Shake it off. Shake it off.

*Note I am NOT ... repeat NOT a fan of Taylor Swift in regards to the title of this post*

*Also, this is just my independent review. Theraplate has not asked me to write this. However Hampton would make an excellent ambassador!*

It is pretty awesome that our barn has a Theraplate available to the horses. Our barn owner offers a per-use fee, or a monthly fee for unlimited use.

Hamps has been on a Theraplate once before - early in May at the KDA show there was a Theraplate vendor who was offering free treatments. He stood OK on it, but never really relaxed.

We hit up the Theraplate vendor on our
walk back from the show ring.
Not a bad life really.

The first time I put him on the Theraplate here at home, he danced around for a few minutes.

"Ummm hey guys!! The floor is vibrating!"

"Does anyone else feel this?"

"Ummmmm"

He was so funny and the uncertainty was written all over his face.

But after about 5 minutes, he started to lick and chew. Then his feet stopped moving.

Then he lowered his neck. 

Ever since then, he has walked on this thing and stood like a broke cow horse. Neck lowered, relaxed, quiet. Anyone who knows Hampton well knows he has a very busy brain, and is quite stoic. He will rarely just stand quietly for you without at the very least trying to chew on the lead rope, or frisking you for treats,

Except on the Theraplate. I can literally walk off and he will stand on it. There is nothing to really keep him in place.

Pony is so skeeeeered of the Theraplate!

The Theraplate has different frequencies, and it also came with a little booklet that recommends "treatments" for different ailments. Everything from colic, to tendon injuries, to EPM, to general soreness. I have been using the plan for warmup and general back soreness. It goes like this:

2 minutes on 30Hz

3 minutes on 50

5 minutes on 70/80

3 minutes on 50

2 minutes on 30

I use that little routine pretty much before every ride. The lower settings are pretty comfortable for humans, too. I like to jump up and stand on it with him when it is around 30 or 50. If I stand on it too long above 50, I will get dizzy and almost feel drunk. Perhaps it makes all the blood rush to your head? I'm not sure what the settings are for the human Theraplate, but the horse one goes up to 100. I have not turned it up that high for Hampton yet. I am afraid if I stood on it at that setting my eyeballs might pop out or something. 

zzzzz

Some days Hampton will relax so much on this thing that he will start to fall asleep. His eyes will close and he will start swaying back and forth. It is hilarious. I have never seen him react this way to any other "luxury" treatments he sometimes gets such as massages or chiro work. He is always very stoic.

Some days I will also throw him on the Theraplate to "cook" after our rides as well. In this case, I do something like:

5 minutes on 70

3 minutes on 50

3 minutes on 30

2 minutes on 10 or 20

I have found these treatments so be greatly beneficial to Hampton - especially in our warm up. On cold days, he will every once in a while have that little "hitch" behind that has improved greatly over the years but sometimes shows back up when we first start trotting. I have not seen it AT ALL since Theraplating. His warm up trot has been far more swingy and loose. And his newly found Second Gear Fancy Trot has starting to really bloom. I do credit Theraplate for some of this. It has really made a difference in Mr. I Love to Have a Tight Back. 

These things aren't cheap though, but hey they do offer financing! 

Overall I do think the Theraplate is quite beneficial. I can see how it would be good to put a horse with maybe just a mild colic on it, as WITHOUT FAIL Hampton poops and/or farts every time he steps off the thing. However, that said, the realist in me suspects that some of what Theraplate touts may be voodoo. I for sure believe there is a calming effect, but as for magically healing injuries? I think it probably is best used in conjunction with therapies your vet recommends.

There are a couple of horses in the barn who are ultra sensitive to the "energy" the Theraplate has. They are OK at a low setting like 10, but get nervous and even bolt off the platform if you try to turn the dial up. Just a warning if you have a delicate flower!

(Our aquatread is almost up and running as well! Can't wait to make Hampton a victim .... err, participant in that!)

One more year in review post :)

Here's a neat little Flipagram thingie I made from 2014 photos.

I promise I am done reviewing 2014 now. haha. 2015 goals coming right up!

Swirlology

Time to check out some swirls!

Thank you to everyone who sent in photos and descriptions.

