In the Arena #149 - Fifty Bales of Hay...

It's been a productive week at the farmette.

A trip up the road for supplies...

Seriously - what's sexier than a full trailer?

A barn full. Yummy.

Had to de-bug first... sorry wasps. :(

My back is definitely not feeling sexy.  Stacked six high... winter will be here before we know it.

And there were leftovers!

Fit in a trailer loading session... (selfie video not my strong suit, pardon the wiggles)

                     

and a couple of very nice rides. What's not nice - this is what the footing looks like lately.

No rain for ages. I can barely push the wheelbarrow through it. A quick review of the archives reminded me that this is what we usually have to deal with in a dry summer. I've found this to be an incredibly frustrating situation, but resolve to accept it for the time being. Until funds are available for a new arena and a new water source to irrigate it with, we'll work with what we have, because we have to.

In the meantime, our goals are:

-- to implement the position changes I've worked on with my new trainer
-- to keep Val absolutely in front of my leg, requiring minimal aids to stay forward
-- to improve my focus, so that I can maintain steady, elastic contact
-- to know when to quit (holy crap this one's important!)
-- to get fit (both of us... talking about you too Val!)

so we don't make fools of ourselves - at the clinic we're going to in October! (controlled myself on the exclamation points)

I had a second (really good) lesson at L's place in July, but we both feel that lessons on Val would be ideal. (even though I'm quite fond of the other grey ottb in my life - Tom Terrific - edited to add his handsome mug)

It's such a long way to L's farm in Md - a mini-clinic is the only way to make taking Val up there feasible. We'll head up on a Friday and stay through Monday. The plan is for four mounted lessons, and hopefully an unmounted biomechanics seminar with some local riders. Should the weather not cooperate, we can trailer to an indoor. We'll cook meals and watch dvd's in the evenings. All horses, all the time. To say I'm over the moon would be an understatement.

It's a good feeling to have something to work toward again.

It's hard out here for a horse... ;D

In the Arena # 130 - Blessings in disguise...

It's been three (long, hard, hot) weeks since we lost Sweet Pea. The household is adjusting to her absence - some better than others. I've finally stopped expecting to see her when I come home.

Q is enjoying:

the entire sofa
no competition for food, real or imagined
longer, speedier dog walks and more of them...

If she could talk she would be saying, "Mine all mine!"

Then there was the renewal day for our boarding contract. The day after I put my dog to sleep. Boarder Mom took exception to abiding by the terms regarding giving notice. I offered to compromise by halving the notice period, but requiring payment up front for the remainder of the time, as well as notice in writing. BM refused to (re)read the contract or comply, and tried to argue with me about why she didn't owe me notice or money.

When I didn't give in, the situation escalated into an ear load (mine) of cursing and nasty personal insults. On my front porch. On my property. I had enough, and gave BM 24 hours to get Cowboy and their belongings out. I believe she was a little surprised completely shocked that I called her bluff. Best of all, I did not say or do anything I regret - which is an eff-ing miracle. I will miss Cowboy and his girl, but not pushy BM or having to beg for my board every month. The peace and quiet, the utter lack of drama at the farmette, has been soothing.

Losing the boarding income is daunting, but once I factored in having my second storage shed back, which is now filled with enough hay to last until February, it was easy to justify the loss of boarding income. Amount boarders owed = price of a new shed. :D

Even more than the financial implications, I was concerned about how Val would handle being a solo horse again. I'm not ready to add to the herd just yet, although that is the eventual plan. No worries about my darling Val. He has been super relaxed since being on his own.

He lays down to sleep every day. His vigilance while out of the paddock is minimal. The last time I took Val to the boarding property next door, he ran himself into a complete lather and acted ridiculous, responding to Cowboy going to crazy town, screaming from his paddock. Yesterday, we walked over there on a totally loose lead, his head down, following at my shoulder. He calmly investigated the area before rolling and having a good graze while I cleaned up after the horses that stayed over the weekend. Like night and day.

The footing in the arena is unsuitable for work again - deep and soft - so today I lunged Val out in the open, in the scary back of the property (site of future arena). It went very well. Val focused on me and gave me an energetic over-tracking walk. I'm going to set up a rectangle with cones and start riding out there this week. We've both lost some condition over this long summer break, so we're going to come back into work slowly. Shorter sessions, more often.

