First trip to an indoor

Don't worry bud, no cows where we're going today

It's been raining (sorry, I know all I post about is the weather, but for real winter, give it a rest) for 2 days non-stop. I was really looking forward to warmer temps but the weather had other plans. I brought Riley in right after he ate to give him a break from the rain and pull his sheet so it could dry off in the tack room. By the time my chores were finished it was effectively down pouring and I didn't feel like hacking out in that crap. One of my fellow co-op ladies was around and she mentioned maybe heading over to her friend's indoor. She was only bringing one horse so I tagged along hoping that she'd be able to help me with any shenanigans that Riley might pull considering he hasn't been off the property in months and he's never been to an indoor. *Plus I could jump crew for her, win-win. The indoor is on a spectacular property just 15 minutes from us in beautiful Chester County. Riley was moderately upset about the giant statue of the pig when he unloaded, but he settled down pretty quickly. He followed behind his buddy up to the arena snorting at everything, so exciting for the baby horse!!! The indoor has state-of-the-art footing, it's made from a mix of fibers and is completely swoonworthy. I've never ridden in an arena that nice in my life!

Go away. I'm busy.

I led Riley around for a few minutes so he could take in the lay of the land. His biggest concern was definitely the mirrors.

Who is that cute horse?????

I got on after another stupid discussion about what we are supposed to do at the mounting block. Jerk. We tooled around on a loose rein for a while letting him see everything (spooky cones, lots of jumps, random things in the corner, scary mounting block, his cooler that I stuck on the rail, oh, and his reflection!) My friend gave us a mini-lesson as I was unsure I'd be able to give Riley a confident ride. She's really good at getting me to focus at the task at hand and get me to just sit up and ride, after all, I am going to be the one doing most of his training and I need to feel like I am capable of dealing with his greenest moments. He did give me one or two silly spooks when we were trotting toward the mirrors, but other than that, once I got him in front of my leg and really moving he settled pretty well. She had me plant my inside rein in one spot (and shorten up my reins which are always to long) and drive him forward pushing him into the corners and into my outside rein by simply moving my inside leg. He caught on to this idea quickly and suddenly I had a really nice horse underneath of me! We took it up a notch by adding 10 meter circles at each corner which really helped work on his bend, and also demanded that I sit up and stay balanced, as we came out of each short side she'd have me lengthen his trot down the long side of the ring then balance again and make a 10 meter circle. My takeaway was that the more impulsion I get out of him, the easier the hard stuff (bending, relaxing his back, stepping under himself) will be. Breaking things down into bite size little pieces really works well for him so he doesn't get frazzled. I was proud of myself for sticking with him and not just handing him off when he was nervous. I know I have the skill, I just need reinforcement.

She worked both of us pretty hard and gave us a little break. I hopped off and let her school his canter (she's never ridden him and I was also planning on having her jump him). She was able to get both leads without issue and even got some balanced 20 meter canter circles too! Then, the fun part... She jumped Riley through his first gymnastic and his first "real" oxer! Outside of paper chases and natural fences he's barely done more than a cross rail. I was so eager to see how he'd take to to colored poles! It took a few tries over the X to get him motivated to do much more than a half-hearted effort, but she had impeccable timing with the crop and was able to get her point across that, yes, you DO have to lift up your legs and JUMP! *Sorry about the quality of the photos, it was darker in the arena that it looks and these are screen grabs from some video:)

Wiggly baby through the gymnastic, but boy is he honest!

Knees! Good boy!

So cute.

First time over a real oxer. This had a rail across the top diagonally. Love his expression.

He got a little smack going over this one and locked onto the next fence (MUCH bigger) a few strides away, she had to pull him off it!

Third time around, happy boy.

In the other direction, love his shape over the fences!!!

