Royal Gets Better

So far, so good.

I went back out to the farm last evening to check up on the Fuzz. He met me at the gate of his paddock, all bright-eyed and "cookies?". I asked him to trot around the paddock at liberty, but that was a failure. At first he didn't see the point, and when I finally got him moving out, he ran through a sticky patch of mud and tripped. He caught himself and carried on, but I want to see him trot in a constant circle. I had taken his Parelli halter and lead rope home to wash, so I was stuck with his nylon halter and lead. I used to have a nicer one, but it broke and the barn owners have been kind enough to use an old one to shuffle him back and forth between paddock and pasture. But it looks so ugly on him.

Ew. But he trotted sound in the indoor with no heat in his legs. I didn't know how much was him and how much was the bute he'd gotten at dinner, but I knew it probably wasn't anything serious. 2g of bute can't cover up too many serious issues. I put some liniment on them and put him back in his paddock.

Today, he looked good enough to not need any bute and could go out in the pasture. No heat, but I did find a small amount of swelling between the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon and the Deep Digital Flexor Tendon. It wasn't big and he didn't mind me poking and pinching it. I cold-hosed it for 10 minutes and discovered he developed a small splint on his right front cannon bone. ARGH! Royal, why you do this to me? I pressed on it with all my might and he didn't flinch, so that's a good sign. He had a splint a few years ago, which also didn't pain him, and the vet told me that I do do stuff with him. I just had to keep him booted and make sure he wasn't painful.

Nevertheless, he's getting another week off, although he probably won't be a fan of all the cold-hosing and liniment I will do. He'll just have to get used to it.

Boo-Boo

A.K.A What the f&*k did my horse do to himself?!

We've had so much rain here for a while that it's almost become a cliche to say we've suddenly moved to Seattle. This has meant that the front field where my jumps are has been too wet and muddy to ride in. I had really been hoping to do some jumping to regain my confidence over 2'6" fences, but it had to be put off. But yesterday and today, no rain. It looked like the ground would be okay today, so that's what I planned on doing.

Grooming and tacking Royal up, I noticed he seemed a bit quiet. Which can sometimes happen, where he's subdued when I get him, then perks up as we warm up and ride. But he didn't have any tender spots or seem colicky, so I figured he was okay. On-line warm up was good, riding at the walk fine, but when we started trotting, I knew something was off. I couldn't feel where, but I know something wasn't right. I got off and asked him to circle, and sure enough, he had a head bob on his left front going to the left. It wasn't present circling to the right or on a straight line, but you could see it to the left. I felt a bit of heat in that left front, but he wasn't fussy about me handling it. I tried to give him some bute, which didn't work, and cold-hosed the leg for about 15 minutes. I was successful in giving him banamine, and put him back in his paddock with some hay and his step-brother BJ. The barn owner promised to keep an eye on him for me, and I'll probably go back up there tonight and tomorrow.

At this point I have no idea what it could be. It might be that he was running around in the pasture and tweaked it a little bit and he'll be fine in a little bit. Or, this could be the start of a serious injury that means months or years of rehab. I do know that Royal is a very stoic horse and often doesn't show his injuries until they get pretty bad. Right now, all I can do is wait. I will most likely ask to have one the vets at the clinic come down there with me and take a look at it, no matter what. I just want to know what's going on.

Hopefully, he's okay.

Royal Gets A Quiet Week... And I Don't

After the excitement at Steepleview and with Birchbury being postponed, I decided to give Royal a relaxing week. He's really earned it, and I think letting him have ample time off is good for him mentally and physically. I try to keep our sessions fun and engaging, but it can still be hard stuff. We had a relaxed session on Wednesday, just playing at Liberty in the arena, and with yielding to pressure from Zone 4. He was a champ, as always. Friday was hot and buggy, but we still had fun on the 45 foot line. Today was Freestyle Dressage Test day. I put the bareback pad on and used the hackamore and we did the Intro A & B tests. Lots of fun was had, and the tests aren't too challenging. Turn, stop, go, circle, change direction, circle, change gait, stop. Pretty simple stuff.

I had a mostly exciting week. On Monday, I was at the clinic and one of the appointments was some dog vaccines and blood tests. One of the dogs (a big hound) didn't want his blood drawn and fought like mad. Eventually, it got to the point where the owner was kneeling on the dog, I was holding off the vein, and the vet was drawing the blood. At the last moment, the dog kicked and the needle went through his skin and into my thumb, stopping just below the back of the nail. Do I need to say OW!! I had to keep it wrapped and iced for a while, but other than a puncture wound and a bruise, no damage.

Thursday was another interesting day. The vet and I were called out for the works (check teeth, clean sheath, Coggins test, vaccines) for a Percheron-cross and his new owner. Who's never owned a horse before, and this is a 1400lb. behemoth. He decided he didn't want anything to do with us and he didn't have to. There was no fear in it, only dominance. We ended up having to give enough IM sedation for SIX horses. Oh yeah, this was a tough one. And the worst part is that we were confirming his suspicions about this being a fight, and it's probable that the next time will be worse. The owner said that a trainer was going to work with the horse, but this went beyond cookie-cutter "disobedience". This was a nearly-feral horse that had no respect for humans except as treat dispensers, which is something that is going to take a lot of work.

