NY State Fair - a fun post! (with lots of pictures!)

Richard and I had a really fun time last weekend - we went to see two concerts (5 artists!) at the New York State Fair.  The fairgrounds happen to be about a 3hr drive from our place, so it is easy to get to.  We spent three days in NY state and managed to get in a bit of shopping as well!

Not long after crossing the border, we stopped for a snack and some gas.  I was surprised by the number of Amish people in this area! I just can't imagine living like they do in the midst of modern society...interesting stuff.  The guy that owned this horse and buggy was getting some supplies at the dollar store and the grocery store.

We swung into downtown Syracuse to go to Richard's favourite restaurant - Chipotle.  They make a delicious fast food burrito - kind of like Subway, but with burritos! We have a similar burrito place here, but it just doesn't taste as good as Chipotle.  Whenever we go to the US, we search out this restaurant and drive all over just to have a burrito!  We were in the midst of Syracuse University campus and we were surrounded by students and their families - it was fun to see all of the young faces getting ready to start school!   Go Orange!!

We then found our hotel, dumped our stuff off and made our way over to the fairgrounds.  I was pleasantly surprised about how big the fairgrounds were.  Of course, at any fair, there was booth after booth of fried food and all kinds of treats.  I have a bit of a sensitive stomach, so I was very cautious about what I ate.

It was fun to wander the grounds and see all of the wacky things that were for sale and do some people watching.  Here is a photo of one of my favourite booths from a local radio station...One of the staff posed for a photo. He was pleased with the count of 21 mullets on the first day of the fair! I'm sure by the end of the two weeks of the fair, the count would go up dramatically!

We did get some cotton candy - it's just one of those things at a fair that I need to try.  We didn't eat much, but we did take time to make cotton candy mustaches... What? You don't do that?  Come on! :-D

We fought through the crowds to get over to the track to get into the concert. I was very, very excited about this concert - we were seeing Gavin DeGraw, Train annnnd Maroon 5!  I'm a huge Maroon 5 fan and when I saw that the tour was coming fairly close to us, I knew I had to go.

Gavin DeGraw opened the show - I'm not as familiar with his music, but he was really good.  A few weeks ago, he was mugged in NYC and just recently got out of the hospital!

Next up was Train. I love these guys - the lead singer is unique and their music is fun.  I've wanted to see them for years, but never really got around to doing anything about it.  We were in the 11th row from the stage, so our view was pretty good.  Unfortunately I just had my small camera (we weren't allowed to bring in big cameras with long lenses, boooo!) so my shots aren't the greatest.  These performers also don't stand still for long, so catching them is tricky!

Patrick Monahan - the lead singer

And by about 10pm, the big act was ready to get started...I really like Maroon 5 and their music and was even more convinced I needed to see the band live after watching the Voice this winter, where the lead singer Adam Levine was one of the celebrity coaches.

Their music was excellent and the lighting and other effects were great too. It was a really good show and the best part? They sounded just as good or better live! Some bands just aren't great live, but these guys really know what they are doing.

Adam Levine

We went to another concert the next night, but it wasn't as good, so I won't bother posting about it.  Needless to say, we had a really fun long weekend and I would definitely recommend you go see these bands if you are a fan and get the chance!

I'm going away again this weekend (no concerts sadly) but I hope to have some horse posts coming up in the next few days!

A sad time

I'm back from my week's vacation with my family. I have been delaying writing a post because I just wasn't ready...   Now that a week has gone by, I feel a bit better about the whole situation...

While I was gone, our dog Max died.  It was hard to be away while everything was happening, but I couldn't have changed the outcome if I had been here.

Richard had to take care of all of the vet appointments and arrangements alone, which was hard for him.  It turns out that Max died from liver failure due to ingesting some sort of toxin.  What a bummer.  He was 11.5 years old.  Richard was up at his parent's place and they think now that he ate some moldy corn cobs. It wasn't unusual for Max to eat something weird and then vomit, so Richard wasn't worried at first.  The situation then got worse and Max was taken to the vet. The vets tried everything they could and it just didn't work out.

We are sad, but doing better every day. We were lucky to have 11 (and a half!) good years with a great dog.  I'm sure we'll have another dog some day, but we aren't in any rush.  I was joking with Richard that maybe we should get 10 dogs and 10 cats and then maybe losing one wouldn't be so bad.  We still have the 3 crazy cats to keep us company, so that helps.

Here are two of my favourite pictures of Max - the first one is just him jumping a fence and the second is of Max and his two best dog friends...all three of them are now gone...  Some days it just doesn't seem fair that pets aren't with us all that long.

I'm off to the barn this afternoon to see Dolly - I haven't been out in almost 2 weeks!  I'm looking forward to getting out to the barn regularly again and getting that little mare working!

Odds n Ends

I'm sort of feeling at odds n ends this past week or so.   This post might be a little disjointed, as I have a bunch of stuff in my head, but not enough on any one subject to write a big post - so consider yourselves warned!  :-)

In July, I leased a horse for a month, bought a new horse and sold my old horse. I was talking with horse people and emailing people about horses non-stop.  Now that everything "horse" is settled, I find myself kind of mentally tired.  I also started a new job in late June and I'm just starting to feel settled in that area as well.

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I wanted to thank SquirrelGurl for the awesome blog giveaway that she sent me!  She sent me a package of SoftPaws nail caps to try on my two wild little cats!  I was very excited when the package arrived and got to work trimming the cat's nails (I had been doing this part already) and then applied the little gel nails to their paws.  I only stuck my fingers together twice with the superglue included, so I figured that wasn't too bad!  Both cats kept the nail caps on for a few days and then I started noticing the odd one coming off. I have just been re-applying new ones as that happens and it seems to be going well.  Hopefully these nail caps will stop the reign of terror on my furniture and curtains!

