Tentative Steps Outside the Comfort Zone

I'm having a great weekend so far - we are getting stuff done around the house and barn, as well, I've worked with my horse a fair bit.

Last night I took a few minutes to try and get some nice photos of the new guy...  I then dragged out some poles and cones and did about 45 minutes of showmanship type stuff with Spencer.  Most of that was for my benefit - he is apparently a showmanship pro.  I'm ok on the the basics, but need to work on my turns...those are tricky for me for some reason.

This morning, the hubby and I cleaned and organized another section of the barn. He installed some brackets for shelves to store some lumber and my jump poles.  It is nice to have all of the spare lumber and tools organized so that there is more room for our stuff.

After all our work was done, the hubby went into the house for a break.  I decided that I would ride while I was still outside. I had a hunch that if I went inside and sat down, I wouldn't be as motivated to go back out!

I got Spencer ready and tacked up and headed out to the riding ring.  I couldn't find my mounting block anywhere! (I can get on from the ground, but it isn't a pretty sight right now.)  I looked all over the place for something to use to help me get on, but had no luck.

 I decided that the easiest thing would be to just go out and hand walk Spencer around the neigbourhood side streets. I have been meaning to do this for a week, but kept chickening out.

Today was as good of a day as any, I figured.  We headed out on to the road and within minutes, 2 cars passed us. I was nervous, but Spencer didn't care.  Phew! Good to have that over with!  I walked around the more quiet side streets for another 15 minutes or so and waved at some neighbours.  After walking for a while, I started hunting around for a way to get on my horse and ride!

I managed to find a big rock and used that to jump on. I was still a bit nervous, but decided I was close enough to home that I should be fine.  I rode Spencer back home!!!  I was so happy, that we were out there alone and doing ok!  We were even passed by 2 cars on the way back and Spencer didn't seem to care at all.  I was finally starting to relax as I got home. I think in a few more rides, I'll be fine out on the road with him.

He didn't seem to react to my nerves at all, which is what I was hoping for in a horse.  He was looking around a fair bit at the houses and people, but aside from some minor steering issues, he was really, really good.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of our adventure, so that will have to wait until next time.

One week down

So, I’ve had a horse at home for exactly one week...and I’ve been worrying and being my anxious self all week.  Lol 

The first four days he was here, I was out in the pasture every 15 minutes checking on him.  I think after the first few visits, he was getting a little annoyed.  I’ve noticed that he has a “what do you want now?” look that often results in a big sigh when he realizes I just want to pet him or put on more fly spray.

what now?

I’ve also decided that I’m going to give him another barn name.  Spinner just isn’t working out for me – it reminds me of the thing I disliked the most about Dolly – her spinning and balking out on the trail. It would be a great name for a reiner maybe, but I’m just not liking it. The previous owner told me she renamed him Spinner, because his original name is Scooter – which is almost as bad!  I think I’m going to go with Spencer for now, as it sounds similar enough to his other names.  I call him Buddy most of the time when I’m chattering away, so I don’t think it matters too much in the end!

I’ve been out for 4 rides so far and he has been pretty good.  He is a bit looky, but doesn’t put a foot wrong, so I can’t fault that. I’m also having some minor saddle fit issues, since he is a bit high-withered.  I’ll have to post more about that later, as I’m just getting started on searching out my options for something that will work.

I’m also slightly concerned that he will founder on all my nice grass – which is a problem I’m not used to. No boarding stable I have been at in 5 years has had enough grass to be concerned about.  He had been out on pasture for 2 weeks before I bought him, so that helps, but the previous owners felt that my grass was better than theirs.  The first 4 days he was here, I would rotate him between the pasture, his stall and the riding ring every 4 hours or so. The riding ring has grass, but I’ve kept it mowed really short, so there isn’t much there.  Now that I’m at work, he is out in his pasture all day and in the riding ring/stall in the evening and overnight.  That seems to be working out ok. In another few days, I’ll probably leave him out at night, as he prefers to be out. I’m guessing that grass this late in the summer doesn’t have the high sugar content that it does in the spring.

All in all, I think I made a good purchase this time around!  I’m looking forward to riding as much as possible this fall and getting my legs back in riding shape! I’ve been limping around with sore not-used-to-riding-again muscles this week...lol

Finally - the search is over!!! :-D

So, I've kind of been holding out on you guys this past week.  I went to see a horse on Monday and I had a hunch he would be the one, but I decided not to say anything in case it didn't work out...

I found this horse online and emailed the owner within minutes of seeing the ad.  I have a list of standard questions I ask, as well as mentioning that I get a bit nervous in certain situations.  Her responses back were all positive and encouraging.  We exchanged a few emails and once I had enough information, I sent a big email with photos and videos to my two pseudo-coaches/advisors.

They liked him and one coach recognized the horse from some shows this summer. She also knew the owner's trainer very well and told me the lady was very well respected.  My coach called the owner's coach and they had a chat about the situation and I was given the green light to go try the horse.

