TOABH: Sugar Momma

Ancient blogger proverb: "That content which is lost during a week of uninteresting rides is made up for easily with blog hops."

So during a particularly dull week (walk rides woo! showing someone groundwork with Jazz for five minutes woo!), I am happy to participate in the latest installment of The Owls Approve's latest blog hop.

Sugar Momma.

Let's continue pretending that horse poop magically transforms into money instead of the other way.  So money doesn't matter.  If you could buy anything for your horse, what would you buy? 

I started seeing this hop popping up and started thinking about what I would buy for my horse.  I know exactly what I would buy for me (coughtallbootscough), and there's lots of pretty luxury tack items floating around the blogosphere that I wouldn't mind owning (fancy expensive helmets, ovlivy pats, etc.), but I was stumped by this question at first.  Most of the posts I've read listed comfier or fancier saddles/bridles/bits and treats.  Not that I have anything against any of those, but none of those answers excited me.  

And then I got to thinking about what really makes Jazz happy, and I had a eureka moment when I glanced about 45 degrees to my left to see the snow outside the window.  Jazz HATES winter.  Not even just winter, bad weather in general really.  Summer Jazz is a horse that I ride a lot, try new things with, and have a lot of fun with.  Winter Jazz is still the ponykins I know and love, but she does not like to approach the same tasks.  The past two winters I haven't even been able to ride for extended periods of time based largely on attitude.  So, with unlimited money the answer is simple: No more winter for Jazz.

Now, this is not as simple of an undertaking as moving somewhere warm.  Jazz and I have a large support system of family and friends that I consider necessary to my horse life, so what really makes the most sense is buying a huge private island with trails, state of the art facilities, vets, etc. where I can take Jazz and all her best horse buddies and their people.  No more winter Jazz, nothing but sunny skies and galloping on the beach.  There has to be amazing facilities so I can watch high level jumping, hunters, vaulting, cutting, etc. at a convenient location, and lots of other horses for me to ride from time to time.  Cows, of course, to learn to herd, trainers to teach us how to get better at everything, e3quine and human masseurs to keep the muscles from getting tight, magical arena dirt that is neither sticky nor dusty nor stinky, the list could go on forever.  Do horse jacuzzis exist? If so, there would definitely be a jacuzzi area.  

If I was being just a smidgen more realistic, I would say I wanted to build a boarding stable.  But not just any boarding stable, I would want one with an appropriately huge arena (our current arena is maybe 20 x 60 or so), and trails, and all my horsey friends, and no more than a ten minute drive.  Of course that would require moving to somewhere that this kind of drive/open space is possible.  

Maybe I should just buy her another halter...

STFS blog hop: Tack Wants

A quick aside before this post: as of yesterday, I have officially known Jazz for three whole years!  I celebrated, of course, by completely forgetting about it until the day after, and then noticing "Jazz-a-versary" on my phone calandar once I no longer had time to go see her today. 

First, I wanna know: what is the ONE piece of tack (or clothing) that you simply cannot live without? Put function aside for a moment and try to decide which piece of your tack ho collection is your favorite. It can be anything for you, or for your horse. Second, I'd like to know what you're currently saving up for or lusting after. Basically, what item do you have your eyes set on right now? If someone handed you enough money, what would be the first thing to buy on your list? 

Two favourites come immediately to mind.  I would be tempted to say ALL the halters (I have a well-documented halter problem.  I have one horse and either seven or eight halters, I'm not entirely sure).  That said, though I love to buy halters, I probably have more love for two other horse things that come to mind.  

The flat blue halter

The original breakaway trailer halter.  I've since bought a new one that hasn't made it into any pictures yet.

The original rope halter.

The four-knot groundwork halter.  I actually did not like this halter at all, and only used it maybe ten times.

I also own a purple flat halter, a burgundy breakaway trailer halter, a new rope halter (which fits better than the original and is almost the exact same color as the other two rope halters I own).  

The first is my Gumiponi (formerly Custom Stall Signs) custom Jazz hat.  

Jazz approved.

It's adorable, it's of good quality, and the color is perfect.  I also love that they made sure to incorporate the dot in her blaze at my request, because it's one of her important features in my opinion.

