The time has come again for real updates. The hardest part of not blogging is that it gets much harder because when you haven't written, it feels like you have so much backstory to catch up on you can't just update on what's new. No more. I am going to update on now, or I'm never going to start again.
Jazz has been doing awesome. I've been riding with an eventing coach since the summer, learning pretty much only dressage so far. I took almost the entire fall off of riding lessons when classes started up. My first semester schedule was a horrible drudgery which left me with basically only time to ride on weekends. I was really struggling through September and most of October, because I couldn't ride enough to keep Jazz fit, so it was conditioning work constantly, and I felt like I never got to do anything actually fun or productive, just fitness and more fitness. I ended up half leasing her out to a girl I rode in my group lesson with in Pony Club. It was perfect because I had seen her ride, I knew her to be at a similar level to me, and her lease horse had gone lame in late August. She also took lessons with my trainer, so I knew Jazz would be being worked in a way I'm comfortable with. It was awesome, Jazz was in the best shape of her life, and I got to just play on the weekends. I even taught my lessee to barrel race on Jazz and I's fourth anniversary (it was a terrible decision in a way since I hadn't been cantering much and my back was killing me for three days after, but it was fun). It worked out perfectly, because just as my schedule opened back up, her lease horse was coming back into work so I got to take Jazz back full time.
Jazz was covered in frost the other day, so after I laughed at how hilarious she looked for about a minute and a half, I had to take about a million photos.
Back to the present, I've been working on dressage and I am RUINED. FOR. LIFE. Oh my god did you know how much crap you have to do to get correct work? And more importantly, HAVE YOU EVER FELT HOW MUCH BETTER CORRECT FEELS? I can sit the trot! Bareback! No stirrups! I was not sitting in the middle of my horse. Ever. Now I can go through a month of lessons without once being corrected to sit in the middle. My legs stay in place! I'm barely losing stirrups once a week when it used to be ten times per ride on a good day. I'm figuring out what previously mysterious phrases like "inside leg to outside hand" and "leg to hand" and "connection" mean. Jazz moves FORWARD. The prancy annoying moving nowhere canter of our past is (almost) completely gone (with occasional reappearance when she's getting tired). Strung out gross crazy trot is also only found when Jazz is tired and frustrated. She's overtracking at the walk and trot! Dressage is the worst kind of drug. I will probably never get to the point where I'm up there at perfect, but I know what's out there. I know better and more precise is attainable.
Frostbeard the pony pirate
Lately, our W/T has been going like gangbusters. Jazz is getting lighter and rounder, and we're learning about connection, there's a lot more forward in our trot, and my hands are getting better. Most lessons I've been taking lately have been a short walk warmup and then an exercise at trot, and a bit of canter at the end. Our work at the trot has really felt like it's progressed almost every single week, and I'm really happy with how it's come along.
What's that? Oh no, I couldn't possibly listen today. My ears are frozen.
The canter is another story. It's really been deteriorating lately. It started with Jazz not being able to pick up the right lead. She was having so much difficulty that my instructor suggested something was probably out so I should get her looked at by a chiropractor. I had her adjusted a few days later. I can't remember if I've mentioned it here before, but Jazz had really uneven shoulders that were causing some difficulty with saddle fit. We figured it was mostly incorrect muscling, and worked on getting her more balanced and even, and I bought a saddle pad with adjustable memory foam shims to help compensate. Since she's been adjusted (and he did work on something near her withers), I found my saddle felt really high on the side with the extra padding. I started taking more and more layers out until it ended up level, and I'm back into regular saddle pads again.
I get to use my cranberry pad again, which is one of my absolute favourites!
I also managed to perfectly capture Jazz's three modes: 1. Perfect statue look how proud and pretty I am
2. Nap time
And my personal favourite, 3. Adorable doof
After her adjustment, the right lead has come much more easily, but now it's the left that's causing issue. Easy come, easy go I guess. In addition to the transitions being harder and harder to get, she's been totally running away with me, and refusing to turn on circles correctly. It's been hard because I essentially can't canter in an acceptable manner at all right now. I actually had a lesson yesterday, and it was going swimmingly, and then I was holding back tears by the end of the canter. It's been hard to put up with, but I'm counting my blessings because Jazz has been a thousand times better behaved in general (canter notwithstanding) than any of the past winters I've owned her.