We didn't over-school him, just ran him through a few exercises (like a vertical on the other side of the ring back around to this oxer)and he went though the gymnastic maybe 5-6 times, plus a few single fences. It was set as trot poles, vertical, one stride, vertical, three strides to the last vertical (none of them were high) and while he was wiggly (he was a little confused that he would jump something followed immediately by another fence, the nerve). My friend commented that Riley has a lot of potential and that he's honest. He has literally never said no to me or stopped at anything (he'll get over the jump no matter how pretty, though it's never unsafe). She said he'll definitely benefit from some free-schooling as well as adding in gymnastics to help him get a little quicker with his feet. She also thinks that XC schooling will improve his respect over fences, he's good with his knees, but is very economical and he'll learn to respect jumps a little more when they don't move:) He's definitely the kind of horse that learns from his mistakes and he came through the gymnastic a little discombobulated one time taking down two of the verticals and the next time around he gave them a healthy effort! After we were both done, we cleaned up the arena and reset the jumps while the horses cooled themselves down. What does that mean you ask?

 Just a couple of 5/6 year old ottbs following me around the arena cooling themselves off. Best ponies.

Ahhhhhhh! Too much cute!!

Riley's JC registration photos!

Brb, dying of cute.

The ears!!!!!

Tiny baby tail!

Sporting his signature mohawk. So butt high!

Such a cute little guy.

History lessons (well, for me)

Riley's Pedigree

I thought I'd add this for comparison sake. Very similar conformation indeed! *If I had to pick, I'd say Golden Missile has a nicer shoulder.

I'm not going to pretend to understand race records (beyond the very basics) or much about breeding and how it plays an important role in progeny, however when I bought Riley I knew he had both incredible breeding. Today (in a moment of work boredom) I thought I'd dig a little deeper into both Riley's sire and Grand sire.

First, his sire is Golden Missile.

Emily told me the other day to look him up because Riley looks so much like him!

Not a shabby race record! And Mike Smith was his jockey!!!

 I didn't know too much about Golden Missile until today but he had a wildly successful race record that spanned several years (he only ran once as a 3 year old). His progeny have auctioned for record-setting prices as 2 year olds. I can see now where Riley gets his conformation from, but his head is certainly not as refined as Golden Missile's.

Oh, and just for fun I looked up some 2009 foals from the farm Riley was bred at (sadly none of him), but I have a pretty good idea of what he may have looked like as a foal!

These two both have big blazes and one big sock!

&%$*^%$*$!

Riley's grand sire hardly needs an introduction... AP Indy.

And now I see where Riley gets his booty.

An equally impressive race record, earning over $270,000 a start.

A few fun facts about AP Indy:
He won the Belmont stakes and the Breeder's Cup Classic in 1992 (along with other stakes wins), he was entered into the Kentucky Derby the same year but was scratched the morning of the race. He was named horse of the year in '92 and leading sire in America in 2003 and 2006. He was sired by triple crown winner Seattle Slew out of a mare who was sired by another triple crown winner, Secretariat. He was the top priced yearling of 1990 at 2.9 million. In 2000 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Some of his most famous progeny include Bernardini, Golden Missile, Mineshaft and Rags to Riches.

What I have been told about AP Indy progeny is that they have excellent temperaments and tend to be quite trainable. My vet commented during his PPE that the "class" comes through on these well bred horses. If by class, she means class clown, maybe!

I feel quite honored to have a horse that comes from such an amazing family tree! AP Indy is no longer producing foals, he was pensioned in 2011, but I'm always on the look out for more grand babies! A friend of mine just picked up a 4 year old one off the track!

 That's all for now, back to my work day!

Training rides

Riley has had two training rides Friday and Saturday, so I decided to take the day off from riding (even though I was planing on going for a hack today). It's been a long time since I took a weekend day away from the barn and I slept in (highly unusual) but completely delightful.

Friday Emily rode Riley and said he felt really great. The big difference between where he was 6 months ago and where is now has a lot to do with his feet. He is still stiff tracking right, but I think once we unlock him a little he won't find it as hard. She was even able to get him to pick up the right lead canter 3 times. Saturday I planned to have her ride him again so I could see how he's looking under saddle and she could show me some tools to work into his routine. He's very focused on the cows and utilizing lateral work and some shoulder-in helps get his brain back. Emily commented that he feels much, much more forward than he did last year and that letting him move out and settle into the contact works best. He's very willing to find contact at the walk and trot but still needs work at the canter. I think once our transitions are confirmed the rest will come. Emily also said that she thinks the Pessoa had really helped his balance and that his willingness to utilize his topline.

