Author: Amanda C

The weekend started out with so much promise. I got an awesome package of new Mango Bay in the mail, had a nice gallop out in the field, and had a lovely happy hour at the barn on Friday night with food and drink and great company.

By Saturday morning it was still going well. Trainer has been working like crazy to get the property ready for the horse show next weekend so the arenas were perfectly dragged and watered and fresh jumps had been newly set. We always lesson on Sunday so I hacked in the ring then went and rode for a few minutes in the field before calling it a day and heading home for a day with the SO.

Then it rained 1.5″ overnight. The perfectly watered rings became perfectly swampy and all riding plans came skidding to a halt. Womp womp. So instead I headed to the store for some hair dye and we had a spa day! Henry’s previously sunbleached tail is now re-vamped and ready to go for the fall show season.

 

Since my weekend was so boring, here’s a bonus. Chasing the Dream gave us 10 more questions to follow up from Viva Carlos’ from last week!

1. If your horse was a person, who would they be? (you can generalize personality if you can’t think of someone).
Maybe Johnny Depp? He can be really broody or really funny, but he’s always eccentric. Plus versatile and intelligent.

2. What is one (or two…or five) piece(s) of equipment you CANNOT live without.
my CWD, for sure.

3. When did you start riding/ what discipline?  
Started weekly lessons at 10, at an eventing/Pony Club barn.

4. Do you have a barn dog? If so, what breed?
two dogs – my JRT mix and SO’s GSD mix, but they don’t get to go to the barn very often. No horse sense. The JRT doesn’t stay out from underneath them and the GSD just tries to play with them.

5. Do you like doing stalls or nah?
I’ve worked at many barns in my life and mucked a hell of a lot of stalls. I don’t mind it but I’m appreciative of not having to do it on a regular basis.

6. What treat(s) does your horse go nuts over?
Basically anything except apples or hard/strongly flavored peppermints. He loves anything oat and molasses based the most.

7. If you’ve switched disciplines, why? If not, also why.
Several times. Sometimes you just need a change of pace.

8. What is your least favorite discipline and why (yeah, I ain’t afraid to be scandalous)?
Barrel racing, TWH gaited stuff and hunters (sorrynotsorry).

9. Who is currently your favorite rider? 
Joe Fargis has always been my favorite.

10. What is your BIGGEST pet peeve regarding horses?
In horse people: Willful ignorance. Not putting the horse’s welfare first. Recklessness.
In horses: Bad manners and bad work ethic.
 

If you’re a loser like me and sitting at home on a Saturday night at 6pm trying desperately to just not fall asleep this early, have a go at this fun toy at Horse Pilot. Because designing custom coats is really fun, especially when they have options like elbow patches and colored buttons.

Horse Pilot custom coat configurator

See you in a few hours.

First – a few clips from an impromptu hop through the gymnastic on Wednesday night. The third time through counts as my Fail Friday when he tripped over the tiny crossrail and we almost ate it.

Gymnastics 9/3 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

As for the other topic of the day: I’m super disappointed with Equine Couture. I bought their quilted suede belt this summer and really liked it at first. Unfortunately after only 4-5 wears (and nothing crazy, just regular to-the-barn-for-a-couple-hours wear) the fabric on the keeper started to unravel pretty badly at the edges. Now pretty much every time you touch it, more fabric unravels and comes off. After so little wear it just shouldn’t look like this.

I sent EC a message with pictures via Facebook a few weeks ago, which was read within an hour of me sending it. I even included my email address if they’d rather contact me there or forward it to an appropriate party. I sent the same message via their “Contact Us” form on the JPC (their parent company) page. Unfortunately that’s as far as it went. They never contacted me back at all. I will take this as a lesson about EC/JPC and choose to not buy anymore of their products.

Boo, EC. Boo.

Fall as in the season… not fall as in from atop the horse. Hopefully.

I’ve been dickering over the fall horse show schedule for a while. It briefly seemed like the VS outbreak might derail everyone’s plans, but knock on wood, it seems to have slowed down a lot in the last month. So, with three main criteria in mind – cost, fun, confidence – I finally made a plan. It’s a sorta weird and diverse plan, but I think it’ll work for us.

Sept 13 Jumper show. This show is held at my barn so it’s a given for me. Unfortunately our local show circuit doesn’t have a lot to choose from as far as jumper divisions go… there’s a 2’6″-2’9″ division and a 3′-3’3″ division. We’re schooling 3’3″ in lessons but I don’t think we’re ready to show that height yet, so 2’6″-2’9″ it is. A little on the smaller side of what I’d prefer, but on the other hand Henry IS still a pretty green horse, so the miles are helpful no matter how we get them. And knowing me I’ll probably do something really stupid anyway so the smaller height will be appreciated.

