Some Inspiration and Goal Defining

In another life, I think I should have made horses my job, or at least picked a more lucrative career that allowed me a lot of barn time.

I just had 10 days off work and I think at least half of each of those days were spent at the barn or out with the horses, and as the days passed, the further down the rabbit hole I went! I like to consider myself good at my job and my career is well suited to my strengths. I have a ton of hobbies and interests too. But horses are the only thing where I'm completely myself and where time gets lost!

Taking photos of my horses...also a time trap I'm enjoying.

Despite having a million other things I should have been doing,  I ended up spending pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday auditing a clinic and taking pictures for friends. I really enjoyed it and was wishing I'd known I'd be free further in advance so I could have booked a lesson for myself.

I like auditing clinics and lessons because along with the obvious riding and training tips you pick up, watching others and paying attention to the clinician's overall program and outlook gives a lot of inspiration for myself. I've been getting a little hung up on waiting for outside things (building a barn, buying a trailer, new saddles and saddle fitting, plus most importantly, saving the money for it all so as to not be debt stressed!)

This horse was SO cool.

I feel like I've got so much on my plate right now, and not in a good way. Kind of a 'what fire do I put out first?' way. I know what my big goals are, it's the getting there and prioritizing and setting the smaller progress markers that seem to be where I lose clarity....the bigger stuff seems so far away at this point.

In the absence of lessons and having my awesome coach EC at my disposal on the regular, spending time looking outside my own little world and the limitations I set on myself is so, so helpful in regaining inspiration and focus. I saw a lot of people working towards a lot of goals and overcoming a lot of different challenges to do so.

How cute is this guy? He loves this barrel :)  Seriously, I was having so much fun taking pictures for people despite feeling a little weird initially because I am obviously not a pro!

I've been reminded this weekend that there is never a perfect time to do the thing. The best time is usually right now!

We've got some fun stuff on the agenda for October, including the return of the Spooky Trail Course and some group trail rides. I'm pretty guilty of just doing my own thing, so October should be a nice change with a slightly bigger emphasis on more social outings and events.

Are you ready for some adventures, Sophie?

My hope is to get Sophie ready for some lessons and small shows and clinics next year. It's so far away but I'm eyeing up the dressage series in my coach's town - it would be a good opportunity to do a couple of overnight trips and ride some baby dressage tests in a relaxed environment with lots of support and help built in!

In the meantime in between time though, it's going to be all about keeping those tiny progress markers coming. Every walk on the trail and local event attended is a great experience for her. As we were reminded this weekend, every day brings an opportunity to take a step towards your goals.

Social Media

For quite a few years now, this blog has been my main place to document my thoughts and experiences with the ponies, and the wonderfully unexpected side effect of that has been all the cool people I've connected with online.  So, along with giving this space a refresh, part of my 2019 goals were to put myself out there a little more, both in real life and online.

I am surrounded by water and big ass mountains. Luckily, there is a fiber optic cable connecting us under that ocean :)

Since I live in a geographically isolated area and spend way too many of my pennies on horses instead of travel, putting myself out there in person can be a bit difficult. Luckily, social media is a thing, so I've started an Instagram account. I'm probably the last person on earth to do so, but there it is, you can now say hi to me on instagram @raincoastrider.

If we're not already connected on instagram or facebook, feel free to find me or share your social media links in the comments if you wish...as you all know I love following along in your adventures :)

Visiting Old Friends

One more pic of Bridget from the weekend, just because I'm loving them :)

Tuesday morning, while I was sitting at my desk wondering what mistakes in life led me to working in an office on such a gorgeous day, one of my old barn mates from the area sent a text hoping I might want to come for a ride later in the day and help her get some horses exercised. Yes please! I'm totally up for a surprise bonus sixth consecutive day of riding!

You might remember my very favorite Q Mare from the eventing barn...she's a big grey eventing machine that I used to hack out regularly, so we are old friends. I popped on her for some hill work and remembered all the reasons I love her - bold, powerful, and so very forward. And, rock steady. She's one of my favorites for sure, despite being rather oversized for me.

Such a pretty girl. She's 16.3hh which is much bigger than the 14hh pony I'm used to :)

Could not persuade her to put her ears up for you. Tacking up time = sleepy time, apparently.

As an extra special treat, Ginger and her new owner came along too! So cool to see them both. I'm so grateful Ginger ended up where she has - she's got the best owner and the best life and I can still see her sometimes too.

