Another award!

The award came from Twinville this time! Thanks a bunch! I've found a great online community this time around with my blog. Everyone is so friendly and encouraging.

I think that there are alot of awesome sites out there - so I don't know who to pass it to. I think everyone on my blog lists deserves this award. We all work hard with our horses and our lives, so we should all get a nice award. If you read this post, consider yourself awarded!

Vets are costing me a fortune!!!

Not much of an update on Rusty today - he seems to be doing ok. He still isn't gaining any weight back, but the vet hopes that should turn around in the next week. The big milestone for him Monday was solid poop. What a lovely topic. lol. I don't think I've ever been so excited to see solid, normal horse poop as I was on Monday night. Up until then, his poop looked more like cow patties than anything. People with pets and kids care more about poop than the average person, I think. ;-p Rusty is now on a second medication that gets injected every 4 days. I haven't got the bill yet for all of this, so I'm hoping it's not so bad.

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My dog Max is at the city vet today having his teeth cleaned. That costs a small fortune! He has terrible dog breath and lots of tartar, so we asked the vet to check his teeth at his annual check-up. Turns out they are in bad shape even though he is only 8 years old! I guess some animals have better teeth than others. Guess we should stop feeding him chocolate? I kid, I kid.

He doesn't need any teeth pulled right now - just got off the phone with the vet! *phew*. As I was typing this post, I hadn't heard back from her yet. Between Max and Rusty, I'm pet poor! Not that I'm complaining that much - I would pay alot to keep them healthy. I feel that if you have pets you should do your best to keep them happy and pain-free.

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I've been quite the "Laura-homemaker" the past few days - I've been buying fruit and freezing it. I just bought a bunch of fresh corn and after I eat a few cobs, I'm going to bag some up and freeze it for soups and things in the winter. I have a ton of basil out in the yard to pick - I'm going to try making pesto out of it. I'm not sure what it is about summer that has me wanting to get local fruits and vegetables and preserve them for the winter - I guess my childhood training kind of takes over. Thanks Grandma! :-)

I'm going to start bringing home a few containers of horse manure for a spot in my garden that I'm going to try and grow vegetables in next year. I think it will take a few loads of manure plus some nice soil to get the ground good enough to grow a few vegetables. I like mucking around in the garden, so it will be a fun little experiment. I'm going out to the barn anyway, so might as well bring a bit of the barn home with me. ;-p

Browneyed Cowgirls - thanks so much for the senior feed tips - I've made notes of your recommendations and will be asking my vet once ol' Rusty is cleared to eat a few more foods. Right now it's hay, grass and beet pulp only. I'm sure the oats and ground soy meal would help with weight gain.

I'm loved! :-)

My fellow Canadian - Cdncowgirl gave me my first little blog award thingy-ma-jig! Right back at ya' Cdn! You, Steph and Denise were the first 3 blogs I read! Keep up the writing.

How cool is that?

I'd like to pass it on to:

Twinville - love all of the cool photos she posts
Sidetracked - our brave hunter rider!
20 Meter - for tempting me with expensive saddle pads. ;-p

Rusty - another update

Rusty seems to be doing a bit better today. He is a bit brighter-eyed and not as lethargic. He gobbled up a big dish of beet pulp, got his medicine and then was turned out with some hay. He was actually eating the hay and not just pushing it around. I stuck around to watch him for about an hour to make sure he was eating a bit... I quite enjoy the sound of a horse munching on hay. I should've brought a book out with me. lol.

He still seems to be dropping weight though, so I've got a call into the vet to see if there is something else we can supplement his feed with that won't irritate his stomach.

I've been to two tack shops today to try and find a reasonably priced pair of black reins. I didn't think it would be that hard! I finally found a pair I liked at the tack shop that Iwas trialling saddles from. I also returned the saddle I don't want, as Iwas starting to get worried about having a new expensive saddle just lying around. I haven't paid for the new-t0-me saddle that I have, since the owner wasn't there to calculate the trade on my old saddle. This whole process seems to be taking a while, but the shop is quite local, so it's not that big of a deal.

More updates to come as I learn more. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Rusty - update

Rusty is doing ok - no real changes - better or worse. I went out to check on him last night and he seemed a bit less lethargic, but still not himself.

I brought him in to the barn and groomed and fussed over him a bit. It has been raining lately, so he kindly covered himself in mud. His feet are looking good - they were a bit of a wreck when I first got him. At least I don't have to worry about that right now.

