Day 19 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – A discipline you would like to do that you’ve never done before

Ok...was I wrong! Julie from the Little Bay Princess blog suggested that I try a different method of mane pulling (ie. not backbrush-twirl-yank-backbrush-twirl-yank) for Midnight. I skimmed the video (with no audio since I was at work) and promptly dismissed it because the horse in the video was like half asleep. Not at all like my ticklish boy who gets very, very offended if you rub him the wrong way.

So I tried to use his owner's Grooma Mane Master thing. Blech. I couldn't really figure out how to use it in a way that wasn't any less severe than pulling with a comb and Midnight was getting agitated just from anticipation while I backbrushed using that. So I decided to try this other method of backbrushing, twirling, and then pulling reeeeeeeeaaaaaallllllyyyy slowly with a regular metal comb (to the point where you hear each of the individual hairs pop out).

Before:

After:

I know the "after" is kind of dark and hard to see (I stayed at the barn waaay late), but hopefully you can see now his mane is legitimately slightly-more-than-half-done! Keep in mind that the mane from the "before" picture took a full week to achieve. Midnight stood stock still when I pulled super slowly so I think I should be fully done by this weekend, yay! I love pulling mane so I'm glad he is actually cooperating now.

Today was a dressage school since I have been prescribed straightness and leg yields (to help with the straightness, paradoxically). We had some wonderful transitions, but I could feel myself getting pulled forward and my arms getting too stiff at times. I don't think we really had any quality trot work that lasted more than a few strides. He got a little too happy in his first canter to the left but he was easy enough to bring back to a reasonable canter. If I was to grade myself, it was like a B-/C+ ride. Not completely awful but we do need some dressage lessons.

Midnight in his new duds!

 A fellow boarder is lending me her dressage saddle indefinitely since she doesn't use it. Tried it out today and I think it fits. No pressure points, plenty of clearance, etc. And veeerry comfy. But I'm definitely no saddle fit expert so I am going to see if the trainer can give a more knowledgeable eye.

Anyway, Midnight and I will get there...he is so good natured that I think we'll develop a great friendship as long as I keep from pestering him (easier said than done). Life is good.

As for the discipline I'd like to try--foxhunting, hands down. (I feel like I should say some Western discipline just to be equitable but I feel like I'm so far away from the horse in a Western saddle and I hate cows.) But anyway. Rita Mae Brown first introduced me to the idea of foxhunting and I haven't been able to shake it since, though if I'm being honest, I don't think I'd be brave enough to do more than hilltop at first. I just don't have a desire to jump super high crazy things, especially not en masse! But it just looks so badass I want to try one day when I have money to throw around.

Though if I'm at this barn for a while, I might just turn into an eventer by default...mental note to get some pics of the XC jumps on the farm for you guys.

Day 18 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your grooming routine

Blech. I decided I didn't want to wear my old helmet (which I have also fallen in) to ride this week so I popped over to the tack store and got an inexpensive schooling helmet. Unfortunately they only had my size in a color I would NEVER choose to wear on my head voluntarily if I wasn't in this kind of "need a safe helmet by tomorrow" mindset.

 I still think it was the right choice but I am just not a shiny blue helmet kind of girl. Blech (again).

And the worst thing is it does actually come in a nice dark gray color. Oh well...I think it will be good to have a helmet I would not mind replacing at all for schooling since I was very sad to say goodbye to the CO. I will be taking advantage of their return credit policy but I won't be able to get out to the cheap tack store in VA for another weekend or two.

Beckett is always in these pics because he likes to try to run out the door when I get stuff from the garage.

And also...my SmartPak order arrived today too, yay! The saddle pad is nothing fancy, just something so we have a plain saddle pad for the clinic. I think the clinician will love Beckett's fur accenting it.

The boots are completely unnecessary. He already has a pair of the same Legacy boots already...but in neon green. Ick. Also the velcro is starting to wear out on the green ones. (That's the real reason I had to get new boots.)

I wish the black part was white too, but oh well. Wanted to stay with a brand his owner approves of.

Protecty thing on the inside (that is the technical term)

And because I have NO self control, while I was at the tack store today, I also got a white Ariat polo to wear at the clinic. I figure it can double as a shirt to wear at work. I need more short sleeve shirts anyway.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'm justifying these purchases to convince myself or to convince you all.

But come on...look at the shiny buttons! And it wicks sweat!

But anyway, that is ENOUGH horsey purchases for this month!*

On to my grooming routine.
I feel like my routine is pretty standard--curry, hard brush, soft brush (which I omit if the hard brush does the job) and pick out feet. If the mane looks crazy I'll brush it out. After a ride I curry, or in Midnight's case I rub him with a towel since he hates being brushed. Or if it's hot, I give the horse a shower.