Check out this "whorlology" article for more information and some theories on what kind of whorls mean what.

I'll start with a large bay gelding some of you may be familiar with.

The Porkchop!

It is sort of hard to tell in this photo, but Hampton actually has 2 swirls. The top one is very circular, and the one below is long and "feathered" looking. They are high swirls, with the feathered swirl almost directly inbetween his eyes.

According to the article:

High swirls are associated with a more active mind. Hampton without a doubt has a very busy brain, but sometimes a lazy body. He is always thinking and his feelings are almost always written all over his face. 

Multiple whorls indicate multiple personalities. The horse might be difficult to clip or trailer; might be petrified of ‘unreasonable’ specific things; might be fine several days in a row, then explode out of the blue. This actually describes Hampton quite well. He can be the most solid of citizens in many situations but you CANNOT under any circumstances: 1) clip near his ears or 2) hot shoe him. He loses his shit. He also had random days where he spooks at seemingly nothing and becomes nearly unrideable. But the next day is back to his wonderful, workmanlike self.

Double (or more) whorls will not take the pounding and criticism that many single whorl horses will endure. One must be fair and just in all requests. This 100% applies to Hamps. You cannot manhandle him, and you cannot get mad. He will accept fair, and quick corrections, but he isn't one you can just "kick his ass" and expect him to submit, because he won't.

Now let's check out what some horse owners of blog land have to say/

Nicole who owns Murray has this to say about his whorls:

"Murray has, as far as I can see, just the single, centre, not-too-high whorl.  He's a complicated guy: spooky, not initially trusting, but actually very sweet.  Really smart, and good under saddle as long as you don't ask for something that blows his mind too much.  He's super cinchy, and definitely not "uncomplicated", but he's a good boy deep down."

How cute is Murray?!

Mule alert! Oliva sent in this photo and description of Nilla's whorls. Check our her blog at http://diyhorseownership.blogspot.com. Here's what she had to say:

"Nilla has a lower swirl. However, she has a very active mind. As a mule, she's very smart, figures things out quickly, and is always observing her surroundings. Her swirl is not focused - it's quite large and flowing. Part of having an active mind is that she's always paying attention to everything not just the one thing that she should be. It is a single swirl. I have a different mule every time I pull her out. Some days she's calm and quiet. Some days she's pissed and throwing temper tantrums."

Nilla. So adorable!

Austen - the super awesome human who belongs to Guinness - sent in this handsome photo of her awesome dressage pony. Here's what she said:

"You can see his single whorl high above his eyes. Apparently his high-super focused whorl means he has an active mind that is capable of high amount of focus. I am going to go ahead and agree that he has an incredibly active mind, but I don't know that he is capable of intense focus. Maybe average to slightly above average focus? For a thoroughbred? He certainly requires a high amount of variety in his schooling, lest he get bored and stop caring."

Pig!

Lauren who belongs to the adorable Simon, writes: "He is pretty affectionate, super willing to work and always wants to please.  Nervous/anxious guy overall though I'd say."

That face!

I'm not sure we have proven or dis-proven any whorl theories here. But it's interesting. And plus I love looking at the cute faces of everyone's pony.

Happy Holidays to those who celebrate them. If not, Happy Last Couple of Weeks of 2014! And if you don't celebrate the new year, then you must be some sort of communist and I don't know what to say to you. haha.


 

2014 Year In Review

Keep sending in your whorl photos!!
I'll compile them and publish them next week. :)

But now ... dun dun dun ....
______

Time for my annual Year In Review post!

Of course, if you've been reading this blog all year you already know what happened. But here is a summary anyway.

JANUARY

Managed to find a photo from winter 2014 that DOES NOT have ice or snow in it!

- If you believe in Hell, then it would have been frozen over because the ENTIRE MIDWEST was so cold ... and frozen ... and icey ... and snowy ... and just horrible, horrible wintry hell. So, we weren't doing a whole lot. I spent my mornings hammering ice out of buckets, thawing snaps and cleaning frozen poo out of stalls.

FEBRUARY

- The arena is till basically an ice skating rink so we don't get a lot of work done this month either.

- There are a couple of warmish days mid month that give us some time to get back to the arena. Then about 4 inches of snow arrives. My sense of humor vanishes.

