It's not SERIOUSLY going to rain for two days, right? RIGHT???!?

I know I know. It's been a while. I'm really not the best at juggling, not with the balls, not with life! NOT a juggler!

Work has been on again off again. Right when the weather looks like it's finally going to even out a bit for us so we can have a little more predictability in scheduling, it either gets windy, rainy, or the temps drop suddenly for a day or two only to surge right back up. The constant shifts in weather not only make it really REALLY annoying to plan out lessons, rides, and leisure activities, but it also makes both the horses and myself a little grumpy...some of the horses are coping by acting grouchier than usual, others feel fresh, and others just can't be bothered to pay attention. I, on the other hand, keep getting stupid headaches when the rain comes and goes and I feel much more tired than I do around this time of year. Usually, this is when I start to become wide awake and super energetic. But enough whining...I've been too whiney.

We are making some progress at the farm. Doc has found a forever home so the thoroughbred projects are officially (and finally!) gone! I do very much miss having the thoroughbreds to ride because I am quite partial and lets face it, they are more my size than these crazy ponies, BUT I am glad to see them all finally move on to their own families.

Buster is being a little rockstar. I have since passed him on to Kaddie as her project since she is a few inches shorter than me and even that little difference in height makes a huge difference on such a little pony. Kaddie is thoroughly in love with him...how could she not be? He's a cool little dude. Super brave and absolutely adorable. Kaddie has Buster understanding his leads, popping over small jumps and he even did a little grid and a trail ride. He's still not so sure about clippers and water but he's been so easy to work with so far so I think he will accept them soon.

Nellie was next in line to be broke to saddle but must have twisted something or have an abscess so we let her have off the past few weeks to mend. No reason to rush.

Trick has been in work with Hope and Kaddie. Since I had some time open up this past week and the weather was fairly cooperative I took over his work. We worked a little more on fixing his forwardness issues on the lunge and worked in hand as well. He's very smart but surprisingly a little more nervous than he was when we first got him, but the week with just me working him already seems to have brought him around a bit. Perhaps he just gets confused and nervous with multiple people working with him. I never get a chance to really watch everyone work with the ponies so there is a good chance each person expects slightly different things from him...some horses just don't handle conflicting expectations as well as others. He was doing really well this week and was so calm after some lunging so I played with the mounting block. He was so calm about that, too...so...I just swung on. He definitely didn't over react or do anything naughty but he really doesn't feel too much like he's been ridden before. If he has that maybe just a handful of times, several years ago...because he sure felt like it was his first ride. I found that he really likes to carry his head way above the bit which makes things a bit difficult because when he gets quick, he also pulls up against my hand. He's also pretty sensitive so rides will have to be very quiet for a while. But no buck nor rear nor any other dramatics other than trotting like a drunk pony and taking a while to respond to my voice commands. He should figure it out fast enough, IF the stupid weather will just stabilize a bit! Breaking horses is hard when you also have to work around weather, because a couple of days off for a newly broke horse sometimes sets you back a few steps, whereas a broke horse can pick up where they left off.

Bear has converted to western for the time being because he seems happier and more comfortable in that type of work. If anything it will at least teach him that slow and steady is very acceptable. He has a knack for it, he is so very sensitive to seat and weight, it's very fun to ride him because you don't need the reins for a whole lot. Just sit a certain way to turn, put more energy in your body to trot or canter, take out energy to slow down, sit deep to stop. He is very responsive and has seemed pretty happy with his new job.

Bubbles needs to find a home! He is an AWESOME pony but just doesn't seem to have a place at our barn. I just don't have the smaller sized, more focused/educated riders for him. Otherwise, I'd want to keep him forever and ever...he's a jack of all trades and my favorite to jump because he is so willing, nonchalant and automatic. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I want him so badly to just suck it up and carry the less balanced kids but he just won't do it! If I had more "gung ho" kids we might be able to make him work, but I just plain don't have them. Do you know how frustrating it is to have a pony perfect in every single way except he won't do the one little thing you need him to do? Oh well. Like I keep saying. It takes an extremely special pony/horse to make a lesson pony/horse. Many just don't like it, and understandably so. It's a bit boring, it requires tons of patience and tolerance, and enough knowledge to know when to ignore a kid something a kid is doing and when to listen.

Gabe is still with me, and doing pretty well. He is finally going forward forward forward and starting to accept the bit. We don't hardly ever had any panicky, upset, explosive or shut down moments anymore, and he is actually looking happy in general now, and pretty happy about work, too. Which makes me happy! His progress is still pretty slow, but it is a solid progress now. He's starting to move off my leg much better and sit up and bend through turns. We are starting shallow serpentines and stretchy trot as well to get him much more supple and through. He seems to get it a little more each time, and he's even graduated from his "training wheels" (aka, mullen mouth bit and drop noseband, to keep him happy and me safe!) to a big boy loose ring with a bean and regular noseband :) Earlier this month, he also ventured to Hilltop Farm with his pasture friend, Moose, for an adventure to see how he would behave off the property. The trailering went SO much better with Moose there, he behaved himself once in a stall at Hilltop, and had a good lesson with Micheal and was fairly consistent with how he behaves at home, so it was very encouraging!

Lessons are running pretty smoothly, though getting some of these kids to set goals for themselves is a chore! (You know who you are!) Me: "So, what do you want to work on?" Kid: "I dunno" Me: "Well, what kind of classes do you want to show in this year?" Kid: "I dunno" Me: "Do you have a certain discipline you want to work toward?" Kid: "Ummmm...not really" Because of this type of dialogue, I am having some trouble figuring out how to plan out shows for this year. I don't even know what KIND of shows these kids want to do! Alas, the woes of being a multi-discipline, low key, family oriented barn!

Miss Moose has had some ups and downs. We've been dealing with a little bit of a shoulder issue but it seems to be sorting out with no problems. She also went to her first event at Olde Hope and banged out an AMAZING dressage test with a 22.5, blowing our competition out of the water...but completely froze up at the jumping parts so we were eliminated. However, we did get to school cross country anyway, and I finally got her going forward over the jumps again and even into the water. At home her jumping, even in the ring, has gotten nervous and very rushed, all since the stupid clinic I took her to. I was finally getting her jumping fairly well and one little bad experience knocked us back to the beginning. It made me do some thinking. Originally I was going to give her this year to try eventing and if it wasn't going well, we'd opt to do just dressage or I'd sell her for another horse. However, seeing how hard it is to get her confident over fences and how fast it can be taken back to the very beginning and how upset it makes her, AND seeing as how I have been becoming super partial to dressage and not getting the same amazing feeling of accomplishment from a good round of jumping, I think I have officially decided to just do dressage with Moose. I don't know why I fight it so much, I love dressage...Moose likes it and judges love her...and though I LIKE jumping I don't LOVE it...I still keep fighting for eventing. Well I think I'm just going to come out and admit that dressage is where we belong. We might still try to event or do small jumpers, but it is on the back burner now. And I have to say, I feel excited to have made the decision. I want to see just how far I can take Moose up the levels.

