Majestic Oaks Jumper Schooling Show

If you're tired of hearing me gush about this horse, quit reading now!

He was PERFECT. It was the first cold (FL cold) morning and the horses (except Yoshi) were super nutty at home. Mr. GY came with on his OTTB and Ms. GY came with as support crew. This meant that Yoshi and his buddy were left in after breakfast and the other three were turned out. My trailer lives in the pasture so I often just unhook the non-electrified tape around it and load Yoshi up where it is parked. He hopped right on, but Mr. GY's horse understandably took exception to the three dingbats who were literally galloping circles around the trailer and standing up on their hind legs. We pulled into the barn yard and then he felt safe getting on. Totally understandable, but again, bragging on Yoshi, he is amazing and walks on even when there is chaos around him.

Cool as a cucumber 

The weekday schooling shows at Majestic are just perfect. They start at ground poles at 7:30 AM and go up to 3'6" (or higher if you request). On weekends they often run long compared to the planned height change schedule because of large groups, trainer holds, or people riding multiple horses in the same class. Weekdays though they are small enough they pretty much stick to the posted schedule. This meant that we hopped on, warmed up, and then basically got to go in. The course was fun, they have really exciting fillers and standards, and they threw in a skinny and a two stride. The skinny was present for all levels, which I thought was great, but the two stride just got added in at 2'6". JT had said she definitely wanted us to do 2'6" but we could start with 2'3" if we wanted. I worked until 2 AM Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, so arriving 30 minutes earlier to start at 2'3" was not appealing. I figured, correctly, Yoshi would be just fine heading in to the 2'6" with its fillers, especially because we had basically done the 2'3" for the entry level at the schooling show. 

The course started with an oxer headed away from the in gate. Then it was a left hand rollback to a vertical for #2. You could take one of several options around jumps to do the rollback. #3 was a two stride with palm tree standards and chunky box fillers after either a tight rollback or a fairly sweeping/smooth 180. Easy bending line right to #4 followed by another right hand turn, tight or wide, to the skinny #5. Left to #6, then a track left around the outside of the arena to #7, 8, 9, and 10. 

Our first trip through was a little bit messy. He got deep to #1, did a weird twist over #2, and then stuttered through the two stride at #3. 

#1

#2

I love the video because you can see the moment where he goes... uhmmmm... I'm not sure about that as he sizes up the combination. He responded really well to leg though and went forward. We trotted in, he considered exiting stage left, but not with very much conviction at all, and trotted out. It actually felt worse to me than it looks on video. I mean it looks a little rough for sure, but never like he wasn't going to go. I chased him a bit down the bending line, completely unnecessarily, and so we were flat for #4. JT told us to trot the skinny to make sure he saw it. He definitely saw it, but was underwhelmed and knocked it. About 50% of the horses did, so he was certainly not alone. 

From there he flowed easily over #6. We did the whole left hand loop of #7-10 on the right lead, but it was pretty wide turns since it was the outside of the arena so it didn't matter much. We got deep to #7 and he kinda rolled over his shoulder, but the rest rode pretty well. 

#8, forgive me for the butt shot (mine, not his)

The second trip through we cleaned up a bit. We still took #8-10 on the wrong lead, but other than that it felt really awesome. They only score the first trip, so between our rail, our wide turns, and trotting things, we did not come close to ribbons. Not at all important though, and people often don't even ask for their ribbons here because these are such a low key schooling experience. They do have them if you ask though, and I did, because I'm proud of my baby horse and like silly pieces of satin. Mr. GY did get 3rd in the 2'6"! 

Not a coincidence that my favorite video still came after my favorite canter... 

Hey, there's a bit of an uphill (okay, okay, level...) balance! 

And then he can jump so nicely! 

It was such a fun morning. Going with Mr and Ms GY and then meeting JT and two of her other students there was great. Her barn manager, who filmed the first round, and mom were also there. JT filmed the second round, and I just love hearing their commentary. The whole barn family is so positive and encouraging, it was absolutely lovely to be there all cheering each other on. Yoshi also met his polar opposite in one of JT's students OTTBs who over thinks literally everything. If anything changes he is pretty sure it is because the world is about to kill him. His owner has done an amazing job lining up his hamsters though and he is extremely talented, so it is fun to watch them together. 

Yoshi is becoming the PERFECT horse show horse. He warmed up nice and easy, went in and got it done the first time in, napped by the ring while we waited to do our second trip, put in a solid second round, and then once we untacked and watched Mr. GY at the 2'9" he just grazed calmly beside me. He is definitely an advertisement for giving these war horses a chance at a second career even if they need some time (or incredibly expensive farrier work...). As JT's barn manager put it "he just doesn't understand what the big fuss is about, this is easy stuff".

