Spring Things

 We've been pretty lucky out here, the weather has been absolutely perfect. With the long days, there has also been no shortage of pony time. One thing that has been unfortunately lacking is me remembering to bring the 'nice' camera, or really documenting or achieving much of anything interesting. After the wacky and stressful start to the year, I think it might be inevitable that I needed to exist without a plan for a bit.

Reggie trimming the rose bushes while Buck distracts me

But! But. That spark that was missing last year is still here, and plans have resumed for many Fun Things. First off is a 'camping'* trip and clinic in a couple of weeks with some good horsey friends. Most likely I'll be taking Reggie. *It's our local club grounds and backcountry staging area, so it feels weird to say camping like I'm off on a big adventure. Yes, it's camping at an equestrian campsite, but also it's 20 minutes from my house with amenities like outdoor stalls and Starbucks 15 minutes away in town :)

The spark has recently turned into a bit of a fire under my butt. Because guess who let apathy take over when things were a bit difficult elsewhere in life and didn't do the things like renew trailer insurance or club memberships? It's me.

Ponies staying busy mowing lawns

Keeping tabs on vaccine records or other documentation you might need if you actually wanted to take a horse somewhere this spring? Yeah, no, didn't happen. And if I didn't do that, you may also deduce that I have no idea what gear is or is not currently living in my trailer tack room, where all the camping stuff is, or even wtaf I was thinking when I put building supplies in the hay storage. 

Replaced the gate post, and Sophie malfunctioned and forgot how to go through it to get to her field

So, the past little bit has just been getting rid of the disorganization and backlog of things. Fixing fences that need it, getting the leaky trailer tire fixed, booking the truck in for a tune up before I tow anything, tidying my barn space, booking the vet for spring teeth and vaccines, getting the farrier out, cleaning the trailer, putting tack away properly...all those routine things I managed to put off. 

Awkwardly growing, still handsome

Disclaimer here - the vet is only a couple of weeks past due. The ponies have all been doing some serious self trimming this year so farrier just pops out every three months or so and makes little corrections if needed. We joke I need to market my 'majikal' program when really it's just good pony genetics allowing them to wear their feet evenly, plus them being active equines all winter on my gravel paddock bases. When life happens, low maintenance Welsh Cobs are here for you.

High maintenance Sophie ponies need to be shown this is still the same place you can enter and exit from. Take your wins where you can.

I had a quick visit with Bridget last night to check out her saddle situation. In true Bridget fashion, she was about as excited to see me as an inanimate object might be, but I gave her a hug anyway so she could hate me just a little bit ;) She looks fantastic, but she seemed smaller than I thought? Makes me think I need to measure the boys properly again, my perspective is apparently changed!

 

First Day

Life outside of my happy bubble has been a bit of a challenge lately. Like almost comically challenging...is this real? Am I actually in some crazy reality TV show? (if so please let me win the million dollars?)

But! You know what counteracts all the bad stuff?

 Ponies.

(And G, plus possibly also chocolate and tacos and sunshine and gardening) 

But for the purpose of this blog, ponies. Ponies living their absolute best lives on the first day of summer field turnout.

Edix Ishya

 I'm beyond over this whole 'find a permanant saddle for the yellow pony' journey. So, right up front let me say this saddle is lovely and a solid choice. I think I'm extra grouchy and fussy and currently incapable of being too excited about new saddles ;)

I've settled on an Edix Ishya. If you're not familiar with the brand, don't worry, neither was I at first. Like so many horsey things, a friend of a friend was using one and put the idea in my head. At that point everything they sold was treeless and I wasn't sure that was an answer for my particular concerns. 

Then, recently a visiting clinician had a new treed model and let me have a sit in it. Miracle of miracles, the standard set up fit me just fine. That rarely happens - I am not a tall person and more modern styled dressage saddles almost always mean my knee ends up jammed in the block and the flap ends at my ankle.

