Horse are a horrible, horrible disease!!

Why do we not have a cure!?!?!?

 

 

So I just posted about how I want to spend more time with Lucy and how she is my baby and how much I love her and want to ride just her.

 

And do you know what happens??

 

 

I find  this:

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/grd/1488550829.html

 

And I think: oh she is cute and needs a home!

 

The really ridicules part? I wasn’t even looking for horses, I was looking for COWS!!!

 

Grrrrrrr!!!!!!!

 

Loren says that I need a break from horses, and I totally agree.  But my mind keeps saying “but she is so cute and needs a home!”

Why must we be this way?!?!

The big 100!!

Yep, number 100! I have managed to continue to find things that I feel are interesting enough to talk about for 100 posts! Well I find them interesting anyway! Hehe!

 

So rather then talking about one specific thing lets take a look back over 2009 and then just talk a little bit about what is going on right now.

 

Winter 2009: Started brining Lucy back into work, very slowly. At that time she couldn’t really go for more then a 5 mile ride without being too out of breath. We never even thought about trotting up hills and her hill work was extremely limited. Mostly I rode her on my short 3 mile trail at home that is very flat.

Kezi was lame on and off. I took her to see the last vet we worked with.

Spring 2009: Looked at a beautiful Anglo-Arab gelding while I was seriously considering putting Kezi down. I still kinda wish I had gotten him, he was quite a horse. But I wasn’t ready to give up on Kezi and I have since learned that I truly am a mare person.

I put Kezi on anti-inflamitories for a very long time too see if it helped at all.

I continued working Lucy on the trails,  upping her mileage but rarely her speed. She didn’t seem as into trotting as before she got sick.

Summer 2009: Continued Kezi’s time off. She stayed sound for the longest time since owning her.

I really buckled down with the conditioning with Lucy. I took her to an endurance seminar where I learned that Lucy is rather competitive. I started asking for more trot, just not on our longer rides. She was still doing well on our longer rides but not so much when I asked her to trot a lot.

I took her for one very long ride on a hot day, deffinatly shouldn’t have and she really resented me for it. She refused to let me touch her in the pasture and so I stopped riding to repair our relationship.

Kezi went very, very lame at the end of summer.

Fall 2009: I struggled with the decision to put Kez down. I also struggled with the decision to buy an endurance horse. I saw what I did to Lucy over the summer as a failure. I had seen that she was not as into our longer, faster rides as she was before she was sick. I came to the conclusion that she needed more time off after her sickness. I shouldn’t have put her back into work so soon after she got better, even though she did have a whole year off it was while her body was repairing. I made the absolute decision that Lucy would never be an endurance horse because she did not like it. Yet I think I may have overlooked a lot of things. I’ll post about soon.

I made the decision to put Keziah down. I miss her like hell, but I do still feel like I made the right choice.

I decided to try a really nice endurance horse on trail. While being a drop dead gorgeous horse (he even made Lucy look scrawny and unpretty by comparison, and LOVE Lucy) and just full to the brim with talent, the horse just turned out to be an ass. No easier way to put it. I worked with him and I was patient, but in the end it was his attitude that made me not like him. He just didn’t care about anything be going fast, always. I didn’t feel secure around him at all. His behavior at the endurance ride was bordering on some major disrespect and was just not something I wanted to have to deal with, especially for $4500!!

I met Mel! And Farley of course! I loved them both! I hope I get to continue going for rides with them both! It turns out we have ton in common.

I went to my first endurance ride. After two years of doing little else but push towards doing endurance, it all seemed to come crashing down around me. I found little that I enjoyed. Mel and many of the other riders were pretty awesome, I am glad I got to spend time with them. But I am not an “on my own” kind of person. I really like my home life and it takes a lot to drag me away from that, apparently endurance was not enough. Had I had Lucy there I imagine that things would have been a lot different. I wouldn’t have been alone at the ride (unfortunity Mel doesn’t count since I only just met her), I would have had a good friend who would have been there for me. Instead I was camping with an idiot!

If things hadn’t come to such a culmination with the idiot things again would have been better, but still not great. I got the sense that many of these people have little time for people who are new, or just are not used to it happening. It certainly didn’t help getting yelled at by the in timer, but I wasn’t her only victim, other rides were getting it too. I understand having a bad day, but I am NEVER that way to people I don’t know on a bad day! Its almost like since they all know each other (for the most part) they feel like they can be kinda titchy and no one will care.