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I'm spending the next week out of town visiting family (we are slipping in a little side trip to Erie, PA for some shopping...woo!)  I'm taking this week as a time to reflect on my goals and plans for the next few months.

I have a bunch of stuff going on in August as well, but it is more fun stuff than stressful stuff (I hope!) I'm going to give you a bulleted list, since I don't really seem to have the brainpower to write coherent sentences...  

• We are going to see 2 concerts at the New York State fair at the end of the month - it should be really fun.  (Maroon 5/Train and Cee-lo Green/Ne-Yo for anyone that reads down this far!)

•  I need to get riding my little mare regularly and get both of us in some sort of shape. 

• We are doing an intro to endurance clinic next weekend that will teach us about vetting and all of the medical/recovery type stuff that goes on in endurance riding. I'm expecting to learn a few things there...

• I need to buy paint and light fixtures for the house - we have a guy coming in early October to do some much needed repairs to the drywall and change out some light fixtures. Then I will be painting 2/3 of the house! Fun! (seriously, I like painting!)

•  My new Specialized saddle should be here by the 20th of August! It is ready and waiting in Texas to be shipped north. I am having it shipped to NY state and then I'm going to pick it up - it will save me almost $200 in shipping... (prices to ship to Canada are ridiculous!)

• My backyard is going to get a major overhaul. I've just kind of let things grow (or not!) and it is a huge mess.  I might do a post on that later this summer if I have some success...

 Well, that about covers all of the little bits and pieces that are floating around in my cluttered brain. I probably won't be online much in the next few days, but I hope that everyone gets in some riding and some summer fun!

Wow...that happened fast...

After my last post, Richard and I sat down and had a look at our household budget.  I needed to take a close look at our expenses and see if I could swing board on two horses - Rusty and Dolly.  I haven't actually purchased Dolly yet, but I expect she will be mine by the end of week.  We decided that we could do it on paper, but it didn't leave alot of extra disposable income for trips or house repairs, both of which are things we like/need.

That left me in a bit of a situation. I didn't really want to sell Rusty, but he just wasn't working for my riding needs anymore. That sounds kind of selfish, but as a boarder with a somewhat limited budget, I have to be realistic about what I spend my money on.   I would love to have my own little farm where I could keep Rusty as a cute pasture ornament, but that just isn't in the cards right now.

(Side note: I just wanted to give RuckusButt a HUGE thank you for letting me talk all of this horse stuff out over the past week.  RB met me twice at work last week and we talked about all of my options.  It is so nice to have a horse person around in real life (as well as all of the great support and advice from everyone online!)

Rusty is still healthy and sound at 19, so I felt he still had a few more years of riding left. I decided to put an ad on our local message boards and see what happened.  I posted the ad Thursday morning and 24 hours later, I had a lady book an appointment to come out and see him.

She wanted to come out with her truck and trailer Friday night and take him on the spot. I told her I needed a couple of days and that Sunday would work better for me.  She is a certified coach and runs the barn/riding program at a barn in the east end of our city.    Her web site and the barn's web site looked really legit.  Selling an older horse to a riding school wouldn't be my first choice, but the more I talked to her, the more I knew it would be a good fit.

This barn:

• has a couple of horses over 20 that they still use for walk/trot classes
• she told me Rusty would be used for beginners only
• they are willing to call me if and when he is ready to retire
  
  and the best part...??
  
• the lady coaches one of Rusty's old owners!  

The former owner (not the girl I bought him from, but one even further back!) saw his ad online and told the riding school about him and how he would be a perfect fit.  Hearing that made me feel better - they were so excited about getting to take care of him again, that I figured he would end up ok.

I am  feeling ok with my decision - on paper, it seems to work well for everyone.    I expected to feel really sad about letting him go, but I'm ok. I think both of us need to move on.   It was a bit hard to see his little spotted face looking out through the bars of the trailer window this afternoon, but I have an open invitation to come out and visit him and even ride if I want to.

We went out for a last short hack this morning when it was nice and cool - it will be a bit strange seeing the world through little bay ears, instead of the white/brown speckled ones I know so well...

So, here I go on to the next chapter in horse ownership...

An update on the trial

I’ve had Dolly at my barn for two weeks now - I really like this little mare and can see her being a great fit for what I am hoping to achieve in my riding. I have one more week to decide what I want to do – I’m leaning heavily towards buying her at this point – she is everything the owner said she was (which is quite surprising) and I can already see her start to improve on that great foundation by being handled and worked on a more regular basis.

Her temperament seems to be great – she is friendly and easy to catch. She seems to like attention and is fine to handle on the ground. She was very nervous the first few days – but most horses are when they are faced with a new barn, new herd and a new human handler. I’m guessing that her current owner is the only handler she has had for quite some time. A boarding environment is probably good for her, as there are a lot of horses and several different people working with her/feeding her every day.

The only negative about her is that she seems to get attached to other horses fairly easily. I haven’t seen any really bad behaviour yet, just some calling to the other mare in the paddock. I’m hoping that will improve when she is out in a bigger herd. I would also do some work with other riders at the barn to get her used to leaving other horses or having horses go past her at a different speed, etc.

