Ok, so let me tell you why I have blogged in like a month. I started back to school (nursing this time)and I would rather ride than blog...sorry. Alos my Great Dane had 15 pups and I have been taking care of them. They are all in new happy homes...well not all, I did keep one beautiful female for myself. Her name is Casey's Cup of Noodles. I named her after an awesome person I met this year. I think if our ages were a bit closer together we would be bestest friends! So since I am suppose to be studying, I am going to post a shit load of pics and a video to show you what I have been doing. Hopefully I can catch up later.
Fat Kiki

Repetition

I look out my window this morning and this is what I see.

At first glance you might think that my horse is dead, but if you look closely, he is just trying to absorb any and all warm sunlight possible. Today was a bit warmer, I only wore one pair of gloves. It helped that the wind died down to a breeze. We started out like any other ride, walking down the lane to our trail. Remember the little creek I said we went over? Well it took us 15 minutes to go over today. DON'T ask me why!! It was like it was lined with snakes. The first few tries he came close, then I used a bit of aid enhancement, an old dead flower, and after 13 minutes of coaxing and calming I just got off and made him walk over the stupid thing. Tomorrow I will take a picture just so you can see how SMALL it really is. I mean, seriously!!! It isn't the Grand Canyon!!!! So once he made it over I gave him a good boy and repeated the crossing like 15 times, one for every minute he wasted!!! Then I got on and made him cross 15 times again. I would understand if this was a bit of a task, but it wasn't AND(!!!) he crossed it FINE yesterday! I am not sure if I will ever figure out his mind! After the "river" crossing we walk towards the boat launch. I thought he might like to see his friends that he met a few weeks ago. On our way we did trotting and cantering sets. Once we were like a 1/2 mile from the horses he started perking up, he remembered the place. i was actually surprsed. I know horses are smart animals, but MY horse didn't seem to remember a creek that was only a foot wide and how it wouldn't hurt him, yet he can remember a paddock of horses from a month ago. Again, I am not sure if I will get a handle on his mind. He did react better than last time. We ended up riding for about 6.5 miles. And we both enjoyed it alot more than yesterday. This cold weather is taking a toll on all of us. For me my diet has changed too, but not in the way Olly's has. I have cut back on alot of foods that I would normally eat on a daily basis. In the winter I hate going outside in the cold, therefore I am less active and do not need all that much to keep me going. I try to eat more veggies and fruit and as always drink alot of water. Let me tell you this is somewhat difficult since my children were home for vacation. Snack, snack here snack snack there...for the kids that is fine, but not for me. Olly on the other handneeds to take in 3 times as much. He has free range hay and water, and he is grained once daily with Legend Performance (14% protein) and I ass 1/2c oil and 2 oz of a weight builder. He is a tough keeper in the winter, but I think that is due to his TB metabolism. Thankfully winters are usually short in Va! I go out to check the horses every night at like 2100-2200, When I got out and check if it is colder than usual (and it has been for the past 3 nights) I polo wrap his legs. Olly is from a warm temperature climate and HATES the winter as much as I do. He tends to stand and not move around as much when the temp drops, in turn he gets stocked up. Instead of reacting, I try to act. I don't go all out with standing wraps. I don't think he needs that much. Just a little help when it get cold...that is what mom's are for! So tonight the blanket is on the hay is out and the wraps are velcro'd. Good night!!

305 Stats
walk Lap 1 0.35 mi avg speed 1.4 mph
trot Lap 2 1.34 mi avg speed 8.1mph
walk Lap 3 0.75 mi avg speed 3.0mph
canter Lap 4 0.81 mi avg speed 11.8mph
walk Lap 5 0.68mi avg speed 3.7mph
trot Lap 6 0.57 mi avg speed 7.1mph
canter Lap 7 0.85 mi avg speed 14.0mph
walk Lap 80.86 mi avg speed 3.5mph

Total

6.31 miles
1h20m
Avg Speed 4.7mh
Max Speed 18.7mph
Calories Burned 3978cal
**Calories burned is based on human calculations**

COLD is an Understatement

I had planned on riding yesterday and giving Olly the day off today, but I was so cold I couldn't bring myself to take his blanket off. I did open his stall, against all my will, and let him get out of the weather.
So today when I got up I looked out side to see if the wind calmed down, NOPE! High of 31* with winds out of the west at 15-20mph. Super! I waited until like 1400 before going out, hoping it would "warm" up a bit. I realize now how stupid that sounds. I had a great idea to wear over my jeans a pair of my hubby's winter PT's, until I came down and watched my husband look at me like I was crazy. "You wear those and you'll slip right outta the saddle!", he said. Good point. I had planned riding in my dressage saddle, which is even more slippery than any saddle I have ever ridden in. I loaded up in my arms all the items of clothing I would need and headed downstairs to the tack room. By the time I had everything on an ready to go I had on two shirts, two pair of socks, jeans, with half chaps, a hoodie, a scarf, my Carhart, a hat under my helmet and two pairs of gloves. The easiest way I can give you a mental picture is to think back to the movie A Christmas Stroy, where the mom wraps the kid up so much that when he falls he can't get up...that was me today.



While on our ride today it didn't take long to realize that the ground was frozen. We started out walking to get warmed-up. I didn't want to trot or canter on anyting that wasn't grass for fear or hurting his feet. He is barefoot now and doing well. We stared our trot set and happened to come to a creek that was no more than a foot wide. I guess he wasn't paying much attention, because he acted like it snuck up on him. Once he realized what it was he hopped over it and we moved on. 7 minutes later we were back over the "creek" and walking. Since all the crop fieds would be frozen we went to the grassy land where I filmed my flat work. It was big enough to paractice on cantering-galloping-cantering. what a better way to exercise self control :). Once we had done a few sets (which will be posted at the end of the blog)we went to hack out, walking only. By this time I think my nose was frostbitten and Olly was ready to take the first flight back to Hawaii. I couldn't do it anymore, we turned around and headed home. This was the coldest part of the whole ride. I felt terrible making him go out and take his blanket off. What a mean mom. As were walked back to the house I tried to have a uplifting conversation with Olly to try to keep our minds off the cold. It didn't work. I could tell by his attitude he wsn't happy to be out in this nearing Siberia weather. Both he and I resisted the urge to canter home. I could feel it in his step, at any moment if I had given the word we would have been off! As we neared the drive, I waited to hear the neigh of Kiki...nothing! where was that little pony? As we get closer to the barn I see that she is hunkered down in her stall. She has a thermal blanket on and was trying to stay toasty. I didn't blame her a bit. She did come out to greet us once we were at the gate, but soon left us to go back to her stall. I hurried to get olly's blankets back on him so he could be warm and I threw them some hay to hold over til feeding time.
As I was taking my saddle back to the take room, I snapped this pic...



I think she was cold too, I could almost hear her say "let me in, b-itch!"

305 Stats
Walk Lap 1 0.32 mi 7m07s avg speed 2.7mph
Trot Lap 2 1.02 mi 8m02s avg speed 7.6mph
Walk Lap 3 0.3 mi 6m50s avg speed 2.4mph
Canter Lap 4 0.32 mi 5m34s avg speed 15.8mph
Trot Lap 5 0.66 mi 4m58s avg speed 10.0mph
Canter Lap 6 0.74 mi 3m07s avg speed 14.3mph
Walk (hack out away from home) 1.13mi avg speed 3.4mph
Walk (toward home) 0.84 mi avg speed 4.0mph
**Notice speed changes going away from home vs. toward home**

Total
7.46 miles
1h32m
avg speed 4.8mph
Max speed 19.9mph
Calories burned 4433
**Calorie count based on human equations**

Sets

Today I talked my hubby into making, not one, but two coops for me!!! Wow, am I lucky! I had one large peice of plywood. One coop is 2'2" and the other is like 18". Now, they aren't pretty, but they will serve the purpose. I wanted to go out and try them as soon as I got them out there, but decided against it since Olly has jumped two days in a row. And yesterday wasn't that easy for him. He worked really hard and I wanted to reward him by just hacking out and relaxing. So, on that note, instead of the kimberwicke, I grabbed his loose ring and instead of the AP saddle, I grabbed my dressage saddle. I was a bit nervous about the loose ring. I know that is what I have used in the past, but we were doing so good with the kimberwicke and I don't think he likes it. So this, too, was a reward. Today is warmer, so I had on my hoodie, with a few shirts on underneath, of course and forewent the hat under the helmet. BIG MISTAKE! See we are back in the woods, if it feels warm here it will be cold in the field. you would think I would know this by now....
I started my GPS and we were down the road. We sarted at a walk, just to kinda warm up, about 15 minutes. Then we started with the sets. 5 minutes of trotting (which we encountered the huges puddle I have seen in along time. Olly was not so thrilled. He tried in EVERY way to go around, but what do you do when it is all wooded and there is nowhere to go but IN!? He isn't afraid of the water, I mean he will go in and trot and even canter, I just don't think he likes it. If there is a way around then he will find it. We worked on being steady in our pace and not having a high head. Most of the time when he settles into his gait his head will stop being in giraffe mode. The kimberwicke has helped with this alot. Next we walked, mainly to recover. It took us 10 minutes, not to recover, I usually only allow 5 minutes at the most for this, it was because I had nowhere to canter and it took me that long to get to the next field. I hit the Lap button again 5 minutes for the canter. I started thinking to myself, "man we are gonna cover some ground in 5 minutes with his canter," but to my surprise he settled in quickly and we were down the road. No pulling, two-point, or seat shifting. He has a VERY nice canter, the one I know from the hunter ring (not an actualy hunter canter, but Olly's "hunter" canter, which is like a gallop for normal hunters lol). Then we walked for 3 minutes. I only did three minutes because he didn't seem to need a full 5, let alone the 10. Back to a trot. 5 minutes again. Instead og giving he a waslk to recover from the 5 minutes of trotting I gave him a 3 minute canter. Then we walked the rest ofthe way home. It totalled like 4.6 miles. I have the GPS download of all the STATS that I will list at the end of the blog. Oh, and my heart rate monitor is not on my dressage girth so I do not have the HR stats, and even if I were using my AP girth, I am not sure that the GPS would pick up the HR through the wolly mammoth. I have thought about clipping a spot, but I haven't acted on it.
After our sets I looked down and Olly was sweating. Hmmmmmm...I think we need to do more of this type of work. We were only out for an hour and he was spent. Boy is out of shape!!! Time to cross train. We trail ride alot, but not with monitored sets. Walking on a trail is good, but not for the type of riding we want to do. Eventing required alot of different skills. And to just jump 5 days a week is not the way to go. And from what I am seeing walking and trotting occasionaly on a trail isn't doing it either. I run and try to keep myself fit as much as I can, and I should do the same for him. I will be coming up with a schedule that will be applied IMMEDIATELY! Woohoo! More to write about. You just wait, this spring and summer we will be ready for the show ring!!
As always, we went back to the stall to get a good grooming and some love. He ALWAYS has to have the area where his brilde was brushed and scratched.



