Thanks, Boo to winter and some cute pics

I wanted to thank everyone for their great comments on my past few posts. It is really nice to read all of the supportive comments!  I had another great lesson with Amy this weekend, which I'll write about later, if I don't get completely buried in snow!

Our weather forecast is pretty much snow, snow, snow for this week!  :-S  I like snow - it is pretty, but it makes driving to work and travelling for Christmas a bit more of an adventure...  We are forecast to get almost 50cm (19") by the end of the week!!!! I hope the weather people are wrong!

Since I don't feel like writing anything big today, I thought I would post some cute pictures of Spencer from a month ago, when it was still green and slightly warm!

I like seeing him lying down to sleep!

I also like my telephoto lens that allows me to get close without disturbing him

Roxie was curious and thought she would investigate...

Spencer wasn't too pleased with having his nap interrupted by a cat!  He even tried to nip at her, which I missed. ..

Roxie gave him lots of room on her trip back to see what I was doing...

I am having fun getting some pictures of Spencer and the cats. It seems I'll be able to get some nice snow shots if the weather forecast is accurate...

Keeping it real – Part 4

Phew – this story is getting long! I’m trying to keep it brief, while documenting the process for myself to re-read later on if I get stuck.


The trainer – let’s call her Amy – was due back for a second lesson on a Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago. On Saturday afternoon I decided to take Spencer for a short ride. I tacked him up, headed out to the ring and proceeded to walk around a bit. He was cranky and grumpy and quite tense. Of course, this made me a bit tense and annoyed. I tried to let go of the annoyed feeling, but was having a hard time. Old thoughts of “you can’t do this” were creeping in to my mind. After about 20 minutes of a crappy ride, I put Spencer back out in the field and sulked around the house for the rest of the day.

Sunday morning, I went out to catch Spencer to try and clean him up a bit before Amy arrived. Any guesses as to how that went? I couldn’t catch Spencer at all. He was pinning his ears at me and trotting away when I got close. He hadn’t tried that with me in the 2.5 months that I owned him so far. I was very glad that a trainer was on her way to my place!

Amy arrived and she worked with him out in the paddock. She moved him around the paddock to show leadership, the same as you would in the round pen. He finally settled down and responded to her cues and we caught him and brought him in the barn. We then headed out to the round pen and it was my turn to try and work with him. Amy was giving me tips as I worked. After a few minutes, I was feeling more confident and relaxing a bit. Spencer was responding to my body language and would get a bit confused if I mixed up a signal. Amy thought that the “join-up” exercise would go a long way in helping me realize I could do this and that Spencer wasn’t dangerous or out to get me.

She also somehow helped me cut through all of the old “ideas” (for lack of a better word) I had been holding on to about me ruining my horse, or not being good enough to do xyz. I also didn’t have to worry about all of the different training methods different people had been trying to teach me over the years, or methods that I had tried to use with varying levels of success. I don’t really know how to explain this - but it wasn’t anything she said - her way of handling Spencer was just so basic and focused on responding to his body language. There was no anger, no tension and no frustration in her methods.

We worked with him in the round pen and on the longe line for about an hour, stopping every 5 minutes for me to ask more questions. I really felt by the end of the hour that I could work with him safely and actually make some progress! I then tacked him up and rode for about 20 minutes. I had a really good ride and it was 100x better than our ride the day before! I was sad to see Amy go – I wanted her to move in, or for Spencer and me to pack up and move to her place, so we could work with her full time!

I feel like I made incredible progress in the week following my lesson. Monday night I repeated the round pen exercise and was very close to getting him to join-up. I was already more adept at the longeing work and wasn’t getting any attitude from him at all. The following Sunday I tried the round pen again and was actually able to get him to join-up with me. I was pretty happy with that. It was a big step for both of us.

Note: I know a lot of people feel differently about the concept of join-up and whether it works or whether it is completely silly. For me, it was a big deal, because just two weeks before, I was too nervous to go into a small enclosure with Spencer. Now, I felt I could at least work with him safely and be a better leader. I was hoping to start building some respect and this experience was the foundation for that.

