Dressage Esquire

It's Getting Mighty Cold Out: Don't Lose Touch!

2010-12-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

When the weather gets cold like this, it becomes harder and harder for me to go out to the barn and ride. The horses get thick with fuzzies and the cool down time seems to take forever if you get them wet at all. Not to mention if you forget that when you get off that the ground has frozen, and slam your poor cold feet on the dirt only to feel that oh so familiar sting that goes all the way up your spine.

I find that it is times like these when it is important to keep track of what my goals are in my riding and keep inching forward. It's the worst when things not only become dark at 3pm, but stagnant in the ring with your partner. So I would encourage any reader out there to keep a log of what you do and where you would like o be through these winter months and see how far you get through your goals come the spring thaw. Be sure to set some obtainable goals, don't make them all impossible so as to not reach a single one, but then also have others that are going to be difficult, if not impossible for you to reach. In fine fashion... I'll share some of my own personal goals with Fire for these winter months:

- clean flying changes both on the left and right side
- clean and clear transitions, especially from the trot to walk, staying through in the back
- a stronger left side canter that has a more clear jump in it and equals what is happening currently on the right side now
- comfortable mini half passes in both the canter and the trot, on both sides
- at least one, if not two successful trips to another facility (he's only ever been off of his own grounds once!) THIS is a HUGE deal for us
- work the "big" clippers and get comfortable with them

I don't know how all of these goals will turn out, or if any of them will turn out. I do know, however, that I do have them all written down and have them in my tack trunk so I can see them every day before I get my gear together to go ride. This helps me to stay focused and on the ball. It doesn't mean that every day I work flying changes, or the mini half passes, because we don't. But it does mean that because this list stays at the front of my mind we keep on working and my trainer will see a difference when he comes back into town from Frorida, and things won't get stagnant.
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Get back on the horse...

2010-11-15T22:49:00.001-08:00

minor mishap... more great posts coming soon.

It Doesn't Always Start Well...

2010-10-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

I had a lesson yesterday with Ryan Yap. I usually try to get on early and at least start my warm-up before he gets there, but I wasn't able to. I began the warm-up and was getting frustrated because Fire has started with "thing" where he warms up with his head up in the air like a pig. I can't force him into any sort of frame because then our entire ride is just crap. So I asked Ryan if this "cow frame" was acceptable for warm up, and he said that it was, that it might be a phase and that some horses just warm up like that. So, I accepted it and moved on.

After that bump in the road we went on to have a good ride. I relaxed and so did Fire. We worked on shortening and lengthening his stride to get him to really sit down into his transitions. In the past, Fire has gotten very upset while doing things like this, but took it like a star and didn't act up at all. The exercise was to ride in a circle and ride one 1/2 on a long strided posting trot, and then the other 1/2 was a short strided sitting trot, keeping the same rhythm. Many times Fire came above the bit when shortening his stride, but as long as he did not curl, this was okay and I just kept him in the short stride until he gave in the neck to then let him out in the longer stride. This really helped to engage his hind end in the trot and made him very active.

The canter work was next, where we worked on picking up the canter from the walk. The first transition was generally crap because Fire wasn't necessarily paying attention. I find it helpful to speak to the horse and tell him "canter" before the transition at this point so he is ready for what I want and has an upward and correct transition during this training period. Once we began working that way, they improved greatly and were followed by a lot of praise.

We quickly moved into asking for a counter canter, which admittedly, we were not ready for. If you're not ready for something, then don't do it! We did an extra circle and came back around to try again for the shallow serpentine that we had been asked to execute. At this point we had better balance and it was performed without hesitation and with good jump and balance. So then we moved to a harder counter canter: across the short diagonal and then around the short side and across the short diagonal again back to correct lead again. Since we had been practicing three loop serpentines going from correct lead to counter canter, this was not difficult for Fire to do, and he stayed very well balanced and did not try to run or break. I could tell that Ryan was pleasantly surprised, and moved onto the next move, mini half passes.I do have to admit, that one surprised me! I didn't think that Fire was ready for me to ask him to move in the way a mini half pass would have him move in the canter, but he surprised me and seemed to move very well, and all the way from the wall to the centerline. What a champ he is sometimes!

After the lesson Fire was very tired and earned his vetroline bath and time out eating in the pasture. My butt and stomach are super sore today from all the work my muscles got in yesterday, and I can't wait to see what is is store for us next time. I can really see good marked improvements. And it was nice to hear Ryan say that he was very impressed with our progress since we're alone and I don't have him to help me often. A very nice thing to say I think.

Straight off the Runway, and onto your Horse!

2010-10-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well... straight from Paris and Dior, the new fad... wear your horse's tendon boots! Who would have thought, right? The Paris fashion show was set with a packed paddock of steeds with girls trotting down the runway in odd things like these, fake breeches and other odd flat boots that resembled polo wraps. And the new "it" accessory isn't a chic bag, no no... it's your riding crop!

What is this world coming to? Soon we'll be able to just turn to our tack trunks for everything!

There Must Be Something In The Air

2010-10-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hell, I know that it has cooled off since earlier this week, but MAN did the horses all have something up their big round asses today!

I first got the the barn and let a few of the girls outside to get some exercise, and Meme tried to run me over. Alright, granted she hadn't been out yet and it was brisk and they were taking down (ie: the corn was being farmed) the field right next to the farm, so it was sort of expected and not the end of the world. I then got on Fire and decided that I'd like to go ride him out in the field that he usually gets turned out in and not ride in the ring. Though I've never done this before, I didn't think anything of it because it's the same place he's been turned out since he was a little boy. No big deal right? BAWHAHA! He threw a complete temper tantrum. Upon reading his behavior, which included sucking back in the bridle, pawing at the ground, chomping the bit and flicking his skin, I knew he was not confident and he was actually scared. Fire doesn't like to be alone, and though I was on him, I felt like he was feeling alone during this whole thing. I tried to console him and sit heavy to show him that I was confident (but light enough so if he did take off or shoot into the air like a rocket I wasn't going to fall to the ground like an idiot rock).

I didn't fall off, nor did I get off. I sat confident and patted him and talked to him and pushed him around the property (stupid horse... he's lived here his whole life), but I realize that we've got to do A LOT more work on being alone. We've probably got to do some work with being turned out alone (he usually gets turned out with two other horses and they are very much so the three amigos). He needs confidence, and I'm there to help him with it. But man oh man, is it scary to think you're on top of a 1400lb animal that does not have confidence and is thinking that the smart thing to do right that moment is to suck back and then rear. Gotta work on that one before a show...

Why You Should Never Take Yourself Too Seriously

2010-10-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we all get wrapped up in the competition and who is winning and what is going on and who is beating whom (or what horse is being put in rollkur) but I think that it's always good to take a step back and realize that we're all just there to have this great bond with our amazing animals. Okay, so... maybe not all of us are there for that reason, but really "dressage" is training and within that training is the fluidity and movement that only comes from a pair that is is true harmony with each other. If you're up there, all nervous, or all tense, or angry because you missed that last change, then your horse can feel it. He can feel it in his back from your seat and he can feel it through your arms and hands in his neck and jaw.

I suggest that if you are having one of those days where you're taking yourself too seriously, to just step back and look into those big doe eyes that work so hard for you day in and day out, and ask yourself if it's really worth it to be so worked up. Go on a hack, take extra time brushing him or her off, take your anger out on a real super stall cleaning, but seriously folks, don't take yourself too seriously in all of this. Even Edward Gal has shit days, even the masters have totally dropped a horse at the WORST time ever and felt like a jerk. It's not worth it to get worried about and tighten your whole body up over, or take it out on your horse in some other way.

It's just dressage.

Boot Fitting.... again

2010-10-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Take two on trying to fit into my old amazing Cavallo boots. I've had them since I was a young rider and they are still in great condition. I brought them to the leather/shoe guy to have them stretched and have zippers put in them since my calves are not the svelte size they were when I was riding professionally, over 8 hours a day. Since the boots mean a lot to me and I didn't want him to mess them up, I stressed that I did not want him to over stretch them, but just stretch them a little and put the zippers in. Well, apparently this meant to the great shoe guy... don't stretch them at all and just put the zippers in. Which is just GREAT because once you put the zippers in, you can't stretch them. Well, I guess, you can't forcefully stretch them. You can sit in your couch and force them on your legs for hours at a time and try to stretch the leather out. So... welcome to my life now. The first few tries I wasn't even able to get the zippers up all the way, but now I can. As you can tell from the photo of my poor leg, that's what happened after quite a few hours of having the boot on over my sock (no pants yet). From left to right the marks are: edge of boot, zipper pull, edge of boot and snap that goes over the zipper. *Youch!*
I just hope that it gets better by show season! I guess I've got some work to do...

UPDATES

2010-10-05T21:52:00.001-07:00

You just get my weird dogs on this one... no horses.

I did a few little tweeks to the site here now that I've got more and more followers. I would love to facilitate some chat on the comments section, so any suggestions would be helpful, or just start commenting - there are a lot of you out there, I'm sure someone else would have something to say back. I added an area to give a type of "rate" at the end of the posts... to say if you liked them, or not, or thought that they were informative. Any sort of feedback can help me to write more on what you readers are interested in reading and not just the silly stupid crap that is coming through my head. I also added that you can "retweet" things and also link quickly to facebook from the blog or from each post. Hopefully that will help to get to articles out there if you think that they are particularly worthy.

Just thought I'd write a small post to explain a few of the things I added and why I added them. OH! Also added a search bar at the top, since there are quite a few posts now. Hope that helps. Have any other ideas? Post ideas? What you would like to hear more or less of? Feel free to leave a comment and I'll do the best I can.

Just don't tell me I've got ugly animals. Mi babies are butes'!!!!

What gets the Blue Ribbons?

2010-10-05T21:09:00.001-07:00

Though my career in riding and in life I've won many blue ribbons for different things. I've won them for artwork, for speech competitions, for moot court competitions, for dog training endevors, for poetry writing, and for horse shows of course. To this day I believe I still have giant Nostrums boxes under my childhood bed packed tight with ribbons from every event I've ever done.

Not everyone shows though, or understand how it works and I have been asked how one person gets the blue ribbon over the other horses in the competition, and what are the different components that are looked at, that come into play when being rewarded. And how the HECK, as a rider, do you get yourself to line up with what the judge wants that moment to get that ten cent rosette and three drop ribbon that will be placed with the rest in do time.

Well, there are many different ways that one can come about a blue ribbon while at a dressage show, and those would be (in no particular order)...

By default. Sometimes I have been the one who stayed in the arena. Sometimes not. If you're the lucky one that can keep your "cat in the bag" while the others all lose their minds, you win. Great job!

By having the nicest horse. Shameful feeling, to school the babies and take ribbons from newbies and kids. Note to self: remember to show unjudged next time under those circumstances. This happanes a lot when you have a young really nice mount and want to show a low level to get this horse use to the grounds/getting out/showing and you're up against "the back yard gang" of the local weekend warrior kid's riding club. Whoops. But you still win.... score one for BLUE!

By surprise. Sometimes you don't know your horse is a rockstar until it happens. This is a nice surprise. You look at the line up for the day and think you'll find yourself as a good mid-pack contender... only to see that you've blown them all out of the water. Nice. Savor that one because it's real and it has to do with training.

By determination. That you will beat the woman whom has been running down your home-bred Warmblood, or your Throughbred all season. She has an excuse afterwards but you have a 69% and it's the last show to qualify at. Sorry to say, it felt great. Take that snooty dressage queen!!

By luck. The judge looked down during the airborne canter depart. Or you have Burton as a judge and he most likely fell asleep for a portion and then asked the scribe or gave you the benefit of the doubt.

By accident. Pigeons fly up and your horse gives you an extension he never had before and never will again. As long as you stay on and don't scream out... you're golden. Go pick up your ribbon.

By hard work and consistency. I wish this one seemed to have more to do with it all but looking back, it really does appear to be somewhat random. But without this you're not even getting your horse on the trailer. Have to get at least to point A (and enter collected canter...)

Setting Goals

2010-09-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

As the weather starts to change and the summer hair begins to shed off, I started to think about prepping for the upcoming cold months. Personally, I hate winter up here in the freezing north and I despise going to the barn at 5pm and already having it be pitch black out and below freezing. This is also the time of year when my trainer heads south for the Florida circuit so I'm left completely high and dry, unless there is a clinic set up or something (not that I can afford/take that many lessons in the first place, but its more than zero.)

So, I was thinking about setting some goals for myself and for Fire to try to get to by the end of the winter. This might help me to stay motivated and to actually keep creeping toward things, even when I'm stuck in the indoor and I feel like I'm not going anywhere all winter.

I find having short term goals to be very beneficial. Obviously the long term goal is to get up back into the FEI ring, but when that is your goal you can sometimes feel like you'll never get there and become discouraged, or feel like you're moving at a snails pace and lose your footing.

I also think its good to realize it's not the end of the world if you don't reach your goals by your set time too. I think that goals should be lofty and out there so if you were to reach them it would be a big feat. So, once you do get to that time.... say... early March, you reevaluate what you set up for goals at the time and then you see where you actually are at, what portions of those goals you did meet, which you did not and then figure out why you fell short and reassess things. This at least keeps you moving forward on your training continuum and keeps you motivated and you can actually see your process.

Though I wish I had a fun little app for my smartphone to *click*click* on and keep track of goals and things, I do find that this blog itself is a rolling "goal check" for me. I write and try to keep a very realistic outlook and open mind to things.

Genius Moment

2010-09-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

This photo doesn't show the moment I'm speaking about, I just loved the power it shows. Look at that tail flip! Woosh!!! Anyway...

I wasn't able to ride for a few days in a row because I was out of town. Because of this, I thought I would come back to a horse who was stiff and just needed some good long, low and super stretchy work. This isn't uncommon and how we usually have to work many of our "first day back" days. I think this is a good frame of mind and body to have for restarting work when you've had time off (for both horse and rider). So we stared our ride and I thought it was going to be the usual first ride because he was fighting the bit some and was way above the bit. I began our work with a few large figure eights with hands wide asking for a low frame and he gave in right away, telling me that he was more ready and willing that I first thought. He actually then came up and moved into the bridle very nicely and with some very even back movement. I thought "okkkk", and just went with it.

Since my own back wasn't in a good place to be doing some "tough" work for the day, and Fire seemed to be in a really good upward place in his bridle, I thought we could work on some mediums and lengthenings in the trot. He did the mediums quite nicely but needed some more sit down for his lengthenings to really be engaged properly. This is where the genius moment began because I thought I'd ask him for some 1/4 turn on the haunches. If you've read before, you know that Fire can get a little nervous with the "slower" movements of collection, so in the past when I've tried to even think about this movement it's just been a disaster. IE... I think last time I tried he kicked a hole in the indoor wall and he tried to toss me out the open door in the side of the arena. No joke.

