The sun! It does exist!

So after so much time of nothing but rain, snow, and gloom everyone here in TN was blessed with seeing the sun!!  I am not sure about everyone else but I was damn sure going to go enjoy it with my horse.

Sadly her sole bruise in the right front lasted well over a month.  This stopped us from going to the schooling show at RiverGlen this past Saturday.  But such is life and there will always be other shows.  I am only happy that she is now sound and coming back into work. 

So today was my first day on her...in over a month.  First she tried the sucking back and not moving.  Just for old times sake, and to see if I REALLY meant that her vacation was over.  She learned it was. 
Next, she decided to spook at the vet working at his truck as he floated a few horses teeth.  Gracie's idea of a spook is to hop forward in her "look at me I have standardbred in me" trot, so it is totally managable thankfully. 
But that got her fire going and I used it to my advantage.  I like them a bit UP as it is so much easier to get them in front of your leg and working.

So today I just focused on forward and straight with a good steady rythmn.  We got the first two fairly early on, but she loves to zoom once she hits the open end of a circle or say going down the longside.  So half-halt, half-halt was my solution. 
I guess I finally asked her in the right way as she finally became steady eddy and the rest of the ride was quite nice.  Just stayed in the walk/trot. I will add the canter back in tomorrow or Wednesday I think. 

Though as we were ending the ride on a nice long and low stretchy trot the CAT OF DOOOOOOOMM jumped out of a hole in the kickboards of the indoor.  Holy hell that mare shot out from under me and was across the diagnol in 2 seconds flat!! Good thing I stayed on.  LoL.

Oh and the spoiled little mare got a very long massage before our ride.  I am jealous as I need one too.  She just better be happy her mom is a massage therapist.  ;p;p It is the only time Gracie will stand still for that long and be happy about doing it!

So we are getting back on track for our plans. 
Have a clinic with Jim Koford in a few weekends, and then right after with Cathy Fox. 
I better get my butt back in shape and soon!!!

In the land of mud

So for one I have been a very bad blogger.  I will try to explain myself for that, but first let me speak of Gracie.  Since she is FAR more interesting than I am.

First off the mare has been doing fantastic this winter.  She is so much more comfortable in her body and is a very happy camper.  It is amazing to see her transform after battling and winning against the EPM.
Her work ethic has improved alot and she hasnt sulled up on me in months.  The canter is slowly coming along and the transitions are becoming alot cleaner.  The trot work is really really good most of the time.
So I am quite happy with my little maremare!!

Though I have to say she has had off for almost a week now.  On Saturday I went out to clinic with my trainer Cathy Fox and she was lame on the lunge.  Only to the left at the trot, but it was definetly her right foreleg.  Ugh.
So all the signs pointed to an abscess.  And I have been managing her since then like that.  Farrier came out Tuesday and found a soft/tender spot and dug just a little to find the bugger.  And found a nice bruise instead.  But she seems quite okay on the leg but I am going to give her a bit more time off.  Keeping it wrapped so it stays clean to hopefully ward off an actual abscess forming. 

Other than that I am living the life of horses now.  I finished my six month Massage Therapy course with Mike Scott in SC back in December.  So I am focusing all my energy into getting that off the ground and running.  So far things have been going pretty well.  Making lots of contact and networking quite a bit.
Only thing is the rain/cold/snow/mud is keeping everyone from riding and indoors.  Including myself.  But I can still ride as I love that fact I have an indoor at my barn. 

Plans for 2010???
-Start off the show year March 6th at local schooling show.  Go out at Training 1 and 2.

-Plan on my club's May/September Schooling shows to see about moving up to other tests.

-Clinic as much as I can afford with Cathy, Tom Poulin, and Jim Koford.

-Make a show schedule to some rated shows that friends are attending and catch a ride with them.

-Start year off at Training Level.  Shoot for Regionals.

-Test the waters of First level at end of summer into fall.  It is all there except for the canter transitions.

-Grow my massage business!!!

-Take Gracie out on trail rides across East TN for a nice break for us and to just relax. :)

But shes my friend mom!

It was a rainy day here in TN and I was glad that we have an indoor at my barn. 
"Sooner Stadium", as it is named, is a god-sent.  Regardless of the weather I can still ride, and it is hard to make excuses not to.  I have even been out there late into the night riding when life gets in the way.

So my friend B and I tacked up our mares and made our way into the indoor for a nice midday ride.