I have gotten a number of rides in recently. All bareback, several with no tack at all. SO lucky his back is comfy. One ride was on the spur of the moment after a lingering scratch / massage session, where I climbed the gate and hopped on barefoot (no helmet either - I promise I'm not making a habit of it). I got the urge to act like a kid on a pony, and followed through. We did some nice turns on the forehand. It was relaxing and fun for us both. The only bad thing that happened was when Val turned around while I took a picture and put most of my foot in his mouth. What a hoot he is.

Stay tuned for - our first real trim (by me), we are what we eat, and yet another snake encounter (!)

Okay - the mane is getting out of control...

About to put my foot in his mouth...

At the Barn #46 - The good, the bad and the ugly In the Arena # 84 - Making do

Guess what showed up at the farmette last week! A cowboy. A real live cowboy. A cow working, colt starting, boot, hat and spur wearing, knows how to use the rope hanging from his saddle horn yes mayam'ing cowboy from a ranch in Wyoming. *sigh*

The real cowboy's kid - a thirteen year old cowgirl - has dreamed of riding horses on the beach for her whole life... this summer they made the dream come true. After stops in South Dakota and Iowa for horse shows and to pick up grandma, they found their way here. Sounds good so far...

Stock photo - not the real cowboy ;)

Background: the woman I bought my property from still owns the land next door. She had to move inland due to health issues, temporarily abandoning her small horse boarding operation. For the past year I have helped her keep the business afloat on this end. Taking bookings, maintaining the facility, sorting the customers out when they get here, often letting them camp on my property. Here's why - although I enjoy meeting the horses (and horse people), I'm planning to put an end to helping with boarding business.

Shortly after the boarder's arrival, we spent three hours in the boiling hot afternoon sun releasing their 25,000 lb converted semi + three horse slant with live-in from a soft spot in the sand where the cowboy had attempted to turn the rig around. We ended up creating a track with lumber that I luckily had laying around. A very labor intensive and sweaty job. (strike one)

And the picnic table I sat on for a few minutes while rehydrating was apparently infested with chiggers. The back of my legs are covered with scores of maddeningly itchy bites. (strike two)

The offending devil bug

At 9:30 that same night, I was well on my way to bed when a series of confusing phone calls ensued. My neighbor down the way from the farm called to tell me that the cowboy's elderly mother was lost in the neighborhood randomly knocking on doors. I tracked her down at another neighbor's house. She wanted to call the police because she was worried about her son and granddaughter not being back from riding. She also had no idea where she was - across the street from my farm, her son's truck, her son's cell phone, (and her son and granddaughter as it turns out). I talked her down, reminding her that the ride takes over two hours which technically gave them another fifteen minutes, and directed her back across the street to her son's truck with the phone and the living quarters where she could wait comfortably. I also wondered how the police could possibly help someone who has no clue where they are.

I then left a message on the cowboy's cell asking that he please call me to let me know he and his daughter had returned safely. I never got a call, so could barely sleep worrying that one of them was injured and they had to spend the night in the woods or worse. Why would you not carry a cell with you on a trail ride in a strange new place when it was likely to be dark before you get back? (strike three)

SO as much as I love sharing our fabulous trail ride to the beach  - I'm done with feeling responsible for people who don't / won't be responsible for themselves, no matter how adorable they are or how cute of an accent they have...

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I took advantage of a beautiful cool day on Saturday to finally get a ride in. Still very very deep footing in our arena. There's a small area that is still somewhat firm, so we stuck to working in that limited space, at a walk. A delightful bareback ride. We worked on moving out, outside rein connection, halts and turns on the forehand. And me being even and balanced, keeping my weight down in my right side, not collapsing my left side. I thought from Val's responses, that I had succeeded in evenness, but the pictures tell a different story. :)

Left leg longer...

 

 

"Need more cookies - mouth empty!!"

 

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An update on improvements at the farmette...

My poor grading / tractor man is recovering from double hernia surgery. He'll be out of commission for many weeks, so the new arena is on hold (again). We'll have to work where we can, and pray for rain. On a good note - over the weekend I got the trailer properly electrified. That just leaves bringing in h2o and connecting to the septic and then we're operational. On tap for the next few days - carrying the trailer contents to the dump + the very thorough cleaning. Stay tuned for pix...

