September 10 Questions Blog Hop

I'm here at work and the rain is still coming down. At this point we have had well over a month's worth in the last 4 days. In very exciting news, the weather is supposed to be a little more moderate next week and I HAVE NEXT WEEK OFF! I'm hoping to get a lot of baby pony training goals checked off next week and attend a weekend clinic too. I'm beyond excited.

Thanks once again to LWilliams for providing interesting blog hop topics!

1. Favorite quirk your horse (or a horse you’ve spent time with) has?

Bridget is so funny to me because she's like a grumpy old man in a young mare's body. NOTHING is fun, everything sucks...until you convince her to do the thing and suddenly she's having fun and surprisingly agile :)
Sophie is a typical quirky mare-y mare and very dramatic. My favorite thing about her is how overwhelmingly friendly she is...it's kind of flattering how excited she is to see me and go on adventures with me.

Telling me off the other morning for disturbing her nap with the camera noise. A serious offense in Bridget world.

2. Three words that perfectly describe your horse?

Bridget: Tired (of everyone's BS), Hungry, Loyal
Sophie: Happy, Friendly, Interested

I'm not sure I have any pictures with her ears anything but forward.

3. Plan your next ride. What will you do/work on?

Bridget: Forward off the leg (always), and being adjustable in the gaits without sucking back or leaning (always). 
Sophie: Simply sitting on her and walking around. On the ground, long lining and getting her confident moving out without someone leading.

Look at how happy and hardworkingsleeping she is. Add that to the quirks actually, 50% I have this, 50% of the time she thinks she's the most athletic pony and the ruler of the world and super busy, quick,  pushy, and bossy :)

Showing us her 'piaffe' on a day where she thought she was all that

4. Have you ever trained an OTTB? If yes, what was the biggest challenge?

Many years ago. She was just lovely and very easy and hard working, but I was pretty inexperienced and needed to become a lot more sensitive to what my body was doing. I got the ride because she was just little and I was a small, brave, teen. I always regret not being able to buy her myself when the time came for her to go to a new home. We won't count lessons on assorted OTTBs over the years, because fresh off the track or no, being in a lesson the trainer/coach is really the one with the training plan!

5. Have you ever groomed or worked for a professional rider?

I groomed and worked for my coach for the years I was there - I think everyone did! An easy way to trade for lessons and keep board prices manageable. She's an upper level dressage rider these days which is nice - the few times I groomed at events it was a lot more work!

Remember when I wanted to be an eventer and Bridget and I used to go to eventing camp?

Aww, her little clip job then was so cute. /diversion...back to the blog hop:)

6. Favorite horse and rider combination?

Beyond the usual riding idols (Ingrid Klimke of course!), honestly I get the most joy and inspiration watching local people I know ride and train. It's much more relatable as far as my goals go and of course it's really fun to cheer on your friends!


7. Have you ever ridden a horse at the beach?

On vacation basically every time we go, provided the horses are well cared for. I ride often at our local lakes, but they don't have sand to run along. I've gone to our local beaches a couple of times but this is rocky coastline and there is maybe only a km of rideable footing at low tide at the bigger one....you have to plan well in advance!

Typical coastline here

I'll never get tired of this picture of Sophie at the lake :)

8. If you could experience the equestrian community (i.e. ride and compete) in another country, what country would you choose and why?

Some of my friends and old barn mates have had exciting adventures, and if I could cheat I'd choose all of them! (We were talking South Africa and the Netherlands the other day and wow both sound amazing) I think for simplicity's sake I'd choose England because the dressage and eventing culture is really strong and I speak the language. Plus I have friends already living and riding there.

Also I think they might be open to Welsh Cobs doing dressage? I have visions of a whole stable full of Bridgets, how fantastic would that be? (Not sure the universe could handle that amount of ponytude in one place tho)

9. In your opinion, what is an item of tack that is given unnecessary hype?

So much of it! I feel like there is always some trendy bridle/bit/saddle/pad/blanket/boot/stirrup that is a million dollars and miracle working. Then 6 months later there's a cheap knock off everyone else buys, then 6 months after that no one talks about it anymore.

