Save The Drama For Your Llama

Easier said than done, since I don't have a llama.

The run-up to Carriage House was fraught with much angst and turmoil. It all started with a well-meaning attempt at trailer loading. As I have alluded to before, trailer loading is not one of Royal's strong suits. Especially because of his tendency to freak out in the trailer, which causes a self-perpetuating cycle of doom. To wit:

1. Royal nervously gets in trailer
2. Royal freaks out
3. Royal does something that results in him removing hair or skin or both
4. Royal is even more nervous of trailer
5. Royal more likely to take more action that removes skin/hair/both...

And so on.

Saturday illustrated this concept clearly. Royal got in the trailer - and immediately wheeled around. Unfortunately, he forgot to avoid the head divider and smashed the right side of his face into it, and he looked like this:

Ouch. But, no blood and he wasn't particularly sensitive about it. And I created a new rule: he only comes out of the trailer if he's calm. Of course, if he absolutely freaks out and starts backing out, I won't stop him; doing so would only escalate the nervousness into panic, sheer bloody panic. Which I have experienced, and it is fun for no one. But otherwise, he has to do something like blink or sigh or lick his lips before I lead him out and I don't allow him to charge out. We walk out in a sane manner.

Spent about an hour at this and Royal was significantly calmer about the whole thing. Went to turn him out when the barn owner asked me check up on the young horse (Q) who has been Royal's buddy the entire winter: it was his first time with just Royal and another gelding and no mares. I find the Q soaked with sweat and the older gelding, mostly dry, at opposite ends of the paddock. All of a sudden, Q takes off, going for the gelding's throat. Now, this was a horse who was too submissive to be turned out with other horse besides Royal and all of a sudden he's starting fights. Royal trotted up to him, all loose and friendly, when Q tries to bite Royal's face. Okay, I think while standing by a tree, that was jerky. Royal tries to run away and goes on the opposite of the tree as me. Q chases after him and comes at me with teeth bared and everything. He changed direction to do it. So, that's when my thought process changed from "Jerk." to "Oh hell no!" I was able to catch Q and bring him into the arena to show my BO what happened, and Q went into a different paddock.

To be clear, I don't think Q is a mean horse. I just think he got himself overwrought because he saw the other gelding and Royal as competition for mares, even though none were there. I think he still has some maturing to do.

Sunday dawned bright and early, with me getting up at 5am in order to get everything ready and be at Carriage House by 7am. Well, my truck and trailer had other plans. I pull the trailer with a 17-year-old truck, which I found has a tendency to die in reverse if it isn't going fast enough. I thought it was totally broken, so I had to call my dad to help me. We were able to get the ball under the nose of the trailer, but the cement block we used to prevent the jack from sinking was too big; we couldn't get the trailer low enough to lock on the ball. It took a while to get that out and after connected everything else, we were ready to go. Royal, to his credit, loaded like a champ and we drove to Carriage House.

But the mishaps didn't stop there. I went into the wrong driveway at the show and got stuck in the mud. They ended up pulling me out with a tractor. I drove to the right place, turned in my registration stuff, walked my courses, and got Royal out of the trailer. Royal was his usual self: freaked out, yet curious. Which I could work with, and we had a nice warm-up. The jerk trainer who called Royal a "nag" last year was back, and parked himself in front of the vertical I was trying to warm-up over for a while. Finally, he realized other people needed to use the jump and moved into the open space between the jumps. Royal gave me a few deer leaps, but mostly good jumps.

So we went to the jumper ring, got in line, and did our first course. In a magnificent show of flaky-ness, I did the second course. I was supposed to be following the white-on-black numbers, but did the black-on-white numbers instead. Whoops. Didn't matter, since Royal saw a lot of demons in the jumps and we ended up having four or five refusals. The judge was nice and let me continue since this was a schooling show. The second course went a lot better, with no refusals until the second-to-last jump. You had the option of going up a bank or over a grey flower box covered in shrubbery. Royal doesn't have a lot of experience with banks so I went for the box, which Royal ended up not liking. It looked really weird, especially with the shadows from the shrubbery. Three refusals there, eliminated. But we had a strong finish over the last jump so I was more than happy.

Videos:

Round 1:


Round 2:


All in all, a good day.

The Pond Comes Back

And Royal and I go back in it.

