Month: February 2016

Yes, that’s right… I managed to work my helmet camera without messing it up. Granted, it required a lot of constant help, but whatever. Details. I left a special Betty White cameo appearance in the end of the video, because ❤ Betty.

On Saturday I hauled Henry a couple hours east toward Houston (pretty sure my truck and trailer could find their own way to Houston by now) to school at High Point. We’ve never been there before but we entered their derby next month so I wanted to go scope it out.

Bobby is dumb and was out of town, and everyone else had other commitments, so I asked my friend Amy if she wanted to go be my Scooper. You know… the ground person that can scoop you up and take you home in case you die. Luckily Amy also likes to take pictures, so this was really a win-win for me.

We did a brief w/t/c warm-up in the front field and then went further in to the XC field. Henry was a little backed off and looky, which is kind of typical for him in a new place. I jumped a little log and then strung a few smaller fences together in a row until he felt more forward, then formulated a plan.

I entered the derby at Training level because I’d heard the courses were pretty soft, and that’s definitely true. The T course is more like N/T… most of the fences are Novice size, with about 3 fences that are T height and then a couple of combinations that are N height but T technical. It’s kind of the perfect in-between levels course.

I decided to just follow the T course around and string together groups of fences as we went. He hopped over the little brushy fence at 1 just fine

and then the angled 3 strides from the tires at 2 to the little table at 3.

The skinny white T height ramp at 4, he wasn’t so sure about. He kept wanting to bulge way out to the right, so I had to get after him a bit but once he jumped it he was fine with it. That was also the point where I felt XC Henry mode engage and his superman cape appeared. Which makes sense, because it’s usually jump 4-5 on course where he’s like “oh my god I’m having the best time and I’m so amazing look at Henny go!”.

I trotted him over the little faux ditch at 5ab the first time, since he can be a little ditchy. Monsters live in ditches. Monsters that eat horse feet if they stay too close to the ground on the way over.

Once he was being less dramatic about the ditch we cantered the ditch bending line combo, which he didn’t seem to care much about, then we looped around to another line of fences and cantered the novice chevrons, then circled back around and jumped the green Training ramp.

No problem with those either, so I kept cantering and jumped the up bank-down bank combo. He’s never done that before but it was no problem.

Except for the one time he stumbled on landing and we almost died. Great save on Henry’s part, I have no idea how he untangled himself from this pretzel.

After the banks, the Training course rolled back around to a T size rolltopy thing. I thought he might be a little bit backed off here considering how he felt about the white ramp, but this one was no problem.

After that some other groups of people wandered into the area so we walked around and waited for them to move on, then tried the water. Training had a small bank down into the water with a right turn out over a little bench. He’s only jumped a down bank into water once before so I thought he might hesitate here too, but with XC Henny mode engaged it was game on.

We did the water a couple times and then strung together the last half of the course.

If anything he was getting a little too bold by that point, so after we jumped the last T fence I had him canter that one again, a little more politely, and then circled back to the last fence on the Prelim course, a little skinny log.

Then it was many pats, a short walk to cool him out, and we were done.

Overall it was a good day. The facility is definitely very low key and the course is a good confidence builder for Henry and I at this point. I think the Training derby will be fun!

 

 

 

Some of you may remember the review of The Best Brush Ever (a Leistner Prinz) that I got a while back from Teddy’s Tack Trunk. That thing has completely converted me into a fancy brush lover, and now I have two more Leistner brushes added to my collection.

This time I got two goat hair brushes – the Luxurious large brush and the Luxurious face brush. Because, keep in mind, Henry is a delicate flower and tends to stay pretty clean, so I get more use out of softer brushes. I’ve heard great things about goat hair brushes being fantastic for getting that last layer of dust off and bringing a nice shine to the coat, and these did not disappoint.

Before the Leistner brushes came along, my grooming routine was jelly curry, Beastie brush, cheap soft brush, towel, and it still didn’t always get all the dust off. Now I just do the jelly curry, Prinz, Luxurious, and he looks so much cleaner and shinier even with fewer tools and fewer steps. The goat hair is so incredibly soft that Henry doesn’t mind me brushing his face, something I used to have to do with the towel lest I want to get snarled at.

The large Luxurious brush is just that – a large brush. I have big hands (I wear an 8.5 glove) so it works really well for me on the body. I can cover a large area in just a few swipes and leave a nice dust-free shine. If you have tiny hands you might have a harder time holding the large brush, but keep in mind you can adjust the handles on these brushes if need be to give you more stability.

The face brush is considerably smaller, obviously, since it’s intended to get into all the little nooks and crannies. It nestles nicely into your palm for good stability and control on the delicate areas of the face.

Just like the Prinz brush, both of the Luxurious brushes are very well made. You can tell that the wooden backs, leather handles, and goat hair bristles are super high quality. Nice things make me happy, especially when they’re practical and do such a great job.

Want to try out some Liestner brushes for yourself? Teddy’s Tack Trunk has generously offered a $25 gift certificate to go along with this post! There are 3 ways to enter (and yes, you can stack your odds by doing all 3):

1. Like Teddy’s Tack Trunk on facebook
2. Follow Teddy’s Tack Trunk on Instagram
3. Re-post the giveaway photo above on your Instagram (make sure to tag @teddystacktrunk so they see it!)

 

When I was looking through pictures of Henry on my phone for his birthday post, I realized just how fond I am of this horse. Not only for his attributes as an athlete, but mostly because of his general every day qualities and fantastic character. The things you wouldn’t really put in a sale ad, as it were, but the things that make you happy to be around them on a day to day basis.

What are the “little things” about your horse that you’re so fond of?

The most obvious one for Henry is his pro-level Derp Face. He plays with his tongue almost constantly while he’s in the crossties, so he looks extraordinarily derpy most of the time.  
Until he thinks you have a cookie, that is. He learned the head tilt thing from Halo.

