Happy 2015!

From sunnier days...our hunter pace :)

Happy 2015 everyone!

River and I celebrated in our typical boring way--we did some groundwork New Year's Eve Day and then ate our suppers and went to sleep. ;)

This year hasn't been much exciting in the horse department, at least not as far as huge progress or breakthroughs made. But we moved to a new barn we love, we rode a lot more than last year, and we've found a discipline we love and plan to continue riding and competing in. I think those are pretty big things!

Looking forward, this year is going to be a year of big changes. I'm beginning my student teaching semester in two weeks and then graduating college in May, and who knows where we'll be going after that. Of course I have every plan to keep River around, but at the same time I know there's no guarantee. There will be new barns to find, new experiences to have, new friends to make, and new problems to work out; I know that much.


So our goal for this year is to keep riding as long as possible and to have fun in the process. To take one day at a time and live each one to the fullest. :)

Short Version

We finished our second ACTHA ride on October 26, and placed SECOND in our division!!! And that after a ride that I was 90% sure we weren't even going to place in! He tried hard but it was a tricky course...well, apparently it was tricky for other teams too! :D

We finished our first hunter pace (minus the jumps) last weekend, November 2, and placed fifth! Just because of time; we were one second behind our friend, so no big deal. He was a champ at "chaperoning" our less-experienced friend (S and a borrowed horse) and I am super proud of him.

Now we are planning nothing for 2-3 months, because November is his hardest month to keep weight on, December is my hardest month to stick with a schedule, and January I begin student teaching and probably will have next to no time. Hopefully in late January or February we'll be able to get back on a routine to gear up for springtime events.

Maybe I will get some pictures of the rides up one of these days. :)

Rides

Going to try and post maybe once a week these days??

Last week we did actually ride three times! Trail on Sunday, bareback field jaunt Tuesday, and a walk-trot-canter "let's-actually-do-something-productive" ride Thursday.

I knew Sunday would be fun when he started spooking at the bushes walking up to the barn from the pasture. Tacked up, put on his boots, and headed out through the field behind the house. Saw many scary things including a water tub, the mounting block, and the volunteer girls moving a jump. Had to dismount and lead him through the gate up to the gallop hill because he would. not. go. Ugh. Once we got out there he decided it was time to go back home but I got a little firmer with him and he headed up. Once he got moving I was able to get him into a trot and we trotted up and walked down three times before his brain kind of returned. Second time down he started blowing out and relaxing a lot, so we went up one more time and then headed into the woods to do the highest completed trail. Came down the really steep slippery "Man from Snowy River Hill"--fortunately it wasn't muddy--and he was a trooper! He was lathered by the time we got to the back of the fields, though, and breathing hard (for no particular reason other than nerves, I think). Paused and stood and waited for the BO to finish mowing the field. He waited very patiently, blew out a lot and relaxed. Then we headed back to the barn. Perhaps not a relaxing ride, but I felt good that we'd worked through it!

Tuesday he was relaxed and I was fried mentally, so I just threw on the fitted pad, slipped on bareback, and we went out and played in the jump field and the hay field. Chatted with a friend who was leaving for grad school on Thursday, briefly disagreed over whether we should walk or trot round the hay field, and settled for a nice brisk walk around. Perhaps nothing major, but the occasional bareback ride--even just at a walk--does wonders for my seat, so I like to keep it up.

Thursday I wanted to ride him barefoot so he got some stimulation on the tootsies. So we saddled up and went to the grassy spot and did a basic walk-trot-canter circles ride. Nothing special except that I discovered that wonder of wonders, when I get my act together and RIDE, he goes pretty well! Amazing. Even our left-lead canter was good! He will fix my weak canter riding yet--I can't hold his mouth or he will haul on my arms till they come off, so it's a good incentive, ha.

Overall a good week! Then I got sick on Friday. Boo. So I really don't know what's going down this week. We will see!

Radio Silence

Oh yes I have a blog...maybe should write on it!

School started, that's my excuse.