My other favourite is my purple lettia coolmax saddle pad (it's the third or fourth down on the page). 

Previously featured here

And here.  I took it to the show because it is my favourite.  

I love the bright purple color, and it looks really sharp on Jazz.  Plus the coolmax works amazing! It really does keep her cool, and she dries much faster when she's sweaty (a big score for my unblanketed wooly horse beast in the winter months).

The item I've been lusting after is definitely not a likely reality.  For one, it is not something like my halters, where it's acceptable to have eight (a lot of them don't even fit jazz anymore anyway), or saddle pads (I only own two english saddle pads right now, but I want about seven thousand more. They might become my new answer to buying halters).  I already own the item I want, and they are perfectly functional, despite how much I may complain and claim otherwise.  

I speak, of course, of my tall boots.  I bought my tall boots at the local consignment tack shop about a year and a half ago.  They were the only boots that fit me, and they actually fit really well.  They seemed to be customs made for someone else, but they weren't even broken in.  They were pull-ons, but they did fit pretty well, and I was just buying them for once-weekly pony club lessons, so I figured that was okay.  The price was right, at $90 for practically brand new boots that fit perfectly, so I bought them.  And they did work.  It wasn't exactly the most fun to break them in, but they worked.  I started having more issue when I started riding English primarily back in July or so.  I still think I have yet to figure out the magic formula for arranging my breeches and socks to help keep them from pulling up my leg four inches when I get my boots on, but it can get really frustrating when I have to take them off and put them on ten times before they're livable.  They've also only gotten worse since I've been riding more.  I suspect all the English riding has been building up my calf muscles, because my boots that have always been manageable and comfortable enough have been getting harder and harder to get on, and my lower legs and ankles are getting sore when they weren't before.  I might have to get room put into them or bathe them in boot stretch to make them livable.  Also, the leather cracked a little where it breaks above my toe, and I've conditioned the living daylights out of it with little help.  I asked at the tack shop, but they told me that all I can do really is to just keep doing what I'm doing, because they are bound to crack based on the quality of the leather.  

I did a ton of research, and learned that my standards are impossibly high and my price range is impossibly low, so I'm likely to have to stick it out with my current boots a while longer, but a girl can dream.  

And I dream big, apparently.  My favourite boots were far and away the DeNiro Leuca Field Boot that I found on Smartpak.  They've got a really unique zipper that curves around, and I really like both the design, and the abstract idea that there are people out there who never have to fiddle with boot pulls and boot jacks for fifteen minutes before being able to ride their horse.

Ooh.

Aah.  So pretty.

However, at $700, I consider them HIGHLY unlikely.  If I were to purchase new tall boots, I think the most likely (for online anyway) would be the Ariat Heritage Contour boots.  At $289, the concept of the price hurts a lot less, though still more than my $90 consignment boots I'm in a constant love/hate relationship with.  

Horse Names Blog Hop

Hand Gallop's current blog hop is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, so it's in perfect time! 

What's the origin of your horse's show name and barn name?

It's a short story, actually.  Jazz came with her barn name.  As I'm fairly sure I mentioned long, long ago, and have repeated often since, Jazz was a rescue.  She was purchased from an auction as a yearling, and the rescue owners named her Jazz.  If I was being really true to what the question was asking, that would be the end of this post, but that would be no fun.

Jazz hasn't been to any shows bigger than little gymkhanas we've done the last two summers (which we unfortunately weren't able to make this year), so I've never needed a show name.  That of course hasn't stopped my from fruitlessly trying to pick a show name for all the imaginary shows I'm sure to take the red ribbon at.  

I have seriously considered Colby Jazzmus, which I've given the back story to here, but I'm not sure.  I don't know if it really sounds like a good show name. I honestly haven't spent much time around horses with show names, so I have no idea of the conventions or where to draw good name ideas from.  If anyone has good suggestions I would love that!

That doesn't mean that she only has one name, of course. Jazz has many, many nicknames, which include
-Jazzy
-sweetheart
-Miss Jazz
-Turkey
-Dork
-Jazzy Jazz
-Princess Jazz
-Fancy
and my personal favourite:
-Lovey bear (lovey for short).  I swear she used to glare at me for calling her that

Window Shopping Blog Hop

I saw a rider at a show I was watching with my dream saddle today, and It made me wonder what other people had as their dream saddles.  My next thought was, "That would be a good blog hop!"

