I’ve opted out of a lot of TOA’s Blog Hop series because I figured people would get tired of me constantly talking about how awesome I think my horse is. But this one is like a collection of all those awesome things, therefore a summation, therefore I’m not sorry at all for what you’re about to endure.

Beka wrote: In honor of Archie’s 18th birthday, tell me 18 things you love about your horse. I could do 18 things about Sadie too but I figure there would really be zero readers left by the end of that, so we’ll stick to just Henry.

1. I love how goofy he is.

2. I love his color – bay with no white is easy.

3. I love his canter.

4. I love how we have the same personality. As in “EFF OFF! Oh wait, you have food, j/k luvs youse…”.

5. I love how willing he is to do new things.

6. I love that he always gives 100%.

7. I love that he’s such a fast learner and always retains things from one ride to the next.

8. I love that he’s a thoroughbred.

9. I love that he’s sensitive – it makes me a more self aware rider.

10. I love that he’s really easy to deal with for day-to-day stuff: clips, loads, stands well for the farrier, ties and crossties reliably, etc.

11. I love that he puts up with all my bullshit and hasn’t killed me yet.

12. I love how photogenic he is.

13. I love that he can have a week or two (or four) off and never needs a lunge.

14. I love that I can ride him bridleless.

15. I love that he’s good with cats and dogs and doesn’t mind them standing under him or running around him.

16. I love that he’s forgiving and doesn’t hold a grudge.

17. I love how proud of himself he is after XC.

18. I love that I found him on facebook and bought him through Paypal – it’s certainly the internet age!

I’m gonna back up all the way to Thursday night first, even though that’s really not the weekend. We had a great jumping lesson to add to the positive momentum from our great dressage lesson on Tuesday. Different trainer, different disciplines, but both really positive with encouraging comments about Henry and his progress. Hopefully we can keep that momentum going since we have our first event of the year this weekend. I’ve now had two dreams about forgetting my dressage test and getting eliminated, which actually happened to someone in the CIC*** at the The Fork this past weekend (well, she learned the wrong test but same thing) and solidified my weird nightmare. My neuroses are strong right now. Of all the stupid mistakes to keep having dreams about, I have no idea why that’s the one.

On Friday we just went for a walk down the road as a reward for a good week, and then did the same on Saturday – except this time with friends. It was the 5 year anniversary of the opening of my barn so we had a group ride and then a little party. Lots of fun and food and cider was had.

 

 

My stuff that I ordered from Calevo a few weeks ago when the dollar and Euro were almost equal finally arrived, too. I nabbed an Equiline coat, navy with golden yellow piping (my colors) for only $170, and it fits like it was tailor made for me. I’m really in love with it so far. After I ride in it I’ll do a proper review but man… I want to wear it 24/7. So stretchy and pretty.

I got some Pikeur X-Grip breeches as well, which also fit nicely, but I’m not sure how much I like them. I just find myself comparing everything to ADE and Animo and they all come up short. We’ll see if I keep them or not, I’m kind of undecided at this point. I’m loving my dressage Ogilvy though, just really hoping I can keep the white clean. Anyone ever Scotchgarded fabric like this? Seriously considering it.

Oh – and I’m pretty happy with how he’s gaining on the Triple Crown Complete. I wish he would waste less of it as he flings his bucket around (grrr), but at least I’m seeing a difference!

 

 

Finally, months later, I put a list together. I have crappy cell phone pics of almost everything, can try to get better ones if needed. Prices don’t include shipping! The more you buy, the more I love you and the more I want to ship for free.

Frank Baines Capriole dressage saddle SOLD

Dressage bridle and extra bridle parts SOLD

Two ECP correction dressage pads with foam shims. One white (used once), one black. SOLD

Ogilvy jumper half pad, SOLD

Kerrits Sit Tight Supreme full seat breeches, white size Large. New with Tags.

We’ve all seen those posts on facebook, linking us to GoFundMe accounts for an array of different reasons. One popped up on my feed yesterday asking for contributions to a horse’s vet bills, and I started thinking more about crowdfunding.

In general I do not contribute to crowdfunding type of things except for in very specific circumstances. To be honest, I find the vast majority of it to be tacky and tasteless. I can’t imagine ever asking someone to pay my horse’s or dog’s vet bill – IMO vet bills are part of being a pet owner and it’s my responsibility to take care of that. I would be mortified to ever put my hand out and ask other people for that money. If I didn’t have it I’d put it on a credit card and pay it off as I could, or ask the vet about a payment plan. That’s my own circumstance to bail myself out of. Other things I’ve seen people asking for money to fund:

• buying back a former horse (maybe sell one of your other horses instead?)
• their horse show season (for real?)
• their kid’s birthday party (I have no words)
• their vacation (are you gonna pay for my vacation?)
• paying off a lien that someone took out on their horse because they didn’t pay board (speechless)

To me, none of those are things you should ever ask someone else to pay for. Get a second job, sell some stuff, have a bake sale, sell an organ… I dunno… just be responsible for your own life. What gets me most is that the people who seem to always be asking for handouts are the same ones who seem to have plenty of money to eat out all the time, buy booze, buy new clothes, get their hair and nails done, spend their weekends watching Netflix, go on vacation, etc etc. When did we become a society that would rather panhandle on the internet than actually work for something we want?

