Happy Birthday, Darcy!

Today is my puppy's fourth birthday!

tiny cow dog the day we got her.

We went to McDonald's for her birthday sundae.

She was nice enough to let her sister come along.

She got a stuffed animal of Horton, but Pig stole it as soon as it was out of the wrapping paper and Darcy went to work shredding the paper. She has her priorities straight.

Robert had a dressage school today. I'm so happy (wait for it...) to have a Happy Mouth (tah dah!)again. He's so much lighter than he was in the slow twist I was schooling him in after his break. The plastic on the HM with the roller was starting to get chomped too much and I like the way he goes in the slow twist... but he goes like a gem in a HM. Plus it's legal. Always a bonus.

Today's ride made me appreciate how far we've come in a year. Bobby was so responsive, so willing, so soft, and so lovely the whole ride. He had a few moments where his llama side peeked through, but overall, it was just an easy hour ride where we worked on what I wanted to and accomplished it without fighting.

Where were we late winter/early spring last year? We were trotting and cantering ground poles because he wouldn't go near a raised fence, no matter what height. He was beyond terrified of whips. He couldn't canter a 20 meter circle, and could barely manage to hold a canter down the long side of the arena. He threw massive temper tantrums when faced with a cross country jump. His favorite thing to do on trail rides when he wasn't getting his way was to rear up and fly backwards. He had no lateral movements, and no sense of being on the bit.

This time around? He jumps 3' confidently. He's schooled 3'9. I carry a whip when jumping, and I can use it when needed without him taking offense. He's got a stretchy canter on a 20m circle, and a collected canter on a 10m circle. He counter canters. He's got the start of a flying change. I'm totally confident in starting the year at Novice and moving up to Training mid-season. He ponies on trails, or he can go out alone and walk on the buckle. He's solid in First Level dressage.

of course, he's still pretty ugly and he likes to drop weight for NO REASON,
but he has a topline! and a mane that lays flat!

Now I have to be mean to my stripey kitten and schedule and appointment to get her spayed. Poor tiny kitten.

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Ma'am

If feel almost guilty that my weekend was completely uneventful. Usually when I travel, whether it's on vacation or for a holiday, I have all sorts of crazies to report. I gots nothing for you guys. Flew in, hung out at my mom's most of the day, drove home. I did have fun making my fat black Dog of Thunder do his tricks.

say you're sorry.

beg.

Since there's no epic travelling stories, I'll move right on to Robert.

Sarah put his sheet on for me Friday and Bobby celebrated by covering every inch of exposed body in mud. He was disgusting. I pulled his braids out and spent twenty minutes currying him and picking rocks out of his feet. Nothing like mud, stones, and shedding hair to celebrate the coming Spring!

Bobby had four days off, was ridden for fifteen minutes Wednesday, and then had four more days off so I figured what better way to come back into work than with a trail ride in his ultra-mild dressage bit. You did get the memo that being an 8yo means no more Baby Horsie card, right Robert? He was power walking as soon as I got on which made me second guess my bit choice as this is a horse that goes through life with the motto, "Why goes fast when you can go slow?" However, he was a perfect gentleman the entire time. I couldn't find my camera at home, so instead of boring between the ears pictures.... there's between the ears helmet cam! Yay!

Getting too excited about approaching his first gallop hill he forgot that he knows how to steer and we ran over a tree branch:

He used his butt so well coming down this hill. Usually we go down it sideways and gazing off in every direction. I was so proud of him. I then asked him to step down into the creek instead of going around the telephone pole and walking down the easy little slope into it. Bobby thought it would be a better idea if he just jumped in.

My favorite galloping hill:

Since Bobby was being such a star with hills, I thought we could finally tackle riding down the monster hill across the road. Hills terrify me, but especially this one. Bobby strolls right down it when I lead him down beside me so it's undoubtably all me. I turned Bobby down the trail and immediately leaned back and hauled on his reins. He obviously stopped. Pulling back is not the ideal for going forward. Bobby then gave me The Look. The one he shoots me when he thinks I'm being a serious ass hat. And then he made the executive decision that I should get my sorry self off his back and walk us down. Good call, dude.

We got back to the barn and I pulled his mane finally. Pulled mane and a new bit (that already got here!) for your birthday? Poor pony. I made it up to him with a few handfuls of sweet feed mixed with apples and peppermints. The vet comes out Thursday for his shots and teeth and the joints talk. Maybe a dressage ride tomorrow?

Happy Birthday, Bobby!

As I'm currently on an airplane on my way to Chicago via Philly, I won't be there to celebrate it, but...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOBBY!

turning six.

