Gymnastic morning

I had Thursday off from work as well, but due to some appointments in the afternoon, and camp being out at the barn during the days now that school is out, I wanted to get to the barn fairly early to get my ride done before the kids got there.  I woke up slightly later than I wanted to and ended up opting to grab some coffee and a bagel from a shop on the way to the barn instead of waiting for it to brew at home (total laziness, I know).  I really wanted to jump, but wasn't sure if I was going to have enough time to set something up in the ring before camp started.

Got to the barn only about 30 minutes after I wanted to, and gave Otter a quick but thorough brushing - because of course he had rolled in the mud the night before.  Luckily there was another woman at the barn who was also trying to get a ride in before camp, and she had planned to jump today also.  She had a gymnastic line set up in the ring already, so asked her if I could work over the line also.  She didn't have a problem with this, so I quickly finished tacking up and headed to the ring.  By this time the camp kids (mostly consisting of the kids who normally take lessons at the barn) were starting to show up and they ended up jump-crewing for us.  Definitely one plus to them being at the barn during the day!  They are great kids, and while they make the barn more crowded during the day, they are fun to listen to and are always willing to lend a hand.

Quickly warmed up so I would be ready to go when the other rider was, and we started through the line, alternating who was going.   I was actually really glad she had a gymnastic line set up because it has been a really long time since we had done one - thinking 8 - 12 months? - and I was eager to see how Otter would do with them.  Historically he's always gotten a little backed off during gymnastic work or would flail over his own feet.

We started off with three trot poles, then quickly moved to the three trot poles followed by a vertical.  When the other rider was ready we added one stride to another vertical and then ended up with three trot poles to a vertical, one stride to a vertical, one stride to another vertical.  We kept the jumps fairly low because the other rider is just starting her mare along, and I didn't want to push too much after our lesson on Sunday.

Sorry for the blurry picture, dunno what my phone was doing.

Otter was great throughout the whole thing - he was soft and relaxed and really using himself over the jumps, and stayed balanced even after the line.  I did have to remember to keep my leg on over the trot poles or he would lose some impulsion and struggle over the first vertical, but after a few repetitions, I was much better about it.  It was great to have him be so soft and relaxed over the jumps, but still being snappy about his knees and legs.

After our ride I hosed him off, cleaned my tack, and then put rubbed some liniment into his legs.  While grazing Otter on Sunday, I was talking with a few of the other girls and we got to talking about windpuffs.  Otter has had some moderate windpuffs on his hindlegs pretty much since I got him.  He raced fairly heavily for 5 years, so I really wasn't surprised.  They aren't the gnarliest ones that I have seen, and they do go away if he is wrapped.  The vain part of me wishes that they didn't exist on his legs, but considering that they are just a visual blemish, I usually push them out of my mind.  Anyways, the girl said that on her old horse she had good luck with getting windpuffs to disappear with rubbing Surpass into them.  When she retired the horse, she still had pretty good results with rubbing liniment into them daily.  So I'm going to try the liniment route for a month or two and see where we get with that.

Lazy, or just exhausted?

Tuesday was suppose to be a barn day..... buuuut with all of the rain that came through the south (although I am very thankful that we did not get as much as parts of Texas), and having some wedding stuff to do, and just being tired and needing a bit of a day to relax, I decided to give Otter  (and by Otter, I mean myself) the day off.   So, I slept in a bit, then hung out with the dogs while I watched some TV and made a few calls to check in with the vendors for the wedding.  Finished the day with some shopping.  Definitely was the type of day that I needed, even though I felt a little guilty for not visiting Otter.

So on Wednesday, when I finished up with work, I headed out to the barn even though the weather was sucky.  Had to ride in the indoor around lessons due the the outdoor rings being flooded (it had stopped raining by the time that I got there) .  Cleaned off the muddy pony and tacked up, then headed to the ring.  Had a fairly good dressage ride.  We did our norm - bendy shapes at the walk and trot to warm up, did some canter, then walk, some lateral work at the trot and some more canter.  He was pretty good - really responsive to my inside leg and would balance up fairly quickly with an outside half halt.  He just felt a little off - not lame off- just not quite as balanced and forward as he normally is.  It honestly might have been me - I was really tired and actually had trouble making it home after our ride (at 5pm....).

