Two down, one to go

I'm making headway on my monthly goals. I've got a preliminary list of events, dressage shows, and gymkhanas written out--still waiting for a few more places to put their schedules out--and the chiro has already been out. This weekend, I jumped 2'6" both days, so that takes care of two times of the three I set as a goal.

Yesterday, there were a few verticals and an X left out from the morning lessons, so I moved two of them up to 2'6" and I left the X and the other vertical as they were. I hadn't even planned on jumping, so Bobby was in just his Micklem with no martingale, but he was very much a super star and didn't put a foot wrong. I could tell how out of shape he is though as he wasn't quite as quick with his feet on landing as he usually is.

I kept the jumping really abbreviated though, and ended the ride by torturing myself with no stirrups at the posting trot and canter.

from today, looking adorbs.

Today, I had planned on jumping so I set up two verticals--one on the quarter line, and one at an angle to be jumped off the diagonal or from the corner as a bending line to the other vertical--and an oxer also on the quarter line. I also forced Hubby to attend so you get lots of video. Yay!

A compilation of the jumps from the beginning of the ride:

A little "course":

I know we're dragging and going so slow, but it's honestly the only way I can control the mammoth in our tiny indoor. If he gets cruising any faster, he just can't make the turns. Just be aware that I'm aware, and I have every intention of continuing our work on "FORWARD" once the outdoor is available.

This is about as fast as we can go without ramming into things with legs flailing:

I was hit and miss with my leg today. Over the tiny little vertical, it stayed in place. Over the oxer, it was so-so. Over the striped vertical, it swung a bit. It's mostly me losing focus because right now I still don't have that muscle memory to keep it glued to my girth. But it is getting better, and when I really grill myself to jam it forward, it stays where it belongs. Baby steps! There is definitely an improvement:

And because I know you guys would be just gutted if I didn't have a Bobby Goes Boom story for you, I bring you this:

just keep smiling, just keep smiling...

We turned the corned and I knew right away there wasn't a distance there--any distance. Any other horse would have stopped. Bobby's decision making skills have always been questionable, and this was no different. He got within an inch of the fence, decided "Why not?" and launched his front half over and set that down. Then he brought his hind end over, but only after he was straddling the fence. Unfortunately, Hubby chose that moment to try to take a picture instead of video, so all you get is the above awkward moment in time. He is a special creature, my horse is.

One more video:

Hopefully Bobby gets to go out day. He was stuck inside last night even though it was 50* because of the absurd weather. It snowed Friday which the horses compacted down in their paddocks. Then we got a monsoon that night into yesterday which melted all the snow...except the compacted snow which got several inches of water frozen on top of it during the night. So most of the paddocks are solid ice right now. Boo weather!

Feeling good. Too good.

I liked reading everyone's blogs where they were anxiously waiting for today for the weather to burst gloriously into the thirties so they could ride again. I was so on board that bandwagon. I went out this morning armed with a game plan to reintroduce my horse to a training program.

First, I was going to longe him to see how he looked after his chiro appointment. It certainly wasn't to let him get crazies out, even though he hasn't been ridden in a week and the ground has been too frozen for pasture romping. Bobby doesn't go nuts with time off. He might get a little quick or strong, but he doesn't buck or spook.

actually, he usually doesn't even want to go back to work.

I sent him out on a circle, and he started off trotting a little stiffly. Well, it's been cold, and he hasn't had a chance to really stretch his legs, and he's dealing with Lyme, so I let him keep chugging along and eventually he started moving a little freer. I asked him to pick up the canter and he gave me typical Bobby on the Longe Sass for three whole strides.

And then he got over it and carried on like a normal horse like he always does.

So I got on and let him stride out at a walk on the buckle like I always do. He was really swinging right along after his initial warm up, and I was super happy with how relaxed and loose he felt. I pulled my phone out off my pocket to check the time, realized the battery was almost dead, and went to shut it off. In the meantime, Bobby--with his free rein of the arena--had wandered over to the end barrel of the pattern that someone before me had set up and left in the arena. He turned around it like a good barrel horse, saw the great wide open wonders of the home stretch, and took off bucking down the middle of the arena like a lunatic.

I dropped my phone and snatched up my reins and got him stopped by the time we got to the gate, but I'd lost my right stirrup and was sorely tempted to throw things at him. You spent THREE DAYS last summer playing on barrels. You are NOT a barrel horse!!!

I wanted to, and still want to, do some gymkhanas this summer with him because of how much he seemed to enjoy it last year, but I'm clearly going to have to make sure they're wellllll spaced out from any dressage shows. Someone needs to learn that just like dressage tack and jump tack mean we're doing two different things, western tack also means we're doing something different. So when you're in an english saddle, DO NOT TURN THE BARRELS UNLESS I ASK YOU TO.

