May Clinic- Connie- Day 2

The second day when I arrived to feed breakfast, Connie was head to toe covered in sand and had obviously enjoyed having a sleep and a roll. Luckily sand brushes off pretty easy. Now I guess I hould been expecting it because Connie would have been muscle sore (I sure was!), and pretty bored hanging out in the yard all night.

She started out well, but as the lesson progressed she started to fall behind the bridle and then decided she would rather be back with her new best friends. Everytime we came round the corner she started to bounce and toss her head and shhow some real attitude. She is generally a lovely good natured horse, but she has a touch of the diva. I started to get really frustrated because she was behind the leg and doing the circle work I was getting no where.



Then Grant said go large. Hurrah now I could get stuck into her abit and make her go forward. Though he taken my spurs off of me, and we had changed her from the french link to a leather snaffle to try to get her to take the contact rather than fall behind it. So my poor legs were working pretty hard I must say. We worked on going large down the side of the arena, flex to the outside and lengthen the stride, flex to the inside circle in the corner keeping her head straight in front and not letting her over flex and then along the next side and circle in the corner etc until she was in front of the leg and not bending her neck all over the show.

Somehow overnight it went from left circles being entirely off the outside leg and right circles from the inside leg, to half inside leg on the side of the circle away from the other horses and then outside leg on the half of the circle closest to the other horses. It was complicated 0_O. Still progress was made and then we jumped a small jump so Grant could see her jump and she was good, and Grant thinks she is ok which is more than I thought he would.



There was even more diva behaviour because I dropped Pips horses off and Connie was alone in the truck, which hadn't bothered her on the way up, but she was unimpressed this time round. She realised when she kicks the bins with her front foot it makes a loud nose, she banged on the bin for like 2 kms down the road. Once home though she was back to being her quiet almost catatonic self.

May Clinic- Connie

I have been very bad at posting but have been very busy. I will catch up. Also, everything is changing. Kim flies out for Ireland in 7 days. Cow has been sold, and Prue is away on trial, which will leave only my three horses. I said we should get a fourth for even numbers and Mum was not impressed.

I haven't had any training since December so I knew that going into this clinic it was going to be ugly with my lack of fitness, and the level of training my horse was at. It wasn't as bad as I feared however. The first day we mainly worked on walk and trot, and my issues with steering. She doesn't steer to the left. She looks out, and keeps her neck straight and she dosn't turn. I then try and pull her head around and she either over flexes her neck to the inside and falls out her shoulder or ignores me. So we did alot of work pushing her round to the left with my outside leg and keeping her head straight or slightly to the outside.



Once she got what we were asking for she got very soft and she felt excellent. She is really a cool little horse. The clinic was held at Little Avondale Stud in Masterton which breeds racehorses. Catriona Williams (nee McLoed) was possibly one of the nicest people at the top level of Showjumping, and eventing (had represented NZ in both of these areas). She was approachable and friendly, though I was always a little awestruck (Still am). Catriona broke her back in a fall while going cross country and is now confined to a wheelchair. She has done incredible things though, she runs a foundation called Catwalk which is getting money for research into spinal injuries. The arena we rode on was her arena she had put in for training her sport horses and I know she hadn't had it long before she was injured. It was quite sad to see the nameplates of her horses in the associated barn.



The new saddle was a bit different as well. It is an extra wide gullet and you can really tell, its hard on the thighs to sit like that I must say, and makes it hard (along with my lack of muscular strength) to sitting trot. Still the first day of the clinic went well, and then Connie was wrapped to spend her first over night stay. She was in a sand pen that was half under cover and half not that had a lovely big puddle in it that I found in the morning she had put to good use.

Also different was that because Grant is still recovering from his broken leg (He is still quite lame) he used a walkie talkie type setup so that he was talking directly into my ear. It was weird like he was sitting on my shoulder, and it actually took some getting used to, to listen to him, as well as do as your told, and feel what your horse is doing.

It's strange because I'm right handed, my right hand should make a better outside hand making it easier for me to balance my horses when they go round to the left, but it's not. I find it far easier with my left, so now I really need to work on developing my right hand. It's strange, it's been so long since I had a horse balanced properly in my right outside hand, I forgot how it was supposed to feel. However, once I had felt it at the clinic it got easier to get the feeling back again after that.

Clipping.

Well two of the ponies got their haircuts done today. Mikeal will shudder because they are certainly not show clips, and they are certainly not standard clips. Ah well, I take off as much hair as I think is appropriate. I normally do full clips because I'm terrible at lines, but I have decided it's not fair to take the hair off of their loins, especially because I spend a lot of time riding in wet, windy and cold weather.

