Right Lead Canter: Oh my god.

So, it's been almost 2 years since I have cantered to the right. Or, at least properly without having to endure crow hopping and bucks and then breaking down into a trot after a few strides.

Had an awesome lesson today. I rode Amber again, and she was just as awesome as last time. Really nice mare, so quiet...it's nice to ride quiet for once.

We did some canter work, specifically working on my right lead canter. To the left, I was balanced and had total control...to the right, it was like I was unbalanced and had little control over her, and she was leaning on my inside leg hard. Obviously, I'm a little out of practice to the right.

Let's face it. Gulliver's issues to the right were deeper than just "I don't want to". I didn't push the issue too much because of that. There was pain/discomfort involved there. With Jack, honestly, it was lack of practice, but I was waiting to get the "green light" from Patricia, and I think her holding off on me even when I was ready took confidence from me. My fear issues over riding on the flat w/t/c are pretty much gone at this point...and I now realize they HAVE been gone for a while, but I felt like I was still "rehabbing" because Trish was holding me back...but I've been ready to get back to the level at which I SHOULD be riding for a while.

What remains? Jumping. And even that is seeming less scary...I know that the fall Belle and I took had NOTHING to even do with jumping, it could happen on the flat too, but my mind just associates the two. And I didn't think about it, but I also had a fall off another horse going over some barrels and a pole where the stirrup fell off the stirrup bar in mid-take off and I smacked my back on the jump and it hurt pretty bad.

But yeah, in hindsight, I think I could have gotten Jack's right lead in a short amount of time, if I had only realized that I *did* have the confidence back.

In my defense, Amber was a little stiff to the right today, so that didn't help me out!

All in all, I'm SO glad to be w/t/c again. So glad. It feels like I'm finally working at an appropriate level. Moving forward. As much as I loved Jack, it felt like I was going in circles at walk/trot (no pun intended, I know we worked on circles sooo much). I feel like maybe we could have gone a little farther if we'd gotten the okay for canter months sooner...not to place any blame on Trish, half the time it was too wet to canter safely on a horse that was unbalanced at the canter. And she was making an effort to make sure my confidence was high enough to do so without anxiety, and I was assuming she'd know when I was there, and I didn't say anything, and of course she assumed I was not ready because I hadn't said anything.

Also learned a horse I used to feed at the barn when it was Spring Bank still lost a freaking EYE. She's an older mare...actually on land not owned by the barn, but we fed her for the owners anyway back then...they also had a rig stud in non-stallion fencing right beside her. Well, one day he apparently got out while the mare was in heat and kicked her and apparently her eye was torn out. They got him gelded after that, but...you know, that horse should have been gelded a lot sooner. He's not breeding quality, and they don't have proper facilities to house him safely, and he was just an accident waiting to happen. I know hell would have broke loose if he'd gotten over to any of the mares at Spring Bank...

The new dog on the block.

So...I can't even remember if I mentioned it. But...new dog. Yes, another dog.

We were not planning on getting another dog necessarily. I mean, we always planned on getting at least two after we move in together, but that's months to a year or more off, and even Matilda wasn't really a "planned dog"...but in the situation, we had to do so, and she's been a joy.

Now, before I tell you about the new dog...Matilda has really opened up. Totally different dog. Fearful and shy dog is gone...and so is the perfect behavior record. She's a digger, we have discovered, and we also have to install thicker wire on her pen because if she sees a person outside, she takes her teeth and pulls on it...it's not the best wire, admittedly though. It's strong enough to hold them, but it was originally for a teacup Yorkie...not a 75 pound ball of energy. So we are replacing that tomorrow. We got ID tags for her (and the new pup), but I would still not want to chance them getting out. Anything can happen.

She's also proved to be a jumper. That's a big dog to be jumping up on someone. When you go in the pen with her, you have to be prepared to hold her back from running out, and then brace yourself for her jumping antics. I think it will improve with time, if we reinforce good behavior and discourage the bad behavior. She's just a little too excitable really. Too enthusiastic. But I love her, she's a joy to us, and she's staying no matter what issues she may cause. She is a good dog with a good heart.

...and she also poops all in one little corner, which is so nice, because when I go to scoop the pen I don't have to hunt and search for her droppings. She's a very neat, clean dog.

NOW. The new pup...well. Some kids were selling puppies in front of Wal-Mart. They "said" they is a purebred American Bulldogs, but I am pretty sure that's not true. They looked like pitbull crosses to me. I expect the kids were trying to avoid people being turned off by the bad stigma that goes with pits, not that lying is okay. They also "said" she had had all her shots and wormer, but no papers were given to me so I don't know if that is true either. Of course, she will be visiting the vet soon anyway. I paid $25, and she's been an awesome puppy. She's around 4 months old. We named her Allie.



