WOW Soft H-Girth

I finally got the girth that came with my saddle.  It is designed to provide stability for the saddle and rider.  In addition the center pad provides pressure relief for the the pectoral muscles and helps to elevate the fore limbs and shoulders.  Also, it helps with horses that have a forward girth groove.  (This is all paraphrased from WOW's website).

H-girth in all its glory.

So far, I have really liked it.  I started to say that I hadn't seen any changes, but then I realized as I was typing that my balance issue at the trot resolved right around the time I got the girth.  This may or may not be related to the girth I don't know.  But I do know another person that got this girth and it helped to stabilize her saddle so it wasn't sliding up her horse's shoulders.

All apart for that easy cleaning I was talking about

Well padded center piece

I think the quality is excellent (it is made in England) and I haven't had it long enough to know how it will hold up.  So far it has not shown any signs of wearing or stretching.  The center piece is well padded and my pretty pretty princess has not had any rubbing issues.  The two leather straps are completely removable (easy cleaning).  The biggest drawback is the price.  It is 185 pounds (~$260 US).  I will say if you have a common girth size you might be able to find one used on eBay (UK not US).  I almost bought one when I got impatient trying to wait for my free one, but the lady found a UK buyer and decided to go that route.

Stinker: 1 Me: 1

Yesterday, I was at my wits end with Stinker.  My plan was to do a forty minute ride on the hills at the walk.  We have been really hot lately and not just heat hot, but also high humidity.  I am worried about stressing his system and causing an EPM relapse (I am totally going over kill on this, but I am terrified that I will lose all of our progress with a relapse).  I am probably going too easy on him, but I would rather be too careful than push too hard.

I have awesome fashion sense (I got weird looks going into work like this)

My plan went to heck quite quickly.  He was tense and anxious and didn't want to stretch and give.  I thought I could wait it out because it isn't that uncommon for him to be excited at first and then settle down.  He kind of settled and I thought ok this is working and then the wheels came off.  We were headed back towards the barn, so I thought he was getting impatient and thought he was going to be done.  Normally, when this happens as soon as we get to the barn and then turn away he goes back to work.  That didn't happen.

It kept getting worse and worse and I was getting frustrated and was about to lose my chill.  I know it doesn't go any good, but I wanted to get something half way decent so I could end on a good note.  I finally said fine damn it we will go to the dressage ring.  He typically settles in the ring and by this point the forty minutes had come and gone.  Did that help?  Nope.  Not even a little bit.  Then I got annoyed.  I decided that we were going to trot if he wanted to trot and we would trot until he decided walking sounded like a better idea.

This is actually from Saturday, but it has been really hot

He giraffed into the trot, and I asked him to stretch down (exactly like I had been doing in the walk).  My to my surprise he did.  And then proceeded to give his absolute best trot work ever.  He was reaching and stretching and supple.  Changes of directions yes ma'am.  Shoulder fore and reach deeper yes ma'am.  Slow it down and rebalance with out popping your head up yes ma'am.  We didn't trot long and then I brought him back to the walk.  Asked him to stretch and he gave me nice stretches both ways.

Tired sweaty pony.

I told him he was a good boy (I decided to ignore the previous 50+ minutes and focus on the last 5-10 minutes) and got off.  He was quite proud of himself.  I was in a bit of shock.  I got my revenge by giving him a bath.  He is the weirdest horse, because he hates getting wet.  The scrubbing part of the bath is totally fine.  The getting sprayed equals OMG I am going to die.  He will drink out of the sprayer and try to chew on it, but the water touching him causes some very humorous twitching.

Pretty clean white socks (not worth dying over tho).

I did almost have a very bad moment when I was cleaning his hind socks.  I was crouched down scrubbing the insides when the golf cart backfired.  It scared him and he jumped.  Luckily, I have a strong startle reflex and managed to scoot back, but it could have been very bad.  So my PSA for the weekend is don't be stupid like me when bathing your horse.

Polka Dot Periodical Blog Hop: Riding Resume

Nicku started this fun blog hop over on the Polka Dot Periodical.  Since I can't resist the chance to write yet another resume, I figured I would join in on the fun.

Started riding while in utero.  Seriously, my mom was still riding the week I was born.  She is a very tough lady.  Continued riding with either my mom or dad (sitting in front of them) until I was old enough to hang on to my own horse.