We began by walking to the left against the wall in a collected walk with the whip to the outside near the shoulder. I put both reins in my inside hand and brought my outside leg very far forward near his shoulder to let him know that I really wanted him to move his shoulders away from the wall in this movement. I spoke to him this entire time to keep him quiet and in a forward motion. It is very important to keep the motion forward while turning and keep the horse into the bridle without sucking back, and without "spinning" around. And low and behold... Fire did it like a champ. It wasn't the tiny pivot, but I'd say it was very very very close to it, like he barely came off of the wall and he did not get nervous and he stayed forward and into the bridle and he then did not get nervous when I asked him to do it again, which is wonderful.

I think this shows that he is beginning to grow up some. He is accepting work in his life and that things that were once hard are not always difficult and can be overcome without a fuss. Which makes my life just that much easier. This ride was one of those rides for the books. One of those rides that you want to keep in your head to recall when you want to crumple up in a ball. It was a great day of clear communication where I didn't have on any spurs, where we "spoke" mostly through the saddle and accomplished a lot.

Giddy Up!!????

2010-09-16T09:13:00.001-07:00

Are you guys ready to be sitting in a saddle not only when you ride your horse, but when you're flying with American Airlines or Delta? Aviointeriors’ SkyRider seats are more like a saddles with armrests than like the traditional flat-cushion seating that fliers are accustomed to. The seats make our room on the plane even snugger than it is already, from the 28'' that we get now, to a snug 23''. To be fair, the Italian comapny is proposing that the planes equipped with these seats only be used for flights that are 3 hours or less in length, because hey, cowboys ride in their saddles all day with no issue! But I'm not seeing a comfy cowboy in that photo, are you? I see a lady who looks like she's got a stick up her ass with a plastered smile on her face. And what happens when you get the "horse" sitting next to you, as what is common in many flights in the US? there won't be any "buy two seats" for these thin saddles... what then?

I wonder what happens when the plane hits turbulence. Should all of the men be warned to wear cups now when they fly? And will it look like an English class with the entire plane posting trot in unison?

Why not do away with seats entirely, and utilize a system of closely-spaced poles? Why, a move to the “recto-pole” system could even do away with the need for seat belts. Even cheaper yet!

Scratches/ Mud Fever

2010-09-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

F?or us, it's the time of year where scratches/mud fever pops up. Since Fire has those super pink legs with the pink skin (since he's pinto), he is susceptible to things like this. Tie that to the fact that he just can't go without going outside with his buddies almost every night into the pasture, and you get this horrid fungus foot issue. "Scratches" is a term that refers to a skin problem on the lower legs of horses, caused by a fungus (and sometimes complicated by bacteria). The affected area becomes crusted, scabby and thickened, creating bumps and sometimes open sores. In severe cases the affected skin may ooze or the whole lower leg may swell, and the horse may become lame.

Since it can be such a complicated issue, everyone seems to have their own method of trying to fix scratches, and there seems to be no one method that works with all horses, or works 100% of the time. So, since Fire is currently laid up with a nasty bout of scratches (pictures included are of random horses, not Fire) I thought that I would compile common methods to help "fix" what has now made my poor pony lame.

Before I do post the methods, it does seem to be most common that people are in agreement that the area should be kept first and foremost DRY. If you can keep the horse from being in wet areas, great. If the horse must get its legs wet, they then must be dried as soon as possible, and then kept in a dry clean stall. The majority also agree that the area needs to be kept clean with antibacterial soap, washed just about daily. There are a few people that say they don't wash the legs in their method, but the majority say it is pertinent to keeping the fungus and bacteria at bay. As far as removing the scabs, it seems as though the consensus is that once you can get them soft, if you can gently remove them that is preferred and the more common approach as well. However, again, some people believe in allowing the scabs to drop themselves. Alright.. now onto the methods:

- very common: 4oz of Desitin (40% zinc oxide), 2oz of Neosporin, and 2oz of cortizone cream, some say do scrub, some say do not scrub, all say keep the area clean with a antibacterial wash. (this is similar to Panalog creme, but a lot cheaper)

- also common: a mix of nitrofurazone, DMSO and thiabendazole (a cattle wormer that is also a good fungicide)

- the "old" common method: "Bluecoat" sprayed for a few days until it washes off (methylene blue mixture).

- some people use a product called "Shapley's Original M-T-G" the ingredients are not listed on the bottle, but have been determined to be: Petroleum distillates, sulfur 4%, zinc stearate, glycerin, cade oil rectified.

- Hibitane slathered over scratches, not washed off.

- put a bread bag on the horse's foot, pour a can of sauerkraut in it (with juice) and tape it up and leave it for 2-3 days.

- mix up Zink Creme (diaper rash) with sulfur powder and apply on cleaned and dry scratches.

- wash with antibacterial soap and then apply a spray of 50/50 bleach and water

- French recipe:1 part Imaverol 1 part corticosteroid creme 1 part baby creme 1 part vaseline.

- Soak in epson salt and water or providine and water and scrubbing. Then apply a 1:1:1 mixture of DMSO, fenbendazole, and furazone and wrap it with vet wrap. (many disagree with the wrap)

- 1) diaper rash ointment, 2) triple antibiotic ointment, 3) hydrocortisone cream

- In a container with a tightly sealing lid, mix: 1 tube 1% hydrocortisone cream, 1 tube 2% miconazole cream (found in a 7 day vaginal yeast infection treatment kit, just throw away the applicators), 1 tube 20% Zinc Oxide Ointment (like Original Desitin – NOT the creamy version), 1 teaspoon-ish of nitrofurazone ointment. Mix well, label the container. The mixture should be a light yellow color. Place on washed and dried legs, wipe off later and reapply, do not rewash.

I really an not fond of mares

2010-09-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

My current side project is this stupid (okay, really really damn smart) bitch of a mare I'm trying to break now. She's this cute as a button mover, good work ethic bouncy, would make a great all around horse for someone, girl. That is, if we can ever safely get in the damn thing. She's SUCH a mare!! This breaking process has taken months longer than it should have, mostly because people have run out of time to be able to consistently work with her, but also because her brain just doesn't want to be there. Now that she is a bit older and wiser she's safer to get on and get working with.

As of now she's been backed twice. After much practice with putting weight on her, and leaning over her etc., we finally swung a leg over her and decided to go for a pony ride. On this one, I'm the person on the ground and the barn owner (her owner) is the "meat on a stick" or "dope on a rope" or... rider if you prefer. So, the first time she got a leg over the mare didn't protest and we walked off comfortably. the pony ride went well for almost an entire 20m circle before the mare decided she had had enough, and promptly tried to remove the owner. She did it completely without warning, and this is partially why I hate mares, because they pull shit like that. NO warning! And she did it not because she was scared, but just because she decided she was totally done. Fine... we dealt with that rodeo of bucks and rears, I kept her close to me on the ground so she couldn't get up any momentum, and she stopped. We took a few more steps forward with the rider and were done for the day.

Then we move to day two, yesterday. I pre-lunge her and get her nice and sweaty, more tired than the first time... and then line her up for the mount. As I turn to look at her before the rider mounts, I look into her eye and I can just see it... I can just see "oh we are SO not doing THIS" in the mare's eyes. I know that we're both going to be in for it this time, even before we've got a chance to start. Again, this is why I hate these stupid bitches. A gelding... nay...not even a stallion will pull crap on you like that. This premeditated "I'm going to burn you alive and trample your unborn children" bullshit of a mare. So... here we go. The rider barely gets her leg over the saddle and we were off on a bucking and rearing frenzy. At one point the mare came down with her head square on MY head (note to self, wear helmet during next go round) and I almost lost her because the sun was setting and I got turned around into the glare of the light. This time the "fit" lasted longer than the first one, but the rider still stayed on (by the hair of her teeth) and we were able to move on. This time, however, the mare didn't really relax much and still had the "trample your unborn children" look in her eye for almost the entire length of the bitchy pony ride. I think that if either myself or the rider gave and let go of her head at all she would have gone back into launch mode. No good.

So, I think its safe to say two things... one... I'm not looking forward to going back and doing pony ride number three with this horse. I'm sure as I'm alive she's going to be worse than she's been these past two times and it's just going to be ridiculous. I'm bringing thicker gloves on this next one, and a helmet, you can be sure. The second thing is that I hate mares. I owned one, and she drove me nuts. And I'm sure that with this one, once she's broken and moving, she'll make someone else a wonderful partner... but just not me. Personally I hate putting up with this moody crap that happens with them. I like the boys much better, the geldings and the stallions. I'll take a young stallion over an in-heat mare any day of the week.

Gymnastics

2010-08-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today we had a great ride that was mostly compromised of gymnastics. Fire started our ride not wanting to connect and be through today. Granted, I hadn't been out there for a while and he had a good 4 days off with no instruction. So, when you're given a lemony horse, one has to be able to make something of it, right? Right.

So to get him connected and thinking in the correct frame of body, and frame of mind we began with some big 3 loop serpentines, and then worked into some good leg yields from the center line. Once I started asking him for the leg yields, it was like he knew what I wanted from him and began working correctly from back to front and into my hands. We were then ready to work into the gymnastic part of the ride. Since Fire had started so evasive, I wanted him to understand that the reins go all over the place, but the constant is that I need him to keep searching out for the contact without getting upset (he tends to get frustrated with this concept). So we began in the trot because this is what is easier for him and what he is most familiar with. I'd ask him to come up into the frame for one 20m circle, and then ask him to stretch down and out for a BIG 20-25m circle and then back up into the collected frame. Once in the collected frame we would go straight down the 1/2 of the long side, then around the short side, and then I'd ask him for a medium trot down the long side. After that I would ask him to collect up while going back into our 20m circle, and once he collected from the medium, I would begin again into the bigger 20-25m stretchy trot. I noticed that with this gymnastic movement up, down, up, and out he began to carry himself very surely and correctly.

After the trot work I actually did some canter work. Fire really HATES walk work, so I decided to do it last. In the canter we worked a similar up, down and out. In this he is not very good at bringing himself out and just wants to go down. He's not on the forehand, but likes to keep his head down when he runs, even while in turn out. I'm sure in further training I'll just find a way to reward him when he does bring his nose out here or there.

The final work was done at the walk. What use to happen, and if you read through this blog you'll see, that Fire likes to rear and gets very upset while doing walk work. So, I knew there would be some tension while I was trying to work him in this gait. So, I slowly was asking him to walk forward and marching, while having a loose rein and then having short spurts where we did collection. He did not throw a "Fire" tantrum, so that was progress. I increased the amount of time I kept him in the collected frame and by the end of the ride could get him about 1/2 around the ring before letting him back down into a looser rein walk. The only protest he showed was grinding his teeth on the bit. Though nasty, that's much better than what I've run into in the past.

I think this was a good ride that showed how far he's come in his ability to shorten and lengthen his body properly when I ask. It's a very important step in the training process and sometimes can get lost while one is thinking "collection collection collection". I'm sure while we continue to keep work like this strong, our lengthening trots will come very easy when I eventually ask for them in full force. Fire has an extremely free shoulder (see: "Fire likes to Spanish walk when he's pissed) so I'm sure he'll have magnificent movement in the extensions.

Bonus: another fellow boarder mentioned how Fire looks to be losing weight! Finally he's starting to lose his giant white belly some! Maybe he noticed that I was losing some, so he thought he'd try to as well.

Piece of Cake

2010-08-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

I couldn't ride yesterday or today. I've got something weird going on with migraines. I tried to go out and even got as far as the car before I realized it wasn't going to happen. The headache stopped me from being able to see very well, which means I can't drive. So, I couldn't really get out of the house and get to the barn, so I decided to bake.

Now, I LIKE to bake, but I'm not afraid to say I'm a much better rider than I am a baker. I won't be on "Ace of Cakes" any time in the near future. But, it was something to do that wouldn't give me more of a headache (theoretically, though I did screw up the icing... twice!)

I decided to make my first layered round cake, ever. And in making it I didn't just buy some in-a-can easy to use icing... nooooo... I made my own icing. Mind you, before this I think I've touched the Kitchenaid mixer all of twice. So I dove in head first and on top of deciding to make a six layered cake, thought that I would make a Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing. It invloves double boilers and not too much heat and butter that is soft but not too soft and a hell of a lot of beating.

So, I made a cake... its six layers and I don't think it would win me any huge awards unless they were for effort, but it kept me sane for the day and showed me that I could do something that I never had even closely attempted before. I've got a few photos now of the prep etc. but for some reason my phone doesn't want to send the rest of them so I'm missing three... which includes that finished cake. It's really alright though, you're not missing a lot, its a round, badly iced white cake. [edit: got them to send and inserted them. the photos are now from top to bottom the start to finish. It's supposed to be a "rainbow" cake but apparently one needs an entire bucket of color to properly color the layers.]

I'm sure it tastes damn good... with how much butter is in it! Now I know why some people who bake stuff just watch others eat it. After making this thing I don't think I want to be 50 feet from a stick of butter right now.

So, sorry for the detraction from all things that smell like horse poo and sweat. I promise once I figure out what's going on with my migraines and get a hold on them and figure out something else to write I'll be back on the correct track here. But for now... let them eat cake.

Drugs

2010-08-22T09:12:00.001-07:00

It didn't use to be like this. I didn't use to have to take drugs before almost every single ride. Now that my back has gotten as bad as it is, and I no longer keep myself in the amazing shape that I once did, I'm finding it a more common occurrence that I'm dipping into my "goodie" bag before heading out to the barn.

Everything that I take... from pain pills to nerve drugs to God knows what is prescribed to me. I don't take them daily and I try not to build up a tolerance to them, I've been there before. But I do find that it is becoming more frequent that I'm taking them for every ride. It started that I would take them for lessons. I didn't want to have my back freeze up on me while riding with Ryan or with a clinician, so I would preemptively take my pills so as to block things. Then I started taking them on the rides after my rides with my trainer because my back would be sore from riding so hard because I would block so much with the drugs from the previous ride, that I would need assistance for the next ride. Now its just becoming a vicious cycle where I'm starting to think about if I'm hurting myself by over blocking my bodies signals to back off and give it some time to heal, or if I just need to block things with the prescriptions and I'm able to push through them and will just become stronger once I get over this hump.

