Update-first rides down!

It's been a busy week--we have a cardiology test tomorrow that I'm having the HARDEST time getting motivated to study for.  Blech.  

I've also decided to rename Brian...I like the name Brian, but again, I know three people off the top of my head named Brian, and although it's fun to joke around with my husband about my new boyfriend, I think it may be getting old.  I've decided on the name Jasper.  I've always been partial to the name, and also like that it's a semiprecious stone that's a reddish-brown color.  I think his name needs to be more fancy that just Jasper, so there will likely be additional components added at a later date, when I get the idea.

On Monday I headed out with the idea of doing some groundwork, and then I'd get on and we'd just walk around the indoor arena.  At this point, I'm trying to make everything as positive as possible.  He was perfect, as usual, and we just poked around for about 20 minutes of walking.  Then on Tuesday, I decided I'd likely need a push into the next gear, and so asked Lacey (the barn manager and an amazing horsewoman) to give me a lesson.  Since Wayne isn't coming until Thursday with my Jasper-gear, I had to borrow a bridle and bit, and the bridle was quite large.  The bit was a loose-ring, and it was obvious he had likely been ridden in the same eggbutt snaffle for his entire life.  He was very confused by the new bit, and kept getting his tongue over it.  We worked on him giving to the bit with an immediate release, and he didn't really "get" the whole releasing bit.  Lacey said she could see him trying to figure it out.  He would break at the poll, I'd release, and then he'd typically shake his head a little and then lean down to get contact on the bit.  So we'll work with him on that.  We did some trotting, and Lacey had us canter, but we picked it up going to the left and he seems to like dropping his left shoulder around the turns, so it was a disorganized, unbalanced sort of canter that made me a little afraid.  

My problem on new horses is that I tend to ride really defensively and almost in a 2-point position.  My saddle, a Specialized, is definitely built for endurance, and puts me in a more "active" riding position than I or Lacey would prefer at this point.  She's going to let me borrow a dressage saddle for tomorrow's lesson so I can practice putting my tooshy in the saddle.  I also tend to react to him getting forward by almost going forward into the fetal position.  Not effective for sending clear messages to a horse that's trying to speed up to get under me.  I also have a tendency to tense up really bad, which goes with the new horse/bad experiences on Cricket thing.  This is part of the reason I decided to enlist a lot of help early in our relationship--Lacey can help me remember to relax by constantly reminding me to do so.  I just need to remember to BREATHE.  I should probably get back to practicing meditation again, I imagine that would help a lot.

After my lesson, Lilly, the daughter of the barn owner, was hanging around and I could tell she really wanted to go riding (she's not allowed to ride alone).  I have always enjoyed the company of kids, and Lilly is an especially fun kid.  She loves science and enjoys hearing about all my "gross" vet school stuff.  So I asked her if she was looking for someone to ride with and offered to go get Callie.  She was ecstatic, and we headed out to the field with our horses.  We did a couple rounds of trotting and practiced our cantering, and headed back after about a half hour.  It felt good to get both horses ridden!  And I noticed I have no problem sitting on my butt on Callie--it's just the insecure feeling of a new horse, and the constant fear that they'll bolt with me.  Thanks, Cricket.

That's all for now.  Lacey, Wayne and I are planning to trailer to Moscow Mountain on Friday afternoon for a little trail ride.  I'm anxious to get Jasper out on the trail and to see how he handles it, and it'll be fun to go riding with Wayne.

Contest!

Tamara of In the Night Farm in Idaho is having a contest over on her blog for a free indian bosal bridle from Crazy Ropes.  Check it out here!


http://inthenightfarm.blogspot.com/2008/10/best-of-barb-wire-contest.html

The Best Day Ever

Saturday was a very happy day.  I had lofty goals of sleeping in very late, but the excitement got to me and I only managed to sleep until 8:15.  Friday night was spent giggling with the girls while we "bedazzled" Kristin's wedding dress and defaced our own.  We had such a fun time, we were afraid the halloween party would disappoint.  (It didn't!)

I awoke on Saturday morning with the idea of getting stuff done around the house.  I needed to laundry and otherwise clean my living space, as last week's schedule of two exams and a project due didn't allow for much time for chores.  I ended wasting the entire morning, save for doing all my laundry.  Ah, well.

I showered and headed out to the bank to get my wad of cash to pay for Brian.  I was so nervous driving around with it!  I ended up getting to the barn about 2 and spent an hour riding Callie around the field.  We've been working on her canter, as I've never been able to reliably get one under saddle.  I think she's starting to catch on, although we've yet to do any cantering AWAY from the barn.  Kristin arrived about 3, and we paced the barn waiting for M to call and say she was 25 minutes away.  At 3:45, the phone rang, and I was pretty excited because it meant they'd be just about right on time.  But she said they were right outside the barn, and didn't know which entrance to take.  I was instantly elevated to pure excitement!!

