What to wear?!

It struck me over the summer that this winter was going to be a little tougher than I may be used to!

I started preparing, clothes wise, in early Fall. I bought some Mountain Horse winter rider pants, which are basically ski pants with a suede-y seat panel to stop you slipping around in the saddle. They are excellent, and I like them best with a pair of light thermal leggings underneath. I tried them with Skins leggings, but the two materials next to each other were very slippy, especially when cantering!!

For a trail ride at around 0f, I usually wear:
-ski socks or hiking/work socks under either my roping boots or, if it's colder, my long winter/country boots.

- my winter riders with thermal trousers AND thermal shorts underneath them! I have a great pair of Musto trousers and North Face shorts from a mountain equipment store (stolen from my skier boyfriend!)

my icebreaker merino thermal undershirt, topped with a t-shirt, a midweight fleece, a bodywarmer and then my big, thick Carhartt worker jacket if it's just cold, or my 14 year old Musto snug, if it's snowing. Seriously, snugs? Best.Jacket.Ever. My Mum bought me it when I was 11, telling me if anything happened to it, I wasn't getting another. Fair enough. At first, I revered it, wore it only for shows and extra cold days. Never to groom or muck out! Gradually, I wore it more often, until it became my go-to winter jacket. Over the years it has gained Stockholm tar stains, purple spray stains, stains I can't even tell what they are anymore. Its cuffs have frayed, I can no longer read the washing directions on it and I even took it skiing in Colorado once, stains and all! I see this has become a kind of tribute to my jacket, but seriously, I adore it!

back to the list!

I have a turtle style neck fleece that goes up to my eyes - I haven't yet found a balaclava that goes under my riding hat, but I'll keep looking - and I wear saddlecraft neoprene gloves that my Mum sent over from the UK, or my deerskin gloves from Jackson Hole that have a cowboy stamped on the back of them. I think I am extremely cool when I wear these.

When I was younger, I swore by woofwear neoprene gloves, but I'd go through a pair every winter as they'd wear through at the base of the fingers where the reins sat.

These items usually keep me warm for about an hour trail. My little fingers and toes sometimes start with a bit of cold ache, but nothing to whinge about.

last post of the year

I'm pretty sure!

I usually start with the weather - it's so relevant here! - so, today, we had the storm that was forecast for last night. It hit mid-morning and is still going strong. The paths to the fields were sheet ice, so the horses were negotiating that quite well, apart from Chelsea and Stormy who took the 'run and slide down as fast as you can' approach to the slope. Ah well.

Bond left today, to his new home in Quebec City.

I rode him Monday and he was good, stubborn but good. I realised that he was back to his old self in that I was stressing him out by asking him anything, physically, for his canter transition. I literally just had to sit there, hold him and say 'canter' and he eased into the most beautiful canter I've sat on in a while. Sure, he rushed at first, but he eased up. On Tuesday, he started by being very difficult as I'd put a different saddle on him and it was too tight, so I went and changed it straightaway. Came back and he was a different horse. I put him through his paces in front of the boss, and cliche or not, he gave me the nicest last ride. His gait was a little tense - he wants to get into that canter!! - but I did a lot of downward transitions to get his mind of the canter business, and one he'd settled and was focussing on his loops and serpentines nicely, I asked him in a corner with just my voice. His first goes on each rein were a little rushed, so I circled and half halted a fair bit to regulate the speed. I then gave him a time out, where we stand in the corner on a loose rein until he lets out a big sigh or cocks a leg. Then I put him into leg yield, which caused him no stress whatsoever, and then cantered again. I did the right rein and he was very, very good. Up in the bridle, not pulling, carrying himself, even 1,2,3 on a circle and the straight. I chanced a walk to canter, and he fluffed the first but was perfect on the second asking. It was probably my fault in the first instance! Then, I put him on the left rein, usually his worst and my OH MY! He settled himself into this showy, strong, mature, perfect canter. I went into hand gallop mode and took him down one long side one handed, then the other long side other one handed and he just kept going, strong and steady. I'm sure going to miss that boy's ability and brain!!

In Mae news, now she's had her trim I feel better about gaiting her, so I've been building that up over the last week as it's been too icy to go on trails. I'm also refreshing her on leg yield - just a couple of steps - and turn on the forehand - again, one or two steps - and today I cantered her briefly. She's just as easy as she was the first time round, very calm in her transitions, a little buck-y at times! So I'm hopeful that I can get her fit, slim (she needs to lose about 100lbs, although she does live out!!) and schooling at a good level. I don't see why she can't do everything Bond was doing. She's a lot more receptive to instruction and has a calmer head, even with the odd buck and squeal here and there. What fun :)

I'm mostly on 'holiday' over the next week so won't have much training stuff to write about, although I will be enjoying myself in Montreal, Jay, Burlington and Boston with my boyfriend who is visiting, so I will be keeping myself occupied!

must.blog.more!!

Erk, it's really getting cold here! -18c yesterday is the coldest I've ever experienced not in a ski resort! The three wooly girls, Amber, Mae and Gracie were fine, but Lilly, who hasn't grown as thick a coat was a bit shivery. Fortunately, the sun came out and was actually warm.

What I love about the cold (so far!) is that usually, the sun is out, the sky is a stunning azure blue and I find it hard to be down, even with my winter blues, when it's sunny. Working in an office in the UK with its grey, wet winters, or its snow that brings everything to a standstill was genuinely depressing. Today was grey and cold, but I was working with the horses, not having time to sit and think, so the crappy days go by quickly.