I have really been pestering him lately when it comes to grooming since I am attempting to pull his mane. Can you tell I want to make a good impression at this clinic? I've never gone to a clinic, and what's more, the clinician is coming to teach at the farm for the summer, so I'm hoping if it's not super expensive (and if I like her) I can take some lessons from her. Anyway, Midnight let me pull the first third of his mane (from the withers up), no problem, but now that I'm about halfway through, he starts pacing as soon as I back-brush the hair. And he doesn't cross-tie well. His owner said I could use her Grooma blade thing so hopefully he will tolerate that better. I certainly hope so because I got stomped on already with all his pacing. Still have all 10 toes, though some are a bit bruised. My protective gear certainly did its job this weekend!

Anyway...we shall see how he does with the mane pulling. I'll try to remember to take more pictures of him for you all.

*Good thing a new month is starting soon! Just kidding. I hope.

Day 17 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your equestrian idol

Hey, so you know how in the last post I was talking about how my most recent fall was not that recent? Cause ha, my achy shoulder says otherwise today.

Yep...the gymnastics lesson was a bit more exciting than we thought it would be. Apparently there was a girl who had been jumping Midnight pretty regularly, and his owner had been doing trot poles with him, but never trot in/canter out gymnastics, so he is much more green to them than the instructor and I anticipated.

What happened was he trotted in very nicely to an X, but the next jump (a one-stride) had a flat plank kind of like this (only much smaller, and with just one plank):

We were supposed to trot in to the X and canter over the vertical, but in the middle Midnight got all crooked and then just sort of launched himself over weirdly. Obviously I didn't see it, but it was probably a situation of him going one way and me going the other. Thankfully the jump arena has soft footing. The instructor kept apologizing, saying she didn't realize he was still so green over these--and I totally know how she felt now, having taught lessons. But there really was no way we could have known how he was going to react; it definitely wasn't anyone's fault--possibly mine for not being more aggressive about keeping him perfectly straight.

All is fine though. I am pretty bummed that I will have to replace my Charles Owen Wellington since I freaking love that helmet. It's like a suction cup on my head. I definitely did fall on my the side of my head though so even though it doesn't look damaged and I didn't get a concussion or anything, I really do need to replace it. Lesson learned: wear a cheap helmet for jumping lessons!

My homework for the week is to work on straightness with chutes (trot poles or low Xes) and also to do a lot of leg yields on both sides.

My equestrian idol...this is one of those questions that I just feel kind of bleh about. I don't really have one. But I do remember having a total fit when I was starting my first day of my Practical Horseman internship, and I saw the contact info for McLain Ward and Beezie Madden in my Rolodex (yes, they still use Rolodexes there!). Actually, if anything, the people who work at PH are probably my role models. They have found a way to combine their passion for writing with their passion for horses, and they are very knowledgeable. I am happy with my job but I SO wish a position had opened up at Practical Horseman after my internship. Never say never, right?

Day 16 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your most recent fall

Considering that for the past year, I've been riding therapeutic and draft horses, my most recent fall was actually not that recent--almost exactly a year ago. Full story is here because it gives a better account than I would be able to do now since it was a while ago.

It basically stems from the fact that I have a bit of a complex about riding fancy horses that I don't feel worthy of or something--I think that is part of the issue with Midnight too. I need to treat him like any other horse, not some kind of fancy pants dressage prodigy that I can never live up to. I'll get there, with the help of some lessons...which by the way, begin tomorrow! It's a gymnastics jumping lesson so that should be really fun and give me a chance to work at letting my hip fold to meet the jump rather than flinging my upper body on his neck.

I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes. For now I'll leave you with a quote from Manchego's vet when I told her I also had another cat and a horse:

"Ah, so you're into the animals that you can have a mystical connection with."

Someone's been watching a little too much Saddle Club and for once it's NOT ME!

I will never be able to get the theme song unstuck from my head: "Hello world...this is me. Life should be fun for everyone!"

Day 15 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – If you could speak to any horse, dead or alive, what would you say?

An interesting question. I have a feeling famous horses would have pretty predictable things to say--racehorses like Secretariat would be very jumpy and have very repetitive thoughts like "Gotta go, gotta go," and horses like Totilas probably have 10-track minds and would be putting all the pieces together brilliantly (unless they are being rollkured to death of course).