Been actually riding a fair bit though! About twice a week which yes I know it's not that often but comparatively that's pretty good. Ha. This week I think I might hit my three-times-a-week goal, though.

Finally sized him to the EasyBoot Gloves and they came and they fit and they're great!! Especially since back at the start of the summer my "supervising farrier" encouraged me to trim hoofers way too much and he got sore. :( :( He's much better now but I'm still not happy such a thing even happened. Back to what we were doing before (which, though it didn't look so pretty, kept him quite sound!). In the meantime boots are great. Needed them for trails anyways.

Lots of trail rides, did one arena ride and he was greatly displeased ha. Pony gets spoiled by trails. If only the farm's bush-hogging machine wasn't broken, we'd do "arena" work in the fields--so much more fun. But it is broken and so all the grass is about knee-high and you can't see a thing as far as footing. There is one space probably will use--yesterday just went out for a little bareback ride though. Super nice, chill evening. :)

Planning for another ACTHA ride on October 26, maybe sooner if I can find a buddy to go somewhere else with!

New Leaf

The bestest ears

So I have written and rewritten this post maybe half a dozen times and the long and short of it is this:

Nobody wants to hear me try to explain my brain, and

I already know what I'm thinking, so...

Riv and I are officially turning over a new leaf, and going full-time into (competitive) trail and (not-so-competitive) dressage. With maybe a little up-to-25-mile LD endurance stuff thrown in if we can find a friend who does that.

Because:

• We knew from the beginning Riv has some arthritic changes. Why push it?
• I'm somewhat more aware of the importance of living staying mostly in one piece being safe and so jumping is not so much a Big Thing, though I still enjoy it and we will practice little stuff.
• Eventing is just not going to be our thing, for a lot of reasons, and that is the main reason I started and continued jumping, so why go there if we're not going there?
• COLORS. I CAN BUY BRIGHT COLORED STUFF AHHHHHH!!!
• Lower stress (for me anyway it's lower stress)
• Not-boring for our ADD selves ;)
• Riv loves trails.
• I love trails. Whether on horseback or on foot, or any other way.
• Dressage is good for us.
• Did I mention we love trails? And exploring new places? YES.

And anyway, why not?!

Especially when your grandparents have offered to buy you a new saddle (!!!!) for a graduation present! Which is good because current one feels like I'm going to be permanently maimed after an hour's ride (I didn't ride for a week after our 6-mile ride!).

Any suggestions in that area?

The Ride! (At last!)

[We're going to pretend this isn't three weeks after the fact...]

Don't know where the pro pictures are, but my friend put hers on Facebook so I stole them (with permission) and here you are! The long-awaited ACTHA run-down! It is also super long so cheers to you if you read the whole thing!

Briefing started at 9 so I got there at 8:30 to sign in and get my number. There were a ton of trailers; I really think we had more people from off-site come than folks from the barn! It was impressive! I walked up, got my number, chatted with folks, ran back to the car (planning to pull River into a stall) and promptly discovered both barns were full of off-site horses. Well then. At least his pasture was close. So I went up for pre-ride briefing!

That went uneventfully and in the process my friend S (who used to board with us at the old barn, and moved to our current barn shortly after we did) showed up! So now we had riding buddies I (and River) knew! We ran back down to the barn afterward. S, since her parents came along to "crew" for her, already had a tacked-up and groomed horse; I ran out, caught River, and brought him in with 15 minutes to groom and tack up and be up at the start point. Eeeks. But he was clean, so it didn't take long, and soon we were on our way up to the XC field, where we were starting!

S on the paint, me on the ginormous bay creature (as always ;)

I found S and her parents (who took all these pictures, btw; they're pretty awesome!) at the XC field and then we stood around and tried to figure out where to leave from and who else we were riding with (we left in groups of about 5). River was astonishingly gentlemanly all through this; his field was totally different with dozens of trucks and trailers, new horses, people all over the place--and to top it off I was asking him to stand semi-still! Really he was a gem. He got ancy at times and we would walk around in little loops and figure-eights and then he'd stand quietly and watch the world. Such a good boy!

