What's Up Wednesday

 

I'm writing early because I have so many things to do today and I don't want to forget! It was a productive riding week for everyone, and I even managed to stay on schedule and do some little jumps both Wednesday (which we already talked about) AND Friday. Though Shiny didn't get to jump Friday because lessons were starting so I had to put my toys away. (Dressage lessons happen on Friday afternoons so the ring needs to be clear of obstacles.) 

I'm starting with Al this week because he had a really good week and it's rare that I can say that. We don't usually have so many good days in a row and I'm really proud of him. I can't say he's not spooking at all, but he's keeping his attention on our work significantly more than has been the norm for him. He's letting me redirect him when he's get distracted most of the time instead of just some of the time. So that's a big breakthrough for us. I don't know if it will last or what triggered the change, but I am here for it!

I'm trying very hard to really focus on my own body when I'm on him. If I can keep his shoulder and neck supple, it seems I can also keep his attention. To do that on Al, I have to be really conscious about using my whole leg and not just my calf. This isn't a new discovery, but somewhere along the line I had forgotten about it. I'm not sure if it's the fact that Al is more relaxed and thus my leg is wrapping around him better or if I'm doing something differently, but I've been having an easier time of getting my full leg on him so it can do its job. I also went a full week with no draw reins which I think he had gotten claustrophobic about (even though they were never, ever tight enough to restrict his movement up down or out. Just short enough to stop the spinning.)

With his new, more willing attitude this week, he's also moving forward more easily. At the trot. Unfortunately, our canter seems to have fallen completely apart, but I'm here for baby steps forward even if we have to fix something else in the process. We'll get there. I also think the canter problems will improve if we can get outside to a bigger ring. The indoor is on the smaller side and for a big strided, yet lazy type horse, it's easy for them to want to be behind the leg, especially at the canter. He wants to hollow out his back and four beat around the ring rather than lift his back and flow. Obviously, that's more work and harder, so who can blame him really? He's even doing it on the lunge line though, so I do have an appointment scheduled with the vet for next month just to make sure there's not a problem somewhere. I don't think there is. I just think he needs to motivate a little more. 

Yesterday I really tested the waters... but only partially on purpose. I got there a little later than I wanted and he was already dressed to go out. I normally ride him first, but I did him last instead so he could go outside first. By the time it was his turn to ride the sun was coming into the ring in the WORST way. Like literally blinding us down one of the full long sides. I had thought I would try to ride him without a lunge and see how he was. It was a bad plan! Ha! I don't lunge him before every ride, but I do after a day off normally. I had too many variables yesterday. So anyway, I opted to get off and give him a lunge and then see what I had. Often, if he's worked up like he was the lunge won't really fix it. But yesterday it did and I was able to get on after and have a lovely ride. (Canter issues aside. But it wasn't terrible.) We rode in literally every weather condition last week too. It was really cold (highs in the 20's/low 30's) and one day there was crazy wind which sounds terrifying in the indoor. Then it was warm. One day there was rain... All of it. And he still showed up each day. So even if it's temporary, things went pretty well with Al this past week. Fingers crossed it continues! 

Shiny's been great this week too. I've had to abandon the quarter sheet for the most part because it inhibits her from feeling the whip. But she's been feeling pretty loose lately. At the end of our rides she's been giving me a really legit stretchy trot which I'm not sure I've ever achieved on her before. 

I was disappointed to not get to jump her last Friday (my own poor timing though, do better self) because she's the one I can do all the fun things with at the moment. I usually set up four or five little "jumps". something on the outsides either singles or maybe a line, and then something on each diagonal, so we can kind of put together a little course. Usually I set things so there are bending line options and maybe even circle of doom type exercises. Al isn't quite ready for all of that with our canter troubles, and I still have Eros focusing on single jumps, so Shiny is kind of my main girl for fun jumping exercises. 