I think I knew the minute I got on him that he was exactly what I was looking for.  Gelding, reg'd AQHA, 11yrs old, lots of western training, show experience, lots of trail experience, etc. etc. and the list keeps going.  He is just shy of 15.1hh and not a wide build. I was able to put my short legs to good use and we rode for about an hour, with some coaching.

I had a big smile on my face and knew this horse would be a good fit.  He was delivered to my house (yes, my house, not a boarding barn!!!!) this morning and I keep looking out the windows to see if it is real!  :-D

Spinner and his old owner at a show...

And here are a few photos from his first hour here. He is calm and just checking out his paddock. He is calling a bit, but he isn't nervous or panicked at all.  I'm not sure about a companion for him yet, I'm going to give it a couple of months and see how he does.  

not my trailer in the bg, sadly...

More posts to follow, as I get to know this new guy!

2012 goals and plans for the rest of the year

I can’t believe we are well into August already! This year is just flying by...probably thanks to all of the stuff I have been busy with this year.

I had a look at the goals for 2012 that I wrote and posted back in January. At first, I had a flash of disappointment, as I realized that very few of those goals were attainable now. That feeling passed quickly as I realized that maybe those goals weren’t what I wanted after all. Usually goals and talk of goals gets me all anxious – I like checking off boxes and “getting things done”, but that hasn’t really been working for me where horses are concerned. Horses and riding just don’t really do well with tight schedules and expectations, it seems. I think this year has taught me to take a step back and enjoy the process a bit more, instead of just panicking or getting depressed when a goal is unattainable. Does that make any sense?
I had big plans to do some endurance rides and volunteer at others, but that isn’t in the cards at all now – and, funny enough – I’m ok with that. I have taken a step back and have had to sort of start over in my horse plans.

My revised and very simple plan for the rest of 2012 is to find a suitable horse for day-to-day riding.

That in itself is a challenge! I was initially looking for the perfect horse – one that could show local club shows and maybe at the bigger QH shows down the road, as well as be the perfect trail horse. I haven’t had much luck finding something that versatile, so I’ve realized that maybe the show horse will have to wait. I also acknowledged that I don’t have the skills and finances right now to head into the show world. And I’m ok with that too. I seem to get caught up in the excitement of what other people are doing with their horses and want to do the same things without thinking about all of the details.

I have two more decent prospects lined up to visit this weekend. Hopefully one of them works out. I’m finding that I’ve lost some of my leg strength, so getting back in the saddle soon is important! If I can’t find a suitable horse, then I might try and lease one from the people down the road or at least take some lessons. I have lots of options and I’ll just go with whatever seems like the best idea at the time.

Officially horseless...and doing ok

So, Dolly sold this past week.  I'm happy about it overall, as the people seem to really like her.   It does feel really weird to not have a horse to take care of, let me tell you!

At first, I was trying to tell myself that maybe I would give up horses completely.  The past year or so has been tough on the ego and on the wallet, so I thought that I now had the chance to do something different.  The first night Dolly was gone, I cleaned my house top to bottom and still had a couple of hours of the evening to kill.

The second day, I cleaned and oiled all of my tack. The third day, I went down the road to the boarding stable to hang out with everyone and talk horses.  By day 4, I knew I couldn't be without a horse in my life in some way, as I just didn't know how to fill the gap that being horse-less had left in my days.

I've been searching horse ads for a few months now, trying to take my time and find something that is a good fit for my needs. I've been to see a few and rejected many more just by their ads and a few emails or phone calls with the owners.  I was all prepared to be patient and let something come along.

I had told myself I could also find a retired horse and take care of it - to have something to see in the pasture when I look out my windows.  That way there would be no pressure of riding/training and dealing with my confidence issues.  I thought it was a good plan and is still my back up if I can't find a suitable horse.  I have my eye on a few Standardbreds that I would like to give a home...

I've also been to two local horse shows with my new acquaintances from the barn down the road.  I enjoy seeing everyone all dressed up in their nice show tack.  My new coach was judging at one local show, so it was fun to talk to him and see what his thinking was for placing certain horses the way he did.

Coach D watches the halter folks get set up...

 We also took a day to drive to Vermont to have a little break. We went to Burlington, which is on Lake Champlain.  It is about a 5 hr drive from our place.

 The next day, on the way home, I went to see two AQHA horses in Quebec.  The bay is an older mare with lots of western pleasure training.  She was nice, but a bit tough to move off the leg.  She is a good prospect though, so I'm thinking about her...

And the second is a 7yr old mare that is broke, but would need a training refresher for the western pleasure type stuff. I really enjoyed this mare - she was sweet and willing to work.  Not too sensitive, but not too dead either.  I may go back and ride her again, just to see if my first instinct was right or not.  

