So That's Where the Eggs Have Been

I have been lax in my blogging duties of late. I rode yesterday, and didn't blog about it. Without further ado, I shall make amends for this transgression. After a very good phone interview(I have another one with the same company tomorrow), I ran outside and tacked Ziggy up. Since I was in such a good mood, I decided that I'd do some jumping. Like I usually do, I set up one jump on a flat approach and another one on an uphill approach.

For a warmup, I took Zigs for a quick walk around the neighborhood. I guess our clearances came through when I wasn't paying attention, because the dogs in the neighborhood were nice enough to allow us to pass by without challenge. The only thing I had trouble with while we were out in the neighborhood is that Zigs always wants to counter-flex, and keep an eye on what's going on on the other side of us. Fortunately, that was pretty easily solved with some half-halts. I'm getting really good at those at the walk. He still blows them off at the trot and canter. I'm not sure how much of that is him, and how much is me. At the canter, I'm almost positive it's my fault. At the trot, I think it's probably a bit 50/50. Once I can afford to take lessons again, that's one of the first things on my list to work on/figure out.

At any rate, after warming up around the neighborhood, I went back into my pasture to start jumping. Before I actually started going over jumps, I trotted around the pasture in two-point, so that Zigs could get a look at everything. Not that I thought he was going to spook or refuse or anything like that, I just always like to give him an idea of what we're about to go do. Of course, I'm not completely sure of the wisdom on that, as some day, when I start doing Horse Trials, he's going to have to jump courses cold. But for now, I'll keep doing it my way. I mis-judged my positioning of the first jump, which made the approach a bit difficult, since it was at a weird angle. It took a lot of doing to come at it straight from one direction. While I was riding, I was cursing my self for that one, but after talking to Saga's mom about it, she informed me that I had inadvertently created a unique training opportunity for improving my approach to jumps! It was very nice of her to salvage my feelings like that. ;) Outside of a tricky approach on one of the jumps, the rest of it actually went pretty well, although Ziggy likes to try to jump fences right of center. Either that or I set him up right of center. I think I had him going in straight. The next time Saga's mom comes over, I'll try to remember to have her look for that. I also don't feel like I was closing my angles enough over the jumps, which I'm pretty sure is due to the fact that I'm not relaxing my hips enough.

That being said, Ziggy was very happy to be jumping, and took to it with great gusto. I am also glad to report that I didn't catch him in the mouth, which is my #1 no no when I'm jumping. I can be out of balance, and look like crap over the fence, but I'd better not catch my horse in the mouth. Anyway, after several good jumps, it was getting pretty hot, so I called it a day and un-tacked. All in all, it was a good ride, and capped the day nicely.

Today was Dressage, and on the docket was canter, and some more work in two-point. I began my warmup by walking on a long rein, getting Zigs to really stretch out and step under himself. After doing that on both reins, I picked him up and started doing an exercise that Duchess' mom taught me. I think I've mentioned it before, but in case I haven't, this is how it works. you walk 10' diagonally, stop, turn on the forehand, and walk the opposite diagonal for 10', and lather, rinse, repeat. Ziggy keeps trying to go behind the bit on my turns on the forehand, and I haven't really been able to figure out why. He does it on both reins, so I'm not sure what's going on. In the meantime, I'll keep working on it, but the next time the Oracle is here, I'll ask her to work with me on it. After walking, I moved to trot in two-point, and did my penance to Epona. I still feel like I'm staying way too upright in two point, but my legs were absorbing the shock like they were supposed to, and I felt pretty in balance, so I guess I was doing it right. After I finished the Dressage test in two-point, I did some cantering in two-point. It went pretty well, at the very least Zigs seemed to rather enjoy himself.

