Mental Health Days

Today Robert wrapped up his three days off to help with a brain reset. Hopefully. I didn't go out to the barn at all Wednesday, but I did go out yesterday and today. I spent a long time grooming him, stuffing treats down his throat, and going over his body inch-by-inch to see if I could find anything to explain his latest spaz. Not that he needs a physical excuse. Sometimes he's just a tool.

I really couldn't find anything, so I took him down to the indoor and put him on the longe for around ten minutes. His only "off" step was switching behind while cantering to the right, but it was because he was trying to chase Darcy and canter on a circle at the same time and he almost fell over. Not only is he sometimes a tool, but he's also sometimes just plain dumb.

"I iz a smart horsie. Yes I iz."

Today was mostly the same routine. I got to the barn and gave him a massive grooming to get as much of the mud off his naked body as I could. The only good thing about it getting cool again tonight? Being able to put his sheet back on. Dirty beast. I noticed that he was dropping his hips a bit as I was really laying into him with the curry, so I gave his butt a good grope and decided to give him a little all-over massage.

He really liked the area along his crest, and of course the area where his neck injury was, and he was surprisingly willing to let me rub his girth area. Usually that gets me within inches of being bitten. He must like his new elastic dressage girth. As for his bum, it took me forever but he finally had loose, jiggly muscles. He was so super tight back there. No wonder he didn't want to jump. I've upped my workout and I don't even feeling like moving let alone piggy backing someone up and down hills and over jumps. He was far less interested with any neck work on the right side, choosing instead to show me all his stretching poses and trying to pull my coat off. "Carrots live in your pocket! I need them now!"

Another longe and he looked fab. Light on his toes, a bouncy walk and trot, and a topline that wiggled as he went. I let him graze for twenty minutes as grass has exploded this week and all the poor, starving ponies have been locked into their sacrifice areas. Poor, poor ponies.

So I'm hoping that between the bute, the time off, the massage, and the much underrated bonding time, I'll have a happy, willing horse on Sunday. Let's make this a better schooling than last year's April go-round, Robert!

I'm baaack!

Ugh, what a cluster fuck this move was. I lived in five different states by the time I was eight, and I haven't lived anywhere longer than two years since I moved out of my mom's house at eighteen, and I can honestly say this was the worst move ever. And we only moved an hour away!! The plus side is, I'm now only fifteen minutes max from the barn. Stellar.

pig says the best part of unpacking is finding all your old outfits.
darcy does not partake in such nonsense.

So what has Mr Magee been up to? The fuck if I know. My brain is so fried.

Last week, we did a lot of trail riding. We explored down by Fishing Creek, but didn't go far as round river stones don't make the best footing. I also nearly lost a boob to a vicious tree branch Bobby was intent on walking me into.

fishing creek.

We found the Stairway to Heaven:

no, really. we did!

And I made it down the Monster Hill by ourselves for the first time ever!! It only took us eighteen months!

"Hold on," you say. "You just strolled right down it like nothing? That doesn't sound like an accurate Bobby and Carly adventure!" No, of course not. Here's the out take:

That's more like it, right? Bobby celebrated by playing in the creek.

We did some dressage work that was obedient for the outdoor (where "obedient" usually isn't a word used in conjunction with riding Bobby), but pretty piss poor quality.

But it was still enjoyable because I was in a t-shirt (!!), we hung out with Sunny for awhile:

And we amused Hubby by going over a jump so he could play with the camera settings:

I followed up the next day with another outdoor dressage school where I shortened my stirrups a hole and my reins an inch and really went after Bobby to work as well as in the indoor. I kept it short since he was working super hard and it was in the seventies (!!), but I think we did a better job. He also got his first bath of the year!

giant ears, giant horse.

We played with Sarah and Memphis, once on trails and once on the xcountry course. Bobby was actually really well behaved on our joint trail ride. He was able to keep his jigging under control and channeled his "I'M WINNING!!!" mind set into simple power walking.

Memphis is all, "I got you this plant."

That is until we tried to show off for Sarah by riding down the Monster Hill with her, and Bobby flipped shit and fell off a cliff. Literally.

there's my horse, sitting on his bum after falling
off a cliff.