Garmin Forerunner 305 (with HR Monitor)
Trotting Lap 1 0.58 miles 4m59s average speed 7.0mph
Walking Lap 2 0.66 miles 11m21s average speed 3.5mph
Cantering Lap 3 0.75 miles 3m38s average speed 12.4mph
Walking Lap 4 0.27 miles 5m03s average speed 3.2mph
Trotting Lap 5 0.72 miles 4m55s average speed 8.8mph
Cantering Lap 6 0.29 miles 1m29s average speed 11.8mph
Walking Lap 7 0.67 miles 11m59s average speed 3.4mph

TOTAL
4.61 miles
58m29s
Avg Pace 12.41min/mile
Avg Speed 4.7mph
Max Speed 15.3mph
Total Caloried Burned 2898

Challenge

So yesterday I was looking through my books for a new gymnastic line. I get a messege from Casey telling me to "pick a hard one!" Ok, missy!! You got it. Unfortuneately, I wasn't able to ride that day due to a sick puppy, grocery shopping and a house that needed to be cleaned. But, today....I was ready. I just hoped Olly was too. It was rainy and foggy outside. I hoped the ground wasn't too saturated. We WALKED, yes, you read me right, WALKED to our arena. I set up a line of jumps. I chose exercise 10 from Jim Woffords Gymnastic Line book. It looked easy on paper, but I knew that the distance between the jumps were set it would be difficult for Olly. It was set 20 feet between each jump. That is 4 feet smaller than Olly's normal 2 strided jump. He would have to slow it down. GOOD! I thought. He needs that anyway. the line started out with one jump and 4 ground poles. Easy enough, unless you are rushing. Which he was. We took our time slowing down and tried it a few more times until he got it. Next, pick up the last jump. Now it was more interesting. Ground poles you can just skip over, but a vertical at the end, crap! Again, a few times through and it was over. Lastly, we added the middle jump. I know he was thinking "Oh, Shit!" I mean it does look intimidating. We made a few circles at a trot and then a few at a canter. He never rushes the begining of the jump it is always after the first jump or two. Like a cresendo, just on horse back. So the goal really of this exercise was to stay slow and steady. If he sped up throughout the line, it would be jacked. We worked more on the speed NOT going through the line and using transitions to regulate. If he started to rush at the canter, then we would transition down and the same for the trot. He got it after a fe times. He has a light bulb effect sometimes. By the end of the schooling session, he had done the line with all three elements wonderfully. It took us about an hour and a half to do this, but he did it. He is becoming a very good jumper and is learning exponientally. I can't wait for the next show season.
Tomorrow, I am going to talk my husband into making me a 'real' coop. 2 ft tall and 2ft wide at the base. I also found another 4x4, so there is another set of standards. YEAH!!! And don't be surprised if you start seeing crazy colored jumps now. I am going to start painting. i might even drag out some brightly colored blankets ;) Just to mix it up a bit. He it totally comfortable with the wood-colored jumps. Time to make them look hunter-esk!

After the ride we walked back to the barn and Olly got a total grooming, even his tail brushed and braided. He was in heaven.

Breaking Out the Book

Today I started looking though all my jumping books. The kimberwicke was working great and it was time to try it on another level. i have two books that I regularly turn to: 101 Jumping Exercises and Gymnastic lines. The lucky winner was 101 jumping exercises. I am a little ow on jumps right now and needed to use a few cinder blocks, trashy I know, but hey it works. While I was loading up my "jumps" I found a piece of plywood, just big nough to make a skinny coop. WONDERFUL! Something new. We haven't attempted anything new in awhile. So I dragged all my finds to the field and started counting paces. 18" vertical and 48 ft out I put the coop. Enough strides to slow him and turn him away if I needed to. I want to add that I changed Olly's feed like 2 weeks ago and found that his attitude is much better. He is more calm, I still think we needed the bit change, it was a combo effort. I took exercise 27 and 47 and kind of combined them. Exercise 47 is just an extention of exercise 27.





I set up my jumps like 47, but rode 27. Stay with me, it sounds confusing, but you will soon understand.



After riding exercise 27 a few times, I rode it again with the coop on the end instead of the circles.



Next, we rode exercise 47 as it was intended. First to the right a few times and then to the left. It was set in the book for the two jumps to be a bounce. Olly's bounce is usually 12 feet. Today I set it at 14 feet. I thought that he may need the extra two feet to compensate the turn or "drift" to the right/left. It took him a few times to get the idea, but I hung in there. He never refused and he never knocked down a jump. After three times though he took the right take off and lead. On to the left side...this side was easier. He totally understood what we were doing and tackled it perfectly, leads and all.


In between going though the lines we practiced controling our tempo and postition-without sturrips. Olly is getting better at relaxing himself and trying to focus.

Time for Change

So after getting feedback on my latest video, I decided to change Olly's bit. First, let me start off with telling you what he was in and the problems we were having. He wore a french link loose ring since I have owned him. Lately, the more open field riding we encounter, he has been evading the bit by dropping his head and curling at the pole making it hard to control his speed. I have tried using a lighter seat and making sure I am not shifting my weight. In the end it might be time to move on, so I go into this new "adventure" with light hands and an open mind.
On to the bit of choice. i am not sure if I stated in the last post, but I had a kimberwicke hanging right next to Olly's bridle in the tack room. I ALMOST grabbed it the other day instead of the loose ring. Today, I grabbed the kimberwicke. Now, I am not sure what bits Olly has been ridden in before me. He has a very light mouth and is very sensitive to anything, legs, bits, seat etc. So making this decision was very difficult for me. A kimberwicke is a leverage bit, that being said, new pressure points are about to be used. Before I headed out I thought to myself best not to go hopping on so I looked for my vienna reins. To my demise, moving two times in 5 months really doesn't do well for the organization. No Vienna reins today.
When I put the bit up to his mouth he, of course, opened. Then the realization hit. WTF is in my mouth??!! Alot of licking and chewing occured. I grabbed my lunge line and Olly and walked to our "arena." Just to give him time to feel it out with out any pressure being applied to the bit. I had my camera ready and sighted in to record the short lunging, but I forgot to replace my SD card from downloading the video yeaterday, so the video was 12 seconds long. I have chosen to forego the uploading.
after the lunging, which went well, I got on and walked a bit collecting ever so lightly. The last thing I want to do is grab hold of his mouth and make it a bad experience. 10 minutes of walking (with no sturrips)and taking in the area and it was on to trotting and picking up the sturrips. This is where I saw the difference. His pace and his down transitions were steadier and his head was lower. Not to mention he fell in on his circles less. On the down side, I felt his lateral movements were decreased. I also used this time to work on myself. Knees pointing to the ground, heels and hands down (I even opened my pinky's to check)and post to the pommel. This also may have been a factor in his area too. If I sit and ride better, he will perform better. After using the kimberwicke for a while I am going to drop the loose ring back in and check to see if this was a traing issue, a Pru issue, or a bit issue. For now the kimberwicke is a good move. Next on the schedule...transitions. Up and down transitions walk and trot. I talked about how Olly was having the issue walking. All I would get is this jog instead of a walk. So we practiced. This was another time I used to work on myself with both sturrips and no sturrips. As much as I hate riding without sturrips, it is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Another 30 minutes down and he was responding well. This time around we picked up a canter. At first he was a bit fast, so we down transitioned to a trot. Everytime his pace increased we trotted. It took three times in the cricle and then the light switch turn n. "OHHHHHHH! you want me to go slower!! I get it." FINALLY! I tell ya nothing feels better than for something to click. Even though it is the slightest little movement, it gives you the encouragement to continue on. Olly was quite happy too. At times it seems like he is just trying to piss me off, but I look into his eyes as I talk to him and I can see he that he just wants to do what I want. He really wants to please me and make me happy, it's just that sometimes he has no CLUE as to what I am saying! And when we find the way to communicate it reminds me why we are together. Feeling confident about the cantering I put out some ground poles. 36ft apart. This should help keep the tempo even when we aren't in a circle. First try he thought he was to jump them...fair enough. I reminded myself to relax my leg, sit up tall and keep my hands low and still. And the second try, it was exponientally better! Funny...when the rider makes themselves better, the horse becomes better. I guess I should remind myself more often. We ended our day doing steady transitions. Today was one of the most enjoyable days with my big red horse since I have been here. What a wonderful ending to an already great birthday!



Sporting his new bit

Flat Work

Christmas Eve I said that I was going to get some flat work video on here. I really wanted to ride on Christmas and get the video, but my dog ended up having her puppies and I was up all night. So, today was the day! First I had promised Colton he could ride Kiki. She has quite the attitude! The whole family went for a walk and he got to ride. After making it back home I switched saddles and grabbed my tripod and was down the road. Olly was actually calm today. I changed his food and have been keeping him out of his stall. Today we will see if any of it helped. He walked almost the entire way to the field. We started out just walking and trying to move out with out trotting, which is pretty difficult for him. Then to a trot. On parts of the video you can see where he really wants to canter and takes a few canter steps with the front, but the half-halt changes his mind.
I also noticed that my lower leg SUCKS!!!! Guess what the plan is for tomorrow? No sturrips! Stacy will be so proud. I will be taking video of the no sturrip work for sure! I and so curious what that will look like. Another change: standing martingale. Stacy will be sending me her Olly size martingale. What a friend!! That will give me a few days with the kimberwicke and that way we will know what is working and what is not. I try not to change too many things at the same time so I can make decisions accordingly. So tomorrow will look like this: Me- lower leg work lower hands maintain contact with bit Olly- bit change to kimberwicke (he was in a loose ring french link) I encourage anyone reading this to leave any comments on what I am doing wrong. I am totally open to hearing what needs to be improved, and don't worry about being polite. I can handle it!