Hampton is all like "WHAAAAAT is THAT?!"

- A little rescue pony named Moses comes to the farm to learn how to be around people. Eventually he gets started under saddle, too! 

MARCH

 - I start working more consistently with OTTBs and find I really enjoy it.

- I buy a new saddle, and spring starts to finally show up. Hampton and I start getting more rides in and spend quite a bit of time hacking up and down hills to help rebuild fitness.

APRIL

- There is a thief who makes a visit to our farm and steals blankets, bridles, saddles and actual farm equipment. We become paranoid and put locks on everything. (some of the bridles were found and returned to the owners, but as for anything else, I'm not sure. Also unsure if an arrest was ever made)

- I question the abilities of the Hamper after someone tells me he probably won't make a Third Level horse. Thankfully, I shake it off and keep moving forward.

- We attend the JJ Tate Clinic which BLOWS MY MIND. If I ever get the chance to lesson with her again, I would sell an ovary. I would sell both of them actually. Both Hampton and I are a changed pair after two days with JJ.

- I also get out to Rolex where I meet up with some fellow bloggers, enjoy the shopping and get goosebumps watching cross country.

MAY

so downhill. My breeches were soaking wet, I'm shocked you cannot see my pink
legs through them.

- We attend a small schooling show for our Third Level debut. It's cold, pouring down rain and the first time either of us has attempting this test at a show. It was not quite a disaster, but it was certainly not a great show. The judge is kind and gives us OK scores of 57% and 58% - and that was with Hampton LAUNCHING into the air during what was supposed to be a flying change.

- After that "confidence builder" (not), we head off to the big KDA show at the KY Horse Park for the same tests. Our first test was, for real this time, a CLUSTERF*CK. It was a disaster. Hampton totally fell behind my leg and shut down in the ring. I later realized I did not warm him up correctly, and the "instructor" I paid to help me stood silent on the sidelines and instead insulted my horse and tried to shame me. Thankfully, I realized what the problem was (I need to warm him up to be sharper and BUST HIM if he falls behind the leg), and our other tests were much better. But I left that show knowing I needed some real help if we were going to keep showing.

- I earn my USDF Bronze Medal!

JUNE

- We take a road trip back to Indiana for some lessons with my favorite instructor. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. I explained our issues to her, and what happened at KDA. Her answer was "I have a prescription for that." Finally! Someone who knew what to do! It got a little ugly, but I faced our issues and rode him through it. The bucking in the flying changes immediately improved, and rarely happens these days.
- We start teaching Hampton a little passage, and I ride her Grand Prix stallion to feel what the "tricks" are like.
- Hampton turns 7 years old.

JULY

- We keep working on our homework from June.

- Hampton decides he wants a week off and comes down with a rather nasty case of cellulitis.

AUGUST

Chicken arms!

- We continue our dressage homework, but take a little break mid-month when I decide it would be fun to take Hampton to a hunter pace. He loses all control of gerbils and rears straight up in the air. I abandon the jumping group and join the trail riders and end up enjoying myself instead of fearing for my life. I make a mental note not to take Hamps on any more hunter paces.

SEPTEMBER

- We make another attempt at a USDF rated show at Harmony in the Park. It's a total success. We end up with scores in the 60s, plus Reserve Champion High Point AA at Third Level. Hampton is wonderful and does not give me any issues. Which was a good thing as I had a stomach virus that week and was running on fumes.

- Hampton and I move to a new barn.

OCTOBER

Weird moment in time, but not as downhill as May!

- We get out to one last schooling show. It goes pretty well - we get more scores in the 60s and Hampton feels fantastic.

- Hampton gets his toe nails done by a new farrier who basically traumatizes Hampton to the point where he can no longer be hot-shoed. It was a terrible incident.

NOVEMBER

- We keep plugging away at various dressage homework.

- Hampton's passage starts to really improve. We start to work on canter pirouettes more seriously as well as the canter zig zag from PSG.
- We take a quickie road trip to school a little bit off the property. It was a local schooling show, but I did not enter because I'm not a fan of the judge. (He was one who judged us in May and had nothing good to say at all. So, blacklisted.)
- I get yet another part-time job to help with money matters.

