Win-ter

It's a day exactly like this one where I understand how people like winter.  It is far from my own favourite season, and Jazz seems to feel the same way more often than not.  But today, when it's not too cold at -5, sunny with not a cloud in the sky, and not a breath of wind, I get it.  It was a truly gorgeous day, and a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am to have the horse I have and so many other little things.

Jazz was fairly easy to catch today.  I had her new halter from my recent tack shop stop (review coming soon I just need some pictures), and I noticed the tag on it said full.  I thought that was odd, because I could have sworn I'd bought a cob halter.  It was the same brand as my pastel purple halter (which is cob sized), so I knew it would fit, and I specifically remembered the girl at the tack shop asking to make sure we knew it was cob sized.  So, when I got to the fence, I yelled over to C (who had been with me when I bought it) to see if I was crazy or if the halter was actually supposed to be cob sized.  She recalled that the tag that had said cob had been the sale tag, so it must have been mislabled.  As we were talking over the fence, Jazz started nuzzling my shoulder and giving me little kisses.  It was so sweet, and she's only done that maybe twice before.  I tried to get C to take a picture, but Jazz stopped by the time she got her phone out.  She did get a few cute shots, though.

I love this one.  She almost looks like she's smiling.

As I was walking back from the pasture, I noticed how gorgeous of a day it was, and asked C to take some more pictures.  Two of the barn cats even came out to greet us.  

Just look at that sky! It was really perfect

I picked up one of the cats and put her in my coat, and Jazz happily snuffled her.  She loves the cats, but usually she scares them off.  Today she was just sniffing and snuffling the kitten so gently she didn't even squirm.

We got this adorable but sadly fuzzy picture of it

 Soon the other cat caught her attention, and we captured a couple photos of Jazz's fascination with the cats.

I got a few nice pictures in the sun near the back paddocks (the ones in the far background of the above photos)

One of my absolute favourites

This one turned out really nice of me and the cat

See? Cat and I are cute, pony looks like she's plotting something.

A brief interlude from today's events to summarize our lesson from this past Wednesday that I neglected to blog about.  Something I don't appreciate often enough about my trainer is the confidence I feel when I ride with her. My last ride before my lesson I didn't ride above a walk because I didn't feel safe.  I cantered on Wednesday, because I am confident my trainer knows enough to tell me how best to keep my occasionally frazzled horse (and self) under control, and I also know she will listen when something just isn't working.  In December, a lesson I didn't blog about didn't happen because I got onto a horse I wasn't sure about, and when Jazz felt much closer to rearing than I wanted to touch with a ten foot pole, I told my instructor I wasn't comfortable and hopped off (and she also didn't let me pay her for the lesson I didn't take).  So on Wednesday, I got on to a fussed sort of Jazz that I probably wouldn't have even trotted if I was alone at the barn.  I had bought a standing martingale at the tack shop the previous weekend, but hadn't actually had time to put it on yet.  I asked my trainer if she wanted me to try it, and she helped me put it on and adjust it correctly.  We went quickly back into some trot work, and Jazz bumped herself in the nose a few times.  The difference was immediately obvious to me.  She's head tossed a bit for some time now, but it finally felt like I could ride it out safely again.  We did a lovely canter on her better right lead, and tried her left, but with little success.  She's much duller to the right leg, and she will run sideways on the circle when tracking left sometimes, even stopping sometimes.  It's very difficult for me to try to control, and has been a source of most of my frustration with riding over the last three or four months.  When I had been having no success for a few minutes of working on it, and as I was starting to get frustrated, I did something I'd been meaning to do every time we'd had this problem for the last few months.  I asked my trainer if there was some other way (any other way) we could possibly work this out.  She said a crop was an option, and retrieved one from the whip bucket.  She explained how to use it, and we worked on small circles where she wasn't squirreling off sideways on me.  It took about two sharp pops with the crop behind my leg, and four or five gentle taps before she was much improved (and a million miles an hour, but I wasn't going to pull on her after giving her such a strong foward cue, that would just be confusing).

Coming back to today, we even squeezed in some work after the photoshoot, . I taught C a little basic groundwork, and Jazz was a rockstar.  I groomed her and tacked up with our other purchase from last week's tack shopping, a standing martingale.  I walked her for a bit, and she was listening the best right off the bat she has in months.  She's always been very eager to go when I get on, and I sometimes have issue getting her to stand at the mounting block for me to get my reins and stirrups organized.  Today she stood well, and started off at a good walk, but listening nicely to halts and half halts (another thing that she usually has to warm up to in the winter).  We trotted early on, and I worked on doing ovals tracking left at the trot.  She was actually getting off my outside leg on the open (non-walled) end of our oval, and I didn't need to fetch the crop to get her to listen.  We even cantered a bit on her good right lead.  There were two other horses in the arena trotting and cantering, which made Jazz want to speed up, so we had a fairly zippy but controlled canter.  I just focused on her being quiet and listening, and did a bit of leg yielding on the quarter line intermittently throughout the ride.  I even worked a bit at two pointing at the trot, which made Jazz happily zip around in a fast trot.  I pulled out two ground poles to trot over, and even commented to C that if she did well over the poles, I might pop over a cavaletti.  That goes to show how confident I was feeling in her, because I would never jump outside of a lesson unless I knew Jazz was doing well.