Warming up, Emily commented that sitting the trot stabilizes him (and that he has the most comfortable trot ever!)

His concentration face.

Moving out beautifully and relaxed along his topline.

You can see there's more tension tracking right. Emily really drove him forward until he relaxed.

Stretching down into the contact. He loves doing this!

Proof! He DOES have a right lead canter and it's adorable.

YAY!

My takeaways from the ride were to keep his confidence up (lots of verbal and physical praise), give him lots of breaks between the hard work, use lateral work to help engage his hind end and to help him understand moving off my leg instead of leaning on it (he was not able to move off my leg at all last year, continue to encourage forward, always forward (which will help with the nappy behavior), lots of changes of direction keep his brain busy. Oh, and to ride him with a dressage whip so I can give him little taps behind my leg without losing focus. *He actually kicked out at the whip when he was being stubborn about picking up the right lead canter!!!

I have a few more training rides banked with Emily, and then I'm going to start paying her to ride him once a week. I'll be able to ride/lunge him at least 3 days and I think that will be plenty to get him ready for some schooling events. I want to at least use the Pessoa once a week to continue the improvement with his straightness and topline. We'll keep our serious rides on the shorter side 30-45 minutes and keep hacking out. 

I am really impressed with how he looks, being in a 20 acre hilly field has been good to his body. His condition is really great for a horse who essentially had the winter off.

**Also, just in case the horse world isn't small enough, I was in the city last night at one of my favorite bars and I chatting to a couple standing behind us... the girlfriend happens to be an advanced rider who sold Emily her most recent horse Brody!!!!! Whoa.

Double post!

Hi all,

I really wish I could have posted on St. Patrick's day, with it being Riley's birthday and everything, but well... the day got away from me. Instead, you get two posts in one!

Riley officially turned 5 on March 17th, so I made him a little cake and spelled out "5" in peppermints. Oh, and there was Guinness. 

I was helping out with stick removal around the barn and it was really cold and windy, so I thought I'd give him a day off from "work" and just bring him in and spoil him a little. When I was finished helping out around the barn I saw that he was right next to gate so I ran down and grabbed him (in a 20 acre field this was a blessing)! I stuffed him in a stall with a handful of grain and a flake of hay. I got his birthday treat ready and brought him out to investigate.

Om nom nom... he careful picked off all the peppermints first.

Don't look at his disgusting muddy legs, treats took priority.

Then I shared a Guinness with him, which he was unsure of:

Oooooh.

He slurped a little but was pretty suspicious.

We also got a new addition to the barn... a little calico named Petunia. She's a friend's cat who was having severe asthma issues with her so the owner of the farm graciously offered to let me bring her out to see if she'd make a good barn cat. Luckily, the owner is also very fond of white cats and despite being calico, she's mostly white with calico points. For now she's living in the tack room (which is heated, while she gets acclimated), soon we'll move her into a stall with the dog crate I've been using for her and her litter pan so the other cats can get to know her with any squabbles.

Petunia, relaxing in the sun under the window.

If you have any advice on transitioning a city cat to the country life please let me know!

Yesterday, I took the day off so I could hold Riley for the farrier. It's been a while since I've been there to hold him and I just wanted to see what he thought about his progress. Overall he said his feet look great, his soles are MUCH improved but his hooves grown painfully slow (at the least the fronts). We've been able to go 7 weeks between trims and we're going to reevaluate on April 24th to see if he'll need shoes once I want to start competing him. While is is very comfortable on asphalt, he still takes a ginger step here or there on gravel and I don't want to bruise him unnecessarily. We'll get road hacking to improve his tolerance in the meantime. Things have gone from super snowy to ridiculously muddy and there's no point in putting shoes on now if he's comfortable and the chances of him pulling a shoe are high.

After his trim, we did a little bit of pessoa work and again, only one major meltdown about tracking right. He's getting better and neither seems to lose our cool anymore (which helps). I can reset him rather easily now and get his brain back in order. Keep in mind, we don't have a "ring" yet, so our current riding area is hilly and makes lunging, interesting... though I think in the long run it will help him with balance on uneven terrain.

