Easy & Yassss

This is the face of a horse who was so forward at the trot for the first time that I actually had to slow him down.

And a damned cute face it is.

Wednesday's ride, which I kind of dragged myself out to, felt like a bit of a breakthrough.

When Stitch picked up the trot, heading away from the gate, he propelled himself forward down the long side. I had to take a slight feel of the reins to steady the trot a bit, while saying "easy" to him. 

This continued through the ride, however most of the time "easy" was followed by "yasssss". It finally felt like he got it. This was the first ride that I thought I might even be able to ask for a canter, but I'm not ready for it yet. I want our steering to be a bit better first.

This is the body of the horse who looked level on Wednesday (my mom and I both were saying so), but by Saturday looked bum hight again.

Stitch moves nicely off my outside leg to steer, but hasn't figured out moving away and bending from my inside leg. Now that we don't have to focus so much on getting forward at the trot, we will start to add a bunch of steering, which will hopefully help him get the idea about the inside leg.

Here's hoping that the breakthrough sticks!

First Ride Out

We've been experiencing a last kick at summer this week. The daytime temperatures have been beautiful, it just takes all day to get there. It now gets dark by about 7:30 in the evenings, which makes it difficult to get a chance to do any riding outside after work as I don't get to the barn until about 6pm.

This week, my day off happened to be on one of the nicest days of the week, so I was determined that I would be riding outside. I was really hoping to head out to one of the stubble fields that surround the barn, but would need a barn mate to babysit Stitch and I. If that didn't pan out, then I would settle for walking around the yard. 

I put a post up on the barn's Facebook group the night before and there was one person who was able to join me (and a whole lot who I will try to get out with on a weekend). Plans were made and we were riding out at noon on Monday. 

We had two options on where to go. The field on the opposite side of the road had been planted with potatos this year. They were harvested a couple of weeks ago, which of course involves digging the rows up. We couldn't tell until we got over there just how deep the rows were going to be. Last year I took Cisco over at the end of the season and they had harrowed the field and it was a foot deep with loose top soil. Not great to walk through. If that is what we were heading into, we were going to move down the road to the stubble field, which is a bit further away but would be easier to walk in. 

It turned out that the potato field was the perfect place for a walk - there was a packed road all around the field, wide enough for probably 3 horses to walk side by side. Perfect to be able to walk around on a loose rein and chat with a friend. Especially when your horses were behaving perfectly, as ours were.

This was Stitch's 14th ride. I was pretty confident that he would be a good boy on his first ride out, and I was right. We did almost the whole thing on the buckle. There were short moments where he had to lead, and lots of time that he was behind.

Stitch was in the lead when we came around a bend that the bushes were hiding a big, scary green monster - some sort of John Deere harvesting equipment. Stitch gave it the hairy eyeball but stayed in the lead to get us past it. 

This is passing the big scary green monster. 

The only time that he needed reassurance from his babysitter was almost at the end when we apporached the pipeline site. It's a small chainlink fenced area that has large white pipes that come out of the ground, a small shed and a flagpost with a wind sock. I'm not sure what he saw there that worried him, but he gave it a very wide berth.

It was a perfect first ride out for a baby horse. Now I just need the weather to cooperate so that we can get out there again before winter sets in. 

First Pole Course

As we have started working on steering at a trot, Stitch has shown an interest in the poles and jumps that seem to inevitably set up when I ride. He' s always seemed to have a thing for poles - even when I was long lining him he often made a beeline for them. 

Last Friday I finally got a free arena so that I coul set up a simple pole course suitable for a horse on his 13th ride. Namely, single poles on each quarter line and diagonal. Nothing fancy at all. But more than enough for an unfit baby horse.

We picked up our trot along a long side and Stitch immediately dove to the inside and took us over a pole. Like I said, he likes poles!

I didn't do much of a warmup with him once we got trotting - he doesn't have much stamina at this point and I wanted to get the fun stuff done before he ran out of energy.

We did our little 4 pole course two times. The first time, the first three poles were good, and just before we turned to the last pole he surged forward, which ordinarily I would be stoked about, but it meant that the turn across the diagonal, which was right after the pole on the quarter line, was a little wonky so when we got to the last pole he was a bit off balance and stalled out over the pole. 

For the second course, I just wanted to keep him going without stopping until we made it over all the poles. Again, the first three poles went well, but then Stitch was pretty sure that he was dying and dropped down to a walk along the short end. With a tap from the stick of encouragement, we got going again. The last turn across the diagonal was only slightly better than the previous time, but he was better balanced over the pole so kept trotting. Until the corner after the pole - he had to stop to poop.

Other than the last turn, everything else was nice and straight, before and after the poles. and Stitch used the full length of the arena. The turns were nicely bent to the inside and he turned nicely off of my outside leg. 

It looks like poles will be a good way to keep Stitch coming forward and working on turns and lines. We'll definitely be doing it regularly.

Making Slow Progress

Rides 8 through 12 weren't terribly exciting (just as I like them to be). We are continuing to focus on Stitch thinking forward, which is coming along nicely. I would say about 80% of the time he is forward. He tires out easily (poor unfit baby horse) so the sessions are still very short. When he slows down due to complete and utter exhaustion (according to him) I ask him for just a little bit more - around the corner, or down the next long side, before asking him to come back to walk.

