One of the horses in the barn is a former pack horse/ranch horse from Wyoming. His owner, TN, is the contractor who built the barn and is friends with the BOs. TN and some friends owned a hunting guide outfit in Wyoming to take people into the wilderness and had 25-30 trail/pack horses and mules. When they sold the outfit, TN kept Sundance, his favorite horse and brought him home to Oregon.
We also figured out how to take selfies. Obviously very important
We don't know much about Sundance's history. He's in his teens, probably a QH or QH cross. I call him the Wyoming Warmblood. He's big, probably 16.3 and heavy boned and muscled. He's obviously had a hard life and is very wary of people. One hind leg has a scar that looks like he was roped. He's also got some arthritis issues. When he first came, he wouldn't step on the mats in the barn aisle, was nervous going into a stall, wouldn't eat treats, and it took him a while to figure out grain. You had to move slow and quietly around him or else he'd pull away from you. We think he'd always been turned out in a herd in Wyoming and maybe had never been in a barn or indoor arena. It was almost impossible to catch him once we turned him out for the summer.
We can also stand to get our foot soaked when we have an abscess. After snorting at the water once, he stood stock still the whole time. So proud!
TN had knee surgery at the beginning of the year so Sundance has sat for the most part. He has ridden him a handful of times, and every time Sundance has been super wigged out. But BO and I have started working with him to teach him how to be a normal pony. He's really come out of his shell and wants to be a good boy. He's started nickering at me, but that's probably because I come armed with cookies and carrots for him which he's figured out are amazing. But he can now crosstie, wear a blanket, pick up all four feet, and we've started learning how to lunge on a lunge line. He's decided getting his head brushed is the best thing ever. Seriously, he's so much better about it than Peebs, its sad. You still have to move slow and not spook him, but he comes back to you much quicker than he did before. He's also figured out he can canter in the indoor arena, and cantered four times when I lunged him on Monday. It used to be almost impossible to get him to canter at all, let alone that much. Hopefully BO and I will get on him sometime in the next couple weeks to see what he's like under saddle.
Peebs proved yet again he's a saint this weekend. As much as I get frustrated with out canter issues, and my jumping fear issues, I REALLY love and appreciate that I can do stupid shit with him and he takes it all in stride. I dressed him up (not nearly as awesomely as Bobby was), jumped a Christmas tree, and had a lesson in the pouring rain this past weekend.
I started by playing dress up Saturday with some garland, reindeer antlers, and a blinky red nose. Peebs wasn't a fan of the antlers, mainly because he can be a bit ear shy and they were touching his ears. It was hard to keep him from shaking his head and throwing them off. But we got a couple cute pics out if, even if he looks less than thrilled.
Peebs: I'm pretty sure when I got bought by a 20something the stupid "dress up the lesson horse thing" would stop. Me: You thought wrong!!!!
Bright and early Saturday I went Christmas tree shopping for the first time in 8yrs, I think. And I have no intention to put up my tree or decorate. It's purely jump filler. I've seen pics for years of people jumping their trees during the holidays, and finally this year I have a horse that I feel comfortable doing it on. So I went and bought a small little tree to play with. I put in the indoor while I had Peebs turned out and he glanced at it once then ignored it. I free lunged him a bit and he jumped it on his own so I figured we were good to go. I tacked him up and put the garland back on. A quick warm up later and we headed to the tree. And he didn't care. One. Little. Bit. He pretty much fell over the fence the first time. I think I need to get a bigger tree!
Sunday we had an early morning lesson. It had rained all night, but wasn't while we tacked up. The footing outside, while puddle filled, was fine so we braved the outdoors. And of course it promptly started raining about ten minutes into the lesson. Trainer called my bluff and made me stay outside. We did end up completely drenched but oh well. We didn't do much, just four fences strung together at the trot, working on bend and pace. Peebs was trying very hard to avoid the bigger puddles, and of course to get a good approach to fences we had to go through them. He wasn't pleased but I made a big effort to not get mad and pick at him and we actually had a pretty nice ride. It felt like if I picked a fight, there was a huge screw you in him and I'm glad I was able to avert disaster. Small victory!
I figured I'd jump on the location blog hop from Sarah. I know there's a few other bloggers from my area so you might end up seeing this more than once but it'd be fun to see their spin on things.
