Preparing for Winter



Dolly getting a bit fuzzy



While I don’t like using the “W” word, the harsh reality is that it is fast approaching. We have had a few weeks of unseasonably warm weather (it is 14C/57F today) and it spoiled us all a bit, I think. Thanks to daylight savings, it is now noticeably darker and with the darkness, it just seems colder! The warm refreshing breezes of late summer have changed as well - the wind is now chilly and strips trees bare of their leaves and has people zipping up their jackets as they walk.

The horses are working hard at building up their winter coats and it is time for me to start switching over my gear. I don’t have a ton of room to store stuff at the barn – I’m sure they would give me more room if I asked nicely, but taking stuff home hasn’t really been a problem so far. This week I packed up my extra buckets, shampoo, scrapers, fly spray and fly masks and took it all home. I have to dig out a wool cooler out of my tack trunk for Dolly – she tends to get herself all hot and sweaty sometimes, so now that the temps have dropped, I need to have something to cover her with until she dries off and cools down.

I miss how easy things are in the summer – just hose down the horse, scrape and viola! Not this time of year though. I was thinking of clipping Dolly (I think horses look neat with hunter or trace clips!) but I just can't see myself riding enough to justify the effort. I also have to suck it up and buy her a winter blanket. I would try and get her through the winter without one, but the paddocks at my barn don't have shelters (which I could rant about if I so chose...but I won't), so the horses really need something to break the wind a bit and keep them dry.

I also have to dig out my various winter riding gloves, tights and warmer under layers. I always resist getting out my warmer clothes and jackets, because doing so means that colder weather is really here!

I have some new winter gear to try out this year as well - I bought a pair of Elation soft shell breeches and a pair of Mountain Horse Rimfrost paddock boots. These paddock boots have chunkier soles than my regular riding boots, but it shouldn't be a problem with my western or endurance stirrups...I hope! I'll report in later this winter on how I like this new gear. Cold feet are no fun and last year my Blundstones just weren't warm enough, even with big wool socks and warm insoles.

Annnd, because we all spend so much cash on gear etc. for us and our horses, I thought I would leave you with this most excellent cartoon:

Visiting an old friend

I took the time today to drive out to the other end of the city and visit an old friend...

Rusty!!  I had been delaying going out to see him because I was regretting my decision to sell him just a bit.  (I've been working hard with Dolly, but we still aren't close to being really comfortable out on the trails yet - I'm sure we'll get there eventually...)  I love riding in the fall and Rusty is the most reliable trail horse I've been on - although he is kinda pokey and slow.  :-)  I guess I can't have it all!  

He looked good to me - a bit chubby - I'd rather see that than too thin though.  I gave him a bunch of treats and brushed him, then hand-grazed him for a bit. They offered to let me ride, but I just didn't feel like it. I just enjoyed hanging out with him for an hour or so.  He is fitting in well in the little riding school program that this farm has and they even took him to a few shows this summer!  I guess he did some walk trot classes with their beginner kids that are too tall for ponies. 

One last picture on the way out - he looks kind of cute in his orange rain sheet.    He is in a nice big paddock that opens out on to several acres of grass pasture.  Nice to know that he has lots of room to move around.  It was a beautiful fall day and the area where the barn is located is very nice. Lots of rolling hills, farms, pastures and some forested areas.   

I was drooling over all of the nice hills - it would be so fun to ride these quiet country roads to condition a horse for endurance!

Beyond the cattails are a couple of horses from the farm out wandering their pasture.

A view of another riding school a few minutes away from Rusty's farm - I wanted to take the picture a bit earlier, as I was coming down a big hill on that road, but there was an impatient driver tailgating me, so this was the best I could get.  This place was nice and tidy, although the location beside a busy highway wasn't the greatest.  All of the scenery looked so nice in the bright fall sun - there are even a few leaves left on the trees.   I was also able to make a stop at our biggest tack shop on the way home, which was kind of convenient!  All in all, it was a nice way to spend a sunny Saturday morning!