We aren't good at the selfie pictures

Surprisingly though, he didn't grind his teeth at all during this ride, which is why I ended the ride fairly early.  Still not sure why he does some days and doesn't on other days - but the consensus at the barn is that at this point it's probably out of habit and we just have to work to break the habit now.

Sunday Jump lesson

I had my jump lesson Sunday morning, that I woke up dreading a little bit.  We had gone out Saturday night, and while I only had one margarita and then a glass of wine later in the evening, I woke up with a slight headache/hangover.  Then the fiancé surprised me with a tablet (I’ve been wanting one for a while), and so I really just wanted to stay in bed and get it all set up. 

 *speaking of tablets: any suggestion for apps to notify me when the blogs I follow get updated?

 Headed out to the barn, solo this time, and found out that only one other person in my group lesson was able to make it, so was really not looking forward to how hard we would have to work.  Got tacked up and headed to the outdoor jump ring to warm up.  He warmed up pretty good again, and my trainer came out so we started trotting the crossrail to warm up, then did the little gate a few times.  The other girl then moved on to a few bigger jumps, and when she took a break, I started cantering the crossrail.  That went well, so we moved on to the gate.  Otter was great –cantering away after jumps like a little hunter pony.  Even when we had a couple of shorter distances (nothing like the underneath the fence we used to have), it still didn’t rattle him and he stayed balanced and without the dramatics after the jump.  We then took a break, while the other girl jumped a few more. 

 When it was our turn again, our trainer had us jump the oxer coming down the center line, which requires a tight turn and short approach to it, and has to be jumped at a bit of an angle to avoid hitting the jump a few strides behind it (the joys of a small jump arena).  He did great, so we changed direction and started jumping it going up the center line.  The first time we jumped it this direction, he jumped it huge!  And I may not have been expecting it, so we *may* have ended up going outside the arena because I wasn’t prepared for the turn.  The next few times were much better.  We took another break while the other horse and rider did a different course.

 After she finished up, our trainer looked at me and asked when was the last time we had done a combination, which had not been for a while.  So she put together a short course of the one stride line, then the white gate then the oxer.   He jumped the one stride line like a boss- really round and really confident, while not taking too much control.  We kept it together for the gate and the oxer, and then ended on that. 

 We cooled out then I took Otter out to graze a little because he had been such a good boy!

 I have to say that I may have been a little frustrated after our last few jump sessions because I felt like we have not been able to do much with the heat and humidity, and both of us attempting to adjust to it, and trying to only have positive sessions.  Sunday’s lesson proved that even if we only jump a single jump for a few times during a session, as long as I make those jumps count, it will still help us in the long run.  Jumping wise we have not been on the same page since last year with not trusting each other to do their job correctly, and it feels like we are finally moving past that.

Dressage lesson

My lesson on Saturday was at 1:15pm, so the fiancé and I were able to sleep in a little (well, as much as the dogs would let us) and enjoy a nice morning before heading out to the barn.  On the way out there, we stopped to check on the progress of the house we are building – and it’s coming along.

 We ended up getting to the barn a little early, so we hung out with some of the other boarders and chatted before I pulled Otter out to start getting him ready.  There was a slight return of funk due to the rain and humidity that we had on the days that I couldn’t get out there, so I just curried those areas really well to get all the funk up before tacking up. 

 The lesson went really well, my trainer had us start with lots of bending so that he doesn’t get locked in his neck/jaw.  My seat has improved so much with the new saddle, but the improvement to my posture needs to carry on up to my upper back/shoulders area – She kept calling me a turtle because I kept rounding those areas instead of sitting up straight.  I really love the way she teaches – corrections she makes stay with me through my following rides, so when I start looking down or leaning, or whatever when I’m riding outside a lesson, it triggers the memory of what she said and allows me to fix the bad habits.

