Rock Stars

(Apologies in advance for formatting issues - my laptop is having issues and this post is courtesy of the iPhone blogger app which I can't quite get to work as I would like!)

Ginger's new rock star halter arrived thanks to KateRose and her contest! Check out Kate's wonderful blog at:

peacandcarrotshorse@blogspot.ca 

Thank you so much Kate! I tried very hard to get Ginger to stand still long enough for a good picture of her new halter, but that's a huge challenge for the fidgety big mare...ears up and looking at the camera were they best we were going to accomplish today. I'll be sure to get some better ones soon - it suits her so perfectly and she "helped" me put it on, which must mean she likes it ;)

In other news, since my main mission today was to get Ginger all tidied up for her picture, I didn't plan to ride and wore my jeans. A last minute change of heart meant I grabbed the Midget out of the field and popped on bare back for a quick tour. It took a little while to find my sea legs again, but we did get a semi productive ride in. No cantering because I'm just not that good, plus the Midge has got a bad case of the baby pony wiggles at the moment! She does get the second rock star award of the day though for barely flinching when an attempt to jump on gracefully turned into more of a body slam ;)

I used an old martingale strap as a cheater emergency handle since I was riding her on the road to get to the ring and pony was a bit fresh. Also, as mentioned, I'm just not that good :) We had a blast though and did get some decent ring work in. I think I'm going to continue to ride without a saddle once a week or so since she really seemed to start to listen to my seat more and I got an excellent work out posting that crazy cob trot!

TOABH: Fave

The monsoons are back and I'm really busy with work until mid week, so it's the perfect day for another excellent blog hop topic!

Fave.

What is your horse's absolute favorite thing?  Outside of riding!  Are there treats that instantly convert your pony into an addict or liniments that leave him yawning and chewing?  What does your horse just love to have?

Ginger loves:

-Her people. She's the most social horse I know, but only if she knows you!

-Belly scratches!

-Her boyfriend, Mac the Morgan horse

-Drama

-Action! ie moving first and thinking later

-The neighbour's miniature ponies

-Going for walks with G - she's funny about it with both of us, and will run up and pretend you're leading her around even when she's free out in the pasture, but she actually gets upset if G leaves her home on the wrong side of the gate!

Bridget loves:

-Nap time

-Food of any sort

-People. She loves people more than other horses and isn't fussy about making new friends, including the vet and farrier

-Trail rides

-Walking rather than running

-The barn cats!

They both love:

-Peppermint treats

-Lots of turnout

-Water of any sort, but particularly where it's deep enough to climb in and splash.

Just Not That Into It

I woke up tired this morning, it was freezing cold, there was a miscommunication about the time and I ended up waiting an hour for my lesson. Long story short, I was a little overtired, cold, and grouchy and just not that into riding.

As ponies often do, Midge read my mind and was like "Oh YEAH? You think YOU'RE grouchy? You think you're unmotivated? Watch me!" And so the lesson I'd rather forget began.

I was too lazy to take pics today, so you get a re run picture of Bridget being lazy

Thank goodness she's adorable, that's all I can say. We had no forward at all, we had no left bend at all. We had bucking, we had spooking, we had head tossing and shaking. We had a pony who is seemingly immune to even a sharp tap with the crop. Hmmm. Sometimes it's just best to move on, so today we opted to finish early and go for a quick hack. It still wasn't about giving up. A change of scenery and a mental reset was just in order for both of us. Pony still had to trot and canter up our big hills and was still disgusted with the program. But we ended on a happier note and that's all you can ask for some days. Any time in the saddle is good time, right?

I'd be lying if I said I'm not feeling discouraged by her ungenerous and testing attitude, but as with all things horsey it's a two way street and I obviously need to up my game and bring a more motivated and positive attitude myself before I honestly expect better from her.