We are the best at looking awkward...but look how quiet!

Finally a couple other folks came up and we wandered around together looking for where to start. I must add here that the rest of the trail was very well-marked; it was just the start point that was difficult! Anyway finally we found it and were ready to go! We stood and chatted and got to know each other a little. The other two people riding with S and I were a husband-and-wife team and they both had Rocky Mountain horses! (Saiph, I thought of you! Those horses were gorgeous, and so well-mannered!) Super nice folks and nice horses. We really had good riding buddies.

Me on far left, then S and Chico, then our two other riding buddies

Finally they put up the "start" sign (which apparently had blown off) and let us go, and River and I took the lead heading out since we were the only ones who'd been that way before! He wasn't too sure about that at first, but settled in fairly soon.

We wound out through the woods, through a pretty tight brushy trail, and into a big partly-overgrown meadow on the neighbor's property. None of us had been out here before and River was a bit nervous, so part way out our friends took the lead. They apologized in advance in case their horses were too fast...

But not to worry! River proved he can keep up with any gaited horse! (Goose. I always knew he walked fast, but really?!)

We circled the whole new field and came back onto our property. Then we went up the hill and came to our first obstacle!

I should clarify first that ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) rides are six miles long, with at least six timed obstacles. Both you and the horse start with 10 points at each obstacle (for a possible total of 20 points per obstacle) and then points are deducted if you don't meet the predetermined criteria. Ideally, of course, you keep your 20 points, and gain more if you do really well! I really like this system because even a green horse can do well if he/she has a good rider, and a green rider can do well with a good horse, since you and the horse are judged separately. In addition, you have a trot-out at the end to check lameness and general attitude (not a full vetting, but still).

Anyway our first obstacle was a sort of "keyhole" obstacle where we went off-trail and maneuvered around a circular set of logs in the woods, keeping the logs on our right side and avoiding little holes and whatnot that had been pre-marked. I'm really not sure what "official" obstacle it was based on, haha, but it was a fun and easy starter obstacle. River did fantastic as always (fortunately he is used to me asking him to do stupid things like wander off trail) and we got both 10's. :)

Cute Monster to break up huge text block!

We went on and wound our way across the mountain. River was completely barefoot for this expedition--a move I wasn't 100% sure of the wisdom of, but since I hadn't had a chance to buy him boots beforehand, I really didn't have a choice. Surprisingly, his feet did really well. The only time he struggled was when we were crossing creeks (more on that later) and he couldn't see the gravelly/shale bottom. Otherwise, he picked his footing carefully and had very few stumbles and "ouchy" moments. I still plan on getting him front boots, but overall I was greatly impressed with his progress.

There was one super-steep and slippery stretch where I dismounted and led him. I was glad I did because he was sliding pretty badly and I wouldn't have felt safe on top. As it was he was very decent and careful about it and we made it to the bottom just fine. He learned to tuck his feet under and did a pretty good trail-horse impersonation though! I was super proud of him on this event because not once did he rush downhill on the forehand! He always tried hard to tuck his haunches, get his hind legs under him, and balance himself! GOOD BOY!!

After our first loop across the mountain we reached our second obstacle!  This one was a drag obstacle of a big pipe we had to drag from one jump standard to another. It was also the one I was most uncertain of because we have never dragged anything, ever. I figured it would be good if I just stayed on. ;)

The first rider in our group (wife of the Rocky Mountain Horse couple) did fine. Her horse was really amazing, as was she--you could tell they'd practiced a lot and had a wonderful connection! Really a beautiful pair. The second Rocky Mountain though, was quite unsure from the beginning--she wasn't sure about the pipe, wasn't sure about the jump standard--he managed to get her up to it and to start dragging the pipe, but then she glanced sideways and saw the pipe FOLLOWING her and that was the end of that! ;)

S and Chico had a similar go of it and then it was my turn. River had been very restless so we'd been doing loops in the field waiting. He went straight up to the jump standard and stood for me to get the rope. I started to drag it one-handed but then realized, (a) it was way heavier than it looked; and (b) Riv has to have that direct rein. He does not neck-rein at all. So I had to put my drag hand on the reins. He flinched just a little when that caused the rope to brush his hindquarters, but I talked him through and he kept going straight to the next jump standard, and stood for me to hook up the rope!