I have taken her out on a few hacks, but haven’t really pushed her too much, due to the hoof issue. It has also been killer hot here and it doesn’t seem fair to push an out of shape new horse too much – it wouldn’t really achieve anything. I have had two other ladies at the barn ride her as well and both of them loved her. She was very good on the trails – she walks out nicely and doesn’t seem spooky at all. We even walked her around all the jumps on the front lawn, as well as visiting the track across the road and she just took everything in with her ears forward.

She meets a lot of my needs – good age (9), good size (14.1hh!), good temperament, good to handle on the ground, well-broke and capable of doing 12-25 mile rides. All she really needs is some consistent work to get her back in shape.

My farrier is looking at her on Saturday and if that all goes well, I will probably bite the bullet and buy her! Rusty is still at my barn – the barn owner and I have negotiated a decent deal for now. I have also listed him for sale to see if I can get any hits – if I can’t find a suitable home, he will stay with me at my current barn. I may also try leasing him, if a sale doesn’t work out.

Finally! Some pictures!

Some blogger I am!  LOL  I announce that I have a horse on trial and then I don't post any pictures.  :-)  It was a nice evening tonight so I actually managed to get a few decent ones.

It is hard to get pictures of horses sometimes, especially when they find it fun to follow you around... Every time I got a shot lined up, there was this cute nose in the way...

At least this one is in focus! She has a cute little face...

I had to walk way out in the paddock for the horses to lose interest in what I was doing. I was finally able to get a shot without them getting too close.  She is a bit chubby right now - she hasn't done any real work in a year or more...

And one last one - she was watching two riders come up the laneway - a perfect opportunity to get one last picture with her ears forward.

Another horse on trial

So, I have the bay mare here on a trial. Her name is Dolly and she is very cute.  I’m hesitant to write too much at this point, but I’m guardedly optimistic that she might work out.  (Note - I will add a picture later this afternoon - I don't have many at this point.)  On a side note - I think trials are the best thing ever - it really gives you a chance to get to know the horse before you have to commit - I've been lucky with Hank and now with this mare to have a chance to think about things before I end up with the wrong horse.

I took into consideration the advice left in the comments of my last post – and have been approaching this horse with as much objectivity as I can.  No horse is perfect and there is bound to be something that may or may not be a problem long-term.

She is a 9yr old registered half-arab (other half is QH).  She arrived last Wednesday night and I’ve been waiting to do a post about her, since the first 48 hours didn’t go so well. She was very nervous and unsettled when she arrived – which isn’t a huge surprise really…  My friend and the barn owner have been great about helping me with her.  By Friday night/ Saturday morning, she was much more relaxed and we were able to see more of her true temperament - which is quite nice - she is very willing to work.

We are able to confirm that she is very well broke, but we believe that she hasn’t been worked regularly for well over a year.   Dolly showed up pretty out of shape – she is on the chubby side and her hooves aren’t the greatest at the moment. I don’t see anything wrong with them, but they have the look of not having been trimmed regularly, which is totally easy to fix with regular farrier work.  She was trimmed for the first time in a while (12 weeks or so, by my guess) just before arriving at my barn. 

So far, the only minor problem that we have found is the fact that the horse hadn’t been ridden regularly in a long time. The owner was a bit vague about the last time she was worked regularly – which is ok – riding a horse regularly is an easy fix. She is solid w/tc/ and I think she will be capable of a decent western jog when she is in shape.  She has the basics of lateral work and will sidepass and turn on the fore/haunches.  She is responsive, without being hyper-sensitive or totally dull, which is just what I am looking for.

We haven’t tried her out on a hack yet, I’m hoping to get to that this week. That will be the big test for this mare – I need a horse that will walk out well and not spook at every little sound. 

Horse Shopping and Unplanned Dismounts

I have had a couple of nice rides on Rusty this past week and I had my first unplanned dismount yesterday!  We are both fine – so that is the good part. I was riding on a part of a trail with lots of mud and cedar trees. Rusty got stuck in the mud and when he pulled his foot out, he then got caught in a cedar branch. He calmly tried to get out, but did a little rear in the process.  I slipped back behind my saddle and found myself sitting on his rump and still holding the reins.  He turned to the side and sort of backed up into the trees. I couldn’t haul myself back into the saddle, so I just slipped off over his bum and landed on the ground. He just stood there calmly waiting for me to get myself sorted out.  All in all, it took about 5 seconds to happen…kinda funny really.  We walked a few feet down the trail and I found a tree stump to help me get back on.  We then trotted off and enjoyed the rest of the ride!

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Thanks so much to everyone for their words of wisdom on my last post. I agree that Hank isn’t the best choice for me right now but I think I just needed to talk it out.  It’s too bad, because he is such a neat horse.  I also love the idea of owning a retired racehorse, but I think that will have to go back on my horse bucket list for now.

That realization puts me back to square one in the horse department. I can still ride Rusty, of course, but I really think I’m ready for something with a bit more “get up and go”.  I’m going to make an appointment to visit the retirement farm that I found in the next week or two and I’m going to post poor Rusty on our local message boards and see if I can get any hits on a really good home for him.  I’m going to be super picky about where he goes, if he goes anywhere. Who knows, I might keep him around for another year, if I can’t find the right home.

So, horse shopping... I have to admit that I don’t like “real” horse shopping.  Window shopping for horses is great – you can look at all of the nice pictures, dream about breeds that you would like to own, not worry about budgets, etc.…  Real horse shopping is kind of stressful for me – probably because I worry about how to spend the little extra money I have saved up! 

