Better late than never

I promised myself that the amount of stuff I had to do Sunday night wouldn't make a difference, and I would write up and post this on Sunday.  Then, next thing I knew, Sunday had flown by me... and Monday.... and Tuesday... and Wednesday... nonetheless, I still have so much to say, and I've really missed blogging since I've gotten so busy.  (For anyone not aware, I was in a production of the Sound of Music that took up all of the time, and it finally finished this past weekend.  It was bittersweet because it was a great experience, but it's nice to have my life back.  Anyways, since I've been done it's been a crazy week of catch-up on everything I didn't have time for)

Anyways, time for the fun part of the post, this Sunday was.... *drumroll*

Jazz's 6th Birthday! 

The closeups were not terribly flattering of either of us, but it does nicely showcase the fancy sides on Jazz's wonderful myler

Because of my show, I had to miss the first Gymkhana of the season with the gymkhana club I participate in.  I was a little bummed, but Jazz just did so well at home I couldn't be terribly upset. So, to make up for what I was missing, I did a little barrel practice at home!

I apparently seem to run on the belief that you can stare down the barrel to intimidate it into submission. 

I run barrels 'backwards' (starting with the left barrel instead of the more common practise of starting on the right)

I think I could make a barrel horse out of her if I so desired.

That's three! Run home Jazz! 

Okay she looks very 'up' here, but that was just the weird lope she broke into on the run home.  She was going much more normally soon after.  

 And we had our first lope under saddle since before Christmas, and it was awesome.  Jazz is a little out of shape because our re-start was more about attitude than athleticism.  She's a really awesome horse in a lot of ways though, and one of my favourite things is her energy.  She's so funny because she really isn't in good condition but she would have just gone and gone all day.  Especially with trotting, she will just go and go and she'll be breathing like a dragon and her nostrils will be the size of two small moons, but she will still be ready to go again the second you stop her.  She sometimes tries to convince me to let her lope, but is never rude about it; its like a little tiny "can we go? I would like it if we could go. No? Ok."  She is a bit of an anticipator, but slowly we're working that out with lots of patience and repetition.  Even so, I just love the way she always wants to go but never tries to take matters into her own hands and run away with me *knock on wood*.

Also a short anecdote about Jazz's birthday! More specifically, the date.  As a rescue her birthday was just May 2008, but I needed a date in order to shove cookies at her at least once a year.  So, since she was a Christmas pony, I decided on the 25th.

Final note: I have a few posts to write in my coming soon.  The Mane Event (I do intend to write that one, despite the fact I've now been putting it off for over a month.  oops.  I've been having a lot of troubles with my photos from it, so I need to sort that out first), our awesome last lesson with the instructor i've been working with (and why I'm ending lessons with her for now, and my new instructor), other lessons I'm starting on the side, a possible surprise that I will tell if and when it happens, and the bucking stories promised back in April.

Bit it up blog hop!

So I know I really haven't been around much in the last month, but it has been crazy busy during the home stretch in my production of the Sound of Music. I've barely had time to make it to the barn, much less blog about it.  That being said, as of next week I'm officially done with the show, and I'm starting up lessons with a new trainer and English lessons on a friend's horse in the next few weeks (more on that later).

Edit: I almost forgot to give credit where credit is due.  It's no secret I love Viva Carlos' blog hops, and the latest is no exception

 So, without further ado, here's the bit I'm using with Jazz!

It's a level one myler eggbutt comfort snaffle (that's a mouthful, literally).  It is the one and only bit Jazz has ever had, and I absolutely love it.  As I'm sure I've gushed about before, Jazz has a wonderfully soft mouth, and I love the myler because it's essentially the gentlest bit I know of.  

This picture shows the curve of the mouthpiece.  It's also got nice copper bands.

Jazz was started on bridlework before I ever knew her, and at the rescue she came from, they always start horses with mylers.  They have a nice curve and the joint in the middle helps keep it from poking them in the roof of the mouth too much.  

This is just a little more detailed picture of the fancy sides.  