That said, here is a bit of exciting news I just received today. I saw a post from Jane Savoie about needing 1st level demo riders for her clinic in October. I sent her a message and she requested a video. Karolyn graciously agreed to make a spur of the moment video with me and I sent it to Jane. This morning she told me that we looked great and to consider it done, I'm in the clinic! So Miss Moose and I will go to Gladstone, NJ in October to ride for two days of the clinic and I will get to audit for free (saves me $500 woohoo!) and Jane foots the stabling bill. Moose gets to stay at the USET headquarters farm, Hamilton farm, for the days we are there. I am beyond excited...any exposure I can get to big names ROCKS, I basically get two lessons plus auditing for free, and the clinic is a great subject: The Art of Teaching...so I will have some fabulous new teaching methods to come home with and apply. Hooray! So now boot camp begins...Moose needs to be much more solid in her first level moves than she is right now. Her leg yields need to happen more immediately and her counter canter, while actually one of the easiest first level skills for her to pick up, needs just a bit more obedience. Even though it is all the way in October I'm already psyched :)

Off to get some mundane errands done!

I'll update now before I get comfortable!

Today was a fairly good day for the horses.

Buster was first today. He felt really good at the walk and trot...minimal wiggling, good balance and steering, mostly obedient, so I decide to just try this whole canter thing one more time. Now that I know what he does hn I ask for canter (shoot forward, dodge around) I prepared a little better. I shortened m stirrups a hole do I could get out of the saddle a bit and really step down in each stirrup. I rode with a shorter, steadier contact, and when he was in canter I wrapped my lower legs around him a bit more and really clung on with my inside leg around the corners so centrifical force couldn't throw me to the outside. And viola! A canter! We cantered the whole ring in both directions and he seemed to settle into it so I think we are good to go now, the first real canter is out of the way! We also did our first trot poles and he did really well!

I rode Doc next and did work out of the ring and on some hills and managed to get a nice forward step at the trot and got him to soften his jaw for much I the ride, so hooray!

Gabe had the weekend off which seemed to cause him to be a little anxious and stuck today but we still got our three gaits fairly forward and straight.

Bear even felt pretty goo today and we worked on stretching at all three gaits and staying steady and relaxed over trot poles.

Off to teach!

Hopefully April Will Not Bring Too Many Showers

I keep telling myself that I will update the blog, but then I fall asleep (or into a stupor until I fall asleep) I come home at the end of these already surprisingly busy days ready to melt into the couch and not move til morning (and again, I now have a mountain of laundry awaiting my motivation!)

Lessons have been picking up ad the horses are shedding out and getting beauty treatments and getting fitter. Everyone is working on strengthening their noodle winter legs and doing exercises that will help both rider and horse regain balance and harmony on the flat and over fences.

We have finally sold two of the thoroughbreds, Evil and Red, and now just have Doc left. So focus is now starting to shift toward the pony projects we need to get prepped to sell.

Buster is getting the hang of working undersaddle and is now starting to work on figures. He's starting to get comfortable so now he's starting to test his boundries. I still need to figure out how to get him cantering with a rider but I'm focusing on getting his walk trot as consistent as I can before I work on the canter.

Bear is slowly coming back into work, working on losing weight and building strength. I'm just focusing on balance and obedience right now and not fussing on details at the moment.

Bubbles is a brat...but a champ at the same time! He has some bad pony habits like being barn sour if he thinks he's done working or trying to canter off when he's asked to trot, but on the flip side he's uber quiet and laid back and for a plain ol' nothing fancy potentially part Tennessee walker pony that needs to learn to not move and jump hollow, that boy can jump! He's already quite surprised me with his abilities and his very laidback additude about jumping no fuss, no rush, no hesitation or panic. In fact he did his first grid today in a lesson, and I had to jack the fences up just to get his attention...otherwise he just tries to lazily trot over everything. He has no problem with height, and he will only get better once he learns to stretch his top line over the fences. He's a cool little pony...but apparently too snotty for most of my kids! Bad pony!

Gabe is doing quite well. I wish I had took video of his first lunge and first ride so I could have a before and after video. Our first ride he was so anxious I thought he'd shoot out from under me or rear...he was clacking and grinding his teeth like a maniac and bobbing his head...everytime I'd touch the rein he'd panic, and I could barely get him to move forward. I also had to do a flying dismount as he wouldn't halt without freaking out. But several rides later and now we are walking, trotting, cantering, halting, and doing large circles in a fairly calm, consistently forward manner. So I am very pleased, and he has some fun gaits in there so I'm excited to see what I can get out of him. He has a long way to go and it will be a very delicate process...but I'm really happy I get to work with him. I've always liked horses with some problems because I like figuring out how to get the best out of them, it's very rewarding! Thanks for the opportunity Karly!

Moose has been all over the place! Some days she's fabulous, others she is just so bored with everything that she's a royal pain to ride because she's so busy fussing over one thing or another. I have found that she's the type that you can't baby when she's being unfocused...I have to tell her right out to do it and do it now because I said so. She's now going over jumps a little better but now she is apparently a show jumper...she approaches nicely, then looks on to the fences, puts her head up and rushes the last few strides and puts a ton of air between herself and the fence. Oh geez. But at least now she is being careful about her jumps! I signed us up for our first event at Olde Hope on April 15th in the into horse division, so the jumps will be 2'3". I'm not expecting much from this event, I'm chalking it up to a good schooling show. I think she's the type that just needs to get out there and start doing her job and get a bajillion miles of experience under her belt before she will actually be competitive. Hopefully we will at least get a pretty picture or two put of it :)

Off to veg and prepare for another day of riding and teaching!

Ack! Spring!

Nice weather has brought me an insanely busy schedule already and boy I am tired...and my laundry is so backed up...I just don't have time to do it and when I do have time, I schedule a lesson or a trip for Moose or I visit the SO in Maryland. Boy this summer is going to suck the life out of me! If you see me in a lifeless pile as the barn gets busier, find me some caffeine, please!

So this update won't be too detailed because I am ready for bed!

Oh let's see...

Moose is doing alright but has lost all confidence over jumps from that clinic so we are kinda back to basics for jumps for a while. I feel bad for her...she goes up to the jumps like she wants to go over but is scared outta her mind...gets right up to the jump and panics and her feet stick to the ground. But she's starting to go over things again now so I'll just keep things easy. We have a xc schooling at olde hope this weekend so we will take our time, start tiny and build up a tiny bit.

I was so proud of her the other day when a helicopter landed right across the trail from us when we were on a hack. All the other horses were going nuts but moose just tensed up a bit and I let her trot away from the area and she didn't get silly at all...good girl!

Red is slowly starting to come around for me but he's so very offended that I am making him be more responsible for himself and stay balanced and keep his head straight. Rides right now are hit or miss but each ride he gets a little less dramatic so that's something. I am excited for him to make some breakthroughs because he is such a cool horse with so much raw talent. He is leading much better now though, Igot him to finally understand that he shouldn't throw his head up when I pull on the lead but slow his feet and drop his head so now I don't need the chain. I still have to remind him to be attentive a few times but it's much more pleasant. I think he and I will have a great relationship once he realizes that what I'm asking him to do will actually make rides easier and more enjoyable for him. Right now he's pretty sure I'm unreasonable and impossible to work with!

Bubbles. Heh. Well he's not really cut out to be a lesson pony. Butte more I get to know him and the more comfortable he gets the more I see a devious pony who actually seems as though he has been in a lesson program before and flunked out! He's so very fun to ride and someone along the way has taught this pony to jump and jump very well (smoothest easiest ride on a line and see his distances like a champ!) but he seems like he's a bit naughty about little kids and/or many changes of rider. However I did manage I find one student that fits him so hopefully they will continue to have some fun together! But I am sick of lesson pony shopping! I thought for sure Bubbles was it. Geez...you fix a ponys sore mouth and he repays you by being a clever, naughty thing. Well...at least he seems so much happier than when we first got him...and I have to admit that he makes me laugh. An I still find him to be a cool, fun pony...just maybe not a little kid up down lesson pony :(

Quigley and Bear are just kinda doing fat camp.