This past week, I have been limited in my work with him, since it has snowed a bit and the footing isn’t great. It is also dark by about 4:30 now. (Oh how I would love an indoor arena to magically appear at my place!) I feel that shorter sessions are still good for us – even if it is only 15 minutes or so.

And that catches you up with the past few weeks. I really feel that I am in a good place and have a good foundation to move forward to work with my horse. I think we’ll do really well this spring and summer. I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on myself or him!

Keeping it real, Part 3

I don't mean to drag this story out, but it is too long to post all in one shot.  I only have one more part to go to wrap it up!

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I made an appointment to have this new trainer come out to my place. I was nervous and didn’t really know what to expect. It turns out she was friendly and easy to talk to. I gave her an overview of Spencer’s behaviour and my issues and we got down to work.


We rigged a round-pen (actually a square pen!) in one corner of my riding ring, using some electric rope and plastic fence posts with some ground poles underneath.

(Note: I wasn’t 100% sure that he would stay in this ring – he probably could’ve jumped the fence or crashed through it without much trouble. I do not recommend doing this at home without a trainer or an experienced friend to help you out if things get messy. Fortunately, Spencer was very good in this space.)

She then proceeded to use round pen work to see what Spencer was all about. She felt that some of his behaviour was just plain attitude: he is a bit dominant, as well as being a bit lazy and just didn’t want to be asked to do anything. She got a lot of attitude (bucking and kicking out at her) from him at first, which made me happy, in a strange way. Wanna know why?

Up until this point, I was taking his behaviour really personally. Like he was cow-kicking at me. Or being difficult with me and me only. When in reality, he was a bit frustrated and annoyed in general. Not taking things personally was a huge first step for me. I figured that if that realization was all that I got out of the lesson, then it was worth it.

After some basic round pen work, she did a bit of work getting Spencer to respond to her on the longe line – she called this technique “gypping”, a term that I wasn’t familiar with. It is sort of like longing, but the horse doesn’t trot in endless circles. She would use her body language to send him out on a circle to the right, then would switch and go back to the left. She also used this technique to get him moving his feet around.

She then did about 20 minutes of work ground driving/long lining him. As far as I know, he’d never done that before. He caught on really quickly. By the end of the almost 2 hour session, he was responding much better. He probably really appreciated the clear leadership he was getting from the trainer. I watched intently for the whole session and asked about 10,000 questions. She was really good about giving me straightforward answers. This first session/lesson was mostly about her working with him to get a starting point. I still wasn’t feeling 100% comfortable tackling some of the exercises on my own.

I was pretty happy with the outcome of the first session – it showed me not to take things personally and to let some of the frustration and anger go. That alone was well worth the time. I booked her to come back again in two weeks.

In the meantime, I was back on my own with Spencer. I wanted to try some of her techniques, but was just a little unsure on how to proceed. I was still a little nervous around him and wasn’t sure that I could get the same results as she did. My mind was flooded with all of the new things I was learning. It also seemed funny to have worked around horses for many years, but never had I had all of this information presented to me in this way.

To be continued...

Keeping it real, Part 2

So, part 1 of this little tale found me all nervous, anxious and uncomfortable all at the same time. I was questioning horse ownership and all of that nonsense. I was angry that I wasn’t a better horseperson; angry that I have confidence issues; and just angry at the whole situation in general, worried that I had bought the wrong horse YET again...etc. etc.

Every night for a couple of weeks, I would come home from work, toss Spencer some hay, give him a pat on the head and go back in the house and worry about these issues. I was driving myself crazy, so I decided to write out a list of some options and hope that a solution would present itself.

My thought process went something like this:

How could I give up on this face?

• Give up horses completely – why did we buy this farm, blah blah blah
• See if Spencer’s old owner would buy him back
• Try and sell Spencer
• Send him to a trainer
•  Move him to a boarding barn
• Become magically more confident
• Ignore things for the winter and deal with it in the spring
•  Get some lessons at home, but who/how with darkness, weather etc.

