My New Beauty!

:Ahhhhhhh: Isn't it beautiful!

After last weeks lesson I realized how much I really wanted a saddle just for dressage. We were trying to do some no stirrup work with a long dressage leg and I was having a hard time in my forward flap doing what she was asking. Plus I have always admired and wanted one. And this spring I plan on Harold and I hitting some dressage shows!

So this is a Cliff Barnsby Anky Van Grunsven saddle. It's been a tad used and abused but has plenty of life left! It has a small hole in one of the knee pads that I will have to deal with eventually. And some cracky leather in places that needs lots of conditioning. But I only spent $200 on it and it came with all the fittings! Stirrups, leathers AND a girth. All things I don't have, so it was great.

I have a dressage saddle pad on order and a dressage bridle. Just need a bit and we are ready to go! It looks like the fad is eggbutt snaffle?

My main horsey goal right now is to make it to some small dressage shows with my boy this spring/summer. That will be SO fun.

Anyway! I've rode in it twice and it's so comfy! It seems to fit my boy good too. The first time I rode him he was super lazy and the second time he was super zoomy haha. So I'll be glad to have a quiet medium ride!

Yesterday was when I rode him second, we went to the pasture dressage arena and he was awesome walking over there and tacking up behind my suburban (where I had my saddle) but after I got on he was so ready to go back to his pasture and friends that I was fighting him constantly. I never got him to relax and listen for long. He never picked his head up much above level and he was never scary or spooky, just always pulling towards the barn and never really softening his mouth and neck. And every time we halted he was trying to walk off again to the barn, which is unlike him.

We did get a little bit of good work before the baby monitor on my waist started letting me know Hailey bug was awake.

I will say it was cool and WINDY so I was proud of how chill my guy was!

Monday I'm back to lessons so will update after!

Pony Play!

As you can see the girls love her and she 

is doing so far! She is very sweet and friendly and lets the kids run up to her, scream and squeal around her, and also lead her around with no problems. I love that she is small enough I don't have to worry constantly about them getting run over or stepped on! Of course they will outgrow her pretty quick but for a first pony she is perfect. And I also have another little one coming up that will keep her busy in a few years!

I don't know much about her except what I heard second hand. She supposedly rides and pulls a cart. I don't know about the cart but she does fine with kids riding her and seems to know about this saddling business pretty good. She's not a big fan of cinching up which could mean she hasn't been rode a lot. To begin with we had to have some pretty firm ground work discussions, she was obviously used to walking on top of whoever was leading her and basically doing whatever she liked. Until I came along! Muahaha. I had a come to Jesus meeting with her (which entailed lots of her trying to run off at the end of the lead rope and even some rearing involved) and ever since she has done better and better each time. 

She MAY be pregnant but I still haven't confirmed that yet. She is pretty fat but it could just be her pony belly. With the holidays and all and the insistent rain I haven't gotten her to the vet. Hopefully this Friday! I'd love to get an ultrasound done on her just to see it for fun, and for the girls to experience it. That'd be so neat to see!! I've seen lots of baby ultrasounds but never a horse!

I bought the girls a Wintec leadline saddle for Christmas and we got to try it out yesterday. The girth the lady sent with it is a tad too long but we made it work. They were both quite timid about riding so they didnt do but a few steps (my oldest  didn't even want to move, lol) so it's fine for right now. They love to lead her around though!

In Harold news! I haven't gotten to ride him much lately. When I get a chance we have been out playing with the pony, lol. But I did get to ride Christmas Eve in our NEW DRESSAGE SADDLE! :Squee!: More to come on that!

I had a lesson FINALLY last Tuesday. It was on Goldie. There were 3 or 4 other girls in there so it was a tad busy. It was fun though! I wore spurs and Goldie was hot to trot! She was so forward and easy to get on the bit. She is very heavy in the hands though and will lean on you with no problem. I was so tired after from her pulling!

No lesson this week but hopefully back on schedule in the new year! 

Until later!

My DIY Dressage Arena and a New Equine!

So it's been a few weeks! I haven't had lessons in THREE weeks almost now, boo. We took of for Thanksgiving week and then the next week it rained. And THIS week it rained. We have been in a drought for months, and now it won't STOP raining. :roll eyes:

Anyway! I haven't got to ride Harold last week, or this week yet. But hope to Thursday or Friday.

The week before finally got my dressage arena up! It was a bit of a pain, but thankfully I had my awesome, handy husband to help me measure it all out and figure out the dimensions. I didn't have enough room for the long arena, but it works well enough!

Hubby pounding in my letters!

Harold super excited about it ;)

Surveying our new domain!

It was so fun! Harold did great, he was looking around a lot, but not spooky. I had a lot more motor with meant our test was nice and forward without me having to push, push! I walked and trotted him around a bit but the husband wanted to go in and watch the Iron Bowl (WAR EAGLE) so I hurried and just went through our test so he could video it for me. It was the first time he had ever done a dressage test in his life, I'm sure! LOL, but he rocked it. We of course are still working on connection and all, but he's getting it! Here we are!

I was so proud of him! His first halt was flipping AMAZING. What a good boy! I haven't got to ride out there again yet but definitely plan on it when I get a chance! All our work has paid off! I'd love to keep working him pretty consistent all winter and be able to start taking lessons at L's in the early spring so we can hit some shows when they start!

And the next exciting news!! WE GOT A PONY! AH! I know! The girls are so excited. Meet Snowy! She is a 10ish cremello mini horse. Who may also be bred. Yeah, I know! BABY MINI HORSE?! Adorable! I will be carting her to the vet soon to see for sure! Being a cremello means she could have a palomino or buckskin! EEE!

The girls are pretty excited! But we shall see how long it lasts, but if she just sits out there and eats hay, that is probably okay, its not like she will eat much!

So she was hanging out in a small pen inside Harold's pasture to get acclimated and all, but this morning I went to check on her and she was LOOSE out in the pasture! LOL. She had been having red marks on her shoulders so I think she has been pushing on the panels and finally got it opened enough where she could escape!

Anyway, they were all completely fine with her and even shared their hay, so we should be good!

Food??

Little, big, lol

Well, hopefully I will have a lesson update next week! Until later!

Lam Bam Woodworking

Well the husband and I have officially started our first business! We called it Lam Bam Woodworking (the Lam and Bam are our initials, ;)

We have sold two stands so far in less then a week! I'm pretty sure we have at least two more sold as well. I have had a ton of positive response on several Facebook horse group pages I've posted it on. And with Christmas time coming up I bet we will get a lot more orders. It's been so fun!

In case anyone is curious we have an Etsy shop here: Lam Bam Woodworking - Etsy

And our Facebook shop here: Lam Bam Woodworking - Facebook

Excited to see how many we are going to sell. And really excited to see how much everyone enjoys them!! I am still loving mine. I finally got the husband to put the bottom in mine and now I just need him to add my bridle hooks and my handles.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Two 'Okay' Rides

Flex boy!

So I did manage to get to ride Thursday and Friday like I hoped! Thursday I got out there a tad later then I liked but we did get a good ride in, although it was dark by the time I was done with feeding and all! 

I think he really has caught on to the vertical flexing and I don't automatically get a brace against the bit each time I ask for it now. There is a awesome place where there are posts stuck in the ground, three on each side about 8 feet apart in two rows, (it was supposed to be support posts for a barn they never built) and we have been using those to weave in and out of, do serpentines, circles around, etc. Friday I even used them as a place to practice our square halts in between. Its a great area!

I have also started using the round pens in the middle as our place to practice our circles at the trot. I have realized I haven't really worked on bending with him at all moving. So I started to really ask for a bit of bend to the inside of our circles around the pens and when we go around the posts. Gotta get him soft and bendy all over!

Now, I usually don't have a bad part of my posts. Like when my perfect pony isn't so perfect. Well today I do, boo.

