Just Needed to Squee.,.

So today I woke up feeling a little yucky. It was grey out, I was warm and cozy in bed, and more than happy to stay there, but the call of work pulled me out of my warm cove. Usually, I am pretty happy to go to work. I like my job, I get to be outside, I get to be physical and I get to hang out with horses all day. That is pretty cool for me. Just a blah day today, they happen.

I guess I did something right because Karma decided to smile on me because when I got to work I found out one of the riders was off today and instead of just doing sets of two, one of us [barn staff] would be filling in! It was between me and M, but M had only running shoes, so by default I won the vote and GOT TO BE A RIDER FOR A DAY! And not just ride one, on the last set because there wasnt enough time, no, RIDE FIVE horses all morning... FOR MY JOB! HA! How cool is that?!

It was a jog day, but it was still on the track, so that was cool, and in a racing saddle, which is fun. Just in case they ever get famous, I want to be able to say I rode them - I rode Tahiti Pearl, Moon Stalker, Grey Boundary, Wedding Scripture and Like the Look. Moon Stalker, by the way, is the biggest horse I ever rode... he is about 17.2 and he is a two year old! He moves just like a normal horse though, I was surprised at that. I figured he would have a big nice floaty stride, but nope. Flat, boring, had to work to post. Boundary, Pearl and Headlight [Like the Look] were the nicest. Pearl just floats in her extended trot, Boundary is sooooo smooth and flowy and Headlight is just beyond power and comfort!

It was really fun seeing how their ground personalities matched up with their track personalities. Wedding Scripture is EXACTLY the same. She is a total LBI and it was ridiculous trying to get her to just maintain a TROT. And she's a racehorse... figure that one out!  Pearl was a surprise. She always drags her feet when going to or from the paddocks, she is super calm and slow for everything and then she was all floaty wonderful forward and delightful undersaddle. Not runaway, but forwards. Stalker was the same, just medium. He is kind of a giant lummox. He is adorable, and huge [on my tip toes I can barely reach the top of his bum] and not really sure what to do with himself, and that tranferred I think. He goes, but he is very "okey dokey" about it. Boundary was a treat to ride. He is GORGEOUS [ beautiful dapple grey] and I have admired him since the beginning. He is a treat to ride to, apparently! Forward, but not unstoppable and sooooo comfortable. He is one of those horses you stop and stare at when he plays in the paddocks.

Headlight was herself I think. She always wants to go somewhere, do something, has a schedule. She was that way undersaddle to. Strong, ready to go, powering off and I had better come to or have a darn good reason why she was staying slow. Funny horse.

I think I smiled and laughed a lot this morning because lets face it, how often do I get on a racehorse and go ride on a track?! I think thats pretty cool!!!  So thats my story, I just needed to squee.... I have the coolest job ever. Today, clean stalls, tomorrow, ride a racehorse... who knows what the future holds?? I am just glad I keep my helmet and half chaps in the car!!!

:-)
S

Mo Makes Me Smile

Plain and simple, there it is. Mo just makes me smile. She makes me so happy pretty much all the time. Just watching her graze, munching away happily rarely fails to produce a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. Today was no different. In fact, today was rather exactly what I needed.

I wasnt having the greatest morning, for other reasons [although I DID find out I could get my most favorite riding boots re-sewn for incredibly cheap!] and I just wanted to have some nice horsey time. Mo time actually. I love Indy just as much but today I wanted to have Mo. Dont ask, it just happens. Luckily for me, when I pulled up to the barn Mo was in the shed AND [adorably] watching my truck very intently, as if she was waiting for me. It could have been curiosity about the rather loud music emanating from said truck, but I like to think she knows its my vehicle.

I went into the barn, got my halter, filled up my pocket with a couple cookies and then crawled through the fence to go see my horsey. And then I promptly, irritatingly, burst into tears. Go figure. Good thing Mo is the perfect shoulder to cry on. Once that was out of the way, Mo was looking at me pretty concerned. She hadnt moved and inch while I hugged her, and I love that about her. After apologizing for my outburst I went on with scratching Mo, doing my usual check over for new cuts or bruises, sadly noting the amount of winter fur already growing in, and finally putting the halter on my wonderful ami.

Lately I have been playing with mounting bareback. It is one of those things I see people do and really really want to be able to do. I am not [and have never been] the most nimble athletic person. I am an active person, I am just not one of those people who can do any sport they try the first time out. Sports and I dont like each other very much. Coordination isnt my best friend either, so trying to finagle myself into being able to swing up onto my horse is an interesting experiment. The other day, I positioned Mo on the down slant of the run in shelter and during the process of my various attempts she moved a couple inches around so that her shoulder was near one of the beams holding the roof up. On that particular try I swung up high enough, but needed a little more leverage to get all the way up. Conviently there was a beam to grab! Success achieved! 