Speed

After feeding yesterday morning I went to turnout the horses and noticed upon opening the stall door that Olly's hind legs were pretty inflammed. I should have taken pictures, but I was so freaked I rushed around to fix the problem with out thinking of it. He has been stocked up before, but this time was the worst. It went from pastern to hock, in both hind legs. There wasn't much heat and definitly no pain. I checked for a pulse, strong in both feet. He was a bit stiff though. I ran and grabbed his halter and started hand walking. There was a slight difference after 30 minutes, but it wasn't good enough for me. I have little patience, but enough understanding to be tolerant. I used this break to check temperature (100.4*) and listen to gut sounds with my stethescope (sufficient). We kept walking. After an hour (total)there was a significant difference. I turned him out into the paddock. Over the next few hours I checked to see if the swelling had returned. And it did, but no where like it was earlier that morning. I went and got his bridle and we went for a 30 minute walk bareback.
While we are walking down the lane, I start brain storming.
Being a veterinary techinician, I always look at the clinical signs first.
Inflammation-mild to moderate
No pain
Stiffness-mild
Eating
Drinking
Pooping
Good gut sounds
Normal temp
Strong digital pulse
Feet are cool
After making a mental note of all the signs or lack there of, I moved on to what causes these signs.
Not enough exercise
Too many carbs (grain)
Weather changes
Too long in stall
Not enough turnout
Ok...Well, how about 4 out of 5. Since the kids are on christmas break, we haven't gone on a ride on 5 days. Since winter has fully hit Virginia (weather change, we got snow)I increased his feed. And most importantly, my wonderful Hawaii horse doesn't like snow! He has practically been begging me to put him in his stall. On the flip side, he is turned out every day for the whole day. Either way, it is my fault. I should have seen all the signs adding up.
Next step, after figuring out what he had (stocking up), is what treatment do I apply? My heart is screaming VET, VET, VET! But, my mind is telling me to calm down and handle it. I always have a first aid-ish kit for the horses. bandages, standing wraps, betadine, bute, DMSO...you get the picture. I ran to the tack room to rummage through all the stuff. I dug out the quilts and standing wraps and the bottle of bute and headed back outdoors. I made a mental note of the time (1500) since standing wraps are only suppose to be on 12 hours and attempted to get the bute into my horse. I will be the first to admit that I hate taking medicine. Headaches, sprains, no matter what it is I have to be pretty bad off to take something. A trait my husband LOVES! Note the sarcasm. Well, I found that Olly seems to be the same way. I mixed some bute with applesauce and he wouldn't touch it, adding insult to injury, he curled his lip up at the thought of it. I did take one small scoop and put in the corner of his mouth. Just to make sure he got some of it and turned him out.
At dinner time I skipped the stall and just fed him in his tub(that had the remaining bute in) in the paddock. I also placed his their hay in 5 different spots across the paddock, so he would have to walk throughout the night to eat. Before I went to bed (2200) I made one last trip out to the padock to remove the standing wraps. I didn't want to have to get up at 0300 and brave the icy temperatures to remove them. They were only on for seven hours, but it seemed to help.
I got up early this morning to go out and check and see what my hard work reaped. I made a quick stop in the tack room to grab the standing wraps and quilts(which I had washed the night before) to re-wrap his legs. To my suprise the swelling was almost gone, just a bit of puffiness around the pastern. YEAH!!!! I passed on the bute and gave him his breakfast, NOT in his stall.
I feel really terrible. We worked so hard to find a house that had a barn with stalls for the horses when we moved. Now I am finding that I can hardly use them. Why am I paying all the extra money if I can't use them?!! Oh well. I am NOT moving again!
Later this afternoon I grabbed my dressage saddle and GPS and headed out to go on a nice ride in the freaking cold. I passed on the splint boots and used polos. I thought that the polos would give more to his hind legs than just the fetlock boots. At first he started out stiff and slow, but after a few minutes he was ready to go, just like any other day. I just can't figure him out. I know he wasn't feeling well with his legs inflammed and yet he is still wanting to canter. I made him walk(which is easy going AWAY from the house) for the first 30 minutes. Just to make sure he got all the kinks worked out from yesterday. Then, we started creating the impulsion. Extend the walk and ask for collection by holding the outsde rein and tinkling on the inside rein. He held it for a few strides before he would hollow out again. I praised him with a good boy and we would try it again. He was better at the left than at the right. I guess he is a lefty like me ;). On to trotting! This is where we have the most problem. I find myself getting discouraged every time I ride because of this. Here is a little background before I go on: I don't have an arena. We live on 8.something acres and it is ALL wooded and marshy. The horses have a medium sized paddock that is dry, but no quality for riding. There are, however, open fields and tons of shoulder along the roads. I just pick a field and go with it. Everyone is so nice here, they don't really care, that is as long as there is no corn or beans up. I have one field that I ride around in. It is for sale, I think for developing...maybe and acre or two. Perfect for setting up jumps. I still have to ask the owner about that. Anyway, it is a big grassy field and my ADD TB thinks it is a race track (even thought he has never been on one). Just when you think you are settled into a good working trot, I get "Do ya wanna canter? Do ya wanna canter?" Everyother stride at the trot is a half halt, just to remind him to stay in a trot. It is hard to even think about anything else. After another 25 minutes of trying to focus and getting him to settle I slowly and carefully give him the leg to canter. It always starts off with a nice departute on the correct lead and two strides later I get pulling on the bit and dropping his shoulder into the circle. I can fix the shoulder part easily, but the pulling is getting old. I tried to give him rein and that just makes him go faster. I have tried "whoa boy" and lightening my seat so I am not driving him and I can hardly put my legs on him on a normal day, so I don't even think about laying my legs on him. AND STILL he can't seem to control him self. I know it has got to be something I am doing and don't realize. I just don't know how to realize it. I take lessons, but with out me on him during those lessons it makes it more difficult. Tomorrow I am taking my tripod and camera out there with me so I can video it and maybe make some sense of it. I only cantered him for 5 minutes, since he was a bit under the weather from yesterday, and then we made our way back home. Oh, it wasn't over then. All the way home was a trot-trot nightmare. Every 3-4 strides I had to have him halt, think and then walk on. 3-4 strides later he was trying to trot again. I have changed his food, thinking maybe he was getting too many carbs and inturn making hm a bit hotter than he should be and it even crossed my mind to change his bit. That being last resort, of course. I ride him in a french link loose ring. Pretty mild and he responds well, but in these situations he tucks his head, to evade and slows his pace to a prance. Not gorunds for a stronger bit. Again, back to square one with me not getting the full picture.
So! New goal...go back a few steps and revisit the gaits. Walk means walk, trot means trot and canter means canter. This would be a good time to do some flat work since the ground is frozen from all this crappy snow. Jumping is on hold, at least until the weather gets better and his attitude gets better. Until then, more reading and video watching. I HAVE to figure out what I am doing wrong.
Back at the house I give him a good grooming and lots of hugs, after all he did do alot of work, even though he didn't want to. I grabbed the standing wraps and some DMSO just to cover all the bases. I noted the time (1400, remember standing wraps 101) and turned him out. I think I am going to lay off the stalling until the weather gets better. I know that totally defeats the purpose right now, but I really think he hates the snow and cold. To me, it seems like he wants to hide out in the warmth of the stall and do as little moving as possible, as I would like to do also. I can't really blame him! Unfortunately, I have to give some tough love and keep the blankets on.

Line of the day!

Today I was so tired and almost didn't feel like riding, but like so many others nothing will stop me from riding unless I am in the hospital having my legs removed and then it might be a toss up. I have been trying to manage my time better so I can ride more and it seems to be paying off. Olly is really becoming more confident. He isn't all the way there and has a TON of room for improvement, but I can see that he truely wants to please me. He will put all his heart into whatever he is doing. He strives for the "good boy" and a neck rub. I could spend my whole day just pampering him. Today as I walked out to the barn he saw me from the other side of the paddock hauling a saddle on my hip, bridle on my shoulder and blanket and bell botts in my hand took off galloping to his stall. He waited til I got there to open the door and walked in. I love my boy!!! He couldn't wait to get the show on the road. Saddled and ready to go we walked down to the grassy mile to warm up. We barely make it a 1/2 mile when we round the first hill and see a truck and a man wearing blaze orange...whoops! I called out sorry and made the best of the way home, bending and yielding. He was much more calm and focused today, maybe we didn't need the 3 mile warm-up. Back at the house I had the jumps already set for the day. We started out will a few lower jumps. Crossrails and 2'3" to get the blood pumping, it was a high of 45* today. Not so warm.



After making a few rounds playing around with strides, we raised the last jump to 2'6". For quite awhile now we have been jumping crossrails and vertilces that were only 18" to 2ft. It is time to up the minimum. No more 18" stuff. 2ft only here. Not that it is much of an increase but we have to start somewhere. After a few months of perfecting that we will raise the bar again. Olly can clearly jump upward of 3 ft, but what is height if you have nothing else. We have been paying attention to strides lately and he is actually understanding it better than I had originally thought he would. See, Olly has what I like to call horsey ADD. Tasks that take focusing and concentration seem to bee more difficult. I mean, on a good day I have to ride him for 20 minutes just to get his head on straight. So it is encouraging to see that he is capable of doing it.
On to 2'6"!! He floated right over. He is getting more and more fluid over the jumps too. I can't wait for the next show season. I know he will do great.



