Jump, pony, jump

Camilla found a wonderful home for Baby Huey. He is now the love of a young girl's life. Look at them in this costume class! It's a Huey-corn!

Camilla is trying out a new mount, Cairo, a 4-year-old 3/4 TB-1/4 Irish mare. Cairo is a sassypants. Today she killed it at her very first show, finishing in the ribbons. Such a good girl!

Long, scary story; happy ending

I have been the world's worst blogger lately. Mostly, there have been several scares with Willow and a visit from my mom keeping me occupied. I'm now feeling much more focused and inspired!

Two weeks ago, I had a call from the owner of the barn in Liberty Hill, Texas, where Willow moved to in November. Willow was having a terrible choking spell, and rinsing her mouth with water and administering Banamine were having no effect. It was late at night, and we finally decided to call the vet out. She determined that it was bad enough that Willow should be moved to the vet hospital. There, she was able to clear the obstruction after a couple tries. A scope showed no abnormalities, so that was good news. But then Willow started to choke again the next morning, and they had to clear another obstruction, this one made of her bedding. Silly mare, eating her bedding. So for the next five days, they kept Willow at the hospital in a dry lot, to keep her from ingesting more wood shavings. Then, she was able to go home for a week of stall rest.

Then, last Friday night, Willow started to choke again. The barn owner called me immediately for permission to take Willow back to the hospital, and I agreed. This time, because we didn't wait as long, the obstruction was cleared much more easily, and Willow was able to go home Monday. For the first few days after her return she was coughing during meals, but still able to eat, and now she seems to be doing well again. They are thoroughly wetting her meals, and I suggested they might try adding large river rocks to the bucket to try to slow Willow down. That mare does love her food.

The scope showed no abnormalities, so I had blood drawn for an EPM test. It showed an exposure but no active infection. I'm wondering if maybe the nerves in Willow's throat might have been affected? She's never had this problem before.

Through all this, I was feeling really down. I had begun planning to bring Willow back to Oregon, since it had been almost two years with no buyer. But now, with the choking, I was terrified to try to ship her so far. What if she choked to death en route? Brrrrrrr. No way. So I had several folks in Texas casting about for someone who might want her as a broodmare. All along, all I have ever wanted is a good home for her.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a student at the barn where Willow is housed popped up and said she wanted her. This lady has had some hard times in her life recently, and she had been volunteering to hand-walk Willow while she was on stall rest. At some point, she became very attached, and when she heard Willow was probably going, she decided to jump in and take her. I don't think she has ever owned her own horse before, but she has been riding all her life, and the barn owner (also the trainer) has known her since she was a child. She thinks it's a good match.

We are at almost two years to the day since Willow got on the truck, bound for Texas, then Louisiana, then Texas. It's hard having a horse for sale that long. In this economy, you wonder if you'll ever find a good home. And then, click, it all works out. I'm so happy for Willow, and happy for her new person. The barn she's at is amazing. If you're ever looking for a barn for jumping or dressage, near Liberty Hill, Texas, let me know and I will hook you up.

Huey is doing awesome as well! Now that I won't have to pay board on Willow, I should have a little extra $$ to take Huey to some rated shows. I would love to try to earn my bronze on him.

Mini major relay

I could watch this all day! I had never heard of this event. Go, pony, go!

Change of heart

About ten minutes after I wrote that last post, the prospective lease-to-buyer changed her mind about wanting to try out Willow. There have been a few nibbles since then, but nothing has come of any of them. And . . . and . . . I think I've decided I'm going to keep Willow and bring her back to Oregon.

She's been for sale for almost two years at this point, and I'm hearing that the people who have tried her have found her too sensitive. For such a freight train of a mare, she is terribly picky about the rider's balance and contact. The trainers have no trouble with her, but the amateurs who try her don't get along with her.

Additionally, in the intervening time I have been riding at a facility with no indoor arena. Where I have to scrape through the giant mud ball to find the gelding underneath. And I guess you might say I have gotten less persnickety about the barn I'm at. I no longer feel that I must be at a dressage show barn. Any facility with decent care and a covered arena will do.

I've been watching old videos of Willow and really liking what I see in them. Sometimes you have to get a little distance and see things with fresh eyes. I see a mare who was solid first level and schooling almost all of second.

Willow has really been enjoying learning to jump, so what I'm hoping for is this: 1) find a cheap but decent barn with a covered arena, and 2) find someone to pick up a half lease who would like to keep her jumping. I think she'd enjoy the variety, and I would really like not having to work her six days a week. Also, I'd like to find a way to keep riding Huey at least a couple days a week. Since I sent Willow away, I have met several riders in the jumper/eventing worlds, so I'm feeling much more confident that I can find a half-leaser than I was two years ago.

Isn't it strange how things work out sometimes?

Willow over fences (video)

I just got this video of Willow jumping -- the first time I've ever seen her in action jumping, except for a picture. Something's wrong with the video quality, but you can still get a good idea of how she's going. I think she looks happy, happy, happy! Trainer Gwen says she is rhythmical and honest to the jumps, and Gwen thinks she will tighten her knees as the jumps get higher. Willow is 16.3, so she can pretty much step over the jump at that height.

I am asking $4500 for her, btw, and she is located in Dubach, LA.

