The Repurposed Horse

Hello, world! I am still here. As I mentioned in this post , I've been quite busy lately with filling in for the Barn Manager.  Because of this, I haven't had a whole lot of free time; when I'm not at the barn I'm either sleeping or at my 'real' job, or trying to spend as much time as possible with B and the dogs.  My brain has been too chaotic to organize into a coherent post. Still loving the new saddle.  I've had some frustrating Leo rides and some fantastic Leo rides.  Trainer K and I have discussed Leo going back into part-time training until my schedule starts to resemble something involving having a life, because right now I don't have a whole lot of extra time on my hands.  Currently, group lessons have become unproductive, so we've been trying to make time for weekly private lessons with decent success. I've ridden some pretty cool horses in group lessons, including two mini-warmbloods (my term for the dutch cross resale...

My brain has been fried by the winter weather today - unexpected freezing rain turned my 15 minute commute to the barn into a 2 hour ordeal, and I got into a car accident along the way (my car, the other car (a Culligan water truck), the other driver, and I are all fine, but it was a pretty terrifying 20 minutes), and now I'm at my real job and can't quite put thoughts together to make a post.  Thankfully, L at Viva Carlos has provided another excellent Blog Hop for December! Today in winter fashion: ice mane, modeled by Emma Does your horse need shoes? Leo had shoes on all four feet when I bought him, and I did away with the back shoes immediately (mostly because I didn't want to pay for a full set unless absolutely necessary), and he has never seemed to miss them.  I wanted to pull his fronts as well and try him barefoot, but Trainer K thought that wasn't the greatest idea while he was in training.  Farrier C says that Leo has ridiculously hard feet, so bar...

I briefly mentioned in my last post that my saddle has arrived, and that it fits my horse. It's also incredibly comfortable...the leather is so, so soft and grippy - way more so than expected!  My legs, like, don't move around all the time when I ride in it!  Which, unfortunately, has only happened twice since Friday - this afternoon schooling Leo, and this evening in a jumping lesson on a horse that my saddle also happened to fit. new irons and matching leathers are on their way! An incredibly annoying paradox has arisen in my life, which has made riding in the new saddle extremely difficult.  As I briefly mentioned, I have taken on the position of interim barn manager while Barn BFF E is out with her neck injury.  Unfortunately, due to some staffing issues and college students going on winter break and people being generally unreliable, this has led to my working 30+ hours a week at the barn - on top of my 40 hour a week full-time job.  Basically,...

New-to-me blog Haiku Farm has posted a lovely getting-to-know-you style blog hop ! This is also an excuse to show off all of the pretty photos that one of the barn moms took of me and Leo a couple weeks back without turning the post into a complete photo dump.  :P Introduce yourself! My name is Kaity, and I am a 20-something person currently living in central Missouri.  I have a master's in cognition and neuroscience, a PhD program drop-out, and currently work as an advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault - and work at the barn where Leo lives in my 'free' time.  (currently I am the Interim Barn Manager, while our regular BM is out with an injury).  I have a cat, a dog plus two more that belong to my boyfriend, B, and an assortment of aquarium-dwelling fish.  I enjoy reading (specifically young adult novels), writing (someday I'll write my own young adult novel), watching nerdy TV shows, travelling, and sleeping. What's your favori...

Consumer Reviews: Bit of Britain, Haltertags.com, Dover Saddlery Just in time for the first freezing (sub-twenty) night of the year, Bit of Britain came through, and my blanket was delivered! And it fits! Pretty sure Weatherbeeta runs big, since Leo measured at a 72 and this is...a 69. I'm still a little annoyed that I paid ten bucks for shipping on an item that took 11 days to get here (was advertised as 5 days), but they were at least responsive to my inquiries and provided me with an order confirmation email (although not with a tracking number as they didn't actually ship it, Weatherbeeta did).  Would consider ordering from them again, just not during the holiday season. Haltertags.com replied to my email inquiry within several hours, and promised to ship my tag out the next day - and are including a freebie for the month long wait. So not even a little miffed at them - they're a small company, and they remedied the issue immediately. Although it's not...

