This weather is not helping.

We get some snow, then it rains for a couple days, and then we get more frozen mud. Then things warm up to the low forties and the horses get excited. This pattern has not been good for my health, or anyone else's.

I supposed to join Jean and Chrissy for a trail ride yesterday. Jean was on Rebel, her son, Jake, was on Dakota,  and Chrissy was on Harley. I'd tacked up quick and already warmed UK up with some trot and canter in the driveway, as most of our ride was to be walking for Jake's sake.

Once everyone else was mounted we started to go down the driveway, Jean and Jake in the lead. We didn't get more then twenty feet when Harley spun, bucked, and reared for no good reason (in my opinion he was just pulling some classic TB crap). Chrissy stuck with him, but everytime she touched the reins or tried to move, he'd act up again. Harley was so bad she couldn't get off.

So I put my leg on and marched UK into Harley's face and grabbed his bridle so Chrissy could dismount. Then I grabbed both reins and dragged his badly behaved ass down the driveway, determined not to let him get away with his temper tantrum. I have never used UK to pony before (that two times with Maggie don't really count as I did all the work and Jean was still steering her), but I rode with a keep seat and a firm leg, which told UK we could handle it. Harley was forced to walk and trot up and down the driveway until he settled down. Then Jean said she'd take him in the ring and school him, so I turned UK around and we headed that way. We were doing good until Harley decided to bite UK on the flank after I wouldn't let him charge ahead of us. UK bucked a little bit, but then settled. We successfully handed Harley off to Jean and then went back out into the parking lot.

UK had been nothing but good, so I wasn't about to make him go in the ring with the others. So we went down the driveway (one small fit, as he thought maybe I'd just let him be done), and then up the road pass the trail-head. We climbed up and back down a bank, then turned around and walked home.

So overall it was a win for UK and I as he was forced to do something he'd never really done before and he did just fine.

Tomorrow Chrissy is going to take Dakota and go for a trail ride with us. Here's hoping it goes easier then yesterday! 

Freezing rain, ice, and snow.

Today was damp, cold, and miserable. I cheered myself up by pulling UK away from his hay after taking care of the barn this morning to brush him and switch blankets. UK wasn't terribly thrilled as hanging with his buddy is far more interesting then me putting Thrush Buster on his feet and putting detangler in his tail. But then I went to the car to get my camera and when I returned there were treats in my pocket, suddenly I was much more fun! UK has learned to associate the camera with treats, thus he poses shamelessly knowing that if he's cute enough I'll reward him after snapping some shots.

I took him out to the snowy ring to get him to stretch his legs even though it was misting nasty half frozen stuff. There was ice hidden under the snow in some spots so I let UK stick to a relaxed trot so he'd be able to handle himself if he slipped.

Even though he's a wuss about the cold, he was born up here in the north so he knows the snow won't eat him (unlike a certain TB I used to own who was terrified of untouched snow). He slipped a few times but wasn't overly concerned as it's normal this time of year to encounter ice. 

We did some follow the leader and he tried to eat my camera, hoping that maybe it had turned into a giant banana rounder. No such luck. He's matured a great deal in the last year, he's much braver and has a calmness about him in the ring now that he used to lack. Part of it is because he's learned to trust me a great deal, finally understanding that I will never put him into a position or place that will get him hurt. 

We finished up and I put his blanket on, returning him to LD and the rest of his AM hay. Hopefully the weather will get better soon and we'll be able to go out for a ride. 

Oh! His feet are really starting to improve. By late spring/early summer he should have amazing feet again. Yay for mother nature! 

Sorry for the lack of updates!

The holiday season was a bit of a whirlwind for me, and it ended up with me being pretty darn sick for two weeks starting on New Year's.

Due to the alternating cold snaps and deluges of rain, ring work hasn't really been an option. Once I was able to leave the house without coughing up a lung, we started trail riding at least once a week. He still pulls a couple temper tantrums during the first half mile or so, but they're nothing like the tantrums of a few months ago, let alone the ones from the summer.