 She did most of her initial work in a D-ring myler or a loose-ring myler, but when it came time to get my own, I was having trouble finding them because they aren't sold in a lot of tack shops near me.  The owner of the rescue heard of a place that had just gotten some, and offered to pick me up one since she was planning to go and get herself a couple more anyway.  I was picturing a very plain, standard sweet iron bit, but I was delighted when the rescue owner sent me a picture of this bit with the caption "It's a bit fancy on the sides.  I figured you wouldn't mind."

Jazz doesn't seem to mind either.  (This picture is from last summer, and I would like to note that I am not wearing a helmet in this picture because I wanted a nice photo of me on my horse and took off my helmet only for the sake of taking the picture)

April showers bring May

...flurries?

I am not a fan of today's weather at all.  Well, I was until I wasn't.  It was a steady drizzling rain all day, and I actually love the rain.  It makes it really feel like spring.  Of course this evening as we arrived at the farm, the raindrops were turning to big, wet snowflakes.  I brought Jazz in planning to check on her feet (which have been a little thrushy lately, but nothing serious), and it was apparent she was weird.  She looked soaking wet, but that's to be expected following almost an entire day of rain.  It wasn't till I caught her and started trying to get the halter on that she seemed weird.  She was being kind of uncooperative of putting the halter on, and not in a way that I would have considered normal for her.  I immediately thought of a time last summer that she was fussing about putting her halter on and she had a big puncture on her lip that I couldn't see from the left side.

(Warning: slightly gross picture)

This was it.  It was super hard to clean because she REALLY did not want me to touch it.  It must have stung something fierce.  Note for clarity: this was not today. This was last summer.

Luckily, I checked and saw nothing that looked out of the ordinary.  So, I got the halter on and tied and started walking her in and that was when it got really strange.  She was hesitant to move and actually sidepassed about half the distance of the pasture.  I'm not sure exactly what that was all about, my best guess was that she was just really cold and her muscles were stiff.  About halfway down she started mostly walking normally, but I could see she was shivering badly.

I brought her into the barn intending to pick her feet quickly and head straight into the arena, but she was shivering so much that I couldn't have even done that.  I toweled off the water that was beaded on her back, and headed to the arena.  I trotted her to get her muscles warm, lunging her both directions until she stopped shivering and actually seemed to get warmed up a little.  Then I pulled out the blanket I've owned for almost two years and never used until today.  Jazz has always been kind of a goober about blankets (not that she's had to wear many), so it took a while doing groundwork and pulling it on and off to get it settled on her.  Once it was on properly and buckled, I lunged her again so she could really get the feel of it. She seemed to perk right up. She was trotting along very happily and seemed to really enjoy herself.

Plus tell me she isn't just too freakin cute in her little blue blanket.

 I gave her a few oats and walked her indoors a few more minutes before letting her go.  It's too bad I didn't have my camera ready because it was just hilarious once I'd let her go.  The other horses were much more concerned about Jazz's new blanket than she was.  They were all crowded around her biting at and investigating the blanket.  It was funny because Jazz was trying to be annoyed an push them away like the lead mare she thinks she is.  It was like she was trying to assert herself but they were all too curious to remember they're supposed to be listening to her.

Plus she's finally easily distinguishable from all of the other short sorrel mares in her pasture. 

Side note: I am still planning to do my mane event posts, but Jazz was just too freaking cute in her little blue blanket not to share

Coming soon!

Wouldn't you know that the week I have two or maybe three long, picture filled posts with stories planned is one of the busiest weeks of my year so far? I'll get them together as soon as I can, but in the meantime here's a quick hint of what's to come...

Stay tuned! 

She's molting!

Remember when she was constantly sweating but refused to shed?  Looks like she's shedding now. 

It was a little hard to take a good photo of it

You can kind of see, but she's all patchy

She kind of looked like an overo with brown spots instead of white.

