Tack Rooms and Things Learned

Twinville posted a cool entry about her barn/tack room the other day. It is in the same vein as PonyGirl's blogging space entry.

I tried to take a couple of shots of our tack room, but I just couldn't get it all in with my camera.

Here is a picture to give you an idea. The room is about 14x14 - the saddles are along the wall, with hooks in behind for helmets, lead lines etc. The right side of the picture has hangers for the bridles and halters of the barn owner's horses. Directly behind what you see in the picture are more saddle racks for boarders gear. There is also an overflow tack area out in the main aisle of the barn. Shoulda taken a picture of that!
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I finally had the farrier out to look at Rusty`s hooves. His front hooves were cracking and tearing - from the nail holes from the shoes that were removed just before he came to my place. The farrier thinks it will be a couple of months before the hoof grows out enough to be a proper shape. He is sound, so that is good!

The previous owners told us he was very nervous when having shoes put on - we figure that someone put a nail too far up, which hurt him. Then after that, he knew that shoes hurt, so he had to be twitched and tranq`d for the farrier. They were upfront about it, so that was fine. I wasn`t planning on shoeing him much, if at all.

What they didn`t mention is that Rusty is also afraid of the stand the farrier uses to rasp the foot after the trim! I wasn`t there, but the barn owner told me about it. The farrier has seen that alot - he said that it is usually due to somone hitting the horse with the stand. Real nice. I`m sure it wasn`t the previous owners, but someone in his past. He is such a sweet horse - it really makes me angry to think of the things people do to horses. My farrier is very kind and gentle, so they were able to relax him and get the trim all done.

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I went for a ride yesterday and as I was cooling Rusty out on a loose rein, I realized that he neck reins! I didn`t even think about what I was doing, an old instinct kicked in and I started to neck rein to turn him around and he responded really well! I guess he has had some western training back in his past as well. Now if we could only get a western jog going!

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Here are a few pictures from this morning - I took Rusty out for a 30 min walk around the hay fields to let him graze. He was like a big puppy. What a sweet boy - I`m so happy I found him!

Max was with us as well - Rusty doesn`t have a problem with dogs, so he didn`t mind Max running around.

Larger pictures are on Flickr if anyone has a hard time seeing the teeny-weeny ones that blogger lets you add...

Thanks for the Comments

I just wanted to thank everyone for their comments from the last two posts - it is great to connect with other horse people in this way!

I also wanted to update everyone on the herd dynamics situation. Things have been going better the past week - Jackass is still trying to be a pain, but not as bad as before. The barn owner was away last week as well, so she didn't realize how bad things were. She came home on Monday and Jacksass charged her when she was trying to bring Rusty in for his grain. She disciplined him and over 2 days the situation improved even more. She also saw how many cuts Rusty had, so she separated Jackass out for a few days. Jackson is out for a week in a makeshift paddock with a 25 year old pony mare who will keep him in line. I was very relieved to hear that - I knew she would do something to help.

I had no problems bringing Rusty in by all of the other geldings last night - no one did anything inappropriate. I still carried a dressage whip, just in case. Rusty's kicks/bites are healing up and I didn't notice any new ones. Only one of the other horses has a full set of shoes, but he is high up in the hierarchy and could care less about Rusty - come to think of it, that horse has been lame for almost a month, so I doubt he will be kicking anyone.

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I'm still trying to sort out my saddle fit issues. I have a wintec on trial and I changed the gullet to a wider one - sidenote: the gullet is really easy to change - what a cool system... - and it seemed to fit ok in the barn, but I didn't really like it while riding. Although, Rusty is a different shaped horse than my old rotten horse (ha!), so that might take getting a bit used to as well. Rusty has a longer neck, higher withers and a lower natural headset. Jackass had a short muscular neck and had his nose in the clouds half of the time. I feel like the saddle is right on his withers and that I have a lot of horse in front of me. The barn owner and I checked the saddle after I was done riding and the position over the withers looked fine from the ground. He is white, so it was really hard to see any sweat marks.

I've decided to call the local saddle fitter and see if he can come out to help. He brings out about 10-15 saddles, recommends which ones fit the best and then will leave 3 or so with you to try, without charging them to your credit card! He tends to sell more high-end brands, but because of this, he usually has a high number of used high-end saddles as well.

