Good Girl

Saturday marked our first drill team practice, and Bridget was a star! I was so pleased with how well she handled horses and riders in her space, and how calm and obedient she stayed. She was definitely a good influence for some of the more excitable horses. One of the great things about Bridget is that it's pretty rare that she cares what kind of energy other horses bring to the table. She's much more inclined to feed off her rider's energy  and confidence and match that.

Come here, Bridget, people want pics of your new browband.

We didn't practice anything too complicated pattern wise, and I found the whole thing pretty relaxed and fun. I think anyone who has a decent concept of pace and a somewhat adjustable and willing horse wouldn't be too challenged, particularly if your horse is used to busy warm ups or sharing space in an arena. The square corners and straight lines are all things we do anyway, and the concept of looking for your partner or mark isn't so different than judging your line and pace to a fence or finding your dressage letters.

Please don't sulk, you just need to try it on, OK?

This particular group has a few more beginner riders and green horses, so the pace is never too speedy and fun is the goal. Mostly I'd say it's just an awesome social get together! Most importantly, Bridget seemed to really enjoy it, so we'll be back as often as we have time for.

Please contain your excitement

Would it hurt to try to put your ears forward?

Sunday was a bit of a non event. B felt a bit stiff and sore and wasn't really warming up out of her tired state of being, so I got all worried and walked her home. Barn owner was like "Was your ride exciting? Your horse has been running and going wild all day in her field!" So, yep, nothing to worry about, just B still in spring fever racehorse mode and still believing she's much more athletic than she actually is. Don'  stop believing, little Bridget :) Silly mare gets a couple of days off from riding due to my schedule, so let's hope she's wise enough to rest a little.

Win for ears up, fail for forelock floof hiding new tiara.

Got A Fever

Sorry, couldn't help myself :)

Bridget has a fever, spring fever to be exact, and the only prescription for that seems to be running around pretending to be way more badass than she is.

Been a while since I pulled out the Pony Wheel of Fortune!

My own fault for not toughing out last week's weather, then heading off for work on the south coast for 3 days and letting her sit too many days out. Actually, her fault a bit too, she's got a big paddock but she's not huge on self exercise - I so wish I took a picture last week. It had snowed and judging by the tracks, she left her shelter exactly twice in 24hrs to walk the 10ft to her water buckets. Whoa there, Bridget, don't overdo it!

So, our ride last night was a little more exhilarating than I would have preferred. There was no point in trying to do much of anything dressage wise, so we practiced our XC gallop a lot in the huge outdoor arena, alternating with lots of trot and gentle bending on a longer rein. Someone *cough Bridget cough* kept trying to get her head down for a buck and bolt, so I rode carefully. The great thing about Bridget is she thinks she's far more athletic than she is, so if she does catch me off guard a lot of stuff she thinks is super badass really isn't too hard to ride. On the other hand, I am not the best rider and she's got me off more times than I can remember, so I tend to toe the line between letting her get the sillies out and me not falling off.

When we were done, she was super proud, and was carrying herself like she was a hand taller. She turned around to look at me, and my only interpretation of the look she gave me was "Thank you, wasn't that FUN! Aren't I the best pony!?" She's so freaking cute sometimes!

Bridget and her less enthusiastic buddy after our ride. AND IT WAS STILL KIND OF LIGHT OUT! Yay spring!

Fingers crossed tonight her brain stays in her head and we can do some proper flatwork :)

Shiny Things

You may recall that I was recently gifted a lovely custom bonnet courtesy of Cathryn and If The Bonnet Fits.

That nice new bonnet really emphasized the lack of a pretty browband on Bridget's dressage bridle. So, obviously I HAD to go shopping :)

I looked for an embarrassingly long time because: 1. I am not particularly up on what's 'in' or 'trendy'  and don't want to embarrass Bridget with something super uncool 2. I don't really know what I like, and 3. I am not a big fan of bling or jewels so I wanted something far subtler than what seems to be the norm.

