Back to Reality

After the fun of playing ponies and having lessons last time, we've since had a bit more of a realistic week with horses. 

Buck's summer coat was getting faded and patchy and he just didn't look as great as he can. The vet agreed at his annual check up that it was worth looking into, so we did a blood panel and worm count just in case. The good thing was we are worm free, but then I had to learn how to say molybdenum, because he is somehow 100x over the recommended amount. It is a problem not so much because it is toxic on its own accord to horses, but because it blocks copper and zinc and then you get signs of a copper deficiency, despite supplementing them heavily. I am a little stumped. there are no shortage of horses in the area getting the same (quality) hay and feed I buy, we're on city water, this is not an area known for concentrations in the soil, and no one else I've talked to is facing any issues. The vet also hasn't ever seen a value that high.

He's a cob, and they can basically thrive on neglect, so it's not awful, but you can see the little patch of longer, faded hair on his barrel. Everyone got their feet done this week as well, so the signs of the old abscess and crumbly bits I was worried about are gone. He was a jerk for the farrier this time though.

I trailered Reggie in for a comparison test and we're currently awaiting that, hoping maybe there could be an issue with the original test. That was actually a fun excuse to take an afternoon off work, meet the vet, and explore the working equitation obstacles left up from the recent show. He made me proud, trailering quietly and confidently, and just being his normal self while we were there, standing for the vet, not worried in the least about the obstacles in the arena or the kid's summer pony camp occurring ringside. He needed a second before tackling the wooden bridge, but he was actually more concerned about investigating the puddles in the arena than any of the equipment.

Sand is also eternally fascinating

Little kids pony camp occurring just out of shot. I had second thoughts about doing anything with him and potentially introducing chaos to their day, but he was an angel and didn't even whinny at them, let alone try to show off any of his moves for them.

In the meantime, I've switched over to using only tested hay from an area that should not have any naturally occurring molybdenum and restricted Buck's access to the field (since he does tend to eat a lot of trees, etc the other horses don't touch and who knows, maybe there's something in one of the trees?). I'm doing that proactively since I had started adding an extra copper/zinc supplement to his feed thinking something was up, so even though those numbers came back fine now, something is probably amiss and there is a chance that molybdenum value could be accurate - he is getting about twice what he should need in theory and still on the low end of OK.

Switching to feeding more of the non local hay to the 'fancy' tested timothy hay meant a couple of hours stacking a delivery in the barn last night. Silver lining is I pay by the bale, but downside were they got a new baler and the bales are HEAVY this year - averaging 70 lbs, with some in the 75-80lb range where previously they're 55-65. I like to think I am a strong, independent horse girl but I was about done and ready to sell a horse or two after handling 60 of those bales in the heat.

Why even put it in the barn? she says.  Sophie and her crew would for sure love to help me clean up a few bales here at there.

I did do some more trailer loading practice with Buck this week. The guy is smart and with the trailer hooked up to the truck and moved, he realized the risk of actually going somewhere was dramatically increased, so he regressed and we had to start over. He got in eventually, and was calmly back and forth in and out but he was still eagle eyed waiting for any indications I was going to leave or close a door. We'll get there. For now, I'm grateful the other two are easy about it. The real worry is if there was an emergency. I am fairly sure I could get him loaded in a reasonable amount of time, but it would sure be nice to have him solid enough to not have to worry about such things.

 I think that brings you up to date - I'll be away vacationing much of August, but have been busy hatching plans for baby horse lessons (and Sophie) with my old coach (and some new opportunities too) this fall and winter. It's so fun that they're getting old enough for me to be able to plan ahead and sign up for more things.  I absolutely love the baby horse experience, but I'm ready to have some direction and goals and be back in the saddle again.

A Very Good Day

 I'm never a fan of pictures of myself, but we're going to make an exception today because these ones are feel good images (and my over the top excited face is pretty funny too)

Who's been waiting three years for this moment? Who's excited to ride a pony? Looks like that would be me!

these were not posed, this is just me mid telling G how good 'his' horse is and I totally thought I was playing it cool. 