The vet thinks he has an ulcer - but the only way to determine that 100% is to do an endoscopy - a tube with a camera down into the stomach. No vets do that here, so he would have to be shipped to a veterinary hospital about 5 hours away. I'm not going to put him through that, since he is older. If I had a young performance horse, I would probably get all of the tests done to make sure there was nothing bad going on.

We are starting treatment for the ulcer today - I rushed to the vet's after work to pick up the medicine. It is in a tube like dewormer, so it should be easy to give. The barn owner will give him his dose today and I'll do it on both weekend days. The vet said that if it is an ulcer, we should see improvement in about 48 hours and then we continue the treatment for 2 weeks.

She thinks there might be a couple of other minor things at play, but we won't worry about those until we try the ulcer treatment. His blood tests were a little off - particularly in the proteins, but the wonky levels could be caused by the ulcer. Poor Rusty - I feel so bad for him - he is such a nice quiet boy. I wish they could talk when they were sick so we could know more.. :-)

The vet also suggested trying to find him a better turnout situation. She said that it would be best for him in the long run to be out in a small herd of nice gentle horses. She is worried that if he stays in his bigger herd, the problems might keep recurring. I've asked my barn owner if there is a way to switch some horses around, but haven't heard back from her yet. I'm hoping there is something she can do, as I don't want to have to move Rusty again. I really like this barn. There is a slight chance we will be moving to the other end of the city next summer, so I may have to move him anyways, but I would prefer to do it once, instead of a bunch of times.

Nothing much else going on in these parts - I'm disappointed that I can't ride, but his health is more important. I think I have my saddle situation sorted out now - I found a used one from a local shop. I have to go out to the tack shop at lunch and buy some new reins to replace the ones I broke last weekend. I only have a set of brown ones at home and my bridle is black. Matching a little bit is very important! Although - I have a dark brown saddle... Does anyone else get all caught up in trying to match their tack? I shouldn't care because it doesn't really matter, but sometimes it gets to me...

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Cdn - I changed my blog colours - I was getting tired of reading white text on a dark background! I think the white/black is a bit easier to read... ;-p

Rusty is sick :-(

My barn owner left me a message on Sunday afternoon to let me know that Rusty seemed a bit sick.

I immediately panicked - thinking colic or heart failure or something bad. I couldn't get a hold of her until Monday mornning and she told me that he stopped eating most of his grain and seemed a little lethargic.

I was home sick on Monday and without a car, so I had to wait until 5pm to go out and see him. The vet had been at the barn for another horse, so she checked poor Rusty while she was there. His heart, lungs, gut sounds were all good and he didn't have a fever (she checked twice). Her first reaction is that he might have a stomach ulcer! Yikes. Apparently they are fairly easy to treat with medication for 2 weeks. She took blood work and a fecal sample (fun job). They were supposed to call me yesterday with the results, but I haven't heard from them yet!!

I'm trying to wait patiently, but I'm not doing a good job. I thought I'd write a post about it to sort out my thoughts. If Rusty does have an ulcer (poor boy!) I'd like to get the medication going asap to hopefully have him feeling better. I've been out to check him every night - he is ok, but fairly lethargic. I've been handgrazing him, as the vet recommeded as much grass as possible.

Apparently sweet feed is the worst thing for an ulcer, so he is off that for now. He is eating a small amount of beet pulp twice a day, as well as being out on pasture all night. He has dropped at least 200 lbs in the past 2 weeks - it wasn't that noticeable at first, but this week the barn owner and I really noticed it.

I feel so bad that I can't do much for him until we hear from the vet. He is such a sweet boy, that I feel extremely negligent that I didn't notice that something wasn't quite right. I'm not there for his feed times usually, so I rely on the barn owner for stuff like that. This is definitely one of the downsides of boarding. My barn owner is great - she held Rusty for the vet since I couldn't be there and didn't charge me for it. She is also willing to try any options that might help a horse, whether it be feeding, training, etc.

I'm still recovering from my sickness - I had tonsilitis or something. I lost my voice and sound like a squeaky little mouse - or maybe an elf??? Most people find it funny, but I've had a couple of people look at me like I'm a total weirdo. Nice. This latest round of illnesses has made me realize how lucky I am to be in very good health normally. I have been taking it for granted that I can speak, hear and move around without any limitations.

