Relatively Successful

So after my weeklong ban rest from riding, I've been itching to get back on and have my nice dressage horse back! But I knew that was unlikely so yesterday I dragged ML out to the barn to lunge me on Jetta. Very, very good idea. Jetta would get "stuck" where I would put my leg on and she would cow kick at it and ML would come in and get her going forward again. Lots of praises for nice work and by the end I could walk Jetta with contact and leg pressure without being flung out of the saddle. I would call that a success :) I did the same thing again today and we only had a couple resistances, including one four-legged leap into the air. What fun. But I stayed on and ML was able to unclip the lunge line and I walk, trot, cantered around the ring with only minor sassy, pinned ears. Much better.

Most people have thought it's a behavioural issue, which I couldn't completely agree with because it was so incredibly sudden, but I've had a sort of epiphany. It wasn't sudden. Actually, she had been acting out on the ground, though not in the saddle, so I thought nothing of it. But she was refusing to be led occasionally (the "You Can't Make Me Move") and started refusing to lunge. I eventually got it mostly sorted out, but that's also when the bucking started. Aha. So she really has been testing me this whole time.

I still haven't ruled out pain quite yet. While the bute should have done it, she still could be "out" somewhere causing discomfort, if not pain. I also should probably have her teeth done again, though the vet said he didn't think it was that and she still bucks when I ride her in the sidepull. I was really glad that ML came out with me, since she hadn't seen Jetta acting out, though I've been complaining to her about it this whole time. Nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of. She also thought it might be pain related and recommended that I bring her with me to a Karen O'Neal lesson and have her evaluate her because she has a lot of experience and then if she thinks it's behavioural, maybe have her get on because that woman has legs and abs of steel! And a velcro butt. So if anyone could sort it out, she would probably be a good bet.

See the white blob on my hood? That's Sugar, a barn kitty,
my favoritest kit-cat in the world! (besides my own of course)
After some snuggles, I had to set her on the ground and sprint
to my car before she could get in the car with me :)

Also - in my state they send out little plaques if you ride in at least two League show classes and get a 60% or above. I was a little bummed since I've gotten one every year with Jazz and I thought that this would be the first year that I didn't get one, since I only went to one show. But the final copy went out and I'm getting a plaque! Whoo! I went to one show and had a terrible couple of rides, yet still managed to score in the mid-60's. Think of what we could do if Jetta actually behaved??

Happy Pony (and Owner)

I really do like the new barn. It's quiet, the BO is nice and Jetta seems happy. She won't get to go out in the pasture until the 11th since she's in "quarantine" but I can't wait! She gets fed three meals of hay a day so she'll always have something to munch on.

I went and saw her yesterday and free lunged her in the arena. She didn't seem to care too much about being in a new arena. I thought she would find it scarier since there is the shavings stored at one end as well as all the "toys" and there are horses that she can see in the pasture. But she was pretty nonchalant about it.

Save for this moment: I went to grab a brush and found her rolling when I got back.



The BO has about 5 or 6 German Shepherds, all black except one. I'm going to have a hard time remembering all their names! She also has several barn cats - one white one named Sugar that I adore! I used to have a white kitty with the most beautiful turquoise eyes. The vet said he should be deaf and blind because of his coloring, but he was completely normal. We found him as a kitten in a Home Depot parking lot and he became "my" cat. I loved him. Since then, I've always been partial to white cats. Sugar is completely white as well, though without the blue eyes. She is super sweet and demanded that I come pet her with a very insistant meow. She'll stand up on her hind legs to get you to scratch her better and followed me around for quite some time. I miss having a kitty up with me at school!

Nice clean, bright stall

Jetta in her pretty purple blanket

Some of the other boarder's horses
hanging out in the pasture.

Anyways, I will go out to the barn tonight and ML may come with me to help. She's going to lunge Jetta while I ride so hopefully there'll be less incidence of naughtiness. Fingers crossed!

Tack Sale Love

I love tack sales. It doesn't matter if I buy anything or not, I just love being there, looking through stuff and seeing all the horsey people I know. But who am I kidding, I've never not bought anything at a tack sale!

I ended up taking a small collection of my things for sale, but unfortunately I only sold two of my own things :( I sold a friend's fancy dressage saddle for her, which I was surprised about. It was worth a lot so of course now I am wishing that I had asked for a commission! Oh well. I was really hoping to sell my saddle, but no one was interested. I wasn't that surprised though, since there were a lot of cheap-y english saddles at the sale.

