Life At the Itty, Bitty Farm

It has been a week back at the itty, bitty farm and all is good! Tucker's itching has been reduced by probably 90%. The hair is regrowing in his face. Imp has settled in and they are both behaving...for the most part, anyhow!

Tucker unrolled the hay roll I bought last week, and has tried to get into the barn when it is closed up during the day, but a good heavy chain to secure the gate has worked much better at keeping the gate shut, much better than the bungee cord I used the first day (seriously, what was I thinking?).

Tucker's stall is nice and neat again and I think that his trashed stall in Geneva was the result of his constant itching. Poor guy, he never had any relief. I definitely made the right decision.

I do miss the vast open space, Nikki's company and having a "real" barn to work in...a barn with big, wide aisles for one! It is challenging keeping a moose like Tucker in an itty, bitty barn. Instead of crossties, trailer ties work better. I remind myself of the pictures I once saw of legendary show jumper Ian Miller's barn. His aisleways in the old barns weren't much bigger! Unfortunately though, the hayroom is too easily accessible and I think I need to install a stall guard above the door to keep greedy horses out of the stacked hay!

It is easier to make some concessions since there are just the two. When I am around, they are free to come and go in and out of the barn.
I was stressing over how clingy Imp would be once I started riding Tucker over in the other field, which is on the other side of the house. Amanda rode him twice this week, staying in the field with the barn, and she followed him like a puppy.
The fretting was for nothing, she barely concerned herself with us going through the gate. A few times she wandered over to the gate to watch, and a couple times today she strolled to the other side of the barn, and then I heard her frantic whinny as she realized she was out of her comfort zone, and she came back over to the gate to check on us. Thankfully, though, no running back and forth or going crazy.
Speaking of crazy, the woman next door has 4 horses on the 1/2 acre. I am planning on keeping a low profile and other than riding in the adjoining field, I have no plans on utilizing that pasture. Hopefully, we will have sold our house and bought a farm and moved before I have to put up any fencing over there!

Our Mane Event meeting was this past week. Tucker's 1st place in stadium at our club rally last fall earned us the 3rd place for all combined entries across the country. Not only did I leave the meeting with a gorgeous rosette, but also as the club's newly elected President. I am excited to help our club enter it's 10th year!
Today was the Longwood South inaugural schooling horse trial. I had been so looking forward to it, until I discovered they were not offering stabling. Since I have to travel with Imp, and was not looking forward to getting up at 4 am, I opted to scratch and will instead look towards the next Rocking Horse schooling show.

I mull over renewing the USEA membership and going to one of the recognized events they are offering over the next few months, but still want to make sure our dressage scores have improved enough to justify the expense of a recognized trial. I think we are there, but need the shows to confirm this.
It is frustrating, it seems something is always preventing us from getting out and showing, but I know that once we have our own place, life will be normal and I will have the opportunity!
In the meantime, we will continue our work and keep plugging away.
I am happy to have the horses so close to home again! I see them two and three times a day.
Life is good!

On The Move Again

Well, once again, I have packed up the horses and moved...back to the little barn off of Tuscawilla Road.

I left this barn in September, when Nikki, who shared the barn with me, bought a farm of her own. Even though it was much further for me (Geneva....a good 40 minutes, compared to 10 minutes), I wanted to keep the horses together (Tyke, Nikki's horse has boarded with me for about 5 years, when I leased a barn in Chuluota and moved with me last year when I left that barn). And, with Jen in Tampa at USF, I was faced with not having any barn help. Nikki, a pony club graduate, and I, see eye to eye on how we care for our horses. I never have to worry about not being at the barn as Nikki is as meticulous as I am about the horses care.

Unfortunately, the area of her barn did not fare well for Tucker, who has bad allergies. The noseeums were relentless and Tucker spent his days itching and itching. Suddenly, the allergies which I have micromanaged for years, were out of control.

I was torturing him.

So, I made the decision to move back to the little barn, as I call it.

Yesterday, Imp and Tucker walked into the field that the barn sits in, as if they had never left.

