Quote for the Day

 "Through his mane and tail the high wind sings, fanning the hairs who wave like feather’d wings."
                                                                                              ~William Shakespeare      

 

Tunnel Vision

When I started the "chase" in the sport of endurance , I made alot of lofty long range goals.I started out thinking , foolishly perhaps , that in a few years I was going to take my little Barb stallion JB,  all the way to Tevis.
If you have followed this blog very long, you know how that story ended.

 But still, I continued, starting over with a new horse.

A snotty , fiery little Lippitt Morgan mare that was supposed to just be a companion to the mare that was here to be bred to JB but ultimately ended up being my next project staying.  That 100 mile endurance dream soared again when I finally manged to get her going under saddle. Strength , speed and a whole lotta attitude. Maybe , just maybe....

When I decide to do something I tend to grab a hold of it and not let go until I get what I set after.  Some call it stubborness, foolishness even.  I call it ambition. It's what fuels me , drives me to be better , to reach just a little further.  When I was a young adolescent riding the show circuit, it 's what won me several blue ribbons. The simple fact was that if I wanted to place in the showring, I had to  work harder to make it through those cross country  courses with my Palomino ex barrel racing Quarter horse.  He was anything but a "made" show horse that so many of my peers were mounted on, high priced TB's or warmbloods purchased  specifically by their parents so they could see their kids win.  Alot of times I lost to those fancy horses but alot of times I won.. and I could hold my head high because I earned it. I am a firm believer in working hard to get what you want and rarely are things in life free.

With Maggie , it's been another challenging road. Once again I have found myself having to work pretty hard to get any break through's in Maggie's training. I would say out of all the horses I have started,trained, and ridden, she has been the most challenging. I have not been able to attempt a 50 mile ride, much less a 100 miler.  I have been at this sport for 6 years or better now. For a while last fall, I got pretty down about that.  I had to reevalute things , again.

I have this bad habit of having alot of high expectations along with that ambition, and then when I don't quite get there, I fall prey to alot of negative self critcism. 

Being aware of it is half the battle. If nothing else, the sport of endurance has taught me alot about bouncing back. I have learned that instead of setting those big lofty goals and getting thrown off course(which is just going to happen from time to time)  and then disappointed,  I set a lot of smaller more immediately attainable goals.

Last year I wasn't sure I would be able to compete  at all but I still wanted to condition Maggie in case the opportunity presented itself. As it turned out,  I managed to get Maggie fitter than she had ever been or anyone ever believed she could ever be for that matter. I turned  that round little Lippitt Morgan mare into a trotting , hill climbing power house.

Camas Creek Canter July 2012 

All that time on the trail together alowed me to start to dial into what makes Maggie tick. We were getting in synce and I even felt like I could trust her in any trail situation. We completed a  CTR where we managed to out maneuver alot of seasoned 50 and 100 mile arabians on the trail that day, and we  completed a 30 mile AERC LD and even top tenned. Two 30 mile rides completed with a healthy horse and new found trail partner at the end.  Success? Absolutely.

Short term goals.. they work...

Being driven by alot of ambition and also having  self critical tendoncies at the same time can sometimes be like throwing two wild Tom cats in a gunnysack together and hoping they both come out as buddies. Only one is going to come out on top.

or maybe not?

The ambition drives me ahead and the slef criticism gets me in ruts, and then the amibition pushes me ahead again.It can tend to be a vicious cycle maybe it all balances out in the end.

This spring, that smaller bite I have chosen for Maggie  has been to get her thinking less about speed and conditioning and thinking more about the finer tuning in horse training. I am asking her to focus more on the smaller thing, be less reactive to my cues, don't rush, and all kinds of little things that will lead into bigger things like a quiet canter depart.

Believe me, I would much rather be conditiong for endurance.  It's much easier to just point her down the trail and go but  she has more to offer as riding horse and I want to bring that out.

Last night, because of ongoing complications with the franken finger, Tom agreed to work Maggie this week for me a few times. For over a week now he has heard me complaining and whining about my riding sessions at the boarding facility with Maggie.

"She's reactive, spooky, her leg yields aren't going well, she's drifting through her outside shoulder, she's counter bending, her transitions are tense, etc, etc.  (yep there's that critical stuff)

I had been feeling  like I wasn't getting anywhere with her and instead  going backwards. There is that high expectations thing again...

He rode her around and went through all the routine things I have been focusing on along with a few other things he works a horse through.  He saw what he called her sticky spots that I had been complaining about. This was the first time he had ridden Maggie since last spring. He hopped off and handed her to me. Typically he doesn't say alot when he rides a horse unless he's asked. This time he offered it without me asking. He said he really didn't understand what I had been complaining about . She was so much more improved from last year. She was listening , responsive, and soft. He was surprised how nice she had become under saddle since he last rode her.