I did a flying dismount as he went sideways and backwards at the same time and scooted right on off the path. I did get back on and try again, but his brain was fried and I ended up just leading him down. Again. Grr.

Yesterday we went up to the barn's xcountry course for Memphis's first schooling. Bobby and I loped over a couple of the small jumps in the upper field and did the ditch while Sarah tried to wrangle in The Dutch Hippo's newfound "I'M AN EVENT HORSE!!!" enthusiasm. Then we did five minutes of trot in two point together and did a couple more of the tiny jumps and the tiny bank with them before putting it in park and watching Memphis jump the 2'3" jumps with his knees square to his eyes like they were 3'6" (including the ditch, which was hilarious). Memphis loved this new game and it was awesome to see how cocky and confident he was cruising around.

friends! for once.

We decided to do one more jump and have a run to finish. We aimed for the little (2'3 max, but probably only 2') hanging log that Bobby has done before many times and he sucked way back before running out. Oh, Bobby. I brought him back to the trot and he stopped right in front of it before climbing over it, whacking all four feet on it in the process. I gave him a pat anyway and we walked down to the bottom of the field for our run.

He hopped up and down and didn't really want to go forward until we had made it past the jumps. Then he moved out and had a nice gallop. I looked him over everywhere when we were done. Nothing. No bumps, bruises, lumps, whatevers. I gave him another bath with a healthy splash of linament in the water, gave him a gram of bute, and he'll get the next three days off.

Is it the LH foot still? That's the only thing I can think of that's been showing any sort of "offness". I'll give him a light dressage school Saturday to see how he feels, and hopefully we'll still be on for xcountry Sunday.

Jumping

This is going to be a picture heavy, word light post. I know you guys hate that, but I'm sitting at our kitchen table because it's one of the few remaining pieces of furniture in our house. We moved almost everything over to the new house yesterday afternoon and should be finishing the move today, so if you don't hear from me all week, it's because we either A) don't have internet yet, or B) were murdered by banjo carrying yokels. You have been warned.

Jumped Bobby yesterday in gorgeous weather. Most of the standards are still down in the indoor so with four pairs to work with, I set up an oxer (3') two stride vertical (2'6) line, left Sarah's tires up, and made a fake corner.

It was Bobby's first "corner" and with his propensity to drift while jumping, I was afraid he might drift off over it, but he calmly popped over and carried on.

I had Hubby knock that up to 3' (barrel on end) while we went over the line a couple of times, changing directions and leads after the vertical. We also came over the vertical from an angle a couple of times.

proof that we can both occasionally get our shit together.

Went back to the corner and as long as we approached it from the very end of the ring instead of cutting in behind the oxer, he jumped it well. Certainly no hesitation or thoughts of running out. Such a clever pony.

what's that? slightly awkward spot? no bigs, robert. I won't rip your
face off for once. i'll just do this strange sort of auto release while keeping
my leg in place.

coming in from the shorter distance. clearly more "wtf is going on here?"

He got pretty frazzled by getting two bad spots in a row and he had a minor melt down.

no ride is ever complete unless bobby loses his shit at some point!

So we halted and hung out and then walked around for a few minutes to just breathe and reset the brain.

It worked in that he was no longer worried, but was instead reinvigorated. Worried Bobby showed back up in a few. First we had, "OMG, IT'S A JUMP! I GET TO JUMP THE JUMPS!"

Only that involved me riding like crap, turning in too soon which led to Bobby's favorite game, The Drift, which led to me having to pull him off of the vertical from the line and circle to avoid impalement against the vertical's standards. Clearly that was not great for either of us and Bobby started fretting again. I started to turn him in to the oxer from the canter and he turned his head towards the jump and just kept on cantering along the rail. "Bitch, please. You don't know what the fuck you're doing. I am not participating."

Came back to the trot and circled before trying to come in on a straighter track. That satisfied Bobby and we got the line done one last time, albeit with no brakes.

there's a classic carly jumping picture for you guys!
although this one had more to do with being run off with than 100% poor riding.