DECEMBER

(not from December)

- Here we are.
- The weather, while gloomy and nasty, is not bad enough to keep us from working!
- I start riding a local schoolmaster type to help me learn the movements I need to teach Hampton.
- Hampton gets daily treatments on the Theraplate. (I should do a post on this, as the results have been interesting!)
- I am done Christmas shopping. Boom.

So there's 2014.

It was a year of learning, for sure.
Learning about dressage.
Learning about my horse.
So much learning about dressage.

Learning about myself.

Pretty thankful that both me and my awesome horse are happy and healthy.

Looking forward to 2015!
(goals to come)

Show me your whorls!

I came across THIS ARTICLE today. It's about whorls (or swirls) and how the number and placement may or may not indicate a horse's personality.

What do you think?

Send me a picture of your horse's whorls - let's stick with just foreheads if you can - and send in a little snippet about their personality and if you think the whorl theory rings true with your beast.

I'll run them all on this blog. Maybe we can prove the whorls wrong?

Send photos and snippets to: finalchapter.karen@gmail.com

And don't forget your name, horse's name and a link to your blog if you have one. :)

2014 Goals and comments

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a post about my goals for 2014.

Let's review 2014, shall we?

Here is what I laid out for myself:

Goals for 2014:

• Show Third Level, get my bronze medal.
• By fall, show a kamakazie Fourth Level test.
• Attend FHF adult dressage camp
• Attend JJ Tate clinic in April (Lexington). At the very least, audit.
• Buy a new saddle
• School more Fourth/PSG
• After I blow all my savings on a saddle, start saving for a used truck
• Always always put Hampton first, let him tell me what he's ready for
• Host a clinic at the farm
• Attend 2 rated shows if financially possible

1) Show Third Level, get my bronze: SUCCESS! It was not without struggle, that is for sure. But we did manage to get those scores in May. Later in the year, I improved on those scores so I felt like I did actually "earn" that Bronze medal, instead of scraping by.

2) Show a kamikaze Fourth Level test: No, we didn't do this. We just were not ready and trying to reach this goal would have just set me up for more disappointment. We maybe could have pulled off 4-1 but sticking to Third resulted in more positive experiences. There is no rush anyway!

3) Attend FHF adult dressage camp: No, because it was on the same dates as the JJ Tate clinic. 

4) Attend JJ Tate Clinc: Yes, and it was AWESOME.

5) Buy a new saddle: Yes! I have enjoyed my Amerigo this year but it is for sale now. It is a perfectly great saddle but I am fighting with it some because of my long thigh. So, I will be shopping for another one over the winter. Yay.

6) School more 4th/PSG: Success! We have started pirouettes and continued developing Hampton's fancy trot. I have played around with some tempis as well although the flying changes are still a major weak point and need more polish before we try any test with tempi changes.

7) Start saving for a used truck: Nope. Not even in the cards. It will likely be years before I am in any sort of financial situation to buy a second vehicle. I'd likely have to get a better paying job. OR sell the horse. That's just reality, but it's not such a big deal as I do have the ability to borrow a close friend's truck if I need it.

8) Always put Hampton first, let him tell me what he's ready for: Success.This is so interesting that I wrote this well before the year blew up in my face. Because this theme is really what 2014 was all about. In the spring, I stood up for my horse and I stood up for myself. You cannot let people bully you and manipulate you. Others wanted to write Hampton off. I realize he is not international material. I really don't want an international horse (yet). I want an enjoyable horse who is more than a competition vehicle. He is my buddy, a member of my family. But you also never write Hampton off as a dressage horse. You may think he isn't capable, but he will keep on trying. I never thought he would learn passage. Or even be able to do a decent flying change. Too bad so many people pass up the mediocre horses on first glance. Their loss!

9) Host a clinic at the farm: Nope. Things just didn't fall into place here. Not a big deal.

10) Attend 2 rated shows: Success! I am hoping to repeat this for 2015, and possibly add a 3rd rated show. I am currently working 3 jobs in hopes to start a savings account. And by savings account, I mean more money for showing. haha. Half kidding.

Next up: Year In Review and 2015 Goals.

