Wild Weather (with a side of riding)

 The weather has been horrible this fall. Every second day we have some kind of wind/rain/storm advisory - a couple of days ago we even had waterspout/tornado warnings, which is just plain weird. The remainder of the time it seems like wet and windy is the name of the game. The lakes and streams are overflowing, the ground is saturated, and it's generally very unpleasant out there with the winter temperatures just above freezing combined with the rain and wind. I'm game to ride in the rain (you kind of have to be to live here) but what I wouldn't give for even one dry day! Add in the time change so it's dark at 5 if the sun's out, 4ish if it's cloudy, and the loss of a favorite garden tree to the wind and wet, and I'm feeling pretty dissatisfied.

Really? I thought earthquakes were our potentially catastrophic 'thing'. Now we need to add forest fires and tornados.

G and I have been looking elsewhere (NS being a top choice) and pondering a big move for a while, so we spent some time hiding inside perusing real estate this weekend. I realize there are actual winters and weather events elsewhere, but I'm kind of done with the 8 months of rain we call fall/winter/spring here. Plus, it's fun to dream of all the spare cash we'd have - prices in most parts of Canada, even in bigger centers, are maybe a third of what they are here currently, cost of living (taxes, utilities, gas, groceries, etc) is usually far less too. Nice farm with personal indoor riding arena, here I come, lol :)

Hello yes, I would love to own this lakefront hobby farm with cool house and barns, plus have a few hundred grand left over for fun things.

Don't worry, though, it's not been all sitting around complaining and dreaming of nicer days - I did do some horse blog worthy things this last week!

We had planned to ride nearly every day, but the weather got the best of us as far as hitting the trails (it's just too dangerous with the falling trees and branches in the winds) so longeing has been my go to at the barn. I trailered down to the indoor in desperation mid week, but a group had it booked last minute and it was already dark out, plus the outdoor is flooded anyway, so no ride. On the plus side, Sophie trailered super well all on her own and was entirely sensible given how noisy it was in there with the wind and rain pummeling us. She was so good we stopped and did some grocery shopping on the way home while she happily stayed cozy and ate her hay net.

Between being soaking wet and filling hay nets - this was the state of me. One day maybe G will find someone who looks civilized to hang out with. Until that day, he gets to go grocery shopping with half a bale of hay and a trail of mud following him.

The following day, inspired by Emma, I cleaned up the trailer and all my tack/gear. The trailer right now currently serves as my tack room and daily hay/feed storage so it gets messy pretty quickly. I want to get a battery installed in the trailer to run the lights without having the truck hooked up, but for now I put in some LED light strings to tide me over and they're great - I'm going to leave them as a fun alternate light source even after the 'real' lights are hooked up permanently.

Tack room, it's just a USB powered light string running off a power bank at the tack room light switch. I got all 'fancy' in the horse side, their lights have a remote and sync to music and change colors if you like. No real purpose to that, mostly just thought it might be funny for camping ;)

FINALLY, I got out for a ride on the weekend. The weather was again horrible, but this time the indoor was there invitingly empty, so off I went in there.

And, umm, at 3:45pm it was this dark given the gross weather. The lights ARE older in there - but to be fair it seemed dim and shadowy but not this dark IRL.

I had A LOT of pony. I hadn't ridden in a week, she'd been cooped up in her pen for most of it, and it had been months since she'd been in the indoor (and I don't think she'd ever been in there alone). Last year I would have just longed or at a minimum been very anxious about getting on. I was so fed up with not being able to ride, though, that I just crossed my fingers and hopped on, and guess what? It was FINE. There were some minor antics and silly spooking, but I put her into a big trot right away and she happily got to work. I had no real brakes for a while, but neither did I overly feel like I was been run off with - she just wanted a nice forward, expressive trot and didn't really deviate from that if I left her alone. Honestly, it probably would have scored quite well in a dressage test and since she's often a little disinclined to be really forward (and I have a history of not being brave enough to really allow it when offered), I just let it be rather than fussing with making her come back when she got too flat or rushy here and there. Let the exercise (serpentines, circles, and spirals in this case) do the work for you and all that.