Just to mix it up in the end we jumped the bank about 10 feet to the right so he would have to drift to the left to make the crossrail. I wondered how he would handle it not being centered. He had only three strides to make it. I rode in two-point the entire way just to be ready. He actually did it perfectly. He made the crossrail right down the middle and the last jump like he had been straight from the begining. After you hit the first jump, the rest you just have to ride though, I mean, how can you fix the jump when you are one stride from it? You can't. I made sure he was collected before starting and kept my right leg on him to guide him to the left. He followed the direction great! I wish I would have video'd it. I just happened to think of it after I turned it off. Next time I will add it to the list. Tomorrow is Sunday! Long trail ride day! I also promised Colton he could ride Kiki. Pictures to follow.

Rush Against Time

It seems like on the only thing I do is try to beat the clock. If there were only a way to not sleep I would be good. I always have a few more things to do. Today was no exception. I looked at my watch and it was already noon. I hustled to get the jumps set up so I could ride before having to go pick up the kids from school. At this new house I have nowhere to put them. I asked the neighbor to use his excess land, but he was afraid my divots would ruin his lawn mower. I guees if I was 90 yrs old and riding a lawn mower I might have to consider that too. A few of the neighbors have huge "yards" so I will just have to keep working my wy down the lane until I get someone complient. For now, they are in my backyard, literally.



In our backyard we have this "area" that was used for a swimming pool by the owners (we rent). I made sure there wasn't anything that was harmful and decided to use it for a bank. It is filled with sand and holds water really well, too. One more thing to add to the Olly-will-jump list. As usual when I got on Olly today he was just as nutty. Since I have no arena to warm him up, we went on a trail ride to get the kinks out. This time he only wanted to canter, I thought the more you ride the more calm? Well, the beans and corn are down TONS of room for circles! It was really hard to get him to move out at a trot considering all he wanted to do was canter. He was totally on edge, spooking at almost everything. I just can't figure this horse out sometimes. First it was a 12"x12" flag on someones lanai, standard protocol: stop, stand as if you are really still and it won't see you and then dance around like a two year old on candy. Then it was a huge gravel truck, that was more like "oh shit! Where did that come from?" And last, but not least, 7 turkey vultures drinking from a puddle, which is not my favorite: while mom is not paying attention stop quickly (we were trotting), roll back and try to take off leaving mom to land on her ass not inches from the asphalt. Don't worry I had a helmet on! So, after finding out that I actually landed pretty softly and was not in pain, we made sure the vultures weren't plotting to attack us and I got back on and resumed trotting and fighting the will to canter, nay, gallop back to the little Chincoteague waiting back at the house. Even after a few miles of trotting he was still ready to go. Normally we will ride 5-6 miles. Today I didn't want him to be hacked out totally, remember, I have jumps set up back home. He wasn't giving in. Last chance....the nice grassy, hilly trail by the house. Much safer than the road, I let him canter it out there. It is about a 1.5 miles long and it looks like an FM wave. Up, down, up, down....after that, he walked. We used the 1/3 mile back to the house to recover and begin the jumping.
We started out with one of my own creations, but based on Jim's gymnastic lines. I incorperated the "bank" to make it interesting, a crossrail 24ft out. I found that with the bank he needs more room for two strides than with a regular set. Olly's regular two strides runs about 18ft-20ft. With the jump up from the wall I gave him an extra 4ft and it worked out great. From the crossrail I set an angled verticle (??) I came up with this idea after watching some of Lucinda Green's xc clinics. It was really different and that is what Olly needs. It also made him jump in the center. I am totally clueless if there are any other benefits from that kind of jump so if you know feel free to inform me. The first time through the line he wasn't thrilled at the last jump. But after the third try, that's right, the third try, he was jumping it like he had done it a million times. Verdict: I have to jump every single jump in the world so we can be prepared for the show season. lol!!!



Please note the Carhart. It was effing freezing out (44*!!!)

After his great round I gave him some sugar cubes and a good long brushing. He totally needs a bath, but we aren't in Hawaii any more, so, no more baths in December. A through brushing will have to do.

Swimmin!! But not today....

Last night I told myself that no matter how cold it was I was going riding tomorrow.
Tomorrow is here and I am wondering why I ever said that....lol.

We recently moved into a new house. The Army has decided it was time for us to move, even though we just did...I don't try to figure it out anymore I just try to make the best of the situation. On the other hand, we found a house that is WAY better than the one we were living in before. Three stall barn and almost 9 acres. I couldn't beat that with a stick! Bad news...we moved the day before Thanksgiving and I was sick as a DOG!!! No riding for me. It has been TWO weeks since Olly and I have ridden. I chose today to go riding because here in Va they have a law that there is no hunting on Sundays. I could ride where ever, within reason, and not get shot by doe eyed hunters.

So, this morning I get up and look outside, it doesn't look cold...that was my mind trying to reason with itself. My ass! It was like 34* this morning. Layers, that is what everyone is saying. Well, just to let you know, once you have spent 3 1/2 years in Hawaii, there aren't enough layers to keep me warm! After two shirts, a hoodie, socks that went up to my knees, jeans and a beanie I set foot out into a warm, yet cold, looking day. Olly was so happy to go he walked right into his stall and let me saddle him with out a halter or even tying him. I can't bvelieve how much he has grown in the few months that I have had him. I waved to my hubby and we were down the road.

I should have known that he would't be walking today. No riding in two weeks, that is like my kids on Christmas cookies! He was ready to go. I am not familiar with the area too much so we just followed the road. 198 to Harcum and just keep on keepin' on! It is so pretty out here. The corn and beans are down and that means cantering sets are a must. I don't normally do much cantering once he has been off for a few weeks, just because he ends up getting winded faster, but today he just wanted to stretch out so we did a few. As we are trotting, almost a piaffe now, I see a sign that say Public Boat Launch. Well, no time is better than the present...we make a left turn and follow the sign. Tons of open land. I wish I had just a bit of it. I would have the best xc course!
We continue to move along and up comes a field with three horses in it. GREAT! he is gonna have a blast making new friends! The sorrel was the first to the fence line. As soon as Olly saw him he stopped dead in his tracks did a roll back and took off! WTF??!! I totally did not see that coming. And not only did he do it again he made a run for it three times until I got him to face their paddock. Confused, I let him stand and just take in all he was seeing. I could feel his heartbeat and almost smell the adrenaline. A short minute passed and we were down the road like nothing happened. Typical.

So by now I was wondering where the Public Boat Launch was. I mean it had to be a pretty small lake to be around here. Bam! Out of no where this HUGE river, that looked like a lake.

I snapped a few pics with my phone and thought, "Man , this would be perfect for swimming in the summer." Mental note made.

We turn around after checking out the river and head home. It was a short ride only about 4-5 miles, but it was just enough to get the energy out. If I can invest in a carhart or something a bit warmer than a few hoodies piled together we will be in business. Tomorrow the boys are in school and we are going to be checking out a bit more of the area.

Pony Party!

Today after work I met up with Casey to go riding. She is doing me a HUGE favor by riding Kiki. Colton has been working so hard to ride this rotten little pony and she is starting to run though him. He isn't strong enough to bully her. SO...I have a friend that I ride with that is petite and an awesome rider, Casey! As we are saddling up the horses, Colton is looking out my bedroom window waving...until he sees Casey and Kiki. Uh-oh. Not minutes later he was standing on the lanai asking why "she" was here and why Kiki was out. I had to tell him that we were going for a ride. I was worried that a tantrum might be brewing. Surprisingly, he was ok with it. Off we went. We started out by just warming up in my "arena." I set up two crossrails at about 18".



After warming up, we started out with the low vertical. And by low, I mean LOW!



It was the same concept as the other day. Over the low vertical across the canter pole and take what lead was given and continue to the next jump in that direction. Olly did fine on the vertical, but over jumped the crossrail. Mainly because he kept dropping his shoulder into his right lead and cut the corner, in turn that made our strides off for the jump. So instead of cantering out of the vertical we dropped back to a trot until we got the idea to leghten and shorten. He picked it up fast and we were on to the next set. Next up, Casey and Kiki! Just so y'all know i have never jumped Kiki. I feel that I am way to heavy for her and would never do that to her little legs. Casey, on the other hand, is small and a great rider. Just perfect for the job.



Casey took the vertical great, Kiki not so much. She barely picked up her feet to clear it. A 6" vertical transformed into a ground pole in seconds! A vertical is an understatement, it was more like a cavaletti! Miss Kiki!! Casey did a large circle and did it again. Much better. Kiki is actually not a bad jumper. If she were 10 years younger, we might have a little eventer on our hands. She never questioned the jump other than she just didn't want to do it. Casey made her turn, canter and on correct leads. Casey and I took turns perfecting our jumping. We changed up the pattern half way through. I wanted to make a line with one stride. Casey was all for it. We rearranged the standards to make what we needed. Olly was first. He did rush a bit, but we trotted through until we got settled and then continued on with cantering. He is coming along so nicely that we might have to start the whole counting strides thing sooner than I anticipated. FINE BY ME!



Next it was Casey's turn to make the little Chincoteaque fly. It took a few tries, but she made it. Boy are those ponies stubborn.



After about an hour all the bugs were worked out. Kiki and Olly were ready to go home and relax. I think I even heard Kiki thank us for ending the session.

Riding in the Rain

Yesterday I trailered out to Brandywine Farms (where I take my lessons) and rode for the morning. There were all kinds of jumps to explore. I was hoping that the weather would actually be what was forcasted, 69* and sunny...it ended up being 60* and don't-look-up-or-you'll-drown rainy. Still, warm enough to ride. It almost reminded me of the Hawaii winters.
I was hoping that after our ride on Thursday Olly would be calmer. When I unloaded him from the trailer, he seemed ready to go. Don't get me wrong, that is one of the things I love about him, his forward (which is sometimes an understatment) movement. But as usual when I got on he was cool as a cucumber. I talked to Terri about this change in personality and she suggested that is was because when he is with the "herd" he feels comfortable and confident and when he is alone at home is is always on alert. Makes sense to me. I'll take it.
We started warming up by taking a look at EVERY fence that was in the arena. Only two looked normal. The others were eye-balled carefully. There were seven of us riding including me. Hannah, Casey, Darcy, Emily, Lindsay, Terri and I made the bunch. I love riding with all the girls. It makes it so much more fun.
It was only a few minutes until the sky opened up and we were headed to the indoor.

I love Casey in this pic! lol!!