We got outside for a walk after a quick ride. Steering wasn't great, but we got where I wanted to go, in a somewhat drunk fashion.

We're adding some steering at the trot. Simple stuff - diagonal lines and big circles. He moves nicely off my outside leg as a turning aid but doesn't really have the idea of bending around my inside leg yet. 

It's been hard to get the arena free of stuff set up all over the place, which in some ways is good because it gives us things to aim to go around, but in some ways is bad because we can't do small circles or really direct turns yet. 

It's also bad because Stitch seems to want to aim himself towards the thing in front of us, whether it be a pole on the ground or a 2'6" oxer. I turn with the intent of going past it, he hones in on it, and I have to pull him to the side. Is he going to be the horse who gets me back in the jumper ring? We'll see in a couple years. He's only jumped once on the lunge, and let's just say he is not a naturally gifted hunter. 

I'm starting to feel that he is asking questions. Can I slow down yet? Not yet bud, just a little more trot first. Do you want me to go into the corner? Why yes, thank you for that! There are moments where he still slams on the brakes from a trot, but they are getting fewer and I'm able to get him going again right after. Although, I still haven't started getting after him for stopping to poop. We'll leave that until next year. 

Stitch can now do a mean turn on the forehand away the wall. He halts from a walk when I close my thighs. We've started some baby leg yields at the walk - I think he's just on the cusp of figuring them out. 

I'm still planning to stop riding him for the winter at the end of October. That's only about another 12 rides if I continue with the current three days a week schedule. That's not enough time to perfect anything. I'm looking at this fall as a chance to introduce him to a bunch of things. He's a smart cookie, and I don't think he'll forget very much over his vacation. 

Rides 13 and 14 had a couple of firsts happen - but I'll write them up for later in the week. 

I'm Weak

I'm behind on blogging again. Stitch is up to his 14th ride, most of which haven't been too exciting,  but there have been a couple of notable firsts. I do most of my typing on my tablet and I hate using the on-screen keyboard. I can't find my Bluetooth keyboard, so another one is on it's way from Amazon and I can get everyone caught up on our hijinks.

That's not the only online purchase I've made recently.

I know, I said that I wasn't going to buy any blankets for Stitch until he stopped growing. But I had a moment of weakness when I found a deal.

A local-ish place is getting out of Horseware, so everything is 40% off. Sizes were limited, but I did a quick look, you know, just in case. I don't know in case of what, but just in case.

There was one thing that they had in the size I would need. Something that I've coveted for quite a while. Something that would look great on Stitch. And something that I totally didn't need.

The dopamine hit is real.

I waited a whole day before saying fuck it and buying it. 

I love it and it looks great on Stitch.

The classic gold/red/black Whitney cooler.

It retails for $150-$180 in Canada. I got it for $90, so I consider that a good deal.

I've wanted one for a long time, but just couldn't justify buying yet another cooler to add to my collection (which I think is down to 6?), especially since it doesn't have a full neck, which is the only reason I was permitting myself to buy another one when the time came.

Now, Stitch isn't going to be working this winter, and won't be clipped, so he won't be wearing it for a while. I just hope he doesn't outgrow it - it's only about one size too big at the moment. I thought it would be bigger on him.

Although, if he outgrows it, it might make it onto my couch....

Thinking Forward

I'm back to work this week (sad face) so Stitch is getting his workload dropped down to three days a week (maybe a lunge on a fourth day on occasion). He was ridden six days last week, which is too much, but the first few rides were only about 10 minutes each and most of the rides have been at a walk. I wanted the repetition for the first few rides, but now that we are past that I'll drop it down. I'm kind of going with the 3 years old = 3 days a week rule. 

Ride #8 was on Monday. Again, the focus was on forward at the trot, with generally minimal steering. If all went well, I was hoping to take him for his first walk around the yard under saddle. It gets tough to get outside when I have to ride after work at this time of year as it's getting dark so much earlier, so I like to take advantage of the daylight when I can. 

Stitch had had two days off, so I was hoping that this would help him think forward - and he was!

I used my brain and started the trot heading towards the gate. The impulsion was kept through the short end and I didn't have to work as hard to keep him going down the long side.

Unfortunately, the arena footing was a little wonky as they had watered but hadn't harrowed yet (the quad used to pull the harrows had been out for repairs, they were picking it up that afternoon) and there was one spot that he keeps tripping over something. I can't figure out what, other than that the footing changes a bit from deep to shallow maybe? So I tried to avoid trotting through that section, which meant I didn't get full laps. But I was much happier with his forward thinking through this ride. He wasn't perfect, I'd say he got it about 80% of the time. 

Again, we didn't do a ton of trot, but we did go outside for a walk. There was quite a bit of activity happening, and other than trying to look at something and gravitating to the right when I was trying really hard to go left, he was quite good. We didn't fall into any gopher holes so I would call that a win. 

Redemption

After the previous day's ride where Stitch's butt came up behind me when he had a little hissy fit about having to keep trotting past the gate, the focus for ride #7 was going to be just focusing on forward. I really don't care too much about steering at the trot, he's not diving all over the place, he's just cutting the ends a bit short, but until we get forward I don't want to fuss about anything that's going to back him off. 