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One last thing is that Rusty's front hooves are a bit of a mess. The previous owners boarded at a barn with a farrier, but you would never know it from the condition of his hooves. The front ones are the worst right now - they are dry and cracked and have chipped. I've tried calling my barn's farrier, but he hasn't phoned back - apparently that is unusual for him, so the barn owner is trying for me. I'm going to start applying hooflex or something similar to give him a bit of moisture at least.

Does anyone know if hoof/joint supplements actually work? I'd be willing to pay for a supplement that would help strengthen his little hooves. I need him sound and happy!

Rainy Monday

It is pouring rain today - can't say that I mind, since I'm stuck indoors at work. It actually suits a Monday...

We had a great weekend - the rain held off for a change, so we did lots of stuff. Saturday morning we went to a local farmers market - we bought local spinach, honey, baked goods, flowers, spices and the best of all - a framed photo (from a local photographer, of course) of a handsome orange tabby cat sitting on an English saddle. It was at a reduced price, so I snapped it up. Luckily Richard humours me with my love of cats and horses and horse related things.

Hopefully Mr. Kitty and his lovely brown tabby coat won't be too put off by the new picture! lol I obviously need to get out more, before I end up a crazy cat lady with an embroidered cat vest and a cat purse or something! ;-)

I coaxed a friend of mine out to the barn Saturday afternoon to help me with saddle fit. Turns out ol' Rusty is quite wide, even with those high withers. I had a beautiful Santa Cruz AP saddle that was too narrow and the new Wintec that I had needs a wider gullet. My friend brought out her wintec with a super-wide gullet and it fit the best, but just a little too wide. I rode for a bit and she gave me a mini-lesson, which helped alot with my position. I learned alot from my friend - tips to work on my riding position AND which gullet I need to purchase. I need to head out to the tack shop after work and then we should be good to go in the saddle department. Now I just might need to go out and buy a new black saddle pad - we need the boy to look all snazzy, don't we?!?

I spent most of the day outdoors yesterday as well - firstly cheering Richard on at a duathlon (he got 11th out of 78 people and 3rd in his age group!) and then having lunch and time on the dock by the river with Richard's cousin, his girlfriend and her teenage son (who looks like Shia LaBeouf!) I even managed to get a bit of sun...which just makes me look all pink.

I'm looking forward to getting in a few good rides this week - Mr. Rusty has had a bito f a break.

What is everyone else up to???

Herd dynamics and nerves

I've learned alot in the past year about herd dynamics - having a horse on the bottom of the hierarchy allows you to witness a bit more of the happenings out in the paddock.

Rusty is now out with a group of six other geldings - well, technically 1 of the boys is a yearling stud colt... He is down at the bottom of the herd with another Appy gelding. My former horse Jackson is out in this small herd as well. Before Rusty, Jackson and the other appy gelding were the two boys at the bottom - they stuck together and tried to avoid the big boys. With Rusty in the mix, Jackson has made a move to gain a precious rung on the herd ladder.

He is chasing Rusty alot - running him off and keeping him separated from the herd. I feel bad for poor Rusty, but I'm sure all of these behaviours will settle down as they all get used to each other. Rusty is covered with kicks and bites - it took me quite a few minutes on Wed. night to check and clean all of his wounds.

This herd dynamic has caused me a major problem when trying to catch Rusty. I've realized that the other horses - especially Jackass - err, I mean Jackson don't really respect me. I tried to catch Rusty the other day and Jackson waited until I had my back turned to charge us - Rusty was scared, so I had to let go of the lead rope. When Jackson swung around, he very nearly hit me. I tend to be a little nerovous in general, so when something like that happens, my nerves just went to hell in a handbasket. I swear that all of the horses could hear my heart pounding.

I need to work on my confidence out in the paddock - I need to be the dominant one when I go out there... I've been back out twice since that happened and things are improving. I go out with a lunge whip and a dressage whip and really get after Jackson to move away whenever I come near him. It's a bit of a struggle for me - because I used to go out and pet him and give him treats - but those days are over. I need to just go out there, bring in my horse and ignore the rest of them. The other horses don't pull any bad stuff when I lead my horse by, so that is good.