There was also a deffinatly feeling of just not belonging there. I don’t know why, I can’t really explain it, yet when I left it was a huge relief to get away. I guess there is a part of me that sees bit fancy trailers and what I know are very expensive horses and saddles and go back to schooling days when we HATED those riders. I know these ones are not the same, but its hard to stop thinking that way. I love that everything about me and my horse is mismatched and hand me downs and just well, whatever works! I always prided myself on having raised (pardon the expression, its the only one that suites) a wonderful mare that I am always finding new reasons to love and wonder at! Besides the fact that she is practically a medical miracle (she repaired nerves she should never have, and came back from something that NONE of the vets thought she would) she has always been an exceptional horse (unless you need to cross a bridge! Hehe!) and well, she loves and trusts me. Because I had Lucy nothing else ever seemed to matter. But with the idiot, everything seemed different. Like I needed to live up to the rider he was supposed to have, or that now that I had an endurance horse, I needed to be an endurance rider. I don’t know, its hard to explain. I wasn’t there to try my best with my own horse that I had worked so hard with, I was there to try out a horse that I expected to behave a wee bit better (as per what his owner said).

Well I could go on moralizing this experience to death, but really the bottom line is that I need Lucy, and Lucy only. Maybe she will turn out to be more into endurance after she had had some time off, maybe not. But I would rather be out on a boring slow ride with Lucy, then a fast paced conditioning ride on a horse that I haven’t had the same life experiences with.

One does not go through losing their mother (and best friend) with a friend, who you then have to almost lose just a year later without it leaving some kind of mark. Lucy has left a mark on me that will never go away, the mark of love.

 

So, now that I have been through all sentimental and crap, now what? What will 2010 bring (other then the winter Olympics and a lot of confused people trying to figure out if they should say oh ten or twenty ten!)?

 

Well I really don’t know! And guess what? I also don’t care! Not right now anyway! I have spent the last two years desperately wanting to get involved with a sport I hardly knew anything about. Now that I know that that can be put aside for now, in order for me to repair things with Lucy and get a handle on my life outside horse, the options are limitless.

It feels weird, so abruptly letting endurance go. It constitutes a huge change in my life, not only have I tried it and not liked it, thereby changing all my horsey habits and ways of thinking, but I also got really close to something then was ok with letting it go at the last minute. Normally once I get involved in something like buying a horse, I stick with it just because its what is easiest and I assume that it is what I want. Although admittly I have never been in this exact situation before.

Ever since Friday I have had my nose in a book, and have mostly not thought about horses. I pulled out one of my old notebooks with one of my favorite stories in it and started thinking about improving on it and extending my database of the world I am trying to create. I get my best ideas while driving so I will need to implement the recorder on my phone.

I know Alicia really wants to drive Lucy, so that will be down as a major to do. I don’t know if I will ever be comfortable driving Lucy in town, but you never know.

The tree lighting is next Friday, so it may be time to pull Huck out of semi-retirement and get him out for a Christmas kickoff drive (we love to deck the boys out in Christmas decor, its pretty darn cute!). Alicia would be happy!

 

I am kinda looking forward to some time off from horses, not worrying about there health, or trying to keep up on a conditioning schedule, or trying to figure out how I am going to afford that new saddle or new horse or new anything! I can stop being on the edge of something, be it the end of one horses life, buying  a new one, or getting into a new sport. Instead I can just sit back and enjoy what I have created over the past eight years. My wonderful girl. I know I will still have days when I will scream and yell at her, and think that she will never be useful as a riding horse again. But its much nicer screaming and yelling at her knowing that the next day we will be back to normal again.

 

Hopefully the next post will be back to being a little bit more normal! I am just in a really reflective mood right now. Knowing that for the present I have given up endurance (its not entirely off the board yet, in essence nothing really ever is) is so weird and almost alien that it was board to spark some interesting and deep thoughts.

 

Well, thats all folks!

Ah my first foray into endurance riding

And probably my last. It was not short and sweet. It was more like long and cold, stressful, pain inducing, and dream shattering.

 

Really not wanting to go started several days ago. I don’t take well to new things, but often I will force myself to go so that I can see for myself if I enjoyed it.

I did not.

 

So now I know.

 

Of course to say I did not enjoy myself is a little off. I REALLY enjoyed getting to spend time with and chat with Mel. If she hadn’t been there I would have really hated it. Plus the people who camped next to me were very nice ( I ended up riding with the daughter for a while since we both had nutcase horses).

Most of the people that were riding that I met seemed really nice. Some were kinda distance and others just sort of ignored me (I am referring to when I was out on the trail), but a lot of them were super nice and asked to make sure I was ok when I was walking Ocean.

The ride staff on the other hand. Well, whats the point of putting on a ride if your going to be pessimistic to the point of where I have to wonder if they really enjoy endurance or not. They were EXREAMLY unhelpful, and I even got yelled at by one (well sort of, she wasn’t being nice lets put it that way).

