the everything pony
who would really much rather eat all day
WTF Vegas
It snowed.
Last night at the barn
In Vegas.
This morning on my way to work
I thought we were living in the desert. Apparently not.
The snow stuck a lot more at the barn
It is pretty tho
Maybe it’s a decade thing? It snowed 3.5″ in 2008, so maybe it was just a wee bit late and decided to hit the desert again in 2019?
Choco in the snowfall of ’08
Then again maybe not. It snowed very slightly in 2014, but….snow in the desert. Yay. It’s been so windy tho, and February is usually our nice weather month and March sucks.
Hopefully you can see the snow falling lol
At least it’s pretty. And I gotta admit – I do miss the snow.
Walking on not-sunshine
Since all Amber and I can do right now is walk, like many many many many many many other posts I’ve had in the past…ahh….year lol, I’m trying to come up with fun and NEW blog post titles. I may or may not have succeeded here haha.
Amber is very excited to be out walking again. The weather hasn’t been too cold at all, but it’s been alternately cloudy, rainy and windy or all 3 combined. Amber does not approve. It was a light drizzle Saturday with a bit of wind and I wanted to get her out and walk but she protested. There was much head-shaking. Wrinkled nostrils. Hopping and grunting. So we went back inside after maybe 2 or 3 minutes. I forgot my phone to time it, but we weren’t out there long. After growing up in a pasture in Colorado, she doesn’t like being outside in crappy weather which I find highly amusing lol.
Because of this I didn’t get her out Monday or Tuesday because of mixed wind and rain, so when I got her out Wednesday she was a kite. After so many times of me reprimanding her for bucking in her stall, she looks like she’s angry when she bucks lol. But she’s getting used to me just being at the end of the lead rope and laughing as she expresses herself. The colder weather (we’re 30 degrees now at night; I know it’s SO COLD lol) has come around, so she stands all day and I think her stifle bothers her so she’s in a bit of pain when she goes walking. I’ve no doubt there’s scar tissue, and I’m sure it’s stiff and achy, but the walking will only help. She’s been happier in her stall since she goes out and walks now, and she’s starting to look for my truck to pull up again because she gets to go out instead of just expecting me to be her food dispenser LOL.
I ended up going with the Cloud boots instead of another pair of soft rides, and I’m really glad I did. They’re so much lighter and not as bulky, and Amber likes them so much better as well. She walks well in them, and they seem to be padded enough for her. They’re also miles easier for both my mom and I to get on and off Amber’s feet, so they’ve been a hit so far since we’re taking them off at night and putting them on in the mornings.
So far I’m able to get Amber out 5 days a week, with my long days acting as a break for her since I don’t get off of work until 5 and it’s still just a touch too dark. Plus, while it’s been extremely difficult to be patient, I’ve taken her rehab slowly, and that’s been paying off. So walking only a few days before taking a break may be a wee bit overkill since we’re only walking 5 extra minutes but after 6 months of strict stall rest I don’t want to overdo it. Slow but steady. Mostly, I let her walk as fast as she wants, sniff all the poop, roll and general head shaking and hopping and bucking that ensues. Not too many bucks mind you, but even when she does she knows to stay well away from me and not run me over lol. But for the most part she walks with purpose, wanting to just go somewhere.
Occasionally, I’ll remind her of her ground manners. Which I had to do the second day because when I tapped her shoulder as in “hon, I’m right here and you know better than to push on me” she immediately leapt in the air and bucked, and THAT was not acceptable. Buck for fun yes, but when mother asks the shoulders to move, they move. We do not throw a tantrum lol. So I practice her showmanship turn, her slowing down for me, backing and other small things without me needing to use my lead rope, and while I know she wants just wants to absorb it all in again and I want to let her play, I think she likes something to focus on. Her eyes are always softer, and her body is a bit more relaxed after.
She was just looking for an excuse to explode lol. I don’t blame her, but manners are manners lol
She was definitely more relaxed when I took her out last night; her eye was soft and there were no bucks. She was happy to be walking and looking out around her. Just at the end of the 5 minutes, I decided to just hop on. I’ve sat on her in her stall a few times, and it’s done us both good every time. We both really miss it. She’s not gotten all of her playfulness out yet, but she just looked very happy when she walked, and I know her so well that I knew she’d be fine. So we walked one 20 meter circle. And then I hopped off haha. I could tell she liked even just the small circle, because she put her nose in my stomach when I pet her. And then she proceeded to give Whisper nasty faces and try to keep me away from her LOL. But just as I was about to lead her into her stall, she startled something fierce. I was at a loss at what could have possibly scared her that badly. Until I saw it. What was it do you ask? (Sound on lol)
Our cute little barn owl. Oh, horses.
So that’s what’s been happening with us. We’ve gotten about 3 weeks of walking now, so we’re just going to keep plugging away. I’m not sure how long we’ll be at 5 minutes, or how long we’ll be weaning her off of the boots, but I’m not sweating it. My guess is 2 or 3 months of gradually less time in the boots, and walking increasing a bit. She short steps with that right hind still, but I think a little more walking and time will be the ticket to breaking up that scar tissue. Maybe then I can throw a saddle on, and we’ll do our walking under saddle once more. But I’m in no rush. At this point, having an inch of sole growth in 6 months and finally getting to walk out of her stall again are gifts I’m so happy to have right now. I know she’s happy too!
Review: Composite Lightweight & Wide Tread Stirrups
I think it’s high time I start actually getting around to reviewing things since I have no life right now haha. I’ve had a lot of things for a good long while now, so I should start getting them out. One of those things are the Composite Reflex Wide-Track Stirrups. I’ve had them since June 2017, so it’s been nearly 2 years that they’ve been in my possession. I’ve had the regular, Composite Lightweight Stirrups for a much shorter amount of time, but this will be a bit of a compare and contrast for the two stirrup types.
First I’ll go over the composite lightweight stirrups. I believe I bought these probably when I got my saddle – April of 2017 (sorry guys my memory doesn’t go back that far and I’m too lazy to really go back through my pictures lol. Because it could’ve also been like Jan or Feb 2017…. lol). After watching eventing in 2016, and beginning to follow some bloggers’ adventures, the ERM series, and anything else eventing that I could latch on to, I was very intrigued by the black stirrup look. I grew up riding in the hunter ring, so it was navy coat, tan breeches, black boots, oakbark tack and Fillis irons. I had also been out of the English world for 13 years, and eventing was so very different from the other English disciplines as well. It was bright, it was fun, there was color, and after riding Western with all that bling I was really loving all the xc possibilities.
After trying out my mom’s regular Fillis irons, they were heavy and the balls of my feet would hurt like crazy with those – so much so it’d make my toes numb. So I searched around for a stirrup with more padding, and that’s when I found the composite stirrups. I was immediately interested in those – perhaps they wouldn’t be as hard as metal, and they’d be lighter as well as having a nice, thick pad. So, I grabbed the composite lightweight stirrups – in royal of course because 1) color and 2) it matched all of Amber’s royal accessories and 3) because why not? I really liked them when they first came; they were just as light as advertised, and I loved how the royal looked so fun with Amber’s stuff. They were nicely padded, and I could tell that my feet felt a lot better in these.
But, after only 3 or so rides, the balls of my feet started hurting again. And I was really disappointed. I really liked these, but numb feet are no joke and quite painful. Since there were good things with these stirrups, I decided to stick with the composite but search for other options. At that time, a few bloggers were discussing how their feet felt better in a wide stirrup bed – distribution of pressure and all that. I hadn’t ever really thought of that, especially after being away from English for a while, but once I read that it made so much sense – my feet never hurt like that in Western stirrups, even when the length was short. Of course – wider foot bed. So with that light bulb in mind I went back to RW, found the composite wide tread stirrups, and snapped them up.
I was quite hesitant with these at first. There was no padding – only a lot of grip that I was afraid would still hurt quite a bit when I used them. I nearly got the black with the blue again, but I thought the all-black would be a good compare/contrast for me. And it turned out that I just really love the all-black look with my saddle. Can’t quite tell you why, but I do lol. But, since I’ve been using them for about the past two years, I’ve never looked back.
At first, my feet hurt a little bit. I wasn’t used to the grate on stirrups, so I’d take my feet out, roll my toes and check to see if my toes were numb. While the pressure was different, I didn’t have any numb toes. And then, after about 3 rides, my feet stopped hurting. And they haven’t hurt since. The only time my feet did hurt was when it was cold, I was wearing the wrong socks with my non-winter tall boots, and my entire foot was numb haha. But that wasn’t the stirrups’ fault haha. Once my foot got used to the newer stirrups, my feet have been great. My arches have hurt less, and these definitely distribute the pressure a lot more evenly than a narrower foot bed. Personally, I think these have helped my knees a little as well, but to be really honest I can’t completely tell. I still get a few pangs, but they’re few and far between than the once a week when I rode in the Fillis irons and the narrow composite ones.
The grate on these stirrups is super grippy. I think my feet have come out of these stirrups exactly twice – once in my lesson with Lit when he spooked at the canter and I nearly fell off the side (and once I jammed my foot back in the stirrup I had to actually lift my leg up to reposition my foot), and the second time when Soxie got too close to the rail and knocked my foot out of it lol. So these have a lot of really good grip to them. I’ve even used them with my dressage saddle, and I really like that even with a draped leg, my feet stay in the stirrup right where I place them – no slipping and sliding. Plus, because they’re composite, they’re very light, which is a wonderful change to very heavy western saddles. Granted, English saddles are generally much lighter, but I liked that these added very little weight.
This isn’t to say that the lightweight composite stirrups aren’t good. Not at all – I really liked them when I used them, especially with their fun, colorful options, and they’re a great stirrup for a lot of people. And at a little over $30, you really can’t beat that. For me, though, I needed something with a wider tread that distributed pressure, and those are a better fit for me than the regular ones. The wide tread comes in at a little over $40, so these absolutely don’t break the bank, either. Also, the regular composite stirrups don’t have the grip like the wide tread does, so I could see my feet coming out of those easier than the wide tread. The padding is a pretty good grip – it’ll stick to the bottom of your boots, but if you’re jumping or running xc where it’s a lot easier for your feet to slip around, I would suggest going for the wide tread versus the regular.
For that, I give the Wide Tread stirrups a 5/5, and the Lightweight stirrups a 4/5.
For anyone eyeing these stirrups, I hoped my review helped!
Amber update: vet visit! (finally)
Yesterday, Amber’s check up was finally here.
Not quite, but it certainly feels like it. It’s been 4 long months of just sitting here twiddling my thumbs since the last check up. The waiting game is never fun, and with Amber on strict stall rest and not even allowed any hand-walking, both her and I are getting stall fever. Unfortunately, feet do not grow that fast, especially in the winter. But her toe was getting really long on that LH, so much so that it was actually pushing it over the bounds of the boot and ripping it to shreds. I was really hoping she could wait the 3 weeks. But I started to feel heat on the back of the coronary band and the heel of her LH. I had called my vet to ask what he wanted to do – her shoeing appointment isn’t until the 6th, and her original appointment was for the 29th, but I was really struggling keeping that boot on her and was worried about the pressure it was causing.
That’s when he suggested to move it up a week.
So on Tuesday he came out to get new xrays on her foot. Amber was very happy to have all the attention centered around her, and checked everyone’s pockets for treats. She was perfect for them, and within the first five minutes of arriving they had their equipment set up and were getting the xray. And you guys, we have good news.
You can see how well her new hoof is growing out. It looks like it’s growing well along the new coffin bone line. She has a lot of extra toe that will need to come off, but our farrier will be out on Friday to shoe Whisper, so hopefully he can squeeze Amber in there too.
And some more good news! Amber is cleared for walking! The vet said she would be okay with light turnout, but knowing Amber, she’s going to be a kite if I just turn her out. Poor girl hasn’t been allowed out since August 1, so she will certainly be…ah happy… if I just let her out haha. So hand walking it is. Just for five minutes, but I know she will be so happy even with that.
Doc also thinks that she’s good to start weaning off of her boots! Her left boot is completely shot and requires gorilla tape to hold it to her foot until the farrier can see her. So, we’ll start with letting her have her boots off at night, wearing them during the day and for her walks, and then we’ll go from there.
It’s still going to take a good 6-9 months before Doc is completely happy with her foot and believing us fully out of the woods. But, having such a good prognosis yesterday I’m completely fine with waiting it out some more. Amber won’t be happy with still so much time left, but at least now she’ll get out. After a little while of hand walking to get a lot of her initial kicks and wiggles out, she’ll be able to get turned out all on her own.
So, lots and lots of good news guys. I am so relieved. I know for a while there I was really prepared and expecting the worst, but I think Amber still has some surprises left.
But I’m torn between buying her another set of soft rides or trying the cloud boots. Do you guys have any experiences with the cloud boots? If so, if love to know your opinions!
Lesson Recap: Soxie, Rocky and Mom – Oh My!
I REALLY meant to post this Tuesday. And then Wednesday. And then yesterday. And totally kept forgetting to bring all of the media together to post this haha. I guess after officially starting school Monday, I only have so many brain cells left over after work and then school LOL.
Nevermind that, tho – on to the lesson! Saturday was a ton of fun. Not only did I have a great time on Soxie, but my mom also had great fun on Rocky! He was the perfectly pokey QH for her haha!
Soxie was an angel. Personally, even though she was strong in my last lesson with her, I think she always is pretty perfect, but I felt this was one of my best lessons yet on her. It could have been because we tried a different bit on her – just a very mild elevator – but I like to think it’s because we get along haha. I think it’s because she’s so much like Amber and Whisper, and just for the type of horse she is I hop on her and immediately feel very comfortable. I think she feels comfortable with me as well – this ride she was lowering her head and neck and stretching down and over her back within one trot lap around the arena. And she was actually a bit lazy this lesson!
In terms of challenging exercises or having a lightbulb moment, this lesson was not either of those. Because my mom and I were lessoning together we didn’t do too much, and Soxie hadn’t jumped in a week, so we kept it very simple. But everything just came together so nicely, and Soxie and I were communicating well. It helped that I was doing my PT exercises again to get stronger, and that improved my balance and stability. I was hoping we would be able to jump just a little, and we did! And this time, I actually not only REMEMBERED to BRING my helmet camera, but I remembered to TURN IT ON. So I FINALLY got some video for between the ears with Soxie! It’s only of our last two runs, but they were the best and most exciting anyway, so it works lol.
Mostly, we focused on getting Soxie relaxed, but forward, and practicing our half halts. Soxie has a very fine line of just right and too much, and she was a little too slow so I had to give a good squeeze to get her from a little pokey to a little brighter lol. When a horse is fast I tend to sit “back” with my center of gravity going back and my lower leg coming forward – a habit I certainly learned from riding western! So I really tried this ride to keep myself centered and not let my lower leg swing forward. This helped when Soxie got a little fast, but I’m still learning just what she needs from me so she can relax into a frame. Then if my leg slipped a wee bit too far back, Soxie thought canter, so she was a good teacher in helping me figure out where was just right and where was too forward or back.
She was a bit stiff but also just resistant to really coming around my right leg. It’s my weaker leg anyway, so I wasn’t surprised, but I think it’s also her slightly weaker side as well. We worked on getting her supple and in that exercise for me NOT to hunch my shoulders when I release. I think that’s going to be my hardest habit to break – the shoulder hunch when I release. It must be a western thing – release with fingers or your shoulders and break your wrists but omg NOTHING with your elbow haha. So that’s been a challenge for me.
Trainer G set the poles/jumps in a lightning bolt pattern down the middle of arena, and we worked on all the space in between. Soxie absolutely loves to jump, and was very excited to be jumping by actually jumping the poles haha. But she was still very respectful as I brought her back to a trot, and really tried to implement my half halts with my seat. She had a few moments of “no, let’s GO JOMP OMG” but when I told her firmly that wasn’t what today was about she responded well. I over-bent her a bit in the turns because she does like to be strong and just go for it. But the point for her was everything in between the jumps, and part of her strength is that she likes to brace through her turns. Her right was still a bit difficult – it was easier in the trot than when we made it to the canter, but once she realized the activity she was foot perfect for the rest of the jump exercises.
We had 2 runs of trot to crossrail and canter to vertical, and both times felt positive. Soxie is positively the easiest horse I’ve ever ridden to trot a jump haha. I know she’s going to go, and you can feel her excitement of YAS JOMPIES and she does this ever-so-polite canter stride before the jump that you can just let yourself relax and follow her momentum over the jump. So it really allows me to think about my weight in my heels, closing my leg around her and keeping my elbows straight and forward without worrying if she’ll jump or not. We reiterated her coming down to a trot for a simple lead change as well as just reminding her to come back, and then turned off the rail to the small vertical. I turned a little early, and was just a little too soft. She lengthened as she locked onto the jump, but was super responsive when I half halted and steadied her a little, so we came up short to the vertical. It still felt like a good ride – I was a thinking rider, I was helping her out, I was actually able to rate her stride to judge the distance, and instead of being indecisive, I made the decision to be short to the jump.