I have a lot to do this week to get holiday stuff wrapped up (literally and figuratively) so I need to do a little better with my time management at the barn. Thus, I'm not sure how much jumping we'll get to this week or next. But that's okay. I'm going away the between Christmas and New Years so they're all going to have some time off anyway. After that though? We'll have the whole winter to really get into a groove. And I'm hoping to start lessons for Al too. Bank account willing... Lol.

Anyway, back to Shiny really quickly. It was almost 60 yesterday but the ring was too wet out there for riding on. But I HAD to get out at least a little with one of them, so I chose Shiny to go out for a little walk after we rode. I tried to sneak out the little hallway from the indoor and just pop out the barn door since they're right next to each other without dismounting and leading her out. But there's a drain outside that one barn door and she wouldn't walk out! I couldn't believe it. Shiny's never like that, but she does hesitate out this door whenever we've used it. (Mostly we go out from the other end as that way leads straight out to the paddocks and the outdoor ring. This other door just leads to the parking lot.) I had to get one of the barn workers to walk out ahead of us and then Shiny followed politely. Horses are so weird.

Eros is honestly the most saintly horse. I mean look how I dressed him for our ride on Saturday. Yes, that's a sidepull bridle. Also yes, those little ear balls just bounced around the entire ride. It was ridiculous. I was zero percent capable of focusing on anything else. I was worried he might be startled by his reflection when he saw himself but I needn't have worried. He just checked himself out, sighed at the humiliation of it all, and went about his business. Perfect angel. 

He's been doing well this week too. We've added counter canter back into our repertoire as that really helps to unlock his go button. And also the rest of his body. It's nice to have a cheat code for such things. The counter canter is TOUGH with the narrow ring, but it's a great tool. 

I've been wrapping him overnight for the last... I dunno, two years? My vet said to just continue with it after his last injury so I have. But I've been weaning him off the wraps this past week because I don't think the staff here at the new place really know how to properly wrap. And I'd rather he stock up then bow a tendon. So he'll be wrap free while I'm gone, and we'll see how that goes. So far, I've been wrapping every other night and his legs look absolutely fine. He feels the same too. I'm hopeful it won't be an issue. He won't be working or stressing his legs during that time, so fingers crossed all goes okay with that. 

In other news, my free boots from La Mundial arrived this week and they fit like a glove! 

They're very pretty, and I plan to break them in at some point but probably just keep them as a spare show pair in the trailer. They fit perfectly, and feel like they'll be comfortable after a few rides (new boots, amiright?!) but the leather is so thin, I just don't see them holding up to everyday use and abuse. But that's also what makes them comfortable, so there's that! 

That's about it from here! I'm off to ride, then get groceries, then wrap a million presents.... 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Well, it happened. I finally let my freak flag FLY at the new barn. I did a soft intro at Thanksgiving. But this weekend it was finally time to take the holiday card photos. And I had a lot of tinsel. A LOT. Like so much. I had hoped to have it all ready to take photos during the week when the barn was less busy, but alas, it took a lot longer to sew on all the tinsel than I had thought. Always the way, isn't it? 

So how was it received by my barn mates? Everyone got a kick out of it. Even the one lady who always seems a little above any nonsense. I'm not sharing my final card just yet since they just went in the mail yesterday, but I will share some photos that I didn't use. Let me know what you think of my ridiculous tinsel look!

Eros absolutely rode in his outfit and I'm happy
to report that nothing came apart!

Rita and I wore matching outfits, but she
managed to escape the tinsel. I should have 
done a tinsel collar for her. 

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit day again! I swear the weeks just fly by. This week Shiny requested to model and I'm not one to deny her of that pleasure. Here's what we had on for Thursday's Threads this week:

Yep, we're back to our favorite color scheme for this week. Hey, if it works, it works. That's all I'm saying. 

Here's what Shiny had on without me:

I actually think she looks adorable with her ridiculous clip job. Still so dapple-y too!

Bridle: Pinnacle

Brow Band: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

The ears though! That's some serious ear fuzz happening. I'm still really happy with these bridles, particularly for how cheap they were. Under $100 with reins and they're going strong for a few years now. 

