In search of... jump saddle edition

When we last left off, Riley was recovering from new shoes and body work. While my life got extremely busy with moving and NO RIDING, Riley got training rides, a new set of hinds and a trim all around and he's feeling very good about life. We signed up for our first event this Sunday where we're going to give BN a try at the ever-forgiving venue of Olde Hope. The intro division is really too easy for us now and I think it's time to start putting a little pressure on both of us.

In the meantime, I've been assessing the saddle fit issue that was brought up with the vet. Our current saddle does not fit at all anymore, so although a shimmable pad would get us through the search time to find a replacement it was not a great long term solution... and the last thing I need is him getting sore or sour about his saddle. We took a little trip down to Maryland Saddlery to see if they had any good options and much to my surprise they had at least three for us to try.

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!

!!!!!!!!

 

Turning back time, just a little more.

Thanks everyone for bearing with me while I recap the last few months. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you've seen some of the photos in this post, but they are worthy of a real write up to reflect on a few things.

I'm just going to put this here.

As I mentioned recently, we competed at an event with less than adequate preparation. It wasn't that we weren't ready, but we didn't get a chance to XC school at all and we jumped a handful of times at a neighboring farm. Our last barn had a tiny grass ring and three jumps that I used maybe once or twice. It wasn't ideal, but nothing ever really is, so we made it work with what we had and the opportunities that presented themselves to us. Emily's business partner runs a nice facility close by so we were able to pop over there for a few jump schools. I had decided that if we could jump all her new fancy stadium jumps, that anything at the event would be easy (hahaha, ok). She had just gotten some really cool fences made including stone walls, gates, a wavy jump with boat sail standards and a butterfly jump with wings!!! She also has a little area for xc schooling. But it's a primarily hunter/jumper barn so it's more like a few logs, some stadium jumps in between trees and some hanging logs... oh and a bank jump that no one uses:)

We warmed up indoors and Emily had me ride through a gymnastic a few times to get Riley thinking on his feet. This is going to sound weird, but for whatever reason, no matter what height she sets jumps to in a grid I could care less about them. But you set up some random vertical somewhere and I clam up like a weirdo. She's well aware of this so she'll jack fences up in grids while I'm not looking. Very sneaky.

Love his soft expression

Maybe one day my poor right leg will uncurl itself

As you can see, he was very excited about the whole thing. He's always been a sort of economical jumper. He's gets his limbs out of the way, but he doesn't see the point of going bonkers (until he finds something scary and then jumps it like a deer). We used to joke around when he first started learning to jump because often his front feet were on the ground and his back legs hadn't quite left the other side of the fence.

This particular day, we worked on me landing and GOING. In his conservative state, he will attempt to putter out when he thinks the activity is over... you can see me kind of goosing him to continue cantering over the ground pole in the gif!

So we headed outside, jumped a quick course and then took to the XC field to practice our land and GO! technique.

Heading toward the barn, weeeeee!

This thing looks pretty innocuous, but it's begging for a run out to the right and there's a huge log pile upon landing (to be avoided)

And GO! Riley!

It got to the point that I would land from a fence and gallop away from it to get his engine revved up. If there's one thing I learned from the event (and falling off) it's that Riley jumps wayyy better if he's going. This half-hearted, lazy canter/trot is not doing us any favors. And I know the gears are in there... exhibit A:

Maybe a little TOO much enthusiasm. 1st jump school of 2015.

But there's a balance, and I think we found it. It's important to get him revved up, but not offended. In front of my leg and not teetering in 2nd gear.

He found this lattice especially exciting. *You get a better idea of the bank in this pic.

The lattice gave us a little issue in that he was very backed off the first two times over it. Once I got him back in front of my leg he jumped it beautifully and wouldn't ya know it, when he jumps well, my position improves too. I bet you guys are really blown away by all my powerful insight.

Lastly, we worked on the bank a little bit. We knew for sure that St. Augustine would have at least one bank question on the course and we wanted a little refresher for Riley. He's always been wonderful about banks. Drops/banks in and out of water = no problem. This bank however does not have a "small" side. It's 4 rail road ties high (roughly 32" plus grass). But, like I have for every other bank, I just trot him up to the obstacle, support him and he goes. This is where his default of being a little less exuberant pays off.

Good boy!

Riding down a big bank is such a cool feeling!

