Prince Charming Comes to Midnight Hill and the Blanket Rant

                                                           (Commanding Charm)
                                                      
I cannot believe I haven't posted anything since the end of October! Bad blogger, bad! Unfortunately there just hasn't been anything really news worthy until just this past week.  I've probably been able to swing a leg over Fox a total of three times in the last two months.  The same old story, weather, work, energy, DAYLIGHT!  I freaking hate this time of year because I can never get home with enough daylight left to actually ride my horse.  But enough of that rant when there are sooo many others to expound on.

But before I go off on a tangent about blankets here's what's happening at the farm.  We have a new resident! Charm, aka Commanding Charm is an OTTB gelding that belongs to a friend of mine.  I met A. through COTH (thank you COTH!) about two years ago.  I had been cruising the boards and seen a post about an injury to a rider. I began to read but the event was so horrific I didn't get past the details.  A few weeks after reading the post I went to a dressage clinic around the corner from my house where my then friend, now coach K. was riding her young horse.  There were a few other people there and one happened to be this nice girl with an obviously injured hand.  We started talking and I suddenly realized THIS was the poster from COTH!  We've been fast friends ever since, sharing details about our various horse related injures, woes, work lives, and rants about significant others.

A. has had a rough couple of years.  She's a registered nurse but with her hand injury she wasn't able to do patient care and had to look for other work. Which she did but the stress of rehabbing her injury, the medical bills and mounting horse related bills became a lot to handle. She was on the verge of losing Charm.  A. created a temporary plan to relieve some of the financial stress that would allow her to keep Charm but it was not an ideal situation and eventually barn drama and other things forced A. to start looking for a way to move Charm until he could go back to his original boarding situation now that A.'s job issues have cleared up.  I wasn't able to take Charm in the beginning just too many other things going on but I offered up my farm as a temporary solution for the gelding before he moved literally walking distance down the road from me to his original boarding barn which A. and Charm both loved.

Superhubs and I arrived at the farm to pick up Charm where he literally leaped on to the trailer in his effort to make his desire to leave a stressful situation known. He traveled well and arrived at my farm around midday on Saturday where he easily settled in to the main pasture.  I had moved Seneca and Cowboy to the side pasture and left Fox in the back pasture because Fox would the next day become Charm's new pasture buddy.

Although Fox seemed less than enthusiastic about that.  He sniffed Charm over the gate once then went back to hanging out on the fence line that he shared with Seneca because he loooooves her the mostest.  The next day A. and I put Fox and Charm together.  They sniffed, they decided who was in charge (Fox) and then ran up and down the fence for a few minutes gorgeous tails flung to the wind before settling down to eat on the round bale.  There has been thankfully very little drama and everything looks like it will go well until Charm moves down the road in the beginning of February when his stall opens up.

The blanket rant.  I am very picky about my blankets, I'm picky because my horses are those rare combination of pasture terrorists and rollers that seem to destroy their blankets on a weekly basis.  Which has me stopping in regularly at the local blanket repair shop and cruising for bargains and deals on suitable blankets.  Which is difficult because again I'm pretty picky and my horses are pretty spectacular at destroying their expensive clothes.

Two years ago Rambo's Amigo line started making a fabulous blanket that I have every intention of having one for each of my equines.  It is the Amigo Bravo 12 Lite/Med weight blanket.  Basically it's a 1200 denier, 100 gram weight blanket that is hard wearing and so far only Fox has managed to damage his.  Somehow he wriggled his around enough that when he threw an outrageously massive buck upon being turned out he managed to tear off both chest straps, one of the belly straps and mangled one of the metal buckles beyond repair.  Thankfully my super blanket repair shop was able to replace all the mangled buckle and the straps. 

But while Fox's Lite/Med was being repaired I need to do the blanket-go-round to make sure everyone had something to wear when the inevitable nasty weather hit.  Which meant Seneca's own Amigo Bravo L/M went to Fox, she got put in her medium on the really bad days but Cowboy was unfortunately out of clothes that fit him.  Off to the tack store I went to get some sort of sheet that I could toss over Seneca's old Amigo stable blanket which would make a great temporary fix for him.

