, for a whole five bucks on consignment. I was rather proud of the find but the thing has been acting solely as a dust cover and tack trunk organizer, only once touching a horse for me to confirm that all the straps did exactly what I thought they would.

Today seemed like a perfectly good excuse to try it out for real. I have other quarter sheets but they're fleece, which is, uh, not so waterproof. Normally I wouldn't bother for rain alone -- they're horses, they'll dry off; my leather is all well-cared for and re-conditions easily -- but the Moose has such a tendency to get tight over his back that I didn't want to expose those muscles to the rain and cold, especially not since I just forked out the cash for another visit from our friendly neighborhood back-cracker.

The cover fit all right. The front straps tied to the D's on my saddle, and the back tail loop just made it under Jabby's butt, but the sides looked a bit short. That's hard not to do on Mr. Giganto, though, and I figured all the important parts were covered. I grabbed my own raincoat (I found one with a hood that fits over my helmet!!) and we headed out into the elements, where it was only misting.

Unfortunately, while the sheet is nice and waterproof, it's not too wind-proof. The corners kept flapping up and over with each gust, and bless his heart, Jabby didn't even flinch, but I was worried about what would happen when we trotted and he had to unclench his tail. We detoured back past the barn where I wiggled the sheet out of place, chucked it to safety, and continued our ride. The worst of the rain held off, but Jabby was still not thrilled to have his giant trotter ears catching every stray drop that passed our way.

Still, we got some nice trotting in the field closest to the barn -- big easy circles, one or two gentle leg-yields, and lots of long straight lines. He surprised me by giving me a place to sit fairly quickly, and being much steadier and more comfortable when I took him up on the offer, rather than posting. I find that encouraging, as he certainly doesn't do that when his back is all tweaked!

I didn't want to push him too much, just get him moving, work his caboose a bit, and re-introduce the idea that we have to do productive things in unpleasant weather occasionally. (Willie learned that lesson the hard way at a 4-H show five years ago. That was also the day I learned a very hard lesson about water and full-seat breeches!) He was a good sport, though, and we kept the session brief. Afterwards he got a thorough towel-down and an extra cookie or two. Such a rough life my poor beasts lead!

Thankfully the forecast seems to clear up again after tomorrow, so over the next few days we should get a better idea of how well the latest adjustment helped. We might be coming up on a holiday weekend, but it's business as usual for us, so everyone gets back to work!

Willie's Weekend

2011-12-19T08:45:00.001-05:00

I feel bad when I can't rotate the boys evenly through blog posts, because for so many years this was Willie's show, and it was a solo act. Even though my heart still does a special pitter-pat when those fuzzy ears swivel towards me, there are only so many ways to make Willie's daily routine interesting: Oh, today he got fed, and then groomed, and then we meandered around the block before he got groomed again and fed again and turned back outside. PS, we did some carrot stretches and I shared my banana with him at lunch.

This weekend he got to shine, though. On Saturday, it was bitterly cold and windy. Both farms are in a wind tunnel, so the winter temperatures always feel about 10° colder, and a "windy" forecast means I'll be walking doubled over and struggling to not let the wind snatch entire bales of hay from my hands. Of course, with the wind and cold come some extra-sparky ponies, and unfortunately for our newest boarder's granddaughter, it meant riding was out of the question. They currently have their mare on trial and it seems to be a bit of a mismatch even on the best of days. On this blustery afternoon, there was no way a slight 9y/o was going to keep control of the horse. The little girl, S, has a strong dose of the Horse Bug, though, and she was crestfallen to get to the barn only to be told that she wouldn't be riding. I offered up Willie, and she jumped at the chance.

He was feeling really good that morning, and if I had gotten on, he probably would have been feeling frisky, and maybe throwing in a few playful bucks as he asked to gallop. But Will wears many hats, and he knows each of his jobs well. When we brought him out to the pony pen and boosted S into the saddle, he stood stone-still while I wrapped my stirrups for her, and waited for her signal to amble placidly forward.

S has been taking lessons for a while, and has the makings of a good little rider, so she didn't take long to pick up on the idea of How to Keep the Lazy Pony Moving Past the Treat Lady. After a few minutes of walking and turning, I felt like she was secure enough, so I asked if she wanted to try a trot. Of course she said yes to that, too. Willie, on the other hand, needed a lot more convincing! Eventually I grabbed a crop and handed it to her, instructing her not to touch him with it unless I said so, and I held a dressage whip in my own hand. It took a lot of urging, and a little whip-waving from me, but eventually we got Willie jogging most of the way around the small enclosure with her. He watches out for his riders and every time he felt S get a little off-balance, he would slow back to a walk or halt so she could fix herself. I was really glad for that, because I have been trying to find a tactful way to explain the things a good "kid-safe" horse should do, and Willie helped me out by demonstrating perfectly. The sentiment is unanimous: everyone's first horse should be this awesome. ;)

When we were all feeling frozen, we called it quits and went back inside. I had shown S how Willie gives kisses on command, so of course she kept begging for just one more cookie to ask for more kisses, and she gave him lots of kisses of her own. She professed her love for him, and apparently when she stopped back by the barn the next day Willie was all she could talk about. I told her that she can ride him any time that I'm at the barn, and in fact it works out well for Willie because he gets to have a "job" that isn't physically taxing, and I feel less guilty about not riding him myself. As a former Horseless & Penniless kid with an obsession, I also don't mind enabling the equally-obsessed kids with a good work/learning ethic. Even though it's not the same as having a horse of your own, I know how it is to get extra riding time on different horses -- particularly safe, charming ones like Willie!

As it turns out, Saturday morning the chiropractor managed to squeeze Jabby in at the last minute. She had just been away for a week and a half and was heading out of town again shortly, but I was so happy to get him done that I agreed without a second thought. I completely forgot about the fact that someone had invited to trailer us to my favorite Park on Sunday -- our first "outing" together, the first time trailering Jabby anywhere to ride. Unfortunately the chiropractor on Saturday meant a light day for Jabby on Sunday... But fortunately for me, I happen to have two horses, and so Willie got to stand in!

Our driver was meeting up with a friend, so the three of us and our horses headed out into the cold. Thankfully it wasn't as windy as the day before, but it was even colder! I hadn't realized that hunting is now allowed in the WMAs on Sundays (previously Sunday was the one day we could ride without worry), but my friends were equipped with bells and blaze orange, and I had the good fortune to wear my neon blue breeches and a bright red jacket that I got from my London adventure a few years ago. (I said good fortune, not good taste.)

We still had a really nice (hunter-free!) ride, covering nearly 8 miles (give or take; Google Earth is not an exact science when you don't have visible roads!) in just under 3 hours. [EDIT: I heard back from one of our friends who was carrying a GPS, and apparently we logged just under 10 miles!] Obviously, the pace was quite slow, though we threw in a bit of trotting and cantering here and there. I was happy to see Willie seemed to be in better shape than the other two, because if we go five miles in one session it's a lot these days, and he hasn't been out into the Assunpink or anywhere we can't ride from the farm for probably over a year. His walk has slowed down over the years, but he was still keeping ahead of our companions easily at most points of the trail.

At one point my feet were completely frozen and Willie was being a grump because, according to his calculations, the ride was half over and we should have turned left to get back to the trailer. While he was technically right, we were taking the long way back, so as he sulked and scuffed his feet, I hopped down and walked for maybe half a mile to get my circulation going again. It was a gravel/dirt road, up a slight slope but not too bad. We all had to laugh, though, when we realized that Willie and I were still outpacing our new friends with me on foot!

We also ran into the hunt club, and my friend KR (with the track in her backyard) waved as she rode past. The hounds about gave Willie a fit, because we had just passed a group of hunters training their dogs, which made him pin his ears. When a swarm of baying, bounding hounds came past, he about took off after them with teeth gnashing. Have I mentioned that Willie is really more of a cat person?

All in all it was a good ride, though, and I'm glad I ended up taking Willie after all. I missed adventuring with my Super Pony, so it was nice to have him in the spotlight again for the weekend. I'm also happy to say that I now have my trail permit for the 2012 season, so if I can beg a few more rides off of people, maybe we'll start getting out and about again!

Twilight Rides

2011-12-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

Last night I just barely squeezed in a ride on Jabby at dusk. The forecast kept calling for showers, but the showers took their sweet time showing up. By the time I got done with work, got done with chores, got done trail riding Willie (who was Mr. Sparkypants for a change!), it still hadn't rained but we were almost out of daylight. The sun was nearly down, but the clouds had already rolled in, so everything was awash in blue light. We did our speediest tack-up and carrot stretches ever, and I hopped on for a twenty minute ride. It was far more productive than I had hoped, with Jabby walking calmly past some terrifying handsaw noises coming from the barn owner's garage, moving right off into a stretchy trot, and bopping happily and smoothly around our "arena" as the last of the light faded.

When a strong gust made the plastic hood of my windbreaker snap like a whip, he bolted forward exactly three steps, then stepped himself right back into my outside rein and continued trotting like nothing had happened. It's good that my horses have life figured out for those times when I'm too busy going, "Whoops, that was an unpleasant noise," to be of any use to anybody.

His canter was nice, too. We didn't do much, just a few circles and a stretch down the "long" side. It's nice that a year ago I was worried about this horse falling down on me when we cantered, and now we can lope around in the twilight like it's NBD.

Today all my after-work errands took longer than expected, but once more I raced the darkness for a ride on the Moose. I got up in two-point and we went almost straight to trotting, with Jabby chugging along like a happy little train as the temps dropped swiftly. We breezed around the back of the soyfield at a hand-gallop, swapped directions and cantered back. We walked for a few moments, then threw in some shallow canter loops for funsies, too. On the right lead, he wrapped around my inside leg and reached softly for the bit from true canter to counter canter and back; the left was stiffer and not quite as steady, but he gave it his best shot. We finished up with a trotted figure-eight back in our "arena" before walking through the housing development to show Jabby the lit-up McMansions.

Since one completely horrid day at the beginning of last week, we've had some really good rides. This horse is a rockstar -- and by that I mean some days he brings down the house, and others he trashes his hotel room with a broken guitar. The bad days really get me down, but when he's good, he's so good...

He is feeling slightly "stuck" behind again, this time maybe in his left hip, so I put in another call to Dr. L for when she comes back from vacation. He may just need regular adjustments for a while -- he's a big horse, from a breed with a tricky hind end, and pretty hard on himself mentally and physically.

I'm thinking, too, he's definitely one of those horses that needs a job 6.5 days a week, or even twice some days. Not to work him to the brink of exhaustion, but just so he gets his mind and body engaged every day. Even living outside 24/7 isn't quite enough for him, since his field is flat and fairly small and he really doesn't exert himself much moving from hay pile to hay pile.

Sorry I haven't updated much recently... There always seems to be one Anti-Blogging Month and this time around it's December. Just winter doldrums, unbloggable things, and a lack of things I feel worth writing about. I'm glad it's not as cold as it could be, but I'll be happy when the days start getting longer again.

And hey, good news! The boys have started letting go of a few extra hairs at a time when I curry them after riding. That means an early spring, right? (Right?)

Something Different

2011-12-02T22:15:00.001-05:00

I don't longe my horses very often. I used to do it more, back when Willie was still learning, and I frequently found myself unable to ride due to footing or a lack of well-fitting tack. Don't get me wrong -- I think it's a valuable training tool and one of those things that Every Horse Should Know, but I also think it's easily (and frequently) overdone... Then again, that might just be speaking from the years of hanging out with Buckaroo Bubbas and show barns of various repute, each of whom thinks the best way to train a horse is to exhaust it into submission.

In any case, Willie generally finds himself getting longed or free-longed a few times a year, when I'm unwilling or unable to ride, or in one or two exceptional cases, when he is a Very Bad Pony and needs reminders about manners and things. He's pretty "broke" and knows all his commands by heart, and used to stay on a circle without any rope at all. Now that he's older and semi-retired, he occasionally gets a light longeing day just to get him moving in a productive sort of manner, and once in a while, to plod around with a nervous beginner.

Jabby, on the other hand, was pretty miserable to longe the handful of times I tried last winter. I'd send him out on the circle, and before I cued him to do more than walk, he would pick up this automatous trot, with a vacant expression on his face and an air of "Trot this way twenty minutes, got it." While I could admire the consistency, I use lots of transitions and changes of direction when I'm longeing, and he ignored every single smidgen of input. So I gave a jiggle, and then a tug on the longe line, which sent him barreling across the arena at Full Charge. Each further attempt to longe was unpleasant at best, so I abandoned the idea for a while, until trying once more this summer when I was trying to see if I was imagining a hinky step in his gait. The results were pretty much the same, and since our current "arena" is a wide open plain adjacent to suburbia, I wasn't so keen on fighting that fight.

But we needed a change of pace, and so I dug out my surcingle and matched pair of longe lines to try some long-lining. I thought perhaps having a more direct line of communication would help, and if not, well, he'd probably hit a tree or swamp or something eventually.

Before any of this handy experimentation could begin, though, I had to face the realization that once again Behemoth McLeviathan is too gigantic for normal clothes, because the dang surcingle was about 6" short of buckling. I busted out my inner Girl Scout and ghetto rigged the thing with one of Willie's girths:

This actually worked out fantastically because the elastic on that girth had just started to fray, and I was going to chuck it. With less strain and risk involved than holding a saddle and rider in place, I figure it can hang around exclusively for this purpose for a little while. (Aw look, even Willie's equipment gets semi-retired!) As an aside, in seven years of horse ownership (and eight years of tack ownership!) this is the first of my girths to bite the dust. Must make a point to compare that brand to the others at some point...

I even managed to find some boots to squeeze Jabby's bulkage into, so we Velcro'd up and moseyed outdoors to give it a [hopefully figurative] whirl. He immediately locked up his head and neck, as he is wont to do, but I figured I would let him work it out, and he eventually did.

Once I was confident enough that he wasn't going to take off or freak out, I rearranged the lines so that the outside looped around his hind end... Don't know if it actually makes that much difference, but figured it wouldn't hurt to give him a little extra encouragement to step under himself.

He was much better than the last longeing attempt, and he listened pretty well to my half-halts and such. We did a lot of circles at the walk and trot, and changed direction and went off in straight lines a bit, and wandered over some of the cavaletti, too. He offered a canter at one point, and I let him take it for half a circle before politely asking him to come back down -- Willie cannot hold the canter on the longe line to this day, so I didn't want to discourage Jabby too much!

By the end he had started to relax and actually stretch, and was listening carefully and chewing the bit softly. There was still a little twinge of worry when I asked for something new, but he seemed like a pretty happy kid overall, and so was I. We walked around the farm to cool down, and not so surprisingly, it was completely and 100% NBD. He was ostensibly broke to drive at some point, but I don't know if he's done anything quite like this since he was three years old.

That last photo makes me chuckle, though despite his appearance and the wardrobe woes, I assure you he is not that massive. Still, it's a good thing he's freezebranded -- people might doubt he's a Standardbred!

On the Fringes

2011-11-28T02:35:00.002-05:00

I found I can make a three-mile loop behind the housing development next door, and while it's not much for conditioning, it's a nice change of pace for the days we aren't doing heavy work. The same old soyfield gets pretty boring when you hack around it week after week.

This loop is like riding through a series of before and after pictures -- part wilderness, part construction site, part family-friendly neighborhood. The same paved road has a shiny SUV parked next to a manicured McLawn, a well-oiled bulldozer resting next to the hill it made yesterday, and a rusty old truck cab with weeds growing out of the dashboard. There are deer tracks in the mud, next to a dog-and-human duo's marks, and now, a trail of barefoot hoofprints. There's a path or two still completely untouched by machines, at least for the time being.

Even the weather is stuck in limbo, shifting between gray and sunny, winter and autumn. I can't complain about the recent spree of friendly temperatures, but the loss of daylight is feeling inexplicably rough.

I'm feeling rather in-between myself, in a place I've stagnated over the past few years: kid and grown-up, show and trail rider, pro and ammy, staff and boarder... I need a direction. I need a change of scenery.

At least I have a place to wander while I clear my head.

And some good companions to wander with me.

Five Years

2011-11-23T01:53:00.000-05:00

Happy Blogiversary to me!

(And you, my awesome readers! If I could share cupcakes with you guys I totally would -- like these XC-themed cupcakes from a few birthdays back. Because they're awesome, that's why.)

It's been five years since I started what was supposed to be a greeting card for friends moving out of town... It's grown into a record of training and adventure far beyond what I ever thought my humble little Standardbred and I could ever accomplish, with over 200 Reader subscribers and thousands of monthly visitors from all around the world. For the longest time I was too shy to self-promote, so most of you stumbled onto me by word-of-mouth, comments and forum links, and occasionally, by sheer accident! Thank you so much to all those that have stayed.

I feel like five years deserves more of a write-up, but I'm afraid I'm still not in a particularly chatty mood. I was going to just post a picture timeline from the last five years, but it ended up pretty huge so I just made an entirely new page for it, here. That way I can go back and add more every year. :)

Again, I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone who has read, commented, shared, interviewed, encouraged, and visited along the way, not to mention all the wonderful people who have helped contribute with camera work and moral support, too! The sense of community is what makes this whole thing fun.

If I don't post again before the weekend, have a Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday, and stay safe as the holiday madness kicks off in the next few days.

Silent Sunday: Trailblazing

2011-11-20T19:12:00.001-05:00

Saturday

2011-11-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

My ten-day riding streak was ended by the weather. Ride through the country in the freezing rain? No thank you. It's not like we have any heavy-duty training or showing goals to gear up for!

After a few more crummy days (one with extra wind, one when I was just stricken by the Blahs) I finally rode again yesterday. Jabby and I did almost 5.6 miles through the nurseries:

After the face-smashing episode last week, I put the running martingale back on for the first time in almost six months, but we didn't really need it. He was mostly good, listening well and responding to my half-halts to keep his hind end engaged. If I felt him getting too wound up, I let him walk on the buckle for a few minutes. Dear Jabby: This is fun.

We did have one minor meltdown: after gamely trotting through puddles on the nursery paths without breaking stride, an odd black-colored one (due to sediments or something else in the ground at that particular spot) was apparently much cause for alarm. Jabby tried to step around it, kicked a rock in, and then proceeded to do a Devil Water Dance where he kicked out, leapt forward, and set off on a buck-prop-bolt binge that caught me by surprise enough to nearly unseat me. We walked calmly back and stood by the offensive black water until he placed one hoof in it, and then carried on with the rest of our ride as if nothing had happened.

Towards the end of the ride he was mentally tuning me out a little, so when we got back we did a quick school in our riding field -- basic w/t/c, stretching and softening, cantering on a circle over one raised cavaletto -- just to end on a good note.

Hopefully today I can fit in both horses. I'm feeling very stuck and unmotivated and I kind of just want to "unplug" until spring. The blog turns five this week, and I'm not even very excited about that!

Keeping the Streak Alive

2011-11-16T10:59:00.003-05:00

Yesterday marked a momentous occasion. For the tenth consecutive day, I threw a leg over at least one of my horses!

Okay, so it's not that big a deal, but I haven't ridden that many days in a row since busting my knee back in 2009. Actually, when you get right down to it, I haven't had a streak that long since somewhere in 2008, before leaving for my ill-fated working student position, where the only horse I got to ride was my own -- if I were lucky enough to get the free time. Sometimes I can't believe I actually used to get on 4-8 horses a day, usually at multiple barns. Where the heck did I find that kind of energy?!