I've been debating about even writing about this, as I feel like a total wimp. I'm not a squealy "girly-girl", but I can be a bit jumpy. It really bothers me that I don't always have the confidence to walk out in that group and just get my horse. I'm hoping that I can overcome those feelings soon. Sadly, there isn't enough paddock space to move a couple of the geldings to another field to alleviate the situation, so I'll just have to deal with it.

My Blogging Space

I can't resist a tag, so I'm posting pictures of my blogging space thanks to pony girl's suggestion!

The first picture is of my home work space. We have hijacked our dining room as our office. Richard and I both sit in hard wooden chairs. Even though I have a nice laptop, I can't sit with it on the couch/bed because I get dizzy. Go figure!

On the left, my personal assistant and secretary, Mr. Kitty. He is very helpful - especially with scheduling naps and eating elastics. In the center is my lovely red Dell laptop. To the right is my ever present glass of water and some crackers. In the back is the hubby, Richard. Behind him is a lot of bike stuff. Richard sells/repairs/upgrades road/triathlon bikes in his spare time. Part of my house is like a bike shop. Kinda fun.

I occassionally check blogs at work on my lunch break, so I thought I'd post a picture of that as well. My home picture is fairly tidy - I just cleaned up piles of papers on Sunday. The picture of my desk will give you a good idea of the typical mess...

Edited to add: blogger posted the work picture really small, so it is hard to read the text. I have tonnes of stuff on my desk - papers, notebooks, crazy coloured sticky notes, blank cds/dvds, dvds of photos (I'm a webmaster/photographer/graphic designer/jack of all trades kind of person), memory cards, card readers, etc. etc. Because I am stuck at my desk all day, I have all kinds of pictures posted everywhere - half are horse related, half are family/travel picutres. Those things are the reasons why I work, so I keep them there as reminders to cheer me up. I also have a care bear and a little stuffed RCMP horse hiding out on the top shelf. On the left I also have my APHA calendar, guess I need to buy an Appy one next year!

Fun idea, Pony Girl!!

Riding Goals - S.M.A.R.T. or not?

I've been thinking alot lately about what I want to accomplish with my horse this year... Yes, I just want to have fun and do some trail rides, but the organizer in me sees alot of opportunities to improve my horsemanship skills and teach an old horse some new tricks.

My new horse, Rusty, is a "finished" horse in most respects. He does a nice walk/trot/canter, has done some dressage, western riding and trail riding. He ties and stands to be tacked up no problem. I could easily just get on him, bounce around on his back and put him back out in the field. That would just be too easy for me. I tend to get lazy if I don't have some goals and a bit of a plan. I'm sure the horse would benefit from doing more than just trotting in circles.

Anyone that has worked in a corporate/government environment has probably been faced with writing performance reviews and the like. There is a lot of talk about goals being SMART:

S - specific
M - measurable
A - attainable
R - realistic
T - timely

This approach is extremely specific and while I don't intend to write great volumes of my goals, I do intend to follow this basic principle.

Many goal setting articles also advise people to start with a main goal and break it down into the steps that you will need to accomplish to achieve this goal . John Lyons uses this concept when he talks about training horses. If you want your horse to stand to be mounted (that sounds so dirty!) you need to work backwards from that point and figure out the steps to get there. The thing about working with horses is that it is important to take your time and make sure each step is solid before moving on to the next one. This is where having a bit of a plan comes in handy.

So, what are my goals, after all the big talk, you ask?? Good question. I'm so glad you asked.

My basic goals for this riding season (which is until about November here) are:

• ride/work with Rusty 4-5 times/week (this could include groundwork)
• take lessons to improve my knowledge of aids/cues and work on my balance
• learn some NH stuff and practice with ol'Rusty (Parelli, Lyons, Anderson, et al., clicker training)
• work up the courage to canter out in the hay fields/trails
• Rusty's ground work could use a tune up - flyspray, bathing, clipping, feet, standing still when chubby rider trying to get on ;-)

AANNNNDDD, most importantly:

• have FUN!!!!!

Thanks to anyone that actually read this far! What are your horse goals for this year????

TGIF and saddle fit issues

I'm really enjoying this blog thing - horse people are great bloggers and great commenters!

