Author: Amanda C

I was reading a post online this past weekend about how often people event their horses and how many times a year. Some of the answers varied widely, but most people came to a general consensus of less often for upper level horses, more often for lower level horses. Makes sense.

Bobby and I have spent a fair amount of time on the subject ourselves, particularly since his horse Halo is 17 this year and requires some special meds when he travels to prevent him from getting sick. Understandably, Bobby tends to be conservative with his schedule because of that. When we were sitting there looking at the omnibus, trying to plan for fall (because he always wants to show with me – stalker), he was a particularly annoyed that the 3 shows he really wanted to hit were all 3 weekends in a row. He’s not willing to do that. Neither am I, to be honest, considering none of them are a super short haul. Henry could probably do it and be just fine (I baby him, I know, but to me he’s irreplaceable), but I just don’t feel comfortable with it. Then again it’s not unusual to see the same people hitting every single recognized show in our area, week after week, so a schedule like that seems to work fine for plenty of folks.

Both of our horses are at Training level, so while it’s not a simple trot around the park so to speak, the fences aren’t super big nor are the speeds particularly fast. Last year when we went to Coconino the horses obviously showed back to back weekends, which we actually thought was super helpful and educational. You could come back the second weekend and try to smooth out the rough edges. Granted, two weeks in a row was definitely my limit, especially when flanked by a long drive. And no way I would have wanted to do that more than once or twice a year.

In h/j land, it’s not unusual for horses to show for many weeks in a row, and some of them 4 or 5 days a week. While a lot of people are conservative with how many classes they enter (most jumper folks I know will only do 2 a day max), there also always seem to be those horses that have racked up 15-20 classes by the end of the show. There’s one barn around here in particular that will enter just about everything. Gotta be honest, that really makes me cringe. I absolutely think there’s a lot of educational benefit to getting young horses in the ring more frequently, but I also think there’s a point at which training becomes drilling.

It also makes you wonder how long these horses will last if they’re on the road showing for weeks and weeks on end, almost non-stop. What really started out as more of an h/j problem has started to creep over to eventing too. Winter used to be the off season and “let down” time for a lot of horses, but now that so many people go to Aiken and Ocala for winter, some of them don’t really get much of off season anymore. Maybe a couple weeks or a month in a paddock, which isn’t much for an upper level horse on a busy show schedule.

So, what say you? How often are you comfortable showing, and (for hj people) how many classes a day do you cap yourself at?

Nope, no Sadie baby yet. She’d been making progress at the end of last week, and the last milk test on Saturday looked like things were finally going the right direction – pH was dropping, calcium was rising.

Then she suddenly became difficult to milk despite the fact that she’s never had a “flow” problem, and then Lissa’s baby was born and she officially lost her shit and turned into a crazed wannabe baby thief. If she’s trying to scare the shit out of me, she’s doing a bang up job. No idea where we’re even at right now, because honestly she seems to have gone… backwards. She’s going to the vet today just to check and make sure nothing is amiss.

But there IS an adorable new baby on the ground at Willow Tree Warmbloods! Lissa delivered a gorgeous colt yesterday morning – chestnut with 4 whites and a cool stripe. He got a teeny bit stuck and needed some assistance, but he and Lissa both seem none the worse for wear. He was up and at the milk bar relatively quickly and she’s being a great mom.

Sadie was being the REALLY CREEPY aunt – constantly staring and nickering at him. She actually had to be removed because she could not settle herself down. If she’d just Get To It already she could have her own, but nooooooo…

 

I realize that I am long overdue for a post about Henry – the poor, neglected star of this blog. We’ve been doing a lot of dressage at home since our January show (probably 75% dressage rides) in an effort to just… be better. I think once I realized we could actually survive Training level, I became more determined to suck less at it.

Our month of dressage bootcamp between the Jan and Feb shows paid off with a score that was 8 points better, which, as it turns out, is a fabulous motivator to keep working. Last week in particular we hit a big milestone when real sitting trot suddenly became possible. All of you dressage folks out there know the saying “the horse has to give you a place to sit” – meaning that in order to have a good sitting trot, the horse’s back has to be relaxed and lifting, not stiff and braced. A lot of horses have that right off the bat, or it comes quite easily to them. Henry is not one of them… he basically lives with every ounce of his tension stored in his back. I can honestly say that until last week, he had never really given me a place to sit, thus our sitting trot work has been minimal.

But Monday I sat a little bit in the haunches-in on a circle, and instead of a tense tight back, I found a soft relaxed one. So I stayed sitting, moved off straight again and then into some shoulder in and leg yield with still no resistance or tightening of the back. I pretty much just halted, jumped off, and shoved Henry full of carrots.

But… was it a fluke?

Tuesday was conditioning day (ERMAGERD GALLOP) but Wednesday it was back to dressage tack for the moment a truth. I warmed up as usual, then started some lateral work, then spiraling in and out, then changing the stride length in trot, then eventually starting spritzing in some sitting work. And honestly? I think it was the best dressage ride he’s ever given me.

Not only did he accept my seat, all of his lateral work improved when I sat and was able to use my seat bones more effectively. I still kept the sitting portions short and always rewarded with stretchy trot afterward, but… I’m pretty thrilled with him at the moment. Dressage has always been such a struggle bus, especially when it comes to tension.

The positive trend has continued. I dunno what, exactly, is responsible for the magical progress lately, but I’m not going to question it. Now we need to get back to dressage lessons (of which we’ve had none since, uh, August). Maybe we’ll finally be able to take some of the derp out of our derpsage???

I said some, not all. I’m not delusional. Let’s remember what horse I own.

Time to rename this network. Sadie’s not just a fat mare anymore, she’s an ANGRY fat mare. And she isn’t shy about hiding the fact that she’s uncomfortable. She’s taking it out on basically any non-living thing that she can get her teeth or feet on. Stall wall, fence, water bucket… whatever’s in her way is fair game. Y’all got a glimpse of it in my post the other day but that was really just the beginning of her rage.

This is exactly what she did before she had her last foal, so this behavior is apparently standard for pre-baby Sadie. But damn, girl is pissed. Not at people, of course, or her BFF Lissa, but inanimate objects beware.

She was really raging mad on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and stayed raging mad during the day on Wednesday, so I thought for sure we were gearing up for go time.

But then she was only kinda sorta mad on Wednesday night, pretty normal yesterday, and just sorta mad again last night. Still no change in the milk test either. Come on mare, wtf? Although her milk definitely looks like real milk now, and her udder is quite full, and her vulva is giant (sorry, TMMI – too much mare information). Physically, she’s ready.

I give up on trying to guess what the anger means, too. It just means she’s an angry mare, apparently, because I still ain’t got no baby.

Going back through the overnight clips, I think this particular series is my favorite, where she tried to murder her feed pan.

Meanwhile Lissa is equally miserable but she tends to just lay there and grunt, or stand there and look pathetic and yet still totally beautiful. I’m starting to think they’re dragging this out on purpose because they’re drama queens.

Really this is probably all my fault, because I packed my go-bag on Tuesday and made all kinds of preparations to be gone for several days. Shouldn’t have done that. Horses can always sense when people are prepared, and they hate that crap.

 

Wow it’s been a remarkably long time since I did one of these posts. Probably because I finally have my riding wardrobe and tack/equipment in a really good place finally. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from bookmarking other things that I want-need-gotta have.

Aegean Blue Aqua X breeches

I’m waiting for these to hit Riding Warehouse (a couple more weeks!) and then they’ll be joining my closet. I’ve continued to be really impressed with my Aqua X breeches and want more colors. This teal color is a little bit brighter than I would normally wear, but it works with a lot of my shirts, so I say lets do it. You can only have so many pairs of navy breeches (uh… 4, to be exact).

Romfh Gabriella breeches

I’d also really like to try the new Romfh Gabriella breeches, because I love a silicone knee patch, but I don’t like any of their current colors. Maybe white to join my show breeches collection? My favorite whites are to the point where they come out of the wash looking more cream than white these days…

Brown Ego7 Orion boots

I’ve been trying to buy these damn chocolate brown Ego7’s since the day they announced their release on facebook, but so far I haven’t had any luck finding them or getting anyone to tell me when they might be available. As soon as I find them, they’re mine. My brown Mondoni’s are finally giving up the ghost, so I need new schooling boots like NOW.

Celeris navy boots

I came really close to a Treat Yo Self moment the day I saw these custom boots on Instagram. They’re not actually something I’d wear to the barn obviously, but I could live in these the rest of the time, they’re so pretty. I talked myself down off the ledge for now, but no guarantees going forward.

Majyk dressage boots and bell boots

The dressage boots are definitely on my list of needs for the season… Henry is wearing his old Gen 1 XC boots for dressage, and they’re starting to look quite abused. He deserves some fancy new leg wear. I’d also like to try their bells too, since Henry has actually been able to transition off of wearing his rubber bells 24/7 at this new barn. Mud-free living seems to be the key to him keeping his shoes on. I’m a bit lazy about pulling his pull-on boots off and on for riding, so maybe we’ll give the ME’s a try.

 

French Blue show coat

 

This makes zero sense, since literally nothing I own accessories-wise would go with this, but I’m really digging the french blue coats lately. The Winston Devon model above in “mid blue” is ridiculously gorgeous, and I actually like the color of the AA Motionlite (which RW carries now!!!) too. Makes me wish I had a gray horse or a chestnut.

 

Some things will be mine soon… others, well… we’ll see how long I hold out. What’s on your must-have list this spring?