He's eight years old this year which means he's no longer allowed to use the Baby Horsie card. Because I said so.

turning seven.

Cookies for all on Monday when I get back! In the meantime, I ordered him this for his present:

No more two rings, Robert. We're going two reins. Happy No More Cross Country Courses On Your Forehand Day!

Oh, hey...I have a horse!

Ho-ly. Who knew a sixteen year old Saturn was such a hot commodity? My mom just bought a brand new car so she offered me her old car instead of trading it in. Since my dear gold Saturn really felt like it was about to take its last breath--that is, when it would take a breath at all--I was all over that. I'm flying out to IL Saturday and driving it back Sunday. To recoup the travel fees (though I will say my plane ticket was only $140. What.) and to not have a third car parked in the driveway, I put the Saturn up for sale this past Sunday thinking it would take at least the week to sell. I wanted to just junk the stupid thing, but Hubby was all, "Nooo, someone will pay something for it."

In just two hours, we'd had a dozen calls and half a dozen emails on it. In three hours, it was sold for our asking price. So, while the cash was nice, it means that all this week I have no car. That is not so nice.

To keep some of my sanity, I have been buying things. As noted by the name of this blog, I don't often buy things because I'm usually like, "Hm. How do we pay the electric this month?" But March is the one time of the year that money flows and I've been trying to stock up on the few things I actually need for my pony while convincing Hubby that some of my wants should be included too.

First thing was a pair of paddock boots as my last pair look like this:

dead.

Next up was the legal version of Bobby's dressage bit:

I'm also going to buy another pair of my favorite horse boots (these babies), but I'm first going to see if they have them at the tack store in IL before buying them online. A new vest to match my new colors is also on the list, but I'm not sure when I'll be ordering that. And then Bobby and I finally registered ourselves with the USEA. Recognized events, here we come!

Hardly tack ho-ing compared to some of you crazies, but it was crazy for me.

Now for Pony Pants!

last week, visiting his brother.

I made Hubby leave work early yesterday to take me to the barn before our tax appointment. I can only take the dogs on so many walks before I'm ready to blow the house up so I don't have to go back in it. Being stranded sucks.

I had an hour to get Bobby out of his paddock, groom, tack up, ride, untack, and turn him back out. He was too adorbs in the paddock. He was standing at the gate with Silver since Ranger and Spyder were in for lessons and as soon as I went in, he dropped his giant T-Rex head into my arms for a hug and face rub. Aww, Bobby likes me!

I fed him half a bag of carrots while attempting to make him look at least a little clean. Four days to himself to roll in the mud made for a very dirty pony. I speed tacked after doing a happy dance that the farrier will be out today to do his disgusting looking feet (Spring is coming. Bobby's feet are growing like they're on 'roids.), and we headed down to the arena.

For a fifteen minute ride, he was a good boy. He thought the poles stacked in the back of the arena might try to eat him, but once T started pulling them out, he felt assured they would eat her first and ignored them. We did basic w/t/c each way, a few leg yields, some shoulder-in at the walk, and called it quits. Sad face.

He got fed the rest of his carrots and a few peppermints, and I left BM with instructions to give him extra snuggles for the rest of the week. I won't see him again until Monday! This is sad face times ten because it's supposed to be in the mid-fifties and sunny this weekend. Hopefully I can get someone to change out his blanket for his sheet tomorrow. At least one of us should be able to enjoy the nice weather.

also last week, visiting with sunny's hunky fellow palomino romeo.

Sloppy.

BO gave me the best news yesterday: Trails are open all week long until turkey season starts some time in May! YAY!!!! Of course, I didn't remember to ask her until I was done riding, but it wasn't too much of a big deal because I rode in the outdoor. Double yay!

It was absolute slop, but it wasn't slippery. After warming up and going over a ground pole a few times, I dragged out a pair of standards and set up a simple 2'3 vertical. He was jumping pretty flat, but it was small, and it was a vertical, and not much effort needed to be put forth. He was mostly polite the entire time, though we did have a Come to Jesus once each way.

Boring ride? Why not top it off with boring helmet cam? (I feel bad that I have this $200 fancy thing laying around and I'm not using it.)

After our CtJ to the right, I trotted him over it--something he's not a fan of--and he did it nicely so I moved on to jumping it from an angle a few times.

A note on the weather: As you can tell, it was flurrying a bit. When I left my house it was blue skies and sun. In the thirty minutes that I rode, it was snowing, raining, and partly sunny. I'm glad you're gone, February. Your weather sucked!

I spent a good ten minutes washing legs and boots when we were done. But who cares? Sloppy sand meant that I was outside! Yay!

yay!