Stuff I like – Two fun web sites

To keep myself interested in posting stuff to this blog, I decided to start a “Stuff I Like” post every week (or when I feel like posting something! Lol) I’ll try and keep most stuff horse related, to a certain degree.

Since fall is in full swing and the cold dark days of winter are approaching, I thought I would share two of my favourite web sites. I love to read and read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I even like reading magazines, although sometimes they get repetitive if you read too many. I tend to read alot more in the winter, since our crappy, cold, dark winters tend to keep me inside more than normal.

The first site is Goodreads – I have to thank OregonSunshine and Stephanie for telling me about this site. Goodreads.com is a fun site (and they have an iphone/ipad app!) to keep track of all of the books you have read, books you want to read and your progress. I can’t tell you how handy this has been when I am out at book stores – I can never quite remember if I’ve read a certain book (unless it was really,really good) and this site/app makes it easy to keep tabs on what you have read so you don’t buy something you have already read! You can also write and share reviews with friends.

So far in 2011, I have read 32 books, three of which were horse books. It is kind of fun to keep track of the number of books you read – at least I find that fun. I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to stats and such. I have found the site extremely useful in finding new books to read – sometimes I get stuck reading the same type of stuff all the time and that gets a bit boring.

Anyone have any good book recommendations for me? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas.  If you are also using goodreads, let me know in the comments and I'll add you!

The other site (and app!!!) I use alot is zinio.com. This is an online magazine site/app where you can buy subscriptions or single issues of digital magazines. There are several popular horse magazines that are available through this site. I can’t tell you how handy this app was on my ipad while travelling last winter! I had purchased and downloaded a bunch of magazines ahead of time and was set for my whole vacation! You can download magazines on the fly if you have free wi-fi or use of a cell phone network while travelling as well.

I find I like digital magazines a lot – I don’t have that big stack of paper magazines that piles up all over my house. I have spent years reading magazines and then ripping out the articles I wanted to keep. I would then put all of those saved articles into binders. I was always busy “archiving” my magazines and seemed to have papers everywhere. Having all of the past issues accessible online is pretty handy (and it saves me a lot of time!)

The only problem with magazines is that I find (well, besides the ads!) if you subscribe for a long time, you start to see the same things over and over again.  Buying a few issues at a time online makes it a bit easier to avoid that problem...

Do you guys read magazines?  What are your favourites? Do tell...  :-)

New Saddle – heading down the endurance rabbit hole...

I am getting more and more optimistic that I might be able to try some endurance rides next year. When I get into a sport/hobby, I like having the right gear for whatever activity I am participating in (– it’s also a good excuse to buy stuff...lol)

I have actually had this new saddle for a couple of months and I’m just getting around to writing about it now... It is a semi-custom endurance saddle – the Specialized Trailmaster. My friend at the barn has another saddle from this company and loves it, so I decided to order one as well – seeing as how I was having saddle fit issues with Rusty and then Dolly. The Specialized saddles are a very interesting combination of the three traditional saddle styles – English, western and dressage. They end up looking a bit weird, I think, but they suit their purpose very well.

Just minutes after taking it out of the box!

Specialized saddles have three huge selling points for me:

• adjustable fit for the horse
• semi-custom – lots of options when ordering – style, colour, fit, etc.
•  light-weight

The fit of the saddle can be adjusted easily. There are several sizes of shims and wedges that can be velcroed in as needed. These saddles are quite affordable, compared to more expensive brands (Reactor Panel, Schleese, etc.). From what I have heard from my friend and another endurance rider that I know, the saddles are very durable as well. I also like the fact that they are hand-made in the US and not from some factory overseas.  I am quite impressed by the quality of the leather and the way it has been put together.

I only have one little beef with this saddle and it isn’t really the company’s fault. Since I am so short (my inseam is only 28”!!), I have a heck of a time with stirrup length on any saddle that doesn’t have English leathers. My western saddle has youth fenders and it is perfect for me. I was hoping that with some of the customizable options on this saddle, I could deal with the stumpy leg issue without too much trouble.

