Highland Browbands -- review!

I know I'm late to the game with the whole tack bling thing. To be fair, I'm late to the party with all the fancy tack. Until recently, I only had one bridle (and a back up cheapie in case of emergency), one saddle, one girth and the bare minimum amount of saddle pads (review to come on some custom ones I had made soon, too -- who am I?). After selling some tack, and getting some upgrades, I thought that since Riley actually has a dressage saddle to wear, we should probably think about outfitting him in some swanky head wear.

I've done some poking around based on reviews many of you have posted in the blog world, but one company kept popping up that I had never heard of.. Highland Browbands.

After Rolex their social media presence took off and I started to see little ads for them everywhere. They have a nice selection of various styles of headbands (including a shallow "V", which I much prefer to the more exaggerated versions) and each item is fully customize-able with pretty, pretty crystals!

Just a handful of their colors.

Highland also makes rider accessories, jewelry to match your browband and stock pins. They hosted a demo sale of all the items they brought to Rolex and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see what they were all about. For $25 the risk seemed marginal, so I placed my order and waited the estimated 10 days for shipping (which was also free -- they have promo codes listed under the "ambassador" tab on their site). Deals, deals, deals guys, I'm all about 'em.

I placed the order on a Tuesday and my item arrived on Thursday. For reference they are in Eugene, OR and I am in Philadelphia, PA. Each step of the transaction was met with quick emails to let me know my order was received, processed and shipped (along with a tracking #). I was astounded at the speed of shipping, and my item came beautifully wrapped in tissue paper, with a few business cards and a hand written thank you note. If there's one thing I'm really big on, it's personalized correspondence, so this little note made my day!

Even nicer in person.

I was pretty thrilled with the overall quality of the leather. It was soft and supple, and although obviously a demo model (there was a little wear on the inside from a horse's face), it was clean and otherwise perfect. I got extremely lucky that they happened to have exactly Riley's colors in their demo sale!!!

I couldn't wait to try it on Riley expect for the small fact that I don't have a dressage bridle... Womp, Womp. What better reason to head off to the local consignment tack shop and dig through their loot!? I headed off to Maryland Saddlery and poked around until I found the perfect bridle -- their selection was particularly great that day and if anyone needs a cob size dressage bridle they had soooo many lovely ones. Alas, Riley has a big head. We found a suitable bridle (with gorgeous Thinline reins -- and a fancy browband that wouldn't look great on Riley) that was in nearly perfect condition. Better yet, I had a bunch of credit at the shop so my purchase was FREE! I scooted off to the barn to play dress up. Riley was less than amused... lest you believe that I am any good at taking photos:

It's nap time, right?

You've got to be kidding me Mom.

The SO was very patient and kind with horse wrangling and Riley was less than cooperative and more or less refused to stand still/put his ears forward (despite crinkling wrappers).

Phew, so dapper.

We did get him to stand long enough to snap a few shots and get a good representation of the bridle and browband together and guys... why did I wait so long to do this? Riley looks SOOO handsome. I was a little worried about the browband overwhelming his face. I think it's a tricky balance with blaze-faces... plain faced horses really look fantastic in bling, the more the better. but I'm not so sure with horses that already have a lot going on.

Seriously, how good does he look? *don't worry, the buckle on the flash is never usually near his mouth, I just threw it on for the photos

Gentle "V' on his forehead. I like the design only barely touches the top of his blaze.

Overall, my experience with Highland Browbands was terrific. I would recommend them in a heartbeat. With prices starting at $25 for stock items and custom orders around $50, you can hardly beat the value! And, as if they weren't cool enough, they also have a small consignment section of tack/horse gear AND...

WAIT...

FOR...

IT...

Unicorn iphone cases.

I'm just going to leave that here.

You can find Highland online at:
http://www.highlandbrowbands.com/
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Facebook

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!

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.

New kicks, new barn... take a deep breath -- here we go!

This post is brought to you by the letter "H".

As in, my horse is a hunk:

June 2015. Three months out of work.

