An Intro: The past month

So my little hiatus lasted a little longer than planned. But that's ok, I'm here now and want to start back with a small intro to the next few posts.

1) I got engaged! Holy crap was this a total 360 in my life. Luke proposed at his birthday party (end of April) I hosted for him after blowing out the candle (I actually forgot candles for his cake and had him blow out a giant yankee candle lol). It was so lovely to have our friends and family there. I am so so thrilled. No, there is no date yet, my focus is my last semester of college!

 

Baby Z's third ride!

2) Ponies are doing swell. Baby Z has been rocking baby boot camp and I've even ridden him twice now! He comes home in about two weeks. Mae has been a little brat and I haven't gotten to ride her yet, she needs to graduate from my stop-being-a-brat-about-work groundwork bootcamp. Vermont has been a super steady guy and very easy for rides. Merlot definitely is showing his green side but so so willing (and gorgeous to look at omg). And finally, Evita has been my rock and so much fun.

3) I finished my second to last semester of college with a fantastic GPA. My work continues to be nice and they even gave me an internship for summer to get some credits knocked out. I'm looking forward to my future outside of college.

Chainsmokers

Meet Rose. This plan has been in the making for several months now. My bf L told me he wanted to learn to ride horses. Growing up in Montana, he took care of horses and is an expert stall cleaner, but never had the opportunity to learn the partnership and love that comes with riding. He has sat on Riesling before, despite refusing to ever ride in a dressage saddle. He saw the happiness and stress relief I gained and wanted to experience the same thing. 

Not too long ago at Idaho Horse Expo I ran into my old manager from the tack shop I worked at. She was like a second mom to me, and I was so excited to tell her about how I now was living with my bf in the country surrounded by horses. I told her about how L wanted to learn to ride and she told me she had the perfect horse. Rose is one of her home-bred horses that is mostly happily retired at 22 years of age. However, this girl has a lot of fire and passion and loves to be worked. She had just been sitting at her ranch and offered to let me free lease her. Even more accommodating, she loaned us her tack. She came to us on June 13th, and has been an absolute doll. 

Shes a little chunky and has an old shoulder injury that requires attention. But she is the perfect teacher for L. I had the pleasure of getting a quick spin on her when she arrived (C wanted to show me her buttons). First off, it is so nice to be able to mount a horse from the ground! I'll still be getting a mounting block because I am the least flexible person on the face of the planet, but it is nice knowing I could get off and on during a trail ride. She has a ton of getup and go, and I can't wait to take little spins on her when she isn't babysitting L. 

Mental Fitness

I'm a terrible mother for letting my guy wear this ratchet fly mask

With the vacation, my sister's wedding this weekend (and me being Maid of Honor), and general life stress, riding has unfortunately been kept to a minimum. Luckily I am able to sneak to the barn on my way home and at least give him a good groom and cookies. He is in full care and while he misses getting worked, he is a naturally lazy horse so he doesn't quite mind just being pampered and hanging out with his friends.

Yesterday was a ride day for me, and I have to be honest. Not riding for awhile makes me get weird about riding. It was lightly sprinkling and I was worried about melting in the rain apparently but the indoor wasn't dragged. I was also on a bit of a time crunch due to scheduling. Weird wimpy Micaylah brain was all "guess we will just groom" until a barnmate asked why we weren't riding. Then I realized how much of a gross baby I was and tacked up. 

Going from nice and hot to a drizzly mid 60's day left Ries very fresh. While I entered the ring, barnmate was grabbing her horse from the pasture (on the other side of the arena) and Ries was pretty sure she was way more interesting. I immediately brought him up to the trot where he took some funky steps and was rather short strided. I moved away from the pasture and pushed him forward. Feeling the tension from the excess energy I quickly decided to canter. We got pretty normal transitions which let me know his body was feeling supple and he didn't have any weirdness. With this much energy, it is easy for him to turn it into naughty behavior. I had to put on the turbo boosts and push him into a strong, forward canter. After changing directions a few times I was able to unlock a pretty decent medium canter tracking right! Wohoo! 

