Since this is the first year i don’t have an indoor and its been the coldest winter on record for my area in 20 years, so i decided to get the ponies some quarter sheets for those really cold days. Im trying not to miss any riding days just because any one of us might be cold. I loved the colors of the Cavalero Exercise Sheet by Moxie so i splurged and by that i mean i bought it on sale, because i buy almost everything on sale. Its a sickness. I got the large which was rated to fit my 16+ hand OTTBs. Boredeaux and gray for Jezebel and i wanted the navy and camel for Circe but i couldn’t find it in her size. So the girls were just going to have to share the one. I cant ride them both at the same time anyways (yet…ha!)
Jez in the Moxie Quarter sheet
Pros: This is a beautiful exercise rug. Its top quality and the underside is of a fleece like material that feels so good i’m considering getting a blanket by them as well. It fits true to size the large fit my girls just as it was supposed to and it’s just stunning out of the package. The colors are muted and almost look matte. Which gives it a little more class then if they were loud and bright. Very classy little rug for a really good price. I bought mine on sale for somewhere around 40.00 but they retail at 64.00 If i can find the colors i want for Circe i wouldn’t hesitate to by it at off the rack prices.
Cons: The only con I have it they didn’t make enough of these and they sold out in the large too fast.
Circe sporting the Moxie quarter sheet
Lowdown: If you want to give your pony a little extra warmth in the winter riding months but don’t want to go full out with a super expensive all wool quarter sheet, I’d recommend the Cavalero Exercise Sheet by Moxie. Its classy on the outside with a rather awesome color selection (when they are not sold out that is) and they feel like your favorite fleece lined hoodie on the underside. Both of my horses wore them and never complained, not once. That is saying something.
Have you met my horse “spooks-a-lot” ?
It was ground work day and by that i mean lunging. I’m still a little sore so i didn’t want to ride and well riding Jezebel is on the back burner for right now aways. When i went to pull the girls from the field all of the horses were on the cow side of the field. They share the field with two beef cattle (Suzy and Jenny) there are gates separating the two areas but they are open 24/7 and they all mingle. The cows have their own run in but not today, today they horses had taken it over. All 9 of them were on the cow side invading the cows space. As i walked up i was laughing and said out loud “are you all cows today?” they were. I grabbed my girls and lead them out one in each hand. Usually this is something easily accomplished but today Circe was in a snit and though i was able to take them both together she spooked a couple times at pretty much nothing.
Jez was first up and the footing in our outside sand arena was pretty much perfect. Only one other person was at the barn tacking up her horse. I love it when its quiet like that. I put Jez’s lunging cavason on her and out to the ring we went. Jez was perfect! Sound in both directions, (yay!) easy up down transitions, listening to me the whole time ears forward and happy to work. No fuss no muss, my wonderful willing pony was with me in the ring. We worked for about 20 minutes and then we did some carrot stretching and she was a little tight on the left. Good to know. Then it was Circe’s turn.
I hate my cavason!
I have only lunged Circe in a rope halter but today i put her lunging cavason on her. I bought it as a barn sale at the neighbors and i wanted to try it out. Circe was not thrilled with this. Shes super sensitive in general and having the lunge line not under her chin and coming off the nose band was freaking her out. I elected to work her though it. Though i’m all about making adjustments to deal with her hyper sensitivity i’m not all about catering to her whims on stuff that is easy for her to learn to deal with. Circe is a body language lunger. Small steps she walks, bigger steps she trots. If i move slow, she moves slow, if i move fast she moves fast. You have to be very aware of your body and what signals you are giving her. Today she was all zoom and defiance. If i stood still she would trot, If i moved my body at all she would trot really fast, if i took any steps it was canter time. I tried to calm her with my voice and was being very careful with my body language and that seemed to work for a bit but she would inevitably get all hyped up and then break into a canter. I would stop her and she would turn to look at me then i would point in the direction i wanted her to go this mostly worked except for the time she decided to rear. Yeah thats right she freaking reared at me. What is the deal with all the rearing horses in my life right now?! Not acceptable and i told her so and made her move out on the lunge.
