In love with another mare

Lucy is doing great at boot camp, and I'll be posting some updates that are long overdue, but I have to tell you all about this amazing horse I got to ride a couple weeks ago. She is a 12ish yo TB/Clydesdale cross mare who has been sitting in a field for over a year, and this is how she went when I rode her for the first time (and I am out of shape!):

I mean, HELLO!!!! Look at this horse!

So I know I've said repeatedly that I wouldn't want another mare...EVER, but if I were in the market for another horse, I would love this mare. She is really, really cool.

Yellow Light

The super rides continued all week until Saturday, when she warmed up fine and then had a good sized spook at the scary corner of the ring (every ring has a scary corner!). I sent her forward and immediately thought she felt a bit odd. I asked someone else who was also riding what she thought and she said she also thought Lucy looked NQR, but there was no real "lameness" and no head-bob. I think she just tweaked something but I opted to play it very safe, so I cooled her out and put her away after a date with the hose. It was warm that day and she seemed to like the water. She even tried to drink it right out of the hose.

My plan was to ride today to see how she felt after a two day break, but it has turned out to be kind of a hectic day so realistically, I may not be able to ride.

My friend Cassie brought her horse Wind to the farm for a little two week tune up with Maddy. I am really excited to have them there! Maddy's horse is down at another farm for the two weeks getting his own tune up with the cowboy that re-started him last year. It's kind of like a game of musical ponies, but it's nice that all the horses are getting a good foundation on them for what will hopefully pan out to be a fun year!

Maddy and I are planning on going to a hunter pace in a couple of weeks. I'm very excited. I hope Lucy behaves herself.

Thank you for all the nice Mother's Day wishes yesterday :) I had a wonderful day. My parents visited and took us out to lunch and then we all hung out at the house. Here's a photo of my mum, myself, and Hannah:

another great day!

First, I actually succeeded in getting Kenny to the barn in a somewhat clean ensemble, with the dog; and also I managed to clean the 2" of dirt off Lucy that I found her covered in this morning. I even had to shampoo her legs - they were disgusting!

Maddy took the photo for me and..drumroll please....

everyone's looking (kind of) at the camera!!! SUCCESS!!!

Then I tacked up and had another super ride, and this time, I got photos!

YAY! Good pony! I should go buy a lottery ticket or something.

Then Amanda got on for a few minutes:

AND she got to ride Merlot the dreamliner.

Then Maddy got really brave and decided to jump Brantley over one of the XC fences:

So all in all, it was an A+++++ day and everyone had a super time!

You need one of these.

My friend Alicia made me a mini Lucy!

She crocheted it by hand and matched the markings perfectly to Lulu's dainty stripe and three socks.

I am SMITTEN.

So is Lucy!

mom I wanna snuggle it!

She is taking orders for the holidays so if you want your own mini version of your horse, email Alicia at Alicia_torres5990 AT yahoo.com. As a bonus, these hand made bundles of cuteness do not cost you monthly boarding fees, do not need their little hooves trimmed every six weeks, do not poop in water buckets, do not bash you in the face when you try to hug them, and do not gleefully roll in the mud upon seeing you approach their paddock wearing breeches and holding a halter.

She has priced them so reasonably that they would also make awesome Secret Santa gifts for your friends/family/CoTH people/barn parties. 

Here is Alicia and her horse Mollie, who is the chestnut mare I rode over the summer while Lucy was still Broken. Mollie moved to a new barn with what is possibly the most gorgeous indoor I have ever seen in my life.

the light! the footing! it was so nice.

And here are a couple nice headshots I got of Mollie, who has two expressions: "I don't give a crap about whatever is going on here and I am going to look totally bored and unimpressed," and, "Oh look how cute and sweet and lovely I am with my pricked ears and soft eyes and super cool blaze!"

Luckily we got the second expression on camera:

further proof my life is a soap opera

My barn owner told me someone she knew really wanted some saddle time, so A came out on Saturday to meet Lucy and have a little hack around.