 

I generally hate being around large amounts of people, even people I do know, and people I don’t know are even worse. Its not that I am shy, I just don’t like it. I knew that in endurance there were a lot of people around, but that once you started going and getting to know people that it was like a big family. I figured I would just have to bear it until it was like that for me, but now I see that I really don’t want to have to go through that.

The last thing that I really didn’t enjoy was something that really surprised me. It turns out that I HATE sharing the trail. I have grown so accustom to having all the trails to myself as a rider that I really hate being on the trail with other riders passing. I was the happiest when I was more or less at the back of the pack and was able to ride Ocean through a very pretty place all by my self. Of course at that point I was desperately wishing I had my wonderful mare.

Not for the fist time either. I think the whole experience would have been better had I had Lucy along instead. I did make me uncomfortable having Ocean since I don’t know him and don’t trust him. And of course Lucy is capable of behaving herself, almost all of the time.

I can’t believe I really wanted to go off an ride another horse other then my study, dependable and wonderful mare. Lucy is one of my best friends, and being out on the trail with her is always peaceful, even when she isn’t doing what I want!

 

I will be in contact with Ocean’s owner this weekend. He is not worth what she wants with all his faults. I am not sure I would pay anything for that brat! He just never got better, just worse. Until I was ready to club him over the head. Then I just wanted to club myself over the head so I could get away from him.

I will not be looking for another endurance horse. Kezi was my attempt, she didn’t work out (although was still very much loved despite that) and that is that. I am happy to go back to riding my trusted steed.

Maybe somewhere down the line I will take her to an endurance ride since I do know that Lucy can be competitive when other horses are around. But my real interest in endurance has always been the conditioning part. Having something to work towards and to keep me on track. But now I am not sure if the rides are enough to get me out there conditioning after all.

Wherever Lucy wants to go or do is what we will do. Even if its just hanging out in her pasture most of the time. Lucy has done so much more, given me so much more, and been through so much more then I could ever believe, she deserves to be my pampered princess.

 

We will see how I feel after the weekend when my body has recouped from having to walk almost 10 of the first 15 miles since I could no longer handle Ocean’s “energy”.

Pictures from at Henry Coe!

Finally! I remembered my camera!

 

 

It was a very nice day!

Ride at Henry Coe with Mel and Farley

 

So I forgot my camera once again! So I will just post this without pictures and get the pictures up tomorrow, assuming I can remember my camera then!

 

 

After trying to ride together all Summer and Fall, we actually managed to get together, and ironicly enough, we will also see each other at the ride next week!

What fun day! Mel was a lot of fun to ride with, and Henry Coe park is really beautiful!

 

Pre ride:

Ok, so getting up at 6am on Saturday isn’t usually how I like to start the weekend, but for getting to ride with Mel over in Henry Coe was worth it.

I was only a wee bit concerned that Ocean might not get in the trailer, I had been pretty sure that after our ground work session on Thursday he had gotten the idea. I was right! Although once in the trailer he would not calm down!! He kept putting his head out of the door and then back in, pawing and kicking and just generally making noise. I hate horses that move around a lot in the trailer. To me, when a horse makes noise in the trailer, I need to go check on it as something is not right, that is what Lucy taught me. Luckly though Ocean calmed down and rode the rest of the way like a pro! I was very happy with how well he trailered, espeshally since we were on the road for two and a half hours getting there.

 

The Park:

Henry Coe is an amazing place to ride! If it weren’t for the fact that I have well over a half a dozen fantastic parks to ride in within  an hour, including Big Basin which does not require that I have to trailer, I would ride there more often!

Certainly for riding with Mel it will be a great place to ride in to get away from our normal haunts.

I really liked how the trails were cut into the hillside much the same way the access road in the big cow fields along the highways are. It made me feel like I was riding in an old cowfield (which I think we were given all the old fences and buildings, guess I need to read up on the history of the park!).

 

Ocean:

Ocean was great! I am simply amazed  at this horses energy! Even at the end of our ten mile ride, he was still jigging and trying to get me to let him canter. I think I have my 100 miler horse!

Even though I got several really nice trots out of him, he started two new bad habits:

1. pulling the reins out of my hands at the trot or walk when he wanted to canter. I have a lovely blister from that!

2. He has figured out that I will only let up on the reins if he trots. So he starts trotting then really goes fast and moves into the canter. Like if he is trotting I won’t notice that he has started trotting!

He did really good trotting after we let the horses gallop up one hill, normally that is not allowed for my horses, but it was so much darn fun! And Ocean really enjoyed it! I am trying to allow him some fun since I am always ragging on him to trot!

But other then that, and some jigging and some trying to run me down going down hills, he was great! No really, I am very pleased with him!

