Jumping Media

 My little jump course is slowly growing and expanding, and I love it! 

I always say I'm not a jumper. In fact, I am officially no longer a horse trainer in a professional capacity. I just accepted a full time office position. I start tomorrow today. I'll probably make a post about that at some point, but it's worth mentioning in the mean time so it doesn't slip by unnoticed. 

Still, Booger loves to jump and it seems unfair not to let her pursue her talent. In the mean time, Lucy is not a natural born jumper, but she's safe and honest and comfortable to ride. She builds  my confidence, which allows me to expand my horizons. One of my goals for Boo this year was "a return to jumping". I pretty much meant cross rails. I'd say we crushed that goal!

Meanwhile, Mike loves to build things and experiment with new designs. And he happens to be a stellar photographer. It works out perfectly.

Recently, Mike built us a new coop to jump. I had him make it two feet high and two feet wide because that's the same size as the barrels, and we jump those comfortably. Even though I knew the dimensions (and measured the jump repeatedly while it was up in the shop), the thing looked gigantic to me. 

When Mike dropped the coop off, I was riding Booger. Her initial response was to spook dramatically at the new addition to the ring, and then give it a wide berth. I hopped down, did about two  minutes of ground work, and then lunged her over it. She made it look easy! By the end of that ride, we were cantering quietly over the coop, and it felt like a huge victory. It was also practically dark out so there's no exciting media to share. 

This week, Mike was off for the holidays and Eryca came to ride with me. I asked my darling husband to come take pictures for us! The end result was this pretty boss photo of Booger and me. I could nitpick several things (including my ridiculously long stirrups that I will probably never do anything about #notsorry) but over all, it's my new favorite photo of me and Boo together.

Added a neck strap to force myself to get off her face over fences. I love that she flags her tail when she jumps. Her sheer joy is why I'm forcing myself to put my big girl panties on.

Beach Visit

 Mike and I finally made it back down to Island Beach last month. I don't think we've been to the ocean since before the pandemic. Where does the time go? This time, we left the dogs at home and brought our cameras with hopes of getting some bird photos. 

It was a gray, windy day, but the change of scenery did us a world of good. We ended up walking all the way to the point and making our way back down the bay side and through the dunes. A bit of salt air did the trick and we slept well that night.

There's nothing exciting to report in this post, but I did take a ton of photos.

Last Pace of the Season

 On November sixth, Eryca and I hit up the Amwell Valley Hounds fall hunter pace, in the same location we did our first hunter pace back in the spring. We got lucky because the rain pushed the pace back from the same weekend as the endurance ride to one we could actually make it on. This time, we met a little later in the morning since the temperatures had cooled significantly that week. Fran let us borrow the truck and trailer and we were on the road in no time. I love that we've developed a comfortable and efficient trailering routine over the course of a few months. 

When we arrived at the country club, they directed us to the front of the line because we had a small rig. I squeezed into the spot, conveniently located near the bathroom and the registration table. 

Angela texted me when they arrived a short while later, "Are you seriously the literal first trailer here? Ambitious much?" I laughed, then assured her that we were definitely not the first to arrive.

Eryca and I walked down to the registration area with our forms, payment, and Coggins in hand, and were unloaded, tacked up, and ready to go a few minutes later. Like I said, we have a system and it works.

A lovely volunteer snapped a photo of us before we started (and I was smart enough to have it done with my phone, unlike the previous ride, which we still haven't gotten photos from).

Shortly after 10am, we were heading across the street to the start. 

The Unicorn Costume

Things have gotten slightly ridiculous around here.

Fall Mare Photos

 We ended up getting some really great fall color in NJ this year. Mike and I didn't do any of our usual fall hiking so there aren't going to be any spectacular foliage photos on the blog this year. I did, however, get some pictures of Lucy and Booger with the leaves in the background. I had a pretty good giggle during this photo shoot. Booger went first and she was galloping around and flagging her tail and doing that ten mile snort that Arabians do. She kept checking in with me then tearing around the pasture again and again, hardly seeming to touch the ground. Lucy, on the other hand, happily obliged by half-heartedly trotting around when I turned her loose, but she much preferred to come stand near me and graze, which is sweet but doesn't make for very exciting photos. As a result, one of my horses looks like the shining daughter of the black stallion while the other one looks a bit like a stuffed animals. I'm ok with both.

Exhibit A
All our dressage work is paying off! It is so cool to watch my riding change the way this horse looks and moves, even at liberty!

Exhibit B
Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear...

Horseshoe Bend Boogie

 I still don't have it in me to talk about Herbie in any detail. After Ozzy passed, the blog stagnated for weeks. I am already six weeks behind on updates, and I really worry that if I stop now, I'll never get started again. Instead, I'm going to start chiseling away at this backlog of posts.

Over Halloween weekend, Mike and I photographed a new, local endurance ride. It ended up being one of those stories that we said we'd laugh about... some day. Well, enough time has passed for it to be some day.

Dearest Herbie...

 I have no words, but her entire life was documented in this space, so it seems only fair to announce that our amazing Herbie girl left this world on Sunday night, here at home with a belly full of steak and beer. Our lives will never be the same. Her spirit was still strong, but her body was so, so tired. I hope wherever she is, she's running like she used to.

November Nonsense

 I'm still not caught up on October (although I only have one post to go in that department). Meanwhile, November has already flown by. I cannot believe it is almost 2022. I'm still processing life before the pandemic. In the interests of maybe getting this space caught up before the end of the year (also unlikely), I am dumping all of my phone photos for the month in one post rather than separating them by subject like I usually do. 

I'll start with this photo of Lucy jumping an oxer that I wouldn't have touched with a ten foot pole a year ago. Not bad for a mare who had never seen so much as a cross rail before I met her! I do have to admit I don't necessarily recommend jumping in a treeless saddle. Also, that's as short as the stirrups get. Guess I have to get a different set of leathers.