Farewell

I haven't updated this in years, partially because I just didn't have the time, and also because I didn't want a toxic person I'd cut out of my life to know as much about my life, and my child's life. But now I'm back to write one more post...

Monday morning I arrived at the barn to feed and hopefully get to ride UK afterwards, as I'd been riding bareback a lot because of #nostirrupnovember. Instead I was delivered devastating news.

I don't have the energy or the heart right now to write it all out. Instead I'm going to post what I shared on facebook over the last couple of days.

"I just lost my best friend, my rock who I leaned on when times got tough, my partner ever ready to join me on an adventure, Jakob's best friend and pony ride mount. UK had a horrific accident and had to be put down this morning. He was so good to the end. He waited for the vet with me, said his goodbyes to Jakob and Neil, let me take pictures, and savored a few last treats. I can't believe he's gone, but at least he left surrounded by love. ‪#‎thediversifieduk‬‪#‎restinpeace‬ ‪#‎imissyousomuchalready‬"

Saying goodbye to his boy.

"Thank you to everyone who has sent their sympathy and offered to help, it is greatly appreciated. And extra thanks to everyone who helped this morning.
For those who wanted more information; sometime during the night UK was injured, and was found this morning in the ring (not his paddock) with a broken leg. It was broken in a very bad way, so there was no other option than to put him down. 
Words cannot properly express how I feel, to be honest I'm still in a bit of shock. This was very sudden, and not something I thought I would have to deal with for many years more. I miss my friend, and I'm very sad that he suffered in any way.
Once again, thank you all for your sympathy, prayers, etc."

Maddie, who I started teaching right after I first purchased UK, and who UK loved dearly wrote this:

"Today around 10am I recieved a text telling me that one of my favorite horses ever had been in an awful accident. About 3 years ago, little 12 year old me would come, tack up, and ride around on UK. He always saved my butt when we were riding, he always took good care of me. UK was one of the biggest influences on me and my riding when I was younger. He was my babysitter. Three years passed by while I was off riding other horses and I was blessed enough to come back a few weeks ago and ride him again for the first time in years. Not only did he recognize me but once again, he saved my butt every time I made a mistake. He took care of me even though I hadn't seen him in a long while. UK was and always will be one of my favorite horses that I have ever had the privilege of working with and I still haven't processed the fact that he's gone. My love and prayers go out toJessica and thank you so much for letting me be a part of UK's life. UK is one horse I won't ever forget and he will forever have a special place in my heart. ❤ Rest in peace buddy."

 My mom shared this:

In the midst of a truly awful day - little crystalline moments stand out and take up residence in your heart - a small child's voice, quite calmly saying "my horse, UK, is hurt"; the feel of a beloved's tears on your skin; the soft lips of a well-loved horse saying goodbye; the unique smell that only he had; the feel of the sand in the ring as you kneel to say your last goodbyes; the honey bee buzzing nearby as you rest your hand on his soft neck; the fierceness of your beloved child and grandchild's hugs; the grief in her shaking voice as she shows her admirable strength even while consumed by grief; the quiet strength and support of her husband; family and barn family drawing near, giving love and support . . .

‪#‎helovedmybabyandherbaby‬ ‪#‎suchagoodpony‬ ‪#‎thisbeyondsucks‬‪#‎notarpsinheaven‬

 And I posted some photo collages of UK over the years.

In the past month we'd had a lot of good rides. We accidentally went on a trail ride that was over six and a half miles long, barely making it home before dark. Maddie who had been away got to come up and jump him around a couple times, which made him ridiculously happy. We had a routine worked out where I would ride, and then my son, Jakob would ride UK to cool him out. He was sound barefoot, everybody was always commenting how soft his coat was, and he was happy. My last ride on him was bareback, with a friend on her horse, who UK loved to have as a buddy on the trail. We free lunged them together when we were done, which UK enjoyed.

My heart is broken, but I have the consolation that he was happy being part of my family. He got to say goodbye to his boy, and cuddled with me until the bitter end. I don't know what I'll do without that big heart to help me get through the tough times, let alone how Jakob is going to handle losing his first best friend.

I've been very blessed the past five and a half years, things just won't be the same without him. Going to the barn and calling his name always meant his head popping up with those ears of his perked right up in greeting, it was so odd not to see that this morning.