He definitely had his thinking cap on yesterday. Look at that booty! he's going to be so cute once he's fit.

Good boy. Not as forward as I would like, but moving freely and accepting the pessoa.

PS. Sorry that my photos of him lunging are always tracking left, it's much easier to take photos with the lunge line in my left hand! Not to mention we usually have discussions about tracking right and I have to keep my eye on him at all times.

*There's been some chatter about heading over to Boyd's place for a little schooling show at the end of April, they have an elementary level that would be perfect for us to get our feet wet!
**Also, Emily is going to hop on Riley Thursday to make him ride past the scary cows... yay!

You win some, you lose some.

my favorite tree at the farm

Saturday was one of those perfect days where I would have killed for a buddy to go for a 3 hour hack with. Sadly, my riding friends were busy so I blasted through my Saturday morning chores so I could get down to business. Riley made me walk the length of his field to get him and he was NOT happy about coming out of there. Now that he's back in a program, leaving the field = work and so he has been blatantly ignoring me when I call him. The spring grass is starting to come in and the boys are thrilled to be grazing in the sun instead of standing knee deep in snow. I had to bribe him down with peppermints, cheeky boy! I do make a habit of tossing him a flake of hay or some grain when he comes in so it's not always a terrible experience (ahem, sarcasm). I thought we take advantage of the finally stable (ish) footing and at least get a productive session in with the Pessoa. Sadly, I've only been able to use it on him three times (this time included). He still fights it a little, but at least I got him to track right consistently with only ONE debate. So, minor success there.

In the spirit of Sprinklerbandit, I did look this up today (this doesn't include anything recognized)

2014 Unrecognized Events/Cross Country Schooling

Unrecognized Events:

4/13   Sun   Olde Hope
4/18   Fri   Bucks County Horse Park
4/27   Sun  St. Augustine Pony Club at Unicorn Farm
5/04   Sun  Fair Hill
5/11   Sun  Plantation Field
5/25   Sun  Olde Hope
5/30   Fri  Bucks County Horse Park
6/01   Sun  Horse Park of NJ
6/08   Sun  Plantation Field
6/13   Fri  Olde Hope
6/20   Fri  Olde Hope
6/20   Fri  Bucks County Horse Park
6/22   Sun  DVCTA at Carousel Park (DE)
6/28   Sat  Fair Hill
7/06   Sun  Bucks County Starter
8/08   Fri  Olde Hope
8/10   Sun  Bucks County
8/24   Sun  DVCTA at Carousel Park (DE)
8/31   Sun  Olde Hope
9/01   Mon  Bucks County Horse Park Starter
9/13   Sat  Fair Hill
10/5   Sun  Olde Hope
10/5   Sun  Horse Park of NJ
11/1   Sat  Plantation Field
11/2   Sun  Bucks County Horse Park
11/22 Sat  Bucks County Horse Park Mix & Match

Cross Country Schoolings:  (Confirm times with venue)
March Madness at Unicorn Farm!  Check St. Augustine Pony Club every weekend in March to see if course is open due to weather!
3/30  Sun  Olde Hope (also listed in events, set courses, times given)
4/22  Tues  Fair Hill
4/26  Sat   Fair Hill
5/06  Tues  Fair Hill
5/20  Tues  Fair Hill
5/24  Sat    Fair Hill
5/26  Mon  Horse Park of NJ
6/09  Mon  Plantation Field
6/17  Tues  Fair Hill
6/30  Mon  Horse Park of NJ
7/01  Tues  Fair Hill
7/06  Sun   Fair Hill
7/29  Tues  Fair Hill
7/29  Tues  Horse Park of NJ
8/12  Tues  Fair Hill
8/23  Sat    Fair Hill
9/02  Tues  Fair Hill
9/16  Tues  Fair Hill
9/27  Sat   Fair Hill
10/12 Sun  Horse Park of NJ

There's more not listed on here (including places that always have XC schooling time available, but this is exciting!

horse-shaped kites

I don't usually use stock images since I take one million photos at the farm all the time but, this is basically what yesterday was like for me:

Seriously.

