Worded Wednesday Walks: My Dream Horse

We all came through Milton just fine. Less rain and wind than Helene by a long shot here, we didn't even lose power. Thank goodness. I feel for the people to the south, some of the rivers we canoe a lot are flooding and going to get even higher over the next week. I am ignoring the whispers of yet another storm out in the Atlantic right now. 

Back to ponies... Butterball's cut right in front of the girth is STILL healing. And after our XC lesson two weeks ago, I got serious about NOT putting a girth back on him until it is healed.

Pesky little thing, taken about a week ago

So in that spirit, we've done a TON of bareback hacking. 

Some of us have been snacking too 

As I explored a powerline cut bareback in misting rain the day before Milton, I realized this is what I've been searching for. I think my greatest joy comes from the quiet walks in the woods. I LOVE jumping and can really savor those moments where things click in dressage and there is a new understanding of moving off the leg and another degree of lift to the withers. But truly? I want a horse I can hop on and hack through the woods on and feel like they're having a good time too. Bonus that this one has the comfiest pony back so he is MADE for sitting on bareback. 

Butterball is not (yet) a seasoned trail horse, so he certainly has his moments. He spooked pretty hard at a banner flapping in the wind directly behind him and less hard at machinery rustling in woods that he couldn't see through. But generally he approaches things in a confident manner with a sense of curiosity. After those spooks, he came right back down to earth. And food trumps all for this pony, so a mouthful of grass later and he was totally content. He just took a moment to pause and stare at the clown donkey and horse duo across the road from the barn and the herd of cows that TROTTED towards him at the fence. After consideration, he wanted to head closer to them to investigate. 

It doesn't hurt that he's adorable and a heck of an athlete, but his level headed confidence is my absolute favorite thing. 

Those ear tips tho 

💗💗

What is your ideal horse? Which characteristic in a horse is MOST important to you? 

Wednesday Walks: Through Pony Ears (and Bonus Cats)

Here we go again. This *looks* to be more mild than Helene for our area. We'll be on the north side this round instead of the east, so tornado chances are minimal, which is always nice. Only change is that Butterball is closer to home. He'll be out in the field, next to but not with Ben. 

Pretty dappled sunlight, post hurricane ride 

Interested in what's going on over there! 

Why yes, I do think you set this fly mask here for me! 

Kittens at JT's, OMG do I love them 

Hacking from our new home barn

Crossing the main road which I haven't dared to do on Goggles yet

But BB is pretty perfect

Why yes, I did set that up to be your bed 😂

The Nitty Gritty

I ended up with a private XC lesson with JT two days after our fun bop around trip to Majestic. There are no pictures (but there is video from my glasses... I need to spend an afternoon with my computer and sort out video editing and audio filtering - lots of wind sound - and then it will be a really cool thing to share here, it's already a super educational thing for me). 

Munching some hay (I was stopped I swear) and being a generally good traveler

She asked what I wanted to focus on, and I mentioned his bucking during the trip to Majestic as well as some feelings about how we'd done ditches at both shows. What we actually ended up doing was changing my galloping position so he didn't offer a buck the whole lesson. Not that it may not still be in his repertoire, and I have the appropriate response (a very unemotional half halt and tap with the crop before going back to status quo), but he really enjoyed the position change. Ben was so prone to traveling *not* in a straight line, that I ended up with a somewhat defensive, rocked back position. She wanted me not tapping the butt with my saddle every stride, with my butt further up out of the saddle and knees a bit straighter, the look the professionals have as they gallop by that just looks perfectly balanced. If anything, lean on the hands on the neck, almost with elbows extended fully, think CPR elbows, so that shoulders aren't particularly low. It should not be a grab mane to prevent butt falling back into the seat because then I'm relying on his mouth for balance. Feel the weight in the stirrups themselves, NOT jamming the heels down, but putting the weight into the stirrup and ball of my foot. "Slide your ass back another inch" was the general direction that I got and feeling that I needed. Hips lined up over heels. I got directions to practice that position while doing my canter sets. 

How is he so cute? 

Then we practiced that position while galloping. And the pony was much more willing to hold himself up and gallop forwards. He is VERY sensitive to seat aids, I found that out while riding bareback, so if I let my seat smack the saddle it encourages the stickiness and the bucking. This position also gave me a great spot to land in so that I was less prone to snapping back too quickly and catching him over the arc of the jump.

We warmed up over a few fences and then the smaller ditch, which went fine, then we put it as part of a combination. The same half halt, a slight jiggle of the reins while adding leg, that helped keep him straight when he got a little spooky to some barrels, helped keep his balance up during the line. It's not quite the push the reins towards the fence feeling that I had with Ben, it's a bit more half halt where my hands are. Certainly no backwards motion though. But that made the ditch feel much better. 

