I've been a bad blogger lately. It's the busy season at work (which is my official job, btw -- I'll be a regular employee of ESI starting on the 7th of January -- itme to get pre-approved for a mortgage), and I haven't had a lot of left over brain power when I get home. I was also the victim of the stomach flu over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so that wasn't much fun.
Finally got out to ride my horse today -- first time I've been able to ride in two weeks (and there was another two weeks between that ride and the one before it). Merry was very good. He seems a little stiff to the right, so that's something to work on.
We got to try out some of our new goodies from Christmas, including the bit warmer (works great) and the burgundy and grey argyle leg wraps that match my burgundy saddle pad. Haven't had a chance to try the pretty seafoam green dressage pad (with black velvet edging and gold greek key ribbon trim) yet -- still haven't gotten a new girth or stirrups for the dressage saddle.
I got Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage from my mother for my birthday. The book has lots of good info on arena footing, fencing, layout, buying hay, etc... I suspect that at the least I'm going to be having to build my own arenas, if not my own barn, and it's really nice to have an idea of some of the issues that need to be addressed while I'm searching for a farm.
I'm supposed to be getting some item of clothing with my stable logo embroidered on it from my mother for my birthday as well. Haven't decided on a final version for the text font & placement yet (or on what I want embroidered), so I haven't got that yet.
It started snowing just after I brought Merry into the barn this afternoon & is now coming down pretty heavily. (We're supposed to be getting 6 - 10 inches.) Merry loved playing in the snow, so I really wish I had a farm now to be able to watch him in it in the morning.
I finally got a bit for the new bridle I bought Merry a month (more?) ago. The bridle is a lovely black Courbette with a flash noseband & I got a plain old loose ring snaffle for it (which I'd originally ordered with the bridle, but none of the catalogue people seem to keep 4.75" bits in stock, so I had to cancel the order and go to Pleasant Hill Saddle Shop and pick one up -- it was about $10 more there, but at least I have it). It's technically my dressage bridle, though I put it on him and rode tonight with my all purpose saddle (also a Courbette, but definitely not black).
I can't really ride in the dressage saddle because I'm (still) waiting for my stirrups to arrive (I ordered them ages ago from a wholesale catalogue via the owner of the barn -- I think she forgot to place the order initially & I've had to give her two extra copies of my order since). I ordered two pair of irons, (one a pretty teal colour, one regular) so I'm not going to go buy them locally. I may end up having to get a new girth to go with it, too, since the one I've got is pretty long and Merry's still pretty narrow in the barrel. I may order one of those cotton rope ones from Dressage Extensions. They're inexpensive, but sturdy and easy to clean, absorbs sweat nicely in summer, and I can use it on my extra (currently girthless) surcingle if Merry ends up out growing it. The billets are really long on my saddle though, so I kind of doubt that. The thing I'd really like to get for the saddle is a teal saddle pad. I only have the one salmon coloured pad for it that my mother gave me last year and I'd like to have a pad to match the fun stirrup irons I'm getting. All of a sudden, though, I can't find a teal dressage pad anywhere. I can find all purpose ones, but not dressage. Very frustrating.
Anyway... Merry looks very handsome in his new bridle. At a distance (in the poorly lit arena and with his darker winter coat) the black leather really blends with his face and is barely visible aside from the silver gleam of the bit and buckles.
We had a good ride tonight. Merry had a very nice relaxed, forward walk going most of the time. We worked on circles, spiralling circles, serpentines and walk-halt-walk transitions. Merry's getting good at the halt. He stops as soon as I sit deep, close my legs on his sides and my fists on the reins most of the time - no voice necessary - and he's getting squarer with his halts. I thinks he's figuring out that it's more comfortable and easier to get going again without wobbling around if he stands closer to square.