 SO SO SO PROUD!!!!!! I praised him up and down and told him he was THE MOST WONDERFUL horse in the world!! (because, isn't he?!) And as a bonus we got 20+ points for that obstacle. :)

Another totally random picture of The Most Wonderful Horse

Then we went back across the mountain. This was the lower part of the mountain, though (one of these days I need to get more pics of the mountain trails!), so it was much less rocky and easier riding. Part way across we had a sidepass obstacle. We had to ride up, pick up a basket of "eggs" from a barrel, and sidepass across a pole to put them on another barrel. Yeah. No. Riv does not sidepass. At all. So we got the eggs, tried to get a step or two sideways (he tried hard!) and then just rode to the other barrel and put them down. :) Four points for that obstacle! You get four points if you enter and exit through the appropriate cones and at least try, so we tried. :)

Then we stopped because S's horse had lost a boot so she had to put it back on. That accomplished, she tried to get back on, but her (rather roundish, hehe) horse had a slippery saddle that almost came all the way off. So after much fussing with that (and another group catching up!) I dismounted and helped fix her saddle with a tighter cinch, and then got back on (from the ground, which is impressive when you're just over 5 foot and your horse is 16hh) and we continued. One of our friends' horse had gotten a huge rock stuck in her shoe anyway, so the break was good.

We kept going and came down and across the far pastures toward our next obstacle--the dreaded COWS!

Fortunately Riv has been around the cows quite a lot but for some reason these were still a bit spooky. Perhaps it was because they were in a panel that jutted out from the main fence. Perhaps it was the roping dummy-cow that was next to the fence. I don't know. Anyway we waited and went last...

Forgive my obvious distraction--he was being very restless!
Also. My stirrups are too short. No wonder my knees hurt!

He wasn't very sure but after stopping a couple times and getting scratched and encouraged, he marched right by and was very brave!

Eighteen points for us there! We took the lead again heading down to the first (un-judged) creek crossing. It was actually pretty deep--close to his belly if not up to it--and moving a little swiftly. Not dangerous, but not an easy crossing. We tried to lead across the water but Riv was having no part of that! He made a good try and then S and Chico led us across--with a lead, he went quite cheerfully and seemed to "get" what water crossing meant. :) We went across the lesson horse pasture and across the road (no problems there) and into the pastures across the street. By now I could tell he was getting a little tired, but he still marched along cheerfully and I took every opportunity to let him munch a little or drink. He still refuses to drink on-trail, but he nibbled on grass quite frequently, so that at least was good.

We did the second creek crossing just fine, but with a little stumble in the middle that splashed the photographer! Oops! Haha! Seventeen points for that--not quite sure of why the lower marks but oh well. I was proud of him seeing as it was only his second creek crossing and this time through he really "attacked" the water! He saw it and wanted at it! Good boy! :)

Up and through a bunch of fields, munching on the tall grass, under the telephone wires we went. Nice footing and hilly but not too steep riding. We were making good time, putting some space between us and the people behind us, and also keeping an eye on the clouds as it was starting to look like rain. We came down to our last obstacle--a jump. A hay-bale jump, to be precise. Which means, a jump with width. I've trotted River over little X's without any big deal, but never over anything with width!

