The happiest of birthdays

Once upon a time, there was a long yearling brought home in a stock trailer in February 1995.  The mother had lied and said it was furniture, forcing a young 15 year old to stay up way past her self -imposed bedtime to see this furniture.  Even enlisting the brother to ensure she stayed up despite needing to be awake at 5a to catch the schoolbus.  Turns out, furniture was actually a 1.5yr old stud colt.  I always considered him my belated Valentines day present.  Would you like to take a photo journey?  Be warned, photos of photos coming so lots of quality has been lost to make this post.

Picture from the next afternoon, Feb 1995

A friend of a friend had ridden with me and a neighbor and knew of someone who was looking to rehome this yearling. He had been bought at the Sugarcreek stock sale as a weanling and they didn't have the money or resources to take care of him. He was really skinny, really wormy and didn't know how to drink out of a bucket. It took him the entire summer to drink from a bucket instead of searching out puddles.

1995

In late 1995, my 110lb self started breaking this 2yr old stud colt. By myself. We did really well together except for his tendency to buck at the canter. One day he flipped himself over when he bucked and stepped on the reins, he never bucked again.

1995, recently gelded

Summer 1996

Sometime in late 1996, there was a big argument at the step-grandparents farm where we lived and I had to start boarding.  I rode him the 3 miles to the new barn where he stayed for about 7 months until I realized the old man was hitting horses with a 2x4 to make them stay back when he was feeding.  That was my first foray into working at a barn and there are a lot of not so great stories from there.

1996 or 1997

I borrowed a stock trailer and my mom and I trailered App over to a new place that I spent all of my high school and even some after-college time.  It had an indoor and the horses were well kept for a such low key place.

1997 or 1998

When I went away to college, I couldn't bear the thought of selling him like everyone told me I had to do.  The barn I boarded at ended up free leasing him until I graduated. I am forever grateful for them doing that for us. Apparently, he would be so ornery that they would tell him I was coming home for the weekend and he would suddenly behave. They said it happened enough times they said it couldn't possibly just be the coincidental timing of his behavior changes, he obviously missed me and simply understood when they told him I was coming and behaved. Ha!

2000

Once graduated and I started moving, I had to find new barns and realized not all barns were good like the one I left. We had the one that didn't call the vet or even me when their horse attacked App and had a literal gouge running down his spine and a puncture in his knee. We had the one that encouraged smoking/drinking while in the barn and riding. And the old man would hit on me. We had the one who put ducks next to App and didn't care that he dropped a LOT of weight over the week bc App was so stressed over the ducks. They wouldn't move him or the ducks. We had the one who didn't care that App was standing in a literal puddle as his stall was partially flooded.  For over a week.

2001

With age comes wisdom and I ended up finding some really good barns as well.  I ended up switching from western/trail/barrel racing to english because that is what my new friends did. I had outgrown my tiny 14 inch western saddle anyway and had been riding bareback for the past 1-2 years so it worked out.

App had his very first ever show and got 2nd place in dressage

We started playing with eventing and App loved jumping. We also started doing 90% dressage, 10% jumping however because App needed a lot more training. As did I. I started taking lessons in 2002 (yes, for the first time ever) and was told I was a very good, uneducated rider and it should be taken as a compliment. As we both received education, we both got better.

He then earned a 1st place at his 2nd ever show

From there, we jumped up to 3'6".  We went cross country.  We installed some badass dressage skills. The only times App did not place at a show was when we would do a HUS or English Pleasure class and they would canter.  Because, exciting times and all lol.  Any other time, App was always, always bringing home satin.

2005 ish

App was partial leased from approximately 2003 - 2008, at that point he required to be ridden 6 days a week in order to be productive and my time was getting less.  He loved it. He was ridden 6-7 days a week until he had his spiral fracture in his front leg at the age of 16. Thankfully, he was in such great shape that the vet said App had the bone growth of a 10 year old and App fully recovered with 6 months of stall rest.

Relaxing in MI 2013

From there we competed at BN and N only out of the abundance of concern and moved to MI where he eventually became a lesson horse and you have read our journey from there. 

Nom nom grass

After we moved to PA, my goals of bringing him back to show condition where smashed when we found that his intermittent lameness was significant bone remodeling of the shoulder joint and, at best, he would be pasture sound.