In the Arena # 79 - Oh, it was hot all right...

Well, not how you would think...

Temps did get up into the 90's right after our last ride, so we skipped out for a few days, sticking to hand grazing and ground work. Then the temps came down nicely (!) However with the cool breezes from the north came acrid smoke from a forest fire burning peat in the ground on the mainland. Trust me that it stinks! More groundwork... extended grooming sessions... mane pulling... tail banging... tack room cleaning...

Finally today we rode. After a whole week off, I guess I expected to be a little rusty. And I kept to a walk, as our footing is dreadfully deep. It is hard for me to push the wheelbarrow through it at the moment.

While warming up I asked for a turn on the forehand, and we somehow ended up backing into the electric fence. Poor Val. Often I think to turn the fence off before we ride because it's really strong and I fear touching it with my legs when we work on the rail. *warning - Darwin award material coming* Once I touched it with my shoulder while reaching in to pull the drain plug out of a tub full of water... reaching through the fence strands instead of going around - into water! Lazy + stupid. When my shoulder hit the wire it felt like a cigarette burn, or maybe a hot iron...

Anyhow - after the shock came "the great leap forward"! Thankfully I stayed on, and again a few minutes later when we got too close to the same spot. Interestingly, our ride really improved after the shock. Val listened better, and had more energy. Our school figures were very accurate, we got a bigger walk, decent contact - chewing and reaching on the loose rein, and a number of halts from seat, core and exhale / no rein.

What started out as a disorganized and frustrating ride, evolved into a success. The takeaway:

Give Val the benefit of the doubt - keep the aids light
Following hands
Consistent inside leg to outside rein makes consistently round circles
Engage the core and breathe

And apparently my seat is a little better than I think it is. Val popped up and bolted forward today. Only for a few strides, thank goodness, but I was right with him. He didn't react as violently as he could have, and I didn't freak out either. Good for the confidence - that :)

In the Arena #58 - Heading in the Right Direction

Just returned from the barn, where Val and I had such a wonderful afternoon!! My goodness I can't even describe how much I love my horse (insert hearts with cupid arrows, A +'s, happy faces and a maybe a million exclamation points).

We started off in the arena, and got right to our trot work. The contact felt pretty consistent today. As a result, we achieved several confirmed half halts and reaching. (!) Brief and restricted to the long side that has the deeper footing, but confirmed nevertheless. Val seems to use his core and pick his back up more easily when we work in the deep parts of the arena. I'm not happy that the footing varies so much, despite nearly daily grooming, but it is helpful for me to feel when we start working correctly. Sometimes no matter how much I read about something, or how much instruction I get, it doesn't really sink in until I feel it.

So, since our arena work went very well, I decided to follow up with more out of arena riding. We walked around the property for a few minutes. I persuaded Val to go a little way towards the woods trail. He wasn't 100% calm, so I didn't push, and let him turn around. We headed out towards the front of the property, did a few circles and I would have been satisfied there, but when we got back to Val's gate, he turned around, expressing interest in more outside time. I decided not to be obsessed about steering and continued to let Val express himself. We walked back out towards and through the front gate! We even went several calm steps in each direction down the road. When we returned to the arena, I wouldn't say we side-passed, but I closed the gate from horseback :)

 

After all of that progress I thought some grazing reward was in order. Back out and down the road on foot. We stopped to eat a treat off the top of one of the death dealing trash cans, and then open the top and poke our noses in. Some in hand trotting to keep our soles in shape - with Val keeping my pace exactly and fully paying attention, + lots of green green grass.

As I cleaned and put away the tack, Val shared some gentle grooming. Why is it that horses always find that little bit of skin between your shirt and pants so interesting? My old ride Cowboy used to groom me there too. Val seemed like he enjoyed our afternoon as much as I did. I had to drag myself away :)

In the Arena #44- First ride of the year = best ride of the year ;)

My knee has responded very well to (about a million) ibuprofren and getting iced frequently over the last few days, so I headed up to the barn as soon as I could break away from work for the year's first ride. I woke Val from his trance for a nice grooming, tacked up, and off we went.

Today I thought a lot about Erik Herbermann's analogy of keeping your horse, of keeping the energy, "between the riverbanks". You create the "riverbanks" with your aids. You don't want the energy to leak out laterally, so you channel / focus the energy between them. (It just occurred to me while typing this that if the energy isn't leaking out there should be more forwardness!) That was a great place to start, as Val was more of a noodleneck than usual. And I always benefit from trying to coordinate my legs and arms.

