Mid-week Update

I have to say that apparently it’s just going straight to winter in Ohio this year. The last two days we’ve had 20-40 mph wind gusts almost non-stop and the temperature has been hanging in the low 40’s during the day. Not really “winter” by Ohio standards but the fact that we seem to have completely skipped over the season of fall this year has left me a little salty to be quite honest. The only good thing I can say about the wind is that it DID help tremendously in drying out the ground, in fact, today my sand ring was dry enough to take Cool for a little spin. We didn’t do much, as chilly windy weather tends to make Cool significantly more “spookable” that usual, but I did get him saddle up, out on the lunge line for a bit, and then worked on some much needed ground work followed by lateral work in the saddle, which he was really good for. I’ve been trying very hard to improve my position and overall horsemanship with Cool. It’s amazing the difference in his responses under saddle when I’ve appropriately done my homework.
 I was planning to take Johnny for a walk initially, but decided against it because a) he was COVERED in mud and I didn’t have that kind of time, and b) the farrier is coming tomorrow to trim and re-evaluate where we are with his feet, so I figured what’s one more day of waiting?

In the end, I spent Ki’s nap time riding instead of doing barn work (which meant that I was cleaning stalls at 10pm) but it was worth it!

Ki is an extra good barn helper (most days)

Emmy (she’s 31 now!) and Cool - that one time the sun came out

Coolie today before our ride, looking skeptically at the bushes blowing in the wind

More after tomorrow’s farrier visit!

Peace.Love.Ponies 

✌🏼❤️🐴

Looking Back: A Year in Photographs

Can you believe it? Its actually been almost exactly a year since my last post...what a crazy, unthinkable, awful thing for me to have walked away from this blog for such a long time.

I was thinking about this blog today while cleaning my horses stalls, which is what made me come back to it to begin with. Scrolling through my hundreds of old posts, I realized something; there is history here. Not just mine, but the history of my horses, my life, my thoughts and my adventures. Its a timeline that I truly cherish.

Looking back through the hundreds of posts and photographs made me a little sad. Its like looking back through vacation pictures and wishing that you had spent more time appreciating the beach that you were sitting on, and yet all the while knowing that those moments are long gone and all that you have left of them are the memories, words and photographs that you used to document that time. I miss having no responsibilities really, living the "college" life that we all thought was so hard, until we hit the "real" world that actually was! The past year has been a whirl-wind, with my wedding and a few horse shows...trying to adjust to a new type of life being an adult and a wife!

There is far too much to document in words, therefore, sit back and enjoy as I sum up my year in photographs. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Peace.Love.Ponies.

In the Holiday Spirit

More horse show updates since we last spoke:

Cool and Gus both showed at CVF in November, making it Gus's debut into the "hunter" world. Even though he just showed on the flat, it really gave me a chance to evaluate him and take perspective of where we are and where our training needs to go.

Cool showed in the Hopeful Hunters again. He is incredibly bored with the small heights of the jumps and has resorted to loosely cantering over them instead of actually jumping anymore, but he is doing well, making the numbers in the lines and is getting more confident about walking into the ring and doing his job. I did start to see a lack of fitness at this horse show, as the weather turns and I'm able to ride him less and less. By the third over fences class I literally had almost no horse left. He didn't get the lead changes this time (too tired and not forward enough) but he was excellently behaved (as usual) and he placed 3rd, 4th and 6th out of 14 horses!

After Gus's semi-poor showing at the last "pleasure" show that we went to back in October, I was pleased to see that he was back to his normal, amicable self at CVF. I really do believe that he just doesn't have super fond memories of the "pleasure horse" venue. He was quiet and perfect like he had been to CVF his entire life. We just showed on the flat, where he placed a VERY respectable 5th out of 14. Did I mention that he hadn't been ridden like...at all....prior to this show? After the class, I let two friends of mine ride him around the warm up to see how he handled other riders. D is a middle-aged amateur adult and S is a young adult college student. He was absolutely perfect for both of them....in fact, D is so in love with him now that she inquired about leasing and showing him. I'm sure that she would really love to buy him, but he's not for sale! S took him over a few small cross rails for me to watch. The G-man was ready to go! After a few awkward over-jumps he settled in and was jumping with his knees to his throat. Watching it really renewed in my spirit what had felt so crushed just a month before at the BL show. This horse has really got something, its just banged up and buried a little. Once we finally unlock it, I think that he's going to be stellar.

We are taking the month of December off from showing because of the holidays and such. Hopefully we can get back to it in January, although much of that is weather dependent :/ Ohio is not extremely conducive for outdoor riding in the winter months...which is my only option now that all three horses will be living at home for the winter while my fiance and I plan our wedding for next year.

Speaking of next year, its almost time to do a yearly look back and goal assessment! This will be soon to come in a following post! For now, it's horse show photo time!

 Gus in his under saddle class

 Getting rewarded for a job well done.

 S hacking Gus around in the warm up...look at him go!