This saddle pad is magical, yet marked down to $20 right now. Surely magic can't be purchased for that cheap? ;) Review here if you're interested.

10. What was the first horse you rode called? Are they still alive?

I got a job at a trail riding stable as a kid and was in pony heaven with so many to ride and learn on! I'm pretty sure the last of those ponies passed away a few years ago now. I just visited that farm this past weekend and everything looks so run down and neglected...it made me feel really sad (and old!)

From The Vault: 62

A short one this week as I continue to clean up my drafts folder. This one was started summer of 2015. It looks like some things never change :)



Bridget warmed up last night feeling a little sluggish - kind of surprising considering she'd just had 3 days off.

Not so surprising when my coach mentioned the cover accidentally got left off the slow feeder the night prior and piggy pony ate 62 pounds of hay (an entire bale) overnight.

From The Vault: 2015 (In Photo Review)

I have 167 posts in my drafts folder. If I plan this right, I can schedule a year's worth of blogging! Just kidding, I would never do that to you. However, there are a few of those that I think would be fun to share. This post, for example, appears to be the start of a year end recap...for 2015. To set the scene, 2015 was the year I moved back to the coast and took my current job. I still owned Ginger, Bridget was fairly new to me,  and it appears I met my current coach mid year. Exciting times! :)

I thought about typing up a 2015 monthly recap type post, but I just don't have the patience to do it. If I don't have the patience to write it, I doubt any one will have the patience to read it either. This year we're going to test out an illustrated version...

January:

Ginger was living the easy life - once or twice weekly outings, but mostly just hanging out in the pasture looking pretty

Midge had been under saddle about 4 months and was doing lots of  trail riding, plus some introductory poles. She was pretty angry about actually having to work for a living...

February:

Doing lessons 1x a week and trail riding the rest is not helping Ms Bridget or I ride a balanced turn

Ginger was getting low stress rides,  still on a pretty relaxed schedule due to my own anxiety and preference for riding Bridget

March:

Bridget and I went to two (not overly successful) clinics, one 'cowboy' and one dressage. Pony was a bit uptight but a superstar considering it was all new to her.

Ginger came along for the trip, but was pretty stressed out and after the not so great experience with Bridget I ended up chickening out and just hacking Ginger on the area trails rather than taking her in the clinics as well.

April:

More hacking

More weekly lessons. B is (finally!) starting to learn how to carry herself, and even canters a couple of tiny cross rails

May:

I got a new job and moved for work, so pony visits were limited to weekends. Where of course we took a lesson,

and went for a hack.

June:

Bridget said goodbye to her old stomping grounds

And hello to new ones. We started weekly lessons with our new coach, and dressage boot camp was kicking both of our asses.

July:

Bridget slowly got into reasonable shape

And with our coach and barn mates away all summer showing, we spent many hours alone in here doing dressage and tiny jumps

August:

Bridget was getting ever fitter, and we started planning for a mini show season: a local hunter cross rail division and a dressage show later in the month doing Canadian eventing Entry level (= US Beginner Novice) dressage tests. Much practice to be done!

September:

Bridget and I had some super fun outings, and I was really pleased with how both of her first shows went!

Ginger left the farm and went back to work with Trainer M, in hopes of being sold to the best home.

October:

Ginger's training continues and it's her turn for outings and shows. She won her first dressage outing. The ponies were making me proud!

She also got to go to the beach, while Midge and I buckled down with twice weekly lessons in hopes of being ready for a late fall combined test in the big city.

November:

December: 2019 T back in - it looks like I had great ambitions and started my year end recap early and didn't finish it, so I guess we'll never know what happened next. We're all still here so it couldn't have been too bad!