30 Day Challenge - Day 13

A picture of your worst riding. Uh-oh. Well (luckily) I don't have that many, but here's one that just makes me cringe every time I see it.



I could make a very, very long list with everything that's wrong in this picture.

Seriously, I think the photos from this show are the only bad, bad riding pictures I have. Sure, there are some where my equitation just isn't all there, but these are truly dreadful. That was just an awful show. This was at 4-H and these fences are just so tiny, yet we couldn't keep it together. Jazz was rushy and either taking off too soon or chipping in. I had absolutely no release that day and I couldn't get my act together either. Terrible. I don't even want to look this for very long... I promise I don't ride like that all the time, really! Now I need to dig up some good pictures to convince you that I am in fact, not a terrible rider...

See, I can still ride :)

30 Day Challenge - Day 12

Your favorite horse color.
Geez, where do I even start? I have so many favorite horse colors!

I think the color of horse that I've wanted for the longest time is a golden palomino. So pretty! I'm sure I'd get sick of keeping a white mane and tail clean, but I just think that they're so gorgeous!

Then I love bay and strawberry roan quarter horses. Of course, I've seen so many ugly, ugly roan horses so it's difficult to find a nice one, but Peptoboonsmal is a great example of a pretty, talented roan horse.



Next, there's the bright bay coloring. Love this and have always wanted a horse this color, especially with white. But, instead I got Jetta, the typical dark bay :)

I would love to someday have a tobiano or overo marked warmblood. I think that they're gorgeous especially because they're unusual.

Along the same lines of unusual coloring, I love appaloosa sporthorses or Knabstruppers. Cita Normark is an awesome example. Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?

I also love dappled greys. I probably won't ever own one because 1) they tend to lighten with age and light colored horses are a lot of work (though you notice I would still consider a paint! Crazy me...) and 2) 80% of greys will get skin cancer. Not fun.

And lastly, I also have a soft spot for bright chestnuts, especially warmbloods because of Grady! I don't like the reddish chestnut or dark liver chestnut (well, there are some exceptions!) but I love Grady's coloring.

Ok, so are there any colors I don't like? Well, I'm not a fan of cremello horses. They would be great for breeding purposes because their offspring will always be buckskin or palomino, but they're just so white and pink. That said though, I have seen some marvelous cremello horses, for instance Limet Hurry, a Czech Warmblood.


I also don't really like dark sorrel quarter horses or dark bays, probably just because they're so common. I'm not a fan of pale palomino (Isabel palominos to be exact) coloring or tobiano or appaloosa palominos. I just like solid golden palominos :) I like dark/gold buckskins, not the buttermilk. Not too enthusiastic about dun horses except for grullas. So yeah, those are my color preferences but you know the saying, "There are no bad colors for good horses." Their personality and performance matter so much more than their color!

30 Day Challenge - Day 11

Find a sale horse online that you want to buy.



Wow, Can I just say want? This little guy is adorable and amazing. I know the girl that is selling him and I want him so much. He's a four year old QH stallion. He's rabicano and you know I love those weird colors. He has some great reining training on him and he's just an awesome little horse. She's asking $15,000 for him, yikes! That is one major obstacle to getting him, the other is that he's a stallion. First of all, I don't have the facilities for a stallion and even though there are hundreds of great QH stallions out there, he's just so great that I wouldn't have the heart to geld him. He's got great bloodlines and good conformation and he is just spectactular to watch. Have to admit that the only thing I don't like about him is his name, Smart Wittle Wabbit. Ew.

This is just one of many horses that I want to own. I have the feeling that I'm going to grow up to be the crazy lady that has 10 horses all of her own... I promise I'll ride them all!

30 Day Challenge - Day 10

How does your family and friends feel about your riding.

Well. This is certainly an interesting topic for me. I'm very lucky to have almost all horsey friends and we have a lot of fun together. We go to shows together, trail rides, and a couple of us board at the same barn. It's great that have friends that don't mind when you smell like horse, have slobber down your shirt or wear your breeches in public!

