I think this weather sucks.

Yup, I really hate it. Mid to upper 80's in May is so not okay. The bugs are killer and there is no relief from the heat. Ugh! I've been riding UK bareback as the thought of putting on half chaps makes me wince. I have never enjoyed the heat, and I doubt I will till I'm old and decrepit. 

The upside of riding him bareback (besides making my muscles work twice as hard) is that it's as close contact as you can get, so it's great for working on lateral movements! We do a lot of bending and circles, as he's still not quite balanced enough when tracking right. Counter bend seems to help him the most, and it has the added benefit of keeping him focused. 

This morning before the heat reached unbearable temperatures I lunged UK, first on a lunge line then free over a jump. He was a bit cranky at first, as Dacharia was making a big deal about me keeping him from her. I took pictures using the sport motion setting again. I love going through all the photos, it's like an animation!

Look at him bend! Look at that neck!! 

I am so very, very proud! 

He only knocked a rail down once, and it was because Dacharia distracted him and he got too deep. Other then that he was excellent. (I started him out over a crossrail oxer first before putting it up to the height in the pictures.)

:p

So that's it for now. Hopefully it will cool down soon so I can actually jump him under saddle without getting heat stroke!

Sacrifice

Yes, sacrifice.

That's my current topic for discussion.

As many of us know, we knowingly sacrifice a "normal" life to become horse people. There is no way to completely dedicate your self, your time, your money and your body to riding without it effecting the rest of your life. Non-horse people consider us strange and cannot seem to grasp why we do these things to ourselves. They've even asked us why, and we never seem to be able to give them a real coherent answer.

Our connection with our horses is something beyond words, and it's a blessing. However that blessing comes at a cost. Some give up any and all other hobbies, others give up ever having a clean vehicle. We've all sacrificed something in order to keep our equine connections.

I guess what I'm getting to, is how much is too much sacrifice?

I'm almost twenty-five years old (yes, yes, I know that's not that old), I have no college degree, a mortgage and other bills to pay and I'm currently unemployed because eighteen plus years of equine experience isn't enough to get a job anymore.

I graduated high school a few months before I turned sixteen. I was burned out from cramming all that knowledge into my head and needed a break. I'd been volunteering at a local barn and taking riding lessons. My parents offered me a deal, they'd buy me a horse if I paid all it's bills. So I studied, budgeted and on July 8th, 2002 I was the proud owner of my first horse. I immediately accepted a job offer to work at the barn where I kept my horse and worked my ass off there for the next two or three years. I'd work sixteen days straight because I was stupidly loyal and did everything I was asked. I even ended up working for free sometimes on my days off, as I'd get sucked into something when I'd only come up to ride my horse.

I lived and breathed barn work, sacrificing any form of social life outside of work in exchange for being able to pay for my horse's expenses and to finish paying him off. That pure dedication to the equine paid off in many ways, not many nineteen year olds are asked to manage an "A" circuit barn.

Successful and in demand, it was a great time to be me. I was constantly turning down job offers to work at various farms. Then the economy took a massive dive in 2008. I was getting married and I'd outgrown the barn I was managing. My husband said "take a break we can live on just my salary", so I did. After a few blissful months of only having to worry about my horse I started the job search once again.

It was misery. Barns were closing left and right, and the ones that were managing to stay open were not looking for new people. I worked for awhile at a barn that was trying to be more non-horse people friendly, I didn't stay there long as safety wasn't one of their priorities. I ended up finding a job outside the horse world, bringing my past retail experience into play. It lasted a year, I was miserable and just couldn't bring myself to keep slogging along doing something I hated.

I accepted a job offer to be a secretary at the a law office. I'd grown up in my dad's office and had a general knowledge of filing and other legal things. It was quite the change for me, but I needed the money to keep paying for the horse. I was pretty happy doing it, even managing to get hired by a bigger law firm and working there till the head partners broke it up. I went back to working for a solo attorney and kept doing my thing.

I have to admit, working a predictable schedule with weekends off was very nice. Eventually however I realized I wasn't happy and it was starting to eat at me.

So here I am again, the economy got even worse, clients weren't paying their bills so there was no money to pay me. Fun.

I've sacrificed so much to stay involved with the horses, and I don't really regret it. But sometimes I wonder about the what if's and such. Would life be much easier if I gave up the horses? I know my husband would be happier.

I love UK and I don't plan on giving him up or selling him, but I'm getting stretched very thin financially. I cannot justify paying for him instead of paying my mortgage. It hasn't come to that yet, but I worry that it might.

This is where I really start hoping that Karma will kick in... I need a job, and I really will only be happy with a job at a barn where I can teach again. I love to teach above all else. Working with human and equine students fills me with purpose and pride when I see them do well for themselves.

So I'll continue praying, keep checking Yard & Groom, Craigslist, the local want ads and just hope that something will work out. I really don't want to have to sacrifice anything else...

Rain, rain, and more dreary rain.

My hair is a riotous puff of frizz, encouraged to this by the incessant and unrelenting rain. The concrete aisle in the barn is constantly wet, and the horses always have muddy legs.

YUCK!

Up until yesterday it was at least warm while it rained, but yesterday was very cold. I groomed both the horses while they ate their breakfast and then put their turnout sheets on. The shedding has not ceased, and in fact has accelerated. So not only was I damp, but I was now covered in chestnut and white hair. I released the horses out into the foggy downpour and then slogged my way back to my car.