He was not all ashamed of himself, but he did deign to hack around without further acrobatics. He was an absolute monster to keep at sub-mach speed, but he did what I asked him to in his own Bobby way, and he looked quite lovely doing it. He was a little tight at the canter still, but I think at this point it's just weakness. His booty is always a work in progress.

also, rock crunching sound on the fresh gravel!

He got his feet trimmed when we were done, and I took his fucking shoulder guard home to try to fix. The elastic in it as all twisted and it's digging into his back. Now he hates me when I put it on, but if I leave it off, his blankets rub. Stop being so fat, and maybe your clothes will fit!!

27 Questions for Cold Fucking Weather

That may or may not be what Tracy titled her post as well. You'll have to check out her blog yourself to see. However, I'm very grateful for her savvy blogging skills that allows others to look like semi-responsible posters, so once more I'm hopping on the Fly On Over bandwagon and completing questions while it's too cold to do anything else.

1. Favorite thing about riding? Achieving an end goal. There's nothing better than knowing all the hard work you've done has paid off.

2. Green horse or trained horse? I will never buy a trained horse. No matter how many times I have to go through the cycle of basics to advanced work, I would rather put the buttons on a horse myself and know that any quirks or problems are ones I've caused than dealing with a horse's issues from other riders.

3. Have you ever wanted to quit riding? No. I've been burnt out plenty of times before, and I've been scared shitless to get back on, but it's never occurred to me to just stop.

4. Do you prefer to ride inside or outside? Definitely outside. I ride outside in rain, sun, or snow. Of course, I'd probably not like it as much if I didn't have the luxury of an indoor to retreat to when needed.

5. On average, how many times a week do you ride? Four to five. Never more than six days in a row.

6. Have you ever fallen off at a show? How? At a show, only once. And of course there's picture evidence! You can read all about that experience here.

7. Do you have a private or group lesson? I don't lesson. But the few times I did at this barn, I only took privates because I thought it would keep BO from getting distracted and actually teaching. Didn't work. However, I always took group lessons before that and I enjoyed them.

8. In your opinion, does it make you less of a rider if you don't own a horse? Not at all, but I do think less of you if only to come to ride. There's more to horses than just sitting in the saddle. Take pride in your mount, even if it's just a lesson horse. Give him/her a good grooming, wipe down the tack, bring cookies, KEEP THE BRIDLE PATH TRIMMED.

9. Do you plan on having horses in your life for the rest of your life? Yep.

10. If you could ride any famous horse (dead or alive) who would it be? Bjorsells Briar. I worshiped this horse growing up. 

11. Does winning ribbons matter to you? It depends on how things are going at home. Am I going to a show knowing that my training is rocking? Then I'll be pissed if I don't bring home satin. Am I going to a show that it's too late to scratch from without losing a ton of money, and I know my horse is going to be a complete asshole? Then no ribbon is just fine, as long as we don't die.

12. Worst riding experience? My time with the race trainer I worked for at Saratoga in college really killed my desire to work on the backside. I'd had a lot of track experience before signing on with this guy and I really loved it, and I loved working with our school's racehorses, but after that summer, I was completely defeated. That was the beginning of the end for my interaction with On-track Thoroughbreds, but I didn't let it wreck my love for those off the track.

after work with my roomie and my favorite groom.

13. Describe a time when you wanted another equestrian to fail at something. You know, I'm a pretty selfish, shallow, jealous person, and I hate when people do better than me, but I use it to motivate my self to get better and be better than the person I'm jealous of. So I don't think I've ever wanted someone to fail at something, but I have looked at their successes and secretly been like, "I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS."

14. Describe the proudest or happiest moment you can think of in your riding career. The first event I completed double clear with my sassy nutcase of a red pony. It was my first year eventing, and I was still so clueless, but Red packed me around and showed me that he was, of course, a boss at everything. We ended up only in fourth, but that will always be my favorite ribbon, and one of my favorite shows.

15. Do you think any disciplines are cruel? No, but I think there are a lot of cruel gimmicks and cruel people all over the horse world.

16. Your worst riding habit. Leaning. I lean forward so much it's ridiculous, especially if I'm not in a dressage saddle. And every time I do it, I can hear Eric Horgan yelling at me, "Are you proud of your horse?" And yet still I lean.

