My Old ... derrr, new Kentucky Home

I have a boat load to write about. Where to start??

Hampton and I are moved to Kentucky safe and sound. I of course still have a lot of organizing to do and more things to buy for the apartment, but Hampton seems settled in.

He is living in a MASSIVE field with just 3 other geldings. His field has a pond and a creek, a very large run-in shed and more green grass than they will ever be able to eat. Seriously this kind of land and beauty just does not exist in Indiana. It is mind-blowing to me and seems like a slice of heaven.

It is at least a quarter of a mile from the main barn and arenas out to Hampton's field. Thankfully, there is a little shed out there where I can keep my tack so that I can drive out to the field and ride back to the arena. The property is full of rolling hills and wildlife, as you will see below. I have much more to write about, but here are some photos from the journey. :)

Ready to leave Indiana!

Pit stop!

New home. Hampton approves.

We saw this on our first ride. ... and also a 7 point buck.

Dressage area

Happy Hamper

First ride. Walking back to his field.

"This grass all for me? Really?"

Lets not forget my grumpy cat also made the move. NOT A PEEP out of him
for the entire 3-hour car ride.

Get. in. my. belleh.

Teaching piaffe to the Hamper

Had my last lesson with my favorite instructor this morning. She was kind enough to give me the lesson as a gift - and even better, we worked in-hand with Hampton teaching him the foundation for piaffe.

Yes, he's only 5 but teaching this exercise is beneficial because:
• It teaches the horse to raise his withers and lower his pelvis.
• When you are ready to start it under saddle, the pony already has an understanding.

I have found many videos on YouTube about teaching piaffe in hand, but they are almost all of horses who already know how to do this. No one really shows how they REALLY start out, unless you have a super talented horse who understands piaffe immediately.

So here's how we started.

• Teach Hamps that a touch with the whip on his back legs means to pick the leg up. I had already taught him this.

• When leading in hand, raising the whip means come forward. He knows this pretty well, too.

... now comes the tricky part.

• Horse must respect your space. He cannot barge or rush past you. He must first respect the whoa, and then the piaffe will come. Hampton, while not exactly rude, had some moments where he needed to have a discussion about not running past the handler (J, my instructor). A good bonk on the nose with the rubber end of the lunge whip usually does the trick. (Warning: Don't do this with an ultra sensitive horse who may freak out and rear).

• Once the horse respects this space, it's all about marking the behavior. Reward after even 1 or 2 prancy steps.

• ALWAYS make sure you keep the horse moving forward (so you will be walking backward). At this stage, they can't piaffe in place. So make it fun, rewarding, and easy for them. Don't drill it too much or they become and dull and quit having any sort of reaction. Hampton likes to cow kick at the whip ... this should be corrected, but not too sharply as at least it is a reaction. :)

• The final result should be that you simply raise the whip, horse piaffes.

Here are two short videos I took of his work today. Remember he is just starting this, but you can see him thinking about what the right answer is. By the end, he did about 3 really nice piaffe steps and I immediately shoved him full of treats and ended the session.

Groupie

I took a break from stressing out and spent Saturday at the Hoosier Horse Fair. Got a new pair of cowboy boots for me (I know, the dressage rider goes country. What next?!) and a new pair of really nice front boots for Hamper.

But the best moment was this:

yours truly and THE Buck Brannaman!!!!

Buck is truly an amazing gentleman (yes, they do still exist) and I could tell right away why horses love him. He has such a calm, emotionally honest energy about him (if that makes sense). He was so gracious and humble and took the time for all of his groupies ... fans. I really admire him and wish there was a million more of these types of men in the world.

Watched the rodeo, too. Almost picked up a really friggin cute cowboy but we didn't have enough room in the car after all the shopping. Had to leave him behind. :)

"Mr. Sophisticated"

Wittle baby Hamper.

In the midst of trying to move in 7 days and every cotton-pickin' stressful thing that goes with that (seriously I am so tired I want to cry ... hate that feeling), I have been riding the creature.

In fact I squeezed in a lesson Friday since I don't know when or who I will be taking lessons from in Kentuckeh.

Hampton, who looks like a legit sporthorse now, shows up to the lesson and works his ass off for me like a Second Level horse! He made me so proud — especially when the other boarders would stop at the gate to watch and "ooohh" and "ahhh" at Hampton and his awesomeness. :)

CAF Spring 2011

Here's what we did today.

• Shoulder in and haunches in. Haunches-in needs to be more prompt and more fluid, but the understanding is there. Needs polish.

• First level test 3 canter tour. I was trying to do too much shoulder-fore in the lengthening. Just ride straight. Canter loop goes well if I ride it correctly. Our indoor is way smaller than a dressage ring so I really had to ride the corners for the loop. The actual show ring should be easier and not so steep. 15 meter canter circle and change of lead through the trot no problem.