Enter Bex's Browbands. Her store has a huge variety of products (matching stock pin or dog collar, anyone?), the prices seem reasonable and the reviews are amazing. I actually thought one of the ribbon browbands might be fun for a Welsh Cob, but this jumped out at me:

Photo from Bex's Browbands. This is the one that originally caught my eye, and at 35 GBP/60 Canadian dollars, seemed a fair deal.

Still, it was too sparkly, too bold for me, so I ended up custom ordering a simple browband (same price as the one above):

Just a single row of grey and black 'diamonds'.  Very understated.

And, it matches our grey and black theme!

So, it matches, and I think it's pretty! Better yet, the quality is really, really nice. The leather is nicer than my Bobby's dressage bridle and the bling is attached very solidly. No, the crystals aren't 'genuine' anything expensive, but I'm totally in the camp of  "no one will be able to tell" and also "it's for a HORSE not a princess." 

All in all, I'm very pleasantly surprised. I knew the reviews were good, but at the price point, especially for custom, I half expected low to average quality. I also appreciate the extra crystals included in the envelope. Just in case emergency repairs are required, or I do decide matching bling is necessary. Don't hold your breath on that, though :)

I also need to add that I ordered this at Christmas...and Canada Post lost it - the tracking number showed it was somewhere in the mid Atlantic for 6 weeks! It eventually magically appeared at my door without notice, but in the meantime, Bex had already very kindly offered to make me a new one. So, the customer service is just as amazing as the reviews indicate.

Lacking in Focus

Potential new pony has a pre-purchase exam scheduled for early next week! I'm so nervous/excited  about it, and all the changes a young horse will bring, that it's pretty much all I can think about if I let myself.

I have no idea how some of you are all casually,"Oh yeah, by the way, here's New Horse that I got last week. I have been shopping for a while and this one was my choice."

I am still operating at toddler level when it comes to containing my emotions regarding shopping for a new pony :) My nervousness about the upcoming vet check shows that despite me trying very hard to remain mature, I'm already pretty emotionally invested in the concept of this particular pony. 

I am so happy with Bridget that it seems a bit weird to be shopping, even though I know future self (and Bridget) will thank me for finding something a little more inclined to be a sport pony:)

Luckily, I have plenty of other things I should be focusing on. Or first show of the year is upcoming in 3 weeks and EC wants me to try 1-3. I give those counter canter loops a 50% chance of happening in any kind of balanced fashion, so we might want to practice that.

I've been a little all over the map with regular schooling of late - we've had a lot more snow than usual the last couple of months and the outdoor arena has been unavailable more often than not. I'm also noticing my horsey friend social circle here is larger and more varied than at the barn on the south coast, so we get invited on a lot more non dressage/jumping related adventures. Nice 'problem' to have, I know, but my inability to say no to fun adventures does cut in to our already limited practice time. In short: progress has slowed to a crawl, but I'm happy :)

Trail lunch break

Bridget has been lacking in focus lately too. She's been consistently VERY spicy, and VERY opinionated lately. So funny, but it might be less funny if  Wild Racehorse Bridget makes an appearance on show day!

In the vein of continuing to tame Wild Racehorse Bridget and redefining my focus, I'm hoping to find enough people for a dressage clinic with EC mid month. We've got a few regulars already, then a few who seem to come and go. Sadly, there hasn't been as much regular participation as I had hoped, over the winter we have had just enough riders to make the clinic a go each month. It's a very western and trail riding focused community here so a dressage/eventing coach is a bit of a tough sell :)

PSA

You might remember: Long ago, in a land far away...

I sent Bridget's dressage saddle in to be reflocked and have the billets replaced.

Just routine repairs and maintenance on a 20 year old saddle. Expected costs - I knew when she checked it after I bought it last year that the flocking was getting hard. I'm still grateful that somehow a short flap, XW 17" County Competitor was out there used and in decent shape when I needed it to be and I didn't need to order a new one for $$$$$. Particularly as the rep obviously didn't have that particular configuration in a demo and it was all a bit of a guessing game as to whether I would actually like it!

I know I complained about how long it was taking for the work to get done. I take it all back. Saddler started work this morning, and took the time to thoroughly check the tree while she had the flocking stripped. Guess whose saddle had a popped rivet in the head plate? Mine, of course. So, now I thank saddle fitter for repairing that at a $60 charge rather than the tree eventually flexing and cracking/breaking and costing time and $$$$ to replace (And, let's be honest, on a $1500 saddle, it's probably not even worth it).