I took a walk break and then proceeded to canter, which still needs a lot of work. I still need to fix my transition, I have a habit of trying to lean back like I'm in a recliner. I did manage to get one up transition without doing canter by Laz-E-Boy, so that's progress, I guess. The other big problem I keep having with canter is that I lose my stirrups. Fortunately, I spend a lot of time riding without stirrups, so when I lose them, it's not a total disaster. Although, I suppose that sort of also works to my detriment, since because I can keep my balance at the canter without stirrups, I'm not terribly worried about keeping them when I go in to canter. This is probably also something I should fix before I show. The only problem is, I can't really figure out why I lose my stirrups. Maybe I'm not keeping my heels down? The next time I ride, I might have Zhi watch me and see if she can see something that I'm missing. After cantering on both reins, I decided to call it a night.

I have another interview tomorrow, and I'll probably go ride after that. Although, it'll be 15:00 by the time I'm done with it, so that might be a little hot. I probably won't ride very long. I might wake up early enough to ride in the morning, but let's be realistic. I'm on vacation. Riding tomorrow night won't work, as Zhi and I are headed over to her trainer's place for a lesson for Zhi. More about that, later!

I Hope You Like Rhymed Couplets

Tonight I embarked on a ride of relaxation,
In an attempt to forget yesterdays vexation.

To work on Two Point and transitions was my objective,
In hopes it would not involve use of invective.

So off to the pasture I went with excitement,
With carrot in hand as enticement.

It was merrily accepted, and grooming proceeded,
Although continued pleas for a second went unheeded.

Grooming finished, and saddle installed,
I mounted and cued "Forward!", leaving Ziggy quite appalled.

"Jog on, you nonce! I'm on vacation!", he objected,
a grievous assumption, which was quickly corrected.

Today would be forward, I would not accept no,
for he is a Thoroughbred, and bred to go.

Our tempo agreed, and walking quite quite sorted,
Up in Two-Point I went, and with trot I courted.

Happy to oblige, my Thoroughbred complied,
Lightly and roundly, in the rhythm I implied.

Onward we trotted, left rein and right,
quite happy he'd of been trot into the night.

But enough was enough, back to walk we must go,
For there's much more than trotting if we are to show.

A walk on a loose rein is what was required,
So that both horse and rider were not over tired.

For the next task was much more demanding,
To canter, in balance would be quite outstanding.

As twilight approached, and light grew dim,
I asked Zigs to canter and left the speed up to him.

Perhaps not the wisest, it must be confess't
As when I asked for a walk, there was protest.

Thoroughbreds have run, since time immemorial,
to have to slow down, Ziggy thought, "Dictatorial!"

His objection was noted, though I made it quite clear,
Exactly who the master was here.

A walk break followed and a rein change ensued,
and what could be on my horse's mind, but food?

By his stall he took me, and it was quite clever,
he stuck his nose in his bucket to make his point for good measure.

A cooling out, and a bath soon transpired,
and I admit now that it was truly inspired.

He got both his run and nightly grain,
Knowing tomorrow he would get both again.

Sleep tight buddy, and think you most kindly,
For a ride so good, and in harmony so slightly.

Problem Exists Between Saddle and Reins

Yesterday, for the first time in a week, I was able to ride. My intention was to work on sitting trot without stirrups, however, Ziggy seemed to have other plans. First, I couldn't get him to walk out at above a meander, and then, I couldn't get him to listen to my half halts. So, I gave up on my original plan, and just rode him around, not really working on anything outside of trying to get him to put his head down at the trot, and just sort of getting the wiggles out. To be fair to Zigs, he's essentially been on vacation for two weeks, and I was probably expecting a little much from him. I'll be riding him again tonight, and this time, I'm going to just work on getting transitions precisely when I want them. I realize this is a pretty short entry, but I really don't have too much to say about yesterday's ride. Hopefully tonight's will find me more chatty.

Fatigue

Sadly, I have not yet managed to ride this week, yet. I've been heads down in release hell for a Big Giant Project™ that mercifully was released today. What follows is an accounting of my ride on Sunday. I had to work Sunday morning, and I finally left the office around 1700 or so. I almost didn't ride, because I was thoroughly spent, but I looked out in the pasture, and Zigs popped his head up over the round bale and pricked his ears. I rolled my save versus cute, failed, changed and went to tack him up.

