Shoe pulling fail

Being able to pull a shoe is, in my opinion, a skill that any able bodied horse person should know how to do because inevitably there will be that time when you've got a shoe half on, half off that needs to come off now and could potentially cause damage if left until the farrier can get there.  Really, it's easy, well in theory at least. What I do is first rasp the clinches off, then I pull the shoe off a little to loosen the nails, give it a pound which frees the nails from the shoe allowing me to pull the nails out individually.  Once only two, maybe three nails remain I can simply pull the shoe off the rest of the way.  It...

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That Coveted Yellow Watch

I think that there needs to be an official term for the hangover like syndrome that happens after Christmas... All that hype and anticipation, planning and gift wrapping, baking, entertaining of family members (both wanted and not), which climaxes in a dramatic tearing open of presents which lasts maybe half an hour. And then, it's all done... or is it?  My house has been in a post-Christmas state of chaos ever since, with mounds of new clothes, toys, gadgets, and should I mention the now empty wrapping supplies??? Two days out post-dewrapping and I've only managed to half tame the beast. The view Christmas evening after it was all said...

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Issues with Selenium

In the last 4 months or so Cash has really started to have a notable problem in one of his front feet with the hoof wall just deteriorating around the nails whenever the farrier tries to set a shoe.  This was surprising and concerning to me as when I first got him I instantly put him on a ration balancer to provide a balanced mineral supply to his diet.  The product I choose was Ranch-Way's Defiance Vital Edge Pelleted Mineral.  I'd used this product before with good results (or so I thought) and it was a better price than the other option in my area (Enrich 32) plus I liked that it had Biotin in it (yay! no extra hoof supplement...

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Making Goals

"Plans are always made in pencil but writing down your goals makes your dreams achievable." - Sinead Halpin I just don't think I could say it any better, everybody always tells you to dream big, and sure, we all can imagine we are millionaires with a lovely huge mansion and a barn full of expensive ponies... but, how do you get to that point?  That, my friends, is the million dollar question.  The above quote was written by one of my Eventing idols, Sinead Halpin.  She narrowly missed out on a trip to the London Olympics but rebounded with an amazing second place finish at Burghley that I'm sure had selectors regretting leaving her off the team... anyway, I digress.  Today a post was put on Eventing Nation about a new syndicate she is putting together for her current...

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Confronting the Spook

At what point do you determine that a horse is genuinely scared of something versus just being naughty? Do you soothe the horse, letting him know that it's OK? Or do you discipline him in hopes that he learns he will be corrected should he act up again. But the thing about giving discipline for naughty spooking is this: some horses are looking for that confrontation. They want you to get against them, they want to fight back, they want to get into that battle with you. So, giving them discipline is in fact just adding fuel to their fire, they will continue to spook (and spook harder) over and over again knowing that they can egg you into a fight. As the rider it is so important to just ignore the horse and not do anything. At all. To just ride out the spook and shrug your shoulders and...

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Stupid Pills

Some days... I swear Cash must eat stupid pills for breakfast. Arrrgg! He has this corner, that he can, and will be, just plain stupid about!! It seems like it's every other day too. What's frustrating is that you can walk him over there, you can lunge him in that corner, and he's perfectly behaved. But... when you ride him all of a sudden it's full of horse eating boogey monsters and must be avoided at all costs.  Sigh. At least you can feel it coming a mile away, he may have a spook in him, but it's so very predicable. Thank goodness. I know what the root of the problem is: he just plain doesn't understand leg-into-hand yet. He doesn't even fully understand staying in front of the leg for that matter, he wants to suck back and dink around with his hind end unengaged, and when that...

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Back to riding!