 Unfortunately, just as I was getting ready to start work over the poles, Jazz had a big spook.  She reeled up her head and bumped herself on the martingale, and took off, nearly tripping herself over the pole, and doing a little dolphin buck over it.  I yelled at C to move because I wasn't feeling confident about my steering, and veered right.  She came back to reality quickly, with the whole spook maybe lasting four seconds.  I'm not sure exactly what set her off, but the other people in the arena had dismounted and were doing a little de-spooking with the flag (aka Jazz's number one fear) on the far end of the arena, so that may have factored in.  I've found Jazz isn't usually a horse that will spook at something that startles her unless two or more things happen at once.  For example, she'll sometimes startle at the sound of people rattling the chains on gates just outside the arena walls, or snow falling off the roof, or a car door slamming, but she'll rarely spook at these types of things unless at least two of them are happening at once, or one happens while I'm cueing for an upward transition.  I put the poles away and basically worked on getting her calmed and releasing her tension. 

I especially love her dragon breath in this picture

Once I was off, I took off her bridle and looped the martingale strap through the neck loop so it wouldn't drag.  Just then, two scary sounds at the same time = another spook.  Jazz startled and reeled away from the viewing area (where the halter had been sitting, and I was standing next to the rail) and away about five steps.  She stopped quickly, and I had to laugh at her a little bit.  She couldn't have picked a better time to spook, with her bridle off and no worrying about her catching her bit.  Her girth was still tightened, so her saddle didn't move an inch, and she had respectfully not so much as grazed me.  I did two fast groundwork moves to get her brain back, and untacked for good.  

I've really learned something this week, and I hope it's something I remember next time I'm in a similar situation.  I have had a very natural horsemanship kind of 'upbringing', and I've been committed to a gadgets are bad kind of mentality.  I was first told by my trainer that I should consider a martingale/tie-down in June, and I bought one last Saturday.  The result was an immediate feeling that I had returned to safety upon first use, and a horse who didn't catch herself on the martingale once (with the exception of a spook, of course) the second time she had ever had a martingale. My trainer commented to me when I asked about another method to deal with Jazz running sideways at the trot, that a crop or spurs would help, though she knew I didn't usually like that kind of thing. I've actually had the thought cross my mind a few times that a crop might have been the answer to my outside leg problem when she really isn't listening the way she was.  I've actually used a crop before.  It helped take us from here: 

 "Pleeeeeeease trot? Pretty please?"

to here:

You can actually see the crop in the video too.

So the moral of the story is a piece of advice I've heard from one of my horsey mentors (paraphrased) "You are going to hear a million opinions from horse people.  You can't ever do that, horses should never do this, etc.  The important thing is for you to figure out what feels right to you, and to do that."

So, readers, remember that no matter what, what matters is that you have a horse you can be proud of, and a method that you can feel good about.  

2014- a first year of blogging in review

I can't believe that it's already been over a year since I started this blog! I did mean to acknowledge the actual anniversary of my first post, buuuuuuut I thought it was later in the month and didn't even bother to check until I'd missed it by about two days.  Oops.  Either way, the actual anniversary was December 7th , after which I promptly didn't write for almost an entire month.  Luckily for me, I decided to make posting at least once a week my New Year's Resolution (which I kept for the most part), and as a result, I got to keep blogging and meet so many great people (metaphorically speaking of course)!

January

I give a little basic background on my horse and where she came from.  I recollect on some progress I've made with not freaking out when someone comments my horse might not be at 100%, and I have my usual crazy winter Jazz.  It seems so weird to think that I didn't know almost any of my now go-to groundwork exercises back then.

Jazz's original sale photo

February

February was definitely my best month for posting, and I learned a lot of things.  The most notable, to me at least, was a new way to lunge which ranks as probably the most useful tool in my groundwork arsenal as of today.  We continue to make good progress with groundwork and respect, and I recount my years at horse camp (read: essentially my entire riding experience pre-Jazz) complete with a slightly cringe-worthy picture from my youth (well, my younger youth).  I also promise an explanation of when I started at the rescue that it now occurs to me I never wrote.  Oops.  Note to self: rescue that story from the drafts.  I unexpectedly attend the Saskatchewan Horse Expo where I got to watch a few clinics and shop at the trade show.