Everything went great so to cool off, I said, "Let's go on a walk on the trails!". We set out, and all was quiet. I wanted to show her the trail that leads to a big pond with a nice waterfall, some bridges to cross, and a boat ramp so the horses can walk into the water.

We got to the edge of the area where the pond starts, where it is pretty marshy but the water is about 20' from the trail, through a very thick area of brambles, poison ivy, and general ickyness. I would never, ever think to walk through there to get to the water, especially because if you just keep walking down the trail another few hundred feet, you'll find a nice open area with easy water access and no prickly plants.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I heard a very faint "help! help!" coming from the edge of the water in that marshy/prickly/gross part of the pond. A, who was riding, hopped off and I held Lucy while she investigated, because I had shorts on and I'm sorry, but there was no way I was trekking through that mess to figure out what the deal was. I know that's very bad with my EMT license and all, but yeah, waist-high prickly bushes + bare legs do not equal a happy Kate.

Plus A was dressed for the job in her tall boots and long pants, so she clambered through the thicket and discovered a few things:

-the lady was not dying, but was stuck
-alll those sirens we could hear fast approaching were for her
-the fire dept had no idea where she was other than a GPS location they got via the 911 digital system because SHE had no idea where she was
-she had wanted to get close to the water so she climbed through the prickly area (in SHORTS!) and then got stuck up to her knees in cement-like mud that was also very cold
-she had a dog with her who was very chilly
-she had been there for an hour

That was the basic gist of the situation, and realising that I wasn't being a whole lot of help just standing there with a tacked-up horse, I took Lucy to go meet the fire department and explain how to get back to where we were. Luckily for them, there is a cul-de-sac of houses that backs right up to that area of the trail, so they parked their rigs just about 50' away and had easy access to get the rescue equipment to the right spot. The firefighter who saw me walking toward them first said, "Uh oh, it's never a good sign when a riderless horse meets you at a 911 call." I said, "But this actually has nothing to do with the horse!" And we both agreed we were very glad that was the case.

After 45 minutes of removing prickly bushes and small trees with the chain saw, combined with laying plastic back boards out in a chain over the thick mud so that none of the firefighters got stuck in it, combined with pulling the lady out of the mud with a thick rope while wrangling the small dog, everyone was out of the mud/prickles and looking exhausted and very dirty.

Unfortunately at that point, neither A or I had any more time for a trail ride/walk, so we took Lucy back to the barn and both headed out. I had an engagement session to photograph and she had to go to work. Back to normal, I suppose!

Here is a quick shot I took of the scene. The firefighters are looking in the direction where the woman is stuck. Lucy was very patient for all of this and nibbled on grass while the rescue went down. Good girl, Lu.

the kindest thing

My friend's beautiful, sweet Morgan mare "S" colicked badly late on Sunday night and her husband called me and asked me to come to the barn to be with her for when the vet came. I rushed over and when I got there, the mare was down in a paddock, rolling and in distress. My friend had already decided she was going to have her mare euthanized. She had a long history of various ailments and this had been in the plans for a while, but of course not on these terms. Still, given S's history and the amount of pain she was in, my friend opted to do the kindest thing for her. We let her stay down because she was being quiet and seemed comfortable. We spent some time brushing her, stroking her soft nose, and scratching her favourite scratchy spot behind her withers.

The vet took quite a long time to get there and at one point, S decided she wanted to get up, so we got her walking. My friend had given her Banamine when she first found her down, and I suspect the Banamine had started to kick in and help some of the discomfort. She did go back down a few times and roll but we always got her back up.

As we walked, we talked about my friend's best memories of this lovely mare. S was a sassy mare with a kind and patient disposition. They had done lots of fun things together, the best of which were the hunter paces they attended. They had also done dressage and some breed shows but overall they had enjoyed spending time together. As S got older, she developed tendon problems and also had some breathing issues so she enjoyed a quiet retirement.

The vet finally arrived and did a quick assessment. She agreed that my friend had S's best interests in mind and went to her truck to prepare the drugs. My friend decided she did not want to be around for the euthanasia, and spent a final few minutes stroking S's muzzle and telling her she was loved. Then she handed me the lead rope and I stayed with S for the rest of it.

