Seriously!

To add insult to injury, turns out I'm allergic to sulfa.  The allergy manifests as hives and swollen, painful joints.  Fun on its own, I'm sure, but I had spent the day clearing brush ... at some point I must have twisted my ankle a little and strained the ligaments.  The sulfa allergy took that minor strain and turned it into a one-legged-lame, wake-me-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night pain.  

So before the doc yesterday, I looked like a one-footed leper who'd been in a fist fight.

After the doc and a shot of dex, I look like a slightly gimpy, less itchy leper who's been in a fist fight.

But at least things are on the upswing.  I get to see my pony tonight, if only to feed and fly spray, because I'm still in early days on healing bone, and that always means I'm in need of sleep.  Matt calls it the regenerative coma.  :)

Great weekend! Awful end to it.

Apparently it was not a good weekend for trailering and noses.

But let me start at the beginning.

I went up to NT's place to help clear the trail that goes around the property - it's a cool thing, but it was all but impassable in a few places because of all the brush.  So the call was put out for volunteers to help clear it.   Well, heck, thought I, I'll kill two birds with one stone and go do work in the morning, then ride in the afternoon!

So I hooked up S' truck to her trailer, packed the trailer, and went to head out Saturday morning.  Apollo is turning into kind of a brat about the trailer.  I honestly think he just doesn't like it - it's a 3H slant with just a wood floor, no mats, and it's relatively small, so he's squnched in (totally a word) when the divider is closed.  So I think he finds it an unpleasant ride, even though it's open and airy.  And I am pretty sure he has my number on this, because he refuses to load when it's just me, but when I get a second person behind him with a stick in their hand to help load him, he walks right on.  No stick even needed.  And he tries to turn around in the trailer and walk out forward as soon as possible when I unhook the lead thingy.

Trail maintenance went well!  The trail is really pleasant, and with those steep hills it'll be good conditioning work.  Clearing brush was quite the job, though ... oof.  If it weren't for a couple of ladies and their power tools on the first pass, we'd have had a much harder job.  Once we got the path cleared enough, the bush hog went through.  Woot!  I brought enough to drink and didn't dehydrate myself this time, too.  I am still exceptionally sore today.  Although, as you'll see, that might not just be the work ...

Then I had a lesson with NT.  At first, I was having trouble getting Apollo on the compressed, powerful trot step he needs, just going back and forth over a gymnastic.  I got the trot right, and we started working on Apollo really using himself over fences.  He had been jumping a little flat, just pushing off with one foot, not really making any effort.  So even though there was a great course set up, including a little liverpool and a shark-tooth that I would have liked to jump, we just worked back and forth over the vertical.  It was all about Apollo, and he had to do his job.  He hit the fence once, and he really did NOT like that.  He hit it, stumbled, and then spooked.  Poor kiddo!  When he finally got it - push off with both hind feet, bascule for days, and knees to nose, we called it a day.  It was pretty damn fun to ride, and NT said it looked great.  I have to say, it was nice to have my position squared away and be able to focus on the horse for once!

So after more loading shenanigans, we headed home.  Got home, pulled the truck and trailer into the pasture as usual, closed the pasture gate, and parked so I could unload the pony.  Opened the rear door, got on the trailer (no escape door), undid the divider, put Apollo's lead rope on his halter, and unhooked him from the trailer lead thing.  I was about to unload him when he swung his head around and bashed me in the face.

Y'all, I have never seen stars like that before.  Ow ow ow ow.  I am not sure if I unloaded him or if he unloaded himself; I don't really remember.  My nose was bleeding, my hat was knocked off, my glasses were hanging off my face, etc.  I knew this had actually broken my nose.   So I staggered over to Apollo, took his halter off, and walked up to the house for help - S *is* a doctor!  They weren't home, though, so I called Matt and told him I needed him to pick me up and take me to the emergency room ... and then I fed the horses.  Because it hadn't started to really hurt yet, and I knew that it would start, so I better get on the stick in a hurry before I couldn't any more.

X-ray confirms the break, but no displacement - yay.  Seriously, I did NOT want to go through setting it.

So I look terrible, all swollen and a nasty black eye (red, actually, since my skin is so pale) and a cut on my nose.

Sigh.  Bad juju.

Review: Woof Wear Smart Event Boots

NOTE: Video entry one back ...

