High Tech Horse

In pursuit of happiness

2012-01-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like I am not the only one having a rough week in the horse department. I feel almost a bit trivial writing this, because my ponies are both sound and happy. So for those of you experiencing some setbacks, you have my thoughts and prayers!

Fair warning - this is a bit of a rant..

Work has been killing me. I basically haven't been able to sleep the past 3 nights due to my brain being over-loaded with deadlines and stress. Working two jobs gets exhausting, although I continually try to remind myself I am lucky to be able to hold two jobs when many people can't find one. But all that culminated in a need to escape to the barn yesterday afternoon so that I could enjoy the 60 degree weather (yep, its pretty nice) and ride both horses before dark.

Of course, everyone apparently had the same idea. I can't blame them for wanting to soak up the weather and busy days are just part of life as a boarder. The flurry of activity at the barn put an immediate damper on my mood, as I really just needed an "escape". My horses are my "me" time, so it is very hard to have to share it with other people on the days that I really need to get away.

I went to tack up Reno and brought him into the ring with another boarder and the barn owner's daughter who were both riding. The other boarder finished up as I was coming in, so there was plenty of room for Reno and the b.o.'s daughter. Our ring currently is a giant pile of mud around the outside, leaving very little room in the center that is dry to actually get a decent workout. To make a long story short, I basically gave up trying to ride after about 15 minutes because the b.o.'s daughter proceeded to take up the entire dry part of the arena going back and forth over a cross-rail for the better part of an hour. I won't get into the lack of consideration for her pony, the western saddle or her lack of instruction over fences... She is a child, so I can't really expect her to be but so conscious of ring etiquette, etc. But the b.o. watched all this happen and failed to comment.

The b.o. is a genuinely sweet person and I don't think it even occurred to her that I was upset about not being able to share the ring. This is not the first instance that something like this has happened and it gets very frustrating. On top of that, our barn is turning into a very kid-oriented place. I am absolutely not anti-children, and I grew up in a barn with kids my age and it was a great experience. But I am not at that stage in my life currently and I am trying to bring along a young horse that needs to be able to concentrate without people running around all the time while we are riding. I really see the barn as my one place to go and relax and get my mind off everything, and I just can't seem to do that lately.

I really like the boarders at my barn (LOVE the barn manager) and my horses are safe, so I have that to be thankful for. But everything else is pretty average. The quality of hay/feed is average, pastures are average, riding facilities are average. I just am having a hard time justifying working two jobs to pay for something that I am currently not enjoying. It's hard to think about moving with two horses to consider, especially when Vez did not transition so well at first to a new barn. I still feel like he isn't loving the pasture situation (an 8 horse herd), but he is not unhappy. He isn't a fan of the new horses, and I hope they don't cause problems. We have a cute new yearling baby, which is turning out to be not so cute. I have been knocked down/run into the fence twice now by her, as she has no real regard for human life. Not her fault, she clearly needs to be handled more. But I digress... These are just all of the little things that have been culminating to make my boarding situation a bit stressful for me. I feel a bit guilty for being unhappy because it is not a bad situation, I think it is just potentially not the right fit for me. Definitely something to give some more thought to...

On a happy note, both boys enjoyed their grooming sessions yesterday.

and reno trying to escape...

mud, mud and more mud

2012-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

Not much to report these days. After days of rain, my horses resemble swamp creatures and are covered in mud. I may need an actual ark to navigate the arena, so riding is pretty much out until we get some sun to dry it out (fingers crossed that happens today!). I am itching to get back in the saddle, although the next few weeks will be the hardest to find an appropriate time to ride. It is staying light a little bit later now, but not long enough to get in an actual ride after work quite yet. My 5am rides have been pretty much cut out, as it now doesn't get light until close to 7 here. We have been seriously talking about chipping in together (2 other boarders and myself) and installing some lights, but so far nothing concrete has been determined. All I can do for now is settle in and just wait, something I am admittedly not great at. At least with the mud I am guaranteed to have some serious grooming work (silver lining, silver lining).

Reno seems a bit stir-crazy these days (although he is out 24/7...). I had decreased his dose of ulcer supplements since he was doing so well in his new home. Friday night I went to groom him and he seemed a bit testy about his sides, throwing his ears back and swinging his head around to let me know he wasn't a fan. Awesome. Re-upped his supplements to their normal levels and will see how that goes. I just can't figure out why he is so prone to them. He gets basically no grain, is out 24/7 and is a very happy horse in his pasture. I have debated getting him scoped and/or giving him a round of ulcer-guard, but both options are fairly expensive. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Poor Vez hasn't been ridden in two weeks now. I hold on to the thought that I will be super-rider when the weather/daylight makes it possible and will have them both on a regular exercise schedule. Until then, they will at least be well-groomed pasture ornaments :)

A little perspective

2012-01-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

Like everyone else, the winter is a bit detrimental to my riding time. I am currently lucky to get in 2-3 rides per week and have more or less just been using that time to get Reno through his paces and work out some excess energy. Although I don't have to deal with snow (THANK GOD!), winter is pretty wet around these parts, making for a pretty sloppy arena. I snuck out of work a little early on Wednesday and managed to make it to the barn in time to sneak in a quick ride.

Instead of the usual trotting circles and serpentines, I decided to actually WORK on something instead of just ride. Do you ever feel like that? I find that especially in the winter I am content just to be a passenger, not an active rider working towards a goal. When there are no major milestones (ie lessons, shows, etc) on the horizon, I just sort of hop on and go through my gaits. While I think sometimes its good to take a mental break and have those days, I must remember that I am still working with a very young horse who needs to be constantly engaged. Sometimes that is hard to do after a long workday, but regardless I need to be more cognizant of making sure to keep my rides productive and keep Reno interested in what is going on.

I have been having some trouble getting Reno to really bend to the right and engage his hind-end, so if I figured this would be a good place to start on Wednesday. I followed a lot of the WEF happenings through a Facebook acquaintance who had the good fortune to be in attendance. One quote that really stuck with me was "keep your body square". Simple, but so true. I am a repeat offender of looking down while I ride (mostly to triple-check Reno's head is set, bad eva), which could be part of the issue we are having. I spent a lot of time at the walk, working on riding through a square frame at a free walk and then with collection. We worked on counter-bending and added in some circles, circling in and out and moving through my leg. Reno was very soft in the mouth, stretching down into his frame and working his hind-end. I added a few minutes of trotting into the end of our ride and felt quite a difference! He was much more responsive to my left leg (he usually leans into it) and we had some nice walk/trot transitions. I am constantly working to slow him down and make him really place his feet when we work at the trot, so it was a treat to get a few nice strides out of this ride. Even though we only worked for about 35 minutes at the walk and trot, Reno was a bit damp when I got off. Guess all that thinking gave him a workout!

As a reward I let him spend a few minutes snatching up as many pieces of clover as he could fit in his mouth (Reno LOVES his clover). My little guy is growing up so much. We have gone from this sweet guy:

To this monster:

:)

Llamas and Chickens and Mini Ponies.. oh my!

2012-01-17T08:36:00.001-08:00

In an effort to make a more well-rounded horse, I finally found the time (and the guts) to take Reno out on his very first trail ride. I was optimistically apprehensive, as Reno spooks at the invisible monsters that lurk in the shadows of the ring on a good day. Thankfully Rach was a good sport and offered to accompany us aboard Vez so that he could be the "lead pony". Since nothing phases Vez I figured that it would be good for Reno to have a familiar horse with him on his first time out.

As it turns out, all my worry was for nothing. Reno charged ahead and insisted on being the lead pony the entire way. I rode him with a nice loose, relaxed rein and although he was alert, there was no spooking or sidestepping. We navigated through dirt roads with barking dogs, a pond, a wooden bridge and Reno took it all in stride. Our next venture lead us to Old Towne, which is basically a mock-western town that someone has built out in the middle of the country for no real reason. Have money, will build? Still, it makes for a fun place to ride through. If there was ever a place to expose your horse to a variety of sights/sounds, this is it. We came upon a jumping llama (hilarious...), an adorable mini-pony, chickens, draft horses, dogs and the list goes on. Reno seemed a bit freaked, but was overall really good about walking through it. Old Towne is a lot for ME to take in, so I was immensly proud of him for keeping his head. Maybe we actually have a shot at cross-country after all....

Two really great things to take away from that experience: 1. Getting Reno out of the ring makes him (and me) happy and more productive. 2. Reno must be getting bored with some of our workouts when he starts spooking in the ring. I need to find new exercises to keep his mind engaged so that he doesn't get bored and we continue to be productive.

It was also a great test to see how the ponies would hold up barefoot on more varied terrain. We have some rocky places, and they seemed to be fine! No soreness afterwards and Reno especially seem unaffected. Vez has been living in sand most of his life and has just started barefoot trimming, so I was happy to see that his feet were fine after our outing. He still seems a bit tender on the rocky gravel, but they seem to be getting stronger everyday. I have thought about getting EasyBoots made for them so that we can do more trails. Does anyone have experience with these? I have never used them and would love to know what your experiences have been!

In non-horsey news, I spent the weekend in NYC with my mom and two sisters.

It was great to get away and see the city again, although it was FREEZING. I don't know how you people up north do it! Went to lots of museums and finally saw Wicked, which was all I hoped it would be. Debated getting tickets to see War Horse on Broadway, but decided to wait and see the movie instead. I finally finished the book, so I will be intersted to see how it compares.

New year, new city, new job, new(ish) pony

2012-01-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

No, it isn't a glitch on your Google Reader... I am FINALLY picking the blog back up again. I hope you will follow me in the adventures of training, re-training and managing the 2 (yep, 2!) ponies as we embark on a new year!

To catch you up on where we are in 60 seconds or less.... I finished graduate school in May (whoo!) and took 3 well-deserved months off to move back in with my parents at the beach and look (well, pretend to look) for a job and soak up some sunshine. I moved to Greensboro, NC at the end of August to take a position in the Marketing department of a local college. In addition to doing that full-time, I am also teaching 2 night classes a week at a community college. I love my jobs and although I am crazy busy, I couldn't be happier! An added bonus is that I now live thirty minutes away from the bff (Dapple of my Eye), so we can finally see each other and our furr-children on a regular basis and maybe eventually end up at the same barn.

In this process I acquired a new(ish) pony (thus having to have a second job!). For those of you who followed my blog a few years (has it really been that long?!) back, you probably have heard me mention Vez, my first horse.

My parents have been generously footing his bill and ensuring that he enjoys retirement for the past few years, but I made the decision to move him to Greensboro with Reno in October. Vez is a half Morgan, half QH and 100% swamp pony... literally, he came from an island in the marsh. He made one hell of a great 4H horse, jumper, trail pony, etc. and after years of dumping me at every available opportunity he is now a bomb-proof ride. He is only 23, but bowed a tendon four years ago and has been in semi-retirement ever since. He got me through my teenage years (a feat in and of itself), and I promised to always provide a home for him. So now that I have a big-girl job it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have both my boys with me in a new place! Plus, I thought it would be nice to have a companion for Reno, as we seem to do a lot of moving around. Being young, I will probably continue to move for jobs/opportunities and I don't want Reno to have to get used to a new barn by himself every time this happens.

Reno and Vez must have spent some serious time bonding in the trailer, because by the time I unloaded them at the new barn they were attached at the hip. Vez doesn't really bond with other horses, so it cracks me up that they love each other so much. I can't imagine separating them now and it makes my heart very happy to know that they get along so well and will be able to keep each other company on our new adventures. A downside is I found that two horses equals twice the time/worry, which was a huge adjustment at first. Now that they have been there for a few months and are settled in, things are going smoothly and I can relax just a bit.

Reno has continued to grow and improve under saddle. The winter is killing my riding time (no indoor, no lights), but I have managed to get up a few morning a week at 5am and ride before work. Once daylight losing time officially ends in 2 months I should be able to ride more regularly and maybe, just maybe, get somewhere in our training. I am content to let things progress at a slow pace, as we have nothing but time in the coming years. Rachel and I were laughing looking back at our resolutions from a year ago.. according to the plan we should be showing by now and sailing over fences with ease. Resolution fail! The constraints of weather, real life and time have definitely curbed some of my plans for where I hoped Reno and I would be by now. I think this year my goal is just to continue to learn to simply enjoy my horse and focus on creating a bond with him and making him a more well-rounded horse. I also want to get Vez back into shape and start taking him on some trail adventures (gboro is close to MANY awesome places to ride). Which means I will also have to conquer my fear of driving the trailer... Gulp. All in good time I guess :)

Stay tuned for my next post about Reno's first trail riding experience!

Dear weather, I live in the South... or so I thought

2010-12-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

It is FREEEZING here. Like as in the teens freezing! And we had snow over the weekend.. in December. Not heard of in these parts. But the weekend is looking like it might warm up and hopefully the ground will thaw out so that riding becomes a possibility again.

I am now in finals and will soon be done with the semester (yayy!!!). I more semester and then adios Master's degree! So I may actually regain my life between now and the middle of January and hopefully get some good blogs up on here!

An update in Reno's latest adventures since you have last heard from him:

I decided to board Reno at the more expensive, farther away barn that offered full care and pasture board. Best decision of my life. Absolutely LOVE it there and the owners are awesome. Reno gets great care and I never have to worry about him or his safety, which is a huge relief! Reno was an absolute rockstar on his move from BM's farm to Iron Horse (his new home). Loaded first try (!) and rode well the whole way down. I went to get him off the trailer and he looked around for a second, then immediately went to eating grass. What? No snorting? No calling for your old pals? No... NOTHING? Nope. He just wanted to eat. Said goodbye to BM and her husband, which was a sad moment since she has done so much for Reno and myself over the past 4 months. I put Reno out in his new pasture and sat down to watch him to see how he would take in his new surroundings. Totally unimpressive lol. Not even so much as a jog around the pasture. He sniffed a few things, then went straight to munching and didn't give me a second glance after.

The last few weeks Reno has been adjusting well to his pasture mates and his new home. I haven't so much as seen a scratch on him (knock on wood) since he arrived and he doesn't get bossed around too much by the others. The barn is a new BarnMaster barn with 2 hot/cold washstalls, awesome lockers, and Reno gets his own stall. They will bring him in for me (free of charge) if the weather is bad even though he is a pasture boarder. Can't ask for much more than that! Here are a few pictures of the barn:

I am LOVING the lighted arena. It makes life so much easier when you aren't trying to combat daylight hours for a chance to ride. I also really enjoy the barn atmosphere out here. There are only 6 other boarders, so sometimes I get to have company and sometimes just quiet time with the pony. The best of both worlds :)

Once Reno got settled I started him on the lunge and under saddle and we had some pretty big issues. While on the lunge he kept trying to throw himself on the ground and roll, and once tried to nip me (he NEVER has shown aggressive behavior before). After 2 days of that I decided it was time to do a Maloxx test to see if ulcers were what was bothering him. I started the Maloxx on a Friday and had him on it for 3 days. After day 1 of the Maloxx it was like I had a different horse. He was much less agitated on the ground, and was quiet on the lunge and moving out under saddle. I think we found our issue, which makes me happy to have it nailed down. I ordered U Guard and start him on it today, so I am hoping to see improvements very soon. Once he has been on it for a few days we will be able to start back training and work on the stuff we have lost over the last 2 months. I am very excited to get back to work, but also just happy to have a happy pony. This is the first time we have been in the same place and I can say that we have bonded so much in the past few weeks. I love my crazy horse and all of his quirks :)

Here are a few photos from the end of our lunging session. As you can see, Reno thought it was playtime...

Sunday Funday

2010-10-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for all of the good suggestions from my last post! They were super helpful and I will start trying each to see if they make any difference and report back. Sadly I have not gotten out to Greensboro since the last ride (why is October SO busy?!). But hopefully sometime in the next week I can make it out there. Without lights it is a little more difficult to find riding time.

So I promised last week that I would update you a bit more on the new barn dilemma. I was all set to move Reno last Thursday and had secured a trailer spot with Becky and time off work to go. I contacted the new barn to let them know that I would be bringing Reno on Thursday. The barn manager emailed me back and said that I could not bring him unless she was on the property when he got there. I can see why this would be necessary, so I asked her if there was anyone else (property owners, another boarder) who could meet me on that day. I have a CRAZY schedule and Becky travels every weekend this month, so this was really one of the only times I could make the move work. The barn manager said we would have to find another day, so I cancelled the move with Becky and sat down to look at my schedule. I decided the best thing to do would be to ask the barn manager when she was available so that I could see if any of those times would work with my schedule. The barn manager replies and said she was either available one weekenday morning or anytime after 7pm. Hmmmm. Any of those work for my schedule? Not so much.