She was shy at first, and we were worried she might be sick, but she's opened up as well. She's not too silly, she's very smart and has a "serious" personality. She's already mostly housebroken...only one accident so far. She loves to cuddle up...has a bit of separation anxiety from me and Jessie though, and doesn't like for us to be apart. She doesn't like her "pack" to be split up, in other words. She threw up in the car as we were bringing her home the first night, and it was obvious they were feeding her wet food, so we've been slowly weaning her off it...not only is it expensive, but it's really not the healthiest choice IMHO. A nice balanced kibble is better. She's switching over nicely...little thing eats ravenously though! She can really throw down on the food.

She was very shy of Matilda at first...Tilly's size obviously intimidated her, and although Tilly was only trying to play, Allie was not so sure about her. It was very cold the first couple of nights we had Allie, so we kept her in over night, but during the day we put her out with Matilda and supervised from a distance to see how they got on. Allie was NOT happy about being away from us at first, and still cries for a few minutes when left. She loves the outdoors, we believe she was kept outside with the rest of her litter by the old owner, just doesn't want to be away from us.

She and Tilly have gotten on great though. Matilda has really made the puppy more outgoing. Allie will play fight with Matilda now, and Matilda will "nip" at her, but it's very gentle and I'm so proud of Tilly for being a good "step mom" to Allie. She's even trying to teach her to potty in the "potty corner" she has designated. Allie was pooping in the middle of the pen, and Tilly nudged her over to the corner as if she were trying to potty train the pup. The house that's built onto the pen recently got cleaned out for the winter and we put in some nice shavings, and the two have been very happy to share it. Allie loves to sleep in the shavings.

It's all worked out wonderfully...I'm really glad I decided to buy Allie now, in hindsight. We take Matilda out to play with her and give her exercise every day, but it's impossible for us to be with her every minute of the day, and having a fellow canine friend to play with and to keep her company is really going to be good for her when we can't be there. Not to mention someone to run and romp with at the dog park when there's nobody else out!

Matilda is going to the vet in just one or two weeks for shots, spaying, and wormer. We've decided to take Allie in a couple of months when she is old enough to be spayed and get it all done at once. And my kitties will be going to the vet soon...I realized the other day their rabies vac will need an update soon, and I'm sure they need other updates as well. So all the pets are going to see the doctor soon! I can't wait to see how Garfield handles it...he is not very open to going new places and meeting new people. I have a bad feeling he will need to be sedated for them to handle him. He's a massive cat, and when he is pissed off you can look out! Although he has been rather accepting of Allie. Not interested in interacting with her, but he will come out of the cat house and be around her. Spyro just likes to swat her with his paw playfully and run away like "What? That wasn't me!" I think they understand she's a baby.

Anywho, I think I'm going to wrap this blog up. I'll let you guys know how all the vet visits go. I think the dogs will do fine...I am sure Matilda will be scared though. She still gets very tense and fearful in new places and of new people. I just hope she doesn't try to snap at anyone if she gets that way...we haven't had her long enough to test that out 100% yet, although so far she's simply just been submissive to new people when she is frightened. Allie will be fine I'm sure. Spyro will probably be mischievous and swat at the vet. Garfield...will likely lose his mind temporarily. *sigh*


"Excuse me? What is THAT you brought into our house?"

Girl Power!

I don't think I have talked about it too much on my blogs, but I have a deep love for mares. I know some people detest them, refuse to even consider owning one...but I love them, hormones and all.

Casey put me with Amber in my last lesson. Around 15hh, give or take, stocky. I didn't ask, but I am 99.99% sure she's a QH. I mean, she is QH up and down and all around.

She's chestnut, and in a totally non-serious way I joked about 'chestnut mare syndrome'. You know, everyone says chestnut mares are 'crazy'.

Anyway, this is a cute mare. Neck is a little 'upside down', but it looks like more lack of muscle in the right area than conformational. I know she's in a corkscrew full cheek snaffle, and even Casey admitted it was too harsh for her at this point, but at one time she really needed it because she was very hard-mouthed when she first came to the barn because she had been cowboyed and rough ridden a bit in her previous home. She was a little mouthy at first, I suppose she's used to beginner's hands, but she figured out very quickly that my contact was going to be soft and quiet and lowered her head and stopped chomping so much.

Now, I have fallen in LOVE with this mare, because her trot is like nothing I have ever felt before. It was INCREDIBLE. Just incredible. It was so smooth I could, no exaggeration, just sit it like I was walking. I almost thought she was gaited at first. It was amazing...