So the first thing I was not pleased about happened Thursday. I had my oldest (6 year old Chloe) who wanted to come in and brush Harold with me before I tacked up. Well ever since Shelby got attacked by him that time two years ago when he was eating (Still An Animal) I really haven't had the kids near him at all. Chloe picked up a brush and started brushing him at his shoulder/leg and I saw this look come over him and then he made a move towards her like he was going to bite! Sigh. So I quickly made an eh! sound and kinda waved my hand at him and he went back facing forward. I was already standing between his head and shoulder just in case something like this happened. Chloe had no idea what was going on or she would have high tailed it out of there. But I really wanted to know what was wrong with him and see if I could figure out how to fix it. Well he tried one more time and I jerked on his rein and after that he seemed to be fine. We did both sides. I could still see he was a little different than normal though.

I've been thinking about it on and off and I just don't get it. Does he just not like kids?? Has he been abused by them before or something? It's kind of crazy. I never would have thought he would act like that. I haven't seen any of this behavior except while he is eating or being brushed. And this is the first time I've seen it at grooming time.

And to go possibly be related the next day,Friday I was spraying some conditioner in his tail and mane. He was totally fine until I made a move toward his head to spray his forelock and he flipped out - ran to the end of his lead rope, reared up and jumped forward until he finally backed up again and stood there having decided I guess that he couldn't get free. GEENA HORSE. He was completely freaked out about my spraying him in the face. Which apparently means someone has either smacked him around a lot in the face or sprayed him in the face/eyes a lot previously.

He has always been a little weird off and on about his ears, and also bridling lately he has been a bit touchy, but totally fine after the bridle is on.

After this episode I untied him and worked him some more on the lead before tieing him back up and doing some desensitizing with the spray bottle and then my saddle pad. I sprayed him all over around his face but not on his face. Then I took his saddle pad and flapped it all around his head and above his back etc until he was totally chill about it all. I was really sort of trying to get him to have another 'episode' if he was going to and then work him through it. But he never even got close. I guess it was a panic first instinct sort of thing.

And all of this happened after I had worked him quite hard on the line doing lots of ground work and lunging for respect stage 1 and 2. And lots of cantering for a change. So it wasn't like he was fresh.

He did pretty well with all his lunging except for the cantering part. Which is my third thing I wasn't real pleased with. We don't canter a whole lot and it showed out there on the end of his lead. He was all over the place, didn't want to stay cantering, etc. Which it was kind of asking a lot of him to do it out in the middle of the pasture with uneven ground and quite a short line. He did put in a pretty good effort for all those circumstances, really.

I tried the sending exercise with him Friday! He did pretty good although I could see him looking at me like, what is the point of this?? He also did a lot better going to the right then left, not sure if it was something I was doing, or him. Maybe both, lol.

Well thats about all for now.

Two Lessons and Trotting Outside the Round Pen

So first my most exciting news. I got to ride Harold boy again last week Thursday afternoon (which now with the time and season change turns into evening!) And this time we did quite a bit of trotting! It was so fun. And he was a star. We just weaved in and out of all sorts of things and places. Up above you can see the fence line to the right and then a few random trees just inside the fence. That was the right side of our circle and I would follow the back fence line and come up around to the left and go around the red panels on the left of the picture. It has a few small slopes which will be nice to build his hiney. I just wish I could get out there more consistently!

I really need to get out there at least two days a week but it's hard. I already am gone for lessons on Monday, get home too late to ride Tuesday, Wednesday is church, Thursday I try to ride. Friday I try to ride as long as I don't have small group at my house. If I do, I'm usually in cleaning/cooking mode all day and miss the golden hours of Hailey's nap to get out and ride. Saturday I feel guilty if I go out with him because its supposed to be our family day. And Sunday is took up with church and band practice (for church, I play violin in our band). Phew!

Anyway, I'm gonna try my best to ride him Thursday and Fridays. The ride last week he was finally getting the vertical flexion a little more. He's doing really good laterally now. Again I just drug my new saddle stand out and threw his tack on with him standing there. Then used it to mount up. Worked awesome!

So! Last weeks lesson went pretty good! I got to ride Goldie girl. We did just flat work, working on bending and counter bending, pushing them up onto the bit, and did a dressage test (which I bombed, blahh!) It got pretty dark before we were finished and it like scrambled my brain, lol. But we had a pretty solid, good ride.