While I respect that this is how she runs her barn, I began to get a little uneasy about the whole situation. I started to feel more like her employee than a potential boarder. I was already a bit worried about the time commitment of having to clean his stall myself every day, so this was kind of icing on the cake. If we are having this much of an issue trying to schedule a move-in time, what happens with feeding? And even going out of town?

I decided last week to hold off on a move in date and resume my barn search to see if I could find anything else. I extended my search geographically, and decided to contact a barn that my previous trainer had started training at before she closed her business. The barn is run by a family (husband and wife) and from what I have seen of it has great management. It has a brand new Barnmaster barn with washstalls, new lockers, and a boarder lounge. It also has a lighted arena and tons of trails that are accessible from the property. It is $300 for pasture board ($50 than I am paying now). It is also father away (about 35 minutes from my house). Upside is that I can bring my own trainer :)

I made an appointment to go and meet with the owners on Monday morning. They seem super nice and laid-back. The husband has a degree in turf management/farming etc, which I am sure comes in handy on the farm! The downside would be that it is farther away, but the positives is that it has a lighted arena (so distance may not matter as much) and feed, hay, feeding is included (so I can go on vacations sans guilt). I will let you know how the meeting turns out but I am fairly positive I will end up going with this farm :)

On Sunday I went and groomed for my cousin at her first show since High School :) It was a "C" hunter show, but was well attended and had some good competition. She entered Hopeful Hunter and Pre-Children's and did very well in both. She took Champion in Hopeful Hunter and won a 1st in Equitation in Pre-Children's. It was so much fun to go as a groom and to get to be back in the show atmosphere. Added bonus was the show was held at her farm, so we didn't have to worry about trailering (which makes it much less stressful!). Here are a few pictures from the show of her and her 12 yr. old TB, Baloo. (excuse pic quality, all curtosey of my bberry)

If it looks like a dressage pony....

2010-10-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

then hopefully one day it will be a dressage pony!

I headed out to Greensboro on Sunday for a fun filled day of best friend/pony time. Rach and I went for a nice long run in a beautiful park that is conveniently located close to the barn. I haven't been running as often due to the craziness of my schedule, so it felt good to gab and run and stretch my legs. I felt a bit out of shape afterwards, as my knees were killing me! Not sure why that was, but definitely glad we ran before we rode. I would have had no energy to do that after 45 minutes in the saddle!

We arrived at the barn shortly after and I was uber excited to try the new dressage saddle on the Reno.

Its sooo big and he almost makes it look small here lol. I can tell he is growing, so hoepfully one day I will have a filled out pony instead of a gangly looking one ;)

The saddle is a wide tree and fits MUCH better than my other 2 saddles. Sadly, if he gets any wider though he will def need an extra-wide. I have a feeling I will probably be shelling out some big bucks when that time finally comes.

After I figured out the new setup and got everything adjusted, we headed out to the arena for the real test.

It has been a very long time since I have ridden in a dressage saddle and it was totally a different feeling. It is not nearly as comfortable as my other saddle, but I am sure I will develop those muscles as I get more time in the saddle. Reno moved out nicely at the walk and seemed fine with the change in tack.

I then asked him for the trot and we went right into immediate head tossing, biting at his side, and general refusal to move forward. Since the saddle fit MUCH better, I was a bit surprised at his reaction. I had orginally thought it was a saddle fitting issue and now seem to be back at square one. Rachel loaned me her crop and I did ask him to continue to move forward. I kept the crop as a reminder, but only used it to gently remind him to move forward when he avoided my leg. After a bit of protest, I got him moving forward into the trot in both directions. I spent the rest of our ride doing lots of walk, trot, halt transitions. He seemed to get more responsive as the ride went on and by the end I had no trouble getting him to move forward.

Which leads me back to whhhhhhhhy??? I think a lot of it is behavioral. Reno has that kind of personality and it honeslty doesnt surprise me that he may still be testing me. I did run my hands up and down his back after our ride to check and see if he was sore, but he didn't seem to have any sore spots. Suggestions? Insights? It is hard for me to really make a diagnosis when I am riding once a week. I am hoping that wiht more regular riding I can figure out if it is a behavior thing or if it is a physical issue.

At the end of our ride I got to jump on Granite for a minute and it was AMAZING. Now, I love my pony, but that horse is a DREAM to ride! The most absolutely amazing trot and canter. I was very reluctant to hand him back afterwards ;). I know you can never compare, but Reno is almost a year older than Granite and seems much further behind in training (even though he has had a lot more time with the trainer). Sigh. Everything in time, I know...

In other updates, Reno will continue to live in Greensboro till the 1st. I had some issues scheduling his move in date with the new barn, so decided just to let him stay at Becky's for a bit longer. More to come on that in the future...

New Saddle, New Barn, New Pony?

2010-10-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

Let me start this off by stating that I am not physically getting a new pony! For one, my bank account would officially hit the point of no return. Secondly, I have no intentions of getting rid of my crazy pony. Where else will you find a horse that refuses to eat carrots and apples and grows hair like a chia pet? No where I tell you, he is one of a kind ;)

Let me start off with an update on the barn and saddle and I will get back to the new pony part. Reno officially moves to Raleigh next Thursday! I almost can't beleive it. After months and months of waiting it is finally going to happen. Very soon it feels like. I am not sure I am all together mentally prepared for it, but I have a week to get all of my ducks in a row. It will be so good to FINALLY get to develop that bond that comes with spending hours and hours together. I am sad for him that he will be leaving Granite and the amazingness of BM's farm. I can't think of anywhere he would have been as well cared for and I am eternally grateful to her for being a pseudo horse-mom on several occassions. I think I am going to take off work next Thursday and drive up there to get him ready and then follow BM back to Raliegh. I am hoping to grab some of my stuff when I am up there this weekend so I won't have to worry about packing all of it that day. That will also give me a chance to assess what I need to buy (as there is always SOMETHING) before he gets there. I havent gotten the hauling quote from BM yet but I am sure it will put a nice dent in the finances. Thank goodness I am pulling overtime this week :)

In even more exciting news, I bought a new saddle! I know you will appreciate the beauty of a new saddle as much as I do. I get eye rolls from non-horsey people and lectures from the financially-invested since it isnt exactly in my budget. But I am planning on putting both of my saddles up for sale (since neihter fit) and if I sell one it should cover the cost of the new one. See that illogical logic at work? It serves me well on horsey-related purchases ;). The new saddle is a starter dressage saddle in a wide tree. It was uber cheap and the owner also gave me her stirrups, leathers, girh and pad in the deal. Sometimes this crappy economy has its advantages. Again, not a super nice saddle but I think it should fit Reno well and since he will probaly continue to grow it was the right price for a temporary solution. I can't wait to try it out on Saturday to see if that makes a difference in our rides. Fingers crossed...

Which leads me to the new pony. I will be interested to see how Reno is with the change in location. He has only ever been ridden on BM's farm, so I am intersted to see how he handles change. He seemed to settle in almost immediately at BM's. I think this was in large part to the pasture full of babies. He is the only younster at the new farm (at least for now) so I am curious to see how this will pan out. My hope is he starts acting more like a four year old and less like a two year old. But I won't count my chickens before they hatch!

In other horsey news Rach and I (and maybe tk?) have a date to see Secratariat this weekend! VEry excited!

Sign on the dotted line

2010-10-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

So big news.... I FINALLY made a final decision about boarding. Cheers all around :) Now you don't have to read about me blogging about it every week and we can move on to more exciting topics!

In the end, I decided to go with barn #1. I am really happy about my decision and feel that it will be the best place for Reno (at least for the time being). Since my life is relatively uncertain after graduation in May, I think it would be a great home for him for the next 6 months. I wanted to list a few reasons why I made my decision:

1. Turnout- Great grass, lots of space, good fencing
2. Boarders- They look after each other's horses very well/Jenn (barn manager) is also a vet
3. Price- $200 a month
4. Location- 10 minutes from home
5. Facilities are VERY well maintained, big stalls with mats
6. Flexibility in cleaning stalls. Agreed to switch days with me or take over weekends I am out of town if needed
7. Can bring my own trainer

While I was a bit worried about the stall cleaning, I do not think it will be a problem if I work it into my schedule. On a positive note, it also forces me to go to the barn almost every day (like I really need to be forced lol). But I think this will be a great time for Reno and I to bond out of the saddle. Since he has been in training since I purchased him, we have not really had much day to day interaction. I think it is important for us to get to know each other well on the ground so that we can transition that bond into the saddle.

And speaking of saddles.. I am all set to watch the saddle fitting DVD Sprinkler sent me tonight. I have found a GREAT deal on a used dressage saddle package. The seller is getting out of dressage and needs to sell quickly, so she is offering it at a great price. It would only be a starter saddle, but it would be great to get us through the first year or so until I can tell exactly how big he will be. Since neither of my 2 saddles fit, I need to find at least a temporary solution to that problem.

Also in the works is finding a new trainer :) I am 100% confident that Reno and I cannot do this on our own, so I have been investigating trainers while investigating barns (as the 2 often go hand in hand). I have contacted a trainer I think looks very promising. She is a local eventer in the area and trains a variety of students. She trains at a few different barns, but does not have a "homebase" per say. She is more than willin to travel to me and is very close, which would make it financially feasible. She seems to have a variety of clients, from avid adult eventers to beginner/intermediates. She asked about Reno and my goals for trainig, which I really liked. I feel like we really need a trainer who understands us and will be willing to work with who Reno is and his abilities rather than trying to put him into a mold of what they think he should be. Basically my only goal right now is to be riding consistently and to get the basics down. Once we have mastered that then I will start to assess where I think we are headed. BEST part about this trainer. Wait for it..... She grew up eventing.... MORGANS!!! I found this out after I had contacted her and was really in-depth looking at her bio. Imagine my excitement when I read that her grandparents are actually very famous Morgan breeders and she grew up eventing 3 Morgan/Morgan x's. Fate? I am thinking so....

Fast and Furious

2010-09-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

It has been one hell of a week. Both of my main jobs are slammed with work, which means a very busy Eva. I will spare you the sob story, but needless to say I am barely finding time to sleep a few hours a night.

I apologize for the quick post, but wanted to update you on a few things and get some feedback :)

First off, Reno has a snotty nose AGAIN. Rachel noticed it last night, and when Becky went to grab him for his pedicure today she noticed he had thick, white snot coming out of one nostril. Awesome. She started him back on 5 days of antibiotics and we will see how that goes. Last time it cleared up pretty quickly (2 weeks), so hopefully we can knock this out quickly and avoid infecting others (ie Granite). As a result, we held off on Reno's shots until his immune system is back to normal. I hate that I am so far away when all this is going on and I can't give my sick boy any TLC :(

Which leads me to the next point... I have pretty much exhausted all viable options for boarding. As I said before, there are few places in my area that do pasture board (full runs about $400-$700). So I have more or less seen everything that could be financially feasible. I had a long conversation with the barn manager of Barn #1 last night. Barn #1 was the one that was 12/12, nice big stall, co-op, big pastures, good facility. Downfalls were no lights (although 1 pasture has lights so could ride in there) and I have to pick stall everyday. The manager and I discussed and I explained my lifestyle and that I would have concerns about making it out everyday. I also travel at least 1x a month on weekends, so I wanted to make sure that could remain a possibility. Results from that convo are as follows: could trade off some of the stall cleanings between the 3 of us and she was totally ok with doing weekends, as she works a lot during the week. So basically it seems that they are pretty willing to work with me and my schedule. So.... Do I go for it? Do I keep looking? At some point I just have to pull the trigger. It is by far the best place I have been, but not sure if I should keep my options open on the odd chance something better comes along?

Photo!

2010-09-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

A nice little photo from our ride last week. Notice my poor boy currently has no muscle in the hind end or topline. I was looking back at pics from April/May and he appears to have lost muscle there. Getting him working from behind and building up those muscles with some hills, side reins, and lunging will be first on our list of things to do in October!

And The Search Continues

2010-09-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday I went out to see barn #3, which looked promising since it was close to my house. The drive ended up being very quick and easy to get to, which would be nice on those crazy busy days when I don't have much time. I arrived at the farm and met the barn manager, who was very nice and super informative. My initial reaction was that the place was HUGE (the owners breed and have about 40 horses) and that the pictures on thier website must have been taken 10 years ago. The farm was very nice, but it goes over 120 acres and is definitely in need of some painting and small fence repair in some of the paddocks. The barn manager showed me the 3 barns, which seemed to all be in good condition and included lockers and hot/cold wash. They have a covered arena with lights and also a nice level outdoor. They are about to put in an exerciser (which made me laugh as Reno most certainly would not appreciate this). They have a bunch of trails around the property and the pastures are nice and big. The 2 pastures where they keep pasture boarders are on the backsie of the property. They each have a run-in and automatic waterers. While they were in good condition, they didn't have the best grass and were not exactly what I would consider worth $325 a month. The barn also feeds oats, which I am not sure how I feel about. While the manager seemed nice, I am not sure how she has time to give every horse individual attention every week. I feel like in a farm this big it would be hard for someone to tell if something happened to Reno. Overall, I thought it was a really nice farm but when factoring in the price I think it will not top my list of barns I would consider.

I contacted barn #1 again (where I would have to come out and clean his stall everyday). The leader of the co-op said that she would potentially be willing to work something out for a trade-off 1 day a week or I could schedule my feedings/cleanings around my schedule. This still might be tough for me (and add more stress to my life than there already is), but I did appreciate her giving me the option and am keeping it in mind.

I found 2 other potential barns that I will try and see either this week or early next week. One is just a private farm with only 2 boarders. They are offering pasture board at reasonable rate $250 with run-in shelters and feed/gran 2x a day. They live on the property which is a huge plus. They have an arena but no lights, which I think would be the only downfall.

I got to spend a little quality time with Reno on Sunday before I headed off to Charlotte with Rachel for the Tom Petty concert. He got a good grooming (which he needed) and I got to spend some time giving him a little TLC. I am still working on finding a temporary solution for the saddle issue and thinking about the chiro. Hopefully I can get the barn situation taken care of this week and then move on to dealing with the other issues.

Update on Barns and One Maaaaaad Pony

2010-09-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I visited 2 barns to see if they had any potential to be Reno's new digs. Here is the down and dirty on each:

Barn #1

I decided to ride out and check barn #1 before I arrived for my appointment to tour the farm just to get a look for myself without someone else around. It is super close to my house, so this was feasible. I got to see some of the pastures and the barn, all of which looked pretty good so I decided to go ahead with the appointment. The farm is privately owned, and is operated as a co-op. There are 3 very large pastures with TONS of grass. And I mean tons. They have wooden posts with that thick electric wire fencing that is coated, so it is pretty sturdy. The riding "ring" is really a smaller pasture, but it seems to be level and would be acceptable for riding in. They have a few jumps as well, if we ever get to that stage in our training. The horses are on 12/12 turnout, which I am ok with. The barn is HUGE with 9 very large stalls with mats. The place is kept extremely well organized and clean, which I was all for. The feed room is great, with separate spaces and boards for each owner to write down feeding instrucitons. There is also a separate tack room with lockers for each boarder. The lockers are gigantic (like I could almost move in one) and the space is kept very tidy in there as well. There are currently only 3 horses on the property. All 3 are owned by a couple who manages the Co-op, and they seemed both knowledgeable and very nice. Feeding is divided between the boarders, and they feed 2x a day. So a quick analysis:

Pros
-price $200/month plus hay and feed
-good turnout
-very close to home
-good barn management

Cons
-have to come out everyday to pick stall
-no lights for night riding
-having to feed 4-5 times per week

Overall my main concern would be having to come out everyday to pick his stall. I am SO busy, I am just not sure this is feasible. I did ask about vacations/weekend getaways, and they said they trade off taking care of each other's horses when this happens.

Barn #2

Heeeeck no. Its 30 min away, and someone basically built 3 stalls and a tack room inside a pasture. No riding ring as of yet, and there were chickens on the property (I realllly dislike chickens). Plus they wanted to charge me $250 for pasture board. I think I stayed about 10 minutes and then politely excused myself.

Barn #3

I am going to see barn #3 on Friday. Good things about this one: 15 minutes from home, big pastures, they are full service, indoor/outdoor ring, trainer on site. Cons: its expensive ($325 for pasture board).

I am really excited about option #3. Although it is more expensive, price is not my biggest factor. Since I have such a busy schedule, I need a place that is both convenient for me to get to and that I can access at any time. The indoor/outdoor with lights is a big plus, as I may not get out there until dark in the winter.