And here we are.

What do you think? Needs more color, no?

If money was no object, what saddle/tack set would you go out and buy?

Believe it or not, this was actually the very first English saddle I ever sat on.

What can I say? I'm an overachiever.

It was a temporary booth set up at a horse show I attended, and I wanted to look at the pretty saddles.  I got cornered by a rep who came up to me and said, "Are you a rider?" When I said yes, he ushered me over to the saddle stand to make me try it out.  He pointed out various features that all went over my head because did I mention I hadn't even sat in an English saddle before? All I knew was that it was SO COMFY.  Seriously.  There's gel in the seat or something (I cannot overstate how little I knew about English saddles at the time and their website appears to be in French), and it is wicked comfortable.

True it has the weird carbon panels some find offputting and ugly, but comfy.  It's also apparently really well made to support the rider's leg and help with position, as well as being more comfortable for the horse.  And as a bonus, comfy gel seat (it was really cushy, ok?).

However, some lazy internet research (read: checking one forum link when I couldn't easily find a price on their website), indicates the saddle I had pictured in the back of my mind was called a CWD 2G, and it is WAAAAY above my price range.  I saw a few answers, and it depends heavily on which options you choose but it could be anywhere from $4500-$6000 or maybe more or less (I was really not feeling this whole doing research thing today).  

Maybe someday.  Then again, I did pay $100 for my saddle, so it's preeeetty unlikely I would actually pony up that much cash (pun intended) for a 2G.

Real Post Procrastination

With a lack of recent photos and some truly disgusting weather outside, I don't have much in the way of recent events to report.  However, the great thing about the equestrian blogging community is that we seem to have somehow gotten license to steal other people's cool posts to fill in the gaps (just kidding... mostly).  I'm of course referring to blog hops!  And in an informal blog hop sort of way, both L.Williams at Viva Carlos and Checkmark115 at Chasing the Dream (a brand new blog to me, I followed the link from The $900 Facebook Pony), have posted 10 questions to answer.

L's questions:

1. Is your horse spooky or bombproof? I wouldn't really describe Jazz as either, but she's definitely closer to spooky.  Luckily, (*knock on wood*) Jazz  is a good spooker.  She jumped sideways in a lesson recently at something or other, and my trainer remarked that I was lucky she 'spooks good'.  It's not much of a buck or bolt (*knocking on wood intensifies*), though it has been before.  Generally she just jumps to the side or bulges away from whatever it is a little and then stops, looks back, goes 'oh, okay. I guess I'm not dead yet from that unexpected dead leaf.  Now what?'.  Plus a nice bonus is that it's taught me a better seat correcting for the occasional sudden detour.

2. Does your horse have a long or short stride?  Uhhh....... okay this is where I admit to how long I really haven't been riding (green and green, whatuppp), and say I honestly don't know.  I'd guess that it's short because Jazz is short and it doesn't seem particularly ground covering.  Of course Jazz just loves to race around at the canter, so it gets quick and big pretty fast.  Those who've been reading a while might remember Jazz just learned to do circles at the canter.  Not 10 meter circles, half of the arena circles.  Seriously I've had actual steering at the canter for a little over a month, so I can't brag about its qualities just yet.

3.  Describe your current barn in 3 words?  Convenient, Friendly, Well-suited (to us).

4. If you could switch barns, would you?  Yes and no.  The biggest drawback to my place is the mares' pasture is so muddy.  It's annoying and not great for her feet.  That said, it is, as far as I know, the only place I'm aware of with indoor facilities in my area, price range, and preferred atmosphere.  The people are great, and the training and other boarders are close enough to my ability that I don't feel inadequate or judged, while also not worrying about other people running me down on horses they don't know how to ride.  There's a couple other barns with indoor in my area, but they're all either wayyyy too expensive, or they're more of a competition barn where I'd feel awkward about my ability level.