Saddle: Custom Saddlery
Saddle Pad: Mattes

This is currently my favorite Mattes pad that we have. It's exactly the same as the others, I just really like the tan. 

Boots: Uhlan

Um, yes. I forgot to take a boot photo. But these are them, so this is a mostly accurate representation other than the fact that it's outside on a sunny day. I'm really happy with these boots too. They're not very thick and they're made of mesh fabric other than the strike pad and straps, so they seem very breathable. The price point is lovely too. They come in lots of colors.

That's what Shiny wore this week, and here's what I had on:

This was yesterday's outfit when it was almost 60 degrees out. Today there were many more layers. MANY MORE. The high was around 40 today, but the wind! And tomorrow? High is 31. This season is ridiculous.

Helmet: One K Avance CCS MIPS

I think I need to swap the liner out on this helmet, it's feeling looser all of a sudden. Or maybe I need to bust out the Samshield for a little bit again. I miss that helmet. 

Sweatshirt: Kohl's

I picked this up on a whim one day when I was in Kohl's for something else. It was just so soft I had to have it. 

Belt: Zazzle

I just love these belts. They're out of stock right now, but I hope very much it's only temporary!

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

You all have seen these before. These are my smaller sized TS that I don't wear as much, but they're fitting a little better lately, so they've been in the rotation a bit more. 

Boots: Horka

I've mostly been riding in the sheepskin half chaps or my full chaps lately, so I was kind of excited to get to wear these yesterday. Warm weather makes me happy in so many ways.

That's it for this week! Chanukah and Christmas overlap this year, but I'll probably do some holiday outfits over the next couple of weeks. I think it's allowed all December long. It should be anyway. I'm gonna allow it!

What's Up Wednesday

 

I don't really have tons to report on this week. I feel like we're starting to find our work groove at the new place, and that is nice to me. I like feeling settled and like we're being productive. We're limited a little in what we can do in the small indoor, but honestly, it's winter. Time to ease off and re visit the basics, ya know? Work on fitness and some of the little things that we sometimes let slide. 

We got some of our maintenance done this week. The farrier came Friday and then the bodyworker was here on Monday. And Eros removed one of his brand new shoes on Monday... Lol. Fortunately, he just kind of stepped out of it, no damage to his hoof and didn't even bend the shoe. So it went right back on the next day. (Thanks to my wonderful farrier and his super team.) 

The field where the shoe was deposited...

Some notes from the bodyworker. Shiny's in great shape. The only interesting thing to note was that normally she needs the most work on her left side, and this time it was on the right. So that was different. Nothing major, just some small, pretty "normal" stuff. Al is showing some weakness behind, which I'm not surprised by. He's been locking up more in his stifles lately. I'll probably schedule a vet visit for after the holidays for him. I think I know exactly what he needs, but we'll see what doc says. I'm not terribly concerned and neither was our body worker. Just something to keep an eye on and address. Eros didn't have anything really out of the ordinary other than being a little stiff on his left hind. He pulled the right front shoe though, and I have a feeling that was the result of some silly antics out in his field. So likely that stiffness is related to that. He's felt fine the last two days so I'm not too concerned. 

Anyway, let's summarize the week in ponies shall we? I didn't really do a second jump day last week. We popped over some rails and cavalletti that someone else had set on Saturday, and I counted that as day two of jumping. Shiny and Eros were great for that stuff, but Al was also great! He was pretty angsty and annoying much of last week in the indoor. But Saturday the barn was a little busier and we got to ride with two other horses which made Al really happy. He likes buddies. It was definitely the best ride of the week for him. 

Did I mention the wind? It's always windy.

Sunday, by some miracle, was dry and relatively warm. So we finally got to ride outside! Al didn't really do much riding if we're being honest. He did most of his real exercise on the lunge line, and then I got on and just walked him on a loose rein for twenty minutes. I think he appreciates a zero pressure ride now and then. And Sunday Funday is the perfect day for that! 