Me still looking borderline crazy excited (Also me: "I can't believe I rode him!!!!I love him!" on repeat for the remainder of the day) but the pony looks sane, at least

Still crazy smiling

But wait, we didn't end there:

It's happening again!

I am a giant child. Poor Reggie is not understanding my enthusiasm

Reggie still not understanding what all the fuss is about. G took about 100 pictures and there is not one with either pony looking remotely interested lol

My short recap is that they were both excellent and underwhelmed by walking, turning, and halting with me up there. Buck got 'stuck' a couple of times, but G was on hand to help by walking ahead of us a little. 

I'm not planning on truly starting either of them yet. But, doing things like this now makes me feel like we'll be in a good place to be more serious next spring.

Learning Opportunities

 I know the horse world is small, but it’s still wild to me the connections we make via horses. Here I am living in a very non horsey and relatively isolated part of the BC coast, a very introverted (and honestly socially awkward person), yet still the opportunities find me, and sometimes I am even able to jump at them. 

The other day, I got a text from a friend asking if I was interested in lessons with Jody Hartstone from NZ. Um, yes, sure (in theory). I’m kind of a bit of a fan girl but I played it cool.

 OK, well, what is your work schedule tomorrow? She’s visiting and will come to your place when you're free. Wait?What?! She's here? Really?! 

I know this is just normal life for those of you in more equine centric areas, but for me it’s a little like Christmas when some of these trainers or riders I would normally only be able to access via the internet happen to come to our part of the world and are not only willing to teach during their travels, but willing to just come to my place. (Aside from my initial panic that I certainly don't run a world class facility like some of these people might be used to, we are very 'backyard ponies' around here :)

Literal backyard pony this week. Reggie's discovered some crafty ways of escaping and has a pretty good idea of all the assorted gate latches. I'm running out of extra clips to use for added security, lol. (the yard around the house is horse safe, so while it's not desirable for him to be there, it's also not panic inducing - the perimeter of our place also has electric in front of the gates and double latches so he can't get OUT out)

For our actual lesson, I pulled Buck out since he's the one I was currently feeling like I have more of a grey area type relationship with. There are gaps I want to fill and I'm not quite sure the best way to get there with him. He is the type to get upset and hold a grudge if I am not super clear and fair about the path I'm taking. It's Bridget, but intensified. There's not really a lot of 'faking it until you make it' with this guy.

Last week "hey I am getting work as a photographer, can you believe it?"
This week: recycled pictures, because I did not take pictures of a single thing, including the lesson

Jody handled him herself for the entire session, which was SO useful for me. I know there is value in practicing things myself, but I got so much more out of it by watching her and being able to listen to her explanations without being distracted. Basically she just ran through her 'good equine citizen' and 'ready to be a riding horse' checklist looking for holes and things I can work on. 

Of course there are many. Equally, there were no surprises and she was absolutely excellent at filling in the gaps for me in my thought and training process. I do feel like sometimes there is a space or conflict between what they know on the ground and how they need to understand it under saddle. She added a lot of clarity for me there - everything has a reason and is consistent throughout their lives, no changing the rules. I get that you can overshadow and eventually change things or have different expectations in the saddle or on the ground, and lots of people are very successful with that, but adding clarity and consistency and 'this cue only ever means one thing' appeals to me. I think it is what Buck's brain needs too.

One thing she practiced with Buck is 'parking' him. We already practice that, but she upped the ante by putting him in places he wasn't comfortable in (up against the trailer, and my stack of poles). This is directly relevant to the trailering questions I had, because if he thinks he needs to follow me, of course he's going to be confused about standing in the trailer and not following while I walk out. 

We followed with a quick session with Reggie, where I handled him. That was fun. It's not too far off what I already practice (see above about fangirling her videos) but of course I have my little shortcuts and misinterpretations and places where I just flat out hadn't used the tool because I didn't think it would work for me. Reggie isn't pushy like Buck, but he's more busy and wiggly. Anyway, same things to work on. It's almost like the same person's been handling them these last few years ;)

I really do need to take some updated conformation type pictures, they're both filling out quite a bit

She complimented their brains and conformation, which felt nice as she does see a fair few horses in her travels (and breeds lusitanos).