Some people aren't so lucky - have you guys read about Mikael's daughter's head injury? That was the scariest thing I have read in a long time. It sounds like her daughter is recovering, so that is good news. I'm really going to make an effort to live a healthier life - watch more closely what I eat, get more exercise, etc.

I'm also staring down a list of about 19 things I need to do - none of them are urgent or life-threatening, but it is stuff that I have been putting off and need to take care of. Hopefully I can make a dent in it by this weekend. I've added one thing to the list - research horse feed needs for senior horses - maybe there is something that ol' Rusty can eat that is easy on his stomach, but will help keep his weight up.

Meme, back from road trip

I'm back from my short road trip to visit my family in southern Ontario. It was a short visit, but great to see my family. I don't get home often enough. I didn't take a single picture while I was there since I've been sick with a nasty cough and cold since last week. My Mom is a nurse, so I had her fetching pills and juice for me. :-)

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I guess the meme is next - my post today is a little disjointed, thanks to the many versions of tylenol I've been taking lately! lol

Cdncowgirl tagged me this time and I'm happy to participate, since it is a fun one.

Six Things You Don't Know About Me

1. The origins of the nickname "littlekeebler" - since Cdn requested that - here is the kind of boring answer. I'm quite short - about 5' even. Waayyyy back in university we were out with a group of friends and the weather turned cold. I didn't have a coat or a sweater, so we stopped by a friend's place and he lent me a hoodie. This friend was about 6'2"... Another friend laughed about how big the sweater was and they flipped up the hood - and someone shouted - "hey, a keebler elf!". And the name stuck. I always seem to have some sort of nickname - half-pint, littlekeebler, keeb, shorty (real original...).
2. I am a total shop-a-holic. I love shopping and spending money on expensive things - horse related or not. I was practically raised in a mall - so I'm blaming my family! hhahaha - just kidding (sort of). I try very hard to resist my shopping urges, as I would like to save up money for my retirement!
3. I looooove to travel. I daydream about all of the trips I could take if only I had more time off work and more money. I don't do budget travel well, I like to be in clean and safe hotels. So far, I've been to England 2x, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Mexico, Aruba, Alaska and many other parts of the US, as well as lots of places in Canada. Places I'd love to go: Sweden (a friend of mine breeds Lippizzaners!), Russia, Italy, Germany, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Vietnam, anywhere in Africa...
4. I studied five different languages in university. French, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Polish. I don't remember much anymore, except for French. I use French about 40% of the time in my day-to-day work. I love being (almost) bilingual. I think it is good for the brain.
5. I collect information - books, papers, magazine clippings, how-to's, recipes, etc. on all of my favourite hobbies. I also don't like clutter, so I have binders for all of my different collections. A horse info binder, a workout binder, several binders of recipes, etc. Instead of keeping piles of magazines around, I rip out all of the stuff I want to save and put it in my binder. I also have tonnes of electronic files - pdfs, digital photos, web links. I tend to gather lots of information and then not do anything constructive with it, except organize it!
6. I'm a "what you see is what you get" sort of person - I'm an introvert, so I'm not a big social butterfly. If you are a friend or acquaintance and I tell you that you look nice, I mean it. If I offer to help you move or something - I mean it. I can often be quite blunt, but honest. I try to be diplomatic if I can - I guess it is the libra in me. The one contradiction to this is that my sense of humour is very sarcastic and this often confuses people. Once they get to know me, I've been told that I can be quite funny.

*Phew* That was harder than I thought! I tag anyone that reads this and wants to participate. Leave a note in the comments to your responses in your blog...

Headin' Down South

I'm going to be heading home for a few days to visit my family. They live about a 7.5 hour drive south west of where I live now. I grew up about 2 hours north of Detroit MI, for reference.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Saddle testing and broken reins

As part of the great tack clean-up of '08, I have traded in my old English saddle and I have 2 used saddles on trial.

I actually wrote out a bulleted list of all my tack, but it was just too long to post. On the weekend, I sorted and cleaned all of my tack. I sat outside the barn in the sun and laid everything out on the grass. (Guess I should've taken a picture of that!) I have a small pile of stuff that I'm going to try and sell locally.Then, it was off to the riding ring to test saddles. I brought everything outside and put both saddles on the fence, to save me going back into the barn later to switch saddles. Here is Rusty in his first saddle - this saddle is so comfortable and balanced - I'm totally in love with it.

After I rode around for 20 minutes or so, I decided it was time to switch saddles. It was really hot out, so I didn't want to be out for much more than an hour.