For the past couple of Sundays, I've been working on jumping. I rather like this arrangement, and plan to continue it, however this past Sunday, I didn't feel up to jumping so I decided that I'd work on Two-Point instead. after warming up, I got up in two-point, and rode the entire Intro A dressage test. Yes, that includes transitions. As an entirely random side note, I have decided to call the preceding exercise "Penance to Epona". Anyway, it felt like I did a pretty good job of keeping my heels down and my shoulders back, but I think I wasn't relaxing my hip enough, because I didn't really feel my hip angle closing. My knees were definitely working properly though. Transition-wise, I actually had more trouble with trot/Canter than I did Canter/Trot. I'm guessing that's probably because Zigs is used to having my seat bones as a cue. He doesn't really know the word, which is something that I should work on. Or, at least, I'm pretty sure he doesn't know "Canter". The handful of times I've tried longing him, whenever I've told him to canter, that apparently meant, "stop what you're doing and turn around to look at me". Silly Thoroughbred.

After Penance to Epona, I cantered around in two-point, which Ziggy thought was fantastic fun. I must say, for this segment, I really wasn't paying attention to my form. After the week I'd had, I just wanted to feel the wind in my hair, and not think about anything. I am happy to report that the desired effect was achieved. I only wish that my pasture was slightly bigger so that I had more room to run Zigs before having to turn him. But, it's more room than I had at the place I boarded him. I finished up the ride by doing an exercise that Duchess' mom taught me. you start out pointed at an angle, walk 10 meters, turn on the forehand, walk the opposite 10 meters, and repeat until you reach the opposite end of the arena.

It went pretty well for the first few turns on the forehand, but as time went on, Zigs started going way behind the bit, and nothing I did seemed to put him back on it. I thought at first I may have been using too much rein, so I let it out until I had loops, and he was still going behind the bit, so I tried pushing him more forward, which didn't help either. The only way I could get him to take his chin out of his chest was to put him on the buckle. I'm guessing it was because his lesson timer went off, but I'll try it again on my next ride when he's fresh and see if I get the same results.

My plan is to ride tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty puny, so it will probably be a more relaxed ride. The weeks of stress have caught up with me, and I think I might be fighting off a little bug. I suppose it would also help if I stopped writing this, and went to bed, so I think that's what I'll do.

Zebra Oscar Golf Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Bravo Bravo Quebec

So, shortly after I wrote the last entry, I took a quick nap and went out to tack up Zigs for a hack around the neighborhood. My intention was to have a nice relaxing ride, but apparently, the dogs in the neighborhood didn't get the memo. Ordinarily, one or two of them will look up from their bone, and toss a few lazy barks our direction. Today, we were apparently storming the gates of their respective strongholds, and were to be told, in no uncertain terms, to back. the. fuck. off. To his credit, Zigs was a very good boy about it. But I wouldn't exactly call the hack relaxing. I spent most of my time half halting, and reminding him that he needed to listen to me, and not the canine aggressors.

After walking around the neighborhood for a while, I came back to the pasture to do some canter work, and by canter work, I mean bucking and full gallop. In Zigs' defense, he hasn't been ridden in over a week, and he is a Thoroughbred. He wasn't trying to get me to come off, he was just excited to be ridden again. I have to work tomorrow (Yay!), but I'm planning on doing some trot pole and two-point work before I go in, or after I get home. I still owe Epona her penance. All in all, I call it a good ride. I felt a lot better when I dismounted, at any rate. Tomorrow, I plan on doing some trot pole and two point work., before I have to go into the office.

Yes, I'm working on a Sunday. I am not happy about this, but it was either that, or start strangling my co-workers on a Friday night. I figured working on a Sunday was a better alternative to homicide. ;) (Note to self: Blogging after several shots of rum: probably not a good idea.) I will definitely let you know how tomorrow's ride goes.

