Monday Debrief.

Don't hold your breath for a single informative or in depth post this week. I'm waging war on Bobby's feet--the same feet that are barefoot because I wanted a show season this year without having to worry about them--and there isn't a whole lot of constructive riding going on. 

Bobby is sound, and I am still planning on showing this weekend especially since everything is on grass. But sound feet and healthy feet are not necessarily the same. I'm about ready to shank this fucking RF, just as soon as I'm done torturing it with every chemical known to man. 

To tide you over until I can think of some fluff posts to fill the rest of the week, here are a few pictures from our dressage ride Sunday.

warming up long and low.
this is about as low as bobby gets.

leg yield.
let me interpret that horrible look on my face in two words:
sitting trot.

forgetting that i was supposed to avoid the far end because of how deep it was.
bobby had to engage the 4WD to get us out.

floating right elbow of doom. 

X: Halt, Stand around

I finally got the video of my 1-3 test from my last dressage show to load off of Hubby's phone. The test itself? Pretty meh. Those leg yields are frightening. But Hubby did capture my ignored entrance by the judge, who--I'll remind you--had already acknowledged me and blew me in.

Still wins for worst run show I've ever been to. Congrats, WRC. At least Bobby was being agreeable for once in his life and stood like a rock.

TBT: Red Pony

The Red Pony knew no greater joy in life than rolling in the biggest puddle he could find. These pictures are from 2009 when I had him boarded at the college I went to, and just before I sold him.

freshly bathed and clipped.

searching out the perfect spot...

nothing beats standing water for a good roll.

full coverage. mission complete.

In exciting blog news, I'm veeeerrrryyyy slowly starting to add labels to some of my more fun posts. You can now find some of the dressage conversations between Bobby and myself, all the Wordless Wednesday works of .gif art, and can reference back to the scintillating lesson fees discussions. Eventually I'll label all of the hoof posts. Plus, I finally added a search bar so that if you can't wait for that, search for it your fucking self. I'm not here to serve you, bitches.

In other exciting blog news, I intend to have another contest/giveaway for when I reach 200 followers. I'd like to do this by June so I have the cash to fund such extravagance (I don't actually have any idea what the giveaway will be at this point), so bring forth the new readers!

Off Again

Welllll.....it looks like Bobby is in for another brief hiatus, this one for an undetermined amount time. Maybe a day or two, maybe a week or more.

The good news is that it's not Lyme. The bad news is that means the only other thing that can cause him discomfort is his tootsies. (Not that there aren't other things. He's just never taken a lame step in his life unless his feet are falling off.)

Ugh, stupid tootsies.

the big galump and his friends being brought in monday morning.
my bm sent me this. so pretty!

So. What's wrong with his feet this time around?

Monday he seemed a little ouchy up in the outdoor, but the ring hasn't been dragged in over a week and it was rock hard. I couldn't blame him there, so we went down to the indoor. He was completely comfortable there, and we had a long dressage ride. Tuesday, it was raining which put us in the indoor anyway. He took a couple of uncomfortable steps when first stepping into the trot, but that was all I felt the entire ride.

Today, he was sleeping when I walked in, but jumped right up when he noticed me. I pulled him out of his stall and right away noticed he was NQR. It was without a doubt the RF--it always is, that stupid deformed fuck face--and I wanted to blame it on the ridiculous thrush his got going on that refuses to go away. It took me over a month to get it cleared up with Oxine AH last fall, and now it's back again. BM, however, thought it looked higher up like his shoulder.

I walked him up and down the aisle for her, and as he stepped off he paused for a big stretch of his RH. Now I was thinking maybe he was just stiff. I stretched all his legs out (Bobby loves his stretches!) before taking him down to the indoor for a longe.

Hmm. He's definitely off. Just the faintest head bob, and he worked mostly out of it, but if you were looking for something, you could see it. I still think it looks like his hoof. He wasn't reaching out quite as much with the RF, and he was landing toe first with a stabbing motion--like the major thrush in his heel was causing him pain.

He got some feel good candy, and BM suggested shoving iodine-soaked cotton up the crack. I'm completely out of real thrush medicine, so a trip to TSC is in order.

It's frustrating because his soles are rock hard and his WLD is finally cleared up. And while I've been waiting for some sort of hoof soreness to spring up with the ponies finally out on full grass privileges, we've cut his grain way back to try to balance it out.

