Yankee Update: I Won The Lottery

I wish I had actually won the real, monetary, lottery but I've won in so many other way when it comes to my main squeeze of over 10 years.

Just a quick update here for y'all, mostly in picture form. Had one hell of a weekend and this was a Monday to kill all Mondays. Technically this is my 500th post, but I have zero energy to make a big deal about it.

Back to The Pants.

He's doing so well I could explode from the feels. Honestly he won the horsey lotto and I won the leaser lotto and I couldn't be happier or feel more justified in my decision. Let the pics do the talking.

Happiest OTTB in the world

So fat. So Fit. So happy. #hunkstatus

#tailswag 

Lovin' every second

Do TB stuff

Absolutely killin it over some massive trek

Beasting the corner

Classic Yankee 

Crazy to think a year ago almost to the day that was me in the stirrups, pretty terrified to do all of those jumps and he did it anyways! This guy LOVES his job as an event horse and I'm so super stoked to see how the season goes.

Also can we please stop and just celebrate Lauren's eq for a minute. Like really, pro status.

Speaking of, the mousey nugget cleared second place out of a semi-large field at the one day this weekend and finished on his dressage score!! Good on ya mate!

A really really ridiculously good looking selfie of Yanks

Red can be his color too!

Miss this guy everyday, but so happy to get updates like this! Even if hes a weird mouse color in transition from shaved to summer coat, still a cutie in my book

Today he got adjusted, teeth done and is scheduled for a massage later this week. They're also reflocking the dressage saddle to fit his back perfectly. SO SPOILED! I love it!

Always the gentleman

It seems The Tank is pretty prepped for Texas Rose this weekend! If you see him, stuff his face with treats and love from me! Lauren finds it awesome how many random people just know Yankee. Its like he's internet famous almost & I know he loves the extra attention.

That Escalated Quickly

We all came to blogland for different reasons, I'm assuming.

I know I came here to find other equestrians, branch out, connect, share experiences & keep an archive of my riding success and difficulties.  Its grown to be one my favorite things about my life actually. I've made real life friendships through blogging and its connected me with some intelligent, respectful, wonderful & talented people all across America (& Europe!)

Color matching on fleek

When anyone signs up for social media, they should know what they're getting into. Its open. Its social, and everyone is entitled to free speech & their opinion. I know this and express it often. One should also be aware of the possibility of disagreements or even horribly rude & abrasive backlash. Another thing I am very aware of, thanks to my snark, sarcasm and opinionated nature. I accept it and move on.

To a point.

Yesterday's post brought to light some VERY helpful tips (thank you everyone!), which I will share momentarily.

But it also brought about some fierce drama that I was not expecting, and frankly, was seriously offended by.

I'm not pointing ANYONE out, and this spanned my facebook, instagram and blog account, but by no means do I find it OK for anyone to come onto someone else's page (or PM that person) and TELL them what they NEED to do with their horse.

I welcome suggestions. Always always always. I literally ask for them sometimes because I LOVE all of my readers and value their knowledgeable help highly. The connections are a wealth of information!

What I do NOT welcome and do  not take kindly to is people telling me what I need to do with mMY horse and my life. Informing me I need a coach, or need to take him to training, or need to do this or that is slightly overstepping boundaries. I am VERY aware of those things. But it comes down to resources. I am a person who has never and most likely will never, have an abundance of free time and money to throw at a problem. Don't you think if I did, I would have already sent him to training, boarded him somewhere with better facilities or put him in more consistent work?

Yes. I would have.

Also, I believe that any rider with a pulse knows coaches are a wonderful asset. I literally said I need one in the last post. I also have stated previously that I intend to take him to bi-weekly lessons with the woman who owns the barn I was hoping to board with. Not sure how the lines got crossed or missed but I have NEVER considered myself above average or above needing coaching. I just flat out can't afford it on a regular basis. Welcome to the real world.

Money would solve a lot of problems for a lot of people. But I think it takes a little more grit and determination to solve problems with less resources available to you & I am wildly offended by anyone who thinks otherwise.

Sure, I post about frustrations on here. Thats why I blog. But I am doing the best I can with what I have available. For those who are wondering, thats about an hour and 20 minutes "free time" after a 45 minute one way commute/8 hour workday, to cram any sort of barn time in before the sun sets. Not to mention other household/life chores and activities. I have to work, really hard, to pay for my horse and I take pride in that, & I don't come here to be judged on my skill and competence as a rider, trainer and owner of a difficult horse when I dont have enough time in the day/week/month to ride my horse on a consistent 5 day basis. I think we all know how hard it is to admit difficulty or failure on a public forum, but here we all are! I shouldn't be told thats wrong. I shouldn't be shamed for my availability and I definitely shouldn't be told I'm not allowed to enjoy my horse when I can.