I hope his owner is up to the task.

Steepleview Derby Day

I really really love Parelli.

I got up at 5am to get ready and on the road to Steepleview. It would be an hour's drive and I was pretty sure it would take a while to get the trailer hooked up and Royal loaded up. I was right: I got to the farm a little after 6 and headed out just before 7. I figured out a neat little trick to line up the ball and hitch, so that didn't take too long. Royal was still skeptical of the trailer, but loaded fairly well. We were on our way, and luckily for both of us, the roads were fairly quiet. Sweetie the truck chugged along with the new trailer and we spent a lot of time on the freeway and one long county road.

We arrived at Steepleview around 8 and I had to leave Royal in the trailer so I could find the check-in tent. After getting my number and course maps, I got Royal out of the trailer and let him move around. Then I had to tie him to the trailer so I could walk my first course, Starter Novice. This course consisted of fences up to 18" in height, with no unusual obstacles (banks, ditches, water), so I figured Royal would have a good time of it. I got back to the trailer, saddled the Fuzz up, and headed to the warm-up area. We were fifth on the course, and once the previous rider finished, trotted out. The first fence was a red-white-and-black stadium cross-rail with a judge in a big hat sitting not too far away. Royal was not too sure of the judges' hat, but walked over the jump. Then it was a series of logs and tiny benches that he made small work of before turning up the bank to another stadium jump. We tried to canter the turn, and the ground evidently was a lot slipperier than I thought as both of Royal's hind legs slipped to the left. He immediately caught himself and we kept going, hopping over another log and the first three jumps in reverse without a hitch. I was worried about the slip, as a similar thing happened to Gogo of Eventing-A-Gogo! in 2009. She injured tendons in both hind legs, and she still has not fully recovered. Fortunately for Royal and me, his legs were cool and tight after our run.

We went back to the trailer, hung out, and then I had to walk my Beginner Novice course. I knew I had made a mistake signing up for it while walking the course. I had been so focused on the unusual obstacles that I neglected to think about the height and width of the jumps. Royal can jump up to 4' easily, but I've only gone to 2'6" a few times and am not as confident as I should be. And these were robust BN fences. I knew I would be doing a lot of mane grabbing during this course. I had a question about how to enter the water for fence 4, so I walked back up to the check-in booth. There I saw a sign with all the SN entries and a "4" next to my name. I asked the person what the 4 meant and she said it meant I got fourth place. I was shocked, but happily took my ribbon.

At the trailer, I met two nice ladies who were so impressed that I was here all by myself and that Royal and I got a ribbon at our first cross-country competition. I had a nice conversation with them and headed back to the warm-up arena. Royal could feel my nerves and was deer-leaping over the jumps, which did not help me at all. I was second on the BN course; the first person fell off. She got back on and finished, but my nerves were starting to fray. We trotted out, had a three spooky jumps and went for the water. He was hesitant, but eventually walked in. I just let him walk, figuring it was better to let him check it out instead of trying to get him to go through it fast. Then it was a big coop and a long turn to the ditch. I prepared myself for a screeching halt... and he hopped right over. I was so elated that I botched the turn to the next jump and had a refusal. Well that totally blew my confidence and we had a refusal at the next two jumps, including a sizable table. We were able to get over the 10 jump, through the water in the opposite direction, back over the coop, and refused the last jump before popping over it again. I know it was probably kind of scary to watch, and it wasn't much more fun to ride. We went back to the trailer, put all my stuff back in, Royal loaded in pretty well, and we went home. All in all, I feel like it was a success, because I learned a ton.

Here's why it made me love the Parelli Program even more:

1. Self-Sufficiency. Parelli really focuses on developing independent horses and riders. I saw a few other loners there, but most had their trainers or helpers with them. Parelli gave me the confidence to do this by myself and the tools with which to accomplish it, both mentally and physically. (Speaking of which, about 1/3 of the way through the BN course where Royal's huge jumps were twanging me off his back, I thought "I love my saddle". It kept catching me and keeping me centered, even through the huge efforts.)

2. Confidence. The fact that Royal and I could even do this is amazing, let alone that we came home with a ribbon. Remember, this is a horse I used to be too scared to ride at a walk in the arena, let alone canter over solid obstacles in a field. Also, I know my confidence has taken a hit, but I know exactly how to regain it. The next thing I have planned is the Birchbury schooling show and I know how to prepare for it.