With the head shaking taking a back seat (I don't want to jinx it), Riley gets shoes on today for the first time in months. Which means, we're back in business for riding. He's been worked lightly in the equiciser for the last few weeks to keep his brain intact and he's been workmanlike about it, but I think I'm going to have a lot of horse on my hands once he's under tack! He's lacking serious muscle in the photo above, but his topline still looks decent and he gets fit, REALLY quickly. I am beyond excited to start riding again!

Which leads me to our move. Moving again you say? Yes. This time to a farm a full 20 minutes closer, smaller barn with more turn out (and hilly fields) and a beautiful GRASS RING. The fact that the farm will be closer is huge. My current commute without any major traffic is at least an hour. On weekend mornings, I would guess I could make it to the new barn in 35 minutes!!! That means a lot more riding for me, and with a smaller barn to care for I won't be so tired after chores that I won't want to ride!

The next couple of weeks are going to be plenty hectic around these parts, organizing current barn, moving everything to the new barn and trying to leg up Riley again! Once we get settled in, if everything is going smoothly, we can set our sights on some events this fall (that is, if I ever dig myself out of the financial hole I'm in).

Stay tuned!

Feeling blue.

I've been sporting an enormous smile on my face coming off the heels of a very special cross country road trip. To say life is good would be a massive understatement. I was eager to get back to my pony and start looking ahead at our plans for the summer, and then nearly all at once, my hopes, and plans and dreams were brought to a screeching halt.

I didn't want to write this post.

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!

Legging up -- considerations

Go away snow + mud!

With the worst of winter behind us in the Northeast, it's time to start legging our horses back up. Unless you're lucky enough to have an indoor, keeping a horse fit and going up here has been nearly impossible (even trailering to an indoor has been tough!). In previous years, I remember distinctly seeing groups of riders walking and trotting along the roads near our farm all season long. This winter, the roads were much quieter, either people migrated to Aiken for a few months, or conditions on the roads were just too treacherous (see: ice).  So, with the ice melted and very little snow on the ground, we've finally been able to get our guys going again. *ps. while I could have technically gotten Riley going a little sooner, starting and stopping with him isn't good for anyone!

After a full weekend of what I consider a good start to getting him legged up, I found myself thinking about the process and what I consider when bringing a horse into work after several months off.

Gearing up, so to speak.

While winter beats on mercilessly in the Northeast, I've been starting to think about the year ahead for Riley and I. I have come up some some short-term goals but they are all contingent upon various things falling into place! Looking ahead for the next 4-6 weeks they look something like this:

*Leg Riley back up -- he's been on vacation for roughly 2 months and was ridden very lightly in November. We'll start road walking and hacking followed by some trot interval stuff before I ask him for anything proper.
*Move to new farm -- that's happening soon, so the transition period maybe interesting to say the least (more on this in a minute)
*Look at some clinics/shows to knock the dust off (tentatively, we are thinking maybe the end of April as a rough goal for a baby HT)
*Train him on the Equineciser (sp?) to work on a baseline of fitness even if the weather is bad -- this is going to be a very cool addition to his schedule!
*Re-introduce the Pessoa to help with his topline. He goes pretty well in this regardless, but I want him to have at least a little work under his belt before I ask him to work 'hard'.
*Get Riley's front shoes put back on at his next trim.

Treats go here.

Dressage work, flat work, real work, whatever you want to call it.

My barn is a mix of riders, hunter/jumpers, jumpers, ex-eventers, dressage riders... we all warm up our horses a little differently and attack each ride with a different frame of mind. It's interesting to see how that pans out with each horse. I would say that Emily and I are most aligned in the kind of training we do with our horses... and mostly that's because she's my trainer. Though, I owe an awful lot to my former instructor too, she gave me a great basis for everything I've accomplished today.

Video still: Practicing our dressage test, this is our change of rein across the diagonal. And hey look, my elbows bend!

Riley is at the point in his life where I can expect a little more from him with every ride. We try to keep our weeks looking like this: one hack day (sometimes with a little real work in the ring) -- hack day can include hill work, canters, or just a nice cruise around for a few miles, a jump school, a trainer ride, and a flat ride. Generally, Emily will ask me if I want her to work on anything specifically during the training ride and we come up with a game plan together. We jump on good footing so I don't think it's unfair to jump him twice a week (especially since we're not doing anything big).

