You Sleep Enough When You are Dead

So today is my favorite day of the year.  It's the beginning of Daylight Savings Time!  Yes, we loose an hour of sleep but the days are now officially longer and will continue to get longer.  And as an old chef used to say, "you sleep enough when you are dead!"  So, enjoy the daylight!

The recent bad news is that we won't be making the trail competition next weekend.  Multiple horses are out of commission (not seriously, just temporarily) so we won't make this one.  But, hopefully, we can find another one close by.

While we wait on a trail competition, Chief and I went out today and worked on jumps.  We are getting better, slowly but surely.  My next goal is for us to make a show.  Fingers crossed, we'll make one this spring, and then we will go from there.

We're getting a string of nice weather days all in a row, so I am hoping to be able to return to the trails soon.  They have been much too wet/icey for riding, so we've been waiting for this nice weather to come along.  One more reason to love day light savings time.  It's the promise of better weather on the horizon.

So while I do love a good sunset as I go to get Chief to go for a ride, I prefer said sunset as I put him up for the evening.

Here's to warmer weather!

Trail Competition

So this year Chief and I are planning to broaden our horizons.  Well I'm planning to broaden our horizons, Chief is just along for the ride, ready or not.  First, we got an English saddle and are working on jumping.  We are up to 18" which is kind of a big deal for me.  Now, I need to work on my seat and get myself together, because Chief is certainly able to go higher... But that's another day's blog.

Today is about competition trail riding.  As you know, Chief and I do a lot of trail riding and one of the things I love about him is his calm demeanor, even in potentially scary situations.  You encounter all sorts of spooky things on the trail, and Chief is typically more calm than me, which works out well.  I do the worrying and get us out of bad situations, and Chief trusts me to get us out of there.  We make a good team.

So this year, when a fellow barnmate suggested that we do a competition trail ride, I was all about it.  If you are unaware, competition trail rides, are rides about 6-8 miles long (untimed) and along the course are obstacles that you are judged and timed on.  These obstacles can be something simple like navigating up or down an embankment.  Or, something kind of scary like a wall of streamers.  The obstacles are meant to simulate challenges that you often encounter on a trail.  They are judged on how well you and your horse navigate the challenge.  Does your horse flip out, and not complete the challenge?  Or does he walk calmly through it?  That kind of thing.  For more info, check out the ACTHA website:  www.actha.us.  They have a complete list of obstacles, and a list of rides all over the country.

So, yesterday, we had our first practice and I'd say it went rather well.  We thankfully have the advantage of an indoor arena.  This made our practice possible with the 6"+ of snow still on the ground.  What was great about it was that there was snow melting off the roof and running down the sides which made for an added element of fun.  But, our horses being the good trail horses they are, didn't seem to mind too much.

I apologize as I didn't take pictures of our set up because I was just having too much fun.  But, we set up a wall of streamers, a rescue, a gate, pulling an object, a Spanish pole, and backing through an L.  I had done some of these challenges before, but some were also new.  Chief struggled on the streamers at first, but ended up doing that quite nicely by the end.  He is also not a fan of backing in the L.  He hates giving the hindquarters which is something I am now going to focus on.

Giving on the hindquarters means when I put pressure behind the girth on the right side, he should take his hind right foot and cross it over the left.  He should do this with little prompting, but, it usually take the crop back there to wake up that hind end.  So this move on both the left and right will be our new focus for now.  This will also set us up to learn how to do a sidepass.  A sidepass is where the horse takes both the front and back legs and crosses them over the opposite side, respectively.  It is a dressage move that will get you extra points in competition trail riding.  So, all the more reason to practice this.

If you would like to try some of these obstacles, it can be done fairly easily and cheaply.  Our wall of streamers was skinny pvc pipe as the sides, and a string at the top.  The streamers hung from the string.  And we taped the pvc pipe to two jump stanchions to hold it up right.  Pulling an item from behind, we tied a rope to a jump rail and pulled it behind us.  The rescue was a dummy made from old clothes and hay.  You simply dismount, put the dummy on the horse, remount and ride off.  I say "simply."  We made the L for the backing challenge with jump poles.  More ideas can be found on the ACTA website and of course my favorite, Pinterest.

I hope that we make it to our first trail challenge in March.  We are still working out the details.  But, should we make it, I'll be sure to give you the update.  Wish us luck!

In the meantime enjoy some pictures from our recent snowfall.

 I wanted to walk out to the VT jump, but, Chief was not a fan of the crunchy snow.  I figured it wasn't worth it.  So we walked around the pond instead.

Ain't Chief just a cutie?

Happy trails ya'll!

3 Things to Do When it's Too Cold to Ride

In case you've been living under a rock lately, I'll inform you that it's been super cold all over the country.  And when I say super cold, I'm talking single digit high's and negative double digit lows as far south as the sleepy town of Blacksburg, VA.  This is cold folks and weather this cold is quite honestly dangerous for you and your horse to ride in.