As of the last update, Jabby had two good post-chiropractor rides, and then I was fairly sure I thrown my money out the window. Last week we started again at square one on Monday, and then built back up over the course of six days, with short but productive rides. By Thursday he was feeling pretty fabulous again... I think we only did actual work for twenty minutes; we had a brief walk/trot/canter warm up, including nice easy departs mostly off the seat. For the most part, if I sit my butt quietly in the saddle and ask properly, he will roll immediately into a calm, quiet canter. If he loses his balance and stumbles into it, or gets excited, I ask him to walk or halt, we regroup, and try again. It's a small thing, but before he got adjusted these kinds of transitions were completely out of the question.

At that point, he was being so springy and adjustable that I decided to try for the crossrail I had optimistically set up. (Okay, HJ Lady set it up, and I changed it from "Deep Spot Hunter Exercise of Doom" to "Encouraging Crossrail of Flowerdiddlies.")

On the first attempt I completely dropped him on his face and flung my bulk around in a panic. Ace riding, I has it. Jabby sucked it up like a champ and jumped anyway, which nearly got me a well-deserved jostling out of the tack. I apologized profusely and thanked him for saving my butt, then we regrouped and tried again, this time taking my own advice to Chill Out, Man.

I used a 20m circle to reclaim the sproingy canter, hit Cruise Control, and got the hell out of his way. He found his distance and neatly jumped up and around all, "This ain't no thang," and I even managed to keep my act together with an auto-release and everything. We cantered away, transitioned down, and traded lots of praise. Lather, rinse, repeat to the left, at which point I just dismounted and let him bury his snout in the nearest patch of clover, because there was nothing left for me to do but screw up again.

HJ Lady had caught the last half of our ride, and she offered feedback: his flatwork looked much improved, his jump was round and tidy, and while his canter is looking better and better, it still has that ever-so-slight wibble in footfall that marks him a gaited horse. Le sigh.

Friday we played hunter pony, where I basically let him trundle around on his face because he was doing it quite calmly and happily, despite the blustery wind and the ATVs that were ripping around the track on the other side of the arena. (The barn owner has a side business; the kids and I have joint custody of the fields.) They bothered me far more than they bothered him:

The Honey Jabber don't care! The Honey Jabber don't give a sh*t!

A "quiet" moment with only one bike running.

So he obediently walked, trotted, and cantered as requested, and lobbed over some small jumps for funsies. I probably could have made more of an attempt to get him rocking back on his hind end, but, eh. I'd rather have him being flat and lazy than curled and tweaked.

This sort of thing is so typical for him, and maddeningly so. The ATVs don't bother him. Neither did the Tarp of Death. On Wednesday we were taking a ten-minute mental health mosey around the farm, and when a big ol' buck leapt out of the weeds five feet to our left, the Moose held his ground while I screamed like a girl. (In my defense, I was expecting a bunny, not an impromptu pair of antlers at eye level. Also: I ride a 17-hand horse. Things should not be at eye level!)

The Thursday of our fabulous ride, rain clouds were looming on the horizon just as we got started. So as part of our walk warm-up, we rode around to all the blankets that had been airing out on the fences and flipped them waterproof side up. Jabby continued to be unbothered. Clearly, a spooktastic animal. I should just turn him into an Extreme Trail Horse and be done with it.

Anyway, we continued our good rides through Saturday, when Jabby's energy finally started petering out, so he got two well-earned days off. Yesterday, we got back into work, but we were at square one all over again. His head was never in the game and we spent most of the ride working on calm transitions, quiet rhythms, and as much long and low as I could coax out of him. Then I went out to lunch with Dom, who came back to the farm with Herbie to hang out. We managed to cobble together enough spare and borrowed tack to dress both Willie and Jabby, and we headed out on a lazy trail ride with the Wonder Pibble in tow.

Willie looks like a pony from up here!

We had a nice, quiet ride through the nurseries despite the odd raindrops that spattered occasionally, and the fact that I had no stirrups on my loaned saddle. It was the first time anyone but me had taken Willie on a trail ride, and though he gave me a bit of a pouty eye once he realized that I was on Moose, he behaved like the rockstar he is. While I hardly have to worry about Dom's riding ability, it's nice to know that Willie can fill in the role of "hubby horse" if I ever need him to.

I feel like the blog has been rather Jabby-centric lately, but Willie is still definitely getting plenty of miles in. Mostly we have been babysitting a boarder's Red Mare on her first forays into the wild. On another blustery day when I didn't want to risk getting caught in the rain, we did some actual flat work for the first time in a while. Nothing fancy, just a quick warm-up and then tooling around our riding field with no reins.

Today, we're in for lots of rain, so the streak may be broken. I can't be too disappointed, though, because since our freak blizzard at the end of October, we've mostly had one gorgeous episode of autumn weather after another.

FYI Friday: Lake Country Boots Review

2011-11-11T01:11:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that I'm something of an incurable tomboy. I only dress up for horse shows, which is coincidentally also the only time you'll catch me showing any interest in ribbons or braids. So I never thought I'd be the kind of girl who got all excited about shoes. Regardless, I think I'm in love...

Meet the K*ty Lake Country Boots (previously listed as Lake Yard Boots). When a rep for the UK-based Equestrian Clearance Warehouse contacted me about testing them out, I thought it was too good to be true. I wouldn't be a wannabe-eventer if I wasn't secretly jealous of the very popular boots that everyone and their auntie seems to wear on XC course walks. Plus, the timing was perfect, as I had recently shredded yet another pair of shoes and needed something to keep my feet dry while I worked.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance. Little did they know, I was going to test the ever-loving crap out of those boots!

Oh yeah. I went there.
Every day.
For a month.

I have now owned the Lake Boots for a month and I have worn them just about every single day -- and if you know me, you know my typical day means a LOT of hours on my feet, in the barn! You also know that I am a destroyer, particularly when it comes to my footwear. (See above statement about shredding.) The average lifespan of my boots is about six months, and by "lifespan" I mean I wear them long after normal human beings with any shred of dignity would forego the duct tape and throw them out. I can lengthen this a bit by having a pair for everything that I do -- mucking, riding, walking around, bathing horses, driving farm equipment, shoveling snow -- but it's such a pain to keep taking shoes on and off, especially if there are laces, zippers, or bootpulls involved. And I still manage to destroy everything!

I'm used to wearing clunky muck boots and tall boots everywhere, but the Lake Boots felt soft and broken-in from the moment I put them on. Like a pair of nice field boots, they are designed to get a "crinkle" at the ankle and drop slightly, but they fit pretty much the same at thirty seconds and thirty days. At end of a long day I get home and I still don't want to take them off! I wear them while getting hay and grain and water to two farms, trudging through the fields, climbing into and out of the hay trailer, over sand and gravel and mud and tall grass and up and down stairs. I hiked over Assunpink hill and dale in them, despite my worries that the soft leather shell would get scraped and scratched by wilderness. Nope! These puppies are still good as new!

I tried hacking in them several times, and while I wouldn't do an intense school in them, they are quite lovely in the saddle, too. We walked, trotted, cantered, and galloped, and my legs never felt bloated or pinched or slippery. I have relatively small 4" stirrups, and the Lake Boots still sat nicely in them -- I didn't feel like I was wedging my foot in and risking a scary accident!

Another important factor for me is that I can drive safely and comfortably in them, and while it might only take two minutes to change a pair of shoes, that two minutes is important sometimes! Plus, now when I run to the grocery store on my way home, I actually look like an equestrienne instead of an extra in an LMFAO video.

While I'm obviously far from a fashionista, it is nice to look nice, particularly when I occasionally stumble into a professional equestrian setting. Imagine my surprise when I worked a championship dressage show a few weeks ago, and had random strangers come up out of the blue to ask where I had gotten my boots! When the Dressage Queens are interested, you know you've got something good!

My one complaint is that these boots are, indeed, only water resistant, meaning that if you submerge them enough times they will eventually soak through. However, after three weeks of wading through puddles, bathing horses, trudging through wet grass every morning and hosing them clean every night, they only gave in during our freak October Blizzard, with all the freezing, pelting rain and snow for a straight day and a half, after already being constantly subjected to the elements for my testing purposes. Even then, my socks barely got damp. But after a night in front of the dehumidifier, they were completely dry and ready to go! I haven't had a repeat of the problem, and I've continued to stomp through puddles, bathe horses, and traipse across the morning dew ever since. I may treat them with a waterproofing spray before the winter just because I do get so much mileage out of them, but for the average person, who is likely not nearly as rough on their clothing as I am, I don't see this being a problem.

The boots do have UK sizing, but if you pay attention to the measurements and reviews on the website (and use this handy-dandy conversion chart) you should be able to figure out your size no problem. I am usually somewhere around a US 9.5, and these boots are a UK 7. They fit comfortably with just a plain pair of cotton socks, although I have plenty of room to layer heavy wool ones for cold weather, too. The calves are generous, and even with thick jeans and knee-high winter socks on, my regular-to-wide calves don't feel cramped at all -- and I am a die-hard "regular jeans" wearer, the practical sort that covers your leg and doesn't try to be breeches!

In short, if you, too, covet the fabulous look of the "river" boots that are trending, the K*ty Lake Boots are a great choice. Like your favorite Super Standardbreds, they're hardy, brown, and versatile! :) There are actually a few different color options, and even with international shipping, they're still cheaper than similar boots selling at the top US tack stores.

I should mention, too, that Equestrian Clearance Warehouse is a very much site after my own heart. Not only is "clearance" right in the name, but they have a blue-and-gold theme and you can actually shop by color. So, you know, it makes it that much easier to get your holiday shopping done for all your favorite horse people!

The Moose Gets a Wardrobe Change

2011-11-08T23:14:00.001-05:00

First, to follow up on the chiropractor visit, Jabby started off feeling great, and then I'm pretty sure he tweaked himself all out of place again on our first ride back out on the trails. Sigh. He does seem to feel better physically, but mentally, he's still the same. (Today: anxiety about transitions, yet completely oblivious to the ride-on mower that was towing a chain drag through the pasture next to our "arena.") Improvement keeps coming, but it's still slo-o-o-o-ow going some days.

Anyway... Last year I lucked out by managing to avoid clipping either of the boys. I still blanketed, mostly out of convenience for me, but left their coats intact, and it worked out well for all of us. I was also lucky enough to inherit a heap of blankets for Jabby so I didn't have to spend a fortune dressing him.

When I took inventory at the end of summer, though, I realized that Jabby had only about four usable turnout blankets (compared to Willie's dozen!). He had heavy blankets and sheets but not much in between -- one blanket with about 100g of fill, which doesn't fit all that well. He does have one medium-weight liner that I used last year, but unfortunately I set it aside for washing at the end of last winter and forgot about it, so it's currently a bit grody until I can send it out for cleaning. Also, it gave him rubs on his shoulders, so I wanted to avoid using it unless absolutely necessary.

Luckily, a few weeks ago I happened to have an interview up near a tack store with a particularly large consignment section, so I decided to raid their blanket bins. Even more luckily, the bin for 80"+ blankets doesn't ever seem to move, so I dug in with relish. After much hemming and hawing, cheapness won out over vanity and for a grand total of $26 (including tax!) I picked up these two beauties:

Okay, pretty they ain't, but they'll provide nice warm layers for the Moose underneath something waterproof.

It turns out, he's going to need all the extra layers he can get, because this week I made the decision to clip him after all. He just got way too sweaty, even on the cooler days. I tried to do a bib clip -- just his throat and belly -- but this morning he STILL worked up a heavy sweat, within ten minutes of easy work. Part of it is still in his head, but I think he's just going to be better off without a massive yak coat. I have enough layers now that I can hopefully keep him warm and cozy in all temperatures, though I'll probably need to pick up a heavier neck cover for him at some point.

After our ride I gave him a bath, then turned him out in the grassy pony pen while I went to lunch, hoping 1) he would be too busy grazing to roll, 2) if he did roll the thick grass would keep him from getting too dirty.

It was a good thought, but unsuccessful. He indeed roll, and did indeed get dirty! I scrubbed off as much as I could without giving him another bath (we have no hot water at this farm, so two cold baths in one day would have been mean, even with the temps hitting 70!) and tried to extend the clip. But it was a fight with my little blue Osters, intended strictly for dog grooming, and before long the clippers and I had both given up. HJ Lady offered to bring me her big fancy clippers to finish up the job tomorrow. For now Jabby is sporting a trace clip:

I'm hesitant to take off TOO much more hair, since he WILL be living outside, but I know if I'm going to do it, I have to do it now. I should have clipped him a few weeks ago when I did Willie, because Will already grew back some fuzz! Next year I think I'm going to do what I had originally thought about doing this year -- hunter clips in September/October. Willie can get fuzzy again, with another trace clip later if he absolutely needs it, and Jabby's further haircuts can be dictated by his workload and our location. Hey, you never know, by then I might finally take someone up on an offer to go to work in Aiken for the winter! (...Because I'm totally that rich.)

The good news is, the Moose is totally awesome about being clipped, and naps in the cross-ties just like Willie while I perform three full acts of Clipping Positions That Will Get You Kicked Out of Pony Club 101. Except for the part where he stood so hipshot that I first ended up with a clip that was lopsided by a full 3".... Whoopsies.

In completely unrelated news, Jabby's "nephew," who you may or may not have caught me drooling over for the last few weeks, totally just set a new sales record for a STB yearling by bringing in a whopping $825,000. Small potatoes compared to some of the prices the Thoroughbreds go for, but Kind Of A Big Deal nonetheless. His full brother was a champion, so it should be exciting to follow his career!

Bummin' Around

2011-11-02T00:17:00.000-04:00

This morning I slept in till 9:30, then made some yummy pumpkin pancakes (from scratch!), and didn't even leave my house until noon. I rarely have days completely off, so I assure you it was downright glorious to laze around like a bum all morning. Especially so after running around last week to prepare for an Event at Work, then dealing with the October Blizzard (wtf, right?), then actually carrying out the Work Event and further, cleaning up the aftermath. Bumming well-earned!

Of course, then I had some uppity ponies to feed (OMG YOU FORGOT US HOW COULD YOU FORGET US!!) and while waiting for my beasts to process their delayed breakfast I picked their field and cleaned out their run-in shed... So I guess I'm not so good at this "take a day off" thing after all.

Willie was channeling the Bum Vibe long before I was, and last week his exercise routine consisted of a few days of longeing for about 20 minutes. He'd been lazy and uninspired under saddle and though he still greeted me with perky ears, he made it clear he didn't really want to do much actual work. I don't really longe often because I don't see a need, but figured this way he could still have a "job" and get a little more exercise than his daily moseys around the pasture.

Today the vibe was nowhere to be found. Sure, I took my time grooming, and we browsed through a new nursery path at a leisurely pace, but when we finally found some flat, dry ground, he was ready to rock and roll. We trotted and cantered a bit, took a time-out to visit our friend KR and babysit an adorable chestnut STB she's bringing along, but afterwards, Will made it clear that he still had the zoomies. We galloped a bit on the way home, reclaiming the freshly-harvested soyfields, though I made him quit and started our cool-out after only a few short stretches. When he feels good, he thinks he's so fit and clever, but I know better.

The forecast finally seems to be staying in the autumnal range, but I am glad that I opted to give him a low trace clip on one of the last really warm days. He stayed quite comfy today, not too warm or too cool. The hair is already starting to grow back, so hopefully it will return by the depths of winter.

Jabby, on the other hand, was feeling like just as much of a bum as I was. He worked pretty regularly up until his chiro appointment on Friday, then of course had the weekend off. I hacked him briefly yesterday just before the Most Awesome Trimmer arrived, but today I wanted to try a quick flatting session and see how he felt post-adjustment. We walked around the fields first to loosen up, and he seemed a lot more relaxed and comfortable than he has in... well, ever, I think. He trotted off obediently. Beyond that, though, there was just an overwhelming lack of oomph. He stretched only half-heartedly, and picked up the canter in each direction, but was so flat and lazy that he broke gait after a few strides. Today was a day for listening; I didn't want to push past whatever he wanted to offer, so we bagged it shortly thereafter. He's seemed perfectly fine out in the pasture (a bit too much, as I moved the white pony recently and he's been terrorizing Willie at mealtimes), and quite happy grooming, tacking up, and doing his stretches, but today he was just so... blah. Not bad, not lame, not sore -- just blah, under saddle.

I don't think it's related to the chiro -- at worst, I figured we just wouldn't see any improvement -- but I'll keep an eye on him. (I admit, I was sort of hoping to get back in the saddle and suddenly have a Super Beast all ready to go!) Maybe he just needs a few more days, or maybe he just happened to be feeling punky. Tomorrow I'll try taking him back out on the "trails" to see if he perks up. The weather, as I mentioned, seems like it should cooperate and be nice and seasonable for once, so at least that should be one less concern!

Jabby Gets Adjusted

2011-10-28T23:31:00.000-04:00

Today Jabby finally got a visit from Dr. L, the chiropractor. I probably should have had her out to look at him last November, and a dozen times since, but there's no use for "what ifs" now. She came out today and found he was "stuck" (she agreed with my use of the word!) in the same places I suspected:

I really like Dr. L because she is very good at narrowing down where the problems are, and if she can't fix something, she will tell you how to get it done. The first time she saw Willie, years and years ago, she was a big help with saddle fit in addition to showing me things I hadn't even realized were hurting, like his knees and one of his feet. (This was several years before I found the Most Awesome Trimmer, alas.) As usual, I didn't offer much information when she started with Jabby, just stating my general goals for training and use with him, and that he simply felt like he was stuck somewhere. Even with a practitioner I know and trust, I'm always interested to see how quickly the issues get pinpointed without my input.

I wasn't really surprised when Dr. L started working almost immediately on Jabby's lower back. His right hip was the worst of the two, though both needed some adjusting. This makes sense, because his canter issues have been with taking the left lead, which requires a push-off and then carriage with the right hind. His lower back, just under where the cantle sits, was also a tad reactive, and while it's possible the saddle is causing it, we both think it's a little more likely that he's compensating for the hind end. Up closer to his withers, where the saddle is more likely to rub, rock, or pinch, he was fine. We will see; I know my weathered old Passier isn't the perfect fit on him, so I will probably have to get him another saddle eventually, but one thing at a time.

His neck was a milder issue, with the left side being a bit worse than the right. This is the side that he tilts his poll toward when he gets really tired or frustrated, so I'm not too surprised with that, either. Here, again, he was "stuck." She did a few of the same stretches that I have been doing with him, and showed me some better variations, so Jabby and I have more homework! She was pleasantly surprised at how readily he dropped his head whenever she asked. Am I ever glad we worked on that trick, haha! Jabby did try to outthink her a little on some of the other stretches, because there are a few from our routine that he kept expecting, but Dr. L was patient and he eventually got them. He was incredibly disappointed when his hard work elicited but one single cookie, when Dr. L was done. How sad for the spoiled Moose!

After stumbling across a thread about SI injections on the COTH forum, I was concerned that Jabby's symptoms matched many of those described by other posters. Much to my relief, though, Dr. L didn't see any need to have them done. While I have seen with Willie that injections can be beneficial in the right circumstances, I'm glad to spare Jabby's back (and my checkbook!) from the experience!

No mention of arthritis or leg issues with him, which is another big relief. He's not yet 10 and doesn't have nearly the sort of history that Willie does, but he is a big horse and not particularly light on his feet.

All in all it was a very good session for Jabby, who thoroughly relaxed and enjoyed his spa day. He has off tomorrow, and likely for the rest of the weekend, as between the weather and an upcoming event at work I don't think I'll be in any position to get riding done. But we'll ease back into work in a few days, and if he's still not right in a month, we'll try another adjustment and go on from there.

A Year with the Moose

2011-10-27T21:13:00.005-04:00

Happy Gotcha Day, Jabby!

At the start of last year I never would have imagined I would be doubling the size of my little horsey family. I worked with lots of horses every day, and they came and went as a regular part of my job. Willie, my first horse, my heart horse, my soul-horse, was the only one I would call my own for a long, long time... Or so I thought.