We worked on straightness - in Val's neck and our movement within the arena - utilizing the cones and staying on the quarter line. There were some nice round 10 meter circles in both directions. Our trot work was fun and enthusiastic. We were round, and Val was reaching for contact. His trot felt big... posting took less effort and when I sat the first few strides of each transition it felt like I could keep on sitting. Val was carrying himself. Best of all, he seemed like he was enjoying the work. 

I have two theories about why: One is that the deep footing I've been fretting about (and avoiding trotting in) doesn't bother Val at all - in fact it encourages him to engage his core and use his back. I think it feels good to him!

The other is that discovering and treating Val for this "needles in the hay issue" over the past few weeks has strengthened our relationship... the trust he has in me. No kidding, he voluntarily comes over to the spot where I take care of his mouth every evening, patiently waits and stands ground tied. He keeps his head low and within reach while I'm working on him and seems to get great relief from the process. Tonight I finished the treatment by repeatedly rinsing his gums with a diluted Listerine (vet recommended) solution after the saline rinse. He didn't bat an eyelash. I was impressed, as Listerine (the brown kind) has a pretty harsh flavor. I can barely keep it in my mouth :)

So even though I'm distressed that Val has been so uncomfortable, something good seems to have come from the situation. I confirmed the dentist's recommendations with our vet today, and feel confident that Val is on the mend. I tried to get in touch with the man who grew the hay to let him know about the foxtail issue, but low and behold, his phone number has been disconnected... I sure am tired of throwing hay out money down the drain!

In the Arena #40 - What a difference a day makes...

A joyful morning with my horse - warm and sunny! Although many holiday related chores beckoned and thunderstorms threatened, we persevered. It seems like this time of year, if you have the opportunity to ride, you had better take it.

Val was in an extra playful mood as I cleaned up and fed. Every time I turned around his nose was right there, and eventually he grabbed my headphone cord and pulled my little radio out of my pocket. Who needs NPR when you have a horse?!

I think Val remembered our discussion about authority from yesterday. We breezed right through our warm-up. I played with how much energy we could develop at the walk before we transitioned into the trot.  Sometimes Val needs to get over the hump - energetically speaking - once or twice, and then we're good to go. I was reminded of something my trainer says... that you should always complement your horse's energy level. On a scale of one to ten, if your horse's energy is a two, you need to be an eight. If your horse is a nine, you must be a one. We're generally in the former category :)

Val enjoyed working today... lots of blowing and snorting, especially during our trot work. He reached and stretched for contact. Since we're limited for the time being, to trotting on the long side that still has good footing... (Dear Santa - Some truckloads of sand would really come in handy about now!!)  I focused on trot / halt, halt / trot transitions, mainly from my seat. We finished up with a bit of cone work and some lovely correct turns on the forehand. Still struggling with keeping the neck straight and consistent turning aids, but it seems that bareback work may be helping with my uneven hip situation. Ideally we will be able to get a ride in tomorrow as well, to hopefully cement this progress we've been making as another cold spell with big winds is on the way.

It occurred to me that the winter weather didn't seem so bothersome last year. (I should check my archives and see how much complaining I did) Then it also occurred to me that I was probably (secretly) glad to have an excuse to avoid riding. It was about a year ago when we had our disastrous train wreck trail ride. Hard as it is to believe, I was afraid of my horse for a while... questioning the wisdom of getting a horse at all. What the heck was I thinking!!

In the arena #37 - A girl can dream can't she?!

I realized that I have been mentioning / complaining about / obsessing over my arena situation non-stop lately, so I thought I'd post about what Val and I are dealing with, and how I'm going to make it better.

Val is living in our current workspace - our "arena". A modest electric fenced paddock with an irregular shape and increasing amounts of ever deepening sand. He has lived there for over a year. His day to day movements have churned the sand to a depth of maybe eight inches in some places - especially in his wallow holes. He generally has three of these going at any given time.

Now I know I shouldn't complain about having to deal with sand because the pros

• The ground really never freezes hard. It's a yielding surface for Val's shelly feet even in the dead of winter.
•  Digging holes and scooping poop is sinfully easy.

