A Very Special Christmas Themed Contest (re-post)

Aoife (another awesome Irish horse girl with an impossible name to spell or pronounce) is running a very fun Christmas themed contest on her blog. She wanted to have a giveaway for some of my paper cut work, so she's graciously commissioned me to make the prizes!

While she has asked people to promote my Etsy shop as a caveat of the contest, I did not ask her for promotion (but I will gladly take it). 

So if you like Christmas, and dressing up your pony, head on over to her blog to read more details about the giveaway. If you've ever wanted one of my paper cuts but didn't have the funds, this is a perfect way to win one!

**Not Riley**, but basically what I think he'd do if I put a Santa hat on him. This is probably one of the only times I will ever use a stock photos, apologies!

New Paper cuts!

I'm having a winter sale if anyone is interested!

Enter coupon code: WINTERISCOMING for 25% your entire order! http://www.etsy.com/shop/TraceALine

Here are my latest pieces:

Aimee + Cuna!!!!

Sam - a gift for someone who recently lost her horse

Quick Update

It's been snowing like crazy here so with the robbery behind us and 10" of fluffy white stuff everything has come to a screeching halt at the farm.

Riley and Henry who came galloping up in the mud for breakfast. Riley is looking terrific and gets a trim on Thursday. We're 3 months without shoes now! Henry thinks he's being coy trying to steal Riley's breakfast!

Lucy on Sunday romping around in the fresh snow. Is there anything better than making the very first footprints in fresh snow?

Finally, an engraved reminder to put on my big-girl pants, sit up and RIDE!

Holding Pattern

We are in a holding pattern right now at the farm. I can't ride Riley who is so beautifully sound it's nearly soul crushing. When we were at a farm with an arena I couldn't ride him because he was crippled. By the time I can piece together enough tack to ride him, the ground will be frozen solid. Sigh. My hope at this stage is that the saddle I am borrowing on Wednesday fits him well enough to get a few rides in and see how he's feeling under saddle. We've made arrangements with a farm next door to use their indoor for $20 a ride which would be great (though, literally $20/ride is money that could be spent toward replacing my tack). I'd like to keep him in SOME sort of work throughout the winter... or, do I just throw him out for two months and figure out everything else? He's only 4 after all. My wonderful farrier comes next Thursday and I'm really curious to see what he says about Riley's feet. They've come a long way in the last 6 months and he's at the 10 week mark for being barefoot and not a lame step in sight. I've witnessed him cantering up and down terrain, jumping ditches and streams and I can't wait to get back on!

It's my birthday this week and I'm just feeling blue about it all. I'm sorry for the lack of positive posts lately. I'm trying to look for a silver lining, really I am. You guys have been more support than I could ever ask for.

In other news, I'm turning my pitbull Lucy into the best barn dog ever. Not only is her recall nearly 99% confirmed, she left the chickens alone, doesn't care too much about the horses and makes me feel a little safer when I'm there. I'll turn her into a barn dog yet! My plan is to start bringing her out on the early mornings when I feed and on Sundays (I have too much to do on Saturdays and she might get bored). Perhaps the presence of a pitbull will help deter any future robberies! *Sadly, my loveable Boxer is too distracted at the barn and a bit too interested in the horses, so he can stay home and be an old man:)

She's got the good life.

Aftermath

I am so truly grateful for each and everyone one of you that reached out to me in some way yesterday. It was a day filled with many emotions. I was angry and felt violated because of the burglary. I was grateful and content that my horse was okay. I felt selfish for wanting to throw a pity party for myself and my friend. I was overwhelmed with feelings of hurt and sadness because things in my life have been really shitty lately. I tried my best to look on the positive side of things, no, they didn't take EVERYTHING of mine, but they did take everything of value. All the stuff that's hardest to replace and the most expensive. I live on a very strict budget and it took me months to gather up all of those items. Worse, it took me a really long time to find a saddle to fit Riley and I hate thinking about having to do that all over again.

I mean is life playing a cruel joke on me? My horse is sounder than ever and then THIS happens? It's unfair.

But pity party aside, we went to the barn to see what else was missing and what we need to replace.

I've been lucky enough to have at least one of you guys offer me bridles and breastplates. We lost and still need:

*Cob size bridle (preferably with flash)
*Dr. Bristol snaffle (full cheek)
*48" and a 50" wintec/fleece girths
*Lunging surcingle
*side reins
*thinline pads (I'm so mad mine is gone!!!!!)
*and oh yea, if anyone has a medium/wide or wide 17.5" jump saddle they're not using that would be great too (ha, wishful thinking)

There's more stuff obviously that we lost but these are a few of the major ones. If any of you have anything you're not using and could send our way it would be greatly appreciated. I hate even asking but times are really tight right now especially with just moving into the new barn and even though my stuff was covered by my homeowner's insurance, I can't swing the $1000 deductible right now. Maybe I should just have a fundraiser!