The first trot was definitely not as forward as I am looking for, but it got better and better as we got going. We didn't have any issues getting through the short end by the gate, he backed off a bit but kept going, but then he kept backing off heading down the long side into the opposite end. 

I was going to be done, but thought, nah, I just want to do one more short end by itself, from B to E on the track. 

And Stitch nailed it. It was super forward, no stalling out, with definite intent of going forward. It was the perfect decision and the perfect place to end the ride. 

We found a lovely little laneway at the end of our road that I would love to ride down when the leaves start dropping. Unfortunately, the people that live at the end of the road are not horse people and do not like anyone trespassing on their property. We might have to try to get some pictures from along the road.

Our rides are still quite short- homeboy is not at all fit (and neither am I judging by the amount of huffing and puffing I hear in the videos), and I want to make sure that he wants to keep trying for me. 

There were some moments on this ride that I finally felt Stitch getting a bit steadier underneath me which allowed me to anchor myself better in the saddle. There's nothing like a baby horse to make you feel like you are a beginner rider again!

No Longer the Golden Child

The golden child's halo slipped a bit on ride #6. 

I had gone into the ride with the plan of just working on getting him trotting forward, with the goal of being able to trot a full lap of the arena. Turns out that was exactly what was needed.

I've always said that Stitch has more whoa than go, and I figured that getting him going was going to be my biggest problem. He has a natural engine behind him once he's moving, just convincing him to get moving might be tough. 

He'd had the Wednesday off, and I was hoping he wouldn't go too much backwards. Sometimes the greenies seem to forget everything after a day off.

He seemed ok at a walk; still remembered how to steer. 

Eventually, I picked up the trot to the left, starting at the end opposite the gate. He picked up the trot fine, trotted forward down the long side towards the gate, and stalled out as we approached the corner. I asked him to trot again, got no reaction, ramped it up a bit, dug in my heels, and up popped his back end. 

Very much the toddler equivalent of no, I don't wanna.

Very much not acceptable. As cute as it was, I can't condone it. 

It's also not a complete surprise that he got sticky at the gate - the first couple of times that I lunged him at that end there was a little bit of a hissy fit about the expectation to keep going.

I had my assistant stand in the end with the lunge whip to help encourage him through the short end, which got him through the short end, but then he stopped and planted his feet on the other side. 

Enter Mr. Tappy.

I kind of figured he'd be a horse who would need to be ridden with a whip, but was hoping to not have to do it so early. But if that's what it takes, so be it. 

Mr. Tappy worked his magic, and Stitch decided that he could keep on going. 

We ended up doing a lap and a half at trot in both directions, so that we could go through the short end twice and we didn't come back to walk on the long side until he was trotting forward.

And then he redeemed himself by figuring out his first steps of turn on the forehand.

This horse is smart. I need to make sure I keep him thinking that this is fun, or he may choose to use his brain for evil.

No Ego

When people have asked me if I was going to start Stitch myself, I said that was the plan. I'm in no rush, I don't have a demanding client that wants the horse to be doing all the things within 30 days, so I can take my time and do things slowly. 

I've been saying that I have no ego in this - I will be asking for help. Hopefully, it was just of the lead me and hold my horse the first few times type of help, but if I felt it was warranted I would employ the services of a pro to put the first few rides on. It doesn't appear that they will be needed. 

Thankfully, Stitch has not yet developed an ego, because he's been getting so many compliments from people at the barn that it would go to anyone's head.

He keeps hearing things like:

He's so handsome.

He's so shiny.

He's such a nice shade of bay.

He's got such a good brain.

He's looking so good.

He's so tall. (This came from a quarter horse person, lol)

He's so cute.

He's so friendly.

Now that he's under saddle, he's such a superstar.

I really need to just let him get scruffy over the winter so that I don't have a 4 year old who thinks he's the shit next year. I don't want him to get a big head and have to buy a new bridle to contain it.

Ride #5

The original plan on Tuesday was to meet my assistant at about 3:30 after her appointments and do a bit more trot on the lunge with Stitch before hopefully trying it loose.  It didn't work that way - my helper's day ran late and she couldn't come until early evening. I had gotten out to the barn at the original time and could have done something useful like clean tack, but instead I sat on my butt and watched the colt starter work on some of her new horses. 

This porcupine was crossing the road on my way home. He plunked his butt down and stared at me and had no inclination to move very fast.

I thought we would be in the clear to get Stitch done before lessons started, but no such luck. That meant that we wouldn't be able to lunge. I wasn't worried about trotting him by myself but figured I would need help with getting him going, and if the arena was too crazy it would still be a good experience for him just to walk around the chaos.

I only had her lead me a few strides away from the mounting block. He steps back a couple of steps when I get on, and I don't love that feeling. I'll work on that in the next few days. 

There were three intermediate riders and a few jumps set up. Stitch walked all the way around the ring like he'd been doing it for years. He steered exactly where I wanted him to go, and other than the fact that he bulged a bit to the inside as we walked down the track you wouldn't think this was only his fifth ride.