Rusty is very quiet and calm, so I didn't bother taking his bridle off or anything - he just stood there patiently...until he noticed the little bit of green grass peeking under the fence. I let him graze because it wasn't a big deal. As I took the first saddle off and stepped to the fence, I thought that I should watch my reins - wouldn't want them stepped on and broken...

As I turned back from putting the saddle on the fence - 2 seconds later!!! - the reins were looped behind his ears and dragging on the ground - just as I was about to reach and drab them, he stepped on the rein, scared himself and BAM - broken reins. D'oh! The reins were old and needed to be replaced anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. With all of the tack that I cleaned and sorted, did you think I would have extra reins there???? Nooo, of course not they were all at home. I could've used a set of yours, Cdn! lol.

So, my second saddle test was put off. I decided to turn Rusty loose in the riding ring to get him used to have a lead line drag behind him - he is scared of that for some reason. I led him down to a big patch of clover and walked away. Can you see him standing way down there? He stood perfectly still for about 10 minutes while I put away my tack.

After a few minutes he started grazing - you can see a bit of the evil lead line in the grass.


He lifted his head as I got closer - probably wondering what the black thing on my face was! (the camera...) He posed for a couple of good pictures, but I deleted about 20 that had his ears going in all directions and him moving around because of the flies.
I can see his little brain working here - "um, do you have treats?" or maybe "she's coming to rescue me from this evil lead line"

This shot cracked me up - he was slowly getting annoyed with the bugs and the fact that I just kept walking around him taking pictures. Too funny.

"Are you done YET?"

That was my weekend - nothing too exciting. I've been sick since Sunday evening, so I haven't been back to test my second saddle. Hoping to do that tonight...

ETA: Does anyone know the settings in Blogger that allows larger views of your pictures when you click on them?? I work with web sites and HTML all day and I can't get it to work!! argh.

Tack, tack and more tack!

I seem to have accumulated a lot of tack in my 14 months or so of (recent) horse ownership. I have a huge jumble of english and western tack- breastplates, halters, polo wraps, saddle pads, bridles, bits, etc. etc. It's amazing how much stuff I end up with - I'm a bit of a shopaholic!

I had horses growing up and while I sold most of my tack back then, I kept 2 english saddles, a bridle and a martingale. I recently donated all but 1 saddle to a riding school that does summer camps for underprivileged kids - along with a pair of paddock boots and some old show clothing - I'm sure it will be put to good use.

I can't seem to pick either english or western riding, so I'm just going to do both! :-)

I wasn't sure that my western saddle fit my horse, but I've ordered a cashel reverse wedge pad specifically designed for western saddles, so I'm hoping that will help. I'm just planning to use the western saddle for trail rides - I find I'm much more relaxed riding western - I don't worry about leg position and posture as much as when I'm riding english.

I just need to find a solid coloured wool blanket to go over the Cashel pad. I'm hoping one of my local tack shops has something - the biggest tack shop around here only has patterend navajo style blankets and I just don't want that right now.

I have 2 english saddles on trial from another local english tack shop - so I'm hoping one of them works. I know that both fit Rusty well, I just need to ride in them and make sure my short stubby legs end up in the right position!

The saddle fitter that came out to help me took my Stubben saddle (that I bought from him last year) and has offered to give me credit towards my new saddle of the same price I paid last year! That is pretty much unheard of in the saddle world - another shop offered to take the saddle on consignment and their cut was 40%!

In addition to testing my new saddles this weekend, I'm going to do a major tack inventory and clean/sort/organize everything that I have. Stuff I don't need will get cleaned and photographed and then posted for sale on a local message board. Hopefully some of the extras will go and I'll have a bit of cash to spend on new stuff! LOL. I already have new stuff in mind that I want - how terrible is that???

As much as I like buying stuff online, I feel quite lucky that there are 3-4 good local tack shops that have a fairly wide range of products. Although, the thinline pads that 20 meter mentioned the other day have me drooling. I think I will save up for one next year and try them out.

Good boy Rusty, gooood boy!

I haven't done much of anything exciting over the past few days. Well - that's not entirely true - I did spend all day Sunday volunteering at a local horse show. It was fun - a couple of acquaintances were there, so I spent a bit of time gabbing with other horse people. I'm not a hugely social person in my day-to-day life - I tend to like to spend time alone, but every know and again I get the need for some human contact. Horse shows seem to be a good place for that as most people are friendly.