We've had a bunch of rain here and the pond that Royal and I went swimming in came back. On Wednesday I went out to find it was quite big, twice the size of last time. I hopped on Royal bareback, and tried to ride him in. It took some approach and retreat, but eventually he walked in. It was a really shallow part, so he didn't need a lot of effort to get through it. We waded back and forth a couple of times. Then we went to the deeper part, which Royal was somewhat suspicious of. For good reason, as I found out, as the water was up to his chest and my jeans got very wet. He's a 16.1H leggy Anglo-Arab, so that means the water was around 3.5-4 feet deep. He didn't care; he started splashing which got me even more wet. A couple more passed in the deep water, and we were done for the day.

Today, I decided to focus on jumping and if there was time later, try for the water. We had a pretty good jumping session: Royal was mostly relaxed with a few rush-y jumps here and there, but it was good. If the weather holds out, we'll go the the Carriage House schooling show on Sunday. However, if there are thunderstorms, we'll stay home thankyewverymuch. But right now, I'm prepping like there won't be any storms. We'll see.

After the jumping was done, we went out to the pond. All saddled up and everything. Royal hesitated a bit, but walked straight in to the shallow part. Then the medium part and finally the deep part. He splashed us silly a few times, shook himself dry like a Labrador, and had a good time. I was able to film a couple of passes through the medium-depth part (thanks in incredibly flexible and sturdy camera stands):





Yes, this is the same horse who used to be afraid of his own urine and the same rider who used to be too scared to ride him. We've come a long way, baby.

Public Perceptions of Parelli People

I don't often tell people I'm a Parelli student. Not even the vet clinic I'm interning at.

Not because I'm embarrassed or anything, but mostly because I don't really see it as a good "political" move. When Parelli is mentioned in a "normal" horse context, it's almost never in a good way. It's often "those Parelli people are so stupid and gullible, paying $500 for a halter" or "That Parelli method is too soft. They just let the horse walk all over them; you gotta show 'em who's boss" or "The Parellis are abusive!" So, gullible, wussy, or abusive. None sound good.

None of these, of course, are true. None of the Parelli halters (or any other equipment for that matter) cost anywhere near $500. They teach people how to be effective without losing their tempers, and reject smacking/jerking as a one-size-fits-all correction. And the abuse charges are incidents that were way over blown by people who already hated Parelli. One "case" was an old video edited to look like a 4 minute Phase 4 with no release. I have the original video: it was part of the level 1. In the real video, the horse is running over the top of his owner, refusing to stand still, and not respecting the owner's or Linda's space; but Linda gives the horse plenty of release and time to come off the adrenaline. But, for ten minutes, the horse absolutely refuses to calm down and keeps doing the behaviors listed above. All of which make a dangerous horse, one which would caused many people to flail on his halter screaming "HO!!!!!" while he barged into them. I've seen it many times. The Catwalk thing was also way overblown: the horse was being dangerous to the point of knocking Pat's microphone off and was evaluated by a veterinarian afterwards, with no evidence of abuse found. As a side note, it was very interesting to see how many people leapt off the "Parelli is for pansies!" bandwagon onto the "Parelli is abusive" bandwagon in a very quick manner. So, what? Are we pansies who let our horses walk all over us or abusers leaving welts on their sides and breaking their jaws?

But, the damage is done and it gets done further every time a Parelli horse is not completely perfect behaved. Anytime a Parelli horse acts up, even in the tiniest manner and/or in ways that many "normal" horses act up each and every day, it's seen by many as a failure of the Parelli program. Is that fair? No, because horses aren't robots. Given the right circumstances, any horse can be dangerous. And for many horses, getting them to the point where they don't randomly explode (like Royal) or stand mostly still for the vet or farrier is a huge accomplishment. But it's a lot funner for the haters to focus on the fact that the horses aren't perfect, therefore Parelli is an expensive waste of time, Q.E.D.

In my short time with the clinic, I have already seen a few Parelli students. Most are people who have decently behaved horses. A couple have been "bad" but I have seen much worse, both from the people who hadn't touched their horses in a year and couldn't get halters on them, to the person who hadn't trained her horse or had its feet trimmed in two years. So, in that respect, the Parelli horses have been mostly good and well behaved. Not perfect, but not horrible.

But Parelli students are in a bind. We are a minority in the horse world, and a largely disdained minority. Every time a Parelli horse is a bit naughty or a Parelli student doesn't have all the answers, is seen as a mark against Parelli. However, less-than-perfect "normal" horses are not a mark against "normal" horse training. Jerking on and screaming at a scared yearling is considered okay, but a wary Parelli horse is not.

