GPC - Like Returning Home!

In high school I was a member of the Groton Pony Club and spent every Thursday in the spring and fall taking lessons at Hazel Grove Park. I showed there, did rallies there, and volunteered to help clean up the facilities in the spring and fall. Needless to say it holds a special little place in my heart, so when I got word that our barn was signing up students for the GPC show you better believe my name was first on that list (and that I was jumping up and down while writing it there).

My goal for this spring was to maybe get JJ out to a dressage show, but throughout the month of April, and with the help of an awesome trainer, we have made some serious progress. So I signed up for the Green division at the GPC 3 phase - WT test with 18'' jumps.

I tacked JJ up at the barn to avoid drama as much as possible. Getting on for dressage was... Interesting, although not too horrible. JJ was a bit of a wound up spring for the warm-up and dressage test and almost every comment from the judge mentioned how tense he was, but we got through it without any major issues and earned a 45.3.

After dressage I untacked to let him relax for about an hour, then tacked and mounted without issue! We had a minor baby defense moment while trying to stand still waiting for stadium, but our stadium and cross-country rounds were absolutely awesome and we came away with a red ribbon!

The Color of Determination

1.9'' short of Boston's snowiest winter on record has some people determined to break the record and survive a record-breaking winter. I like snow and all, but I'm ready for spring.

Last year around this time there was a pretty significant amount of snow too, and I represented my frustration with the following picture:

Last year, that was a tiny bit of an exaggeration. This year, it would be an understatement. In fact, I have the following picture as proof:

Barn, or igloo?

Oh yes, yes it is in fact a barn

So... That metal gate in the front, the lowest part of the fence? Well over four feet high. With these redonkulous amounts of snow riding has been rather limited. I did almost no riding in February (and December and January, but that was due to another matter entirely), but now it's March and I am determined to make some progress!

Last weekend a barn mate and I took a hack to a local indoor for lesson, which also happened to be: A. JJ's first time riding off property (as in, at another facility. We've done plenty of trail rides)

B. JJ's first real ride in over three months

C. JJ's first time in an indoor

D. Our first lesson in well over six months

E. Just all kinds of craziness

We arrived early in order to have plenty of warm-up time (i.e. JJ chillax time). After a few minutes I started to realize what I was seeing from JJ: the exact same behavior he displayed when I first started riding him last March. Anxious, nervous, energy. The desperate need to DO something. So, while I hand-walked him around the indoor to let him check it out, he acted like a classic jumping bean. Another horse cantered around the ring and JJ attempted to join the "race" each time he passed. If I asked him to stand still, he pawed, danced, or kicked out with a back leg. The desperate need for a job. As soon as I hopped on (which was a challenge in and of itself, given his inability to stand still in his new surroundings), he began to settle almost immediately. I kept his mind busy: change of direction, change of gate, little leg-yielding, and he listened like a dream. By this time, though, the lesson was over. Ha!

So, now I'm determined to get JJ really going for this season. How? Where can I ride? Well, it turns out that very close to the barn there's loads of space plowed for free - ROADS! Not ideal, but it's a start. My current "workout" looks like this:

I learned a very valuable lesson today:
Sometimes monsters disguise themselves as empty trash cans.

Another lesson tomorrow - we'll see what happens!

Quick Update

Alright friends, the weather has been total crap lately so I'll make this one quick.

Another cute video of JJ trying (failing) to make friends:

Pulled all of JJ's shoes last week for the winter, since the ground is as soft as it probably ever will be, and I can't do much riding anyway. He was a little bit like "WTF" for the first few days, but he actually seems alright now. And the best part? He's actuallyTHINKING about where his feet are landing!! For anyone who has seen JJ try to trot around a ring, you'll understand how incredibly AWESOME this is!! Normally, or, in the past anyway, JJ would just throw his feet and hope they landed somewhere. As you might imagine, this often ended with a major stumble for JJ and a healthy dose of whiplash for me. I've ridden him twice since he's had his shoes off and he's been SO good. Very exciting.

He's been wonky on the trails out by himself lately (have I mentioned this already?). Anyway he got into this habit of just kind of stopping, spinning, and bolting towards home. So, I started handwalking him all over creation. Up and down the long dirt road across the street, down the street to Pipestave, letting him graze in fields, etc. What a sight we must be, me decked to the nines in orange hand walking a giant horse like someone might walk a dog... Except not. Cool.

Yep.. That's it. Enjoy the video!

New Friends and Field Trips

Aside from trail riding I've got a few other current projects happening at the barn.