All of that being said, I feel like I know my horse better than anyone and I absolutely believe the field is the root issue here. Sure, there are others sprinkled about, as any OTTB would have, but I stand by the fact that it is a night and day difference between off property/road work and riding in the back field.

whew...eq NOT on fleek

For example. Today was a windy, cold and slightly rainy day & my neighbors were shooting off their ridiculously loud guns and yet I still tacked up my horse because it was day 3 out of 7 I had the time to even consider riding.

To test my theory, we set off down the road. Guns roaring, wind blowing, he took it all in stride like a champ. He was a little tense at first, but with the hint someone posted (half halting UP not back) he immediately and visibly relaxed and STAYED that way. Even when Levi scared up 3 MASSIVE scavenger birds and they flapped in his face.. he jumped a little, snorted at them and thought real hard about bolting....and didnt.

#twinkletoes

I want to believe its the footing. Plain and simple. That field just is not kosher with him anymore.

It fully explains why for SEVEN whole months, he was 100% perfection in that field and then as soon as the wet cold season rolled around it was no longer Gucci with him. Makes perfect sense to me.

I just wish I would've thought about it long before I made myself sick with anxiety worrying about ulcers, diseases, lameness, tack and a mirade of other things.

I literally do not have any other explanation for the 180* turns. 3 magical rides on the road vs 2 horrible rides in the field are pretty solid stats in my book & I'm going to close the case for now. I realize he is not perfect in any of these photos...but htey show a MUCH more relaxed way of going and he is beginning to move FORWARD again, I wish y'all could have felt the difference in his entire body. He was willing to go, his back was relaxed, he followed the bit through the contact and he was a complete joy. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does.

Hoping to get into the lesson program around the 28th and go on a relatively steady bi-weekly basis.

All of this being said y'all, I appreciate and adore those of you who show your support. Again, I am not pointing fingers at anyone who even reads this blog and commented. Just making general statements about the treatment I received throughout social media yesterday.

Hover horse & derp dog

Peace & love y'all. I leave you with a very derp picture of  the Levi.

Consistently Inconsistent

I am going to dance past the fact that I am so sore and tired from trying to adult all the things and focus directly on my ride today which was terrible if you didn't deduce from the title.

It was not  the caliber of fuckery that my winter rides morphed into...its just that when it was bad it was REALLY bad.....

This is mild

The worst of it was not on film

....And when it was good, its was REALLY good....

Defensive riding makes bad photos

But the consistency of good was greatly equaled by the consistency of the bad and I'm continued to be perplexed with the root cause of the explosive, ridiculous, unwarranted spooking thats occuring in an alarming pattern and frequency in the field.

1. I treated him for ulcers
2. He's on maintenance meds for ulcers
3. He's on a very strong calming supp
4. Nutrition is on point
5. Tack fits
6. We now have brakes
7. I took his tail down

Today he literally spooked at the exact same spot every single time and it made no sense. I know he is not kosher with barrels but he would be nowhere near them during the time of the spook and they were not in his line of sight. And I mean they were HARD bolting spooks. Every. damn. time. in the same spot. He was worse to the left, surprisingly. And cantering was out of the question (ask me how I know).

I did my best to remain calm with all body parts, because apparently moving an inch of any limb was highly offensive, and would engage one-rein stops at each spook, in which he would respectfully stop, breathe and move on. And take about half a lap and do it all over again.

Essentially we would regroup for about 30 seconds, gets 2 good steps, and then fall apart again.

I was really at a loss with what to move forward with regarding training. Do I work his ass off until hes tired? Do I try and ignore the bad behavior and work through it without regrouping? Or do I regroup so far as to bring back to a free walk at every spook?

I really had no idea where to go and I wished at that moment that I had a coach or a friend or SOMEONE to help me.

I ended up having a 3 way with solutions.

Every spook would warrant an emergency halt, pat, regroup, breathe and pick right back up at the trot. If there immediate shenanigans (likely), repeat and begin back at the WALK. Arrive at a nice walk---> permitted to trot. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until rider is completely spent (like, entire body shaking with exhaustion). Dont worry, horse will be, and was, fine. Because thoroughbred.

