Thank you, Dapplebay!

The winner of my 100 Followers Contest, L. Williams, chose Dapplebay's Jumper tee for her prize.

The owner/creator/creative mastermind behind Dapplebay, the wonderful Leah, was amazingly generous following the contest and she offered me my choice of shirts as well! Obviously I accepted. Who wouldn't have? My choice was the 3 Days/ 3 Ways shirt in grey.

I got it yesterday and I'm wearing it today. I. Love. It. Super soft, super classy looking, super wearing-it-everywhere amazing. I cannot recommend it more. Leah has designs for the english rider in all of us. Who cares if you ride western? You'd still look super cute in one of these bad boys.

Dear Hubby,

I know I keep telling you I need a new OTTB Tee for Valentine's Day, but I'm pretty sure you could swing an Eventer tee, too. Just throwing that out there.

Your adoring fan,

Carly

Good day at the barn

My drive to the barn was not uneventful, but ironically, it did involve barn-like things.

The short story is, I was hit with a load of hay.

The long story is, I was hit with a load of hay three miles from the barn. I was minding my own business, admiring an oncoming pick-up truck of second cut square bales when blammo! The lovely hay is flying off the hood of my car. I slammed on the brakes and let out a very girly squeal before pulling off on the shoulder. I've lost a bale or two while driving down the road before. No bigs. This guy's entire load landed on my car while I was driving 60mph. Kind of a bigs. Fortunately, hay explodes on impact and it was no harm done. I hepled the guy get the surviving bales out of the middle of the road and finished my drive to the barn without further ado.

Bobby was being super lazy about the concept of moving while getting tacked up and into the arena. "Yeah, yeah. I heard your invitation to move. I think I'd rather just hang here for awhile, thanks." In response, I got right after him as soon as I got my leg over and he very quickly became polite and forward, and it carried through our whole ride.

"poor me. i work so hard."

I had him in jump tack so I could do some no stirrup work (which seems like cheating in a dressage saddle) and work on changing the pace within gaits while in half seat. I haven't ridden in jump tack with spurs for quite awhile now. I've felt so loose and insecure with his jump that I didn't want to accidently poke him. Since I wasn't jumping, I strapped them back on and it made a big difference. Collecting and lengthening in half seat in the canter? Easy peasy. Same at the trot.

We worked through the leg yield movements from First....2? and the canter work from Training B. We attempted some trot lengthenings across the diagnol which were his best yet. Admittedly that's not saying much since they've been pretty much nonexistent thus far, but I think they're starting to emerge. And, of course, some truly torturous no stirrup work. Fucking hell, am I a weakling. That's all I have to say about that.

Overall, a really good, obedient ride from Mr Magee. Forward, responsive, cooperative, and productive. Couldn't have asked for more.

I finished by mauling poor Memphis with my clippers. The high of the week was actually today at a balmy 25* so I only gave him a bib clip instead of a trace and then snuggled him into his blanket. He's so adorable. He stood like a statue until I went to take care of his goat beard and the lips starting going. I've never seen a horse so interested in putting things in his mouth in my life. We had a little talk about how running clipper blades are not a smart choice and I stuffed some carrots down his throat.



he looks made because i was waving the end of the
lead rope at him so he would stop trying to eat my phone.

No clue when I'll be out to the barn next. Sarah and I sent a tentative date for Thursday to participate in an activity neither of us is versed in, nor qualified to attempt. We make poor life choices together. I'll be sure to let you guys in on it if it plays out.

Helmet Cam Debut

I stuck my helmet cam on my helmet for the first time Saturday. I only had a flat school planned, but I figured it would take some tweaking to get the angle and mechanics worked out, so why not go ahead and play with it?

There were five other riders in the arena, but it was actually a nice group to ride with and we all quite flawlessly stayed out of each other's way and managed to keep to task. What a relief. Hubby signaled to me from the viewing room that I should tip the camera down more. That did make a difference, but it was still a bit high when looking at the video that night. I'm not going to share any of that video because a) It's boring, and b) I didn't realize how completely useless the software that came with the camera is--you can't edit anything with it, or really do anything but upload and watch. Two thumbs way, way down.

I angled the camera down even more yesterday and while it looks like it's facing the ground, it's actually at the perfect angle now. I took Bobby out on an hour long trail ride where he was incredibly good with the insane wind. He had every reason to lose his mind, but he was completely focused on working. My helmet cover flew off my helmet at one point, and if my helmet didn't fit so well, it probably would have gone flying off, too.

