smellshorsey

You Can Catch Poison Ivy from Your Horse

Who can resist this face, which says, "Pat me! Pat me!" Yes, It's hard to keep hands off of such a cute pony. But if you could read the sign, which you probably can't since I can't either, it said something along the lines of "Do NOT touch this horse. Poison Ivy!"

I thought maybe that was the pony's name. There's probably a pony somewhere appropriately named "Poison Ivy." Maybe the pony bites. Lures you in with a cute face, then CHOMP.

Or maybe the pony had rolled in poison ivy and you'd catch it if you rubbed him. My cousin caught poison ivy from his dog who spent the day romping in poison ivy and the night in my cousin's bed.

But no. I learned something new at Pony Club camp, where this photo was taken. This pony was out grazing and came upon some very yummy poison ivy, so he ate it. Apparently poison ivy doesn't bother horses, but it comes out through the horse's skin and secretions -- and if you touch the horse for the next 48 hours or so, you may as well go roll in the poison ivy yourself.

Back from Carolina's Region Pony Club Camp

We're back from five days in Tryon, N.C. at the Pony Club Carolina's Region summer camp. I love this photo, which I took on the cross-country course at FENCE. I don't know this girl but her horse was green and he jumped off of the bank jump like a happy five-year-old child who'd just discovered jumping off the side of the swimming pool. I love how he seems to be flying through the air with the mountains in the background.

Lily was also in this group of five girls and horses. It was mercilessly hot. Two of the five had to drop out due to the heat. I probably would have dropped out but moms aren't allowed to drop out. Here's a photo of Lily and Markus over the same jump. This was Lily's first time ever doing a drop bank.

Now here's one of the many, many cool things that happened at camp. See the woman whose back is to the camera? That's Sarah Hansel, who was one of the excellent instructors at camp and who has a personal connection to Markus, Lily's new horse. Sarah used to show him for the woman who had rehabbed him after his slab knee fracture at the track when he was four. She would have been an incredible instructor for Lily even if she didn't know the horse, but since she had a history with him, she was able to give extra insight -- and confidence -- to Lily.

Lily's lesson on the cross-country course with Sarah had Lily completely aglow. She said, "That's the best time I ever had in my life doing anything!"

I've never been so hot and tired as I've been over the last five days. But it was worth every drop of sweat and every pound of Tryon red clay that won't even wash out of our whites with bleach.

More to come.

When Winning Isn't Everything

Winning is never everything, but sometimes winning can be an embarrassment. We have this new horse, Markus (left), who has done a great many things, from racing to eventing at the preliminary level. And also at the beginner novice level and novice level with his previous owner. When I checked online, I saw that they had won one event at the beginner novice level, and been eliminated at other events on the cross country phase. Oops!

We know what he can do. We don't know yet what he can't -- or won't -- or possibly even worse, WILL do that we don't expect or know about.

So, when we'd had the horse a total of three weeks (and two of them are his "on trial" weeks), I was faced with a dilemma. Lily wanted to enter him in a friendly, local horse trials that she usually attends. But at what level should I enter them? She's never even ridden a dressage test on him and has only had three lessons. I don't know what he does on cross country that got him eliminated more than once. Everything I've seen him do is good, or otherwise I wouldn't have bought him. But there's this level of the unknown....

Over her objections (she wanted to go novice, which is two levels up from her previous experience), I entered her in special novice -- the same level at which she last competed. At that time she was first after dressage but ended up fifth from time and jumping faults. Enormous time faults. 

We got to the show grounds and unloaded. Markus looked around then started grazing. That's a good sign. He doesn't stand particularly still to get tacked up but he's not awful, either. They had a pretty good warm-up for dressage, but not a very good test. Their score put them next to last (fifth), with a huge difference between them and the girl in first place.

So, that was disappointing but just showed what Lily and Markus need to work on (everything in dressage). Schooling for cross country was good, and even though Lily had been warned by Markus's previous owner that he was very, very antsy and sometimes agitated in the starting box, he walked in and acted like a horse with brains. He knew where he was and was ready to go, but he wasn't stupid.

Lily had to ride him, and he hesitated as if he was going to stop at a downhill jump in a pasture fence line that he had to jump into some dark woods, but Lily growled at him and drove him (thank you, Buddy, for this good lesson) and Markus sailed over. Whew! After that she had a wonderful ride -- the time of her life. I have never seen such a happy smile on her face.

Lily was clean after cross country. But the other girls weren't so lucky. Lily found herself unexpectedly in first place. And though they had a very eccentric, fast and open-jumperish stadium round (giving the spectators their money's worth with hair pin turns, crazy approaches and almost getting off course), they were clean there. So they held on to first place.

I was proud of both of them. And I was also very, very relieved that they had not done well in dressage. The mothers and trainers of the other competitors politely asked me about this new horse, and I could tell there were some ideas that perhaps it wasn't sportsmanlike to enter them in this division. I was relieved that I was able to tell them that Lily and Markus were next to last after dressage, which meant that their first place finish was only possible because the competitors who placed higher than them after dressage lost their rankings through their own time and jumping faults. I did not enter a ringer for my child to beat their children.