 

Mel and Farley;

Well, first of all, riding with Mel was a blast! We chatted gaily the whole time like we had known each other for years! Mel and I seem to agree on pretty much everything when it comes to our horses! Non-horsey stuff, well ummm, why on earth would we talk about something non-horsey!?!?!?

I have riden with two other endurance riders, but always with Lucy who doesn’t believe in long distance riding. I think it was really good for Ocean to ride with another endurance rider and horse. And for me too! Most of the riders I have been riding with lately are slow and boring, Mel seems to move at a similar speed to me.

Farley was great! The perfect little endurance horse! She minded her own business and was very business like!

Mel,other then just being a lot of fun to chat with, was very helpful with advice and praise for Ocean! It was pretty funny when Ocean would finally trot and Mel would praise him before I could!! Hehe!

I didn’t realize before talking with Mel how lucky I have it with where I live. She was telling me that she would probably be more willing to try and top ten if she had better places to ride. Everywhere that I ride is a fantastic with both steep hills, easy hills and lots of flat.  Just riding at home I always have to travers several miles of trail not including which ever trails I decide to go on.

Mel and Farley have a certain confidence about them that I hope I have at some point!

 

Oh, and on a more entertaining note, I sooo wish I had a picture of Mel’s face when she thought she heard a cougar! Between Ocean’s huffing (he huffs a lot!) and Farley’s boots it was hard to hear the bird,  so Mel thought it might have been a cougar. No worries, I would be just as likely to freak out! But I still had to make fun of you!

Post Ride:

Was a wee bit scary! See I currently don’t have any headlights on my truck, so I had to be home before dark or I would be stranded. I also had to get diesel or wouldn’t make it home. The problem was that I wasn’t sure if I had any money in my account since Oceans owner deposited the deposit I gave her ( I had not expected that). So I tried finding a place to get diesel in Gilroy (why can’t gas stations just say they have diesel rather then you having to slow way down and look for green pump handles?!?!), wasted 20 minutes there after excitedly pulling into a Rotten Robie then realizing that I was pulled in the wrong way (they had arrows on the ground indicating which way to pull in) and I got such dirty looks from the other drivers that I left.

Then I had a brilliant idea! I used to get hay in San Jose once a month and know how to get there and where the closest diesel carrying station is. How perfect! I just got off at the hay place, got diesel (thanking my lucky stars that I had enough money and wasn’t stranded!) and then, because I know the area quite well, was able to quickly get back onto the other freeway which is the one I wanted to be on in the first place rather then having to make the switch from one freeway to the other. I know non of that makes sense, but I was starting to really worry since my phone had run out of batteries just after our ride, and I didn’t have a charger since the plugs in my truck don’t work.

Plus I got home in enough time to get pizza before going home and getting home before dark.

 

 

Its been a long time since I had a whole day out riding like that and had such a great day!

And I no longer am that worried about this horse on a 30 mile ride! I think he could do a 50 no problems (not that I am going too!!)

First week with Ocean

Yea, we survived the week together! And enjoyed it too! I LIKE riding him and LIKE taking him out for rides, and he LIKES it too! What a novel idea, actually enjoying my prefered hobby and sport!

 

 

Tuesday:

First real ride at home. Used Lucy’s saddle pad under the regular pad with the Collegiate saddle. He was really good out on the trail by himself. I did some ground work with him before getting on as he didn’t want to hold still. Did a little bit of working on the trot on the way out. He jigged the whole way back (thats a mile and a half!) so he didn’t get to go fast then! He was very concerned about the dogs being behind him, but it didn’t effect him too much.

 

Wednesday:

Meant to go for a fairly long ride, but ended up leaving too late in the day (darn work!). I rode down the road and up Gazos. He is super bouncy downhill! I am a wee bit concerned about him injuring himself because he isn’t very careful going down hills.

Anyway, worked on getting him to trot again. Doing better, he just is so determined to canter that he keeps trying over and over again. I got a couple really good trots out of him though. So progress!

Thursday:

Worked on getting him in the trailer. Did some ground schooling with him, which he did quite well at. Spent a good amount of time working on getting him in the trailer. He tried all sorts of evasive manuvers, but in the end my persistance won out and he got in and stayed in. I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t have any problems trailering after that.

 

Nothing on Friday, as it rained and I figured I would give him a day off before riding with Mel.

Cute pictures of Ocean and Ollie

 

I got a few good pictures when Ocean and Ollie were  playing, mostly they ended up blury. I got some great videos, but my camera can’t rotate the videos afterwards, so they are sideways! hehe!

 

 

Lucy is annoyed here!

 

“what!?”

“hey what about me?”

“tag!”

“your it!”