Even on her worst behaviour, I'm appreciative that she's safe and sane to hack out on her own, she wasn't worried about waiting around to start our ride, and she certainly doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Just several smart and unmotivated ones that are quite adept at taking advantage of her rider :) Fingers crossed my next ride is a little more productive - I don't know about you, but behind the leg and 'stuck;' is NOT my happy place. Today, I'm also very happy I own Bridget's opposite in the ever so forward and sensitive Ginger - they really are a very complimentary pair :)

Everything Zen

So, after much thought about my 2015 goals, I've got nothing.


Right now i know you're all amazed and wondering exactly how I will accomplish such a impressive goal! Surely I'll fail?

I know the anticipation is likely too much to bear, so I'll explain. I want to show. I want to jump, I want to do an 'away' event. I want to trail ride will all my good friends. I want to attend as many clinics and lessons as I can afford. I want my horses to be healthy and happy all year. I want to be a better rider, in better shape, eat well, all that.  But as for actual, quantifiable goals this year? None.

The simple fact is, I'm pretty darn happy. I won't be heartbroken if in December 2015, my world is not so different than December 2014. I'm hoping 2015 will be all about continuing along this great path I'm on now, and maybe with some hard work and consistency (and a little luck) those shows will happen, Bridget will have a better canter, I'll lose some more weight. Maybe we'll see some of those bigger goals this year by just dripping water on that stone, day after day. If not, I hope we'll surprise ourselves with just how much fun we had along the way :)

New Year's Ride

By some sort of miracle, that sunshine I asked Santa for stuck around for New Year's Day!

Sunshine + Cold = Alert pony

 I've been back of the land of somewhat-gainfully-employed people for a little bit now and the job currently involves walking about 5-6 hours, 30-40km a day (about 25 miles for my American friends). Since we are surrounded by mountains, those miles involve a lot of steep hills and stairs. I'm exhausted at the end of my days and extra motivated to bid on some contracts for my normal career which is coincidentally a desk job :) Anyways, this relates to my riding because A) I'm too tired at the end of work days to ride, B) when I do have a day off to ride, my legs are pretty tired and I'm useless. Also, C) the ponies are very "up" because they aren't used to a 2 or 3 day a week schedule!

Fingers crossed my body starts to find it easier soon and we can get back to normal.

Shadow pony and rider. Both of us are feeling about as out of shape as the shadow would indicate .

Today's holiday brought some sleeping in, followed by some much needed barn time. Bridget and I just popped up to the ring, which ended up being frozen. As such, it was her lucky day and we did not canter. If we're honest, my lucky day too because my legs are about as effective as noodles at the moment. Instead, I really focused on getting her lateral work better and worked on shoulder control by riding squares. She's been having a bit of trouble with the concept of moving forward AND moving her hips/shoulders independently, so I took the opportunity to go right back to basics and just halt and turn her when she tried to run through me. It worked well, and pony put in a couple of half decent squares by the end. Next stop, walk pirouettes and a proper shoulder in? Since Midge is super intellgent, this quickly transitioned into moving her shoulders all the time for every question, so we went back and did some of her hated haunches in spirals at walk and trot before calling it a day. Hopefully we can trick S into thinking we practiced for our upcoming weekend lesson ;)

Your daily ears photo

A not so exciting day, but I'm very proud of her because she was really fresh and impatient this morning, but tried really hard to focus and got to work without too much drama at all when I gave her a job to do. Of course, she was silly on the hack home, but she's got to blow of steam somehow!

Since she was impatient to get home and see her friends, she had to wait and her mane pulled in the sun first. Probably the one and only picture you'll ever see where it's all laid neatly on one side.

Finally, here's a couple of more pictures I've been sent of the superstar pony on her holiday trail ride last weekend. Fingers crossed we eventually get some nice ones of the group too:

Illustrating the mane half on one side thing we're normally rocking

She looks so over it!

See you on the weekend for a lesson recap!

Happy 2015!

I was going to write out a big goals post, but it was super boring and I'll do us all the favor of not bothering and just post some quarterly goals later. Instead, here's my take on how my horses would spend tonight's New Years party:

Ginger: A new year? For real? Is there a party? Can I bring my friends? Will there be boys? I can't wait!

