Adventures on Arabee

I can see!

2012-01-08T14:41:00.001-06:00

Just in case you were curious, I got my LASIK post up on my other blog.

Rode in the Rain

2011-12-20T06:05:00.003-06:00

Since I have only a few limited, precious hours in any given week to ride (well, really...doesn't everyone?) I wasn't about to let the rain stop me last night!

I guess in full disclosure, I almost DID let it stop me, until I tried on my floppy hat underneath my helmet. If it hadn't fit under there, it wasn't going to happen - my glasses don't have windshield wipers! I really am quite excited about getting in for my LASIK early 2012 - hope I'm still a candidate!!

But it was an actual rain. Not a mist, not a sprinkle - but a real rain. Thankfully it was a warm 48 degrees, and not windy.

Arabee was looking at me strange when I started brushing her muddy wet back, and seemed slightly displeased about the saddle going on. But she was perfect on the longe line, and a good girl for the ride. I mounted by the garage, rode the 1/10th of a mile to the road at an easy trot, and kept it up until we met the first truck. Arabee agreeably stepped off into the ditch and waited patiently for it to pass, when we calmly walked back onto the road and regained our easy trot. We met 4 more trucks in pretty much the same way. It was actually probably a little bit too dark and too rainy to be REALLY safe enough - but all the drivers were very polite and slowed down to pass.

We mostly trotted the entire 2 mile ride in 20 minutes, which kept me plenty warm, even though I'd begun to get pretty soggy in the rain. Arabee was a good girl, rating well. I worked at keeping her trot the same nice, easy trot the whole time, and even though she kept wanting to go faster, she was easy to bring back to the slower trot. I'll also mention here that I have lengthened the sliding sidereins quite a bit - they're long enough that Arabee can reach down to grab some grass (not that she's talented enough to actually EAT the grass with the bit in her mouth.)

It was a fun ride!

Anybody out there suffering from the "winter blahs" - I highly suggest forcing yourself to ride your horse for 20 minutes, no matter the weather. If you're like me, it will put a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

Proof

2011-12-09T20:03:00.002-06:00

December is Here!

2011-12-09T06:18:00.003-06:00

Well, since I last posted in my little series about retraining Arabee using dressage principles - things in real life got busy!! Specifically, corn and soybean harvest happened on our farm. Which meant that my pretty mare got a nice rest in the pasture.....again. Never fear of Arabee getting overworked!!

The next steps in my little "retraining" program involved longing over cavaletti, longing on a slope, and then beginning under saddle work with large circles to establish a good trot rhythm. All of which have not happened, and I'm good with that. The longe work was fun, because I was able to watch my GORGEOUS horse move about....but that was about it.

I got another dressage book from the library that was geared toward beginners like me who already have a horse and ride it, but want to start doing dressage (if anyone really wants to know what it is, I'll look up name and author - I had to return it already).

In that book, it pretty much said to do the preliminary longe work, similar to what I described, then set out riding to develop an independant seat in the rider before doing any "real" dressage stuff through the use of fancy exercises with arms, legs, etc.

So the day the book was due back at the library, I took some notes about all the different recommended exercises. The problem is that a lot of them require knotting the reins on your horse's neck, DROPPING THE REINS, and then raising your arms in various figures and motions about your body. Which I feel is not such a hot idea when riding on the county road!!

Anyway, I've been riding! Between Thanksgiving and the end of November, I rode I think 3 times: the first time about not quite 10 minutes, the second time a little over 10 minutes, and the third time nearly 20 minutes of riding! I tried riding with my reins clipped to the bit with the sliding sidereins still on - which Arabee hated. So I'm sticking with my reins on some sort of bitless device for a while until I can educate my hands enough to get along with my mare. I tried a few different arrangements - but so far really like what I've got now.

My current set-up is a loose ring snaffle hanging from a bit hanger, with the Dr. Cook's on top. My reins are attached to the bitless bridle, and the sliding sidereins are hooked up to the bit. Arabee goes really well in this - and while I realize it's totally a crutch - it boosts my confidence because when she gets super alert (such as when we rode past a place where two chainsaws were running, one of them is felling trees, all while two cars drove by) the sliding sidereins are there to remind her to keep her neck low - which is calming. Don't get me wrong - she still gets high headed, really she has nearly full range of motion with her neck - but the sliding reins through the bit remind her of her job. My reins on the bitless bridle guide her, without pain in her mouth because apparantly I have a lot of work to do in training my hands. Anyway, it works well now, with the short rides I'm doing. It would NOT work on a "real" trail ride - because she can't quite reach down to grab grass or water. I'm working on ways to get away from the sidereins, eventually - as I get my "exercises" worked on, I'll gradually lengthen them until I can ditch 'em. But seeing as I'm terribly sore-legged after my 20 minutes of walk and trot rides - we're a LOOOOONG ways away from an actual, haul-out-to-a-park and ride sort of trail ride.

So, I'm participating in the Big Bad Bloggers' Distance Ride - a virtual ride where you keep track of your riding miles from December 1st 2011 - November 30, 2012. So far I've ridden three times in December - for a grand total of: 3.25 miles!! My in-the-saddle time was 51 minutes, so my pace was about 3.8 mph. It may be turtle-slow, but I do not care because I have been having SO.MUCH.FUN!!! My last ride on Tuesday was the shortest, but I cantered my mare two times (on purpose!) and that was thrilling. She is such a good horse!

Thus far, my rides have been pretty much like this: catch Arabee, let her eat grass while I scrape the dried mud off her tack areas, bring her up for tacking up, then 5 minutes longing each direction, then clip on reins, check girth and ride the day's planned route, hop off, untack, allow her to graze more, then done. Short and sweet - but it's enough to put joy in my heart. :-)

Also, unless circumstances change drastically - the plan is to ride again tonight: from home, to the stop sign, and back (not quite 2 miles- I'll have to measure it before I can report it for the BBBDR) - which will be my longest ride yet for this season! I may throw in a few laps of the barn lot to make it an even 2.

And now my blog is up-to-date on what's actually been going on with my horse.

Step Two: Longe Line Work

2011-09-26T06:46:00.002-05:00

(FIRST, I feel it's important to mention that I am not qualified to give anyone advice on training their own horses. I'm writing these posts primarily so I can have a record of what I have done with Arabee. If you read my blog, and decide you want to try what I'm doing for yourself - just realize that I ain't no horse trainer!)

So, my horse already knows how to walk, trot, canter, and whoa on the longe line. She'll do it in a mannerly fashion without snorting, bucking, and farting like a wild thing, too. So, start with that as a goal with just a halter.

From there, it's time to tack up: saddle, snaffle bridle with flash or dropped noseband to support the bit, sliding side reins, and in Arabee's case, a crupper. I started with the longe line clipped to the halter. Later I moved to running the longe line through the bit, over the crown, then clip to the offside of the bit.

Adjust the sliding sidereins so that with the horse standing still, the sidereins are gently taut, not tight. Send the horse out at a trot, looking to establish a good gait rhythm, and so that the pair of rear legs, and pair of front legs, go apart about the same distance - then you know both fore and hind end are exerting about the same amount. (this may not make sense, probably not a good way to describe it w/out pictures)

Once you've achieved the first goal of establishing a good trotting rhythm with both front and back of the horse working equally - the next goal is to get the horse to reach for the bit. As I've read, this may happen nearly simultaneosly. Verbally praise the horse whenever they've even *thought* about doing what you want. If they've made a particularly grand effort, praise enthusiastically and gently ask for a walk - a good reward for a job well done.

Keep in mind your horse's fitness level - if you find those nostrils flaring - look for a chance to ask for a walk. "They" also say to change directions every 5 minutes to avoid fatiguing one side over the other.

In my experience, the first session or two I thought "wow, this is a waste of time my horse is NOT getting it at ALL!" but by the third longing session I saw some serious breathtakingly beautiful moments of improvement. Apparantly, this type of work is quite difficult for a fat pasture-potato, so it's best (per the books) to keep the first several sessions around 15 minutes in length, and not to expect the horse to be able to maintain the long-and-low, reaching-for-the-bit, engaging-the-hindquarters frame for more than a few strides at a time.

Gradually, Arabee has been able to go from a few strides of just long and low, to half a lap, to now nearly two full laps. And it's not just a simple long-and-low frame - it's difficult to describe, but quite lovely: all 4 legs, her back, belly, hindquarters, neck, and poll are all working energetically forward in a rounded, lovely Arabian fashion. But the very nice thing about using the sliding sidereins adjusted like I described above is that the action of the bit is gentle and encourages Arabee to stretch toward the bit, but yet she can absolutely raise and lower her head without punishing her mouth like she would have in fixed sidereins (even with a rubber donut). It allows her to build the correct muscles, but lets her take a break when she needs to due to fatigue.

This post is long enough. There's more to this initial longe work, but I'll save it for the next post.

Step One: Assemble Proper Equipment

2011-09-14T13:38:00.007-05:00

Ok, so here's what I'm using:

Snaffle bit. Mine is a loose ring snaffle, and has a very very thick mouthpiece, which I think in fact is thicker than Arabee would prefer. But "they" say a thicker mouthpiece is kinder to the horse. It measures 4 3/4" from ring to ring.

Bridle with a flash noseband. The Mary Twelveponies book called for a dropped noseband. I have another book about driven dressage (Carriage Driving: A Logical Approach through Dressage Training by Heike Bean and Sarah Blanchard) that details very carefully why a flash noseband is easier to adjust properly to suit the horse. This noseband is NOT used to keep my horse's mouth shut - but the way I understand it, the purpose of the flash is to offer support to the snaffle bit, which keeps it in a more steady position in the mouth.

Sliding sidereins. Here again I slightly differ from the Twelveponies book, in favor of my driven dressage book's recommendation. Rather than standard sidereins for lunging, I'm using sliding sidereins. I'll try to get a picture of my longing set-up in action, but in the meantime, they're sort of a cross between sidereins and draw reins. The sliding sidereins allow Arabee to go all "long and low" if she chooses, and in fact allow her to raise her head way up high and hollow if she chooses - but in general, these auxiliary reins encourage her to drop down and round up her back.

Good-fitting saddle. I think anyone reading this will recognize just exactly HOW elusive this item can be!!!! Or for the initial portion, a surcingle can be used. My no-withered mare requires also a crupper to keep anything back in place.

Longe line and whip. Mine has a rubber donut on the end, which I like - kind of insurance against getting pulled out of my hand. Along with this - GLOVES!!! I never, ever longe a horse without wearing gloves. No matter how well-behaved they *typically* are.

The Mary Twelveponies' book also recommends a dressage whip. My horse is QUITE forward enough at this point, thankyouverymuch - I don't anticipate her requiring a whip unless I'm in an arena in the heat of the summer day having consistent work. However, she did need one in the early stages of her training 10 years ago - she did not fully comprehend that leg=go forward - so a gentle tap with the whip was a good aid to have. I do have a lovely fly whisk that I've started carrying - I suppose I could use it as a whip if the need ever arose.

So that's it. Nothing fancy. In fact, I had everything I needed in my possession EXCEPT for the sliding sidereins, which I made myself for less than $10.

One of these days I will get a picture up, and I badly need to talk about what I've done with my saddling. I'm really wanting to wait though until I get the courage up (and the consistent attention of my mare enough) to canter. I feel I won't have a fair assessment until I've done that, really. And really, a longer trail ride (like 2 or more hours).

Next up: the longing part of dressage-y-re-training.

Just Quiet, trying some things, slowly

2011-09-14T12:27:00.004-05:00

Well, I haven't posted much. Again.

But I have been off and on working with Arabee.

For 2 nights in a row I've longed her, then rode for a few minutes.

Anyone ever read any of Mary Twelveponies books? I recently read Everyday Training: Backyard Dressage, which I requested via my local library system. I very much enjoyed it - it talks about how dressage training is essentially the basis (or can be) of all other riding. That, if you start with basic dressage principles, you can end up with a all-around, good, well-trained horse that you can go in nearly any direction with (of course, depending on its natural abilities) - jumping, western events, trail riding, whatever.

Also from the library, at the same time, I checked out Equine Fitness: A Conditioning Program of Exercises & Routines for your Horse by Jec Aristotle Ballou. Also a good, informative read - describing how to safely and progressively bring a horse along from unfit to fit, describing different tools and exercises to use depending on the horse's maturity as well as current level of exercise. One of the main things the book stressed was that even if you were going through the motions of the exercises in the proper order, for the right amounts of time, you would not be benefitting the horse UNLESS it was travelling in the proper posture. It essentially stated that if your horse was not moving properly (back up, haunches down) you could not expect to achieve fitness, just a sore, unhappy animal. (I originally stumbled upon this book when I searched info on building stronger stifles)

Okay, well, how to get my horse moving properly? I don't want a "headset" (which unfortunately is what I suckered myself into getting when I started Arabee when she was 4 years old). My goal is a horse who is engaging it's rear-end, light on the forehand, using it's back and neck in a fluid, supple way. You know, on the bit.

Hmm.

But.....don't I (and Arabee, too) want to ride bitless?

Yep. Hmm...

So back when I posted about the cousins riding, I had both girls riding in my rope halter that has a place on each side to clip reins. Arabee actually yielded to rein pressure very very nicely. It was beautiful to watch her engage for those girls, and she did very very well. BUT, in order to achieve that posture/frame, Arabee had constant (still gentle, but constant) pressure on her nose. I'm really not describing the details of why very effectively - but to me it was clear that for riding work in which I'm looking for a specific frame/body position from Arabee, that riding in that rope riding halter isn't ideal.

Okay. So I tried my Dr. Cook's bitless bridle again. Well, same thing - she went very well in it, and did yield pretty well - but I'd quit riding in it a loooong time ago - for the reason that there was no release from pressure - once the cross-under straps got tight, they stayed tight.

I have an S-hack, too. So I rode in it a few times again, hoping that I'd be able to achieve a light feel in the proper frame. Well, I could get a sort of high-headed, probably false "collection" - but anything resembling steering was out the window - and it seemed that Arabee just could not relax and get long and low in it, no matter how loose the rein.

So that left me out of bitless options to try. None of them seemed appropriate for the type of work I was wanting to do - retraining my horse using dressage principles, to achieve correct body carriage, to be able to properly work through some of the fitness and conditioning exercises laid out in the Equine Fitness book, in order to gradually and in a "makes-sense" sort of way bring my pasture potato to whole-body fitness - able to do long trail rides away from home without getting exhausted and sore.

So, I guess, what I'm really trying to say here....is that...I'm working on retraining my 14 year old mare to a snaffle bit again. Something that if I'd have just taken the time to do it right the first time (rather than look solely to head and neck carriage for a "headset") I could be done with all that and just be enjoying my super well-trained, all-around good horse.

In future posts, I intend to lay out details of exactly how I aim to go about doing this, what I'm doing, what my goal is with doing just that - progress, etc. It will very likely take a LONG time, due to my on-again, off-again riding schedule. But you know what - I'm having fun doing it, and Arabee still whinnies when she sees me, so I guess she's not tooooo perturbed about the whole bit thing.

I Rode Today!!!

2011-08-02T20:06:00.002-05:00

In my NEW ARENA!!!

Okay...so maybe it doesn't have special, manicured footing (although my dear husband DID mow it short for me in a perfect 20x40 meter rectangle) and maybe there are no dressage letters (but it DOES have tiny, orange surveying flags marking the corners and well....okay....I guess there isn't a fence, or any boundary at all, actually, aside from the visual of short grass vs. tall grass.

But really, for me, it was extremely helpful to have a boundary line on a specific riding area. Helped me firmly guide Arabee where I wanted her, and where I didn't, and it helped me make my circles more or less round.

It was definitely a lot of fun - even if I had to rush because I only had an hour from the time Matt said "well, do you want to go ahead and ride, even though there isn't much time?" and when he had to leave to go back into work again. Hurry - take off my boots, peel off the sweaty jeans, and try to pour myself into my breeches, put the boots back on, catch Arabee, get the saddle area clean, tack up, pick hooves, re-adjust the stirrups, realize that my helmet was back in the house (and also needed re-adjusting), and mount up....with less than 20 minutes left to actually ride, really more like 15, because I still had to untack and rinse my horse off (who, even though it was such a short ride, had ACTUALLY sweated enough to warrant needing hosed off).

Anyway...it was a fun ride, short as it was :-)

Last Week

2011-08-01T11:16:00.003-05:00

In preparation for the "big cousins weekend," where all the in and out-of-state cousins come in to the farm for a big reunion/get-together 3-day weekend - Matt told me that he thought I should be sure to ride Arabee so that she won't be too fresh for when the kids ride. The fact that my husband actually WANTED me to ride really made me grin.

So last Monday I saddled up and we "herded" the goats around the pasture - the one with a steep hill down to a creek bed, back up a steep hill, then around the pond. She was sore going uphill on the abscessed hoof, though on the flat or downhill she was good. I kept it short, and to a walk for the most part - it was definitely more of a mental workout - turning, stopping, walking with the goats to keep them moving in the way we wanted them to. Very fun. I keep saying one of these days we'll move on to cows.

So, I turned her back out to hopefully get stronger on her hoof, crossing my fingers that she'd be 100% by the time the girls came out to ride. And thankfully, she was! Well, on grass, anyway - still ouchy on gravel, but true and strong on grass. So, we kept to riding on the grass and all was well.

My husband's cousin's daughter (2nd cousin?) C is 13 years old, and had been taking lessons for a year and a half near their home in another state. Her family stayed at our house, and they came Wednesday evening, and she had asked ahead of time if she could ride Arabee. I agreed - and I am so glad I did - C did great, and so did Arabee, and it was fun. It was also so fun to get to watch someone else ride my horse - I got to see for myself what her gaits look like, and so on. C rode Thursday and Friday morning, and other cousins, L and C, who'd been taking lessons for a little longer though at a different part of the country rode on Saturday. It was fun to see their different experiences and personalities come out - I started each of them on the longe line, asked them to prove to me that they could get her to walk, whoa, trot, walk, whoa, change directions, then told them when they felt ready that I'd unclip them. I had to reserve the right to stay clipped on the youngest - she had been used to a more steady horse than Arabee. When they trotted, Arabee kept thinking she was wanting her to go faster by the way she was using her lower legs to hang on - so in the interest of safety she stayed on the longe line - but I hope she still had fun - I sure did! All three girls were a pleasure to work with, and I think showed quite a bit of potential for being excellent horsewomen!

So to recap, Arabee had to lug big ol' me around the pasture, and chase after goats on Monday, then got 21 days off.

On Thursday C rode on the grass in circles at the walk and trot. She tried canter but unfortunately the grassy area didn't allow for a large enough circle for Arabee to really feel balanced enough to canter more than a half-circle.

On Friday, C rode again - we started in the same area as she rode on Thursday, then we headed across the road to "trail ride" in the pasture, then went back to do more trot-work.

On Saturday, L rode for about a half an hour at the walk and trot, then it was her sister C's turn for a half hour.

Arabee got Sunday off - and I'm trying to figure out how I can build off of this good momentum of workouts and try to keep up a 3-4 rides/week schedule, starting with tonight. Maybe after the kids go to bed around 8:30?? It will still be light, but the mosquitos will be out....we'll have to see.

So this is what I think I've got:

2011-07-21T05:59:00.002-05:00

Weak, unconditioned stifles, that have become aggravated by fly-season stamping, and further weakened by decreasing turnout on hilly pasture from 24/7 to more like 8/7 (in the name of keeping her legs dew-free). Occasionally, her stifles will lock up, which is painful, it seems. Otherwise, if the stifles do NOT lock up, she is sound and comfortable. The left side locked up more often than the right - which would coincide with the fact that she prefers the left lead, prefers to have me not post on that diagonal.

Okay. Sound unless stifles lock. If they lock, it hurts, and causes her to be cautious about the next several steps, then she walks sound again. Everything I've found about locking stifles indicates that it's a problem caused either in growing horses (under 4) or where the muscles are lacking condition.

So, cautiously, I've begun riding with an emphasis on building strength in the hindquarters, especially. She's done VERY well, in the 3 times I rode probably only locked up twice.

The first two times we walked and trotted in the yard, and worked on the hill by the driveway at the walk. The third time (yesterday) I took her across the road into the woods pasture and went "trail riding."

Stayed at a walk the entire time, going up and down gradual hills, over ditches, over logs, carefully picking paths over tree roots - all that lifting of the legs over things is supposed to be excellent for building muscle strength. She did not lock up once the entire time. Yay!

And, on a somewhat related note, as I was picking her feet, on her left hind hoof, I found a tiny hole at her inside quarter on the white line - evidence of an abscess!! Which, I believe, totally explains her extreme reactions (even though they were inconsistent) walking over gravel. Tonight I will examine it carefully and try to see what I've got - if it needs further treatment or if it's healed enough on it's own for a trim to open the hole so that dirt/manure doesn't get packed in.

I have a good, willing-to-please horse. Hope I can keep her sound!

Thoughts

2011-07-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

Well, I've ordered some stuff. Some of it has come, some hasn't. Some won't for several weeks. It's not exactly what I posted about, either. I may or may not blog about it (though I probably will) but for now I'll wait a bit until I get everything and try out and see how I like them.

But....I've got another problem.

The first weekend in July I had made plans to ride with Jacke and try out a saddle to see how it worked, and I was very much looking forward to that - I love riding with her and it's been too long!

I went and picked up my breastcollar on Wednesday (it had been loaned out to someone else with a no-withers horse) and on Thursday went to fit it to Arabee again. I finally got it all adjusted the way I wanted and led Arabee out to get on, then proceeded to ride her around a bit, up and down hill, to make sure I had the crupper and breastcollar adjusted just right. Occassionally, and only on the gravel driveway, she would take a few super lame, hobbling steps, and then as soon as we were on grass again, walk normal. Sometimes she could walk on gravel just fine, for several strides, walk lame for a bit, then walk normal. It was very strange, and totally intermittent. Shoot! Well, I untacked, and decided to wait until the next day to diagnose any lameness - maybe she just stepped on a rock funny. Well, in the morning I went out and made Arabee walk around the pasture so I could watch, and it was no better, in fact, less intermittent and more consistently off - so I had to call and cancel the Saturday trail ride :-((((

Well, I kind of thought that she was dealing with an abscess. So I trimmed her hooves all nice and pretty, and poked around to try to find the sensitive spot. I thought that perhaps she was sore in her heels, from being out in dewy grass....so I started bringing her into the dry lot at night, and not turning her out until the sun burned off all the dew. Well, it improved the look of her hooves quite a lot, but it didn't stop her from continuing to be lame.

Now she's started to walk VERY short strided - it's her left hind leg - and every now and then it will "catch" and she won't be able to unlock her joint at the stifle or put any weight on that leg at all until it "un-catches." So now she has taken to full-time just reaching way far underneath herself with the left rear leg, and never allowing it to extend back, which is when it seems to catch.

Yet, she'll still gallop around the pasture.

I've done a lot of googling about this, and it seems that this may have been caused by weak muscles and that I'll need to strengthen those muscles - using exercises like uphill walking, ground poles, and collection exercises. I've also read that body-work, massage, and chiropractor adjustment can help with this, as well. I'm just not sure where to start - vet? equine chiropractor? exercises at home?

Arghhh! It seems that every time I get something 'fixed' - get better fitting tack, get the abscess healed, get this or that cut healed, get more time....seems like everytime I think I'm finally going to be able to just get out and ride SOMETHING else happens! I just want my mare to be comfortable, and both of us to be safe, and BOTH of us to ENJOY riding together! Even if it is just short, infrequent rides. Can it happen?

Here's What I'm thinking:

2011-06-29T08:09:00.003-05:00

For the next year or 2, my horse time is going to be had probably 0-3 times per week, about an hour of saddle time max at a time. I might get an occasional chance to haul out for a short trail ride - but this would be the rare exception, rather than the rule.

My goals will include working with Arabee on "scary" things - working through Rick Pelicano's book "Bombproof Your Horse" (in quotations because I can't figure out how to get it underlined.....) getting her used to dragging things from the saddle, me putting a coat on and off in the saddle, getting used to traffic and tractors and 4-wheelers from the saddle, walking on/through/over weird things......you know, things that would make her a safe, enjoyable pleasure horse! We're going to get really good at turns on forehand and hindquarters, and sidepassing. I want to be able to open a gate from her back and check the mailbox. I'm also going to continue working with Cora (I haven't posted yet that I put her on Arabee last weekend - she was sooo cute! And Arabee was an angel, too!) and teaching her basics - steering, walking, stopping.....on a leadline for the foreseeable future.

Ok - so...you know - all that is pretty low-intensity, easy stuff - at least physically, compared to legging up for endurance competitions in the hills! The things I have in mind are more mental exercises. But still, I will need a good-fitting saddle, or at least one that won't hurt her back.

My thorowgood broadback dressage saddle worked well in the past, but now is making a muscle-ridge, tightness thing right behind her withers that I notice when I take her saddle off. Massaging the area makes her relax again and smooth out - this is a sure sign of poor fit. If I don't have her wear her crupper, the saddle slips forward while longing. Also not a good sign of good fit. She doesn't really care to walk downhill when I'm riding in the saddle, and when we trot, she gives all-over body shakes, repeatedly. Yes, Arabee.....I hear you!

What I reallllly want is one of the endurance saddles that you can adjust to fit. The two I've been looking lately at are Specialized ($$) and Reactor Panel ($$). Yeesh! I'll have to work on saving up for a good treed saddle that I can adjust for varying fitness levels - maybe there are other brands out there I haven't discovered yet. Right now I'm not looking at putting too many miles or hours in the saddle, and really can't justify laying out that kind of cash right now. I've got a year or 2 before I'll realistically get to do any endurance competition (but I do think I'll REALLY enjoy 50's!! I've DEFINITELY been dreaming about doing Michigan's Shore-to-Shore ride, and have sorta kinda maybe thought about the Old Dominion 100. Maybe...heck, I haven't even *started* an LD yet....but a girl can dream!) Anyway, the point is, serious competition requires a really good fit.....but tooling around on CTC style obstacles on short pleasure rides just requires a good fit. I think my budget right now can get us good fit.....really good fit is going to have to wait.

For quite some time I've been eyeing the Little Joe Saddles - I've seen nothing but good reviews for them. Probably not as secure as a saddle - but they say you can mount from the ground with stirrups and they won't slip - and I know my riding will improve from riding a bareback-style saddle.

They recommend using breakaway stirrups - I'll probably go with the Side Step stirrups. Not particularly "traditional" looking - but who cares? They sound really comfy, and look like they'd be safer than my caged endurance stirrups (which are also not particularly "traditional" looking).

Now....to get synthetic, western-style fenders, or biothane stirrup straps? I'm leaning toward the fenders - but would love to hear from others why they'd choose straps over fenders. I'm thinking it may be just a personal preference sort of thing...but there may be more to it than I am aware of.