We had one more go around, and that time was the golden ticket. We nailed our lead changes, and Soxie softened into my leg around the turn. I sat back just a hair, and closed my legs to support her but remained steady with my hands. I turned just a little later than the previous time around, and made sure that my shoulders were up and we still had that lovely rhythm. A few strides out and I knew we’d hit the jump beautifully, so I loosened my elbows a little and we flew over the jump. We nailed the left to right lead change too, and while she wasn’t as soft around my right leg, she was responsive, kept her frame, and was perfectly accepting of my input as we cantered for a bit more before having two great downward transitions.
You can hear me on the video and how over the moon I sounded haha. But it was just a super positive ride on her. Soxie completely remains my favorite of the horses I’ve ridden so far lol.
As for my mom, Rocky was a perfect QH for her. I was very pleased that through the lesson she wanted to continue doing more – she felt confident on Rocky, and ended the lesson laughing and having a blast. Which was the exact point of the lesson for her! She hasn’t gotten to ride Whisper in a while, and English will always remain her first love, so I was extremely happy that the lesson was such a success for her.
As for school, it’s definitely different from what I’m used to, but I’m really trying to stay on top of things and do a little bit each day so it’s a nice and easy transition and I’m not suddenly overwhelmed with things to do come the weekend lol. Because of this determination, I got quite a bit done on my class, so I have another lesson with Trainer G and Soxie on Saturday!
Wow – TWO lessons already so far AND I’m keeping on top of school for now?! It’s a miracle! Let’s just hope I keep it going LOL!
New Year, New Goals
I did have goals at the start of last year – they were pretty vague goals, but goals nonetheless. So, let’s see how I did!
Horse goals:
Figure out what’s going on with Amber: I am quite happy that I can cross this off! While the news was certainly not the best, and she’s been officially retired, at least I KNOW what’s been bothering her.
Get back to work riding Amber: For obvious reasons, this did not happen haha.
Keep Amber healthy and happy and healing: I am going to cross this off. She’s healing, I know she’s not completely happy but still doing well, and laminitis notwithstanding she is quite healthy. She’s even putting on her winter pounds, which I’m not sure how considering I’m not feeding her any more than her assigned 18 lbs LOL.
Personal Goals:
Put even more/better energy into work: While I still need to do more, I do consider this a success. I certainly put more in this year than I did last year, and it’s all about progress – baby steps! (And yet why is it so easy to be like “little steps; progress with horses isn’t linear” and yet for me “how dare I not improve 110% all the time, all year” lol so it’s a success!)
To be a better/fitter person/rider: This is a meh, so I’m marking it as half complete. I do believe I’m a better rider for my lessons, but I am not fit like I should be. Riding guys like George and Lit certainly helped my fitness, but as to going to a gym or just targeting weak groups of muscle – that was a massive fail haha.
Funds permitting, have 2-3 jump lessons a month – or if funds not permitting, at least 1 a month: I got started with this late in the year, but I still think of it as a success. Counting all of them, I’ve had 10 lessons, so personally, I think I did it! It evens out to almost 1 a month, and starting September I did have 2-4 lessons a month, so it counts to me! lol
Spend more time with friends: I did! Not as much as I was hoping, but I still did make time for more friend get-togethers – not to mention I flew to South Carolina to spend some much-needed time with my Grandma and relatives.
For 2019, it’s really going to be more of the same:
- Keeping Amber healthy, happy, and (knock on wood and cross your fingers) on the road to recovery
- Continuing with lessons, funds – and now school – permitting
- Fitness (this will probably never not be a goal, and this will probably always be a hit or miss kind of thing for me LOL)
- Putting more energy into work, now with school so I can learn new things! (And, consequently, doing WELL in school haha)
- Time with friends
- And of course, keeping up with self-care. Which means one or two of these may disappear for a time, but self-care is quite underrated. Thankfully, I don’t have as hard a time ensuring I take time for myself now as I have in the past, but sometimes things just happen all at once so you’re bogged down for a while
These are purposefully vague. If I get too specific, I find I either tunnel in on the details and lose sight of the big picture, or even the thought of it feels overwhelming and I avoid it like the plague lol. For me, the vague goals still give me a sense of direction for the year, but it doesn’t feel constricted. I feel that I can still have my eyes ahead but I’m not so focused that my peripheral vision can’t see potential opportunities.
As it stands, I’m on the way to starting off January with a bang on the lesson front – I have a lesson with Trainer G on Saturday and Soxie is my ride again! I gifted my mom with a riding lesson for her birthday, so we’re going to have a “group” lesson on Saturday with her riding Rocky! We’re both very excited. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have a lesson with Trainer M next Wednesday provided the horses are all healthy and good to go.
2019, here we come!
A new season is coming
You guys. I did a thing.
A non-horsey thing.
And not just any thing.
2019 is the year that I am going back to school. I am equal parts petrified and excited haha.
After doing some researching and asking around early 2017, I decided to postpone schooling for the time being. Amber and I were showing; I wanted to get into eventing with her, so there was no time for school. Of course, all of the things that happened at the end of 2017 and all through this year had all of that screeching to a halt.
I’ve thought long and hard about all of it for months. And I realized I didn’t want to lease a horse, much less buy one yet. I also realized that I’ve been skating by a bit with work, and just kind of life in general. So much of my focus has always been tunneled on my horse life and aspirations that I’ve really had to reassess where all the non-horsey aspects of my life are going. Since it is a waiting game with Amber healing, why not now? I procrastinated and pushed it aside before since I wanted to do the eventing thing with Amber, but that’s not in the cards anymore, and this feels like a really good time to start it, to push forward.
I’m not posting often now, and that will probably dwindle down even further once I start school. I’m absolutely going to try to keep up lessons since I can’t even ride Whisper, either (she’s having some winter woes again). I’ll certainly still get my horsey time hanging out with Amber, and if I’m in dire need I’ll hop on her as I’ve been doing recently – just a few steps around the stall and then lots and lots of scratches in the places that are hard to reach from the ground.
It’ll certainly be different. I’m used to my world centering around my horse, but all things in life require balance, and I think it’s time I balance my work and my horses. Of course, it’s a little bit tipping the scales the other way, with my life centering more around work and how school will help me with work and horses taking a back seat. But I’m hopeful that once school is over, the balance will even itself out.
So that’s what’s coming up for me!
As for Amber, we’re continuing the long waiting game. She’s doing as well as she can – based on what the farrier could feel of her LH hoof, she’s growing a really good amount of sole which is great to hear. She gets her Equioxx every day and I think it’s helping. Short of more “meds” I’m trying to get her as comfortable as she possibly can be, so with her pill she now gets MSM, Glucosamine and HA. I mean, this horse really does get better care than me. I’m living on Airborne and Aleve and frozen foods at the moment haha! But I do think the supplements help her feel better. She’s still very short on that RH – I think it’s still a little painful, but I also think that because she’s moving very little it’s stiff and there’s no doubt some scar tissue built up.
She’s handling her confinement remarkably well – she’s now at 142 days of being on strict stall rest – not even hand walking. I’m not overly surprised that she’s doing well; she was relatively confined to her stall for nearly a year after her first knee injury. But she’d been allowed small bits of turnout and exercise at least 1x a week so she at least had that.
I’ve also created a bit of a monster LOL. On Thanksgiving I decided to screw it and hop on her. I missed my horse like crazy, and nothing ever feels so much like home than when I swing a leg over her broad back. She was very confused at first, but lots of scratches and just a turn or two around her stall run was all either of us needed. I’ve done that a few times since, and for days afterward she is pushing at her gate, looking at me like “hey, so, we rode, so that means that we’re going out now, right? Right?? I mean, let’s go!” I don’t latch her or Whisper’s gates usually as I’m doing night chores – both girls are always preoccupied with hay and I go in and out of them a lot. Well, Amber has discovered how to push her gate open without making any noise. Because if I hear it I laugh or scold her and latch the gate.
And she’s also learned that if she gets it open without me noticing to hurry the F out so I can’t catch her LOL. It’s great she’s so easily persuaded with treats because I just grab a few and she follows me back. No need for me to grab a halter or anything. I am probably not a great horse mom because I will let her do it haha. Partly because it’s funny and I like her shenanigans (thankfully they’re TAME shenanigans or it wouldn’t be funny lol) and partly because who knows, maybe she feels happy or challenged trying to get out of her stall, and if I let her have small victories then maybe it’ll make her stall rest more bearable lol.
What can I say? She gets away with things I would never allow another horse to get away with haha.
A few weeks ago Whisper was running around and got really excited, which made Amber excited and go cavorting and bucking in her run. She smacked her left hind really good – a giant bump on the front of her LH and a swollen tendon on the back of that LH. I iced it, the heat went down and it was okay, and then her skin started flaking off. I thought maybe it was fungus, but wasn’t sure if I should put any antifungal things on it – they looked more like she’d scratched herself up. Now the scab is peeling, but I don’t know it just looks really weird. It also looks like some of her hair is growing in white, which I’ve never seen before so I have no clue what’s going on. Any of you guys have any thoughts?
Amber has a vet appointment before her next shoeing to see how her feet are progressing, but that’s in another 6 or so weeks. I hate picking scabs, but I’ve worked on the two of them trying to see what’s underneath. The good thing is that they both look like the exact same thing – the bad thing is that I have no clue what the thing even is. I’ve thought maybe the front is a splint but then what does that make the back cut/pit of mush? I’ve kept it wrapped with a Neosporin-like salve on it, but it’s just….weird lol.
So any thoughts would be appreciated.
I’m hopeful that her LH will grow out and at least be more functional/comfortable than it is now. I monitor her RH a lot, but I don’t think she’s in danger of laminitis developing in that foot. She still puts an insane amount of weight on that LH, so we’ll see how it goes. But, I’m hoping that if her foot can recover relatively well, that the new hoof will grow parallel with the coffin bone, that maybe sometime in the future she and I can go on short walks again together, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I know she misses that, and I miss that, too. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that hopefully our prognosis will be positive!
Bloghop: Favorites of 2018
I figured I may as well hop on the bloghop bandwagon! It’s been one helluva 2018 lol.
Favorite Horse Show Photo
It doesn’t look like much, but this was Whisper’s first show in at least 5 years, and my first show with her in about 7 years. Compare this to any of our older photos, and neither one of us look this relaxed or calm. This was such a phenomenal show for Whisper. It was small, we only did 4 classes, but she was calm, she was trying, and she didn’t do any of her previous nervous habits. Unfortunately it was her only 2018 show, but I still think it says a lot about what she and my mom can do in the future!
Favorite Non-show Photo
Saturday or Sunday walks around the neighborhood with my mom and Whisper were some of my favorite days. The two girls loved going on their walks together, and it was great for my mom and I to chat and to let the horses have a change of scenery.
Favorite Thing You Bought
I really love my dressage saddle, and I love the deal I got on it, too. I also love the fabric I bought to make stirrup covers for my stirrups while on said saddle. The two go together, really lol.
Favorite Moment on Horseback
When I first got to hop on Amber post-surgery. This picture wasn’t that day, but I certainly missed riding my best girl, and being able to ride her once more was the best. I know she was certainly happy to transfer from hand-walking to riding!
Favorite Moment Out of the Saddle
I think our faces say it all!
Favorite Between the Ears Photo
Riding out in the neighborhood in just a halter? Check lol.
Favorite Horse Ridden (or groomed/cared for) Aside from Your Own
Soxie hands down lol. She is such a cool mare!
Favorite Funny Photo of Your Horse
This is totally her “omg you have TREATS” face, and it perfectly embodies her LOLOL. She has SUCH an expressive face, but whenever I whip out my phone to capture it she deadpans at me. She’s only photogenic when she wants to be lol.
Favorite Fence or Movement that You Conquered
This particular lesson was pretty intricate that Trainer G had set up in the early part of this year, and I was really proud of myself this lesson. I got the striding, got Liam on pace and in front of my leg, and got the bending line. Success!
Favorite Horse Meme
True story tho haha!
Thanks everyone else for doing this, too! I’ve loved looking through all of the photos!
Lesson Recap: Georgio x2
I’m going to combine these two lessons into one post since – well, I was a fail in my last lesson, and we didn’t do much in either one. Plus, I have very little to no media. What do ya do.
Well, for starters, I was happy to have Georgio this lesson because per last lesson I was expecting to do more cantering, poles and the like. And Georgio’s canter is much easier to sit. Once he gets going his canter is great. But what did we work on? Trotting. Sans stirrups. Because apparently it’s Drop-’em December. Oh lordy. And poor Lit got a boo-boo so he was out of commission. Plus, I rode the whole lesson without spurs. If you are thinking I died and somehow managed to come back as a ghost and write this, well then you would be correct.
It was a cold-ish and dreary day, so I was hoping my Grand Prix Thermal full seat breeches be in by that time (they weren’t), so the fleece-lined Ovation tights I pulled to ride in….they did NOT help me. It was just a fail fest on Wednesday, really. Georgio was more responsive this lesson, and really responded when I’d lighten by seat while posting. We were pretty good for the first 15 minutes of the lesson – when I got my shit together he’d go nicely, and then he’d decide that work was optional. So I’d lose my position when his pace would waffle – basically the back and forth I had the first time I rode him. No spurs didn’t help, either. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice horse, very sweet and I like him. But there’s only so much my out-of-shape legs can do, and I really really dislike how much I need a crop with him – and Lit too for that matter.
We worked on sitting trot for a bit, and man, if I’m going to do that with Georgio again, I’m either going to have to make sure to drop my stirrups or change my position (the most likely culprit I think), because I had neck pain for days which gave me some nasty headaches for like 3 days straight. It doesn’t help that I for sure have 1 herniated disc, maybe 2 in my neck. When I dropped my stirrups it was much easier to sit Georgio, but my cross country saddle is not made for dressagey sitting trot lol. I was trying to sit with my butt here, calf muscles there, elbows not compensating for balance – that means YOU AS WELL LEFT HAND – and I’m thinking I got ridiculously stiff in my neck which caused the whole thing to start. It doesn’t help that I’m so focused on keeping the horse going that I can’t focus on relaxing into the movement. I loved sitting Amber’s trot in my dressage saddle – it felt really nice. Then again she is certainly not as buoyant as George lol. When sitting the trot tho, the Ovation breeches did not help me at all like my full seats do, and they bunched up weird.
It was just… not a successful lesson. I was miscommunicating to Georgio, and he was a bit tired despite the cold – his only “it’s cold and I be a wild beast” was to spook twice. Like huge, slow motion spooks haha. It was ridiculously easy to sit to after riding short, tiny, agile cutting/reining horses that can scoot out from under you in a heartbeat. I was disappointed in the lesson, just felt very blah – especially from myself. I think Georgio was feeling under the weather – they’d had a show that past weekend that he was in, and he had lots of crusty boogers and snot on one of his nostrils, so I wonder if he just wasn’t feeling it either.
What did work about my lesson? My new winter Roeckl gloves, my Ariat merino wool sweater, my puffy vest, and my trusty brown MH boots. At least I picked my clothing well – minus the breeches. I just, ya know, couldn’t ride that day lol.
After that lesson I thought a lot about grabbing a dressage whip – I’d prefer not to have to use a crop at all, but the lesson horses kind of need something longer with perhaps a little more “oomph” if I’m not going to be able to use spurs; and my legs are only so strong to not only hold myself but use them on the horse since both Lit and George take A LOT of leg. Not even Rocky or Soxie need that much leg. But, the main reason I’m thinking of grabbing one is for my left hand. It likes to completely flatten with my knuckles in the air, which allows my elbow to imitate a sea-flap-flap. Trainer G always has me grab a dressage whip instead of a crop, and I realized that when I switched it to my left hand, I could feel the press of the whip on my thigh when my left hand was in the correct position. So it helps remind me to ice cream cone my left hand, which in turn prevents my elbow from become a chicken wing. Or a sea-flap-flap. Whichever you prefer.
So for the next lesson I planned to switch it up and chose my only pair of full seat Pipers. They’re a thinner breech, but not made for hot weather like my Grand Prix breeches , and it was a lovely, warm sunny day so they were perfect. I debated whether or not to wear my brown boots, but decided to finally break out my black boots that I’d gotten on the Black Friday sale and try them with some new socks. The day before my next lesson I ended up popping by the local tack store for a dressage whip.
I was assigned George again (it’s slow going but I’m getting better at his trot), and he was so sweet – perked his head up and left his hay when I called his name. His nose was still snotty, so he was definitely a little sick, so I immediately determined it would be a light day. I got to ride, and that was good enough for me. Trainer M agreed that we would do only a bit of trotting, a teensy bit of cantering and just focus on my position since George was feeling under the weather (and yes the barn was taking good care of him!). I made sure to tell Trainer M about my neck as well, and she immediately switched up the exercises that would garner the same results.