Weeeeee! Love the matching ponytails! Jesus Niamh, this isn't the Head of the Lake!

Writing this got me thinking about the kinds of things I'd like to work on in the near future. I think to feel competitive again this year, we need to jump... a lot. it doesn't need to be big, but it needs to be consistent. Riley needs to be cantering course and we need to have adjust-ability. I think we'll start with some grid work and gymnastics to get his foot work back and go from there. Since we have hills again, I think that conditioning and interval work thrown in once a week will get he and I back into shape and ready to tackle XC. *I see a lot of 2-point and no stirrup work in my future.

To move forward sometimes you have to look back

If I have to make some sort of New Year's resolution for my blog it would be two fold:

*Blog more frequently/regularly.
*Set quarterly goals for Riley & I to hold us accountable.

I have a lot of inspiration for this thanks to all of you guys and I hope I can really give this blog the attention that it deserves this year (*for the record, fall/winter 2014, spring 2105 was a very rough time for me personally and many things fell by the wayside). I'm feeling energized and inspired so buckle up readers...

With that in mind, I feel as though I should use the only competitive experience we had in 2015 to help set the tone for the goals ahead. 2015 was a tough year for us competitively. We didn't really have a chance to get going with any regularity because of Riley's head-shaking. And, if I'm perfectly honest, things were looking a bit grim for any sort of future for him as a riding horse. Looking back, I believe that several things came into play that triggered his Head Shaking and this year I am planning to be extremely proactive in order to soften it's blow come spring time. Despite all of that, he remained very game to work with once we had the head shaking under control and he was more comfortable. I was able to keep up with my riding (having access to lots of OTTBs is a good thing) and we were able to get some traction in the fall. We figured it would be a good idea to round out the year with a starter trial the first week in November. At this point we had only jumped a couple of times (less than 5 times, including hopping over a few small xc jumps at a neighboring farm). Our flat work was strong enough and the jumping at the baby beginner novice level is not an issue so we just decided to go for it.

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.

DVTCA Schooling HT at Carousel Horse Park 8/24/2014

Phew! What a whirlwind weekend.

I'll start with Saturday as that was our prep day for the show. I was determined to have a really good jump school with Emily to feel tuned up for the show. Earlier in the week we had tried putting Riley back in a regular full cheek snaffle and he was dull and heavy in it, so back to the Dr. Bristol which he loves and is light and forward in.

She set up a classic exercise, trot in over an X one stride to a vertical, one stride to a slightly bigger vertical. We worked on maintaining a consistent tempo without him zooming around (he's getting quite keen to the jumps these days*). Emily threatened to punish me if I didn't start releasing properly and I took her seriously and rode like a normal person for once. We threw in a canter circle after the jumps and added a jump or two to make a little course (including a liverpool!)

Some highlights!

Actually releasing!

Our first time over the liverpool together!

Adding in the vertical after the line and the liverpool.

Olde Hope Evening Shade III Schooling Trial (full report) -- lots of photos and silly blabber to follow.

Olde Hope is a wonderful venue not too far from us in Maryland close to Fair Hill and St. Augustine (I know, we are spoiled in Area II). They have a very friendly atmosphere and it's really designed to help inexperienced horses/riders get a real feel for eventing in a very comfortable environment. They run a lovely little series in the summer that hosts the events in the afternoons which makes for a much less rushed prep day!

He's always happy to get in the trailer!

We arrived to the barn with plenty of time to got our boys ready (Emily even has time to ride one of her other horses while I pulled Riley's mane and combed out his tail -- ooh and trimmed the top with clippers to look like more of an event pony). He got a thorough bath where I tried my best to get his sock white again and since I had plenty of time I decided to BRAID! I be fair, it's been at least 20 years since I've braided, but he's a great sport and I only had to re-do his forelock once since he had no idea what the heck I was doing fooling around between his ears. I wrapped his tail with an ace bandage to try to tame it a little and he spent the remaining time in his stall trying to rub it off -- butthead. We headed out right on time and picked up some adult beverages on the way to keep our helper (Emily's bf) happy and to hopefully celebrate after our ride!
We checked in and went off to walk our courses. I was terribly nervous about the giant teepee that was directly next to the first jump on the stadium course! Everything was really inviting (and very small), there were a few fences on stadium that I was a bit worried about including a mock brick wall and two gates. Both stadium and XC are on hilly terrain which was definitely a bit of a problem as many horses were slipping. The XC course was pretty interesting with a bank option (which I took!) and a few looky jumps, but I knew we were ready!