The Best Laid Plans

First of all, I'd like to make a request.  Can 2009 be over? Like right now? I'm just throwing that out there. Not that I think a new year would necessarily make anything better, but it would at least be a new year. And that counts for something, I guess. Anyway, as you have likely surmised, it's been a rough couple of weeks. The long story short is that events have occurred (as I suppose events are wont to do), and these events have simultaneously brought to my attention several personal shortcomings, as well as precluding my participation at the October Horse Trial. On top of that, work has been a particularly tasty pile of suck for the past few weeks.

Fortunately, things are on the horizon that can improve the situation, if they come to fruition. Cross your fingers for me, would you?

Now that that personal stuff is out of the way, let's get to horses, shall we? There's not really much to report on the horse front, as I really haven't been able to ride all week. I will be fixing that this evening once it cools down. I think tonight, we'll go for a hack around the neighborhood, and I might do some cantering around the yard. I'm not going to work on anything in particular, I just need some relaxing time with my horse... More later.

Texas Warmbloods and Korean Overlords

If I'm honest, things did not go quite the way I planned. My plan was to wake up around 07:00, ride Ziggy for the first time this week, run out to the barn, ride Saga, and then drive down to Houston and check out a horse for Zhizhu. Well, I made it home at 0200 from work Friday, and more or less just collapsed into bed. I regained consciousness at 10:00, at which point Zigs was going, "DUDE. W.T.F. WHERE IS MY BREAKFAST!" I shambled outside and fed him, came in and changed clothes to go ride Saga, deciding to ride Ziggy this evening.

That was the plan anyway. I made it to the barn and pulled Saga out of his stall and he was like, "Who are you?", until he realized that I bore carrots, then he wouldn't leave me alone, which reminds me a lot of Zigs. I had to remind him that was stay still when we are groomed once or twice, but other than that I groomed him without incident. Putting the saddle on took a bit, however. His saddle has these little panels the come forward of the pommel, which made it a bit difficult for me to tell when I had the saddle in the right position. I wound up taking it off and putting it back on several times before I was satisfied that it was in the right place. To his credit, Saga was very patient with me, although I could tell he was thinking, "Are you sure you know how to ride horses? Because you certainly can't put on a saddle!". That sounded like a challenge, so I got his bridle on him, and off we went into the arena.

When JJ asked me if I could ride him this weekend, she recommended that I just do walk/trot, and work on forward. I started out walking him around to get a feel for him, and two things were readily apparent: 1) He is a big boy. 2) He has a lot of action in his walk. A lot more than Zigs does. Once I'd walked him around the arena for a bit, I decided to ride around the property at the barn. As I expected, he was very well behaved. After walking him for a while, I was satisfied that I was well in control of him, and started trotting. Now, when JJ asked me to ride him while she was out of town this weekend, she told me two things:

• His canter is sub-optimal, don't bother.


• Work on forward.

Now, allow me to preface the following by saying, any time I ride a horse that I'm unfamiliar with, I take really light rein contact, and I give cues like I'm riding a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse. That said, when I asked for trot, forward wasn't an issue. I immediately got a very forward, rhythmic trot when I asked. He was a bit hollow, but he's still getting used to this whole Dressage thing, so I didn't worry too much about it. I did ask him to come round, and much to my surprise, I actually got it for a few strides. To be clear, I was surprised I was able to give him the right cues to get the desired result. Not that he was capable of going round. As I told him, "You're JJ's horse. I know that you can come round."

After doing a few trot/walk transitions and taking a walk break, I decided to see if I could sit his trot. I started off by posting to make sure I got a good rhythm, and once I liked what I had, I sat down. Remember when I said that JJ told me not to bother with the canter? I don't think Saga got that particular memo. pretty much as soon as I sat down, he cantered. From where I was sitting, it actually felt like a pretty nice canter, but since JJ told me to stick to walk/trot, I put him back down into trot. Ever since JJ came over that one weekend to help me with my brakes, I feel like my down transitions have improved leaps and bounds, and all it took was to just keep my shoulders back. I tried sitting trot again, and this time, we stayed at trot, and I was actually able to sit it pretty well. There's really not too much more to report about the rest of the ride outside of that it was a lot of fun, and very relaxing. I'll be riding my horse tomorrow, and I think I'll do a trail ride, and maybe a tiny bit of two-point work and jumping. More tomorrow!