Snax after rides

He was finally in work mode and without much physical fitness I focused on walk work. His walk is improving dramatically. Schooling first level I knew I needed to work on leg yields. We mastered these pretty well at the walk, and I had ten minutes left to spare so I said what the hell and practiced at the trot. My immediate instinct was to attempt to sit the trot. Normally I do about 5-10 strides before I have to start posting. After ten strides I felt it getting harder for me but pushed myself anyways. If I don't support myself in the sitting trot Riesling immediately disengages and slows to a jiggy walk. Surprisingly, I was doing pretty well and actually was able to adjust the trot while sitting! I guess I'm starting to become a real dressage rider!

Even though it was a short ride and not too physically demanding, it really showed a lot about how Riesling and I's mental fitness has improved. When I ask him something he isn't quite 100% schooled yet, he really tries hard to listen to me. I encourage him and it keeps him going. He is always so proud of himself when I give him a good boy pat! I can ask more of him mentally and he is ready to respond. I can't wait to do this every day. I was super bummed when I got off and was thinking about today's ride and then realized I won't be able to come out until Sunday. I love my #princessRiesOTTB

Back in the saddle

I had an extra hour and half of time yesterday (for once in my life) and was finally able to ride. Ries has been nqr and right now I'm starting to think it is a mental thing for me where I want to baby him. From Austen's post on the Janet Foy clinic , 

"You can pay for as many chiro adjustments as you want, but at some point you both (horse and rider) gotta sweat. Otherwise no one will get trained."

This was the mentality I chose for yesterday's ride. For the most part I remained confident in my horse's ability to work. He was super gung-ho to work and happy to move forward. We focused a lot on walking and stretching out his muscles. It isn't fair to immediately work him hard when he hasn't been worked in over a week.  

New Ogilvy! But me thinks I need the dressage version

When we started with trot I stuck to his right side first (his stronger side). He wanted to fall on the forehand but I held my position and made him come up to me. I felt like a giant sack of potatoes but the butt cloud is still amazing. 

Tracking left he definitely wanted to have a little hitch in his step and be short-strided. He was balling himself up in his chest and I legged him forward and put my hands fore so he got the idea to move out. After about half a 20 meter he decided he could trot like a normal horse. Tracking left he also wanted to fall into the circle. I used my inside thigh to push his shoulder back up (does this make sense? or did I fuck up? I haven't had a lesson in forever, no shame). After a few circles he didn't need the support and remembered how to be a straight and balanced horse, albeit very forward and disconnected. I found myself opening my outside hand and not supporting him. Every time he felt disconnected and flat I checked my outside hand and ever single time knew I was throwing away the contact. I managed to fix this towards the end of the trot and we were going along nicely. 

The canter was fantastic (compared to earlier this year). I started tracking left and someone was definitely stuck in his chest again. A squeeze and hands fore and he remembered to open up his stride and relax his back again. I blame myself for this, I gave him the world's shittiest transition. Tracking right I redeemed myself and really set him up for a decent transition and he responded beautifully. I high-fived myself for not being an awful rider during that transition (because my canter departs have been epicly awful). 

I stuck to mostly twenty meter circles for our trot and canter work but worked a lot on figures during the walk. He balls up and anticipates badly in the walk so I ended our ride by alternating from free walk (where he relaxes and swings his back) to a working walk without him getting stiff and short strided. We will be working on this exercise much more to get a decent working walk. 

Because my horse likes to break himself, he had a crack coming down from his cornet band on his right front. I called the farrier and he said he was carefully watching it so here's hoping there isn't another excuse to not be able to ride. 

Happy Birthday Ries!

Yesterday Riesling had his biannual hock exam. And he passed! Wohoo no injections. At this point I'm a firm believer in my supplement of choice, Exceed 6 way.

However, Riesling managed to injure his left hind ankle somewhere. Because he knew the vet was coming and wanted my bill to be larger. Goodness horses.

Today, Ries turns 14! (holy cow) He will be spoiled with carrot cake and unfortunately is now on stall rest for 5 days (thanks Ries). Guess my pony adventures will be spent on Vermont! 