Baby Bond is leaving us on the 28th December to head to his new home. He's back in work with me for the last few weeks, consolidating what he knows, reinforcing the fact that when you ride with your legs hanging loosely by his side, that does not mean GO! I was going on starting a session with him with my legs off, walking patterns until he quit trying to gait, and then putting leg on, but that made it worse, so today I just got on him, legs straight on and got him to quit fussing all the way through 20 minutes, until I asked for a walk to canter transition. He thinks canter is just THE most exciting thing he can do and he wants to do it all the time, so keeping him relaxed and not breaking into it whenever he wants is quite a challenge!

I will miss his quirky horsenality, and his amazing, powerful way of going. His canter just has so much impulsion and power that he feels like a well schooled warmblood. But he's only 14.3! Cute boy.

Mae is still on trails, I really don't want to push her but after she's had her feet trimmed tomorrow, I think I will be ready to start doing more in the school with her.

The stallion is going well. he's 11, so very set in his ways, but he's doing some nice work, learning how to carry himself and bend and flex like a nice boy. He loves him a fight, but he settles nicely once he's had his say.

Now, some of the things outside of work I've been busy with include shipping gifts overseas to my Mum and a few select friends. I may also have purchased one or two things for myself...like when I saw the papercut art by Niamh of Hoofbeats for Heartbeats on the Jumping Percheron blog, I may well have thought 'Oh wow. I want one' and gone ahead and had one for myself and one for my Mum commissioned :) The finished Frankie is pictured below. I love it! The photo I wanted it cut from was awful quality, but it captures him so well. What a poser :) And it's on black and green, which were my cross country colours when we used to do hunter trials.

snow on snow!

Did I ever mention that I love my job?

Well, I do! Yes I train horses, but right now, I'm rehabbing two from long lamenesses, Mae, who I've talked about, and Amber. Mae I'm still cautious about working after her injury happened during schooling, so I do a small trail at the walk every day with her, and a little gait on a solid, flat surface.

Amber has shoulder stiffness and has been out of work since September. The vet recently came to do a check up and pronounced her fit to start longeing. There is still residual stiffness, but with trotting on the longe, that has improved considerably. I will start walk trails with her next week as well.

So if it happens to snow and make the trails stunningly beautiful, well, I just have to put up with it!

Mix and mingling...

It's a new experience for me to be working and training with other people who come from completely different equine backgrounds to me.

Right now we're in dicussions about Stormy, whether it's essential that she learns how to canter when she gets stressed so easily, or whether it's better to keep her gaiting. I personally think she should be able to canter under saddle, in case she does ever bolt or run in fear on a trail. If she can canter with all her legs in the right place, is that not safer than if the mere start of a canter freaks her out? Not sure right now.

One thing that is going well is my work with Tatoum. She did her first flying change today!! So cool! I've read a few books on the matter, since I've never 'started' a 12 year old horse in dressage, and whilst it only worked KXM, not HXF, I used a little bit of Jane Savoie's method in with my own, riding the diagonal, weight on the inside seatbone with an exaggerated bend into the lead you're already on, so KXM on the right lead, head bent to the right - I'm already working on shoulder in and walk trot half pass, so she's becoming a lot more supple - then when you're almost ready to turn, change the bend, shift your weight to the left seat bone and bump with the right leg behind the girth. And it worked, first time!! Yes! It didn't work the other way, but I've plenty to be getting on with! I made a big fuss of her and then cooled her out bareback. She's mega comfortable!

I practised patterns again with Chelsea today. Riding one handed is very alien to me, but she's super well trained and we were doing good turns on the haunches, forehand, side pass and leg yield. I just find it hard to keep her straight in those and usually go to two hands. I'm probably not asking with my leg in the right place.

mild times

I'm writing before my busy busy week begins. I'm going to have 5 horses a day to work with, 4 ridden, one on the longe, as well as turnouts, bringing in from far fields and general cleaning and barn chores. Normal life :)

I have Chelsea to ride western, practicing patterns and lateral movements for my FEQ Western rider qualification. I have Tatoum working on lateral movements and starting flying changes, Mae is coming back into work just walking with a few steps of gait, Bond is coming back into work before he leaves in the next month, Stormy is still working on her canter and accepting a bit without putting her tongue over it, although I'm not her main rider right now, I am working with her trainer on the ground. Amber is working through a shoulder injury and is longed every day for 20 minutes at walk and trot. Grace is entering her 6th month of pregnancy and is working on gentle fitness. So it's a full, varied schedule. Oh yes, and I ride the stallion and Dee Dee once or twice in the week if necessary.

We received good news today that we're going to exhibit at Quebec's version of Equine Affaire, Salon du Cheval, I think. We'll likely take 3 horses, ride one English, one Western and one bareback or general trail and do obstacles and such with that and all of them.

I've already ridden Tatoum bareback, although she isn't a rocky mountain, so when Mae is a little fitter, I am going to have a sit on her bareback and try her out with handy things like gate opening, and small mazes. She - and all of them - are already used to bridges and hopping over small obstacles.

I think the boss wants the horses to be versatile and tolerant of most things, so the next thing will be to do this with the already used-to-it horses, Mae, Grace and Dee the stallion, and then try it with Ella.

I did all this with Frankie when he was young and think it's best if horses can be ridden bareback, in a halter, whatever. I did it because I was a kid and it was useful to be able to ride and lead down to the field which was a good walk away!