Last chance at 50% off!

Only 3 more days left of my spring sale:

Go to: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TraceALine to place your order now!

Just finished a beautiful piece for a fellow blogger and have another in the works!

Quintus. Adore.

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

Just really quick

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Yep that's our ring being upgraded! The ground finally firmed up enough to allow the trucks in to put down the layers for footing! Woo hoo!

The story of my Big Girl Pants and how Riley thought he could outsmart me. **Picture heavy

Saturday I spent the day in the city the pups walking around a really cool arts festival. I had to feed that evening and I had been offered the chance to go ride at a nearby indoor (but not until 7pm or so), but I didn't want to make it a late night. I opted instead to see what kind of information Riley had retained from his lunging session the day before. Again, I generally don't lunge that much, but I also want to know that it wasn't a fluke that he was so well behaved. It also wasn't nearly as muggy as the day before and he's plenty fit, so off we went.

Wait, where are they taking my bff?

We started off well enough. Relaxed and forward. But while we were working his best bud was leaving to go to a new home so he was taken from the paddock next to us, and his herd mates started galloping around like a couple of butt heads. Still he stayed focused on my verbal cues and was attentive. We changed directions and I could feel the tension beginning. There was a time where any time I tried to lunge him tracking right we'd have a major blow up. He'd get frazzled, I'd get frustrated and it never really ended well. Since then, I've been able to learn some really valuable tools (while watching him pull the same shit with my trainer), so I'm well able to deal with whatever he throws at me.

Lunging -- revisited.

Yesterday I had a horrible dental appointment in the afternoon which meant taking a half a day off work... the only silver lining being that I could get to the barn early as my dentist is just a few miles from the barn. Riley is being kept toward the back of the property right now, which means that when I want to work with him I have to pack up my car and bring everything out to him, groom him outside his field and then get on and hack to wherever I want to ride. He's pretty good about it, though his pasture mates like to mess with him while I trying to do this. Henry literally unbridled Riley one day while we were getting ready. Cheeky!

Oh, but first. I arrived to the Riley's pasture only to find a new born lamb stuck in the electric fence. Poor little dude was being shocked over and over again, so I unhooked the electric and held him until the sheep guy came over from the barn...

He was fine, just a little worn out and hungry. The fence doesn't hold a typical charge:)

I was all numbed up from my crown procedure so I opted not to ride but to lunge (you know, in case I accidentally bit my tongue off or something). This was partially an experiment as 1.) we haven't lunged in weeks and he's MUCH fitter and 2.) I would be forced to lunge him right next to his buddies with lots of distractions and in an unfamiliar area. So a good test for both of us. Plus we had to walk away from his buddies on this out of the way path to get to where we could lunge. He was UP but attentive to me, even while his friends did everything to distract him. I do love that fact that I can tie him just about anywhere and he stays put, when he feels tension on the line he stops moving around and he was quite patient as I grabbed everything out of my car and slapped it on him. Not to worry, I gave him a quick curry, brushing and picked his feet.

We had the best lunging session to date. The spring grass has been really good to him. His winter coat (what was left of it is nearly gone) and he really feeling full of himself. I need to get a new conformation shot of him while he starts regular work so I can compare in the fall. He was forward, happy and focused despite the peanut gallery watching from the next pasture.

Warm up trot, actually focused on me.

We mainly worked on transitions. I want to make sure he really understand WHOA. We also worked a lot on walk-trot-walk and canter-trot-canter with plenty of walk breaks as it was a million % humidity. His upward transitions are really coming along and I barely had to fuss at him to keep tempo (something we've always struggled with). He even looked great tracking right which is his stiff side and although picking up his right lead was a challenge, I was able to force him to do TWO flying changes on the line to fix it. Laziness is not tolerated on the lunge line! After a successful canter depart right without the need of a change we called it a day, he was sweaty, I was sweaty and he got plenty of praise throughout to reinforce the RIGHT THING. Sometimes I forget just how important this is with the young ones!

Some highlights, tracking left:

He looooves to stretch. This is the easiest setting for the Pessoa. Once we've warmed up, I like to set it so his head is a few inches ahead of the vertical when he is relaxed. He's capable of carrying himself and keeping mostly steady contact now.

Warm up canter left. Zoom! You can see the Pessoa is at rest here giving him full freedom.

Carrying himself nicely, love his back leg here.

Tracking right:

Warm up trot, tracking right. Hunter pony in the making -- too bad I banged his tail:)

A little resistance, but he was brilliant tracking right yesterday, he never stopped or fought me and was always in front of my leg (so to speak)

This is where we ended up. What a fancy dude. His neck is looking great and his muscles are starting to really come in. I just love how relaxed he looks really striding out here and just slightly in front of the vertical.

I've been riding him in a Dr. Bristol full cheek and he really seems to like it. I think the Happy Mouth was just getting a little too light for him, plus it made him fussier in the contact.

So much slobber.