When my friend went back into the barn, S laid back down on her own accord, which made the vet's work very easy. She passed away peacefully as I held her head and stroked her cheek. She was graceful and dignified until the end.

On Monday morning, I called out of work. I was at the barn almost before the sun was up, after getting about two hours of sleep, to meet the company that came to deal with S's body. I had told my friend I'd be there to make sure she was handled gently and with respect. The company was wonderful and did a very good job.

I had taken her halter off after the vet finished, and it was covered in sand and dirt from her rolling. I didn't want to give it to my friend all dirty like that so I did quite possibly the most thorough and professional tack cleaning job I have ever done, and that halter's soft leather gleamed when I was finished. I also had cut some of S's tail for my friend to have, with her permission, and it was very dirty. I tied a rubber band tightly at the top of it, filled a bucket with some water and shampoo and gently dipped the tail hair in it to clean it. I let it air dry and then picked the remaining leaves out of it. I gently brushed it out, being very careful to hold it tightly with one hand so that I didn't pull it out of the rubber band. When I was finished it looked beautiful and now her owner can have it to either have a bracelet or Raku pottery piece made. S really had a gorgeous tail!

This is the second time I have done this for a friend. Though it is very hard, I am honoured that I was asked to be there both times. What a wonderful thing to be able to do for a friend, and also for the horse. Both times I've done this, the horses have passed away peacefully with dignity, and neither have felt alone. I would like to imagine that if I ever had to put a horse down, that it would go as well as S went. I honestly don't know if I would stay for my own horse; I'd like to think I would but I guess I won't know how strong I am until faced with that. If I can't do it, though, I hope someone will be there to hold her and stroke her kissy spot on her nose.

Today I am feeling quite sad about the whole thing, which I guess is to be expected. I hope S is running around pain-free in Pony Heaven.

Sleepy May

May has been blissfully quiet. The most I've done with Lucy is walk her down to the outdoor to watch Maddy ride one night, but other than that she has done nothing except go from her stall to her paddock, with the occasional session out in one of the grass turnouts.

She remains fat and happy. I groom her every few days, and her winter coat has completely shed out to reveal shiny, dappled, rich mocha velvet. I sat out with her in the grass paddock this weekend, reading a book while she happily munched away. We were both content.

She finished her 30 days of Doxy this past week, so we are all set with that until the next time she gets lyme! ;) We are about halfway through her "time off" and in a week or two I will be scheduling her follow-up 60 day ultrasound to see how her healing progress is going.

I've been riding a chestnut QH mare, whose name is Mollie. She is in her mid-teens and lives at a close-by farm that is really a beautiful facility. This horse did some eventing in her younger days, but mostly goes in a dressage saddle now, so I have been doing my best not to flop around up there with the long stirrups and deep seat of the dressage saddle.

Mollie is a very funny mare. She hates having her face pulled on and will only set her jaw and pull back, which quickly morphs into a pulling match between horse and rider. The best way to ride her is to sit back, and I mean BACK...very strange for me! I have to "hold" her with my stomach muscles, or what's left of them anyway. My hands are only there to lightly support her. She is a very cute mover when I ride her correctly, but best of all she is fun and safe. It is very generous of her owner to share her with me.

Some of you asked who the dappled grey mare that I rode for the RISPCA ride was. She belongs to a friend who volunteers with the RISPCA, and allowed me to ride her that day, since she was caught up running the event. Don't I have the most wonderful friends? Angie, the mare, is a Percheron/Warmblood cross. She was so much fun to hack around on. I very rarely get the chance to just sit back, relax, and enjoy myself, but this was a horse I could do just that with! She piloted me all around the forest that day and was an absolute pleasure to ride.

I am trying to get back in shape by running, which has historically been one of my most hated forms of exercise. I have crappy knees, my back is screwed up, and I have torn ligaments in my left shoulder, so running usually causes me a lot of physical issues, but for whatever reason I have been doing quite well at it this time around, and I haven't had any problems. I ran 1.5 miles on my first day, 2 miles on the second day, and 1.5 miles this morning. Not too bad.

out for a run with Cairo and her little friend Cooper, whom
I was dog-sitting for

tough life!