Last fall Willie was finally telling me he was ready to slow down for the first time since 1995, and suddenly, another trotter came galumphing into my life. He needed a home, I needed a project, and it just seemed like a good fit. On October 27, 2010, I signed my second-ever adoption contract.

I can't believe it's been a year already, but for better or worse, here we are. Me and my giant, goofy, gallant, second horse.

It's been a year of ups...

and downs...

and learning to fly...

and to stand still...

and making new friends...

and keeping up with old ones...

and just hanging out.

Tons of obscure little lessons and victories, measured in sidewalks and conversations instead of scores and ribbons. Though the last twelve months hasn't panned out exactly as I imagined, I can't really complain. I had already been blessed with one amazing horse, and now I'm lucky enough to have two.

I feel like I have to mention, at least one last time, that eight years ago this week I said goodbye to the first tall, dark, and handsome Standardbred in my life. I still miss Stormy, but time has worked its healing magic, and I am finally at peace with how short our time was together. Storm taught me a lot of things I still carry to other parts of my life, and there are so many parallels between him and Jabby, sometimes it's unreal. I do think he would approve of the new big goober-horse in my life, another surprisingly gentle cookie-monster that charms the pants off of everyone in his path.

It's been a good adventure so far, Moose. Here's to the next anniversary, and counting.

Jabby Unfazed

2011-10-20T20:07:00.003-04:00

A random video from our ride today. Sorry about the quality -- all I had was my phone!

For whatever else you can say about him, Jabby has come a long way in just under a year. Next week will officially be our first "anniversary," and to celebrate I'm getting him the appointment he should have had a hundred times over by now, a visit from the chiropractor. I've ruled out a hundred other things and I'm kicking myself for not just biting the bullet and doing it sooner.

At least now he's at the point where his reaction to a scary tarp flapping in the breeze is "What's with the crinkling? Are there mints somewhere? Doop be doo." He ground-ties, ponies, jumps, crosses streets and streams, neck-reins, babysits scaredy green horses, and stands patiently while the neighborhood kids clamber over his legs and face -- although that last I couldn't teach, it's just a useful personality quirk! Not to mention his endless tolerance for all of my goofy ideas...

I'm proud of him, just like I'm proud that he didn't dump me ass-over-teakettle tonight when he had every opportunity to do so. A bunny literally ran under his feet just as I dropped the reins and tipped waaay forward to give him a pat His reaction was to flick an ear, miss one step, and continue trotting quietly. Good Moose.

I Fail

2011-10-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

See what happens when I try to give myself homework? I get it written up, schedule the post to publish automatically, go back to edit something and change the time... And manage to completely lose the entire thing somewhere. Whoops. So much for my new feature! I'll see if I can't rework the one draft I DID save.

I might have discovered the error sooner, but I was busy having a pony pow-wow. After three glorious days of running naked and free and grinding every last bit of mud into their coats, my boys got power-hosed this afternoon so I could bring the blankets back out for the impending Autumn Weather we're getting this weekend. This mostly involved closing up the little six-stall barn and turning my freshly-squeegeed ponies loose for some supervised playtime between the one free stall and the aisle, while they spent a couple of hours drying off.

As I joked with the other boarder, I like to run a hippie commune: bring them in, take off their clothes, let them run wild, eat off the floors.

There's no wifi in the barn, but I booted up my netbook with iTunes and Angry Birds to keep me amused. The boys munched and cuddled and kept potty use to the stall. I might run a hippie commune but it is a housebroken hippie commune, thankyouverymuch. I even managed to keep Jabby from putting anything extremely valuable in his mouth.

They ate dinner, then got bundled up in appropriate blankets and tossed back out into the night. They are probably busy grinding the mud back into all exposed parts as we speak, but at least they're clean underneath.

Tomorrow I'm squeezing in more volunteer hours (I'm somewhere between 50-60 for the year, I think) at what will probably be the last show of the season, at least for me! I love helping out but it's hard to fit in all the normal chores of two barns in around that when the daylight is sparse. Maybe next year we'll be back to attending on the other side of the registration desk!

Have a good weekend!

Feed Regime: Fall 2011

2011-10-12T14:15:00.000-04:00

I had originally planned to do these every three months, so September 1, but when I tried for a photo shoot the boys were uncharacteristically (okay, for Willie more than Jabby) fussy and uncooperative! I failed to get many good photos that did not look like they were half alpaca. Then we spent weeks fighting mud and rain almost constantly and I figured, heck, I'll get to it later... Now the weather is nice, and this sort of thing works better seasonally, so here we are.

A Note on Weight

My friend Kate got her mare weighed with an honest-to-goodness scale earlier this summer, and it got me wondering about my boys. I assumed Will was around the average 1000 lbs, and Jabby was around 1200 or so. When Lucy weighed in at 1197 lbs, I thought I had probably underestimated the Moose. Lu's a well-conditioned, growing girl, but Jabby's a bit of a tank. I have a few weight tapes kicking around from various horsey goody bags over the years, so I decided to grab one and measure, out of curiosity's sake. Willie "weighed" in at 916 lbs, and Jabby was around 1220.

Due to past experience, I don't really trust the tapes, and these weights seemed a little unrealistic in light of horses stepping on a scale. I flipped the tape over and used the "height" side to get measurements for another, supposedly more accurate formula. Square the heartgirth, multiply by the body length, then divide by 330 -- or punch the numbers into one of the many handy-dandy online calculators that exist for just such a purpose.

After mis- and re-measuring a few times, here are the numbers we ended up with:

Willie: heartgirth 70"; body length* 64"
Jabby: heartgirth 78"; body length 72"

According to these calculators, Willie weighs 950 lbs, and Jabby is 1327. Jabby's weight seems more realistic but Willie's still looks low. I dunno, maybe I've just had my perception skewed by what people think is "right" over the years? I'd love to actually get him weighed and find out! Sadly I can't even use my trailer to visit so much as a truck weigh station right now, so this might be as close to accurate as we get.

For now, I'll use the formula to measure "weight" for blogging purposes. As far as stuff like worming goes, I'd rather err on the side of caution and add 100-200 lbs for dosing when appropriate.

*This is not the same measurement you would take for fitting blankets, so check the diagrams on the corresponding links!

Hay
The boys are out on grass 24/7, in a field that is about 200' x 400' total. With all the rain this summer, the grass is maintaining well, but I notice when the temps drop, they do seem to prefer hay. I also believe in offering them long-stemmed forage (aka hay) for variety, gut mobility, and of course, helping the grass last as long as possible.

It's hard to say for sure how much they're each getting, since they live together and have a small pony in their field as well, but twice a day I offer ~15-30lbs (3-6 flakes) of a basic, mid-range timothy/orchard mix -- more if the flakes are fluffier, the temps are cooler, or they seem to be devouring it extra fast; less if the flakes are dense or they have leftovers from the previous meal. The pony nibbles on their hay but mostly eats grass, so the boys are getting the majority of it.

This is one of those things that people try to micromanage in a boarding situation -- and for good reason, because hay is important -- but since I'm the one doing the work, and looking around at least twice a day, I can see how much is too much or not enough. I could always just throw out half a bale and hope they eat all of it, but this way, none goes to waste and they still constantly have something to munch on.

Willie
18y/o gelding
15.3 hh, ~950 lbs
Light work (trails, walk/trot) 2-4 days a week

AM
3/4 lb Sentinel Performance LS, plus:
- 1 sc BioTime

PM
3/4 lb Sentinel Performance LS, plus:
- 1 oz ground flax (generic or Omega Horseshine)
- 1 sc Total Joint Care
- 2 sc (8 g) Organic Garlic
- 1 Tbsp paprika
+ 1 lb alfalfa pellets, soaked

Jabby
9y/o gelding
17hh, ~1330 lbs
Moderate work (dressage, jumping, trails) 4-5 days a week

AM
1 1/4 lb Sentinel Performance LS

PM
1 1/4 lb Sentinel Performance LS, plus:
- 1 oz ground flax (generic or Omega Horseshine)
- 3 sc (12 g) Organic Garlic
- 1 Tbsp paprika
+ 1 lb alfalfa pellets, soaked

Changes
After some thought and experimentation, I did streamline the feed program a bit compared to the beginning of the summer. Space is limited and if I don't absolutely have to feed two separate types of grain AND two separate types of hay stretcher, I would rather not. The switch from Sentinel Senior to Performance LS did not seem to make a huge difference with Willie. Jabby is doing well on alfalfa pellets now despite my previous concerns about it making him levitate. Even with a lighter workload, he handled it well, unlike this past spring and winter -- maybe something else was out of sorts and causing the reaction!

I stopped feeding TractGard to save money, because while I like it and it's good for peace of mind, I didn't notice any difference as I weaned the boys off of it. This time of year, with swift and drastic temperature shifts, would be a good time to use it for horses prone to minor digestive upset, but my guys seem to be doing okay and the extra $30-or-so a month is really useful right now.

I tried paprika on a whim after reading an informal article by an equine nutritionist. While it may cause a positive drug test (capsaicin), we're not showing right now and paprika is known to help improve skin and coat health due to its high amounts of copper. Living in a copper-deficient region, and with my boys getting less than the recommended amounts of vitamin-fortified grain, I figured it couldn't hurt to try. The creeping skin cruds did vanish completely within a few weeks of starting, and their winter coats are now coming in nicely... Although I also curry the snot out of them on a near-daily basis. I may just feed it through the spring coat growth anyway. It costs less than $10/month so it's cheap enough. If I were really concerned about a deficiency I would spring for testing and a fancy, legal mineral supplement (see Uckele).

This SHOULD go without saying, but the horses also have constant access to plain white salt blocks and fresh, clean, unflavored water. I mention the last because I heard a horror story this summer about horses that had only flavored water offered to them for some bizarre reason, resulting in multiple colics and severe dehydration. Yikes!

Once again, this is just how I'm doing things, and not meant to be an authoritative guide of any kind. I'm open to discussion but this is mostly for my own record and the sake of sharing. :)

Ears to You, Gogo

2011-10-12T01:41:00.000-04:00

‎"To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go."
-- Mary Oliver

If, as the proverb says, the wind of Heaven blows through a horse's ears, whisper something sweet the next time you look through your favorite pair.

One of the really awesome things about blogging is the amazing community, the network of people who barely know each other and might not have anything more than horses and keyboards in common. Sometimes, though, that's enough.

I mentioned previously that fellow blogger Andrea and her lovely, quirky mare had reached the end of their journey together. Today was the day; the battle is over. There was no victor, only peace.

Animal lovers live with a double-edged sword. We are blessed with the company of these amazing creatures, and in return for their selfless love and devotion, we are cursed with their wardship. Feeding, housing, and even clothing and doctoring them are easy; letting them go is not. And still, we bring them so readily into our lives.

I've lost my share of animals. Some were my pets, some were only in my care. Some were companions of a lifetime, others came to me only at the very end of theirs. It wasn't easy to say goodbye to any of them, even if the decision to assist them across the bridge had a thousand neon arrows guiding the way. It wasn't easy, but I stood by each one that I could. I held paws and lead ropes, and whispered into ears, and clutched a final handful of coat as they left this world for a better one. I assured every one of them, even those I barely knew, that they were loved.

It's not easy, and I wish I could do more than offer metaphorical arm around the shoulder for Andrea and all those that bravely faced the choice. Goodbye always, always comes too soon.

It will never be easy for us... But in the end, it's not about us.

"It's better to love, whether you win or lose or die."

Rest easy, Go-mare.

Riding Log: 10/2 - 10/8

2011-10-09T14:34:00.001-04:00

Hooray! Look what I've been riding enough to justify doing again!

Loving this weather, FINALLY. My days off got shuffled this week and it threw me for a bit of a loop, but I am milking as much of this gorgeous weather and rapidly-depleting daylight as I can. Willie's bad eye, the right one, is starting to cloud over again, and it's been staying a little puffy despite his ointment and a fly mask. He's not squinting and it doesn't seem to be uncomfortable, except maybe a bit itchy. I'm just watching it carefully for now.

I think I may finally have to accept that he won't seriously jump again. If we're out on the trails and he drags me to a tiny log that isn't likely to trip us to our deaths, I might let him go for it -- dragging me over implies he can see it just fine! But as far as competition and jump schooling go, I think impaired vision coupled with his aging body would just not be fair. It's not like I had any grand hopes of going to Rolex with him, so it's not a crushing blow, but it does still make me sad. Cross-country was his favorite thing, ever, and I always felt blessed to be his pilot.

Sunday
Willie - ~4.5 miles

It was raining on and off, and every time I saw a break in the clouds and started to head to the barn, it started raining again. I finally sucked it up and took Willie out, and it stayed nice just long enough for us to get halfway through our ride. It wasn't a heavy rain, but it was cold, and the drizzle kept up until we were about five minutes from home. There were more clouds looming over the horizon, so I opted to save Jabby's ride for the next day.

Monday
Jabby - Hacked a short loop through the neighborhoods to warm up, then came back and dressaged a bit.

We're back to/still on soft, stretchy, forward, and quiet. We are gradually doing more and more while trying not to detract from that general feeling. I keep ice water in my veins and if I feel things get shaky, we pause and take a deep breath before continuing again. He still gets emotional, but we're getting stronger, and steadier, and my muscle memory is coming back; it's easier for us to regroup and carry on.

He was doing so well that I decided to pop over two of the little jumps the other boarder had set up. They're only about 2' high, set a quiet five strides apart. We trotted in from each direction, and he was good so I decided to try a canter. He completely failed to pick his feet up, so I had to get down and reset the jump. We trotted the line once more and I decided to end on a good note, since he hasn't done much jumping recently.

Tuesday
Willie - 5.37 miles

I don't remember much about this ride, because I mapped it and forgot to write down notes! He wasn't really feeling the whole work thing this day, though. Usually I have to coax him along for the first two miles, and he'll either wake up and move out, or pout until I give in and bring him home. He's the boss right now; he still enjoys having a "job" and I want to keep it that way, so I listen to what he tells me he's feeling. He has earned the right to choose napping instead of working. Still, we had a pretty productive ride, getting a bit further into the nurseries than we had before.

Wednesday
Jabby - 3.5 miles, plus dressage and jumping.

Tried to rediscover an old loop, and remembered why I stopped riding up a certain road. In the past the fields were clear and we could trot, canter, or gallop up the majority of the way. Not so this time; we had to walk on the shoulder or the sidewalk. I tried to follow a path around the far end of the field, but it disintegrated and so we were back on the road. Jabby got to cross the wooden bridge by himself for the first time. He took about thirty seconds to think about it, but went forward when I asked -- and did an impressive Spanish walk with his nose somewhere down around his ankles as we crossed. Goober. We went another mile up the road before I remembered that the way didn't get much clearer up ahead, so we turned back and headed the way we came.

I knew it had been a short ride, even though we were walking most of it and it felt like an eternity. I wanted him to get something productive out of the day, so we revved up with a speedy canter when we got back home, and then dressaged a little bit. I mostly wanted to see if I could bring his brain back to a good place after frying it after the bridge (and a ratty old truck that came flying up out of nowhere just as Jabby took exception to a particularly noisy sewer grate). Once he was forward and stretching, I asked him to pop over one of the small jumps, which he did, overenthusiastically. My laughter caught the attention of the other boarder (a h/j rider), who asked to see him try again, so we cantered around to the start of the line. This time Jabby had no problems finding the distance from his canter, and I was so happy that I completely stopped riding and he got long and flat and smooshed through the second jump. Whoooops. We reset the jump and came in again at a trot. He landed cantering and I gave him juuust enough support to stay balanced and spring over the second, at which point we celebrated him being a good boy and quit for the day.

Thursday
My ponies opted out. Seriously, I went out to their field after work, checked their blankets (comfy under sheets, mid-60s with a steady, chilly breeze), and then slipped Jabby's halter on. I was only going to hack him up the road with Willie in tow, but he gave me a horrified sort of look and wouldn't turn more than his head. Willie took the opportunity to discreetly amble away. They're usually both so eager to work, or at least come in and get groomed, that I let it go. I had plans for later that afternoon anyway, so I spent a few hours cleaning and conditioning all of my tack, then tossed them dinner and headed out.

Friday
Jabby - 9.95 miles

My second day off this week. I reveled in sleeping in, then went to the barn intending to feed, return, and go back later, but I had plans to be social again (I know, right?!) so I ended up picking the pasture, then hopping on Jabby and taking him on a ride that was longer than any we've done this summer.

It was a good ride overall. Once again his physical fitness isn't the issue. He's simply not a brave horse. I'm not sure that he ever will be, though I would like to take up a friend's offer to get him out hunting a few times this winter and see how that treats him. He's such a big mush, but he's still so insecure, fretting and worrying and getting himself worked up over nothing. The good news is he revels in praise, so whenever he does something right, I make a HUGE deal about it and the lesson (hopefully) sinks home.

Willie was a naturally good trail horse, and I installed Cruise Control early on in our relationship. I have to remind myself that Jabby still doesn't quite have that mode, so we spent a lot of time trotting down the rutted nursery roads with me in two point, grabbing mane with the reins flapping in the breeze as I let him learn to look out for his own feet. It's a slow lesson, but one I think he's finally picking up (again!) now that we're getting out and about more often.

I got a short video of us zipping along the road near the breeding farm where we turned around. The corn rustled and whispered evil things in his ears, and since this corn was behind a fence, Jabby knew it was very dangerous corn. But he took my word for it that we would be safe, and put on a brave face to pass it by.

You can hear me giggling as he Power Trots instead of cantering. Sadly the memory card filled up just after he finally picked up the canter. He rolled along into a handy little gallop, where I crooned things like "Gooood boooy!" and "Perrrrfeecctt!" until we reached the end of the fenceline, and with it, our turn for home.

Saturday
I didn't ride... I planned to give Jabby a day off, and was going to hack Willie around, but he really just wanted to snuggle and nap in the spare stall for a while, and after a day of running errands, I obliged. Call me lazy, but I try to build in days off like this every week. The patchwork minds and bodies the three of us live with sometimes work better that way.

Goals
This sort of schedule seems to work out well, so I'd like to continue riding them on alternating days, with the occasional double day off or double ride day thrown in, as the schedule and/or our bodies see fit.

For Willie, I'd like to keep riding him about 10-15 miles a week. It's just enough to keep him reasonably fit. Sometimes we throw in a day of flatwork, but hacking out is really what he wants to do. I do throw in some little dressage figures here and there, just to make sure the right muscles get some work and dust off all the old buttons.

For Jabby, I'd like to try and bump him up into the 20-30 mile/week range, or a little less with dressage and jumping thrown in. Keep getting relaxed dressage schools, strengthen his lower back, and work on getting his left lead on a straight line in the open. (A mental block I believe stemmed from a physical one.) The Hunter-Jumper boarder (who needs a better nickname) sets up some nice courses from time to time, so I may pick her brain and see if we can't get Jabby going over some mini courses again. I tend to just pop over a few elements of whatever she leaves out, but it would be nice to start setting up a more structured routine for him again.

For me -- keep riding, keep recording, keep blogging. I've been casually keeping my eye out for better opportunities for a little while now, but have yet to find the perfect fit. If we keep going the way we have been going, though, I can't say I'll be able to complain about too much.

That about wraps up the week. Hopefully that's easy enough homework for all of us!

FYI Friday: Sharing the Love

2011-10-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

I feel like I'm neglecting my blog, even though I also feel like we are not really doing anything noteworthy enough to be "missed." I know, too, I've been neglecting to comment on anything, because it seems like I am constantly playing catch-up with my Reader list. So even though it isn't really something I thought I would ever pick up, I'm going to try a weekly feature (ha!) and share either links, educational stuff, or how-tos. I was going to make it DIY Friday but I realized I don't actually know how to DO that many things... At any rate, this means I have to actually plan ahead and THINK about what I am posting, haha!

