Trying to rip your eyelid off is not very funny. See, it not only makes mommy worry, but she then has to call the vet out, have you stitched up, and purchase really expensive antibiotics to give you. Not to mention that mommy now also has to pay for all the local anesthesia Doc gave you--enough for three horses, he said.
You are also now stuck in Frank's box stall while he is hamming it up with YOUR cousin Captain in YOUR crib. Jealous much? Yeah, well, let's think about that next time before you gauge your face on something mere centimeters from your eye. Close call, Acey, let me tell you, but it's still not very funny.
Now, I know you probably enjoyed getting "drunk" today with the tranqs, and almost toppling over on Doc while he stitched you up, but honestly, it is NOT a good idea to piss someone off when they have a needle by your eye. Those are my words of wisdom, Ace, so take it or leave it--but, by all means, PLEASE take them.
Also, next time, before you try and poke your eye out, stop a think a minute. When all of mommy's money goes to the vet, she can't buy you pretty tail ribbons, lime green tack, and wonderful tie-dye halters. And it's really not any fun being a poorly accessorized horse, let me tell you.
Well, I don't really have much to update about (except the fact that the taco pony trotted (basically save for a few falters here and then) SOUND on the LUNGE LINE going BOTH DIRECTIONS for TEN MINUTES each last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a little excited.
He loves being lunged, also. I think it may have to do with his snazzy jogging outfit, shown above. He's also wearing black splints, but cell phone picture + impending darkness = shitastic quality.
So, for something fun I thought I'd post their morning feeding regimen. It's apparently so complicated that it has the barn owner shaking in her boots for when I go on vacation or god forbid need her to feed one morning! I don't think it's that bad, but then again I do do it every morning.
Ace:
Half scoop beet pulp shreds (wet before next step and stir, making sure contents are moistened) Half scoop grain 2 scoops alfalfa pellets 1 smartpak (with apple-a-day and smartflex ultra III) 8 ounces ground flax 1/2 cup black oil sunflower seeds
Okay, so maybe it is a weensy bit complicated, but at least they're getting what they need! Their omegas are probably "out of wack," but as they're not seeming to have any problems I don't stress about it. As Wonder Shoer says, "it takes a lot more than some unmatched omegas to kill a horse." So there. They get 70-30 grass hay at night, which is refreshingly easy to feed, and their diet seems to be working wonders. Ace has put on lots of weight, and both of their coats are shiny and soft. I'm a very happy mommy. :-)
Now the boys are probably banging their toes on the gate in impatience, so I'd better go feed before they get TOO mad at me!
Y'know, I really hate abandoning my blog like this so often. I want to update more often, but geez, I forget until it's way too late.
Anyway, I absolutely love the new place. I seriously have no qualms about it; although we don't have an arena and it's expensive to ride next door, I've discovered the vacant front pasture. It's fairly level, with just a little dip in the center, but it doesn't have any potholes and it's on soft grass. It's also about an acre, so it's definitely big enough. One of the new boarders was gracious enough to bring their standards and cavaletti out, so that's set up in the front pasture, and it's held up surprisingly well, especially considering that E lets Ali the ex-eventer rip around a few courses every once in a while.
I also have found the wonder shoer! He was my mom and dad's farrier back before "they" were pregnant with me, and as my dad says, "everyone thinks they have the best shoer in the world, but he actually is!" He has turned me on to some amazing trainers and views on horse-training, and also shared some secrets he's gotten just from talking to the "gurus" as he calls them at various places and events. He has a book FULL of these secrets that he's gathered in the space of three decades and shares some tidbits with me every time he comes out.
My horses' feet are also looking incredible. I got before pictures, and I'll take some after pictures when I get around to it. Wonder Shoer even wants Ace to go barefoot next time he comes out. ACE, y'all, the accident-prone one who is (almost done) recovering from a soft tissue injury and has a broken sesamoid. Who would've thunk THAT??? Captain is also barefoot, just as I like him, and his feet are hard and chip-free. This is quite a feat (pardon pun), as we ride the streets A LOT and the driveway connecting the turnouts and front pasture-slash-arena to their paddock is gravel. Wonder Shoer quickly solidified my belief that the shoers at the ranch were basically shit, but not to worry, because they didn't do any permanent damage. I hate bagging on someone that I had the active choice to discontinue my dealings with, but the farriers up there were the only ones who would make the commute, and it bothered me every time they did my horses. Basically, I'm fully aware it was my decision to continue using them, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
Ace is doing wonderfully, progressing really well with his foot. He's SO close that I think he's asking for just another month or two to really make sure he's all better, because the only time he bobs now is trotting counter-clockwise (and his injury is on the LF). I'm doing lots of bending at the walk and bringing his nose in to the left just slightly while trotting in a straight direction. Some very elementary half-passes to both directions have also created a noticeable improvement, as well. When I feel his trotting it seems as if he's not lame, but just taking a shorter stride with that foot so that's the imbalance I feel. He's sound as a tack in a straight line and circling to the right, and I think that supports my thoughts.