My goal for the day was to enter my daughter and her new horse in a competition that would be challenging and safe, where they could come away with a good experience. That's what happened, and now we know (more or less) how he's going to act.

Lily was ecstatic during her victory gallop. She did the whole thing on the wrong lead. She has plenty to work on before next time, when she will indeed compete up a level.

Winning is great fun when you've really earned it.

Lucy's First Show

After the hay net fiasco, the horse show was fun.

We love the series of small, friendly schooling-type shows that they have about once a month in the next county. People encourage each other, the show management is relaxed and flexible, and though it is competitive, the support for the other riders and horses is greater than anyone's desire to win. It's hunters in the morning, western in the afternoon, and then a bunch of games classes. Some people ride in all three segments.

We found out our friends were going, so we wanted to go. But which horse to take? Since Buddy's for sale, he would have to be perfectly turned out and Lily would have to ride him perfectly. She didn't want to work that hard -- she wanted to have fun with her friends. Though Markus is new and we could use the experience with taking him somewhere, he doesn't need the experience. We decided to take Lucy because she almost never gets to to anywhere. In fact, she hadn't been ridden in weeks. (Ooops. This is my horse.)

I told Lily she could ride the horse or just tie her to the trailer. Either way it would be educational for Lucy. She chose to ride her.

I liked Lucy's attitude. Ears forward, more or less doing what she was supposed to. Things weren't perfect but it was a positive experience. One class was just about perfect. First is always fun.
 

Our New Horse! (If He Vets Out)

This week is spring break. While the rest of you are escaping to the beaches or planting your gardens at home, we are buying and selling horses.

Okay. That's only half true. We haven't sold Buddy but we've found The Perfect Horse (note: calling him The Perfect Horse will ensure he flunks vetting), made an offer and will be picking him up in the morning. He's ours if he vets out. I hate this part.

I also hate the part where we're signing contracts and I'm getting insurance and trying to work out problems that aren't problems but feel like it. And when I walk outside to do something and Buddy comes to the fence to greet me I feel like I'm having an affair...

But for Lily, Christmas has come. She is ecstatic. She has forgotten all about boys. "When are we picking up the horse?" Well, I was all set. I had the truck gassed up and ready to go... then there was all this paperwork stuff.

Anyway. We live in a world where handshakes are just a way to catch colds. The people who are selling him are really nice; they're just protecting themselves in a world where handshakes are just a way to catch colds. Back in the old days.... Heck. Three years ago we brought Buddy home with no contract, no insurance, no agreed-upon price, nothing. Just a promise that we would give his blanket back if we bought him. Which we did -- buy him AND give the blanket back.

Our horse-to-be is a 10 year-old TB gelding with an old racing injury. The old racing injury is the only reason we can afford him. He's a grandson of Seattle Slew (who won the Triple Crown and was possibly undefeated but I'm not sure) and has evented at the Preliminary level. I talked to the woman who rescued him from the track before his current owner bought him, and if he's half as good as she says (and she has no reason to tell me a tale since she has a horse she'd like to sell us of her own) we have found The Perfect Horse. Here's a short clip of Lily trying him out.

Time to Change Horses

We've been wrestling with a tough decision here for a few weeks. No, longer than that. It's been about three months. Lily's horse, Buddy, has decided that jumping is for other horses, dogs and kangaroos, not for him.

Lily says it's not fun anymore. He doesn't want to jump (though he jumps gloriously here at home). She wants to jump. She keeps trying to jump him at Pony Club and other farms. And he has become dead set against it.

I don't know how we got here and don't want to go into all the things we've tried and failed. All I know is that it's not working. It could be our fault. But we are where we are -- and it's time to move on.

Her trainer and I have suggested to Lily that we get her another horse.

There's been much weeping, and I'm not far from it myself. I can't tell you how many times we've had the following conversation:

"Mom, have you ever known a horse with as much personality as Buddy?" she asked between sobs.

"No," I confessed.

"Mom, have you ever known a horse as affectionate as Buddy?" she asked.

"Well, the others get pretty affectionate if you have food," I tried.

"You know Buddy doesn't need food to love us," she said. True, but it helps.

"I never want to sell him," she said. "I love him, and he does everything great but jumping."

"But jumping is what you want to do," I said.

"Nobody has as good a personality as Buddy," she retorted.

"You don't ride on the personality," I said.

Things changed last week. I took Buddy and her teacher's horse off to school at another farm. Buddy was absolutely fabulous. He stood quietly at the trailer while we tacked him up. He was calm and interested in his new surroundings, but stayed quiet and perfect.  He warmed up and looked like a million bucks. Then, when it was time to jump, he quit. Nothing doing. No jumping.

This horse has been evented a few times and never once had a refusal. He's gone in shows and never had a refusal. But he has decided that he isn't jumping -- and we're not going to make him.

We tried. I won't go into everything, but we tried. He has made a decision. No jumping except at home. And that's not good enough.