17. When you're in the show ring, what's going through your mind? When I'm in a dressage ring, I'm thinking, "Don't worry about the judge. Just ride how you have to ride." When I'm in a show jumping ring, I'm thinking, "Please don't forget the next jump. Oh, Jesus. I hope no one saw that. Fuck me, are we done yet??" When I'm out on cross country, I'm thinking.....well, probably nothing. That's a problem.

18. If you owned a barn, would you try for a laid back casual atmosphere, or a professional fast paced one? I would never have boarders, ever, so it would be pretty laid back.

19. If I give you a $2,000 gift card to your favorite tack store/online retailer, what would you buy? A dressage saddle! Yay!!!

20. You’re riding in an arena at home with several other riders, and one of them obviously doesn't know the rules of the ring, even though they’re posted. The others are clearly annoyed, would you do anything? This actually happens to me a lot. I leave the ring. If I can't say anything nice--which I usually can't--then I don't say anything at all. I just go.

21. Worst fear riding? Embarrassing myself in front of a lot of people.

22. How old do you imagine you'll be when you stop riding, and what's the cause? I'm only 26 and I'm already beat up from riding, so I can't imagine I'll be cruising around at 80. Pulling up lame will definitely be the cause.

23. If you could own any number of horses, would they all be the same discipline or a mix? I hate doing just one discipline, so they'd be forced to do all the things. However, they'd all be OTTBs!

24. Favorite colors for your horse? I'm not going to lie. I've slowly been investing in pink things for Bobby.

25. Favorite tack brand? I'm too poor to have one.

26. If given the opportunity, would you breeze a racehorse? I have before. And now my knees don't work properly, and I have an abhorrence for short stirrups. 

27. Three "You know you're an equestrian when..."

You know you're an equestrian when Febreeze is an acceptable means of "changing clothes" to go to the grocery store after a barn visit.

You know you're an equestrian when there are more pictures of horses than people in your photo albums.

You know you're an equestrian when you can rattle off your horse's saddle, girth, bit, and shoe size, but you don't know what size jeans you wear.

Cracked and Poked

Robert finally got his chiro appointment today. (As did Adorable Pony who was, of course, adorable through it all.) I talked with her a bit before she started about the issues I had with his feet over the summer, what I was doing with them now, and how that probably kicked off the start of the body soreness issues. Couple that with how weak his gets in the hind end when I'm not able to do conditioning work with him, and he was guaranteed to be tight in a lot of places.

She started with the acupuncture, focusing mainly on his lower back. She also put a needle in his right hind fetlock and left it in there for good until he sheds it himself.

Her comments were that he had a sore back, especially on the right side which is usually the case with him. He was really stuck behind his withers, and she said that was probably from overloading the front end to try to take weight off of his sore hind end. His hips, stifles, and hind fetlocks were also sore which is where I expected him to be the worst.

She also made a comment about how much of his topline he's lost, but she understood it was from just not being in work for so long. She felt totally confident he'd get it back in no time once he was able to start working more regularly again.

She adjusted his poll, lower neck, behind his left withers, and his lower back on the right. She also fed him copious amounts of cookies, much to his delight. The chiro is up there with the vet for Bobby--people you should always be on your best behavior for because they always bring cookies.

Her end comments were that he was a very good boy as always, and if we need to take a month off of cantering until his topline is stronger, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. He got put back in his stall when she was done because we got a deluge of rain last night and this morning with a high almost near 50*.

However, with the amount of snow we've had that's been driven over and packed down, and the temperature quickly dropping to 1* by tonight, all the melted snow made every inch of the barn property solid ice, and Bobby and the other fields at the top of the hill were stranded there for the day while J worked like a crazy man laying gravel. BM finally led him down right when I pulled in at one so he's going to spend the night inside. It's only going to get up to 5* tomorrow, which I know is ridiculously warm compared to a lot of you (My mom, in IL, emailed me an hour ago to say that it was currently -19* for the actual temperature and they'd just lost power, so I'm not going to complain about any sort of positive degrees out here!), and being in will give him a little break from the elements.

I might be able to ride by the end of the week--I think it's supposed to be 35* by then!

Even More Saturday Stills!

Things are that boring around here. Actually things are that cold around here. Between the highs in the single digits, the snow, and PA's inability to manage roads with snow on them, the barn has been on the back burner.

This morning, however, Hubby took the Kelpie out trapping with him and Pig got to go to the barn for her own special Pig adventure. She was back to bouncing around like a lunatic Friday morning, but we're trying not to encourage crazies for another day or two. You would never be able to tell she got her face bashed by a truck two days ago. Cattle Dogs are the most indestructible animals on the planet.

no worse for wear.