Epic three-day weekend

Side note: I got to see this at a Drive-In theater Thursday evening. BEST.

Riley is back in full work and I couldn't be happier. Our ring is finished! Woo hoo!!

He got a training ride Tuesday and was a superstar. Emily wrote about him on her blog, you can read it here. I'm actually quite surprised as to how straight and forward he feels in the new ring. One of the best things about it is that the owner choose to put the perimeter fence about 10 feet away from the edge which actually forces the horses to go straight and carry themselves, or at least you will know just how crooked they are as they cannot "lean" on the rail. His right lead canter is coming along wonderfully. Emily really worked on that Tuesday and when I rode him Friday he picked it up rather easily. He's still quite counter bent in that direction, but he's learning to move off the side leg and right now I am more concerned with the transition, getting the right lead and maintaining impulsion rather than forcing him to bend. With time and strength that will come too. We are working on some baby lateral work at the walk and he's starting to get it.

Finally.

Saturday I jump judged all day with my trainer Emily at Fairhill Starter Trial. We were assigned jump #2 which couldn't have been a better learning experience for me. The first fence coming out of the start box had you heading back towards show jumping and warm up, then you had to make a 90 degree turn to get to fence two which for all levels but elementary, was a sizable red coop of varying heights... then you cantered away from all things familiar and down a hill to a ramp. This was nearly the same type of scenario I was faced with on Riley at St. Augustine so it was incredibly educational to see how everyone navigated it. There were a few takeaways from watching 200 people go (yes, 200!!!). Those that had a sticky jump or a run out at fence #2 nearly ALWAYS had a run out at at #3. The horses that were shaky coming through the turn away from stadium were distracted and really needed a positive ride. I saw a few riders who could feel their horse bulging toward stadium or not paying attention that simply brought the back to a trot and refocused them before heading to our fence. There were a ton of young riders on brave ponies that gave really good rides. It made me want to channel my inner pony girl and get out there again! There were also a couple of riders that seemed completely over faced either with their horse or with their level. One girl in particular was on a bratty grey pony that refused twice at our fence and got eliminated at the next fence. Because it was a starter trial they let her continue but she nearly fell off at our fence and #3. We listened on the radio as it took her at least 4 tries to get over every jump and was overtaken by at least 4-5 riders. I think that someone should have pulled her off course, one because she wasn't going to teach the pony anything new and two, because she was becoming a hazard to the other riders. I have no idea how far around the course she got, but by fence 8 she had at least 20 refusals. There was another girl on a huge black horse that seemed very keen but she was a tiny, wisp of a rider and I would have to guess she was maybe 10-11 years old. The horse was very athletic and they jumped around stadium well, but he had a sticky jump at our fence and he DUMPED her at 3 and bolted. I have never seen a horse bolt like that in my life and he was headed straight for stadium. it was really scary, he was caught pretty quickly, luckily, but it was hairy to say the least. There were some other great rides as well, including Jane Sleeper on a few of her youngsters (she was literally the only person that came off the first jump on the appropriate lead) and Courtney Cooper on some really nice looking horses. All in all it was a really fun day, but it was blazing hot and I am going to have a permanent tank top tank for the rest of my life. Best part? We get a free xc schooling out of the deal! Woo hoo!

Sunday I finally rode Riley as his old paddock was ready again and riding him to and from his field was a royal PITA.

I made a super awesome diagram to show you:

The light blue line is the path I took yesterday. That has you going through into the woods, through a stream and past the cows, around Riley's usual turnout and back to where the new ring is. The green line is the path I normally take when going out for a hack. Both of these are roughly 1.2 miles. So I drive my car and tack over to Riley's old field (marked with a star), grab him, brush him off and pick out his feet, tack him up and ride him to wherever I want to school on the property. It's a bit of a hassle, but I am really not complaining, I promise. *Though I do hate having to mount from an overturned feed bucket. Having 140 acres to ride on and now a lovely ring is pretty incredible. We have even started putting in some XC jumps near the woods including a coop and proper ditch (yet to be schooled).

Also, the red arrow on the left of the diagram is the view I captured in this photo:

Chester County loveliness.