Lessons learned:

• Pace was lacking at times which contributed to some awkward jumps. Nothing new there, I just have to be harder on myself about focusing on staying forward.
• A grid with lots of bounces is in order for next week at some point. Someone was a little too fresh-to-death about more than one fence in a row.
• Steering. Should probably have a tune up.

Overall though, for his first "course work" in five months, he wasn't awful. He jumped me out of the tack a few times and going back to jumping 3' made me feel like he was actually jumping 4', but he puts a lot of effort into getting that giant body over things--he hasn't yet learned the art of "less is more". We're not going Grand Prix here, dude. Save the back cracking bascule for...never.

Enjoy your Easter! Someone send me some Cadbury eggs! My rabbit has stopped producing.

Words of Encouragement

Hubby called me this morning and we talked in circles for awhile to determine that I would be going to the barn today. Really, sometimes I just want to be like, "Yes means yes, Hubby! If I say I can come to the barn because you're already out there and you need me to drop you off something while you're working and earning bank for my horse, I can come to the barn. We shouldn't spend five minutes repeating this in a dozen different ways!!"

But I digress.

Pulled into the barn and saw my favorite "Let's do bad things together" person was there. I stopped in at the indoor where she had just got on and told her the outdoor had gotten dragged yesterday and I was going to set up some jumps. She immediately abandoned ship and headed up there while I speed groomed and tacked Bobby. Heel test for the LH? Nuthin'. Didn't even acknowledge me whacking him with the hoof pick. Maybe someone's been behaving himself in the paddock for once and not running around like a looney? One can only hope.

I'd originally intended to set up the jumps for Sunday (hopefully), but with no wincing from princess toes, I figured we'd keep it at 2'6 and have a little fun. I set out the warm up jumps I'd put in the indoor when Bobby lost both front shoes (X, vertical, oxer across the center of the ring) and Sarah set up a fun tire jump.

tire jump to the right.
(can you tell memph used to be a srsly fancy hunter for his previous owner?)

There began a lot of fun and a boost to my self-training ego from Sarah. I got on, walked a bit, and picked up the trot.

Sarah: Holy gorgeous! What did you do to that horse?!

Me: I spent an entire winter working on dressage. But don't worry. Wait until you see our jumping...

Sarah's really only ridden with me on trails for a while, so she hasn't seen the beast actually being asked to do something. We both picked up the canter and she came across the ring. Memphis did a rather enthusiastic flying change (as he was feeling rather enthusiastic in general) and I was like, "Hey, we can do those now, too!"

Sarah: What?!

Turned in across the diagnol, brought my leg back, poked him with my spur, and he smoothly changed and carried on.

Sarah: A round of applause! Go, Bobby! Hold on, is that a whip? When did this happen?!

Then he sneakily tried to take off with me, but a little "yoo hoo!" with my reins brought him back. Another change across the diagnol from this way and we got ready to jump. I'd brought my running martingale up with me just in case, but figured I wouldn't really need it. Um, wrong. We came in to the X with his head in my face and bouncing up and down before deer leaping over it and deer loping away.

Sarah: Ok, I see what you mean with the jumping.

I tried twice more with the same result before I got off and put the running on. Apparently that thing actually does something for us. Jumping was much smoother from there. X, vertical, oxer, tires--all respectable efforts for my easily wound-like-a-fucking-top horse. He actually stayed quiet after the running was put on. AND! AND, PEOPLE!! Every single lead change, every single time. Whether it was auto or I had to ask for it, it was there with zero attitude. FUCK YES.

Sarah: He no longer looks like he's going to die coming to a jump. Plus, you can tell he's listening to you now, waiting for you to tell him to go.

It was really, really nice to hear that we're moving forward. Not that I don't know it, but someone could come in today and watch him go and be like, "Yeah, he's nice. He could do this and this better though." Sarah has seen Project Bobby progress from square one so she can fully appreciate the fact that we can canter a fence now without flipping shit. I'd much rather get praise for baby steps and small wins with this dude than be complimented by a stanger. Does that make sense? Maybe not.

sorry, giant donkey ears are all you get of bobby today.
i didn't even get a pic of his new boots of giant duct tape sheet patch.