Bounce bounce bounce

Yoshi and I flatted with JT on Thursday and then jumped Friday. Our flat lesson was primarily trot-canter transitions. Such a struggle bus, but we got a few really nice ones to the left and one decent one to the right. He's keeping his back up into them much more, but still does hollow and stiffen through the neck. 

Friday I tossed him back on the trailer, picked up our friend and her horse and headed back to JT's. Yoshi looked like he was willing it to not happen, full on eyes closed napping. Meanwhile at home everyone has been a bit... Spazzy lately. The ponies next door have been running around more prompting a lot of staring over the fence lines and grabbing a mouthful of grain to drop over the stall door as he stares in that direction. One of Mr. GY's horses escaped through the gate into the yard as I pulled the truck in to hook up the trailer. When I arrive home with the trailer everyone RUNS over to see who it is even though this happens one to two times a week. And Yoshi starts screaming from the trailer when they do this. All changes in the last couple of weeks. It's not that cool here, but I think they all know it is fall. But, I arrive at JT's and he goes to sleep?? Suspicious. 

I put him in the "barn bridle" (more on that at a later time) and headed out to the ring in spite of his not concealed feeling about work vs sleep that day. Walk and trot felt great, but then we had left lead canter struggles. Some part of him was bent right so I knew he was going to pick up the wrong lead, repeatedly. When he got it right I could tell it was only because he'd tried the other one and been corrected, not because I had managed to actually get him bent left. I couldn't verbalize it though and she couldn't see it. She was telling me to have more contact in the right rein and I was telling her there was more weight in the right than the left. Finally she got on to figure out what I was feeling/doing that she couldn't see. Turns out he was over bending incorrectly... Neck and head turned left, but subtly popping the right shoulder in a way she couldn't see from the center of the circle. She fixed it and I got back on and we mostly got it together. We did a few more left lead canter transitions and then just did two to the right since he was pretty fabulous that direction. 

It was really useful to have that struggle because it has happened kind of intermittently. Some days are fine, others the only way we get it is by him recognizing the pattern, not being correct. 

We warmed up over a cross rail and he was for once getting to the base of the jump and really jumping up and over well, cracking his back. She then sent us through a grid that eventually built up to 4 bounces to a 1 stride oxer. 

He kept wanting to drift right, so he got an interesting guide rail up to prevent that. It was a really great exercise for him though, he felt better and better each time through the grid. 

It was a great lesson and hopefully good prep for a schooling jumper show on Wednesday. 

Happy 1 year Retirement Yosh!

A year ago this kid was doing this (well not actually this picture, he didn't win his last race and the win pictures are all I could find): 

Now he is out there doing this: 

Yoshi's last race was October 24, 2020 at Gulfstream Park West in Miami, Florida where he finished dead last. He retired after a 47 race career with a total of 3 wins. He had starts almost every month after his first race in April of 2017 as a 3 year old. He did earn $67,930 over his 47 races with the majority of that won in 2018. He was acquired by the woman I bought him from in November of 2020 and then started his second career. I bought him at the end of February 2021 after a month long trial. He then had March and April off due to his feet and we started back to light work in May. Going back through his race schedule just now makes me realize that his 60 days off was probably one of the best things I could have done for him. Kid really did not get a let down period after a pretty long, intense, race career. 

We started back to real work in June, and since then Yoshi has taken EVERYTHING thrown at him in stride. Long solo trail rides away from home? No prob. Cross country schooling? Yep, got it. Big horse show environment with and without friends? No drama here. Cow runs at the pasture fence as we walk by on a dirt road? Turn around, try to canter off. Not allowed? Okay, got it, we can walk past it. 

This horse has the best mind. He is so quick to learn things and tries SO HARD to do what he is asked. He has already established the point and shoot mentality. He's learning how to do it athletically still, but no matter what angle we come at a jump from he goes to the other side. JT's "over, under, or through" for baby horses hardly even needed to be applied to him, he took that to heart from about a month into his summer work. On the flat he is getting better and better 

I may do the Thoroughbred Showcase at FHP in December. It is the weekend of a Majestic Oaks schooling show that I was eyeing, but I really do want to share how awesome OTTBs are. 

I can't wait to see where Year 2 of "retirement" takes us! 