Thanksgiving passage

Finally I have some video of the Porkchop passaging!

Thanksgiving meant the boy joined me at the barn. Which meant I put him to work and made him take some video. Too bad I deleted his commentary which was in a British accent.

Please keep in mind that 1) Hampton is not Totilas or Valegro 2) I am not Charlotte D. 3) We BOTH only started learning this late summer.

With that said, part of me wanted to edit this video and include only the good moments. But then I decided to leave it as is so that everyone can see that yes there are some neat moments but we fall out of it a lot and go flat. All part of the process. Hampton needs strength. We both need timing. It's a work in progress but he is getting the hang of it.

WW: Schooling off the property

(used with persmission)

Hampton's heritage: My King

I've written about Porkchop's so-called pedigree a couple of times before.

A little about Hampton's pedigree

Pedigree geeks unite

I am a big believer in riding the actual horse, not his papers. But I do like looking back and seeing what Hampton's ancestors have accomplished.

My King

My King is Hampton's great-great-grandsire. He is a 1966 Rhinelander. He was 17 hands. Interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of size in Hampton's warmblood lines. I assumed he got his size from the Clydesdale, but that may not be totally true.

My King was bred and trained by Ed Rothkranz. They were part of the 1980 Alternate Olympics for the Canadian Olympic Team. My King is a son of Martel, who was on the Bronze medal winning German Olympic dressage team in 1952. 

It's a small world, as Ed Rothkranz currently lives in southern Kentucky.

My King produced a number of successful babies, including horses in both dressage and Grand Prix jumping. Dr Reiner Klimke owned a mare, Amantiado, by My King.

My King was also a Grand Prix jumper.

My King and Ed

Does anyone else have a horse who goes back to My King?

Keep on truckin'

Porkchop and I have been working 5 days a week on our Dressage Skillz.

Three of those days I focus on suppleness - keeping him loose and swingy, working on bend and perhaps throwing in some lateral work.

Some lovely hacking out in a back field today while the weather
was still warm.

Two days I really focus on AMPING UP THE HAMPER. This of course has increased his spook factor, but so be it. It hasn't gotten out of hand (yet) and actually at times helps me keep his poll up. Ha, take that horse. His passage has gotten so much stronger and more consistent. Now I can start to use it and dial it back out to a "show trot" that we can take to the show ring. It's still a work in progress but we are playing with it. I've also started to really focus on the canter pirouettes. This is a brand new movement to me, so they are not perfect. Or even that good, really. But thankfully this is one thing that Hampton is VERY good at. If I can learn the timing and the aids, I know this will be one of our highlights. I'm pretty sure we will have decent piros by spring.

(I promise to get video of passage soon!)

Example of what our faces look like when attempting PSG canter zig zag.
Good grief.

I spend a lot of time doing forward and back. Like, a lot of time. Sounds boring, but when you start to feel the results it is suddenly not so boring. I also focus on transitions especially in the lateral work. For example, trot leg yield across the ring - around X slow down to a jog-trot (still leg yielding) - and then go forward again and keep leg yielding. Leg yield to ranvers is also super beneficial to Hampton - especially the right ranvers.

The flying changes are better and better - although I still deal with a lot of anticipating by Porkchop. He is just very smart and thinks he is helping. So I do a lot of "changing my mind" and keeping counter canter, or just changing direction, turning, something to keep him listening to me and not changing when he is anticipating. Canter leg yields are our best friend. That exercise has helped me more this year than anything else. If you have a horse with a tight back and tight hips - this exercise is for you. Do it. I love you, canter leg yields.

Looking pretty fit.

Things are coming along. Just in time for winter. ha.

But the good news is that we now have an indoor, although small. Plus an aquatread AND a theraplate at the barn to help keep Hampers fit and loose.

So we will keep on truckin.'

Pretty much.

The 6 types of people that shop for horses

I may have mentioned on here that I was somewhat involved with a non-profit adoption agency that rehomes OTTBs. Because of that, I often dealt with people who are horse shopping. I also used to work as a young horse trainer who was responsible for showing horses to prospective buyers.

I've come up with a list of different types of people I most frequently ran into. Selling horses is not for the faint of heart. Horse people can be cray-cray, even when you get into the higher price ranges.

