Discotrax!

Well, it's official. As of yesterday I am the new owner of Disco, a 3 year old TB mare. Megan and I drove up to Millbrook in the FREEZING cold to get her vetted, and once she had passed with flying colors, we loaded her up and brought her home to Litchfield. She was very calm and collected about the entire thing. When I went to take her out of the trailer, I undid her from the trailer tie, hooked on her lead rope and tossed it over her neck, and then undid the back of the trailer. As I was standing at the back of the trailer, all of the bars and doors down and ready for her to leave, she just sort of turned around and looked at me, as if to say "excuse me? why aren't you UP HERE? Shouldn't you be leading me down?" But a little coaxing convinced her that it was not such a big deal and she calmly wandered down the ramp.





Casper, Roxi and Summer thought she was a totally big deal, and there was some curious through-the-bars sniffing with minor squealing (mostly from Disco) but no striking or otherwise bad behavior. I'm hoping to toss her out with them today, so fingers crossed that all will go well.
Once she got in her stall, she set right to gobbling down her hay - always a good thing. I let her do that for a bit while I unhitched the trailer and got her stuff situated, then I took her out for a mini-tour of the property (a mini-tour because walking up the driveway more closely resembled trekking through the frozen tundra, with very high, totally frigid wind.)
She took everything in stride.







Following our little tour, it was time to introduce her to her new blanket, which she was none to thrilled about. Those hind leg straps were EVIL, and she wanted to teach them a lesson, which meant almost kicking me, which resulted in her getting in trouble. She responded to getting in trouble by squealing at me, throwing a small fit, and then standing like a little soldier while I did up the rest of the blanket. Oh mares. I forgot what divas they can be!

On The Hunt

I've started the horse hunt. I wish I could get the videos onto my computer, but I'll just have to get my brother's help with it.

Horse #1: 3 y/o TB mare, lightly raced, WTC under saddle, 16.2






Horse #2: 4 y/o ISH mare. Broke as a 2 y/o, Bred at 3, Has been sitting in a field for the last year doing nothing, 16.0

No more Tango :(

Well, it's official. As of last night, Tango no longer belongs to me. He found a wonderful home in NH where he'll get to rehab at his leisure and then spend his days trail riding and doing minimal flat work. I'm really pleased with the situation he found, but it was still really sad to watch him disappear down the driveway in someone else's trailer. I spent two years training, bonding with and trying to fix this horse, and even though he caused me headache and heartache, I'll still miss him terribly.
The silver lining to this, though, is that now I can really start looking for a suitable project. I missed my chance at Suffolk, but I feel confident that I'll find something before long.

Back in The Saddle!

I got on Tango for the first time in twelve weeks today.. very exciting. I don't think he's ever been quite so excited to see his bridle - he tried to put the bit AND noseband in his mouth. I sort of half expected him to be a beast when I got on him, but figured it was time. Much to my surprise, he couldn't have been better. We walked for ten minutes on a long rein, and he was perfectly content to just wander around the ring. Maybe now that he's starting work again I'll be able to place him somewhere.
I had a lovely wander around equine affaire yesterday. Watched the bruce davidson clinic, did some poking around the breed pavilion and drooled over all the stuff that I can't buy in the other buildings. Tango did, however, get a nice treat out of my visit.
Unfortunately, there's not much to update about these days. I do have pictures from today though.

Fall

Wow, we're already into fall, and I'm still stuck with my very handsome, very useless boy. He's finally getting turnout in a very small paddock, so I guess that's a plus. The leg actually looks great - no swelling, no heat and he's jogging sound on it. Next step? GET RID OF HIM!
In other news, I've begun working evenings for an accomplished dressage rider up in Washington. She deals mainly in spanish horses, and has 5 stallions and 3 geldings. They're all lovely and nice to handle, and I'm really enjoying the job so far. I've got some pictures of the boys here:


Novador


Taz


Amado


Amado


Taz


Rascal


Kiko


Novy


Novy


Ilyad

SUSPENSORY BLUES

Sometimes... most times... I find myself asking WHY? Why do I love horses so much? Why are they SO self-destructive?
Tango is officially broken. He was broken before, but manageably so. NOW? Seriously broken. I pulled him out of the paddock almost two weeks ago now, and he was short and stabby on the LF just walking. No swelling, no heat. I jogged him out and - big surprise - DEAD LAME. I immediately assumed that he just strained the old injury, since we'd had a LOT of rain, and he tends to run about like an asshole occasionally. He's done this type of thing before, so I just cold-hosed, buted, poulticed and locked him up for the night, figuring he would be fine in a day or two. Well, the next day there was obvious swelling and major heat up high on the LF. NOT GOOD. More cold hosing, more bute and more poultice. The swelling went down a bit by Tuesday, but it was hotter than ever, so I called the vet. Now, I don't exactly have money to be throwing around on diagnostics, and the vet is well aware of this. I told her what was going on, and what I thought had happened (I was starting to think it was more than just stressing the scar tissue), and she agreed with me. Now I'm stuck with an INCREDIBLY useless horse who (probably) sprained or mildly tore the suspensory or check ligament, and I'm going to be in quite a bind once school starts next week. I really wish that there was a way for me to find him a forever home with people willing to rehab him and love him, but I know I'll probably end up resorting to plan B, which is to rehab him enough to get him pasture sound and then send him to PA for 6 months to live in a big field and eat all the grass that he could ever imagine. I just want something that I can ride.

