What's Up with Riot?

With TC at the ranch, I've been able to hang out with Rico a lot, which has been so fun! I've taken him on walks and groomed him a lot, as well as doing some of the pillar work with him. I'm trying not to push that on him because 1) he's generally fine physically and 2) I've made it my mission in his retirement to not make him do anything and a lot of the time the only thing he wants to do when I come in to do pillar work is to do his tricks and get treats, so that's what we do. 

Most of my interactions with Riot involve pulling
the pony away from him lol

Sometimes I feel bad for Riot because he's last on my pecking order for attention. I've kind of heard my parents talking about how Riot isn't doing all that well lately, but with how insane work has been, I've been kind of letting them deal with it. From what I gather from having conversations and glancing at him occasionally, he's just been a little foot sore. 

Earlier this week though, my mom asked me to help her by looking at him. He'd been standing very oddly for a while and it was getting worse. They put shoes back on him to try to give him some more support (he goes barefoot for the winter when the ground is soft but he's always needed them back on in the spring and it's tough to figure out the timing for that). But then when he wasn't better, the vet recommended injecting his right hock, which they did. He's also been wormed, been tested for allergies, and had his blood run (all fairly normal and we removed anything he was mildly sensitive to). 

The farrier came out on Wednesday morning and said that he was very uncomfortable getting his trim behind. My mom mentioned that Celeste was coming soon, and the farrier said that bodywork would be great for him. In the mean time, my mom asked me if I could look at him and to please get him on Celeste's calendar. I said sure! 

Riots bizarre mountain goat posture

My evaluation, as someone who is NOT a bodyworker and not even CLOSE to being one is that he's pretty compromised and there's very likely some pain involved. I don't know horses who stand like that for funzies. Typically horses stand like this when they have heel pain, he doesn't respond to hoof testers, but that is still an option. 

I palpated him and it was pretty apparent that his lumbar area was really rough. This top photo honestly doesn't show how bad it was, but there's basically no muscle there and his glute sticks up in an odd manner. It was very tight. His shoulder was also super tight. Surprisingly, his chest is fairly wide and his underneck wasn't as rigid as I expected it to be. 

From there, I used my massager all over his body, focusing on his shoulders and his lumbar area in the same way I did daily for TC when he was early on in his pillar work. Riot definitely thought that was wonderful and wiggled his nose as a thank you. 

Next, I started pillar one and found that he was very willing to do so. I alternated between pillar one and having him do a belly lift and then a butt tuck. We did that for a while until his back didn't look so bad. Then I started pillar two and he started to stand more normally. 

After some pillar work

I decided to do TC's PT exercises to see if Riot would let me. He let me take his left hind across his body and even seemed to relax into it with some licking and chewing. His right hind though? Not so much. Same with the front leg exercises. He let me stretch his right front all the way out comfortably, but didn't like it when I took his left front out. So, clearly something is going on with that diagonal pair of left front to right hind.

My mom came out to ask me how things were going and what I thought. I told her that I thought we should treat for encysted worms and for hind gut ulcers just in case. Both of those can cause major pain in the hind end. 

We are then putting him on a low dose of prevocox to see if we can at least stop the degradation. I'll be working on him whenever I'm down there and Kate is coming out this morning to look at him too (since she *actually* has lots of bodywork experience). 

And he sees Celeste in the next couple of weeks! My dad is going to be there so that he can learn how to do the pillars with Riot and hopefully we can get him feeling good. My dad really would like to ride him and Riot loves to go out and do things. 

Jumping Update

I figure, given that a week from today I'll be showing over fences for the first time in a long time, I should probably provide a jumping update. 

I love his nose in this one, trying so hard

Flounder continues to be the coolest little horse. He's so much fun and gives such a good feeling over fences. For this first year or two that I'm coming back into jumping, he's provided such a nice safe space to do that in without just packing me around. 

Kate is obviously amazing for bringing Flounder into my life, but she's also an amazing instructor. I am having so much fun learning from someone so much more technical than the trainers I had in my youth. There's too much to post about, honestly, but some of the themes have been:

- using my slingshot to improve the way Flounder jumps through a grid

- timing the aid for a lead while in the air and not getting in the way of him responding

- timing my breathing to optimize the way he jumps

- dealing with my right hip and the myriad of issues it's been causing

- addressing my tendency to freeze a bit (and stop breathing) when coming up to a fence I can't see a distance too

- going over the specific mechanics of going from my neutral position into my jumping position without jamming my foot down in the stirrup

And most recently, trying to figure out my mental game as we prepare for this horse show next week!

