Spring fever!

View from the passenger seat didn't change much all day!

 You guys... taking care of two barns and 30 horses is a lot of work...

We were farm sitting over the weekend for a friend who has a lovely place about 35 minutes from our farm so we made the most of the opportunity by shipping Riley down and back twice for some real rides!

Spring forward -- and a lengthy update!

Finally!

The clocks have gone forward, the days are longer and dare I say it, the weather is warming up. Which can only mean one thing...

Spring Mud Season

Yep, all the snow and ice we've had lying around is quickly melting into little estuaries and streams around the farm. There are giant mud pits around the gates and water troughs, but I don't care... I'm completely over winter and I'll take a muddy mess over frozen hands and toes and constant wind burn on my face. The new farm appears to have decent drainage and thankfully the owners know exactly just how muddy the property gets so we're not freaking out that the horses are making a mess.

Is there such a thing as the terrible 5's????

Riley being adorable/trying to eat the banana bread in my lap

Saturday was the Cheshire Pony Club Spring Paper Chase. It's always a lovely ride, and last year it was the 2nd paper chase I took Riley (and only my 3rd ride on him ever) where I was convinced I simply HAD to have him. He was brave, solid, and best of all completely rateable. Blame it on the lack of fitness last year, or the fact that he's in a medium workload load and feeling full of himself but I had a completely different horse on my hands this time around! The best part about this paper chase is that it is literally around the corner from our barn. I drove over in my car with bridles and goodies and Emily rode Prima over and ponied Riley who was mostly tacked up. When I was signing us in Emily was almost to the trailer parking area, which I am sure looked odd to everyone else who was there with a trailer. Ah well. We got our pinneys and start times and settled in at the car. We brought chairs and beers and hung out in the sun to relax. It was a gorgeous day, though I didn't plan ahead and forgot to wear sunscreen so now I already have a sweet farmers tan. Nice. Riley was calm and happy to just graze while we stood around, but Prima is in heat and wouldn't leave him alone. I'm sort of convinced that Riley is asexual because he was not keen to her advances.

Whispering sweet nothings to Riley.

After awhile it seemed she was getting through to him, but he was still more interested in ALL THE GRASS. We got on and headed out around 12:30 and they were both happy to trot down to the first patch of woods. I'm not that keen on this particular route because it starts very jump-heavy when you've barely even trotted for 5 minutes, but Prima was more than game to hop over things (of course being completely adorable about everything). Last year I bravely took Riley over the first large coop with a massive puddle on the other side which no other horses would go anywhere near. This year I waited a little while before popping him over a solid 2 foot log where he over jumped it by several feet and landed with a hump in his back, completely unseating me (I guess he remembered how to jump from last Wednesday)! I had a terrible Oh Shit! moment where I was sure I was going to fall off, run into Emily and/or hit a tree, but I got him back. Whew! What the heck! I decided that rather than take any chances in falling off over fences we'd skip most of the for the day so he's have a positive first outing for the year. He was totally fine going around everything while Emily popped over jumps. He got in some serious looooong trots and canters (many uphill) and gave them plenty of walk breaks as it was the hottest day of the year so far. They were both terrific leading or following through streams, up and down banks etc. Hunter paces are such great learning experiences especially for babies. We got to a really nice flat section along a fence line and decided to let them go for a little gallop. Emily had me ride ahead so I could set the pace and I tucked a few fingers under my neck strap so I could give him soft contact while I was out of the saddle. he felt amazing. Ripping along with the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, and then... I felt him curl his neck and round his back... I know what's coming next... I stood up in my stirrups and pulled my shoulders back to ask him to slow up and he bolted! Poor Emily was about 4 lengths behind me when she saw what was starting to happen and she was yelling out all sorts of instructions (I couldn't hear her). All I knew if that we were on 100s of acres with so end in sight. When he didn't listen to the subtle cues, I sat deep, and one rein-stopped him, which was more of a crazy circle, but it worked. It didn't help that I had spurs on (which I usually need) and I kept jabbing him while I was trying to turn/stop him. I realize it wasn't pretty but it got the job done. That's when I realized I didn't really have brakes. Whoops. While he loves the Happy Mouth Mullen for flat work, I'm going to need a little something extra in wide open spaces, specifically, something that I can pop his head up and get him to listen. Emily and I were both is complete shock that he ran off with me! She even offered to swap horses for the rest of the ride, but I really wanted to use the adventure as a learning tool for us both so I stuck with him. Plus, I'm pretty sure he was showing off for his new lady-friend. We mostly trotted for the rest of the ride, which was great to get his brain back, do some solid contact work, and make him work HARD. We tried a few more little bits of cantering but he lost his marbles and thought that curling his head and cantering sideways would be a better option and rather than lose control of him again in a wide open space, I just made him trot, and trot and TROT. Emily said I handled the situated well, and that while she was worried, once she saw my reaction she knew we'd be okay. I think she was more concerned that I would be emotionally frazzled by him running off and while it was a little terrifying for a minute or two, I need to be able to handle whatever comes along. The ride was 7.5 miles long with lots of hills and both ponies were tired and sweaty at the end. They are certainly in better shape that a lot of the horses we saw (and ours are clipped) but it's always nice to see how they do on their first outing of the year. He got a well deserved Vetroline bath and time to relax in a breezy stall while he dried off.

