Pax Prep, New Truck (!!), and Chiro Time Again

First thing is first - I have a new truck! I actually got it not quite three weeks ago but hadn't written about it yet. I wrote last month about how my Patron was wearing out, and so this month I bit the bullet and bought a new one. It is another Ram, bigger than Patron, a 2500 Heavy Duty, and it already has a gooseneck hitch as well as a regular tow package on it. This way, I have now planned ahead for when I upgrade to a bigger trailer, which I also wrote about in the linked post! This new truck has all these luxury items that I had no intention of getting in a truck, but it came with them already, so why not! It's actually a 2013, but it only had 32,000 miles on it, which is nothing. And I got it for less than half of what the original sticker price was, because nobody wants a nearly-new truck if it is 4 years old, apparently. Patron had 260,000+ miles on it and was still going, so 32,000 is nothing to me. In all likelihood, Patron would have made it to 300,000 and beyond... it was a good sturdy beast. 

Who wore it better?

We named him Starscream, and yes, he is bright orange. Patron was always an non-gendered 'it' vehicle, but I feel like this one needs to go by male pronouns. No particular reason, I just feel that it's right. 

So that's pretty awesome. It's not a cheap truck payment, but it's worth it. 

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In other news, I'm prepping Pax for the two FEH show we have available to us in Area V, Meadowcreek and Texas Rose. Both of these are held on Fridays before the actual event starts. These classes consist of standing up for conformation judging, then walking and trotting the triangle. They're supposed to be low key and good experiences for the young ones. Two year olds show in a bridle, so Pax has been learning about wearing a bridle for some months now. This month I started working on leading her from the bridle, something which she is starting to understand. I tried leading her with reins, but it became apparent that she is so fractious still that it is wiser to show in a bride but use a newmarket lead. She ripped the reins right out of my hands at one point, although thankfully she then just stood there and looked at me. After that, I tried a rigged up lead which resembles a newmarket, and that worked much better.

I also pulled her mane for the first time, and since I plied her with quite a lot of cookies, she wasn't too thrilled but she took it pretty well. As long as I pull a bit here and there, it will be easy to maintain. 

Before pulling - I had just been trimming it with scissors. But no longer!

Much more reasonable

Now clippers are another story, and her ears are also another story. Even though I imprinted her with clippers and have clipped her nosey, and I also messed with her ears when she was little, apparently I didn't do it enough. She had a bit giant fit at the end of her lead rope when I tried to clip her bridlepath, and after she set back hard enough to break a snap on her halter, she whipped around and double barreled at me savagely. She did it repeatedly until I walloped her a good few ones from a safe distance with a dressage whip. That's NOT allowed. You don't just kick people when you don't like something. 

So now, we have to backtrack on working with ears and clippers. Every day, I go into the pasture at feeding time with cookies, and I play with her ears, plying her with candy when she is good about it. She REALLY doesn't like it, but she likes cookies, so we get somewhere. I am determined not to screw the new baby up with her ears. I won't make this same mistake again. 

Because of her violence at the end of the lead rope, I had my chiropractor look at her when she was out to do Dylan on Monday. Dylan actually held his last adjustment really well, and most of what we did to him was pretty minor. Pax, on the other hand, was out in her neck in several places, all the way down through her withers and beyond. She REALLY did a number on herself. She does seem much more comfortable after her adjustment, and is less averse to letting me mess with her poll. 

I also have finally found a suitable show bride that fits her - it's Potato's! Sweet Potato outgrew it and Roxie's mom was nice enough to send it to me. It fits Pax perfectly. I have her in a simple snaffle, which is almost too small for her now. Despite her ear aversion, she bridles completely fine and doesn't mine her ears being pushed through the bridle at all. Weirdo.

Oh god if looks could kill

Evil eyes

Not standing still

Radar ears 

Trying to rub her bridle off

She is looking pretty good at the moment! She's growing though and she'll probably be ugly by the start of the first show!

With fake newmarket not-shank

If you're going to be at Meadowcreek, you should come see her go on that Friday. It will probably be a pretty awesome rodeo complete with lots of rearing and idiocy! 

February Goals!

In the midst of recapping 2016 and making my 2017 goals, I seem to have missed writing out my January goals! That's all right through, I had kind of a hit and miss month. I was sick for a full week, I felt really terrible about the election, and it rained quite a lot. That said, we were still busy this month, and now we are about to gear up into February!

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O-Ren February:

1) Continue to be a big fat relaxing preggo momma horse! 
2) Get her final pre-foaling shots
3) Make sure all foaling supplies are on hand!

Dylan February:

1) More lessons! More more more!

