Body clipping season is upon us!

There's one part of me that feels like it's a waste of money to pay someone to clip my horse for the winter.  Not only do I know how to do it, but I have the equipment and my horse is very well-mannered for clipping.  And then there's part of me that loathes the prep and subsequent DAYS of sharp little hairs stuck in my skin.  Both parts of me hate sweaty, dusty winter coats though.

Its also that awkward time of year where she's grown about half her winter coat in, but not enough where I can clip and not have to clip again in a month.  But enough that she harbors dirt and sweat during rides like nobody's business.  Last year I couldn't stand it and I clipped her in early October, but then she was a fuzzball by November.

It seems like the "perfect time" to clip Amber is mid-late November.  I've never had a clipping routine - I've done something different every year, and thus learned a lot about her coat growth.  Let's recap a few of Amber's clips:

Amber's first clip ever, circa 2013!  I was so over-prepared.  I even took time to wrap her tail.

Amber's first clip was done with a pair of adjustable Andis Tackmate clippers and a pair of Oster clippers with dull blades that I borrowed from my boss.  I wanted to do a trace clip, but I was also afraid to "take off too much" (HA!), and wasn't really sold on the traditional look, so I made up my own thing.  Not the worst in the books, I'll give myself that.  This was mid-late November, and the timing was perfect.  Didn't have to re-clip, but I also broke the biggest rule and clipped her without bathing.

In 2014 I didn't clip because Amber was really not in heavy work during the winter that year, and the barn I was at wasn't really blanketing up to my specs, so I let her be.

Amber's 2nd clip...looking a little more traditional this go around.  She is a little underweight in this picture...we had a go around with this barn's management about proper feeding for horses in heavy work.  This was about 2 months prior to us leaving this establishment.

Amber's 2015 clip was definitely more refined than my first "designer" attempt.  I did her in early November, and she was a fuzzball in a month, and I ended up clipping again in December, which ended being a mistake.  Reason being, in the spring I decided I couldn't wait for her to shed, so I body clipped the rest of her coat off...and there was a very defined line where the trace clip had been.  Fairly sure it was due to that late reclip.

Stripey legs!  But not on purpose.  Circa 2016.

I was fairly pleased with the full clip I did in the spring, so my thinking for the following fall was to just body clip her fully, do it early, so that she could grow back just enough coat that I wouldn't have to change blankets 100 times a day.  I did the deed in early-mid October...and she may as well have had her full winter coat by December.  Oh, and the legs were creative brainstorming on my part, in attempt to cover up a huge spot I accidentally clipped off when she twitched at a fly.

And then spring 2017...more leg designs.

I hate shedding season as much as I hate winter coat season...so for the second year in a row I body clipped instead of dealing with the shedding.  And just added some more pizzazz to those legs.

This year I'm really not sure what I want to do.  Definitely want to get some hair off her belly/chest/girth area. I also don't think I want to body clip her fully either, not just because I'm lazy...okay maybe it all leads back to me being lazy.  But, she fares just as well either way, any clip I give her should serve it's purpose fine.  The choice on which one is more a matter of convenience for me, I think...

The value of a horse - beauty in the eye of the beholder.

Last week was long and frustrating for me.  We had construction going on at work, which was frustrating to deal with.  Waited on a lunch and learn meeting Monday that ended up being a no show.  I found myself running a lot of small errands during the week, which is one of my least favorite things.  I like to go out and get things over with in one sitting, versus running back and forth all the time.  Squirt got spayed on Thursday.  The has upset the whole routine in the house, because Squirt takes literally forever to use the bathroom outside when the other girls aren't with her.  But they play too rough with her for me to trust them all out at once, even supervised.

Still looking a little high from the anesthesia.

As for the fancy unicorn - he was as saintly as he was the first time, but the only thing that M's mother was fixated on was superficial qualities.  She was extremely concerned about him being grade (TB cross) and having a personal brand from a previous owner.  The brand bothered her so much that she insisted it would have to be covered up and she compared it to a monogram.  I will give her that the story behind the brand was pretty stupid, but the only repercussions of him having that brand would be the fact that it was unsightly to her.  Under saddle he was impeccable, and she would not have suffered in the show ring whatsoever from it.