My barn-mate who was riding her horse Snickers saw the whole thing and didn’t want to come into the ring with Circe acting like that. So i decided to just walk her around to cool her out so that others could work in the ring without being afraid of my hyped up red-headed mare. Thats when i noticed her flagging her tail at Eisenstein the 4 year old handsome Arab whose turnout on the other side of the ring and him going all gaga and getting all snorty at her. Oh shit she was in heat! The hot, cold, hot, cold weather threw my horse into heat in the dead of winter. Awesome. Hence the spooking at nothing, hence her getting all zoomy on the lunge and her general act up-ness. Its not an excuse for everything and in heat or not everybody works. If i have to work when i have PMS so do my horses but it helps me to understand where shes coming from. So i walked her around the ring while my barn friend rode her horse in the ring and Circe was as sweet as pie. She didn’t get in my bubble and didn’t walk any steps ahead of me. She was once again the doll baby pony i love and adore.
Then we had an ice storm last night. Ugh weather! That meant that todays training session with Jez was canceled with her trainer however as soon as the footing is okay shes coming out to work with Jez and see if we can fix/work on her current issues. I also have plans to call the vet out to give Jez the once over in case there is a physical element to all this fussing after i pick up her records from her current vet. I’m switching. My vet right now is awesome for lameness but they sent a letter that they are again raising prices and frankly i dont want to pay them. They are already the more expensive vet in the area. I’m lucky there are lots of good vets in the area to chose from.
Hi mom, can we go for a walk
It rained all night and into the day. The horses were kept in. When I got to the barn they were both happy to see me. I love how Circe is really starting to let her personality come out. She also knows she’s my horse. Nickering to me when I arrive. What a sweet pony. I looked at the ring to see if I wanted to let the girls run around and stretch their legs. It was all sloppy and way to wet. I didn’t need anyone slipping. I decided to walk them each up and down the driveway. Jez was up first and was really good. Even though this was just a little stretch your legs walk I did some ground work with her. Making her stop when I stopped and backing her up when she took that one little extra step and got ahead of me. She also walked in deep puddles with no complaints. Yay, water progress! She was sweet and affectionate with me. You would hardly think she had just they day before dropped me on my ass from a rear. After her walk was over we did some carrot stretches. She was really flexible in all directions. Nothing seemed stiff. Nothing. Which is good I guess but I half expected her to be stiff somewhere and then I could blame the rearing episode on that. I’m still planning on having the vet out though just to give her the once over. Since it was sloppy no lunge to check for soundness, i;ll do that when the ring drys out a little.
Circe was next she’s not as good at stying out of my bubble as Jez but shes not bad. She’s a little more spooky as well. The heard of deer were out next door and she could see them. She was interested but she didn’t jump out of her skin like she has in the past. Good girl! We worked on her walking with me and not slightly in front of me and her staying out of my bubble. I couldn’t be happier with the effort she gives me. The temperature was dropping as I was walking up and down the drive and I was getting chilled. I put the girls away and went to yoga. Where I was a complete uncoordinated dork. Good times. It was a beginning class but clearly I was the most beginner there. I’m sure with a little time i’ll be down dogging it like a champ. My lower back only seized up once and i’m sure that was because of being dropped on my ass from 5 feet in the air. I did feel better though when i got home. I’m sure the stretching helped and i didn’t wake up in the middle of the night worried about my horse and all the ” what ifs” So maybe it helped clear my head a little too.
Tacking up on rear day
I woke up at about 2am with a start worried about Jezebel. Being sore all up and down my left side from my tail-bone to my atlas vertebrae in my neck didn’t help but really it was because I kept thinking and worrying about my girl. My mind racing with what ifs. What if shes injured again, what if were in for another layup, all the hospital paddocks are full how will i get her on restricted movement of thats what i need to do, what if this rearing thing is permanent, how much is it going to cost me to fix this and on and on and on. I do worry about her and rightly so but this was just ridiculous. It was about 5am when i decided to put on the TV to see of it could lull me to sleep. How Its Made was on the science channel its my favorite put ya to sleep show. Engaging enough to keep your mind occupied not enough to stay awake to watch. Then I popped a couple of Aleve and bingo back to sleep should have done that sooner!