We ended early since I still wanted to jump Bobby this weekend and Memphis is fat (No offense, Memph. We'll go into fat kid training together soon, I promise.), but we decided to top off our ride with a run up the galloping hill. First we were helpful and closed the arena gate for BM from horseback. Well, kind of.

Question: How many horses and people does it take to close a gate?

Answer: More than we had.

Bobby pushed the gate closed with his nose as he so cleverly has figured out how to do. He held it closed, but I couldn't get him to take another step forward so I could reach up and close the latch. Then he'd get mad at our hysterical laughter and back up, letting the gate swing open and whack Memphis in various parts of his heavily padded body. This went on for way longer than it should have, but it was too funny to see Bobby shoot us both The Look before releasing the gate on an unsuspecting Memphis who gazed about with a rather confused "Huh?" expression. I finally just got off and closed it myself.

Bobby led the way (of course) for a happily plodding Memphis until we got into the wooded path just before the hill. Then it was just too much to handle.

Bobby: I'M A RACEHORSE!!!!!! A RACEHORSE, MEMPHIS!! I RACE HORSES!!!

Memphis: Butterflies. Lollipops. Clouds. Marshmallows.

Bobby: I RACE HORSES SIDEWAYS!!! LOOK AT ME RACE YOU, MEMPHIS!!! I'M WINNING!!

Memphis: Candy canes and peppermints. Sparkles. Unicorn!

Bobby: THERE'S THE HILL!! I'M RACING YOU, MEMPHIS!!! I'M KICKING YOUR ASS!!

Memphis: lalalalalalalala.

After Bobby successfully "won", he calmly walked the rest of the way home until we got to the final trail to the barn.

Bobby: I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU TO THE BARN, MEMPHIS!! DO YOU SEE ME BEATING YOU?? WHAT ABOUT NOW THAT I'M SIDEWAYS?! Ouch, I just put my head in a bush. BUT I'M STILL WINNING! Oh, holy shit, I just walked us sideways into a tree. I'M GOING TO WALK FORWARD NOW, MEMPHIS, BUT I'M STILL BEATING YOU!

And thus ended another adventure with Rob & Big.

memphis's tag along.

Pony Love

First off, I need this:

can i get an amen?

Secondly, I went to the barn today because I remembered that I had to drop off Mr Magee's Smartpak. I reworked his supplements after much debating and playing on Smartpak's website. He was previously on SmartHoof and U-Gard. He was on the SmartHoof for a year and a half and I didn't see enough change (or really any change) to justify keeping it on my order. I pay New Farrier a lot of money and I trust what he's doing with Bobby's feet, so unless he tells me he needs to go back on something, no more hoof supp. The U-Gard was a cheap transition supp when Bobby finished his omeprazole. I've had two different horses on it before--one showed a difference, the other didn't. I don't think it really did much for Bobby. His new Smartpak is Recovery EQ (thank you, Tori!) and Cool Calories 100. I'm hoping this helps with the stifle issues and covering the last bit of ribs that won't go away.

I took Bobby out to the crossties where he could gaze at the love of his life, Tasha. Tasha is an OTTB whose mom L does hunters and dressage. She lives across from Bobby, but she goes out during the day so he only sees her when she's in to be ridden. As if that matters. When you look like this, all you need is a glimpse:

L and Tasha headed down to the arena as I groped Bobby's LH. His heel looks a touch bruised, but he seemed less reactive to me jabbing it with a hoof pick than he did on Tuesday. I threw on my dressage tack and decided on a ride in the deep, soft footing of the indoor.

Bobby was a pill. Warmed up at the walk on a loose rein. No problem as long as we were just going around the rail. I brought him down the centerline to stay out of L's way and do a turn on the forehand. Oh my gosh, turn? On the forehand? Begin the dramatics. I sat there with a loose leg and my reins in a big loop as Bobby backed, spun, jetted forward, spun again, and just made a general ass out of himself. I ended up just wanting him to walk forward down the centerline, but that would involve getting back over there as we were now pressed against the rail. He would have none of it until Tasha walked calmly by us--and then he walked straight down with his neck arched. For real, Bobby? She's not even in heat!