Sadly my planning skills did not manifest quite the way I had hoped this week... For one thing, my days off got shuffled and it threw me for a huge loop, hence no material for the original topic I had planned. For another, I meant to get this post out early this morning, but I went out to feed and ended up staying out all day, first doing chores, then riding the Moose, then going out and socializing (I'll pause for a second to let you recuperate from the shock) with another horsey friend by taking a trip to a new-to-us tack store. I know, though, that if I don't start now I might not ever, so I'll start off by featuring three other blogs you should check out, for different reasons.

The first is Eventing-A-Gogo. Andrea started her blog right around the time of my ill-fated working student attempt, and I hoped that we would start crossing more paths in the eventing world. Instead, Andrea and her quirky Gogo were one of the pairs I lived vicariously through while rehabbing my bum knee. Now, after two years of trying to rehab Gogo from her own injury, it seems like their journey together is drawing to a close. Andrea is being faced with a decision that I, like all animal lovers, dread making. It's not easy, even when you know in your heart what the answer has to be. So if you aren't already one of their many readers, please stop by and send them some love.

On a lighter note, Kate over at the Adventures of Lucy is having a giveaway for a customized saddle pad -- all you have to do is write a haiku! Our friend Dom bought one of the pads and I have seen it in person, and can attest that they are gorgeous. Kate and Lucy were kind enough to host us during our crazy MIT adventure, and it's hard to believe how much Lulu has grown up since then. I like to think her weekend with the Super STBs did her a lot of good, but the truth is Kate has really done a fantastic job with her.

This is a bit premature, but Stacey over at Behind the Bit will be doing a giveaway soon, too! The prize is an awesome custom blingy browband. I haven't seen this one for myself, but I know that Stacey has good taste (her love for Ugg boots excepted...) so it has to be as lovely as it looks! Check out and follow her blog now so you don't miss the contest on October 18.

And a bonus recommendation, since it just occurs to me that I gave her a shout-out on my Facebook page but not here. A while back I was interviewed by Katie of Equine Life. She recently did another interview, which reminded me that I'm a terrible person and forget to link back to things frequently. Part of the fun of blogging is getting to "meet" other people from all over the world, and Katie and her horse Jack are no exception!

The weather is finally nice, so this week I have managed to get in some nice rides, most of which I plotted out again. More details and photos to come!

The Weatherman Lies

2011-09-30T23:32:00.005-04:00

LIES, I tell you. I was told the forecast would brighten up on Thursday and stay clear for a few more days.

Instead we had a brief cloudburst yesterday afternoon, and it's currently raining again.

The only difference between the current 5-day forecast and the one I posted a few days ago is that the temps have dropped about twenty degrees... Which I admit I am looking forward to, rain and all.

We've still managed to get in some more rides, though. I've been shooting to ride the boys on alternating days, and have actually managed to feel well enough during the short breaks in weather to get it done. Tuesday was a dressage-based ride out in the neighborhood for Jabby, and Will did an easy five-mile ride on Wednesday:

We even snuck in some dressage work on the track... Stretchy trot down each of the long sides, itty-bitty leg yields... Don't tell Willie, though! He thinks he's retired. :)

I've been trying to take them both for long walks down the roads, too. I don't like doing too much work on pavement, especially not with Will's joints, but riding on hard surfaces does have some benefits for hooves and tendons, so I try to include a quiet, easy stretch where we can. Usually it's a nice stroll through the developments, where we stop and chat with the neighbors. We've introduced ourselves to a new person or family just about every ride this week, including one jogger with a Haskell hat who told us he wished he saw more horses out and about. It's nice to hear that sort of thing after running across a few people with a McMansion complex (aka "Peaches Syndrome") in the past.

Jabby rounded out the week with a 4.5 mile ride on Thursday, and a quick 3 mile walk through the neighborhood today. Unfortunately the clouds were drawing in before I got to tack up Willie today, so he didn't get his turn. I did give him a soapy bath to scrub off the last of the mud crusting he worked so hard to grind into his coat, though, making sure he was nice and clean before his sheet went on tonight.

It's too early to decide, but I might do trace clips on both of the boys by the end of next month. Jabby's coat is nice right now, but Will's is already pretty thick -- not long, just dense, the way it always gets in winter.

That wraps up our September, and while it was exciting enough in its own ways (hurricane aftermath, an exploding kidney, etc) I wish we had gotten more done. I can't complain too much, though! We're all ending the month in good health and good humor.

Roads & Tracks

2011-09-26T01:30:00.001-04:00

I am so ready for this extreme weather to be over and done with. It's been almost a month since Irene passed through, and while our neighborhood made it out relatively unscathed, the weeks before and after the storm have been filled with rain. We are, to a one, sodden and moldy and sick to death of it. The internet has yet to create an emoticon that can accurately express the dismay that I felt when I checked the forecast last night:

I might add this is AFTER a few days of the same. Monday has since been "upgraded" to Mostly Cloudy, and after Thursday we may see a few days of relief. I won't hold my breath -- unless the floodwaters actually do start rising over my head!

The good news about our unconventional riding space is that the footing, as it were, has been holding up pretty well. Our farm has only a handful of boarders, and we all take care not to rip around the grass field if the ground is too soft. A few of the country roads are still closed off, but the nurseries and farms that allow us to cut through have hard-packed dirt paths, which are used so infrequently that they don't completely wash out. At worst, a few low spots get slick if the big tractors churn them up during harvesting. By sticking to the roads, nurseries, and the jogging track on my friend's farm, we can find plenty of space to stretch our legs safely.

We do have to be careful in a few odd spots, though... Sometimes the storm damage takes us by surprise.

By now I'm quite familiar with one 5-6 mile loop, with enough variation that no one gets bored, and enough familiarity that there is almost always a friendly face within shouting distance. My riding schedule this summer has been uninspired, to say the least, but as it stands, Willie and Jabby can both motor through the majority of this loop without straining themselves. It's a good place to start as we hopefully pick up the activity again, at least as far as Jabby is concerned. (Willie may remain semi-retired for as long as he pleases.)

Today, the weather held, and the sun even came out for an hour in the morning. After work and a quick run to the feed store, I decided to push my luck, and set to work scraping a layer of mud off of Jabby. Willie begged to come in and get away from the bugs, so I took pity on him and left him in the spare stall under the giant fan. It still hadn't rained by the time the Moose was clean, so we tacked up and headed out.

We had a pleasant ride. I aimed to just have a quiet, positive experience for Jabby, even if it meant walking the whole thing. It's been a while since we consistently rode more than a mile or two away from the property, and back in the spring our conditioning rides occasionally ended with him hitting a mental or physical wall and just shutting down. But today was a good day. I asked for bits of trot and canter when he seemed ready to offer it, and encouraged him to stretch and lift his back as much as possible. We need to get fitter and stronger, but we need to work the right muscles, too! I do miss riding in company, but I admit it is a bit easier to get him to settle and focus when we're on our own.

My favorite part of the ride was Jabby initiating the Splash Game. On his first few outings, I made a point of trotting through lots of puddles, because they exist and we must deal with things that exist quite a lot. If I present him to one, he has to at least get a foot in (or jump across!). My horses like to be quite sneaky, and can levitate their bodies over the water while their legs contort to remain on dry land. Amusing, but not quite appreciated -- hence the Splash Game. With the first handful of puddles today, we had to Splash, and then I decided to steer around where we could. (No point in abusing my powers!) We passed one long puddle, and he very neatly and deliberately stuck one foot into the water. He was so proud of himself that I didn't have the heart to tell him that the game was over, so I patted him on the neck and agreed that he was quite smart and brave, and we picked up a trot. From there, he started to really look at the ground and experiment on his own, slowing down and rocking back, lengthening or shortening his stride to adjust to any changes in footing. I tried to sit in the middle and do not much else.

On the way back home, we walked along a grassy stretch where we usually canter. I'm glad we did, because I saw a wide-eyed little girl staring at us from the foot of her driveway, and with her father waving us over, we crossed the road to say hello.

Jabby has the routine memorized at this point: Tiny human squeals. Tiny human is lifted two stories in the air to pet his giant nose. Tiny human squeals again, and either runs into the house or sends a big human to do it. Carrots are produced. More squealing. Sometimes more carrots are produced. He amused everyone by very clearly anticipating the carrots coming out of the house, and then very politely took said carrots from our newest fangirl and her brother. He stood quietly as she zipped her scooter and then tricycle down the driveway and right up to his feet -- while my heart stopped, because I had been talking with one of the parents and looked up too late to do anything about it! He ever-so-helpfully tried to ring the trike's bell with his lips, but when he failed, he was happy to stand with his nose on the pavement as the bell went off in his face, over and over and over again...

We finished the ride with a few more short stretches of slow trot and canter to wind down. He was warm and a bit damp, but happy, when we arrived back at the barn. The ride totaled just over six miles, about half of which was trotted, though I didn't bother timing it.

I rounded out the afternoon by grooming the snot out of Willie, touching up both their hooves (which hopefully won't lead to the Trimmer disowning me), and reorganizing some of my feed and tack set-up. What can I say? I party hard on Sundays.

Patience

2011-09-21T23:34:00.001-04:00

A long, cold winter gave way to a soggy spring in which everything seemed to break. A long and oppressive summer set in, but now, the world seems right. The mornings are crisp and clear, and the smell of woodsmoke drifts on the wind when the nights are coldest. The skies are so beautiful they make my heart hurt. I love this time of year so much that I don't even mind the already pronounced reduction in daylight.

My horses are back to feeling wonderful, and their summer coats have given way to freshly sleek and darkened versions, not yet plush for winter. The lovely weather means we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to exercise any more. Maybe now we can get back to work. Maybe now we can all get back to fitness, and look on towards higher and greener pastures.

The universe has other plans. Another random part of my body breaks down, to the point where I consider a visit to the ER. Instead of an expensive trip in the shiny-whiny van, I drive myself an hour through the morning rush to the doctor's office. Another affliction they can't give me a sufficient explanation for. Another round of medications that may give me worse side effects than the things they're meant to treat.

At least, as I mentioned, the boys are doing well. Jabby's back has improved, and we are back to soft, stretchy, forward work at all gaits. I have re-examined what it means to be quiet in the saddle; de-fuse when he has a tantrum, and reassure when his confidence takes a wibble, and do as little as possible otherwise. It's working, and I'm seeing more and more glimmers of the horse that I keep insisting is in there.

Willie's skin is completely healed and he has worked back up to a comfortable 6-mile loop at mostly trot and canter, with regular trail rides and occasional ponying to keep him reasonably active. As we near the end of his second decade, keeping him fit and healthy will become more challenging, but he has nothing more to prove to me. Riding him is like slipping on a favorite pair of old blue jeans. I miss our adventures but cherish each moment we still have.

Today we stopped by a friend's farm and babysat another horse, recently started under saddle, on his first foray into the big scary world. Ambitions have shifted; Will may never return to the show ring, but he's still got lots of lessons in him -- for me and for others.

It's easy to get frustrated, but I just keep repeating a wise man's saying: I have time. We'll work it out, eventually.

We're not too badly off, all things considered. And, we have time.

The Truth Comes Out

2011-09-13T23:27:00.001-04:00

We tried to hide it, but you can only keep these things secret for so long...

I was going to do a proper update but the night got away from me, so have some silliness instead. Just the latest method for tormenting Jabby. :)

Brisk, Baby

2011-09-06T23:28:00.000-04:00

Don't think I'm complaining for a second, but it seems like as soon as Labor Day was over the temps dropped and the dial switched from summer to autumn. It was raining when I went out to feed this morning, and Willie was made the cold pony snort-whuffle at me. I threw out extra hay, because they do seem to prefer it to their still-lush pasture when the temps drop and munching helps keeps them warm. I considered putting sheets on, but I didn't want to give in to blankets too early in the season.

Thankfully, I DID have some sheets kicking around in my car as part of my Irene preparation, because when I went out for the night feeding Will was shivering. Not much, but just enough to make me feel bad. I brought him in to the spare stall and threw his scrim on while he finished eating, and after Jabby was done with his own meal, I brought him in, too. I toweled and fluffed them as best I could and puttered around the barn while they air-dried, then sheeted them both. I thanked Spring Cleaning/Over-Preparing Me for leaving a set of leg straps in the supplement/spares drawers, because every other pair was packed away at my house, having been removed from all the blankets that I sent out for cleaning. (Call me paranoid...)

Willie is seriously excited to wear clothes again. (It's been like two months since he had his fly sheet on regularly.) I was carrying blankets around and he kept giving me The Face and chatting at me, and doing naughty things like playing with his stall guard and grabbing at the chair I set the blankets on. Fussy sorts of things he only does when trying to get my attention.

Jabby, for his part, shared in Willie's excitement and reacted by picking up every single article of clothing that came within reach, including my hood, which was halfway into his mouth before I realized what he was doing. Man, I love my dorky animals. :)

Will's Fungus of Doom has mostly cleared up, with just a few stubborn bald patches and some residual dandruff, but for the most part the coat has bounced back well. I think it helps that he had already started shedding his summer coat, so the hair was already working hard to grow back in!

With Jabby mostly feeling better, too, I got both ponies back into "work" this week. We did another day of ponying through the neighborhoods, after which I dropped Willie off in the pony pen and flatted Jabby around amicably. He had nice, soft walk and trot, and obedient canter departs on each lead, from walk, trot, and halt -- until we were next to the barn door. If you have a horse's head, body, and feet pointing in one direction, but his brain is pointing another, which lead do you think he's going to take? That was an interesting revelation... Also, Jabby is no longer allowed to enter the barn through that door, even for grooming.

Then Willie had two short rides this weekend, one of which was just a wander through the neighborhood, and one that incorporated short stretches of trot and a brief lap of canter. Jabby had another flat session that started well, if inattentively, though things went to pot when I tried to push for canter. This day, I think the block was mostly mental -- he was just never 100% there with me in the warm-up. I maintain that he must have some trace of talent buried somewhere, to be able to canter an 8-meter circle on the entirely wrong lead. However, he trotted quietly over four poles that had been set for itty-bitty TB trots, and politely declined comment on the way I over-rode a 6" cavaletto, so perhaps he does still have some redeeming qualities!

Naturally, as soon as I get it into my head to do anything productive, nature decides to treat us to another week of rain. Here's hoping we don't get washed away; the cool temperatures are a welcome change, but the extra rain is not.

Double Trail Ride

2011-08-31T23:58:00.004-04:00

After spending another day working a horse show, living vicariously through others, I arrived at the barn with a resolve to ride. I had been on my feet for seven hours straight but the weather was gorgeous, and the boys looked up expectantly as I pulled in the driveway.

Jabby's hips and back have improved a bit with massage, stretches, and Sore-No-More. He no longer flinches when I palpate the trouble spots. Last week I got in two short Death by Two-Point rides as I hacked him around without touching on his back, and he felt good enough to offer, and keep, the canter on both days.

Willie's skin, too, is clearing up. I went back to the less-is-more approach, leaving it alone except for MicroTek scrubs every other day it didn't rain. I haven't done more than curry since Irene passed through -- no running water at the farm, at least not any I'd feel comfortable using on his skin! When he does get a bath, I make sure to scrape and towel him thoroughly afterwards, then set him first in front of a fan, then under the sun in the lush pony pen to make sure he's completely dry before he has a chance to roll. I had picked up a bottle of Calm Coat to see if it improved matters at all, but it felt like the oily base was just a little too heavy to work in this particular case. It did work on my itchy mosquito bites, so I'll keep it around to try another time.

I didn't want to aggravate the still-healing patches with a saddle, but I wanted to get both of the boys "worked" today. So I decided to tack up Jabby and pony Will, on our first such ride at the new farm.

I love the fact that I've barely ridden either one over the past month, haven't done ponying since March or April, and haven't even had them out of their field since Thursday, and I could just throw on a saddle, hop on, and head out. Not so much as a flicked ear at the barn owner's weedwhacker, the kids' quads, or the active construction equipment that we passed within the first five minutes. We walked through the development and stopped to chat with some of our regular stops. One woman walking her dogs passed us as I stopped to double-check rein and rope length before turning onto the main road that would take us home. She asked if the dogs would bother them, and I smiled. "Nah, although this one," I said, holding up Willie's lead rope, "might stomp them if they get nosy. He's not really a dog person."

She laughed, and then said sincerely, "Well, it's nice to see you riding through here. It's really lovely having them around." D'awww. I love our neighbors.

We went along the road for a short stretch, which worried me, but the visibility was good and we encountered little traffic. My boys plodded on, obediently forming single file to squeeze through a narrow spot at my cue. If Willie would just pick up his average pace a little, this ponying thing would actually be really fun.

When we got back, I decided that since I'd exercised them together, I should clean them up together, too:

Just kidding. :) I actually did give them both a quick sponge-off of any areas that had started to think about sweating, and then cleaned up Will's skin with just water, since he was in anyway. I'm still working off of whatever water I can haul in, so I've been using it sparingly for non-drinking and non-mash purposes. Between that and the broken water main at work, I am really appreciating the wonders of plumbing and other technology this week.

More of the show tomorrow. I'm already up way past my bedtime -- sleep habits form fast for me! -- but it's been so long since we had a proper update that I wanted to share my ride.

Weathered

2011-08-30T23:26:00.003-04:00

I'm still recovering from this weekend. Mostly because I missed three nights of good sleep in a row!

Friday started in the wee hours of morning, because it was payday and for me, a scheduled day of restocking on normal supplies, not to mention grabbing a few emergency items to prepare for the worst Irene could throw at us. Thankfully, we were spared her wrath, and now I have more LED flashlights and bottled water than I know what to do with. I managed to avoid the worst of the Stormageddon panic by hitting the grocery store before most of the masses were awake, then getting into Tractor Supply just as it opened, and grabbing the last of my supplies at Staples, of all places. (ID tag how-to, anyone?) That night I got called back out to work at 9PM to meet and deal with an incoming horse who started choking en route, a whole two hours out from our farm. The poor thing was exhausted but mostly clear when he stepped off the trailer, but I sat with him for another two hours, on and off the phone with the vet as we made sure the episode was well and truly over and got him settled for the night. But I still had to shower when I got home, so I didn't get to sleep for quite some time.

Saturday I was up bright and early again to be sure my boys were properly ID'd, overhayed, and that all my emergency supplies were ready and secure. Then I ran over to make a final check on all the beasts at work, a feat that was complicated by the death (#504, by my count) of the Gator (or parts of it) that we use to move hay and things around the farm. We have no hot water at the little barn, so I stole some from work to make the boys' nightly alfalfa mash, treating them to an extra yummy supper before the storm hit. With everyone tucked in as well as could be, I hightailed it home as the rain and wind started to pick up.

I should have snuck in a nap while the weather was still relatively calm, but instead I waited until about 10PM to get to bed. Naturally, that was right about when the storm was bearing down on us, and the tornado warnings kicked up. My room is on the second floor, and every change of wind or odd noise from outside made me jump. I moved to the living room, but from there I could also see the flashing lights of passing emergency vehicles. To make things worse, a discarded smoke detector from a recently-vacated house across the street blared out into the night, feeding my paranoia every time the wind carried the sound my way. I further migrated to the basement, which is finished and furnished but a bit stuffy, and made the mistake of checking the weather reports one more time. Tornadoes were reported in just about every town around the farm, and one or two were said to be traveling towards it. Sleep was not happening. I half-watched movies while frantically searching for a confirmation on what was happening.