I gave Riley a million hugs and thought about how lucky I am to have the sweetest horse in the world.

Funny how they know when we are sad.

I took this just as we were leaving and the sun was starting to set. It's so beautiful there. I can't wait to hack these paths with Riley.

Please repost

Our tack room was broken in to last night and all of our tack was stolen. Three saddles, 2 bridles and everything else you can imagine. Here's a fill description with photos if you'd like to share or be on the look out.

17.5 Berney Bros monoflap XC Saddle. Dark brown with exposed knee blocks & long rear thigh block. One billet on one side is lighter brown. Custom made.

17" Parker Toptami forward seat jumping saddle. Brown with smooth molding flaps over concealed knee rolls. No paddins on flaps. Older saddle with newer billets.

Nunn Finer bridle cob size.Brown with flash. Rubber reins with brass buckles. Full cheek Dr. Bristol snaffle bit.

Thinline pad, two short girths, long girth, lunge line, side reins and two saddle pads

Heritage 17.5 all purpose/jumping saddle. Nearly new. Has "hertitage" stamped into the leather in various places. New stirrups leathers (darker than saddle with flex irons).

Nearly new Thinline fleece half pad taken with Heritage saddle.

Horse size Nunn Finer figure 8 bridle with Happy Mouth mullen bit with silver buckles, etc. Rubber reins. Nunn Finer breast plate and neck strap. Fleece 48" girth.

 There's a slight chance this is covered by my homeowners insurance, but I'm not sure and three of us have lost everything. I'm going to the barn to see if anything else is gone.

full disclosure...

If any of you are friends with me on Facebook or Instagram, you've probably already gathered that I tend to lean to the dark side of things from time to time. This can manifest in cryptic status updates and gloomy photos... but don't misunderstand me, I'm not looking for attention or crying out for help. It's a very real, very ingrained part of my personality. I've been an old soul since I was very, very little. I'm the kind of person who is profoundly moved by seemingly small things. I feel very deeply about things that most people don't. I'm a bit of a tortured soul (how cliche of me to say that as an artist) and I fluctuate between being extremely motivated and positive to states of crippling anxiety and depression. I had my first bona fide anxiety attack when I was 22. I remember it VERY specifically and I could not move for a few days. It felt as though someone was standing on my neck and I couldn't get out of bed. I'm sure at the time I really freaked out my roommate... but I was more frightened by all of it. Being very self-aware, I can understand and reflect back on why this happened, there were triggers, and a few major situations that led to that point. I had struggled with insomnia following a car accident in high school and that certainly didn't help much either. It took years for me to understand what was actually going on with my brain. My friend's Mother called it "underdeveloped limb syndrome"... the idea being that if you were born with one leg shorter than the other, maybe you wouldn't notice it as an infant, then as a toddler maybe your parents start to notice, as young child other children may see that you are little different, and by high school it's something that you've been made fun of for, and by the time you get to adulthood you're completely self-conscious about it, trying to hide it as much as you can and being very aware of it at all times. My anxiety is my under-developed limb. I can go long periods of times with nary an issue and then I fool myself into thinking it's gone. It creeps up on me like a stranger in the night and before I know it I'm back to being immobilized by it. But if it wasn't for this tortured soul part of my personality that feels things so intently, I wouldn't be who I am today. I'm a bit of a strange creature, and people are drawn to that, however I easily overwhelm people and can be too intense for some... I know that about myself. I fall in love with kindred spirits though and when I recognize that dark soul in someone else I want to hide there with them. Outwardly, I can seem very normal but inside I feel like a frayed wire. I am comforted by being social because it's a distraction from the war going on inside me.

In the footfalls of legends

Yesterday I moved Riley to a new farm. I'm sure if you've been following my blog for any period of time you're thinking... again? Yes, again. Our current place was only a temporary solution until we could find a barn to rent again. Despite being in one of the most horse-centric areas of the country we had a very difficult time trying to find a place. People flaked out at the last minute, didn't follow through with their promises and some places were just unfit for horses. While the amenities at the current place were great for the price (xc jumps, arena with super footing, hacking, etc) the circus atmosphere was a lot to deal with. That, and it just wasn't convenient for boarding a horse. We had to keep our stuff so far away from our horses that every time we wanted to tack up it became an ordeal, schlepping stuff all over to wherever our horse was cross-tied. That, and despite there being about 30 horses on the property, there were only two places to tack up and we had no access to a stall even if we needed one! We came across a fantastic opportunity that truly felt too good to be true. So the three of us (the two girls who rented the previous barn and I) decided to all go see this place together, meet the new owner and make a decision. It was a unanimous YES on all accounts...