I even took a minute to say hi to my other favorite mare, Audrey. I haven't had a dressage lesson since Christmas, and Audrey being Audrey probably thinks that's just fine. She's not the cuddly affectionate sort pining for my company. I'm in money saving mode, so this whole not seeing each other anymore thing is probably best for both of us, lol.

The bittersweet part of today's story is that Q Mare's owner and best barn rat has a too good to pass up job offer in Ireland at a well known eventing yard and will likely be leaving soon to pursue some big dreams. I'm so excited for her, but I will miss her too! I was kind of hoping she'd still be around when I eventually bring Sophie down and have her in training (and myself back in lessons).

Of course, big changes like that mean Q Mare has also sold. She's going to a great home, but I won't lie, I've had a bit of a fantasy for a while now where I somehow managed to buy her, so I was a bit sad knowing this was likely my last ride on her.

Since my other favorite previous barn mate is also riding professionally in Ireland, you can be sure I'll be following the Irish event calendar from afar and cheering everyone on! I don't know about you, but even though my goals and dreams differ I find it super inspiring to see these girl's dedication and determination in going after what they want from life.

Just a Trail Horse

I'm pretty sure our arena is the last frozen, snow covered place in the entire region. That's both a good and a bad thing. Bad because Bridget's got energy to burn and is reverting to her pushy pony ways. I find it easier to problem solve those things in the arena where I have space to work on it. On the other hand, being forced out of the arena is a positive because Bridget is easily bored and I should get her out on the trails more than I do.

We got out a few times this past week. A couple of times solo, once with my husband hiking alongside, and once with an unexpectedly big group of people.

The ride with a bigger group was a bit of a challenge for many of the horses, Bridget included. Everyone has a different "normal" when they're out, so while some horses were used to the loose dogs accompanying us, some found that new and exciting. The mini that tagged along caused a few horses to look twice, and couple of the overexcited younger horses had a chain reaction effect on most of the others.

For us, we spend a lot of time hacking solo or in a small group, so B was a bit intimidated with all those other horses. (She's a funny thing...antisocial and independent so she's brave and happy on her own, but gets anxious if she feels crowded in a larger group) As a whole, there was some pretty big, chaotic energy going on, and the experience in handling that was varied.

B is a really solid citizen, and even though she didn't put a foot out of line, the feedback I was getting from her was that she was stressed and unhappy. She felt claustrophobic and wanted to be out in front, away from it all. Unfortunately circumstances meant we compromised on staying behind in our own space, but we still ended up waiting and being crowded and bumped more than she'd prefer. And so, I was super proud of her for listening, keeping a lid on it, and being the good girl she is. I love that she's cool with expressing her opinions, but trusts me enough to keep the conversation a two way one, even when the situation I've put her in isn't as fair to her as it should have been.

Second thought...Everyone who says "oh he's JUST a trail horse" or "I'm only a trail rider". Give yourself more credit! Beyond all the training they need to be solid citizens out there, I'm not sure there is any other riding activity where your horse is going to have to deal with quite so many random things, usually completely out of your control.

Whether it's wildlife, loose dogs that aren't horse savvy, other horses acting up in close quarters, people on motorbikes zipping by unexpectedly, trails being blocked, whatever. I take my job of keeping Bridget confident and happy very seriously and as much as we love the trails, it's the most common place we go where the normal expectations don't apply, usually either due to random bad luck or unintentionally ignorant shared trail users.

I'm glad we have a partnership that allows for us to successfully navigate it all, but I'm not kidding when I say there are days when hitting the trail is a far bigger challenge than eventing or dressage ever was or is for us.

Trail Riding, Farriers, and Having an Actual Job Too

We had a beautiful sunny weekend. It remains unseasonably cold, but the sunshine and dry paddocks are a gift given our normally rainy and muddy spring weather.

The flip side of the sun and cold is that the outdoor arena remains snow covered and icy, and the footing isn't ideal right now in the indoor either. So, I haven't been doing much in the way of proper work with Bridget for the past few weeks. Both girls are shedding like crazy so I'm hopeful warmer temperatures and better riding conditions are coming again soon.

Bridget leading the way on the sunny section of road. The black mare on the left is only just 4 and already super solid - fingers crossed Sophie is half as good next spring!

 We've been hitting the trails a couple of times a week, but again, the shady areas are still quite icy, so it's mostly walking and letting Bridget pick her way carefully through. I'm grateful I don't have any big goals or shows this season...I do miss that and look forward to a return in a year or two, but it's really nice to just make the best of each day without any agendas and to not stress too much about us both being out of shape and out of practice with the spring show season rapidly approaching.