Images from the Edix website. I love the brown most, but the trial version was black and I'm not messing with what worked ;)

                               

I associate the company more with treeless saddles, but this one is advertised as a 'flexible tree'. I wasn't sure how Sophie would feel about that, but it rides very much like other synthetic trees to me. There is plenty of structure and just a bit of flex. It has changeable gullet bars, changeable blocks, I'm told even the panels can be changed out to a different shape or moved to make the gullet wider or narrower (and are wool flocked). Even the stirrup bars are adjustable, again a win for those of us who aren't average height.  All that felt positive for me. Looking forward let's hope it's also suitable for some growing cob boys in a year or three.

Real life version on Sophie.

Likes: 

- As above, all the adjustability for pony fit. I feel like this gives me options and that's necessary when I live in a bit of a saddle fitting/trying desert. Adjustable blocks for me are a win too...you'd think you'd just need to set them up for yourself once, but I had a saddle once I absolutely loved on Bridget, then on Sophie's rounder shape the blocks did weird things where my knees wanted to be and I hated it.

- Is quite compact, but still has some width to the panels - ideal for shorter backed ponies. 

- Feels/looks like a quality saddle for the price (around 4k CAD new).

- Sophie is nowhere near the widest gullet plate, we're quite comfortably in the middle of the range. She's often in the top end of regular saddle widths, but not wide or flat enough for the cob or wide saddle ranges. It's nice to be average for once.

Next up, we need to tackle bridle fit and the not cob, but also not horse sized dilemma.

Not sure/if I'm being as fussy as Princess Pony:

- In general, a bit "more" saddle than I like. I think in my heart I'm an old school saddle girl and would rather have closer contact than lots of cushion and big blocks.

- For me, the twist feels about as wide as I'd be comfortable with. I get that wanting super close contact AND a narrower twist on a wide pony isn't a thing though. Like the above comment re: blocks, twist is obviously a personal preference thing.

- The cantle is super high. My hips aren't overly pleased, I may need a taller mounting block. Dislike cause that makes me feel old ;)

-No keeper or space to tuck stirrup leather tails. I think it's expected you'd use the webber or mono leathers, which honestly aren't my personal preference.

Is it really going to work? Will we find out in a month or two that she's annoyed in new and interesting ways? Stay tuned, I guess :D

So far, she started tolerant the first ride (which is a win in itself with this mare) and is now feeling happier every ride - her main complaint is now that her (sheepskin!) girth is 'itchy'. So I'm cautiously optimistic.

Pony Party

I have no stats to back it up (because there are none) but it felt like the rainiest winter ever. April has been gentle, though and it's finally started to dry out. If you're from the area, you know what that means. The fields are finally usable again!

Happy dance!

I was a little unkind and started by putting everyone out in individual spaces for 30 minutes twice a day. After minimal grass since December and everything currently growing like crazy, we need to be careful. The horses, of course, thought that was pretty miserable of me, but I'm thinking founder would have been worse? Kids these days :)

Adorable child horse tho

In the last week or so, the boys have been going out together and of course insanity has ensued. Surprise! They're zero percent more mentally mature than last year.

They both turned two at the beginning of April and they're still very much babies. 

Height and weight increases may not be proportionate to mental capacity increases.

remembering the ground is edible

chasing each other in tiny circles all day is the best fun though

Sad times when this pony is the good behaviour example :D

It's the time of year where everyone's looking slightly moth eaten and I'm raking up buckets of hair after every grooming session. The corner store guy dubiously asked me how many cats I own, answering the question of whether I really was presentable in public, even 'just for a quick stop' ;)

Trying New Things

Everything is great. Recent events have led to an unexpected silver lining of feeling very positive about the opportunity to draw a line under that hard stuff and embracing the change. I know the universe does what it will and I'm not owed a thing, but it still feels like good things HAVE to be on the horizon :)

Since my last update, I audited another straightness training clinic, which was fun. This time it was under saddle and practicing some of the groundwork exercises. The groundwork and under saddle work was interesting, but a lot more aligned with basic dressage exercises I'm already familiar with that help improve different weaknesses. I didn't find it quite as useful for myself as the previous one I went to that mostly evaluated different horses at a standstill. The predictions based simply on the picture presented, considering conformation, musculature, and posture were kind of mind blowing to me, after coming at it from a more rider/handler 'in motion' perspective.