Between the ears

At my current barn I have a lovely view of pastures and gorgeous mountains. At CJ's barn, I am up in the foothills and have a beautiful view of the hills and at night I can see the city lights.

Friday I rode three ponies. I started with Ries who I've decided (after accupressurist visit) that he is suffering from uneven muscling and soreness at the base of his neck in both his shoulders and chest. It had been way too long to have had a new saddle and not been able to ride in it, so I tacked up and hopped on. The saddle fits a smidge narrow and will be fitted to him in May so I am only doing light rides in it to not cause future problems. Lots of ground work here we come! 

We spent twenty minutes just walking and ten minutes doing a stretchy trot. He felt super! He was extremely in front of my seat and reaching into the contact. I don't want to press my luck with the saddle so that was all the fun we could have. The past few months Ries has been nothing short of an asshole so it has been nice over the past two weeks to finally have my lovable horse back. 

Next I headed over to CJ's to school Vermont and Argorn. Vermont started up very relaxed so I figured now was the time to start canter work for the first time this season. He has always had opinions about cantering and I was anticipating it. To no surprise, it was a total shit show. But having had boring rides the past few days I welcomed the opportunity to practice tactful riding. 

I was delighted that I could remain calm and had CJ's lesson comments floating through my head. I focused on keeping him balanced and responding appropriately to his flails. When he gave me a canter that didn't include flails and wasn't rude I ended our ride. 

Argorn's troubles are being in front of the seat and stretching down. He is like riding an elephant (not that I have, but I would imagine). He is pretty reliable but you really have to be a confident, strong rider. He will give you a million excuses to say no but when you assert dominance he trusts you and responds pretty well. I always try to start my ride out strong and forward and it makes the rest of the ride a lot easier. Because he is old and out of shape we focused on a stretchy swingy trot. Surprisingly he was pretty respectable and tried decently. I gave him lots of pats and told him he was a good Mule Head.  

After riding #muleheadedthighmaster I called it done for the day, looking forward to hot yoga Saturday to stretch out sure to be sore muscles. 

Monty Monday!

Mom rode Monty this weekend and it was swell! I didn't tell her he had a week off until after she got on. She was much more relaxed which helped him as well. I taught her "spaghetti circles" aka changes of bend randomly at the walk all over the arena. I also showed her the feel of a proper long and low and to not be afraid of it.

For the first time I made her do everything on her own. She tacked up and asked me if I would be riding first and I said no. Then she asked if we were lunging. I had to walk her through a lot of steps but I wasn't babysitting her anymore. I could tell she was nervous because she delayed getting on. However, once she realized how chill he was she immediately fell into sync with him. They had a lot of great moments. Shes slowly getting back into riding so her stamina isn't the best.

One thing I've always struggled with is open fingers. It's humorous and enlightening to have to tell my mom to close her fingers because she used to chastise me a lot for that as a kid (and I still suck at it). 

Overall, they are forming a great partnership and hes been incredibly important to me as Ries is hurt. Best purchase ever.

Man Boob Update

The left was last weekend. The right was yesterday. Hard to tell because the one on the left was wet. Oops. Still I see a slight improvement? I called the vet on Tuesday because I have no self control and he suggested bute for 3-5 days and if he didn't improve to have him out. It doesn't seem like he is seriously hurting..just annoyingly not 100%

I noticed a HUGE improvement yesterday when I took Ries out of his stall. He looked almost normal walking on the concrete and took off running once I got him in turnout. He is absolutely loving the cold pack massages and hand walking. He chews and sighs a lot. I believe the pulled muscle is indeed what we have here? 

Tomorrow starts the Monty weekend and hopefully Ries will be under saddle this weekend too! Yippee!

They love eachother

Pony Update

I spoke with my accupressurist about Ries's man boob and she suggested it could be a pulled muscle. Thus began the routine of hand walking, liniment massages, and coating in green cold pack. He seemed to really enjoy his walk and massage so I believe I'm right on track.

