September Wrap Up

For our weight/muscle picture this month (last compared to July) we have a lesson in allllll the different ways you can stand a horse to make them look all kinds of ways. I took these pics after clipping after a lesson and BB was just kinda done with my games. Which means I never really got him stood up the way I wanted.

Here we demo standing underneath of yourself, although this might be the best shot of the bunch

Vs. parked out behind and with an interesting neck flex with haunches closer to the camera

Neck is held more naturally

Going for a little parked out behind again with haunches further from the camera

And here we get the "seriously, what is the point of the figeting??" face with haunches under again but better lined up with the front legs when it comes to distance from the camera 

"Can I PLEASE go out now?" 

Out, doing scritchies with his bigger buckskin friend

Our feeding plan had a few changes after coming back from Bouckaert Farms and a few days with EM looking too lean. He's eating more alfalfa or T&A in the few hours he spends in the stall AM and PM to eat his grain. I also added in Dac Oil - 2 oz twice a day. And switched him off the SmartCombo Ultimate Pellets because of price increases and his dislike of the supplement. He would leave some of the, very expensive, pellets at the bottom of his feed bucket each morning. He's now getting Optiwize 10-N-1, which he eats readily. 

Also, OMG the conformation pics were September 10th. I clipped him LESS THAN A MONTH AGO. He is ALREADY SO FURRY AGAIN. My favorite and least favorite silly features of BB? Rapid hair growing is least fave; pre-installed I don't pee in horse trailers and will pause to pee before loading up is most fave. 

If I wanted to, I could have a hundred of this same picture; a few feet from the trailer, making sure he gets on with an empty bladder. I'm a bit anal about my trailer and keeping it in working order, so having a horse that doesn't require constantly removing the mats and hosing out the ammonia laced urine that is under the mats/on the frame is absolutely stellar. 

Anyways, on to what we got up to this month: 

	Butterball
Training rides	2- 1 combo lesson/TR and 1 TR of trotting hills
Lessons	7- all jump lessons with EM
Hacks	2- 1 in hand and 1 trail ride (2 hours)
Flat rides	6
Conditioning rides	4- 3 traditional and 1 “water treadmill” in the pond
XC school	0
Shows	2- Majestic Oaks schooling show and Stable View Horse trial

We had a pretty lovely September. The month focused on our stadium rehab. Two training rides with EM and then 7 jump lessons. Throughout the lessons the focus was on a soft, forward flow. There were multiple cavaletti exercises and lots of placing poles. This paid off and we had two successful stadium rounds - Majestic and Stable View. While there is still tons to work on there, those definitely added some confidence to the bank. And our XC run at Stable View was just downright FUN. Galloping the golden pony up a big 'ole hill and feeling him dig in and GO was great. 

Majestic Oaks galloping pic because for once I made the financially sound decision and only bought one Stable View pic in spite of loving multiple XC pics including a galloping one

We also did a lot of conditioning in September and while that back fired a bit and gave him sore feet for a week, it also paid off eventually in that he felt the most fit he ever has for the hilly Stable View cross country run. We have our last two weeks of conditioning coming up - 6 minute canter sets this week and then adding in 2 minute "sprints" at 500 mpm to the final conditioning rides before our novice three day. After the sore feet incident, I have done every canter set at Sweet Dixie. NGL, there are times where this has pushed fun hobby into job to get done. I don't do the canter sets adjacent to jump lessons, so this has put the canter sets on days where I don't particularly have time to haul out, trot and canter, walk, and then haul back before work. So I've been out and loading up the pony at awkward times like 6 AM before work or 3 PM after an overnight shift before heading in to another overnight shift. But really, I am privileged to have a sound, willing horse to be doing with this. AND a job that pays for all this travel and training and has tons of days off and funky enough shift hours on the days I do work that I can squeeze things in on either side.

Multiple people have told me sometimes Kentucky is lovely in October and other times it is 50 degrees and raining the whole week. Honestly, if that's the forecast, I am reserving the right to NOT GO. It rained at Bouckaert Farms and at Stable View, so I'm not a totally fair weather rider/camper. BUT... cold and raining the whole time? I think that would be the opposite of a grand adventure, unfortunately. 

Getting to Kentucky is obviously the big focus this month. EM is now up in PA through the time we go to Hagyard, so I've reconnected with PW to take a few lessons in the next two weeks. Once we come home from Kentucky, Butterball will get a week or two completely off and then have two weeks of trail riding and light rides only before we get back into the swing of things for the start of winter season here in FL. One of these fun trail rides is a trip to a NEW lake with a few friends. 

