So, because nothing is ever dull with horses, I spent the morning with my vet. Again.
Yesterday, I pulled Jack out of the field and noticed this:
Saturday afternoon
A bath in case it was skin related, icing around the legs where there was a little filling, and a dose of antihistamine and I stuck him in his stall and bade him goodnight.
When I checked in with the barn manager this morning, we found this:
This morning
Halp! My horse is mutating!
pool noodle legs and rather doughy sheath
Based on the distribution, we’re going with the assumption that he ate something he is obviously allergic to. He got an IV shot of dex and I’ve wrapped him all around to try and get the leg swelling down- right now he’s so swollen he doesn’t care to walk around.
I’m lucky to have a team of people keeping on eye on him, but it still makes a horse-mom worry. Has anyone else ever dealt with hives like this? Do you know what caused them, and what did you do to treat them?
Having won the tie for third place in the XC phase, I was fairly nervous that I was going to screw things up in the showjumping. Jack came out and warmed up beautifully, and somehow the gears in my head were still working enough to tell me to stay quiet and keep my shoulders back, despite my inner voice screaming “lean at it! Go go go!”.
Our tie-partner went into the ring before us, and I watched them put in a beautiful double clear round. Alright, so the pressure was really on now.
Then Jack and I got on course. We circled an oxer towards the middle of the arena, and after a few steps of his typical “holy sh*t, where am I?!” nonsense, he actually settled and started listening to me.
Fence 1 felt great, but as I got him straight into the approach to an oxer-to-oxer line he started snowballing into the first fence. A hard half halt to remind him that we don’t do that sort of thing and he came back enough for the third fence on course.
Fence 3
Fences 4 and 5 came up fine, and though we were booking we somehow made the rollback turn back to 6. This is where I went wrong- I let the canter get too strung out, and as a result he took out the top rail with his knees. I can tell you, there were a number of four letter words rolling through my head at that point, and after watching the video I’m glad that I didn’t actually say them out loud.
Fence 7B out of the 2 stride combo
The rest of the course rode beautifully, but our unfortunate rail cost us 2 places. Still, as seemed the trend for the rest of the show up to that point, I was just thrilled that Jack felt more relaxed and rideable than he had before. And Novice didn’t feel so big as it seemed back in February at the schooling day.
Fence 8 and a happy poneh
I’m also starting to learn to think and ride in showjumping, which is a big win for me- normally I’m so focused on the order of the fences there’s little room for anything else. We may have wrapped up the weekend a little lower in the standings that I had hoped (my yellow ribbon collection was coming along so nicely), but all in all it was a super debut at a new level for Jack, and he came back a little wiser and a little more confident as a result. For that I’m incredibly thankful.
As far as a move up course, this one couldn’t have been better. In many ways it was simply a larger version of the BN course, but with a couple interesting lines/combos thrown in for good measure. It included a drop at 7, then an interesting terrain combination at 9AB, and a 2 stride combination at 15AB.
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Despite my cross country nerves (which I think will never go away), I felt fairly confident that as long as I rode every fence that this would be a good course for Jack. We did get deep spots in a couple places, and he definitely bobbled going into the 9AB combo (lots to look at, including the training ditch right next to our question). BUT overall this was the most locked-on and confident he has felt on XC. How do I know?? The Golden Boy actually started hunting down a skinny Prelim brush coming out of the first water. As you’ll hear me say on camera, “Are you crazy?”
I also got good practice looking at my watch (something I definitely didn’t do last time), since I was tied going into XC and wanted to be close-ish to the optimum time. I still came in 20 seconds under, but was able to make decisions about trotting in a couple places and collecting him to the last fences to try and let the clock run up a bit. Who knew it was possible to think and ride at the same time?!
Maybe you wouldn’t have to jump like that Jack if you opened your eyes?
Seriously though, it was awesome to come off the course feeling like Jack had grown in confidence and experience over the last 5 minutes. And that’s how he officially became a Novice horse!
We arrived at the Carolina Horse Park much later than I originally had hoped for Friday evening after a day of utter chaos, but I was able to eek in our ride, which was 20 minutes free walk-medium walk transitions plus a little trot and canter, before the light ran out.
Saturday morning because of the timing I opted to do Jack’s pre-ride instead of hand walking, because it seems to settle his brain much more to have a job. So we meandered along the track of the warm up ring for a solid 10 minutes, followed by 5 min of free walk – medium walk transitions, then trot-walk transitions and a canter circle in each direction before going back in.
The pre-ride seems key for Jack, and when we went back out to the warmup ring before the actual test he felt much more relaxed. We repeated much of the routine from earlier in the day, with a focus on energy and straightness, and with him feeling ace we headed into the dressage ring.
Overall I’m thrilled with the test. He felt so relaxed that I was finally able to ask for more energy in the trot. This in itself has been a big goal, as we’ve been keeping his trot small and relaxed in the show ring to be a little risk-aversive. If we had pushed for a bigger trot before he was really relaxed, we always had moments of tension, hollowing, or breaking to the canter. This time I could put my leg on and not get an anxious tail swish or hollowing. Eventually I think I can ask for an even more forward trot, but this was a solid milestone for us.
We scored a 31 for our efforts, though I had very much been hoping to break into the 20’s again. But a 31 put us tied for 3rd out of the pack of 14, and so I really shouldn’t complain. Jack was a really good boy and his confidence is just gaining and gaining with every show- and that means so much to me! Besides- we had his first Novice course to consider! Details of that to come tomorrow 🙂
Until I get to walk the course Friday afternoon, my feelings about our move up to Novice are running quite the gambit. Even though I know we have been jumping at that height for some time, occasionally it still happens that I get off Jack and stand next to the fence and go:
Riding both a behemoth of a horse, and never setting the fences myself (since I don’t really jump outside of lessons these days) will do that to you I guess. My trainer believes in me though, and feels like this is totally doable. Hell- we even jumped the ditch (yes, that ditch) in our lesson the other day with minimal drama. That was a major win in and of itself, no matter how this weekend goes.
