Cob Jockey

Tis the season for indoor games, like Tracy's Five Day Challenge.  I find that I'm a much better blogger when it's so cold I can barely manage catch-groom-ride-groom-turnout.  To the challenge!

1. Most Influential Person on Your Riding
Emotionally, it's my mom, because without her I wouldn't even be into horses.  She grew up riding H/J in Chicago, quit when she went to college, and got her first horse, Little Red (Secretariat reference), when I was about five.  I caught the horse bug bad, probably because I was old enough to feel her excitement as she got her first horse.

My parents' funny farm: three no-shear sheep that double as lawn mowers, Little Red, and Festus.  Plus some chickens, an African Grey parrot, dogs, cats and usually some cows.

If we're talking physically adjusting my riding, though, it's my current trainer.  I was completely inept on the back of a horse before I met her - I could stay on, but that was about it.  Can't believe that was only three years ago.

2. Piece of tack you'd love to splurge on
Everyone is going to say saddles, right?  I'd love to splurge on a short-flap Dressage saddle.  I really need one, but I'm making the regular flap work for now.  As an unusually short person, it's much easier to make an off-the-rack jump saddle work than it is an off-the-rack Dressage saddle.  If any of you ever see a 16.5 or 17" short flap wide or XW Dressage saddle, tell me!

Ugh, I had a serious love affair with this saddle that I traded for a wide tree regular flap version in September.  Makes me hurt just thinking about it.  It was perfect (for me).

3. Top 5 riding playlist
Never rode while listening to music.  I'm also an avid runner, and I don't like running while listening to music either.  I love listening to the rhythm of my body while running, and to be alone with my thoughts - same goes for riding.  Don't get me started on modern society's need for constant entertainment, I feel very passionately about this subject!


4. Most important aspect of your barn?

Beautiful.

I guess it should be "It's my only option," since there is nothing else within an hour drive of me.  But even if there were options, this is where I would be.  It's a small, primarily adult barn with a few mature teenagers, everyone is so willing to pitch in and go above and beyond, no barn drama, excellent care, an "as much turnout as possible" horse management philosophy, great facilities, great footing, sponsored by my favorite feed company (Tribute), an eventing team, an incredible trainer that I really click with...I know, I've died and gone to heaven.  Everyone there is just so mature and focused -  mature enough that we don't have to have annoying nitpicky rules because everyone uses common sense.  I love it - especially after surviving four years of being in an equine program at an all girls college!

Plus, it's beautiful, and maybe this matters more to me after living in the architectural capital of the Midwest the past three years, but it really does a soul good to look at picturesque views of horses grazing behind white board fence and cheerful red-and-white painted barns.








5. Three winter riding goals
Goal #1: Show Training level Dressage again, score in the 60's
Goal #2: Attend a H/J show (so that Connor can get his flower-spooking out of the way in a situation where we can do a warm-up class.)
Goal #3: Develop more than one canter

July 2013. I miss riding in tanktops.  Come back, summer.

Three announcements:
1) After winning three contests recently, I am not going to be entering them again for a while. (Unless someone is giving away a set of Majyk Equipe boots or a brand new custom saddle, in which case, IT'S ON!)
2) After winning three contests recently, I am going to buy a lottery ticket, because seriously, it seems like the next logical step.
3) I'm going to be hosting a contest myself, but it wouldn't be a good idea to do it until after the holidays.  Promise it will be a good one, with multiple winners.

Now on to serious business...

Damn it, horse, I said serious!

Just kidding, we're not very good at being serious.  I have a couple of questions for you full-clip veterans out there:
1) Did you start to have problems with saddle pad slippage after you clipped your horse?
2) Did your horse get really frisky and forward after you full-clipped him?

Since I clipped Connor, all of my saddle pads have started doing this:




...even when I use the billet and girth keepers, as I did here.  I've never had this problem before - wondering if I'm going to have to buy one of those non-slip rubber things I've only ever used on fat round ponies with no withers before.

Second, Connor has been crazy forward and frisky since I clipped him.  No bucks, that's not his style, just in front of my leg and engaged, ears forward.

He was frisky two minutes before this, I swear.