What do we do about it? I don't know, but I suspect the answer lies mostly in continuing to do Parelli and do it around other people. I don't mean telling every single horse person I'm a Parelli person, but simply doing it without any fanfare. Not "lookee here! I'm doing Parelli!" but "Yes, I do Parelli. Any other questions?" When I take Royal to shows, I won't hide my Carrot Stick or use a non-Parelli halter. Hopefully, people will see that while my horse and I are not perfect, we are happy and we enjoy doing things together.

Because that, really, is the truth. :)

Renee Says Relax... and Royal Listens

Oh what an interesting few days it's been.

Friday was my last final (O Chem) so what did I do? Of course. I went riding. And it was not a good one. Royal was very hyper and distracted, and I just could not hold his attention. He seemed fine on the ground, but not in the saddle. I spent an hour trying to get him to synchronize with me, to no avail. Partial disengagement, figure-8s, transitions, nothing worked. This depressed me greatly, and I could just see all of my summer goals fading away.

Saturday, winter came back for a visit. An unwanted visit, but not we could do about it. I was working at the clinic all morning and a good part of the afternoon, despite my finger's protests. I ran into a Parelli student, and made some observations about perceptions of Parelli vs. "normal" people that I'll talk about later. But I had no idea how I was going to be able to re-kindle my synchronicity with Royal. What to do.

Today I went up of the farm intending to do whatever it took, as long as it took, to help Royal relax. And, wouldn't you know it, a bit of partial disengagement turned the hyper block of wood into butter. Royal was so soft and relaxed, so I started trotting. A little excessive speed, but not a lot. We do some more PD, and he gives me a trot that could win a Pleasure class, both directions. Right lead canter, no problems. Left lead, a little fast for two strides, but then he settled into a nice relaxed canter.

I had no idea what to do with myself. Here'd I had the intention of spending hours helping my horse relax, only to have him relaxed in 15 minutes. So, I did something I've been aching to do for months: jumping. I set up our favorite starter grid (pole to cross-rail) and that was no problem. After three passes, added another cross-rail 18' away. Three more perfect passes. Turn the second cross-rail into a 2' vertical. No problems.

At this point I was feeling confident, so I did something I have never done before: I raised the vertical to 2'6". Now, I had never jumped 2'6" in my life. 2'3" a few times, but never any higher. Royal's jumped higher plenty of times, but with my feet firmly on the ground. After mounting back up, we tried the grid again. I felt Royal add more power, which felt quite cool. He seemed to jump in a more "heavy" manner: I could really feel feel him land, which is not usually the case. At 2' and below, he seems to float over the jumps and land like a duck. I didn't know if the heavier landing was due to the increased height of the jump or the short distance I was making him take. But either way, we had many wonderful leaps over that jump and I hopped off a very happy human. Royal got a nice roll in the dirt, the crumbles from the cookies (which he loves), and a nice long grazing session.

Oh, and the field boots are currently doing very well with the addition of the gel ankle bands. Felt very comfortable today and didn't get in the way of jumping, unlike other tall boots I've worn. I think they're keepers. :D

Royal in Bayfield, 2006.

The Saga Of The Footwear

Mine, for once.

I have two recent additions to my (small) footwear collection: toe shoes and tall boots.

The toe shoes were something of an accident. My friend Fran Latane has worn Vibram Five Fingers shoes for a while, and has told me to try them more than once. I was both skeptical and short of cash. But I have a bum foot that was broken a long time ago and still feels odd every once and a while. I also want to take up running and the concept of barefoot running intrigued me. So, I went to REI to try them on and walked out with a pair of Komodo Sports.

So far, I really like them. I haven't tried running in them yet, but wearing them all day on campus has been comfortable. Will try running in them and see what happens.

The other new piece of footwear is a lot newer than it should be. I bought a pair of Mountain Horse Supreme Field Boots and got them at the beginning of March. The zipper broke on the first day. No problem, I figured. Just a defective pair; send them back and get a new pair. Well, two months of frustrating e-mails later, Victory Canter finally sent me new boots, which arrived last Monday. I tried to break them in the slow way, but figured they would not be okay by the Carriage House Schooling Show. I turned to the fountain of wisdom that is the Chronicle of the Horse Forum for suggestions and learned of what I lovingly referred to as the Tub O'Water Dunking Method. It's simple: you get the boots soaked completely through, and wear them until they dry. People have used everything from hot wet towels to dowsing with a hose in a wash stall. I went with warm water in a bathtub for 20 seconds, put the boots on, and wore them for three hours.