I'm going to invite all my friends! Maybe there will be a huge pool and we'll stay up all night splashing in the water!!!! This is going to be so much fun!

Bridget: Party? Meh. I'm tired. Wait, there's food? OK, I guess I could come out for a bit.

If you need me, I'll be in the corner, eating all the food. Come get me when you need a ride home.

2014 In Review

Apologies in advance, I want to do a 2014 recap before the end of the month, but it's been a long day and I am feeling far too lazy to link back to my original posts. We're just going to keep this short and sweet!

January:
I was newly home from an 8 month work contract in Alberta and super excited to spend more time with my Ginger mare! Ginger arrived at the 'new' barn shortly before me, and was having trouble settling in.

White knuckle riding

February:
Uh oh..the reunion party was short lived. Struggling with confidence issues on the big mare, and I got another contract away from home that was too sweet to turn down. I left home again partway through the month, leaving wonderful Ginger behind to enjoy her 6 month all inclusive vacation in pony paradise and really unsure whether I even wanted to continue riding her at all beyond laid back trail rides.

Bye, Ginger. Enjoy the BC winter!

March:
New city, new job, homesick. Stress levels high. Missing my horse time. Sucked it up and decided to have another try at the wannabe eventer thing. Luckily, I found a barn to ride at super quickly and my sanity was restored! Barn was hunter/jumper rather than my then current 'safe' zone of dressage, but hey, you only live once, right? At least we started in the class with cross rails and 6 year olds?

The beginning of my love affair with Checkers the wonderhorse

April:
Continuing twice weekly lessons on the world's most saintly lesson horses, riding with little kids who kicked my butt on a regular basis. And I started jumping 'real' jumps for the first time in a very long time! Took advantage of living in the city and attended the Farm and Ranch show/College Rodeo Finals, as well as The Mane Event/Rob Gage clinic. Also put a PSA out there if anyone was looking for an adorable and sweet welsh cob that was newly for sale:

Baby Bridget :)

May:
Confidence levels were increasing, I was finding it a bit of a struggle physically and mentally playing musical ponies and riding a different horse every lesson, but sucked in up in the name of becoming a better rider. Riding was starting to become nothing but fun again, and I was super excited for riding days! I made it home for a visit with G and Ginger, and also went to a show in Edmonton and got inspired by the big jumper classes.

June:
Continued riding fun. Got to move 'up' into an adult lesson group from the crossrail kids crowd and gained the confidence to canter full (baby 2') courses and was having a blast! Had attempted to find a rider for Ginger starting earlier in the year, after multiple rider trials decided her stress/my sanity wasn't worth it and she could stay on extended vacation. Started looking at sale ads and considering a second horse...

Had some great lessons on Splash while Checkers was out for a few weeks lame.

July:
Due to the barn show schedule and the need for the lesson horses to have a bit of a break, scaled down to one ride a week on the ever wonderful Checkers. Still struggling a bit with how big she was and how big her jump felt, but overall feeling pretty confident and solid and pretty sure I wanted to steal her. Loved the idea of having a been-there-done-that 'safe' horse so much I started shopping for one of my own! After looking at multiple cobs, and not finding anything, I decided to maybe go with a different breed, After Ginger, who was advertised as on the quiet side for a welsh, I should have known safe/quiet/schoolmaster Welsh D's are like needles in haystacks :) Finally, I gave in and went on an epic road trip to try out the 'too small and plain' welsh cob Bridget.

Adorable, and temperament was perfect, but small and very very green.

August:
Who is this girl? Galloping 'jump off' mini courses in a lesson and left wanting more! A total jumping addict. Dressage, what's that?;) Spent a couple of weekends at the races and as always, wanted to take a TB home with me,
But, after much soul searching and budgeting, decided to take a chance on a super green but sensible pony and bring the lovely Bridget home! Transport was arranged, I finished work, and after a sad farewell to Checkers, was home with the Bridget, Ginger, and G by the last weekend in August.

Spoiling her with grazing as a goodbye treat, still miss Checkers so much!

September:
Loving being home! Enjoyed wonderful weather and lots of fun hacks with friends. For Bridget's 5th or 6th ride, went to an 'extreme trail' clinic, learned Bridget is a sensible pony indeed, but easily bored and very opinionated! Riding nearly every morning, and enjoying life to it's fullest!

October:
Found a nice local girl to take lessons with and continued taking both ponies all over the countryside. Poor ponies probably didn't know what hit them - life of leisure in August then near daily outings all of September/October! Bridget's training continued to progress, she tackled her first 'jump', and I went on a girls weekend away and watched 3 full days of George Morris to keep me motivated.

November:
The weather and a bad case of pneumonia started to impact my riding plans, but we still got out for regular rides on the trails and in the ring. Lots of posts recapping Bridget's progress and training - I do find the babies fascinating, and she does have her moments!

December:
Monumentally bad weather and flooding, along with a new job, affected my riding time and I scaled back to two or three rides a week and lots of pony spa days in the comfort of the (warm and dry!) barn. Christmas brought some drier weather and some fun holiday rides.

Looking back, while this year was a pretty difficult one on a personal level, riding wise I'm really happy with things and am proud of how hard I worked to get things turned around mentally. The confidence issues are mostly a thing of the past - I would have never in a million years bet that I would buy another green horse to bring along, let alone start over jumps! It's so nice to be back in my happy place riding wise...I hadn't realized how far I strayed over the past few years and feel like the luckiest person ever to have the opportunities to gain back confidence and be back in the saddle having fun!

More Holiday Fun

I signed up for our local Backcountry Horsemen 'Birthday' trail ride yesterday afternoon. Before you ask, I never did find out whose birthday(s) we were celebrating, only that they didn't actually show up for the ride. Still, any excuse for a few of us to get together for an outing over the holidays.

Once again, the sun was shining (thank you so much Santa!). Ginger really wanted to come along, but I wasn't sure exactly who (or how many) were attending the ride or where we were going, or even how long we were going for, so bypassed her in favor Bridget. Ginger has been out with a group a few times and done fine, but there are a couple of 'bad apples' in this particular club that can keep things interesting, so I didn't want to take a chance they'd be in attendance and Ginger (and I) would have a not so great outing. Midge is pretty good with just about anything and is the safer choice when there's a bit of unknown.

Ginger: Put me in coach, I'm ready! 

The temps were slightly below freezing and our hack up the road to meet the group was interesting - the road is in the shade mostly and was a solid sheet of ice. Poor Bridget was sliding down the hill on all four feet at one point when she ventured from the safety of the grassy shoulder and onto the slick pavement. Lets just call that a training moment - I asked you to stay straight, Midge, you went through my leg, now you are sliding down the hill. Consequences :) Thank goodness she's not the panicky type so essentially was just "OK, you're right, that was dumb, I'll stay on the grass now". No further drama. Funny now, but kind of unnerving at the time, so I did get off and walk her the rest of the way to the trail head.

Winter! (Actually just lots of ice and frost)

 Baby horses crack me up, we walked around the corner where the parking lot is and she saw everyone (4 other horses) and instantly her mind was blown. Luckily for me Bridget's version of that is to act like a giraffe and run away with me....at a walk ;) No one told her there was a horse party, I guess. You can imagine how excited she was when her long lost friend, Arian came up the road too! He's a Section B from the same breeder as her, and she was so happy to see him. The power of facebook at work, since I had met his new owners years ago at a clinic, then she moved, and I moved and life happened. A year or so ago she got in touch because she'd seen my pictures of Ginger on facebook and wondered where I had found her. I put her in touch with the right people, and they took home Arian for their daughter. Fast forward a few months and I bought Bridget from the same breeder. Fast forward a few more months and we've both moved to the same town and brought our ponies with us. Small world.

My really crappy pic of the ride. Sigh. I hope someone else took some!

As for the actual ride, we went for about 3 hours and ended up with 8 riders total. Since the ground is a little tricky this time of year, we ended up walking most of the way, which was a bit of a struggle for overexcited little Bridget. Don't get me wrong, she was pretty good, but burning off a bit of that nervous energy would have made us both a little happier. She seems to think she needs to power walk everywhere and hates waiting when she's 'on', so I made her bring up the rear and keep her distance most of the ride. If you've ever been to one of those trail ride places where the horses just follow one another at whatever pace, nose to tail, ignoring their riders, that's what she's attempting to do. Annoying for the rider to have to constantly ask her to wait, but not bad or disruptive, per say. The bit of trot we did was a high speed giraffe show until she realized that I was right, she needed to slow down and listen since she was trotting way faster than everyone else and the footing was a bit trappy. I think she must have thought it was her big moment to pass everyone on the home stretch and be the leader, sadly for her I wasn't into it and no one was moving out of her way, so the head in the air crazy trot was just making her stumble and trip over everything. Luckily she's smart and the hamsters returned in short order :) Just baby horse stuff and with more miles I'm sure she'll relax and not be so worried about what every one else is doing. I really can't really complain though, for less than four months under saddle and only her second ride with more than one other horse she did really, really well. I'm so grateful to have a horse I can pull out for a ride on short notice, with zero prep, and with only a vague idea of what the day will bring, and still know that we'll likely have a good time.

The one picture I did get sent. Homeward bound, Bridget and Ginger live just across the street where the board fence is. That's why she looks slightly put out at having to stop and pose!

TOABH: I'm A Loser, Baby

Another excellent blog hop topic - this one is right up my alley!

I’m A Loser, Baby

Let’s talk about your horse’s biggest fail.  What did Thunderhooves do that embarrassed you, scared you, shocked you or just annoyed the hell out of you?

Bridget hasn't actually done too much. There's her fondness for holding up traffic so she can pee in the middle of the street, or I guess I could say the baby horse testing moods she can get, or that clinic where she just decided she was D-O-N-E with the whole thing, but really she's pretty quiet and low key about her drama and doesn't tend to cause an embarrassing scene. It's more of a quiet frustration :)

Ginger, on the other hand. Where do I start? So much embarrassing and annoying failure. She picks the best moments to attempt to convince the world she's either: 

A: Wild and Untamed (not true)

B: Beaten Down and Abused (not true)

C: Shamelessly looking to hook up (true)

The time she had a complete meltdown when I rode her in the same indoor as a kids walk/trot lesson. She was 'terrified' of the other horses slowly plodding around, ignoring her. Thanks, Ginger, for making me look like an irresponsible idiot riding the untrained horse with tiny children in the vicinity.

Every time the vet or farrier comes. She tries to tell them she's either been badly beaten by a vet/farrier and/or no one has ever handled her or picked out her feet. Only slightly embarrassing to be fired by your farrier!

To this day, she's still scared of her saddle pad. You know, the one I've put on her hundreds of times? I tried the whole sacking out thing way back when and it only served to confirm her worst fears, that the saddle pad has a life of it own and may at any time decide to attack. So, we agree to disagree and I toss it on normally and ignore her antics. Her gesture of good faith is to stop being 'scared' after it actually touches her. Until my next ride, that is. Or, heaven forbid, it's in the wash and I pull out a slightly different one. We're cool with tarps and blankets and things, so obviously a farrier must have beat her with a saddle pad when she was a wee little baby and caused PTSD, right? ;)

Poor downtrodden pony

Whenever I ride with a new coach, be it a local lesson or in a clinic. She's 'scared' of them (read: knows they're going to make her work and attempts to run far, far away). She convinces them I've been lying about actually doing things like, you know, riding her. Until the next lesson. Then we're all friends and it's all good. But I still resent that wasted $50+ lesson fee, Ginger. That's a lot of horse treats, just sayin' ;)

This awesome display of the killer jumper instinct she has is a bit of a lowlight too. Maybe a tiny win since she's just showing us how she theoretically could have owned that thing (if she wasn't scared of it), not actually attempting the jump itself or anything

She's so sweet, and so pretty/innocent looking with her big eyes that people totally buy in and feel all sorry for her and I look like I'm either a big meanie or just totally clueless. Thank goodness anyone that actually knows us knows her love of drama and has seen the 'magical' transformation to nicely trained pony once she knows the game's up.  These days, I tend to be somewhat cynical of some of the poor abused ponies' stories and suspect they may, in fact, just be trying to take over the world :)

Older pic and I've long forgotten the context, but not too much of a stretch to imagine I was re-telling some embarrassing Ginger moment from my ride while she innocently avoids direct eye contact

Ingenuity

There were some odd noises coming from Ginger's stall this morning. Yet when I walked over to investigate, nothing seemed amiss. There she was, hanging over her door, happy to say hi, contentedly muching on some hay. I walked away a few steps before I realized the eating hay thing was certainly not normal for that time of the morning - breakfast should have been long finished. Back I went, wondering why she had hay left and hoping she was alright. Again, everything seemed fine, so I assumed she'd found a bit in her bedding or behind her hay net and that was that.

Nothing to see here

I went back to grooming Bridget, when the noises started again. Some groaning, some scraping, a little bit of banging. Not what a horse owner really wants to hear coming from their horses stall!

Again, all was fine. Time for some undercover surveillence. La la la, here I am over here cleaning tack in the corner and petting the cat, NOT paying attention to you at all Ginger....

Seems pony has been rearing/climbing up the side of her stall in order to be able to reach into the feed stall next door! It was actually super funny to see because she is very careful and quiet about the whole thing. First, she attempted just standing on her tiptoes on the bank of shavings on the edge of her stall. She as super methodical about it, inching along the length of her stall trying to find the perfect spot. When that failed, she'd reach up with a foreleg and lean her knee into the wall, using it to balance herself and gain a little extra height. When that failed, she did a levade type thing and reached over and grabbed hay that way. I'm thinking that's what the grunting noises were about - looked like it would have been hard to balance like that for long and when she looses her balance she ends us leaning on the wall with both knees!

Unfortunately no pics of the crazier moves because I suspect she knows she's being bad and won't really do it if you're obvious about watching. Also, I may have told her she is a greedy pig and I think she takes such things to heart ;) I did get a couple of pictures to give you the general idea though:

So hungry and sad, hay so very close. She's right up on the wall standing on her tip toes here

How it looks from the other side when she's standing normally - no way can she reach the hay on the other side - it's only stacked 2 bales high in there. Reminds me of how 6'5" G hides all the junk food  up in the cupboard above the fridge grrr Ginger. trust me,  I know the struggle is real.

Yet with a little ingenuity the problem is solved. Wish I could have got better pics, but I had to be  really sneaky to even get the ones I got. She gave up with a big sigh and a foot stamp and went out in her paddock to sulk when she figured out I was really and truly on to her.

I'm not super worried about her hurting herself doing it - the walls are smooth, very sturdy and high enough that she shouldn't get a leg over. We will be installing another big board to make her thieving (theoretically) impossible and the temptation less. These cobs are ridiculously food motivated, this is all taking place about 30 minutes after breakfast and with only a few more minutes to wait before she goes out in the pasture! Dieting is HARD :)

Holiday Ride

Guess what, guys? Santa came a day early and brought me the sunshine and warmer temperatures I asked for! I KNEW I'd been good. Or, perhaps it's a Festivus Miracle!!  :)

Lets go get a head start working off some Xmas treats! Both Midge and I are looking too round for my liking. 

The ground is still so soggy. She'd better never be concerned about water or ditches on the x country course!

Love our winters - everything is still so green and cheery when the sun pops out

We just went for an hour spin around the neighbourhood and said hi to everyone,  just enjoying the day after a week of rainy training rides in the ring. Fingers crossed, both girls are in a pretty good place at the moment, as am I :) Hope everyone has a great holiday, whether it's hanging out with loved ones or just enjoying a mid week sleep in and a Netflix marathon. (I'll let you guess which I'd enjoy most lol!)

One more ears shot :)