First good picture of him laying down that I've managed to take Update on the Saddle Saga: I have been assured that my order has been placed and that the transaction has gone through.  However, my bank account continues to not reflect this, and they are still unable (for some reason) to tell me when the saddle will ship.  This has led to much frustration, and I will be calling them tomorrow, yet again, to see when the shipping will occur.  Treats?! My other big Black Friday purchase was a blanket for my poor pastured pony.  However, this has also not arrived, nor has it shipped.  It was not ordered from Dover, and I paid for shipping, expecting it to arrive this past Thursday.  Apparently, the blanket is shipping directly from the manufacturer, not from the company that I ordered it from, and therefore they have no shipping or tracking information on it, although they did charge me.  This is incredibly frustrating as well, not just because it...

The saddle order has vanished. Money that should have gone to pay for it is still in my bank account. I have a written down confirmation number and nothing else, and I am freaking out. the product listing has disappeared from the Dover website completely. And of course, i noticed all of this AFTER they closed for the night. AHHHHHHHH. Anxiety level: giraffe at bathtime

I very nearly made it through Black Friday and the aftermath unscathed.  I bought a blanket for the poor pastured pony - which I was already committed to doing, was just waiting for the right blanket at the right price, and picked up a new bit at the local tack store for 10% off so that Trainer K could have hers back.  I did a lot of online watching, and added things to my cart a few times (Majyk Equipe XC boots, someday you will be mine!), but ultimately my extra income is meant to go towards a saddle, and so I was able to talk myself out of just about everything. Weatherbeeta stock photo.  Should be here soon, and hopefully this one fits! Late Monday night, I was in bed perusing the end of the Cyber Monday deals on my phone, and I somehow ended up on Dover's website.  In the saddle listings of the Closeouts section, I found something unexpected - an Ovation San Diego, lightly used, and marked down 20% - which put it almost exactly at the amount of money ...

Three weeks ago, I finally found a new pair of tall boots to replace the ones that I placed on consignment in July.  (Yes, I finished out the show season without a pair of tall boots to call my own.  It was a little rough.)  That last pair was purchased for me sometime in early high school by my mother, who thought that my feet weren't quite done growing.  They were a size 9.  I wear a 7 1/2.  Needless to say, they did not fit me very well.  It's only a testament to how little I've shown that they were even still around. wearing to work I had a really hard time finding a pair of boots that I liked enough to buy.  With an awkward calf size - slims tend to be a hair to small, regulars tend to be way too big - and a budget that doesn't quite justify getting something custom, I looked for what felt like a ridiculously long time.  (I was looking before I put the last pair on consignment). ZIPPERS!!!!! Finally, and completely on acciden...

A lot of good things have been happening lately. Last week, the theme of the lesson was focusing on leg and seat aids.  To emphasize this, Trainer K took away our inside reins. Way obvious from the ground, looks much more impressive when there's a person actually on the horse Both reins, outside of the neck.  I first attempted this with Nigel, the world's most perfect horse, in a group lesson last Monday.  It was probably slightly unfair, because Nigel is perfect and as long as you keep him straight he will do pretty much anything you ask him to do.  He is very sensitive to leg and seat aids already. Nigel <3 (straightness is key when jumping because if he can't see, he will politely refuse) On Wednesday, I had a private lesson with Trainer K, and rode Leo.  I jokingly said something about trying the exercise out on Leo, and she decided that that was a Wonderful Plan, and so that's what we did.  And it wasn't actually a disaster!  ...

Pasture Life, Day One - Leo stood at the gate crying and waiting to be let in for approximately 90% of the day, up until we let out his regular pasturemates after evening feed. Sigh. And onto the main content...Thanks, L Williams ! How old is the youngest/greenest horse you’ve ridden?    Um, I want to say 4, but not 100% on that.  We'll go with 4, +/- 1 year. How old is the oldest horse you’ve ridden?   I choose not to talk about this on the blog, but once a week I work at a local therapeutic riding center.  The oldest mare there, Babe, is well into her thirties.  She's retired now, but last winter, when she was still in good shape, I took her for a trail ride.  She is a dear, dear old soul. Were you scared of horses when you first started riding?  I don't think that I've ever been afraid of the horses themselves - it's the falling, or the going too fast, or the being out of control parts that have scared me.  So, riding scared...