Tailored Attire

I know there was a reason that I felt the need to inimediately ensure that I had at least a basic wardrobe to fit Stitch when I brought him home.

We had a full day of slushy rain last week and about 30 hours straight of rain this week. The good news is that this should significantly lessen the wildfire risk in the area for atleast a little while. I saw some scorched earth along the highway to the barn this weekend so concerns have been mounting.

Soaked at the 24 hour mark.

Stitch is still in the gangly young horse stage of having more leg than body. He's narrow with no boobs or ass - Kim Kardashian, he is not.

I don't want to spend a bunch of money on blankets that will only fit for a year (actually, I want to spend the money, but for once in my life have decided to be financially responsible). I suspect that in a couple of years he will fill out and will fit into my very extensive collection of 75" attire that I've acquired for three consecutive horses. I just need the basics until then.

The smallest thing I own is a 76" Century rainsheet. Cisco only wore it a couple of times - it was a bit snug on him so it became a backup that I never needed.

On Stitch, it was fine lengthwise when snugged up in front. But his lack of cleavage meant that the buckles sat a bit low. Also, the stomach straps were miles too long. They were knotted to shorten them from Cisco wearing it, not a chance that it would fit Stitch.

So, I did some repairs. Not sure if I mentioned this on the blog previously, but last fall I convinced my mom that we should get a heavy-duty industrial sewing machine. This thing powers through 6 layers of webbing like it's butter. I've been doing repairs for myself and some barn-mates all winter. I love it. 

The beast weighs something like 70 lbs by itself - it's staying at my mom's house.

Originally,  I planned to do the strap/d-ring thing like Schneider's blankets have along the neck to be able to make it smaller. A Google search suggested a different idea of just pinching the webbing at the neckline and stitching there. This creates a dart, doesn't stitch through any fabric other than the webbing, and would be easy to remove once the horse fills out.

Just a little dart did the trick.

The stomach straps - well, they were really long. It took me three attempts to get them the right length. Should have used a measuring tape in the beginning, I guess. First, I cut 6" off them. They were still way too long. Next I folded up about 10" and stitched that above the slider. Still long. The final version involved folding the previously folded part up against the blanket, and stitching through the 5 layers of webbing. That was finally the right length, and when he chunks up I will be able to pull the stitches out and expand the straps. 

That's 5 layers of webbing on two straps, and 6 layers on the back strap where the leg-strap d-ring is attached. Your home sewing machine won't manage that!

Since the plan is to hop on Stitch a few times in the fall and then let him grow until spring, he's not going to be working over the winter, which means he won't need to be clipped, and won't need to be blanketed except in extreme weather, which, realistically, will be more for me than for him. Thus, his basic wardrobe will consist of his rainsheet for the crappy summer days, his new Champion 100g blanket for the cool and wet days, and I'll add a layer to that with a vintage 1990's BMB stable blanket that fits him well enough when we get the -40's that we get every year. 

This was originally Farly's, who wore it for many winters but was super easy on his blankets so it's still in great shape.

He's set, right? Lots of horses live perfectly happy all year round without blankets. I can have a naked horse in the winter for the first time in 30 years and that won't make me a terrible horse mom, right? Right?

Throwback Thursday - Way Back to June

 I'm on my 5th day of being stuck in the house with a head cold. My Covid test was negative, so my stuffed up sinuses are definitely just due to a cold. Problem is, in these pandemic days, I'm legally required to stay quarantined until my symptoms have subsided. With my negative test (and vaccinations) I just have to wait until I am symptom-free and then can leave the house. 

Not that I would want to go anywhere with cold/flu-like symptoms - I'm pretty sure everyone would treat me like a leper.

Since I have had so much time on my hands and little incentive to do anything useful, I finally managed to edit some video I've been putting off.

Cisco's first gymnastic line!

We did it way back in June. And haven't jumped since. Sigh.

Overall, he was a very good boy on this day. I tried to keep it short - he went through a couple of times, and we would start on the next jump. 

I used my brain and set the line up so that we would jump it out of the scary end towards the main door. He likes to suck back heading into the scary end and I didn't want to give him a reason to think twice about jumping. Unfortunately, our turn into the line was not as straight as I would have liked on many an occasion as he dropped his shoulders in an attempt to GTFO of the corner as fast as he could.

This was also my first time jumping anything with related distances in something like 8 years. I was just happy I stayed on and didn't fuck up too much!