While there, at an unrelated event, I bumped into a few old riding buddies I've been terrible about keeping in touch with, and we discussed a coach we all really enjoyed. Turns out she recently retired from her real job and is open to resuming visits here once a month.  I'll sign up for that! A groundwork or in hand trail clinic or two would be a fun thing for the boys this year. Of course if I ever ditch toodling around in the bareback pad for a proper saddle and a plan Sophie could attend group dressage lessons too.

Ready to get out and about! Sorry for the low quality photos - bringing the camera is the next step to getting back to a blogging routine.

Objectively the timing for baby horses was good and I've loved every minute of them, but them turning two years old feels like a milestone. It's really making me happy to think I can start doing a bit more with them. Planning for a riding future seems like an actual long term goal now rather than a far, far away sometime in the future type thing.

I've been gradually expanding the cob boy's educational boundaries. It's been a few years since the last time and I do feel like I'm approaching things differently. We'll see where that gets me. I'm at a weird stage of old school calm and practical getting it done, mixed with being a lot more aware of the value of choice and positive reinforcement. There's something to be said for the breed too. They're so much different than the typical quarter horse I grew up with. Generally much quicker thinking and engaged. Often the trick is to get them to try a little less hard ;) You don't need to build any softness or responsiveness or wake anyone up around here.

Reggie/Tradey is now surprisingly good to longe or long line walk/trot. There are of course little moments that come with being a Baby Horse doing the thing for the second or third time ever, but I think even with another session or two he'll be solid.

 He's proving very easy, he's one that's just naturally both confident in himself and also tuned in to his people and happy to be given a job. How lucky did I get with that? A: Not lucky at all probably because I think his breeder knows what she's about as far as making sporty, ammy friendly cobs.

Just wanders off and happy in his own company. This is not far away, but as far as Sophie and Buck are concerned it's a moon landing ;)

Tradey's 'brother' Buck is currently going through a Wild Dolphin phase. It's actually hilarious because he absolutely has to vocalize a 'WHEEE!' and then you know the leaping dolphin routine is up next. I've inadvertently created a funny quirk when I'm leading or handling him and he desperately wants to play - he knows my bubble is for safe grown up pony behavior, and his little built in warning system gets things nipped in the bud. So I just hear a lot of quiet 'whee' and tiny squeals under his breath, like almost inaudible while he walks along seemingly quietly. I just love him. He's different to Tradey for sure but he's absolutely fantastic in his own right. I think he just needs a little longer for his brain to fully install before we try learning too many new things :)

WHEEE. Currently his favored way to move quickly is by leaping place to place like a frog/dolphin. I'm trying to reassure myself this is not his permanent interpretive version of canter :D

Obviously I have at least a year or two before we're even thinking of having grown up pony expectations of them. So, they have very short sessions with the emphasis on having a job and learning things being fun, just setting the foundation for a ridden pony life. The absolutely wonderful thing about having them at home is that 5 minutes here and there is what they need and it's also exactly what I can easily do....there's none of the feeling like I should put time in since I drove all the way to the barn (or didn't put any time in because I didn't have enough).

Baby Buck for tax, since I'm well aware I shorted you on media this week.

Sophie's new thing to try is of course a saddle. I'll update that next...we're still in a trial period with a kind of out of the box solution and I don't want to jump the gun declaring anything.

Peace

Thank you for your kind comments on the last post. 

The silver lining to everything is that I'm back with a renewed appreciation for the happy life I've crafted as an adult and all the good people and things filling it. Younger me was way stronger than she ever gave herself credit for. 

I've been spending a ton of time out at the barn. The sun has been shining and it feels like spring! Everyone (except me) is shedding like crazy.

Signs of spring here and there. I really need to get the vegetable garden tidied.

Sophie finished her round of Gastroguard and sucralfate a couple of weeks ago and scoped clear. I didn't do a follow up scope last time (we did the initial and the 30 day one, then gave the extra 30 days treatment and crossed fingers) and regretted it because the assurance they were really gone would have been valuable for easing my own stress levels. It's nice this time to know we're on the right track this time. I've just being doing groundwork with her since, getting her back into shape, partly because no, we have not solved the saddle issue (more on that soon). We have a follow up vet appointment next month to investigate a couple of other small things to get her feeling her best again.