And then of course, his grade breeding.  To her, his asking price, the top of their extended budget, was too much for a horse that "isn't a purebred anything", to quote her.  I struggled to explain to her that the value of horses lies in temperament, training and experience, unless you are specifically buying to compete or breed for a breed association and need papers on the animal.  She has no horse experience, so to her, it was like someone was asking a grand for a mixed breed dog.  Fortunately, I think we are past that thinking now.  I explained that the breeds you see in our price range are usually TBs, QHs, Paints and Apps.  TBs, no matter how quiet and sound they are rumored to be, are out.  Not hating on TBs, but not a good first horse for a 12 year old who has the memory of a goldfish.  A lot of the stuff we will see in our price range that is an appropriate height is going to be your Appendixes.  A lot of those won't be registered, so technically they are grade.  Finally, I think I got through to them that papers don't mean squat for a kid who needs super safe and wants to compete at on the local schooling circuits.  At the end of the day though, this is not just a pet for M, but an investment for them, and I want them to be 100% happy with what they get.  If something silly like a brand is an issue, I don't want to push them to pay for something they don't like.

We regrouped and I got up with an old trainer friend of mine who said she had something for sale.  We are going to call this one the lazy unicorn.  I get there and lazy unicorn is awfully small for what I had expected, but the friend insisted we come try him.  The poor horse was covered with flies, and for whatever reason my friend didn't spray him before they went out, so he was just miserable the whole time.  She couldn't find his bridle, so he had a slow twist in.  I don't think he had ever worn or needed to wear a bit as harsh as that, and he was not happy about it, but he was a good boy.  The saddle was too small for M, and the leathers weren't long enough for her so she was hacking around like a jockey.  And she still looked fantastically cute on this horse.  He was the slowest, quietest thing I have ever seen.  I was absolutely blown away at how impossible it was for her to get him worked up.  He is on the verge of being too short, but his temperament and movement make up for that tenfold.

I, personally, am sold.  I'm almost happy we passed on the fancy unicorn, even if it was for a stupid reason.  I think the parents are pretty much sold as well.  The dad is killing me with trying to give low ball offers for these horses - it's actually a little embarrassing when the majority of these that we are serious about are already priced to move.  But I think the mom is willing to give more for the right one, and I really think this is it.  We are going back Tuesday to see him again, this time with appropriate tack.

The hurdle is going to be M.  She is still sour grapes over the fancy unicorn.  Her dad is not helping, because he was entertaining the idea of removing the brand - which I don't even think is a thing, but I've never got into brands very much.  Even suggested dying the hair monthly.  The false hope that they might change their mind is causing her to be really closed minded to new horses we are trying.  However, that door is closed as far as I am concerned.  He was a GREAT horse for a great price, and he would have done well with her.  But he was much more training and buttons than she would have ever used.  At the end of the day, I have already delivered the verdict to the owner, and I refuse to be the wishy-washy buyer that goes back and forth about things (especially after I had to embarrass myself by telling her why they were saying no!).  I said as much to them today when M was coping her attitude.  She isn't getting the fancy unicorn, regardless, so she can have another horse or she can have no horse - that's her options.  I bribed her with Starbucks tomorrow night so I can sit her down and have a heart-to-heart about this.  Hopefully we will have an attitude change.

Bending, bending, lifting, lifting.

Watching the monstrous hurricane Irma this week has definitely been a distraction.  Although it looks like the eye will miss us here in NC, the storm is massive and we will still feel it.  Amber has no idea what may or may not be headed our way though, and she has been working like a champ this week.  She's really soft and bendy, and I love it!  Being super light on the forehand is still a challenge, but her build works against her on that one and I think it will always be tough for her.

We took a lesson with my friend's trainer Thursday, and I felt like we really benefitted from getting a fresh pair of eyes on us.  We worked on the flat a lot, and she really helped me get Amber light on the front.  We worked over a big x, working on a light, straight approach.  She also made us trot it - really trot it, no cheating with a canter step before the fence.  I didn't realize it, but Amber does put a canter step in almost every time before a trot fence unless I half halt.  Just a lot of realizations from having a new person experiment with us!  Especially noticed how badly Amber anticipates what I'm going to ask her to do.  She thinks she knows when we are going to canter, when she is done, etc.  Looks like I'll be breaking up the routine from now on!

I also got some new bit guards for Amber.  The rubber guards never really did their job for us.  They actually seemed to cause pinching.  So I decided to try the neoprene/foam kind...what a difference!  Amber was soft and happy in her jumping bit for the first time in...well, ever!  And they are a thousand times easier to put on and take off.  Not to mention how much easier it is to bridle her without bit guards and then slip them on after the fact.

