Cob Jockey

Who knew mirrors could make you so full of feelings?

Mirrors in the indoor have always felt like an unattainable equestrian luxury to me, much like having a truck and trailer once did. Do I have the money for them, yes, can I part with the money for such a nice-to-have, especially as I face actually buying this facility, hard no. 

But when I came across a Facebook Marketplace ad for 256 square feet of 4x8 foot arena mirrors for $1,200 obo a couple days after Christmas last year, I said, "Oh no." I texted my barnmate and partner in crime: "Tell me this is a bad idea," and she replied "OMG I'll pay half! Merry Christmas!"

Since they had been listed for a while with no takers, I made a low-ish offer of $900, which was accepted, and in one night my barnmate's husband had built a custom mirror transport crate, procured some mirror moving handles, and the four of us (including my boyfriend) showed up to this formerly beautiful Dressage facility (being parted out and its indoor arena paved to make way for antique tractors - so sad!) looking like a surprisingly legitimate mirror moving crew on New Year's Day.

Custom 2x4 crate with plywood bottom ratcheted down onto the bottom of this box trailer, with 1" foam board on the bottom and 1/2" thick foam board between each mirror.

 

But it would be another five months before our schedules came together to where we could install the things - and we actually didn't know if the mirrors survived the trip that entire time since it didn't make sense to unload them until we put them up. Talk about nerve-wracking! I joked that if we got all that lumber on the walls and then had cracked mirrors to put up, I would be real sad.

Framing going up for the horizontal mirrors

 

Finally, last weekend, we did it. We are not pros, but as my BO adoringly said about my barnmate's husband and my boyfriend a few months ago, "This farm needed some mechanical engineers around."  Between the two of them, they created custom plans, a materials list, and everything went...absolutely perfectly.

 

 

In 7 hours start to finish, including a lunch break, the four of us got a bank of 6 mirrors installed on the long side, and two vertical mirrors installed on the short sides, with the vertical mirrors canted in by about 1.5" at the top to make seeing yourself easier as you come down the long side (and, conveniently, because a diagonal stud was located right there, we were able to achieve that cant without shimming it like we originally thought we would).

Part of our success and speed was admittedly the fact that barn is firmly in the country but is also FOUR MINUTES from Lowes. I could not love this location more.

 

I still can't believe this is our indoor.

 

 

And I also feel just so much gratitude. Two of the reasons I never wanted to own my own farm before were that I don't ever want to keep my horse without other horse friends around, and that I had a spouse before who never, ever would have spent an entire Saturday putting mirrors up, or doing any other facility work or chores. Believe me when I say I don't hold that against him, and in fact, I'm grateful for his honesty and conviction on knowing himself like that. But I couldn't have owned this farm with him. And I finally have the honesty and conviction myself to know that this - all of this - is me.

I don't know how to word this in a way that makes it not sound like I just want people to do work for me, that's not it at all, but it changes everything to have a boyfriend and boarders who will throw themselves right into the thick of things with me on the farm. To feel supported, and like I'm not doing this alone. I can't do this alone - I can't manage the farm alone, I couldn't have done these mirrors alone. I am so grateful for all of these people. And I will think about that every time I look at these damn mirrors.

We have MIRRORS!

I feel like it's time for a proper review of my barn's TruTex footing, which I mentioned briefly when we put it in a year ago, in November of 2017.  If you remember, footing was the only thing I compromised on initially when I moved Connor to the new barn in May of 2017.  My old barn had gorgeous Thoroturf and GGT rings, so I was definitely spoiled.  But now, our footing is just as good as my old barn's, and for a fraction of the price.

Not my barn.  Wouldn't that be awesome though? PC: TruTex website

First, what is TruTex?  Their tagline is "Making Luxury Arena Footing Affordable".   It's a purpose-made fiber additive that can be added to any kind of existing arena footing to give it the same stability, structure, water retention and shock absorption of any luxury footing brand.  Popular in Europe, it's just starting to catch on in the US.

