Weekend recap -- progress made?

Muddy Mudskipper (click for weird hairiness)

Phew! A bit of a whirlwind weekend there! I have to go out of town this upcoming weekend to take care of my Mom while she undergoes neck surgery (in Florida), so I wanted to get the most out of this weekend as possible. The forecast promised two beautiful spring days and with 4 new horses showing up in the last week, I was needed as an extra hand around the farm to help get the sales horses ready for clients! We were up early Saturday morning, as my trainer was taking a sales horse over to Philly Dutton's for a client. I was attending to the farm chores and putting a couple of our guys on the Equiciser to warm them up. Though it was a beautiful day with temps nearing 60, the wind was HOWLING. We are essentially out in the countryside/woods and when the wind picks up it can be downright daunting (think haunted woods). Gusts of 40 mph meant that our scheduled hack to the indoor was going to be interesting.

Brooklawn Double, Brody.

 Through a series of serendipitous connections, my trainer was going to be showing two of her sales horses to Suzanne of Confessions of an AA Rider, I was secretly more excited about meeting a fellow blogger in person, but also happy to help get the horses ready and hack them over to the indoor. I would be riding Brody who is a 6 year old, 16.2+ TB. it's amazing how those few inches can make a huge difference to someone my size. Riley is a big bodied 16 hh horse, but he's a very smooth, fluid mover and is truly, just the right size for me. Anything bigger and I feel like I'm a little kid! Brody is not only tall, but he's also a really big mover, it's pretty amazing. The effort needed to post his trot is exponentially higher than riding my pony! But, in the crazy wind and the 2 mile hack over, we mostly trotted (to escape the wind) and I was actually able to keep up with his movement! The two boys were both so great in the decidedly spooky weather... it's easy to forget you are riding thoroughbreds when they are just so level-headed.



Meeting Suzanne was awesome! She walked in to the barn and gave me a great big hug and I felt like I had known her for years. She's exactly what I imagined from reading her blog... down to earth, thoughtful and sensitive and a hell of a horsewoman! I'm astounded at her emotional strength to begin the search for a new horse after losing Sugar in such an unfortunate way (and very recently). Those are very big shoes to fill and I know her new horse will be special in its own right. The legacy of Sugar will live on!

I'm always going to be the dummy pulling out my phone to take "ears" photos -- no matter what the conditions are like!

The ride back wasn't nearly as bad, but there was one point that we were coming out of a path that was tree-lined on both sides and the wind just picked up suddenly and loudly and I braced myself for something that never came. *I need to stop anticipating and just ride!

On the ride back, in the woods. *No, I am not holding the saddle like a baby, I was trying to look relaxed:/

We were going to hack and ride another set over to the indoor, but we realized it was almost 4 and we hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we trekked to The Whip for a delicious lunch and a beer before evening farm chores!

Bonus photo: Gorgeous TB mare for sale!

Sunday the plan was to get to the farm early again and head back over to the indoor for a light schooling. This time I'd take Riley who had spent most of Saturday rolling in mud puddles, so getting him ready to go was a little challenging. It was bit too cold in the morning to hose his body, so I curried. And curried. And curried. And choked on dust. And he munched on hay. I got him sort of reasonable looking and we headed out.

He was... alert!

The wind had died down considerably on Sunday, but it was still there. Riley was on high alert on the way over, but sensible as always. I was telling Emily that he feels like a worn in pair of shoes... like, when I swing my leg over him, he fits perfectly and feels so very comfortable and familiar. It's really a great feeling. We did lots and lots of trotting before getting to the indoor and he felt HEAVY. He's not usually heavy at all, and I completely forgot that I changed bits from the Dr. Bristol to the Happy Mouth Mullen. Usually, I can utilize the hack as a way to get him light and responsive, but I think he was either distracted or feeling very lazy because he either giraffed around or leaned on my hands. We got only a few moments of softness on the ride to the indoor, but I was determined to get at least SOME decent work out of him once we got there (it helps to have your trainer in tow for these sorts of impromptu lessons). First we helped make a new flat video of one of her sale horses.

While Riley did this...

Whoa buddy.

I got back on and we started working at the trot. We fought, he leaned and I got frustrated. I know the quality of work we can do, and the trot work actually comes pretty easily for Riley, but we weren't connecting. He was baiting me into slipping my reins and or dropping contact and I wasn't being efficient with my leg. I was basically sitting there, expecting him to ride the way I wanted while I sorta asked correctly. Well that's not going to work now is it? So... the answer? More leg, always more leg.

Every time his head went up, more leg. Too deep in the contact, more leg (+ DON'T GIVE UP THE REINS), running me into the wall, more leg, change of direction, inside leg (+ DON'T GIVE UP THE OUTSIDE REIN) and guess what? I had a horse that was between my legs and hands. We got some really nice moments of trot work and called it a day. It was probably only about 30 minutes of real work, but with him just coming back into work I didn't want to drill him too much. I'm eager for the ground to firm up enough for me to work him in the Pessoa again because it really helped him get straight and balanced in his body without me flailing about. I'm also going to have to either start using my webbed reins or put a piece of tape on my rubber ones so I stop slipping them while I ride!

It was finally warm enough for a bath in the afternoon, so I decided a spa day was in store for Riley. He was obviously, REALLY happy about it.

It took me months to get this dirty.

I stuck him in the round pen with his (very shrunken Irish knit) while I ate lunch and tried to keep him from rolling (clipping was inevitable due to his very strange coat condition)

Um... those are weird tufts of hair growing in. Some are related to rain rot he gets every year (which is also why I clip him before winter -- he's just too sensitive and develops rain rot way too easily under blankets)

But, they make him look downright awful. A couple of chomp marks just for good measure.

And then there's this. What is he part goat? He's the only horse in the barn that looks like this!

So, I showsheened the bejeezus out of him and hoped for the best. Emily advised for me to clip his hair WITH the direction of growth so I wouldn't be fighting his new coat coming in. It actually worked really well (and was much easier than a proper clip job).

And well, Riley was pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

Once we were all done, I thought it might be prudent to get a conformation photo for a baseline of his body after just coming back into work (<10 back="" p="" rides="">

Kind of a beefcake. I think he wintered really well. This guy eats 1 qt of grain am/pm. *points for ground tying!

He fits up really easily, so I am eager to see how his body and coat change after a little bit of time.

We just wormed everyone and he's getting his spring vaccinations this week. He also just got started on Smart Shine which was great for his coat last year. There's a shiny, cute pony under there!

What do you guys think? How does he look? Also, his tail is getting really nice!

Hopefully he can get on the equiciser a few times while I am away, and I think we are trying to do a paper chase on the 18th! We should be settled into a schedule by then!