In Which it is Discovered that Horses Have Fashion Sense

At long last, I will now relay the events of Monday's lesson, as best I can remember them. Which is to say: not very well. I suppose that is to be expected when one comes into work on a Tuesday morning and learns that the deadline on the Big Giant Project™ they are working on has been pulled in by a week, and proceeds to stay at the office until 0100 crunching trying to finish the work that he thought he had an entire week and a half to complete. Not that I'm upset about this, of course.

No, actually, that's a lie.

At any rate, before I begin, there is an anecdote that must be shared. This morning, I was running late to work due to having overslept. I fed Ziggy, and went in to take a shower and get ready. Once I'd dressed for work, I went to let Zigs out of his stall, just like I usually do. Most days, I'll open the gate and he'll mosey on out, sniff noses with the donkeys, take a drink of water and park in front of the round bale. Today, I opened up the gate, he surveyed his domain and decided, "Ooh, look! I have alfalfa molecules in here!" and then proceeded to clean the alfalfa molecules up. I really didn't want to go to work today, but my over-developed sense of duty kicked in, so I walked into the stall and said, "Come on Ziggy, I'm running late for work." He picked his head up, thought about it for a moment, turned towards me and sneezed on me, getting horse snot all over the shirt I was wearing. The really funny part? I was wearing a Samsung T-Shirt. Efficient, and insightful. I knew my horse was German. The Thoroughbred has spoken, it is time for a new job.

So, here's what I can remember of the lesson: I got the canter pretty much immediately when I asked for it, and I'm beginning to not have to lean back like I'm sitting in a recliner to get it. After cantering, we did shoulder-fore. Although, if I'm being honest, the other riders in the lesson did shoulder in and Sonata and I did, "Shoulder-fore is hard, I'm gonna pop my shoulder and just walk out of it. K?" I know Sonata knows how to do it, and will do it if asked properly, but at that point, my legs were totally shot, so I really couldn't say, "No, mare, I said, lateral. Oh! And, I didn't wind up owing Duchess' mom another breakaway halter. ;)

Tonight, I went out to Zhizhu's lesson and took pictures. It looked to me like she had a great lesson, but I'm sure you can read more about it over on her blog

Horse Math is Hard. Let's Go To the Feed Store!

Yes, I am aware that I'm running behind on this.  I will detail the events of Monday's lesson later today.  That is, of course assuming I don't come home from work and immediately collapse.  Long story short, they yanked the rug out from under me on a deadline, and I'll be doing good to get out of here before 20:00 tonight.  At any rate, something amusing happened last night that I have to share.  As is usual for Tuesday evenings, I went to the gym to work out with my friend Edolnx (which is pronounced "eedolinx", in case you were wondering), and during a break between sets, he asked me what I'm up to, outside of slaving under the watchful eyes of my diabolical overlords.  I suppose it should come to no surprise that my answer was quite simple:

 

Preparing for the Horse Trial.

 

I told him that I'd completely cleared my calendar for October to make sure I'd be ready for this.  For those who may not know me very well, this is a big deal for me.  For the past 15 years, I've been heavily involved in several different Halloween shows, and until I set my mind to Pine Hill, my involvement in them was sacrosanct.  To say Halloween is my favorite holiday would convey a vague approximation of how much I enjoy it.  But, I digress.  Edolnx asked me what all was involved in a Horse Trial, and listened very politely while I tried for 15 minutes to explain Dressage, followed by 10 more minutes of me explaining the XC and Show Jumping tests, and how the penalty point system worked.  After he'd digested that, he asked what kind of horse you needed for that.  I told him that just about any horse was capable of the level I'll be competing at, but before the recent trend towards Warmbloods, Thoroughbreds were the breed of choice.  To which he queried, "Those are ex-racehorses, right?  Aren't those expensive??".   I told him that in general, a TB will sell for a ridiculous amount of money when it's a yearling, but 3 or 4 years later, you can get the horse for like $200 - $300.  Even horses that won a decent amount of money.  This apparently completely blew his mind, and the only thing he could manage was, "Horse math is hard.  Let's go shopping!  Or, should that be: Horse math is hard, let's go to the feed store!".  I nodded knowingly, and told him that the latter statement is correct.