Sept 20 benefit show. I’m going to be out of town for the Mon-Thurs leading up to this so maybe not an ideal prep, but I can’t pass up a show that benefits an OTTB rescue. Henry really should be good to go if I can find someone to hack him a time or two while I’m gone… he doesn’t really get wild or bad with time off. This show is offering a little bit of everything but nothing over 2’6″, so I think I’m going to enter the hunter derby and the 2’6″ jumpers. Again on the small side, BUT I think I’m going to use this show as the first time Henry doesn’t get to school in the ring and see the jumps before he has to go in for the class. All spring we went to multi-day shows where we were able to get in the ring and school the day before. Might as well test him “cold” at a show where the classes are cheap and it’s all for fun anyway, that way if it’s a disaster I’m not that upset.

Here’s where things get a little less set in stone, but this is what I’m hoping to have happen:

Oct 18 Eventing Derby. I really want the late fall and winter to be fun and low-pressure for both of us, so I’m choosing to stray off my normal path and mix it up a bit. I’ve heard good things about this venue as far as it being pretty “first timer/greenie” friendly, therefore this seems like a good intro to eventing for Henry. Plus I really want to take advantage of having a cool eventing trainer and eventing peeps at my barn, so after I’m done with my two jumper shows I’ll start wandering into some of their lessons too. I’ve evented (ok, a decade ago) but I’ve never done an eventing derby, so this will be new to me too. Aside from that pesky dressage part (kill me now) it looks pretty fun. We’ll probably just keep it easy and enter BN since the whole thing is new to him and it’s been such a long time for me.

Dec 7 Event. Yup, the full shebang. I really don’t care if we’re competitive at all, I just want to finish. But I’m hoping that this will help make him more confident, more bold, and prevent him from getting bored with the sometimes monotonous day-in-day-out jumper lifestyle, plus help my riding. We’ll most likely stick to BN again because a) a confident horse is the main goal b) solid things start to freak me out over a certain height, and that height is roughly Novice. I evented through Training before but that was back when I was young enough to not care so much about the fences not falling down when I messed up. Self-preservation, I has it.

In case you’re keeping track: yes that’s hunters, jumpers and eventing all in one season. Because why the heck not? Hope you’re happy, eventers… dark side, here I come (to dip my toe very delicately into your business, then go running back to jumperland in the spring where dressage tests are not required).

Of course now that I’ve put it in writing I’ve probably cursed myself for sure.

It’s twofer Wednesday!

First, 10 Questions from L. of Viva Carlos:

1. Is your horse spooky or bombproof? There’s definitely a spook in there, but for the most part he’s got a good brain. Maybe a 4 on a 10 scale.
2. Does your horse have a long or short stride? Average.
3. Describe your current barn in 3 words? Educational, fun, diverse

4. If you could switch barns, would you? Nope. See above photo.
5. Favorite brand of breeches? Animo and Aztec Diamond
6. How many blue ribbons do you have? No freakin clue. I started showing 20 years ago and have either given or thrown away the vast majority of my ribbons… I just don’t keep track of them. “Lots” is the best I can do.
7. How many saddle pads do you own? A couple half pads and 6 or 7 baby pads, plus a shaped hunter show pad.
8. Is your horse your phone background/lock screen? Yes, lock screen
9. Do you go trail riding often? No real trails in the riding vicinity but we take walks around the property or hack out in the fields more often than not.
10. Favorite horsey movie? Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, no doubt. It’s about a jumping horse so basically there’s no contest here for me. Seabiscuit and War Horse would tie for second.

And B at Auf der Autobahn is running a blog hop about what’s in your tack trunk! She asked us to “share your equipment essentials, from protective boots to bridles, saddles and saddle pads, breastplates to bits!”. Can’t resist that. Unfortunately I don’t just have a tack trunk. I have a tack locker, a tack trunk, the trunk of my car, the backseat of my car, the guest bedroom, and a Rubbermaid bin. So… ahem… we’ll just pick the top 3 spots.

My favorite (and least embarrassing) is my big locker/closet at the barn. My saddle (CWD) is obviously the biggest item in there with my Ogilvy and girth/breastplate on top, but I’ve also got my XC vest, the hackamore bridle, the Mark Todd bridle, my bathing bucket, my grooming bucket, Ovation and GPA helmets, a couple Rubbermaid drawers and my clipper bag (has my Lister body clippers and Andis “everyday” clippers plus all my extra blades and accessories). And umm… yeah that’s two 3lb buckets of treats. Spoiled pony. The left Rubbermaid drawer has polos and fly bonnets, the right one has boots (two sets of open front and hind ankle and one full set of galloping boots) and tack cleaning stuff. I can’t wait for my PS of Sweden bridle to come and join the mix. I do have plans to move one of my home Rubbermaid tubs to the bottom but just haven’t done it yet.

My show trunk, which lives in the garage with SO’s ’56 Mercury. There’s mostly just random stuff in here… DMSO, sticky spray, liniment, my quarter mark stencil, whip, the Ariat Heritage gloves that I HATE, random stuff you need at shows, etc.

And Henry’s wardrobe. Or the trunk of my car. Whichever. There’s a turnout sheet (Amigo), turnout blanket (Schneiders), two coolers (old school wool Newmarket and irish knit), a quarter sheet (wool of course), Sadie’s Nibblenet and some human clothes/rain gear in there too. I have nowhere in my house to put this stuff soooo it’s just lived here since spring.