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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