So that's what I'm thinking of starting with. And we'll see how that goes - I anticipate some problems cropping up though - so on the just-in-case shopping list (but I won't actually buy until the need presents itself is:

A sheepskin seat cushion. Not sure if this one will be perfect for the Little Joe/Western Fender combo......but it looks like a close fit to me. I'm a little worried that the top of the fenders will rub my leg - so if this cushion will extend far enough down to cover the fender top, then this should solve that problem (if it even becomes a problem....it may not bother me).

A spine-relief saddle pad. Leaning towards a Skito Treeless Half pad/Interpad with Dryback. Tell me if I'm wrong - but I'm having a hard time seeing why I couldn't use a treeless half pad under a treed saddle some day if I needed to? I know with a half pad I'd have to use some kind of thin pad as well - but those are cheap and easy to come by, and I think the pad that comes with the Little Joe would work. I like the idea of the dryback, too. BUT....if Arabee doesn't show any signs of discomfort with the Little Joe saddle and the pad it comes with - I'll leave well-enough alone and keep my $135+ in my pocket!! So this would be another wait-and-see item.

So...that's where I stand now. But we'll wait until after the 4th of July to do any ordering. Would love to hear any input on what I've just written about, positive or negative. None of it's ordered yet - I can still change my mind!! :-)

Looking forward to this weekend!!

One of these things is not like the other

2011-06-22T20:29:00.002-05:00

Took some pictures today. Arabee and her pasture-mates.

One day, maybe, I will take a photography class and learn how to take actual, real-good pictures. For now, I will have to settle for pitiful substitutes of the real thing. There is SO much beauty in this world, broken as it is. I was just awestruck this evening standing out in the yard, watching the clouds, puffing white, yet rainbow-colored at the same time. Amazing. I don't know if a camera even COULD catch that level of prettiness.

Pictures are nice, but they just don't match the real thing. I love having pictures, but something about looking through a lens at the world really distorts actually experiencing life. Kind of ironic that I'd post pictures on a day I talk about this, eh?

Hey, Guess What?

2011-06-21T04:45:00.002-05:00

I was wrong! I said I wasn't going to get to ride on Monday....well, turns out my volunteering was canceled, so now Monday evening was free. Not only was Monday evening free, but the arena down the road was open for use, as well!

So, I fixed up supper: chopped onions, sauteed in olive oil, browned deer burger, added a jar of tomato sauce, almost a pint of salsa, 2 cans of beans (kidney and black) and minced some garlic in my cast iron dutch oven. Put the lid on, stuck it in the oven at 250* and voila - supper would be ready when I got back home!

Then as soon as Matt got home he hitched up the truck to the trailer for me, while I caught up Arabee and brushed the mud off and saddled her up. It's only 1 mile to the arena, so I thought I'd try hauling her with the saddle on this time. It went fine - no issues, but I would not likely do it for longer distances. Pulled up, unloaded, and put her in the arena and tied her up while I shut all the gates. It was 4:52pm.

It took her about 20 minutes of walking around and seeing all the sights and free-longing in the arena before I felt like I had her attention even somewhat enough. So I girthed up and got on, started walking around but I felt like a fly on her back - she was paying me no mind! So.....I got back off and free-longed some MORE (next time I will bring my longe line!!). She looked absolutely GORGEOUS - sleek coat, lovely arched neck, ears at attention, tail up, smart gaits....just b.e.a.u.t.i.ful! I kept her moving until I got an ear.....which took a very long time (it seemed like). Part of the problem was (I think) that she'd not seen another equine animal in....well, a very long time - not since I took her to the vet last fall. And also someone had come to bring some of the horses into their stalls for the night, which she thought required super-high alert. Ha.

So finally I got back on, and she just was "up" still....so I tried using seat, hands, legs, voice to get her mind on me. No luck. Darn! I was thinking my arena session hadn't turned out quite the way I wanted it to! Well, I thought - this just isn't safe - I was riding a stick of dynamite with a short fuse, which was making me scared, and tense, which in turn was making her even more nervous (you know how that goes...). So I got off again, and went to go get something to work her brain.

This place is wonderful, they have barrels, a mailbox, a basketball goal, poles - many different obstacles which are used for the therapeutic riding program. I chose barrels, as they are much less tippy. So I lead Arabee up to the barrels, and pushed one over on it's side (she nearly left the county!) and started to roll it (kick it) to the middle of the arena. I encourage her to touch it w/ her nose, and push it with her feet. Repeat this process 3 more times, only with less jumping back and snorty behavior. Apparantly, she'd misunderstood my request, because at one point she made a flying leap from a standstill over the barrel! I was very impressed - she went from stock still to cleanly flying right over the barrel - I was equally glad that I was standing out of the way at the time, as well!

Anyway, I got 4 barrels out, and set them up in the center of the arena in a square. I used them to bend around, to walk circles, and figure 8's and a variety of patterns around. It worked well in getting her brain focused on something other than ogling all around. Once she was focused, I worked in trotting the diagonals, and trotting in a circle around all the barrels, but my square was too small to do that successfully. So I hopped off and moved them out to make a larger rectangle, and we did the same thing as before only at a walk and a trot.

She gave me some really nice sitting trots, but anytime we'd get out farther than 15-20 ft from our barrels she'd quit focusing on me and start watching the arena walls. At one point, at the trot, she tossed her head, and the rein flipped over her ear (she really doesn't care for having her ears touched) which got me thinking uh-oh...but it turned out just fine.

It was a good evening. Started off sorta rocky, but I was able to get her focus on me, and she performed really well after that. My biggest concern/frustration right now.....is.....does her saddle fit!?! I honestly don't think it does....at all...visually it seems like a nice match along the front, width-wise, but there is NOT enough wither clearance. She's been giving all-over body shakes a lot, too - which could be caused by fly-season...OR poor saddle fit. When we rode on Saturday she was extremely hesitant/reluctant to go downhill, even a slight downhill, and when I take the saddle off there's an awkward bump (it is swelling, or is it muscle tightness?) just in front of the saddle by her withers. I need to try to check saddle fit without the pad - I have an extremely thick coolback pad - it doesn't leave much room. So anyway....I'm just hoping things are not what they seem - a better-fitting saddle is not even remotely in the budget right now, but if her saddle fits her as poorly as it seems to, I'm either looking at keeping to a walk on perfectly flat ground for extremely short periods of time, or....riding bareback. Neither of which are particularly appealing! So we'll see - I won't ignore my horse's well-being..........but for right now I've got my eyes squeezed shut, fingers in my ears...pretending I don't see what is right in front of me......

Rode on Saturday

2011-06-20T06:59:00.002-05:00

I rode on Saturday again.

When I went to catch Arabee, boots and breeches and helmet (on this time, didn't leave it out of sight when I went out to catch her with the halter) she stood waaaaay in the back of the pasture. Head up, ears up, standing at attention in the middle of the cows, calves, and right next to the bull! Just stood there, watching me walk up......and when I got about 20 feet away, she bolted straightaway to the gate where I had begun calling her from! A few calves began to go with her, but turned away when they saw me coming.

She stood in the paddock area waiting for me while I trudged back the gentle uphill where I had hoped she'd come to me in the first place. I shut the gate so she'd have no opportunity to run away again, then haltered and saddled her. I wasn't mad....but I HAD decided that if she felt like running, she could do some on the longe line so I put on my gloves (I NEVER longe without gloves!!) hooked her up, and we took a few laps at the trot and canter - maybe 3-4 in each direction. She was responsive, calm, and it actually took quite a bit of effort on my part to get a canter out of her.

I clipped on the reins, unclipped the longe line, and mounted up. We walked circles around the barn lot driveway, while my husband and children fed calves and ran here and there in the Ford diesel pickup. Arabee's not too thrilled with the wrench rattlin' sound that thing makes, and when I could hear him driving in, I asked for a trot back to her familiar tacking up area, and we waited as they drove past to the house, no drama.

Oh my, it felt so good to trot my horse! Shoot, it felt great just walking around. She was moving so freely beneath me, calm and on a loose rein, and I was even pushing her comfort levels a bit (I took her down the road a bit, off property....she was not comfortable with that on our ride on Wednesday, but was really good about it this time). I have no clue how long we were out, but it was beautiful, wonderful, perfect....a better buzz than any drink! How is it that riding a horse can put a silly smile on a grown woman's face and leave it there for days? I'm not complaining, but I sure don't understand it!

After the ride, I had planned a quick touch-up on her hooves, I got a few surprise visitors - Luke and Cora had wandered up to the barn, so I opened up the back of the Jeep that was parked in the shed and told them to stay inside the jeep, while I rasped Arabee's hooves. That worked out pretty well. They got bored pretty quickly, and started climbing all around the inside of the jeep, but it didn't seem to bother Arabee.

I doubt I get the opportunity to ride tonight, and definitely not Tuesday....but I think both myself and my husband will try to push to find more opportunities for me. I think we'd both forgotten how pleasant I am on horses.

I rode Yesterday

2011-06-16T08:31:00.002-05:00

Got the kids to bed early, they were T.I.R.E.D. from our camping trip that we'd taken, I left the house at 7:34pm in breeches and boots and helmet in hand.

Whistled for Arabee, and she came galloping in with the goats.

Got her out, looked her over, tacked up, thankfully noticed that the buckle on the rein was not all the way in, fixed that, reviewed that stirrups are not scary (no big deal, for her this time) then got up.

Just walked, stopped, turned, doing my best to stay in both of our comfort zones. I don't want a rodeo. Just want a calm, quiet, safe ride. And I hadn't ridden my horse in a LONG time, and didn't longe her first, either.

It was fun. By the end my legs were trembling like jello, it was plainly time to stop for the night, though I still had plenty of daylight.

When I got in the house, I was surprised to see the clock read 8:34!! I'd only been out an hour!

Summertime Mare

2011-06-07T06:14:00.002-05:00

You know what - I'm really not sure why I post these boring posts.....but I really love writing - helps me get my thoughts together. Now, why I feel like it's worth posting to blogger vs. just typing up and deleting? Or just staying in a file on my computer? Eh...I don't know. I guess it's fun to share your thoughts, even if they are one-sided.

Arabee's been 24/7 pastured. Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand - it's super easy - turn her out, she has plenty of roughage (good for horses) access to fresh water and a shelter. She's around other animals (goats, and cow/calf pairs). Actually, she's been really sticking around the cows, and I REALLY hope she picks up on their calm demeanor. I've seen Quarter Horses who live with Arabians begin to act very arab-like....you know, more reactive, higher-headed, trot more floaty, do the tail over the back thing - it's quite comical, really to see how hard they try to be like their friends. Peer pressure, I guess? lol

But, anyway....the drawback for her to being out on pasture 24/7 is that I have seen her scratches begin to come back, and she's bug-bitten. Though, her feet look beautiful!

She looks soooo pretty and sleek! I really desperately crave spending more time with her, and riding her. And it's mutual. The other day, I walked out from the house and called out to her, and she walked eagerly up to me. I offered her a scratch, then started walking for the barn - she came along as if I had haltered her and had a lead rope. She didn't want to leave when I turned her back out, either.

But - and I'm not complaining here, honest!!! I am so amazingly blessed: garden is coming up BEAUTIFULLY (though it takes work to keep it that way), my flower beds around the house are really coming together, my children are growing in amazing ways: Cora can write her name (mostly...she has some trouble with the 'R'....she's 3.5 years), Luke is running, walking, climbing, learning new words to say all the time - he's 1.5 years. I feel like I can never keep the house clean enough to be comfortable - though thank God we have one - I can't stop thinking about Joplin, or parts of Alabama where the tornadoes destroyed so many homes.....completely DESTROYED them....Anyway, and I gotta feed my family - though I really enjoy cooking - it's become a fun creative outlet for me. So all these commitments require my presence. (it's so nice to be NEEDED!) :-) My husband is so hard-working, working full-time off-farm, and during the summer months nearly full-time on-farm. It's just, and I think some parents are different, but....I just can't see letting my kids run around while I groom Arabee, especially not during fly season! And that's just grooming, not to mention actually tacking up and going for a ride! So, I need to have my husband available to watch the kids if I want horse-time. And right now, in this season....that AIN'T happenin'!!

I keep wracking my brain to try to think of a way to make things work out so I can work with (play with) Arabee, because I firmly believe "If you really want to do something, you'll find a way to make it happen" but I think I am just in a season of life right now as a stay at home mom of two young children who's married to a part-time farmer (and believe me, I am incredibly, amazingly blessed to be that woman!!!!) that I can't truly let horse-time be a priority, no matter how much I may want to. It's getting closer to where Matt will be able to take both kids along with him when he's farming - Cora's ready, but Luke just....we'll - he's 1.5!! Kids do foolish things, and need supervision to keep them safe around farms and horses. Things Luke thinks are fun: climbing on the tractor and pulling all the levers, poking the dog in the eye, standing in mud-holes that go partway up his shins (and let's be honest....when you're on a farm....mud isn't always just pure mud....more of a mud/manure mix!) - anyway.....the point is that the boy must always be within sight to prevent him from incurring bodily injury right now. And that's ok! He's a little boy and he won't stay little long. I'm working hard to remind myself of this - my children are so precious, and won't stay small and innocent for long, it would be foolish of me to resent their need for supervision, rather, I need to cherish this time with them. I have the rest of my life to pursue horse things, and in the mean-time, if I get a spare hour or so, sure I can run out and try some horse-time, and I can cherish that time, too, if it comes. But I don't need to force it.

To all you high school girls who are horse-crazy, consider this carefully: Before you decide to buy the horse of your dreams while you're in high school, try really hard to get your horse time some other way. There are many out there who aren't being ridden that you could probably borrow. I know, true - there's nothing quite the same as having your own horse that you can bond with. Believe me, I know! And it is a special, special thing. But honey - you're in high school - no actual responsibilities (I know, easy to say looking back...but it really is a different ballgame when it's you not your parents doing the house payment, the grocery shopping, the meal prep, the car maintenance....Thank you, Mom and Dad!!!) sure you have time for horses now! But you're life is about to change beyond what you can imagine. College of some sort, whether it's beauty school, or a 4-year degree, or whatever, then choosing and securing a career, maybe getting married, maybe having children.....who knows. I sure had no clue! And horses live a very long time, and are very EXPENSIVE to keep. Just, just think about it long and hard - will you be fair to yourself and your horse if you buy one in high school? You can buy a lot of riding lessons with the money it takes to buy a horse, and maintain one.

Here's a brief re-cap of Arabee's history: Born in 1997. Purchased by me in 2000. Shown in 4-H and Class A Arabian shows after I broke her to saddle myself - we had a blast! In Fall of 2003 I went to college, went on a trail ride with Arabee where I was unseated and got a compression fracture in my spine, and got my confidence shaken, besides that I only saw my horse on the weekends, occasionally. Pretty mare was rarely ridden for 3 years. In 2005 I was married and we moved the horses to the farm, where she again, was rarely ridden until the fall of 2008, when I started riding again after my daughter was almost a year old. Started training for an LD in 2009, when that was siderailed for my pregnancy and her injury to the hoof/coronet. Started training again in winter 2009, for an LD IN 2010, when that was sidetracked by the reality of life with toddlers and a farm. Here we are, 2011. Mare in the pasture, me only dreaming of riding. I think I've just described a somewhat common scenario, different in the details - but basically a horse that while it is well cared for, it doesn't have a job. Wrong, no. Ideal? I don't think so. I think horses like to have a job. I also think they like to eat grass and get fat, although they make a mighty expensive pet.

You know, I'm not saying that it was a mistake for me to have Arabee. I'm glad I do! I just wonder how things would be different now. Maybe I wouldn't feel so guilty: When-I-Ride, because I'm not taking care of my family, and When-I-Don't-Ride, because I'm not taking care of my horse. How does a horse-crazy momma choose?

Little Bit by Little Bit

2011-05-16T12:04:00.002-05:00

Well, I did end up washing Arabee last week - it went well. It loosened up a lot of her winter coat, which she's missing now as I type this because it turned off chilly again this week - in the 40s-50's at night. But she still has a lot of fuzz around her muzzle and on the tender skin around her legs - she'll slick up very soon when the weather heats back up!

After I bathed her, I worked M-T-G in her dock, and in the crest of her mane, and put sunscreen on that itchy patch where her neck meets her chest where the bugs bite but she can't reach them.

I also went ahead and started on her hooves, rasping a good rollover on the toe of both front hooves.

She stayed in the dry lot overnight, then stayed in the pasture all day Friday, then back to the lot Friday night. Saturday afternoon I haltered her, finished rasping her front hooves, groomed her, then carefully checked her tail and crest for ticks - I found 5! Ick....

It misted rain all day on Sunday, so she stayed in the lot all day, then I pulled her out for a little bit of hand grazing and I did a roll on the toes of her hind feet. I scratched her itchy spots, mane and tail included, but didn't comb her over for tick since she hadn't been in the pasture at all that day. I went ahead and stalled her overnight, because I am wanting to try to keep her legs dry to prevent scratches from coming back this summer.

She wasn't bad about it this morning when I went to let her out of her stall - didn't try to run me over at all when I opened the door. But she was very glad that I opened the gate to the pasture. I hope to be able to finish rasping her hind hooves later this evening, but I may not get a chance until Tuesday.

Is there anyone who makes a product that will keep ticks off of horses? We use Frontline on the dogs, and it works great - what do others do to keep their horses pest-free??

Buggy

2011-05-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

Finally had enough! On Tuesday I said to my husband - I AM going to groom my horse. I had to. Even if I never find time to actually ride, I have to at least care for her physical needs. So I groomed her really well all over on Tuesday afternoon, then turned her back out.

Happily, her frogs are in great shape! She does need a trim, and I will find time for that over the weekend. And the scratches on her lower legs are gone! She has become a roly-poly fat thing after getting green grass turnout - and I think what I'll do, both to prevent the scratches from returning, and to keep her from getting even fatter yet, is stall her at night when the grass is wet - that way she can't eat, and her legs and feet will stay dry. Maybe I can teach her to pee on command, too - after she gets out of her stall in the morning? We'll see!

She's still got some bug bite marks where she's been rubbing to scratch itches, and those need some care. Tonight I am going to bathe her, and really give her a thorough cleansing scrub from poll to tailbone. One of the benefits of being married to a farmer is having a big water tank - Matt filled it with water last night, so it won't be as cold as it would have been had it been straight from the hose! It's getting hot, but not hot enough yet that we need ground temperature water! So anyway, after the bath I'll apply some sort of lotion to help those rubbed patches heal.

It may not be riding, but it's a step toward horsey-time.

Still fuzzy.....but on grass, now!

2011-05-03T13:53:00.002-05:00

It's been raining here for days and days and days. We've had so many inches of rain I don't even want to wager a guess - but it's soggy.

I haven't ridden since the last time I posted (probably no surprise there, since I'd only just started back to riding since the wet spell) but Arabee has been getting her heart's desire - pasture turnout with tall, green, spring grass!

She's been getting ticks, too.....poor mare - I've never seen her have so many all up and down her mane. I think it's because she's the sole horse - she and Jack always used to groom each other, which probably helped remove ticks from the crest of the mane. I really need to commit to at least getting her out and grooming her daily - if not riding regularly.

It's just...well, May, and I'm married to a farmer who also has a full-time off-farm job, and I have 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old children. Which means spare time for riding = essentially non-existant. But I am a firm believer in that a person MAKES time for what's really important.

So do I make time for the horse right now, or do I find a 'free to a good home' pasture mate who can tooth-scratch Arabee's itchy mane for her? That is the question. However, I don't see either one being a realistic option given the circumstances.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Mare

2011-04-04T11:25:00.002-05:00

Rode yesterday afternoon. It was sunny and WARM (high 70's) but very windy. Very.

I tied Arabee with the blocker tie ring, started grooming the mud and loose hairs off - her summer coat wants very much to come out! She was jumpy - the windy gusts making "monsters" bang around. I thought 'this could be interesting' and proceeded to saddle up, pick feet, attach one end of the reins to the lead rope spot of our riding halter.

I'd planned on riding in the winter lot by the barn where she lives right now (until April 15 - our turn-everything-out-on-pasture day) so I led her in and, oops, she rubbed a stirrup on the post by the gate, and rushed past me, accidentally knocking my ankle with the wall of one of her hooves. Ouch, but not too bad, really.

So after that and the stirrup freak-out episode of the last ride, I felt it prudent to go ahead and review the stirrup thing. So I flopped the stirrups all around, and took off the rein and sent her around me in the lot - walking and trotting - but it was such an extreme effort for me to get her out of a walk and she was handling the presence of flopping stirrups so well that it was obviously time to just get on and ride already.

So, I did. All we did was walk around on a loose rein, turning, whoa-ing and practicing on sublety - after a little while she was doing a fabulous job of just walking where I would look - it was great. Eventually, we both got a little bored with the walking/turning thing and started to "herd" the goats - if they were standing outside of the barn, I'd try to turn them (sort of pretending they were calves). It was silly, but fun. Maybe if I get brave this summer I'll try her on actual calves, although they're bigger and much faster.

Anyway, it was fun, I achieved my goal of riding a relaxed ride with no point aside from having fun and getting my legs tired (which I achieved in the short 20 minute ride time...sad)

Adventures on a String!

2011-03-26T13:43:00.002-05:00

So maybe the title sets this up as more exciting than it really was...

Did chores, filled up a hay bag for Arabee, then tied with the blocker tie ring II (got that last fall, really like it!) and groomed and saddled her while she ate her hay.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out for my mom to do the longing - so my husband offered (very hesitantly) to do it instead. You see, the man loves me, but he does not love horses, but he recognizes how much happiness I gain from being around them, so he tries to be supportive of it all the while being nervous that I'm going to be injured, which unfortunately makes me (because I love him and don't want him to be nervous) feel bad about riding because it makes him uncomfortable. And anyway, a nervous guy holding a longe line really doesn't impart much confidence to a large prey animal.

So we started out with me longing her, just walking around to get both her and Matt used to the idea of longing quietly but she was high headed and jumpy (see above paragraph). So I go ahead and decide maybe she needs a little workout first, so I urge her into a trot, which is going fine except she's really unsure of the sound of the stirrups flopping against the saddle, which makes her trot cockeyed with short, choppy steps, which made the stirrups flop even more, which made her break gait into a fast canter, which flopped the stirrups louder and harder, which made her bolt around as fast as she could on the longe. Great. Just the little confidence-building exercise I had hoped for! (not)

So Matt walks away to go work on the corn planter while I work on Arabee and getting her accustomed to the sounds and sensations of stirrups (how could we have missed this previously?!? or perhaps she'd forgotten). Which was quite dizzying - her whirling around me while I clung tight to the longe line in one hand and flopped the stirrups with the other. Finally she calmed down and was willing to stand still with her head held high and ears back while I flopped the stirrups, and so we went back out on the longe again, me certain that she would calmly trot about, aware of the stirrup-flopping but not too concerned over it. HaHa...we had more bolting, so we tried more flopping, then she did finally become accepting of it to the point where I considered her "safe".

Keep in mind....all I had wanted to do with her this day was to walk around in slow circles on the longe line while I worked MY butt off (or inner thighs, rather...) working to get those horseback riding muscles back in shape. It was not supposed to be a workout for the horse, at all. Well, I guess you work with what you've got.

She was warm and sort of sweaty at this point - not lathered, though, and I had my helmet and riding clothes on and everything, so I called Matt back over and it all went downhill again (see paragraph on "nervousness") I told him to take like 5 deep breaths, and see, she's doing just fine, exactly what I want her to, and worked on coaching someone, who in all fairness, had never in his life ever pictured himself holding the end of a rope attached to a 900 lb flight animal (who in his estimation is ridiculously flighty) with his dearly loved wife sitting on top. He and she got better, and calmer, and I ended up working on two-point, and keeping good lower-body position in the saddle. I still had to steer, since our circle was more Easter-egg shaped than round, but still it was good for my muscles, which again - that was the whole point of the exercise for me. I didn't get to do the trunk twists, or both arms out, but I did do one arm at a time.

And it was good. I got to do what I wanted to do (pretty much), and I got a good dose of reality when it came down to working with an Arabian mare who'd been out of regular work for almost an entire year. And hopefully, if I keep doing things this way - the slow way is the fast way - the way where you do stupid, beginner-rider things like riding on a longe line, or just doing practice turns in a small, confined area, hopefully, if I do things this slow way, I'll be able to convince both myself and my husband that riding horses isn't as recklessly dangerous of an activity after all.

Out of shape!

2011-03-25T12:15:00.003-05:00

I believe I can say now that I have finally shaken off the last of the soreness from my ride on Monday. Early this morning I could still feel a slight ouchiness in my inner leg muscles.

Seriously.

I had only ridden for 15 minutes!! That is sad.

But what's very exciting is that my parents are coming down to visit tonight, and I have asked my mom if she'd be willing to hold a longe line for me so I can work on balance and strength building exercises without having to worry about steering. She said yes, and since I was sore so long after a short 15 minute ride, I think we'll keep this one to about 30 minutes, tops, so I think we'll have time to squeeze it in. I bet if I ask her she'll tell me when I'm leaning forward too much, or if my legs are in the wrong position, too.

I think I'll go ahead and ride with stirrups. Haven't decided for sure if I'll use reins or not, since she'll be on the longe line. I've been volunteering for a therapeutic riding center, and I'll do some of the warm up exercises used there: airplane wings (arms straight out to the sides), arms straight up, and trunk twists (hands on your hips, twist and twist!). Maybe I'll practice riding in two-point, maybe I'll swing my arms in circles, maybe I'll ride with one arm pointing forward and one arm pointing backward, then switch. I know these things are going to be helpful in getting my core strength and balance in the saddle closer to where they should be.

I just hope it doesn't rain!

Anyone else have any favorite exercises that they like to use?

I Rode Today

2011-03-21T19:48:00.002-05:00

So, I rode today! First time since last April.

It was fun, it was short (only about 15 minutes saddle time) we walked and trotted and turned and whoa-ed and it was all rusty and awkward but right at the same time.

My little mare has really calmed down a lot. Today is Monday, and I'd only just groomed her a few times in the last week - no longing or handwalking yet we still had a nice quiet first ride back. Felt good.

The Horse who Shares with Goats

2010-11-06T05:42:00.005-05:00

Even if reluctantly.

Actually, the little doe kid that's turned away from Arabee in the bottom picture, or the one farthest left in the top picture, has formed a special bond with Arabee - she's nearly always sharing her hay. I'm not 100% sure there's more to their relationship than the food value Arabee's sharing, but still, it's sweet to see her having a pal.

Notice her stand-out mane? Over the summer she'd rubbed the middle section of it down to nothing, and I'd decided to clip the whole thing off so it would grow back in evenly. I kept putting it off, and finally did it a few days after Jack died. I have his tail hair and her mane hair, I'm thinking I will have it braided together into a belt perhaps. I think the white/gray tail hair and the bronze/chestnut mane hair will complement each other, not only in color, but as a remembrance of the 10 years the horses spent as companions. I'd love to find a horsehair artist somewhat locally if I can, but if not I have found someone online, I believe located in Michigan.