He'll definitely get tomorrow off with just a hoof soak on the menu, but I'm going to stick the hoof boot on him for a longe to see if that helps him any.

Dressage Over Fences

After giving Bobby Saturday off, I went to the barn early Sunday morning ready to slay some mental demons. Like serious ninja shit here, dudes. Apparently Kung Fu Fighter is my middle name because that business got taken care of.

Setting aside the grid idea for the day, I decided to set up a small vertical on the short side to circle over while essentially doing a dressage school in jump tack. It was like Saturday's lesson kids had psychic powers because it was already there when I went up to the arena. If that's not a sign from the "Get it together, ye who spazzes over nothing" gods than I don't know what is.

I dropped my stirrups a hole for a little more leg leverage and went to work on a quick w/t warm up before moving on to the canter in direct order. With my butt planted in the saddle and my hands starting off up by my boobs, I was able to rock Bobby back onto his booty and lure the front end away from wanting to pull an ostrich.

can we just drool over how amazing he looks for a moment?

Keeping both of us in a dressage state of mind, I cut our circle inside the track and calmly pointed him for the 2'3" vertical. He popped over it NBD and carried on like a proper gentleman. There may have been maniacal laughter on my part at this point. "Fuck you, jumping brain fart!! You're nothing but a blip in my horse's legit dressage fanciness!"

Did my mental rambling make sense to anyone else? No, but when has it ever?

The rest of the ride started to roll along in the same fashion. I didn't even trick myself into freaking out. On the contrary, I only had one very brief thought of, "I think I should be nervous right now" before telling myself to shut up and just focus on the canter, the canter, the canter (Who's clinic-ed with Eric Horgan before and now has his voice stuck in their head?).

I was like, "Wow, am I actually going to be able to write a blog post about how I wasn't a complete chicken shit? That's what's up." Then I proceeded to write parts of said post in my head, laughing about how clever I am (clearly those parts did not make it into this post), and the next thing I knew we were turning into a jump and my second of worrying was well behind me.

it's farming season which means i don't even know what hubby looks like anymore.
so here's a jumping pic from the ssj clinic back in march that was never shared.

Bobby did, however, start to come a bit unglued towards the end. I think his "I'm a good, listening dressage horse" brain began to get taken over by his "I'm a mother fucking jumping horse, bitchesssss!" brain. He started to get quite rude to the oxer (3', still set on the diagonal from the other day), so we had a little Come to Jesus about listening to half halts. By his final jump over that fence, he was a total dreamboat. 

We also had some obedience issues with the two stride line. The lessoners had taken away the trot poles I had set up and I didn't put them back. That left us with a long approach to the first jump. Bobby's first few strides were lovely and listening, and then he just couldn't help himself and took over like a freight train. That also got sorted out by the end, and I finished feeling like we'd accomplished a lot.

bobby loves bath time! look how pumped he is!

I still need to work really hard on folding my upper body more over jumps. I'm releasing with my reins, but because I'm still so tall in the saddle, it's more like I'm just chucking my hands forward. It doesn't make for a pretty picture, nor is it as effective as, you know, riding like a real person. 

But shit yeah for getting a kick ass jump sesh under our belts! We had a very hard dressage school today where I worked Bobby relentlessly on being straight to the right. We were both huffing and puffing by the end of it...at the walk. Being straight is so hard. 

LOLZ. But being gay is not?

I kill myself. Seriously, I do.

Just two more weeks....

Two more weeks of jumping, that is. And then I think I need a hiatus. My brain just can't handle itself right now. I'm all like, "Brain, what the fuck are you freaking out about now? These are just jumps. We've jumped bigger. We've jumped scarier." Meanwhile, my brain is like, "DEATH. WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO DIE. ME, YOU, THE HORSE, EVERYONE. WE ARE DOOOOOMED."

I mean, it's just absurd.

I set up a few very simple jumps to get back into the groove today. I'm entered in a horse trail two weeks from now, and we really haven't had a real jump school in ages. Down one long side, I set up three trot poles to a vertical (2'6"), two strides to an oxer (2'6"). On the other long side I smushed two saw horses together that had been brought out for the show to make a skinny vertical (I think they were about 3'). Across the diagonal was a wide 3' oxer, and down one short side was a single barrel on its side.