• First level test 3 trot work. Leg yielding, lengthenings. Leg yields were a little crooked at times - probably because I did not have enough outside rein half halt. Needs more swing, less bend in the neck. Stay uphill in lengthenings.

• Walk canter. Canter walk transitions. Canter to walk has improved SO much. I just need to make sure the hind legs walk first and not the front legs. So, canter .. collected canter ... SUPER collected canter ... then walk. At this point, while he is still learning these a bit, it is better to have him come a little above the bit, but sit down on his haunches, than stay round and dive into the walk. A good way to develop collected canter is canter for 4 strides, walk. Rinse, repeat. After a few of these exercises, I thought Hampton was going to start to piaffe on me. This really gets the horse obedient to the leg and active behind. If one of us actually knew what we were doing in regards to piaffe, I could have just asked for it and it would have been there. Blamo!

• Turn on the haunches. Start in haunches-in, then turn the shoulders with the outside rein. I have trouble keeping the bend, but for now that is ok as long as he is stepping UNDER and not OUT through the turn. This movement at the trot creates half steps.

Other than a major spook (it was legit, there was some rodent that was scurrying about behind a wall) ... he was such an amazing horse today.

Next week we are going to do some work in hand with him and hopefully one more lesson before he moves to his new home.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to pack and get my life organized and still have some fun with friends before I leave. I guess I can sleep later?

Annnnd I still don't (officially) have a place to live. Eeep.

Walk away

{Music interlude. Horse and Lville stuff to return tomorrow!}


Dear Ben Harper,

Thank you for writing this song. :)

Oh no
Here comes that sun again
That means another day
Without you my friend

And it hurts me
To look into the mirror at myself
And it hurts even more
To have to be with somebody else
And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away

With so many people
To love in my life
Why do I worry
About one

But you put the happy
In my ness
You put the good times
Into my fun
And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door

We've tried the goodbye
So many days
We walk in the same direction
So that we could never stray
They say if you love somebody
Then you have got to set them free
But I would rather be locked to you
Than live in this pain and misery

They say time will
Make all this go away
But it's time that has taken my tomorrows
And turned them into yesterdays
And once again that rising sun
Is droppin' on down
And once again you my friend
Are nowhere to be found
And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door
You just walk away
Walk away




And as a special treat, Ben and (a young, yuppie-looking) Eddie Vedder. Oh yum yum yum.

Keep on truckin'

Naturally, when moving 3 hours away and across state lines, the first thing you should do is:

a) find a place to live
b) find a place for your horse to live
c) locate all the good bars
d) sleep

If you guessed B, you are correct!
If you guessed C, you are also correct!

(Answers A and D are incorrect, bad student!)

So, uh, that means the good news is that Hampton does have a new place to live. The woman who owns Hampton's sire recommended this place to me, as she is friends with the gal who runs it.

The place looks heavenly and the BO was nice enough to let me stay for a few weeks to make sure I like it before signing a contract. Hampton will be moving next week, just as soon as I can get a health certificate.

The bad news is that I don't have a &%*^ place to live yet and I start my new job on April 23.

*#&$*% !!!!!!!

It seems like I have 3 jobs now as I do barn chores in the morning, ride Hamp, then apartment hunt online until I go into newspaper land. It is mentally exhausting!

I bet you all are wondering about our new farm.

I hope to have photos soon, but here is a short description. It is in Prospect, KY, a VERY lovely area. Thankfully, Hampton is looking fabulous right now so I don't think we'll be laughed at when we arrive.

• Rich and spacious pastures (Hamps will be living outside again! Woohoo!)
• Situated on a 170-acre nature preserve
• Miles and miles of trails amongst waterfalls, woods and total beauty!
• Two outdoor arenas - dressage and show jumping.
• You can hack 4 minutes down the road to one of the area's biggest eventing facilities.
• So many other facilities within 10-15 miles to trailer to. (Such as Flying Cross)

I'm pretty excited and never in a million years thought I would be able to board at a farm as gorgeous as those in KY. But board is reasonable and they seem to take good care of the horses.

PLUS!
• Lexington is only an hour away. AN HOUR?!? WHAT?! Sweeeeeeet!
• Hoosier Horse Park is also, just about an hour away. So I can still compete with and see my Indiana friends at shows there.

(Many thanks to Kelly over at Dressage Pony who helped me with farm recommendations and other tidbits ...)


I should go back to apartment hunting now ... ugh. It will work out, it is just stressful not knowing where you will sleep in 2 weeks. :)

A gypsy soul to blame

Weelllllllllllllllllll .....

I was going to try to come up with some fun, clever way to announce this awesome news but ... I'm too tired to be clever. Bummer.

I am moving to ...






wait for it ....






any guesses?










here's a hint:

still waiting for it ....








ok here's one more hint:

Yup.


LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY!!



More posts to come on:
• Why Lville is a BOMBDIGGITY town. Holy crap it is awesome!!!
• The barn hunt begins

and more. Great blog fodder my friends. :)