 Unfortunately, we are still working on getting my hands to be quieter.  She had me ride for a few minutes with my fingers almost touching to create a frame to make it harder for me to be busy with my hands while riding.  It definitely worked and made me use my seat and legs more to create bend.  We finished the lesson soon after that because I was struggling a bit with the heat and humidity.

 Went for a short walk to cool us both out, then untacked, hosed and put Otter in his stall so he could get some water and eat his dinner while I cleaned tack.  After the barn, the fiancé and I went to the store to pick up a few remaining wedding items we needed.

Wednesday jump school

This morning I really didn't feel like dragging myself out to the barn before I had to be in at work at 1pm, but I put my big girl breeches on, poured myself a cup of coffee and headed out to the barn.  Once I got going, I was fine and glad that I was going out there.  Got to the barn and was glad to see that the hives were gone.  Not sure what caused them in the first place.  We tacked up and headed out to the jump ring for a quick school.

Otter warmed up like a champ.  He has been feeling so good recently - about 2 months ago I started him on a regular Adequan schedule, and I have really been noticing the difference in how he moves and uses himself.  Mindful of how I pushed our limits with the heat and humidity last Thursday, I kept our warm up fairly short, with lots of circles and bending to get him moving.

After a walk break, I started jumping the big crossrail back and forth a few times at the trot before moving into the canter.  I had decided that after pushing ourselves too hard last time, I just was going to keep our jump session easy and short this time.  After 10 to 15 jumps, I called it a day.  We had one or two chips, but he didn't overreact and stayed balanced afterwards, for the most part though we had good distances.

I did notice a few things though - while I am so much better at looking up and straight ahead on the flat, while jumping, especially during the turns, I'm still looking down and to the inside of the corner.  I need to also regulate our canter more in between jumps.  I counted strides today and it was a bit wonky.

Otter decided picture time was over for today

The short school worked much better for both of us and we were able to end on a good note.  Have lessons this weekend which I am really excited for- seems like it's been forever since I've seen my trainer because of our schedules conflicting.

Constantly changing plans

I went out to the barn on Monday with the intention of doing a spa day for Otter and his tack, along with riding.  Spa day ended up getting scrapped because I just didn't feel like pulling out the clippers to clean him up, or felt like spending the whooping 5 minutes it takes to pull his mane.  So instead I just tacked up and went to the outdoor ring to work on our dressage skillz.

Warmed up like normal, and did some spiral circles at the trot.  Going to the left was good, right still needs work to be well balanced.  Moved into the canter and the right departures were horrible.  So started doing canter transitions, circle, canter leg yield to the rail, trot, trot leg yield to the rail, canter transition, rinse and repeat.  It seemed to help our balance and canter departures.  I was super pleased with how much he was using his hind end overall, especially in the trot.  Unfortunately, one of the side effects of him using his hind end more is a twisted shoe.

Please excuse the Thrushbuster stains.  His feet smelled a little funky when I cleaned them out

 Luckily, since our barn has so many horses, our farrier is always out at the barn on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I just added him to the list to do today.

Spent Tuesday morning finalizing some wedding stuff, then headed out to the barn.  Got there just in time to hold him for the farrier.  Otter has been pretty skittish for the farrier the past several times, because he believes the boogyman lives in the back aisle where the farrier works.  Having gotten used to him being the one the farrier could always depend on to behave, I am not okay with his new behavior and was glad to be able to be out there while the farrier was there.  I armed up with carrots, a chain over his nose, gloves and a dressage whip, and proved the point the honey catches more flies than vinegar.  Never once had to touch him because he was so into the smell of the carrots, he couldn't have cared less about his surroundings.  Yay for small wins!  Hopefully he's forgotten all about the bogeyman now, and will just be looking for carrots back there now.

Otter also had some hives on him when I went out there today.  Not sure if it's from all the fungal shampoo, or just the bugs and humidity ( I know they make me hivey and itchy).  I decided not to scrub him after today's ride, and we will see what happens tomorrow.  

Our ride today was good, but I kept it short because of the heat. I originally wanted to jump, but the footing outside just wasn't good enough.  So decided to do some more flat work, and  focus more on myself today, and in doing so, I got a lot of really good work out of Otter.  I need to really make sure that I use more of my legs and seat to balance and bend him than my legs. Tried a little bit of a sitting trot in the new saddle and was glad to find out I was able to balance a lot easier.

