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 

✌🏼❤️🐴

Progress

Back to back rides on Coolie yesterday and today. Hubs was home early which gave me an opportunity to ride today that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise. The forecast is also calling for rain the next few days as Hurricane Florence makes its way to our state (which is crazy in itself because I live in OHIO) so I figured that I had better take any chance that I had to get some ride time in on Coolie. Not only does my sanity require adequate horse time, but I’m also working really hard at getting his mind and body healthy. The only way to fix his feet is to ride in his pads and stimulate the parts of his feet that he normally wouldn’t use. The only way to fix his brain for him to realize that riding doesn’t cause pain. And the only way to fix his body is for his brain to stop going into overload and shutting down when he thinks he can’t do something because he’s sore. So really, it all comes back to riding. The more pain free, positive riding experiences we can have, the sooner he can begin to heal.

It was already starting to sprinkle rain drops so I quickly got Cool saddled and booted and headed out to the arena. My plan today was to give Cool a break from going ‘round and ‘round in circles and scatter some poles around the arena to ride like a “jump course.” I really am trying to get better about not boring him to death with “arena work” because it seems like he really gets sour of flatting all the time. Since he’s a pain in the ass about walking with me while I set poles, I tied the reins of his hackamore up over his head and let him trim the grass on the edge of the ring while I went to work setting. I used my four freshly (spray)painted jumper poles and set up a single on the quarter line, a diagonal one stride and a diagonal single. My ring is fairly small, so it’s pretty hard to set poles at much more than three/four strides or so in any given direction. I figured that today I would keep the poles all fairly close towards the center of the ring and give Cool lots of room to turn and make his approach since I was just planning on trotting this “course” today anyway.

We warmed up fairly quickly since Cool had just come in from turnout and therefore was already pretty loose at the walk. He was a little behind my leg to start but felt sound, and once he realized that we were doing pole work he brightened right up and off he went! We trotted a few single poles to start off and then I put together a little course both directions. As soon as he realized that we were turning these single poles into something that resembled a jump course, Cool was READY to go! He ended up rushing at a couple of the poles and taking a little jump over them to land in canter on the backside. Some people might think that undesirable in a horse but I was pleased as hell that Cool was feeling good enough and happy enough that he WANTED to jump and canter. I worked very hard on keeping with the rhythm of his trot on approach and just going with whatever decision he made, whether it be trot or canter on the backside. This required that I kept my leg soft and that I stayed down in my heel - something that I’ve really been sucking with as of late. Today was better though, so I’m pleased with that! I also made sure to keep my hand low and forward during our ride. I have a terrible habit of raising my hand and pulling a couple strides out. It’s a habit that’s literlly plagued me my whole life but seems exponentially worse when I ride Cool. Overall though, I was really pleased with our ride and after a couple little “courses” and a nice stretchy trot I called it a day and took Cool for a walk over to the apple tree to pick out his post-workout treat 😂 Stupid I know, but it gets him out of the arena and keeps him happy so I’m ok with it. I like to think of it as our little bonding time after working.

So far, the rain has held off so I’ll be headed back outside shortly (the baby is napping YAY) to let the ponies back outside to stretch and walk and enjoy the (MUCH) cooler temps today.

The Coolie today after his rockstar ride 

Until next time!

Peace.Love.Ponies.

New Beginnings

Rock bottom will teach you lessons that mountain tops never will.
[Word  Porn]

Two days ago, I sat quietly in the barn, late at night, sobbing silently into the neck of my oldest, most cherished friend Emmy.

It had been a week from hell. Between lame horses, a non-stop crabbing, crying baby, and feeling like a single mother in the face of my husband working long, late hours, I'd had enough.

Yep, you read that right. I said "baby."
______________________________

Three years ago I sat down and wrote my last post regarding my barefoot journey with both Cool and Johnny. Since then, both horses have come back to fairly successful soundness. Its been a never ending journey with its fair share of ups and downs. Some days are better than others for Cool, but somehow, I do still manage to ride a little.

Two years ago Johnny moved 1.5 miles down the road to my neighbors house. She's loved and trail ridden him ever since then, but just last week, her world came crashing down a little, and there is now a very distinct possibility that Johnny will be coming back to our farm in the next several months. When/if he does, it will be for good this time. I'm never letting him leave again <3 p="">
Two years ago, my husband and I also found out that we were expecting our first child. Killian was born in June 2017 and just celebrated his first birthday a few months ago.
_______________________________

Anyway, there I was, crying into the neck of thirty-one year old Emmy just like I had done so many times before in our relationship. Cool was in the stall next to her, he stuck his head over the divider wall and lipped at my hair, breathing warm muffled breaths into my ear. It was like being surrounded by the arms of my best friends. And in that moment, I suddenly thought about Johnny and I suddenly thought about this blog.

After a while, I wiped the tears away, fed my horses cookies and went back into the house. Killian was sleeping peacefully in his crib and I crept into his room, sat down in the arm chair in the corner and pulled out my phone. I found this blog on the internet and started at the beginning.