Well, it's been a looooonnng time since I've written in here! Being very pregnant and not getting to ride at all really put a damper on my enthusiasm to write blog posts. But, thankfully we are past that now! My little bundle of joy arrived on October 15th and I've officially been back in the saddle for 2.5 weeks!! It really didn't feel like I hadn't ridden a horse in over seven months, it just felt like I was getting on a strange horse and learning his buttons. The first couple of times I just walked, then walk/trot. And then my old trainer, who is also a good friend, came to visit and she gave me an impromtu lesson. WOW have I developed some bad habits over the past several years - I probably haven't had a lesson in over 3 years. I really need to start riding with someone. Anyway, she drilled...

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The Olympics are upon us!!!

And oh my goodness I'm so excited!! I love the Olympics, I've dreamed long and hard about how I can one day ride my horse in the Olympics. Granted now that I'm older and my family has taken center stage over competing, I realize (and I am OK with) that I am never going to ride in the Olympics. My riding and competition goals are much more reasonable now than when I was a teenager. If I can complete a CCI* I will be one happy camper! In the mean time, I'll just stalk... errr... follow those who have made that grand achievement of Olympic fame by trotting their horses down centerline tomorrow morning as the Eventing competition gets...

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An update on life!

Oh my, long time no blog! Probably the majority of the reason being that I've just been plain busy. Secondly, I've felt like I haven't had much interesting to say. But, anyway, let me kinda sum up what's been going on as of late!First off, and the biggest news of all, I am just about 6 months (holy cow!) pregnant, with the little munchkin due mid-October. I actually found out two weeks after I bought Cash, how's that for timing? Subsequently, I have not been riding since April (boooo). I've had a wonderful gal coming out and riding Cash for me and she's been doing an awesome job. She totally understands that I would otherwise be 110% into training and starting my own horse, so if I tell her that I would like to see him improve in a certain area or learn a certain skill, she has...

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Getting to be Derby time!! (and ROLEX!!)

Well, it's that time of year again!! Rolex starts in just a few days (AND I'M GOING TO BE OUT OF THE HOUSE ALL DAY SATURDAY AND UNABLE TO WATCH THE LIVE CROSS COUNTRY FEED!!!! D:) and the Kentucky Derby is just around the corner. Aside from my minor crisis about this saturday and cross country (maybe I can stream it on my phone.... hmmmmm), I decided to post some thoughts about some of the Derby contenders coming up here soon. I've listed the favorites, because, well they are all I've had time to analyze, I'll take a peep at some of the other entries (they are mostly GII and GIII winners) maybe later this week or next.  So far, my pick is Dullahan, depending on how he works I can see him being a big threat out there. I also like Union Rags and Gemologist. Union Rags - BIG strong horse,...

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Busy, busy, busy...

What to say... well, just that, I've been busy!  Mostly thanks (or not?) to school: I've got term papers, lab reports, exams, and lecture notes coming out my ears. Three more weeks. Three more weeks!!  Needless to say, I've not been able to spend much time at the barn :( Oh well, guess it's alright, Cash has been a bit ouchy on the insanely hard ground for the past month, he's getting shoes on in a week, so that'll help a ton. He's not limping lame or anything, and walks out just fine, but at the trot you can tell he's hesitant to stride out for fear that he would step on a rock or something. Also, he lost a bit of weight in...

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New Phone and... Football?

Soo.... a very non-horsey post today. 1) I GOT A NEW PHONE!!!! Aaaahhhh so excited, I finally was able to ditch my 2 year old HTC smartphone... however, smart, it was not. It was about as slow as molasses, continuously froze up, and could barely manage more than one app at a time. So, when I discovered that I was eligible for an upgrade early (!!!) I promptly toted myself down to the Verizon store and picked up a brand new, shiny LG Spectrum 4G LTE phone. It's a lot bigger than my old phone, but then any new smartphone is huge compared to my old little piece of junk... but, IT'S SO PRETTY!!!! The graphics are amazing, HD indeed! Everything...