L and I joked that he was showing off for his lady friend. Bobby will stare into Tasha's empty stall when he's on the crossties and he routinely licks the blankets hanging off her stall. But as L pointed out, she's not even nice to him. She pins her ears if she's in there and just makes mean faces at him.

"i love you, tasha. i love everything about you."

We did very little trot work, keeping mostly to the walk. He would have an occasional "OMG, I MUST GO SIDEWAYS. OMG, I MUST GO BACKWARDS. OMG, LOOK AT THIS LEVADE, TASHA!!" but he mostly behaved himself as long as I asked him to do nothing. I did get some amazing canter out of him. Super uphill, super packaged, super powerful. Of course, it was only because he was dying to be naughty, but I stepped up and rode well and used it to my advantage.

Tasha left us and I made Bobby go through Novice A. He started off very tense, but settled into it and put in a nice test. I let him end there since we'd done more cantering than I'd planned on, but we worked ninety percent at the walk with very little trotting.

starving barn kitties. you can tell they're never, ever fed.

"hey, i'm starving, too."

I painted Bobby's soles with venice turpentine which won't do anything for his heels, but I had it on hand and felt like I should do something. Then I gave his bell boots another puff of chili powder. Those bad boys have hung in there so far! Holla!

a little more rib coverage and he'll be a boss.

Tomorrow off, and I hope like hell I won't be able to get out this weekend because I'll be busy moving. If we're not busy moving, I might just be having a full blown anxiety attack. No bigs.

Jeeze, Self. Do some leg workouts!

After yesterdays Fuck You snowstorm where it snowed like crazy all morning but then got warm in the afternoon while continuing to snow yet melt at the same time, it was Spring again today with sun and no wind and relative warmth. I literally could have ridden in a t-shirt. Ballin'.

I spent twenty minutes currying Bobby and stepped back to admire my handiwork only to find that he looked like he'd been touched. What the fuck, horse. I'm covered in an inch of black hair, my teeth are gritty from dirt, and you still look like a hot mess.

We went down to the indoor to do a really quick dressage school before going out on trails. I emphasized forward from the get-go, but it backfired on me when we moved up to the canter. Bobby completely ignored me and motored around pulling my arms out. He wasn't taking off with me by any means, but I certainly wasn't asking for a hand gallop. Somewhere in there, I did get a flying change. It was unbalanced so he jetted off afterwards, but it was there at my asking. We're always working on refinement, so I can add that baby to the list.

I finally pulled the e-brake when I got sick of my half halts being ignored and gave him a loud, "Hell-ooooo, Bobby!" We walked for a few minutes to regroup and focus on being soft. I asked him for the canter again and got a really soft, lovely canter that we did for two 20m circles before calling it quits. Fifteen minute dressage ride? Yes, please.

april 2010. sad, sad neck. no signs of beef cake to be found.

I had my watch on today so I was determined to finally do another conditioning ride. Remember those? Those things that help event horses get fit? No. I don't remember them either.

So: A 2 min trot to our galloping hill and a 1 min canter up the hill. We walked to the next field where the trails make a traingle and where did our last set of work....last month? Who even fucking knows at this point. 2 min trot, turn around to the trail running parallel, 1 min canter, 1 min walk. Rinse and repeat for three sets, focusing on staying round and on the bit (check) and straight (mostly check--there was no neck crookedness for once, but we kind of wove back and forth over the trail a bit).

Bobby was a sweaty mess when we were done, but his breathing was great--as it should be with that less than taxing set. My sad, sad legs were awful. I did all the trotting and cantering in two point and I might have wimpered a little at the end. We definitely needed the winter of dressage work, but it did my own fitness no favors.

Needless to say, we've I've got a long way to go. That would be easier if I didn't now have to give Bobby the rest of the week off because of some heel soreness. I didn't even notice anything until we were back in the driveway of the barn and he was just a teeny tiny smidgum NQR in that LH again. I prodded the spot where his abcess blew awhile ago and got a definite reaction, so I'm assuming that's the cause.

I can see the difference in Bobby's body from the work we're doing, and he was able to trot right up our hills today so that's a massive improvement, but it feels like the past couple of months have been so stop and go. I can't get into a rhythm with my riding. We're going xcountry schooling in two weeks and our first show is in four, so I'm starting to freak out just a little.

my friend sent me this picture of this uncle mo
filly she just foaled out to make me feel better about
the size of bobby's ears. mission accomplished.

