Colder Than a Witch's Tit

What a juicy day.

I got paid yesterday, so I was FINALLY able to re-order Yankee's supplements. Love smartpak. I also went to the tack store today looking for dressage reins, saddle soap and a hanging blanket rack since d-bag pony likes to dump all his blankets on the ground (from his stall door rack) EVERYDAY. Sometimes more than once. No blanket rack, but I got new dressage reins for a fuggin steal.

My old ones were 6 years old and fraying...badly.

Exibit A:

The old ones are on top of the shiny new ones. YAY TACK WHORING AT LOW BUDGET PRICES! The old ones are nylon webbing and came with my expensive -ass german made dressage bridle. Surprised they lasted as long as they did. The shiny new ones are rubber nylon, which has an extra grippy awesome (might I remind you, awesomely inexpensive) feel. #winning.

I also took Yankees tail down for the first time in almost two months...

Exibit B:

He was very unahppy about his froo-froo tail. I mean, look at that face...pure embaressment.

Jackie-his new leaser- also came out today to get a dressage lesson. She mostly jumps, and hasnt ridden dressage in quite some time. Also, Yankee is basically a one person horse, and rarely goes well for others. I mean really, he is awful. Probably since I have trained and ridden him (minus the one year hiatus my sophomore year) exclusively since he was 4 years old. Thats 6 years for you math whizz's.

He was having a tough time with Jackie. Not because he was being naughty, but he just didnt understand. I tried my best to help, but explaining how to do something you do naturally is really tough, I discovered.

What I did was hop on and try to narrate my movements and aids to her through our warm-up...

(sorry about the blur, Jackie needs some lessons on picture taking :P)
He gave me a FANTASTIC free walk and stretchy trot and beautiful transitions today, despite the cold.

Dontcha just heart my socks?

Then Jackie hopped on.

After about 10 minutes, she got this...

A wonderful walk. free, loose back, marching walk, overstep and relaxed neck :)

So I had them move on to trot work. That was more difficult 1) its his hardest gait 2) he was just confused 3)Jackie needed dressage skillz refresher (but she got it!)

I am really loud, sorry.

Overall, a good ride :D

We are having a jumping lesson tomorrow, so hopefully that will go just as swimmingly.

cooldown walk-out

Uber excellent socks. I believe this will be my new fashion statement. Because I can.

But WAIT, der is moar ponee pikturs!

"I can haz moar treet noms? I KNOW you has shum"

Err' day he stylin'

Product Review

BEHOLD. The Weatherbeeta Orican Freestyle Combo medium turnout blanket

The blanket review I promised almost 2 months ago.

However, due to freak warm weather during the winter season, I couldnt even solidfy an opinion. However, winter decided to rear its ugly head with frigid temps and evil wind so I have decided...

LOVE.

It is the perfect weight of blanket to leave on when it the temps "soar" to the upper 40s when you were expecting lower 30s. Also, it keeps the pony warm until it hits 5 degrees or 20 with wind. Other wise I have to layer, but simply because he is clipped. However, too warm to leave the neck on when its gets above 40. Generally, unless it drops below 30 or is extra windy, I leave the neck off since it is a bitch to get on and off. Seriously....horrible. Trying to pry the velcro open with icy fingers is impossible...and with gloves on..dont even try. Otherwise, very easy blanket to get on and off, if a bit bulky.

Its also a nice blanket to layer. Some blankets are weird to layer, since they bunch up or dont compliment each other well. My old blanket was too short in the back and my under layer blanket always showed through/and got muddy. This one I layer all the time and it stays perfectly tucked.

LOVE the front closure. Easy snaps, no buckles!!!

LOVE that the leg straps are not strectchy. Ive had so many stretch out and had to replace them. Annoying.

There is a really nice wither relief pad that works nicely for sharp withered TBs like mine. Excellent.

It also has yet to rub his shoulders, which has happened with every.single.turnout I've ever owned.

LOVE the weird poofy neck padding it has right above the front closures. Its for when they bend down to eat, so it doesnt cut into their neck. UM, why didnt anyone think of that before?!

It was CHEAP! I bought it at a local tack store for $195 which I think is a freaking steal for a weatherbeeta WITH a neck. Basically a tack whores dream. Even Ebay couldnt give that to me!!

All in all, the only bad thing I have to say about this blanket is the damn neck removal. Other than that, I love it!

So does ponyface

SOPA

Sign the petition everyone!

70 Degrees in January?!

After the raunchy fun that was my 21st birthday weekend, I got back to riding today.

I was feeling quite lazy after a full day of work & a grueling 30 minute run, so I went sans saddle and riding gear (pants, boots-->sweats, tennis shoes). Slightly frowned upon by BO, but since I am quite capable of bareback riding & could care less about barebackin' it in tennis shoes, I do it. If you think thats horrible, when I was in high school, I rode in a bikini top, shorts and no shoes. Yes in a saddle. No I never got rubbed...I dont know how. Yes I wore a helmet.

I digress.

Yankee was a freaking BEAST tonight. Ive never had a better dressage school on him actually and the other lady in the ring with me actually said I was a very sensible rider who seemed to know how to train a horse to do proper dressage (and that Yankee was just awesome-sauce). I like to think so.

Since I was feeling the most lazy, I thought a relaxing warm-up/ride with long and low work and lots of lateral movement would be just peachy. Plus, it was SEVENTY degrees and I was sweating. Mind you, it was like 12 degrees yesterday. WHAT the fuh.

Yankee was probably the most relaxed I have ever felt him, and he was ON his A game today. Perfect transitions, uh-mazing stretchy trot, swinging back and engaged hocks. Beautiful.

He looked a lil' somethin' like this

(Some of you might recognize this pair. Hilarious that I googled "stretchy trot circle" & the writer of "Now Thats Trot"s blog picture popped up).

Basically an amazing ride.

I also feel obligated to inform you all that Yankee is now a half-leased ponyface.

GASP, right?

I tried leasing him out my sophomore year whilst I was injured for 9 months, and it didnt work out to my advantage. Partially because he was in OH while I was in MO, which is why I found a lovely rider here in CoMO to lease the rest of this winter and summer.

The deal is, that I would like to ride/work with him 1-2 days a week and she gets him at least 3 other days or more. Being worked everyday is not his thing, so he will get a day or two off. I set some guidelines of what I want done with him and whatnot.

I am paying for all of his bills since he IS my horse and she is doing me a massive favor by working with him and SHOWING him over the summer since I cannot afford to, and don't have as much time. Its basically the perfect situation for both of us since I can afford to take care of him but barely do more than 3 shows a year. So I will take him to the first event of the year and do some jumper shows with him, but basically Jackie will have full rein (haha, horse pun) with his event showing this summer.

I'm really excited to see how this goes! She is extremely capable and I wouldn't have chosen her if I didnt think they were a good match. Not many people can keep my wiggle TB engaged and active, so I thought that was a pretty big win on her part.

Pictures and videos of our "Yankee intro" lessons to come :)

In other news. Class starts tomorrow. My life is basically over for 18 weeks.