I also got instagram so now I can make artsy photos and collages like these:
So here we are! Back again! I've missed updates! I can't wait to stay more current on this blog again.
Apparently my blog is now only for me sharing adorable videos I find on facebook. I do have an event from September I'm still hoping I will get to write about soon, and something else exciting this weekend, so I'll have to ask you all to just bear with me as I attempt to survive classes. Cheers!
I am looking, as is becoming a familiar feeling to me, at a ridiculously busy next few months. It feels like the last year and a half has been either me dreading the start of a busy time, or impatiently awaiting whatever time I think I'll next be able to finally catch my breath. It feels right now like this might be my life from now on. Just running from one thing to another. One period of insanity to another too-short interim break. I really understand why this is one of the most common times in their lives when people sell their horses.
I should pause a moment to say this, I AM NOT SELLING MY HORSE. I got her when she was 3 and I'm planning (and hoping) to have her the rest of her life.
Speaking of, look at adorable baby Jazz from her sale photo!
So classes begin next week. And I am looking at excruciatingly long days for months. I'll be lucky if I see the sun, much less the little red horse. At this point, it also looks like I might not be taking any lessons until the New Year. Hello, life of a weekend warrior (goodbye, sleek, fit summer Jazz).
In addition to my schedule restraints, I have a serious motivation problem. At no point am I at the farm with my horse, wishing I were at home watching Netflix, and yet it's disproportionately hard to get myself changed and out the door to go see my horse. If I'm seeing my friends during the day with plans to ride later in the evening, the odds are about 50/50 that I'll make it to the barn instead of going out for food with friends (where I'm sure to bore and confuse my city-dwelling friends by talking constantly about horses anyway). There's also a semi-regular shuffle of which vehicle is the farm vehicle. The idea of moving around the many boxes and bins and bags that are all somehow necessary to my equestrian pursuits is enough to delay my drive to get out of the house by at least half an hour.
Is it just me? I hate how I can't just get out and do the things I know I'll enjoy. I hate it. But it's hard to change. Lately by the time I made it out, the weather's been turning bad, and the visit gets cut short because the horse is miserable (and so am I, what month is this, November? It's ridiculous).
And just to twist the knife a little, this summer I finally got to see firsthand how Jazz improves under regular work. I was taking two lessons a week, and riding (ideally) two to three times outside of that, and preparing for my (semi-disastrous) PC testing. It was so great to see how Jazz was getting stronger and suppler, and I was improving and making a real difference. And then I got a bad cold, complete with a cough so bad I couldn't be at the dusty barn for longer than fifteen minutes. My summer with Jazz ended with me hardly even able to see her as I tried desperately to get better. And now? I'm not even out until after 5PM on the days when my schedule is good. I'm driving twice as far as I'm used to almost every day, and I'm having a total pity party for myself over all of it. It's enough to keep me from being excited about any of it right now. Here's to keeping my head down till 2016, and counting my blessings in the meantime.
The first three months of this year have gone by faster than I could possibly have imagined. I think I may have found the time to grab the occasional breath a handful of times in the first quarter of 2015, but I can't be sure. Without further ado, the overdue analysis of my goals:
Make more horse time. Too many excuses and not enough pony have been happening recently, and I intend to put a stop to it. Success! The lengthening daylight hours especially have been a huge help in completing this goal!
Play with the Horse Ball. Jazz's absolute favourite thing and I'm not even sure I've brought it out more than twice in the last year. Plus a fun thing both on the ground and under saddle. I brought out the ball one day, only to remember why it had been put away in the first place after an immense half-hour struggle to get it inflated enough to be safe.
Put the Western saddle back on occasionally. I kind of miss it. Done and done! I had it on at least twice, one of which was pony sharing with two awesome kids at my barn, and Jazz was an angel for them.