So I haven't had a pair of cross-country boots yet.  I kind of had my heart set on a set of white Dalmar event boots, but the money didn't really work out, and I didn't want to pull the trigger too soon, etc.  I'm not so much of a tack ho as TSB, but I have to acknowledge that Apollo has a lot of boots.  (Note to self: need a replacement set of petals and a strap for the black petal boots)  So I've been holding off.

But with the xc schooling scheduled for last week, I decided I needed to pull that trigger.  And in order to get them in time for schooling, I needed to order from Amazon Prime.  I couldn't find the Dalmar boots at the time - of course, NOW they're back in stock! - and the Woof Wear Smart Event Boots had the same attributes: lightweight, solid protection at the critical points on each leg, perforated neoprene to not hold water or heat, venting, and good velcro. They have good reviews, too, and I didn't feel like they'd rub.  Plus, they'd show up in time!  So ... trigger pulled.

Front boot

It's a little odd that I chose the Woof boots, because I really, really hate their brushing boots.  I know.  I'm the only one in the world who doesn't like them.  I just hate the way they wrap - it seems backwards to me to have the back part wrap over the front, then the elastic from front to back.  I don't like their shape, I don't like that they don't come in white (okay FINE they come in white), I just ... I don't like them Sam I Am!

Anyway, I tried them on Apollo, and the Medium fit perfectly.  I felt like they didn't pull quite tight enough at first, but I adjusted them a bit and for the rest of it I reminded myself they're not supposed to be TIGHT, just secure.  And they were.  Apollo didn't object, didn't try to rub them off with his nose, and just chippered right along.

We tested them over stadium fences, rather than the planned xc, so I don't have a full review yet, but over stadium they worked beautifully.  We did klonk some fences, and he didn't have a single bobble afterward.  The boot barely scuffed.  When I took them off, his legs weren't any hotter than they are in open front jump boots, and he hadn't sweated his cannon bones off.

If there was one drawback, it was that they did take off a bunch of unshed hair.  ;)  So not a drawback at all.

Exactly what they looked like when they got here,
except mine said M ...

Overall, I'll know more when I finally get out on the xc course, but preliminary review is that they're worth buying.   I'd recommend finding a better deal than full price, but I'm pleased nonetheless.

Photos of Himself himself wearing them coming soon ...

Video as promised

Only a week late ... !!

I have caveats: I wasn't riding well!  Yes, the jumps are low, but height wasn't what we were going for.  Apollo was starting to get tired and hot.  I know I need to do better folding at the hip.  Just ... don't judge.  :)  Look at the pretty horsie!

Change of plans

So!   This weekend happened.  Not quite as planned, but productive anyway.   I hauled up to NT's barn on Saturday afternoon - later than I'd planned, but we got there - so as not to have to haul all the way up to the home xc course at ungodly o'clock on Sunday morning to ride at 10:30.  The theory was that I'd be able to load up and head out with the rest of the team and follow them over.   I swiped some leather cleaner across all my tack before going in for dinner and sleep.

After staggering out to make sure Apollo was fed and happy on Sunday morning, I discovered that the xc schooling had been canceled based on the weather prediction - storms rolling in and more on the way.  Bummer.  What I really should have done right that second was go grab another hour and a half of sleep, another two liters of water, and food, then go see about a lesson.

What I did was surf Facebook groggily, then go volunteer for a jump lesson in the covered arena.  Note the lack of water and food ... this proved to be a bad decision in the long run.

I rode terribly over the first set of jumps.  Like, worse than NT has ever seen me ride.  My muscles felt like spaghetti, and my body just felt dull and heavy and energyless.  My legs were not answering my brain, and I'm not sure my brain knew what to ask of my muscles in the first place.

Fortunately, another student/helper/organizer came in with coffee for NT and information right then, so I took the opportunity to grab a bottle of Vitamin Water (with calories, important) from the truck.   Half the bottle later, I felt better, and I was riding a bit better.  The whole bottle later, I actually started to ride well, lock my lower leg in, and, yknow, steer.  Sheesh.  I need to remember how to hydrate in the Southern humidity!

I think the best run at the gymnastic (bounce to one-stride) came when I focused on Denny Emerson's advice on the approach: ALLOW the horse's movement to fold my hip and knee angles and push me into the question mark shape over the fences.