Hobbs, the barn cat, staked out her tackroom again.

The difference this time, is Imp has moved into Tykes old stall, which is a bit larger. She ate all her dinner last night, a sign that she is content!

This morning, despite the cold weather and ice on the windshield, it was good to be up early and to walk into a barn of hungry horses!

Yes, I will be "tied down" again to the barn...2, probably 3 trips to the barn every day. Amanda, my youngest, has offered to help with chores.

I hope that we will sell our house quickly and the next move the horses make, hopefully within the next few months, will be their last...it will be to our own farm!

Vultures, Mirrors and More Dressage!

Did you know that vultures don't like their image in mirrors? Now you are probably asking yourself, "When does a vulture ever see itself in a mirror?" Well, vultures circling about Adagio Farm in Geneva have that opportunity, thanks to the mirrors alongside the dressage ring. And according to Bruce, sand hill cranes don't like their image either. When I arrived for my lesson this morning, I was greeted by the spectacle of a dozen or so vultures hanging out around the mirrors. One, in particular, was having a one sided fight with himself. Apparently, this is a common occurrence. And the scratches along one particular mirror, Bruce explained, were from the sand hills attacking their "enemy."

Its funny...some horses notice themselves, others don't. Tucker didn't blink an eyelash the first time he saw the mirrors. Jen rode Imp over and Imp didn't react, having seen mirrors before, however, each time she passed alongside them, she would pin her ears. I guess horses are like humans...obviously, from the bare muffin tops and tight clothes, there are quite a few women who don't notice their appearance in a mirror!

Our dressage lesson was great! Bruce is very generous with his praise. We have been working diligently with our leg yields, shoulder support and keeping Tucker round and balanced.

"Don't worry about his head," Bruce told me. "Instead, keep him balanced and collected..the head set will come." And sure enough, by the end of our session, Tucker's head was flexing at the poll, coming on the vertical!

We worked more on leg yields, spirals and canter departures.

There is some communication problems however! Bruce, despite his eventing background, speaks dressage. I however, speak jumper and eventer. Just where the hell is the quarter line? And what do you mean, do a change of direction within the circle? Doesn't that mean ride to B and change direction? I am doing a 10 meter circle...oh, you mean around you standing on the center line, not between you and and rail. Years of listening to loud rock music has definitely impacted my hearing, and the wind blowing doesn't help. We laughed at our different interpretations and he explained what he was looking for.

We got some nice leg yields accomplished. Tucker felt fabulous! I can feel the transformation in him and Jen and Bruce notice it. It was a good end to a start that began with vultures attacking themselves!

AND! Jen tacked Imp and rode her...this was the first time Imp has been under saddle since February. She is sound, and as she rode Imp around the dressage ring, with Imp collected and round, they looked fantastic! Bruce wanted to know why she wasn't showing her! Who knows, if Imp can stay sound and get back in shape.....

Friends, horses and food!

Gamblers Choice

Yep, pole bending in english tack!