I think next steps are to refine things more, review those videos again, and get my own handling more precise, and I think we can start using a bridle and bit so again, the cues on the ground are identical to those they'll see under saddle.

I very much appreciated the practical, common sense approach. Despite it being a million degrees out and absolutely roasting in my ring, it sounds like she is planning to come back again next summer.  I look forward to it.

Hi Sophie

Unexpected Diversion

We all know I like photography. You're no stranger to the thousands of pictures of my horses that I take!

It started with favors for friends - yes, I will take pictures of your horse at that event we're going to. Then, hey can I get my kids in a picture? How about a grad photoshoot? Would you do a horse show?

 

Can you see where this is going? I've been digging in my heels about making money from it. It's supposed to be a hobby, I'm already very busy, I don't want the pressure, there are plenty of more talented people out there, blah, blah, blah.

Vaulting, in her grad dress, on the beach? Too cool to not share somewhere.

Fast forward a little, and this summer it feels like I have more requests than I have time for. I have more 'real' (data and GIS analyst) work than I can handle, so eventually there had to be a financial incentive to make the time out to take and edit photos make sense. I still am terrible about charging friends, but I am getting better ;) So, somehow I am now a person with a small photography business? I feel supremely unqualified, but equally it's so much fun. 

The diversion is suiting me. This feels like a good space to share some of the neat images I get to create, but I also wanted to write this post as a semi disclaimer before you see pictures of strange horses added here and there to my accounts - they're not mine! I am not buying more horses :D

These three are realistically one too many, but here we are.

Let's Catch Up

Where were we? It's been how long? 

 *Scrolls through phone photo gallery to see where I've been for nearly a month*

As always, I've been extraordinarily busy, but it's finally not all been about work. In the latter part of June, I took some extra days off to basically be a kid again and spend the day at the barn with the horses. That is always time well spent! The horses all have such different personalities, and it's just so fun watching the boys continue to expand their confidence and learning bit by bit.

Mounting block inspections. I had a first sit on this guy, but no photo evidence since my assistant photographer was also handling the lead rope and treat distribution.

I've outsourced pony training to an onsite assistant (pictured) ;)

Demonstrating trailer loading to her student

Look at him go ;)

Then she demonstrated tarp/spooky object crossing while he watched and learned.

After some lazy pony days, I took even more vacation time. We're exploring alternatives to our current home base as we look to transition away from here. The wish list includes being within an hour or two of an international airport, NO FERRIES between us and the nearest bigger center, and obviously for my wish list there needs to be an equestrian scene, and even better, one I can afford to be fully part of.

Summer means we have float plane service, which is amazing. 35 minutes to this 'airport' in downtown Vancouver. If only the ponies could fly too, it's otherwise about a 7 hour trip with the 2 ferries and driving time:(

It is a beautiful part of the world, I'm just done with the isolation factor for now.

Property values vary widely across the province (and country) and I am of an age where I don't want a mortgage. It's fun to look around and dream at this point because this is a next year or two plan, not something pressing where we need to decide now. Basically, we're in the stage where it's all the excitement and none of the stress or commitment. This time we were off to the Okanagan in the interior of BC to do some real estate browsing and exploring.

This rail trail goes around the whole valley and is part of the Trans Canada trail. I could definitely get used to riding there!

Wine country BC. I don't actually like wine but the equestrian scene and climate are agreeable!

We got back home this weekend and it's full speed ahead again until mid August. The ponies have their annual check ups, vaccinations and teeth tomorrow. Buck has a funky hoof that needs ongoing attention, some of the competitors visiting for the horse show next week want beach photos (somehow I've become an equine photographer this summer), and I've got another clinic weekend coming up. 