Thanks to the folks that stop by here and have a look and leave a few words. It is fun for me to connect with other horse people. Aside from a few friends here, no one else in my family/work environment is even the slightest bit interested in horses or hearing me blab about them!

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Well, it's the last few hours of work for this week and as I stare out my window, I watch the skies darken. That in itself is a sure sign that the weekend is coming. I had a fun day planned tomorrow - we were all heading to the barn to paint jumps and have a bbq -- and of course, ride! Thunderstorms and rain are predicted for tomorrow, so that fun stuff will probably be out.

I do hope to get a ride in early in the morning though - if I'm lucky. Ol' Rusty has had 2 whole days off! Lazy bum...oh wait, it is me that is the lazy bum! I had a good excuse last night - we spent the evening with my sister-in-law, neice and 3 nephews.

The 2 older ones had a baseball game, so we went out to cheer them on. I haven't had a good laugh in a while - watching 6 and 7 year olds play sports is a good way to get a few chuckles, let me tell you. They are all over the place, not paying attention, dancing, tripping, etc. It was a nice coincidence that there was a big AQHA show at the same fairgrounds. Everyone was pulling in big rigs and warming up horses. I was easily distracted by all of that!

I really wish that I had a good friend that was doing all of those higher level shows - I would be the best groom ever! Hanging around with all of the horse people, getting the horse and tack ready...lots of fun!

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This post is a little (ha!) disjointed - I'm pretty much just typing all of the random thoughts zipping around in my brain.

I'm having some issues with fitting a saddle on Rusty. My western saddle doesn't really fit - regardless of the type of pad I use, the gullet ends up right on his withers - ouch. I guess my western riding will be on hold for awhile. I went to my local tack shop to have a look around - they didn't have any saddles with semi-QH bars + the right size seat for me + a decent price. I don't really want to shell out $2000 for a Billy Cook or similar saddle right now.

English saddles have so many more options with cut and sizing. I have a beautiful 2nd hand Stubben that I bought last year that fits ok. It doesn't fit me that well - the flaps are really far forward -but it will work for the short term. I have a friend that has done alot of saddle fitting, so hopefully she can help me out next week. I'm going to go trial 3 or 4 saddles from the tack shop and we should find one that works. My poor credit cards will probably go up in a poof of smoke, but what can you do? Luckily all of the money gets refunded when you return the ones you don't want. I can also trade in my western saddle and my Stubben for store credit towards a new saddle, so that will take the sting out a bit!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend - get out and ride those horses! :-)

Mr. Appy's first day at his new home

So, my new horse arrived yesterday morning. I dragged my hubby out with me. We were there at least 45 minutes before the horse was due to arrive - I wouldn't want to miss him!

We helped out around the barn while waiting - cleaning a couple of stalls, etc. I felt like I was 12 again, waiting for my first horse to be delivered!

They finally arrived - he backed out of the trailer like it was no big deal. He checked the place out with calm, experienced eyes. There was no whinnying, no snorting, no prancing. Just a bit of curiosity. He had been bathed that morning and his legs were carefully wrapped with bandages and clean white polos. Apparently he loads in the trailer no problem.

The previous owners went to alot of trouble to send him all nice and tidy. It was great to see. They also gave me a huge bag of stuff - a really nice black dressage bridle, leather halter, 2 sets of polos, 2 winter blankets (!) and his flymask. Buying this horse was very pleasant - the sellers were honest and friendly and the horse was exactly what they said he was.

I rode him last night as well - 20 minutes in the ring and about 20 minutes out in the hayfields. We walked and trotted (it was really hot) and he was perfect. No jigging, bolting, spooking or other silliness - not to say that he might not do some of that in the future, he is an animal after all.

I have to say that I am looking forward to riding alot this year and actually having FUN!

Here are a few pics - sorry to make you read through all of the blabbing first! ;-p

Is it safe to come out???

Oh, you have treats - well, why didn't you say so?!

Who is that guy? Does he have treats?

Warm and sunny day at the barn

Summer seems to be here, finally. It was very hot and humid today, after a nice cool spring.

Jessie doesn't arrive until Monday morning, but I went out to the barn to drop off my saddle and helmet. There is a new foal there that I've been dying to pet, so I figured I could get a few birds with one stone.