I've also been biking a lot, and last week my company sponsored a "bike to work day", so I biked about 11 miles round trip with my mountain bike to and from work. Not exactly the type of riding I prefer, but I was proud of myself!

my route home from work

out on the trails with Kenny and Cairo

Most of all I am just thrilled for my friends, who are making great progress with their horses. Lauren battled through a tough winter with her horse Charlie, who had a serious knack for rearing at the drop of a hat, and was very fresh under saddle. In the past couple weeks, though, something has clicked in that baby brain of his and all of a sudden he is going beautifully. Surely this is a testament to Lauren's hard work, horsemanship, and determination, which were all part of what made her such a great match for Lucy!

My friend Amanda and her horse Image are going through a bit of a rough patch soundness-wise, but she is developing a good partnership with him on the ground while they sort that out. I know exactly what it feels like to deal with a vague mystery lameness so I wish them the best of luck with that!

Maddy and I picked Brantley up from his month of boot camp yesterday. You may remember that Brantley had some very severe trust issues and shook like a leaf any time someone got on him (if they even got that far!). He went for 30 days of pretty comprehensive ground work and came home a changed pony. Maddy rode him the last two days he was at the trainers, and she was able to actually stand on his back, something you could not PAY me to do but I will happily watch her do it (and take pictures!). She is over the moon to have him home and is looking forward to enjoying her summer with him.

Maddy and Brantley yesterday at the training barn

Sideways

The weather over this past week led to a few challenging rides. What can I say, the horse doesn't love 40mph winds and driving rain/snow. She was super keyed up from the weather on Wednesday night, but I handled it the best I could and used a bit of reverse psychology to encourage Lucy to do the right thing. I first let her zoom a bit in the indoor and she got most of her crazy out. Then I rode her just at the walk and we worked on turns on the haunches/forehand, backing up with her head down low, and "side passing", or at least our best attempt! Part of our homework from Morgan was to get Lucy moving as much laterally as I could and I did my best to deliver the goods. I feel confident that Lucy is better today than she was a week ago, and that's all I can ask for!

The week had a couple of setbacks, though. On Saturday, Cinnamon came back out and we were both in good spirits, expecting another wonderful ride. Lucy had other plans, though. She started out ok but as Cinnamon asked her for a bit more effort, she lashed out in several uncharacteristically (even for her) nasty tantrums. Lucy was extremely tight through her whole body, and was annoyed that other horses kept coming into the ring and then leaving. Her brain had about zero functionality and though she softened a few times into the contact and moved nicely, she would lose her focus a few strides later and throw a few bucks in a row. Now, she does a lot of bad stuff as you all know, but full-on bucking is not really one of her normal tricks. She was kicking out rather furiously and Cinnamon and I had a ten second conference and decided that this ride was not going to be productive. Though I am normally all for riding through the crap and ending on a positive note, and I also tend to think that Lucy's outbursts are attitude related and not a pain issue, that day was different and both Cinnamon and I felt it was best to call it quits and try another day. It was very clear that something big was bothering Lucy. Either she was coming into heat or sore somewhere and she was clearly telling us, THIS HURTS.



We untacked her and cooled her out and I felt very upset about the whole thing because the week had been going well and I didn't like this big change in my horse, but as I have done many many times, I decided to let that day go and try again on Sunday.

Sunday rolled around and I was not excited to ride. I expected Lucy to be very bad. To give her the best chance of a positive ride, I lunged first and let her trot for a good long time until she was nice and swingy and fluid. I also wanted to make sure she was sound because when Cinnamon was riding, she looked a bit foot sore to me. Well, she looked great on the lunge line and seemed to appreciate being able to move out like that. When she was nice and warmed up, I hopped on and had a nice ride. Lucy was very responsive but light, and picked up where we left off with the lateral stuff easily. She is a very smart horse, I will give her that! 80% of the ride was at the walk, just getting her light in the bridle and responsive to my legs, and then we finished with a bit of trot work that was also fairly decent. Nothing groundbreaking or beautiful, but not bad!