We warmed up in the indoor for a few, trotting and cantering. And sure enough the rain stopped.


Back to the outdoor, Batman!!



After warming up we started over one crossrail, a bit of a what is that and then over. No problem. Then the line. PIE!



Moving on! We next tried the please-don't-eat-me green wall. It took a few swift kicks but he went over.



History was made. From that moment on he didn't refuse another jump. He put his trust in me. A feeling that made me smile from here to Hawaii.



We did alot of trotting in and cantering out of the jumps. Although we can canter, going over the jump versus counting strides is a big difference. We were just focusing going over new and exciting things. Strides will be later. We hit up the wall a few times and then Terri calls out "white barrels" and looks directly at me. Ummmm...I'm not going first!


Terri was confident that I was mostly the reason that my big red horse was not going over the jumps like he should. The anticipation from me was carrying over to him. No arguements there! "What you need is a packer," she suggested. O.k., remember how that went at the show...not in our favor AND it was way smaller than 2ft barrels. How can I say no, I mean, part of me was curious and wanted to try it again. This time Casey was my leader. The first time I watched her ride she was with us at the over fences show. I really think the judge had it out for our barn. I totally think she should have placed higher.

Casey and Breeze

But back to the jumping...Terri calls out "Sit, shoulders back and keep your leg on him." "Oh, and breathe!" I followed Casey and Breeze right over the barrels. HOLY CRAP! He did it! Now that was excitement. I felt like an Olympic jumper. I think that was the first time that he went over a jump without refusing it first. Sad, I know.
Next jump, blue barrels. Again, I wasn't going first. Hannah was the first off the line. She will jump anything. I wish that I was as good as she is when I was that age. One word for her...Fearless. And I still swear that she is older than 14.

Hannah and Neveah

We didn't need a packer this time, he not only went over the jump but cleared it by a mile. It would have been nice to know HOW high he was gonna jump. I had to hang on for dear life!

I didn't even get to my two-point!

At least he was calm after the jump he just cantered away, unlike one of the ponies...LUCY.
I rode Lucy at one of the barn shows, bareback. I have no idea how I did it. Darcy was hanging on for dear life, I mean not like grabbing mane or anything, but her legs were a-grippin' around those corners!! That pony would be great for an Open Jumping class, she can change a lead, cut a corner, and take a jump like nothing I have ever seen. I wish I would have gotten it on video. And Darcy...she rode her like a pro.

Darcy, ride her like you stole her!

After a few times over the barrels we called it a day. I think Olly had a great work out, two hours of jumping...he was WALKING on the trail to cool out.

Hannah and Neveah, Emily and Hailey, and Olly and I

Anticipation

Last Thursday at my lesson we learned not to anticipate the jump. I had a very hard time with this seeing as my horse hardly ever wants to go over the jump. It is hard not to anticipate failure. I know it sounds harsh, but in all reality we have failed alot. Olly and I have been working diligently to get over the jump and follow in good form.
How do you follow your jump in good form when you are just so damn excited that he actually went over it? Let me tell you...

I set up a few jumps today, not the same way as the lesson, but the same concept...

...a small vertical with feed bags draped from here to Egypt...

...with a canter pole 32ft out.

I put the canter pole mainly for me. I wanted to be able to keep him collected and calm and not rushing after the jump. He tends to rush in and out. Talk about half-halts!

This is where Terri's lesson came in. If he lands on his left lead we follow to the left and take the jump with the tires.

If he takes the right lead we follow to the right and take the high crossrail with flowers. None of the jumps were over 2'3".

This exercise does a few things...one...I don't anticipate the next jump, second he doesn't anticipate the next jump BECAUSE we don't know which way we are going yet. It also helps you feel the leads without looking. I tried to guess which lead he was on before looking. By the third time around I didn't even have to look anymore. Most of the time when I do look down at my leads I am correct, I think it is just a confidence thing.
By the end of the whole session he was tired and sweaty and I was a proud mama! He never once tried to refuse the jumps. He took them head on and kept the forward motion. He never second guessed himself. A few times he did chip and reach for a jump (a few times I grabbed mane to prevent hitting him in the mouth) but over all he went over and never knocked one down. He was willing and confident!!! He has been making great strides (no pun intended) in his jumping.
Tomorrow we are going for a long, long, long trail ride.

Jim Wofford book in motion

This morning we got up and went for a morning ride. I had husband take some cinder blocks out to my "arena" to make a make-shift oxer. I need to build a few more standards to complete the line, but those will do for now. We started out with some trotting, which after a few strides ended in a canter, it took a few times around to get him to realizie that I was serious. When he gets so forward it is tough to keep him focused. I constantly have to change directions and gaits. And I try to avoid cantering until he settles in. It was cooler this morning so that added to it too. After we were ready to focus (about 30 minutes) we started with the line we finished with on Wed. He did it with ease (yeah!!). The next step Jim's (we are on a first name basis lol) book is to change the vertical into an oxer. I first changed it into an acending oxer so he could get used to the depth. I want to make sure he doesn't refuse any jumps. He is so sensitive with trust, if I keep him on a good path then maybe he will eventually just go with whatever I put him against.


After a few tries of the acending oxer we moved on to an oxer 18" high with a 2'6" spread. The goal is to jump wider than the oxer is higher. My thought was that he was going to over jump the oxer to compensate the width, to my surprise, he didn't. He jumped it great. I went back and looked at the video later and it showed that he jumped higher than he needed, but not wider. Goal accomplished :)!


At the end of our jumping session we went on a short trail ride. Olly loves trails. It seems more like a reward than a cool down. Fine by me either way. He deserved them both!

Gymnastic line of the day

So according to Jim Wofford this exercise will help your horse learn to jump correctly. It is in the begining of the book, actually it is exercise 2.  We started out warming up. I have decided to use a running martingale since I watched my last video over the flowers and he seemed "giraffe-y" (to use Stacy's words). It is amazing how much you can learn from watching yourself on video. I would advise everyone to do it. So, as I was saying, we started warming up and he didn't take too long to fall in and start bending. We did some dressage movements with circles at the walk and trot and a few laps at a canter both ways, then we decided to try the line. He did really great the frist time, although not perfect, he did do good. We went over it two more times and the last time it was amazing. I wish I had it on video. It always make me feel like I am on the right track when it all comes together. It took alot to make the decision, but I decided to end on a good note and be finished with the jumping. After doing such a great lne, it makes you want to keep going. I fought the inner urge and walked him out. I think he appreciated the rest and all the love I gave him for giving it such a good try. Next time we are going to make the vertical an oxer...

Go the Distance

So yesterday I was thinking about where I can get in some good long distance trail riding. We have a few places around here, but now that deer season is starting I am not so sure that I want to be riding around on an animal that could be mistaken for dinner to a hunter. I remembered that down the road from me, maybe a mile or so, there was a Boy Scouts "farm" or what ever you want to call it. I knew there would be no hunting there because of the kids. Now if I could only get permission. It looked like there was no one there.

I go to get Olly saddled and I notice that his fetlocks were a bit swollen. Freaked I tried to call Stacy, my first go to. I thought about texting a picture but I shortly remembered iphones don't get picture texts. You really need to look into another phone Stacy! Anyway, it looked like it was just from stocking up. It didn't really feel like tissue swelling it felt like a fluid edema. I called Terri, my instructor, to run my idea past her. She agreed and told me to ride him for 10 minues and re-evaluate.

Before

A bit nervous I climbed on and started towards the Boy Scouts of America. Whatta ya know, 10 minutes is exactly how long it took me to get down there, at a walk of course. I rechecked the fet's and sure enough the swelling was gone. Whew!! Legs and feet make me so nervous. You never know what is going to happen. It could be something as huge as a cross country course or as little as a twist in the paddock.

After

After getting back on and feeling more at ease with the fetlock thing, we are walking down a paved drive and we come to a pond. I really wasn't paying attention to the pond because I was looking at this HUGE open field that would be great for galloping sets. All of a sudden Olly excutes a not too shabby roll-back and takes off running at a high rate of speed. At the other end of the pond I hear a goose honking. I make him turn around and face his fears, after all is a goose really classified as a fear? He sticks it out and moves on.

See the culprit?

We move on down the road and in the distance there is a generator. Good someone to talk to about riding on the land. I walk up and he shuts the generator off and says "What are you doing here?" Ok, strike one, so I ask am I allowed to have animals here. He says "Yeah, that's not the problem, who are you?" After talking and being a polite as I could be, he agreed to let me ride any of the land as long as it was after 1700, no weekends and if I didn't "tear up the place." WTF???? Seriously? What can a horse and I possible "tear up?" Anyway I promised to behave and told him I would let him know when I was accessing the land so he would think I was half way responsible. He also told me a route that I can take from behind my house all they way to there so I didn't have to walk the road. Super! A well maintained path for the riding? Awesome.


We make our way around the paths to another open field. It was gorgeous. All I could think of is galloping away with my GPS. Olly must have been thinking the same thing minus the GPS, he was pulling my arms off. We CANTER a bit, which might have been a bad idea, since he didn't want to stop...


...but he did. And I don't mean like a gradual trot to a walk. I mean a freaking halt! Why? Maybe because two deer jumped out and he almost shit himself. See that is one problem with Hawaii. No wildlife, my horse has never seen a deer, racoon, possom or squirril to name just a few. He stood so still it would have seemed he wasn't even breathing. He was actually trying to figure out what they were. I could feel his heartbeat through my chaps. After what seemed like minutes, he started in their direction (the deer stopped and were looking at this huge animal too). He wanted to run, I think he was really curious and not afraid. Either way, not doing a roll-back and running WAS an improvement.


After relaxing from the deer I looked up and realized that the sun was setting and I had better get home. I only had about 20 minutes of daylight left and it was at least a 15 minute ride.


It is truely pretty out here in Va and I hope to see more of it. Olly and I are progressing exponetially which would have never happened in Hawaii, I am sad to say. I really do miss it there (the people and the land) but Olly and I are better here in horsey-land.