And it worked. They're more comfortable, although the ankles still poke into mine. I've ordered a pair of gel ankle bands and see if that helps. I'll probably be able to ride in them tomorrow or Friday after my final. We'll see how it goes.

I'm Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

I'm not dead, just been busy with finals and crap. This past week has been crazy. I had a worksheet due and the Organic Lab practical on Tuesday (84%! W00t!), two finals (Equine Physio and Anthropology) on Wednesday, a HUGE lab report and another worksheet due yesterday, and an Anthropology paper due today. Woof. I'm exhausted and still not done. Organic lecture final is a week from today, but I'm feeling okay about it. In the meantime, there will be playtime with the Fuzz.

Funny (or not) story though: the lab check-out procedures are very stringent, and if you don't do everything right, they will charge you $25+ for the privilege for rifling through your drawer. I was one of the last ones to get checked out, and just as I handed the desk card to the stockroom dude, I thought I saw that my TA hadn't signed it. I was about to say something, but decided that it wouldn't be a big deal. I got my yellow confirmation slip back, gave it to my TA, and left. I was walking to my favorite cafe (The Tea Garden) when a horrible thought occurred to me: what if they go through the desk cards, see that mine isn't signed, and go through my drawer? And charge me $25+ for it? Crap!

So, later, I e-mailed my TA, asking if they could look into the matter. I figured that since they had an office not too far from the lab, they could just go over and ask. Plus, I didn't think the stockroom would let me check it without some higher approval, because I might do something nefarious. Like, I don't know, say that I have four 50ml Erlenmeyer flasks when I really have three. Mwahahahaha! But my TA's response was that I needed to go to the stockroom, get the card, bring it to them, have them sign it, and bring it back. Well, I was already at home, 20 miles from campus, when I got this and had no time to run back before my farrier appointment. And the stockroom wouldn't be open today, so no dice there. We played e-mail tag for a while until I was informed that they wouldn't have given me my slip back if everything wasn't perfect. I highly doubted this, since I am well-informed about all the cognitive errors humans make on a daily basis. A missing signature falls into the "easy to overlook" category. But, at the same time, I was well aware that I could be mistaken, but had no idea how to find out.

I then got the brilliant idea that I should have had in the first place, which was to call the stockroom on my way to the farm. I had to go through a few other people to get there, but eventually got through and left a message seeing if they could check on my desk card. Well, they checked the wrong desk card, but assured me that they don't make mistakes and if I had gotten my yellow slip, that was the end of the matter. I thanked them for their time and when I got back home, e-mailed and told my TA that the matter was settled and I was sorry to be a bother.

Of course, if I do find a "lab drawer check" fee on my student account, there will be hell to pay.

Royal's New Mane

Bah. Finals, papers, and speeches, oh my! But in my vanishingly short wisps of free time I have been able to go out to the farm and see the Fuzz. And even give him a hair cut.

Traditionally, you're not supposed to cut a horse's mane with scissors since it looks weird. And I can attest to that, having gone after Royal's mane with a scissors before. It always ends badly. The more prah-pah way to shorten a horse's mane is through pulling, which is exactly what it sounds like. You literally rip hair out by the roots. Ouch. I tried it last summer, and got about 1/4 up the mane before Royal's "Why are you doing this to me?" looks made me feel like a huge jerk. I ended up cutting the rest. I'm usually fine with causing my animals pain if there's a good reason for it. For instance, vaccinations are not fun, but neither is rabies. But pulling the mane serves only a decorative purpose, and I didn't want to put my horse through it.

Enter the SoloComb.

It starts out the same way as pulling, with the grasping of the long hairs and backcombing the shorter ones. But instead of ripping the hair out, you press the lever and it simply cuts the mane. You get the same look without the pain, and I used cookies to make positive associations with the comb. Royal and I were much happier.

Here's was he looked like after I'd been going at it for a while:

And here's what he looks like now:

And all the hair I took out:

Not bad for a rookie, but I'll definitely be able practice braiding now. There'll be plenty of pictures of that too.

Horse Blogging #15- If you could speak to any horse, dead or alive, what would you say?

Probably Secretariat to ask him how big his heart was. A tragic oversight meant that his heart was never weighed, but it was estimated to be around 22lbs. A missed opportunity, that.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, now we're in crunch time. I have two worksheets, two papers, and two finals, all within three days of each other. Eep. But, I'll still be able to go to the MN Horse Expo for the Parelli Demo on Saturday and I'll try to at least see the Big Fuzz a few times during that time. Maybe I'll be able to ride tomorrow, maybe not. We shall see.