Ja! Mein leapen!

No, that's not actually real German. I chose that title because it is silly. I will pause for a moment to allow the shock to wear off.

Are we good?

Groovy. As alluded to on Saga's mom's blog, Saga's mom came over Sunday afternoon to help me with jumping. It was pretty hot, so we didn't work for a terribly long time. We started with trot poles up to a small X as a warmup. I need to work on closing my hip angles more, but I was doing a much better job of keeping my shoulders back and my legs where they need to be. Matter of fact, Saga's mom commented to me that my leg position looked really good, and that whatever I did to fix it, I should continue doing. I think the big thing that fixed everything was keeping my shoulders back. Anyhow, after a while going over the X, Saga's mom set up another fence on the edge of what would be a tank, but due to the fact that it won't hold water to save its life, it is merely a dip in the ground with delusions.

At any rate, I now had a bank up. and a bank down. with a hill coming into it. The fence wasn't big at all, but it was very challenging, because I had to balance Ziggy back, and make sure that he came into the fence properly. I can't say that every fence was roses, I had several bad ones, but when they happened, I was pretty good about riding what I had over the fence.

All in all, it was a wonderful day jumping, even if it was scorching out. I'm starting to feel more and more confident about Pine Hill! More to come tomorrow, when I can write a better post, because this one is not up to my standards.

On the Road Again

It's been quite the horsy weekend so far!  I had a Friday off of work, so I went with my Sweetie to check out several prospects down in the Houston area.  First up was a cute little Strawberry Roan Mare down in Sugarland.   Zhizhu and I were a bit uncertain about this mare going in, because a day before, we received a call from one of the other trainers whose horses we were due to look at that day saying that the mare in Sugarland's owner had called her asking her if she could come and fix some of the mare's problems.  

..Problems!?

According to the trainer who called us, the mare had reared when the girl first got her, and at the right lead canter would turn and go to the center of the arena, completely blowing off her rider.  After hearing this, Zhizhu and I almost called and canceled our appointment to see the mare, but after talking to Zhizhu's trainer and Saga's mom, we decided to go ahead and keep the appointment. The ad had her as 15.2hh, but she was maybe 14.2. That was a bit shorter than Zhizhu would have preferred, but not necessarily a deal breaker. I was going to look pretty silly on her, but she'd suit Zhizhu's height ok. After grooming her, and picking out her feet, Zhizhu and the seller went and took her into the round pen to see her move, since the seller had apparently rolled her ankle and wasn't in condition to ride. I never like it when I go to look at a horse and there's no one there to ride it before I hop on, so I usually ask if I can watch the horse move in the round pen. It won't necessarily let me know if the horse is going to be a complete lunatic under saddle, but it will tell me if they're a complete lunatic. At least, that's the theory. At any rate, while Zhizhu watched the mare in the round pen, I switched out my saddle's gullet to fit the mare. Almost on cue, as soon as I was done with the gullet Zhi was walking back to me. Reading her body language, I determined that nothing crazy had happened in the round pen, so we saddled the mare up.

Out of force of habit, we asked if there was a mounting block we could use, before I realized that I could quite easily mount from the ground. I hopped up in the saddle and off we went. Since she was so short, her movement was drastically different than what I was used to. I really don't know how to qualify it other than that she just felt weird. She really didn't listen to seat commands and tried to rush at the trot. She also didn't understand how to round, which I found kind of strange, considering she came from a Hunter background. Of course, it's possible the hunters use different cues than I'm used to. Sort of as a last ditch effort, I shortened my stirrups to jumping length, and trotted and cantered her in two-point. Once I went up into two point, she seemed to go, "Oh! I know what we're doing now!", and listened a bit better. I didn't have any of the problems with her that the seller had mentioned to the trainer, and decided that she was just fine for Zhi to try out.