Lessons without media

JT came out to my barn yesterday to teach Mr and Ms GY and me. They both had great lessons with her and are excited to ride with her more. I got the perk of two lessons in one week and only one trailer trip. Monday we flatted at her place. He was really, really good. Coming through and softening quickly and giving us some really lovely canter work "collecting" and "extending" (can't wait for the day those aren't in quotes anymore). She had me keeping my hands together, thumbs almost touching, at points during the canter to help with my left elbow that doesn't want to move much and my right hand that wants to pull. 

Our jump lesson yesterday was... messy again. We started out over the crossrail, back and forth like always, and he was wanting to pull and run in the direction towards the barn. I was pulling back and not softening before and over the fence, so he wasn't softening either. Once we got that sorted out we moved on to a little course and again he was being very quick back towards the barn. She had us solve this in stages - first setting a crossrail bounce headed towards the barn, then having me halt straight after. She doesn't drill things, so we halted once and the next time he was nice and polite so she had me go on. We hooked a left hand turn to a one stride. We kept missing the striding to the in and he semi-crashed it once. She explained that right now he can soften and jump athletically from the right spot and from the gappy spot, but he isn't yet there for the tight spot. So we did it a few more times, each time with a 90 degree turn right to a lattice with a barrel in the center of it after. He's never seen that jump before and my steering sucked so we were definitely angling it because I was turning late, but he never even thought about stopping or ducking out. Good boy. He is so freaking honest. After the lattice we turned left and headed back down the bounce to a 180 to a natural. That was a lesson in looking at the jump immediately after landing. When I did the turn was pretty easy because we were jumping in the giant field, so there was really all the time in the world, but when I didn't it really snuck up on me and was a pretty sharp turn the way I rode it. 

I really struggled with the long approach to an oxer we added in a different course. I've heard enough people talk about this I don't think I'm alone, but each time I thought I saw the distance but was wrong. It was weird because I have been at least seeing the distances really well even if I'm not getting us there at the right one. The other jumps this was still the case, I could tell we were going to get there tight but couldn't/didn't do a damn thing about it. Practice makes perfect though, so on we go. Mr GY has been gone for 2.5 months and he hadn't seen Yoshi go since he came back earlier this week. He was really impressed with the progress we'd made, so that was encouraging during a period where I'm feeling like I'm not riding well. 

WW: I swear I'm having fun!

Madren photography pro pic from Majestic Oaks show

Very happy with my position and him! But I look ANGRY about it. I'm pretty sure if I added "Smile!" to my list of things to do everything else would go out the window. 

Messy Lessons and Restarting Clicker Training

Our jump lesson last week was... messy. It wasn't until then that I realized how "on" I've managed to be in most lessons with JT. Since this lesson over the summer where I repeatedly rode a 5 stride line the same dangerous way and got a bit of a stern talking to, I have been "doing something" pretty successfully in our lessons. But Friday... meh. I have a million excuses... upping the ante of the courses we're doing, pouring rain, some personal life stuff. In any event, I felt a bit overwhelmed and a bit like I was just riding by the seat of my pants, not in a good way. 

Long spot from a rollback turn

Nothing to do but try again though. I think JT's systematic approach has really helped me be able to continue riding and thinking through almost all of our lessons. She doesn't tend to overwhelm her students and has this amazing ability to read what they need in that moment. The position fixes have been one example. Each thing has been introduced, reminded, reinforced, and solidified for the most part before moving on to the next thing. 

1) Eyes - look at the jump. I cannot tell you how life changing this is. I know if we're going to get a long or short spot. I know how to make the turn. It is amazing how well this works and I swear no one has ever told me this before. Surprisingly, it hasn't tipped my head/eye down over the fences either. I'm not sure what witchcraft that is because she says look at it until you're over it basically, but in pictures I'm almost always looking up/ahead. 

2) Stretch up - self evident what this means 

3) Hands to the jump - the difference in his relaxation is amazing when I'm soft and relaxed with hands to the jump the last few strides. I've also regained a release I last had many, many years ago. Often in pictures I can see I'm appropriately pressing my hands into his neck instead of this nasty, floating, not automatic but not crest release either, that I'd developed. That often led to pulling on the horse's face at some point over the jump, so this is a massive improvement. 

Focusing on these items one at a time has really kept me from feeling overwhelmed. But Friday was an anomaly in which I felt completely overwhelmed. Watching the video it was a mess, but not as much of a mess as it felt. I spent the rest of the day Friday dwelling on how it felt, but I think I've wrapped my head around it and am acknowledging it is okay to have an off day. 