My issues right now are with Captain. My sister isn't riding as much as I'd like her to, and I think the lack of exercise and the boredom have stemmed a whole lot of aggression in Captain. It's like when we boarded at the QH barn and he was stuck in a box stall all day all over again. He's charging the gate when I bring the food in, rearing and baring his teeth when I stomp and step forward to shoo him away, and generally being a royal pain in the ass. Ace chases him away for me usually, so I was ignoring the aggression a little (really chalking it up to the fact that he was a stud until age six), until he started running away with my sister. Not any kind of crazy bucking or an intense gallop, but moving up into a strong canter and just not stopping. I got on him and fixed the problem a little, but even with me he was just too strong. I've put the standing martingale back on his tack, which has made a minor improvement, and I'm lunging him every day and working on getting him respectful again.
Last night though, he rushed to the gate as usual although I was inside the pen trying to catch Ace. Captain pushed the gate open and I ran over to catch it and chain it back up, and he pinned his ears a little menacingly, so I stepped in between him and the gate and pushed him on the shoulder in a firm reminder to BACK OFF. Instead of respecting my "bubble" and backing off, however, the son of a gun proceeded to bare his teeth, swing his head around, and smack me in the head full force, WITH his teeth. After everything stopped spinning I fetched my lunge whip and worked him around the paddock, keeping him trotting to one fence and turning him by stepping toward his shoulder at regular intervals. As soon as his head dropped and he was licking and chewing I backed off, and he approached very tentatively and began to listen to my body language again. He was walking beside me, turning, and backing to my cues (without halter or anything of the sort). I feel bad about chasing him around his paddock, but honestly I'm sick of the aggression and it worked. He was an angel on the lunge line and was even really patient with my sister when she stepped forward to try.
Speaking of lunging, it's time to go do so and then feed. I'll update more SOON, hopefully, or at least as soon as I have the time and inclination to do so!
Update will come sooner or later. Tomorrow I'm going over to the place next door to be evaluated by the trainer, T. She's real nice, and I'm actually glad she makes people pass her evaluations before they come onto the property--I've had enough of idiots for one lifetime. Ace and Captain continue to do well with the new adjustments, and their SmartPaks are (hopefully!) coming tomorrow.
That's all for now, but I might have an update tomorrow!
It takes a special kind of person to forget their camera three times in one day. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I do have stories!
So far I'm loving every minute of going to see the horses three times a day. Pretty soon it'll only be twice, as I'm slowly petering them off of lunch, but I'm thinking about riding Ace around midday so I don't have to deal with the dark. Plus then they can be ridden separately, so they're alone in the paddock for a while each day. They've become just a liiittle attached!
Anyway, I am continually more and more impressed by Ace's behavior. I was fully expecting a nervous wreck, but he is completely calm. Even the barn owner, C, says that she's really enjoying my two boys because they're totally laid back and hardly make a peep. At feeding time they get pretty rowdy, but I think that's normal.
So tonight my sister didn't want to go out, so I left early and headed out there to ride. I was originally only going to ride Ace in the big round pen on site, but I felt a little stupid so I took him out for a ride up the driveway. Captain was a bit beside himself at being left alone in the paddock, and every time he saw Ace he whinnied (and for such a big boy, his whinny is quite cute and girly). I thought that was going to upset Ace, but nope, he walked on like a pro. I rode him up to the gate with no problem, and then figured I might as well take a ride up the road. I pressed the button with my foot to open the gate, and out we went! He was so awesome. His head was up and he was alert, but he didn't spook, even when the Gator at the fancy schmancy place next door revved up and drove off pulling a rattling cart.
I'm pleased as punch with how he's acting, to say the least. I'm so relieved that I can actually take him places and not worry about him having a cow. Captain's also having fun at the new place, and enjoys having a blankie on again. Like I said above, I forgot my camera all three times I went out today, but I'll hopefully remember it tomorrow morning when I go to feed and clean!
Sunday was the big day, and I got up suuuper early to make sure Ace was nice and relaxed for the hour plus trailer ride. I was very anxious about a lot of things regarding him, not only the trailer loading but the trip itself, and how he would react to a new atmosphere after almost four years of being at the ranch.
Guess what?? He was a STAR! It took about fifteen minutes to load him up behind Captain, and he dove into the hay bag and let me clip the bungie-tie onto him. He was busy munching so he didn't really notice when I did the buttrope and closed the door. Both he and Captain were outfitted with Kensington booties, flymasks, and their 1200D sheets, but I was still terrified. Last weekend I loaded Ace up in our trailer and he stayed in, where as before he would back himself out in about ten milliseconds. I tried something new though, in that the food was ONLY in the trailer and every time he backed out, I immediately said "load up!" in a firm voice and clucked. He seemed to get the message last Saturday, as he did on Sunday. I'm very impressed that Ace will now walk right in with his front feet, and will go as far as having his hind legs touching the bumper of the trailer, though he needs a little extra encouragement (in the form of grain) to come all the way in.
Captain loooves his trailer and even gets mad when he sees it and he can't go in. Needless to say, I was completely worry-free about his trip, because I know he's in hog heaven when he's in there stuffing his face. It was the opposite with Ace, because I was imagining scrambling and trailer rocking and pulling back and rearing and cracking his head open on the roof... Well, to my very pleasant surprise, none of that happened! They were quiet as lambs the whole way down. I didn't hear a peep from Ace at all. He was gently rocking the trailer when we were stuck at a long traffic light, but I think that was the way, way, lesser of many evils.
We arrived a little later than expected, just because my mom and I both firmly believe in not going too fast while trailering (I think the fastest we went was 45, LOL). Anyway, we pulled up to the place and parked, and I cracked open the back door and unhooked Ace before I had my mom undo the buttrope. I wasn't sure how he'd unload after an hour plus trip, in a new environment with new smells, but he slowly backed out like a pro and looked around with his ears perked. Um, what?? Everyone was expecting an explosion out of him and he sits there and LOOKS AROUND. I was so proud of him right then it almost killed me. Captain couldn't care less about where the hell he is as long as he's not roomies with Jack the Ripper, so I think that might've helped, but still.
I'll update with pictures tomorrow, and to let you know how Ace has been doing during our rides (take a wild guess, I know I'm surprised!). We'll be going next door on Thursday-ish to the facility with a beautiful indoor ring, fully set up all-weather jumping arena, and mock XC course, so we can actually get a work out in rather than riding up and down the driveway. Tomorrow I think I'll take a trip down the road, since it's one of those quiet country streets that sees maybe ten cars a day.
I'll have a post up for y'all tomorrow, and if not please bug me until I do, you have my permission!
So, I forgot to do Ghost it Forward, but it's past Halloween so the fun is kind of sucked out of it. But, instead of doing that meme, I was kind of reminded about something I've been wanting to do for a while by the mastermind behind Now THAT'S a Trot! When she tagged me she said I'd restored her faith in Western Pleasure, and I would love to do that for everyone. It's not an easy thing to restore your faith in it, but I love the ideals for pleasure. If you know the sport like I do, it's obvious that judges DO go by the registry standard. But, if you've got a class full of four-beating peanut rollers, does no one win? No, there has to be a winner in every class (unless the judge is like Cookie who judged all of my 4-H shows and told us we all sucked so there was no winner). Unfortunately, those four-beating peanut rollers have set a bad standard for my discipline of choice, and the horses that are actually good at what they do are branded as "icky" by default.
The video you see above has some awesome example horses who kick ass in the show pen. Are they "icky"? I certainly don't think so. I think that THEY should be the standard for western pleasure, not four-beating peanut rollers. I know, I know. Right now these horses are the exception rather than the norm, and that stinks. But, they win a hell of a lot more than four-beating peanut rollers, and I can contest to that.
One Hot Krymsun can also contest to that. If you don't know who he is, you have been living under a rock. He's a three time AQHA World champion, four time AQHA Congress champion, and has life time earnings of over $65,000. While I don't support the riding of two year olds at all, you can see that this horse is a beautiful natural mover that exemplifies the western pleasure standard set in the AQHA and APHA rulebook. He is also AQHA's leading sire, so from that I'd reckon that people in the pleasure industry do want to recreate that standard.
When I first learned to ride, I got dressage lessons. For over three years I learned to ride without any hands, and it stuck with me. Even when we had to downgrade to western giddy-up lessons and get something less expensive, I really only used my hands to reinforce my whoa or downward transition, and to steer. When you watch people in every discipline in the warm-up ring or at home, about 80% of them have their hands in their face or are stuffing their horse into a frame. I was in training with a very popular Northern California AQHA trainer for a long time as well. She told me that good movement starts from the withers back, and that you can't ride a horse's head and neck. That philosophy has been the basis for my riding techniques since I first heard her say it. Since then I've been successful WITH my western pleasure horses in dressage, jumping (at rated hunter shows), lower-level eventing, western riding, and drill team, among many other things. While I don't have the money to show big time APHA or AQHA, we do pretty well at our local shows, and I've been to the Gold N Grand and done well there. I'm sure many others have the same story as I do, as well. When a horse is a true athlete there are no limits on what they can do.
My question is simple: is it really western pleasure that's so horrible? Take a good, hard look at your discipline of choice. There has to be someone whose methods you don't agree with, and whose horses are not natural or relaxed movers. Well, I'm telling you this. The top dogs in the western pleasure industry (like One Hot Krymsun, or this horse, who I absolutely love) probably think that four-beating peanut rollers are "icky" too. So, next time you watch a western pleasure horse, take off the predispositions to this discipline that you may have worn for years. Truly watch the horse, and ask yourself if he looks like a pleasure to ride, with true gaits, impulsion, and a relaxed, kind expression. If you answer yes, than that is a western pleasure horse that fits the description in the rulebooks. A horse should be judged by that, and not by what discipline they do, for just as with breeds, there are exceptional representatives and some not so good. I ask you to remember this with every discipline, also, not just mine.
There are always going to be bad seeds in every equine sport. Please don't let the ones in mine bias you to the horses who are awesome at what they do.
What do you think of when you imagine a western rider? If spurring, yanking, and a general disregard to a horse's movement came to mind, you're mostly right. But is this riding method due to cruelty, or ineducation? Who's riding like this because "trainer said," and who's doing it because they want to?