So, a friendly reminder, it's worth it to have a good professional check your saddle thoroughly now and then. I feel like I have a good basic knowledge, but I'm still not doing overly well with my own evaluations of my tack. Remember my very favorite (Stubben - bought brand new) jump saddle that actually had a slightly twisted tree causing the imbalance I thought was a flocking or unbalanced baby horse issue? And, now with this dressage saddle - there was no squeaking or anything to indicate something was happening and if I hadn't wanted it reflocked I'd likely have kept using it until the tree was obviously compromised and likely non repairable.

Snow Days

We've had some typical West Coast snow this week. It's borderline too warm for snow to stick around so it melts during the day, then refreezes at night. It makes a slushy/melty/icy mess and is generally not safe to ride on.

So, we've been doing a lot of this:

We'd like to ride outside in the sunshine, but...

The trees that provide such nice shade on the outdoor arena in the summer unfortunately keep the snow around longer in the winter.

So, no overly interesting adventures this week. We've just been plugging away in the indoor, trying to be ready for our first show of the year (Thunderbird Gateway Dressage in Vancouver, March 23-25)

Rather than a bunch of dark and blurry indoor pics from this week, here are a couple of other ones I haven't posted yet, all from this last month:

Group trail ride, that's us on the left ahead of the appy

Visit to the lake

"Is it dinnertime yet?"

It's been a fun month variety wise - a good clinic with EC, a couple of club events to attend, and a good mix of fitness rides and flatwork. No jumping since Christmas though - we're not allowed to jump in the indoor and the outdoor has either been frozen or flooded the few weekends I've had time to set a course. 

Upcoming for March: 

-Dressage schooling show I already mentioned

-Dressage clinic Mar 17th

-Weeklong "camp" at our home away from home, EC's barn. I'm just going to fit into whatever lessons I can for the week. I'm looking forward to it. Despite all my good riding buddies here,  I've been feeling a little isolated lately since I may be the only rider in an English saddle in these parts.

-Drill team practices start. I have no idea what expect, but I think it'll be fun to try something new.

- And, maybe if luck is on my side, a new prospect. Hoping to get a vet check booked on my favorite this week. So exciting and anxiety inducing all at the same time! Obviously, I'll stop being so secretive and share tons of pictures and details just as soon as something is official - promise!

30 Things

Thanks, Emily and Amanda, for the blog inspiration!


1. I love architecture: Even as a child, historic buildings and cool design fascinated me. Then, as now, give me a sketch pad, a pencil, and a ruler and I'll happily spend hours designing buildings down to the smallest details. I mock things up digitally now and then, particularly if I want to show G a 3D walk through, but nothing beats paper and pencils for me.

2. I like building things: furniture, cabinetry, home renos. Ties in with the above. I really like visualizing and creating things, then working hands on. I'd go so far as to say that's why I enjoy the training process with horses so much too.

House imagined and  reno'd by me. The living room floor might still be my favorite part - it took me hours to install and was custom milled from alder at a local place. The beams too, there were two rooms here and the ceiling was collapsing, so the beams are structural as well as making it feel a bit more 'west coast'

3. I didn't have regular lessons until I bought Ginger. I always lived in an area without coaching growing up. My first event was 3 years ago, my first dressage show was last year!

4. Sharks. Orcas. Nightmares: I have an irrational fear of the above, and threfore do not swim in the ocean. I often have nightmares where the boat/ferry/plane is sinking/crashing and I'm like "oh NBD I can swim" then my cruel subconscious is like "But these are orca infested waters!!! ha ha"

5. I've been kind of a nomad. I've lived in a huge amount of places in western Canada. Usually for work, sometimes just because I was bored and needed a change.

6. Education: I had no money/no family backing, so the obvious archectecture degree (7 years of university) seemed unattainable cost and time wise. Instead, I did a tech college diploma in Forestry, thinking to get a good paying job sooner. I went back at age 30 and did 2 more years, specializing in GIS (geographic information systems)

7. My first real job out of college was as a Park Ranger. Fun times! That evolved into surveying and mapping in the parks, and working on ecological studies for the govt but never anything permanent/year round.