Then at 1AM, the power went out for a whole thirty seconds. The lights came back but the cable did not, so at that point, I finally gave in to exhaustion, only to wake a few hours later when the still and humid basement air began to suffocate me. I stumbled deliriously back to the living room and dozed fitfully until about 6, waking to what I thought was the lull of the eye. I waited for the wind and rain to redouble, as I've heard it does, but it never came. Either it passed sooner than I thought, or we got off way easy. Our house was unscathed, with just a very little bit of water in the basement. The tiny blip in the middle of the night was the only time we lost power at all.

I scanned the weather reports again, and still found no confirmation of tornado touchdowns. At 9 I texted one of the barn owners and got no response. Irene seemed to have passed, leaving the equivalent of an average, blustery thunderstorm in her wake, so at 9:30 I geared up for battle and headed out into the fray. The roads were surprisingly clear, with just a few (albeit large) branches down here and there, and only one small section of road covered with water, at a point where I had not expected to find it. It was just deep enough to elicit a "Seriously?" from the Exploder, but not enough to impede the rest of my journey. (Before you lecture, it was only a few inches!)

When I pulled into the driveway and saw my two boys grazing away in their pasture, my heart did a happy little dance. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. All was well with the ponies, and with the high winds and dropped temps, they were frisky! Unfortunately I discovered what is apparently a quirk of this barn, as all the water that I had sealed up and prepared in the event of lost power had turned bright orange overnight. Apparently the well set-up is such that they get an odd influx of iron/sediment/etc 2-3 times a year, particularly when the grounds have been saturated as they were just before the storm. The water comes out clear and normal-looking, but when it sits, turns greasy and rust-colored. I've since been playing bucket brigade to be sure my boys have something clean to drink -- supposedly it's been tested, safe to drink, and hasn't caused problems in the past, but with Will's propensity for odd ailments I would rather not take the risk. Besides, hauling water coolers to and fro is good for my upper body, or something.

I fed everyone at the little barn, double-checked the ID tags (success!), and headed to work to make the rounds there. The horses were all safe and sound, and still obliviously stuffing their faces with the hay surplus I had loaded them with in the event we couldn't access the farm. The barn and office, though, had flooded from a burst pipe somewhere under the bathroom, so I cut the power and alerted my boss. We spent Monday and Tuesday cleaning up the mess -- yuck! And today I had to do all my normal farm chores by hand because the Gator has yet to be fixed.

My body went into Crisis Mode sometime on Friday, and I obliged its order to "EAT ALL THE THINGS!" by stuffing my face nonstop all weekend. So much for those 15lbs I just lost!

Life is slowly getting back to normal, though. I am working a few days at a breed/dressage show this week, so staying busy! The boys are whole and hale, and BORED, which is good because it means they're feeling great. They need to get back into some sort of routine soon, or I may have bad, bad ponies on my hands...

I'm grateful we escaped the worst of the hurricane, and my heart goes out to those still recovering from the damage. A little lost sleep is nothing compared to what some on the East Coast are going through right now.

Speaking of, Horse Evacuations East is a group on Facebook that is trying to connect resources for horses and horsepeople affected by the storm. If you're near storm-damaged areas, you should take a look through their postings and see if there is any way you can help.

Checking In

2011-08-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

We're still seeing the tail ends of Irene, but we all made it through the night in one piece. :) Hope everyone else is safe and sound.

Batten the Hatches

2011-08-27T07:01:00.002-04:00

Irony: usually a fan. Will revisit on Monday.

The ironic thing, of course, being that I mentioned natural disasters in my recent review of my nice shiny halter tags, and here we are, a hurricane descending upon us as we speak. Hey, now I can be sure I got my full money's worth!

With no other feasible options, the work ponies are all being left out as normal. They have sheds, stuffed with hay, and extra water troughs were dug out of storage and filled, just in case. The field with an automated waterer has a giant tub in case the power goes out. Everyone is fat, healthy, and well-pastured enough that they won't starve if the roads get closed for a few days. We can only hope that the trees, fences, and buildings, plus the horses of course, all stay roughly where they belong.

My boys have their shiny new halter tags, and some new and improved ghetto tags (now laminated! with extra neon! ooh aah!) braided into their tails. They, too, have been loaded up with as much hay as I could manage, and will hopefully have the good sense and luck to avoid the worst of it. Another boarder will be camping out with her horses in the barn, so hopefully all will be well.

I've lived in this state my whole life and don't remember so much of it being evacuated for a storm. Usually all hurricanes do to NJ is dump some extra wind and water on us as they glance off the coast and fizzle out offshore. Things get soggy, trees fall down, and sometimes we get neat (albeit messy) sand pileups on the boardwalk. It's a little disconcerting to be at the center of the bullseye, so to speak. When the media frequently blows the weather out of proportion, and "SEVERE!!!" warnings flash when more than an inch or two of rain is expected, it's hard to know what to think. I feel a little better that our warning was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm. Right now the maximum wind speeds are expected to be around 80mph, which is decidedly more acceptable than 120+.

I will check in again when I can... Even if we lose power, I will probably be contributing to jammed phone lines by texting to Twitter and FB periodically. I tend to get really inane and goofy when I'm nervous, so I apologize in advance. :)

To all my friends in the area -- stay safe.

Review: HalterTags.com

2011-08-15T21:12:00.001-04:00

At the beginning of July, I mentioned some concerns about the boys at their new digs, and shared my makeshift method for tagging them with my contact info, just in case the neighbors' holiday celebrations got a little chaotic. After rigging up my handiwork, I went home and ordered real ones from HalterTags.com. I've meant to get ID markers to have on hand in the event of overnight stabling, natural disaster, etc, and just never got around to it. Petsmart has a machine where you can make one right in the store, but they start at about $8 for cutesy dog shapes, or more for a discreet brass tag which might be a bit small to read on a nervous, fidgety horse. Halter Tags, by comparison, charges $5 for the basic tags and nameplates, and they offered a much wider range of sizes.

Now, the boys are tattooed (Will) and freezebranded (Jabby), but there is a problem with those as well as microchips -- you need to be able to look them up. Of course, if a halter (or braid) gets ripped off, you have no tag, either, but it is at least an extra precaution to reconnect them with me in the event we get separated...

So I placed my order, which came out to $12 total, and waited. I expected a really slow turnaround time, because the "good, fast, cheap" rule generally applies with buying horse items just as much as buying horses. I wasn't really surprised when I didn't hear anything from them for a week or two, though I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get so much as a tracking number. It's not that I NEEDED the tags desperately -- but I have filler posts to write, people!

To my surprise, two weeks after placing the order I got a personal message from the owner of HalterTags.com. He was notifying me that the order had just been shipped out, but...

I want to apologize for the delay in sending out your plates. We have grown extremely fast and had to expand our shop to accomodate additional equipment. During the chaos, it appears your order was mixed up in the shuffle and we neglected to catch the mistake immediately. For that we are very sorry and a bit embarrased. To help make some atonement for our tardiness, we have credited your haltertags.com account with a free plate including the shipping. We strive to deliver a quick turn-around, and while we usually do, we obviously fell way short with your order. We are truly sorry we missed the mark.

After some of my recent experiences in customer service failure (I'm looking at you, cleverly-named prepackaged SupplementPeople) I was flabbergasted. Mistakes happened -- but here the company was not only fessing up, they were trying to make it right! Without so much as a peep from me!

Sure enough, my order arrived a few days later. As nice as the note was, I was thrilled with how the tags came out.

The tags themselves are heavy and durable-looking. The rings, too, are surprisingly sturdy, more so than the rings holding my house and car keys together! The engraving is deep and dark, and they make the best use of space -- no squinting and struggling to read these puppies! It's too early to tell how well they'll hold up, but I'm pretty confident that I won't have much to complain about.

I did in fact order large dog tags, for higher visibility. It's so much easier for a hypothetical rescuer to read the numbers without having to lean in, grab the tag to turn it to the light, and squint at my phone number.

After some deliberation, I decided to go ahead and redeem my credit so that I could get a more fair idea of turnaround time before doing a review. Since it wouldn't cost me a thing, I figured I would take full advantage of the situation and get something that I've been wanting since I first got Willie -- a race-style nameplate for his show halter, with his full registered name and parentage.

Bellissimo! Those poor people are probably regretting giving me a freebie, but all those letters still fit beautifully. The plate is heavy and solid, and engraving is just as deep and even as the tags. Total time from submitting the order to getting the package in my hot little hands was about two weeks, which is still less than a lot of custom-order places.

My choice was the longer "pony" nameplate, because I knew there would be a lot of lettering, but Will's halter has narrow straps that might have been overwhelmed by the normal plate. Screws were included, but I was so concerned with getting a well-lit angle that I forgot to include them in the picture. Whoops!

Final verdict? Everything I ordered is gorgeous, high-quality stuff. I would have never expected to get anything so nice for so cheap! They came out much better than the in-store tag machines I've seen. I am happy to find that they seem to have good customer service, too -- you hope nothing ever goes wrong with a purchase, but it's good to know there are nice people at the other end of the line if you need them.

I'd order from HalterTags.com again in a heartbeat, and probably will when Jabby earns himself a nameplate. Or if the boys move to a barn where stall plates make sense. Or if I just feel like splurging on something shiny. They sell a few other products, so if you need gift ideas, it's worth taking a look.

Now I just need to figure out how to mount Willie's nameplate on his show halter, and wait for the sun to come back out so I can get photos of the tags in action. :)

Bear is the New Cat

2011-08-13T11:34:00.002-04:00

Apparently, when it comes to bad luck anyway, black bears crossing your paths are now more unlucky than black cats. And not for the reason you think, which would be that such an encounter generally goes something like, "'Sup, Squishy Being?" "Hey Mister Bear, I'm good, how's tricks?" "Tricks is great, in fact OM NOM NOM--"

Ahem.

Recently there was a black bear sighting near the barn. And by "near" I mean I could have theoretically spit into the breeze and hit it from my pasture if, you know, I had been bred in the heart of Pennsyltucky and thereby lacked that gene that says things like, "Spitting at bears is a bad idea."

This in itself was mildly alarming, because as you may recall the boys' new home is more or less smack dab in the middle of McMansionville, but apparently the authorities were All Over It and handled the situation before Mister Bear could so much as ask for a cup of honey. You might think, though, that there had been some kind of bear-horse Fight Club going on in my field. Certainly, no one involved has talked about Fight Club, which only proves my point.

That same morning Willie blew out the worst abscess I think he's ever had -- his first at all in over a year -- and was so lame and presenting with such an awful leg that I thought that ancient RF suspensory must have somehow blown. Jabby had all kinds of scrapes making a dashed line from his jowl to a dime-sized, almost puncture-looking wound just under his chin. The pony that occasionally lives with them had a horribly swollen, gooey eye, and the vet came out to diagnose a fat nasty ulcer on her cornea and left roughly half her weight in medications. While the doc was there, I had him poke at Will because I don't actually like holding on to money, and $130 later Will officially had his most expensive abscess, ever, maybe even cumulatively. Also, I learned that the amount of medication needed to block one of Willie's feet would probably be enough to sedate a grown bear for a trip to Jellystone and back.

Since then, Will's abscess healed, but his hair decided to fall off, as it is wont to do, probably due to the fact that he's been without his fly armor for a month and I missed three whole days of brushing. Jabby's face is fine but he's well and truly tweaked around his hips/sacral area -- I massaged to find where things were all hinky, and he has these awful knots around both hips, with his right being the far worse. The pony's eye looks better, but I'm still dabbing ointment and serum and drops and another ointment in several times a day and she's only allowed out at night with a special pirate-rigged flymask. (Fear the wrath of Daisy the Floofy. Yarr.)

This week my non-ponies are being longed lightly to have a "job" while I figure out which ~~exorcist~~ healthcare professional to consult first. After being too gimpy to risk the Hambo parade last weekend, Willie not only thinks he's sound enough to jump, but apparently can see the obstacles well enough to drag towards them and hop over on his own accord. Except I think he's officially too old for that crap, because the next morning he had the mildest filling around his LF ankle. (Interestingly, Will has never had a turned hair on that leg as far as I can remember, and in fact, this is the first time in five years of blogging that I need to tag "LF" on an entry.)

Obviously, what's really going on here is that all my first-aid supplies are nearing their expiration dates, and my ever-so-helpful beasts are doing their best to ensure that nothing goes to waste. Corona, MicroTek, Sore-No-More, Uptite -- those things don't belong in a landfill! THINK GREEN, YOU GUYS!

At least they are otherwise fat and content, and while they are the main source of my gray hairs they are also the surest things to make me smile.

In the midst of sorting out my own bear-crossed and/or Mercury-influenced things, I'm still scribing and volunteering and auditing as much as possible. When the wind blows I can smell change coming with the turning of the leaves. I'm not sure yet which direction it's going, but whatever it is, it's going to be awesome. :)

So that's how tricks is.

After thirteen years of being owned by two big black cats, I still think I'd take them over the bear, though.

Happy Gotcha Day, Willie!

2011-08-08T22:43:00.001-04:00

I updated my page earlier today, but completely forgot to make a post about it until now.

Today marks the 7th anniversary of Willie officially becoming mine. We've come a long way and have had our share of rough spots, but I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything.

Last year I wrote up the story of how Willie and I first met, and posted it in installments that you can read through here: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

If I had known much more about horses, I probably would have skipped over Willie. I'm so glad I didn't, because I would have missed out on a really wonderful partner and friend. Ignorance truly is bliss sometimes. :)

Here's to the next seven years, and beyond!

Follow-Up: Human Joint Supplements

2011-07-29T07:39:00.000-04:00

A brief post on the matter, because I had a few people asking and I don't have much to update about the horses.

I had an accident that wrecked my knees at age 12, half of my lifetime ago. Since then my knees have cracked, popped, and locked as they see fit. Because of my age, I wasn't an initial candidate for joint injections, so the docs essentially told me to tough it out and hope I grew out of it. Aleve became my best and most frequent ally. I had a pair of barometers in my legs, but at least I could get around and Do Stuff despite that.

Then two years ago I literally worked myself into the ground as a working "student" out of state. My left knee went on strike, and I couldn't walk, ride, stand, sit, or lay down without discomfort. I lived in a knee brace, even while I slept. Several months of testing and rehabbing later, the most definitive diagnosis I got was a lack of cartilage. One specialist informed me I had the knees of a 62-year-old. Another doctor just told me I needed to be more active -- ha!

With a newfound sympathy for my old creaky warhorse, I decided to try treating my joint issues the way I treated his -- with supplements on top of a careful activity management plan. But it took me several months after my injury to find a job I could handle, so I tried one bottle and then gave up because I couldn't justify the extra expense. (Meanwhile, of course, Willie never went without his!)

This winter my knees started complaining again, and my back was joining in as well. I finally chucked my teen-aged mattress and it helped my back. I decided to try another joint supplement, and keep on it until I had given it a fair enough shot.

First I had tried Grand Flex, a horse company's human product, but in favor of convenience I tried an actual human brand, Flex-a-Min, this time around. The ingredients were more or less the same, and the price was right. I figured I would give it till the end of the bottle -- about a month and a half -- to make the call.

It took about a week to start things rolling, but the results were noticeable even then. By the end of the bottle I was convinced I had hit on my solution. I kept the jar in my horses' supplement drawer so I remembered to take it every day! The only problems have come when I finish up a bottle... If I can't afford or just forget to buy more, I start snapping and aching again after just a few days off the stuff. I still get sore if the weather is crummy or I overdo it, but I feel SO much better on a daily basis when I'm taking a joint supplement. I hope the horses feel this much better on the stuff they get!

Personally, I don't have a problem popping giant capsules every day, though your mileage may vary. If you do better with a drink mix, Ramard, Inc., (makers of Willie's joint supps) has a human version that supposedly tastes like lemonade.

The verdict: If you're having some joint discomfort related to arthritis, talk to your doc first, but consider a joint supplement. I find with Willie that a higher dosage of Hyaluronic Acid (a major component in the natural "oil" that keeps you from creaking like the Tin Man) really helps. I do make sure my own supplement at least HAS a bit in it. Shop around, because sometimes there's a ridiculously small amount only included as window dressing -- if it's something like 25mg for horses, or less for humans, it's probably not going to be effective. Of course, if it works for you, then that's great! Just be sure you aren't paying twice as much money for a minuscule amount.

Conversations

2011-07-21T20:27:00.002-04:00

It's been hot, even for July in the Northern Hemisphere. (The media seems to be perplexed by this phenomenon every year.) I moved my barn-departure time from 7AM to around 5:30AM.

Today, after having a few days completely off, I threw my saddle on Jabby to experiment. I recently found a flash attachment that is much shorter than the one that came with the dressage bridle, thereby making the fit far less awkward, so I gave it another try. It was loose enough that he had no problems wolfing down grass and cookies after the ride, but I thought maybe it would help stabilize him a bit. He seems to go through cycles of liking and hating it, and hasn't worn it since winter.

After toodling around aimlessly for a few minutes, this exchange happened, more-or-less verbatim:

Me: We're going to play a game. It's called, "My Leg is Living Here and Walking is Going to Happen Anyway."
Jabby: ... I don't think I like this game.
Me: Hear those violins? Playing ever-so-sadly in the distance? Those are for you. Commence walking.
Jabby: NUH *jigs*
Me: Walk, Jabby.
Jabby: NUUUHH *twists*
Me: Walk, Jabby.
Jabby: *sobs*
Me: Walk, Jabby.
Jabby: *piaffes*
Me: Walk, Jabby.
Jabby: *bawls*
Me: Walk, Jabby.
Jabby: Oh! Walk! Why didn't you say so! *marches forward in a soft stretchy walk.*
Me: Wh-- I... *sigh; pat pat* Good man, Moose.

Horses. Amirite?

Whatever the key, things were good. At the end of the session, he had a nice coating of "lipstick" from actually participating with the bit, instead of ducking behind it or leaning on it. Still a bit of a stressmonster -- he was soaked with sweat despite the minimal effort I was asking of him. I'm sure the humidity didn't help. In any case, he was much happier after the ride than he's been recently.

Since this is likely the closest thing you're getting to a real post for a while, here's the man himself on another day, being... helpful.

He likes to pick up things that I have "dropped," so that I don't have to strain myself by removing objects from the clutches of gravity. See? Helpful.

Less is More

2011-07-12T18:14:00.001-04:00

We ended last week with a random outbreak of hives on BOTH of the boys. I first noticed it when Willie reacted strongly to being sweat-scraped after a bath -- I was horrified because I thought it was from the saddle, but when I got to his belly, I realized he had some raised bumps and odd filling in spots. Durr -- he had patches of hives everywhere! Either I entirely missed it while brushing before the ride, or the heat and exercise made them really pop up.

Until now, Will's skin stuff all seemed to be under control! I thought maybe it was from leaving his fly sheet off for almost a week -- frequent rain and a busy schedule meant I just applied extra fly spray and hoped he would tough it out -- but then I found them on Jabby, too. Another boarder had mentioned one of her horses had broken out recently, so I assumed there was something local going on. A few days later she told me she thinks there are some fire ant hills in the pastures, which is a possibility. I gave the boys a diluted vinegar rinse, plus a few days of cold sponging/hosing and TriHist, and things improved. Will had a few days off because his went so high, they interfered with the saddle. As of this morning, both are once more happily blemish-free. (*knock on wood*)

They didn't seem to bother Jabby, mostly on his belly and one haunch, so we mostly kept working... We've been having the same hot/cold issues, with or without hives. We had a really crummy day recently when he was warming up well, so I took him for a spin in the ring to see where we were at. The old T1 was simple enough (I haven't had reason to memorize the new ones yet) so I decided to run through it.

