My Loves

Sometimes I forget how much I love Grady & Jazz. It's not that I stop loving them, I just forget how awesome they are. I worked with them over the weekend as it's my goal to eventually get them back in shape for riding over summer. I ended up riding Jazz bareback while ponying Grady and they were just so good! There's no other horses that I trust enough to do that with. We went on the logging trails behind my house. They each go the right speed, one not lagging behind and having to be drug along, but not racing ahead and getting in the way. There were no pinned ears, biting or kicking at each other. We walked, trotted and cantered. They walked over fallen trees on the trail fearlessly. It was just so nice to ride a finished horse! I love Jetta, but sometimes it's a little tiring having to work so hard while riding her!

Breastplates: 3- or 5-point?

I've decided that I eventually want to get Jetta a breastplate because I don't have one and while jumping the saddle slips back slightly. Also, literally everyone has one in eventing so we have to fit in, right? ;) Anyways, I'm torn between a regular 3-point breastplate and a 5-point breastplate. My two favorites are the Antares Leather Breastplate and the Voltaire Convertible Breastplate.

What I like about Antares is that it is very well made and gorgeous. It is has a padded wither strap and an elastic insert.

The Voltaire is also gorgeous, slightly more so than the Antares (shocking I know!) The detailing with the fancy stitching is very nice. It can convert from a 3-point to 5-point breastplate. I like that it doesn't have the giant fleece pads on it which 5-point breastplates tend to have - while they might provide some extra comfort, to me they're distracting looking and would have to be cleaned more than if there wasn't fleece on it. Unfortunately the problem with this breastplate is the exorbitant price tag.

So, do you use a breastplate and if so, do you prefer a three-point or 5-point and why? What are your favorite brands? Does anyone have a Voltaire or Antares breastplate and what are your thoughts on it?

No Horses For Me...

At least for this week. I hate how school gets in the way sometime! This week has just been so crazy. It's week 8 and I have two more weeks of class left plus a week of finals. I have the second midterm for Chemistry tomorrow which is incredibly silly. Sigh :| I'm not ready yet. And basically the remainder of homework for this term is due all by this Sunday so it's just going to get busier from here! Luckily I don't have class tomorrow so at least I'll have time to go ride Jetta, which I won't be doing today :( I rode yesterday, but had to get up extra early to do so, but it was so worth it! I got out to the barn at 8am (note that I rarely get up before 8am, especially if it's school involved) and just had a good ride, organized and cleaned out my tack box (I found a mouse nest inside, eeek!). Not much else to update - I've decided to not go to a show this weekend because 1) of my ridiculous homework load (see above picture. That is how I feel right now) and 2) the EHV-1 outbreak scares me. The barn I took a jumping lesson at last week is closed to people coming/leaving. Scary. I hope in two weeks everything will be a little more chill, as there's a show I really, really want to go to and I don't want it to be canceled! But my pony's health comes first, and she definitely won't be touching noseys with any other horses for the time being! At least the one thing going well right now is the weather, it's b-e-a-utiful out right now and is supposed to get even nicer this week, yay! I can't believe it's almost summer already. Hope everyone else is having a nice week with their horses, go on a nice trail ride for me!

Ponies!!

Guess what we found? The ponies were all out in their pasture the other day so I brought my camera to take pictures. They were so adorable!!! I counted about 75 ponies O_o

Here's just a few of the many pictures I took. I wanted to spend all day hanging out with them, they're just so cute!

More Photographic Fun

Yesterday I had a boring day of working with Jetta planned out, but instead ML offered to take pictures of me and Jetta if I would go out to the barn later than planned. Heck yes! I love pictures :)

It was quite an adventure. I didn't ride Jetta the day before, but I did lunge her and do lots of ground work so she theoretically shouldn't have been hyper, but she was. I think it was the weather. It was sunny! I think it only got up to about 68 degrees, but at least it was t-shirt weather!

CL also rode and got some cute pictures taken and then ML hopped on Katy bareback and all three of us went for a trail ride and to take pictures outside. I brought my camera and attempted to take pictures while riding Jetta. Ha! That was ridiculously hard. Jetta was not having any of it. I had one hand on the reins and one on the camera and Jetta was zig-zagging back and forth while walking, then while standing she kept trying to follow the other horses or graze. Geez. But that wasn't the most exciting part. I'll get to that soon.