What I didn't know, was that the farm was iconic. I'm not sure how long ago exactly, but the very famous Derry Meeting Farm came up for sale (if you don't feel like going to the link, Danzig and Storm Cat were both foaled there at the farm!!!). It was split into three separate parcels and each one was sold to a different owner. Erin Sylvester has one, I'm not sure who has the other, and we have the third (by we, I mean of course that a couple purchased the property and we are renting the barn)! So we drive up to the property and I immediately recognize the gates in all the fields. They are quite distinctively yellow with a large "V" shape in the middle. The barn is a modest bank barn in really good repair. It's unclear how long it was vacant for, but it was pretty cobwebby when we first looked at the place. This particular property was the broodmare farm, which would explain the gigantic stalls and sheds.

Inside of the barn, looking out the driveway. Riley's stall is the second on the left in this photo.

Despite being a little dusty, the place looked great. We were all a little wide-eyed looking around. It was just what we were looking for, 11 stalls, LOADS of turnout, sheds, access to the best hacking around and quiet. The woman that owns the property has a horse that she keeps in the area and ideally wanted to find a few people to run the barn and eventually she would like to move her horse over too. She's putting in a ring (hopefully in the next month, the contract has been signed -- we're just waiting for the company to finish up Erin's). She was pretty adamant about not wanting a boarding facility, nor does she want any real role in the barn operation, so she was just as thrilled to meet us. We were excited to know that she had a good friend who also wanted to move her horse there and we decided that the barn would be run as a co-op. We all really like the idea of shared responsibilities and a small co-op can be really effective if it's run correctly.

One of the "riding" fields. This is the view from the overhang on the side of the barn with dutch doors, looking out to Riley's turnout field. There's a large pond and a natural stream running through the whole property.

The stalls in the barn are HUGE. I think the smallest is 14' x 18'. Riley's is roughly 15' x 15' with a dutch door looking out over the property. The trickiest thing so far has been leveling the stall floors. They are clay based and were quite lumpy when we first looked at the place. We dragged out a bunch of family members yielding pick axes last weekend and tried to break up some of the old hay, pee, poop that was now like concrete. I worked on painting the newly made saddle racks and Breaking up the surface of the stall. It seriously looked like he took a jack-hammer to it. He wasn't removing any of it as he went along so I had to shovel it out in stages. The floor is looking quite a bit better, but we'll still need some sort of gravel or stone dust to level it out further and mats (down the road). I have a little more work to do on Sunday and then it will be good enough to bring him in at night until we get the other stuff sorted out. It's not a good long term solution, since cleaning stalls with dirt floors increases your costs of straw etc, but... baby steps.

So the barn was in almost ready state when we moved everyone in yesterday. You know, for someone who has only had a horse for 6 months I have certainly acquired SO much horse crap. We filled up the back of our Honda Fit, which holds a remarkable amount of cargo and I still had to put stuff in the trailer. I dragged a very reluctant Riley out of his field (ps. His Baker sheet is mostly intact) and threw him on the trailer. He was happy enough to oblige and chomp on hay. As we were loading the boys the two dog kennels surrounding the jump field were deafeningly loud. They were all hysterically barking and it made me feel so happy that we don't have to deal with that anymore (*I will miss the puppies). The new place is only 10 minutes away and the boys unloaded well. We stuck them in a small paddock together to take everything in and Riley put his head down into knee deep grass to graze.

I finished up organizing my stuff into my trunk... I bought one of these for in front of my stall -- seriously... a tack trunk for $68. It fits my saddle (though, I'm not keeping it in there) and 90% of my stuff. It even has a pull out tray that looks like a mini grooming box (I'm planning on keeping medical supplies in it). Eventually, I'd like to have a really tack trunk, but this is completely functional, has wheels, a handle and it locks!

Around 5 I took Riley down the road to his new turnout field which is roughly 20 acres. There's a catch pen at the bottom of it, which is great, as it was previously used for sorting cattle. He's going to be turned out daily with 3 other geldings and about 20 sheep! 

A photo from the real estate listing of one of the sheds. They are GIGANTIC.

I walked Riley up the hill so he could take everything in (Oh, I should mention he walked down the road landing heel-first and sound to his field, progress!) and un-clipped him at the shed and he wandered around with his turnout buddy. No shenanigans, no galloping, just two very happy horses. Phew.

View from Riley's field looking back to the barn (future xc course to be built in the field to the right of the barn in this photo). Not too shabby?