“hey, come back here!”

Awww! How cute!

Wow! Somebody got carried away white the whiteout!

Oh my goodness I am blinded!

“are you making fun of me?”

“see how regal I am?”

Look! Its the first REDWOOD LEAF!!! Ocean has now been properly christened!

 

 

So many more to come I am sure!

Ocean

So my weekend was exusting! but pretty fun, and very productive!

 

Saturday:

I   went a picked up a load of hay in the morning. Was pretty easy as I had two guys helping me, but the bales are longer then normal so I had a hard time fitting them on the trailer. Loren would have been handy as he is the tetris master when it comes to fitting bales of hay together!

I dropped off the truck and trailer and went back to town to meet Kathryn with the horse. I wanted to make sure she made it ok so I figured I would just meet her in town.

She came with her whole family. Boyfriend, three kids and dog!

She decided after seeing how long of a drive it was that she would take her saddle and tack back then, rather then letting me use it for the next two weeks. I think she felt uncomfortable with me using the saddle, which I understand. I also think that by doing  so she has forced me to buy a saddle for him more solidifying his place at my house! Haha!

 

He took my place all in stride, didn’t blink an eye at anything! So cool and calm with new places!

Lucy was very unsure of him. She kept protecting the mini’s from him. If one of them got too close she would run over and get between them and give the gelding a dirty look! It was really cute! He didn’t mind and just backed off.

By the end of  the day he and Ollie were having fun playing with each other! I got some videos, but haven’t got them on yet.

 

Sunday:

Sunday was a very interesting day! And very tiring!

In the morning I unloaded and stacked the hay. 26 bales! The last 10 I ended up just dropped off the truck and not stacking, my muscles were screaming! I also had to restack half of what I already had there, so that took some time and effort. I will be getting one more load then we should be set for winter! Yay!

After I was done I my older sister Alicia came up for a ride. Just as I was collecting all the tack the peacock made an appearance in the paddock and scared the gelding, which set off Lucy (who is NOT scared of the Peacocks at all, she was just being a brat!). So everyone was a bit on edge when we took them  out. Luckily Lucy forgets that she is throwing a fit easily and chilled out. The gelding did the same. Lucy was very patient with Alicia getting her ready, seeing her pick out her feet was really funny! Alicia let Lucy hang her hoof almost on the ground rather then making her hold it up!

I didn’t have a saddle that fit the gelding so I put him in my blue western headstall with my snaffle bit and rode bareback (what! am I crazy!?!?!) I had left my helmet down the hill at the trailer so we walked the horses down and got on there.

 

Lucy:

Lucy was an angel the whole ride! She totally acted as though she was on a normal ride with me and there was someone else riding with us that she had to wait for (Lucy hates to wait, but when you make her stop and wait she will watch for the other horse!). I got the impression that Lucy only really listened to Alicia about half the time and just did her normal old thing the rest of the time! She is such a good girl! Still the mild yet business like trail horse, even with a totally new rider on her!  See you have to understand that in the whole 8 eight years I have owned her, she has only been ridden by I think four people. Three trainers over a couple months, and me. I wasn’t sure how she would take a new rider since its been so long since anyone but me has ridden her, and a newbie on top of that!

 

The Gelding (don’t worry I have a name for him now!):

He was pretty good considering everything. He totally let me get on bareback and didn’t mind me riding bareback (although I ride bareback a lot so my seat is pretty good). The one downside  is that the owner showsheened the hell out of him so I was slipping all over! He didn’t really like that face that Lucy walked faster then him, but wasn’t a totally nutcase about it. He did jog quite a bit trying to keep up. I think if he walked normally he would be able to keep up, but since he is ADD (Arab Distraction Disorder) he can’t. He HAS to learn to keep his mind on the trail! So far its everywhere! I got off to get the gate and ended up doing groundwork on most of the ride. He does not pay attention to me at all. He reminds me of Huck so much!! I did notice that when I would stop and make him look at me, he would lower his head and be more relaxed. So hopefully a lot of groundwork will help him in the saddle too!

Really though he has obviously just been allowed to do what ever he wants on the ground. Not ok with me! But I see potential. It helps that I have already been through this with another horse just like him! Although we only really came to an understanding after I bonked him on the head with the whip a couple times! Haha! But Huck listens and behaves now.

This guy deffinatly wanted to go for a longer, faster ride. I don’t blame him, but he will have to learn that sometimes we just walk. I am sure that a lot of it was just being in a new place with a new person. Probably right now he is hating me since I make him behave! But in the end I hope he likes have a few more rules (most horses do).

 

 

So, thats my weekend (well the horses part anyway, the rest was pretty much crap).