2) Continue putting together 3rd/4th level and Intermediate (WE) level dressage tests

3) Show in the Heart of Texas WE show mid-month!
4) Make sure all paperwork and memberships are set for the start of the season! March is around the corner!

Pangea/Frank December:

1) Continue using them as pony animals for the babies!
2) Otherwise, enjoy semi-retirement!

Pax December:

1) Be ponied off P and Frank regularly

2) Go off property for adventures!

3) Continue wearing a bridle and doing general handling/baby school stuff!
4) Send in entry for FEH in March!

Zu December:

1) Continue lunging and start with more long lining!

2) Ponies with P and Frank!

3) Toss him on the trailer whenever I take Dylan or anyone else off property! 

Uma/Sriracha/Lendri: November:

1) Continue general handling 1x week

2) Sriracha: Start back with lunging!

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Pax was a nasty little hellion yesterday when we were working on clippers - she decided she was not having it, and after she set back a few times and flung herself around, she turned her butt towards me and fired off a number of double barrels. I'm lucky I was not closer to her because she would have really hurt me. I had to get a dressage whip and spank her out of my space every time she spun her butt at me, but thankfully she did get the message after a minute or two or that. Today she redeemed herself by wearing a saddle and bridle without issues. She needs more ear work and definitely clipper work... little brat!

Look at all that forelock... I have to braid it otherwise it gets in her eyes and they swell shut!

Big Frank is the biggest and frankest of them all

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sriracha after a fresh roach! A poorly done one, since the clippers were dull... oh well

Uma is the only mule on my property that has kept her mane... and only because the clippers dulled! She is awfully cute with that floofy mane though 

I have more about lessons and our show scheduling coming up.... stay tuned!

Indian Summer

Holy CRAP it has been hot these past two weeks. At the beginning of September (and end of August as well) we got a fairly significant amount of rain, and we were told that there was now going to be a cooling trend and we could all rejoice.

Halleluiah! Pumpkin spice for everybody!

Except... not. It's been nearly a hundred degrees every day with 70%+ humidity. The heat in and of itself would not be such a big deal, but when you add in the humidity.... no.

Just no.

It's been too hot to bother working with the babies. I'm in no rush with them anyway, so if they have some time to hang out and relax, that's just fine. The only real priority is Dylan, come heat, rain, or whatever Texas throws at us. Yesterday was the first day I actually pulled Lendri out in two weeks, and played with Zoodle too, although I do try to mess with him a little bit every day.
As for Dylan though, he is not off the hook despite the heat. We don't go full steam ahead when it's a million degrees, but we work regularly.

Speaking of work regularly, I fully intend on making blogging at least 3x a week a high priority in the coming months. I haven't been terribly diligent about it and this irritates me. This is my story and I want to document it, if for nobody else but myself, and I forget things if I don't write them down. Like with this post, I feel too scatterbrained now to consolidate my rides very well, so mostly pictures and some jabbering notes will have to do. But this needs to change. I want to be better! I want to write with more clarity and detail.

Other homestead projects I've been working on.... regraveling the carport/carriage barn!

Dylan's secret admirer sent him a present last week... a beautiful new bridle!! He says thank you very much! <3 <3 <3

The silver is perfect! I have a black show pad with silver piping too!

 I also found a KK Ultra bit on English Tack Trader that I scored for $30. He loves it and once again I feel like I am excellent at finding bargains. I should do a blogpost on that...

Also wearing a mule tape halter... because why not. 

This past week, despite the heat, I trailered out to WD four times. That's about what I want to do per week, plus a hack at home. Especially now, I try to be mindful of his legs and footing, and feel that because I can't get out and bomb around in the field much, his fitness isn't where I want it. It's not critically important that he be super fit - not like an event horse or a driving horse needs to be certainly - but he does need to be strong enough and fit enough to make it through his shows. To bolster this I am going to add in long walk hacks before and after rides. Walking is boring but it's such good low impact fitness work. Back when he was walking the fence 24/7, he was SUPER fit. Now that he doesn't walk the fence at all.... all that walking muscle is gone!

I've also decided that I'm going to plan on showing in the snaffle bridle, especially when we first start showing and I am trying not to look like too huge of an idiot. I asked K what she showed him in and she said mostly it was the snaffle at 4th, but that I should bring the double along and gauge him the day before - if he needs a bit more, I can always switch to the double. As usual, with Dylan I find that if I am riding well, he goes perfectly well in the snaffle. I can tell now pretty clearly when I am not riding well, because I can feel myself starting to rely on my reins instead of my body. He requires a lot of body strength - probably not anywhere near as much as a giant bouncing warmblood, but he is incredibly strong.