Kaddie is working with Doc and Greyson. Greyson is doing fantastic and finally seems to have figured this whole canter thing out. So now him an Jess are working together and so far seem to be a good team. He's such a neat pony. Doc is taking his time and learning to relax and go softly on the aids.

Buster hasn't had as many rides as I'd like lately but he's being fairly pleasant.

Hope got Nellie to wear a saddle the other day! Cricket on the other hand needs a major wake up call. She is definitely trying to be the boss and is a very hard headed thing. Corey may be coming out to help work with her a few times because she is trying to use her strength against me and I simply am not strong enough to make a good impression on her. I think a few goes with someone that can physically demand respect from her a few times will help a lot, since right now she's pretty sure that she can take anyone on and she's not afraid to throw herself on top of you if you pressure her.

I picked up Karlys horse, Gabe today to start him in training for the next two months. Poor guy is so overwhelmed right now, but I'm excited to work with him and very excited to get my first outside client for training with hopes that it could lead to more outside training projects in the future...plus I see it as an opportunity to build a name or myself since I have little show record and won't have much chance this year to do anything impressive in a show ring since Moose is so young and I have no other horses to bring along to show. One little step at a time :)

Goodnight!

Mother Knows Best

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday...I know my horse best, and I need to just follow my gut sometimes. Because I didn't, I now have a sore butt!

I took Moose down to Chesapeake City, MD to ride in a cross country clinic with Stuert Pittman yesterday morning. She was much more like her good ol' laid back self...yay! We popped over a lot of jumps and kind of just let her see as much as possible.

I have been learning Moose's jumping style. She gets really thrown off very easily if anything isn't extremely straight forward. Even adding ground poles in front of a jump can really fluster and confuse her. She's still very much in the experimental phase of learning p jump...she tries new ways of taking jumps almost every time so I'm just keeping the jumps low and simple and staying quiet and letting her figure it all out. She really hasn't jumped all that much (ever) and we've only just started jumping again after a winter of just flatwork. I also know that at the beginning of a ride she's sloppier and more flustered. Then if I did my job right, she gives me some really good relaxed jump efforts. Then, if I stupidly keep pushing her, or I jump her one jump too many, she starts to tire and get sloppy again and may even shut down on me again. So I try to end her on a good note and not push her til she gets sloppy again. The progress is slow but there is progress.

Well I wasn't planning on jumping her quite so much or so high at the clinic but I listened to Stuert. Moose was being a champ...sure she stopped at some goofy looking jumps but she just needed to look at them and then shed go over on try number 2. I think she's just the type of horse that needs to have a gazillion little jumps under her belt for her to build her confidence and then we will have a big breakthrough someday where she will stop questioning and just go over whatever is in front of her.

Well Moose was sloppy at first, then she really pulled it together and wa s even seeing some distances and taking some nice BN fences with good form and confidence and I remembered just how exhilarating riding a good horse xc can feel.

I would have ended her there. We pushed her a little with some more height than shes seen so I would have stopped whole we were ahead...but the clinician asked us to try another line...the first jump was a novice fence and presented like a big, dark, looming wall...and was bigger than I've ever asked moose to jump. And now she was getting tired too. But we tried...ad you know, she came in like she was going to try for me...but she got right up to the base of the fence and seemed really confuse as to why there was no room to take off, and chested into ito. We tried again but her confidence was taken down a notch, and she panicked at the base again and I came off. I got back on and tried to jump the smaller jump next to it that she had already jumped but it seems she got really thrown off and stopped at that one too. I got her over a couple of little jumps again and ended with a good note. But I should have followed my gut and said Moose had enough before we even tried that fence. She needs more confidence over little fences before I ask for more height...I think she really just couldn't figure out where her feet needed to go to make it over that height.

But she was awesome. I was so proud of her. I have a few bad videos and equally bad photos but I do have video of my fall so as soon as I get my camera back from Corey I'll share it!

I also finally just followed my gut and tried a new bit setup for moose for jumping xc. She seems to get thrown off and flustered if she's trying to focus on a jump and I try to talk to her with the reins at the same time, and can get dramatically upset by even a teensy half halt sometimes. I really think she doesn't like the tongue pressure, and will also get distracted by the bit and pull it back with her tongue to bite it.

So I decided to try a Myler so it had some bend and give to it but could collapse completely so she can't fold it with her tongue to bite it, and she held it in her mouth much more quietly than her other bit, but still a little distracted/overly offended by it xc. I don't want to bit my little sensitive princess up...not my style. So knowing how much she doesn't like nosebands, I tried my old kineton, which goes over the nose and hooks under the bit, so nothing is restricting her from moving her jaw, and when I use rein, it puts pressure on the nose and keeps te bit from being pulled down around her lower jaw. It also keeps the bit more stable. She really seems to like it! A LOT! She doesn't fuss and bite it or try to spit it out, and I feel her in my hand all the time...she's not afraid to reach into my hand and move forward, and when I need to adjust her when cantering around our course, she rocks back for me without sucking behind the bit, falling on the forehand, or freaking out. She felt really confident and steady in it. My fall also proved how much she likes it. The last time I fell off Moose and hung on the reins I thought we were both going to get seriously hurt. She freaked out and reared and threw herself around in panic. This time, I hung on the reins, and she just kind of shuffled to the side and stopped. I feel certain she would have freaked out if I didn't have that kineton on her keeping the bit up off her tongue and lower jaw. She just can't stand that feeling. So hopefully she continues to enjoy this set up. I ordered her a loose ring myler to try for dressage...I'm hoping she likes it. I'm hoping she finally feels content and happy with holding the bit rather than spitting it out or biting at it.


And here's a quick update on some of the projects!

Greyson is doing great under Kaddies patient riding and now Jess is riding him as well. His canter is relaxing and becoming much more balanced and therefore controllable. Kaddie even took him out xc and reported he jumped everything like a champ!

Bubbles also had a xc outing and was also a champ, jumped whatever I pointed him at quite politely. He also had a jump school in the ring and did awesome. He's starting to chill out an settle into the idea of his new job. I'm hoping to throw him in a lesson or two a week to see how he rides for the kids.

Bear and Quigley are still just doing fat camp!

Doc ha his ups and downs but Kaddie is figuring him out and he looks more chipper every ride.

Red is starting to mentally accept going back to work so right now we are just workig on filling in some of the holes in his flatwork. He's quite crooked and tries to hind behind the aids do I'm trying to get him to keep his body straight and step more confidently forward and into the bridle, but he's a quite anxious guy so it will take a little while to get him consistent.

Buster is doing well and getting more balanced and confident but sadly my size difference to him is starting to cause problems...I can't canter him! I'm too big and wobbly up there to stay balanced as he learns to canter with a rider, so at the moment I am brainstorming as to what to do...im thinking I'll try my smaller lighter western saddle that I used I ride ponies in for fun and see if it's more stable on him. If that doesn't work, I may have to get him solid w/t and solid canter on the lunge and have to get a confident super balanced kid to canter him, but I don't want anyone to get hurt...buster rally doesn't like cantering with a rider!

I actually had two very successful jump schools on Pav so we will see what time brings us with him. Hopefully I can keep him laid back about his jumps.

Off to bed in prep for a full warm day of riding and teaching!