 

And yes I have chosen a barn name for him! Yay! I didn’t like Scout, and knew one already. So his new barn name is: Ocean! but you probably already figured that out from the title huh?

Some post Kezi thoughts

So now that it has been a couple days, I am reflecting on everything with Kezi.

I miss her like hell, but I still feel I did the right thing. I am so glad I have not regretted it! Although I am not sure it has entirely sunk in.

Lucy was the most aware that something wasn’t right. She whinnyed for Kezi all afternoon and when my dad went up to bury her Lucy woke me up whinnying, somehow she knew that Kezi was still up there. Ollie got over it quicker then I had thought he would.

 

I still find myself talking about her and comparing her along with my other horses. I figure that will take a while to go away.

My dad said that he would like to plant a tree over her, except that the spot where we buried her is now going to be a small access road for my paddock. So we are going to put in along the fence since the spot is very close to the fence.

 

Its still feels weird her not being out in the paddock with the other horses. Although the new guy has helped me get my mind off it. The horses are still in the paddock since we accidently took out a post when backfilling the hole. I wonder what they will do when they get up there.Lucy  knows that Kezi went up there and never came back.

Lucy hasn’t been overly nice to the new gelding. I wonder if she isn’t over Kezi yet, or if she just doesn’t like him that much. Or it could be that she needs more space. I think everyone will be happier when they are turned out in the pasture.

 

So coming up next will be my gaga for the new horse post!

Really? REALLY? REALLY?

Yep, I'm annoyed! I have been sitting here most of the day (does any work ever get done at this desk?) trying to figure out how I am going to afford ANOTHER saddle! And how I am ever going to find "just the right saddle"!!!! I mean I went through a lot of different saddles when choosing a new one for Lucy.

Of course I have two weeks with Kathyrns saddle (a reactor panel, cool huh?) but then unless one of my saddles fits him (not likely) and even if one does they are both jumping saddles that I will want to replace with a nicer endurance saddle.

I just had to rant, because I hate saddle shopping!

Quick assesement of his tack

Him or his being of course the gelding (who I have not given a barn name to yet!).

I just looked up the bit that he has, its a level 3 kimberwicke, kinda harsh for an endurance horse:

Not what I would choose to put him in, but I will use it during the trial period.

http://www.doversaddlery.com/myler-ported-barrel-kimberwicke-bit-mb-33/p/X1-01200/cn/1469/

What a blast!

 

Literally! This gelding is a blast! He goes from walk to canter to gallop totally under  control! But I am getting ahead of my self, lets try and bring some order to this post.

 

So, yesterday I dove up to Healdsburg to try out the Arab gelding. All went well.

Loren and I got to play with him for a bit while his owner went to make lunch. He is a bit nervous but not too bad. Typical energetic Arab that didn’t want to hold still. We walked him around because we were not sure where to tie him.

He has bad ground manners (which she told me) but he seems to know it! He hangs his head when you reprimand him like he knows he shouldn’t do it but can’t help himself! He got along with Loren great! (gee I wonder why!? = )

He is VERY nippy! I hate that, but am willing to work with it. The more distressed he is (like while loading, or not loading as the case may be) the more he nips and potentially bites.

I think he will be better after a few groundwork sessions, which he will be getting a lot of next week!

Under saddle, he is very well behaved, other then that he does not believe in trotting! He has been allowed to just run full out and thinks its fun. I have to admit, it is kinda fun! He is very controllable, I never felt like he was going to take off with me.

BUT he needs to learn that I will ask for the trot and he needs to give it to me without a fight. On the other hand, I will be happy to let him canter a lot out on the trail if that is the pace he wants to set and he does well with it.

I think I will need a heart rate monitor to really know for sure.

So I definatly foresee a lot of arena work with him. I think it might help him to learn to relax and stretch his neck down. He is very high headed and his current bit does not help. I may try him a couple times on shorter at home rides in a hackamore to see if he finds it more comfortable.

 

I agree that this horse could be a top tener, and a 100 miler. Although we didn’t go for a very long ride, I just feel it! The horse has lots of energy, but seems happy to just amble along. Its just the canter thing that makes him so so efficient. But I think that is just because of how he has been ridden over the last two years.

 

Tomorrow his owner is bringing him to me. Why? Because he doesn’t like my trailer! But I am not worried, I think after some groundwork, he will learn to go in!

 

I guess another update tomorrow or Monday. I may not come back to town after I go home to settle him in.

Keziah will never be forgotten!

For now, the slideshow of her will sufice. I will come back when I feel like it and have more time to talk about how it went. It was all very peaceful and and seemed like everyone (except the vet) was ready for it. Loren commented afterwards that of the three of us, he didn’t expect us to do better then the vet!