The quality of these videos is fabulous... as long as you're watching on the Contour software. Once uploaded to Youtube, the quality shits the bed. They're also taking an average of two hours to upload which is probably partly my horrible internet's problem, but certainly not the only issue. I'm not happy with the software for this thing. In fact, I'm pretty much disgusted with it.

But anyway, here are some of the clips from that ride:

Our first gallop hill:

Down a hill, bushwhacking, through the creek, across the road, and up the giant monster hill:

Getting hit by the wind the first time. Notice me checking to make sure my helmet cover is still on--it was for the moment, but went flying off later on.

Bobby was pretty sure the roundbale that has been in this field every single time he's been out here was suddenly deadly, but he was brave and walked by it eventually:

We met up with Sarah and Memphis just as they were heading out, so we doubled back and did another thirty minutes with them, including a race head-on into the wind:

Such a dude.

I didn't make it out to the barn yesterday. We got a ton of wet, heavy, disgusting snow that made the roads a complete mess and the Saturn has proven a most unworthy snow vehicle. So I stayed home and watched Youtube videos. And then my bestie sent me this video. Seriously, where do people even come up with this shit?

I did go to the barn today with zero plans or ambitions which suited Robert fine. Also, apparently he blew an abcess?

Hmph. Did not see that coming at all. He wasn't the slightest bit bothered by it.

poke my foot and feed me cookies. durh durh durh.

I longed him a bit, did some in-hand work to get him moving his hindquarters since he's been taking offense to this lately, and then let him loose while I set up a jump chute. I figured he'd roll and walk around a bit, but he just stood there and watched me set things up.

caution: maniac on the loose.

I tried to video him progressing through it, but it was way too much of a pain in the ass. I got one video of him going through the second combination I set up which worked out well because he heard Pilot walking down the trail we went on Tuesday and he went into Prancey Pants mode, showing off why I haven't sold him to the Amish yet--the big beast really is fancy deep down inside.

work it, mr magee!

Maybe when he starts doing this during warm up at shows because he sees other horses jumping I should just let him have at it. We'd have our lengthenings down in no time!

We ended with it maxed out at 4', at which he continually knocked down the front rail just being plain lazy with his knees until I chased him into the chute and he got some speed to it. Then he cleared it fine. That was good for me to see because now I can be like, "We are going so slow. But it's not me, Bobby. It's you!" Well, it's both of us because I can't let him get away with it, but now I know he's just naturally a plug and maybe that will help me with the whole forward motion thing while jumping.

"well hey there, handsome. what do you have to say for yourself?"

I rode him around with his halter and lead rope for awhile afterwards which just made me miss my Red Pony. Some days I feel like I just traded out Bobby for Red and all I have to do is say the word to get Red back. And I really need to cut out tags and re-label all my blankets because this is probably the fourth or fifth time putting Red's old blanket on Bobby has pretty much destroyed me.

:(

Flat work. Always the flat work.

Sarah and I decided last week to do the grid I did with Bobby awhile back on Monday. Since I've nixed jumping in the indoor, I figured I'd just run through the grid as poles only, do some no stirrup work, and build up the oxer for Sarah. Unfortunately, when we got there, everyone else wanted to be riding in the sun and t-shirt weather and there were four people in the indoor. We both agreed to forgo the jumping and we went up to the outdoor to see if it was at all rideable.

look! we're practicing a water jump!

We warmed up at the walk and stood around for awhile until deciding to suck it up and dive into the crowded indoor to get some real work done. It wasn't much fun. I would hate to hurt delicate feelings (Ha! Yeah fucking right. I just don't want to hear about it.), so I'll just say it was a cluster fuck. Total. Cluster. Fuck.

Bobby was heavy, heavy, heavy in my hands at all three gaits and he was unimpressed with my attempts to lighten him up with transistions. We worked a bit on picking up the counter canter from the walk which he found very hard, but we did manage an entire long side before he was like, "This is wrong, lady! Wrong, I tell you!" He was okay changing direction and holding it, but he didn't like the idea of picking it up on his own. I finished with a canter from the correct lead and some stretchy trot which he was really good about--understandably, since his giant head wanted to trail on the ground the whole time.

watching my puppies.

