Happy Halloween & October 10 Questions

Hemie and I are wishing you a safe and fun Halloween!

Today is both mine and my hubby's birthdays, so we'll be having an extra fun day! 

Now for October's 10 Questions from Viva Carlos!

1. How many pairs of breeches/jods do you own?   Around 10.

2. How many horses have you ridden?   More than 20, less than 100.

3. How many trainers have you had?   3: 1 as a child, learning the basics and doing saddleseat, and 2 as an adult learning eventing.

4. How many barns have you ridden at?  About 10. Sounds like a lot, but I was at each place for a good chunk of time, and includes barns from where I grew up in Canyon Country to where I went to college in Santa Barbara, to Malibu to Moorpark and beyond!

5. What is the name of the horse you consider yourself to have the greatest bond with?   Bo.

6. What is your favorite show name you've ever encountered?   Sky Watch and Imperator. 2 amazing saddlebred show horses that went head-to-head for many years, both with powerful names. I also really love my horse Bo's show name: Welcome Challenge.

7. What do you consider your greatest weakness or flaw in riding?  Equitation skillz.

8. What do you consider to be your greatest strength?  Natural feel and confidence. They get me through a lot!

9. Have you ever leased a horse?  Kinda. I had a mutually beneficial arrangement whereby I rode and cared for a beautiful young horse as if she was mine, but her owners paid for board and vet while I paid for lessons (aka training). We split show fees too. That was the deal of the century...

10. What is the name of the first horse you rode?  I'm sure I had pony rides, but my first lesson was on a pony named Willoughby. The first horse I rode regularly and bonded with was named Wings. He was a sweet, safe older gelding with lovely flowing tail, and I *luffed* him in the way only horse-crazy 6-year-olds can.

Let's Talk Tack: Horse Boots

This month I want to know about your horse's leg support and/or protection.  Do you regularly use boots or wraps on your horse?  I hope you'll vote, and share your reasons in the comments!

Do you regularly use boots or wraps on your horse's legs?

Always

Most of the time

Sometimes

Rarely to Never

 

pollcode.com free polls

I rarely use horse boots or wraps on Hemie. The potential negatives of irritating/rubbing legs, getting caught on something, and overheating outweigh the need for protection in his case. Hemie is very careful with his legs and rarely hits a rail. When he does, it's with his toes (I know this from paint transfer). The boots I own do not offer "support" - just impact protection. However I do use boots when doing XC because solid fences have much greater impact if he does hit a jump. I've never been a believer in polo wraps, although I think they look nice.

Will boot for photo challenges, though. Pink boot collection ftw.

Last month I asked where you do your shopping: online vs brick-and-mortar stores. Here's the results!

The majority of voters do 25% of their shopping in stores, and 75% online.  I'm not surprised given the quantity of mega online tack stores, which offer incredible product variety, comprehensive reviews and ratings, and rewards programs. Its interesting to note that many brick-and-mortar stores now also offer online shopping - my local saddlery just came out with their own app which includes a horse-cookie punch-card rewards feature! So tech savvy!

Thank you to everyone who votes and participates in these informal polls. Very interesting!!

PS. I'm not sure how I forgot to have a "100% online" option (sorry Karen!).

Previous Let's Talk Tack posts:

Online vs Brick-and-Mortar (Tack Shopping)

Bridles

Riding Boots & Saddle Pads

Smile while you ride

Vote for us at Racing to Ride

For the last few weeks, Hemie has been really fantastic during lessons and practice rides, especially for dressage. It's hard to describe, but mostly it comes down to his attitude. He's willing. He's interested.

And most delightfully: he's curious again. He's looking at dressage like a puzzle to figure out. He's not getting frustrated or annoyed - he is putting his thinking cap on instead. Its been months since I've felt him do this and it's very encouraging as we introduce some new movements, such as trot-lengthen.

I don't know if something clicked for him at one of our last 2 shows, or if my new focus on my positioning and body is having more of an impact - but in any case, I'm very pleased with our rides lately.

Our lessons have been focusing on straightness of shoulders as the ticket to self carriage and more thoroughness.  Jump lessons continue to get more and more exciting. Laurie's goal is to have me feel ready for Novice level next year, so the jumps are getting raised and the tougher questions are being asked. Hemie LOVES it. Meanwhile I need to work on my courage and lower legs!

Two-pointober update: I got 4:35 seconds last week. I try to get at least 30 seconds of improvement each week, so I hope to break 5 minutes this week.

I've also ridden another horse lately. Harry is an OTTB that's night-and-day different from Hemie, which makes riding him even more instructional for me. He's gotten the benefit of full training for months, so he's come a long way in a relatively short time. He starts off as a super slug, so the first few minutes is just getting him in front of your leg. Then when you ask him to get on the bit, you have to really take a hold and expect it to happen - and it does! Riding Harry has helped me understand Laurie better - she asks me to ride Hemie like she trained him. And riding Harry is teaching me what that really feels like.

Now for some of our jumps from Saturday's lesson:

Roll top bending line to black tube (left side) & 3-stride line (right side) 

Bending line from white gate to red boxes, then left turn over the logs, through the water and up a bank.

 

Circle right, then down the bank, then turn to the 3' one-stride line.

Finishing with skinny to square oxer. 

We also did our first hogs-back oxer the other week. I thought it was intimidating but Hemie thought "no problemo".  He really does love the more technical jumping questions.

SFTS Blog Hop: That 1 Thing

Stories From The Saddle wants to know...