I should have had the line a bit tighter so that he didn't have to reach so much if he backed off. I have no idea how long his stride is, but I'm pretty sure that it's not 12'. I mean, the jumps were tiny, so there was no need to be anywhere close to 12' (and they were set as such).

I was just about to raise them a wee bit when he got a bit worried and started thinking about his options. We went through one more time with him being a bit more forward again and called it a day. I was quite happy with him and didn't want to risk things going backwards. 

It's not a terribly exciting video - the jumps are tiny, and I didn't come anywhere near falling off. Sorry!

I'd like to jump once or twice again this month before I stop riding Nov/Dec due to work - but I need to get rid of this stupid cold first. I'm hoping to head out to the barn this afternoon, but don't think I'll ride. I should be able to get back in the saddle this weekend though.

Just Do It!

 It's long been my goal to start seriously jumping again.

Twenty-plus years ago when I had my gelding Farly we did the 3'3" hunters and jumpers. He was a super honest and brave horse (except in gymnastic lines - it took a couple of years before he would reliably go through without running out in a one-stride, which often left me wearing a standard). He was also very rideable and adjustable, so he was very easy to place to the jump if I saw a distance, and at 3' and under he didn't worry if I screwed up.

Probably 1998 or 1999.

He had to be retired from jumping at the age of 13 due to a suspensory injury that turned out to be affected by ringbone that was found around the same time. Here's a tip - don't buy a horse you want to jump that has tiny quarter horse feet.

I had him for another six years before he went to the big field in the sky due to laminitis. I took about three years off from riding before I was given the chance to ride Phantom for a friend of mine. 

Phantom actually quite liked jumping. She is quite brave and bold. Unfortunately, she is not so rideable between the jumps. She dislikes any backwards contact or hanging on her mouth. It will cause her to become erratic in her pace, blow her leads behind, and make it difficult to get to the distance you saw. Then, to top it all off, if the distance was icky she would jump like a deer - and not in a good way. Of course the goal is to not have to pull backwards or hang on her mouth, but when you need to balance your canter quickly before turning into a line sometimes things happen, and it just never went well.

I gave it a go for a few years. It got a bit better when I found a bit she was happier with, but after I fell off  twice at a clinic due to her deer-style of jumping I kind of lost the desire to jump her. (One day I'll look for that video.)

I think this was the last time I seriously jumped her, which was in 2014. I don't think we had jumped for a bit at this time.

Then she decided that my jump saddle didn't fit her and must never be used again. She was happy in the dressage saddle, so we stuck with that.

She also would land 90% of the time from a jump on her right lead and I've always wondered if there was a physical reason. After dealing with Farly's ringbone I didn't want to risk ending Phantom's riding career early due to an injury that I could have prevented if I looked at the signs.

Farly went lame in 2000, so over the last twenty years I've maybe had 2 or 3 years of consistent jumping, and done just a few handfuls of small jumps otherwise. I'm a whole lot out of practice, and a whole lot worried about doing anything bigger than minuscule. 

But I really want to do it again.

I'm not in a position to take regular lessons, which means that there isn't the drive to do it regularly. I won't jump if I'm by myself, and though my mom is quite happy to watch me and call 911 if needed since Covid hit I haven't really taken her out to the barn with me. I ride at a barn with a bunch of eventers, so even though jumps are set up for half of the week, they are often tricky exercises that are not suitable for a green horse who isn't super brave (not to mention his rider). If I move jumps around I have to move them back, and that takes time that I often don't have.

Thus, I haven't jumped Cisco very much.

Cisco actually likes to jump. He's gotten better and braver the last few times that I've popped him over some little things (we're talking like twice in the last six months). He is far more rideable between the jumps than Phantom ever was. His stride isn't very long (I doubt it's anywhere near a 12 foot stride) and his canter can get really bouncy so my two-point position is horrible - thankfully I have no issues sitting in the saddle between the jumps. I find him really fun to ride.

On Monday everything lined up to do some jumps. There were a few little ones, someone responsible was riding with me, and I wanted to do something else instead of flatwork with him. 

We trotted over the couple of crosspoles with no hesitation at all from him. There was one more jump to try - a vertical.

I totally admit that I have a mental block about verticals (don't get me started on oxers). It's totally just because I haven't jumped one in years, but I was worried about it. I realize that there's no logical reason to be worried, it's just a different jump, but I think I've always found comfort in crosspoles - even those ones where the cups are set at the top of the standards and the horse has to do a really tight jump to stay in the middle - I always liked doing those.