In other news, I finally restarted clicker training Yosh. He blew me away with how quickly he learned the cell phone alarm on a day I was lunging him in equibands. I forgot my watch so set a 2 minute timer on my phone - 2 minutes walk left - timer - 2 minutes walk right - timer - 2 minutes trot left - timer - 2 minutes trot right. By the 3rd time the timer went off, he halted himself to wait for me to walk up to change the line. A few WEEKS later I was timing the equibands under saddle to not overdo it. When my phone went off in my pocket he went from trot to halt with no prompting from me. Okay, okay, you're super clever Yosh. Let's see if I can do something productive with that.

So we started head away click and treat yesterday. I hadn't done this well in the spring, and he had more aggressive/pushy tendencies then anyways, so I had given up clicker training. But it took all of a minute yesterday before he was very clear on keeping his head straight and in his own space in order to get the treat. I started in the cross ties so he was somewhat limited and couldn't fully mug me, but he figured it out really quickly. Clever, clever pony. 

Majestic Oaks Schooling Show - Yoshi is still the best boy and I remember the courses

Our dressage this time was a bit worse, he was kind of spooky about the letters, the rails, and the tent. I'm learning that when he gets spooky or overwhelmed he doesn't get quick, he just gets a little sticky and a little behind my leg. It's not what I'm used to as far as spooking, but I guess as always, the solution is more leg (even for the ones that get quick). And also more time in the ring will make him less spooky about the sights there. 

He was also interested in the horse doing a test in the ring right next to him - especially during the free walk. Ms. GY has trained all of her horses to basically put their nose on the ground when she widens her hands and loosens the reins at the walk, I need to get her to show me how she does that! We also picked up the wrong lead and because the canter is all of 3/4 of a circle in intro C, that was basically it for that movement and the score for transitions. It was a bit disappointing after a stellar warm-up with JT, but this is his third show ever and our second one together, so I can't be too upset. We ended up with a fair 36.1.

Jumping he was absolutely perfect! The warm up was chaotic, including two people who would not get off the freaking rail to go left-shoulder to left-shoulder and were cantering rapidly around. I was tense, he was tense, he was doing a few little hops here and there when other horses got close, so we hopped the cross rail twice then oxer three times and then went in. He was SUCH A GOOD BOY for the whole course. He was very looky-loo as we went into the ring, there is a lot to see and the fillers are pretty exciting there. But once he saw the first jump he was all business. Just a little close of my leg and he stepped up to it. We got to 2 a little awkward and then I was pulling for the right hand turn 3 to 4, so he stumbled there, but other than that it was pretty smooth. He even threw in a flying change for me! Not something we've schooled, but something that he will do if we're out cantering in the hay field. 

Cross Country was AWESOME!! It was so much fun, and he felt good the whole time. We did "two waters for the price of one" because I was a bit worried about him stopping, so we trotted through the unmarked water crossing and then looped back to trot through the flagged one. He did both just fine, so it just amounted to more schooling. He did awkwardly canter stride over a telephone pole sized log, but he just didn't feel like it was a real jump worthy of any effort. My friend rode along with the chaser so actually videoed the whole thing! I cut it down a little, but I could just watch him canter along between jumps all day long. He's so smooth and flowing out there, I love it. 

I know I just gushed on and on about him in my schooling post, but he is getting so good at his job, it is so cool to feel. He's locking on to the jumps and even when he is unsure about brightly colored fillers, standards, etc if I close my leg, he instantly goes "Yep, okay, got it" and gets it done. He also stood tied to the trailer all day with his fan and water and gave zero shits about anything going on around him.

So relaxed, napping after dressage

We moved up from our 3rd after dressage to end up 1st! 

September Wrap Up

Our FIRST show together! And he was perfect!!!! 

September we had: 

• 21 rides
• 2 at Rocking Horse - schooling/sight seeing the day before and then the show 
• 1 ride-a-test turned into schooling at a dressage arena away from home - also on his best behavior 
• 2 Cross Country schoolings - Barnstaple on our own then our AWESOME lesson at Majestic on Wednesday. 
• 4 lessons with JT - continuing to work on softening and bending his body and lifting his withers. I discovered that my seatbones now both make ovals as he walks. I'd been puzzled before whey they didn't and thought I must have stiffened up since learning that feeling at a centered riding clinic as a teenager. Turns out it was that his back wasn't moving. 
• We introduced Equibands with the idea that if this kept his back up and his hind leg engaged I might be able to unproductively fuss less 
• 2 lunging sessions - he was fairly explosive in the canter with the bands. In hind sight I should have probably confirmed his lunging before introducing the bands to the mix. I hadn't done more than spin him in a few trot circles to check soundness since I got him. 