Spring visited!

No barn on Saturday because Hubby's massive family took over our tiny house for his birthday. I always feel like hiding when they come over. I wish I could make a little cave and take all the food with me. They swoop in and clear us out in one giant meal.

and then darcy tried to eat the baby.

Most of Sunday was spent doing house things before Hubby and I jetted out to a distant town I'd never even heard of before to do some biznass I'll share if things pan out. We stopped at the barn for pony time on our way back. We bought a new camera a couple of weeks ago at Best Buy's sale and I wanted to test it out. I'm not allowed to use it at the barn without Hubby's supervision. That was literally our deal when buying it. I don't know if it has something to do with the fact that cameras last about....oh, five months max under my care or what, but I agreed. I still have my beat to shit Olympus to shove in my pocket at least.

I went up to get Mr Magee out of his paddock and I literally did a little dance when I saw his bell boots were still on. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fed him his cookie, put his halter on, and had a mini panic attack when he walked to the gate swinging his LH out and dragging his toe. WTF, Bobby?! I thought he might have lost a back shoe, but fortunately he was still shod all around. He walked that way all the way down the hill. I brought him into the barn and grabbed a hoof pick. His hind feet had giant balls of mud and stones in them. I scraped him out and asked BO if she would watch him jog, just in case. She gave him the thumbs up and I tacked his princess self up.

Because it was in the mid-forties, mostly sunny, and not windy (!!) we were all over going to the outdoor. It actually felt like spring! I didn't need a coat to ride! It was amazing! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bobby was far more interested in gazing at the most beyootiful screaming TB mare whose foot-long ears rival his own in the paddock outside the arena than doing any real flat work, but dressage work has always been pretty much nonexistant when outside. Oh, well.

Of course Hubby had to play with the zoom and completely missed our flying change. He didn't miss how loose my lower leg is though. Probably ought to work on that two point just a touch more. And by a touch more I mean work on it period. It's hard to end a winter of dressage work when winter won't fucking end! But anyway. We got all three of our flying changes with zero fuss so dressage work can stay in the indoor for now. Small wins, people. I popped him over the 2'6 vertical that I had set up forever ago for warm up and I was super happy he didn't bolt the stupid thing.

As I explained to Hubby, I've been watching a shit ton of stadium rounds and trying to focus on the rhythm of the canter so I can carry it over to my own riding since I'm always going so slow. It's all about footfalls for me, and as stupid as it sounds, it actually worked today. It must be because I'm such a musical genius. Or something.

this is how the feetsies fall, hubby. why are you laughing at me?

I had Hubby raise the jump to 3' so we could finally have some real fun. I focused on being fast at the canter which translated to being spot on with our pace. Bobby started out a little, "OMG, we're doing the jumping! Must do the jumping nowwwwww." and had a bit of a canter in place like he does when his brain is about to explode, but a few canter laps on a loose rein with me patting his neck chilled him out and we got to work.

why hubby shouldn't be allowed to play with camera settings.

kind of cool.

I was really happy with how Robert jumped. I had my foot on the gas pedal enough that he didn't feel like he had to race to the fence, and  we got our leads every time.

one of these days i'm going to set out like, a 10' spread oxer.
my horse is a mile long.

He was also really listening to me on picking spots. I love, love, love that I can see a bit of a long spot now and gave him a smack on the shoulder with my crop to ask him to take it and he doesn't have a full blown meltdown. He's just like, "Right-o."

We didn't do too much, and it certainly wasn't enough for Bobby who channeled his inner Memphis and gave me a lovely trot lengthening down the longside because I was trying to not let him canter. With that, I can safely say the lengthenings we've been trying to get are not for realz. But now I know they're in there. Game on, Bobby.

"fuck this dressage shit. i wants the jumping."

No ride today as it's snowing its balls off. It's was nice of Spring to visit for a day at least. Someone dropped off the 2010 WEG Eventing DVD in my locker, so that's what I'll be doing today instead. It will get me in the spirit since today is opening day for our first event!

matching derp faces.