I took Memphis and Bobby up to the outdoor for some snowy romping pictures, but they declined to participate. They thought it was too cold, too. But I did get some cute pictures of a bunch of the horses that were out, so to tide you over for a real riding post (don't hold your breath for one in the immediate future), here are more Saturday Stills:

scooter and star

memphis

robert

pebbles

memph and robert reluctantly responding to my pleas for movement

roberto

And, for the finale, I called both boys over to the gate to come in but only Memphis deigned to walk over. I put his halter on, swung the lead rope over his neck, and called Pig over. She's not at all a fan of horses--having been kicked by them enough to know they're not that fun to play with--but she obediently listened to my "Hold him" command and kept Memphis from walking after me. Working dogs are the shit.

after she'd bounced out in front of him when he turned to follow.
note memphis's "wtf was that?!" expression.

What the Hell, 2014?!

Well 2014 gave me one whole day to frolic on my horse, make pies, and enjoy the balmy thirty degrees before turning into a total raging bitch.

Hubby woke me up this morning with, "Did you turn the heat off last night? Because it's fifty four degrees downstairs." Uh, what? Apparently our oil, which was supposed to last easily until next Friday when we have a delivery scheduled, ran the fuck out. And then, when Hubby tried refilling it with emergency back up oil, the reset switch was all, "I quit."

So now it's really cold downstairs (The upstairs is heated with electric baseboard heating, thank god.) while we wait for someone to come and fix that situation.

THEN.

About twenty minutes later, Hubby comes BACK to the bedroom where I'm trying to sleep in under the warmth of covers, cats, and a heated room to announce, "I need you to come look at something. I ran over Emily."

Ok, what?!!

Now, my little Pig Dog is not the smartest dog on earth.

i mean, this is her in a nutshell. 

And she is a Heeler, so heeling things comes naturally to her. She was apparently chasing the tires as Hubby was backing up and got her face bashed. To be fair to Hubby, I ran over the Kelpie the first week we moved to PA because she was also heeling my tires and I didn't see her. That resulted in a four figures vet bill by the time she was done with her two-days-a-week visits to the vet.

I swear, we are the worst parents ever.

I go outside and Pig is happily trying to wiggle out of Hubby's brother's arms with blood pouring from her nose. Immediately assuming she's bleeding somewhere internally and she's about to die on our back porch, we load her in the car and speed down the the closest vet clinic.

She merrily trots into the clinic where I tell the receptionist my dog has been hit, and she needs to see a vet. The receptionist informs me that while they are open, the vet doesn't come in until 10. It's about 8:30 at this point. However, she was super nice and called the vet, relaying the situation to her, and the vet said she was on her way.

meanwhile, dumb-dumb is like this in the waiting room,
only splattering blood all over the floor.

About thirty minutes later, Pig's nose is just trickling blood, although she keeps sneezing it everywhere, her muzzle is swollen twice its normal size, and the vet finally whisks her off for a thorough exam to make sure we haven't killed her.

Fortunately, she got off really easily. Or as easily as she could have for a dog hit by a truck. The blood from her nose was from multiple ruptured blood vessels. She loosened a top canine and got a cut in the gum above that tooth, cut up the top of her jaw, and her lower jaw was a little wigglier than was normal. However, no damage to the rest of her body, and the vet said everything on her face should heal completely within the next couple of days.

Best of all? It only cost us $54, which included a Rabies shot she was due for at the end of the month anyway. In the meantime, she's enjoying being fawned over, fed softened food, and getting to prance around the house in her blanket while we wait for the heat to come back on.

happiest dog on the planet, no matter what the situation.

So Bobby. We're supposed to get a massive dumping of snow tonight, and it's just started coming down in earnest. Anything you'd like to do to add to today's fun? I'd love to trudge out on unplowed roads for an emergency vet call.

January Goals

One of my goals for 2014 was to make myself monthly riding goals--goals that will progress us towards moving up to Training this year.

So.

"how about make a goal to never let your blades get this dull again?"

1. Have the chiropractor out. Ha, I'm only putting this one in because I know it's going to get crossed off. Positive thinking, kids.

2. Jump 2'6" in the indoor three times. Ugh, I hate jumping in the indoor. Take away the first week of January--the week waiting for the chiro appointment--that means only having to jump once a week the remaining three weeks. Remember, this is a progression. No sense going for 3'3" in the indoor right off the bat. Or so I'm telling myself.

3. Strengthen the counter canter. It's there. It's confirmed. It just needs to get stronger so Robert can hold it longer.

4. Pencil out our show schedule. Well, durh. Maybe I could better work backwards if I had a starting point.

God, these goals are so fucking lame. No wonder I never did monthly goals before. I'm so boring. Goal number five: make better goals next month.