I belong to the Mane Event, a local chapter of the OPRC...I have to cringe a little when I say what that stands for...OLD People's Riding Club. I am not old, don't like being called or implied that I am old and while I love the club, I wish it were not called the OLD People's Riding Club.
The OPRC was founded as an adult version of the United States Pony Club. Just like in pony club, the OPRC has rallies and ratings.
I have been a member of the Mane Event since it began, which was in the early 2000's. It is a fun group of mainly horsewomen (and a few good men!) who all love their horses. We meet every month for dinner and a guest speaker, and have one hell of a Christmas party! Everything we do has 3 main components: horses, fun and food (and sometimes, some wine or champagne! At my first rating, years ago, we celebrated with champagne....we certainly didn't do that in the USPC!!).
To participate in club sanctioned events, everyone must be rated. I achieved my C2 last year, and remind Jen all the time that I will beat her to becoming B rated!
Last weekend the club hosted a rally. Since our members come from all disciplines: pleasure, dressage, driving, gated horses and eventing, we had a variety of classes at the rally.
It was a beautiful fall day, the morning started cold and quickly warmed into the 70's. An extra bonus, the OPRC President, Sheila Haviland, flew in for the event from Maryland. Our judge was Iris Bolt, an "L" dressage judge from Germany.
Our first class was trail. I was game. I wanted to show how versatile my big draftx is! Tucker was so brave...we tackled the bridge, moved a shirt from one post to another and navigated the L, forward and backwards. The trotting through cones and over poles was a breeze. Then we got to the pole on the ground, which required side passing over. Tucker suddenly developed amnesia...he wouldn't sidestep the pole. Not to the left, not to the right. Not facing the judge, not away from the judge. So our undoing was not the blowing in the wind shirt or the bridge, but a pole on the ground!
Side note, a week later, Tucker executed a perfect sidepass all the way across the dressage arena, from B to E. Go figure! I don't think he liked the pole on the ground!
We rode in dressage training test 2. We earned a respectable 60.9%, which I felt redeemed our dressage test at Rocking Horse a month earlier, where we earned a 42 on what was the first cold morning of the season (in eventing, the dressage tests are low, preferably in the 20's and 30's, whereas in dressage, you want 60's into the 70's and 80's). We took the blue for that class. Next up was jumping. We had a gamblers choice and while the highest jumpers class was only 2'3, we took the blue. Next was pole bending...hey, why not! We had the 3rd fastest time, laughing the whole way in and out of poles!
Of course, a pot lot lunch was part of the day's festivities. Friends gathered around in semi-circles, eating good food and discussing the days events so far. Recipes were exchanged, with Lew's chicken salad being a big favorite, with Jane's pumpkin cookies getting rave reviews!

It was a beautiful day to share with friends and our horses.

Visualizing Dressage!