As soon as we trotted down the "centerline," I lost my horse. He dropped his withers, broke himself off at the neck, and started the mental shut-down. I did my best to nurse him through the pattern, but on the second canter circle he quit entirely on me, spinning away from the spooky white Storage Container of Death and ignoring where his feet were, both of which had seemingly ceased to be a problem. I wrestled him through the remainder of the circle, plus a few more to drive home the point of, "We are going past this now." I tried to salvage the ride from there by finishing the test pattern, and eventually achieving an honest, through walk where he marched forward and reached into the contact, instead of ducking behind it or leaning on it. It was a tough session but at the end of it, he had started chewing on the bit and working up the start of a healthy slobber, something he hasn't been relaxed enough to do for a while. He had a day off, then a ride that repeated the end of that session -- good walk, with some brief, quiet trot steps thrown in when he offered. That ride, we quit after about 20-25 minutes, because I wanted the positive experience to stick. We even tooled around the ring once in each direction to revisit the idea that it wasn't a device of hell.

He had another day off to finish letting his hives clear up, and then I got overambitious. He seems to love jumping, so I wanted to see if popping over a few of the smaller elements of the current "course" improved his mood at all. Again, he warmed up well, starting with a brief hand gallop after a few minutes of walking. We walked around the ring again to catch our breath, and then we tooled around the jump field for a few more minutes, getting a steady trot rhythm and a little bit of canter. We cruised up to the crossrail in a forward trot -- he overlaunched and landed cross-cantering. We regrouped and tried again.

He started out really green and strong -- he IS green, so that's forgiveable -- but we worked through it, and before long we were quietly trotting -- and halting throughout -- a baby "course" on the diagonals of a figure eight, the original crossrail and a small (~2'6") vertical with flowerboxes. We wound down by getting a relaxed, quiet canter around the outside of the field once in each direction. We walked out and I went to ask for the same, simple, listening-oriented exercise we'd been wrapping up with for the past few rides. Cue a 20-minute tantrum, where we couldn't stand still or even walk a few steps without jigging, twisting, or of course, the everpresent curling BTV, which I hate more than bucking, bolting, OR rearing. I was ready to tear my hair out, and use it to string him from the rafters.

My list of remaining things to try is getting short... I will probably end up having the vet and/or chiro out in the near future, which I would have done sooner, if he hadn't shown so much improvement at the beginning, and didn't continue to have days when he is a completely agreeable and willing partner. He's still very affectionate and pleasant on the ground, and his groundwork has been going great. For one thing, he now ground-ties to be bathed, and I trust him for longer and longer stretches of time while I fuss in the tack room or retrieve something from my car.

In the meantime, we are definitely going back to the "less is more" approach under saddle...

Riding with a bareback pad means we eliminate the possibility of saddle issues, I can feel and influence him more easily, and of course, I'll be more inclined to defuse a tantrum than let it escalate. Mainly walk work, hopefully building BACK up relaxation as well as back muscles, and any trot work (like he offered, so politely, today) MUST be correct, or I will be bounced to the ground from a very, very long way up!

ETA: I apologize if you got dupes on your RSS feed. My fat fingers got a little too cozy with the "tab" and "Publish" buttons. ;P

Beating the Heat

2011-07-05T07:09:00.002-04:00

At the risk of jinxing myself with two months of the season yet to go, I may or may not have finally figured out this whole summer thing. It only took me nearly a quarter of a century, but hey, who's counting?

I wilt in hot weather. I always have. Chronic, debilitating headaches are a normal thing for me, but they're even worse in the heat. The past few years I've resigned myself to getting up at or before the crack of dawn to ride and finish barn chores before the heat sets in. I'm not a morning person, but I'm even less of a hot-weather person.

Turns out one of the biggest keys to my past failure may have just been underestimating what doctors and other experts mean when they say "drink lots." I used to bring a few frozen water bottles with me each day... Turns out that wasn't enough. Instead I found that keeping a fridge stocked with water bottles, and drinking every time I pass it by, apparently is what works. I drink until I feel like I'm about to gag, count to ten, then drink another half of the bottle. (It has to be cold or I actually do gag.) I go through at least six in the few hours it takes me to do barn chores, and that's not counting the 1-2 I make myself drink on the drive over, 1-2 I drink before/after my early-morning rides, and anything else I have at lunch and at home later in the evening.

Sometimes it's overkill and I have to pee every twenty minutes. But it seems to be working -- only one or two heat-induced headaches so far, and it was on days when I knew I wasn't drinking enough. I try to repurpose the bottles as much as I can, but quite honestly my carbon footprint is the least of my worries at the moment. It's nice to not have 4-5+ headaches every week for once in my life.

Part of the equation, too, is learning how much I can push myself during a day. Believe it or not, I've actually been busier lately! You may have inferred from recent posts, but Willie is now at the same farm where I moved Jabby. (This would be the source of the WW post from last week.) It's so much easier to ride both now that they're in the same spot again. I'm still rough-boarding, so there's not much of a change, though to reduce costs I'm taking care of three other boarders and things around the farm. Two barns is nothing compared to what I used to do, though!

Willie is most definitely enjoying the change of scenery. We have easier access to more trails, and I've stepped up his activity level. He's very happy to have a more normal workload. Last week we worked up to the five-mile loop, and came back grinning each time. His saddle will always feel like home to me, so it's good to be spending more time there again.

His eyes are not overtly cloudy but there is still a definite hint of blue when you look at the pupil. He's been living in his flymasks so there has been no more weeping or puffiness, and there does not seem to be any kind of discomfort. Odd things in the ground (like patterns in the closely-mown grass) still make him double-take but so far, no major spookiness like three years ago. At this point I have gone through so many cycles of bracing myself for his "retirement" that I don't fret things like not being able to jump him -- he has more than proven himself in his lifetime, and he is about as sound and happy as he's ever been.

Besides, even after all these years of adventuring, we still manage to find learning opportunities:

Sprinklers! Near the scary nursery with the peacocks. Will was not thrilled, but walked past them because I asked.

Jabby is continuing to get stronger and fitter, but he's still inconsistent. We haven't jumped any more, just hacks, conditioning rides, and intermittent dressage work. He'll give me a few great days where he's responsive, attentive, and wonderful, and then a day when walking is a battle. It's frustrating to deal with the dramatic hot/cold changes, but hey, I can certainly sympathize. I probably wouldn't have ended up with him if he were an easy horse!

A Trip to the Museum

2011-07-04T14:48:00.004-04:00

As most of you long-time readers know, I got into Standardbreds through my 4-H club. My aunt and some friends originally started it when their local group deviated from its mission statement, opting for 4-H to keep the kids involved and to take advantage of some of the great networks and educational programs available. It was for STBs only, though not every member had a STB, or even a horse. We had a mounted drill team, and we would take the horses to events all over the state. Eventually we started getting invitations to go to things out of state, too. It was a pretty cool couple of years, and in the process of educating people all about our wonderful horses, we got to experience some pretty amazing things that we might not have otherwise seen. Our summers were packed with practices, fairs, expos, parades, and of course, horse shows.

The winters, though, were a bit slower. Most of the club kept their horses at home, and no one had an indoor. Snowy roads, bitter weather, and short spans of daylight meant there was only so much riding we could do. There were one or two winter expos that we did, but the rest of the season was spent planning the year, bagging groceries to raise funds, and finding fun unmounted activities that everyone could enjoy.

One February the adults piled us into two big vans at the crack of dawn, and we all drove several hours north to Goshen, NY. Unbeknownst to any of us kids, there existed an entire building of Standardbred history -- the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. We had a fun, education-filled day, gawking at old photos, learning about the founding sires and breeders, and interacting with some of the Museum's exhibits, like the sit-in sulky or the walking boards designed to help you and a friend feel what it was like to be a pacer. At the back of the building was a balcony, which overlooked the Historic Goshen Track. From there, we watched someone jog a horse out in the brisk winter air.

To our little group, who perpetually felt like no one else in the riding world knew what a Standardbred was, it was nice to have confirmation that there are other people out there that love and appreciate our breed. It was definitely a learning experience, too, because most of us didn't know much about harness racing other than the very rudimentary basics.

Since that visit, I've learned so much more about Standardbreds. I've been itching to go back to the Museum and revisit all the exhibits, now that I can have a much deeper appreciation of them. Plus, when I acquired Willie, I found he won a race at the track there with his old owner, an amateur driver:

Willie winning at Goshen -- exactly 10 years ago!

Fortunately, Dom and I just happened to head up that way for work this weekend!

Not so fortunately, my day started with pouring rain and thunder at 5AM. I had to get my boys and the boarders fed and squared away before Dom and I headed out. It wasn't long before we were off, though, heading north through the downpour. We arrived in the quaint little town of Goshen, which like Devon, you might never suspect harbors a historic equestrian site at its center upon passing through. There are hints of the horsey influence all around, to be sure, but the track entrance was so discreet that Dom and I had to circle the block twice, and then finally enlist the help of a staff member to direct us.

Barely post time and already packed!

We were stationed under the grandstand, thankfully out of the rain. We set up our promotional table and settled in for a fairly slow day. There were lots of people but most of the interest in our booth was only cursory; we handed out as many pamphlets as we could but just didn't sell very much. At least we happened to be at the foot of a stairwell leading up to the seating area, so we could dash up to watch the races when we heard the call to post. Despite the rain, the stands were filled!

Dom and Mr. Troy

Better still, they were filled with people who seemed to genuinely enjoy harness racing. Cheers rang out every time the field passed the stands, and the end of each race was met with acclaim for the winners (and even some that didn't win). There was no furious ticket-shredding and stomping, no catcalls or damning of the drivers; just some good old-fashioned harness racing fandom. It was a good day of races, with stakes for Hall of Fame and amateur drivers and NY-bred horses as well. There were even some small-world ties for both Dom and me, with a horse from Dom's track days in the same race as Willie's old owner.

About three quarters of the way through the card, we started packing up, and we hit the Museum before it closed. Most of the exhibits were still the same as my last visit, though some had been updated with new names, faces, and silks. It was so cool to look back through time at the styles of tack, carts, and even horseshoes. We drooled over portraits of our favorite stars, and laughed at the etchings of old-fashioned Standardbreds in all their... functional... glory. ;) Memorabilia let us glimpse the era when the Standardbred was truly Everyman's Horse, an important part of working farm life as well as mascot for everything from vet supplies, to detergent, to -- most ironically -- gasoline. There was a new interactive exhibit, where you could pretend to bid on yearlings at a sale, and the standbys like the sit-in sulky and the race simulator were still there, though we passed on both.

It was a day well-spent, and I can honestly say now that the Museum is worth a trip whether you are a complete newcomer to the world of harness racing, or someone who has been involved with the industry for years. There is so much history and information packed into one building, meticulously preserved, and shared, with love.

My boys might not have represented the pinnacle of Standardbred breeding and racing, but I have always felt like it is important to understand where they came from. It helps me have that much respect for all the new directions they take with me, and for the industry that, once upon a time, had such a major role in this country's history.

I didn't get many pictures due to the rain (and selective memory), but there are a few more underneath the jump.

World's richest pacer and recent Hall of Fame inductee,
Gallo Blue Chip

The Museum -- Far easier to find than the track!

Goldsmith Maid, the first Standardbred I ever "met."
Born in 1857, her memorial was a frequent sight in my childhood,
long before I ever knew what a trotter was. :)

One of several old films featuring Standardbreds --
proof that they were not completely forgotten by the public!

View of the track from the Museum balcony.

Dom has more photos on her entry from the day. :)

Ghetto Tags

2011-07-01T23:45:00.003-04:00

I usually don't worry TOO much about the holidays... Will is not the sort to get worked up about much, and in fact, more often than not he's a calming influence on whatever herd he's in. One year, his four buddies went careening around at the first fireworks, but when they lapped the field and came back to Willie, placidly grazing away, they stopped, looked at him, looked around, and decided that maybe he had the right idea, and joined him. From this farm, we could look out in any direction and see a different display blazing on -- and the barn was rocked by echoes all night long. Thankfully, no sparks ever landed directly on our farm, but it is a worry of mine, and a valid one.

Tonight I went out to dinner with a friend, and as we stood by our cars saying goodbye, a bunch of yahoos lit fireworks at the back of the parking lot, cheering drunkenly as the ashes sailed over the parked cars. We high-tailed it and I reminded myself that I didn't know the boys' new neighborhood that well; it's mostly farmland to either side but there are housing developments within shouting distance. Not that I don't trust people, but well, I don't trust people. Did I mention that private fireworks are illegal in NJ?

I don't have much choice with the current barn set up, but I do think being outside (as mine normally are), with grass and hay in front of them, and a clear view of their surroundings, is the best bet... But while I trust Willie to keep his cool, I'm not sure about Jabby -- or the new guy currently bunking with them. So as a precaution for this weekend, I decided to turn the boys out with halters and ID overnight. Heaven forbid there were an incident, at least I can make it easier for police or good Samaritans to get in touch with me.

I originally planned to go to Petsmart today and get a pair of ID tags printed up on their handy-dandy in-store machine, but it was already 9 when I left the restaurant -- Petsmart was closed. Time to improvise.

Thankfully, I keep a steady supply of cheap, ubiquitous things like zip ties, duct tape (brightly colored duct tape), and Sharpies on hand. I ran the zip ties through the bottom ring of the halter, closed it at about an inch, then sealed the tie inside the tape. I scribbled my number on both sides of the tape as large and legible as I could make it. Et voila, cheap, fast, & easy ID:

Why yes, yes those are blue leather halters.

I applied a halter and a cookie to each of my beasts, and came home to order some real ID tags from HalterTags.com. It's not that I don't appreciate my own genius, it's just that sometimes I think my horses don't appreciate dressing like the hapless children of a colorblind bag lady.

It's too late for the real tags to get use for this weekend, but I'll let you all know how they come out!

Have a safe and Happy Fourth everyone!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Herd

2011-06-29T16:13:00.002-04:00

Rainy Tuesday

2011-06-15T07:52:00.040-04:00

The sun was nice while it lasted, but the "chance of storms" that's been futilely popping up all over the forecast actually came to fruition yesterday. I had planned to ride just after lunch, but some dark clouds loomed in the distance, and since a friend was potentially coming by to ride along, I figured I would hold off and wait to ride Will. Around 3:00 the friend still hadn't shown and it still hadn't rained, so I gave up and went to grab Willie from his field. He showed absolutely no interest in coming up, which I should have taken as foreshadowing. I shrugged it off and drove out to ride Jabby instead.

Naturally, as soon as I mounted up, the clouds started to open up. We walked around in a light sprinkle, and then as I asked for trot and tried to work on my two-point, the spritz turned into an honest drizzle. My equitation exercise was going to have to wait; the rain slapping the leaves and nearby yard furnishings made funny noises that made Jabby snort and give everything the hairy eyeball, and I had to settle for posting out of a half-seat instead so I could focus on keeping him straight and steady. Sigh.

At some point Jabby resigned himself to the fact that we were not turning around despite growing increasingly wet, so he set his giant ears at half-mast and trucked along. Lots and lots and lots of trot. We threw in some canter, and worked on keeping the stride bouncy and balanced around the baseball field. We trotted more, then got a nice stretch of forward canter/hand gallop up the back of the plowed field. Changed leads, then did even MORE trotting. And finally, we took a walk break.

I decided to see how much more malleable Jabby's brain had become, and as we caught our breath, we repeated some of our exercises from last Friday. It's easy to go from dressagey to gallopy, but I wanted to see how well he did the opposite.

A 20m trot circle here. A serpentine there. Sitting as much of the trot as possible (about 80% -- the posting was by choice!). Baby shoulder/haunches in/outs at the walk. Finally, the tough stuff -- a 20m (well, it was more like 30m) canter circle, in "survival" mode. If you stray too far from the treeline, there are holes in the field, from foxes or groundhogs or something else that burrows. They're sort of handy because if you aim right, you can use them to mark the center of your circles... But if you lose your place, it can be hard to remember where they were until you're right on top of them. So we had to go forward enough to keep the canter rhythm, slow enough to make any possible adjustments for the footing, and balanced enough to not skid out in the mud. All while keeping an eye and ear out for thunder or lightning, with the rain coming steadily down.

Jabby got a gold star again. Other than his distraction at the beginning, he did everything I asked, even ending with some nice beginnings of stretchy trot. The last canter circles we did felt good -- steady rhythm, filling the outside rein, and building uphill with each half-halt. He sang as we cooled out, which made me happy. I forgot to mention that he had stopped doing that for a while, too, but it's been making a progressive return in our recent rides. I hope this means I've started fixing whatever had him so tweaked.

Obligatory random flower shot, because I was tempted to pick them.
This is the only patch of these in the entire field!

I was soaked, but I had planned to get back to Willie, and if he weren't already covered in filth, maybe hop on and trot him around the indoor in two-point for a few minutes, just so I could do it at a speed other than a walk.

But Willie was my problem child today. Apparently there have been too many days between "real" work for him, because he refused to be caught. Yep, my old reliable beast who comes when I whistle, absolutely refused to be caught. Twenty minutes of back-and-forth squelching later, I armed myself with a bucket of grain and loved on Ozzy a whole lot, feeding him handfuls and scritching him and telling him how he was such an awesome pony and so much better than other ponies who didn't have manes because they weren't as cool any more. It worked like a charm, and Willie crept up behind me and brushed his mud-coated face against my shoulder to apologize. He'd been had, and I haltered him easily.

Running around hadn't been his only sin, though. He had stopped, dropped, and rolled in the mud right in front of me. In his nice blue flysheet (which I meant to take off before the rain -- oops) which had been spotless until then. I don't understand it, but this is something he does to irritate me, and it WORKS EVERY TIME. Seriously, he looks over at me, waits until I am exactly too far away to do anything, then heaves himself into the dirt, and gets up with a smug, "What are you gonna do about it?"

The joke was on Willie. I hosed off the sheet with him still underneath it. I powerwashed his skanky gross face, too. About halfway through the bath, he was very obviously regretting his shenanigans. But we weren't done. Ohoho no.

We went into the outdoor -- removing the now clean-ish sheet but not bothering to sweat scrape -- to be longed. Willie's never really been a fan, though he does it out of politeness and has some sharp freelongeing skills (when he wants to), but since I was soaked and he was soaked, we were gonna longe his butterball butt off. He wanted to work, we'd work.

I should also mention... Bad ponies don't get flyspray. It was torture for the sensitive princess pony, especially since the sun came out and with it, the flies. We did a ton of transitions, walk and trot and whoa and turn and walk and whoa and trot and whoa and BIG TROT and leetletrot and whoa and so on. Forever. Or about twenty-five minutes, I guess. He trotted over the 6" crossrail, and the lone ground pole, both of which were his idea. (Great, I guess that means he can SEE them!) He even got a bit of canter, which in our seven years together he has NEVER been able to do on the longe. Under saddle, on the same sized circle, not a problem. But never on the line.

I finally figured I proved my point, and Will was warm but not really all that exerted, so we called it quits. He got to eat his tiny bit of dry grain and supplements but NO MUSH. Bad ponies don't get those, either.

To top it all off, NO APPLE for Willie. He got a handful of carrots instead. I'm such a mean, mean Mommy.

Recap -- Jabby got a gold star, Willie got about five demerits. All in all I think it was fairly productive for a rainy day, though!

Jabby Jumps

2011-06-14T07:33:00.005-04:00

Yesterday dawned cool and sunny, and with the grass footing still firm after the weekend's storms, I made tentative plans to hop Jabby over a few fences. Thankfully Dom was around, and agreed to point her camera in my general direction.

