OHC Jump-a-Round

So Peebs' big adventure a week and a half ago was to haul down to a local show facility and participate in their free schooling day. I was waiting to do the recap to see if the photographer got any pics of us, but when he finally posted his photos after a week, we weren't in any. Boo. So you'll have to make due with blurry screenshots from my phone.

Peebs was good, just very distracted and wanting to look everywhere

The main goal of the schooling day was to get out and jump somewhere else, especially for A and Scottie who came with us. A can get nervous riding somewhere new and Scottie can feed off of her, so Peebs and I were moral support. We spent a long while just walking around the indoor schooling arena getting A comfortable before making our way outside to jump the course.

This facility has an open outdoor sand arena next to a small xc course. The Jump-a-Round course included both, but since neither A nor I have a xc vest, we could only do the stadium course. Which was fine. The way the day worked was that you warmed up then added your name to the list and waited to jump your round. It was slightly disorganized as some people were jumping much bigger and then the fences had to be reset if the next person was jumping smaller. My trainer came with us, so she was able to reset fences for me, and in her sneaky way claimed "There was only time to make some of them smaller; you can do it." when I said they still looked big.

We had a stop at this fence going the other direction but he's obviously not concerned about it this way

Peebs had been good in warm up inside, but was super distracted by everything outside. There were horses turned out grazing, a hay field getting baled, the xc field, and who knows what else capturing his attention. The course started with a line and we trotted the first fence pretty weakly. I realized he needed more from me than he usually does at a show, so we came back to trot the second fence and I went to my crop over it. That snapped him out of his funk and the third fence rode well. Fence four, the skinny x above, was off a tight turn, with another tightish turn to another outside line after. I brought him back to the trot and his distractedness took over and he very calmly stopped at it. It felt like he just wasn't paying attention and didn't realize he was supposed to jump it. So we circled back and I rode with purpose and we made it over just fine.

The rest of the course flowed pretty well after that. I passed my trainer after fence four and heard her say to relax my arms and follow and wouldn't you know, that worked. The second outside line was an easy five, then a long approach to a single on the diagonal back to the skinny cross rail (which we trotted again but did jump on the first try) then another long approach to a single diagonal. While definitely not our best round, we did school what needed to be schooled and that was the point of the day. We could have signed up for another round, but I was tired and starting to get sunburned and since it was only the fourth jump school in three months for Peebs, I didn't want to overdue it.  I hope they have more schooling days because I will definitely go back!

Cinder goes to Boarding School

I promise I'll update about Peebs' adventure but I'm still waiting for the pro photog to get back to me. Apparently he only posts some of the pics he took and if none of yours got posted you have to email him. So fingers crossed he gets back to me and took pics of us!

Anyways, Cinder left for boarding school yesterday. I was surprisingly anxious about it. Even though Trainer S seems super nice and sweet, I had visions of Cinder getting judged, or somehow flunking out. I was also trying to figure out what tack I should send her with. I didn't want to be "that" owner and bombard S with a ton of questions, or show up with a tack room's worth of shit, so I narrowed it down to brushes, Cinder's boots, and her bridle. And she's only 25mins away so if I need to bring something else over I will.

She wasn't too sure about the decorations till we gave her her grain then they became perfectly fine

Tuesday, the day before she left, A's mom, J, gave Cinder a going away party. She and A decorated Cinder's stall front, bough a goodie basket of treats, and then got pizza and a cake for us humans. J was almost more worried than I was about Cinder leaving. She's super attached to Cinder, since Cin is such an attention whore. I've already told J I'll take her over to visit.

Treats, a jolly ball, fly spray, lickit, and a salt block

I realized as I was hooking up the trailer that Cinder hasn't been hauled anywhere since she came to TCF last year. A was helping load and coming with me and thankfully it only took about a minute to get Cinder on the trailer. She did pitch a big fit during the first 10mins of the drive and arrived drenched in sweat. I guess I should haul her more than once a year.

I've only had a couple nightmares about her deciding to jump out of her stall

She settled in at VVF relatively quickly. Trainer S had just thrown everyone dinner so there was hay in her stall and after investigating Cinder quickly started eating.  Currently she's right next to the cross ties and tack room, so she'll get getting everyone's attention as they go past her, which she'll love. Trainer S and I talked a little bit more and I reluctantly said good bye and told Cinder to behave. I am going to check on her after work but S said she'll text me updates.

Reflections: June 2020 Quarantine

The month of June at TCF. Scottie lost a shoe twice, lost his fly mask, Peebs lost a shoe and Cinder lost her fly mask. But we're on day 10 and everything's been staying on!

Loving: That plans are coming together and things are starting to move forward.

Smelling: Nothing. My allergies have been awful.
Learning: History, especially what wasn't in our textbooks as kids.
Writing: Sadly, not much.

Reading: Blue on Blue by Dal Maclean

Watching: Queer Eye Season 5.

Craving: Berries. It's on the cusp of berry season up here and I AM READY

Obsessing: Over sending Cinder out to training. My baby's growing up!

Needing: Can't really thing of anything I NEED right now

Wanting: To buy Cinder's dad who is for sale. I can't afford another horse, I can't afford another horse...

Trying:  To stay awake.  I'm trying to reduce how much coffee I'm drinking.