ML and I switched so she could take pictures cause Katy is supposedly the "good one". She decided she was not going to miss out on the fun and decided to jump across the creek to join CL and I which set off Tanq who started bucking and Jetta who just ran around like a chicken with her head cut off. We had a good laugh about that because first of all, Katy was the one who started it and second, Tanq almost never misbehaves like that. We decided to move on and eventually came to the pasture that sometimes houses the ponies. And guess who was there?! The ponies were :) One little black and white one trotted up to see us, so cute!!! It's little black puffball of a forelock was bobbing around. I wish I had gotten a picture. I did in fact attempt to take a picture, which was what cause a major spooking fit.

Here's what happened. All three of us were standing close together oohing and ahhing over the ponies. I decided to take a picture so I took one hand off the reins, raised my camera and click! I didn't realize the flash was on and the horses went ballistic. All three of them scattered and started running and bucking. Poor ML was bareback, but luckily she stayed on. Once we got the horses stopped (CL had to use an x-mas tree to stop Tanq) we were all fine, but boy did that get my adrenaline pumping! Note to self: never use flash while on horseback. We had used the flash while taking pictures inside but I think ponies + terrifying flash of white light coming from who knows where = complete mental breakdown.

So it was a very interesting ride to say the least. Here's a few photos that got taken on my camera, only half of them were taken by me, the other half are from ML. I can't wait until ML sends me the ones she took on her camera inside. You get to see us jumping! I'll post them when they arrive :)



Favorite! Of course this was a split second before Tanq
decided to bite Jetta, but it was cute while it lasted.



Mini Photo Shoot

So, guess what? I bought a new bridle! I talked a little about my search for a new one a while back, but I hadn't really decided which one in my price range I wanted... then SmartPak had a sale, making their bridle the cheapest option, so of course I had to buy it! I'm very happy I did though.

In order to show off its beautifulness, I tried to get some good picture of Jetta in it. Kind of difficult when you're trying to take a picture, not allow the horse to run away or attack the horse in the stall next to it, and at the same time get her all properly positioned. Someday I would still really like to get her all cleaned up and braided and take her outside for a real photo shoot and I just remembered, duh! I have a friend that loves photography and I'm sure she'd be willing to come take some pictures of us this summer. That would make it so much easier to get pictures without having to both handle the horse and the camera. I'm really excited now :)

Anyways, here are a few pictures of Jetta in her brand new, gorgeous bridle!

Cute picture, but it was too dark...

Much better in the light!

The dorkiest looking face Jetta could make.

Fail. Jetta tries to make friends with the weird Arab who is trying to bite her.

Blinking. It makes her look very cute I think :)



Perfect! This one's my favorite. Doesn't she look spiffy in her new bridle?



Breed Spotlight: Friesians

I love Friesians. They're gorgeous and they always look like they'd be great horses to work with.

These horses are super versatile and for stallion testing they have to do dressage, driving and cross country jumping in order to show off their athleticism. While many say that these horses are not bred for dressage, they can excel at it and I have seen several do just that!

It is believed that they were bred as war horses as their size would have allowed them to carry knights in armor. They also had to be light on their feet, thus they can do dressage with the correct training. Also, because of their movement and flashy long hair, they have history as a driving breed.

And guess what? They really can jump! I've seen several Friesians that are really cute little jumpers.

One of my favorite Friesian stallions that I've seen is Rembrant. His is really lovely and such a sweet amazing guy. It helps that I've seen him in person on multiple occasions. He is a little small for my tastes, but if I were looking at Friesians to consider breeding, he'd be at the top of my list.

I'm also a sucker for good Friesian crosses. I think that the best crosses are from a Friesian dam and other breed of sire. There's pinto Friesians, bay Friesians out of Andalusians or TB's, Appy Friesians, and more. I think one of the more well-known Friesian crosses is Mystic Warrior who is just stunning.

To be registered, a Friesian must be completely black. They are only allowed a small white star. There have been some Friesians that have turned out a color other than black, but it is extremely rare and most are crossbred if they turn out a color other than black. It is somewhat likely to be able to get an almost 100% purebred chestnut Friesian if the parents carry the chestnut gene, which is recessive. You wouldn't know it until you bred two Friesians with the recessive chestnut gene and you get a chestnut baby! But that's highly unlikely as most chestnut has been bred out of the Friesian.

Today, breeding has shifted more towards a modern, sporthorse type body type. This picute above is a great representation of the different breed types for the Friesian.