Thank you to everyone who ever took an interest in this badly kept blog. Thank you to everyone who touched his life.

Thank you, and farewell.

-Jessica

Apologies for the hiatus

We're still alive! Unfortunately this blog has suffered due to my lack of time. Having a baby, a horse, a job, a husband, and a home all to take care off has pretty much eliminated any spare time in my life.
UK is still doing well, and continuing to learn, albeit at a slower pace due to having less time to ride. He and my son, Jakob, get along wonderfully.
When the weather allows we jump on Tuesday nights with some of the other boarders, and then I fit in other rides when I can (like when I walked Jakob in his stroller with UK in tow until he fell asleep, then rode while he napped).
I'm going to see if I can post more frequently from now on, cross your fingers that it'll happen!

An Explanation

UK's blog will be back. I apologize for the lack of updates. I was a bit busy having a baby.

UK and Jakob

Jump day for UK!

UK had a great deal of fun today. My friend, Sabrina, jumped him around for me. A veteran of the jumper circuit I knew he'd be in good hands. She was a bit worried as she hadn't done anything other then crossrails in quite a long time (cowboy mounted shooting is her current thing). I wasn't worried though, as Sabrina rides  her horses very well.

She started out jumping 2'3" mostly to warm up and get a feel for him. She jumped ahead a few times but eventually started to get a feel for mister booger. I'd set up a line with two verticals, a stand alone plank vertical, barrels on one diagonal, oxer on the other diagonal, and the brush roll in the middle of the ring.

One of their warm-up jumps. 

UK was a rockstar. Even when Sabrina jumped ahead, or if she dropped him a little bit (her leg kept slipping  because he's narrow and her stirrups were a bit long), UK would compensate to the best of his ability and just do his job; just like I trained him to. The above picture is a good example, Sabrina jumped ahead and UK adjusted and still jumped it clear. 

On their way to the next jump in the line.

So this photo was taken seconds after the previous one. Sabrina recovered and UK locked on to the next jump and they did it beautifully. 

Look at those knees!!!

After they'd jumped everything once or twice I put everything up to 2'9" so UK would actually put in some effort (he gets bored with anything smaller then 2'6"ish as he's gotten a bit cocky). More adjustments ensued, and I gave Sabrina some tips to get what she wanted out of him. 

Brush jump.

Roll back turn to the oxer.

Got a bit deep to the barrels, oops!

Brush off the other lead. 

The more they jumped the better they got. UK went nice and forward and as a result he did two flying changes!!!!!!! I was practically jumping up and down with joy as a result, as I've only just started teaching them to him. 

So much improvement!

I'd flatted him twice this week in preparation, making sure to work on balance and straightness, and then popped him over a few jumps the night before. It's one thing to jump him around myself, but with no one to take pictures or video I have no way of seeing just how well we're doing. So it was nice to see him go around so well for someone else. It's a good feeling to know that 2 years of hard work are paying off!

And now for video of the last set of jumps they did. Sabrina and I wanted him to do the line one last time, then she just threw jumps at him (listen for her "think fast!" as she decides to suddenly do a bending line). 

UK will get at least a couple of days off as a reward, and as I have work all day tomorrow, and then stuff to do Monday.

Spring Update

My apologies for not updating in awhile. My personal life has been very hectic, and it's impacted my availability to update the blog.

UK's been good. The weather was extremely dry and windy for a good few weeks, causing a fire watch to be in effect. The ring was a dust bowl, so we stuck with trail riding for awhile. UK has been getting much braver on the trail, acting more mature then in the past. His cool-as-a-cucumber attitude about bridges has proven to be very helpful, as he doesn't mind leading over them when other horses are unsure.

We also been doing flatwork in the ring, and started getting him ready for flying changes. UK isn't sure how he feels about them, but he's trying to understand what's being asked of him.

It's been raining a lot lately, which is a good thing. It's kept me from riding (I also got a nasty cold/sore throat thing last week), so UK's had it easy past week or so, just doing some lunging instead of under saddle work.

I'm hoping to get back to it this coming week!

I think spring may actually be here... Shocking!

It was beautiful today!

Hard to believe just last week we had single digit temperatures! Oh New England and it's ever changing weather!