My parents are a somewhat different story. As much as I love them, I'm pretty sure that they're not completely sold on the whole horse thing. I'm so very grateful that they finally gave way to my begging for a horse because I can't imagine not riding now, but I also feel that they wish I did a different sport.

Partially it's because they don't feel like they really fit into the horse world - they don't know all that much about horses and the general perception of horse owners is that they're crazy (though I must say this is true a lot of the time!).

Also, I'm very independent so I don't really need that much support even though I want support. This is very different from my brother who needs a lot of encouragement. For years my parents hauled me to shows and lessons, but that kind of dwindled as I got older even though I still couldn't drive. If they didn't feel like taking me to a show, I didn't get to go.

My parents don't really like to go to horse shows so they don't usually come watch me unless I plead with them, and usually it's only my mom. I really wish my dad would come watch me sometime, but he rarely does.

Every time I buy something for my horse or I need to have the vet out, my parents complain. They don't understand why I need this new thing or why my horse is seemingly always hurt. Their answer is to sell the offending horse. They wish I had one horse or none at all.

I guess I'm just a little bitter because my brother also has a sport, but it's just really different for him. He does sporting clays and is actually very good, placing among the top in the state. My parents (one or both) take him to shooting practices roughly once a week and a competition once a week. They've gone to Nevada and Washington as well as all around Oregon for competitions. He has 12 guns (I think) and generally is very supported in his endeavors.

This is why I don't understand my parent's adversity to showing horses. Sure it's expensive to own multiple horses, but it's also expensive to own multiple guns, plus the shells, entry fees and travel expenses. I'm sure showing horses is still a lot more expensive, but really they are pretty comparable. My parents complain when I consider driving a couple hours to a show and staying overnight (even when I'm with others, not alone, and heaven forbid I ask one of my parents to go with me!) though it's not a big deal to fly to Nevada and spend a week there for my brother's competition.

Sorry, that's my little emotional rant. My parents do love me and they do support me, but I just wish for a little more, you know? I want to have their full support, I want them to encourage me to show, I want them to want to come to watch me show. But nobody's perfect. Someday I hope that I can show them that what I do is important to me and that I'm actually good at it and that they'll be there to watch me. 

Jumping Jetta

I jumped for real yesterday and Jetta was so good! Well, better than expected at least. I did almost fall off because Jetta decided for about 10 minutes that she could not, in fact go in a straight line and must duck aside at the last moment. Not allowed. Luckily I stayed on and I was very proud of her. There were a couple moments when I felt like we were jumping 4', but we were only jumping 2'3" to 2'6" but that is the highest we've ever gone! And really she was super good. We only had a little rush once and we even cantered over the jumps a few times, though mostly trotting still. Yay, progress! I could defnitely feel how much better Jetta has gotten - she jumps more carefully and I feel her rounding and picking up those front legs more. Awesome!
No pictures of us jumping, but you can see our setup here:



Here's a picture of Jetta warming up on the lunge beforehand. Yes, she is supposed to be stretching out and down, but I just though she looked so pretty, especially in all her pink - aqua/turquoise might be my favorite color, but pink comes in a close second :) Just had to share that really quickly because I was so excited :)

30 Day Challenge - Day 9

Any injuries you've gotten from riding.

Oh dear. Well, there have been several that I can remember.

My earliest was riding Grady in the pasture practicing for barrel racing (I was into gaming at that point). He likes to buck when we gallop (still does) and I'm pretty much used to him bucking and me falling off. This time however when I got bucked off, I pulled a muscle in my back and couldn't bend or stand straight for a week. That was my earliest "injury" and I'm really surprised I didn't get hurt more with all of the falling off I did.

My second "injury" was when a mare I was training, Patch, spooked and sidestepped on my toe, planting all of her weight on it. I'm sure she broke it! That hurt for quite a while.