Flower power

In my last blog it stated that my horse WOULD NOT jump the flower vertical, even though it was only 18". So this past weekend we braved the cold weather and tackled the dreaded "flower jump." I had some left over fall looking silk leaves that I used to make a festive wreath last year that would work just fine. Bright yellows, oranges and everything in between. I took them out to our "arena" and plastered them around one of the standards and along the ground rails. It was for sure to make him stop and think. Sure enough it did.It wasn't a jump yet just a canter pole with one stride to a vertical. We entered it at a trot and out of it at a canter. Easy, right? Well now to ad a crossrail (I also dropped the vertical to a crossrail). This made him think, it looked different. Before even attempting and failing I walked him up to it so he could evaluate. We even trotted around it a few. At the frist attemp he bulked but went right over. I'll take it!!! At least the forwad motion stayed forward. Now all we have to work on is the departure.

Hunter over fences show...

Sunday the Oct 11th we went to our first hunter over fences show. It did have a few flat classes that we entered, but it was mostly jumping.
It started the night before, as all show do, with the banding and cleaning. I wanted to give Olly a bath, but the weather ended up really chilly that night. Little did I know that was nothing compared to the next morning. Terri arrived at my house at 1730 to pick up Olly. We had to leave a 0630 to be at the show for another rider to school. It was easier to get him the night before. I followed her back to the farm to feed Olly dinner and make sure he was settled in. It was hard to know that he would be staying the night not with me. How could have I boarded him before? It seemed like a crazy thought now. I enjoy having him right outside my window that it is hard to know that he was staying the night somewhere else.
Of course he was fine the next morning when I showed up. He was still in his ninja suit all clean. I know that it was only a schooling show, but I take it seriously. Banded, braided and ready to go. Don't even get started on clipping. Even thought it was a "just for fun" show you should still look nice.
0530 comes pretty early in Va. It came so early that "warm" wasn't even up. it was a whopping 42*. isn't that against the law? I mean can you ease a Hawaii horse into the cold weather? Va is rough!! Good thing he had his rain sheet and ninja suit on, oh, and he had shipping boots. He looked like he was from Hawaii! If they made Parka's for horses this is what they would look like lol. By the time breakfast was over it was 0630, time to load up. Olly is great at loading. Sometimes in a new trailer he will give me a look and I will say it's ok and give him a pat and that is all it takes. He is trusting me more and more everyday. After a 30 minute ride to the show, a quart of coffee and a quick prayer that the sun WILL shine today we arrive.
I sign up for my classes, which were $10 each (!!!), when I was younger (boy I sound old) they were only $3, I go to saddle up. Since I am here this early better use my time! As I head to the arena all I can see are these extravagant jumps. Hunter my butt! We are talking painted rock wall, lattice gate, purple, pink and any other pastel color you can think of, flowers and the list goes on. I already knew my jumping day was over before it even started. We warm up and Terri suggests we try a "baby hunter" jump (18"). i told her right at the get-go...he ain't goin'! We'll try a packer, she says. Ok but I am telling you he isn't a dumb boy. Little Oreo was chosen for the job. He is a 12h pinto that can jump the Empire State Building. Off at a trot he goes, Olly and I 10ft behind him. It was going ok until, literally, 2ft to go. I mean he should be at take off by now and well, we weren't. He planted his feet and I went crotch to the pommel. All I could think was DO NOT fall off at the hunter show with 50 people watching. I hear Terri (faint over my own thoughts) SIT!!! I jammed my heels as far as they could go grabbed a bit of mane and sat up. SHIT! That was a close one! I vowed by the next weekend he WOULD go over some flowers! I don't care if they were drilled into a ground pole. We are still working on the trust. I schooled a bit more and then back to the trailer we went. Our flat classes were a few hours away.
The first flat class was really great. We did all we were asked and at a very slow collected pace. I was so proud of Olly. As we lined up for the results, a woman walked up to me and said, ummm I am sorry to tell you because you did so well, but flash nosebands are illegal in hunter classes. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Are you kidding me?? I got 6th out of 6. Out of the 50 people that were standing around the damn arena no one thoght to tell me? Thanks Va once again! All in all it was just a schooling show and we were just there for fun, but it does make it nicer when you don't place....last.

The last three classes were just the same. under saddle and two eq classes. I ended up getting a 4th, 5th and a 6th. No last places, which was good. olly was in the zone, or should I say not in the zone. He was totally calm. I think it had something to do with me not being nervous. I guess if that is all that it takes then I will do what ever I can to keep it undr wraps.
At the end of the day we had competed in 4 classes and gained experience. I couldn't ask for more. I also had a Walmart craft center shopping trip planned for some brightly colored flowers ;)

See those stinking flower jumps!!

Dressage Show

We had our first Deressage show on Sunday. The plannign started out on Saturday afternoon. We went and practiced the test a few times and they the grooming started. I was a little nervous because i ahve NEVER clipped him before. I knew that everything would go smoothly with his body and muzzle, but I was concerned with his ears. I mean who likes buzzing in their ears? We were about ot find out...
We started with the ears just in case we needed to take a few breaks. He actually did fine. It didn't get bad until I had to get down into his ear where all the fuzz was. We did one ear took a break and then did the other. After that the rest was pie. Next was bath time. I love giving him a bath. He looks so nice. All clean, no dirt. He shines. Although I had to make sure he had his ninja suit on and a blanket and standing wraps just to keep hiim clean, he ended up pretty for show day.
We only showed in one class. Which was enough for us this time.




I have attached the video.

This weekend we are going to a hunter show to do some light jumping and equitation classes. More to follow.

New Stuff!!!

I always love getting mail. Problem is nothing ever comes for me unless I am the one ordering it lol! Husband must have forgotten to check the mail yesterday, because he came walking down the drive with a package this morning. It was a bit small but when he said Horseloverz I knew exactly what it was. I stopped what i was doing, feeding the horses, and grabbes a pair of scissors from the grooming box and went to town on the tape. In the box was a bit I oredered for Kiki and he new bell and splint boots. Lime green of course. Her bit was so tiny and cute. I couldn't wait to put it all one her. None of her tack matched, but then again she wasn't headed to the show ring. I told Colton to get ready as soon as she was done eating we would try everything on. Kiki is coming along so well. She is gaining weight and is sassy as ever. Aren't all mares at some point? She has just enough umph to keep the boys going and enough experience to not spook at a mailbox. After a bit of a snack break we put all the tack together and got her out of the paddock. Of course Olly thought we were taking her away forever, we just stayed in the yard. One of the problems we were having with the pony riding was grass eating. I was talking to my trainer about it and she said why son't you put grazing reins one her? DUH!!! How did I not think of that? So after fitting all the tack, I grabbed some nylon rope and fit it just enough that Kiki couldn't reach the ground. Colton was beaming. He was much more confident that she wasn't going to eat grass he hopped right into the saddle and rode her around the yard like he had been doing it al his life. No Fear!
Grass eating reins functioning!
I remember when I was 9 years old, Slick, the first real pony I had, always wore a standing martingale. My dad told me it was so he couldn't rear. Now I think back and feel like a total idiot, but then it made me feel better. I would NEVER ride that pony with out the martingale. Just because I thought I would be safe. I knewthis was the same thing with Colton. I would attach anything to that pony just to make him feel safe. Granted this piece of equipment was actually for what I said it was, but that is besides the point. So I let all 3 boys ride. They loved it. once they were done I took a turn. I have been dying to know how this pony rides. So first I just put some of my weight across her. I am sure the neighbors were thinkin what in the hell is she doing? I didn't want to just jump up on her. She is a grandma. After finding some osrt of mounting block so I didn't slam onto her back from swinging up on her, I started with just walk. She didn't have one problem holding me. She actually started to trot around. She is quite a spunky one, that Kiki. She did great. Not too stubborn and not to complient. Just enough fight to make the boys learn. I knew she was a good buy. After a few laps around the yard I got off. It was time to get the baths going. i don't think she has had many baths in her life. She seems to be a bit skeptical of the water. Olly tries to drink out of the hose, but Kiki keeps a wide eye on me. Colton and I washed and combed her head to toe. She seemed to enjoy the currying though. Clean pony coming through!!! She is so cute. I left her mane long for you Holly!!! After her bath it was dinner and then back out to ride Olly. He is such a beautiful horse. I look at him every day and think i am the luckiest person in the world. When I go outside, no matter what time, he will neigh and say hi to me. He truely enjoys being my horse. I could tell that this ride would be interesting. He hadn't been ridden in like 4 days. That is the limit for him. Anymore than that and he is totally out of control. It is like someone fed him sugar. I was prepared. I could see the look in his eye when I tried to get on and he was almost walking in place. He wanted to go. Well maybe he needs to go...so I started out down the road to our trail. I am sure by now the neighbors know when I am rideing just due to him neighing to Kiki all the way down the road. Every few steps I feel this jiggle all over. Crazy horse! As we get to the entrance I loosen my grip on the reins. As I start posting he is in a trot. And not one or those choppy flat back trots. He was round and pushing! Nice! I just went with it. As we slowed to round the corner to our field I could see 2 kids running through the grass. I am sure it was to pet the pretty horse. Olly hadn't seen them yet. Be ready I think. I can just see them speeding out of the tall, almost over their head, grass and there I go into the weeds. As thought, poof there the kids are. I wait for it and...nothing! He just stands there like he knew it all along. I KNOW he didn't see those kids. He was off in lala land trying to find Kiki. Either way he didn't spook and that is an improvement! I wasn't in the mood to play pet my horse so we said hi and kept going. We get to my make-shift grass arena and try some transitions. As usual he isn't paying attention so I have to mix it up every other step. I learned alot from this new trainer, how to use my legs in so many ways so I decided no time is better than the present. We started out at a medium trot on the short sides of the "arena" and lengthened on the long. he was doing pretty good, but was cutting the corners, so that is where the legs came in. Whatta ya know...? He was way beeter than that 3 yr old I rode on Thurs. Maybe he is better than I thought. We did more transitions w-t-c and most importantly halt. We tried to be square... The halt was iffy, but the rest was good. He was actually collecting better than normal. I chalk it up to my legs and paying more attention to what I am doing. Who would have thought I was the one wrong...lol. End on a good note, right? And we did. Our ride back to the house was, again, nothing but communicating with gf back home. At least I got him to listen to me when I needed it. Back to the barn to get a nice well deserved bath and some linament spray. He was so worn out he only drank from the hose twice. I like to see Olly calm, it means we had a GOOD ride!