Merry has a lovely natural head set. I ride with a very light contact - reins long, but not looping - and he seems to seek it out. I don't restrict his head at all. I tried to let him stretch his neck down and out the way Ingrid Klimke describes as letting the horse "chew the reins" from your hands the other day, but he didn't seem all that interested in doing it. I might try giving him a loose rein for a while next time to see if he'll stretch his neck a bit. I'm not going to worry over it if he won't. He's still figuring out how to balance a a basic level to a certain extent and if having his head up and almost at a nice vertical is where he's comfortable, so be it. (And if it means less work later in his training trying to get his head in the right spot, I certainly won't complain. Toad always wanted to have her nose up in the air, which is fine jumping, but not so much in the dressage arena, and it was a battle to get her to give and seek the contact.)
Sometime soon here I'm going to try riding without having longed Merry first. The longing is good exercise, but he's pretty bored with it in general, and I'd like to see how he does under saddle right off the bat.
I was bad and didn't make it out to the barn until today this week. Then it turned out to be a busy day out there, so I didn't end up doing much. Merry seemed pretty happy to come in and get attention and get groomed. When things finally quieted down at the barn, I closed up the indoor arena and let the boys in to play. I took some pictures, but only a few turned out at all thanks to the dust.
I thought this one was kind of cool even though I was too close to get his head in the shot (of course, that's the only reason the pic is at all clear -- not as much dust in between the camera and Merry). He got a lot of bucks out of his system while he was playing today. As much as he ran around and acted like a goof in the arena, he'd been very good in the crossties earlier.
Since I'm sticking a bunch of photos up today, I thought I'd post some of my old mare Toad (AHA reg. name: C.V. Perfidia). I got her just before my 10th birthday and I had her until I had to put her down (colic) a week after I graduated from undergrad. She was 24.
This was the day we went to go look at her. December, can you tell?
Riding in the parking lot at Valley Oaks. I think I must have been about 12 here.
Pretty head shot. Also at Valley Oaks.
All dressed up for the costume class at the MAHA Youth Fun Show held at Meadow Hill Arabians.
Practicing our cross country at Dream Acres. I was probably 15 or 16 here.
Playing racehorse on the road in front of our friend Sue B.'s house.
A collage of us jumping in shows and practice at Dream Acres. Photos over several years. I would definitely look at the full size version to see the details (especially with the little images).
The highest Toad and I ever jumped was 3' 3" in a lesson.
I thought I'd stick a couple of old pics of Bunny and myself up.
Bunny (registered name: Utilla*) is the Premium Oldenburg mare that my friend Michelle owns and is the one I'm planning on breeding to BlacklordFalkhann (hopefully next spring, if everything works out). She's a whopping 17 hh. Super sweet, though. I love her dearly.
Here's a link to ISR / Oldenburg N.A. for those interested in learning more about the breed.
I finally picked out a few photos of the boys to upload and post here.
Or I would if the thing would cooperate. It keeps giving me a "timeout" error when I try to insert them. grrr...
Well, it let me upload them directly from my computer. These are all on Photobucket as larger files, as well.
Here we have Gimli galloping in the pasture a few weeks ago. Isn't he cute?
And the ubiquitous shot of Merry galloping away from the camera.
The boys ambling toward the camera.
So, hunting season sounds like it's starting up. I say sounds like because, while I pay very little attention to any actual dates posted at Fleet Farm or mentioned on the news, I heard gun shots while I was at the barn today.
The first volley came while I was longing Merry and he spooked and bolted forward a bit. I pulled him in on a smaller circle and talked to him, and he calmed down really fast. The second volley came while I was riding him. He spooked again and bolted forward. I pulled him around in a circle and scrabbled to shorten the reins. Once I got them short, I started to sit back firmer and bellowed, "Whoa!" Merry stopped dead. We hadn't even gone further than the middle of the arena by that time.
I patted him and told him he was a good boy, and after a moment we continued walking. He settled down super fast. When a couple more shots went off a little later, he hardly even flinched. I praised him again for that. I actually feel a lot better about riding him in general now that we've done that. Now I know that he won't forget I'm up there and will listen to what I say. It makes me more confident about the whole thing, not that I was exactly timid before, but one worries, you know?
Sue thinks Merry likes the riding portion of his workouts better than the longing -- mostly because I'm more lavish with praise while I'm riding. He has always really liked being told that he's good. Sometimes he gets very proud about it. It's cute.