PC: TruTex website

If you remember, the footing at my new barn was deep and shifty when I got here.  It would be alright the day you watered and dragged it, but quickly fell apart after that, requiring tons of maintenance.

PC above two images: TruTex website

As a rider, on the old, shifty footing a tendon injury was always in the back of my mind, and my very footing-conscious horse was never quite as confident on it as he was at our old barn, especially at the canter.

Before TruTex.  He always felt sticky and unsure of himself on the old footing, especially during tight turns in the canter as shown as the beginning of this GIF when I practically have to kick him out of the turn.

Then we got TruTex.  Our footing is still the same sand we had before, but it rides just like the high dollar footings I was used to from the old barn, no kidding.  And it only cost $3,000 to take our pretty big indoor from deep and shifty, to comparable to the best footing systems in the world.

After TruTex - much more confident on a similar turn.  I kicked him here too, but only to make the distance on the circle of death when we were alternating 4 strides and then 5 strides between the poles.

Over the past year, we've installed it in both the indoor and the outdoor, and I genuinely could not be happier with it.  It's stable under Connor's feet, absorbs shock extremely well, springs back after impact, and immediately after it was installed, Connor felt more confident under saddle than he ever had on the old footing.

From a maintenance perspective, the outdoor stays safely rideable in conditions that would have sent us scurrying for the indoor in the past.  And it requires so much less watering and dragging than it did before we added TruTex.



So besides the fact that it's a great product that's totally transformed my barn's footing and that it's the cheapest way to get high quality footing I know of, why do I think TruTex is going to take the US market by storm in 2019?  Short answer: I don't think any other vendor in the footing market makes it this easy.  If you've ever shopped for footing before, you'll appreciate the following:

• You get a quote by plugging in your arena's dimensions on the website.  Most footing companies require you to go through a sales rep for that kind of info.
• It ships directly to your front door.
• It requires no special tools or skill to install.
• It can rehab any type of existing footing, and doesn't require you to start over completely with your existing arena.
• It's compatible with any kind of sand.

Cross section of an arena with TruTex fibers throughout the sand PC: TruTex website

When I moved to this barn in May, I knew I was compromising on only one thing over my old barn: the indoor arena footing.

Connor being sticky in the old footing.

It was round grain sand, and deep, and shifty.  Even just walking through it as a person was hard work, so I can't imagine what it was like for the horses.

From almost the moment my trainer first started talking to the barn owners, redoing the footing in both arenas was made a priority.  Not totally removing it and starting over, that's pricey, but using additives to get it where it needed to be.

I was skeptical.  It was just not great, and let's say, we were spoiled before:


But I was proved SO wrong!


This may not be as beautiful as the white sand of my old barn, but it's every bit as good now!  They scraped it down to the base, leveled the base, got rid of some of the round sand, added in some angular sand, and added in some purpose made (read: not recycled) fiber, and IT IS AMAZING! 

My trainer worked with a footing salesman to create the exact right mixture to give us both firmness and cushioning, and they NAILED it.  It's not even done yet and it's amazing.


I didn't have a lesson last night, but my trainer happened to be out at the barn and she watched me and Connor go.  She said, and I felt the same thing, that he looked very confident on it.  His strong Welsh Cob sense of self preservation makes him extremely sensitive to dodgy or changeable footing and you can really tell when he's unsure of himself.  He's an excellent litmus test for whether the footing upgrade was a good one or not.


Truth be told, that arena was so deep and shifty before, it's the first time since I've owned Connor that a tendon injury has been in the back of my mind.  That concern is totally gone with the new footing, though.  And with the outdoor getting the same treatment, I can hardly contain my excitement. 


I am so, so thankful to have him close and to have my one major complaint about this place fixed now.

I had headed out to ride on Friday night after CrossFit, but then I found out our arena looks like this right now:






Don't get me wrong I am NOT complaining!  They're excavating the shifty sand footing to the base, leveling and compacting the base to get rid of some low spots, and mixing the sand with a footing additive to make it more stable. 