Huey got 7th place at a rated event this past weekend! Go, Mr. H! Apparently his dressage was a wreck, unfortunately. Distracted, tight, and all-around thoroughbredy. Oh well, he jumped his heart out. I should have some video soon.

Willow jumps!

Finally got to see a picture of Willow jumping. She looks so happy! I don't know enough about jumping to judge her form.

Baby Huey jumps!

Camilla entered Huey in an "A" rated hunter/jumper show this weekend. I went out today and caught two videos of them jumping .9 m. They took sixth place in the first class with one rail down, and second place in the second class with a clean round. I don't know much of anything about jumping, but to me the horses that looked and did the best traveled in a dressage-y frame and didn't lean in going around turns. Huey, for example, looks so harmonious between fences. What a good boy!

Baby Huey, superstar

I heard tell that Huey was floating over 3' 6" on Saturday from a collected canter. Huey tends to get a little, shall we say, jazzed when jumping, so this was quite an achievement! I know very little about jumping, but I assume the higher the jumps get, the more adjustable the horse needs to be.

Sunday I schooled lots of canter because it was feeling so good. Then, for fun, I started schooling flying changes and simple changes across the diagonal. Huey often gets hyper when he does a flying change, so I mixed up both movements to keep him guessing. It made him slow down and wait for me, and he did just super. After 16 years of doing dressage, I've never had the chance to earn my bronze. Could Huey finally be my partner? That would be fantastic. But we gotta really work on his medium trot.

Lola is seriously the easiest dog on the planet. I have had not one moment of stress from the moment she moved in. She is just a happy, happy dog.

Baby Huey back in business

After one week of handwalking and another week of very light work on mostly straight lines, Huey is back in regular work. He felt super today. I schooled a bit of walk-canter-walk at the end, and he was totally into it. I think we'll be lessoning with Leslie on Thursday; won't she be impressed. Maybe I'll school a few flying changes before then as well and really wow her.

Willow arrived in Dubach, Louisiana, yesterday to begin work with an eventing trainer. She trailered like a champ, as per usual. I can't wait to hear how she likes jumping!

It's all fun and games until somebody goes crazy

I'm back after a week in Denver for my company's annual conference. Us and 18,000+ of our closest friends. I slept for thirteen hours last night. My team and I run the bookstore, and it's pretty exhausting even when the customers are all pleasant. On Tuesday, a crazy woman began verbally attacking one of my colleagues. A different colleague and I politely asked the crazy woman to join us in a private meeting room to find out what her beef was. Thus began a ten-minute onslaught of insults and general hatefulness. I tried my best to calm her down and find out what she actually wanted. I was doing pretty well maintaining my cool, but then she insulted one of my colleagues with a nasty appearance-based epithet, and I stood up, told her I was highly offended, and tried to indicate that I was done meeting with her. At that point she started to cry and apologize profusely. I'm pretty sure she actually WAS having some kind of mental breakdown, so I've just tried to let the whole thing go. (My colleague said when the epithet was hurled and I stood up, he thought for a second I was going to launch myself at the woman, and he was trying to decide how long to let me whale on her before he interceded. Hee.)

Last year at our conference, a woman lost her mind upon finding out that we were out of her size of t-shirt. She actually did start to get physical, pushing the person staffing the t-shirt booth, and we had to call security. Over a t-shirt. I guess when you get 18,000 people together, there are bound to be a few with mental problems.

Here's Huey doing stadium at a 3-day event last week. I hear his dressage was lovely, too.

Jumping + water skiing + roller blading = ?

What if the guy on the skates missed a ramp? Ow.

Falling in love again

I had one of those rides today that make you fall in love with dressage all over again. Huey was eager, bendy, and listening, so I threw a bunch of stuff at him and he handled it all without turning into a stress ball, as is his wont. Trot-shoulder-in to a few strides of medium, 10-meter canter circles, counter canter, working canter to collected back to working. He only tried to throw his head twice, and instead he just started to raise it, and then I saw a thought bubble reading, "Aw, fiddlesticks, that never works," and he went right back to being soft.

Medium trot will probably be our biggest bugaboo, so I'm not asking for much, but am instead focusing on the downward transition to very collected trot for a few strides, then back to working trot. I want him to really sit down and build those butt muscles, and hopefully that will help him get the idea for medium.

Camilla had a jumping lesson on Huey yesterday, and I took pictures. Here's Air Huey doing his thing:

What a versatile gelding!

How to jump

Just do the exact opposite of what this guy is doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opMiCyoRzYM

Sorry to have disappeared for so long! October has been a crazy month. Back to our regularly scheduled programming starting this weekend.

Puissance jumping

Have y'all ever actually seen puissance jumping? I've heard about it, but I never realized just how freakin' high the puissance wall is. In this clip the wall is 2.2 meters, or about 7.2 feet. There's so much about this feat that is unbelievable, but the hardest thing for me to imagine is the view on the way down, and how the rider and the horse absorb the shock of coming down that far. I guess you'd want to make sure your stirrup leathers were in good shape.

Rider jumps without irons

I found this video while noodling around on YouTube. This young woman manages not only to ride through an epic bucking fit, but then to finish the course without stirrups. I love how at the end you get to see the bucking in slo-mo; that horse catches some serious air. Well ridden!