More test work: 20 meter-ish circle (this is where he's getting too deep in the contact). Also, I don't understand why he makes me look so small. he's 16hh and I am 5' 6"+

Anyway, it's no secret that dressage is truly the foundation for all riding, and I really believe that in order to expect your horse to jump or gallop xc he needs to be able to carry himself on the flat, lift his back and engage his hindquarters. Can you jump or event without this? Well yes, but there will come a time when holes in your training will show up and your horse may even start saying no. I want to always feel like I am setting my horse up for success (which I did not do for our first event, not because of training per se, but more my mental state at the time) and it would be remiss of me not to make sure that dressage basics were firmly installed.

For a horse who is built a little downhill he doesn't ride like it! That neck, tho!!!!!!!

That said, I am lucky because Riley is not the kind of horse who needs a lot of loosening up. In some ways he actually prefers that I sit deeper for the first 10 minutes than getting in a light seat. But a normal dressage day might look something like this: loose rein walk a lap in each direction. Gather him into a frame and ask him to use his body. Begin trot work. I ride with very light hands (which can actually be detrimental) and so I let him trot around freely and forward in a light frame and then gather him up a little. He likes contact and seeks it now all the time. We start trotting in either direction and then start adding in some serpentines. Then, we'll add in some harder work like 20 meter circles, and 10 meter circle in each corner (we both hate that exercise!), then I might ask him for some baby lateral work, going off the rail a few strides, forward a few strides and back to the rail. This exercise really helps straighten him out when he wants to throw his hind end around. I've been upping the continuous workload for both of us because I want it to actually feel like "work", we'll usually take a break and walk for a few minutes and then I'll do lateral work at the walk and then ask for the canter. His transitions are coming along pretty well (not as quick as I would like), but the canter itself is lovely. He's still pretty crooked to the right, but at least he can pick up his right lead 95% of the time when asked (and from a walk!) Usually I get off his back for a lap around and then sit and ask for some circles and more collection. I've just started adding in stretchy trot work (which he loves) and yesterday we did this for 10 minutes as a reward for good flat work. We just did figure-eights around the ring and he stretched beautifully down in both directions. He's starting to get a little deep in the Dr. Bristol, so I'm going to try a regular full cheek for flat work to see if that helps. I think the stretchy trot work will help let him loosen up too. Yesterday I added 10 minutes of no stirrup work and we both worked quite hard! Riley has a LOVELY trot to sit and he worked on lengthening down the long sides then collecting at the ends and doing figure 8's on the short sides. Without stirrups I was really able to wrap my legs around him and bend his body around my leg. I'm hoping to add more of this kind of work to each ride, but boy am I feeling it today!

You can keep your warmbloods, I'll stick with my paddling TB any day:)

BTW, this was my second ride in my Middleburg tall boots (my $55 score from the tent sale) and I am in love. They are so, so, so comfortable. I have heel lifts in them now, but they are so supple and comfy!

Emily was nice enough to take some video, which, if you'd like to be Facebook friends with me, you can see here:

Riley got borium on his new kicks yesterday and my farrier warned me that he might be feeling extra fresh and confident now that he knows he won't be slipping! Ha! He also got the bravest TB award from my farrier and he is the only one not afraid of the forge, the smoke, the hot-shoeing, the blow-torch and the sparks! Good boy Riley!

He's um, attractive?

Wonder farrier, working on his hinds. He has a long vertical crack in that white hoof but he showed me that it was only a sand crack that has not worked it's way through the hoof wall and that I could rasp it a certain way to keep pressure off it in between trims. At this point it's nothing to worry about:)

He makes me weak in the knees this one.

Love. Love will keep us together.

St. Augustine Schooling HT -- Recap

Full disclosure: I probably had lofty goals for how things would go (ie, don't fall off, don't get eliminated and have a great time). We accomplished two of the three goals, but what I realized after the show was that we did as well as we could have given where we are with our training. That said, I am always impressed with my fellow blog friends (ahem, Sarah Rune) that are willing to share the good, bad and the ugly with their young horses, after all... we have to start somewhere, right?