So, I feel good about finding two decent prospects.  I'm hoping to take Coach D out to see the grey mare, but not sure if that will work out or not.  I find it a bit funny that I found two mares that I actually like, since I was dead-set on buying a gelding this time around!  I haven't found any decent geldings for sale - I guess people hold on to the quiet, well-trained ones???  Who knows, maybe by the end of the month I'll have a horse in my barn...!?!

Drought and little outside tour

I thought I was due for an update here... Dolly is one week into her trial and I haven't had any updates yet, so I'm assuming things are going ok so far. I'm still looking for another horse, but haven't really found anything worth getting really excited over.  I won't be able to do anything until Dolly sells, so I'm mostly just  window shopping at this point.

We are in a bit of a drought here - I don't think my area has had any rain in over a month. Things are very dry and crispy. The local farmers were able to get a decent first cut of hay, but unless it rains soon, that is all they will get. I won't be at all surprised to hear of hay shortages here over the winter months.

dry, hard soil

My lawn is completely dead, except for a few hardy weeds.  My riding ring has dead grass, which is actually ok. lol  I mowed it really short a few weeks ago, hoping it would die.  I don't want to spray weed/grass killer on it, since my cats are outside now.  I'm hoping to have the ring disced sometime in the coming weeks, or just start riding on the dead grass and hope that the sand starts to come back (assuming I get a horse sometime this summer!)

riding ring - will it get used this year????

 This is a shot of my front pasture - I had it bushogged in early June and the grass hasn't grown one bit. Which is ok, really, since there are no horses to eat it! I also need to do more major fence repairs here, but that will probably wait until the spring.

I took a short walk around the outside of the pastures - there is a bit of open space where I would like to make some trails over the coming months.  I think I can do a fair bit with the whipper snipper to get the really long grass down and then probably drive the lawn tractor through on a high setting.  There is some exposed rock back there though, so I'll have to be careful.  I was also thinking a scythe (who knew that there are several sites to buy scythes!) would come in handy! lol

wondering if I can hack out some trails...

 I have a few minor repairs to make to the electric fence in my main paddock. The braid is a bit loose in the picture below, but it won't be a big problem to sort that out. I also have to get rid of the pallets in there - that is just an accident waiting to happen! It has been so hot here that I haven't done much around the barn.

The previous owners also left me a large manure pile that they also started filling with branches and yard waste.  It is totally overgrown now and will be a bit of work to get it all sorted out.  I'm thinking it sounds like a good project for the fall and cooler temps.   If a horse comes home in the near future, I will probably just put up a bit of temporary electric fence to keep it away from that mess. Some of the grass in that area is over 5ft tall!

 That's about it for the outside at my place right now. When I finish cleaning and organizing the barn, I'll get some pics there.  Keep your fingers crossed that we get some rain soon!

My decision

See the brown bum on the right side?

I decided to let Dolly go - she is on a two week trial with the potential new owners. I talked to a bunch of people about trials and got lots of good advice.  I had the new people sign a contract, I checked a reference and received part of the payment in cash.  I get the feeling that they are good people, so hopefully I'm not wrong there!

It feels a bit strange to have her gone - even if only temporarily.  She may come back to me, but I also got the hunch that the husband realllly liked her already.

Last night I wandered around the house, at a loss for something to do... (There is lots to do, just would've preferred being at the barn!)  My new coach told me he found a horse for me to look at, so I'll be trying to arrange that sometime in the next few days.  I don't like being horse-less, it just doesn't feel right!

In which I find myself in a bit of a pickle...

*warning - long post - skip down to the end for the important stuff! *

You guys are all to familiar with my dilemma with Dolly. She is a nice little mare - pretty, mostly easy to deal with on the ground, good size for me, good age, etc. etc., but I have been having confidence issues with her on the trail. That is pretty much the status quo for her and I. 

2 weeks ago I went on trail ride with some other people from the barn. There were 9 horse/rider combos in total. I rode a pretty buckskin paint mare and a teenage girl rode Dolly.  Dolly was wound up and acting a bit loony for the first 30 minutes of the ride and then slowly started to settle down. She had worked herself into a lather, doing all kinds of fancy dressage moves back and forth down the trail. Her rider just sat it out and didn't mind her antics at all. I was nervous just watching! lol  After that ride, I was determined to sell her, as I knew I didn't have the seat or the nerves to sit out 30 minutes of antics when riding in a group.

Last week I finally had one response to her sale ad and the people found her on a recommendation from a local endurance rider.  The guy came out to have a look at Dolly, who would maybe be his wife's horse to ride in local rides.  I was very up front about why I was selling the horse and he wasn't concerned. 

In the mean time, the barn owners had set me up with a trainer/coach that they thought could help Dolly and I, or at the least, tell me straight up whether he thought Dolly and I were a good match or not.  I had him out on Saturday and we had a great chat about goals and my issues (nerves!!!!!!).  He is also a sports coach, so he had lots of thoughts on mental training for the rider as well, which is more my issue than an actual problem with the horse.