The ground is frozen, and makes for bad footing, and should they get sweaty and wet, you can increase their chances of getting too cold.  In addition, if you go out and ride in these conditions you have a chance for a case of frost bite.  I love my horse and all, but I prefer to keep all my fingers and toes.

So, what does one do when it's too cold to ride?  Here are my suggestions.

1.  Clean Tack
You are bored, take your tack inside and clean the stuff.  And as long as it is as cold as it is for as long as it is, clean ALL of your tack.  Yes, all those extra pieces of tack that you don't even use, those need to be oiled too!  I like Neatsfoot oil.  If you need to buy some, try here:  http://www.horse.com/item/lexol-nf-neatsfoot-leather-dressing/BPL07/.   But what's great about Neatsfoot oil, is that it hydrates the leather and prolongs the life of the leather.  You just poor some on a cloth and rub in.  If you have stiff leather, use this oil, and work the leather (as much as you can handle) and it will loosen up.  If it's really bad, feel free to soak your leather in oil overnight, that will also help.  If you don't like the oil, Lexol makes all kinds of great products to clean and protect your saddle, bridle, and various other pieces of tack.

2. Do some research
We all like to ride and we can all benefit from learning more about riding.  No one knows everything about horses, and there isn't one magical solution for creating the perfect horse.  One of my favorite publications is Equus  (http://www.equisearch.com/magazines/equus/).  They have good all around information about horse health and riding tips.  I also like Horse & Rider which is a little more Western geared (http://www.equisearch.com/magazines/horse-and-rider/).  Check out this website for all kinds of great information on horses:  http://www.discoverhorses.com/.

4. Go to a clinic
Since you can't ride, go watch someone else do the riding and training.  One of my favorite trainers is Clinton Anderson.  He is very pragmatic and easy to follow (http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com/).  If he is coming to your area soon, you can even submit your horse to be a demo horse.  Great way to get a day or two of training!

There are also often smaller named trainers all over the country, seek them out and see what winter clinics they may be offering and go watch.  It is always great to see another perspective on problem areas that we all experience.  Chase Dodd used to be in my area, but there are others out there like him.  If you happen to be in TN/GA/AL, check him out:  http://www.chasedodd.com/

3. Plan a horsey trip
I often get the winter time blues, so I have found that if I have something to look forward to, my current condition doesn't seem so bad.  Since Chief and I mostly do trail riding, check out http://www.equitrekkingtravel.com/deals.  They have all kinds of suggestions of where you can take your own horse, or travel to other places and ride their horses.

So, best of luck to you in the frigid temperatures.  Take care of yourself and your horse and make the best out of this cold season.  Remember there are just 49 days until spring!

Chief and I snuck a little trail ride in the other day... the ground was a mess... but this was one of the better spots!


 

2013 and on to 2014

Hey folks, long time no see (i.e. I've been lazy and haven't been blogging).  My apologies, what can I say, you get out of the habit and it's hard to get back on the horse (pun intended).

This year has been quite the year.  Just 340 days ago, we moved to Blacksburg, VA from Chattanooga, TN.  I loved living in Chattanooga and it's been hard to leave but I am thankful I've been able to get back a couple of times this year and hope that this continues into 2014.  Chief of course made the move to Paris Mountain Stables which is the same barn that I used to work at to pay my rent back in my college days.  I am still picking up the occasional shift there and it's good to keep myself moving like that.  Plus it's handy to pay off a little of the monthly board.

Also this year we sold a house and bought a house.  We then had tons of friends and family come visit us during football season.  Yes, we are huge Hokie fans, this being the home of Virginia Tech and all.  It was great to see so many folks that we hadn't seen in some time, so the move in that regard has been great.  Our new house has lots of bedrooms, so I am looking forward to more visitors in the coming year.

The hubs and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to VA Beach, back to Blacksburg, then Knoxville, then Chattanooga, back to Knoxville, and then to El Paso for the Sun Bowl.  Again, we got to see lots of friends and family in this insane trip but I must say I was glad I had the day off from work today to go visit Chief.  We are anticipating cold, snowy weather here soon so working in riding time will be difficult at best.

My New Year's resolutions include blogging more, going to the gym at least 2 times a week, visiting Chief at least 2 times a week too, and be sure to take a vacation this year.  I also plan to keep up with my hours for the APHA Ride America program.  Which reminds me I need to send in my log from this year.  If you are unfamiliar with the Ride American program, you can check it out here: APHA Ride America.

I hope that your New Year's resolutions include some riding time as well.  So that you can see what Chief and I have been up to lately, I'm including some pictures.  Happy New Year's everyone!

End of the summer picture of the pond at sunset.

Late fall, Chief greets me as I walk down to his pasture.  It was fun to get him to cross the creek to get him out of the gate...

Late fall on the trail.

Ominous skies as we enter winter.

Gorgeous winter day, view of Catawba valley.

Chief says happy 2014!