I got bored earlier this week and decided to teach JR to go bridleless. A few weeks ago, I accidentally discovered (after having Fat!Pony for a year) that JR neck reins really really well. Christine informed me, "Well, yeah. I use it on the trails with him all the time. You didn't know?" Since JR's default gait is the halt and he's much too lazy to do anything naughty, I figured he'd be an excellent candidate for bridleless riding. After all, I taught Ozzy to do it and he's not nearly as mellow.

So I made a makeshift neck rope out of an old braided rein that wasn't doing anything but taking up space and led JR down to the arena. I did leave his halter on for the first couple laps just in case, but it wasn't long before I pulled that off and tossed it in a heap outside the gate. JR was a little confused, but generally a good sport. His steering still needs to be refined a bit, but I can't complain. He will listen to the neck rope all day long, but I'd like to get him even more responsive than that. We played with the walk, trot, and canter and he was wonderful. The brakes were right there (a simple 'whoa' brought him practically screeching to a halt).

Of course I had Mike take pictures yesterday. I could hear JR rolling his eyes at me when I climbed on sans bridle once again. A few warm up laps and a handful of ground poles later, I decided to aim JR at a cross rail. After all, the pony loves to jump. He trotted right over, no questions asked. Same at the canter. Mike raised the cross rail to a baby vertical and we popped right over that too. I should be jumping oxers in no time :-P

Next step: bareback AND bridleless.
Final goal: imitate this video (yeah right)

His face is so cute <3

As I mentioned, L and her mom moved barns at the beginning of May.

The new barn is a serious upgrade, and it's actually closer to me. It's a farm I've always ogled during my drives through the area and it's pretty cool to be teaching there. They have acres and acres of beautifully maintained grass pastures surrounded by safe fencing with direct trail access onto the Amwell Valley. There is an indoor, an outdoor jump ring, a grass dressage arena (standard size), and a cross country course. The horses all look fantastic and the property is kept up perfectly.

Best of all, the people are friendly and open. They have no problem with an outside trainer and they genuinely care about all the horses there. They have gone out of their way to make L and her mom feel included (so important for a kid her age) and even invited me out to dinner after our lesson last week. They show but aren't show-driven, and when they watch lessons from the rail, I don't feel like they're snickering with each other about the 'odd kid out'.

L did take a riding hiatus while she recovered from her fall. When she got back on board, she found herself battling some new confidence issues. Her mom called me immediately and we've gone back to weekly lessons. L tells me that she feels confident when she rides with me there and wishes I could be there all the time. She also says her confidence from the lessons trickles down to her other rides during the week. She is even getting back into showing! I'm hoping to have photos from some pretty big events in the near future :)

To me, however, the most rewarding part is watching L's equitation improve. Her leg and upper body are becoming more stable and the release is coming more naturally. I just have to get her to stop over-thinking her distances and bring her shoulders back over the fences. Still, check out this photo of her first lesson v. her fourth lesson:

Time for new photos of Dancer's feet. They are coming along. He has now popped abscesses in both front feet, but that is to be expected with a change as drastic as the one he's going through. In fact, some schools of thought would call it a downright good thing. I don't know if I'm going that far, but I'm not concerned. It's still too early to tell what kind of feet he has under all the damage, but they keep moving in the right direction and that's good enough for me. The growth ring is almost down to the ground which is very exciting to me, and he is starting to get some nice bars as well as actual heels. Now we just need to develop some concavity and sole thickness. I only photographed the fronts this time around. His back feet are pretty much squared away at this point.

Me on Ozzy, C on Clarence, Megan on Dallas, Tor on Cola

Four and a half months post-op, I rode my ridiculous standardbred in a ten mile hunter pace. Woo!

When the hunter pace got rained out two weeks ago, Tor and I were determined to do it on the new date. In the meantime, I mentioned it to Megan while I was up there working with Dallas. After all, the pace was right up the street from her house, and she had expressed interest in hunter paces last year when I started trail riding with her.

In the end, Tor and I decided that we would trailer Ozzy and Cola to Megan's house on the morning of the pace, and the three of us would ride over to the starting line together. I gave Megan a lesson the morning before the pace and she was very excited to get to go. Dallas has been doing extremely well in lessons and she is very gung-ho about having horses that she can take out in the 'real world' now. At the last minute she wistfully added, "I just wish I had someone who could ride Clarence so he could go too..."

Christine immediately came to mind and I pitched the idea at Megan, who eagerly agreed. After a handful of phone calls, we had a game plan in place.