Fitness and Carriage Rides

2010-08-30T12:00:00.003-05:00

(I've been meaning to write this post for quite some time now, but just never forced myself to sit down and type. It's about time I found something to write so I have a more cheery post at the top of my blog. )

I stopped taking time to ride Arabee in April because it's something I can't do with my children. I expect to get more time this winter to ride, but after a few weeks of not much physical activity I found a second-hand (but in great condition) double jogging stroller and started training to run a 5k race (3.1 miles).

My goal before the end of 2010 is to be able to run from my driveway, to the stop sign North of our house, then turn around and continue South to that stop sign, then back home, which is a hilly distance of about 3.5 miles. I don't push myself very much, really, but right now I can run for about 2 minutes at a time, then take a walking break to catch my breath, and so on. Eventually I'll get there.

But I'd entered a 5k Fun Run that supported the Ronald McDonald House back in June, held at the Indianapolis Canal - a beautiful paved course that follows the canal, pretty much completely flat. Which was a lot of fun, I probably ran about half the time, walked half the time, alternately, and learned that I had a lot of training to do before I could keep up a running pace the whole time. But I'll get there. It's good for me, I think, as someone who is aspiring to compete "someday" in endurance - if I'm asking my horse to compete, maybe I ought to have a clue what it's like to be physically in shape! And besides all that, I'm losing baby weight, too :-)

Well, the whole family made a mini-vacation out of this fun run. We traveled up to Indianapolis and checked into a hotel just across the street from the NCAA Hall of Champions (where the race was to begin and end) with a pool, had dinner in town, and walked around the Circle Center Mall a bit. My daughter was amazed by many of the sights of the big city, including but not limited to: man hole covers, newspaper stands, and elevators......we need to get her out more. haha!

Before we checked into the hotel we stopped by Yellow Rose Carriage's downtown stable. I had worked there for several summers as a carriage driver and it was such a great place to work. It was such a great feeling to stop in unannounced at their barn and see how everything was still in perfect condition. The horses' stalls were spotless, fans were running to keep them cool (it was unusually hot for June when we were there) the harness was all hung up neatly and clean, the carriages parked nicely, ready for their next shift. It just felt really good to stop by and see how very very well everything was being taken care of for the horses.

I wasn't able to talk to the manager/owner - she had taken a couple of the horses to the equine chiropractor. I know there's a good amount of controversy over horse-drawn carriages in some cities, but the horses at Yellow Rose have the good life. If you find yourself in downtown Indianapolis, take a ride with a Yellow Rose Carriage - it's a great company who treats their horses very very well.

We had a really nice ride through the city - it is so relaxing to sit back and take in the city surroundings at the relaxed speed of the draft horse's walk, and comforting to know that the horse pulling the vehicle has received the best of care. Keep up the good work, YRC!

In Memory of MW Jack Daniels, 3/29/1980-8/4/2010

2010-08-06T07:49:00.006-05:00

Above: A photo of Jack in his retirement years.

Jack was my first horse, a 15 year old gelding. He’d won many halter championships as a young horse and then showed Western Pleasure for many years before my family found him. My dad built a very nice 4 stall barn and a nice 3 rail wooden oak board paddock and the previous owner delivered him after school on Friday, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. I was ecstatic. I was eleven years old and had my first horse. I’d paid half with my own money; both my name and my mom’s name are on his registration papers.

So Jack got the privilege (burden?) of teaching me how to own a horse. He was so patient when he needed to be, and ornery enough to keep me on my toes when I learned enough that he didn’t have to babysit me anymore. He did nearly all the classes offered at the county 4-H fair, and did me proud when I took him to the Arabian shows. If I asked him to do it, he gave me his all.

Left: showing at the county fair.
Center: the day he arrived, he would’ve walked right in had I let him.
Right: Mom holding Jack after my sister and I helped him play “dress-up” – what a patient horse he was.

He had a beautiful rocking horse canter, and he loved to be ridden. He was willing to go any way you asked him to. Jack and I got to the point in our partnership where if I simply looked, he would go – no need for rein or leg to guide him.

Eventually, at 14.2 hands high, I outgrew my little Jack and began riding Arabee, and we tried to loan him out as a lesson horse. The little stinker wouldn’t do it, I had reports of him bucking all the way around the arena whenever they tried to ride him. This I couldn’t believe so I had to see for myself, and when I got there they had me ride him. My horse was as good as pie for me, not a single buck or even a tail shake. Looks like as much as I had claimed Jack, he had claimed me, and so we gladly brought him back home.

I rode him occasionally on pleasure rides, and he was always so eager to go, but a perfect gentleman, ears pricked forward happily but after only a short time he would start short-stepping and show discomfort, even at the walk, so I kept his rides short and infrequent since he clearly enjoyed going. Eventually when he was stiff from the very beginning of the ride it was clear that he needed to be retired as a riding horse. So Jack became a pasture pal for my mare Arabee and we maintained his health and hoof care, and decided that as long as he was still comfortable, he would live out his days with me.

Above: one of my senior pictures taken with Jack.

So both Jack and Arabee moved to my new life as a married woman in 2005, and he never was ridden once in the last 5 years. He loved having acres of pasture to roam and graze on the farm, and his existence was about as good as it could be if you were a horse, I think. He didn’t have much left in the way of teeth, and was on senior horse feed as much as he would eat. He always was a hard-keeper and a thin horse, and every winter in the last few years, I’d think he would look awful once his thick winter hair shedded out, but he’d put on weight again in the spring and keep on going. My husband and I were somewhat surprised he’d made it through this last winter; it had been very cold this year. But, he did, and a part of me was almost beginning to believe he was going to live on forever.

But, as he was checking the animals on the afternoon of August 4th my husband called my cell phone to tell me that I needed to come out and check on Jack, he just wasn’t right. So I turned off the burners on the stove (supper could wait) and jogged up to the paddock, and what I saw was not good. My sweet gelding was in obvious pain laying flat on his side, looking back at his belly and drenched in sweat. He had rubbed his sides raw from rolling, and right away I called the vet. I had just never seen Jack be so distressed, in pain, and miserable, and as a retired 30 year old horse I owed it to Jack to as best I could make his last hours as comfortable as possible.

The vet arrived within 30 minutes, and gave him Banamine and said that if we could get him back up to keep him walking. He said if the Banamine helped then he’d have a strong chance of pulling through the colic. Unfortunately, the Banamine never seemed to make a difference in Jack’s comfort level. We felt that the humane thing to do was to have the vet put him down so he wouldn’t have to suffer any longer. I don’t want to describe too clearly what the poor horse was going through, but I’ll just say it was clear that we made the right decision.

It was a hard night, and a hard morning as I explained to my nearly three year old daughter what had happened. I kept his forelock and tail hair as a memento, but I’ll always have many happy memories of my 15 years spent with a very special horse. I will miss him very much :'(

Above: Jack pausing from his frolic around his new surroundings the first day we moved him to where we live now.

A Good Kind of Busy

2010-04-20T04:57:00.003-05:00

I had been going back and forth so much in my mind about whether to compete in our first LD this last weekend, until Thursday night when I finally decided not to try it! Talk about last minute! It was a very good decision.

I'd been getting pretty grumpy here lately because while I LOOOOVE my horse time, and really enjoy riding, it seemed as if I never saw my husband! I was anxious for him to get home from work, not necessarily so I could see him, but so I could run out the door and ride the horse. It seemed like I spent all of his free time on the back of my horse, or trimming feet, or cleaning tack, or detangling mane. We keep a busy schedule, between my husband having a fulltime off farm job that requires him to be reachable by phone 24/7, part time (evenings and weekends) on the farm where we have goats and beef cattle to feed and check on, tractors and equipment to maintain, manure to spread, calving going on, and then maintaining our house and vegetable gardens (we can tomatoes, green beans, freeze corn, dig our own potatoes, and so on - we try to raise enough to last us for the whole year), and then I haven't even yet mentioned our 2 year old and 5 month old children, who keep us very busy in the happiest way.

But, over this winter, with the colder temperatures nicely removing a lot of the outdoor chores, it was easy enough for me to take the time to ride 2 or 3 times each week. We still had enough time to do some things all together as a family. But now that it's warmed up and every spare minute is spent doing necessary things, it's clear that my riding habit has to change until our load lightens up. I'm okay with that. I'm not okay with me spending our only free time on my own with my horse, instead of with my family of 4 getting to enjoy seeing my children play with their daddy and me. To be honest, while I truly loved the time spent riding, during the first part of April I was really starting to crave more family time. My children are only going to be little once. For now during our busy spring planting season, Arabee just will not be the priority. Too many other things that are more important in the grand scheme of things.

And this last weekend, when Chicken Chase was happening, I was disappointed that I didn't get to ride, but on the other hand, I really didn't get the chance to think about it. I had some really fun time spent with my family and extended family. We planted some garden, checked fence and turned the cattle, goats, and horses out to pasture for the first time since Thanksgiving and worked outside with the beautiful sight of grazing animals in the background.

My conditioning Arabee is going to have to wait until our workload lightens up a bit, and I am completely fine with that. First things first.

More Strategic Planning

2010-04-12T05:36:00.004-05:00

Okay....so the ride on Saturday didn't go fast enough for me to feel 100% sure I could complete a 30 mile ride in the allotted time. However, I am 100% sure I could complete a 25 mile ride on time! I am flipping back and forth between what to do.

Things I know I'm NOT going to try: the 30 on Friday (distance), or the 25 on Saturday (too many other riders on the trail for our first experience)

I may POSSIBLY do the 25 on Sunday....yes, THIS Sunday! Or I will wait until the end of May.

I am so torn!

Reasons why doing the 25 on Sunday is a good idea:

the weather all this week is supposed to be sunny and dry, which means the trails should be as dry as I've ever been on them. Drier trails = less mud!
I know that unless something crazy and weird happens that I could finish the 25 mile ride on time.
Horse is fit enough to complete, but not so fit that she'll be hyped up the whole time. (I think)
I really want to do it!

Reasons why riding on Sunday is NOT such a good idea:

It's kind of a last minute thing.....so maybe not thought out quite as well as it needs to be
The last 2 times I rode I was dumped. Not too good of a confidence booster!
I am not in that great of shape right now, physically, and will be SORE after 25 miles.
I'd have to miss church, and also a portion of a fun family get-together with relatives I love and haven't seen in a LONG time, though I'd still get to see them all on Saturday.

On the other hand, this ride this weekend is just the first of many rides in my state. If I choose not to do this one, there's the one at the end of May.

Why I should wait until the end of May:

I'll have another month of conditioning and training so that both myself and the horse will be REALLY, really, really READY.
ummm, waiting is good at building patience, which is a good thing for everyone to have (yes...I really had to stretch to find more than one good thing about waiting!)

Okay...maybe I need to itemize the things that I'll be working on the next month, whether I ride the LD this weekend or not:

Rider fitness: jogging, abdominal strength
Horse fitness: continued work on a sustained trot
Training: building confidence at the canter (whether or not it's actually used at rides)
Horse Health/Soundness: annual vaccinations (next week or 2, always do them in April), clearing up the scratches COMPLETELY although mostly they're all gone except her left hind, getting rid of the thrush that just won't go away due to the sloppy muddy conditions in the winter lot and transitioning to 24/7 pasture turnout, vs "dry" lot wintering.
Finding a source for beet pulp w/out molasses
other stuff as it comes up

Soo, decisions, decisions. My plan of action for M, T, W of this week is: Hand jogging w/ Arabee and aggressively treating those scratches and thrush (Her frogs are really in good shape, just can't seem to shake it yet this year, but hopefully with treatment this week and the dry weather and pasturing now instead of "dry" lotting she'll have clear hooves by the weekend)

I'll be praying about it and really hope to make a good decision when it comes to when to make our endurance debut.

If anyone has any input, I'm open to hearing your thoughts on the matter!

Patience

2010-04-10T14:26:00.003-05:00

Arabee's learning how to be a good camper. She has to finish all the hay in the net and drink the water in the black bucket on the fender before I'll turn her back out. She's not thrilled - fidgeting and keeps looking in the direction of the gate, stomping her feet, and so on; at least she is grabbing mouthfuls of hay every so often. Patience!

I hauled out to Versailles State Park this morning, bought my annual bridle pass, so now I can ride at any Indiana state park without having to buy a day permit. Glad to have that out of the way.

So the plan was to ride 12 miles in 2 hours or less, that's 6 miles per hour. I felt that if I wasn't able to ride that fast then I would not attempt to do the 30 mile ride on Friday. Bottom line: it didn't happen! So the 30 is out for sure. Detailed ride recap to follow:

Pulled up to the day parking area and got a call from Jacke saying she didn't have brakes on her truck, but was going to talk to the mechanic to see if it might still work in time to ride at the park today. Well, it wasn't to be for today, and so I decided to do the A loop, which by the map is 7.5 miles. I'd ridden this trail two other times before, and since Arabee and I were going to go solo, I thought it best to do a trail I'd done before. So we set out.

Arabee was going pretty well, doing what I asked, even if she was looking around a lot. I'd studied the map and thought I had right, right, left, right turns to do in order to get around the whole thing. So I made a right turn, then came upon a T, and made a right turn. Pretty soon I came out on a blacktop road on a right angle curve, and across the road was a trail. So I crossed the road, and headed on the trail.....well, it didn't seem right, so I went back to the T in the trail. I checked the map and it seemed like that was the right way, so I went back to the road crossing. This time I saw a sign that said something to the effect of: 'ripley county horse club members ONLY' and decided this wasn't right, and went back to the T. I stood there for a while and pondered it.....my map had said, right, right, left, right, and I hadn't done 2 rights yet. So I went back to the road crossing a third time, and checked carefully for ANY trail markings....nothing. So I went back to the T and continued on the way, and was very happy when I saw a trail A marker! After this I saw several markers and was never concerned about where I was the whole rest of the ride, but I figure that little adventure was 3/10 of a mile.

So we were trotting along as fast as I could get her to go (she was pretty sticky and slow by herself on the trail) on the flats, uphills, and super slight downhills, walking the mid-pastern deep (at times....sometimes only fetlock deep) mud, and walking the downhills, and also walking whenever Arabee sensed that a deer or some other thing had been across the trail recently (I guess that's what it was....you'll have to ask the mare...I couldn't get her to hardly walk at those times!). I spent a lot of time hollering "go turkeys, go deer, woooo, good girl Arabee!" It was actually a really nice, pleasant pleasure riding trot speed, really easy to ride.

There were some sections of trail that as far as I could see it was mud, and at one of those sections (since we were walking it anyway) I decided to get a drink out of my bottle in my pommel pack. As I put the bottle away, Arabee lept forward (she hates the sound of the bottle going back in the pack) and I rolled right off backwards and hit the ground in the soft, wet mud. Arabee scooted off: finally listening to me and stopping about 75 feet away. So my April ride record isn't too great: two times ridden, two times fell off. Hope that changes soon! The stupid fall was my own fault: I know she hates that noise, and should've halted her while I put the bottle away. Needless to say, we'll be practicing that a LOT soon!

So I got back on right away and we headed back on down the trail, with a jumpier horse and the footing is still terrible and we get to the point in the trail that backs some private property with horses and some really vicious sounding barking dogs. I did my utmost to get Arabee to trot past that place: I couldn't really tell if the dogs were getting closer or not, and reallllllly did not want two viciously barking dogs to run up on me and my horse! It was fine, I think they were confined but it sure worried me!

We go on, and cross the creek/ditch several times, and I had an awful time urging Arabee down a hill and across the little ditch at the bottom of it. Well, it turns out there were a pair of hikers. We stopped and talked with them for quite a while: they had horses but hadn't bought their bridle tags yet and were out hunting for morels. The man guessed Arabee to be 3 years old...I said no, Thirteen! He was surprised and both were very complimentary of her, even though she was JUMPY the entire time we talked w/ them. Any little move they made she about jumped out of her skin. They also said they'd startled up a few deer just a little bit before they saw my horse and I, so I think Arabee knew the deer were nearby.

So we continued on, the rest of the ride was really pretty uneventful, aside from some beautiful wildflowers and blooming red buds along the way. We did startle a pair of ducks out of the creek, but aside from that the rest of the ride went very well. Oh, Arabee was balky going down another hill, I assumed it was deer again this time. Nope! She had to pee, so I whistled along and when she was done we marched along again: trotting when we could, walking when we were down hill or when Arabee couldn't be talked into trotting.

So altogether it was an estimated 7.8 miles, we started at 9:55am and got back to the trailer at 11:35am, for a blazing speed of roughly 4.7mph. Not near fast enough to finish the 30. I could easily consider a 25 mile LD....but I truly think it'd be pushing it too much to try the 30 at our current level of both training and conditioning, both horse and human.

It wasn't all wasted: I think the ride was very good for boosting our confidence in each other. We'd never done a solo trail ride before, other than around home, and it really went very well if you would just forget my stupidity w/ the bottle incident.

More to come later about plans for the future! Things are still very much up in the air. Got to go check that mare to see how she's doing on water.

Strategic Planning

2010-04-07T05:21:00.002-05:00

Today is the 7th of April, on a Wednesday. My first shot at an LD this season is one week from Friday. Wow! So close!

If I'm going to attend this ride in April, it's Friday or no day at all - I want the advantage of far fewer riders on the trail for our first competition mileage, and there are family events the other two days as well that makes Friday the better (only) option. The only problem with entering for Friday's LD is that it's 30 miles instead of 25.

But....how to determine if I'm ready?

I've been riding Arabee at least 2, usually 3 times per week for quite some time now. Lately the rides have been in the 2 hour range, trotting at least 50% of the time. I've hauled out to the ride location 2 times now to train on similar trails that we'd be competing on. She's always come in with plenty of energy left, even though I thought she was getting tired while out on the trail. Our longest training ride was between 14 and 15 miles. My horse is (generally) smart and good at traveling.

However, I'm pretty sure none of my training rides have been faster than 4-5 mph pace. That would not complete a 30 mile LD without going overtime. BUT...none of my training rides have been "serious-let's-get-down-the-trail-and-GO" rides, either. Always spending (wasting?) a lot of time at water holes and focusing on training opportunities. Which is fine for training rides, maybe, but won't do for competition, since I want to finish (is to win)!

So here's the plan. Ride w/ Jacke 12 miles in 2 hours or less this weekend. If that is accomplished, we'll be headed down to Chicken Chase, horse included! But if we do it in even 2 hours and 1 minute, I'll see if I can crew, or scribe, or check pulse or something and leave Arabee at home.

To me, if I can't do at least 6mph for 12 miles, I have no hope of doing at least 6mph with Monster Hills for THIRTY miles. Which to me would indicate that more training/conditioning time is needed....and we'll wait for the next ride at the end of May for our LD debut.

Because...I've decided if I'm not confident that we can finish the ride, and enter anyway to try and see, that I won't be happy at all with the results if we end up having to pull at the check and hold. It would leave a bad feeling about the whole endurance thing for me and my horse. So I'll wait until I know for sure we can make it (barring any unseen complications) before we give it a first try.

I am so excited to finally get some miles on the record. Can't wait. I have plans all set up for this ride in less than 2 weeks! BUT....if it isn't the right time for it I won't push it. Got to wait for the right timing.

We Meet Again...

2010-04-03T09:04:00.004-05:00

....the ground and I.

It's been awhile, the last fall I had I believe was Fall 2002 (fall as in, the season that comes after Summer, before Winter....not..."the fall of 2002"). Although, that one was a doozy - a spook over a trail map dumped me off and resulted in a compression fracture in my spine.

This time we were trotting out very nicely, a nice ground eating, yet relaxed trot, and up ahead was a fallen tree. I notice my horse is eyeing said tree, but figure if we give it a nice berth, no problem. Well, that is, until a SPARROW or some other small bird made the bushes nearby rustle. Horse leaps to the right, I come reeling left but I almost pulled it together, and then she did another little leap which put me really off balance, and I try one last valiant time to hitch myself back up to the center, using my right leg...when I [accidentally] kick her (hard) in the rear end in the process of trying to get back on. This puts her into a sprinting gait I've never experienced in the saddle, let alone off to the left of the saddle! I try to holler "whoa!" but it did me no good, and I just decided to bail (or the decision was made for me, it's not exactly clear at this point). Of course, this all happened quickly, maybe 5 or 6 strides; it took way longer to write it and read it than for it to actually take place.

So as I am falling to the ground I decide I'm going to hang on to the reins, so she doesn't run away. Sure....everyone says not to do that because your horse will drag you and it's dangerous....but MY horse is DIFFERENT. ha. So I land on my left hip/back/butt/side area, then am quickly dragged over and ended up with dirt and grass stains all over my back, and right hip. I hung on to the reins for probably 3-4 strides before I realized "she's not stopping" and let go. THANK GOD I did, because as I let go of the reins I turn to look and Arabee had just fallen down as well. In retrospect, I realize she probably fell because as she was dragging me she had to pull pretty hard, then when I suddenly let go, she lost her footing. So essentially, I probably caused my horse to fall, and while at the time I felt somewhat vindicated "haha, I fall, you fall TOO" I quickly realized that she could've fallen ON TOP OF ME....and I felt badly that I likely caused her wreck, even if it was accidentally, which probably just scared her all the more of fallen trees and little birdies that make rustling noises, and she likely didn't learn anything other than that from the episode. But anyway - she quickly stood up and proceeded to gallop off towards the river. Uh oh.

I sit up after somewhat checking myself over (I'd fallen and been dragged across corn stubble....which really isn't the best stuff to get dragged across...although better than pavement!) and holler "Arabee!" and she stops and whinnies. She's confused and scared and lonely....I am her herd!!! So I get on my feet, call for her again, and whistle like I usually do when I'm calling her in from the pasture, and she begins to trot towards me. YAY! So she trots up to where I am and stands still, like she usually does, solid as a rock, almost as if nothing had ever happened. I check her over, no damage apparant...aside from some mud on her right side where she'd landed in the dirt. I put my foot in the stirrup to get on, and she jumped forward....I said whoa, then got back on, she was a little more jumpy than I first realized. And wow...I was stiff, and sore already, this wasn't going to be good!

So, we practiced "whoa" means WHOA, and then walked back home. I had a JUMPY horse! We were probably feeding off of each other, we both were uptight after the incident, she'd jump at a rustly noise, I'd get tense.....and so on. But we made it home. I never did work up the nerve to have her trot much, but we made it back and even in the barn lot she was still jumpy. So I walked her around, and turned and flexed her until she was calm, then got off and headed back to the house.

I'm not injured, at all. Maybe a little embarrassed to tell the story...but I figure it happens to everyone eventually if you ride long enough. I will say that those corn stalks were mighty hard on me....and I am pretty sure I have chunks embedded in my skin to prove it. My right thumb STINGS where the thumbnail was bent backwards, and the rest of my hand where I foolishly tried to hold my horse. And it wasn't really too much fun to ride home with dirt sandwiched between my butt and my breeches.....but no serious harm done. I'm glad I DID ride home instead of lead her in.

The thing of it is.....I'd have had a totally different story for you all had the fall not occurred. It was a GREAT ride (other than that one little blip that ruined the last portion...). I had awaken early to get a daylight ride start. Saddled up in the dark. Had a nice route planned out. Took her across territory she'd NEVER seen before, she braved things that she really, really was unsure about, and until that point I'd have said this was a really really good ride that was a good partnership building thing. Maybe it still was, I just hope that this one fall wasn't enough to shatter my confidence enough to make her lose her confidence in me.

Anyway, yesterday I'd posted about Arabee being off on one trotting diagonal pair. I was very cautious about tacking her up this morning, checking her over carefully. All 4 legs were somewhat stocked up from standing still over night, not hot...just stocked up. That went away after I walked her in her circles before mounting....but something wasn't right still....so I trimmed that little chunk off her frog so there wasn't a pressure point (on her left hind) and that seemed to take the ouchiness away. The route I'd planned had minimal road/gravel - it was mostly dirt riding so I opted against booting since I hadn't had the chance to try them on her yesterday. But I will have her booted at least in front next ride, just to get her used to them if nothing else. Anyway, she showed no signs of that switching diagonal thing from yesterday and didn't seem off at all this morning during the ride, so maybe it was just a weird one-time thing. Anyway, I'm still keeping a close watch on her.

Regardless....I'm sending myself to boot camp, which I'd declared before I even left the house this morning..... It is a TIGHT squeeze to pour myself into these breeches.....here's hoping if I run/jog/walk every day from now until my first LD that I'll be able to comfortably zip my pants, besides the added fitness benefits.

So....I feel it is necessary to recap the most important lesson learned from my ride today:

If you fall, never try to hold onto the reins! No matter how good, loyal, well-trained, devoted, or (insert your adjective here_____) you think your horse is.

I'm just glad no serious damage was done, although it easily could have been!

Yesterday's Photos

2010-04-02T08:16:00.003-05:00

This is what Arabee looked like after yesterday's ride:

Do you see a sweaty, dirty, hot mess?? She seemed to very much appreciate the sponging I did after!

Then I went to work on her knotted up mane....it was basically one big tangle. She went to work on the hay I had in the tub for her. It took her a while, she REALLY wanted to go back to the paddock w/ Jack, so kept turning her head in that direction and really wasn't eating until I turned her around to face him.

I know it's hard to see with the wind blowing her mane around....but that curly mess is tangle free now!

On the agenda for today is to refit those hoof boots. I have one pair of renegades, and one pair of easyboot epics. They've not been on her since this time last year. I'm hoping that helps with her mystery trotting diagonal "weirdness". I think I may need to trim her frogs too, she's got a couple of weird overgrown "chunks" that may be putting extra pressure on her foot on the road, but not too badly in the dirt.

What I need to figure out is which diagonal pair of legs hurts: If she doesn't like me rising with the left front and right hind......would that mean that her right front and left hind are the ones causing her discomfort? Or vice verse??

A Little Bit Off

2010-04-02T05:36:00.002-05:00

Rode Arabee yesterday.

It was hot, in the 80s, and she still has most of her winter coat.

Even so, we mostly trotted.

On the side of the road saw a crazy, spiky, curled up "thing" - I decided later that it was the skeleton of a snake that the buzzards had picked clean. Yuck. Passed it going away and coming back....and it gave me the creeps both times but then it hadn't sank it just yet what it was. I am so afraid (unrationally) of snakes that I cringe even seeing them on tv.

Anyway we trotted a lot, and it was a big heat workout for Arabee, who sweated a lot. I'm just really thankful for the BIG wind - I think that was what kept her trotting as long as she did because I know she's not used to the heat.

But here's the important part of this post: about halfway into the ride Arabee started to feel OFF. Only at the trot, and it was worse on the road vs. in the fields. What was happening was that I would be posting: rising up with the left front leg, and before I knew it somehow the mare had switched my diagonal FOR me! I could easily post with the right leg, but anytime I tried to post on the left diagonal, 2 or 3 strides later I'd find myself on the other! So.....if she didn't want me to post with the left diagonal....Which set of legs was uncomfortable for her?