May, 2018

Last year was really hard because over the spring and summer, he was moving so badly and seemed to be so uncomfortable, I was seriously considering putting him down.  He was certainly not even pasture sound. I switched farriers and either the switch or simply time made a miraculous difference.  I think it is a combination of both. He went from so uncomfortable that he was laying down more than 50% of the time and standing under himself like a foundered horse, to his normal self again.  He even started trotting and cantering on his own again, which I hadn't seen since he left MI.

This 25 year old certainly doesn't look 25!

He is doing well now.  His hooves are balanced. I think his shoulder as fused or mostly fused. His weight is good, see above. His attitude is good, see below. He is only on Buteless Pellets, Equioxx, 20,000mg of MSM and bimonthly Pentosan.

Happy 25th birthday you goofball!

One of my favorite things is his color, he changes every single year.  He goes from really white to really red and stages in the middle. He also has stripes on his ribcage so he always looks ribby when it is literally his stripes. He has went from super dark red and black with a distinct blanket at his shoulders to a very roaned out color and most of his black is now grey.  His face went from super dark red with a star (see first pic) to almost completely white with a red streak on his nose. I think this year will be a really red year.

The bestest horse

Here's to many more years App, happy 25th birthday.  We have spent over 60% of my life together and I hope we make it many more years.  Happy Birthday!!

Catching up part 1 - The saddle fitter

I am a horrible blogger, I know.  I have tons of media to show for K3DE but I just can't find time to make a post highlighting it.  My hope is I will have time this weekend, fingers crossed?

What's been going on these past 2 weeks?  Insanity lol.  Let's see, let's start with the week after KY.  I had a new saddle fitter out on the 3rd and OMG.  Mind blown.  Seriously.  He is in his 70's and was the saddle fitter for the US Olympic team in the 90's and the Canadian team in the 2000's.  He also does a lot of bodywork and he seriously impressed me.  First he put both saddles on Mia and showed me how they are rocking a bit, though just barely with the jumping saddle.  He felt Mia and said her left TMJ was really out and that he thinks 95% of my saddles fit can be fixed with adjusting the TMJ. Cue the skeptic in me, like seriously?

He washed his hands, grabbed Mia's lower jaw and wiggled and massaged it.  He kept doing it for well over 3 minutes.  He said she was giving lots of mini-releases but hadn't given the big one and he was about to give up and stop when she gave the release he was looking for.  She lowered her head down and yawned.  He was all "Good mare!" and she looked baffled.  She seriously had a look of complete confusion on her face and eyes and she turned her head to watch him as he went and washed his hands.  I don't know if I've ever seen that look in her eye before!  I've seen it in TWH when he had his teeth done, and I've seen it in App, but never Mia.

He said TMJ pain causes them to hold themselves differently, more stiffly, as it is like a low grade headache all of the time.  That he has taken horses that have been through 10+ medical therapy procedures and fixed them with basic bodywork.  It was sooo strange for this true skeptic to agree that there was actually something to what he did.  He then threw the saddles on and said "Look, no rocking.".  Because seriously....there was no rocking.  *slow blink* 

He then wanted to adjust my Wintec Isabell a little and put some flocking in the front.  I looked at him suspiciously, I have had two saddle fitters look at my Isabell and they both said they can't adjust it because it is a Wintec with the Cair panels.  They can't adjust air panels.  He said "Of course I can, they are made from the factory to be adjusted just like a normal saddle. A lot of fitters don't seem to realize that".  Uh, ok?  And yes, there is a slit under the flap, by the stirrup bar.  I've always seen it but didn't know what it was for.  Apparently, it is for saddle fitting adjustments. 

He put a handful of wool in both front panels to help bring the front up a little and adjusted the billet points, suddenly my girth is now about 4 inches too big.  I wrote a VERY small check and he said to call him out in about 6 months to make sure all was good.  Uh, YES I SURE WILL!  I hopped on Mia and it was weird.  She immediately took up my right rein like it was no big deal.  She never takes up my right rein like that!  The saddle certainly sits a little higher in the front and Mia seems to like it, what an absolutely fabulous, positive experience.  I will gladly pay this guy money to come out again and again.  Have you had an experience like this?  It made a believer out of this hard core skeptic.

First Show Of The Season Recap

The first show is in the books.  While we didn't place well, I am super pleased with how things went.  There is always room for improvement *cough cough, shorter reins, more leg*, but from where we were 3 months ago, I am SO happy with how things went. 

On Saturday, Mia got the first bath of the season and got clipped up.  She was fabulous and had no issues with any of the shenanigans, though she was losing her patience by the end of her primping session. We also had the farrier that day so while I got to the barn at 930a and didn't leave until 430p, I still didn't get to ride.  I wasn't worried however, Mia had her argument with me that prior week and was riding fabulously on Weds and Friday so I let her have the day off.

She is ribby, but in good, though fuzzy, condition. Topline is coming back!

Sunday we loaded up and got to the show without any issues at all.  Warm up was a mess.  Because the ground was still so soft, they were asking everyone to ride only in the warmup ring so there were 15+ horses in the arena.  At least it was a larger ring, but half were warming up over jumps, few were watching where they were going and it totally reminded me of a Hunter warmup ring.  Not a lot of good work was done.  Mia wasn't really relaxed but she was giving nice transitions and not fighting with me so I took what I had.

In case anyone wants to be bored to tears, dressage!

The test went quite well, but certainly not our best. Mia wasn't relaxing into the bridle, my reins were STILL too long and she wasn't truly in front of my leg for most of the ride.  BUT for the first time EVER we did not get the "falling in" comment in the canter.  First. Time. Ever.  Win! You can tell in the video at the right lead canter section that her haunches are still a bit in as she finishes her circle, but so, so, so much better than in the past.

Ugh, ribby.  BUT this is an untouched photo.  So shiny!!

We even scored a personal best of 31.9!  Which is a fabulous score that I am proud of.  Unfortunately, 6 other people scored in the mid to low 20's, something Mia is not yet ready for. That was okay though, the improvement in dressage is what we were going for and we nailed it.

Last was jumping which, admittedly, went about as well as I expected.  The video stabilization in Youtube made both dressage and jumping seem a smidge faster than it actually was (in comparing the video on youtube vs computer), but the video stabilization was needed.... so FYI haha.  Mia has been jumping so well, however, we have only been jumping for the past month or so.  Maybe 6 times?  7 tops?  We aren't at the top of our game still and I knew that going in.  We met 90% of the distances and had one rail.  I honestly don't know what happened for that rail, she hit it with her hind fetlocks and we met the distance, I can only assume I sat on her too soon??  Not sure, there is no other picture or video of it to verify and I was baffled when it happened.

I am still super happy with the jumping round.  Mia was responsive, except for the last fence where she didn't slow down until the last 2 strides and chipped in a small stride, but she was such a good mare.  We ended 6th and I was happy.  Mia then got the next full week off as I headed to the Kentucky 3 Day Event AKA Not-Rolex.  Recap of that coming up!

The continuation of Do This, with show prep and MEDIA

After apparently not posting my last post, here are the updates since then.  The video hubby shot made me go from a high of "We are doing awesome!" to a low of "How the hell do we suck so badly".  I doubled down and decided Mia is fit enough, I am fit enough, we are doing fricken serious dressage work even if it kills us.  *note, it did not kill us*

Ugh. Downhill much?!

I thought this felt good. Blah

Not bad, but not good

Last week I had MR (the lady who rides at night, who is the one who fell off) video our dressage.  I wanted to see if there was actual improvement.  Success!  I was left feeling not so much of a train wreck and hopeful of our upcoming show.  Hubby was traveling for work for a full week, Fri to Fri and our show was that upcoming Sunday.  The plan was serious boot camp and we would be 100% ready for the show.  And then the weather stepped in and was all "Oh, you silly people, no, no, no."  And then the show changed the date to be April 22nd instead.  Blah!  More time to prepare I guess?

This is better

Despite the weather being horrible (40's and rain ALL DAY), I almost wish the show had been last weekend because Mia was on FIRE.  Our dressage was so good, I can only hope it carries through to this weekend.

This is much better!

Hubby was gone all last week and I have been out to the barn almost every day since.  Focusing on SERIOUS dressage work.  And guys, I am actually optimistic of our chances at the show now.  Like, seriously optimistic!  Mia has stepped up to the plate and has agreed to the dressage work.  Our canter guys, the uphill is redeveloping and the haunches.  Man, those errant haunches.  They are staying out!!!!!!  Riding shoulder in all of the time is working and it makes me so damn excited of our possibilities.

Our rides lately have actually been rather short, closer to 30 mins, as Mia has been so good.  We still have our disagreements, like her insistence that my right leg doesn't have a say in the matter and what not, but it is coming together. 

This is 3'6", looking easy

We have also been jumping and Mia has been fabulous about it, I totally think we are ready for our show!  When I ride like an educated rider, we meet our distances and jump everything without her even trying hard.  Height does not phase her at all OMG.

Our show is on Sunday and our dressage isn't perfect, however I am pretty confident in our ability.  I am going to ride with a whip during the test, something I haven't done since I showed App, to help remind Mia to keep her haunches out in the canter but now I need to really, really, really focus and remember to change my whip hand.  Blah! 

That is a 5ft standard. That Mia's knee is ABOVE.

After our show, we have a short week as I am then packing up and headed to K3DE.  I am super excited to go even though everyone I was going with backed out.  Hubby and I are going to have a fabulous time and HOPEFULLY have great weather.  Is anyone else going to K3DE?  Want to meet up??

Jumping? Done. Show schedule? Set. Horse? Sound. Let's do this.

**edit**  I've had this written up for 2 weeks.  TWO WEEKS.  The issue?  Apparently I forgot to hit post.  Dumbass here.  I have a lot of updates since this too, so stay tuned
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I am coming out of these last 2 weeks with some really positive feels.  Mia is developing real muscle, I am developing some real muscle, Mia is actually starting to do real dressage again, pole work has gone well, we jumped and App is shedding like crazy.  I intended on riding on Monday but when I got to the barn, App was exploding with hair so he got a good long grooming session with the shedding blade.  When one touched him afterward, he didn't shoot hair off of his body.  Win!  Not to say it won't be the same tonight, but at least for 24 hours he wasn't that bad.  Ha!

You know that time when you are super excited about a dressage ride and you finally have someone to video you and you know it isn't great but it is better than it has been?!  And then you watch the video and cringe?  Yeah, that was me.  Hubby came out and I threw my phone at him and said "MEDIA!"  So he obliged and took some video, so all I have is video screen shots. Because seriously, how are we still this bad?  I thought Mia was collecting and loading her hocks.  I am sure she is more than she was, but she is so far downhill.  I thought she was sitting in her canter and starting to come up, but the video doesn't show it.  Blah.  Though I am not letting it tear down the positive feels, I think we still have made tremendous progress so we are going to keep working at it.

Mia went on her first trail ride of the spring and she was a rock star.  No spooking, no going fast, just was her superstar self and showed the 2 other horses how it was supposed to be done.  Ha!  It makes me so happy that the wiggly weirdo I started with has become such a solid citizen.  I remember barely being able to go down the road because ROCK!  STICK!!  TREE!! With lots of random transportations that left us 5-10 feet from where we had been moments prior.  I think when I finally get out to do some real fitness and cross country, we will really make some serious progress.

Mia and I have been doing cavaletti for a while now, working on striding and my position.  I finally had access to some standards and a (single) pole so a small course was set up.  A simple set of 3 jumps, 1 stride apart.  2 cavaletti at the ends and the actual jump in the middle. My original intention was to just go to 2'9" and call it a night since we haven't jumped any height since last year.  Except Mia wasn't trying.  She was a little rushy over the poles and she was cantering over the 2' height of the middle jump.  Not even jumping, just putting in a big stride.  Alright then.

I bumped it up to 2'6" and she was simply stepping over it.  There was no real effort being given, just ho hum, whatever.  After doing that a half dozen times, I bumped it up again to 3'.  Mia finally started jumping it, but it was so easy. She was jumping like it was a 2'6" jump.  Barely putting any effort into it and not loading her hocks before the jump.  Dude, like this is a 3' jump.  Can we put a little more effort into it?

I have lots of media but need to find time to upload so it may be it's own post.  We have a show on the 13th so we are coming down to crunch time!

Real riding happening

We have officially moved onto the phase of riding where it isn't quite fitness anymore and there is more asking of some real work.  No real surprise that Mia has gone from Ms Fabulous to Ms Nuh Uh.  Suddenly the ability to ride shoulder in is a foreign concept and one is absolutely not able to move without haunches being thrown to the inside.  Yeah.

We had one ride where I ended up putting spurs on AND having the whip because Mia was absolutely positive that she could not listen to my right leg under any circumstance.  I mean, hey, I get it.  This leg has been operated on 3x and I know it isn't as strong as the other but that is no excuse to blatently ignore it.  It's been okay ALL winter and NOW it should be ignored?  I ended up tapping her every single time I applied my leg just as a reminder for the entire ride. 

The horses got their teeth done on Friday and while there was some minor sharp points, there was nothing major. Maybe it is what made a difference though, as on Saturday and Monday, Mia was actually pretty nice to ride again.  Phew!  She is still unsteady in the bridle going to the right, doesn't want to stay consistent in the contact and wants to keep her haunches in, but it is much better compared to the previous week.  Some more fitness and practice will help straighten her back out, and hopefully we simply move forward and onward.

My happiest moment is that we were actually able to get a few moments of a collected canter again, almost like what we had last year!  I have been asking for more canter and on Saturday she just "got" it.  The instructor last year said to ride the canter like I am approaching a fence.  Sit up, sit back, leg on but not faster.  Try to get her to tilt her pelvis down so she sits and elevates the front with impusion and energy like she needs to go over a fence.  Ding Ding Ding!  It made so much sense, I got it and she was doing it SO well last year before it fell apart.  The fact she was able to hold it for a few strides made me so happy, if we can get that canter at a show?  Our weakest movement would no longer be our weakest movement!

With our third Nor'Easter in as many weeks, I am hopeful that the weather starts cooperating so that I can continue with this riding business.  The lesson next week was cancelled and my sights are now on a tentative show on April 15th, a small CT.  Let's hope we can be at our best for it!

New boots make everything better

Things are picking up around here!  Last week it was unseasonably warm and wet.  Oh so very, very wet.  Tuesday it was SO WARM, 57 at 630p, so I gave App a much needed bath.  It was.... disgusting.  So gross.  The water coming off of him was chocolate colored.  He was dry, there was no soap and it stayed that color, it didn't start running clear.  Ewww.

Clean wet App

So he got a full on, soap filled bath.  It was so extremely gross but he was SO clean after!  Of course, he didn't dry before I left and then he rolled before I got out on Weds to see the results, but look!  Clean!

Cleanish dry App.  He looks so good for almost 25

Last Thursday I got a text from the barn saying they finally separated App from the 30yr old who had attached himself as the BFF, which was the reason App has been in a stall this winter.  App now lives outside again and is paired with a very laid back OTTB and they both have a round bale.  I'm very happy he is outside again, even if App does strongly prefer a stall, as it makes him move more.  When I was out this week, he was already moving around a little better so it is a win.  Even if App wants the luxury.

Happy Appy

Then this week the mail truck pulled up.  Strange, as I was not expecting anything. I was handed a suspiciously large box.  From Dover Saddlery. OMG.

He did not, oh yes he did!

So some backstory, so for about 5 years I have lusted over the Dubarry boots.  But I can't bring myself to spend over $400 for a pair of boots.  I just can't, and I have tried several times.  Last year at Rolex, I was excited when they had two colors on clearance for $179 but because of my gigantor calves, they had nothing that fit in the clearance section.  On the last day of Rolex, we walked around all of the vendors to see if any of the non-Dubarry's were left but, again, because of my tiny feet and huge calves, anything that was left did not fit.

So pretty!

Hubby really wanted me to have a pair so apparently he saved money on the sly, sold car parts and squirreled away enough cash, he thought, to buy me the pair of boots.  A few weeks ago he asked me about the barn owners boots, they are Dubarry's.  I talked about them for a LONG time and then showed him how expensive they were and lamented on how I wouldn't buy them. When he asked what I would buy, I showed him the Dublin River boot but said that it was still over $200 and I am too cheap for that so one day I will find something on clearance.

I know the website says to use a spray to keep the light tan, but I LOVE this chocolate color!

Apparently, he had intended on buying the Dubarry but when he realized he would have to save for yet another year to have the money, he bought the River boots instead.  He went to a Dover retail store, paid cash, and had them mailed to the house.  All without me knowing. OMG!!! I LOVE them and am not bringing them to the barn yet.  These are pretty boots and will stay that way until we go to (Not-Rolex) K3DE.  Once they get thoroughly gross there, maybe I will wear them to the barn.  Right now I wear them every time I leave the house and have conditioned them with Lederbalsam which has darkened them to an amazing chocolate color over the tan that they were.

Mia isn't sure about this work business

On the riding front, Mia has been quite good.  On Tues she was pretty full of attitude, she wasn't completely sure she wanted to participate in the nonsense I was insisting on.  Shoulders in, controlled trot, transitions, all crap ideas apparently.  The rest of the rides have been quite nice.  Lots of long and low, lots of transitions.  On Weds I even broke out the jump saddle and we did a w/t/c session over a cavaletti.  Working on an adjustable canter to the pole and finding the striding.  We finished with the cavaletti all the way up and Mia really seemed to enjoy doing something other than silly dressage.  And to my surprise, I could walk the next day!  Fitness for the win!  We are both developing serious muscle too, her chest is no longer flabby and I am getting the definition of abs under my flub.  We have a long way to go, but we are on our way to a show season.