I also took my dog Max with me - he loves it out there. Even though we were there at 8am, he got hot pretty fast. His black fur works well in the winter, but cooks him in the summer.
It is very lush where I live this time of year. We seem to have had more rain than usual, but maybe I'm just imagining things. By July, the grass is brown and the plants are in survival mode, but right now it is like living in a rain forest - well, almost anyway.

Here are a few pics of a nice summer morning in my part of the world... Hope everyone has a good weekend! I'm volunteering at a horse show tomorrow, so that should be fun. Note to self: pack sunscreen!

Above: Max jumping!

Max testing the hay...he thinks it is ready to be bailed any day now.

Lush grass...

Mom and baby Suede (both APHA)

Is there anything cuter???

My horse search - part the second

In the past 2 weeks, 4 prospects turned up. (I wasn't being to particular about breed here, any breed that met my criteria would have been considered.)

The first 3 prospects all sounded ok, but had a few teeny red flags, so I didn't go try out the horses. The fourth is a 17yr old Appy gelding - this one sounded promising. He was ridden regularly by children, had been to shows, had been out on trails.

As you know, I went to see this guy and rode him 3x over the past week or so. He has been very consistent each time - w/t/c no problem. He has been in dressage training for the past year, but not super good at it. He could do training level ok, but that would be the extent of it. So his owner bought a fancy young warmblood.

I had this horse vet checked on Wed. and at 17 he was given a clean bill of health. No lameness issues, hooves good, no arthritis visible (yeah!), eyes and teeth good, back good, etc. I was half expecting something minor to show up - some sort of arthritis - but the vet and I were both pleasantly surprised to see nothing at this time.

Soooo, I worked out an agreement with the seller - and I now have a horse again!!! He will hopefully be trucked over to my barn early next week.

I'm really looking forward to getting going with this guy - I will be able to ride 4-5x/week and I'm hoping we can do alot together... Hopefully I've made the right decision this time around. I'm hoping that if a 9 year old girl can handle him, I'll be just fine.

Here are a couple of pictures - please ignore me - I look like a sausage with legs. Hoping to remedy that this year. His name is Jessie - which I don't like at all. I'm trying to find something that sounds similar - so far, I'm thinking of Ollie, Rusty or Eddie - any suggestions?

My horse search - part the first

So, looking for a new horse when you have had a bad experience the last time is quite daunting.

When I bought my horse last year, I was all excited and overconfident in my abilities. I had ridden alot as a teenager and knew nothing of the creature called "fear". I could ride English or Western no problem. Sure, I was now 15 years older and many pounds heavier, but I could do it all. I knew how to work with horses -right? Sure! You bet!

Boy, did I overestimate everything - my confidence, my riding ability, the way I looked in breeches (yikes!)... So, here we are are, 1 yr later - my ego and my confidence cracked and shaken.

My horse search this time around took a very different tone. I had learned alot in the past year, both about my abilities and what I needed to look for in a horse. My barn owner is a total gem and with her guidance, I learned alot of questions to ask and red flags to watch out for.

I started searching the local online horse ads back in March. I was looking for an older horse - over 1o, under 15.2hh (I'm really short), under a certain price range and lots of mileage - both in the ring and on the trails. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find something like that? I would say that over 90% of the horses listed for sale in this region are under 8 years old and green broke or need an experienced rider! The odds weren't looking good.

In the past year, I've met a few local barn owners and trainers. I sent out a few emails asking for horses that met my criteria. The responses were interesting and somewhat discouraging. Most people are working/training/selling youngsters - not what I was looking for. I guess all of the older, sane horses are hidden away somewhere. :-)

To be continued...

Officially horseless

At this point in time, I am officially without a horse. It feels a bit weird, to be honest. I'm sure other horse people understand what I mean.

I'll miss Jackson, he was a decent guy. Too bad it didn't work out for us. I owned him for almost a year - between 2 accidents/injuries - 1 his, 1 mine, my trust and confidence was shot. I tried to ride him again, but I just didn't have the right personality to work with him. His new junior rider is putting him to work - she has him trail riding, galloping all over the place and working over fences. I hope they have fun together. He is staying at my barn, so I'll get to see that he is well-taken care of.