Noting my previous methods, I tried that again today and voila, mounting accomplished. I figure once I get the muscle memory I can A] leave out the beam and B] work towards flat ground without a downslant!

For a while I just sat on Mo, just enjoying the feeling of sitting on a horse. It is my favorite thing in the whole entire world. I go into withdrawl if I cant just SIT on a horse on a regular basis. If you see me in the dead of winter, you will see me just sitting on my horse because, lets face it, in four feet of snow and ice, you cant do much more! But I just cant give up riding for the whole winter! So I just modify it :-) Its more sitting than riding when the snow flies, but its enough until spring.

Anyways, after sitting for a while I saw Trixie looking mischevious and harassing Crystal who was just innocently trying to lick the salt lick. Mo and I moseyed over and I started using what I know of moving-cow-psychology on Trixie. AND IT WORKED! I thought that was cool. I was able to move Trixie without moving Crystal. Last summer we had this grand Trixie-Tag game day, and I tried to re-create it, but she just got annoyed and hid in the shed. Oh well! It works better when you have a partner, but C was still at school.

After that I brought Mo into the barn to detangle her many, many hairs. Luckily she hasnt gotten into the burrs or devil things yet. Everyone else seems to have! Once she was all shiny we got our 22' line and went to play in the ring. Last night I was watching this lovely L3 liberty audition, so I was all inspired to practice my liberty. The problem with that is we dont have a roundpen where Mo lives, and also, there are other horses who have access to the ring when we play because it doubles as a paddock. Sometimes Mo likes to ditch me to go play with them, and thats not the best because of fights ensuing and whatnot. So I took a precaution. I had my 22' line on her, but I wrapped it around her neck so it was out of the way, but easily within reach if I needed it. It seemed like a viable plan to me :-)

And so our play began. We started just walking around, checking out our stick to me, and feeling out the mood. Mo was in SUCH a good mood! We did a few transitions, walk to halt to back up, for which I gave Mo cookies when she got it right. That REALLY perked her up. It was an introvert day today. She started to offer me little trots to keep up and even jumped the barrels in a squeeze game without even thinking about leaving! I am so proud of her! We played around with the barrels, went over to the mini barrels I have set up laying down and a wider jump and Mo popped over those to, just like a pro and stopped with me on the other side. I adore that feeling. You know the one where you stop and your horse is just so in sync with you that they stop right with you, right beside you and then turn their head and look at you to ask whats next... that one.. I live for that as much as riding.

After playing with the jumping thing we tried some sideways away and towards and that was pretty solid. Away needs so refinement, she drifts a little in front, but towards was spot on! With things going so well I decided to be brave and try things at higher gaits. Usually this is when Mo says SEE YA and goes to visit the others. NOT TODAY! OH BOY! I cant even express what this means to me. Mo stuck to me and did little circles at the trot, doing rollbacks when I changed direction, allowed me to direct her with the stick WITHOUT taking offense or getting snotty. AND THEN. Let me be 10 for a second.. OMGOMG.... AND THEN WE DID CANTER STICK TO ME ALL OVER!! For the first time in my life and Mo's we did GORGEOUS canter stick to me, with change of direction and transitions and just ... wow... I love Mo.

And then I ran into a barrel. I have to say, I really did laugh at myself. Just so we are clear, I can definately laugh at myself. I was so into watching my gorgeous pony canter around with me I completely forgot to look where I was going and ran smack into one of the metal barrels I had set up as a jump standard. I went barrel surfing for a second before hitting the dirt laughing. It was like slow motion! It was the funniest fall I ever had, for sure. On the up side, Mo didnt even spook, she came right over to ask what I was doing on the ground laughing. HA.

Back to play time! We played and played, even got some spins and some wonderfully soft backing by the tail! Mo never even tried to leave once. That is a new record. Did I mention I love Mo?

After playing with that for a while, I decided to ride again and got on bareback [I cheated and used the water trough as a mounting block though] and went out the gate and onto the trails. We rode the trails a couple o times, splashed in the water and then came back. I let Mo graze in the back yard while I layed in the grass just enjoying looking at her. She is so pretty... but perhaps I am biased..

Such are the events of my day today. Mo the awesome Liberty Star has arrived. And I loves her.

:-)
S

My Horse the SUPERSTAR!!!!!

Today was just phenomenol!!! I LOVE MY HORSEY!!!!!!

