What is a twenty meter circle anyway?

Lots to report over here with another successful weekend of riding behind us. If you live in the Northeast you know that we got an inordinate amount of rain and a freak thunderstorm during the week that left everything a big wet mess. We were able to get the ring sorta dragged Saturday enough to do some flat work and Riley got reintroduced to the Pessoa. In the ring we worked on slightly raised cavalettis and two canter poles set 60 ft apart. I could feel the gears turning in Riley's brain approaching the 4 raised poles like, "Am I supposed to jump all of these"? Luckily he didn't, though he felt like cantering a few of them made much more sense!

I took a trip down to Dover and Maryland Saddlery on the hunt for a few things for the pony and a dressage whip. I was also looking for a new helmet, but they didn't have any of the new ones in yet:/ I did pick out a new whip and also picked up this little beauty that I've been obsessed with (plus 30% off)!

From Dover's site: Because who doesn't love houndstooth?

Let's play catch-up + millions of redundant photos + bonus!

Riley got his shoes back on (since the beginning of December) a few days ago and homeboy was feeling REALLY good about himself. Our new farm is VERY rocky and I was pretty nervous about how he'd cope with the turnout fields (mostly just near the gates). To my surprise, he's held up pretty well for the last two months, at least until the mud arrived. He got a bit sore and popped an abscess, so I switched his turnout schedule so he's in half the time and I think he's appreciating the relief. Temperatures are warming up quite a bit and all of the horses seem to have spring fever! The ring was still sloppy, so i thought I'd hop on him and ride around inside to see how he was feeling... well, that ended quickly as he got all sorts of frazzled and I hopped off and decided we'd do some free lunging -- as a rule, I NEVER lunge or free jump for this sort of purpose, but I had little choice in crappy footing and less than ideal circumstances!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I'm pleased to announce the winner of my 300th post giveaway!

*please note, there were 25 names on the list!

 Emma from 'Fraidy Cat Eventing!

Congrats and I can't wait to make a paper cut for you!

Support System

I learned a long time ago to know better than to question the timing in my life. It's easy to get caught up in all of life's ups and downs and get distracted by what isn't going right for us vs. finding the positive (hint: there's always something). But I am guilty of getting caught up in negative thinking too... so when everything in my life is seemingly coming together, I look around with bated breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe it's my Irish Catholic guilt setting in, you know the theory that if something good happens something bad must follow???

But maybe, just maybe all of the things ARE coming together in the right way at the right time?

It's possible, right?

I've been given the most amazing support system. I have a wonderful trainer who believes in me, my horse's ability and pushes me to become a better rider and horse woman. I have a family who support my insane love of horses (since I was a wee little girl) from 4000 miles away in whatever ways they can. And now, my wonderful SO has assisted in making more of my dreams/goals come true.

For Valentine's Day, he told me I was going to the MDHT Adult Eventing Camp in May. You see, he knew I was interested in it, but also knew that it was a luxury I probably wouldn't allow for myself (not to mention is would account for a large portion of my yearly competition budget). I am not into Valentine's Day AT ALL and I made it very clear that I felt like it was a silly holiday and I'd rather treasure someone sporadically throughout the year etc. But he insisted in a very sweet way that he was going to do something whether I liked it or not:)

So imagine my surprise when he told me what he wanted to do! I maybe mentioned this camp once to him in passing!

!!!!!!!!

 

300th post! And a giveaway!

Hey everyone!

It's my 300th post!!!

As I was looking back over my blog stats, I saw that my most popular post was my paper cut tutorial!

So, as a thank you to all of you lovely blog readers, I would like to host a giveaway for my 300th post celebration. The rules are simple, just leave me a comment about why you follow my blog and a link to another blog you love -- I'll draw a name at random in a few days and the winner will receive a paper cut of their choice and a few secret goodies!

It's been a crazy 6 years of blogging and I cannot thank you all so much for all your support, advice, laughs, criticisms and feedback. The last few years have been challenging for me both with Riley and in my personal life, and knowing that I always had this place to go to (even if I wasn't blogging) to read about your adventures, live vicariously and get inspired was so important to me. The blogosphere can be a weird and wonderful place and I feel so very lucky to have a group of followers who make me feel like I have a team of people cheering me on at all times.

A big thank you to Pia's Parade for helping inspire this giveaway. Prairie's Mom was so elegantly patient with me while I worked on a few commissioned pieces that got sidelined when my life got a bit disrupted. I put the finishing touches on them and got them in the mail today!

Prairie in all her glory

Prairie's Mom had a cellphone photo of her on the cross ties that she really loved and I was able to make it work!

It's hard to tell by the photos but the paper behind the images is a cream-colored hand made paper with little tiny silver, shiny stars. I feel like it suits Prairie really well:)

2016 is looking very bright -- thanks for following us so far!