As I'd sort of expected Zhi didn't like her much. She wasn't really a bad mare but, neither Zhi nor I clicked with her. So, it was onto the next batch. The next batch was a pair of ex-racehorses. One of which was grey, the other was a bay. In the videos we saw, the grey looked nice and quiet, and the bay looked a little hot. As it turns out, the truth was the complete opposite. Not that I'd necessarily call the bay quiet per se... I'd consider him to be more responsive. He took really really light cues and he stumbled and bucked with me. The buck wasn't a "get off me.", it was him spooking from me coming unbalanced. Zhi really liked the bay, and if I'm honest, I did rather like him to, but I'm seriously concerned about my wife having a horse that sensitive. Let me be clear though, it's not that I doubt Zhi's capabilities, its just that although the horse is 9, he really doesn't have much life experiences. I let Zhi up on the bay, and I'll admit that he took good care of her. He acted like a totally different horse while she was riding him. Which is certainly very positive, and indicative of a good mind, but I think at this point, before making the decision to buy this horse, I want to take along somebody with more experience to ride him and tell us what they think, because I feel like this horse falls into a gray area that at my current level of experience, it would be unwise of me to make a decision.

Last up was yet another ex-racehorse that Zhi's trainer passed on. To cut a long story short, this guy was what most people think when they hear "ex racehorse". He was hotter than the sun, and spooky as all get out. I rode him all of 5 minutes before deciding there was no way in hell I was letting Zhi up on him. Hell, Zhi didn't even want me to get up on him. In the future, I'll listen when she says that. Now, before y'all get up in arm's, Zhi's trainer hadn't gone out to see the horse yet, she had simply seen the ad and talked to the seller over the phone, and the horse sounded good on the phone. I can't really fault her for that, I lost count of all the horses I went to look at that sounded great on the phone, but were a totally different story in person. Tune in next week, where the search will continue! :)

Tempis Fugit

So, exactly one year ago yesterday, I bought Ziggy for $20.  After all we've been through, it's hard to believe that it's only been a year!  Over the time I've had him, Ziggy has turned into a completely different horse (For the better!), and I'm a completely different rider, and horseman.  Here's what Ziggy looked like when I first unloaded him from the trailer July 4, 2008:







And this is him one year later:





Here's to one year of owning Ziggy, and hopefully there are many more to come!

Are You There Epona? It's me, Foxfire

Bless me Epona, for I have sinned. It has been 7 Months, 11 days, 5 hours, 17 minutes, 31 seconds and 1259 nanoseconds since my last confession. I have coveted horses out of my price range, I have eaten before feeding my horse and I have neglected to give my horse treats when he commands. All of these are grievous sins to be sure, but I fear today, I must confess to a far greater transgression. I hate to mention it, but I must.

I have attempted to hose off a horse's head while it was tied.

A most serious transgression indeed. And what possessed you to commit such an act?

Well... I did it to Zigs while he was--

Stop right there.

But, I didn't think th--

Exactly.

But...

SILENCE MORTAL! Lest I smite your ruin upon the GAG course!

Please don't.

That depends. Will you do it again?

Hell no.

Alright, no smiting for you. This time.

Thank you Epona.

Do not thank me yet, mortal. You have yet to hear your penance.

*gulp*

I demand the following: 10 minutes of sitting trot without stirrups every ride for a week. The training level A and B Dressage tests ridden entirely in Two-Point once per week. And there is one final thing.

Name it, your ladyship.

Clean your horse's sheath. I swear, you men ar--

Not a problem,

..What? No squirming? Not even a flinch??

Already have the Excalibur.

I see.

Um... can I go now? I need to turn Ziggy out for the night.

Run along.