It was November of 2013 that I last went Novice, and I remember how much fun I was having, right up until I got that TE for missing a fence.
…and there it goes.
So redemption would be pretty awesome. Which is why my only goals for this show are:
Jump all the jumps
Jump them in the right order
Don’t fall off (pleasssse)
Besides that, I just need to remember to breathe.
PS is anyone else stupid excited about the new JP movie? I am.
Welcome to the new face of House on a Hill- now Red on the Right! I hope you guys are excited as me about this change, which is really less of a change in content and more just bringing the branding of the blog in line with what’s actually written here.
This blog will still be mostly about horses, with a dash of good red wine and a tongue-in-cheek approach to life as much as possible. Hence the new tagline 🙂
The color palette has shifted as well as the graphics, mostly in order to stay tied to my other entity of BGD. My photography has been often discussed on the blog, and I plan to continue since it is an increasing part of my life, not to mention it funds the horse habit itself!
In terms of other exciting things, I’m looking forward to our first Novice next weekend. Our cross country lesson last night was a blast, and Jack was more rideable than he has been over fences in quite some time. His confidence feels like it’s growing, and you will notice there’s a distinct lack of growling from me to encourage him forward. We’ve got another showjumping lesson next Thursday, and then next Friday we head back to the Carolina Horse Park for the show!
So that’s the quick update for now! I would love to hear your thoughts on the new name and look! Otherwise- everyone have a great weekend!
My latest post for The Plaid Horse hit the interwebs yesterday, and it’s chock full of tips and tricks for pre-portrait grooming and outfit decisions. Head on over to The Plaid Horse to read the full post!, and enjoy the infographic preview below!PS- can you guess who modeled for the silhouette used here?
There’s been some small updates in my own life, as you may know if you follow along on my instagram account. The most life-changing being my Lasik surgery that I had done 2 weeks ago, taking me from a -7 prescription (roughly 20/400) to no prescription at all and 20/20. My eyes still feel a little strained, and they tell me they’ll be fully healed in 3 months, but it’s exciting to be able to wake up and see first thing in the morning!
Rockin that hair net look like..
I’ve also started playing around with some new funky hair color thanks to the recommendation of a horsey friend (thanks C!) called Overtone. Since Jack has basically been eating (literally) all my money these days, I haven’t found time or cash to go get my hair done at an actual salon. So to change things up I’ve started playing around with their Rose Gold for Brown Hair line. And I’m eyeballing the Extreme Deep Purple set for a potential purple ombre look as well. Because nothing says “I’m a designer” like funky hair, right?! Pictures and process to come in a future post!
And lastly, I’m finally dragging my butt to the gym again. This isn’t a balls-to-the-wall grunting, mostly dying type routine, but a solid 30 minutes on the treadmill (mostly brisk walk while I build up the stamina in my jacked up hip) followed by a dedicated ab and arm program. Since we’re planning on moving up to Novice soon, I want to feel like I can support my horse where needed and not just be a passenger- and for that, I need to be in better shape.
Speaking of the horse, last night we had our first jump lesson post-hock injections. I also met my awesome-sauce farrier at the jump facility’s barn and Jack is now rocking pads up front due to some wonky steps he’s taken recently on particularly hard footing. The result was a golden boy that was anything but Mellow Yellow. Instead he was absolutely raring to go, and pushing off with more power behind than I’ve ever felt (see gif below). I’m going to be going cautiously regarding the ground conditions we work under, but was thrilled that Jack was feeling fit for work last night.
So that’s where we are at the moment! New, fully functional lazered eyeballs, funky hair, and a horse that is hopefully heading in the right direction. Things are looking bright! 😉
My best friend is a pretty remarkable person in a lot of ways- an entrepreneur who started her own mobile vet practice, and a phenomenal rider to boot.
And we enjoy special relations
So when I got this text about her already one-eyed mare, it was immediately followed by a phone call and a whole lot of f bombs.
To make a long story short, Rea ended up losing her other eye. Knowing horses as we mostly do here, you can imagine that this was a tough decision. You could also imagine that there was some discussion around whether or not Rea should or could continue on at all with no eyes.
So I was thrilled that The Plaid Horse picked up their story, and I won’t spoil it- instead I’ll tell you to go check it out!
I have to admit, I am totally kicking myself after talking about plans and then having to get the vet out days later. Did I jinx myself? Is that really a thing? Who knows, but I’m regretting it.
Picture because he’s cute with that blond hair a-flying
It makes me think about how superstitious some folks can be at shows.
At our last show, I had friends who were both equally excited to report to me that I was in the lead after dressage, and others that thought I shouldn’t know. Of course there’s something to do with handling mental pressure in this case, besides pure luck, but still- it’s a common debate and not just in my camp!
What is the likelihood that if I hadn’t know that I was in the lead, that I then would have gone double clear in showjumping instead of getting that cheap rail? Or was that cheap rail ‘destined’ to be mine all along? In my mind, I feel like I would have had the same level of stress going into showjumping as I would have in any case, but maybe that little bit of hope for a potential blue ribbon messed it all up for me?
The one that got away.
And then I have a friend who insists that if things are going well mid-show, that she will be absolutely MIA on social media until it’s all over. Because, you know, jinxing. Whereas if things have gone to pot, then who the hell cares and share-away!
Where do you stand? Do you like to know where you are in the standings mid-event? Do you wait until it’s all over to share any news? How do you mentally move from one phase to another?
Red on the Right 