But I have no idea what this "hump" is. Is it just that the weather has been a bit wetter than usual so I'm reacting to that? Is it because I was studying for the bar and sitting on my ass for so long and then just picked up and started riding a lot after? Is it that I'm starting to actually ride Fire in earnest now and we're actually going to "work" and my back just can't take it? I don't know. I just know that I' get tired of reaching into my purse before each ride and knowing that I have to use the crutch of some pills before taking a lesson or having a hard working ride. I mean, it's not like I'm schooling Grand Prix here, we're working first level movements, and it's only one horse, not a barn full of horses like it use to be.

bob-omb!

2010-08-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today it was a bit cooler out than it has been for the past few weeks. I had gotten use to walking up to the stall to a lackadaisical young man that didn't care whether he worked that day or just had an apple and went back to bed. I knew today was going to be different when I walked into the barn to him screaming and could see black and white spots bucking and rearing around the end stall. I thought that he might paw through the stall mat before I opened his door, I knew I was in for some sort of interesting ride.

He stood nice for getting tacked up, which was great because the biting flies were out and not showing much mercy. I though that maybe his mini "hi Mom" tantrum was a fluke and it was just him showing how excited he was to see me.

No dice.

I started him inside just in case he pulled something quick and fast right off the bat. Did he? Not yet. We had a great start inside, riding around with another horse in the ring. He seemed to be listening well and moving off of my leg correctly, so I thought I'd go outside. I mean, we hadn't been able to ride out there with the weather for some time now, so it was a great excuse to get out there. Once he was on his own and not by anyone else, it was game on. Now... we've ridden outside countless times with cars and semis blowing by, tractors pulling up, tarps blowing in the wind... everything. Today there was nothing special going on, but Fire saw ALL NEW THINGS. All of a sudden it felt like I was riding a real-life bob-omb. You know, those bombs from Mario brothers that walk around minding their own business, until just the slightest thing sets them off, and BOOM! Shit everywhere.

So we're going along and I'm trying to get him out of bob-omb mode. At this time we're trotting along and I'm trying to get him to listen, so I'm doing some easy things but things that will try to get his head back in the game. I start just doing figure eights, except that every time we switch directions and I put my new inside leg on, it was like it was hitting airspace. He would just totally curl his body around my leg and toss himself out to the new outside. ARG! I haven't been so aware of where my feet where in the stirrups for a VERY long time, but today I was because I felt like I was riding on a nonexistent horse for a while there... a nonexistent horse that at the drop of a leaf was going to explode. It was so strange, everything that moved he was super sensitive to and had a "oh LOOK" face on with his head up in the air. I pushed through a majority of it and decided to not tempt to Gods and went back to the inside arena to walk him out.

Once in the indoor he no longer felt like a scared bob-omb, but like a pissed off child who just wanted to be done. I tried to walk him and he started pawing at the ground. This is a telltale "Fire is throwing a fit now" sign. So... we went back to work. Except this time the work consisted of a bunch of transitions... transitions that were each met with a twist or a buck or attempted rear for about... five attempts. After the five attempts we had two very clean walk canter departs without him throwing a hissy fit, and then we stopped and just stood for a while in one place.

Its nice to know that that last tantrum only took about five attempts by the Fi man. I feel like even though this post may look negative, that there is a silver lining. Every horse has a rough time here or there, but its good to know that Fire is seemingly growing up some and isn't protesting for the entire ride.

A Great Lesson

2010-08-12T12:20:00.001-07:00

I had a lesson yesterday with Ryan Yap at 1pm. Other than lightly perspiring (who am I kidding, it was gross and sweat was dripping down my back and off of my face), the lesson was a total success. I'd be lying if I said I had 100% confidence when I went into it. Since the last one was so bad, I was scared that Fire was going to have a repeat performance again this time.

I recently changed Fire's bit from a hollow broken snaffle, to a copper solid snaffle. I think the added weight and different type of metal in his mouth has been very helpful in our training. I find that he is wanting to hold the bit more consistently and since he now has more "respect" for it the connection is easier to find and his ability to just disregard the bit and toss it in his mouth is a lot less.

In the lesson we worked hard on our downward transactions and stretching. Since Fire hadn't properly been sitting with his bit for some time, he had learned a few bad habits. He likes to pull through the rein and pull me off of my center of balance when I ask for a downward transition, mostly from the tort to the walk. Ryan had me doing 10m circles and asking for the transitions within the circle, so that Fire had to push out and hang onto the outside rein. It really started to work with him, but we stopped before getting a "breakthrough" with it because of Fire's previous history with getting upset at the walk and rearing.

Once the lesson was over Ryan said that he could tell a big difference in the horse and he was stronger than the last time that he came out. He said that our next aim should be to start working shallow serpentines at the canter and counter canter to try to gain more strength. We should be able to set oen up again for this next Wed... so as long as the weather cooperates (can we say 105 degrees with the humidity?!?!) I should be able to work him through some more things and go even further for our next lesson. I'm sure I won't be so stressed this next time.

Mom: Back in the Saddle

2010-08-07T10:38:00.001-07:00

Today I gave my Mom a lunge lesson on Fire. She hadn't been on a horse's back in over 13 years. She recently told me that she wanted to start taking lessons again, and would like to have someone to get on to do a dry run on before she "embarrasses" herself on a horse she doesn't know with someone she doesn't know. So, I offered up a lunge lesson with Fire... just a bit of walk-trot.

It was all very cute. She get on him and exclaimed "oh he's SO big" and tilted over and gripped onto his mouth. Good 'ol Fire just walked on, waiting for her to figure out what was going on up there. She started to relax though and find her center of gravity... just like riding a bicycle. She did really well trying to get him to trot off and even posted on the right diagonal on her first try! For him being a decently big mover, shes stayed with him, and he was great... taking all of her unsure movements in stride and just listening to me on the ground to keep on moving forward.

I think its really great that she wants to get back into riding. Its something that she's done since she was little and then kinda left when I started in with Young Riders and got an upper level horse. I know that she really enjoys it and enjoys the atmosphere of the barn, so it should be a great thing for her to get back with. I was really proud to help her get back with starting with riding with my horse, the same way that she helped me start when I was little and I began riding. Except I think it took me a much longer time to get diagonals!

The Basics Can Set You Straight

2010-07-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

Today I decided that I would go to the barn and do a total overhaul of things. The ride itself wasn't necessarily an overhaul I guess, but I did try to work on the core of things. We worked a lot today working over his topline and to stretch down and out. Fire has a tendency to like to curl under and suck the bit up. So, in really moving him up and out today, I attempted to reestablish his foundation some more. On top of working on trying to get him to properly work over his back correctly throughout the ride, we also worked hard to get some more "schwing" established. To work on this bit of foundation, we worked great even circles and three and four loop serpentines. I tired very hard to make this a very forward thinking and happy work day for Fire, but one that really got the foam built up.

Our ride went well and the pair of us stayed happy and balanced. Since I had been studying for the IL bar for so long, I felt like I had been riding very sloppy, of halfheartedly in the past few weeks. It was really nice to get back on today and push the fundamentals and feel like I had a really good partner on a wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Beyond that, of course, Fire did get a megga scrub down and polish. Since he is such a dirty horse all of the time, having an entire week off just made him dull looking and grungy by nature. So I curried, and got a giant bucket of some brightly colored purple shampoo that turns his whole body purple, and went to work. I scrubbed every inch of the dirt ball, even the extra dirty parts. After I cleaned up an inch from his life, I braided his mane in hopes that one day it will finally fall to one side (a girl can hope). And I also cleaned and oiled all of my tack really well.

I think I did all of this because my world has felt so turned upside-down for the pest three months. The barn has always been my safe haven, and it was over the three months, but because of studies, I wasn't able to put in the time and effort that I would like to into things. not into Fire, and not into my pension for keeping things nice and neat and clean. So though I'm sure Fire will be dirty when I show up tomorrow (he had already tried to rub out the braids before I got a chance to leave the barn tonight), and my tack will get dusty once I ride outside in the sand tomorrow... my world feels just a little but more right after this major overhaul today. Sometimes I think its just getting back to the fundamentals, the basics and getting them all checked off to set things back in correct motion.

2010-07-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

I'm scheduled to take the IL Bar this coming Tuesday and Wednesday so I won't be posting anything until I'm done with that. Sorry for the sparsity... I've been focusing on my studies and have not been out to ride in a while. I did get a chance to take a short break out to the show at Lamplight and saw a few of the horses in the Young Horse Championships. Lots of very nice horses, lots of action going on. Glad to see some bigger shows again and I do hope that they stay large like this. It is always so much nicer to have the big shows to go to and to show at. Maybe we'll get a chance to show there this time next year.

I know I know...

2010-07-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking. It's hot as hell outside though and I'm studying like a crazy person. Yes, I've been to the barn, and yes I've ridden since the hay incident. I just didn't have time to write anything. Nothing particular happened last time I rode aside from getting wacked in the face by some branches that need to be cut in the outdoor. That and Fire had a ton of energy and was almost a bit out of control. I found out this was because he hadn't been turned out for two days because of the rain. This tells me though, that if I'm going to have a lesson I should ASK that he be kept in at least the day before so he's got a bit more pep in his step. Espescially with this crazy heat!!

Oh... and I got my new bareback pad! Oh yea... western style! Sans stirrups because stirrups are for pussys.

Hay on Fire

2010-07-10T23:15:00.000-07:00

After my ride today the last batch of hay caught on Fire as Bob was driving it down the rode back to the farm. I'm glad that it was only a 1/2 load or so, and that no one was hurt. Pretty scary though. Kinda over shadowed my semi crappy ride. Though, on a positive note, it was completely divine outside to ride in the wonderful weather!! Just another reason why I will always be a boarder and never will strive to be a barn owner.

What to do in the heat?

2010-07-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

So it's no hidden fact that it's hotter than hell out this time of year and that many horses don't want to do much. Hell, not many riders want to do very much either. So, even if you don't want to do a traditional training ride on these hot days because you can't get out to the barn at 4am to beat the heat (I know I'm not getting my ass out of bed that early!) then there are other options out there:

1. You can clean tack. I know, its not the most glamorous thing to do, but it needs to be done. And I bet your beeswax conditioner is nice and soft in the heat too. Just be sure to get all of the sweat and crud off of your tack first! I personally use the Passier Creamsoap and then the Passier Lederbalsam. The Lederbalsam is great and has beeswax in it but doesn't have oil so it doesn't over saturate the pores of your leather. Everyone has their own methods, and these are the things that are in my usual arsenal of tack cleaning. That, a good sponge, a clean rag and a tooth brush for those tough places.

2. You can scrub your horse, pony club style. I myself was never a pony clubber, but I've heard that if one was ever to follow all of the rules in the handbook that you would never have time to actually get on the horse. If you're deathly curious as to how a pony clubber meticulously grooms their pony to gleaming brightness, you can click here for the instructions and try yourself. I'm sure it will take up an afternoon for sure.

3. You can bond with your steed by doing some confidence building ground work. Set up a mini obstacle course and convince your horse to follow you through the areas either having your horse have to do tight turns, or have to go by or over scary things like big blue tarps or stacked up plastic chairs. This can help for future showing situations, and since your horse is hot and tired already hopefully he'll be less willing to spook.

4. Since it is so gross and smelly out, you could strip your horse's stall down to nothing and scrub it, but I would be VERY impressed if anyone did this in this heat. If you do, send me a photo and I'll post it here! That might help with some of the uber icky smell that can come along with the summer though...

5. Or you can just go to the barn and get some beer and sit around with your barn friends and shoot the shit. I personally vote for this one. Hose the horses off to cool them off a little and then set up shop under a tree with some of your gal friends and chat about whatever gossip is going on in your local dressage world, or your work, or just have a good laugh.

Not Everyone is Cut out For Young Horses

2010-07-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

Not everyone is cut out to work with young horses. They aren't easy, or always fun. It's much easier to buy a schoolmaster and ride them and have a nice fun easy time. I myself enjoy the challenge and what comes with a young horse. Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot from having the schoolmaster that I had. Frenchie was a wonderful horse to learn from. He taught me to be slow with my aids and to appreciate the finer movements of FEI and just... so many other things that I can only describe as the magic that happens between a horse and rider when you just have to think the movement and it happens. That is what he taught me, but there is something about having a young horse to teach that is just a totally different realm.

You see... Fire is a silly idiot. A silly and potentially very talented idiot of a horse, who I happen to love. In the training process there are bad days and good days, no reason to hide them. I actually think that I have so many people coming back here because I don't try to hide those crap days. I think others can relate with these *(#&$&#@ days that I run into with my idiot fun little five year old warmblood, because they too have a young horse, or a silly naughty horse that has had a bad day too. But within those bad days lie the good wonderful moments as well. I've put a decent amount of work into Fire. Decent enough for someone with a part time job who is also a full-time student. And today, we rode bareback walk, trot canter with great cadence and fluidity, no whip, no spurs, great transitions, great leg yields having a wonderful time.

Some people don't want to take the time to work with young horses. They don't want to go through what it takes to deal with the growing pains and the learning curves and the temper tantrums that will inevitably occur with every single horse. I rather enjoy being there for the entire process, even if it means getting a little banged up here or there, or having to take a step back to reevaluate a training process. I find it a wonderful bonding experience, one I wouldn't want to trade for anything.

OMFG

2010-07-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

Being made to sit in class while the ENTIRE nation has the day off is complete torture. Another reason not to take Kaplan.... Barbri has the day off. So not only does Kaplan have classes like every single fucking Saturday when BarBri does not, but we have to have class today when everything on campus, and in the town is completely closed. We had to call the POLICE to let us into the building because everything was LOCKED. Had anyone told me this at the beginning I would have gladly paid the extra money for Barbri.... THIS SUCKS.

Yes, I want to sit here and listen to Professor Morris blab for four hour about wills. Oh yes... its not even a SHORT DAY, but one of our LONGEST DAYS that we have. I HATE THIS. GOD. We are 36 pages though the outline thus far and still going strong on hour three... just shoot me now.

The Good, the Bad, and The Rearing

2010-06-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

Alright... so I guess I should have quit while I was ahead yesterday. The ride was going great! First, it was a beautiful day out, you couldn't have asked for a better day to ride a horse; it was about 75 degrees outside with a slight breeze and not a lot of humidity, it was just wonderful. I was at the barn at the same time as another rider, but she opted to ride in the indoor, which gave me sole access to the outdoor arena while the sun was setting. So serene and a wonderful time to work on training. So we began and things started out alright. He didn't want to carry himself and was slamming up against the bridle, which is common with him trying to figure out how to correctly come into the bridle through his back and then down his neck and pole, so I just waited. We did some easy bending exercises where I tried to push him alternatively into the right and left reigns, just some easy 3 and 4 loop serpentines. He became supple and began to work very nicely. I began pushing him through while doing a walk exercise that I created. We would, for example, go to the right at the walk, and once we got the the long side, leg yield off the wall toward the 1/4 line until about the 1/4 line, and then I would push him into the opposite left reign, as for almost a turn on the forehand movement, but on a larger circle, until he became parallel again to the opposite long-side, and then leg yielded back to the wall. Once we got back to the wall I would ask for a canter transition, then asking for him to walk again about 5 strides later when we were nearing the end of the short side to prepare to do the exercise again. In doing this he became very balanced and I decided to take the chance to do some work with canter walk simple changes that we had been working on.