My new schedule at the barn has me feeding and bringing the barn horses in on Wednesday evenings (thank you daylight savings time). An easy task usually as 7 of the 11 horses live outside. All I have to do is bring the mares in and one gelding (which can be a slight challenge sorting him from the other boys). But there was a crazy weather system coming through our area promising a 45 degree drop in temps over night and wind gusts over 50 mph (they were already gusting at 45 mph when I arrived and it was raining sideways). We all agreed it would be best to bring in the other 4 geldings in Riley's field so that they were protected from the elements. Normally, we'd just stick a medium rug on all of them and let them hang out in their shed, but it was wayyyy too hot at 6pm to do that. Certainly none of us were going to head out in the middle of the night to do a blanket change, so inside it was.

Except... the boys have become quite feral living outside. We've bell trained them to come to the gate for dinner and stupidly, I decided I would feed them inside and bring them up to the barn in pairs. I really should have fed them as usual because they lost their minds when I tried to catch them (because I wasn't feeding them). They were all completely wild, the wind was howling which got them even more worked up and things were escalating quickly. I decided to take the biggest trouble-maker out of the field first, thank goodness he let me catch him because he had been bucking, galloping and squealing like mad just prior. He's also the biggest of all of them and I figured if I could get him up to the barn (it's about a 100 yards to the barn) the rest would be easy. Ha! He was a fire-breathing dragon and was spooking at everything. I know him well enough to not tolerate his shenanigans, so we had a discussion about manners. Then I went back for trouble-maker #2. He was actually worse than the first and literally dragged me up to the barn. He has a way of completely tuning you out, to the point that it seems as though he has no idea there's someone on the end of the lead rope (which makes him more dangerous in a way). He spooked all over the damn place while I held on and dug my elbow into his shoulder so he at least knew I was there. Next up was Riley and he was also a hot mess. Every time a gust of wind came along he'd break into a trot, neck craning around to see where the danger was coming from. With him, I just gave him more slack on the lead as he is very respectful of my space and I didn't want him to feel confined. Lots of pats and talking. When we got to the top of the driveway, he saw the cows (again) and did the biggest spook I've EVER seen him do (it was hilarious). Then he spooked at the mounting block, which had been moved to a new spot (horses???) and I finally got him in to the barn. Last of all is Emily's new gelding and despite one rather large spook when we first started up the hill, the more I talked to him and patted his neck, the more he relaxed, he too, spooked at the mounting block, but I finally got everyone in, safe and sound.

To be clear, hot horses on the ground don't worry me, I know these guys really well, but it was a perfect storm for something bad to happen yesterday. I am rarely fearful handling a single horse and we can generally bring them up in pairs, but it wasn't worth the risk at all. For the first time in a really long time I was actually worried one might get away from me.

I am a true believer in the theory that it's better to be safe than sorry and even though I didn't want to make a million trips up and down to their field, I knew that bringing them in (selectively -- as some handle being alone better than others) one at a time was the best course of action. I was at the barn alone and safety always comes before anything else. I feel bad for my friend who has to turn them out today in 19 degrees (with the same wind)!! Hold on tight!

How do you guys handle situations like this? Do you take risks, or err on the side of safety?

Spring is around the corner... I think.

Danger Will Robinson! Alert!

We've had some new additions to the farm over the last week or so... 50 head of beef cattle. Now, Riley and i have ridden through fields with Belted Galloways, one of our favorite places to ride (The Laurels) is directly next to an enormous dairy farm and our barn is across the street from a cow farm, but apparently he was very alarmed when I walked him up the driveway on Saturday and he saw the cows for the first time. *Keep in mind they were at least 100 yards away from the fence line. This was his face when we got to the top of the driveway. He must have made himself 18 hands tall and was just snorting and carrying on. Pretty funny. My general rule with scary things is that you are allowed to look and face the fear but not run away or act ridiculous. I brought him inside the barn and let him hang out in his stall where he could peek out his dutch door and check out the cows for awhile. I have never heard Riley snort at anything and he was so silly about the cows. We have so many animals there and we used to board at a place that was like Noah's Arc, complete with peacocks that would stand on the arena fence while you were riding, so he really has no excuse. But sometimes it's simply the fact that in their brains this thing was not here before, so naturally I should fear it.

