The first 'barn' cats...

Horse update in a minute, but first I want to take a minute to write a personal update.

On my way to my last final exam of the semester, I walked my usual route through the classroom buildings.  I passed a bush and had to do a double-take.  Sure enough, there were kittens hanging out in the middle of the mulch, looking around, being kittens.  I walked towards them and they scattered.  I was really puzzled, looked around for a few minutes and saw them again.  I called my friend Dom (who seems to be the go-to for most things!) and asked her if she had a place I could put a few kittens.  She said I could probably bring them in to the clinic/shelter she works with, if I could catch them.  I went off to take my final, wondering if kittens would still be there by the time I finished.

After the exam, I gathered a few other friends and a big paper box and started searching through bushes.  An hour after we started, the search party dwindled to myself and Jason.  At one point, once we combed through the entire section of bushes, Jason was convinced the kittens had been moved.  Just as we were about to give up, we found a hole in the ground.  Both of us were afraid to just reach in, expecting it to be anything but a hole of kittens, so I put my ultra-tough phone to the test and snapped a few pictures.

In one of the pictures, we saw a little black and white face staring right into the camera.  Bingo, kitten hole.  To lure them out, we put out some tuna, and soon Jason and I had two frightened kittens hanging out in a rubbermaid container back in my room.  The black and white kitten, once caught, seemed to accept her fate and completely calmed down.  The gray, however, decided to try and fight his way out of everything.  First, the box.  Then, the bathtub.  Then, the rubbermaid container.  He looked damned cute doing it, though, and so I named him Liam Neeson.  Jason named the little girl Parmesan, and thus lost all future naming rights to anything.


We've had them for a little over a week now, and while the plan had been to find them homes, it's looking more and more like Jason and I now have two kittens.  Do we need two kittens?  Absolutely not.  Should we have two kittens?  Probably not.  But we are in the process of finagling and working to be able to keep them in our apartment next year.

In the meantime, we got the kittens fixed and up to date on their shots, plus we got them dewormed.  They've gotten a bath and are now fattening up on top of the line dry and wet food, and have a ton of toys and scratchers to play with.  They are becoming very social, and allowing us to clip their nails and fuss with them in general.

Liam is still very protective of his sister, who is much smaller than he is.  He always allows her to eat first, and when we have her out of their area, he chirps and cries to her.  He's getting better, but for the first few days he'd always sleep with his paws around her, like the little tough kitten that he thinks he is.


I really had no intention of keeping them, but they are such good kittens and such gorgeous kittens that it is going to be hard to let them go to another home.  I do really hope we are able to keep them.

  

Shopping for Shows...

Lynn and I are heading up to Dover tomorrow to take advantage of their spring sales.  I know I need to get fly spray, but in terms of horsey supplies, I'm pretty much set.

However, for the first time in a year, it looks like I'm actually going to be showing Gali this season.  We've travelled a bumpy road over the past 12 months, but I think we will be ready in a few more weeks.

This, of course, calls for new show clothes.  My horsey collection might be overflowing with things that Gali will surely never need, but my rider's attire is certainly lacking.  The boots that I showed him in previously have pretty much fallen apart (that's what I get for buying $55 boots... oh well, got my money's worth out of them, honestly), so I'm gonna need some new boots.  Toll Booth just got some very nice ones in...

I only own breeches that are either tan, or tye dye.  If I'm going to pull off the dressage look, I really ought to pick up a pair of white full seats, no?

These reins, or fully black ones?

I have a show shirt - it's short sleeve and white, but it's also a hot, sticky poly blend fabric, so I might as well pick up a performance fabric if I'm going to make showing a positive experience.  Right?

Stock tie?  Stock pin?  I don't have either of those, but I'm gonna need them!  I think I'll try to make my own stock pin, it doesn't seem that difficult and I'd love to find beads that match his bridle.

Oh, I don't have a show coat.  Guess I should add that to the list. 

Gloves, too.

At least I have a helmet to wear!