Today was a rider-free arena that I actually didn't mind doing work in. Bobby was much lighter and more forward in his trot work. We did some turns on the forehand and lots of leg yields at the walk. Leg yields at the trot proved our undoing, furthering my belief that his pathetic little hiney is aching somewhere. I quit on the leg yields as Bobby was locking up his equally pathetic and chronically broken neck. I halted him in the middle and we worked on pressure and release on both sides until he was relaxed and willing to give me his face again.

We finished in the arena with some really nice trotting and several canter circles each direction. Since I'm already pretty burnt out on the indoor, I decided to hack up the track alongside the paddocks. Bobby's never been up this path before so he was looking around, but he pretty much ignored the galloping horses on one side and steady traffic on the other.

The best part about this "trail"? It's BO's property so I can ride it during the week! Take that, hunting season!

skye looking for food, kidd and artie racing up behind him.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to be helping Sarah clip Memphis. She may regret asking me.

 

"Jumping"

Ugh, I don't even want to write this post. I don't even want anything to do with ponies today. But I'm going to rip this off, not think any more about it, watch football all day, and start fresh on Monday.

On Wednesday, Bobby warmed up really well with a long and low trot and canter. He's getting a lot more confident in carrying himself. He's warming up with a soft, steady contact and a loose, forward, happy stride. It's a good foundation that we never tapped into last year in our dressage work. We went through the movements, got the scores and moved on, but it wasn't pleasant work for either of us. It's really starting to be, now.

We did run into some stickiness with turns on the forehand and leg yields tracking left.
I realized (fortunately pretty quickly) I was using too much seat and confusing him. I softened my aids and he stopped overreacting.

Our real work was over four canter poles. The very first time, he barged right through me and blew through the poles like they weren't there. I halted him immediately after and made him back a few steps. After that, it was just a matter of making sure I was riding every step and not letting him get away with it. He was fine after that.

He did land with a little buck to the left the first time through, but no change behind. He ended up swapping behind three times overall, but I took the time to trot and sort out the bend and regroup and he stopped doing it.

Friday, I set up four trot poles and four canter poles. He fumbled through the first trot pole, but once I woke up and gave him a half halt just before going in, he was perfect. Same thing through the canter poles. He was landing on the right lead coming through the canter poles through the left, which he also did once on Wednesday. To fix, I weighted my left rein and seat bone a little more. We finished with some sitting trot work.

Yesterday, I went up early to get in a ride before any lessons started. He was just coming in so I let him have a few mouthfuls of grain and then tacked him up. He usually comes in, eats, and then takes a nap so he was not happy. He was dead to my leg and just generally unpleasant. I set up two verticals that could be taken across the diagnol and a vertical to be taken down the centerline. Things very quickly spiraled into what's become the norm for our "jumping" sessions. Right now, we're exactly where we were this time last year with jumping--you know, where it took us six months to canter over a ground pole without major theatrics.

So I'm putting the brakes on jumping until the outdoor is useable again. The indoor is the size of a small dressage arena. My big, long, not particularly quick on his feet horse just can't cope with jumping in it. His horrible jumping is doing me no favors, which means I'm doing him no favors, and we just keep cycling through this misery. I don't even know what it feels like to just canter up to a jump and go over anymore.

I'll let him play in the jump chute every now and then. I'll set up ground poles to run through. I'll ride in my jump tack and do no stirrup work until I feel like my position is stable enough to deal with whatever Bobby throws at me. That will be our "jump school" days. We're going nowhere but backwards right now.

Also, I feel pretty confident saying something is going on in his back end yet again. I'll see if I can get the chiro out soon. If not, he'll just have to wait until his vet visit in early March. No more "jumping" should help out, too.

And the winner is....

The winner for the giveaway is....

No one! I'm not actually giving away anything. Bitch, please. This is Poor Woman Showing. I don't have money for no t-shirt.

No, I'm just kidding.

The winner is L. Williams!


Actually, it's so strange that it turned out to be number one because every time I watch Live! With Kelly and Michael (because I love Michael Strahan. Don't judge me.), I'm always like, "Pick one! Pick one!" for their giveaways. It seems like the first person always gets shafted. Apparently the number generator agreed.

So email me what you want, the color, size, and where to send this bad boy to, Miss Williams. (starkeycarly@gmail.com) Congrats!

And thanks again everyone for following!