Riley was really good for our ride despite having two weeks off, save for one lunging session where he tried to kill me. The only problem was mounting. He's still doing this thing where he will move sideways as soon as I put my foot in the stirrup and I just cannot tolerate that. he knows how to stand quietly. He got a pretty severe reprimand the first time he did it and stood stock still on the second attempt (thank you jockey whip). Don't get me wrong, I don't like to get after him that much, but again, this is a dangerous habit and he's beyond this stage in his training. Anyway, we had a lovely hack where he was awesome about leaving his buddies. We trotted through the woods and the stream up a hill to where the cows are. As you know, he likes to pretend he's afraid of the cows so I figured that trotting him wayyy before the cows would help keep him focused on me. They were all piled up under a tree and he definitely kept one eye on them and one on me, but he was very brave. We hacked back to barn mostly trotting along the sides of the fields and headed to the NEW RING!

It was such a delight to ride on footing again! I think a few more rains on it and it will feel even better, but it's beautifully level. I also like that the owner decided not to put the fence line right up against the edge of the ring because I feel like that tends to give horses something to lean on instead of truly going straight. We did some trot work which is still challenging tracking right, and some canter work. I got a lovely walk-canter transition and even a few 20 meter circles! He felt really nice! We cooled out in the adjacent pasture and I let him have a nice long drink in the stream. Such a good dude.

Being the bravest.

So, he's back by the barn now and he's coming in during the day and out at night. He had more bites on him then I would like and was starting to get a bit hive-y. So I think the night time turnout will be the best thing for him. He'll get ridden hopefully by Emily one day this week and with me on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and we're thinking about going XC schooling Sunday! Vacation is officially over, mister! We can start jumping in the ring this week and I cannot wait to start making some plans for him.

So much to update!

2nd solo hack from his field.

Saturday I worked a 12 hour freelance job and was pretty wiped out come Sunday morning but I really wanted to ride. Again, I had to drive around to Riley, tack him up at his field and ride him the mile back to the barn to meet up with my friend to school in the big field. He was a champ. I can now successfully mount him from a bucket without too much trouble (standing for mounting is not a strong suit of his, but I won't tolerate goofiness when I am half-on). The farm owners had just moved the cows to the field directly across from Riley's so he was a bit looky. As you will recall, the last time I fell off him was because OMGCOWARETHESCARIEST. But we marched down the road past lots and lots of cows and calves and then he stopped and tried to back up and spin. You see in the corner of the adjacent field the grass was so high that all you could see were these dark shapes moving around making noises. I let him stand quietly to figure it out and then his pasture mates whinnied for him. Great, I'm screwed. But after a minute or two of talking to him and having him stand politely, I urged him forward and he obliged. He kept on ear on the scary cows and the other ear on me, so I'd call that a small win. Luckily there were no balloons or scary pinto donkeys to deal with on the way back to the barn. We met up with my friend and practiced his hard bound issues. Riding with them, away from them, back to them etc. Sometimes completely out of sight, sometimes in sight, all over the field. He was really very, very good, until the mares started galloping around screaming. He screamed back and got stuck wayyy behind my leg. I pushed him forward and made him work. If was going to act like a butt head, we'd trot up and down hills, we'd serpentine, we'd work on the bit and he would get in front of my leg if it killed me. He threw a few little tantrums, but nothing I couldn't handle. I think he's finally starting to realize that I won't back down. It was a short ride as I wanted to give him a good bath so I could take conformation photos the next morning before going xc schooling.

Lucy in tow for a big adventures Monday

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.

Cavallo Sport Boot -- Product Review

Riley has now had 5+ weeks of riding/working in the Cavallo Sport Boots and I can say that I am beyond happy with them. We've still had our ups and downs due to his pasture conditions, but overall he's comfortable enough in the boots to do non-concussive type of work and we got the green light from the farrier on Thursday to keep him moving forward. Due to the boot's tendency to fill with arena footing he said we could skip doing that or see how he feels without boots. But for now our plan of hacking, fitness and keeping his baby brain mentally stimulated are all full steam ahead. He did warn me that Riley may never be totally sound without shoes, but I don't have any delusions that he'll will be able to handle gravel with his flat feet without some ouchiness.

We hacked lightly around the property after his trim (with boots) he felt great (actually he was quite fresh!) and I tentatively made plans to take him on a paper chase a few days later.