They pulled in and said the trip had been very good, and that Brian had been very well-behaved in the trailer.  M said she had been worried he fell out the back since he'd been so good!  Anyways, he unloaded and looked very bewildered!  We turned him out in the indoor arena, where he pranced and trotted around looking very handsome and happy to be out.  He discovered the stunning horse in the mirror, and had a nice, long pee.  Then we turned him out with his new pasturemate, Shadow, who did not ever allow him to get even close to her.  He spent the little bit of time trotting back and forth at the fenceline looking at everything.  M said her sad goodbyes, and we left to give them a tour of the vet school.

I went out today with an open mind.  If he seemed ready, I would ride today.  When I arrived, Meg (the barn owner), said they'd moved Shadow out since she wasn't letting him near the feed.  She said he'd only been picking at his food, as he was so busy trotting back and forth being a looky-loo.  I immediately became concerned something was wrong, but when I went in and started quietly talking to and stroking him, he calmed down enough to eat.  I took him out and hand-grazed him for a half-hour or so, and, deciding he was nothing other than completely overwhelmed, saddled him and took him into the arena for a little ground work.  I wanted to take advantage of the newness to take on a leadership role with him, and it seemed to work.  Even though he was looking around, he absolutely respected my voice commands.  We did a little work in the outdoor arena, and then I took him for a walk and a snack around the field.  He did very, very well.  And I'm in love.

Tomorrow I'll head out with an open mind again, and the hopes that he's calmed down.

Brian's Here!

He was delivered this afternoon!  I'm ecstatic!  More on all of it later....

Brian's Delivery

Brian will be delivered on Saturday!  I'm so excited I can hardly wait!  She's bringing all his stuff--his nice blanket for when it's chilly, his supplements, etc, etc. 

Now I have to decide if I'll keep his name or change it.  The horses at rides usually have fancier names, so maybe I'll think of one so he doesn't feel left out, but I'd like it to suit him.  We'll see!

Saturday should be really fun.  My friend Kristin will be giving them a tour of the vet hospital (I figured we may as well make it fun for them while they're here).  M (Brian's owner) is driving out with her parents as a bonding experience--they love road trips.  I'm happy she'll get to see where he'll be living for the next year and a half or so.  

The big vet school halloween party is on Saturday night at the community center.  I was originally going out of town this weekend and so don't have a costume, but we came up with the last-minute idea to go as "My Big Redneck Wedding."  Kristin and her Fiancee will wear a trashy wedding dress (pregnant, of course!) and he'll wear camo.  My good friend Aimee and I will have to find similar dresses so we can be bridesmaids.  It'd be great if we could find some awesome 80's prom dresses.  I'm thinking big poufy sleeves and a bow on the butt.  Who knows!

Here's us last year!  Wayne's wearing the creepy mask--he freaked me out all night with it!  Can you tell I'm uncomfortable?

I am in love...

...with this horse.  He is exactly what I've been looking for.  I had such a wonderful time yesterday I'm still floating on cloud 9 when I think about it.

We arrived yesterday after a long drive, and his owner (we'll call her M) was waiting with Brian for our arrival.  I liked her instantly, and Brian was very social and wanted to meet us right away, too.  I said I'd like to see her ride him first, and then we could switch and I'd try him out.  It turns out she works for a local "hippie" pet store that's pretty well known in the area, so we got to chat about our feelings about the new advances in pet foods.  M put him through the gears and he performed beautifully--you can tell she has really put in a lot of time on him.  He gives to the bit quite nicely and listens very well.  You could see he loved all of it, too.

Then I hopped on.  One of the main things I was looking for was a horse I could connect with, and I felt a connection instantly.  I've ridden only a handful of horses like this and had just about given up hope of ever owning one.  He's the type that could do really stupid stuff with me aboard and it wouldn't phase me.  It's hard to describe--I just felt really in sync with him.  He's got a nice, smooth walk and an awesome trot, and he listens really well and will click into "frame" when asked.  He's naturally not a high-headed beast, so that's really good.  

I haven't voluntarily cantered on a horse in probably 5 years.  It's just not a gait I feel comfortable, especially if I feel the least bit out of control.  Luckily, it's not a gait that is used very frequently in endurance, unless one is top-tenning or giving their horse a trot break while maintaining speed.  I felt so comfortable on Brian, I asked for a canter.  He was so good, and I remembered how much fun it can be.