His words... "you have gotten some pretty big changes in that mare".

I thought about that for a while on the ride home . He's not the kind to just say something to make me feel better..

Once again, I had gotten so caught up in the doing and chasing of that goal, that I got tunnel vision.  I could not see the accomplishments made.

I may never do a 50 mile ride or even a 100 mile ride. It's hard to say.  Right now , its more important to learn what I can from the horse that I have and enjoy the ride. There are alot of amazing things that can happen along the way when your not looking.
 

A Week of Riding

Tonight I am sitting here in front of a fire, relaxing on the couch, having a cup of tea to soothe away the muscle fatigue that always comes with the first few rides of the year.  I am relishing my day, actually my week. I have ridden Maggie every night this week . In one week of concerted effort at tuning back into my horse, I have learned so much about her and myself. This has been a great time to revisit all those little training holes  that I skimmed over last year in pursuit of conditioning. 

Each evening I came home , smelling like  a spring time barn. Eau De Barn...

Every night it the same questions "Well, how did she do tonight?" from the patient husband whp often ends having to plan and cook dinner so his wife can have her horse fix. It's been so nice to have a place to go to work my horse .  Some nights I came home frustrated because it felt like we just revisit the same things over and over and never really get anywhere. It's hard to see the forest for the trees but I know I am asking more from Maggie now, searching for a higher level of feel , softness , balance and rhythym.  Other nights , I came home riding on a cloud. It's those times when she is the loveliest mare to be had. When all these years of asking for these things come together for a few moments and it sticks. She is supple, attentive and calm.Asking her to pay closer attention and not just go forward. It's been challenging but very fun to work on subtlety and timing in Maggie's training.

How subtle can I ask for that front end to come over in a roll back. A shift of a seat bone, a wiggle of a finger all timed perfectly. How little does it take to ask for her to back up correctly with weight on the haunches and light as a feather in my hands. Can we do a 20 meter circle and keep our momentum and not fall to the inside shoulder? Can I make the rein mean something to the feet. Can I walk along and just pick up the right rein and have her take a step to the right? Maybe , just maybe walk along and knock down those little orange cones with that right foot as we go along.

All these things.. so many things to fine tune and work on. It's been really nice but it's going to take time to get there.

 Maggie is not fond of the indoor arena. It makes her nervous and unsure. It's noisy and echoes. With all the snow and ice melting away, it makes strange sounds. There is a lot of activity with lessons and other boarders trying to work their horses. It's a small arena. It gets congested easily.  Maggie's focus is often fleeting , and she is hyper reactive to the any other horse in the arena. It's a work in progress. The exposure is good for her  and I hope in time she will come to accept it.

Today we took a break from the arena.

All ready to go

I LOVE THE VIEW FROM HERE~ I think I recognize those trees...

It was first time this year the mercury was expected to reach  into the 50's. I opted to take advantage of it and head out to the trails with Maggie. We rode throguh two big hay fields and made our way into the woods. As soon as we headed out I could almost feel her whole body relax .  She was an absolute dream. Not once did she get rushy,  not even on the way home.We had to maneuver several icey spots and she was extremely cautious.  Compared to how she had been in the arena , it was such a nice break to be back out in what is clearly her comfort zone.

We even curled a hair or two and never broke a slow easy walk.

I had brought along some soaked beet pulp and alfalfa pellets for an after ride treat. She  dove into it and then acted like she was really tired. I guess she had been worked 6 days in a row , even though it was all pretty slow easy work she has been sitting idle since November.

She will get the next two days off.

The Mud Diva gets a new dress

I found a great deal on a midweight blanket for Maggie after discovering her heavier winter blanket had either shrunk , or more than likely she grew. I put it on her and immediately got the pissy mare looks.

It was a bit..    ahem    tight..

she kinda looked like  a stuffed sausage in it..(sorry  miss thang)

It was also too short, which I don't recall being an issue before but I could just be forgetting. I really have not consistently kept her blanketed in the past for any length of time. Since it was a  pretty nice blanket and those seams were not going to withstand much rolling action in it, out came the checkbook.  I got her 75 instead of a 72 , because 74 was sold out .One added inch wasn't going to make too big of a difference.

I brought it out to the stable last night. After a nice hour long riding session , I pulled it out of the bag , and guess what? It fit nearly perfect, alittle long but not so much it's going to cause her issues. I didn't even have to adjust any of the straps. It was like a custom made dress for my little Mud Diva.  It was much nicer quality than I expected and the color is quite pretty up close,almost a purplish blue.

(The pictures are not great as they were taken with my Galaxy III ,which is an awesome phone but the camera isn't worth a warm bucket of spit.)

Does this dress make my butt look big?
 

 Ofcourse , she can't have a new dress and not break it in properly:



Ahh, much better...
you can't really see in t h is photo but arena dirt is now all over the pretty new blanket.