About the mad pony:

Finally got to go ride Reno yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks. BM had already been on him, so I just wanted to do a light ride and get some basics down. For those of you who remember, our last ride ended in head tossing, biting, refusing to move so I was nervous about how this one would go. We did lots of walking, changing directions, halting, backing up, circles, etc. He was listening very well and was being responsive to my aids. I went to ask for the trot and out came a VERY mad pony. Immediate ears pinned, head curled, biting at his girth. I eventually got him into the trot after some protest, and we were able to do some walk to trot transitions and work through the issue. He maintained a "I am NOT happy" look on his face the entire time we were trotting, and seemed to short-change in the front. Rachel was out there with me, and after some assessment we both agree that it has got to be a saddle fitting issue. I think he is going to be a very hard one to fit. He has very wide shoulders, but is not wide anywhere else. He also has no muscle on his topline, which I think is adding to his discomfort. We need to work on developing those muscles when I get him here, but I also am thinking that he could really benefit from that chiropractic assessment. I think it may have made its way further up the list after this discovery. I hate that he would associate me riding him with pain, so I will have to work something out. A different saddle is definitely on the list, and I think I can part with at least one of my other 2 at a low price so I can purhcase another. I am happy that despite that issue we were able to work through it and he did respond to what I was asking him to do. Baby steps, but we are getting there!

Prioritizing

2010-09-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about the issue of prioritizing a lot lately as it relates to my equine. As a full-time graduate student on a pretty limited budget, I find that I often have to figure out what issue is the most pressing and allot funds for one thing at a time. While it would be great to have an unlimited budget, I do need a roof over my head and something to eat every few days :) There are a few things currently on my horsey plate that I feel need to be taken care of:

Paying off my vet bill/Fall Shots: Definitely a necessity, as the vet would probably NOT be happy if he didn't get paid on time. I managed to rack up a $250 vet bill for Reno's recent illness. In the big scheme of vet bills, this one is pretty small. Still, for me parting with a few hundred dollars is pretty significant. Fall shots are also right around the corner and something that he has to have. Thankfully I got his teeth floated in the spring, so this time around it shouldn't be too bad.

Moving: While I may be able to find cheaper board, I do have to pay BM to haul Reno to Raleigh (about a 3 hour round-trip). I could potentially talk my dad into hauling him for me, but I think I would feel safer with BM driving. I could also look into a transport service, but am not sure if this would be the cheaper option.

Chiropractor: I would really like to get the chiro out to see Reno and get him worked on. He is a bit frozen in his left hind and also had some back soreness a while back that I feel could use a little tweaking. I would like to make sure he is 100% physically so that any issues we have in training are behavioral and not from pain.

Saddle: This is a biggie. I don't love the way either of my saddles fit Reno. I would love to have someone come out and fit him (as I think he is going to be a tough one to fit). I would love to invest in a new saddle that fits him better and one that we could grow with.

So that is the long and short of the top things on my priority list. Obviously the vet will be #1, but I would welcome some insight into where the others should fall or possible alternative options to dealing with some of these issues. Playing the lottery is option #2, but so far I have yet to collect ;)

New Directions

2010-09-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

So, many of you may have noticed I have not posted in a while. Why, you ask? It is sad to say I have nothing to report because I have not had the joy of seeing my favorite equine in 3 weeks. Gasp. Agongy. In a short sentence, it really stinks.

But hey, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? I like to think so. Reno has finally recovered from the mystery disease with a round of antibiotics. Many of you know that he passed his infection on to poor Granite so the ponies have been under somewhat of a quarentine these past 2 weeks. Reno is getting ridden this week after a 2 week break. BM wanted to make sure he was feeling 100% before she put him back under saddle, which I agreed with. At the rate he will be 5 before we make any real progress, but I have the beauty of time on my side and I am really in no rush.

To somewhat contradict that status, I have been in nothing but a rush since school started lol. 3 jobs plus going to school full time makes me a very busy lady. Because of this, it is proving near impossible to make it out to Gboro every week to see my favorite man. We certainly can't improve when I am only getting to ride him once every 2 weeks. Therefore, I have written my last barn check to BM and "Operation Move Reno" has commenced. I am spending valuable work time hunting down potential barns and making appointments to go check them out. I started to do this a few months ago, but what I could afford I didn't love and what I couldn't afford seemed to be in ample supply. BM has forever spoiled me for all other barns, as her facility is both very affordable and more or less amazing. But I do currently have a lead on a potential barn that I am visiting Friday, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I also contacted a potential trainer today, as I am 100% certain we will need one right away. I really need to find someone who can help teach ME, not just Reno so that we can work through our issues. I have lots of positive vibes going on today so I am confident something will work out.

In semi-related news, my cousin has just moved to the area and brought her TB Baloo with her :) I am excited to have a barn friend so close and someone to ride/tack shop with. I wish we could board at the same barn, but Baloo's board probably costs more than my rent. If only I had chosen a different career path lol...

In the meantime I will spend the next 2 weeks calling/driving by every horse facility known to man in the Triangle area. I 100% need my pony in my life and am ready to get the show on the road so to speak.

So here is to positive thinking and a new chapter in the book of Eva and Reno's adventures!

Mysterious Cough

2010-08-10T03:22:00.000-07:00

Reno's eye seems to be getting a tiny bit better and does not appear as swollen (yay!). His cough, however, is still very much present. I talked to BM yesterday and apparently he is still coughing a lot, so she has decided not to ride him until we figure out what is going on. BM said she would probably call the vet again today to discuss Reno's issues since he did not appear to be getting any better. Oh joy.

If the vet does come out, I will probably take off and head up there so I can be there for the exam. Reno's issues sound an awful lot like allergies, although I can't fathom what he could be allergic to out in the field. He has been living in that field since April and has had no issues. About 5 years ago my other horse, Vez, developed a mysterious allergy to hay and would cough constantly unless his hay had been soaked in water. We finally kept switching hay until we found a batch that didn't seem to bother him and he has been fine ever since. 3 summers ago I also developed a skin allergy to a certain type of hay. I had never had any issues, but would break out in full-body hives after touching the hay with my bare skin. Reno is not currently getting hay, so it must be something else he has found in the pasture. It has also been BEYOND hot, so not sure if the weather has had something to do with it? Hoping the vet will be able to shed some light on this so we can get back to the business of training.

If all else fails, hit the books

2010-08-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

Reno's eye seems to be doing much better after his visit with the vet and BM got on him yesterday for a tune-up ride, which seemed to go fairly well. I am going to try and get out there this weekend for a visit and a serious grooming session. Last weekend I finally got fed up with the plethora of mane and hacked it all off. And, despite my lack of hair-cutting skills, it doesn't look half bad! Ok, its a little uneven in some places, but at least its gone. I think Reno must have lost 10 pounds in hair! I am sure he is loving the lack of weight on his neck in this heat. He look so adorable without a mane. More and more WB everyday :). Unfortunately, he also has the thickest forelock known to man and I didn't have time to address that last time I was out at the barn so he is still sporting a front fro. I am definitely going to have to pull it, as it is about as thick as my hair in a ponytail! If only us humans were blessed with such genes... I promise to put up a pic of the end product once I'm done :)

Since I am not riding this week, I have decided it is best to go back to the basics: training books, articles, videos. Since BM is not that great of a communicator, I need to find some material that will help me understand how to work through Reno's issues. I will definitely use the exercises that everyone suggested in my previous post and hope to have some good results with those. For those of you out there who have also worked through training issues with youngsters, any advice on books, videos, articles, etc?

The good and the bad

2010-08-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

First off, I can't say enough how thankful I am for your advice. It is a frustrating thing to go through and it is so nice to have outside perspective on the issues. A lot of the time it is hard for me to see the situation objectively, because I am so invested in Reno emotionally and financially.

I got in last night from visiting my family and welcomed this adorable bundle of joy into my home.

It took him about 20 minutes to lay claim to my room and spent the rest of the night playing and cuddling on the bed. I did find that kittens apparently are not big sleepers. I got next to no sleep as the result of several jingly toys that were being circulated around the room. Those may have to be put in a special hiding place tonight...

Gryff is way cute and has been a purrrfect kitty so far (fingers crossed). I'm hoping maybe we can make it through the first week or so without having to replace any furniture.

At work this morning I got a call from BM concerning Reno's eye. It doesn't seem to be getting any better, despite a few rounds of bute and antibiotics. He now has nasal discharge in both nostrils as well, so BM thought it would be best to go ahead and call the vet. Since it isn't an "emergency," I elected to stay at work instead of driving out there. I hate not being there, but I have to be a bit careful about taking off suddenly at a new job. Plus, I figure I will need the extra money to pay off the vet bill that is coming my way. The vet should be there sometime soon, so I am anxiously waiting for a call. Fingers crossed it is nothing serious!

One step forward, 2 gaits back

2010-07-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my absence (yet again). My life resembles something like a hamster on its wheel right now, lots of circles without ever really getting anywhere!

So to sum up the last few weeks in a few short sentences. I got (another) job :) I am using my time and experise (ha) to intern (paid!) at a nation-wide financial company. I am loving it so far and the best part is I get to be online all day 3 days a week :). Which means... I can now commit to updating my poor neglected blog on those days (yay!). I start school again in two weeks, complete with my own 2 classes to teach at the undergrad level. Me, shaping the minds of America's up and coming? Hilarious. Mu ha ha ha ha (evil laugh). It should be a VERY interesting semester ;)

In other unrelated news, since my roommate is moving out I decided to replace her with a new kitten! Ok, well not replace her (as to my knowlege the kitten is only decreasing the household finances), but to take over her spot in the house. I elected to keep the apartment and not get another roommate and have wanted another furry friend for a while. Said kitten is orange, 5 months old, and adorable. I get him on Sunday and I can't wait :) His name is gryffindor and I will post a picture up as soon as he arrives.

Now on to more relevant news, the life and times of Reno. Things have been very up and down with him lately. The last 3 weeks I have been trying to ride him 2-3x per week and have Becky ride 2x. The first few rides with Reno were good, and we had a lovely walk, trot, canter. 2 weeks ago I had two pretty crappy rides in a row, with Reno getting very aggitated. Lots of head tossing, ear pinning, etc. I was pretty upset, as we seemed to accomplish little that was positive. I was hoping to move Reno back to Raleigh, but after those two rides and advice from my mother I decided to leave Reno in Gboro with BM for a bit longer. This way I could come out and get a lesson 1x a week and ride 1x a week on my own, while BM continued to school him 2x a week. I decided to give up my spot at the barn I had found for Reno and was going to let Reno stay in Gboro until September.

And then there was this week....

Saturday Rach and I went out to the barn at the crack of dawn (meaning I left Raleigh at a VERY inhumane hour..) to beat the heat and get a ride in before we headed back to Raleigh for the Tim McGraw concert. I had ordered some exciting new training stuff when Rach put in her order and was excited to try out my new pad, draw reins, and spurs. I am not a huge fan of draw reins, but Reno seems to pay attention better when they are on. He has also been very good about not getting behind the bit, which I was a little worried about when using them in the beginning. With our fancy new duds, we headed out to the ring and proceeded to have a GREAT ride! And by great I mean we were able to get walk, trot, and some canter in both directions, minimal steering issues, and little resistance. I was SO excited and felt really positive after the ride. I made sure to give him lots of "mental" breaks during our ride and lots of good positive reinforcement for good behavior. Things were very much looking up!

Wednesday I went out to ride in the late afternoon after work. I was hoping for a very similar ride as Saturday, which was probably my first problem. If I have learned one thing its never to have expectations when it comees to babies... Reno was fine when I tacked him up and did warm-up walks around the ring. He was accepting contact and moving forward at the walk. I got a nice trot to the right, but when I went to ask him to trot to the left I hit a brick wall. Reno refused to go forward. He curled up his neck, started biting at his reins, pinned his ears. I was finnally able to get him to walk forward, but then he kept trying to walk into the fence. After about 10 minutes of the same behavior, it only seemed to be getting worse. I tried taking off my spurs, removing draw reins, backing up, you name it. Nothing seemed to change the outcome. I finally decided we had both had enough and got off and lunged him for a few minutes in either direction.

I had a lesson with Becky Thursday morning and I was hoping Reno's behavior from the previous evening was a one-time ordeal. Annnnd I was wrong. I got a walk out of him, but when asked to trot he repeated the same behavior. It was worse than Wednesday night, with Reno pushing me into the fence and leaning heavily on it when I asked him to go forward. I had trouble even getting him to walk forward at all. I'm pretty sure the only thing BM said for 10 minutes straight as we tried to correct this was "oh dear" and "wow". Awesome, just what I wanted to hear. BM asked to hop on him, and had similar issues. She finally got him going into a trot, but he still acted very agitated. After a few minutes she called it quits and we addressed the issue. In a nut shell, she said she had NEVER seen him act like that and thought that maybe he was just too green for me to be riding him right now. Not what I wanted to hear. At alllllll.

I know that sounds harsh, but BM is not exactly great with words and I know she didn't intend it to sound as bad as it did. The part that frustrates me is that I rode him the exact same way on Saturday and had no problems. BM doesn't know what I am doing wrong, but makes it pretty clear it is probably my fault. I am sure she is right, as I have little experience with horses this green. I just don't know what I am doing so that I can fix it, which is the most frustrating thing! I am upset, sad, and a little lost on what I can do to fix this.

On a random note, Reno had some eye swelling and a snotty nose in one nostril. He seems to be doing better today, but not sure if him not feeling well could have been related to his actions?

Why I Need to Win the Lottery

2010-06-30T17:31:00.001-07:00

I will start this post by warning you that I am having a dinner of wine and oreo cookies. Thus, it has not been a great day...

Good things first though :) Talked to BM today and Reno gets to come home next weekend!! Sooo excited :) :) I am going out to the new barn tomorrow to drop off board and check things out. If I can remember I will take pictures and post them when I get home. My personal favorite is the dressage ring with mirrors, lighting, and a sound system. Heaven...

Also, 2 weeks ago I got yet another job/internship! It is working on some online PR and social media for a company based here in Raleigh and it is AWESOME. I love, love, love going to the office and working in my cubicle on things that really interest me. So far it has been a great experience and will help pay the bills for the next year.

Annnnnd that brings me to the (somewhat) crappy, non-horsey related news. Just when I start to get ahead financially and think that I could MAYBE afford my life, things go south lol. My roommate informed me that she is moving out next month, which will leave me with an empty room and no extra rent money. I have to go to the apartment office tomorrow and see what I can do about my lease. I can't afford to stay here by myself and really don't want a random person moving in. You know how it goes...

One reason that I was hoping to have a little extra income is so that I could move my other horse to Raleigh as well. He is currently still in my hometown, as my younger sister was riding him. Over the last 2 years he has had some soundness issues (bowed tendon, etc) and has had limited riding time. The vet gave us the heads up for him to be ridden on the flat, so my sister has been exercising him a few times a week. A few days ago she was riding him when he slipped and fell on top of her. Thankfully they are both ok, although Vez has been stalled and is still a bit sore. Most concerning to me was the fact that it took him a while to get up :( He isn't young (close to 20), and I worry that he is not getting looked after like he should. My mom and sister rely a lot on the BO for horse knowledge, and although they try I know they are not looking after him like I would. I have had Vez since I was 12 years old. He is my best friend and I want to be able to look after him like he looked after me. Mom is talking about buying Carla a new horse so she can show next year (don't get me started on that...), so I know he will be put on the back burner. My parents are graciously supporting him at a full-board facility, which I know is not cheap. Mom has agreed to let me move him to Raleigh when they get a new horse. They are going to help pay his board/vet bills until I get a real job, but I know I can pasture board him here for 1/3 of what they are paying. I am hoping that it works out, as having both my boys in the same place would be amazing!

lazy hazy sunday

2010-06-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to report from this weekend. I went out to visit Reno yesterday afternoon and give him some attention. It has been in the 100's all week, with ridculous humidity and not a drop of rain in sight. If this is how its going to be the rest of the summer I am seriously contemplating moving up north for a few months! On the bright side, Reno seems to take the heat pretty well. He does not sweat much out in the pasture, and the bugs seem to be leaving him alone. Probably in part due to his regiment of EquiSpot and flyspray that BM has him on. This is the first time I have used EquiSpot, but I am pretty impressed with the results so far!

I contemplated a ride, but when I voiced this idea to Reno he gave me a VERY disturbed look. Since it was almost a 100 degrees, I decided to spent some quality time grooming him instead. He was due for a good grooming and I think I finally got all the dreadlocks out of his mane. I still have yet to actually get rid of it, but the date is near. I am sure he will be happy to have the 10 pounds off his neck. He also needs a good bridle path trim as well. I think a spa day is in order before he makes his adventure to the new barn.

Speaking of new barn, I officially start paying board in July. I emailed BM today to get a firm end date for his training. Its been a few months but I feel like the time has flown by. I am honestly super sad to move him, as I will miss the barn, BM, and the fact that Rachel and I have our horses in the same place.