Eventually, I got 2 laps of relaxed trot to the right and called it a day. To the left was just not possible today. Walked on a loose rein and tried to end it there.

Personal fav and good effort from the babe

I say try, because the second I turn to go home the neighbor lets his dogs out and Bacardi goes absolutely BESERK. I mean, it was a full fledged dip out bolt. I almost fell off until I remembered I had a neck strap. Which literally saved me from what most likely would've been broken body parts.

Not his fault, but still HIGHLY annoying that a spook is that violent. Its literally like his brain falls out of his skull. I've never met a horse with such a high flight instinct & such violent reactions.

So I'm beginning to wonder if the field is just out of the question. Permanently. Theres just something about it that he cannot tolerate anymore.

Either that or he's just not chill with being ridden in open spaces this fresh.

Highly aggravating considering its my ONLY space TO ride.

I walked him out on the road and he was absolutely, 100% perfection. Not even a twitch of a spook and we walked about half a mile on the buckle.

So that leaves me very disgruntled. For one, I know my horse behaves well on the road now (yay). BUT roadwork is not exactly conducive on a repetitive, daily basis and for sure not useful for jumping or dressage work. So yeah, I have ONE outlet, but utilizing the larger space in the field for dressage test movements and jumping seems very very out of the question right meow.

Which leads me to...uhhhh, where do I ride?

I know I'm a broken record & this is forst world problems, but srsly, riding...need it.

Yankee Update

For those of you that are new followers, you may not be too familiar with Yankee's story and how much this wonderful thoroughbred means to me. Longtime followers know him as the main star of the show for almost 5 years running now, as Bacardi is still a rather new addition to the team. I keep the blog banner with Yankee in it because he is as much a part of my life as B, just in a different way! If you want a little backstory on the Yankee, his "story" can be viewed up in the tabs section!

I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping everyone in the loop on The Pants, but he's doing really, really well in Kansas! I literally could not have found a better lease situation if I tried.

A Doodle selfie

Dashing as always, and his signature dark coat finally starting to come in nicely! What a sexual event horse.

The ladies in KS send me snapchats of him almost daily, and recently, Yankee has found himself very very naked in prep for his FIRST event of 2015!!

NAKED HORSE ALERT

I wish I had a better photo available than a screenshot, but I forgot to crop it and here we are.

As you can see, very nekked, and up to his normal tricks and cuteness!

Recently (this past weekend) , Lauren took The Yankster XC schooling for the FIRST time together, and this year.

I think he really looks like a seasoned old man horse here

Treats plz

Doodlepants of course, rocked out and dominated all the jumps from Novice to Prelim. I can only imagine how fun that was to take him out for the first time and was actually really jealous! I bet he' truly enjoying himself over those open fences.

In addition to XC, they worked all winter, weekly, on dressage and stadium. It took a minute for the two to mesh, but now I think they are really ready for this event in 2 weeks!

Corners aint but a thang

Preppin' for a rollback

My favorite thing about Lauren is that she really took my tack suggestions to heart. She kept him bitless for stadium and even bought a lever noseband and waterford for XC. That means a lot to me that she didnt just stick him in whatever she wanted and took my word, as his owner, for it! It took me almost 8 years to figure out his fav combo for all 3 phases and it makes my heart happy that they're being so accommodating, even at such a distance.

I've been pestering them for some flatwork video or photos like the super annoying faraway owner that I am, but I hope they know that I appreciate every photo, update and video that I receive!

For now, the schedule looks to be Novice level at Texas Rose next weekend (27th-29th Mar) and then Training at Holly Hill (weekend of April 18th). I also know theyre doing a show in CO in Aug, which I am flying out for and a ton others inbetween!

As soon as I know anything about Texas Rose I will be sure to update you guys as well...and if you're going to that event, find my boy and give him an extra rub on the nose and a peppermint from me <3 p="">

All The Feels

The opening line of any post is always the hardest for me because I gave up caring about "essay" format after college.

I also dont know where to begin usually because I tend to not write after every ride. Also, all the things have occurred in the last two days and I'm just so full of emotion/statements/feels at the moment.

I made  pact with myself to work the B on the 3 sunny days this week, no matter how the day went or how I felt (which is REALLY tired lately). I have a 45 minute commute everyday, and thankfully DLS has given me a little bit of additional daylight to work with, but I still always feel like I'm perpetually scrambling to do all the things at the barn before dark, and then come inside and eat and  prep for the next work day and collapse into bed. The do list is getting longer and longer and its giving me a headache. How do people do this shit for their ENTIRE LIVES with HUMAN CHILDREN to worry about too. Props to all the moms out there that work and ride. You are my hero's.