Today I planned on doing a short, sweet dressage school in the indoor and then go out on trails for awhile. Well, March, I'm not such a big fan of your weather right now either. There was an inch of snow on the ground when I got to the barn! Five miles down the road there was no snow. The barn is in this weird weather portal or something.

Bobby started out our ride super behind my leg while still managing to be spooky (Spooky for Bobby is turning an ear or taking a fast step.). Barn Worked very not sadly had his last day today; what better way to celebrate than by parking his truck in front of the gate to the indoor and cleaning it out? Bobby doesn't like motorized vehicles (something about looking like an Amish cart horse that fucks with his brain) so he was oggling the truck while we were trying to warm up. He finally worked into a slow but pleasant trot and BW left.

His canter started out just the opposite of what it has been. He was disgustingly slow and four beating. Once more, I got into half seat and really asked him to go forward and he quickly got things sorted out. I wonder if his back might be hurting him? He's been working hard the past couple of weeks. He doesn't respond to palpations, but he's probably due for a chiro adjustment.

Back to the trot, we did some lovely leg yields, shoulder-in, and lengthenings across the diagnol. I wanted to finish with some counter canter loops, but Bobby felt like he should just get to tour the arena as he pleased. He was drifting off the rail and was greatly offended when I shoved him back over.

Bobby: I am a gold medal Drama Llamaaaaaaaaa!!!! You cannot defeat me!

Me: I would punch you in the brain if you had one.

Bobby: Lllllllaaaaaammmmmmaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

I don't even know how I resolved it, but I wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't won so I must have gotten something I wanted. Dick.

What better way to clear the air than a trail ride, right? Wrong. Someone thought it would be acceptable to put the periscope up and hop up and down in place while someone else was trying to document sunshine. That someone else disagreed with periscoping.

"i can't stand still! i'm an award winning drama llama, remember?"

He tried to incite a go-round when I reprimanded him for being a tool and he started spinning and backing. I figured that trick out earlier this year. All I have to do is sit there and not respond and he knocks it off himself. And then he put himself in timeout, fretting about the whole thing.

bobby timeout: curl your head to your chest and pout.

"don't take my picture, lady. this is my 'i hate you' face."

Whatever, Bobby. I gave him a reason to pout and made him trot his galloping hill. Then we agreed on a truce: I let him walk the rest of the way home on the buckle and he didn't take advantage and stick his mile long neck in the air.

What better way to end the day than a classic Bobby DUH face, refusing to enter his stall because he somehow got the crosstie over his big dumb head.

Silly Braids

I am so sore this morning. I've upped my ab workouts, and with the increased amount of sitting trot and overall "I'm not playing the pulling game so listen to my core" work I've been doing, my entire midsection is a big block of ouch. That's what I get for letting myself get a little...er, "fluffy" over the winter. But since New Year's, I've already lost five pounds out of the ten I want to lose by the end of the year just by limiting my junk food intake (sob) and putting more than sloth-like effort into my minimalist workouts. See, Bobby? I'm torturing you, but I'm torturing myself, too. At least you get as many cookies as you want.

Speaking of torturing, I finally got so fed up with Floppy Mane Magee that I threw in a dozen braids to train his mane over. He looks like an idiot, but that's really nothing new. And actually, he looks kind of cute in the mirrors when viewed from across the arena.

he also needs a face shave unless he starts shedding soon. slob.

Despite yesterday being "the nicest day we'll have in the next seven to ten days", we crawled back into the indoor. It was damp and cloudy and cool and not at all nice. Bobby was in a baby mode and had to put his nose and lips on everything. He finally focused long enough to get led to the mounting block and we got started.

He warmed up really well. Leg yields to the right were not brilliant, but certainly acceptable. To the left, I kept my hands lower and wider than proper, but it kept him a little steadier in the bridle and he stepped under himself better than he has before. His canter was calm and quiet. As we walked around on the buckle for a break, I was foolishly like, "You're being so good. This is almost boring!"

I am too funny.

Moron.

I decided to break up Training A and work through some of those movements. Yeahhhh, he was a wild child. I couldn't get him to trot to save his life so I was like, "Fine. We'll canter off some energy and get back to work." Nope. I got into halfseat after the first round and that did seem to help, but he was still being a bit over dramatic. After three hard days of butt work, we were cantering to the left and I think that stifle was just hurting him. Once I got a 20m circle without swapping or head tossing or bit snatching, we quit.

But we didn't quit quit. The weather is supposed to be miserable for the rest of the week, so he'll be getting at least two days off. As such, we hacked up the hill alongside the pastures. Poor, poor Bobby butt.

headed back down.
clearly not a place to take a spooky horse.