Hoping I'll be able to jump some in the morning before I have to head into work.

Oh the humidity!

One of the things that I definitely underestimated when I moved down here was the effect the humidity would have on everything.  I knew it would be bad, just not quite the extent of it, I guess.  This spring had been absolutely gorgeous until one day I woke up and it was a hot muggy mess.  I thought I would share some words of wisdom that I have learned the hard way down here.

1      1.  If you wait till you see signs of the funk (see example below - Although it is now gone, just need to wait for the hair to regrow) to start treating it, you have entered into a losing battle that will take you most of the next month and almost daily baths with treated shampoo to get rid of.  I have been told that it is normal for horses to get it this bad their first summer here, and next year won’t be as bad.  Thankfully it is almost completely gone now, and just need the hair to grow back.

2.       Tack must be cleaned after every ride – no exception.  If you even wait one day, it will start to get fuzzy.  Even if you clean it with certain products (I have always been a fan of Effol, but sadly it doesn’t perform under the conditions here), it’ll still start to get fuzzy.  It’s gross.  I started to use Higher Standards  leather cleaner and it has been amazing.  Cleaned my jump tack with it one day and a week later – still no fuzz.  My bridles are soft and supple.  It smells great.  Seriously can’t say enough good stuff about it.

This is what happens when tack is left alone down here.  Note - this has not been cleaned yet with Higher Standards soap.  I will do a before and after post  of it soon.

3.       Saddle pads.  Two ride maximum.  Most only get a single ride before they get washed.  They just don’t dry down here.  It’s gross and don’t even think about stopping somewhere on the ride home from the barn with one in your car.  Made that mistake once. 

 I’m sure that I will be adding to this list as it gets hotter and even more humid.   If any of my readers have any advice to help Otter and I through our first summer down in the bayou, we would really appreciate it!

Scheduling Conflicts

With the temperatures rising, I’m going to have to change my riding schedule around.  Right now, I will usually go out in the afternoon between when the training rides/AA’s have lessons in the AM and when all the kids start their lessons late PM.  I usually have an hour or two gap where the barn is fairly quiet.  I find when I go out at this time I get so much accomplished at home before I ride – the laundry get done, the cleaning gets done, etc.

 I really want to start riding first thing in the morning, when it is still relatively cool and before the barn gets busy.  Only two problems with this – the first is that I am so not a morning person, and I love to sleep in on my days off, and the second is that when I ride in the morning then come home, I feel like I never get the same amount accomplished that I do when I ride in the afternoon.

 Does anyone else have this issue?  How do you work around it?

I don't know how people ride down here all summer.

I went out to the barn after work on Wednesday (it's my short shift day at work) with the intention of going out to the jump ring.  However, when I got to the barn and checked the ring out, it was still too sloppy from the rain we've been getting and I was feeling slightly too lazy to set up jumps in the covered.

So I swapped my plans around and worked on some more dressage work yesterday.  Warmed up then started doing spirals in and out at the trot, then moved into them at the canter.  He did really well at the trot and it really helped him balance up.  The canter was a little bit iffy, but we will continue to work on them.  We took a bit of a walk break then moved on to some shoulder ins and leg yields at the walk and trot.  Called it a day after that - we were both drenched in sweat and it was hot.

Cooled Otter out, hosed him off and cleaned up my tack then headed home.

Thursday I went out to the barn first thing in hopes of beating the rain storms.  I check out the jump ring and it had dried out enough to ride in. He warmed up really well, and I started jumping the X at the trot and moved into the canter after a few times.  Everything was going well, until he got a little tired, and I think I did as well/lost my focus/stopped riding, and started screwing up my distances which gets him super pissed off.  So we got a few long spots that I wasn't prepared for, and then I chipped him in to a few deep spots, and then he gave me the big old finger.  So we went back to trotting the jumps till we were on the same page again, and then moved back on to cantering them which went well for a jump or two, then started falling apart again, so we went back to the trot and got a few nice relaxed jumps and called it a day.

