It’s fly season again and the girls are sporting their fly sheets, fly masks, and new hot pink fly boots. Andromeda has her burgundy-trimmed fly sheet and grey fly mask. Breezy has a green-trimmed fly sheet and yellow and black fly mask. They can see through the...
Gah. It’s been a bad two years, pandemic aside. Here is a summary of what happened. I have wanted to write up blog posts to cover all of these things, but honestly it’s been too much. I’d start to write and just get overwhelmed by everything. It...
A lot has happened in the past few weeks. I’ll write some posts to catch up. Here’s the brief list: New horse: Kasane is the primary reason why I have not been posting much on here. I’ll write a long post about here with pictures. Stella: She...
Last Saturday, Horsemasters sponsored a clinic at Rivendell Farm for rating for a Bronze or Silver Mounted and Unmounted tests (specific to Pony Club). Isis and I went to the clinic with Max (horse) and Ro (owner). Isis loaded beautifully. She walked on without any trouble and...
I ordered a new blanket from Dover Saddlery for Isis in case the weather in NC turns nasty (think winter ice storms). I wanted something that was water proof and could adjust to different temperatures. After reading through a bunch of pages from the regular catalog and...
I got out of work later than I wanted and went to the barn. First time I was able to ride this week. (First week after daylight savings time.) Something about working hard to leave at 4:30 and then getting out and realizing it’s actually 6:00 pm…...
I rode twice over the weekend in the Courbette Magic dressage saddle. Both times, Isis and I had really good, productive rides. She is more responsive to my leg (longer stirrups, legs in right place… yup). The more I ride in it, the more I like it....
After the riding lesson on Tuesday, I scheduled an extra lesson to fit the dressage saddles I’d located. I want to make sure whichever saddle I choose fits not only me, but also Isis. A new (or used) saddle is a big investment (“cheap” means under $500)....
During my riding lesson on Tuesday, I did an experiment: I dropped my stirrup and rode as if I was in a dressage saddle. Big different on how Isis responded. When you ride dressage, your seat is different then when you ride hunt seat. In dressage, you...
Isis and I had a riding lesson this afternoon/evening. I hadn’t been able to ride on Monday. I had to make up time from Friday when I left early to take Stella to the vet’s. My instructor asked me what I would like to work on. This...
Back from the show and man was I tired! I had been worried the show would be cancelled because of the rain we’ve had (plus the forecast). The show was on, luckily. I felt really good about our preparation for the dressage portion of the test. I...
Well it poured last night. As far as I know, the horse show (Fossils over Fences) has not been cancelled. This is Isis’ and my first combined training show: dressage, stadium jumping, and cross country. We’re showing in the lowest level class, which means the jumps are...
Isis was *great*. I mean GREAT. We were relaxed and rode the dressage test twice. She did very well. She’s learned where to stop and could probably ride the pattern by herself (even though we have only ridden it like five times). She stopped square and stood...
I had a riding lesson today with Isis that went surprisingly well. We rode her first dressage test today (Introductory Test B, a simple walk-trot test). Last time I had ridden something like that was in college (been a looong time). We rode the test three times....
I met the farrier at the barn this morning. Overall, Isis’ feet look good: reasonable growth and plenty of sole and hoof wall. However, she has some bruising in the white line and the white line appears to be thicker. The white line is actually the growth...
From a friend of mine in Horsemasters. You’ll snicker if you’ve ever read through horse sale ads. BIG TROT: Can’t canter within a 2 mile stretch NICELY STARTED: Lunges, but we don’t have enough insurance to ride him yet TOP SHOW HORSE: Won a reserve championship 5...
