The Repurposed Horse

When I started this blog I had the idea that on Saturdays, at least for a while, I would do a feature post for horses that I have ridden/worked with that have been particularly special.  They aren't going to be in any particular order. This week's standout, because before Leo happened she was my main squeeze, is Izzy. Izzy (JC name Nistelrooy Image; Show name Royal Image) is a 2006 OTTB.  She was the third or fourth horse that I rode when I started lessons at CEC (my current barn), and it was a complete disaster.  For better or for worse, I grew up riding horses at a lesson barn where they may have done multiple lessons a day.  Hot was not a part of the vocabulary used to describe them.  And while I have ridden somewhat more 'alive' horses since my early days, I had never attempted to ride a horse like Izzy.  She was coming off an injury and although she's been off track for 4 or so years, she acted like she'd come off the track the day before my l...

It's almost the one month anniversary of bringing Leo home (technically his previous owner, E, dropped him off, but that's beside the point), so I decided that I should do the whole conformation progress picture thing.  My wonderful friend S agreed to be the handler, and Leo decided that he hates having to stand still for pictures when all of his friends are outside in the pasture, so this is the best that we managed to get. The one picture that I have that is full-body 'conformationy' from the day that I met my crazy pony isn't all that great, so it's kind of difficult to see any changes that may have occurred in the last month. Not a lot to see.  Except he's parked out more in the first one, and maybe is looking a little more evenly proportioned.  He looks a lot bigger in photos than he does IRL; I get regular comments about how narrow he is.  He wears a 44" girth right now and it goes almost all the way up on both sides.  He could prob...

At some point, everyone has been a first-time horse owner. For me, this is that time. I know what I am doing in the sense that I've been riding since I was 5 years old and have worked at barns off and on for years and all that jazz, but I have no clue what I am doing in the sense that I've never taken a trail horse and repurposed it for eventing.  And Leo is proving every day that this is going to be A Challenge. Look at that face.  He looks the part, right? But here's the thing.  Leo is very, VERY opinionated about life.  He hasn't had to do a ton of things for much of his last 8 years.  Now he is being worked 4-5 days a week, being asked to jump things, being ridden in an arena, and he's in a new location.  At first, this was all taken in stride, but in the last week things have gone a little...sour.   Let's just say that when (if) we ever start working on dressage, he has the sidepass thing down. Sideways is his favorite, and spinning a...