I came away from the lesson with a few thoughts/homeworks:

• Apollo needs to be stronger through the hind end, able to maintain a compressed, powerful trot on the approach to the fences.
• I need to develop more rider fitness and endurance.
• Apollo also needs more fitness and endurance.
• I need to think not only of Denny's question mark but also of not falling back into my pattern of riding with my upper body too upright.  Even slender, I'm ... ah ... top-heavy, so I tend to overcompensate.
• Hydrate correctly next time!!

So alas for no xc, but hooray for gymnastics!  As soon as I get the video from the student/helper/organizer, I will post it.  :)

I hope I have time to start updating more regularly.  I have time today, so here's an update!  I apologize for the lack of photos, and I'll try to correct that.  Photos of me riding will be few and far between, but I'll try.

The mud is abated.  Sing hosanna!  The pasture situation is still less than ideal, but I'm coping.  I'm riding just outside the existing arena - the footing in the little arena, such as it is, is rutted, inconsistently wet and dry, and full of weeds.  Plus, it's quite small.  So I'm riding in the sloped, also somewhat rutted flatter area in front of the little arena.  This is not as ideal as riding in the pasture I had designated as riding space, but it works fine for now.  I can jump the natural ditch and the natural bank, and as far as dressage goes ... if I can get Apollo round and balanced up and down the slope and over the ruts and rough ground, he can be balanced and round anywhere.  It's good for his muscling, too.

So that dressage and work on muscle and round happened yesterday.  I'm not pushing him terribly hard just yet, even though it's almost mid-May.  Footing hasn't been good enough to ride consistently until recently, so we're working, but not going to failure or anything.  Still, he broke a good sweat, and by the time we finished, I had good, connected work both directions and all gaits.

I'm trying to remember to "not school shit," as Kelly would put it.  If I ask for a transition, I want it to be a good transition, or at least the transition I asked for.  I want a marching walk, a responsive trot, etc.

Exciting thing of the week is XC schooling on Sunday!  Yay!  Going up to the local home course with NT and a bunch of students, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Ride on!

My name is mud.

Mud.

Mud mud mud mud mud.  I am so unspeakably tired of rain and mud.  It's just not safe to ride right now, because I don't have a sand arena to ride in.  Just ... mud.  Non-grassy mud or grassy mud, take your pick.  Eight inches of it.  Even Apollo's stall is mud.

Seriously, this rain has got to stop.  Send it to California or Idaho!  They need it!  We do not.  We are flooding.

I suppose I could be tack walking, but honestly, I'm not sure even that is safe.  I do not in any way want to jeopardize Apollo's hooves, tendons, ligaments, stifles ... anything.   I suppose just walking is workable.  Maybe.  If it's safe, if it's not too slippery, at least walking will build muscle.  Apollo needs more push behind, and it's purely a strength thing.  

So all that said, I did haul Apollo up to New Teacher's place yesterday and over that initial weekend.  We had a ball over that weekend, even though it was (say it with me) RAINING.  Apollo was very good, I sort of remembered how to ride, and we got to hang out with NT and her buddy the saddle fitter.  I'd known her buddy from CotH, and I'd always thought she was engaging, so I was glad to meet her too.  Anyway, NT and I worked on regularity, push from behind, and bend on the flat, and we worked on reminding my body how to ride over jumps.  Yknow, basics like line, pace, speed.  Important stuff like that.  

Yesterday, we continued work on my position.  Mostly keeping my leg on and heel down.  I think that's the thing we all need to work on most, the thing we hear from our teachers most often!   We worked back and forth in a figure 8, trotting over a vertical with placing poles. It was first set around 2'3 and then NT raised it as I settled in and Apollo got moving.  Much with getting him ahead of my leg in the trot, too.  NT decided that I'm confirmed and no problem over 2'3-2'6, so she nudged us out of the comfort zone and put the fence up to 2'9-3'.  No real problem, but I have to work my leg even better at that height, because Apollo has a nice bascule over fences.  Straightness is an issue, too - this will start getting better as both horse and rider get stronger and jump a bunch more jumps.

We moved to doing a much smaller outside line, which pointed out the straightness thing and reminded me that I have to keep him going and going to really have the impulsion and energy we need.  Then NT added in a last vertical off a short right turn.  Suddenly leads were important!  Also, that last vertical had a dry Christmas tree under it to brush it out a bit, and this conversation ensued:

NT:  Does he care about brush or fill or anything like that?  Some horses care, some don't.

Me: Well, he might, but I'm going to sit in the back seat and say JUMP! when we get there, and he should.

NT: Good!  Do it!