3. Realism. I have learned how to realize my and my horse's limitations, which is why I am not planning on going to the Roebke Run event. The problem over the BN course was me. When I get nervous, I freeze and shut down. Royal was only responding to my lack of confidence when he refused and that is something I can't rush. If I took the month off and practiced everyday, we might be ready. But that's not realistic, so I'm going to put my horse and my confidence first, and aim for the Steepleview recognized event in September. You can't rush this stuff, and I don't want to go into another event unprepared.

So, all in all, a success in terms of learning and material gains.

Royal with his ribbon.

The New Cave On Wheels or We Haven't Won The Porcupine Game

We all know this was coming.

I sold my other trailer on Wednesday and bought the new one the nest day. It belonged to someone I know and who needed to sell it fast. It's a 1993 Trail-Et two horse straight-load bumper pull with lots of room for Royal. And it looks cool.

I don't have much experience backing up trailers, so last night I watched a bunch of Youtube videos on how to back up trailers. Most helpful was a series by a semi driver who broke it down into little steps that I was saying out loud to myself as I practiced backing in the local high school parking lot this morning. I'm sure I looked like I was nuts, but once I got out to the farm, I was able to back it into its spot with very little trouble. A few more times and I'll get the hang of it.

Royal was less enthusiastic about it. Besides the fact that its new! and weird! and different! which always sets him on edge, he hadn't been in a straight-load in years and the last time didn't end well. To make a long story short, he wiggled out of a 3'x1' escape door while still tied inside the trailer. And he didn't get badly hurt, only had a few scrapes.

I've previously mentioned that Royal had a tendency to turn around in the other trailer, which is just not an option in this one. That had to have made him nervous, since he had to carefully reconsider how to get out. It took about an hour to get all four feet in, with a lot of help from my trusty clicker and carrots. Then we got to the butt bar. Once Royal could stand in there for more than five seconds, I tried fastening the butt bar. I then found out that Royal is not totally respectful of pressure in Zone 4. He respects it in Zone 1 and yields off the halter like nothing, but is willing to blast through pressure in Zone 4. So he would hit the butt bar and lean on it. No panicking, just leaning, waiting for it to open. Then the new guideline became that if I went to unhook the butt bar and he started backing into it, I would walk up to his head, ask him to move forward and start over. He got that message pretty quick, and would wait for me to say "okay" before backing out, but we'll see if it sticks tomorrow when we go to Steepleview.

This is not an ideal situation, or even a very good situation. I would love to leave the trailer in his paddock for a while or just load him everyday for seven days before going anywhere, but that isn't practical right now. We'll just have to muddle through and try to make everything go as well as possible.

Time to Think

I haven't written lately mostly because I've been too busy. I still have plenty of Royal-time and other happenings, but just not the time to write about it.

Since Carriage House went fairly well, I signed us up for a cross-country schooling event this Saturday. The idea is to let Royal encounter "unusual" obstacles, like banks and ditches, in a laid-back setting. I had the idea to tape my clicker to the handle of a crop so I could "click" Royal while riding. I was able to find a cheap yet sturdy crop and, while it looks ugly, it works. I was able to play plenty of Friendly Game with Royal but he still tends to get a bit amped when I carry it. On Sunday, we were doing some jumping and I had two 2'6" fences set up in a four stride line. Royal did it in three. So I was thinking I'd scrap that idea since he'd already be pretty energetic going cross-country anyway, and I didn't want to add to it.

Fast-forward to Wednesday. After a great warm-up, including a Soft Feel at the canter, I created a scary obstacle consisting of a bright blue western saddle blanket draped over a 15" high pole on the Bloks. Royal trotted right up to it... and slammed on the brakes 5 feet away. I was surprised but laughed. We tried again, and he overjumped it by two feet. A couple more passes and he was jumping over it like nothing. So I decided to make it into a "ditch" by laying the blanket under a 9" high pole. For some reason, he still spooked at it, but did hop over. Once he was doing that pretty well, I took the pole away. For some reason, that made him almost melt down completely. He would completely stop any forward motion beyond a certain point, so I eventually got the Clicker Crop out and would tap my leg until he at least tried to go forward. I wasn't trying to make him go over it, just try. He did go over, but it was a scared little deer leap. He wasn't acting like an RBI, just wasn't to keen on getting close to the Blanket of Death.

It took a few sideways leaps before he went straight over it and then it took what felt like ten million Squeeze Games more before he went across it like it was no big deal. And we did end up messing it up.

Luckily, it's washable. But it was so weird how frightening he found the blanket just lying on the ground with nothing above it. So, trekheners and liverpools yes, ditches no. He also got quite a bit of emotional sweat, and was breathing quite hard even though all we did was walk. Much more mental/emotional exertion than physical. I just tried to be as quiet as possible and let him work it out, although I did have to do a few strong one-rein stops when he tried to bolt away from the jump. Hopefully he was able to work out all his demons, although I may attach a savvy string to my saddle on Saturday. That way I can help him out if he gets stuck, but he won't feel threatened.

Royal enjoying a nice roll in the arena after being hosed off.

I also sold the big trailer and got a new used one. Will post pictures of the new ones when I can.

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.