So we began the work on the canter-walk-canter changes across the diagonal, changing lead at X. He was a star. He did them and was balanced and really picked up the transition very well. There was a lot of "hop" in him and I was very happy with the movement. I then got it in my head to see what would happen if we went across the diagonal, and after doing a bunch of these in a row, didn't ask him to walk, but just really changed my aids and his bend. And you know what? It happened. A clean clear as day flying change. TADA. Now, no more of that... because we have do to counter-canter before we can start with those things. But that was fun, good boy.

And that's where I'm thinking I should have just stopped. I should have been happy to end there and just done a free reign walk and been done with it. But no, it was beautiful out, we hadn't worked that hard, and everything had been going so darn well!!! So what did I ask for then? Something so simple... connection at the walk. OH MY GOD. He lost his marbles. Mind you I had been trying to stay away from his face really at the walk to not impede his walk stride, but come on now, he's 5 and he can actually have connection and do some work. Fire disagrees. Walking if for relaxing to Fire, not for working. So he preceded to show me the tops of the trees by rearing and leaping in the air. WONDERFUL. I so wanted to be done and to do some easy walk work. SO then it was a bit of a.... discussion. You've all had them before. I wouldn't call it a "fight" because I wasn't going to fight a 1700lb horse that was rearing into the sky with me, not a good time to pick a fight. That's a good way to get a horse on top of you. But I did make rearing quite uncomfortable. We did work through it. It was icky and involved some odd leg yielding cow herding looking movements mixed with caprioles, and head flicking, but we got through it. Eventually I talked him down off of the baby tantrum ledge and we could finally walk with some look like a normal horse with our head in a semi okay position with actual connection (but not enough for my liking... baby steps.)

But I guess we need to take the good with the bad. Some rides, like one I talked about earlier in these posts, began like shit and ended up brilliant. This one just happened to be the opposite.

Attack Plan

2010-06-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today's plan: get some really solid connection into the bridle and go forward FORWARD FORWARD (as Ryan would put it, because things tend to come in threes with him.)

I'm sure this is going to be a barrel of monkeys for me, so I'll be taking something for my back so I can really sit on Fire correctly to help him along. His issue seems to be an incredibly lazy inside leg in the trot once we really get going... so maybe today we can work on that.

I'll report back. Hopefully it'll be good and not all gobbly gook crap.

What a Difference a Year Makes

2010-06-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

It has been a little over one year since I first broke Fire and started riding him. I looked back on things and it looks like I broke in in late March of last year. Though he is still Mr. Rollie Pollie in the middle I can see a marked difference in his ability to move. He is carrying himself much better and is listening to my aids with an understanding that I didn't think we would have when we first started out. I've taken two recent lessons with Ryan and I think they have helped a lot too. I wish I could afford them all the time because I can see a drastic improvement in my riding and in the communication between Fire and myself in just a very short amount of time. Below are some photos... some "then and now comparison.

First, then, last year about this time:

Then, some from yesterday. It was about a million degrees out, so excuse the tank top!!

What a difference a year makes!

Helmet Awareness Day

2010-06-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

UPDATES BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!! UPDATES BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

National Helmet Awareness Day will be Saturday July 10th. There will be many events held that day around the US raising money for helmet awareness, brain injury foundations and for special helmet sales. Look below for a comprehensive list of retailers that will be offering discounts on helmet purchases that day as well as other events that well help to raise money and awareness.

Here is more info via USEF on the whole drive

Participating manufacturers to date include: Troxel, Charles Owen, Aegis (Devon-Aire) and GPA. If you are a retailer that sells helmets from one of these manufacturers in your store, please contact the manufacturer directly for details of the promotion.

BIG UPDATE: the word is that many of the retailers have let out their deals: 15-20% GPA
15% Ovation, 15% Charles Owen at this point!! Look out for more! If you're a retailer, know you can contact these manufactures and get in on these one day deals for your store too!!

Most recently Ovation and IRH have joined the ranks as well!

You can find the great "Strap One On" shirt for sale HERE if you like. Many colors available! They come from the Courtney King-Dye Medical Fund and are all being sold via EBay.

Participating Retailers (offering a discount on helmets purchased on July 10th) If you are a retailer who will have specials in your store and would like to be included, feel free to contact me and your store will be added!

This list will be updated periodically.

National (online):

Equestrian Collections
877-873-4415
www.equestriancollections.com

Dover Saddlery (online and in all store locations)
1-800-406-8204
www.doversaddlery.com

Smartpak Equine

will be offering 15% off any Charles Owen, IRH or Troxel helmet on the 10th!

1-877-885-2904
www.smartpakequine.com

Rick's Heritage Saddlery

will be offering 15% off of all helmets now through the 11th!
732-446-4330
http://www.saddlesource.com/

Valley Vet Supply
800-419-9524
www.valleyvet.com

Arizona:

The Pampered Horse and Rider, Inc., 16211 N. Scottsdale Rd., Ste A-7, Scottsdale, AZ 85254

Will be offering on GPA, Troxel and Charles Owen between 15-20% off
480-342-8801

www.pamperedhorseandrider.com

California:

Tack Room, 5437 McHenry Ave, Modesto, CA 95356

Will be offering 25% off of all helmets on the 10th!

(209) 526-6650
www.etackroom.com

Mary’s Tack and Feed, 3675 Via De La Valle, Del Mar, CA
858-755-2015
www.marystack.com

San Diego Saddlery, 1783 E. Main St., El Cajon, CA 92021
619.441.2613
www.sandiegosaddlery.net

Calabasas Saddlery, 23998 Craftsman Road, Calabasas, CA 91320
818-591-0292
www.calabasassaddlery.com

Kahoots Tack and Apparel, 31 Poindexter, Moorpark CA 93021

Is offering 15% off of Troxel helmets
805-523-7757

Connecticut:

The Equestrian Center, Riverdale Farms Bldg. # 12, 136 Simsbury Rd., Avon, Ct. 06001

Will be offering 15%-25% on helmets depending on brand

860-678-1913
www.equestrian-centre.com

Florida:

Saddle Up Tack, 7818 Lithia Pinecrest Road, Lithia, FL 33547-1880
(813) 681-1600
www.saddleuptack.com/xcart/home.php?cat=11

Winning Edge Saddlery, 6998 N US Highway 27 # 112, Ocala, FL 34482

All helmets are 10% off for the entire month of July (Tippery, CO, GPA, International & Ovation)

352-622-9000
www.winningedgetack.com

Advanced Equine Products, Palm City, FL

15% off of Charles Owens helmets on the 10th

772-220-9418
www.advancedequine.com

Spectrum Saddle Shop, 6738 N. State Road 7, Coconut Creek, FL 33073
954-429-8877

The Tackeria, 13501 Southshore Blvd. #107, Wellington, FL 33414
561-793-2012
www.tackeria.com

Georgia:

Bar G Horse & Cattle Supply, 1060 Astondale Rd Bishop, GA 30621

Troxel, Charles Owen and Ovation Helmets will be 15% off. A few styles will be up to 50% off!! They will also be at the Four Seasons Farm Horse Show in Madison, Ga. with helmet safety info on the 10th!

706-769-7960

Illinois:

Saddlers Row, 20066 N. Rand Rd., Palatine, IL 60074

Will be offering many specials from 15-20% OFF of all brands, including GPA helmets... and free gifts with purchase!
Expert helmet fitter Holly Lemanski will be there to fit helmets
847- 776-6700
www.saddlersrow.com

Oros Saddlery, 1931 West Wilson Street, Batavia, IL 60510

Will be offering GPA helmets for 20% off!
630-482-3240
www.orossaddlery.com

The Riding Store, 3050 Hobson Road, Woodridge, IL 60517
630-515-9779
www.theridingstore.com

Kentucky:

KBC Horse Supplies, 140 Venture Court, Lexington, KY 40511
1-800-928-7777
www.kbchorsesupplies.com

KBC Horse Supplies, 7500 Turfway Road (Stable Area), Florence, KY.
859-817-9856
www.kbchorsesupplies.com

Bob Mickler’s Inc., 1093 West High Street, Lexington, KY 40508-3113
800-443-6824
www.bobmicklers.com

Massachussets:

Briggs Tack Shop; Trailer Sales, Inc, 623 Hanover St, Hanover, MA 02339
781-826-3191
www.stoneponytack.com

Michigan:

Sporthorse Saddlery, 56840 Grand River Ave., Suite 800, New Hudson, MI 48165
248-486-5616
www.SporthorseSaddlery.com

Millbrook Tack, 510 68th Street SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49548
616-281-0777

New York:

Green Valley Tack, 792 County Route One, Pine Island, NY 10969

20% off of Ovation, Troxel, GPAs and CO

845-258-3564
http://www.greenvalleytack.com/welcome.html

Horse and Rider Tack Shop, 528 Bloomingburg Rd, Middletown, NY 10940
845-733-1910
www.horsenridertack.com

Beval Saddlery, 859 Peach Lake Road, North Salem, NY 10560
914-669-5900
www.beval.com

The Horse Connection, 38 Village Green, Bedford, NY 10506
914-234-2047

The Cheshire Horse of Saratoga, LLC, 402 Geyser Road, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-584-5566

Brennan’s Bit and Bridle, 42 Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton NY 11932
631-537-0635
www.brennansbitandbridle.com

The Hunting Horn, 1867 Penfield Rd, Penfield NY 14526
585-385-9690

The Equestrian Corner, 81 Pondfield Road #234, Bronxville, NY 10708
800-518-0997
www.TheEquestrianCorner.com

North Shore Saddlery, Ltd., 6308 Northern Blvd. (Rt 25A), East Norwich, NY 11732
516-671-4367

Shupperd’s Tack Shop, 305 State Highway 8, Bainbridge, NY 13733
607-563-7363

Horseman’s Corner 307 White Plains Rd Eastchester, NY 10709
914-961-0774

Ohio:

Schneiders Saddlery, 8255 E. Washington Street, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023
1-800-365-1311
http://www.sstack.com/

Pennsylvania:

Malvery Saddlery, #1 E King St., Malvern, PA 19355
610-695-9980
http://www.malvernsaddlery.com

South Carolina:

Meeting Street Tack, 720 Dupont Road, Charleston, SC 29407-6092
(843) 766-4346

Texas:

Rose Hollow, 19073 I-45 South, Suite 120, Conroe, TX 77385
936-271-2505

Charlotte’s Saddlery, 114 W. Main St., Tomball, TX 77375
281-351-1705
www.charlottes-saddlery.com

Charlotte’s Saddlery, 11623-A Katy Freeway, Houston, TX 77079
281-596-8225
www.charlottes-saddlery.com

Equine Goddess, 202 Market St., Eddy, TX 76524
1-800-259-5130
www.equinegoddess.com

It’s All About the Horse, 3115 W. Parker Rd #420, Plano, TX 75023
972-964-6736
www.itsallaboutthehorse.com

Virginia:

The Saddlery, Inc., 731 Walker Road, Unit E, Great Falls Va 22066

15% off of Troxel, Tippery, CO and Ovation

703-759-3500
http://www.thesaddleryinc.com/

The Tack Box, Inc, 7 W Federal St, Middleburg, VA 20118
540-687-3231
http://www.thetackboxinc.com/

Saddles N Stuff, 216 Amsterdam Road, Daleville, VA 24083-3156
540-992-4144
http://www.saddlesnstuff.com/

Corner Tack Shop, 7960 Richmond Rd, Toano, VA 23168
757-566-1666

Canada

Alberta

Extreme Tack, RR#1 Tees, AB T0C 2N0 (will be at Thompson County Horse Trials July 10th)
(403) 755-6025
http://www.extremetack.ca

Where is this opinion coming from?

2010-06-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

You know when you think you know someone only to find out new and exciting things about them you never knew existed? Well... apparently Joe, my fiance, has a very large opinion on everything wedding. This took me by great surprise because in general in life, he's pretty laid back. He doesn't seem to really care about a lot of things. When he moved into my apartment a while back he came sans anything but his clothing and his dog River.

So here we go with the wedding planning. You know, the thing that ever girl begins when she's 7, dressing up in bedsheets with her best friends, singing "here comes the bride" while walking deliberately one foot at a time down an aisle of her most coveted stuffed animals? Yea, all that jazz. So when I got engaged I already had ideas spinning in my head. Already had things thought about, ideas pieced together, torn apart, redone. I didn't think that I would have much contention from the peanut gallery (read, the better half), but oh have I so far!!!

I thought that it would be nice to involve him, or at least ask if he wanted to be involved in the planning of things. I had talked to many of our friends and they had said that they (the girls) had planning the wedding and their husbands had merely shown up. That was even what my own father said he did at his wedding. So I thought I would ask Joe if he wanted to know what was going on, knowing him well and knowing that he's mostly complacent to things and would be a good perosn to be there for support. But it seems to be the completely opposite. I feel like I'm dealing with the ultimate Czar with his thumb in the air either pointing up in approval or down in rejection. I'm finding this exhausting and its all coming to a head really. Maybe we can find a middle ground? Maybe he can find something to own that I don't take quite as much stock in... like the entertainment, or the favors? But so far I feel like the input on the venue (this is as far as we've gotten) is quite elaborate and specific for the amount of work that we have respectively put in.

I really thought, after talking to many ex-bride to be's out there that this was something that the girl did... something that was put together by the bride, and driven by that msotly, but that is not turning out to be the case in my arena. Not by a long shot.

I'm sure there will be more to come later. Maybe he'll get tired of wedding planning and turn back to video games. Leave me to the girlie stuff like its supposed to be!

take two

2010-06-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a better ride, thank horse. I didn't have time to do much today, and frankly shouldn't have been out at the barn at all because of all the backed up work I'm going to have from having to miss class tomorrow to go work at the States Attorney's office, but I did because I was so urked at how things were left yesterday and the fact that I didn't finish on a good note.

