VCBH: Interested Parties

What made you interested in your current horse that lead you to buying them in the first place?

because he is the most talented jumper ever.

I'll be perfectly honest: I don't think I was even genuinely that interested in Bobby when I bought him. 

I wasn't waiting in anticipation for the call to come in that he was done racing. I didn't have visions of grandeur for the dude. I had land and money to spend, and I had a long history with the horse. So I contacted my old adviser/head of my college's TB program when Bobby was first retired and offered him what I thought was a pretty hefty price for a fresh OTTB with zero retraining. 

Why?

because of his exceptionally willing attitude.

I don't like sharing is why. I didn't want to hear all about how so-and-so had a lesson on him, and so-and-so jumped him for the first time, and so-and-so just loves him. Well, good for you, so-and-so. I was the first one to sit on him. I broke him out. I sent him to the track prepared to be a racehorse.

Mine, mine, mine!

because he never uses his size or strength to pull you around.

But I was turned down on my first offer, and Bobby went on to spend a year hanging out at college kind of, sort of being ridden by people that kind of, sort of, not really knew what they were doing before eventually being put on the black list for not being able to stay sound. He was due to be sent to auction when one of my former classmates texted me a head's up, and I bought him for way less than half of my original offer.

So why this time?

because his dressage skills are unparalleled. 

Pretty much the same reason as before: I had the land and money, and I wanted to parade it in front of all the obnoxious horse girls that had fawned over him in college that I was the one that ended up with him. Look, my maturity is through the roof. It can't be helped.

When I finally moved barns for the final time so far, I could only afford board on one horse. Red was obviously staying, so Bobby got re-homed with an amazing woman down in York. When I had to put Red down, she contacted me and offered him back no strings attached. I could have gone a different direction and started fresh with a new horse. But something seemed right about trying one more time with ole Bobby Magee, and we went and picked him up that weekend.

because he never throws childish tantrums for no reason.

And now somehow I think I'm just stuck with him.

because he's the most beauteous creature in existence

June Review, July Goals

June goals recap:

1. Push for a more active, engaged trot and canter during tests. We didn't get a single comment on being flat or lacking energy on any of our tests this month. Instead we broke my previous low score in eventing by three points, and scored in the mid-sixties for all three tests our second time showing First level.

2. Be aggressive with leg yields. Better. Better scores, better ridden, better my grammar is awesome. Still not perfect, but I haven't let him get away with sloppy ones at home.

3. Be more present when jumping. I haven't jumped since Plantation, but that was definitely my best stadium round from a thinking standpoint to date.

4. Buy things. Nope. Sad face. My birthday money slowly leaked away to various other things, so I still need new tall boots.

stunna

July goals:

1. Straightness. Keep those haunches from wondering off to party by themselves. They're like my right elbow--total frat boy douches.

2. Trailer out for a trail ride. Because not having access to our long, loopy trails at the barn anymore sucks. Trail ride everywhere!

3. Sharpness of the barrels. Since the rodeo is really the only thing of note I'm doing show-wise this month, we better make it count. I want Bobby's butt to stick with the program when running barrels.

4. Don't kill the in-laws. It's coming, dudes. The yearly camping and reunion agony. I'm already twitching.

Yeah. Those seem like pretty sad goals, but the final goal is all consuming.

Grab Mane

Dudes--dudettes, whatever--I am pretty bummed about the lack of media that's about to go on in this post. I had high hopes for pictures, and video, and downright awesome shit all-around. But no. You get nothing. Well, you'll get something, but it won't be anything fun.

Sorry for having a blogger fail. Maybe next weekend.

After folding my very long legs in half to stuff them into a "saddle" I had no business being in on Friday, I woke up crippled Saturday. That wasn't a surprise, but I still navigated the stairs all weekend like a recovering paraplegic. By Sunday it was seriously like I was dominating my recovery process. "I was able to take the steps one at a time instead of sliding down on my butt! Champion status!"

But I did man up and put in a dressage ride Saturday morning. I dropped my stirrups a hole and contemplated moving the knee blocks back, but ADD brain struck and that thought was gone pretty much as soon as it entered my head. Next time.

fail horse outtake of trying to get his monthly conformation picture.

Bobby was pretty good for our dressage school. I guess he was at least good enough that I don't really remember much of it. I worked on getting his canter straight to the right. The judge from our last dressage show told me to push him over with my outside aids instead of my inside aids, so I focused on that. His haunches drift in, and I want to swing my inside leg back and shove them over to the rail. Now I'm trying to shove his front half into line instead.

It's very tricky. Really he just needs the chiro, but someone decided to go all lumpy and have the vet out which emptied his chiro budget. Way to go, Bobby.

dressage: the celebration of spit.
foamy lips after saturday's ride.