The horse I think would be most interesting to talk to is a rescue at Gentle Giants named Kanin. Not because I really like him...because I just don't get him at all. He is a Paint/draft cross that came to the rescue years ago with his brother (who I think has been adopted out), and despite continued efforts by the rescue staff and volunteers (who are much more patient than I!) he is still nutty as a fruitcake. Still a holy terror to be caught, still afraid of the feed bucket, still convinced that every day humans wake up with the sole purpose of finishing him off once and for all. And of course he has back problems. There are a select few people who have had some success with him, but it's been agonizingly slow. I just don't get how he doesn't learn. If I remember correctly, the theory when he and his brother arrived was that they had been hit in the head, so brain damage is a possibility.

I would love to know once and for all if there is some crazy backstory we don't know about, or if there just is not much going on in that little walnut of a brain. Maybe he has memory loss like in 50 First Dates, so every day everything is new and terrifying all over again.

What about you all? Do you know of a rescue horse with weird/mystery habits whose story you'd love to hear?

Day 14 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your Dream Barn

Another bleh ride today :( I'm just having trouble getting Midnight as responsive and on the aids as he was when I tried him out. I'm sure his owner warming him up was a big part of that--in the video she is obviously more able to get his whole body working and round than I am. I haven't been able to coordinate a time for my old trainer to come out on the weekend yet so I may end up switching over to one of the trainers at the new place (the fact that they are cheaper doesn't hurt either!).

And aside from our not-very-connected ride, Midnight had quite the little snit fit on the ground today.  I've been pulling his mane for the past week and he has been pretty good about it, but today he was all over the place--practically running me over in the cross ties and in the stall, and forget letting me even touch  his mane while he was grazing. Hopefully he was just having a day because I've only gotten about a third of it done and that would be a very strange style for the dressage clinic.

In other news I picked this up from Great Falls Saddlery:

It's a little big on my bony wrist but I like the roller thing on the clasp.

So Midnight and I better work it out because I like wearing it!

My dream barn would be:

• in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic
• owned and maintained by top-level eventers who could teach me everything about riding and horsemanship via osmosis
• magically free

No, just kidding (kind of). Obviously we shall see how it plays out but it seems like I am AT my dream barn right now. It's not too expensive, the grounds are beautiful, there are a bajillion arenas (well, 3), the horses are well-kept and well-trained, they host clinics and shows, and the people are nice. Unless they are secretly judging me which you never know. I have been doing my best to do good-barn-citizen things like picking up after Midnight, cleaning his tack, and sticking around to watch lessons rather than just leaving immediately.

Oh--and in other, other news--I bought a white dressage pad and white Legacy boots for Midnight. I figure  plain things will give a better impression at the clinic than his neon green Legacy boots with a purple, pink plaid, or blue flamingo saddle pad.

And I think I'm putting the saddle search to rest, at least for now. I really like riding in his owner's Berney Brothers AP saddle, and another boarder has offered to let me use her dressage saddle. So why fix it if it ain't broke? I can just save that money for when I want to buy a horse (maybe Midnight, and then I'd see if I could buy his tack with him).

Day 13 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – A Video of Your Worst Riding

Double post today to make up for yesterday.

I wish for this one I had this video of me riding my horse from high school. It would be interesting to compare then/now, but it's at my parents' house. So not that this is the best  riding ever, but I don't have a video of my worst. I'll just give you a medley of recent-ish videos I've taken since I got a smartphone and it became really easy to get video.

I'll go chronologically. It appears that I transformed from my old hunter ways of doing nothing with the reins...to having a chair seat...to finding occasional success getting the horse to use his hind end and reach for the bit. Sounds about accurate.

April 2012

November 2012

Two weeks ago

Day 12 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Favorite Horse Color

Apologies for not posting yesterday...had to work a bit late since we had a webinar. Oh webinars...how I hate thee with every fiber of my being. They are so stressful for no real reason--I'm just always convinced the audio won't work, or the recording will cut out or something. Anyway. So that meant I didn't leave the barn till 9:30pm as I was figuring out where all the light switches, muck buckets, water taps, etc. were and taking Midnight back to his faraway field. It takes some time to get used to the little things like that.

Didn't have a great ride--I think I was being too timid and not asserting exactly what I wanted. Honestly I feel like my best ride with him was when I tried him out! Specifically, he keeps getting fast and unbalanced with me at the trot if I don't give him a good transition. Me posting wildly to whatever trot he gives me probably doesn't help either--I should be slowing my posts down to what I want. However, he has been giving me nice, bright canters that are very easy to adjust.

I also jumped a little vertical a couple times and kept getting left behind, which was disappointing. I just haven't jumped much in the past year or so and I am definitely rusty. But that's why I'm doing a gymnastics lesson with him this weekend!  That should be fun.