We rode through fields of gold.

On the morning of the hunter pace, I wrangled Ozzy and met Christine at the barn bright and early. I think I woke Ozzy from his Sunday morning slumber, and he was still doing his stretches in the cross ties as I tacked him up.
"I told you not to do yoga in that direction..."

Before long, Tor pulled up the driveway with Cola in tow. The second I untied Ozzy, he turned around, marched out of the barn, and dragged me up the ramp to the trailer. For a horse who was a problem loader, he really seems to enjoy going places these days. Haha. Christine and I grabbed the rest of our gear, and the three of us loaded into the truck. I drove since I know the back way to Megan's, and we were there before we knew it.

C and Clarence were a good match.

I left Ozzy tied to the trailer with Cola while I helped Megan get Dallas and Clarence all ready to go. Since Tor and I had our best neon ensemble out, it was only fair that Dallas and Clarence went in matching skull and cross bone saddle pads. We had two thoroughbreds and two standardbreds and we dubbed our team "Race Fit" accordingly. Since we were going for a slow, steady ride, this would be extra hilarious.

Once C warmed Clarence up and got to know him a bit and Megan finished getting Dallas ready, the four of us made our way across the neighboring fields to the starting line. Along the way, we passed several people I know, including Rovi's owner and the ladies of Bluestone.

Ozzy seemed excited to be out. When he saw the sign in tent and the rows of horse trailers, he knew for sure we were doing something fun, and he was game. Dallas, on the other hand, pretty much had a melt down when he saw all the trailers. We decided he must have thought Megan had decided to auction him off after all. The four of us dismounted to sign in and Megan had a heck of a time getting back on Dallas afterwards. He put on quite the show, much of which was on only two legs, as he tried to about face and head home. Thankfully, Megan is a good rider and handled his antics without getting her feathers ruffled, so to speak. Also thankfully, Clarence was not the least bit bothered by his 'brother's' craziness.

Before long, we were checked in, re-mounted, and heading for the starting line. Dallas remained pretty forward for the duration of the ride, but he stopped being frantic once we got away from the parking area and the adrenaline of all the other horses. Megan said she couldn't complain considering it was his first hunter pace, and especially considering that she almost got rid of him last year because of his behavior. He has come a very long way.

The trails were lovely as usual. I brought my helmet cam and tried to do them justice, but I feel like I failed. I really need to capture some of these landscapes with my DSLR. I also need to do a better job of charging my helmet cam before rides. The hunter pace wound around the lake, through the hay fields, and near the pipeline, displaying lovely views along the way.

It was dreadfully hot all day and we took it slow, especially since Megan, C, Dallas, and Clarence were enjoying their first hunter pace, but we still had a lot of fun. The ideal time was 1h33m, but we did it in closer to two hours.

Everybody nailed their water crossings and we didn't have a horse balk at anything all day. Dallas kept his brain in his head, Cola marched right along, and Clarence was his usual steady, can't-be-bothered self. Ozzy was delighted to be out and moseyed along on a loose rein at whatever speed I picked. He was happy to lead for most of the ride, but didn't protest when I made him hang back with Clarence. We all went for a good long gallop (even Clarence picked up a three beat gait) and Ozzy and I even jumped a few small fences. I did opt out of the bigger-than-it-looks coop that was my literal downfall with CP last year.

It was funny to me to see how much of the trail I know now. Last year, I felt like I was riding this hunter pace blind. Aside from the lake and pipeline, I really didn't know much about that section of the trails. This year, however, it was pretty much all familiar territory. All that riding Megan and I did last year really paid off, and we had a good laugh at some of our old adventures.

When we crossed the finish line, Ozzy looked around, saw all the people sitting around eating sandwiches, and decided we had arrived back at ride camp. I think he was looking around to see what trailer we were camping out at, and seemed mildly surprised when we checked out, rode right past the crowd, and made our way back to Megan's.

I think we were all pretty tired by the end of the day. This particular hunter pace is pretty short, but it was a humid day, and I think it's one of the longer rides Dallas and Clarence have done.

Ozzy loaded right back into the trailer, then waited patiently while we tried to find the missing pin to the butt bar. We made it home safely, bathed the horses, and let Cola join my guys for a play date again before his long ride home. C, Tor, and I spent the rest of the afternoon snacking and enjoying the air conditioning at Quick Chek.

Over all, I would call it a Sunday well spent. It does make me itch to go endurance riding again though. It's been way too long...