8. Resulting in some super random jobs to fill in the employement gaps. Post office letter carrier, barn manager, paper machine operator, forklift driver, tow truck dispatch, vet assistant, construction labourer. Obviously, none of them 'stuck' as potential long term career options.

Sorry, paper machine crew, I don't miss this

9. I've been a GIS/IT tech/analyst for a few years now, and it's a great fit (finally, lol)

10. When I'm retired, I want to be that awesome old lady with the small barn and nice horses that teaches cheap riding lessons to the local kids.

11. I'm a total introvert. Parties and small talk are exhausting.

12. I actually only very rarely drink, and I don't like wine (gasp!). Beer, cider, in summer, maybe the odd daquiri on vacation. One drink hasn't "tasted like another" for a very long time. (This may be what is complicating my awkwardness at parties, lol)

13. Good Mexican food is my very favorite,

14. And, I'm vegetarian.

15. I haven't ever had a cable suscription. Internet, obviously, and books. So many books.

16. Marriage. Nice idea, not something I feel overly strongly about for myself. G and I have been together for 12 or 13 years now, and I wouldn't want it any other way. We could make it official, but see above re: introvert...my idea of worst day ever probably involves being the center of attention at a party. It would only be worse if it was a cruise/beach wedding in shark infested waters.

17. Chocolate, not coffee. I'm still not a coffee drinker. The closest I can get is a mocha, because chocolate is everything to me.

18. I love learning new things. The tech job thing works for me because things are always changing and there is a constant learning curve if you want to stay current.

19. Besides riding, hiking is the other thing I do regularly. Its a big thing here. How can we not when our weather is comparitively moderate year round, the trails so accessible, and the scenery so stunning?

So much backcountry

20. My current dream trip is this Ride Andes horseback tour of Ecuador.

21. After horses, my favorite animals are elephants.

22. I have a really terrible sense of left and right, and am equally terrible at remembering what day of the week/date it is without reminders. I've forgotten numerous birthdays, anniversaries...heck even Christmas a few years ago ("Why is the barn so quiet on a Saturday morning?" lol)

23. I'm a bit of a minimalist. I love clean, bright spaces and multipurpose items. I don't generally have much that I don't need. (except my strange addiction to saddle pads, and Asmar rain coats..as discussed previously on this blog :)

24. Yolo. I'm very much an 'in the moment' person and will sacrifice future plans for current enjoyment almost very time.

25. It's partly true that opposites attract. G very much loves his piles of clutter ( I dream of renting a paper shredder for a day, but yeah, we'd have to get a fake divorce if I did :), is super social and outgoing, and definitely good at planning and saving for the future. He's really not good with envisioning things that aren't there in front of him or assuming 'things will work out because they always do'. He's the outgoing realist, I'm more the introverted dreamer.

26. Speaking of introverted, I really like gardening.

27. Cats > dogs. I used to be a dog person, but I've since figured out it's because I had a dog who was basically a giant loyal cat who loved car rides. No barking, super clean and tidy, and happy to sleep all day. I've taught my curent cat to sit, fetch, and come when he's called, so what more can I ask for? :)

Too bad he's much grumpier than your average dog

28. I grew up with a parent suffering from pretty severe mental illness that was not to be talked about/not medicated. I think as a kid, you don't know that's not normal or not something you somehow made happen. So, life from my 20's onward still feels like a huge unexpected gift. I really treasure and enjoy every good thing in my adult life. I know that can come across as me being very cheerful/naive/unrealistic/overconfident/impulsive about things sometimes. And, maybe I am :)

29. I know I mentioned I like reading. I'll read anything. I literally caught myself reading a report on wastewater treatment yesterday at work and was like "wait, I only needed to know the date of construction that was listed on the cover page...why exactly am I still reading this?"

30. If not horses, maybe skiing? I took a couple of beginner lessons years ago and it was the only other time I've felt moments of being completely free and in tune with things.