I am the smaller one on the right.

Once I graduated to my own horse I was ponied around until I could steer.  I am not sure how old I was, but I think it was 3ish.

I am the wee one on the back.

The next big move up was when I started riding Jethro.  He was a big (might not have been all that big but the little me thought he was) bay and is probably the reason I managed to survive my own stupidity.  He was a fabulous baby sitter.  I could get on him bareback no halter or bridle and if I got off balance he would just stop.  We were holding bunch (aka people on horses sitting around 500+ head of cows) and I got tired and crawled under him and went to sleep.  My mom found me and he was just standing and not even stomping at flies.  I could go on and on about him, but he was my first love.  Sadly he died of a heart attack when I was in late elementary/early middle school (have you noticed I am terrible with dates yet?).

Jethro is on the right (my sister is on him)

The next major horse was Mandy.  She was a little bay mare that was hot hot hot.  My oldest sister pitched a fit when my mom said I was going to start riding Mandy.  My sister was sure the mare was going to kill me.  Mandy had a nasty rearing habit when she was younger.  Luckily we got along fabulously.  We both had the same amount of crazy and it worked.  I had my worst fall off her, but also got my need for speed fix from her.  She was quick and catty and loved to work cows.  I actually showed her in 4-H.  Some how even with our speed demon ways we managed to win some things.

I have no idea who is in the middle.

I may or may not be related to them, but I don't recognize the horse.

I am pretty sure we won all around horse one year and I know we won reining and probably some other classes.  Obviously the reining was the only important one to me, because it is the only thing I remember for sure.  By the time I was in high school, she was starting to get arthritic and my last year in 4-H I showed my sister's horse.  She was much more the typical western show horse and we killed it.  I don't remember what all we won or didn't win.  Sadly I do not have any pictures from this period, because I was excellent at ducking the camera.

Nippers who was the first horse I started.

I was not really into showing western.  I loved reining but that was it.  I liked working cows, but I knew that I didn't want to ranch long term.  When I was in high school riding took a backseat to basketball.  When I went off to college I was on an academic and basketball scholarship, so I didn't ride unless I was home on vacation which was rare.  I should mention that the summer between high school and college I worked on a dude ranch in Wyoming.  That in itself is a story for another time.

Moving cows with my dad in the awkward years.

When I was in grad school I was feeling a bit lost and picked a place off the internet (it was the only one I could find a price list for) and started dressage lessons.  The original plan was to get the basics then jump, but I got hooked once I got tangled up with D.  D matched me up with a mare Nikki, who I loved dearly.  Unfortunately, that story does not have a happy ending.  But she taught me so much in the time I knew her.

First starting back pre D.  I can't remember this mare's name I only rode her once.

Once I moved, I struggled to find a place to take lessons.  I knew enough to recognize bad instructors but I was limited to places that had lesson horses.  I had to beg S to take me on because her schedule was already full.  Luckily she has trouble saying no and I landed at an amazing barn.  I rode a few different horses before I started looking for my own.

My own!!!

The final horse that has played an important role is my favorite little Pongo.  He taught me so much and gave me so much confidence.  He was the first horse I ever did cross country with.  He was the first horse I rode in a jumping clinic.  He gave me confidence that I can put the basics on a green horse and have them be a solid citizen.

Such a fun little guy!

So the bottom line is I have a ton of hours in the saddle and have ridden tons of different horses but haven't done much showing.  And I am fumbling my way through learning a new sport and teaching my horse.  PS this is a terrible resume because I couldn't shut up and keep things brief.

Shoulder Fore

I am so proud of Stinker.  Not too long ago any leg pressure caused a meltdown.  Now we have this.

I am just going to leave it at that.  :)

June Conformation

Since blogger decided to spare you my whining weekend update post by eating it.  Here is a hastily written conformation picture update post.  They aren't the greatest since he was extra wiggly.

The shoulders are starting to even out.

January is on the bottom.

His weight and his top line are looking much better.

His shoulders are improving (Jan on the bottom).

I still don't like how upside down his neck is but when he drops his head you can see where the muscles are starting to fill in.

I still need to get more lift to fill in the gap in front of the withers, but I don't think he has enough strength behind to really do that yet.