Sunday was supposed to be the big media day where Hubby came out to finally take some jumping pictures of us jumping big jumps. I told him I'd go canoeing with him in the morning in exchange for barn time in the afternoon. That turned into being on the lake for six hours and not getting home until nearly 5:30. Too late for barn time, plus I was about as pink as the tank top was wearing. Mission to even out the farmer's tan on my arms accomplished? I guess so.

But I was committed to make up for that by bringing my helmet cam and regular camera to the barn today and figuring out a way to make my rescheduled jump school still awesome for blog land.

Here's how that went: "I can't wait to see how this helmet cam turns out. It's going to be so balling. Better go grab my phone before I head out. Oh, I have to grab my brush too. I'm so going to forget that brush. Get phone, get brush. Get phone, get brush, Get phone, get brush. Ha! Didn't forget you this time, brush! To the barn we go!" Then I got to the barn and was like, "......DAMMIT! Forgot cameras!"

Story of my life.

Since Bobby hasn't been jumped since Plantation, I thought today would be a good time to put him back in a bit assuming he'd be a little cray getting back to business. I dug out Sarah's figure eight bridle (Thanks, Sarah!) and swapped out her Dr Bristol for my french link elevator.

oh, boo hoo. it's not two reins. get over it.

I set up really simple jumps: a giant X on one long side, a 3' vertical on the other long side, and a 3'6" oxer on the diagonal. Since we're not gearing up for any events, I'm not working on anything specific. I just wanted to jump a couple of big jumps for the fun of it.

Bobby was a dream flatting around for warm up. I know people have opinions galore on how to use an elevator bit, but I've never had a problem with Bobby getting fussy with this set up. He really goes well in it, and he's not one to hold back his opinion on a bit.

I started him with the X which for some reason he didn't quite get a read on the first time. He bunny hopped over it, and then spent the rest of his trips over it jumping the raised sides of the X instead of the middle. Bobby wants big jumps, not cross rails.

He rubbed the rail of the vertical the first time just barely sliding it out of the cups because I think he was surprised to go from an X to 3'. I put the rail back up, and on the next trip he nearly jumped me out of the tack. He didn't make the mistake of touching a rail again.

no touching!

I was trying super hard not to pick, but with limited success. I don't want him to revert back to the "Hackamore of NOTHING" mindset because I can barely control him at shows in it now. To keep him from getting rabidly annoyed with my busy hands, and to keep from inadvertently screwing up our distances, I finally convinced my brain to grab mane (because I'd forgotten my neck strap in my locker, just I'd like forgotten everything else fun and useful today), and sit still.

Obviously that was the recipe for #winning.

I finally felt like I was being quiet enough to add in the oxer. We landed after the vertical and I was all, "Yay! So good! Your canter is strong though. What a strong canter. This is probably too fast for turning into that oxer. Wow, sunbeams!"

And then I was all, "Oh, right. Thinking and acting on your thoughts are imperative here." So I half halted, he adjusted his canter back to where I wanted it right away, and we turned in for the oxer.

Three strides out I saw we were spot on for the perfect distance, and I grabbed mane instantly to keep from fucking it up. Bobby jumped easily out of stride and I quit there. No need to jump his legs off when I got exactly what I wanted the first time.

It makes me pretty happy to feel how easily he clears 3'6" now. It still seems like it was not that long ago that he was having serious shit fits over 18" verticals. He's a tricky fuck because he's so easily offended by things, but I like where his brain is this year. At nine years old, he's starting to finally feel like a grown up horse.

Friday Fotos: Racehorse Camp

My barn has summer camp going on every week right now which I've been careful to avoid by going really early in the morning before it starts. Small children that ask a lot questions while roaming the barn are not really my thing. But this week was the intermediate group which consisted of five girls that lesson regularly and actually mostly know their way around a horse.

bm tells the history of her tiny saddle.

This morning I finally decided to take Bobby for a brief w/t/c. I got there well before camp started and BM told me they were doing a racehorse day today. I told her to sign me up, hacked Bobby quickly, and ran home to grab my camera.

the unsuspecting pony

I have a love-hate relationship with racing. For a long time, I thought I was going to work with racehorses forever. Fuck, I even have a pretty worthless associates degree in Thoroughbred Management! I hot walked in high school, did all the things for our college racehorses, and walked, groomed, and galloped at Saratoga also while in college. But after awhile, working with some of the people I did and finally blowing my knee out, I was kind of over it. And the passion for the backside never really came back.

ponying BM to show the camp kids how it's done

That said, I still really love horse racing, and I have all this now-useless knowledge stored in my head just waiting to be shared with preteens that think PONIEZ IN TINY SADDLEZ IZ THE BEST!

i am way too tall for this nonsense.