I hustled through the warm-up a bit too quickly, which always seems to be my mistake when aiming for jumping. After just a minute or two of walking Jabby and I trotted around the pastures, aiming for forward and steady, using the turns to rebalance. We hand-galloped up the field and around the corner, and Jabby hit a steady pace that we were both pretty happy with. Then we transitioned down, changed directions, and galloped back on the other lead. I should have taken more time to get in some more figures, and do the kind of work we had gotten last week, but he seemed happy and relaxed so I figured we would go with it.

My biggest mistake: letting him be a bit strung out and lacking energy from behind. There was a consistent feeling of having two distinct halves of horse underneath me, and it would have been an easy fix, but I way underrode.

Still, Jabby came through for me, and jumped everything I pointed him at -- earnestly, if not always gracefully. We started with a crossrail, and then did a low vertical with flowerboxes, then each of the ends of our grid from the other day (with MUCH more awkward results this time), and then finally, because he had drifted towards it two or three times, the barrels. They were the only thing he had to stop and look at, but then he heaved himself over. We ended with the crossrail once more to make sure the last effort was an easy one.

More photos beneath the jump. (Hurrr "jump.")

A clear example of why I need a bigger saddle!

We approached everything from a trot this time around, but he cantered away from some of the fences on his own. Once he gets some more strength back, and therefore adjustability, we'll try jumping from the canter again, too -- one step at a time!

We still have a lot of work to do, but considering he's still super new at this, hasn't really jumped in months, and missed a good chunk of riding time this spring, I was happy. The Moose gets a gold star for effort. I really miss taking lessons!

Thanks as always to Dom for taking photos and letting me gank them, and adjusting fences along the way. :)

Square One, 2.0

2011-06-11T23:45:00.008-04:00

It was overcast and drizzly, but today was a glorious day. Mostly because it wasn't nine hundred degrees with 50% humidity, and partly because I didn't have to get up at 5AM to do my job before those very conditions set in.

I've been uninspired to blog things out in their entirety, but here's the quick lowdown: The month-or-so where I barely rode may have been a blessing in disguise. Jabby had been going on longer and longer conditioning rides, ostensibly getting more and more fit. But something was bothering him -- when a relatively short and easy five mile walk had him lathered, stressed, and miserable, I suspected there was a physical component that I had overlooked.

I may try and post a more in-depth look at all of those, but we all know how well things go when I plan certain posts... I'm too lazy to doublecheck what I've already blogged, so suffice to say I am slowly working my way up a list, starting with the cheapest, easiest, and least-invasive things first. I re-evaluated saddle fit myself, and found a better (but not perfect) solution, but I think if it were mainly a back problem it would have improved with the decrease in riding time.

The current project is brain recovery. I don't care about miles, or hours, or movements right now. We're working on a relaxed learning environment, because I don't believe horses can really learn anything when they're not relaxed. It means riding out with company less, because we really need to ride our own ride, and be able to stop, walk, circle, or have a half-halt that lasts more than a nanosecond, without him worrying about what everyone else is doing... That exercise, too, will come again in time. He won't take off when other horses leave him behind, but if he's grumpy it might incite a tantrum. Not conducive to an effective learning environment.

And so it goes, back to building Rome, as it were; a single brick at a time.

Thursday, I got on at 7AM and it was already way too hot. We tooled around the first field, achieving a happy, relaxed trot where he stretched readily into the bridle and responded to soft half-halts. We stopped for around twenty minutes to make friends with an Akita and his owner at the baseball field, then did a good amount of trotting and some canter around our friend KR's track. It was nice, productive work, with Jabby getting some more stretch in the trot, responding mostly to seat, and trying his hardest to keep the canter balanced and regular. Still, we were both soaked after only about twenty minutes of active work, so we walked all the way back home and hosed off.

Friday I got up even earlier. While the previous night's storm had cooled things off slightly it was still pretty hot. I had aimed to just walk, because I was not really feeling the riding thing, plus I had a work event and a strange horse to ride later. He was being a bit of a fidget while grooming -- nothing bad, but being overly dramatic about flies, swinging his head to and fro to converse with the neighbors, scraping his nose on the floor when I was trying to attach the girth. (Things that could, admittedly, be solved by cross-tying like a normal person, but I am determined to solidify his ground-tying skills, which means correcting each of those incidences where he gets distracted.) Did I mention I had gotten up at 5AM to get there before the heat? Yeah.

But lo, I saddled up, and off we rode, and the Moose was a responsive, (mostly-) focused beast. Okay, I said. Let's try for a quiet 20m trot circle here, but ONLY for this circle, and ONLY here, where the plows made a corner*. Cool. Let's walk, and breathe, and try that again at the next corner. Good!

On it went. Walk walk, half-halt and soften and half-halt again, transition, 20m circle, soften, transition, walk walk walk. Ad infinitum. I tried a similar approach to the canter, first to the right. He is still not as strong as he was, so not as slow and balanced as he could be. But there was no plunging or bucking, so I took it. We tried to the left... Had one or two misfires and I decided to try back out on the dirt field instead of the slippery wet grass of the baseball field where we had progressed. I later realized that the furrows were excellent for leg-yielding, because it forces a beast to really step up and under himself when his legs cross over.

We rode for all of 25 minutes before I decided that the quality definitely made up for lack of quantity, so we walked back home. The boarder had set up a tight gymnastic and a few other fences in the grass field, two verticals and a barrel jump. I have been itching to jump again, and I couldn't resist. He'd never seen the barrels and the verticals were a bit high, so I trotted down the side of the grid, and rode a very deliberate diagonal line towards the center of the last jump. Jabby caught on to the plan a few strides out, jumped very enthusiastically (if a tad early), and landed in a happy little canter. I laughed, praised him, and we ended the ride there. He was barely warm.

He has been much more pleasant this past week and a half. I am hoping he keeps doing well, and that the weather and footing cooperate, so that maybe I can pop him over a few more fences. He seems to enjoy it and it would be a nice change of pace for both of us. I hate to trail ride alone but I'm used to it; jumping alone on a fairly green horse is a bit different. I much prefer to have someone on the ground, or at least in the barn!

As I mentioned, today things were much cooler and more pleasant, but I had some errands to run and didn't find time to scrape off the mud and ride. Maybe tomorrow! I'm loving this rain.

*I should note, they did till the field recently, but it's still ripe with weeds and debris, so nothing's been planted yet. I like being allowed to ride on farmland**, so I won't screw it up by trampling live crops!

**Some of these guys only plow to declare the land agricultural, and since those fields won't be harvested, you may see the occasional photo of us in the middle of a golden soyfield, or pretending to be corn sharks.

Feed Regime: June 2011

2011-06-01T07:48:00.167-04:00

It's been over six months since the last feed post, so I figured I'd check in again. I really do like having these every once in a while... It's a nice easy write-up for me and as noted previously, I like being able to go back through the records to compare.

Photos are mostly for condition, not conformation, so I didn't bother setting up perfectly flat and square... It's hard to find a safe spot to tie in the sun without clutter, weeds, or obnoxious neighbor ponies in the background! (I apologize for Jabby's pics in particular. He is a pain in the butt to try and photograph, as evidenced by the fact that I tried on four separate occasions to set him up and still got nothing particularly good!)

Willie
18y/o, 15.3hh
Trails + light WT 3-4 days a week

AM

1/4 lb Sentinel Senior, plus:

- 1 sc TractGard

- 1 sc BioTime

1/2 lb Sentinel Senior, plus:

- 1 oz ground flax (generic) or Omega Horseshine

- 2 sc (8 g) ABC's Organic Garlic

- 1 sc Total Joint Care

+ 1/2 lb alfalfa cubes, 1/2 lb timothy pellets, soaked

I sorely miss his awesome topline, but he's maintaining everything else pretty well. I'd want him trimmer if we were galloping and jumping, but we're not.

Jabby
9y/o, 17hh
Trails + moderate WTC 3-4 days a week

1/4 lb Sentinel Performance, plus:

- 1 sc TractGard

1/2 lb Sentinel Performance, plus:

- 3 sc (12 g) ABC's Organic Garlic

I cheated here -- he'd just gotten a bath!

His weight's all right, if a tad chunky, though I do wish his muscles were developing a bit better. We aren't doing anything really constructive right now to get those important muscle groups engaged. It'll come with time.

Both are out on pasture 24/7, and might have a couple flakes of hay tossed their way occasionally, but mostly their diet consists of grass. I only do grain so the supplements have a carrier, and so I have a twice-daily excuse to poke, prod, and check appetite. If things change and I do decide to start heavier work/conditioning again, I have it in supply and can just increase as needed. I am also keeping some Apple-A-Day on hand for the same reason, especially as we head into summer.

The biggest difference between now and December is the workload -- Jabby was building fitness and in moderately heavy work, but now he's dropped back to WIFLI (that is, Whenever I Feel Like It), which averages out to about 3.5 days of fairly easy work a week. Will's is still more or less the same, but he started to get a tad chunky when I eased up on his work, so I cut his portions back out of concern for his already overworked joints.

Spending less calories keeping warm, while spending more time stuffing their faces with grass, means they require less assistance from me to maintain, which is why I can cut their grain back so much. It's nice, because it also means I'm saving money! It's worth noting that the stuff I feed is not particularly cheap, but with a single bag currently lasting over a month, costs even out in the end.

As you can see, the supplements have also changed a bit. The garlic stopped shortly after the last post (I usually feed it through November, but I bought it in bulk and misjudged), then started up again in March. I took a good look at everything else, and decided to cut out the things I couldn't definitively say made a difference -- with the exception of TractGard. I still can't really guarantee that it works, but it's a non-powdered source of some electrolytes, and it's still cheap and innocuous enough that I don't mind feeding it "just because."

I'm not really sure how I feel about horses and multivitamins, such as the Red Cell, or the Min-A-Vite I tried briefly with Willie a few months back... If he weren't a glossy chunk of horseflesh or seemed to be wanting for something, or we had bloodwork concluively saying "he needs more XYZ" I might reconsider... But I did not notice anything special or different with it, and after the Horse Journal article brought up concerns about iron, I am more worried about oversupplementing than creating expensive pee.

Will was only on B-L to help with the winter acheys, so that phased out with the snow. He only gets the soaked forage replacer so his powdered supplements have something to stick to. Also, he loves him some mash.

Jabby was on the alfalfa cubes for a while, but he has shown he does not need the extra protein when he's not in heavy work. Furthermore, he's not a huge fan of the mush -- one day I caught him burrowing through it to get to the dry pellets underneath, then leaving nearly half the cubes for his pony friend to eat. (Um, bad!) I did try him on a month of Quiessence, which is made by the same folks as TractGard, but I wasn't really impressed. Now that I look at the site again, I see I should have started him on 4-5 scoops a day instead of 2, as I did, but you know, that's a LOT... I think a 5lb bag would last me only two weeks. It may be worth re-examining in the future, but at this point I think keeping him off molasses and alfalfa, and keeping him in regular work, does far more for keeping his brain between his ears. He's not that bad, but just does not tone it down and reach a level of "problem solving" lucidity the way I would like -- the tiniest offense throws off our entire ride and turns him into a lathered Stress Monster even at the walk. (I am aware of ulcer symptoms, and have not completely ruled out those, or other things, yet.)

I would like to get Willie back on a regular schedule of Adequan this summer. I don't know if it'll reignite his work ethic, but I know it'll make it a lot more comfortable for him to just move around. I would be interested to see if he does well enough on monthly Adequan to quit the oral joint stuff eventually. But it's just going to have to wait a while until I can swing the extra expense (thank you, Destructo-Pony, for running up the vet bills) of the loading dose.

I am considering whether or not I want to try Adequan with Jabby in the near future -- I have seen it work wonders for Will, but I'm still unsure how much merit "preventative maintenance" has, and a round of meds for one horse is already pricey. Since I don't see a major difference in the Moose on or off oral joint supps, I've decided to skip those entirely for the time being.

Again, this is just how I do things. I'm not meaning to be a guide of any sort! For now, this is what's working for me.

Spectating

2011-05-30T10:00:00.002-04:00

This weekend was full of opportunities. As it happens, the schedule and timing of things worked out so that hypothetically, I could have scribed at a Big Deal dressage show at HPNJ on Friday, watched hunter/jumper stuff a Devon on Saturday, and gone XC schooling back at HPNJ Sunday. It is genuinely nice to have so many facilities within fairly easy driving distance, with such a variety of options to watch, compete, and learn.

As it would happen, that's not how it happened. Not for a lack of trying. I am truckless right now and can only bring the horses wherever I can ride them -- also, Willie's not exactly fit for jumping, and Jabby's been allowed to slack off for a few weeks. The dressage show's volunteer flyer had a typo in it so my request to help was lost in cyberspace, unbeknownst to me until the day before things kicked off. Whoops.

Settling for one out of three, I managed to make it to Devon. I knocked out the barn early, before it got too hot, and headed to Dom's house. She had a friend visiting, so the three of us plus Herbie the Wonder Pibble headed over to check things out. I've only been to Devon once, about two years ago, for the dressage show in autumn. But the hunter show has long been a staple of the east coast show scene, so I had to get in another visit to officially check it off my bucket list.

We joke about parts of PA being "Pennsyltucky," for how rural and secluded they seem. And at first, that's exactly where it seems like you're going. Then you get off the major highway, and find yourself in a neat and prosperous-looking town, with old-school stone towers and boutiquey little shops to either side. There, in the middle of what seems to be a rather crowded and built-up swath of civilization, is the Devon Horse Show.

I should mention that I'm immediately sold on this place. Everything everywhere is painted "Devon Blue," which means it's all blue, and pretty, and I want it. Sadly my money goes towards frivolous things like groceries and vet bills, so I had nothing to spare for the blue argyle Devon totes that immediately jumped out at me. Le sigh. They were still nice to ogle, though.

We started off the day by browsing the one part of horse shows I have never fully appreciated: the vendor stalls. It's not that I mind window-shopping, and petting and squishing and drooling over all kinds of gorgeous items; it's just that it serves as a handy reminder of how rich I am not. The Dubarry and Der Dau booths are to be expected, but then there are nifty little places that sell things like custom-made belts and handbags, and designer frocks, and shiny things galore. There are the requisite handful of tack shop stalls, with your basic bits and boots and breeches for a vague sense of normalcy. There are saddles so lush they make me want to cry. All of it could be mine, for the price of feeding a small third world country for a week!

We worked our way around some of the shops, took a detour to watch the fun dog show, got lunch, and browsed some more until we heard the carriage classes had started. We were just in time for the tail end of the pairs class. Most of the horses were hitched abreast, but one team was a tandem hitch, with one horse in front of the other.

Tandem hitch

The class was pinned and after everyone had taken their final turn and exited the ring, the 4-in-hand/unicorn hitch class started. For the first time in a long while, I was too awestruck to bother trying to place the class in my head.

I've seen multis navigating a CDE course, and while that's pretty mind-blowing in its own right, there is something really incredible about a matched set of horses striding along, harness jingling, towing a spit-shined carriage bigger than my car. Marvel as the whips deftly navigate a change of direction in the relatively small Dixon Oval, avoiding what looks like impending disaster with grace to spare.

It makes a girl feel like she was born in the wrong time period. Did I mention the buglers? I'm sure that's not the proper term, but in any case, there was a designated "bugler" aboard each of the ~~freight ships~~ carriages. Each carriage's bugler would sound off at intervals. Now this is a horse show.

ETA: From the Devon FB page:

Back in the 18th Century, there were no traffic lights, stop signs or directional signs to keep traffic moving. Traffic would travel at its own speed and the whips (person holding the reins) would rely on the sound of the coach horns. Coach horns are approximately 42 to 52" long and are made in various types of metal; copper,brass and nickel. There are 10 Offical Calls of the Road, and approximately 150 melodies that are played to entertain the passengers while the coach is on the road.

Neat!

Unicorn hitch

The unicorn hitch was neat -- two horses abreast, one in front. The lead horse was a little exciteable, and he would spring back on his hind legs or break to canter every so often. Even so, I was envious of how snazzy all these teams looked. I'm not sure I could maneuver such a big vehicle, but I do know this -- I could never be one of the grooms that deftly springs on and off the carriage in the line-up. I'd go to hop back on, slip, fall, and get dragged on my face across the Dixon Oval.

Next came the single ponies. We were back to two-wheeled vehicles, which is much more familiar territory. Some of the ponies were downright adorable, and they were all turned out to the nines -- this IS Devon, after all. I was happy to see two helmets in the class. One was a Troxel Terrain which actually matched the groom's outfit well, and the other was harder to spot -- the class was halfway over before I noticed.

At about this point, we were all feeling rather sunbaked, so we hit the very last of the vendors and called it a day as they were setting the ring for the first of the pony jumpers. It would have been nice to stay longer, but we were all exhausted!

Generic Update

2011-05-27T16:16:00.003-04:00

There's not much exciting or interesting to report. We went from biblical rains to disgusting humidity, and may or may not get back to rain this weekend. It seems like there's very little middle ground with the weather lately -- it's either unseasonably cold, unseasonably hot, drenching rains, or violent winds. I suppose we're not as poorly off as other parts of the country, but still, it would be nice to have a normal spring day or two, without lingering in winter or jumping straight to summer.

Thanks to everyone who left a supportive comment on the last post... Will's eyes are doing all right. One day this week I left his flymask off -- as I usually do when it rains -- AND forgot a round of his eye ointment, AND the sun came out unexpectedly early. The combo of wet + heat + humidity + sun = DEATHBUGS + POLLENSPLOSION. Therefore I came in the next morning to find the eye rather swollen and weepy:

Poor dude. After a few days of me not being a forgetful jackass, and the reapplication of the flymask, the eye looks almost normal again, though still just a tad puffier than the left. More good news: the "ghost" on his lens is no worse, and in fact, it seems to have gotten a bit lighter.

I have no motivation to work towards anything specific. It's been years now since I've shown regularly, and I always managed to fool myself into thinking "if we just..." it would happen. I would set goals and work as if we were going to get back in the game any minute now. In fact, at the beginning of the year I had this grand idea to do a year-long blog project specifically geared towards Things To Do While Not Showing... But reality has set in -- with a few things beyond my control, I'm not going anywhere any time soon. So I'm just riding when the weather is nice enough, and enjoying having my boys around to enjoy.

Jabby is spending some more time getting back to Chillax Land, where we ride along at a relaxed pace, which means a lot of walking but some trotting, and the occasional canter/gallop stretch for funsies. No pushing for fitness or tweaking his dressage, just teaching him to enjoy the world around him and think through scary new situations. Occasionally we throw in a 10 or 20m circle at the current gait to check the steering, and I usually do some hands-free transitions at the beginning and end of a ride just to make sure he's really listening. He's got a long way to go, but my hope is that some day he can be as "broke" and utilitarian as Willie, regardless of whatever he may do for me in the show ring. Each day I pull him out of the field, I try to work on things like ground-tying, and not being a complete stooge about flyspray, and not getting distracted by shiny and/or yummy objects that catch his eye. He's a fun project, and a love, and he already charms new folks along whatever route we ride that day. (As it happens, there are disappointingly few people who get the "Jabberwocky" correlation.) I feel like I'm not making much use of his potential right now but really, I can't complain.

Will's back into light work -- though technically he never really stopped, so, not "back" as much as "continuing" I guess... He's been escorting greener horses (and occasionally, the rehabbing Ozzy) for short walks on the limited trails behind and around our farm. The other day we ponied a just-turned-2y/o along the trail. The "little" guy is already taller than Will, and already has a pretty good brain, but while he's too young for riding we figure he should still get some life experience. Getting it at the hip of a wise old guide horse is not a terrible thing.