Tired pony... look at that lip!

Sunday I thought a nice quiet hack would be good for Riley to stretch his legs and give me a chance to try another bit on him. I put him in a full cheek snaffle which definitely helps with steering, but he doesn't seem to like to hold the contact in, he sort of bobs his head as though it's fussy in his mouth... I think he likes the stability of the straight bar of the Mullen and he's also gone well in a Nathe. Me and two other ladies headed out for a nice road hack (short, under 3-4 miles) mostly walking at some trotting since it was one of the horse's 2nd ride post-track.

Riley led for most of the way! Good boy! We have miles and miles of land around us like this and most of the grass perimeters we have permission to ride on too!

He was a little stiff and definitely slightly foot sore from our paper chase, so I opted to trot on grass as much as possible. He did trot pretty well on the smooth asphalt, but he'll be getting shoes at the end of the month so we don't end up with bruises. All three babies were terrific save for a moment when a huge hawk was sitting on a fence line and decided to fly away as we went past! Lots of trotting on the way back up a nice gradual hill on the grass you can see on the right of the photo above, such a good work out for him!

Finally! Spring. Look at the grass! ps. Riley thinks standing still is the dumbest.

After our short hack he got hosed off and turned out where he proceeded to canter off up the big hill in his field... faker, he wasn't tired at all. Then I remembered that I had him in the jump chute Wednesday and I flatted/jumped him the same day, paper chase Saturday and hack Sunday. Maybe he was a little tired:)

This week he's going to get a training ride from Emily where he can test his rate-ability and brakes out in the open, I might do something with him Wednesday if I have time (I have a dentist appt and I have to feed that night) and Friday he goes for his first XC with me clinging to his back like a monkey. Fingers crossed I remember to keep my heels down and shoulders back this time.

A pretty terrific weekend, even if my 5 year old is truly showing off his baby side these days!

Also, perfection. I love that you can see his blaze faintly.

Ps. Any bit suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I think my next step might be a double jointed bit of some sort.

Whole30 wrap up and I meet a blog friend IRL!

As you may remember, I started the Whole30 challenge a month ago. The last four weeks have been filled with plenty of ups and downs and without going through the whole month day by day I'll give you some highlights and lowlights.

Pros:
*My near chronic shoulder pain is completely gone. I'm astonished.
*My insomnia was not an issue. I slept remarkably well and felt more rested in the mornings and more energetic during the day.
*I made lots of awesome recipes that I'm keeping in regular rotation.
*I lost 11lbs. Seriously, this is insane.
*I generally felt much better overall.

Cons:
*I don't care what they say, doing this was actually quite hard... not constantly, but when it got hard I really had to fight not just throwing in the towel. I had at least 4-5 days over the 30 that I came close to quitting due to external stress.
*Due to being busy, I got a little lazy about planning which made some meals a little boring and predictable at times. It was definitely easier to follow this plan if you tried new recipes often.
*The first week is pretty brutal... but that only highlights just how unhealthy your lifestyle was before.
*I got really sick of eggs.
*There were a few days where following the plan meant skipping a meal (which is not encouraged obviously) but I didn't really have a choice. Those were very tough days! For example: when we moved the horses to the new barn (being out in the middle of nowhere without a decent place to get food and poor planning on my part left me very weak and light-headed).