 I'm not sure if he feels that much better now during exercise now that his coat is gone, or if he's really happy these days, or if he's feeling the cold.  (I do use a cooler on his hindquarters until he's warm, until we get a proper quarter sheet.)  He feels good and I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's a very sudden and noticeable change.  Anyone else had this experience?

What am I thankful for?  Two years ago yesterday, Connor's breeder dropped him off at the farm.

Then: Baby Connor (age 5)

Now: Age 7, with a topline, a neck, and abs!  Big change in his stomach muscles.

I'd never ridden a Dressage test, evented, jumped more than 18", put a horse on contact, sat in a Dressage saddle, shown since my IHSA days...this list could go on.  Here's the first video I have of us, from a clinic in February of 2012:


My seat wasn't even independent of my hands yet, and he was still in his weedy baby stage.  Now, 21 months later:


He's my best friend, my perfect partner, and after surviving our first events together this year, my war buddy.  Small enough that I find confidence I didn't know I had when I'm on his back, big (and athletic!) enough to jump 3' someday.

When I got him, I had no idea how I was going to juggle everything, or how I would handle living 45 minutes away from my horse, or if I was even ready for a horse, but you make it work for the right situation, and this is right.  I couldn't imagine life without this quirky little guy.  I also didn't know how ready I was to take on a green horse (obviously, since some of you were reading the blog back then, those were some pretty anguished posts), and how much I would learn right along with him.

So this Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful to and grateful for all the people and situations that have made it possible for me to have Connor in my life:

- His breeder/my "other mother" Lisa (without her, none of this ever happened)

I don't have any pictures of me and Lisa, only me and her ponies!

- My trainer (I joke that if I had Connor and not her I would be sitting on him in a paddock in someone's backyard unable to turn left)

My trainer, sympathetically keeping her own shoulders back in the vain hope that I will keep my shoulders back over this fence - which clearly did not happen.  She has a tough job.

- My mom (for showering the grandpony with gifts of things and clinic entries when I couldn't afford them myself this year - and also for understanding that she gets a grandpony instead of a grandbaby for now...)

My momma!  And brother and dad.

- My husband (for only mentioning that we could be leasing a BMW for the price of Connor's upkeep every once in a while)

My brother keeps sneaking in these pictures somehow.  Also, Nick lodged a formal complaint that I used this photo of him from June, since he's lost weight since then.  I lodged a formal complaint in return that he dodges photo opportunities so often that this is the only photo I have of us from 2013.

- Mary (who I wish I could pay for her amazing jumping training on C earlier this year.  Stupid amateur status.)

Love that kid.

- My boss (who understands what Connor means to me, lets me go to the barn while on-call, and semi-regularly makes me take a day off to recharge and spend the day at the barn)

And I am also thankful for all of you!  I've been blogging for a decade now, and blogging about horses since 2007, and recently has this little community really taken off.  Thank you for the comments, support, contests and everything else you've done this year!  This is really quite a thing to be a part of.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Posting about non-horsey things is not something I do often, but you deserve an update from my depression post after all of the kind words and suggestions you offered.  You ended up making the difference, since you were the ones that suggested taking Vitamin D.

Since that post, I've started taking a 1000 IU Vitamin D pill every morning and using a SAD lightbox for 30 minutes every morning.  I also found out that up to 50% of women in an irregular time zone area, (where the time and the sun are not really normalized with a daily American schedule - includes most of Indiana), have Seasonal Affectivity Disorder, and that a huge percentage of Americans have a Vitamin D deficiency due to not enough outside time year-round.  Who knew?

My lightbox

This is what I've found:
- The day I started taking Vitamin D was the first day I didn't cry in several weeks.
- The one day I forgot to take Vitamin D since then, I freaked out, panicked, cried and snapped at my co-worker over a minor work crisis that was resolved in minutes.
- I am constantly so happy after I started taking it, and find it easier to deal with life.
- The lightbox makes me feel alert, like I've had coffee before I've had coffee in the mornings.

So, for me, Vitamin D = happy pills, lightbox = energy.  (Also, the Vitamin D was $2.99 for a 3 month supply, so it's cheap and effective!)  The change in the way I feel is so dramatic - from not being able to find the joy in anything and crying every day, to running around the house singing at the top of my lungs and chasing the dogs on a regular basis (sorry, dogs) because I just can't contain it.  No exaggeration!