I think she approves.


 

She has already started shedding and hopefully this will help speed things along. Last spring, it was late June before she completely shed out. Might have to get the clippers out and clean up the goat beard this weekend.





 

Nightcrawlers and Yard Wreckage

Ok, this is a real non sequitor to anything having to do with horses or endurance of any kind, but it does have to do with this "farm" life.  It started two summers ago we noticed all these little dirt clods all over the yard.  I could feel all the little bumps under my feet when I walked. We were told it was nightcrawler castings and we should be glad because it meant we had a healthy yard. We were told there wasn't much we could about other than try to attract more birds to eat the worms and maybe run an lawn rake over it to smooth the bumps out.
 That was two years ago and I think we now have every nightcrawler within a 5 mile range in our yard. The yard has developed into a total wreck. Now that most of the snow and ice has melted it's really noticeable.  We have sprigs of brown grass interspersed between clumps of castings . The result?  A yard of mud.  The dogs are not helping. They are out there tearing it up as they run and play. Duncan has discovered these irritating little pests as well. If one particularly pisses him off he,  digs at the ground and barks at it.

Yes, my Borgi hunts worms. A highly regarded skill indeed.


Sly Worm Hunting Dog (You can sort of see all the lumps and dirt in this photo)
 

With all the mud, the hounds have been sequestered to the garage where they get their toweling off. They enjoy that chore alot more than I do and seem to think it's alot like a spa treatment.

No, Duncan, this is how you do the sneak move on the ball..

a little to the left... yep, that's the spot...

Go ahead, try to get my ball...

I said.......MY BALL!

Meanwhile, all toweled off and back to work at the office (sshhhh, she doesn't remember we aren't supposed to be in here on the nice office rug)

 

Franken Finger

The injured finger has been given an identity, known as Franken Finger. I guess I can see the similarity:) The story of Franken Fingerm  in case you missed it,  is here.  It's healing, albeit slowly. It's a fine balance of  keeping it covered and splinted and the stitches moist,  versus letting it have access to air to promote healing without letting the stitches dry out to much. I prefer to keep it bandaged and splinted. Otherwise I find myself wanting to try to use it and bend it, which could rip the stitches since the cut goes over the knuckle.  It was recommended by the doctor to leave it open at night while I sleep but he didn't know I  flip flop too much and would be a hazard to myself, likely waking to find I had ripped out the stitches. I have become pretty efficient at cutting gauze , tape and rebandaging all one handed.

These photos were taken two days ago so it looks slightly better than these..it's a little lessy uh, mushy(?) looking...

 

I  did manage to ride last night but it was awkward holding onto the reins. I can only manage to fit this hand into a mitten with the bandage in place and I can't ride in mittens so this hand goes gloveless alot.  With all the swelling, the circulation is not that great so it gets cold pretty quickly.

So far no signs of infection but I am on a pretty heavy duty antibiotic which is also doing a number on my stomach. I have another 5 days of antibiotics to endure and anither week and a half of stitches. I have not needed any ibuprofen or tylenol for 2 days now as the pain has reduced to a manageable level to not need it. The less I can take of that, the happier my intestinal lining will be. 

 

In general , this whole thing is such an inconvenience.

 

Tack Cleaning Secrets

 Here in my living room , sit all the trappings for the tack cleaning project that begun over 3 weeks ago. Itwas supposed to have resumed by now.  I just have a ridiculous amount of tack that it's a huge project and I get distracted. I managed to get my two english bridles cleaned, sufficiently oiled  and neatly tucked away in a new bridle bag. That was the important part. They were dry. Taking apart  english bridles for cleaning and oiling is tedious so I wanted to get that done first.

 

 

The Duett is also done but it still remains sitting here in the middle of the floor,( not completely out of the way, on purpose as a self reminder), with stirrups and fleece stirrup leather covers unattached. Its still sitting here because I really don't want it to go back to the tack shed until I have a cover for it . Otherwise, all that work will be for nothing. Only,  I can't find the cover. It was just a cheapy vinyl one but it was something. I have looked endlessly until  I got tired of looking and now I am thinking I am just going to purchase one of those enclosed  saddle bag thingy's that are padded, fancy and have a strap for carrying. The only problem is that they are a little more than I want to spend on a bag that holds a saddle.  I am trying to find a used one.

My saddle cleaning process could probably be described as ritualistic. It's a process and I guess it's all those years of Pony club and ratings and shows where everything had to be perfect that created my madness with cleaning tack. I don't enjoy it but if I am going to bother doing it ,even once a year, I may as well do it right.

P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N!

So, since I am in the middle of this maybe sharing my process might help motiviate me to finish and and see if anyone has any other tricks they want to share.

This process is geared toward the English show tack because in the world of showing, it has to look perfect. (even though my bridles will likely never see another show) Its just too ingrained for me  to do it any other way and all my western tack gets the same ridiculous attention.