Time Eludes Me

More daylight+cooperating weather+visiting Corey= not a whole lotta extra time to sit down an blog! So here are a few updates.

All the horses seem to be feeling spring coming up, and therefore they have been a little difficult!

Bubbles is coming along quite nicely so I hope before we really get packed with lessons I can start to integrate him into the program. Just trying to get him a little longer and lower in his head carriage so he won't be so tense and will be easier to steer for the kids.

Kaddie has been helping me with Doc and Greyson and they are both doing pretty well. Doc has his up and down days but he seems to be relaxing a little more each day for Kaddie. Greyson's canter is starting to relax as well...I don't think he will ever be a slow canterer but now he's learning to balance himself a little better so he is steerable!

Quigley and Bear have joined fat camp and will be mainly working on losing weight and some low key strength building exercises...I want to see if Bear will pony off of Quigley so I can get the fat camp kids exercised at the same time...I think there is potential for that to work.

Buster had his fifth ride today and his second ride in the big ring! Today I didn't even bother to lunge him first and he did great. He's starting to understand the aids but is still very wobbly, but he seem very brave and not upset by it all. Right now the goal is to just get him forward and straight an accepting the bit, and learning how to steer. I'm going to wait until he is a little more sure footed before asking him to canter again.

Nellie started some round penning yesterday and seems to have calmed down since the last time I round penned her and seems more focused and ready to get to work.

Red started back into work today...he has some major rust to knock off!

As I get to see all the students more often, I am slowly getting the lesson horses and kids into a program to help the horses get fitter and the kids sharper. This spring will be full of grid work, cavaletti work, stirrup less work,h hill work, and flatwork.

Moose continues to b horribly frustrating. She's perfect at Hilltop in tht nice, distraction free indoor. But anywhere else, she is a monster. I feel like I'm riding two different horses! I'm going to try a couple of different bits...she keeps sucking the bit back with her tongue and biting it and fixates on it...then leans into it too hard, but will react violently when I make even a small half halt or correction. So I'm looking for a less distracting bit that she can't fold back to bite...like maybe a myler or a mullen mouth. She's just never been very quiet in her bit but has gotten worse since we started working on a shorter rein. Grrr.

This saturday is sadly the day that I will leave this earth. Sorry everyone :( I am riding in a xc clinic with Moose and they only had Beginner Novice open...so with the way Moose is acting in general plus the fact that she is jumping like a loon or slamming on the breaks at new jumps...well, I am going to die. So it was nice knowing you all. I am glad that our first xc school of the year is with a clinician so I have some eyes on the ground and some fresh suggestions because Moose is just unlike any horse I have ever taught to jump.

Ok gotta do some laundry...been wearing the same breeches several days now...ew.

Do Not Forget to Communicate...

...your horse wasn't born knowing what you want! Try not to forget that you are riding something with a brain, not a machine...be clear, be fair, be considerate of what each horse need from you. Some horses needs a therapist, some need a mother, some need a boss, some need a professor...most need a mix. For example, today I had Alexis ride Bear, who is extremely anxious about jumping I set him up a little grid that really required some thinking hoping to get him thinking rather than just mentally yelling at the top of his lungs and charging the jumps. Since hes so anxious and tense and want to scramble through at top speed, the rider naturally wants to pull back to slow him down...but whats does that do for the tense horse? Makes them more tense. I wanted Bear to relax, realize that the rider would stay out of his far, and let him figure out his feet. So Alexis played therapist/mother today, talking to him, telling him he was the best pony in the world, telling him good try for each effort, and staying relaxed and calm to set a good example. No miracles today, but Bear started to act less anxious and panicky when Alexis loosened up her reins and concentrated on just staying relaxed and centered an talked to him calmly throughout the exercise.

So again I stress, if thing are not happening the way you want, stop and think WHY, and remember that you're horse is probably wondering what the heck you want from them, too.

Today was pretty productive. I rode Buster first. I reviewed lunging with him to see where his head was a and review voice commands and staying forward. He was very goo and let me swing on him with no fuss. He found his balance under me pretty fast and we had a nice walk and trot around ad practiced a few transitions and some steering. I asked of a canter and he took two strides, decided it was horrible and tried to turn and bucked, but I got him straight and got him forward again for several more strides and left it at that. He's a quick learner so I think next week we might be able to venture to the ring, maybe with a lead horse first to help him move forward with more confidence in a bigger space.

Pav came next. I need to try to get him in some sort of shape and see if there is any possibility of reschooling him how to jump more politely for a less educated rider. I took him out to the track for a warm up since the old boy is very stiff and it takes a good long time to get him to loosen up. In the ring I worked on cantering some small fences and tried to keep him in a steady rhythm all the way to the fence without holding onto his mouth...he reacts almost like a race horse to increased rein pressure when approaching a jump...more rein = more speed. So I want him to just keep the same canter the whole way to the fences and keep him stretching over his back. He did pretty well today, only one time did his do the infamous Pav Freight Train move, and it wasn't that bad. If he can jump like this all the time, he'd be a much more useful horse...I could use him in lessons or we could find someone who could lease him. But his brain is on a switch, someways he's great and others he's a spaz over fences. But I'm still hoping that he will finally just decide to act his age and get bored with jumping an stay nice and steady all the time.

I got to hop on Quigley today. He was very good and seems easy peasy to ride. Cluck to trot, kiss to canter. He's very balance through his turns and his canter was pleasantly well balanced and comfy. If he were smaller he'd be a great kids beginner horse, he seems very safe and sane and all around a good guy. I took him out to the track and had a little trot and canter to see how he acted and to help him start to lose some weight. He was very well behaved.

Moose had a dressage day...she's been so very frustrating these past few months. She's better now that she's back at Knights Landing and off all that food, but she is just going through a phase where she has zero interest in focusing on her work...I cannot hold her attention for longer than ten seconds at a time no matter what I try. I imagine she is feeling spring but still...it is really holding us back. And she's really just not settling in to the bit...even when I first put her bridle on he is chomping and crunching and trying to spit it out and she's never content to find a nice way to hold the bit and stay there when I ride. I've had her teeth checked and changed noseband an watch her like a hawk for back soreness again but I his cannot fin anything wrong. I really think I might experiment with a few different bits and see if she simply doesn't like the one she has now.

After a few lessons I pulled Trick out and round penned with him for a few minutes. Sadly he's still off but I got I demo to Alexis on how to work the newer ponies in the roundpen so maybe we can get them all working soon with a joint effort. I'd like to teach a few more of the older girls how to work the ponies!

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, but I will have a lesson with Michael. Hopefully Moose will be naughty so Michael can see what se does when she's not focusing and can help me through it. She is always pretty dang good at Hilltop and tells Michael she's a perfect little mare all of the time and not naughty at all. HA!

One down...too many more to go!

Today was lovely, and to my delight, I had a very productive day of riding.

To kick things off, I hopped on Bubbles. I'm still using those draw reins, but I die inside a little everytime I use them...because I know I could train him the right way, with patience and without shortcut gadgetry...but time constraints are sadly making shortcuts occasionally necessary. I need a lesson pony come summer! Luckily though, they do seem to be accomplishing what I want...he's learning to telescope out his neck an not tighten up and put his head straight up whenever he feels rein pressure. A dentist will be out tomorrow, I'm hoping he needs work...maybe some of his tension roots from years of protecting an uncomfortable mouth. We also got both leads today and he didn't get quite so jumpy when I'd make noise for transitions. He's a really good pony he's just not quite sure what's expected.