But I was ready for it, and at peace for it. There were no tears left to shed, had there been, I would not have been ready.

 

We are our horses personal trainers

I am pretty sure that every endurance rider used every resource availible to learn about conditioning their horse. I know I do. I have made researching conditioning articles and creating new conditioning regimes into my second hobby.

And why not? We are conditioning an animal that cannot tells if something is wrong or if we are pushing them to much, to ride in 100 mile races (I use the term race here because you do have to finish by a certain time, so its not like your just riding your horse over 100 miles at your own pace, you are on a trail with other riders for a set time.).

I do a lot of research on human conditioning as well, not for me (I hate running!) but because many of the princables that you will learn for horses is the same for humans. I have read that conditioning a horse is very similar to conditioning for a human, I am not sure if I totally believe that yet, but  I will go with it for now.

The really big difference is that of course the horse cannot tell us what is going on with their body. So not only do we have to understand our horses current level of fitness; we have to know HOW to condition them without injury, we have to know WHAT develops good endurance, we have to know WHAT they need to eat in order for them keep of with our conditioning demands, we have to know HOW often to condition them and HOW long of rest to give them. And we have to do this all off just reading their body language! Imagine if every personal trainer in every gym had to do that with all of their clients!

 

And of course lets not forget that we need to condition ourselves as well. WE have to be able to keep up with this amazing athlete that we have now created.

Gee, who knew the job of a personal trainer could be so difficult!

 

Once I bring this horse home, and most deffinatly if  I buy him, you will find the personal trainer monster within me come out. I LOVE to share my newfound conditioning/training articles and books as well as conditioning schedules and records. Not one little thing will be left undone with this horse. EVERYTHING will be recorded and mapped out for his training, conditioning and diet.

 

So I will most likley add links to my favorite articles, and probably be posting about them more too, as well as my favorite training schedules (assuming blogger can link pdf files).

 

Well thats all! May not hear from me until Monday, when I very well may have a new horse to talk about!

Equus RX

This is an interesting product I came across today while browsing.

http://www.equus-rx.com/html/order.html

 

I watched a couple of the videos since it looked pretty cool, but I wanted to know how it works.

Its a bit expensive and I don’t really see how it can help you set conditioning schedules, but  I like that it can help you track them. I didn’t see weather you could make reports that can show you trends and whatnot.

I like the idea of it, but I bet I could put something together similar to it on Excel (everything can be done on excel!)

 

Maybe I’ll try the 14 trial and see what cool stuff it has, then model my own after it. Or maybe I’ll like it so much I’ll buy it sometime down the road! But if I can make a spreadsheet that does basicly the same thing, with just a little more work, then why buy it?

 

I love making spreadsheets on my horses conditioning and health. Keeps me in touch with my horses while at work! Haha! Its just the way I am, if I am not creating some new worksheet for tracking progress, or to map out conditioning, I’m not happy.

 

I’ll have an update on this.

Whats in a name?

There was a topic going around on ridecamp not all that long ago about renaming a horse. Some people talked  about naming a horse after something they wanted the horse to be like.

Interesting idea.

Quite a few years ago I read an article about the silly names you see in children’s hunters (the writer was a horse show mom who’s daughter did hunters). It was both interesting and funny. She came to the conclusion that they should just name then honestly:

“We spent so much money on this horse, he better win a blue!”

Or, much simpler:

“blue ribbon” or “I win”

Some horses are given regal names, some are given names that are named after something popular (why? I could never figure this one out!)

What about endurance horses? What names should they be given?

“passed the vet check!!”

 

“I go fast” or “I never stop” might also work!

Might make a bit more sense then the many odd registered names you see on these Arabs! Some are really cool, and others are just impossible to pronounce!

But what about “barn names” as we refer to them? We rarely refer to our horses by their registered name ( I would never refer to Huck as Goose Downs Little Obsession, in fact I try not to embarrass him by telling people that was his name!), so we come up with barn names.

Sometimes they are a variation of the registered name, sometimes not. What is important is that we like them and they fit our horses.

 

Now I only have one horse that came with a registered name, all my other ones (excepting Lucy) just had barn names. All of them (except Lucy and Detta) I renamed. I just couldn’t help it!

I have several rules when it comes to my horses names:

1. Cannot have the same name as: a horse I previously owned, a horse I used to ride, a horse I know personally, a horse that friend owns but I have never met, a horse that I have never met nor know the owner of but saw the same and didn’t like it.

2. Cannot have a name that I do not like

3. I simply like getting to name my horses, so really all the other reasons are moo points (like a cows oppion, doesn’t really matter!)!!!

 

So what names did my horses previously have?

 

Detta, my first horse, well that was her name! Never accured to me to that I could change it!