My favorite horse color is gray, as I've mentioned. I don't care that it never really stays gray, since most grays seem to love to roll, but there is just something so stunning about a dapple gray that I love.

My horse in high school was a fleabitten gray, though you can't see it very well. I loved the little "freckles" he would get in summertime!

Day 11 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Find a Horse For Sale Online That You Would Want to Buy

YAY! I came home to find Down to Earth Dressage in my mailbox. I'm already about a third of the way through.

Also my farm is doing a dressage "fix-a-test" clinic where you can ride a dressage test, get comments, and ride the test again to see if your score improves. It only costs as much as a lesson so I figure why not try Intro Test A? I know Midnight can do more than that, but I figure that is why dressage has levels--you move up, bit by bit. I'm going to make a day of it and volunteer to scribe and maybe set up or do rider check-in. I have never scribed before so I think I'm going to learn a lot. Maybe I will even report back with my Dressagin' Bingo card.

I called the woman who is organizing the event and even though it is a big barn, apparently the news of Midnight's spook has made the rounds on the grapevine already! I guess that's how it goes at any barn.

Perhaps I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but the only improvement I can see to Midnight is if he were gray. He is black so maybe we will get a little bit of gray as he ages :)

I found a very exciting looking Oldenburg in California:

Maxamillion--only $50k! Pocket change! Honestly I think he is way overpriced; I don't see 50k of horse in the video, but he looks like a sweet boy. The farm where I rode in high school had a bunch of sporthorses like this that I was always so envious of, and I have always been very partial to grays.

But honestly I am not in the frame of mind to horse shop. I am very happy with all my boys: my Bengal, my Siamese, and my OTTB. Oh yeah and Byron too.

Day 10 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – How Your Family/Friends Feel About Your Riding

Ah this is a good topic, since I just told both my parents I am leasing a horse this week.

Gotta fold at the hip more.

 Both of my parents are supportive, more or less. My mom thinks that horses are beautiful, and pretty much leaves it at that. I was probably more nervous to tell her about Midnight because she's a very "my way or the highway" kind of person and I'm never quite sure if she approves of things. Her reaction was just to gush about how gorgeous he was and how he "really knows his technique," whatever that means, lol! I always think it's cute when she gives her analysis, but hey, she did "audit" my weekly lessons for years so maybe she has picked up a thing or two.


My dad on the other hand always seems a bit surprised that I haven't grown out of this horse phase yet. He has not been a huge fan of me horseback riding ever since he saw me fall, which I guess is understandable if you're a dad. He sees the whole thing as an overly dangerous waste of money, and I think he has always wanted me to follow in his footsteps as a triathlete, or at least a runner. His reaction to me leasing Midnight was, "Well, I guess there are more expensive hobbies."

Ahh...parents.

My long-suffering friends show no outward signs of disapproving of my horse habit, but they probably wish I could come up with other topics of conversation besides horses and cats.

Day 09 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Riding Injuries

Oh man. I just found out that The Saddle Club is on Netflix and I am having a ball watching it with Manchego while I fold laundry. It's like double adorableness, plus accents. Right now Lisa's safety whistle is saving the evil Veronica from wild dogs on the trail. Oh yeah, we've all been there, right?

It is way past my bedtime though so I'll get right to the challenge.

My most long-lasting riding injury came from my much-referenced horse-falling-on-me incident at a show--my hips were misaligned by a couple degrees and that made my hips creak with a disturbingly zipper-like sound when they were stiff. That's improved over the years though and I haven't heard it since my sophomore year of college when I was going to a lot of concerts and standing still for a long time would aggravate it.

And aside from miscellaneous cuts and bruises from falling, the only other serious injury I've had is a (possible?) mild concussion from when I fell off Joey on my first trail ride with him. Who said therapy horses were boring?

Ahhh I'm dying from how awesomely bitchy Veronica is. "A Saddle Club member who can't even canter? How beginnerish is that?" I love it.

Day 08 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your Barn

Oh man. I should really be reading these ahead of time so I know whether I should be taking pictures or not.

Well I've been at my new barn for a week so far and I love it. It's about 30 minutes from where I live and about 45 minutes from where I work. Not sure what the acreage is but it's VERY big--people are always around, and there's at least 50 stalls. Midnight is in the lower bank barn (which is still huge), which has a hayloft and an apartment above it where the farm worker and his family live. This has desensitized the horses to the sound of little kids running above their heads!