George and I worked so much better together this lesson. I think part of it is I’ve ridden him a few times now, and I certainly rode better this lesson, but to be honest? It was the whip lol. When I first asked for the trot he threw his “I don’t wanna” sucking back head toss, and two quick taps with the whip had him second-guessing that. He moved into what has been his most forward trot to date, and it was so much easier for me to do my job. Only a few times at first would he slow down, and a cluck and a tiny tap and he’d be forward again. I could actually focus on posting the way he preferred – light and a little forward in my seat with supporting calves. I could focus on using my elbows as the hinge instead of my shoulders. I could focus on balance and position, and I could hold it much longer since he remained steady and forward.
The lesson really was mostly trotting, having me two-point at the trot and post the trot sans stirrups that similarly works your abs and legs like a sitting trot. It was really good that Georgio kept a steady pace for this, especially for my two-point. I realized that while I’m using my core, my back is still like “NO NO it’s fine – let me just take ALL of this slack up” so I had to really concentrate on loosening my lower back muscles every few strides and tightening my abs – back and forth lol. I was also able to also focus on breathing, which sounds silly, but I’ve realized that I have to breathe a certain way with George to actually get enough air in my lungs haha!
Once our trotting was done and we took a short break, I asked George to canter. He still threw his head toss, and I only had to tap him twice, walk and readjust, and we were off without a hitch. He’s such a lovely horse to canter, and we cantered about once or so around the ring before calling it quits. He got many pats.
It was a short lesson, but it felt like one of my best on him or Lit so far. I do think it worked so much better because he was more forward – a lot of things work better with a forward horse lol. Because of that I felt accomplished that I could do the exercises instructed, and then better support him in turn. But the dressage whip really did help me with my left hand and coincidentally the fact that the left side of my ribcage collapses. I mean, I knew it collapsed, but sometimes the light bulb doesn’t go off until something else helps it along haha. I’d feel the whip bump against my boot and get the whip back up. I will still need to tighten my right elbow, but my left one is the worse offender, so I’m going to keep on carrying the whip for a while for my poor left hand’s sake lol.
Two very different lessons, but I think I still learned a lot in them both. What not to do in the first one, and what works in the second one. I have another lesson tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it. I know I won’t get another one with Trainer M for at least the next 2 weeks, and I may not get another one for a while after that – it’ll just depend on how things go for next year. I’ll have a post coming up telling you guys all about it!
That is….if I can write it much less get it out next week haha!
Lesson Recap: Soxie
I of course was very happy to get to ride Soxie again. Trainer G had posted a video of her just eating up the tiny xc course (and I mean like….tiny because it is Vegas after all) and getting super duper excited. It was a lot of fun to see! The lady who was leasing her previously isn’t leasing Soxie anymore, so I think she’s going to be one I get to ride a lot more often in the future! Which is great because this mare is super cool.
We started off with some long walking and leg yielding. She’s just a tad stiff when she first gets to working even though she’s still young – not unlike me, so I get it lol – but I mostly had no contact and just asked for a bit of circling and leg yielding. I think it did help a bit because when we started trotting, she was certainly still stiff, but she was a lot quicker to reach down and start stretching through her back. We moved to the open arena after that and continued our trotting.
The ride itself was pretty simple – a cavaletti to a crossrail, and (further down in the lesson) a diagonal red in and out line and a diagonal yellow crossrail. I was behind Soxie’s movement our first jump attempt, but I don’t quite have the stability yet for it so I was with her on the cavaletti but behind for the crossrail, and she clunked it pretty good. Next time around? She jumped me out of the tack a little because she was NOT going to touch the pole again. Haha! She was a little strong through the lesson, so we worked on straightness, waiting for the strides, and I was really starting to get the hang of it by the second or so time we cantered through the exercise. I really need to resume my PT exercises tho lol.
We worked a lot on my abs and shoulders with Soxie. She likes to pull a bit and get strong, and she tends to land hard as well, so it can be difficult to get her back up. In my effort not to pull and lock my arms, I tend to overreach them, stretch them away from my body and let my elbows get flappy. Trainer G gave me the tip of elbows tight to rib cage, since Soxie was getting stronger at that point, and to perform a simple change in the corner to the yellow diagonal fence. Nailed it that time! And it felt great!
A few times we were wiggly, but I was proud of myself for getting it done, making her wait for the canter strides to the yellow fence when it was a ground pole and through the in and out which was a soft 5. But she was super excited to jump, just a little strong and woohoo about it since Trainer G had jumped her 3 foot the day prior lol. But she’s certainly not naughty or mean – she’s a jumper at heart and she gets strong and excited. I was a little concerned that I might be a little more nervous on a strong horse, and Soxie can want to run away a bit, but I was glad that I wasn’t the least bit scared on her. I know she’ll come back, and once I got the elbow/ribcage trick with her it was pretty much smooth sailing. We even got a lovely flying lead change too.
We rode the yellow fence to the red in and out – both trotting, and we were successful! It wasn’t the prettiest lesson, and I didn’t feel quite as in sync on Soxie as I had last time, but it wasn’t bad by any means. She was a little excited, a bit nervous perhaps since I’m a new person, but again, I think it helps that Trainer G and I ride and think similarly. I am still learning Soxie, and I was happy to get to ride her again, and I think she’s a perfect mid level horse for me. The other, bigger warmbloods are great for me to get a really good workout and work exclusively on my position, while Soxie is a much more sensitive ride and challenges me with my position and my awareness of how she’s doing.
I REALLY need to pay attention to my left arm tho. It likes to flap out and my pinky does weird things like not gripping the reins which like…. hand. WTF. It’s this weird rogue thing that does not obey my brain lol.
While this lesson wasn’t as mentally challenging as my last one on Rocky, I was still really happy with it. It felt like a normal lesson/ride of working out the kinks and me and the horse getting to know each other. Or a similar feel to a training ride I would have had on Amber.
So a great lesson, and lots of media!
Also, Trainer G has been using bluetooth because neither one of us like to have to shout to talk to each other across a ring. I am totally in love with headsets now. Must have lol.
Maybe (east coast) you’re not the worst thing ever
Kudos to anyone noticing the Galavant reference there lol. (And here’s an Amber update!)
Which I know, the title is at odds with everyone’s weather posts, and I probably got the best of the weather, but I got back Monday from a mini vacay in South Carolina.
My grandma is 91, and me being out west – FAR out west – it’s always a challenge to visit the relatives, since all of them basically live on the east coast. So it was great being able to see her, and really cool talking to her. She has so many cool stories, especially since she and my grandpa lived overseas in places like Honduras and Egypt. We talked a lot of where we came from and tracing lineage and all that. Stories of my dad and my uncles and everyone’s shenanigans, and lots and lots of good memories. I really enjoyed it, because my grandma may be 91, but her mind is so sharp, and some of the things that she says are so unexpected that all of us couldn’t help but laugh. So, a very good vacation.
But I was very much expecting it to be freezing like I remembered from living in Virginia, yet the weather was gorgeous. It was really only a few degrees cooler than Vegas and wasn’t THAT crazy to realize. I was just fine even without a jacket most of the time. Just my winter sweaters. I was actually pretty warm most of the time and wishing I’d brought some short sleeve shirts.
I may never end up in South Carolina, but moving back to the east coast has been on my mind lately, something I’m toying with. Because who knows? There may be a job opportunity, and there’s certainly a lot more eventing presence there than here in Vegas. Cold weather clothing has come a long way in 10 years, and the more I think on it, the more I’m not shuddering in my seat thinking of the cold lol. I actually liked the crisp-cold in SC, the misty rain and lovely greenery. Although, that was probably because those are three things that Vegas doesn’t have so it’s nice for me. Probably not so much if I lived there (the rain and cold that is).
It may also be though that Colorado has been my favorite place to live so far. I loved it’s 4 seasons, and it’d get very warm and humid in the summer, but the winters really weren’t bad. If I had the proper dress I was completely fine, and I loved crunching through the snow, seeing the sun sparkle on it and the trees, burrowing into my cozy winter clothing. I didn’t think I’d missed it that much until I’d visited the east coast.
This has all shocked me haha. I am not a cold-weather person, and yet I have been strangely happy with the wonderful fall weather Vegas had, and that it is getting cold. I have a few theories on that, but this feels like a nice change. I’ve never enjoyed winter, and it feels quite nice that this year it seems like I am enjoying all parts of the year instead of deeply dreading winter. Even if Vegas winters aren’t anywhere near as bad as the northern states.
As for Amber, she’s got her hair in. She’s enjoying the cold, even though I’m really wishing I can let her out for a good buck and a bit of play time. I know she’s sick of her stall. But she’s doing just fine – there’s just not much to say in a waiting game. She’s got another 8 weeks before another vet check-up to see how she’s doing, and I’m crossing my fingers that with that check she’ll be able to finally graduate out of her boots. She loathes those things LOL.
She and Whisper got stuffed with Thanksgiving treats yesterday, and I even managed to get her to the fence and hop on her. We took like 10 steps around her stall, but I’ve certainly missed being on my favorite pony. I think she really missed it too. She was a little confused at first haha, but once she realized we really weren’t doing anything besides resting together, and me giving her lots of neck scratches, she was totally down for that. I think that’ll be something I’ll do now at least once a week, maybe more. I think we both have missed the riding connection we had, and she’s always down for scratches lol.
I’ve already bought my Black Friday deals from RW – some supplements for Amber, the MH Sovereign field boots in black (I am ridiculously excited about these because I got them for an even better deal than my brown ones lol), some socks I love and socks to try, and a pair of winter Roeckl gloves. I nabbed a few other things from Amazon, and I had a gift card I’d never used yet so I grabbed myself a pair of Horze Grand Prix (of course) full seat thermal breeches (because why not) in navy (go figure; although that was the only color SP offered but still I would’ve chosen navy either way haha) so it ended up being really affordable to grab these to try out for the winter.
I have a lesson tomorrow with Trainer G and I get to ride Soxie again so I’m pretty excited about that. My mom is tagging along so I should get plenty of good media for you guys. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving as well as a good Friday shopping!
What good deals did you guys find this Black Friday? What did you buy?
Review: Mountain Horse Sovereign Boots
I haven’t done a review in a while, but welcome to another Review Wednesday! Today I’m going to review the Mountain Horse Sovereign Tall Boots. I bought these when I was first searching for some tall boots to show in, and I managed to get them on a crazy sale so I was very happy about that. I was also very excited because they would come in brown, and I’m a big brown leather fan. But what really drew me to the boots were their classic look and shape with just a touch of uniqueness to them in the two tone leather and strip of patent.
As a quick guide to sizing, like everything else about me, I am in between all shapes and sizes so it makes shopping for things like this off the rack SO FUN. Insert sarcasm haha. But the issues with tall boots for me is the fact that while I have a common sized foot (9), I am not a B width but I’m not a wide width either, and my left calf is also shorter than my right calf, yet my right leg is my shorter leg. So a regular height will fit my right calf, but be painful for my left one since the zippers tend to dig in and pinch. It makes the leather crinkle painfully along my left ankle too, and my left foot is slightly bigger than my right. So I have fun trying to find things that fit. I also build muscle and lose muscle very quickly, so depending on my fitness level, I can fit anywhere from a 15″ to a 16 1/2″ calf. So I need something that can grow and shrink with me, especially if these were not going to be schooling boots but show boots.
Tall boots are one of those things that you have to be picky about, and I’m very picky on my footwear, especially riding footwear. No matter how thick the socks, I used to get the worst bruises on my ankles from breaking in bad tall boots and just bearing with it, but I can’t do that anymore. I have weak ankles, mild circulation problems in my lower legs, and if anything is painful in the backs of my knees I will end up with knee pains for days afterwards. So it’s safe to say that I’ve become extremely picky about fit and comfort.
So, with all those fitting issues, what did I buy? I bought an 8 Wide/Regular. According to RW’s sizing chart for these, I bought a size 8, 15″-15 3/4″ calf, and 18 1/2″ height.
I was wary on many accounts. Other boots I’d tried on with those specs – specifically the calves – would not even zip up. All of them with that height hit the backs of my knees painfully. My feet needed more support, and a bigger foot space. But a lot of reviews I’d read had advised that the foot was a bit long, and to size down. Needing that bigger foot space, I was very wary that the 8 would be too tight.
But low and behold, from the first moment I put them on, they were perfect. I could tell they needed to be broken in for sure, but the leather was nice and supple when I pulled them out of the box. They were that touch too tall, especially on my left leg, but I knew they would drop once broken in. But the biggest relief was that while they needed to drop, they did not hurt the backs of my knees except being mildly uncomfortable. And while I would not recommend this, my first true ride testing them out was at a horse show – 4 or so classes and about 4 or so hours of wear. And except being mildly uncomfortable in their newness even after 4 hours, I knew they were going to be a great boot.
Pros (there really are so many things to love about this boot!):
- Foot size: The reviews were right, and sizing down was perfect for me. They were a touch tight when I first got them, but ensuring they have boot trees in them directly after I take them off (especially on a sweaty day) has prevented the leather from shrinking and allowed it to stretch into the perfect fit for my foot. I got the boot trees for my western boots initially since you don’t need them for the shaft – just for the foot, and those worked great with these boots. You just have to zip them up a bit before sticking them in there.
- Back of the boot: Both sides of the top of the zipper have a small, thumb sized elastic piece that lets the boot collapse easily against the back of your knee. This was why they didn’t hurt me as much while I was breaking them in. So far, they’ve dropped to the perfect height.
- Back of the boot 2: The snap on the back of the boot comes with an extra piece of leather that holds the back of the zipper in place so that it doesn’t fall. This is an excellent feature to me, and while I’ve never had an issue with zippers falling, I think it helps stabilize the zipper. (I could be totally wrong on that account tho lol)
- Heel Protector/Cover: After wearing a pair of boots without a heel cover and getting horrid blisters, I am so happy that these have that little strip of leather to protect your heel and your ankle against the zipper. Especially when breaking boots in, they always collapse at the most sensitive parts of my ankles, so that strip of leather inside the zipper really saves my poor ankles. The snap cover on the outside helps protect the zipper if you wear spurs, a very handy feature.
- Elastic gusset: I like that the elastic is on the inside of the boot instead of the outside as I’m used to seeing. Not only that, but it’s a full panel gusset, which means that these boots have a lot of stretch. At the time I bought these, I was just over a 15 3/4 measurement, but these actually fit a tad big on my legs at the time. I’ve since worn thicker breeches with knee-high socks, and then they fit a little snugger. Recently, when doing my PT exercises and my calves bulked up to a little over 16″ again, they got a wee bit snug, but only felt that way on the initial zip up. I’m sure I could probably get to my fittest and they’d still fit well around my calves without straining the zipper. And I don’t stretch the calves either. I place the air shaft trees it comes with inside to hold the general shape and to keep them from flopping over in my closet, getting just enough air in them to provide a close fit but nothing close to stretching them. Now that PT is over I’m just a hair below 16″ again, and these still fit so nicely.
- Insoles: Despite being thin, these insoles have actually been surprisingly comfortable. They’re still not my favorite, and on cold days or days that my stirrups are too short I’ll get numbness in my feet and toes, but I’ve yet to have very sore feet after wearing them for 2+ hours, which on a thin insole is impressive to me. So for most people this feature is probably a pro – for me they’re 1 tick higher than average on the pro side lol.
- Break in time: I only wore these for 2 shows, and occasional rides after that and these broke in so fast. Now that I’m riding in them for lessons, they just continue to get softer and more supple and more broken in – they’re really feeling like old friends at this point. They are just about there in the “perfectly broken in” range, because while I have had them a year, consecutive break in time with 4-5 rides a week would probably take no more than a month or a month and a half I’d think. I’m not a good judge of time, but what I do know is that these just got better and better every ride, and for how long I’ve actually worn them, it is a quick break in time.
- Other features: They are advertised to have removable insoles, though I have yet to try taking them out. I definitely like that option since I usually wear out an insole long before the rest of the boot. They’re made of full grain leather and have a YKK zipper. I didn’t think that really mattered until I saw a boot without a YKK zipper, and then I could tell the difference. The YKK’s are certainly thicker and stronger in my opinion. I can’t find it in the description, but I do believe they have a double-lined calf panel on the boots as well which helps prevent premature wear and tear. The Spanish cut is of course very flattering, and I really like the way they make my leg look. There’s just a lot of subtle detail that brings the whole boot together and makes it look great.