Same ride. It's still quite dark and frozen in the forest!

Across town at the full boarding barn, Sophie continues to be Sophie. Full of life, slightly sassy, impatient, opinionated, yet still so sweet and genuine.

Not Sophie, but how could I resist sharing this picture of Bridget and her adorable bestie? The winter paddocks were redone on Thursday and these two are pretty pleased that they now have a shared fenceline.

I'm learning to trim Sophie's feet thanks the guidance of a couple of more experienced mentors boarding there. One of the drawbacks of keeping horses in this town close to my home is being a ferry ride away from any regular professionals, so it's equally empowering and frightening to take on trimming her. I am learning so much and hope to eventually feel confident enough to do Bridget's in the interim as well. I'm lucky that Bridget is doing OK with the available care, so she's less of a priority than Sophie, who wasn't coping well.

Sophie showing us she has big girl teeth growing in too.

I do have access to an excellent farrier on southern coast, so at whatever point I move one or both ponies back to EC's to resume training and lessons I'll most likely be back to hiring professionals for everything. I think I can learn to do an adequate job, but I'll always defer to a trusted pro if one is available. I like to educate myself as much as I can so it's fun for me to learn to do a basic trim, but I very much like having resources available so I don't need to feel like I have to know everything.  Farrier J who frequents EC's barn is one of those excellent farriers we all wish we had, so it would be silly to not hire her!

I think the biggest benefit to all of this is that Sophie is currently learning a lot in regards to being saintly with her feet. I'm pretty much her worst nightmare as far as needing to be patient goes - it takes me longer to do one foot than could normally be expected for an entire trim. Pretty sure she'll never complain about the real farrier (or standing tied without anyone bothering her) ever again!

Skeptical that tying skills and patience are real things.

I'm heading back Monday morning for a short work week on the south coast. Home again late Wednesday night, so no barn time until Thursday evening...such is my standard winter schedule.  I know May is still a couple of months away, but now that I have my revised summer schedule planned and approved I'm beyond excited for May to arrive and to have 5 days a week with time to ride. I'd never complain about my current 4 day work week though! I feel a little guilty modifying it further for summer. But, I guess this is a good reminder that it never hurts to ask for what you want. My work was more than happy to accommodate my wishes to allow me time to  be a part time amateur horse trainer for the summer ;)

At least the winter sunrise ferry rides are always scenic.

Livin' Eventing

Just thought I'd share this brand new site with you all. It features a lot of positive messages and the main writer, Liv, promises plenty of insight into life as an up and coming professional rider. There also look to be some super guest bloggers lined up, plus lots of useful documents like event calendars and dressage tests.

I used to ride with Olivia when she was a working student at my coach's barn. She's an amazing rider and an even better person. She moved to the UK two years ago to pursue her dreams of eventing for Canada and she's one of the hardest working people I know. She's well deserving of any support and website clicks you can direct her way!

www.livineventing.com

Facebook 

Not Lesson Monday

Mondays have been my lesson night for 3(?!) years now, so it felt a little weird to go to the barn and just ride Audrey. EC is away for the next little while, but lucky me gets to keep my Mondays with Audrey while she's gone.

I had big plans of practicing all the things, but I got there and the weather was decent and I realized this is probably the last time I'll be riding A in daylight for the next several months. Also, A was away showing until Saturday, so it hardly seemed fair to make her do more dressage. So, obviously we had to go for a hack!

Happy mare ears.

She's a funny mare, she's fairly brave and actually quite safe, but our trail ride was...edgy. I think she was quite enjoying herself, but if I didn't know her better I'd probably have been experiencing visions of my imminent demise.  As it was, I wouldn't say it was quite as relaxing for me as I had planned, lol.

When we got back, she was still feeling very good so I put her to work in the arena for a short time. Just lots of bending and stretching with a more open neck, walk thru canter. She was cute : "Oh, I know this! Stretch and relax...feels so good!" She went from dragon mode to floppy eared sleepy mare in about 5 minutes. Such opposites with B, Audrey finds relaxation in working correctly in the arena, where B much prefers to find it on a loose rein on the trail.

A is "only" 16hh and actually a nice size for me. Thank goodness - she can feel very big when she's feeling lively or otherwise expressing her emotions :)

After that, I hung around and caught up with some barn mates. I really, really miss the atmosphere of EC's barn, all those people with goals similar to mine and so much inspiration to be found everywhere there.