My daughter, Jen, has a t-shirt that lists the top 10 things about eventing. One of them is that "eventually dressage and show jumping will go away," leaving just cross country!
While that is wistful thinking, it isn't going to happen...if you want just cross country, there are eventing derbies and fox hunting to give you that. Without dressage, while eventers moan about it, is a necessary evil to eventing...that test of training and response on the first day is what makes a great eventer responsive and in tune with his rider on the cross country course.
Even when I was a teenager and didn't know anything about dressage, I still knew that it was important to ride my horse on the flat. I had a hot headed grey jumper, a Perch-QH-Arab cross by the name of Sir Tally. I bought him in his late teens for $800, and he had alot of baggage that came with him...he could jump, but his nick name was Silver Streak. It didn't matter what type of bit we used....kimberwickes, pelhams (God, I hate double reins!), elevators, gags....nothing mattered. Finally, in desperation and frustrated by my lack of control in the show ring, I turned to flat work. No jumping for 6 months. Instead, we did leg yields, circles, transitions and more transitions. When we showed up at our first horse show in a snaffle, at least five people asked if I had lost my mind...after we rode our first course in a cool, calm and controlled manner, everyone was asking what I had done! It was a proud moment for me, and a major turning point in my riding career. I suddenly realized, that any horse can go in a snaffle, if properly trained with flat work...no matter the chosen discipline of the horse.
In eventing, a good dressage score is the opposite of traditional dressage, where the good scores are high...60's, 70's and 80's. Few achieve scores in the 90's. In eventing, the good scores are low. Low 30's is the norm. A few break into the 20's. Jen would pretty much always score in the low 30's, and it was a difficult task to achieve those scores on her hot Thoroughbred mare, yet she made it look so easy. In upper level eventing, such as Rolex, scores average in the 40's and 50's.
Tuckers first horse trial earned us a 38. Not great. It was ok. His conformation, with his short thick neck, makes bending at the poll difficult. We constantly struggle with this. Our next outing, last month at Rocking Horse (see post about the fire breathing dragon!), was horrible...the first cold front of the season meant I was happy to just keep him within the dressage ring without jumping out, or bucking along the way. It was a disastrous 42. Clearly not the direction we were hoping to head in.
The week before that event, I had taken a lesson with Bruce Patti of Adagio Farm. After complimenting my hands and seat, Bruce immediately pinpointed what I needed to work on: getting Tucker more uphill, creating smoother transitions to the walk and getting him to flex through the poll.
Bruce is a visual instructor. I like that. Having images to compare my movements to really helps me. For the transitions to the walk, he told me to imagine that we were about to crash into a padded wall. The impact would result in Tucker doing a boing-boing-boing movement. In other words, when asking for the walk, don't let all the energy dissipate, resulting in a boring, flat walk. Instead, move into the walk and keep the momentum, resulting in a bouncy, forward and animated walk. Now, when I do my down transitions, I simply imagine that padded wall in front of us!
For his heaviness on the forehand, Bruce wanted me to try different half-halts than I was already doing. He wanted them quicker but stronger, so he instructed me to visualize coming down a hill at the gallop, with a log jump at the bottom. Such a ride would entail strong half-halts to get the horse collected and on his haunches, ready to make the jump. So now, when Tucker is starting to get strung out and too heavy on the forehand, I give him the necessary half-halts, just as I would if we were about to approach that jump at the bottom of a hill.
The other instruction I got from Bruce was to increase the transitions. Constantly be changing gaits to keep Tucker guessing what was coming next, which would aid with the bending and flexing as well as getting him off the forehand.
We practiced these every ride and at the next lesson, last week, Bruce commented that it showed that I had taken his instruction to heart and was practicing. "Why wouldn't I?" I asked....to spend good money for someone's advice and then not follow it would be a waste of money.
We worked more on the bending as well as learning to do a rein back and ask for a canter. I had never done a rein back into a canter. Again, a visual example: imagine that I am asking Tucker to move forward, but there is a closed door and the only way to move is to go backwards. Keeping him round and supple, he must take a few steps backwards, then stop and immediately proceed into the canter. We need more work on that task! We were able to keep him round and collected, and a few movements got him getting the hocks under him and pushing off, but he was a bit confused and Bruce instructed me to work on this task only in lessons for now, so as to not further confuse Tucker. Our take home work included more transitions and doing 6-8 meter circles with the inside rein leading wide out...."like a witch stirring her cauldron"...yet another visual image....and then to ask Tucker to leg yield on the bend. Bruce explained this is something that he would not instruct a beginner to do, and doesn't use this method often, but with Tucker's conformation, he feels this will help with the flexing. "Anyone other than a reiner may question why you are doing this, but don't worry about what people think" he said. We also lengthened my stirrups and worked on my position at the sit trot...less up/down and more sliding with my seat bones forward and back, like a snow skier. It is a challenge doing this in an all purpose saddle, but Bruce kept encouraging me to allow my calf's to stretch down and keep my knees away from the saddle blocks.
Our lesson today was more challenging. Bruce is asking us to raise the notch a level, and let me say, I am ready for the challenge! Lots of leg yields with more outside rein support, doing our small circles with leg yields, and reinbacks into the canter. Tucker is a tough cookie with his stiffness to the right. We have our work cut out for us, but I say, bring it on! I want to be competitive come January at the Longwood South Horse Trials..with $20,000 in prize money...yes, you read that right, I want to come home with some of that loot!
I can't wait for next week's lesson!

Body Clipping 101

Imp before being clipped..the wooly beast! Imp after....

body clipping: the act of transferring all of the hair on your horse to your body.

I don't know of any horse owner who enjoys body clipping. Many, are willing to fork over more than a hundred dollars to pay somebody to perform this chore.

It is back breaking, takes hours to do, the horse usually doesn't cooperate and requires being sedated, and when you are finally finished, you are covered in itchy horse hair.

For some, it passes sheath cleaning on the "yuck" scale of horse chores.

I have been pretty lucky. For years, I have had very little clipping to do.

Imp, our Thoroughbred mare, never had much of a winter coat. When she was competing, I never had to clip her.

Tucker, my draft cross from Canada, did have a coat. But because he was young and not going anywhere in the winter, I never bothered to clip him. Which was good, because when he was younger, he had an aversion to clippers and even the simple act of clipping whiskers and ears required a twitch. (I am happy to report that he outgrew that aversion!)