Cons:
- Insoles/Foot size: While I did list them as a very slight pro, I do wish the insoles were thicker. My feet are particular (what else is new? lol) and I’ve found that I’ve had the most all-day comfort with Ariat insoles. Along with that, if the foot were a little roomier I could probably fit the insoles in there, but as they are, I think they’re a little too narrow for it. Which does make me sad cause then I’d have the most perfect, close to custom boot I’ve ever had haha. So I do wish the foot was a little roomier to fit in slightly more comfortable (for me) insoles, but that’s just me.
- Price: These are expensive for me. Way more than I really wanted to pay for tall boots. And that is definitely a deal breaker for many people – completely understandable. I was super lucky to get these on a crazy sale, so they fit closer to my price point even though they were still over. And while the price is a con, I also see it as a bit of a “you get what you pay for.” And for how well these boots fit me, they’re worth it to me to go over budget.
For care, I don’t do anything special. I do make sure I do the boot and shaft trees, but other than that, as you can tell from all of these photos, they’re dirty. And these photos were taken yesterday during a spare moment at work, after they’d been sitting in my truck for a week, and they haven’t been cleaned since…..ahhhh July or August-ish maybe? I do really need to clean them, but I haven’t babied them. I haven’t completely abused them tho – I do try to remove them before rinsing off horses when it was hot here, but if I can’t, I just take a dry towel and towel off the water as best as I can. So far, they’ve been fine with that treatment and have held up well.
As I’m sure you could tell – yes I would recommend and yes I would buy them again. I actually have plans to take advantage of RW’s Black Friday sale – at least, I’m hoping they have one this year – and buy the black pair so that I now have 2 of them to interchangeably school and show. Whenever I get back into showing that is haha. If there is no Black Friday sale, then a Christmas sale or something since I’m not a hurry. Gotta take advantage of those, right? lol
Hopefully, if anyone is interested in these boots, I provided a good, thorough review that can help you come to a final decision!
Lesson Recap: Lit #2
Ugh, no media for this lesson either(last week so I’m behind again lol), but it was still a good one. I was originally supposed to ride Georgio again – which yay for canter and dear god for trot lol – but he ended up being needed for someone else. He was really affectionate this time around just like Rocky, so I hadn’t gotten very far in getting him ready in favor of face rubs. Since he was needed, I grabbed Lit instead and he was very interested in face rubs too. Maybe they pick up on the fact that I like giving face rubs? haha I don’t know! But I know lesson horses probably don’t get much “love” in that sense, so I usually try to give extra face rubs and extra loves, so maybe they just really like that lol.
Anyway, I got Lit ready – all excited to use my 5 point, aaaaand it was too small. So I had to run back to my truck and grab my 3 point PS of Sweden, which seems to fit all manner of horses really well. It was already set for him anyway from the last time I used it, so I finished girthing him up and off we went. He hadn’t been out yet, so I got a fresh horse. He was pretty in tune to me, but he was also a bit creaky, so I started him off with some good stretchy walk. We moved into a nice trot, and it felt really great! I felt like I could actually ride his trot, and felt a glimmer of how he used to be and how we probably could be if I rode him a lot more. It was really cool to feel that, and then after about 5-10 minutes I lost it haha. So I’m definitely developing muscle, it’s just going to take a while and doing more than I’m doing. (Please no, I hate gyms)
We did more no stirrup work, which was actually not so bad lol. It is needed though, because my tendency as I ride to help “soften” a trot, is to roll my spine and pelvis. Very western. But western horses don’t have giant, buoyant trots, so we worked on me sitting that. While it was difficult to replicate, I tried remembering some of the Mary Wanless tips about position I’d watched sometime last year when I started a bit of dressage with Amber, and it really clicked when Trainer M had me tilt my hips just so. It was just the smallest straightening of my spine from rolled to level, and suddenly, Lit’s trot was really easy to sit. I could feel his back lift under me, and his steps became a little more suspended. I know it was a much smaller change than it felt like, but the lightbulb went off in my brain. His trot was very slow, and I really had to work on keeping my fingers closed and getting the elasticity from my elbows and not my hand, but I could really feel the change.
Trainer M asked me if I had done any dressage at all, or if I liked it, so I explained about starting out a bit with Amber. She really likes dressage too, so I think it’d actually be super fun to stick my dressage saddle on him sometime and do some dressage. That probably won’t happen, but hey maybe someday. (I do want to take dressage lessons at some point too but jumping is a bit more exciting for right now lol)
Lit was a very good boy, and we had frequent breaks to help the both of us catch our breath, but he was much better at the canter this time. I sat on his back this time, keeping his shoulders up. I was trying to figure out what parts of my legs he responded best to (Rocky responds very well – as does Amber – to a lengthened leg and pressing with the side of your calf and a firm upper leg – but no pinching knees) and I think I figured it out. I just don’t have the leg strength yet for the amount of pressure he responds to, and in doing this at the canter my right leg was just like….useless. Lit was leaking out of his right shoulder just as Rocky had done that last lesson. My leg just felt floppy, like it was telling me “thank you for calling on your right leg. I am sorry, but we are unable to take any demands at the moment. Have a nice day.”
Ha. Well, thank you, leg.
Even still, I managed to get the exercise done – cantering over 2 ground poles set one stride apart with a modicum of success. I was much better to the right than to the left. Huh. Sound familiar? lol Exact repeat of Saturday. Soooooo I should probably do something about that lol.
Lit did have a spook – 21 years old and still a young man at heart lol. I was completely not expecting it, so I was actually pretty relaxed as he whirled sideways a bit. I stayed with him before he made an extra hop sideways. That unseated me, but thank goodness my right leg decided that self-preservation was important and this was a good time to actually work so I managed to stay on and not fall off haha. Lit immediately jumped back into the canter, which actually helped me regain my position a little better. I thought about regrouping and making a circle before cantering the poles again (the spook was on the opposite side of the circle), but Lit was forward, I’d regained my stirrups, so I just shrugged and pointed him at them and it worked fine. We cantered the poles a few more times with me successfully cantering a steady line and keeping those shoulders straight before calling it a day.
I had hoped we would jump, but before I could say anything Trainer M expressed that, while I looked confident and comfortable jumping, she wanted to revisit the basics a bit more to help me develop a better position so that when I did start going over jumps it would feel easy. Which is great – it’s what I want out of lessons and why I’m taking them anyway!
This lesson I certainly didn’t have as many mental blocks – it was all muscle blocks this time haha! It was a relatively simple lesson, but the little details are what really stuck in my mind. Now I just have to get stronger so that I can do more little details lol. I’m in a better swing now of 2 lessons with Trainer G and 2 lessons with Trainer M, and I’m liking it so far. Trainer G tends to be a little more intricate in her lessons, and she has a knack for setting simple exercises that still really test your brain and help you improve a lot of things at once. With Trainer M, the barn has a lot of seasoned lesson horses, so all of the energy of the lesson is focused on my position and fine tuning my arms, my back, my legs when they get tired, and anything else.. So a perfect mix for me so far.
It was pretty busy by the time I was done, but I took my time with Lit and rubbed him down before sticking him back in his stall. And then I was promptly beat for the rest of the afternoon haha.
Lesson Recap: Rocky
Saturday was an absolutely perfect day for a lesson. It got a bit warm, probably about 85 or so (I know it’s not that hot and it wasn’t haha), but was absolutely wonderful for an outdoor ride. I was on Rocky, and boy was he a LOVE on Saturday. He kept nuzzling me with his nose and his lip, so I completely indulged him with lots of face rubs and he was very happy. While Trainer G still said no spurs, I did get to change to a dressage whip, which made the lesson infinitely better, but Rocky was also a super guy and felt like he really liked me that day so that made it better too haha. Also, I figured we were only flatting, so I didn’t bring my helmet camera and what do you know, we jumped. And I really wish I’d had it because it was great!
Rocky and I warmed up, and while it took a few turns, a few taps of the dressage whip and he was moving out nicely in front of my leg. After being launched out of the saddle by the bouncy warmbloods, I needed a reminder to let myself only post to the movement, and Rocky and I settled better after that. It was certainly different riding him with his little trot steps, but I did feel more comfortable on him. He was also a lot more respectful this ride – when I’d put my leg on he’d actually listen and push into my outside rein. Then of course he’d attempt to bulge, so we flatted for a bit to work on that. We did a few turns down center line to control the body, switch directions and do it again.
She had an exercise set up – three angled poles and two jumps. It was an exercise that she did in the clinic the previous weekend, and it was really challenging but basically taught you itself. So if you missed it, you could tell. If you nailed it, you could tell. Initially, the jumps were just poles on the ground, but we worked for a while on track and pace in a circle for the 3 poles. When I got him slightly to the inside of the middle stripe, we’d nail the two steps in between the poles. The right was better than the left – to the left we’d get over the first two, then I’d let his shoulder bulge and we’d miss the striding to hit an off 3. But, once we had relative success with that circle, we moved on. So I started with my trot circle at a good pace, through the 3 poles, trotting over the “jump” pole, then picking up a canter, establishing a good canter with a good rhythm in a circle, then cantering down to the other “jump” pole. I worried less about striding this lesson, more about a good forward pace, and what do you know the poles came up pretty easily. We did that both directions before she made one jump a crossrail and another a small vertical.
The first time we attempted it Rocky was super asleep. He just about crashed over the crossrail and was completely out of it for the canter. So I gave him a good thwack, and he launched quite opinionatedly into a canter. I laughed, let him settle a bit before walking and we attempted it again. He thankfully didn’t hold a grudge, because I don’t want to make him mad when we’re jumping, but he did need a bit of a wake-up lol. So we tried it again, and he got into a very forward trot to the right. We nailed the 3 poles, and actually had a great trot jump over the crossrail. I wasn’t behind the movement and I wasn’t ahead of it this time either. A quick half halt, into the canter, and Rocky was very forward this time. We did our circle, with me getting him a little more bendy and supple, and then headed straight down the line to the yellow vertical. It came up very nicely, and Rocky is still a little green at jumping so I could feel him edge back just a little. But I actually saw a stride with him, knew with just a teensy bit of push we’d hit it super, so I closed my legs and kissed, and Rocky listened and picked it up just enough so we hit the vertical really well. My upper body felt pretty solid too – I didn’t throw my body forward to jump for him, and I didn’t overcompensate by sitting too far back. It just felt really successful. A quick simple lead change before preparing to keep him up and forward for a downward transition to a trot and then walk. He got lots of pats for that!
We had a quick walk break before attempting it to the left. I botched the 3 poles but quickly put that behind me and had a good shot to the yellow jump which had become a crossrail. It felt very successful again, and by this time I was understanding what parts of my leg Rocky responded to best, so we got a good, bendy circle before heading to the blue jump, which was now a vertical. Again, I felt that I could actually see a stride, kissed and tapped him up to it, and over we sailed. It felt really good, again like I just stayed right with him. It REALLY helped that when I encouraged him forward he responded well – he hadn’t last time I rode him, so it helped me feel confident this lesson that I could see it, ride it, he responded, and it felt super.
We did that exercise both ways a few more times, with the option to leave out the circle in between jumps. I did, and everything really just flowed super well with the jumps. Rocky got many many pats and “good boys”. With him I had to sit a little closer to the saddle, so that was a good lesson in holding myself above the saddle but not the forward 2 pt I’m used to. Our canter felt very good, and I really had no idea what time it was or how long we’d been riding, but I expressed to Trainer G that if we stopped there I’d be really happy. The exercises really worked and I felt really good about all of the jumping attempts, and there was no need to continue doing them when Rocky and I were doing so well. I get worse the more I drill, and Rocky didn’t need that either. Trainer G was in agreement, but wanted to do the 3 pole exercise to the left once more to get a really good one before we quit since that was my bad side haha. So we tried once more, and I totally botched it, so laughed and told G that hold up, one more time. She laughed too, but I got a good forward trot, really focused on blocking his right shoulder from poles 2-3, and we almost got 3, but he gave a big effort to correct mid-stride and we got the 2 from 1-2 and 2 from 2-3. It wasn’t smooth, but I was more concerned that we’d had a good pace, and we did complete the exercise correctly so I ended it there.
So it ended up being a really good lesson! I had a lot of good fun, and then had some time to relax before heading to a Halloween party later that night (which is where the pictures are from lol). All in all, a great Saturday!
Lesson Recap: Lit
Ahhh, I was probably supposed to have this out by now haha. It has been a whirlwind of appointments and me covering hours for one of my coworkers so the less important things have fallen by the wayside. Plus, we really just flatted in this lesson. It was a nice ride, I just feel like commenting on how out of shape and sack of potato-ey I am is getting a little old haha. And there really wasn’t much to work on – mostly just keeping my shoulders up since I tend to hunch and break at my back instead of engaging my core for that. So big notes to self of shoulders rounded and down and ABS all day, every day haha.
Georgio had a day off so I got to ride another old man – Vittorio aka Lit. He’s….21 I believe they said haha. He was a downright sweetheart, and was a complete gentleman. It’s still so strange to pick out feet that are giant dinner plates, and wrap my hands around thick, sturdy legs, but personally, I prefer that. I’m just totally not used to seeing it haha. But I got ready quickly, and off we went. While Georgio was “holy crap how much leg do I NEED because they will FALL OFF from pushing so hard”, Lit was more “Oh, hey you have leg – got it.” Lit’s trot was infinitely easier for me to settle into a rhythm. He actually listened when I’d use my leg, so I was able to post, 2 pt and sit his trot. Georgio’s pace was faster-slow-sorta fast-slow-super slow-faster-slow like every 2 or 3 trot steps that I could barely get myself situated, even with a whip. So I felt much better with Lit’s trot and felt pretty accomplished.
Aaaaaaaand then we cantered. Now Lit really isn’t built downhill. But oh my god that has got to be one of the most downhill travelling, large-strided, laziest 4-beat canters I have ever felt – and that is INCLUDING riding actual lazy, downhill-built quarter horses lol. Granted, Lit is 21. And he’s not quite in shape. And he’s a lesson horse. So, I get it. But where Georgio was like “oh CANTER YAY” and travelled so uphill on his own that, even as tall and big-strided as he was, I felt ridiculously solid while cantering him – even in 2 pt and puffing like mad lol. Lit was like “oh god lady, you SERIOUSLY want me to do that…let’s just….uh….not.” LOL So his canter was really really difficult to 2 pt, stay up and actually lift him up. We didn’t do too much cantering though, so that was okay haha.
We didn’t jump – Lit had another lesson after mine and since he was out of shape and Trainer M told me I was having him work harder than most people, we decided to end it light. We did posting lengthenings on the long side and collected sitting on the short sides before going into a stretchy trot. He had a really nice stretchy trot, and I could feel him let out a breath and relax as we went around the ring a few times.
While we only flatted, I still felt pretty good about this lesson. Most of my very old English habits have resurfaced, and they’re mostly mental blocks. Namely, if trainer says do it now, DEAR GOD DO IT NOW OMG THEY WILL YELL AT ME and then everyone is in a rush and it’s quite unattractive. Which….well. It’s a habit I have in lessons that I never knew I did until I was teaching my mom on Whisper, helping her repeat and mimic what I did with her. And I’d tell her to do something, and my mom would rush rush rush to do it, and I suddenly realized that’s what I did. So now I always make sure to tell her “whenever you’re ready” or “take a breath, prepare and ask” and go from there. So with my lessons I’ve made a conscious effort to wait. It’s been extremely difficult – it’s not a habit you get over easily – but I’ve been making progress. If I feel I can’t at the moment, I’ll shout “hold on” so she knows that I heard and will do, just not yet. And it works just fine. (Because don’t get me wrong, Trainer M doesn’t yell at me – it’s all from my past lessons and instructors)
It may not seem different, but to me it’s quite different to work alongside a trainer, getting occasional input as you’re training your string of horses – which takes a lot of thought to plan a ride, feel everything, respond by yourself since no one is expressly telling you – versus having a trainer teach you the whole lesson. Their eyes are always on you, and they’re providing input every step of the way. So that lesson part of my brain is blocked, and it truly feels like there’s a wall smack dab in the middle of it – on one side there’s the me that has grown confident in myself and trusts my decision-making fully; and on the other side there’s the me that does not have confidence and feels like she knows nothing when a teacher is instructing me. It’s quite strange; I won’t lie. But I feel the wall weakening the more lessons I have, and this one felt good.
She told me to turn, and I looked, realized Lit’s height, pace, preparation required, and the set up of jumps would not allow a turn until halfway around the arena, and told Trainer M to hold on. Immediately she said, “Yup, when you’re able!” and that helped cement the thought with the action. She told me to canter, and instead of fumbling I calmly asked from which gait and then prepared, even though she said he didn’t need much preparation. He didn’t, but the little I did let Lit know we were cantering, so it was actually quite a smooth transition from walk to canter. While in the stretchy trot, Trainer M did want me to go faster, but both of us worked best a little slower and I kept it there. He is old and was getting tired, I was for sure tired, but we were both trying to work with each other to find success. I completed the exercise – two stretchy trot laps each direction, and Lit and I were steady and stretchy with some pretty good consistency. Plus, we’re new to each other. He knows that while I’m unfit I do know things, and I knew, especially at the end, that if I gave him a little bit of leeway to help him relax he’d gladly meet me half way.
