Talihina (Or Something Like That) Sky

A Blog Is Owed.. But You'll Have Pictures Instead

Taken in late Feb or early March.. A friend came to visit!

Of course, a redo was necessary since Holden's BFH was in the way..

Some time in early March, trotting up the driveway..

It's really too bad that the camera didn't capture this picture well.. The sky was tangerine orange!

Practicing braiding, last day of March.

"We're done, right?"

And finally, a short, choppy video of a long hack Mike and I did in the middle of March..

The one where nothing happens!

Kicking back, relaxing.. Oh wait, that never happens.

  It's been a busy few weeks but I figured I'd pop in and write a little -- commissions have picked up and they are crazy. Busy enough that sometimes I haven't been able to ride before it gets dark. Nice to have the extra money though, cause we all know how well the horse industry pays (hah!).

Holden has been great - we haven't worked as hard as I would like because the footing prohibits it. We had a small bout of snow and then a week of semi-melting days with frigid nights - makes for a nice ice-cake riding ring. We've been taking to hacking around the premises at a walk, working on steering with leg and neck rein only - he's getting good at steering and doing TOH/TOF with leg only.

We went on a nice hack today and Mike came (along with the dog and a samurai sword..). He used the sword to "clear the path"-- Holden was great with the clamor he made bushwacking, though at first he did have other ideas about sticking around. We made some new trails, walked to the high tension wires, went back home, and W/T/C in the circle at the driveway. The circle is small -- about 20 meters, so we didn't do too much but that is the first time we've cantered it. He was fantastic. I'm thinking tomorrow we'll spend some more time working on lightness of aids and cantering to the left.

God, so hard to get a picture of him sometimes. Here was one of the days we spent "westernizing" him - played with roping in and around him. Not impressed, but tolerated it.

And then there's 2016

It'd be a little cliche to say that 2015 was a whirlwind year.  While not much changed in some ways and I felt the year slipped by innocuously, some things changing irrevocably. It was certainly not my banner year, but I have to say I have a very good feeling about the time spent in 2015 with Holden. He blossomed from a very curt, semi-grumpy professional into this inquisitive, willing partner -- my first rides in 2015 were bepopulate with melodramatic whirls, hind hoof airstrikes undersaddle, miscommunications and a general dread to slug through the cold and snow to ride this challenging animal... fast forward to the end of December and I have been chewing at my nails waiting for my shift at work to end to work with this remarkable horse. We've discovered he has a sense of humor, in his own way - he has discovered not all people are going to expect unfair things of him -- and in turn, has converted into this willing, intelligent horse under-saddle. His dressage has improved immensely despite sparse lessons in 2015 (okay, I think we had 6 total!) - despite every obstacle in our way from the icy outdoor to the unforgiving slope of our riding ring, he is as soft and through as ever. He is still challenging, but not in a disobedient way -- my new challenge is providing him with the best possible ride I can get out of myself, not him.

I'm really looking forward to the spring with this guy. I am not the type to set resolutions or goals with myself, but I am setting a goal here: I want to finish the end of the season at a solid Novice, and I'll take some dressage shows in between

Time will tell, won't it?

Where did November go?

Holden some time in November

Good lord, it's been a long time since I updated!

Holden's been good - he had a little accident right after our last lesson in October -- he managed to put all four legs between a gate and the result was some spectacular gashes and bruises.. So, he got to enjoy some serious time off. He was ridden sparsely in November, what between the mushy grass soup that is our riding ring and the miserable weather following.. not to mention it took a while for his cut (thanks gate!) on his pastern to seal completely.

The one thing I can really appreciate with him though is that he's the same horse, whether he's had four days off or four weeks.. the first five minutes he can be a little wiggly as he becomes accustomed to your leg, but it's nice to not have to worry about him being an idiot just because he hasn't been worked consistently. 

He got new shoes the first week of December - finally put pads on him after x-rays confirmed what I was afraid of.. perilously shallow soles! So that didn't really jive with the whole "work hard and no-stirrup-November" goal that we had going on.. I felt it was unfair to work him with such thin feetsies and he sure wasn't complaining about the lack of serious mileage in November!

Once he got his fancy sneakers (complete with boriums up front) we went for a spin and I can tell he must have been wanting a shoeing upgrade for a while - he was much better over the gravel and uneven terrain that is our spiky driveway. We didn't do much, few trot laps in both directions and called it quits. I figure what with having such an inconsistent month, we could pick up the real work the next day.

And that was a few days ago -- we went for a whirl today and he was saucy, very saucy. Warm-up was okay, he was much better once I did some loopy serpentines and figure eights.. think he just forgot what a real leg aid felt like. Katie came out to snap some pictures (we have an employee photo contest at work) but sadly it was already dusk and my camera didn't agree much with the lighting. You'll have to forgive the quality, as I had to edit the pictures in PS3 because they were so dark. In any event we got enough pictures to figure out what I need to work on -- I even included a less than flattering one for posterity ;)

You know.. for posterity..

We even hopped over the barrels at the end of the ride.. Yup, just as I suspected -- EXACTLY where we left off! Such a good egg.

Maybe next time I rope my sister into snapping some pictures, we can go with a holiday theme..