Another shot of S and Gus

 S flatted Cool for me in the under saddle class so that I could ride Gus

 Coolio doing his thing...and barely jumping such little fences

 Lost my leg a little over the fence...Cool is barely even cantering over these

 I like this one, his ears make him look so happy!

Another not so stellar equitation show of me, but at least Cool is somewhat applying himself. I can't wait to see what his knees look like when he actually JUMPS. I have jumped him 2'3" and have yet to feel him actually put effort into it.

As always, more next time!

Peace.Love.Ponies

Dressage Day for Gus

What a beautiful fall day today! Perfect temperatures (low 70s) with just enough sunshine to warm your body but not enough to make you feel hot! My best friend C and I took our horses to a dressage show today. C has always loved dressage and her Canadian Thoroughbred George is just a wonderful dressage horse. While he's still young and green, he's part Fresian and an extravagant mover. I took Gus along to the show...even though he hasn't been ridden in almost a month since he popped a splint back in early September. I have the vet out to check him over last Thursday prior to the horse show. She found the splint to be good, cold and settled and gave me to ok to ride him. C and I both picked Intro Level tests for our horses. She rode all 3 tests, but I just picked one. I figured that it wasn't worth breaking Gus again and trotting in a couple circles for 2 minutes shouldn't kill him right? I rode him Saturday evening and that was it pretty much.

We arrived at the show early this morning, got the horses settled in their stalls and picked up our numbers. The show was outside at a venue which we have never been to before, but it ran nicely and we had a great time. Gus was phenomenal! So calm and quiet! He was a little stiff since he hasn't been worked much but over all I was super impressed with him! He's never seen dressage rings or judges stands and he just stood by the in gate watching the other horses go around, then walked into the ring like he'd done it his whole life. The footing was a little hard and so I was very conservative in my warm up, especially with all of the problems we've had with his feet and his latest splint catastrophe. While all of the other dressage horses trotted and cantered outside the ring waiting for the bell, Gus and I trotted one lap and then just walked around waiting for our que to enter the ring.It seemed like we walked around forever!

Gee, I hope he trots through that narrow opening into the dressage ring...

I thought as I walked him past the entrance at A and realizing that I had no idea how he would feel about suddenly turning and trotting through such a narrow opening into some scary small white ring with big black letters. Oh well I thought, at least this is a good experience for him. Whats the worst that could happen anyway right? He goes sideways and we try again.

When the bell sounded we picked up our trot, took a deep breath and entered at A.

I honestly expected....something. Anything really. I was ready for there to be a fire breathing dragon, weaving, snorting and jumping left-right-left-right as we trotted down center line. Based on what I had learned from Gus's previous owner/trainer, I was ready for a bomb to explode the second that I walked into that ring.

Instead, I got nothing.

He glanced slightly sideways upon entering the arena, and then trotted straight to X. I settled in the saddle and whispered "whoa." He stopped square and pricked his ears at the judge ahead of us who stood up to acknowledge our salute. When I closed my leg, he trotted off, continuing down center line. As we reached C, I was again ready for the bolt and spook that I assumed would come as we turned by the judges box.

Instead, he just turned.

We rode our entire test with no drama, no explosions, no fireworks. Not a single spook, snort or sideways step. This was the horse that I had been told to lunge for 40 minutes before showing. The horse that hadn't been ridden in close to 30 days prior to this horse show. The one that I took out of the field, cleaned up, and loaded into the trailer.

We scored a 61.093 on our test, the third highest score for our division.

I was so pleased with him, what a champ! And what a positive horse show experience for him. There was no lunging, no hard warm up. We literally showed up, trotted and cantered once each direction and then stepped into the show ring for 2 minutes and he was done. Just like that.

Easiest horse show ever.

My friend C put in stellar rides on her gelding George and after tieing for first place (tie broken only by the score of the collective remarks) came out with 2nd place ribbons in both of her classes under 2 different judges.

What a wonderful day!

And now it's time for Gus to go back into the field and slowly step back up into a training program. For now, the next two weeks are focused on Cool as we get ready for our last hunter show of the season!

Gus and me (left) and C with George (right) Gus and I can't help it that we look like hunter riders!

What a gorgeous boy!

Sporting his dressage number with pride

Waiting to check out some professional pictures from the photographer...hopefully there are some good ones!

Until next time...

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Photo Update

As promised, here are some of the video stills and photos from this past week at the barn. Sorry, they aren't stellar quality :(

I'm interested to see how he jumps when the fences get to be something larger than just a big canter stride, but I'm a little afraid to over face him! Past experience with Emmy and Johnny tells me that it's a very easy mistake to make and a much more difficult mistake to correct!

Sleepy after his ride!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Big Dreams

As many of you may or may not know, the All American Quarter Horse Congress is currently underway here in Ohio. Saturday started the over fences events, which I have been watching like crazy on the live internet feed provided by the Ohio Quarter Horse Association. You can view the live feeds by clicking here.

Since purchasing Cool (who is actually a registered and well bred from halter horse bloodlines) I have transferred his AQHA registration into my name and joined the Association as well. While there are some aspects/practices within the Quarter Horse industry that I will never agree with or understand the exact logic behind, the over fences and equitation divisions really do interest me.