After Bubbles, I got Bubbles out and put him through the routine...he was really good on the cross ties today so I even tried going out of sight a few times and he was great. I groomed him and tacked him up and went to the roundpen. I skipped free lunging since he seems to have that down and went right to lunging on the line and he did great. I played with the mounting block today and he wasn't bothered in the least, and didn't mind me putting my weight in the stirrup. So I laid over him and rubbed him all over and told him what a good smart boy he was. He was so content and mellow and there were few distractions around so I made the decision to get on...it felt like the right time, which I wasn't expecting to happen today, but he told me today was the big day! So I laid on him and quietly swung my leg over and picked up my stirrup, and slooooowly sat up while petting him and talking to him. I usually like a ground person for the first ride but I just felt like he didn't really need one. I asked him to walk and while it took him a few confused minutes to figure out how to balance as move with me on him, he settled in really well. We practiced whoa and walk on, then when he felt more confident and I felt happy with his whoa, I clucked him up to a trot. He figured it out fairly quickly and was a very good boy. He didn't seem to be too upset by my legs on him and really never had any outbursts. I just encouraged him forward and tried to stay quiet and balanced. We worked a little on some steering and transitions and ended. He was such a little champ and seemed to understand that he did a good job. I plan to hop on him tomorrow again to reinforce today's adventure. Maybe we will have a canter...we will see what he has to say about that! I do have a feeling that he will start to test his boundaries as he gets more comfortable with being ridden...I have a feeling he will become fast friends with Mr.Crop in the not too distant future! Hopefully not but that's the vibe I get from him!

Evil is still feeling his youth/spring and is one ornery boy! We got some good long and low work at the trot but his transitions stink...his head instantly goes up, no matter how hard I try to ride transitions off the seat and leg. I he will come around, I think he's just going through a naughty phase/his lack of education is shining through.

Moose was next. I rode her yesterday too. I put her in a simple eggbutt copper snaffle yesterday hoping that the increased stability would encourage her to carry the bit quieter and make my aids feel a little more straightforward...sometimes I suspect that the super wiggly KK loose ring is just too muddled and distracting to her. She did really well in it and did seem more forward and accepting of the bit. I jumped yesterday and she did fairly well. I'm still using placing poles and setting my jumps at a height that really requires her to arc around them, since she likes to jump flat. I also jumped some of the jumps with fillers and set up a fairly wide cross rail oxer...stuff that would make her give the jump plenty of room and respect. I only jump her over each jump until she is just STARTING to feel at ease with it..if I let her get too comfortable with a jump she starts getting sloppy and pulling rails without batting an eye.

Today I put the eggbutt on again with a figure 8 with intentions of doing work on the track. She still is just to whiny about the bit sometimes as I want her to just stop complaining and figure it out...so I was hoping shed accept the figure 8 noseband and start to realize that fussing with the bit isn't the answer...and she obviously hates the drop. She was very good on the track and seemed very happy to be out of a ring for the first time in months. We did a lot of long and low work at the trot and then did some canter work, just focusing on forward and straight and soft in my hand and striving for self carriage. She was a little distracted but did well overall. I let her stretch out for a gallop twice and really was surprised that I had to push her hard to get her into it...I guess even though she's been hot she's still out of shape! I was very happy when I asked her back from the gallop and she came right back to me so easily.

Bear was last, I've had him very low on my priority list lately so he hasn't had many rides, but he was very good. A little speedy at the canter now and then but not bad. We popped over a few small fences. He wasn't bad but still would like to rush in and away, so sometimes I will walk him to the jump or walk it an let him trot a few steps away and make him do a nice canter circle after and he comes back pretty easy.

Tomorrow won't be as warm but at least it's supposed to be sunny!

Horse Expo

I'm sitting waiting for Theatre Equus to begin so I thought I'd write some quick notes on some of the clinics I saw today at the horse expo.

First I watched the trainers from the Ex Racehorse Trainers Challenge. I saw them in MD 5 weeks ago. There, three trainers picked one of four fresh off the track thoroughbreds and took them home for five weeks. Here at the PA expo, they are to show what they have accomplished with these horses in those 5 weeks. It was very refreshing to watch these professional trainers. It helped reassure me that the way I have been working with the horse and pony projects at Knights Landing is correct and appropriate. None of the trainers achieved any miracles in 5 weeks. Their horses now walk, trot and canter calmly, but still have some nerves or crookedness and moments of frustration. They can jump small crossrails but the trainers aren't pushing them for more height or coursework yet for the sake of a good show...they are working them at a pace appropriate for each horses personality and progress. They are working primarily on relaxation and understanding on the flat, knowing full well that it will pay off greatly over fences down the road if they put in the patient flatwork now. I was very glad to be able to watch professionals handle the same types of horses i ride in a fashion very similar to my own. Makes me feel like I know what I'm doing :)

I also got to watch a clinic with Jim Wofford on perfecting the horses jumping abilities...and guess what ladies...they did GRIDWORK (see...I'm NOT crazy when I say GRIDWORK leads to good coursework!) it was also very refreshing to hear him comment on the importance of correct, relaxed flatwork BEFORE jumping (again...I'm not crazy when I emphasize flatwork!!!) you can't have a good jump out of poor flatwork. You can make it over the fences, but the ride will not be fun, easy or comfortable. He ALSO said another thing I've been telling a lot of my students lately...let the horse jump! It's the horses job to jump, your job is to present the jump well and then say centered and unhindering over his back.

It was so very very good to see and hear a lot of things that I've been doing or saying when riding and teaching. I hope some of you get a chance to go to the expo...watch Jim Wofford and the ex racehorse trainers challenge for sure. Oh, and stop by the Painting Pony booth and meet Minnow, a Chincoteague pony I used to ride when I was little! Watch him paint and look at his cool paintings. I have one...I actually sent his owner a picture of my tb Louie after he passed away, and she set it beside Minnows easel so he could paint a picture of Louie for me :)

Have fun! If it's windy tomorrow I may just come back!

Spring is in the air!

The past two days were beautiful! I got a very nice preview of what my days will be like come warmer weather. Lots more time and energy to ride...yay!

On Wednesday morning I brought Miss Moose back to Knights Landing an I'm pleased to report that she has settled in beautifully. I was worried she would be very antsy and grumpy and spooky since she's been having a rough winter what with being wayyyy overfed, but she seems extremely happy to be back. She even gets her little boyfriend, Greyson, back and he's already following her around like a lost puppy.i rode her Wednesday and yesterday and she is already much better than she has been all winter. We do have some damage control to do since our rides this winter were extremely counterproductive due to her excessive energy and spookiness, but hopefully we will bounce back quickly. But now I have to get my saddle fitter back out again because my saddle seems to be sitting too low in the front and a little to the right...and both Moose and I are sensitive creatures, so even the minor imbalance feels huge to us. I think she's just still growing an changing shape and since the saddle is new, I think the flocking I just getting settled in and needs some readjusting. Annette to the rescue!

I've ridden Bubbles both days too. He's a good boy and he seems safe and sane but i am finding he is surprisingly over sensitive, which really stinks. I hope he will settle out of it. I tried rising him in a halter Wednesday thinking his teeth were bothering him but sadly he was still very high headed. I do think his teeth probably need done but I was hoping his head throwing had to do with his teeth hurting but it doesn't seem 100% so. So despite my extreme hatred of draw reins and other shortcut tack, I tried riding him in draw reins yesterday...everything else I tried still resulted in his head going up. They did actually seem to get the point across very well, and we even got the left lead for the first time. So hopefully after a bunch of rides in the draw reins he will just keep his head longer and lower. As far as his sensitivity...I'm not sure he will completely become immune to leg and voice, but maybe I can still use him for lessons and just teach the kids how to ride him...squeezes with the leg, not kicking...and very quiet voice. I hate looking for beginner lesson ponies. You never know what you have until you start using them in the program. Some ponies may hate kids, others may like them better than a rider like me.