We rode outside today and no one was there. There is something utterly sublime about having an entire barn to yourself as the sun sets. We worked through some of the issues that we were having yesterday, had much better connection to the left, not so much to the right... but the Trojan horse wasn't built in a day. We did have a slight snag when I tried to ask for connection at the walk, Fire has determined that lifting me up into the heavens via rear is a viable option. I bopped him on the head the first time and then the time after that they got smaller and smaller until he stopped his new "trick", but I don't think it's the last I've seen of the rearing. Something tells me that once we start working more collected moves later in life it may come back to haunt us.

I pushed decently hard for the amount of time I had, worked through the six cavalettis that Suzette and I had set up in the outdoor a week or so back. They really have been helping to get Fire to think about where he is placing his feet, and I do notice a marked improvement in his stride afterwords, if only for a minute or so for now.

I think today was a good "take two", a good second go at a work day. We both ended up pretty sweaty and gross at the end, and I'm sure Fire was happy to trot away after his shower up the hill with his friends to graze his night away (fatty.)

dressagemarket.com

2010-06-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am a self proclaimed tack-a-holic. I love to buy and sell used tack, but sometimes find that the overhead of listing the tack on some websites just is not worth the prices that I can purchase the tack for. Some consignment fees are outrageous, 30% fees... and some listing fees can go upwards of $60 for one saddle, and that's not ebay, which can run more than that depending on the eventual sale price of the actual item. Thank HORSE that a friend of a friend, Anne, has come to the rescue and helped with her great website, dressagemarket.com!

Not only does this website with the fresh, easy to navigate layout offer affordable prices to help you list your used tack ($10 for a whole 90 day listing WITH a photo!), but you can also list your dressage horses for sale as well! The prices there are even more fair, ranging from a mere $30-$55 depending on the option you choose. The website allows for high resolution ads and even areas where you can include video links, all without any additional hidden costs. Its easy, fair and really a class act. There is even an entire directory for artists, judges, breeders, vendors, trainers and the lot! All in all this website has the ability to over come other similar websites by leaps and bounds, all created by a fellow ex-young rider.

I interviewed Anne to get some answers to a few questions I had about her drive and about the website:
1.- How did you come up with the idea of dressagemarket.com? (did you find there was a lack in the WWW? or was it something that you found yourself doing as a hobby on the side that grew?)

While going to graduate school full time, I decided to teach and train dressage since I had over 20 years experience and am an FEI rider. During this time, I had several students wanting me to market and sell their dressage horses for them. There was only one popular dressage horse sales website at the time. This site costs several hundred dollars to list your horse and even more for trainer or vendor listings. My students and I thought that dressage people were being taken advantage of and many of them did not want to pay to advertise on this site. This led me to the idea of creating Dressage Market. I felt that if I could offer people a more affordable service with more advertising options that dressage enthusiasts would appreciate it and advertise with the website.
2.- Dressagemarket.com seems to have a steady stream of horses and tack posted, did you ever think it would be such an instant success? Or was it not as instant as it looks to the rest of us?

The website has been up since January 2010. To attract initial visitors we offered free horse and tack listings during a short introductory period. Since that promotion has ended, we have continued to get several listings per week and that has led to over 210 dressage horses listed on the site.

I definitely think Dressage Market has been a success especially since it hasn't even been on the web for 6 months. We definitely want to continue to grow and create awareness. Currently, we have been trying to spread the word through advertising, newsletters, facebook, etc and have had amazing results. Site traffic is up 94% compared to last month and horse inquiry emails are also at a record high.

3.- For all of the other entrepreneurs out there, what advice do you have about the amount of time that you spend keeping the site running and how much work you thought you were going to have to put into it?

I started designing the website in August and it was lunched in January. During those months I put in hundreds of hours. Since the site has been up and running, I have been spending anywhere between 20-25 hours a week. This includes helping customers, advertising, and working on and testing new projects that haven't been launched on the site yet.

My plan is that I will no longer have to continue working my current job and be able to focus fully on the website. This was my intention all along and I hope this becomes a reality sooner rather than later.

For entrepreneurs, I would recommend that when you create your business whether it is a website or brick and mortar, try to make it something you enjoy doing because you will spend a great deal of time and energy towards creating a successful business.

4.- Do you have any future ideas to further expand dressagemarket.com?

Yes, we have several new features for Dressage Market that should be coming out in the next month or two that out competitors do not offer. For that reason, I can't tell you the details but it will be exciting!
--------------------------------------------------

I know I'm excited to see what happens in the upcoming few months with dressagemarket.com, and know that I'll be listing more tack with them in the near future.

If anyone has any questions for Anne, or would like to list a horse, some equipment, or would like to create a directory listing, she can be contacted at: info@dressagemarket.com.

Fire is FIVE (but acts TWO)

2010-06-16T18:57:00.001-07:00

Today is Fire's fifth birthday. I was determined to make it a point to have a talk with him. When I got to the barn, and before my lesson I went into his stall and gave him some of his special made birthday treats and told him it was time to grow up. Now, I told him that it was okay if he still wanted to get dirty, because even older boys like to get dirty. But that he had to now learn to suck it up and be able to handle more training. He needed to get a tougher skin and learn to push through the difficult things without throwing fits, because big boys don't throw fits.

So then, he promptly threw a fit.

Well, I guess it wasn't that "promptly," I did brush him and get his boots on and tack him up and warm him up... then he lost his five year old marbles. I was having a hard time getting him to come under himself and carry himself correctly. I was glad that I had a lesson that day, because Ryan had some great ideas. He had me really trying to push him out with the haunches and keep his forehand in, in about a 5 meter circle... kind of like a turn on the forehand but larger. It reminded me of a flower. An ugly flower because Fire didn't want to come under himself and up into my outside rein, so this exercise was helpful when it was done correctly but half the time it was a stiff train wreck. We tried other things too. We tried doing some reverse shoulder-in at toward the wall and then back to a natural bend. This worked, but Fire tends to get freaked out having his face shoved into the wall. So I started to get a little frustrated at the 30 minute mark and then Ryan took over.

And then the circus started.

Ryan was just asking for something simple to start, just walk/halt transitions to get him connected. Well, after 11 of these, Fire had had enough. He wanted to go backwards, which Ryan would not let happen. So they walked forward, but marching. But Fire did not want to march. So what does a young warmblood do when it doesn't want to give you a marching walk? They SPANISH WALK of course. Now, as an aside, we have never done any trick work, nor does he have any secret Andalusian blood in him. He was just being a brat and this was how he wanted to show his displeasure for Ryan making him go forward. Ryan then decided to give him a tap when he would detest and give his special walk, well then, Fire REALLY didn't like that. So then, he started rearing. First, the rears we just little hops. Just little hops that could be sat into and pushed forward... but when Ryan wouldn't stop tapping him for tossing in the Spanish walk, well- then the rears were full on hi-ho silver rears. Oh I laughed, because if I didn't I might have cried.

After 30 minutes of Spanish walk and rearing and tantrums had by all (even a swear by Ryan), Fi finally came through correctly with connection and listened. I foresee a few more fights like this in our future, but maybe now that Ryan did this one for us, the next one will only be 29 minutes long.

I guess he'll grow up when he wants to grow up. Today was not that day though.

Fire is FOUR!

2010-06-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

Thats right folks.... Fire is FOUR... only for a few more days though. His birthday is on Wednesday and in preparation I have already made him some cookies to celebrate and talked with Ryan to have a lesson on that day too. It'll be our 5 year old, one year since breaking, lesson.

ps: I rarely will ever even cook food for myself.... but cookies for the horse for his birthday??? OF COURSE!!

Bar Study Review Thus Far: Kaplan SUCKS

2010-06-10T16:57:00.001-07:00

I know some people stumble upon this blog looking for some insight on how Kaplan is vs. Barbri... so I can give you what I've got so far... I HATE IT. Maybe its because I feel like the rep they have running it gives me a feeling like she lied to me to get me to pick this course and now is sliding in all of these other things that I swear weren't there before like "oh there will be some Saturdays" have turned into every single Saturday except two. And the fact that when I ask questions about this discrepancy I get an answer of "I don't like whiners." Whatever though, thats a personality thing, not something to do with the program.

As far as the program so far: Our syllabus is all fucked up. There are phantom things there in our "personalized" syllabi that shouldn't be there that they have recognized but haven't removed. This causes the days to remain unchecked... and for an anal retentive person like me... drives me utterly insane and causes me to recheck things thinking that I'm consonantly missing things. So thats annoying and not getting fixed apparently and is all over the syllabus which is supposed to be "personalized."

Another thing... that really gets to me... is today I went to take our first graded essay. At this time we've studied TWO subjects: Torts and Contracts. So I open up the file to look to see what I have to type to actually send in to be graded and what is the subject?? OHHHHH Agency. AGENCY?! Thats not even a core subject!!! I've never taken Agency!!! Sure, I should have taken it, but I didn't because I thought I would be taught it by my bar class that I paid through the nose for. So what, now they are deciding to test me on a subject that I've never ever even attempted to take and that isn't required... for my first EVER attempt to turn an essay into them. WONDERFUL.

FAIL.

There are positives about the program... I just don't feel like listing them right now. At this point I feel like my friends are happier taking the BarBri course than I am stuck in the Kaplan course. Take it for what it's worth.

New Goal..

2010-06-10T08:40:00.001-07:00

We are SO doing this.

Pinto "world championships" YES!!! I knew there was a reason I started riding a silly black and white pinto horse...

I want one of those giant honkin' buckles that says "World Champion" WAY better than saying that you're some area champion... pichaw.

good thing I had on my good breeches today

2010-06-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

Though I didn't get launched into oblivion, it felt like I was going to today. I decided that I was going to ride Fire outside today... after not riding since Sunday and him not going out all week. So, we were off to a good start already. I thought he would just be a little spirited at first and then be able to get down to business. That's if there weren't two horses turned out about 20 yards away tearing ass around in circles in the turnout.

Oh it was ON.

We snorted and farted (okay... he farted) and squeeked and most importantly LAUNCHED in many different directions. I stayed on, thanks to my great Pikeur leather fullseats and 20 years of previous training. I was able to get him back on track every time and get him to push through the areas where he was deciding to spook and go back into whatever exercise and gait we were attempting before the mini explosions, but MAN was that a workout for my core muscles! At one point the barn owner so us go by so fast outside she thought she just saw Fire, sans me and came running. Oh I was there... I was just a blur in the wind sticking like glue to the horse's back. Yeeehhhh haw (?)

All in all I think it was a good experience. He was alone and there were other horses doing other things that he couldn't participate in... which is just too bad. I just can't imagine what wonders await us at our first show. Maybe I should get myself a football helmet and some more insurance... or maybe just some more great breeches and a prayer.

Bar Study

2010-06-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is how I felt today, but sans window. I've been studying for the Illinois Bar for about a solid week now and I've just had my official first panic attack. I think it was a combination of sucking at torts, the easiest subject there is, and having all of this work piled on top of me. That and being in a room with no windows where the doors are pulled closed and the lights are off, it just got to me and I had to get outside. Not fun. I felt like I couldn't focus and I couldn't think for myself. Case in point: Joe asked me if we needed anything for the house and I couldn't come up with "paper towels" but instead said "kitchen papers." That's what happens when I freak out, its like my brain short circuits. I felt a tightness in my chest and I wanted to sleep or run a marathon.

I know in writing this I'm probably committing the cardinal sin in showing how utterly scary and stressful all of this really is, but I'm thinking maybe other fellow bar studiers out there will stumble upon this and feel a sense of comfort that maybe they aren't freaking out as much as I am, or if they are, that they are not alone.

It took me a good 4 hours to pull myself together. I know I can't do that all the time... but I needed it this time. I tired about 7 things before I found the right cocktail of methods to slow my mind, heartbeat and stomach (I started throwing up to boot, no pun intended) and went off back into my lair to study.

Once I got back upstairs into the world that is piled too high with matching Kaplan books, I got right back to business and pounded out what I needed to do, and did decently well on what I needed to and really only have one thing left for tonight that I want to do before retiring, which isn't too bad considering my derailment and that its 7:30pm.

But yes... I panicked, HARD. And yes, it was ugly and I'm glad that I was at home alone for the majority of it losing my mind like the little lost puppy that I am. Hopefully I've gained some coping skills from it, and I don't come out of this with any more insane habits.

Wedding Crib Sheet

2010-06-04T14:00:00.001-07:00

Because I have to put my wedding planning on hold for a while... here's what I've come across as a few do's and don't and funny little quips that I thought others could benefit from:

Wedding Guest Don’ts:

1. Lighten up a bit—don’t wear a dark suit or dress unless it’s after 6pm
2. You’re not trying to play the virgin, so don’t wear white (save it for the bride)
3. Unless the venue is a club in South Beach, don’t dress too sexy—unless you like being “that guest” I use to have a friend who would try to make wedding these social "look at me" events. Girls... its not ABOUT you, and thats tacky. Don't be that girl.
4. Don’t wear high heels to a wedding on the beach—you’ll look sunken, not fabulous. Get wedges if you must.
5. If for some crazy, closed-head-injury reason you’re thinking about it, don’t wear jeans (ever)
6. Unless it’s a “black tie” affair, don’t be a douche and wear a tuxedo
7. It’s written on the envelope for a reason—don’t invite a date unless it specifically says “and Guest”. People are poor... be kind.
8. Brides have a sixth sense, so don’t get to the ceremony late because they will know…and hate you. And if you are late... feel really really bad.
9. Open bar isn’t a hall pass to get completely polluted—don’t be remembered for overserving yourself

Not to be left out... there are also some tips for those great Brides and Grooms...

Bride & Groom Don’ts:

1. Nothing’s ever perfect—don’t have unrealistic expectations
2. It makes for a great story later, so don’t freak if your friend gets drunk and hits on your mom
3. Attack of the clones—don’t make bridesmaids wear identical dresses and hairstyles
4. A lot goes a little way, so don’t blow your budget on things your guests won’t remember
5. Here comes the broke!—don’t spend the vast majority of your budget on your gown and shoes
6. Remember work/life balance, and don’t invite co-workers (they don’t want to go anyway)
7. Make um’ work for it—don’t put registry information on your wedding invitations

Note that “Don’t get a background check” and “Don’t sign a prenup” didn’t make the list.

What if you're like me and poor as dirt and you want to make a budget wedding fabulous?

• Do it at home, if possible
• Only invite those who are really important to you—each guest is money out of pocket.
• Order your invitations online—you can get really high-end invitations very inexpensively
• Don’t scrimp on the photographer. The pictures will last forever, so you want to use a good one.
• Make sure you budget enough money. Tying to get everything in a $100,000.00 wedding for $10,000.00. This waters down the event, and it doesn’t come off very well. If your budget is limited, do something that is best for your budget.

... and don't make anyone do the chicken dance!!

big hit

2010-06-02T23:19:00.001-07:00

Just hit 1,000 page views!! And I think that's awesome! I've had people look at my blog from all over. Still missing a few... I know I know people out there in Australia and a few in South Africa! Maybe I'll even get someone who is bored surfing the net in Alaska!

Don't forget to say hi!

horses

2010-06-02T20:32:00.000-07:00

"You should get a horse, because when you own a horse, half your heart comes back to you."

This is where I'd like to get married...

2010-06-02T19:46:00.002-07:00

This is Dunham Woods Riding Club in Wayne, Illinois. Not very many people get married here, and I don't know why. Maybe its because it is so out of the way? Or because they don't do any advertising for it. Whatever the fact, I'm glad that I found it because I love it. Its got a lot of really nice charming features that are country "chic" and classic. All of the paintings are old horse paintings beautifully done, and there are marble inlays everywhere original from when the building was built. The dining room has floor to ceiling windows where you can see the bright red barns and the jump course. Its truly beautiful. Now I'll just have to convince Joe to commit, this shouldn't be the hard "one" right???

This is the dining room from the far side. The chandeliers are beautiful and we can hang some things from the ceiling as well. We talked to the coordinator and she assured us that we would be able to fit all of our guests in the room at the round tables, and I was excited because I've always liked the look for the formal round tables. And look at those beautiful big windows!!!

I much rather...

2010-06-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

be at this bar than getting ready to study for the Illinois Bar... ug.

Bye bye summer... we could have been good friends. I will now proceed to lose my mind (and hopefully a few more pounds.)

Hockey

2010-06-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went with Joe to watch him play league hockey. If you know me, you know I don't do "cold" things, but Joe enjoys it so I like to support him when I can. He did really well and though they didn't win (didn't lose either, tied! 3-3) Joe did really well and hustled the entire game, and even scored a goal!

I'm starting to learn more about hockey as I watch more games. Like now, when they go off and have to restart in the little side circles, if it goes off into the other side and hits the baseboards, they have to do it over again. I also know now what a "poke check" is (and that Joe is good at them) and I know that you're supposed to keep your stick on the ice all the time and having it up is a bad habit. I guess its like riding a horse with your hands crooked, a bad habit to get into.

All in all it was a good time, even though no one else was there to watch... it was a 9pm game (though it didn't get started until after 9:30!) I took a bunch of photos which kept me busy. It helped me learn more about the game. I guess if Joe can sit through me riding the horse at the barn all these times I can sit through a few hockey games here and there too.

Bar Study/Workout

2010-06-01T13:06:00.001-07:00

I'm determined to not only pass the Illinois Bar this summer, but to also look good doing it. I'm starting my study course in earnest on Thursday and tha'ts when I'll start my workout schedule as well. I'm doing the workout so I don't waste away into a fat blob from sitting around studying so much, and also because I'm planning on getting married in about a year and I need to start to think about getting in shape from all these Law School years of neglect.

When I look at photos of myself from my first year of Law School and now, there is a HUGE difference, HUGE. I think that needs to be rectified and shouldn't be too difficult with a good schedule. I'm going to include biking, riding the horse and going to the gym (of which a membership I still need to get, whoops.) I still have 24 hours to get it together, right? We all know I'm a better procrastinator than I am anything else anyway.

I'll start by getting up off of the computer now and getting to a few chores that were put off in the house over the long graduation weekend.

Ryan Yap Lesson #1

2010-05-31T20:00:00.001-07:00

So I had my "first" in a long time Ryan Yap lesson on Fire on Friday. It went better than I would have expected for an over weight Oreo of a horse being pushed for an entire hour with no break.

To begin with, Ryan had me identify to him our big weak points, which currently are the all encompassing fact that Fire wants to be lazy and not correctly engage his hind end which makes him not then correctly come through the back and to the bridle. This of course, messes up the universe as we know it. There were other little things that I mentioned to Ryan, but we both knew that everything stems from the fact that fattie pants horse doesn't want to activate his HUGE rump and get movin'.

So, we begun our work. Ryan worked my brain by asking me to do quick trot walk transistors into 10m circles in renveres. The first time I did it I took a bit to think about the bend and what had to be compromised of all those cues to ask for all of those things because they seemed so counter intuitive. To ask for a ten meter circle right, and a walk transition, and then at the same time begin renvere left which causes the body to bend left on that right circle is just well... hard. I was so proud of my black and white little cow though, he didn't break down or even stiffen up! He took my cues and went with the flow of the training like a little dressage trooper. We moved through other training exercises, like leg yields on and off the wall in zip zags which I also thought would blow the little man's mind (and didn't.)

I guess all in all I was super proud of the performance that Fire gave, aside from the one mini tantrum that happened at minute 45 that lasted a short 1/2 circle burst before settling down again. I think I learned a lot from Ryan in the lesson about correct riding and how to move things forward in our training, but I also learned that Fire is growing up and that he can handle a lot more and that I don't need to baby him as much as I have been. I've seen so many horses get pushed thorugh training so quickly and watched them hate it and break down that I would hate myself if I did that to a horse that I would rather go too slow than too fast, but I don't want to bore Fire or make things mundane. Obviously he's strong enough and ready for the next few steps in his training. And I've got a great trainer that will help us get there.

Just when you think it's all going to hell...

2010-05-27T21:23:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had a ride where you get on thinking you're going to "just do XY & Z and then be done" only to get into a royal mess of a situation? That was how my day started today. I didn't even put boots on him today because I thought to myself "oh, I'm not working any lateral work today, it's going to be an easy 1,2,3 kind of day today!" Ha. Then I got on.

We started with the classic locked jaw head in the air. This didn't phase me much because this is a new thing that is becoming a bit common that I've found I can work through... on a normal day. I tried my normal things and I got a bit of give, not what I would have wanted, but for a 4 year old, it was enough and I was happy. Then I began working our trot trying to just work him straight, since he has been really swinging his rear to the inside track. This is where all hell broke lose. Just the idea here of a mini- renvere almost sent us through the wall of the arena. Just me asking sent us into a fun little "fit" of bucking and rearing (thanks to Julie for the suggestion, it was obviously met with great contention!!!) and he continued to take out the wall for a good 15 minutes and tried everything to suck back, canter get free and away... anything but slightly bring his shoulders off of the track, not bend his neck and trot forward and correctly with his hind end. OOHHHH did I get the middle hoof on this one!! Not what I had planned for the day.

I had an ah-ha moment though, kind of on accident. It really was in thought to save myself from ending up a permanent fixture of the arena wall. To save my leg and life I decided to ask for the movement off the wall on the second track so he then physically couldn't kick the wall and couldn't push me into the boards. Then, like magic... he began to bend to the direction I wanted his body to bend, giving me his shoulder like I wanted and straightening out like I had asked. It was like this amazing break through. After that little moment the rest of the ride was a breeze. We had great 1/4 line shoulder-ins without locking or diving or drifting, our canter departs were straight and not leaning and he was really listening to where I wanted his shoulders or his haunches and was no longer feeling frustrated in my hands and tight in his back. We ended with an amazing four set of simple changes through the walk with 20m circles. They were absolutely "it" to ride. You know the "it" I'm talking about. They were up and under and right when I asked and perfect and straight and just everything they should have been and more. Its those moments, those moments that last a whole two minutes of wonderful bliss that make the previous 45 minutes of hell worth it.

The start of summer

2010-05-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

When summer starts it's always slow with a warmblood. I went to get on Fire after not riding for a few days and I felt like I was getting on someones 15 year old trail horse. He didn't want to do ANYTHING for me and asking him to canter a 30 meter circle was like asking him to do Grand Prix. At one point I felt like I was carrying his entire weight up and under his body with my calves. It really makes me wonder about the horses that do go Grand Prix throughout the year and the shape that they must be in. Seeing as Fire's current shape is "round" thanks to the copious amounts of green grass he is afforded daily and the lessening amount of time i'm able to work him while having to study for the Illinois Bar... I see this as an uphill battle.

Tasting... yum...

2010-05-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

The tasting started at two and boy... by then was I starving. I hadn't eaten anything all day in preparation for all of the food we were about to eat, to my detriment! Joe and I sat down at the nice linen table that Christina set up for us and I pulled out my "wedding binder" so I could keep track of the food and what we ate and what we liked. I find that if I don't' stay organized I forget things. Christina promptly poked fun at me, but hey, it works for me. So then... onto the food. Which of course, I took photos of:

First up: the Chicken Roulade

This was the first thing we decided to eat. It was beautifully presented and had a lot of color to it, so I liked it. It consisted of Chicken breast wrapped in panko bread crumbs with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and brie cheese. I admit that I didn't tell Joe about the cheese because I knew he didn't like it... my little secret. There was wild rice with some tomatoes in it and then a mixed fresh veggie. Oh... and some crazy sauce that was good. All in all we liked this one. The breadcrumbs were nice and crunchy. As predicted, Joe noticed that there was something in the chicken that he couldn't put his finger on that he didn't like, which I of course loved. And the rice was a winner. So this one was a good mix-- presented well, tasted good, just possibly needed a little tweaking.

Next up: Roast Chicken

I'm just going to say it... we hated this one. It looks pretty yes. It was very bright and pretty. It was roast chicken and it was squishy. The actual chicken was tasty, but with the skin on there was too much fat included. The sauce was the killer: saffron sauce. Too much saffron for the two of us really. And the orzo that was too bland. For us, the flavors just weren't meshing and this one just lost to the other food. So we moved onto something tastier...

The final plate: Pork Chop

This was presented very nicely. Though you can't smell it, it came out very nicely smelling wonderfully. The meal was a 10oz Center Cut Pork Chop served with cranberry and apple compote with whipped potatoes, green beans and a veal demi-glaze. So of course, instantly I didn't want the veal demi-glaze and was slightly put off because Christina told me it was going to be a red wine demi-glaze. I REALLY wanted to not eat it because of what it was, but I didn't want to be that high maintenance, so I did. But if we choose this, the veal glaze will be nixed. The pork was properly cooked and moist and the bone was easily navigated. The apple compote made for a nice surprise on top, the sweetness mingled nicely, though Joe commented that he didn't like the cranberries making it a bit tart. The mashed potatoes were just that, and I would guess we would change over to ones with mashed with skins included, but stay with mashed and not rice for this one, but very good. The veggies on this one was just green beans, which were very fresh and might be a good sole option as well.

All in all, we both loved the food and think that its a great option. The price point seems to be one that we can work with well and I find the venue to be one that is rare that no one really ever uses. They only do about two weddings a year and never advertise that they do weddings. Just speaking of food, this one is a very good option and would do very well with guests.

Dunham Woods

2010-05-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Going here today for a tasting. I'm super excited! I'll bring along my camera and notebook and take some notes as to what we think about the food. This is the first time that Joe is going to this venue and I really really really hope that he likes it. I've been there a few times and I know that I like it and their organizer, Christina is a wonderful person who has already been more than helpful.
Its really a beautiful place! More photos to come, and hopefully some good return info on the food! I'll be so excited if I can secure an awesome venue this early. I feel like it'll make me feel a lot better knowing that I have to stop planning for a lot time while I'm studying for the stinky bar.

What I do on a Saturday night: Boot Breakin'

2010-05-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I don't look at all as glamorous as the girl in the above photo but find myself too lazy to take a picture of what I actually look like sitting here, breaking in my boots. What the girl above and I do have in common? We both are sitting on couches in tall black boots, and we both have great ravenesque locks.

I have a pair of boots that I love. They are really nice Konig boots with a whale bone up the back. I got them when I started riding seriously, and my legs were a bit smaller than what they are currently. So, since I'm getting more serious now and will be showing, I'd like to show in my great and wonderful boots, that don't fit. So I brought them to the wonderful Otto of Otto's Shoe repair in Dundee. If you're a rider in the NW Illinois area and you ever need a boot repaired, dressage or otherwise, Otto is your man. He's downtown Dundee and though he's not a man of many words, he does a wonderful job and will give you your boots back shined up and looking great. Its just him so he can take a while to get things back to you, but the quality is much worth it.

So now here I sit... with the boots on trying to re-break them in. Since its been years since I've had them on they've gotten very stiff and they need to loosen up before they attempt to see the side of a horse. Oh, and I still can't zip them all the way either... but that's just a minor thing. Give me a bit of time, a bit more exercise, and I'm sure that won't be much of an issue.

Off to watch some more worthless TV and sit on the couch in riding clothes... with no horse. NOw who is all dressed up with no where to go???

before/after

2010-05-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

I spent the entire day today in the yard and here is a bit of the before and after.

My Dad was awesome and came over today and helped me with it all of it. I don't know what I would have done with out him. Well.. I guess I do, I would have wiating and it would have taken longer and Joe and I would have done it all in the span of a week or so.

Now my back is shot and I am tired... but the yard looks much better!! All that weeding and mulching and raking and cutting and sweeping... whew!!

Lamplight Equestiran Center re-does footing!

2010-05-19T16:46:00.001-07:00

It hasn't been much of a secret that for many years now the footing at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, IL has left much to be desired. What use to be a warm up ring has gone back and forth from warm up to parking which has left the footing slippery at times, hard as a rock and considered dangerous to many.

This year LEC decided to begin to fix their footing and has re-done the "Grand Prix" arena. For those of you who are dressage riders, the Grand Prix area is usually the three rings that are in the same area of sand where there is grandstand seating on one side. This is by far where the worst footing was for showing currently in dressage shows.

Here is a link to a video of the renovations of the ring:
http://showplaceproductions.com/video/lamplight_footing_2010.html

I myself am very glad that they have begun to fix some of the footing. I know many a rider that has scratched on days that it has started to rain because the footing becomes so dangerous and deep. To now know that Lamplight has fixed both the warm-up arena and the grand prix arena area is a great improvement for the facility. We all love when they add gazebos and nice little touches like the giant wet bar down by the boarding area, but this new footing was long over do and will make for a much more comfortable show season!

Great deal! woot.com

2010-05-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

I've been on woot.com now for over 4 years. I've bought some really great items off of there, but currently have found their stuff to be kind of lacking. If you don't know what woot.com is, you should! It is the original "deal a day" site where there is one deal posted each day at midnight (central time) and that deal is posted for 24 hours, or until the companies stock is out, but you have no idea how many they have. Its great fun and I've had great success with my purchases from woot. They even have a wine section where you can get wonderful wines at a discount. There is great care taken, all white wines sent in the summer is sent with dry ice so that it doesn't spoil. Who else thinks of things like that?

Woot always has shipping of $5. No matter what you buy... the shipping is $5. I bought a pair of noise canceling headphones and they were tiny, and they shipping was still $5. However, Joe and I bought our electric mower off of woot, and the shipping only cost us $5.

My most recent purchase is today's woot, the Sony Pocket ereader. I couldn't pass it up. I have a full sized reader that I got about a year back that I really enjoy. Actually, I just bought a book two days ago and was looking at these pocket readers seeing that they were on sale on the Sony site for $149 and thinking that was a decent price for them. To be able to carry 500 books in your pocket or a medium purse, that is a great thing to have. Once I'm in court just sitting there waiting for things to be called, this thing is going to be a life saver. The price of $149 was too much for me to just jump on it in the store though... and I passed. I was surprised to see it pop up on woot last night at midnight though, for a great price of only $109! Now that is a deal I can jump on, so I did. I'm sure I'll find a deserving friend of family member that I can think of that is someone who enjoys reading and would like one of these. It really is a great price.

So, if you're reading this and it's still Tuesday... hop on over to woot.com and maybe they will still be there at their unbeatable price! There are plenty of great reviews and words of wisdom from people included on the site as well.

Happy reading!!

graduation day!

2010-05-17T23:37:00.001-07:00

right lead... WRONG LEAD!

2010-05-17T09:09:00.001-07:00

For a bit of a spell now Fire and I have been struggling with the right lead. Not the "correct" lead per-say... but the correct lead, to the right. We use to be able to get them both equally just fine, but now magically the right canter lead has gone AWOL and does not want to come back.

For those of you non-horse people, a canter lead, in short, is when a horse picks up the "running" gait and the can either pick up this gait with their right or left legs starting. This is called a lead and helps them in turning etc. but there are "right" and "left" leads then. Our right, is now wrong.

So to get back on the point... we're broken. Now that I've had the saddle fitted, I can sit in the saddle and sit with Fire much better. I'm seeing a difference and though I can feel that he sometimes get frustrated that he can't throw me off my game, I'm finding that I can correctly place his shoulder better and get him to correctly pick up that right lead like I want! Now that it has been a while with him favoring the left (just like people, horses and right and left "handed") he's become stronger on that other side. So now I'm trying to work him a lot more to the right. I spent my ENTIRE last ride doing transitions up and down and only to the right. It was exhausting, but I found that we were getting the correct lead correctly and quickly and cleanly, so I was happy with our progress.

But then what happened? I went left.

I decided we would just do a little bit of work left.

I asked for a bit of canter left... and he picked up the right lead. FML.

Oh to have a young horse.

2010-05-16T22:14:00.001-07:00

Perhaps the most valuable bit of information I've learned is that you should never argue with an idiot. The people around you might now be able to tell the difference.

all's well that ends well...

2010-05-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

done and done.

now to just pass the IL bar.

Oh... and lose about 40lbs, but more about that later, its 2:30am. I'm just happy to be done.

I'm about the graduate...

2010-05-10T22:48:00.001-07:00

I'm about to graduate and I have no job. You would think that would be the worst thing, but I've worked two full years for career services... for the university... and I have no job.

I graduated undergrad with a job as a dolphin trainer. I went to a school in the MIDDLE OF A CORNFIELD and I got a job as a DOLPHIN TRAINER before I crossed the stage. Now... I just want a friggin' job as a lawyer. There are a million lawyer jobs out there for every stupid dolphin trainer job and I don't have one.

FAIL.

Schleese Saddle Fitting

2010-05-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

After waiting what seemed like forever, the Schleese saddle fitter Natalie finally made it out to the farm to see Fire and my two saddles. It was a wonderful experience and she was very friendly and actually early! Since Fire is young, she took extra time to get to know him and moved very slowly with her instruments as not to scare him while doing her measurements.

As she was going over his measurements she kept exclaiming what a "big boy" he was. I think she was saying it because he is pretty tall at 16'3'', but also quite round as well. Yes, Fire could use to lose a few pounds, but couldn't we all? I think he's stuck too because he's got a big huge white tummy too. It is an uphill battle for the boy! (yes, I know, I make excuses). Not that I haven't already posted photos of him, but for reference, here is a good photo below showing Fire's back and size:

So, he's got a short back and a large shoulder. The current saddle I'm using is a Schleese Wave. And because I am super lucky, the fitter told me that I picked the perfect saddle for him. That since he has a short back and the large shoulder, the Wave was a perfect choice. My other saddle, the Schleese CHB, is not a good choice because the panel on the saddle comes all the way down and it would block the horse's shoulder movement. Also, the gullets are not wide enough for Fire's back, and it would fit a horse that would be more of a TB style, or older style Warmblood.

So, after all of the measuring she explained that Fire happens to be "left" hooved. And that is why his mane falls to the left mostly and why it is his dominate lead in the canter. He is also more developed on that side of his back, though his back is very strong. Since he is young she was not worried, but then reflocked his saddle accordingly.

It was then time to get on and ride. I rode both ways all gaits. The fitter had me get off twice and adjusted the flocking in the saddle two times to make sure things were just right with the horse. I could tell an instant difference in the way that he rode and the way that I could sit in the saddle. I could feel the "schwing" in his back from the first few trot steps and it was great from the get go, no stiffness like usual. Very impressive!

Finally I hopped off and we read the "dust pattern" left from the saddle. I learned about how the hair should fall and how to look for rubbing and where things should be and where they shouldn't be. All in all it was a very informative hours time that was well worth the money and time. I can't wait now to schedule a lesson to see how much I can imporve just by being able to have a better connection with the horse's back.

Too Original?

2010-05-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm in search of wedding venues and if you know me, you know that I want to be original in everything that I do. That I wouldn't be caught dead doing a regular ol' hall at a hotel or anything like that. So I had the great idea to look into the theater (the Egyptian theater) that is in town and has been partially restored. Its really cute and very 1920's and has a lot of charm. I dunno though... it may be just a bit too much for me. And though I am a drama queen... I don't think if I ever saw myself getting married on stage. Above is two photos from events that they have had there. One was a prom that was held and another a dinner for the local commerce. It looks nice but there is something about it being up on the stage that just says play to me. The lights are always neat... but I just look at it and think that I should be seeing actors or something. Ehh... so maybe not on this one. But I thought I'd ad it because it was so different.

if you would like to know more about the theater (it is pretty cool) here is the website:
http://www.egyptiantheatre.org/

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

2010-05-03T23:26:00.001-07:00

I absolutely do not understand the barn ladies that get dressed up to ride... I mean fully dressed to ride, to just stand there and groom their horse and let them eat grass. Someone please explain to me why one needs to wear fullseat breeches to pick hooves. I mean, I do understand why wearing proper footwear in the barn is important. I cringe when I see toes at the barn because my own feet have been stomped on one too many times to even want my piggies to be free within 50 yards of an animal that weighs more than me anymore. Thank.You.Very.Much. Moving on, back to the barn ladies... please explain to me though why not just proper shoes or short boots, but NOOOO... tall proper boots. What are you doing woman?! This just confuses me. I'd say the only thing that is missing is the helmet, but of the literally handful of times that I've seen the barn lady full dress offenders ride, it has been sans helmets. And if you're wondering, its been two. Now, I do not LIVE at the barn, but two? I don't know if I would own breeches at that point.

I know that there are worse things about barn ladies. I have heard stories that have made my jaw drop to the ground. This dress up to groom thing just gets at me though and I've never been able to get it. Why put on all of that stuff if you KNOW you're not getting on? Someone? Anyone?

cupcake!

2010-04-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

cupcakes make me feel better. YUM!! Especially when they are from SweetDreams! Best little treat I've had in a while. What a great guy Joe is to save me from my sorrow.

here's a link, in case you've never had one:

http://www.sweetdreamdesserts.com/

Finals

2010-04-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that I hadn't written in a few days and should. I'm currently in law school hell which translates effectively into the wonderful time of finals. Its not like normal finals for other students where it lasts one week and is over and is just a portion of your grade, oh no. Law school finals is every single subject, tested in three hour chunks, somewhere spanning in a three week time on ever single little ounce of everything you learned over the last semester, and its you're only grade. Yup, the only thing you receive in the class comes from the blindly graded essay(s) that are written in those sweat filled three hours. Its ridiculous. Oh... and I'm sick. Like, a bad sick with a fever and sweating and everything. Just what I need right now. So now here I sit cuddling with the cats. See above.

The Last Class...

2010-04-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today I had what should effectively be my last class ever. No, this doesn't include any drivers classes I may have to take to get out of having too many points on my driver's licenses, thus driving up my insurance cost, or the classes I'll have to inevitably have to take as continuing education when (if??) I become a lawyer. It wasn't anything epic like I thought it would be. I didn't hear Vitamin C in my head, no, my memories were not playing in my head with no sound. I was sitting in the same second row seat I sat in every day listening to my professor try to cram more information into our heads that we didn't get the first time around just thinking about how I thought something epic should be happening.

There were no words of wisdom. The class did clap for us graduating third year students at the end of class, which was a nice note to end on. I'll take a mediocre applause.

So, like a nostalgic woman (because that's what I am... a nostalgic woman) I approached my eclectic professor, who ironically in one semester has become my favorite, and asked if we could take a shot together for posterity sake. That maybe I could find a photo of myself and my kindergarten teacher and put the photos together. Her reply? "Well, I hope I don't die."

Yup. Epic.

Back to the basics: Lunge

2010-04-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

I was born with a lower back deformity that has caused me to have severe lower back issues that now causes intense low back and leg pain. This is actually what has caused my professional animal training career to be cut short, but that's a whole different story in itself. Since getting back in the saddle I've found it hard to re-find my great seat on a horse. I tend to block the horse's movement with my lower back by "protecting" myself. I tend to what I like to call "duck" out my lower back... which is effectively sticking my rump out instead of sitting on my butt and then getting stiff and blocking through my thighs. All together this isn't helpful to myself or whatever horse I'm riding. My problem is that I'm currently working Fire who is young and needs direction and I haven't found much "me" time. So, in comes my friend Julie to help me with this issue. How do we decide to fix this? We go back to the basics. We go back to the lunge line and no reins and JUST seat. Julie hooks us up and begins to spin herself silly in the center, coaxing me gently to not "duck" my rear, to focus on opening my hips up correctly, even to just breathe, and feel like I use to and just "find that sweet spot that you know"... which I did. And you know what? It didn't hurt me. Not one bit. My core is strong enough now to protect my back against a lot of the impact that happens now in riding, but my back had learned to protect itself in a particular way, and I hadn't "unlearned" it, until that night. So it took about 100 no handed sitting trot circles with my best friend on the end of a line telling me to sit like I had learned almost 15 years ago. But sometimes it takes going back to the basics.

Wedding Freebie!

2010-04-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know... I'm engaged. We're just starting our journey [through hell] and have looked a a few venues, are fighting about colors (I'm determined to win on this one) and am going to drag whomever is willing to read this blog through the white mud with me.

This is a fun nice one though. In my random no-logic search today I found a free template for a pretty cute invitation. I personally don't think I'll be using it (not a bike theme person), but for that bride on a budget who still wants to do a nicely printed invite at home, I think that this is a very nice option. The only cost to the bride and groom would be the ink for the printer and some nicer paper from your local Office Max.

So then... Free-Template Away!!!

When they make you smile

2010-04-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I have bad days. I feel like this happens to everyone, that I'm not that unique in this bit of information I'm sharing here. What might be unique is my coping strategy of dealing with the times when I get overly stressed out or things just don't seem to go my way. I find that taking some time out to go out to the barn, to share the time with a horse (Fire in particular) can be more healing than any prescription medication or therapist in a lounge chair. Maybe its the "wax on wax off' motion of currying and brushing the horse while getting ready? It's the rhythmic "woosh woosh" of the bristles flicking off the winter's leftovers or the smell of Showsheen on a freshly evened tail. I'm not even talking about the riding at this point. Riding is just its own world that can lift even the grim of spirits. Ever wonder why riding therapy works so well for handicapped people and disturbed children? There are no words to describe the inner zen that is felt when you can communicate with an animal to a point of actually thinking and feeling the same things without having to say something. Its really a remarkable experience. So, on those days when everything seems to be going south, I'm glad that I know that there is a 16'3 hand big man who, without a word, can make me smile.

Don't ride your Horse too Young:

2010-04-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

The first thing to note is that as a two and a half year-old, Ranger is a "teenager". He's not mature physically, nor will he be until he's at least six. Despite a nice development of chest and a fine long neck, there is that unmistakable lack of length and muscular fullness to the hindquarters and the little weakness or lack of arch at the base of the neck that smacks of the gawkiness of sub-adulthood. The withers are not as high as they will someday be, either. Right now though I want to return to the issue of maturity and deal with that concept thoroughly.

Ranger is not mature, as I said, as a 2 1/2 year old. This is NOT because Ranger is a "slow-maturing" individual or because he comes from a "slow maturing" breed. There is no such thing. Let me repeat that: no horse on earth, of any breed, at any time, is or has ever been mature before the age of six (plus or minus six months). This information comes, I know, as a shock to many people who think starting their colt or filly under saddle at age two is what they ought to be doing.

This begs discussion of (1) what I mean by "mature" and (2) what I mean by "starting".

Just about everybody has heard of the horse's "growth plates", and commonly when I ask 'em, people tell me that the "growth plates" are somewhere around, or in, the horse's knees (actually they're located at the bottom of the radius-ulna bone just above the knee). This is what gives rise to the saying that, before riding the horse, it's best to wait "until his knees close" (i.e., until the growth plates fuse to the bone shaft and cease to be separated from it by a layer of slippery, crushable cartilage). What people often don't realize is that there is a "growth plate" on either end of EVERY bone behind the skull, and in the case of some bones (like the pelvis, which has many "corners") there are multiple growth plates. So do you then have to wait until ALL these growth plates fuse? No. But the longer you wait, the safer you'll be.
Owners and trainers need to realize there's a definite, easy -to- remember schedule of fusion - and then make their decision as to when to ride the horse based on that rather than on the external appearance of the horse. For there are some breeds of horse - the Quarter Horse is the premier among these - which have been bred in such a manner as to LOOK mature long before they actually ARE mature. This puts these horses in jeopardy from people who are either ignorant of the closure schedule, or more interested in their own schedule (for futurities or other competitions) than they are in the welfare of the animal. The process of fusion goes from the bottom up. In other words, the lower down toward the hoofs you look, the earlier the growth plates will have fused; and the higher up toward the animal's back you look, the later. The growth plate at the top of the coffin bone (the most distal bone of the limb) is fused at birth. What this means is that the coffin bones get no TALLER after birth (they get much larger around, though, by another mechanism). That's the first one. In order after that: Short pastern - top & bottom between birth and 6 mos. 3. Long pastern - top & bottom between 6 mos. And 1 yr. 4. Cannon bone - top & bottom between 8 mos. And 1.5 yrs. 5. Small bones of knee - top & bottom on each, between 1.5 and 2.5 yrs. 6. Bottom of radius-ulna - between 2 and 2.5 yrs. 7. Weight-bearing portion of glenoid notch at top of radius - between 2.5 and 3 yrs. 8. Humerus - top & bottom, between 3 and 3.5 yrs. 9. Scapula - glenoid or bottom (weight-bearing) portion - between 3.5 and 4 yrs. 10. Hindlimb - lower portions same as forelimb 11. Hock - this joint is "late" for as low down as it is; growth plates on the tibial & fibular tarsals don't fuse until the animal is four (so the hocks are a known "weak point" - even the 18th-century literature warns against driving young horses in plow or other deep or sticky footing, or jumping them up into a heavy load, for danger of spraining their hocks) 12. Tibia - top & bottom, between 2.5 and 3 yrs. 13. Femur - bottom, between 3 and 3.5 yrs.; neck, between 3.5 and 4 yrs.; major and 3rd trochanters, between 3 and 3.5 yrs. 14. Pelvis - growth plates on the points of hip, peak of croup (tubera sacrale), and points of buttock (tuber ischii), between 3 and 4 yrs. ...and what do you think is last? The vertebral column, of course. A normal horse has 32 vertebrae between the back of the skull and the root of the dock, and there are several growth plates on each one, the most important of which is the one capping the centrum. These do not fuse until the horse is at least 5 1/2 years old (and this figure applies to a small-sized, scrubby, range-raised mare. The taller your horse and the longer its neck, the later full fusion will occur. And for a male - is this a surprise? -- you add six months. So, for example, a 17-hand TB or Saddlebred or WB gelding may not be fully mature until his 8th year - something that owners of such individuals have often told me that they "suspected"). The lateness of vertebral "closure" is most significant for two reasons. One: in no limb are there 32 growth plates! Two: The growth plates in the limbs are (more or less) oriented perpendicular to the stress of the load passing through them, while those of the vertebral chain are oriented parallel to weight placed upon the horse's back. Bottom line: you can sprain a horse's back (i.e., displace the vertebral growth plates) a lot more easily than you can sprain those located in the limbs. And here's another little fact: within the chain of vertebrae, the last to fully "close" are those at the base of the animal's neck (that's why the long-necked individual may go past 6 yrs. to achieve full maturity). So you also have to be careful - very careful - not to yank the neck around on your young horse, or get him in any situation where he strains his neck (i.e., better learn how to get a horse broke to tie before you ever tie him up, so that there will be no likelihood of him ever pulling back hard. And readers, if you don't know how to do this, then please somebody write in and ask!). Now, the other "maturity" question I always get is this: "so how come if my colt is not skeletally mature at age 2 he can be used at stud and sire a foal?" My answer to that is this: sure, sweetie, if that's how you want to define maturity, then every 14 year old boy is mature. In other words, the ability to achieve an erection, penetrate a mare, and ejaculate some semen containing live sperm cells occurs before skeletal maturity, both in our species and in the horse. However, even if you only looked at sperm counts or other standard measures of sexual maturity that are used for livestock, you would know that considering a 2 year old a "stallion" is foolish. Male horses do not achieve the testicular width or weight, quality or quantity of total ejaculate, or high sperm counts until they're six. Period. And people used to know this; that's why it's incorrect to refer to any male horse younger than 4 as a "stallion", whether he's in service or not. Peoples' confusion on this question is also why we have such things as the Stallion Rehabilitation Program at Colorado State University or the behaviour-modification clinic at Cornell - because a two year old colt is no more able to "take command" on a mental or psychological level of the whole process of mating - which involves everything from "properly" being able to ask the mare's permission, to actually knowing which end of her to jump on, to being able to do this while some excited and usually frightened humans are banging him on the nose with a chain - than is a 14 year old boy.

Now, let's turn to the second discussion, which is what I mean by "starting" and the whole history of that. Many people today - at least in our privileged country -- do not realize how hard you can actually work a horse - which is very, very hard. But before you can do that without significantly damaging the animal, you have to wait for him to mature, which means - waiting until he is four to six years old before asking him to carry you on his back. What bad will happen if you put him to work as a riding horse before that? Two important things - and probably not what you're thinking of. What is very UNlikely to happen is that you'll damage the growth plates in his legs. At the worst, there may be some crushing of the cartilages, but the number of cases of deformed limbs due to early use is tiny. The cutting-horse futurity people, who are big into riding horses as young as a year and a half, will tell you this and they are quite correct. Want to damage legs? There's a much better way - just overfeed your young-stock (see Forum postings on this. You ought to be able to see the animal's ribs - not skeletal, but see 'em - until he's two). More likely is that you'll cause structural damage to his back. There are some bloodlines (in Standardbreds, Arabians, and American Saddlebreds) known to inherit weak deep intervertebral ligament sheathing; these animals are especially prone to the early, sudden onset of "saddle back". However, individuals belonging to these bloodlines are by no means the only ones who may have their back "slip" and that's because, as mentioned above, the stress of weight-bearing on the back passes parallel to the growth plates as well as the intervertebral joints. However, I want to add that the frequency of slipped backs in horses under 6 years old is also very low. So, what's to worry about? Well...did you ever wish your horse would "round up" a little better? Collect a little better? Respond to your leg by raising his back, coiling his loins, and getting his hindquarter up underneath him a little better? The young horse knows, by feel and by "instinct" that having a weight on his back puts him in physical jeopardy. I'm sure that all of you start your young-stock in the most humane and considerate way that you know how, and just because of that, I assure you that after a little while, your horse knows exactly what that saddle is and what that situation where you go to mount him means. And he loves you, and he is wiser than you are, so he allows this. But he does not allow it foolishly, against his deepest nature, which amounts to a command from the Creator that he must survive; so when your foot goes in that stirrup, he takes measures to protect himself. The measures he takes are the same ones YOU would take in anticipation of a load coming onto your back: he stiffens or braces the muscles of his topline, and to help himself do that he may also brace his legs and hold his breath ("brace" his diaphragm). The earlier you choose to ride your horse, the more the animal will do this, and the more often you ride him young, the more you reinforce in his mind the necessity of responding to you in this way. So please - don't come crying to me when your 6 year old (that was started under saddle as a two year old) proves difficult to round up! (Not that I'm not gonna help you but GEEZ). If he does not know how to move with his back muscles in release, he CANNOT round up!! So - bottom line - if you are one of those who equate "starting" with "riding", then I guess you better not start your horse until he's four. That would be the old, traditional, worldwide view: introduce the horse to equipment (all kinds of equipment and situations) when he's two, crawl on and off of him at three, saddle him to begin riding him and teaching him to guide at four, start teaching him manoeuvres or the basics of whatever job he's going to do - cavalletti or stops or something beyond trailing cattle - at five, and he's on the payroll at 6. The old Spanish way of bitting reflected this also, because the horse's teeth aren't mature (i.e., the tushes haven't come in and all the permanent teeth) until he's six either. This is what I'd do if it were my own horse. Now I'm at liberty to do that because I'm not on anybody else's schedule except my horse's own schedule. I'm not a participant in futurities or planning to be. Are you? If you are, well, that's your business. But most horse owners aren't. Please ask yourself: "is there any reason that you have to be riding that particular horse before he's four?"

-Dr Deb Bennett

Another new item!

2010-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Bling bling!!!

I ended up finding this AWESOME bridle for a steal... brand new Kieffer bridle for only $100! Its got a wonderful padded crank noseband, and a pretty crystal browband that is also padded. I brought it to the barn yesterday and tried it on Fire and it looked great on him. Lucky he's so manly looking, the rhinestones didn't make him look girly in the least. The bridle came with two pairs of reins as well, one pair of Kieffer web reins and one pair of thin leather reins. I rode with the webbed reins and though I'm not the biggest fan and I like my rubber ones better, I think they will make a great backup rein option, and are very nice.

I think that this deal is up there with the Schleese Wave saddle I got last last year in the "deals" area. I may be running out of luck with my ability to find these amazing deals! It is all so much fun to do. I just hope that I don't run out of money!

2010-04-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

First sign of spring... spaltted fly on my windshield on the way home from the barn.

Sing Louder than Your Horse

2010-04-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

I was recently forwarded a correspondence between two people by another fellow rider and found it interesting. The first was asking the second about the changed in dressage and how one uses the aide to effectively communicate with the horse. Now, I do think that the original writer was stretching things a bit far in what she has seen now, as opposed to 30 years ago, but I do think that the essence of what she was saying does right true of the change. Here is an exert of her question/comment:

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In my mind dressage is inextricably associated with the qualities I was taught to value: Softness and rhythm and a horse with a relaxed way of going and a soft mouth and a soft eye. The horses I see at this barn, including the one I lease, aren't anything like that. Some of them have huge gaits, I can see that for myself, but they move like pile-drivers, there is some rhythm but no softness and I see no relaxation. Also there is certainly no softness in their eyes, they are either rolling and you can see the whites, or they just look dead as if the horse's soul had left its body. And their mouths are certainly "dead" at least by the old standards, the riders brace against the horses and the horses brace against the riders; instead of communication through the reins I see a brutal pulling contest. I realize that is a melodramatic statement but that is what I see. In the "old days" we did use whips and spurs but more as reminders and "precision aids" and we were - at least at the barn where I boarded my horse and took lessons for twelve years - taught that bits and spurs were only ever to be used to communicate with the horse and never to be used to punish it, and that there were no exceptions to that rule.
Now I am being told that none of that was correct and that it's important that a horse have complete respect for the bit, and that the rider teaches that respect by showing the horse that it must always obey and behave or the bit and spurs will punish it immediately. This is apparently the new definition of submission - can that possibly be accurate?

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I find her comments very thoughtful of what she was seeing, and though I either believe that her trainer was off base at being able to describe things, or that she is being a bit indulgent in her description. Never the less, I do agree with the writer in saying that things have changed. People seem to be harsher these days, doing more forcing and less asking of the horse. Riders are now taught to be in a frame of mind that the horse needs to submit now, or face a consequence, instead of thinking that there will be long periods of waiting, and when the horse comes to terms and begins to go in whatever correct manner you are asking (not forcing) that there will be reward.

The person who responded said something along the lines of what I just did, but also included a good adage that was remembered from Betty Howett:
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On one memorable occasion, it was clear that the rider in the ring had one idea about what she wanted to do whilst her horse had an entirely different idea of what HE wanted to do. The conflict was quiet, but the tension was palpable, and it mounted until some of us began to feel a bit uncomfortable. At that point, Betty stepped in with a brilliant analogy. "Do you sing?" she asked. "Do you know that singing game that children play when they're riding the bus to school or to summer camp? The children on one side of the bus sing THIS song; the children on the other side of the bus sing THAT song, and the winner is the side that sings SO LOUDLY that the other side gives up and begins to sing that song too. Right now you're having a problem with your horse, but force isn't going to provide a good solution. You've got to get him to WANT to come with you and do what you want to do - YOU HAVE TO SING LOUDER THAN YOUR HORSE."

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I think this is good to remember as well: that we cannot just let a horse "run us over" while riding, but need to know when to "sing louder than your horse" and buckle down. I believe that this takes a skilled rider, and an even more skilled trainer to execute, and that it can be easily lost in the chase for the better stronger faster learning horse that gets you to Grand Prix or gets sold.

Its not about the final destination, but the journey getting there.

Turi: Test Dog

2010-04-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

This is Turi, test dog professional. She is helping me test to see if I like this program for blogging on my Blackberry. So far? Not so great. No double-space gets you a period feature, annoying ad that runs along the bottom, bad lime green color, and just not all that user friendly. I cant even save the address to the blog to get to it easily. I guess this is what free gets me.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

New Rules from USEF

2010-04-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

The USEF (United States Equestrian Foundation) enacted some new rules as pertaining to dress in the dressage ring. Among quite a few other interesting now acceptable choices in colors etc. that one can wear in the ring, it is now okay to have up to two logos on your jacket. Here is the exact wording:

Page 47 DR120 Dress. Chapter DR. Dressage Division Effective
...
12. When sponsorship is permitted in accordance with GR1306, the name and/or logo of the individual’s sponsor(s) may appear on each of the two sides of jackets or top garments at the height of breast pockets not exceeded 80 cm2 in size. Logos described under DR121.1 are also permitted as above.

This means that we can all now have sponsors prominently on our coats, which means we can all get someone to pay for our habits, and they can get some air-time for their logo on top a horse. This makes me want to think up the perfect sponsors. Not ones like Dressage Daily, or Smartpak. Those would be obvious. Ones like Durex, who can make a fun little play on words in their slogans. For example, "Sponsored by Durex, always riding well protected", or "Trojan, no need for the wood horse", the possibilities are endless. I'm sure it won't be long before it is like Nascar, where there will be logos everywhere we can put them and it will be forgotten that this was once a very prestigious and refined way of riding with lots of stout tradition. Pink shadbelly anyone? I'm sure Katie Price will be thrilled...

I love the postman

2010-04-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I get really bored and decide that I need to buy stuff. Recently I think that I was extra bored because I think I went a bit overboard. I just can't pass up a good deal! If I can find something that I don't have, or may use in the near future for a price well under what the object is worth, I find it hard to say no. This occurs especially when said things have something to do with horses.

I've got a few things now on their way to my house, which is where the postman comes in. Really, he's a wonderful guy. Not only does he re-route the things that end up at my old address (only a few blocks away) to where we live now, but he is ever ready for my dogs by carrying Milkbones in his pocket. This man is God to my dogs. I kid you not, he will stop me if he sees me walking them on the street to give them a bone. On my block the postman is not a threat to doggies. But I digress away from what really matters here.... what showed up at my door!

This is my newest item. It came in a box with a cord to charge it, some grease and a little brush. The Woman I purchased it from even put a "thank you" note in with the item! "No... THANK YOU!" is what I wanted to say. You see, these clippers are about $75 new in the store. These ones don't seem to be any worse for wear, and are sharp (maybe pictures soon of them in action) and cost me a mere $25. They are Wahl brand, and my favorite-ist color: purple.

So, thank you Mr. Postman with the Milkbones in his pocket, and lady who no longer had a use for the spiffy purple cordless Wahl clippers. I'm sure Fire will learn to love them (he's a bit scared OUT of his MIND of clippers now).

Julie made me do it.

2010-04-07T09:36:00.001-07:00

that is all.