Kristin and Arrow have been making steady progress. Kristin continued to ride and take lessons while I was laid up. Now that I'm back in the saddle, her progress has sped back up. I gave Arrow a 'refresher ride' a few weeks ago to re-install some of his buttons, and it made Kristin's life a lot easier. She is really gaining confidence in all aspects of her riding and is cantering and riding outside the arena in between lessons.

Arrow, who used to be ridden by gung-ho kids and learned to rush immediately into a gallop any time he got even a hint of loose rein, now parks indefinitely and will walk on the buckle forever unless he is told otherwise. He is also starting to demonstrate some excellent cruise control at the jog. Even his 'natural trot' is worlds slower and more organized than it used to be.

I still have to get video of the nifty e-brake we taught him. (I need a film person to follow me around during the day. Haha. I can't really teach and take pictures/video at the same time, and I've been suffering a lack of media since Mike went back to work. Woe is me.)

Arrow's biggest issues, of course, were lunging and cantering. He was previously a total maniac on the lunge line, demonstrating behavior that was downright explosive and threatening. I am proud to report that Arrow now lunges like a pro. Last week, I was able to teach Kristin the basics of lunging, and she practiced during the week with great success. I have to remember to get video of that too. It will make a nice entry for my before and after collection. The horse is now totally relaxed and borderline lazy on the lunge line and goes on hand signals and verbal cues alone.

As for cantering...
The problem with Arrow was that he was always in such a hurry. He basically wanted to trot or gallop, with no in-between. If you tried to slow him down, he would fling his head violently, and then escalate to flailing and bucking. Obviously, this was not ideal for an advanced beginner and first time horse owner. Of course, I broke my leg just as we were starting to get a real handle on the issue. Thankfully, progress in that department was simply delayed a bit.

Since I got back in the saddle, I've been able to resolve Arrow's canter issues almost entirely. Working on a 15m circle has been especially helpful in his case. He is finally consistent enough for Kristin to work on her own posture at the canter. The hardest thing for her has been keeping her seat in the saddle. To be fair, Arrow doesn't exactly have the smoothest canter of all time. Kristin has made a lot of progress with her seat and her elbows (which used to flap wildly at the canter) and is now working on keeping her leg forward and heels down. It's a lot to accomplish, but she gets better with every ride. Best of all, she has great natural balance and is secure in the saddle despite holes in her equitation. I think she is going to be awesome by the end of the summer :)

In the mean time, we reintroduced Arrow to barrels. I suspect that barrel racing is part of his long, mysterious history. He certainly acts like he's run barrels before! Unfortunately, this means he would get really amped up any time he so much as saw a barrel sitting in a corner. Obviously, that wasn't a safe situation either. I just approached the barrels as if he'd never been introduced to them before and built him back from the ground up. Of course, it went quickly because he does have barrel experience, but he did need a fresh start to get his brain back in gear. Now Arrow is more than happy to quietly circle barrels at whatever gait his rider picks. I did run him through the barrels a few times yesterday, complete with neck reining and lead changes, and I'll admit it was a total blast. Best of all, Kristin cantered barrels for the first time ever! Watching her grin from ear to ear as she softly cantered away from a lovely, organized turn reminded me exactly why I do what I do.

I am extremely proud of both Kristin and Arrow. It takes a lot of hard work and determination, not to mention guts, to be a first time horse owner with a horse who isn't dead-broke. Kristin has faced all the challenges with her head held high and the rewards have been great. Not only is she growing as a rider and horse woman, but she is forming a great bond with her horse. The two of them are going to be an amazing team in no time, and I am happy to be a part of their success.

Christine came down to ride JR the other day and brought her camera. Spitefully, she hasn't let me have any of the photos of her kicking Fat!Pony butt, but she did get photos of me working with Dancey-pants.

I seriously adore this horse. He continues to be a total joy to work with, and every time I dismount, I'm left grinning ear to ear. He is so full of try and learns quickly. I'm bitterly disappointed that I got hurt when I did because I really think he would have taken my goals for the summer and blown them out of the water. On the other hand, I think the time off really was the best thing for him so I can't complain too much. I do wish I could keep him, as everyone keeps suggesting. The truth is that I cannot afford to keep three horses indefinitely. I can't possibly justify sending JR back (after all, he's the one who earns his own board) and Ozzy is my heart horse, which means I'll be keeping him forever even if he becomes completely useless and can't be ridden ever ever again. I keep reminding myself that Dancer would flourish in a show home; that if I got a third horse, it would be one I could do endurance with; that I need the sale money to pay Mike back for the leg/buy a horse trailer/etc.