All bathed and ready to make his debut

St. Augustine Pony Club is a lovely facility. Everything is set up in a way to be very horse friendly, especially for young horses and/or green riders. It was clear that this was the first event for most people in our area (not surprising after our down right horrible winter) because when we arrived, every single horse was screaming it's head off. Tension was pretty high in the air, but we arrived with lots of time to let our horses settle. We were also really fortunate to have ride times that were far enough apart so that Emily could help me warm up for each division without worrying about her own times.

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.

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.

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!!!

The long and the short of it

Riley has managed to pull three shoes off (LF, RF, RF respectively) within 5 days of each other over the last 2 weeks. To say that my farrier and I are frustrated would be a massive understatement.

Troublemakers.

Saturday, we planned to trailer Riley along with Prima (she was competing at Fairhill), but the morning started with a weird vibe. When I got the barn, E had Prima bathed but she had a quizzical look on her face. Something wasn't quite right. Prima was a bit footsore so we bagged the idea of going to Fairhill. No need to make that any worse. With the truck and trailer hooked up and a beautiful day we decided we could take advantage of the circumstances and put the boys on the trailer and go for a nice hack at The Laurels. Henry decided he's never been in a trailer before and made me chase him on with a pitchfork and Riley smashed me in the top of my head as I was fixing the front bar in the trailer (totally an accident) -- like I said, the day had a weird vibe. With Henry working himself up we decided to trailer over to a local tavern, get some lunch and some beers and see how they were doing after a little time to settle. Wouldn't you know they were as quiet as could be when we returned. Off we went for our hack. Except that Riley refused to stand next to the trailer for me to get on. Grrrr. We had a few discussions about this until I led him down the road to a little bank near the entrance to the park. He pulled the same shit again and I made him walk up and down the back until he was will to stand still next to it. Don't misunderstand me here, I realize it's a new, exciting environment and he might not be an angel for mounting, but when I stick my foot in the stirrup and he flies backwards... that is not cool. Finally he realized that I was going to make him work really hard if he wasn't going to stand still, and he finally stood patiently while I got on! So dramatic.

Cutest pony after his hack!

Our ride was really nice. Both horses seemed very happy to be out and about. We crossed a few streams, got in some trot sets, a little cantering and as we headed back toward the trailer we did a quick shoe-check. Guess who pulled his RF? Seriously.

He was understandably really sore on the blue stone and sound on grass. Sigh. Time to reevaluate his situation again. My gut tells me that we should pull him shoes now before the ground get hard (since he is sound enough on grass) and ride him in boots. I've done lots of research on boots and found some that I think will work for him (the farrier will make sure they fit today). This will give him a little bit of time to get over the transition (roughly 2-3 months until the ground gets super hard) and he'll still be able to get in some work. We'll keep the sessions short while his boots break in (and to help prevent him from getting too sore). We will keep him barefoot from now until next spring, in the meantime P will try to trim his foot back to a functional starting point in small measures.

When I called P today, he laughed when he answered the phone and said that he's never had a client like Riley! It was his suggestion that we pull the shoes and he liked the idea of using boots to keep him in light work. He said it's his inclination to pull shoes on horses like Riley, but not a lot of owners can watch their horses throughout the transition (admittedly, it was hard in July, but that was only for a month). I told him that we've taken all goals off the table and that I just want to get him healthy.

These are the boots we tried Sunday -- they are too big, and I exchanged them for a smaller size in the "sport" version

Test run in the arena -- he was sound despite the fit!

I'm going to get some good photos today to show our starting point. It will be interesting to see the differences over the next 6 months. At least he's a good sport about getting the boots on! I'm going to order the pastern wraps today to make sure he doesn't get rubs.

So that's all for now... I'll keep you guys posted on how things go later today. For now, just some cute photos of Riley, since I'm too frustrated to even think straight.

Riley making friends with Zee .

At least he's an easy keeper.

Best buds for life/ Henry makes Riley look like a pony.

ps. Don't forget to enter my contest!!!!!!!