For one, I've taken on trailer lessons. Trailer lessons are both for myself and for JJ: I'm learning to hook up and drive the trailer, and JJ is learning to deal with it :) This week we took JJ for a field trip over to the Pipestave grounds - his first real field trip! He loaded very easily on the property, pawed the entire way to Pipestave, pawed while we made him stand on the trailer for a few minutes, and then unloaded very nicely. After a quick look around he went straight for the grass. He munched happily. Five horses (and as many dogs) came galloping towards us, and he munched happily. Those horses and dogs ran away, and he munched happily. Walkers came by with their dogs, and he munched happily. And so, after about 20 minutes of this, we attempted the reload. JJ very calmly walked halfway on the trailer several times before committing to loading. Even when he was all the way on the trailer I allowed him to back out a few times before lifting the ramp and locking him in. Then came the pawing, all the way home.

JJ's been making new friends at the barn too. The video here shows a friend... Maybe I'll say the friend he is most "fascinated" by... Anyway you'll have to watch the video to see what the means :)

We also recently began turning JJ out in the big paddock with four other (older) geldings. He started by travelling all around the paddock and checking everything out, then decided to meet his soon-to-be friends (or so he thought). He literally tried to play with EVERY SINGLE horse. I'm really kicking myself for not getting a video of this, because it is probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. He approached one horse at a time and followed the same pattern each time. First he would get close to the horse's hindquarters, then he would start licking the horse. Yep, licking. If that didn't get a rise, he would nip the horse. Still no reaction? Another nip. He did this until the horse chased him away, at which point he would attempt with all his heart to play, but the other horse would just walk away. This happened with every single horse, until three of them threatened to kick. He gave up on those three and attached himself to the fourth, most passive horse, Gunner. I'm pretty sure Gunner despises JJ's existence, but he tolerates his antics and the two of them are always together in the paddock.

More updates to come soon!

Enjoying Life, Trail Style!

Since our show debacle (debacle, by the way, is defined as "a sudden and ignominious failure", which I find to be a completely perfect description of the event), JJ and I have been taking it easy and enjoying the fall weather, sunshine, orange leaves, and all the miles of trails West Newbury has to offer.

Along the Merrimack in Hunter Orange

We've run down old dirt roads, walked around a reservoir, hacked along the Merrimack, waded in Mill pond, walked over a wooden bridge (JJ demanded to be led over this), and played on some of the cross country jumps at Pipestave. As JJ's introduction to cross country we did a small rail on the course. He was happy enough to hop over that. A few days later I pointed JJ at a small trakehner style fence (suspended log with a wider base). He actually collected himself for this fence and gave an awesome, powerful jump, complete with a couple celebratory bucks! Then a small log, another small trakehner, and a tiny bank uphill. We saved the ditch for a future date :)

And in the midst of all of this JJ has taken to bout of immense stubbornness. He'll choose something along the trail, say a muddy creak bed or some such "obstacle", and decide that if he goes near it, it will eat him alive. Swallow him whole. No mercy. And therefor, he cannot possibly go near it. So he'll just stop. I'll ask him to go forward and he'll back up. I'll ask him with more fervor and he'll threaten with mini-rears. He'll try to turn and I'll keep him facing the obstacle. He'll strike the ground and I'll push him forward, and so begins the cycle again. BUT, if a horse goes in front of him and leads him through/across/around whatever it is, he has no problem. AND, if we are headed towards home as opposed to away from home, he'll go through/across/around anything, no problem. Stubborn little butt head.

Alas, I know what I have to work on :)

Show Woes

I know this is a little delayed - it was a busy week AND Mike's camera has performed a disappearing act so this is a picture-less post. Sorry - I'll update with pictures as soon as the camera resurfaces.

Anyway, the show. Got to the barn nice and early to clean up JJ. Tacked him up and rode him over to the show grounds. He was fine all the way there - I hopped off halfway up the field as he began to notice the commotion ahead of us, and walked him the rest of the way. He was fine. When we got on to the grounds he danced around for about 10 minutes before settling in nicely. Because we were a good 2 hours early, I untacked and let him graze for about an hour. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Then I brought the saddle back out... And JJ freaked. Ugh. He wouldn't let me get close to him with the tack (why had I even untacked him in the first place?). He danced around for a while as I tried to get the saddle pad on, and finally I gave up and decided to lunge him a bit. Twenty minutes later I tried again and got similar results, except maybe worse. The only time I've ever witnessed this type of behavior from JJ was the first couple of times I tried to get him on the trailer.  He became extremely defensive and you could watch the transition as he lost all brain function and went into auto-don't-hurt-me-pilot (why did I untack him?!). It was about this time that the show secretary was calling my number into the dressage ring. Sweet.

I let JJ graze again, tried one more time with the saddle only to have it tossed in the dirt, then headed home - JJ on lead. So anyway, I know what I need to work on, and I keep telling myself (and everyone else) that at least I didn't get eliminated (kind of)! There's always next year.