Do something about my tall boots. I need to bathe them in boot stretch or get room put in at the shoe repair place because they are much too tight on my calves. Yes! I bought the most wonderful, most beautiful, bestest imaginable brand spanking new paddock boots and half chaps a few weeks back.
Tack store haul! I also got a new saddle pad and cookies!
Write a product review post or two. Product reviews are the kind of post I will read 100% of the time I see them on my blogger dashboard, but I have yet to write one. This one was a failure. I attempted to write a review of leather care products and was starting to assemble the pieces and then pre-spring break crazy schedule and spring break happened.
My personal favourite picture from leather care product review day.
Think about a bitless bridle option. Since my horse needs her teeth done every 6 months at this point, it might be nice to have an alternative when her mouth hurts. I do own a bitless bridle, but I don't love it and I'm considering a different type of bridle. At no point did I even think about this at all. There were too many other things on both the horsey horizon and the personal one.
Try to talk less in lessons. Pretty self explanatory but a definite bad habit of mine. I definitely made progress, but this is ongoing, so I'll probably repeat it in another quarter.
Show off the horse. I have been telling many, many friends for a long time they can come meet my horse, but I have taken very few people out to the farm. I may end up moving this goal to a different quarter depending on how our winter goes (I probably shouldn't introduce my non-horsey friends who have never ridden a horse to the crazy winter Jazz I know and love). I had a relative come to visit just last week and we went for a farm visit. Plus I shared her with the two kids at my barn mentioned earlier. I like the idea of sharing her, so this will be another repeat goal.
Get better at leg protection. I will divide this one into two parts
a) use the brushing boots and/or open front boots I own much more often
b) polos! I have one set and I am honestly pitiful at wrapping them Truth be told, I didn't do this, but in hindsight the last three months were not a good time for this goal, as we're lucky to be able to do a good flatwork session most days, so it doesn't seem that necessary to do boots. This one will probably be back in the summer.
And because I love sharing him, here's my cat, continuing to be deluded into thinking he's a person.
Goals for the Second Quarter (April-June)
Survive the next month and a half. There are huge time commitments coming up on the personal horizon. May especially will be no doubt roaring along at 1000 miles an hour, and I think it's only fair to myself to acknowledge that fact and try to do my best.
See to it the horse is fed. I think I've mentioned here before that Jazz is prone to bouts of diarrhea that can cause a sore, rubbed bum. I had the vet out on her last episode, and one of the new management protocols we're trying out is more regular doses of her probiotic. At very least every 2-3 days she needs to be fed a dose of it, and luckily C will be able to help on some of the aforementioned crazy weeks.
Get the horse photo ready. Some important photos are being taken with the horse very late May. Make the necessary arrangements (trailer loading practise, thorough grooming the days leading up to photos, cleaning tack, etc.)
Casey is always photo ready.
Try to get pony exercised. I'm actually taking May off of lessons since I physically do not have the time. I have someone in mind who I want to ask if they'd be willing, so if possible, she'll be getting a little training and exercise.
June: Advance. Make some progress with riding. More work in non-lesson rides, less messing around. Get some momentum going heading into our busier riding time in the summer.
Edit: Keep it positive. It's come to my recent attention that I am often not good enough at talking up my pony successes with my real life horsey friends, and I tend to overemphasize our difficulties. Work on that.
Quick preface: I wrote this post on Saturday and it got delayed when my computer utterly refused to acknowledge my phone so no photos. I had an adorable video of Jazz eating her minerals (she loves her noms), but it seems that it will NOT be possible to share.