Circe being “The good one”
I’m gonna head on down to the barn this afternoon and check on the girls. No snow yet but it did rain all night and is still raining now but who knows what it looks like at the barn. If the ring is too sloppy wet then I wont put Jez on the lunge until tomorrow to check her out. I want to make sure I set her up for success. It’s worming day for my ponies so i can do that and I have my first yoga class tonight. This will be interesting because i feel like i got run over by a truck but i swear i’m not going to let any of this stop me from doing anything i had planned. I’m trying to be the ball, or the donut hole or whatever you wanna call it. Being raised a Buddhist (hippie parents, yo) i know all about over coming obstacles that are suddenly put in your way as soon as you are making progress. There some Buddhist word and theory for just that thing. Thats what all this feels like and i need to be in the moment and take steps not to be detoured from my goals for myself and my horses.
Baby Bo and me on Rear day
Falls are part of the deal and though I’m all about minimizing your risks especially now that I’m older and feel injuries more then i used when i was young and fearless. I’m well aware that you cant have horses and think you’re never going to get hurt, or run into issues you didn’t expect. I wear a helmet for that reason. Back in the olden days helmets were for jumping and horse shows only. I don’t need to be that reckless but i flat out refuse to let fear of an injury overcome me. I am not afraid of my horse(s) but i’m also aware of my personal limitations. Enter my trainer who will help me work though this, i’m lucky to have her. I will not allow any kind insidious fear response creep up on me and live in my head. I see too much of that as it is in the horse world. As things stand now i think this is a fixable problem and i’m going to take it as it comes, i’m not the first person to get put off because their horse reared, i wont be the last.
The red-head and my better half
It was a lovely 50 degrees outside and after a big breakfast my better half and I headed down to the barn. His lesson was canceled do to the place being the venue for a horse show. The plan was for me to ride both girls with lots of time being spent in the back half of the ring. I tacked up Circe first and lead her to the ring which was empty. I hopped on and she was really pretty good. No spook, no zoom. Sure there was head tossing when i put my leg on and sure she got behind the bit a lot and often did her giraffe impression but after about 20 minutes she worked though it all and was really a very good girl keeping her head down and not freaking out over leg pressure. We practiced her moving off my leg in both directions as i trotted down the centerline a few times. The i asked my better half if he wanted to ride her. The plan is for him to start cooling her out after her rides when hes at the barn to get a feel for her and so they can get to know each other. He grabbed his helmet and climbed aboard. They both did really good, i was super happy with how she listened to him and he asked the right questions of her. They walk halted and it was a really good start!
Only i wasn’t wearing a cape and a hat
Then it was Jezebels turn. She was in a really good mood and super affectionate tacking up. I led her out to the ring, got on and warmed up at the walk and then the trot. She was pretty good. No antics like the day before. She felt a little stiff but after all her antics the day before that was to be expected. We did lots of circles and some serpentines and then my better half went to fill up the hay bags while i finished up with her. Thats when it took a turn for the worse. On the other side of the back of the arena an ATV was being used, Jez was not fond of this. I had her look at it and thought all was swell. I asked her to move forward and the head tossing began. I told her to knock it off and again asked her to move from the halt to the walk. Then she reared. I was kinda in shock. She went up fast and tall. I stayed on by some miracle. I was really quite surprised and just as i caught my breath and thought the whole thing was over she shot up a second time. Full on vertical with lots of hang time. I came off. Landed on my ass, left hand still holding the reins (will i ever learn to let go?!) Jez just turned to look at me like WTF are you doing on the ground and touched her nose to my nose. I wasn’t hurt, unless my pride counts. My better half came running after i called out to him and i got back on her with him ponying me from the ground. Jez started to head toss and was protesting moving forward. I urged her on and we got around the arena with her ready to go off at any second. I could feel her under me preparing to go up with every step and then i got off. I got my lunge line and put her on the lunge in full tack. She was fine going counter clockwise no fuss no muss but when we switched directions to clockwise i could see it. She was slightly off in the right hind and she was clearly uncomfortable going that direction.
