I think it’s close enough to the end of the year where we can officially call it. Pretty sure we can all agree that we’re ready for this dumpster fire of a year to be over anyway, right? Let’s usher it on out by taking a look at how Henry and I did with our 2016 goals.

Qualify for a Novice 3-Day – We did it in our first recognized show of the year at Holly Hill!

Compete in a N3D  – It took a lot of budgeting, but we made it to Flagstaff, AZ to run the Novice 3 Day at Coconino. Cross Country day was the most fun I’ve ever had on a horse in my life. 100% worth it.

Place at N3D – This one we did not do, and it’s no one’s fault but my own. A couple of small mistakes (one in dressage and one in stadium) cost me a ribbon here. Henry was super though, so although I was super disappointed in myself, I had to let it go.

Move up to Training – This one isn’t so clear cut. Henry ran two Trainings with my trainer (placing 1st at one and 4th at the other, with double clear XC at both because Henny), and I did a Training derby (we won our first TIP award!) and Combined Test with him. We signed up for a recognized Training in the fall but ended up having to scratch due to a minor injury. Now we’re slated to run our first Training HT together in January. Maybe 3/4 credit on this one?

Make an actual 15m circle – Not that my 15m circles are perfect by any means, but what was a major struggle a year ago is nbd now. Proper bend is amazing.

Go to at least one dressage-only show – Yeaaaaaaah no, sorry DQ’s. Technically I did try this, I sent an entry in to a dressage only show that said they’d let you do USEA tests, but then the organizer called me and said they in fact weren’t offering that anymore. I don’t have room in my brain for more tests, so no.

Keep Henry happy and healthy – Despite my best efforts, he kicked a fence in turnout and had a teeny tiny fracture that relegated him to aquatherapy for six weeks and caused us to miss the whole fall season. Really he’s been quite spoiled this year, between rehab and acupuncture and chiro and massage… I’ve spent a fortune trying to keep him happy and healthy. Go figure that he takes himself out by kicking a damn fence. This one was out of my hands.

Get a 4-legged bun in the oven – Due March 17, 2017!

Get the trailer 100% road-worthy –  After some new tires, new walls, new pads, some roof work, and a paint job, Betty White was my leading lady this year for sure. I can’t even imagine life without a trailer anymore. I’d be screwed.

Success Rate: 64%. Ouch.

 

Be more fit – I actually did this for once! I’m running regularly now and have a half marathon planned for January.

Be better about budgeting  – I mean… I’m not destitute yet, so? For real though, I’ve made progress this year, despite some huge expenses (ahem new saddle). I managed to make the two week trip to Coconino work, Henry got to spend some time at the spa, and I didn’t go into debt over it. I think I’m getting a little better at balancing all of this and figuring out how to make my plans fit into my budget.

Buy a truck – My car died right around New Years, so I finally got my upgrade. She’s not fancy by any means, but she is a super important piece of my puzzle and I love her to bits.

Do a little better about balancing horse stuff with real life – I think I was better at this than normal. Probably because Henry was out for most of the fall and I had no other choice. Whatever, still counting it. I will say, at some point I should probably take a “vacation” that isn’t horse related. My only trips this year were Flagstaff for shows, Philly for AETA, and Maryland for the Fair Hill YEH Championships. Which… to me all of that sounds amazing but I suppose at some point there should be non-horse vacation? Like… with the SO? Meh.

Get another tattoo – My dad and I got tattoos together, because we’re cool like that.

Live boldly –  I feel like, for the most part, I went out and did the things I wanted to do, even if I was intimidated by it or if it seemed impossible, so I’m giving myself the green here. As far as the blog goes, I’m still over here trying my best to keep it open and honest and real. That will hopefully never change.

Success Rate: 100%. Obviously I didn’t aim high enough.

Even though our fall season didn’t go as planned, we still did a lot this year. Ok, maybe not in the way of recognized shows (we only did TWO!) but we did everything from indoor eventing to a jumper show to a long-ass road trip. More importantly, we learned a lot. Training looked borderline deadly at the beginning of the year, and now it looks totally do-able. Henry is a lot more well-trained and our partnership has only gotten stronger. More importantly, I think we both had a lot of fun. It might have had it’s ups and downs, but overall I think it was a pretty good year for us.

Thanks to all the people and companies that have supported us, followed along, and provided encouragement… you are more valuable to us than you know. On to 2017!