The educated, classy professional

The ECP arrives to the appointment on time. They have given you a specific horse or horses they want to look at. They watch the horse, don't talk a whole lot and perhaps then hop on for a ride. If the horse does not interest them, they politely let you know. They come dressed to ride and are dressed in a tidy manner. They may ask some questions, but most of their focus is watching the actual horse. I love ECPs. They are honest, to the point and don't waste time.

The arrogant "professional"

These shoppers are frequently late - maybe even two hours late to an appointment and they expect you to wait around for them. Some may be irritated if you have to reschedule. They arrive and check out the horse they requested to see. These people will often start making all sorts of comments to you about the horse. "Oh, he has really crooked legs." "Hmmmm, why is his ankle swollen?" "Wow, he has a really sore back." ...

Or one of my personal favorites:

Pro: "Oh my god, his mane is awful. They must have cut it with scissors! How lazy!"

Me: "Yeah, actually I did that. Yes, I was lazy and cut it."

Pro: "Oh, I didn't mean to be rude."

... Yes you did!

Or, during a pre purchase exam:

Pro: "Well, I guess if he turns up lame I will just bring him back to you guys!"

These "professionals" often overestimate their riding ability. Maybe almost get bucked off, or cannot stop the horse. (yes some of the OTTBs are not so well trained but as a "professional" you should have other tools). They make a lot of commentary - to which I do not respond. I'm just hear to help and to show you the horse. I can't fix his sore back right this second, he's 2 weeks off the track. These types will sometimes insult you in a backhanded way. They think they are superior to just about everyone.

(while watching a horse canter)

Pro to me: "Now, he's on the wrong lead." "Do you understand leads?"

Me: "Yes, I do." *stares blankly trying not to lose my shit*

(same idiot)

Pro: "I'm going to ponder this decision concerning this horse. Do you know what ponder means?"

Me: "Yes. It means to think about." (said with snark)

I mean don't come in here and insult the seller or VOLUNTEERS thank you.

The educated, classy amateur

I love ECAs. They are my favorite shopper. They are looking for a horse who will be a friend, maybe a competition partner. Maybe even a re sell project. They typically come with an open mind, and they have done their research. They are friendly, and ask a lot of great questions. They watch the horse go, and then take a spin themselves. They are careful with the horse, but know what sort of buttons to push to see if the horse is what they will get along with. They have a sense of humor and are pleasant to deal with. I have actually made several friends from showing horses to ECAs.

The laid back, just-want-a-nice-horse person

These are the shoppers who are looking for a family, trail, pleasure, 4-H type horse. They aren't looking to turn the horse into some high performance show animal. They want a good mind, but typically fall for horses of pretty colors and nice tails. No, I am not joking. The horse could have crippled knees but dang he has a nice tail. Sold! They can range from beginners to those with riding experience but just want to take it easy. Nothing wrong with that, and often these people make great homes. Sometimes the horse hoarders fall into this category, however. Or those who return a horse for whatever reason (divorce, finances) and then 6 months later want another one. Sometimes entire families show up to the appointment. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it isn't. Like when you let your 4 year old run into the arena while your 15 year old is riding an OTTB. This type of shopper very often overestimates their riding ability by quite a bit. Sometimes they have a trainer who falls into the Arrogant "Pro" category. But there are some truly nice people that also fall into this category that have ended up being great adopters.

The Mountain People

Now we start getting into the truly crazy people. Mountain People is a term I use for adopters who show up and I immediately think they have come from the back woods of West Virginia (no offense to any WVa readers ...). The men have a wad of dip in their lower lip. The women are decked out in camo and no one speaks proper English. A couple of times I thought Duck Dynasty was doing an episode at the farm. They always complain about the English saddles and they make me extremely nervous when they want to get on a horse. It's frequently a team effort to make that happen. Truly, many of these horses deserve a gold medal for tolerating what they do. 

Comments from Mountain People may include such quotes (these are real quotes) as:

Teen: "Ma, remember that time you called the cops on me?"

Mother Mountain Person: "I can call the cops whenever I want!"