ANYWAY...

C photographed what was my fourth ride on Dancer (third ride since my injury). I think my favorite thing about this horse is that he just sort of picks up wherever we last left off. Three months off? No problem. Another two weeks missed because of an abscess and miserable weather? Right back to work. Good boy :)

He stood stock still to mount, as usual, and warmed up quietly in both directions. We've started playing with some baby leg yields at the walk and trot and he loves doing them. His circles are getting so soft and so round and his trot is really starting to come together, away from the racehorse 'sproing sproing sproing'. I've also started insisting on a more forward, active walk. He finds that particularly difficult (he'd rather either plug along or trot), but he gives it his best go and is starting to get some really nice strides in there.

Dancer is also learning how to work through spooky things. I was told, when I got him, that he's 'green, stupid, and spooky'. Well, he certainly is green, but I have yet to see the other two. We played around with going past scary looking obstacles and through tight spaces, and after one 'hairy eyeball', he worked right through it and never looked back. Did I mention he has a lot of try?

Eq? What's that?

I wasn't planning to canter him just yet. We've been working on strengthening and balancing and rhythm on the lunge line, and he's been getting nicer and nicer. I figured I would wait until he 'felt ready'. Then he offered me the nicest little trot, where everything was soft and relaxed and forward, so I figured I might as well. I just barely moved that outside leg back. It was more of a question than a command, honestly.

"Canter?"
Dancer's response was, "Sure. Why not? I can do that..." and he softly rolled forward into a lovely, totally controlled canter. Smooth as butter.
C was very surprised when I told her it was our first attempt at the canter under saddle. "I just assumed you'd been doing it all along."

Good boy.

We still have so so many things to establish on the flat before I do any sort of jump training with this horse, but he's coming along quickly and quietly. I am very excited to be back to 100% with my riding so I can continue to bring him along. I think he's going to be a stellar little horse (ok, big horse).

I cannot wait to build his neck up :)

Remember that newborn kitten I resuscitated two months ago?? She came into the clinic today to get spayed, tested, microchipped, etc. She looks great... big, healthy, friendly. The next step is to find her a forever home. :) Hoping to get some photos sent over later. She's VERY cute.

Photo by C.

JR over 2'6"

I seem to be enjoying a stretch of fun times with some of my favorite horse people lately. Hooray!

Yesterday, Christine came out for another pony play date. Rachel was coming for a lesson later in the afternoon and I had given her first pick of what horse she wanted to ride. Rachel chose Alcatraz, which means JR got to have his butt kicked by Christine.

When she arrived, I had just tacked Dancer up for a quick lunging session. Dancer was a good boy, as usual. His gaits are really starting to come together and he gets more and more relaxed as the days pass. I am excited to see how he develops with some fitness and strengthening.

After Dancer was bathed and put away, we wrangled the Fat!Pony. Christine gave him an ample warm up before schooling him around the course. We don't jump JR higher than 2'6" because he had some arthritis issues in the past, but to be perfectly honest, it's been a while since he did anything higher than two feet. After all, I mostly use him for trail riding and beginner lessons. It was high time he schooled some 'higher' fences. Christine popped him over the line at 2'6" before I raised the 'Christmas jump' for her. The Christmas jump currently features some brand new brush boxes, which JR had never seen before. As I expected, he didn't even bat an eye at them. Good pony.

Rachel and Traz

Now I just need to mow my arena so I can get photos that do the jumps justice. I get lax with property maintenance since it's not my farm and I don't own any equipment, but it's time to stop making excuses. Mike and I are going out there tonight to do some plant control.

After JR got ridden, Christine and I had just enough time to make a DD run before Rachel arrived for her lesson. She was stoked about getting to ride Alcatraz. After all, she had never sat on a thoroughbred before.

Alcatraz, who is normally downright lazy, was really feeling his oats last night. He was sassy, forward, and even a bit hot! Thankfully, she's a solid little rider (I wouldn't have her on Alcatraz otherwise) and rode through his antics calmly. She was able to stick with him and get him going nicely.

Brush boxes are no big deal

In the end, she wound up kicking the sassy redhead's butt into gear and got a lovely ride out of him. She made him trot around like a boss and even got a slow, relaxed canter out of him by the end of her lesson. Despite the fact that he was having a 'bad' day, Rachel seemed to enjoy riding Traz. He may be hotter than anything she's ridden in the past, but he's also much fancier.

