Small Horse Saga

Gameboy

After months away, I have decided that it is definitely time to bring the blog back-- no promise for weekly deliveries yet though. My main reason for heading back to the blogger is a problem I have become well acquainted with over the last few weeks.

About a year ago I purchased a beautiful 15.1 hand gelding from a well known UL rider with the goals of moving up the levels and hopefully finding my way to the AEC's. Sadly, between the return of Finn under not-so-great circumstances and my health seeming to fail me at every turn, it became clearly that two horses weren't realistic and Kaz was the far more marketable one of the two-- or so I thought.

As I have scoured equine groups on Facebook and read every 'iso' post on reputable horse sites I am beginning to realize that horses between the height of 15-15.2 hands basically fall into a black hole of marketability. Why? Because people are stupid because people want really big horses regardless of how tall they actually are. People have gone as far as to ask me if Kaz will ever be able to go training level.

The reality is that in a normal sale add you really can't say everything you want to say. You can't tell them that the horse is the best cookie nuzzler in the words or that he will brighten their day with the way he wiggles his lip with every neck scratch. You do not believe it is appropriate to tell them about the time you completely missed it to a giant oxer because you were nervous and he bailed you out even though it wasn't pretty and you probably didn't deserve it. You're reluctant to mention the time a 4* rider told you he was one of the scrappiest things they had ever seen or the time you picked up a silly stop at a schooling show because you rode like crap. You want to tell them that the horse will crack his back over every jump every time and that sometimes when he trots you get goose bumps because that is what dressage is really supposed to feel like. Sadly, because he is 15.1 many people won't even read below the first line of the add.

Here's to all the small horses, the fierce horses, and the really scrappy horses. Here's to the horses of the smallest statures and the biggest hearts, and the horses with the tiniest feet but the biggest shoes to fill. 

Week 62: Fit and Happy

                  I know, I know, I have been bad. Somehow I have managed to neglect the blog for an ungodly amount of time that I would rather not cite. In the last couple weeks I have gone through some major life changes; not only have I been off of horses since December 19^th, I have also had my jaw broken and screwed back together! I must say, the first 48 hours were pretty hellish but it seems that I am on my way to looking almost normal. With the swelling down and my spirits up I can’t help but obsess over every aspect of my horse's training. It is hard to be the observer. It is hard to relinquish my grip on the reins. It is hard, but it is necessary. I have been proud of my training with Finn. I also recognize that there comes a time when someone else might be able to find some buttons that you just can’t find. When I went in for my TMJ surgery I knew that the dynamic between Finn and I was about to change. I knew that I was going to have to trust the professionals and accept the fact that he might grow more quickly than he had in my hands.

                Most of the focus in Finn’s training as of late has been on elevating and balancing his canter. Finn has a great canter, and always has, but like some horses he has struggled with truly engaging behind. While I have been able to get some pretty impressive trot work out of Finn, I really believe that Megan (trainer at Bit’ O’ Woods farm www.bitowoods.com) can get much better canter work out of him than I can. Finn is currently only in three days of work a week because I am poor and applying to college because of some constraints, but he seems to be doing pretty well. However, it does seem that he is a litttttlllleeeeee too perky outside. Some things thoroughbreds never change.

                Now that I am feeling better I have started to think about what to do with the next eight seemingly useless weeks of my life. I mean, come on, what even is life without horses? I have decided that it is time to get fit. After reading some great posts from upper level event rider Meg Kep I have come to the conclusion that my horse really does deserve a healthy rider! We ask our horses to be fit, we tell them they need to workout and we manage what they eat. If you asked any person in the barn what their horse eats they could tell you, so why should we treat ourselves any differently? I have decided to come up with a workout plan for myself and become as fit as my horse. I will be combining a ‘Couch to 5k’ workout with a weight training regime as well as a diet plan. I have decided to include both in this post but before you read further I feel the need to also say that fitness and weight loss are very different. My goal is actually to gain weight:muscle weight. Becoming fit isn't about getting skinny or looking good in leggings, it is about being the best you possible. Below are some stats and the diet plans that I am looking to follow.

 

Starting Stats

Age: 17

Height: 5 foot 3

Weight: 98 lbs.

Goal Weight: 115 lbs.