And I did, and he did.  :)  He took a hard look at it before the fence and in the air - I think that peeking through the knees thing is pretty hilarious - but he jumped it no questions asked.  We could have stood to be much straighter and have picked a better line, but we got that sorted out in the end.

The best part of the lesson was honestly the fact that we had both improved since that first weekend.  I find that a little surprising, just because we haven't been able to ride much, but I'm pleased.

I also hauled Apollo up and back ALL BY MYSELF.  No help.  Rawk!  I didn't get the Hook Trailer Up achievement, but still.  This is the first time I've ever hauled by myself.  I even had to stop for gas.  :D  And back up.  Nothing was damaged, no mailboxes taken out, nothing.  Hehehehe.

So ... yeah.  Right now, my world is mud.  And my riding pasture has been taken over by a couple of horses, so even if I had an arena, I couldn't ride.  Unless the arena had a fence, which would be ideal.  With any luck, I'll get a few rain-free evenings this week to at least walk Apollo and tell myself that slogging through the mud slowly is good for his muscles.  If not ... well, there's always horsey situps and calisthenics.

Drive-by

Very briefly ...

Immediate-term goal: if riding pasture is safe, start dressage tomorrow, poles Sunday, trot Monday, hack Tuesday, off Wednesday, jump Thursday.

Short-term goal:  Get up to RLT next weekend to ride with New Teacher!

Middle-term goal:  Go to River Glen July 31-Aug 2 HT and compete BN.


Also: I am SO OVER all this weather.  Ready for dry ground and no water falling on me now please.

New digs

So!  Apollo and I are moved into the new place.  We're boarding with a friend of mine, the same friend I boarded Reveille with when I first got her.  There is a LOT of open space, as I'd mentioned, which means a lot of fencing to look over.  And then replace with tape.  And a lot of brush to clear from the fences.  I'm actually looking forward to the work, to tell you the truth - I'm feeling sluggish from not cleaning stalls daily, and I could use some physical work!

Apollo's also made friends with his new pasture mate/mates.  Things are set up such that Apollo and Hank, the closest pasture mate, don't actually share a field, because Apollo is of course the low horse in the herd.  He's just not interested in making any points or challenging anybody, really - he just wants to be friends, be everybody's little brother who's simultaneously lovable and irritating.  So when Apollo got there, Hank said "buddy, you can live here, but I'm in charge!"  And Apollo said "yes sir! Certainly I'll move away from this bucket mostly full of my dinner, sir!"  

Thus, they're next to each other but aren't able to get at each other, just for feeding time purposes.

Did any of the rest of you do gifted & talented education in school?  Do you remember those puzzles that were like "Draw a line through this REALLY COMPLEX FIGURE so that A and B can't interact but that they each get an equal share of this resource"?  I have a real life one of those now. I think that there's no way to actually make it work out with the conditions we have, so I'm going to need to come up with another set of conditions to make things work out right.

Step 1: Remove sharp stuff from pastures (including old gutters or metal flashing that was knocked down in a tornado and then stacked along a fenceline and a flat metal gate that's in rough shape - replace with panelling gate).  Step 2: Rework pipe corral panels in pasture 1 (where Apollo and Hank are) to make better sense.  Step 3: Clear brush from pasture 1.  Step 4: Lay out jumps in pasture 6, mark arena.  

There's some interim stuff in there, like moving the chest freezer that holds the sweet feed for Hank, Tango, and Eli into the space I've designated Feed Area; replacing the big water trough; getting a set of dressage letters; getting a three-step mounting block; rearranging the tack room (again; I did it once, then a little more, then a little more when I created the Feed Area); and generally making plans for more boarders.  Yknow.  Stuff.  Work.  Things I need to know much, much more about.

Anyway, for the moment, Apollo has a cut on his RF pastern that's healing fine but precludes riding, unfortunately.  He doesn't seem to be in much pain at liberty or on the longe, but he was uncomfortable at the trot under saddle, so yeah.  One painful step is all it took; I can imagine how working with a cut like that would feel!  So we're waiting .... waiting ... for ... Vizzini ...  Again.  :)


I don't have too many pictures yet, but here are a few:

Poor kid - the day after he got there he had to have his teeth floated.

Looking west from the little arena by the main barn behind the house.
There's a neat little pond behind the hayrack, and beyond that
is pasture 2; beyond THAT is pasture 3.