I'll try to take some better pictures this weekend. All of these fields have wide hacking lanes in between them as well as along the perimeter of each field. It could take you an hour to hack around the whole place (at least). While I'm eager for the ring to built, this is a perfect scenario for Riley's winter plan. Hacking, good footing, and lots of turnout with 12 hours of stall time a day to rest. I think we're going to like it here (and the plan is to stay for a very, very long time!) For reference, this parcel of land is located between Phillip Dutton's and Boyd's place!

I won't be out until Sunday, but I'm hoping to get lots done and still have time to saddle him up and go for a hack. Stay tuned!

*If I was ever in a position to take on another project horse, this place would be perfect.
**I'm not.
***Keep me away from CANTER MidAtlantic... I just found another AP Indy grand-baby for a steal.

Cavallo Sport Boot -- Product Review

Riley has now had 5+ weeks of riding/working in the Cavallo Sport Boots and I can say that I am beyond happy with them. We've still had our ups and downs due to his pasture conditions, but overall he's comfortable enough in the boots to do non-concussive type of work and we got the green light from the farrier on Thursday to keep him moving forward. Due to the boot's tendency to fill with arena footing he said we could skip doing that or see how he feels without boots. But for now our plan of hacking, fitness and keeping his baby brain mentally stimulated are all full steam ahead. He did warn me that Riley may never be totally sound without shoes, but I don't have any delusions that he'll will be able to handle gravel with his flat feet without some ouchiness.

We hacked lightly around the property after his trim (with boots) he felt great (actually he was quite fresh!) and I tentatively made plans to take him on a paper chase a few days later.

He was... excited to say the least. You can almost see a smile on his face.

The barn was very busy that morning and I was little less than 100% (due to tailgating at Fairhill which led late into the night). All the cross ties were taken up and since the other boarders can be a little slow (ahem, this statement coming from me is hilarious) I chose to simply throw his lead line over the pole behind him in the picture (It's not really a place to tie your horse or a place to put your saddle, but it works for both purposes). He stood quietly while I got him all booted up, brushed and tacked up. I have to say, he came out of the pasture brimming with personality... someone made a comment that she could tell he was 4 because after I tacked him up he proceeded to get into everything he could touch. The rail I had him tied to is about 6-7 feet long so he could slide the rope loop down and move around. He broke a giant container of treats, tried to dismantle the mounting block, pulled my friend's helmet out of her bag, and nearly climbed into my lap when I was putting on my spurs. What a ham!

Let's do this. *Also, he's wearing my argyle trouser socks.

We arrived to the paper chase at around noon, I checked us in and grabbed our pinneys. Our start time was an agonizing one hour later. If I had known that I would have packed a picinic! It was a beautiful day and I needed to get my act together so it worked out okay. I'm sure I was a little green around the gills with nerves, so the extra time let me settle down. Riley and Prima were mostly happy to stand on the trailer and eat hay while we waited. Luckily, there are enough of these paper chases in our area that the whole thing runs like a well-oiled machine. We pulled the ponies off the trailer at 12:50 (they were saddled up already), threw on or bridles and got on. We were parked very close to the start and both horses walked over on a loopy rein. I have to say, Prima impresses me more and more everyday... what an amazing 5 year old! It had poured the night before so we waited a little while to start trotting (the start was boggy to say the least) but once we did, Riley felt great. He's been riding around in the boots for around 6 weeks and he felt really confident in them. Traction was not as much of an issue as I thought it would be and little did we know we'd be putting the boots through the ultimate test that day!

Airplane ears deployed. Headphones engaged. He's got his own theme music going.

The trail was very poorly marked. Also, there had been another paper chase a few weeks prior that was marked with pink tape and ours was marked with orange. For the record, safety orange and pink = the same damn thing from across a hay field. We got lost twice, had to bushwhack our way through the forest and over crazy obstacles. We went down one tiny trail with such a scary mud pit crossing that we opted to crash through some trees to the next field instead of doubling back. The ride was supposed to take us approximately 6 miles, but when we finally made it back to the trailers we saw that we had gone 8.3!!! Most of the ride was walking and trotting, but we got in a little bit of cantering here and there. At one point, Riley tucked his head to his chest and felt like a real race horse underneath me! I'll admit, I was reallllly nervous about riding in the boots for a serious ride. We went through the first muddy water crossing and I could sense Riley's concern about getting his feet out of the mud (he figured it out very quickly though) and we came out the other side unscathed. Boots still on and intact! Success! Prima lost a shoe in that mess, and I know Riley would have if he had been in shoes.

Wild TB waiting to start!