Then I was riding Jazz in the pasture bareback and bridless and I thought we'd just canter really quickly once more because she was doing so well. Shouldn't have done that. Grady ended up deciding now was a good time to play and kicked at her and she took off at a gallop. I can stop at a canter, but not at a gallop! We ran into the forest where I ducked to avoid branches. She stopped and I sat up thinking we were done, but instead she spun around and ran out of the forest and I had no time to react before getting whacked in the face with a tree branch, knocking me off. I guess my neighbor heard me scream when I fell and she called my mom to ask if I was alright. I was in the process of getting back on Jazz when my mom convinced me to come up to the house. My face was not in good shape, though really it wasn't that bad. I had a diagonal scrape across my face and had bitten my inside cheek (so I now talked really funny) and my nose felt funny, though thankfully it wasn't broken.

And then my most recent injury was over the last summer when Jetta slipped and fell on top of my which gave me bone bruises and a badly sprained MCL in my knee and a sprained ankle so I couldn't walk for two weeks. Great right?

But I think I've been pretty lucky in my horseback riding career. I mean I've started and ridden several babies and worked with problem horses and my most major injury was spraining my knee! Pretty good I think. Lets just keep our fingers crossed nothing else happens!

Hunter Bridles

I want a new bridle. Really. I usually stick to the $50 and under category which means that I get a bridle that I hate. They're stiff and the color tends to scratch off and I don't like. I bought this bridle from sstack.com and I do not like it. Don't buy it.



Pinnacle Comfort Plus Hunter Bridle

Most expensive bridle I had bought to date ($75) and I was very disappointed. Well, it does have it's merits - it has very soft supple leather, and I love the padded crown feature, but what disappointed me the most was that the color on the leather appears to be painted on. Yes, it is not stained. The color flakes off and is doing so on the throatlatch where it is constantly buckled and unbuckled and also on the noseband where it has gotten rubbed a couple times. Sure, wear is normal on a bridle, but my last bridle that I had for seriously 9 years never did anything of the sort. That thing wore like iron, but I still hate it. It was super stiff and changing bits was a pain. I paid $25 for my old bridle new, yet this bridle from Schneiders, though more expensive, apparently thought it was cheaper to paint the leather rather than to stain it (?). Lame.

So I would like a new bridle and this one I want to splurge on. I want to pay less than $300 and I want the reins to come with it. I would like a fancy stiched, raised, padded bridle and reins. I really don't care what color it comes in (besides black), I would prefer a padded or monocrown feature, but it's not absolutely necessay. I will not consider any bridles that have a crank noseband (absolutely hate those) and I prefer that it doesn't have a flash, though that can be fixed :)

I think I have narrowed it down to four different bridles. The most expensive is the Dover Showmark Deluxe Hunter Bridle. Downsides are that it is in the most expensive end of my price range and the reins are not raised and fancy stitched (gasp! I know, right? Lol).



Next is the Smartpak Wellfleet Raised Fancy Stitch Bridle. I really like this bridle, it has most everything I want. I think that the only thing I would change if I could is that the caveson strap be integrated so that a nameplate can be placed on it, but really, that's not a big deal.



Then I also really like the Bobby's bridles. They seem really nice and again, have everything that I'm looking for.



The last option is a Nunn Finer bridle. These are the least expensive of the bunch, but still have good reviews. Again, everything that I want, though I am a little wary of the quality compared to the other bridles because of the price.



Ideally I would like to be able to see and feel these in person, so I'm going to see if the local tack shop carries any nice bridles in my price range. Ideally I would love to buy an Edgewood bridle so I'm looking for a used one in my price range, but I found one on craigslist and even used they are asking $300!

Now here's the fun part. While searching through bridles, I found some really insanely expensive and interesting bridles.

These Dy'On bridles are top of the line bridles and I like them. Go here to buy one.


I find this one fascinating because I've never
seen anything like it in the english world! I like
it but I don't think I'd be brave enough to wear
it at a show... too spendy for a schooling bridle!

I also think this one is awesome as well, with the slightly flared noseband and browband. Pretty cool!




Then there was this bridle. $800!!! Yikes, that is how much my saddle cost!



Jimmy's 21st Century Bridle


Over at Behind the Bit there's a great post about how to choose a hunter bridle.