Is he not the CUTEST

Unimpressed by this one

I'm really excited for the show, but my brain is a little apprehensive. I'd say for the 2 or so years before I quit jumping, show jumping became a problem that I never got to address. 

See, being an assistant trainer at an event barn meant that it was my job to ride babies who had never jumped before and also any horses who didn't jump safely for their owners. This meant that I rode a ton of stoppers, horses who bolted after they landed off of combinations, horses who bucked after jumps, and horses who wouldn't jump fill or spreads or banks or ditches. 

For some reason, this manifested in me being very anxious about showing over show jumps. Cross country? No problem. No idea why, those jumps don't come down!!! Should I not be more afraid out there? Somehow I am not afraid on cross country. And honestly I'm not even afraid over the show jumps, it's hard to explain. My brain just... stops working. 

So adorable

So while I am feeling pretty good in the schooling ring at home, I am wondering how the show will go. But luckily my goals for the show are primarily to gather information. See how deep the issues run, see what it feels like when they kick in, and see how I respond to it. This will allow Kate to dig into it at home and then we'll go to another show this fall to see how I've improved!

I love this plan because I don't really want to sign up for an event only to get to the second day (let's be real, I'll be doing BN or below so I'll be doing cross country last) and have my brain freeze up so I get eliminated. Once I'm an old pro in the arena over fences, THEN I can sign up for an event. 

Wish us luck at the show! We leave on Wednesday, but I'm not taking the days off of work so we'll see what I can do those first few days. But the weekend should be super fun! 

WW: A Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm

I didn't write too much about this, but on Monday after the event and before my flight, we went to a thoroughbred breeding farm! It was super fun and I figured I'd post a bunch of the baby pictures I took from there and some of their pastures because it was BEAUTIFUL. It was tough to come back to the brown hills of California after seeing all of that green grass. 

Pasture land for dayyyys

A little gray baby horse!

We got to scratch this baby horse, so cute!

I'm obsessed with the grass

So adorable

Cantering away from us at first

So cute!

We gave carrots to the yearlings, this
one was hilarious

I'm definitely coming back to this state to take more
pictures of green grass lol

TC the Ranch Horse

I felt bad that TC didn't get to have a fun outing because he was laid up for the mounted archery clinic. Not that he was aware he was missing anything. I considered taking him on a trail ride this last weekend to make up for it, but then I saw that the local horsemen's association was having a play day, complete with a ranch competition! 

I was not sure what that was, but the flyer made it sound like it was an obstacle course! I quickly printed out the entry form and mailed it once I knew that TC's return to work was going smoothly. And then on Saturday, I loaded him up and off we went. 

TC had SO MUCH FUN

We got there with about an hour to go before the competition. I hopped on and went to join everyone in the arena. There were a few hours in the morning dedicated to ring desensitization, but I wasn't interested in getting there too early. I also figured that TC would generally be fine and that we weren't going to be very competitive so there was no point in getting up early to make sure that we were able to practice each obstacle enough to perfect it. 

There were seventeen obstacles in the course. Some TC had definitely seen before or were inherently easy. He's opened plenty of rope gates, I've mounted and dismounted him before, he's walked over a bridge, he's not afraid of crinkly stuff, and he's obsessed with mailboxes (no mailbox is safe from his investigation and the mailman blows his mind). 

Others were different though! I focused on the ones that I thought might get him and then we walked around with the group to learn our course and how we were going to be judged. 

TC looking around at the obstacles trying
to figure out which one he wants to do first

The judging was mostly on horsemanship, how calm your horse remained, and how you performed the obstacles themselves. You got extra points for your horse not spooking, but you lost points if your horse, say, tried to climb on top of an obstacle. 

After we learned the course, we broke for lunch and I hung out with TC at the trailer while he ate some grass. TC decided after realizing that half of his day was going to be eating grass, that he LOVED ranch competitions. 

We waited until our turn and it turned out that we were going to be the last ones in the arena. TC was an eager beaver, not made better by a horse in the pasture next to us galloping around like mad. He came into the arena and briefly considered that he might be a bronc horse instead of a ranch horse, but then a human came up to us and he remembered that his purpose in life is to make humans laugh, so he cocked his head at her and eyed her in the bizarre way that he does when he's excited. 