I was beaming when we got back to the trailers and still had a sound, happy horse underneath me. He got himself quite sweaty on the way back and I felt like he could have gone around again! At one point a mile or two from the finish, he started playing Marco Polo with any horse that would answer. Then when any of the other groups went out of sight he'd get very agitated and wanted to keep up. It was a good exercise to teach him how to settle and get his brain back. He never did anything too naughty, it was just baby horse behavior more than anything.

But back to my product review...

Cavallo Sport Boot

I chose the Sport boot over the simple for a few reasons. The Simple boot did not fit Riley's feet quite as well. According to their site, the sport boot is made for horses with a narrower hoof and after trying both styles on him, I definitely like the sport better. The consensus on fit is that the horses hoof should "pop" into the boot. A little extra room is okay, but too much and you'll have rubs. Riley grows hoof at an alarmingly fast rate, so even though Cavallo recommends measuring for fit following a recent trim, I would recommend maybe waiting a week or so. I had to buy two pairs to keep up with Riley's feet. He generally wears a size 2, but after a few weeks I could barely get his hoof in them! The 3's are probably a touch too big, but with the pads they fit well enough. There's a bit of an adjustment period when you first start using them, much like a brand new pair of hiking boots, you have to "break them in". I found what works for us is to use a pair of silky socks (mine) to pull on over his hoof and over his pastern before I slip his hoof into the boot. He had some chips to grow out and they kept catching on the hard plastic on the inside of the boot, making them impossible to put on and this seemed to help quite a bit. The socks also seem to help with rubs, which he only got once when he was being a jerk and I made him work for longer than I anticipated. The sport boots have a big flap in the front with a tab closure vs. the simples which have 2 velcro tabs. I found the velcro tabs clumsy and potentially dangerous as they seems more inclined to allow things to get caught in them. Both styles have adequate hoof support and serve as shock absorbers (which is great for Riley's tender soles) and they both have drainage holes in them allowing debris, water, mud to escape easily. My only complaint is that they started to twist a little during the paper chase. I think this was a combination of them being wet and muddy and the torque from riding over lots and lots of uneven terrain. They didn't turn enough to be a problem for him, but I wonder if they could hurt him if they turned too much. I know Andrea mentioned to me that she's had a pair turn all the way around! After the paper chase, I pulled them off Riley and there as only a little bit of mud inside them, the socks were destroyed, and I simply hosed the boots off before they dried to get all the mud out of the velcro and seams. They look good as new!

Raising a white flag.

I am in a weird funk right now. Things are not going well with Riley. He's not happy and either am I. It's been about a month since his shoes were pulled for good and even though I was told to keep him in work (and invested in TWO pairs of boots for him) he's miserable. How can I tell? Well, he's the kind of horse that greets you in the field, he comes in eager to please and never minds going to work. He's been avoiding me at all costs in the field. I have to drag him out and he's even planted his feet a few times and refused to move. Yes, this could just be stubbornness, but it's not. I'm dressing his feet with Sore No More before rides, Durasole after and babying the hell out of them to make sure that he's comfortable. He's not. Last night was the last straw for me and I left the barn feeling really defeated. What he needs is time and no agenda (and although I've convinced myself that I don't have one, I'm still holding on to a glimmer of hope that I can ride him sooner, rather than later). He needs to be in a lay up situation for the next 4-6 months. I don't want to rush this. I can't. He's too nice of a horse to simply put glue-ons on him, or pour $$$ into tests when we know it's his soles. I like the farm where we are now and it has lots of great amenities, but we can't use any of them. Yes, the arena has nice footing, but to get there he has to walk on gravel. To get from the field to the barn is the same story (and it's a hike). I thought about just leaving him there for the winter and trying to just go out once a week or so to pull him in and groom him, but I know he'll be miserable coming in across the rocky terrain/gravel.

Riley bashed his nose on the gate latch and cut it. Did I feel sorry for him? No*

Moving okay but still NQR even with boots.

 He looks okay tracking left, but definitely sore tracking right.

So what does this mean for us? Well, after I posted a photo of Riley on FB last night my trainer called me this morning. We had a weekend planned in two weeks where I was going to bring Riley down to do a little boot camp. Obviously that's out of the question now and I sent her an email this morning about that (which then prompted her phone call). She felt as though I should consider a diagnostic appointment at Penn on Riley's feet (I think she was under the impression that he was sore/off 100% of the time). Once we discussed the situation a little further she agreed that time was the best answer for him and to re-evaluate in the Spring. We came to the agreement that Riley needs to be in a more closely monitored environment. Right now I have little control over his feeding situation and he doesn't have access to a stall if he needs it. So something needs to change. We discussed some possible situations and I'll share more with you guys once a firm decision has been made. I just want the poor dude to be happy and comfortable again!