In other news, remember how I hacked Willie's mane off just a month ago? Yeah, he's already grown an inch of it back. Redonkulous pony hair is redonkulous. He looks great with the new 'do but I do still mourn the loss a bit. It was so pretty! Recently I dug out a breastcollar for him to wear, so I have SOMETHING to grab in place of mane... You know, just in case I ever need to. In any event, it looks good on him.

It's frustrating to see yet another show season underway without me... Yet another year of things I can't control getting in the way. But I'm trying to make the best of the things that I can control. The boys are fat, shiny, well-adjusted, and most happily, rideable.

To borrow a line from Aarene, life is (mostly) good. :)

Willie's Eyes

2011-05-21T16:59:00.003-04:00

This week was back to neverending rain, and with the soggy weather came some disheartening, though not entirely unexpected, news.

If you weren't around and don't feel like paging back, three summers ago Willie seemed to be losing his vision. The first sign, though I didn't realize at the time, came when we went to BCHP to do a hunter/jumper show at the beginning of July. Willie had been jumping regularly out on the trails but I hadn't really schooled him over a course in the ring in a while. We had moved from a barn with unrideable footing to a place with no ring at all -- it was an upgrade, assuredly, but not so helpful in this instance. Will knew the drill by that point, though, so I figured after a few minutes in the warm-up ring he'd be golden. We optimistically entered the 2'3" class, higher than we'd ever jumped in open competition, but we'd been jumping 3' stuff for ages before I thought to get down and measure a fence.

Well, we went into the warm-up, flatted a bit, and then Willie stopped dead at every single fence I tried. The ring was swarming with people, a few of which had trainers commandeering the most welcoming lines and refusing to let anyone else near. I was too meek to stand up for myself, but we finally got over one jump, then another, just as the bell rang to clear the ring.

Time came for our round, and we went in and weebled and wobbled our way around the course. I did my very best to keep him straight and sit tight in the saddle like everything was kosher. I blamed myself for not giving him enough prep -- he was a rockstar, but obviously I had overestimated his rockability! -- and kicked on for schooling purposes. We managed to complete both courses without any other stops, but they were hardly the smooth, flowing trips of a hunter!

The rest of the summer progressed oddly... Will started getting spookier and spookier. I thought at first he was just too fit. He was blooming under the care of this new farm, and looked and felt better than he had since I'd adopted him. The barn owner reported him bucking and galloping in the fields on a daily basis, something previously unheard of for him. Maybe he was just getting...sassy?

I finally started to notice a pattern. Scary objects were a bit scarier on one side than the other. Things we passed every day -- the speed limit sign on the road, a patch of white flowers on the trail, a familiar dirt path covered with fresh grass clippings -- were causing my steady-eddy, bombproof old drill horse to spin and shy in terror. His favorite thing in the world, trail riding, was suddenly a scary, unpleasant experience for him. Something was obviously wrong.

I made the mistake of not having the vet out immediately. Money was tight, and so I had a friend with vet tech experience take a look first. I know better now -- even when money is tight, get the vet out first, and find a way to make it work -- but I put it off, and by the time a real vet (now retired) finally came out, things had started to clear up. You can't diagnose if there are no symptoms, and again, I made the mistake of opting to be cheap, and we forwent a full exam with dyes and so on. But the whole thing left me confused and paranoid.

Despite no recurrences, I've been protective of his eyes... He gets some puffiness/runniness seasonally, which I've always chalked up to allergies, and he wears a flymask in summer to help. Sometimes he wears one on the trailer, too, to protect from any potential dust stirred up by the road. I pay close attention to how the eyes themselves look, and usually have the vets peer in about twice a year, when they come out for shots (or because, ahem, someone sliced his face open on something). There's been nothing to report other than some normal, age-related wear and tear, and one or two incidents where Will did something to the eye and I ended up dabbing some meds in for a few days.

This year, though, I went for the self-vax option. I "borrowed" a vet for rabies to split the farm call, then had one of mine (Dr. M) come out for Coggins a bit later. For the Coggins visit, I had a young, non-horsey helper holding Jabby, who was taking advantage of her and dragging her hither and yon. I scurried to switch her to the better-mannered beast, but then Jabby was atrocious for getting his picture taken, so I completely and totally forgot to have the vet look at Will's eyes until she was already off the farm. When Will sliced open his face the next week, the other vet (Dr. K -- the practice has three) was kind enough not to charge me for the emergency call, and it didn't seem prudent to ask another favor... Though to tell the truth it slipped my mind then, too.

Then Will was hanging out in the wash stall the other day, and the way the light reflected looked... odd. Enough that Dom caught it in passing without me mentioning it. On our trail rides, Will gave the hairy eye to things that didn't belong, and skidded to a stop when hitting a patch of white flowers in the field. We grabbed a flashlight and took a look in the dimmed barn -- sure enough, the clouding was back, and there was a faint little ghost just visible on the surface. Not good.

My biggest concern was uveitis, though I don't know that I've heard it going so long between episodes. Some of the common symptoms, like watery eyes, are normal/seasonal for him. But uveitis is painful, and from what I've seen, fairly degenerative. In any case, I wanted to be sure someone got a look at it while I could definitely see something, so I called the vet... for the third time in a month. Dear Willie: If I get you an expensive birthday present next year, will you hold off on breaking yourself for a while?

So the third of my vets (Dr. A) came out Thursday, but our farm Bermuda Triangle'd his equipment and he had to reschedule for today. Meanwhile, the farm vet (Dr. B) came out to poke and prod at some of the beasts at work, so I had him look at Will when he was done. His thoughts: uveitis unlikely, no ulcers, and looking like the very beginning stages of cataracts.

Since I was already getting billed for the farm call, I kept the appointment with Dr. A today. His thoughts: uveitis unlikely, no ulcers, looking less like cataracts and more like something called endotheliosis, which is so new that the first vet to really write anything about it only did it about two years ago. (Google is unhelpful, though if your G-Fu is better than mine I'd love to see a relevant article.) It may or may not be related to autoimmune stuff, and isn't treated but "managed," though management is simple and effective.

In either case, the verdict seems to be Willie has a condition that is not incredibly painful but still somewhat uncomfortable when it flares up -- like when your contacts are just a tad off and blinking feels funny. His vision is compromised but not incredibly so, yet. He's got eye drops/ointment for the days when he gets weepy, and all I can do is treat and observe until things either get worse, or they don't.

I'm never sure what the future holds. With Will especially, I try to make every ride special, and count each day I put a foot in the stirrup as a good one. As I've said before, he's earned his retirement, whenever he chooses it, and I will love him and spoil him even as a fat useless pasture puff. For as long as he's able and willing, we'll ride.

Riding Again

2011-05-13T23:56:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling better, thanks in no small part to my new mattress, and the weather has been kind enough to cooperate, too. With no excuses, I threw my leg over the saddle again, and started getting both the boys back into work.

Willie's face is mostly healed, and he is in reconditioning mode... We'd already been doing mostly walking rides around the farm, because that was all he felt like doing. Lately though he's been letting me know he still feels pretty spry, so I've started stepping it up a little. First we just did five minutes of trotting, and then a bit more. Today we went out for a trail ride with another old "warhorse," a sixteen-year-old pacer who raced 349 times and is now getting his riding career underway. They were spunky and sassy, and kept egging each other on, squealing indignantly if the other got too far ahead. Silly old men! But boy, can they still move. Would you believe these two have nearly 600 races between them?

I do so love the veteran campaigners. They might need a little extra maintenance, but they are such fantastic horses. That other gelding will make a very, very good horse for someone who wants to spoil him and dote on him and tell him he's pretty for the rest of his life.

Speaking of maintenance... I did want to get Willie started on Adequan again, and try keeping up with the monthly maintenance this time, but it's been one thing after another lately and right now I can't afford a non-emergency expense, even though I KNOW it works and would help him feel so much better.

Jabby has some of his own stuff going on. Back in March, after he'd already gotten fit enough to tag along with Dom and company on a fourteen-mile ride, he came back from five miles of slow walking lathered in sweat, crabby and miserable. I palped his back and he was sore, so I blamed the saddle, and his unhappiness with having to go slow to babysit a greener horse. The Passier had been "fudgeable" in its fitting, and I figured with the extra weight he gained, it had simply downgraded to "oh hells no." I hurt myself so I didn't really have much cause to reevaluate, I just threw on the borrowed Toulousse for our weekly hacks around the farm.

Then last week, I decided I should really LOOK at each of the saddles, since I know neither one is a perfect fit. I figured I would take his new weight and topline, both drastically different than they were back in October, and see exactly how/where the saddles did not fit, and if nothing else, make some tracings and drag them to a tack store. The Toulousse, as I expected, bridged -- the tree was shaped too flat for his curved back, and there's a big gap in the middle between saddle and flesh. The Passier, to my surprise, actually sat snugly against that curve -- but if the tree size isn't off, I'm betting the super-compressed flocking of the 30+ y/o saddle is not doing him any favors. Although when I tossed the Passier on for a sweatmark evaluation, he was magically happy with it, and more so the next ride, in a regular saddle pad instead of the Mattes. It's still not perfect, though, so we're keeping the workload easier until I can afford another saddle.

Jabby needs to go back to "chill the heck out" land for a while, anyway. I had started him back on alfalfa cubes when he was getting fit, and it didn't occur to me to take him off while I was hurt, even when I halved his grain. (Willie gets the same cubes no matter his workload, and is Willie, so I forget these things correlate in other horses.) I cut them out of his diet again and he is mellowing again, but still such a more sensitive and high-instinct horse than Will. But we have time, and we will spend the summer walking around the fields on a loose rein, working on focus and relaxation, if that's what it takes. It gives us plenty of opportunity to see the sights of the local neighborhood, and make friends with just about every family along the way.

I will say one thing for the Moose... He did not kill me when he was introduced to sprinklers on two different occasions this week, though the second definitely won the battle. (It sprayed him in the butt while he was boggling at the wet sidewalk.) A little brain melting does a horse good. :)

Growing Up Jersey

2011-05-09T22:05:00.020-04:00

Most of the people who haven't actually been to Jersey probably think it's all cities and shorelines, with some horrendous orange flavor of New Yawkahs in between. Funny enough, our state animal is the horse, and there IS a reason (albeit a swiftly-vanishing one) that they call it the Garden State...

As a native of suburbia, I admittedly took a while to figure that out, too. But at least, throughout my childhood, I was occasionally driven through the odd bit of countryside, and I would crane my neck at every sign of four-post fence. Exit 11 on the highway was no exception. I would see signs for the Horse Park, and there was a big Standardbred farm visible from the road there. Naturally, I assumed this Horse Park was a park filled with horses, and I constantly begged to go. At some point, my parents finally caved, and we went for a visit. That very first time, it was little more than a grass ring or two, and I was sad to learn that horses were not actually kept there.

After a few years, though, my 4-H endeavors brought me back to HPNJ, and I watched it evolve into so much more. The grass rings became four big stone dust arenas, and a giant indoor was added, as was a seating pavilion. We were there almost every weekend for a few summers in a row. Mostly, we were doing demos or opening ceremonies, but occasionally we ourselves were competing. It was those formative years, when we might not have been pretty but we sure had fun, that made showing and performing such an enjoyable experience for me.

When I started lessons at the Big Barn in 2001, I didn't realize just how close it was to the Park, or that my instructor helped coordinate volunteers for some of the events there. When she asked if I would want to help out at a big competition -- the fledgling Jersey Fresh 3-Day Event -- I immediately agreed.

It was pretty cool, for a wide-eyed, horse-crazy teenager. Magazines like Young Rider had long ago provided me with posters of the Bruce Davidsons and Karen O'Connors of the world, but seeing someone's picture on your wall is entirely different from seeing them ride a living, breathing, galloping horse in front of you. Every year, I eagerly ~~got roped into~~ jumped at the chance to volunteer again. I could spend all day watching some of the best riders in the country, for free? All I had to do was sit out in the sun/rain/wind all day, holding a clipboard, running errands, moving equipment, or poking my gloved fingers into the slobbery mouths of hoity-toity event horses. I even got lunch, a T-shirt, and sometimes, a hat! It was AWESOME!

Between competitions, there was still work to be done. When I was that same wide-eyed teenager, I spent a few dusty summer days picking up rocks to help clear the track to be used for Jersey Fresh's steeplechase. Alas, long-format eventing perished not long after, but my efforts were not entirely in vain -- I got to usher a few big riders across the road to and from steeplechase for at least one event. Besides that, I still get to go galloping on that very same track whenever we visit the Assunpink.

Other than my first volunteering gigs, the Park was the site of a lot of firsts for me -- my first-ever horse show with Stormy (and our last), my first English show, my first demo, and my first ribbons in open competition. Willie and I did our first demo there, and our first ride as an "adopted" pair, plus my first dressage show and our first official XC schooling.

I fell in love with eventing because of HPNJ and Jersey Fresh. And when my instructor asked me to help out at a smaller, local event later in the year, I realized that normal people did eventing, not just the gods from my altar of horsey posters. In fact, some of those jumps looked downright doable. Thus, I was bitten by the Eventing Bug, and it hasn't let me go since.

Neither has the Volunteer Bug, to be quite honest. I still love going over to the Park and working behind-the-scenes at shows, even when I'm secretly disappointed that I'm not in the ring because of circumstances beyond my control. I could really spend all day watching an event -- yes, even the dressage! Plus, it's a bit cool to think that, in some small way, the Horse Park and I sort of grew up together.

It might not be Rolex, and it might not even be the world's most top-of-the-line facility. But it's in my metaphorical backyard, and it's always pretty cool to be able to splash around in the same water complex as Phillip Dutton. It's even cooler when I see a pair compete, or even win, at Jersey Fresh, and then go on to Kentucky -- or Hong Kong, or Rio, or maybe even London -- a year or two later.

This weekend it's once again time for Jersey Fresh, so naturally, I'll be heading over to the Park again for at least a few days. There are new divisions this year, for Young Event Horses, in addition to the CCI2*/3*, and CIC2*/3*. The event is more than twice as big as it was the first time I volunteered. I'm still waiting to hear back from the coordinator, but whether I'm working or spectating, I'm sure I'll enjoy every minute.

Happy Birthday, Willie!

2011-05-08T15:43:00.002-04:00

All racehorses age officially on January first, but today is Willie's actual birthday. On May 8, 1993, a senior broodmare in Vermont gave birth to a bay colt that would grow up to be a sturdy racehorse and my best friend.

I still can't believe my old man is 18 now. He's old enough to vote!

Unfortunately I can't afford much to spoil him this year, but he has a new blue leather halter to look snazzy in, and some yummy cookies from one of our favorites, Willie Bakery! (No relation.) He also had a spa day earlier which I'm sure he's currently hard at work undoing as we speak... Ah well. He WAS clean.

Happy Birthday, Will!

The Horse of 1000 Afflictions

2011-05-02T07:37:00.005-04:00

Several days after I considered putting up an official "hiatus" post, marking a lack of events to blog about and more importantly, a lack of inspiration to blog, Willie ensured that I had some new material.

You may recall that last year Willie was kind of a trainwreck. It seems like the vet had to be called at least twice a month for the first half of the year. This was after we spent most of 2009 battling Lyme! Thankfully, my vets took pity on me and started giving me a frequent flyer discount, and I didn't get charged for some of the quicker visits when they only confirmed diagnoses and treatment plans I already knew, but I still spent a large chunk of change getting my old pony repaired.

Thankfully, he's been pretty incident-free since then (*knock on wood*), and since the spring weather is making him a bit sassier, I considered putting him back into work, for reals, starting up with the Adequan again and making sure to keep up with the monthly maintenance this time.

I guess I was thinking too loudly.

Good Morning, Willie...

Friday morning I got to the barn a bit late. I walked out into the pasture to feed the boys... And my brain did one of those slow-mo denial moves, where I processed something funny with the side of the run-in shed, and Willie's nose looking sticky, but it wasn't until Willie munched at his breakfast from the bucket in my hand that thought process kicked in, and I realized my horse's face was covered in blood.

With a sigh, I opened the gate and signaled for the old man to follow me, not wanting to waste time going back to the barn for his halter. He shuffled along sheepishly, obediently, as I grumbled under my breath. I parked him on the invisible cross-ties in the wash stall and hosed his face off. The gash on his face kept bleeding and bleeding. One leg was coated in blood from him itching on it, and it took almost a full minute of hosing it for the water to run clean. The "funny looking" run-in shed? Painted with his blood. Yep.

I took a good look at the cut. It wasn't like the entire lower half of his face was hanging off. I couldn't see bone. It wasn't a puncture. But it was still a decent enough size that stitches or staples seemed like a reasonable course of action, and I knew from experience that that sort of thing needs to be done in a timely fashion if it's to be done at all. Have I mentioned it bled a lot?

I made some phone calls, and texted a few pictures. (Dear Jabby, thanks for smashing my old phone and forcing me to upgrade to one that takes pics.) The receptionist at my vet office, who practically knows me by voice after last year, said she would put a call to the vet closest to the farm and get back to me. Nothing to do but wait.

Will's face was still oozing, so I ran the hose a bit more. My job was made harder by him wanting to play this game:

I wanted to try and stop the bleeding, at least. The nose is such an awkward part of the equine body... Not like I could just wrap it in gauze. Hmm.

Willie had been standing, ever-so-patiently, first on our patented Invisible Crossties, then with a halter around his neck as I went back and forth between the wash stall and tack room. I normally trust him to stand when I say, but there is awesome grass outside and I was having a goldfish kind of morning, if you know what I mean. Finally, I soaked a washcloth in cold water, wrung out the excess, then tucked it into his now fleece-free noseband. Et voila.

Of course, with his half-shedded, mud-encrusted coat, freshly-roached mane, and a variety of -things- now hanging about his person, Willie was looking like a particularly sad Black Beauty extra:

Forty minutes later, the bleeding had stopped and one of my vets stopped in. He pretty much told me what I already knew: We could put in a staple or two, but head/face wounds healed fast and it would probably be fine on its own. We could start him on antibiotics, but facial injuries like that usually didn't get infected. Since I had a pretty good handle on dressing wounds, and stock enough ointments to war-paint a tribe of elephants with double rainbows all the way, the vet offered to pretend he was never there. Sometimes, people are awesome.

I stuffed Will in a stall so he could take a break, after standing in the wash stall for two hours straight, and set out to inspect the field. The fences all seemed intact. There were no exceptional bits or pieces in or around the run-in shed that I could find, high or low or anywhere in between. So I followed the fenceline all the way around, and found a culprit at the back of the field -- the gate separating Will's field from his neighbors' had two rungs hanging haphazardly, and sharply, to the side. Someone had either kicked it or gotten stuck in it. It's Willie's favorite napping corner, so he likely stuck his head somewhere it didn't belong. Ask me why I am not a fan of shared fencelines...

At the end of the day, my pony was back out grazing in his field, his nose all bespackled with the warpaint of choice, the Gate of Death replaced, and all was relatively well.

Then I came in the next morning, and Will's lovely petite face was all swollen and lumpy.

Siiiigh.

Called up the vet. "Sooo," I said slowly, "I know when you saw Willie yesterday, we talked about how facial injuries don't usually get infected..."

He thought the swelling was probably related to the initial trauma, and not an infection, since it had been only 24 hours. But he told me to start SMZs as a precaution (still have a giant bottle thanks to the LAST pony-goring adventure) and gave me a list of symptoms to really be concerned about. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen to this horse," I sighed. But I thanked him again, and hung up to go back to hosing out the Pony's face. With the assistance of plain ol' spice-rack cinnamon, we're getting the meds into him without requiring too much cheating on his diet.

Yesterday his face looked better, but it's definitely still got a hint of wonkiness to it. I just hope it keeps healing well.

If nothing else, I can say that horse ownership has never been a boring experience.