Best part of the day according to TC

Here was the course: 

Rope Gate

This was just a rope hung between two posts. I haven't really opened a lot of rope gates with TC, but we open and close the arena gate every day, so he was perfect of course! It was a great obstacle to start with to gain some confidence. 

Egg and Spoon

We had to carry a golf ball in a serving spoon around a cone and drop it into a bucket. Most people were able to manage, but I think we did the worst in this one because TC kept stopping so that I could maybe give him the golf ball, which he thought was a treat. I probably should have carried it in a different location, since it ended up being right where I put my hand when I'm offering him a treat. He stopped 5-6 times and every time he did, the golf ball swayed aggressively in the spoon. I thought this was HILARIOUS, so I giggled the entire time. We did end up making it to the bucket, when I put the golf ball in it, it bounced right out because of how big TC was. I think it still counted though!

Tire Maze

TC, climber and destroyer of obstacles, was actually really good through the maze. We were to walk between the tires, which were placed very tightly to give a slight path between them. During the lunch break, they had put some whirling toys in the tires, but TC didn't care about those and marched carefully through!

I've never seen him so focused lol

Dismount + Mount

We had to dismount, pick up the horse's right front leg, then go over to a picnic table and mount back up. This all went well until TC considered following me up on top of the picnic table. I've never seen a horse so confidently pick up a leg to put it on a table before. NO THANK YOU. I stopped him, got on, and we moved along. 

Cowboy Curtain

The wind was blowing like crazy, but we'd schooled this one enough in practice where it was a non issue! He walked right through it even though I felt in his body that he would have preferred to gallop through it, silly horse. 

Belly Tickler

There was a 2x6 laying on the ground with a bunch of pool noodles sticking up. We had to side pass over them and as we did that, they "tickled" TC's belly. Honestly, the hardest part of this was the side pass, since he's never really had to do one for that long (usually just to get to the gate to open/close it) so he kept trying to leg yield. He figured it out though and we got a lot of compliments on that!

Belly tickler behind us, look how excited
this horse is to be on course lol

Teetering Bridge

This was just a bridge with a 2x4 under it so that it wobbled, TC didn't care so we walked right over and kept going.

Weave + Flag

We had to weave through some poles that were a bit close together. Technically we had to trot through it, but it was too tight so we just walked. At the end, we had to stand next to a flag on a loose rein and count to three. TC was great! 

Bridge and the weaving poles (flag was tied up)

Hula Hoop

We were supposed to pick up a hula hoop from the fence, put it on the ground, put the horse's front feet in it and do a turn on the forehand. TC's feet are way too big to put in a standard hula hoop, so we used the bigger one and we were not so great at this, oh well! 

Tarp

Another easy one for TC, he loves walking on stuff! 

Look at those ears, they make me so happy

Nutter

Omg my favorite obstacle. We had to stand quietly while a lady with a wagon full of noisy stuff walked by us. Then she took a folding chair out of the cart and opened it up to sit down in it. Oh, and all of this while wearing a silly headband and tooting a horn. Love it. TC thought she was pretty funny, although he wasn't a huge fan of the chair. But clicker training for the win, he just took a slight step back. 

Trash Crossing

Another one where TC got to walk on stuff, he walked right through a box of plastic bottles. 

Trash crossing, push the barrel, tarp, around the world

Reinback Z

We had to walk forward through a Z and then rein back in it! TC's love of standing on things did us no favors here. But we did make it through.

Mailbox

For a horse who is obsessed with all the mailboxes along the road at the ranch, he did not love this mailbox, probably because I had to open it for us and he was not involved. But he was a good boy! He did have to check what I had to grab out of it though. 

Spider

They had a black plastic bag with stuff in it, eight black pool noodles, and yellowish orange paper plates cut out to look like eyes. We just had to walk around it, TC thought it should be stepped on. 

Can't quite see the spider in this photo, it's in the
back corner of the arena

Push the Barrel

There was a barrel laying on its side with poles on either side of it to create kind of a chute. We had to have the horses push the barrel down the chute. Despite wanting to step on things, I've never really been able to get TC to push things consistently. But the horse loves a crowd, so when he figured out that everyone thought it was great when he pushed the barrel off to the side, then pawed at it to get it back to where it was supposed to be (people clapped and whooped because it looked like we'd lost the barrel), he pushed the SHIT out of that barrel and I had to pull him away from it when we got it to the end of the chute. 

