The Ramblings of an Artistic Equestrian

I might just start doing my horse's feet again.



Jasper and Zeke went eight weeks between trims. Technically Zeke had a touch-up trim abojt four or five weeks, but Jasper hadn't been touched for eight weeks because I kept waiting on FarrierChris to stick with a day/time and show up.

He charges $65 for the small horses, $75 or $80 for the big ones and more if they're being jerks. Last time he charged $120 for Jasper's wiggling. I still had to hold him, too. So I'm spending money, but also losing time having to hold horses. My current rate for private lessons is $65. If I have a group lesson with two people in it I make $70 and I will do up to four in a group. Basically a roundabout way of saying if I have to hold a horse I'm out over $120, and if I have to hold a horse who wiggles it pushes $180+ because I'm not working for that hour plus and I'm paying someone else to do it.

I managed Jasper's front feet in a little under an hour. He wiggles and moves, but he isn't really bad. It would take me 30 minutes if he STOOD STILL, I'm sure, but whatever. I don't have to have someone hold him and I do it by myself. I'll do his back feet another day and I'll still be ahead if it takes me an hour to do those, which it shouldn't.

I could save $500 or more a month doing it myself. Small horses take me about 30-45 minutes, the big ones an hour and a halfish, depending on how well they stand. The three small horses would be about a two hour commitment. The four drafts about six to eight. Less than 10 hours in a month. If I didn't have to hold the big ones for ChrisFarrier I would be ahead having him do it, but I have been holding them so I'm losing that time anyway. Might as well just go full bore, right?

We'll see.

Bullet points becasue if I don't write anything I'll get overwhelmed with being behind.

*We hooked Draego for the first time Monday. We warmed him up long lining before hooking to the sled and doing a couple laps. Then we hooked him up to the forecart. He was wiggly as all get out when we were hooking up, which was quite obnoxious and a little nerve-wracking, but he was fine and he drove better than he stood!

*Yesterday Chris pulled Zeke out and long lined him by himself while I went off to work with another client. Made me happy, super proud that he got motivation to work one of his own horses.

*Friday I had lunch with Muss. We went to Thai Chili To-Go, which is a "quick food" Thai food place. Not bad. My favorite is Thai Food Corner, which used to be D's Thai Food. The best. We hung out for almost two hours and had a grand time, talking about everything from writing and projects to family and current happenings. It's been two years since we hung out like that and it felt awesome. We're going to try and do it somewhat monthly.

*I'm working on setting my winter schedule. It's obnoxious and I'm trying to figure out where to put everyone, especially since I still have interest from new clients. I have some new ones starting up next week.

*Paris the Fjord is back in for some training. Hana wants to see if she will drive again so here we go! We're doing some bartering, trading her Ahonen cart for almost half the value of the training. It'll give me something that is actually Kitt-sized and a littler lower to the ground and easier to get in and out of.

*FFK is 191 pages, once I hit 200 I'll throw it at Muss and Hana again. DotF is 85 pages now, which is surprising and exciting. HotF is only like 20, but it could stand a decent outlining to really get it filled out. Sparks might even have more pages than HotF. I'm still feeling super productive writing-wise.

*Got my template finished for maping markings on Klamon half forms and Klamon hybrids. I've started on Sray's.

*There's tons of other things going on, Carlyn made me a condolense cheese cake. It was delicous and I think I have gained five pounds eating it. Lisa gave me a book about mourning the loss of a horse and a horseshoe with Kash's name on it. Brittany dropped off a sweet card and a big bag of horse treats. Thursday was the last really bad day, but I'm sure there will be others.

One set of dreams leads to another, pretty typical of me.

Last night is fuzzy now because I didn't write it first thing, but there was something about a Crown Victoria. Bah, there was some interesting bits, but it's too far gone now, bugger.

All the horses had something done with them today, if I can do that twice a week every week I'd be pretty happy!



Talon wore her shiny, Bavarian Bling today and we wandered around the house a bit.



( More pictures and horses and such )

mini_wrimo is coming up! I'm debating on my daily word count for the month. I might try to push for 400. I managed to meet my 300 count goal last year (at least average) so maybe I can move it up this time. Fire Forged Key is up to 125 pages now, my "filler document" that has plot outlines and bits and pieces that don't really belong in any particular book yet for the Forged by Fire trilogy is closing in on 40 pages. Depths of the Forge (book two) has ticked over 60 pages itself. Hard to believe Fire Forged key was only that long a year and a half ago!

More confirmation that I just need to leave FaceBook alone.

The group for beginning carriage driving I have been a part of for a few years now apparently added a rule against bitless driving because it is "not safe."

