Quick Update

Pics and an actual post to follow:

My horse has been turned into a raving, bucking idiot by icy pastures.

She also likes to tear her blankets because she is an asshole (or something - cue the Jack Sparrow "STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!")

The TSF girth is ballin' and I love it. 

Be My Valentine

So I am getting my rides in this week like a good girl!

Wednesday was miserable - SO WINDY OMG and pitch black, and freezing. I tacked the Bmonster up with her warmest quartersheet, which happens to be the one that is like a fleece lined turnout blanket - poor horse about had a heart attack walking out to the arena with it blowing EVERYWHERE like a giant scary garbage bag. I forgot to switch the lights on, too, so luckily le boyfriend was along (and armed with the steady bay mare mc foxiekins) and was able to get her to walk into the dark indoor with him to switch on the lights.

I threw Bails on the lunge and once again, a few back cracking bucks and much fancy prancercizing later, she seemed sane enough to ride. Drew spent that time jogging Foxie around in hand (adorable!) and then took over the line to lunge "his" horse. I'm very proud that he figured it out beautifully with an absolute lack of help from me and had some fun letting Foxie get some energy out. Bailey Kept It Together under saddle, and once again, I feel like an idiot because her spooking (random chunks of snow hitting the siding would spook anyone...) is controllable with inside leg to outside rein half halt to keep her straight. DUH.

I'm dumb.

We did some transitions again (which are improving) and I called it at that; I felt like her mental state was starting to unravel, and my fingers were frozen. After her lunge, Foxie got a lovely grooming (and probably a lot of treats) from le boyfriend. The only thing he hasn't gotten with horse handling is crossing blanket belly straps - which Foxie doesn't help by being a chunk.

Tonight I'm hoping that we can get in a jump school and I can put more glue on her blanket patches before it gets down into freezeville tomorrow. Ugh. My TSF girl comes tomorrow, and hopefully the temps recover on Sunday so I can go and try it out!

Until then, I'm off to draw up grids to jump tonight. 

First Ride Post Move!

We're moved! Officially! WHOO!

I had a migraine on Sunday when I was planning to go to the barn and do a deep groom/ride session on both of my mares, so I went last night. I about died from cute at the greeting Bailey gave me - Foxie even popped her head out of her stall! My babies missed me. Bailey whickered and pressed her face up against the bars of her stall like she wanted to give me a kiss. Sweet girl.

I saddled her up pretty hurriedly and noticed that she has begun shedding (ALREADY?!) so that will be delightful to deal with for the next month. Luckily I had the good foresight to lunge her - she actually back cracking, major booty air time bucked on the line for me! And bolted, and spooked, and passaged, and played and pranced and was generally a show and a half. She was nice and quiet under saddle, surprisingly and seemed happy to be back to work. She was majorly missing her collected to extended trot but she was also very nicely forward, supple and when I held my outside rein actually kept her shoulder straight. I was so happy! Half halting into spooky situations where she wants to throw the shoulder and dive to the inside and then holding her to the outside rein contact actually kept her spooks from happening, almost. I think she needs a consistent program, and some jumping time.

I filled feed, forgot my supplements (bad horse mommy!) and groomed the Fox, who is shedding like a demon, as well. So. Much. Hair. And her mane is out of control. I just want to shave the whole beastie - maybe she wouldn't be so itchy then? Foxmonster made some very happy faces while I groomed her and seemed content to have her hairy ass blanket back on. I snuck them some extra hay, desperately tried to reglue the repairs on Bailey's medium and brought her heavy home to repair, as well. I feel like I might need to hand stitch the patches on with something heavy duty, as the adhesive sucks and the edges are lifting and sticking to themselves on the patches. Hopefully I can develop a good system, as I'd rather not trash these blankets as of yet - why bother buying new ones if they will just get torn and repaired, too?! Hopefully they hold up for the time being and I can get my repairing on this summer, when it's a little more tolerable to sit in the garage and sew blankets.

My plan for the rest of the week is to be opportunistic and set jumps when I can (note to self, bring jump saddle) and hopefully hop on the Fox monster. They both need good groomings and some attention paid to their manes, too. It's time to get back into the swing of things for showing this summer!

The Straight And Narrow

I have always felt like I've had trouble capturing Bailey's shoulder while riding. When I got her, she was (or so it seemed) about as wide as a piece of paper, especially compared to the behemoth
of a Thoroughbred I was used to. This is an awful picture, but a) PICTURES and b) you can kind of see how narrow BB is here - she's slim and deep, and sometimes its hard for my legs (MY LEGS, all 35 inch inseam of them) to find flank.

Bailey was pretty good for our ride last night, despite a 17 year old in a bobcat buzzing all over the farm (seriously, I didn't know bobcats went that fast) and even doing a very scary drag back from the arena door which about gave both of us a heart attack. It snowed a few inches, and the roads were a mess, so I didn't ride long. I'm also being sympathetic and lusting after the new girth, in hopes that it allows me to be more precise in my saddle fitting. Mostly I wanted to fart around in the arena so BB could stretch her legs, switch the horses back to their heavy blankets before it got down to -9 and go home.