They didn't have any of the Amigo L/M's and I didn't have to extra cash to shell out for a real Rambo and I really dislike the buckle system on the Weatherbeeta's.  See, very picky.  So I shifted through the selections.  Anything less than a 1000 denier is an automatic no.  I'm not spending good money on something that is just going to get wrecked in less than a week. I wanted something that hopefully had a neck cover.  Which is when I happened upon a brand I wasn't personally familiar with but had good qualities on paper.  It was  a Shires Equestrian Storm Breaker 1200 denier, waterproof, windproof and had an integrated but not removable neck cover.  The buckle system was eh, it had straps, and clips on the chest, t-buckles on the belly.  But I was a little desperate as we were due for some really bad weather. This is what Cowboy ended up wearing.

It's pretty freaking nice and so far Cowboy hasn't managed to tear it or damage it in any way other than a healthy dose of mud. It does run a bit big.  All the Amigos I can do a round robin with and they fit Seneca (75-78ish) Cowboy (75) and Fox (72) but I don't see Fox wearing this one ever. Which means at some point closer to spring and HOPEFULLY! warmer weather I'll have to find Fox his own sheet.  He's sporting a trace clip right now but I'm toying with the idea of trying my first body clip in the spring. 

 

A Small Bright Spot

After slogging through most of a week at work and still feeling awful about our horrific outing at Kelly's Ford the weekend prior I did my usual stop at the mailbox before turning on to my driveway.  Inside was a manilla envelope from Kelly's Ford.  My first thought and I admit uncharitable thought, was that it was a bill for not taking all the shavings out of Fox's temporary stall.  At which point I was thinking they could stick it.

Instead I opened up the envelope to find 2 fourth place team ribbons.  I burst out laughing so hard that Superhubs poked his head in from the livingroom. These could not possible be ours. You don't get ribbons when there is an alphabet next to where your super low score should be.

But apparently and unbeknownst to me when I entered at KF I was automatically put on a team and even though I retired, the rest of my teammates did fairly well and we placed 4th!  Which entitles my crazy donkey in a red thoroughbred's disguise to legitamate ribbons!

So a little bit of a bright spot in an otherwise bleak weekend.  Keep it between the flags everyone, you might get stealth ribbons!

Kelly's Ford Strikes Again or Fox Finds His Inner Crazy

I'm pretty sure that I don't ever want to go to Kelly's Ford again. Don't get me wrong it's a beautiful venue, a lovely slightly rolling XC course, stabling on-site, food on-site but for me Kelly's Ford will always make me feel sad and disappointed.

It all started with an email.  Thursday morning as I was enjoying breakfast with my house guests (Superhubs Dad and Brother came to visit) I received an email from Kelly's Ford reminding everyone that the Intro Division would be doing USDF Intro Test C. This is where I start to panic.  Fox and I have cantered yes, was it pretty? Nope.  Was it presentable to the public? Ermm no.  Would I even be able to get him to canter starting it on a circle? I doubted it.  But we had a lesson that day with our new coach K. and this was one of the things we wanted to work on.  Our canter departs were super ugly.

Later that day I loaded the wonder pony and we trekked the hour west to our coach's training barn where she had a lovely dressage arena with footing and a covered arena for inclement weather.  The first part of the lesson went great. I actually got Fox on the bit for the first time and working through his back. The second half went not so wonderful.  Our first attempts at cantering were....hmmm explosive.  There was bucking, yanking and several attempts to take off with me. Bad pony.

After a couple of less explosive attempts we let the matter rest and practiced the test.  It wasn't fantastic. At this point I was really wondering if I should just stay home.  I should have listened to that inner voice but no. Like an idiot I ignored my inner sanity.

The next day was departure day. Was I packed ? Not quite and I had an errand to run in town as well as the Farrier Fairy coming to do Seneca and Cowboy's hooves.  Needless to say I left way later than I would have liked, got stuck in awful traffic no less than three times but finally made it to Kelly's Ford around 8pm.  A friend helped me get Fox settled and he commenced to munching hay while my friend and I walked over to the pub on KF's property for dinner. 