Hrmmm why am I halted square? 

• 5 rides
• Accidental canter in the third ride that was actually LOVELY and had a beautiful rocking horse motion to it. After that we cantered in the next two rides and it was just so flowing and through. 
• One that he seemed very angry about the bands and even after I took them off was a bit of a twit bucking and running after jumps. Unclear what was going on, but his tail was ANGRY the whole ride. We quit after one nice soft cross rail. 
• Some fun corrective exercises from Jec Aristotle Ballou's book
• Small serpentine over ground poles - poles are in a straight line, tightly serpentine back and forth over them 
• Figure 8 over cavaletti angling the cavaletti - definitely helped him move and loosen his shoulders
• Very unsuccessful attempt at raised walk poles on a circle. I only had dressage ring pieces to set the poles on and they fell so often that I just quit resetting. 
• Straddling a ground pole in hand - left feet on one side, right feet on the other. We had tried this when he was off in March or April. He completely barreled through me then and didn't understand at all. This time he actually was so relaxed he did it mostly with his eyes closed?? When we got the back feet to go on either side and I paused to praise, his eyes were fully closed like he was napping as he was doing it. Don't know if this was truly him "going internally" to process his proprioception of his feet over the pole or if I was there at his siesta time and he was just letting me move his body around. Either way pretty fun. 
• Overall a good body condition. He's built a lot of muscle and is just slightly under where I want him weight wise. Combination of alfalfa every time we haul (at least once a week), lunch on the days we ride, and his fat supplement. 
• A few bonding sessions with my husband. Yoshi didn't exactly make a great first (actually third or so time that he was around him) impression with his lunging at him over the stall door with mouth open, so he's had some ground to make up. We took him for an in hand walk around the neighborhood which he was pretty good for and then my husband helped me work on him with the massage gun and helped with the straddling the pole exercise. It was nice that he finally got to see the sweet, calm, soft side of Yoshi too. 

Majestic Oaks Schooling

Yoshi and I went out schooling yesterday to prep for the show this weekend. This is going to be a word heavy post gushing about how awesome he is, just to prepare you in case you want to stop now ;) 

He started out coming off the trailer a bit silly, trying to spin around to look at the Harley motorcycle (why??) that was going across the cross country course before his feet had finished coming off the ramp. About a month ago we had a session of feet in/out 1 at a time with pausing for treats and praise in between because of his tendency to want to barrel backwards when he gets off. It is by far not the worst I've seen, but it may be time for another session because all I can imagine as he tries to dance on the ramp is him stepping off the side and cutting himself on the edge. 

True to course though, he then settled down beautifully. He just stared, high headed out to the cross country course for a while, watching and observing, before relaxing and starting to eat his hay again.

We started our school at the water. He balked for a second then went in and paused in the middle to sniff at the water. We hung out while JT finished up her previous lesson with two riders also on young horses. It was a lot of fun to watch them loop over some jumps. One of them was only on his 3rd or 4th jump school so was out to get some experience over solid obstacles to help him figure out how to put his front and back half together. I love that she can tell exactly what each horse will benefit from, and this young horse was certainly understanding his body better. 

We warmed up near the water after they finished. Most of the place is on a hill and this area was no exception, so it was great practice maintaining his balance on the slope and still asking for transitions regardless of whether we were headed up or down. We started with a few entry fences pointed in and out of the water and he did not hesitate at all about getting his feet wet a second time. He did try once as we headed back in the direction of the trailers between fences take the bit and grab and run. I bumped him off my hand hard with one rein and circled him for a second. He responded really well and didn't try that again the whole time we were out, even when I asked him for more forward while in two point between fences. It was almost like he just thought maybe that's what he was supposed to do and after I told him that was the wrong answer he went "well, okay then, I guess that's not what leg means anymore." He is SUCH a good boy. 

Then we moved on from the water up the hill to the ditch. We trotted it no problem and he stayed nice and soft as I stayed nice and soft with my hands. Then we added a BN house on a bit of a bending line from the ditch, it was painted white and blue stripes and apparently can be a little spooky, but he didn't think it was any big deal. Next we added a BN roll top after the ditch headed in the other direction. 