After our grooming session, I took Reno out to the pasture and let him go. Instead of walking away to graze, he inspected me from head to foot to see if there were any more hidden treats (he taste-tested several articles of clothing just to make sure). I spent the next 45 minutes rubbing him down, scratching all the itchy spots, and just hanging out. Days like that are one of the things I love most about horses. So much is said without the need for words. Days like that are why its hard to explain to people that don't ride why I do the things I do to have my pony :)

Mixed signals

2010-06-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday I had my second ride on Reno! Sad that they are so spaced out, but it has been hard for me to make it out there on days when BM is not riding him. Only a few more weeks though and he will be all mine to screw up, I mean train, as I wish :)

It was surprisingly cool Friday morning, which was amazing since it has been almost a 100 degrees here this past week. BM was waiting for me and we got my saddle out to try and see how it would fit on Reno. This was the first time he has been ridden in an English saddle, so I was interested to see if he would react differently to it. Turns out he could have cared less and it didn't seem to bother him at all. Good news is my saddle fits pretty well! Once he gets a little wider I think we will definitely be going to a wide tree. He is a skinny little man right now and it was a close call on my medium-wide saddle being big enough. I swear he is growing muscle by the week. I have a feeling a diet and exercise program will eventually be in our future. Morgans are notoriously easy keepers :)

Good news? Reno looks ADORABLE in an english saddle!!!!

BM didn't have us lunge first this time, which made my internal chicken a little nervous since it was breezy and pretty cool. She told me she had stopped lunging him and he had been fine for the last week or so. I got on and we did some warm up circles at the walk and trot. Reno has the loveliest trot ever, just like floating. I could ride it for hours and hours! Lucky for him, I am super out of shape and can only last about 45 minutes lol. Next BM had us work on some leg yielding and turn on the haunches. We did much better on turns this time than we did the last time I rode. Leg yielding was a slightly different story.... We were able to get basic leg yields down, but then BM had us work on some side passes. It was NOT pretty. Poor Reno got very confused and just wanted to back up. I kept trying to remember to give him very clear aids, but we ended up having to settle on a positive note and made a mental note to work on that. I think the hardest part for me to remember is to just use the most basic of aids. I keep trying to tell my legs this, but they seem to have a mind of their own. Although he got frustrated, Reno never even so much as thought about misbehaving. He seemed very eager to please me and I couldn't have been more proud of my pony :)

Next we tried the canter and were able to get a few canter circles going each direction. Reno's transitions leave much to be desired, but his canter is beautiful! He will definitely not be running away with me though lol. He seemed to get the "slow down" command VERY well and was more than happy to come back down to the trot. Hopefully this week we can work on getting those transitions to be a bit more smooth. Also, he has a tendency to want to get a bit behind the bit. I tried to work on that a little bit, bumping him up when he got way behind the vertical. He seemed to get the idea and things improved as the ride went. Overall, I was VERY happy with our progress!!

Here is a picture of me riding him :) Please excuse the terrible position. Also, this picture clearly makes me realize I need to lose about 10 pounds by the time I start really riding him on a consistent basis. Eek!

rain rain go away

2010-06-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

So I was supposed to head out to BM's farm today to get another lesson on Reno, but it has decided to storm instead. We were going to canter today :( I was practically bouncing in my seat all day thinking about how that canter was going to feel. I had visions of floating on air, perfect rhythm, etc etc. In reality, its probably going to feel like I have a gaingly 3 year old underneath me who has no idea where to put the long sticks attached to his body. I can empathize, as I too was once a giant bundle of limbs trying to go in many different directions. Actually I am pretty sure that was most of my middle school career. Ask Rachel, I am sure she would be happy to fill you in on various episodes of my clumsiness. Sadly, I have only halfway grown out of it. I am hoping for better things from Reno :)

I was looking at the calendar today and can't believe June is almost gone! I am both very excited and a bit apprehensive about moving Reno here with me. On one hand, I will be ecstatic to see him every day and to get ride of that 3 hour round-trip it takes to see him. On the other hand, part of me is nervous about taking him out of training and finishing the rest on my own. BM assured me that he would be fine and have a solid 3 gaits by the time he leaves, so I am sure that I will be okay. There is always the option of leaving him there after the 1st of July if he needs it, although that means paying 2 boards (in which I may finally lose 10 pounds due to not being able to afford to eat.. hmm maybe i could market that... buy a horse, lose the unwanted weight..). I am hoping he will not have a tough time adjusting to his new home. I feel almost evil pulling him away from his playmates and his big, beautiful pasture. Almost, but then I think about a post the other day from Golden regarding "babying" our horses. I think in some ways maybe it will be good for him to leave behind "the boys" and be around some more experienced horses. From what I can tell, Reno was VERY coddled as a yearling by his previous owner and still acts more like a 2 year old than a nearly 4 year old. I know that he is young and is allowed some youngster behaviors, I just think that maybe a change of scenery and companions may be good as we start to transition into "work" mode. I certainly don't want a 1200 pound baby on my hands (I already date a 200 lb one and he is enough). Another random thought, but this makes me think of Sweet Horses Breath's post today re: horses like owners. I actually find that I tend to either date guys with the same personalities as my horses or find horses with the same personalities as the guys I date. Which pretty much translates into me finding 2 of the most stubborn creatures on the planet. Interesting to think about!

Reno Pics!

2010-06-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Reno coming to say hello when I arrived at the farm. He seems to think I am the "treat lady" who shows up once a week to clean him up and be at his disposal. A monster in the making...

sassy boy!

Not a great picture, but you can see his is growing! Slowly but surely!

Barn Finding, Pony Riding, and Everthing in Between

2010-06-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

It feels so good to be back!! For good this time :) I have so much to catch up on/tell everyone that this might be a ridiculously long post. Well first of all, I have decided to keep blogging away. I had half considered putting my blog on hold, but I made the decision last night that I really miss all my blogger buddies and I want to keep a record of Reno's progress. I spend a LOT of my time online, so I think I just needed a little break after school let out. This summer I am doing some research online for my professor, as well as doing some PR work from home for a horsey nonprofit. Thus, I am pretty busy! But I will defnitely be carving out time to blog a few days a week. I think its just one of those things that once you start back up it will be easy to get back in the swing of things!

Soo what has been going on in the life of Reno this last month? Tons!! My pretty boy now has a solid walk and trot, leg yeilds and steers pretty well. He started working on his canter this week, and BM has nothing but good things to say about that as well. He is proving to be a very good little student, although he does have minor cases of horsey ADD every once in a while :) 2 weeks ago I measured him again and he has grown a teensy bit. I am still holding out for another 1/4 inch, which will officially put him at 16hh. He has started filling out a little in his neck and shoulder and I am hoping the rear end is soon to follow. He looks a little awkward right now, but I am attributing that to him being a 3 year old. Well, almost 4, as his birthday is July 5th. Im sure I mentioned this, but he shares the same birthday as my younger sister. She is still in Chile, so this will be the one birthday that is all about him. I am sure he will eat it up, as he is SUCH a ham!

I FINALLY got to actually get on my pony after months of waiitng last week. Truthfully, I was a teensy bit concerned about how this would go on my end, as I still had some flashbacks of Jasper's craziness (Jasper was my previous young horse, had a LOT of issues...). I also happened to pick a day that BM was getting her roof re-done, so in addition to our first ride we had several men climbing up and down ladders and banging on the roof. Thankfully, it was SUPER hot so Reno wasn't as inclined to let them bother him. BM lunged him for a few minutes to let him get all the wiggles out (he didnt have many that day) and then hopped on him to show me what she had been working on. She worked on collecting his head at the trot, and can I say YUM!! I literally think I started drooling. My horse looks pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Well, minus the awkward body and somewhat flailing limbs. But hey, we have potential. After BM rode him for a bit it was my turn to get on. Funny thing was, I totally thought I would be nervous but when I went to get on it just seemed so natural to hop on my horse. He felt so great under saddle :) We really worked on collecting at the trot and moving out from behind. BM seemed impressed by how much he was moving out (I knew my 9,000 mile legs had to come in handy sometime). Reno and I totally clicked in the saddle and spent about 30 minutes doing transitions, steering, leg yeilds, etc. Don't get me wrong, he still has a LONG way to go but I was very impressed by what BM had already accomplished. Have I mentioned how awesome she is? I could not have picked a better place for Reno to go :)

I have decided to leave him there until July so he can get some addiitonal work at the canter. I spent the last few weeks barn shopping, which turned into a bit of a nightmare. Everything in this area is SOOOO expensive. And the barns that are cheaper are about 30 minutes away in an opposite direction from everything in my life, which make them not exactly feasible. With such a crazy schedule during the year, it is so important for me to have a barn that I can easily get to on a daily basis. Also, a lot of barns close to me do not have pasture board. I would totally love to full board Reno, but unless I win the lottery I can't afford $500 a month for board. I did end up finding a barn that I really liked. It is close to where I live, and it is a co-op. I have done a co-op before and really liked it. The owner was formerly the Dressage coach for NCSU, and is an awesome person. Most of the girls there (there are 5 boarders I beleive) are her old students. I met 2 of them and they were so nice and really fun. It will be great to have people my age to go to ride and go to shows with. Plus there is a lighted dressage ring complete with mirrors and a sound system, and Reno gets his own stall at a price I can afford :) They have mostly individual pastures, and each has a ligthed run-in shed. Only downsides are the pastures aren't very big, which will be an adjustment as Reno currently lives in a HUGE one. Also, the barn is very "barn-ish", which I would see as a plus but some wouldn't. It is nice, but defintely lived in, not spic and span and beautiful like a lot of boarding barns. In the end though I decided to go with it because 1) I can afford it, 2) I really liked the boarders, 3) Reno will be in good hands and 4) its convenient location wise. When I voiced my concerns about the pastures, Rachel made a good point by saying that I don't have to be there forever. I really think Reno will be very well taken care of and I can always keep looking in case I end up not liking it. Ohh decisions, decisions!

Hmm... well I think that about catches everyone up. I am going to head out to go see Reno this afternoon and maybe ride if BM didn't ride today. Then its off to JW's parents house on Saturday to attend his sister's baby shower. This is her first baby, so it should be very exciting! He can't go because he is working this weekend, so I am going by myself and will probably stay Saturday night and go to church/the beach with his family on Sunday. His family is truly awesome, and I am so excited about spending the weekend with them :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I look forward to setting aside some time on Sunday to catch up on everyone's adventures :)

In case you were wondering, I'm not dead

2010-05-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

Just in case you might be worried! It pains me that I havent posted/read blogs for almost a week now. I made myself give it up during exam week so that I could really concentrate on getting final papers done. I turn in my last one tomorrow, so I promise to write a nice, lovely detailed post tonight, as well as catch up on all your posts. T - 24 hours until I am 1 year closer to being done with my Masters :)

2010-04-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

This week has been relatively crazy, as we near exams/final papers for both my students and myself. I have read "drafts" of soooo many papers I think I may pull my hair out. Ohh the life of a TA... It is somewhat self-imposed, as I am too nice to say no even though I have TONS of my own work to do. But hey, I'm a nice person and I want them to do well. Most of them will freak out when they get their drafts back, as the majority are covered in ugly red pen. I am a grammar nazi, and couldn't help myself... Good thing for them good grammar is not really a requirement.

I have not been able to get back out to see Reno :( I may try to run up there Friday am, but it will largely depend on how much I get done on this next paper. My only consolation is I get photos like this daily from Rach:

He is SUCH a ham!

I am a tiny bit worried about Reno's feet. I need to remember to ask BM today how he has been holding up. He is barefoot right now, and I would love to keep him that way. He does seem a bit sensitive to the gravel driveway, and that concerns me a bit. I don't want him to get a stone bruise or be sore out in the pasture. He has very dainty feet, although they seem very solid.

This weekend I am (hopefully) going to groom for my baby sister, Carla, at the District 4-H show. I LOVE being her groom and getting to run around the show grounds doing all the last minute preps. Carla is 12 and the baby of the family, therefore she basically does nothing except get on the horse and ride the classes when I am there. I love my sister, but this often bothers the heck out of me. We didn't have much money when I was her age, so I worked and saved for all my show gear and to pay for my entry fees. My parents were also very busy with jobs and 2 other children, so they were rarely around to help with the horse. They allowed me to compete and drove me to the shows and did the best that they could, and I am SO grateful for that. I learned to do everything myself and it was an incredible way to grow up. Now that they just have Carla and are much more well-off, she gets everything she needs and my mom basically does everything for the horse. It is often hard for me to keep my mouth shut about this (Carla doesn't even tack up her own horse). Sibling rivalry? Maybe. I wouldn't trade my time and struggles at the barn as a kid for anything. But some free gear would be great!

My favorite part of being her groom is getting to spend all the time with the horses at the show grounds. While the rest of my family will be sleeping soundly Friday night, I will probably be at the barn till 2 or 3 am washing and braiding the horse for Saturday's competition. I LOVE the prep that goes into showing and spending quality time with my horse. This is Carla's first year showing as a Junior and I hope that with my coaching and grooming skills we will come out on top. Getting ready for this show is making me itch to start showing Reno!

The one where I find out I bought a strange pony..

2010-04-26T07:21:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning I got a chance to escape from Raleigh and make a much needed visit up to see Reno. Unfortunately, the weather didn't really want to cooperate and it was a bit of a muddy mess, but we made the best of it.

I arrived at the barn and was delighted to see my pony out in the pasture happily enjoying his grass and completely covered in lovely red mud. Fortunately, it blends in pretty well with his coat. Beauty of having a chestnut!

BM popped her head out for a few minutes to chat about Reno's week in school and his progress. Seems he is being a very good student and will start going around the arena this week :). Baby steps, but still very exciting!

I brought Reno in and settled him into the crossties for some hard-core grooming. I went to the mega tack shop on Saturday and somehow walked away with over $60.00 in grooming supplies. How this happens, I'm not sure. I kind of go into a haze when I get in there and spend without thinking. Oh well. What's life if you can't splurge every once in a while?

Reno was very good for his groom session and we managed to get most of the dirt off of him. He was a huge fan of the fancy massage curry comb I got and demanded that I spend ample time rubbing him down. He continually cracks me up. He is kind of like a little prince, loves to be fawned over and fed constant treats. I imagine in another life he was a fat Roman noble, relaxing on his couch and being fed grapes all day.

I wrangled with his mane and finally got it all detangled. It definitely has to go at some point. Too much hair to deal with! We got hoof conditioner on and looked mighty spiffy after 45 minutes of solid work. I offered a few peppermints, and Reno pretty much went nuts hunting for them in my hand. We are going to have to switch to the sugar-free variety or find peppermint treats if he keeps getting them.

Reno started to lose interest in the whole grooming ordeal so I put him back out in the pasture to play. I was watching him for a few minutes inside the pasture, halter in hand when all of the sudden I feel a giant tug and nearly fell over. Vino had one end of the halter and really, really wanted to play halter tug of war. I managed to wrangle the halter back from him, but he continued to try and chase me around and grab it. He managed to get one end of the lead line and took off with it while I chased after him. I eventually got it back and threw the whole thing over the fence out of the way. Vino looked mighty pleased with himself and went off to pester Reno.

I stayed for a few more minutes to give Harley and Granite some love. Apparently, blond hair must look like hay to them. I had one horse on either side of my head grabbing at my pony tail while I tried to shoo them away. Thankfully no hair was lost. Silly babies! I then decided I was safer outside of the pasture and went in to put up my stuff.

When I came back out to say goodbye to Reno, I found him happily munching on a tree branch. Yes, a tree branch. Never mind the acres of nice green grass in his pasture. Reno looked up as if to say "hey mom, look at my cool snack!". I immediately went over and had a talk with him about branches. He seemed to get it, and walked away from the branches on the ground. I thought we were in the clear and he would go back to happily eating grass. Wrong. He immediately goes into the wooded section of his pasture and starts munching happily away on various brush and vines. Awesome. BM assured me they all do it and nothing was poisonous, so that made me feel better. But really Reno? I pay for all your yummy grass and you eat that crap? Ponies.....

Finally Friday

2010-04-23T07:06:00.001-07:00

Yay for the fact that its Friday and I only have 2.5 weeks until freeeeedom!!! I think I can make it ;)

The only downer is it is supossed to rain all weekend. I guess this isn't so bad, as I really can't do much with Reno right now anyways. I am going to up to see him on Saturday and will just have to spend time loving on him at the barn. Hopefully that will be some good bonding time for us. It is hard to have him at training when I have only had him for a week. Necessary evil I guess.