When it came time to trotting, we went right first, and I had my helper "lunge" us by waving the lunge whip behind us. We did it about 3 times, getting a bit more trot every time, though as soon as I tried to steer we lost the trot. I was trying really hard to stay off the contact and out of his way, but being a baby he's wobbly and that makes me wobble and I end up pulling on a rein at some point. 

When we swapped to the left, I asked my helper to wait on the whip, I think he has the idea and let me try to ask him to trot first. Sure enough, we got it! The first time took a few steps of revving up into the trot, the second time only took a couple of steps. We managed to get down one long side and most of the way around a turn before we lost it. 

Also, wtf is my left wrist doing? I'm sure it's because my reins are long (and I'm sticking to that story) but I'm gonna have to work on that!

After we trotted, I picked up a light contact at a walk, just enough to keep a feel but not put him in any type of frame. He didn't change his walk at all. Tracking right (the better side for both of us) I was able to keep a right bend shape, going left is going to be our tough side. 

Super happy with the ride. There were jumps to dodge, horses to stay away from, horses all resting in the middle while the baby had to stay out on the rail, horses cantering towards and past us, and he did it all with no concerns on his part.

The only thing he did was a little stumble on a front leg when we were trotting. Not sure if he stepped on something or forgot that he has four feet to figure out. We'll keep an eye on that - I haven't seen him do it to date.

Ride 4

Stitch's fourth ride happened on Monday. My helper was the same person who helped me on ride #2, and she immediately noticed how much his confidence had grown in just two rides.

I had her only lead us around for a half circle before we walked around solo. We used almost the whole arena - there was a coil of white cable that had been left at the far end, I'm assuming for some improvement job, that many horses were convinced was a pile of snakes. Stitch noticed it, but I chose to turn early and not risk finding out what his spook felt like. So we used about 3/4 of the ring.

That was all going well, so it was time to try a trot!

I had my assistant hook us up to a lunge line and out on a circle we went. It took some encouragement from the whip, but the first trot was about 12 steps before I asked him to walk. He just felt a bit unsure, so I wanted to give him lots of praise and tell him how smart he was. We did it again to the right, about another half circle, before changing to the left.

By that point, he had it all figured out. He picked up the trot much quicker, and kept it longer. I was once even able to get him to keep trotting from my leg when he wanted to stall out near the gate where a horse was waiting to come in. 

We left it at that for the day with plans to do more trot the next day. 

There are a couple of things that we'll have to make an effort to work on in the next few rides. First - he's taken a couple of steps backwards at the mounting block after I've gotten on. I think I will need to do a ride where get off and back on 3 or 4 times and see if that fixes it.

Second - stopping to poop. Nothing major, but I'll have to convince that he can walk and poop at the same time.

Third - parking. There were a couple of times in this ride where I stopped to sort something out, and though he initially stood still, he got a bit antsy pretty quickly. He kind of does this unmounted as well, he loses patience and then wants me to play with him. We'll work on it as much as his 3 year old brain can manage.

It's been a good start to the week!

Ride #3

 On Sunday I had to get up bright and early (which sucks on your vacation) to be at the barn for Stitch to get his pedicure. Our appointment was originally scheduled for later in the week, but my farrier had a last-minute opportunity to take a trip to Norway so she asked to reschedule.

She's happy with how his feet are doing and said he's got good sole depth, which I noticed as he hasn't been ouchy whenever we've gone for a walk down the road. First time in a while that I haven't had to baby my horse when walking across gravel! It also hopefully means I can keep him barefoot for a long time to come.

I finagled someone to help me with my ride I tacked up right after Stitch's trim. It was early on a brisk morning and Stitch was being a little restless in the barn, so I wasn't sure if that was going to affect him in the arena. I did a minute or two of hand-walking just to be safe before hopping on. 

His first step was sketchy - it felt like his butt got high for one step, so I quickly grabbed the neck strap just in case, but my assistant kept walking and that was the only blip. Not sure what it was.

I had her lead us around one circle each way before unclipping the lead.

Stitch was much more forward than the previous day, with fewer sticky moments. His sticky spot changed to near the gate though. 

We did a bit more steering than the previous day and was mostly able to stay on my chosen path - I'm not going to call it a circle by any means.

Before hopping off we did a couple of short walk/halt/walk transitions, which he did promptly from light leg/seat aids and my voice. His brakes are fabulous.

It was still just a 10 minute ride. The plan will be to walk a little further around the arena on the next ride, and maybe introduce the trot on the lunge if everything feels good.

A very boring video - don't feel bad about fast forwarding or watching only a few seconds!

Ride #2

After sitting on Stitch for the first time I had a bit of a busy week during which I didn't really do anything with him other than hand-walking. I am now freshly re-certified in first aid, but please - don't trust that I can do anything other than call 911 for you!

This weekend I started my final vacation week of the year, so it's officially time to get Stitch going!

Ride #2 was on Saturday. 

I had someone lead us around for a couple of circles each direction, with some walk/halt transitions mixed in. Then we were unclipped and let loose!

We were on the left rein first, which is Stitch's least favorite side. When loose in the arena he always wants to go right, his left lead is the trickier one, and steering left when ground driving has been the side with the stickier turns. (Sadly, this is also my tougher side, so that's gonna suck.)