It wasn't like she was reluctant to trot...just didn't want me posting on that diagonal. And it disappeared when we were on dirt.

Any ideas?

All in all I rode for about 1 hour and 10 minutes....and this was probably 80% trotting. Had the weather been cooler and this weird gait thing not occurred, I think she'd have been capable of more.

Comment Lost

2010-03-29T12:18:00.002-05:00

I think someone posted a comment over the weekend, but I never got to read it....somehow it got lost! So, whomever it was, I apologize! Go ahead and try to repost it, and hopefully it will go through this time!

We don't have hills like that 'round home!

2010-03-27T14:43:00.002-05:00

Whoooooweeee! I still can't get over the hills we did today.

Jacke and I did another training ride down at Clark State Forest - she picked me up a little earlier, we hit the trail around 9:30am.

If I'm going to be competing in April at Clark, I'll have to do the ride on Friday, which is 30 miles, due to personal scheduling, and besides I think the trail will be less crowded. Last year I scribed for the vet at the away vet check, and both the 55's and the LD's stopped at the away vet check, which is north of 160. So we knew we'd need to travel that section of trail to get there, and wanted to have done it once before competition.

It's a really pretty section of trail that takes you along a ridge - gorgeous view, really. The one problem with that of trail is a super steep section, like, almost slide off your horse steep. More than once on the way down as we were headed down that hill switching back and forth, down, down, down, down...I thought I was going to lose it. Glad my horse kept her head (and her feet) and was careful about it, one sudden move on her part would've sent me right on over her shoulder.

So the trail levels off at the bottom of the valley where the creek runs through it, and I see that oh, wow, the trail goes STRAIGHT BACK UP nearly as steep and long as it just went down. I turned Arabee the opposite direction towards the creek and hollered to Jacke "I'm going to offer her a drink first, hope you don't mind!" (in reality, it was me trying to get MY heart rate down after that not exactly terrifying, but certainly not relaxing downhill switchback!) So, I got calmed back down, and we bounded up the hill on the other side of the creek, then came out across Pixley Knob Road, and road the Flatrock trail ( I think that's what it's called ) to 160. I actually ended up dismounting and walking quite a ways, my hips were killing me from all that downhill/uphill/walking across the gravel we were doing, and the walk did me good. We came out at 160 and at this point we had planned on doing the Bowen Loop and coming out at the away vet check area, then heading back to the trailer. Well, when we got to 160 it was not particularly clear just exactly where the trail picked back up. As in, we had no clue! So rather than risking getting lost in the "wilderness" we headed back the way we came.

Arabee did some cantering (per my request) on the way back, the switchbacks didn't seem near so scary, and she had plenty of gas left in the tank. We rested up at the trailer, ate lunch, then rode again for another hour-ish near the Pekin Saddle Club. Honestly, I have no clue where we were riding around, but we went out for a half hour, then popped out at a paved road, then headed back. We did quite a bit of alternate trotting/cantering here - it was a LOT of fun.

I think we ended up w/ about 14 miles....the first 2/3 were some really tough miles with those steep switchbacks, and the last 1/3 was flatter but faster. Good ride!

Tuesday

2010-03-24T06:27:00.003-05:00

Got the chance to get out and ride yesterday - it was a gorgeous day for a ride, or really for anything outside.

I'd planned to ride for 135 minutes (2 hrs, 15 minutes), which was 5 minutes longer than the last ride. I was really wondering how in the world I would find enough places to go to last that long!

I started South and rode around, checked out some new territory. Rode around in the Polly field - my rule of thumb for whether to ride in a field or not is to ride out into it a few feet, and if the hoofprints I leave are no deeper than what a deer would leave, then it's okay. Even with all the rain we'd had Sunday and Monday, I was good to go!

So we went around and around, back and forth in there for about a half hour, following the woods and the creek bank, then down to the next farm lane we'd never ridden on before. So altogether, we did an hour of riding South of the driveway. Then moved on to the pasture across the road, and rode around in there for another 15 minutes, then headed north again to ride the lanes, filter strip, and road for 45 minutes, then rode around in the hog woods for the last 15 minutes.

I have no idea how far we went, or how fast. No clue. But we did a lot of walking, and a lot of trotting, and a little bit of stopping at puddles. And wow, the 4-H Horse and Pony Superintendant was right when he said: NEVER let your horse graze while you are holding the lead rope, or while you are riding - it leads to disrespect and the horse loses focus on what you're doing (riding) and starts looking around for good grass to eat. Wow.....I about got my arms yanked out of their sockets umpteen times yesterday afternoon....no more grazing for her. Here I thought I was doing her a favor by letting her graze on our training rides - well...she's going to have to learn to fill up on hay instead - I will not stand for any more of her motoring along only to stop ABRUPTLY and start grazing and ignoring my hands and legs as I urge her forward.

But, I have taken the hint, the mare is hungry - so her hay ration has increased, and I dug my hands into the bag of senior pelleted horse feed (what we keep around for Jack) after the ride and fed her a heaping two handsful worth. She seemed to appreciate it!

Not sure what to do - I think I'll try to ride again on Thursday.....but whether to make it 2 hrs and 20 minutes, or what?? Got a training ride planned for Saturday, so I don't want her to be tired out for that, but seems like going from Tuesday to Saturday w/out anything is a bit excessive rest-wise. Or Maybe I'll just halter her and go for a walk/jog with her. It would be good for us both. Any votes?

Spring!

2010-03-21T06:04:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the first official day of spring, and I can't think of a better way to have spent it.

Jacke swung by with Phebes and we loaded my tack, and Arabee into Jacke's trailer (after I scrambled around the house trying to finish getting ready - Jacke is very timely!) we finally hit the road and headed to Clark State Forest to ride. We were the first to arrive at the parking spot, and headed out to do the Mountain Grove Loop.

Had a lovely day, both the mares and their riders got along quite nicely, we rode those killer loooong and steeeeeep hills and had fun doing it.

Arabee does not like it when we go up steep hills and her stifles bump the bottoms of my boots. I'll have to remember to keep my feet out from her sides!

Definitely looking forward to the next Clark training ride!

Thursday's Ride

2010-03-19T12:48:00.003-05:00

Well I got out and rode yesterday.

Got some new stirrup "leathers" (in quotations because they're synthetic) - my old ones will now become my backup ones - I'd stretched one of them longer than the other, and uneven leathers are not good. So I put them on and had to work out the perfect length.

I strapped on the pommel pack to start getting Arabee used to the weight of the water bottles on her withers. I've had issues with the bight of the reins getting looped under the bottom of my pack, and I'd hoped that discontinuing use of the Dr. Cook's bridle might fix that since the cross-under pieces are so long. Well, the reins were still too long, so I shorted them a few inches and tried that out. Still a little bit too long, but I still have plenty of room to hold rein when she's drinking. Tonight I will shorten them another 2-3 inches.

I've also never drank from the saddle before yesterday, so I thought it'd be wise to practice that a little. She's fine, until I try to put the bottle back in the pack - she isn't fond of the sound of the bottle scratching the pack until it goes in. I've only tried it at the walk and whoa so far....perhaps someday I will be trotting along the trail, grabbing my water bottles on-the-go, and not missing a beat. Not yet~

I trimmed her feet on Wednesday night, and she was a little touchy on the road or driveway, but happy to move out on the dirt.

So basically we rode out and just walked and trotted whenever we felt like it, and worked out the bugs from the new equipment. It was a GORGEOUS afternoon, and I was glad to be outside, and on the back of my horse.

We encountered some serious drama when we were headed towards home, we were halfway between the top of the hill and Harlan's corner when a mo-ped (I think that's what it was) crested the hill behind us. Thankfully I had already finished drinking and had put the bottle back in the pack and had regained hold of the reins, or the outcome may likely have been different! As soon as she heard the thing coming up behind her, she whirled around to get a better look....and once she got a better look, she did the horse version of screaming bloody murder - she had the look (and feel) of pure terror, and leaped, lunged, jumped to the right and off the road to get away from the horrible monster. I'm SOOO glad she recognized the ditch was there, and she managed to keep from falling into it. I'm also glad the driver of the mo-ped slooowly continued driving right on by, because by the time she kept us from falling into the ditch, he had passed us and the threat was gone. So I turned her back around and urged her on after the mo-ped until it was out of sight over the top of the next hill. Phew! Adrenaline still pumping through both of us, I brought her back to a walk, when I heard a REALLY LOUD vehicle coming, it sounded like a big ole truck. I hopped right off of Arabee as quick as I could since she was still hyped up over the mo-ped, and as the little car (so noisy because the muffler must have gone out) crested the hill, I motioned the driver to slow down (he did) and mouthed "thank you!" as he passed.

I got back up, we trotted to the top of the hill, then took a walk through the hog woods to weave through trees and over fallen logs to help the both of us calm down. It was a good ride, we got a lot of tack bugs worked out, survived an attack by a mo-ped AND a car with muffler issues, and I think worked on communication quite a bit. Praise God for giving me the horse he did!

Well, my rain gear works!

2010-03-14T13:37:00.003-05:00

So it rained overnight, and it was raining when we left for church, and raining raining raining! On the way home from church Matt asked me if I was going to ride....I paused...I decided that if the temperature on the car was above 40, I would say yes. It was 41! Not exactly real warm, but....enough that I had to say yes to riding! I regretted making that decision, but decided quickly that this was the perfect opportunity to try out my new rain coat. I figured if I can stay warm and dry in 40 degree weather in mid-March that whatever April and beyond might dish out at a ride would be no trouble!

Arabee was standing under the roof, wet and shivering. She didn't seem to be too keen on being caught, either, but didn't try too hard to stop me, but sure didn't help me either.

Saddled her up, walked and jogged her in circles on the end of the rein to warm up, got on, and did some walking and slow jogging to get her and her muscles warm. (I'm not going to do anymore play-by-play details of the entire ride anymore, I'll keep a log of that separately and just do the highlights on here) We walked and trotted and I left the rump rug on her the entire time. It wasn't raining hard, but a nice (nice??) steady drizzle. It was nice, my horse was paying attention..mostly, and we were working well together. The ride was 105 minutes long, and we went farther and faster than before. But I firmly believe I'm not pushing her too far, she had plenty left but it was a good workout for her - we did a LOT of walking, plenty of trotting, plenty of slipsliding around in the mud. I think a good balance.

I wish I could easily stick to the principle of increase speed, then distance, never both. But since I don't have a GPS that will tell me mileage, and I dont' want to be tied down to the same old boring route every ride, I'm going to just stick with adding 5 minutes to each ride until we get to 2 1/2 hours. I'm also going to add more and more trotting as it makes sense to do so, gradually and easily - if I'm out of breath, we'll walk....if horse is acting stupid, we'll walk....if Arabee's making it clear she's ready to walk again, we'll walk....but if we're having a nice time trotting along down the way, we'll keep trotting!

So the rain coat worked really really well....I pulled the hood up and wore it under my helmet, unzipped the pit zips for ventilation, and stayed PLENTY warm, maybe even too warm, but I had several layers on underneath. I feel good about my rain-preparedness. Granted, it was not a full-out downpour, but still....rain is rain, to a certain extent.

Had a good ride today, and I'm hoping and praying that we don't encounter any setbacks (read: injuries!)

Saturday's Ride

2010-03-13T13:19:00.002-06:00

Rode today, headed North first to switch things up a bit. Trotting alternated with walking all the way to the stop sign, then to Harlan's house. Even when she wasn't completely focused on me, I still asked her to trot and worked on transitioning from walk to trot to walk, which not surprisingly helped get her focus back on me.

I tried to take her North across the bean field, but it was too sloppy so we stuck to the lane and then rode along the filter strip, then turned around and followed the river back, and I had her step up to the river's edge to drink (and she did!). I saw a live crawdad as we passed - it was threatening us with it's pinchers....I don't think I'd ever seen the actual animal before, always just their holes. This whole way still trot, walk, trot, walk...and doing really well with it.

When we got back to the lane, I decided to test the cornfield to see how wet it was...and it was okay so we walked South in the field in the combine track where the cornstalks had been smashed down and easy to walk on (not sinking in too much). In the field across the ditch a pair of deer, I'm guessing a doe and last year's fawn ran from the river back to the cover of the woods. Arabee walked the whole way in a half-circle pointed towards the barn....but stayed in a nice 4-beat walk. We followed the ditch, then followed the path where the silage chopper had been last fall where the ground was drier. I didn't really have Arabee's full attention, but she was quietly walking (with b.i.g. strides) on a loose rein so I thought it best to reinforce that nice forward walk by allowing her to do it! She gave a big spook when we reached the top of the hill at I don't know what, but calmed down quickly, and we trot, walk, trotted again until we T-ed into the lane again. I had her walk in the water-filled tire tracks, which she didn't much want to do, but finally realized I meant it and did so nicely.

As we came past Harlan's house we met him and his dog coming back from their walk, and stopped to talk for a bit. The dog thought he might try to run off the intruding horse, and lunged at her barking and growling, but Harlan hollered at him and he stopped. Arabee was surprisingly okay with that - she brought her head up sharply, but didn't move. Good girl! It was nice to talk with Harlan, and I spread the rump rug out over her hindquarters since her butt was to the wind, then we walked back to the road, and trotted up to the top of the hill and turned into the driveway by the toolshed. I dismounted there and handwalked in the rest of the way home. She's been giving me trouble walking past Marshall's, and I thought me being on foot might give her added confidence for next time. I rode for 1 hour.

When we got to the barn lot I pretended I had a heart rate monitor and pressed it against her side, then felt her back and rump muscles, did a skin tent test, and checked her gum, and did the same on the other side. We then trotted out, turned, and trotted back. I offered her a drink at the puddle, then wiped off her girth area and cleaned her legs just like I plan to do at a real ride. It can't hurt to get into the same routine at home as I plan on putting into practice at a ride.

Any Tips, Tricks, or Hints for our 1st LD?

2010-03-10T13:36:00.002-06:00

Let's Imagine . . .

As you already know, Arabee and I are getting ready for our first AERC Limited Distance ride. I'm hoping things go as smoothly as possible so that we have a very positive start to our distance career.

The plan is to arrive in ridecamp the night before with a CLEAN horse, get Arabee settled in, take her on a walk to stretch her legs, maybe even saddle up for a short ride (say...15-20 minutes?) to make sure she's nice and loosened up. The trailer ride will be just a little over 1 hour. I'll get her a big tub of water, and put out plenty of hay for her to munch on at will overnight, maybe a salt block, or loose salt in a tub as well? Haven't decided on a restraint method: tying to the trailer, using an electric corral, or buying panels to make a solid corral. Vet in, then let her relax as we get the human camp set up. Arabee does not currently require being fed any concentrates, so I'll just be sure she has hay in front of her at all times. Will I need to put a blanket or sheet on her?? She is not going to be clipped.

On the morning of, I'll wake, get dressed, check Arabee's hay and water, then eat breakfast myself. What's left to do aside from tacking up as usual and heading to the start??

We'll complete the first loop at a comfortable, conservative pace then come in for the vet check and hold. I'll dismount, loosen the girth and breastcollar and walk her in, get my in-time, then take her to the water and offer a drink. Then to the pulse gate, pulse down, then to the vet, jog, hopefully pass (with mostly A's!) then to the crew spot for the rest of the hold. Here's the part that gets a little blurry when I try to picture ride day: Now what?? Take a bucket of water and a sponge/rag to wipe the mud off of my horse's legs and belly to check for any nicks and scrapes and get her girth area clean. Should the tack come off? If the girth or other tack is muddy make sure it gets cleaned. Check her feet. Stuff hay in her face, make sure there's a bucket of water she can reach easily. Keep her hindquarters from getting chilled. But I'm thinking the horse's job at a hold is to rest and eat and drink as much as possible before time is up, and probably for the rider and crew to get the necessities done ASAP and then leave the horse alone to eat and drink and rest. As for me, I'll almost certainly need to pee, put on a jacket to keep from getting chilly while holding still, eat a nourishing snack, replenish fluids....should I try to sit down and relax, or should I stand and keep moving? When it's about time to go, I'll get ready first, then get Arabee ready, give her one last mouthful of hay and then mount up to be ready to go when the out-timer says it's time. Then head out for the second loop!

For the second loop, while we'll certainly still be riding conservatively, if Arabee gets a good report from the Vet, perhaps we'll try to keep up a bit of a faster pace (trot more) than was kept at the first loop. But since my only goal for the first several rides is simply TO FINISH....conservative is likely where the pace will stay!

Upon finishing I'll plan on using the same strategy as I did coming into the vet check and hold. Unless there are only 5 riders (yeah right...there will be more than that!) we will not be anywhere near finishing fast enough to be able to stand for best condition judging. But I'm thinking similar practices will need to be done at the end of the ride as were done at the vet check. After receiving our completion, we'll head back to the trailer and untack, get the horse clean, park her in front of water and hay, keep her from getting chilled, but once she's clean and has feed/water just leave her alone to relax a while. Then I'll change clothes, eat something nourishing, rehydrate, and hopefully get to relax a little while! We'll likely head home later that same day, so we'll get the camp packed back up and ready to hit the road, for what will hopefully be a very restful night's sleep at home!

Okay...so the above is almost 100% guaranteed to NOT be the way it actually happens - things are going to come up, the weather won't cooperate, and who knows what all might happen. But....for anyone out there who is more experienced than me when it comes to endurance competition (which yes...is essentially EVERYONE!! :-))....is there anything you see in my basic plan that is just wrong?? Or do you have any even small tips for me to help make things go more smoothly? I'll have at least one adult helper to crew for me, which already is making me feel relieved!

I'm starting to get VERY excited about the first LD of the season. Hoping it can happen in April, but if not, there's always May....or June....or who knows, anything can happen! But I'm still really looking forward to it, whenever it may be.

Monday's Ride

2010-03-09T09:26:00.003-06:00

Rode on Monday night. The plan was to focus on trotting as much as possible. But always my focus is on having an in-control horse at all times, so if that doesn't happen we start walking again. And also....if the rider starts to get a stitch in her side from being so out of shape that she is breathing heavier than the horse actually doing the trotting....it's important to take a walking break at that time, as well. haha

So we headed south again, and just halfway between the driveway and the ditch (where there's a steep dropoff on either side of the road) a noisy car comes up quickly over the top of the hill....I turn around to try to find a spot to get off the road safely, which meant that the car was coming up behind Arabee. Not what I typically like to do...I like to have her facing the traffic but she was good she mostly just scooted forward a bit as the car passed.

So I turn her around and then I urge her up into a trot all the way up the hill, past the one fence post that she ALWAYS tries to spook at, down the lane, except for a few places where it was too rutted to safely trot, trotted a little circle at the end to turn around and go back, and about the time we get even up with the woods she broke into either a spook or tried to canter, but I really didn't want to move that quickly headed back yet! So I pulled her back and we walked the rest of the way back to the road. Then headed South again, and trotted all the way til Dorothy's mailbox, then walked 50 ft, then trotted across the polly bridge, walked up the little lane (probably ~100 ft one way) walked back and then across the bridge and then trotted back, until we got to the strip of woods where I had her walk, then trot to the top of the hill, then walked down...but I heard a car coming so we ducked into the driveway, then back, then trotted up the hill, walked where the curve goes downhill and the road is uneven, and started trotting again until we got about halfway between the new toolshed and Harlan's corner.

Rounded the corner and then trotted towards the Red barn, then walked it out past the barn, 2/3 of the way to the stop sign, and we turned around when I saw that Matt and his dad had the truck picking up the silage wagons at the red barn, so I thought we better turn back around and ended up going all the way to the stop sign to give them more time - I didn't want the noisy wagons to spook Arabee. Well, once we did get turned around and they drove out with the wagons, Arabee starting calling out to the truck! She really picked up her pace and was whinnying mightily, clearly not wanting to be left behind! So I let her trot.....which turned into her elevator "let's move it out!" trot which made me quite nervous that she was going to just gallop off toward the truck and silage wagons as she was very intently focused on catching up. Another vehicle was coming, so I pulled her down to a walk, and she got even more behind and worked up so I decided it was best to keep walking until I got her focus back on me. That took a looong time. We turned off the road and went down Harlan's lane, Arabee weaving back and forth in the driveway like she was drunk....this went on for 1/4 mile! She'd turn her head hard to the left and I'd pull her back to the middle, and she'd veer right, I'd pull her back to the middle and she'd veer left....and on and on like that until finally she realized (I guess) that it wasn't worth it and I was more stubborn than she.

Since I didn't have her focus (not one bit!) I decided walking was a better idea until I did get her attention, and I never really did fully. So we walked all the way to the river, then followed it a little ways South, then a little ways back North, and finally turned around and walked...err....JIGGED back to the road. She did finally give me a (very extended) 4 beat walk on a loose rein, so we did end up making pretty good time anyway.

She's very good at noticing cars, and if I listen to her better I'll always be able to know ahead of time and get us off the road safely - last night she started being balky and acted as though she was afraid of Marshall's dogs (which she often is!) but I turned back and saw that a car was coming behind us. We had plenty of time so we turned back and trotted up the hill and got off the road by the toolshed until the car passed, but it would've been easy to ignore her and push her forward, assuming it was only the dogs she was worried over.

Went on past the driveway to the barn and down the hill, and asked her to trot up, then I rode into the barn lot and dismounted, loosened her girth and unclipped the breastcollar, and gave her a nice scratch - she'd gotten pretty sweaty but was not hot anymore, so I asked Matt to hold her by her hay while I got a bucket of warm water.

Last spring around this time we had an awful time with her girth area getting rubbed bare and swelling up, so I am going to be super-careful to keep her clean especially in that spot, and everywhere tack touches her body. So I wiped her down carefully between her front legs, in her "arm pits" and all over the girth area, then I had water left so I cleaned her muddy legs off too.

So...to sum up it was a little bit of a longer ride than we've done before at home, with more trotting at the beginning, and plenty of schooling at the end. I'll guess it was 5 miles, and the time was 64 minutes.

If we don't get the rain that's been forecasted for this week, I'll have PLENTY of riding options come this weekend, because the fields are nearly dry enough to ride in without causing problems when planting time comes around....but it almost surely will rain. I hope to get a solid 2 hour ride in over the weekend, with at least half of the time spent trotting.

(((my apologies for the poor paragraph structure and boring writing...if indeed anyone read the monotonous description of every.little.detail! that just comes along with the "training journal" nature of this blog)))

Hauled out and Rode on Saturday!

2010-03-08T10:24:00.003-06:00

Didn't really get to ride much last week...rode on Sunday 4.6 miles in 70 minutes, handwalked for 45 minutes on Tuesday, and just jogged for about 20 minutes in-hand on Wednesday. So I was really looking forward to Saturday, because Jacke and I had made plans to ride together at her place.

Took a little over an hour to drive over there....but I'm not exactly sure how long because after seeing the angle of the driveway to the road that I'd need to back in I starting to panic slightly, and completely forgot to look at the time! But thankfully no traffic and I got the trailer backed in surprisingly successfully! Jacke let me use her bathroom and her home is just beautifully decorated. We chatted a bit and then headed out and I unloaded and tacked up Arabee, she got Phebes ready to go and we started off to ride her network of trails by her house.

It was the first warm day we've had really this spring, and not too breezy, nice and sunny - perfect spring weather! The trails were VERY muddy and VERY VERY slick, but breathtakingly beautiful - stunning views where you can view the creek, the woods with some stubborn snow that hadn't yet melted off, just gorgeous...words won't do it justice.

My horse really really impressed me - she was calm and very smart about putting her feet down just right and really did a fine job of taking care of herself footing-wise. I wish she would have drank some, but she never did..just wetted her lips several times as there was plenty of opportunity as the trail crossed water A LOT. We traveled down a VERY STEEP section of trail that I didn't think was possible and in fact it crossed my mind that Jacke was maybe trying to kill us (well...not really!) but she led the way with Phebes and watching her as she went down each time she picked up a foot and put it back down her hooves slid 3-4 feet each time! But we both made it! Confidence building, and grin-inducing once we finally got to the bottom without falling!

So we were out for 1 hour and 48 minutes, pretty much all walking except for a few short sections of trotting but it was a lot of uphill and down hill and watch your step because it's slick and winding in between trees and it was a GOOD workout for Arabee. Got back, she ate some hay while I untacked her and wiped off her super-muddy legs, put on her sheets, then we talked a bit before I loaded Arabee back up and I headed back home. It was a lot of fun to get out and ride, can't wait to do it again, hopefully tonight at home!

nice not-a-ride yesterday

2010-03-03T07:52:00.003-06:00

Headed outside to ride, and instantly became aware of the howling March winds! I thought...this could be interesting!

Jogged up and greeted Arabee who was standing alert in the corner of the paddock, and at the sight of me, leapt and bucked and twisted 5 or 6 strides, then trotted around the corner and stood under the shed. I thought....this could be interesting!

Saddled up, and did the usual "longing" at the end of the rein, where I have her walk in a circle while I flap the rump rug and wiggle the crupper as a reminder 'hey, this stuff is here, don't freak out!' then have her jog both directions. Nice little tool I use to gauge what her mind is like. Well, the gauge told me that it was not a good idea to ride the horse I had that afternoon!

So instead we set out in-hand down the road, and it was a good thing too - all the equine acrobatics she tried would not have been pretty undersaddle...well, maybe pretty, but it sure wouldn't have felt good to try to scrape myself up off the pavement when I hit the ground!

I was soooooooo glad I didn't try to ride yesterday, but also really grateful for the 45 minute power walk I got, and the confidence building/bonding experience we had instead. I'm going to say it was a Good Call!

I'll try to ride again tonight...hope the wind and her attitude is calmed down several notches!

Already re-thinking things

2010-03-01T11:41:00.003-06:00

All right, looking for input again! I have to thank you, my readers, for all the comments you have left me in the past, and I'm sure will continue to leave - I have learned so much from you! You're great! :-)

We're at the point where I have built myself and my horse up to being able to walk/trot for a little over one hour. I also have a nice nearly 5 mile loop with varying terrain!

I know you are not supposed to add distance and speed at the same time. Fine, makes sense.

But which do you do first? Or can you flip/flop, say....Today increase speed, tomorrow distance, rest, then the next ride try the increased speed AND distance that you achieved previously.

If I increase speed on the same route, then I won't have ridden for as long of a time period...and if my goal is to increase time spent in the saddle, then what?

I am probably overanalyzing....but would love your input! Thanks!

March!

2010-03-01T09:08:00.003-06:00

Here's the monthly 'goal review.'

This was my list for February:
>Commit to riding 2-3 times/week.
*Check!

>Ride in the arena at least 4 times this month, working on fine-tuning loose rein riding
*didn't happen - haven't been successful contacting the barn owner :-(

>Gradually increase comfort level with vehicles to the point where I can ride to and from Arena, rather than handwalking both ways.
*We're doing good on riding on the road. She still gets a little squirrely when the big dually diesel powered pickups go past...but who wouldn't??