what bad horses look like
I will have owned Jezebel for two years on February 15th and I’ve been put off her only three times in those two years. The first time she spooked at nothing because she was in heat. The second i was bucked into the fence and as it turns out because she had a 3 centimeter tear in the right hind suspensory and then today after she reared and i did my Zorro impression. I’d say i’m ahead of the game with a baby OTTB with her own opinions about things. Maybe shes injured, i dont know. Its more likely she’s sore from all the antics she pulled yesterday. She did a whole lot of kicking out with the right hind protesting pretty much everything so that would make sense. I texted my trainer and told her the story and the thought is to take a step back with Jez and try to figure out what her issue is and where its coming from. I’m going to make sure shes sound. I gave her bute will check her on the lunge tomorrow. When shes sound im going to work with her on the ground. Get her working and listening to me. Michelle is going to work with her under saddle and get her solid at the walk and the trot. This weather will not make it easy to do, were expecting snow again tonight.
Robax-a-tini the horse persons cure all!
I’ve never had a horse that reared. Rearing isn’t anything I’ve ever had to deal with before. Its all new to me. I was pretty happy i stuck the first vertical and if it happens again i think i’ll have a better handle on the whole thing and how to deal. This will not deter me, i love Jezebel shes my baby horse. If this is another injury i’ll deal and if this is all mental then we will work though it. Its not like i wont have a horse to ride while i work with Jez on the ground. Circe will just get more miles then expected this month. When I got home I took a Robaxin and my better half made me a cocktail.. a lime drop in my fancy Waterford martini glass or as i like to call it the horse persons cure all!
Circe being good
It finally melted… the snow, it finally melted. I made plans with my trainer to ride both the girls Saturday afternoon. Sunday is our usual day but she was working down the road with a friend of mine and her horses so we switched it up. Besides it was sunny and warm and by warm i mean it was 45 degrees out. Being the first warm day in what seemed like forever and a weekend the barn was crowded. Everyone wanted to ride. 2 people were riding up the driveway, another was tacking up for the trail and the resident natural horsemanship guy at our barn had back to backs at the same time as my girls training rides. We elected to split up the ring. We took the back.
Buck-a-roo
Jez was up first and was not thrilled with working in the back of the ring but mostly behaving. Throwing her shoulder out on the bends but it was correctable. When it came time to canter well thats when Jez lost her mind. She went from slightly pissy at having to hold her body correctly to “OMG i hate you, you never let me do anything i want to do and all my friends get to go to the mall” Teen-aged girl throwing a temper tantrum. All of a sudden she was bucking, kicking out and driving her shoulder into the fence on the bends so she was almost half passing across short side of the ring. Yeah, it was like that. That wasn’t the worst of it though, the worst of it was the rearing. She was really mad at not being allowed to throw her shoulder out so her response was to rear. I got a photo of the first time…. Michelle stuck it and sent her forward. It was rather amazing. But the wild one wasn’t done being bad. More bucking and kicking out when she was asked to do something she didnt want to do and its not as if she was being asked to do anything hard. The second rear (the one i didn’t get on film) was straight up vertical. Michelle just dropped her stirrups and slid off landing on her feet. Then her and Jez got into an argument as Jez was backed up down the ring. She remounted and got back to it. My trainer is fearless, determined and was not about to let my naughty pony win. Jez didn’t win but it was a long ride.
Jezebel being bad!
Hi-ho silver…
Eventually getting to this
But everything is scary!
Circe was next also not thrilled with working in the back of the ring and she had A.D.D, a few spooks at nothing and was getting behind the bit a lot. Also head tossing and freaking out when you put your leg on cuz shes ultra sensitive to any aids and it was that kinda day. Both my horses were not on their best behavior. I’m glad Michelle had a chance to get on them both though and remind them they are not feral horses and actually riding horses. I’m going to ride them both tomorrow in the back of the ring because clearly they need to get out of thier front of the ring comfort zone and Michelle already did the hard part. It is going to be in the upper 40s again tomorrow but Monday they are again predicting snow! Noooooo! As of today the weather people are saying 5 inches of snow will stick but that could change cuz its two days away. I hope the whole thing misses us but with the way this winter has been going i highly doubt it. I’ve got to get the rides in while i can and then just wait it all out until spring i suppose.