In the mean time, I need to figure out a way to keep riding. I need to be in tip top shape by the time he's ready for me!

Also, when life gets you down, there's always puppies:

New hound puppies sunbathing

This little guy is named Skunk!

*I nearly had a heat attack when I saw the blood coming from his nose
**I quickly put 2 + 2 together and remembered he just bopped his nose on the latch

Catching up

I want a giant poster of this. Epic.

Phew, time for a quick wrap up. Over the weekend, I attended the Retired Racehorse Training Program Symposium at Pimlico racetrack. Opened in 1870, Pimlico gives off the same eerie feeling that one might get at great ballpark like Wrigley Field. The place exudes atmosphere and history. With only a few hundred people there for the symposium, it was an odd juxtaposition being in such a grand place that was otherwise deserted.

3rd floor betting room -- ghost town

If I closed my eyes I could hear the bustle of bets being made, arguments over winnings, talks about sires and jockeys, cheers as the horses tore past the post and the faint smell of cigarette smoke and beer. The photographer in me wanted to stay all day and photograph the cavern-like spaces that are typically bustling with crowds. I'll admit, I'm completely drawn to places that feel (or actually are in fact) abandoned and have a story to tell. Now I want to visit all the old tracks after their meets are over! I arrived early on Sunday to spend some time helping my friend with her lovely mare so I could get some photos of them warming up in the morning. As I pulled in I saw Rebecca Bowman coming back from the track with her RRTP horse, Riddle... bride-less. Yes, an OTTB sauntering along toward the stables without a care in the world while she texted from his back! So awesome!

No big deal.

Because I can be painfully shy, I stuck to Emily's stall area for most of the morning before venturing out for a little exploring. She was stabled next to Allie Knowles who was so lovely and friendly and had gorgeous horses to boot (and no, I didn't say hello, because again... shy). I did pet and say hello to lots of ponies though, and I wish I had photo documentation, but something horrible happened to my memory card (I still don't want to talk about it) and I lost two-thirds of my photos from Sunday. I watch Emily warm up Prima in the little arena they made on the track. It was right by the finish line which was so iconic, she looked fantastic and right at home! Emily had mentioned that some of the horses got really revved up by the atmosphere and being back at the track, but all it did for Prima was highlight her athleticism.

I did manage to salvage a few photos from Prima's session in the afternoon, and I might be a little bit biased, but she was by far one of the nicest horses of the day!

Warm up trot. Emily was even had a headset on so she could narrate her ride!

Such a gorgeous mare.

Showing off over a warm up cross rail!

Coming out of a line. Perfect!

I'm so proud of Emily and all the work she's done with this mare. She's come a long way in just 4 months!

The only other photos that came out (hopefully I can recover more this week) were of Jessica Bortner-Harris and Bug (Win the War), who I am totally obsessed with. they did a little demo on Sunday of OTTBs turned eventers and she blew everyone away jumping huge XC jumps in a tiny space. Bug was more than game and pinging around like it was a walk in the park.

I love how you can see the moment on the jumbotron too (Also, RRTP and Eventing Nation used my photo!!!!)

Rocket boosters enabled.

I watched the rest of the afternoon makeover horses and they had a few special exhibitions including a group of OTTB foxhunters that came flying around the track with hounds!

They dragged fox scent around the track for the hounds to pursue.

The huntsman was an awesome Irish fellow.

Also, this girl was my hero for the day:

WIN.

It was a beautiful day with gorgeous horses of varying disciplines. It was so encouraging to see how versatile OTTBs can be. 

Absorbine Stain Remover & Whitener Review (and how my horse is a saint)

Riley had rides 2 and 3 with his boots this weekend, we attempted a ride on Thursday but his feet have expanded/had and I could not get his LF boot on (grrr), and he's going really well. I've been relying on Andrea for moral support, professional opinions and for generally talking me off a ledge. She recommended using nylon socks (of the human variety) inside the boots to help slide the foot in until they're broken in. I also took charge of the flares by means of a Rider's Rasp and managed to get his hoof to stop grabbing the boot while I was trying to put it on. Success!

Saturday I went out to the barn early to lunge Riley (we've been keeping his sessions quite short to prevent issues with the boots), when I arrived the place was buzzing with activity and was more or less a three ring circus. Most of their volunteers come on Saturdays/Sunday from 9-12, they have a regular group of people who go on a morning hack on Saturday, visitors are permitted during that time and there were plenty of weekend warriors out to see their horses. On top of that, a new gelding was moving into Riley's field so he and Henry were inside while they transitioned the new horse in. I wasn't too worried, but the energy level was quite high. I got Riley booted up, threw his surcingle and bridle on (btw, Riley's new game is to pretend that he doesn't know how bridling works) and headed up to the arena. I had two goals for Saturday... lunge Riley to check for soundness in the boots and to ride him bareback (!!!). We headed up to the arena and so did everybody else... we were joined by a western horse and his two owners (who are ALWAYS screaming at each other, it's so awkward, but they are perfectly nice to anyone else) doing rollbacks etc on one end, a woman schooling dressage on her lovely warmblood, and a black and white mini with THREE tiny riders taking turns going around the ring... also, along the fence line an old TB who had just been switched to daytime turnout just about lost his mind when his turnout buddy went for a trail ride (he literally screamed and paced the whole time), and a growing group of onlookers.

