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 #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.

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. 

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?

The First Week

I had the last week off from work  which worked out great to be able to spend time getting to know Stitch.

And, I've got to say, he is a pleasure to work with.

His previous owner did a fantastic job of making him into a young man who is light and respectful to be around. He leads beautifully - I've barely had to give any tugs on the lead rope all week. He ties, stands to be groomed, is fine in the arena by himself, and has been adored by the other horses in his field.

He lives in a group of mostly bay geldings. It can be tricky figuring out at a glance which one is my bay gelding! (It's the dead looking one on the left.)

He's not perfect - there are a few things that need to be worked on. 

He's not great about having his ears touched, especially his left one. We've started clicker training to be able to get this sorted out. I am too short to deal with giraffes.

He's a bit sticky about picking his feet up. I think that this is mostly a difference in how I ask for it (squeezing the tendon) and how I suspect he was taught (pulling up on his fetlock hair).  The first few days he stiff-legged it and I had to kind of make him bend at the knee, but there has already been significant improvement.

He can be a bit tricky to catch.

I was warned that he sometimes didn't like to be caught, so went at it cautiously. The biggest problem hasn't been Stitch running away from me, but the other horses getting too close as I'm trying to put his halter on. They don't mean any harm, they're all just overly social, but their presence worries Stitch and then he leaves. It's been getting better as he gets more comfortable with me and I don't think it will be a problem for long.

And really, those have been the only problems to pop up so far.

Not that we did much this week. I had dug a hole I had to crawl out of on the first day when I zapped him not once, but twice on the end of the nose with a static shock. He was horrified, and I had to put a lot deposits into his trust bank to get back to a positive balance. Thankfully, he loves food and can be easily bribed for forgiveness. That meant that we spent most of week just trying to be friends.

He got to wear his new blanket because it was cold and wet for a couple of days. The blanket survived intact - here's hoping he's not a blanket destroyer!

I have a feeling that I could easily flood this horse by throwing a bunch of things at him and he would take it, but he would shrink away from me and it would erode any trust that has been created. So we're adding little bits slowly.

Today was the tarp on the ground. He walked up to it pretty confidently, but then scared himself by kicking dirt onto the tarp. His reaction was to take a step back, snort, and give the tarp the hairy eyeball. I asked him to walk forward, he took a couple of tiny steps with a release in pressure with each one, and within a minute he walked quietly across.

That seems to be how he deals with things so far. Stop, have a good look, take a few slow steps, then walk past giving it a cautious look, and all is forgiven. Little drama.

So far, I'm liking my new little man!

Bay Flannel Horse

After losing Cisco last month, I was planning on waiting for a while before looking for my next partner. I was hoping that Phantom would be able to step up and do some light rides on a regular basis with me, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to happen. 

I started casually looking at ads online. I've heard many times that horse prices are high these days, and yeah, they are. Lots of "Untouched 9 year old - if you can catch him, you can have him for $9,000." Yikes!

I was hoping to find another Andalusian (full or cross) or a Welsh Section D. Ideally between 2 and 6 years old, unstarted was fine. There weren't too many options. Nothing Welsh that I could find at all. But there were a couple of Azteca's that I liked (Andalusian/QH cross), and in my price range.

One was a 5 year old mare who had been lightly started. She'd be ready to get going right away. But she was a day's drive away, and the owner didn't get back to me with any video. (Looks like she has since sold, so maybe that's why.)

The other horse was a 2 year old gelding (3 this summer) located a little over an hour from me. I didn't dislike what I saw on video, especially considering the video was from February and it was frozen and a bit slippery underneath. I had a couple of concerns about his feet from the posted pictures, but I talked to my farrier and she was happy to review pics before I made a final decision.

So off we went to have a look at him. 

The owner, who was his breeder, showed me some of what she's worked on with him, and he gave me the impression that he had a solid temperament.  He didn't do things perfectly for her, but he quietly tried to figure it out and didn't overreact. I liked his floaty trot,and especially considering how bum high he was, his canter was balanced and uphill enough for my liking.

I sent some better pics of his feet to my farrier and she didn't see anything she'd be concerned about, so I said I guess I'm buying a horse!

We picked him up the following weekend. I enlisted a friend to haul him for me as I haven't really driven my trailer for the last couple of years and just wasn't confident about it. The new guy hopped right on and traveled great - far better than I did! I got hit with some car sickness - not normal for me at all, but it hit me hard. Like, puked multiple times hard. It was a horrible drive home.

So, meet the new kid - Stitch!

His registered name is WZ Stich. The show name I'm giving him (not that we'll ever use it) is Snitches Get Stitches.

He has lots of growing up to do so we'll be taking our time. He's a about 14.3 in front and probably close to 2" taller behind. He's got some pretty good bone in his legs so I think he'll fill out quite a bit over the next couple of years. I hope he does - there's no junk in his trunk at the moment.

Stitch calmly hopped off the trailer when we arrived home, calmly walked out to his new field, and calmly met his new roommates. He was immediately adopted by one of the TB geldings and they've been side-by-side ever since.

And thus, the journey begins again.