Eventually getting to this!
Jez View
Finally! I rode my horse! Okay I mostly walked because the ground was harder then i thought when i first got on and i didn’t get to ride the red-head because she has much more sensitive feets then the wild one. But i did tack up and get on. We did one trot set but that was all because i was worried about ice. It was about 25 degrees when i got on and gave it a go. Jezebel was a real trooper and for a horse that hadn’t been ridden in a while because if weather she was a right good girl. No spook, no zoom, just happy to be working. If you can call what we were doing work. I was just happy to be on board!
Of course after i un-tacked and the sun started to come out and there was more melt happening. I’m sure by tomorrow the ring will be much more usable and i can get on both girls and actually yanno work. Yippy! I’m so looking forward to it. The weather is forecasting more snow in a week so i better get my ya ya’s out now because its predicted to be warm (in the 40’s!) for the next few days. Maybe i’ll even break out my blocks and poles and lunge the wild one over some obstacles. Fun!
After the barn i trucked on down to a local yoga studio. I’ve been meaning to do something about getting more fit and yoga is about the only “exercise” thats not horse related i can stand to do. I did it in LA from time to time but finding a place here in MD isn’t as easy as CA where there is a studio on every corner. I’ve been eye balling the place chose because its halfway between home and the barn and the price is right. What i didn’t know is that its owned by a horse person! The owners got three horses so that makes her one horse more crazy then i am. Heh. She keeps them at a local barn that i actually went to look at when I was barn shopping last summer. I know all this because we spent about 20 minutes talking about our horses.. yeah its pretty much the right yoga studio for me. When I walked in i said “i’m sorry i’m all covered in horse dirt” the owners response? “I spend half my life covered in horse dirt” I start on Monday.
Its still frozen though each day its warming up. Yesterday it was in the high 20’s Hazaar! The ring was almost ridable but i thought id give it another day to truly unfreeze. Since riding wasn’t happening Mary, Peanut and I decided to go for a walk. She wanted to show me a trail she found that she thought might make good horse back riding. We ride on a lot of private property and some neighbors are awesome about letting us cross their land, others? Not so much. This trail was on the not so much neighbors land but yanno its always worth asking. The most people can say is no. The ground was still snow covered but it was melting and easier to slog though then the other day. As we were walking a car came down the long drive and stopped to chat with us it was a neighbor i had met at a yard sale in the fall. Her mother owned the property we were walking on. We chatted for a bit then brought up the idea of riding though when the weather was better. Umm yeah thats not going to happen. Oh well we asked. We continued on until we hit the main road then turned to head home. About half way we looked back to find Peanut laying on the ground in the snow chewing a big stick.
Peanut and the hoof
She was so happy with her stick chewing, she had a big doggie grin on her face. I turned to Mary “Wait a second is that a stick of a deer leg?” turns out it wasn’t a stick at all but a frozen deer leg, hoof and all! Peanut was going to town on it at the knee joint. I of course rushed over to get a picture of her, then thought this dead deer leg probably wasn’t good for Peanut to be chomping on. I mean who knows how that deer died. Likely it was hit by a car and died in the bushes but who knows really. Peanut however was not going to let me take away her amazing frozen find. She looooooved the deer leg too much for that and ran around giant deer leg hanging out of her mouth not letting me catch her as i chased her down in the snow. Hilarity. I did eventually get the deer leg out of her mouth and tried to throw it where peanut couldn’t get it.. she was not happy with me for doing that. Nothing like pulling a deer frozen leg out of a dogs mouth on a snow walk to make your day entertaining. At least it wasn’t a head or skull or anything. I don’t know if i could have yanked a deer face out of her mouth with its frozen eyes looking up at me. Oh Peanut!
As I was driving down the long drive past the fields to the street to go home, a small herd of about 10 deer jumped the fences ran in front of my car and scurried to the neighbors property where the much larger herd of maybe 100 live. I looked… all of them seemed to had all four of their hooves.