The next morning dawned clear and I went about feeding Fox, cleaning his stall, and checking in with the coordinators before begining to walk my XC course.  Everything on course looked doable until I got to the first jump after the water crossing.  Jump number 9 was a big black bench that just intimidated the hell out of me.  That was until I saw the stadium course.  Mind you we are in the 18 inch Intro Division but the course remained the same for all the levels.  It was a twisty turny course that was basically two figure eights entwined.  Which included at fence 2 an option to do what was a triple for the higher levels but surely would be an oxer for us or you could jump the up-bank, jump the vertical and then jump down the bank again.  I was thinking the oxer option but that wasn't the scariest thing on course.

No, no that was undeniably fence 4.  It was a hill, oh yes my little eventers, a hill in the show jumping arena with a vertical at the crest. Which was included on every single course for all divisions.  Seriously? For the Intro and Starter Divisions?

But alas all my anxiety about the big bench on XC and the hill on the stadium course were unfounded because we weren't even going to get that far.  After walking the courses a few times I went back to stabling, moved all my tack/gear up to the barn next to Fox's stall then grabbed my camera and went to take photos of a couple of friends who were also riding that day.  But time flew and soon it was time to go back to stabling to get ready for dressage.

I changed in to my show clothes, dawning the lovely coat I hadn't ever gotten a chance to wear with the High Queen and then went to sit in stabling until it was time to tack up.  I had to admit my pony looked lovely all braided and clean.  I'd never braided him before and hadn't really intended to for the Intro division but I figured why not?  Then it was time to tack up.  At this point I had no hint whatsoever what was in store for me.  Fox was his usual mellow self and when I threw a leg over in the barn and headed out I was optomistic. And that is pretty much the last happy moment we had.

It could have been the sheer amount of horses moving about in the dressage warm-up. It could have been the XC/SJ warm-up right next door with its speeding horses. It could have been his routine being messed up. It could have been half a dozen things.  But the moment Fox saw the dressage warm-up he lost his marbles and never got them back.

He was tense, nervous and didn't know what to do with himself.  He yanked at the bit even when my hands were soft and loose, he jigged, he sidled, he spun, he shied, he tried to take off with me a couple of times.  In other words Psycho Pony made an appearance.  I was totally taken aback because other than a moment or two once in a long while he'd never been this upset ever.

But instead of withdrawing I had to make sure I felt the full brunt of shame and embarassment. We tried to do the dressage test but it was ugly. He yanked and was generally disobedient the whole time.  I didn't dare canter for fear he'd really run off with me.  I think in the back of my head I thought if I could get through the test and get him jumping a little that he would settle down. But three quarters of the way through the test I decided enough was enough and I retired.  I made it back to the dressage warm-up and finally after another five minutes got Fox to pause long enough for me to dismount.

Walking him back wasn't much better. He jigged, yanked and basically acted like a deranged donkey the whole way.  Until we got back to his stall where he promptly settled down again.  I think I hated him just a little right then.  I untacked him, hosed off all his flop sweat, threw his cooler on him and released him in to his stall. Where he promptly rolled four times before getting up and coming over to me where he put his head against my chest in contrition.  I sighed, hugged him and told him it wasn't his fault then proceeded to pack up to go home.

It was the worst weekend I'd had in a long while and I'm still not really recovered. I still feel sad, depressed and overall unhappy. Not at Fox he just had a bad day. But at myself. I knew when I saw that the test for Intro was the C test that I should have scratched but no like an obstinate child I had to keep shoving forward. I don't know what's next for us except a lot of lessons with K. and maybe have her do some training rides on Fox to smooth out his understanding of the canter.  There is a last HT the weekend before Thanksgiving in November. Do I want to go? I don't even know at this point. I'm sad and tired and discouraged.  So I'm leaving any further plans in the back of my head to be looked at once I've worked myself out of this funk.

Keep it between the flags everyone.

The OMG! Moments

Everytime I sit down on Fox's back I am more impressed with him and grow infinitely more in love with him. This past Saturday after a particularly hellish week at work I loaded up my favorite fuzzy, red pony and trekked the hour to a small CT put on by one of our local Pony Clubs.  Gods bless them for putting together a lovely event that I don't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get to.

They also allowed for this go round of the CT (that had one earlier in the summer as well) competitors to enter two different divisions if they chose. I entered Fox and I in the 18 inch Grasshopper division and the 2ft Kangaroo division.  I hadn't been able to ride since the previous weekend (I truly do hate my job if for nothing else than jacking my schedule so badly I can only ride on weekends) so I was going more for the miles that Fox would gain than actually trying to be competitive.  Fox however had other plans.