The fenders are shorter, but once the length is adjusted short enough, the extra material (with all of the holes punched in it...) hangs down near the actual stirrup. Due to the shape/size of the endurance stirrups, this extra leather/biothane acted like a trap for my foot. I was able to bunch up the extra length and use the hobbles to keep everything in place, but it doesn’t work 100%, since the underside is lined with biothane, it doesn’t bend that easily. I’m going to have to take the saddle in to my local saddle guy and have him cut the extra material and re-stitch it.


Dolly modelling the saddle and her hunter green attire

All in all, that is a minor problem and I’m really enjoying the few rides I’ve had in the saddle so far! Hopefully I will be using it as my primarly saddle as the months go on – it does need some breaking in still. And maybe a sheepskin cover for my delicate back side! Lol

(sorry to FB friends that have seen the pics already!)

Lost in Translation

I think I mentioned in my last post that I am working with a new coach/trainer. He lives in Quebec, but is originally from France. He speaks some English, but not a lot. I can speak French to a certain point, but I don’t know a lot of horse terms in French. We were actually able to communicate quite well and both of us learned some new words.

I love languages and studied a few different ones in university (Jack of all trades, master of none? Lol) I find it interesting how people can communicate with just a few words and hand gestures, or if the two people each speak a bit of the other language, everyone learns something.

One of the people at the barn commented after the lesson that she saw us laughing a lot while we were working with Dolly. It was mostly due to language issues – he would laugh at my pronunciation of a word in French and I would teach him a word in English that he couldn’t pronounce well.

The best was one word in English that he didn’t know and that happens to have a very funny meaning in French.

He was explaining that when he leads a horse, he wants the horse to stay behind his shoulder. The horse should stop when he stops (nothing too exciting there...) and then when he stops, he asks the horse to back up a couple of steps. He then sort of paused and looked up as if he was searching for the right English word to explain something.

He said in French “sorry, I don’t know the words in English for this - "je caresse le cheval”. He said, “is the right word in English ‘caress’?” I said, “Well, you could use that but it is a bit more intimate than you might want to use for a horse.” I smiled and he got my meaning.

He asked me “What is the good word, then?” I made a bit of a funny face and hesitated before answering.

“It’s...um... well, the word in English is ‘pet’.” “Pet? Really, Laura?”, he asked.  I nodded my head and the two of us burst out laughing.

The word ‘pet’ in French means ‘fart’. So every time he pet Dolly, he would say “I’m petting this horse” and would laugh like a loon.

I guess I could have used the word "pat" which is also correct, but "pet" and "pat" sound so similar, it probably wouldn't have mattered! 

My next goal is to find some French horse books and see if I can learn some vocabulary before his next visit in a couple of weeks.

Dolly update - cont'd

I guess I’ll keep this blog going for a bit longer yet – mostly because I have a bit of new material to write about!

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I’ve also discovered that while 90% of the time, Dolly is a fun little horse to ride, she has that last 10% that is a spoiled little kid hopped up on sugar that wants more toys and is PISSED OFF when she doesn’t get what she wants. She has had a couple of meltdowns on me – head tossing, little leaps, sidepassing, etc. She starts doing this as we get closer to the barn at the end of a bit longer (than normal) ride. (To this point, all of my rides have just been at the walk with a small bit of trotting.) She will get herself all worked up and sweaty but still walks on without speeding up.

The first two times that it happened, I have just ignored the behaviour and gently pushed her forward. I figure it is harder to act up while moving forward. I have also made sure to stay off her mouth while she is acting up. She hasn’t reared, but her front feet get a little light and I imagine that a sharp pull on the mouth at the wrong time could just aggravate the behaviour.

At first we couldn’t decide if her behaviour was attitude, fatigue, pain, or all three. She was completely out of shape (ie – not ridden regularly for at least 18 months, if not more) when I got her. I have been slowly increasing her work over the past two months. I feel pretty confident that we haven’t pushed too hard to fast. We are leaning towards attitude (with a capital “A”) and a little bit of barn/buddy sourness going on.