Around the World

This one is hard to explain, basically there were two barrels, one with a PVC pipe coming out of it and resting on the other. At the end of the PVC pipe was a rope, so we had to pick that up and spin the PVC pipe around in a circle and put it back on the second barrel. TC was really good about this one, super easy!

You can see the barrels

When we got done, I was SO proud of TC. He handled every obstacle so well and remained completely chill even in the wind and in his very first judged obstacle course. When we came out, we got a lot of compliments about our partnership and how in tune we are with each other. That honestly feels so good whenever people mention it! I've been feeling like our partnership has completely changed in the last couple of months, I should dedicate a post to it. 

We were all done for the day except for awards. I didn't get a chance to see how anyone else did for the entire course, but whenever I looked up, people looked like they were doing really well! So I didn't expect to place. But that's okay, I was just excited to be able to do something fun with TC! Between the EHV-1 outbreak keeping us home and his extremely minor surgery, we hadn't gone anywhere in so long. 

I untacked him and then walked him back over for awards and let him graze again.

When awards started, we found out there were eight competitors and they were going to ribbon to fourth. I kind of hoped that we had gotten a ribbon! We heard fourth get awarded, but it wasn't us. Then third and second went by and it wasn't us. I started to get TC's head up to go back to the trailer, but then WE WERE CALLED FOR FIRST PLACE!!

Everyone clapped and we got a lot of really nice compliments. I was shocked! We got our cute blue ribbon and I put it on TC's halter, our first ribbon since August 2020. 

He's always looked so good in blue,
maybe he knows that...

I had so much fun at this little playday! I can't believe we won. That little blue ribbon surprisingly meant a lot to me as I thought more about it coming home. TC has given me a fair amount of blue ribbons, but they've always represented our dressage skills to me. This little ribbon represented our partnership, which felt really special. 

I'm excited to hopefully do more of these things, although I think next time, we'll move up a division and try the harder course!

TC's Dream Job

When we were out on cross country for Kentucky, there were a bunch of people dressed up in hunting type outfits riding horses who... looked very sweet but who did not look like they could jump any of the jumps out on the course. 

We weren't sure what they were for but kept seeing them everywhere. 

Best job ever

Look at these guys just hanging out

Trying to get an idea of the crowd size, and that
horse is just enjoying the hell out of it

We finally asked what they were doing out there and one of the riders enlightened us: the horses were there for crowd control! 

My first thought after petting one for a long time was... how much would TC love that fucking job? The horses got to hang out with THOUSANDS of humans, all of whom loved horses and would probably laugh at him if he did something silly. Poor TC will never know what his life could have been. 

Back At It

After two weeks off, TC came back to work last week and has been doing well! I took advantage of having that time off to have my saddle maker fix my saddle and it came back last week. 

I think he likes it!

It's still the tiniest bit low in front, but apparently that's normal during the break-in period. I do want him to fill out more in his thoracic trapezius, so I put a thin pad under the front of the saddle, which fixed the balance for me and he didn't mind it. So I'll be ordering him a half pad and that should help us out while he's filling in. Then later, I can take it out! 

It still slips a tiny bit forward, but I've been experimenting with girths and pads to see about keeping it back. Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother TC, so we are okay to have it ride up a tiny bit while we wait for our in person saddle fitting appointment later. I might ask him to stitch the front billet a little more forward (it's just loose right now) so that we can keep the saddle back. But IMO it's not important until I start sitting the trot. 

It lets me sit down so much at the canter, I normally
get popped up a bit because of how giant it can be

Love how out to the contact he is and how much
he is in front of the vertical!

It's AMAZING to finally have a saddle that works for us. I feel incredibly secure in it, it's got a nice deep seat and big blocks, but somehow also really free to move myself around. I've been working hard on my biomechanics, which means changing where my body is in the saddle, and not once has the saddle been like "no, your leg goes HERE" and forced it. That's pretty insane to me given that when TC went to spin out from under me on our first ride back because he saw absolutely nothing, I could easily find the block to hold onto him with. 

Pretty convinced my saddle maker is a wizard. But I also think it's because the blocks aren't put on so vertical like most dressage saddles. Or, magic! 

TC's first ride was uneventful, he started out the tiniest bit stiff in his right hind, but he also has a gigantic scar with stitches still in on his sheath on that side. I'm sure it felt awkward to him! He worked right out of it and felt SO good over his back and in the contact. For our second ride back, I took some video and he looked stellar, I am so excited to have him going like this! 

