Got lots of riding in on the weekend!
Friday, Tayla from my work came over to meet Bentley. We showed off a little with his beautiful quiet gallop, and then ruined it with the inability to trot after the canter threshold was broken. Nothing new for us!
After that I did some laps around the cornfields, meeting up with Jaime and the Taylors for one of the laps. We finished in the cool twilight with some stirrupless work in the ring. I was very impressed with Bentley, since this was the first time I tried this with him, we really haven't even done any sitting trot. Truthfully, I am happier to sit trot without stirrups than with, they just get in my way and I am too busy trying to keep them on my feet to worry about what my seat is doing, and that's just WRONG!
At first Bentley was like "what? are you asking me to stop?" but after the encouraging squeeze it was like "ohhhh right, you also sit when we are going to canter, I'm going to go really fast and wait for the signal!" and eventually he settled into "I'm not so pleased with your bouncing, but since you wont let me go fast OR slow, I will just be nice" And it was so nice! We walked around in the dusk quietly, nobody else around but the crickets chirping. It was so peaceful, I could have stayed all night. Ended up with a good 8 miles.
Saturday I did a morning ride with a very clear goal. We walked our warmup, trotted 20 minutes, walked 10 minutes, trotted 20 minutes and cooled out. I wanted to see what his stamina was like since at Coates we will likely spend a ton of time trotting. After the first trot Lee said he looked "Happy". He was eager to do more. After the 2nd trot, he looked a little bit tired, relieved to walk, but certainly wasn't difficult to keep going. He has lots more to give. Didn't bother cantering since we are still having lead troubles and I wanted to have a ride where Bentley can just have fun, not trying to learn anything. I am starting to learn where to push and where to give in training. Garmin recorded 7.26 miles.
Saturday afternoon we took Heather to camp, I will blog about that another time.
Sundays ride goal was long slow distance. Linda and I rode together and wanted to try some different terrain over the plateau. So we did a couple of big hills, through the creeks and even went down the road. This was a first for both of us, our barn is on a very busy road and I have been nervous to cross it. Once we crossed however, the back road, while paved, was very quiet.
Bentley was such a trooper. He has never been ridden on any road, let alone through suburbs. We saw a few people from their porches look both startled and excited to see horses, nobody rides on the roads in the GTA! Bentley had a few good looks at some horse-eating balloons marking a party and a strange outcropping of rocks we humans call a retaining wall, but overall, things didn't scare him. Not the motorbike that went by noisily or the bicycle who snuck silently up behind us. We saw a few trails off the road and wondered where they went, didn't follow them for fear of private property, but you can be assured we will start investigating!
His feet held up well, we did a half mile trot along the paved road, and probably another quarter mile. Shaved off a bit of toe in the front, but not as much as I was expecting. He has good hard feet!
Overall we finished our ride with 12.1 miles at a slow pace.
Good golly I think hes ready! 4 More sleeps!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Olympic fever
I could talk about my weekend, and I probably will eventually, but right now the cross country phase of Olympic eventing has just completed and I need to go and re-watch the whole thing.
I did try to watch it live, and was successful for a while, however the live feed cut out right after our 3rd Canadian rider so I missed a lot of the competition.
First let me have my rant about Canadian support of equestrianism. Considering how Eric Lamaze with partner Hickstead won Canadian athlete of the year last year, there seems to still be a lack of respect for equine sports. I truly believe that Ian Millar should have been awarded the privilege to carry the Canadian flag in the open ceremonies, as this year he is setting the record with his 10th Olympic appearance.
Next, I was disappointed to find out that not only was the cross country not being aired on CTV, it was also dropped last minute from OLN, available only online to the few people who know and care enough about the sport to watch. I showed a few people what the sport was about and they were stunned! It is such an entertaining sport to watch for the scenery (including some fabulous jump designs: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/galleries/main.php?g2_itemId=132807) the speed and excitement, and the danger! Anyone who watches nascar should love this due to the sheer violence of some of the falls, no matter how twisted that may be. In fact, it may be one of the most interesting sports to watch in all the games. The fact that it isn't broadcast means that even less people discover it!
Now on to the games itself, if you missed it this morning, you can still watch it here:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/channel/obs6/watch/equestrian-eventing-cross-country.html
A few spoilers (which if you follow, you would already know).
Only 2/5 Canadians made it through the course. 3 riders had falls, which automatically eliminates them from competition. Hawley Bennett-Awad was rushed to hospital after a fall at fence 3, Gin and Juice is ok and I hear Hawley is conscious.
Immediately after her fall, the next rider had a fall at the exact same spot. Fence 3 turned out to be a difficult combination despite it not looking any scarier than a stadium jump. Perhaps it was the angle of the broken line, or a scary person in the crowd? Maybe this guy was shaking their concentration
(guy that shouts "Jackass" in Happy Gilmore, in case you didn't get that!)
Peter Barry's fall happened after looking down at the ditch, lacked the impulsion needed to get over the skinny and the horse landed on his belly on the jump. Both appeared to be ok and walked away.
Not sure how Rebecca Howard's fall happened yet, that was in the part where I couldn't get my player working!
So sadly Canada won't be eligible for team medals, as you need 3 riders to qualify. Here's hoping the luck improves for our individual riders still standing as well as the teams for the other disciplines!
I did try to watch it live, and was successful for a while, however the live feed cut out right after our 3rd Canadian rider so I missed a lot of the competition.
First let me have my rant about Canadian support of equestrianism. Considering how Eric Lamaze with partner Hickstead won Canadian athlete of the year last year, there seems to still be a lack of respect for equine sports. I truly believe that Ian Millar should have been awarded the privilege to carry the Canadian flag in the open ceremonies, as this year he is setting the record with his 10th Olympic appearance.
Next, I was disappointed to find out that not only was the cross country not being aired on CTV, it was also dropped last minute from OLN, available only online to the few people who know and care enough about the sport to watch. I showed a few people what the sport was about and they were stunned! It is such an entertaining sport to watch for the scenery (including some fabulous jump designs: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/galleries/main.php?g2_itemId=132807) the speed and excitement, and the danger! Anyone who watches nascar should love this due to the sheer violence of some of the falls, no matter how twisted that may be. In fact, it may be one of the most interesting sports to watch in all the games. The fact that it isn't broadcast means that even less people discover it!
Now on to the games itself, if you missed it this morning, you can still watch it here:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/channel/obs6/watch/equestrian-eventing-cross-country.html
A few spoilers (which if you follow, you would already know).
Only 2/5 Canadians made it through the course. 3 riders had falls, which automatically eliminates them from competition. Hawley Bennett-Awad was rushed to hospital after a fall at fence 3, Gin and Juice is ok and I hear Hawley is conscious.
Immediately after her fall, the next rider had a fall at the exact same spot. Fence 3 turned out to be a difficult combination despite it not looking any scarier than a stadium jump. Perhaps it was the angle of the broken line, or a scary person in the crowd? Maybe this guy was shaking their concentration
Peter Barry's fall happened after looking down at the ditch, lacked the impulsion needed to get over the skinny and the horse landed on his belly on the jump. Both appeared to be ok and walked away.
Not sure how Rebecca Howard's fall happened yet, that was in the part where I couldn't get my player working!
So sadly Canada won't be eligible for team medals, as you need 3 riders to qualify. Here's hoping the luck improves for our individual riders still standing as well as the teams for the other disciplines!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Doodling the Best Horse Ever
Yesterday for some reason I had the urge to draw, so I drew pictures of Bentley as they came on my computer desktop (I have a 15 min rotation) So I got a random picture and 15 minutes to sketch it as best I could with the pens and highlighters and scrap pieces of paper I had available. Overall I am very satisfied with the result, especially since I literally haven't drawn seriously since... oh maybe highschool? I used to be a great little artist as a kid, but breaking my wrist I lost a lot of control in my hand from nerve damage. You can see the progression as I started to warm up and get better.
Bentley the night before his first show, getting a tasty dinner and dressed in his "Champ" sheet. Thank goodness this came first, I always find noses the hardest to draw. I am happy with how his eyes turned out.
An afternoon in maybe March or April where I brought him in from a particularly cold rain, and wrapped him up in a cooler. Clearly I didn't plan here for the size of the paper and ended up cutting off his nose.
One of our rides early spring. We are riding in the bitless. Clearly I draw horses better than people, my hands are atrocious! But I think you can really tell it is Bentley. In fact I think you can tell this in all the pictures. I doodled one of Leena also, but the scanner cut it off so I will post this at another time. Can certainly tell the differences between the 2 horses, so I give myself a job well done in capturing this!
As for the "Best Horse Ever" we were riding last night to prove to Lee that Bentley was good and that he should ride. Again we couldn't get our right canter lead. I think we must have struggled for a good 15 minutes before I gave up. He was being particularly difficult and I couldn't even get him straight again. Instead he was turning his head outside, ignoring my hand, exploding when I tried to bend him around the leg, and veered dangerously into fences and other horses nearly causing disaster at least 20 times from the trot. I was so frustrated!
We took a walk break. Usually I don't like to give him a break until he has gotten it, but our minds were just wrecked at this point. So I changed direction and asked for the canter on the left lead. Of course he happily picked it up and I praised him tremendously. Changed direction and asked for the dreaded right lead again, and magically on the first time, he picked it up wonderfully! Another dream sequence canter there! Pulled him up to the gate and yelled to Lee to get his helmet.
While I waited for Lee, a woman caught my attention and said to me "My daughter thinks you have the best horse ever!" and motioned to the little girl beside her, who was a little shy to have been exposed. I smiled and was happy to say "yes, most days I think the same thing" and introduced Mr. Charming to her.
Lee was a little nervous getting up on top of Bentley since he saw the "bad" parts of our ride, but it quickly vanished when I explained that the "bad" things were him not getting correct canter leads. Knowing full well he probably wouldn't even trot, Lee brightened significantly! Bentley was pretty jiggy at first, the other horses in the ring were cantering and jumping, and he still was in "Go!" mode. We moved the 2 of them into the indoor where there weren't any exciting distractions.
Lee did very well with Bentley once we took all the distractions away. In fact, Bentley was in great contact with Lee's hands from the moment he got on! I have to say, I am a little jealous because Lee is such a natural rider. I don't know anyone else who on their 8th time on a horse can get consistent contact in a nice round frame at the walk and have the horse bending around his legs in tight serpentines. Of course, that also speaks to how wonderful Bentley is too.
One thing I did have to scold Lee for however was the rapid walk. I have always ridden squeeze to extend or speed the gait, kick to go up into a gear. Lee was kicking but not allowing Bentley to trot because Lee just wanted a fast walk, you could see Bentley was very confused! Once I explained the difference, Lee agreed not to ruin my training and decided to leave the trot for another time and stopped kicking.
I have been thinking back a lot to the little girl (who's name is Rachel btw) and how much attention Bentley draws due to his natural charisma, even if he is being naughty. He always seems to be the horse people are watching in the ring, meaning I have to start stepping up my riding, because eyes always seem to be on us. I really need to make my riding top notch to do him justice. Here starts my determination to greatly improve my equitation and to stop letting frustration get the better of me!
As for the "Best Horse Ever" we were riding last night to prove to Lee that Bentley was good and that he should ride. Again we couldn't get our right canter lead. I think we must have struggled for a good 15 minutes before I gave up. He was being particularly difficult and I couldn't even get him straight again. Instead he was turning his head outside, ignoring my hand, exploding when I tried to bend him around the leg, and veered dangerously into fences and other horses nearly causing disaster at least 20 times from the trot. I was so frustrated!
We took a walk break. Usually I don't like to give him a break until he has gotten it, but our minds were just wrecked at this point. So I changed direction and asked for the canter on the left lead. Of course he happily picked it up and I praised him tremendously. Changed direction and asked for the dreaded right lead again, and magically on the first time, he picked it up wonderfully! Another dream sequence canter there! Pulled him up to the gate and yelled to Lee to get his helmet.
While I waited for Lee, a woman caught my attention and said to me "My daughter thinks you have the best horse ever!" and motioned to the little girl beside her, who was a little shy to have been exposed. I smiled and was happy to say "yes, most days I think the same thing" and introduced Mr. Charming to her.
Lee was a little nervous getting up on top of Bentley since he saw the "bad" parts of our ride, but it quickly vanished when I explained that the "bad" things were him not getting correct canter leads. Knowing full well he probably wouldn't even trot, Lee brightened significantly! Bentley was pretty jiggy at first, the other horses in the ring were cantering and jumping, and he still was in "Go!" mode. We moved the 2 of them into the indoor where there weren't any exciting distractions.
Lee did very well with Bentley once we took all the distractions away. In fact, Bentley was in great contact with Lee's hands from the moment he got on! I have to say, I am a little jealous because Lee is such a natural rider. I don't know anyone else who on their 8th time on a horse can get consistent contact in a nice round frame at the walk and have the horse bending around his legs in tight serpentines. Of course, that also speaks to how wonderful Bentley is too.
One thing I did have to scold Lee for however was the rapid walk. I have always ridden squeeze to extend or speed the gait, kick to go up into a gear. Lee was kicking but not allowing Bentley to trot because Lee just wanted a fast walk, you could see Bentley was very confused! Once I explained the difference, Lee agreed not to ruin my training and decided to leave the trot for another time and stopped kicking.
I have been thinking back a lot to the little girl (who's name is Rachel btw) and how much attention Bentley draws due to his natural charisma, even if he is being naughty. He always seems to be the horse people are watching in the ring, meaning I have to start stepping up my riding, because eyes always seem to be on us. I really need to make my riding top notch to do him justice. Here starts my determination to greatly improve my equitation and to stop letting frustration get the better of me!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Thunderstorms
We were due for rain. Overdue really, and we finally got it!
In fact, it came just in time for my weekly lesson. Linda and I warmed up in pouring rain because we are just "those" type of people who wont use the indoor no matter what the conditions(and hooray! we can use the outdoor ring without all that nasty dust!). Linda said that as soon as Margie showed up, the rain would clear.
Prophecy fulfilled!
We had a pretty good lesson. I think I must have forgotten a thing or two in the 2 weeks we had off, because I felt like there were a few silly mistakes. Mostly just me forgetting to collect him and being a bit too casual with my loose reins. He was a little limpy for the first few minutes of trotting, and I had that wave of dread pass over me, but Margie saw it too and didn't ask me to stop, so we kept going. Usually in that situation I have a habit of jumping off the moment i notice hes lame. Good thing I didn't, he worked out of it in 5 minutes!
Our canter had its very high and very low points. We had some great canters to start and I was so darn pleased with myself. But after the good canters, it was very difficult to trot again. Part of the problem was he was excited, another part was I have a tendency to pull him to the side when i bring him back rather than doing a square transition. Lastly, my excuse is we were having such nice canters, neither of us really wanted to trot, and therefore 2 strides of trot between was usually all we could muster without a fight. At one point (now I missed this because i was distracted by whatever else, or maybe just too focused on my riding) a horse got loose from its rider and came zipping out of the indoor. Of course he took off, but at that point I didn't know of the excitement, i thought it was just another antic. I lost a stirrup and while cantering around tried to obtain it again, upsetting Bentley more due to the movement of my leg. So for a while I just tried to rein him in without stirrup, and was surprised how much my seat has improved over the last little while. Pat on the back for me!
It took a little while for Bentley to calm down from the excitement, and I felt a bit better knowing he took off for a good reason, not just silliness. Then we got back into nice canters again with better downward transitions. Going the opposite direction however was terrible. He has trouble picking up his right lead (perhaps because of soreness?) multiplied by the fact that any movement on my part translated to him to be "yee haw lets go fast!" So while trotting and trying to flex and straighten to get him paying attention, we frequently burst out into wild canters on the wrong lead.
I don't really know what changed, perhaps I was just fed up with this or because Margie was probably quite frustrated with me by that point, but we somehow got back to our nice canters. Still a little explosive in the transitions upward, but once we got it, I got a BEAUTIFUL canter out of him. My butt didn't leave the saddle at all. I have been working so hard on my position to get this right, and we totally got it by the end. We had some spectators at that point. I really hope they were jealous. I have to say, i don't care much for the hunter style stand up, stick your butt out and hold your hands at your crotch style riding. The relaxed dressagey sit seems much more harmonious to me. I actually got pretty distracted because the canter was so lovely, it was like a dream sequence through a meadow, with my hair flowing, and tall grass and flowers all around. Maybe I am wearing a sundress. Maybe my feet are bare. Maybe there is no saddle at all. Just me and my horse. Oh drat! Don't forget to steer Sarah, snap out of it there are 3 foot jumps in your way!
Ok I woke up in time to steer, but my point was made to myself, its ok to have fun but I really have to start looking at where I'm going rather than only at his shoulder to check leads, or looking into a dream world where obstacles don't exist.
It was overall a silly day for the horses. Sable was also giving some problems, however they were the exact opposite of ours. Bentley wants to go fast, Sable didn't want to go at all. Sable sticks her nose way up in the air, Bentley's is practically in the dirt and pulling me out of the saddle. Why cant they just be the same so Linda and I can have a game plan made up together?
We went for a nice cool down walk around the field, and before i knew it, my GPS had registered a ride of 10.25 miles. We are totally ready for coates! He wasn't tired at all. Cool weather certainly didn't hurt either.
As for the thunderstorms, those came much later. While I was sleeping last night. We woke with a start in the middle of the night, there was so much flashing it was almost like daylight. Abbey is a complete wimp of a cat and was sitting straight up in a panicked state. Eyes wide with fear. I call out "its ok Abbey, come here" and she leaps over Lees legs (she was on his side of the bed) trotted over to me and immediately curled up pressed close to my side. Apparently Mum is much better at warding off evil storms than Dad haha. She stayed there all night, even when i rolled, just wiggled her way closer to me. What a great sleep!
In fact, it came just in time for my weekly lesson. Linda and I warmed up in pouring rain because we are just "those" type of people who wont use the indoor no matter what the conditions(and hooray! we can use the outdoor ring without all that nasty dust!). Linda said that as soon as Margie showed up, the rain would clear.
Prophecy fulfilled!
We had a pretty good lesson. I think I must have forgotten a thing or two in the 2 weeks we had off, because I felt like there were a few silly mistakes. Mostly just me forgetting to collect him and being a bit too casual with my loose reins. He was a little limpy for the first few minutes of trotting, and I had that wave of dread pass over me, but Margie saw it too and didn't ask me to stop, so we kept going. Usually in that situation I have a habit of jumping off the moment i notice hes lame. Good thing I didn't, he worked out of it in 5 minutes!
Our canter had its very high and very low points. We had some great canters to start and I was so darn pleased with myself. But after the good canters, it was very difficult to trot again. Part of the problem was he was excited, another part was I have a tendency to pull him to the side when i bring him back rather than doing a square transition. Lastly, my excuse is we were having such nice canters, neither of us really wanted to trot, and therefore 2 strides of trot between was usually all we could muster without a fight. At one point (now I missed this because i was distracted by whatever else, or maybe just too focused on my riding) a horse got loose from its rider and came zipping out of the indoor. Of course he took off, but at that point I didn't know of the excitement, i thought it was just another antic. I lost a stirrup and while cantering around tried to obtain it again, upsetting Bentley more due to the movement of my leg. So for a while I just tried to rein him in without stirrup, and was surprised how much my seat has improved over the last little while. Pat on the back for me!
It took a little while for Bentley to calm down from the excitement, and I felt a bit better knowing he took off for a good reason, not just silliness. Then we got back into nice canters again with better downward transitions. Going the opposite direction however was terrible. He has trouble picking up his right lead (perhaps because of soreness?) multiplied by the fact that any movement on my part translated to him to be "yee haw lets go fast!" So while trotting and trying to flex and straighten to get him paying attention, we frequently burst out into wild canters on the wrong lead.
I don't really know what changed, perhaps I was just fed up with this or because Margie was probably quite frustrated with me by that point, but we somehow got back to our nice canters. Still a little explosive in the transitions upward, but once we got it, I got a BEAUTIFUL canter out of him. My butt didn't leave the saddle at all. I have been working so hard on my position to get this right, and we totally got it by the end. We had some spectators at that point. I really hope they were jealous. I have to say, i don't care much for the hunter style stand up, stick your butt out and hold your hands at your crotch style riding. The relaxed dressagey sit seems much more harmonious to me. I actually got pretty distracted because the canter was so lovely, it was like a dream sequence through a meadow, with my hair flowing, and tall grass and flowers all around. Maybe I am wearing a sundress. Maybe my feet are bare. Maybe there is no saddle at all. Just me and my horse. Oh drat! Don't forget to steer Sarah, snap out of it there are 3 foot jumps in your way!
Ok I woke up in time to steer, but my point was made to myself, its ok to have fun but I really have to start looking at where I'm going rather than only at his shoulder to check leads, or looking into a dream world where obstacles don't exist.
It was overall a silly day for the horses. Sable was also giving some problems, however they were the exact opposite of ours. Bentley wants to go fast, Sable didn't want to go at all. Sable sticks her nose way up in the air, Bentley's is practically in the dirt and pulling me out of the saddle. Why cant they just be the same so Linda and I can have a game plan made up together?
We went for a nice cool down walk around the field, and before i knew it, my GPS had registered a ride of 10.25 miles. We are totally ready for coates! He wasn't tired at all. Cool weather certainly didn't hurt either.
As for the thunderstorms, those came much later. While I was sleeping last night. We woke with a start in the middle of the night, there was so much flashing it was almost like daylight. Abbey is a complete wimp of a cat and was sitting straight up in a panicked state. Eyes wide with fear. I call out "its ok Abbey, come here" and she leaps over Lees legs (she was on his side of the bed) trotted over to me and immediately curled up pressed close to my side. Apparently Mum is much better at warding off evil storms than Dad haha. She stayed there all night, even when i rolled, just wiggled her way closer to me. What a great sleep!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
I have the fastest horse in the world, or ever!
I just uploaded my garmin recording from last night's ride and got a bit of a surprise when I took a look at max speed:
Wow! That's one fast horse!
Lets compare this to some things.
Speed of sound = 768 mph therefore my horse was travelling Mach 2.2
Fastest animal (with the exception of Bentley), cheetah = 70 mph therefore hes 24.2x faster than a cheetah
Fastest car, Bugatti Veyron = 270 mph therefore hes 6.3 x faster than a bugatti
Fastest plane recorded, SR-71 Blackbird = 2,242 mph therefore he travels at 75% of this speed.
Data sourced from http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2008/04/whooosh-eight-things-that-go-fast/
Wow! That's one fast horse!
Lets compare this to some things.
Speed of sound = 768 mph therefore my horse was travelling Mach 2.2
Fastest animal (with the exception of Bentley), cheetah = 70 mph therefore hes 24.2x faster than a cheetah
Fastest car, Bugatti Veyron = 270 mph therefore hes 6.3 x faster than a bugatti
Fastest plane recorded, SR-71 Blackbird = 2,242 mph therefore he travels at 75% of this speed.
Data sourced from http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2008/04/whooosh-eight-things-that-go-fast/
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
War Horse
On Friday, Lee and I were thrilled to be able to see War Horse at Princess of Wales Theatre.
This was by far the best live show I have ever seen. I have not a single bad thing to say about it. Everything was polished and perfect from the acting to puppetry, music to lighting. I loved how they made good use of the theatre beyond the stage and used effects to make you feel like you are right inside the show. A particular scene that captured my attention the most was moments before intermission, when riding into battle the horses rose up to jump over razor wire, the strobe lights flashed behind them giving the effect they were jumping right into the crowd, and then all was black. I couldn't wait for the second half of the show, what a dramatic close!
This show is worth seeing whether you are horsey or not. Even Sheena, who can almost be described as "Anti horse" loved ti and was so excited to talk to me about it afterwards. How did she end up seeing this before me? Little bit shameful here! But hey, i have a horse... therefore little time to do all things people think I should do/see since I am a horse person.
In fact, I recommend that if you are not a horse person, GO SEE IT! Not only will it prove great entertainment, but it will give you some insight as to why us horse-crazy people are so darn crazy about them. The special bonds that form between human and horse are well portrayed, as is the intelligence and determination of these creatures.
I think it can really change the perspective some people have on the horse community. Think of what this could do in times like these where the race tracks are closing and hay prices are skyrocketing. A bit of understanding could go a long way with whats surely to be a growing number of homeless horses and perfectly good animals being sent to slaughter.
So how suitable is it that my team buy mailer today included discounted tickets to see this show? Link is here:
http://www.teambuy.ca/mississauga/28139138?utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MISSISSAUGA++20120723055047&utm_term=141254
Don't wait, its been running for ages, but wont last forever!
Too funny not to share
Riders, how often do you hear something along the lines of "Horseback riding isn't a sport, the horse does all the work!" and just cringe?
Well someone in Korea is giving us credit for what a good workout it is, and has introduced a workout machine inspired by riders.
This exercise puts shake weight to shame!
If you need a bit more convincing, consider the following:
I used this a little while back to estimate that Linda's 2 back to back rides of (i think it was) 26 miles each at 6mph would earn her the right to have 29.5 glasses of wine. Yum!
Well someone in Korea is giving us credit for what a good workout it is, and has introduced a workout machine inspired by riders.
This exercise puts shake weight to shame!
If you need a bit more convincing, consider the following:
Monday, July 23, 2012
Green Light
Bentley was visited by our vet today.
Now, let me preface this by saying: Horses have a habit of making liars of their owners/riders. My theory is he hears the word "Vet" and magically cures himself. Really the only reasonable explanation.
When I had taken him out on Saturday, he was looking completely sound. Yikes! So Sunday, Linda and I went for a nice long ride together. We did about 10.5 miles including "Heart Attack" hill, lots of trotting, and even a little canter and gallop work. Well the gallop wasn't so intentional, Sable is a terrible influence on Bentley. We have a nice canter going and he hears "Snort Snort Snort" coming up behind him and decides going for a race is a GREAT idea. Then one or the other decides to throw in a few bucks (always in the same place too). Sable also was being pissy towards Bentley and would sneak up behind him, decide he was too close to her, and pin her hears and snap at his bum.
So we thought that would be enough to get him good and lame for the vet. We were wrong.
I went to the barn this morning before the vet was due, and put him on a lunge line to see how he was doing. Oh darn, hes lame. Oh wait, I wanted that. Ok, Hooray hes lame! Take him in for a good grooming, braided since we have a heat warning on today and breakfast. Vet arrives and I explain what our theory's were. Go back out to lunge... wait, where did the bobbing go? There was a tiny bit, but not consistent and very tough to spot, and he even worked out of that as we went. Darn, hes NOT lame! Whattt?
Something the vet told me, which I had always believed the opposite was the lameness was NOT on the bob, in fact it was the opposite. So the whole time I thought he was sore in the left, he was really sore in the right. This is because they feel comfortable putting more of the pressure on their good leg so it stamps down a lot. How could anyone have let me think the opposite for so long? It must be a common misconception if nobody said anything.
We did all the flexions with not too much to report. Seems to be lower in the front right leg. Our vet and his assistant were very complimentary on his behaviour, he trots out nicely now since we have been practicing that a lot, and he just stood calmly while the vet was bending and flexing him every which way. They both said how well behaved he is for a 4 year old, guess it also helps having his mum there!
So we have been given the green light to start working. He also clarified to us that when he said Bentley is good to work 20 mins a day, he means trot/canter. Walking we are allowed to do as much as we want! He also seems to do better on solid/hard ground as opposed to in the ring. Hopefully this will be good news going into our first ride in 2 weeks.
Now, let me preface this by saying: Horses have a habit of making liars of their owners/riders. My theory is he hears the word "Vet" and magically cures himself. Really the only reasonable explanation.
When I had taken him out on Saturday, he was looking completely sound. Yikes! So Sunday, Linda and I went for a nice long ride together. We did about 10.5 miles including "Heart Attack" hill, lots of trotting, and even a little canter and gallop work. Well the gallop wasn't so intentional, Sable is a terrible influence on Bentley. We have a nice canter going and he hears "Snort Snort Snort" coming up behind him and decides going for a race is a GREAT idea. Then one or the other decides to throw in a few bucks (always in the same place too). Sable also was being pissy towards Bentley and would sneak up behind him, decide he was too close to her, and pin her hears and snap at his bum.
So we thought that would be enough to get him good and lame for the vet. We were wrong.
I went to the barn this morning before the vet was due, and put him on a lunge line to see how he was doing. Oh darn, hes lame. Oh wait, I wanted that. Ok, Hooray hes lame! Take him in for a good grooming, braided since we have a heat warning on today and breakfast. Vet arrives and I explain what our theory's were. Go back out to lunge... wait, where did the bobbing go? There was a tiny bit, but not consistent and very tough to spot, and he even worked out of that as we went. Darn, hes NOT lame! Whattt?
Something the vet told me, which I had always believed the opposite was the lameness was NOT on the bob, in fact it was the opposite. So the whole time I thought he was sore in the left, he was really sore in the right. This is because they feel comfortable putting more of the pressure on their good leg so it stamps down a lot. How could anyone have let me think the opposite for so long? It must be a common misconception if nobody said anything.
We did all the flexions with not too much to report. Seems to be lower in the front right leg. Our vet and his assistant were very complimentary on his behaviour, he trots out nicely now since we have been practicing that a lot, and he just stood calmly while the vet was bending and flexing him every which way. They both said how well behaved he is for a 4 year old, guess it also helps having his mum there!
So we have been given the green light to start working. He also clarified to us that when he said Bentley is good to work 20 mins a day, he means trot/canter. Walking we are allowed to do as much as we want! He also seems to do better on solid/hard ground as opposed to in the ring. Hopefully this will be good news going into our first ride in 2 weeks.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Bentley's Birthday Party
Look a carrot cake for big B! Oh yes and we couldn't find party hats so he got a birthday Lei.
We wanted just a nice picture of the 2 of us with the cake. Sadly, this is the only picture that he isn't moving around and looking blurry, therefore I had to ruin the picture and be blurry. Hes looking at it as if saying "Oh, that looks edible! Is that for moi?"
Bentley gets his first bite of cake. Thankfully we were able to keep him to one corner so everyone else could have cake after.
He decided the cake wasn't as tasty as beet pulp (silly horse!) and got good and messy faced instead.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Guess who has a birthday today?
Yes, today is the momentous day Bentley turns 4. I am calling it the "Sweet 16 of the horse world" because he is now officially old enough to ride the OCTRA Mileage rides, Training Rides, Set Speeds, and CTRs. Yes hes legal! But not for everything, endurance and long CTRs he has to be 5, so next year can be his equivalent to 19.
He is much like a child to me, and often does silly things such as a child would do. In honour of his birthday, let me share some of those now (in fact many of these happened just last night).
- And of course, his famous soccer video
Happy birthday big guy!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Searching For Answers
On Monday, Linda and I took a good look at Bentley to see whats "up" with him. I wanted that second set of eyes on him since its hard to run him and look back at him at the same time... I fear each time I will end up eating dirt.
So after running him straight a few times down the arena, our first answer was "yes he is still sore"
Then proceeded to lunge him in both directions. He certainly was worse on one side than the other. After a bit of time trotting, Linda thought it might be his hind left leg that's actually bothering him. I gave him a bit of a chase off the lunge line to get him to canter and he always picked up the same lead. This also suggests more soreness in the one hind in the other, as there is unequal pressure on the legs in the canter gait. Hence why we weren't seeing any lameness in the canter, he was always picking up what felt most comfortable to him.
The vet is coming in to do ultrasounds on it next Monday to give us a better idea of what we are dealing with and what sort of rehab he will need. It doesn't appear that hes so much lame as he is just sore, but the length of time its taking him to recover does cause some concern. So it will be nice to figure out whats up.
Monday we also re-fit his saddle as he keeps changing the shape of his back on me. Looks like I will have to get a different cushion. The saddle fits without cushion, but I don't think I can ride without it, so I need to go down to the slimmest cushion. Right now it does fit him, but uses a ton of shims which I would rather not use if we don't have to.
There is always something on the shopping list isn't there?
So after running him straight a few times down the arena, our first answer was "yes he is still sore"
Then proceeded to lunge him in both directions. He certainly was worse on one side than the other. After a bit of time trotting, Linda thought it might be his hind left leg that's actually bothering him. I gave him a bit of a chase off the lunge line to get him to canter and he always picked up the same lead. This also suggests more soreness in the one hind in the other, as there is unequal pressure on the legs in the canter gait. Hence why we weren't seeing any lameness in the canter, he was always picking up what felt most comfortable to him.
The vet is coming in to do ultrasounds on it next Monday to give us a better idea of what we are dealing with and what sort of rehab he will need. It doesn't appear that hes so much lame as he is just sore, but the length of time its taking him to recover does cause some concern. So it will be nice to figure out whats up.
Monday we also re-fit his saddle as he keeps changing the shape of his back on me. Looks like I will have to get a different cushion. The saddle fits without cushion, but I don't think I can ride without it, so I need to go down to the slimmest cushion. Right now it does fit him, but uses a ton of shims which I would rather not use if we don't have to.
There is always something on the shopping list isn't there?
Monday, July 16, 2012
Hot Hot weekend
The heat started out as a good thing initially. As I mentioned before, the air in my side of the building was broken. Fortunately I am stationed right outside of my boss' office, and he was equally hot... meaning he got fed up with it and we both took an early weekend! I have to say, hes great for those sort of things, I am pretty bad at leaving work or taking time off and probably would have stayed here if he didn't make me!
So I took my early day and decided to go straight to the barn. I took Bentley down to the creek with a camp chair, book, and refreshments in hand. I plunked my seat down in the creek and let him graze. He was pretty good, but got distracted a few times by the herd of horses and walked over to see if they would accept him into their club. Not the case... the tiny pony Cindy was by far the worst and charged him away.
I went home and cleaned myself up a bit while Bentley ate his dinner. The kids were planning a hoedown so I had promised to return! When I came back, everyone screamed my name with delight as I walked down the drive. Love these girls! They are always so welcoming and the whole barn has become such a family. Its quite a wonderful environment to ride in.
Saturday was the annual sale at Bahr's. I had intended on going there to get 20% off supplements and a tub of Furazone, maybe a lead rope because mine has a tendency to disappear. Including those, I also found myself leaving with a pair of $200 dress boots. I had recently taken my aukens in to get quoted on the zippers replaced and had been quoted $120. Yikes! I wasn't going to spend that much on a pair of boots that were $160 new. So although $200 seemed like a lot for someone who only intends on only doing "some" eventing, I reasoned that it was not much more than fixing the ones I already had. Plus, these boots were incredibly beautiful, well made and soft, and lots of foot support, clearly they had to be almost half off! They surely felt like they were made custom for me. I have big feet and small ankles then big calves again (we call these endurance or dressage calves haha), so I have a difficult time finding fit for ANY boots. So I forked over the $200, and on the way home, I was curious enough as to what the new price was on these. Here's what I got: http://www.bahrsaddlery.com/ariat-monaco-field-boot-with-zip.html
Ok I feel a little better about forking over seemingly big cash :)
After that, it was off to Flesherton for Linda to ride in the CTR, I was going as pit crew. Both days were so stinking hot, I was dunking my shirt in the water trough hourly to try and cool myself even a little bit. Luckily i had also brought freezies, so that helped me a little! Things went pretty smooth for us, Linda came in off each loop smiling, Sable aka I'm No Angel is becoming the opposite of her name. It sounded like the terrain was really tough. Those who were in the open category had an away vet check and hold, so it was pretty quiet for us back at the site.
It sounded like there were lots of pulls for lots of reasons but I am not too sure of the exact stats yet.
Linda placed first despite a few points taken off for a girth sore and some scrapes on the inside of her front legs. We think this may be interference from the easyboots as she isn't used to wearing them quite yet. Oh and did I mention? Linda lost one boot in the creek on the first loop and was able to dig it up on the second! Wonderful not to lose one of those!
We stuck around for the awards, and our group did very well indeed! It seemed like everyone who won were close friends of ours, the usual suspects who spend the evenings around our table. Or maybe that's more a sign that we are very quickly becoming friends with everyone in the sport, which is just as wonderful!
So I took my early day and decided to go straight to the barn. I took Bentley down to the creek with a camp chair, book, and refreshments in hand. I plunked my seat down in the creek and let him graze. He was pretty good, but got distracted a few times by the herd of horses and walked over to see if they would accept him into their club. Not the case... the tiny pony Cindy was by far the worst and charged him away.
I went home and cleaned myself up a bit while Bentley ate his dinner. The kids were planning a hoedown so I had promised to return! When I came back, everyone screamed my name with delight as I walked down the drive. Love these girls! They are always so welcoming and the whole barn has become such a family. Its quite a wonderful environment to ride in.
Saturday was the annual sale at Bahr's. I had intended on going there to get 20% off supplements and a tub of Furazone, maybe a lead rope because mine has a tendency to disappear. Including those, I also found myself leaving with a pair of $200 dress boots. I had recently taken my aukens in to get quoted on the zippers replaced and had been quoted $120. Yikes! I wasn't going to spend that much on a pair of boots that were $160 new. So although $200 seemed like a lot for someone who only intends on only doing "some" eventing, I reasoned that it was not much more than fixing the ones I already had. Plus, these boots were incredibly beautiful, well made and soft, and lots of foot support, clearly they had to be almost half off! They surely felt like they were made custom for me. I have big feet and small ankles then big calves again (we call these endurance or dressage calves haha), so I have a difficult time finding fit for ANY boots. So I forked over the $200, and on the way home, I was curious enough as to what the new price was on these. Here's what I got: http://www.bahrsaddlery.com/ariat-monaco-field-boot-with-zip.html
Ok I feel a little better about forking over seemingly big cash :)
After that, it was off to Flesherton for Linda to ride in the CTR, I was going as pit crew. Both days were so stinking hot, I was dunking my shirt in the water trough hourly to try and cool myself even a little bit. Luckily i had also brought freezies, so that helped me a little! Things went pretty smooth for us, Linda came in off each loop smiling, Sable aka I'm No Angel is becoming the opposite of her name. It sounded like the terrain was really tough. Those who were in the open category had an away vet check and hold, so it was pretty quiet for us back at the site.
It sounded like there were lots of pulls for lots of reasons but I am not too sure of the exact stats yet.
Linda placed first despite a few points taken off for a girth sore and some scrapes on the inside of her front legs. We think this may be interference from the easyboots as she isn't used to wearing them quite yet. Oh and did I mention? Linda lost one boot in the creek on the first loop and was able to dig it up on the second! Wonderful not to lose one of those!
We stuck around for the awards, and our group did very well indeed! It seemed like everyone who won were close friends of ours, the usual suspects who spend the evenings around our table. Or maybe that's more a sign that we are very quickly becoming friends with everyone in the sport, which is just as wonderful!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Friday the 13th
Its Friday the 13th and my misfortune seems to be coming in the form of technology problems.
The air conditioning at my side of the building is not working on a day with an extreme heat alert, which is particularly rough because its 1) the south side of the building and gets a ton of sun and 2) almost entirely windows, which makes me cook like a greenhouse. Makes me think back to when I had a beta fish and put him in the window because it just looked so pretty! Then the poor little thing just got too hot and didn't make it.
Oh and also, ALL the printers are broken in the office. Literally jamming after every other page.
Normally I don't believe in the 13th, but the heat is impairing my normal good sense.
The air conditioning at my side of the building is not working on a day with an extreme heat alert, which is particularly rough because its 1) the south side of the building and gets a ton of sun and 2) almost entirely windows, which makes me cook like a greenhouse. Makes me think back to when I had a beta fish and put him in the window because it just looked so pretty! Then the poor little thing just got too hot and didn't make it.
Oh and also, ALL the printers are broken in the office. Literally jamming after every other page.
Normally I don't believe in the 13th, but the heat is impairing my normal good sense.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Finally!
Finally someone from the general public gets it right:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-sport-hardest-fourth-place-medal-ranks-32-195706044--oly.html
Sick and tired of people saying "the horse does all the work" or "Oh ya, I am a rider too" (aka I got on a horse once on the beach at cuba and i went all the way to the other side of the beach)
Can't wait for the olympics to begin.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-sport-hardest-fourth-place-medal-ranks-32-195706044--oly.html
Sick and tired of people saying "the horse does all the work" or "Oh ya, I am a rider too" (aka I got on a horse once on the beach at cuba and i went all the way to the other side of the beach)
Can't wait for the olympics to begin.
Photos and video from Schooling SHow
Heather and Bentley ready to warmup.
After the walk-trot class, Bentley standing nicely... for about 5 seconds!
Thats enough standing nicely, I see something interesting and want to party! - Bentley before he fullpassed nearly the entire ring.
Oh boy, he sure is getting excited here! I am on board now
Look how happy he looks to have been able to show off his `stuff``
Waiting for our next round.
Discovering the leaves are much tastier than the grass.
Heather in the walk-trot class. He gets a little excited by her forward riding and starts cantering, but settles in nicely. Still learning how to hold his frame and Heather is learning to keep her hands steadier.
More of Heather in walk trot class, still a little unsure if hes a bit sore here or just trying to get the bit and hold it (heathers hands arent as steady as he is used to) or maybe a bit of both. He stops very nicely!
Other direction of walk trot class. He has a very nice trot along the far side of the ring and holds frame almost consistently! The pair certainly improved as they went along.
Sarah in the first jumping class, 5 jumps hunter. This is the start of when we noticed the `Bob` Hes so darn excited to jump, took it a BIT too fast (meaning wayy too fast) haha.
Sarah in the 2nd jumping class, 8 jumps hunter. You can see in the trot here hes starting to bob a bit more. It wasnt easy keeping him straight down the lines, we had very little practice or even training for jumping, so I was happy with him and cant blame him for the excitement.
Photos from Cayuse Canter
Finally got around to this.
Sable looks all pretty and ready to go for tomorrow (ride day 1)
Our Friday night dinner.
Sun setting on the vetting area Friday night.
I'm No Angel and Angel ready to hit the trail.
Solstice riding Angel.
Linda on I'm No Angel (Sable)
And theyyyy're off!
Kind of a cool shot of the action at vetting area from my cool quiet spot in the shade.
I was bored while Sable was grazing so I added a new sport to OCTRAs portfolio - Horse Decorating
Sable practically falls asleep in her food bucket after day 2 (and total of 56 miles)
Perfect background for such a pretty lady!
Jess celebrates her completion.
Oh hi there! Are you here to give me treats?
Monty enjoying his watermelon.
Sable would you like watermelon? - Sarah
Hmmm, this looks more like people food than horse food, thanks for the offer but I will pass. - Sable
Earl napping on his fence.
Earl DID take a bite from the watermelon. I dont think he was convinced it was better than carrots though.
Jess and Monty sharing a bite.
Back at home, Sable enjoys the grazing paddock.
The best grass is at the bottom of the hill.
Or maybe its at the top.
Bentley also gets let out to graze and for grain dinner.
He must have been shaking or something, I love his mane here haha.
Nom Nom Nom!
So photogenic.
Theres a cute look!
"Is your food better than mine? Lets switch!"
Crisper napping on the straw bale.
Oh did I wake you?
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