I was frustrated because she wanted to bend out and stare at the walls (because she could hear the bobcat buzzing and needed to, I don't know, make sure it didn't come through the wall?) and even when I got her to give and bend in - because she holes up her mouth when she's staring at something - I still felt like I was posting on the wrong diagonal because her body was bent out. It got better when I got very proactive about holding my outside rein, and therefore her shoulder, straight with contact. Shes' so sneaky about talking me into letting go of the rein, and I finally took the rein, and wrapped it forward and back through my fingers like a loop to force me to HOLD it. Then, of course, I had a horse going straight, but with no impulsion (alas, I forgot my whip!) and very heavy in my hands. I'm wondering if a school in the pelham would give me a flavor for a bit I can school in for a few weeks to get her light in my hands. She's not Foxie, by any means (20 lbs of pressure to get her to think about yielding her mouth) but she's frustrating because if my reins are short enough to handle the looky moments, she curls under, and if they're long enough that I can even her head out and lift her poll with my hands, she's behind the leg, and can blow me off when she chooses  to look at whatever.

I think part of her issues are that she's finally discovering that she's not very strong. She falls out of the canter like she's green broke because she can't/won't sit down and push through the transition, and she's particularly badly balanced when she's straight and isn't allowed to motor through turns.

Thursday, I'm tempted to start her in side reins and either get on and ride, or long line her to see if I can work on the issue from the ground, and then ride Foxie. And then, once we're moved, it will be back to regularly scheduled riding programming. I'd love to get more jumping in as I feel like that is a place we're making progress, and also I feel like it's a good, tiring reward for doing all the dressage we've been doing.

So, I at least have a plan, pending freezing temps and general exhaustion. So I will leave any readers with this lovely photo:

The saddle is up against her shoulder blade. Billets are unfortunately curved since, ya know, I've been trying to mask a problem. Now we see why my saddle slips forward. SIGH. 

Sigh.

Take the title as you will, I think I went through all of the meanings of it last night.

First of all, moving and discombobulating an Ashley means that she does stupid shit like forgetting her babyschnookumsprecious dressage saddle at the barn. In the cold. Since Sunday. And didn't realize she didn't have it heading to the barn, and hyperventilating the whole freaking way.

As you can tell, I'm a functional horse parent this week. Luckily, the saddle was still there (also, pathetic that my saddle being stolen is a THING) and I arrived with medium weight blankets to finally get the kids out of their heavys in this warm weather. Foxie is already shedding and while I like the concept of the fleece neck thingy on her new Weatherbeeta Orican heavy weight, it is also a freaking hair magnet. Both girls are now in their mediums (Bailey's finally is repaired!) and seemed quite pleased. I also got rides in on BOTH ponies.

Bailey's ride I kept short and sweet - I changed a few things and felt like the results were quite positive. First, I set her saddle back behind her shoulder blades, and angled the girth like hell to make it work. I also put on her running martingale. She was super sweet on the ground and was very affectionate, and her good mood translated to being pretty good under saddle - looky, but not spooky which was a nice change. She was prompt and forward in her transitions and I got some good halts out of her, so when I felt the saddle start to slip, I just got off and let her be with that. I feel like her head tossing was much less extreme than last time - and I'd like to think it's because she had room for her shoulders to come up and through, rather than going "OW" all the time with her brainpan in the stratosphere.

Foxie also got ridden - a quick and dirty since I spent so much time scraping mud off of her, despite the blanket. Fox was lovely, though I have been discovering that Bailey is training ME - another source of sigh. I throw my outside rein away like crazy, which is much easier to realize then I'm riding the horse who charges off with you if you don't have contact on the outside. She even did some lateral work for me - I love riding that horse! Its nice to feel capable for 5 minutes, because riding the baby horse lately has been a shit show. (Sigh).

So my priorities now are to

1. Get up the guts to buy a total saddle fit girth.
2. Hold myself really accountable for rein length and clear aids
3. Ride Foxie more.
4. Once I get my stuff together, THEN start holding the baby horse accountable for her inconsistencies.

Here.
We.
Go. 

Weekend Rides

I rode twice this weekend; I took advantage of the boyfriend being away to get some quality time in with my girls.

Friday's ride was all about prompt transitions, and while the red mare was a bit insulted when I'd ask for the trot and not get it (resulting in a good smack on the bottom with my whip to get the transition NOW, not in 5 strides) she improved quite a bit by the end of our ride. I still am confused and troubled by her spooking antics, but the ride itself was pretty satisfying, as rides tend to be when improvement can be seen. I also put my stirrups down a (half) hole for the first time in a long time, and was happy to realize that I am better balanced and stronger than I was - I used to feel so insecure without that extra quarter inch of stirrup leather!

Sunday's ride showed the marked improvement in her transitions from Friday's work - a nice reward to remind me the profits of consistent work! The spookiness was continued, however - and I also saw more of the other annoying behavior I've been seeing lately - head flipping.