Free bird!

I took a mental health day on Thursday to reset my messy mind a little. I've got lots of exciting things going on in various aspects of my life and I think that taking the time to pause and reflect is important so as not to get bogged down with the details! Horses have always offered me that sort of reprieve and I'm grateful to be able to turn to them when I needed a distraction or support (or just a good laugh).

We're almost snow-free at the farm, but with all that snow melt comes MUD and lots of it. Not to mention the ring is super cuppy and deep right now as it attempts to dry out and drain. It was too sloppy to ride in the ring so we decided to free jump a bunch of the horses (Riley included). Our free jump area is really cool. It was once a ring designed for little kid pony rides so it's essentially a ring with another ring inside it (so that the ponies couldn't dash into the center or run away). It has footing and is large enough for the horses to get a nice pace and rhythm.

Riley heard that Bobby was the fanciest show pony, so he got jealous and struck this sweet pose to show off all his angles.

#GOALSMET

Handsome man

This weekend was a little bit hectic with both Emily and I have opposing obligations both days with only a little bit of overlapping at the barn. Saturday I met her and we were determined to get two sets in before she had to head out!

We decided to take the two chestnut boys out first, her young prospect and Riley (best buds). Everything was still really snow covered, so we opted for a hack along the bridle path that surrounds the big paddocks. Both boys were very brave hacking into the unknown and with the snow being VERY deep in spots, they were getting a thorough workout. I think I even heard Riley huffing and puffing a little. When we got back around to the barn, we decided to take our hack down the drive (it's about a mile long) and up to the big hill that looks back toward the barn. This hill is going to prove extremely influential in Riley's fitness and for me to get a better feel for galloping up and down terrain! On the asphalt, I asked Riley to really march along because there's simply no reason he can't do some "real" work at the walk!

Heading out on our hack around the pastures

Both of us looking super awkward.

The next set involved two of Emily's sale horses. A lovely mare named Lola (who might be sold) and a 5 year old dark bay on his 5th ride post-track. You have to love the brain of a well-adjusted TB as he took the lead and led the whole way bravely. At one point they were heading under some low branches when one caght on her vest and snapped off landing on him. He scooted two steps forward and realized everything was fine and went along his merry way! He's definitely one of those types that is REALLY going to blossom with his own person.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl...

Turner leaded the way with Emily up. He's for sale!

I had the barn to myself Sunday and I had planned to ride Riley and Turner, but time got away from me and I had some things I wanted to take care of with Riley, so Turner got off the hook. It would mark my first solo voyage on the property (and the ring is a bit of a hike from the barn) but Riley was just stellar.

Heading up the ring, he spotted a buttload of deer bouncing around

Playing the ring, the snow was finally soft again! (also, sweet bedhead Riley)

We mostly stuck to a large oval (probably larger than 20 meters, but I don't have a good eye for such things unless I'm in a dressage court) and it was actually really fun. He felt super, and because of the 6"-12" snow he was taking this big, bold steps that made him feel like a big fancy warmblood! So we practiced bend, riding without reins and using my legs to maintain our shape and of course lots of sitting trot. His trot is generally easy enough to sit, but in the snow he was really getting a lot of suspension, so it was very challenging! I used some of Emma's recent tips and though about pressing down into my toes, which ultimately kept the ball of my foot where it should stay and keeping my elbows elastic. I always try to this of turning my bell button toward the sky to help straighten out my upper body and I felt I was actually doing some pretty solid work!

*Ahem, my core hates me today.

Our snowy playground!

The last goal I had for the weekend was to take a conformation shot for January. Riley's looking a little rough due to some fungus on his face, and I was going to have to do it by myself (HA!), but I wanted to try anyway. Gotta stick to them goals.

But before we get to that, when I pulled him out of his paddock I noticed something kind of horrifying... As in, his tail was half-gone. I nearly burst into tears and as I'm sure a bunch of you know the struggle it was to get his tail long and full...

We still don't know what happened, but it was either eaten by the pony OR some lunatic chopped it off:(

I wound up trimming another 8" off of it to make it look slightly less insane, but I dunno guys, I'm at a loss for words. if anyone has any suggestions to help it grow any faster let me know!

Onto his little conformation shoot. It was moderately successful, but I was just happen he stood very still in a decent position while I snapped these:

Hahahaha.

This was basically the best I could get him to stand up without spooking him or having him walk over to me for snacks.

Tail or no tail, he's super adorable.

Overall, he looks like what I would suspect from having the last 2-3 months off with only light hacking. Under saddle he's been super soft and bendy and he's moving really well even without shoes. they'll go back on in another week or two after the mud disappears. But I think this is a good baseline moving forward. We'll up his workload each ride and get him up to 4 rides a week in the next month.