I hope this helps someone.  Thank you all again!

I've been reading the "Bensmom's saddle soap - the review thread (if that's okay with Bensmom)" thread on the Eventing  forum since it started (on April 8th).  It's still going strong, and is 55 pages long.  I knew people loved this soap, (Higher Standards Leather Care on Etsy) and I wanted to try it, but I expected it to just be regular saddle soap that smelled good.

I was wrong.

This stuff is awesome.  It blows everything I've ever used before away.  I think my husband is tired of me going "This is AMAZING!  And someone is making this in her kitchen!"

The arrival:

It arrived two days after Hillary told me I won her contest (thank you again, Hillary!!), with candy, typed instructions, and a handwritten thank-you, along with a sponge in the soap

The smell:

Tucker approves.

Bitsy is interested.

I got the limited edition cinnamint scent, and it's really lovely.  More minty than cinnamony, not overpowering, and a very nice scent to smell for an hour while you're cleaning tack

The candidates:

Foreground, Micklem with cheapo rubber/leather reins.  Used daily, cleaned semi-regularly.  Background, $30 painted India leather bridle that's been stored in the pile formation seen above since I got the Micklem in April.

2002 County Competitor, before being cleaned

The process: 
The instructions say to get the sponge wet, wring it out so it's not dripping, and swirl it around in the soap but not to expect any foam or lather.  This is the first amazing thing about this soap: no lather means it didn't get stuck in the buckle holes or in the braids of the braided reins.  It also meant that I could really get the rubber reins clean without them turning white and then sticky with lather.


Amazing thing #2: it took dirt off effortlessly.  No scrubbing, and the dirt seemed to just fall off of my tack.  Even the gunk on the stirrup bars came off almost in a single swipe.  Dirt that I thought couldn't come off with my regular saddle soap, or that I didn't know was dirt, was coming off.  Like:

The "Rambo Micklem" logo and the "Front" directive.  They nearly disappeared when I cleaned it with Higher Standards, but were always very visible after cleaning with my normal saddle soap.

Third amazing thing: dirt.  So much dirt.  On tack that is cleaned pretty often.  I was stunned that my normal soap left this much behind.

Rinse...

Squeeze and watch the dirt disappear down the drain, then back to the soap!

Here are the "after" photos.

Clean, supple, and not tacky in the least.  No need to go over it later with a rag like with the normal saddle soap I usually use.  This is my favorite part, besides the fact that it magically removes dirt.

Soft and clean - yes, I still don't have black leathers for this saddle.  Sorry.

Micklem

Not going to turn the $30 painted India leather bridle into an Antares, but it does feel very clean and supple now, especially the braided reins.

I've not been able to get those rubber reins that clean the whole time I've owned them.

Conclusions:
- The best at dirt removal - it's almost magical.
- Doesn't leave tack sticky
- Tack feels SO GOOD when you're done - it feels silky, almost.  I couldn't stop running my hands over my bridle and saddle when I was done.
- Doesn't clog buckle holes
- Makes cleaning braided reins easy instead of annoying
- Smells awesome
- Will last a long time - you can't even tell that I used any after cleaning one saddle and two bridles

You can't go wrong supporting a fellow equestrian who is an entrepreneur and putting out a seriously amazing product.  I wish her all the success in the world, and will be buying some of these as Christmas gifts!

Welcome to Indiana, where we went from 70 degrees and a Particularly Dangerous Situation last weekend, to an unusually early winter.  No in-between here, Mother Nature sure is thorough.  When she wants it cold, she wants it cold:


Someone forgot to tell her we're usually gleefully mowing our lawns in sweatshirts on Thanksgiving in this part of the country.

That means Sunday stall cleaning takes a little longer while I resurrect my mid-morning coffee break:

Every equestrian needs a Thermos full of hot coffee at the barn.

And the pony got his blanket liner put on for good, as well as his hood.  He doesn't really need the hood to keep warm, I just like to keep the rain off of him with it, but then I realized it was taming his unruly mane:

Ha ha, take that, mane!  And it's staying that way even without the hood.

So between that, mud, bite marks from his partner in crime, and cold biting winds/rain, he gets to keep the hood:

It actually fits properly this year, so there won't be any mane rubbing out incidents like last year.  It's only just now grown back in.  Never again!