He got a bit sticky about going forward along the wall opposite the gate on the left rein, stopped a couple of times after a couple of steps, but nothing abnormal for a first time.

He started off a bit stuck on the open part of the circle on the right rein, but once we got along the wall he relaxed, and across the short side he dropped his head, lengthen his neck, and just marched along. Totally felt like an "I got this" moment.

Was it heading towards the gate? Most definitely.  Did I care? Nope, I'll take what I can get. Did I hop off right after that and shovel cookies in his mouth? You betcha!

Total saddle time was about 10 minutes. Again, there was a Pivo fail right at the end when he gave me the great walk. I really must put it in a different spot next time.

I'm On!

I did it! I got on my baby horse!

On Saturday I finagled one of the barn rats to hold Stitch for me while I again put weight in the saddle, and hopefully swung a leg over. Just like last time, he was far more concerned about the speed at which the cookies were being doled out than what was happening on his back.

The first time that my butt sat in the saddle he kind of went "huh... that's new... where's my cookie?". So we just walked a couple of steps to clear the mounting block and I slid off. 

The next time we walked about 10 steps before I got off, and the third time we did about 1/3 of a circle with a couple of walk/halt transitions.

I was led the whole time and did my best to just stay balanced and relaxed in the saddle. I have no impression as to how he feels other than narrow and wobbly - the baby horse is going to take a bit to get used to!

We did some ground driving the day before and he did a pretty good job of steering - just not very good about straight lines. I guess he can't always be perfect.

Now we're really ready for work to start next week!

Getting Closer...

The plan is to start riding Stitch on my next week of vacation - which starts next Friday. We still have some prep to do before I think he's ready.

On Monday, we did our second attempt at ground driving off the bit. This time we used the full arena, which had some construction going on at the time. Stitch stopped a couple of times to stare, but I just let him have a moment and then asked him to walk again so there was no drama.

He did really well with the steering, mostly staying soft. There were a bunch of ground poles scattered around, and they gave us something to steer over and around.

I noticed that he was a wee bit harder to turn to the left. Whenever I let him loose in the arena he wants to spend 95% of the time tracking right. So, I'm guessing that left will be his tougher side, which sucks because that is also my tougher side.

On Wednesday I enlisted the friend who is going to help me with Stitch's first few days under saddle to hold him while I put full weight in the saddle. I've leant over his back lots, but when I tried to put my full weight over him without a saddle last week he kept stepping away from the mounting block. I'm too short (too fat, too stiff, too chicken) to not use the mounting block, so I waited until I could have a helper to try again.

I did the whole build up from just putting a little bit of weight in a stirrup to full weight in the stirrup to lying on my stomach across his back. Stitch was super about all of it, and was far more concerned about when the next treat was going to appear than what was happening on his back. The first time we asked him to take a few steps he was a little tentative, totally to be expected, the next time he took 6 or 7 steps that felt forward and confident so that's where I left him.

One day I'll figure out how to set up my new Pivo properly.

I'm sure I could have slid my leg over and he would have been fine with it, but I'm in no rush. The plan is to do it again on Friday, and if all goes well I might try it that day.

Over the next ten or so days I want to do more ground driving to make sure the steering is good, some lunging to make sure the voice aid to trot is prompt (it mostly is), and some ground work that will have him move away from my hand when it's where my leg will be. Then I will be much more confident when it's time to be let loose.

What We Did Last Week

How last week went:

Monday - I took Stitch into the round pen to try ground driving off the bit for the first time. We just walked, and he was very good and softly turned when asked - once I picked up a whip and got his ass in gear. This horse definitely has more whoa than go.

One problem with the lack of throatlatch on the PS of Sweden bridle - no where to twist your reins out of the way when lunging (or ground driving ).

Tuesday - Stitch wore his rainsheet overnight as the forecast was for a bunch of wind and rain. This is the same rainsheet that I made adjustments to to fit him back in May. He's grown enough over the last couple of months that I had to let the chest straps out by a couple of holes and it fits perfectly at the butt end. He still doesn't have enough cleavage that I can let out the darts I put in the neckline though.

Wednesday - we went for another walk down the road. This time, he was able to ignore the neighbours guard boulders, and only briefly glanced at the screaming stud pony.

Captured in the evening sun.

Thursday - Stitch went for a car ride.

He was a little bit sweaty so there were some nerves.

It was his first time being done up in my straight-load trailer. Getting him locked in was no problem, getting him out took a few minutes as he kept sitting on the butt bar and I couldn't get it dropped. I ended up putting the lead rope around the front of the head divider to give me a way to pull him forward while I was at his butt, and that helped. He wasn't being panicky about it, he just didn't understand that he didn't need to step back when I was back there. We'll work on it this fall. (Still way better than Cisco ever was.)

Saturday - I swear that anytime I skip a day this horse grows. Took his blanket off and it looks like his withers have popped up and his front is almost level with his back. I measured him at 15.1hh at the withers. He can stop getting taller anytime - he better not hit 16hh! My short little legs will have problems reaching that high to get on!

Walking the Oversized Dog

I woke up early on Sunday morning and headed into work - only to discover that I didn't work that day because I had agreed to take someone's Saturday shift the following weekend. D'oh!

So off to the barn I went.