Cutest, sweetest gelding ever

March

I hit a tough spot in our groundwork re-start, though it doesn't last long.  I also participate in my very first blog hop (which explains my URL if anyone missed it and is curious).  I wrote what is still one of my favourite posts to date (you can't go wrong with Julie Andrews, plus it's a nice flashback to being in a production of the Sound of Music).

Mmmm professional quality photography.

April

After my return to basics and groundwork, April is when I started riding again in earnest. For anyone who read my last post about Jazz's teeth, here is the post where I explain what her teeth were like around this time last year.  Jazz starts shedding, though molting seems a more accurate term.

May

I promise another post I never wrote (about the Mane Event)... oops.  There is also a completely unreasonable snow storm which leaves Jazz very cold, stiff, and shivering (and one of my favourite post titles of the year).  Of course the gross weather means I get to break out the blanket I bought almost two years ago and never even took out of the package (I am hardcore on team naked horse, but I draw the line at May snow on my shedding horse), and Jazz looks very cute.  I participate in one of my all time favourite blog hops.  Side note: there is nothing I love more than hearing about bits.  If anyone ever wants to entice me into reading a post on their blog, make it about your bit.  Jazz turns six!

There's a reason everything I bought her for our first two years together was blue. 

I pretend I know how to run barrels (Jazz's favourite) for her birthday, but I fail to stare them into submission.

June

I get a new trainer, and Jazz gets fussier and fussier, until I remember she's due for her teeth (another personal favourite post title).  While I wait on Jazz's mouth to heal up, I take a lesson on my new Trainer's awesome lesson horse.  I buy an English saddle!

Mmmm shiny summer Jazz

July

I hit 1000 pageviews! Jazz continues her random naughtiness, which has been going on since before her teeth were done at this point.  I compare her, not inaccurately, to a rubik's cube, and get in a few bareback rides with the halter on a horse I hadn't ridden properly in the saddle for about two weeks.  I somehow manage to get away without serious injury. I own up to some of the blogs I check obsessively  follow, and we buy a trailer. 

One of my favourite pictures of us. 

August

I update a little about my horse, and discover that purple is her color. I attempt to sell a couple of things in a tack swap with no success (which I still have and can be viewed here).  I take a trip to London, England, and document everything horsey in sight (which reminds me, I ought to finish up that post since I still have some exciting pictures I never shared).

September

Jazz goes on the only trail ride we've managed this year.  I avoid actual updates via blog hops and questions.  I write the longest post EVER about the Household Cavalry Museum in London.  I make a first attempt at starting a blog hop with sadly, no takers.

October

Definitely the worst month for posting with a dismal 2 posts.  I fess up to how I've been jumping behind everyone's backs.  I also attend my first show, but the post for that isn't until November, so I'll include it there.  

November

I attend my first show and Jazz is awesome!  We manage a 1st, 2nd, and a 5th, despite a rocky start to the morning.  Basically all else that happens in November is I don't ride my horse.  I talk about hypothetical future disciplines and take some of my favourite pictures of Jazz ever.  

And I'm not going to bother wrapping up December, as it's barely half over.  It seems so weird looking back at all I didn't know then and all I do know now.  I also learned I promised a few posts that I did not deliver on, but will be sure to revisit (such as when I met Jazz, the times she's bucked me off, the posts left over from London I still wanted to share).  It's pretty unlikely I'll write about the Mane Event from way back in May now, unless I have a reader particularly dying to read about me struggling to remember details from months ago, in which case let me know in the comments.

Another mostly unrelated note: at some point in the last couple of months I hit 2000 pageviews and failed to note it on my blog then.  As of now, I have 2462. Yay!

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.  

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

The horse under the tree

I am the person they tell you not to be in every horse book you have ever read.  Everyone in the horse world is familiar with the old saying, "green and green makes black and blue".  Leave it to horse crazy but essentially clueless me to fall completely head-over-heels in love with an adorable unbroke 3-year old.  I was the very first person to ride her, and I did essentially all of her training myself.  That's not to say that I went it alone, I had tons of help from several different trainers and friends, and I spent hours reading books, watching videos, attending clinics, and doing other research.  But, as of two years ago this Christmas, I became the person who opened up a Pony from Santa (not technically a Pony, she's a horse and she is taller than 14.2, although not by a whole lot).

So now, slightly more than two years since I met her, I sometimes find it hard to believe she's the same horse. I've had a few people get very surprised when they found out her age,  and heard quite a bit of backpedaling following comments about young horses and green riders.

But even so I have the most amazing,  gentle,  responsive,  fun to ride horse that I could ever ask for,  and I am so lucky to have her.