What cold snap?

I knew that the day I got to the barn with my brand new Dressage schooling pad that she would tell me we were jumping today.  Of course!  But I was ecstatic to jump for the first time since September, and it turns out, I wasn't the only one: Connor was thrilled!

"I don't like it blue, I like it brown."

He's such a hard worker and amenable fellow that sometimes I wonder if he really enjoys what we do.  It's hard to tell.  There was no wondering today, though, as he was super in front of my leg, giving me random canter departs while trotting, and taking fences like a champ.  His little motor ran out after a while, since we haven't jumped in so long, but there was no mistaking his enthusiasm: he knew why those jumps were there and why he was wearing that saddle!  He was snorting like a racehorse as I warmed up off his back in the canter.

We worked primarily on me keeping my reins short - really short, almost to the end of the rubber short - so that his head stayed up where it needs to be.  When we got Dressagey and the reins got long, he put his head down and didn't see the fences til the last second.  But when I rode well, he jumped well.  Really well.  And he landed on the correct lead most of the time!

I needed to be reminded to sit more forward after months of Dressage purgatory, but the adjustments we made to my leg in the Dressage saddle made just as much sense in the jump saddle, and really helped me keep his hind end engaged with my newly effective and stable lower leg.  Bend the knees and sink into them, use your seat to bring him back, package him from back to front.  It surprises me that the adjustments made to my leg in the deep Dressage saddle with my stirrups so long helped so much in the jump saddle, but they did.

Happy pony, happy rider, happy trainer.  It was a good day.

How do I feel about having Connor full-clipped, now that I have finally done it for the first time?

Is it because I squeal with delight a little bit every time I see how cute he looks hairless?

SQUEEEEEEEEE!

Is it because grooming him takes four seconds flat?

Is it because he was clearly more comfortable and willing to work during our ride?

Is it because choosing appropriate blankets during the bipolar Indiana autumn is actually easier?

Is it because I didn't realize how much I hated currying inch-and-a-half-thick wet horse hair until I didn't have to do it anymore?

Is it because I'm not getting home from lessons at 10:30pm on a work night?

Dressage llama, pre-ride.  Don't worry, I don't ride with my billets sticking out like that.

It's all of the above.  I love it.  You (and my trainer) were all so right.  Bring on the winter workload and off-season Dressage shows, we're ready now!

Due to the impending Particularly Dangerous Situation...

...I woke up well before dawn to get feeding, turnout and stalls done early so I could get home before the storms hit.  One of the thoughts in my head when I woke up at 5:30 this morning (besides "COFFEEEE...") was that a lot of the people that read this blog don't live in tornado-prone areas and wouldn't know what goes into preparing a horse facility for tornadic weather.

I grew up in Illinois and now live in Indiana, and, fun fact, I am a trained storm spotter with the National Weather Service.  I have distinct memories of my mom putting halters on our horse and donkey every time a tornado watch was issued.  We Midwesterners usually get 1-2 days notice that there might be severe weather, and 0-10 minutes to prepare for an actual tornado headed our way.  These are the rules I live by during tornado season:

If you're a barn owner, groom, barn worker, or otherwise responsible for the horses' well-being:

A horse being rescued from a barn hit by an F5 tornado in Oklahoma earlier this year.

1) Figure out the safest place for the horses to be during the storm and put them there.  Unless your barn is made of rebar-reinforced concrete block, the safest place for them to be is almost certainly going to be outside in your fields, where they will have a fighting chance of survival in the event of a direct hit by a tornado.  Inside the barn, they are sitting ducks for injury should the barn collapse around them.  You'll hear the opposing viewpoint too, but in the event of a direct hit, I truly believe outside is better.

2) Make your horses easy to catch and identify in the event that they get loose.  If a tree, tornado or high wind takes down your fence and your horses escape, you'll want them to be wearing halters to make catching easier, preferably with your name and address on them - hence my mom's pre-storm ritual.

3) Do whatever you need to do to prepare the barn for a power outage.  Usually tornado-induced power outages aren't as lengthy as hurricane-induced outages, but if you store temperature-sensitive medication or the barn gets really dark without light, you'll want to plan to have backup power and flashlights stored around the barn.