I digress.

So while I'm restricted to the road for now, I was determined to get some lateral work, transitions and stretchiness under us.

I fully anticipated bad behavior and some wild antics, so I tacked up with pretty low expectations. & added a grab strap.

It should be noted that my horses are the most disgusting creatures alive. I don't understand why they in particular insist on covering themselves FULLY from head to toe, everyday, in a lovely mud paste that rarely dries and is impossible to get off.

So that was fun and he still looked pretty disgusting after 30 minutes.

You should see his hind end.

And yes, those are horse blankets on my giant roundbales. Sidenote, NEVER order, pay for and get roudnd bales delivered sight unseen, without asking how big they are. Assumptions make for giant problems. Literally. They weigh 1000lbs each and I have no way of moving them. My previous bales weighed about 400 and were half that height and I could easily roll them myself (CROSSFIT). SOOO yeah, now theyre just sitting there...in my yard....with blankets on them to *hopefully* protect them from the torrential rains we're having.

I digress AGAIN.

So he was muddy. Very muddy. Also fresh. Extremely fresh. But I anticipated it and came in hot with a plan.

Plan did not work.

Bacardi horses should be equipped with seatbelts because several times on our first ride I literally thought I was going to die. I'm not sure why I wasn't more concerned about my safety, but I was more upset that my horse was broken.

That look is dangerous

Not exaggerating ...he.was.the.worst.

Multiply any shit he gave me over the winter, before break, by like 13 and thats the Bacardi I got straight out of the gate Wednesday. Think back to the lunging pics in my last post. Yeah.

Frustrated, depressed & crushed did not even come close to the emotions I was feeling.

Why was my horse acting this way on a continuous basis. I understand normal horse jitters coming off a long break, but seriously? He was literally impossible. I couldn't touch him with my hand or he would rear. If I didn't touch him though he would try to bolt. If I tried to give him other things to do, like lateral work, he would bolt. So you see the cycle here? Bolt, rear, bolt rear, jig, bolt, rear. I dont use the word "bolt" lightly either. So I was stuck on a jigging, bolty, rearing horse and didn't know what to do. It seemed to get worse when he was within eyesight of the barn so there I was thinking, "great, now he's barn sour too". Did not help that Lilly was tearing around like a maniac screaming her head off.

Awesome.

I was at a total loss. I gave up mentally. Done. So done.

And then he bolted. Like actually full tilt, not stopping him, gallop, on a paved road. Then began to buck. Really hard.

You know how your mind blanks because you're so terrified that you might actually die any second that instinct kicks in?

Yeah, well I executed the most powerful one-rein stop of my life without it even registering in my frontal lobe. And after about 30 spins, the red nugget stopped. I patted him.

And then he proceeded to bolt again.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Only took 3 times of some firm handed, one-rein stops and its like something clicked in his brain and he was like, "Oh. I'm supposed to listen to the human on my back."

After that very intense & horrifying 7 minute time-span we had the most ridiculously good ride. It was a totally different horse. Stretchy trot, calm walk, brilliant transitions, lateral work (HOLY SHIT I COULD TOUCH HIS SIDES) and no spooking, bolting or rearing.

I almost cried.

All my worries, fears, anxiety and second-guessing about this horse dissolved. All I felt was relief.

And then I felt so so so so stupid. I had been so worried about hurting my sensitive lil baby that it never occurred to me to be firm and assert myself with him. I stressed about every single thing that physically could be wrong with him. I questioned my ability as a rider. I questioned my sanity.

He did, and was, controlling & completely ignoring me. Thats no way to form a partnership. Why would he respect me? I'd let him control everything from the beginning of his bad behavior, through coddling him. Who knew I just needed to say I'M THE BOSS MARE!

Day 1 success

I came back today with a renewed vigor & love for this horse. It had been there all along, just shrouded with doubt and fear.

I was apprehensive about his lesson sticking with him today, but he blew me away form the get-go. I had a soft, calm and responsive horse under me for once.

We had one minor spooking/bucking episode that was mitigated with a well placed, swift one-rein stop. Even the amount of times he spins around until he halts decreased dramatically (think like from 30 to 3). It seemed he had remembered what we covered yesterday. PRAISE 8LB 5OZ BABY JESUS.

 
Babyface gave me some extraordinary stretch work along with more lateral work and soft transitions for the remainder of the ride. I tried to keep it relatively short as a reward. No sense in drilling him.

