A Question and An Update

 Hey all, hope everyone had a fantabulous thanksgiving! Even though I was away from my family and pretty down about that, my boyfriend invited me to his dinner. It was an experience for sure; we went black friday shopping from 8pm-3am (first time ever), and then I drove home at 4am from STL...and went to work at 6:30am. I was tired to say the least.

I loved hearing all of your answers about horse costs! I can say it varies a little but in general seems to be about the same overall. Very interesting indeed :)

Now I have another question, and this is a new concern of mine. I would love opinions/help/etc on the matter.

As of 2 weeks ago, Yankee has been incessantly twitching/nodding his head. It is a mystery and very peculiar. He has never displayed this kind of behavior before and I have changed nothing in his routine. Nothing. Turnout, grain, rides, stall time, etc are all consistent and he gets out from 8am-4pm everyday so I know he is not bored. Ponyface is very used to (and prefers) partial turnout.

Its starting to bug me since I'm begining to think its neurological. The twitch is weird- he will be standing cross tied or out in the pasture and every 10-15 seconds he will jerk his head up. Like a nervous twitch...but he's standing perfectly still. No pawing...no nervous poops. Just twitching.

In addition, he will toss his head over and over and over. He just stands there, flipping it. Not only is it ANNOYING but I want to know WHY.

Observe.

So odd. He doesn't do it while being ridden, which is great. But he obviously does it while tacked up, and will do it when we are just standing (mounted) and in the pasture like a friggin retard.. It is DRIVING ME INSANE.

HELP preese. Anyone know why this is happening??

Other than that malarky we've had some good ride this week. It was exceptionally warm in the early par tof the week but then dropped to about 20. Missouri.

 We've been on a few hacks...

 And jumped a little bit...

 ....you know, the usual badassery.

And did one little dressage sesh. He's been mighty good, loose and responsive to everything and is jumping better than he ever has before. Longer warm-ups in dressage help him be perfect in our schools (stay connected, loose, relaxed). Wish I had time to spend 3 hours at the barn though. Our jumping practice has been absolutely fabulous. He's getting better at landing on his leads (thanks to my overexaggerated asking) and coming away from the jumps more balanced and ready for the next. I'm also getter better about waiting for the jump to come and not overjumping. Too bad theres not another jump competition till January :(

I can't wait until the days stop warming up, so I can stop switching blankets from night to day. Its getting insane.

Inspired by Interwebz

I was going through my daily checklist of sites to visit...FB, pinterest, dogshaming, failbook, MSN news...you get the idea, I waste lots of time at work. Anyways.

 I stumbled upon an article on MSN about "Equestrian Estates" and was wowed by the $25 million price tags on a home in Ocala. Oh to be swimming in monies. Then, in the bottom corner I saw a tiny little link to another article, "How Much Does a Horse Cost?". Intrigued, mostly because the MSN  writers are wildly misinformed and I enjoy reading their garbage in my free time, but also because I wanted to see their numbers.

It was....mostly accurate in my opinion...surprisingly, considering the massive variation in horse care costs. Their averages I felt were on the low end, but still mostly accurate, unless you live in a coastal region. The only thing I felt they underrepresented was farrier cost..they said minimum $100/maximum $500...IN WHAT STATE?? I want to live there!

What I'm interested in, coasters and southerners, is how much do YOU pay for things? No need to detail it out, but I AM curious!

For me, my horsey costs (not including anything extra, like tack or shows) has significantly decreased since I moved from Ohio to Missouri. I really have no clue as to why though, perhaps less of a demand for horsey services, since I am certain there are less (especially competitive) horses here in the BF of nowhere, than in other states.

The only that increased for me, was board, even though the price is significantly less here. I had my horses at home in OH, so the additional cost of boarding pinches my wallet a bit  more than I'm used to.

The Breakdown, MO

* Board- $200 mo/ $2400 yr
*Farrier- $97 every other month/ $582 yr

*Vet- $400/yr

*Grain- $65 mo/ $780 yr
*Hay- This year I will have spent $497, last year I spent $250

----->$4400

In comparison to OH

* Board- $0

*Farrier- $195/ $1170 yr

*Vet- $600 yr

*Grain- $300 mo/ $3600 yr
*Hay-On average, $600 yr

------> $6000 PER HORSE....

and I had anywhere from 3-5 at one time.

Even with boarding in MO, its cheaper. I know in OH, a good full care boarding place (indoor, jump field, nice stalls, good hay and grain) was $660...upwards of $800. Here in MO, full care in my area is $350-$475, with all of the niceness included. I know its more expensive in STL and KC but those are bigger cities.

Anyways, too many words. What do you all pay?

Reunited And it Feels So Good

This week has been quite uplifting. SO many good things finally aligned for me...been a long time coming. Not over the hill yet, but I can honestly say I feel 100% relieved already.

That being said, it got wicked cold here pretty fast, (considering it was 60-70 degrees a few days ago) low 20s-30s at night and 40s during the day so its making me not want to brave the freezing wind to ride. GAH.