I did a quick scan of our local horse for sale ads and didn’t find much that interested me. I’m actually looking for arabs, or arab crosses this time around.  My friend suggested that I email a well-known local endurance lady to see if she had any horses for sale or knew of any.  So, I sent her a facebook message last week with a long list of requirements, half expecting to not hear anything back.  She messaged me back within a few hours and said that she knew of the perfect horse - one that met all of my requirements!

Uh-oh!!!  Now I’m in trouble. My list of requirements was so long and picky that I didn’t think I would even get a response, let alone such a positive one.   It took a few days to get in touch with the owner but we finally connected and she confirmed all of the information that the other person had told me.

Here is what I know so far:

·        Mare

·        Registered half-arab (Quarab)

·        Bay

·        10 yrs old

·        has been to shows and has done endurance rides (25 miles)

·        14.1hh  (a pony, yeah!)

·        sound

·        safe on trails and roads

·        good to handle and very sweet…   

To be continued…

Why is this so darn hard????

I just realized that I haven’t posted in 3 weeks! Where did the month of June go?  I have a bit of an update on the Hank situation, but it is kind of whiny and long, so sorry in advance! lol

I have been working with Hank a bit over the course of the month.  He is great to handle on the ground and we have no problems there.  It’s the under saddle stuff that is hard for me. First of all, my saddle doesn’t fit him at all. We are ok walking, but the minute I ask him to trot, he pins his ears and tosses his head.  I tried a couple of times to push through it, just in case it was attitude, but he wouldn’t trot out.   I am talkng that as a strong hint that he isn’t comfortable….  A friend has said that I can borrow her dressage saddle to work him for the next few weeks, so I might try that, although I have a heck of a time riding in an English saddle. There is just something about the way they are cut or something that I have a hard time with.

I’m having some serious doubts about whether or not I am ready for a green horse.  Even a green horse with a good temperament seems to be a lot to worry about.  I’m very torn about what to do.  The barn owner was encouraging me to push myself out of my comfort zone and to work at it, because he is a good horse. I value her advice, but at the same time, I am wary, since she is motivated by money to a certain point. I am paying her to half-lease this horse, so it is good for her on two sides – one for the money and two because her horse is being worked regularly.

I am also not so great at ring work.   Hank needs lots of sessions in the riding ring, to work on his steering, brakes and body control.  He is out of shape, but that will come back quickly, since he spent 2-3 years on the track.  Ideally, I would need some lessons on him, but I can't really afford to board one, lease one AND take lessons on top of all that. 

Another problem with Hank for me is that he is tall. I haven’t sticked him, but he is probably 16hh.  And I’m only 5’0”.  He is very narrow, so I have no problem getting my leg on, but if I plan to do a lot of trail riding and eventually endurance rides with him, I need to be able to get on from the ground.  As is stands now, my stirrup is at chest/shoulder height when I’m on the ground.  There is no way I can get my stubby little leg/foot up to chest height to get on…

The friend that I have been riding with has been great at encouraging me and offering very good advice. She has noticed that I have been nervous a couple of times while riding Hank and noted that it might be hard to push out of my comfort zone if I’m nervous and my confidence is low.  I totally agree with her on that point. I tend to be a bit of a nervous person by nature – it’s something I’m working on and my nerves have decreased and my confidence has increased by leaps and bounds since I started riding Rusty out on the trails.  I know that I can trust him not to do something totally stupid.  Yes, I know horses are only safe up to a point, but I know what Rusty’s limits are and what spooks him. 

That being said, I’m ready for a horse with more “go” than Rusty can give, but not as green and inexperienced as Hank. Rusty is great to hack out and have fun with, but he can’t really keep up at faster paces.  His walk is slow and we’ve got him to step out better, but it still isn’t enough.  I’m also having hoof troubles with him – he needs shoes to walk on gravel, but is really, really bad to put shoes on. I’ve done it twice this year and the hassle isn’t worth it.  It takes the farrier over an hour to put to front shoes on.  Horse, farrier and owner all end up extremely stressed. 

It’s kind of bittersweet for me to know that I’ve outgrown Rusty – he is such a good horse. I really wish I had my own property so I could retire him and take good care of him like he deserves.  As it stands now, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with him. I can’t afford full board on two horses at my current barn. I have found a barn with really reasonable retirement board fees that is about an hour away, so I could still easily go visit and ride him once in a while.  I may also try and re-home him. If I am patient, I may be able to find a really good home for him.  I had no idea that the decision to retire or part with a horse would be so hard.

So, all of the above being considered, I’m kind of in a weird place. My head, heart and gut are all mixed up and confused. My gut is flip-flopping on the Hank issue, my heart likes him, but doesn’t love him and my head is swirling with logic and ideas and budgets.  In the mean time, I can still try and ride Hank and still take Rusty out, but I think I’m going to start horse shopping. My budget is low, but maybe I will find something that just might be what I need.

Anyone have any thoughts or sage words of advice???

Hank - the second ride

Yes, Hank is a handsome guy - and to those who guessed a Standardbred, you are correct!  Part of me wishes he was a Canadian, as those horses often have such great calm temperaments...but this guy will have to do for now.

I've decided that I'm going to do a trial with him for the month of June and not make any decisions until then. I'm on the fence about him - he has a lot of pros and a few cons that I seriously need to take into consideration.  I over-horsed myself a few years ago and it ended in a broken arm and I don't want to do that again.

My skills and confidence have grown a fair bit, but I'm not sure that I can handle a green horse.

Hank was raced as a 2 and 3yr old (he was a pacer). He did ok as he had decent speed, but had no instinct to want to win. His trainer said he had too much of a puppy-dog personality to do well on the track.  He often worked hard to catch the other horses, but then backed off as soon as he caught up. He just wanted to stay with the "herd" and nothing they did could get him past that.