Now, I just need to figure out what I'm going to do about Gali's colors.  My stirrup pads are blue, and his bridle and reins are blue.  Should I swap out his blue rubber reins for a pair of black web ones that I have lying around?  Or should I commit to the color, since all of my riding attire is classic?  Should I do a white pad with black piping, or look for a white pad with light blue piping?

Buddies and Bits, Oh My.

I had my first lesson at the new farm on Saturday.  I tacked Gali up with just a little bit of pony anxiety, and when I brought him down to the ring he seemed to be settling just fine.  Then, the pony who was out there walked back to the barn, and once again Gali lost his head.  It took five or six circles to get him into the round pen (from about twenty meters away) and once he was inside, it took another five minutes just to get the lunge line over his poll and attached to the bit.  Once he was hooked up, I asked him to walk off, and he took off and ran like a lunatic.  When Nicole came down to teach, he was still running.  She took him from me and worked on getting him to focus on her and soften at his poll.  I got on (after he dragged me away from the mounting block a few times, completely ignoring everything I've ever taught him) and he again tried to leave.  By this time, another mare was working in the next ring, and I could feel him exhale as he realized he wasn't alone.  He still was not focusing on me at all, so we worked through it with a lot of poll softening exercises and changes of direction to keep his mind busy.  He finally did relax, and was a lot better at the trot and canter than he was at the walk.  By the end of the lesson I was really working to uncurl him, because he seems to think the solution is to tuck his head to his chest and leave.  We got a good amount of stretchy circle in each direction at the trot, and did quite a bit of on the buckle canter in each direction to try to get him to relax and get out of giraffe mode.  It honestly wasn't a good ride, but it was a great time to have a trainer there helping me get through all of his stupidity.

Sunday was much better.  I brought him in with Acorn, and Nicole tacked up the pony while I got Gali ready.  Since he had his buddy with him, Gali started off completely relaxed.  I even had him stand at the mounting block for a few minutes to refresh his training, and he stood like a perfect gentleman.  Once I was on, he wanted to get right to work and we did.  He was quiet and stretching through the walk, trot, and canter (and even gave me a few walk to canters!) in his good direction, and not being a total idiot in his bad direction, so I called it quits and decided to just walk him around after about 20 minutes of work.  While he was relaxing, I brought him into the round pen, to teach him that it ISN'T the pen of doom.  He was extremely stressed out the whole time we were there, but as soon as he relaxed even a little bit, I let our walking session end.  I was so proud of him, and it was a complete 180 from Saturday.

I do have an interesting dilemma, though, about bitting.  Since I've owned him, Gali has been happiest in a Dr. Bristol Eggbutt.  I've tried him in two different French links and one round-link, and all three were okay, but he was constantly fussing with them.  He absolutely hates single-jointed mouthpieces.  He's (very) recently begun to fuss with the Dr. B, and I wanted to try him in a full cheek, so there would be more stability in his mouth.

And... Erin informed me that as of 2012, Dr. Bristol bits are illegal for dressage.

Well, shit.  I have no idea where to start now!  I'll give a full cheek french link a shot because I can find one easily, but if that's a no-go, I'm guessing a baucher would be the next step. I have no idea what mouthpiece to go with.  This is also a terrible time to be trying new bits - I'm not one to try and bit a horse up, and blah blah blah stop a bolting horse with your legs, but when your horse is being a raving, herd-bound lunatic, it's not exactly pleasant to try and figure out if he feels like listening to a new bit.

New Homes

I have a lot to update about, but right now I need to focus on a ten page paper about the British colonial policies affecting the lack of national identity in Sudan and driving a marginalization of non-Arab populations.  So, instead of a few paragraphs about how I almost ate my horse for dinner on Monday, or how amazing Katie was yesterday, or how the two of them are getting along fantastically, here are just a few pictures.

End of the School Year

The last two weeks of a semester, alone, are enough to drive me crazy.

This week, aside from finishing up papers and organizing myself in preparation for finals, I am: moving my horse, working at the labs, organizing events for Rutgers Day/working all day Rutgers Day, going to see Martin Sexton and Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers, and going to my cousins' first communions.

So, my apologies for being absent in the blogosphere!  I have been reading and not commenting, as usual.