Our next mini course looped down hill to start over the first fence on course. They were already out decorating so it had some fun fall things on it, but Yoshi did not care at all. We hopped over the BN coop and then circled back around to the last jump on course, the BN bench. After that she had us take the entry rail - these jumps are notoriously spooky for some reason, each level has large bushes on either side that mark the different levels, but it is all rails with shrubs under them just higher at each part. It didn't seem like he was spooky to it, but we got a chip and a sticky feel over it. 

Red mare over BN part of that fence

I LOVE training with JT because even though we were quite far away I could hear in my head that I needed to gallop him forward, so I did that before sitting up and creating the bouncy canter we needed to take the BN... table? I'm not sure what you call this jump - here's the red mare doing it last December 

I love Yoshi, but my gosh do I miss her. They are SO different. She was 15.2h and just bouncy and light naturally with one heck of an amazing jump.

He jumped that REALLY well and we continued up the hill to jump the N coop, which he also jumped really well. Our next course started over the N coop then looped over a BN fence and came downhill to the BN trakehner. About 3 strides out from the trakehner I felt him hesitate a bit as he assessed the fence. I closed my leg and he stepped forward nicely to flow over it. The video is courtesy of JT driving the golf cart, coaching, AND videoing. She's amazing! 

We then did a course starting with the trakehner, to the BN #2 (I forget what it was) and then to the N #3 (also unsure what it was). The first time he rolled over his shoulder some and got a bit deep because I was tired and not getting him up and bouncy before the fences. I got myself together the second time and he jumped much better. We added the BN up bank to the end of it which we kind of stumbled up because I jumped ahead of him. She had us do that a couple more times until I got the bouncy trot in and he jumped up nicely. We then came down the BN bank and I made the mistake of saying how much I hate down banks. So JT made us circle over the N down bank twice then the T/P down bank. Yoshi is a PRO and actually does down banks really nicely with no large leap or drama, so they felt pretty smooth and good. 

Pretty proud of this picture 

The whole experience was AMAZING. I felt like I knew how to answer questions if he wasn't quite perfect to things. He was going along asking what was next, which jump, how fast, etc. And he felt confident and happy. The difference between this and February is absolutely amazing. He feels balanced and safe. He is an incredibly willing, kind, generous horse who just wants to know how to do his job and now that we've been able to teach him how to go in a much softer, safer way, he is just SO fun to ride. JT has made SUCH a HUGE difference in both of us, I am so, so glad that I contact her in June.

Other than riding Intro C (I HATE that test, please just let me ride either BN test... Intro C is not an easier test), I'm looking forward to this weekend!!

Turnout Leg Wear - Reviews

Yoshi has SO MUCH leg wear. I had always been a minimalist when it came to boots. Zing and Leila both had only one set each that got used only for cross country. I have a set of standing wraps and those have occasionally been pulled out, but that was about it. Yoshi is now in possession (as much as a horse can possess...) of no less than... 3 sets of boots, one set of polos, one set of fly wraps, and one set of Sox for horses. 

The goal with Yoshi is to protect him from himself... he knocks himself with his shoes and after one of those knicks turned into cellulitis I started booting/wrapping every time I rode. Then he came in from turnout one day with 3 new scrapes on the inside of his right front, confirming what I was afraid of - he does this to himself in the pasture as well as under saddle. So now he never goes out naked. 

I have confirmed with my farrier and vet that his feet are balanced. My farrier felt like he could try a few things, but he said it would unbalance his feet. Given his soundness issues connected to his feet and the positive changes we've seen, I didn't want to do this. I'm trying to add in as much pole and cavaletti work as possible and am starting to work through a few exercises in the book 55 Corrective Exercises for Horses in hopes of teaching him where his feet are. But in the mean time, kiddo only goes out with protective gear on his front legs.

Majyk Equipe Fly Wraps: These did not stand up to him or general use nearly as well as the Shoo Fly wraps have. One perk was that they didn't rub him the way the Shoo Fly ones will if I keep them on him 24/7. But, he routinely and easily removed the front ones and they started to sag pretty badly within about 4-6 weeks of using them. I guess the softer material just doesn't stay up as well. I passed them on to a friend when we moved barns and she used them for another 2 months. By the time she bought a pair of Shoo Fly wraps they were about fetlock height and collecting all kinds of dirt and shavings in them daily. They also came apart at the top where he was pulling at them with his teeth (fair enough there, if they were otherwise perfect I wouldn't blame the wraps for that). Overall, I would not recommend these. 