Evil is doing okay, he seems to be feeling spring and his youth at the moment and is being a royal brat! But he has a load of potential and I I can get him caught up in his education I think he will be super fun an talented. For now I just have to wait out the temper tantrums!

Buster is mighty close to being ridden. I think late next week I might be able to ride him, but I won't know til that day comes. He's very good at lunging and tried out the side reins yesterday and did well. We worked on cross tying again and he was a champ, but I'm still very cautious...he hasn't really tested the ties yet so I'm on my guard for when he does so we don't have an accident! He's a champ at picking up his feet and even let me cut a bridle path and cut out the burrs I found on his belly. He wears a saddle like a pro and is getting used to the bit. We played with the mounting block yesterday and I got to lay on him. He's not sure about me standing in a stirrup but he's smart and seems to be trusting me so if he reacts to something, he doesn't seem quite a nervous and dramatic.

I rode Pav for the first time in a long while last night. I wanted to try him in a Pelham bit. I'm not a fan of bitting up a horse as a shortcut either, but Pav is an old campaigner and his current rider has an old back injury that causes her to ride crookedly, and Pav is not very nice when he feels a weakness in the rider. So I'm hoping the Pelham will keep him from pulling and leaning so hard while she concentrates on correcting her unevenness. He did okay in it but was still strong, but he got _better toward the end. He is very stiff and it takes forever for him to warm up. I popped him over a few small jumps to see where his brain is at...he was surprisingly good and kept a fairly decent brain about it...I've really learned over the years that you CANNOT hold him to the jumps...if you grab his mouth coming in its almost like you spurred him with western towel spurs. You have to stay out of his face and keep a steady rhythm with your seat if you want a chance at a steady, no drama jump. He still can get a little charged up when you canter a line and sometimes e lands too fast off a jump and throws his head around in a tantrum so you just kinda gotta sit back and set your hands an drive him into them to get him to knock it off ad rebalance himself, so he's still not beginner friendly but it was a fairly good schooling ride. There may be hope!

I'm off now to the expo! Woohoo!

A quick update!

Time is just eluding me lately! Here's a quick update for my followers.

I've been teaching and had a show with Moose this past Saturday so time to ride has been minimal for the past several days. I did get to ride Evil a couple of times and he is doing pretty well...I am trying to fix his crookedness and his inattentiveness/brattiness and teach him to stretch into the hand. We had some really good trot work on Sunday, he finally reached out and took the contact and worked well into it.

I also got to work with Buster a couple of times and think I might be able to ride him in the foreseeable future. He's sassy but bold and brave and made his first trip to the big ring yesterday. He wasn't very looky or spooky, and we walked over poles and jumps with no problem. I also lunged him at the walk and trot and while at first he had some trouble staying out on a consistent circle, he figured it out and was very very good. He still gets a little confused and stuck when going to the right, he's much stiffer but also a little jumpier when I'm on his right side. We worked on leading off the right side a bit and while he got a little upset at times, he figured it out. Buster also learned about cross ties and while he did test them out a bit, he figured it out and stood really still to be groomed and let me pick up all four feet with zero drama so he's coming along quite nicely.

Saturday I took Moose to a small schooling show at Blue Good Stables. Moose just needed to get out, she's so bored. Unfortunately, because she has been getting a ton of food that I didn't approve, including a ton of sweet feed, oats, and alfalfa, she was extremely jumpy, spooky, and unfocused. I definitely thought I was going to fall off several times, or have to get off and scratch...it was that bad! She also tried to tear apart the trailer when she was on it too...which she normally doesn't do. I feel bad for her, she has so much energy and it's frying her brain. She's coming back to Knights Landing tomorrow and going on an appropriate amount of appropriate feed so in a couple of weeks I think I should have my good ol' Moose back.

We did training 1 and training 2 tests. I managed to keep her within the general moves of the tests, even though she was very very tense and constantly snapping out of attention and looking for stuff to spook at. I got so focused on this one corner of the ring that she kept spooking at (very badly!!!) that I messed up my second test, and had to take the -2 for the fault, which stunk...but oh well. The judge had some nice things to say about us anyway, said we were a good match for each other and I rode her well (and was brave...haha) and somehow we managed to get 2nd and 3rd. I didn't see the rides of our competition but they must have been riding their horses backwards for me to have made out with a 2nd and 3rd!

Warm up before the second test...Moose kept doing this weird thing where we'd be turning left and her hind end would swing out to the right and then she would fly awkwardly sideways to the right, away from the corner she was spooking at...so here I am trying to get her to listen to my right leg and move her shoulders left, which did help a lot in the second test

She would just not reach out for me

Tense fire-breathing dragon

Headed for center line

Zoooooooooooooommmmmmmmm! I was a little concerned (to say the least) about the canter, I thought for sure that would be the death of me!

Approaching spooky corner, attention lost :( She spooked at it EVERY SINGLE TIME. That is so not my little Moose mare, she just can't seem to think straight with all that extra rocket fuel

Looking at the ground for stuff to spook at on the spooky side of the arena

Being verrrry conservative with the canter!

I'm probably thinking: "PLEASE just stick to the saddle no matter what she does in this corner!"

Her canters were surprisingly not too horrible

Go from giraffe to hanging out behind the bit. Geez she was a brat...I felt like we never had a single good conversation that day, she just wasn't interested/able to talk with me

Aaaaand lastly, today we picked up a new friend for the barn, Quigley. He's 15 years old, 16.2 hands, a belgian draft/quarter horse cross. Retired foxhunter. Hoping he will be a nice safe quiet addition to the barn...he settled in nicely and seems like a classic draft cross...quiet, steady, sweet. So here's hoping he works out. He's very over weight right now and a little lame somewhere but we are hoping it's an abscess. Time will tell, right now he's on weight watchers...I do hope he works, I LOVE draft crosses for lesson programs. They just don't get offended easy and just don't seem to ever go anywhere too fast and are pretty agreeable.

Now I just need to figure out what saddle we can use on him...oy vey.

Off Course

I have been collecting a few pictures and videos that I quite enjoy and figured you all would like them, too :)

Courtesy of my mother, who got a kick out of it...don't worry, this isn't accurate (well, maybe sometimes!)

Puts things into perspective for those friends who think horseback riding is not a sport

Awesome

Yup that about covers it

Classic

Take that, non equestrians!



I still laugh every time

These three from Smartpak are great. I think we need to make a Knights Landing edition. We shall film this spring! :)

Enjoy!

Ready for Spring

It actually acted like winter this weekend so I took the opportunity to go spend the weekend with Corey and his family...which was fun but at the same time I am so used to riding and being around horses everyday so I started to get antsy!

Yesterday I got back to work and tackled Bear, Evil, Bubbles and Buster. Today Trick, Buster, Bubbles and Evil were on my list.

Bear was pretty much same as always. I didn't ride him long, just put him through his paces and that's all, he was very good so I figured that deserved an easy, short ride.