I yanked up my big girl panties and trotted Cisco towards the single rail vertical, which was probably no bigger than 18". It was his first vertical, and he totally didn't care. I had a slight panic coming into it, my supervisor told me to breathe, I took a deep breath in, and just waited for the jump. Cisco popped over it and loped away with no concerns.

\We did it the other direction, which he had so little concern about that he barely jumped it, so we had to do it again.

Since things were going so well, I figured I might as well start working through my other mental block - cantering into jumps.

I know this is because I'm a control freak, and I don't like it when I don't see my distance into the jump and don't know what's going to happen. With Farly my eye got pretty good, but I'm so out of practice I don't trust myself. I know that I need to practice over poles on the ground. I also know that I am pretty accurate off the right lead, but for some reason I have a much harder time on the left lead.

I totally chose a short approach turn on the right lead - something I hardly ever miss.

I swear this canter felt much faster than a crawl.  And I think you can see a bit of his bounciness.

And we nailed it.

I was going to end it there, but my supervisor said she thought I was going to canter the vertical, so I should do it again. 

I succumbed to peer pressure. 

There was a slight moment of panic coming into the vertical where I didn't see my distance about five strides out, but, instead of panic riding and chasing Cisco into it (and probably past the distance) I just waited, and realized that it was going to be a wee bit short, but it would be okay. I was quite proud of myself for that!

Now, I get that getting over these tiny little jumps is no huge feat. When you haven't done it in ages it's just such a mental thing. Add-in being a perfectionist control-freak, and it's even harder to get over that hurdle (pun intended).

Next week I'm on vacation and I have no plans with the ponies that will prevent them from being ridden for the week. I'm going to drag my mom out with me and attempt to start Cisco on a small gymnastic line. My goal is to jump twice next week, and then at least every other week after that. The jumps don't have to be big, I just have to start doing them. 

My other tip to all those reading - don't stop. It's so hard to get started again.

Throwback Thursday - Sunflower

I've had a whole bunch of 13-14 hours out of the house in a row types of days lately. And I feel like I'm this close to getting a cold (seems like everyone I work with is already sick). So when I get home at 10:30 at night I've been pretty well going straight to bed and not blogging about what's been happening with the ponies.

So enjoy these throwback pics.

Sunflower was my first pony, who I owned from 1987-1993. She was a QH/Appy/Arab who was born in November, 11 months after a stallion jumped a fence.

I was looking through an old photo album recently and found this one from about 1991.

Not too shabby right?

Also from that jumping session, I present to you:

Pretty sure I ended up with sand in places it shouldn't be.

Itty-Bitty Real Jump

I've managed only a few rides over the last 3 weeks or so, all on Cisco. Because they have been so inconsistent, they really haven't been all that exciting. They have mostly been the same - I lead him to the mounting block, he circles it a couple times before I manage to get on, we warm-up in a very forward walk, spook in the scary end, trot way too fast, forget how to go into corners, and he bulges through his right shoulder.

Depending on how long it took to get him to settle, I may or may not canter him. Also depending on how many people I have to dodge or if no one is around. So yeah, our canter has a long ways to go still.

I usually manage to get some nice moments at a trot, but it takes most of the ride at this point. Once he gets the initial whoo-hoo's out of his system he generally tries really hard to figure out what I'm asking of him.

On our last ride, I rode during a beginner kids jump lesson. So the jumps were all itty-bitty crosspoles. We had done a short canter each way (hard to steer around the kids bombing around on ponies) and I wanted to do something else with him. So I figured, hey, let's try an itty-bitty jump.

The itty-bitty crosspole.

Last time we went over an itty-bitty crosspole, which was the first time, he went over it each time, but didn't really jump. So I kind of expected the same this time.

Good thing I grabbed a chunk of mane before the jump though, because he actually put effort into it and did a proper jump over it! And then landed and immediately turned right. Lol.

So we came around again, and this time he jumped and went straight. So we changed direction and approached from the other direction, he jumped, and cantered softly away. Super pony!

Sadly, no riding media. But trust me, he was super cute.

Three jumps and we were done. It was only his second time jumping, and he was super straight into it and quiet on the landing side. Can't hope for much more than that!

The canter after the jump was a much more relaxed canter than what our normal canter is, so I might play with some small jumps a bit more and see if that helps the canter. I have a Wow jump saddle on its way to me. If the demo works out I'll have to start the search for used pieces so that I can actually start proper jumping with him. Well, as proper as I'm probably going to ever do again.