Horse Blogging #14- Your dream barn/farm

Lots and lots of lush green pastures, with non-poisonous trees, undulations, and separate stalls for feeding time. A 100' x 200' Cover-All arena, a 200' x 300' outdoor arena, and a large playground/cross country course complete with water, jumps, bridges, and a honeycomb round pen. A small barn with a few stalls, tack room, and feed storage. A small house for me and my dog(s) and cat(s). I think I would be very happy.

Didn't have a lot of Royal time this weekend, since I was busy with school stuff and my summer internship at an equine vet clinic. I won't name the clinic, but I think I will learn a lot both about veterinary techniques and business management. There was one big first in that I drew blood on purpose for the first time. It was a Percheron-cross mare and she was very patient with me.

I did get some time with the Royal Fuzz but it was just hang out time. No riding or anything. That will have to wait for a few days.

Horse Blogging #13- A video of your worst riding

Really? I suppose it would be the video I got of me and Royal cantering on the left lead. He's always had problems with it, although it's been getting better. I filmed this to send to an Instructor, and got pretty much no feedback from it, other than "how has your riding changed since watching this?". So, as usual, had to go and solve my own problems.



Why I don't like it: I have a lot of excessive movement in my upper body and my butt keeps coming out of the saddle. Royal has a tendency to canter on the forehand, which makes nice riding really hard. But, like I said, it's been getting better and yesterday was a nice breakthrough.

After lab (I! Had! Crystals! Go me!), I went out to the farm, hoping to do some riding. The arena still has a few wet spots, but nothing too serious. I put on both pairs of his splint boots, and, just for fun, the royal blue bell boots. Combine the cotton pad with royal blue trim that I use under my Theraflex, and my horse has more matching accessories than I do. He did a bit of the goose-stepping with the hind boots and didn't really know what to make of the bell boots, so my ground warm-up/pre-ride check mostly consisted of convincing him that he could still move like a sane horse with all of this stuff attached to his legs. Once he was suitably sure of this, it was time to ride. I decided to use my show bridle and just kept the noseband really loose. We looked like a Reale Englishe Horsey and Ryder, instead of the unkempt and wild pair we really are.

I tried out the Cloverleaf pattern at the trot, which he started to get pretty well. The indoor is too small for canter; that'll have to wait until I can use the front field. I also played with contact, which Royal had become a lot better at tolerating. He used to basically panic with even the slightest hint of contact; now he just kind of chews on the bit in a perplexed but pleasant matter. It's times like these I wish there were a mirror in the arena, since I can't really see what's going on. Maybe I should sent up a video camera.

The big breakthrough came at the canter. As you can see from the video, Royal tends to canter with a high head, and often goes very fast. So, I use the Game of Contact to try to help him lower his and canter more on his hind end. I wasn't trying to get him to stretch all the way, just stop looking like a llama. It didn't take long for him to start cantering better and give a big snort/sigh going to the right, but the left was a big more challenging. He kept breaking gait, trying to counter-canter, and got emotional. I just hung in there until I felt him start to relax and start to lift his back. Good boy!

Of course, my little cotton pad was absolutely filthy after the ride, even I got Royal as clean as I possibly could. And he had some dry spots, so it's time for more shim experimentation. But he was still a fabulous boy.

Horse Blogging #12- Favorite horse color

Bay! All varieties, from Royal beautiful red to a dark chocolate brown. If I were to color a horse, it would be a chocolate bay with a star and opposing mid-cannon bone socks: one on the right fore and one on the left hind. Or vis versa.

Meanwhile, the lovely spring has gone away! It's been cold the past few days and we had some snow last night. This depresses me and I shall make my sad face now.

:(

Plus, I'm starting to get into finals crunch time now so I may not be able to spend as much time with the Royal Fuzz as I would like. Hopefully, we'll be able to play tomorrow.

Horse Blogging #11- Find a horse for sale online that you would want to buy

I'm more than happy with Royal and have absolutely no desire to acquire any more horses. Although, if time and money were not factors:

She's a 5 year old Trakhener-Thoroughbred cross and she would be lovely. I'd be concerned about her being started and competing so early, but if I got her, it would probably just be very easy stuff for the first year or so. Most horses are started quite early and they turn out okay. She does look yummy.