It’s also pretty cute how he meets me in the pasture 99% of the time when he sees me coming (even though I know it’s mostly because he wants cookies).

Henry is a great traveler. He loads well, he rides well, he eats and drinks great, and he’s well-behaved in new places. This is a fantastic quality when you’re on the road a lot.

He’s not spooky. Well ok, let me amend that statement. He’s not spooky about things that horses are typically spooky about. Traffic, loose horses, tractors, etc – all good. But when he feels like being cheeky, all bets are off, and the more mundane the object is (grass, bushes, and jumps outside of the arena are his favorites) the scarier it is. Logic, he gots it. But most of the time I can count on him to not be an idiot in situations where it really matters.

And last but certainly not least – Henry and I both have similar feelings about Bobby.

I can’t resist a Deliverance quote. Sorry not sorry.

On Monday Henry had his annual dental appointment. Or as I like to call it – the good ol’ teeth’n’sheath. He will not, under any non-heavily-drugged circumstances, let me anywhere near his sheath, so I always have the vet do it when they do his teeth. I don’t want to die, thanks.

Henry’s jaw doesn’t totally line up right, so every time I’ve gotten his teeth done he’s always had a hook on one side. The first time it was a HUGE hook. The second time it was a moderate hook. This time it was a small hook. I think having good regular dental maintenance has made a big difference.

When the dentist strapped on her headlamp and took a look she said “He’s got a pretty mouth!”. Granted, maybe she just says that to all the boys.

After his teeth were done she swung open a couple of the slats on the side of the stock (which is the coolest mobile stock ever, btw) and went to town on his sheath. Once that business started Henry just kept glaring at me.

But overall it was done pretty quickly. No bean, a nice squeaky clean sheath, pretty teeth, and hopefully he’s good to go for another year. I’m pretty sure he flipped me the bird when I turned him back out though. Horses just don’t appreciate the ways in which we spend stupid amounts of money on them.

 

There have been several bloggers lately writing about taking a minute to appreciate the small victories, or celebrate the good work they’ve done with their horses in general. I thought Lindsey’s post was a really good read, and it instigated a lot of self reflection on my part. This is kind of a tricky topic to talk about, so bear with me here. I haven’t really worked all the way through my own feelings about it yet, thus this is mostly just rambling about all the things that went through my head. Brace yourselves.

While I don’t think I’m a totally glass-half-empty person, I do think that I’m my own worst critic. I’m not good at genuinely believing that I’ve done a great job. But it also seems to me that, while no one wants to be (or listen to) the person who is constantly saying “go me”, I can see some benefit in being able to, every once in a while, celebrate our small victories.

Honestly, I’m a bit jealous of people who are capable of that genuine “go me” mentality and have the ability to pat themselves on the back. It seems like it would make things a little bit lighter and more rewarding. But it also seems like it’s just not in me at all. I can’t think of a single time where I got off my horse and felt like I’d done a really outstanding job. An adequate job, yes. Even a good job (and good is a really hard word to get out of me) on rare occasions, but I’m always acutely aware of the things I could have and should have done better. I think my most often-used positive self-descriptive word is probably “decent”. The idea of telling people that I thought I’ve done really well is even borderline mortifying to me. In my world, that’s just not something you say. At least not in situations where it’s intended to be serious, instead of laced heavily with sarcasm and self-ridicule.

I’ve heard, in other aspects of life, that it’s easy to be satisfied with what you’re doing until you know just what something truly outstanding looks like. Once you get a glimpse of outstanding, your bar is forever raised. I’ve been around a lot of good horses and a lot of good riders, and while it’s not really fair to compare myself to them, I can’t help but to keep them as my bar. Which also means that basically my bar is perpetually out of reach. Usually if I’m celebrating a job well done, it’s because my horse was amazing and he deserves the praise. What I remember about my own performance is all the things I could have done better. When I sit here and reflect on how far we’ve come, while I do think we’ve come a long way, my very next thought is “I wonder where he’d be by now if I’d done x y z better, or if he had a better rider”. And in a lot of ways, that’s what motivates me every day to try to be better.

I’ll be honest, it sounds weird to me when someone says “I rode really well” or “I kicked ass”. Maybe someday I’ll be good enough to where I’ll feel like I can legitimately say that (probably not, because unless I’m suddenly Buck Davidson type status I could never see those words coming from my mouth) but right now it’s completely unfathomable. I wish I could walk away from something feeling impressed enough with myself to say that, but I’m too busy running through my mind every moment where my performance was inadequate. Sometimes that gets a little tiring, and it’s easy for me to feel defeated, but it seems to be my nature.

I’ll also be honest and say that I’ve found that I’m a little judgmental of someone who heaps self-praise upon themselves. I just can’t help but see it through my “it could have been better” eyes. And my mindset really makes zero sense, because I could even be thinking “Man, she did a GREAT job there” but as soon as that person starts praising themselves, I’m like “Well, hold on a minute now, Kanye…”.

I can’t even tell you why I have this mentality. I’m a pretty confident person. I don’t think I totally suck at riding. I don’t think I’m a hugely negative person in general. I would like to say that it’s just a side effect of always striving to do better and to be better, but I really don’t think that’s true. Maybe it’s a humility thing? Not a clue there either. I didn’t really even realize I felt this way until I starting seeing it and realized that my first knee jerk reaction to it was that it made me uncomfortable. Ah, the things we learn about ourselves…

Where do you guys stand on this? Do you think self-praise is a good thing or a bad thing? To what extent and how often? Do you have a pretty easy time congratulating yourself on a job well done, or are you more hyper-critical? And more importantly, why do you think you have that outlook? Rider psychology, you are a tricky thing.