>Begin short training rides from home (mounting up in the barn lot, and venturing out, going a little farther each time).
*Check! Yesterday went 4.6 miles in 1 hr, 10 minutes.

>Build up to being able to ride for at least 1 hour walk trot canter.
*Sort of check.....I am a big chicken, and wanted to wait to try cantering in the arena a couple times first...which I have not been able to ride in. But the one hour part is definitely accomplished!

All right...not bad! Especially given the ridiculous amounts of snow (compared to what we're used to around here) and other factors outside of my control.

So, for March:
>Continue to increase ride times and percentage of time spent trotting, so by the end of March are capable of 2 hours of more or less solid trotting.
>Haul out to ride at least 3 times on a REAL trail!
>Be consistent with Arabee, so she (eventually) comes to realize that I mean it when I ask for a 4 beat walk (not some crazy jig), and that I'm the one who controls trotting speed.

Sunday's Ride

2010-02-28T18:12:00.002-06:00

Well I got to ride this afternoon. Had my route planned out: South, down Foster's lane all the way, then back down across the polly bridge, then down the short little lane, back all the way to the red barn, then down Harlan's lane, following the filter strip along the river, and then back through the bean field back to the lane, then home.

Started off flighty and jiggy, then about halfway through she just really settled down and the last half of the ride was very enjoyable, for both of us, I think.

I worked on practicing two-point positioning at the trot and walk. Not bad...I thought it'd be
terrible, but really quite smooth, better than posting if I can get my muscles and balance used to it.

Had one GIANT spook that I didn't expect, that very nearly got me unseated, over a log that had been washed in during a flood. Another time we were walking along by the filter strip and suddenly she just leaped up into the air.....I guess the strip of bark that was on the ground startled her (after she was halfway across it!).

Had a really deep (probably 8 inches deep) section of mud across the bean field...and we shouldn't have been in that field with it that muddy....will make it hard to plant no-till! But it was too late to go back, we were already committed.

The calves in the barn lot were watching us with interest. Arabee watched them as well - it's a sight to see 30 calves milling about all watching one horse and rider pair! I was concerned that we may have difficulty with the dog, but he just casually watched us from a nice distance.

All in all we rode for 70 minutes, and later we checked mileage with the 4wheeler, and we'd gone 4.6 miles.

Good ride!

Poll: How Frequently do you clean your Tack?

2010-02-24T13:56:00.003-06:00

Hey folks, as I was untacking Arabee yesterday, I wondered if maybe I should go ahead and wash all her tack and saddle pad.

How often do you all do this? Do you base it on how long it's been, or how filthy said items are, or just wash right before a ride, or what..?

I know it's really easy with biothane/synthetic, which is what I have....but with the saddle pad specifically I'm guessing that the less you wash it the longer it will last. And besides, I often end up with a tangled mess of straps and many of the adjustments require re-adjusting...so I'm wanting to get by with as little as possible, but yet, clean tack is pretty important.

Soooo.....How often do YOU wash your stuff??

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

2010-02-24T06:30:00.003-06:00

Man, I'm awful at coming up with good titles for my posts! Ha! Oh well, I guess it's a tribute to the journal-like nature of the blog.

On Saturday I trimmed Arabee's feet with the electric grinder in the early afternoon. I really wish I'd taken before and after pictures, but I didn't even take the camera outside - the snow had been melting off and it was s-l-o-p-p-y! I'd been letting her self-trim since we'd been spending so much time on the roads, but she finally chipped off a chunk of hoof on the quarter, so I figured I'd help her out with the mustang roll. I did all 4 hooves, fronts first, then hinds, and MAN I was sore, especially my right arm since I am not used to gripping that heavy grinder! But without it I would have never had the stamina to do all 4 at once - too much bending over with the slower rasping. So I ended up not riding on Saturday.

Still too sore on Sunday to ride, so I just went out with the hoof pick and picked both horses' hooves.

On Monday I got out and rode, in the S-hack, but since the snow had been melting and melting fast all weekend it was way too sloppy to get in the fields so I stuck to the road and farm lanes and woods. Started South, past the Polly bridge, ventured down a farm lane just a little ways, back past the driveway, out into the hog woods, then down Harlan's lane until the electric pole, then trotted east down the road. Was going to stop and turn around when we crested the hill, but it felt good so we kept going to the ditch just before we got to the red barn. Alternately trotted and walked back. My phone rang in my pocket, and I stopped at the hill by the new tool shed to see who it was, and a car started coming, so I turned off the road and waited for the car to come by. Then we headed home, but I still had almost 15 minutes of time left, so we walked around the barn lot, around the driveway here and there until I was in the saddle for 55 minutes.

Tuesday evening we rode for 1 hour! Rode in the riding halter this time, headed South, then turned off down Foster's lane by the pasture gate, went down about halfway. There was still snow, as the lane is on the north side of the fenceline with plenty of trees to shade. Then headed towards the Polly bridge again, but did not cross it today. Our neighbor runs nearly every day, and that afternoon had just started his run and his dog had followed him a ways and was barking. For whatever reason it really spooks Arabee to see him running, maybe because he's quiet. He will say hello but anyway she was really just spazzing out between the runner, the dog, and then an SUV came by all at the same time. It was all right, but I don't know how it'd have turned out if I'd have had her cross the bridge and THEN head back...she isn't too sure of the culverts anyway, and with all the other ruckus things may not have turned out too well.

We walked and trotted back up, and at one point she broke into a canter, then sort of mini-bucking....more like just jamming her back legs down rather than popping up, anyway, I managed to pull her head to the left and got that stopped (deep breaths...relax!!) and we then walked back a little ways then headed back towards home. Turned off on Foster's lane again, only going 1/4 of the way down, but this time she was jiggy and antsy.....we gotta go back now! kind of thing. Got her calmed down, thankfully,and we mostly walked down the hill, across the culvert over the ditch, then trotted uphill and up the driveway, (our driveway Y's at the road) then turned back out towards the road. Boy she was sticky heading north! Must have been a mean trick to turn her into the drive and then ask her to leave again!

Got back and meandered through the woods, then off north, trotted east this time all the way to the red barn (and on the way had some imaginary dragons in the ditches that she was "protecting" us from), then down Harlan's lane to the electric pole, then trotted out until she got too speedy, then I made her come down to a walk. Basically we just went back home but stopped at every puddle available on the way and she drank up!

I've been alternating between the s-hack and the riding halter, and will continue to do so until an obvious favorite comes up. I may even throw the Dr. Cook's into the rotation again. But right now, I like the s-hack for rating, and the riding halter for when I need directional control (in the woods, if she's being looky/spooky) It'd be nice if I could switch back and forth during rides, without having to get off!

Riding in DEEP snow, this time

2010-02-20T07:00:00.003-06:00

It snowed for over 24 hours starting the evening of February 14. We ended up with about 10-12 inches of new snow, on top of the probably 2-6 inches we already had (depending on whether it had drifted up or away in that particular spot). I'd had the opportunity to ride for 45 minutes that Sunday morning while it was sunny and before the new snow came, but hadn't ridden since then.

So it was a lovely sunny afternoon yesterday when I finally did get out again, 34 degrees when I headed outside at 5:31, mounted up at 5:45, and had hoped to ride for 50 minutes (it ended up being about 35 minutes because I ran out of daylight and didn't want to be on the road on a Friday night in the dark).

Rode up the road a bit and turned off to the lane that goes back to the hayfield, and WHOA...THERE'S A TRACK IN THE SNOW, and YIKES A PILE OF DIRT, and UH OH, WE'RE GOING AWAY FROM HOME, and UM, I'M GOING TO TAKE US BACK NOW. Ha....not exactly the most enjoyable ride ever. She really never just *walked*....more like a prancy half trot, half walk thing that was just awful to ride. In her defense, the snow was realllly deep, so it would've been hard to just walk gently anyway. And, also, I am still treating her scratches (the skin is getting much better, more healthy skin, fewer scabs...really good progress!) and it's probably not too comfortable to walk in snow in that condition.

So we rode the perimeter of that field, followed the wash, crossed in a shallow spot, followed it around to the road, then back along the road to where we came in at the lane. Jigging, prancing nearly the whole way. I used single rein stops, I tried getting her mind on her work by asking for serpentines or circles or direction changes, I jiggled the reins to ask her to lower her head. I hollered at her to WALK! and CUT THAT OUT! I'd get a few strides of walking in, then I'd ask her to whoa so she could catch her breath. She's mostly stand still, but keep trying to throw in extra steps forward. Imagine my surprise when we left that field and got back on the road when she walked calmy forward with a nice 4 beat walk....so nice!

We walked that way almost back to our driveway, then I turned her around and back up the road til we got to the old hog woods, and walked around in there for a bit. It's fun for both of us to dodge the trees, and she relaxed mostly. But she was still focused on home quite a bit. The snow was starting to freeze back up, and it was getting darker than was really good for road riding, so we headed back home. Kept her at a walk until we got to the bottom of the hill going back when I heard traffic approaching, so I trotted her home, and made it in the driveway with plenty of time.

I put the rump rug out over her butt while she was drinking out of a not-quite-yet frozen over puddle, then turned her around and walked back out to the mailbox, where I dismounted, loosened the girth, and got the mail. I grabbed a flake of hay from the barn, and she snacked on it as we walked back to where we tack up.

It was a pretty frustrating ride for the first half. But ultimately she ended up doing what I asked, it just took a long time. I still had fun though - and have a strategy for what I'd like to do with today's ride.

Conditioning Theories???

2010-02-16T05:47:00.003-06:00

Okay.....so I've been doing some thinking about what qualifies for sufficient fitness for a horse's first LD.

I don't have a GPS.

I don't have a pre-measured conditioning "trail" around home.

No heart rate monitor.

I think that for my modest goals, this is okay.

This season will most likely consist of all Limited Distance, and in my understanding, you have 6 hours to complete 25-30 miles, including the 1 hour hold in the middle of the two loops, so about 5 hours of ride time. I believe that makes for an average of 5-6 mph. I'll just guess that Arabee walks at 3 mph, trots at 8 mph, and canters at 12 mph. (One of these days I'll actually figure out how fast she moves - we have some nice, flat farm lanes that are 1/2 mile long, and I can time her at all three gaits at that distance, then double it to get miles per hour.)

My plan (right now) for rides would be to trot on flats and uphill, and walk downhill. So I would guess we'd trot 75% of the time, walk 25% of the time. But for the first ride, I'll estimate more of a 50/50. So....if she walks for two and a half hours (half of the available time) at 3 mph, then we've traveled 7.5 miles, and for a 25 miler, there'd be 17.5 miles left - and it'd take a little more than 2 hours of trotting at 8mph to finish, and we'd have plenty of time. Of course, that's not how I'd ride....we'd probably walk the first half mile or so, to make sure her mind is on her job (which is listening to me, her rider, and keeping track of her feet), then proceed with trotting on flats and uphills, walking on downhills, really steep uphills, or whenever she needs a breather.

So I'm thinking that if I can build Arabee up to the point where she can trot for 2.5 hours, then we'll be ready for our first LD. Even though I won't know specifically how far we've gone, just knowing how fast a horse trots can give me a good enough idea, I would think.

Does this seem like sound reasoning? Especially knowing I'm starting with a 13 year old sound Arabian mare with a good mind. (I'm fully anticipating lots of "stupidness" at the start of the ride, and each time a horse is within sight or hearing, but she's had quite a bit of experience going places and with consistency on my part should come around to listening fairly well)

Would love a discussion on "basic" fitness requirements or what your conditioning goals are! Leave comments!

Weekend Summary

2010-02-14T14:15:00.004-06:00

Saturday: had 1 hour of babysitting - left the house at 3:30pm, was mounted up at 3:47pm. Rode south down the road, trotted through the snow in the clearing by the shed, rode across the Polly bridge, turned a circle in the grassy/snowy spot, then headed back. Serpentined through the snowy clearing, jigged/corrected/walked down the hill, then powerwalked up the hill, past the house (no we're not turning back to the barn!) down the road to Harlan's corner, then turned off into last year's bean field, followed the road to the top of the rise, then diagonally to the wash/trees, then back out to the road and back home. Just a little over 30 minutes altogether, and back inside by 4:30. Arabee was easy to catch and seemed eager to go. Fun ride, nice sunny day! When we got back to the driveway, she stopped to drink out of the puddles.

Sunday: Got home from church, changed diapers, fed Luke, changed clothes and headed out to ride. It was I believe 20 degrees when I left the house! Saddled up, this time I added the crupper. Rode south and back to the driveway the same way as yesterday, except trotted more on the way back, and I had her trot up the hill past the driveway and on past. The dogs had been barking at something and Arabee seemed to be aware of whatever it was when we rode past a certain area...I'm guessing it was a critter of some kind that had recently passed by, anyway she was a little fresher today, maybe it was the cold, or maybe the same thing that got the dogs fired up.

At the top of the hill north of our driveway, I turned left into the old hog woods, and we walked through there a while, meandering here and there to avoid low tree branches. I'm so pleased with Arabee's sensibility - she was very cautious about where she put her feet, as there were some tire ruts (very deep) that she very carefully walked around, and she never seemed to put a wrong step, even though I'm sure there were fallen, snow covered tree limbs underfoot. She seemed to really enjoy this part, ears up, but not tense at all, just interested in seeing where I had her go to next. I had her jog up out of the woods toward the road, when ALL OF A SUDDEN she saw the round bale carrier for the hay wagon laying half snow covered to her right. (no....it hadn't moved a bit but you would've thought it had the way she jumped left!) Also...I need to make sure to tighten the girth 1 hole tighter next time - much too loose side to side!

So then we headed back north on the road, and I had planned on just walking on the road but she was just being ridiculously sticky and looky at the walk, so we pushed up into a trot. Much better. Then down to a walk to go downhill, then turn right off into the bean field again like yesterday, only we followed the ditch until I couldn't see it anymore, then crossed over and headed straight west until we reached the edge of the hayfield and tracked the edge of it heading south. The snow was really deep there where it had drifted....probably about a foot. She wasn't wild about that, and besides we were facing home, so her head and ears were turned homeward. It was strange to ride that way, because even though it was obvious her main focus wasn't on me, she still managed to make her feet and body go the direction I wanted her to. We stayed well to the right of the fenceline because the sight of the bright blue stock tank in the pasture was SCARY in the snow, and as we came up to the neighbors house, he'd come outside and boy was that scary for Arabee. She jumped sideways right when the door opened, and then again when the door closed. I stayed with her, and managed to get her calmed down pretty easily.

We turned homeward on the road, and I stopped about 50 feet short of our drive, and put the rump rug out over her backside, then we walked home on a loose rein. She tried to stop at the places she'd drank from yesterday, but they were frozen solid. I wanted to get a solid 45 minute ride in today, so we walked about the barn lot until the watch showed we'd made the time, which turned out to be a nice little cooldown walk for her.

It was a fun, really good ride. Just the right amount of work, I think, for Arabee at this stage, and for me too. I forced myself to keep slack in the reins, and rather than pull on her to slow her back to a walk when needed, I either said "easy" or when that and seat didn't work, we did single rein stops. I rode with the reins on the halter. she goes really nicely in it, even when worked up I've never felt out of control at all. In fact....it truly puzzles me how (at least with this mare) a person could feel more in control in a tense situation with a bit....because the way you'd need to make contact in a bit you'd surely hurt the horse's mouth badly. I remember at shows with Arabee when riding bitted how I felt helpless to correct her because I didn't want to jerk the reins with the bit in her mouth to get her attention, but she was ignoring other more subtle attempts to get her to take contact and focusing much more on the other horses warming up, spectators, etc, etc. With the riding halter or s-hack, I'm able to give her a quick reminder jerk on the reins when needed.....like when she was thinking of spinning around back for home today when we got to the one spot where maybe that critter had just passed by.....that got her attention quickly back to me and didn't hurt her like it would have had she been wearing a bit.

Anyway, the point is I rode for 45 minutes today - walking and trotting, on the road and in deep snow....and we both had a blast doing it!

More snow is forecasted to come in late this afternoon, last I heard we were in the 3-6" range. I have mixed feelings about this. If it's going to be cold, I do like to at least have the pretty snow to look at....but still...I'm ready for spring! Even if it does mean mud, mud, and more mud!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rode on Thursday

2010-02-13T10:54:00.002-06:00

Rode for hopefully 38 minutes on Thursday. The watch I'm using for my stopwatch stopped somewhere after 26 minutes, so I rode for 6 minutes after I noticed the watch had stopped, so it was somewhere around that timeframe. I'll shoot to ride for 40 minutes the next time I ride.

The snow on the ground made for a big workout for Arabee. I'd planned to ride the same route on the road I had the last time, except turn off and ride the perimeter of one field to minimize how much snow she'd have to walk in. However, all afternoon and including when I'd wanted to ride coyote hunters had been driving up and down the road way too much for it to be a good idea to ride on the road that afternoon. So I rode in the pasture just South of our house.

The snow was about 4" deep in most places, but there had been a lot of drifting so it was much deeper in some areas, less in others. Underneath that snow was some pretty deep mud - so she had quite a workout just walking. I stopped frequently to let her catch her breath, but other than that we just walked since the footing was so deep.

I'm still having trouble getting my halter/hackamore set up just how I like it. I started with the reins on the hackamore, but the knotted noseband of the halter got under the hack noseband, and that brought out significant protest from Arabee....can't blame her! So I switched the reins to the halter which she did well with. I've adjusted the halter again so hopefully the nosebands won't get in each other's way next time.

New Bridle Pics

2010-02-07T17:15:00.003-06:00

Okay...so I adjusted the cheekpieces on the halter shorter, and I think they look too short, but I think that's because I attached the browband under the halter knot, instead of over top, which is pulling it tighter. How does the rest of the adjustments look? Too high, too low, too tight? I have since fixed the curb chain - so it will be even on each side - the hook was squeezed shut when it came, and I opened it up so I could make it even.

Sunday's Ride

2010-02-07T15:25:00.002-06:00

Today was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day - 31 degrees when I left the house, SUNNY, with a slight breeze (at least not windy!). I couldn't wait to get out and ride, the sunny day was calling my name!

Saddled up, adjusted her S-hack to what it looks like in the above picture, made a few circles at the end of the rein, flapped the rump rug, and mounted up. Took a quick spin around the barn lot to test steering and brakes and single rein stops in the S-hack, then walked down the driveway and headed South on the road.

She was pretty sticky for the first 100 feet - slight downhill to a big culvert under the road where the ditch goes underneath, that was trickling water, with steep dropoffs on either side where the road is about 3-5 feet above the roadside. I urged her past, then we trotted up the hill, and walked again when we crested the top. Then I had her walk through the snow in a little clearing on the side of the road, then back to the road past the neighbor's house, when I heard a truck coming along - we pulled off into the driveway and faced the oncoming traffic and then walked back out after they passed. Then downhill she was a little sticky again at the walk until we got level and I asked her to trot across the Polly Creek bridge (now really a glorified double culvert). We walked over into the snow on the east side, then turned back. Her nostrils were flaring from being short of breath - I know it's harder to walk in the snow, but I think it's a good thing we're both out of shape so I don't push her too hard too fast.

She REALLY wanted to trot home. I thought it crucial to make it well known from the beginning that I was the one who chose the speed. So she'd walk really really fast, then break gait, then I'd do a SRS, then have her walk on....then try to jig, so SRS the other direction....and back and forth like that for about 150 feet. When finally she was willing to walk forward quietly on a loose rein, I asked her to trot, then as we passed the neighbor's house, we went back and walked serpentines in the clearing in the snow. We walked back down the hill, where she thought about getting jiggy again, but a deep seat kept her walking, then we leerily walked across the ditch culvert, then walked laboriously up the hill, past the driveway, then it was uneventful as we walked, sometimes trotted the rest of the way to Harlan's corner. I had her walk unless she got sticky, then I asked for trotting.

She was a little faster walking home, but didn't break gait. We were about 100 ft from the driveway when a little red car started coming up behind us, so I had her trot on home. She seemed very relieved that we turned into the driveway! Haha, I really think she was afraid we'd go on past again. Altogether, it was about a 32 minute ride. Real nice.

Today I started giving her a little hay wetted down in a big tub. I set it in front of her while tacking up, and then parked her in front of it again as I untacked, brushed her, and checked her feet. I think it will be a good habit to get into doing this for training rides, so she is used to eating from the tub (and whenever she gets a chance) at rides, too.

I liked the S-hack. It's a different kind of response than riding in the halter, not better, just different. After looking at the picture at the top of this post, it's obvious some things needed adjusting - I let out the noseband of the s-hack a couple holes to lower the shanks, but haven't had the chance to try it on her again yet. Also, after the ride, the noseband of the halter was in front of the noseband on the s-hack, so I shortened the cheekpieces of the halter. Pretty pleased with my new gear, both in color and in the way they handle.

Snowy Ride Today

2010-02-06T16:19:00.004-06:00

I rode for 28 minutes today on Arabee, just around the barn. It'd snowed overnight, probably about 6 inches (give or take).

Walked mostly. She was feeling frisky with the snow and wind, it was 27 degrees actual...don't want to know wind chill!

Very happy with the way she responded to the Little Joe riding halter. The wind had Arabee feeling frisky, but she responded very well to my rein aids, when needed, and yes, they were needed. The little trotting we did to was fun and animated, she had to pick up her feet a lot because of the snow.

Matt got some pictures through the dining room window - you can see the screen in there.

I tried the browband, crown/cheekpiece and s-hack on Arabee, but the way I had it set up it was right in her eye. So I took it back to the house later and adjusted it, but I ran out of daylight to try it on her again. Maybe tomorrow.

Tuesday and Wednesday

2010-02-04T06:42:00.003-06:00

Well, some of the stuff I'd ordered arrived on Monday in the mail. It's always nice when the mail is too big to fit in the box, because then our mail deliverer brings it to our door - she seems very nice!

Anyway, it was a little square box from Running Bear that contained my s-hack, an adjustable girth loop, and two of their Smart bridle parts: the browband that has a snap and a place to run a crown/cheekpiece through, and what was supposed to be the crown/cheekpiece - all in DAY GLO BLUE! It's pretty :-) Well - the right part didn't come - so I still have to wait to try the s-hack out because instead of the part that would actually hang the hackamore, it was just a crown piece. I expect it to come any day now. I'd had a gift certificate from there, so I wanted to get my stuff there - I had an awful time trying to order through the site, apparantly they'd just done some revamping and hadn't quite worked out all the bugs. I think I encountered every problem there was - it should be good to go for everyone else, now!

I've ridden twice now (sunday and tuesday) in the riding halter I bought from Little Joe - and it's working beautifully. I almost wish I hadn't bought the s-hack. But, I think it will be good to have another option, in case I end up having issues with rub marks, maybe I can alternate days riding in the halter and s-hack. It'll be interesting to see which she goes better in when in a high energy situation. For Arabee, a bit isn't it. (or maybe it's just my hands...who knows, either way she just gets more tense with rein pressure holding her back in a bit)

Anyway, the point is I rode Arabee on Tuesday. I put the girth loop on her girth and adjusted the breastcollar to fit with it on. I wish I'd have just bought a girth with a D-ring, but this is certainly better than having to put the breastcollar loop around the girth. I'm glad to be riding in the breastcollar again, because I don't have to girth up near as tight, and I have much greater stability side to side in the saddle - Arabee just doesn't have the withers to hold the saddle in place.

I started the stop watch function on my watch when I mounted up to make for sure I got a minimum of 20 minutes in. We walked between the barn and corn crib on a loose rein, then I put the reins in one hand and flapped the rump rug with the other. I had to do this a lot longer than I expected - she was jumpy. Did this both ways/sides. Then we ventured out towards the road, then back past the tool shed almost to the house. Then we did a little trotting, more walking, and eventually I took her out to the road, then back, then we went back out onto the road at a trot, and went about 50 feet, then turned around and walked back. All in all we rode for about 23 minutes. Pretty good ride, she was doing a little bit of stupid shying at things like clods of mud in the gravel driveway, but she soon got over doing that with a quick boot reminder.

Then on Wednesday, I haltered her, picked her feet, and we walked/jogged up the road almost to the red barn. We went to the telephone pole past the hill. (I realize NO ONE knows where that is or how far but me, but it'll help me remember what we did when I look back) I pushed pretty hard and was pretty out of breath. I've discovered these protein/energy bars that when you eat one before and after exercise, they amazingly prevent lactic acid from building up and help your body draw energy straight from fat, so your muscles really aren't sore! Now, my joints sure were/are stiff but I attribute that to my body still getting back to normal from pregnancy (it's amazing, God designed the pregnant body's ligaments to loosen up in preparation for delivering the baby...and gradually after the birth things tighten back up)

We're supposed to get a pretty significant snow system come through tomorrow, but I hope to make it over to the arena at least once this weekend.

I've been having so much fun getting back into shape, and it's fun to have a workout partner (even if she is hairy, muddy, and smells like a horse!)

February Goal Review

2010-02-01T06:25:00.002-06:00

So I think I'm going to try to do a monthly 'goal review' on or around the first day of each month. First I'll go over how I did on the previous month's goals, and then talk about what I plan to accomplish for the next month.

Back in October, I posted what I'd hoped for 2010 and a rough outline for what each month might bring.

First of all, things got pushed back a good bit, since our son waited until November 10th for his birthday, rather than coming in October like his due date was. (He was well worth the wait...but still!)

So while I did a little bit of horse work in December, it was not to the extent I had hoped. I rode a little, walked on the road a little (bit by bit increasing distance). I didn't at all do anything about any kind of trail network to ride around home, other than the road handwalking. Any riding I do from home will end up with at least a little bit of road riding, and that surely has helped.

In January we did more of the same of what we did in December, but added one arena session to it. I'd hoped to have found time to do more than just the one that we did, but it turned out that things got busier than expected. I still have some riding basics that I want to run a refresher course on - steering, rating on a loose rein - and I intend to do that in the arena. I've done a good job of improving rider fitness. I wanted to do that gradually but consistently, and I feel the handwalking and jogging has worked to accomplish a marked improvement.

So we've done okay on the December and January goals, especially considering my actual horse work in December didn't even really get started until the later part of the month.

Now, for February.

>Commit to riding 2-3 times/week.
>Ride in the arena at least 4 times this month, working on fine-tuning loose rein riding
>Gradually increase comfort level with vehicles to the point where I can ride to and from Arena, rather than handwalking both ways.
>Begin short training rides from home (mounting up in the barn lot, and venturing out, going a little farther each time).
>Build up to being able to ride for at least 1 hour walk trot canter.

Got to Ride Last Night

2010-02-01T06:09:00.004-06:00

So I got to ride last night, and it was GREAT!

I mean, it was really cold, but the skinny little balaclava I bought to go under the helmet worked great on my neck and ears, and the amazing winter riding pants I got for Christmas (but were too small and had to exchange so really...Christmas in January!) were soo comfy and warm and easy to mount and ride in, too. And amazingly, I stayed warm even just walking.