Looking mostly north toward the house from the same little
arena.  Beyond the house and its front yard are pastures 5
and 6; I've claimed pasture 6 for the arenas because
it's the flattest and best drained.

What, more changes?

It appears to be time for my quarterly update.  :)

So.  As the title implies, there is more upheaval coming my way - has already arrived, mostly.   The teacher I've been riding and boarding with got the job offer of a lifetime in Santa Fe, NM.  Of course, the job requires that she *live* in Santa Fe ... so the barn we've been at is closing as of the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the new job needed her there like, yesterday, so she's been gone since Jan 31.  Her husband went with her, only to have to turn around and go on a long business trip - poor Teacher!  So ... at the barn now, that leaves ... um ... me.

I've been enjoying the hell out of being in the working student position, cleaning, feeding, and generally doing barn chores on an intermittent basis.  I'm now enjoying the hell out of being the barn manager - feeding, cleaning, tidying, sorting, washing, grooming, turning out, bringing in, handling emergencies, and generally doing work every day.  Even on the hard days, like yesterday, it's the best work ever.   Granted, I'm tired - physically and emotionally, because worrying about the horses when I'm not right there is draining - and I want a day to sleep until I don't feel like sleeping any more, but it's still the best work.

It's very strange to find myself in the "manager"ish position.  I would say that I don't know shit about shit when it comes to running/managing/being in charge of a barn.  I would say that with great certainty, especially having seen how TW et al managed the barn in Idaho and how I made (many many many) mistakes there.  So far, the learning curve has been steep, to say the least.  How things happen, what needs to be done to keep a barn the way I think it ought to be kept, what I can change, what I can't change, what I'd like in an ideal barn, how much work it is to do all of this ... etc.  Teacher tells me to not underestimate myself, my knowledge, and my skill - heh.  I know what skill is, and I ain't got it.  But I don't suck?  I guess?   All I can think of is MT telling me "you just need miles, lots and lots of miles," and the general fact that I don't know crap.  I'm learning.  So far, no horses have been hurt as a result.

Of course ... there WAS a scary colic episode with Apollo two days before Teacher left for NM.  Stress colic, I'm sure, but not fun.  I had to have the vet out and everything.  :/  If he hadn't started looking more comfortable when he did, we might have had to haul up to Knoxville to get him into the UTK vet clinic, or we might have been able to run IV fluids at the barn ... either way, super scary.   He's fine now, but of course I'm stressing about the fact that everydamnthing at the barn is frozen.  Water, pipes, everything.  I'm hauling in water, but it's still scary.  Especially with Apollo colicing recently.   Tennessee isn't really good about burying water pipes deep enough, because hey - it's Tennessee! It totally doesn't freeze here, right?!   Sigh.  So I'm hoping there will be water this evening when I get there, because the temperatures are rising ... there should be water tomorrow, I would think, and if not tomorrow, Sunday, but I DON'T LIKE IT ONE BIT.  NOT EVEN A LITTLE.   Heated buckets would be great, but that would require water to put in the buckets.  :/

Anyway, yeah.  Stress-ville for me with the freeze.  The bathroom building is heated, as is the pump house, and it's been tempting to sleep there.  Just ... because.   Yknow.  Watching over horses.  (This is one of the things I've decided is necessary if I ever actually run a barn, which is vanishingly unlikely - if I were to do it, I would want to live on site.  I hate leaving the horses alone.  Even in their stalls, I hate it.)

So yes.  The new situation will be boarding with a friend at her house.  She has many many acres of pasture, including a flat area that will do nicely as a riding spot.  It's got good drainage and is comfortable, and we're talking about expanding into more boarding and generally upgrading things.  It's a blank slate, really, and it might be fun to see where we can take it.  Lots and lots of room for pasture, lots of room for a home XC course, et cetera.  It'll just be a LOT of work.  Which I'm happy to put in.  (Another thing I re-realize is that physical work is seriously good for me in all ways.)  So we'll see.   It's hard not to compare things with the barn in Idaho, but that was 30 years' worth of work and investment.  And it's still developing.   So ... we'll see.  I don't know that I have 30 good years in me at this point, but I'm going to assume I do.  At the very least, Apollo will be safe, happy, and comfortable, and I'll have lots of space to ride in.  I'm buying Teacher's jumps, too, so there will be plenty of jumping.  :)

Finding a new teacher ... we'll see.  I'll update as I can.  

So yeah.  That's the info dump for now.   More later, as usual!