After lots of pondering, I realized that the majority of the issue was me – a lack of confidence, a lack of leadership and probably some handling issues (where I was trying to get him to go forward, but my body was saying stop etc.) I figured that I had a good chance of working things out if I could get a bit of guidance. I thought through all of the horse trainers/coaches that I knew of and just had a hunch that none of them would really be able to help me. They might be able to work with Spencer without any problems, but would they be able to teach me?

I should note that I’ve been really trying to get to the root of my confidence issues this fall, because I’m tired of saying that “I’m not confident about xyz”, or “xyz makes me nervous”. I have been reading three books that I was hoping would give me some insight:

1. Jane Savoie – It’s Not Just about the Ribbons
2. Mark Rashid – Horses Never Lie
3. Monty Roberts – The Man who talks to Horses (a re-read. I initially read this one a long time ago)

The Mark Rashid book really had me thinking about horse behaviour and leadership, while the Monty Roberts book reminded me about kindness and patience. I thought that some sort of natural horsemanship type person would be the best to help me, but I’m not typically a huge follower of that sort of stuff. I find some of it hokey and only angled to sell you more gear and training videos.

All of this thinking and planning and pondering gets tiring after awhile. I tend to worry about a problem for a few days, then try and forget about it for a few days. On a whim a few days later I decided that I would browse through our local horse classified site - which I hadn’t looked at in weeks - to see if I could find a cute companion for Spencer. (Not sure how adding a second horse would help my issues at this point, but it was a welcome distraction!). The first ad I saw was for a natural horsemanship trainer... The ad was brief and it said the person would travel to your farm to help you. I thought it was kind of strange that is what I thought I needed a few days before, but hadn’t known where to look.

I did a bit of research and this young girl seemed like the real deal. She had a legit web site and had been giving clinics for a couple of years. She had references and the thing that really caught my eye was that she was not a student of any one famous horse trainer. She had worked with several, but was developing her own style.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and set up a lesson with her at my place. I figured one lesson couldn’t hurt.

To be continued...

Keeping it real - Part 1

*Note: These events happened back in October and I started writing this post a few weeks ago... I have been tempted to just post cute horse and cat pictures and not talk about the not-so-good things that have been going on...

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

I haven’t been posting as much lately because I’ve been in a bit of slump. I find I really have a hard time when it gets dark so early – I have about 45 minutes of “daylight” left by the time I get home. Also, Spencer and I are having some minor issues. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about it, but haven’t had much luck. Today I just decided to try typing it out and see what happens...

When I bought Spencer, the only negative thing the owner and coach had to say about him was that he sometimes had a bit of attitude with new people. They said that with new people he would get a bit bossy and sometimes do a little cow kick, but if you nipped it in the bud it wouldn’t be a problem. I didn’t really think anything of it, as he was really good for my rides and the following six weeks after I got him home.

Our first six weeks were great – he was easy to handle and I felt very comfortable riding him. He didn’t seem outwardly stressed about being turned out alone at all. After the six week mark, I noticed one day he was tense and a little difficult to handle. He cow-kicked a couple of times in the cross ties, but I gave him a little smack and he stopped. I continued on with my day/week and didn’t think much else of it.

A couple of weeks later, I was longing him instead of riding since it was really windy. After about 10 minutes on the longe line, he started cow-kicking and stopping to face me. He wasn’t acting dangerous or anything, you could just tell he was frustrated and didn’t want to work. I was able to get him going again, but then stopped the longe session because it just didn’t seem to be worth it to push him, as I was getting angry and frustrated with the whole situation.

I have kept in contact with his previous owner and emailed her once the behaviour started showing up. She was really helpful and said that it was just him being a bit dominant and grumpy and he would work through it. She explained that she was a bit nervous as well when she first bought Spencer and he really helped her become a confident leader. She told me that he had never been aggressive or dangerous in his behaviour. She mentioned that she thought he might have had ulcer issues in the past, but never had a vet confirm it. He wasn’t acting like a horse with ulcers to me and I had a chiro check him over, so I was fairly certain there weren’t any obvious pain issues.