My process begins with undoing every buckle so all the components are separated:




You end up with alot of miscellaneous parts. If you haven't ever taken one apart and put it back together again, take photos and label it.Believe me, you will be glad you did. Good or bad, it's been burned into my brain through years of repetition and I can probably do it blindfolded, thank you Pony Club! 

1. Wipe everything down with a damp cloth to get the dust and most of the grime off.Inspect all the stiching and buckles and arrange repairs if needed.
*BTW- you will need alot of rags.

2. Get a clean rag or sponge with saddle soap  and wipe down again. For the really grimy parts, you might need to get a toothbrush out. (*  It recommended not to use  a loved ones toothbrush and then try to clean it up as best you can to hide the evidence that you used it for something you should not have) Overall, don't get carried away with scrubbing or suds. Good leather doesn't tolerate it and good leather is expensive. If you have cheap leather, scrub away because you probably don't much care.
3. Wipe soap with yet another clean rag and cool water- don't get water too warm, it dries the leather out.
4. Wipe all the moisture off the parts with a clean dry rag.
5. Start singing some kind of tune that makes you happy because right  now is where my ADHD starts to kick in. This is really boring stuff so I prefer to make up lyrics that are based on my dogs because the dogs are usually entertained by my singing... as would you be... in a bad way:) and that makes me laugh.
6. Now that your leather is clean, it's time to recondition it. I use Lexol conditioner and/or Horseman's One step.  Sometimes I use both , one first and then the other.It just depends on how the leather feels to me or  how lazy I feel.
Horseman's one step leaves kind of  weird residue unless you really buff but it's quick if your in a ahurry. There are lots of leather conditioners on the market and most English saddle makers carry their own unique brand. I don't get too hung up on this and stick to what I have found works best for a reasonable price.
7.Once you complete that, I buff the leather, as I said,  to get any residue from the conditioner off as it tends to leave a film . If left without buffing,  this film seems to keep the leather from absorbing the  oil in the next step. I just use another dry rag to buff it.

Did I mention the number of rags you might need?

8. Sometimes I mix the Lexol compound (see step 7) with the Pure Neatsfoot oil in one oily emulsion  and rub it in together, thereby reducing my steps. This time around I did it separately because the condition of the leather was really dry.  I apply the  Neatsfoot and rub it in really well with my bare hands, as opposed to just sponging it on and rubbing it off. The warmth from your hands helps the leather absorb the oil better and you get the added benefit of moisturizing your hands, which if your like me in the winter, your skin might begin to have leather like qualities this time of year anyways. It's a win win.

** alot of people say Neatsfoot oil rots stitching. I have never had this issue so I can't speak to it. Maybe it's because I don't soak the leather in the oil? Maybe there is a good alternative out there, not sure.

9. I then lay the pieces out on a towel and let them set and absorb the oil for about an  hour. So, I suggest you go grab a beer, tea , coffe, or whatever your poison is. You can't rush this part. You may have to add another round of oil as well if the leather is really dry. I will often make another step after the Neatsfoot oil and rub in a layer of  Skidmore's leather cream. I am slightly obsessive about how the leather feels. I really like Skidmores but it will darken light leather.

10.Once the  oil is soaked in, buff the leather again with a cloth until the oil residue is off.

***This next step I think is what makes or breaks the whole process just described. At this point the leather is clean and should be well oiled. How often have you experienced oiling tack only to find it gets layered in dirt that has stuck to it because its tacky from the oil?? Well, the trick is to seal that oil in.

11. Moisten your bar of saddle soap slightly with water and rub a little on either a sponge , rag or your bare fingers. I prefer my fingers . Rub a layer of soap all over the leather but make sure there are NO SUDS.. SUDS ARE BAD. You simply want a layer of thin saddle soap all over the leather, like a wax sealant or a final clear coat if you will.

The hubby's Courbette sits awaiting cleaning as well , as soon as I move mine. I suppose I should move mine so he feels more compelled to clean his?  I actually have  two more saddles to clean, which isn't helping my motivation to get it done at all. I have my Specialized which won't require much more than running over it with a damp cloth  and since it's not leather per se, I am not as concerned with it. I also have my western which requires several hours because it's bigger, fancier with alot of brass and tooling. If I am going to bother cleaning that thing, I am going to polish the brass too and it takes FOREVER but it looks so sharp when I do...again, obsessive.. a bit. Both of those saddles are  sitting in the garage on another saddle rack, slightly in my way and waiting for me to become tired of walking around them, which hasn't quite happened yet. Now that I have this finger injury, I can't really get the hand wet so I guess those saddles will just have to keep on waiting.. Good thing it's mostly still crummy weather and riding is minimal.

Happy Tack Cleaning! Your horse will thank you!