Vet also said she's too round, it's a fun line to walk with needing forage 24/7 but also being a pony.

The boys are both looking fabulous. It's time to start considering some revamped barn layouts, though. They still get along and play and roughhouse all day long, but they're starting to get more serious when there is food involved. Buck in particular is wearing a few more teeth marks than I'd like. They have hay 24/7 but it's in a shared shelter. I have enough paddocks, but adjustments need to be made so everyone can have a non-shared shelter/hay space on rainy days. 

Trying out borrowing Sophie's house in the daytimes. He approves.

She also approves because the middle winter paddock has grass right now, and grass>house in her opinion.

I've been doing a little bit more with the boys. They're learning how to longe in a way. In a way because I'm paranoid about young horse legs and repeated circles, so it's more walking and trotting on a longe line as I walk alongside. That has been surprisingly easy with Tradey, and complete chaos with the baby dolphin we've somehow acquired over winter (Buck). He's a good boy, but his brain is short circuiting this spring and he's also going through a stage where being velcro'd to me would be far more preferable than experiencing the world isolated and excluded a whole 8' away on a longe line :D. 

The state of them

Honestly, they're both generally a little too feral and pushy at the moment - we might argue as a product of their age and gender, but really it's a result of my own lack of discipline this winter. Also, the things I let slide because 'they're babies' somehow seems less valid now they're days away from being two year olds. If I'm really outing myself, Sophie wasn't much better a couple of weeks ago. So, I needed to step up, because we all know it's not going to be perfect all the time, but scoring three out of three on badly behaved ponies in one day means we might need to start getting judgey about their handler ;)

Random lake interlude to break the text wall

I'm easing my way back into being part of the local horsey crowd by auditing a straightness training clinic this coming weekend. I'm also organizing a saddle fitting weekend put on by a lovely lady I was in contact with regarding training and educational resources. She offered to come here for a visit, so that's a win for our little community.

going to the gym again

On the saddle fitting topic, I've got my SMS Trainee status now. So, I'm 'officially official', but with recent events I took a little break and don't have anything new in the calendar for training milestones as of yet. I went into this thinking I'll do what I can when I can and refrain from setting goals or timelines and I think that's the wise choice. 

The day I find something this pony and I both approve of, you'll just need to hand me my Master Fitter credentials already ;) Everyone is like "Oh she looks fairly straightforward!" when I send a conformation picture. Then the tracings are met with silence because the picture lies and she is tiny IRL plus she is extra wide AND a little curvy AND there is 15" of saddle space AND she is shaped like a wedge of cheese with a big hind end and narrow shoulders just waiting to suck that saddle forward lol

A Short Intermission

It's been a couple of weeks. 

There have been a few no good very Bad Things happening that are tough subjects. 

Someone important to me passed away recently. It was a complicated relationship.

Life would be easier if the villains in our stories were always irredeemably evil. But in this case, and I'm sure as with many real stories, it's far messier than that. 

Mostly I'm just left feeling sad. I can't change the past. I don't have many regrets about that. But now the chapter has ended, there's no resolution, no redemption arc, no one lives happily ever after? That's hitting hard.

So, bear with me while I take a short intermission to wrap my head around things, deal with some of the logistics, and let the sunshine back in. There is so much sunshine here - the ever wonderful G, all our fun adventures, and of course the horses to keep you updated on. I'll be back soon. 

This spoke to me today - change the future with positivity in the present <3

Tow Mode

In a case of me feeling old as dirt, our 'new' truck is somehow 15 years old. The mechanical issues are starting to creep in. Living where we live - where local hauling isn't much of a thing and it's hours to anywhere - I'm feeling like it's time to start searching for something mountain road trip adventure reliable. I had honestly hoped to push a purchase out to 2026, but our truck is currently giving signs of imminent death and I'm definitely keeping tabs on what's new on the dealer pages.

We live at the top of this hill that includes multiple switchbacks, so really, even for local hauling I can't have anything under powered.