They deleted my comment on a post asking about a harness maker.

I screenshot the notification.



I am rolling my eyes so hard. I thought about sending the moderator a message who deleted the comment and then I'm like. Is it really worth my time to argue about a stupid rule change on a Facebook group that just alienates people?

You know what annoys me the most? This is a YEARLING, he is tied to a fence and he isn't even pulling anything and my whole comment was endorsing the harness maker (who is all types of fabulous). No mention about the headgear.

Someone did ask about the bridle and I commented back about that so maybe that drew the ire of the moderator, but I was careful to note I use it (primarily) on young horses wih growing mouths to introduce the rein aids, what is unsafe about that? These are things I would have brought up in a message, but you know ...

Whatever.



So I reposted my comment and edited the picture so it was "appropriate." There I go being passive-aggressive. I don't do it often, but it's in there. I have better things to do with my time, but I did want to be sure my endorsement for this company remained because Parry Harness and Tack IS awesome.

In other news I cantered Ludo the Friesian today. He leans a bit to the inside and was confused for a second (you want me to what?) but we got it and there was much grinning. His owner was pretty pleased with how he looked and thought I rode it well. My thighs have been telling me about it, though that could also be all the trotting we did too. I think his canter will be easier to sit than his walk and I'm trying to decide how many horses I have ridden with bigger canters.

Remmy is probably going to stay another month. His harness is on order and I'm about ready to introduce the cart.

I need new halfchaps and I have shorr "athletic" calves which means they are as tall as they are wide. Dover seems to be out of everything that could be my size at a reasonable price. I also need new gloves and have a $50 gift card.

This week I have 32 lessons/trainings scheduled. Last week I hit 26 including cancellations. I did finally catch up on my bookkeeping, which I really need to do weekly instead of once a month.



Here is DaVinci the six year-old Saddlebred gelding.



Saturday I long lined Zeke since I had some cancellations. I can now long line him around the house.



Friday I used the quad to haul stuff from the tack room to the horse trailer. Chris says we need a little trailer, we probably do.



I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I got boots for Talon, brand new person bought the wrong size and they fit! So far so good I've ridden her a couple times in them now. I think this means I can take her with me to ride with Kristeb and Thor now since she will have some protection from the road, woot! They should fit Jasper too.



The view from Skeeter Thursday before I spent an hour and a half on the freeway and still didn't make it to Scottsdale. At least the day started out well!

After working Oakley Kathryn gave me a giant pile of breeches to go through and I also picked up some hay nets she had. Oakley is doing pretty fantastic despite having one ride in the last year. I just need to remember that he is NOT fit yet despite his willingness. As it was we mostly walked.

Cheyenne is moving right along and may end up in the cart before her herdmate Dolly finishes healing from her latest injury (lacerated her pastern two months ago and then tore a hole in her shoulder a couple weeks ago).

Saturday I had rode both Jasper and Tru-D during lessons. Jasper was first. Our sheep neighbor was lungeing her gelding Wall-E since he had a couple weeks off. Jasper was very fascinated with what was going on and alternated between wanting to trot off towards them and standing and gawking. I lunged him briefly as the student warmed up and then climbed on. He was distracted, but not bad until it was too much. He jumped forward into a canter, did a little head toss and then was trotting. I responded by insisting he KEEP trotting and we cruised around for several minutes as the student worked on trotting and steering herself. He finally started asking about slowing down maybe? and we trotted a little bit more before calling it good.

Once that was out of his system he did really well. He is coming along nicely for a three year-old. It did get my adrenaline going a bit and my right leg was a little shaky when I adjusted my foot at one point. I worked through it and we survived. I still really trust him. He does tell you when something is starting to get overwhelming.

He also has a pretty nice trot even if he is a bit of a giant doofus and not the most gracefully athletic creature. The little bit of canter I felt was pretty good too!

My third lesson canceled so I gave everyone their good stuff and got Tru-D ready a smidge early before the last one at 10am.

I took her into the roundpen to start. I was determined we were going to work on the canter. I haven't cantered her since the middle of last year. It was possibly a year ago, actually. Winter was just busy and riding during lessons she wasn't feeling good enough to ask for it with a student around and my own nerves were at play too.

Her five yar-old year she had some recalcitrance that we had to work through, which mostly ended when she did that flying leap and I hopped off of her mid-shenanigans and then got back on. She's been doing really good the last few months though.

Anyway, we were in the roundpen and I had the dressage whip so I didn't have to disrupt my leg position to insist on the "go." She actually really surprised me. She eye-balled the jumps a bit, but other than that she came off my seat for the canter pretty much every time after her first "you want me to WHAT?!" She did lean towards the inside a bit on occasion, but did start to sit up a bit.