Some of you probably remember Taylor McFall, the girl who raised money last year to purchase the pony she had been leasing. I really loved this story, mostly because her mother would not allow her to just accept straight donations. She cleaned tack, she washed trucks, she made and sold horse treats. She earned the money she made, and she bought that pony herself. Big kudos to Taylor’s mother for teaching her daughter the value of a dollar and that with enough hard work you can get just about anything you want, without asking people for handouts.

That’s not to say that I’m a total scrooge about crowdfunding. I have contributed exactly twice – once to the CANTER Texas startup costs, to help them get the 501c licensing and stuff, and just a couple weeks ago to Jimmie Schramm’s Rolex fund. “Wait a minute”,  you say… didn’t I just write earlier that I don’t feel like people should be asking for show money? Yeah you’re right, maybe I’m a little bit of a hypocrite here, but let me explain why they’re different to me. #1 It’s Rolex. #2 Jimmie is a young pro that owns her own horse. She doesn’t have a rich owner that foots the all the bills. #3 They’re really just getting their training operation off the ground. #4 I get a coozie and a bumper sticker that say “I Believe in Bells” in return for my contribution. Hells yeah! #5 If for some reason they end up not going to Rolex, the money will supposedly be donated to a therapeutic riding center. #6 At the end of the day, I’m a Schramm fan. So, whether you agree with my logic or not, I think that’s a lot different than just some random person that wants to go to horse shows.

I will include a caveat and say that I think Kickstarter type of things are a lot different. Generally those are businesses or inventions trying to get off the ground and you almost always get things in return for your contribution. I’ve contributed to a few of those with zero hesitation. Much different in my eyes than paying someone’s vet bill for them.

What’s your view on crowdfunding? What are legitimate reasons to ask for contributions from other people? What causes have you donated toward? I realize that I might feel more strongly about it than most and seem pretty judgmental, but I’m genuinely curious to see what other people think when they see these things.

Warning: there is much gushing about my pony happening in this post so if you have a strong gag reflex or already rolling eyeballs you might want to back away now.

We had another dressage lesson on Tuesday night, and Henry was probably the best he’s ever been. I don’t know if it was a fluke or if things are just starting to click, but we had some honest to god throughness and connection. Pretty much the first time that’s happened. He leg yielded and shoulder in’d and turned on the forehand and lengthened. He did haunches out on a circle, leg yield to shoulder in, canter squares with leg yield, and stretchy trotted. In fact, in our first attempt at the ever elusive stretchy trot Trainer said “There he goes! Good boy!” and I said “SHHHH be quiet or you’ll scare it away!”. There were still some moments of stiffness and some slow or heavy transitions, but for the most part he was really fantastic. Every lesson has just gotten better and better.

After some canter leg yields, canter lengthenings, and transitions within the canter we took a walk break and chatted. Trainer was very complimentary of Henry’s canter work, saying that the quality and balance of his canter was very good, his lengthenings were naturally uphill, and the transitions within the gait were obviously easy for him. He said certain things that even much more advanced horses find difficult came naturally him. Then he called little ol’ Henry “quite talented”.  Talented? This guy? At derpssage? I felt like the Grinch when his heart grew 3 sizes.

If you’d told me a year ago that a legit dressage trainer/rider would ever call this horse talented, I would have laughed in your face. In fact, I’d probably still be laughing. The word “fried” had been used to describe him when I bought him, and just getting to where I could put my leg on without an explosion or keep contact without him putting his nose to his chest has been a long difficult road. The fact that’s he’s moved past that now is, IMO, a testament to Henry and his kindness and his general good nature. He tries so hard and really wants to please, I think as long as he trusts his rider and feels like he’s being treated fairly he could be good at anything. Trainer agreed saying he seemed very willing, praised me for being a tactful rider and said I’d done a good job with him. Majorly proud horsemom moment. I appreciate him saying nice things about me as well but I’m not gonna lie, the compliments for Henry brought tears to my eyes. Of course I love him but I’m also extremely aware of his (and my) shortcomings, so the fact that someone whose opinion I greatly value and respect sees something special lurking in him does my heart good.

Henry has suddenly also decided that whips will not, in fact, kill him and are not, in fact, cause to become extremely belligerent. Last summer I tried carrying a whip for a month in a attempt to get him to calm down about them, and every ride he acted like I was going to kill him. He was completely incapable of relaxing as long as I had it in my hand so I eventually gave up. On Monday I carried a jumping bat for our informal bumming around pole work day and he didn’t even seem to notice. So in the dressage lesson I decided to push my luck and warm up with a dressage whip. Again, he gave no craps. I did eventually give it to Trainer once we started canter work, since that’s about the time when Henry can sometimes get a little overreactive/anticipatory, but it totally helped in the warm-up. I even lightly tapped him on the butt with it once in the first leg yield when he was slow off my leg and he had a totally appropriate, non-belligerent-meltdown response. He just went “Oh yeah, sorry” and moved away. Knock me over with a feather, he no longer thinks I’m going to eat him. I joke that I have finally just broken his spirit, but the fact that he’s now chill enough to move past whatever happened in his history to make him so tense and worried makes me proud all over again. The boy is a champ.

End gush. Sorry if I made you reach for your barf bags.