Drinking:  Water, tea, and lemonade

Feeling: Cautiously optimistic for the future

Hoping: That momentum for BLM continues and we can have some real change

Listening: The audio book of The Lightning Struck Heart by TJ Klune

Clicking: Blogs to read

Back to Full Work

Peebs is back in full work and feeling good. When we first started increasing his work he was definitely a little stiff and lazy. We had one CTJ ride where I broke out my spurs and reinforced the idea that when I ask, he needs to go. He was very insulted but got his rear in gear and has been more forward in our subsequent rides. 

Unimpressed ears

We had our first lesson and jump school two weeks ago. I wanted my trainer’s eyes on him to confirm my thoughts that his stiffness was more of a coming back into work fitness issue and not a lameness one (she agreed with me) and to help us through his first jumps in almost two months. Peebs was much, much more forward when he realized we were jumping and suddenly I was having to hold him back and calm the beast instead of firing him up. I swear at one point his legs were spinning like a cartoon animal about to take off.

 

Having fun on the barn's new derby field

In our lesson last week we were able to advance from trotting single cross rails to trotting in and cantering through a line of cross rails, then putting together a course of cross rails including a rollback and bending line. Super exciting stuff! Peebs got tired quicker than he normally would have but we managed to fix (most of) our mistakes and end on a good note. Our last time through, we counter cantered the bending line but it was a very well balanced canter with the appropriate number of strides and my trainer said it would have been great if we were in an equation class and they called for it. We debated about going back to fix the line, but honestly I was so happy with everything else and for how I rode the counter canter, we decided to not pick that fight and end on a good note. 

Plus we had an exciting adventure two days later and I didn’t want to tire him out or make him sore. But that’s for another post!

Now Enrolling for Kindergarten

July 1st Cinder starts kindergarten! I had originally be planning on sending her to an event trainer who has a great reputation with babies and is certified as a young event horse rider and trainer. Then the trainer moved barns and her board prices went up $200/month and the barn was farther away from me. I thought about it and figured I could make it work since show season has gone out the window. Then she stopped responding to my messages and when she did respond she said she's not really doing the young horses anymore, and isn't starting any under saddle. Ok then.

She's going to miss her BFF Scottie

So I posted an add on a local FB page asking for recommendations. I had a few other trainers in the back of my mind but figured I'd see what was out there. About half the replies were for the trainer mentioned above which obviously I disregarded. And even though I stated in the ad I wanted someone within an hour and half of me, I got a few people 3-5hrs away, and two in a different state. But I did get a few recommendations for a local trainer (15mins from work and 25 from my house) and messaged her.  She was great to talk to and we arraigned for me to come watch her teach a lesson last Saturday.

When you can't find a step stool and have to use a chair

Trainer S is also an event rider, but has a h/j background. She's started a number of horses under saddle and had ridden a lot of young/green horses as well. All the horses in the barn looked happy and healthy, and while the property is a little run down, I can see the improvements Trainer S has been making. The lesson I watched was with a jumper rider who has done up to the 1.30m, and I liked how Trainer S explained things and tried to trouble shoot the problems that arose during the lesson. Trainer S was easy to talk to in person and, most importantly, she's a fan of red headed mares!

Tentatively the plan is for Cinder to be with Trainer S for four months, then I'll bring her home for the winter. Once she's going a bit under saddle Trainer S will let me swap out 2 lessons a week instead of training rides which will be great. I'm excited for Cin's next chapter and hope she'll be good for Trainer S. This will be the first time in my life I'll have a horse in full training and it feel weird. I'm going to go check on her multiple times a week since she'll be so close but I'm for sure nervous sending my baby off to boarding school!

Happy Birthday Peebs

Peebs' 13th birthday was Sunday. We celebrated by sharing a bag of Sour Patch Kids (his favorite treat) and having our second ride since the fence incident.

On the 29th Peebs had his stitches taken out and was cleared for turnout. Vet still wanted me to wrap him with a standing wrap, 12hrs on/12hrs off to wean the leg off of being wrapped. He also said to wait a week to ride and to slowly bring him back up to full work. Knock on wood he's sound and did no soft tissue damage, so we're not taking it as slowly as if we were rehabbing a tendon, but we've only trotted two laps around the arena so far. And as of Saturday he was wrap free! He was a little stocked up Sunday, but it went away during our ride and hasn't returned.

He was less happy about going back to work than I was

It's been raining off and on for the past few days and is supposed to continue all week. I was going to ride last night but it poured right before I got to the barn and Peebs was soaked. Hopefully I can ride tonight and continue our rehab!

What I'm Doing

It's been hard to put into words what I've been feeling this past week, but I know I need to. As it's been stated before, and much more eloquently, now is not the time for silence. So to follow Megan's lead
 I'm going to share what I've been doing and am planning on doing.

Donating

•     Since the election in 2016 I've been a member and made monthly donations to the ACLU. I upped the amount of my donations starting this month
• I donated to the local bail fund for protestors in my state
• My family is a bunch of book nerds, and my mom and I both used to work for Border's, so I love the idea of Saddle up and Read.  I've donated to them and plan to donate in the future.
  
• One of my friends posted on FB that for then next week she's matching donations up to $500 to any BLM/LGBTQ organizations. Since I had already donated and felt like using those receipts would be a cop out, I donated to the Okra Project, which provides meals and resources to Black Trans people.

Reading and Learning

• Blogs, especially from POCs
• Books. I have a few that I've ordered on the way, and a couple on hold at the library I need to go pick up.
• Articles (basically anything on L's list)
  

Sharing

•    I've been trying to share info about what I'm donating to, when and where protests, marches, and vigils are happening near me.  

I know there's more I can and should be doing, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This is my first step and I'm determined to continue on as long as needed.