My Little Pony and Day 9

Day 09- Any injuries that occurred from riding

I've had a few along the way... 

There was the time that Albert fell over while I was riding him and crushed my hand.  Or the time that Dusty flipped over and crushed my leg.  Or when my old instructor made me try a kimberwick on her and she very nearly took my jaw off.  Abby once chipped my tooth.  And then all of the regular lumps and bumps that come from falling.

Then there were the more serious injuries... Abby ripping the ligaments in my ankle when we were cross-country schooling and miss Dee with the piece de resistance of concussion and possibly torn rotator cuff (still haven't had it checked).

In other news, today Dee did what might have been the best canter work of her life going to the left (complete with totally respectable downward transition), and I just finished watching the 1986 My Little Pony Movie.  I don't care what anyone says.  I still love it.

Baby's on Fire and Day 8

Dee has been spectacularly well behaved for the past 3 days.  Saturday and Sunday she was a little sticky at the beginning of the ride, but then settled and behaved.  The canter work was especially good -balanced, quiet, and not sucking back at all.  She even took my half-halts like a grown-up.  The left lead was a little sticky, but she eventually got there.  Yesterday, she was no longer in heat, and instead of being good, she was really good.  She was doing little extensions in the trot, really moving from behind, staying fairly steady in the contact, and moving off of the leg in both directions.  In the canter, she gave me some very nice transitions onto the left lead, and generally felt fantastic.  I am finally feeling like I can ride her at the canter, instead of just doing damage-control.  She even let me ask for a stride of leg yield in each direction, which went a long way to improving the general balance in the gait.    

She will have today off (I originally intended to give her tomorrow off, but I'm not feeling good today), tomorrow we will resume our work, and Friday is massage day!

Day 08- A little about the barn/stable you ride at

Well, we just moved there.  It seems like a nice enough place - covered arena, jump arena, lots of trails, airy barn.  Nothing to complain about, and Dee seems as happy as a clam!

30 Day Challenge... Day 7

Day 07- Biggest riding pet peeve

Being inconsiderate.  Nothing bothers me more, from both other riders and people on foot.  When there are two of us in the ring, and I am keeping an eye out to stay out of your way, I expect the same courtesy.  I shouldn't have to be constantly avoiding crashing into you because you pay no attention to where you're telling your horse to go (at one event, a girl literally rear-ended Tango and I while we were walking at the rail... she was lucky that he didn't kick or freak-out... if that had been Dee I have the feeling someone would have died).  Plus, if someone else is clearly having issues with their horse (he is extra high, or whatever), I will usually just call over and ask if the person minds if I do something like canter, which, from experience, can really get a high horse going.  I don't know... common courtesy, I guess.

And then there are the people on the ground.  If your kids are playing hideaway in the long grass next to the arena and freaking out the horse in the ring because they keep appearing out of nowhere, tell them to stop.  If your dog is barking his head off and clearly upsetting the horse in the ring, get it under control (and do it even if the horse doesn't care... that's obnoxious).  

30 Day Challenge... Day 6

Day 06- What's in your grooming bucket?

My grooming bucket is kind of a mess, and lately it's more aptly described as my grooming tack trunk.  In it, I have my helmet, standing wraps, brush boots, lunge line, cavesson, towels, clippers, pulling comb, needle nose pliers, bell boots (which I never use), ear net, desitin, head and shoulders, furasin, alu-bandage, aluminum spray, peppermints, tack-cleaning stuff, sweat-scraper, and all of the regular grooming brushes.  There might be more stuff in there, but that is the base.

Dee enjoying a belly rub today:

30 Day Challenge... Day 5

Day 05- Your first fall

Honestly?  I have no idea.  It was probably off of Sprinkles, though, since I fell off of him all the time.

In other news, Dee has been in an absolutely RAGING heat for the past few days.  I didn't even go up yesterday because she was such a hormonal mess on Thursday.  Today, she was still in heat, but it turned out to be a good ride.  When I first got on, I had very low hopes for the day.  When she is in heat, she will not yield to pressure.  Instead, she smashes into it as hard as she can.  Usually, however, she's not quite so bad under saddle.  But today when I got on and started walking her around, I asked her to move off of my right leg just a little and she responded by sticking her tail straight into the air, curling into a "c" shape, and smashing through my right leg.  So I thought, ok, I'll give her a swift kick to get her off that leg, and we'll be fine.  No.  Wrong.  The harder I kicked, the more she leaned right.  I even took my foot out of the stirrup at one point and laid the hardest kick that I could on her, because Hey!  Listen when I'm talking to you! but it made absolutely no difference to her.  When it became clear to me that nothing I could do was going to fix it at that point (I haven't been riding with a whip, because she hasn't needed one, and I didn't feel like getting off to hunt one down, but I wonder if even that would work), I just asked for trot.  Even that was a bit sticky, and it took a few boots to get her chugging, but once she was in trot, I just sent her forward forward forward.  She wanted to be distracted and spooky, but the more I asked her to just go forward and circle, change direction, etc, the better she got.  Want to throw your head in the air like a giraffe and shake it up and down?  Fine, but go forward while you do it.  Eventually she just settled in and started loosening through her back.  She even started moving off of the leg when asked.  I then asked for some canter, semi-expecting her to be stiff and horrible.  Instead, I got the best canter work that I've had in awhile.  The transitions were quiet and respectable, and the canter itself was balanced and forward.  She was even taking half halts and moving off of the leg when asked.  I was so pleased that I went back to trot, did a bit of stretchy work, and let her quit.  Mares in heat... you never do know what you'll get, do you?