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I've been riding Rusty a fair bit. We are staying in the ring for now, just so I can continue to get used to him. He is a pretty steady guy - even after not being ridden for a few days, he is exactly the same as the last time you had him out. I like that consistency right now - I need to rebuild my confidence and get my position and seat nice and solid. I'm sure in a few years I'll be ready for something with a bit more spunk, but right now I'm happy with my old man! :-)

I even put 2 total beginners on him recently and he didn't bat an eyelash - he did try and cut corners a bit, but that is to be expected. He does try and get away with little things, but he is very passive about it.

My hubby Richard got on first. He rode a little bit as a kid, so was more comfortable.

After a couple of laps around the arena, he was asking "how do I make this thing go faster?" lol. I told him he wasn't ready for speed yet, because his hands weren't quite right. Patience grasshopper.

My step-son got on next - he was a little apprehensive, but I convinced him to just sit on Rusty and see what it was like.

Oh great, another beginner to bounce around on my back. There'd better be carrots.So, rider #2 was up. I tried to explain how to shorten and lengthen the reins, but it fell on deaf teenage ears, methinks.

Am I done yet? This is getting old fast.

Max was tied to a fence because he rolled in something nasty. Good thing there was a hose and horse shampoo nearby.

Rider #2 decided to try walking around on his own. Same question as his father: "Can this thing go any faster?" Luckily Rusty is lazy, so he just walked. Neither rider was ready for any speed. If they are still interested, we can try speed on the longe line someday. Interestingly enough, both riders disappeared when it was time to untack and clean up! Bums. :-)
That's about it for me - time to hit the hay. 0600 rolls around pretty early in these parts and the tack and grain don't buy themselves, so it's off to work!

Important Papers - Do you know where yours are?

Recently Richard was required to fill out forms to get a security clearance at work. They ask all kinds of information - including dates of weddings/divorces and addresses of relatives, etc. Richard couldn't remember the date of his 1st wedding or divorce, so being the helpful wife that I am, I made a snide comment about it must be on a form or certificate somewhere. Richard laughed and said that he had no idea where such a paper might be hidden, if he even still had it.

This led us to a major search of our house - we found it eventually. Stashed away in a box in the back recesses of the basement. I think I need to re-organize our storage area! I also found cans of tonic water - time for a g&t! :-)

This led me to a mini-panic about all of our other important papers - marriage license, mortgage documents, work related documents (pension, insurance, etc.), life/house insurance forms and contact info. My plan for the weekend is to organize all of this information into one location so that we can find it in an emergency.

I do have a horse related twist to this post - don't worry! This also led me to realize that my horsey papers were strewn all over the house. Bills of sale, vet records, association memberships, etc. were in piles and some in unopened envelopes!

So, I'm going to put together a binder for Mr. Rusty - so that everything is organized - just in case.

Here are a few things that will be in my binder:

• Rusty's bill of sale
• Printed emails from previous buyer with notes on Rusty's past
• Vet pre-purchase certificate
• Vaccination records
• Vet records
• Ontario Equestrian Federation membership card/contact info - they provide insurance to members. This might come in handy if something were to happen to me
• RideOntario time log (some associations have logs that allow you to accumulate hours working with your horse that in turn equal prizes)
• Receipts from expensive tack purchases (stubben saddle)
• Membership information for local horse clubs that I belong to, along with contact info and passwords

I was at a show recently and some owners were really organized - binders seemed to be the most popular. Others had no clue where their forms/insurance/registration papers were.

Other things that could go in your horse file system are:

• breed registration certificates (you'd be amazed at the number of local horse for sale ads that go something like this - "this horse is registered "x", but we lost the papers!
• breed organization member cards/member pin numbers/passwords
• futurity nominations/forms/results, etc.
• breeding information, as well as photos of offspring
• show records/results - might come in handy if you were to sell your horse
• photos from shows/events/phases of life (ie weanling/yearling/2yr old etc.)
• trailer safety documents/bill of sale/insurance info
• horse insurance papers

I'm sure there are more things, but that's all I can think of for now. Does everyone have a binder/book/box for their horse(s)?

Tack Rooms and Things Learned

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for the Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rainy Monday

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is everyone else up to???

Herd dynamics and nerves

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Blogging Space

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

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

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

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

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

Fun idea, Pony Girl!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AANNNNDDD, most importantly:

• have FUN!!!!!

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

TGIF and saddle fit issues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Appy's first day at his new home

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it safe to come out???

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

Who is that guy? Does he have treats?