She does have a nice canter. It isn't super springy yet, but I think it is a good base that covers ground and is smooth and easy to sit. Aubrey was a bit late so Tru-D got a good amount of work in and was able to mostly chill as I worked with Aubrey and her mare Dot. Aubrey is a decent rider and she may put some rides on Tru-D for me in exchange for lessons. I just don't have time right now to put even three rides a week on Tru-D and she needs more than just a weekly ride from me. She isn't doing bad but I would like her to move forward a bit faster than I can manage to do with my limited time.

Monday after I finished with Moonie and Jolene went home we hooked up to the trailer and loaded Talon up. We took her down to Horseshoe Park and had the public arena all to ourselves. She was looky and aware, but quietly so.

After tacking up we took a walk around the arena in each direction before I climbed on. She wasn't fond of the trail course area and was a little suspiscious of the little substation thing that occasionally kicks on its A/C and makes a good amount of noise.

Once her head dropped a little we picked up a trot and cruised. She was occasionally backed of, especially towards the scary parts and then a couple of times she was a little strong, but stayed containable. Were I a little braver I might have suggested a canter, but not quite in a bit, open arena that she's never been in before!



It is a gorgeous arena with lovely footing. It also makes her look like a regular-sized horse. Ha!



Sunday we pulled out Zeke and we long-lined him a bit. He got to wear the new training breastcollar. I need to find some more hame straps and secure it better. It looks so cockeyed here. He did good walk and trot and he had a little attitude here and there, but not bad and well, he's a yearling and I think this was the second or third time long lining him.

I was quite proud of myself all four young horses got worked over the course of three days. Success!

I am oing to enjoy this week minus a training horse. The one who was next in line needs to hold off for a month or so as she just bought a house. I'll contact the next in line the end of the week and see if she's ready to go or needs to wait longer and then I need to check with the NEXT one in line. Holy cow! We'll see if they pan out or not.

Today I had Dolly and we were just going to do a loop around the neighborhood with the tire. She did alright for the first portion, but as we got closer to home she was jiggy and did not want to stand and I even dropped her bit to the curb setting instead of the snaffle to get her to back off my hands. There were so many circles and we passed her house a few dozen times until she felt somewhat reasonable so we swung in. Then she was jigging in the arena (the arena has a gate off property) and I finally was feeling done because sand is a pain in the butt to walk it. If she had the energy to be a goober hauling the tire she could haul my butt. I sat on the tire until she walked nicely, got off the tire, gave her the chance to walk nicely, got on the tire again, rinse and repeat. She was being so heavy my right ring finger went a bit numb. It's about back to normal now. I ended up working her over an hour and a half. I'm hoping she is a bit more humble for her second hook in the cart tomorrow.

I admit I hadn't believed Christy when she said Dolly could be a bit of a pill sometimes as I had never run into such a persistent streak of resistance with her in the year or so that I have been working with her off and on and the last six months of consistent work. No idea what was going on with her. She even did pretty good passing the herd of horses and ponies (about 8 from 10 hands to 16) that were galloping back and forth and snorting and calling to her.

I have a former client who does videography and might have some old equipment they are looking to move on. I finally finished editing the first video last week and sent it off. I need to shoot another one and need to try and get that done this week.

I also picked up another Scottsdale/Phoenix client. She was thinking of full training, but we'll try weekly sessions to start and go from there. Full training is typically faster and cheaper, but if she can put in the inbetween work it might work out in her favor. He is completely green and just lunges. I'll have my work cut out for me getting him driving. He's also still intact. I have another young mini stud I just started working with last week too.

Anyway, things to do!

Last night I dreamed of a dark god who retreated to the depths of the ocean to protect his monster daughter. He had the form of a dark, wraith-like shark with a hammer head whose form shifted slightly and was never quite solid as he moved. His minions or subjects were similar wraith-sharks.

Except his daughter wasn't quite a monster, or she also shifted and changed as the years went on. She was light and fair and had some features like a unicorn.



There was more to it, perhaps a prince professing his love and the daughter changing to live on land instead, but it is getting foggy now with just whisps and suggestions.

Last night we had a freeze. The water buckets are coated in slush. Perfect timing as Zeke was gelded Saturday and this should take out the few flies that were still hanging around. He and Jasper have been in the small turnout together and somehow managed to push the buffer gate shut and lock themselves into the small area between the arena and the larger area of the small turnout. Knuckleheads. I secured the swinging panel this morning, which should prevent a repeat.