The Repurposed Horse

First, an arm update: I've upgraded from the splint/cast to a removable (and washable!) brace, which is awesome - I can take it off to shower, or scratch my arm, or do physical therapy.  The goal of the brace is to wean myself off of it over the course of the next month; I take it off at night, mostly, and wear it during the day if I'm doing anything that involves actively using my arm.  With my doctor's permission, I've started to do some stall cleaning again - as long as I'm not doing anything too heavy, exercising with that arm is actually an excellent way to strengthen the damaged muscles, which are supported by the brace.  If all goes according to plan, I'll be back to normal by the end of September. Because of the unpredictable nature of riding (especially the riding and jumping of green horses), I have not yet started riding again.  The brace definitely interferes with my ability to effectively use my hand, for one thing, and for another I don't t...

Last fall, a blog hop went around where people shared their horse's lineage, posting neat pictures of relatives and telling the stories of their horse's families.  I really wanted to participate, but I knew next to nothing about saddlebreds, and unfortunately unless you are an ASHA member it is really difficult to find information on any but the most famous of bloodlines.  I was able to score a few cool photos of some of Leo's more illustrious ancestors, but was unable to come up with enough information to make an interesting or comprehensive post. Leo came by his chrome honestly   Now that I own an OTTB, I have access to SO MUCH INFORMATION OMG!  I spent a few hours last night lost in an internet research spiral, learning everything that I could about the different pieces that came together to create Spring.  It was really, really cool, and I ended up with so much information that it won't all fit into one post.  So, today I am going to write about t...

**any typos are due to my lack of two working hands** This post was supposed to be about my weekend rides and Monday's jumping lesson, but unfortunately the universe had other plans. About two weeks ago, Trainer put me in touch with a local woman who had contacted her about needing extra help with her horses - she's trying to move out of state, and they need new homes. Without going into too much detail, my friend S and I headed out there twice last week to help her out, and then on Saturday I headed out on my own. These horses are 7 (gelding) and 14 (mare) and have never been separated. They are mother and son. Allegedly, they are both broke to ride, but neither S nor I was comfortable finding out whether or not that was true; even if it was, they've both been out of work for well over a year. They're decent horses - foundation bred paints - and quite friendly. They were easy to catch, and stood tied for about an hour, totally chill, while S and I work...

One week later, I'm finally sitting down to write about Spring's first jumping lesson with me in the irons!  (It's been another busy week) cutest face.  Spring, we have discovered, can get a little tense when multiple other horses are sharing her space - that was the main motivation behind a private lesson.  Even with one other horse in the ring, she was a little tense, but it was definitely an improvement over her previous lesson experiences, when there are 4-5 other horses in the ring with her at the same time.  Our warmup was uneventful at the walk and trot, and became mildly interesting when we introduced the canter. she gets excited Spring is nothing if not opinionated.  Canter circles began as conversations about where her body was and what direction we were going in; if we were at the far end of the ring, she tried very hard to drift towards the barn.  Trainer talked us through it, having me focus on visuals within the path of our circl...

This past week was a pretty busy one, both for me and for Spring.  Last weekend, I made it out to CEC on both Saturday and Sunday to ride, and Spring was fantastic.  Happy, willing, and comfortable - the current saddle setup seems to still be working quite well for her.  I discovered that she doesn't mind at all when I drop my stirrups, and also that her collected trot is absurdly comfortable; I spent about 10 minutes working at sitting the trot without stirrups, and it was COMFORTABLE.  Like, seriously.  The mare was possibly a Western pleasure horse in a former life.  Both of these rides were very brief, as it was hot and I didn't want to overwork her. new-to-me bridle, thanks SB ! On Monday, my friend C rode Spring in a lesson.  I had planned to ride her, but then Jordyn was still at the barn and available to ride, so I decided to have "one last lesson for real this time" on her and then she was lame and I ended up not riding in a lesson at al...