I definitely need to be able to sit DOWN at the
canter, lol!

I did stick him recently and he's 16.3, he's actually
grown a half inch since I last measured him. He's
done growing, it's all the TS work!

I spent a LOT of time thinking about this horse when we were in Kentucky. I think that if TC knew how much I thought about him on a daily basis, he'd be... thrilled. I sat and journaled for hours about him and what I wanted to do with him and what my options were and all of that.

That will be a post for another day, but all of my journaling really made me hope with all my might that the saddle would work because I really want to move forward with TC in the dressage. I had all these concerns written down regarding what would happen if I simply could not get a saddle to fit TC and myself properly. But now, I think I can ignore those, we are back on track. My hip is even healed at this point, so I can begin building strength back up so that I can start sitting the trot again. More on that later!

Sitting this is going to be rough omg

Sitting this is hard enough!

At this point, we just need to keep on keeping on and we have a lot of fun things on the docket. This weekend we go to a ranch competition that our local horsemen's association is putting on. Then next weekend, we have a clinic with the biomechanics trainer I rode with a couple months ago. I'm excited for her to see us in person and see how my right hip rehab has improved my riding. Then TC gets a few days off while I'm at a jumper show with Flounder, so that'll be good, he always does well with short vacations. And after that, Celeste is in town and I've budgeted at least two sessions with her and TC! 

I'm excited for her to see his progress and for us to get some help with his hind end. I think I've got his front end healthy enough to focus on unlocking his hind legs. Aaaand I'm glad I've got my new saddle to keep me on him as we do that! 

Mounted Archery!

As you know, I was supposed to take TC to this clinic and he would have LOVED it. But he hadn't been cleared to ride until after the clinic and he doesn't yet have his stitches out actually. I'll post an update on him next week!

Luckily this is one of the many reasons why I'm glad I have the pony going right now: he got to step up to be my ride for this clinic. 

I expected the pony to be... a little less into it than TC. I wasn't sure if that would mean that I was more likely to fall off or less likely. Luckily though, I had my neck strap that I'd bought in Kentucky and I was really excited to work on convincing myself it was there in times of trouble. Fortunately/unfortunately, I didn't need to use it! 

Ready to rock and roll

Saturday Morning

We began on Saturday morning without the horses. I opted to not bring Sunny over before the clinic given that it was just across town and we had an hour for lunch. This was definitely the right option because I have never shot a bow and arrow before and it would have been hard to focus on the task at hand if I was worrying that Sunny was watching me and deciding that I was completely off my rocker. 

There was a lot of safety talk in the beginning, which made me happy. I'm glad to say that no one shot at anyone and no one got hurt! We talked about how to use the bow and how to load an arrow. That was a surprising amount of information. Once we were comfortable loading an arrow standing still, we then practiced loading an arrow while walking. The loading part has to be super fast and you need to do it without having to think about it, because you've got to focus on your horse and on the target. It was tough to load it properly without moving, but the more we did it, the easier it got. 

We finally started shooting and I was immediately bad at it. I'm not particularly coordinated off of a horse and it's kind of weird! They call it intuitive archery for a reason and apparently I do not have much natural intuition for archery. Soon though, we all got pretty good at it and I managed to start hitting the targets pretty consistently standing still. 

Then, we had our world rocked as we started to walk and shoot. Just like loading the arrows while walking, this added some difficulty and I missed some targets. I think it was about then that I realized that mounted archery was going to be really hard, even if I could shoot a bow and arrow. 

Quivers on day 2!

Saturday Afternoon 

Our lunch break gave me the perfect amount of time to drive to the ranch and grab Sunny. 

I decided to take it VERY slow. The pony is a very good pony, but occasionally in the past he's decided he's HAD IT with my antics (I do weird shit with my horses, I don't blame him for questioning me lol) and things get bad quickly. My primary goal was to not set us back in how well he's doing these days. 

We started out by warming up and I opted to do so on the ground. I led Sunny around the arena, let him look at everything (the targets, barrels, the cones/poles for the lane), and clicked for curiosity. Then, we stood while our instructor walked by with arrows and he got clicks and treats for watching her. After that, I got some arrows and he got a lot of clicks and treats for putting up with me making noise with them all over his body. 

It was about this time that I realized that we weren't going to have any problems. Sunny thought this was the BEST GAME EVER. All he had to do was find arrows and he'd get clicks and treats. For the rest of the weekend, he checked in with anyone who had arrows and got a lot of attention and treats for that, which he thought was amazing. I think he cuddled with everyone at the clinic. 