Someone had helped me out and put the right front back on after he removed it which is why it is on inside out

Shoo Fly Wraps: These are very sturdy and I don't think he can remove them. Either he hasn't tried, relatively unlikely given what a busy body he is, or he can't. But either way, he always has both fronts on when he comes in. They do rub his fetlocks some, on the caudal aspect, if I leave them on 24/7. They don't do this on my friend's horse, so it may just be the fit on Yoshi and the fact that he has the osselet on the left front fetlock, making the wrap tighter around there. But I have to do one day off one day on or the rubs become a problem. Having used the older style of fly wraps (Kensington, etc etc) a lot, these are far superior, but they can't be a 24/7 thing for Yoshi. 

As far as leg protection, he hasn't come in with a scratch on his legs from knocking himself while wearing these. 

Sox for Horses: Yoshi has the Silver Whinnys. These were recommended by JT after his cellulitis episode in August. While they require more maintenance compared to the fly wrpas, they are probably the best at protecting his legs in turnout. They come in a set of 4 for $90. I got the "delicate/thin skin TBs" kind. They recommend changing every 24 hours if they're getting wet or 48 hours if they are dry. This time of year the grass is long and the morning dew pretty much soaks these daily. I have left them on for 48 hours when I can't get out to change them, and it's been fine. When I have come out around 11 or noon they've actually been dry already and his legs are dry underneath. That means in the span of 1-2 hours after the dew dries, they are able to dry. Even with consistent wear I haven't had any problems with rain rot on his legs. 

They do slip down on him. He comes in to eat every 12 hours and they'll usually be mid-cannon bone at that time. It's really easy to just pull them back up though. 

They are a bit of a challenge to get on/off even following their directions. You place a bag over the shoe to protect the sock from snagging on the nails and then pull the top up over the foot. To remove when wet, you bag the hoof then pull the top down off the foot, pulling the sock inside out. Ms. GY tried for me one time and bent two nails back pretty badly, so if I can't get out to change them for more than 48 hours, I leave him in the fly wraps and she takes those off while he's in the stall. It only takes me about 20 seconds per sock now to put them on/off, but he's also learned the system and will helpfully pull his foot to aid in getting them on/off. 

He has never come in with a scratch on his legs while wearing these. Even when they slip, they cover the areas he is most likely to hit - mid-cannon bone and down. They also do seem to help with healing up things on his legs, the 3 scrapes he gave himself on his right front healed up nicely while wearing these. 

I've only had these for a month, but so far they're holding up very well, even the soft version. I do wash them in a bag just to prevent snagging, but they recommend washing and drying like normal. While they're a bit more maintenance and work than the average horse owner likely wants/needs, they work great for my special child. They have the added perk of keeping flies off his legs. But if all you need is a fly wrap, the Shoo Fly wraps are much cheaper and easier to deal with. 

Noming on black jack on our walk a few days ago
 It's blooming ALL over the place right now and the horses love it!

Horse Trailer Camping

The schooling show at Rocking Horse was also my first time camping in my horse trailer. I bought the trailer in June of 2020. I actually bought it before we bought the truck to haul it with. I'd been scouring Facebook for two horse trailers. I hadn't done a lot of thinking on brand or bumper pull vs gooseneck. I wanted a straight load with a tack room and no mangers, but hadn't planned a lot beyond that. I had also driven to 1.5 hours for a really under priced slant load trailer only to find out it had sold that morning but the seller hadn't bothered to let me know. To be fair on that one, given how low the price was she probably had a million FB messages to sort through and just forgot that we actually had a time lined up. 

When I spotted the ad for the trailer we ended up buying, I wasted no time. It was a 2013 Merhow Equistar XL 2 horse gooseneck with tack room for a great price. The ad specified that the person was posting for a friend who didn't have Facebook and gave a cell number to call. As soon as was appropriate for a weekend morning, I called the number and left a voicemail. There were 10+ comments on the post asking questions, but when the seller called me back she said I was the first person who had called. Hooray for overcoming whatever that feeling is that says "write text on phone, calling people is awkward". My husband and I drove 30 minutes to her house to check it out. She'd only used the trailer 5-6 times to haul her horses and some furniture down from New England. It had some surface rust on the frame but was otherwise in pristine condition. She asked if I wanted to bring a check later that week, but I told her I'd bring cash the next day, scarred by my earlier experience. I arranged to have a friend with a truck come with and we picked the trailer up the next morning. It then sat for a month until we actually bought the truck to haul it and got the gooseneck hitch installed. 

I LOVE this trailer. It absolutely dwarfed Leila, she probably could have stuck her head straight up and never connected with the roof, but I'd much rather have extra space. Yoshi fits great in it and every horse I've tried to put on it, including a notoriously difficult loader at my old barn, has walked right on. When you open the escape doors it is so light and inviting they seem to not mind at all. 