He was... excited to say the least. You can almost see a smile on his face.

The barn was very busy that morning and I was little less than 100% (due to tailgating at Fairhill which led late into the night). All the cross ties were taken up and since the other boarders can be a little slow (ahem, this statement coming from me is hilarious) I chose to simply throw his lead line over the pole behind him in the picture (It's not really a place to tie your horse or a place to put your saddle, but it works for both purposes). He stood quietly while I got him all booted up, brushed and tacked up. I have to say, he came out of the pasture brimming with personality... someone made a comment that she could tell he was 4 because after I tacked him up he proceeded to get into everything he could touch. The rail I had him tied to is about 6-7 feet long so he could slide the rope loop down and move around. He broke a giant container of treats, tried to dismantle the mounting block, pulled my friend's helmet out of her bag, and nearly climbed into my lap when I was putting on my spurs. What a ham!

Let's do this. *Also, he's wearing my argyle trouser socks.

We arrived to the paper chase at around noon, I checked us in and grabbed our pinneys. Our start time was an agonizing one hour later. If I had known that I would have packed a picinic! It was a beautiful day and I needed to get my act together so it worked out okay. I'm sure I was a little green around the gills with nerves, so the extra time let me settle down. Riley and Prima were mostly happy to stand on the trailer and eat hay while we waited. Luckily, there are enough of these paper chases in our area that the whole thing runs like a well-oiled machine. We pulled the ponies off the trailer at 12:50 (they were saddled up already), threw on or bridles and got on. We were parked very close to the start and both horses walked over on a loopy rein. I have to say, Prima impresses me more and more everyday... what an amazing 5 year old! It had poured the night before so we waited a little while to start trotting (the start was boggy to say the least) but once we did, Riley felt great. He's been riding around in the boots for around 6 weeks and he felt really confident in them. Traction was not as much of an issue as I thought it would be and little did we know we'd be putting the boots through the ultimate test that day!

Airplane ears deployed. Headphones engaged. He's got his own theme music going.

The trail was very poorly marked. Also, there had been another paper chase a few weeks prior that was marked with pink tape and ours was marked with orange. For the record, safety orange and pink = the same damn thing from across a hay field. We got lost twice, had to bushwhack our way through the forest and over crazy obstacles. We went down one tiny trail with such a scary mud pit crossing that we opted to crash through some trees to the next field instead of doubling back. The ride was supposed to take us approximately 6 miles, but when we finally made it back to the trailers we saw that we had gone 8.3!!! Most of the ride was walking and trotting, but we got in a little bit of cantering here and there. At one point, Riley tucked his head to his chest and felt like a real race horse underneath me! I'll admit, I was reallllly nervous about riding in the boots for a serious ride. We went through the first muddy water crossing and I could sense Riley's concern about getting his feet out of the mud (he figured it out very quickly though) and we came out the other side unscathed. Boots still on and intact! Success! Prima lost a shoe in that mess, and I know Riley would have if he had been in shoes.

Wild TB waiting to start!

I was beaming when we got back to the trailers and still had a sound, happy horse underneath me. He got himself quite sweaty on the way back and I felt like he could have gone around again! At one point a mile or two from the finish, he started playing Marco Polo with any horse that would answer. Then when any of the other groups went out of sight he'd get very agitated and wanted to keep up. It was a good exercise to teach him how to settle and get his brain back. He never did anything too naughty, it was just baby horse behavior more than anything.

But back to my product review...