Evil was interesting. I hardly ever get to ride him. He was pretty fussy and acting spoiled but he focused after a while and gave me some decent work. His biggest issue is stretching his back and neck out to seek the contact. He has a short little neck and short back just like my TB, Louie, had...which means some careful riding to make sure he's always thinking forward an doesn't feel trapped or stuck up front. He also needs to have a major lesson in MANNERS because he was a brat and challenged me every so often, like the huge buck he gave me just because I insisted he keep cantering until I said we were done! Naughty baby horse!

Today he was a bit better but I felt like he was whiney if anything. He wasn't trying to challenge me quite so much but seemed to be giving me way less than 100% effort...I felt like he was saying "I don't wanna" "I'm too tired" "this is too hard" "are we done yet?" and various other complaints rather than just buckling down and working. Im going to try to put a few good weeks of consistent riding on him to try to get him in line and give me some better quality work. The challenge here is...I have a bazillion other projects that ALSO could benefit from steady work and there is only one of me! We need to get some projects sold so I can really focus on doing a few projects really well rather than a whole mess of them inconsistently. I like the reward of seeing the horses really develop and excel in their work, but that's really hard to achieve for all of them right now!

Trick was very good today but poor boy is lame somewhere. Guessing it is the right front, and I'm guessing it's just and access or bruise. I can't find anything suspicious. Trick is wearing a bridle an surcingle now, and has been working on lunging on a line with side reins in the roundpen. Today he was doing very well so I took him to the ring for a look around and then lunged him in there for a minute or two and he did great. He's still a little jumpy and worried but he seems to be trusting me. He does try to crawl in my lap at times and needs a reminder to stay out I my space. Next step is to get him used to a second line so he can start long lining in the ring and learn about steering. Ive also started to make a point to go through all the motions of his new routine each time...so we practice cross tying and standing still, grooming, and picking feet before and after work. He was great on the cross ties today and even let me cut a bridle path. I think he's going to be a fun guy to work with.

Buster is very very bold but still unsure and jumpy now and then. If he's tired of round pen work he still tries to leave the round pen or crow hop at my whip...Kaddie even said he kept per her wheelbarrow from a standstill in his stall for now apparent reason and cleared it quite well. Naughty pony! Definitely has an ornery side! Buster is practicing cross tying too and wears a saddle and bridle and practicing lunging on the line in the roundpen, too. He's doing well but still a little dramatic about the bit. He's getting a lot more respectful of my space too and his shoulders are much less sticky to move when I'm leading him.

Today, I spent a very long time bent down picking all the burrs out of his tail. I wasn't going to tackle it all at once but once I got started I was determined to finish! So now he is burr free...I bet he's happy to have a swishable tail again!

Bubbles is being a little inconsistent. Yesterday he wasn't too fussy bout the bit but today he was. Definitely going to have his teeth done soon. I might just ride him in a halter until then...he really guards his mouth. I hope there is something up with his teeth because if not, then he has a training issue...ugh! Hes a good guy and fun pony though...I still stand by that initial assessment. He's a bit too jumpy when I cluck or kick him but I'm hoping that's all mouth pain anxiety too. Today I did manage to get him to reach long and low at his trot after a whole and he realized that he could be comfortable there, but as soon a I touch the reins his back locks up and head goes up. The rubber bit seems to help a little...but it's too thick for his mouth. He looks like he has quite a low palate. But it's keeping him happy at the moment.

I have had a girl named Rachael out these past two weeks to help me ride some of our projects. Mainly she has been getting Pav back in shape and if she continues to work out, will probably work with Doc as well, an help with the new ponies. I can use all the help I can get!

Moosey really can't wait to come back to Knights Landing...geez she's been just off since I moved her for the winter. She's not being a spitfire anymore now that I got her grain situation sorted out, but she's still looking or thinks to spook at and lacking umph. I think she is bored out of her mind. Me too. We only have that little indoor to ride in. I don't think I'll be moving her for the winter again. I feel plain bad about putting her in a situation that makes her this bored. Our rides haven't been productive enough to justify moving for the sake of an indoor again. I'm doing a lot of hacks out once she's back. Get her thinking forward forward forward again.

She is still making some progress though. She's starting to differentiate between my more specific aids in my seat, leg and weight. She is recognizing pretty consistently my halt seat, walk seat, and trot seat...she's also starting to become more adjustable in her trot. Her canter still needs some work but it's coming along...I think it just hard for both of us because the ring is small and doesn't leave much room to do a lot of canter exercises. She is starting to understand and respect my canter aids better an is snappier when I ask for the canter. I worked a little on walk to canter making my canter aids over exaggerated so she stops thinking that canter only comes after we trot a while. It seemed to help a lot so now of I take my outside leg back a little and cue her up with my inside hip she'll lift into a canter pretty quickly. Before she'd just kind of lolly gag around and take her good ol' time to work up to a messy canter.

I have always had trouble getting my right leg on my horse...my left is pretty stable but my right swings a bit and my ankle over flexes and I just don't feel like i can use it as firmly as my left. I figured out why (finally!) I know my right ankle is no good (seeing a doctor this spring hopefully) but I didn't realize that rather than take weight, it just rolls. My ankles will roll easily when I'm walking but I didn't realize that it rolls out when I put weight on it in my stirrup. Now I'm making a conscious effort to keep my foot flat across my stirrup and ankle straight but it is a struggle...it does make a huge difference in my right leg effectiveness though. I need to remember to wear my brace everyday to help that ankle stabilize and keep it from over flexing. I'm thinking I might experiment with sport tape though because I feel like my brace doesn't help exactly where I need it and most days will just make my ankle more sore.

Bed time! Goodnight!

The Horses I Have Had...Part 4

The summer Louie died and Eclipse went lame is the same summer I met Pav.

Pav was down in Chincoteague being leased by a friend of Danielle and my summer roommate, Katye Allen.

I'd like to take a quick side road here to make note of another event that helped drive me I the ground that summer. I had big plans to event my boys that summer, and had already signed up for one event. Since both of my horses suddenly were out of the picture, Kerra offered her beloved old mare, Lin, as a mount for the show. Lin was in her mid twenties but didn't act a day over 6, an I was excited to ride such a bold mare in my first event. I went to the event with Lin, and Katye and Pav came, too. We did our dressage and then Kate and I rode through the woods to get to the jump ring and cross country field. We came to a very tiny stream. Pav didn't want to cross. Katye insisted, but Pav panicked and threw himself backward into me an Lin. Lin staggered back a few steps, and next thing I know, shes holding a hind leg up so high it was nearly next to me sitting in the saddle. I got off to find that she had backed into a large stick and ripped a hole in her fetlock to the bone. I took her back to the trailer, wrapped her to stop the bleeding and managed to fun a vet to come out and stitch her up. After weeks of recovery she ended up fine. I was in hysterics after she was stitched. My horse died, the other lame, I still manage to get to my very first event with an awesome horse, and she rips up her leg. I went to start the truck. The battery was dead. I was beside myself. I get like I was down as low as I could get but someone just kept kicking me for extra laughs.

After Eclipse went lame, I started riding Pav. Katye was starting to figure out that Pav wasn't really a horse for her, so when I found myself suddenly without a ride, I took over his lease for the rest of the summer. I didn't do much more with him than just ride him a few times a week, but I did manage to get him to one event at the end of the summer. Let's just say Pav is not an eventer.

Pav thinks you are supposed to run up to cross country fences at warp speed, then spook at it and stop dead right in front of it, then lauch over it while trying to look at it at the same time. I just tried to stay on.

