5 Day Challenge: Day 2

6. Favorite Equestrian Book and Movie:

    I'm all over the map here - almost every book I read or movie I watch that has horses in it, I'll say  "That was the best EVER!"...Until the next one. I'm going to use the more impartial G as my guide here and say that he sat and watched "Buck" with me twice and really liked it too. He also will sit and watch my recordings and dvds of eventing...not the dressage though :)

Books? Maybe Jimmy Wofford's "Training the Three-Day Event Horse and Rider". You can't go wrong there.
Fiction? Maybe Fiona Walker's "Well Groomed". Totally trashy and silly, but fun and I love the horsey characters and the fact the main character competes at Badminton, etc.
As a kid, Walter Farley's "The Island Stallion" was where it was at for me.


7. Most common riding misconception:

That it's easy! It's the hardest sport I've ever tried...I dare any one to take a dressage lesson on a green horse and say otherwise.

8. 2 riding strengths and 1 riding weaknesses:

Strengths: Quiet and very very patient. Good sense of timing.

Weaknesses: The past 3 or 4 years, my weight. I was fit and slim my entire life without really thinking about it, so it's been a bit of a learning curve as far as proper eating and exercise habits go. I know there are tons of examples of good riders out there who carry some extra weight. I don't think I'm one of them - I have much better balance and am much more effective without. I think Ginger probably feels the same. I've slowly got rid of the majority of it over the past year or so, with only a little more to go. And it's NOT coming back...ever :) Next up? I need to address the anxiety...

9. Least favorite thing about horses and/or riding:

The barn drama. More directly related - the vet calls.

10. What do you feed your horse?

I try to keep it pretty close to 'natural'.
At home, I feed my horses plenty of low sugar local grass hay, as well as a timothy/alfalfa mix from Oregon in the winter. It's about 15-20% alfalfa, and just beautiful hay. I have slow feeder nets so they can eat all day.
Ideally, they are mostly on pasture in the summer. They get a little bit of ration balancer when the other horses get their grain.
With Ginger, she can be a little bit of a harder keeper, so in the past I've supplemented with beet pulp and a high fat grain mix as needed.

The pony mocks my attempts to provide ultimate pony nutrition and convinces everyone she is starving by eating fir trees while my back is turned.