As far as future-future plans, I looked at my winter-spring work schedule and the show calendar a few days ago. Enough things line up that I'll get to pick and choose shows and not be limited to the one weekend that I am off work. Woohoo! One spring goal is to get back to Bouckaert Farms to run the XC we didn't get to in August. 

July Wrap Up

 

Starting the wrap up for July with some updated conformation pictures. Never mind the fact that these were taken in August and post-ride hosing. Not ideal, but y'know, if I was only willing to take them when he was perfectly clean and not sweaty we really wouldn't get any summer shots. I tried, and failed, to remember to take them the day his feet got done. Because I haul out to my friend's place, once he was done I just tossed him straight back on the trailer. Also, on closer inspection, her mats are over sand and not as even as the wood that this spot at Ms. GY's. 

I keep panicking about him gaining weight, so here's our June comparison. Which I think actually does show some weight gain. UGH! He's more dressage horse round right now than svelte event pony. We've still got a couple months of good grass, but it is sooooo sweaty/easy to create rubs right now that I'm reluctant to put his grazing muzzle on him. I need to either do that or submit another insulin level to at least make sure we're not creeping up there. It would be silly to put all this work into his fitness and supplements and such and then let that happen... 

June 

	Butterball
Training rides	3 flat rides with my friend while I was out of town
Lessons	4- 3 dressage + 1 jump
Hacks	3- including 1 pond splash
Jump rides	3
Flat rides	6
Conditioning rides	2
XC school	0
Shows	0

July was a bit slower of a month with 21 rides for pony pants, which may have contributed a bit to the weight gain as well... I'm hoping so since that's easier to up this month vs. putting the muzzle on. I took my annual summer trip to New York with family. My friend came over and rode him a few times while I was gone. We failed to successfully line up with PW much for jump lessons between my travel and the WEC summer series. We had one lesson that we only got 2/3 of the way through before major thunderstorms drove us to cover. 

But we did manage to get in three dressage lessons, and the changes are absolutely amazing. I was cantering around yesterday feeling like it was the easiest thing in the world, which is such a huge change. Our lessons in July focused A LOT on the canter. We started with straightening it, particularly to the left. The next lesson we introduced SLOWING the canter. Which was a gigantic struggle with lots of breaking to trot and making me feel like I couldn't ride my pony. I asked JV if he did training rides. He said he did, but mostly he wanted me to learn how to do it. He cited people asking him to get on to get clean changes. He said it was useful if the horse didn't understand the concept of changes, but not useful in all other cases. He did say perhaps Butterball was unclear on the concept of slowing down the canter, so a training ride might be beneficial.

Then I went out of town and my friend who rides with the same two trainers rode him while I was gone. And when I got back, we had more easily accessible buttons. Our last lesson in July, on the 31st, we ACTUALLY slowed the canter down and I felt much less incompetent. 

Honestly the lessons with JV make me want to focus on dressage the majority of the time. Butterball feels totally happy when ridden in this clear 2+2 = 4 kinda way. Even when we were struggling majorly with slowing down the canter, JV laid it out clearly for me... if he broke to trot, was the trot slower than the canter had been? If so, then pick the canter right back up to correct the break. But if the trot was faster than the canter had been, then SLOW the trot, since SLOW was what we were initially asking for. Anyways, stay tuned for our transition to dressage and trail pony extraordinaire, at least until I look at the costs of USDF showing... 

Even though we didn't get to many jump lessons, now that we're back with Ms. GY, we have the ability to set mini courses at home. Her arena is a bit larger than a standard dressage arena, so it isn't a full, full course, but we can still string 5-6 jumps together in different ways. It is GREAT to have this ability. The decision to move back to her place wasn't without some angst, especially because our former barn owner took such great care of the difficult to care for Goggles, but overall it was the right move for Butterball and me at this point. 

This.. this is why the pony is getting more and more round, but also tell me you don't want to gallop across that field 

Overall July was a productive month for us. Butterball is still sweating and feels great in his work. This time of summer in Florida always feels just focused on maintaining and surviving, so it is great that we've continued to progress in the dressage work. Knocking furiously on wood, we've only had to deal with tiny little patches of rain rot. And his feet look FANTASTIC! At his farrier appointment this week, at four weeks, his farrier gave him an award for most foot grown. And he grows strong, beautiful hoof, even in the WET summer. Thank goodness for pony feet!!! 

I started August going out of town again, but the rest of the month will be pretty focused on getting to Chatt successfully. We are headed to a schooling jumper show Wednesday and then a dressage lesson on Friday. Ms. GY is going to bring her thoroughbred, and I'm so excited to watch their lesson. I'm aiming to keep up weekly trot/canter sets OR pond rides for the remainder of August. Then in September we start our twice weekly conditioning rides for the three day in October.