All the mud gave his sensitive skin a lot to deal with, and he's only just now starting to recover. His feet are toughening up, slowly but surely. I've had him on Smartpak's SmartHoof pellets since early fall, and by spring his feet should be greatly improved.

We're finally getting some snow (we got some last week but it was followed by two days of rain, yuck), so I hope to be able to do more with him soon.

Until then have a picture of fuzzy ponies!

LD & UK bundled up for the single digit weather.

Holiday season!

UK got the week after the hunter pace off, due to the weather and Thanksgiving. On the sunday after Thanksgiving I took him out on a trail ride with a couple of the ladies from the barn. He threw a  couple of temper tantrums but I had a tiedown on him, and my spurs on. Once we got a little ways down the trail he started to enjoy himself.

Susan on Vega, & Jen on Cody ahead of us.

But then we cantered, and I got what I should have been expecting... bucking. Someone's ego had tripled since the hunter pace, then with the added energy of his week off, he was rather fresh. Everytime we cantered, he had a bucking fit. I was very grateful I was riding western when he did the last one, as it was a buck-slam-on-the-brakes-drop-my-head-and-buck-again-buck. Our last canter was buck-free so at least he wore himself out.

Later the following week I had some extra time after feeding, and decided to try to trail-ride solo again. He threw his temper tantrums in the road, and started doing some down the hill until he slipped and a back leg went in a ditch. After that he was a rockstar. 

First successful solo trail ride!

Afterwards I spoiled him for a bit, rewarding his good behavior with both banana rounders and a studmuffin. 

Nomming his treats.

Then the farrier showed up and I had his shoes pulled for the winter. I let him have a couple of days off and then tried to ride him in the ring. Because of all the rain we've been having his soles were soft from standing in all the mud, and thus he was a bit ouchy. 

Fuzzy boy!

The barn girls were riding at the same time as me, and I ended up giving them an impromptu lesson of sorts. I let one of them walk UK around while I babysat him, and then another girl practiced her half-seat over poles on him. 

Then I let Mattie get on him. Now, as Mattie is one of my students I made her work. She's so tiny so UK didn't mind doing some trot for her, because it was like there was nothing on his back.

Mattie on UK

She even cantered him a tiny bit after doing some trot work over poles. I let them finish by having her ride UK down the driveway to walk him out while I chatted with some of the other boarders. 

UK adores Mattie, and she loves him too. She dotes on him, and will go into his pen just to hang out with him. And he follows her around like the giant dog that he is. 

Hopefully things will dry up soon so UK and I can go out for another ride. I might try a trail ride again soon, depending on the weather. We'll see! 

Oh! I got a picture from the hunter pace!

Happy Holidays!

Hunter Pace!

We survived!!!

I feel like a great weight has been removed from my shoulders. There is nothing quite like bringing a green horse to an event to make you  feel  some pressure.

I left UK in last night so his legs would be dry for this morning. Jean and I met at the barn for six-thirty-ish and grained all the critters. I'd packed everything on the trailer the night before, so I didn't need to do much. I brushed UK and then turned him out on the grass while Gail hooked up her trailer and positioned it for us to load.

Chilling while we wait for our turn.

After Bubba and Rebel were on it was UK's turn. He wasn't sure how he felt about a slant load, but after some encouragement he got on and settled in for the ride.

We arrived at the pace with some time to spare. We walked down to get our number and lunch tickets, and were informed that we could take our time if we needed (this made Jean relax quite a bit!). This ended up being a very good thing, as a horse in the trailer next to us had managed to get it's hind leg stuck over the divider. I lent a leadrope, Gail provided a jack and other people did what they could. The mare had bitten her tongue so her mouth was bloody, luckily that seemed to have been the worst of it one they got her off. 

UK ready to unload.