Meanwhile, I've been working with Monty. I've been house sitting at my horse trainer's which makes it extremely convenient. Despite the killer cold I've been having I've been getting out and doing a good lunge set on him. It also seems my Pessoa fits well on him, so I will be gifting that to him and my grey Ogilvy set. He looks a million times better since the first day I took him out this winter. His blanket rubs are starting to fill in, and he has a nice shine. 

I also am now the proud new owner of that lovely Custom. Just need Ries to get over his NQR! 

The scary land of saddle fit

I know I'm not alone when I say that everyone hates trying to find a new saddle (well maybe not if your horse is a magical unicorn that is easy to fit). As you know, I came to the conclusion that my saddle was not working anymore. I didn't expect this to mean that my jump saddle also isn't fitting. 

Cue panic. About a week ago I had out a local fitter to try on a whole bunch of different dressage saddles she had on hand. I forgot to take pictures of the saddles but I believe I ended up riding in about ten. Ries was not happy with this. I was left feeling like I had no idea what I even wanted in a saddle anymore. What I did know was that I needed something that :

1. Had a medium wide/wide tree

2. Had a "scoopy" shaped tree

3. 18" seat 

4. Flock-able

And I was a rather large fan of buffalo leather. 

I was able to get a Custom Saddlery Icon Star in from a fitter who was cruising through. It was alright but not my favorite. After my last Custom however, I am a little partial. I texted her pictures and expressed my concerns and she thought she had a better alternative back at her house in Washington and agreed to ship it to me. 

In the meantime, Ries was a giant asshole to ride or even lunge. I was feeling extremely discouraged

.

I also took a visit to the local fitter's workshop. This was an event in itself! She explained a lot about saddles to me and was extremely helpful in my overall knowledge about them. I sat in a bunch of saddles to try and figure out what I liked. This later proved to be helpful with the fitter came back out to check out my jump saddle (because I'm paranoid) and we agreed it wasn't working.

One new saddle is something I can swing. Two, no. Hoping I can get my financials in order to be able to get one here soon. Super bummed about this because I had a jump lesson (finally!) scheduled for the weekend. 

The second Custom saddle got shipped earlier in the week and I'm in love. It seems to fit Riesling well (the fitter is looking at it this afternoon). Yesterday I had my trainer out to get her opinion of it. Let me just tell you, that was the BEST ride I've had on Ries in months. He was relaxed, listening, forward, and on the bit. There were no tantrums and my trainer and I basically were speechless. I'm thinking that means Ries likes this saddle but one more opinion can't hurt. 

Grand Vermont

Well here he is! The new boy! 

Why Mic? Why did you need another horse? Oh wait you don't! 

As some of you may remember I rode this guy last year for a client of my horse trainers. Unfortunately this OTTB just wasn't a good match for a 13 y/o & 8 y/o first time horse owners. My horse trainer ended up selling them her two lesson horses; Argorn (the Oldenburg) and Czoey (the awesome 23 y/o mare I did my first dressage show with). They aren't frequent fliers at the barn so she is still able to use them as lesson horses and I also get a kick out of riding them a few times a week. 

Unfortunately, this left Vermont sitting. He went to a dressage barn last fall to be sold but just wasn't selling. He came back for the winter and sat. And sat. And with all my house sitting I was doing (at my horse trainers)I would spend time just snuggling his head after I fed. I felt bad to see him sit and when the ground unfroze I offered to ride him. At this point the owners were tired of paying board on 3 horses. I described him to my mom one afternoon after a ride and she was surprisingly really interested in riding him. 

Bad shoulder rubs from his ill-fitting blanket :( 

My mom used to show A circuit hunters in her 20's and 30's. She seemed to lose passion recently. I was shocked and so happy to see her interested in riding again. (She rides Ries a few times a year, not nearly enough!) She was so excited to ride and scheduled a lesson with him the day after she gets back from vacation (next Monday). 

So I said what the hell and offered to buy him for a steal of a deal and take him to live at my house with me. Hes going to be boarded at my horse trainers until my arena is fully enclosed at my house (hopefully coming home next month). 

Hes 12 y/o. a total sweetie, and overall a really fun ride (compared to when I first started riding him!) I'm excited to surprise my mom with "her" new horse next Monday. Lets hope she doesn't kill me (hehe). 

