Author: Amanda C

Anyone who slogged through the plethora of Coconino recaps might recall that before XC the first week, I was questioning my decision to have Henry run such a challenging track. Of course, all of the concern was for naught, since he ate it up in typical HennyRunJump fashion, but it touched on something that I take very seriously: making the right decisions for my horse.

I feel a very serious responsibility to this horse (all horses really, but this one especially because he’s just so damn genuine) to not put him into any situation that is unfair to him or that he’s unprepared for. He loves his job so much, I want to protect that quality and nurture it.

Yet it’s pretty unrealistic to think that we, as humans, are always going to make good decisions. Sometimes we just don’t. Sometimes shit happens that is beyond our control. Sometimes we can do everything right and it still doesn’t work. But luckily, most of the time, these horses are forgiving enough to not really hold us very accountable for the occasional error in judgement. Still – I don’t want to make bad decisions so often that a very genuine horse suddenly starts questioning his job and his desire to do it. It just makes sense to stack the odds in your favor as much as possible, and it’s something I think about every single day.

That’s why I elected to have a pro ride him at his first couple Trainings. Could I have done it? Maybe. Probably. Do I feel a lot better knowing that he’s had two very solid, confidence building runs that will hopefully carry him forward when I point him at the same size fences with a little bit less rider confidence and skill? Oh hell yeah.

The funny thing is, I still got some hate for it. Some people thought it was silly, or unnecessary. Maybe they’re right. Honestly, I don’t really care. At the end of the day my obligation is to the horse first, and to myself second. I’m responsible for what happens to him, and that’s paramount. So I’m going to do whatever I think is best for him, regardless of my own pride (hopefully) or someone else’s opinion. And people are certainly welcome to their opinions, whether I agree with them or not.

I don’t think I’m unique in the least, feeling the heavy weight of decision making… this seems like a very natural thing for most horse owners and riders to experience (although probably in varying degrees). Bobby and I talk about it ALL. THE. TIME. constantly evaluating and re-evaluating our plans and ideas. We both tend to be conservative in how we view ourselves, but really honest and optimistic with each other, so I think it helps keep us both moving forward rather than end up paralyzed by the idea of making a bad choice.

I’m not sure that I have ever, as a horse owner, felt more elated than I did when Henny and Trainer crossed the finish at Coconino with a double clear. Knowing in that moment that I’d made the right choice, that he was so happy with his job, and so proud of himself… all of the stress and worry was worth it, tenfold. Of course, it could have gone the other way and I’d be sitting here feeling like a pretty crappy horse owner.

Do y’all feel the weight of “owner responsibility” as much as I do? Why or why not? Do you go 100% with your own gut, or do you bounce options off of other people for their input? How much do other people’s opinions play into the choices you make? And how hard do you want to punch someone that acts like you’re a total moron for putting the horse first? Just kidding, scratch that last one… or don’t.

Break time is officially over – we started back into work this past weekend. Henry’s thoughts on that:

Each ride has featured at least one randomly placed series of pathetic dolphin leaps that Henry likes to think of as really amazing bucks, so fear not, he feels just dandy these days.

But last week the only riding we did was a couple of meandering, aimless, bareback road hacks. One of which I decided to document via photo, so that you guys can fully appreciate the titillating, edge-of-your-seat excitement that takes place while riding a fit thoroughbred bareback down a country road.

First of all, having the right set up is paramount: a sidepull (because who needs brakes) and an Ogilvy pad (save the lady bits).

Then I sometimes get distracted taking a bunch of shadow pics because Henry makes derpy faces and I’m easily amused.

At some point Henry will walk past something, think about it for a while, then decide it’s scary. He’ll stop, look back at me, and ask if I also saw whatever super terrifying thing is now at least 30′ behind us.

So we go back to make sure it’s not zombies (you never know), then Henry suddenly realizes he’s absolutely famished from all the thinking.

And so begins the snacking phase. He’ll continue trying to snack the entire walk back to the barn, which makes it impossible for me to get any pictures. Once the snacking starts, it’s all over. Even retrograde spooking at possible zombies.

Once safely back at the barn, Henry spooks at the cat bowl in the washrack because OMG THAT’S NOT USUALLY THERE WTF IS THAT INSTRUMENT OF DEATH? *snort*

Oh, it was a bowl. Totally knew that. Just kidding. Wasn’t really scared.

OMG IT’S BEHIND ME RIGHT NOW, ISN’T IT???

I’ve been trying to figure out how to work a few small things into different posts, yet failed miserably, so this was my solution. Creativity is not happening on a Monday. Just go with it.

For those who haven’t noticed yet, Riding Warehouse is having a big apparel clearance sale. Normally that’s not super newsworthy but when I paged through it I noticed not only some Ariat stuff that would be totally work appropriate, but also the Kastel Merino sweaters, some sunshirts, the Romfh Sarafina breeches that some other bloggers are currently raving about, boots,  coats, etc. It’s definitely worth a perusal, there’s a lot of stuff on sale. It also looks like discount codes still work on clearance items, so if you have one (ahem, I know someone who does) you can save even more $$$.

The Majyk Equipe Color Elite boot line is officially hitting stores! I know lots of people have been waiting for these to be released since they were first announced at Rolex, so keep your eye on your favorite ME retailer (oh hey look, Riding Warehouse has those too). They almost make me wish I’d chosen some turquoise for my XC colors. Bobby definitely needs the red, right? Peer pressure works really well on him, just FYI.

 

And last but not least, if you’re not following Anchor Equestrian on Instagram and facebook, you should be. Mostly because I’m helping with the social media now, so you know things are guaranteed to get interesting. Plus there are lots of pictures of my totally badass barnmates and trainer doing totally badass things. With the occasional picture of Bobby to balance it out.

If you’re on facebook, you’ve probably seen a little bit about Seaver and their new smart girth and girth sleeve. It was a project featured on Kickstarter (it ended a few days ago so if you didn’t get in on that, you’ll have to wait until full production/availability sometime next year) that quickly surpassed it’s original production goal. It’s really fancy and does all kinds of cool stuff, but short version: it’s a girth that takes metrics about your horse’s performance and sends it to an app so you can analyze it. It should surprise exactly no one that a) I backed their project b) I’m ridiculously excited about this.

Seaver isn’t the first wearable to hit the market – some of you may remember or have contributed to the Equisense/Balios Kickstarter. Their’s is a fairly small plastic sensor that attaches to the girth via a special strap. Similar concept that provides similar data. I wanted to back their Kickstarter but just never committed, since I really wanted heart rate and respiratory rate data too. I figured I’d wait for it to hit the market and see what the reviews were like, then consider it.

Then the Seaver campaign started, and I was drawn to the idea of an all-in-one piece plus the heart rate/respiratory rate data. So of course I caved and backed the Kickstarter while everything was still 50% off. All of the information about Seaver, the products, and the technology is still up on the Kickstarter page, for those who are interested in learning more. At the very least you should watch the first few minutes of the promo video, just because it’s cool:

 

Pretty incredible all the information that this thing can give you.  Like the Balios, not only can you analyze your rides and track fitness, you could also potentially spot soreness or unevenness before it becomes apparent to the eye. The technology is cool, for sure, but the potential benefits of the data are even further-reaching. Here are just a few of the things it can do:

Since Seaver reached not only their original goal but also their stretch goal on Kickstarter (yaaaaay), they’ll now also be including a way to measure your horse’s stress level, too. How, I don’t really know. French magic? We’ll see.

Given how much just a decent heart rate monitor can cost, the prices on the girth sleeve (between $123 and $200, depending on when you backed) and the girth (between $270 and $370) were pretty reasonable in the Kickstarter. It’ll be interesting to see what the final retail will be, but I’m encouraged by those prices, all things considered. Pretty darn fancy gadget for that price. Hopefully it works.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BF1NxZxouy1/?taken-by=seaverhorse

 

Did anyone else contribute to Seaver’s (or Equisense’s) Kickstarter campaign? Surely I’m not the only data loving nerd that is really interested to see how it works and what all it does. I can’t wait to start playing with it, and see how they do sales-wise when they come onto the regular market. I hope it does all the things they say it will… it could potentially be a really useful tool for me and Henry!

We haven’t been doing much since we got back from Arizona, which is totally by design. I feel like we worked really damn hard for many months leading up to it, then Henry spent a lot of time in a trailer, then showing on hard ground, and he deserves a little bit of a mental and physical break. Honestly, I want one too. I’m not ready for another damn trot set yet.

I’ve “ridden” him three times in the 10 days that we’ve been back – two bareback road hacks, and one half road hack/half canter around the arena and jump 3 tiny fences. Which I really only did because I wanted to more thoroughly try out the fancy breeches a friend bought me as a gift (more on those at some point). Henry spent most of that ride pretending to buck while I tried my hardest not to laugh. Bucking… not Henry’s forte, but I’m glad he’s feeling good.

It’s also just really hot and humid here, and the ground is officially so cracked that riding outside of the ring isn’t safe. And you know how Henry and I both feel about riding in the ring all the time?

During his little mini-break I’ve tried to leave him alone as much as possible. He doesn’t really like being fussed over and pampered, so he’s been enjoying a lot of MeHenny time. Except for that one bath where he just looked tortured and sad from start to finish. Meanwhile I’ve been doing those adulting things that I pretty much suck at doing on a regular basis, like laundry and errands and making food and hanging out with non-horse people. Ok, I still haven’t done those very well either, but better than usual counts right? And we’ve caught up on some Netflix, finishing Stranger Things (anyone else having some trippy dreams after watching that?) and the last season of OITNB (which I probably need some therapy for).

We’ll start getting back to regular rides this weekend, slowly amping back up to a heavier workload. Hopefully this little reprieve is what we both need to feel ready to come out swinging for the fall season, because I have a lot of work to do before our Training debut in October…