Once that horror was taken care of we unloaded our horses. Stef was with us to help and watch the pace, so with her assistance all three of us got tacked up and mounted. As soon as I got on UK I could feel all the tension and excitement coursing through his veins. He then tried to do some hops and spins, but I was having none of it. We started down the road towards the start gate when Jean asked where our number was. Oops! I'd completely forgotten to put it on after the hoopla with the horse stuck in the trailer. Stef came to my rescue and I managed to get the number on just in time. 

We were then informed that the first jump was the photo jump. Jean and I both expressed our disapproval loudly before leaving the start gate. We walked. Bubba hadn't been completely sound so we wanted to take it easy (we were signed up for the hack division anyways) and I also didn't want to give UK the opportunity to misbehave. He was completely prepared to jump the photo jump when he saw another group of horses. He was so distracted and disconcerted by them that I was forced to just ride on without jumping the photo jump. :(

For the next half hour or so I had to use every ounce of skill I had to stay on my horse. Other teams would come flying up behind us without calling out first and UK hated that. Bucking, spinning, small rears, bunny hops, you name it he probably did it. I was more then a little annoyed at these people. If you're going to pass or overtake another group of horses you not only announce your presence but you tell them how you're going to pass them. Not gallop up their asses and then pass by inches away. At one point I snapped at a group of approaching riders as UK did a rather impressive series of levades followed by some spinning, "CALL OUT BEFORE YOU COME UP ON A GREEN HORSE!!!" I really thought I was coming off during one UK's worse fits, and pulled a muscle in my ass thanks to my attempts to stay with the bucking bronco. Meanwhile Bubba continued to be the fantastic rock that he is, and helped calm UK between groups of horses. 

Then came the water crossings. As long as UK didn't have to go first he was ready to do it, albeit reluctantly. With every crossing he got a little braver, and a little more confident that he wouldn't drown if he got his feet wet. We crossed everything from small trickles of water to rivers ten feet across and at least eight inches deep. The further we got into the course, the calmer UK got. I took most of the go-arounds, as the footing was wet and slick. We did however jump the small coops that were scattered throughout the course when the footing was okay. He'd never jumped a coop before, we had one stop because he wasn't paying attention but after that he was a champ. 

At the halfway point Gail decided to retire Bubba who was getting a little too tired. Jean and I continued on without her and took advantage of the better footing in the higher fields. We finally got to do some real canter and a decent amount of trot. The view was amazing, the sun had come out and there was a slight wind. It was perfect riding weather. We had a few more hiccups (including one caused by a cyclist flying up behind us on the road) but overall UK was a champ. He even lead through some deep mud and across some water before we got to the finish. 

I really wanted to jump UK more, but both the take off and landing points at the jumps were more then a bit treacherous. UK is pretty good at being careful in bad footing, but I wanted to have him feel safe and not have anything horrifying happen. We were aiming for a positive experience for him, so he'd want to do this again. So I didn't jump much at all. Hopefully next year it won't be quite so muddy. 

I really wanted to jump this one, but the mud on the landing was very deep.

We cantered the last little bit home, with UK in the lead and Rebel happy that it was almost over. We untacked and brushed our muddy-sweaty beasts. I even managed to find a hose to hose his legs off after going for a little walk. We loaded the horses and then went to get our lunches. 

A tired but happy UK.

UK was exhausted mentally, but amazingly he had tons more physical energy. All our long trail rides, muscle building and trot work had really paid off. After a ten and a half mile hunter pace he could have done a lot more if I asked it of him. 

In between his little meltdowns he was a superstar. He could jump and then halt if I asked. We could to a nice forward canter/hand gallop and when I asked him to lengthen or shorten he did. I was able to stay off his back and out of his way but still be there for him when he needed me. There was a few minutes while hand galloping through a field that felt like I was riding cross country somewhere. We had a fantastic rhythm and balance, and it felt like we could go on like that forever.