Confidence

This morning I woke up and stepped out side and it was freaking freezing out. I put my Wellies on and went back in the house to get a hoodie. It was already 0815 why was it so damn cold this early in Sept? Who knew...we aren't in Kansas, I mean, Hawaii anymore. After feeding I pulled out Olly's rain sheet and a netted fly sheet for Kiki. The sky was gloomy but it didn't call for rain. We would see.

After coming home from school I rushed to get things done so I could make it to my lesson. I was so excited to ride. I have been learning so much from this new trainer. She is awesome. One of her Oldenburg/Hanovarians go for 35K each. Tonight I got to ride one of her 3 yr olds. Amazing! Her name was Haily and she oh so reminded me of Olly. He was more built and balanced, but their minds were on the same wave length. Good, I need to ride a horse that is more like my own. What an hour this would be. We started out at a posting trot. Not too bad until we nearly ran into the rail. Remember!! 3 year olds need to be focused on. Olly had attention issues, but this was too much! After 2-3 times around the arena we were doing great. My legs were about to fall off from thigh, calf, thigh, calf thigh calf, inside leg, outside leg...well you get the picture. As the lesson went on, I started thinking, ya know, maybe this is why Olly is not as advanced as he should be. I am the one that is jacking him up...I learned so many new things tonight just dealing with leg usage I could choke a horse...lol. I can't wait to try them all out on Olly this weekend. I hardly used my hands, which is nothing new, but I mean hardly at all!
Lesson day is Thurs. I will have pics next time so you can see where I ride.

One Week

So yesterday was one week since we got Kiki. She is already showing improvement.

Like I said before, I started her out on alf cubes, 1/4c oil and electrolytes. We are adding about 1c of some senior food, just to increase the fat and calorie content. She is such a good pony. Olly loves her and the boys can't wait to ride her. I couldn't put them off any longer. Colton had been nagging me all day every day to ride HIS pony. So I thought, well lets see if his saddle fits. Last year I found a childs sized AP saddle. I bet it is only a 12", it fits him almost perfectly. The only thig I was worried about for Kiki was the tree size. How else then to try it on. After helping husband clean the garage I pulled out the mini saddle. I had a pad, but what about the girth? Crap! I looked through my stuff, how on earth was I going to make a 50" girth fit a 12h pony? Hey...what about my dressage girth? Yea! I am a genius! Might need a bliiet extender, but it might work. So I tote all the stuff out to the barn and get going. After brushing and spoiling her I set the saddle on her back, amazing, it fits! Withers, check...level on the back, check-check...not too far on the shoulder, CHECK and CHECK! And here I thought I was going to have to buy all new stuff for this girl. Now the girth...son-of-a-monkey it worked! I don't have a bridle for her yet so I just hooked a pair of reins to her halter, hopefully she won't pull through it.

Time to get on! Colton was so excited he came with pj's on and no shoes, yes my kids are part hillbilly, I won't say from which side of the family that comes from. As soon as the boots are on you can go I tell him. In a flash he was back and on that pony!

Told you he was hillbilly, but I love him!
She was suprisingly responsive. Most ponies that are aged and have been ridden alot tend to be dead sided and hard mouthed. Barely a bump on the side and she is into a trot, a pull with one had and she is almost spinning. Who would want to sell this great pony?! The ride didn't last long. Kiki likes her grass and it posed a problem with my new little rider. It isn't fun when the pony doesn't do what you want it to...the crying started. Not only did I feel bad that he was upset, I had been there too at times, but the neighbors were looking at me like some crazy mom that was making her kid ride this, as Colton put it "mean" pony. After settling him down a bit, I told him that Kiki is sad and didn't know why he was crying. She just wants to know what she did wrong. After putting it that way, he told her he was sorry, gave it one more try and decided to end on a good note for the day. A beautiful ending.
When I was 9 my dad put me up on this 13.3h paint gelding that hadn't been ridden in years and said "have fun." All I did was hang on at a full hand gallop until after a few weeks got the balls to yank him to a stop. No love filled talks about what I might be doing wrong. Just here is your pony and good luck. Love you too dad...in the end I guess it made me realize that I had to get my pony to listen to me. A year later he and I won first place in the flag race and the keyhole race and ended up going to Indianapolis to compete. He was the best pony in the world. I hope that Colton can find a pony like that to teach him what he needs, but in a more understanding and learning environment than mine, of course...lol.
My other boys gave it a try too. Travis loved it and actually did well with the grass eating pony.

All my kids are hillbilly in someway...
Brad rode well too, no pic though. He needed an extra hand. Like I said...grass eating pony.
We gave Kiki lots of love and apologized for the behavior and went to untack. Nothing but brushing and food for the rest of the night. in the end, I am proud of Colton sucking up his fears and at least taking into consideration that he might be part of the problem. She is a living animal and has feelings too. Another learning experience!

Olly wanted to be in the action too, afterall it was his girlfriend that was getting all the attention. And we can't have that...lol!

Obsessed, much?

Today the weather was great for riding. Unfortunately, I had to go look for a job. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about working again, just not when I could be riding. I headed out at 0930 to start passing out my resumes. after 4 hours and 9 resumes I was finally done. Lunch and then a ride.
Anytime I go out side Olly neighs at me. He is always expecting a treat of some sort. Sometimes a sugar cube or a granola bar. He is even happy with a kiss. What a good boy. I walk to the garage to get his halter and boy, watch his eyes perk. He knows what is coming. Straight to the gate he ran. Lack of energy, I think not. I tie him to the barn and start evaluating his coat. O-M-G!! He must have rolled every day this week! The dirt was so thick on him it took 20 minutes to brush just the front half of him. I think if I would have given him a bath he would have been a mud pie. Another 20 minutes for the rear and we are ready for the saddle.

What a change in attitude from a week and a half ago. today he is calm and loving all the attention. No pawing or stomping. No head tossing or dancing. Just a thankful horse. Talk about dual personality. Lets hope the other one stays away.

Typically, as we walk away, he neighs and makes sure Kiki knows that he is leaving. We enter the trail and the testing begins. A little prancing here and there. I start to move him out and, well, it is just easier to canter...sorry boy, I asked for a lengthened trot. Back to a walk we go. We went back and forth like this for a few strides and then he finally realized that what ever mama says, goes. If only EVERYONE realized this...lol.
We get down to the end of the trail, it isn't very long, and Kiki neighs. Here we go again!

Let me explain the one and only trail I have to ride on (so far). It goes a few houses down the street and circles back behind my house. So really, they can still whiney the entire ride. Which is fine, he needs to learn to deal. I am working on getting more trail riding privledges, I just have to get to know the neighbors first.
So back to the prancing, almost a piaffe. walk, trot, move out...back to a walk. About 30 minutes into the ride the white flag goes up and he is supple and listening. Once again, mama is always right. We stop at my little grass arena to do some transitions and circles.

On the last part of the trail it is mostly sand. I look down because Olly's shoe prints are imprinted and I see deer tracks. Husband will be soooo happy to hear that! Maybe a deer in our freezer this winter? We can only hope.

What ever it takes to keep his mind on me and not Kiki. Another 30 minutes pass and we are on the road back home. Not too bad. A few houses from home the neighing starts again.

3rd house on the left is ours
I really don't mind the talking back and forth, it is the pay-no-mind to anything else that irritates me. He is getting better. But not the best. I think he has ADHD.
Back at the barn I work on this dirt, which I thought I had brushed off. It is coming out of his pores!! Can't wait til Friday (that is bath day). I get the dirt to a minimal and start on the tail. I have a huge issue with tails. I have to completely brush them. I know it isn't good to do, but I can't help it. Every week I wash, condition and brush his tail. Then I braid and bag it. Ask anyone in Hawaii He always had a tail bag on.



Fully brushed

Thrilled

Braided perfection



I can't help it. I hope his tail doesn't suffer to badly from split ends because of my bad habit. After all the grooming it is dinner time and the ponies go back in the paddock for bed. The love each other so much.

I think I might have created a monster!

Olly's New Friend

Last Thursday we decided to go looking for a "real" friend for Olly. The goat didn't exactly click with him. She was afraid of the big red horse, as would I. I got on my favorite go to, Craig's List. First let me tell you about the problems with Craig's List. Most people that list on Craig's List are idiots. They have no clue how to spell, let alone sell something. Most of the time it is mostly crap that they are trying to sell and for way to much money. This is what I encountered last Thursday. The ad sounded great and the picture looked awesome. FOR SALE Chincoteague pony!! I jumped on it. First with email and then by phone. Of course they still had the pony! We head out to go take a look at "Kiki." After driving and hour and getting lost (the GPS isn't always accurate), we roll up to a nice house with TONS of animals. And I am not talking like goats and horses and cows. I mean monkeys, llamas and wallabys. I think to myself before I even get out of the truck, "this woman is nuts."
We get out of the truck and see this scraggly bag of bones tied to a lunge line in the side yard. By the coloration, this is "Kiki." My heart sank, not because I was disappointed to have a good pony gone bad, but to see all that this woman put into her other animals and yet her horses (yes, she had 2 others) were starving. All of them were like a 2. FYI normal horses are like a 5-6. This pony was emaciated. I wanted to buy her just to get her healthy again. The lady walks up to me an says in a chipper voice, "this is Kiki." I looked at her and while trying to hold back the profanity, said this pony is WAY too skinny, emaciated even. Her only response was well, I am so busy with the other exotics that I just don't have time. The kids are suppose to care for the horses. I feed them hay and whatever pasture they can eat. Well woman take me to see this wonderful "pasture" you are feeding. As I walk around the house I see this paddock, while large enough to house 2 horses and a pony was a complete shit hole. Literally. It looked like it hadn't been mucked in, well, forever. Who wants to eat grass next to a pile of crap. Oh, and the hay, orchard...grass hay, cow hay, CRAP, for nutrition. OK for fiber, but it is mostly cellulose. Nothing that a horse can live on. No wonder this pony and the other horses for that fact were so skinny. Next question: worming? Shots? NOTHING...she had the pony for 4 months and didn't even know what the other owners had given her. Give it up for the Craig's List genius! I had to have this pony, husband thought otherwise. In his eyes this little Chincoteague mare was a money pit. All I could see is my heart being ripped out of my chest.
Time to talk money. this woman must have needed some money, she wasn't budging on the price. $500. For what? An emaciated pony. Oh, and by the way the previous owners told this woman that Kiki was 12 years old...try closer to 20-25. Anyway, the only bargaining chip I had was the skinny thing, a big deal, but obviously not to this woman. Final deal: $400 and she delivers for free. DEAL!!!! For $400 I get an emaciated pony with months of "food rehab" and vet bills, wow, I made out like a fat rat...(can you hear the sarcasm?). Not to mention I had to deal with my husband. Thankfully he trusted my decision and gave me what I want, a common event in our house :) He soooooo loves me!