Since Traz still seemed to have energy to burn, Christine also got on him and took him around over some fences. He tried to sass her too, but quickly figured out that she's not a rider to be messed with and settled down to do his job. Brush boxes weren't a problem for him either.

Of course I got photos of most of the afternoon. I really need to have friends come over daily for horse time. It makes me that much more productive.

We got eleven (yes, eleven) new puppies at the farm this week. The cat clinic/horse farm is really starting to look a bit like a dog kennel. Thankfully, puppies seem to go out as quickly as they come in. Cricket, for example, is leaving on Friday to start her career as a therapy dog to an autistic child. I feel like she just got here yesterday!

Anyway, this batch of puppies is not satos. Carolyn took them in as a favor for a friend, though I'm not sure what the whole back story is. They came from down south (Georgia? South Carolina?) and are through a different organization than she normally goes through. Regardless, they are just plain adorable, and already super socialized.

I took the time to photograph them last night. They are in a very large kennel while they go through quarantine (just in case). Taking pictures of eleven squirmy puppies who all want to be your best friends was sheer chaos, but I am definitely not complaining. I think I got them all. Haha.

So here you go... lots and lots of cute puppy faces. I don't know what they are. Some look like border collies, some look like rotties, some look like Bernese mountain dogs, some look just plain lab. They could be a mix of all of the above.

As I alluded to earlier this week, there was a hunter pace scheduled for yesterday. It rained all week and the pace got rescheduled. Bummer. Due to the rain, Mike ended up having to work all day. Double bummer. However, it all turned out swell (yes, swell) and Tor and I had a fun-filled day.

We decided to go trail riding despite the fact that we didn't have an official event to go to. I had taken Ozzy out for two short rides prior to this weekend. The first was with Margaret and JR in the rain and he'd been fussy to say the least. The second time I went out with C and JR and Ozzy was distinctly better behaved, at least until we turned for home at which point his started dancing around and getting all hot and forward for no reason. I was determined to put him on a trailer, take him away from the farm, and work him nice and hard to get his head back in the game. Tor brought Cola down and we took the horses over to Baldpate Mountain.

Matching neon ponies.

Despite the fact that he hasn't been on a trailer in six months, Ozzy self-loaded. In fact, he was on his very best behavior all day. He seemed delighted to be back in work and content to just wander the trails all day long. He knows his job and he's very good at it. That is something I will always have a deep appreciation for.

Before long, Tor and I were mounted up in our matching neon gear. We started out by taking the main trail up the mountain, taking the time to detour briefly onto the blue trail, which I've never actually explored. Unfortunately, much of the park is still blocked off by trees that fell during Hurricane Sandy. The trails are passable on foot, but definitely not on horseback.

At one point, we came around a turn at a trot. I could see people a good way ahead of us, but didn't realize they had an off leash dog with them until she started barking, just a few feet from Ozzy's face. My heart nearly jumped out my ears, but Ozzy didn't even flinch. The dog's owners immediately called her off, and she had a good recall. They were very apologetic, but I assured them that both horses were very used to dogs and that we were not upset by the encounter. After all, the park allows off leash dogs and the poor thing was obviously startled and frightened by the horses much more than they were by her.

After visiting the top of the mountain to enjoy the view (and a nice canter), we headed off down the power line trail. Of course we couldn't resist a good gallop. After all, that's all I do when I ride Ozzy; gallop him up power lines, that is.

It was right around that time that Brenda, my old boss from the breeding farm, called to find out if I'd be up for joining them for a ride at Baldpate. I informed her that we were already there and would be happy to meet up with the ladies of Bluestone for a second loop around the mountain.

We took twenty minutes or so to let the horses rest, grazing them in the shade and offering them soaked alfalfa and water.

Before long, I heard the rumble of the Bluestone rig coming up the driveway to the park. Brenda had brought both the girls with her. Brenda was riding her bay Arabian mare, Dreamer. Brianna was on her gray Arabian mare, Hanna, and Kelly was on Crimmer, a 12 year old chestnut standardbred mare who she just started under saddle in February. After nearly a decade of Brenda and me knowing each other, we were finally going to ride together!

