Everyone - Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Safe journeys if you’re traveling to dinner. Enjoy your get togethers, and hopefully an extra ride or chance to hug your beautiful beast. 
Peggy
I had a good ride yesterday–rode two horses. Number one was the little QH I trained for B/O and showed for three years–our recent show (as you may recall) was not our best performance as he was a brat and I had to get after him. I decided he needed more time with me, and he was as good as gold yesterday. Jumped perfectly including one 3’ jump which is probably the upper end of his scope. The B/O said he was so cute going over it! That was fun.
The green QH mare I am working with also had a good day. She is a scaredy cat, and we have been working on giving her more confidence over fences–we did some easy crossrails and little verticals finishing with a small combination. She was quiet and relaxed–the B/O said she looked “content” jumping. I was very pleased with her.
Between going away and the weather, my riding dropped off a lot the last 10 days or so. But a 4 day weekend approaches and hope abounds!
I did get talked into taking the new ottb on a trail ride Saturday and was VERY pleasantly surprised. He was a gem. Even though the other horse was spooking at stuff he could care less and we even trotted through a bunch of fields. I have just started him over some crossrails and hope to get some jumping in this weekend.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with friends, family & horses!
This COTH article was meant for our thread!
Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and gets in as much riding as you can. With lots of family in town, and a friend who is coming to my house for a week or so to recover from surgery (she is being discharged from the hospital today), I’m not sure how many times I’ll get to the barn, but I am going to try!
spacytracy – hope you eat a lot of yummy stuff tomorrow!!!
Glad you posted that link, Tarheel–I was thinking about doing it as well! :lol:
Looking forward to DD’s arrival home from college. We’ll fit in a trip to the barn–probably Friday–where she’ll have a good visit with her favorite horse. Should be fun!!
Gearing up to cook the annual feast–hope everyone has a great holiday!!
Y’all have a Happy Thanksgiving! 
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– So, my lesson on Monday went pretty well. It was more of a casual lesson, but a great one none the less. It was basically just me and my lesson horse riding around a 4-acre paddock with a little pond in the middle, and a small herd of donks tucked on the other side on an adjacent property. It was up and down hills, getting used to riding on something other than flat sand in a ring. Even though I don’t think I trotted as much as I did while in the ring last week, I FELT it after. Whew. Funny how much difference terrain makes.
– And after the same lesson … I’ve been in denial, but I do think I’m getting older. Especially since the hardest part of my lesson was dismounting off the 17h TB I ride. 
I actually slide off pretty well, but hitting the ground with wobbly legs? Let’s just say I grab a bit of mane.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! I’m hoping for nice weather so I can work in four days of riding! I promised the pony that we’d do as much riding as possible, and I believe she actually looks forward to it. And we will try, again, to get out of the arena if the trails haven’t flooded over…again
Tarheel - thanks for posting that. For me, it’s not just the show ring - at times its riding in general. Example: For fun, I will take Finn over a small x rail. I will plan my approach - I will trot up the fence to there and then turn; my approach to the fence wil be straight; my eye will be up, shoulders back; in half seat with plenty of give on his mouth and we will gently jump and quietly trot away.
The reality: Once we turn, my brain shuts off and what was supposed to be fun now involves a racing TB
heading to Beecher’s Brook at Mach 4. But we keep plugging at it.
For all of us Special Riders - Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I freeze over the fence. I have zero adjustability over the fence. The position I’m in approaching the fence is the position I’m in over and on the other side.
It sounds like everyone’s had a little fun jumping!
I wasn’t able to have a lesson this week due to my crazy work schedule (overnights) and my family being in town this week.
I rode the mare yesterday for an early Thanksgiving Day ride, though. It was lovely! Pics pre-ride (she was excited!), on the eurostrip, and looking around at the grounds and the birds.
She is still kind of ingate sour, and she tried a few tricks with me, but she gave in and we had a really lovely ride with a soft trot!! I brought my iphone along with me for the first time and it was awesome having a soundtrack to my riding I feel kind of bad, though, since we did ringwork until she listened to me and respected my leg in either direction, then went out on a little trail ride to another ring on the grounds and did more ringwork, and then came back and finished with some ringwork. I feel bad though because the owner/my trainer said she’s never done that before with her, and thought it might be confusing. What do you think? I was thinking that if the mare was really listening to me, it wouldn’t matter where we were, in the ring or out on the trail. But she did well and came back to me each time. I just hope I didn’t ruin her :(. And then when we came back I noticed her hoof wall was flared out on the hind…but it didn’t seem to cause any discomfort, and she definitely wasn’t lame. But then that…sigh. The farrier will be out and I feel like it was my fault, so I’m going to offer to pay.
I did ride in my new TuffRider pull-ons though (found for $29 online!) and was very impressed! Nice schooling breech My new helmet arrived too and I can’t wait to go pick it up.
Hope everyone had a great holiday!
I have to say that I am in heaven.
I had the loveliest ride on the pone in awhile. He was soft, responsive, his lateral work is getting better, and I generally feel like I have a coordinated horse underneath me instead of this strung out camel who likes to run on his forehand.
We did transitions in the ring, then we went out for a little hack, and then finished with more transitions in the ring. Then we worked on half-halts. Now that he actually understands halt as opposed to the “trot trot trot fall apart into an awkward tralk walk walk sort of stop” thing we’re beginning half-halt work and they are starting to actually go through. Amazing.
His canter transition included a giant crow-hop, and now I’m beginning to think that it actually may be time to inject his hocks again…
Regardless, my ride was blissful today. I love those rides where he actually listens!
Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! My family is away so I’m looking forward to cozying up on the coach, watching horsey movies all day and generally enjoying time…ALONE!
OneGray, that’s wonderful!
I had a 5 min ride today. Yep, 5 min. I have a wonderful neighbor who lets me ride in her arena, and I went down to ride today and her kids had friends over, and they were playing hide-n-seek around the property.
Now, I know I should accept it and let him figure it out, but in addition, the husband was chopping down a tree.
So, instead of frying his brain, and overwhelming him, I got off and walked him home. I feel like I copped out a little bit, but I did NOT feel like ending up on the ground - and I could NOT predict what the kids were going to do.
He has been exposed to the kids and he’s fine with them. But not running around and popping out of the bushes. If I was smarter I should have just gotten a halter and let him take it all in while I stood by.
Oh well, another day! On a good note, he’s been battling bad scratches, and I did my washing ritual today and the scabs are almost gone, they’re nice and soft and not stuck to the skin, and the scratches is almost gone! I’ve been giving him vitamin a supplement to get rid of it, along with gentle washes and applying a mixture of desitin/neosporin/antifungal cream/hydrocortisone. Its been working out GREAT!
spacytracy - 5" is better than no minutes. And I would not have braved the erupting children/tree chopping either.
We did ride today - after I stopped at my local tack store and bought a “few” things, just little odds and ends you know; like new irons for me that slant in the direction your heel is supposed to go, a wither pad (dang TB’s) and a leather girth for the boy.
I am happy to report that the irons did help my leg position since they only slant the correct way! Finn was Mr. ADHD boy today - far more interested in what the other boys were doing in the pasture (eating hay) than what I asked him to do. As as result I got the s l o w e s t left rein trot in the world - didn’t think he could trot that slow and not fall down. That was fun to ride!
To the right, we ran into our usual fun issues - head cranked, hind end bulging - and it was all me. Thanks to my nifty new irons, I was able to correct the issue much better than in the past and ride through it and make it better! It’s a nice feeling to be able to “fix it” and keep on rather than let the pissy pony stop (at this point, Maxx and Merlin were just standing and Finn wanted to stand too…) and make him trot right through the middle of his chatting friends and keep going. He finally gave me a rather nice trot - and I allowed him to stop.
My older TB loves hide and seek, there was a little boy that use to play it with HIM at the barn and he loves kids games. I wish he could have been a home horse for me, he loves kids games. However, I understand not wanting to deal with things, I was always just too hell bent to ride NO MATTER WHAT.
I have another lesson on Saturday, I’m so excited. My daughter is coming with me and I am taking my girlfriend out to lunch for her birthday after. I hope to be able to post pictures of the baby Saturday night and report back.
Hope everyone is enjoying this long weekend.
Looking back, I should have just gotten off and let him take it all in.
Ya know how things happen in 3’s? Well, today I had my 3. With my 3 horses.
First: Riding my pony, going over this itty bitty x-rail, he decides after the fence to yank his head to the ground and try to happy buck. And me, being ahead to start, almost land over his neck. How I managed to stay on is beyond me.
Second: Ride the TB to the same fence, at what I felt was a nice medium trot, and he grabs the bit and TAKES OFF like a shot. If you don’t believe me, I have proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i32u4D1r-k8 The footage ends because my friend seriously thought I was going to end up flying off. I mean for real. That wasn’t even a fence!
Third: Go back home, and let my mini out in the yard to graze while I get the barn cleaned up (he’s like a dog and doesn’t go anywhere). After I’m done, I walk up and go to grab his lead off the ground, and he didn’t see me, spooks, and ends up stomping my foot, denting my boot. 300 lbs aint much but when its coming off of a flying spook, it frickin hurts. I hope I didn’t break my toe.
Tomorrow’s another day. My last riding day. I hope its a good one!
Spacy - enjoy your ride today - you have had your 3 and are done!!!
I swear the horse drums are super active - two days in a row, just as we go out in the pasture to get the horses, a huge game of “We Run Now” begins followed by “We Hide in the Woods”. “We Hide in the Woods” begins when they see people and halters approaching. Dorks.
After catching the wild TB who had never seen a human or a halter before, he decided that oh, yeah, I have done this and decided to cooperate.
Once again, we had the slowest trots known to man. Which brings me to a question for you all as my trainer is out of town.
I was riding Finn in a square pad, a square pad with some fleeecy stuff on the bottom and a half pad. Sweat in all the right places, but I didn’t like the bulk. Tried just the square/fleece and the half - but didn’t feel like he was comfortable.
Last two days has been the square/fleecy, a foam wither pad and my half pad. And he has been slow and seemingly relaxed. My question is - is he slow because he can’t move or is he slow because it feels better???
I would guess it feels better - I would think if he was uncomfortable he’d be swishing his tail, scooting around, etc.
I had a good ride today. Quiet, quiet. Pretty good for my last ride! Sniff!
Spaceytracy-Sorry for the rough ride. Any reason for your guy to grab the bit like that ? My older Tb has done it but it is typically when he needed his teeth done. It was my not so gentle reminder to get his teeth checked.
Stolen, I thought about that, but his teeth were just done about 2 months ago. I think he was just fresh - he isn’t ridden during the week because I work and he’s not at my trainer’s anymore, so I’m guessing he was just feeling good and being a big turd. Today he was great, no issues at all!
OK, the video looks nasty ! I remember that feeling well. Hope everything goes well for you. I am so sorry about your surgery…wish I could help. (your guy is soooo cute!)