Quite brave, really, in this dark indoor with the wind blowing through the open bits.

So, that was a fun experiment and a real positive out of all the struggles with weather. I CAN hop on with minimal prep and some time off. She's probably not going to mess around being super silly anymore - just give her a job and we'll be fine. I feel like we're turning the corner as far as partnership goes. She's not so much of a baby anymore and there are enough buttons installed that I can give her a variety of jobs to do. I trust her more to make good decisions, plus she's slowed down mentally a bit and thinks before acting. She checks in and trusts me to take care of anything she's concerned about. That's not necessarily measurable progress, but I think it's the most important thing we can have going for us and a great building block for all the more quantitative things.

This post is super long already, but G came along and watched us and brought up an interesting point. "Bridget would have tossed you if she was that excited, but Sophie just looked like she wanted you to make her work" I could only agree. He carried on: "Bridget always does the same move, it's like the most efficient way of making you fall off and it looks intentional.  I know you don't always trust her but Sophie always looks like she's trying to do what you want. Even when she's being extra dramatic I'm never worried for you." True story. Despite her silly, mare-ish exterior, she's never once been anything less than 100% honest and ready to work when we get right down to it. Sometimes the husband has great horsey insights.

B is the cutest and can do all the things, but when she's in a 'mood' and says no, all bets are off and she can be VERY naughty.

Also why my go-to with an excitable horse is not normally to just hop on - Bridget has trained me well in the darker side of ponies, it seems ;)

Plans for Remainder of 2021

 It sure feels weird to consider there are only two months left in 2021! It hit home when I signed up for the next monthly clinic and the dates were December ones! What!?

My riding friends are mostly all saying they're going to take a break through all or part of December and January, which I totally get. The weather's iffy, it gets dark so early, and the holidays are a busy time for most.

Pre Halloween ride. The running joke...those who know me know hair and makeup aren't things I do, it's probably an annual thing at this point. To some people's amusement I happened to civilized on the day people would normally dress up, "great costume, barely recognized you..." lol

Anyway, time off sounds nice, but I'm not sure that's a good idea for Sophie. Plus, I guess I'm weird, but often our winters are when I ride the most. I think in summer there are so many other outdoor activities, where in winter it's basically just hiking or riding for me.

Bridget won't have a real 'job' until next spring, so she can keep being trail pony deluxe and official manners enforcer for Sophie until then. 

Best Pony

Sophie, though. I feel like I have so much to do this winter, and we all know how well time off for her goes anyway!

Not in work Winter Sophie = this at Level 100. I top out around Level 2 on my (completely made up) pony sass level chart. 

So, we have continued weekend adventures planned to the club grounds for November.

We have a dressage clinic Dec 3/4.

Oops again on the camera settings. Her trot work, when she is not annoyed by me, is actually quite cute more often than not now. Canter is needing much work, and non grumpy up transitions are a work in progress many days (She puts me on 'ignore', then how DARE I touch her!).

Leg on, ears pinned, mare 'tude flag flying high. We're sure to get great marks ;)

I am finally back on my nice work schedule with free time during the week to ride. I also have 10 days off work at the end of December AND I own a horse trailer now, so the plan is to keep her ticking over all winter (hopefully with a side of progress!)

Plus, let's not forget I have my own place I'm supposed to be working on. With Friend S and I being so happy with the current situation, there's been no pressure to get my place done so I let it slide when the weather was absolutely horrible this fall and the machine we book broke down. What will be, will be, we'll get back at if the ground dries out sufficiently this winter, otherwise we are now looking at spring for arena building and water line installs. I did hear a rumor I am getting a load of flagstones and fir beams delivered as an early Christmas present and I excited to get to work on that.

As always, the big picture plans remain the same. Bridget is booked for breeding next spring, Sophie I would love to get out to do some training level dressage tests and maybe a tiny xc or jumping clinic as our next steps.