Few points of news to note:
-Signed up for a schooling show for this Sunday
-Sold my sweet pony- she needed a job and I needed the money. Byebye baby Zephyr :( bittersweet.
-Got a few pieces of new tack (see below :D)
-Jackie came to visit
-We've made plans for next show season
- I still need hay...like bad.
-JACKIE IS MOVING BACK TO COMO :D

Jackie came to visit a few days ago so OF COURSE we had to jump! I think Jackie jumps Yankee better than anyone, including myself. She's so fearless. I'm getting better, but I still get anxious over large, single oxers sometimes. Lines are no big deal and really not many jumps are. It takes tiem to get over an accident though and I had 2 within a year. A certain Stacey (:P) won't let me post the picture, but it was pretty jarring to my fearlessness. I also had a pony that would jump anything wihtout question (RIP Spirit), and Yanks is a little more tricky than that.

Spirit would put up with any bad riding and still jump over 4 ft. Yankee requires a mediocre ride, but if you drop him or are nervous, he knows and will refuse. Otherwise, he's the easiest guy to jump in the whole world. Funnily enough, only 2 other people have jumped him over a course (Jackie and Emma) and 2 others jumped him over a few fences.

I digress.

Dis is happy Jackie. Her Isis is still out of commission so she was happy to have Mr. Yankee back for a little while

 

And look at this gem she dug up for me. A FIVE WAY BREASTPLATE. We are toats legit eventers now. Like, really. S'fo freeee.

 

Aint that sexual.

We did a few courses with 2-3 stride combos, a bounce to the oxer below and some tricky rollbacks. Yankee was eating it up. Wish we had video for you! And look at those knees! Getting better and better.

 

Barely trying.

Jackie has also decided to move back to CoMo so we hope to team up again and help each other with our next show season. I plan on saving all winter (I'm working 3 jobs)  so that we can do at least 5 shows in hope to FINALLY get our damn NQRs so we can move up to Prelim. We are MORE than ready. Yankee has improved so much over the last 2 years that I KNOW he is ready, it just sucks that I never had the money this year to show because even in the first outing with a bad XC round, we still ended up 7th. Sucks we have no XC jumps to practice over...so that is our downfall, even though its our favorite phase.

Anyways, Jackie wants to work the ponies (Isis ad Yankee) jumping and I'll do more dressage, especially with Isis. We will both work our own, but I think collaborating will help all 4 of us. I'm excited about the prospect of a new season.

As for Zephyr, I sold her last week. I never really planned on it, but I needed the money and she needed a job. Shes turning 5 and is broke to drive, but I never did anything with her. Her new owner plans to show her in tandem harness with another chesnut. I hope she's happy there :)

So for this week, I plan on doing some dressage work in prep for the schooling show Sunday. Hopefully we still got it ;)

 

Jomping Feets

Finally back in the swing of things. Motivated. Steady job. Plans made......after the show season ends. Whats wrong with me D:

Pushing that thought aside, Emma and Yankee did some boss work over a tricky gymnastic set yesterday. Yankee was having a blast and Emma was doing a really good job sitting quiet and eating him figure the grid out himself. This is as high as the set got, but we ran through it maybe 10-15 times at lower height.

The setup was 3 raised trot poles, x-rail bounce, baby vertical bounce, 1 stride, 1 stride, 2 stride to oxer.
For your viewing pleasure. (Also, weather is drunnk again, it was 75 after being being 40 for a few solid days.)



I just love his enthusiasm!! His feeds are just the cutest, he bounds over the jumps!

In this pic, he's basically taking huge canter stride

 

Look at his ears! He's so happy to be back in the swing of things I think :)

He's like, so ancy to jump!!

Beasting out the bounces like a boss. Yay alliteration.

And this one, is my favorite of the day...PERFECT KNEES!!! That rarely happens. Yanks tends to jump with one knee just slightly lower but the gris I think made him think and rocked him back, thus freeing his shoulders up more and producing this gorgeous jump!!

I realize I'm being lackluster with my words here, but  I like to let the pictures speak for themselves sometimes.

Everyone's Doing It.

Before I get to the meat of this post, just wanted to let everyone know Isis is doing pretty good for having her butt torn apart. Its infected, as to be expected, but Jackie is doing all she can to speed the healing process. Thank you for your well wishes!!

And now.

You all should know by now that my ponyface is adopted.

I got him from New Vocations as a wittle bebe TB off the track, aka OTTB. I know some of you are opposed to the breed, but with him and numerous others, I can find nothing better and I've owned and ridden almost every common breed out there.

There's just something about the OTTBs that are so special and if you talk to anyone who has adopted I'm sure their story is the same. Loyal, affectionate, powerful, graceful, smart, athletic, beautiful...all of it. They are everything. To me, the perfect breed.

A fellow blogger started making T-shirts for us OTTB lovers, and her company has since exploded into a multinational business. I saw the other day someone from Europe wanted her shirts! She even has the MOST adorable jackets (UM, CHRISTMAS LIST, k thanks.) and coolers for the horses. So awesome. I love it. Its called OTTB Tee's and you can find her on Etsy and FB.