He rode Dolly for about 45 minutes and he actually really liked her.  She is super senstive in the bridle, which is a good thing, he thought. He started working on flexing and bending as he felt that she was very stiff and unbalanced (which RuckusButt thought as well when she visited).  I got on for a few minutes after he rode and could feel a bit of a difference in her mental state - if that makes any sense.

Coach Dan come out again on Sunday and we worked with Dolly for almost two hours (not all in the saddle). In that time, he had her doing a quiet western jog with her head all down and relaxed!  I couldn't quite believe it, since she normally gets all excited at the trot - even in the ring - and has her head up in the air...

I got on for 15-20 minutes and we worked on some exercises at the walk so I could get a feel for how he was doing things. It felt like I was riding a totally different horse! I didn't try the trot or jog yet, since that will probably take some time for me to get...but I felt that maybe with some coaching we had a good chance to get over our issues.

And then, Sunday night, I got a call from the potential buyer and he wanted to come back with his wife this time!  (Kudos to any readers that made it down this far to discover the actual "pickle" from the title! lol)  I actually wavered a bit on whether or not to tell them that she is no longer for sale.  I think we made some good progress in two sessions and could do a lot more over the summer, with regular coaching.  On the other hand, I could still sell her and start fresh with another horse (which I have yet to find...).

Now, there is no guarantee that these people will buy her, but they are interested.  I slept on the problem and when I woke up this morning, I still didn't have a clear idea of what to do.  So, I called the potential buyer and told him that my price was firm and I wasn't negotiating and if he was still interested, he could come out and try her again.  If they love her and are willing to pay my asking price, I'll probably let her go and chalk it up to experience and learning...maybe she will be "the one that got away" or something...

I never thought I would be in a spot with Dolly where I wouldn't want to sell her if the opportunity came up...  Up until yesterday, I was ready to trade her or sell her to the first interested party! So, we'll see how things go tonight and maybe I'll have to make a tough decision...

Time flies...

I can’t believe that we are officially half-way through 2012! This year is just flying by for me – probably because of all of the stress and excitement I have had this year!

I don’t know that I have enough brain power to do a proper post, so I think I’ll just do a bulleted list for now.

• I have paid for board for the month of July for Dolly at the place down the road – they are ok with me trying Dolly at home for a day or two and then brining her back if she can’t handle being alone...
• ...and if she can’t handle being alone, my new barn owners have offered me a loaner horse to keep Dolly company. All I would have to do is feed the mare and maybe pay for her farrier work – not a bad deal.
• I have been given the name of someone who might be able to help coach me and put a few rides on Dolly. I’ve given him a call and have my first lesson tomorrow morning
• I bought and stored 95 bales of hay yesterday! Woo-hoo! I know 95 isn’t much, but I can’t store more than 120-150 anyway and this will get me started. It only cost me $3.00/bale as well!
• We have my father-in-law’s truck this week, so I’m going to be getting the last few supplies I need to get my barn set up – I’m very excited about this! I need a couple small water troughs and a few bits and pieces for my tack room. Pictures to follow in the near future...
• I'm still deep in my horse search and haven't really come up with much. I'm not in any rush, since I have some options with Dolly, so that is good.  I was told about a little QH gelding at my barn that might be available in the next few months, so we'll see if that goes anywhere...
• I was contemplating getting a goat, but the hubby is totally against it at this point! I'm hoping a little stray goat makes its way to my place and then we won't be able to turn it away... lol

Ok - that about sums up the big stuff for today...  More to come if I can find the patience to sit and write about stuff! 

Horse shopping – not as fun as I’d envisioned

I’ve been out to see two horses in the past 10 days or so. Not a huge number I know, but I’ve been able to rule out a lot either by the ad alone, or by exchanging a couple of emails with the sellers.

I put myself under a lot of pressure to find something suitable by the end of June, as that was when I’d planned to bring Dolly home. I figured that she absolutely had to have a companion and I wanted that companion horse to be one that I could ride everywhere. I’ve been fretting over horse stuff since the beginning of June when I moved! Just this week, I think I have some options sorted out, so I can take a bit longer to search for a riding horse. I do have 1 or 2 prospects, but I am unsure which to choose, or to wait it out for another one to come along.

My plan as of this minute (subject to change and flip-flop multiple times) is to try bringing Dolly home on June 29, as it is a long weekend and I’ll be around to keep an eye on her. I’ll try having her alone and if it doesn’t go well, I can take her back down the road. I have a spot secured at the barn down the road for July and the barn owners were fine with me trying her at home for a few days and going back and forth as required.

I have also listed Dolly for sale, but I don’t expect too much to come of it, since the market is really down for selling right now. I have been noticing this trend on our local sales web sites. This should bode well for me as a buyer, but it hasn’t yet!

I’m interested in two horses, but one is a bit too big for me – I wasn’t able to give correct leg aids while riding him – and the other is ranch broke and quiet, but doesn’t have a lot of finesse. I think both could work, but I’m a little hesitant to buy without trying the horses a second time. I also feel better now that I don’t have to rush.