Hank in the round pen on Sunday

My barn owner has broken him to saddle slowly over the past few years - he is now 7 - and has a couple of summers of light hacks under his belt.  His "whoa" is decent and he will walk and trot no problem.  The girl that rode him last summer cantered him a couple of times, but I wouldn't say that he can canter well at this point.

I've handled him on the ground several times and he is fine. He listens well and is quite calm for an ex-racehorse.  He is good for the vet and farrier - since they get handled so much at the track, that stuff is all quite solid.  He doesn't seem to be very spooky so far, which is nice. If he is concerned about something, he will snort and stop. With a bit of encouragement, he will just keep moving.

I rode Hank for the second time last night - it was so-so...I think I was expecting more of a "wow! I love this horse" kinda moment.  He was obedient and did what I asked, but there were four things that sort of made me think more seriously about this situation:

1. He is very green and it shows alot in his steering. Sure, I can get him to go where I want in the round pen, but it doesn't have any finesse. He sometimes moves off your leg, but sometimes also moves into the pressure. I'm not sure if that is something from his driving training - anyone have any thoughts there?
   
   
   
2. He is always looking around while riding and it is hard to keep his attention.  He is obedient, but one ear and one eye are always on the lookout. This could just be because he hasn't had much of a life outside his paddock since last fall...  He is also a horse with a higher head-set than I am used to and I wonder if I can ride him well enough to work on getting him to lower his head and use his back more...
   
   
   
3. He feels "wiggly" when trotting (maybe because his head is high?). It feels as if he has a giant spring in his middle and his back end goes one way and the front goes the other.  This could be because he is green and it could also be that I'm just not used to his big stride... Most of the horses I've ridden in the past couple of years have been western trained quarter horses, so that is what I'm comparing him to at this point.
   
   
   
4. I don't think my western saddle fits him 100%.  That bothers me a bit since my saddle is my "safety net" - I'm very comfortable in it and I'm confident of my seat when I use it.  He was pinning his ears at the trot and after I took the saddle off, it was a bit sweaty just in the shoulder area.  I really don't want to try and find another saddle for a horse that I am just trying out... I'm going to have to try and borrow one or something.

Most of these issues are totally "fix-able" and aren't that big of a deal.  The biggest issue that I didn't list is ME.

I don't think I have the skill to train or work with a green horse under saddle. On the ground - no problem. I was working on his back-up, whoa and turn on the fore from the ground and he was getting the hang of it quite quickly.  

I am a bit worried that I won't be able to make progress in his training so that he is more safe and moving properly under saddle.  Even though he will just be used on the trails (and maybe endurance) I would like a horse that has some training in the bridle - if you know what I mean. I want him to be able to flex and bend and carry himself properly as much as possible.

Anyway - enough about my lack of skills - I'm hoping that I can overcome some of that and make this work.  Only time will tell at this point!

Finally! Something worthy of a blog update..!

So, I thought I would do an update to my update, then share a bit of exciting news...

I'm going to make you read the update first though!  ***cue evil laugh***

The cashel pad was a big FAIL.  It was waaaay too thick. I'm not quite sure what western saddle pad makers are thinking exactly when they make their products.  It is a nice looking pad and seems to be well made, but it just doesn't work. It made my saddle too tight in the shoulders and it screwed up my leg position. And the worst part, is that Rusty was off in the back end while riding in it.  I'm contemplating cutting it apart to get the smaller swayback pad that is apparently inside and try that on its own with a regular western wool pad.

As for the biothane tack colours - I haven't decided yet. Lisa asked me that in the comments on my last post...  I have a few favourite colours, but I'm going to hold out for a bit before I decide and order anything...

And that leads me to my news...

Rusty has been doing ok on long rides, but is having a hard time keeping up once we do rides over 8 miles or so.  His speed is also not the greatest at the trot.  He is totally bombproof out on the road/trails, but I just don't think he has the endurance to do more than 10 miles.  He is approx 18-20 years old, so I don't know how much I want to push him and he doesn't do well when it gets hot.  I am also having saddle fit issues as well, so I don't feel comfortable asking him to do longer distances and risk his back becoming sore...

That put me in a bit of a pickle. I don't really have the money right now to buy another horse.

And I am not ready to sell Rusty.

He has been such a huge boost to my confidence, that I'm not really willing to part with him.  It can be hard to re-home an older horse and I would be worried about where he went.

Hmm...what is a girl to do?

I was lamenting over this problem a couple of weeks ago over wine with the barn owner and Endurance Lady.

The barn owner's eyes suddenly lit up and she said "I have an idea!!! You could try Hank!!!"

Hank, I asked?  Really?

"Sure" she said, "Why not?"

I didn't really have a good answer, besides the fact that I didn't think I could handle paying for board on two horses.  She told me not to worry, if I liked him, we would work something out.

One evening last week I met with her daughter to go out for a hack and to work Hank in the round pen. I liked what I saw, considering it was his second ride of the year.  I'm going to leave you leave you there with a picture - any guesses about what breed he is???

More to follow...  :-D

An update of sorts...

Usually updates imply that the person is sharing some sort of relevant news or information that is of interest...  My update today is just for the sake of updating - and it will probably be in bullets, since I don't really have enough to say on one topic.

Not much is new here - it has been raining and my leg condition has been flaring up a bit. Between those two things, I haven't done a ton of riding. I was hoping to be more consistent, but what can you do? I'm just trying to make the best of the time I do have.