We just rode around the barn lot - I didn't have too much daylight left. I probably rode about 15 minutes, but not too sure since I didn't have my phone or watch with me. Arabee did very well with just leg pressure turning. I was focusing on asking her to lower her head each time I jiggled the rein (a lower head can mean a calmer horse, and it's hard for a horse to really do anything fast with their head low) I want her to get to the point where she lowers her head anytime I touch the reins, even if she's focused on something scary.

Even though I had significant drape in the reins, and often was holding my hands down on the pommel (to force myself not to direct rein!) I'd look and cue with leg and she'd follow the imaginary path I requested very nicely (mostly.).

We did a little trotting. It was fun. I hope this week lets me get outside more than I did last week.

Friday and Saturday my family was out of town for a conference and stayed in a hotel - and did a lot of EATING not-home-cooked meals. I made a point though of going to the hotel's fitness center, and I walked/power walked/jogged for 40 minutes Saturday, and walked and jogged a little over 20 minutes on Sunday morning. It was great to get that exercise, and surely it will help me towards being fit enough to ride better. Can't hurt, anyway.

Not just sitting around, exactly

2010-01-26T07:08:00.003-06:00

So I realized the last post I did was last week. But I've been working with Arabee still, just not blogging it, which is too bad since now I'm not sure I remember exactly what we did!

On Saturday the 16th since we'd been down the the arena the night before, I just went out and picked hooves, and then soaked her hind feet in the easy soakers and borax water. I trimmed her frogs (pretty shaggy looking with the time off and then starting back up with road walking) and started scratches treatment. She had them pretty badly on her hind legs especially, just a few spots on her front legs. I sprayed with a mixture of 1/2 teaspoon tea tree oil and 1 cup water until I got each spot good and soaked. I ended up with about 1/3 cup leftover in the spray bottle. (I also cleaned up the sole of her left hind foot with the hoof knife - see below)

Okay.

Tuesday the 20th the AERC paperwork came in the mail. I've read through both December and January's Endurance News, and called the office to let them know Arabee's name was spelled wrong (short one 'e'). They're sending me a new horse letter.

ummm...

Matt was really busy last week at work, had to work late so neither one of us got outside while it was still daylight after Tuesday.

Saturday afternoon Arabee and I took another walk/jog North on the road. This time I pushed harder, jogging 15 steps by each pole. Not surprisingly, Arabee had already caught onto the pattern, and would offer to trot by herself right near the pole, so I started to switch it up a bit. That mare is so smart!

Apparently back last summer when I noticed she was LAME on the right front, left rear, she had abscessed on both feet. The lameness on the left rear was not noticable at the time we took her to the vet so I was surprised a week or so ago when there was a hole just like the abscessed right front had. I'm surprised she didn't appear lame in that foot longer than she did - the "hole" went all the way around her foot from heel to heel and was 1/4-1/2" wide all the way just inside the white line. It was just barely starting to show gaps from wearing on the road, and the whole channel it created was starting to pack rocks and mud and manure, so I trimmed away the flap so it would stay open and not trap all that stuff on Saturday the 16th.

okay - so I know this is really disjointed..but I'm just typing as I remember how it happened!

Sunday we thought we had plans for the afternoon, but that changed so I was able to treat Arabee's scratches again. I'd hoped to get to ride down at the arena, but it was off and on sprinkling/pouring, and I was not interested in walking down there in that weather! I'll wait 'til I can RIDE some actual trails to push training in the rain!

Anyway, I used a bit of a different approach that I read about for scratches treatment, and I'm waiting until I see it's effectiveness to post about it. I'm pretty excited about it though. Same for the new riding halter I bought. It came Saturday the 16th and while I love the way she responds in-hand while wearing it, I haven't had a good opportunity to RIDE in it yet...so I'm waiting to post pictures and where I purchased it. I am fairly certain I will really like it, though. It's very pretty, anyway!

This week is looking like I will very rarely get any opportunity to get out and ride. Not tonight...nor Wednesday or Thursday. Realistically, not again until Sunday afternoon!! Maybe February will be mild, so I can get some good training in then?

Monday, January 19

2010-01-19T16:19:00.003-06:00

Got outside again with Arabee yesterday. Haltered her and just started walking North from our driveway. At every telephone/electric pole we jogged for 10 strides. Then we walked again until the next pole, and jogged 10 strides. Next time I'll go for 15 jogging strides between poles.

We met a lot of vehicle traffic on the way out, just one vehicle on the way back in.

Stopped at the mailbox and remembered it was a holiday - too bad because I am waiting to get my AERC membership stuff back. I had received 2010 membership as a gift, and since I didn't call in until January, they told me they'd send December and January Endurance News too. Can't wait.

Friday, January 15

2010-01-15T20:15:00.002-06:00

Was dressed and ready to ride and out the door at 4:30pm, caught Arabee, saddled up, and started walking towards the arena at 4:43. Met more traffic than usual, since it's a Friday night. Once we were within view of the several horses in the pasture, Arabee started wearing her tail up over her back, and once they all galloped towards the fence and were trotting back and forth as we progressed towards the driveway of the barn, she made me glad I was already wearing my helmet more than once.

Got there, and realized I had to go inside to open the overhead door to get Arabee inside. So I tied her, and as I was almost to the door the girl who was feeding the other horses came out and told me she'd turned the lights on since she knew I was coming, which was nice since it takes a little bit for them to come on. Very nice of her!

Brought Arabee in, and when I pushed the button to shut the door again, she nearly came out of her skin! Looks like I'll have to practice garage doors at home! She calmed down once it was low enough for her to see it, and I walked her both ways around the arena. I took off my vest and hat, walked to the middle of the arena, and had grabbed mane and put my foot in the stirrup when she suddenly pricked her ears and whinnied. Not ready to go, yet, I guess! So I unclipped the reins and sent her trotting and cantering a couple of times both ways at "liberty." She got winded pretty quickly (she's nearly as out-of-shape as I am!) and was asking to come in pretty quickly.

So I got on and rode for a few minutes. Just walking. It was so hard for me to not give her any turning direction with the reins!! The more leg I used, the more she wanted to speed up, so I automatically would go to give her a direct rein to get her to turn so she wouldn't speed up to my leg. I finaly had to push my hands down against the saddle to keep myself from using them! Really, the riding only lasted for 7 minutes and was really not the highlight of the evening, since it took so long to walk past the pasture, and finally get her brain back to where it was safe to get on. I really shouldn't have ridden that long even, because it was plenty dark by the time we got home.

I think we both will be sore tomorrow!

Rode Again Yesterday

2010-01-15T08:56:00.004-06:00

I got to ride Arabee yesterday - the temperatures were abnormally high - got into the 50's! Nothing special, just saddled up (no breastcollar or crupper) and rode in the dr. cooks for 10 minutes. All walking, except just at the end we did about 100 ft. of trotting - would've been 75 if she'd have transitioned to walking when I first asked ;-)

I also called the barn owner and asked to ride in the arena. (A huge THANK YOU to you, if you're reading this!) I plan to head down there tonight, and am very much looking forward to doing this! I want to be done riding by 5:30pm, so I can be done walking home by dark. That won't leave much riding time since Matt rarely gets home before 4:30, but that fits well with my plan to take it easy! I am sore enough after just 10 minutes of riding yesterday that really I only want to ride for 15 minutes today anyway! (I'm really not much of a believer in "no pain, no gain" - more of a "slow and steady wins the race" kind of girl, haha)

I recently had a comment by Caitlyn I think, but I cannot find which post it was on. She'd asked for pointers on how I plan to get Arabee to rate and steer and stop on a loose rein. I wish I had a more concrete answer for that! Truly, I am not sure I know how to accomplish this, but I have a rough plan. I think it's mostly going to be a problem of retraining MYSELF to let go and quit pestering her with the reins. And that's where using the arena will really help, because I will feel safer doing that - she can't really go anywhere.

For stopping, it's a progressive thing - first I THINK stop, then shift my weight down, then stop my body motion with her movement, then if she still hasn't stopped, I add a verbal cue. Easy, Easy, Arabee - Whoa. My horse knows whoa - it means stop feet NOW! To me that's a critical safety net, and it has saved me from being spilled off more than once. So if she doesn't stop as fast as she can when I say whoa, I then do what I can to MAKE her stop. So, using this method of gradually increasing how I ask, hopefully she'll learn to stop at the first, most subtle cue. I'm guessing/hoping this type of practice will also work with steering. My old gelding Jack used to go in whatever direction I looked, exactly.

So tonight in the arena I plan on riding on a completely loose rein, and using the above procedure for stopping/slowing. For turning, first I will look where I want to go, then point my body in that direction, then use my leg, then use my leg harder until I eventually boot her over. If she still won't turn, then I suppose I'll resort to rein pressure....but I think I really need to reserve that for last ditch efforts to get her used to turning without the rein. So, that's my rough plan.

It's not like she doesn't have a clue, but she's not as precise as I'd like. I'll keep practicing turning and circles and serpentines and patterns until she follows the exact path I want on a loose rein. This will probably take a long time and many sessions, but I think the results will be worth it.

King...err - Queens of the Road (?)

2010-01-11T07:56:00.005-06:00

"trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let $0.50, no phone, no pool, no pets. . . I'm a man of means by no means King of the Road!"

All right, so Arabee and I aren't exactly ruling the road, but we sure have been spending a lot of time walking it. Also, I hope at least some of you are humming that song to yourselves while reading this post!

On Sunday I wanted to see how far 15 minutes of handwalking got us as we traveled south. I'll check the distance with the car maybe today if I remember, but we got past B & S's house to "the roost" and then past the north side of the field about 50 feet. I know this means almost nothing to anyone reading, but in another 5 minutes of walking we'd have probably reached the barn with the arena.

Which probably means that it wouldn't be too much of an advantage to trailer Arabee over there if I am able to ride in it again. By the time I'd get the truck started, warmed up, hitched to the trailer, put the tack in the trailer, loaded her up, drove down there, unloaded her, tacked up, got in the barn, rode, got out of the barn, untacked, loaded back up, drove back home, unloaded Arabee, unloaded the tack, parked the trailer, and unhitched the truck....I think it would take about the same amount of time to just walk down there! And I am out of shape enough it will do me a lot of good to do just that!

I am unclear though about the Rules of the road when it comes to walking your horse on it. Pedestrians are supposed to walk against traffic, with the right shoulder towards the road. Bicyclists are supposed to ride with traffic, with the left shoulder towards the road. My guess is that when I'm walking Arabee, we're Pedestrians, but if I were Riding her on the road, we'd ride WITH traffic, like a Bicyclist would? Does anyone know the law on this? I want to follow the rules in case an accident would happen we'd be in the right.

There isn't much traffic on the road, really. In a little over 1/2 hour of walking, only 4 vehicles came by. The trouble is that half of the time the vehicles were noisy trucks, which are a little more scary apparantly for Arabee than SUVs or cars. Judging from her current reaction - I could ride out a passing SUV or car if it slowed down, but it'd be a little iffy if a truck passed. Right now, I make sure we keep walking, and assuming traffic is clear, we turn around and face the vehicle as it approaches. She's fine as it approaches, but once it's behind her she gets a little fast/bouncy. It's good practice for her to be on the road while I'm on the ground.

Her hooves have been improving also since I've been walking her on the road - they look nice! It's so neat to watch the way they wear on their own.

I'll post more soon about the bitless headgear. I've ordered something, and it should ship tomorrow, but I'll wait until I try it out to post more about it.

Also, on Saturday (posting this since a lot of the point of the blog is to keep a log of what we do) I tacked Arabee up - saddle, breastcollar, and crupper, just to remind her that the crupper was okay. I wasn't dressed to ride, so I just walked her down to the house where Matt was unloading a wagonload of fire wood into our woodshed. He'd just finished up, and he fired up the old JD 50 tractor to put the wagon away. Rodeo time! So we walked (me) and bounced sideways (Arabee) along while he put the wagon away, then followed him back. She finally did calm down, but it took a little bit. It took longer than it should've, I think because she was feeling good and it was fun to snort and prance, and it was cold and brisk.

Anyway, I've been having fun gradually getting back in shape, and playing around with Arabee, even if I'm too wimpy to actually get on and ride in the cold right now! We'll get there, soon enough.

Still mulling over the bridle choices

2010-01-06T06:36:00.000-06:00

I want to thank all who commented on my last post about bitless options. You gave me good things to think about. Zach - if you find the reasoning behind not using an s-hack comes to mind again, please share it, I'd love to hear. Everyone brought out some good points. I'm not convinced that bitless is for every horse/every rider - as Aarene pointed out, a harsh noseband in the wrong hands can be just as damaging and painful to the horse as a bit. I also agree with E.G. that it should not be the bridle that stops the horse. I think the only way a bridle actually can make the horse stop is if the horse is trained to respond to the pressure, or if the rein is tied to a solid post! For me, the goal is to quide Arabee with seat and legs and voice, and use rein pressure only to remind her I'm up there if she gets spooky, or if she needs to turn right NOW to avoide slamming my knee into a tree.

I rode for the first time again on New Year's Eve, and after that it became bitterly cold - too cold for me to ride in the stuff I have. The lined carhartt overalls I have are too stiff and immobile for me to consider riding in. For Christmas I received as a gift a pair of insulated riding pants, which unfortunately were too small, so I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the right size so I can ride soon, hopefully. (or else temperatures above freezing!) So, I've been taking Arabee on walks along the road. I'm fairly certain all of the cars passing by think I'm absolutely nuts, judging by their faces. I walked her on New Years Day, Monday, and Tuesday too.

One of those days I tried on the old English Hackamore I have. Unfortunately, the headstall I have to hang it with is too big, and I have no room to adjust it. The nosepiece of the hackamore rested right on her nostrils, so I had no way to really even get a feel for how Arabee might respond in it. So that means I'm looking at having to get another headstall. I really like the idea of the kind that the browband has an extra loop that snaps around the halter, so you can leave the halter on all the time. But, even with the too-big headstall, I didn't really like the way the shank of the English Hackamore laid right along Arabee's lips - seems it would be very easy for her to grab it, rendering any rein aids useless. So if the S-Hack and the English Hackamore operate on the same principles, I'm leaning towards the S-Hack because of the shank design. I feel pretty leery of trying the halter bridle I talked about. I'm certain it would be fine to ride her in something like that on a steamy hot summer day, or in an arena any time - but I'm just concerned that the halter bridle may not be attention-getting enough on the trail if some horse-eating monster comes along.

I have a return that I will get store credit for as soon as I mail item in. So I have a few days yet to decide what it is I'm going to do. I think my husband is right - no matter what it is that I get, I won't really be happy with it. He says I'm too particular about what I want. I'm taking that as a compliment - shouldn't I be particular about my horse's comfort and my confidence that I'll be able to control her in all situations?

Bitless Choices?

2010-01-01T10:37:00.006-06:00

I am on a search for a better bitless bridle. I am definitely looking for input - would love to hear your point of view!

When I handle Arabee from the ground, I use a rope halter and a thick cotton leadrope. She takes her cues from my body position, and there is a lot of slack in the lead rope. The only time she feels pressure on her head from the rope is if she is misbehaving.

My goal is to have this sort of feel from the saddle - where Arabee moves off of my body cues, and only feels pressure on her head from the reins if she needs correction.

So, I am looking for a bitless solution that will allow me to give Arabee consistent release from pressure as long as she is going as I ask her, but will give me enough "grab" to get her attention should I need to.

Arabee has been in the Dr. Cook's Bitless Bridle and has done well in it. She is responsive, will frame up nicely in it, and in fact does better in the Bitless Bridle than she does in a bitted bridle. (no head tossing, etc).

(photo from bitlessbridle.com) The problem I have with the Dr. Cook's is that there is never a complete release from pressure, even if the reins are completely slack. The noseband has to be done up quite tightly, and the cross-under pieces are always resting against the jaw - that is always an itchy spot when the bridle comes off. So, while very effective, the Dr. Cook's Bitless Bridle just doesn't offer the release I want, and doesn't seem like it is very comfortable for Arabee to wear.

So that brings me to this, The Ultimate Riding Halter (http://www.crazyropes.com/bitless.html) This bitless bridle would definitely offer the release I am looking for, and paired with a heavy rope rein, would offer the same feel as I am used to when handling her from the ground. My concern however, is whether it would command respect and attention in a hairy situation. Will the rein attachments provide enough of an advantage over using a plain rope halter to be safe to ride in?

Another option is an English Hackamore, like this one from http://www.statelinetack.com/. I have one that I used to ride my old gelding Jack in - he went very well in it, always happy. The one I have is so old, I'd need to replace the leather straps with new, and I'd probably go with biothane. I've never tried Arabee in it, but it seems that this kind of hackamore has more of a curb type pressure to it, operating on the chin and poll, and would not be as handy for direct reining, so if I needed to turn her quickly with rein pressure, the signal might not be as clear as needed.

Last but not least of the options I've been considering is the S-Hack. The one pictured is from runningbear.com and it seems that this type of hackamore is very popular in endurance. The S-Hack is significantly more expensive than an English Hackamore, though I am not sure why. It seems it would operate on the same principles (chin and poll pressure) as the English Hackamore, but the way the cheek pieces are curved, it may make it easier for the horse to eat and drink along the trail or at a hold.

I am kind of at a loss as to what I should do. Ideally I'd try each of these options until I found the one that worked best for Arabee. (which ultimately, I may end up having to do anyway) Since I'm not made of money, and every single option will cost something, I'd like to make an educated guess and try first the one that is most likely to fit the criteria.

Any input?? Thanks!

I rode today!

2009-12-31T14:36:00.002-06:00

I rode Arabee again today! I went out to catch her, and she refused to be caught! So, I went back to the garage and put on my tall rubber chore boots (due to the ankle deep mud in places) and set about chasing her around the paddock until she showed signs of being willing to stop and let me catch her. Finally she lowered her head, and licked her lips, and I haltered her. Saddled up after scratching as much of the mud off of her as I could, picked her feet, and did the regular mini-longe session at the end of the rein - walk, whoa, walk, trot, walk, whoa practice in both directions. This gives me an idea of how attentive she is, allows me to tighten her girth enough after she quits bloating, and refreshes her voice cues.

I had terribly overestimated how long my stirrups needed to be - it's a miracle I was even able to get my off leg over her back, so I got off and adjusted them. They were still too long, but I left them as they were. All we did was walk, whoa, and turn, and thankfully we didn't do any spooking practicing, so the long stirrups were fine.

She did a fine job of halting to my body cues. Not such a fine job of turning with my legs, but that's never been one of our finest movements. It was very very low key, but a good beginning to starting riding again!

Soaking and Cows and Walking

2009-12-21T09:53:00.003-06:00

Went out to soak Arabee's front hooves yesterday. Brought a clean gallon milk jug half full of hot water, sprinkled some Borax into each soaking boot. Caught the mare, who was muddy halfway up her legs. Walked her through a puddle to try to clean her off a bit, then picked her hooves, and put the soaking boots on, and poured in the water, which was just pleasantly warm by this time.

I was grooming her when Matt and his dad pulled up in the pickup, saying one of the old cows had gotten out, the neighbor put her back in, but we were going to move them back to the home pasture. So I quickly pulled off her boots, and did some frog trimming. They really look very good, but there were some spots that could trap mud and manure, so I trimmed the frog in those areas. I turned her back out, and went to help move the cows.

It didn't take very long, so I haltered her again, and we took a walk down the road to the corner. A suburban drove by, a neighbor jogged by but it was otherwise uneventful. She wasn't nearly as squirrely for this walk as she was the first one we took. When we got back I picked her feet, took off her halter, and rubbed the itchy spots.

I had my husband weigh myself and my tack to try to determine what weight division we'd be for AERC. I had on my heavy carhartt overalls, heavy flannel shirt, thick vest, and rubber boots. We weighed my saddle, pad, girth, crupper, breastcollar, bridle, reins, pommel pack, and it was all sitting on the saddle rack. The pommel pack was empty, I plan on carrying some first aid items, some snacks, and two bottles of water, a hoof pick. I didn't weigh any hoof boots. I am still about 30 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. So...the weight we got between changing rider apparel and loading the pommel pack and hoof boots and hopeful weight loss is not what it will likely be come April - but it places us pretty soundly in the Middleweight Division.

15 Minutes Today

2009-12-17T18:03:00.002-06:00

Today my husband got home early, so I got to get outside while it was still light, and it wasn't just to do chores! I think he'll get to take a half day tomorrow, which will be even nicer!

So, I headed out and called in the horses from the pasture. I haltered Arabee and brought her out and picked her feet. They look really nice after the trim. It's clear that there's some loose frog that needs trimmed away (which can be an indicator of thrush) so it's a good thing I plan to do some hoof soaking.

After the hoof picking, we took a quick walk. It was clear that she's been used to being "wild and free" by how high-headed and snorty she was - glad we're taking the time to do some ground work before getting in the saddle! I made sure she stayed with her head at my shoulder and had good manners - she needed many reminders in the short walk we took.

I picked her feet again after walking on the gravel, took her halter off, gave her a good rub on the spots where the halter was, and that was it! Altogether it was about 15 minutes. We are starting slow, and not solely because of the horse - it's mostly due to my reconditioning after the pregnancy and birth. It feels so good to be active and outdoors again!

Getting Closer

2009-12-16T08:17:00.004-06:00

It seems the going is slow! After my last post, the next day I trimmed Jack's hooves with the hoof grinder as well, and he behaved well also. The fact that he's thousands of years old (ok...will be 30 in 2010) and can't hear probably helped! His hooves are black, and quite a bit more firm than Arabee's mostly white hooves, and took a few more passes with the grinder (or else the wheel wasn't as sharp after being used on Arabee) Either way, they were much nicer to look at after the trim than Arabee's - I'm going with the operater's skills had improved with practice.

Recently the temperatures have been much too cold for taking my kids outside, especially the baby, so I had been staying inside almost constantly. My husband and father in law have been doing the feeding chores (horses, goats, and our LGD) instead of me since before the baby was born, and we had moved the goats around and several have been born - I didn't even know what to feed my own animals anymore! So we took Cora and Luke to their grandparent's house last night and Matt taught me how to feed the animals again. It was fun!

My plan is that I will do chores at night, and work on soaking a pair of hooves at a time. When we trimmed them the other weekend, I discovered a bad case of scratches on Arabee, and I want to renew thrush treatment on Jack, to make sure he keeps the progress we made in the fall. I have a pair of Easycare's soaking boots, which are really nice - your ornery old gelding can't pretend he accidentally stepped out of the rubber tub you were soaking his hooves in - they are strapped to his pasterns!

So, the only thing I need now is a good tying spot. I got away with not having a place to tie my horses for several years, mostly because Arabee will stand ground tied, but if I'm going to try to soak hooves and be doing other things, I need a safe, secure place to tie.

Ideally, it will be all of these things:

Level
close to electricity and water
have footing that won't get muddy
be secure enough that if I have both horses tied to it, and they pull back at the same time that it won't come down
wither height
have a lighting source
be reasonably close to my tack room
free of obstacles/sharp things to get hurt on

Can anyone think of other important criteria to have in a tie area???? Let me know, I'd appreciate it!

I think I might have my husband really glad to have a good idea of something to get me for Christmas and my birthday, and I will be thrilled to get it! Until then, both horses are in serious need of mud and mane tangle removal, so it won't be a bad thing for me to babysit them while they soak.

So, with these cold temperatures, chores and soaking and hopefully handwalking is what I'll be doing with Arabee for the rest of December. I'm starting to really look forward to riding again, but my stomach muscles have a long way to go before they'll be strong enough to keep my butt centered in the saddle during a big spook, so the grooming and groundwork will be good for me.

Begin Again!

2009-12-05T16:02:00.004-06:00

Today was my first "real" day of doing anything horse related after Luke was born.

And it was a bit of a doozy!

I trimmed all four of Arabee's feet using an electric grinder! She handled it like she'd been having her feet trimmed that way her whole life.

I on the other hand have a bit of a learning curve to overcome on the machine. It works super fast and I love using it because I did the first hoof in half the time it usually takes me. The trim isn't perfect, but it will do for her current use, which is pasture ornament. Each hoof I did looked better than the last, so I'm at least improving.

After the trim, Arabee and I took a walk to the mailbox. She will have a lot of getting-used-to to do - she had a cow over the shed that the goats were in, the newly weaned calves in the barn, the replacement heifers in the pasture across the road, and the mailbox. I will have a lot of fitness to restore - my shoulders and arms are quite stiff, and will be sore tomorrow, and if the baby allows it, I'll sleep well tonight! So, a good (if not slow) start to getting back at work to building rider endurance.

Birth Announcement

2009-11-24T10:35:00.002-06:00

After much anticipation, our son Luke was born on 11/10/09, at 3:35am. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 21 inches long.

He is 2 weeks old today, and we're all getting used to being a family of 4, with 2 children under 2!

I am still way too sore to even THINK about riding a horse, but that will change with time!

I won't bore everyone with the details surrounding his birth here on this blog, but if you happen to be interested, you can read about it here.

Is it too early to post about 2010???

2009-10-01T06:50:00.004-05:00

As I wrote in the last post, I have been itching to ride again! So I did the next best thing, I sat down and thought about what my actual goals are for riding in 2010.

Assuming our son is born November 1st, he's healthy and I'm healthy and I take it easy and focus on family only for the first 6 weeks, here is what I've come up with:

December - work in hand

goals: 2-3 times per week, build rider fitness, enhance horse/rider communication after time off, establish familiarity with trail network around home (i.e., come up with some trails....)

January - work both in hand and under saddle

goals for in hand work: One day/week continue with December's goals

goals for under saddle work: arena work 2x/week, to reinforce riding basics of steering, stopping, rating at all three gaits, and to teach lateral moves (sidepass, pivots) This is when I want to set the foundation for riding on a loose rein bitless before I take her out on the trails.

February - work under saddle

goals: Ride outside 2-3 times per week, continuing to reinforce the basics out in the open, while gradually building horse (and rider) fitness through longer trotting periods (long, slow distance).

March - work under saddle

goals: Ride 2-3 times per week, building up intensity, possibly trailering out for a training ride or two towards the last half of the month.

April - work under saddle

goals: Ride 2-3 times per week, continuing to build trotting and intensity, more training rides, and if all has gone well, our first slow limited distance completion at Chicken Chase!

After that, we'll see how things are going, and re-evaluate (although I'd be lying if I didn't say that I truly hope to ride in every ride in Indiana in 2010) Maybe a slow LD multiday at Top of the Rock in May, conditioning in June, Salamonie in July, conditioning in August and September, then Spook Run in October, and just maybe, our first 50 in November (cooler weather, having had all season to condition, taking it easy)?

We'll see how it goes, take one month (or ride) at a time. 2009 certainly presented it's share of obstacles between tack issues, injury, pregnancy, and now the abscess - we may not even make it to our first endurance ride at all, but one can dream and hope and plan, can't they?