5. Favourite brand of breeches? The only ones I've tried that weren't hand-me-downs, Kerrits.

6. How many blue ribbons do you have? (Red if you live in Canada or Britain).  0.  I have never been to a show that gave out ribbons.  I once won a hay net and a fly mask from my gymkhana club for coming in second in flag picking, third in stakes race (I think, it might have been poles... or maybe I was third in both poles and stakes...)

7. How many saddle pads do you own?  2 English square pads, my pretty purple Lettia coolmax pad (which I'm obsessed with. I want thirty), and my blue and greenish blue shedrow affectionately referred to as the Westjet pad.  I also own 2 Western pads because I send them out to be professionally cleaned (they don't fit in my washing machine), so I always have at least one.

Pretty purple Lettia

The Westjet pad. (both these photos are reposts, sorry no good photos of the western pads on hand)

8. Is your horse your phone background/lock screen?  Yes, and yes.  She's both my phone and ipod background, and my ipod lock screen.  Three of my favourite photos of her and I.

Ipod lock screen.  It's also hanging on my bedroom wall.  Also it was my facebook profile forever and ever.  Also probably my favourite photo of me of all time. 

Ipod background.  This was taken the first time I saw Jazz after I got her for Christmas (I was out of town for actual Christmas).  Also look at my cute baby woolly winter beast! 

Phone backgound and longtime facebook cover photo.

9. Do you go trail riding often? (weather permitting)  Not really, though I really want to more.  There's lots of great people at my barn who trail ride with their experienced horses who I could go with, but Jazz's feet just aren't good enough right now for a lot of the terrain they go over (namely rocky riverbanks), so I'm looking at hoof boots and working to get her feet better in hopes of more trails to come.

10. Favourite horsey movie?  Hidalgo, hands down.  It's like Indiana Jones with horses.

Checkmark155's questions:

1.  If your horse was a person, who would they be? (you can generalize personality if you can't think of someone).   I really can't think of anyone or anything specific.  I think she's a lot like me, which is why we work well, but she's also obviously not like me or we would drive each other bonkers.  I'm gonna go for the cheesy cop-out and say if Jazz were a person, she'd be my best friend.  

2. What is one (or two... or five) pieces of equipment you cannot live without? I don't know.  Obviously I love both my saddles, they fit me and Jazz like a dream and both came at an absolute steal ($300 for my Western saddle that was so new the leather still squeaked, and $100 for my English saddle I literally cannot believe I was able to afford it's so nice).  I also love, love, love my old black Ariat cowboy boots I've had for going on six years and they are some of the comfiest shoes I own.  I'm also incredibly partial to my hoof pick. Not that it's a particularly exciting hoof pick, but I'm very pick-y (I'm also hilarious).  

No.

Nope.

Get out.  (I SERIOUSLY hate these.  You can't get any leverage with that stupid brush in the way)

Aww yiss. 

3.  When did you start riding/what discipline?  Besides a few nose-to-tail guest ranch type trail rides and pony rides, I went to Western riding camp starting seven years ago.  I went for five years, and it closed two years ago.  It was also a nose-to-tail affair, but with steep hills, river crossing, bushwhacking, and speed!  It was a great way to learn a basic seat for all the gaits (especially the lope.  Oh my god I am so happy I learned a basic seat on a horse that basically steered itself and only moved in straight lines). I rode only Western until more recently.  I had not so much as sat in an English saddle until last summer.  

4. Do you have a barn dog? If so, what breed? Nope.  I'm a cat person.

5. Do you like doing stalls or nah? I'm trying to decide if I should be proud or sheepish I've never had to clean a stall.  Jazz is a pasture horse, and I haven't had to do any sweat equity... yet.

6. What treats does your horse go nuts over? Everything.  Seriously.  I have seen her refuse treats once ever, and that was a strong, hard peppermint.  She is the biggest cookie monster of all time.  I don't give her treats much anymore because a) she will look for treats in everyone's hands and pockets for literally weeks and b)her feet are junky as mentioned above largely because she got too much sugar (this year's grass was sugartastic).  That said, she will happily gobble anything you will give her.  One time she ate half of my nature valley honey and oats bar.

7. If you've switched disciplines, why? If not, also why? I switched to English for no reason I can put my finger on.  I just liked it, so I wanted to mess around with it.  I still plan to ride Western for Gymkhanas, trail rides, whenever someone less experienced will be riding, and whenever I feel like messing around with it, but I find I have better feel with less saddle, so I like precise work in my English tack.  