Eros did his Sunday funday easy ride in the outdoor ring too, and then I walked him out around the paddocks twice. I think he even enjoyed it! Maybe some day he'll be a hack horse. Maybe. 

Shiny has the best day ever because she went wandering in the fields. But after she pulled the reins through my hands for the second time to snag a mouthful of grass that she's not suppose to have, I made her do a little work in the grass ring. She might not admit it, but she thought that was fun. 

Monday is their day off, but the body worker came, so they did that. Then yesterday was just a flat day for everyone. Al was pretty good, but a little angsty about the doors at the end of the ring. It was windy though and they were making some noises so I don't blame him really. Eros hasn't been thrilled at the far end either, so you KNOW it must be creepy down there. Anyway, once I just made the ring a little smaller I was able to get his attention and had a pretty nice ride. Eros and Shiny both had nice Tuesday rides. Mostly just stretchy, loose work and a quick touch on coming together to make sure all the buttons were working. 

Today was sort of a jump day. Sort of. We are having weather today. Not snow thankfully, but WEATHER. First, it was 60 degrees all day which is nuts since it's been in the 30's and low 40's only. But also really high winds (gusts to 50mph) and lots of rain. I was supposed to go to the theater tonight, but when they started closing schools early and the town hall closed up I opted out. It's a 45 minute drive on a nice night, and this certainly wasn't a nice night. Anyway, it also wasn't a nice day. One of the down sides here at the new farm is that I have to set up whatever I want to jump each time I want to do that, and then put it all away after. (In the indoorthat is. There are jumps outside set up all the time and you can do whatever you want and leave it out there.) It's not at all unreasonable, but I definitely get a little lazy about what I set up. I really wasn't sure how the boys would be with the sounds happening from the weather, so I didn't want to get too crazy dragging out standards and what not when we might only manage raised cavalletti level attention spans. So that's exactly what I chose to set up! That and some flower boxes. Eros does not at all understand the question when I ask him to walk or trot over a flower box by itself. Completely mind blowing for him. He does figure it out eventually, but it's quite shocking because he's normally the sensible smart one. Anyway, here's what I set up for today:

Nothing too strenuous, but enough for them to need to pay some attention to something other than the outside weather. 

Al really surprised me today. He could have really come undone, but he didn't. Was he perfect? No, definitely not. Did we get to the point where we could just canter around and around over all the things? Also no. But what he did do, was let me get his attention back when I lost it. I feel like I had a mostly relaxed horse for the majority of the ride. I was not expecting that. I think it helps that it was so warm out, but whatever the reason, I'm thrilled with his efforts today. I really wish I could pretend like this is because he's moving in the right direction rather than a one off. But I know it's not. It doesn't matter though. I can absolutely appreciate the better than anticipated ride. And I will! Here are some terrible screen shots from our ride today. (And yes, he puts forth the least amount of effort possible whenever possible.) 

The farthest strip of lights is a little finicky and if you don't press it just right they sometimes turn off. Which happened today so our media is dark. What can ya do? I just propped my phone up against the wall, but maybe one of these days I'll bring Pivo out. The footage isn't at all exciting, but it's really useful for me to see what it looks like from the outside. 

I didn't film Eros today. I wanted to make sure I had enough phone juice for Shiny since I figured she'd be the most agreeable and I didn't plan ahead and bring my phone charger. But he was pretty good. Definitely excited about "jumps" but who can blame him? I get excited too! It's a little tricky in this ring because there's not a lot of room for his exuberant 20' stride. So I've been a lot of cantering a jump, trotting the next, that sort of thing. We had fun! 

Shiny cares zero about outside noises and weather, so she was the most fun today. I did some funny bending lines with her, and was just able to keep popping over stuff. She was great! She feels a lot better after her body work. 