Next we played with some jumps on mounds. There were several options coming up out of the depression, first a small log, then a smaller uphill to a cabin, and then a larger uphill to a similar sized  cabin. We had one stop on the bigger uphill to the cabin, basically I didn't have enough energy, got to a funky spot, and he was struggling to sort out the terrain change. We walked around the back side of the jump and down the hill and then reapproached with feeling, and he popped right over it. JT said that on these fences, lifting the eye a bit higher than the fence itself helps to get the correct distance. 

We took a brief walk through the water and then headed over to the down banks. He very casually popped down the smaller one. When he went down the bigger one I lifted up with my hands a bit, which JT has repeatedly told me creates horses that launch off banks. Pushing my hands down and thinking crotch into saddle not seat bones into saddle helped immensely. Then I worked on half halting after the bank with slightly longer reins when we added a jump about 5-6 strides away The first time I just funneled with a wide hand and he went, but was down on his face. The second time I got the down bank position better and then managed to do a little jiggling half halt even with wide hands. He lifted up much better through his shoulders. At that point, pony and I were completely pooped, so we ended. 

It was such a good, productive school, it was nice to come out on a reliable pony and without an agenda of a looming show. We were able to pick the most important long term things and pull them apart. I feel like the position changes are going to be super productive for me and BB. 

September Wrap Up

Sorry not sorry for the repost. Conquering the corner on this dude and having it captured by Lisa Madren was the highlight of the month

	Ben	Goggles	Butterball
Training rides	0	0	3 - flat
Lessons	0	0	6 – 2 bareback, 1 dressage, 3 jump
Hacks	2 – 1 ponied from BB	1	6
Ground work, lunge, long line	1 – lunge with equiband	3 – lunge with equiband	0
Flat rides	4	3 – 1 at MO	2
Conditioning rides	0	0	3 – 2 aquatred, 1 trot set and canter sets
XC school	0	0	1
Shows	0	0	2- LCT jumpers, POP 3 phase

Ben: Much to his dismay, Ben continued to (slowly) return to work this month. He lost his wraps during the second week of the month and then got them put back on about four days later. He was sore for a few days after that trim/application, but then went back to work. Between Goggles' cut and all the excitement of a new pony, he didn't work as consistently as he could have, but we know that he appreciates the slow, careful approach anyways. October I hope to bring more consistency and aim for 3-4 work sessions per week. 

Goggles: Unfortunately he spent most of the month not working due to a cut. I did utilize the equiband belly band on the lunge while bringing him back into work and it did WONDERFUL things to his softness and back. We had one of the best rides we've ever had the day after an equiband lunge session. He was just soft, lifting, and supple the whole time, so I only rode for about 15 minutes. October will bring a few trials and more time with AT. We're planning on usually having him tag along with BB when I got to JT's so that he an have a training ride. If he's still mine at the end of the month, he'll probably go to the POP schooling show on the 27th. 

Is large labrador. Likes to play tug with the grooming tools. 

Butterball: Obviously the NEW pony was the star of the month and all the posts were devoted to him. He and I had a great month getting to know each other. I had THE BEST time hacking out on him bareback. Ever since I lost Zinger, I have been searching for *my* perfect combination of horse - something athletic, smart, and not spooky (and within my budget... likely the largest part of the problem). And those bareback hacks felt like I'd found it. The horses I've had along the way have all had pieces of it. Yoshi was certainly brave and dependable, but he was the least sweet on the ground horse ever (to the point that I was worried about him biting or kicking Ms. GY more than once). Ben is the sweetest and lovely and athletic, but is the biggest chicken. Goggles is brave and definitely developing into quite a reliable dude, but is more of a man's horse than anything else I've ridden. Anyways, my love affair with Butterball just continued to grow during September. 

We started the month with our first show together at POP and then three weeks later went back for our novice debut. Both times he was just an incredibly good boy. We also threw in a few XC trips and multiple jump lessons. 

October will be the first month he's at my home barn. I want to find the right rhythm of fun adventures off property, lessons, and hacks from home. I also am sorting out managing a PONY on grass and have plans to test an insulin level again to decide how much he needs to be muzzled.

Making Friends

Yesterday I took Ben for a ponied hack off BB. My thought was that Ben is such a scaredy cat I could get him to rely on the brave pony a bit by heading off property. Butterball was sporting a few mild bites from their intro on Sunday which made me want to sort things out sooner rather than later.