Three noteworthy rides within the last four days and not a single blog post! Bad blogger! Here's a quick overview and update of all three rides:
Wednesday Lesson
Wednesday Jazz came in feeling a little squirrelly. It's always hard in the winter when she's alone in the arena and it's already dark out. We started work on our trouble spot in the arena. Tracking left, whenever we do 20 meter circles, she bulges way out towards the door on the open end of the circle. In the final quarter of the circle (approaching K), she dives out with her right shoulder, and when I try to push her back in with my leg, she shoots her bum out right, sidepassing quickly until she finally stops completely. And there is nothing that I can really do when she sets her mind to doing it. No amount of leg helps on its own (and I am not afraid to kick her when I need to), and I tried a crop at my last lesson. It did seem to help last time. But, Jazz is definitely not very comfortable with the crop, and honestly neither am I. Not because I have any sort of issue with it, it's just a lot harder to adjust my reins when I'm holding it, and Jazz thinks it means faster, so I need to use more rein... which is harder when I'm holding the crop. It's kind of a vicious cycle. But, nonetheless, she dove out and sidepassed, and I tapped her with the crop. She had an absolute meltdown. She reeled her head up and bumped her nose on the martingale, and threw in a couple little bucks for good measure. Lucky for me (*knock on wood*), Jazz doesn't have much of a buck in her. We slowed things down, and started working on trotting the half of the circle that was against the wall, and then walking the open half, pushing her in to a small circle if she tried to dive out. It worked pretty well, and we worked up from trotting half the circle to two steps into the open side before walking, and got up to three quarters trotting, even trotting through once or twice. It was a mostly successful lesson. It sounds actually quite non-stressful when I write it out. Bear in mind this whole ordeal took about 45 minutes, and it was literally the only thing we did. Jazz was definitely mentally done by the time we were finished. She had been working on a contact for essentially the entire lesson, and was having a hard time even walking the circle quietly by the end, she kept trying to head toss and bumping herself on the martingale. Finally she settled and I immediately hopped off. She was totally done mentally, but I was actually super impressed she had worked that long on a contact. This was my horse! Jazz! She worked on a contact for forty minutes before getting tired of it! That's huge! This is the same horse who I wasn't sure would ever learn to accept a contact she was so sensitive to rein pressure. This is the horse who I had learned the habit of waaaaaay too permissive hands from because too much rein confused and agitated her! Score!
Anyhow, it was ultimately a lesson that was both good and necessary, but I ended the night a little bummed. It was just hard to spend that long on just the one thing. Even though I knew it was important progress, it wasn't 100% an easy pill to swallow.
Thursday Ride
I came back the next day and brought Jazz in for a ride. It was super busy in the barn because someone's farrier was there, and two or three horses were waiting to have their feet done. I ended up heading into the arena to groom, and it was empty. Jazz was a little off just because she was alone, but right when I was ready to get on, another boarder came in with her horse to ride. I immediately tested her on the circle we'd done in the lesson (with no crop), and she did well. I worked up from a walking circle to a half walk/half trot circle to a full trot circle, and then didn't touch it again. Jazz, like all horses, does really well when given a little time to hang out in the pasture with her friends and be a horse between rides to let things sink in. She did totally awesome trotting her trouble circle, and I immediately moved to tracking right and doing other exercises that didn't involve her sticky spot. I had her canter for the second time since she's been wearing the martingale, and it was AMAZING. She just stepped right up into it when I asked for her transition, and did several circles well balanced, not too fast, and listening to my leg. It was awesome! I couldn't stop smiling. She was doing so well, I even pulled out some trot poles and did some trotting around over them, working on turns and pace. Just before I was done riding, the other horse left, and she started to get wound up a little. I decided best to end as well as possible, so I put the poles away and did a nice cool down before untacking and heading to the barn to feed her her minerals and probiotic.
Saturday
I headed to the barn to meet up with a friend to do some groundwork with her horse. I showed up an hour early to ride, and it turned out she had the same idea. Her and her two daughters came early to ride another boarder's horse who they ride in lessons. I ended up tacking Jazz up in the western saddle, and returned to my truck to discover that somehow I had taken both my english and western bridles out and left them at home. Oops. I dug out my rope halter and lead and figured that if she wouldn't co-operate to be ridden I could always do groundwork. Granted, she wasn't as responsive as with the bit, but she almost never works in the halter anymore, so expecting her to be would be ridiculous. I did a little walking and trotting, mostly reveling in how weird it felt to be back in the western saddle. I like the seat and how it feels to sit in it, but it weirds me out how the stirrups don't move. Since I wasn't looking to accomplish much with that ride, I decided to hop off and offer to share. Both of my friend's daughters rode Jazz, and all three looked happy as clams. I think Jazz likes being a kid's horse because kids don't make her work as hard as I do. I ended the day with a little barebacking and a demo of some groundwork with Jazz. We never ended up getting the other horse to work with because we were having too much fun riding. I was very proud of how quiet and awesome Jazz was for her young riders!
