December's 10 Questions & Happy New Year!

Bohemian & I wish you a happy and safe New Year's celebration!

And because there's no minute like the last minute, 

here's our answers to Viva Carlos' 10 December Questions.

1. What size horse do you prefer to ride? I love them all shapes and sizes. I guess I prefer the ones that are naturally couch-like, for obvious reasons.

2. Do you school in tall boots or half chaps and paddock boots? Tall boots.

3. What do you do with your ribbons after shows? Most go into a plastic tupperware box in the garage. The ones that have special meaning to me get hung up in my horsey storage area. I also have some in a tall vase as decoration in the house. 

4. Do you ride/board at a large show barn or a small private barn?  Its a large barn, but not a show barn. Multiple trainers are based out of the facility, and some of them regularly show while many don't. The facility does not host shows or other events.

5. Have you ever seen a horse give birth? Not in real life. But I've seen foals that are just a few hours old. Pretty special.

6. What is your favorite breed? Saddlebreds and Thoroughbreds. Maybe I'll buy or breed an ASBxTB cross one day. Thoughts? Not sure if it would be hot enough...  ;]

7. Favorite tack brand? I'm not enough of a tack ho to really differentiate based on personal experience, but I'll go with Stubben since I love my saddle by them, like their fancy bits, and have heard excellent things about their other tack.

8. Would you ever buy used tack? Yes, 99% of everything I have is used.

9. Ever been on a carriage ride? Yes! Lots of fun!

10. How often do you go to the tack store? A few times a year. Luckily my friend and barn-mate works there, so she kindly brings me my purchases so I rarely have to drive there.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones! 

Thanks for following our adventure.

Love,

Sarah & Bohemian

In Remembrance of Levi

Levi,

Thank you for being my dog. My friend.

I miss you so much. 

I love you forever. I'll see you at Rainbow Bridge.

Jet Skis and Family

Inspired by a recent post at She Moved To Texas, allow me to share a funny story also involving jet skis.

I was at a family reunion some years back, on the coast of Georgia. We had rented some boats for water-skiing and hanging out. When it was my turn to try the water-skiing, it was a major fail.

I could not get out of the water. After numerous attempts which included a number of belly flops and other awkward, painful flailing maneuvers, my turn was over so others could have a chance.  I was very embarrassed and disappointed. I had been really looking forward to water skiing, and I was exhausted and emotionally let down by the whole experience.

Enter a wonderful older cousin, who asked if I wanted to go jet-skiing with him. I'd never been jet-skiing before, so I said I'd be interested if we could go doubles and have him drive. We got out on the water and he was careful to go slow at first and make sure I was okay. After a few minutes of cruising, I told him he could go faster. He hit the gas and we zoomed around. I felt safe and secure, even when we made some hairpin turns and were catching air!  It was exhilarating!

Later that evening, the whole family gathered for dinner and conversation. Each person shared a little bit about their day. When it was my older cousin's turn, he said he had a great day with the exception of the 2 bruises he'd gotten on his hips...

...from me holding onto him with my crazy horseriding thighs of doom.

Cue most awkward silence ever and my eyes bugging out of my head in shock and embarrassment.

He laughed off the silence, saying at least he didn't have to worry that I'd fallen off the back like some of the other cousins. Meanwhile  I secretly vowed never to ride doubles anything ever again.

Let's Talk Tack: Merry Christmas to Pony

This month I'm asking about a seasonal shopping habit - do you buy your horse a Christmas present?

Do you usually buy your horse a holiday gift?

Yes

No

 

pollcode.com free polls

If so, what? If not, why? Please feel free to share in the comments! And thank you very much for voting in the poll!

I do not buy Hemie a holiday present. I usually pick up some supplies with seasonal deals and coupons, and there's plenty of tack and riding gear on my Christmas wish-list. But I've always considered those to be gifts to myself, not to him. To celebrate the holiday with Hemie, usually I'll just make or buy some cookies, and hope the weather allows us to have an extra hack to relax and be together.


Last month I asked if you play dress up with your horse. Here's the results of the survey:

Less voting turnout on this poll as compared to others, but the results are that most of us dress up our ponies rarely to never. So thank goodness for shameless ponies such as Bobby from PoorWomanShowing, showing us the proper way to celebrate the Christmas season!

Overjoyed!

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Previous Let's Talk Tack posts:

• Horsie Dress Up
• Horse Boots
• Online vs Brick-and-Mortar (Tack Shopping)
• Bridles
• Riding Boots & Saddle Pads

TOA Blog Hop: Making of the Horse

The second in Beka's series of blog hops in honor of Archie's 18th birthday!

The Owls Approve Blog Hop #2 - Making of the Horse

Last week, we talked about our babies. This week, let's talk about our greenies. 

 Who trained your horse? Is your ponykins still in the process of figuring out this whole monkey-on-my-back thing, did you send off for thirty or sixty or ninety days, or did you buy a horse with all the bells and whistles? Who has helped your horse become what he or she is today?

As we covered last hop, Bohemian was a racehorse and then a TV horse before I adopted him in late April 2012. So he came to me fully trained...just for a different job. 

Bohemian's retraining to become a sporthorse was a partnership effort between myself and my trainer Laurie, in the form of regular lessons and occasional training rides. For years my arrangement with Laurie has been twice-a-week lessons, but for the first month or so of adopting Bohemian this morphed into a more fluid arrangement: instead of 2 regular lessons a week, I'd get supervised rides/mini-lessons 3 to 4 times a week. Once Hemie and I figured each other out, we went to a normal twice-a-week lesson schedule and have been doing that ever since. 

Retraining included groundwork.

His retraining to become a sporthorse went faster and smoother than I had anticipated, and my trainer commented early on that he was a fast learner. It was heartening to see that he was enjoying learning his new job. Within the first month he was jumping, learning about contact, using his body differently, going on trail rides, and even a cross-country school!

One of our first rides.

Within 5 months of adoption (September 2012), he had learned enough that we were able to compete at a local eventing derby, getting through both a dressage test and jumping round of both stadium and cross-country elements, earning our first ribbons. This is when I consider him to be officially retrained as an eventer. Since then, we've continued to learn this sport together as a team, with our share of both successes and setbacks.

Thanks again to Beka for the blog hop! 

Fire breathing ponykins

I don't like rain. 

I try to like it, but I just don't. 

It throws off my riding schedule. It creates ridiculous traffic. Work gets more hectic.

Giant tractor sealing the ring

Hemie has been a hot tamale. Inconsistent exercise does not suit him. We squeezed in a ride last week...there were moments of good work interspersed among the mostly-hot-mess.

When Hemie has sat for a few days, he needs 1 or even 2 days of turnout or longing before he can be safely ridden. Add another ride before you can get quality work out of the session. He simply gets too hot and he has a tendency to channel that hotness into up-ness (rearing). 

Who, me?

On days the arenas are closed I've tried hand-walking him. Other horses plod along around the facility, while Hemie does his best fire-breathing-attack-giraffe impression, leaping like a Lipizzaner. I've tried taking photos, but it hasn't worked out (both hands needed on the lead and all that). 

So I'm ready for winter to be over, for the arenas to be open consistently, and for my pony to get his bucks out so we can get back to work!

Can you see my hands in the dark? Yes ma'am!