Meanwhile, over on the COTH

I was alerted to the fact that there was an old discussion going on regarding Riley's conformation/potential as a 3 year old (with old photos) on The Chronicle of the Horse Eventing Forum. We thought it would be fun if I posted an update, so if you're bored and wanna check it out, here's the link.

COTH -- hone your eye

*My update is on the 4th page, but I thought you guys might get a kick out of the comments people had to say about him and just how different he looked back then!

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!

Road trip update

Here's an update of our projected route!

Let me know if you are along the way!

**Also, I am driving to Florida this weekend and back up here next week if you happen to be along the East Coast get in touch with me!!!!

Weekend recap -- progress made?

Muddy Mudskipper (click for weird hairiness)

Phew! A bit of a whirlwind weekend there! I have to go out of town this upcoming weekend to take care of my Mom while she undergoes neck surgery (in Florida), so I wanted to get the most out of this weekend as possible. The forecast promised two beautiful spring days and with 4 new horses showing up in the last week, I was needed as an extra hand around the farm to help get the sales horses ready for clients! We were up early Saturday morning, as my trainer was taking a sales horse over to Philly Dutton's for a client. I was attending to the farm chores and putting a couple of our guys on the Equiciser to warm them up. Though it was a beautiful day with temps nearing 60, the wind was HOWLING. We are essentially out in the countryside/woods and when the wind picks up it can be downright daunting (think haunted woods). Gusts of 40 mph meant that our scheduled hack to the indoor was going to be interesting.

Brooklawn Double, Brody.

 Through a series of serendipitous connections, my trainer was going to be showing two of her sales horses to Suzanne of Confessions of an AA Rider, I was secretly more excited about meeting a fellow blogger in person, but also happy to help get the horses ready and hack them over to the indoor. I would be riding Brody who is a 6 year old, 16.2+ TB. it's amazing how those few inches can make a huge difference to someone my size. Riley is a big bodied 16 hh horse, but he's a very smooth, fluid mover and is truly, just the right size for me. Anything bigger and I feel like I'm a little kid! Brody is not only tall, but he's also a really big mover, it's pretty amazing. The effort needed to post his trot is exponentially higher than riding my pony! But, in the crazy wind and the 2 mile hack over, we mostly trotted (to escape the wind) and I was actually able to keep up with his movement! The two boys were both so great in the decidedly spooky weather... it's easy to forget you are riding thoroughbreds when they are just so level-headed.

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.

Readers! A request.

Hi all,

Just out of curiosity sake... Do any of you live near the route highlighted on this map? If so, I might need a couch to crash on along the way -- in roughly 6 weeks! It would be super cool to meet some fellow bloggers when this little road trip takes place!

Tentative route

Spring forward -- and a lengthy update!

Finally!

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

Spring Mud Season

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

Winter is good for something

All this horrible weather has found me in serious hibernation mode. As a result, I was able to finally finish some paper cuts I had started months ago (to be fair, a lot of things happened in between me starting and finishing these). I am so happy they are complete and I think they turned out really well. I'm eager to start more and now that things are settled in my life, I have the focus and time to really devote to all my little art projects!

This one is mounted on lovely iridescent paper (it's hard to tell from my photo)

I love how this one turned out! What a cute face!

I am really fortunate right now to have such creative, inspiring people in my life. Even more that, I feel supported in my creative endeavors and I can feel that energy stirring within me again.

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.

Alright, alright, alright

I'm back. Sorta.

Thank you all for being patient with me (in all regards).

Just a quick hello to say that I am here, Riley is here and we are very excited about all the great things 2015 holds for us!

A few photos to recap the last 5+ months...

Riley back in November, looking pretty nice in his barefoot status

He got clipped preemptively to help with his winter rain rot, success!

I rode some other horses. Anyone in the market for a 17hh beast of a OTTB?

I had an unexpected stay in the hospital in September, but Riley was there to console me with ALL the hugs.

I looked for silver linings and found them.

We rode into the sunset.

The bad boys club did bad boy things.

I took Riley in an indoor a few weeks ago to see how he was feeling. Result = sound and FRESH!

He made cute faces in the snowy tundra.

Best of all. I found my creative voice again... what was lying dormant for years has been awakened in the most wonderful way. I've been shooting film, working on creative processes, and collaborating and it feels great.

 I hope to get back to serious blogging again soon. We've got some big plans for this year and lots of changes in the mix. I hope you'll continue to follow and support us. Thanks again for being patient with us! I have been reading your blogs pretty faithfully and miss all the interaction!

xo
Niamh & Riley.

Your regularly scheduled blogging will resume soon

I'm on hiatus from blogging for awhile. I promise I'll be back and that I am still reading all of yours when time allows.

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.