BM used to train Thoroughbreds (and eventually Standardbreds) so she brought along what she had left of some of her racing tack which included a postage stamp sized saddle she thought was about eighty years old. A friend gave it to her; he'd had it made when he was ten when he was riding on fair tracks. This thing was nowhere near the size of a jockey saddle you'd see today, and not even remotely close to the big fat exercise saddles I'm used to.

silver take his racehorse gear a little too seriously

After ponying all the campers around, I got on Silver--who might have Thoroughbred in there somewhere...really, really far back somewhere. I'm 5'10 and the majority of that is legs so sticking my feet in those fucking stirrups was no easy task.

aw, cute fake racehorse!

Not gonna lie, I mostly just posted which was a feat unto itself. After I'd done all of three laps of canter, I fell to the ground in agony dismounted and went to retrieve Mr Magee. Obviously he was going to get in on this.

look how excited he was!

Being on my own horse who knew exactly how this game was played made my job so much easier.

seriously. how cute is he?

BM took a spin on him when I was done which was cause for much giggling as she tried to convince us she couldn't canter him because her hips would fall off. So she cheated and dropped her stirrups to do it.

I made all the campers win pictures of their rides on Silver, so of course I had to make one for Bobby too since he's never won a race before.

winning!

I feel like I can skip my yoga workout tonight with no guilt. Twenty minutes of glorified stretching ain't got nothing on five minutes of two point with six inch stirrups.

Well that got weird

I guess my subconscious has been more concerned about Lumpy Bobby than it was letting on.

Last night I had a dream that I was taking care of the lumps on Bobby's shoulder, only the lumps were pouring pus and blood. There was a pair of Asian exchange students at the barn--because why not--and they were standing by watching me clean the wounds. Apparently they were very interested in the process because they'd learned all they could from the video games they played about first aid, and now they got to see it put to use in person.

The open sores on Bobby's shoulder were actually more like giant lacerations in my dream, and they were really not looking great. However, that was the least of my concerns as half his body was missing!

Yeah. That's right. Bobby ended at his shoulder.

When I noticed this affliction, I immediately called BM over and she was like, "You know that when he gets reconnected he'll probably never be completely comfortable. Plus he's going to have issues with his breathing and dressage work." Which made me panic....

....and then wake up.

What. The. Fuck.

 Back in the land of reality, Bobby was almost back to normal yesterday.

still a little fluid, but no heat and no gross drainage

the right leg still has some fluid as well, but the left looks good.

Now that the majority of the fluid is gone, you can see each individual bite lump. His legs are covered in them, and it's no wonder they blew up like they did. I still don't know how he's the only horse in the barn of 25 that ended up like this. One horse was at the same show as us earlier Saturday morning, and half a dozen were at the same place for a hunter show on Sunday. He goes out at night with four other geldings in a pasture where five geldings go during the day. No one else got a single lump!

Yesterday I stuck him on the longe for a few minutes mostly just for something to do, and he went around looking completely comfortable. He's done with his Dex today so by tomorrow he'll probably still be a little lumpy, but at least he won't be swollen.

In summation, leave me the fuck alone, crazy ass bitch brain. My horse is not, you know, splitting in half.

also, the world's stupidest fawn was having a frolic in the parking lot yesterday.

Vet Visit

AKA, "Ew, you're lumpy!"

Bobby had Sunday off after our show, and I had every intention of giving him Monday off as well. I wasn't even planning on going out until today, but apparently Bobby was feeling neglected and came in Monday morning looking a hot mess.

BM saw his front legs before noticing anything else and immediately checked him out when he got into his stall. She thought he'd bowed on both legs before she noticed the lumps on his chest...and then she also saw weeping lumpy wounds on his left shoulder. Um, ew. She tried like crazy to get hold of me, but the allergy medicine I'm on has made me a literal zombie. Combine the construction going on right in front of my house with serious sleepy meds and I heard nothing from my phone until three in the afternoon.

I went out to the barn right away and saw this:

RF

LF

from behind

super swollen, hot, and weeping pus

I didn't get any pictures of his chest, but that was covered in lumps as well. I'm not one to call the vet over every little thing, but this was nasty and my vet was able to head right over.

She agreed with BO and I that it didn't look like hives but instead bug bites. Having a ridiculously swollen and painful arm myself from a bite, I was definitely feeling for the dude. Vet gave him IV Dex and left me with more for the week. She said if any of the other lumps start erupting (gross) then he's going to have to go on antibiotics, too.

This morning he looked maybe a little less swollen in his legs, but his chest was the same and his shoulder had opened up and drained more. Which I guess is good that the fluid is leaving, but it still looks pretty nasty.

legs today

shoulder today after getting cleaned.

I did notice a couple of really tiny spots on his legs that were leaking fluid, but I'm going to hold off to see what they do until tomorrow. He's still got two days of Dex to go through, and I'm hoping tonight and tomorrow morning's doses will take care of this.