After I got off (and stopped smiling), we did all the business things associated with buying a horse.  I measured his cannons, which were an astounding 8.75"--yay for big bone!  I measured his feet, which I think will be a size 2 Easyboot fairly easily, but they're nice and big and healthy-looking, despite the fact she said he was due for a trim.  He's definitely, as the ad said, 15.2-3hh.  We taped him and he fell between the two--I had thought it was silly she didn't know the exact height of her horse and now I understand her nomenclature.  I listened to his RHR, which was a nice 32 bpm.  Then Kristen and I did flexion tests on him, for which he was an absolute champ.  He seemed really fluid and flexible and M said she was surprised I could pull his hind legs up so far, as she said she had to work with him a LOT on even letting her pick up his hind feet.  He trotted out completely sound, albeit a little confused on why we were asking him to trot up and down the driveway over and over again.

Oy, I'm so in love.  She's delivering him soon, I just have to decide which weekend I'm least busy.  I can't stop smiling!  I'm so happy I can look at next year's ride calendar and start planning--I'll need to plan my fourth year schedule around it!  Eeeeeee! :)

Ah, Saturday

I love Saturdays, even if they involve having patient care twice daily (once in the morning, once in the late afternoon).  The problem is, with patient care at these times, it breaks up my day enough I find I'm panicking to get anything done all day.  I'm glad my junior surgery rotation is done on Monday officially, although tomorrow morning will be my last patient check of the semester.

Megan and I went to the farmer's market this morning and picked up some of The World's Best Apples from Tonnemaker's farm here in Washington.  Amazing.  I'd always thought I could take it or leave it when it comes to apples, but these are incredible.  You can hear the snap of the apple as you're biting into it from across the house.  They are so juicy, and I love that they're organic.  Mmm...I may have to go upstairs and get one.

Both dogs got baths today, a task that neither was terribly happy about.  Sammy, our Australian Kelpie (the brown one), is really good in the bath and seems to realize it's part of life.  Bongo, on the other hand, has his claws out in a death grip on the tub floor the whole time. Poor baby--he's our "new" dog we adopted from the Idaho Humane Society this summer.  I'm not sure if he's got abuse in his past, but he's generally a pretty big wuss about everything.

I'm looking forward to driving to Olympia tomorrow to test drive Brian.  I talked my horsey school friend, Kristin, into going with me.  I'm happy to have the driving company, and we have a Clin Pharm test on Tuesday, so it'll be good to be able to study and drive.  Makes me feel like less of a slacker for killing half the weekend looking at a horse.  The bad part is, we'll be visiting Tack Room Too in Olympia, and I am really good at getting into trouble at tack stores. 

Brian, the NSH cross

As it turns out, I may not have been putting the cart very far before the horse.  I found a prospect today, and am driving over on Sunday to check him out.  He's a 7 year old NSH cross listed on Endurance.net.  He looks quite solid, and is a nice 15.2-3 hands high (good for us taller ladies!).  Strike, my summer loaner horse, was an NSH, and so I'm now pretty partial to the breed in general.  He came out of a rescue situation, and the owner is moving and cannot take him along.  I'm not sure what his other half is, but he's put together quite nicely.  His owner says he is out of shape in the picture above, and carries himself better now.  She's been using him for dressage and jumping, but she thinks he'll do quite well on the trail.  He's got cute form over fences--probably with a little work we could get that cleaned up a bit.

And, look!  He's not afraid of water!

My main concerns are his RHR and muscle/bone density.  He's a titch longer in the back than a lot of endurance arabs, so I'll have to evaluate that when I get there.  Also, obviously, I'd like a horse that I "click" with and that doesn't seem excessively spooky or timid.  He hasn't been out on the trail, but I think with a fairly solid foundation that shouldn't prove to be a big deal.  

Yay for forward movement!

My tack...

It almost seems a little silly to be going over my tack, as I currently do not have an endurance horse.  Ah, well.  Putting the cart before the horse was always my forte, so here goes!

My saddle is a Specialized Eurolite.  I discovered the Specialized saddles two summers ago when a good friend asked me to ride her endurance horse while she was out of town (he is seriously the coolest horse ever!).  She has a Specialized International, and I really liked that it was a sort of english hybrid.  I got to saving and putting away my money for my own International, and had almost enough when Wayne and I went to the PNER convention in Pasco this past January.  I stumbled (by accident, of course!) across the Specialized booth, manned by Carol and Rick Brand of Oreana, ID, where I sat in the new Eurolight model.  It happened to be my size, and had the added bonus of being both black and for sale right then and there!  So I bought it, and have loved it since.  It does fit Callie with a few adjustments, and I noticed some sore seatbones on longer walking trail rides.  Carol ended up putting some really nice memory foam in the seat, and now it's a total dream!  Thanks, Carol!  I also purchased the booties made for the saddle, made by Carol and Rick at their ranch.  I think these are my favorite--I love not having to deal with a separate saddle pad and that the spine is totally free and clear.

