Christmas in July

Christmas came early this year - not only in my event colors, but in the pasture as well.

Bailey, a TBxHolsteiner mare bred by the lovely Edee Lee of Wake Robin Farm came home almost two weeks ago. She is greener-than-green and full of try and potential - I'm excited to bring her along! When Bailey came home, she had been ridden 6 times, and vaguely turned, stopped and had an inkling of what you wanted when  you ask for a walk, trot, or canter. Since she has come to me, we have made some big strides - she lunges almost in a circle, is much more confident cantering and is beginning to understand giving to the bit and moving parts of her body independently.

Whereas Foxie is a  tough ride who is hard to talk in to doing work, Bailey is easy easy easy, but comes with her own challenges. Because she is so athletic and learning so fast, we have to be sure she has positive, productive experiences every time she is handled. While she is young and silly and a total spitfire, I'm excited for her future.

A Foxy Foxie Update

Don't ask my why this is a foxy update about the bestest, most wonderful Fox, but it is!

Foxie is a superstar, even as she settles in (pretty happily I might add) in to semi-retirement. We still ride, and we still manage her suspensory injury with MSM and Previcox. Under saddle we work on maintaining suppleness through her back and her neck, which tends to be a problem area. I'm big on maintaining her topline, and what dressage training she has. I fight between wanting to drill and go for perfection (even if I'm pretty sure she can't do what I'm asking perfectly anymore) and wanting to make her rideable. Lately rideable has won - I want her to have a purpose, even if it's babysitting family and friends like the solid citizen she is.

I value her greatly now that I'm also riding a four-year-old whose turning and brakes are not always a sure thing - she is still a powerhouse under saddle, and is and always will be a fun ride. She loves challenges and games with a vengeance and the "transition game" where I throw different transitions at her in a crazy sequence makes her brain happy, and helps keep her body in shape. She jumps, occasionally, and gets a few days off after she does to try and counteract the soreness I know it causes her. She loves it and gets so excited to be back doing her job again that I cannot deny her.


Finally, Foxie has also become a trick pony, learning to stop and back on the bridge, and pushing gates open and closed when I unlatch them from the saddle (enjoy our silly video).

Much Love,
Ashley and Fox

Long Time, No Post

Well, Blogisphere, things got busy. In the span between my last post, I completed my final semester at St. Olaf College, graduated, found a job and, most excitingly, brought home a second horse (you'll meet her in the next post, promise!).

Time slips away, and I've lost a lot of the time I used to maintain and write both on this blog and on my horse care blog, Keep Calm Horsecare. I feel like, a lot of the time, I'm living two separate lives - one at work, and one in the saddle. While I'm not working my dream job I'm able to make ends meet and most importantly, keep doing what I love.

I'm working hard to maintain balance in my life, so today I'm updating a blog from work. Naughty me :)

My workplace believes in a work/life balance - part of the reason I was willing to take a job that wasn't a perfect fit for what I wanted to do with my life. While evening comes too quickly, I'm slowly learning to balance keeping two horses in work and happy. It' a game of wins and losses - it is, at times, incredibly frustrating but the moment I swing my leg over the saddle, I know I'm making the right choice.

So I'll make this soliloquy a short one and get on to more exciting things.

Watch this space!
Ashley