It was a perfect summer morning. It had rained overnight and the temperature was cool enough that you wanted to do something outside but didn't have to wear a sweater.

Stitch was greatly enjoying his morning nap when I drove in. He is very much a kid who sleeps hard and does not want to get out of bed when mom says it's time to get up.

Flat out in his circus tent pj's.

I decided that Stitch and I would go for a walk down the road. I wanted to do something with him away from the arena, and since it had rained the gravel road was softer and would be easier on his toes.

So off we went.

This was the first time I had taken Stitch away from the barn and away from his fellow equids. I wasn't sure how he would behave, but didn't think there would be any issues.

Just walking the oversized dog.

I was right. He was a superstar.

He was very brave and defended me from the trained guard boulders that popped up after the tall ditch grass next to the neighbours driveway. He maintained eye contact with the leader, the biggest one, as we passed, and that boulder learned it's lesson and gave us no troubles on the return trip home.

They were very menacing in person.

Another two doors down lives a pony, quite possibly an ungelded one, who to my knowledge lives by himself, and thus gets very excited whenever another horse walks down the road. There is a line of trees between his fence and the road, so we can hear him galloping and screaming, but you can't really see him between the trees. He can cause a bit of excitement as we walk past him.

He's starting to figure out how to pose for pictures.

Stitch saw and heard him, stopped, got taller, and then walked quietly past. I didn't even have to give a yank on the lead at any time.

Work it, baby.

On the way home he called out to his friends a couple of times just to make sure they were still within earshot, but that was the only stress reaction he gave. We had lots of relaxed snorts and sighs, so he seemed to enjoy going out to explore.

Stitch's talking face.

It was a good first time going away from home experience that we will have to repeat again through the fall. I'm hoping that I will have him going enough to be comfortable to take him out into the crop field in October for a hack, but we'll see. It's too hard to walk around it on foot, I would only do it if we can ride it. 

Very Demure. Very Mindful.

On Friday Stitch saw the vet to get his teeth floated. It was the first time that he's been sedated since I've had him, also probably the first time since he lost his testicles. I am happy to say that he is a cheap drunk and it only took the initial dose of sedative to get the job done. The two grey ponies, especially Phantom, were notorious for needing extra sedation on dental days - Phantom's record was three top-up's after the initial dose at a cost of $125 for just the sedation. Stitch's sedation came to $40. Very demure. Very mindful.

The vet didn't have any concerns about his mouth. He had some sharp edges where caps had come off, but his bite and alignment were good. She recommended that he get done in another six months after he's lost more caps. That will tie in nicely with getting it done around the time that I plan to start him again after his winter break.

Stitch was even polite enough to stand quietly in a stall while he came back to full consciousness. I don't know if he's ever been stalled before. Again, a change from the grey mare who got angry at being in jail and would bang the crap out of the stall door.

I also took the opportunity for a quick bean check - didn't find anything. Didn't get my head kicked in either.

Now, if I can ever get over the lingering phlegm and snot from last week's Covid, we will be ready to get to proper work. 

Stitch's First Rider

Stitch has had his first rider onboard!

This giant unicorn and a rainbow balloon has been hanging out in one stall of my horse trailer since last summer when I had set them up for Phantom and Cisco's birthdays. They didn't deflate that much (just filled with air) and I kept them around in case I wanted to use them in the future.

Well, the time had come for them to die - I wanted the space back in the trailer. But I might as well introduce Stitch to them first! 

The kid noticed them immediately when we entered the arena, but he wandered over and gave the unicorn a sniff. No big concern, not even when the rainbow, which was slightly softer than the unicorn and didn't really want to stand up, slowly slid down to the ground in front of Stitch and softly touched his toe. He stood perfectly still, gave it the hairy eyeball, made sure it was dead, and then walked right past it without a care.

The balloons got dragged behind me as I led him around, and then the rainbow was thrown over his back. Meh.

So I popped the unicorn aboard, since it would stand upright and be a bit more imposing  above him.

The only reaction I got was a big "I guess this is my life now" sigh.

I hope I get the same sigh in a few weeks when it's me up there!

Soft Kitty

 After staying home for two days wallowing in my covid-induced misery, I felt a bit better on Friday. I was able to mask up to hit the feed store and the tack store that was having a sale.

I went in with the intent of not spending much money, and I managed to stick to it. The planned purchases were Vetrap and horse cookies, and potentially a glittery saddle pad that I had seen previously and was on sale for only $30.

This wasn't the first time I considered buying this pad. The glitter doesn't come through well in the picture, but trust me, it's there.

In browsing through the store, making sure that I really didn't need anything else, I saw the Hands On grooming gloves. I have a pair but the rubber nubby bits on some of the fingers are falling off. The gloves were about the same price as the saddlepad, so I told myself I can get one or the other.

I'm sure that the saddlepad would look great on Stitch, in it's dark blue all-over glittery glory. But he really seems to like a good scrubby grooming, often swinging his butt towards me when I get to his hind end with the curry.

The gloves came home with me. I might forever lament the lack of glitter in my saddle pad collection, but watching Stitch's upper lip stretch while he got scrubbed with my gloved hands confirmed that I made the right decision. 

