Off to foreign lands

Today I was scheduled for a lesson at noon at the local dressage barn about 15 minutes away from where Hampton lives.

Turns out the instructor had to take a horse to the vet, so we mostly ended up just riding around. She did give us a little bit of homework in a short, 15-minute lesson or so. I wasn't upset - it was frankly just great to get Hampton off the farm and ride in an indoor with great footing! I miss that!

Hampton was a piece of cake to load, haul and unload. It's fantastic that the entire process I can do by myself. He was awesome at the new barn, too. Perhaps a little looky at certain things, and a little bit talkative, but very obedient, quiet but forward and lively. He was a BLASTY BLAST to ride. He clearly loved the footing as we got the best trot lengthenings we have ever done. This barn has mirrors, too, so I was loving watching us glide across the ring. We worked a tiny bit on leg yield, few steps of shoulder in ... but mostly just transitions. Walk-canter transitions were spot on. I think we both had a good time with the change in scenery.

The instructor gave us a good exercise to help with his tendency to bulge his shoulder out when working to the left. Instead of riding through .. "Oh hey, he's bulging .. crap ... ok it's over ..." , we are to walk before the turn where he bulges, move his shoulders left, then trot on. This helped a lot and after a few rounds with that, I could skip the walk transition all together and just counterflex a bit and move his shoulders over at the trot. Otherwise, she said he was lovely and going quite well. All of our issues are 100% normal for a horse of his age. She said not to worry about his canter issues as it is totally a growth and development thing.

Overall a fun and productive day. Um, except when I went to put the trailer ramp up my breeches caught on something and now there is a giant hole ripped in them. They were my best full-seat breeches, too. FAIL.

From the back of Hampton ...

So since we didn't do anything but walk on Saturday, I got bored and started to video. This is the result:

Back to working for a living

So New Year's Eve was a balmy 50+ degrees here. Pretty much all of the snow melted (yes!) leaving in its place water, mud and more mud (ugh!). But, the arena footing was finally good - even though it was wet and sloppy. So I worked Hampton on the lunge for a bit. Just to see where we were.

He started out a little weak especially in his right hock (the one that has always been a little funny), but he quickly worked out of it and ended up looking GREAT! He wanted to play and crow-hop a little at the canter but it just made me giggle. It was half-assed. I was happy to find that his cardiovascular fitness was still quite good as he was never breathing hard and only barely broke a sweat.

He has lost some muscle tone, but that's to be expected. His weight still looks good - thank you Equine Senior and alfalfa cubes.

So I scheduled us a lesson on Wednesday at the dressage barn about 10 miles away (with an indoor). I'm nervous and excited. We shall see how Hampton acts at a brand new place. I love the instructor and can't wait to see what she says. Plus, the teaching style there will compliment how my current instructor teaches.

Of course, the temps dropped again and now our home base arena is like riding on concrete so that's been a no-go after Friday. However, a group of us were bound and determined on New Year's Day to ride. So we did. I bundled up both me and Hampton in coolers and we just walked around. Others chose to trot, but I didn't want to make Hampton sore. He didn't seem to mind walking around anyway. Here we all are on for our New Years Day ride 2011:

One of the things I love about this barn is that there are all sorts of horses and riders there. In this photo alone there is an appy, a Walker, two paints, two quarter horses and Hampton. lol. He's not difficult to pick out, he towers over everyone. It was FRIGID that day.

I did take some video which I will edit and post soon. :-)

New Year's Prayer

I post this song/poem pretty much every year on whatever website I happen to be blogging at. I read it and listen to it every year. Jeff Buckley is one of my favorite musicians - a genius at that. If you have not heard his music, I would encourage you to do so - no matter what kind of music is your thing.

NEW YEAR'S PRAYER

You, my love, are allowed to forget
About the Christmas you just spent stressed out in your parents house.

You, my love, are allowed to shed
The weight of all the years before, like bad disco clothes,
Save them for a night of dancing, stoned with you lover.

You, my love, are allowed to let yourself drown
Every night in bottomless wild and naked symbolic dreams.


You, my love, in sleep can unlock
Your youth and your most terrifying magic and dreamings for the courageous.