At this point, I was able to see that there were several small problems brewing:

• Spencer was alone and to me seemed a tiny bit anxious all the time
• I was spending less time out at the barn since it was getting dark so early and I was nervous
• I was becoming more and more nervous of his behaviour and didn’t want to do something to make it worse
• Since I struggle with confidence issues, I was sure that I was a big part of the problem – I didn’t have the confidence to be a good or consistent leader, so Spencer was trying to take control

To be completely honest, there were a few weeks where I was really questioning horse ownership. I felt that I was ruining a good horse and that I didn’t deserve to have horses. I had this nice little property and would only be able to have a quiet old horse that wouldn’t be as much fun to ride, etc. etc. I even contemplated asking Spencer’s previous owner if they wanted him back. The only thing that stopped me was that I was sure that if I just had the right knowledge, I could turn things around, as I really like Spencer.

To be continued...

Naughty, naughty horse!

I've decided to try and make an effort to write more on this poor neglected blog. I was sitting at my desk pondering what I could write about, when I saw something interesting from my office window.

Exhibit A:

Can you see the problem?

I decided to keep an eye on the situation and a few hours later I was rewarded with more evidence:

Naughty!

 I yelled at him from the deck and he popped his head up to look over at me and then proceeded to go right back to trying to eat grass over the fence.

I wasn't doing anything...

Now, it is important to note that he had hay in not one, but two locations, one being inside his nice dry shelter. He chose to stand out in the rain and try to get grass (which is admittedly greener and more plentiful on the other side of the fence).  I am also aware that he is on the chubby side, so that is why I started restricting him to his smaller paddock.  He was not impressed.

Up until yesterday, my fence still wasn't fixed. I had asked my friend John to help out, but being an old farmer (his words, not mine!) he had forgot about the repair. I called him yesterday, begging for him to come over.  He made it out about an hour before we lost all daylight and made the repairs and he got the fence working.  I feel fairly confident that I could do repairs on my own now, after bugging John with lots of questions!

John working on repairing the cut wire...

After I'd asked my questions, I left John to finish his work. An amazing sunset was lighting up the sky, so I took a few pictures.

Spencer enjoying the last evening in the big field

We are getting some amazing sunsets this time of year...

I gave Spencer one last night and morning in the big field before shutting the gate until the ground freezes up. I may let him out there when the snow hits, just to give him more space to wander around.

I plugged the fence in this morning and did a few tests with my tester and it looked like the current was good and strong.  I was a bit surprised that the cats touched the fence a couple of times and didn't get a shock. I decided to just wait and see if Spencer would test it for me.

Sure enough, after a couple of hours, he decided to try for some grass. He bumped the top wire with his  chest and must've got a little jolt. He then stuck his muzzle right onto the top wire and got a really big zap!  He took off bucking and snorting. I cheered with delight, as that means that the fence is working well.

He spent the next couple of hours eyeing the fence suspiciously, but hasn't tested it again.  Success!!  :-)

Finally, a post!

Man, it has been over 6 weeks since I posted anything here.  Oops!  :-S  I always feel like I should write more but never get around to finishing any posts.  I'm going to try and get caught up on the past few weeks. Nothing exciting has happened, but why not document it for posterity?

I was able to fit in two riding lessons at my place in October. My old instructor came over to have a look at Spencer and put us through our paces. She just lives one road over from me now, so it is nice to have her close by. (She is also a vet...)  

After two lessons,  I have long list of things to work on:

• Keeping my lower leg steady (not too far forward or backward)
• Asking for him to move off my leg with pulsing pressure instead of a solid leg-on squeeze (we found this worked better with him)
• Keeping my hands steady (sometimes my hands are all over the place trying to steer)
• Keeping my head up and looking where I’m going. I have a tendency to look down and to the left
• Riding one handed – keep my shoulders straight

In addition to all of the above, she had me work on transitions and steering with lots of poles and cones. These exercises often frustrate me as we start working on them and then they click later on.