Not much going on with the Royal Fuzz. We did the rest of the spring vaccinations and he was an absolute angel. The vet said he (Royal) was the best he's ever been. Yay for Royal! And my Theraflex pad (which I've had for years) got the approval of the vet. It's a long story, but my barn owner wanted him to take a look at it since she wants to get one. So he did and said it was one of the better pads he's seen. Which is kind of a big deal, considering how damn near everything I do with Royal gets shat on by everyone else. To hear what people have said to my face (not even thinking about what's said behind my back), Royal should be a wild and spoiled hellion with a broken back and blood spurting out of his hooves. Instead of the well-mannered and polite athlete with a healthy back and fabulous hooves that he actually is.

Obviously I've been able to push on despite the insults, but it was nice to get some external validation for once.

Horse Blogging #10- How your family/friends feel about your riding

I think they've all finally accepted that this is not a stage that I'm going to grow out of. Of course, my mom and sister encouraged my riding since pretty much forever, my dad humored me and now fully supports my desire to compete. My brother has been the most stubborn about it. He used to always make fun of me and my passion for horses. He would call Royal a "nag" and urge me to by a racehorse so I could make some money. He also made fun of Parelli. But, now he seems to be okay with it and even wants to come at watch me at shows. I'm somewhat suspicious but I'll go with it.

But, hardly anyone ever comes out to the farm to watch me play with Royal. I have to mostly tell them what I did. That's been the way of things for a long time, so I don't that'll change. It's why I have so many pictures of just Royal and so few of me with Royal. Sigh.

This week is not going to have a lot of Royal-time. I'm fairly busy this week and weekend with work and vet appointments and my internship. I did go on Monday and just took Royal for a walk in his new bridle. I experimented with noseband tightness and while he can chew with the noseband at the proper tightness, he doesn't want to. Damn. Now I have to decide how much I want to practice with it on. I definitely need feedback, especially in Finesse.

Could I get a noseband with elastic inserts please?

April Spa Day

If Royal could see this title, he'd disagree. Spas are supposed to be relaxing and his spa day wasn't. But that had less to do with the spa treatments and more with other factors.

We had a pretty big thunderstorm Saturday night, which meant mud galore. And that the arena flooded again. I went out to the farm to find this:

Who says bays can't get dirty?

So I brushed him off and was just starting to pick out his hooves when I heard a familiar cracking sound. Which could only mean one thing: Needle-Dick was up to his crap again. Royal, bless his heart, let me pick out his feet but it was obvious he was worried about Needle-Dick's issues. He continued to be a good boy and let me detangle his mane and tail, which took a while. I haven't really touched either all winter, so there were a lot a snarls to get out. Luckily, I have a really nice detangler and it looked so much nicer. As did he.

Notice how much thinner he looks than the dirty picture. Part of that is I brushed a lot of hair off, and part is Needle-Dick's gunshots were really bothering him and he was not happy about being tied to the wall. He tends to appear thinner and taller when he's tense.

I tried to see if his new bridle fit him any differently now that a lot of his winter hair has fallen off and it does look different. But, much to my chagrin, I have to tighten the noseband in order to stop it flopping around on his face. He can still chew, but I'm not entirely happy. I'll try to soften it up and make it more flexible, but right now I'm cursing the rules that make nosebands mandatory for showing.

I think he still looks handsome, though.

Breakthrough! Splish-Splash In The Pond!

One of my challenges for this summer is getting Royal used to stuff on a cross-country course, namely funky decorations and water. I can take care of the decorations part, but the water part is a real worrier for me. Mostly because I don't have a readily accessible water hazard, and I'm not sure if any of the barns that do will let me practice with it. I'll try calling around to see if anyone is willing to let me ride on their cross-country course, but I'm not optimistic.

In these difficult times, we turn, as we always do, to Renee's Poor Lady's Substitute. I can make and paint my own jumps, build my own gymnastics, and use a saddle blanket as a liverpool. But the water hazard is a bit tougher. There are some areas in the back paddocks that can fill with water and are big enough to be similar to a water obstacle, but that's inconsistent.

Yesterday it was nice enough for me to wander out back to see what condition the pond would be in. With all the melting that's been going on lately, I thought it would be HUGE. Imagine my surprise (and panic) when I saw the pond was not very big, only ~30 feet across at its widest point. I realized my time window was shrinking, so I ran to get Royal. I brought him out to the pond and first asked him to go through it with me on the ground.

The first two attempts did not go well. He did not want to step into the water and was snorting at it like it was full of crocodiles. The third time, he sniffed at it, stuck his nose part way in, and started playing with the water. I backed him up and asked him to try again. This time he walked right in and started splashing himself. He got all four feet in, and started pawing. He got his legs, belly, and head all wet just splashing around. We went through twice, then I tried to get him to trot through the water. Well, he thought it would be more fun to canter, which made me very glad I was on the ground. One more try, and he trotted straight through.