You, my love, are allowed to grab my guitar
And sing me idiot love songs if you've lost your ability to speak.
Keep it down to two minutes.

You, my love, are allowed to rot and to die
And then live again, more alive and incandescent than before.

You, my love, are allowed to beat the shit out of your television.
Choke it's thoughts and corrupt its mind.
Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL The motherfucker before the song of zombiefied pain and panic and malaise and it's narrow right-winged vision and it's cheap commercial gang rape becomes the white noise of the world.
Turn about is fair play.

You, my love, are allowed to forgive and love your television.

You, my love, are allowed to speak in kisses to those around you and those up in heaven.

You, my love, are allowed to show your babies how to dance full bodied, starry eyed, audacious, supernatural and glorified.

You, my love, are allowed to suck in every single endeavor.

You, my love, are allowed to be soaked like a lovers' blanket in the New York summertime with the wonder of your own special gift.

You, my love, are allowed to receive praise,

You, my love, are allowed to have time,

You, my love, are allowed to understand,

You, my love, are allowed to love,

Woman disobey,
When little men believe,

That you, my love, are Rebellion.


**


Happy New Year everyone.

More 2010 photos

Here is another collection of various 2010 photos that may or may not have made into a blog post this year. :-)

March 2010. Wow. About 20 rides in.

"Dude, gimme that grass. You're going to waste it!"

Grover.

Horse show

Do we see a theme with Grover yet?

This girl was dumped in the mud earlier

"I'm not seeing any treats in that camera ..."

The Mystery of the Fat Lip

As I captured Hampton from the field today, I noticed what appeared to be a lump or wart-like thingy on his lip. Upon closer inspection, it is actually a slice? Bite? Not really sure exactly. It is sort of deep, but was not oozing or bleeding. He was eating just fine (more on that later), so I figured I'd swab it with a little antibiotic ointment and leave it alone. Not sure if someone bit him or what?

No, not herpes.

When I pulled up his lip (I wanted to see if this odd injury went any further in his mouth), I noticed that he is about to lose another cap very close to the sliced up spot. Maybe his tooth was bothering him and he was rubbing his mouth on the shelter or something? It is a mystery!

As I mentioned, he was eating just fine. Hampton has one of these buckets for his food:

As he was finishing up, I was puttering around and all of a sudden this bucket is AIRBORNE, nearly whacks me in the head. I mean I know these aren't the most secure buckets, but apparently Hampton has figure out how to fling it out of the stall with his nose. (only when it is basically empty).

Perhaps he is as bored as I am with this winter crap. SOMEONE needs to go back to work. I'm not naming names, but his initials are H.A.M.P.T.O.N.

Happy Holidays and thank you. :-)

I'd like to wish all my blog readers Happy Holidays (no matter which one you celebrate).

And Happy Holidays and a big thank you to all the people that help me keep Hampton in the best shape he can be in. I really do have a fantastic team of people behind me and my horse.

• The barn owner, Libby, for taking us both back at literally a moment's notice back in October. She also keeps an eye on Hampton on a daily basis and is also a great friend to go riding with. This all while working two "normal" jobs. I think she works too much but that's just me. :-)

• My farrier, Mike, for keeping Hampton's feet in tip-top shape. Not only is he great with horses, but he is on time for appointments! He also happens to be married to a friend of mine from college, so I would consider us friends, too.

• My instructor, Janelle, for guiding Hampton and I through this dressage journey. Her knowledge and experience have made both me and my horse better. She pushes me and challenges me. And my horse appreciates that, I think. I sure do. Plus she's just an awesome person.

• Vets Dr. Cathy and Dr. Frank for their expert care of Hampton this year. Thankfully, he hasn't seen these two awesome women very much, however, Dr. Cathy's chiro adjustment made a HUGE difference in Hampton.

• Equine dentist "FlatTop." For fixing Hampton's mouth. :-)

• ALL of my horse friends for the emotional support and friendship! You know who you are!

• My roomie, Adam, for helping me start Hampton (even though he knows nothing about horses, much less how to start one under saddle). Bless his heart for holding the lunge line earlier this spring while Hampton was learning stop and go.

• And of course family for every kind of support possible (emotional, financial, etc. etc)