We took it second to last and it was a mess. Ha! But we went over! He trotted up, tried to slip out to the left, and I corrected. So then he broke to a walk, which I was fine with--I expected him just to step over. Unfortunately he did not just step over--he LAUNCHED himself and besides having a little bit of a forward seat I was totally unprepared! So we were a disaster over that, haha, but we did go over and I was quite proud of his try and told him so. We only got 5 points on that and I felt it was a little mis-judged--he only got two points which he would've gotten for a run out as long as we exited through the cones. But oh well. It was amusing and nobody was hurt! :)

Then back across the road! After we convinced our friends that the big rock wasn't going to eat them. ;)

Riv is unconcerned by rocks. ;)

And home! And we placed 5th in our division which I say is extraordinarily Great! I have never been so proud of a pink ribbon! :D

We were invited to ride in another ACTHA event today but had to say no because Riv developed a bit of hoof cracks a couple weeks after the ride. Unrelated to the ride but still don't want to stress the footsies. But we definitely want to try again! With more practice, this time! :) I think we just may have found our niche!

Coming up: Things I would do differently next time!

We Are Hooked!

So yesterday River and I went to an ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) Competitive Trail Challenge hosted by our barn!

...and this happened:

5th in our division in our first "real-life horse" competition ever (for both of us individually and together), with no coaching and not much exposure to the obstacles ever! I am SO PROUD of my boy!

...and I think I'm hooked! And Riv came cheerfully up to meet me in the pasture today, so he must not think it's too bad either. ;)

More details coming! I'm hoping for pictures from my friend's parents and from the ride photographer before too long. :)

Good Rides, New Things, Question

We haven't been riding as much as I'd like (do we ever?) but our rides have been great!

We've been out in the fields, trotting in the fields with no runaway nonsense, on trail rides, and in the arena. River's trot-walk transitions are doing much better and he's beginning to learn walk-halt properly (right now we do a lot of circling!). Canter is still a work in progress--his canter is sooo lovely but he doesn't have the strength to carry himself properly in it for very long, so we don't do a lot of it. He played lesson horse when my grandparents and brother came out to see him--and decided he doesn't like that at. all. ;) He was good though!

Sunday we put him over his first tiny baby crossrail under saddle! He's been over them in the round pen before, but not with me aboard. He was an absolute champ, very brave on the approach, trotted right up and over it, no big deal at all.

The grass sugar has been doing a bit of a number on his feet. :( They're not bad--he's fine in the arena or on softer surfaces--but he is a bit more ouchy than he was during the winter. I may need to get him boots for summertime; we'll see. However, he is gaining lots of weight and otherwise looking fantabulous, so I'm not complaining!

And, finally got a decent sweat mark on him and my saddle apparently bridges on the middle sides. It's not making him sore but still. :( Boo. I'm thinking a shimmed pad may be the way to go since he's still gaining weight and also since I don't have the money for a new saddle right now! Any suggestions? What have you used and like/don't like?

Can You Help?

We just got a message from our lovely barn manager. You can read it here.

The gist of it is that the property owners have received an offer to develop the farm into a subdivision. Though they do not want to sell, they need to if they're ever going to be able to retire. Our barn manager and her husband (she's the daughter of the owners) are trying to raise the money to counteroffer and buy the farm themselves. They are proposing creating a "a non-profit that serves the community and beyond as a place of healing and rejuvenation for mind, body, and spirit." Besides horses, it would possibly involve equine and non-equine therapy programs, cabins, and a larger CSA operation.

This has been the most wonderful place for River and I to be, and we would be SO sad to have it go! Though we've been invited back to our previous barn with no strings attached, it would not be the same. Do you know of anyone (or might you be someone) who could help out?  Contact Tara at 423-488-3993 or tara@hiddenhillsfarm.com if you can!

Face-plant!

Friday we were going to have a nice bareback trail ride and try out our new bareback pad, that I got over Christmas and haven't tried out since. I even figured out how to attach the camera to the pad, and took some nice pretty ear pictures to show you, like this:

and this...

...and this! Can you tell I was having fun with ear pictures?? ;)

Pony has crazy mane.

He was being pretty feisty and full of himself, but not too bad, so we kept on into the woods. Then I had to get off in the woods to adjust the bareback pad (which will need some serious renovations before it's really usable, it slips awfully. Not impressed so far), and get back on. Getting back on a 16+ hh dinosaur when you're only 5'3 on a good day is not fun. I vaulted up on my stomach, got half over--and he started moving off. Except then he decided he didn't like this awkward weight on his back and started trotting...then he started cantering...then I decided that despite my distaste for bailing, I was going to come off sooner or later and I'd better get off before he started bucking or tripped or was otherwise stupid. So I bailed. :( And face-planted into the dirt, haha it was not the most graceful dismount!