Over all I'm very proud of my boy. He wasn't perfect. He was in fact quite the opposite of perfect but he tried to be good. He didn't do anything dirty on purpose and he put his trust in me and did things he'd never done before. Even though he want to go at all times he kept walking calmly, and even on a long rein, when I asked him. 

I'll give him tomorrow off, but ride him Tuesday to make sure he recovered okay.

I'm going to go to bed now! I'm all cut up from multiple encounters with thorny branches, and that muscle in my rear end needs to rest. 

Living in New England can be a bit hard.

So UK had a light week leading up to Holloween as I was away Thursday and Friday. Saturday dawned cold and brisk and then 15 to 20 inches of snow dropped on Connecticut. Other New England states got hit as well but not quite as hard as Connecticut. UK was wrapped up in a blanket and sharing a shed with Ethan, so he had it easy. The humans didn't have it quite so good.

100% of my county was out of power by the end of Saturday, and the rest of the state didn't fare much better. Trees, wires and telephone poles were down everywhere. Sunday was bright and sunny, but no one really noticed as they were too busy trying to dig out of the white stuff. I was actually stuck without a car for a couple of days so I couldn't even check on UK, but luckily Sally had him covered for me.

The week slowly warmed up and the snow started to melt. Everything was snow and puddles and mud. It was just gross. The ring was a frozen mess, so I rode UK up and down the driveway on Thursday and even made down the road a little bit so we could walk around a field owned by the state.

Then Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today we trail rode with Jean. Friday she rode Rebel and the rest of the time she rode Maggie. At first we tried going down the trails but weren't able to get very far thanks to all the downed trees. We bushwhacked a little and I found out UK likes being an equine battering ram. So Saturday Jean and I decided to ride down the road and had a nice three and a half mile walk to survey the damage on the nearby streets. UK kept his cool over bridges, past barking dogs and when people flew by us in their cars.

A combined effort of some of the guys from our barn and a couple other people who use the trails made it so Jean and I were able to ride the majority of the main trail again yesterday and today. We even jumped a one of the downed trees before it got cut!

UK still throws his temper tantrums when we go down the trails, but they disappear when we go somewhere new. He's a little too smart for his own good. I think I'm going to have to get bigger spurs because as he gets stronger and fuzzier my little prince of wales become less effective when he misbehaves.

Tomorrow I hope to ride him in the ring and give him a little refresher in moving off of my leg, as it should be thawed enough.

Oh! I almost forgot. The hunter pace got postponed to the 20th of this month, thanks to Winter Storm Alfred. So I have more time to get his giant ego-ness ready. ;)

Another major milestone passed!

UK jumped his first real course earlier this evening! It's the first time he's had more then a line to do in one go.
We had an outside line, two jumps on separate diagonal lines, and a jump on the other outside line with the plank rails he hated so much that he refused to jump them if they were more then six inches off the ground until now.

We did a couple of different courses and didn't have any major problems. He even did a bending line! All of the jumps were 2'3" or 2'6" and he jumped them all like they were no big deal. I also didn't do much more then set the pace and let him figure out the rest on his own. That's when he really impressed me! He never took the big one!!!! He waited and balanced himself with no cue from me!!! I am so proud!

He's still a little bit wiggly down the lines, but otherwise he's improved by miles these last couple of months. I can angle the jump and he doesn't care. Our only problems stemmed from landing on the wrong lead and not wanting to slow down to do a simple change because he was so excited about jumping. Which means I need to start teaching him flying changes.... argh. I hate flying changes.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get him out in the back field to jump the jumps out there. I need to where the spurs for that though, which means I need new spur straps. I broke the buckle on one this afternoon.

Oh and we're doing a hunter pace weekend after next! No turning back now! I'm nervous and excited and totally over-thinking it. But we'll be fine, we're going with Jean on Maggie and Gail on Bubba. A bomb could go off next to Bubba and he wouldn't care.

Okay, need some sleep! Toodles!