Yesterday I rode in the outdoor for the first time in a long time. I lunged first because the neighbour's son was out in their yard through some trees throwing a lacrosse ball at a wall, which was making a very loud BANG. I was concerned that Lu would be scared of that because that neighbour is in the "scary" corner of the ring. She didn't have any problems with it, but was scared of another neighbour using a chain saw. If it's not one thing, it's another! She got over the whole thing quickly and warmed up very well on the lunge and neither the chain saw or the BANG noise were an issue after that. I do love that about her - she can spook at things and be silly but once she realises they aren't a threat, she isn't bothered by them.

I got on and we did the usual basic walk exercises to start, circling often and doing serpentines through the ring. Each time I changed direction, I almost asked her to do a haunches in to move her hind quarters over first, then move forward. She took it all quite well and didn't put up a fight. We trotted around and she was a pleasure to ride! Then Maddy took some video for me after Lucy got a short break in the middle of the ring. Well, Princess Horse thought she was finished so when I asked her to go back to work, she wasn't pleased and pinned her ears straight back at me. She didn't do anything else, though, which is an improvement from the usual kicking out and other sass. She settled down and was very good. We haven't cantered all week, which Morgan recommended until we could get the trot together, but she offered up the most lovely, quiet canter to the left (which is the bad direction!) and I was like, ok, we will see where this goes. Well, it was really, REALLY nice and I am just so glad I trusted her enough to let her continue. She felt round and light under me and was so polite about the whole thing. She felt balanced (or at least more balanced than she has in the past) and didn't throw a single bronco move. She came back down to the trot nicely and then I thought, crap, this means we have to canter to the right!

So off we went, but not until I had her going at the trot nicely, of course. A few strides into it, she tried to pull the reins out of my hands but I sat on my butt and elevated my inside hand to prevent her from taking the reins, and she sat back on her hocks and picked her own front end up, rebalanced and continued on without escalating or getting witchy about it!

THAT WAS HUGE.

At that point, the whole state of Texas could have fit inside my smile because I was thrilled.



Tonight Morgan is coming out for training ride #2 and I really hope Lucy is good so she can see how much progress we've made this week. I took all of our homework very seriously and I hope we will continue to improve.

a friend visits!

My friend Cinnamon came to visit and work with Lucy today. C has not ridden for an entire year and yet she was brave enough to want to get on Lucy, who has had three days off (Kenny's birthday, farrier visit on Thursday, and saddle fitting visit on Friday).

When he was investigating the fit of my saddle, the saddle fitter pointed out right away that Lu's withers have widened significantly since he was last out, and the saddle was pinching her quite a bit. That would explain why she gets very upset if my balance is tipped forward at all. He reworked the flocking so that there is now plenty of clearance up front. C's ride today was the first ride in the altered saddle and I was really happy with how Lucy relaxed through her back and softened into the contact. I am positive that  C's quiet and balanced way of riding had a lot to do with that, but I am sure that the saddle not pinching helped too.

The saddle fitter also broke the news to me that I would have to start saddle shopping if Lucy got any wider or her topline built up anymore (which it will). The Stubben I have now has panels that are a smidgen too narrow for her back, i.e. there is not enough displacement of pressure and she is getting sore along her spine. Fixing the pinching issue will help, but he advised me to at least prepare myself for a saddle search. BLAH, I hate saddle shopping!! :(

Lucy has a chiro/massage appointment tomorrow and I am anxious to see what the chiropractor says about her back and hind end.

I was so impressed with how well C rode today. She really is a wonderful rider. I hope she doesn't wait a whole year before she comes back again :)

Lucy started out stiff and unyielding, as you can see here. She was like,
"la la la la oh is that your inside leg? la la la..."

and then she started out at the trot looking like a llama

but before long C had her looking quite nice

a bit of freshness at the canter

but C sent her right forward and had the whole thing resolved in no time.

right about this time I almost felt emotional. It was so nice to see
Lucy going well and looking happy.

a little tantrum (check out the Alfalfa-style forelock sticking straight
up into the air)

but right back to work.

stretching out at the end of the ride

the two ladies after a successful ride!