4) Check your emergency kit, and make sure you're prepared to deal with injuries caused by flying debris, such as glass, as well as puncture wounds and lacerations.

If you're a boarder: 

Document, document, document!

1) Are the things you store at the barn covered under your homeowners or renters insurance? (Probably not.)  Does the barn's insurance policy cover the things you store at the barn?  (Probably not.)  You'll likely need to look into a rider on your homeowners or renters policy in order to cover your saddles and other expensive tack - luckily, riders like that tend to not be very expensive at all.

2) Pertinent to #1, make sure you have detailed photos (and a video walk-through, ideally) of all of the things you store at the barn, as well as documentation that lists the serial number, date of purchase, and approximate value.  Copies of original receipts and invoices are invaluable when you're trying to prove the value of the lost or damaged items to your insurance company.

Hopefully you never have to use this advice, (besides the insurance advice, which goes for other types of loss such as theft also), but in the event that you do, or you're just curious about what is a pretty common ritual in this part of the US, I hope you learned something useful!

I am a commitment-phobe no longer!  Connor has finally lost all of his hair (except his legs and head, because thank you Hillary. :-) )

Here are some short (muted) clips from the video we took of my lesson on Thursday night.  The focus of the lesson was on getting him to "stand up" instead of being so heavy on his right shoulder when traveling to the right, requiring me to time the use of my inside leg with catching him in my outside rein.  At the end of the second clip, we did baby stretchy trot, in which the reins were long, but he stayed on the bit and maintained the same rhythm we had when he was more on contact.  

ETA: My trainer looked at Connor and my saddle today and does not believe that that is a saddle sore.  She poked and prodded him and he was not sore at all on either side.  I am still nervous and will probably be contacting the County rep to come look at it when she gets a chance, but I feel slightly better than I did when I wrote this!

I have a couple of confessions to make.  First, I know you're all probably tired of my "As the Clipping World Turns" "General Clipping" and "One Clip to Live" soap operas, but I'm going to be full-clipping Connor for real this weekend after this happened during my Thursday night lesson:

Rivulets of foam on the backs of his legs...seriously.

Soaked.

I was dumbfounded, since he never got this sweaty with this clip last winter, and dashed off a quick text to Nick telling him to hold dinner late.  My trainer and I talked about the work getting harder this year, and she said, "You have the blankets you need.  If he was my horse, I'd take the rest off.  Plus with all those dapples hidden under there, he'd look really cute..."

Second...this is really hard to write, but last time I was there Thursday I realized that the hairless "bite mark" he came in with last weekend is probably a pressure sore from the saddle.  Only on one side.  It makes me a little sick to write that, honestly, after being lectured for four years in college on saddle fit and how acquired leuocodermas are a badge of shame for horse owners.  I don't know if this will turn into one, but it might.

I scratched at the mark a bit and a quarter-sized area of hair fell out.

It's further forward than I usually place that saddle on Connor, and it's on the side that he naturally likes to throw his weight onto that shoulder, something Thursday's lesson worked extensively on correcting.  I'm wondering if I mistakenly put the saddle too far forward and did a lot on the right rein the day before I found it.  He's moving really well in it the saddle when its placed properly, and I have the video from my lesson the other night to prove it.

One way or another, I can't trust the fit of that saddle after finding it, and am so frustrated by this area's lack of brand-agnostic professional saddle fitters.  My choices are a (well-liked and well-respected by many, including many of you) County rep that won't look at my non-County jump saddle and has always tried first to upsell me to something brand new when I email her about coming to reflock the Dressage saddle I already own, or nothing.

I am sick to my stomach and feel like the worst horse owner ever.  This horse is so hard to fit, and I've tried so hard to fit him, and still something like this happens.  If you're keeping score, in the past eighteen months, we've been through:

- Beval Devon 2000, 16.5" medium tree, close contact
- Stackhouse, 16.5" medium-wide tree, close contact
- 1994 County Competitor, 16.5" short flap medium-wide tree, Dressage
- Toulouse Annice, 16.5" wide tree, close contact (haven't ridden in it since August)
- 2002 County Competitor, 17" wide tree, Dressage

Plan of attack is: stop riding in my Thinline Saddlefitter half pad, evaluate fit on his bare back today, ask trainer for help, start a bareback Dressage league...