Dolly, our little Quarter Horse mare, unfortunately did require clipping. She had an even worse aversion to clippers than Tucker did. And you simply did not come near her with a twitch. It just wasn't going to happen. So, like alot of things with the aged mare, we compromised. She allowed me to do a modified trace clip and in exchange, she only popped me in the face with her knees a few times instead of kicking me to a pulp. It was a good compromise.

Like much in life, things change.

Dolly has crossed the rainbow bridge to greener pastures. Tucker has adapted to Florida and doesn't grow much of a winter coat. Ironically, about the time he stopped growing a coat was the time that Imp did start growing a coat. Imp is now a wooly mammoth. It is strange. The year we retired her and she had her knee surgery, she started growing a coat, which every winter since, gets longer and longer.

I am a regular visitor to the Chronicle of the Horse website and every year, there is a thread about wet clipping.

In years past, when I had to body clip, I did the normal method: you wait for a warm day, bathe the horse, wait hours for the horse to dry and then start clipping. Proponents of wet clipping advocated that you could skip the hours of waiting for the horse to dry and start clipping the horse while wet. I was intriqued.

This is the second year that I have clipped Imp while she was wet. I love it!

Immediately after bathing her, I scrape the excess water off and immediately start clipping her. Fortunately, Imp's impeccable manners carry over to clipping and she demonstrates perfect manners throughout the clipping, although she is ticklish on her left flank and I had to remind her a couple of times that I was standing next to that cocked hind leg. Having a well mannered horse makes clipping so much easier and faster.

With wet clipping, the biggest bonus is that I am not covered in itchy horse hair! The wet hair either drops right to the ground or stays on the horse in a clump, which with a swoop of the hand is removed. You really realize how much hair does not land on you when you get to the final 10% and the hair is dry and flying straight off into your face....I should have re-wet her at that point, but wanted to keep going.

The other advantage to wet clipping is that there are no clip lines. Also, the clippers stay cooler and I don't have to lubricate the blades as often...in fact, this time around, I couldn't find my lubricant and didn't use any at all.

The pictures above are the proof that wet clipping works. Some posters on COTH say it doesn't work for them. I don't know if there is a difference with clippers (I use the Oster Clipmaster), if there is a difference in hair or what, but I do know it works for me, and it is nice to finish the job and not be covered in hair!

How to Ride a Fire Breathing Dragon!

October 1 was not only our first horse trial in over 2 years, it was also the first day that fall finally made an appearance!
I had been anticipating the schooling show at Rocking Horse for some time. Finally employed again and somewhat healthy (although still dealing with a torn miniscus and occasional cramping from last years blot clot in the calf), I am ready to finally start seriously showing Tucker!
My fellow pony club mom Pam, was talked into going with me! Even though Pam hasn't ridden her Thoroughbred, Copper all summer, her daughter Brittany volunteered to ride him in a dressage test. Whenever I want to go somewhere with Tucker, I call upon Pam to come with me. Tucker travels best with a companion, and Pam and I always have so much fun!
We decided to go up to Rocking Horse Friday night, rather than having to get up at the crack of dawn.
Unfortunately, that thing called work meant a late departure and we didn't arrive at Rocking Horse until almost 10:00 at night. We got the horses, who traveled perfectly, tucked in their stalls and made a beeline for the ever so quaint Fox Den, a few miles away.
For those not familiar with the Fox Den, it is, according to their website, a renovated 1950's era hotel. It is clean, but I believe they renovated it with furnishings from a vintage store! It is a hodgepodge of 1960's and '70's furniture, but that just gives it more of its charm.

The whole reservation was done by email...

ME: "I need a room for this date"...