The one gelding is a trained reiner, but he has done a bunch of other stuff. The visit to that barn provided me with something that I didn’t know I had been looking for... a potential new coach! I’ll have to write more about him when I get a chance. That is a separate post on its own.

So, at least I have a plan now and some options. I feel a bit better about the whole situation. Here’s hoping that a good horse comes along soon!

Tractor Envy

Now that the house is mostly settled (still a few stray things to organize), I have started working on my barn and pastures. I didn’t think I would have much use of a small tractor on this property, since it is fairly small, but boy was I wrong!!!

Right side of small paddock and shelter 

I have about 5 acres of pasture and the grass is really tall. It looks like hay, but it is not good enough quality in my opinion to be baled (there are some weeds too...). I didn’t want to just turn Dolly loose on grass, as she hasn’t been on any pasture in over a year! I needed to get someone in to do some bush hogging and after a couple of false starts, I found 2 neighbours willing to do the work for a reasonable fee.

Middle of small paddock

One neighbour has an ancient Kubota that he brought in to do the small paddock – which will be my winter paddock – and it took him about an hour. I now just have to clean up the mowed grass and do some trimming under the fence line. I’m leaving my back paddock long and will just let Dolly graze it down. Once it is grazed a bit, I should be able to get my big lawn tractor in and clean up the weeds. I’ll also fertilize and re-seed it in the fall. I am slightly giddy at the prospect of managing my own small fields.

The previous owners let this property go quite a bit – they let all of the fields just grow, even though they had a brand new tractor and bush hog. Not much to be done about it but get things set right again. It will cost me a bit and will take some time and elbow grease, but I want to do the work so I can enjoy the place more.

I have a nice fenced riding ring and based on reports from neighbours, it used to be sand. The original owners had sand trucked in and the people we bought from just let it grow over. It is being mowed today, so I’ll see what is left of the sand, if anything. I’m hoping that if I can ride on it a bit, the grass will get turned up/worn down. If not, I’ll maybe have someone help out by ploughing/discing it and see what happens.

The riding ring after being mowed

I also have 8 or so acres in the back that could be used for riding, but it needs some trails bush hogged as well. There are some mature trees and the rest is basically a meadow. It is pretty to look at, but I would love to be able to get back there and know that the footing was good for a horse.

I’ve been daydreaming about little tractors and all the stuff I could do with one! I’ll have to save up and see if I can maybe find a used one for next year. I’d love to be able to do my own work – and let’s face it – having a small tractor would be so fun! 

(Side note to tractor companies - you might want to add some photos of women driving tractors! Sheesh.)

And the horse search continues

I'm still trying to decide what to do about a second horse or a companion for Dolly. Just when I think I know what I want, I change my mind! I had a lot of time to think last week while I was digging and weeding my garden! lol

I decided to pass up that little arab gelding that I looked at a few weeks ago. He was ok, but very English trained and my western saddle wouldn't fit him. It just didn't feel like the right fit at the time.

I'm also torn between maybe trying to sell Dolly and find a horse that is more suited to my needs and keeping her and giving her a chance. Every time I think I want to sell, I have a good ride on her. I guess there is no harm in keeping her another year and deciding what to do later.

I have also decided that endurance/competitive trail isn't what I want to aim for right now. I just don't have easy access to trailering to these events, since they tend to be further away. It would cost alot to even get to the event, let alone participate. I'm also missing some skills and confidence in my riding that I need to fill in before I venture out in a competitive situation. Once I thought all that out, I felt better about the direction I was heading.

I also want to improve my western riding skills and riding in general - so, since I'm close to my old instructor, I'll be heading back there in the fall to work with her. The goal of that is to improve enough to try some club shows next summer. She has a few APHA horses that she takes to local shows, so I could easily ride one of those (and share trailering fees).

That still leaves me wanting a horse that is good on the roads and trails. I like ring work and lessons, but there is nothing like going for a good hack. I have a lead on a quarter horse and I'm going to go see her tomorrow.


8yr old mare, ranch trained, kinda cute!

I was also looking at another AQHA gelding, but he has extensive reining and cowhorse training and I wonder if that would be wasted on what I want to do. Apparently he is extremely broke and has done all kinds of things and would be suited to a more novice rider. He will be my wildcard if things with my other leads don't work out.

We'll see how things go tomorrow - I may be back at square one if this mare isn't what I'm looking for! 

A long overdue update

Well, we are all moved into our new house! The packing and moving went as well as can be expected. It was alot of work, but well worth it in the end!  We love the house and since it is about 500-600 sq ft bigger, we feel like we have so much extra space.

My Mom has been here visiting this week and we tackled the yard and gardens together.  She is an avid gardener, so I just followed along and did what I was told! lol  The gardens (and pretty much everything else) were pretty overgrown, so we had a lot of work to do.