After hitting those two stores I had just enough energy in me to head out to the barn. I popped Stitch into the arena for a play. He's still learning that free arena time is play time, but tonight was the first time he had any sass in him. Enough that he even let out a few bucks. That was the first time I'd seen him do that.

Good news - he did not miss his calling as a bronc horse. His back end got sufficiently high, but his front end didn't get very low. His neck kind of stayed level and long, it should be easy to sit if he ever tries it under saddle. 

Didn't get any video of it because, well, didn't expect it.

But I did get lots of pictures of Stitch checking out Jerry, one of the barn cats. He's seldom in the arena, but for some reason this night he meowed his way into the middle of the ring. 

Forget about the glitter. Enjoy the cute.

I'm Blaming the Oncoming Sickness

It's a good thing that I lunged Stitch on back-to-back days Monday and Tuesday this week, because not only did the wildfire smoke come in at hazardous air quality levels, after 4 1/2 years of avoiding it, I finally succumbed to Covid on Wednesday. Mid-way through my week of vacation.

That's a definite positive.

So far, I'm either too hot or chilled, have a cough, and all my joints and problem areas ache. It's only been about 30 hours so who knows how the next few days will go. I've had four vaccinations so hopefully they work their magic and keep the symptoms minimal.

Anyhow, on the Tuesday I tried to capture the lunging using my new Pivo Pod X. This is the one that I Kickstarted back in October 2021 and it finally shipped this spring. After I didn't have a horse to ride, of course. 

I tried it once just after it arrived without reading the instructions and didn't have much luck. I thought I'd try it again, knowing that lunging wasn't going to be the best option to test it.

The Pivo Pod X is the one that moves on an x and a y axis. Meaning that it can tip up and down as well as go sideways to keep the selected item in focus.

I'm currently 0/2 on using it.

The first problem is that I didn't put my phone in landscape mode, which is required for horse tracking. If I had bothered to check it after a couple of minutes I would have seen the message saying so, but I did not.

When I put my phone onto the holder in portrait mode, it was angled up towards the rafters. I thought that once it found the horse it would self-adjust, but for 80% of the video the top 3/4 of the screen is rafters. For some reason it did adjust down towards the end, so I've got the couple of circles seen here.

I don't think lunging is easy for the Pivo to keep the horse on the screen as it has to be set up outside the the circle. I'll try it again though, and see if the problems were all user error.

I also realized I can try the Pixio. If I attach the tracker to the saddle then it should track the horse while on the lunge. I can pop it in a case of some sort before clipping to a d-ring.

So, here's a whole 40-some seconds of Stitch on the lunge.

His left lead is the stickier one, and this might be the best transition he's done so far. He's starting to find some balance at the canter and I'm happy with how quickly he relaxed into it.

He wants to fall out to the right when tracking left so I try to use the walls to encourage him to stay straighter. The sessions are very short because homeboy has zero fitness. Not necessarily bad for a baby horse for the first few rides!

One More Thing Sorted Out

I've got the bridle sorted out for Stitch (Phantom's Ps of Sweden bridle and a Herm Sprenger Dynamic KK eggbutt) - now it's time for the saddle.

Earlier this summer I used the Wow saddle gauge on Stitch to determine which parts for a Wow saddle would be needed for Stitch. By which I mean would I be lucky enough that my existing Wow saddle that I had for Cisco could also work for Stitch?

In theory, it looked like all the parts should be the same. He needs a flat tree and wide DXWG panels. Instead of the 5U headplate that Cisco went in Stitch is currently narrower and needs a 3U, which I also happen to have (I think I used it for that one week when Cisco was actually skinny). 

I'd popped the saddle on him a couple of times and hand-walked him with no concern on his part. Last week, I decided it's time to lunge him in the saddle. He's been ground driven a bunch with a surcingle on, but that's pretty well just at walk and trot. He might tun into a bronco at a canter.

For the first lunge, I didn't want to risk damage to the expensive saddle so opted to sacrifice my treeless saddle instead. He knew it was on him, but other than initially giving it the hairy eyeball when it continued to follow him around there wasn't much of a reaction. Even after I dropped the stirrups and let them dangle.

The saddle definitely slid forward through lunging. I had used a shaped Total Saddle Fit girth, and thought maybe that I didn't need that style. Didn't really matter, this was a one-off with this saddle.

The sacrificial saddle is a no go to be ridden in.

On Monday, I popped on the Wow saddle. The goal is to get this saddle girth setup sorted out this week because there are a bunch of sales this weekend, so if I need to buy something new, now is the time.

Look who isn't super bum high this week. I didn't think that he had a forward girth groove until I looked at this picture. (Also, I must say that I missed having a shiny horse. Gray horses just don't get that shine.)

I didn't think his girth groove was all that forward and that I wouldn't need the point billet. I tried it with the TSF girth while tacking up, but didn't like how it fit. The billets were definitely sloping forward which meant that the saddle would move that way once he got going. I swapped to the h-girth, still without the point billet, and lunged him - it still ended up on his shoulders.

The saddle pad stayed in place, but the saddle was pulled forward.

So point billet it is.