Here are my victims:




I marked the lines with a chalk like stuff called raddle, which is normally used to mark sheep and cattle after drenching. Pink naturally because they are ladies.



Here is Connie, mostly done. I gave her an oral sedative because she has never been done before, and she was excellent, so I don't know that I needed to do it eh. Did Prue first so she was used to the noise and then I was away doing her. The worst part was the flies that meant the horse were kicking and shifting constantly.



And here they both are with their trendy cuts that look like they were done with toddlers with hedge trimmers lol!.





Obviously, the laws of clipping applied.

-Regardless of the direction of the wind, the hair will blow in your face, and down your shirt.

-Regardless of which direction you use the blade you wont accurately go against the hair of the grain and will leave lines.

-Your horse will only move when you are clipping the lines, or will move constantly.

-The blades will dull before you finish the horse, leading to a scrappy side.

-You will find hair in nose for the next three weeks.

Clinic Time

Wow three days and four nights and I'm back into clinics with Grant Cashmore. Man I'm nervous and I'm not. I'm nervous because I know Connie is green and he isn't a big fan of teaching green horses. The other thing is I haven't had a lesson since December last year, and I have been doing a lot of hacking and mucking around in this time, so my riding is much less tidy. I'm so much weaker, and my posture is terrible. Still, the clinic should help tidy that up. I plan to take Fred or both (hopefully) to the next clinic so that should be interesting.

I'm not nervous because I kow Grant wont be impressed by Connie, and knowing this means I can't be disappointed when he says he doesn't think much of her. She is half spanish horse, and she unfolds early over the fences with her front legs. She also doesn't have a great back end over a fence, all things that I don't think will impress Grant. Still whatever, she has a temperament that can't be beaten, she is naturally careful over a fence, and has plenty of jump so we will see. I don't care if we do all flatwork, because I really need help with her turning! lol.

Update

Things are progressing well. The lime is in the roundpen and I just need to put up the tapes and we are away and laughing. Rode Connie in her new saddle (The Bates) and it is excellent, she was much freer and consistent of pace in it. Jumped a few fences which I hven't done since Gladestone in February, and she jumped happily, she certainly seems to enjoy it. Didn't do much though because the ground was very slippery and the weather very average.

Tried the Stubben on Fred and its a no go. The bates fits him best, so trying to find another one of these but the 17.5 inch and will get it adjusted so its perfect for Fred. Then I will have two identical saddles but one slightly larger and perfectly fitted for each horse so I don't have to worry about saddle fit anymore :) .I have a nasty cold, which has gone straight to my sinuses, oh yay.

If you are interested in some good tips to do with riding and a neat story come novel check out Box of Stars. I wish that book had existed when I was younger!

Northwest- Short story

The wind is coming from the Northwest, which generally means warm and dry weather. But it’s not warm. Not according to Jim Hickey the weatherman, who has spent all summer predicting rain, as the pastures dried up and died, and the farmers cried out for drought aid. Jim Hickey is then perhaps not a man to be trusted, but in this instance, he is correct, it is cold. Three weeks ago, the sunny merriment of summer ended, and instantaneously, the bitterness of winter crept into the air, and autumn never existed at all. The weather is coming from the South, from Antarctica, sweeping up the western side of the country before circling back over us. So the wind comes from the northwest, but is full of Antarctic chill from the South.

I have jobs to do in the evening, some mobs of cattle to be shifted onto greener pastures. I am of course suited up in my raincoat tracksuit. A blue coat, and blue legs with a reflective strip that flashes as I walk, and a polar fleece beanie that proudly proclaims “We survived the Drought 2008”. The hood of the coat is drawn tightly around my face, leaving only my eyes and cheek exposed.

The first mob of cows, ‘the milkers’ are waiting for me as above them the sky threatens, the horizon softened and blurred by the rain. The milkers are anxious to be moved. I open the gates and they stream out of the paddock, their udders swinging pendulously, as they trot the 50m down the track to the next paddock. I walk alongside the first few of them, letting the rest shift themselves while I move on to the next mob.

The weather has turned, into sleet I find out on my return home. The wind has whipped up, and large rain drops stab my exposed cheeks. My hands which grip the rubber handles of the ATV are starting to freeze. I can see my knuckles whitening, as blood is pulled away from my extremities. The left hand aches infinitely worse than the right, as the metal plates that fuse my bones grow cold like bars of ice beneath my skin. Still the rain/sleet rakes my cheeks, pooling with the tears the cold has rent from my eyes.

The second mob of cattle, ‘the beefies’ aren’t waiting. I can see two of them on top of the hill, their ears swivelling in my direction as I call the shrill cry ‘Come on, come on, come on.” With the ‘on’ pitched higher and longer than the ‘come’, a call they know. But, they are unmoved by this, and don’t move, black statues against the leaden sky. “Shit”. I drive the bike into the paddock, and I can see them. They have heard me after all. They swarm up the side of the hill, calling their eagerness to be shifted, grateful for a change in pasture.

The rain gets heavier, drilling against my coat, but failing to breach my synthetic perimeter. My breathing roars inside my hood, and I can hear the rain pinging off of my protective coat. The cattle pour past, a flow of coloured beasts. They barely clear the gate before they drop their heads to tear at the grass. Even Ted, who loves a scratch and to suck your fingers, doesn’t look at me, so intense is his hunger. I close the gate and turn once again into the face of the bitter weather, flinching at the sting of the rain, as it pelts my hands and face. The ATV rumbles smoothly beneath me, lighter and more responsive than any horse, but lacking the sweet tattoo of hoofbeats on the ground. I race back to the milkers.

They hear me before they see me, moving back towards the gate. “We are not happy” they say “This is not good enough, we wanted panoramic views of the sea, underfloor heating in the bathroom, and a king size bed with the duvet turned down and a minty treat on the pillow” I frantically chase the stragglers through the gate, knowing that if the rest come through the gate I’m done for. Convincing 200 cows to turn around is much like trying to convince a small child that vegetables are better than chocolate, as you grimly chew your brussell sprouts. I shut the gate on them. “I’m sorry” I say, “but this is neither a hotel nor a democracy”

As I race for home the clouds part briefly, mocking me with the fading light of the day. The warmthless rays touch the emerald grass around me. The grass waves joyously in the rain, basking in a ground temperature warmer than the temperature of the air, and the moisture it has desired all summer long. It’s a beautiful day in paradise, unfortunately, I don’t live in paradise.

Saddles= Sagas

Ok so I have been planning to buy a saddle for Connie because she has been using Freds one and it really doesn't fit at all. It sits on an angle and she has muscle wastage under the back panels. The problem is that she has broad as withers. She has been very good about being ridden in a saddle that doesn't fit but I must say I'm excited to see if there is a change in one that fits her.

I wanted to buy one really top end saddle, a beautiful Stubben, Pessoa, Prestige or NSC. Would you believe that during all of this I have found people to be unbelieveably unhelpful, bar the agent for Stubben who was the only person to say how can I help you. NSC was a nightmare, do you think they would return any calls. It's like Hi guys I want to spend $4000 on one of your saddles, and I get nothing in return.I don't understand, with that sort of money you would think peple would be more helpful.

Anyway it is a moot point now anyway because apparently Fred needs a new saddle as well, he needs one that is woolflocked and a touch wider to accomodate his massive shoulder. The fit he is in is not too bad though, he could stay like that but I have one secondhand stubben to trial and if it doesn't fit, he can stay in the saddle he is in.

So because I need 2 saddles now I have been looking at secondhand ones. I have a really nice five year old Stubben Artus jumping saddle to try on Fred. With Connie I decided she is going to change so much in the coming years anyway, I will get the Bates with the wool flock in the panels. Apparently, wool flock has been discontinued in the saddle I wanted (caprilli close contact flatseat) (I hate the CAIR system which is the other option, heard alot of very bad things about them). Bollocks. Also the people at the saddlery were downright unhelpful and borderline rude. Again going to spend thousands of dollars you could be a bit more helpful.

Anyway I found the bates I wanted though only 17inch, when 17.5 would have been perfect, but it is the saddle I wanted with wool flock panels, secondhand and $500 cheaper. Awesome, so I bought it. And I will change the gullet size to the extrawide that my mutton withers requires and the new gullet is only $45. That is some saving. It gets even better, my Mum brought this saddle as a graduation present woot!

So now I'm waiting for that saddle to arrive. Then I need to trial the Stubben on Fred and we will see where we go from there. My only issue is that if I buy the Stubben I will have $23 to my name until payday. Still if it can make Fred happier and more willing I am all for it.

The plan with Fred has changed somewhat. With the bollocks weather that we have had, I'm focusing on Connie until the clinic (which may not be on! Woe!!) Then when the lime is in the round pen and the footing not so slippery andd not so dangerous for a bucking horse, I'm going to sort out this not going forward issue. I'm going to use my whip and make him see that listening to me is best eh. I'm sick of being run roughshod over by a horse. Tough but Fair.

ETA Life is weird. NSC just got back to me, but its too late dammit, and the option would't have worked anyway, what with needed to fit all horses. At least I'll end up with saddles for every horse because the Pessoa I ride Fred in is a lovely fit for Bill.