In spite of being on the trailer together, Goggles still felt the need to put himself into BB's stall 

BB is such a friendly dude. And Goggles can't bite him in this set up, so they're actually pretty cute together

Getting on Butterball was a tiny bit hairy because Ben moved and BB thought Ben was going after him and shot forward as I was partially over his back. But we sorted that out with nobody the worse for the wear. We did a few laps in the front field with only one attempted bite from Ben. Butterball kept turning and sniffing noses with him. Then we headed down the road. Pony was POWER WALKING, it was fun. We rode past cows, the chained barking dog, and a few out of sight barking dogs. No spooks from either horse, good boys. Afterwards I rode into their field and walked a lap there. Then I let Butterball free first and then Ben. Butterball immediately put some distance between them but kept looking in Ben's direction.

Ben - "I would NEVER chase and bite a pony!!" 

I left them for a minute but came back with Butterball's grazing muzzle and Ben's fly mask. I went to Butterball first and gave him a carrot in the muzzle. He then followed me right up to Ben and started offering to scratch Ben's withers. Ben obliged and the two settled in together. 

Sweet boys! 

Butterball - "I can be a really good friend if you'd just let me!" 

"See, I give scratches!!" 

💗

Weekend Happenings

Somewhat needless to say, Butterball and I did not trek to Aiken this past weekend. We would've been fine getting out of Florida, but once it became apparent how hard the storm hit the Carolinas (as well as many other areas), we called it. In spite of that, the hard working crew at Stable View got things cleaned up and running as well as sorting out getting water to all the horses on grounds.

Our house was less than 80 miles from where Helene made landfall. Considering that, we were incredibly lucky. A few big limbs down but no major damage. Good thing we were late getting seeds in the ground this year in the garden, the young plants wouldn't have stood a chance, but this way they were just emerging after the storm. We did exist in a state of half power at home for 48 hours before the dedicated and amazing line crews got it back up. We are on a well as are the barns where Goggles, Ben, and Butterball live. No power means no running water. Growing up in that same situation, we had an artesian well. But when we asked about drilling one here we were told it isn't possible. Given the number of springs we live near, I'm confused by this. But my knowledge of hydrogeology is about zero. Fortunately at home and both barns, there are generators that run to power the well pumps. And battery powered and plug in fans made sleeping tolerable at home. 

Was delighted by 82 degrees and open windows. She did have the courtesy not to take her usual sleeping spot directly ON me while it was this warm. 

Butterball got to go for bareback hacks on Thursday before the storm and Friday after the storm. It was blown through our area by about 7am on Friday, but I waited until the afternoon to head out to see him so I wasn't clogging up roads or running into too many down trees. 

Pre storm hack

Post storm, post hack grooming

Saturday we did some dressage. He was very positive he was a trail pony by that point and tried to drag me out the driveway twice to go wander. But we did end up getting some very nice canter transitions done. 

So as to not completely miss out on galloping and jompies for the weekend, I made plans with Amanda and another friend to go to Majestic on Sunday. Goggles actually got to go along as well because the other friend's horse had less than the desired number of shoes on.  

Please may I touch the pony???

Lol

Googles has been coming back into work the past 1.5 weeks post stall rest for his large cut. I've been doing a lot more with the Equiband with him on the lunge, and it seems to be doing really great things for him. Saturday he came out soft and responsive and had the most delightful trot and canter work. He just stepped into the canter and stayed soft and bending throughout it. I quit after just 15 minutes because with that quality work I wanted him to be rewarded. He continued to be a good fellow for the XC adventure. When it was insisted that he could in fact hold himself up headed downhill and could lift off his inside shoulder he complied quite well.

Presto and Goggles together are trouble. They wanted to start a grand game of bitey face/tack. Butterball wisely let the two large chaos horses have their moments without him. 

Butterball was fantastic as per usual. We bopped around mostly novice lines with a few training fences thrown in. We kept it pretty light and fun overall. I was guilty of riding him too much like a pony a few times. And he was throwing in a few more bucks. Our newly repaneled saddle is getting looked at on Thursday. In the trot he feels very happy with it, so I don't know that it's the problem. The bucks do seem to coincide with turning back away from home and being asked to use his butt, so maybe there is a degree of pony-tude to them. We're going for a supervised school tomorrow, so I'll get JT's input as well. 

Then it was time for him to move to the same barn as Ben and Goggles! He will be out with Ben. Ben's gelding friend had left for the trainers that morning, so the barn owner's almost two year old filly had stepped in to be his friend. Though we removed her from the field before putting BB in, this did spell a little trouble because Ben fancied himself a badass with a GF. He was quite a jerk to poor BB and guarded the side of the fence closest to the barn where his GF had gone. Even at his worst though Ben still isn't terrible so we left them to work it out. 