I will definitely need to bring some standards out and make some bigger jumps for her. Or maybe just stand the blocks up the other way. I think that's 2' when you do that. She's definitely finding these little things boring. They all are honestly. For Eros, I kind of want to keep the height teeny in this ring because I don't want him careening around the corners at high rates of speed. That's how he gets broken. And the bigger the fence the more he might torpedo given his current level of exuberance. For Al, it's tricky. I want to start with these little things, and then as it gets easier and smoother start to lift them up some. The height and the jumps themselves aren't the issue for Al, it's whatever he's staring at on the other side. So I like to practice first in a situation where we can't get into too much trouble (small jumps) and once that's smoothed out we can go bigger. Be nice to have a ground person for that so I don't have to get off and on a bunch, but there's not often people around when I ride Al. We'll figure it out when the time comes though. 

And that's it for this week! I shall leave you with the most adorable photo of Rita sitting on her butt begging for her cookie.

And yes, that is one of her two mountains of toys next to her. 
It's out of control.

Truthful Tuesday

 

Soooo.... Today's confession is that I'm a wee bit behind in the holiday department. Not so much with the shopping part, I'm nearly done with that. I only have my little brother and his girlfriend left for that. What I am behind with is the cards! I haven't even taken the photos yet. And the reason for not having done that is twofold. First I haven't finished crafting our outfits yet. And second one piece Eros' outfit hasn't even arrived yet. And it will also require some crafting. Oof. So behind. But it'll get done. Eventually. Maybe they'll be New Year's Cards this year.

How about you guys? Are you scrambling for holiday stuff or are you in good shape?

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! We had some fun last week so this week is a little more standard. Eros said it was his turn to model, so let's see what we had on:

I'm taking full advantage of mirror selfies. 

Here's E without me:

I dunno guys, I think the dad bod is improving a little! He doesn't look quite as fat as he did this summer. 

Bridle: Joseph Sterling

Brow Band: Dark Jewel Designs

He looks so cute with his D ring. I think I like him better in the wider noseband though.

Saddle: Butet
Saddle Pad: Wilkers
Half Pad: Mattes

When Ogilvy discontinued their brown option for pads, I decided to try these Wilkers pads. They're half weight, so thinner than a regular pad, but still a little more substantial than the Ogilvy baby pads. They have the same spine shape though which is what keeps them nicely in place. Eros is notorious for getting his pads to shift and bunch, but that doesn't happen with these nor with the Ogilvy ones. 

Polos: Eskadron

You've seen these plenty. I do have lots of polo options, but I prefer these with the climatex over traditional style wraps. So we mostly use the same few. Not that exciting, but not everything in life can be exciting.

So that's what Eros wore, and here's what I had on:

Bottom layers

Actual outfit

It's that time of year where what you're wearing is rarely visible due to all the layers. So I took two photos. Also, I just really appreciate the mirrors! (Not just for selfies, they're so helpful with noticing things about how the horses are going too. And... well. I've noticed how incredibly uneven my stirrups are.) 

Helmet: One K Avance CCS MIPS

I have the green top and sand front/rails in for now. It matches nicely with my chaps!

Sweater: TK EQ

Vest (pictured above): Kohls

Also I really need to double check my photos because this is entirely out of focus. My apologies. Anyway, this is a wool blend sweater that TK EQ had on closeout a few years back. Once the temps drop below 40, I will have nothing but wool or wool blend on my upper body.

Belt: Zazzle

I love these belts from Zazzle, but sadly they are currently out of stock. I wanted to make some for holiday gifts but alas... Maybe next year.

Breeches: RJ Classics

I wear these all the time. They're a little greener than they're showing up here, but you know that because I've shared them so many times!

Chaps: Journeyman

Paddock Boots: Sheepskin lined from Celeris UK

These have been a game changer since I brought them back out from the depths of my mom's garage. Some days I think I'd like a new pair, but honestly, these are perfectly perfect in every way. I hope I can keep them functional for awhile still. They're SO warm, I can't figure out why I stopped wearing them for winter all those years ago. Probably vanity. That's what's nice about being old. I don't care so much about that stuff any more.

And that's it for this week! Any favorite items? Thoughts on full chaps? Do you have a pair?