Enjoying summer field time

It's been quite hot, so equally they've had a lot of home time so they can stay in the shade during the day

I think that catches you up. Beginning of August we are off to Toronto area again (this time I will NOT be buying more ponies :D), then we have our annual pony camp out and clinic happening when I get back. Hopefully Buck's hoof is back to a usable state by then, otherwise Reggie's going to be the star of the show for the foreseeable :)

Last winter's abscess grew out and now the hoof wall below it broke off this morning and looks like this. Our farrier assures me panic is not required, it looks worse than it is. He's totally sound on it but it's obviously not ideal and that bit in the center is getting trimmed off so it can't crack further.

Another Weekend Clinic

Another lesson recap coming up. 

(Yes, you're still on the right page, the one with the horses in the backyard and baby welsh cobs where nothing much of note happens. We haven't seen this much activity here in years;) 

With Buck still in the middle of a bit of a recap of what he knows and the rules still being the rules even when he's worried, I opted to take Reggie. Buck is just keeping it real with baby ponies having baby pony feelings and attention spans. I probably wouldn't even mention it much because it feels pretty normal, except I sort of feel like I have to when I'm here blogging horsey adventures and it's all Reggie did this, I took Reggie there, Reggie was such a good boy, and oh yeah, Buck stayed home and ate shrubberies all day in the yard :). Buck is not being ignored in favor of Reggie, he's also a very good boy that I think just needs a little more time to mature.

Buck is very busy eating and sleeping

Saturday's lesson was a recap of what we know and my homework from last time. Reggie was SUCH a good boy. He's naturally very light and tuned in so it looks like I do a lot more with him that I really do. It's very rewarding feeling to have a horse that's so interested in learning and happy to be doing things. He literally trotted into the trailer loose when I opened the door to put hay bags in and get the trailer ready for him. He was that excited to go somewhere.

practicing moving shoulders

He jumps! ;)

Watching and learning. The standing quietly away from home part is actually more important to me than the 'doing things' part right now

 

Sunday

Sunday was ridiculously hot and muggy and my lesson time was at noon. I wasn't really feeling it, but of course Reggie was unbothered and still all in for an adventure. He was again a good boy. We tackled a tarp and some barrels set up as a little obstacle for him to cross solo and he went from uncertain and trying to figure out a way to do it without actually doing it,  to  'yes of course I can do that!'. Love the brain he's got, he is sensitive and quick thinking but equally he's very sensible and curious and adaptable. He took the lining himself up to the mounting block practice from home and easily adapted it to the big arena and me using the judge's box/gazebo railing and standing 5' above him lol . At worst you get a 'maybe, let me think and try' when he's not sure of something rather than a 'no'. 

The one and only picture I took Sunday. I didn't have the heart to ask anyone to wait around in the heat and take pictures of our lesson. We had a golf tee time immediately after pony time, so we didn't linger afterwards

I got some big compliments this weekend on my baby horse 'training', but if you've been here any length of time you know it's not me, it's just having good minded ponies.  

We finished the weekend playing with some fun stuff like will he lift a leg on cue, how about building blocks to spanish walk in hand or bowing? I was a little skeptical of opening that can of worms with 10 minutes of lesson time left and other places to be, but of course he was like "yes! I could do that!" So that might be my fun little rabbit hole to travel down this summer. I'm learning there is value in playing with things in the moment and just seeing where it leads rather than being more structured.

My homework this summer is literally to just keep having fun with him. He's checking all the boxes for what he should know, so ideas to keep it fun and engaging include setting up some new or interesting obstacles, teaching him some 'tricks', ground driving etc. Basically just keeping his mind busy and learning until his body catches up a bit and riding is more of a thing. 

That's my cue to share pony sitting picture from a few days ago. G led me around and I was very happy

I'm very much enjoying these clinics. It's the perfect laid back, fun atmosphere, for me and the cob boys. This clinician is very good at taking the starting pieces and adapting them to things that will serve us well long term and consistently translate from ground to saddle. 