BB being a good friend to his buddy at JT's

Enjoying the grass, but wondering why he got put out with such a jerk

When I checked on him a few hours later, BB was in the far corner of the pasture and eyeing Ben. Fortunately there's water in multiple spots, but he did have messed up hair on his butt where it appeared that Ben had bit him. Sheesh Ben 🙄. I know Ben will come around soon, but I still feel bad for my poor sweet pony. 

WW: POP Pro Pony Pics

(forgive my alliteration fun) 

Is he not the cutest thing ever??

Stunner at the corner, good boy Butterball!! 

Popping Around on the Pony

Butterball and I tackled the Florida Horse Park POP schooling show this weekend and had the best time. We're headed for Stable View this weekend, so figured we'd better get a run in at novice at home. 

It's finally gotten a tiiinnnny hint of fall here and the poor dude was very non-plussed by his 7 AM bath. But he doesn't hold grudges, so he was a happy pony again by the time I loaded him up on JT's trailer with his two buddies. We were all laughing about the fact that the 15.2 hand connemara x TB was the biggest horse of the three on the trailer that day. My BIL wanted to work on finishing up the paint job on mine, so it was easiest to just have BB ride the party bus. 

Dressage: I tried to remember my dressage time incorrectly AGAIN this time and thought it was 10:40, but fortunately checked around 9:30 and realized it was 10:30 instead. Sheesh, not something I normally do, don't know why I was trying to short myself a warm up two shows in a row. Dressage was decent, the canter still needs more work, but overall I was a more active participant this time. At home schooling we can get really nice canter work... eventually... so when you have a transition, one 20m circle, and then 2/3 of a long side, we're barely getting it nice by the time it is time to trot again. I also *forgot* the left lead canter and was planning on doing another short diagonal, so that canter transition was never going to be a good one, oops! We're riding the same test again next weekend though, hopefully it will stick better. 

Still, not upset by a 32.2 for our first time at this level and a month in to our partnership. Afterwards he got hosed off and then put back on the trailer to chill in front of the fan. 

Stadium: We had 3.5 hours between dressage and stadium, so he chilled on the trailer and I wandered around, watched a few friends go, and ate lunch. It was pretty warm by that point so there was a definite afternoon slump feeling around noon. But BB and I both managed to wake back up to go jump! 

The course was the same as the last time, but I RODE the whole time, and he rewarded me with a clear round. We met a friend of his old owner who was manning the in gate. She was so sweet, and he had a whole cheering squad when we finished the course. 

Why yes, I am perfect! 

As JT pointed out when I ride him like a horse not a pony then he goes so well and feels like he's got so much scope in there. 

Cross Country: I walked before dressage, so these are early light shadows, not the ones we had at 2 PM. We headed over from stadium, popped the brushy roll top in warm up out of stride and headed to the box. 

Out of the start box. He was actually a bit sticky and bucked once. I think *most* of the problem was the saddle, we were in one of JT's that has longer panels than he likes and he threw in a few expressive lead changes in stadium too, I think for the same reason. He is certainly more motivated when headed towards home in the course though too, so that likely played a role as well. 

But he popped right on over one no problem and landed with his mind on business

Two - bench

3- cutout cabin, from his back the training fences don't actually look big... he jumped this great

4- another cabin 

5ab- the villages - this walked as a 6. I screwed it up and did zero half-halting between so we did 5 and a bit of a scramble over B. Sorry bud. 

6- another cabin thing

7- water then left hand turn to a corner

8 - I hate corners. JT told me to go into the water close to the right hand flag and then make a smooth left hand turn to the corner "go get it buddy". I think I've shared before how much I like wedges, so I asked her if I could ride it like a wedge, she said sure. I picked the point on the face of it that she said to aim for and rode that like the tip of the wedge. 

Go get it buddy! 

Best boy! 

9- Sometimes riding BB feels so easy that it really feels like cheating. However, he is still only 7 and new to this level, and I felt him question for a second on the way to this jump. But the same way he gives me so much confidence, I closed my leg, and he responded with more confidence and headed right over

10- cut out cabin

11ab- half coffin

You can see the wedge of 12 in the distance 

Wedge, I felt him wiggle a tiny bit coming to this, but he was good and honest 

13- Brushy roll top 

14- Wagon, we were headed back towards home at this point and he was GAME!

15ab- water, left hand turn again to a wedge

We took a little chip at the base of this, but it wasn't a confidence issue I don't think, just me botching the stride

16- log, jumped it right out of stride and we were DONE! 11 seconds under optimum time

We ended up in 6th! I finally used my Garmin to count up instead of screwing around and tediously setting it to count down. We averaged 15.9 mph for the course, how fun! 

TOUCH! Refusing to pose with his ribbon. It was a long, warm day, and he was just super for the whole thing. I was about to turn him out when I tried to snap this, so I gave up after one attempt and let him go be a pony with his friend.