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Memorial Day with the Horses

Since it's Memorial Day, and we actually have it off, Bonni & I rode this afternoon.  We were going to do so yesterday, but it was so hot and the flies so horrible, we opted to groom and hand-graze instead.  Today was much better on all counts, though, so we took Merry & Rocky to the north paddock for a little ride (the arena was a bit too wet after the storms last night).

I finally got to try out my new Courbette bridle I got cheap at the Expo.  It matches my saddle perfectly and looks gorgeous on Merry.  I think the old caramel bridle will become Morgana's.  I'm quite pleased with that purchase.

Merry started out the ride being a bit of a dork.  He settled down okay, but there's something about starting out in that paddock that puts him on edge.  Not sure if it's the girls nearby (though he doesn't pay them much mind), the size, or if it's just because it's different that's the issue. He was dancing around like a dork and I actually had Bonni wait to get on Rocky because I didn't know if he was going to explode into some idiocy or what and didn't want to set Rocky off, too, if he did.  I got him moving forward and he was fine, but it's one of those things where you wish they could talk so you could ask them what the hell they were thinking.

Now Rocky, after starting out only wanting to trot, was a bit of a slug for the most part, but he did okay in the end.  Bonni was able to get him moving again after each petering out moment and no major battles ensued. 

I cantered Merry a little bit here and there during the ride.  He has a hard time keeping it up in the small space, but he picked up both leads absolutely perfectly, so I'm pretty happy about how he did.

After our ride, I washed Merry.  I wish I had a proper wash stall, with warm water & everything so I could really scrub him, but I got a fair bit of dirt washed off him with just the hose and a bucket.  He looks so nice and shiny, and it really helped to get his mane & tail washed out (and then ShowSheen'd to a fair-thee-well).

So it was a nice day.  I'm glad Bonni was able to stop out again (twice in one weekend!) so we could ride together.  It's so much more fun to ride with someone, and easier to get motivated to do it, too.

Rainy Day at Crickhollow

It's been an indoor project sort of day today.  Thunderstorms rolled in this morning and stayed for most of the day, so I didn't really do anything in the barn.  Moved some hay around before the rain started & ran out to feed; that's about it.

Tomorrow is supposed to be grossly hot (91, in contrast to today's upper 60's).  I'm hoping that Bonni and I will be able to get the boys out for a ride before the day turns too sweltering.  Of course, the ground is like a soggy sponge right now.  We may have to opt for riding in the high ground of the paddock rather than the arena.  We'll see...  Wish us luck!

Links Page Updated

I've been updating my links page here & there over the past few weeks.  Thought it might be worth pointing out in case readers haven't checked it out in a while.  New shopping links as well as events and miscellany.

International Helmet Awareness Day 2012

Riders4Helmets has announced the 2012 International Helmet Awareness Day is June 9th.  There will be special discounts offered on helmets through retailers for the day, so if you're in the market for a helmet, whether a new one or your first, it's a good time to buy one.

I seriously cannot stress enough how important it is to wear a helmet, no matter what kind of riding you do.  I know I have posted photos of me riding without, but that is seriously less than 1% of the time I spend on horseback.  Every time I do it, I am incredibly aware of the risk I'm taking and those rides are usually very short.  I have a lot of trust in Merry not to deliberately try to dislodge me or do anything exceptionally stupid, but shit happens that you just can't predict.  Something weird can startle your horse, he can slip or put his foot down wrong, there are any number of things that can bring you out of that saddle and on to the ground.  Everybody falls.  Helmets are not just for hunter/jumpers.

It's not even necessarily the fall that's the most dangerous part.  I once fell off of Toad while working on the flat in an indoor arena and, before she realised where I'd fallen and moved away, her hoof struck my head.  Thankfully, I was wearing a helmet so it was a scare for the pair of us, but no harm done.  She never would have ever deliberately hurt me, and jumped back away from me once she knew where I was on the ground, but momentum had worked against us there and it could have been very bad indeed had I not had that helmet on.

Preakness Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow the Preakness will be run at Pimlico, but more interestingly (to Arab lovers, at least) is that the President of the UAE Cup will also be run tomorrow at Pimlico.  It's a 1 1/16 mile race for Arabians, ages 4 and older, and offers a $75,000 purse.