Speaking of being inspired, I did a terrible thing and fell in love with another horse. I stuck around partly to watch a barnmate school a 4 year old that's been at the barn for a little while and that I think is pretty much the sweetest thing and my dream conformation wise. Watching her go under saddle though...oh my, she's just wonderful. I'm not sure I've ever been quite so struck by a horse. If only I had talent, money, and time for such a mare :)  Barnmate looks wonderful on her, so let's hope the stars align and she keeps the ride. As the mare is not mine, nor do I lease her, it feels weird to post pictures. I'll post a picture of her sire, though - she inherited a lot of his looks and I hear he's also got a super temperament:

Sire = Connaisseur. She looks just like her dad - in 16hh chestnut mare form :)

Trail Challenge

Brain installation continued successfully this weekend. Sophie surprised me again by being an absolute star at our informal trail challenge.

I took her a little early so I could put her in the round pen to burn off steam, just in case all the obstacles plus the busy arena was a little overwhelming. That was totally unnecessary - she was definitely aware of all her potential new friends and admirers, but the initial energy she was giving off was that she was just curious and excited to see everything rather than scared or overwhelmed.

"They are making weird noises over there, let's go check it out already!"

And so, she marched right up to every single obstacle. My expectations were very low so I didn't really actively ask her for much, I just let her take her time and investigate thoroughly, then proceed at her own pace. Some things she marched right through without much of a look - the assorted poles, the bridge, some hula hoops on the ground.

"Let's go see the tarp thing!"

Other things needed a couple of minutes to process - the car wash tarp, the pool noodle gate. Her least favorite was a pit filled with empty plastic milk jugs. She was quite happy to dig around with her nose and push them out of the way, but really reluctant to step on them fully and it took a little bit before she was ok with walking through and squishing them.

"I am so good at this"

Her very favorite? A toss up between a punching bag type thing and a giant ball - she was killing me by pushing on the punching bag dude and then jumping when it swung back at her. Over and over. And over. LOL. I think this is a toy she needs in her paddock. The ball as well, she was right into pushing it around and chasing it.

I don't know if I can adequately describe how much I enjoyed her attitude today. So curious and brave! If she scared herself she basically spooked in place then wanted to see the scary thing again right away. She handled all the other horses and noises really well and I was very proud that mentally she stayed really tuned into me, especially given her age/greenness and all the crazy distractions. For the second day in a row, she was super polite on the ground and brought zero sass or drama to the table.

Patiently watching the other horses go.

I can honestly say if she was going under saddle I would have had no anxiety about tacking her up and trying the whole course mounted, she was being that brave and sensible.

Someone there commented "T, you always have the quiet, well behaved babies." Again, I was like "The Rotten Banana? We're comparing her favorably to Bridget's sensible self right now?!" I don't think anyone there believed me that she can be a bit of a wild child.

At home enjoying some well deserved treats. She likes apples now!

So, I felt a little like a fake given Sophie 's usual level of drama, but hey, I'll take the compliments she recieved as they were intended in the moment and cross my fingers hard that maybe all the hours of enforcing the rules and taking her places the past few months are starting to pay off :)

This metal recycling dude has been helping to make my horses bombproof since forever. He's NOT horse savvy, so can often be found throwing large metal things into bins or smashing things with his forklift as we go past. He's very nice and I actually don't mind the noise and clutter - it's good training for the horses :)

Three Hour, Three Lake Tour

Even though I am home most days of the week, I'm still finding it hard to find the time to connect wth my local friends. Luckily, the stars aligned and both myself and two great friends were free this past Saturday!

Both were willing to trailer down near my barn for a trail ride, which was perfect. I board in an area where there are unlimited trail networks - we could literally head out for weeks and travel incredible distances without ever crossing our tracks. The isolation here admittedly gets to me sometimes, but on the other hand, it is pretty cool to have so much outdoor space, and the ocean and mountains at our doorstep.

So many options, my barn is located pretty much dead centre of this trail map.

So off we went, with no real plan beyond catching up on all things horses and enjoying the beautiful trails. We all commented that it was a little reminiscent of when we were kids...just hopping on our ponies with no real plan, and seeing what adventures the day would bring.

Happy Bridget ears. I was so happy that she was totally fine barefoot on all the different terrain

A 30 min slog up some pretty steep old forestry roads got us to the top of the hill behind my barn.

Sadly, not much of a view today. The clouds are blocking our views across to Vancouver Island.

From there, we turned off into the forest onto some mountain biking trails

This one is about 15min up a hill and back down. It's narrow and twisty and fun to canter.

Those trails connected us to the main parking and trailhead for a local rec site at Haslam Lake, and a provincial protected area at Duck Lake. After much pondering, we opted to continue along towards Duck Lake, simply following the main Forest Service Rd.