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this view

One of the perks of the gooseneck was the ability to camp in it. It certainly was not a factor in buying it because I am spoiled and live within an hour of... 5+ venues that hold multiple schooling events throughout the year and don't need to camp much. I also have done a lot of tent camping and therefore have all the gear so I could easily pull that out for a show if need be. However, the POURING rain that turned into a most of the night drizzle/drip at Rocking Horse was MUCH nicer in the trailer than it would have been in the tent. It's all well and good staying dry from the top in a tent, but when sheets of water start running around on the ground... yeah, been there, done that, getting soaked from underneath when water works its way between the tent and footprint... no fun at all. 

Dry and cozy watching the rain come down

I opted not to bring cooking gear for this outing because my husband was not coming with me. I don't mind eating cold mac and cheese or sandwiches for lunch x 2 and dinner, but he starts to object to that around sandwich number 2. He also is more than willing to plan out the menu and pack the gear though. I packed the cooler with 3 frozen drinks - two water bottles and one gatorade. I added the mac and cheese I'd cooked, a bag of carrots, cold brew coffee in a jar, and a bag of chocolates and then filled the rest of the cooler with ice packs. For breakfast/snacks I got a box of granola bars. Once I arrived I moved most of the things from the truck into the horse compartment of the trailer. I try to keep the truck as clean as possible and after the recent battery experience, the less I go in/out of it and turn on the lights, the better in my mind. I set up my bed in the gooseneck with plenty of space on either side. I went for the middle-ish area. I cleaned off the hay from the fan from the horse compartment and moved that in to sit between the two windows over the gooseneck. 

The fan is one of my favorite parts of the whole set up - it is a Ryobi Air Cannon. All of my husband's tools are Ryobi, so we have at least 4 batteries. On the highest setting, one battery lasts 1.5-2 hours, which is about as long as my longest trips in the trailer are. I anchor the fan to the front snaps in the horse compartment with a cord, but I also put a short 4x4 on the base of it, and that makes it sturdy enough that I've never seen evidence of it moving around while driving. I used it on the lowest setting overnight, I was plenty cool and only had to replace the battery once in the middle of the night.

Luxury of being there without my husband was stacking both our sleeping pads to make the cushiest bed possible

I did forget camp chairs. And didn't pack enough socks. So this was my set up for drying my feet after bathing him - butt on step stool, back against trailer, feet on water container 

With the camping pads, I could still fully sit up in the gooseneck. I think a thin air mattress would be fine too, but we have an aerobed that someone gifted us, and that definitely would be too tall for going in there. I keep a floor mat just inside the door to the tack room because it is currently carpeted, and this trip I was obsessive with taking my boots off every time I stepped in so that I would eventually track less dirt/water up into my bed on the gooseneck. 

I actually slept really, really well there. It helped that I was pretty tired and the fan was good white noise, but it was also a nice comfy set up.  I kept our Friday gear (sweaty saddle pad, boots, and my disgustingly sweaty breeches) draped over the tail gate of the truck to keep from stinking up the tack room. If I were trying to do show and camp with two people, I might bring a folding saddle rack, or two if I could get my hands on them, to set up more tack in the horse compartment and minimize the horse gear in the tack room. There are only two saddle racks in the tack room, which is fine as a single person trailer, but does require a lot of stacking things when there are two people with two saddles. 

When I broke things down, everything going back to the house went back into the truck with sweaty things in the bed and non-sweaty camping gear in the cab. Everything going to the barn stayed in the trailer since the trailer lives out at the barn. This made arriving back home pretty easy - I saved unloading the tack room for the next day but took care of all of the sweaty, gross things that day. 

My essentials: 

- Fan 

- Floor mat for trailer 

- Head lamp and solar power lantern. Seriously, head lamps are the best thing ever. I keep one in my horse first aid kit for looking at eyes or other things. Plus you never know when you'll unexpectedly end up out later than you mean to. And if you like spiders, it's pretty amusing to find them in the grass at night from the reflection from their eyes. 

- Cooler containing cold brew coffee (I do this in a cheap way at home myself and make mason jars of it, so it was easy to toss one in)

If my husband joins me at any point we'll probably toss in the camp stove, stuff to make fresh coffee, and stuff to make a better dinner, but not bringing the stove and cooking kept things simple and meant I didn't have dishes to wash on top of cleaning up all the horse things. 

Hates when I leave home