What I'm replacing: a 2010 F-150 with V8 gas engine and 'max tow' package. I think at the time that meant upgraded brakes and transmission cooler, plus the integrated trailer braking. It's rated for around 12,000lbs. My trailer is 3000, plus ponies, plus gear. This truck served us well. For the Coast Mountains/Coquihalla and the Rockies it was absolutely fine, but I would not have wanted any less as far as horsepower and braking abilities on those trips.

What I'm replacing it with:

LOL. I don't know. I thought I'd pick the blogging community hive mind? I may need to suck it up and sell my two horse and replace it with a 3 horse trailer, so leaving options open for that I think it's best to upgrade to a 3/4 or 1 ton truck.

Top of my current list is a new Silverado 3500

Likely looking new, only because it seems impossible to find a low mileage used one. There are 2023s and even 2024s right now with 60,000-100,000km on them. I guess they're probably leased or used commercially but that feels insane, especially for nearly new prices. While we're talking prices, my budget does not extend to high end trim packages unless the elusive used and low mileage unicorn presents itself. Dodge, Chevy, and Ford all come in at pretty much the same price point when I build and price similar options and trim levels and I'm not brand loyal.

Anyone been truck shopping lately and have any recommendations? My mind is a little boggled by the choices. I'm sure any one ton truck with a hitch can do the job, but the extras and the gimmicky stuff between brands seems a bit overwhelming. Power folding mirrors for sure, because the ferries do love to play Tetris with vehicle loading and we've said a sad goodbye to a protruding mirror twice now. Diesel is a no, just because local gas station logistics for such are annoying. Is a trailering app actually something I would find useful, ditto the 360 degree camera views, etc.

 So, Blogosphere, tell me about your tow vehicle. What do you love? What do you dislike?

Learning is Fun

 Here are some handy links with free educational resources I've come across this week.

- Is your horse "off" but you struggle to say where (or if it's even real?). Never fear, the Lameness Trainer is here. It's set up as a game, so it starts out 'easy' with obviously lame/not lame examples, then the idea is that as it progresses through the levels, you're training your eye to see even subtle lameness and reliably identify where.

- There are a bunch of saddle and bridle fitting videos here. Plus some chats about social license to operate, horse welfare, and biosecurity. They're geared a little towards promoting various people and programs but there is still some good, free, information.

- FEI Campus You need to make or have a free account for this one, but there are a ton of topics covered. I ended up here after googling some equine biomechanics questions that led me to a frustrating loop of 'it's Sooper Sekret and we are the only ones who know, but we can't tell you without a paid subscription' websites. Maybe I'm the last person to know the FEI has a bunch of free 'courses' but here it is, in case you didn't know either.

The educational process for the SMS saddle fitting has been initiated and the next step was to apply for "Trainee Saddle Fitter" status. I checked that off the list last week, and from here, there are choices to make. There are some definite milestones and goalposts to look and plan for, but you're fairly free to pick up education and experience as you can (outside of the 'must-haves' the SMS requires if that's the certification you want to pursue). There are a number of options and timelines and it feels a little bit like first year university all over again, where you sort of know your interests and end plan but also there is the angst of picking the right path for yourself. 

Sofa Loaf-a Update

 I absolutely cannot be trusted with names and here we are - Sophie tuned into Sofa years ago, more recently Sofa Lofa and sometimes just 'The Loaf'. And to think she came with Vanna (her real name is Sovanna) and I changed it to Sophie because I was worried Vanna Banana would be irresistible to me. Surprise, everyone, I only made it worse.

Anyway, have I mentioned our proposed property purchase lately? It's...complicated. It is a time sink with the city planning and zoning approvals needed prior to sale. I am also feeling nervous now that current political events are going to impact real estate values.  I feel like there is a high chance it's not going to work out, so I panicked about not having that extra space this spring and reached out to a training and sales barn to sell Sophie for me. They asked a few questions, I answered honestly...and then they ghosted me :D In fairness it could be me they didn't want to work with, but equally they didn't ask me about MY bad habits :)

Will stalk you for chin scratches

For the record, she doesn't have any terrible ongoing bad habits but she is smart and very busy minded and liable to get herself into trouble if she's bored.  I've been pretty transparent about all those adventures here. I 90% trust she'll probably be fine, but also if there is a bad choice out there, she's probably tried it at some point so I couldn't honestly say she's never done/would never do it again. I can see how she might now be everyone's cup of tea and an easy sale, especially being pony size but not child appropriate. 