It’s going to be slow going, getting through this mental block to find that yes, I do know what I’m doing (as far as basics go haha). Things may be different in the way you ask or how you prepare or what cues you give from western to English, but honestly the principles are the same. And as I’m used to doing, I just need to also assess the horse underneath me, and be prepared to see past the “lesson” aspect of the horse and figure out what works best with them for now. I’m a new person for them, and as Trainer M even said – most of these horses are used to being ridden by teenagers and younger kids just starting out. It’s going to take more than a few rides for us to gain a rapport with each other, and that of course depends on how often I’m riding them.
I got to ride Rocky with Trainer G on Saturday, so that was definitely super different, going from these big, rangy 16.3+ hh warmbloods to the 14.2 hh QH with very choppy strides haha. I asked Trainer G if I could wear spurs this time and got this:
But I’m enjoying it at the moment. I actually have another lesson with Trainer M today (which means it’s been 2 weeks since my last lesson and probably since I posted sooooo….I’m behind lol) so we’ll see who I get to ride today. Maybe it’ll even be a different pony! Who knows. I’ve been bringing my tack and breastplates along with me, so I’m hoping that I can finally use my Lund 5 point breastplate since, while these big 17 hand guys have some well-sprung ribcages, their shoulders are nowhere near as wide as Amber’s, and my saddle does slip back on them. I’m really considering getting it adjusted soon since it’ll fit a lot more horses a lot better once I do. Plus, I am infinitely more comfortable in my saddle than most others, so I’m really glad that both Trainers G and M let me bring my saddle. Come the new year I may only have time for one or two lessons a month, but I’m hoping I can stick with 4. Hopefully that’ll work!
Time Frame
Well, nothing remotely interesting has been happening at all, except perhaps the amazing weather. Vegas is usually 7-8 months of summer, 3-4 months of winter, and 2 weeks each of fall and spring. We’re actually seeming to get a taste of fall this year! It’s been 50-60 degrees at night and a lovely 70-80 during the day. We’ve had amazing sunsets and it’s just been very pleasant. I had a lesson Wednesday but I may not get around to that recap until after the weekend because I’m pooped haha. And I have another one planned for the 27th with Trainer G. Other than that, pictures are the only thing that’s been marking the passing time over here in Las Vegas. Here’s to fall, Halloween, Hocus Pocus, and FINALLY being able to curl up in fleece blankets with a dachshund and hot chocolate reading a good book.
A different place, another lesson
I think I may be on a roll here with the lessons. After my last lesson, I chatted with Trainer G about a few other places I might go. It’s a bit of a far drive for me to get to Trainer G, so I was asking her thoughts on some places closer to me. One such place was only a 10 minute drive from me. I’d heard about it some years back, but I’d never met anyone or gone to check it out. I did know that they had a good lesson program, with quite a few lesson horses. This meant more horses for me to try as well, so I gave them a call, set up an appointment to tour the place, and had my first lesson Wednesday.
I got to ride Georgio, a Warmblood gelding (not sure what kind; I didn’t ask further lol) who used to jump 1.40 meters (4’5″ in case anyone is like me and has no idea how to convert this stuff; thank you Google). Don’t think I’ve ever ridden a horse who could jump that high, and he certainly had a different feeling than other horses I’ve ridden – which that’s exactly why I’m doing this! He’s about 14-ish, and certainly a big lug of a lesson horse. My lesson was an hour, with the first 20 or so minutes making sure I knew my way around horses. When I’d first seen Georgio, he was munching on hay and I was outside of his stall so I hadn’t thought of him as super big. Well, I hadn’t been standing next to him, and his withers are over my head even in a helmet. Been a LONG time since I’ve ridden a horse that tall! He had to be around 16.3 ish – maybe taller (I’m also not good with estimating horse height lol).
Again, the stupid crazy thing? For how big he was, all of my tack fit him. And it was on higher holes than Amber and she’s only at best 15.1. WTF how in the world….. You know what? I should really stop being so surprised by how wide she is. Girlfriend is STOUT.
Once I hopped on we had about a half hour left of our ride, so most of that was spent me getting to know him as well as Trainer M and I getting to know each other. I started out spur-less, and thank god that within about 5-10 minutes she was letting me put some on. My poor noodle legs couldn’t get him really going without them and his trot felt like he was going to launch me out of the saddle. I certainly felt like a flailing mess haha. We even tried a bit of sitting trot. Haha haha ha. HA. That was atrocious. Replacing me with a sack of potatoes would’ve worked better. But I was able to get him going okay, though even posting my elbows were flailing and my left hand had gone rogue again and my lower leg was sliding all over the place. Thank god I was wearing my full seat sticky breeches because I’m sure I would have come off otherwise lol.
To canter, I took Trainer G’s words to heart and attempted that with Georgio. He didn’t do it the first time, so I brought him to a walk and tried again – this time doing a bit of guesswork but trying to set him up anyway. It was behind the leg but we got it. Once we got cantering it felt like we were communicating a bit better. I felt very stable once cantering – his stride is huge, but very rocking, so I could better get my feel and position. I’m sure he felt the difference too since he was better after that, but what can you do haha. Trainer M considered ending the ride there, but I told her I could still do more. (I was actually dead but I wanted to jump a bit since I knew I could, trusted Georgio, and figured it would set a better starting point for my next lesson)
So Trainer M lowered a jump to a crossrail, and had me pop over it a few times. The first one I was a bit behind, which I’m actually okay with since I tend to throw myself forward, so uh….progress? lol These were easy enough for him to step over, and the second time I felt I was a bit too forward, but looking at the video it actually looks okay. The third felt good too albeit we landed on the wrong lead. I tried doing what I had with Sox, transitioning to get the correct lead before the turn but his trot had me so discombobulated that I just walked. I decided I’d save that for another day, when he and I had a few more rides and I wasn’t dying lol. For the fourth attempt, Trainer M had me canter the little crossrail, and that was our best one. He’d been drifting a bit left so just like Sox I tightened my left arm and tried to think of my left leg as solid, and we landed on the same lead as we took off. Georgio was certainly happy jumping had come into the equation, but I think by then we’d also gotten used to each other, so when I asked him to canter for that last jump I got a prompt transition and he was forward from the get-go. We hopped over it successfully, and were done.
Georgio was certainly a good boy, and definitely a different feel. While tall he wasn’t gangly – his neck was much longer than I’m used to tho – but he didn’t feel differently than most horses I rode because he wasn’t super long. He didn’t really feel too tall either while I was riding him which I suppose is good. He made the jumps look REALLY tiny haha. But he is certainly a nice horse. I just have to be a lot more disciplined next time riding him – a lot of beginners ride him so he wants to get away with things, and once my brain got working and was all “hey remember your outside leg and your outside hand to keep the shoulder from bulging instead of using your inside hand like your riding a 2 yr old that doesn’t steer? Yeah. You should do that”, we worked better. I just really need to be disciplined in getting back to the gym too. But I did notice that Georgio had a left drift and Sox had a left drift. Amber can have a left drift too. Hmm. Coincidence? Nah, it’s all the horses (heavy sarcasm lol). It’s all me, so how about I remember that next lesson and don’t flail my elbows and forget about my left leg lol.
I have another lesson scheduled the same time in 2 weeks, and in between that I’m planning on another lesson with Trainer G. Hopefully I’ll have 4 lessons a month, so I’m going to give that a try and see if I can keep it at that or if I have to go down to 3 a month. It was certainly nostalgic being there that’s for sure. It was similar to the barn in Virginia where I first started riding at 6 years old. Talk about flashback lol. My muscles certainly sore after all that kicking, but I’m determined to keep up with my PT exercises, the gym and lots of sore-no-more lol. Hopefully what I’ll be able to do at the gym will be enough to help me be relatively better at riding these horses haha!
FINALLY some good news
Yes you read that right! We’ve got some good news! Or at least better news, but I’m going to take it.
It’s been very hard for me to watch Amber being unhappy, and simply for her sanity as well as how much that RH seemed to really bother her, I was very prepared to hear not-so-good-news upon her appointment on Tuesday. But the new farrier came (early even!) to meet with the vet, and we walked Amber just a teensy bit to see how she was doing. The vet asked for a few trot steps, so when they did Amber went into a full on dolphin leap (thankfully no kicking back tho haha!) and shook her head like the wild thang she was before walking again 2 seconds later lol. She was extremely lame – pretty much three legged at the jog – but I wasn’t really expecting much else. It still wasn’t what we were hoping to see, but it seemed like the little fun leap was just enough to help her feel better. Her ears were forward and her eye was happier.
She got some happy juice to make sure she stood on the wood for the x-rays and we took one of her RH and LH. I certainly breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the x-ray for her RH to find that it looked just fine. I’d been seeing her foot change over the past few weeks, but I haven’t ever kept so close of an eye on growing bare feet before, so what I was seeing was just normal growth and a too-long toe. Thank god. Pretty simple for that foot – knock the toe back a bit, take of a teensy bit of foot, and good to go.
When the x-ray came in of her LH I couldn’t believe my eyes. SO MUCH BETTER. I just about deflated onto the ground lol. She’d grown a little more than a centimeter of sole, and while the rotation looked worse, it actually wasn’t. It was just how things were growing that made it look that way. So just a bit more shaving of the toe to help that angle. The new hoof growth is making the foot look a bit weird, but you can see that it’s starting to grow straighter – parallel to the coffin bone rotation. So, Doc tasked us with another check up about 4 months from now. He was encouraged by the amount of sole growth in the last 8 weeks, so it’s now a matter of letting the hoof grow out and seeing if perhaps the foot may be okay depending on new hoof growth and all of the variables around it. But, that 1.1 centimeters of growth also made sense as to why she was actually able to put so much weight on that foot despite it still being laminitic.
The only immediate worry that remains is her right stifle. She was dead lame on it, and I had considered that maybe a steroid injection would help. Doc answered before I could ask, but he didn’t want to do a steroid injection to help that inflammation since there was a small possibility that it may negatively affect the laminitic foot. Which I’m totally okay with. It’s still saddening to watch her be so uncomfortable with her leg, but I’m relieved that her foot is looking a bit promising. I’m going to be honest that while I think we’re out of the immediate woods, I’m not letting my hopes get up too high. She’s more comfortable now for sure, but that stifle is still a point of a lot of pain for her and we can’t do much about it right now. So I’m relieved, but I’ll be keeping my eyes open and watching to make sure it doesn’t get to be too much for her.
With some last instructions from the vet, the new farrier proceeded to work on her feet. He did her fronts first, and I was pointing out to him what I wanted done. Not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet but I’ve been thinking for the past few months (since about April) that Amber’s RF problems with that tendon and her tripping were due to improper shoeing of that foot. About 2 months ago I noticed her LF beginning to show the exact same signs, so I tried being proactive about it but I was brushed off. So yay for farrier woes (and of course me feeling terrible since the inflammation and tripping started November of last year and I didn’t notice it/put it all together). Right away the new farrier agreed with me on Amber’s front feet, and I love how her feet look!
He was super kind with Amber, letting her nuzzle him as she likes to do to poor farriers, and he’d pet her nose and her face and pat her. She was extremely relaxed with him, and I’m very glad! When my curiosity got the best of me and I just started asking all sorts of questions, he very happily answered every single one. And so many of the answers were things I’d never heard before or even thought of, and it was really cool. Like why he uses copper nails instead of the nails most other farriers use, or why he was putting the nail holes in different places, or the type of shoe he was going to use so that Amber would have an easier time breaking over where she needed to. He loved her feet tho, and said she had some of the best, hardest feet he’d ever done and that I could keep doing what I’m already doing for them – which is nothing haha. I was definitely super happy when he said Amber was one of the best-mannered horses he’d ever done. Phew! We may have to split her trim times – 8 wks per vet instructions for the hind feet and whenever her fronts are starting to look long or need a trim which is generally around 6 weeks, but I think it’ll work out.
Along with that, now that we’re on a slightly positive trajectory, I can step back and assess some things a little more objectively. Namely, I honestly can’t keep pouring money into Amber like the stifle injection. It makes me sad, but I know at this point that it just wouldn’t really make that much sense. It feels a bit like I’m giving up on her, but logically I know I’m not. I know she isn’t going to be a riding horse anymore, and while I want her as comfortable as she can be, she’s going to have as spoiled a retirement as I can give her for as long as she’s with me and I think that’s fair. I also honestly don’t think that stifle will ever stay good enough no matter what I do. There were just so many issues surrounding it at the time of surgery that I don’t think it got the best shot at healing 100% and it’s okay for a little but even the slightest bit puts it out of whack. So, it would be better to start pouring that money into other things, namely lessons and a future horse whenever that may be. She of course will still get the royal treatment – she would never accept anything less lol – but you know, no supplements or that sort of thing. Just the bare minimum, since let’s be honest she still looks like a tank and she’s not even remotely fit haha! A difficult keeper she is not lol.
I’m just….really relieved to finally hear something positive. I feel that ever since her surgery we haven’t had one positive vet visit, but things are a little better now. A good farrier, finally some good news, and a happier horse. I can’t ask for anything else at the moment.
Weekend Recap: Lesson #2!
I had TWO lessons in one month. Whaaaaaaat even is this haha. But there’s quite a few reasons why I am still really really thinking about my lesson, and why I can’t wait to get back to it (especially if I get to ride the same horse again). But I’ll go over those a little later, and focus on what I did during the lesson because I had an absolute blast. Also, I have practically no media of course since go figure I forgot my helmet cam lol.
So my last lesson, immediately after me was another lady who had her lesson, and in the crossties was this absolutely gorgeous horse that caught my eye immediately. Yes, she was my favorite color chestnut and had 4 socks and a cute stripe and a tail dragging on the floor, but what really made me look at her was the way she was chilling, absolutely bored with a leg cocked, and her super sweet eyes. I mean, granted she was a mare, and well, I AM a mare person, but for some reason just everything about her caught my eye. I told the lady how gorgeous she was, and looked so sweet. Inner child me desperately wanted to go and OMG PET THE PRETTY PONY but adulting me held back lol, and I left and talked my mom’s ear off on how much I adored her.
Trainer G told me to bring all my girths to the lesson since she might have me ride a different horse, so I loaded up my stuff. Low and behold, she was having me ride the chestnut mare – aptly named Sox. Cue a whole ton of inner happy squealing haha. Turns out Sox is Trainer G’s horse, for sale, and the lady was leasing her. Sox is probably 16 hands, maybe up to 16.2. I’m not a good judge of height. But I haven’t ridden a horse that tall since I was about 15 probably, but she immediately put me at ease and really didn’t feel too big when I hopped on her. Her temperament was just wonderful. She’s a Canadian Warmblood with Hanoverian on her sire’s side and German Warmblood on her dam’s side (at least I’m pretty sure it was German Warmblood – I was still cheering loudly on the inside as Trainer G was telling me this haha).
I actually didn’t realize that there was a small track on the farm – it looped around 2 pastures but was absolutely great for warm up. Most of our ride was spent out there unintentionally but I thought it was great. Sox warmed up a bit tight and lazy as Trainer G said she would (I would say slow tho because Sox is NOT lazy haha), and just gave me a heads up on Sox’s way of going and her tendency to giraffe with too much hand. Perfect since I prefer a lot more of a seat and leg ride anyway, So I just held on to the end of the laces as we walked around. And man, I LOVED her walk. So fluid and easy. As we went into the trot and I started to get used to her, I was pretty much in horsey heaven. Her trot was so lovely, and I was really able to focus on my position. My ankles have a tendency to over-flex, so Trainer G was instructing me to relax the ankles, sit up just a bit, round the shoulders back. Small things that I can’t see or feel, but it helped so much. I worked very hard on keeping my hands still per Sox’s preference, and she rewarded me by blowing out a few times and reaching into the contact. English contact is still new to me since I’m used to “western contact” if you will, so as she trusted me and pushed into the contact, I closed my fingers and firmed up my arms just enough to match her push. And it felt really really good.
(Also apologies for the suuuuuper pixilated video. Trainer G actually took these for me on her phone and of course quality doesn’t transfer lol But it was the only video I did get so here you go haha)
I completely biffed our first canter transition – I had a complete sudden mental blank of how to ask for the canter for English. Like, which leg is it that I ask with? haha. These are the things my brain decides to get stuck on lol. But to elaborate on my brain’s confusion – as I learned when riding western, the outside leg cues for the canter and the inside leg is only there to keep the shoulders from falling in. As Trainer G explained to me for Sox, the outside leg is there to keep the haunches from going out, and the inside leg is technically cueing for the canter. Granted, every person/trainer is different for sure, and really, the two ways to cue are pretty interchangeable I think, as Trainer G also mentioned (which like seriously is why I love Trainer G because pretty much down to these small details we’re both on the same page). So once we got that out of the way, I was able to think a little more clearly and also tell Sox more succinctly of no hip drift, inside leg to outside rein, left hand NOT being out of control and holding steady, and we were able to nail the canter transitions both directions every time.