Goals: 5k Tough Mudder Run, Novice 3 day event, American Eventing Championships, Dressage @ Devon

 

 

 

Work Out!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.   ~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~ Military press 3 sets of 12 @ 40 lbs.   ~frontal raise 3 sets of 10 @ 25 lbs.   ~ Upright row 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~Lat. pull-down 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~bicep curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~hammer curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~kickbacks 3 sets of 12   ~dips 3 sets of 12   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	~leg extensions 3 sets of 20 @ 80 lbs.   ~squats 3 sets of 20 (with bar) @ 100 lbs.   ~leg curl 3 sets of 20 @100 lbs.   ~lunges 3 sets of 20   ~leg press 3 sets of 20 @ 100 lbs.   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.   ~swimmers 5 sets of 30   ~crunches 5 sets of 30   ~oblique crunches 5 sets of 30   ~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~lunges 3 sets of 20	~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~ Military press 3 sets of 12 @ 40 lbs.   ~frontal raise 3 sets of 10 @ 25 lbs.   ~ Upright row 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~Lat. pull-down 3 sets of 12 @ 45 lbs.   ~bicep curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~hammer curl 3 sets of 12 @ 25 lbs.   ~kickbacks 3 sets of 12   ~dips 3 sets of 12   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.   ~leg extensions 3 sets of 20 @ 80 lbs.   ~squats 3 sets of 20 (with bar) @ 100 lbs.   ~leg curl 3 sets of 20 @100 lbs.   ~lunges 3 sets of 20   ~leg press 3 sets of 20 @ 100 lbs.   ~swimmers 3 sets of 50   ~crunches 3 sets of 50   ~oblique crunches 3 sets of 50	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then run 1 mile for time.   ~swimmers 5 sets of 30   ~crunches 5 sets of 30   ~oblique crunches 5 sets of 30   ~push-ups 3 sets of 12   ~lunges 3 sets of 20	REST

  

 

Meal Plan! (General-you can cheat a little bit!)

 

 

 

I will also be pulling some recipe ideas from http://www.paleoplan.com/recipes

 

More to come next week with some updates on Finn and me! Happy New Year to all.

Week 56: When Horses Became a Lifestyle

                

                Riding is the kind of sport that takes over your life because, in all seriousness, it is impossible to truly be prepared for an event without investing a large amount of time. In a month I will be undergoing a surgery to correct a severe jaw disorder called TMJ and because of this surgery I will not be able to ride for up to 3 months. Just the thought of not riding for 3 months pretty much makes me feel lost. At what point did riding stop being a hobby and start being a lifestyle? I go to school because I want to be a horse vet. I go to work because I want to pay for my horse and for college. I spend time with friends because I like hearing about their horses. I online shop because my horse looks good in pink and I like to think I do too. At some point in the last 7 years riding stopped being something I did and started being something I lived. Do I regret that? Do I wonder how things would be had this not happened? I am not sure.

                I look around myself sitting on my high school benches and I realize a strange dichotomy; some sort of self-selecting separation of the students that I see every day. There are those with passions and those with interests. I see kids who play 3 sports a year. They cross-train and switch focuses with the changes in the seasons. When the snow starts to fall, the boys come in from the soccer fields and change into their basketball shoes only to play for a couple months and find their lacrosse sticks in spring. Sure, most of these kids have a favorite sport. They have a focus, an interest, an abiding love for one of the three sports. However, what makes that different from a lifestyle? When does something that you do, something that you love begin to overtake everything else?

                Every grade has a dancer, a horse girl, an actor, a dedicated musician and an ice skater. Please, forgive me for these generalizations but I fear that they do hold true. These students find a way to take their lives and mold them around the one thing they really love. They read books about it, write papers about it, dream about it, skip eating to act on it and they fantasize about a day when they can live it. They spend nights and days and even their time spent sleeping trying to find a way to rationalize why they can’t imagine living without their thing.

                I think back to my room at home: the ribbons on every ledge, the photos on every wall, the dressage tests tacked to cork boards. I think about how horses became the biggest part of who I am and who I will be. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you when the transition happened. When I stopped being a lesson kid and became a barn rat. When I stopped reading princess stories and started reading Heartland. What I can say is that, no, I don’t regret it and, no, this isn’t easy.

                The moment your life becomes horses is the moment that your life becomes both extremely rewarding and extremely difficult. The financial and emotional strain of owning horses can take a lot out of a person. Every day I walk into the barn and I see people that put everything aside to make horses part of their life. They struggle to make ends meet, they miss social functions, and they sacrifice sleeping in on Saturdays. To an outsider these people seem foolish, they seem nonsensical: why would you give up everything for horses?