• And no mud. Yep - I said no mud. Probably the best aspect of sand. My grey horse who loves to sleep totally laid out stays exceptionally clean.

mostly outweigh the cons...

• Feeding over mats (heavy) from hay bags (not eating with head down to clear passages).

• Sand clear is expensive.

• Here's the kicker - when it doesn't rain enough no amount of dragging will restore a firm, safe footing. 

Until we have sufficient space with consistent safe footing, or it rains more regularly, we'll be sticking to walking with limited trotting down the long sides. No sharp turning or cantering. We'll have to save all that for when we're at my trainer's farm.

A while back I created a small temporary "arena" for my boarder to work in - hunter / jumper style. She can set up a jump or two in there, but it's not level and she tends to rut it up endlessly circling. I mostly use it to desensitize Val to the extra scary back of the property, where my "real arena" will reside.

I have room for a 160 x 80 dressage arena. This project will require five tandems of sand (give or take) to make the whole back of the property level and create the actual arena with proper drainage + a number to be determined of crush and run gravel loads, many hours of grading and rolling, and some sort of fencing. I hope to accomplish the project over the winter / asap. Check back for updates :)

sigh...

These boots were made for walking...

Since we had the bruised sole incident a couple of weeks ago, I've been researching hoof boots. The vet suggested them for when we are at my trainers, (arena footing) or riding on hard ground /gravel. I've also been applying venice turpentine to toughen Val's feet up.

 

I know that I don't want to use Davis Barrier boots as they rubbed terribly and were super hard to get on when we used them for a pulled shoe last year. Easy boots look too complicated with hardware and parts that could fall off. Old Macs look sturdy and comfortable, but are the pretty expensive...

So, I think we're going to try Cavallo's Simple Hoof boot. They look super comfortable, easy to fit and put on... you can get pads to insert for extra comfort. They seem to be designed to promote barefoot horses, and the price is reasonable. If anyone has any experience with hoof boots, please share :)

 

In the Arena #21 - Good to go

Looks like we're on for our trip to my trainer's this weekend - yea! When I went down to the barn this evening the mystery swelling was barely there and I couldn't feel heat anymore. I had my friend Capt. Sue come by and watch me trot Val on flat ground. She couldn't see that he was off at all, and when we switched I didn't see anything either. I'm guessing a bug bite was the cause... what a relief.

After one last cold hosing and a thorough grooming, we did some very nice work on the ground in the temporary arena. I noticed that even off my horse, when I'm leading him or working with him on the ground, keeping my gaze and focus on where I want to go is much better that focusing on my horse or looking down at the ground. I'm aware that I tend do this in the saddle and it's not good, but now have a larger connection with that concept.

In the past, it has been a challenge for Val to remain calm when we hang out in the back of the property. That's where deer, cats and turtles show up out of the blue... Today he was so mellow, paying attention to what I wanted him to do... including ignoring the grazing opportunities under his nose and not spooking or being distracted. Hoping we can start riding in the temporary arena soon - the sand in our paddock is too soft and deep these days - very laborious footing. I love my horse - what.a.good.boy!!

At the barn #18 - And a good time was had by all

Despite the closing on my farmette being delayed until next Tuesday, I'm moving ahead with improvements, namely a new full sized arena. I envision 100 x 250-ish, comparable to what I work in at my trainer's place. I have cleared and mowed the area in preparation for the tons (literally) of sand that will be needed to bring it up to grade. It was a pond at some point in the past, and has been a marsh more recently, but is thankfully very dry at the moment. This will have to be done bit by bit as finances allow.

In the meantime I'm researching arena footing and have set up a temporary area to work in... especially for Cowboy and Lorraine to do some jumping. It will be a good project for Val and I to transition to working outside of our paddock as well. We also used up a stack of leftover lumber for the boundaries. Gotta love free materials and recycling :)

                                     

Val and I had a nice cool morning ride yesterday. We worked on transitions, not avoiding the suddenly scary corner (that was fine on Wednesday?!) and did our share of turns on the forehand. After evening feeding there was a cookout at the barn celebrating our new situation. There were burgers, dogs, marinated portabellos, some adult beverages (!) and plenty of carrots. FYI -  neither Val nor Cowboy care for potato chips. We hung out until the mosquitos tried to carry us away.