millbrook horse trials

Well, I just spent a lovely weekend at the millbrook horse trials as a groom for Nancy. All together, we had seven horses... 3 of which were being ridden by Nancy. Friday started at 7 AM, with Luna - Nancy's first horse - going at 9. Everyone but Miles (who was going at 4) was pretty much braided (except for forelocks), so all I really had to do was get everyone looking pretty. Luna was off with Nancy at 8:30 and I went to work on Bunny, who had dressage at 10. In between making the two mares pretty and cooling them out, I started braiding Miles. I caught a look at Bunny in the dressage warm-up when I ran over with fly spray and a towel, and she looked WONDERFUL. Nancy came back to report a personal best.. exciting!
I was then presented with the NIGHTMARE of taking out Bunny's braids. Jen had put them in and wished me luck, since she had sewn the CRAP out of them. I think that the one thing worse than braiding is definately taking braids OUT. I HATE IT. With the ladies done, we had a LONG gap before Miles went, which we filled with feeding lunch, eating lunch and just generally enjoying the event. I found Nikki at one point and she caught me up to speed on the goings-on at Stephie's. I also got to see Jessie and Elizabeth... it was a stephie's reunion!
We then got Miles and the two Preliminary horses ready for 3:30, and after they had all gone out to the ring, I picked stalls and did hay and water. Once everyone was back and cooled out, we fed dinner and went to walk the Prelim course... WOW. Millbrook really is a beautiful place... the jumps are spectacular, the scenery is gorgeous and the courses are TOUGH. Walking the prelim course, I saw a lot of the Intermediate and Advanced questions, which were enormous and technical... there would be some GOOD riding happening on Saturday! Jen and Beth - the two Prelim riders - seemed a little nervous, but also excited about the course, so things were looking good. I saw some of the lower level fences, too, and the course has definately changed a bit since I last competed there! I can't wait until I can actually have a horse competing there.
Once the course was walked, everything was done and I headed back home for a nice night in my own bed.
Once again on Saturday I was up at 5 to be up to the stables by 7 (I actually got there at 6:30, because I'm obsessive about being early). Luna and Bunny were going bright and early, with only about 45 minutes between them, so the morning was going to be a little crazy. Luna went off as the first XC ride of the day at 8 AM, and as I walked Bunny around and got her clean, I listened intently to the announcer to hear how Luna was going... all sounded good. Unfortunately, all was NOT good. Luna ended up with four stops (and, consequently, an elimination). So with her back and in trouble, I tacked up Bunny and sent Nancy off for her second ride. While Bunny went out, I cooled Luna down and took Miles for a walk, since he was headed to XC next. Bunny was a very good girl and got around with NO jump faults (she DID have speeding tickets, though!), so that got the morning going a bit better.
As the last horse of Nancy's to go, I got her off to the warm-up and then ran up to watch Miles go. It was his first training, and I guess he's not always a very good boy. The fourth fence on course was a two stride (I think?) that you came down to from a long stretch that ran parallel to the stabling... so a lot of horses were getting nappy and running left - towards stabling - at it. Miles proved no exception... even with a bit bur, a thin twist snaffle and Nancy clearly putting ALL her energy into keeping him on track. The rest of the course just got worse, and they ended up eliminated. When nancy came off course, she was not pleased (go figure) and told Miles' owner that he needed a new career. She's been working with him for a year and a half, and he isn't getting better... he clearly doesn't want to be an event horse. She felt he would be better suited for someone as a hunt horse, since he's good out in a group.
With Nancy's three done, I got to go watch some of the Intermediate and Advanced XC, which was FUN FUN FUN. I unfortunately had to leave a little early for a wedding, so I pulled out around 3. It wasn't a great day, but at least Bunny was good!!
I rolled up for one last day at 6:30 on Sunday. Nancy only had Bunny running Stadium, so it was a very easy day. Bunny was, once again, BRILLIANT, and jumped around clean. Miles went off on trial to a Hunt home. I stripped Miles' stall once he left and then went up to catch Beth and Jen's stadium rounds. Jen had a couple rails and was disappointed even though she rode well, but still ended up with a ribbon. Beth also rode well and jumped around clear, moving up to 2nd place!
Once they were done, me and one of the other ladies took about a wheelbarrow out of everyone's stalls so that it would be easy to just roll out later, and then we all trekked back up to stadium to watch the upper levels go.
All in all, it was a great weekend, and I even got a call on Friday from a retired Roper looking to try Tango! He's coming to see him on Saturday and I've got my fingers crossed that he'll love him!