I'm in the central Willamette Valley in Oregon, roughly an hour and a half south of Portland. My part of the valley is mostly rural, but it's become more urban in the 12yrs I've been here. It's a lot of flat grassland with mountain ranges on either side, and the Willamette River in the middle. The county I live in is know as the Grass Seed Capital of the world; as in rye grass, bent grass, fescue (not THAT type of grass!!) My barn is set in the middle of grass seed fields and after they harvest in the summer (late June-early July) we can ride out in the fields.
As far as barns, there's a mix of general boarding barns, a few discipline specific barns, and a lot of people keep their horses at home or board in the winter for access to an indoor arena.
Costs:
I'm currently on self care at my barn so my costs are slightly different that average.
Trim $40
Fronts $90 (I haven't had a set of full shoes on my horses in years so I have no idea what they cost)
Training: I'd say lessons start at $35/hour and go up from there. As far as full training $350 on up. Again, I haven't had a horse in full training ever so I don't know. I do know some of the h/j barns and eventing barns in the area have requirements for lessons or training to board in the barn.
Pasture board $100 on up
Stall board: A lot of places around here offer self care, partial care, and full care. I'd say self care is $150, partial $250, and full care $350+.
Hay (everyone else's hay that I've seen has been way cheaper than mine, lucky!) Depends on if you get local valley grass, or eastern hay.
When I did the math (I buy by the ton), my eastern hay, which tends to be nicer than valley grass, was $11 a bale for 110lb bales, delivered and stacked in the barn. I could go to my hay guy's place and pay $14/bale but then would have to stack it myself.
I bought some valley hay last year and I think it was $12/bale for an 85lb bale.
My BO gets eastern alfalfa delivered for about $12/bale
Weather: It rains, A LOT. Pretty much October-May is the wet season. This October was the second wettest on record, and we got 11in of rain. We usually get a couple days of snow or ice a winter, but we have gotten over a foot of snow and down to 0* a couple years ago. It usually stays in the 30s-40s during the winter but can get colder. Summers are dry and in the 80s-90s but I've been at shows in July in the pouring rain and it was 48* and then a show in August at 105*.
Demographics: My area is mostly western...gaming, cows, trail riding. In my immediate area there are a few dressage and eventing barns, but no h/j barns within a half hour. The closer you get to Portland, the better the h/j scene gets. There is a healthy local/rated circuit up in Portland, a few nice rated shows in Central Oregon, but I find it sad that World Cup and Olympic rider Rich Fellers who is based just outside Portland rarely shows in his home state. I know there's not the $$ or demand for top shows and classes here but it would be nice to see him show on his home turf. A lot of the bigger barns travel up to Washington and Canada and/or down to California to show.
Frustrations: For me, lack of h/j barns in my area. I love my barn and my trainer, but I do miss being at a show barn and showing with a group. My trainer works a full time non horsey job, and is a single mom, so sometimes fitting in lessons can be challenging. I'm not a fan of the trainers at the two closest h/j barns (each over a half hour away) and I couldn't afford them.
Since it's that time of year I'm putting out my Christmas Wishlist. Some of the bigger ticket items are things I'm planning on replacing within the next year or so.
Leather Open Fronts:
I had to sell my much loved EquiFit open fronts (both the leather and the orginials) because they didn't fit Peebs. For whatever reason the EquiFits want to slide down his legs and bunch around his pasturn. I've had good luck with Majyk Equipe open fronts so I'd like to get a pair of their leather boots for showing. I haven't decided if I like the brown with the buckles or black with hook closures instead.
County Logic Girth:
I had to sell my 46" County Logic girth when I got my new saddle because it became to small for Peebs. I got a cheap fleece girth in a 48" that works, but its hard to clean and gets gross easy, especially in the wet Oregon winter. I'd love to pick up a new County Logic girth in a 48".
Deco Pony Name Plate:
I love the new Deco Pony name plates. I think I'd like to get both Peeb's show name and barn name on it. I've kinda jumped around in colors for my horses over the year, but lately I'm really into navy/silver combo, so navy background with silver lettering.
New Helmet:
My current helmet is due to be replaced in a year or so (unless *knocks wood* I have a fall). My head is a GPA shape; the CO's don't fit me at all. I've never tried a Samshield so I'd be interested in trying one on. But as far as GPAs go, I love my Speed Air. It's the comfiest helmet I've ever worn. I'm not sure I love the look of the First Lady, so it would probably be another Speed Air.