Gracie was actually kinda frisky today. 
In the last few weeks we have been doing a very long walk warmup and then slowly going into the trot.
For one there is her EPM we are rehabbing from. 
And two she is usually quite resistant about picking up the trot...and sometimes the walk.
So I felt this was a good time to find a better way to approach our rides.
I am slowly learning what she needs to get loose and relaxed and ready for the real work.

Here is the short and the sweet on Gracie.  I will tell the longer tale later.
She can be a bitch.  If she doesnt want to work, or if she is in pain she has NO problem telling you all about it.  She will stop, kick out at your leg/whip, crowhop backwards, and do anything BUT go forward.
She came to me this way...it was her "issue" that I knew all about when I took her.
But over the last year we have found two really good reasons for this behavoir to arise. 
The latest being the EPM, the previous was bad pain caused by her heat cycles.

I have to come into every ride with the goal of always being forward.  If nothing else is there she has to at least be moving.  I have had both Cathy Fox, Tom Poulin, and Jim Koford all tell me so long as she is moving it doesnt matter where her head is. 
Though once she is going and working THEN I can ask her to work over her back and be on the bit.

So as always that was my goal today.
Though ironically that wasnt an issue today.  The only time she ever even wanted to stop was when the other mare Rosie, a field-mate, was going in another direction.  She wanted to go with her.
I had to put my foot down and say "NO we are going the other way thank you very much!!"
I got a few middle hooves pointed in my direction, but in the end she got my message.

Today was a very good ride. 
I got to do a fair amount of sitting trot too.  This for me...and I know for alot of riders... has been my achilles heel.  But I think I am starting to get the feel and stay moving with her not against. 
I can always tell as if I dont stay with her, that back goes hollow and her straight up.  She loves to tattle-tale on you. She will not pack you around thats for sure.
So maybe the riding sans stirrups once a week is paying off for me.  But damn do my inner thighs kill right now!

The only thing I really had to work on today was going to the right she was popping her left shoulder out.
Not sure where that is coming from as she is usually quite straight.  It must be something I am doing...or at least I like to blame myself.
So I worked alot on counter-bending her to the right on a circle and then gradually doing some haunches-in on the long side.  It seemed to really help "pop" that shoulder back into place. 
It may have been a fluke of today, so I will have to keep my eye on it and see if I am causing it somehow.

So all in all a good day.
The only downside was I did feel her right hind drop out from under her once.  This is the leg that was most affected by the EPM.  We are a month into treatment at this point.  She is doing alot better, but still have a long ways to go.  I dont see us cantering until at least this winter sometime.  *sigh*
It is just a day by day thing right now and I am just glad I can do this much with her.

I am going to try to take her a local schooling show at the end of September and do the Intro tests.
Just to get her out and about some more, and see new things.
Plus if I can get another good score at that level we could possibly get a year end award with the local club.
Sure its just Intro, but at least we could salvage something from this year of dissapointment and injuries.

Tomorrow I have to work all day so no riding planned.  Just her daily EPM meds...which I am sure she is getting quite sick of.
Then back into the saddle on Sunday.
If I remember I will try to get some pictures for this blog.  All my Gracie pics are kinda dated at this point. ;p

A Milestone

So today I left my twenties and have entered into the next chapter of my life...the thirties.
Doesn't really feel that much different I have to admit.  Funny how some people get so bent out of shape about this particular birthday.
Oh well....

I have to say I am just happy that I hit my thirty mark being a horse owner.
Growing up owning my OWN horse was always my wildest dream and honestly even just over a year ago it seemed quite unlikely to happen anytime soon.

But then Gracie entered my life.

I had met her back in 2007 but only once. 
My trainer, Cathy Fox, was at the barn one weekend doing a clinic.  Gracie's original owner decided to bring her over to get Cathy to work with her some and then make a sale video.  At this time Gracie was only 5, and her owner was not keen on taking on a green horse.
But I still had only heard tales of Gracie and had never met her in person.
That was till I was walking down the barn aisle and a dark shape leaped from the back of one stall with teeth barred trying to kill me!!
I got out of the way just in time.  I look back and see a very snarky dark bay mare giving me the evil eye as I walked on.  What a bitch I thought.
This ended up being Gracie of course.  Go figure that she was to end up mine within the year.