I don't typically like to lunge on back-to-back days, but I was on a bit of a time crunch to sort this out before the weekend sales and it also looked like the forest fire smoke was going to blow in this week. So Stitch thought he was going to die for the whole 12 minutes that he lunged, at least half of which was walk.

An obviously lucky to be alive pony who's saddle seems to have mostly stayed in place.

But the saddle seemed to stay in a much better position. So this is what we are going with. Happily, it doesn't cost me any money. We just need to play with the Flair panels.

And then sort it all out again in the spring. 

Hand Me Downs -Take 2

My attempt at salvaging Phantom's old Rambo fly sheet to use this summer on Stitch was a fail. The mesh started shredding along the bound edge on his butt. When I stitched the binding on, I didn't do anything to the edge of the mesh which is where I think I went wrong. I think that the mesh edge needed to be rolled or folded first so that the binding would have something to grip onto and not just pull away.

Oh well, it only cost me $5 and some time. I was going to try to salvage it once again and finish the edges differently, but since there were a couple of spots that the mesh was shredded a couple of inches I don't think I had enough fabric to work with as his butt was already poking out.

So, on to the next hand me down option.

The circus tent fly sheet.

This one came from Greenhawk last year. It's a textilene sheet that was on sale for $50 or $60. My motto for horse clothing is that the cheaper it is, the prettier the colour gets. But I still think it looks like a circus tent.

It's probably about 2 sizes too big still for Stitch, but since he's filled out quite a bit and now has boobs and a butt (not much yet, but way more than he did in the spring) it didn't completely hang off of him around the neck. I can deal with the extra length over his tail, but because of that length it hung a bit low around his hind legs. 

I just made a couple of temporary adjustments to the blanket to render it wearable. A dart in the neck closed it up enough in the front. Don't try this at home kids unless you have a beast of a sewing machine! Six layers of webbing and three layers of textilene pushed the limits of my heavy-duty machine - thankfully it only needed about an inch of stitching that I could baby it through. 

To solve the length around the hind legs I chose to just fold up the corners and stitch around the edges. It will keep the excess from hanging too low, and next year I can take the stitches out and the original shape of the blanket will be restored.

I might have to deal with a bit of poop on the leg strap clips, but that's minor.

So far this has worked out much better than the Rambo. That one survived only a couple of days before shredding, and Stitch has been wearing the circus tent for a couple of weeks with no issues.

The other hand me down that has been getting use is Phantom's PS of Sweden bridle.

It fits Stitch nicely and looks great on him, though I have to change the browband on it - that was Phantom's for a long time.

He seems happy so far in the Sprenger Dynamic KK bit that I tried first so we'll see if that ends up being the bit we start with. His teeth will be getting done next week and then we can get serious about learning big boy things - the countdown is on to be sitting on him in September!

A Fresh Start

I feel like I'm in a bit of a weird space at the moment. Not bad, just weird.

To be honest, saying goodbye to Phantom a little over a week ago has been a bit of a relief.

There were a few times over the winter that I thought she really wasn't comfortable and that I might to have to make the decision sooner than later. After Cisco left in March, Phantom seemed to have a harder time than usual sorting out the new hierarchy with her longtime companions.  I don't know if Cisco looked out for her more than I thought.

There were also moments where I wondered if she was having some vision issues in her left eye. She would sometimes make a point of putting me on her right side when I went out to catch her, and when leading her on her left she sometimes bumped her head into me.

She just hadn't been engaged or interested in much for quite a while.

Except her hay. Her very large belly for the last couple of months was indicative of that.

If Cisco hadn't gone I might have made her appointment in the spring. But I couldn't do that to myself at that time. However, when I refilled her Prascend in April, I only got the small box.

The original plan wasn't to get another horse right away. But, since plans changed, I knew that this summer would be Phantom's last. Once her Prascend ran out, it would be scheduled.

So I had about 3 months to get used to the idea. Thus, I've dealt with my grief and I'm ready to move forward.

A big part of moving forward has meant cleaning out my tack box and getting it down to one horse worth of stuff. I don't really want to get rid of anything yet until I figure out what Stitch will end up going in, so that means bringing it home and trying to figure out somewhere to store it. I have enough blankets to fully clothe 3 horses, all the same sizes, that are too big at the moment but will probably fit Stitch next year. They're all getting washed and stored in vacuum bags to try to squish as many as I can into a few containers in the garage. I think I pulled out 3 halters, 3 breastplates, and a couple sets of reins just off the one door - they all got dumped in a bin.

This was two grooming kits that I had to thin down to one. I found the Swat I knew I had but couldn't find - that stuff is coveted up here because we can't buy it any more!

I also now have the ability to take a night off from the barn since I don't have to dispense medication - not that I have as of yet. It's been my routine for the last three or four years to be out almost every day so it's taking a bit to break that habit. It's going to happen this week though, as I have an event to attend on Wednesday evening and a late work shift on Thursday. Not to mention I fully expect to wake up on Tuesday morning with a stuffed up head to go with Monday's sore throat and croaky voice. That might be a good reason to take a day off.

So things just feel a bit weird. The greys, who were very much a pair in my mind, are gone. I have a new horse, in a new colour, who I am very excited about. We're taking the slow road, but that's OK- I've already told him he's not allowed to go anywhere for at least 15 years. I might be over this year by that point.