Horrible angle of said stretchy work

Words cannot describe my happiness and relief. Riding had always been my escape. My ONE thing I that was always there for me, regardless of the other shit going down in my life. The ONE constant I could always count on making me happy. The ONE place in my life I felt confident, regardless of my successes or failures in the show ring or the issues I was having with any horse. It still was there and I still loved it more than anything in the world. It was (and still is) as natural as breathing for me. It was not only  frustrating and no longer fun for me, but taking a break did a number on my psyche. I know almost all of you know where I am coming from here regarding horses/riding/barn time.

So with all of that being said, the baby is getting the next 2-3 days off (thanks, rain) to mull over the lessons we've learned the past few days and I'm going to soak in a hot bath for the next 24 hours because my riding muscles are screaming.

All the feels.

Hot Mess Express, TOOT TOOT

I don't know what got into me yesterday. A wild, burning notion perhaps?

I was like, "its warm, I also have an hour and a half, and also a perfectly good horse sitting in a pasture and I'm also stone cold bored out of my skull....LETS WORK THE BABY. YAS, LETS DO THAT"

"This can't go badly at all after basically 8 weeks off" and consistently terrible rides before that...

"No, not at all. We will just do some walking exercises, maybe some basic W/T transitions and directional changes. YAS BASIC GROUNDWORK THINGS LETS DO DIS"

I figured I would tack him up in his lunging gear, put a bridle on, but lunge with a halter over top so as not to pull on his mouth if the he gave me antics. I also planned on only possibly connecting the sidereins towards the end of our session. I was confident that even if he pulled his old tricks I could keep him on point with lots of direction changes and transitions and being very very calm in my mannerisms.

Looking like the essence of calm

As soon as we got out to the field I realized we would be swimming, and the mud was bordeline questionable. OK, so, ABSOLUTELY NO TROTTING. Just direction changes and giving with the nose, etc etc etc.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA.

Yeah, no. 

The very instant I asked for the first direction change  after a few walking circles, Bacardi was SO offended he instantly everted to his old 'spooking-bucking-kicking-for-absolutely-no-reason' fuck you sort of behavior.

I DO WHAT I WANT

WEEEEEEE!

FUCK YOU MOM

THERES NO RULES FOR MEEEE

So I just sat there, dumbfounded on what to do, while simultaneously panicking that he would pop a tendon romping around like like Captain Insano (dont worry, his legs are cool and tight today).

I tried stopping him with some firm half halts and stepping in front of his line of fire (attempting to "cut him off"), but that just pissed him off more, so I kind of gave up and let him wheel around like a twirl-a-whirl on hooves while I gazed on in a half-amused, very disapproving fashion.

Impressive 

Really working those lower neck muscles

Personal favorite

I continued to ask him to "whoah walk" about a 100 times, and lightly half-halted on the rope...but to no avail.

And so he continued...

WHEE WHEE WHEEEEE!!

So wow. Very horse. Many flexible. Much athlete. 

...For about 20 minutes.

That wasn't the end of it though. My special red nugget had had enough of his dumb human and her commands pleas to behave like a normal horse and literally stopped dead in his mad galloping tracks, looked me in the eye, and promptly dumped  his ass in the mud.

O yeah get in there all deep like B, I really wanted to spend my evening cleaning tack.

Twice.

5 stars for all around coverage

YAY I'M A HORSE 

At this point  I was just dying with laughter. If you haven't seen the video I posted on Insta and FB you really should because you can actually hear him quivering with happiness in his roll. Jerk! HAHA.

After ALLL that, he finally settled into a trot tranter, which still wasn't what I wanted, but it wasn't as wild and unmanageable as before. Which was....good?

Pic not in chrono order

Then finally (praise jesus) he walked and gave me a few perfectly calm direction changes. 

At this point I was like, "okay, baby steps, HOUSTON WE HAVE A WALK" and brought him back to the barn without ever trying sidereins or anything else.

Note horse is still clean. I did not get any video of him actually calmly walking or trotting with his muddy self (this was before his shenanigans began, but still a good example for picture's sake)

Essentially I let my horse run around and be a fuck boy for 30 minutes and got 2 minutes of semi-OK things out of him. Something I NEVER thought I would be okay with/do, but hey, we all change right? End on a good note and hope for the best next time?

At least he had a good ole time. Not sure how we will progress from here considering our "riding field" is LITERALLY a pond. No, really, its going to be impossible for weeks now. I guess we will get really good at hyper hacking down the road!