As Sox opened through her back and pushed into the contact at the canter, she had a very honest spook. There’s a solid cement block wall at one curve of the track with an open gate there, and there were horses riding past. I didn’t see them, but Sox caught a glimpse and had a quick squirt forward. The ever-instinctual pull reflex took over, but after a quick moment my brain kicked in again and I just let the reins go, and she immediately put her head back into the contact and breathed. She was still too fast, but I gave her a second before we came back to the walk. Back in the trot she was very choppy and a bit giraffe-necked. I’m not versed really at all in half-halts, so I’m sure part of it was me, but Trainer G and I worked on that for a few minutes. Going past that curve after that she was very responsive and even at the canter, when I’d sit just a touch closer to her back and firm my arms just a little more than usual, Sox would half halt wonderfully, come back to me and relax back into the contact. Success! It also made me feel very good that Trainer G said Sox really liked my hands, since she pretty much never went full giraffe on me the entire lesson.
After that we moved to the outside arena full of jumps. We actually only ended up trotting one jump twice, but both times were really good. Sox has been jumping up to about 1.20 meters, but we only went over probably a 2′ flower box haha. But as we trotted to it the first time, her left shoulder spilled out a bit, so we landed on the left lead, but a simple lead change and we were good. I made a mental note of that for the next time, and since Sox had been responsive to my leg the whole ride, as we approached again I closed my left leg, made sure my left rein was firm and my fingers tight without being restrictive or moving all over the place and we popped over and landed on the right lead. Yay! Small victories right? haha. But we decided to keep it at that – we’d been riding a good 45 minutes and I was super pleased with the whole ride and 2 successful trot jumps considering I’ve had such issues with trot jumps in the past. Sox was such a great ride, and if you couldn’t tell, I was totally taken with her even more by the end of the ride. Had she been up for a lease I wouldn’t have cared what I said before, I would’ve signed my life away haha. I can’t wait to ride her again, and I sincerely hope I do get to hop on her some more.
Even a few days later, I’m STILL thinking of how awesome that lesson was, and we hardly even did much. But I’ve been realizing that it isn’t just the fact that Sox was a different horse and breed from my other 2 lesson horses and had been trained exclusively by Trainer G while the other 2 hadn’t. It was for the exact reasons that I wanted to lesson on as many horses as possible in the first place, so I can test ride all sorts of gaits and types of horses and what I like.
And just as I was sure it would be, attitude is 90% of everything. I do prefer mares, and I’ve ridden some wonderful geldings and stallions, but Sox really wanted to jump the jump. Trainer G told me this, but even still, I could actually feel it as well. Everything was “okay sure”, even if Sox had a bit of sass to add. On the flat Rocky was so looky and has probably been the most difficult horse for me to ride. I’m still sore from riding Sox, but not like Rocky. After riding Rocky, I was a bit down. It’d been so hard for me to do anything with him that I felt discouraged – like I couldn’t ride. And he knew I was out of breath and it certainly felt like he wanted to take advantage of that. I had thought it was just me – I’m not in shape, I’m a new ride for him, and I don’t know what kind of leg he needed for me to be successful. It’s what I wrote in my last lesson recap. But with Sox, every time I’d put my leg on she’d try. If I didn’t get enough I’d push a little harder, and boom she responded. It wasn’t easy mind you, and I am still out of shape. But Sox wanted to respond. It was all small things – when I’d talk to her and ear would flick back and she’d listen. When I’d try hard to meet her, she’d meet me. She was just such an honest, sweet mare.
It makes sense to me. Amber is that way and so is Whisper. All my favorite horses have been that way. It’s still just really nice to feel that on a very forward thinking horse, one I was riding for the first time, and a size/breed/feel of horse that I am absolutely not used to. And since I could tell Sox wanted to jump, and was responsive to my desire to correct the drift, I was able to focus on pushing my knuckles into her neck, keeping my body soft. She had one canter stride and jumped wonderfully, and I finally felt I could just lift myself out of the saddle only as much as I needed and I felt it’s the best jump I’ve ever had since starting to venture back into English. So, maybe I’m not as horrible at this as I was worrying haha. I’m just super over compensating and not confident the horse will carry me over the jump so I try to jump for them. It’s given me a lot to think about, and a lot of knowledge to carry forward no matter if I ride Rocky next or Sox again. However, it also reaffirms my decision to stick with lessoning for a while and really flesh out the type of horse I want to feel when I ride for the future.
While this ride, like my last one was mostly flat, I felt like I was able to get a lot more out of this lesson than the last time. Which the back and forth will always happen I know! haha But I’m looking forward to scheduling another lesson with Trainer G soon!
The best things come from unlikely places
Lately, it feels that everything has just been….difficult. Piling on. Now that I’m not riding consistently, I’m REALLY trying to get any doctor visits I need out of the way so I can keep staying healthy and fix as well as I can any previous injuries that need it while I’m still young enough. And it sucks because I usually get the “come back when you’re more broken/can’t walk/move” or “this requires this first that you must schedule but there’s no openings for 2 weeks and then don’t bother making a follow-up appointment with us early because no one bothered to tell you that this requires 3 appointments” and basically me trying to get things moving but you know, it takes months to actually get something done so that’s doubly frustrating. So with all this that I’m trying to do, possibly considering more school next year, and worry for Amber and just adulting in general, I needed a bit of a lift-up. And it came in the most unlikely way.
When my parents bought this property, it was discovered that around the same time that someone bought the lot behind ours. Over the past year we’ve gotten to be good friends with them, especially when they came out (their house isn’t built yet) and the son and daughter absolutely fell in love with the horses. The son in particular absolutely adored Amber, and the horses could tell that the kids were head over heels for them. My mom had ended up telling them about Amber’s diagnosis and that she may not be with us for as long as we had thought before we’d found the laminitis. And while we are not the best of friends with them, their kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness was so welcome and appreciated and really lifted my spirits.
Not only did they stop by a store to grab a GINORMOUS bag of carrots and apples, but they did this after the daughter had been in the hospital on Tuesday (I won’t go into detail on account I’d like to keep that private for them, but she healed very quickly and was running around just fine). Apparently, not a day went by that the kids didn’t talk about our horses, so they came by on Saturday armed with their treats, and proceeded to dote on Amber to the fullest. She was in absolute heaven. She had 2 and 1/2 apples and goodness knows how many carrots haha. But we stood there talking the son and I, petting and scratching Amber. He’s only 9, but that kid is so smart. He pet her and pet her, laughed and had a blast. And as we stood there, he said, “I don’t want her to go. I wish she would last forever.”
And I choked up, just managed to keep it together, and said, “You and me both buddy. You and me both.” Kids understand way more than we give them credit for, and since his dad had already told them that Amber’s time was limited, I wasn’t going to treat him like he didn’t know and didn’t understand. Because this kid really really understood.
I’ve been worried about Amber, a lot more than I’ve let on. Her RH hasn’t shown any signs of improvement and she’s resting it more than looks good. I’m also starting to worry about how the underside of that RH hoof looks. I’ve wrapped her hind legs to hopefully give her some extra support, but I’m not sure it’s helping. She’s hurting, uncomfortable, and it’s seriously the hardest and most painful thing in the world to see this little mare so unhappy. But as he and I shoved carrots her way, and I showed him how to get her to follow him and he proceeded to have a blast with that for the next 10 minutes, Amber looked happier than she had in a while. It isn’t like I haven’t been hanging out with her or loving on her, but perhaps I have been loving on her with a bit of a cloud over us, and this was experiencing the pure happiness of kids who just adore horses. But she followed him around like a little puppy, and it was absolutely the cutest thing to see.
The family also knew someone who painted portraits, and told me to grab on of my favorite pictures of me and Amber and he would gift it to me so I had something of her. His son also gave me a little model horse, one that his dad had bought for him on one of his trips but the son thought it looked just like Amber so even though it was his only model horse, he wanted me to have it. This little boy is just so sweet and has such a big big, kind heart, as does his whole family. The daughter drew a picture for me and grabbed me a few flowers and hell I’m keeping these things forever. The kindness of this family for us and me and Amber was just so uplifting, so precious. I don’t ever want to forget it. The feels, you guys.
I don’t care what people say – kindness and thoughtfulness are everything.
So, since we still have that giant bag of carrots that hardly had a dent in it even from 2 horses, I have brought carrots out every night with me when I go to feed. I hop in Amber’s stall and love on her and stuff her with carrots – since she’s hungry, hugs and kisses are not on her priority list haha. But stuff her with carrots and she’s been looking like she’s feeling at least a little better. So I’ve continued to stuff her face. Whisper of course gets carrots as well – that’d be totally unfair lol – and has really been coming leaps and bounds in the “trusting us to help her out when she’s scared in her stall” department. Plus, I think she knows. She’s one of the most sensitive horses I know, and I think she knows Amber doesn’t feel well. And I think she knows I’ve been sad as well, because for the past few weeks she’s been gently moving her head towards me to love on her face, something she usually doesn’t do. She lets me smooch her nose and hold her head like she’s offering support. Such a sweet mare.
So while I feel like I’m muddling through a lot and continuously hitting roadblocks with appointments and such (which most will hopefully be resolved within 2 weeks), our future neighbor’s kindness was just the lift that I needed.
Blog Hop: The horse you bought
This blog hop originated from Cathryn at Two and a Half Horses. It’s been a lot of fun seeing flashbacks of people’s horses where they first started and where they are now. Before and after stories are some of favorites. I’m a little late to the party, but it’s never too late to hop on the train!
Amber was actually a really good looking 2yr old by the time I bought her:
But when I first saw her, and was assigned to her as my young horse to train from the ground up she looked like this:
Definitely the awkward long yearling. But it certainly wasn’t love at first sight. She didn’t want anything to do with me, and I in turn was very frustrated by her not wanting to work with me so I didn’t want anything to do with her either lol. Considering neither one of us knew what we were doing, there was a pretty big learning curve for the both of us. But she was a really sensible baby, and pretty chill with a lot of things I threw at her.
A year later and she was mine, and she decided after 2 months of ownership that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and got out at night. After suffering what vets thought was a career-ending injury, and even after discovering over a dozen bone chips in the back of her knee and subsequent surgery to remove as many as were possible, she came back amazingly sound. And we’ve been on tons of adventures ever since. She’s been a constant in my life when a lot of other things were unknown, and she’s one of the most forgiving horses I’ve ever known. She’s such a sweetheart, and would rather spend hours and hours with people than other horses. She’s certainly fond of attention!
Now, 6 years after ownership I have been able to ride reining, western pleasure, ranch riding, western dressage, trail, horsemanship, dressage, hunter under saddle and start getting into jumping again with her. I’ve been able to do more with her than any other horse. I didn’t know it at first, but this little mare that can do just about a little bit of everything was exactly what I needed. She’s been the best first horse, and even though she’s been recently forced into retirement, we’re still enjoying spending lots of time together.
For Whisper, she came into our lives in 2006 at 4 years old. My mom and I had no idea how to ride such a well-trained pleasure horse (thank god we’re a bit better now – sorry Whisper!) but she was just the horse my mom needed after her previous horse bolted a lot. Whisper was the epitome of “whoa” and would stop pretty much dead in her tracks. She was instrumental in helping me develop my love for training horses, and for my mom to conquer her fears. I showed Whisper for a while in high school, and we learned so much together.
Now Whisper is looking better than ever, and at 16 years old, she’s living a pretty cushy life with us on our property. After a lot of trial and error with various trainers we’ve finally been able to get Whisper reacquainted with her previous training, and she’s looking really fit and fabulous. I still have all of my ribbons, plaques and saddle bags and portable tables and everything else that Whisper helped me win. Her sweet nature and giving soul have caused all who meet her to fall in love with her (seriously tho lol she has just about one of the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen on a horse) and she even started a buying spree at one of our old barns when we got her. After meeting her, no less than 3 other people bought new horses haha.
Both horses are a huge part of our lives. We’ve been lucky to have 2 chestnut mares who are pretty much perfect in every way as far as mares go. Both are so sweet and loving and willing and I’ve been very lucky to have two such wonderful horses.
This sucks
For the past 2 years, I have managed to evade the Plague of sicknesses. It could also be because whenever sick people are at work I Clorox every single thing I’m going to touch. Well, I didn’t this time. I blame my coworker who came in on Thursday when he was sick. So now I have it. Yippee.
This is so awesome of course – said no one ever. Now I really can’t sleep, breathe or move my head. I should probably be staying home from work, but what can you do. I just need to rest as much as I can and take a crap ton of Nyquil and other meds. At least being sick helped me finish my middle painting. It’s actually going to go in my parent’s guest room, so that’s pretty cool.
Amber is bored, but okay. She’s been ouchie on her right hind and resting it more than usual, so of course I’m worried about her again. At least it’s only 2 more weeks until her check up so we can see how her sole is developing. Crossing my fingers!
Also, here’s a funny video of what Whisper does when she’s really hungry and I haven’t fed dinner yet. She looks a bit rabid LOL.
Lesson Recap
Saturday was my first lesson in a long time!
Good news: I didn’t fall off!
Bad news: I somehow managed to minorly sprain my left ankle while in two point.
Yeah I don’t know how. One second I was in two point and went to canter a circle, and the next it felt like my ankle rolled in the stirrup. It was pretty weird. It was sore for the rest of the day, along with some blisters on my heels so that was a very interesting day lol. Thankfully, it’s feeling okay now after a lot of icing. So not a bad sprain just super weird. Anyone else have this happen to them?
Trainer G moved to a new place, a lovely barn that is full of gorgeous Morgan horses. Among those lovely Morgans is the only QH – Rocky, the horse that I rode. He’s shorter than Amber, and narrower (then again most horses are narrower LOL) but he still had quite a bit of get up and go. He used to be a reiner too, which I found nicely familiar. He’d slow down if I sat too far back or too far forward, and had very abrupt downward transitions. Just like Amber and all other reiners I’ve ridden lol.
It actually worked out really well that I haven’t ridden in a while because Trainer G has been starting to teach Rocky how to jump. We worked a lot on flatwork, and oh man my legs were dying from being so out of shape haha. Rocky doesn’t need spurs because he does have a good amount of go, but he still needs quite a bit more leg than I’m used to. I managed to feel it just once, but I still haven’t figured out how exactly to get the amount of leg and in what position it needs to be for the horses that Trainer G has ridden. Rocky isn’t spooky, he’s just very looky and gets distracted easily. He’s a bit older and creaky, but a good boy and he does like to jump. Once I got more comfortable I was able to get his attention a little better. We worked on 20 meter circles and controlling the shoulder while still getting him to bend around my inside legs. It was tough and not very successful with me being out of shape, but thankfully Trainer G was super encouraging and I was able to get our circles at least moderately even haha.
We started off with some poles and small crossrails, and only jumped a little bit. We’d only managed to go over the crossrail twice before my ill-timed sprain, and only got one more shot at it. It was actually the only time I managed to get my Cambox recording correctly unfortunately, so I only have one good video. Still, Rocky was fun to jump. He’s still figuring it out for sure, but while he’s unsure, he’s certainly a different ride than Liam.
So, it wasn’t a groundbreaking lesson, although everything along with my 4th and pinky fingers is sore! I’m certainly planning to try fitting in working out more with my schedule, but it’ll take some time. Either way, I’m hoping I can schedule another lesson soon!
Blog Hop: Millionaire Me
Even though Olivia probably never meant for this to be a blog hop, this is too good not to. I’m also going to go with the premise that even though it says “millionaire” that I have an unlimited amount of funds. Because this is fantasy land so why not?!
First, I’d buy a wonderful horse property. I haven’t looked overmuch for a horse property so unfortunately I have no dream farm link, but I know it would be much closer to the east coast. A bit inland, but NC or SC since it’s further south and I happen to have a lot of family in that area so that’d be cool. I’d want it to be a bit out in the country, already have barns, arenas, a bit of cross country courses built and over 100 acres with a few fenced pastures. Perfect for eventing.
Amber’s life wouldn’t change too much but with this, I would get Amber a buddy – an aged gelding in need of a good retirement home. Amber gets along well with older geldings, so she could live out in a pasture with him and they’d have a blast out there. With a grazing muzzle and only Bermuda grass because girl is special haha. There would also be a few other pastures to rotate other horses.