I have no idea if it will be shown during NBC's coverage of the Preakness, but I'm under the impression that it's to be run much earlier in the day.  The e-mail I had from Arabian Horse Global mentioned  coverage "starting at 11:45 AM EST".  They tend to do live webcasts of things, so you could try watching there, if you're interested in seeing Arabians race.

Too Bad I Had to Work Today

I don't think the horses cared all that much that I had to waste another beautiful day working.  It was a work from home day today, so I was able to let them out on the grass at noon for their lunch and leave them out until evening, undisturbed.  Two whole meals worth of lovely grass!  They came back up in to the paddocks willingly enough (ready to nap), which was nice. 

The nice thing for me about being able to do that is that is stretches my hay supply.  We've "ordered" another batch of 50 bales from the hay guy to keep us going for a bit.  The pasture is really ready to be cut, but we don't have anyone to cut it.  Our former guy seems to have lost all his helpers and is going in for surgery soon anyway.  :(  We're scrambling to find someone else who can cut & bale it for us.  Preferably in small square bales, but if we have to go round for a cutting, we will.  There's alfalfa up to my knees out there & it would be a crime for it to go to waste.

Perfect Weekend for Horse Activities

Finally we got a perfect weekend for spending outside, doing things with the horses.  Warm, sunny, and not too windy.  It was great.

Saturday started with mucking and giving lessons, after which we did a little tackbox cleaning over lunch.  Then Bonni & I tacked up Rocky & Merry & went for a ride down in the arena.  Yes, there are pictures this time.

Merry did really well.  We got in some canter work -- on both leads!  It's not the prettiest yet, I pretty much just let him have his head and let him balance as he will, but he doesn't feel confident in the gait with me up yet.  Prettiness will come with time and a better balance.

Rocky did well, too.  He was petering out towards the end, but Bonni was able to get him moving again without any battles, so it's all good.

 

MN Horse Expo Post

Finally I have been able to get my photos off my camera and go through them a bit.  I didn't take a whole lot, and many of those I did take didn't turn out very well (my camera is best outdoors, I find).  I'll post a few for flavour, though.

I got to watch most of Jane Savoie's first talk, which was great.  She is an excellent speaker.  Each of her talks was on a different topic, so one could go to each one and get quite the class out of it -- if one had the time.

I got my hay tested at the Nutrena booth this year.  It was only so-so quality, but the bales I had to sample from were all from first-cutting last year, so I didn't have super high expectations for it.

After a ridiculously expensive hotdog lunch, Bonni and I watched the Cavallo Arts performance in the Coliseum.  I tried taking photos, but it's always hell trying to photograph from the seats in there, even with better equipment than my wee camera.  It was fun -- the guys were very athletic and knew how to play to the crowd!

Here are a few of the better photos I got of that performance before I gave up and just watched:

Good Day

It was a beautiful day today, fairly warm & sunny, though the breeze was a bit chill at times.  Bonni & I had conspired to have the day off (it was supposed to be vet day, but she had to cancel unexpectedly) and Diane was able to get it off, too, so I had a full day out in the barn. 

Diane came out in the morning & helped me get my whiteboard hung up in the barn.  We also pulled Morgana out to groom & I longed her a little (a very little -- her attention span is rather short & I don't want to make work a negative thing).  We also groomed Annie after we put Morgana back out.  By some miracle she has not rolled yet, so she's looking pretty clean for once.

Bonni came out later in the afternoon & we took Rocky & Merry into the back paddock for a ride.  Sadly, I didn't think to get anyone to take pictures.  Rocky was super good.   Merry's never been ridden with anyone else before, but other than a couple small snitty moments, he was quite good as well.  (During one snit-moment I asked Bonni how she liked having the well-behaved horse for a change.  She liked it just fine.)  Merry settled down fine and we ended quite relaxed. 

No idea how long we rode.  I didn't have my watch on & didn't think to check the clock in the barn as we went out.  We just did a bit of walk-trot until I started getting thirsty and both boys were behaving nicely so we could end on a good note.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend so we can try for a repeat performance (hopefully with fewer snits on Merry's part).

Badminton Horse Trials Cancelled

:( 

Unfortunately, rain has apparently saturated the course, leaving it partially flooded and the organisers little choice but to cancel Badminton.   I wonder how that's going to affect the Grand Slam...