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Teaching lateral flexion at the poll in an OTTB

It's not as easy as it sounds. Cash has this lovely little track habit of when there is contact on the bit to twist his head to the right and chew incessantly at the bit. Chew. Chew. Chew. And because his head is turned to the side, he is most definitely not flexing properly at the poll. Under saddle it is just a process of being patient, very very patient. And gently correcting him every time he tries to twist his head to the side. At the halt I flex his head back and forth, teaching him to give from the reins, and then use this skill while walking. This is also starting to teach him the basis of bending through his body. I'm also just starting to teach him to move off my leg by teaching turns on the forehand, and starting to teach a reinback. Both I've only done once, but hey, gotta start...

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He jumps!!!

I will let pictures and video tell this story today, enjoy!  A few screen shots from the video: I'm very VERY pleased!! He picked up on it quickly, and showed great form over the fences. He also seemed to really enjoy it once he figured out what to do and was going over the jump with little to no encouragement from me :) I couldn't be happi...

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March Madness

No, I'm not a basketball fan... I avoid it at all costs if I can. BUT Between work craziness, term papers, lab reports, exams, shuttling kids around, laundry, housework, homework, and barn duties, with an extra helping of menopausal weather..... it sure feels like madness right now!! We pretty much checked off all the February goals with flying colors. With the exception of the hand walking trails/roads and the free jumping. But because those are weather dependent, I wasn't too stressed about meeting those goals. Plus, in order to free jump I needed to prep the poles. See I bought a bunch of poles last fall for cheap, but they were old fence poles and had a bunch of iron nails in the end. Hubby finally lent a hand and pulled them all out for me so I've been working Cash over trot poles...

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Aaannnd... we are in the saddle!

So, today was awesome! Cash has been doing phenomenally as of late. Despite some yucky/windy weather and having to skip a few days of work, his lunging skills have been coming along in leaps and bounds. We are doing walk/trot/canter without side reins, the canter is still very tense, but it's starting to settle down--the walk and trot are awesome, he's quiet, relaxed, and doing solid circles. Walk/trot lunge work with side reins is going very very well. He's starting to take a steady hold on the bit and accepting contact, YAY! Now I just need me a pair of elastic side reins as I think he's past the vienna reins. Today I introduced two things,...

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A look at those February goals so far

So, here is what I had for goals for this month with a current update on our progress for each goal:- Takes treats out of the hand: Check!! This obviously didn't take long to master- Being haltered and caught willingly out in a large turnout: Check! He now sees me and comes marching right up, doesn't even blink when a rope goes around his neck and holds his head still for a halter. He is also getting led to and fro from his stall to the turnout in nothing but a neck rope. Awesome!- Paying attention while being led: For the most part, check, he walks with his head level, when he does get pushy normally asking him to back up, turn a circle, or do something to refocus his attention works well. - Manners (no biting, pushing, kicking, etc.): Really haven't had to work on this...

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I own a mud lark

Sooo... I walked out to the barn today to find this: ACK! Yeah... brand new blanket, less than a week and he's got it filthy!!! None of the other horses blankets look like that... c'mon! Ah well. What's really the bugger is that, notice his nice n white socks, not a speck of mud. That's tallent! Besides from that, while the arena is still covered in snow, there is a large dry patch out in the turnout, so I did a little mini lunging with him, mostly walk, working on focus and circle size, baby steps! He's learning how to stand quietly, I've moved to tying him up closer to the turnout, once he's learned to be chill there we'll try out the new...

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Snow Day

Well... my plans to ride Cash this weekend got snowed in. A monster snow storm hit Colorado these past couple of days, dumping a LOT of snow. We got off easy with only 6" of light and powdery snow. However, this made any sort of riding on a green OTTB out of the question. Ah well, my puppy dog and I can still enjoy the snow. We love snow, we really really love snow! I wandered out and said hi to Mr Cash, brushed his mane out, fed him some cookies, and gave him some scratches. He has obviously had his mane pulled in the past, he does not even like having his mane brushed, I'm working on trying to trim it up with scissors, it's a work in progress....