I felt stressed about it all anyway, so haven't pursued other barns or options. There's a chance the days of me actually being able to sell a horse might be behind me. I'm obviously really attached at the best of times, but when they live at home it's exponentially worse. Logic falls by the wayside.

Which brings me to another update. It's been past time to sort out a saddle. I've been trying a few. Mare is girthy. So, so annoyed with me. Which (sadly) for a while I've been kind of writing off as part of who she is. It's fun when it's your own horse you see every day - the obvious sometimes isn't as obvious as you hope it should be and things escalate over time without you really noticing as much as you should. But, (finally) I got to thinking a little harder on it - riding has been super intermittent this year, is she really still upset over that saddle that no longer fit, or is it more? Hmmm. Then the past week she was a little off her food, acting a little colicky, doing the 'quirky' things she does a little more. And so I called the vet and we are treating for ulcers (again - I had to look it up but we last treated two years ago).

Ponies. Fat and dapple-y and still ulcery

She's been managed and fed quite carefully to prevent recurrence, but here we are. We're doing the treat, then scope, plan but I absolutely hated the scope part for her last time, so we'll see if we can get the vet's approval to just treat. I think it works out the same cost wise just buying the gastroguard and sucralfate for two months vs treating/scoping/getting the second month comped with their promotion.

ANYWAY. She's been causing me a ton of anxiety lately. I just want happy, healthy horses but we all know that sometimes that's a big ask from the universe. 

In positive news, almost 7pm last night and still a bit of light in the sky.

Anyone have any great tips for giving tubes of meds to horses who are violently opposed to said things? I've been doing/have done the applesauce thing but she's smart enough to need to smell/taste contents before allowing it closer - I can sneak in a deworming or two a year this way, but daily doses were a challenge and a half last time. Last time I resorted to hiding it in apples and other high value treats but obviously the ideal is she gets the meds without food.

Wish me luck on the saddle fitting too, I need it :)

 

Busy, Busy

 

It's supposed to be winter hibernation time. Even here on the Wet Coast I swear it's a thing. Somehow I feel like the days are more full than they ever have been, though.

These two are enough to keep anyone busy

I'm probably the last person on earth to jump on the smart watch bandwagon. Honestly, I'm not sure I can even say I'm on the wagon when 99% its on my wrist with the sole function of being a cute digital clock saving me from compulsively pulling my phone out of my pocket every 5 minutes to check time. Busy, busy, rush, rush, I'm late, on to the next thing and all that. The one thing I was surprised about is that I was prepared to be completely demoralized about my activity levels on my desk job days. But hey, I've got horses (and lets be real, a problem with sitting still) so it turns out I cover way more miles than I thought I did, even on my laziest of days. Thanks for that, horses (and anxiety).

Imagine if Tradey had a smartwatch

He covers a lot of ground in a day

So much so that he's had no hoof to trim for months (appreciate the discounted farrier bill, buddy!)

The horses have been loving the cold weather. Not that it's cold by many Canadian standards, but for us -5 to -10c overnight is slightly panic inducing with everyone suddenly remembering about outdoor pipes and garden plants that maybe aren't that cold tolerant. For the horses, I think they find it just about perfect. Most of the snow from last week has melted here but the ground is still frozen/icy and not overly safe for horsey activities. We are lucky, though to just have the frozen ground and bits of snow. Some neighborhoods got buried in literal feet of snow and are still digging out. 

It almost looks like Canada here

I am actually dreading the return of the rain storms (this weekend) and the mess of mud and muck that is going to create. This is the hardest time of year here, there really isn't any great turnout and I feel bad for all the horses in their paddocks until the ground firms up again in spring. This little interval of snow and frozen ground was a welcome for a midwinter break for our local equines.