Update

2009-09-29T10:34:00.002-05:00

Haven't posted in a while again, so I thought I might mention that Arabee is going sound again (yay!) but the hole in the bottom of her sole has not yet closed up, so she still requires a bandage to keep the dirt out until it closes up. So she's still in her stall, and not too thrilled about it, either.

This beautiful fall weather has me just itching to ride! But, of course I won't be doing any of that for a while, anyway, between being very pregnant and Arabee's abscess.

I finally had to give up trimming hooves myself, and now Matt has taken over. So far, he's only trimmed Arabee, and Jack is going to get his hooves done tonight. All in all, he's done a great job, especially considering he barely knew how to pick out a horse's hooves, let alone handle them long enough to trim them! If he could just take the hoof off and trim it, he'd do great, as it is, Arabee is especially good at testing him with her hind feet, and let's face it - it's disconcerting for anyone, let alone a beginner, when a horse jerks their hind legs at you!

With all the stall rest, her walls were plenty long, and we did try using an electric grinder on the hoof. She handled the noise and vibration well, but there was just too much material to take off to use it for a whole trim. I may be able to take back over the trimming if I use the electric grinder about once/week - just a few passes over the hoof should keep things in pretty good shape at that frequency. It's just that bending over for any length of time is not my favorite thing to do, and our baby doesn't like it either judging by how often I get kicked in the ribs when I try!

Arabee has an Abscess

2009-09-01T04:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I hauled Arabee down to a new vet - not new to the area, but new to us. We/I decided it was a good idea to switch our equines to someone who specializes in equines, and I have to say it was a good experience yesterday. It was nice to deal with a vet who wasn't afraid of my "large animal" or who wanted to handle her like a cow.

Drove the almost 45 minutes down there, stopped in the office and found out I had driven too far, that I'd need to back up about 75 feet, around a curve, and then drive around the barn to the horse examining area. Interesting, because backing isn't really my thing! But, I was very slow, and actually VERY successful doing so! In front of us in line was a pair of gray geldings - the trailer hauling them in had Henryville, IN written on it, and Rocky Mountain Horse stickers everywhere. They were getting their teeth floated. They left, I pulled the truck and trailer up a little bit farther, and waited until they were ready to see us. (it's so funny...I'm used to taking my daughter to her well-child doctor's appointments, and I am using the same language as I am now talking about taking my HORSE to the VET! "...they were ready to see US")

So the tech came out and asked me what was going on, I explained that on 8/2, the rescue 20 helicopter had flown overhead very low, and that evening she'd come in pretty lame on the left front/right hind, so I figured she hurt herself trying to get away from that, but she had significantly improved the next day, and incrementally gotten better each day after that, so I assumed she was on the mend. We left for vacation on 8/8, got back 8/15, and she still had a slight lameness. Towards the end of that week, she was getting progressively worse again, and that weekend was very obviously sore on the left front. I called the vet and set up an appointment, and as soon as they could fit us in, we came.

She had me unload Arabee, and take her into the exam room. They had a stall, a tie area, two sets of stocks, and rubber floor mats. Another horse was in there, with his feet being soaked (for abscesses, go figure!). Arabee was glad to see that other horse, and quickly calmed down and stood quietly. The vet came out and had the tech walk Arabee so she could see - she was tense and hiding the lameness a little, but it was still obvious. Brought her back in the building, and felt her leg and hoof carefully, then picked up the hoof and started cleaning it, used the hoof testers, and started cutting sole away. I asked if she had a hunch of what it was at this point, and she was pretty sure already it was an abscess. She'd already found a little hole at the bottom of her sole that when she squeezed the hoof next to it with the hoof tester, would ooze liquid.

Apparantly an abscess is good news. While it does cause big time lameness, it's temporary, and she said that with this wet summer, that they've seen a LOT of abscesses locally. She said there wasn't much you could do to prevent them, aside from shoeing your horse, but even shod horses can get them. She asked who my farrier was, and I told her I'd been doing the trimming myself, and the hope was to keep her barefoot, and boot with easyboots or renegades when needed.

She slathered a piece of cotton with Magnapack, an epsom salt gel poultice-like green product, and then wrapped the entire bottom of her foot up to her pastern in cotton batting, then vetrap, then duct tape across the bottom of the hoof. I am supposed to soak her leg, bandage and all, in warm water with epsom salts once/day, and change the bandage every 3-4 days. So unfortunately for Arabee and for me, this means stall rest. Again! She just really hates that, and I do too, since it means hauling water buckets and manure, and hay. Oh well, if it will keep her foot clean which will get her sound faster, it'll be worth it.

I am seriously considering purchasing a pair of Easyboot Soaker boots. Not just for this application, but since I've been soaking Jack's feet for thrush once weekly, and probably will start doing Arabee's too, it'd be way handier to use these boots than try to get them to stand in that rubber tub.

I still want to do a thorough web search of how to treat abscesses, especially barefoot hoof style abscess treatment. If anyone has any helpful links or knowledge, send it my way, please!

Honest Scrap Award

2009-08-25T10:27:00.006-05:00

This little blog of mine has (waaaay back in July!) been awarded the Honest Scrap Award three times! Go Diego Go, If the Trees had Ears, and Endurance Granny all nominated me! Thank you. I'm honored, but haven't been blogging an awful lot lately, so it's taken me a while to get around to posting this!

When you receive The Honest Scrap award you must stick to some rules:

Recognize your award presenter and link back to their blog in your post.

List 10 honest things about yourself that others might not know.

Present this award to 10 admirable bloggers and link to their blogs.

Leave a comment on your recipients' blogs to let them know to visit your post to retrieve their award.

Here are 10 honest scraps about me:

I am ridiculously excited about the birth of our son, who's estimated due date is November 1st. I cannot wait! Getting to meet him, to hold him, nurse him, bathe him, introduce him to our daughter, who will be 22 months old when he's born - I just can't wait.

I am a stay at home mom, and I absolutely love it. I think if you are a mommy, that is the most important job that absolutely needs first priority over everything else. No one else can impact the lives of your children more than the person who cares for them most of the time, which ideally, is their mother.

I really enjoy working in the kitchen. I've started baking our bread (have you had french toast from homemade bread???), we preserve a lot of foods that we grow in our own garden, I make my own refried beans - in my not-so-humble opinion, my family eats REALLY good, every time I fix dinner! And surprisingly, the more I cook, the easier it is to maintain a healthy weight - I guess less eating out is the key to that one?

When driving my car, every time I see a nice little ditch, or woods, or farm lane - I picture myself riding Arabee, right down to the gait we'd be riding in, the feel of her motion, the smell of the horse, the sound of the saddle and her hoofbeats.

It's a lot harder to come up with 10 things than I expected it would be!

I don't want to be a "sheeple." As in, it's important to me to make decisions based on what is best for the situation, rather than what everyone else is doing. It may seem easier to just go with the crowd, but that isn't always the case.

I'm firm in my faith, and that is what keeps things going. Without God, nothing is possible - but with God, all things are possible. There's so much more to being a Christian than just going to church on Sundays, and it took me a long time to realize how freeing it is to rely fully on Jesus for all things - I guess I'm still learning that.

I've always loved animals, and horses especially - but I never wanted to be a vet, because animals don't like vets! They just don't understand the fact that that guy with the needle is actually helping them.

Even before I ever met my husband, I always felt that farmers were the best people - hard working, honest, and trustworthy. I married into a farming family, and now I know that's true. Farmers were (and still are) the first to be good stewards of the land, have always wanted the best for the animals they raise, and even so, they catch a lot of slack for using the best management practices, from environmentalists and animal rights groups that simply don't understand the reasons certain practices are in place.

My family lives in a home that was built by my husband's great great grandmother, built in 1902/1908 (exact year not certain) that we renovated in 2005, the year we were married. I love our home's charm, and have been really enjoying building flower beds and learning about perennials to add to our landscaping. I am taking forever to hang things on our walls, because I want to be sure it is just right! Barring flood (unlikely, since we live on a big hill) or fire, or tornado, we plan to live here forever, so I guess I have plenty of time to decorate.

And, here is my list of blogs I will nominate for this award. I'm going to keep it to the blogs I make sure I read every post on, but I do follow quite a few additional blogs that are also great, and I check in on others that I don't officially "follow" so please don't feel slighted if your blog isn't included here. I get a lot out of every blog I read, but I enjoy the ones I am listing the most.

Generation Cedar - a Christian blog which has included several eye-opening and thought-provoking posts, things that make me question things I never really thought about before.

The Equestrian Vagabond - often breathtakingly beautiful horse photography!

Endurance Granny - I met Jacke at the 2008 AERC National Championship ride in Clarksville, and enjoy reading about her bitless, barefoot trail riding, and enjoy riding with her when we had the chance, and hope to do so again after this baby is born!

Karen's Musings and Endurance Ride Stuff - this blog is full of information pertaining to endurance riding, especially interesting for me since I choose to keep my horses barefoot.

The Barb Wire - Beautiful photography, amazing writing, and full of useful information that relates to the sport of endurance

Interesting Horse Watering Product

2009-08-25T09:41:00.003-05:00

I found this website today for the H2orse Animal Watering System.

My first thought when seeing this waterer is that it may be the perfect solution to both hauling water from home, and watering back at the trailer when finished riding for when we haul out for training rides at various parks.

I'm picturing mounting the waterer directly to the side of the trailer where I tie the horse.

I emailed the inventor with these questions: Would the plugs hold up at highway speeds to keep the water in the tank and out of the drinking bowl? What are the dimensions of this product? What does it cost?

I'll update this post when I get a response.

Adventures WithOUT Arabee

2009-08-19T06:07:00.002-05:00

Last spring, I wrote about how I was able to use an indoor arena a couple of times to ride in. That's the same place I go now once each week to volunteer for a therapeutic riding program called Reins to Recovery.

It has been a really great experience. We have one rider at a time in a 45 minute lesson, and as a volunteer I help by grooming and tacking up the horse before the lesson, either leading the horse or being a "sidewalker" - someone who walks next to the rider to help make sure they stay on, and then untacking and grooming after the lesson. It's a pretty simple job, but it has been so much fun, and very rewarding. It's great to get to see improvement in the rider, and to be a part of it.

This Sunday, August 23rd, they will be having a fundraising event in Nashville, IN, from 1-5pm. A hog roast, a silent auction, dancing, live music, pony rides, games - should be a fun time that will benefit a great cause. I have some tickets to sell if anyone is interested in attending!

Thrush Treatment

2009-07-26T15:19:00.003-05:00

Well, now that I've been treating Jack's hooves for thrush for a couple of weeks now, I might as well post about what I've been doing and how it's been working.

First, I'll admit that I sat around and waited waaaaay too long and allowed the problem to get much worse than it ever should have. His frogs were in BAD shape by the time I got serious about treating it, and for that I am ashamed. But, late is better than never, and the treatment I've been using has greatly improved his hoof health.

Here's my basic strategy:

Pick hooves twice daily.

Soak a pair at a time in Borax solution. Fronts one day, Hinds the next day for 5-7 days, Applying "Pete's Goo" immediately afterward. Trim diseased frog away, to keep dirt and bacteria from getting packed in.

Continue twice daily hoof picking followed by "Pete's Goo" until frogs begin to appear healthy again

Continue twice or at least once daily hoof picking forever after.

Recipe for "Pete's Goo"
Equal parts of (triple antibiotic ointment plus) and human Athletes Foot Cream (1% Clotrimazole) applied with a syringe into deep parts of hoof.

Shopping List:
Big flexible rubber tub for hoof soaking
Triple Antibiotic Ointment
Athletes Foot Cream - 1% Clotrimazole
Lysol or Borax

So, I began the twice daily picking of Jack's hooves the day of the July 7th post asking about thrush remedies. By Wednesday evening I had assembled all the stuff on the shopping list, and Thursday evening I soaked his front hooves for about 20-30 minutes. Friday morning I soaked his hinds. Then on Friday night I soaked his fronts and trimmed away extra frog on his fronts and applied "Pete's Goo". I had to trim away a lot of material, he had big cracks and the central sulcus was really really deep. Saturday morning I soaked his hind feet, and did the frog trimming and put "Pete's Goo" on them. Sunday evening I soaked, re-trimmed the frog, and "goo-ed" his front feet, and Monday evening soaked and "goo-ed" his hind feet.

After that the week got super-busy, and I didn't take the time to soak his feet anymore, but continued with the twice daily hoof picking, and put "Pete's Goo" on one pair of feet daily for the rest of the week. Now I've run out of the goo, but am still doing the twice daily hoof picking.

I have seen a lot of improvement in his frogs - the central sulcus is not nearly as deep, and the frog is beginning to grow back healthy and nice. He quickly began to be much more cooperative about picking up his feet, I think because it quit hurting every time I tried to pick the dirt out of them. It took a LOT of hard work to get to this point, especially with this big ol' belly I'm getting, but definitely it was my fault that they got this bad to begin with, so it was time well spent. I'm hoping to be able to soon cut back to once daily hoof picking, but I will wait until his frogs are 100% healthy again.

I'm glad that Jack's hooves are on their way back to healthy. At 29 years old, he's got his share of problems, and I'm glad that finally his hooves won't be one of them. Now if only I could just keep weight on him! All day grazing, twice daily pelleted Senior horse feed, and regular worming is not enough for him!

Yes, I'm still here

2009-07-20T09:15:00.006-05:00

I have a couple of posts planned, but first I have to find the time to do it! Been busy, and it's hard to come in and sit down and type when it's so nice out. All I want to take time for is to read the blogs I follow and then go do something!

But soon I'll write about how Jack's thrush treatment's been coming along. Mostly nicely.

I'll also write about some of my recent and ongoing "Adventures withOUT Arabee" but still involving horses.

Plus, I have received an award, and that requires it's own post!

But I have to first post about Arabee's mystery lameness, read about it here.

One and Three Quarters Sound

2009-07-20T09:15:00.004-05:00

No, this is not good news. (although I'm hoping not terribly bad news, either!)

Went out to do chores last night, and as I rounded the corner of the barn, I found my mare holding her left front leg up. Uh oh. I poured Jack's feed in his bucket, and had her move to the other side of the gate as usual, and it becomes clear that it is not just the left front that is sore, but also her right hind.

So Arabee is hobbling around on two good legs. The 3/4 comes in because the right front is the hoof that she cut back in April, and the cut in the hoof wall is still growing out (a little over halfway through). She doesn't walk lame on that leg, but it sure is at least visually compromised, and likely if she were in work, she'd be touchy there.

She looks much better this morning than she did last night, and actually trotted and threw in a couple gallop strides on the way out of the gate into the pasture, but she is still CLEARLY lame.

I picked her feet, checked them and they're not hot at all. I picked up her leg and squeezed around on it, and there were no obvious signs for me to tell where she hurt it.

The only thing I can think of is that she was trotting around in the pasture yesterday, and found a slick spot, and strained/sprained that diagonal pair. Actually, the Rescue 20 helicopter flew overhead yesterday just as the dew was mostly dried off, and they were flying pretty low, I assume looking for their landing spot. I didn't notice any activity in the horse pasture, but then I was looking up in the sky at the helicopter. It wouldn't surprise me if the chopper scared her and caused her to startle, and slip.

My plan was to wait a day or two, since she is moving much better now than last night. I think she'll work it out on her own, without having to call the vet. Any other opinions?

Thrush Treatment

2009-07-07T10:49:00.002-05:00

I trimmed Arabee's feet over the weekend - they look great. I may or may not post the pictures I took....we'll see how ambitious I get!

Jack, on the other hand.....well, his frogs are in terrible shape. I need immediate thrush treatment on his feet, and it needs to be effective!

First, I need to start cleaning out his hooves daily, or twice daily, no exceptions. Typically, after a trim I start out good the first week or two, then forget the daily hoof cleanings. Daily hoofpicking is a must.

Second, I'm hoping to find a "safe" thrush treatment I can apply to his hooves. I don't want to use a harsh chemical since I'm pregnant, but his thrush has gotten to the point that it NEEDS attention. Has anyone tried anything that they recommend? I'll be doing an internet search later on, but would love to hear suggestions if anyone else has tried something that works well.

Bloodlines in Endurance - Just Curiosity

2009-06-20T09:07:00.002-05:00

So I was re-reading the December 2008 copy of Endurance News which showed the 2008 award standings for horses and riders in the AERC, both endurance and LD.

I was surprised at the absolute absence of any Varian bred Arabians. I don't believe I saw a single horse listed with a "V" after its name. I could have missed them, but I looked pretty carefully.

My previous experience with horses was geared towards the show ring. It didn't matter western, hunt, country, english, halter - if it was Arabian showing, I was interested. I've mentioned before that one of my childhood (and teenage) goals/dreams was to be an Arabian breeder/trainer and make it big in the show ring. (I'm glad I've come to my senses!!) Anyway, it is my understanding that Arabians with Varian breeding are the ones that are winning, and have been consistently winning in the show ring. I thought it was something like 40-60% of all winners were Varian bred (obviously I'm too lazy to look up the actual statistic, but they do a lot of winning). I had a chance to go to Varian Arabians out in California sometime in high school for the Summer Spectacular, where we saw the breeding stallions, went on a mare walk, saw the performance horses and prospects for sale, and I was very impressed. I have had the opportunity to ride and work with a few Varian bred horses and liked them very much.

So, I was surprised that none of the horses high in the award standings in endurance riding were Varian bred. Does anyone have any insight as to why?? It's not pressing - I am NOT in the market for a horse AT ALL right now, nor will be in the near future, but I am curious.

Teamwork and Partnership - On the Ground to Down the Trail

2009-06-03T07:24:00.002-05:00

For the next several months, any work I do with Arabee is going to be done from the ground. At this point, I am not concerned about fitness. Baby's not due until the very end of October, maybe first part of November, and then I'll have another 6-8 weeks before I'll really be ready to get back in the saddle. So, we're looking at not starting riding again until mid-late December. If I make Chicken Chase 2010 my first LD completion goal (which should be sometime in April) I'll have enough time to get her ready for a slow LD even if I don't start riding again until January. I have a much better idea of what it will take to do this now than I did before. I have most of the equipment I need, saddle, pad, saddle pack, hoof boots, rump rug, sheets, etc - I should be good to go to jump back into training mode when the time comes.

I don't want to just sit around this summer though and wait. I'm still scouting out good deals on water tubs, rain gear, horse camping equipment, winter riding wear. I'm really working hard on keeping Arabee's feet perfectly trimmed. We're taking walks around the farm - I have several routes figured out: the hive, the river, to the red barn, down to the Polly field, the mound...each ranging from 1/2 mile to hopefully 2 miles (I have yet to actually measure distance). These are the places I'll be training at for the first couple of months until baby is old enough to be away from me. I won't haul out for any training rides until baby is at least 12 weeks old, and then I don't want to miss more than one feeding, so it's important I set up a good network of riding places around home. So far, these walks have been good for us, and have actually improved bonding somewhat, but I want to do more.

Arabee wears her rope halter, I clip on one of the leather split reins, tie a knot in the end and stick it in my waistband - I am hands-free and she sticks to my side without interference from me whatsoever if she behaves well (which 97% of the time she does). If I turn my shoulders towards her, she stops. If I turn my shoulders to face her, she backs. She keeps her head at my shoulder always, if she lags, I give her a tug on the rope, if she gets too far ahead, we stop abruptly and she has to back several steps. I want to be able to have the same "feel" under saddle - traveling along on a loose rein unless she needs correction, otherwise moving from my body and voice cues. I don't want to have to mess with her head unless she spooks, or decides she doesn't need to listen to my seat and legs.

I put the surcingle and long lines on her a couple of weeks ago, and we did some long-lining around the barn lot. She did well, was very responsive, framed up really fast and stayed that way most of the time. But, basically the whole time the lines were "in contact" - she never got a release unless she rooted down with her head to pull the lines loose - this is not behavior I want to reinforce! Since it's important to me to be able to ride with basically no rein contact, I think I will have to nix long-lining. We don't have a round pen or arena, and I really don't want to just chase her around the paddock since I'm not really concerned with improving fitness at this time. What I really want to do is some sort of ground exercise beyond just going on walks to improve our communication, improve the bond, improve our teamwork so that when I am ready to get back on and ride things go more smoothly.

I'm drawn to the idea of using TTEAM this summer. It pretty much sounds like a low-stress, hands-on way to work with my horse, that could have helpful meaning for vet checks later when the time comes. Has anyone out there used any TTEAM ideas/methods with their horses, or heard of someone else who has??

I'd love to hear your input on not only TTEAM, but if you know of other similar ideas that I could try out this summer, with the focus on building a better partnership with the horse. Thanks in advance!!

Top of the Rock Crewing Story (with pictures!)

2009-06-01T05:50:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned on Saturday, I went down to help crew for Michelle Detmer and Laura (and Michelle's horses - Jazz and Stormy) for the LD at Top of the Rock at Clark State Forest. Left a little later than I'd hoped, and had to get gas (and a gas station cappuccino!) but was still there right at 6am. I asked management (Lois) if they had checked in yet, and some other kind person asked if I was looking for anyone in particular, when Lois spotted Michelle's truck, right up close.

They were grooming, working with the hoof boots (Jazz had easyboot epics on front, Stormy was going to wear renegades on front - both bare in back) and we talked - Michelle introduced me to Laura. It's hard to go anywhere without talking about babies (for me, anyway!) so we talked about each other's kids, and also the horses - what a great combination!!! :-) L & M went to check in, while I stayed with the horses. The 50 was to start at 7:00am, and the LD at 7:10, so we had plenty of time to get ready.

So we went up and they vetted in the horses, grazed the horses, and electrolyted the horses, tacked the horses, and other last-minute things, and headed up to the start. Both Stormy and Jazz were quite calm - if Arabee is that calm at the start of a ride jext season I will be VERY happy! I think there were 28 horses (or so) in the LD, Michelle and Laura were BB and AA, the last two rider numbers (letters??) to have checked in. The start was controlled, since they had to follow the road to get to the trail, so they all stayed behind letter "O" until the last horse was off the pavement.

At that point, I just hung around at the start for a while, got my chair and lunch out of the car and brought it back to the trailer, and waited. The first loop was 15 miles, and I was glad I got back to the in-timers when I did, because I was surprised to see the first group of 5 horses coming in! I am not sure of the exact time, but it was somewhere between 1 - 1 1/2 hours for the first loop. Michelle and Laura were in 2nd and 3rd, and Jazz pulsed down in first place, but Stormy took a little longer (I think 3rd or so), but still just fine.

Both mares drank, then they were vetted in, but both needed improved gut sounds, so the main thing we worked on was getting them to eat. They got hay, beet pulp and grain, water, and as much grass as they would eat for the whole hold. It was pretty muddy, so some tack got washed off at the hose, and parts of the horses too. I know I'm forgetting some things, but at the end they headed back to the out-timer a few minutes past time, and had a slower second loop of 10 miles. Michelle said that they were pretty much just running the whole time for the first loop except for they'd trot if there was a "cliff"! Must have been pretty exhilirating! There won't be much chance of me Top 5-ing for a looong time, I like to walk and trot too much!

After M and L left, I saw several other riders coming in. Some 50 milers, some LD riders. I saw Chris E. and her gelding, Toby, and talked with her, and her riding buddy, whose horse's name was Strider, I didn't get her name though! After Toby and Strider left, the first place LD horse had just come in, and I knew it was possible that Michelle and Laura wouldn't be far behind, so I stayed up front with the sponge and a lead rope so I wouldn't miss them. Turned out they were somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes behind the first place horse, Laura in 4th, Michelle in 5th. Only the Top 5 can show for Best Condition judging, and they decided to go for it.

So they took the horses back after a good, long drink at the trough, and untacked, then had to weigh in while the horses ate hay. Then Jazz and Stormy got the mud hosed off, and we offered more grain and beet pulp and hand grazed them. I held one horse or the other so Laura and Michelle took turns eating lunch. Then the 1 hour was up and it was time to vet back in for BC. I'm not sure who actually won BC - I left right when Laura and Michelle did, before the results were in.

So, crewing was a good experience. I felt like I didn't do very much, but both Michelle and Laura were very appreciative! I hope I didn't spoil them for the next ride when they don't have someone to hold a horse or take a jacket back, but it wasn't a very hard job for me, but it was so great to be at the ride and get more experience! It really was just right amount of exertion for me though. It was a lot different than volunteering for the actual ride like I did at Chicken Chase - many more people talked to me at Chicken Chase than this weekend, which made sense, because when I was scribing I came in contact with a lot more people, especially the vets! So, I missed a lot of interaction this time, but it was definitely a very good experience to see a different side of a ride. Big thanks to Michelle for agreeing to let me come down and hang around her and Laura on Saturday!! (and Michelle, if I left anything out that's important, feel free to correct me!!)

Crewing Today

2009-05-30T03:37:00.003-05:00

Well, here I am, eating breakfast, getting ready to head down to Clark State Forest to crew for Michelle Detmer (who comments on here pretty often) and her riding buddy Laura at the Top of the Rock. It's about 4:30am. I have packed my lunch, my rain gear, a change of clothes, plenty of water, and a chair. I think crewing will be just the right amount of exertion for this prego!

I hope to be there about 6am, when Michelle plans on arriving, and helping them leave camp for the LD. Then, I will sit and rest! Not sure if the vet check is away or in camp, but I will help during that. And then, I will sit and rest. :-) I'll help them at the finish, then drive home and take a nap! Are you noticing a trend here? Things that normally wouldn't bother me much have been tiring me out big time, but I should have no trouble recovering while the girls are riding. I think it will be just right.

I hope some of the people I met from the Chicken Chase are there today, and if they are, that I actually remember their names! I am soooo bad at remembering names. Pretty fair at remembering faces....just not names.

Hope to take pictures, maybe you all will get a ride report later on (but probably not today!).

Hoof Trimming - Front Feet

2009-05-26T13:15:00.005-05:00

I actually did this trim a week ago, and am just now getting to posting the pictures. Memorial Weekend was very busy with farming, and I just did not get the time to post them before now!

Left Front "Before" picture, from the side:

Left "After" picture, from the side (Any red you see on this mare's feet is a result of the red paint wearing off from the jack stand I use to rest her feet on!!):

Right Front, Sole View. This was after I rasped the heels down to sole level, and after I rasped the outside hoof wall sole level. The inside hoof wall is untouched, other than the heels. Again, the red marks are worn off paint from the jack stand.

Left Front Solar View, "Before":

Left Front Solar View, after I rasped both heels to sole level:

Left Front Sole View, "After" - This is the finished trim.

I need to work on being more even side to side for each trim. I also have noticed that I need to rasp a bigger breakover on Arabee's hind feet in the toe. Slowly getting better all the time. Comments/Suggestions will be appreciated!

Hoof Trimming Pictures - Arabee's Hind Feet

2009-05-18T05:44:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I trimmed Arabee's hind feet yesterday.

Took before, after, and during pictures!