It has rained everyday since last Sunday and both UK and I are pretty miserable. He's bored and so am I. We're both greatly looking forward to a bit of sun and a chance to do something.

Last night I returned to the barn to give UK and Dacharia their spring shots. Kristy met me at the barn so I could show her how to do an intramuscular injection when I gave the horses their shots. Before we let the horses in we went up into the hayloft to assess the hay situation. I opened one of the hayloft doors and UK found it highly alarming that I suddenly was so high above him. Kristy and I greatly enjoyed talking to him, he kept trotting back and forth then stopping and staring at me with big eyes and alert ears.

Yup, like that.

Dacharia could have cared less, and was very satisfied when we dropped the bales down so she could munch. 

UK was a very good patient and was rewarded with a studmuffin for his stiff upper lip. I have to admit feeling a bit guilty about sticking him with needles, feels a lot like having to give a shot to a little kid. Eyes focused on you with a mixture of anticipating pain and bravery. 

So say a prayer, knock on wood and what have you that the rain takes a break for awhile!

Spring time fun!

For Mother's Day I went with my friend Robin, who owns The Gifted Pony, LLC to help her with her booth/tent at a horse show up in Mass. I was really impressed with the little show, and love the fact that they have a green horse division. I'm seriously going to try to bring UK up there for his first show. Not too big, not too small and nice people.

I rode him western this week as I was trying out a used saddle. The tree was too wide so I ended up giving it back, but it was tons of fun riding him western. His pokey western trot is so comfy, and then his canter was fun, as he just kept getting lower and lower as I gave him more reins. I wasn't even riding him in a bit with a curb, just a sweet iron eggbutt snaffle. I think he was partially showing off for his girlfriend as Kristy was riding Dacharia at the same time.

Yesterday I decided that I should start getting him ready for a show environment... I purchased fake flowers at the local dollar store. *Evil Laugh Here* Because I know with my luck UK would have a heart attack if his first time dealing with them was at a show.

As predicted, UK was not sure how he felt about them when I first presented them for his inspection.

What do you mean they're not for eating?!

I brought the plastic bag full of the fake flowers with me to the ring and left it sitting in the middle of the ring while I had UK do some free-lunging flatwork. He did really well, listening and reacting to my voice commands better then ever. He actually worked instead of just running around the ring like a crazy man. When he'd gone both directions, I let him chill while I put up an outside two stride line with flowers underneath each. Because I knew he'd be chicken at first I left them as little half rails, so he'd be able to stay safe if he got awkward.

Turns out I was right. He cantered right up to the first jump like a pro, then BAM he saw the flowers, threw on the brakes and booked it for the other side of the ring. He repeated that twice, I just talked him through it and then with a great show of nerves he jumped the first jump but cut out in order not to jump the second one as he didn't realize that one had flowers too! I talked him through it, and he came back and did the line. We then changed directions and did them the other way. Lots of praise ensued and he got to take a break again while I put poles up so they were now verticals instead of half rails. 

It's not the best video, as I used my cell phone. But it still shows how cute he is, and how much he loves to jump. I'm not even holding the whip, or urging him forward with my hands. All I use is my voice and I just stand in the middle. 

It is so satisfying to see all my hard work start to pay off. He's less fearful and more confident of himself, and I'm so very proud of him! 

Now hopefully it'll stop raining so I can ride him again soon!

Verticals, Outside Lines and Bareback

So here I sit, heatpack pinned between my shoulder and my neck in an attempt to sooth very angry muscles. The human body is a funny thing. You can crush it, maim it, and do all sorts of things to it and you manage to be just fine. My body has survived some crazy things and let me come out none the worse for wear. But then there are some days where my body just gets weird.

I have/had a lot of injuries, I'm not going to lie. I have torn my ankle, broken that same ankle, two bad knees, torn inoperable rotator cuff, broken elbow, broken arm, fractured back, fractured cheek bone, 2 or 3 broken noses and countless broken tailbones. And I feel I forgot some things...

As for my current injury, I really don't know why my muscles are so mad, I didn't do anything unusual. It started last week when I dragged the ring, I got home afterwards and the muscles started screaming. I managed to get them to calm down until last night. I'd spent the day up in Egremont, MA for the South County Riders Horse Show running The Gifted Pony tent with Robin. I got back, went to the barn and decided to hop on UK bareback to hunt for Dacharia's missing flymasks. It was really rather fantastic. We found the flymasks, and then let ourselves into the ring. We hacked around for a bit, worked through his spooks and attitude problems (they only crop up when we go bareback now). Then I got up the nerve to canter him bareback for the first time. Dacharia took off bucking and cut us off, but UK and I stayed united and enjoyed a good canter each direction. Other then grabbing his mane as a backup I didn't do much with my right arm. Yet all of a sudden while we walked around the ring my muscles from the shoulder socket up into my jaw became a line of fire.

I rode UK last week while I was still sick and he was pretty damn good. We did our first line of jumps undersaddle! Both were little verticals, and we had a crossrail on the diagonal. Our only hiccups were when I asked him to walk over the tarp... I fell off, totally my fault. My reaction time was way off as I really was too sick to ride and had jacked up my stirrups to help my ankle which was acting up.  I got his brain back and we jumped around again, then we were walking and the wind blew a jump standard down on top of the tarp. He shot sideways while dropping his shoulder and I slid right off. Both times I had landed on my hip with my head never touching the ground. I was barely sore the day after.

Once I get the pain down to a level where I can turn my head again I plan on riding again. ^_^