8. What is your least favourite discipline and why (yeah, I ain't afraid to be scandalous)?

I'm not a fan of Tenessee Walking horses and soring,  though I'm not trying to say that everyone in the sport does it.  I also have a hard time watching any discipline where I see a rider doing hard checks on the reins or otherwise having harsh hands.  

9. Who is currently your favourite rider?  I don't really follow equestrian sports closely honestly. I'm also not much for celebrity.  Johnathan Field, I guess (but he's a clinician I don't know if that counts).  

10. What is your BIGGEST pet peeve regarding horses?  For Jazz specifically, her gross strung out crazy trot.  She sometimes zooms into hyper trot when I ask for the canter and it's awful and feels so discombobulated and it makes me CRAZY.  For horses in general, pushiness/no manners.  I cannot deal with a horse with no manners, especially an older horse whose owner has just let them get away with everything for years.  I'm too spoiled with Jazz's manners to deal with pushiness.  

Blog swap tack hop!

Okay that title isn't entirely accurate but hey,  it rhymes! Either way I'm participating in the $900 Facebook pony's Tack swap and sale! 

Unfortunately, upon review, I found I had little extra horse tack to be parting with (which is surprising considering how much I frequent tack shops).  Nonetheless, there is definitely something to get rid of.

Nurtural Crossunder Bitless Bridle in blue.  Nylon webbing material, size horse. $65 obo or I'd be open to a swap. Jazz normally fits either horse or cob size and the buckles were somewhere in the middle of the holes for her.  I bought it wanting to have a bitless bridle to play with and have as an option, but Jazz didn't really take to it and I didn't want to put the work in with it because she does go pretty nicely in the bit. She had it on maybe three times and I thoroughly cleaned it. I also have a pair of barrel reins I forgot to photograph in a lighter blue and black that I would be willing to throw in if someone wants both bridle and reins.  The reins are normal length though, not super short barrel reins or anything.

Why yes, I am a photographer in my spare time.  Just look at that sale photo.  Immaculate.

 And that's it.  Yes, really.  Well, no, really, but for horse stuff that's it.  However in cleaning out my closet recently I found a couple of purses I keep meaning to sell on kijiji but keep forgetting about, so I'm going to put them up here if anyone's interested.

Pink Coach purse. A bit bigger than the size of a dvd case.  Asking $35 obo. 

No, this is not a super weird bit I'm trying to sell, I just wanted to prove it's coach. 

Notice how I don't have a detail shot of the logo like for the Coach? Juicy likes to have their branding right up front. 

Last but not least a Juicy couture purse. Medium sized, you could fit a textbook in there in terms of dimensions.  Asking $80 obo.  

That said, this is a tack (or in my case not so much tack) swap, so I would possibly interested in trades for the following items

-All purpose full size saddle pads (especially if you have Lettia coolmax)

-A decent english bridle with a cavesson noseband.  I love raised and/or padded browbands, but not a necessity as I am a) just starting english riding and b)unlikely to be showing seriously at all. Maybe a fun schooling show or something in the next few months or year but nothing requiring anything fancy.  I'm honestly not sure if Jazz would need cob or horse sized, so I would probably want measurements

-Myler level 1 comfort eggbutt snaffle with plain sides.  As much as I love my fancy sided one, I don't know it would fly for english showing if I were to head down that road

-horse books and dvds (the instructional kind) on topics I might be interested in pursuing 

Granted, I am not dead set.  If you're interested in offering something else for trade, I might be interested.  I can be emailed at mnglylas@gmail.com, and I will be checking comments too! Happy shopping! 

Blog Hop: Stalker

This week's blog hop from Viva Carlos was just perfect, because it's a topic I've been meaning to touch on for a while now.  

What Equestrian Blogger out there do you really want to meet? (If you have more then 1 I will allow you to list up to 5!)

As a relative newbie to the whole equestrian scene, I really don't quite know what interests me in terms of what I want to do.  Because of this, I follow blogs that cover a pretty broad spectrum of disciplines, interests, and events.  So, without further ado, here's my top five.   