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.
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.
I have spent the past two winters not riding my horse. This is the main reason that none of my new quarterly goals specifically require riding (well, with the possible exception of talking less in riding lessons, but last year I was still taking lessons, just on the ground. I'm not sure if that would be an option with this new trainer though...). That said, I have high hopes for this year. Jazz is truly a different horse than she ever has been before.
On Friday I went to see the horse. It was a cold,snowy day, but was only threatening to get colder and snowier, so I figured I would work in a visit before it got too bad. Jazz and her buddies were huddled in the shelter against the freezing wind. I can't say I blame Jazz if she doesn't want to be caught on days like that where a long walk directly into the wind is promised on the way to the warm arena. It was cold enough I decided to start with a warmup in the arena instead of a quick groom in the barn. A good friend of mine, R, was inside riding, and it was nice to catch up a bit. I did a little basic work, mostly leading to get the muscles warm and the pony brain paying attention. Jazz then proceeded to be a superstar letting herself be ground tied within five steps of the door (which is really incredible considering her former love affair with gates when I started working with her) while I picked her feet and gave her a quick currying. Just when we had finished, another horse came into the arena. The other boarder was still riding in the far end of the arena, finishing up some work she'd been doing with ground poles, and I was hanging out in the close end of the arena.
The horse who had just come in was clearly not having the best day. The girl with her said that she was on rest for an injury and she didn't think she'd been handwalked in a day or two. I recognized the sort of jitteriness Jazz gets when I take her inside and it's been icy outside, where she's finally on good footing and has a few days of ice-prevented energy to get out. Jazz was pretty distracted by this at first, but a couple of quick exercises brought her right back to me. R offered to move into the middle to let her handwalk around the outside track, but the horse was not a fan of the back half of the arena. There were even a few kicks, and strikes, and rears. It was exactly what Jazz would have been like if she'd been confined last winter. Then R offered to put the poles away if she thought that would help, and I helped drag them back. Jazz is so funny whenever I put poles away. She absolutely has to sniff them once I'm holding one end and they're slanted. It's much harder to get her to back away from them than anything else.
Eventually I did saddle up, and I tested her with the bit a little. I hadn't ridden since her teeth were done, just to give her a little time for her mouth to heal up. Having spent most of Christmas with the worst imaginable canker sore, I had plenty of sympathy for mouth lacerations. I decided the best way to test her would just be to get on, so I hopped up. By the time I was riding, both R and the other boarder had left, and another friend came in to warm up and blanket her horse. Jazz was very forward, and was in the kind of mood where fussing too much with the bit (especially asking for too many halts) will set her off, so I did what I call a "bareback protocol" ride. I let her go forward until her energy levels off, which usually doesn't take too long. I just walked her and tried to sit as quietly as possible until she finally relaxed and I could feel her quiet and come up through her back a little. She had one spook in the scary K corner with all the jumps, where she took off in a weird crazy trot, so I pretty much just walked. I did ask for the trot at one point, but when I got the same sort of spooky weird explosion, I decided walking was lots (again with bareback protocol. I'm not that great of a bareback rider, so generally my bareback rides consist of not irritating her so she doesn't throw me off when I'm working on my balance). I hopped off shortly after, unbridled, and lunged her a bit so she could get out some of that energy I didn't want to ride out under saddle.
Lucky horse even got some cookies. The barn management always gives out a nice card and horse treats to all the boarders for Christmas, so I made an exception to my no cookies rule. Jazz did a little carrot stretching and bow stretching, and I was reminded of why I have the rule in the first place. Such a little cookie monster! Her brain was all but gone once she knew there were cookies.