The link for Etsy is here!

She is also having a contest to win some merchandise and I live for free things. Problem is, I'm down by like...60 votes. There is no way they are getting that many votes without asking for them. I'm caving under peer pressure and asking you guys to vote for Mr. Yankee and I so I can win some free stuff! YAY FREE THINGS. ALL THE FREE THINGS!

The contest is to submit a picture of you and your OTTB with ONE word to describe "you" (Yanks an I). I picked 'quirky' because I feel that is the epitome of our relationship together. He is a major goofball and I'm a wild child.

The link is HERE to vote. Just "like" it on FB!

If you guys wanna help me out, that'd be pretty sweet. The contest goes till November 19, (very fitting that it is also election month) so head to the polls preese :D It'll only tai a hot second ;)

I realize I'm up against Ms. Lucy and Mr. Cuna...I might lose. haha.

Moments When We Want To Die.

**WARNING**

This post is more than exceptionally gory. Like really, if you have a weak stomach I'd advise you to go no further. But if you have morbid curiosity like me, please do go on.

Now that I've baited your minds, I shall distract you for a moment by asking if you remember Ms. Isis, Jackie's babygirl.

I'm assuming you all remember Jackie. Pure badass. Yankees second mom. Hot betch.

Anyways, Isis.

Yeah, she's pretty sexual. I have a thing for greys too so I find her even more beautiful. That, and her tail kicks Yankees tail's ass by like a million strands.

Jackie has been diligently working with Ms. Mare for 3 months, since she was all kinds of cray cray and barely knew anything. That and she threw some mean temper tantrums. I probably would've given up ages ago on her but Jackie didn't and now hot mess is hot mare.

But we all know that when the stars are seemingly aligning, its just a false sense of security.

You know something bad is about to happen don't you?

Yeah.

(AGAIN, SQUEAMISH LOOK AWAY!!)
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Doomsday dropped this bomb on poor Jackie this weekend through text message, informing her that her horse had a "cut" on her hindquarters....

Upon seeing this on my horse, I think I would've done 1 of 3 things
1. Bawl
2. Faint
3. Die

Lets look at this from a different angle...

Yeah, just a flesh wound, no worries. Minor scratch. That must just be blood covering up the wound. Aren't we always told it looks worse than it is?

Meanwhile,  Jackie is seemingly keeping her shit together on the way to the barn, while I'm furiously texting her asking what the fuck over and over.

NOPE. IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN IT LOOKS. Much much much much....is that...a flap of flesh?! Is this real life? How the? What the???

Anyways, I'm over here more than 2 hours away dually grossed out and sickly curious as to how the eff this silly mare could've done this in a STALL. Repeat....stall.

Turns out, the horse next to her decided he hated her and provoked Isis and they started fighting through the stall. Other horse kicked out, broke a board and Isis ripped her flesh on it.

That is one massive splinter in the ass.

Cue late night emergency vet call $$$$$$$

Like...I can't even.

All bedder? Maybe? Jackie told me that the vet literally had his arm up the stabbing and pulled handfuls of wood out of her body. Also that he had to sedate her with the amount that would knock out a Budweiser Clydesdale. Bitch did not want any human messing with her butt. I can't imagine why.

Her actual words "Yeah I saw bone. All muscle just mangled. He literally had to stuff the red muscle back in her body and stitch the white muscle over it hoping it would hold. He then told me the stitches wouldn't hold and I should expect that. Also that she may never jump again, so thats awesome. Oh and she needs 2 months off, possibly more."

Death.

The epic wound today.

So friends. Count your blessings that your horses didn't tear their ass apart. I would die.

DIE.

Weather, You Are Drunk.

So just as it was getting gorgeous outside and I was getting in the mood to ride and Yankee got all bedder, the weather decided to eff all the shit up and make it unbearable to go outside.

I have sweaty boobs. This is not okay.

But really.

Like, once it gets below freezing at night, all critters internal temperatures change...including mine. Horses hair grows long, people put on sweaters and boots, inhale hot beverages and liquid dinners, and curl up on the couch at night with doggies and stuffs to stay warm.

The weather goes to a bar and gets as drunk as freshman frat boys at a keggar.

And its all like, "HERRO I'm the weather and I'm here to fuck your world by being blazing hot outside just as your body was getting used to the cold. MWAH HAHAHA."

We are all miserable.

I just want to ride.

And wear sweatpants.

Weather is not done being wasty pants though.

So then, after these next two days of upper 80s it supposed to drop to 45...for like a solid 4 days. I guess weather will be very hungover from its binge drinking session.

*WHOMP WHOMP*

I almost questioned the purchase of a second turn out for the pony yesterday. Cuz, you know, I don't need to eat or anything. But it is absolutely necessary to have a back up turn out. We all know this.

Don't worry guys. I got this kick ass blanket for $40. Retails for $200+

 YEAH. I win today.


(Sorry no pictures....blogger must also be drunk because it refuses to upload them)