I am DELIGHTED that they're fixing it, but with it being dark out, it did mean no riding.  So:





As usual, one month after clipping him the first time, lessons were leaving him like this:

And this:




And this:

Also lessons are leaving him very tired.  It's tough to carry your own head.

So it was time.  My second clip of the year is always lower quality than the first.  For the first, he's always bathed and I use newly sharpened blades.  For the second, I'm like, "Ehhhh....it grows back fast.  Let's just get this hair off."









Poor guy.

Anyway, it's done.  And he grew this much hair in a month:





I've seen his full winter coat before, I know how thick it gets, but it still amazes me just how much hair this pony produces:


Glad that's over with!

On Sunday, I threw my jump saddle on Connor and thought I'd pop him over a few things in the indoor.  We hadn't jumped in a while, and the schooling HT we might do is in a month, so it's high time we found our sea legs again.

From a ride earlier in the week in which we hacked around the big field

They're almost finished with expanding the outdoor, so the bales of footing that have sat in the corner since last fall on a pallet were gone, leaving just the pallet and plastic wrap.  I let Connor puff and blow and grow six inches over it at the walk until he seemed moderately convinced it wasn't a mountain lion, and after a while, picked up the trot.  As we approached it again and he got tense, I started to say his name in a soothing tone of voice and...

That was too much!  His brain exploded at the sound of my voice and his body followed.  I don't really know what happened, but he levitated about 10 feet to the left in the blink of an eye and unseated me.

First I found myself hovering above him looking at the ground, thinking "This it is, this is how my streak of never having fallen off a Welsh Cob (6.5 years!) and never having fallen off Connor (5 years!) ends!"

All the way back to when I broke Baby Shae in college, I have never come off a Welsh Cob.  And I have ridden many:  Shae, Dillon, Aviator, Dundee, Connor, Rory, Tristan...I think that's the whole list.

Then, I found myself sitting up and still on him, but sitting on his withers, in front of the saddle, with my left foot still in the stirrup and my legs around his neck.  To his credit, Connor's natural reaction to someone sitting on his neck was to throw his head in the air (while still trotting).  If he'd put it down, I would have been a goner.

I kicked my foot out of the stirrup in case I bit it, planted my hands on his neck and pushed myself back in the saddle.  And then you better believe we spent the rest of our warmup next to that stupid pallet, until he was too tired to curve his body away from it (but I'm pretty sure there was probably still side-eye being given).

This horse, always keeping life interesting but never (really) dangerous.

Who, me?

Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet - a five day business trip to Michigan isn't conducive to, well, anything.

I came back to the barn to something new!


THAT is our salvation this winter.

I have written before about our terrible indoor footing.  How I feel bad for complaining about footing when I know I'm lucky to have an indoor at all.  But it was sold to us six-ish years ago as this fancy lifetime dust-free arena footing, and within a couple of years, it had broken down badly.  Choking dust no matter how much we watered it, and so deep and shifty there were areas of the arena we couldn't use.  It caused Connor to lose all impulsion, and his work in the indoor is never great.

We reached out to the manufacturer, since it clearly was defective, and they were not helpful at all.  They offered some additive for an additional $xx,xxx.  Uh, no.  So we avoided riding in the indoor unless we had to (so, November-March) and didn't complain, but it sucked.

(I will not publicly shame the first manufacturer, but if you are looking to buy footing ever, PM me and I'll tell you who to avoid.)

Then.  This week.

Not totally mixed in yet, but it will be - trainer is dragging it between every ride until it fully mixes and settles.

This happened!  A manufacturer worked with us to determine that this fluffy stuff would successfully mix into the busted footing to stabilize it and kill the dust.  They did tests to make sure of it ahead of time.  So bales of this stuff arrived and the manufacturer spent "a really long time" (multiple days) mixing and fixing it.

Some fluff that landed on the wall.

It is.

Amazing.