I'll be cantering next week, but Casey has stated to me she's not trying to hold me back, just scoping out my riding skills at a slower pace - which is good. I have a feeling she sometimes gets students who...exaggerate about their riding experience. Haha.

So all is well and I'm very happy. Even though I miss Jack, I cannot seem to stop myself from being attracted to this mare. I just loved her! And she even saved me when I was cleaning her stall. I tripped on the corner of the stall mat, and went flying, and crashed into her, and she stood stone still and allowed me to gain my balance on her without even flinching, although she did look at me in a way that I knew in some equine way, she was laughing at me.

She's only 8 too. Not totally green, but still young. Really a great age. Most of the baby 'sillies' are out, but at the same time, the energy is still there, and there is more ahead of them to learn. Kind of like when young teens move up to high school. ;)

I may not be riding next Tuesday though. Well, I might. I dunno, we'll see. I stumped my toe this afternoon outside and I ripped my big toenail half off and jammed the toe pretty bad. Man, it is hurting. I have to say it's more painful than anything I've ever experienced up to this point. It aches, burns and throbs all at once. The exposed nail bed is okay, it's just the sides where it was ripped out...it's just disgusting and painful, and I almost want to have an amputation done.

I hope it's better though, I want to ride. But it's too painful for me to bend it back down, and it's too swollen for me to cut the pieces digging into my skin on the sides of the bent part. I have the worst luck sometimes...you know, I meet up with this awesome mare who may be a great help in helping me not get depressed and 'closed up' about giving up Jack, and I injure myself clumsily after the first ride, in a way that renders me possibly unable to ride. That's okay, I'll ride stirrupless if I have to. Promise to get pics next week.

Hmm, perhaps not...

So I had the coolest last ride on Jack. We cantered, stole a little bit of a slow gallop and just had some fun. No pressure. God I'm going to miss him...I think I took him for granted.

I've promised myself I won't dwell on it, what's done is done.

I went to see Janet. Unfortunately I didn't ride. Matilda was with us and she was scared of Janet's dogs (who were fenced but were very vocal, although not aggressive), so I decided to just look around so Matilda wouldn't have to sit in the car for an hour or more.

Precious was a sweetie, but I do believe she's far too small. She might even be a little smaller than Jack in height, but she's fine boned where as Jack was very stocky. I want to be sure what I get will look suited to me in size, not just be able to carry me.

Janet has some sweet horses, although I found myself a little unsettled about the fact she had everyone turned out in nylon halters and foals dragged lead ropes on their halters...

Anyhow, I'm not feeling so great, so that's pretty much all I have to write for now. I think some good sleep will do me well...

Squeaky Clean

I spent this afternoon cleaning the majority of my equipment, which I went ahead and brought home with me Wednesday. I figured it would be less work to go ahead and all but one saddle pad, my saddle, bridle and girth for my last ride Friday.

Jack had a little rain rot from all the wetness from the previous couple of weeks, so naturally I made doubly sure to wash anything that touched him Wednesday very good in antibacterial soap.

In general though, I'm conscientious of germs passing from barn to barn, so I wanted to wash everything I could anyway before moving it to Goldsboro Equestrian. And I didn't want to bring dirty equipment out.

I washed my saddle pads (although several I hadn't used since I last washed them, thankfully), brushes, halters, leads...washed my tack box out. Just tidied everything up. Even washed my gloves and helmet liner.

One thing was rather touching though...I have in sharpie on my grooming box 'Jack of Hearts'. Every time I have washed my brushes and box, that name has come off and I had to re-write it. Today, it would not wash off however, no matter what I did. I decided to leave it. I will put a piece of duct tape over it and write the new horse's name over it, not to cover Jack up, but so I will think about what's under that new name when I get that box out. What's underneath...everything Jack has taught me, that I can apply to other horses in the future. I think it's very fitting, and if Jack could comprehend symbolic gestures like that, he'd be pleased.

On the other hand, I discovered Jack is now being leased by a 5 year old little girl. Off property - they are picking him up Sunday. I'm happy that things worked out for Jack and Patricia, but a little miffed that she decided to lease him out again. I guess she just didn't trust that I'd pick up payments again in December...I suppose in the horse world, it's understandable, but as faithful and honest as I've been about payments, I thought she'd trust in me a little more. It's just a rough couple of months for me. What can I say? I just wish she'd been a little less hasty.

I have questioned my riding skills. Maybe she thinks I'm not a good enough rider. She's been quick to brag to me how all the people who have tried him have done so well, canter both directions. Made me feel like she was trying to say his problems in the canter were my fault, because I was not a good enough rider.

It's whatever. Our ride Wednesday was no star-studded performance, but it was fun, and we cantered all around the field behind the dressage area. Just to do it. Just to go fast, feel the wind in our faces. Maybe I have held off cantering him for so long, HE is not confident with me as a rider? He thinks he will scare me? He thinks I don't want him to? He was hesitant at first. Then, it's like something clicked, and he was okay, because he saw that I was okay.

I'm just going to miss him. If he were younger, I'd scrap up $3,000 in a heartbeat, but it's just not a smart thing to do. It's just not. I need something younger. No horse comes with an insurance policy on their rideable life. But realistically, you realize you'll have more miles left on a non-senior horse. I'm not a millionaire; I have the money to have one horse, and I'm going to choose wisely and make sure that my money will be well spent. Both in the purchase, and in the money I will pay to upkeep the horse properly.

Right now, I'm a little hurt over some things, a little confused. I know some things I ought not to feel hurt over because I really have no right to be offended, but there's just a lot going on right now. I have a feeling it's going to give me the confidence to ride harder, ride better, and ride stronger later. The confidence, perhaps, to jump my first fence in 6 years since my accident.

A Little Black Pony Has Moved Here

Sadly, minus my little black pony. :( In respect to him and the wonderful mount he has been for me for the past year, I'm leaving that blog totally dedicated to him, and using this blog to record the 'transitional' period in my riding, where I'm switching barns and looking for my own half-ton bundle of love to buy.

So, I get to Goldsboro Equestrian at 11 and nobody is there...hmm. Kind of a bad first impression I'm thinking. So I take a moment to look around. Okay, I was creeping. When I left it was a craphole, so I wanted to see what had changed. Well, the barn was a mess...stalls not finished, feed buckets all over. It was just...messy.

Several pluses though were that they:

-Removed the grass from the big jumping arena and had some great sand-mix footing.
-Fixed the footing in the indoor, nice sand-mix, soft and even.
-Fixed the FENCES, now they are nice wood fences, not half-rigged up electric wire.
-Sold the horses that were unsuitable as school horses.

I do think they have too many horses though. There were a lot of new school horses. Actually, almost all the horses were 'new' to me. There were several little rigged up paddocks of electric tape, but I believe those are her own horses. It's a little messy, but the important thing is it seems safe. All the horses look to be fat and happy. Many of them a little too fat...I won't tell anyone what to do but most of those horses don't even need grain in the summer, and only lightly in the winter probably.

Gulliver looked great. They put some weight on him and although he is not sound, he looks happy. I hope he finds a good home. He'd be an excellent show horse if someone just got him those hock injections...it's just not feasible for me to take him, even though he's free to good home.

Turned out the trainer was trying to get a doctor's appointment. She is 8 months pregnant and was feeling badly today, which was why the barn was messy - she had not had any help to do it. So I did a few stalls while she saw her doctor. She really looked miserable, poor woman.

Creepiest man EVER came up asking about lessons, but that's a different story...man, he was scary. I got a very bad vibe from him. I did not trust him one bit.

When the trainer, Casey, returned, we decided I would ride Duke. He's a massive chestnut TB gelding. 16.3hhs, honestly I think he could be a little more perhaps. And also broad. He looks like a big QH or a Warmblood. Total sweetheart though, but that is a LONG way up compared to Jack. And he gave my legs a workout. I took half the lesson just to get a consistent trot from him...

Can I just say that hunters are SO different from dressage it's not even funny? I realized that it is different, quite different, but I didn't realize it was that different. And Duke's a seasoned hunter, and my dressage seat was not cutting it. He was like "What are you doing lady?"

after some adjustments...things were looking up. I felt like a sack of potatoes though. My leg would not even wrap around him he was so big. I liked him, but I think I might try something a little smaller next week if she can find something. Even she said he might be a little big for me. I think so too...15 or so hands would really suit me the best I think.

All in all, I think I like the place. Because I did stalls for her, and she was so surprised and grateful, she didn't charge me for the lesson. Also mentioned maybe hiring me a couple of days a week to do them in exchange for lessons so I can put the money towards buying a horse, because she said she doesn't think she's going to be able to do it any more with her pregnancy. I don't see how she's done it so long anyway! The poor woman is huge. I know she'll be glad when the baby comes.

I will edit in pictures of Duke and I later. It's really comical, how measly I look on him. I though you all would think it was hilarious that of all horses, after being on a pony for a year, I'd be put on the biggest horse they have.

Edited in - PICS! I look like a 10 year old...we went in two arenas. The indoor got too dusty, haha!