The upper barn is much more fancy--higher ceilings, more light. Fewer stalls though. It has these fancy U-shaped grilles on the stalls:

Kind of like this. They look VERY nice

There are two outdoor arenas--one is fenced in and the other (the jump arena) is kind of up on a plateau with no fence. I haven't ridden there yet since I think I would always feel like I was going to fall off the edge! There's also a lighted indoor and XC jumps, from small logs to coffins to a coop that's practically as big as I am. Faaancyyy!

Apparently it backs up to some nice trails but I haven't explored those yet--maybe the weekend after this one since it is wet and muddy here in Maryland right now.

Speaking of trail riding, that brings me to the people at the new farm. The owner's trail riding buddy contacted me to see if I wanted to come ride with her and get to know the trails, which is awesome. This is exactly why I thought riding at a big farm might be a good idea. Because left to my own devices, I will just socialize with the horses and avoid human contact as much as possible. Here I have a lot of opportunity to meet new people in the area if I just make the effort to actually talk to people. There are even a few girls who look to be around my age--though I have to admit, I'm somewhat more intimidated talking to them than I am to older people. Even when I would go to parties with my family when I was young, I always wanted to sit at the "grown-up" table if the alternative was playing tag or hide-and-go-seek with a bunch of little heathens my age. I guess I have always had an internal age of like 80.

Another cool feature of the farm is that they have a list-serv for boarders.  I've already gotten a few emails, including an announcement that the farm is hosting a CT show and a dressage "fix-a-test" clinic. I'm going back and forth whether I want to do the dressage clinic or not. I feel like I should get a couple months down riding Midnight before I go out and do anything with him, but it's not like he's green and it is an on-site event. And it's more of a practice/learning thing than a show. Am I trying to talk myself into this? Because it sure sounds like it. I think the price is going to be the deciding factor of whether I participate or not, but if it's expensive hopefully I can audit.

I'll leave you with your dose of kitten for the day. This weekend a friend of mine is coming to watch me ride so lucky for you, that will probably mean more pictures of Midnight :)

Sleepy little cheese

Day 07 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your Favorite Show Ribbon

Hehe. Today further confirmed that Midnight is NOT the horse to teach Byron to ride on (one of my original criteria in my horse search that was promptly abandoned when I tried Midnight). We had some "airs above the ground" because OMG THERE WERE POLES LEANING ON THE FENCE...which we had passed about 10 times...but the 11th time they were definitely out to eat him.

Gotta love Thoroughbreds. It wasn't a terribly bad spook/skitter/buck either which is nice--it wasn't hard to bring him back to sanity. I went into autopilot and circled, circled, circled him, then we had a sloppy, but not out-of-control canter for a little while, and then once I got to the opposite end of the arena I pushed  him into an active trot. Then a walk not long after that so I could chill out and stop my stupid leg from shaking!

A couple people appeared out of nowhere as this was happening, which was a net positive. Good that they were there just in case, bad that their first introduction to me was my horse flipping out, good that they saw me riding it out like a BAMF.

On to today's challenge--my favorite show ribbon.

I have not shown that much, but I think my favorite ribbon was the Year-End Champion one I got at Swan Lake the day my horse fell on me when I was 14. I think it was Hopeful Hunters or Long Stirrup, something like that. I've already told the story here. To my parents' chagrin, this just solidified that all the hard work, all the expensive lessons where I never talked to anyone but my horse, all the giant flight animal spookiness...all of it was totally. worth it.

Day 06 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – All Tack and Riding Clothes You Have (color/ brand/ details)

We introduced the kitties today since Beckett stopped hissing when he smelled a blanket with Manchego's scent on it.

And we were entertained by Kitty TV for a good long time. Beckett is really strong for his size, but Manchego knows he's more nimble.

On to the challenge...this one is a doozy. I photographed everything. Because I care about you and your desire to catalog every horse item I own.

Breeches, from left to right: the amazing plaid full-seat, really old ribbed On Course knee-patch breeches, blue Kerrits fuzzy winter tights, Equifit fullseat (that is more of a capri length because I was too lazy to exchange it) and summer tights. Plus a kitten entranced by a dangly thing.

I just got the duffel bag today at Target. I've been needing a barn bag for a long time and since the new barn doesn't have a lot of parking spots, I finally decided to get something to help carry my stuff from the car when I have to park a little farther away. This was a good exercise, since I realized that I really don't need to carry all this crap around every day:

Paddock boots, leather chaps, leather cleaning stuff, neon yellow crop (easier to find when I drop it), boot jack, small spurs, an Ariat fuzzy headband for winter, side reins, a cavesson, and a Charles Owen Wellington helmet.

Ariat tall boots, Ariat boot bag, a super comfy bareback pad, another helmet that doesn't fit my head as well (I think it is IRH or International?), and black rubber boots for mud. I mean, for Beckett.