Interesting note, when I had been looking to buy a used dressage saddle, I had the hardest time finding a nice one in my price range. I ended up finally getting my Duett for $800 at a tack sale. Today however, there were three other dressage saddles, besides the one I was selling, that I totally would have bought if they had been for sale when I needed one!

Anyways, the sale was a little bit smaller than in the past. It's a fundraiser for the horse 4-H'ers. It started out in a smallish room in the Extension Center then migrated to the County Event Center and now takes place in a large arena. I think the amount of people who came was lower as well, though it still ended up being a great fundraiser for 4-H since they charge $2 to get in as well as rent out the booth spaces.

I ended up finding a blankie for Jetta. I was really set on getting her a high neck turnout since I've always wanted one, but I didn't want to spend over $100. Smartpak had one, but I waited too long and all the medium weights got sold out. I didn't find a high neck, but I did find a nearly brand-new Weatherbeeta Landa mid-weight turnout in a pretty purple plaid. And at a much better price ($40) than I had planned on dropping on a blanket originally ($70).

I was happy with that buy and decided that I did not find anything else that I needed. I usually make a small list of things that I'm allowed to buy before I go to a tack sale so that I stay on track :) I was hoping to find some hind splint boots for Jetta and a rope halter for Colton, but I didn't find any that I liked.

More typically seen in the US

Later I decided to go walk around a bit because I was bored and frozen. And of course I found something I just had to have. A serreta. The lady had two that she was selling for $40 each. A serreta is a Spanish/Portugese cavesson and I like them a lot more than the more typical lunging cavessons that most people use here in the US. If you've ever looked for a serreta, you'd know that they're really hard to find in the US and really expensive. Like at least $100 expensive.

Similar to what I got

So of course I had to buy it. Sigh. I really didn't want to buy it since I was not supposed to be spending money so I offered her $15 because I was pretty sure she wouldn't take it. She said the lowest she would go is $35. So I went for it. It'll be interesting to try it on Jetta and see what she thinks. It didn't come with a throatlatch or browband, though luckily (?!) I have an extra laying around that I'll put on it. I bought the one with three rings, like the one pictured, but she also had a one ring cavesson, the kind that's more for a presentation than for working. I'll do a post later with some actual pics of it and what it's used for and such.

New Barn!!!

So excited :) I don't think I've ever been so excited to move into a barn.

We moved Jetta today. I was planning on waiting a bit, but my parents wanted me to move asap and this is my last weekend before school starts!

I'll hopefully have some pics of the new place next week. It's not fancy but the owner seems super nice and there is turnout! The main reason I was moving of course.

It's been a little awkward moving out. The BO and I haven't ever really gotten along. She was the cause of a lot of drama in my life. Anyways, I'm not moving out because of all the drama. While I hate drama, I can deal with it. I just wanted Jetta to have turnout and better care. The new place has turnout every single day, she's fed hay three times a day and she'll eventually have her very own run. Yay :)

I'll miss riding with my barn buddies though. I got three of my friends to move their horses to that barn and now I'm the one moving out. ML is on board with it, she understands why I'm moving out and wants to come see the barn to consider moving as well. But the good part is that the barns are only 5 minutes apart so I can still have them come trail ride at my barn or pick them up to haul to lessons, etc.

Jetta seemed happy, though a tad confused why she wasn't out with all the other horses, lol. She'll get to go out with them in 5 days (quarantine period) and I'm sure she'll be thrilled. I'll keep you updated!

So. Bored.

Ugh. I so want to ride! Actually what I really want to do is to go for a gallop or go jumping. So bad!

I worked today so I didn't get the chance to go see The Brat today, but I definitely will tomorrow.

Instead I am attempting to find something to occupy myself with. I have already gathered every possible piece of tack I can bear to part with and have cleaned every single piece. Now I'm looking for more to do. I wish I had more tack I could sell, lol.

Instead, Colton has been my focus :) He got groomed and completely braided this morning. Poor guy, he looks so girly now. If possible, the braids make him look even fatter! His tail took me ages and ages to do. It is so ridiculously thick, even thicker than Katy's tail. Of course it is white, or rather it should be white, it's more of a flaxen color right now. It really needs a good washing, so maybe this weekend I'll go borrow my neighbor's washrack.