It took me two days to read the blog from start to finish. Part of me can't believe that its been almost TEN years since I first put finger tips to computer keys and began documenting my horse journey. I sat up late into the night and read about Johnny, about my college days, my horse shows and IHSA, I laughed. I cried. I cringed a couple times at my own childish stupidity.

But it was exactly what I needed. A trip down memory lane...a reconnection to my past...I'm not exactly sure, but it healed my heart in a way that I can't quiet explain.

Tonight, I put my baby to bed, went out into the barn and hugged and kissed both of my horses. This past year has been all about getting back to the simplicity of what brought me to this point in my life to begin with: my love of horses, but what I really needed, I think, was a swift kick in the pants. I needed my own words to steer me out of the darkness and back into the light.

Sometimes, life gets us down. And that's okay. The most important thing is getting back up. So here I am, picking myself back up off the ground, and looking to the sky. And part of that, is getting back to writing again. So I'm cracking my fingers, shaking off the dust, and getting back at it.

As always,

Peace.Love.Ponies.

Sunday Funday: Photo Blog

Since I just posted a somewhat lengthy post regarding George Morris, I thought that I would just add a few of today's pictures for your enjoyment :)

Gus getting a snowy lunge session

Cool after his lunging session...getting out some bucks!

And of course, the always stellar Emmy after our snowy hack :)

You can follow my horses some more via my Instagram account @LiveToFly87

As always,

Peace.Love.Ponies.

George Morris: 15 Riding Tips

George Morris (aka: the all-knowing and powerful guru of hunter/jumper land) puts on a Horsemastership Training Session in Wellington, Florida each year. If you are one of the lucky participants, it's the opportunity of a lifetime. If you're in the area, it's a must-see to audit. If you are, however, like the vast majority of rest of us though, you wait around for 5 days in January, scouring the internet for video, audio and text clips of wisdom from "the master" of modern hunt seat riding.

Equisearch.com (one of my favorite websites) published an article recently reflecting on 15 of George Morris's top riding tips that he highlighted during his clinic. To read the full article, click here.

If you aren't in the mood to read the whole thing, here are George's highlighted 15 tips of riding. I've added text to some of the bullets where I think that clarification of George's point may be necessary. This text is taken directly from the article listed above.

1. Create Impulsion - “The hind leg is where it starts,” he said. A rider breaks up resistance in the horse by encouraging his hind legs to come forward and under his body. When that happens, the horse’s croup starts to drop. Then the base of the neck, where it attaches to the shoulder, comes up. As a consequence, the horse’s head drops and he starts to round.
2. Keep Him Straight - There are two types of straightness, he explained. The first is the bottom line of the horse. Does his left hind hoof fall into the print of his left fore and his right hind into the print of his right fore? Most horses naturally go in a little haunches-in. The second type of straightness is the horse’s topline, from the dock of the tail to his poll. On a straight line, the horse needs to be tracking straight, and on a circle, he must be bent in accordance with the curved line. Many riders overbend their horses, making them crooked, he said. He also reminded riders that to be straight, they first must feel a forward quality in their horses’ gaits.
3. Carry the Hand - George taught this method to the riders throughout the week. For example, when one rider’s horse resisted, he told her to raise her hands, close her fingers and push with her leg. “You have to resist the horse’s resistance so the horse starts to accept contact.” When the horse softened in the mouth, George told the rider to be sure to give with her hands as a reward. He explained that many riders are taught to lower their hands if they feel resistance, “but that is rewarding the horse for disobedience.” 
4. Make Every Transition Count
5. Establish Rhythm with Cavaletti
6. Supple with Lateral Work
7. Spiral In and Out - To continue to supple the horses throughout their bodies, George had the riders spiral in on three circles at the canter. They used their outside legs to displace the horses’ haunches in while bending them around the inside legs. If a horse resisted, the rider could use a leading inside rein and an outside neck rein. When the horses relaxed a little, George said the riders could give slightly with their inside reins while the outside reins remained more solid. 
8. Counter-canter to collect and Balance - “Self-carriage is where a horse holds himself, maintaining his own balance and impulsion,” George explained.
9. Stay Straight on Flying Changes
10. Lighten Up - Any time the riders asked for pace, such as when they were galloping or jumping, George encouraged them to be light on their horses’ backs with their hip angles closed and their upper bodies forward about 30 degrees. This allowed for a smoother and softer ride and kept them from disturbing their horses’ self-carriage.  
11. Ride with Pace to the Base [of a jump]
12. Practice What is Difficult
13. Let Go out of the Turn - If you do this, he said, you’ll “measure the fence infinitely better.” If the horse is not listening to the half-halt or is cross-cantering by the time he reaches the turn’s apex, a rider needs to return home and practice—“that’s homework,” George said.  
14. Keep Riding to a Difficult [Jump] Distance
15. Stay Positive - When some horses had trouble and refused on the final day’s jumping course, George reminded the riders not to be tentative because a horse will sense that and question whether or not he should jump. “The relationship between horse and rider is closer than any two beings, even if you’re married,” he said, adding, “When a horse gets tentative, you don’t get tentative. That’s the kiss of death. … You get positive." 

Happy riding my friends :)

Peace.Love.Ponies.