Beckett approved of my flamingo saddle pad. I have another that is navy blue but I'm not sure where it is. From right to left--very beat-up leather gloves, awesome grippy SSG gloves, Tailored Sportsman crochet back gloves, and SSG fuzzy winter work gloves.

Of all of these things, the one I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone (aside from plaid breeches and flamingo saddle pads, obviously) is the brown SSG gloves. I just got them this spring and they are amazing--warm when it's cold, but not too warm if it's hot, very grippy, and they work on a touch screen phone. They are so thin that I forget I am wearing them, which is perfect for maintaining more educated hands without freezing. Technology!

Day 05 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your First Fall

So the kitten continues to be a little menace who never sleeps at night and is constantly wailing his little head off. (And I mean WAILING, not cute little kitten mews.) I got ear plugs. Byron got cat calming drugs...so hopefully the combination will work and we won't be returning Don Quixote de Manchego to the breeder. Maybe he is trying to serenade Dulcineta, who knows...

Darn it if he isn't cute though.

He is dragging along a feather wand that is bigger than he is

 I also had my first official ride on Midnight today! It was amazing--I had cramps all day and I wasn't sure if I would do more than walk, but once I got on, it just seemed to melt away as we warmed up, and I felt 100% better. Sometimes exercise is the last thing you want to do, but it really helps. That is probably TMI, but over-sharing is what the internet is all about. We also braved the long side of the ring at the canter, and I was very pleased that I did NOT have a runaway racehorse like I did when I tried him out. The fact that I didn't have a death grip on his face this time probably was a factor.

Got a better photo of his cute face for you all

I love his owner's saddle but I am starting the research for my own. Leaning toward a used Passier all-purpose since apparently they are good for TBs that have a "dip" after their withers. Sounds like people at the barn are happy to help, but I bought The Horse's Pain-Free Back and Saddle Fit Book on half.com so I can have a better idea of what I'm doing. I also got Down to Earth Dressage--thanks for the recommendation, Carrot Top :)

Anyway, on to the challenge: my first fall.

My first fall occurred when I had been riding for about a year. I was on an Appaloosa named CopyCat in a group lesson, and my instructor was having us drop the reins and steer with our legs. We were in an outdoor arena...the wind was blowing...and there were jumps set up everywhere. You can see where this is going. Being an overachiever (and lacking common sense), I refused to pick up the reins when CopyCat locked on to a jump, and I tried to steer him toward the rail with my legs. This just made him canter over the jump (which I had never done at that point), and pop! Off I went. No harm done though.

Day 04- 30 Day Horse Challenge – A Ride That Impacted Your Life

I think every 30 day challenge blogger I've read has had trouble with this prompt. It's an odd question because I think most people don't remember individual rides for too long after they happen.

The only one that's coming to mind is the first serious fall I ever had. I'm being called away to tire out a still-constantly-meowing kitten, though, so I'll just link you to where I told the story.

Is that cheating? Whatever. 

Day 03 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – Your Best Riding

Hmm, this is tough since I feel like with every lesson, I have some kind of "aha" moment where I fix some problem. I feel like the best is still ahead, once I can put all the pieces together. I guess if I was to speak in more general terms, those "pieces" are:

• I have a goal in mind for the ride;
• My horse is between my hand and leg, feeling energetic but controlled;
• I have at least twice as much leg as hand;
• I'm giving unambiguous, fair signals to my horse and correcting only when necessary (as opposed to nagging or drilling);
• I'm thinking one step ahead of my horse (or better, several);
• My hips and thighs are relaxed, not restricting the horse's movement;
• My abs are acting as shock absorbers;
• My hands are quiet enough to feel my horse's tongue, and my arms are giving rather than rigid;
• I am present in the moment, not distracted by other aspects of my life, and taking the time necessary to do things correctly;
• I'm aware of others in the ring and not getting in their way...or I'm aware of the trail conditions and staying away from holes or deer;
• I end the session when I've reached my goal--even if that means I only ride for 15 minutes;
• And who are we kidding here--I have a totally awesome schooling outfit. It makes a difference.

I can think of times when all of these aspects have come together in lessons recently, but I don't think I've ever sustained it for an entire ride. So that is definitely a goal to work toward.

Anyway, I feel like that was a bit short/not as narrative as I hoped, so I'll leave you with two rounds of the Pictionary Telephone game I played with my friend in Pittsburgh and her roommates.  Warning--this is not the most G-rated game.

Ok, so apparently I've been mishearing Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa by Vampire Weekend this entire time.

And it comes full circle.

A note before our regularly scheduled programming...