At this point I was feeling confident enough to get on. I tied the lead rope into reins, lead Royal over to a stump, and hopped on. We walked over to the pond, I grabbed some mane just in case, he hesitated for a second in front of the pond, and walked in. Halfway through, he stopped and started splashing again, which was cute but I didn't want him to do it while I was riding. I asked him to go and we walked right out.

I was ecstatic. I kept rubbing his neck and saying "Good boy! Good boy! Good boy!" He munched on a bit of grass, and we walked through the water again. By now I was so over the moon with joy, I squealed, hopped off, and gave him a big hug. We went out to the road to see if there was any good grass. Alas, there was only little nubs and we were both disappointed. But I was still so happy! I rode my horse through the water! Bareback! In a halter! How cool is that?!

Royal trying to get the tiny bits of grass after his swim.

Spring? Spring!

Could it be? Yes! It seems that winter, after a long and terrible battle, has finally released its grip on the upper Midwest and we have lovely mud season weather. Mud Season: You'll be so happy to see the sun you won't notice the mud taking off your shoes.

But all is well in the world of the Royal Fuzz. After the close-call with the Arch of Death (and I did find a new one, so that'll go up as soon as it gets here) and Royal's subsequent touchiness with his legs, things have been going well. Tuesday I went out after lab and, after making sure wasn't touchy about his legs (he wasn't), I hopped on bareback and we went for a walk down the road. The farm is on a little dirt road with a few other houses. The next-door neighbor is the one I call Needle-Dick, because I'm sure he must be compensating for SOMETHING. He has a shooting range in his backyard, which is technically illegal, and is shooting almost every day. I want to tell him that a handgun won't do much for him an a zombie apocalypse, but Needle-Dick doesn't strike me as the humorous type. He also leaves his garbage cans at the end of the driveway all the time, which mean Royal is convinced they are hiding monsters. He does not want to walk past them or will only do so with a lot of snorting and tension. I decided to see how far we could get.

So, we're moseying down the road and about 1/8th of a mile from Needle-Dick's house, Royal spots the garbage cans and stops dead. I decided to use the zig-zag technique and asked Royal to go to the right. Then left. Right. Left. Right. Left. All the while getting closer to the cans. Finally we're right in front of them, and Royal stays on the other side of the road and walks past the cans. I kept his nose slightly tipped to the cans, and once we made it past, asked him to disengage his HQ and stop. We looked at the cans for a while and walked past them again, slightly closer. Stop, disengage, and go past again. He walked in the middle of the road only slightly looking at the can, we turned around again, went past the can, and went back to the farm. I was so proud.

Thursday I didn't have any class, so I went back out. I hoped to do some more riding and also try on Royal's new splint boots. I've had the front ones forever and they're still holding up fairly well, with just a bit of discoloration and rust on the metal. So I got some matching ones for his hind legs. He thought that was very weird and starting holding up his hind legs, one at a time. I didn't have my cell phone with me at the time, otherwise I would have gotten a picture. As it was, I wanted Royal to get used to the boots, so I walked with him back out to my car to get my phone because I really wanted a picture with all four boots on.

Why yes, my horse's color IS royal blue. Why do you ask?

Then followed one of the best ride we've had. I've (finally) realized that I shouldn't be treating him like an Right Brain Extrovert, but a Left Brain Extrovert. RBEs need lots of consistency to relax and focus, while LBEs need to play to become obedient. So I basically became manic after our warm up. Walk, trot, canter, walk, back up, trot, canter, trot, walk, turn on the haunches, trot, walk, back up, walk, canter, walk, canter, trot, canter, walk, turn on the forehand, walk, back-up, walk, trot, walk, canter, etc. All in very rapid succession and being very particular about transitioning off my seat. At first he was sort of fighting me, but quickly became more in harmony with him and starting putting a lot of effort in. I was trying for balanced transitions and when I got a smooth and lovely left lead canter departure (his biggest challenge), I quit there. He got many treats and a good roll in the dirt. Both of us were very happy.

The Horse-Eating Arch of Death

Life with Royal is always interesting.