Ok....lets back up a bit here.
So Gracie is a nursemare foal baby.  She was orphaned at 3 weeks old and placed into a rescue up in KY.
A very good friend of mine had called said rescue just before Gracie had arrived and asked if they ever got "dressage" prospect babies in.  They said not usually but would call if something came in like that.
Well...gracie arrived soon after.  She was home in TN within a week.
To the best of our knowledge Gracie is 3/4 Thoroughbred and 1/4 Standardbred.  Her sire was full TB, and was a big time stallion on the farm Gracie was born at.  They just wont reveal his identity.  So her daddy is probably famous to some degree.  Her dam on the other hand is a normal horse of no real note which is just fine of course.

Gracie's mom ended up not selling her at that time even though she did have a few offers.
Instead Gracie stayed in TN and spent some time living with a local teenager.  Things never did work out and she returned back to her home.  Though it was no fault of Gracie's that things didnt last I might add.
Granted the mare had some issues especially with sucking back, but that is a tale all its own.

So fast forward to last May.
I was leasing a great gelding by the name of Junior.  He was a solid citizen at 16 and was helping me restore my confidence in the saddle.  But I was starting to feel that it was time to move on to my next horse, though at the time I had no way to purchase a horse. 
So again it was a clinic weekend with Cathy Fox.  I had just finished riding Junior and was untacking him up in the barn.
Gracie was actually the next ride after me so I was not there to see her go. 
All of a sudden one of the other boarders comes up to  find me exclamining that "we have ALL decided that Gracie is the horse for you.  It's just too perfect..you have to take her."

????????!!!!!!!????????????
That about sums up the look I had on my face.
ME? With a young green horse that has some issues under saddle already?  I was quite convinced everyone had been hitting the bottle all morning and were not thinking straight. 
That or I was getting the brunt of a very mean joke.

But in the end they were all serious...including Cathy my trainer.
So the next day I rode Gracie.  And I fell in love with her.  I felt some connection with her, and knew that I could get her through her troubles.
Within a few weeks she came back to Merry Hour as my horse.
Her owner, who is also a good friend of mine, gave her to me basicly.  She had raised Gracie and just wanted to see her go to a good home.  I was that good home.

It has felt like an eternity since that day in May she became mine, and the road has been long and hard.
But the mare loves me, and I love her.  And at the end of the day thats what gets us through.

So on my thirtieth birthday I am happy to say I am a horse owner.
Dont be supirsed to know that all my bday money will be spent on things for her...not me.
I have learned that being a horse owner means that buying things for yourself is long gone. 
But I am soooo ok with that.

Tomorrow I plan on riding her again...
Im sure Ill update how that goes...

Welcome.
This is my little slice of the internet pie dedicated to that which is my endevours as a dressage rider.
That cute horse in the picture to the left is the love of my life Saving Grace...aka "Gracie".

Dont mind the chick on her back...thats just me...I am not as cute.

Do mind the guy who is with us. That is the wonderul Tom Poulin. He is one of the great teachers that I have to help guide Gracie and I in our partnership together.

Very simply right now is kinda a "downtime" for the two of us. I say that as I am only riding her 2-3 times a week and only doing walk/light trot work with her.
Sadly over the early summer Gracie's canter started to fall apart, and she started to act out very loudly under saddle.
What we thought was a lameness issue ended up being EPM after having the fabulous vets at the Vet School here in TN take a look at her.
BUT...
We started her on meds almost a month ago and slowly we are seeing improvements.
I am working her to keep her moving as that can be one of the best things for EPM.
She was never so bad she was falling down, so light work is not a danger to either one of us.
Canter though is still off the menu for at least another few months.

I am taking this time to kinda start fresh and work through some issues we have been having.
Namely her sucking back and being resistant to moving forward/working.
This was her tactic for letting people know she was in pain.
This poor mare has kinda been through alot in her seven years....but Im sure Ill go more into that later...
But the behavoir slowly over time became a habit for her.
This time is to address that and get her willing to work freely without tantrums.

I am looking at our warmup routine mainly and seeing how I can better prepare her for the work ahead in our sessions. I think this will be the key to success.
I am also using this time to work on ME.
I am a fair rider I think..though others will try to flatter me and say I am much better than that.
My goal is to get a better seat over this layoff from heavy work.
My stirrups are being dropped once Gracie is in her zone and working. MY GOD!! My legs are like jelly afterwards. But it feels sooooo GOOD!
I think if I can gain a deeper more independant seat that going back to canter work will be alot easier. Gracie is still green in alot of ways and it does not help that I am as well.
I want to do better so I can do better for her!
I dont want to bang around on her back, jabbed her in the mouth, or give confusing aids.
She deserves a good rider.

So look forward to many posts on our trials and tribulations in the ring and the fields and even some shows later on.
Till then....