Some of it, is, admittedly, playing. It's warm, she feels good, and she gets to really stretch her legs. I'm fine with a little playing. However, I find the head flipping in reaction to discipline, not wanting to do what I want or being pissy about the contact to be OBNOXIOUS. When she's playing she responds to the half halts and generally goes back to work with only a little leg and rein reminder. I feel like her naughty head toss/shaking is a giant red horse middle finger to what I am asking. If I escalate and lift my hands to stay in contact with her mouth, she fights, inverted, and then drops behind the contact and curls in on herself while sucking back behind the bit, and then alternates between being too strong, flipping her head or turning off her face and being sucked back behind my leg and the bit.

ANNOYING.

I took off her flash noseband, and have been using the grackle on the same holes they've been on for a long time. She seems to like her bit and really foams up when wearing it. I'm strongly considering a change to her dressage girth, in part because I need a new girth (my old Ovation is getting some wear holes) and partially because I am not satisfied with how the girth pulls her saddle up onto her shoulders. I'm drooling over the Total Saddle Fit girths, and despite the reviews and such, it's hard to pull the trigger. Her jump saddle seems to stay back a bit better - the Tekna curved girth seems to really help. She seems better behaved doing dressage in her jump saddle, but it could be a thousand things; I usually ride with a running martingale in that saddle, I ride more out of the tack in that saddle. It sits on her back different, a lot of the time we work some dressage into her jump schools so we aren't doing as much work, and it's broken up... like I said, a thousand factors.

I can't justify riding my dressage tests in my extremely forward jump saddle when I have a dressage saddle. And I can't show with a running martingale on.

So my plan for this week is:

Tuesday:
Short and hopefully sweet ride in the dressage saddle with running martingale
Flat Foxie

Thursday:
Reactive ride from Tuesday to see what the red horse needs.  Fingers crossed, I'll have a better ride and can decide where to go from there!

A House, Not Riding

I'm feeling the need to blog today even though I don't have much to talk about. The course (give or take) from my last post got dragged out again on Sunday - this time with a scary, scary coat draped over our vertical and more width added to the oxer. Bailey, of course, was a delight. She is also extremely hairy, which is making me itch to get my clippers out and go after her before I spend an hour cooling her hot mess of a self out. Foxie is also a mess of hair, as well, but I'm more hesitant to take off her coat, in part, because I ride her so infrequently. She got brought out on Sunday as well, and I am floored again by how FUN she is to ride. Its so nice to ride a reliable, trustworthy horse who is also fantastically trained and BALANCED. Bailey, for all of her fantastic potential and lovely confirmation is still learning to balance, and usually is too lazy to really sit down and do the hard stuff. Spiraling her in is accompanied by the vague sensation that we're going to die; Foxie, for all that she basically has three functional legs, can still SIT and keeps all of the energy contained in her body when she spirals in. It's amazing and super fun to feel, especially when I'm so used to riding the babyface. 

I didn't ride yesterday; due to the past few days of BUSY, I am super tired, and freezing rain + idiots = I didn't want to die trying to get to the barn, especially when I really wasn't feeling awake enough to ride. 

Speaking of the last few days of busy;

Drew and I bought a house! 

Well, he bought it. But I have been firmly informed that it's our house and that I am to think of it as such. I'm absolutely thrilled with our choice, and it's going to be an adventurous few weeks as we paint the lower level, put down new laminate floors for the lower level and then,  ya know... move. Some horse stuff (blankets) has already been moved over to our new garage, so once I get some saddle racks set up I think it will be a perfect base of riding operations. Plus, we'll be much closer to the barn and feed store, which makes life much easier for me, and it will be fun to be closer to the horses once Drew gets further along in his horse-u-cation and starts learning to ride. 

Here's the tour:

Our front door is the one on the right - we also have a door next to our garage door for easy access from the back of the house, even for visitors.

Inside the door you have our open concept dining / living / kitchen. We also have a full bath on the main level, and a nifty closet. 

My kitchen, with view of the front door, dining area (marked by chandelier) and to the left, the living area which is wired for sound / home theater! What you don't see is the pantry (left, behind the photographer) and some awesome deep cabinets that I consider extensions of said pantry (right).

The living room :)

And upstairs we have:

The loft! I am so excited for the fireplace, let me tell you. 

Second bedroom - this is going to be an office for Mr. On Call On Weekends.

Master bath, with hall door and master bedroom door. I am excited for all that space!

Master bedroom - one of the TWO walk in closets for the master is to the right in this photo

And finally, my closet. This is behind you when you look at the above photo of the master. There is so much room for activities!

We've already begun painting and floors will go down next weekend. This weekend I'll be back in the tack for some pony time and doing some moving and shopping while Drew is at Drill. I'm hoping to get most of my stuff moved and leave not only a CLEAN room to present to the helpful friends of ours (male) at my parents, but also only a few things for them to lift that belong to me personally, because the biggest of them is my giant 11 drawer dresser... and it's big, And heavy. And they probably won't like me very much. 

More updates to come - on both the house and the ponies!