I’d grab myself a Prelim packer to begin showing me the ropes of eventing. I may go for a 1* or 2* packer, but hey, if money is no option then I can always get one later, right?! haha I’d also like to buy around 4-5 ammy friendly 1*, 2* or below horses to keep as “extras”. Why? Well, because what I would ultimately LOVE is to have adult summer camps from spring to fall. Yup! For 1-2 weeks Adult Ammies would bring their horses (if they had one) to my place for an adult summer camp. If they didn’t have horses, that’s where my 4-5 packers would come in handy. It’d be a week or two of wine and other drinks, camping, and hanging out for fun days with horses. However, since money isn’t an issue here, there’d also be clinics during that time – dressage, SJ and XC specific clinics with 4* riders as well as pure SJ and Dressage trainers. It’d be lots of things packed into only a few days, but I personally think would be awesome.
I’d make sure it was AA friendly in terms of price too, so that probably would make me absolutely no money and really drain me dry, but we’re talking a zillion dollars in fantasy land so I can dream haha. In the off time of summer camps I’d probably let a few trainers/people winter down there. The packers would probably have leases or something, who knows haha. But of course I’d have custom tack for all of my animals, and perhaps some fanceh stuff for me. Probably just custom boots really since I’m pretty okay with everything else. Okay maybe some custom pants since most pants don’t fit me. Okay, fine. I’ll have fanceh schmancy stuff too! lol
I would of course go to as many shows as I could, even though I get a little burned out with a lot of showing, but then I’d try to volunteer as much as I could as well since I’ll have a zillion dollars and won’t need to work. That’s about it for me because after that I’d be waaaaay past a zillion dollars in just a year LOL.
What about you? What would you do with a zillion, unlimited dollars?
So…how has she been?
Amber seems to be doing okay. I think she’s finally settling a bit. It could be a number of things, but she’s seemed more content these days than before. Perhaps she’s realizing that it’s “the life” to just eat all day and get loved on and get tons of scratches? Probably lol. Her big nickers for scratches have increased in volume and intensity lol, and she’s gotten very smart about it. She gives me 2-3 minutes to finish scooping poop before she leaves her alfalfa to beg for scratches. Silly girl haha. We’ve gotten into a bit of a routine now, though it’s a small routine and we’ve changed a few things for her.
First off, I’ve switched her from bute to Equioxx. I think she’s doing better on that – she just looks a little happier in general, so I’m going to say that it’s helping her feel better and isn’t as harsh on her stomach even though I’m totally not 100% sure lol. The sore on her left side has been slowly but steadily healing, so that tells me that she isn’t laying down as much and the soft rides are really helping her be more comfortable standing.
Diet. Ahh, poor girl lolol. She is NOT a fan of her new diet and the fact that her human bought a fish scale to precisely measure her hay has her pretty upset. Okay, so some days she get a half pound extra haha. But most days her diet is strict. It’s almost easy actually, because she’s a lot more comfortable if I put her hay in a net so it makes for a perfect opportunity to weigh it. She’s on 18 lbs now to start so she can get used to it before I take her down to the vet’s desired amount of 16lbs. She does not like this haha. She gets quite hangry and I don’t blame her. I usually try to at least eat less and get fitter and then what happens? It’s international doughnut day, or my friend buys pizza and wine and coconut dream cookies for an impromptu tv show binge night, or I get offered tacos and say yes because of course I want tacos. So, I feel Amber for wanting more food and not being able to eat any lol.
I have trimmed her mane shorter, and leave her tail out of its bag. I brush both every other day, and she loves the attention. I took about 2 inches off of her mane to not only even it up but she gets so hot in this weather that I’m still debating whether or not to really trim it short. I can’t bring myself to do that yet, since I just love her longer mane, so that gets brushed whenever her tail does. They get washed every week, and she’s been less itchy with that. And every weekend, she gets a break from her annoying socks and boots. She’s gotten pretty good at leaving that left hind foot where I place it so the towel can help it dry before it goes back into the boot. She tries to tell me otherwise but I think she secretly LOVES it when I bathe her and pamper her haha. And she deserves it too!
Once I’ve used them up I’m going to take her off of her supplements. She really doesn’t need them anymore, but she still gets ulcerguard pellets – the only thing I’ll probably keep her on. She’ll probably still get a few of her other things – flax and salt, but the other stuff is just money that I don’t need to spend anymore. I’ve been thinking of switching grain too, just to something perhaps more formulated to a laminitic horse. She really doesn’t need the ultium competition grain anymore even though both she and I love it haha.
Otherwise, it’s been quiet around here. We’re just plodding along day by day, waiting for Amber’s next appointment at the end of September. Since Amber will be due for a trim at the time of the appointment, I’ve got the vet and farrier scheduled so that they can chat about where to go from there and have a plan for her feet. Good to knock out 2 birds with one stone.
I’m super excited for my lesson Saturday; I’m just really hoping I’m not absolutely horrid since I honestly haven’t ridden in like…4-5 weeks or longer and am so out of shape lol. It feels shorter since time has really flown by recently, but I’m hoping I’ll have a little more opportunity to lesson in the following months. Also, I’m super excited because I FINALLY get to try my Cambox helmet camera for a lesson! Let’s just hope it doesn’t record me falling off haha!
So many thoughts
I’m certainly one of those people that if presented with a problem that requires waiting (not patience because I have none lol), I have to have a gazillion different plans of action should the problem begin to resolve itself in a certain way. Then, I proceed to go back and forth between all gazillion options, and I change my mind every day – sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. I know it’s hard for the people around me to keep up with me sometimes when I do things like that – hell it’s hard for me to keep up with me haha. For Amber, should her stifle have gone wrong, I came up with so many things I could do should it not work out. As it turns out, her stifle ended up not being the problem. Looking at things a little more closely, it looks like her stifle healed phenomenally – it’s just the laminitis that got to her. So now, I’m back to all of my previous options and oscillating back and forth. This is mostly just for me since it’s a good way to sort through my thoughts and actually get them down on paper. Or virtual paper as it will. It will also keep me a little steadier in the months to come I think – even if I want to change my mind it’ll help me stay settled on my ultimate decision.
First off, I’ll take you through the (most plausible) options I had settled on:
I could breed Amber. This of course, is a definite “no” now. There’s much to think about with this one, not only because Amber is laminitic – although now of course that’s a huge part of it. Because I’m breeding this horse, I also completely understand that I may not be able to keep it forever and always because sometimes life happens. So I have to make sure the horse is also marketable should I have to sell it. Vet bills for pregnancies are no joke either, plus knowing Amber and her injury-prone self, she’ll find some way to cause me grief her whole pregnancy. Pretty sure I can’t handle 11 months of that LOL. Knowing her she’ll also pass on her injury-prone-ness to her foal LOL. There’s also just a LOT of potential for things to go wrong just in pregnancy and birth. Plus, I’m not delusional enough to think I’ll “get another Amber” should I breed her. There of course will never be another Amber, and truthfully, I don’t want another one. She is one of a kind. It may be vain, but I do also worry about people talking about the foal as being “backyard bred” even if I did breed Amber to a nice TB since appendix QHs are marketable. As for care, there are really no good areas for me to put Amber, and should she even be able to have a foal, I would want her in a big pasture with other foaling mares so the foal can grow up and be social. I think that’s an integral part of a foal’s growth and I want to give it as best a start in life as I can. A foal is a lot of responsibility, one I don’t take lightly, so there’s much about this option that isn’t feasible for me at the present. But, the laminitis really shuts this decision down, though to be honest I really don’t think I would have ever gone this route no matter what happened.
So. What next? Well, I could lease a horse. This one is still in the air. It’s certainly an option and I’m still tossing it around in my head. I’m still a bit hesitant on this one tho, mostly because I won’t own the horse. Based on my past experiences this hasn’t always been the best thing, but there are just as many (and many more!) good leases too, so it all depends on what I find or happens down the road. Of course knowing my luck I’ll end up with a lease and the lease horse will teach me a whole bunch and we’ll be absolutely great together lol. At the moment though, I’m just probably still hesitant to go this route because I’m sad that Amber and I can no longer go on adventures, and I’m mourning the loss of our riding connection. It’s really hard to be open to something else – especially when it’s not mine – when Amber and I have such a good relationship. This for sure isn’t an option I’m discarding for those reasons, but because I need to sort a lot out with Amber, but I just don’t know if it is completely feasible for me to lease at the moment.
Which leads to I could buy a horse. This is the one that’s the 2nd most solid of my options. I know eventually, even if I lease, I will want another horse. I actually preferably would like to find one before I have to let Amber go. Whisper really helped my mom with her grief when she had to put down her previous horse, and I’m thinking I’ll be the same way. Plus needing to care for the horse will get me out to the barn even if I don’t want to, because time spent with horses is the best time. I won’t lie but I am really dreading the whole “let’s find a horse” process since my mom did most of the looking before we bought Whisper and Amber just kinda fell into my lap haha. So I’m….very very green at this lol. I’m not in a rush to buy a horse though because it’s also not quite feasible for me to purchase a horse right now. It’s even harder because there really aren’t any eventing prospect horses around the Vegas area. I considered buying another horse from the same program Amber came from (you know, school support and all that plus I know what care/training they get and know the types of horses), but I’ve since realized that if I’m buying a horse that I want to event on, I have to be able to ride them to try them (you can’t at LOR). I also have to know they like jumping and they enjoyed even the smallest of cross country schools. It’d be a project horse, not requiring a lot of jumping experience since I’m confident in myself and especially the pros around me to help me muddle through haha. Plus, after all the hard work I’ve done with Amber and bringing her up myself, I know that teaching a horse myself really helps to build a connection and relationship with the animal, and I really want another partnership.
My last option, which is the option I have decided right now to do, is to catch ride and lesson on as many different horses as I can. With Amber, I knew her inside and out, and I didn’t have any fears jumping her or taking her cross country or doing whatever it was with her. But now that a new horse is in my future, I need to start developing a feel for what type of ride I’d like. I’ve been excited about jumping and I’ve been excited about dressage – now I need to see if I can get out there on cross country and see if I’m excited about that (I really don’t doubt I will be, but I’m nothing if not a pretty practical person haha). I need to see if I really, truly want to event. Amber was easy – we’d done so many things in the past that if we evented for a bit and it wasn’t hers or my thing, then we’d pop over to something else. But I may be looking for a horse specifically for eventing, so I have to make sure that this is a discipline I really want to do. Again, pretty sure I do, because even though I have yet to do some of the things, I am still as hungrily following it now as I was when I first discovered it in 2016. But who the hell knows I may be frozen come cross country haha! But by riding so many different horses, I can hopefully start feeling what kind of ride I’d like and what type of horse and how their gaits feel. I cannot ride bouncy horses AT ALL, so I’d like to know the bounce limit I can ride. Jumping and cross country is the best and, well, most important part about eventing, so I need to make sure what personality and traits and aspects about a horse I like that I’d be confident to go cross country.
Lesson pony Liam actually helped me with this. Since I was a very timid rider growing up, I always thought I wanted a “push” horse instead of a “whoa” horse, but he made me really miss Amber when I’d ride him. He only stopped on me once, and even then he still crawled over the fence, but he never quite gave me the feeling of taking me to the jumps. Despite Amber’s and my greenness and the fact that I didn’t start her right, she felt like she was taking me to the crossrails. Perhaps it wasn’t exactly how it’s supposed to feel, but it was enough of a difference that I noticed. Because when I’d tell her to go, she’d always ask me “how fast?” and stay there until I told her otherwise. Liam would go for a few strides, then slow back down. I’ve just started to realize that riding reiners has made me much less of a “push” horse person, and more of “whoa” person. So now to figure out how much go for the horse haha. While they’ve all been QHs, I’ve worked with a fair number of “go” horses (every single Gunnatrashya offspring has their bolting phase), but all of these traits may mean I end up with a TB. Which, TBs are WAY different from QHs, sooooo it’s a toss-up haha. But I don’t know! It’s a lot of information, but I’m happy with trying to figure out all the angles. It also helps that many horse sale ads I’ve found have been in WA, and I have a great eventer friend who knows TBs (and just horses in general) inside and out and is willing to help me out should I head on up there to look. So I want to lesson on TBs and more athletic QHs (meaning less fat LOL) and maybe even a warmblood because why the hell not?! Let’s do it! I do admit that I sorta miss having 6-8 horses to ride a day. They were all so different in their own right, but all such nice horses and I learned SO MUCH from all of them. That is one of the reasons I do want to catch ride. I learn best when challenged with a few things at once, and riding different horses I feel will really help me out. Who knows? I may even be lessoning for a year or two before I find my next partner, and I feel right now that I’m not in a rush for that like I usually would be (this may change tomorrow. I may want to just get it over with NOW haha!)
Coincidentally, I was able to (finally!!) schedule another lesson with Trainer G. I feel bad – I went dark for so long she lost my number LOL! She’s coincidentally at a new place with a new lesson horse – QH Rocky – and I know nothing about him but I’m excited for another lesson. She’s still close to an old cross country field I believe, so I’m going to try getting in my very first cross country outing with her with Rocky here in the future. There’s also a dressage trainer I really like who I will hopefully start lessoning with soon (just gotta make sure timing and everything works out) and there’s an h/j barn really close to me – like 15 minutes away. They have some lesson horses too, and since I am hoping to ride a variety of horses, I’ve been looking into lessoning with them as well. Plus, this will give me more jumping/dressage experience that I can carry forward to my next ride – be it a lease horse or I buy one.
As sad as I am that the chapter of Amber and I riding and competing together has ended, I’m pretty excited for this next chapter. Even though I can’t ride her anymore, I am so relieved that I FINALLY know what’s wrong with Amber and why she’s been upset. I can now move forward with a treatment plan for her to keep her comfortable, and start forming a plan for me to move forward as well. I feel as if I’ve been a bit stuck in a stasis, as I was from fall of 2015 to 2016, and the waiting has certainly taken it’s toll on me. But I am excited to get back into it.
Yay vet visit (not)
Not that the vet visit was bad mind you. Just that we’re seeing the vet A LOT lol.
Doc was headed out to take a look at Whisper, and did a 2 week check up on Amber as well. I had grabbed a few things for Amber before the visit – mostly a weight measure and some Equioxx. With her being laminitic, she can’t have too much alfalfa, but I don’t know exactly how much food a day we give her, and I wanted to weigh it, tell the doc, and form a plan. So, we’re good on the amount of alfalfa she’s getting ( ~3.5 lbs 2x a day), but overall she was getting too much especially with her being out of work. So, our aim is to cut back to 16 lbs ideally, so I’ll be cutting her back slowly. Now that her metabolism has slowed and she’s finally lost all the muscle she tenaciously hung on to, she’s not voraciously eating everything in sight. She’s leaving some, which is a good sign to us. So, I’ll be cutting down her food, but everything else I’m feeding her is okay.
Even though she’s in soft rides, I’m liking how the barefoot is helping her hind feet. Her sole is getting harder, and the spot is less spongy, which I take as a good thing. He wants to see her in 8 weeks tho – I’m thinking to see if her sole has thickened a bit more or how it’s growing in those 8 weeks. I questioned him about her being barefoot in the front, but he didn’t seem to think that was a good idea. Which I’m completely fine with, I was just putting it out there for curiosity’s sake. I’m just asking tons of questions since this is all new to me, but my vet has been taking this all in stride and has been more than willing to tell me the whys and his reasons for suggesting/doing certain things. So she stays in front shoes and we have some more waiting before figuring out her hind feet. The good news is that there’s no more bad news right now, soooooo….??? Ha I’ll take it.
Unfortunately our little ride we did was a big no-no. Poor Amber can’t get out of her stall at all (I mean, aside from going to the crossties for baths or grooming) in the next 8 weeks. Poor thing is going to go crazy. I could feel how happy she was even for the 5 minutes we walked. Her ears were pricked, and she was back to her “let’s go do stuff ma!” attitude. She keeps nosing her gate, wanting to be out and pestering me when I don’t get her out. She doesn’t understand why we can’t go out, especially since she’s now feeling better with the soft rides. That’s certainly been difficult.
It does feel a bit like “injury central” here tho haha. Whisper is doing very well since her hock injections but now has soreness in her LF so we have a couple things going on that’ll help weed out whether it’s not enough support for shoeing or something else in her leg. We’re hoping that she’ll be back in contention to start the next 3-show series come September, but it’s getting a bit close. So if she can’t show then we’ll probably still trailer her there just to get her off property, see the sights and promptly go home. Choco too has been pretty limpy lately. Her left shoulder is bothering her (what is it with our animals and their left sides at the moment? lol), so we have her on some anti-inflammatories which have seemed to help a lot. We’re also looking into canine adequan. Our biggest worry is that she’s still so full of life even at 14 that if we don’t help her feel better as best we can she may not really recover from it. We’d like to keep her as happy and active as we possibly can for as long as we can. Since Amber AND Whisper have been a bit out of commission, I really haven’t ridden at all (and yes I’m dying haha). But I’ve supplemented that with finally starting PT, this time with a doctor and physical therapist that actually care about my health concerns and are really trying to help me with preventative measures instead of “come back when you’re more broken and can’t walk”. Thanks. Real helpful guys. Right now I’m working on my right leg where I got kicked, and it’s pretty hard, but I’m keeping up with it. It needs to get stronger and function as best as it can, and I want to break up that scar tissue. Hopefully soon, I’ll get back to lessons. I also just….really need to work out since I have no fitness left at all since I haven’t ridden in a while lol. I have been pretty much a lump, so there’s that haha.