We wandered around the farm a bit when we were done, checking out "scary" things like the tarps over the wood pile. Bobby gave me his patented Look when I stopped him.

"is there a reason we're stopped? i don't give a fuck about tarps."

The vet will be out in two weeks-ish and we're going to have a long converstation about joint maintanence. He's only eight, but he's had this issue since he was a wee baby. Maybe pokes would be good for him.

Game Face

Hubby finally got home Saturday after a weeklong business trip in Nashville, so I didn't go to the barn that day, but Sunday came around warm enough that the ground wasn't frozen rock solid. Kind of, sort of rideable ground on a non-hunting day? Trail ride, here we come!

Bobby was in sleepy snuggle mode when I walked in, but his entire left side was covered in dry pee, including under his chin, so I was like, "Um, pass, you dirty goat." After I got him slightly less disgusting, I indulged him and we had a good head rub and ear tug.

There was enough wet snow still on the ground that things were pretty slippery. As much as I wanted to go out and spend two hours on trail, I had to nix the idea and instead we did our first conditioning work of the year. Almost as much fun, if only because it wasn't arena work. The field we worked in has mowed paths that make a big triangle. We "walked" the short side, "trotted" the long side where the ground rolls up and down, and then turned and did a "slow" canter uphill on the opposite long side. We did three sets.

Our walk was a jig, our trot varied between extended and lengthened, and our slow canter featured prancing leaps and the occasional test of brakes--as in, "Hey, rider lady. Do you know how to pull the E brake? Let's see!"

bobby did this move while cantering...

and this move. (pics are my former pygmy baby mable. aww!)

I never felt like he was out of control, and I never felt like I was going to get dumped or run off with. I kept a firm grip on my breastplate and let him do his thing. Cheekiness aside, he was on the bit the entire time and I could feel how round and up his back was under me. (I will say that I think the trick where you practice your trot lenthenings in an open field was patented by an eventer doing condionting work.) When we were done, I bridged my reins in one hand, stuck the other in my pocket, and he marched home perfectly polite and still perfectly connected through his entire body. A great way to spend forty minutes.

long walk home.

The best part about Sunday's ride was that I finally felt like I was doing something. I can always tell how weak his hind end is by how much he struggles to trot uphill. He was certainly struggling Sunday, but he was able to do it so that was a plus; this time last year, he could only walk or canter uphill. I like that I have a starting point and an end goal, and I like that I'm finally able to take the steps to fix the issue. I also like having a starting point for my own hind end work. Three minutes of two point is my current baseline. Yikes. Trot sets, I cannot wait to embrace you!

cookie face.

Today was dressage day. BO doesn't teach lessons Monday so once more I had a free arena. Fuck. Yeah. We warmed up with some leg yields, slowly bringing them further off the rail until I asked him to leg yield from the centerline. Tracking right, he couldn't quite pull it off so I problem solved at the walk and figured out that he could slip right over if I started asking for it as I was turning instead of once we were already going straight. He got big, big pats for a job well done and we switched directions. He's also been more resistant to the left as his left stifle is worse than his right. He gets inverted and sticky, but the same trick helped him out and he did an okay one this direction as well.

His canter is still a little wild. We spent most of it working on slowing down off the seat without breaking into the trot. He curls behind the bit and tries to lean on me when we're having this discussion, but unfortunately for him, I spent six years riding a horse who lived on his forehand and it's one of the few issues I am completely confident in kicking in the ass. When we were done, he was going on a circle carrying himself with a soft rein. Sucker.

We ended with the first full run-throughs of Novice B and Training A. Novice B was a little hairy at parts, but by the time we moved on to Training A, he had his brain in gear and did a relatively nice test.

Here's the thing about Bobby. He has his Baby Horsie moments at home, he can cop an attitude, and he can be a downright ass when he doesn't want to do something, but when we're at shows, he is one hundred percent business. He has no interest in fooling around. He's there to do his job, he's intense in his concentration, and he's a little bit of a show off. He sees the tack starting to come out and he won't even take a cookie. He just stands there like a statue until it's time to go. He was in competition mode for Training A.

not a face that says, "i'm fancy."

Every correction I made, I barely had to ask before he fixed it. He didn't get above the bit in any of his transitions. The canter lengthening back to working canter only took a little sinking of my seat. The stretchy trot circle never lost rhythm and never got quick despite coming off of a lengthening. His halt was precise and square. He just goes into this mode where he's doing his job, he wants to do it well, and he doesn't want you to get in his way. Tell him what to do and sit back and let him do it.

I can't wait to start showing again.

waiting for him to finish drying off, hence the sweat marks.
such an unfortunate looking dude.