First, I wanna know: what is the ONE piece of tack (or clothing) that you simply cannot live without? Put function aside for a moment and try to decide which piece of your tack ho collection is your favorite. It can be anything for you, or for your horse.

Second, I'd like to know what you're currently saving up for or lusting after. Basically, what item do you have your eyes set on right now? If someone handed you enough money, what would be the first thing to buy on your list?


The one thing I can't live without is my long-sleeve white temp-reducing shirt. It has saved me from overheating and bad tan lines all season, and is nice enough to show in when jackets are waived.

The one thing I'm lusting after is a Back on Track saddle pad. I think the most I've ever spent on a saddle pad is $20 so I'm having a hard time with the $85 price tag, even though I know it has magical properties.

Image from BackonTrack website

Hand Gallop Blog Hop: What's in a name?

Unfortunately I'm too late to be in the official blog hop link list, but c'est la vie! I'm still doing it because its a great topic.

What's the origin of your horse's show name and barn name?

My horse's registered name with the Jockey Club is Bohemian Spirit. I learned his name as I was filling out the paperwork the day I met and adopted him, and took it as a sign that this horse was meant to be mine. My first horse and true heart horse was named Bo. And the horse I learned to event on was Spirit. I really loved that his name contained both of these other horse's names.

Before I even met him, I'd been brainstorming some names. I was thinking something like Ducati or another speed motorcycle reference since he was a racehorse and I thought my husband would enjoy it. I was also thinking some sort of inclusion of luck or gambling since he was in the HBO TV series Luck. However, any time I've picked out ideas for a name in advance of getting an animal, it's never worked out.

Of course, he came with the perfect name. Bohemian fits his personality completely, and I show him under that name. I call him Hemie for short, and my heart does a little pitter-patter when people occasionally call him Bo.

My first horse Bo was an American Saddlebred 5-gaited show horse (although I never showed him), with registered name Welcome Challenge. I just love that name. It's powerful and says "bring it on." He had that attitude and that air, so it suited him perfectly. He came with the barn name Bo, which I spelled Beau for many years - french for handsome, which he certainly was.

Also, be sure to check out the Equestrian at Hart giveaway!

Ponies in Pink Photo Challenge

This weekend Bohemian channeled his inner pink pony princess to participate in Racing to Ride's photo challenge for breast cancer awareness. It was his first time wearing a hot pink bow, and my first time using hashtags. We are quite the pair!

After we got dressed up, we took our pink selves all around the property, where we got numerous cocked eyebrows and bemused smiles.

#breastcancerawareness

#poniesinpink2014

#SSGgloves

You can vote for our photos by liking them on Facebook. The winners get special edition SSG gloves - purchase of those gloves helps support breast cancer research.


Also, check out Equestrian Journey's contest to celebrate her horsieversary!

El Sueno Derby Recap

Our last scheduled show of the season took place this past weekend, at good ol' El Sueno nearby. Once again I trailered my pony by myself and felt confident doing it.

Hemie started off the day feeling quite fresh, with impressive acrobatics in his 12x24 paddock, so he got some time in the roundpen to get the bucks out.

We got to the showgrounds and Laurie graciously gave Hemie a nice long walkabout while I checked in at the office. She doesn't do that for all her clients, and I am thankful that she genuinely cares for Hemie and goes above and beyond for us at shows.

Our plan for this show was to ask for more out of Hemie in terms of dressage performance. The overall vibe in the warm up was very low-key, so Hemie and I started off plodding along until Laurie reminded me to not settle for whatever Hemie offered, and instead make sure I was giving clear aids for better work. Overall the warm-up went very well. We had about 30 minutes which was perfect.

First up was BN Test A.

We scored a personal best of 31.05 (which is equal to a dressage score of 68.95%)!!!  This is absolutely record-breaking for Hemie and I, so I admit I teared up when I saw the test. Overall I am so, so pleased with this test. I was still a bit more of a passenger than I'd like to be, but that's something I'll continue to work on.

Next we did BN Test B. We had ~ 3 rides before our next test, so we did plenty of walking around then did another quick warm up where I was sure to really ask for quality.

On this test we scored 31 (69%)!! Very close total to our first test, and I was proud of being a more active rider and am very proud of that free walk and our halt. Going forward I need to work on quality transitions, especially trot/canter. Our judge for both tests was local dressage trainer Michael Lieberg, and Laurie commented that as a traditional German dressage trainer, he rewarded us for having good contact, whereas other judges tend to focus more on roundness.


Unfortunately the video to jumping round didn't come out, but here's the recap:

• We went double clean!
• Many of the jumps had options - 3 jumps next to each other, and the rider picking whichever one to go over to count for that obstacle. For example, you could do the ditch or a log next to it or a stadium vertical next to it. 
• At 2 jumps, we had a shoulder popping issue a few strides out, resulting in me taking the "middle" sized option rather than the "large" jump I was planning on.
• The dreaded jump following the water had no problems.
• We did a down-bank with no issues. 

While  both Hemie and I had a great time and good jumping round, I wish I'd have responded better and faster to the shoulder popping issues and still jumped the jumps I originally pointed us towards. After all, at registered horse trials we don't have the options. But we got around clear and it was a good outing overall.

We finished off in 2nd place for the BN derby (combined dressage & jumping) out of 2 competitors, and 1st in the BN Test A dressage only, again out of 2 competitors.

Laurie and a sleepy Hemie

Then I trailered home alone, and unloaded Hemie alone, without issue. Pony got lots of treats and pats for being a good boy.