This picture is of her left hind - The first thing I did was rasp both of the heels level with the sole from the bottom of the hoof. Then I turned her leg around (instead of out behind her so I can see the bottom, I pulled her leg in front and propped it up on the jack) and rasped from top. I rasped starting where I had stopped at the heel from underneath, then worked my way around to the toe. Here I have only done half of the hoof (except the heels have already been done on both sides). The scrapy lines you see around the frog on the sole are just from the hoof pick...I did not rasp her sole at all.

This is the "before" shot of the right hind sole, after I cleaned it out with the hoof pick.

Here is the after shot of the right hind sole. I followed the same procedure: heels level with sole, trim from the top one side, trim from the top the other side, make sure the mustang roll is smooth. (pardon the tail hairs in the way....it was windy!)

Here's the before shot of her left hind foot resting on the ground from the front. Arabee toes out in the back quite a bit.

And here is the after shot, of both her left hind from the front, and the right hind from the side angle view, makes it easier to see the way her conformation makes her toes point. I'm pretty pleased with the way this trim came out.

I've re-started walking with Arabee up and down the road, which has really helped give her work on hard ground, and has improved the concavity in her hooves. (I had stopped this practice when the pasture was finally dry enough and tall enough to allow turnout for Arabee but am glad to start it again) It's also going to keep me from gaining a bunch of weight!!! I want to measure out exactly how far I am going...my estimate is that Saturday we walked a little under 1.5 miles....but that's just a guess. We started at the barn, headed North to the 90 degree turn, came back, rounded the corner, passed the mailbox, and turned around at the bottom of the hill where the ditch goes under the road, then back down to the end of the barn lot, and back to the pasture for Arabee. I know that the barn lot is 1/10th of a mile one way...so we for sure did at least .2 miles on gravel, which I think will help with Arabee's feet wearing better on their own.

Shoo Fly!

2009-05-17T14:56:00.003-05:00

So I want to know:

What do you all use for fly spray???

My experience with fly spray has been poor - usually horse flies ignore it, but it does help with the smaller flies that swarm around the face somewhat. I just have not been satisfied with any products I've used - do any of you guys have fly sprays that just always seem to work well??

My horses don't enjoy wearing fly masks. Jack ran through an electric fence wearing one (I guess he just didn't see it!), and Arabee just seems VERY spooky when she's wearing hers out on pasture. Seems as though wearing the mask diminishes the eye sight enough to put her "on edge" and I think she'd prefer shaking her head free of flies than being nervous about the stuff she thinks she can't see.

So I'm curious - does anyone have specific products they use that they swear by??

Today's Ride

2009-05-12T20:27:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures of the ride we had today. I decided that today will be my last ride for this pregnancy. Over the last week my belly has really "popped" out there big time, and I felt pretty off-balance. It's not often you see pictures of pregnant women riding horses, I thought they were funny!

I just wanted to get the pictures up...I'll write more tomorrow about what we actually did....and how Arabee was trotting off...kind of lame, actually. So bottom line is that it's a good thing for Arabee that tonight will be my last right until after Baby is born.

**Update**
Well, it was really no biggie what we did - I caught her, saddled up, and Matt and I were just going to go for a quiet walk down the road. Right away after I settled into the saddle I was just like, "Whoa! This big belly has got me off-balance!" and I already told Matt that this was going to have to be my last ride...I was just too much "off" to be well-balanced and safe much longer.

Arabee was super-super looky. So I told Matt I needed to trot her a bit to get her "fresh" off before we tried walking down the road again. There were calves now turned out in the pasture I'd used to ride in, so we had to keep to the barn lot driveway (gravel). After about 5 minutes of trotting, I started noticing her feeling "off" and then it was just obvious she was having problems when her head was gently bobbing (or was that just her mane flopping?.....it was pretty discreet, but it was still there) at the trot. Not good. So I asked Matt and his dad to tell me which leg it was. I suspected it was her injured RF, but they were having a REALLY hard time being able to tell me for sure. But that was the leg they settled on. Shoot!

It could've just been the gravel and she may have stepped wrong, since she was fine for the first 5 minutes or so. Since this was going to be our last ride though until probably December or January, I decided we'd go ahead and try the nice quiet walk down the road originally planned. She really wasn't any calmer, and was just really hooking her neck and blowing and looking all around and essentially "forgetting" all about me...so I hopped off and we called it quits.

Riding horses you really just have to forget about the risk of falling off and just RIDE.....but being as I am carrying a precious baby, my mind was pretty in-tune with the idea that falling off was not an option. So rather than ride all wishy-washy on a spooky horse, I felt that the best thing was to just hop off and play it safe. Kind of a disappointing way to "go out" for the year, with a spooky, inattentive mount and a lame horse, but that's the way it was!

I still have all kinds of plans for doing in-hand work with her for the rest of the summer, this won't be the last you hear from me by any means, but I just won't be riding! I'm actually pretty glad it working out this way, I should be able to allow her plenty of rest to allow that coronet band injury to grow out before I try serious riding again, she should become super-familiar with the local area I plan to handwalk her in this summer, and I should be able to perfect her barefoot trim, hopefully.

Tuesday's Ride

2009-05-06T06:05:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I have to admit I have a great big grin on my face as I just typed the title to today's post. :-) I hadn't ridden since the 18th of April, and it was really good to ride yesterday.

It wasn't a great ride - Arabee was being sort of a turd. "What's that, you want me to pay attention to you?!" She has an independent mind, that's for sure! Walked for a few laps in the barn lot, trotted a few laps there as well, then wandered across the road to walk some calm laps in the pasture. Or, that was MY plan, anyway. It looked vastly different than the last time we'd ridden there - grass was knee-high, and once we stirred up a young rabbit! She kept breaking into a trot, and single-rein-stops weren't really changing her tune any. So I started circling her each time she tried trotting, focusing on keeping my seat deep and at a walking rhythm. I'd circle her until she slowed down, then we'd walk on, circle some more, walk on....finally she gave me one pretty much full lap of walking.

Headed back to the barn lot for some more trotting. I focused on being able to quickly get her to flick an ear to me, which meant we did some "fancy" work, since she was pretty well ignoring me. Trot, halt, back, 180, trot off.....various little exercises to remind her to pay attention to me! It payed off, she was relaxing and paying attention to me instead of looking out for herself, so we went back across the road into the pasture again, and got one nice lap of walking in. At this point we'd been riding for 35 minutes, and I had been aiming for 30, so I quit. If I get to ride again this week, I expect she'll be much more responsive after last night's session, since really I didn't work her hard, except that she made it hard for herself by trying to trot and then having to circle, or ignoring my polite requests for attention and having to do backing and turning.

I was surprised how sweaty she was when I hopped off! I put some water in a bucket and sponged her off, and wiped the tack down - She was wet and lathered! Also I discovered part of why she might have been fussing me in the pasture - the grass had been rubbing the cut on her RF leg, and it had fresh blood on it. I felt pretty awful for asking her to turn so much, since I'm sure that was what caused the fresh bleeding - she walks around all day on her own in the pasture, but not a lot of turning, so next ride I will avoid the grass until she is fully healed. But I'm glad I worked on the respect issues in the pasture, not the road, since if I can't ride in the grass, I'll have to ride on the road a bit more.

Can't wait to get back on and ride again! The end of May I will be 18 weeks pregnant, and the doctor only OK'd me to ride until 18-20 weeks, so I better get some riding in while I can!

Hoof Trimming

2009-05-04T10:11:00.005-05:00

So this week's task was updating the barefoot trims on Jack and Arabee.

((WARNING: at the very bottom of this post is a picture of Arabee's injured hoof. So, if you don't want to see it, don't scroll down too far! There are 2 pictures of Jack, and 3 pictures of Arabee before the injured hoof shows up.))

Here is Jack's "Before" shot of his fronts from his right side taken on Thursday evening:

And shown here are his "after" shot taken on Sunday afternoon:
I've had Jack since he was 15 years old, he is now 29. He has ALWAYS had front feet that quite resemble a ski slope - long and flared toes. When we still lived with my parents, we went through quite a many farrier. He usually wore shoes during the summer show season, and went barefoot through the winter. He's not been ridden regularly since 2002, not been ridden at all since 2005, and although he always enjoyed going for a ride, just 5 minutes at a walk was all he could handle due to arthritis. Jack has been known to look long right after being trimmed, and was doing okay hoof-wise with the same farrier since 2005, but I've seen great improvement in his hoof shape since I started taking the rasp and doing his trimming last August.

This last time I really worked on backing up the toe, and hope to continue bringing his toes back gradually until he no longer has that "ski slope" look. I am also working on a long-time battle with thrush with him, which I think will improve now that we're able to have the horses on pasture and not in the "dry" (usually muddy all winter) lot. Improving his frog health should probably help his overall hoof shape gradually. I'm currently using a chemical that I bought at the local Tractor Supply Co., green, and I am interested in trying a more "natural" thrush remedy. Any suggestions??

I only have "after" photos of Arabee. I did her fronts on Saturday morning, and her rear feet Saturday afternoon. All pictures were taken on Sunday afternoon, after I hosed off her muddy feet, which is why her legs are wet looking.

This is her front feet taken from her left side:

I need to try to wait a week between trimming Jack and Arabee, since their feet are so different. I feel like I got way too carried away with the left front hoof at the toe, almost like I was still in the mindset of trimming Jack the Ski Slope. I felt awful after the trim with the LF, since I actually rasped so much wall away at the toe that she's almost totally walking on her sole for the front 1/4 to 1/3 of her hoof. But the longer I look at the pictures, the more I start to think that the LF is the more correct trim, perhaps not quite enough of a roll on the RF hoof. Maybe I didn't rasp quite enough on the RF because of over-doing it on the LF. She is sound, I longed her a bit right after the trim and I could not see any "off" movement. Any input on this??

The bottom of her right hind hoof:

Another shot of her front feet, showing the difference between the RF and LF:

The LF is resting on the sole for the front 1/4 to 1/3 of the hoof. The RF has some wall touching all the way around the hoof. Which is more correct? I am thinking perhaps somewhere in the middle.

She's lost some concavity in her hooves since her stall-rest and not being ridden. I hope to get on and ride some this week if the weather cooperates, and I might have found someone who will ride her a little this summer, Matt's cousin who's in high school, but I know she might get busy. Anyway, I hope her concavity returns with some work, either under saddle or in hand.

Okay, last warning! Next picture is of Arabee's injured RF hoof.

It shows me holding it up. At the top of the leg you can see some scabbing, that has nothing to do with the actual injury. I suspect it is scratches, unfortunately. Below the scabbing is the actual cut on her pastern, which went through the coronet band, and into the hoof about an inch. You can see the ring around the top of the hoof where it has started to grow out. At one point, her leg was so swollen and puffy that her hoof started to curl away from the coronet band, so it looks like it's starting to grow back well. I am still concerned about the part of the coronet band that actually got sliced through - I hope that hoof growth returns to normal there.

For now I have been trimming as usual, just restoring the mustang roll around the wall to the level of the sole. While her hoof is healing, is there any sort of trimming I should be doing differently?? Especially as the injured part grows down and out.

1st Saturday in May

2009-05-02T08:58:00.003-05:00

Well, my two horses apparantly know what day it is today.

Usually when I open the gate to the pasture, they gallop out to the middle then give me a few strides of that big floating, tail over the back Arab trot, then stop to quite calmly eat grass after the initial burst of speed.

Not this morning!

They made not one, not two, but Three big, all-out galloping laps around the pasture, plus some of that pretty trotting, and plenty of snorting. Jack somehow managed to get out of the gate before Arabee, and I have never seen her run so fast, but she caught up with him, then lapped him.

I love getting to watch them move at liberty so freely like that! Such natural-born athletes, so talented and graceful!

Beautiful but Very Windy Days

2009-04-27T14:30:00.003-05:00

It has been such wonderful weather for spending time outside! Sunny skies, warm spring air (in the 80s!) and plenty of breeze (or should I say gusting winds!) to keep from getting too hot.

Unfortunately, I haven't done ANY riding!

I am still allowed too, though. On Tuesday I went to the OB for a regular checkup (everything is normal!) and asked again about whether riding was safe, and for about how long could I keep doing it. He surprised me by saying it was fine until about 18-20 weeks! This is much longer than I expected to be "allowed" to ride by the Doctor, so I am pleased to hear his response. In reality, however, I know the only real risk in riding while pregnant is not in the riding, it's in the falling off, so I am being super careful not to take any extra risks.

And, for me and my horse, that means choosing not to saddle up on a really nice weather weekend, since wind tends to make normally in-animate objects unpredictable. So here's hoping the wind dies down some!

Arabee's cut still isn't completely healed yet, although it's looking much much better. I'm still concerned about how the slice through the coronet band is going to heal - it's too early to tell yet whether things will be normal again with that or not, but overall she is healing well. The paddock finally got dry enough all over to allow her 24 hour turnout again! This equals a MUCH happier horse! (and a happier stall-mucker who's now gladly w/out a job shoveling poop!) So if ever the wind stops blowing, I'll have plenty of places to ride, since the ground is dried up and her cut will stay clean.

Our ride at home Today

2009-04-18T17:24:00.004-05:00

Matt and I rode Arabee today. I went first, then when he got tired of walking, he rode. We stayed on either gravel or the road to keep dirt out of her cut, and she did great, though we didn't ride very long at all. It probably took longer to tack up and untack than we spent riding!

I made sure to wear the shirt I was given for helping out at the Chicken Chase!

I decided Matt needs a bigger horse and a bigger saddle of his own! And his own helmet - he had to adjust the chin strap on mine. (I'm pretty sure he hasn't bought into the idea yet!)

I'm happy w/ the new saddle pad, though it does add a lot of bulk under the leg compared to the Skito. The saddle flap panel hangs over a little at the back, but not in a problematic way, it's just not as visually appealing, but no problem!

Arabee's cut is healing up very nicely, I think. Since Saturday morning she's been on grassy turnout during the day, then I bring her back in, hose the cut clean with cold water, then hand walk her until it's dry, then wrap her leg and put her in her stall overnight. I am SO grateful it's finally time to start turning the horses out on pasture! (and so are the horses!)

Chicken Chase I - Clark State Forest

2009-04-18T17:20:00.006-05:00

Some photos from Friday of the 55 and 30 mile rides.

Will likely post more text later! Too nice outside to do more now!

**Monday morning update:

Arrived at ridecamp at 5:30am on Friday. Still dark, as evidenced by the photo of the closed gate. No activity, even though I had thought the ride was supposed to start at 5:30.

Turns out, the 55 miler started at 7am, and the 30 miler at 9am. Once people finally started moving around (a truck and trailer pulled up behind me and I was unfortunately blocking their path to get into ridecamp) I found the ride manager and introduced myself. We'd been communicating over email so I wasn't a surprise, and she put me to work finding out what riders were what number. There were I think 29 entered in the 55, and all but three riders were going to start at 7. The group of three was planning on going out after the main group.

They had a controlled start, where all riders had to stay behind the first horse until they crossed the road. Ridecamp is on the other side of the road from where the trail started, so rather than having crazy racing on the pavement, they had the controlled start. It was BEAUTIFUL watching the sun rise through the trees at ridecamp. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture to share.

All vet checks on Friday were to be away from camp, and I was sent along with a group of people who headed over there at around 7:30am. We unloaded crew bags and buckets of the riders who didn't have crews, and my job was to be the scribe for the vets. I mostly scribed for Maureen in the morning.

The first riders came in after the 20 mile first loop, horses totally wet with sweat and steaming a good 15 feet up into the cool morning air. I have to apologize to Maureen, since she had to put up with a learning scribe, but I like to think I caught on fairly quickly. (hopefully!)

I feel like I got the hang of what the hold looks like at a ride: ride in, get in-time, pulse down, get official pulse taken and start the hold time, vet through, take horse back with a cooler over the rump, water, water, hay, come back if vet noticed a concerning issue, tack up and saddle up just before hold is over, then alert the out person that you're leaving, and head off down the trail!

After the majority of the 55-ers came in, the first of the LD riders starting coming in. I believe there were 26 riders in the LD, they got letters instead of numbers. It got pretty hairy there for a while, lots of nervous horses milling around in the pulse area waiting to be vetted. I was glad when they finally filtered through since I was a bit nervous of taking a hoof or getting run down. But everything was fine. A pizza delivery person came and brought lunch for the ride workers, and that was a welcome treat! Around 1 or so, a group of people headed back to ridecamp where the finish line was for the LD, and I went with them, since LD is where I want to start with Arabee so I wanted to see what went on. Just before we left a group of 3 riders had come in too quickly to have finished the 2nd loop of trail - they had missed the Shaw and Wildlife loops and had to backtrack. So since they hadn't done the second hold yet, it was going to be a while before Maureen could leave the away vet check.'

We had a bit of a wait before any riders started coming in, so several people had chairs set up in front of the pulse in area and waited for the first riders to come back in. Mike was the vet at ridecamp, and who I scribed for the second half of the day.

The LD horses didn't get their finish time until they had pulsed down to 60 or below. Of the first group of two horses in, the first rider had a tough time getting her horse into the pulse area, made of step-in posts and yellow tape - he was pretty nervous about that tape fluttering in the wind, so unfortunately that caused her to lose the first place to the other horse (but I don't think she minded too much, but probably a little disappointing). This last picture has the first two horses in for the LD on the left side (not great, since you can only see their hind ends, but still, that is them!)

About the time the top ten LD finishers came in, one rider and her chestnut horse came slowly walking in horse in-hand. They'd had a wreck, but thankfully the rider was okay. I guess on some of the really steep uphills the saddle had started slipping and caused the horse to unseat his rider, and he went bounding down hill with his saddle upside down, and got some "rope" burns on his legs. They thought he'd be fine, but he was pretty sore. Disappointing for them, but the rider was genuinely concerned about her horse and was going to take great care of him it seemed.

About then the first of the 55 mile riders came in. The finish line for that ride was somewhere else down the trail, just out of sight of ridecamp. Someone sat at the finish line and took the times for the first 12 or so riders, and after that the finish times were taken in camp. For the 55 milers, their finish times are taken right away, they don't have to pulse down first, but they do have to within a certain time frame. So shortly after they got in they did go to the pulse takers and then vet in for completion. Because of the staggered ride times the 55 milers were being judged for BC about the same time as the LD horses and riders were coming in for completions, which made things somewhat confusing (for me) but I really enjoyed watching the process of Best Condition judging. Someday I want to be able to stand for the BC judging, but not for a while. I'll get some good completions on Arabee before I ever try to top 10, but the more thorough vet examination would be very valuable information. It was surprising to me to see many of the top 10 finishers turn down the BC judging - not sure the why's on that one, to me the more in-depth check you can get the better.

About when the BC judging was finished for the LDs, and wrapping up for the 55s, more riders were coming in for completions for both distances, plus people were wanting to vet their horses in for Saturday's ride. Not only that, but there was a horse who was tying up, and then later a horse was colicking and needed attention at its trailer. So it got pretty busy there for a while with only one vet at ridecamp, since Maureen was still out at the away check. Shortly after Mike came back from the colic, Maureen arrived, and Mike scored the BCs, and Maureen took over the vetting. Things started calming down, and both vets mainly vetted in the next day's horses, with an occassional completion coming in.

I had planned on staying until the end of the 55 mile ride, but that was when I thought it would be finished by around 6pm. I got a call from Matt around 7:15 wondering what my plans were, and I decided I'd better head home, with our little girl at home and home being about an hour away. I started saying goodbyes, wishing I could stay, but I was WORN OUT! I didn't do much but take notes all day, but still I was tired. I learned so much about the sport in one day that I hope to get to most of the rides in Indiana this summer to do more volunteering and learning and meeting people. I really appreciated all the people who went out of their way to talk to me and make me feel welcome, and I am very much looking forward to next April when hopefully I can come and compete on Arabee!

I walked down through ridecamp once to see if I could find Jacke and her horse - there were a LOT of trailers and horses there - it was jam-packed full. There were supposed to be 50 riders in the LD alone on Saturday - so a lot of people on the trail! I talked to Jacke for a while and it turned out she had all the help she needed for Saturday, so I headed back towards the car. I wasn't planning on coming back on Saturday, but since I knew there was a chance she'd have to crew alone on Phebes first ride I wanted to make sure. Got stopped by Cindy and she asked me if I learned anything - a resounding YES! Just can't wait to do it myself. It was a VERY GOOD THING that I did not try to take Arabee to this ride, even if she hadn't had the cut on her leg - I would have been clueless about what was going on. Now I feel like whenever I finally get to be able to compete that I will be much better prepared for the goings on and be a better guide for my horse.

I found myself really wishing I would have driven down again for just the LD on Saturday. There were quite a few people I actually knew for that ride, plus those I had just met the day before, but I was just beat after Friday. I can sure tell a difference in my energy levels with this pregnancy! Plus, this time all the vet checks were in camp, and so I wanted to see what that was like, but there will be other rides I can try to get to this season. My family had a wonderful day together at home on Saturday, working with the cows and then moving them out to pasture, and I cleaned Arabee's stall, and walked her, and then later on we rode (much fun!) then had a cookout just the three of us. Tried looking for mushrooms (morels) but it was too dry. Still fun walking in the woods and seeing all the wildflowers. A really great weekend overall!

Got My New Saddle Pad

2009-04-13T10:54:00.003-05:00

My new saddle pad came in over the weekend. Back in February, I ordered a demo Skito pad from Trumbull Mtn. Saddle shop, since they are a dealer for both Skito and Toklat pads. I figured they’d be an unbiased source, and they suggested I try the demo before I purchased a pad.

I’m glad I did, because while I did find the Skito to have several very nice qualities, I had a hard time believing it was truly worth the price tag. I called them back and ordered a Toklat pad – a Coolback pad, based on their recommendations, and they said it would take about 3 weeks to get it from Toklat and then to me. Graciously, they allowed me to continue using the demo Skito until my new pad arrived.

I received a call last week saying that they received the pad, but that rather than being black, as I had requested, it came in as blue. Apparantly Toklat misread the abbreviated “BL.” She offered to either re-order the pad, or give me a discount on the blue pad. I went ahead and bought the blue pad, since after all blue is my favorite color (sky blue, although the pad is more of a royal blue), and I love a good discount!

It won’t clash too terribly with the 2 Jade green Renegade hoof boots I have, and maybe by the time I get ready to order a second pair the company will offer blue ones – it might be kinda fun to have the trotting diagonal pairs matching colors – Green on left front, right hind, and blue on right front, left hind. I plan on selling the used pair of Easyboot Epics I bought, since I do like the Renegade’s so well and I won’t be using them at all until next year anyway, I thought I’d let them find some usefulness somewhere else. So, if anyone is interested in a pair of size 0’s, just let me know!

I hope I do get to ride a few more times this summer. I’m afraid though that by the time Arabee’s healed enough to ride, I will be too big and pregnant to get on board! Arabee’s cut is looking worse, but even so I think it is healing well. Sometimes injuries start to look worse even though they are getting better. I just wish the ground was dry and I wouldn’t have to keep her in her stall to keep her wound clean – in addition to the swelling around the cut, all four legs are stocking up slightly, adding to the awful swelling around her coronet band. Poor girl. I’m going to give her a few minutes of hand walking pretty soon, then get her out again for a longer walk this evening to try to keep the swelling down to a minimum. Hope it’s not pouring down rain now like it was earlier!

**Update: I walked Arabee for about 10-15 minutes briskly, put a fresh pillow wrap on her leg, and it looks *much better* than it did last night. I didn't put any nitrofurazone/dexamethazone on last night, or today, and I think it was good to give her a break. Seems the oozy wetness of the ointment might have been irritating the surrounding skin. Her cut looks good, and is closing up well. Still open flesh, and still predicting rain, so it is hard to say when she can be turned out, but until then, things are improving!

Announcement

2009-04-13T08:14:00.004-05:00

So I still plan on going to the Chicken Chase this coming weekend, although not as a competitor. I’ll be volunteering and learning as much as I can by “absorption.” It should be a good experience for me, and Arabee is well on the mend, although her wound is not closed well enough for me to allow her to get muddy, so still no riding at this point.

Even if Arabee’s cut would have healed before the ride (it's healing well, though) she would not have been fit enough to try to tackle the 25 miles with so much time off, so there won’t be any competing for me and Arabee this year, although I will continue to work with her. My goal is to start logging competitive miles in 2010.

Why the long wait??

I’m so excited to announce that my husband and I are expecting our second child around the end of October, first of November. While it can be safe to ride while pregnant, it is certainly risky to do so, so I won’t be doing any competing with Arabee, just pleasure riding until my belly gets too big to make it comfortable, and after Arabee's cut is healed.

Hope to jump back onto the conditioning trail by the first of January, 2010, and perhaps Chicken Chase 2010 will be our first competition. In the mean time, my family and I have lots of exciting things to be looking forward to!

Stall Bound . . . Mostly

2009-04-08T05:51:00.003-05:00

Arabee has been in her stall mostly all day and all night since Friday when she got her cut. At first she was pretty tense, and I could sense she was seriously considering rushing over top of me when I opened the stall door to get out. Thankfully she didn't do that, and has calmed down. She gets at least (usually much more) 10 minutes of hand walking and jogging every day, and I'm changing her bandage every 2 days as recommended.

I'll change her wrap again this morning very shortly. I'll first hose it clean, and I plan to trim the long hairs around the edge of the cut this time. Before it seemed much too tender for her to allow me to do this, but I am hoping now she'll allow me to do that. It looked much improved already on Monday morning, so I am hoping for even more improvement today.

Last night my husband set up a temporary fence in a grassy area for Arabee. I wanted to give her the chance at some unrestricted movement (Freedom!) after being stalled for so long, but the pastures are not yet ready for hoof traffic. It's much too soft and any large animal (horse or cow) moving over it would just tear up the grass, and pasture management is important now - the better you take care of your grass the less hay you end up having to feed in winter. So we set up the temporary fence in a section of a field entrance that is close to 1 acre that has well established, never been grazed (since no real fencing) grass. It is sturdy enough that her hoofprints wouldn't have hurt it, and at the same time, all we'd been doing was mowing that section anyway, so any grazing we get out of it would be good.

You can see the lane at the right, and there's woven wire fence along the tree line, and a good section of woven wire along the road, and a gate at the lane. We put up a single strand of 1" wide electric tape (which you probably can't see in the picture) with a few step-in posts and made a triangle. I stayed out w/ Arabee for about 20 minutes (it was COLD and WINDY last night!) and if I wouldn't have chased her around I do believe she would have stood in one spot and ate all the grass there.

She was pretty greedy - huge mouthfuls of grass, and when she'd lift her head up to stop to chew (it's a wonder she ever did!) I'd ask her to trot out a bit. Then I'd say "easy" and she'd immediately drop down to a halt and stuff as much grass into her mouth as possible. She wound up getting decent exercise - more freely than if she'd been on the end of a lead rope, and I think she greatly enjoyed the grass!

Off to go dress the wound!