I got a new toy as well - a John Deere lawn tractor and utility cart! I've been having fun with that, although a real tractor with a bush hog would come in very handy right now...maybe next year we'll look into something bigger.

Dolly moved to the new barn last week and seems to be settling in ok.  This place has most of the horses in smaller, single turnouts, with lots of neighbours on all sides to visit with.  Dolly seems to have gained a bit of weight, since the hay is good, she gets grain 2x/day and doesn't have to fight for food any more.

I made it down the road to ride about 4 times in the past week. I've just been refreshing both of us in walk/trot and getting used to things. This barn is a lot busier, with vehicles and horses moving around all the time. I think any opportunity for horse and handler to see more "stuff" is always good.  Dolly also had her first two visits in an indoor arena and did ok with that.  It has been too nice to ride inside though, so I've been sticking to the sand ring outside.

Rainbow after a big storm with hail.  The old barn is on the neighbour's property...

The weather has been pretty decent during the day, so I've been enjoying the new pool as well! I feel very fortunate to be here and still can't believe that this is our house!  I have to go back to work tomorrow (boo!!!) but I am also looking forward to getting back into my routine.

More posts to follow this week as things settle down and get back to normal.

T-5 days and some random babbling

I have a whole bunch of stuff bouncing in my brain, so be prepared for a rambling, disjointed post! lol

1. Please go check out my friend RuckusButt's blog - she has her handsome gelding back after dealing with some scary headshaking issues.  It turns out he had some severe TMJ problems and chiro has really helped him.  Go read all about it!

2.  We are entering the home stretch on this whole moving business!  We packed the kitchen yesterday and a bunch of other stuff.  We threw out/donated several bags and boxes of things, but still the mountain of packed boxes grows and grows!

Charlie taking a nap on one of the many boxes.

3.  I have arranged Dolly's ride over to the new barn - that is happening on May 31st  and I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that.  And my friends that are trailering her have offered to store all of my extra horse junk tack in their trailer for a couple of days so I don't have to put it all in the moving truck on Friday!  Yeah!

4. There are chipmunks in the barn! They are extremely cute. And not destructive like mice and racoons... Of course, if you leave bags and bags of grain out in the open, the mice and racoons will chew it open and spill it everywhere. And it will sit that like in the feed area for days and just be a mess.  (Have a mentioned that  I am looking forward to moving???)

Cute!

5. Dolly... It turns out she hasn't been getting her grain regularly, so I often have to feed her when I'm there. (Have I mentioned that I can't wait to move???)

This is kind of how feeding time with her goes:

Look at how cute I am.  I can barely see over my stall door...

What do you mean the beet pulp has to soak? Are you kidding me?

She is very polite when the grain is coming in the stall though - she backs up and waits patiently, so I don't mind the occasional grumpy face from her.

6. I am still checking local ads for horses and haven't come up with much.  I'll do a post on that sometime after I move, when I have more time to devote to it.  Horse shopping is alternately fun and extremely frustrating at the same time!

7. I need to wrap this up and head to the barn. Today will probably be my last chance for a ride!

T-12 days and counting

We are coming down the wire with our move -  I am so freakin' excited that I can hardly wait. Luckily there is lots for me to do, so I don't have to sit idly and wait.  :-)

We had a walkthrough of the house on Friday night and met one of the sellers. She gave us a quick run-down on how things worked - the pool, the hot tub and most importantly, the electric fence.

Random cat pic - Mr. P just turned 15and is not as amused by the boxes as the younger cats.

It looks like the fencing will need some repairs and maintenance. She hasn't had a horse on the property in over a year, so there are a few things to do. They have let the grass grow up and it touches the bottom strand of fencing and I will have to go around and check all of the grounding wires.  I'm not a huge fan of electrical things, so it will be important to me to make sure the electric fence is in good order.  There is also about 20 feet of fence that was taken down on the front paddock to put the swimming pool in. I'll just have to have some posts put in and re-connect the electric rope.  There is a nice amount of grass - which is really great - so few boarding barns around here have any grass in the paddocks, so Dolly (if she hangs around long enough, lol) will be very lucky!

I'm still keeping an eye on horse sale ads, but I just don't have the time to drive all over the place looking at horses. I emailed the girl with the arab gelding and told her I'd have to wait until early June to come back for another visit.  Dolly is hopefully moving on May 31st, so that is coming up quickly.  She has her last spring vet appt. this Friday, so it will be nice to have all of that taken care of before moving.

We spent a good part of the day yesterday doing some packing. I have been picking away at it, but it was time to start getting serious about it.  We cleaned out closets and packed away alot of seasonal clothes and sports equipment. We also make a first crack at cleaning out the kitchen cupboards - it is amazing how much stuff you can collect in 13 years!  The younger cats have been hilarious lately - they must think that all of the boxes and packing paper are toys we brought home just for their amusement. I have to be really careful when I tape boxes and stack things, as one of them is always inside a box or trying to climb something.