Bridle path behind the farm
Its been too frozen to ride. The ground is covered in snow and beneath that the ground is frozen. I had a glimmer of hope yesterday when it got above 32 and the snow in my backyard melted. Of course its colder at the barn so …no melt. Were supposed to get another inch tonight sticking. I know others have it worse but im really over this whole snow thing. I’m hopeful that it will warm up end of the week and the snow will melt and i can get my ponies back on a schedule. They are in the process of forgetting they are riding horses. Enough time with no work and my girls begin to think they are ornaments. It feels like its been weeks since my trainer was out to work with the girls. It feels that way because it is that way.
Nutter Butter!
Today when i got the the barn, the girls were inside. It was a whopping 13 degrees out and they went out late and came in early. Both of my girls are good inside they don’t freak out, weave, or pull any antics if they are kept in a little more then normal. Im lucky like that. With the weather so cold with the wind it feels like 10 below. Both girls whinnied at me when i walked in the barn and both reached out for smooches. This was awesome because usually just Jez talks to me but Circe got into the mix. Circe was all snuggly and cute today like she was saying “dont forget about me, smooch me.. i’m your horse too” Melted my cold black heart it did. I gave them treats and smooches and pets and then i went for a walk around the ring with Mary (Willa) and her poocher peanut. I love peanut and sometimes call her Nutter Butter. With me everyone gets a nickname! She’s a lab mix and the barn doggie mascot, shes always happy to see me and is an all around great barn dog. The ring was frozen and icy. I had hoped it would be ridable and i could have Michelle out tomorrow. Nope not gonna happen. Then Mary, Nutter Butter and i decided to walk the bridle path to see what the footing was like. It was dicey. In some places it seemed like you could ride it, in others not so much. I decided that i wasn’t going to brave it with my baby green ottbs. I’ll have to wait for the melt. We walked up to the indoor entrance and back and i was tired when we got back to the barn. A testament to how out of shape i am and how much not riding for a couple weeks makes my unfitness more apparent. I suppose i should do something about that but the icy cold zaps my motivation.
When we got back I gave my ponies more treats and smooches and pets then headed on home. Its pretty uneventful these days, just waiting for it to warm. When it does though i really should hit it double time. I’ll just have to wait it out.
I always ride with gloves. Hot or cold it doesn’t matter. Since i broke my hand though last spring i’ve been investing in better gloves. I used to just by anything on sale see how i felt about it but once the hand snaps you start to realize that maybe investing in something better is a good idea. This winter i bought a pair of Roeckl Winter Chester gloves. I needed a pair to ride in the cold having no indoor to ride in this year. I also wanted gloves not just help me with warmth but that would give my hands some protection. I bought these from Dover in VA because i needed to try on everything to see what would fit. I know my glove size but manufacturers tend to fudge a little here and there when it comes to horse gloves in a way they don’t seem to with regular gloves. Fit is important to me and i didn’t want to deal with any possible returns for sizing so the drive to dover was made. After trying on everything in the store, I settled in the Roeckls.
Pros: They are leather glove with the fold over the hand Velcro closure and some elastic on the wrist so you have a little adjustment in how tight a fit to your hand you’d like. I also love how they have a fleece lining for warmth but are not bulky at all so i can still feel the contact with the reins. Thats important to me since my hands are not what most would call “smart” They are sized correctly and i feel when I’m riding in them that there is a good amount of protection to my fingers. If i were to say get tossed off and forget to let go of my reins, i might not end up all broken. (again)
Cons: The fleece is a thin layer and might not be warm enough for some. I’d say if you get down into the low 20’s you might want glove warmers with them. Ive ridden in the upper 20’s with them with no numb fingers. They are also not exactly a bargain in price. They list for 67.00 but i paid about 52.00. However I feel as if this is one of those you get what you pay for situations.
Lowdown: Overall they are a really good winter glove choice for riding. Mine are holding up really well but admittedly this winter is pretty bad and my saddle time is not where it should be. That might be contributing to them holding up as well as they are. Though i am careful to only use them for riding and to switch gloves for barn chores. If i did wear them out this winter id likely get a new pair next year. Gloves are one of those things you shouldn’t scrimp on, I learned that the hard way.