I did sneak two rides in last week, and for both of them Gali was a bit of a jerk.  He wasn't focused and he was popping his shoulder and dragging myself (and the other people that rode him) all around the arena.  Both rides finished on solid notes, but it's still frustrating.  I know that he's being bad because he isn't in regular work, but I wish I could explain to him that he WILL be in regular work soon, and that cooperating would be really great.

I'm very excited to move him to his new barn.  I was hoping to find someone who can come out and get some pictures of myself and Gali on the track and in the lake before I'm on the much less scenic new farm, but because we're moving so soon, I think I'm going to just have to deal with handing Jason a camera and hoping I get back from Rutgers Day with enough sunlight for some pictures.

Whirlwind of a Week

I rode on Sunday, and Gali was a good boy.  We just goofed off and got nothing really productive done.  Jason took a bunch of pictures, and I'll throw them at the end of this entry.

My other big news is that I'm moving Gali.  I found a great farm 3.5 miles from my house.  It's a 5 minute drive, and so I'm going to be seeing a LOT more of my horse when finals are over and he moves in.  I was worried that my current barn owner would be upset about me leaving, but telling her (yesterday) went over well, and everything has been left on good terms.  I also found out, yesterday, that I've been accepted to intern for an organization that I've been dying to get involved with.  It's in Brooklyn, though, so I've got to work out how I'm going to make that happen.

However, the high mood of yesterday fell terribly when I got a call from Jason shortly after 6 pm.  His father had been in the hospital all week, and we got word that he passed away last night, and we drove back from school.  It's going to be a very tough next few weeks.

Anyway, here are some pictures from my ride on Sunday.

Elbows? What are they?

 More behind the cut:

Birthday Weekend!

Gali turned 16 on Friday.  I don't actually know his birthday, so I've always celebrated on the anniversary of the day I first rode him.  It's been four years now since I've had him, and I've had a slew of great times and a handful terrible times, but through it all, we've come through it together.  I really can't imagine having any horse other than the Galabad, and I lucked out tremendously in finding him.  Enough of the sappiness, enjoy some of the highlights of the past four years:

From top left: Gali and Max grazing at Nouveau; My first ride on Gali; Gali grazing at Holly Tree; Hurricane Prep 101 (it says Come on Irene); Gali and Katie being friends at Been There Farm; Gali running with the geese at Nouveau; Gali and I matching on Horse sledding day - photo by Dom; Gali's first day of turnout at Holly Tree; Sledding with Dom and Herbie - photo from Dom

I celebrated his birthday by bringing him out two slices of carrot cake, a bunch of bananas, and a bag of carrots.  He's the horse who eats everything - pickles, chips, cheetos, corn husks, candy, etc - but he would not touch the cake.  He was so upset by it, actually, that he was snorting, backing away from it, and clenching his lips closed just after sniffing it!  No idea why - but he did enjoy his bananas.  As for the cake - I couldn't find a horse in the barn who would give it a try :(

I did make him work, though, and it was my first ride in over a week (yay, midterms!).  I expected a bit of energy, but he surprised me and was very loose and seeking the bit.  At one point, I rode past Lynn and Max and exclaimed "It's like driving a Cadillac!".  He did have some attitude, and kept trying to drag me towards the barn and the gate, but he would listen if I remembered to actually push him away with my leg, instead of trying to pull him around.  Once Max and Lynn left the ring to go do trot sets on the track, Gali got stronger and started giving me a hard time.  We worked through it by riding some square corners, and finished up on some good stretchy trot and two nice walk-to-canter transitions.

On Saturday, plans to ride got interrupted by the lousy weather, and Lynn invited me to explore Ikea in Philadelphia with her.  We had a good time, visited a friend that we don't see nearly enough, and got some fantastic barbeque.  As we split ways, we agreed to meet up at the farm on Sunday.

I woke up early and went to a different farm to ride a lovely little mare (more on that in a few days), and by the time I got out to see Gali, I was exhausted.  He wasn't exactly thrilled to see me, either, and I decided to just hop on bareback and stand in the middle of the ring, relaxing.  After some rest, I got my lunge line and made him work a little, just to let him stretch out and sharpen his verbal cues.  I'm pleased to say that "Ho." gets him from a canter to a halt almost immediately again - something we lose when we don't work on the line for a long time.  Afterwards, we grazed and shedded out our ponies - some quality time to end a pleasant weekend.

"Who you calling a ho?"

 

 

As Good As It Has Been...

First of all, sorry for the lack of blogosphere activity, crazy busy here. I've been reading but not commenting, mostly because I've only had time to read on my phone.

Anyway, big changes coming to Gali and me in the next month, but I'm not going to say more until I know more.

Gali got his feet trimmed early Saturday morning, but I had to head home before I got a chance to ride.  I did get to spend some time grooming him and he's shedding out so nicely.  It makes me happy, because I am fairly certain there will be a time when he doesn't shed out so well and is a cushings horse, and since he's turning 16 this year, every winter that I get a good shed, I appreciate.

I had no time to ride Sunday or Monday before I drove back out to school, and have been swamped with work for school this week, so I don't think I'll have a chance to ride until Friday.  I'm disappointed by the fact that I seem to have no time to ride when I'm at Rutgers, but I know that'll change this summer, and I'll be at the barn nearly every day.

In other news, since I've been at Rutgers I've been looking for ways to stay fit without killing my knees.  When I'm home I have the barn - but here, it seemed I was limited to machines, which give me a good workout but leave me in pain for days afterwards.  Last night I overcame my "I don't know what I'm doing here!" anxiety and swam laps at one of the school's pools, and I've found my solution!  I didn't look too ridiculous among the swimmers, with their fancy caps and fancy not-needing-to-breathe, and really enjoyed the workout.  I'm not sore today, but I am exhausted, and I look forward to swimming more as the weather gets warmer.

Spring Break Reflections

I've come away from my Spring Break with a few revelations.  The first is that if I find a place closer to school that has pasture board and that I can afford, I would move Gali up here with me.  I miss him too much during the school year.  That's a huge "if" though, and I doubt I'll find it.

The second is that he is terribly out of shape for the first time since the summer.  I didn't push him this weekend, but I've got to really revamp my program.  I wanted to show him 4/15 at DVHA's draft show, but I am going to hold off until 5/20, because he is so unfit.

I'm going to do some reading and think about my training program this week, and begin it next week.

A bolt is the cure for every evil.

Alexis, Lynn and I had planned a full barn day yesterday, and it ended up being the best weather we've had all week.  The plan was for Lynn and Alexis to both jump Max a bit, and Alexis and I were going to swap rides on Gali and play dressage pony.  Gali's been very well behaved this week, but I guess expecting him to be good three times in a row was asking a bit much of the pony Gods, as he was strong and avoiding outside aids for both Alexis and myself.  He's certainly been worse, and if this is his new "bad", I'll take it in a heartbeat.

DERP I RIDE A HORSES. DERP.

I really was no help to him yesterday - my paddock boots are out of commission (ahem, Lynn!) and I've been riding in my muck/lake/yard boots - which, while perfect for our swimming adventures earlier in the week, are really not the best to ride in.  They're slippery and lightweight, and I'm used to riding in my sturdier Blundstones and half chaps.  I know it isn't any excuse, and for hacking around and trail riding the lake boots are great, but I do think they contributed to my awful position today.  I had no base of support in my leg, and the instability combined with my natural tendency to be tense when Gali's got attitude, and his tendency to get tense when I'm tense, led to me looking like I really shouldn't be on a horse in the first place.

Gali was happy, though, for the most part.  His favorite thing in the world is jumping, and while he's not allowed to jump regularly because of his ringbone, I can pop him over a crossrail once in a blue moon.  Today, I let him walk over a few as part of his warmup, but I guess he doesn't see the point in crossrails if you don't jump them, because he just walked straight through the second one.

Figures, it would be one of the first days in a long time that I had Jason out to get pictures of my ride.  Oh well, it really illustrated what I need to work on (Sit back, have elbows and GTFO Gali's face, Kim!) when I have days where I get nervous and let myself get in our way.  As Alexis repeated from the ground all ride "Check yourself, before you wreck yourself!"

I hopped on Max for a little while today, too.  He was acting lame and Lynn wanted to see it from the ground instead of his back.  When he was on the forehand he looked worse, and it could be foot soreness.  Lynn's putting front shoes on him this week.  The good news is that when I half halted him, did some transitions and got him back on his hind end, the lameness disappeared and he felt great.  More position failture: I wanted to be off of his back so we could see if it was back soreness that wasn't letting him come through, and I was in a jump saddle.  I was in some awkward combination of half-seat and just a forward riding seat the whole time I was on him.

Getting some good work out of the big dumb.

Alexis rode Gali for the first time since the winter.  She's not a huge fan of him, because he's big and dumb and tends to take off with her.  To her credit, she does get on him and has gotten much better at bringing him back from his canter-bolts, which was something she had trouble with when we boarded together at Nouveau.  Her position has improved tremendously since she started riding at Centenary, and she looked a lot better than me today.  Gali responded appropriately and looked much better for her today than he did for me.

Lynn hopped back on Max and while Alexis coached her over some jumps, I flipped through the pictures Jason was taking and told him that I wanted one series of canter shots where I didn't look awful.  Famous last words.  I hopped back on my horse and walked him over to a spot in the ring that has very good footing and isn't too cluttered with jumps, and decided I'd do one or two more canter circles, try to look like I have been on a horse before, and call it quits.  Gali was getting tired and I wanted to end on a fun note.

Leaving.

I trotted a circle to get myself together a bit, and Gali immediately sucked back and played his "I'm done!" card.  He tossed his head down, threatened bucks, tucked his chin to his chest and braced against my hands.  When I was done laughing at his antics, I sat down and booted him forward.  He went forward.  He grabbed the bit and launched us out of the circle and up past the shed.  I had to laugh at him, though, because his "bolts" have gotten so much less serious in the time that I've owned him.  I did recognize that his fit was an "I'm tired!" protest, and after I made him trot a circle and down to the jumps and back (and he cooperated), I let him be done.

Oops.

Right about this time, Alexis hopped on Max to jump him over some crossrails.  He was a good boy, and because the theme of the day was "Let's not know when to quit", Alexis decided to take Max over an oxer than he dumped Bekka on a few weeks ago.  Alexis took him over a crossrail and cantered back around to the oxer, and the usually-brave Max put on the brakes.  Alexis didn't let him run out, and made him sniff the jump so he would see that there were NO tigers hiding behind the gate, and took him at it again.  Twice more he refused, and she came off both times.  It was the type of "fall" where you just end up over the horse's shoulders and land on your feet, and Max seemed perplexed both times when she was on the ground but still attached to his face.  In the end, she got him over the fence twice, and he leapt it like a deer both times.  It might not have made for the best jumping lesson, but I got some good pictures out of it, and Alexis did a great job sticking with his jumps despite how... well... you see.

More pictures and captions behind the jump.

Taking advanage of the great weather...

Photo-heavy post ahead!

Alexis, Bekka and I drove out today to play with Max, Katie and Galahad.  After a very nice short workout from Gali (that included some more great trot work and a slew of lovely walk-to-canter transitions) and some work from both Katie (who was on-point today) and Max (lazy pony), we took the group around the track.  I cantered Gali on the track for the first time in a while, and he was loving it.  When Bekka and Alexis decided to step it up and go for a gallop, I cooled Gali out and grabbed my camera.  After they raced for a stretch (with Katie solidly annihilating the lazy quarter horse), we put Katie away and untacked the boys, and walked them down for what was just going to be a splash in the lake.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here, but Gali had other ideas and began to throw himself at the bank on the side of the trail.  Bekka and Alexis let the boys have their fun on the bank before taking them into the water.  While I was shooting, they switched horses a few times (because Max was more excited about the water than Gali, at first).  Bekka and Gali had a good conversation about a scary mattress at one point, as well.  Everything is illustrated behind the cut.