I was not kidding! She looks just hilarious.  These pictures are actually from the other day, but I was out again this evening and she's all patchy with her smooth summer coat showing on the majority of both her sides, parts of her neck, and most of her face (with the exception of her wispy winter beard and her blaze).  I was just a bit disappointed to see how dark her summer coat looks, though.  I love her to bits, but I was so hoping that she wouldn't get dark this summer like she did last year.  I see now that she is getting darker than ever.  On the bright side, her summer coat is looking nice and shiny and soft!

I will try to remember to take pictures of her next time I'm out of what her new coat looks like.  She was just much too dirty for that today.  I'm eager to be done shedding her out soon; she's been sweating like crazy in even fairly light work, and she rolled in the mud again today to cool off.  I guess it's a sign that spring has finally sprung.  Hopefully it's here to stay.  

Another amazing Viva Carlos Blog hop!

The most recent installment in the lovely series of Viva Carlos's Magical Blog Hops is called Appreciating what you have, and based on the type of progress (and occasional lack thereof) I've been seeing more recently, I can't think of an idea I like better than pointing out just a little bit of the endless supply of traits and qualities I absolutely adore about my horse.  

"With training it's easy to know the things you need to work on and nitpick nitpick, especially when your goal is to show. I'm particularly bad at this right now, but getting better due to holding Carlos on an eternal pedestal and Ramone on a stool in the corner wearing a dunce cap."

"Lets take a moment to appreciate the Pros of our current ponies, whether you own them or just ride them in lessons."  (all quoted sections directly from Viva Carlos)

What I love about Jazz 

I know far too little about conformation for my liking, but I'm told Jazz has excellent conformation.  

She is so smart! I could teach this horse by accident (which I technically have done a time or two)

She gets so itchy in the spring and makes all kinds of funny faces when I scratch her

She's amazingly soft on her mouth and usually fairly responsive to leg pressure.

As soon as she has a saddle on her, she goes right into work mode.

She's usually very good at picking up her feet.  If she won't pick up one foot, the opposite is almost always packed with mud and a nasty rock or two.

She's mine, all mine.

She has very good ground manners.  On one of her good days, she has excellent ground manners.

She leads very easily.

We've reached a point in our re-start where I can ride essentially every time I work with her.

I cannot even begin to quantify the amount I've learned because of her.

I have met so many amazing people and found so many amazing opportunities because of her. 

As much as she may misbehave, as soon as I find a way to really properly communicate what I'm asking, she progresses like gangbusters.

She's not stubborn (see above)

She doesn't try to get me off her back all the time (I'll probably do a full post about times I've fallen off her at some point, but she does not play fair. They aren't regular bucks and crowhops, they're twisty, up, down, left and right, so I consider myself lucky she's not often determined to use them against me) 

Above everything else, she's just fun.  Even on our worst rides I couldn't keep a smile off my face if I tried.

Catch and Release

Sunday's lesson was, as lessons hopefully should be, a very useful and productive time with my horse.  After a Saturday that was just off and off the rails from the start, it was very nice to have a quiet...er, peaceful...no, subdued... not quite, sort of farm environment.  Sunday was a gorgeous day, with the sun shining and the flurries from last week melting away, naturally that meant that what felt like all the boarders at my usually ghostly deserted boarding stable were there at once... when I already felt way behind and was concerned about being ready in time for my lesson, but I should backtrack a little bit.  This previous weekend there was a Vaulting show hosted at my local fancy, pristine, I-couldn't-afford-to-board-there-if-my-horse-started-pooping-out-gold-bars, dressage barn.  A group I am involved with was running a concession as a fundraiser.  It was unexpected, to say the least.  The first day we ran out of lunch with some of the competitors yet to eat, so there was a mad scramble to pick up something, anything to feed them and the rest of the spectators.  There were a few other minor hiccups, but most of it can be chalked up to simply having had no idea what to expect.  So, when we agreed to drop off a lunch course en route to my lesson, we wound up sticking around to help just a titch too long for our comfort buffer of time to get Jazz ready for my lesson.  By the time I got to the barn I was getting paranoid about missing half my lesson just getting Jazz brushed out and tacked up, and it wasn't overly helpful that everyone and their dog (in some cases, their literal dogs) had their horses tied in the not-overly-large barn aisle and to the hitching rail outside.  Add all that together and I was trying very hard to keep my stress in check and not let it effect my horsemanship.  Oh, did I mention the owner was driving back and forth in the quad (a sound that to the horses means food), and Jazz's herdmates were running around like ninnies, and the arena was closed for harrowing until exactly when my lesson was supposed to begin, so I had no real space to get either of our feet moving effectively?  Just recounting it all is stressing me out.  So needless to say, I was not off to the best of starts.