I am going to go "stop by" the tack shop today and spend a little bit of cash. I have somehow misplaced my grooming kit and need to buy all new brushes, etc. It will be a good excuse to get some new stuff. Not like I need one, but it will make me feel better about it :)

JW (the bf) made the mistake this morning of commenting about my trip out of town "again" this weekend. Not a good sign lol. Is it wrong that I don't feel in the least bit guilty for putting him second behind the horse? Most of the time he doesn't mind at all. He is also very independent and rarely says anything about my various extra activities. I told him I would make some quality time for him on Sunday and hopefully that will suffice. I am hoping to drag him out one weekend to meet Reno so that my boys can bond and maybe that will keep the peace. The things we do for our horses :)

First Day of "School"

2010-04-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you to everyone for all the congratulations :) It has been so fun to have everyone be so supportive of Reno and now I am very excited to continue sharing his progress as he develops.

A big thank you also to Rachel for all the lovely photos. She has been an AMAZING aunt and sends me pictures daily of my boy :) She pretty much rocks!

Looks like Reno is adapting very well to his new home. Rachel's horse Granite is doing a good job showing his cousin the ropes and even got him to venture into the woods. I think Reno was a teensy bit sheltered at his previous home, so being in with the boys will be good for him and hopefully will let him work off some of that baby energy. Although he will be 4 in July, he acts more like a 2 year old. I also think he might have a slight case of horsey A.D.D. Like mother like son I guess.. :)

Reno has apparently been deemed primary play toy for Becky's horse Vino. Although Reno loves to play, Vino doesn't seem to get the hint that sometimes he needs a break. Vino protests these breaks by constantly pestering poor Reno. Note exapserated expression...

Becky worked with Reno today from the ground, getting him used to the tack and her methods. Rachel was watching them for a few minutes during this lesson and apparently Reno decided it was an opportune time to roll, saddle and all. Whoops...

I did get an email from Becky this evening saying that I defintely made the "right choice" picking Reno and that she had a great time working with him this afternoon. She assured me he was going to be a great ride and was in love with his personality. Looks like he is getting a good report card so far :)

Bringing Home Baby

2010-04-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

It was a SUPER weekend!!! Friday I got to stay in and have some much needed quality time with my school books. Only 3 more weeks left.... Thank goodness!!! Saturday I got up nice and early and headed down to Williamston to watch Rachel's 4-H judging team compete and spend some time with my bestest on her birthday. The judging was super fun to watch. I was so impressed with those kids! They did a much better job than I would have done, especially with all the different classes. Rachel's parents came up for the day and we went out and had a super delicious southern lunch (mmmmm fried chicken, okra, and corn nuggets... yes, corn nuggets). I love getting to spend time with the Rachel's parents, as I am their "other" daughter :) Good thing they still claim me, as I probably almost ate them out of house and home as a teenager. Ahh some things never change..

We went back to Greensboro Saturday night and Rach game me my "baby" gift. She got a SUPER CUTE dressage pad with Reno on one side and Eva on the other! It came complete with a "mom to be" button, which I got to sport on Sunday. We were exhauste so went to bed early and then got up pretty early on Sunday. After a beautiful run and breakfast at Panera, we headed over to the farm to meet the BO, Becky, and her husband. We got everything loaded in the trailer and headed out to pick up Reno. I was a bundle of nerves most of the way there. I think I was just nervous and anxious and excited all at the same time.

We arrived at Reno's farm and he was looking quite spiffy and ready to go. CB, his owner, had a whole packet of stuff ready for me to take. She even made him a container of peppermints to go, as well as gave me the rest of his coat supplement :) I got Reno wrapped and let Becky load him in the trailer. He had never been on a step up trailer or a slant load, but loaded on the second try and stood with no problems. I feel that this is defintely a good sign of things to come.

We made the short drive back and Reno barely moved the whole way, which was good for my nerves. Becky unloaded him and I took him around and introduced him to his new farm. He was very curious, big eyes and blowing everywhere but he was willing to take everything in stride. He was a BIG fan of the nice green grass, which means he will have to be on limited turn out for a while until he gets used to it. He did think the drain was going to eat him, but a few walks back and forth over it and he was fine.

After I got all his shipping gear off, we decided to turn him out with the "boys". Reno and Granite became fast friends and spent the rest of the afternoon racing aroudn the pasture with the two other geldings, exploring the woods, and getting to know each other. I was SOOO happy to see him settle in so well and he seemed very content. I had to come back to Raleigh last night (sad face) but Becky sent me a nice email this morning that said he was doing great this morning. Aunt Rachel checked on him this afternoon and gave him peppermints. He is going to be one VERY spoiled boy :)

blogger relations (we are people too!)

2010-04-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

A big focus of the public relations world lately is building better blogger relations. PR professionals are now targeting bloggers and pitching story ideas as a means of reaching a larger public.

I found some great tips to help foster blogger relations on Media Bullseye:

1). focus on the relationship, not the individual story

2). bloggers are people too! aka, they do not work for you so value their time/input

3). comment, comment, comment. (we know this works, as we tend to build relationships with people who interact with our blogs)

4). be a blogger too. bloggers are more likely to interact with other bloggers.

Although I have never been approached by an organization to write a blog about what they do, I think it is a very interesting idea. Especially on those weeks when not much happens in my world and I could use a good story idea. My dream story pitch would probably be from a Dover or State Line Tack. I would love to write a zippy article about re-entering the showing world and all the great new products I would love to have at an affordable price! Who would be your dream company to write a story for?

I'm getting a horse in 36 hours

2010-04-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

I am so beyond excited I really don't know what to write. I'm currently sitting alone in my apartment trying to concentrate on getting school work done so I can spend all day with Reno on Sunday and it is just not happening. I am a flutter of emotions. Most of them are very, very happy emotions. Some of them are small snipets of terror. Some are just general anxiety. What I probably really need is a Xanax and a nice glass of wine...

I am just trying to remember to breathe. I know that this is one of the most exciting times of my life, but also one of the most anxious. I don't really know how to explain it. I guess I know how adopting a baby might feel (although I know, I know, horses are not children..). I have waited so long for this amazing animal and won't fully beleive he is mine until he gets on the trailer and we bring him home. With that said, it is also a great realization of the responsibility of owning a horse. Financially, emotionally, and the time that it takes are all on me, and that can be a bit daunting. Exciting, but daunting :)

I took some time to reflect about my horse buying journey now that it is at an end. Its funny, because I have totally ended up with everything I WASN'T looking for. My trainer pushed me to look at every TB and WB in the state and then some. I also really wanted a 6-8 year old so I could start working towards competition right away. I initially really wanted a project horse that I could work with for a few years and re-sell for a higher price. And what did I get? A 3 yr old Morgan that has totally captured my heart and found a forever home and I couldn't be happier.

As I am signing the check, I think he is by far the best investment I have ever made.

Wild about WEGS!

2010-04-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, only 161 days to go. Not like I am counting or anything..

As we talked this week about the (somewhat) outdated press release in public relations, I thought I would wander over to the WEGS site and see just how well they are incorporating good PR practices and social media in their promotions campaign. Thankfully, I was not disappointed!

While the site still uses traditional press releases, they do link to phone numbers and additional websites for additional information. For those of you who are not familiar, the "new" model for press releases include lots of tags, pictures, and links to things like RSS feeds, Blogs, Twitter quotes, etc. This model will hopefully allow more people to access pertinent company information through a method that they are familiar with. Not all of us want to take the time to go to the websites and see what is new. Wouldn't life be grand if we got blog updates on the news about our favorite products and brands? I, for one, would be a huge fan!

Good news is, the WEGS site is chock-full of social media outlets. Yes, I admit, I may have done a little salivating at the site. I LOVE their blog, which highlights competitors as they prepare for the competition. I also follow them on Twitter, where they provide up-to-date site information and great ticket deals (for those of us lucky to have gotten them!). They also do a GREAT job of answering event questions and interacting with their public on their Facebook page.

Overall social media score: A+

Shipping up and moving out

2010-04-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Or so it seems! I made some time this morning to go through our storage closet and finally get all my assorted tack and trunks out into the open air. My roommate will probably be grateful, as the stench of horse/manure pretty much has taken over everything in the storage closet. I don't think it smells bad at all, but when I tried to suggest this she looked at me like I was nuts. Guess I probably shouldn't mention to her that I HAD to wash my standing wraps, quilts, and shipping boots today and used our washer... Normally I try and respect the fact that non-horsey individuals probably dont like walking around with shavings, hay, and horse hair attached to their clothes and take my horse lanundry to a commercial washer. I am super pressed for time this week and didn't have the time to take it there and wait, so I caved and used the washer in the apartment. It IS my washer, so I figure she can't be but so mad...

I also discovered that I have 3 brand new sets of leather reins, which made me very happy! With a young horse, they normally go pretty quickly... I need to see if my beatuiful new bridle even fits Reno. I got it for my last horse, and Reno has a much slimer face so I am thinking it may not fit. Which is fine, as I have a schooling bridle that will most likely fit. I just hate that I will probably have to sell it and I think I rode in it once!

I dragged my medical kit out and assessed what needs to be updated/replaced. Looks like the only items I am low on are vet wrap, guaze, and hydrogen peroxide, so not a whole lot to replace. My mom made the kit for me last year as a surprise, and it has been a great to have around.

I stuffed most everything in 2 trunks that I think I will need. Some things I decided had seen better days and got rid of. Saddle pads are something I feel that should be replaced, considering they are like $15.00 at Dover. I had some interesting ones! This one is my favorite:

I mean, really, what was I thinking?

Fingers crossed I remember to bring everything on Sunday (I was that girl at the show who forgot important things, i.e. girth, saddle pad, etc). Whew, only 5 more days :)

Get your race info via... Twitter?

2010-04-11T13:06:00.001-07:00

Looks like the horse community has once again tapped into the powerful sphere of social media. Keenland racetrack recently opened for the season and debuted advances in betting to a near capacity crowd.

As a means of attracting younger race patrons to bet during the races, several social media tools have been incorporated in the operations of the racecourse. Racegoers can get up-to-date information from the paddock on each horse via Twitter, as well as participate in live chats following the conclusion of the race.

I expect this will become a very popular mechanism, especially with patrons 18-35. If we can get it on our smartphones, its hard to stay away from it. It will be interesting to monitor this trend and see if other racetracks follow suit. Come Derby day, I suspect we will be hearing quite a bit of "twitter" about it!

Source: Rich Miller. "KY horse tracks becoming hip to social media." April 2, 2010. www.14wfie.com

If only I had gotten a mare..

2010-04-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

I could buy these!!

and these...

they have some awesome stuff! Check it out!

media metrics

2010-04-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

In the growing conversation surrounding social media, metrics are all the rage. Users wants to know how "popular" they are, who they are reaching and in what fashion. Metrics can be a great way to determine the impact of your social media efforts and provide indicators on what is working and what is not.

While these tools can be a great way to identify the "who", they are also a great way to identify the "what". A recent blog post on Mark's Cheeky Posterous really highlights the notion of looking at the "thank-you's, not the click throughs". The author comments that although he uses metrics to track readers of his blog, he knows when and how he reaches his readers by their comments.

A great way to examine our own social media impact is by looking to the readers and seeing what kind of posts/topics produce both appreciative comments and invite further discussion. Creating a narrative to accompany analytic data is a great way to provide descriptives about what readers are most interested in or find most useful. Although social media metrics are an invaluable tool, we must also remember to look back at the voices of our publics.

Trainer in the News!

2010-04-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Amanda Miller Atkins is the trainer I have recently started training under in the last few months. Last weekend she attended the SmartPak Equine/USEA 3-Day Event in South Carolina on Connor, a horse that was previously at my old trainer's barn. Connor is an AMAZING horse and has unlimited potential. It seems that Amanda has tapped into that, as they took home FIRST place! For icing on the cake, the pair are featured on the USEA website. Check out the photos and the article!

And the results are in

2010-04-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

First off, I will apologize for my lack of pictures. I brought my camera yesterday (after Rachel's gentle reminders), but when I turned it on it ceased to do anything. I am going to have JW look at it tonight and hopefully it is fixable. If not, I can add it to the long list of electronics I have single-handedly (sp?) destroyed.

Yesterday I got in the car around 12 and drove the 45 minutes west to baby m's barn. The weather here is beautiful (90's!) and if you don't mind the blanket of pollen covering every surface than it is a great time to drive with the windows down :)

I made it there a few minutes before the vet and had a lovely chat with baby m's owner, CB. CB has been a bit cautious about the whole selling ordeal, especially since she really doesn't have to sell him. I felt by the end of the chat though that she was much more comfortable. It is so hard to convince an owner that you are a good horse person, especially when they only meet you a few times. CB really loves this horse, so she just wants to make sure he gets the right home.

The vet arrived and I was very impressed with her. This is not a practice I have used before but after this I will def be using them in the future. She was super professional but also relatable, which I totally appreciate.

We started with taking all of baby m's vitals, which turned out super. He was quite confused and wanted to play with the lead rope the entire time. Naughty, but so cute :)

We then moved it out to the field to lunge him in both directions at the trot and canter. CB lunged him while I stood back with the vet. The vet was very impressed by his free moving shoulders and long stride. I think the words "prettiest morgan I have ever seen" came out of her mouth :) Although baby m wanted to play more than work, we did eventually get him settled down and got a good view of both directions. After this she did a flexion test, which was absolutely hilarious. Baby m totally thought the vet tech wanted to play when they were supposed to be trotting off, so it took a few tries to get all 4 legs done to the vet's satisfaction. The only thing that even raised a tiny issue was that he may need a small adjustment on his left hip, as the muscle is a little frozen. With that said, the vet said that it was not affecting his stride or his work if it didn't happen, so it was up to me. I will probably get him adjusted, as I am a definite believer in the chiro!

After the fun in the field we went to do his eyes and neuro exam. All went well there, although baby m was a bit indignant that someone would dare pull on his royal tail... Lol as you can tell, I have quite a personality on my hands :)

So long story short, vet told me she didn't see any "even slightly pink" flags and that he was a gorgeous horse. Translation: BABY M is MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As my first act as his owner, I got to pay for him to have his teeth floated after the vet exam (slightly less excited when handing over check and realizing I will be eating ramen for the next 4 years of my life). He was very good for the float and I even got 3 baby caps as souvenirs :)

Someone drugged me...

We pick up baby m on the 18th :)

candy overload

2010-04-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

I officially never want to see another peice of Easter candy ever again. I ate waaaaaay to much this weekend and have the equivalent of a sugar hangover this morning. I am combating that with some nice strong coffee and a roll of tums.

Not a whole lot of exciting news to report. Went to JW's parent's house for Easter, as my family is out of the country visiting my sister. We had a great weekend and I got to go to the beach for a few hours on Saturday :).

Tomorrow is V-day!! More commonly known as vetting day :). I am really excited to see what the vet has to say. If all goes according to plan we will be picking baby m up the 17th! It will be hard to get through today knowing that my fate as a horse owner will be decided tomorrow (cue dramatic music). Tonight I am going to make a list of things that I can/can't live with that may come up in the vetting. Hopefully this will help keep me objective. I admit I probably am not as objective as I should be with baby m, but if you met him you would understand why.

So keep fingers crossed for me tomorrow that everything goes well! And hopefully I will have nothing but good things to report and the go-ahead to start shopping for the 20 items I have deemed "necessities" for baby m :)

What are people saying about me?

2010-04-04T04:44:00.000-07:00

As a new blogger, I am always very interested in feedback and what people find most helpful on my blogs. I think the beauty of social media is that you really target your message toward your public and incorporate what they most want to see.

I was interested in tracking visitors to my blog to see how often people were visitng and what posts they were viewing the most. A great article I found on incorportaing counters into a blog: how to track blog visitors.

I also love how a lot of you have reaction choices at the end of each post that encourage the visitor to choose how the felt about that particular post. For those of you who use this, do you find that a lot of people participate?

Social Media and the Equine Job Hunt

2010-04-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

The economy is rough. There is defintely no way of getting around this and how it affects those of us who make a living in the equestrian industry. However, effectively using social media targeted towards the equine industry can greatly increase chances of finding a job and gaining exposure in the community.

Although I doubt that my professional and horse life will ever meet, it will always be my dream to work in an industry I love so much. With that said, I found some great examples of social media sites that I would use to further my equine career.

Equimax= A great blog that highlights current job openings for equine professionals. This site lists a multitude of jobs, from trainers to equine professors!

Equestrian Life- = A social networking site designed specifically for horse enthusiasts. A great site to market yourself as a professional (writer, trainer, rider, etc) and connect to people in the industry.

For riders, trainers, and barn managers, follow EquestrianJobs on Twitter!

Of course, a great way to get noticed is to tailor blogs, tweets, social networking profile to highlight yourself and your services. I know a few training/boarding barns who maintain blogs, allowing potential customers to get a feel of training methods and boarders to keep updates on what is going on at the farm even when they can't be there.

Anyone know of any other great networking sites?

I love the south

2010-04-02T05:26:00.000-07:00

I am currently writing this with a large cup of steaming coffee outside a bagel shop in a tank top and shorts at 8:30 in the morning. Yes it is a holiday, and thus, a day off for me. And yes the weather is amazing. It is supossed to be 89 degrees today. And all that is on my schedule is a trip to the barn to exercise a friend's horse and a much needed pilates class.

ahh this is the life..... :)

baby names

2010-03-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

Finally got the date set for the vetting! With everyone in need of spring shots, etc., this time of year is apparently a super busy one at the vet's office. Luckily I found a vet that I really like. It is not a practice I have used before, but through a (very good) grapevine Rach heard that they were awesome. So far im pretty impressed. I had the most extensive and personal conversation with the vet about my goals and what I wanted to take place at the vetting the other night, which put me at ease. The last horse I vetted (an OTTB I was going to purchase) had a ton of issues (although they were manageable) but it was good practice about going through the process and recognizing what I could live with, etc.

The vet is coming out Tuesday around 1 pm. I just got a call from the dentist that apparently I am supposed to get fillings re-done that day. Dang, looks like I won't be able to make it.... :) A side note- I have an unhealthy fear of the dentist. I am a poster child for sedation dentistry. I know the dental assistant cringes every time she sees my name on her schedule..

I feel like this is all happening so fast! lol it is hard to catch my breath and figure out what needs to be done next. Thankfully B.M. has agreed to take Baby M and put him in training for a month or two. B.M.'s farm is where Rachel keeps Granite, so our two youngsters will get to play together! Only crappy part is its about an hour and 15 minutes from me, so I will have to make the trip once a week or so to visit. I thought about bringing him closer but I really like and trust B.M. and think he will have the best start there. Her place is really quiet and he will get much more of an individualized program there. Plus, he has 2 other babies to play with. What more could a young horse want?

Another twist of fate- B.M. has a new boarder coming in August. She is an eventer. Wanna guess what kind of horse she has? oh yes, a Morgan ;)

And now we get to the real reason of my post. I will finally reveal baby m's name. Well, his barn name anyways. Its "reggie". Feel free to laugh. I did. I am SO NOT a fan. Therefore, I need help brainstorming a new name. I was going to try and keep the "r", just cause he is 4 and I don't want him getting too confused (because u know, he can understand english). So far my favorite is "remy" short for remmington. He is a little sassy, so he needs a little sass in his name. I am WAY open to suggestions so please send some my way!!

What you have been waiting for: BABY MORGAN!!!

2010-03-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting around to writing a nice, long post about my amazing Saturday with Baby Morgan :). So hope your ready ;) I will try to keep it short and sweet.

I woke up very, very early on Saturday and drove to GSO to grab Rachel and we headed down to visit baby m. We got there around 11 and it turned out to be a beautiful day despite being kind of chilly. We met baby m's owner and also the trainer that she had out to work with baby m. This was a VERY nice treat to see him being worked! Gave Rach and I lots of opportunities to see how he dealt with the trainer and compare notes while his owner and trainer were working with him.

One of the nicest things about this was finally getting to see how AWESOME this horse moves. Dressage ring, watch out! He basically floats on air.... ahhh siggh. In love.

KB, the trainer, was super friendly and very informational. This was only the 2nd time she has worked with him, and has not seen him for a month (owner was out of town). She employs a combo of training methods, but most of her ground work was natural horsemanship. I have to say that I am pretty uninformed about the whole NH movement, but definitely see why it is a great method to use in ground work! After KB had worked with him for about 30 minutes she invited me to give it a try and tutored me in a few groundwork exercises. I have a rather awkward and hilarious video of my doing this, but for my own pride I am not posting it.. yet.

Baby M and I successfully completed several exercises. He is such a quick learner and full of personality :) We had a few major bonding moments and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. He has a bit of sass, which I totally appreciate. This is a video of KB working with him. Please ignore the random commentary in the background... :)

(ok blogger is sucking at the moment. I will try to upload again later).

So what now, you ask?

Well, I decided that day that I wanted to vet him. No second thoughts, no hesitations. This is my "dream horse" that I have looked long and hard to find and he has turned out to be everything I was looking for so far. For as much as I have been through and as many horses as I have looked at, I know in my heart this is the right horse for me.

Providing the vetting goes as planned :) I am working to schedule it for sometime next week!

My only potential issue would be that he is a bit cow-hocked in the back. Rach and I have poured over lots and lots of research on this. Tends to be an issue with the breed. It does not affect his movement at all, so we shall see what the vet says. I know it could cause some potential issues with jumping.

With that said, I have somewhat re-aligned my own personal goals. Finding baby morgan has made me remember why I ride in the first place and the kind of partnership I want. If having that means that we can only do lower level, fine with me. Competing is totally a second priority to me. I can always continue forward in dressage, or maybe we will be a super fancy trail riding duo. The future holds many possibilities :)

Post Grad Job Search- Dream Job!

2010-03-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

During one of our lectures this week we talked about searching for jobs after graduation, especially in this economy. One really interesting thing I pulled from this lecture is the idea of "branding" yourself as an individual.

If I was going to pursue my dream job in equine social media, I would totally use this blog as one of my "brands". My dream job would be to work for Phelps Media Group out of Wellington, Florida in Equestrian PR. Yes, there is such a thing :)

I would love to work as an Account Executive specializing in social media campaigns for events, barns, and professional riders. Ahhhhh dream job!!

Unfortunately, I will probably have to settle for something that pays the horsey bills instead. But alas, I can always dream!

Equine Influenza crisis communication

2010-03-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

I ran across this study and thought it would be a great one to bring up in the blog! It is a January 2010 article from the Australian Journal of Emergency Management that deals with the government's response to the outbreak of equine influenza in Australia in 2007/2008. This disease infected over 47,000 horses and cost the Australian horse industry over $1 billion.

DPI was the government agency responsible for handling and controlling the outbreak of the disease. Implementing crisis communication strategies were paramount for DPI because horse owners needed to feel that the disease could be controlled and eradicated. The article finds that DPI's consistent communication through tout the crisis was key in making it an effective campaign.

The beauty of crisis campaigns is that they often force orgs to focus on their key publics and reconnect with those they serve. While this is true, I beleive that a crisis is not always necessary for this to happen. A great example is the horse management series in Guilford County that Rach attended earlier this month. I hope that more counties will follow suit and start reaching out to the horse community and its willing public :)

On another note, this weekend went great! I know you are all dying for an update on how baby morgan went. In one word, FABULOUS. I will work on positng a nice long post with pics and video at some point tonight so be looking for it. Soo many good things to share!

its a c.r.a.z.y. life

2010-03-26T07:08:00.000-07:00

It feels so nice to sit in front of my computer for a few minutes and catch up. This week has been a never-ending circus of academics and work. I only have a little over a month until summer break, so I know the end is near :). I will be soooo ready to be done with grad school!

Tomorrow is BABY MORGAN day!! Whooo hoo. I have been waiting for this for a few weeks and I am mucho excited. I am running out to the boro to grab rach in the morning and then heading out there around 11. We are going to watch baby m's training session, which should be very informational. I will be interested to see how he listens and responds both on the ground and under saddle. Rach and I will go equipped with video and cameras, so I should have some good footage to share when I get back!

Thank goodness I have the most amazing best friend. Rach keeps me organized on trips like these, especially when my life is otherwise a disaster lol. It is so nice to have someone else there that is totally on your side and can be much more objective. Now I just hope I can remember to show up with everything needed... I really need a personal assistant!

i'm baaaaaack!

2010-03-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

I feel as if I am just re-entering the real world, lol. I took the liberty of disconnecting myself from the computer my entire spring break and it has been wonderful! Of course, now I have a week's worth of catching up to do on everyone's blogs! I am excited to hear what has been going on in the world since I exited last Friday ;)

As for me, break was great. I went home from Friday to Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed some family time at the beach. We had beautiful weather over the weekend, and I stuffed myself on fresh seafood (oysters=my favorite food EVER) and beer :)

(A nice walk out on the pier looking over the sound)
I got to spend some long-awaited barn time with Vez as well. He bowed a tendon about 8 months ago and it was flaring up again, so I didn't get to ride. Back to icing and wrapping again, but at least no stall rest. I am not sure he will ever completely heal and get back to where he used to be. He doesn't seem to be in pain though, and that is what I am most worried about. I highly doubt he would mind if he never got tacked up again, lol. He quite enjoys being the resident pasture ornament.

(These boots make life soooo much easier!)

(he has the sweetest eyes)

I ran my half marathon on Sunday, and it was SOOOO much fun. I completed it in just over 2 hours, exceeding my goal of 2 1/2 hours. It was an awesome experience and completely addicting! I am so ready to sign up for my next one. The only downside is I really strained my knee and am having to rest it for the next few weeks. This also includes riding, for at least this week. I was scheduled to have a lesson this morning, but had to push it back to (hopefully) Friday.

Went and looked at a potential horse (not baby M, who we are going to see on Saturday). Totally was not in love. Pics/video looked great, but that did not translate so well to real life. The horse seemed to be really head shy, and kind of hinted at potential ghosts-in-the-closet. It again reminds me why a younger horse sounds better and better every day...

Last bit of gossip and then I think we are caught up... So former trainer and I did not end on a bad not at all, although lots of her clients were upset by the whole ordeal. I sent her a nice long email last week saying thanks for everything, good luck, etc. I am a pretty understanding person, and I know life sometimes takes a different turn. Plus, I did want her to know I really appreciated all her hard work with me. Well, I never heard back from her, which was okay. Then I was doing my usual horse shopping online the other day, and found the mare I was leasing listed for a very reasonable price since she is trying to get rid of her. She is definitely in my price range, so I am really curious to know why former trainer never called to offer her to me, since she knows I am looking for a horse. Further investigation on my part finds out that she has also de-friended me on Facebook. Lol, that sounds a bit lame, but I am totally hurt. I have made every effort to part on good terms and I don't understand why she is acting this way :(. Also, why she wouldn't call me about the horse.... It all seems a crazy mystery to me. I half debated calling her about the mare, but then I feel like there is a reason she didn't call me? Is it even smart to think about looking at a horse that comes with all this baggage?

its finally friday

2010-03-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry this one is kinda rushed, but its Friday and I am t-3 hours away from FREEDOM!!!!! Spring Break officially starts today, and I can't wait. No, I don't have any glamorous plans to go on a cruise or booze it up in a tropical location :( Those days are sadly left far behind in undergrad (lol at least what I can remember of them...). But I am going HOME. And to me, that is just as good as any tropical location. My parents live on the Outer Banks, all of 2 blocks from the ocean. I can't wait to run over to the beach and sink my toes in the sand and just sit and listen to the waves. I swear the sounds and smells of the ocean are magical. Having lived at the beach my entire life until last year (OBX, then Wilmington for college), I have been missing it like crazy. It will do my soul good to have a nice long visit :)

Home also means quality time with my beloved pony, Chevez. He is the furry pony beast that I mentioned in some of my previous posts. I cant wait to jump on him bareback and get some relaxing riding in :) Nothing like a little quality time with my best (horse) friend.

To follow up on my last post, I have found another horse that I am going to go look at sometime in the next week or so. Baby morgan is getting another look in 2 weeks, but I figure that I might as well look at this mare too. She is 3/4 TB, 1/4 draft and SUPER cute right? Grey, 6yrs old, and has done a bit of eventing before. She is located pretty close, so I think its worth it to go out and take a look. Lol it is soooo hard to stop looking...

Anywho, I am off to teach the 10 students that are probably going to show up today. Will post some pics of home/etc this weekend. Have a great FRIDAY :)

Things are looking up :)

2010-03-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me a few days to get this up. It is the week before spring break here, and everyone is all over the place. My students are so restless, and it is beginning to transfer over into all the faculty and staff. Plus, its been in the 60's and 70's here and everyone is ready for a break! Myself included, as midterms are finally in as of today :)

This is a pic of campus. I just love how beautiful NC is in the spring time.

I went out to meet my new trainer yesterday and it went very well! AM is very down to earth, and immediately I felt at ease. She was teaching a lesson when I arrived, so I got a nice taste of how she is with her students. The barn was just my style, big pastures and a relaxed atmosphere. I am not really good at dealing with the whole matching tack trunk, everything labeled kind of atmosphere. While I respect it, I am just naturally more of a laid back person and those types of training barns tend to make me a bit intimidated. Don't get me wrong, the barn is well organized. I just didn't get the sense that I would be in trouble if my saddle wasn't in its exact location, etc.

AM has some SUPER nice horses. I mean SUPER nice. I think I drooled a little... Even her school horses were pretty awesome. Good thing for me, as I will probably be riding them for the next month or so until I bite the bullet and make a purchase. I pitched baby morgan to her and she didn't seem opposed :) Whew...

I so meant to take pictures, but totally forgot once I got there. I have a lesson again in 2 weeks and will make sure to take some then!

It's beginning to look a lot like... SPRING!!!

2010-03-08T08:46:00.001-08:00

Finally!! Two days of 60+ degree weather has me singing a totally different tune. I am soaking up as much of it as I can while it lasts. This weekend was absolutely fantastic! Saturday I got a nice 8 mile run in from my house to JW's and then we made kabobs on the grill for dinner. I got up at 6am on Sunday to head to the Boro to see Rach. Getting to see each other so often is spoiling us I'm afraid ;). Love that I can run up there for a morning and it is no big deal. We eat a yummy breakfast at Panera and set about goal setting. Mine were a bit hard to do without the horse factor. My main focus is getting in the saddle consistently and moving forward with my training.

On that note.... I go to meet my new (potential) trainer tomorrow afternoon :) We had to cancel the other week because of rain, so I am very excited to finally be getting out there. I am eager to make a fresh start at a new barn and get back in the saddle again. I will have to feel out how she feels about breed diversity at her farm.... :)

Back to Sunday. Rach and I then went for a BEAUTIFUL 5 mile jog in an amazing park. It was a great way to start the day. I really love running and am so ready for the 1/2 marathon (2 weeks!). After that we went and played with baby G and I got some great videos of Rach working Granite on the lunge. I also got to sit on my nephew, which was a major milestone in the aunt book. He is so relaxed. I need to see about cloning him...

I came back to Raleigh Sunday afternoon and met my mom for an early dinner, as she was coming through town on her way back home from a conference. It was great to get in some mother/daughter time and I did my best sales pitch on baby morgan. Mom is still really hesitant, as she was really involved in the whole previous horse-buying fiasco. I am trying to convince her that things with this one will (hopefully!) be different, but she is a mother and she worries. This kind of made me nervous as well. It is hard to trust sellers again after an experience like mine. Rach suggested that we bring Becky M, her barn owner and future trainer of baby M, with us when we go out to look at him next time. I think this is a great idea and having the opinion of another trainer will definitely give me peace of mind.

I am going to escape the office this afternoon and log a 6 mile run in the beautiful sunshine. I will update tomorrow about the training session :)

reader reviews

2010-03-06T10:25:00.001-08:00

I am contemplating buying a new saddle (okay, I desperately NEED to buy a new saddle..) and have been doing some serious research. Although I love my old Collegiate, it is time to break down and buy something that is actually comfortable to ride in. I bought my Collegiate with my own money in High School (if that tells you how old it is!), and it has been a great saddle over the years. Unfortunately, it has absolutely no knee supports, and in my old age I am finding that I require this when I ride.

In looking at all the delicious leather designs out there, I have definitely been tracking down reviews for each of the saddles. I find these are a good way to tell what the saddle quality is "really" like. Dover lists their ratings and reviews under each product, which makes them very easy to find. State Line Tack lists ratings, reviews, and invited feedback on their products on each product's description page. For such a large purchase, I find it comforting that these organizations are taking the time to assess customer feedback and provide customers the opportunity to share information with others about the product.

Customer service is such an important part of how we view brands and corporate reputations in this industry. We want to know that these companies are taking our advice in order to make sure that riders and equines are being given quality service. Although most of us do our shopping online, many companies have recognized the need to increase customer service in stores in order to compete with the online market.

An article in the Boston Business Journal highlighted Dover Saddlery's recent restructuring of its company to work towards more in-house sales. The company executives recognized that they needed to work the company's warehouse operations in order to compete with more high-end retailers. It will be interesting to see how this shift in focus changes Dover's products!

Although I will most likely purchase a used saddle, it is nice to get feedback from these sites on the products. I am currently leaning towards getting a dressage saddle. The Collegiate could still function as my jumping saddle for a bit, and I do not currently have a dressage saddle. I would like to find one with an adjustable gullet system, since baby morgan will most likely be still growing in width for the next 2 years or so. Anyone have suggestions on a good dressage saddle?

empty nest syndrome

2010-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

I am experiencing the equivalent of empty nest syndrome. For the first time in a long while, I have no horse to ride, no barn to visit, and no equine bills to pay (this, i might not be so sad about). And I am going crazy lol. Thankfully school is keeping me busy and training for the half marathon, but nothing takes the place of my horses.