• I have a new saddle pad on order for Rusty - I hope it gets here soon. It is a Cashel swayback pad - I think my saddle is bridging on Rusty and that is what is causing the rubbing on longer rides.  I did some googling and the Cashel pad seemed to be the best solution for a reasonable amount of $$
  
  
• I'm getting close to ordering an endurance saddle - I think I may have lost my mind, but I'm just going with what is fun for me right now...  The endurance saddles look a little weird, but the fun is in all of the wacky colours of saddle pads and biothane tack!  If the swayback pad doesn't help Rusty, I just might have the justification I need to order another saddle! lol
  
  
• I did a big ride last week with Endurance Lady (well, big for me and Rusty, no so much for her) and we covered almost 8 miles (12.8kms) and it was really fun.  I felt great and could have easily gone farther, but Rusty got a bit tired on me towards the end - it was one of our first hot, humid days as well and he doesn't do that great in the heat. I'll have to watch that this summer.
  
  
• We need to get up to 12 miles of riding, at about a 5-6 mph pace to do the bare minimum at a training ride.  Rumour has it that my barn is going to be doing a 6-12 mile fun ride/clinic at the end of June, so I want to be ready for that.
  
  
• Rusty has been coming to me when I call him out in the paddock - this is new - usually he just looks up from his hay, shrugs and goes back to eating, making me go out there and get him.  The past few visits, he has been coming to the gate...  It could just be that I'm there at dinner time or he is enjoying his rides - hard to say with that guy!
  
  
• I am still waiting for my job transfer - paperwork in the government moves like snails in molasses uphill in January... getting this transfer will shorten my commute time and give me more time to ride after work, so I'm really looking forward to that, as well as the change of pace.

And that, folks, is about it.  Pretttty boring around here!  Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post about in the next few weeks.

The best laid plans...

I had hoped to write a post today summarizing Rusty's first week of training...but that kinda went off the rails by Monday.  It has been raining heavily here since Tuesday, so that has put a stop to riding outside and the other, even bigger problem is that Rusty pulled a shoe (luckily I found it in the paddock!) on Monday.

Yep, Rusty has front shoes.  I thought alot about whether to shoe him or not and I decided to give it a try.  I wanted to do some riding on gravel roads and he just can't handle that barefoot.  I know that hoof boots are really popular, but since Rusty doesn't like stuff on/near his feet, I didn't think that was the best option for now.

I've been trying to get in touch with my farrier all week, but I haven't heard back from him yet.  I want this shoe reset to see how things go - if Rusty keeps pulling shoes, then I will have to go back to square one and try and desensitize him enough to try the boots.

I went out for a long ride last Friday with two other people at the barn.  Rusty was really good and we covered about 11kms or about 6.8 miles!  We did a fair bit of trotting, but myself and the other girl were getting tired. Endurance lady literally trotted circles around us with her arab!  :-)  We were happy to let her trot ahead and then come back and meet up with us again.

The good: we did it and Rusty fared quite well. His legs were cool and not stocked up after the ride.

The bad: my right ankle turned to mush about halfway through the ride. I could barely do a posting trot after that point. I ended up putting alot of weight in my left leg instead. This caused a saddle pad rub on Rusty's back - I felt bad about that.

The funny:  Rusty walked right by two little girls squealing and jumping on a large trampoline as we rode by their house (while the other 2 horses panicked) and then proceeded to spook and snort at a regular orange pylon on the road - the kind that you use in riding rings all the time for pattern work!!!  What a goof!

Ahhh!!!! Scary pylons - don't make me circle those things!

Follow up: I need to double check saddle/pad fit and really work on strengthening my ankles.  I did some google searching and there seems to be some decent info out there on how to do that. We'll see if it works!

So, I'm hoping I can get the farrier out this coming week and get ol' Rusty back out on the trails...well, as long as our weather gives us a bit of a break, that is!

On a side note, it seems there are a couple of different meanings to "Competitive trail" out there.  Here, competitive trail is often a 25-40  mile ride and riders are scored at before and after the ride and at each vet check.  There is also a minimum and maximum time and I think points are awarded/taken away for being over or under time.  The winner has the horse in the best condition that is "fit to continue" based on the points that have been scored throughout the ride.

In this province (from what I can tell) we don't have competitive trail rides with obstacles - which is too bad, since that seems really fun.

Intro to Endurance mini-clinic

The last mini-clinic I attended this year was once on endurance riding /CTRs presented by two experienced endurance riders.  One is involved with Endurance Canada and the other is a long-time competitor and Arabian horse breeder/trainer.

I was pretty excited about this clinic, as I've been slowly reading up on endurance/CTR, as I've always thought it was something I could do. At the beginner levels, you don't need a special horse or special tack.   You can work at home building up mileage and conditioning on your horse and then compete or do training rides if you are interested.

The two ladies gave a great presentation with a lot of really useful information.  They gave us an overview on basic conditioning and what to expect during a ride, including vet checks and holds.  I won't go into the details here - it is easy to Google endurance riding and you will find lots to read up on. 

It turns out that they are going to hold a "hands-on" clinic at my barn sometime in June. It would involve trotting the horses out in-hand and learning the procedures of the vet checks and holds, followed by a 6-12 mile ride! I'm really excited about that and hope that it actually happens!

Rusty really isn't the greatest horse for serious endurance riding, as he is older - 18 (give or take a year or two) - and has large muscles in his back end.  Heavy muscling in the back end makes it harder to cool the horse out during holds and vet checks. Not a big deal, but I can't see myself doing more than 25 miles with Rusty. 

There is also one other major problem with being interested in endurance riding:

Horse transportation.  Or lack thereof.