Added Impulsion

 I feel like Sophie and I had a bit of a rocky winter and spring of 2021. There’s no dramatic story to be told - just your average young horse shenanigans and a middle aged rider who’s not as brave as she could be. 

This past summer saw a gradual improvement where she surprised me by being very mature more often than not. Still, I was not ready to put my foot on the gas and I was very interested in keeping things quiet and non stressful. Relaxed and happy confidence boosting miles were the name of the game for both of us. 

This fall, Sophie’s been very consistent (in the best way). My husband came with us for a trip to the club grounds this past weekend and was amazed at how calm and happy she seemed. “Of course, she’s a good girl!” I said. But, it did make me realize that when he last tagged along not that long ago, her behaviour was inconsistent and I had far less trust in her to make wise decisions.

Happy pony and rider this weekend. Thank you to G for taking pics! 

The past couple of weeks I’ve stepped it up and have actually been riding again. (I mean I’ve been riding all along, but you know what I mean, recently I’ve been *riding* my horse and being way more proactive and demanding and actually schooling things rather than just putting happy easy miles on) So, things have fallen apart a little and the picture is rarely great, but the pieces are coming back together and big improvements feel imminent. 

Part of my gradually expanding confidence in the pony has resulted in really riding her properly forward. I don’t feel like I was actively restricting her before, but I certainly wasn’t pushing for more on the regular, either. I felt like I was at my limit riding her sillies last winter, I didn’t need to show her how to add more power to them :D 

Because there are already some large-ish gaits hiding in this small horse package.

So, we’ve been having fun rides. She’s starting to feel less green all the time and there are moments when things feel absolutely wonderful. Then the wheels fall off, and we start again.

Exhibit A: Sophie “No, I will not canter on that lead today” Wheels falling off, I’m not feeling wonderful but at least there is still one tire on the ground, lol

 What’s fun is that we now have those good moments pretty regularly and they’re easy to go back and find when things fall apart. 

Me: “Stop with the drama”  and S giving in with just a sassy tail swish this time ;)

Sophie: “Oh yes, canter, it’s my favourite, why didn’t you just ask?”

While I don’t necessarily regret how slowly I’m taking things with her, a part of me thinks if I am in this position again with a young horse I might wait a little longer to get to work. If I knew then what I know now about how much she’d mature mentally and how easy she’d be this year vs last year I might have just waited and saved knocking my confidence. Then again, maybe it’s partly the year of getting out and doing stuff together regularly that’s made a difference. Who knows :)

There were days last year where simply getting her near this end of the arena was a challenge. 

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Getting it Done

 You’re probably sick of me saying the weather stinks. I’m sick of me saying the weather stinks! We’re currently in the midst of another bad storm. Living where I do (and as you can probably guess from the blog name) I really don’t mind riding in the rain. Enough already, though - we’re flooded, my rain gear doesn’t ever fully dry before I need to go out again, and it just keeps coming! 

High winds are what is making riding not possible many days. It’s simply not safe to be out there unless you have to be. A quick expedition the other night found trees down and blocking our trails and I’m sure more will be falling today. Even our club arena is surrounded by giant trees and I learned last year some awfully big branches can fall and land in the middle of the arena (where I previously thought I’d be safe on windy days.)

Spying on Sophie between some trees at the club grounds the other night 

Never fear, though - we did have three consecutive days this week where there were a few hours between storms, and we took full advantage.

So what if the break in systems always seems to be right when it’s getting dark? Pick your battles, lol

Plenty of light left in the day for a ride ;)

You know who was an absolute star this week? 

Bridget, obviously. 

Not sure there’s another horse I’d happily trail ride on a stormy night in the dark after two weeks off.

But also Sophie! I’ve been longeing her when I can and she’s been happy to get to work and been very businesslike. Zero drama. When we pulled the trailer out yesterday she actually came running to the gate and whinnied at it. She loves going on adventures on the “party bus” and I guess it had been a little while.

That attitude continued once we got to the arena and I had the nicest ride where a few little puzzle pieces popped into place for us. She totally would have had a free pass after the limited riding we’ve had in the last couple of weeks plus the absolutely horrible conditions (pouring rain and a flooded arena) but she brought her A game. So pleased. 

The pony part of her breeding pays off when it’s pouring rain and I forgot her rainsheet at home. And didn’t check indoor arena bookings prior. No worries, she says, I’ve got hay.

I’ve been playing with my new camera this week, but I don’t want to test it’s water resistance or durability on Raincoast horse adventures just yet. Let’s give it a little bit to stay shiny and new.  It’s currently being utilized for house cat modelling. Our cat knows sit/stay/lay down, comes when he’s called, looks where you point, shakes hands, etc so he’s an easier subject to practice on than the horses (Does adding that cat training detail confirms my crazy cat lady status for you? lol)

No, I didn’t take 84 pictures of my cat yesterday while it was too gross to be outside, what are you talking about? 😁

Hope you all had a great weekend! Fingers crossed for a few more horsey outings this week. Much as I like the cat, I’m missing my daily outdoor adventures.

Feral Pony and some new gear

It's that time of year! We've had two consecutive weeks of rain and wind with very little let up. Riding has just not been happening. We keep planning to go to the indoor but my partner in crime, S, gets lots of emergency call ins when there are power outages and flooded roads and the like, which is all the time right now.

Anyway, such is the intensity of the rain and wind most days even getting the horses from barn to trailer would have meant everything and everyone being soaked, plus the high winds have me worried about falling trees and branches. 

Today's forecast. I kind of thought we already had hurricane force winds and record rain, but how exciting, there's more!

Sophie has of course been going a bit stir crazy and being extra drama with a side of Mare, which annoys Bridget and the neighbor horses to no end. So, she currently looks completely feral, with lovely bite marks dotting her body and a nice big scrape across her face and up one hind canon bone. I'm 100% sure all the injuries were not self inflicted. I'm also 100% sure she deserved them.

Your second eyebrow is hardly noticeable from a distance, Sophie

It's past time to clip her, but I'm torn because I suspect I might unearth some further battle scars and make her look even more terrible.  She also scars super easily (is that a light colored horse thing in general?) so it's getting to be a bit brutal looking at all the marks she's got covering her body from past bad decisions, despite the fact she's living a pretty pampered life. She looks more like something that's had a rough life out on the range rather than anyone's future show pony living in a safe turnout. In an ideal world, I guess she's have no shared fencelines with anyone, but I'd feel bad about that too...the ability to socialize with her friends is worth a few bite marks.

Innocent face she adopts when I'm looking. "Just over here checking out the view, nothing to see here" As soon as I walk away the squealing and general mare-y nonsense with her neighbour seems to start.

So, we longe every second day or so (and she is surprisingly professional) and I get her out for quick walks or spa days on the alternate days. It's more a case of trying to keep her from being super bored than burning off energy...which still feels slightly odd. Where is that absolutely wild youngster of winters past? Lets hope we never find her.

Ghost of winters past. I looked for all of 5 sec for a pic of Sophie goofing around to illustrate...while there are plenty to choose from, this is typical. Why not randomly photobomb what would have been a peaceful pic of Bridget with a weird face, flagged tail and a random stick attached to her head? :D

In somewhat blog related news, I've spent the extra time I've had researching cameras and splurged and bought a new one. The learning curve is going to be really steep. I've been spending lots of hours reading up and watching videos but I'm at a stage where I don't even know what I don't know!  Lots of really fun and positive things have come from this blog, and I'd rank the discovery of photography as a hobby I really enjoy right up there as one of the most unexpected. I keep getting asked to come to horsey events and take pictures but I've been finding my old camera a bit limited with our winter gloom and the fact that horses are often moving subjects. I'm excited to be able to try for some more professional looking shots. My old camera was amazing to start with and I can't thank those of you who recommended it enough - it's found a new home with a horsey friend so it will probably dedicate the remainder of it's life to more horse pictures :D

Old pic, but a favorite. Excited to get out this weekend and see what the new camera can do

Fingers crossed the weather cooperates again soon AND her hormones ramp back down for winter. I’d also like to hope they continue to level out as she matures. She’s certainly making me second guess my love for mares at the moment (and steadily depleting all my first aid supplies!). 

lol, I'm no meteorologist, but this doesn't look like cooperative weather? My husband patiently explained to me this was the remnants of a storm from Hawaii so basically we have Hawaiian weather right now and are saving vacation costs. I'm not convinced that's how it works.

Ever Evolving

 Property improvements continue slowly. Boarding at Friend S's house (where we are all super happy) the pressure is off as far as any imminent moves. I still very much am excited to get further projects rolling, but as I sit here typing there's yet another big weather system coming in and I think we can reasonably say that we're not actually getting an arena completed in the wettest months of the year.

Friend S has even got her own beautiful trail system. Spoiler alert: my ~ 1 acre place will not.

I'm totally the person who puts together the plan and gets it done  - deviations from the plan annoy me. So, it's kind of interesting right now. I feel like I have so much time. I'm finding myself making changes to the property layout and design that are going to make it work that little bit better. Things as minor as planting trees in a slightly different location than originally planned, to adding a whole new separate building and paddock.

We're building something similar to this on the south property line. One side will be for equipment storage, freeing up space in the barn for hay, one for a horse (Read on for why I'm building a second paddock space)

In the theme of evolving goals and plans - Sophie. Sophie was purchased to be Bridget 2.0. More athletic, sharper, fancier, going to go get those further dressage goals. I saved up money for a long time, I shopped for an equally long time, and finally bought Ms Sophie. It was not a spur of the moment decision by any stretch of the imagination. I was very invested in her financially and emotionally before she even set foot in the barn.

2 year old Sophie here actually just looks like a scaled down 5 year old Sophie. She's grown about 6" but the somehow has stayed proportionately gangly looking :) We're still waiting on her to fill out.

You want to know what the #1 thing that's absolutely changed how I ride her and my confidence doing so?

My husband G.

 "You know you don't have to keep her, right?"

"I'd miss her, but if you'd like something different I'll support that"

"I'd love to see you out having fun at events again, like you did with Bridget"

"Did you want to buy that Welsh Cob foal? We could find the space"*

"E's horse does seem really nice. You know we could buy you something like that if you wanted, right?"

Comments like that didn't immediately make a difference (in fact, maybe the opposite: "Are you trying to say I'm FAILING with Sophie? I'm FINE."), but gradually they started to filter in as he repeatedly assured me it's not that he really wants to sell her or doesn't believe I've got this, it's just good to reevaluate your plan now and then and make sure you're still having fun and on the path you want to be on.

(Sidenote: I pay all my horse expenses and like putting the training work in so the chances of me asking him to use his money to help buy me a dream pony are nil. But it's beyond nice to have that level of support offered on the days when it seems like a struggle :)

*But I do still REALLY like the cob foal so...never say never.

Even with B sidelined, it's slowly got to feel like my riding future isn't totally hung up on Sophie, and that it isn't all on me to do a perfect job of bringing along the 'too nice for a rider like me' and sometimes not so easy pony. If for any reason it's not working out, there is a lifeline there waiting.

Don't get me wrong, we love her, she's great, there are no plans for her to go anywhere and I'm 110% committed to doing a good job with her. But just knowing I can have a Plan B if I want one, and have support for that? Just amazing, and takes away so much of the second guessing and anxiety around the bad days. I've adopted kind of a 'whatever will be, will be' approach to our rides and strangely enough, with the stress levels on my part dialed right down, S is a happier girl as well.

When I saw this on Bridget's blanket the other day, though, I was like "well, let's take some sale pictures of Sophie! No one messes with Bridget." Bad Sophie. Sophie's been very wary of B the last few days though so I suspect B didn't need any intervention on her behalf :) This confirmed for me that I want a second winter paddock at home - even horses that get along super well need to be separated now and then.

Progress

 We had a super fun weekend clinic, but I didn’t worry about media so you’ll just have to take my word for it ;) The joys of being a mediocre blogger. On the bright side, it’s a good thing I am not a vlogger! 

Since this was a local event, we just took a 20 min trailer ride down to our club grounds. No ferry rides, yay! 

Day 1 we did an intro to Working Equitation. Sophie was super mare-y week, so I wasn’t at all sure what I was going to get on the day.

 

Has had an extra strong attitude, also has numerous bite marks on face to accentuate the tough girl teenager thing she’s embraced.

Overall, I was happy with the day - she was definitely grumpy and sassy about moving off my leg, but hey we didn’t need to pick that fight incessantly. We had obstacles to navigate! The day was more about seeing new things and using the experience to gain confidence. I really know nothing about WE, to me it felt like a combination of a western trail course and dressage test, with a giant spear/pole to carry around. You can’t help but feel slightly cool carrying a jousting like pole around.  What made me super happy is that she was unsure of many of the new to her questions, but navigated them calmly and willingly when I asked. Clinician was happy with how she thought things through rather than the previous go to of just reacting.

Day 2 started out a little more challenging as it was quite a bit colder, wet, and very windy, plus I realized as I loaded her it was her first trip all by herself in a trailer! 

Not helped by the fact this creature snuck in the gate ahead of our truck and climbed the tree directly above the trailer parking. Because of course. He was legit trying to stay out of our way but kept picking the exact place we needed to go. Sorry, little guy.

I was also generally feeling stressed and pressed for time as we had spent the earlier part of the morning getting hay into my barn before the storm came. I unloaded the last hay bale, the rain started really pouring, drove across the street, tried to shoo the bear along, gave up and loaded Sophie to hit the road again.

So, she was a bit “up” with the stormy weather and being all by herself. She loudly announced her arrival to everyone. Incessantly. Could not stand still, and had about 10 stress poos. Just like old times. I’m going to give myself a pat on the back for absolutely not buying into it though and worrying about how tight I was for time - we’ve had so many good rides lately I assumed I could get on and she’d just settle in and get to work once we got going. And so she did. Good girl Sophie :)  

Random picture 

Day 2 was a basic dressage lesson - transitions, spirals, leg yields, and finally a run through of a training level test. With her increased energy levels the sluggish transitions of the previous day turned almost too rushed (mares!lol) but what a treat once she settled to have her using her own motor and confidently cruising around on a nice soft contact. So easy to ride! 

As always, there is much homework. Some of it I think is more reflective of her age and the fact she’s needing strength so I think that’s the priority rather than nitpicking. Our dressage “test” was wobbly and even that 10m turn down the centreline is hard when you’re a baby pony. We’re not ready. To be totally honest though, for where she’s at and the time I’ve put in she’s exactly where I’d expect her to be. And I’m happy.

What we will be working on: 

-My riding to the left is less effective than the right. That good old left shoulder sneaking forward strikes again. I’ve been spoiled for years in that Bridget is naturally better to the left so it works out. Sophie is not, so I need to up my game - she’s very sensitive. 

-Keep on keepin on with leg yields, transitions,  to build strength. It was nice to go into a proper lesson and have the exercises be exactly what I’ve been working on. Almost like I knew what I was doing or something. Maybe I owned a baby Bridget once upon a time?

Non baby Bridget ;) What I wouldn’t give for a foal pic of B!

-Adding canter back in as a regular thing. She’s strong and confident enough now, and we have that huge arena. 

Wins from the weekend:

-S showed up and went to work in a busy arena, with spooky obstacles and less than ideal weather.

-When I put the pieces together riding wise, she’s very quick to pick up new things and tries super hard to get it right.

-I stayed calm and thinking and didn’t worry even when things got a bit rough. We had an interesting conversation about “hard eyes” and “soft eyes” (hard eyes being the internalized, focused mindset most of us bring to lessons, that actually limits the instruction you can take on board and retain).

-The working equitation course was unexpected, but really far more valuable for building confidence and partnership than another dressage lesson would have been. A good reminder to get out and try new things. 

Feeling Accomplished (Again)

 But wait, there's more!

On the theme of big personal accomplishments of late, I'm having great rides on Sophie. The other day, I rode alone, at twilight when everything is shadowy and spooky (according to Sophie) and I still got some solid work done and felt like we made a few breakthroughs. We've had several good arena rides with friends, and she's got so relaxed about the whole thing that yesterday we had to have a chat about moving off my leg. You may recall previously even touching her near where my leg goes or using a stick near her was cause for much irritation and threats of violence (from her, not me!) So, recent developments may be a testament to how relaxed she's gotten, or perhaps to how much I'm willing to nag. I'm trying very hard to be self aware re: the latter and follow up immediately when I don't get a response.

Can we talk about how civilized she's been at the fair grounds - there's a busy farmer's market next door she's eying up here, but not at all worried about.

I need to get her out on the trails again, and she's going to have three days off this week prior to our clinic. I think there's a good chance she's bored of our routine and also just a bit sore and tired. I think I've been riding every day for a month (don't worry, Bridget's still on the team too, so I'm not just riding Sophie day after day.) But, Sophie still is quite underdeveloped/immature looking, plus I've been adding spirals and baby lateral work into the mix so she's likely in need of a little time out in the field.

Zero riding pics though, because I seem to just take pics for everyone else then kind of lose the momentum when it comes to arranging some of myself these days. Pivo was going to help with that, but the arena's been so busy it's not been ideal either.

I owe a bit of the recent ride successes to the RideIQ app - thanks for the reviews! While it's no substitute for a lesson, for those of us without regular coaching or who struggle with ride plans it's perfect. Without a coach, it's easy for me to waffle around and lose confidence in what I'm doing when things aren't going to plan. I think this app probably really shines for riders like me who've done the thing before and probably have the basic tools in the toolbox, but don't have a regular lesson schedule or maybe just need some added validation and encouragement. I don't think it'd be great on it's own for riders themselves who maybe are greener - I can see in some of the more advanced lesson notes I'd definitely want to be going through the exercises with a coach a few times in real life first to make sure I know what it feels like to do it well.

Her neighbor this day was a giant tree. Far less exciting than a cute gelding.

The big value for me is to have someone talking in my ear and reminding me to check in on this or that. Yes, sometimes the lessons end up being a bit not applicable because we're doing OK (or we're not and I need to go back to work on something else!), but it's still good to check in and I feel like my brain retains a lot of it the information even if I don't end up using or needing it for my ride or my particular horse. Plus, I don't think there's ever a time it's not useful to hear someone remind me to sit up and carry my hands ;)

Feeling Accomplished

Is it possible to have horse trailering PTSD? 

I went for so many years without owning a trailer, so despite my horses trailering well and us going on the odd adventure, trailering them was kind of A Big Thing. 

Despite many fantastic, fun filled adventures that I'm eternally grateful to have been invited along on, I feel like I also had more than my fair share of stressful travels.

Most recently, the borrowed trailer that stranded us far from home (and a tire shop) when it turned out the tires were out of date and prone to randomly exploding.

Prior to that, sucking up lesson and clinic costs when my ride share had a last minute change of plans and didn't go. That time my horses were 36 hours late arriving, with radio silence the whole time. The pro hauler who started not answering my calls the day before she needed was scheduled to pick my horses up from training. That time a friend's horse panicked in the trailer as I was loading mine, knocked her unconscious, and I ended up trying to be on the phone directing 911, keeping an eye on her, and trying to stop traffic to catch a loose horse on the highway, all while holding Bridget. That was fun, and probably not at all what you should do in such a situation.  

Plus, smaller things like needing to be on someone else's schedule and the stress involved with trying to adjust mine with theirs. Add in random vehicle breakdowns, trailers I was nervous about putting the horses in and me generally being a worrier at the best of times, and well, I knew it was going to take a bit before hauling the horses didn't feel like a big deal. 

Remember when my new trailer even had the resident deer interested? :)

Anyway, last night I looked out the window after work, and saw some rare sunshine interrupting our current 'Parade of Storms' (I don't know who the new Environment Canada media people are, but they are fully on board for drama - 'Atmospheric River' being my other favorite forecast from this week).  So it felt pretty freakin' cool to decide spur of the moment to trailer the horses to the ring and get a ride in.

 Better yet, anxiety levels were finally pretty non existent - I keep the trailer packed with everything I need, I know our truck, it's a local drive, and my girls both haul super well. So, I did all the driving myself, despite G being there, ready and able to help. Laugh at me if you want, but it's kind of a big deal for me - I've been practicing with the trailer empty forever and more recently, delaying adding horses to the plan due to a giant twisty hill with a narrow bridge at the bottom that stands between the horses and the club ground across town  :)

Actual bridge - was not worried about it at all until a well meaning friend was like "don't worry about the bridge" :D

Maybe hooking up and trailering my own horses without any pre planning or worry is not your standard big picture accomplishment, but I've been looking forward to it for so many years that it's a huge personal one.

What’s Old Is New Again

 I’m on a bit of a roll with the weekly updates!

I got the all clear to get back in the saddle, so that’s exactly what I did. Bridget had several outings this week, and Sophie got some too! 

Happy ears

Bridget and I, plus friends, spent a few evenings this week exploring the trails. I met friend S when we were about 10 (in other words, a very long time ago) and we both worked at a trail riding barn (child labour laws weren’t a thing, that’s how long ago ;). In my early 20’s I bought my house across the street from her current place with my first “real job”. I did a ton of work to it, then off I went in search of something bigger and better (in terms of life AND horsey acreage) Many life goals have been met but horsey acreage remains a dream, so a number of years later, here I am, back in the same town, riding the trails where it all started, with S, while I get the old place ready for horses again. It’s different, but the same, and as fun as always.

This used to be all forest - sad to see it go, but the ocean view is stunning now

Trying to get home before the street lights come on :)

I can’t say enough how grateful I always am for Bridget. She’s rock solid, but with enough opinions and energy to be super fun. She’s really a dream pony for trail riding in suburbia where the unexpected is kind of the rule. Plus, I guess I don’t really need the bigger horsey acreage after all - she survives on air and isn’t overly big on stretching her legs on her own time😁

G was working a 16hr shift -  sending him pics of us trail riding on the bluffs above may have been insensitive :D

Sophie got out for a walk one evening and a longe another as the daylight’s already fading too soon to ride both ponies after work. She did get her own outing to the arena, and I was pleasantly surprised with her. Due to me not feeling great, she hadn’t been trailered off property or even properly ridden for almost two weeks. She’s previously not done super well when there’s a gap like that, but aside from a little initial tenseness to start she settled in and did all the grown up pony things the best I could have hoped. We were stuck in a banana shape, so left circles weren’t as nice as I would have hoped, but for the most part she was soft and relaxed and willing to stretch to the contact. Leg yields to the wall are quite nice, spiral right is lovely, as mentioned left is a bit more of a struggle. More balance is coming in the transitions,  and giraffe antics have settled as she’s figured out her body again (she grew again this summer) Anyway, I’m pleased. We’ve got two lessons booked in a clinic two weekends from now and I’m looking forward to it. 

I should pull her mane. Step one towards anyone taking us seriously!

Friday nights out = meeting at the arena to ride. It’s fine, my friends are all horsey anyway.

I was hoping to capture the nice sunset but it got a bit dark 

It’s been a while since I mentioned how I’m doing - I don’t want to jinx it, but the “riding the reactive baby pony” butterflies are totally gone, and in fairness that’s probably a good part of why she’s been so much less spooky and “reactive baby pony” too. I did seek out some help with the anxiety in general, and the recent move has done a world of good as far as lowering stress levels...so yeah, while I will continue to work at it, I think I’m on a good path again.

Sorry for the novel...my tendency to be wordy is probably why I continue to blog rather than just post updates via instagram, lol

Hope you all had a good weekend too!