This has all boiled down to me obsessing about baby morgan. I have been researching barns (as I will be needing a new place to board), trainers, morgans, training techniques, etc. etc. all specifically designed with baby morgan in mind. I keep looking at what is out there and honestly imo he seems to be one of the top of what I am seeing. I think after I look at him again in a few weeks I will consider going ahead and vetting him and moving forward with everything. That is a lot of "ifs" but definitely a step in the right direction. This is such a big and important decision, and I definitely will not be making it lightly. But I feel like after 6 months of steadily looking I know when it feels "right", and this does.

In other news, its going to be a BEAUTIFUL weekend :) :) Although I should be concentrating on my midterms, I think I am going to sneak out Sunday and go visit Rach. We may go to a Hunter Pace, which would be uber fun. This all depends on if we can scrounge up mounts and a larger trailer. But if not, we will probably spend some time with Granite and then we are determined to sit down and create a list of short and long-term horse goals. Be looking for them sometime next week ;)

Timing is everything

2010-03-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Apparently the horsey gods were trying to send some answers my way...

I was listening to another of my great weekly lectures (again, I can't say enough about how awesome it is to attend class from the comfort of JW"s couch..), which was on wikis this week.

For those of you not entirely familiar with wikis, they are websites where anyone can post and edit content. One of the most popular ones out there is Wikipedia (which actually often has some very factual horse info if you are ever looking something up).

I started poking around for some horse-related wikkis when the clouds opened up and the sun started shinning, music drifted in... you know the whole enlightenment scenario. Earlier today I posted about the whole "barefoot" farrier phenomenon and my lack of understanding in this area. Well during my search I came across an entire wikki devoted to the "barefoot" lifestyle and success stories/management techniques about the movement.

The wikki is called Paddock Paradise and seems to have some really cool stuff. They have a list of barns that are "paddock paradise" friendly, as well as some great challenges/solutions posted by contributors.

Wikki's are kind of cool in the sense that they are like a giant blog everyone can contribute to. It keeps a lot of similar ideas/information in a central place and allows information to change as new ideas are uncovered. A lot of companies use them to collaborate on projects or aid in customer service, so I thought it was neat to come across one that was maintained around a central "theme". Check it out and see what you think!

barefoot?

2010-03-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow Sweet Horse's Breath, there has been much discussion on the subject of barefoot farriers. I know many of you have posted on it, so I am asking for a bit of advice :)

I do not know much about the subject, but would really like to be enlightened. I am from the coast, so unless we were showing heavily my horse always went barefoot and I never had any problems. Around here, EVERYONE shoes their horses since the ground is harder and has some rocky patches.

Baby morgan is currently under the care of a barefoot farrier, and I am wondering if I should keep him barefoot if I get him. How would this work for eventing? I know that Eventing-A-Gogo competes barefoot, but I wonder if anyone else has had any experience/know of anyone who did this as well.

Since it has garnered so much attention, I think it would be worth checking into. I want to make the best decisions possible when it comes to my horse's health, so I am curious about all the options. Anyone have advice on barefoot vs shoes? Good and bad things on both? I welcome any opinions from either side!

A Big Thank YOU!

2010-03-02T13:48:00.001-08:00

Things have definitely gotten back to normal after this weekend. Annnnnd by normal, I mean hectic and crazy :) Tomorrow I have to go get all of my stuff out of my old trainers barn, as my lease on Shelly is up. That should be somewhat awkward, as I haven't seen her since she decided to end her training career. It feels weird to have no contact with her, kind of like I have lost a good friend. Still, I know this is how things have to be and it is a business relationship. Just the nature of the equine world I guess.

It seems really weird not to have anything "horsey" to report! For those of you campaigning for "baby morgan," I am going out to look at him again at the end of the month. His owner has to go out of town for a few weeks and that is the soonest that we could make an appointment. I will make sure to take good video footage/pictures when we go so that everyone can see them and help me assess :) I think that we are going to try and get his trainer to come out so that I can see him being worked under saddle and on the ground. I am trying to remain objective, but I can't help but be pulling for this little guy. I know that I would be very sad if he sold without me getting to fully explore his potential. Until then, I will look at a few things in the area if they come up. I plan to do a "spring cleaning" of all my horse stuff and figure out what I need and what can probably find a new home. Its been a while since some of my stuff got a proper cleaning...

For all of those that gave me the "beautiful blogger" award, THANK YOU :) I have really, really enjoyed both blogging and reading your blogs over the past few months. I will definitely be keeping up this blog after this semester and will use it to document my next adventure with the new pony ;)

7 things that you don't know about me (unless your rachel, cause she knows everything):

1. I lose EVERYTHING, from keys to important documents (ie taxes, licences, wallets, expensive jewelry..). I was known in high school for losing my car keys and I think multiple people have had sets of spares. Poor Rachel was more like a mother to me, keeping up with my various and assorted belongings. My inability to keep track of things really bothers some people (aka the boyfriend, see picture), but most of the time I just laugh and don't let it faze me. I'm pretty sure I would go crazy if I did. It is just part of who I am and I have learned to deal with it and often find it entertaining. 2. I have had 5 cars since I was 16 (now 23). I have also been in many car "incidents". I have driven into the side of a bridge (demise of truck #1), driven into a pond (car #2 actually survived this one), and hit MANY mailboxes/stationary objects (including a tree, a few parked cars, and a VERY expensive Mercedes). Needless to say I don't trust myself to drive the horse trailer....

3. I LOVE to read. ANYTHING. Especially historical novels and Nora Roberts when I am feeling sappy. Nicholas Sparks kind of makes me gag, although I love the movies.

4. If I could be reborn in a different era I would live in Elizabethan England. I am sad to admit that I know entirely too much about this time period... Hey, I am a nerd.

5. I once cooked Easy Mac in the microwave without any water. This resulted in green smoke filling up the entire kitchen and the need for a new microwave.

6. I am almost 6 feet tall, but I often end up with 15 hh horses.

7. My room often looks like a war zone. I basically live at JW's, so I find it a waste of time to hang up my clean clothes when I can make my bed into a closet. Besides, most of the time I am wearing barn clothes or workout attire, so I see no reason why it can't be wrinkled ;)

Thanks again to all of you for the award!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blogs!

Something fun to put in your Ipod!

2010-02-28T13:24:00.001-08:00

Podcasts are audio files that you can download to your MP3 player. I find they are great to listen to while working out because I get into the content and forget about the physical exertion :) Plus, its often the only time I have to listen to informational programs between school and work.

Sooo..... what better programs to listen to on your Ipod than one's relating to all things equine?! I found a GREAT website with some really cool podcasts, ranging from general horsey facts to dressage techniques to WEG information. I have downloaded some of the dressage/eventing podcasts and so far I LOVE them! Another great use of social media to further our equine education ;)

http://www.horseradionetwork.com/shows/

loooong weekend

2010-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a weekend! I was woken up at 7 am on Saturday by a frantic call from my parents saying that an earthquake had hit Chile, where my sister (MC) is currently studying abroad. She was staying with a family near Santiago, which was hit pretty badly from what we could tell. To make matters worse, MC had a few weeks off from school and was backpacking with a friend. My mother and father happened to wake up early to take my youngest sister, Carla, to a horse show and turned on the news and heard about the earthquake. Not exactly the most comforting thing to learn about when your daughter is there!

I was with JW at his parent's house this weekend, so I was trying to talk to them and field all of the calls that were coming in from friends and family. You truly never know how much support you have until something terrible happens. I am lucky to have so many amazing people in my life!

We were finally able to contact MC's host family and they told us that as of Friday she was camping at a national park a bit farther north and they didn't think that area was as affected. This was very good news to hear after almost 15 hours of nothing. We finally received an email from my sister early this morning (cell phones are still out there in places) that she is safe and is currently staying in the office of a national park until the roads have been cleared and they can get back. I was so relieved to hear the news, as you can imagine the scenarios that had been going on in my head during the 36 hours we were without information. It was a very long few days but things are definitely much better and I am so lucky to have such a great family. My sisters (rachel included) mean everything to me!

YouTube can be a scary place

2010-02-24T12:30:00.001-08:00

So I was attempting to look up course material relating to equines on YouTube and let me tell you, DONT ever search for "horse" on that site. In addition to some nice homemade videos I encountered what I can only describe as very disturbing material... I leave it at that.

In my continuing effort to relate all class material to everything equine, I have adapted one of this week's lectures on video sharing. My poor class is probably very tired of hearing me talk aimlessly about horses every week, but they will survive :) I think I caught a few eyes rolling las class...

YouTube has turned out to be a great way to get some free advertising. Different companies generate YouTube attention in different ways. Some post commercials to the site, some encourage customers to post their own videos featuring the product, and some simply don't have to do anything at all!

SmartPak (one of the most amazing products ever in my opinion) posts some of their commercials directly on YouTube for viewers to find. While they are short and to the point, the people at SmartPak have done little to generate comments about their videos or draw attention to them. They would benefit much more by directing people to their site or asking viewers how SmartPak has benefited their horses performance. On a side note, why in the heck did it take so long for SmartPak to be invented? So very thankful that the days of scooping are gone!

Breyer, on the other hand, probably has to do little on YouTube to generate attention. It seems tons of people are gladly willing to make up stories and videos featuring their Breyer horses. This one is pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

oh the weather outside is frightful...

2010-02-24T07:11:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately it's not Christmas :( But don't tell the weatherman that, because apparently NC has decided to become Alaska and they are calling for snow showers again this evening. While it will only be a teeny, tiny bit of snow, it has resulted in rain all day (until tonight) and general doom and gloom weather. This makes going to campus a chore (as I have to walk a mile to my building dodging puddles with heels on) and in general makes life a little less sunny. I am a beach girl and have lived at the beach my entire life until last May when I made the move inland to attend grad school. I therefore do not do cold, snow, or anything that resembles winter weather. I am so ready for the warm months to hurry up and get here so I can soak up some Carolina humidity. Some people think I am crazy, but give me hot and humid any day over this crap :)

And enough of my ranting lol. My complaints about the weather all started because this morning I was supposed to go see some potential ponies and meet the (potential) new trainer. She has a few 3-4 year old warmbloods for sale and I was very excited to meet them/her. It seems the weather is always trying to interfere with my pony shopping (if you remember the other weekend, we were hit with another few inches of snow...). Poor JW (the boyfriend) is very ready for me to find "the one" so that I will stop moping around the apartment. I don't know about anyone else, but when I don't have horses in my life consistently it definitely affects my mood. They are such a part of who I am and what I love that I don't quite feel whole without them. JW doesn't exactly "get it", as I met him during college when I was a bit less active in the horse world. But in his defense he doesn't complain when I spend hours at the barn and gets that I need "me" time. One of the many reasons I love him :)

I have rescheduled today's appointment for next Tuesday and hope that the weather will be clear then. It is midterm week at school, so I have plenty to keep me busy in the interim. I am also going home with JW this weekend to his parent's house to see the family. And by family I mean his entire extended family on both sides... Lucky for me, they are an amazing group of people and I love spending time with them. Still, it can be a bit overwhelming! But the food? AMAZING. The women in his family are all awesome cooks and they are very southern (insert butter, salt, more butter, and sugar into every dish). Will definitely have to hit the gym hard this week before we go :)

netiquette

2010-02-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend :)

It was an amazing 60 degrees here all weekend (the kind of Carolina winter I am used to!). I got a lovely 9 mile run in on Saturday and spent this morning with Rach at the horse show. Days like today make me really wish for a pony of my very own... :)

While following everyone's blogs, the issue of netiuquette seems to pop up every once in a while. A few things that we learned in class that might be pertinent:

1. Always remember to link to others when you mention them (sorry Rach, I mention you to much to link you every time. I'm sure you will forgive me ;)

2. If you read a great post (as so many of yours are!) and your running out the door and don't have time to comment, link to it on Facebook, Twitter, etc to pass it on!

3. If you post a comment, make sure to add a few thoughts of your own or point out additional information that might be of use to the author.

4. You can comment on your own post. Actually, its even cool ;)

5. Post with logic, not emotion (unless, in our cases, its supportive emotion. Hard to keep emotion out of things when we are talking equines).

6. Once you post, remember it is a reflection of your identity. Our posts/blogs is the only way that our fellow bloggers know us, so this is important in maintaining good relationships.

Any others? I would love to have some to bring back to class next week!

TGIF

2010-02-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

Yay for Friday! I am t-minutes 4 hours from being off of campus and off enjoying the BEAUTIFUL 55 degree weather they are calling for today! The predicted increase in temperature has definitely increased my mood. I get very tired of the cold (especially this year!) and can't wait for warm weather. Give me humid Carolina summers any day!

My glamorous desk at my less than glamorous job of being a glorified grader/babysitter for undergraduates :)

I have not gotten as much riding in this week as I would have liked :( I am going out today to ride Shelly and work on lateral movements. Mostly, I need to get my lower leg locked in and work on bending around it, rather than using my hands. Shelly rides completely with legs and seat, which is great practice for me! She has been such a great teacher over the past few months and I will be sad at the end of the month when I stop riding her. I have no idea yet what my(former) trainer's plans are for her yet, as I have not seen her since the craziness of the other week. I hope that she keeps Shelly in work, as this mare loves to do her job.

I am still in contact with baby morgan's owner and am looking to go out sometime in the next 2 weeks and look at him again. I have met a lot of owner's over the course of my shopping adventures, and this woman is probably the most genuine person I have come across. It is great to know that baby morgan comes from a very loving home and has been given nothing but the best of care. Today is his first day back in training and she promises to give me a full report tonight :) She seems to be totally intent on me finding my "right" horse, even if it is not baby morgan. It is nice not to feel any pressure from a seller, and to be allowed to take my time to really make a good decision. Did I also mention that baby morgan has the same birthday as my sister? Fate I tell you.... (not that I am biased or anything...).

Rach is hopefully coming Sunday and we are going to pop over to the local show complex to watch Adult Ammie's :) It is an "A" show, so there should be some good competition. It is so nice to live right next door to the largest show complex in the state! We try to pop over there when we can, just to walk around the grounds and watch some classes. We may be nerds, but it is so fun to live vicariously through others since neither of us are competing at the moment. I love the atmosphere of horse shows and all the work that goes into them :)

have an amazing Friday!

and the morgan mania continues...

2010-02-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

Just a quick link to a very interesting blog post that talks about the suitability of the Morgan to the eventing arena ;)

click me!

baby morgan

2010-02-16T12:43:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, a morgan sporthorse is one of my dream horses. I love the temperament/heart that comes with the breed. They are very versatile, and I have found quite a few who successfully event :)

Over the weekend one of the horses that we looked at was a 15'3 hh, 3 year old morgan. He still has some major filling out to do, but he is adorable. Rachel took a mini video with her ipod and here it is!

Obsessed

2010-02-16T04:09:00.001-08:00

Its 6 am and what am I doing? Feverishly scanning my email and online sites for any new leads to potential mounts. This might not sound so pathetic if I had not left off doing this a mere 6 hours ago....

I need to find a horse soon so that I don't fail out of grad school lol. Horse shopping is a bit addicting! Plus I'm someone who likes to get things done and it bugs my inner self that I have not yet marked this off my to-do list. Must keep reminding myself that patience is a virtue.

On a better note, things are looking up in the trainer department! I just contacted AO, a well respected trainer in the area, and will be taking a trial lesson with her sometime in the next 2 weeks. A couple of friends from my previous trainer have moved over there already and really like her. I am excited to get things going again, but also a little nervous. First rides with trainers always feel like job interviews and can be a bit intimidating. My goal is to work my butt off for the next week tweaking my skills and making sure I'm fit enough to last through a whole lesson ;)

The horse gods must be smiling down on me because I also have received a flood of emails from friends/riding acquaintances about horses they know are for sale. Not that I need anymore to choose from, but these are some nice ones that owners are considering selling way under their listed value. Thank you economy :). I think I have finally narrowed down a few specifics on what I want:

1. A younger horse (3-5). This is for a couple reasons: nicer horse at a lower price, not a lot of history/wear and tear, ability to grow with horse, and a year or so before I would start showing again. Both time and money are tighter while I am in school, and not having a truck to pull a trailer force me to wait a bit to start competing.

2. A brain. I have been on enough crazies to know its a must. Also, one that is trusting. I like to think I can fix every broken pony with some love, but logic argues that is not the smartest approach.

3. Price. I wish this didn't have to be a factor, but until I win the lottery it is. I need to make sure that whatever I buy comes at a price that I can afford and that I can afford to maintain (ex. Training costs, special shoes, etc).