None of those are difficult jumps for us. I much prefer oxers to veritcals, and with the 6' standards 3' looks pretty small.

I warmed Bobby up with the hopes that his beautiful flat work we've had the past two rides would carry over to his jump tack. At the trot, I think he did pretty well. At the canter, he was a rage monster. I couldn't get him slowed and I could barely get him stopped. His whole front end just kept getting lower and lower as he went barreling around. Never fear! That's what I set the trot poles out for!

exactly why bobby got jumped in an elevator before switching to the hackamore.

In we trantered, popping over the vertical and getting the two surprisingly calmly. The next time around, Bobby actually deigned to trot the trot poles and it was a much better jump in. However, the was the last of it. It's amazing how well he can compact his giant body to canter through 5' ground poles without touching them, yet he can't package himself to canter up to a fence normally.

We moved on to the oxer when I got annoyed with him ignoring me through the line. I trotted in to it letting him pick up the canter the last two strides. Cantering in just freaked me out for no logical reason. I trotted/cantered the last couple strides once more before trotting into the saw horses. Bobby turned in, saw the jump, and picked up the canter. Then he thought, "Hmm. That's suspicious looking." but hot damn I actually just put my leg on and he was like, "Righto! A jump's a jump! Over we go."

With that confidence boost I let him canter around to the oxer. He was wild. I tried to wrangle him back as much as I could before just turning him loose the last stride.

sometimes we're like fancy  ridiculous steeplechasers.

We finished up with the single barrel. He would lock on at the trot, pick up the canter, and then jump....the air next to it. After doing that a couple times, I walked him up to it, he jumped it lovely from the walk and then cantered off. Good pony.

The frustrating thing for me is that when I let him go charging around the ring like a crazy man, his distances are spot on. He doesn't chip, and he doesn't take a flyer. But when he's going that fast he jumps super flat, and 3' is not really much of an effort for him. That I'm not happy with. I love the distances, but not the jump itself.

4' actually requires effort, but there is no way we're schooling 4' course right now.
brain says no.

I know a lot of today was that he was just super excited to jump again. The dude loves to jump. The more we work on it, the calmer he gets. But my bitch of a brain has randomly decided jumping is sooo scary. Get over yourself, brain. It ain't no thang.

I'm going to force myself to do at least two jumps schools a week in the next two weeks. They'll probably be grids so Bobby is forced to check himself before I wreck ourselves. I have to get over this mental block. I think time off from jumping after the upcoming show will be a good thing. I get bored too easily to not want to sneak back to fences eventually.

Hoofers

It's that wonderful time of the month where I randomly think to bring my camera to the barn and take pictures of Bobby's hooves. Yay!

He was last trimmed this Monday:

RF

RF

LF

LF

RH

RH

LH

LH

And yes, the WLD is being treated. Stupid hoofers.

Bobby had the last two days off and got back into work this morning with a light dressage school. Despite how much I'm still whining about the dressage show, I did manage to pull a couple of useful things out of our comments. Mostly that I need to stop letting Bobby dope along in his chosen gait--that being "How slow can I go without falling down?" So today's big focus was asking for more energy, more impulsion, and the ever elusive straightness.

one handsome hunk of horseflesh mugging for cookies.

Ugh, my horse can be so dreamy sometimes. He was all, "Ask and you shall receive...receive the fanciest mother fucking dressage moose you've ever seen!" I shortened up my reins, put my leg on, and he lifted himself right up and away we went for twenty minutes of badassery. We finished up with some lateral work at the sitting trot, including one ramrod straight leg yield right.

Let me just say, I love my new saddle. I'd never sat in one before or even seen one in person, and had only read reviews online,  but it is literally perfect. It fits comfortably over Bobby's giant Thoroughbred withers; the twist isn't super narrow, but it isn't the awful wide twist like a Wintec; the shorter flap makes it easier to feel his sides, and while I thought I might not like this because of how long my leg is, I actually love it; and the biggish knee blocks aren't obnoxious at all. It puts me in an awesome position, and I'm sooo comfortable in it.

I'm quickly becoming a lover of all things dressage, but I sent in my entry to Burgundy Hollow this morning so back into the jump tack we go tomorrow.

Also, the bald eagle's eggs down the road from us hatched! Cutest little alien birds ever: