Month: December 2019

I don’t care if you all are tired of me saying it. Trainer AB is amazing.

There is no way I could make a regimented training situation work in my life. It was one reason it was so hard for me to find a trainer. Many require a set lesson date and time with four weeks paid in advance. And I get that. They need the consistent work and schedule to make their own ends meet.

For me though, it’s last minute or not at all. I love the fact that I can text AB on a Wednesday and set up a lesson for Sunday. Or get a text from her with her whereabouts and tag along. It works for me and is the only way I get any education in at all.

The most recent example of this happened last night and has moved AB to icon status in my eyes.

I was scrolling through FB between patients late yesterday afternoon and saw the Full Gallop Farm was accepting late entries to a schooling HT this Sunday.

Huh. That sounds like fun and I don’t have any plans for Sunday. A quick look at the weather (yes I’m a fair weather rider especially when it’s last minute) showed that while currently it is 35F and pissing rain, Sunday was going to be 60 and sunny in Aiken.

Sign. Me. Up.

A quick existential crisis about which division then ensued. I texted with KC to get her opinion which was basically to grow a set of lady balls. Ok not really but that was how I interpreted it. She sent me a link to the starter run she did there back in 2015 and next thing I knew I had an email confirming my entry in the starter division. I guess my goal of doing a full course at 2’3” before the end of the year just may happen yet!

My next step was to text AB and inform her that her slightly insane, wayward student had just signed up 3 days before the show. I asked if there was any chance she could come and….

Yeah. She gets Trainer of the Year for sure.

Now my lead up to this show is less than stellar. The weather has been complete crap. I had my lesson Sunday where he decided to run through me and buck after each fence but honestly I’m not worried about that. By the time we get to xc he will be regretting his life choices. The course has 12 fences which will be the most we have ever done. Frat Boy won’t have the energy to buck by that point. 😈

All week has been rainy and gross or my arena is still sloppy from the prior rain. Today is 35 and pouring all day. It’s gross enough that for the first time in forever the horses were kept inside last night and I left them in this morning too.

Tomorrow is looking better though so even if the arena is sloppy I should hopefully be able to get a little work in to check where his brain is. Then it will be off to Aiken Sunday at the crack of dawn. Again though. I’m not too worried. With xc schooling allowed until the first horse leaves the start box, I should be able to wear him out a little plus introduce him to his first ever ditch well before I need to warm up for dressage.

And if not? Well, at least I tried.

If worse came to worse and you had to find a new home for the equines in your life, could you?

The question floated through my head this past weekend while Eeyore was being…well….Eeyore and I briefly debated trading him in for a level headed, non opinionated OTTB with a heart of gold and a work ethic. I’m not going to do that because the Big Orange Butthead is teaching me to be a much better, more assertive and braver rider and I still like riding him, but the thought was intriguing.

After thinking for a while I decided the following:

Gem – She would by far be the easiest for me to re home through my connections in both the endurance and ride and tie world. She is currently retired because I changed disciplines and while she is out of shape, she has a natural athleticism and soundness that makes me very confident she could easily do a 50 mile ride at a middle of the pack pace without much conditioning required. She for sure has more 100 milers in her and really loved the trail, camping and ride experience.

Gem is also super sweet with kiddos, easy to handle on the ground, is sound as can be, gets fat on air and thrives living outside but also does equally well in a princess stall. She stands ground tied for the farrier and you can draw blood on her out in the pasture without a halter on. I wouldn’t say she is beginner friendly or kid safe off the lead, but for anyone with a good seat, light hands and a brave spirit she would be suitable. I’ve had Wyatt win a lead lie class in a busy show with her and taken him on a trail ride with creeks and bridges no issue.

Pete – He would be the next on my list for ease of finding a good home. His biggest draw back is his age. At 30 years old many people would have no interest. However, finding him a companion home wouldn’t be too hard. He has all his teeth and gets fat on pasture. He requires no supplements, medications or maintenance. He is barefoot and stands well for the farrier and vet. Wyatt can lead him in and out of the pasture safely. he is sound and gets along well with everyone.

He loaded on the trailer the last time we needed him to without a fuss and in general is a great old man horse to have around. Companion horses are harder to find homes for, but he is the easiest old man horse to have so with some good connections and digging I think I could find him a great soft landing spot without too much issue.

Eeyore – Honestly, I think my only riding horse would be the hardest to relocate. Eeyore is an acquired taste and I doubt many would find him as amusing as I do. His ground manners are getting better all the time but he still pushes his limits, likes to invade your space and is extremely mouthy. He cribs which would turn off 75% of potential homes right from the start and good luck hanging anything near his reach as he throws things around.

Personally, I find his penchant for mischief endearing, like the time he grabbed an entire mouthful of water, walked over to me and dropped it down my back. I’m not sure many would agree with that.

His positives include the fact that after a year my farrier no longer wants to kill him, he behaves well for the vet, he is healthy and currently sound and well…he is now an official event horse. I do think I would eventually find my big lovable orange Frat Boy a good home, but I also know his short comings and I think it would take longer than the other two.

How about you all? Would your horses be easy to rehome if the need arose?

The rides since the show have been less than stellar. It seems that Frat Boy has reverted to his old behavior of cantering off to nowhere instead of doing the work I’m asking of him. It is frustrating to feel like all the hard work and hours spent over the last six months have been for naught. I had a lesson yesterday more to get an hour of trainer’s time to discuss where we are and where to go from here than for the actual riding experience. Don’t get me wrong. An hour riding with her is worth a whole month of me riding on my own, but I needed to vent/brainstorm with her about what was going on.

The major point I needed to remember is that while Eeyore is feeling an awful lot like his 2018 version, I am a completely different rider now than I was back in May when I had my first lesson with her. It is part of the reason he is currently pissy. I’m demanding more of him. Letting him get away with less. My expectations have risen and he isn’t so happy with that. Where a year ago I’d either let him canter around or end up just walking out of either fear or frustration, now I am demanding that he trot when I ask and remain in the trot until I ask something else of him. He would much rather get low on the forehand and blast around. No sir. We don’t do that anymore.

This turned in to a 90 minute battle on Saturday morning. A year ago, heck 6 months ago, I would have quit 15 minutes in and felt defeated. Saturday I kept going. Kept demanding he do what I wanted. I wasn’t asking things he can’t do. I wasn’t asking things he doesn’t know. All I freaking wanted was for him to trot around the rail without breaking to a canter. Simple stuff folks. It took 90 minutes before he did it. Ridiculous.

Sunday’s lesson started off really well. M grabbed a ride on a gorgeous draft cross at Trainer’s barn so we lessoned together. Typically riding with a single other horse makes Eeyore’s brain melt. He gets all creepy stalker like and refuses to pay attention to anything other than that other horse. But Sunday he wasn’t like that at all. Apparently something from the day before stuck and he sucked it up and behaved like a good horse. In fact, I got the best 20 m canter work to date on him in both directions. It felt amazing.

We then did some jump work in the arena. A simple cross rail coming off the rail across the diagonal, 5 strides to a vertical. As soon as we got jumping he lost his marbles a bit and it became a wrestling match to keep him controlled leading up to the cross rail. The 5 strides to the vertical came up lovely each time though. Once we had done that a few times and everyone was happy, we moved out to her field.

That is when the wheels fell off and I once again had a monster under me who snagged the bit, dropped his front end and took off time and time and time again. From the ground he really isn’t going that fast. It isn’t a bolt. Since he lowers his front end though it feels a lot different on him. The issue is that as soon as I lifted his head and got him in front, he’d stop moving. He lacks adjustability and it is frustrating. On my part I really, really need to sit the frick up. He gets so very heavy in the front that I let him pull me out of the tack and that is a big NOPE. My biggest goal right now is to make it so that Trainer never has to tell me to sit up ever again. Or at least not 100 times in an hour lesson.

I finally got some control of my horse and we started jumping. Now I’m going to brag on myself here a little. Six months ago the “warm up” course she laid out would have given me a heart attack and I never would have done it. Actually, six months ago had he warmed up outside like he did Sunday I would have slid off and handed the reins to Trainer. I’ve grown though. Her warm up course was a vertical straight to a line of barrels (I’ve never jumped barrels before) that jumped into the grass dressage arena, a sharp left hand turn to a pile of cavalleti that looked scary as hell to jump out of the arena.

We came at the vertical and he wasn’t listening at all. I kept wrestling with him to avoid him hitting the jump on the forehand and we made it but then he got pissed and bucked on the back side. I had no interest tackling the barrels bucking, so I pulled him up. Trainer told me I could just start with the barrels but I said no. He could do this exercise and we started over. We did the vertical without issue this time and made it through the rest ok enough though a bit wild. The next go around he did the vertical fine but then had a bucking fit after the barrels, enough so that even the nonplussed Trainer made a comment at his bronco style, but this time I said screw you to him, yanked his head up and dug my heels in and forced his big orange butt out over the final jump. We came around and did it again no issue.

I had a long chat with Trainer while M tackled the exercise. These hi-jinks are unnecessary and growing old. Because all I do is wrestle with him before jumps, I’m not able to see a distance, correct our canter or basically do anything except wrestle with him and get his head up. Its annoying. And no, he isn’t in pain. Our last exercise was an up bank, three strides, down bank and he happily cantered that no problem at all. I don’t know what is going on inside his head.

At the end, Trainer handed me a new bit. Way back in May she had put us in a single jointed french link snaffle saying that she likes that bit for all new horse/riders. Its simple, easy for the horse to understand and she can figure out what is a horse versus rider issue. She said it is time to try something else to help give me some leverage when he is being an idiot yet not be so strong that he backs off. She gave me a rubber mouth single jointed pessoa bit and told me to play around with it and see how he reacts. Its too narrow for his huge mouth, so I need to pick up one soon. The hope is that it catches his attention a bit more and gives me a little more oomf to pull him up off his forehand without making him suck back and ping off the bit.

She also said we may need to add a dressage whip to my arsenal but I’m not ready to die yet so I’m holding off introducing that to him. The theory here is that he uses any rein aid as an excuse to stop moving his feet which is not the correct answer. Because he is so heavy in the full cheek it can take a lot of rein to get him up, so I’m not really able to be subtle with my half halts which he doesn’t listen to any way and I’m 99% sure I’m doing wrong. The use of a dressage whip may help with the idea that he can come up and rebalance but still move forward and stay in front of my leg. I don’t know. I’m willing to play with just about anything and Trainer hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

In the end the lesson wasn’t that bad. We managed to jump everything including our Grand Prix bank complex and I had some amazing flat work in the arena. Honestly a few months ago I would have been thrilled with it. Now though I’m wanting to move beyond “survival” and get into the nuances of doing it better with more skill. I need to keep in mind that I’m not starting over where we began, I’m asking for more and better and that takes time to get Eeyore to adjust to. He didn’t wake up and realize the rules had changed, so I need to make sure I’m clear and consistent with him.

A coworker innocently gave me a book of 50 waterfalls in SC, southwestern NC and eastern GA for Christmas in 2013. The following Thanksgiving I started a tradition of choosing one and finding it in time to get to my mom’s for dinner.

This year we headed out to find Pigpen and Licklog falls, two falls in close proximity to each other and in side creeks that feed into the gorgeous Chattooga River.

The weather was gorgeous as always. Low 40s and brisk to start and climbing to the low 60s to finish.

Over the last several years it has been interesting to see how our little group of hikers has changed. Dogs have come and gone, last year my mom joined us and this year we have M.

It’s a tradition that I really hope we continue to do though eventually we will have to get creative and camp the night before once we run out of those within 2 hours of our farm.

We learned the first year to always pack Wyatt a full change of clothes and a towel as that kid refuses to stay out of the falls. I don’t mind. It always makes me smile.

I think M enjoyed the tradition as well. She was certainly impressed with the beauty of the falls and the river.

Our only issue was helping Waggy make the steep climb back up from the bottom of Licklog Falls. The book had described it as a steep scramble and they were not joking.

Dusty waited at the bottom and then attempted to get Waggy up. Even with four legs she never really understood how to make them all function together and it wasn’t any better missing one. So Dusty picked her up and scaled the hill carrying her.

We headed back to the truck with the sun warming our backs and my heart full for another year.