Packing boxes or cat yoga room?

 We are trying to keep the finished boxes contained in one room, but sometimes the volume of stuff just gets away from us.  I have to re-arrange this corner of the room today, because I can't get out the patio door!

Messy! Need to organize this side of the room today...

Ok - enough blogging, pack to do some more packing, then some overtime work this afternoon.

Horse shopping and visiting the (new) neighbours

I spent the day on Friday visiting new horses and new friends.

Last Friday morning I went to look at a potential new gelding. I have been looking for the past couple of months for an older gelding that is small and might work better for me out on the trails. There are very few older, small (under 15.1hh) well trained geldings (of any breed) around here. I guess people hold on to them like crazy when they find a good one!

The guy I went to see is a 13yr old arab gelding that is owned and ridden by a teenager, so he has lots of mileage. He has been to shows and pony club events, hacked out in fields and trails and can jump 2'3" without much trouble. I was pleasantly surprised to meet his owner, who is about 20 now and heading off to college. She is smart, funny and knows alot about her horse.

I spent about 2 hours with her and the gelding, Liam. He is a cute little guy and was very well behaved. He is a bit plain for an arab, which is ok by me. I rode him in the arena and we then went out for a 20 min hack. He was fine and didn't put a foot wrong. I have to say that I'm super hesitant to even consider getting another horse, since I haven't made the best decisions in the past...

Liam and his girl

I may go back in a week or so and go for another ride, before I decide anything. The owner is willing to let me take him on a 2 month trial for the summer, or even a 1 year lease, so that is good. I was very upfront with her about my hesitations and she was very accepting of everything.

After my ride, I rushed home, had a quick lunch and then went out to Dolly's soon-to-be new home to visit my friend E, who has 3 horses there. E is an older rider and started riding later in life. We saddled up her mare and went out to the sand ring. Poor E has pretty low confidence and a bad case of nerves. She isn't connecting so well with her mare, so I was trying to give her some pointers, seeing as how I struggle with similar issues sometimes.

I was willing to get on her mare and see if I could figure her out a bit. E wasn't comfortable with that in the end, as she was worried I might get bucked off. So, we just groomed her horses and hung out with some the other barn people for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful sunny day and in addition to meeting some nice people and horses, I have also found the perfect hay source!

This new barn (I'll have to think up a nickname) has more hay than they use, so they are willing to sell me as much as I need. They will even deliver it each month or two as I require it...all for $4.00/bale. Some quotes I've had have been up to $4.50/bale, so that isn't too bad at all!
 
I'm getting down to the wire for the big move.  We move on June 1st and Dolly will be going to the new barn on May 31st!  Packing is going well, but I think I need to pick up the pace a bit for the final 2 weeks.  I have also been working a lot of overtime, so I will be looking forward to the move and the 1 week vacation I have booked for the week after!

SI (pelvis) issues and a Chiro visit

I went out to the barn Monday after work because I had booked a chiro appointment for Dolly. I was feeling better about the whole situation with her. I was no longer fire-breathing angry, but had just decided to try and ride her in the ring and then decide about putting her up for sale at some point this summer if nothing improved.

Dolly has been quite stiff under saddle – mostly in her back end. I was seeing some fairly random issues with her that pointed in a bunch of different directions. She wasn’t lame, but she wasn’t moving comfortably either. She would toss her head when you applied leg, her walk and trot were stiff and choppy, her canter in the round pen was disunited and hard for her to maintain. She was also a bit tender in different spots on her back. I decided to try my endurance saddle instead of the western saddle to see if that was the problem. I rode her twice in the endurance saddle and didn’t notice any drastic changes.

I gave Dolly a week of bute and 2 weeks off from riding and there was still no change. She also had what we thought was a hunter’s bump… I thought of trying chiro, but I had Dolly adjusted twice in the fall by a different chiro and saw absolutely no change. I didn’t really know what other options I had at this point. I was worried that Dolly was in pain, or at least quite uncomfortable, but the way she was reacting under saddle. (Note: I think the bucking on the trail was still attitude at being held back)

I was talking to RuckusButt about Dolly’s issues and she told me that she had been researching another chiro in the area. There aren’t a lot of alternative treatment options in our area, so having a new chiro in town was a bit of a big deal. I sat on the info for a bit and then decided to call for an appointment. I figured that it would be the last thing I could try with Dolly to help her out.

I have to admit that I had pretty low expectations from this chiro visit. Fortunately, I was proven wrong! The new chiro was friendly, knowledgeable and spent an hour with Dolly and I! She did chiropractic adjustments as well as some soft tissue work and stretching. She told me that Dolly’s pelvis was very stiff and it would be quite uncomfortable for her. She did several adjustments and stretches and felt that she was able to loosen things up. She also did adjustments to Dolly’s back and neck. Dolly was an ideal chiro patient and spent the whole hour trying to snuggle with me (rotten horse!) and licking and chewing during the adjustments.

