Month: June 2014

It’s been a bit of a slow week for me horse-wise. I have a new farrier coming out to do Henry’s feet on Friday but until then they’re looking pretty shabby, so I’ve limited it to just a couple of short flatwork rides. Two good-news points from this though: he’s continuing to improve as far as his forwardness and consistency in the contact, and less barn time has meant more personal time. It’s been nice to hang out with the SO for a change, plus we got to go see X-Men! Staring at this for 130 minutes did not suck.

Back to the horse stuff. There are some big changes on the horizon… we’ll be moving to a new barn in July. Well, a re-new barn since I boarded there briefly in 2001 before I moved to the East Coast to be a working student. It’s tough to leave the current barn because I consider the trainer a friend, and really like all of my fellow barnmates. This was a very hard decision but due to a myriad of different reasons I think it will be a beneficial change for both of us. It’s very bittersweet for me and I’m sad but excited at the same time. It will however likely mean less horse shows, but there are lots of opportunities to have fun in other ways (maybe dipping my toe into The Dark Side?) so hopefully it’ll equal out.

Once we get moved I’ll post more details about the new place, but until then enjoy a couple of pictures pulled from the internet.

And since it’s great timing on Throwback Thursday, we’ll keep with the new barn theme… here’s a picture of me on my first horse Charlie, riding at this barn in 2001.

And me showing there on a catchride in 2010.

I was reading on a popular online forum the other day about boarding barns and barn rules and as I came across a couple of responses I thought “No way, that’s a dealbreaker”. Then I started thinking about all the places I’ve boarded in my life and all their different rules, practices, facilities, etc. There’s so many things that I’ve learned along the way that I must have in a boarding facility, or can’t have in a boarding facility. As I sat there pondering away in lalaland and reading through everyone’s stories about their own barns I came up with a list in my head…

Must Haves:

Turnout. I really really think horses need at least 6 hours of turnout a day. I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum – a barn that turned out maybe 30mins-1hr every other day, and pasture boarded horses that were out 24/7. Pasture board is tough in a Texas summer though, and I tend to need mine body clipped in the winter, therefore it’s not always practical. So to me the perfect compromise is 6-12 hours of turnout. If they have a run attached to their stall so they can come in and out as they please the rest of the time, even better.

Good footing. We all know how important this is. I can live with a place that won’t let you ride when the rings are wet, as long as the footing is good the rest of the time. It should be even, the right depth, not too soft, not too hard, and dragged/watered regularly. Keeping the horses sound is of the utmost importance. I also think its a huge bonus if there’s a nice big field to hack out in so we can escape the confines of the arena regularly.

Good care. The horses obviously must be watered at all times (most places here have auto waterers, but not everyone cleans them), they must have ample hay, they must be fed on a regular schedule, the stalls must be clean and bedded appropriately, etc etc. I can’t stand dirty waterers, meager hay, or filthy stalls. It’s also important to me that someone live on the property – the closer to the horses, the better.  And they need to be paying attention!

A decent trainer. I’ve boarded at lots of places with no trainer, and it’s been fine, but with the current horse I do need someone around that can help me develop him correctly. Preferably a person with a strong jumper background that has an eye for detail and is really nit-picky… that’s my favorite kind.

My can’t haves are basically the opposite of the above. Bad footing, bad care, no turnout and a bad trainer are things I cannot live with.

As far as barn rules go, I wouldn’t get far in a place that required X number of shows otherwise you incur a non-showing fee. Nope, won’t happen. I also won’t be buying all new blankets and equipment in barn colors just so everything can match. Nope again. I don’t think I could deal with boarding at a place that had specific hours/days that you were allowed to come ride. Barns that are totally closed on Mondays or by 8pm? What? Nope. All of those are dealbreaker rules for me.

Otherwise I think I could live with most things. I would consider rules about cleaning up after yourself, wearing a helmet, no sandals, no smoking, maintenance of the property, etc to be positive things. Heck, I grew up riding with a trainer who didn’t allow tank tops, required your hair be up in your helmet correctly, god forbid you have shavings in your horse’s tail or not get every square inch wet when bathing, not wrap a leg 100% evenly or not clean your tack after every ride. They weren’t written rules but lets just say you only made those mistakes once. 😉 But I really appreciate that kind of upbringing now, and try to keep high standards for myself… therefore it doesn’t really matter to me if that level of detail is expected since I do it most of the time anyway.

The one rule I can’t really decide how I feel about is the “no jumping outside of lessons”. I don’t jump all the time, but I do like to hop over a few low fences a couple times a week just as a refresher. And my pocketbook is not of the variety than can afford 3 lessons a week. If you had a made horse it probably wouldn’t matter, but what about a greenie? What could you do to cope with a rule like that? Set up pole exercises one day a week and do a lesson another day a week and say that’s enough? That’s the only one I’m really hung up on.

What about you – what are your must haves/can’t haves? What rules do you love, what rules do you hate? What do you consider a “dealbreaker”? I’m sure there are a lot more I haven’t thought of.

There wasn’t much talk here of the Henrypants last week, mostly because it rained a lot at the beginning of the week so I didn’t ride much. I did have lots of time to sit and stew over the Great Horse Show Catastrophe ad nauseam though. I watched the video about a dozen times and came to one definite conclusion: we need better flatwork. I saw a horse that never truly looked like he was in front of my leg and into my hand the way he should be. I think because he has a major tendency to curl up behind the bit so much, I in turn tend to let him take the easy way out with a hackamore all the time, and don’t necessarily ride him as forward to get him UP into my hand. We’re both cheating.

That all changed on Thursday. Out came the dreaded (in Henry’s never humble opinion) loose ring french link, and we started flatwork boot camp.

OMG I’M CHOKING TO DEATH ON THIS METAL THING, HAAAALP

While Henry isn’t much of a fan, he has been pretty cooperative so far. My legs however are dying. Getting this horse out in front of you is a serious job… he’d rather go through life at one speed with his nose tucked in like a roly poly at any hint of contact.  This weekend we trotted and cantered with impulsion, walked like we were on a mission, lengthened, shoulder-ined, haunches-ined, leg yielded, spiraled in and out on a circle, serpentined, halted, sat the trot, stretchy trotted (eh… kinda), flying changed, simple changed (through the walk like a gangsta), hand-galloped and we even did a couple impromptu dressage tests as a status check. What’s more – a couple times we even went straight. Like legit nose to tail straight. No wiggle, no wandering butt, no bulging shoulder, just right there perfectly between both hands and both legs. Everyone be impressed right now. I’m not saying we did all of those things particularly well, but some of it we did, and for the rest we damn well gave it our best shot. Baby steps.

I’m not quite sure who has done more work at this point – me or him. I’ve been pouring sweat like a water fountain and he’s been pretty whooped after each ride. But I feel like even in just these 3 rides we’ve made some progress. We’re both steadier and we’re both paying more attention to the tiny details. I am determined to get him in front of my leg and he’s going to learn that contact isn’t the end of the world, even if it kills me. I hopped him over a handful of jumps at the end of Saturday’s session and things seemed to feel a little better, so we’ll see where this goes.

Flatwork boot camp is hard, y’all

Also – how the hell is it JUNE already? Summer, here we come. I’m so not ready for 100+ degree temps yet, but we’re getting dangerously close to triple digits. Boo.