Cavallo Sport Boot

I chose the Sport boot over the simple for a few reasons. The Simple boot did not fit Riley's feet quite as well. According to their site, the sport boot is made for horses with a narrower hoof and after trying both styles on him, I definitely like the sport better. The consensus on fit is that the horses hoof should "pop" into the boot. A little extra room is okay, but too much and you'll have rubs. Riley grows hoof at an alarmingly fast rate, so even though Cavallo recommends measuring for fit following a recent trim, I would recommend maybe waiting a week or so. I had to buy two pairs to keep up with Riley's feet. He generally wears a size 2, but after a few weeks I could barely get his hoof in them! The 3's are probably a touch too big, but with the pads they fit well enough. There's a bit of an adjustment period when you first start using them, much like a brand new pair of hiking boots, you have to "break them in". I found what works for us is to use a pair of silky socks (mine) to pull on over his hoof and over his pastern before I slip his hoof into the boot. He had some chips to grow out and they kept catching on the hard plastic on the inside of the boot, making them impossible to put on and this seemed to help quite a bit. The socks also seem to help with rubs, which he only got once when he was being a jerk and I made him work for longer than I anticipated. The sport boots have a big flap in the front with a tab closure vs. the simples which have 2 velcro tabs. I found the velcro tabs clumsy and potentially dangerous as they seems more inclined to allow things to get caught in them. Both styles have adequate hoof support and serve as shock absorbers (which is great for Riley's tender soles) and they both have drainage holes in them allowing debris, water, mud to escape easily. My only complaint is that they started to twist a little during the paper chase. I think this was a combination of them being wet and muddy and the torque from riding over lots and lots of uneven terrain. They didn't turn enough to be a problem for him, but I wonder if they could hurt him if they turned too much. I know Andrea mentioned to me that she's had a pair turn all the way around! After the paper chase, I pulled them off Riley and there as only a little bit of mud inside them, the socks were destroyed, and I simply hosed the boots off before they dried to get all the mud out of the velcro and seams. They look good as new!

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...

Shoe saga, and xc fun.

It's been one month since Riley's shoes were pulled and we've had a series of ups and downs. These were expected, and sadly the downs slightly outweigh the ups. Here he is looking incredible one week after his shoes we pulled:

Sorry about the lack of quality, it's pulled off the video. But whoa! He looks great.

Looking fancy.

After this big improvement things only went downhill. The weather got wet again and his feet started to deteriorate. He was noticeably uncomfortable on anything but grass. I diligently applied the turpentine as often as I was out there, we pumped him full of double strength Farrier's Formula and crossed our fingers. Then the weather got really wet again, and despite being in during the day in a nice dry stall his feet started crumbling. They looked like they were growing though and so I was thankful for that but I was really unsure of what P would say at our 4 week trim date.

Here's some comparison photos:

The angle looks slightly better after 4 weeks. Not a huge improvement.

To my unskilled eye, I see some progress here. The left photo was post-trim so it appears neater, but the new photo reveals a slightly wider frog and some significant growth at the hoof wall. *I had just applied magic cushion the day before which is why his foot is a weird color.

Again, I think the angle has improved a little, and his heels look less under run. Not sure what that wrinkle near his heel means?

I don't see a ton of changes here and his sole was starting to exfoliate a lot.

P told me that his hoof grows really evenly, and that is a good thing. He said that he wanted to reduce the flare, but would have a hard time doing so right now because he's so sore. His soles were still paper thin and P recommended that we put shoes back on to make him comfortable. I was really hoping we could wait another month but based on how Riley was mincing around on anything but grass, I had to agree. So he got hot-shoed (to hope for the best possible fit. P told me that he could put leather pads too, but for now he wants to let the sole do it's thing and that the pads would be something to consider down the road.

Waiting for the farrier. Sir Snooze-a-lot.

I know the whole shoeing thing is a big arguing point within the horse community, but it has been hard watching the changes even over the span of just 4 weeks. I am as patient as they come but after taking Riley to xc school last Sunday I felt like a horrible horse owner. Don't be alarmed, we didn't jump anything, we just hacked around and led my friend and her baby horse over some things, but was was nearly crippled walking on blue stone. It was dramatic the change when he'd hit the grass again, but he was miserable otherwise. He's got a great attitude and he didn't get stubborn or mean, but I knew he wasn't happy either. I got off after the last water crossing on the way back to the trailers because I could hardly stand how he was hobbling along. We wound up giving him a little bute when we got home. Sigh. I think we'll try pulling his shoes again over the winter but we'll have to see how he does.

Being a cutie pie hanging out in the shade.

Don't mind me and my sweet fanny pack.

I'm going away for a few days so I'm hoping that a couple days of bute and some R & R and he'll be ready to get back to work. P had me trot him on grass and pavement after he got his shoes and he was still really short in front. We will re-evaluate next week.

In other news, we're moving barns... well, the whole crew is rather. The property has been sold to a BNR from another country (she's coming to train with Phillip Dutton down the road) so we're looking for a new barn to rent. I'm excited about moving since we all agree that our #1 luxury item is access to hacking right off the property! Fingers crossed we can find a great place for the winter!

It's a good thing he's cute: