Jumping Around CHP

 The weekend after Labor Day, we had a rare free weekend. I reached out to Eryca to see if there was anything she wanted to do. She quickly suggested Christie Hoffman, which is always lovely. It was Booger's turn and she hadn't been there yet. This was perfect. I figured we would do some little jumps and get a few easy miles in. We ended up doing a little over six miles. I was having a brave jumping day, and Booger took me out of my comfort zone successfully, which was awesome.

I really need to invest in a jumping saddle. (Add it to the list of expensive things on my wish list at the moment.) I also need to shorten my stirrups about nine holes. Booger does a good job making up for my failures though.

FLSS Spring Pace

 Tor and I went to the Lord Stirling pace last fall and had the time of our lives. When the spring pace came up on a day that I was free, I was eager to do it again. I reached out to Julie and Tor to see if they were also available. 

Originally, the plan was for me to ride Lucy with Tor on Julie's mare, Amira. Julie and her daughter would ride Dude and Charm respectively as a separate team. As the pace date approached, it became clear that Dude wouldn't be up to the task. Julie would need Amira for herself. 

Of course, I was happy to provide a horse for Tor. Last year, she rode Lilly. This year, Lilly isn't really fit enough to do faster paced rides. Plus she had been on/off lame in April and I didn't want to push things. Instead, I would bring Lucy and Booger. 

It would be a good last leg stretcher before Booger's 50 the following weekend. I was mildly concerned about how Booger would behave on a flat, grassy course with a ton of other horses around, especially since the pace at this event tends to be fairly fast. Still, it would be a good precursor to ride weekend. 

We wound up having an absolute blast!

Crossing the finish line and grinning ear to ear. Love this photo of the four of us. ❤

Jumping Around CHP

 One of the perks of my corporate job is that I get a good amount of PTO. The downside is that I'm really bad at taking it. 

Part of the problem is that I'm a workaholic. I don't say that as a brag. It really is a problem. One of the factors is that I work a lot of (voluntary) overtime and I lose money in my paycheck if I take PTO during a pay period. As a result, I won't take a day just for the sake of taking a day. I would rather work and make more money than sit in the corner and stare at the wall. A con of working from home is that there is no real separation between work life and personal life. With my personality, I struggle to turn it off. 

Other limiting factors include the horses and the dog. I would not trade any of the critters for anything, but it's tough to schedule vacations and long getaways when there are seven horses and a terminal dog to consider. 

This year in particular, things got a bit wild at work. Despite doing a bunch of rides and taking a mini vacation in the fall, I had nine PTO days left. I can only roll five over into the new year. For as much as I'm a work addict with no off switch, I absolutely will not throw away a PTO day. I scheduled the remaining four that I had to "use or lose" and started reaching out to friends. 

I took one day for Lucy's solo field trip. 

I had the following Friday off as well. As luck would have it, Julie and Tor (who I introduced to each other at the FLSS pace) were available! They were already planning to ride, and I sort of invited myself. We decided to meet at Christie Hoffman Park for a low key day of hopping some fences.

Julie and Amira over a monster log.

FLSS Hunter Pace

 October 15th was supposed to be the Halloween Haunt NACMO ride at Trexler. Tor and I had planned to go. Unfortunately, the ride got rained out and rescheduled. As luck would have it, the Lord Stirling hunter pace, which had gotten rained out the previous weekend got rescheduled for the 15th instead. This is one I've been trying to make it to ever since we became mobile with the horses. Tor and I decided to do the pace instead. We had a blast!

Jompies

 First of all, thank you for all the wonderful comments on my last post! I'm still beaming about that day almost a month later, and it's really cool to have so many of you cheering us on at home. How fun!

The day after the CTR was the time change (hopefully the last one...?) That means I've been riding in the dark pretty much every day since. In a lot of ways, I enjoy this time of year. I like riding under the moon and stars (though I do occasionally dream of an indoor or arena lights). I also enjoy the winding down of the year as the world goes to sleep for the winter. 

On Wednesday, however, my boss sent us a lovely email thanking us for our hard work and dismissing us for the holiday weekend at 3pm. I promptly threw on my riding close and sprinted out the door. It just so happened that we had a beautiful sunny day and I had just dragged the ring. I also had a little course set up, though it was mostly for decoration at this point. Coincidentally, Mike had just picked up a Canon 7D Mark II for a steal. He got it specifically because of the fast shutter speed with jumping photos in mind. 

We couldn't resist a little photo shoot, and I am not complaining about the results.

Covered Bridge Trail Pace

 On the 23rd, Eryca and I took Lucy and Lilly to the Covered Bridge Trail Association fall pace. I had never managed to make it to this pace despite the fact that it's super local to us. After riding it, I may explore a membership for next year. 

Photo by Carlie Johnson, used with purchase.

Jumping Photos

 Work is still down so I've been riding a lot. I feel like I'm constantly blogging about Lucy but rarely talk about Boo in detail these days, even though I ride her just as often. Last week, I dragged Mike to the barn with me to take pictures of Booger jumping. She has been going really well despite my lack of jumping skills. I tend to bury her to the fences, but I've been setting up lots of grids and bounces to work on my eye. I've also gotten much better at going with her instead of fighting with her. She still gets a little zoomy when we jump, but has started to relax on the approach since I've started making a conscious effort to get off her face and back. We spend most of our time hopping over itty bitty verticals and lots of cross rails, and it has paid off when I do raise the fences a little. This particular day was hot and sunny, but Bug doesn't mind the heat. I did laugh at my FitBit classifying this ride as an "intense work out". Sure is. Anyway, have a bunch of photos of my mare very tolerantly hauling my out of shape butt over jumps.

I love her happy expression when she jumps. It's definitely her favorite activity. I've been exaggerating my release to make sure I'm off her mouth. It's not pretty, but it works.

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.

Girls Nights and Jumping Photos

 Eryca and I continue to get together on Wednesday nights for our weekly riding date. Last month, Juli also joined us pretty consistently. I try to vary the routine week to week. Sometimes we toodle around bareback. Sometimes we jump. Sometimes I set up the dressage court and we run through various tests. Sometimes I set up my growing collection of working equitation obstacles. I also try to alternate which mare I use each Wednesday so that they both get to participate in fun activities and share the ring. Booger has actually fallen in love with Quite Quiet and seems to particularly enjoy the nights when Juli joins us. 

Last month, I actually remembered to bring the camera to the barn for one of our jumping nights. The light was glorious. Of course, I'm a jackass and forgot to check the battery level before I left the house. Camera? Check. Memory card? Check. Battery? Whoops. The fully charged one was at home. The one in the camera barely had any juice left. Damn! So I only got limited photos that night. 

I am slowly getting braver with Booger, but of course her night was the one where I ran out of battery. I use one of the barrels in the ring as a tripod and take video of myself. I really should get a Pivo....

Chipping in, as per usual. This photo makes it look like my shirt, Boo's tack, and the jump standards are all the same color, but they are not. Booger is a sky blue. My shirt is a royal blue. The standards are actually teal. I did secretly enjoy the accidental matchy matchy look though. I'm a nerd.

October Riding Media

 I think it's possible that I take too many photos...

I am still chiseling away at the mountain of October pictures that didn't make it into the monthly recap. I still have at least three horse related posts to get through from last month (and have already photographed an endurance ride and ridden a hunter pace this month). I'll start with the pictures that don't need their own posts.

One of my accomplishments for the month was taking Booger for a short trail drive. It was her first time off the property in the cart. We just went around the big field at Pine Twig for two and a half miles. Booger was pretty good about the cart rumbling around behind her. This rig is definitely not designed for terrain, but I am in no place to upgrade right now. I did order a kicking strap from Two Horse Tack. I don't think she could get her leg over these shafts, but it's better to be safe than sorry! 

New Jumps

 Those of you who have been following me for a long time may remember that I used to lease a barn in Pennington, where I took full training boarders. At that time, Mike made me a beautiful jump course. When I dropped the lease, I sold the jumps. The buyer and I run in the same equine circles so I know that the jumps are still holding up great, nearly a decade later. Since then, Mike has made several jump orders for both friends and random strangers. Now that I have a real ring and three horses who seem to enjoy jumping, I asked him if he'd be willing to make me a few jumps again. As I mentioned recently, the price of lumber finally came down to a reasonable number so we stocked up at Home Depot on our anniversary.

I have a long wish list when it comes to jumps, and Mike is happy to build them. Having a handy husband is much cheaper than trying to buy pre-made jumps online, but it's still an expensive venture. As a result, I'm trying to take little bites. Still, I now have enough parts to make a small jump course with some variety in it, and there is more on the way. At some point, I'll have to find time to pick colors and do some painting, but let's take my current obsession one step at a time.

Meanwhile, Mike finished a pair of gates for us the other week and hooked up the trailer to drop them off. I asked him if he could pretty please bring his camera so I could pop Lucy over the new jumps. In all honesty, this ride was a bit rushed. The footing really needed to be dragged too. All the same, Lucy happily popped over everything I pointed her at. Mike has a new camera. While the image quality is much higher than his last camera (aka my new camera), the shutter is a little slower. This means he's going to have to perfect his timing all over again. 

These photos also showed me that I need to get Lucy doing some gymnastics to tighten that front end up a bit. She's now completely comfortable at this height and just sort of lopes quietly over the fences. I'm delighted about this development, but it does make her a little lazy with those front legs. Time to put in the work before raising the fences.

At some point, I need to drag Mike back out to get pictures of Booger jumping the new fences too, but these will be a placeholder for now.

I plan to paint these jumps, but they look nice au naturale too.

Mare Media

 September brought some cooler temperatures at last, and we did a fair amount of riding. With the storm at the beginning of the month came a lot of damage to the trails. I suspect Mike and I will be hiking out this fall to do trail maintenance ourselves. In the meantime, I feel like I'm relearning a lot of the trails. We also did more ring riding, which is becoming more and more enjoyable as the ring evolves. I have a few separate posts coming about stand-out rides from the month, but I'm going to drop a bunch of assorted photos here for safe keeping. As of this morning, Booger is up to ride/drive #109 for the year, and Lucy is up to #136. 

There are two small cross country style jumps on the vineyard trail. A year ago, I never would have guessed I'd be jumping either one of them. Now they feel easy! I love this little mare so much. She makes me feel braver than I really am.

August Riding Media

 This month has honestly sort of sucked for riding. Between the extreme heat, the flooding, and the gigantic biting bugs, I feel like I haven't been riding at all. Since our 15 miler, I've only worked Lucy and Booger seven times each. For Lucy, one of those rides consisted of me getting on her bareback in a rope halter. I got on her in the field, rode her to the ring, opened the gate, cantered one lap in each direction, rode down the driveway, and dismounted in the wash stall. It was too hot to do anything else. For Booger, one of those rides consisted of me riding her bareback up the driveway to the ring where we just did some ground work before hacking back home. I know fall is right around the corner, but I'm feeling rather deprived of saddle time.

Despite the lack of saddle time, the girls have been going well. Booger is up to ride #91 for the year and the difference in her training and her personality has honestly blown me away. Watching Cam jump her earlier this year really inspired me. Plus accidentally jumping those huge ditches on trail boosted my confidence and has allowed me to finally get out of Booger's way over fences. We're actually having a ton of fun jumping around! I'm  not a great jumper, but it's absolutely Booger's favorite thing ever. Her happy ears and tail in this photo make me so happy.

Cam Rides Booger

 A few weeks ago, when Mike came to take pictures of me riding Booger, I did a little bit of jumping with her. At the beginning of the year, I made a list of goals for each horse. Booger's list included "return to jumping". During this recent ride, I came to the conclusion (as I so often do) that Booger really needs a braver rider. While she and I can pop around some little fences just fine, I lack the guts to really bring out her potential. 

Booger has free jumped 4' with style. She will go over anything I point her at. She has scope for days and seems to genuinely love jumping. 

I enjoy loping over the occasional fence as much as the next guy, but I am a bit of a control freak (shocking to my long time readers, I'm sure). I want to come in at a collected, rhythmic canter, get the perfect spot, clear the little fence with no drama, and land at the same quiet canter on the other side. My comfort zone ends at about 2'6", and that's on quiet horses. 

Boo, on the other hand, would really love to be a jumper (or an eventer). She wants to go. Her idea of the perfect ride would be galloping at some enormous fence with a pilot who will get off her back and out of her way. She's probably make an awesome mount for some super ballsy teen who doesn't care about the quality of her canter, but see previous comments about control.

Shortly after I started musing about needing a braver rider, the Facebook memory of Boo clearing the standards came up. I shared the memory and tagged my former student, Cam. Cam rode Booger once, a few years ago, before she went off to college. Booger was six at the time. 

My inbox blew up immediately and Cam agreed to come out the last Monday in June to take Booger for a spin. 

Spoiler alert: they looked awesome together!

Updated Booger Photos

 Mike came out one day last month to get some more current photos of Booger and me in the ring. I'm not currently taking lessons (on the wish list for this fall) so looking at photos and videos of myself riding is the best way for me to nitpick and try to improve bad habits. 

Mike last came out in April and I was pretty pleased with how Booger looked that day over all. However, I was pretty disappointed in her canter at that time. 

After this ride, I compared the June photos to the April photos and was pleasantly surprised. There's still a lot to work on (omg, so much...) but Booger looks visibly happier and more comfortable in her body. Her mouth is quieter even without the flash. She's softer and stretchier. Best of all, I'm no longer using the running martingale to warm up. I still put it on the breast collar for trail riding, but most days I leave it in the barn to ride at home. 

Her canter is forever a work in progress, but I was happier with the canter photos this time around. Mike also complimented Boo, saying that she had a very clear and consistent rhythm. Her canter still gets sort of flat or lateral, but I'm proud to report that there wasn't a single moment of cross firing this entire ride! And forward definitely isn't a problem.

We even did a bit of jumping towards the end of our ride. I basically rode like garbage and poor Booger had to compensate for it. I resolved to find her a braver, better jumper to ride her in the near future. More on that subject later!

Mike took over 600 photos during this ride and most of them were awesome. I narrowed that down to my 130 favorites. While I'm not going to spam you with all of them, there are still a lot of photos in this entry.

My new favorite photo of us together.

I love how relaxed and happy Booger looks here. Forward, tracking up, engaging her inside hind, soft through the poll with a nice open throat latch. She even has happy ears! She is not an easy horse to ride, but when we get it, it's so rewarding!!

So do you think I ever learn to shorten my stirrups or....?

Jumping

 I don't chronicle many of our ring riding days, but they do exist. On the first, Mike joined us at the barn with his camera after work. I wanted him to get some photos of Eryca and Lilly since we haven't really taken any since March. We ended up doing a little bit of jumping that day. 

The winner for the day.

Riding Media

 While I am still pretty much blogging about every single trail ride I do with Lucy, I won't be posting every last ring ride. That would be super boring, huh? I do have an increasing amount of riding photos and videos piling up though, so I'm going to dump them here. We're all pretty bored with winter riding already, and I try to find ways to mix it up on a regular basis. Here are a few things we've been up to...

Lucy seems to be enjoying her intro to jumping. We're going to spend some serious time on grids, poles, and gymnastics without raising the fences. We're going to start doing some oxers as soon as the weather permits. Still, it was fun to get some photos of our progress. Plus this way Lucy has to stand around while I set up the tripod, etc. while mounted.

The Lucy and Lilly show (feat. Booger)

Eryca gets credit for the title. We made a shared Google Photos album for our barn shenanigans, which she called the Lilly and Lucy show. 

 Business is slow right now. It's just the usual winter lull. I'm actually pretty ok with it. I get a little burned out every year, and 2020 was especially bad. I'm enjoying the dedicated clients I have every week, but I also appreciate some down time. As a result, I've been spending more time at the barn with "my" horses. 

I got invited to the PonyUP 100 Y2021 group on FB. The idea is simple: 100 rides in one year. It's a challenge meant for one horse and one rider, but the rules are pretty flexible and it's just a super wholesome group where everyone cheers everyone else on. I was eager to hop on the bandwagon. Plus I like to obsessively count everything anyway. My goal is to definitely get 100 miles on Lucy, but now that Booger has decided she wants to join the fun, I'm curious to see if I can do 100 miles on her too. 

So far this year I'm up to six rides on Lucy and four on Boo. 

For the most part, our rides are nothing exciting and I was going to just include them in my monthly recap. But by the time you factor Lilly in, it's an awful lot of media!!

So here are some photos, videos, and snippets from the last month or so.

I'll start with a photo of Booger since she's overdue for a formal appearance around here.

Hawk Updates

Jess and Hawk have also been making awesome improvements in their lessons. We've had a lot to work on, but Jess is dedicated and works hard at her homework. The difference is visible!

Jess and Hawk before they started lessons with me.

During a lesson in October over the same type of jump.

Introducing Jagger

Jagger has already made a few appearances on the blog, and you guys have been hearing about Emily and her barn for years. Jagger is an appaloosa gelding that Emily picked up, and who I jokingly call a "very good donkey".

Recent lesson photo.