I do want to start up lessons again soon, dressage and jumping if it all works out, so hopefully I can get my butt in gear and work out some more!
X-Rays of Amber’s foot
I didn’t realize my mom had actually gotten pictures of the x-rays, so I am able to share them with you guys. Just so everyone can see, last week I posted this video of her on Insta, which was taken on July 25, only 1 week prior to her vet visit.
You can certainly see some shortness in her RH, but there’s practically nothing to see in her LH, which is why we were all pretty shocked to see that this was what her foot actually looked like.
That is…..not minor. I am pretty sure most horses would be 3-legged at this point. Thankfully, her right hind foot (and front feet) all looked good.
Bute hasn’t seemed to help as much anymore, and I worry about her since she’s been on it for a while. She’s on an ulcerguard at the same time, but bute long term isn’t the best which is why I want to switch her to Equioxx. She hasn’t been pigging out as much as she usually has either, so my mom and I were worried for a bit. It seems like all the food on the ground was just pretty painful for her, even with the boots and how much she loves to eat. Putting her hay in a net and getting it up off the floor has helped – she’s back to eating her usual amount.
She is certainly not the biggest fan of her boots lol. Every now and then she kind of kicks out hoping to get them off but they’re staying on. I was able to grab some old socks to prevent rubbing, but the boots have certainly helped her feel better. The few times she got excited about something over the weekend and trotted I could see a sliver of how well her stifle has actually been healing. She DID love her shavings and laid down immediately. Then proceeded to try to scratch the boot off.
So I figured I’d help her out. And she loved it. Such an itchy girl haha.
A new diagnosis
It has been a whirlwind week. Over the last week or two, Whisper has been odd. I was REALLY having to remind her to get back on her hindquarters, she was a lot more unwilling to work, and she’d start biting at the air whenever my mom would saddle her or I would put my spurs on her – even if they were the small little English nubby spurs I use on Amber. This was absolutely not like her. At first I thought perhaps she’d lost fitness or was giving us a few of her very rare “no” moments. But after a bit of a tough ride, and still a not-too-productive next ride, she still wasn’t better after a week and I rode her again. That ride, to the right she felt a bit wiggly, and it felt harder than usual. To the left though, if felt as if she’d lost all of her rhythm and cadence and that’s her good side. That piqued my interest, and I started a deep tissue massage on her a few nights later after I’d gotten to thinking. I really worked over her SI and Psoas around 3 nights in a row, and she was certainly improved by the weekend. No biting the air when I’d use spurs or when she’d be saddled. She still was just NQR though, so my mom made a Monday appointment for the vet to look at her. Since the vet was coming out, we figured he could check Amber over as well since it was time for her 1 month post-first-vet-visit visit.
He did a flex test on Whisper, and noted that she flexed a bit positively on her hocks. While her SI could certainly be the culprit, Whisper IS 16. We don’t believe she had any injections when she was younger before we got her when she was 4, and she’s been in consistent 4-6 day works (although those may not have been extremely HARD rides haha) for a good 12 years. Over the past 2-3 years, we’ve really worked on rocking her back and utilizing her hind end. This year alone we’ve upped her fitness since the Feb show, and have had increasingly intense – though short – rides so we can prepare for the Sept-Nov show series. I’m honestly not too surprised that it was probably time for a hock injection. Since she’s a sensitive horse, I think the injections will last her a long while – hopefully longer than a year, but I’m not too worried. Compared to Amber at the moment, Whisper is EASY-PEASY.
After Whisper’s flex test I grabbed Amber for him, and his immediate answer was “I still really don’t like this.” Well, damn. I thought she’d been doing pretty well actually. Over the month I’d actually taken down her walk time to 15 minutes, but increased to a bit of trotting for 10 seconds 2-3 times in one ride. The second walk of the day would be outside on pavement for 20 minutes. She did pretty well with this – ahhh or so I thought. So far, it seems the stifle is actually fine and all well and good pretty much, but he’s puzzled about why she doesn’t want to bring that RH forward. She walks really well on the street and stumbles a lot more in the arena with that RH. So we decided to inject her stifle with a steroid to help in case there was some build up of arthritis or tenacious inflammation that’s hindering her from wanting to bring that leg forward.
His words were “You’re (Amber) going to drag this out all the way to the end, aren’t you?” and “You’re lucky your mom loves you so much.” Truer words have never been spoken. If that doesn’t describe the both of us to a T I don’t know what does haha.
After walking her Tuesday she looked more comfortable. The steroid helped with the inflammation I think, and she was actually quite willing to bring the leg forward and only had a few bobbles in the arena. I was ready to just go ahead and start the IRAP process if that’d help her feel a lot better. However, the farrier came out Wednesday, and after he pulled her shoes told me to come look at her LH asap.
Amber has a new diagnosis – she has laminitis in her left hind foot. And pretty progressive laminitis at that.
Looking at that foot on Wednesday, and after hearing the farrier say that it looked a lot like a laminitic foot, I knew they were right. I knew it wasn’t anything good. So I scrambled my schedule around and got her in to the clinic on Thursday. I wish I had the x-rays to show you guys (they will hopefully be emailed to me and I’ll post them) but I don’t think she really has more than 5 or so millimeters of sole between the coffin bone and outer sole. At first, after just watching her walk the vet wasn’t convinced. He seemed quite surprised and shocked after seeing the x-rays. (After finding that, all 4 feet were radiographed to make sure they were okay and to get a baseline) I don’t blame him. We both discussed how she doesn’t walk AT ALL like a laminitic horse and unfortunately, her symptoms were believed to be and clouded by the recent surgery to the RH stifle. Because honestly out of most of the symptoms, she really only noticeably did the “reluctant to walk forward” one, and we both just figured it was due to the stifle.
But she wasn’t bringing the RH forward because that would cause her to put weight on her LH toe, and that hurt. For it to be so progressed though means that it’s been building for a while – not just post-surgery. I’m thinking it’s back to when she really injured it – during the show in November. Over the past 8-9 months she’s just been consistently weight bearing on that LH. Either way, as all of you know, this isn’t a good development at all.
So Amber has been taken off of everything – no stretches, no walks, no riding. Just stall rest. She is now wearing some soft ride boots, and by evening, it actually looked like she felt better. She was walking quite a lot more than she has for a while, so I think she’s more comfortable. I sure hope so. I suppose it’s pretty obvious to say that Amber is officially retired. Nothing more for her. The only silver lining I can find at the moment is that it’s a hind foot and not a front foot. Ironically, both the vet and I mentioned how it looks a bit like Barbaro. I only hope it doesn’t develop in any other foot and that we caught it at an okay time.
I’m still going to be following everyone and commenting, but unless there’s an update I’ll probably not blog more than once a week. I still want to get my reviews out and am planning to go back to lessoning hopefully within a few weeks, but it’ll just take time for me to fully process everything and really get a solid outlook on where I want to go from here – be it buying a horse, leasing, or continuing to lesson for a while. Buying is certainly not in the cards yet, but leasing or lessoning are certainly options that I’ll fully decide in the future. Mostly though, I’m just focused on getting Amber as comfortable as we can get her, and hopefully manage this now that we know what it is.
Dealing with the heat
Heat stress or exhaustion or stroke is no joke. As a sufferer of heat stroke myself, I completely understand people’s intolerance of the heat. Especially now that monsoon season came early for Las Vegas (it usually hits around late August/early September), the heat index hasn’t lessened one bit, but the humidity certainly has been on the rise. Usually when it’s 110 outside, the humidity is around 10-12%. Now, it’s 110 outside with 20% humidity and a time of day that usually brings the winds now has practically no breeze. It won’t even get below 100* until about 9 or 10 at night. Mornings are the best time to ride as is usual for most places.
This heat has really been kicking my butt the longer this heat/humidity thing goes on. I know it’s especially unbearable for all of you guys with the temperatures up and the humidity being MUCH greater than 20%. But for me, I can’t ride in the mornings. Most of my work days start at 6 am, so my only option if I want to ride is in the afternoon – when it’s basically hell lol. While it is a question of whether we should even ride when it’s that hot, for me NOT riding isn’t an option. Even though my episode of heat stroke has really affected my heat tolerance now, I know that if I ever plan to show or even manage to just hack around in Vegas, my horse and I HAVE to be able to ride in these extreme temperatures.
So what can we do to beat the intolerable heat this summer seems to have plagued everywhere? I have seen a lot of helpful tips on keeping our equine partners safe and helping them tolerate the heat. But what about YOU – the rider? In my opinion, the rider is absolutely just as important than the horse. Why? Because if I’m not taking care of myself, how can I efficiently and effectively take care of my horse? If I am tired or too hot or dead on my feet I may miss something that I otherwise wouldn’t have had I been feeling better. This may or may not help those of you, but I’d like to share the things I do to help Amber feel as good as she can and how I take care of myself through the hot months.
For the horse:
These tips won’t be anything new than many other articles on helping your horse tolerate the heat, but these are the things I do for Amber (and Whisper too!). First, I always have a full bucket of cool water in the arena. Our bucket in the arena IS in direct sunlight, but we are lucky enough to have our water source come from a well, and the water is nice and cool from underground if we have to dump hot water and refill it. On days when Whisper is working hard, whenever we have a break in “work” I’ll take her over to the water bucket to drink. Even if she doesn’t, it’s still offered and available. Even though Amber and I are just walking, I did this for her last summer when we were in full work, and the girls have gotten very used to drinking water if they’re thirsty. At one point Amber almost dragged be to the bucket after a morning walk!
Second, sometimes I will sponge Amber off before a ride – especially if it’s nice and breezy since that will help her stay cooler. Otherwise I always hose her off afterwards and immediately have a fan on her. The water that runs to our barn is much hotter than the water that goes to the arena – we accidentally miscalculated how deep to dig the trench for the water pipes, so it’s shallower and the water is consequently much hotter. I’ll throw the hose on and let it run for as long as it’ll take me to untack, then hose Amber down. Even if the water is still hotter than I’d like, the fans help to cool off the water on her skin almost immediately (I also always put my hand against her to make sure it feels cool).
Third, both horses are usually fed their grain around noon-ish, and on those hotter than hot days I’ll throw in some electrolytes. They both love the cherry flavored crystal/powder, but some horses won’t eat it and the paste electrolytes are very easy to use as well. There are even ones you can put in their water to encourage them to drink. I personally don’t have a preference of which one works better or whatnot, but I do use the powder since it’s cheaper in the long run and my horse will eat it that way. Whisper does pretty well on the electrolytes that go in the water as well as the powder. As well as electrolytes, if the horses are working very hard I do supplement with magnesium. Amber is a HUGE sweater, and sometimes they can even sweat out magnesium if they sweat hard enough. Magnesium aids in muscle relaxation, and when the horses were in difficult work I noticed the magnesium helped them feel better. This summer, Amber has been in relatively no work, and Whisper light work, so we haven’t been using the magnesium hardly at all.
Fourth – they always have fans on. Our last barn had misters and I’d love to have some misters here AND fans but I don’t know if that’s feasible for us at the moment. Amber loved her misters, and she loves her fans. Always standing in front of at least one of them. Whisper is a funny horse and has 2 16 gallon water buckets – during the heat of the day she drinks the inside bucket and at night she drinks from the outside bucket in her run. Amber only has 1 bucket, but we fill that about 2x a day – that girl certainly drinks! Other than that the girls have been here for a while and are pretty accustomed to the oven-hell that is summer in the desert (altho thankfully it’s not AZ where it’s 123 and your tires blow just from driving over 40 on the road).
So now – on to the rider!
Unfortunately I am……way more high maintenance than Amber haha. But in order for me to stay cool and not have a heat stress headache and regular “blah” feeling, there’s a lot I have to do.
First my clothing. Cooling breeches and shirts are my go-to for summer. I will actually overheat even in a simple T-shirt so I’ve been slowly accruing more and more sunshirts haha. My 3 fav brands are Kerrits, Kastel and Ariat (although my new Noble Outfitters shirt is working its way to the top) – those shirts absolutely keep me the coolest. I wear cooling tech breeches – Ovation Aqua X are my usual go-tos with the Horze Grand Prix breeches coming in a close second. The fabric on those is very similar to the Aqua X and I love them. I even have tech undergarments – Champion c9 sport wicking undies and the Champion c9 sports bras. With my short sleeve tech shirts I wear the Kerrits sleeves and Roeckl chester summer gloves – the mesh on the back of the hand keeps them cool while still having that great Roeckl grip. I also wear the Ovation schooling helmet, which is light blue in color to help reflect the sun and has a LOT of vents to help keep my head cool.
One of the most difficult things about summer in the desert is that your sweat evaporates almost immediately. A lot of the cooling clothing uses your own sweat so that a breeze catches it and cools your skin. Because of this, I have to “make my own sweat” if you will. I will actually hose myself down – my arms, chest, upper back, neck and head. My head does sweat, but by adding the extra water and making it extra damp, it ensures that the breeze going through the vents of my helmet helps keep my brain cooler. I probably look like a wet rat but hey – I’m a lot cooler haha.
While the clothing helps, it’s what I put into my body that does the most. Dizziness is one of the first signs for me that my body is feeling the heat, so I try to keep an eye out on that. Gatorade-water or smart/electrolyte water works the best for me. I usually buy the mid-size G2s and grab a large water jug and pour it in with some ice. I’ll put one or two in there depending on the size. Once the Gatorade fills the jug half-way, I fill the rest with water. With the Gatorade this way, I am not suddenly throwing a high volume of electrolytes into my body and throwing it off. It replenishes my body slowly, and I am also getting water at the same time. It lessens the too-sweet taste as well but is still tasty enough for me to want to drink it to help myself drink. I usually do this even though I also really like the Smart/electrolyte water. The Gatorade is a bit cheaper and I can make “twice as much” when I’m mixing it.
Next is blood sugar. I get very dizzy, extremely lethargic and very cotton-mouthed when my blood sugar starts to dip down too much. This also makes me even more susceptible to heat stress, so I’m always bringing food with me. When I worked at a barn during the summer as a teenager in high school, I was pretty ignorant about the heat in terms of stress/exhaustion/stroke. However, I was out there usually from 5 in the morning to around noon-ish, and learned that packing myself food helped me a LOT. So I’d pack myself a giant jug of water, some type of fruit that was juicy but also had natural sugars (watermelon is my fav for that), an energy/protein shake and a Gatorade. The protein shake provided energy and calories, but wasn’t a heavy food in my stomach like a sandwich or even a salad. Not a lot of that has changed now haha. Watermelon is great because it’s very watery, not too sweet, but can help raise your blood sugar when you’re feeling faint. I don’t need the energy or protein shakes anymore since I am not outside for 7-ish hours – usually around 2-3 hours at the barn now. I’ve changed the shakes to a small gel pack that I’d throw in a cooler when we boarded elsewhere, and that I keep in the freezer now that we have the horses at the house. I will periodically grab the pack and place it on my head as I’m finishing up at the barn. Since my hair is still wet from water and sweat, the gel pack immediately cools it and REALLY cools off my brain to prevent the headaches and heat stress.
I’ve come to recognize the signs my body tries to tell me about how well I’m dealing with the heat. My head is a big factor for me – even just a little bit of overheating or not doing all of these steps sometimes and I get a horrible headache. Dizziness or being slightly faint clues me in that I’m not doing enough, and that if I don’t do something soon, I’ll have to go through cold showers and ice packs to get my body temperature down ASAP. Most of the time though I’ll just feel a bit out of breath because the heat is sapping my energy, but I’m usually doing what I need to so I don’t feel dizzy or faint.
All of this allows me to cope with the heat the best way I can, and to also feel as good as I can so I can take care of my horse. It’s a bit tough to keep track of it all, but I’ve gotten into a rhythm with it that it really doesn’t take me too long to prepare any of these things. Plus, if it helps me avoid the ER to get more fluids than I’m all for it haha!
I’m looking into grabbing one of these from RW too. It’ll probably dry out very quickly since the evaporation is so high here, but it might be just what I need to keep my core temperature even cooler! I’m usually pretty good for the majority of rides – it’s closer to when I’m done and finishing up that I need extra help in keeping my body temperature down. We’ll see how it goes!
What about you guys? How do you guys keep yourself cool in the dead of summer? What do you do to combat the heat stress for both you and your horse?
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