I was wondering if Dolly was just too much horse for me. I’ve been missing Rusty’s steadfast behaviour a bit, but I also know that I was a bit bored riding him. I find myself at a bit of a crossroads with my riding/horsemanship and I think Dolly is the horse that could push me forward quite a bit. Part of me is terrified to take that step forward, but the other part of me sure wants to give it a try.

I needed a bit of a strategy to figure out the best way to get through these attitude issues. The one month of riding that the other girl did for me didn’t really accomplish much, except for increasing Dolly’s fitness a bit. She is used to training hunters and Dolly’s quirks and her style of riding didn’t really mesh. Luckily, Endurance Lady offered to help me out when she had time, so knowing that I had that option helped me out a bit.

We have a new trainer/coach coming to our barn - he lives in Quebec and is now coming down once a month to work with a few horses/riders. I watched a couple of sessions he did with other horses over the summer and he seemed to know what he was doing. I thought working with him might help me, but I wasn’t sure. After another one of Dolly’s meltdowns last week, I bit the bullet and decided to try working with him. He does a lot of round pen work to establish respect and trust. I had sort of figured that was what Dolly and I were missing.

Turns out I was right – she isn’t a bossy, dominant or mean mare, but she doesn’t trust easily. We worked on leading for a bit and then moved to the round pen. We worked her (with breaks of course) for about 45 minutes at the walk/trot and she spent most of that time evading the trainer in various ways. Towards the end of the session, she did start to focus and start to get the hang of things. His techniques seem similar to most of the big trainers – lunging for respect, etc. but he has a nice quiet way of working with the horses. I have seen the progress he has made with another gelding at the barn, so I’m hopeful that he can help me get through to Dolly.

I had a good refresher on body language (both human and horse!) and I have a bunch of stuff to work on over the next month. I’ll try and elaborate more after the next lesson, if I can. I’m looking forward to getting out to the barn as much as I can this month and seeing how much progress we can make.

Update on Dolly (long overdue!)

I’ve been meaning to write an update on how Dolly and I have been doing, but I havebeen lacking the motivation to put it all in words that make sense. To be completely honest, I’ve been contemplating shutting down my blog, since I just don’t seem to write much – partly for lack of content, partly for lack of motivation.

It’s kinda one of those situations where it has been awhile since I’ve written anything and I just don’t know where to start So, that being said, I may just give you a list of what I’ve been up to horse-wise over the past two months.

• First of all, I can’t believe August and September blew by so quickly!
  
• Dolly started out being fairly tense all the time (in the cross-ties, on the trail, etc.), but never really did anything “bad”. She was holding her head a bit funny and got really upset when you put any contact on the bit. The solution? She was desperately in need of having her teeth done. She even had a wolf tooth that we had to have pulled! The vet was a little shocked that her previous owners had neglected this simple health care option. A few days after her dental work, her overall tension level dropped dramatically. She can still get a little tense, but I think it is just learned behaviour instead of true pain.
  
• I had a major case of nerves for the first few rides on Dolly – probably due to her tension… Once I realized that she wouldn’t act out even when tense, I quickly relaxed. Both of us have been making good progress in the “nerves” department.
  
• I have had a person at the barn riding Dolly 3x/week for September to help with consistency and get Dolly more regular work. It is going ok, but Dolly seems to take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. She is fairly resistant to bend and flex on the left lead, which leads us to…
  
• Chiro! I decided to call the only horse chiro (that I know of) in our region. I’ve heard good things about her, so I’m hoping she can either help Dolly or rule out any physical reasons for her tension/reluctance to the left. I’m looking forward to that appointment in a couple of weeks. I like to know that I have tried most of the options to rule out medical/pain issues before we up the training aspect, as her reluctance could just be evasion…

I actually have more to say – this writing business isn't so bad once I get started! Lol

I think I will end here and keep going with Dolly’s update later this week...

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!

************

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.