                As an equestrian you give up a whole lot to gain an insurmountable amount of satisfaction. To those who laugh at your binder covered in horse stickers, to those who say that you will never be able to be happy and have a horse, to those who say that you will never find love, to those who say that you will always be poor, to those who say that you will never be part of the ‘real world’- you’re wrong. Sure, as equestrians we give up a whole lot. We pour every ounce of energy, money and dedication into what we do and at times it may seem like the return, or at least measureable return, is little. But there is one thing that equestrians have. We have horses.

                I am scared to get this surgery. I am scared that three months without sitting on my horse may actually cause me some form of bodily harm. How will I keep my thighs looking toned without my little bay horse? I ask. The reality is that no matter what, horses will still be here. I will be in the barn watching my horse be ridden days after my surgery and I will be every bit the control freak that I have always been (I am sorry Megan). The ribbons, the pictures, the old dressage tests, they will only remind me of what I have done and the person that horses have made me.

So what do you think? Is it really worth it?

Week 51: Confessions of a Perfectionist

                Today is a big day. After a year of blogging and research I will be presenting my findings in approximately two hours. It has been awhile since I posted on the blog and a lot has happened. I attended the NJHP recognized event and got eliminated at the water. Again. One thing that I have learned over the last year is that horses are humbling creatures. Finn flew around the first portion of the cross-country. I let him canter along and for the first time he adjusted right off of my knees. When we came down the hill to the water he just shut down. My showjumping hadn't been stellar but I went into the start box feeling pretty confident. These jumps look small. The course looks pretty soft. No bank. Small ditch. Easy in and out through the water. Lots of galloping space. We've got this. Sadly, the little voice in my head was wrong. With horses, the moment you start thinking you know everything, you realize that you know nothing. After the event I was disappointed. Two days before I went to the event I brought Finn out schooling at a nearby farm. We cantered through the water and down a bank into the water with no problem. I felt like we finally had our water issue under control and then BOOM.

                Whenever you get eliminated at an event you suddenly become far more aware of how much eventing costs. The 200 dollar entry fee that I charged to the credit card under the presumption that it is OK to do things for myself every once in a while (OK so every other weekend) suddenly felt like a million dollars. All of this got me thinking about the people at the top of our sport that get eliminated and go home empty handed. Just to compete in a training three day it can cost upwards of 300 dollars before stabling, coaching and shipping. As a young rider it can be hard to keep things in perspective. BN looks like a 3 star to me and getting eliminated at a recognized event feels a lot like losing Rolex. However, I don’t know those feelings. This last weekend was the Fair Hill International event in Elkton, Maryland. Going into the CCI 3 star competition two very competitive riders, Sally Cousins and Sinead Haplin, were looking like they might just crack the top three. Both Sally and Sinead were place respectively after dressage and both Sally and Sinead fell off on day two. For both of these riders falls are uncommon. And for both of these riders this competition was to be a qualifier for other competition.  It is hard for me to understand how these riders must have felt. Sally had a second horse to ride in the 3 star and her fall forced her to withdraw Sue. Sinead was coming off a win at the Plantation Field International 3 star and was set up to place well at Fair Hill.

                As riders we have expectations. We push our horses, our wallets and our bodies to perform as perfectly as possible. We spend cold November mornings shipping horses hours a way to compete and we set out with a positive attitude. We walk our courses, tell everybody we are feeling ready even if we aren't and leave the start box intent on having that perfect ride. The constant search for the perfect ride more than not results in disappointment. So how do we deal with this? How does a person deal with the fact that they have far less control over their performance then they would like to think? When you leave the start box do it for you. Win or lose it is all for the experience. At my first event with Corofin in May of this year my trainer looked at me and said, “eliminated or not, if you get around 5 jumps or all 10 that is 5 or 10 more jumps then you would have jumped otherwise.”  It hurts to lose entry fees, to fall off, to get eliminated on fence one, to have your horse stop at the water and try to run backwards (thanks Finn) but every time we leave the confines of our own barns, of our comfort zones, of our indoor arenas, we push ourselves and our horses to experience new things and ultimately become better riders and horse-people. Just because you finished on a letter not a number, doesn't mean you didn't learn something new. 