Then my dearly helpful horse decided he'd had enough of me and marched off down the trail on his own. I got up (after making sure I was all in one piece) and followed but he broke into a trot and disappeared. So I had a nice walk through the woods practicing my tracking skills till I finally got down to his pasture and met the volunteer kids getting ready to feed--they saw him over by his buddies' fence before I did, and caught him for me, while kindly making sure I was okay.

Update as of yesterday's lunge is that the pony is much sounder than the person, haha. He is perfectly fine, while I am sore from my torso all the way down my right leg. We would ride today anyway except that he broke my only pair of reins, so I'm stuck unless I want to go all ghetto and get some rope reins from TSC to use while my order from Smartpak or Dover comes through (which I might just do, we are not against being ghetto over here, haha)!

Because I really still want to get some canter video!!

All in all, a good reminder not to do stupid things even when it is my horse. I get lazy and this is what happens. Now the pony is going to get boot camp when it comes to mounting, and maybe we'll have a lesson to help instill the stop button. He has a perfectly fine gas pedal (sometimes too fine), it's the brakes we struggle with!

Can-TER!

So Thursday we cantered in the arena, on purpose and for a reasonable time, for the first time!

River was feeling good and I had set myself a goal to canter in the arena before spring break was out, so I asked for it and he happily (and reasonably smoothly) popped up into his amazing "third gear."

No seriously, it is probably the most amazing canter I've ever ridden. He has a massive stride and it's just unreal. I just want to ride it again and again and again! The one small detail is that I'm apparently unable to sit it to save my life; I have to two-point or half-seat. Haha! I'm hoping to get some video on Sunday so I can figure out exactly why (maybe also a lesson soon); all I can say right now is that I'm apparently totally out of sync with whatever's going on in his hind end because it just springs me right up out of the saddle. Ha. Hopefully we'll figure out why fairly soon! In the meantime, two-point it is.

We didn't do a lot at a time; I let him tell me when he wanted to transition down and we did. Very nice ride though and I can't wait to feel it again! It's addictive! ;)

Stay tuned for what happened today! Hint: It involves getting up close and personal with some good old Southern red clay dirt...but no one's hurt!

Zoomies

Not much riding last week, Wednesday was a great teaching day but I was wiped out afterwards, then Thursday was my huge-ginormous midterm test and by the time I got done with that (found out today that I aced it, yay me) I didn't want to do much. Friday River got his spring shots and a new Coggins pulled, so I gave him that day off plus his normal Saturday. Now this week it's spring break, yay!

So today our first day back and it was super windy, very warm but definite weather change coming. So all the horses were a bit wired, River included. Went out on a half-hour trail ride to warm up and he was very looky but very good. Then we came back and worked in the outdoor, since it has finally dried up enough to ride in! Started out pretty good, then he got a serious case of the zoomies and was whipping around at a mach-10 trot. Haha. Tried slowing down and no such luck. So I just let him go, he had to keep moving though, none of this trot-real-fast-toward-the-barn-then-be-a-pokey-western-pleasure-pony-going-away-from-it kind of nonsense. He tripped a little bit a couple of times, felt a little tired/weak in the hind end, he always gets anxious after he trips but he is learning to get over it. Not too surprised since we did some fairly steep hill climbs on our trail work, he should be a little tired.

Eventually got a bit more under control, and he was getting sweaty with all that hair, so we stopped and cooled out. Probably in an ideal world I would've tossed him in the round pen and let him get all the zoomies out there, but needed to put on his sheet tonight to keep him dry for a quick couple days of blanketing this week, so didn't want to work him too hard. Besides he's not in shape for such things, haha.

Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday, whenever we ride next, he'll be a bit saner and we'll go in the covered and work on some more productive stuff! ;)

[Somewhat] Wordless Wednesday

Zzzzzz......