For a little while, I was wanting to show Cool western as that was the style that he was started (and by "started" I mean someone threw a western saddle on him and w/t/c around a round pen...kind of haha) but since I come from a hunter jumper background with a few years in 4-H as a child, the extent of my pleasure riding knowledge is a) outdated and b) not at the level needed to actually train a horse into a discipline. So, as usual, I went about learning all that I could. I watched videos, attended some clinics, took a couple lessons on a broke western pleasure horse and asked about the training techniques and opinions of people that I knew within the AQHA industry who showed western. I had two friends (one who shows western pleasure and one who shows in the trail classes) ride Cool a few times. I even took a job working part time for a local QH trainer so that I could see what all went into prepping a locally/nationally competitive horse. It has been a very interesting experience. There are plenty of different ways to train and prep a western pleasure horse, but the same basic principles seem to appear in just about everyone's training programs. There are just as many good trainers and good ways to do it, just as there are bad and I have been lucky enough to work for a trainer and have friends to give input who seem to do it more of the right way. In all honesty though, the more I learned about the western riding, the more I knew that it just wasn't for me. Not the western pleasure part anyway. The horsemanship (western equitation) classes are something that still interest me, but the rest of it is out as far as I am concerned. Not only do I think that Cool won't hold up to do western pleasure (he has a longish back making it really hard for him to collect and go slow at the lope) but I just don't think that his type A personality would tolerate what goes into making a competitive western pleasure horse, plus the prepping of these types of horses is just such a far deviation from the world that I know and what I've grown up doing that I don't know that I could bring myself to do it. Let's just say I'm like an old lady who's set in her ways!

Basically, I took into account Cool's strengths and weaknesses (mentally and physically) and my strengths and weaknesses and decided that the western pleasure events wasn't the route that would showcase either of our talents properly. Why try to smash a round peg into a square hole right?

So one night just recently, I had turned out Emmy and Cool into the field and was organizing some things in the horse trailer when I heard farting and pounding of hooves. I looked over to see Cool galloping around the pasture, leaping into the air and bucking. Holy crap does that horse get air...thank goodness he doesn't buck like that when I ride him (knock on wood) because I would be TOAST. I mean, that horse gets vertical! Anyway, after a few galloping laps, he slowed down and and was actually loping roll backs and figure 8s in the pasture...complete with lead changes and sliding stops at the gate when he felt it necessary...then he would wheel around on his haunches and take off galloping up the fence line again, only to slow in the corner, do an lead change and come back the direction that he just came. It was breath-taking and beautiful. (Emmy this whole time was standing in the middle of the field grazing...completely oblivious to Cool...I think she's getting selectively blind and deaf in her old age ha!) And right there I made the decision to never make him do anything that stifled his natural movement. He's not a very graceful or fancy horse like Emmy...he doesn't flick his toes or seem to float in mid-air when he gets that big trot and he doesn't snap his knees to his eyeballs over jumps, but what he does have is consistent control of his body all the time, something that, despite all of Emmy's fanciness, she always had a hard time maintaining. Despite her AMAZING jump and her gorgeous movement, I had to hold her hand all the time in the show ring. And maybe part of that is just their personalities as horses? Emmy absolutely NEEDS me to survive...when I first went to college she worked herself into such a fit that she colicked once a week until I finally took her to school with me. You can look at her the wrong way and she flattens herself into the corner of her stall because she knows she's in trouble. Cool doesn't really need anyone. He's independent, he couldn't give a crap if you brushed him or petted him. When we first got him I had to carry a crop all the time when I went into his stall or was walking him because he was just so pushy and rude. A slap of your hand when he was bad or dragging you around got you no where with him. He barely even blinked. He and Emmy were raised so differently and in such different environments and I think that it really shows in their personalities and interactions with people. It is both a good and a bad thing respectively. While Cool can be an absolute PITA on the ground, I can sit on his back and canter him around with no reins and he just never changes. He doesn't need me to ride him. He just needs me to sit on him.

This is the reason that I think his forte is going to be in the equitation (flat and fences) and maybe the hunter hack. I took him to a local A circuit trainer last winter for a lesson and she had some really good things to say about him, including the fact that she thought he would be competitive on the local A circuit in the low hunters, mainly because he's so bold and just so consistent, and let's face it, the hunters are all about consistency. I think that the equitation divisions will let him shine since he doesn't jump ultra round. His longish back actually is an asset there because it makes for an incredibly smooth ride on him. I mean, you just can't look bad on that horse. Plus, equitation is my forte too. Remember what I said about combining our strengths? I was placed in the top 5 nationally in intercollegiate equitation as a freshman at my college...something that hadn't been done in 13 years. And so, with all of this in mind, my goal is to get him to the Congress in two years. It's going to be a long road with plenty of set backs I'm sure. But if I can maintain his soundness and his breathing, I don't see any reason why he can't do it.

If you're free tonight check out that live feed from the Congress, the hunter hack classes (2 fences + a flat class) are going on tonight. Someday, we will be in them!

Peace.Love.Ponies.