As for everything else, it really is just details.  I have the Easycare delux pommel bags that can hold about a weeks worth of food and clothing.  I have to be really careful on the trail to remember where I put things--there are so many pockets I've spent 10 minutes looking for my first aid kit!  I also love that it's got a chapstick holder right on the outside.  I'm terrible about forgetting to put it on, and dealing with sun- and windburned lips for the few days following is never fun.

I have a Zilco delux breastcollar that I modified for Callie using a couple of red biothane girth loops from Running Bear tack.  (You may be able to see them above--they're above her shoulders between the clips-to-the-saddle piece and the shoulder bit)  For Cricket, I have a Zilco halter and headcollar that Wayne is using with him on the trail.  For Callie, I have this ginormous beta biothane halter I found on eBay a few years back.  I keep meaning to replace it with something custom and a LOT lighter, but haven't actually gotten around to it.

We still keep Callie barefoot, which works really well for her.  The trails we ride are usually soft earth or sand (like above), so she is not typically being challenged too much.  With my recent school schedule, I'm lucky to get out to even just see Callie a few times a week, so we've been mostly just sticking to arena work for now.  Wayne is looking into getting a set of Renegades (jealous! jealous!) for Cricket so he can do a little more challenging terrain if need be.  He'll also need them to take Cricket to rides.

As the first post of my new blog, I thought I'd start with my story.  It will likely be a shortened story, but I'll at least try to hit the highlights of how I came to be here and how.

My name is Elly and I am a third year veterinary student. I was born in Canberra, Australia when my Dad taught at a university there.  I have two siblings--a brother who's 16 months younger than me and a sister that's 12 years younger.  I'm married to a wonderful man named Wayne who is an engineer for a big company in Boise, ID, which is where we own our house.  We've been married for 3 1/2 years, and all of them have been lovely and mostly separated by the 300 (almost exactly!) miles between my temporary home in Pullman and our permanent home in Boise.  (The picture at left is Wayne on Christmas day, 2007)

I've always been proud of the fact that my parents never just bought me a pony, even though it was on every single Christmas list (and still is).  From the time I was 12, I learned that I could volunteer in exchange for riding lessons, and did so quite religiously until I turned 16 and began my very first job.  I had only paid for a few lessons myself before I was offered a working student position at my local barn, and held that position until I finally left for University as a sophomore.  I learned horses from the ground up, which seems to be backwards for many riding students these days.  I rode hunter/jumper, which had always been my dream since I was a little girl.  When I left for college, it was horseless, and it remained so until just before I started veterinary school in 2006.  But, I digress...

In 2005, prior to beginning veterinary school, I received an email that a semi-local ride manager was looking for volunteers to help at a ride.  I had only marginally heard of endurance, and thought it was a lot like long-distance running, but on horseback (so a lot funner!).  I emailed the manager back and said I'd love to come, and did a little preliminary research on the sport and what it was that was going to be required of me.  I left for the ride with a warning to my husband that he might be in big trouble, and that I might come back with a new love.  

I was right.

From then on, it was the only thing I could think about.  When Wayne and I had originally talked about him moving to Boise to support me in vet school, he made one promise to me:  If I was going to be all alone in Pullman, I was going to need a "real" horse.  I set about finding the perfect mate, which is when I learned that the Draft Horse Club at the vet school was looking to sell their younger draft horse.  I learned that "Kate" had broken someone's leg, run away with the cart (twice!), and taken out a corner of the alumni building.  I had to have her!  I thought we'd be able to do some of the shorter distances for endurance, and she'd probably be a much calmer mount that the crazy arabs I'd grown to fear so much.  A price was negotiated, and we brought her home.  I decided to rename her, as she had such a bad reputation I figured she needed a new name.  We decided on "Callebaut" or "Callie" for short, which is a Belgian chocolate, and would be very appropriate for my sweet Belgian girl.  I quickly learned that "broke for riding" and "tolerates humans on her back" were two very different things, and set about retraining her to un-learn the harness and listen to little me on her back. 