Ozzy was more than happy to play tour guide for the second time out. We wound our way back up to the view, taking the long way through the shady woods and giving the horses a 'good butt work out' up the big hill by the stone quarry. Despite the fact that my horse is the one just coming back into work (officially), he was fitter than everyone else. After just an hour, the three mares were pretty tuckered out. Even Cola, who is in regular work, was hot and tired. To be fair, I think that had to do more with bugs and rocks than it did with his actual fitness level. But Ozzy just marched happily along, grunting his standie song with his ears pricked and his head swinging.

"Guys, I've been running laps around the pasture every night in preparation for this day..."

We loaded the horses back up without any ado and drove back to the barn, where we hosed them off and stuffed them full of cookies. Cola, who is used to drinking out of regular old water buckets, was delighted to discover the water trough and promptly tried to climb in for a swim. We decided to let him rest up for a couple hours in the front pasture with the other throroughbreds (and JR) while we went out for lunch. After all, we'd been out on the trails for about four hours. (I am proud to report that my leg held up great.)

HDR of a local barn.

Tor and I grabbed lunch at my favorite local deli, then took a drive to see the carriage house that Mike and I are looking at on Sunday (no spoilers!) After that, we sort of toured the area, looking at scenery and enjoying the a/c in my car.

Somewhere along the way, Tor suggested that she could get on Jay Jay for an evaluation ride, since neither one of us had anything better to do for the afternoon. Jay Jay has been sitting for the last month, jobless. He needed a week of pasture rest following his injury as it was, but his owner kept hinting that the horse is ready to go back to work. He generously offered to let me use Jay in lessons, but I refuse to put any of my students on horses I haven't at the very least seen ridden.

Jay Jay came with a bit of a reputation. He was reportedly very good to flat with comfortable gaits, but rushes fences. As a result, he has shattered the confidence on quite a few riders, including Lisa. I had seen photos on Facebook of Jay Jay with his head tied down and an elevator bit on, and I had heard tales about him galloping away and bucking. Despite all that, he has been a rather successful jumper. I wasn't really sure what  to expect.

Jay Jay came to me eagerly in the field and happily followed me to the barn, where I gave him a bit of a spa treatment before tacking him up. He's on pasture board so he basically gets checked twice daily and fed cookies on occasion. Not much else. He was a little suspicious at first, but definitely enjoyed the attention.

Tor hopped on him just a short time later and it was as if he'd never missed a beat.

I immediately took back all the mean things I'd said about his looks. I have yet to meet an Azteca that successfully combines the good traits of the quarter horse and Andalusion breeds. They seem to come out sort of funny looking. Jay, for example, has a Roman nose, a big neck and butt, and sort of short legs with a long back. He's black with a lot of tail hair, which fools people into thinking he's gorgeous, but he's definitely not going to win any awards for his conformation.

Still, what the horse lacks in the looks department, he makes up for in willingness and work ethic. He went right to work, giving Tor a delightful school on the flat. His canter is more lateral than most standardbreds I've met and wouldn't gain him any points in the dressage ring, but he is soft, forward, and comfortable. He's calm, level-headed and just generally pleasant.

After a good warm up, I had Tor aim Jay Jay at a cross rail just to see what would happen. He barely lifted his feet.

As it turns out, Jay Jay's problem isn't rushing fences per se. It's that he's really not a very talented jumper. He's honest and loves to jump, but he just sort of heaves himself over the fences. Since the jumpers don't care about form as long as the horse goes fast and jumps high, nobody ever focused on teaching him any different. At 19 years old, he's sort of set in his ways. What he lacks in style, he compensates for with momentum, which I imagine feels like rushing. I was worried watching him jump two feet. I can't imagine him in 4'+!!! Yikes. I do think he could make a turn around with some concentrated proper schooling and LOTS of gymnastics, but I don't imagine his owners will want to pump a ton of money into a 19 year old horse who has already had a successful career. All the same, I can definitely see how he has given people confidence issues in the past.

Tor did have a good time riding him, and Jay Jay seemed pleased with himself at the end of the ride. We were careful not to over do it on his first try back and he didn't even break a sweat. I bathed him anyway just because he hasn't had a bath since he moved in. He was excellent for that. So while I certainly won't be having any of my students jump him, I do think Jay Jay would be great for flat lessons. In fact, I would even put Mike on him :)

Once Jay Jay was settled back in his pasture with his BFF, Rue, Tor retrieved Cola, loaded him uneventfully into the trailer, and made the long drive home. I went back to the house and enjoyed a much-needed nap. It was a great day, but I am definitely not back up to my full energy reserves yet!!!

Here's hoping for more weekends like this in the future.