I gave her 24 hours off and rode for the first time last night. The first interesting thing was that when I whistled for Dolly, she cantered to the gate! Normally I have to go get her and drag her in… lol. The second interesting thing was that Dolly’s walk was more forward and I could feel her back end working better. I was content to just walk around the riding ring, but Endurance Lady told me to try a trot and see how she did. I trotted a few circles in each direction and I had a normal trot! No head jerking up, no aggressive chomping on the bit and no choppy strides! I’m pretty surprised and I think Dolly was too. Our trotting still needs lots of work, but I at least feel that she is comfortable and willing to work, instead of fighting me every step of the way.

I haven’t tried her out on the trails yet, I’m not going to rush that. I want to build up some confidence in the ring and then go from there. John Lyons always says “ride where you can, not where you can’t”. This seems to be a fairly good sentiment for me right now.

Some SI/Pelvis info:

Behind the Bit has an older post on SI issues

Understanding Sacroiliac pain

Sacroiliac Injury – Merck Veterinary Manual

The Ups and Downs (literally) of riding

As you may have guessed by the title, I took my first dive in a while this past weekend.

Yep, Laura the lawn dart. Luckily for me, I took most of the impact in my amply padded derrière, with shoulder and head hitting second and third (yeah for helmets!). I also landed in a nice soft hay field, so that softened the blow a bit.  I'm just a bit stiff today, but luckily I don't even have a bruise or any other injuries.

What happened, you ask? Well, Dolly had a hissy fit at being held back to a trot while out riding with 3 other people (who were all trotting nicely) and within about 20 seconds decided she wanted me off her back NOW! and did some pretty mean bucks to accomplish her task.

To add insult to injury, Dolly was also kind enough to run off after she succeeded in dumping me. I have to admit a not-so-nice thought crossed my mind as I sat on my knees in the hay, watching her cavort around the hay field...

My thoughts were something along the line of:

"If you had a half a brain, you little *****, you would keep running and not come back!"

We were able to catch her without much trouble and headed back to the barn. I had a total and complete meltdown, as this latest event is just another in a string of bad experiences with this horse. I know alot of the issues are mine - confidence being the big thing that keeps coming up, but she is also a horse that has some anxiety/attitude issues that are maybe suited to a more advanced, confident rider.

At one point, I was ready to just give her away and quit riding forever. After I was talked down from that ledge, some other, more sensible options were proposed.

My friend and I are going to start looking for a nice older gelding (Rusty! I miss you!) and see if we can find something that will work for me. I don't want to stop riding and there must be a horse out there that isn't a total idiot.

I feel comfortable riding her in the ring, so I will continue to do that and see if that helps her at all. I'm also going to proceed with moving Dolly to the new barn at the end of May and maybe put her up for sale then. I don't hate her by any stretch, but sometimes the partnership just doesn't click and you have to make the call to move on.  
 
That is where I am right now.  *sigh*

And so it starts...

Now that the intial excitement of getting our new house has worn off, I've been getting down into the nitty gritty details that moving entails...

I've decided to move Dolly to the farm down the road from the new place for the month of June. I think it will be a good move for us. I've already met several of the people there and they all seem friendly and happy to show me around.

This move will see me have a new barn, a new vet and a new farrier. My current vet doesn't travel to the new area, so I have to go back to using a vet I had used with Rusty. Luckily this vet is quite good, so I'm comfortable making the switch. I still haven't sorted out the farrier thing yet - there are a couple that work in the area, so hopefully one is good and willing to trim Dolly.

We also had a bit of a financial fiasco this week. I think I have it sorted out, but it involved us picking a new mortgage company and switching all of our finances to a different bank one month before closing! As result of this, I now have to switch all of our direct deposits and direct payments, on top of changing our address and setting up new utilities! Good thing I like lists, because there is no way on earth I could remember all of this stuff!

And poor Dolly has sat pretty much neglected for the past two weeks, as she had one week off on the vet's recommendation and another week off since I've been swamped with house issues!

I had the vet out a couple of weeks ago for her spring shots and I also had him check her back. She has been acting 'off' the past few times I was riding. She was tense, her head would shoot up every time you put leg on (even gently) and she was just "weird" while riding. She wasn't visibly lame, just off somehow. He felt that her right side, between her last rib and the point of her hip were a bit tender.

She had a week off, with bute and I checked her on Saturday and she didn't seem to be tender in the back anymore. I am wondering if she was either having some issues with coming back into heat or if my western saddle skirt was digging into her right side every time she did one of her 180 spins.

I'll be trying her in my endurance saddle for the next few rides, as it is adjustable, with shims and wedges that can be added and removed to customize the fit. I also have a new chiro coming out on Monday, so hopefully she has some insight to whether Dolly is truly sore or if I need to further investigate ulcer and/or lady part problems!

Horses are such puzzles sometimes - you have to chip away at eliminating issues and hope that you can discover the real problem and give them some pain relief/comfort!