30 Day Challenge... Day 4

Day 04- Describe the important horses you've had in your life

1. Jasmine - 14.3 hand black pony.  She taught me the basics of jumping and instilled confidence in me.

2. Sprinkles - Flea-bitten gray welsh pony.  The stereotypical "bratty pony."  He taught me about stickability, perseverance, and remaining calm under all circumstances.

3. Sierra - Chestnut Thoroughbred.  He started my love affair with this breed.  He taught me more than I can write about here right now, and I've definitely written about him before.

That is not me on board, this was after Sierra and I parted ways.  I just don't have any pictures on my computer of me and him.

4. Dusty - Bay Thoroughbred.  I don't know if I'll ever find another Dusty.  She will always hold a huge part of my heart.  She was smart, sassy, opinionated, and hot-headed, but she was also a horse that I always trusted 100%.

She was a good sport

5. Kess - Bay Thoroughbred.  He let me really move forward in my training after Dusty got cataracts.  He was kind and dependable, and a great horse to work around.

6. Sitka - Bay TB/Percheron. She taught me a lot about the training process.  Watching her transform from a run-away freight train to a rideable, rateable jumper was incredibly rewarding.  She also loved to cuddle.

7. Tango - Bay Thoroughbred.  Unfortunately, he mostly taught me about lameness issues and injury maintenance.  He was the first horse that I purchased with my own money, and even though he caused a lot of heartache, I still miss him.

8. Dee - OH miss Dee.  She really is something else, but despite myself, I really do just love her to death.  We have our certain special relationship, and she may never be a really trustworthy, loveable animal, but I love her just the way she is.

30 Day Challenge - Day 3

Day 03- Your best ride ever

I have had so many great rides, but here is the one that I would consider the most fun:

Even though Dusty could be a hot-head, she was the nicest horse to hack.  She marched along, never looking twice at anything, and as long as she was allowed to lead, she was a perfect lady.  A few of us -- the barn rats -- used to go out on day-long hacks with the horses, and a few times we snuck into the local public pond before it opened for the season to let the horses swim.  

On this particular occasion, we were on our way to the pond when we saw a lawn with what looked like cross-country stairs in the front of it.  The steps had been created with stone instead of wood, but the effect was the same, and they appeared to be a perfect two-stride distance.  There were only two issues.  First, we had no idea if the homeowners were home, and very much doubted that they would enjoy watching three horses leaping through their front yard towards the house.  Second, there was only about 10 feet between the road and the first step.  Of course this didn't stop us.

One of the girls got off her horse and handed him off to us, then walked up to the house and knocked.  We figured if someone answered, we'd ask for permission.  If no one answered, we would assume no one was home and do it.  Luckily, no one was home, because I highly doubt that we would have gotten the go-ahead if they were.  To combat the road problem, we stationed two horses in the middle of the road to block traffic while the third did the steps.  

Next, we passed by a cemetery that was surrounded by a very nice stone wall.  Employing the same method that we used to block traffic at the house, we took turns jumping in and out of the cemetery.  When we were through, we noticed the "no horses" sign.  Luckily no one saw us.  

The pond was right around the corner from the cemetery, and when we got there we all got off, took off our saddles (complete with saddle bags that held towels and food), our shoes, and our riding pants (we wore bathing suits underneath).  We then tied a stirrup leather around our horses' necks, climbed on bareback, and rode into the pond.  That was the first time that I ever swam with a horse, and once the water got deep enough to force them to swim, it was the coolest feeling ever.  Dusty rocked beneath me, and I had to wrap my legs around her and grab her mane to keep from floating off.  When we got into shallower water again, I had to anchor myself with the neck strap to keep the water from sucking me off as she emerged, and kept holding tight as she shook the water off like a dog.  

We finished the ride by trotting and cantering over a bunch of logs around the pond, and then hopped off to let the horses dry off and graze while we ate sandwiches and dried ourselves off enough to put our pants back on.  Once we tacked the horses back up, we made the long trek back to the barn.  It was the perfect day.

Not Dusty