Kittens! Inspired by! Kittens! (I may have referenced that before, but I absolutely love that Youtube video)

I arrived back from Pittsburgh to a fluffball!

He is an applehead Siamese (more formally known as Thai), as opposed to the alien-esque wedge-head Siamese. Byron and I were convinced we wanted to name him Koko, since we both read The Cat Who... books when we were young, but it just doesn't seem to fit him. So right now he is tentatively named Manchego (Monty for short) after my favorite cheese.

The resemblance is uncanny.

The downside is that he cries...and cries...and cries. Any of you who know Siamese know that when they want you to know that they are unhappy, they are not shy about telling you. Loudly.  And since this little one is missing his mommy and his siblings, Byron has only slept a few nonconsecutive hours since the kitten arrived yesterday.

He won't sit on my lap yet, but he is curled up next to me as I blog.

I am blogging to you right now from the bathroom since I am on kitten duty, and that is where we are keeping the little guy until we are ready to introduce him to Beckett...who, by the way, is NOT PLEASED. He actually hissed at me when I was bringing up the new kitten's cat carrier, which he has never ever done before. So that may be a difficult transition. I really hope that they can become buddies and keep each other occupied during the  workday. But first things first...get the kitten acclimated to his new surroundings so he stops howling for mom.

More  kitten pictures!

I love his salt-and-pepper tail!!!! But I think it will turn brown as he gets older.

Name suggestions are more than welcome! So far his personality is very whiny and needy, but that's probably more the stress of moving than anything else.

Day 02 – 30 Day Horse Challange -Last Time You Rode and What You Did

Last time I rode was yesterday. I was on Joey (the chestnut from the previous post), who is a 16 y/o Hanoverian, though I think he looks more like a TB than anything else--likely because he's too out of shape to look like a beefy warmblood, and he's a little guy, only around 15 hands.

Old picture

He didn't want to move off my leg from the walk, so we did a lot of walk-trot transitions to rev him up and get him more connected. While we were trotting I worked on controlling his pace with my seat and relaxing my inner thighs, which I think wanted to grip since he is so much narrower than Shadow-man.

Then a little left-lead canter from the trot (which is difficult for him--he is much easier to canter from a walk), which was lovely. He gave me that nice, uphill, springy canter I know he has in him--I think because I was helping him to maintain the pace with my seat rather than leg, leg, leg. There is nothing better than a canter that just makes you feel happy to be alive. Then long rein walk, and some more walk-trot transitions.

Had some trouble getting the right lead canter--my trainer was giving a lesson to someone else, but she saw I was having issues. She told me to counterbend and give with my right hand. Took like two tries for me to get it, but then bingo! New trick learned. And we ended on a long rein after he got that right lead for like 3 strides. While he was cooling out I practiced my 2-point since I haven't done that in a long time. Felt funny doing 2-point in a dressage saddle though :)

All in all (since some of the time was spent staying out of the lessoner's way while she was jumping), probably amounted to a good 30 minutes of work. I was certainly tired and it was like 80 degrees yesterday so Joey worked up a little sweat too.

No challenge post tomorrow--I will be traveling to Pittsburgh to get my sangria on with my BFF :) Byron will be picking up our new Siamese kitten, so when I return on Sunday prepare to be inundated with cuteness.

Day 01 – 30 Day Horse Challenge – When and Why You Started Riding

I started riding when I was 11, after what felt like a million years of begging and explaining to my dad that riding wasn't dangerous or that expensive. Ha. Unfortunately for my dad, my first lessons at J-Mar Stables in Monkton, MD infected me with the horse bug, and there is no cure.

We chose that farm because lessons were cheap--only $30 for a group lesson. That may have been because it was literally in the middle of nowhere--with driving, grooming, tacking and untacking, the whole thing would take the better part of a Saturday. So after just a handful of lessons, we switched to a farm closer to where we lived, Patapsco Horse Center in Catonsville, MD.

 
In hindsight, this was a lesson factory, but I leased a lesson horse for a month here (the first horse I ever showed, SoCo) and I was in heaven. We left when they switched to an instructor who wasn't as good and increased the price of lessons. Fun fact--the Blair Witch Project was filmed in the extensive trails behind the farm. I'm glad I didn't know that when we would go on hacks after lessons.

Riding did NOT come naturally to me. I was convinced I would fall off every time I trotted at first since I was terrible at both posting and sitting, so it took many years to undo my "hunter crouch" AKA fetal position equitation. I would like to erase the years of flopping around like a sack of potatoes from my memory. But I think that the outward competitiveness that I lacked in other sports (most notably, basketball, when I threw a crying fit the day of my elementary school team's first game and never played again) turned itself inward when it came to riding, and I always wanted to improve. I couldn't give up after having whined and pleaded for lessons for so long!

