Happiness Is....

My happiness is so many things. 

Kaylee laughing makes me happy.

When Austin gets super excited about something and wants to talk and talk and talk about it.

Watching Pancho when he gets the "rips" (runs like a madman through the house for no apparent reason, but just keeps going...and going...and going some more).

And, of course, my horses.  Being around and DOING horsey things is happiness to me.

Saturday was spent at Holly's place doing the equine body work clinic which was great.  SO much information that we couldn't get it all in.  I now have a great workbook though full of various trigger points, acupressure points and various other things I can do to help my horses. 

It's super nice to have another tool in the toolbox when my horses are just a little "off".  I can't wait to have some downtime to lay hands on them and play with these points.

And Sunday, it was up early-ish, finish loading the car, swing by the store and get some snacks and then bolt to the barn for a day full of riding! 

We got in a little over 10 miles, not necessarily hauling ass, but moving some. 

I (briefly) tried out a Podium saddle on Strider.  I felt perched.  Odd sensation.  Such a shame because it's SUCH a lightweight saddle.  But, no go. 

For the first time out, I just rode my regular Abetta.

Second (brief) ride, I tried out a Bob Marshall treeless. 

It's quite an odd sensation to FEEL your horse moving beneath you.  I could FEEL the muscles of his back beneath my butt as he walked and gaited.  I'm sure I was more tense that ride because all of a sudden I became HYPER aware of my seat, how I was sitting, how I was moving.  Was I applying too much pressure to his back without the bars to spread my weight out?  Is there a max weight limit in a treeless?  Did he like it?  How did he move? 

The first few times we cantered, no bunny buck.  He did toss a few in there though, and I'm reserving judgement on if I want to shift over to a treeless saddle full-time. 

Right now, I'm going to try a shim under the Abetta at the pommel since it DOES seem to press down on his withers once my weight is in the saddle.  Some release of pressure there might help him out.

Currently, he's logged a few miles in the Abetta, never come up back sore, but...if he'd move out better in a treeless, I'll sell the Abetta, or figure out some way to get him a good pad and treeless if he likes that better.

Overall, it was quite a nice ride.  Once my trailer's floor is repaired, I'd like to ride at Granger more often (it's only $5 for a trailer load!) as it's a nice, flat and easy ride to condition. 

You can only ride the same trails at "home" before you get bored out of your gourd.

Weekend warrior...

This weekend seemed filled with horses, though I only got to ride Sunday.

Saturday was a discount coggins/vaccine clinic, so I opted to haul the boys over and get everything done.  That went fairly smoothly.  Total time spent at the clinic itself, 45 minutes.  So the boys now have (overlapping, but current) Coggins, their 6-way shots, rabies and the West Nile shot.  $180 for 2 horses.  Far cheaper than I've paid in the past.  I'd actually forgotten ALL about West Nile until I was telling them which shots I wanted, and they asked if I wanted West Nile. 

Duh me!!  Yes please!!!

So, got all of that done and squared away, took the boys back home and let them have the rest of the BEAUTIFUL day off after getting shots and blood drawn and headed for home.

Took Austin out with my parents for his 18th birthday dinner at Tokyo Steakhouse. 

After that, headed home, watched some more Dexter, then flopped in to bed so I could get up to go ride ALL DAY on Sunday!!!

I'm not exactly sure what's been going on in my head; but I've been feeling some sort of weird anxiety to ride my horse lately.  He hasn't DONE anything.  Well, nothing outside of the normal stuff he does under saddle.  But for some reason, I just had this general sense of unease about stepping in to the stirrup to ride. 

I took a few minutes to work on the "Come pick me up" lesson Holly taught us, then have him stand still at the mounting step, or whatever I'm standing on until I swing over him.  He still walks off once I get on.  And I SHOULD have stopped and done it over and over again, except I didn't want to make the whole group wait.  And he had done well with "Come pick me up" (takes now just a light *cluck* and gentle touch of the crop and he slides over) and was pretty damn good with standing still. 

The entire ride itself was good.  He did a bunny buck at one point going down a hill (WTF dude?!).  I don't know why or what caused it...but it's annoying as hell.

In my mental dreams, I'll save some money up between now and, say, June, and then send him to a trainer for about 2 weeks to:
Learn to sidepass to open/close a gate
Figure out what the EFF is with the bunny buck

The fact is, he's a good boy...mostly.  He has some behaviors on the ground I hate, but I'm not sure how to cure them.

Rubbing his head on people.  How do you STOP that?!  I've let him "run into" my hand (or if he's an aggressive rubbing me, I do ball it up into a fist and nudge him with that when he rubs in to it [no, I don't deck my horse, but I sure as hell will put some emphasis on it]).  That doesn't seem to deter him.

I hate it.  It's a very rude behavior.  Got some additional ideas besides the hand/elbow/fist to try.

But overall, it was such a nice ride that I didn't want it to end.  I was ill-prepared, but had such a great time that I'm trying to puzzle out how to get some more riding time in this weekend.

I have a body work clinic this upcoming Saturday.
"EQUINE BODY WORK CLASS
Want to provide more comfort for your Horse?
Come join us in learning the tools to help your horse feel its best! You will learn acupressure 101, where the meridians are found, what they do & how to balance them. Body stretch release techniques, pre & post work out protocols, muscle
Trigger points, Chi protocols & proper leg wrapping."

Looking forward to it!  I'm sure the boys will appreciate some extra TLC.  Neither has presented as very out to me, and I do have a book that I bought after a lease-gone-bad with Strider had him so out of wack he couldn't even lift his feet for a trim at the recommendation of my farrier who works with the lady teaching the class.  So, I should sit down and start to read that before this weekend.

"Beyond Horse Massage: A Breakthrough Interactive Method for Alleviating Soreness, Strain, and Tension" by Jim Masterson

I'm hoping after class I'll have time to run to the barn before the sun sets and get in about an hour or two in the saddle.  With that time, I could knock out about 10 miles and get us back into conditioning again.  I'm not sure how I'll be fitting a conditioning schedule in with Joe working baseball games on Saturdays; guess I'll be riding Sundays!  Just gotta get up early and go get it knocked out! 

I finally decided I really want to do another 50 (go figure, Ross was right at River Run; you get hooked).  I'm going to send everything in for a 50 at Racing Stripes on Saturday and plan to turtle it.  However, if it's too hot or whatnot, I'll drop to a 25 and be just as happy with the distance.  Until I REALLY know what I've got under me in the heat, I want to be fair to him.  I'll do what I did last year; cold water to help him out at the holds, but that black coat doesn't seem to do him any favors.  And he's a sweaty beast.  So, for now, it's ride carefully and cautiously and pull if things aren't going right.

PFHA FINALLY updated their rankings for Endurance points.

Strider jumped from 7th in the ranks to 4th. 

I cannot express just how pleased I am with him.  He's quirky.  He has traits I really REALLY don't like.

But, he's honest.  He doesn't bullshit you.  The horse you see the horse you get.  With lots of heart and try and intelligence.  But when he's done, he's freaking DONE.  You can ask, and you'll grudgingly get what you've asked for, but as long as you're kind and fair, he'll do what he can.

So, good job Strider.  You're doing some amazing things this year.  I can't wait to see what the rest of this ride season brings us.  Not many rides here in Texas, and for now, I'm limiting myself to rides no further than about 5 hours away (Racing Stripes will be my longest drive). 

Good boy Strider.  Good GOOD boy.