Winners!

Thank you to everyone that entered our humble contest. I feel honored to have so many great followers here and the sense of community I feel is immeasurable. I've laughed and cried along with all of you throughout the last 6 years. Thank you for helping us to get to 200 posts and here's to 200 more!

For what it's worth, everyone that entered sent the most thoughtful photos accompanied by fantastic bios that made it nearly impossible to pick a winner! I chose the two top prizes by a random number drawing (btw, if you gave me a shout out on you blog you got an extra number) and my assistant (not a horse person but an animal lover) chose the 5 runners up.

Without further ado...

Winner in the OTTB Category:

Kate + Lucy of The Adventures of Lucy, congrats! You are the lucky winner of an OTTB saddle pad and matching ear net, which I am sure Lucy with look incredibly smart in!

Winner in the non-OTTB group:

Kalin + Red of Cash's Steppin' Up, congrats! You are the lucky winner of your very own custom paper cut!

Finally, the runners up! Each runner up wins an Absorbine Try-Pak:

Stephanie and Pyxar (I don't think she has a blog)

Kari Kay and Piney at Good Time to Review

Lauren + Simon at She Moved to Texas

Tori + Penny at Filly's Best Friend

Sarah + Hemie at Eventing in Color

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that entered and to all of my blog followers. You can't imagine how much it means to me to have your support (I literally have 2 real life horses friends) -- looking forward to sharing all of our futures ups and downs together.

*I'll be emailing the winners to claim their prizes:)

Contest Roll Call!

Hey all-

I just wanted to do a quick roll call to see if I had missed anyone's entries! Remember, the deadline is tomorrow night at midnight!

Here's who I have entered so far in each group:

OTTB:

Aimee+Cuna
Aimee+Courage
Amber+Jetta
Christian+Valentino
Kari+Piney
Kari+George
Karley+Henry
Kate+Lucy
Katie+Finn
Katie+Owl
Lauren+Simon
Lindsay+Apollo
Lindsey+Diva
LWilliams+Carlos
Sarah+Hemie
Tori+Parker
Tori+Penny


Non-OTTB:

Amber+Misty
Ashley+Olivia
Kalin+Red
Lindsey+Mojito
LWilliams+Ramone
Olivia+Dijon
Stephanie+Pyxar
Stephanie+Queenie
Janine+Kaspin

There's still time to enter if you haven't already! If you sent me an entry and I overlooked it, please email me again at: xniamhx@gmail.com

Best of luck to everyone,
Niamh & Riley.

Cavallo Sport Boot -- Day 1 (to be followed with a full product review in a few weeks)

He's not 100% here, I think he's still quite tentative on his feet. That said, he's moving out freely (he was slightly stiffer going right but what else is new). Pastern wraps and gel pads are en route to make him as comfortable as we can. He still very, very ginger on gravel, but I know he's going to be better off for this in the long run. Good boy Riley!

take a moment

I posted this on Facebook/Instagram this morning and I can't stop staring at it.

I will never tire of seeing your face emerge through the early morning fog when you hear your name.

 Riley lives in a 10 acre field with 4 other geldings (including his BFF Henry). One of the things I've always loved about him is that he comes when you call him. The other horses were bickering on the hill about who would be first to get breakfast and Riley popped his head up, saw me, and came ambling over. I love that about him. While I was haltering him, Henry came galloping up to say hello too!!!

Looking on the bright side

Riley is officially barefoot until further notice. After a frank conversation with my farrier he said, "if he was my horse this is what my plan of action would be" and we followed it. He came out, scolded Riley for pulling another shoe, was not devastated by the damage he did removing said shoe, and trimmed him all around. He did remark on what fantastic back feet he has. So that's something... which brings me to focus of this post. Looking on the bright side.

I am generally an optimistic individual. I have been known to cheer lead for those around me during hard times, I am excellent at seeking out silver linings and clinging to them as a source of hope when everything seems bleak. I've had a significant amount of diversity in my life and it's this characteristic that has helped me persevere. However, I am not immune to feeling sorry for myself and I definitely get the-whole-world-is-working-against-me-why-can't-I-get-a-break kind of feeling. Especially regarding Riley.