The day dawned drizzly but cleared by the time I had to load up and we made decent enough time that I was able to stop for gas and breakfast. Which was a good thing since I left all my carefully packed horse event snacks sitting on the kitchen counter.  I really am losing my mind.  Our first dressage foray for the day was frought with lovely work from my pony and excitment from a loose horse. 

I was awaiting my turn near the dressage arena when the clarion calls of loose horse, loose horse! rang out.  Said horse comes flying up, rounds the arena, jumps in to the arena with the still going dressage competitor in it then comes barreling at myself and Fox.  I tried to get out of the way while Fox is making very definite, friendly murmurs in his chest.  Seriously? You're going to be buddy buddy with a horse who at this point might mow us down? But we evaded the other horse and he went around us and found his owner who also happened to be my old coach.

Fox being Fox didn't let that little escapade rattle him and we put in a good test to score a 33.  Fox got a break at the trailer while I went to walk the twisty stadium course.  These were the same jumps used last time just in a new pattern but it had been a couple of months since Fox had seen them sooo Momma packed her jumping bat.  We got in a good warm-up and Fox made a small effort to actually jump the fences rather than trot them.

Our course went fantastic! He didn't looky-loo, he didn't pause to decide whether he really wanted to jump the fences, he even cantered off after quite a few of them. I was soo extremely proud of him at that moment.   Then we went on and did our second dressage section which I thought had gone better than the first but we got a 34 and several remarks on the test of "slow".  Alrighty then Momma is going to test out the brand new spurs we just bought. 

Then the second jump course.  This did not go as well as the first round.  I think for a couple of reasons.  A, by this point Fox was just a little tired and B, half the course consisted of oxers.  I'm not talking one or two. I'm talking at least five or six of the ten fences were oxers.  A fence that unfortunately Fox had never seen before.  My only thought when I got ready to go in to the ring and saw all those gleaming width fences was CRAP!  But my pony showed me his true heart and bottomless grit. 

When I had read or heard about horses people called real "try-ers" I never really got what they meant until we entered the arena that day. Fox, caught completely off guard by these strange fences, really, really tried.  He approached each one with enthusiasm, he took hold of the bit a few strides out, pulled me to the fence and really tried to read the question being asked.  He did remarkably well for a horse that had never jumped an oxer before.  We had two small bobbles.  He just barely ticked the rail on fence number five and one side fell out of its cup and then on the last fence he had what would technically be a stop but after a milisecond of thinking it over threw himself over it(leaving the rails up) and nearly unseating me on the other side.  But I managed to stick like glue, stay on, right myself and pump my fist in the air and yell (embarassingly) VICTORIOUS! Yeah I'm that dork.

I waited around until my group's scores were totalled so I could get my dressage tests, Fox happily hung at the trailer pretending to be a plow horse (LOVE HIM!) and then I picked up the pretty ribbons that went with our tests.  In our grasshopper division we got 3rd! Soo proud of that, it was a large section and I was really happy with the effort we put in.  In our kangaroo 2ft section we faired less well and got 4th out of 4.  I think if we hadn't pulled the rail or had the stop we would have placed at least second.  And I know, I know I shouldn't care about the placings but that little hunter princess girl inside still likes taking home the blue and red ribbons. 

Overall though...sooo much love for my pony! He really did try and gave me what he had to give.  The CT also showed me where we need to work so that we can be really polished and ready for our end of the season event at Kelly's Ford.   We definitely need to practice some oxers at home so that Fox can read the question in a less stressful environment and really understand what I'm asking.  And I desperately want to be able to canter all the fences.  We are so close, we just need a little more practice and Mom needs to get her big girl pants in gear and just CANTER ON!  I will also be taking a lesson the Thursday prior to Kellys Ford with my friend who is well on her way to being an Intermediate level rider.

I'm also going to try and do a session with a saddle fitter. I want to make absolutely certain that I'm riding Fox in something that keeps him happy and as much as I love my Pessoa I am not totally certain that it fits him that well. I want what we all want, for my horse to be happy and sound.

So here's to keeping a happy horse between the flags!