In seriousness, Sonata was wearing a breakaway halter, and neither she nor I were hurt. I feel really stupid for doing that, and I know how lucky I am that was the case. You can rest assured I won't be doing that again.

Now that that's taken care of, I can actually discuss my lesson this evening. It started out a little rough, and I was really having to push her forward off my leg. but that's sort of par for the course. At the walk, we practiced getting our horses to stretch down. Due to the way Sonata was trained, there was only so much I was going to get, and she made me work for every inch I got. ;) The trotting went pretty well, and I think I'm getting a lot better at my half halts and keeping my heel down when I have to give strong leg cues. Canter was also quite good, I got it every time I asked, and I did a much better job at immediately fixing the trot and getting her balanced, rather than what I usually do, which is trot around in a hot mess and try to get a walk.;)

For the last part of the lesson, we did leg yields. I think they went OK, but I think that I was letting Sonata pop her shoulder and just walk to the rail rather than cross over. I do, however, have an epiphany to report. One of the things my trainer is constantly saying to me when I'm doing laterals is to "half halt with the outside rein to fix her outside shoulder". It finally made sense today. I don't quite know how to explain what I did, but I sort of thought of building a wall with my outside leg and rein, and using my inside leg to move her hindquarters over to catch up. Tomorrow, I'm headed down to the Houston area to look at a few horses for Zhizhu... It should be interesting. Of course I will make a full report tomorrow.

Guns & Horse Tack

I needed a diversion at lunch today, so I decided to go to The Leading Rein and find out what sizes I need for my eventing vest and tall boots.  I suppose I could have gone to the Tack Shop of Austin, but I'd never been to the Leading Rein before, and it it's closer to my office.  It's kind of tucked away on a country road, and I was thinking I missed it until I saw two big signs, one of which said, "Guns", the other of which said "Horse Tack".  

 

I love Texas.  

 

Anyway, I turned in and as it turns out the Gun shop opens into the tack store.  Come for the Bates Isabelle, stay for the .45 Desert Eagle.  The Leading Rein is a bit smaller than Austin Tack Shop, but they've got quite a good selection.  I told the sales clerk I was looking to get sized for an XC vest, and show boots.  She took me back to where the boots were, and there was a green Tipperary Eventer hanging up next to the shelf with the boots.  I put it on, and what do you know, it fit!!  That went considerably faster than I was expecting it to.  She had it on sale for $150 or something like that, but it was the wrong color.  My eventing colors are Purple and Black.  Saga's mom already has a lock on Green, and it'd be awfully tacky of me to go with green as well, non? ;) With the vest size settled, that left only the boots.  I told her that I wear a 10.5 in men's shoes, but my feet are pretty narrow, so I switched to women's for my paddock boots.  She nodded and handed me a pair of boots and told me to put them on.  I did, and what do you know, they were also a perfect fit!  For those of you keeping track at at home, the tally is thus:

• Tipperary Eventer: Medium Tall
• Tall Boots: 11.5 W Bucke Downs

Since she'd been so helpful and it didn't feel right to just leave without making it worth her while, I bought some new bell boots for Zigs, and a tub of Horse treats.  Now that I know my sizes, I'll be scouring every tack store, online shop, catalog and EBay for the cheapest price on the above two items that I can find, which will probably be about $200.00 each.  I'm so glad I picked an inexpensive hobby.

Ym

Just wanted to make a quick note to preserve a realization I came to while working out at the gym last night. As I mentioned previously, I have a habit of collapsing my right side when I'm going on the right rein. Last night, I think I figured out why. I was doing side planks, which for those of you unfamiliar with the exercise, look like this:

Looks pretty easy, right? Now hold that for a minute. Anyway, when I did the plank on my left side, I had no problems keeping completely still for the full minute. When I switched to my right side, however, about 30 seconds in, I was starting to get a little shaky. Clearly, my right abdominals are weaker than the left, which is probably the reason I'm so bad about collapsing to the right. I sense a lot more abdominal work in my Gym future...