I was very glad to have arrived when I did, because it got just as snowy and cold as promised while I was there. The light dusting of snow I had brushed off Jazz at the beginning of our ride was replaced by one twice as thick in the twenty yard walk from the barn to her pasture.
Maybe it's just a winter thing where I take no pictures until the horse is put away and I'm about to leave.
I also had a productive Saturday when it got too cold to do much at the barn and made a pilgrimage to the tack shop to pick up a product that might just help me cross off that product review goal... stay tuned for that!
Last year, my New Year's resolution was to keep up this blog with at least one post per week. Though I did get less consistent with my timing, and I did fall behind occasionally, I would say I kept my resolution. This year, I decided to try to stick to the same resolution, because I have really come to love blogging. However, I feel like I've been missing out on a big part of what seems a common aspect of the blogging experience: GOALS.
I never made goals before because I have an extremely busy schedule outside of my horsey life, and it just didn't seem realistic for me to be making progress in that way. Sometimes life gets crazy and its a week or more between barn visits, and sometimes (coughwintercough) Jazz is not feeling this whole 'moving forward' nonsense and, not entirely by choice, we have a groundwork foundation day.
However, I've been thinking about what I want to write, and I consider what I like to read. Probably some of my favourite posts to read on other's blogs are goals. So, I'm going to try it. I don't think monthly will probably be ideal for me or my horse, so I'm going to make some quarterly goals.
Goals for the First Quarter (Jan-March)
Make more horse time. Too many excuses and not enough pony have been happening recently, and I intend to put a stop to it.
Play with the Horse Ball. Jazz's absolute favourite thing and I'm not even sure I've brought it out more than twice in the last year. Plus a fun thing both on the ground and under saddle.
Put the Western saddle back on occasionally. I kind of miss it.
Do something about my tall boots. I need to bathe them in boot stretch or get room put in at the shoe repair place because they are much too tight on my calves.
Write a product review post or two. Product reviews are the kind of post I will read 100% of the time I see them on my blogger dashboard, but I have yet to write one.
Think about a bitless bridle option. Since my horse needs her teeth done every 6 months at this point, it might be nice to have an alternative when her mouth hurts. I do own a bitless bridle, but I don't love it and I'm considering a different type of bridle.
Try to talk less in lessons. Pretty self explanatory but a definite bad habit of mine.
Show off the horse. I have been telling many, many friends for a long time they can come meet my horse, but I have taken very few people out to the farm. I may end up moving this goal to a different quarter depending on how our winter goes (I probably shouldn't introduce my non-horsey friends who have never ridden a horse to the crazy winter Jazz I know and love).
Get better at leg protection. I will divide this one into two parts
a) use the brushing boots and/or open front boots I own much more often
b) polos! I have one set and I am honestly pitiful at wrapping them
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!
Sometimes I'm very happy to have my blog. Sometimes it feels like yet another thing in my overly busy schedule that i feel guilty when I'm not keeping up with it the way I'd like. I'm always very happy to read everyone else's blogs and be a part of the community, but there are times when it feels like a chore to be keeping up with photos and videos (ha, like I bother with videos) and putting it all into words. But this is the first time I've really been so grateful to have it.
I've ridden Jazz a couple times in the last couple weeks. She's been okay but not great. There was a lot of head tossing, and much bigger than her normal. Her had was basically in my lap half the time.
I started vaguely thinking about it and remembered this time last year when her had tossing was getting out of control.
Just before I really started blogging, around last November/December, Jazz started head tossing more than what I would consider within normal range of naughtiness for her. It occurred to me she hadn't had her teeth seen to in a while, and I asked my trainer (at the time, not my current trainer) if that could be why she was acting this way. I had her checked out the following week, and there were big hooks on her teeth and some lacerations on her cheeks, which were much worse on the side where she had been refusing to turn lately.
I had them floated, and was told she'd need a re-check in six months, since they could only do so much in one day. When she was acting up again, I had her teeth redone in June.