That is my big roadblock.  There are 3 rides throughout the summer within a 2-3 hour drive from my house.   I don't have a trailer and don't really know anyone that could trailer me - that is alot to ask of a friend/acquanitance...  I could hire someone to trailer us, but I just know the costs would be extremely high. For example, it cost me $120 to have my old barn owner trailer Rusty to our current barn and it was only about 40kms (25 miles) round trip.  She didn't charge me a set-up fee either. 

I think my plan for now is to just work on conditioning Rusty and see what kind of distance we can do at home. If I really enjoy the riding and training, I will have to decide what I want to do longer-term.  It may require another horse and purchasing a second hand trailer.  I'm in no rush, but we'll see where this takes me.  I've just been thinking over the winter that trying to learn to show dressage or hunters or something just doesn't interest me anymore (it used to) and showing western pleasure seems a bit boring. (and I don't like how the higher level horses move - yuck!)  So, endurance/CTR fits nicely with where I want to go with my riding (I think, lol!!) - you can compete (or just go out and finish and have fun) but you don't have to be a pro or have a huge budget...

So, we'll see where we end up at the end of summer... I don't suspect Rusty knows what he is in for!  :-D

Western showmanship clinic

While I was on my blog break this winter, I went to a couple of short clinics at my former barn.

It was fun to get out and do something at a place with the nice indoor arena! I do miss having an arena, but I love riding out on the trails/roads much more, so I think I made the right decision to move.  I like that I can still take lessons from my old trainer and get to ride and work with some different horses.

So, when the opportunity came up to try the showmanship clinic, I thought why not?  Showmanship isn't that hard, right?...and I did some showmanship when I was younger.  I went along with those thoughts until the day of the clinic. On the drive over to the barn, I did some shaky math and realized that the last time I did anything even resembling showmanship was when I was 12.  *Gulp*

That was 24 years ago!!!  *double gulp*

I then put my thinking cap on and remembered that we didn't even do showmanship, it was just halter!  So no pivots or patterns.   I was starting to regret getting myself into this situation, but I knew everyone participating would be friendly and patient with me.  I was assigned a show experienced QH mare named Stormy and we were off.  I did better at remembering the patterns than I expected - I sometimes get nervous and forget what to do.

Image from Google images

The lady doing the clinic was a well know local APHA/AQHA breeder and judge. She was funny and was a surprisingly good speaker.  She explained things well and gave everyone lots of tricks and tips on what the judges are looking for.  She even gave us a few pages of handouts afterwards so we would have notes to refer to later.  I was really impressed by my friend's hubby, who did the clinic with their yearling! This yearling was better behaved than some horses that were much older and experienced. My friend and her hubby have been doing alot of ground work with this little guy and he could set up and pivot like an experienced show horse!  (I have some pictures of them from another clinic that I'll post about next week.)

photo credit: Cappy Jackson - from equisearch.com

I had a bit of a tough time - I would be concentrating on setting up the horse or trying to do a pivot and I would forget about my hand/arm position - or vice versa.  There are a surprising number of things to remember about hand/body position as well as trying to remember the patterns!  I had fun though and learned alot.  I could see myself trying some showmanship classes at a fun show some day. I also went through old issues of Horse and Rider magazine and found a ton of great articles on showmanship with things to practice.

I'm going to try and do a bit of showmanship practice with Rusty on days where I don't feel like riding. I think it is good to work on other things once in a while - it keeps the brain sharp!  Although, Rusty has a heck of a time with pivots/turn on the haunches... I'm not sure if he is just stubborn, or if he has a bit of arthritis in his hocks and it makes turning more difficult. We have some difficulty doing a turn on the haunches under saddle as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was the problem as well!  :-)  

My first three rides of spring

So I've officially had three rides (+ one lesson) so far this spring.  Not a huge number by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure feels good to be out riding again.  I have three more rides planned for this week as well. I'm going to aim to bump that up to 4 rides + a lesson a week, as the spring progresses, if all goes well.

I have to admit that Rusty tricked me with a bit of attitude on my first ride.  We went out with a girl at the barn who does endurance and competitive trail. She09- has a cute feisty arab and they do a lot of mileage.  I knew Rusty wasn't in shape to keep up, but she slowed down to accomodate us.    We tried to trot the 1/2 mile or so back up the laneway and Rusty started acting up - going sideways, bucking, etc.  What a goof!

I wasn't 100% sure of things, so I didn't push the issue. I tried trotting a couple more times and got the same result.  Bucking. Not my favourite thing. Rusty's buck is pretty tame by most standards, but still not his best behaviour.  I ended up walking the rest of the ride, vowing to work on his attitude when trotting with another horse beside him.

Fast forward a couple of days and I had realized that I had been tricked by my horse.  He bucks, we walk. Rusty wins.  D'oh!

Once I realized that, I knew I could give him a bit of a smack with the crop next time we trotted and he would be fine.   The endurance girl and I went out again.  This time we had a very successful ride.  We covered about 3 miles at a walk/slow trot, with only one tiny half-hearted buck!  A-ha! I win!  :-D

By coincidence, endurance girl and I met up at the barn on Sunday and went out for an even longer ride. She covered 3-4 miles on her own while I tacked up, we did about 4.5 miles together and she did another 4 on her own when Rusty got tired.  We did lots of trotting and some cantering on the neighbouring farm's track (which is a total blast).  

So, without further ado, here are a few pictures...

