Home, home on the hill (catch-up, part 1)

Since my last post I've been taking photos as usual – of what we do around and riding out from home, and of the two excursions away. All told the photos add up to a lot, so I've decided to create three posts from them. You can tell from the title what the subject is for this post. 😉

I think this was after Stella got rinsed off; SO shiny!

Continuing to enjoy someone's mowing efforts

I was pretty sure bow season had started, and prepared accordingly.

Poison oak along the lane; pretty  but....

Fall is litter-al. The Bigleaf maples on the south side of the arena start dropping their leaves, which must be blown off so the organic matter doesn't eventually clog the drain tiles. We used to have to rake, until Rick bought a big, powerful, gas-powered backpack blower. I think I wo-manned the blower six times to keep the leaves from getting too thick and so I could occasionally turn the horses out to burn off steam and school Stella before 'fall' was done.

The final clean-up was this week; such a relief when the trees are finally bare!

With no pasture access, much-reduced turn-out, and fewer riding opportunities, Stella becomes more challenging again. You can see from the foam on her face how much she flips her head. She is still better in this bit; I no longer ride with a running martingale to keep from head-banging with her. 

Riding up and down our gravel lane is sometimes our only outlet.

Our shadow on the winery wall concerned her at first.

I do enjoy the views!

Compared to Stella, Lance is lazy and food-focused, not tense and combustible. But that's not to say that the lack of turn-out doesn't affect him. He eats until every stalk of hay is consumed, and then goes to work on his surroundings – trying to unlatch his door, dumping the stock tank, pulling off the tongue-and-groove boards from the inner wall of his stall, etc. I went down to the barn the other night to find he'd dismantled them ALL. Only the chainlink divider I'd put in the middle stall for sheep kept him contained and our hay supply safe.

Last night he pulled the top board off (even though Rick had NAILED it into place after the 'pick-up-and-drop-sticks' episode), then went to work on the stall door. I could hear banging from the house; by the time I arrived he had done a lot of damage and almost released himself. I put him in the arena and was prepared to leave him out there all night in the rain and wind, but when Rick got home late from a meeting he graciously went down with me to fix the door, replace a board, and run a hot wire along the top of the stall wall. But not before I had texted with the lady who gave Russell a retirement home and offered her another horse. She's considering it. Lance would have daily pasture turn-out there and would probably enjoy an occasional easy trail ride. It would leave Stella an only horse here, but since she doesn't ever act herd-bound, I think she'd handle it better than most. I could be assured that we have hay enough until next season's harvest, and the empty stall might prove useful in a variety of ways. Another horse? Taking in a training project for someone else? A hospital stall for a client's horse? (Rick's clinic lease ends on February 28, so he might be practicing from home soon.) Stay tuned.

When It's Cold She's Hot; When It's Hot She's Not

Forget for now the two and a half months I've been absent from this blog; I'm jumping in at the present. Here in NW Oregon, apparently, warm, dry, sunny weather was waiting for an invitation, which it got with the summer equinox. And just like that, summer arrived and my mare mellowed a little. So as much as I dislike hot weather, I'm going to do my best to both enjoy and capitalize on this mellowness to move our partnership forward.

Between my four trips to Texas and the extended rainy season, this year has been a wash so far when it comes to Stella's training – so forget about showing. But now that I can ride regularly again, exciting things are happening. In the 'sandbox,' we've been playing with walk/canter, canter/walk transitions (we're Intro Level going on Second; ha), and out of the sandbox she is doing so well. In spite of her nervous energy, she is more dependable with the things we encounter than solid and stolid Lance, which always amazes me. We've even gotten in a few sunset rides!

Last night we headed down through the woods and onto the logging track. It seems just last week it was too muddy to try; now it is firm and solid. Land has changed hands in recent years and there's been lots of logging, clearing and burning; I may not be welcome to ride on my old stomping grounds anymore. But there was no one to question or challenge us at dusk on a Friday night, and Stella handled the unfamiliar environment with cautious willingness. We even came back home via the vineyards (where I do have permission to ride), Stella's first experience there. It was a beautiful evening to ride my beautiful mare and doing so fed my soul richly.

I am ready to start taking lessons from Suzan again just as soon as I can get on her schedule. I also want to get in some trail rides and at least one beach ride with friends. Lance hates it when I take Stella off-property, hollering from the barn the whole time we're gone. They've become good friends, Lance and Stella, although she doesn't mind leaving him at all.