In a small town near where I live today there was an event called a Hunter Pace. This is basically a trail ride that has some potentially jumps and is ridden by a member of the Hunt to find the optimum time, and then us regular people try to ride it to what we think that time is. Basic rexipe for uber good times!!

Oringinally, there were supposed to be five of us going from my work. This morning when I got to the farm with my pony and trailer I found out it was just going to be me and A. Which is just peachy :-) I am just glad someone was still going to come with me!

Anyway, back to the beginning! I brought Indy in this morning, becuase I finally felt like she was ready to go somewhere in the trailer again. She is finally loading *so* nicely like Mo does when we are practicing, and the Hunter Pace isnt far, so I thought it would be the perfect chance to practice. I cleaned up my dearling half white messy pony as best as I could [I DID try and wash her legs at least yesterday... but she rolled six million times when I let her go...*sigh*]  I loaded up my truck and trailer and then the test came - how would Indy load? I knew my energy was up because I was excited about where we were going, but I was working SUPER hard to control it and make it calm down! It must have worked because my SUPERSTAR walked right onto the trailer! Have I mentioned I love my horsey?

When I got to my work farm I couldnt see anyone, and I was honestly a little worried they left without me! Turns out everyone just bailed... poop! Well, two bailed and one was sick, so that just left me and A. Since it was just going to be us I offered to let Boots [her mount] ride in my trailer instead of hitching up the giant 5 horse for one lonely pony! Indy was showing off her superstar quality right from the start. She didnt freak out, or try to get off or take a single misstep while we loaded Boots [a strange horse!] right up beside her on the trailer. GO INDY!

Once we were loaded up we were off to the Hunt!! Turns out its not even that far away! Whoo! We pulled in, and some people were already leaving, but we werent late because you were allowed to leave between 11 and 1pm. I like that because you dont have to get up at the crack of stupid like when you go to a show!  Indy came off the trailer like a pro! She was calm, neighing a little [she likes to make friends] but for the most part she was excellent and in tune with me and paying attention! I am SO proud! I was nearly certain I would have my fanatical RBE back, but NOPE! She was FABULOUS!

I did a couple of little things to make sure she was paying attention and then saddled her up and did a few more things for girthing up before mounting. More uber superstarness! We walked around a little while waiting for Boots to get finished. When we were both ready we went over to the starting line and off we went! We were team #22, with just the two of us. We started off pretty nice and slow, walking and trotting, there werent to many things to jump in the beginning.


Indy was a star though. I was riding with my hackamore, and for the most part on a casual rein! Pretty stellar for a right brain extrovert if you ask me! Lots of open spaces, chances to bolt etc and she didnt want to go anywhere! I am SO proud of her!! A was in the lead with Mr. Im A Racehorse, and Indy did a great job following! She stayed with him without being a pain or getting to close [most of the time] We trotted the first few jumps, which were smallish, after Boots, and Indy did great! Then we came to this little feild that had a ditch jump, a barrel jump [laying down] and a couple of log jumps. It was a PREFECT warm up! ALL things Indy is used to and knows she can jump!! She jumped them all like a total pro and was controllable the whole time to boot!  Boots did great to!

We moved on and through the ever winding course, through some straw feilds that we cantered through, over bunches of more jumps and always laughing and having fun! Indy was just a STAR! I cant even express that enough, how proud of her I am! She just totally blew me away today! The last few rides have been kind of ishy, then yesterday we had a fabulous trail ride with C and Candy [which was a real treat!] and then today, just.. POOF ! She was ON! She was having a ball jumping and running, but toally willing to walk around on a casual rein when I asked her to. LOVE IT!!!

After flying over one awesome log we landed in the feild with the 3/4 way house - water and chocolate! Indy was completely content to stand and graze while I guzzled my drink and candy. PERFECT! I love that we can pump up the adrenaline one second and then relax completely the next. I really really came to apreciate that today watching A trying to get Boots to stand quiet [he got upset that others were going in front of him!]

There were two jumps through the exit of that feild which Indy completley ignored [and I had to laugh because she was very dramatic about it] and then pelted after Boots when he went around a corner and nearly spooked at another jump. That was about the only drama she gave me for the day, and it wasnt much! In the next couple of clearings there were things to jump and we jumped them all! Indy was a total star! We even went and played in WATER TWICE!!! Usually water is her sticking point, but she just plowed right in both times, sipping some delicately, and splashing around after.