He's my first horse. I've waited 30 years (I took my first lesson when I was 4) to finally have a horse of my own and he's been more or less un-rideable since May. I didn't want to look at my Google calendar to confirm this, but I did yesterday and discovered that I've sat on him maybe 12 times since his PPE. The calendar is checkered with "lame", "almost sound", "NQR", "pulled shoe" notes. We've hardly made any progress due to all of these starts and stops and it's hard to see those around me (near and far) out having a great time on their horses who seemingly never have these issues! I know that 90% of this is out of my control, but it still makes me feel like a less than adequate horse owner. I question myself daily if I am actually doing everything I can to make sure that he'll improve.

Monday, when the farrier was there and my horse stood like a complete angel dozing off in the cross ties, I had a moment of self-awareness. I've been tunnel-visioned regarding his soundness and hoof issues which has blurred my thinking about him. I was so focused on not being able to ride and how my life wasn't fair and I forgot about all of the good things about him (not completely, they just weren't in the forefront of my mind). So with that in mind, I wanted to make a list of positive things about my horse, after all horse ownership is a lot more than just riding.

Riley's positive qualities:
*he's cute
*despite not being in steady work, he paints a nice picture conformationally
*he has terrific hind feet (hey, 2 out of 4 ain't bad!)
*he's a kind horse
*he's not spooky (he's no dead head either)
*he's a good role model (seriously, put a naughty horse out in the pasture with him)
*he's a good sport (if you're going to be my horse you have to be willing for me to do a lot of stupid things around you)
*he's a nice mover
*he's game (he's never said NO to anything I've asked of him -- okay, maybe the right lead canter)
*he's a great helper for young/green horses (ie, he doesn't get worked up when other horses are losing their minds)
*he loads like a champ
*he comes to me when I call him (I love this)
*he settles quickly
*he is friends with everyone (even though he gets a little beat up in the pasture)
*he loves going to new places
*he's tolerant (he's only ever thought about being naughty)
*he's easy to handle 98% of the time
*he's uncomplicated to ride
*he's willing (I've always said the most important quality about a horse is that they meet you half way)
*he's young (our journey has only just begun)

chowing down on his bute mix

**I'm sure there are more things I could add here, but I'm not sure a list of all the reasons my pony is the best make for good reading. I guess I've just been feeling really low about all of this lately. I've been hiding it a little, but honestly when he pulled that RF shoe on our gorgeous ride the other day I wanted to burst into tears. I felt so utterly defeated and no amount of talking me off the ledge was going to change that. But, after a day or so to reflect, I decided that I have to be proactive about his hoof health and start to look for positive things instead of feeling sorry for myself (which to be honest, is not a good look for me). I gave up all authority to my farrier who I trust implicitly and together we decided that barefoot was going to be the best thing as long as we could a.) keep him comfortable and b.) keep him in work (not necessarily for my agenda, but to keep circulation and to stimulate hoof growth) -- he simply said the hoof he will have 6 months ago will look and feel so different that it will be worth watching him gimp around for a little bit. He liked the idea of using boots (he has another sport horse client that swears by Cavallo boots) so I don't just have to stick to arena footing for work. I picked up some over the weekend (they were too big so I exchanged them) and he fitted them on Monday to make sure they fit perfect (and they did!). We'll start slowly as the boots take a little while to break in, so we'll keep the sessions around 20 minutes and I'll try to mix up the work. I think I'll do a little on the lunge line at first to let him get his bearings with the new footwear and then we'll start hacking around the property at the walk and build up from there. My short term hope is to get him comfortable enough without shoes before the ground hardens for winter.

A few comparison photos:

Fronts (I know, terrible comparison photos -- I'll get better ones) The top image is post-trim after he had his shoes pulled on July 7th. The bottom photo is pre-trim September 16th. Not tons of change here, but at least he doesn't have saucepans for feet anymore, slightly less flare to be seen, but I'll have to get better photos to truly decide that.

I see a lot of change here. Same order for photos as above. The angles of his hoof wall are much different and his heels are starting to look less contracted. It's crazy to think that he was standing so much on his heels before! The one this he has going for him is that he grows a good hoof wall! P's theory is to continue to bring back the toe, but obviously he has to go as slowly as the hoof tells him. I think they look much improved after just 2.5 months.

You know, the craziest thing about hoof problems is being patient. The progress and change comes so slightly and in such incremental amounts that you can make yourself crazy looking for it. I'm hoping that his soles will improve and I'm happy to hear suggestions for products that you guys like! We're using double strength Farrier's Formula and Venice Turpentine already.