About a month and a half ago, I picked up a new client. Arrow's owner is a school teacher. There is a substitute at her school who recently got a horse and was looking for someone who could help her with him. Apparently K had all very lovely things to say about me so I got a call. Shortly after that, I met J and her horse, Kota.

Kota is a 13 year old paint gelding who stands at about 14hh. He is positively adorable. He is also blind in one eye, which the farm they bought him from conveniently forgot to mention. Kota's owners bought him in good faith and skipped the pre-purchase exam, but they did hire a vet to come out shortly after they bought him to give him spring shots and a general wellness exam. It took their vet about a minute and a half to give them the bad news. After all, Kota's left eye is visibly smaller than his right and it has a gray, dull appearance to it. The blindness appears to be a result of a trauma.

J tells me she's sort of glad the farm lied about his vision because, "Otherwise [she] would have passed on a good thing."

As you can probably tell, J is pretty new to horses. Her husband is the old school cowboy type, but doesn't ride any more following double full-knee-replacement surgeries. J is starting riding as an adult and has some fears that are to be expected. She knows what she doesn't know and wants to learn the right way.

Kota, for his part, is just such a good egg. Someone obviously spent a lot of timing training this horse correctly and he has that mellow personality that goes so well with teaching green riders. Thankfully, his handicap doesn't seem to affect him much. He has obviously had time to adapt. When his owners saddle him from the left, he sort of swivels his ears as if to say, "What is that? What are you doing back there?" Then he looks over his shoulder at them with his good eye and relaxes. "O, it's a saddle. Got it." I did suggest doing more things from the right to avoid accidentally startling him, but the horse seems to have no spook and not a single mean bone in his body.

The barn owner there is also quite a character. He's also of the old school cowboy variety and seemed pretty skeptical when I first arrived.
"You're not the trainer, are you?" he asked, eyeballing my crutches.
"I am."
"That's not very good advertising, you know..."
"Unrelated. Sky diving accident." He looked taken aback. "Just kidding. It was a horse."

Still, I seem to have gained respect from both him and the husband.

Over all, they are just the nicest group of people you could ever hope to meet. J has reasonable goals of wanting to feel comfortable riding her horse at the walk, jog, and lope, in and out of the ring. I think she'll be there in no time. From there, she just wants to be a trail/pleasure rider. I suspect Kota will bring her a lot of joy.

My 'hard keeper' is down to a grass-only diet.

Not ok with having his back legs touched.

Back before I broke my leg, back when I was still riding at WS, I worked with Willie the thoroughbred a handful of times. In that time, I came to the conclusion that he's a really good egg and just hasn't ever really been in proper, consistent training. He's a kind horse who learns quickly. As a result he sort of gets ridden by everybody and their mom and gets away with doing pretty much whatever he pleases.

The last time I worked with Willie, it was brought to my attention that he doesn't really know how to lunge. We started with that and Willie picked up the basics in about a minute flat. However, in the process, I accidentally discovered that Willie has a major issue with having his back legs unexpectedly touched. I found out when his rump rug (which I hadn't checked yet) slipped off his hindquarters. Willie exploded into a very impressive set of rodeo bucks with panic written all over his face.

Ending on a good note.

I did eventually get the back story, and Willie has a very good reason for being wary of having his back legs ensnared. It turns out that he once got tangled in his blanket straps in turn out.  They ended up having to cut him free and he did some pretty serious damage to his legs in the process. You can actually see the scars in the photos below.

I wound up spending a majority of that session working on desensitizing Willie to having his back legs tickled. It was one of the tougher desensitizing sessions I've had, but he came through it with a better understanding of how to handle his fear.

Once I got on him, he put that whole part of the session behind him and we went on to have a lovely ride. It was almost as if he was relieved to be working on something else. I also got some photos of J riding him. It's too bad I'm not giving lessons up there any more (the lesson/show season picked up and outside trainers aren't allowed in the midst of that chaos) because J was making some awesome progress with the little bay thoroughbred and was just plain delighted at how much lighter and quieter he was becoming with each ride.

So there ya go... a  series of five month old photos of a horse I don't work with any more. Haha.

Some photos of me riding JR a few weeks ago (before I had gotten on any other horses yet).

JR is not amused by the fact that I make him work.