The Wednesday after that last entry, I jumped UK again and used him to help Stef learn how to relax and let jumps come to her. UK was very patient while she worked on her position while trotting crossrails. I jumped him over verticals, and we did more simple changes. Even though we got some awesome weather after that, I didn't get to ride. I had a nasty cold/flu thing that I preceded to battle for two weeks straight. I managed to lunge UK on one of the better days, but other then that he had a little vacation.

Then this week I rode him more, doing flatwork on the barn's dirt driveway (ring was a lake, and the field wasn't much better), as it's a gradual hill. Lots of trot work! UK then tried to get me to take him on a trail ride by heading to the trail head while we were walking out on the road. I would have loved to, but I had other places to be. Damn normal life getting in the way of my riding time!

Today, as I'd forgotten my cell phone (which I will not trail ride without), I tacked UK up english and took him in the ring. I'd set up two verticals, one on each diagonal, a single barrel as a skinny jump with nothing on the sides, and there was a crossrail on the outside line. We warmed up and started by trotting the crossrail, which the red horse insisted on actually jumping because he was so excited. He was a very feisty pony! At least it was happy feisty, and not rebellious feisty!

We did the crossrail at the trot the other way, and then cantered one of the verticals. Then we did the barrel at the trot, and he never even considered running out! So I gave him major praise and we didn't do it again. Next was our other vertical, which had some shadows in front of it. UK decided to jump those too, which made the thing about three feet wide, and he jumped it like it was 3'6". Boy does he have a rocket pack for a rear end! I stayed with him, granted a bit behind the motion, but I stayed on and didn't hit his mouth or anything, despite the serious airtime I had! UK then realized he'd oopsed a bit, and got a little nervous. I calmed him down, and assured him it was okay, and we went back and did it again, this time jumping it's actual 2'3" height.

I made us a simple course, and we were doing great, until UK decided that rather then stopping at it's end we should really keep going and do them all again. He'd been so good lately that I've been jumping him without a standing martingale. Well, after some irritated head tossing because he didn't want to stop, I think we'll be bringing it back for awhile.

Well his freshness meant no more courses, and that we'd wrap things up by jumping a jump and halting in a straight line, relaxing, walking, and then we'd do another jump. He found this hugely unfair but eventually got the idea.

Overall I was rather pleased, as even when he was frisky, he'd still settle down and keep a consistent pace to each jump, only getting fast after landing, which is an easy fix. I think we'll do more halting, and then work up to lines where we halt in the middle to teach him to wait. We'll do either flatwork, lunging, or a trailride tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how my non-horse things go.  

We jumped!

The last few days of warm and sunny weather thawed our outdoor ring to the point that it'd gotten a bit muddy. However, muddy meant the ground wasn't frozen solid for once! So instead of riding western and trail riding like we usually would do, I tacked Mister Yuke up english and set up a couple jumps in the ring. 

We'd been doing a lot of bareback work (for my benefit, as bareback is even more of a workout then no-stirrups) with collecting and extending, circles, bending, etc. So I didn't bother doing a lot of flatting before getting to work (also, I have low energy reserves because I'm sick. Again.). UK and I haven't jumped since the beginning of December, so I wasn't entirely sure how he'd react. Would he get excited? Or would he stop? I had no idea, and he's never had that long of a break before. 

Well, all my worrying was for nothing. UK was excellent. First we trotted a little crossrail, and he popped over it nice and neatly. We did it again, cantering away after landing, doing some canter work on the right lead, simple change across the diagonal and then back to trot to do the crossrail off the left. After we cantered the crossrail off the left, we did some canter work that direction and then another simple change back across the diagonal. We walked half the ring then we trotted the vertical (2ft or 2'3" ish), then we cantered it, then the same thing the other direction. As soon as we landed after cantering the vertical one last time, we walked, halted, and I hopped off, so we could walk out together. 

When UK is truly excellent I get off quickly, praise him, and loosen his girth right away, so he learns that doing his job right the first time means we finish quicker and he has to work less. This approach has really worked for him, as it makes it very clear that he won't be forced to do the same thing over and over again (which is why he used to be miserable doing western pleasure). 

It was so nice to get to ride my horse over some jumps again! I love jumping so much, and it's even more enjoyable when my horse loves it too!