Week 46: Draining

                The last couple of weeks have been a roller coaster. There were cross-country schoolings, bit changes and an injury. So where to start? I feel inclined to start this post with a candid tirade discussion on biting horses. We have all been there- it is 98 degrees and you fly out of the start box; your horse is hunting the jumps and carrying a canter that is probably faster than you need. You sit up 5 strides out from fence one and try to half-halt and….crickets. Your horse ignores your leg and then ignores your hand and THEN proceeds to jump fence one out of a balance that sends your stomach rolling. Like many riders who rode dressage and hunters I have been taught that the snaffle is the only way. When I tried Finn out to buy I rode him in a boucher and he went beautifully. However, at that undeveloped stage in his training I made the decision to use a full cheek snaffle instead. For the first couple months of Finn’s training this was perfect! Finn went fairly well in this bit until he started to gain some muscle. I am the first person to tell people how calm my horse is and how well behaved he can be, however; a very fit 4 year old OTTB is a forward going horse. Finn loves to jump-sometimes just a little too much!

example A

                In some of my lessons we started to notice that Finn likes to put his head down and avoid the bit. When he does this, it normally results in him rushing the jumps and becoming very hard to adjust. We worked on gymnastics, half-halting with the leg and using turns to change the balance of my canter. Although all of those exercises definitely helped me, I decided that it was time to consider a different bit. Insert angry people complaining about riders using strong bits on horses. Insert berating comments about my riding ability. Insert people who believe my horse should be taken. Insert opinions that don’t really matter!  I have come to realize that doing anything with horses normally results in hours of questioning your decisions and feeling bad, even though it shouldn’t. If you type in any bit on Google™ you will find a Chronicle of the Horse Forum damning all those who use and enjoy that bit. Of course, being me, when my trainer and I decided to try out The Wonder Bit on Finn, I sat down to do some research. As you can imagine I was faced with a hard reality: many people know how to use the internet and post advice, however; not many people have advice and inputs worth sharing. Also, terms like stronger and softer are very subjective. The discomfort caused by a snaffle can surely match the discomfort of a gag bit depending on who is holding onto the reins.

Wonder Bit

                When I finally decided to try the bit I was happily surprised. Suddenly Finn’s balanced improved and he was more adjustable. Of course a stronger bit can’t replace good riding. I plan to keep using the new bit for jumping and spend more time developing better body position and reaction time in the saddle. Overall, biting horses comes down to safety, jaw/tooth anatomy, age and training (of rider and horse). I think it is very important to get your horses teeth done every 6 months and talk to the dentist about his opinion. I also think that it is unrealistic to expect 1 bit to always work for your horse over time, or Furthermore, for you to expect 1 bit to work for all three phases. Finn is currently ridden on the flat in a KK Ultra Loose Ring Snaffle and ridden over fences in a Wonderbit.

Wonder Bit in Action

                Furthermore, I had the opportunity to cross-country school Finn in the new bit. I can honestly say it felt a million times better. The distances and my riding both seemed much improved. Once I realized that I could set Finn up for a fence with much less bridle, I became far more comfortable letting him canter along without me constantly adjusting. My added confidence combined with his better behavior made the schooling great.

                This Monday Finn went out in the field with his friends like usual. On Mondays I am lucky enough to ride a friend’s horse so I normally give Finn a day off. The friend’s barn is close to BOW so I decided to stop in and give him his daily treats and neck scratch. I was shocked to find Finn with a bloody nose and swollen face. I quickly called the vet to make an appointment for the next day. When the vet got there the next day, she took the time to evaluate the scrapes and swelling to find that he was OK. While the vet was finishing up, my trainer noticed that Finn had a small scab. Upon removing the scab we found that Finn had a pretty serious puncture wound. Finn has been rehabilitating well with the help of a drain and lots of antibiotics, however; the vets are not sure how long it will be until he is able to compete again. I am keeping my Flora Lea entry for the end of September in hopes that things will work out!

Finn's Leg

                Our horses work so hard for us every day. 10 months ago, if someone told me that Finn and I would have completed 5 events and performed 7 dressage tests I probably would have laughed. Horses give us wings and for that we must give them the time to heal and the time to grow. I hope that this week off has provided Finn and I with a great bonding experience. Every day with horses is an adventure; the good, the bad, the scary and the gross- they make us better people.