Mountain woman's apparent lover once aboard an OTTB (and trust me it was not easy getting him aboard this horse. He was a big guy, and did not know how to properly mount a horse):

 "Oh I like 'em. I can shoot my gun off dis one!"

Me to Mountain guy: "You have to wear a helmet, it's our policy"

Mountain guy: "That's dumb"

Mountain teen: "I'm lookin for a jumpin horse."

... upon getting on one OTTB, she proceeded to walk around the roundpen white-knuckling the English saddle and trying to neck rein. Not sure she is going to make it over a fence anytime soon. ....

These people seem to randomly fall in love with certain horses. It may be the one with the best tail. It may be the one who most looks like a QH. It may be the one with the most unique color.

 It's NEVER the actual nicest horse we have. 

What these people do at home

The BATSHIT FUCKING CRAZY

Signs someone may fall into this category:
(these are all real and happened to me)

- Taking a hand and putting it in the horses's ear, while yelling "BUZZZZZZZZZZZ" .... to see if the horse will "tolerate clippers."

- Bragging to me about how you've won the Saddlebred world's five gaited championship. "Have you ever met someone who has won that title?" He says to me. 

"Yes," I said. "I used to work for a trainer who has."

Silence.

 ... I knew this guy never won that title. I grew up in that industry. He was a total flat out liar. He also said he won all sorts of things at Congress, Walker shows and Devon. No, no and no.

- Adopting a horse, then putting a stop payment on the check an hour after you get him home.

- Claiming we are frauds and calling the organizations founder and volunteers such names as dumbass, motherf------, bitch, etc. Yelling and screaming at people who are trying to help you and make things right.

- Sitting in the truck in silence while your "man" yells at volunteers (see above). Like a good little wife!

- Backing a volunteer against a wall, pointing your finger directly into his face and proceeded to name call, threaten and otherwise abuse this volunteer who was trying to help you.

- Refusing to leave the property (after you returned the horse), because you want a check that you had already put a stop payment on. Meanwhile snaking around the property in other barns you have no business in.

- Publicly trashing an organization on Facebook. 

The Farrier Incident

About 5 weeks ago, Hampton's farrier told me he was going to spend the winter in Florida.

But, he had a name of a guy he highly recommends to take care of Hampton over the winter. First, I will say that Hampton's farrier is probably one of the best I have ever been around. He works for one of the best farriers in the midwest, if not the country. He is an all around nice guy, is patient with Hampton, is funny and extremely hot good looking. Basically everything one wants in a farrier. ;)

So, when he recommended this other guy to shoe Hampton over the winter I of course took his advice without question.

So this new guy comes out (about 4 weeks ago) to reset the creature.

At first things are going great, but I warn him that when he gets to the hot-shoeing part, he will need to be patient at the smoke scares Hampton and he will want to hop backwards a bit. He usually gets over it fairly quickly but does require some patience at first. So we proceed.

And Hampton does exactly what I said he was going to do - he hops around a bit when in reaction to the smoke. To be fair, Hampton has never been hot-shoed until this summer. This was maybe the 3rd or 4th time he has experienced this.

After a few hops around, New Farrier says, "Put a lip chain on him."

I immediately got a bad feeling in my stomach.

So I try to put a lip chain on Hampton. I pretty much fail miserably because 1) Hampton is too damn tall and 2) He is now getting very upset as to to why I am trying to cram a chain up his lip. It is really rare that I have to put a chain on this horse's nose, much less a lip chain. Which he has never experienced.

So farrier says in the most condescending manner: "Have you ever put a lip chain on before?"

... Now I am annoyed AND offended. I tell him YES I know how to put lip chains on but have never needed to on this horse. He is too big to manhandle.

"Well, this is what we do on the track," he says. So I tell him to give it a try and HE CANNOT GET THE CHAIN ON EITHER. I am aware that track horses wear lip chains all the time. They are used to it, and it works for them. But Hampton is not used to be handled in such a manner. It just scared him and pissed him off.

He finally succeeds after 5 minutes. Hampton's gums are bleeding now of course and he is visably upset. Great.

So Hampton stands a little better now, but after maybe 10 minutes I notice that he is started to tremble in the flanks. Another 5 minutes and he is now shaking like a leaf. He looked like a horse having a full blown HYPP attack. Now, I was getting scared. Was he tying up? Was he going to collapse? Was he going into shock?