Anyway, I was at the barn all day alone so I thought it was best not to take the risk of getting on him without someone else there and after he settled in I took him to our "ring" for a free-lunge session. He was pretty good, though lazy, and took advantage of the fact that I could hardly chase after him in the deep snow (cheeky). He even hopped over the jump a few times.

Prancy pants. Also, don't look at my miserable clip job.

Showing off. Little carousel pony.

I gave him a thorough grooming. I'm so glad I clipped him (even though it's been more annoying to deal with blankets etc since our weather won't figure itself out) because his rain rot is nearly all gone. I'm hoping this year that his new coat comes in a little nicer than last year when he had all these fuzzy baby hairs and then a bunch of longer guard hairs that never went away.

Oh in case you were wondering what it looked like at the top of the driveway when Riley stood at attention:

The sheep and lambs he is used to... but the cattle were on the move and that was a major problem:)

Sunday the weather was chillier and windy, but still above freezing so we decided to go for a hack. I have to say that the one nice thing about Riley being "up" because of the cows is that I got some really nice work out of him on the hack. We did a few trot sets and he found a contact that he was happy with and we just plugged along on the bit with a nice sweeping trot. Everything is so much easier when he's not stuck behind my leg! For those of you keeping track, he's still not shod... that's right, we've been trotting distances on asphalt and he feels great! I need to get new pictures for comparison of his feet. He may still need shoes once we get into more work, but for now he is happy as a clam.

Airplane ears, engaged. I hope those get us extra points in dressage. He gets very relaxed and happy!

We've had two solid days of temps in the high 60's and today's forecast is for rain tonight so I am really hoping that all the snow goes away. Sadly, the temps are supposed to drop overnight and tomorrow is going to be mid-20's and windy! Grrrrr. I really want to get him back in the Pessoa this weekend to see if we can work on some balance. I hope the footing dries up a little to make that happen. Sunday will be another hacking day for sure.

Sorry my posts have been wickedly boring... but at least there are photos!

Riley at the top of the hill in his field waiting for his entourage.

The snow sure is pretty, but I have had enough it, for at least another 10 months!

Storm Prep part IV OR How I spent a 40 degree Saturday.

Riley says, get away from my hay pile!

When did 40 degrees become balmy? What hell winter? At least it was mild and sunny and after three days of temps in the single digits, I'll take it. We have a predicted snow storm coming overnight Sunday and Emily and I planned to make a run to the hay guy so we could stock up the sheds with hay for the boys. There are 3 of them on a round bale which as you can see from the photo to the left, didn't last much more than a week. We don't have a good way to move round bales right now and we figured they'd be hanging out by the shed during the storm so it worked out. Just in case we can't reach them for a half a day they'll have plenty of hay to keep them warm and happy.

I decided that I should probably finish clipping Riley today after chores and our hay run so that I didn't have to start from scratch if I let it go another few weeks. We have him a little ace again and he really well behaved. He still wouldn't let me near his "business" on his belly (I need to get someone to hold a leg up while I finish that bit), but otherwise he was great! Even standing with the halter around his neck letting me clip his face! I have to say (for the millionth time) I love this horse.

LOVE.

Hopefully tomorrow will be nice enough to saddle up and go for a ride. I want to do some trot sets in our big field and I might work him in the pessoa before I hop on. I'd love to make a post with some goals but it's nearly impossible to do so with the unpredictable weather and the wheels coming off my personal life. Hopefully things will level out on all fronts soon and I'll be able to set some real goals for Spring! At least he looks the part and we can actually work now without him sweating to death. The only real downside is that he's super-dooper bundled up now.

Such a cutie.

So sleepy from the ace. Also, he's not cow-hocked, I don't know why he's standing like this!

All bundled up and ready to go back out. There was a face under all the hair!

I got his bridle back from Bartville today, I can't wait to see how it looks on his nice clean-shaven face tomorrow!

Oh yea, in case you forgot how cute he is in the last 5 seconds.

Riley making friends with my friend's little pup!