Friday morning was delivery day. Colton couldn't be more excited. The only people "allowed" to touch HIS pony was me and him....that's it. He waited by the window all morning until the trailer pulled up. We unloaded her and let her eat some grass while he sat on her back. He was in heaven. He is definitely my son.
Down the barn to get some food. I did some research on how to rehab a horse when emaciated. Start out giving 0.5% of their body weight for 5-7 days. I started with Alf cubes. No grains yet. We don't need a founder, too. Increase by 0.5% every 5-7 days until you reach 1.5%, then start adding grains. I chose a senior diet just because it is easier to digest and the fact that she is a senior. We are still on the first set of 5-7 days, so keep following on how Kiki's weight is improving in the future. ;)
Kiki is warming up to our life, and Olly is really warming up to Kiki. He has a GIRLFRIEND!!! Watch out Klein! Olly likes them big and small...lol!

Olly and I went out on a trail ride only a few day after we had Kiki. The trail goes down the road and behind the house. As we were walking down the road, he is just neighing and neighing, we all know how attached he gets to his friends. Kiki is neighing back, they totally miss one another. I mean, that is good, but I don't want it to get too bad. The say their good-byes and we are focused. We were only gone maybe 15 minutes, when a little Chincoteague neighs and it is all over. Nothing but amazing paiffe's and head tossing. If only he would give me this collection in the ring, without the head tossing of course. I get him calmed down and go for some cantering sets. Just one minute at first and then a 2 minute walk, another one minute canter and a 2 minute walk. Nothing big just starting slow, since he did have that 2 month break. We head back to the house and as soon as we are in site of the barn the neighing begins again. It was like they hadn't seen each other for a year. I let Olly walk up to Kiki, she is waiting for him at the gate,after dismounting of course, and she squeals and kicks out. MARES!! I want you but only when I want you. Typical! Oh well. they are happy and that is all I need.

I was so excited to get the fence finished last Sunday.

I scheduled to have Olly trailered from the farm he was staying at on Monday. Who would have known it costs more here to trailer a horse than Hawaii? The lady did have an awesome trailer though. We decided not to electricify the fence because we had two strands of poly-wire and it seemed to be enough.

I got up early the next morning to register my boys for school and then it was off to get my boy. I told the lady that was trailering for me that I would meet her at the stable. Little to my knowledge, from the highway it is almost impossible to find. No GPS or MapQuest would help her. We got a phone call about 45 min late that she was lost. Bobbi, the stable owner, had to go look for her.
Being postponed and hour was a small price to pay to get my big red horse back. It was hot as hell out and by the time we made it back to the house Olly was sweating, just from the trailer ride. Time to order electrolytes. I lead him out of he trailer and let him eat some grass. Just to get used to the area. It is new and Olly and new usually aren't friends.
After a few minutes I throw him in the paddock to get some water and give him some hay. "You are home boy!" I call out to him as I head into the house to get him and apple and some sugar cubes. He doesn't seem that relaxed when I come back out. He is pacing the fence line and neighing at me. Poor boy is lonely. Just coming from a stable that has 30 horses to a house with none.
After watching him for a few minutes we (my husband and I) decided to head out to the neighbors and look for a goat. That might help. We were gone mabye 90 minutes and as we turn down our road husband says there is horse crap on the road! OH NO!!!! I am the only one with a horse on this road, please tell me someone was trail riding...NOPE! As we pull into the drive our wonderful neighbor, whom I have never met before this episode, was standing in our yard watching my horse run the perimeter. GREAT! What a way to be welcomed to the neighborhood. I walked over to Olly and noticed that there was an extra strand of poly-wire wrapped around the top of the posts and find out that he didn't break through the fence, he jumped it.
Our neighbor about 4 houses down offered to throw Olly in with his horses (I found out they had 2 mustangs, nice ones at that)for the night so I could get the fence better prepared. So I grab Olly up and walk him down the road a few houses down.
One of the mustangs was a gorgeous buckskin mare, who was totally a mare. She was ready to put Olly in his place, that is if she could catch him. We got him in the paddock and turned them loose. They ran over a total of 4-5 acres and who would have thought, Olly busted through their 3 stranded hot wire (that wasn't hot). I put his halter on him and try to stop apologizing to the owner for my horse blasting through his fence and walk him back to the smaller paddock away from the mustangs. We decided that seperating them might be the best. So, we closed the gate and let him go meet the mustangs at the fence. Guess what? He jumped the fence to get to the other horses!?? Was I missing something? What the heck is wrong with my horse? I mean, I wanted a jumper but, two 4ft fences in one day!? After trying to figure out what to do with my running fence jumper, I walked back to the house and put him in the stall and nailed 3 2x8's across the door. Has it really come down to this? I had to lock my horse (unsafely at that) in his stall to keep him from taking off. Way to make a mom feel good. But he did stay in.
The next day we were off to TSC to buy more fencing materials. After a bucket of sweat and 2 more strands of poly-wire, this time HOT, my big red horse was able to be in his paddock during the day while I was home. Night time was still in his stall, which we added a nice cattle gate and lock too.

Beverley the Goat to help with anxiety.
Two nights in the stall with lots of turn outs and a small addition, we were able to keep the big red horse safe.

The stall with "Olly" proof gate and 4 strand poly-wire.

New Home

I know I haven't been keeping this thing updated, but I have good reasons. We are now in Virginia. Yes, my olly boy traveled all the way from Hawaii to Va. He Left the day before I did, July 17th. The day startd out by heading to the barn to meet Pris. What a long day this was going to be. I wanted to make sure he was fed and watered before we left, just so I kew he had one good meal before I saw him again in Va. The flight left at 1400. Plenty of time. Just relax. I took my time brushing and getting his shipping boots on. I knew that I wouldn't see him for at least 2 weeks. My heart was breaking. Olly seemed to be sympathetic and let me do all the grooming I wanted. As he finished up he breakfast, I see Pris coming around the corner with the trailer. i tell my hubby good bye, and start worrying again. It is hard to trust anyone, let alone someone you don't even know, take care of your horse. Just like your kids, ya know?
Well, time to move...
As we make our way to the airport, I double check all the papers and numbers. we don't need anything going wrong at this point. Check and check. I look up and what do I see...PacificAirLift plane. We must be there.
We get everything sorted out and it is off to the back where we load. as we pull through the "gate" as if you could call it that, we have to follow all these rules. The biggest one DON'T GO ON THE TARMACK!!! You would think that they have explosives out there. So I am taking in all that is around me and Pris comments, there is the stall he will be riding in. WHAT!! Three horses fit in that? They must be nuts!


I get out of the truck to take a better look at this "stall" they have for my 16.1h TB gelding to fly 5 hours over the ocean in. It was a tight spot. Good thing he is skinny. Go TB's!


Get aload of that ramp!
I am the type of person to 1/2 hear the situation and then bitch. Luckily I stepped out of my comfort zone and listened this time. One horse backed out so there would only be Olly and one other horse in the three "stall" connex. After hearing out all options, I get a NOT friendly "GET YOUR HORSE!!" It must be one of those wonderful airport workers...

Here we go...part of wondered if he would go up that incredibly steep ramp and the other part of me was like my horse is kick ass and he trusts me so let's get this party started.

He walked up that ramp like he owned it! That's my big red horse!!

I was nervous to see my boy fly across the ocean and then bus across 3ooo miles of mainland, and he wasn't worried a bit. I need to take lessons from him.

Off he goes. He made the trip with excellence. No problems and he is now in Va at a stable not far from Ft. Lee. It isn't the best that I would have chosen, but it will do for another few days unitl I finish getting out fence put up.
We have rented a house with 5 acres. The fence will be finished tomorrow and the barn will be here by the weekend.


I am so excited to have my big red horse in my own backyard!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

The past few days have been a bore. Nothing but rain! That didn't stop us Sunday. We started out, as usual, with a trail ride. There was a Richard Winters clinic at the barn so the arena was out of the question. We headed towards the trails, when I saw a few friends that attended the clinic. Detour-arena.
I stopped to talk to my most favorite personality, Dena. That woman care handle anything or anyone for that fact. Seemed like the day went well. As I was walking to the back of the field to take the "short" trail, I happened to notice one of the ladies that had Olly before me. She informed me that his mom is still on the ranch that she works at, Kawailoa Ranch. I was dying to know more. She told me that Olly's mom was part draft?! Seriously? This I would have to see for myself. Anyway...
Off to the trail. By the time we finished the "short" trail, the clouds were settling in. Should we go back to the barn or just tough it out? I decided to tough it out, by the time we would make it to the barn I am sure we would be soaked, so let's just have fun. Riding in the rain, anyone? Olly had it differently in his head. Most everything in his mind could eat him. He was on guard, but how can you be on guard when all you hear is rain saturating the entire area? Oh, he found a way. He was the most tense I have ever felt. It was a good experience for him. What happens when we are at an event and we HAVE to ride in the rain? Well we have that coverd now.
As we walked up the road to the barn, all soggy, we saw quite a few people walking around. It almost suprised Olly to see them. I think he knew what we were doing was crazy. Gotta love Hawaii, right?
Since we were all wet and no sign that we would be drying soon, I decided that I would just give him a bath. Why waste the good rain water? WE had fun standing in the rain soaking wet with soap everywhere. We were both sloshing by the time we were done.

Finally...