We spent all summer conditioning for our first ride, which was set to take place at the end of July.  I had been keeping Callie barefoot and using boots, and the only thing we had left to do before our ride was get her feet trimmed.  Well, the farrier nipped her too short and she was too sore to go.  It was probably a good thing, as the ride was very hot and very hilly, and I'm not entirely convinced we would have finished.  When cold weather set in that winter, I noticed Callie was a little off-loo

king at the trot, which is when I discovered she had been diagnosed with ringbone in both front legs.  I asked my husband if there would be any way I could get a second horse--a REAL endurance horse to ride.  He agreed, and I found Cricket, a 4-year-old Arab/Appaloosa cross.

Cricket proved to be a real stinker, and he and I have a very sordid past.  I bought him in the spring with the idea that I'd spend all summer starting him, and we'd hit the trails and maybe do our first ride together in the fall of that year or the spring of the following year.  Well, work got away with me, and I didn't have nearly as much time as I had fantasized.  It didn't help that our boarding place has no facilities for such an undertaking, and so it didn't happen.  I ended up sending him to a trainer in the fall, who probably should have admitted she'd rather stick to Quarter Horses, and ended up likely sitting on him for 5 months.  When I got him back in February, he was good, but nowhere near "broke."  He and I did well together despite this, until I left for spring break.  When I came back, it was like he'd completely forgotten all of his training.  Suddenly, everything was scary (REALLY scary!), and I quickly became frustrated.  Instead of listening to my inner voices, I forced myself to get on one day, and ended up paying the price. Cricket bolted for no reason almost as soon as my butt hit the saddle, and I ended up bailing off of him while he was at a full, hell-bent, gallop across the arena.  I'd never eaten dirt before, but did that day.  I smashed my glasses, broke my helmet in almost two pieces, and got road rash from my right forearm down to my right knee.  Thank God I had thought to put on my crash vest, without which I surely would have broken ribs...or worse.  I ended up in the ER, and missed a few precious days of school in the meantime. 

Afterwards, I struggled with the decision to sell him.  Things had been so good with him before I had left for a week, but I was at the end of my knowledge base for how to deal with him.  I finally decided to sell him, and talked to the barn manager at our boarding facility in Pullman.  She said she liked the "difficult" ones, and agreed to keep him in training there and sell him for me.  I hoped and prayed he'd sell over summer, but he didn't.  They ended up doing really well together, and I think she proved to be the best thing that happened to him.  I credit her with his current state.  But we'll get to that later.

I spent the first part of the summer wailing to Wayne that I had no endurance mount.  Callie is terrific on the trails, but just not what I wanted to spend the summer doing.  I like having goals, and not having something to work towards with my horses was killing me.  I figured it was as good a time as any to spend some time going back to the basics, and both Wayne and I enrolled in a few riding lessons.  I quickly realized my confidence wasn't as smashed as my brand new glasses, and that I wasn't afraid of riding in general--just riding Cricket.  It didn't help that Wayne absolutely wouldn't budge that I couldn't get another horse until we sold Cricket, so I was left crossing my fingers and volunteering at rides.

Out of the blue, a friend of a friend called and said she had an offer for me.  (No, it wasn't a pyramid scheme!)  She and her husband have a few endurance horses, and the summer before, I'd gone out on a training ride with them and rode their "third wheel" horse.  His name was Strike, and he is an NSH with the biggest trot I'd ever experienced.  After their three hour trotting "training ride" the summer before, I wasn't able to walk for three days.  Anways, she said they were looking for a home for Strike, and learned I was in the market.  She said she'd be willing to let me use him for the summer, and if I wanted to buy him, I'd get first chance.  Bingo!  I had a summer project!  She dropped him off the next day, where he and Callie became instant best friends.  Strike and I spent the summer riding together, and I completed my first two LD rides on him in July, ironically, at the very same ride I would have ridden Callie in two years prior.

At the end of the summer, Cricket still didn't sell, and I had to tell them I just couldn't buy Strike.  It was very sad, but with the economy the way it is, I didn't want to end up with more mouths that we could feed.  I had made a commitment to Cricket, no matter how disappointed and angry I felt about it, I needed to keep it.  Well, Wayne had come to my first endurance ride and had caught the bug, and proposed the idea of bringing Cricket down to Boise for him to ride.  I scoffed at the idea--if I couldn't ride him, there'd be no way that Wayne-with-no-experience would be able to handle him! Right?  Wrong.  Wayne moved me back up to Pullman and took a few lessons on Cricket, where they got along beautifully.  I'm now proud to report Wayne and Cricket are hitting the trails together in Boise, and he's promised to get me a "replacement" horse once I'm ready.

I think that's just about everything...I'll have to add more later.