The farrier seemed unconcerned at the shaking and kept on shoeing. He was almost done at this point, so as soon as he was done hot shoeing I took the lip chain off and Hampton stopped shaking very quickly after that. Endorphins? I don't know.

After he proceeded to charge me an arm and a leg, I turned Hampton back out in hopes he would move around. He galloped out to his friends and seemed totally fine. I watched him for 10 more minutes to be sure.

To be honest, the farrier does quality work. But I won't be using him again. In fact the experience was so traumatic that I am going to have to drug Hampton next time (new farrier), just for his sake.

I feel horrible for not standing up for him more. He is certainly not above getting into trouble. He isn't allowed to act like a jerk, but when the horse is truly scared, it does no good to get rough with them. I don't want any farrier to get hurt, I get it. But I think this went too far.

How can you put a lip chain on this kind face? geez

I know it's not the farrier's job to train my horse to stand to be shod. But it is only the hot-shoeing portion that bothers Hampton. And I'm not sure how I can replicate that in daily life to teach him it's ok?

*sigh*

I guess a lesson learned?

Prep School Hippie

It has not even been a month since we moved to the new barn, and already it feels like home. Both horse and I have easily slipped into the routine and there was pretty much no adjustment period.

The fellow boarders are all class acts. Just a lovely bunch of gals. Hampton gets more turn out time and he seems happy about that. Other than a very mild case of cellulitis (nothing compared to the scary episode this summer) last week, he's been in good shape and the time off did him some good.

So while the commute is longer, the stress has been reduced. I'll take it.

My very first riding instructor used to yell at me: "Karen - what color is your horse?!" and I would say "Bay!"
and she would say "YES, now you can stop looking at him!"
... I was 7 and didn't really get the joke until years later.
And I still have that bad habit.

We've picked back up a regular lesson schedule as well, much to my relief. I love working on my own, and doing my homework, but if I go too long without lessons I tend to get stuck in my own little world and stop pushing the envelope.

My current instructor is a keeper. She is a friend, but during a lesson we can check that friendship at the gate. She pushes me to be excellent and pushes me to try things that I would normally think was way beyond my skill level. Hampton goes great in lessons and we come away with homework to keep us busy for a while. haha.

We tried the canter zig zag from the PSG this weekend. It was pretty horrible. But that's ok because you have to start somewhere! Because it was horrible, I was able to find a few holes in the training. I'm working on addressing those issues (horse must react to the aids right now or he will hear about it!!) and I bet next time I try it will at least be improved. Maybe even somewhat resemble the actual movement. I have mad, mad respect for people who make FEI tests look so easy and flowing.

Sprinkled in between our hot mess clusterf*ck not-so-elegant moments are other moments of awesome sauce. Hampton is still developing strength, but he is turning into a dressage horse I think!

Stolen change. At least it was clean and beautiful!

Our flying changes are starting to get pretty reliable. Yes he still anticipates sometimes, but now I have the tools to help prevent that and to ride through those moments. There is rarely any bucking anymore and the collection is really improving.

Interesting that while he is anticipating here at least it doesn't look like this:

His trot is still pretty mediocre so my focus has been to direct that energy up instead of forward to try and get some cadence. Hampton has a really good idea of the passage now (I need to get video of that because he is pretty cool). So I somehow need to channel the passage into a hybrid show trot to help improve our scores in the arena.

We are aiming for a few little schooling shows over the winter (weather permitting, duh) so I can work on keeping him rideable in the arena. We'll stay at Third Level. There has been talk of doing Fourth and PSG next year. I love having a teacher who believes in us that much, so we'll see. Never say never.

Also, Florida was great. It was hot and sunny and we rarely sat still. Visited an alligator farm which was the bombdiggity because I love alligators. I think it comes from my love for Godzilla. Yes, yes I am a Godzilla fan.

Paddleboarding was also so fun. Infact we may purchase a paddleboard for next summer and venture into the big bad Ohio river.

I mean, you'd have to dodge barge traffic, and drunks with their cabin cruisers but ... could be fun?

We saw a school of dolphins while out paddleboarding, too! Neat!