He's starting to look big compared to me

Another pony sitting pic, unrelated to the weekend but how can I not share them

If you're curious, I can give an example - I've had a few people show me how to use a dressage whip on the ground to tap the top of the hindquarters and have the horse move into you (sometimes for a leg yield towards you, most often to have them bring the hindquarters over to the mounting block). I've always wondered why moving into pressure was OK in that scenario, and I guess I'm not alone because she's very much on the same page and lining up at the mounting block is an extension of sending them straight and forward rather than a 'parallel parking' exercise. Leg yields on the ground mean you need to be adept at being on both sides of your horse so the cues are consistently 'away from pressure'. Tapping the top of the hindquarters is only ever going to be a 'step up and forward with that hind leg' cue, until it's overshadowed by simply lifting your seat bone in the saddle because we're piaffe-ing now. I laughed and the clinician was like "why are you laughing, this is a nice horse, of course you should be training with that in mind!" and I was reminded that self belief and dreaming big isn't a bad thing.

Having inconsistent instruction is often a bit of challenge, but it's fun when it brings us such a variety of people and thoughts. I feel like there's always something I can take home that makes sense to me and that I will use moving forward.

G and I have some fun vacation plans coming up, so the horses will be back to their moderately uneventful schedule through mid August, when we'll pick back up again with clinics and outings.

WW: Free Candy

 

Things. They Are Happening

I've been taking a much needed break from the real world this month and working more minimal hours. Things have slowed a little in general, but I'm also feeling like I can be a little more fussy about the extra contract work I take on. I feel twitchy turning down income (all those new trailer and barn dollars), but the weather is nice, I have a ton of paid vacation from the real job to use, and the horses are waiting!

With that, I feel like I'm going from minimal equine happenings and updates, to doing (and wanting to document) all the things, all at once. So, get ready.

It's been riding prep central the last couple of weeks. The horses have all day turnout in the 'big' field for the season, so doing such things now makes sense - they are warm and full and tired from a long day of running and playing and eating and less likely to be looking for reasons for chaos.

Too tired to eat dinner standing up

Reggie has become a pro at all things saddle/surcingle/tack. I have not used a bit yet, because... I actually don't know why. No reason not to, but also no reason to add it either. He's soft and round and easy, and if you pushed me I would add it, it just seems like more gear on his face when for now ground driving and longeing is easily a halter or cavesson activity.

The mounting block situation is really good, it's already been the best purchase. I actually could use an extra step - I'm still about to dislocate a hip stepping up on to a round cob. And yes, that has finally happened, with no dramatics. I've just been sitting and hanging out bareback the last couple of evenings, sometimes practicing some flexions or a few steps here or there before I slide off. He's happy to participate and is a pro at lining himself up with the block. Who knew he'd be such a sucker for wither scratches? :)

I thought I too so many 'riding' ear pictures, but there's exactly one :D

I think I'll have to bring the saddle into the conversation soon - for the initial stuff I prefer to be able slide on and off easily and move around everywhere but I'm no pro and a saddle will be required for anything beyond a slow trot on a baby. Initial impressions are that he's sensitive and forward but very sensible too, just like on the ground. Plus exactly the best shape and height, which is great - that's the intangible piece you don't know until you've sat on them. I'm super excited <3

It's a very curious situation

Buck is coming along as well. He's just a little behind Reggie because he tends to ask more questions, and get in his head a little more. He can get worried and lose confidence easily. So it's smaller chunks at an even steadier pace for him. He's a funny guy though - once he's confident he's CONFIDENT, so you might feel a little stuck in one place for a bit, then he's good with it and catches up to Reggie in a big progress leap. 

does not want to be left out of the action

The thing he was unsure about and everything associated with it are suddenly solidly installed forevermore :) Currently, we're working on him consistently aligning at the block and not getting too wiggly/impatient/distracted by his friends while I lean on him and scratch him. There's still the trailer situation too. Progress is being made, but it's the 10 steps back sort where I'm happy all over again that he eventually put all four feet in there and then calmly backed out. 

growing his food baby

So much grass to eat