200th Post! It's giveaway time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can hardly believe that I have written 200 posts! Let's take a little look back since I started this blog wayyy, wayyy back in May 2007 (really????)
While I haven't always been consistent with my posting (I mean, I didn't even own a horse until 4 months ago) it seems as though I've always had plenty to say. I've had almost 25,000 page views to date (though is suspect many of those are from me), averaging about 1200 a month. With a whopping 74 followers, I'd say that's pretty good. I know in the beginning, I was writing for myself as a way to journal my experiences with Kiki. I never imagined owning my own horse, or making such fantastic connections along the way. It seems silly, but blogging reminds me of my youthful pen-paling experiences and the idea of having friends miles and miles away that I communicate with through correspondence is still something I love. Throughout all the ups and downs I've felt supported by all of you and I am so grateful for all of your feedback and help over the years. I can't wait to see what the next 100 posts bring for me and Riley, most of all I just want us to be happy and healthy!

As a way to thank all of you, I've come up with a fun giveaway. It will take a little bit of work on your part, but I think the prizes are worth it!  Best of all? There will be two winners and 5 runner up prizes!

Rules:

*Send me a photo summing up why you love your OTTB
*If you do not own an OTTB, please send me a photo of why your horse is awesome
*These can be as simple or as creative as you want. You can add text, effects, etc.
*One photo entry PER horse -- that means you lucky individuals with more than one pony get multiple chances to win (limit: 2 entries)!
*You do not have to take the photo yourself, you may be in the picture too!
*I hate making rules.

Terms:

*Please send your entries to: xniamhx@gmail.com (put OTTB or non-OTTB in the subject line)
*Leave me a comment on this entry so I know you've entered (sometimes things end up in junk mail)
*Please include a small bio about your horse
*Re-post on your blog for more chances to win
*Winners will be chosen by a small panel of horsey and non-horsey people
*Contest ends 2 weeks from today on September 26th @ midnight! Winners will be chosen Friday, September 27th (that gives you two weekends to get your stuff together!)

The prizes:

1st prize in the OTTB group:

Woot!

1st prize in the non-OTTB group:

Picture your pony here!

5 runner up prizes:

Perfect to stick in your grooming box for shows!

Have fun and best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Progress?

progress

n [ˈprəʊgrɛs]

1. movement forwards, esp towards a place or objective

2. satisfactory development, growth, or advance she is making progress in maths

3. advance towards completion, maturity, or perfection the steady onward march of progress

4. (modifier) of or relating to progress a progress report

5. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Biology) Biology increasing complexity, adaptation, etc., during the development of an individual or evolution of a group

6. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) Brit a stately royal journey

in progress taking place; under way

vb [prəˈgrɛs]

1. (intr) to move forwards or onwards, as towards a place or objective

2. to move towards or bring nearer to completion, maturity, or perfection

[from Latin prōgressus a going forwards, from prōgredī to advance, from pro-¹ + gradī to step]

While I don't feel like we've made much progress in terms of fitness or training, Riley and I have progressed by definition. This photo doesn't give much of an idea of that, but even with all of the setbacks we've had since I first purchased him, I feel like we have moved forward. He looks better (he's gaining some muscle, a tiny semblance of a topline, and he's carrying himself properly instead of a bit inverted) I look better (chair seat is gone, my shoulders are going back to where they should be and I'm not riding defensively all the time) -- I have hope that we will continue to move forward and progress and that we will paint a very nice picture one day together.

The nice thing about documenting every little thing is that you can really start to see the incremental change. Not everyone enjoys that, but I love seeing how he and I become more of a team every time we see each other.

Moved!!! In which I write about something the same day it happens!

This will be a picture heavy post... one because I am wiped out and too tired to write a full report, but also because I took a million photos!

The day started early, with everyone meeting at the old barn to make a plan for the day. We still had a little clean up to do at the old place and we had 7 horses to move to two different properties.

heading out

We started off by moving the boys to the new farm, they were expecting us between 9-9:30 so we aimed to load up around 8:30. As usual, loading the guys up was completely uneventful (have I mentioned how grateful I am for the zero-drama horse hauling) -- they seemed to know something was up because they were both moving around a lot and were quite sweaty by the time we arrived at the new barn. It was only about a 15 minute ride, but they seemed to get themselves a more worked up than usual. When we arrived to the new barn (keep in mind I hadn't seen the place at this point) the atmosphere was bustling. Like I mentioned before, this farm is home to an animal rescue so I knew there would be more activity on the weekend than during the week, and I had mentally prepared myself for volunteers, kids, and lots of foot traffic (of the 4-legged kind and otherwise). It was a bit of a zoo (literally) when we pulled in and we were directed to the back of the property by the grass jump field...