Lucy, did not have a name when she came to me.

Huck, was Obi (short for his registered name) hated it, considered calling him Ozzy (he had a LOT of mane!)

Ollie was Doc, but I had a friend with a horse that name, plus I didn’t like AND I wanted it to match Hucks name (Huckleberry and Olaliberry)

Keziah, was Wendy, knew a horse with that name, and didn’t like it.

 

So why the question of names all of a sudden? Because whenever I see a horse I might want to buy, I HAVE to rename it! When I was looking at the anglo arab, I had renamed him Mie Tei (like the drink, no idea on the spelling) even though I never got him.

I am more or less obsessed with renaming horses!

But no, this new one does not have a name yet. But not for a lack of trying! I have decided to name him after a sports car, he is fast, therefore he will have a fast name! I will hold off on giving him an actual name until I go see him (and bring him home)

Well…..

No, I did not put Kezi down this morning, no I did not change my mind.

Its as simple as my vet was an hour late and then missed us by minutes. See I live behind a locked gate, which is about a mile down the road from my house. So we wait at the gate for people like the vet and farrier. I am used to my vet running late, that happens.

We waited for an hour then went back up to the house to give the horses water so we could go to town (where we get cell reception).

We got back down to the gate at 11:30, just a half an hour from when we left the gate to go home.

 

Turns out the vet was there between 11 and 11:30. Now they want to reschedule for next week.

This is bad. Why?

Because I was prepared to do this today. Really, I was. I had everything planned out, I was at peace with the decision. I wasn’t even crying that much in the morning while I moved the horses around and fed. I was sad and hurt, but I knew everything would be ok in the end.

NOW, I feel worse. Like I  am going to have to go through the past week all over again (a week that was rough and seemed to take forever).

AND I am supposed to bring Scout (arab  gelding) home on Sunday for our three week trial. It would be easiest all the way around if everything was done and over with Kezi.

 

To top it all off, I already have taken half the day off, tomorrow I am hoping to go pick up some hay. So I can’t really afford to take another day off next week as well.

 

 

Really, I am feeling worse now then I did this morning. I don’t want to be at work or doing any of the number of things I should be doing.

A lot of odd random little things

Reading Boots and Saddles always makes me feel like I should be more in depth with my posts rather then just going on about how my week was. I write on a very shallow basis, I don’t delve deep into what happened and why. I take things as they come and generally accept how things are. I tend not to question the way things are done if there is nothing I can do about. And yet  I question athority at every oppertunity. If I don’t like the way something is done I will say something. But I am not going to ruin the rest of  the day because of one little thing that bothered me. I easily let go of things. Probably because I don’t settle down to one thing indeffinatly, and yet I also hate change.

Confusing huh? Example: I love living at home, its beautiful and a wonderful place to live. I don’t want to move away despite wanting to have a house of my own with my boyfriend. So I hate that possible change.

But I get bored with things so quickly that I get bored with what I am eating before I am even done. I can eat half a meal, not be able to finish because I am full of that perticulare food, then go on to eat something entirely different 10 minutes later.

Some with horses, I get really into endurance, then eventing, then driving, then I go back round again!

Luckly for my boyfriend, I do not get easily bored of him!!

 

 

Does a lot of who we are come from our family? Are there types of familys? Like musical families, fashion families, farming families?

I come from a athletic family. Most of us played sports, and were good at it. I am the only one that still is into a sport really.We are also a liberal family, that believes very stongly in women can do anything. Very importaint for a family with three daughters and one son!! The girls in my family are very strong, and independent and well, kinda scary! We do not appreciate men doing things for us. If we want it done, we will do it ourselves!

My family is very mom and pops, small bussines orianated. My father owns two small business, both of which I work for for him. My closest sister owns her own business, my oldest sister works for a small business and my brother also works for my dads business. We try to shop and eat at small family owned shops.

 

Ok I am getting bored of being philisophical!

 

The first gelding I was looking at sold. So I guess  that would be why I never heard back from her.

I talked with the other geldings owner. She is very happy with the prospect of me owning him. She is willing to be flexible on his price and payments for me, as well as his trial. She really wanted me to know that he is a very forward horse and really likes to canter, not trot. We talked about ways to help him slow down and conserve his energy. I think she was pleased that I had some ideas and wasn’t just put off by his energy. She was also happy that I wanted to work with him in the arena to help him and that I do a lot of ground work. She thinks I should take him when I come to try him so I can have a long trial period with him.

I am very excited!

 

I’m making a video for Kezi today (provided I have the time). I’ll post it tomorrow or Thursday. Not sure if I am coming to town at all tomorrow.

Hopefully my posts will be a lot more exciting soon!! And not so sad.