Yesterday, I went out to the farm, planning to ride but also hoping to get another side conformation picture. I had take the first set by the front field where Royal lives, since I can get some good sunlight there. About 15 feet from the fence line, there was a metal archway that we had walked by (and sometimes through) many times before. But yesterday, Royal's tail got caught on one it and he flipped out. He started bolting with this big white thing chasing him and I was powerless to stop him. Luckily I was on the ground and not riding, but my hand got slammed up against a tree and I got some scrapes on my fingers. Once the arch fell out of his tail, he stopped, but was still shaken up. Both of us were. It was obvious the arch was beyond repair, but neither of us were badly hurt.

I was able to do some riding, but he was still shaken up. It took a while for him to calm down and I figured he was okay.

Today proved me wrong. I went out with the intention of doing some more riding and Royal seemed okay. He met me at the gate and everything seemed okay, but upon grooming him I discovered he didn't want me touching his legs. He wasn't even okay with me just rubbing them. I abandoned the goal of riding and just resolved to help him get over his fear. It took an hour for him to let me touch his legs without stiffening or trying to take them away. I thought that he could be sore, but he wasn't snatching them away like he normally does when he's sore. I figured that it was worth it to deal with it now instead of letting it blow up into a big problem later.

Horse Blogging Challenge #9- Any injuries that occurred from riding

So far, I have not had any dramatic physical injuries from my sport of choice. No broken bones, soft tissue injuries, head injuries, nothing. I've gotten plenty of minor bruises and cuts, but nothing that required extensive treatment. I consider myself very lucky and do my best to keep it that way.

Meanwhile, in Royal News.

The world is melting and Royal is molting. He briefly stopped when we had the blizzard and freeze last week, but he's started again. I'll be coughing up hairballs before you know it. I tried to get some conformation pictures for my Equine Physiology class, and they didn't turn out too great. Mostly because I was taking them with my cell phone, but also because Royal was very confused by the whole thing.

Then we went for a bareback ride on the road. Royal's getting braver about going through water but he still wants NOTHING to do with the Horse Eating Garbage Cans. Apparently he was traumatized by Sesame Street as a foal and never got over it. And it doesn't help that the garbage cans in this neighborhood are yellow and green, so that just adds to their horse eating capacity.

Maybe if I filled a garbage can with food and left it in his pasture...

Horse Blogging Challenge #8- A little about the barn/stable you ride at

A little about a little stable. And it is little. It's pretty low-key with pretty much only recreational rider, since I'm the only one with any competitive goals. So, it's Royal, BJ (my dad's horse), GQ (the 2-year-old Royal hangs with), Gabe (who's very rude and pushy), Sassy the nervous Arabian, and Shady the pretty Arabian who's been just short of abandoned by her owner. Like I said, teeny.

I have a lot of freedom to do whatever I want, including setting up jumps in the front field. Compared to the last barn I boarded at, where individualism and riding without paying someone $40+ to scream at you were frowned up, it's quite pleasent. And Royal is the picture of health. It's very nice.

Bad Week

One I'd rather forget.

With Todd's death on Sunday, that meant a terrible end to my spring break and a worse beginning to being back at school. And the hits kept coming. I found out I flunked an O Chem test, which I partially figured. You don't bounce back from being sick for half the unit, but luckily I'll be able to drop the score. Then, in lab on Tuesday, my reagents would. Just. Not. React. For two and a half hours. Combine that with a lack of sleep and an already fragile emotional state, and I broke down in tears. Right in lab. Totally sobbing with tears and snot running down my face. The TA took pity on me and helped me do the expedited version of the reaction, but still. I got through Wednesday without too much drama, except for the BLIZZARD, but lab on Thursday was also bad. I totally forgot how to do the experiment, made a bunch of stupid mistakes, and ended up being the last one to leave. It was one of the worst weeks I've ever had. I just kept missing Todd.

And yet somehow, life goes on.

Royal, as usual, was a ray of sunshine in my life. Every time I went out to the farm, he'd just let me lean against his neck, breathing in his wonderful scent. He'd lick my gloves until they were soaking wet and move on to my coat. He can really make me smile and laugh, which is what I needed more than ever.

We even had a pretty good ride Saturday night. I usually play with him during the day, but I was busy all day and wasn't working that night. So, I went out to play. I've done some night riding before a couple of years ago, but not lately. It's really different at night, but he was okay. We mostly worked on relaxation and softness. He's starting to make a habit of it and just keeps getting better. Towards the beginning of the ride, I asks him to go a little too strongly and he trotted off. I had two cones set up in the arena, so we just did some figure-8s around them. It was just really cool, feeling him settle into a nice trot and later, some nice upward transitions.

I'm just so lucky to have such a wonderful horse.