Well she's early today...

I guess I could be bothered to take a few steps...

FEEDZ MEEE NOOWW I WILL DIEEE

Chilly day (I want to move to Florida!), but he was toasty warm in the sun. Trail walk, because I left my saddle at home and didn't have the guts to jump on bareback. It barely touched freezing anyway, so we weren't going to do anything amazing. Nice relaxed afternoon.

Saturday Snaps: Poor Coach

Just back. Awesome donkey face.

 

Saturday I was dying to ride so we went on a little bareback ride around the top of the pastures and back through the woods. Solo, as usual, and a storm blowing in (it actually rained a little while we were out). 

And a horse just back from six weeks off. Yeah, I know, recipe for disaster....BUT he only had one spook, just as we were starting! Besides that he was alert but very good--I remembered to talk to him the whole way and it really seems to help. 

Also his feet! They are sooo much better and he is learning to pick them up and maneuver around and over things in the trail instead of just shuffling/plowing straight through! I probably will still get him snap tested for Lyme when the vet's out next, but yay! 

Poor Coach heard of this escapade via Facebook and promptly informed me I should not be trail riding solo (she is literally worse than my mother when it comes to safety). Well, I know I shouldn't, but if I only rode or trail rode when other people were around, I'd never ride, ever. I've literally only been able to ride once with other people in the over-six-months I've been here. Dangerous, perhaps...but I carry my phone and my family knows to come looking for me if I don't show up on time. Besides, everything involving a horse is dangerous. ;)

And maybe if I do enough frightening things on my own, she'll be persuaded to start her own place where she can personally rein me in... ;)

Winter Withdrawals, & Contests!

So I had a nice post and Blogger ate it. Take two...

Okay so first of all, Jen at Cob Jockey has a great post on how to prep your horses and barn for a tornado! I don't know about you but I never learned such things. However, living in TN-a.k.a-the-new-Tornado-Alley, I need to learn about them! So check it out if you live around tornado country!

Warning: a bit of a whine ahead. But contests at the end! So you can skip there if you want. ;)

It is November now.

November from my room.

It's warm (sometimes, comparatively), mostly yo-yo's between 60+ and 30-40 degrees, but oh-so-rainy.

I am going through riding/lesson/jump withdrawals. Lol. I haven't jumped or had a lesson in six months (May 9, I checked, lol). Haven't seen Coach since July or August (though we do keep in contact by text). But it is sooo wet and rainy, and I don't have the time to ride except on Fridays and the weekends, so it seems a bit stupid to me to try and take lessons when I'm not going to be able to really do my homework between lessons. I dunno, perhaps I'm wrong there, set me right if I am? February-ish it should warm up and the days should be long enough that I can ride evenings again. That's only a couple, three months. What's three more months when you've already missed six?! I can give Riv's the winter mostly off, it's not like he's going to mind. ;)

I go back and forth, really. I miss Coach, I miss riding regularly, I miss jumping every week. I'm mostly alone at the barn now, feeding and grooming in the dark, and it's a bit lonely. I can't afford lessons every week anyway, but we've got our homework done--River's sound, he can do walk/trot/halt/back transitions fairly well (when I ride him the way he likes--softly, gentle hands, and sit lightly, haha). We need to work on our canter but canter is my hardest gait and so I need some help to figure out how to help him through it. But I'm not sure it's fair to ask for a lesson when I'm not going to be practicing much in between lessons.

Good thing I love my Beastie because I'm not spending an awful lot of time actually riding this semester! :P

Beastie says, "Teach me more tricks-for-treats!"

Oh and contests! So many contests!

So, first Amy is having a giveaway for awesome saddle soap at Slow and Steady Wins the Race. I really need to clean my tack, so...yeah. Hope I win! haha
Hawk is having a SmartPak gift card giveaway at Forging Fiction. SmartPak is always awesome!
And Equine Snob is having an EquiSpa gift certificate giveaway at My Equine Odyssey! This stuff looks amazing!

Wow! :D