5.) Lauren at She moved to Texas

Lauren's was one of those blogs that I heard about everywhere.  As a newcomer to blogging, I would always look at most of the links on the blogrolls of blogs I liked, and She moved to Texas was on very nearly every one.  She chronicles her journey in the hunter jumper world with her horse Simon, as well as many other interesting and current topics relevant to the equestrian world as a whole.  Lauren writes a lot of awesome, funny posts about all the ups and downs of the horse world, and I'm never bored with reading what she has to say.

4.)Karen at Bakersfield Dressage 

Karen writes about training and working with her two horses, Sydney and Speedy G.  Her main focus is on dressage, and she writes some excellent educational pieces as well as plenty of progress reports and dissecting the contents of her riding lessons.  I love to read Karen's blog because it feels like I know both her horses even though she lives in California.  I think Karen says it well in her blog's about me, "I write honestly about my journey: sometimes we do well, sometimes we struggle, but we always have fun. "

3.)Paola at The Aspiring Equestrian (formerly Paola's Horse Blog)

Paola writes about a large variety of topics.  I like reading about her thoughts as a young equestrian, and it's really awesome to read about her lessons and how she's progressing and gaining confidence and skills. Since I've been reading, she started leasing a horse named Chester who is just plain adorable.  Paola also has a lot of interest in thoroughbreds, and I've learned a lot about racehorses in general from her blog.  In her about me, she says she wants to retrain OTTB's when she's older, and I wish her all the best in all her equestrian dreams!

2.) Saiph at Wait for the Jump

Saiph was, if I'm remembering correctly, my very first blog follower.  She has two horses, Lily, and the more recent addition, Gracie.  Saiph does a lot of trail riding and conditioning, and some endurance.  I love to read Saiph's posts and her writing about her horses always has a funny, upbeat tone to it that makes me smile.  If I ever were to meet her, I'd have a few questions on where she gets the discipline to sit down and write the excellent, detailed, long posts I love to read on her blog.  

1.) Andrea at The Reeling: An Unexpected Mareventure

Andrea's was probably the first blog I read all the way through when I first discovered it.  I love her style, and I am always amazed when she talks about the problems she has with her horses that she always seems to magically find the perfect answer, solution, or approach to.  I hope to someday have half the horse-related knowledge Andrea just sprinkles casually into her posts.  I really like the approach she takes, and she has a lot of great information, especially about equine nutrition and going barefoot.  Andrea is honestly the only one of my top five I've ever really interacted with besides blog comments, and that was just one email I sent to ask her advice on some troubles I was having, but she gave an incredibly helpful, considerate, and comprehensive response.  I cannot say enough great things about Andrea's blog.  

Honorable mention: Jen/Braymere at Braymere Custom Saddlery

Alright, I admit it.  I harbor a lot of interest/curiosity into model horse showing, and I cannot recommend Braymere Custom Saddlery enough.  Daily posts filled with beautiful pictures, and a great introduction to watch the world of model horse showing from a distance.

Unfortunately, I live VERY far from all of these people, and I seem to be very short on more local bloggers, so I'd love some suggestions on good horse blogs based in Canada.


 

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)

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.

Blog Hop! What's in your name?

I found this fabulous blog hop from Viva Carlos, and it's just perfect because I was going to plan to do a post explaining my url at some point anyhow!

What is the story behind your blogname/url?

The story for my blog title, The Fabled Christmas Pony, is not a long one.  I was in some sort of class or another, and we were doing one of those exercises where everyone goes around and says their name and something of interest about themselves (you know, those ones that make you immediately forget everything of interest that has ever happened to you?).  Needless to say the only thing that came to mind was horses, and I told them about how I was the little girl who actually got a pony from Santa on Christmas.  So, my title is essentially me saying that but attempting to sound fancy in my wording of it.  

My url is a little bit more of a story, but not by much.  Jazz is grade, so she isn't really registerable (I'm sure I could find a way if I were really determined to get her registered, but I see no need), and I come from a family of baseball fans, more specifically the blue jays.  I have a brother who is a particularly big baseball guy, and not exactly 'horsey'. He has taken to referring to Jazz as Colby Jazzmus. 

Which, of course comes from this gentleman, Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus