New Saddle!!!!

I got a new saddle!!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

That's my happy sound.

It fits me, it fits the pony, and it's older than dirt. I got it used, obviously. Hopefully I'll be able to find out exactly what historical era it was made in, but that's really a minor detail since it's still in good condition.





I need to buy a new saddle pad and a new girth for it, but that's okay. Any excuse to shop for tack!

As you can see, my old saddle pad is far too small. Not surprising, considering that it's an AP pad that I purchased at Petsmart seven years ago.

Though I am sad about the lack of teal dressage pads for a reasonable price. I think I know what I'm going to save up for next!

A Little Bit About Me

A recent thread got me thinking about my strengths as a rider. Sadly, I actually had to think about it for a bit before I came up with any.

My equitation is lamentable, my discipline poor, and my knowledge of advanced riding techniques shaky due to the fact that I've only ever ridden ONE highly trained horse in my life. Even then it was only a couple rides, but damn those were good rides! Riding and training Cherry has done me no favors in that regard. I know the basics, but beyond that..... well, let's just say that I think I know what I'm doing. It's hard to tell when you're riding the equine equivalent of a high school dropout that could be a Mensa member if they just put in the effort to learn something.

I'm not the best, fittest, or most educated rider. This much is clear. So what am I good at doing?


Nothing.

Quite literally, nothing.



I'm very good at doing nothing. In all seriousness, I believe this is my biggest strength. I can let the horse find my aids and settle down without fussing, interfering or getting upset. When I'm riding, I set myself where I want my horse to be and leave it alone. Whenever I get a behavior that I don't want, I correct it and move on like nothing happened.

If she's waving her head around in the air, I just send her forward and I do nothing with her face. If I want forward, I'll send her forward. If I want anything, I'll ask for it clearly. No fussing, no nagging, no little corrections.

I do admit that sometimes my temper gets the better of me and I get frustrated. It's shameful that I've taken anger out on my horse, but it's happened. It happened more when I was a (typical angry idiot) teenager, and thankfully we've both moved on from that relatively unscathed.

But for the most part, I can happily do nothing and let the horse sort herself out. My hands are quiet, my seat is quiet, and my legs are quiet enough. I really need to work on building my strength and stabilizing my leg, but it's not like they're waving about and jabbing my horse when I don't mean to. I ride my horse and do nothing. It works well for us, as Cherry doesn't take kindly to being pestered or rushed.

My do-nothingness permeates more aspects of my life than just my riding. As a child, I got in trouble far more often for the things I DIDN'T do than the things I did. Instead of washing the dishes like I was told, I'd read a book. Can't get mad a kid for reading, but you can get mad at her for NOT doing her chores. My dad would get really mad at me for saying "no" when he asked me to do something for him. I said no because I didn't want to move (I was usually reading), I'd rather expend as little energy as possible. I didn't do bad things, but I didn't always do as I was told either.

Talking to peers was difficult for me in elementary school, so I simply didn't talk. I was painfully shy, and social interaction was awkward at best, so I just avoided it. Hence, the school thought I had a speech impediment and sent me to a remedial class with the ESL and "special" kids. What a surprise to for that teacher to find out that I spoke better English than most of my classmates, I just didn't talk unless someone spoke to me directly. Boy, my mom was sure pissed about that when she found out! Turns out they didn't tell her that they were going to "fix" my speech "problem".

I don't pay bullshit fees for clubs or boarding stables. I don't say anything about it, I simply don't pay. One barn owner decided that we all needed expensive new stall signs and ordered them without telling us. She then expected payment for said signs. Needless to say, I didn't pay for mine. If she'd asked before ordering them, I might have been on board, but demanding $60 out of the blue for something I didn't even want was not okay. Another BO required us all to have lessons with her (gak!), and since I didn't want to, I never signed up for mine. Oops!

I suppose that I'd be good at civil disobedience. I won't do anything aggressive or violent, but I won't do what I'm told to do either. I'm not a doormat or a sheep.

This character quirk or whatever you like to call it drives my boyfriend bonkers. He likes things to be done. Things need to happen quickly! Decisions need to be made! Well, I don't work like that. I let decisions ruminate in my brain until the answer comes to me, I don't sit there and purposefully think it out. It's actually probably why we're together. If we were both like me, nothing would ever get done (or maybe a whole lot of nothing would get done!), but if we were both like him, we'd likely have killed each other by now.

Obviously there's a downside to doing nothing. Things can pass me by because I'm too lazy to reach out and grab them. Oh well, I'm working on that. I need to get better at selectively doing nothing. I've found that many, many things work themselves out if you leave them alone, but some things don't. Some problems don't take care of themselves. Like Cherry's hooves and my up and down boarding situation.

Though I do seem to be able to care for myself and remain gainfully employed, so I can't be doing too badly!

Trim #2

Yesterday was Cherry's second trim by me. Total time of execution was 2 hours, including breaks and the eating of mushy hay pellets. I'm still not entirely happy with her front feet, but we'll take care of that tomorrow. And the verdict is....

SOUND!

Yes, 100% sound after I was done hacking away at her feet. I also busied myself with cutting up my arm and rasping my knuckles. I'm sure Cherry appreciated that.

As always, I learned something. Firstly, that I waited too long to trim her and really should do it sooner next time. Secondly, her arthritis is worse in the left hind than in the right hind. Good to know.

In all honesty, I haven't had any follow up on the initial arthritis diagnosis. Where it is, how bad it is, etc. Why? Mostly because it's one of those things that's just there and there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. It is what it is, and she's either sound to ride or she's not. There is no treatment to reverse the process, and I don't need to pay a vet to tell me that. She's getting a joint supplement now, and when she gets too stiff to ride, she'll be retired. I'm hesitant to rot her gut with bute, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Alright, back to my farriering.

On our first trim, I took off barely any sole. Like, hardly a scraping anywhere. This time, giant chunks were falling out on their own! It was quite a sight, but I'm glad. What comes off easily is what the horse is trying to shed. Healthy sole does not simply flake off for easy removal.

I like this method of trimming. You don't worry about angles or anything complicated like that. You watch the sole and base your trim around it. Easy! Well, in theory.

Trimming was anything but easy. Cherry's feet were HARDER than they were last time. Like rock fucking hard. I could barely nipper the hoof wall on the fronts, and the back feet were close to impossible. I tackled the hind feet by nippering off thin slivers until I got down to the level I wanted. It took forever, but I honestly was not strong enough to take off the whole chunk with one nip.

I know it's a good thing, but I was sweating and grunting like a pig just trying to take off a tiny bit of hoof wall. If I'm smart, I'll trim her earlier next time and be able to use the rasp on the wall with minimal nippering.

I also think her heels need to come down in the front, but her hoof doesn't agree with me. I'm not going to fight it, but it does make me twitch a little. As my book says, "Listen to the hoof. Accept that you may be wrong about what the hoof needs." It also goes on to say that eventually the heels will come down on their own, sometimes it takes several trims. This is only trim #2, so I'm not going to fret about it. Too much. Yet.

The end result was a sound pony who moved out better than before. Today I'm going to ride, probably just at a walk, but we'll see how Cherry feels. Last time, she was really stiff and wasn't interested in more than a nice stroll. Listen to the horse, listen to the hoof. You don't really need to know what you're doing as long as you can understand and follow directions. :)

And Now For Something Completely Different

Normally I write about Cherry here, because let's face it, she's my baby and I spend a good deal of time thinking about her. But today I feel like writing about me! Because I think I'm pretty awesome too. :)

I'm going to a soiree. Not a BBQ, not a party, but a soiree. And I'm going to be bringing a selection of artisan wines. Can't you just feel the yuppiness oozing out every pore? Barf.

Therefore I must choose an appropriate outfit. What does one wear to a "celebratory soiree"? I suppose nothing trashy or too revealing, that's a safe bet. So, how does one judge trashy?

I judge the trashiness of my outfit by how many tattoos are showing. I've got three, ankle, lower back (right side, no tramp stamp for me!), and shoulder blade.


None showing: Formal and/or professional, highly conservative

1 showing: Conservative, especially if it's just the ankle tattoo

2 showing: Casual, possibly a bit revealing

3 showing: If it's not a bikini, it's trashy

I might have to revise my rule if I acquire any more, but so far it's worked well for me. Some might disagree with my classifications, but I'm not a terribly modest person. Pretty much the only thing I always try to cover is my butt crack, and that's only because I don't want to see anyone else's and don't want to be a hypocrite.

Something I love doing is wearing a really modern casual outfit and a really demure, old-school hairstyle. There's something fun about a tight, low cut shirt, huge hoop earrings, and a ladylike braided bun pinned low. Or braids wrapped around my head. That one throws people off because nobody wears their hair like that anymore.

I think I'll go conservative for this soiree deal. I've got black pants that look cute rolled up with flip flops, and a drape-y green shirt that's comfy but not sloppy. Turtle will be showing, but the rest will be covered. Excellent, now I just need to do laundry............








Disclaimer: Neither of these pics are of me. The top one is Angelina Jolie, and I only wish I had an amazing pic of me like that. The bottom one is some chick's picture that I found on Google images, but her hair type and length seem similar to mine.

Moving

Lately I've been considering moving Cherry to a new boarding facility. Board went up (again) at our current place, and it's hitting me harder than I thought it would. $15 a month doesn't sound like much, until you realize that you used that money to buy things like cat food and vitamins.

There's a few other things influencing me, too. The main one (besides the cost) is that aside from the field, there is nowhere to ride. The indoor is tiny, and quite frankly, the footing in it sucks. I don't use that or the outdoor arena much, so that leaves us with the field. It's a great place to ride, don't get me wrong, but it gets old real fast when it's the ONLY place to ride.

Another thing are the new fines for not cleaning your paddock. This really ticks me off, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it's the idea that I'm being treated like a child. Yeah, I know paddocks need to be cleaned and all, but fining me for not having it done by X date? Um, that's not cool.

Which brings me to my next point, why the hell do I have to clean my own paddock anyway?! Board is on the high side here, and you really don't get too much for it. The hay is great, but that's about it. No trainer, no amazing facilities, no hot water, fences are so-so, etc. Other places have great hay too, I mean, the stuff is local so it's not exactly hard to come by. I don't mind cleaning my paddock, but I don't want to pay far out the ass to do so.

Basically, it comes down to the fact that I feel like I'm paying a lot of money for not much. Since I don't make a whole lot of money, what I do have is quite precious.

So why haven't I left already?!

Well, I do like the place, and I've been boarding there for a few years now. I've become friends with the family who owns it and I like them very much. I know my horse is looked after when I'm away, and know that I will be called immediately at any hour should something be wrong. The barn is relatively drama free, which is amazing for a boarding stable full of young women. I love that.

I'm also a bit of a weenie about moving. I hate doing it, no matter if it's myself or my animals. It just sucks and I try to avoid it. The hassle, the expense, the finding of a new routine and new places to put everything comes together to challenge my passive and root-growing nature.

I also hate moving boarding barns because of the Crazy. Sure, the new BO seems sane enough, but you really don't know until you've been there awhile. I've been lulled into a false sense of security before. Then, there's the almost worse scenario of the present (and soon to be previous) BO flipping the fuck out when you politely inform them of your decision to move. That too has also happened to me. And since I have a personal relationship with the BO, I'm not going to kid myself into thinking that our last few weeks at the barn will be peaceful and full of joy.

Tough choices sometimes, but in the end, what's best for Cherry always wins out over my desire to not provoke the Crazy or disrupt my routine. *sigh*

Training Thoughts

Not terribly long ago I made a decision, which was for me, quite momentous. I decided that I was done training my horse. Where she's currently at in her training is how she's going to stay. I'm done.

Yeah, yeah, every time you ride or handle your horse you're training it, blah, blah, blah. I know. What I mean is that I'm done instilling NEW training in Cherry, and I'm not going to fret over improving what we've got.

Why? Frankly, Cherry is a pain in the ass to train and always has been. I'm not the only one who has come to this conclusion. Cherry is a difficult horse to train, that's just how it is. If it isn't something obvious, and she doesn't see the point, forget it. Progress is slow and painful, always has been, and I'm over it.

Cherry is that annoying little kid who keeps asking "why?" "Why do I have to do this? Why now? Why can't I do that? Why? Why? Why? Why?" GAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! It doesn't matter why, just DO IT! "No!" And so it goes.

She couldn't be faster to grasp the concept if the "why" is satisfactorily explained. If I go too fast I get yanked nearly off my feet? Okay, slow it is, that sucked! I'm convinced you're going to eat me if I bite you,so I won't do that again. Wow, these things you call leg and seat cues are so much better than you hauling on my face, I think I'll listen to them.

On the other hand........

Walk across the scary, crinkly blue thing on the ground when we could EASILY go around? Are you out of your freaking mind?!?! I love travelling with my head in the air and I can't figure out why you don't like it. Why canter when you can GALLOP! See? We got there much faster and it was a whole lot more fun! What are you so pissy about? I still don't see why I have to collect if we're not traveling uphill or across difficult terrain.

Either it has to make horsey sense, or I have to beat her ass into doing it. It sucks, she's old, and I'm done.

Unless there's a very good reason to teach her something new, I'm not going to bother. I'm glad I did the hobble breaking, and if something like that comes up, we'll learn something new. Or if some random thing appeals to me, I'll work on it with her.

Lately I've been tailing her back from the field, but I only have one rein. It's hard to ground drive with one rein and no rommel. So I think I'll teach her voice commands for "right" and "left". It'll be a fun project to work on that won't matter if I'm entirely successful or not. But the under saddle training? It's finished, and admitting that to myself was an enormous relief.

Progress

In the recent past, I posted about how my idiotic, neurotic fancies were coming between me and enjoying my ride time. Well, I've been working on it since then, and I think I'm doing pretty well.

I've been riding 3-5 days a week, and it's getting easier. The hot weather lately has been helping, pony is far too lazy to break a sweat acting up when it's 90 degrees outside. I still feel myself tensing up and starting to freak out when a clanky, rumbling truck drives by us, or the barn owner's husband decides to mow the lawn outside the "scary corner" of the arena. I'm still far from the confident rider I'd like to be (and once was), but baby steps.

I've come to the conclusion that what scares me is being out of control. If my horse spooks or panics, I am not in control. That frightens me. Everything that I fear boils down to that one issue. Control. I fear that I won't be able to control my horse, and that I won't be able to control my own body to do the right thing at the right time (like keep my ass on my horse). I don't like being out of control. It's scary.

I have been doing better, though. The "OMG! What if..!?!?!" moments have been less frequent. Talking to my horse has helped me through the times when they do rear their ugly heads. I suppose I'm really talking to myself, but it matters not.

I've also been singing to my horse. I'm really quite bad, but it's difficult to be tense and worried when you're singing. One of these days I'm going to put my ipod and some speakers in a saddle bag so I have something to sing along with.

I used to do that all the time on trail rides. I've surprised more than one hiker by cantering down the trail with Sublime or Eminem playing at full volume (usually with me singing along). I plugged portable speakers into my Walkman (couldn't used a CD player, it skipped), put the whole deal into a plastic baggie and zipped it up in a saddle bag. It was pretty awesome and never seemed to bother Cherry any.

So I guess the point is that my efforts to get over myself and my fears are working, albeit slowly. Some days are more of a struggle than others. Sometimes I throw on the saddle and head out with no worries at all, other times I check and double check my tack, scan the area for potentially scary objects, and spend way more time than necessary fretting about how stiff Cherry is that day. Baby steps.