I also got some video:



Then this little oopsie happened, and I wasn't really sure if I should run over and hold the horse, or stand there and let C do her thing. I decided not to complicate the situation, since Lucy stopped fairly easily and didn't seem like she was going to rocket off anywhere. C displayed excellent horsemanship. Look how calm she remains, and how they go right back to work.

snow, and more snow, and more snow, and finally power

We finally got power back this afternoon, after two very cold sub-freezing nights. Last night it was 9 degrees outside and 40 degrees in the house. Yeah, not a great time at all. We had the wood stove going but with no power to run the fan through it, the stove wasn't doing much to heat more than the living room area. We blew up an air mattress using an inverter plugged into Kenny's truck and slept on that in the living room as close as we could safely get to the wood stove. We both had multiple sweatshirts on, two layers of pants, a few pairs of socks, and Cairo had her fleece jacket on and slept buried under the covers with us.

Saturday morning...my car is buried on the left and Kenny's Silverado
(i.e. not a small vehicle!) looks shrimpy on the right

The truck had no problem!

9am on Saturday, no plows in sight. Some roads still aren't plowed.

finally I made it to the barn and the driveway hadn't been plowed. One of the
trees had lost a few big branches that were blocking the driveway. Kenny and
I returned later with a chain saw and moved the branches out of the way
so that the plow could get through.

all the horses were happy to be out once I finally got them out there!

Lucy also had a branch come down in her paddock but the fencing was not compromised at all, and I didn't want to leave them all in just because she had this branch in her paddock. I decided to turn her out and just watch her for a little while to make sure she wasn't going to be stupid with the branch there, and she was fine.

Each morning I was actually excited to get out of bed and get moving, so I could warm up. I did a whole lot of shoveling this weekend! I even dug my elderly neighbour out this morning so I could feel warmer. Kenny and I went driving around in the truck to get the heaters on us. We went to Maddy's house this morning to take a hot shower, which made me feel so much more human. Then we went home and puttered around and then all of a sudden, the power came back on! We had a little dance party.

I had wanted to ride yesterday but by the time I got done shoveling the cars out, clearing the snow from the house, getting to the barn (when there was still a driving ban, by the way), shoveling the barn out,  cutting down the tree blocking the driveway, getting the horses out, and doing the stalls, I was exhausted. I was way too tired to ride, anyway. All of the other rough boarders were snowed in but I didn't mind helping them out. We all pitch in and help each other when we can. That is what makes a rough board barn work!

Today, though, Maddy and I finally got out and enjoyed ourselves! We did a bit of work at the barn and then tacked up and ventured out onto the trails. Lucy was very, very spooky. Lots of snow was falling off the trees and making loud SPLAT noises in the woods, which she did not like at all. I sat several pretty big spooks and went right over her left shoulder when she pulled a quick and dirty spook and spin.

BUT...

I was using the rope halter/longe line set up again today, and it worked PERFECTLY! I executed the most textbook tuck and roll, dropped the reins mid-air, landed lightly in the 2.5 feet of fluffy white snow as Lucy flew backwards for a stride or so, she stopped immediately when she felt the rope halter, and I got up and yelled happily, IT WORKED! Then I asked her to come back to me, which she did happily, and I let her know she was a really good girl.

LOL.

Then Maddy and I cheered and I was absolutely thrilled.

Ahhh we are so weird.

I wasn't hurt at all and after bushwhacking through some trees to find a good spot to get back on, I was back in the saddle and off we went. Kenny met us in the woods (the trail runs right past my road so he just walked to the end of the road and met us out there) and took some photos, then came back to the barn with us to get some more pictures. So, a huge thanks goes out to him for taking lots of wonderful photos today for us.

she did get a bit excited at times. this was one of them, and she ping-ponged
back and forth across the trail, so excited but not really sure where to go.

forward is always better than ping-ponging, even if she makes nasty faces

back at the barn, in the outdoor ring

this is what it's all about :)

silly moment

and one of Pretty and Maddy - I will leave her to share the rest of her photos
on her blog! :) - click here if you don't already have the link.