New Tall Boots:
I'm probably going to have to go custom for new tall boots. My 17" calf is a hard fit for off the rack boots, coupled with my short height. I have a pair of Ariat V Sport boots that fit, but the blue cuff isn't exactly hunter ring approved. I can get away with it at schooling/local shows but I want to start doing the rated shows again in the next year or so as well as some of the local medal classes when we're jumping that big again.
I mad the hour and a half trek north on Friday to watch Day 1 of the 2016 George Morris Clinic. It's hosted by Rich Fellers, so you get the added bonus of watching him ride. And catch glimpses of Flexible!! Honestly, I think I was more excited for that than anything else. This clinic has a slightly different format that others I've heard about; it's a 3 day clinic with 3'6", 4', 4'3"+ groups and is geared more towards the jumper rider than the hunter/eq.
Started the day off by catching a glimpse of Flexi
George had all three groups do the same basic exercises, both on the flat and over fences. Everyone started with shoulder in/out and haunches in/out at the walk and trot. George had them do lots of walk/trot and walk/canter transitions to sharpen the horses to their aids. All groups did counter canter, with the the 3'6" group only doing a little in their warm up while the the 4' group had to land off a fence and counter canter the corner and short side. The 4'3" group had to change direction in the canter and hold the counter lead going the new direction.
All three groups warmed up trotting a cavalletti to a trot fence. As they went through, the fence got progressively bigger and the 4'3" group ended up trotting like a 3'6" fence. It was huge! They jumped right into the jumping (sorrynotsorry for the pun) and did a tight roll back to an oxer, direct short five stride bending line to a skinny plank, then a four stride bending line to a triple bar. This caused lots of problem, for all three groups. The first group mainly wanted to over bend the first line, making the five easy or adding for six. The triple bar was set so the horses jumped directly towards the spectators, so they had to land and turn quick. Some horses spooked at us the first time and there were a few that looked like they might not make the turn. The first clip in the video is Chris Fellers (Rich's son) on his 3'6" horse (he also rode in the 4'3" group), a lovely chestnut that could come home with me. The second clip is Shelley (Rich's wife) in the 4'3" group. Shelley has been a pro and competing in FEI classes for a while now, but Chis just turned pro this summer and is now one of their assistant trainers.
The second exercise was a quadruple combination; a vertical two strides to an oxer, two strides to a vertical, one stride to an oxer. Then it was around the ring and down the center line towards the "open water". The 4'3" group then came around the ring and did the quadruple the opposite direction. Since it's December in Oregon the clinic was inside but Rich has a huge moveable liverpool that was set behind a plank. The 3'6" group had the most trouble with the water but luckily no one ended up in it! The quadruple took its toll as well, with the 3'6" and 4' group being nailed on their straightness, or lack of. In the 4'3" group Shelley's horse decided it was done and stopped out a few times with her. She came off but landed very gracefully on her feet. George had them lower the fences and she did it again going to the whip over every fence. They did it a few time till she didn't need to go to the whip. Rich's horse had some problem with one of the oxers, a big airy fence with all white poles. He knocked it a few times and George kept yelling out for Rich to do it again, and again, and again. They did finally get it, but George told Rich to set airy oxers all over the place.
Rich's horse #noscopenohope
As far as Georgeisms, and his temper, there wasn't much to report. He loved all the horses in the clinic; said this was one of the best groups he had. He asked one of the girls in the 3'6" if she owned the horse she was on, and when she said yes, he told her that the horse has a major problem. You could see her spine stiffen and she had a taken aback look on her face. He then said the problem was that she paid to little for her horse, that no matter what she paid the horse was worth much, much more. The whole audience laughed while she relaxed. There was one older adult ammy in the 4' group that had a few stops before falling off that George didn't let get back on. He had his helper, Alex something (didn't catch a last name, I think he was from Canada?) ride the horse for the rest of the group. George told her she needed to be in the 3'6" group and that she has hero syndrome. Trying to jump bigger and better when not prepared for it. He also made a few quips about having Alex or Rich show the horse while she sit in the VIP tent as owner. I felt sorry for her.
During the lunch break Flexi was in the crossties getting groomed. If there weren't a bunch of people around I would have kissed that little nose.
George and Alex each got on a horse for flat work during each session (and Alex got on the one horse from the 4' group to jump) but George only jumped one horse. At the end of the 3'6" group George rode Chris' horse. He schooled him over a couple single oxers and then the water. The horse didn't need schooling but it was obvious that George really liked him and wanted show that he's still got it. Video below.