Hands On

Another dose of me talking about my super awesome pony. I know you ought to be getting sick of it by now but I just can't help myself.  Saturday I had to work but Sunday I put in a solid three hours of farm chores and other ridiculous tasks like dishes and vaccuming.  Then I reset my jump course including having Superhubs help me move the coop he built me over Labor Day weekend that I hadn't been able to try out yet.  Though I did paint it! Photos to come.

So I moved most of my jumps around so I could have a bit of a dressage area and a new pattern for the jumps though I left one of the jumps alone since I really do love its position in the field.  I also, ingeniously if I do say so myself, made a psuedo liverpool by painting two 1 by 4 sized boards with blue paint and positioning the boards under the jump.   With the jumps all rearranged I decided to push our limits and without measuring the actual height I set the jumps a bit bigger than I usually would.  I wasn't completely worried because Wonder Pony had been jumping two feet at the last couple of outtings.  So away I went to prep the pony for a jump school.

Which took over 30 minutes because fuzzy, red ponies who shall remain nameless have decided their coats need extra moisturizing with copious mud baths.  He even gets it in his ears. Not just ON his ears but INSIDE THEM!  How does he even accomplish that.  My pony definitely has talent.

After suiting up with hoof boots and jumping  boots then doing some warm-ups at walk and trot I started out with just trotting my pile of twigs baby log then on to the baby cross-rail and BLOK standard jump.  The BLOK jump was set at maybe 18 inches and Pony Boy dragged his lazy self over it and bumped it. Seriously?  So next time around he earned a swat on his furry red butt which perked him up an he started making an effort.  Then on to the big X which was probably 2ft or so, then the baby vertical at 2ft.  Next it was time to suck up our courage and try the psuedo liverpool and the coop. 

Fox did a hard stop at the liverpool, mainly I wasn't aggressive enough and he wasn't foward enough so he threw on the brakes.  Back a few steps, turned around, re-present and over we went.  Then on to the coop.  Same thing, I was a bit nervous about jumping the coop, Superhubs makes solid fences if we hit that thing, or Pony Boy dragged his feet it was going to be an ugly outcome,  so Fox threw on the brakes because mommy was less than committed.  Back, turn, re-present and over we flew.  YEE-HAW!   A couple more turns over each of the fences AND at the end the Wonder Pony cantered the BLOK cross-rail!  So proud of my red, diet flavored, pint sized OTTB!  Later I went to check the height of the tallest fence which was the psuedo liverpool. 2ft 3inches!  We are almost at my goal of jumping BN height.

But the biggest improvement from yesterday's ride was in point of fact my own hands. I was reading some posts over on the Eventing Solo blog(LOVE it all over there) about how when Eventer79 jumped Solo for the first time in a long time she had to remember all those things that are just muscle memory for regular Eventing Gods like Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton and Sinead Halpin.  The rest of us more earth bound people have to remind ourselves to do it.  Like "Thou shall not clutch at thy horse's mouth".  This one for me is a big one.  The High Queen could and did a few times attempt to run off with me.  So I had this ugly habit of thinking speed = ex-race horse having a flashback of the Derby must rein her in! Which rolled over on to Fox.  But the majority of the time Fox doesn't have those kinds of thoughts.  His are more along the lines of "Can we walk now? It's time to walk right? I think it's time to walk, so I'm just gonna slow way down and see if she notices." 

At the CT a few weeks ago I did major clutching after the fences because Pony Boy got it in to his head that the jumps were Rolex height.  So yesterday I kept repeating "Slowest OTTB on the planet, he's not running off with you, he's not running off with you."  And it worked! I remembered to stay up after the fence, leave my hands laying along his neck, let him reorganize for a few strides and then gather him back in.  We are still at Intro level and even at BN level there is a bit of distance between all the fences. I think they plan this so that people can do just what I did. Sneaky USEA people.

So with all these great rides and things is it to early to dream about qualifying for the AEC's at this point?  I'm not sure even if I could qualify that I would be able to afford to go but wouldn't it be awesome to have such a great partnership and have the kind of good training and competitions that you actually are good enough to compete against the best in the country?  My living in reality goal is to complete a recognized BN horse trial by the time I'm forty.  Which scarily enough is not that far away.  But couldn't I dream a little bigger? I mean it would be cool to go and be able to place but I'd be happy with going and completing whether it's at the bottom of the standings or not.