Deciding where to go

Another 30 minutes or so took us past the lake and along the river flowing out of it, where we saw a trail marker heading in the direction we thought we needed to go. While all of us have ridden in the area for years, it's admittedly been a long time since we ventured to this area, so we were a little worried about whether the trails would be horse safe. Back in the day, they were...adventurous...on horseback ;)

This seemingly friendly trail used to have a puddle so big blocking it that my friend's horse ended up swimming!

We were all pleasantly surprised - there have been a lot of volunteers hard at work! The area has really been discovered in the last few years by the mountain biking community. There are a couple of big races with riders coming from all over the world, so the trail network has really grown and improved. Add in the local groups and clubs, and it's really incredible what's been done. I was super impressed with some of the infrastructure...there are brand new horse safe bridges!

I didn't think to take pictures, so here's one of the local ATV club building one of the bridges.

That lovely trail took us back to our favorite trail, an old logging railway grade that goes for miles through the foresr. We enjoyed the shade and lovely old trees for a good part of that trail, before turning off and taking the trail back down the hill to West Lake - the one about a 30 min hack from my barn, and the lake featured in pretty much all my "we rode to the lake" posts :)

From there, a short hack back the the ring. We had a fantastic day, the company was super, and the horses were all happy and really well behaved. Bridget was go, go, go all day and never tired. She's way fitter than I thought!

My friends and I were all saying it's been far too long since we just hopped on our horses without an agenda or time constraints. This ride made me fall in love with our area all over again, and super excited to plan some more trail adventures (though we may have to bring lunch next time, lol)

Boot Camp Days 3&4

I seem to be on a post a day program right now...trying to distract myself from the absolutely stupid anxiety I am having re: all things new horses and first horse show of the season. It's half excitement - half feeling I'm-so-not-ready for any of it/cannot adult! 

Wednesday:

Spent some time catching up with fave working student - she just got back from two weeks in the UK working and riding with some big names. Super fun to hear all the details, and I'm so excited for her - she's going to go back semi permanently and is 100% sure of her future career choice now. So inspiring and fun to see people work hard for their dreams and make big strides in achieving them. And, no worries, we had our big catch up on horseback, with poor Bridget struggling to keep up on the hills. It seems I've been slacking off on the hill work at home :) I finished up with a quick walking cool out in the ring, using the time to remind her that she can be rounder and still go forward, wiggling and backing off being an evasion that she reverted back to trying during our Tuesday lesson.


Thursday:

Another lesson. I had plenty of forward, but as we kept asking for rounder Bridget kept saying 'no'. Ughh, I get that that is where we're at...that weird spot between first and second, and that I need to be way more disciplined about insisting she stay where I put her if we want to do a nice second level test this year. We were doing OK at home, but being at EC's seems to have Bridget thinking the rules don't apply anymore. I feel like boot camp has caused a full on pony revolt...just in time for our show tomorrow. Long term, yep it's a conversation that needed to happen and we'll work through it, short term, oops, we've lost the relaxation and soft feel we had going on at home. I hope they don't mind angry llamas at first level tomorrow :) (I'm being a little dramatic - there were plenty of nice moments and B understands what we wanted...she's just not overly happy about it, but yes, she'll probably be holding a grudge and I'm not expecting any great tests. EC says to look at it as an opportunity - school her at the show as needed so she understands the rules apply the same everywhere we go).

A few years ago, we went to TBird to watch some jumper classes and I set a goal of wanting to show there one day. So...no matter what, we're checking off a bucket list item this weekend!

Things discussed:

After the ride - I expressed concerns about how fussy and opinionated B continues to be. The opting out of work thing especially. What am I doing wrong? Will I be able to start the new pony and not end up with similar issues?

EC's opinion: Yes, some of Bridget's opinions can be attributed to the fact I am/was learning on her so she got away with a few things to start, and now the rules have changed as I have become more effective. And B is not a pony who likes that sort of thing. Although she is quiet, she is not especially forgiving under saddle, and she is always looking for the easy way out. She is also quite sensitive. Basically, "She's a pony. She does not want to work harder and has her own ideas."

Cue pep talk about how much better she continues to get, how much progress I have been making with her even on my own when she's not especially easy.

So no, she thinks there is no reason to think any of the things I am unhappy with will follow me to future projects (or cannot be fixed in the current one!) Besides, I will have help and I will have more knowledge when the time comes for starting the baby Banana (who I get to meet in 5 hours! Eeek!)