The last couple of weeks I was down in VA, Pav went lame. We thought abscess but the farrier didn't find anything. I didn't know much about Pav at the time, but found out from Danielle that he's prone to white line disease if you don't have his feet shod just so, and I'm sure the dry, sandy ground in VA didn't help. His feet started to crumble apart, and that's about when I felt pushed over the edge and needed to go home. I trailered Eclipse and Pav to Knights Landing. The Gehman's farrier took care of Pav but it would be several weeks before he was ready to ride again. His grumblings about how he had worked so hard to keep Pavs feet in good order and they were ruined made me feel like a failure. I knew it wasn't my fault...none of y bad luck over the summer was my fault...but by now I could hardly sleep anymore and my stomach was constantly churning. If you looked at me wrong, I probably would have sobbed.

I decided to continue to lease Pav until I could figure out what to do...buy a new horse or not. So he and Eclipse went to school with me my Junior year.

Pav and I had a love hate relationship. I used him in my lessons and team practices and he taught me a lot about jumping and helped me start to jump higher fences. He got me up to 4' that semester, which was cool...but it was a constant struggle to get him to round over his jumps rather than take off an jump flat. We did a ton of grid work!

Eventing team practice...I wish my trainer told me to shorten my stirrups!!!

And while Pav didn't like learning the nitty gritty of flatwork, I managed to school him through third level dressage movements, and he helped me learn to half pass at trot and canter, half pirouette, and extend and collect the trot. We even started taking a few passage steps...they weren't the best, but he and I started to learn. It was always a fight, but when Pav started to realize that I wouldn't give in and let him off easy, he started to work a little better for me.

Pav also taught me about how to fit and use a double bridle. He's a strong bodied and strong willed horse with a hard mouth and hard sides, so my instructor figured we should take advantage of having a horse like him that couldn't care less what we tried with him and have me learn about double bridles. I'm really glad I had that opportunity to learn about doubles and how to use them and why.

At a clinic in VA this past fall

While Pav taught me a lot, he wasn't the horse for me and I wanted a horse of my own again. I kept Pav a semester and returned him when I found and purchased my next horse, Hyde.

I searched high and low and found little Hyde, then named Callahan (Callie for short) in North Carolina with a small time dressage trainer. She had her horses marked way down to clean house before a big barn move to Georgia.

The video that made me drive down to North Carolina for a look at Hyde

Hyde was an 8 year old, dark bay Holsteiner/TB cross who stood at an honest 16 hands, but his compact and refined build made him look no bigger than 15.2 on a good day. He was little, but at the same time when you met him, he looked like a major powerhouse. Not sure how he managed to look much littler than he really was but look very very powerful at the same time.

Hyde had some quality training under his belt and was fun to ride, but he was HOT. A little spitfire. When I bought him, I renamed him Charlemagne (sounded more powerful than Callahan) and gave him the barn name, Hyde. He definitely had a Jekyll and Hyde personality, and it was goofy. If you walked by his stall without paying him any mind, he'd snake his head out and lunge at you, lips drawn back and ears flat against his head...he looked like he would rip your throat open if he could get close enough. But if you looked at him and said his name in a baby voice and told him how silly he was being, his ears would prick straight up and he was the friendliest, sweetest, quietest thing. He was never mean or dangerous at ALL, but he sure put on a show sometimes.

I'm not mean, it just depends on how you talk to me :) See his little "milk moustache" snip?

Hyde was something else. He was hard for me to learn to ride because of how hot he was and how much attitude he put into his work. If I didn't ride him just so he would rocket off and I'd have to struggle to keep his energy in control. But he taught me a ton about dressage and was a stunning mover and extremely talented. This horse had the stuff to go all the way in dressage, but I still had my mind stuck on eventing. So I started to teach him to jump, too. While it was difficult to teach him to jump politely, he really seemed to like it and had a lot of scope.

I rode him in clinics and lessons and team practices and he always drew a lot of attention. He may have been small, but his dark bay, extremely dappled coat, big powerful beautiful gaits, and "outta my way" attitude attracted eyes. I was told many times that this horse was something special.

Dapples! And the picture doesn't even show them that well

Unfortunately, I was still very broken from all of the events that had happened to me not only over the summer, but for the entire span of owning horses (I had forgotten to mention that I lost a year and a half of riding with Sara due to a misdiagnosed lameness and bad farrier work, and 4 months with Minnow because of the quarantine AND she strained a tendon after quarantine) I felt so hopeless, every time I tried to advance my riding, start showing, start making something of myself with my horses, something horrible happened. So every time I rode Hyde, I felt like it was pointless. And he wasn't Sara or Lou or Eclipse. So Hyde didn't really have a good chance with me. I decided I didn't like him, all while I knew I did actually like him. I think I just didn't want to risk thinking that I could actually finally start working toward any of my goals anymore. I was exhausted with the constant disappointment and heartache. I advertised him for sale on and off.

I kept him through my senior year. I started to like him a bit more when I used him as my project horse in an elective class I took called "Training the Therapy Horse." I took the class for fun...Hyde would never EVER be a therapy horse! But the class was fun and we build a bit of a bond as we worked on perfecting his groundwork. I taught him to walk, trot and stop with me without a halter. I could get him to circle around me at the walk and trot without a halter. I could get him to go sideways or backwards without a halter. He would ground tie and stay put while I left the ring or cracked a bull whip behind him. I could get him to drop his head and completely relax by just pointing to the ground. It was really cool to be able to take such a hot little horse and get him to work like that for me. But even so, I kept my relationship with Hyde at an arms length.

A sale video of Hyde. We were having a bad day and major saddle fit issues but he was a trooper. I wish I had a GOOD video of him.

Hyde had windpuffs on his hind legs. Windpuffs are supposed to be only cosmetic and not a source of concern. I don't know why but I always had a bad feeling in my gut when I looked at Hyde's wind puffs. I don't know if I was just sure something else would go wrong for me or if I really just thought something wasn't quite right about them.

The last week of my Senior year, Hyde was playing in the ring and suddenly went very lame. On a hind leg.

After some time off didn't help, a vet came out to investigate. Sure enough, under those windpuffs was a micro tear in his suspensory ligament.

At this time I had Hyde, Eclipse, Sara and Moosey down in MD with me at my first job. Eclipse was still on partial stall rest and very strict turnout and it was questionable if he would stay pasture sound. Sara was suffering from her mysterious neurological issues and was starting to lose weight. Moose was underweight and this was also the first time she actually got to stay with me, and I didn't have the time to handle the young filly, and now Hyde was on stall rest too. This is when I had enough. I hated horses. I didn't want to look at them anymore. I was done.

I gave Sara to my aunt and mom in Lancaster. My aunt wanted a pet and my mom didn't want to see Sara go, she loved her and knew I did too, deep down.

I gave Hyde away to a vet in PA. I didn't care if his prognosis was pretty good. I didn't want to deal with another rehab and another potential disappointment. He's doing very well today, he's sound and doing local dressage shows (I'm hoping to run into him this year!) Apparently, she loves him. He now goes by the name Charlie.

This picture is very warped, but this is Hyde at a show with his new owner, Anita

And as I said before, I eventually gave Eclipse away to Linda.

Moosey stayed only because she technically belongs to my mom, and she didn't want me to do anything drastic and regret it. I did post her for sale on and off but never followed through. I sent her to the raising department at Hilltop to run the big fields with other horses her age and ignored her.

I started to try to find other things in life other than horses. I started to get more miserable. Hilltop also wasn't a great fit for me and I didn't want anything to do with horses ever again.