Ready for spring!

Tuesday I had the opportunity to leg up Argorn. His friend in the stall is a 3 y/o RPSI stallion named Zeitgeist (coolest name ever). Argorn is a teen Oldenburg gelding that schools/showed 4th level. Unfortunately his new owners (my horse trainer used to own him as a lesson horse) aren't out very often and I'm always more than happy to get in rides on as many different horses as possible. Hes been out of work since probably last summer so I was happy to get him out. 

He is a notoriously lazy horse to ride (which is great for kids learning or his new owner a 13 y/o beginner rider). We weren't sure if he was going to be "fresh" because of so much time off so opted to ride without spurs (big mistake). He has the mindset that he will not work unless you know what you are doing and make him work. The really neat thing about riding him is that for some reason I can really feel each of his legs move independently which helps me understand biomechanics as a rider.

We did a lot of walking working on getting him to stretch into the contact and step under himself again. I had to pony kick this guy to get him to trot and just stayed off his back to let his back warm up. When he is this out of shape he really doesn't want to work and I got very winded trying to keep him going. After one series of trot work I nearly puked from trying to get him to keep trotting. He had a few moments of auto-pilot and stretched nice. I could tell he enjoyed being out again. 

I'm really excited to keep riding him more because he really teaches me a lot as a rider. He has so many buttons and is so fine tuned you have to be very accurate with your aids. Just need to get him back in shape so I don't get winded as fast (and realistically me get back in shape as well!). 

Riding Update 1/29-2/1

Where is my coordinating pad woman?

Whew! After a (business) week of a post every single day of course I get knocked on my ass. Monday I got super sick. But before then, I got some good rides in!

Friday I was supposed to have a lesson but CJ had to go out of town. I don't remember doing anything super spectacular, just a generic ride.

Saturday I finally brought out the AWESOME pink sparkle polos from Alli & Dino. They are epic. Only thing I need to do is add an extra tab of velcro because the sparkle velcro tab is too long for the other side of the velcro (wow I can't explain anything)

We had a fabulously relaxed ride where we did a lot of stretchy trot. We also got some very good canter transitions in. Our walking spiral in is doing great as well!

Sunday is when I had rescheduled my lesson and for whatever reason it was postponed again. Personally I tell CJ to reschedule for whenever because right now we aren't doing anything exciting and I'm poor so one more day of pretending to have money is great. He was kind of a jerk and just overall pissy. He was exceptionally over sensitive. We attempted to transition frequently like we have to for tests but he wasn't ready for that yet apparently. I basically just ended up doing a lot of long and low to keep him stress free. 

Monday Ries told me he was overwhelmed with the workload. I stopped doing chores at the barn which makes me actually want to be at the barn all the time again! Previously I would be at the barn but I didn't get a chance to ride. This was the first time he had been ridden three days in a row in quite some time. 

When I first went to grab him from his stall he was standing in his stall stone still, perplexed by something in the field across the street. Standing in the cross ties he was very jumpy as well. It didn't help that his dumb OTTB neighbor was freaking out and running from his paddock into the barn and slamming into walls along the way. 

As soon as we left the barn and headed for the indoor he started jigging. I attempted to just hand walk him around the indoor once hoping it would relax him enough to just jump on. This was not the case. So instead I ran back into the barn and grabbed the lunge line and whip. 

Once I got the majority of his nervous energy out I hopped on. I kept it short and simple and just reminded him that I was in control of the situation and he was safe. We ended the maybe ten minute ride by walking figure 8s around the indoor for 15 minutes on the buckle. There were a lot of sighs of relief towards the end of our walking. I thanked him for holding his composure during our ~terrifying~ ride. He was very relaxed and happy going back into the barn. 

About 2 hours after the ride I suddenly felt very ill and was miserable with some weird sinus pressure, migrane, fever combo for the next few days (which was good timing because I had planned on giving him a few days off). I'm feeling much better today which means riding for the weekend! 

 

Mr. Grumpy Gills

Ries wants cookies-not hugs

So I believe I can convince BF to come out once a week to take pics! wohoo! 