Screen cap from video of Midnight

And funnily enough, I feel the same way still. Why give up now?

Moving On

Bittersweet--today was my last day riding the schoolies at the therapeutic riding center, though I might be back to occasionally lesson on my trainer's horses. Sad to leave Joey and Shadow, and all the other wonderful therapy horses I've had the pleasure of meeting there...but also SO EXCITED to start the lease next week. Decided to do half of April and prorate it :)

Lazy man Shadow

And cutie pie Joey

The manager said I can come back and ride whenever, which is nice. This past year would have likely been mostly horseless if it wasn't for the opportunity she gave me to ride there, and I probably wouldn't have started teaching if I wasn't riding regularly.

This is the COTH thread where I found the opportunity. I can't believe it was only last January.

Horseless Riders and Riderless Horses thread FTW!

Seriously, if you can WTC even halfway decently, there are so many opportunities to ride for free that I would have never known about if I hadn't done some emailing around. Rescues, therapeutic riding centers, timid/busy horse owners, exchanging barn chores for rides...I have found free riding opportunities with all of these situations, and all have gone a long way toward furthering my riding ability.

It's definitely going to be interesting to see how things go now that I will have my "own" horse again. That hasn't been the case since high school. Anyway...I guess you'll all come along on the ride with me!

Oh, Blogger.

It is always interesting to see the search terms people use to get to your blog. Most of mine are pretty ordinary--"equestrian blog," "viva carlos equitation," "bad dressage horse conformation" (poor Caladhin!)...

But can anyone illuminate what the heck someone who searches "ihsa one eared horse" is really looking for? I have never even heard of a one-eared horse. Hopefully they were searching for a one-eared Western bridle? I am worried for that person.

Anyway, the internet continues to be entertaining, what else is new.

I've decided to do that 30-day blog challenge so I have all the questions set up as drafts in Blogger. At first I tried to do title caps for each one, then it was taking too long on my creaky old Mac, and then I realized that some of them are long-ish questions and title capping questions would personally vex me to no end.

So I'm going to uncapitalize all of them for consistency. And I also realized that some of the questions are stupid (critique a famous rider's jump round of your choosing? That's just going to make you look like a snooty tooty pants) so I am going to make up a few new ones.

So, bottom line, blogging=doing whatever the heck you want because it makes sense in your own weird, obsessive little brain. If only my real editing job was so perfectly coordinated to my whims.

It's a Go!

I loved Midnight! His owner is really nice (though you never know, nice can sometimes turn to crazy-pants) and it seems like he can teach me a lot about dressage.

She says he does half-pass, shoulder in, and a bunch of other things I don't know how to do yet, so that's icing on the cake for later on. Right off the bat I could see that he is very willing, but he makes you work. If you don't ride correctly, he won't raise his back and use himself correctly, but he does have a solid three comfortable gaits that he will maintain without nagging--very different from my lazy therapeutic horses. I don't feel like I rode that well since I was nervous--I was getting into a bad hunter crouch at times, and I think I could have gotten a better result if I had more leg and was a little ligher in my hand (but isn't that always the story?). We did have several moments of reeeeeallllly nice trot strides. I took the lease agreement home to look over with my trainer sometime this week.

I also tried jumping him over a little X--he did great. I haven't jumped for several months though and my release has gotten really sloppy.

Yay!!!! My first horse, starting in May!

It has seriously been such a wonderful day. Found a wonderful horse at a wonderful farm (it was just as lovely as advertised, though the XC jumps are kind of oddly placed along the driveway), had a relaxed lunch with Byron, and the new season of Mad Men starts tonight!

Dressed for success

I ordered some new full-seat breeches online! And of course, since buying full-seat breeches online is a really stupid idea, they didn't fit and they looked like diaper pants.

There was a really odd diaper pants fad in Spain the summer I studied abroad.

So I exchanged them for something I have wanted ever since I first saw them in a Dover catalog at age 12...

PLAID. BREECHES.

They just arrived yesterday, and in the right size, too. So after a lot of internal wondering if I would look ridiculous or not, I will be wearing them to try out Midnight. The only issue was what to wear with it...since you can definitely look like a crazy person pretty easily in plaid.

 Collared technical shirt with white piping?

Long-sleeve T-shirt style technical shirt?

Or cotton V-neck?

I went with option 3. I like wearing technical shirts normally, but fabric just looked kind of weird with the very traditional-looking (or as some might say, old-ladyish) plaid. I think I need to invest in some polo shirts. Heading out the door now!