In three weeks Fox and I will be going to Kelly's Ford to make our assault on their Intro course.  I'm hoping just to complete, don't care about time, or even if we have a refusal that adds major points.  I just want to finish. Wish us luck.

With much excitement for this weekends Combined Trial I am definitely keeping it between the flags!

The Difference a Year Makes

It has been just over a year since I met the fabulous red pony who I named Fox. He was just coming off the track as a well bred but lack luster racehorse and I was swallowing down the pain of having to retire the High Queen. He wasn't the true black Irish Sport Horse that I'd been dreaming of(and that my wallet could never afford), he wasn't tall, his coat was an odd dusty copper and most people would have passed him by without a second look.

But something made me look. He was quiet and seemed uninterested in being the cliche of a high strung OTTB. And when he laid his nose on the back of my neck after our trial ride I was absolutely sure I wanted to take him home. Superhubs was a little cautious because Fox had had that one baby moment on our trial ride but if nothing else Superhubs lets me do pretty much whatever I want.

That fall Superhubs and I took the two boys over to a local park that has equestrian use trails. We did the exact same trail ride on Sunday and it struck me then the huge difference that Fox and I's year together has made.  Last fall when Fox and I were just getting to know each other he would not cross the shallow dry ditches at the park or the wooden bridges and you can just forget any kind of water crossing that involved the red pony getting his feet wet and or muddy.

This past Sunday Fox happily walked or hopped over the dry ditches, didn't bat a lash at crossing the wooden bridges and when I asked him to walk through a muddy part of the trail he complied without a fuss.  It was at the mud puddles that I realized Fox trusted me, that somewhere in the last year he'd grown to see me as his leader and his partner.  This had been a huge sticking point with the High Queen. I don't think she'd ever learned to truly trust me, not on trails and not in the ring.  Which made her anxious and unhappy most of the time and in turn that made me overly alert and cautious with her.

But my dusty copper, no one would look twice, 15.2 hand OTTB has turned in to a deep copper, loving, trusting partner who I'm hoping to complete our first horse trial with next month. If the beginning of a true partnership wasn't enough Fox and I cantered our first jump together on Sunday as well.  Just a pile of baby logs but still it was a massive step for us.

So here's to the year that passed that has bonded the red pony and I and to whatever comes next.  Keep it between the flags everyone.

The Red Pony Finds His Inner Jumper

A couple of weekends ago I hauled Fox about an hour south to the Currituck Rural Center for a day at an Open Horse Show.  They had added a Combined Trial for the local eventers and I thought it would be a great way to get my pony some miles without putting too many on my truck or my check book.  As you can see from the photo I didn't go all out with the spa treatments mostly due to time and energy the week prior.  But despite being a little rough around the edges we did great.

I got Fox a stall for the day(I know all my eventer friends are cringing) but I like having the option of letting Fox loose in a stall to enjoy some hay and companionship of other horses versus tying him to the trailer all day. Not that he actually cares. As long as there is hay available he's content  He settled in like a pro and the day just got better from there.

We were late to the dressage warm-up but there were very few entries and the show was extremely laid back about that kind of thing.  Mostly with the dressage Fox and I need to work on bendiness.  He's very stiff going to the right so as is a common problem with baby horses our circles were less circle-y and more eggish or pear shaped. Not surprising but homework for the rest of the season.

But the excitement came later in the jumping classes. Fox has always been a bit lazy about jumping and a bit looky, as in I will hesitate or pause in front of this fence before I deign to lift my hooves above the ground.  That day he did his "look see" on the baby warm-up cross rail and the next time around I lightly popped him on his furry red butt as we got to the fence.  He flung himself over like it was the Grand National.  And that is how he jumped the two courses in our two classes.  It was like he suddenly decided everything was Rolex height and he would do his best to jump the height of the standards.  He nearly jumped me out of the tack a couple of times.

Fox finally discovered his inner jumper and let that pony fly!  And at the end of the day our reward, other than the lovely experience was this.

Next stop XC schooling with friends at Kelly's Ford before we try to make another assault on that event.  Then I think, if we do well, as in we actually complete the event without getting eliminated for something, it will be the end of our eventing season.  So until my next tale from the back of the red pony keep it between the flags everyone!