Super stoked!

I got on and we repeated the process and aside from the pony HATING all the horses at the clinic (as per usual for him), Sunny had an amazing time. 

Soon, it was time to actually fire the arrows at the targets. By this point, I was pretty confident in the pony. Clicker training for the WIN always. And sure enough, the sound that the arrow made as it fired and the sound that it made when it hit the target didn't phase him one bit. He just put his eyes on our instructor with the arrows at the end and he marched right towards her while I fumbled with my bow. 

It is WAY harder to shoot on a horse, wow! But I did end up hitting one of the targets before we were done. 

Upon getting home, by the way, TC was BESIDE HIMSELF that Sunny had gone in his trailer to go do something fun (since his trailer always means fun to him). He shook his head a bunch and cantered around enough where I had to go get him from his pasture and put him in the cross ties, where he proceeded to throw a fit, pawing and threatening to rear. I did get on him and ride him down the road to make him feel better, but then back in his pasture he galloped away from me. So he got an early dinner and I scrambled off the property because he always behaves worse when I'm around. TC! Really?!

Happy pony with his arrows, unhappy
gray horse not realizing what he's missing

Sunday Morning

We began Sunday in the same way we did Saturday, sans horse. We reviewed what we learned the day before and then spoke about equipment. On the first day, we didn't use quivers, we just held arrows as we rode and were handed more when we were finished shooting. This time, we got to talk about the different types of quivers. I decided that I liked a hip/thigh quiver and got to try one on. 

I wrote down the bow that I liked and the quiver. They aren't the cheapest you can get, but I did some quick math and the bow, the quiver, some arrows, and a glove for my hand that I kept slicing up ended up coming out to about as much as I'd spend on a dressage show. So I figured that I'd treat myself and get the equipment I wanted so that I could have another fun hobby to do with TC (and a potential new sport to compete in if I decide to continue not doing dressage shows). 

When we had our bows and our arrows in a quiver, we learned how to take the arrows out of the quiver quickly and load them to shoot. That was WAY harder than our instructor made it look. Once we were old hands at that, we learned to do back shots and front shots on barrels. There is a specific way to weight your body so that you can still shoot accurately without flinging yourself off your horse. 

Ready for day 2!

Sunday Afternoon

The weather wasn't great on Sunday, it was cold and windy, so Sunny was a bit more on edge. I decided to not push it with him and to just find a really good note to end on. He ended up settling pretty well despite being a bit more grumpy about the fact that there were still other horses around him. 

We started with the same exercise we did the day before, walking down in a line, all shooting at the targets, but this time we all had our quivers on. It took a little bit of time to get the horses used to the quivers, and you had to be careful because the quiver could tilt if it wasn't tight enough and bop the horse on the butt. Pulling arrows out of quivers is trickier than just holding them in your hand, so we got to practice that. I actually got pretty decent and was able to shoot two arrows per line rather than just one. 

Next, we shifted the targets and did some front shots. This was super fun and Sunny agreed because it meant that we got to go ALONE down the line. Front shots mean you shoot kind of diagonally over the horse's shoulder to the front, so we had to be careful not to have horses too close because you could accidentally shoot someone in front of you. 

I finally got a really good go and decided to be done there. There was going to be an option to trot or even canter while shooting and that sounded really fun! But I'd already decided I was going to buy archery equipment and get myself some targets, so there was time to do that at home when the weather was better and when both of my horses know that they're now archery horses. No reason to push it on the second ever day of doing archery from Sunny's back. 

Back at the ranch, my brother, SIL, and niece were there to pick up their car from their weekend adventure. My niece positively screamed when I drove in and she came running up to the truck yelling at me about her "Sunny Horse," which she calls him. She'd been cleaning my tack for me (omg so nice of her! She dragged my brother to the barn and showed him where all the stuff was and asked to clean TC's bridle for me). She helped me unload her Sunny Horse and put him away, give him cookies, cleaned the trailer, and unloaded the tack room. So as you can tell, the indoctrination is going well. 

Such a good pony!

While I'm super bummed that TC couldn't do the clinic with me, I'm so glad I went! It was so much fun to learn a new skill and introduce Sunny to something fun. He was such a good boy and it gave me so much joy to see him having a good time with something brand new to him. The clicker training has really made him come out of his shell and be a lot more confident in himself, which has meant that we have more fun together because I know I can throw more stuff at him without him getting emotional. I have some theories on that emotional side of him that I have seen, but I'll post about that later, I find him really interesting to work with! 