The walk has improved a lot in the past few days. We start very forward and on the bit. I still want to work on stretching down into the contact. Yesterday we tried adding spiral in and out at the walk. I haven't done this before and actually found it to be a great exercise. It required us to maintain bed while also being straight in the shoulders (he likes to dive in), and we struggled the most at having forward energy in this exercise.  

In order not to over nag him in the walk I worked on myself at the same time. I tried to keep an open hip, following seat, and following elbows. The more I relaxed into the position the better our walk became. 

In the trot I really wanted to focus on a low stretchy trot while maintaining contact. We weren't able to get very long and low but we maintained contact and rhythm the whole time. I thought he was reaching a lot more but you can see in the pics he isn't stretching as well as he could. I'm taking this at baby steps because his reaction is to drop on the forehand and speed forward (very flat) when I ask for a lower frame. I am hoping little encouragements will help him understand to stretch down and out, stretching his topline and lifting his ribcage. 

Sass

He was very sassy this ride ad tried to use his energy to go up/explode. He responded very well to me reminding him that we use our energy to go forward and was mostly well behaved. He is a big anticipator and during a canter transition tried to leap in the air (lol his baby leap is kind of pathetic). I wasn't too worried about a pretty transition because we haven't cantered in a few weeks. As suspected, he balled up and was doing the weird dolphin canter. I lengthened my reins and squeezed him forward. He relaxed and was able to open up his stride. It is my goal in the next few rides to have a more appropriate canter transition and start out more relaxed and forward. Poor guy gets very sensitive as the work gets more complicated. 

Riding update

Ries coughing and throwing me out of the tack. Much derp

I finally convinced the bf to take pictures of me. He still grumbles and says they all look the same to him. 

Ries finally accepted the stretching back! We worked on our walk for quite some time and only when it was good did we move up to trot, and the whole time I encouraged him to stretch. In the walk he is very short strided and avoiding contact. I'm still trying to get him to reach out with his nose more but at least we are moving in the right direction. By the end of the ride both the walk and trot had much more swing in it as well as forward energy. I tend to tense up with my seat and it prevents round energy. I was able to recognize this somewhat quickly and relaxed my hip and seat which made for a much better gait.  Time for a lesson to get back in the groove!

Offended

Riesling decided yesterday that poles are very offensive. He would be trucking along at the trot and see them, stop, rear, and run away. Like what? 

I ended up having to handwalk him over them once and then he was cool with them. I think he doesnt like them because he shuffles his feet and hits them a lot. Which means more poles in the future. And a sassy horse who is going to demand cookies for my abuse.

But he was ~finally~ able to roll and that made him happy. He got winded pretty fast so we are going to be starting work up slowly. Probably another lunge today so he can get any feelings out.

13 Dogs

The past week I've been house sitting for 13 dogs. 13. The lady is a dog breeder and breeds Havanese. Here is a little picture of the monsters. 1 terrier not pictured who is about 50 lbs, 9 adult Havanese, & 3 puppies. 

It feels nice not having to clean up after puppies anymore. But with how often I've house sat for this lady and how many litters of her puppies I have had the pleasure to take care of, I am convinced I could be a dog breeder. I don't want to care for puppies or have 13 dogs. But I could do it. 

In other news, it has been about 18 degrees average as of late. Aka no riding time. Personally, I don't like to ride below 20. The outdoor is an ice rink and all the paddocks have been shoveled (ask me how I know) so the ponies aren't slipping on ice. It makes stall cleaning easier at least. 

Since we have mirrors in the indoor now we are no longer allowed to have turnout in there. So the other day I stuck Ries on the lunge and let him derp around. Poor guy had so much pent up energy. Much buck. Very rear. 

He was quite satisfied with himself and leaned into my pats afterwords. Silly boy. Christmas money means lessons are on the horizon! 

My brother is currently in the hospital from a bad motorcycle accident down in California. Tomorrow I head out to go see him for a week. I hope it stays frozen in Idaho so I don't have to feel guilty about missing rides. 

Adios frozen weather! Maybe I'll get a tan ;)