Wednesday I went for a trail ride with a couple other riders and we decided to try out JJ's affinity for water. There's a nice little beach at a pond nearby. The two other horses walked in a stood while I brought JJ closer. He put his nose in the water curiously, then (and I kid you not) leaped in. LEAPED. As soon as he had all four feet in, though, I forced him out. Believe me when I say that horse was ready for a nice bath, and seeing as my saddle had just been thrown in the dirt I figure that last thing it needed was a soaking in nasty pond water. Oh well, at least JJ isn't scared of water. He's also getting better at picking his feet up over roots and rocks on the trails, which is good.

We've got a lot of work to do.

After Long Hiatus!

I know it's been quite a while since my last post and while I've meant to update several times since... What was it... August 11th... Eesh... Anyway I've got lots of news since then but I've also moved, started a new job, and moved JJ twice in the meantime so I have been a little busy!

But the main updates are as follows:

He likes mud...

When we moved from Harvard it took a good 4-5 hours to get JJ on the trailer. It was an awful and exhausting experience. He settled in quickly to his new home and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on the whole trailering ordeal with him there. So, I did. Right around dinner time I filled JJ's bucket with his grain and put it on the ramp of trailer, thinking I would be so lucky as to get him even that far. Then I brought JJ out and faced him at the wide open trailer. He marched at it so boldly that I grabbed the bucket off the ramp and as I walked into the trailer with the bucket, JJ didn't even hesitate behind me. Yep. First time he marched all the way on without so much as blinking an eye. Suffice to say I was pretty dumbfounded, but happy all the same. For a week or so I walked JJ on and off the trailer, sometimes with grain, sometimes without. Didn't bother him at all.

A couple weeks later the farrier was out to the barn. I wasn't able to be there when the farrier was so the following story is all I have to go on (and remember, I've had JJ since February and had never had an issue with him and the farrier): The farrier fought through shoeing JJ's front feet while JJ reared incessantly, hitting his head over and over on the ceiling of the barn. He was acting "dangerous" and "without concern for his own safety, let alone anyone else's". And at one point he almost flipped over a small door behind him. Again, I wasn't there and to hear this report was more than a little upsetting. I don't know what happened and I don't know why, but the farrier only managed to do his front shoes before declaring he wouldn't shoe JJ unless he was tranqued by the vet.

Riding shot

I considered this for the next week or two until JJ threw not one but both of his back shoes, and was so sore he refused to even move. I had no choice but to find a farrier willing to shoe him. I called a few and was very straightforward about what had happened. One farrier agreed to come out and try and I made sure to be there to hold JJ the whole time. Surprise surprise, JJ was fine.

It was about this point that I decided JJ and I probably needed to find a new place for various reasons. Shortly thereafter I found a nice farm in West Newbury for both of us. The owner drove down to pick him up, and he marched right on the trailer. Success!

JJ in his new home - nice in/out for the night
and separate large turnout during the day.

We've now been at the new barn for a little over two weeks. A couple days after JJ arrived he threw a front shoe and tore up his hoof a little in the procces. Four days later the farrier was out to replace the front shoe, but the foot has been bothering JJ since then (i.e. almost two weeks of a lame horse). The farrier was back again with hoof testers but couldn't seem to find anything specifically bothering him. He also did JJ's right front to even him out a little (he had been walking around with one long toe and one short toe - kind of like trying to walk wearing a sneaker on one foot and a high heel on the other). Anyway, JJ continued to be sore for a few more days, but I daresay he has felt a little better the past couple of days.

Anyway, while JJ was sore we took to a lot of walking and, better yet, walking on the trails! Miles and miles of trails surround the new farm. JJ has been a trooper on the trails. Walking down the roads he's not at all bothered by cars and only mildly amused by cyclists. A car pulling an empty boat trailer rumbled by, which JJ also found pretty interesting. A man was roofing his house and blasted his nail gun as we rode by. This involved a little more excitement but nothing too traumatic. We rode past soccer games, through giant hay fields, corn fields, woods, past a pond, got attacked by ankle-biting yappy dogs, etc. etc. etc. And the one thing that bothered JJ? Having to walk between two large rocks. Such a strange animal... All well I'm still proud of him!

JJ in his new home - all
the hay he can eat!

AND THE MOST EXCITING NEWS OF ALL!!!

I am fully planning on entering JJ in a local schooling show for next weekend (note: assuming he is sound and has shoes on all four feet by then)! WAHOO! We'll be entering a "combined test" as opposed to "horse trials", which means just dressage and stadium - we're not quite ready for cross-country yet. We'll be doing a walk-trot dressage test and 18'' stadium course (read: tiny crossrails). I'm psyched. My goal for the day: stay in the dressage ring ;)

WISH US LUCK! I promise to post photos/videos afterwards (that is assuming we don't get eliminated before I can get any photos or videos!).