Last week I texted Trainer asking what her schedule was like for the next couple weeks. If I’m running Training next month, I need some lessons. Unfortunately this is our Stupid Busy time of year at work, so I’m pretty much relegated to weekend lessons only – a weekday lesson requires taking PTO, which ain’t happening anytime soon. Turns out she was busy too, though, for the next couple weeks. After some shaming/whining (which may or may not have included some cuss words and threats to haunt her forever if I die in our moveup – I’m charming like that) she said she could meet me Saturday at Pine Hill, but only if it was early. Since I don’t want to die next month, ass crack of dawn it was.

My one superpower is the ability to always wake up 15 minutes before I need to actually be awake. In this case, that meant 4:15. I was at the barn by 5, had my stuff packed and Henry fed and loaded by 5:20, and away we went on the 2 hour journey. In the pitch black. And fog. Which turned into misty rain. Which turned into gale force crosswinds. It didn’t take long for me to question my sanity.

But the sun finally came up as we were on our final stretch of highway, and I was tacked up and on my horse before 8am. It was quite warm on Saturday – already 72 degrees by then, and 90% humidity. What does Henry not do well? Humidity. So we kept the warmup short, hopped over a few fences, and then started stringing some together.

I’ve been working really hard on not pulling. It’s my favorite thing to do, but it really doesn’t work anymore once the fences get over 3′. We’ve also worked a lot on squaring our turns and really keeping his hind end under him and shoulders UP through the turn, helping to keep the canter more powerful and flowing forward. Which, miracle of miracles, happens perfectly when I too keep my shoulders up and square and use my body to help turn or adjust, instead of my hand. Funny how that works. No motorcycling, no dragging ourselves around on the forehand. Balance is amazing.

We went through the exercise that Buck Davidson had set up for his clinic last weekend, which is essentially a grid line with all the jumps on an angle. It took me a couple tries to really get the line right (keeping the horse’s shoulders up and straight was vital – oh hey there’s that concept again) but we got it. For the most part anyway. Ok, some attempts were better than others.

This lesson we really focused more on straightness and pace and rideability and kept the fences low, since it was our first stadium lesson since August (for real). Next time we’ll bump them up to height.

Overall it was a good time, and worth getting up stupid early. Even after all that, I was still home by noon… just significantly more tired and grumpy than normal.

Lately I’ve been binge-reading pretty much everything I can find on young event horses. Breeding them, picking them, raising them, training them… I’ll read anything. It’s so fascinating to me to read all the different opinions and see what different people look for in a young horse. There was one article in particular that asked several top riders from different disciples what their favorite quality was in a horse. Some answered very specifically, with “excellent feet” or “scope”, whereas others hit more abstract things like “heart” or “willingness”.

It kind of got me thinking… what is my favorite quality in a horse? Obviously I don’t need something with the talent to go out and run a 4* or do Grand Prix level dressage/jumping, so my answer might not be the same as a top pro. I’ve had horses of all different shapes and sizes, so there’s nothing super specific conformation-wise that I really have to have (except, like… basically correct and not hideous). I want a good canter, but I’m not overly obsessed with how they move, either. There is one word in particular that I love to hear someone say about a horse, though: genuine. To me that’s a really high compliment, and that’s the horse I want.

No shit, Trainer called Henry genuine once and I literally teared up. I have to agree, he is. He has a lot of try, but he’s still smart enough to know when to say no if I mess up REALLY bad, or pull a rail if I start flailing around too much (for real mom, learn how to ride). He saves my butt when he needs to but isn’t afraid to tell me to take a hike when I’m riding like a complete fool. It makes him a great teacher.

It seems like you hear the Brits use this word more often than we do… most often when a horse bails it’s rider out of a sticky situation “He was very genuine there!”. It might not mean that the horse is easy, but it means that he’s honest and implies a pretty high level of willingness to do his job. THAT is what I want. That’s Henry for sure, and I know a lot of other ammy event horses with the same quality.

So, I’m curious – what is your favorite quality in a horse, and why? Do you go for something gorgeous, or scopey, or super quiet, or with fantastic gaits, or what?

 

I didn’t originally plan on doing this Blog Hop, but it’s been so interesting reading everyone else’s (and none of the other Austin bloggers have chimed in – what’s that about guys?), so here we are! A Soft Spot for Stars asked for details about life and horsekeeping in our area…

Where do you live?

The great thing about Austin is that it’s probably one of the most liberal, progressive cities in the south, which makes it bearable to exist here. The people are generally pretty nice (although our traffic sucks) and there’s always tons of stuff to do and lots of great food (good Mexican food is a life necessity). I like the fact that Austin is relatively small as far as cities go. We have all the big city perks, but without being a sprawling out of control metropolis like Dallas or Houston. The cost of living here has definitely gone up in the past several years, but it’s still fairly reasonable especially compared to either coast. I have to be honest though, I don’t find this area of Texas to be particularly attractive (its not the desert wasteland that most people picture, but our grass is generally kind of meh and our trees look stunted), nor am I that attached to it. I’d happily move if the right job came along, as long as it was somewhere prettier and more horsey (but still without a real winter, I don’t do winter).

Costs of horse keeping?

• Trim – I think $50-70ish? Been a while since I had one barefoot, it’s tough to keep a riding/show horse without shoes here due to our footing (hard and a bit rocky).
• Shoes – $150-200 for a full set of steel, depending on whether or not he’s drilled and tapped for studs
• Average cost of a month of full time training- $600ish plus board. Lessons are around $50-60 average.
• Average monthly pasture board – craigslist tells me around $350? I don’t pasture board, my horse would die of heat stroke in the summer without a fan.
• Average monthly stall board – $500-600 seems average from what I’ve seen. Less for places without great facilities, more for fancy places with great facilities/trainers on site.
• Hay:
  • Coastal is pretty much the only grass hay here, which I hate, but such is life. Small squares are about $7-8 a bale depending on quality, delivery, etc. Alfalfa is usually more like $11-15 for a small bale.

Weather?

Well, I mean… how do you feel about the idea of living inside of an oven? There’s no sugar-coating it, summer is May-September (sometimes April-October) and it’s HOT. Like… many days above 100 degrees, melt-your-skin-off kind of hot. While our humidity is not as bad as Houston, it’s still certainly not a dry heat. Horses require fans and shade, humans require extra hydration and we usually have to ride early or late to avoid heat stroke. The good thing is that our winters are mild. It can swing back-and-forth between temps in the 70s and temps in the 40s, with a lot of in between. Just enough to make winter really bearable, yet not enough for us to ever actually acclimate to cold. Hence all the whining from Texans on cold days.

We might have a few days where it stays at or just below freezing, but mostly it’s just windy as hell in the winter. Every few years we get an inch of snow or a little bit of ice (which causes the entire city to shut down) but that’s about it. The worst part really is the fact that it can’t seem to rain in a normal pattern… it won’t rain for a couple months, and then it’ll rain like 12″ all at once. Over and over. There is no such thing as moderation. Very annoying unless you love long periods of super hard ground followed by a long period of mud.

 

Riding demographic for the area?

Western riding certainly dominates, but Texas in general has a lot of horses and a lot of different sports. Unfortunately the Austin area itself is kind of a dead zone for shows or a ton of great trainers for h/j or eventing; Dallas and Houston both have a lot more to offer in both regards. Our closest recognized event is 2 hours away, with the others being more like 4-6. The closest rated h/j show is 2 hours away as well. Everything is a haul, basically, there is no such thing as trailering in for the day and showing unless you do the local h/j circuit or very small schooling shows. There are a few eventing trainers in Austin, but my own trainer is a 2 hour haul away (WHY IS EVERYTHING TWO HOURS) so I definitely do not get as many lessons as I’d like.

Other notes?

There are pros and cons to this area, for sure.

Pros:

• very mild/practically non-existent winter (we’re huge babies, but really we have it easy compared to most)
• still a lot of open space and land
• you can show pretty much year-round if you want to
• there are a few tack shops in town (I live 5 minutes from Charlotte’s Saddlery and 10 minutes from Dover)
• there are also a couple of big vet hospitals nearby, lots of massage/chiro/acupuncture people, rehab facilities, etc.

Cons:

• not a lot of good boarding/training/local eventing options
• it’s hot as mother-effing balls 6 months of the year
• critters, lots of critters. Rattlesnakes are not uncommon.
• when you get outside of the city, you encounter a lot of… um… less open, less tolerant people…
• EVERYTHING IS FAR

Frustrating things about your area?

Mostly just the fact that nothing is close. We spend a lot of time driving. And driving. And driving. Events cost more because it’s always a haul and requires staying over a couple nights. The void of good trainers and barns in this area are kind of a bummer, too. I would loooooooove to be in the same area as my trainer and be able to take a lot of lessons/always have her eyes nearby, but the 4 hour round trip turns a simple lesson into an all day affair. I spend a lot of time riding on my own, so sometimes it starts to feel like progress is ridiculously slow.

Being a blogger can have it’s ups and downs. On one hand, it’s fun to share everything with people… you often find a lot of common ground and camaraderie in both the triumphs and the struggles of day-to-day horse ownership. You also have a really detailed journal of sorts, which can be fun and really helpful to look back on. For some of us, writing can even be cathartic, in a way. And then of course, there’s the other end of the spectrum: sharing so many details, good and bad, can leave you open for a lot of criticism. I think just about every blogger, and honestly probably most people that are active on any kind of social media, have probably encountered this.

It’s easy to sit here behind a computer screen and judge someone’s situation, especially when it comes to photos. I think we’ve all been guilty of it at least a few times. But unless you a) know someone’s horse b) know someone’s story c) have a really good understanding of their sport… can you really get an accurate assessment of the situation from a photo?

I kinda feel like, for me personally, there are a few things I will always judge someone for:

• Hurting a horse, either intentionally or via gross negligence.
• Being a jerk to a horse.
• Acting like you’re perfect when you’re not. That’s just annoying. Don’t do that.

Things I will not judge you for:

• Your leg slipping back
• Your hands being too high/low
• Your release not being perfect
• Looking down
• Making mistakes
• All that other minutia that is just a part of riding

The vast majority of us are amateurs. We don’t get to sit on a ton of horses or spend 6 hours a day riding. We aren’t perfect, but I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us are trying to be better. Some of us have demons to work through, or issues that have plagued us forever. We make mistakes. I also know that what is correct for one sport is not necessarily correct for all sports, so I’m not going to sit here and criticize someone’s barrel racing or reining or endurance photos when I quite admittedly do not have a damn clue what I’m looking at.

For the most part I’ve dodged personal criticism a lot more than some other bloggers, probably because my horse is pretty simple and there isn’t a lot of major struggle for us aside from my own continuing education. For that I’m grateful, because I’ve seen some of the messages that strangers have had the audacity to send to other bloggers, and it is shocking. FYI, internet – it’s ok to express concern if it’s warranted, but it’s not ok to be an complete asshole about it.

This past weekend on Instagram I posted a picture from XC schooling that is not classically correct – we’d gotten a longish distance to a wide fence, so I stayed in a safety seat and let Henry work it out.

Someone thought it was appropriate to send me a message telling me that it was a horrible photo, that I was ripping my horse’s mouth off and slamming him in the back. I had no business jumping and should be ashamed of myself. How could I possibly be proud of a picture like that, they asked.

Ah, ever-so-kind internet stranger… let me tell you why.

I’ve always hated that damn fence. It’s wide, and I’ve found it intimidating. When we first schooled it a year ago I had a tendency to panic and either chase my horse to the base or curl up into fetal position and provide zero assistance, making his job really difficult. It’s been a while since I jumped it. So we galloped down to it and got a slightly long distance… not perfect. But here’s what happened this time: my horse was confident enough to go anyway, I kept my eyes and body up, I kept my balance back so he could easily get his front end up, slipped the reins as much as he needed, he was able to make a huge effort without me impeding him, and we galloped away in balance together, horse happy and looking for the next one like it was no big deal.

Was it perfect? No. Of course not. But any eventer will tell you that XC is not about being perfect. When a sport involves galloping at speed over solid fences, with varying terrain, out in the open, foot perfect rounds are few and far between. Being an effective XC rider is about learning to have good instincts in a less than perfect situation – something that has not been easy for me (especially when it comes to sitting the eff up, because laying on the neck  and staring down at the source of my impending doom is a favorite pastime of mine). The fact that this fence happened the way it did, we both handled it safely and without issue, and didn’t miss a beat… that did more for my confidence as a rider (and spoke more to our progress together) than 100 perfect fences would have.

So, to circle back to the question – how could I proud of that? Well, I’m pleased that I’m finally able to canter down to a jump that used to make me crap my pants, get a meh distance, and have no issue handling it in a safe way – a way that actually helps instead of hinders my horse. Who, btw, is a badass and jumped the absolute crap out of that fence, which is why I posted it in the first place. He’s amazing, with or without me. If you want to judge me for that, go ahead, knock yourself out.

I’m not quite sure what some of these Internet trolls think they’re going to accomplish by making rude comments to random amateur riders regarding their skill set or lack thereof. I think I’ll go with what my trainer says, but thanks so much for the fun and abundantly helpful critique. *insert much eye rolling here* PS – if you were trying to hurt my feelings, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that. There is literally no one on the planet who is more critical of my riding than I am.

At the end of the day, we don’t know what each other’s struggles are as a rider, and sometimes we don’t really even have a full understanding of each other’s sports. You see people criticizing hunter riders or eventers for their “equitation” in a photo (god, can we STOP with the idea of one exact perfect position already? I hate it.) all the time. Sometimes though, there’s a reason for what you’re seeing in one still frame. This is just as good a reminder to me as anything else… maybe we should take a minute to consider things before we pass judgment.

Well… unless you’re mean to your horse… then all bets are off, you jerk. 😉