All in all, I feel much healthier because of Whole30. It really helped me understand just how awful processed food is and further more, that sugar is in EVERYTHING. Holy crap. I'm really happy with the results and it's inspiring to think that simply eating clean can have such a holistic effect on your well-being. Going forward, I'm going to implement many of the things I learned throughout Whole30. Specifically, the cooking oils I used. I am completely a ghee convert! Overall, I feel really good about completing this challenge... emotionally, spiritually and physically I feel amazing.

Riley actually moving straight! Love him.

On Saturday, I headed out to the barn to ride and hopefully meet up with Miss Carly of Poor Woman Showing! We exchanged texts throughout the day to coordinate and I crossed my fingers that we'd get a chance to actually meet! The funny thing about having a blog and blog friends, is that when you talk about these people in every day life it sorta makes you sound like you have a bunch of imaginary friends. I has been riding for about 20 minutes when Carly and her hubby and pups arrived. Riley and I had a bit of a discussion about stopping/bulging/cropping at the gate (oh, all while being herded by an unruly border collie -- seriously, my horse is going to be sooo desensitized after this place) so I schooled the hell out of him on a 20meter circle until he finally understood that I meant business. He felt really sound with only a tiny bit of unevenness tracking right and he was delightful in the contact (he loves the happy mouth). I wanted to see my friend school is canter being that she hasn't ridden him since he got the pads/shoes on I thought she would like to feel the difference (plus, any chance to have an advanced event rider school my horse = yes, please). She had him looking wicked fancy within a few minutes, She couldn't believe how much different he felt in the contact and how much freer and more forward his movement was! She picked up both leads with no problem and his right canter departure was probably the best it's ever been! Carly arrived and we chatted for a minute before I got back on to test out his new found happiness in the canter.

Riley is growing into a lovely little sport horse. I can't wait to see what he's going to look like in full work! Also, is it just me, or does he make me look small?

We got one full circle in (as seen above photographed by Carly herself) and suddenly my horse was on 3-legs. Um, what? I hopped off immediately to find that he had sprung his RF shoe and bent one of the clips just enough that it was sticking into his sole. Perfect. He's only 2 weeks into his trimming cycle, so while the shoe was half off it was also solidly half on. We tried to pry the clip back enough so he could put his foot down and then we brainstormed on what to do. I honestly could do nothing but laugh at the situation! Between all the ups and downs I've had with him over the last four months and Carly being there to witness the shenanigans it was pretty hilarious. Because we're still in post-moving craziness, we couldn't locate any proper farrier tools so I tracked down a maintenance person and begged him to find a hammer or something for us! He came to our rescue with a weirdly shaped tack hammer and a pair of pliers. We made it work while Riley made a liar of me and stood like a perfect gentleman as we tapped, pulled and pried that sucker off. He lost a bit of his hoof around the clip (so now he has matching holes) and I covered it with a diaper and some duct tape to help protect it in the meantime. Sigh. I was able to give Carly a full tour of the place and I'm sure it was fun for  her to meet some of the horses I talk about all the time! She stuck around long enough to watch E get on her 4 year old for the first time post-track. Kiwi acted like she's been doing this her whole life and walked and trotted around the ring on a loose rein. She's going to be such a fancy horse!

Next time, Carly is either bringing Bobby, or she's bringing her helmet and breeches and we're going for adventures together! My horse is going to have to get it together. In the meantime, I spoke to the farrier who had to laugh when I called him over the weekend. He's going to tack the shoe back on, but if Riley can't keep the leather pads/shoes on for more than a week, we're going to possibly switch him to plastic pads and a tighter fit on the shoes. I'm also looking around for a pair of used Cavallos boots so that the next time this happens I can at least keep him comfortable. We may wind up switching to boots while his hoof grows out. He had such a beautiful hoof wall and now with two sprung shoes, he's got giant holes:( He'll get the shoe put back on tomorrow and I'm going to run out afterward to take him for a spin. Now that he's getting in semi-regular work, his greenness is really starting to show and he's starting to test me more and more. I'd really like to stay somewhat consistent with his training, so I don't lose my upper hand!

Oh yea, super awesome bonus: I stopped at Bartville Harness to pick up some first aid stuff and I found a pair of wide, triple stitched Nunn Finer leathers for $30, a neck strap, and a fleece girth (used) for $10! Score!