I rode on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I felt great especially on Wednesday and Thursday - I felt like a centaur. We were just *together*, you know? My rides were short and sweet - a few clean changes, a few half pirouettes in canter and walk, a few half passes and boom, done. I felt that he was working well and what was the reason to push when he was already doing so well? On Thursday I also moved 18 freaking TONS of gravel by hand in my driveway, and by Friday I felt like I could barely move. I rode anyway, but could feel that I was relying on my hands and letting my legs get swingy. I just didn't have the physical strength to keep it together after the enormous effort of moving all that gravel. Again, I kept it relatively short - about half an hour. While we did most of the same things - more changes with an emphasis on keeping them clean, a few not-spectacular pirouettes, and some decent half passes, I felt that I wasn't really giving him a great ride even though he was being a good boy for me.

I did get a few video stills from that ride though!

He's basically perfect. Even though I can't grow any more mane on him than that

I decided after Friday to take some really hot epsom salt baths and take a day off!



This coming weekend we have a first: a working equitation clinic with Tarrin Warren. This will be my first clinic with Dylan, and also my first WE clinic. We're in the "beginner" section, because that is where the organizer told us we should go. When I rode at the WE practice a few months back, the people putting it on told me I should go right into Intermediate, but now I'm being told I should actually be doing beginner things, so basically I have NO idea where I'm supposed to be. There is a schooling show on the 22nd, so I am going to ask Tarrin where exactly she thinks I should be - which level she thinks I should be in after she sees us go. That's about the best option I think!

Instagram Photo Dump

Once in awhile, I realize that I have a WHOLE bunch of photos that haven't been shared here because most of them don't have enough information to make into an actual blogpost. I don't always have a lot to write about, because some of my weeks would have entries like this: "Gave the stallion a few days off. He got really muddy. I groomed the babies. They wore bridles again, like they did last week. And nobody died." Not tremendously interesting.

 So, instead... PHOTO DUMP!

Dylan and O are still the cutest couple around. Seriously. They're just gross. 

Sharing a haybag at twilight. How romantic. Barf. 

Dylan on patrol

Trying to wash Dylan off, but O was being entirely too helpful....

Being ponied off Dylan

So sap. Much cheesy.

Tonka makes a cameo, proving that not only are my horses super shiny but my dogs apparently are too

Well, when they're not filthy that is. 

Having a man conversation. 

It also apparently has become my mission in life to collect All The Zebra Things for Zu to wear. It's not easy to find zebra patterned stuff in pony size but I'm doing a good job so far!

Spanish steps. I suck at teaching tricks so I'm not sure how far I'll get with this one. It's not a Spanish walk yet... just steps. 

Lunging, and looking at Moo! I have a post about how his training is going coming up. 

Wearing sidereins for the first time. He's too young to work in these much but he has been introduced to the idea now!

Zebra halter, zebra boots... yes, apparently Woof makes zebra patterned boots that are small enough to fit 11 hand ponies. Who knew! I've also found harness pads but not ones that fit my harness. I'll keep looking!

Pax has been getting regular grooms as usual, but now she is starting to wear a bit. She has worn it probably 5 or 6 times now and bridling her is a non event - she opens her mouth and takes the bit, and unlike the mules I can just slip it over her ears without unbuckling the bridle. I will need to get a few more headstalls though... adjusting this one a million times for each baby (different bits, different settings) gets tedious. She is still plenty mouthy with it, but she is a mouthy baby in general. Next year I plan to show her in hand in the FEH, and two year olds are required to wear a bridle. So, bridle it is. 

How not to stand your baby up for a conformation shot

I haven't deliberately done a lot of in-hand work with her because she still has the mental capacity of a squirrel with ADHD, but I tested out some of her groundwork skills the other day to see what will need polishing. While she is still quick to play up when the other horses do something to encourage her (like Dylan and O who both go NUTS galloping and bucking whenever she appears), she seems to be slowly moving towards more mentally able to handle it. Eventually she'll be there but she is only 17 months old. I look at her and I wonder how anyone could consider starting 18 month old horses.... they're still so tiny and babyish to me. 

Anyway. I tried out a few of the basic things I feel they need to know in hand, and was pleasantly surprised to find that she knows all of them and did them all well - stop, stand immobile, back up, and yield haunches to pressure on both sides without issue. It's all stuff I never deliberately taught her per se, but things she just picked up over time during formative handling. I know she also trots in hand because we have worked on that before, but as we get into the winter I'll be trailering her out again so we can work on this more in an arena away from home, and in a bridle as well. 

Srirachy had quite the evening yesterday... She got trimmed, which is now a non-event, but I was wearing TERRIFYING GLOVES OF DEATH which scared her out of her wits when I touched her with my gloved hand. She's never smelled or seen or felt gloves before. Then she had to deal with Very Scary Future Hubs, who eventually convinced her that he could pet her neck and she would not die. So much to deal with! She also helped mow for a couple of minutes since our Lawn Boy didn't show up. 