My thoughts are 1) It feels like I'm riding on top of the footing rather than through it like it felt before.  and 2) We're actually going to be able to make Dressage progress this winter.  I'm actually going to have impulsion in the indoor.  3) I actually enjoyed riding in the indoor for the first time ever.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Trainer's thoughts: Look at the takeoff point!  There are no huge holes, it's all still level after a whole lesson!  I'm actually going to be able to hold jump lessons in here now.

They also mixed in a bale of stiffer green fluffy stuff in the more unstable spots.

As if that wasn't enough (it was, really really it was) Christmas-in-October isn't over.  They're also expanding the outdoor by maybe 12 feet down the long side and 10 feet down the short side!  So we'll be able to set up the full Dressage ring in there now, as well as set some good courses.

They haven't started that project yet, this is what it looks like today.  They are taking out the existing arena fence on the right, and expanding the arena to cover where the track is now, so the arena will go all the way to the white board fence on the far right.  The track will get moved accordingly to the right.  Then it is also being expanded toward the photographer by 10 feet.

My trainer and her fiancé are on a well-deserved vacation to visit family, so we're kind of a well-organized co-op barn this week.  Everyone's taken some shifts on either AM, PM or night check.  It always works well for us, but of course, things aren't exactly the way they should be:

I wasn't sure where Connor's halter was, so we made one off the communal rack work...sort of.  Ha!

The Aiken contingent returned, and Connor had to spend one more night in the indoor.  She tried hard to think of someone else that could do it, but in the end, he's the most "go with the flow" guy we have the in barn.  I take that as a compliment, and I really didn't mind.  He has a blast in there, I swear he prefers chaos to order:


A very well-intentioned friend who owns arguably the most accident-prone horse in the barn was super worried about the fact that Connor had a water bucket on the ground that he could get his foot caught in, and offered her soft sided tubs.  I thanked her, but really, between jump standards, poles, and bag chairs, the bucket is the least of my worries!  He's smart, and I don't want to push my Welsh Cob luck too far, but he's not prone to doing things like that.  In fact, he's only had one single scrape the whole time I've owned him, despite doing things like upending jump standards constantly.  And everything did turn out just fine.

This is my house now.

My husband actually kicked me out of the house yesterday and told me to go to the barn.  I spent Saturday snowed in and painting, and by Sunday, I was in full-on cabin fever mode.  He knew just what I needed, though, (or he just wanted to get rid of me for a few hours).

He saw the farm's dog digging in a snowpile.  Ignore the loop in the bridle, sometimes you just have to admit that keepers and winter gloves just do not mix.

I started out hacking him down the track, but then the herd in the big field across the road saw him, no doubt because he was obvious against the snow, and stood at alert and ran.  This turned my quiet ride into a prancy, alert ride, and I decided to head to the indoor and get some real work done.

Full alert pony.

The indoor wasn't much better, since it feels like it's been months since we rode in daylight, and the late afternoon sun was causing shadows and sunbeams.


But we did get some work in, a lot of cantering.  I asked for different gears in the canter like we did at the trot.  I also moved him back and forth laterally while cantering.  He's always been weirdly good at that, for a horse that once couldn't canter and also doesn't always remember how to leg yield at the trot.

Now he gets a week off, because I fly to Texas on Tuesday to first visit my best friend in Houston, then for Blogger Weekend, courtesy of my husband having more airline miles than he knows what to do with thanks to work.  I fully intend to bring Spring back with me when I get home on Sunday, so he better be ready!  It's time to go to work!

Winter is only good for gorgeous sunsets.

Last weekend, we got a ton of rain, so the horses stayed in all day.  That only happens one or two days a year, we are a very turnout-centric barn.  So I got my little buddy out for a ride and some playtime in the indoor.


He was showing off his sassy side (it gets a little shaky when I run at him):


And then he took a turn just a little too hard and slipped, so I walk up to him at the end of the video to make sure he's okay (he was fine).  You can see his wild-eyed look he always gives me/anyone when we walk up to him.  If I walked too quickly, he would have been off again:

All that just in response to clucking, I wasn't carrying a whip or anything.  Now you know why riding with other people in the arena who are clucking is so interesting for us!