In the meantime, since he was pissed he had to stay in last night per the vet, I covered his lumpies in hot pink SWAT and took him for a walk and graze.

We're going to try putting him out tonight since it's supposed to be pretty cool out. Hopefully he evens out soon. I wouldn't want to be covered in that nastiness.

NPHA Dressage Show

I really should have forced myself to do this show recap over the weekend. Now I'm drooling all over thanks to an excess of antihistamines in my system to bring down the swelling in my thigh. Oh, wait. That's just my fucking forearm. The dogs and I all managed to get stung this weekend, and we're pathetic looking. And also very sleepy.

prepare for total dressage domination.

So Saturday's dressage show. I'd never been to this place, but the barn shows there all the time. I got directions the night before off of the show's website which was a mistake. I should have asked BO how she went because our route was not trailer friendly. We were stuck crawling through construction in Scranton which made the hour long trip turn into an hour and a half.

We got there with ten minutes to spare before I was supposed to be in the ring. I was one of the last riders to go, so I knew there wasn't going to be much leeway. I did the fastest speed tack of my life and swung up as the organizer came over to walk and talk as we made our way over to the ring. There was a rider in the ring doing her test, and then it was my turn.

this is not going to go well.

I'd forgotten my test copies in the trailer so I was desperately trying to remember how each test went (Why no, I haven't ridden or even glanced at them since showing last month. That would include preparation.) while walking Bobby back and forth along the narrow grass strip above the ring that served as "warm up". There wasn't even enough room to trot up there. There also wasn't enough room in the ring trot all the way around the dressage court, so my warm up was a circle of trot off to the side of the court and away we went.

First 1

Bobby was definitely not pleased with missing out on his warm up and this test was a mess. We had a hard time getting on the same page, and it was overall just very sloppy. His stretchy trot circle was nonexistent as a horse went trotting by the ring just as I let my reins slide and he was far more interested in watching that. He plodded across the diagonal for the free walk, then changed things up by cantering our final lengthening.

The judge, however, was amazing. Her comments were extremely kind and honest while still critiquing in a really helpful way. She said to focus on getting him more uphill and engaged behind, and work on keeping his hindquarters from trailing in. All things that probably wouldn't have been an issue if we'd had our usual thirty minutes of warm up.

She gave us what I thought was a pretty generous 61.724% which put us in third for 1-1.

First 2

There was supposed to be another rider go after me, and then I would go in again, but I ended up doing all of my tests back to back since no one else was around. That involved less time for working and more time for standing there trying to remember how the fuck my next test went.

Regardless, Bobby came into the ring for the next test a lot more settled. He still bombed his lengthenings which got to me more than anything else. My spurs were adjusted to fit over my fat paddock boots and half chaps so they were way too high on my tall boots which rendered them useless. His lengthenings at home have been awesome this past week, but I just couldn't get him to duplicate them Saturday.

Again with the drifting haunches, especially in the leg yields, but those were miles better than our last show so I wasn't too upset there. Then I completely blanked finishing the test. You're supposed to change rein at the canter at K, trotting at X. I was like, "....another lengthening or something somewhere in here? But then how do I end up back here to go down the centerline? But...I'm still cantering? What the fuck comes next?!" So I got a 3 for blanking out and trotting too soon.

Still, we somehow managed to squeak out a 66% which won this test.

First 3

Bobby was done with the fancy prancing when we came down the center line. The judge's comment was "Drifted on move off" on the first halt which was a very nice way to say "Horse is ready for the jumping. Fuck this dressage shit." His first leg yield was a little crooked, but the second was better. He finds that tiny, weird figure eight at X really hard so he lost some energy trying to maneuver through that one, but at least he didn't throw a tantrum.

He saved the next tantrum for picking up the canter. Judge's comment was "Miscommunication to trot." Sometimes known as "Anticipating, and proceeded to be a douche." Neither of our 15m circles at the canter were very good, and we kind of bungled our way through the entire canter tour as my reins got longer and Bobby started getting a little tired....and pissed.

Our collective marks were a lot better this test at least, and we got a 65.806% which put us in second.

the WORST at posing. srsly.
and i don't know why he looks like an emaciated mule here. he's plenty fat.

After waiting for nearly two hours for scores to get figured out, we were finally able to get our placings and prizes. Bobby's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd made him Reserve Champion for First, and his 66% on 1-2 was High Point which got him an additional Champion ribbon. It also meant I got to pick a prize, and came home with a super fancy dressage whip that I will probably only use once a year. But still. Fancy.

Now we finally enter a little showing down time. We've done two dressage shows, two gaming shows, two horse trials, a jumping clinic, and my barn's fun show so far this year. I've got a family reunion and a week of vacation to budget for in July. We're doing the rodeo 7/15, but I don't know if we'll be doing much else next month. Prepare yourselves for boredom.