Back to School

It's that time of year right?

I was lucky enough to sneak away from work a little early yesterday to head out to the barn to ride with my friend E. The farrier was due at 3pm to put a shoe on both of our horses that lost theirs in the moving excitement... he was apparently running very late and actually didn't arrive until after I got there. That meant I had the honor of holding my horse for him...

With all the trouble that LF has given us over the last 4 months Riley has really started to develop some resentment about having it handled for long periods of time. This has resulted in several come to Jesus moments between us. He's usually very amicable about most things and well-behaved on the ground (I don't tolerate pushy horses), but he's gotten worse and worse over this hoof. The last two times the farrier was out he was pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as he was yesterday. He immediately pooped and peed in the aisle (which I should have seen coming), he was distracted by everything, he hardly kept his foot up for the farrier to take a quick look. Once he got down to business, Riley got worse, throwing himself around in the aisle (keep in mind this aisle is twice as wide as a regular barn aisle), leaning back and trying to sit down (because God-forbid he stand on three legs for more that 3 seconds). Even though I was holding him and correcting his bad behavior, it escalated. At once point, the farrier refused to let go off his leg and Riley hobbled away from him on three legs, he lost his footing and slipped in his own pee nearly wiping out completely... sigh. We decided to move him into the now free wash stall so he was a bit more confined. He was slightly better in there, but was still a bear. He decided that he could not keep his balance with his foot on the hoof stand and proceeded to thrash around and break that. Then he somehow cut the scab open on his old wound on the inside of his LF so there was a pool of blood filling up in his upside down bell boot (which wound up on the farrier). Thankfully, the farrier was able to get the shoe/pad on and finally get everything filed down and neat (though, without the help of the hoof stand -- farrier was not amused). He filled the hole left by the clip with some glue and he was as good as new... but not before he thrashed around some more and hit me squarely in the face nearly breaking my glasses. Admittedly, he got me really angry, frazzled and embarrassed. I told the farrier that I wouldn't mind if he tacked on an unruly horse fee on to my bill. Thankfully, my farrier is the nicest guy ever, and since he JUST put this shoe/pad set up on a week ago (and he knew I hadn't even had a chance to ride him!) he didn't charge me for the new set. I'm going to have to do something REALLY nice for him! But, after he left it really made me think about what I can do to improve his behavior for the farrier. He is really good for 95% of other activities. Maybe a chain shank/lip chain... I dunno, but he can't act like this again.

After we were through I quickly tacked him up and hopped on to see how he was feeling. We rode the perimeter of the property with our friend and he was quite good throughout. We trotted some hills on uneven terrain and he felt great. He walked flat-footed down the long driveway on bluestone without a care in the world. Hooray for that. We finished the ride with some quick arena work and he felt amazing. Hardly stiff at all tracking right and no weird steps. If I had to guess I'd say I felt a little unevenness, but it was marginal at best. I rode without spurs and he was lovely and forward (though I really do need them to help reinforce the bulging that happens) and we tried out a new bit which he LOVED!

We switched from this:

Herm Sprenger Duo

To this:

Happy Mouth Mullen

What a huge difference. I started him originally in a full cheek snaffle, which he went okay in (and I tend to like for babies), but he's not heavy in front and has good brakes and I wanted him to really think about the contact at the stage, so we switched the the Herm Sprenger. He went even better in that for awhile, but he was very unsteady in the contact and I think it was because of the loose rings. He would flap his head a lot and if I held the contact it felt like a tug of war because of all the movement in the bit. I read some really good things about Happy Mouths and I though since he seemed to like the feel on the solid bit we'd try to Mullen. Everyone seemed to agree that it was ideal for young horses and helped them seek the contact a little bit better. I wish I had taken photos after our ride because he had so much foam around his mouth. He rode so softly in it and after a few minutes of warm up on a loose rein when I asked for contact (gently) he gave and sought it out himself. Success! I think he also likes that this bit is much steadier in his mouth too. *ps. this was my first time riding in the arena at the new place and the footing is awesome!

My friend is going to try to ride him today and work on his canter a bit more and tomorrow we're hoping to school some of the xc jumps. I want to keep his work level as varied as possible!

This is post 198, stay tuned for exciting news at 200!