M went back to try her unicorn Monday.  She is in love with him, and he is such a good boy.  Much like Amber, he is safe but has enough personality to be a fun ride also.  Unfortunately, M's parents are not sold on him yet.  Their concerns are really very minor (he is grade and has a brand on his shoulder, namely), but they are not horse people and to them, those things probably do matter.  Kind of an uncomfortable situation for me.  I'm trying to gently explain that training, temperament and a good build always trump breed and cosmetic issues.  Unless, of course, you're looking to get into breed shows, which M is not.  They want to look at a few others first, especially since this unicorn is at the top of their budget, but unfortunately with the uncertainty about how Irma will affect us next week, we are going to have to give a "yes" or "no" on this unicorn before we will have a chance to try the others - I can't ask the owner to wait on us for weeks to try other horses.

I digress back to the hurricane though.  People kill me preparing the hurricane.  I already touched on the subject of people buying perishable food to prepare for the storm, but what about what people do with their pets?

I kept my dogs with me the entire time during Matthew.  At the time I only had Allie and Ava, but it would have made no difference if I had had 3.  Where we went, they went.  I understand that it can be hard for people to evacuate with pets, but of all things, why do people choose to board them locally when they leave?  Why not find boarding in the area they are evacuating to?

Squirt didn't get the full hurricane Matthew experience with us last year...

At the small animal clinic I work at, it happens every time we have a hurricane.  People call trying to board their animals.  I suspect some of those people don't want to deal with caring for their animals in the hurricane.  Maybe some really believe they will be "safer" with us.  That is far from true though.

A vet office or boarding facility is just a building.  Some larger operations may be hurricane rated, but chances are most are just structures no better off than regular homes.  And most smaller or average size places are not going to keep staff there 24/7, especially not during a natural disaster.  This means there is a good chance they won't be able to get to the animals during the worst of the storm.  The flash flooding here was so bad during Matthew, nobody could get to the clinic during the storm.  We all tried to get there - we risked our lives to do so, but the roads were rivers and it was physically impossible.  The animals were okay, thankfully, but they were trapped in their kennels for hours and it could have been much worse.

Bottom line?  If you are going to board your animals during a hurricane, take them to a facility that is in a "safe area".  You risk the lives of your animals and those taking care of them to board them in a threatened area.

HURR we go again - hurricane season! Hello, Irma...

I'm not panicking yet.  The majority of people on my FB are panicking thanks to all the speculative news stories being pedaled as fact.  But I'm definitely keeping more of an eye on it than I did with Matthew last year.  I didn't pay much attention to Matthew, because NC hadn't been blasted with a hurricane in so long, I figured it probably wouldn't amount to much.  Obviously, I was extremely mistaken.  Andy and I got trapped at his parents' trailer, and had to spend the duration of the storm being some of the only people remaining in the neighborhood.  We eventually make a run across the road to his grandma's somewhat sturdier double wide.  I watched in horror that night as my barn owners shared pictures of the barn 3ft deep in water.  In the neighborhood, the flood water kept creeping up closer and closer to us too, but by some miracle the trailers were on the highest point of land in the neighborhood and it didn't reach us.

I will be watching.  I'm not worried about it, because quite frankly there is nothing I can do about anything regarding a hurricane.  Other than sensibly prepare.  I think I'm going to stock the pantry tomorrow afternoon, because I have a feeling people are going to take this one a little more seriously (like myself) and do the bread and milk ritual early.  So that they can make their milk sandwiches.

I understand bread.  That's one of my "power might go out" staples, nowadays.  I remember the morning after Matthew, we worked up the courage to look outside.  To our amazement, the flash flood water had already receded.  It was freezing cold and still very windy, but the sun was coming up and the storm clouds were slowly disappearing off into the distance.  We carefully drove out into the world, and it was fairly apocalyptic.  Of course, as you would expect, nothing was open.  Unprepared, we had no food.  We had eaten the few granola bars the night before.  A little later in the day, a few places opened, and the lines were absurd.  Many places actually sold out of food and had to close within an hour or so.  We decided to see if we could rummage up anything at the grocery store...and ended up with PB&J sandwiches.

I'll definitely be stocking up on the PB&J supplies.  But as far as milk goes, I do not understand why people insist on buying it up before a storm.  If you are worried about power loss, why are you buying an item that requires refrigeration as your staple?  Powered milk would make quite a bit more sense.  I may grab some of that, actually.

Last year I left Amber in her stall.  She wasn't in there long; all the horses got relocated to the covered arena, the only dry place on the property.  Unfortunately, I had no way to contact them once phones started to die and the power went.  All I had to go on was the photo I saw on FB of the flooded front of the barn.  Until I made it to the barn the next day, I had no idea what was happening with my horse.  I think I'm going to ask the BO to just turn her out in there from the get-go this year, and possibly strip down her stall and secure buckets/nets/feedpans before it gets too crazy to be out in it.  I also plan on taking all my tack and equipment home, and possibly recruiting some of my barnmates to help me secure the jumps somehow in the arena.  They  literally floated away in Matthew.

If we do get hit by Irma, we are set up for a similar disaster.  With the remnants of Harvey being dumped upon us (last night was a monsoon!), and less than a week to dry out if we are hit, this water will once again have nowhere to go.  Looks like I better check the pump in my basement...

 

That's not a lake, folks!

Sometimes the best lessons are self-taught.

It's been a relatively quiet week so far.  I intend to do some productive riding in the morning, but otherwise, I have done 0 real riding this week.  I took Amber on a trail ride Sunday.  The bugs made her absolutely miserable!  Despite spraying her down with plenty of fly spray (which usually works fantastically at home), the bugs literally bit the blood out of her.  She was thoroughly over it by the time we got home.  Now I'm dealing with the aftermath, which quite frankly, I'm not sure what the aftermath is.  She has some little scabs coming up on her legs.  Looks like more like welts from the bug bites, not scratches, but I can't rule out scratches either.  We did walk through a pretty nasty, stagnant area of a pond, and she was wearing open fronts.  They don't hold water, they are neoprene lined, but I'm sure they were at least a little moist on her legs for a while.

Amber was not impressed with the pond.

So I had M help me scrub her legs down tonight and picked all the scabs off and applied some good ol' MTG.  I'm *pretty* sure it's just bug bites.

Speaking of M, she missed her lessons last week, so this week she was all out of sorts.  She really depends on frequent consistency in her riding to thrive.  Yesterday I threw a curve ball at her.  I want her prepared to ride like a big girl this weekend when we go back to try Unicorn, because I want her to jump some little 2' stuff so I can really see how they fare over "real" fences.  So I had her jump a little 18"-2' course with Amber.  That doesn't sound like much of a challenge, but she has not jumped in weeks, and she has not jumped more than a crossrail since early winter of last year!  Add to that the fact that Amber can be careless and a freight train to small fences.  If that's not mean enough for you, I gave her some alfalfa cubes pre-ride and had M ride in Amber's dressage/flatting bit. Lol...

M surprised and horrified me.  As far as navigating the course, keeping Amber light and rhythmic, she did great.  She was even able to adjust her stride to add/take out on the outside line.  Her approach to the first fence?  Like a foreign language.  It was either jackknife turns, or weaving randomly through the other jumps instead of simply riding to the outside.  The rest of the course, beautiful though.  Today I took it back a step, and had her canter a "course" without jumps, to force her to think only about her approach and how she rides between the jumps - and that went very well!  The other thing we are trying to master is graduating to real contact.  I've always had her ride on a loose rein, because Amber is so finicky with her mouth, and her hands just weren't mature enough for that.  Transitioning to taking up contact is really challenging her muscle memory.  I want to get her some rainbow reins, but for now I had her use my web reins so that she can use the bands to "mark" her place.  Problem is, she shortens the reins, but puts her hands farther and farther forward to avoid having contact with Amber.  I am stressing with her that her hands don't really "do" anything - they hold steady while the legs and seat push the body up into them.  The last thing I want her to do is get in the habit of fidgeting with her hands trying to get a headset, forgetting to apply her seat and leg.

Her distraction has also been seen in her tacking up.  Yesterday, she had the bit twisted in Amber's mouth when she came out.  Thankfully, I fixed it before she got on.  But today...today, she learned the hard way.  I'm at the point where I am going to have to start letting her learn some things in that manner.  She comes out to the arena, and I'm already out there fixing the jumps.  I look over, and as she goes to get on, the saddle slides down to Amber's belly, and she plops off to the ground.  Amber, being the saint she is, just stands there with this "seriously, kid?" face on.  I have warned Macy about checking her girth before mounting many, many times.  One time she actually came out of the barn with NO GIRTH!  So at a point, I decided the best way for her to remember to double and triple check her tack, is to let her have an oops moment.  And it was glorious!

It does make me nervous though, all things considered.  Even the most saintly horse is not guaranteed to put up with that crap.  Once she gets her own horse, she will be responsible for remembering these things that she is constantly forgetting.  Maybe not having me as a safety blanket will help her be more conscientious?  I can only hope so.  She will always have adult supervision, but that adult supervision will be her parents who are not horse people.  At least there will be someone if she gets hurt.

We have a unicorn amongst us!

While the sale is still pending a second ride and a vet check, I do think we have found our unicorn!  Due to the owner being out of town next week, we won't go back on Labor Day weekend (what a time, right?) to see him again.  If the parents approve though, we will move forward with the PPE!

This horse is SO cool.  Super cute mover that would do well in the dressage or hunter ring (M has expressed interest in dressage, but I think that is a ways off for her!).  He has loads of personality, and that's a huge factor in a horse in my opinion.  I feel like you can communicate and bond with horses better if they are inquisitive and social with their humans.  He seems to have a lot of "buttons", but this is actually a good thing for two reasons.  One, M is used to a lot of buttons, due to Amber.  It's more familiar to her than your run of the mill lesson horse who's sides are dead to the world thanks to beginners or uneducated riders flopping around for years.  Two, it will, I hope, help push her to be a better rider and pay more attention.  For a while I thought I was looking for a robot, but I have come to a lot of realizations during my hunt.  Getting a horse that is dead to the world, but knows it's job and does it for the rider, will not further her.  She will have fun and probably win more ribbons, but it will not help her down the road.  Strangely though, it has kind of dawned upon me that she really HAS made a lot of improvements as a rider since the last time I was horse hunting for her.  She is actually using her aids a lot more than she once did - she needs something that will understand those aids.

I can't lie, it's nice to feel like I've *almost* got this in the bag for her.  Still quite a bit to do, but finding the horse is really the biggest hurdle.

As for red pony, she is doing better and better.  This week I amped up her workouts a little more and she has handled it well.  The heat is miserable though, even in the late evenings.  Overall though, she seems happy to be back into work.  I think the DMG supplement is already starting to help her with muscle soreness.  I've also tried to take extra time warming up and cooling down.

Nothing tames this mane except when her neck cover smooshes it in the winter.

She could still stand to drop a few pounds.  I was hoping she wouldn't be quite so...volumptuous...after being back in work for a few weeks now.  My girth was getting worn out, so I ordered her a new one in the same size.  I suppose that my old girth stretched quite a bit over time, because the new one wouldn't even reach the billets.  Hopefully she will slim down a bit when fall comes and the grass isn't so plentiful.

The third time is *not* the charm.

Horse #3 did not go much better than horse #1 and #2.  Like #1, it was shorter than I was told.  I didn't stick 3, because I could look at it and say with certainty it wasn't even the minimum requirement for M.  And like in the case of #2, the tack we used was ill-fitting, and as with both 1 and 2, the feet needed to be done yesterday.

 But, she was super sweet, very tolerant.  Highly uncomfortable gaits though, and I was never even able to get her to pick up her right lead.  That was the real deal breaker for me, because M doesn't need anything that she will have to fight for the leads on.  Another horse I didn't even bother to jump because it was already a total no on the flat.  On the bright side, unlike 1 & 2, she did steer and move off my leg wonderfully.  I can honestly say that with some weight and muscle, she would probably make a cute eventer or dressage critter.

I'm not looking for a project though.  I think people are misunderstanding what I'm looking for, honestly.  Everything I have seen has a quiet, sweet personality, but they need miles.  They're all super kid-safe, but not even close to show ready, and M is not capable of training anything to be show ready even through her lessons.  Every single one I've seen so far has a lot of potential, but they really had no idea what I was asking of them, let alone how to do it on their own with minimal rider input.

There is a silver lining to this cloud though.  I have a prospective horse to check out next week, and this one has lots of show miles, and comes from a reputable owner that I've known for years.  I'm really hoping that M and 4 will click.  If not, I have a couple of others to try from another friend of mine.  At least these next few are all from people I know are credible and are aware of what I'm really looking for in a horse for M.

On the Amber front, she's doing great.  Getting back into shape was the toughest on her the first couple of weeks I think.  The hind end is definitely getting stronger now, but I ordered her some DMG to throw in her feed to help with the muscle discomfort I'm sure she's experiencing.  She is much, much happier in comparison to last week.  She was particularly unamused with our lunging session last Saturday - apparently, she forgot that lunging was a thing.  If I didn't know her so well, her facial expression would have had me worried that she was going to charge me and stomp me into the sand.  She has been a trooper though.  Getting back into shape sucks, plain and simple.  I am feeling it myself, actually, now that I'm riding more again.  Tomorrow morning, I'm going to do some light jumping.  Last Thursday was our first "real" jumps since March.  She zoomed around like we never took a break, but despite the energy she showed, her lack of fitness was still apparent.

Hopefully the progression will continue, for both unicorn hunting and Amber's fitness.