The coolest thing I think was when we went over the hedge jump. Indy WAAAY overjumped it [she thought it was solid I guess] but we survived and the next time she jumped it like a normal horse! YEY! We even went over some of the ..coops I guess? The rounded ones made with slats of wood? Boots rapped it a bit and she was a little worried but she went right over it clear and free. Lots of logs and things to jump! Some of them were big to!!! It was really nice to be able to have confidence in Indy, knowing that if we could just get a confident approach that I knew she could clear these things - I worry with Mo, because she is small and sometimes klutzy. Annnd she jumps like a deer and that is hard to ride sometimes. She is getting better, but Indy is by far the smoother jumper!

So, overall, we jumped baxzillions of things, lived to tell the tale and had a BLAST!! MY PONY IS A SUPERSTAR!!!!!!!! I was worried about being able to just control her away from home... and instead we had the best ride EVER, got compliments on our jumping AND did it all with confidence! Every time we slowed down and walked she was blowing and licking and walking level or low headed. I am just SO thrilled with her! SO PROUD!!!!!!!!!!!!

INDY IS A ROCKSTAR SUPER MEGA STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVES MY PONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-)
S

Guess What!

Soooooo,..... Today! I rode a racehorse! I thought that was pretty cool! We only trotted, but it was full out in a racing saddle and everything! I found that pretty exciting anyways. One of the regular riders had a doctors appointment for the last set today, so I got to fill in.

In other news, have you hugged your horse today?
I have! I was away all weekend since Friday and missed my ponies terribly [and yes, I called to check up on them on Saturday night.. because I may just be that lame] Hugging them is just the best cure for missing my furry amis. When I got to Aunty's everyone was in the farthest far corner away from the barn and I was so pooped from the weekend and from work that I couldnt garner the energy to go *all* the way out there. Lazy right? Well.. its a big field, and I worked hard today. After hanging out with my cousins and aunty for a while I looked out the window to be delighted by the sight of my loverly ponies.

I promptly ran out to the barn calling out to all ponies belonging to me and lo and behold Mo was happily marching to the gate to say hi and Indy was hot on her heels. I had just enough time to give Mo some tasty treats before Indy came up behind her with nasty looks. Indy got her yummy things as well, plus her hugs. Then I ran out to give Mo hugs to.

Lots of hugs later, I do the typical me thing. I brought Mo into the barn to love on her some more and see if  I could come up with a way to turn her wonderful bowing into lying down. All at liberty :-)

I havent quite figured out the laying down part yet, but our bowing progressed to being easily accomplished on both sides by just tapping her leg a little bit so that was awesome! During that session I was really thinking about Linda's article about motivating a left brain introvert with food, because Mo was REALLY motivated! She kept offering me things in order to win a treat instead of just mobbing me for food, so that was interesting!

After playing with that for a while I grabbed the bridle and played with getting her to put her own head in the bridle by motivating with more cookies around the bit. That was fairly successful! One of the most simple, but amazing things I saw during my course time in Florida was Avery bridling Akiss, she held out the bridle in front of him and her just basically put his own bridle on. He went and got the bit, put it in his mouth and put his head in the proper position to have the headstall slipped over his ears. Simple, but fabulous. I would like to work towards that!

When everything was all set I hopped up bareback and Mo and I set off for a little trail ride. We played with some contact things, sideways and transitions within the trot on the trails. I got SO close to passage!!! Mo gave me this fabulous floating slow collected trot. It felt so amazing! I think we have been spending to much time in the ring and need to get out more! Oops, my bad! Of course, its pouring rain now and I have no clue if the trails will be useable any more! Mo and I had a lovely dash through the rain back to the barn.

Overall, great day I would say!

:-)
S

Elephant-manship!

Ok, so this is random, but it made me happy so I will post it!

Hot on the heels of Jesse's [Jesse Peters - 3* instructor] elephant adventure at the zoo, I had a unique experience today! It was the local [well, my hometown] fair this weekend, and, as per usual I was volunteering all weekend to help events run smoothly.

This morning, while waiting for our events to begin, we - myself, T, C and D - wandered over to the newest Fair attraction - AN ELEPHANT! Now, I *know* side shows like this arent probably the nicest life for this elephant, but I have to say, it was COOL seeing an elephant like that up close.

The coolest part? WE RODE IT! Elephant fluidity! It was very cool. An elephant would need a super-super-super wide saddle I think....

But anyways, I just wanted to share that. Today, I rode an elephant. And it was exciting. Yey.

Ps: Her name was Limba

:-)
S

Fun Stuff

A couple fun things lately.
Yesterday I took Mo over to D, L and S's place to play. K was there to, and we all had a blast. We played with Sparky again, which I always love! Mo loved it to! Instead of playing in the arena, we played in the straw field!! There were rows of cut straw so when the cow went out of the path, it had to jump over the rows which gave an extra little fun bit!