A lot of scary things

Yesterday afternoon... getting SO FUZZY!

The moole on the hill

Being SASSY! And fat and hairy!

I ordered a mullen mouth butterfly bit that was measured to fit both of these littles, because I thought they would like a mullen and it was suggested to me as well. And.... that went over like a ton of bricks. I tried it on Sriracha but could tell she wasn't going to tolerate being lunged in it, so I took it off. I started to lunge Lendri in it, but she acted out violently and stuck her tongue over the bit and out the side of her mouth. She's never done that before. As it seems that mooles apparently have a hard enough time dealing with bits as it is, I went so far as to stop the session, switch back to the sweet iron snaffle, and continue on. She had no more problems, except for being extra sassy that day. Well there you are... no more butterfly bit for these two. 

Even though the babies are doing their baby things.... there is always time for them to do the most important thing, PLAY!

Current Equipment

One of the things I love about dressage is the simplicity of the gear required to do such complicated and intricate things. You don't need the most expensive set of everything in order to do it. Sure, you can buy $200 breeches and a $1000 pair of tall boots, but you don't *need* them. If you have a well fitting saddle, a well fitting bridle with appropriate bit, and a girth, that is really all you seriously need. 

When I was eventing I had basically one of everything in baby blue (or purple, before I got into the baby blues). Everything. Boots, bells, bit guards, reins, saddle pads, martingale and rein stops... even my spurs had baby blue stones set into them. If it came in baby blue, I had it. I had SO MUCH STUFF. And I have a lot of carriage driving stuff too. Carriage driving basically requires you to have an insane amount of everything... there is SO much gear. Regular plain old dressage is bringing me back to refreshing simplicity, and I'm enjoying it for a change.

Have saddle, have bridle, have boots, will ride. (And of course, helmet and gloves!)

I own surprisingly little gear. It surprises even me sometimes. I only own three really good pairs of breeches. (I have a number of others, but they either don't fit or they're aged and showing it... I should get rid of those). I have a few pairs of schooling gloves, which I think are important and worth spending money on. I have two helmets, a Charles Owen and an IRH - the IRH is the only one that is really dressage appropriate, but it is also aging and will need replacing before long. I only ride in tall boots (force of habit, I think), and am getting ready to invest in a nice new pair - I also always wear a set of spurs. As for shirts, I wear polos when I am at clinics, lessons, or schooling shows, but the rest of the time I just toss on whatever I feel like wearing, mostly tank tops or the occasional t-shirt. I don't have a million pairs of ridiculously expensive breeches or fancy fabric riding shirts, not by a long shot.

DSB boots and polos

Dylan's gear is also very simple. While I have about 50 million polos and boots, all that I use with regularity on him are either his DSB boots or leg liners with polos over them. He always wears bells, and I have lots of pulls ons in rotation as well as a pair of fleece lined ones. He has only one saddle pad, a Back on Track pad with a Thinline pad sewn right into it. It's the best pad I've ever owned, and still looks great, despite the fact that it both gets a ton of use and a ton of washing. Before I had the saddle fitted, he also had a Mattes correction pad, but since he no longer needs that I only ride him with just the saddle pad and nothing else. I've never had a saddle fit so well that I didn't feel like I needed some kind of something between it and my regular saddle pad, so this is new and exciting territory for me. He's going SO well with the newly fitted saddle that it makes me wonder how I ever got on otherwise! His saddle is obviously the Schleese, which is the one he came with that was custom fitted for him years ago. I alternate between the snaffle bridle and the double. I've been considering just showing in the snaffle bridle to start when we go out at 4th, which is completely acceptable. He goes just as well in either bridle, but since I tend to forget how to ride when I'm anxious, I don't want to get hung up on my curb unnecessarily in the show ring. 

Only the best pad ever

DSB boots and bells

Polos and leg liners

Double bridle (and O's lunging bridle next to it)

Picked this up for not very much money! Patent noseband and unnecessarily ridiculous browband

The old reliable... Schleese and girth!

There are things I am willing to spend money on, and things I am not. Things that really are important to a horse's comfort and ability, like well fitting saddles and well made bits, are things I don't compromise on, though I will always look for a good deal if possible. But all the frivolous stuff? Eh. I don't need it. I have more important things to spend money on, like good feed!

I pride myself on being a ridiculously good deal finder. I like nice equipment, but... why pay full price on it? I'll have another post on that later!

So, what do you use for your horses? Do you stick with the necessities, or do you go all out?