I flew down to San Diego for a quick trip for Thanksgiving. We had dinner with the extended family at my aunt's house, then my parents and I headed south to their home in Mexico. They live about 30miles south of the border so it's not super far. We had a couple very nice and relaxing days before I had to head back home.
Thanksgiving sunset
In the first few days after the election, I had a strong feeling of needing to move back to San Diego/Mexico to be near my family. While that's mostly gone now, I still want to be able to know my options if things go to shit. I started looking up places in south SD, but holy $$, especially since I haven't even looked into jobs and housing. My old barn, that I rode at in high school, is in the north part of the county and over a hour and a half away from where my parents are now, excluding time it takes to cross the border. Mexico is a better option, considering I could mooch of my parents like the millennial I am. So I started looking for barns in/around Tijuana. I even went so far as to look up what it would take to export Peebs to Mexico. Lotta paperwork, and I'd have to have an official hauler take him across.
Mexican horse trailer...no thanks!
There's a place about twenty minutes from my parents house, in a very nice gated community that includes a private school, hotel, spa, and golf course. My mom had heard about this place and we had stalked them a bit on social media before she messaged them for more info. So on Saturday we stopped for a visit.
Serious arena goals. Just the view alone!
They offer lessons and boarding and host shows. They have two barns with a total of 24 stalls. Two arenas, and it looked like a couple small turn out pens. There's also a clubhouse with a bar and pool table. It's a jumper barn, since the hunter/eq world is a US/Canadian thing. We didn't get a full price list, but full care board including grooming and lessons (didn't specify how many) is $560 a month. Granted, I don't know what the trainers are like, but that seems like a pretty great deal to me. I know I'd pay at least double that around here for full board and training/grooming, and probably close to triple that in SoCal. I'm sure I could negotiate down because I wouldn't want full grooming and everything's negotiable in Mexico.
Clubhouse
We had showed up announced, and they had a vet out working on a horse so we didn't get to talk to anyone or wander through the barns. But the vet was speaking English, had a nice truck, and was wearing a Platinum Performance jacket which made me feel better. I'm tempted to go back when I'm down for Christmas and talk to someone, but it feels a bit like wasting their time since I don't actually plan to move, unless shit hits the fan.
It's been a while since I've updated the blog, but it feels like not much has happened. We're chipping away at the same old, same old. Working on pace, rhythm, and bend. We've had a couple good rides and lessons, and some bad rides and lessons.
We've done some grazing too
One of our biggest works in progress right now is cantering fences. I get nervous and tighten up; Peebs is convinced cantering around the arena is way too much work and the littlest touch from me is an excuse to break to the trot. Then I have to kick him back up to the canter and he gets offended. Then we're quick and rushy, and usually crooked and not balanced. Which makes me even more nervous. It's a fun cycle. We got downgraded to ground poles, because cantering them doesn't scare me nearly as much as actual jumps. Our instructions for now are to Make Him Go Forward, at all costs. Trainer doesn't care about his bend, or our distance to the pole, or even what lead he's on. She says Peebs has to canter till I actually ask him for a downward transition and I have to relax my hands and arm and let him go to the "fence". Because of the weather and the holiday I haven't had a lot of opportunities to jump, but our few attempts have steadily gotten better.
And some bareback No Stirrups November
We had a great dressage lesson last Monday. We focused on getting Peebs extra round and deep, then softening and letting him carry himself. We got our first steps of actual self carriage. His left lead canter was amazing; I was able to sit still and let him carry himself. He was so soft and light in my hand, definitely the best he's ever felt. Even our right lead canter had moments of brilliance where he kinda got it, but it's for sure a lot more work then the left. Which is better than the week before where he refused to bend right at all in the canter. Baby steps.
But how can you stay mad at that face?!?
We had had a complete meltdown about bending to the right while cantering at the end of an otherwise good ground pole lesson where Peebs decided he was done and F you very much. We were cantering up the long side to a single pole and he wanted to counter bend in the turn, throw his head up and to the left while swinging his haunches in. He'd then grab the bit and run at the pole. I got upset, he got upset, then trainer got on. She tried just circling down in the far corner, but Peebs wasn't having it. The one time she tried turning him pretty sharply, he propped up on his front end and just stopped then wouldn't move. We did end up working through it, somewhat, but it was no where near as nice as it could have been. But trainer told me to keep my expectations low and keep asking for a little more bend and softness each ride. Again, baby steps when I want marathons. If nothing else, Peebs will keep me humble.