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Progress Report

So far things are just moseying right along for Mr Cash and I! I couldn't be happier! Last week we were having a bit of difficulty with the lunging, he got the idea to go around me, he just didn't get that it has to be a ROUND circle, and that it has to be done at a speed much slower than "racehorse". He would cut in on one side of the circle, then rocket out and hit the end of the line and spin out... and repeat, completely tuning me out. I had started to use side reins on him adjusted moderately loose, 90% of the time he was just braced against him, he'd eventually stretch down into the contact, but it took awhile and I'd end up with only...

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Horse = happyness

Yeah, life is good! I can't even begin to fully express how happy I am now that I have a horse again! Love love love love it. :) Each day I'm counting down the hours until I'm done with work, until I can go to the barn with hubby to play with our horse, to take the kiddos so they can play in the hay barn. On top of it all, the Spring semester is off to a good start, homework is going well, and I feel like I can conquer my Chem class! The new guy, Cash, is settling in well. He has a new girlfriend, a 10hh Shetland pony mare who is also new... it is the funniest thing ever! He threw a little temper tantrum today when she left, which I promptly...

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Well, he's here!

We went and got the new guy yesterday! I was thinking there for awhile it wasn't going to happen because of the wind. My word it was gusting something awful. But it died down right at 4:15 and gave us just enough daylight to get him! He stepped right into the trailer like a good boy, although was a bit nervous once he got in, overall he trailered well and when we got there he backed out of the trailer without fuss. I put him in the arena so that he could run around a bit and meet the other horses over the fence that he'll eventually be living with. That all went well and he sniffed noses with just about all the horses. Baby just pinned her ears,...

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The ABC's of being a horse

I went out to see the new boy again yesterday afternoon, just to see how he was without being all wound up. Boy, when I said he knew nothing... it literally meant nothing. Yesterday morning I had jotted down a list of goals that I would like to reach by the end of February with him. Things like lunging w/t/c, simple free jumping, hand walking along trails.... I'm gonna leave those on, but I will be adding a few much more basic skills on top of it. A) When a treat is offered, one can nibble it from the hand offering it and munch it contently I took a bucket of horse cookies out, I offered one in my hand and he sniffed it suspiciously, then looked at me like "ok, now what". So I let him eat a few out of the bucket, once he decided he liked them I was able to transition them to my hand. He had...

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New horse!!!

So, I got him! He's mine! I'm so excited!Just pending paperwork, but most likely I'll get to go get him next Saturday and bring him home. :)He's 8 years old, about 16.2hh (but I've got to stick him, he could be taller), BIG boned, bold, and with a super flashy trot. He raced for about 4 years and just came off the track last august and has pretty much been sitting in a paddock for 4 months. His legs are super clean, only blemish I could find was a tiny tiny popped splint on his inside right front leg. His feet need attention, they look as though they haven't been trimmed in quite some time, so I was pleasantly surprised at how sound he...

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Possible, maybe, could be, a horse for me?

Not much details at the moment! But, I've gotten wind of a thoroughbred gelding in my area that the owner is looking to find the perfect home for. I'm awaiting contact information so I can get ahold of the owner, but I may go and look at him here in the near future! When I talked to my dear hubby about this horse I was not expecting a positive endorsement, however, to my complete surprised he suggested going to look at the horse before I even said I wanted to! Win! From what I've been told, this is a chestnut with white socks, big, bold, and energetic. Mmmmm! So, when I hear more I will post more...

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Christmas/New Years Update & Much Belated Show Report

Whew, It's been awhile since i've updated this. Life has been hectic to say the least between school, work, and my family. Trying to find a spare minute to sit down and relax for more than 10 minutes is rare. Lets put it this way, I could use a vacation!! The horse show back in October (wow! time has flown) went pretty well. We got there a touch late, walked Baby around in the indoor, and she was doing really good, nice and chill, I was thinking things would be great. Her owner (who will furthermore be referred to as V) rode her first in two intro tests, she warmed her up in the warmup arena with a few other horses, and Baby was...

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