I really can't wait to introduce this stuff to TC, I think he'll have a blast! There's a local club opening up just across town too, so we'll definitely join and go play on their range sometime. I'm already plotting where to put some targets at the ranch though... 

WW: Best Photo All Weekend

I'm BEYOND entertained by this photograph that Liz took while we were at the event. It definitely deserves its own post. 

The context is that we were trying to figure out where to go from there, so we were looking out at the rest of the course. Aaand then a horse came by and we totally missed it. 

None of us were paying any attention, I love how bizarre I look

especially, apparently this is how I look after a week or 

more of insomnia

I definitely think it's got to go up in my office at some point with some motivational saying about how you should live in the moment rather than always looking for something better. 

Shout out to Liz for the amazing photograph, her others are STUNNING as well, I'm so impressed with her. Follow her on IG to see more! 

Kentucky 2022 - Show Jumping & Shopping

The last day of the event was really great. We woke up late-ish and I had actually gotten enough sleep and a good amount of sleep, so I felt pretty good, or would have if my entire body wasn’t sore from the day before! I’m definitely getting myself fitter (and not having a hip injury) the next time I go to this event. 

Seats for show jumping also thanks to Nicole!

We first went to the Correct Connect booth in the trade fair because I’d seen a jump strap I wanted. I’ve never really used one, but I want to get used to using it and figured it’d also be helpful for my niece learning to ride too. While holding the jump strap, I saw that they made super cute breeches in a very light fabric. And so I walked out with a jump strap, and two pairs of breeches, and two shirts to match. I also got a free halter, but it’s gold and brown, which are the opposite of my colors, so I’ll probably donate that. 

We walked around for a bit, but I didn’t find anything else to buy. I did talk to the Free Jump stirrup people but ultimately didn’t buy stirrups for my niece on this trip. She doesn’t need them until she wants to ride by herself and I think we are at least three months out from that. She’s also very little so if I’m going with a safety stirrup, I want something that is actually going to break away if she falls. I think she’s too little for the Free Jump stirrups to actually work. But it was good to learn about them! 

I also had to get this shirt, I love the
color and the fabric was very cool

I legit tried to spend money, I did! I
wanted to buy these boots for schooling
but Ariat does not think that tall
calves go with small feet

When show jumping was an hour out, we went to get lunch and then find our seats. What a fun experience it was to be there in person! We watched the early rounds, learning how the course was riding, but then once we were in the top six or seven, it got super serious. The crowd was silent except for some gasping after tough distances, groaning when a rail came down, and clapping after the insane combination and the entire round. 

There was one option to either make a couple of tight turns to one jump, or to go around over another. It was interesting to see who decided to do what. 

Michael Jung won the event of course. What I didn’t know at the time was that this was his fourth win at Kentucky, which is a record for the event, and it was the lowest score ever won at a five star, making it a world record. How incredible. The man is the best rider in the world, there’s just no doubt. It was so amazing to be there to see him ride in person. 

What a horse, seriously

At the end of the day, I snagged a couple of saddle pads from Smartpak that were on sale and we walked around the property. We ended up seeing fischerChipmunk getting unpacked and hosed off as we walked by. What a cool horse! He was yawning and relaxing as his people fawned over him. 

On Monday, we went to see a thoroughbred breeding farm to see some baby horses. That was super fun! We also went to the museum of the horse at the Horse Park, which was also great. Soon though, it was time to drop Nicole and I off at the airport so that we could fly home and get back to work. And then we were on our respective planes and I was back in California in the very similar weather. 

Look at the little baby! This one warmed
up to us quickly for some scratches

The farms out in Lexington are also unreal!

I’m SO glad I went to Kentucky. It was such a blast to be able to go for the first time ever. It made me so grateful for my new job that allowed me to go so early in my tenure there and for my friends, most of whom agreed to go with me when I announced that I was GOING this year and wanted them to come with me. And they dealt with my incredibly weird affect while I was struggling with my insomnia, thank you friends! Unfortunately I got home and it got worse, but I'm hoping I have broken it now. 

I am DEFINITELY putting this on the calendar as an annual tradition. Even with some of my shopping decisions, I was way under budget for the trip and am excited to come back as often as I can. What an experience!