"Normal" is a setting on the washing machine

Yesterday I rode for the third time in seven and a half weeks – I think that is my longest riding dry spell in decades. I was in TX for three and a half weeks helping my parents deal with my dad's terminal diagnosis, came home to one lambing crisis after another (and got in one short ride), went back to TX after two and a half weeks for my brother's memorial service, and came home again a week ago tonight to resume bottle/assisted feedings of lambs and playing catch-up in all other areas of my life, including getting back in the saddle. My first ride this week was another short check-in with Stella, and then yesterday we actually schooled – and my girl was so good! Today was a windy, rainy mess, so I'm shooting for another ride tomorrow. After that, I'm not sure; I have a little medical procedure on Wednesday, and my dad's on hospice....

I'd love to be able to plan ahead for some lessons and shows, at least the Oregon Morgan Classic that was Stella's 2021 debut, but prudence says to hold off scheduling anything for now. I've stopped wondering when life will get back to normal; I'll just ride when I can and treasure each opportunity.

In the meantime, Lance and Stella are getting regular turnout again now that I'm home. It's shedding season, so they really enjoy reciprocal grooming. It makes me happy to see them being friends. So that can continue outside the arena, I invested in a grazing muzzle for Lance. It looks rather draconian, but he accepted it without drama when I tried it on him this week, and it will allow him to spend much more time out on pasture. I did give him a few minutes of actual grazing; he does so love to eat!

1-2-3, as different as can be

Last Thursday morning, the farrier was out to trim the horses' feet. Stella has always been good for him; tense, but good. This time she was not just good, but relaxed for the first time. SmartCalm Ultra for the win! But lest I relax too much....

That afternoon I got home from work with cooperative weather and enough daylight left to ride. We did our usual warm-up walk, and (as near as I can recollect) I started messing with unfamiliar reins (I had swapped them out so that each pair stayed with the bridle they matched). Stella started or jigged or something, and my boot, wet and sandy, forcefully slipped out of the stirrup, which banged into Stella's side. Startled, Stella jumped, which made the stirrup bump her again, and off she went, bucking to the end of the arena. Thankfully I stayed on and got her stopped, because I think it would have really spooked her if I'd come off. Instead, I was able to stroke and calm her, and we finished our ride, including cantering, without incident.

Better yet, STAY on!

The next day I happened to read Anna Blake's newest blog post before heading to the barn to take advantage of the improving weather. After an energetic turn-out,

Turn-out started out calmly enough, but then . . .

I worked on positioning my feet in the stirrups as she suggested, and what do you know; we had an EXCELLENT schooling session. I was happier with my legs and seat, and Stella seemed to be as well. I resolved to read and re-read Anna's post as a reminder until I develop new muscle memory.

The third ride in this post was Sunday afternoon. Stella was back to being a 'go-go girl' (I'm dating myself with that reference!) with lots of nervous energy, jigging and fussiness. Where was my SmartCalm mare? Perhaps I could have found her again – if I'd had time. But Rick called me from town, needing an address, and a septic tank pumper texted me that he was on his way, so I had to find something relatively positive to end on and get back up to the house. Now that I'm typing it out, I realize that those other things – and their effect on my nerves – may have contributed to Stella's nerves.

Since then, we've had rides #4 and #5. Tuesday's ride started out similarly tense to #3. Since she wanted to GO, I let her move into canter work more quickly than usual after our warm-up, and we cantered until she was ready to trot. That seemed to help, although I didn't have long to evaluate the strategy's effect since I was called upon to pick up DS from work in Portland. (I have to wear too many hats....)

Today I said "yes" to Stella's pointed desire to leave the arena and head down the road. It was a beautiful, warm, dry day. She eyed the recycling bins along the road, worried they might flap and rustle like the trash bins did on that windy day, but they behaved themselves. Further down the road, we were greeted by a jarring chorus of barking from a place that has four dogs. Stella stopped. Then their newest one, an LGD, jumped the fence and made her way towards us barking, hackles raised. I dismounted and held the reins, reassuring Stella that I would defend her if necessary. The owner came out and eventually got the dog back onto their property, so I (took a photo of Stella and)

led her past that property before remounting. We continued to the end of the lane and back home, passing the property with barking dogs again without incident. I was so proud of her!

My local Oregon Dressage Society chapter has folded, but the winter schooling show we ran for ~20 years has been picked up by another chapter and I would love to enter Stella in the Bears Above the Ground show at the end of February. In my dressage 'career' I've always set fairly ambitious showing goals and then worked towards reaching them, and that has worked for me with a lot of different horses. But Stella? I know Suzan would tell me to give her more time to grow up, and I know she's right. TTT – things take time. It's only fair to give her that.