FOX DEN: "the door will be left open, leave the key and the cash or check on the desk when you leave and lock the door behind you."
When we arrived, there was a sticky note on the door, welcoming the Tankel Party!
You don't get that kind of service at the Hilton!
This kind of service makes Pam nervous however, and we had to check under the beds and the closet, and I will admit however, that as I showered, I did envision Norman Bates lurking outside the room!
As I said, Saturday was the debut of the first day of fall. The temps were in the mid 50's, which was about a 20 degree drop for us.
Needless to say, my normally sedate Tucker was replaced by a FIRE BREATHING DRAGON!
Giving him a much need bath at 7:30 probably didn't help!
As I attempted to hand graze him, he spooked at the food caterer. He would buck. He would jump at the grass blowing. He spooked at the golf carts and scooters. I realized that drinking my hot tea and trying to hold him would not work.
I am really terrible at managing my time, and suddenly, I realized I needed to have been on and warming him up about 20 minutes ago. Our dressage test was at 9, I wanted to be on him at 8 and here it was 8:20.
We tacked up and headed out to the big front field where the dressage rings are. I didn't realize how bad he was behaving until a woman on a horse trying to come through the gate stopped to let us pass first, and commented how "we should have the right of way." "What does THAT mean, I wondered?" Meanwhile, Tucker was snorting and bucking and than broke into a handgallop.
I ride Tucker in a snaffle.

Suddenly, I wished for a piece of barbwire in his mouth.
Our warmup was, well, entertaining. I am sure we gave several riders quite the scare.

But, I soon realized, we weren't alone. There were other fire breathing dragons warming up, some worse than Tucker.
Long story short, I contained Tucker and got the bucks out of him so that we could ride our test. It was not pretty. It pretty much sucked. We blew through our transition from a trot to a medium walk. His free walk was horrible. He was stiff. He wouldn't bend. He was hollow. I felt like I was riding a camel. I didn't need the comments from the judge to confirm what I already knew. But you know what? He didn't buck, he stayed in the ring and I didn't fall off! So, despite our score of 42, I would have to say it was a success!
He walked out of the dressage test suddenly a much mellower horse. Could we have a do over, please?

Stadium jumping was calm and collected and focused.
Cross country was a total blast! I did not have time to walk the course....remember how I mentioned how I am not good at managing my time? I had arranged with a friend to use her ATV to do the walk, as I was afraid that if I walked the course with my torn miniscus, I wouldn't be able to ride. Well, not thinking, I figured I would have time in the hour between stadium and cross country. Well, first, the cross country had started by the time I finished stadium, so I couldn't take the ATV out, and second, there really wasn't that much time! So we headed out to the course, map in hand, and I watched the other riders go. And eventers, being the kind people they are, gave me tips. Comments like "after fence 9, be looking immediately for the opening in the woods and be ready for jump 10," and " after you come out of the woods, look for the 2 big intermediate benches and the ditch will be on your left," really saved us!
We came out of the start box, looking for the jumps that had numbers on a yellow background and off we went! Imp could count down and would shoot out of the start box like a rocket. Tucker hasn't learned to count backwards yet and it takes a few strides to get him up to speed. Once we got going, Tucker ate up the ground, attacking every jump like a seasoned pro. We settled into a steady pace. At one point, I thought I would emmulate the great Ralph Hill, who is known for singing rock songs as he barrels his way cross country. The first song that popped in my head was Old McDonald Had a Farm....my voice caused Tucker to bolt a bit (not surprised, my singing has that affect on everyone). I belted out that Old McDonald had a horse, EIEIO and then decided that while singing may help Ralph breath, it was having the opposite effect on me, so I quit! I think Tucker was happy that I did!
We went double clear, finishing on our dressage score. I couldn't be happier! The last time Tucker was out on cross country was last spring, and we hadn't even jumped anything since then, until last weekend, when I set up some of the jumps at the new barn. I remembered to look up over each jump, as pictures from our first event shows (as evidenced in the photo above, which was from our first trial in 2009) show me looking down at the jump, as if I were saying to myself, "wow, we really are jumping that!" Tucker was pretty well recovered, so I am happy that our conditioning plan works. The optimum time was 5:47. We rode it in 5:04. Funny, it didn't feel that fast, so I guess we need to work on his pacing. His huge stride really covers alot of ground. Final results had us tied for 6th.
Next up, December at Rocking Horse! Look out, we are ready for some serious cross country fun!