Me and Mo played with some contact with the Cradle bridle, and some bridless stuff too, which was a blast. S and D had set up an awesome obstacle course that we played online and the undersaddle as well, which was a super challenge and fun. Mo was really tuned in and I am super proud of her.

Today I went out to test out some new saddle fitting things on Indy.  OH WAIT! I forgot!! I changed the gullet again in my saddle! It is now on the uber widest one, and I am currently playing with shim patterns to figure that one out.... I havent found the perfect one for Mo yet, but B gave me some good ideas the other day via skype [which I adore] that I am playing with. I am not sure how well it works for Mo, but I tweaked it a bit today to fit Indy better and it really seemed to work. I think I could use one thin shim, just for me to get better back on my balance point, but other than that I was happy with it - and better, SHE was happy with it - she was actually OFFERING to put her head down at the trot after a while, and we were just in the halter and 12' - that is something she has never done without being prompted by a fluid rein! So joy for that!

I had some ruffles on the left side, but I think that might be from me re-adjusting the saddle because the girth wasnt tight enough in the beginning. I will keep an eye on it either way though, to make sure it isnt a fluidity issue in me! Interesting note to, she picked up both leads pretty easily. The last time we rode she could not for the life of her [OR ME!] get the right lead -which is interesting because Mo has a hard time with the left lead! So... what does that say about me? I havent quite figure that out yet either.... Lots of figuring going on currently!

Actually lately I have felt a bit stuck, so I have to keep reminding myself that when you feel stuck or like you are moving backwards, its just a new level of concious incompetence. Its a good thing. I just forget that sometimes... it is hard to feel stuck when you want to feel progressive all the time! Things ARE progressing though, I think sometimes though my expectations just get to high for what I am actually doing - in contrast, having high expectations is what has pushed me to get where I am now, so thats not a negative.

In a 'things are progressing' note, I am now consistently and confidently [and regularly!] riding Indy bridless around the pasture at a walk and trot and in to the barn. Little liberty things coming along nicely with her to, which is a nice treat. Mo is being her usual goobery self tonight. I just brought her in to brush her [all those hairs take a lot of upkeep!] but she was so cute and searching out treats that we played with practicing her bows on both sides. I am also trying to figure out how to turn that into lying down without ruining the bow. Yet more figuring! YIKES!!

Lots to think on!!

:-)
S

Oops...

Interesting observation today.

I changed the gullet in my saddle - a Wintec Wide - to be the medium sized one. The saddle comes with three, all extra wide, but a small medium and large extra wide, so I guess 1x, 2x and 3x [or some such] Today I put the 2x gullet into the saddle, after having been using the 1x one for the last... ever. The idea was initially for Indy, as her muscle is building up so much that the saddle is really getting to small for her. I thought I would have to shim like crazy to get it to fit Mo now!

Apparently I was wrong!! Mo was the close one after I did the re-adjusting so I brought her into the barn to do a shimming session with the new set up. Upon really looking at her and feeling around the saddle, I think she could actually even maybe use the biggest gullet! YIKES! I will have to check it out with Indy and maybe just go right to that one. For now this one suffices, and with two thick shims and a thin one it seems really good, has great clearance in the scapula and actually put me on my balance point!

ANYWAYS! The point is that when I took her out to move around to see what she thought, I got some fun reactions. Her first thing when I asked her to move out was head up brace for half a second followed by head on the ground blowing and trotting like that. Hmmm. Both directions that happened for, AND she offered me some super soft CANTER circles on the 12' line, which is a first [in a left brain state!] So that was uber cool. We played with that for fie minutes and then I mounted up to test it out with my influence [ostensiably for just a few minutes... ]

HOLY CRAP! Mo was just sooo flowy. This gorgeous slow smooth trot, head on the ground and this AMAZING slow cadenced canter. She was light, she was supple, she was paying attention and she was HAPPY!! She was offering me the canter and we just did all kinds of cantering. I couldnt believe the totall turn around. This complete reversion to MY Mo leads me to believe that it may have been a pinchy saddle contributing to the snarky Mo I have been around for the last little while. Mo never has been one to suck it up and be good anyways, I am just not always so clever at finding out what it is thats bothering her!!

Now I know that at least the saddle was part of it! What I wouldnt give for a Parelli saddle... ! Maybe in a few paycheques... hahaha! It was just so nice to be able to have a nice connected ride with Mo without her being bracy and concerned about everything. I forgot what a treat that is. It will be very interesting to see how m'dear Indy likes it tomorrow!!

I am happy now that Mo is happy. I was getting very concerned! Should have clued in when bareback riding was still going well... DOI. Oh well! Hindsight 20/20 right? At least I figured it out now :-)

:-)
S