Rusty and another mare were snoozing in the sun when I arrived:

I quietly tiptoed out to see if he would let me pet him while sleeping...  This is a bit of a novelty for me - I'm only at the barn for a couple of hours at a time,  so I rarely catch him having a nap...  He sat up and let me take his picture.

I went around beside his head and sat in the hay.  He sighed and flaked out again, but wouldn't let me touch his head.

After 20 minutes or so, I was mean and got him up to head into the barn.  We got all tacked up with his new breastcollar and we were ready to go:

Endurance girl came by on her loop to pick us up.  Rusty is looking at them here.  Not a bad picture from my little iphone...

This is a picture on an old laneway on a farm down the road.  On the right is a cool creepy abandoned house. The horses walked right by with no problem, but the arab mare kept her eye on the place the whole time...

Rusty got pretty tired on me at the 4 mile mark - his head dropped and his pace slowed. I have to be careful to try and condition him better before we attempt more distance, since he had alot of time off this winter.  And he's old.  :-)  It does motivate him to keep up with his little arab friend though - she is a super fast walker, so he has to work hard even at the walk.

I'm really excited about riding - there are a few new people at the barn who are more confident riders, so I expect to be pushing my boundaries alot this year!  

The great bathroom reno of 2011

I'm totally taking the easy route here and posting bathroom reno photos instead of horse stuff. I'll get to the horse stuff later this week.

Our bathroom was in a pretty sad state - we decided this winter that it was finally time to do something about it. We found a great contractor through a co-worker and that sealed the deal.  We probably could have tackled the renovation ourselves, but with both of us working full-time, it probably would have taken way more time than necessary.  As it turned out, the contractor had it done in 5 days!  Not too shabby.

I did a bit of the demo work because it is fun and satisfying to rip out the old stuff.  You also don't need any special skills - just can just wreck stuff!  And wrecking stuff is one of my specialties!  lol

Here is a close-up of the first tile that I removed:

The vanity before.  Notice Richard in the mirror giving the room a "thumbs down"?  Also, all of the light bulbs started burning out the week before we started the demo. I figure it was a sign...  :-)

The very snazzy 1970's shower.  The contractor demo'd the shower and found "1972" written on the wall.  Yikes!  39 years old.  Good riddance old shower! 

Annnnddd - the new vanity!

 Snazzy mosaic tile backsplash (it has a couple of shades of blue and grey in it, but looks dark from this angle) and a modern faucet that actually works!

 A tiled floor and a toilet that doesn't use half of the Earth's water supply in a single flush! 

And the shower - I love the shower.  The same mosaic tile as the backsplash runs in a strip along the wall.  This is a small bathroom - about 12x12 max, so we just fit stuff back in the same dimensions as the original.

And my two little assistants - Charlie on the left and Roxie on the right. They love the bathroom window - it faces east and there is a lot of sun today, so they were watching the birds and basking in the sun.  

I'm baaaacccckkkkk!

I think.

Yeah, I'm back. I'm feeling much better than I was a few weeks ago and I'm all excited about spring, so that alone should give me something to write about.

I took Rusty out on my second ride of the spring last night. It felt good to be out for a ride, even though Rusty was a bit of a pill.  I'll post more about that later.

I've managed to keep fairly busy while I was away from here, so I'll just give you some bullets ( I do love a nice bulleted list!) and I'll work on getting caught up in more detail over the next couple of weeks.

• The wonderful RuckusButt came over a few weeks ago and took Rusty for a short ride. He was not behaving well, so RB didn't get the quiet hack that I promised, but she was a good sport about the whole thing.
  
  
• We had our bathroom renovated - which was great. Our bathroom was last remodeled in 1972, so it was time for an update!
  
  
  
• I attended two short clinics at my old barn - showmanship and in-hand trail - more to come on those...
  
  
  
• I'm working at filling in the gaps in my horse knowledge as best as I can - learning how to bandage and wrap.  I had a cute equine model named Stewart help me out.
  
  
  
• I'm attending an Intro to Endurance clinic (just 3 hours) in a couple of weeks - should be interesting. There are a couple of new people at the barn who do endurance, so I think I'll finally have some people to ride with!
  
  
  
• I'm starting western lessons again on Saturday after not riding much all winter. Looking forward to it, but I hope I haven't lost too much ground from December
  
  
  
• I had the chance to sit in on a photography lesson from our CSI guys (they prefer to be called Ident, not CSI here!) and it was interesting.  Will it help my photography skills?  That remains to be seen. I really need a better camera to get anywhere, I think.
  

I guess that is enough for now - I'll leave you with a bad iphone picture of our ride last night...

Just a quick note...

I'm still on my blogging break, but I just wanted to send you guys over to visit RuckusButt's blog - she has a post about Rusty!

Go check it out!

Later alligators...

Taking a blogging break

I have decided to take a short break from blogging. Most days, I open a browser window, sign in to my blog and stare at a blank page, not knowing what to write.

I haven't been feeling well for the past couple of weeks which is probably the causing me to feel this way about my blog. I'm having a flare-up of an auto-immune disorder and it is very painful.  I'm working with my doctors to treat it, but it is slow going.  I'm fine, the pain is manageable, but it is very tiring. I just find that dealing with this takes all of my extra energy for now.

I'm sure I'll feel better in a few weeks, the snow will melt (a girl can dream!) and I'll be out doing stuff with Rusty.  In the meantime, I will continue to browse everyone's blogs to keep up with all the news.

Just so you know - Rusty is fine and weathering the winter like a champ. He spends his days stuffed into a round bale, with a herd of 4 or 5 old mares.  I'm hoping that by mid-late March we can be out doing some basic work to get both of us ready for spring!