Finally my lesson time rolled around, and my instructor entered in the man door at exactly the same time I brought Jazz through the horse door.  Luckily, my instructor seemed to pick up on the difficulties of the day, and my reference to our off day Saturday, and we started off slow and easy in a way that helped bring me right back into myself.  We lunged to start and get her focus as we usually do, and I bridled her very soon after.  I opted not to use the halter under the bridle this time because I didn't really think it was necessary.  She was responding great from the ground and I mounted up.  We worked on what my trainer calls "follow your nose" circles, which are basically starting from standing in the center of the circle and moving into as small of a circle around the center as possible while staying at a good bend and contact.  Once Jazz was on a good consistent circle with no bubbling out or cutting in, I spiraled her down into the center until she was doing a hind end yield, and she did awesome.  She used to always move her hind end like she couldn't get it out of the way and resting again fast enough, but we've been working on the ground on slow, even, calm, steps, and she was much better than she ever has been historically.  We did that both ways and then worked on backing, halting, and walking in a perfectly straight line away from the wall.  I've been really trying to concentrate on my own position, especially my seat, a lot more, and was very, very pleased with how responsive she was.

Then came my favorite part.  As I've mentioned many-a-time, Jazz has been consistently gaining ground on her shoulders. Just a few weeks ago I was thrilled she was even doing two or three steps crossing over from her shoulders, and now she can do full circles both directions from the ground.  Under saddle, we've been working on rollbacks against the wall, with the idea being creating a physical barrier to encourage her to shift more onto her hindquarters, but her rollbacks against the wall had been relatively consistent for a while in the sense that she had gotten better than when she started, but had kind of stagnated at a sort of half-try.  On one of my rollback attempts, she ended up drifting away from the wall and the outside track before I halted her, and she did a real rollback when I asked.  I could feel her really engage and using herself in a way that felt way better.  I did a few more against the wall and then commented to my trainer that she seemed to do better when I had a little more distance from the wall, and she suggested that I try in the center.  It took a couple of tries for me to figure out how to hold my outside rein, but very soon Jazz was doing it! I could feel her using her shoulders instead of her haunches, and could feel and see in some of the shadows that she was actually getting really close to exactly what I was asking for.

I finally had a free weeknight, so I went yesterday to work her again before my Wednesday lesson (my lesson schedule is pretty weird right now because of my schedule in my second non-horsey life), only to find that the weather (a relatively pleasant air temperature and the lightest of drizzles) had prompted Jazz to firmly believe that coming in with me would be far too disruptive to her day.  Long story short, I spent a good chunk of time trying to catch Jazz to no avail, and then spent a lot of time petting the other horses in Jazz's pasture because Jazz certainly wasn't going to be in petting range, but I was not leaving that pasture without my horse.  Finally, with much effort (and a little bribery in the form of handfuls of hay), I managed to catch her.  I had the rope looped over her neck and lead her by that without putting the halter on.  Poor horse had to walk with me all the way across the pasture and to the gate, where she got sent right back out.  With a workload like that, no wonder she didn't want to be caught.  What a brat!

I finally got around to trying Jazz's new halter on her the other day.  I've been using her rope halter for groundwork, but her blue nylon halter just wasn't fitting her anymore.  Doesn't she look cute in pastels?

 

I do like the pastels.  Maybe you'd like to be the fabled Easter pony for a while, Jazz?

Okay maybe not.