I know a lot of people don't care for lunging and I keep my sessions short (usually 5 minutes warm up in either direction and 5-10 both ways doing "work'), but I do think it's a beneficial tool for a variety of reasons:

*Sometimes there's no one around and you don't want to ride alone (safety first)
*It allows them to work on straightness and balance without the weight (or imbalance) of a rider
*Certain tools (like the Pessoa) can teach them to push from behind, unlocking their backs and helping them understand carrying themselves correctly
*Verbal transitions are always helpful
*It's a good bonding experience between horse and rider
*You never know when you might NEED to lunge your horse (ie, at a show and what happens if he doesn't know how to without scaring everyone)
*It mixes up your routine

**When I lunge I don't always stay on level ground nor to I stick to a 20 meter circle. I like to walk around a bit to make the circle more of an oval and to not allow them to lean on the shape (if that makes sense)

What are your thoughts about lunging?

Test ride -- Unbridled Lad

Yesterday I headed out to the farm to meet my fate. As I mentioned, my friend offered her semi-retired schoolmaster to play around with while Riley gets the kinks worked out with my trainer. Lad is a wonderful, kind gentleman of a horse with plenty of spunk. He always greets you with a happy face and wants to be picked from the field first. In fact, he hates being left out and will gallop around whinnying if he gets left by himself! His owner has even made a facebook page for him that you can see here.

At the Thoroughbred Celebration Show in 2012/13?

I've known Lad almost as long as I've known Riley as he was at our old barn too. What I knew about him was that he LOVED to jump, would tell on you if you rode poorly, and he squeals when he's happy.

At Plantation with his owner in 2011

We loaded up and headed to a nearby indoor to school with another horse and he got off, looked around and took a deep breath. Been there, done that. His owner walked him once around the indoor which was set with jumps from the Jimmy Wofford clinic that happened earlier that day and I got on. It's so neat riding a horse that knows that it's doing! When you ride a green horse all the time, one, you kind of forget how to ride gracefully and two, you forget that horses can do things on their own with little coaxing. We walk-trot-cantered in each direction... and holy crap! Best. Canter. Ever. I was grinning like a fool. Since he's kind of out of shape (and so am I) we started off with a single fence to jump and then added more and we both got to know each other.

The dude LOVES to jump! With that note, his owner warned me to to keep my leg on, stay in my thigh, and GRAB MANE.

Warming up, both of us looking like we know what we're doing (ahem, he does)

First little X. Boiiiiing!

Really Lad? I'm just hanging on here.

Good boy through the combination.

Weeeee! At least I am looking up and I'm not climbing up his neck.

Now I'm sure he probably looks green through all of these, but if you see above, he's just an exuberant jumper. Regardless of the jump height, we were jumping much higher! I not used to a horse taking me to the fences and I definitely struggled with just sitting back and letting him do his job. In the end I think we struck a good balance and he never got frustrated with me. I couldn't get over just how comfortable he was to ride (he's wider, like Riley) and his squealing into the canter was the cutest thing ever. He was so happy to take me to all of the fences and the only one he even considered looking at was a liverpool that I was terrified of and probably made him back off of. We would up jumping it a bunch of times, including as a part of a 3 jump line (I think a 3-4 stride to a 2-3 stride. It also probably looks like I have a death grip on his mouth, but I promise you I was riding with a neck strap and had my hands buried in his thick mane.

I can't wait to ride him again. I feel like he has so much to teach me and I think one of the biggest takeaways was that I cannot stiffen up when I ride him or he becomes unbearably uncomfortable and you just bounce all over him. He forced my hip angle to stay soft and open and to keep my leg long and my core tight. Boy am I feeling it today! Walking up stairs was a real challenge!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get Riley out hacking to work on what my trainer has been practicing with him.

Radio silence.

Where did I go?

Not to worry, I'm still here. Work has been busy, life has been hectic. Riley has had a little time off after his Come to Jesus meeting with my friend. Since then he's had two trainer rides with Emily which were very successful and we've come up with a plan of action.

Oh, there's another reason for the silence... I bet you won't believe what it is?

Weather.

Roughly the halfway point between my house and the barn

Yikes

Yep, it rained for 2 days straight and EVERYTHING flooded. Luckily both my house and the farm were spared, but getting around anywhere was tough. The tack room did flood due to a backed up drain, but nothing we couldn't handle. The roads around the farm were completely flooded, so even hacking was out of the question.

Riley was moved to a new field, which was apparently very exciting for him and his Bad Boy Club, and he's been enjoying every minute of his unintentional vacation.

Muddy Mud Skipper, looking feral.

Emily did take him on a 2 hour hack earlier this week to address some of his nappy behavior. He pulled plenty of shenanigans with her, but she stayed the course and insisted (gently this time) that he do what she asked. He's definitely getting a little big for his britches and thinking that he has better ideas than his rider. She also said that remarkably even when they were miles away from the barn he STILL knew which was to spin to return home. She practiced cantering and galloping him in one of our big fields to check for brakes (still there, thanks new bit) and rode him away from his hacking buddy over and over again until he got the idea that forward is the only answer he needs to provide. Certainly his cheeky/green behavior is not going to be fixed in just a couple of rides, so we came up with a plan moving forward.