Speaking of Merry and cute, Sue was talking about doing a painting of Merry nose to nose with one of the foxes at the barn right now (my suggestion, actually) and using the image for our holiday cards this year. (You can see some of her current paintings and colouring books at her website: Art By S.K. Frykman .) I think that will be fun.
So, everything is going pretty much okay. I've got a bunch of pictures to sort through and get good ones posted (possibly even tonight if my attention span lasts).
Merry is doing well under saddle. We've been changing directions across the diagonal and coming down the centerline for our halt and dismount, and his straight lines are getting straighter. We also have started doing circles a little here and there. Sunday we rode a 15 meter circle that was pretty darn round, if you ask me. (Because of the 'imperfect' dimensions of the indoor arena, 15m circles actually seem to be easier to ride than 20m ones. Possibly because I'm not thinking it needs to touch the track on both sides. Oh for a real dressage arena!) Merry has also (knock on wood) started to stand and wait for me to ask him to walk when I mount, instead of starting as soon as I'm in the saddle. Yeah!
I'm going to start working more on walk-halt-walk transitions during our ride now. We've got until next spring before we can work on any other transitions, might as well make those as polished as we can in the meantime. He is responding very well to the leg-seat-rein aids, and I hardly have to use my voice much for halt and walk-on now. It's back up, but now I can save the loud application of it for praise (and occasionally chastisement, but mostly praise).
I found a couple of interesting pieces of property on USA Horses Classifieds in New Prague and Cambridge this evening. Not too bad price-wise. Something to think about anyway.
I finally got around to looking at my new Arabian Horse Magazine today (I think I've had it sitting on the kitchen table for a week). It's tormenting me with what I can't have. There's an ad for a broodmare 3-for-1 (her, her current foal, and her in-utero foal) in one spot -- no price, but she looks like a nice horse and the sire of both foals is Ecaho, so I'm assuming she's expensive -- an ad for a herd reduction by a Straight Egyptian and Trakehner breeder, with a couple interesting prospects listed, in another spot and a 2 y-o, black bay, Egyptian stallion who's very handsome for sale in another. (The young stallion has been bred already, which kind of boggles my mind. I always figured you should let a horse finish growing before you breed him to make sure you know what you've got, if nothing else. I mean, he's Merry's age and he's been bred! I still stand by my decision that Merry doesn't get any girlfriends until he learns to work for a living -- and not just because I won't be able to afford to get him one until then, either.)
I wish I had the money and the property to at least look into getting one or more of those horses. If I'm going to try breeding Bunny again next year, though, I'll need to be saving up for the vet etc... (and hope, hope, hope I get offered the job I'm currently working temp on a permanent basis). I have to admit, if I can try again and it is sucessful, I'm starting to hope for a filly. I'd originally wanted a colt (still do in a way) to name Pippin and to give Merry another playmate, but I'm definitely drawn to the idea of getting a filly and having a broodmare (which is not to say I wouldn't ride her). It's all speculation, anyway, and after the hassle of the first attempt, I'd be pretty damn happy just to get a healthy foal the following spring, nevermind the sex.
Speaking of property... I have been running real estate searches during optimistic fits and have been amazed at how much cheaper land is in Wisconsin than even just on the other side of the border in Washington County, MN. I'd never really intended to move out of the state, but if I could find a nice horse farm an hour or less from work for a reasonable amount, I'd certainly consider it. Other people make the commute, no reason I couldn't. The finding a new vet and farrier bit does worry me, but it'd be just as much of a problem if I moved north of the cities while staying in MN. It's one of the reasons I'd always kind of planned on moving south. There's so much less development to the north, though, which is a real plus, and I kind of even like the landscape better.
Oh well, like I said before: it's all speculation at this point.
So I'm all ... not exactly excited, but pleased because Merry and I changed directions while riding today instead of just going around counter clockwise the whole time. We went across the diagonal (F to H) to do it. It may not have been the nicest, straightest diagonal ever, but I've certainly seen worse and he didn't get "stuck" at the end of it, he kept moving smoothly, which I think is pretty good for a first time.