Lesson learned - keep jump sessions even shorter than I have been because the humidity saps both of our focus.  

Got Otter all settled up after the ride, and brought home my brushes to give a good washing to clean them up from the winter grime/spring shedding season/skin funk.  This is my weekend to work(12 hour shifts on Fri, Sat, and Sun) so I won't be able to head back out to the barn again till Monday.

Quiet days at the barn

I went out to the barn on Sunday and enjoyed a nice quiet day out there.  Did some flat work and went over the trot poles that the other girl who was at the barn had set up.  Otter was really good and quiet.  After we worked for about 20 minutes and chatted for about 10, the other girl and I went on a short trail ride around the property to cool off the horses.  It was nice having the barn to ourselves because normally it is so busy, especially on the weekends. 

 After the ride, I scrubbed down Otter’s hindquarters with the medicated shampoo again to keep the funk at bay, cleaned my tack and headed home to celebrate Mother’s day with my future in-laws.

 Tuesday I was able to go out to the barn again.  It was so humid that it was hard to get motivation to ride, but I tacked up anyways.  Went for a short walk around the outdoor rings to loosen up, then headed back into the covered arena to get out of the sun.  Otter was a bit stiff on his left side, which is normal for him some days, so we worked on lots of big loopy figure 8’s and serpentines to get him bending through on both sides evenly. 

Did a few canter departures in each direction and was happy that we were able to get them promptly.  The new saddle is so much better for both of us, but it changed my position enough that we were struggling with them for a few rides. 

 I let Otter have a walk break then we worked on some trot lengthenings for a few passes across the arena, and then cooled him out because even though we only worked for about 20 minutes again, he was dripping in sweat (and so was I).  He hasn’t had problems with the heat yet, but I am really concerned about him adjusting to working in the high heat and humidity, so I don’t want to push him too much when the weather is like this.  Do ya’ll have any cut off points for when it’s too hot/humid?

 After our ride, I hosed him off, and set him up under the fan to cool off, then turned him out just in time for a big rainstorm to come through. 

 Today marks 30 days till the wedding!  Feels like I still have so much to do…

Change is good for the soul

Welcome to version 2.0 of this blog!  I decided to make a few changes to it because I just wasn't feeling the old name, but wanted to keep the posts I had already done.  So goodbye Broke(n) Eventer, and hello Southern Fried Eventer!  I want the blog to chronicle some of the challenges I have faced with moving down here (90% humidity and all the joys that come with that).  As I stated in my last post, I am really going to try to post more regularly. 

So welcome and enjoy!

Keeping things short and sweet

I know I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon the past few months, but life has been pretty crazy recent with the move, new job, building a house and wedding planning.  I know I say this every time, but I really am going to try to have more of a presence on here – just beware it might not happen for another two months. 

Things have been going pretty well with Otter – took him to a few local shows this spring and finally scored in the 20’s in dressage.  He’s starting to look pretty fancy.  I just got a new (to me) dressage saddle that has definitely helped with some of the issues we were fighting in the old saddle that just didn’t fit us right.

Due to time restrictions, most of my rides recently have been fairly short – definitely under 30 minutes.  At first it was due to time management and trying to get rides in before I had to be at work at 11am, but after a few weeks of shortened rides, I noticed that we were getting better work sooner in the ride.  Now that my schedule has gotten better and I have more time at the barn, I have still been keeping my rides short.  I get on, we walk a bit, do some work – if he’s good we are done then, if not then we work on a few things, but without drilling on them, and then finish up.  He’s become so much more relaxed recently, and I feel like the change is due to the shorter rides. 

My spring/summer competition schedule definitely has not happened like I had thought it would – changing jobs this spring and then the wedding planning has just tied up too much time.  I can’t even imagine how I would have fit a busy show schedule in.  I am hoping to get a couple of recognized shows in this fall season though, but we will see how things go.  I have been pretty happy just riding around the farm and going to the local shows.

*Side note: If anybody is looking for a used but in good condition Wintec Isabell dressage saddle with the Cair system and exchangeable gullet plates, please let me know! I will have pictures within the next few days to send