Negotiations For Peace

My ride on Saturday started where Friday's left off. Good news, though, it got better as we went along. About 20 min in, I felt like I had B totally on side, which can be an accomplishment all in itself. As always, I worked a lot on moving her body around and after a lot of bending and suppling in walk, we had pretty much her best effort at leg yield in canter ever. So nice, tons of jump, balanced, forward without rushing. She' s learning and getting stronger!

Just one pic from my ride. proof I rode, at least?

You're probably so sick of hearing all things Bridget and canter, but it's SUCH a process. She literally couldn't even canter three years ago when I got her. Then, two years ago, we could canter, but not balanced enough to hold a 20m circle reliably. Enter a temporary focus on jumping to get her more motivated and help find a consistent pace.  A year or so ago, we started adding some of the suppling exercises we know so well from trot. Bend, counter bend, leg yield, collect a bit, extend a bit. Each one was such a fine line between building strength and her losing her balance and getting discouraged. You all know I work on this multiple times a week, so every time some of the pieces all come together it's super exciting for me, especially when she's carrying herself with minimal help from me. The best thing of all, of course, is that she's willing to try so hard, especially after a not so good ride the previous night.

Spoiler alert: If and when I buy another pony, it's going to have a good natural canter. Much as I love Bridget, and as much as I've learned thanks to her, I can't willingly face starting over with another three years of teaching a pony how to canter :) The whole process is fascinating from a learning perspective, but it is also a very slow process involving a lot of repetition. I'm grateful to have learned so much, but perhaps I can hope to delve into new and different things next time?

"New horse? Just let me look over the numbers"

"You spend all this on horses? I thought I was your favorite?!"

"I'm so disappointed in you I can't even"

Yesterday, it snowed again! So weird, it used to be lucky to get snow once a year, but the last couple of years we've had so much snow. G and I went for an hour hike that turned into an afternoon, so when we went to the barn after, I just mucked out and filled water buckets before heading home to a warm shower. I couldn't face more hours of coldness or walking B down the road in the snow and dark. I'm sure she's fine with that :)

Pic from our hike makes it look like we were in the middle of nowhere, but there is a pub one bay over where we may or may not have spent some time 'resting", lol

Stay in Bed Or Try Harder?

I choose trying harder.

Bridget has been such a good girl lately that I was really looking forward to riding last night. I should have known better, because it's a known fact ponies feed on such weakness.

A is for Adorable, though...its her superpower.

My ride was awful. There's no other word for it. After months of being cheerfully in front of the leg, sucked back, don't wanna work pony made her grand reentry into my life. The good news is, after much back and forth, I did get her jumping off my leg again. The bad news is that the relaxation was completely gone, and she was back attempting to bully her way through my aids and the bridle. I, in turn, feel like when she's like this I ramp up to match and I ride like a bit of a bully...I hate using my spur and stick so much and then shes forward but pushy so we are doing a million rather abrupt down transitions to get her carrying herself instead of running off with me. Not a lot of harmony or lightness there. Always the need for more tools and knowledge.  A better rider than me might gave found a happy medium and fixed all of the "ick" in one ride, but, honestly I was starting to get discouraged and stopped after a couple of nice canters where was forward, yet responsive and waiting.

Quite flexible when there's food involved :) What's extra funny about this pic is I was mucking out and didn't latch the gate, she  seriously only needed to push it a little and she could have  gone out and eaten that green grass much more easily.

I was like "Phew, glad that's done, tomorrow is a new day!"

A ha ha ha ha, I'm so funny! My previously absolutely perfect to hack out pony decided she was also very much looking forward to being done with the result that she was super barn sour on our hack home. The usual 15min loose rein cool down hack took me over an hour, as we reviewed baby horse concepts such as staying in walk unless asked, halting when asked, without fussing and rearing(?!) Bucking/tantrums are also not a good choice when you don't get your way...you know fun stuff like that. Lots of turning around and riding away from home, riding past the driveway to the barn repeatedly, etc. When we actually got home I left her tied quite a while while I cleaned tack, before she got to go back in her paddock with dinner.  I'm left wondering if she never actually learned any of this as she was always so lazy that I didn't really need to teach her to stand or to be patient on my schedule. I was always focused on "go, Bridget, go!" Or maybe it was just a day for pony 'tude. Who knows.

See? This is our norm, happy ears, loose rein walking.

I was pretty discouraged last night, I won't lie. I never expect her to be perfect, but she was exceptionally grumpy and disrespectful right from the start, which sucks as  rider...I do like my horses to be happy and productive members of society! Also, as the rider, I was borderline close to getting super frustrated about how late it was getting and giving up. Patience is something I need too. I woke up this morning determined to try harder and to have a positive frame of mind for my ride today, so that's I hope a step in the right direction.

G unfortunately chose last night to tag along, and I made us super late for the dinner. I nominate him best horsey husband ever, because he never once complained, never once offered unsolicited advice or comments, just recognized something was up with the pony and stayed within hearing distance so he knew I was ok and let me work through it.

Although, on the drive home he did ask "Do you want to talk more about that GRP?" And, "Bridget is definitely not for sale?" :)

LOL, love him. He'd miss Bridget as much as I would. And I know he loves her mare tude. As for the GRP, yep, still talking that one over with my coach and my husband, and have it narrowed down to a favorite. I want to nail down that new work schedule and contract next week before I pursue things further though. Fingers crossed pretty dream pony doesn't sell in the meantime.

Decisions, Decisons

Just when I thought work life was settling down, things are getting interesting again.

I'm getting a big raise, and a promotion! And the chance to pick my own schedule. Do I want to work full time? Part time?

So, I've run numbers on top of numbers and then ran some more numbers. I'll save you the details of all those numbers.

While working part time vs full time obviously has some implications as far as pensions and banking goes, the reality is working full time there comes with the need to rent and board in Work Town which is $$$$. The math actually says I'd have slightly more money left at the end of the month working part time and commuting each day. Here's my two favorite options with the considerations that matter to us horsey people:

Work three long days, have 4 days off every week

 The three work days would just be me working and commuting. It's a nasty commute, so no barn time Mon-Wed. However, every weekend would be a 4 day weekend!

Work regular hours 5 days a week

This means I'd be back boarding at EC's barn near Work Town, and able to ride or take lessons most evenings. A nice, normal schedule, but living and working away from home all week.

Which would you choose?

Bridget is happy to sleep anywhere, she doesn't care what I decide

Long Weekend 2 - System Overloads

Monday was again, beautiful. Since when do we get a long weekend of sunshine here on the coast? They are forecasting rain and snow for later today, so I think we got pretty lucky.

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday just puttering around the barn, tidying up Bridget's paddock, cleaning tack, drying out saddle pads and gear that's been permanently damp this winter, and generally making everything shipshape before the bad weather hits again.

Once again, I had plans of running through dressage tests, but it was pretty apparent Bridget wasn't feeling it. She genuinely felt tired so as soon as I established soft and forward, I let her off the hook and we just puttered along in walk, enjoying the sunshine.

An acquaintance stopped by the arena and we started chatting, B being so good on the group ride, etc, so obviously end result somehow I signed up for drill team? LOL, I did at least have the presence of mind to state my participation is provisional based on the agreement that no sequins or spandex are required of the riders in this particular team. Also, I reserve the right to be busy elsewhere some practice days - there's no way I can commit to every Saturday morning forever, and most other commitments will take priority. They're probably sorry they asked, lol.

Dapples all year long!

Monday, I also did a bit of a scary thing. There is a gorgeous Welsh Cob/Warmblood cross I've been eying up online forever. I bit the bullet and inquired about her. Turns out she's probably not quite suited to me and my budget, but the seller has a German Riding Pony she thought might fit the bill. And, she looks like she could. My first instinct was "Yes! This is the one!" I forwarded the video and details to EC and her response was "Buy her!", so no help there, lol.

Sunshine-y hack to the ring!

Before you get too excited, no, I have not impulsively bought anything (go me!). But, it seems like somehow I'm already shopping. I want so badly to share videos and all the details of the two or three serious contenders, and get everyone's input but I can't see a way of doing that that isn't rude to the sellers, particularly as my two favorites don't even have online ads I can link to.