Last night was a pretty boring lesson overall. There were 3 other girls riding besides me and once again I was on the easiest horse and/or had been taking lessons consistently lately longer then the others. So naturally L was more focused on the other three. I worked on my own a lot with a few pointers from L and we did get to do a bending line of two jumps a few times. It was still fun! I rode Holster this time, who I still haven't unlocked how to get on the bit fully. His mom was lessoning with us and she tried to explain how she does it but I still didn't have much luck. Oh well! We have Thanksgiving break next week and L told us the following week back we will all be swapping up horses. I have a feeling I will be on London. EEP. But I'm excited to be challenged by a new horse. She said we will be going over our preferred dressage test. Which will be Intro B for me. Gotta study up! I really hope to be able to set up a dressage arena to practice it with Harold sometime this week and/or next.

The saddle stand business is still in works. I hope to have my etsy store up and running by the end of the week. I got the other stained it just needs bridle hooks. And the husband is going to make one more that I will be painting white. Hopefully tonight!

With one coat of stain (don't mind the mess, this was in the back room
at the mechanic shop I work at, lol)

I leave you with an adorable picture of my two blondies from last Friday. Chloe girl was out of school for veterans day so we went to mcdonalds for breakfast. Love them!!

Chloe 6, Shelby 3 in Dec

Out of the Round Pen!

Giving him a pat and release for giving me a bit
 of vertical flexion at the walk

On my off day Friday I was obligated to fulfill my wifely duties and clean the house, yada yada. But I had a TEENSY bit of time right before it was time to go pick up my oldest from school to go out and see my pony face. And as you can see from the picture above I got to ride outside the round pen! I thought as I pulled up I really didn't have time to traipse back and forth to the round pen (I had like maybe 35 minutes) so I told myself I was just going to grab my tack and brush and meet him in the pasture. So I bridled him up, gave him a quick brush and threw the saddle on! He just stood there like a good boy of course. And my new saddle stand was a life saver! It kept my saddle off the ground AND I used it for a mounting block! ;)

Some vertical flexion

It was SO MUCH FUN to ride outside of the round pen! We had so much to explore and so much more room to move. I loved having things to maneuver around to practice getting his steering better. I did like the round pen for getting used to him again, and to make me feel safe but I do think we have moved past it and are ready to venture out! The only problem is doing any sort of trot or canter work is going to be hard out there. The footing is far from level or smooth. I'll have to see what I can do to clear some space and maybe mark off an arena of sorts. I have been wanting to set up a small dressage arena to practice Into B in anyway! :)

So here are my goals I'd like to accomplish by the end of November:

1. Giving to the bit laterally.

2. Giving to the bit vertically at a halt.

3. Starting doing more giving to the bit vertically at the walk.

4. Get lighter at all of the above.

5. Have him less inclined to be hunting the barn the whole ride.

6. Riding with more consistent contact.

I'd also love to be able to trailer to my friend A's place to have a playday with her and her horses (she's got a nice pasture/arena to ride in, beautiful barn) but with the holidays not sure that's going to be possible until maybe next year. 

The main issues we have right now are laziness and wandering. He is straight as an arrow going back to the barn but if I'm headed away he is resistant to the bit and weaves and wobbles and tries to turn around unless I'm on him pretty constant. And all of this at a snails pace, lol.

I was so pleased with him and had so much fun just tooling around out there. I did a lot of just standing and working on getting him responding better to both lateral and vertical flexion. He's getting a bit better each time. 

I just remembered I did ride the day before too a tad. I noticed after this ride that in the late afternoon early evening we have worse rides. It wasn't bad per say, just not as good. He is more likely to be harder to get to cooperate and just not as perky. Anyway we had a few good moments and it was another ride, so thats a win!

I wanted to ride this past weekend but didn't get a chance. Hopefully will have time this week, but with daylight saving time ending that means it gets dark pretty fast, so I'm betting I will have to wait until Friday again. 

So last weeks lesson was one of the worse I've had! The one lady I was riding with fell off and I about fell off a few times! It was the day after Halloween...I think it rubbed off on our lesson! LOL.

Anyway I was riding Charlie again. I had a great lesson with him the last time I rode him so I was kind of excited (but a tad nervous also) to ride him again. We did even better I think this lesson then the last, I cantered him for the first time and it went well, and also did quite a few more jumps with him. I also found out that LEG then hand gets him to round to the bit. Duh. Also I had a bit of time to myself with there being two other riders, and I found out if I didn't approach the jump until I had him on the bit and at a good steady pace he jumped AWESOME and quiet. If he didn't feel right we would have an awful, 'pop up jump. Several times after we did a good jump L would yell "he LOVES YOU!!" Lol.

My fav of the night

So we were doing so well she wanted us to do these three jumps in succession. Well we were trotting quite relaxed and well up to our first vertical and BLAM, he refuses. Eh, I kind of just sat there on his neck a moment like what just happened? LOL, he proceeds to do it again until I finally kicked him over it. Then we come around again and he refuses again. Gahh, L was so upset with him, she was saying he was in big trouble! LOL. Well I made him step over it and we tried again and got him to go over. So after that I was sort of nervous thinking about almost going over his shoulder. Plus I was so tired at this point with it being the end of the lesson. But I jumped our good jump really well one more time and called it. Hoping we do better jumping our next time out! Charlie is much more green then the other lesson horses so I have to be better riding him. I'm just not that good at jumping yet!

My riding lessons have been moved to Monday for the time being. An hour earlier so we can beat the dark. I'm hoping I will have no trouble getting out of work early and also passing off the littlest stinker to her daddy. I'll blog about our ride later!

The hubby and I made our first stand to sell yesterday afternoon! We are going to stain it a pretty dark brown. 

My man is so good with his hands! 

Until later!

Saturday Ride (and my husband is awesome!)

All my boys together! <3 td="">

So we had a pretty free and open Saturday for once this last week and after we went to the flea market and had brunch I put Hailey bug down for her nap and went to ride Harold! The hubby was tinkering in his shop for awhile and then came and watched with the older kiddos who were playing in the car while I rode.

I had time to do ground work this ride so we went over all our usual exercises again. He was pretty lazy, even more then usual, that afternoon so I had a difficult time getting him to move his forehand over but he did ok a few times. I had found my string finally for my stick that has been missing for forever and I desensitized him with that a bit. He didn't even flinch! I smacked it as hard as I could on the ground either side of him and in front of him and he couldn't have cared less.

Oh! I forgot I also walked him over something that would probably wig out 80% of horses, lol. Our old above ground pool liner is laying over there in the yard between the round pen and pasture until we can haul it to the dump, and I have been meaning to try and see if he will walk over it. It's striped blue and white, crinkly, all wrinkled and bumpy. And he stopped in front of it and snorted at it a few times and I let him sniff it, then I asked him to walk on and he calmly made his way over it. Hah! 

So after the ground work I saddled him up with his new teal pad (!) and away we went! I had talked to A about how she introduces more connection in the reins with her horses and she said she follows how Clinton Anderson does it, which I had done with Daisy before. You slowly take up contact on each rein one at a time and then plant your hands on your thighs and hold until then give without moving. He got it right off but I made the mistake of letting him back up while he was doing it. Whoops, so it took a bit for him to stop doing that but then he had it pretty good! I will just chip away at it a little each ride!

I could tell he was getting better already with his steering this ride, and we had a few less of the 'I'm gonna stop right here until you make me move' episodes, lol.

Ugh, my leg

So all in all another great ride! I noticed from the video and stills I took that he was'nt moving out quite as well as he was last ride. Not sure why, but might have something to do with me taking up more contact and him not used to that.

Let's back up so I can recap my last lesson since TODAY is my next, lol. Last week I rode Goldie girl again. I was riding with a 17 year old that helps out/works for L who is very sweet. She and I get along great and she is fun to be with. I was glad not to be alone again! She has taken a two year break from riding so was wanting to get back into it again. She loves to jump but hasn't put a whole lot of time into flat work. And did L work us! Gahh. I was sore in my shoulders and back for quite a few days. She had me doing a lot of rounding with Goldie and getting her to go on the bit. We did a serpentine exercise that was fun, going from trot to canter and back. Although I have a horrible time sitting Goldie's canter, gah. I did find that if I had her collected well and slowed down a bit it was easier, of course.

It was getting dark, so the pics are a bit poopy

Back, bleh

Ah! I have an actual posture!

I'm not sure what we will do this lesson! If I had to guess we might do some jumping since she likes to mix it up a bit, which I like! Speaking of lessons, I usually take my own saddle, girth and pad with me. I have a suburban so I have plenty of cargo room in the back, but half the time I have strollers or folding chairs in there too. I could put it in my seating area but with three children and all their stuff that just is not an option. I have been telling the husband I need him to build me a saddle holder in my car for a while now and while he was out building him a shooting house in the shop the other day I came across the prefect one on pinterest!

I quickly rounded up some already painted shelf pieces I never used and had him throw me together a awesome saddle stand to take in and out of my car!

It's going to have a bridle hook on the inside and a bottom also so I can put brushes, etc in there and carry my bridle with me to the round pen or wherever I'm riding. We ran out of time the night we made it plus the paint needed to dry. It will also have a handle on the front so it will be easier to tote around. LOVE IT! And of course I had a can of teal spray paint hanging around that had to be put in use, heh. I'm halfway thinking about marketing the things! I know this is going to be a huge help for me and I bet I'm not the only one. Etsy maybe?? I'll pimp the husbands work out for sure! ;)

Until later!!

Two Rides in One Week, What?!

Actually if you count my lesson I got to ride three times! I know!

So I had a lesson last Tuesday which I blogged about. Then on Thursday I got a 'free' off day (the mother likes to come in once a month to do bills) and after I laid the littlest stinker down for her nap my middle stinker and I went out and played with Harold!

But first! I need to go back to the week before. That Wednesday I had a new farrier out like I said last post. The morning of Shelby and I went out and brushed mister Harold and played with him a bit. I tried on his new saddle and then we went for a short ride around the yard. It was fun!

My great little helper (little red wagon worked great for a stool!)

Princess Elsa on her steed!

She wanted me to ride with her so I hopped up behind and we went for a stroll

Look at all that awful bruising!

So anyway the saddle fits him okay. I will need some sort of correction pad though. A riser, half pad, something. I ride with a riser at L's barn and it seems to work well, I might try to find a cheap used one. It bounces a bit in the back and puts a bit too much pressure on his shoulders.

The gullet is wide enough thankfully though, as you can see the dry hair down his spine. 

Anyway, these pictures above are from the Thursday before last (I've been so slow blogging!)  when I got to ride. It was an AWESOME ride. I was so proud of him. I tried to get Shelby to video for me but it was turned to the selfie side and she didn't know how to swap it, lol. So I got a video of her face! ;) Anyway, I did get my oldest to take a video of our last ride! More on that later.

I tacked him up and did his ground work that way to make sure there was no trouble with the saddle. He was a rock star. Aced all his normal exercises we go through. So on to under saddle work!

So what I really wanted to focus on this ride was getting him used to some more contact on the bit, working on refining his steering, and a steady trot around the pen a few times while I was posting.

And we accomplished these quite well! I also introduced the emergency halt, where I pull the rein around to my hip and yields and stops. He got that pretty good!

Anyway I got to ride again that Monday. I had very limited time so I didn't do any ground work, just tacked him up and went. I could tell our 'connection' wasn't as good as it usually was, and was wondering if the lack of ground work had something to do with it. I believe it did, because I rode him again last Saturday and DID ground work and it was just as good as the ride before. 

Here we go round and round! I'm amazed how he just naturally strides out. Love this boy! He did good going around again at the posting trot, although still a little start/stop as you will see. He also needs more work on steering. He needs to learn that contact with the reins doesn't always mean stop. He's basically a greeny! He just followed a trailer his whole life before me. Knows pretty much nothing about ring work. But he is learning!

I also worked on his yield to halt again, this time adding a leg behind the girth to have him disengage his hindquarters. He was sticky at first but then picked it up pretty good. 

You go boy!

Well thats all for now! Will post next bout my last lesson and another great ride on Mister Harold. And some more 'new' things I've gotten! Until then!