It was so unbelievably nice to just have my blog to look at and be able to say, "Oh right, she got her teeth done six months ago, and the vet said they needed to be done again in six months", and suddenly everything made sense.
And really, that's the biggest point of my blog for me right now. Records. I am notedly terrible at keeping records and dates straight, and worse at taking photos, but my blog gives me a way to work on that while preserving the memories of my time with my excellent red pony (though she sometimes tries to convince me she's forgotten how to be excellent).
Between my lack of photography skills and her disinterest in looking at the camera, it's a miracle I have as many decent photos of her as I do.
As the fleece cooler suggests, I got to ride my horse yesterday. After my truly pitiful November where I managed to ride a grand total of one time, it was nice to be back in the saddle again.
The hardest part by far is always convincing myself to get my stuff together and get to the farm at the end of the day. With 4:30 sunsets and a schedule that picked up a lot in other areas of my life over the last three weeks, it's easy to make excuses for my November slipping away from me. All I can really say is that I have no intention of letting my December be the same.
Jazz came in quietly, and we did a tiny groundwork warmup before grooming and tacking up in the arena (the barn isn't heated, and it was too cold to do it in there). I got on and was pleased with how she felt right off the bat. She was really forward, and obviously had a lot of energy, which was totally fine considering the icy ground and her long, semi-unintentional vacation.
And now, a semi-interruption to just be grateful for the bloggers out there. I find that I really look forward to catching up on many different equines all across the continent (and a few international horses) and their pursuits of their many disciplines. For one thing, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one having the annual winter hardships (or being jealous of all the Texan and other Southern U.S. bloggers). More specifically though, I'm particularly grateful to Karen of Bakersfield Dressage for this post , which contained a little hint that made leg yields 9084589720 times easier (you know, when Jazz decides to remember that legs mean she has to move), and Jen of Wyvern Oaks for this post, which motivated me to start trying to rely less on pulling and a possible solution for Jazz's strung-out gross trotting (Jazz, was not in fact rescued from an auction, she was found near the train yard, and it's suspected she was a runaway train).
I started with a dressage kind of mindset and a month's vacation type of fresh patience. Jazz was actually incredibly good considering how she hasn't been properly ridden in forever. That means, of course that she was the usual kind of naughty instead of some unpredicted naughtiness. The back corner of the arena at K is still a cause of random sidepassing, stopping, and dropping shoulders so low I consider it miraculous they don't drag when circling 20m tracking left. There are two reasons for this that don't include the horse getting away with things I can't correct 100% of the time yet, one being that this is the corner containing all the jump standards and other assorted scaries, and the other reason being that the light was burnt out for about six months in that corner under the old management, and it took forever even once it wasn't dark over there to get her to stay on the track in that corner. There were also plenty of crazy strung-out gross trots, and indignant insistence that we canter NOW, including fancy tiny collected canter and head tossing, often simultaneously (which looks hilarious and feels ridiculous). That said, I found a chill place and with one four second exception (curse you, K corner), I didn't get frustrated at the same problems we have every ride lately. Jazz also tried a sassy little canter transition buck at one point, which accomplished two things, making me laugh, and making me grateful for my improved seat. All in all, a decent ride which included a couple of canter departures onto the correct lead on her hard side before she wound herself up too much to canter. Jazz is a slow burn kind of horse. If I ever bring friends to the barn to ride her, I always do a very short walk/trot check in and then let them get on, because so long as she starts okay, she usually will behave for the bulk of the middle part of the ride. It's always when we do too much fast work, especially cantering, that she gets all gooey and won't get off my leg or transition down or half halt. Oh well, she's not a fancy dressage horse... yet (despite her fancy canter skillz).
Another random note: I saw moose for the very first time this week! I was out at a friend's farm and we saw a cow, two young moose, and two bulls.
Here's the cow! After watching her jump this fence I can confirm that Jazz does, in fact, jump like a moose.
Here she is reunited with the two little ones.
You know you're Canadian when you stop on the highway to watch five moose.