Hopefully over the next week I will have some updates! Now its off to the gym to get started on those fitness goals!
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pa-pa, pa-pa, paparazzi

2010-02-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

yes the title is a reference to the Lady Gaga song ;)

Another topic in this week's lecture was photo sharing. Although we were talking about it in more of an organizational sense, I think that as bloggers we use photo sharing to create a great sense of connection to our readers. From training pictures to silly pics of our equines being themselves, its a great way to put names with a face.

One thing I think is rather interesting is that while pictures of our equines run rampant across our pages, you will rarely find pictures of the owners (unless said equine is under saddle of course!). In some ways I think its nice because it keeps the focus on the horses, while also giving each of us some privacy. I promise to include more photos on my site in the future. I'm hoping that once I get the final selection of ponies narrowed down I can post pictures on here so that everyone can help me pick apart conformation etc.

These photos are also a great way to track the journey of horse and rider. I know many of you stated that you started your blogs so that you would have a written/visual record of the experience. I am hoping that this blog will continue in the same fashion even after this semester.

My sister is currently spending a semester abroad in Chile and I have been tracking her flickr account as a way to share the experience with her and familiarize myself with her surroundings. This has allowed us to connect much better even though we are so far away and I feel that I am experiencing it with her. She takes AMAZING pictures!!!

These are a few from her trip :)

answers from twitter

2010-02-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

hey guys! Hope everyone is having a good weekend and a great Valentine's Day :) I am going out to spend my afternoon with the ponies, as it is finally nice enough to get a good ride in today! JW (the boyfriend) is relieved that he is being released from V-day duties and is happy to pass it off to the horses.

One of our lectures this week dealt with using Twitter. I am starting to learn how to use it, but still find that with all the other social networking/media I use, Twitter normally falls last on the list for me. However, after horse shopping with Rachel yesterday I found a great use for Twitter :)

While shopping we looked at two very different horses that had very different pros/cons. All your tips from the other day on Rachel's blog were very helpful! We spent Friday night coming up with questions and lists of things that I wanted most in a horse and what things I could/could not except. After meeting both horses in person, I still had some questions about confirmation issues with both horses. I started doing some research online, and stumbled across a Twitter forum where people were answering each other's questions. I tweeted my question and got some immediate responses with links to websites and articles that was super helpful! It was a very quick way to get information that I needed without having to spend hours online looking for it :)

Do ya'll use Twitter? If so, who are some good horse people to follow?

back to the drawing board

2010-02-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

This week has been quite event filled, and its only Wednesday... On Monday I traveled up to "the boro" where Rachel lives and went over to see the Gran-man (her soon to be 3 yr. old Hano/TB/QH, whom you probably know if you read her blog ;). It amazes me how much that horse grows in a short amount of time! He is rather gigantic for a baby and continues to impress me with his ground manners and sanity. I am hoping to find a horse half as easy going as Rachel did. I finally got to meet BA, the owner of her barn and future trainer of Granite. She seems like a really solid horsewoman and runs a very solid business. Definitly the kind of barn owner you dream of!

We all went to a horse management class on pre-purchase exams and first-aid and it was absolutely AWESOME. At first I kind of thought it might be a little basic, but once the two vets started talking I was enthralled for the next two hours. Even though I have been around horses for a long time I still learned some great new stuff about dealing with emergencies. For instance, I did not know that if a horse gets a nail in the hoof/foot that you should not pull it out without the vet examining/taking x-rays. Since I took some time off from seriously riding during college, this was a great refresher course on what to expect as an owner. I also learned that I know a lot more about pre-purchase exams than I thought :)

I have managed to drag Rachel with me to go look at two horses on Saturday. Both fit my description of "dream horse" as far as breed, height, temperament, etc., so I am crossing my fingers that they turn out to be promising. Horse shopping is much more fun when I get to share it with someone else (especially when that person is my best friend!). I trust her opinion more than anyone, and she knows me the best as a rider so she will really be able to help me out.

And that is pretty much the end of my good news. On Sunday I posted about my trainer closing down her facility and what I was going to do about my lease on her mare, Shelly. I have decided not to continue leasing her after this month. I feel that my money would be better served in saving for my own horse and I don't want to have to deal with the hassle/cost of finding a new place to board when I am not sure how long I will lease her. This decision was also made in part because I got another email last night from my trainer saying that as of March, she will no longer be training or giving lessons. This was rather out of the blue and a definite blow to me, as she has been an amazing trainer. I will definitely miss her guidance and now must also work on finding a new trainer in addition to the horse. I guess the positives of this are it is a clean start, and there are several good trainers in the area. Still, its hard not to feel a great sense of loss over this latest development.

Decisions, decisions

2010-02-07T18:41:00.001-08:00

First off... GO SAINTS!! Gotta love the superbowl, although I think I eat my weight in wings...

I got some devastating news yesterday from my trainer. It seems for financial and personal reasons she is closing down her training facility (located on her property). She assured us that she will continue to train at IHF, a nearby farm and at her student's locations. This will affect me directly, as I board Shelly there. I feed a few days a week to pay off part of my board, which has been very helpful so that I can continue to save money to put towards my own horse. We have not addressed how this will affect my lease, but I know that will be coming in a few days.

So now I will be faced with a decision: continue to lease her and move her to another facility or end my lease?

I hate this economy...
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V is for vlogging

2010-02-07T09:50:00.001-08:00

In honor of upcoming valentine's day (any holiday that comes with pink and candy is my kinda day), I though I would post a few thoughts about vlogging.

Vlogging is mostly just a fun way to say using videos to communicate your ideas. A lot of bloggers use videos in their blogs, which definitely enhances the connection between blogger and followers. It is a great way to get free riding advice and critiques, as well as display your accomplishments.

One arena I have found vlogging sites like YouTube most helpful is in my infinite quest to find a new horse. Those of you who have also recently purchased a horse can attest to this as well I'm sure! Gone are the days when we had to drive out to farms to get out first look at how a horse moves (thank goodness!). Being able to view videos of potential mounts has been a great advantage when sifting through the mountains of ads.

While this advance in technology is great, I am also aware of its shortcomings. I have seen videos that were of terrible quality and therefore not very helpful. I have also seen videos that were obviously doctored to present a much prettier picture than what the owner was actually selling. Still, it has been a great way to get some initial impressions of these horses and I'm glad I'm shopping in the age of the Internet!
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update on the horse search

2010-02-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

So the horse I was going to look at next week sold on Wednesday night :(. While I am happy for the owner for finding him a good home, I was slightly bummed for me. Thankfully I am not putting all my eggs in one basket and have been looking elsewhere as well. I am not a very patient person by nature when it comes to getting things I want, so this is a lesson in waiting for me. My mother would be so proud....

This is a picture of Vez, who I mentioned before is the love of my life and the most amazing horse I have ever met. He is currently living out a happy retirement as my mom's pleasure horse and spoiled pasture ornament. Sorry for the fuzziness, but hey its winter!

Thanks to the readers!

2010-02-05T07:28:00.001-08:00

First off, I just want to say thank you for those of you who are reading this! I have really enjoyed starting this blog and love getting your comments every week :)

Blogging is something of an addiction I think. Since I have started this blog, I have become an avid follower of most of your blogs and find myself eagerly awaiting the newest posts every day. The stories behind each of your blogs and the challenges that you share with your readers have been so inspiring to me. Reading how each and every one of you are progressing with your own horses has really gotten me itching to buy my next horse and start the process for myself. I think one of the greatest things about these blogs is that I feel like I am connecting with "real" people who share a common love of horses and a common goal. Sometimes I think it is hard to find "real" people in the horse industry, simply due to the nature of how the equine world works. Reading your stories and hearing what you have to share with others in similar situations is one of the most valuable tools that I have come across! My hat is off to you and I hope that I can provide even a smidgen of as valuable information as ya'll do!

I pulled some really valuable information from one of this week's lectures that provides really practical advice for keeping a blog going and continuing to serve your readers out there. It is advice that I will attempt to start incorporating into this blog, so let me know if it's working ;)

1. First impressions are everything- theme blogs appropriately to your audience. I think some blogs that most of us follow that do an excellent job of this are Behind the Bit and one of my favorites, The Jumping Percheron. They both do a great job of incorporating graphics and links/extras that would be relevant to the readers.

2. Mind your language- sounds like something my mother would say.... of course casual is best, and 1st person is so much more personal than 3rd. Although I do like the occasional post from "Tucker" (the horse) in Tucker the Wonderkid!

3. Always bring a gift- my kind of rule ;) always bring insights, tips, ideas, comments, etc that your readers can't find anywhere else.

4. Listen as much as you talk- one I have been struggling with, due to time constraints (I promise to get better!). Respond to comments, etc in a timely manner and engage in what your readers have to say. Green n' Green = Black n' Blue did this nicely the other day.

5. Don't let the flame burn out- I guess this is good advice for any "relationship", whether virtual or personal. Keep things interesting. With unpredictable horses, that's almost never a problem!

Any other good tips? I would love to take some back to class next week to share :)

weather woes

2010-02-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

Soo... its finally starting to melt here!! Unfortunately, it is leaving in its wake a soggy mess that is going to take a while to dry out. Since it is raining today and we have snow/rain in the forecast for this weekend, it might be a while until I get to ride again. Weather like this makes a great argument for an indoor arena. I have never had the luxury of boarding at a facility that has one, but it is on the list of things I would like in the future!

I was scheduled to go try a new horse that I am looking at today, but obviously the weather has inhibited those plans. I have decided to look "casually" for a horse, just kind of seeing what catches my eye on the market right now. I had a terrible experience with the last horse I bought (long story but the horse I tried multiple times was NOT the horse I got when I brought him home....) so I have been looking off and on since July. Initially, I thought looking for another horse would be a fun and exciting process that would help me gain back my confidence and get me excited about owning a horse again. While it did do wonders with my confidence (previously mentioned horse = broken bones), looking for another horse was not at all what I expected!

Not only does it take up a ton of time (which in grad school is pretty hard to come by), but it is sooo expensive driving all over the place and paying a trainer to come for a second opinion. I have the terrible habit of falling in love with everything I see and tend to turn a blind eye to potential problems/red flags. Taking my trainer along with me has really been an educational experience in what to look for when trying a new horse. It has been well worth every penny I spent in bringing her along, and now I feel that I am much more qualified to look on my own.

I am really excited about trying this new horse, mostly because he has amazing movements and also looks like a bit of a fun project. He is not from the same WB, TB mold that I have been typically looking at, which in my eyes makes him all that much more special. I am a sucker for finding a horse that most people wouldn't consider but turns out to have amazing heart. Sometime this week I will introduce you to my childhood horse Vez, who came so far from such a humble beginnings. He is really a testament to the value that heart/personality has when finding a partner. I have been looking for that same connection for a long time and hoping that I will find it soon!

thoughts on blogging

2010-01-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy week, so I apologize for my absence. School has really started to pick up and then we had a snowstorm this weekend and got around 6-7 inches of snow! For us southerners, this is a very big deal and has everyone operating in a state of emergency. Thankfully the horses have adapted and are very much enjoying the white stuff :)

Our lecture this week mainly focused on ethics. As bloggers, we deal with ethical issues all the time concerning material, links, etc. In the horse community, I think ethics are one of the major concerns when it comes to putting your thoughts and ideas out there for others. The nature of our business relies heavily on taking suggestions and input from others and trusting that this information comes from a credible source.

When we look at product reviews for things like saddles, feed, and supplements, we want to know that the person writing about the product is an actual consumer and not in any way affiliated with the brand. This way, we can get a real consumer's view of the worth of the product. A lot of the blogs that I follow give product reviews and training advice and I know that I look to them for good and accurate information.

I think that this is a really important issue to cover because of the nature of the impact that false/unethical information can have on us. Our horses are most often our top priority, and they can be significantly affected in both positive and negative ways by the products we use and the training tips we try. Although I have not had any personal experience with unethical blogging behavior, I have heard of several people who have. What checks do we put on each other to make sure that we are accountable for our content? Has anyone ever had a bad experience with a blog?

right side of the law

2010-01-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

Started off this morning with a great ride, although it has dipped back into the 40's here (it was 62 yesterday... gotta love the south!!!). Today was my first official ride on Shelly, a mare that I am now leasing from my trainer. She is a 10 year old, 16h TB that was my trainer's main eventer up until last July when she bowed a tendon on the cross-country course. Fortunately for me, my trainer has other prospects to work with and gave me the chance to lease Shelly while I am looking for another horse (a never ending process it seems). It was a great ride, although by the end of it my legs were threatening to fall off and Shelly looked like she had merely been out for a pleasure ride... So much for my pride lol.

Amidst signing the necessary boarding and leasing contracts, it occurred to me how many contracts I have signed over the last year. As horse owners, we often have to sign contracts for boarding, liability wavers to ride on property, etc. While looking for a horse, I have signed what feels like a million wavers, trial contracts, and boarding agreements in the last year. Sadly, I must admit that I had always been more of a scanner than an in-depth reader when it came to these documents. A terrible practice, but I am sure it is one that occurs on a daily basis. Over the last year, I have become much more of a critical consumer when it comes to putting my name on the dotted line.

Some tips that I have found most helpful when drafting or editing a contract are as follows:

1. Always, always, always make sure to put down exactly what you would like to take place in case of an emergency when signing a boarding agreement. It has been my experience that not all boarding agreements ask for this, so it is up to the owner to make sure that it is included. I make sure to include what vet to call and what I would agree to if a decision needed to be made without my presence (I have previously set price limits, which can be most helpful in determining whether to preform things like colic surgery). Another good reason for doing this is so that you have somewhat of a predetermined plan. Emergencies can be very tense and stressful situations and often it is difficult to make rational decisions.

2. When drafting a leasing/trial agreement, I always ask the owner to spell out exactly what I would be liable for if an injury occurred. If you have a horse that may have some past issues, I would ask the owner to take care of any medical expenses resulting from previous injuries/conditions. Also, a plan of what to do in case of major medical issues (i.e. colic surgery, etc). I know that I normally tell the owner straight out what I can afford, and that way we can make a plan accordingly.

3. If you have kind of a less than amazing boarding situation (which unfortunately I am sure we have all had at one time or another..), I would discuss who exactly is allowed to handle your horse. This is probably only necessary if you are at a full service boarding facility. This may protect you from having anyone who is unfamiliar with horses or the facility to handle your horse, which could result in injury to horse or handler.

For more equine legal advice, here are some awesome articles:

click here

food for thought

2010-01-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

So while listening to one of my online lectures (one of the many thrills of going to school at a tech-savvy place), I really connected with a piece on public relations and their responsibility to those they serve. One of the main models of public relations is the two-way symmetrical model. Without getting all academic, this concept basically means that companies strive to create a dialogue between themselves and consumers that is mutually beneficial. As avid consumers in the horse industry, we look to companies that supply us with our basic horse needs to create this relationship and maintain it.

One relationship that came to my mind was one that feed companies must build with customers. I know we have all had our share of battles with finding the right feed, supplements, etc to keep our horses happy and healthy (I am an absolute believer that good food is worth the price!!!). Once found, we become extremely loyal customers and rely on companies such as Nutrena and Blue Seal to continue to produce products that are both consistent and nutritionally sound. I did a bit of research on Nutrena and came across their Facebook page, which is definitely worth checking out! One great thing I found is the ways in which they seek to interact with their customers. Many people posted feed related questions daily and were answered by other "Friends" visiting the site. Nutrena also posted several "tell your feed stories" that invited users to share their story with others. One that I thought was awesome was a post on Friday that invited readers to share their stories about rescuing a horse. Many readers responded and had very heartfelt stories! This is a great way for owners to connect with the brand and feel that their input is being heard. After all, we are the "test market" for feed companies and its their job to continue to assess feedback. I saw one individual who posted about a problem with the feed and received an immediate response from Nutrena about the issue. This is a great example of the two-way symmetrical model of PR and how it should work effectively in our community. It definitely gives me a piece of mind to know that my opinions and issues are being heard and answered by a company with whom I place a lot of trust!

check them out!

welcome!!

2010-01-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

My name is Eva Hardy and welcome to my blog :) I am a graduate student in North Carolina and was asked to begin blogging for a social media class that I am taking. As I was contemplating a good concept for this blog, I kept coming back to the same topic: horses. For those of you equestrians out there, you know as well as I do that these lovable four legged creatures infiltrate every aspect of our lives, whether we intend for them to or not. As I started thinking about how to incorporate all that is equine into my blog, I began to notice how much the horse world has been changed by the use of social media. From reading horse blogs to ordering supplies online, the Internet has definitely changed the way that we communicate and conduct our business. No longer are trainer's reputations strictly word of mouth or are we restricted to buying products that the local tack shop carries. We now have a wealth of resources and tools to facilitate our passion and create a community of like-minded individuals. I hope that over the course of this semester (and beyond) you enjoy reading this blog and getting to know me :)