Down an internet rabbit hole of lameness.

Sunrise over beautiful Chester County.

Ugh. Of course, I find a saddle that fits him, start going to the barn at 5am for sunrise rides and then...

Riley is lame, again. I have owned him for 2.5 months and he's had two abscesses in the same hoof (and he blew one in that hoof a month or two before I bought him) -- he's hardly been sound for more than a week at a time. Remember his PPE was near perfect, not even the slightest reaction to the hoof tester or flexions/jogging... so yea, I'm a little frustrated at his chronic lameness. I'm trying to dutifully record the patterns of lameness to see if I can find any common threads. This latest case of lameness was likely caused by him ripping off his bell boot AND shoe (shoe was not loose) on Friday. However when the farrier came out to look at him she wouldn't put the shoe back on.

Here's what I've come up with so far:
*He is quite flat-footed up front
*He probably has thin soles (he's quite tender on gravel without shoes)
*He's had 3 abscesses in his left front (all that have ruptured near the toe)
*The last time he went lame was right after the farrier came out to trim and re-shoe him
*He seems to respond well to magic cushion/wrapping for a few days
*He's definitely more comfortable being outside. We kept him in for a few days and he got VERY stocked up behind. But keep in mind it's about a million degrees here and the humidity is off the charts.
*In the past he's traveled well over varying terrain and types of surfaces
*Usually after a day or two of tenderness he's sound again (ex: he trotted across the field sound this morning)

My game plan for this week is to have the hoof x-rayed and see what the vet says and if everything looks okay, I'm going to have a second farrier take a look and see what their recommendations are. I think my farrier is fine, but she's not much of a problem solver as much as she's good at doing simple trims and shoes. I will admit, I was a little frustrated on Friday when he was jogged for the farrier and she decided that he was too sore to put the shoe back on. Of course he was sore, he just ripped his shoe off and you can see he's standing on his soles. Sigh.

Because of all of this I've found myself digging deeper into internet rabbit holes into the causes for multiple abscesses in the same hoof and of course all I have done is thoroughly freak myself out. What if it's laminitis? What if it's pedal osteitis? AHHHHHH. I'm so new to horse ownership and I am positively freaking myself out because I'm sure I'm going to ruin him.

Step away from the internet. Slowwwwwwly.

For now, I think I am making the right decision to get a picture taken and have a second and third opinion. He's only 4 and if the worst case means I pull his shoes at the end of the summer and let him recover and grow hoof, then that's okay with me. There are lots of horses there for me to ride. I gave him a nice microtek bath on Saturday, scrubbed his legs with betadine (he had some little cuts on his back legs) and stuffed him full of treats before re-wrapping his foot.

Speaking of riding, I had a lesson on Saturday and I discovered two things: one... my horse is really easy/comfortable to ride, two... I forgot how to ride any other horse but him. I rode my friend's new mare who is a 5 year old OTTB mare. She's gorgeous and dainty. She last raced at the end of May and she's pretty quiet in nearly every way. Of course, when I rode her, I nearly got taken off with at one point, so we spent a majority of my lesson working on helping her understand contact at the trot and we got some really nice work out of her in the end. I just love watching the greenies figure things out.

She's going to be really special and better yet, she's a sort of celebrity. If any of you follow along the Retired Racehorse Training Project, you can read about her here. I took some glamor shots of her for the blog too:

Victory Money, aka. Prima

Two cheeky ladies (ps. Emily is the person that sold me Riley!)

I feel quite fortunate at least that I can keep my horse under the guidance of Emily & Co. I describe myself as a horse owner that has training wheels... at least for now. And while Riley gets sorted out she's graciously offered to let me ride her horses so I don't miss out!

I'd love to hear any feedback you guys have about abscesses and lameness and everything else!