I even made a little graphic of the tricky one we worked on.  I was working on walk-canter transitions and after the first two or three upward transitions, Spencer was anticipating and was trying to canter all the time.  So, we would do one transition, then go around the pattern so he couldn't anticipate as much.  I worked on steering and speed control (maintaining the jog) as I weaved through the cones instead of cantering.  (see lovely drawing below!)  The poles are just there to define the riding area (my ring is 170+ feet long, so we just shortened it up a bit) and work on square corners at the walk and jog.

Nice graphic...lol

I was to enter the cones at the top right corner, weave down and back up, then continue on to the right.

The first time through the cones I went the wrong way at the end.  I was gently corrected and told to try it again. The second time through, I went the wrong way yet again.  After a few mumbled bad words, I smiled and reminded the instructor that I was really bad at geometry. The third time through I still went the wrong way!  I may have said a really bad word out loud...  My instructor chuckled and said that she often found that adult riders often have a hard time working on more complex patterns after spending the day at work. I was able to get it by the 4^th time through!  Lol  

I rode again a few days later and practiced the exercise again.  I was able to get it a bit easier the second time!  

I don’t have a ton of riding time left at my place, seeing as how my ring is grass and it has been raining a fair bit.  And it gets dark super early.  *sigh* Late fall and early winter here are tough to take sometimes!  I’m planning on continuing lessons with this instructor at her place over the winter. I think it will help me to keep that going. Spencer will get a nice holiday once the deep snow and crappy weather hit us full on.

A long rambling update, of sorts

I haven't been great about posting lately - you'd think with a new horse, I would be posting all kinds of stuff!   I guess I just have little tidbits of stuff that don't really amount to a whole post. So, today, since I'm up early on a Sunday morning, you guys will get the whole rambling mess!

Spencer is doing well - I had to mow (and rake!) 3/4 of his paddock with my lawn tractor, since I'm a bit concerned that he is gaining too much weight.  My vet friend came over last night and assured me his weight was ok.  His weight is on the high side of normal, so I do need to monitor that and not let it go any higher.  Oh the fun of an easy keeper!    I had also bought a grazing muzzle, but it looks like I won't have to use it after all.   I have also not been feeding him any grain, with the exception of a small amount of a vitamin/mineral supplement. I have used a grand total of two bales of hay in the past month!

 Mowing my pasture? That is just crazy!?!!

I never suspected I would be cursing the fact that I have too much pasture!  I guess I need a few more 4-legged bodies out there to help eat it all.  I'm considering donkeys and maybe next year I might consider adopting a standardbred or TB from adoption agencies here. We'll see how the budget looks.

I have been having fun taking pictures of my cats outside. They follow us around like dogs a lot of the time. They will even come for "walks" out back if we call them.  We do have to be careful that if we go for a walk on the road that they don't follow us. We usually have to round them up and put them in the house if we leave the property!

(The Hubby would also like it known that he does not like cats (or any other animals for that matter! lol)

The fence is not hot, in case you were wondering...

I have been working on a budget for the house - since we've moved our mortgage is a bit bigger, so it eats up more of my disposable income that I used to blow spend on tack and things.  Being on a budget is not much fun, but it gives me a good idea of what we are spending where and how we can make it work for us.  Mostly the budgeting exercise is a way to save up extra money to afford more horses - who am I kidding? lol

I've also started planning for doing a few club shows next year! Hopefully that happens, as it has been on my bucket list for a long time.  I definitely have a horse that can do those shows, I just need to get myself tuned up!  I also want to plan ahead for the cost, so that a lack of funds is not an obstacle.  The local shows are pretty cheap for the day, but I have to add in trailering and probably some tack purchases. I've been told by that I can probably borrow tack for next year, but I don't want to assume that will be the case.

I have also decided that I'm going to take lessons over the winter at the place I where I used to board Rusty. She is really close and has lots of different horses to ride.  I was going to just not ride over the winter, but I figured that if I want to try showing, I need to keep my riding going. Too bad it won't be on my horse, but I think riding different horses and keeping my legs in shape will be well worth it.

I told you this post was going to be long and rambling!

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!