Trainer rides will continue (she will hack him out either alone or in company)... I can ride and/or lunge him on the property (140 acres) to practice what I've learned recently with him, but follow through has to be 100% on my end. In the meantime, one of the other women in the co-op has graciously offered her 14 year old school master horse to ride to get my jumping sea legs back. He's a gorgeous dark bay OTTB (Unbridled Lad) who incredibly talented. While he will pack an 8 year old around, he's not an easy ride by any means and will have plenty to teach me. I'm excited to get to know him better and to have another horse to ride in addition to Riley. I'll likely enter Riley in another HT in a few weeks and Emily will ride him there to get some confidence under his belt. Lad and I may even go to a couple of little jumper schooling shows once he's fit.

It's all very exciting and I'm happy with the pace of our progress. I know that if our ring was already finished we'd be much further along in our training, but we'll get there. Patience.

EDIT: I'm going to test ride Lad tonight in a nearby indoor!

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 XC school -- Carousel Park

Sorry for the radio silence over the weekend. I've been busy and my computer is being the absolute worst so I had to wait to today to officially update. Those of you who are friends with me on Instagram or Facebook already got a sneak peek.

I'll admit, I was nervous, especially after Riley's shenanigans at the paper chase, but we were as ready as we were going to be. Carousel has a wonderful XC course. I think it only goes up to training, but there's everything from tiny, baby stuff on up. They had moved a lot of the jumps around, so we spent a little time trying to figure out where things were, and a HUGE group having a lesson arrived with us, but luckily the course is set in a series of different fields, so we had plenty of space to ourselves. I had Riley wear his Cavallos until we got past the bluestone (there's tons of it there), pulled them off and shoved them under a jump, along with his spurs (didn't need those). The first thing we decided to play around with was a ditch. A TINY ditch riveted on both sides and flagged. The first time Riley walked into the ditch and over. The second time he said, "Oh Hell No" and freaked out for awhile. I started to lose a bit of confidence, but Emily and Prima gave us a lead over a few times and then he was happy enough to pop over it from a walk 2 more times by himself. We decided to let that settle in and then we headed to the next field with the small water complex.

lucky bracelet

Emily had us follow her and Prima in the later and out at a walk and trot, then we followed them up and down the tiny little banks, and finally she had us drop off the bank and go up it at a walk and trot. She had lots of good advice of what NOT to do when dropping it and bouncing up backs, and I think I felt pretty confident in the end. Riley was game for all of it when it was our turn to do everything alone.

I'm not sure why, but the video came out all double-vision looking, so this is the best I could do for evidence!

Weeeeee! Into the water like a boss. I need to lean back more, but not too shabby.

Good boy Riley up the bank out of the water.

I think the hardest part of the day was Riley realizing that even though Prima was there to give us a lead, it also meant he had to leave her and go do things on his own, which we had a few disagreements about.

We moved on to the start of the baby course and basically schooled every single jump. There was a coop, a few vertical post and rail type fences, a ramp, a green set of steps (kind of like a bench that I was terrified of jumping and Riley jumped the best!), a jump that looked like a stone bridge with semi-circle cut outs underneath, and we trotted and really jumped the ditch when we came back around to it!

Riley's first XC jump, I'd say he's game.

Aw good boy, and I'm actually not staring at the ground! Woot!

All in all, it was a pretty perfect day. He was so game to everything and even jumped the ditch like a boss when we came back to it. We signed up for our first HT on Sunday, so we'll see how everything works out! It's simple test (though, Riley's never been in a dressage arena) and everything is super small, I want a good positive first outing for him and I!

ps. I love him, he's the best.

Treats for the good pony.

To insure or not?

My insurance is coming up on renewal and I wanted to get some feedback about whether or not TO insure, and/or who you like for insurance purposes.

Riley's insurance, for roughly $350 a year (paid all at once) covered a myriad of things. Mostly, full mortality and major medical. I am debating on whether or not to renew it this year. I'm sure, just uttering those words means he's going to hurt himself or get sick, but I'm not sure what's better at this stage. I have a Care Credit account which covers me at New Bolton (down the road) and I have a good relationship with my vet who doesn't require payment up front and will accept payment plans.

In the last year, he's been luckily very good. Outside of his hoof issues we haven't had any trouble. His x-rays etc were not covered.

What do you guys think?

Edit:
FYI: he was covered for full mortality at his purchase price ($3500) and $5000 for Major Medical.

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.

Springing in Spring complete with a shameless photo dump.

Apologies in advance for the one million photos. I rarely get any photos of me riding and Emily and I took turns in the jump school and riding in the ring so we could shoot each other. Side note: It was a good test for both babies to trailer together go stand in a stall and then play musical horses for the next few hours. Neither of them minded being away from the other which is great since some get VERY attached on even the shortest trailer rides.

Oh, and my horse self loads and unloads now:)

om nom nom nom