As you've probably noticed by now, I've gotten some custom brow bands over the last few months. I got one for JR for Christine at Christmas and I just ordered another one for Dancer. (Yes, I know, a custom brow band for a sale horse...) I get them from Dream Horse Studios and I am 100% delighted with them. They are fancy without being gaudy. They are affordable without looking cheap. They are totally custom and delivery is prompt. I am actually thinking of getting a bridle for Ozzy just so I can get a third one. After all, we're not doing endurance any more so he needs a regular bridle again, right? RIGHT??? Show people can even get matching belts! And for those of you who are not horse owners, she also makes custom dog collars. Check these beauties out:

This morning I went for my first real trail ride since I broke my leg. Jen and her friend Susan were planning to do a one hour ride out of Jen's farm, and Jen offered to let me ride Sunraider. I've been wanting to hop on him since I met him in 2008 so I jumped on the opportunity. Plus I figured it might be a good idea to actually get on a horse and go for a real ride before I attempt to do a hunter pace with Ozzy on Sunday (no spoilers).

It was a lovely ride. Jen rode Romeo and Susan brought her Arabian gelding, Rocky. The Amwell Valley trails provide some of my all time favorite riding and Sunraider is a fun little horse to ride. We were out for about two hours, just enjoying the perfect weather. We wound around fields and through the woods and circled the lake and air park. Jen kept commenting that I made Sunraider look really good, and I had a lot of fun playing some dressage games with him. In the mean time, Romeo was being really stellar, as usual. He's going to make someone a really awesome little horse.

Then, toward the end of our ride, we crossed through a field full of tall grass. Apparently there was a wild turkey in said grass, and he flew out suddenly with no warning just as Sunraider and I were practically on top of him. My own heart skipped several beats so I can only imagine how scared the horses must have been. All three geldings spooked badly. Rocky whirled around and ran away with Romeo close behind. Sunraider, who had been leading at the time and was closest to the 'action', pulled a 180° turn to the left and tried to take off. For a moment, I thought I was going to hit the ground. I lost my left stirrup and was thrown to the right side of his neck. I had just enough time to think, "NOT HAPPENING!" Then I grabbed some mane, pushed off my bad leg. re-positioned myself in the saddle, and got the horse under control. It's good to know I can still stay on a spooking horse! My knee was pretty sore for about five minutes after that, but I was back to normal afterwards and have no residual pain. Maybe I'll be back to normal soon :)

All in all, it was a lovely ride and I was thrilled to feel more back to normal than I have so far. I've only been weight bearing for six weeks, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well.

Just the usual dose of dog/puppy photos...

I seriously adore this horse.

I wonder if Ozzy realizes that not all horses get to live like this.

Photo by Tor.

Last post for the day (I think).

Rachel came up for a lesson on Thursday night. She hasn't ridden since the last time I saw her, which was a whopping nine months ago. I can't believe how the time flies. She's driving already. Ummm... wasn't she 11 like... yesterday?

It was really good to see Rachel, of course, and she had a lovely lesson on JR. I'd love to stick her on Alcatraz at some point in the future, but I'd want her riding regularly first. It was blazing hot and we took it pretty easy. JR was on day eight in a row of working. It's good because he's gaining fitness and losing weight, but I promised him he'd have the weekend off for his efforts.

Here's hoping this becomes a regular thing :)

Sorry for the onslaught of posts. I missed a week of blogging and I'm playing catch up. Mike is at work and I have no lessons scheduled for the day so you guys get to suffer.

On Wednesday, while Tor was here, I decided to get back on Dancer for the first time. I've been lunging him a few times a week, but it's really time to start doing what I can with him. I was originally planning to list him for sale in May. That obviously didn't happen, but I'm feeling a lot of pressure to get the ball rolling.

I even smiled.

I lunged the thoroughbred to warm up, but he pretty much ran through the whole routine without even thinking about it. I tested his 'parking brake' then walked up to the mounting block and climbed on board. He stood stock still and waited until I sloppily gathered both stirrups. My initial response was, "Has he always been this big?"

The ride wasn't perfect, but for a green thoroughbred who hasn't been sat on in almost four months, he did really well. Right now I'm just working on getting him soft, relaxed, and consistent in the contact. We're doing a lot of walk and a little bit of trot, focusing mostly on bending and staying forward. He tries really hard, which I like in a horse. He did spook once when Herbie made a startling appearance in the tall grass outside the arena, but it wasn't a big spook and I had him back on the rail two seconds later like nothing had ever happened.

My goal is to ride him three times a week to start and move up from there whenever he's ready. Lots of building a good foundation and making sure he understands the basics before we work on anything more than trotting. I'm excited :)