Overall, I am really happy with how he is looking and we have made some large strides in the right directions.  Hopefully he can keep it up and look like a real sport horse by the end of the year.

Half and Half

Poor Stinker has been getting tormented lately.  I have been splitting my lessons with S, so I ride the first half then she rides the second half.  I want him to be well schooled enough that other people besides me can ride him without him deciding the world is going to end.

Someone had his bitch face on

I was actually surprised the first lesson, because he was really relaxed and going really well.  But when S got on him he got really anxious.  He has been so much more relaxed with me I thought it was going to carry over more than it did.  Especially since S is a better rider than me and she is also very soft and balanced.  He wasn't bad, just a little bouncier and carried more tension.

Maybe because I do things like laugh and take pictures

instead of saving him from the bonnet.

The second time, I was pleasantly surprised.  We had gotten a bunch of rain, so the dressage ring was sloppy and I decided to go to the stadium field instead (Stinker doesn't like wet footing.  I think it is harder for his hind end).  I haven't ridden him up there a ton because I tend to stick to the hills when I have him out of the ring and that pasture is flatter.  I was expecting him to be more nervous, but he settled nicely and we even did some trot work.

It has gotten freaking hot.  This is from 20 min of mostly walking.

That may sound a little silly but it was our first trot work out of the ring since the start of the new program in January.  I was really pleased with him because it was basically the same as it has been in the ring.  Yay for progress!!  I played with him over poles a bit and damn he gets a big lofty trot over the poles.  He doesn't have the strength to maintain it yet, but I need to get my act together so I can ride me horse.

He is getting to be so much better on trail rides!

He was really good for S when she got on him.  He was anxious, but very willing and was trying despite having, "OMG this is different" written all over his face.  Hopefully, I can get him used to S and get him started on understanding that other people can ride him and the world isn't going to come crashing down.

My Latest Victim

Well this was supposed to be published on Monday, but someone forgot that they hadn't actually scheduled the post.  By the time I realized it, I was so swamped in work that I didn't have a chance to get it fixed.  I also *might* have had a temper tantrum tonight about how I was going to go work at Starbucks because I would get an employee discount and not be working 14 hour days...but such is life.

Meet Percy my latest naughty lesson pony victim.  I call him Mr. Apple Bottoms because he has a very solid badonkadonk and feathers that can pass for boots with the fur.  Ok I am done with the bad jokes for at least two sentences (including this one).

Tired pony.

He was actually quite good for being on the naughty list.  He was very willing even when he was tired.  He was on the naughty list because he got a bit sassy when a couple of people were trying to ride him behind the barn.  It might have been because they were smaller or because it was feeding time, either way he wasn't bad with me.

The most humorous part of the lesson was when I used the mounting block to get on him.  We have an extra high block and I am pretty sure my stirrup was below the top step.  #tallpeopleproblems  It took me awhile to get used to his gait.  He has a lot more wiggle behind than Stinker does.  Overall Percy is a fun little ride (my hips regretted it later tho).

Dat Booty!!! I might be obsessed.

I didn't even try to canter him because he has been a pasture puff and we are working on getting him in shape.  I think he was wondering what he had done to deserve being stuck with me by the end.  We walked and trotted to get him moving off my leg (he took a lot of leg).  I am not convinced anyone had ever tried to maneuver his haunches and shoulders separately before, but he picked up fairly quickly.  He wasn't stretching down quite as much as I wanted but I was giving him a lot to process all at once.

We did some trot poles and dang that pony can get some suspension.  If he gets in shape and will work like that consistently he will kill it with the lesson kids at the show.  I was giggling the whole time we were doing trot poles.

What did I do to deserve this?

Then we moved on to some small jumps.  It has been over a month since I jumped and I think it has been closer to two months.  The first thing we did was a small grid so I could work on keeping him straight.  And work I did.  He ummm has a bit of a left drift, but is quite honest.  So we looked quite drunk but made it through.  We did the grid a few times until he was getting the hang of it then moved onto a small course.

The small course actually rode much better than I anticipated.  He was quite responsive and even when he was getting tired he was still game.  I was really impressed with him and secretly hoped he keeps being naughty so I can play with him some more.

Just stop already