OTTB Charm

 Well. I fell off the grid for like 4 whole months. Whoops. The sad part? Basically nothing all that exciting has happened in FOUR MONTHS. I'm dying y'all. Okay, technically a few semi-fun things have happened, but it has seriously been the dumbest freaking end of fall/winter ever.  Like the day after Christmas, we got snow...and then more...and then more. For reference, I live in the Boise area in Idaho, where yes, we do get snow, but like...a couple inches at a time max , and it usually melts within a few days. And this time, we seriously got probably 8"+ in the span of like 36 hours. Which was so prettty . For like a moment. But now it is freakin February 1st, and I STILL HAVE 2" OF SNOW IN MY ARENA . Because we basically haven't gotten above like 38* since it snowed, which hasn't allowed anything to fully thaw out. Soooo, I haven't ridden since sometime in December. And I'm big-time cranky about it (sorry to literally anyone who has to talk to me b...

I'm not sure many people followed this blog before, and I'm sure after a year+ hiatus, there is almost no one who will be reading it now. But I've always enjoyed keeping up on Instagram or blogging as my own personal diary to look back on over time anyways, and I think now is a good time to get back into it. That being said, who knows if I'll be able to keep up on it this time, but I really hope I do. Things are different in almost every possible way since I last wrote on this blog.  In early 2020, Banner was still my main mount, Charmer was just barely coming back into work, and covid was just beginning. Early that year, I lost my long time trainer and good friend when she moved back home to Oregon. I still am lucky enough to see her intermittently since then, but seeing her once every few months is definitely vastly different than weekly lessons.  An early XC school in 2021 with Charmer (Training Rolltop) I'm a little mad at myself for not blogging the last half o...

I'm in a weird state with Banner right now, in which I both have a lot to say and nothing to say at the same time. There are lots of things going through my brain but nothing that seems ready to voice to the world yet. He's happy, healthy & sound, which is always a good place to be. Our partnership seems different than it was & I can't quite put my finger on it. We toodle like pros, but real work has not really been our forte lately. Hence why the blog has been once again taken back over by my sweet Charmer pony & there has been a little bit of radio silence on Banner. Its just a weird place to be, and I'm not sure I'm ready to let the world into my brain at this time with this particular issue. Luckily, with the world - and show season - on pause for the time being, it's a good time to take the pressure off. I know there has been a crazy amount of discussion all over social media (whether it be FB, insta, blogs, etc) whether we should keep ri...

I'm definitely a few days late with this post, as I intended to make it on Monday, but oh well! Better late than never. Last Thursday (Feb 20th), I pulled Banner out as normal for a casual dressage ride. Everything seemed nice and normal until I started grooming and saw a big fat spot on his RF leg. It was super unusual swelling and definitely sent me into a wild panic. The outside of his leg looked 100% normal, but the inside had odd swelling in a place that made me fear suspensory or possibly tendon damage. I immediately called my vet in a fairly worried, but trying to stay level-headed, state and left a voicemail explaining what I saw & wanted to get her out as soon as I could fit into her schedule. Bless her, she called me back within an hour (she was in the middle of acupuncturing another horse but called as soon as she was done), and we were able to make an appointment for Friday. The plan was to keep him in his stall, wrapped overnight and see what we found the next...

In late August/early September of 2018, Banner and I began weekly lessons with Trainer C, which has been such a game changer for my riding and for our partnership. Trainer C also has ridden him lots when he was still with his previous owner so she has a really good understanding of him. In the nearly year and a half we have been in weekly lessons, I have worked very  hard to not take off too many weeks in a row. We've had a few times where it has been off - when she had a baby, when I got deathly ill last year, when I went on my honeymoon, or sometimes when my work schedule has prevented it. I try extremely hard not to miss more than 3 lessons in a row because it takes a tremendous toll on my motivation and my confidence. Because of the holidays, my work schedule got all messed up for December and I ended up having to work on the 17th, so I cancelled that lesson, and then obviously the 24th & 31st were Christmas Eve & New Years Eve, respectively, so we opted out on ...

I'm making an effort to be a better, more consistent blogger this year, so here's my first post of 2020 to try and get off to a good start! First off! I bought a dressage saddle! It's a 17.5" (although rides more like a 17" IMO) Devoucoux Makila! I snagged it off of a local friend for a great deal a few weeks ago! Not that I was necessarily looking for a dressage saddle at the time, but I saw her post and the saddle was about as perfect as I could ask for in a used saddle, plus this particular one was local so I could try it on! It pretty much fits B like a glove which is great! Since his jump saddle is a Devoucoux I had a good feeling about it going in and I wasn't disappointed! The seat feels a touch tight for me but a lot of that I attribute to not being in dressage tack for so long. I rode in it for the trial, and while I felt a bit out of place, I knew it would work for us! A few days later, I did our first at home ride in the saddle! ...

What a cool BlogHop idea from May As Well Event ! I've really enjoyed reading through everyone's blogs of this particular subject because it's so cool to see how much has changed in 10 years for everyone! 2010 I'd only been riding for about 3 years by this time. I was absolutely loving it, even though I pretty much only rode once a week in my lessons, or over the summer I would hitch rides out the barn as often as I could. I was the definition of a barn rat, climbing on anything they'd let me, or working all day for a 10 minute trail ride! The pony in the photo, Steel, taught me to have a sticky seat because he was a dirty stopper, and especially hated oxers. Despite the fact he was a bit of a brat, I loved him to death & appreciate all the lessons he taught me when I was young. 2011 2011 brought the coolest little pony into my life. He was a lesson horse that had carried many, many people through their C-3 Pony Club Ratings, first events, and just a...

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying really hard with Banner to stay on a semi-consistent schedule. The minimal daylight hours right now do not  help with our situation, so keeping the same kind of schedule we were on in the summer is just not possible, but managing 3-4 rides a week is generally doable for me. Our #1 goal right now is straightness - and honestly its more for me than him right now! Working on our bigger trot at home About 6 weeks ago, I fell off in a lesson. Pretty insignificant fall for the most part, but it highlighted some issues that I am having with my own body & magnified them. Banner has always been a crooked horse, and somewhere over this last year I became a pretty crooked rider too. And unfortunately we became crooked the same way! I've put a fairly significant amount of money into Banner to keep him in line, but I have neglected that same care for myself (I'm sure all of you can relate!). I used to be really good about chiropract...