It was great - while I was untangling his tail, I kept pulling out little pieces of moss, grass, flowers and twigs. I think Colton was trying to start a garden or something!

I really could hack off half of his tail and it wouldn't even be noticeable. Sigh. Now what is next? Stalls are cleaned, horses are fed and groomed. Ugh - bored.

Before



After. Ridiculousness.




Fatty McFatFat



Grounded

I have decided that this week Jetta is grounded. Or rather I am grounded. While I would love, love, love to ride, I just have no desire to try and ride a horse that's going to attempt to buck me off despite my best efforts to prevent it or teach her that bucking's not ok. Sigh. So this week we are taking a slight break and doing ground work. Lots of it.

Today I long lined her for the first time since over the summer and she was super good. I warmed her up on the lunge line so she could get the bucks out and had her hop over some barrels. Silly horse - she won't jump barrels when they are off the wall, she'll just go around it. She has no problem however with a cavaletti or other jump that is not on the wall. When I put the barrels on the wall, it's no biggie. Silly pony.

I'm also teaching her a new "trick". It's more of a command, not really a trick, but I'm pleased with how quickly she's learning it. I'm teaching her to "side up" to the mounting block so that when I get on the mounting block and say "side up" she will scooch over so that I can get on. It's a very useful thing to be able to do, something that Jazz had down to a science. I teach her by tapping her on the hip that is opposite of me so that she moves away from the pressure, in my direction. Once she aces that with only a light tap, I'll introduce the voice command to "side up".

Other than that, not much other excitement. It'll be tough sticking to my plan of being grounded for the week, but I hope by next week Jetta may have forgotten about this whole bucking thing. If I could be so lucky :)

Boarding Barn #3

I got to go look at the third barn on my list. It sounded very nice on the craigslist ad and while I loved the second barn I looked at, I wanted to make sure to look at all available options just in case I found something I liked better.

The barn is farther away then the other two barns. My current barn is 15 minutes from my apartment on campus, while the barn option #1 is also 15 minutes and barn #2 is 20 minutes away. This barn was 30 minutes away, but I wouldn't mind the drive if the barn was worth it. It was absolutely lovely out where this barn was. Gravel roads to the barn so it's out in the middle of nowhere - very quiet and oh-so-gorgeous. The barn is virtually right by the river. I fell in love with the barn as soon as I got there.

The barn used to be a Morgan breeding and training barn, it was built in the 70's which shows. It has an indoor arena, outdoor arena and covered round pen. The outdoor is just grass so it's only suitable to ride when it's dry out. There are nine turnouts that are very large, at least an acre each. But they are also only used when it's dry out.

All of the horses there now are quarter horses and everyone does reining or working cow horse. There are two trainers there currently and possibly one more to come. There are acres and acres of trails, even some that are maintained, and you can even ride down to the river.

There are apartments on the top of the barn where the stall cleaner lives. He cleans stalls twice a day. Horses are fed twice a day and stalls range from 12 x 12 to 12 x 24 to 12 x 36. There is no trailer parking unfortunately.

Pros:
Indoor and outdoor and covered round pen
Lots and lots of trails
Large stalls
Stalls cleaned twice a day
At least some turnout
They will hold for vet and farrier appointments
Blanketing and unblanketing
Automatic waterers
Grooming stall and hot water wash rack
Lounge with tv, microwave, fridge and full bathroom

Cons:
No trailer parking
No turnout in winter
Not a fan of one of the trainers - I've seen her ride and do not like her one bit
Low ceiling in the indoor arena as well as strange layout - stalls open directly to arena
Very small tack room
Chain link on stall fronts, holes in stall mats and walls (very old!)

Because of those cons, this barn is a definite no. I did really like it, as in, if I was in a position to buy it and it was for sale, I totally would. It's a very neat place, with a beautiful location and the owner was super nice. It does need a bit of fixing up, which is what the new owner is doing (they've owned it since April) but it's just not exactly what I'm looking for in a boarding barn. I specifically need winter turnout which is the major deal breaker. Not to mention that I have to have trailer parking because I definitely can't park it the parking lot at my apartment!

Adorable covered bridge on the
way to the barn I saw today.

So... barn #2 it is! I still have to work out the details with the owner, but I maybe be moving as soon as this weekend and I am SO EXCITED!!!