The thing that was different last week is that Lily's smart teacher brought her own horse, Ollie, and after Buddy had disappointed Lily, her teacher said to get on Ollie. Lily jumped Ollie over several courses. And we asked, "Did you have fun?"

"Yes. But I have fun on Buddy when I take him trail riding and do flat work and go places with him. I just can't jump him," she said.

"What if you got a horse that did all the things that you love to do with Buddy, and that horse jumped, too? In fact, you could take that horse places and jump -- not just at home," we said.

Lily was as dead set against replacing Buddy as Buddy is dead set against jumping.

The instructor sent Lily off to jump some more on Ollie. And this time it seemed to register what she was missing. Riding horses and jumping is her very favorite thing to do.

So we've made a heart-breaking decision. We're going to sell our precious Buddy and get a horse that wants Buddy's job. Lily will fall in love again.

The multi-talented but non-jumping Buddy will get a good home (we'll see to that). And he won't miss us nearly as much as we're going to miss him.

Invite Us Somewhere -- We're All Smiles

Yes, there's a photo missing. I hate Adobe Photoshop. I tell it where to save photos, and then those photos are not there. I save them again and it says that there are already those very files in that very place. But that's a big fat lie. I have been struggling with this for a couple of months. If the photo had been where PhotoShop and my computer said it is and I was able to upload it to this blog, you would have seen Paul and Lily smiling and squinting at the sun. In the background would be a shiny, new, white K&K trailer. Buddy (the horse) is the only one not smiling, and he'll have to get over it. He does have plenty of hay and a fly mask on to keep out bugs, since it's slant-load, stock-style trailer. And it's gorgeous.

A picture would be worth a thousand words. But enough about that.

What does the new trailer mean to me? Freedom! Yes indeed, now we can go places without me worrying excessively. The lights will work all the time. It has breakaway brakes. It pulls great. It's not as old as me. We'll be going to trail rides, Pony Club meetings and rallies, little shows. Invite us somewhere! We'll be there.

But oops! Within the first 24 hours we managed to break a window out. This seems impossible, but I think Paul did it when parking under a tree with low-hanging limbs. The good thing is that we've gone ahead and boogered the new trailer up. Now we can relax and enjoy it. (The window will get fixed tomorrow when I take the Yukon to get the brake operating thingie installed. Apparently vehicles that come with a trailer package don't have the brake controls installed -- they've just got heavier radiators, transmissions, light connections, that sort of thing. Who knew?)

I should be above caring so much for material things. I should be a non-material girl. I should be happy just to be here when the sun rises.

And I am. But I'm even happier to see it rise on that shiny, new, SAFE trailer. Allelulia amen.

Pony Club Rating in the Cold, Cold Rain

I haven't been blogging because I've been spending the past two weekends at Pony Club things. Last weekend was Lily's rating day. Rating days are expensive, so Pony Clubs don't have them but once or twice a year. The clubs have to pay for the raters to come, so our club combined with the one in Aiken for our rating day to cut costs.

And once you've got it all scheduled, you go ahead and have it -- no matter what the weather. So we went to Aiken last weekend for one miserable, cold wet day. The temperature hovered between 37 and 44. The rain poured.

One drenched mother said, "They ought not even test them and should let all of us go home. No kid would have shown up in this weather if they weren't sure they were going to pass."

Alas, they didn't shortchange any phase of the testing. We left home at 8:30 a.m. and got home at 6:00 p.m. Lily passed her rating and even said she had fun but had never been so cold.

It's warm today and raining. There was a horse show. We didn't go. I stayed in bed and was so grateful to be warm and dry with nowhere to rush to. Lily's working on her science project.

She decided to postpone her birthday celebration and go to Pony Club Quiz Rally next month instead. She's making new friends at Pony Club and told me, "Mom, if you go hang out with the other mothers, you'll probably make friends, too."

On the next warm, dry day, I will.

$17 Away from a New Trailer

Lily is $17 away from earning a new trailer. She found a $20 in a drawer and tried to give it to Paul, but he said she had to earn it. She'll have the opportunity to do so this weekend and it won't be too soon for me. (She doesn't have to earn the total price, just a portion. It's been a hard, slow slog of menial construction work, drudgery and splinters. Good for the soul and an eye-opener that physical work is hard so keep studying.)

She sure better work it out before we start going to Pony Club rallies. The old trailer is sound but needs a lot of work. It's steel and is rusting so badly that the horse can almost see sky. The new one will have a small tack/dressing room which will mean we don't have to haul stuff in Paul's Yukon. Once you put hay in a car, it's there forever. Even if you wrap it in a drop cloth. Diamonds aren't forever. Hay is.

The almost sad part is that for all of Lily's work, she's not getting the trailer she wants. She wanted an aluminum Gore, Trail-et or Sundowner. There's a huge difference in price between a steel trailer and an aluminum one. In fact, I don't understand how they can ask that kind of money for an aluminum trailer that doesn't even have an engine in it. I can get a new Toyota (motorized, air conditioned, music system, etc.) for less than I can get an aluminum trailer. Something is wrong with this picture.

We've looked at used aluminums and it's impressive how they hold their value. But not quite impressive enough to spring for one.

Right now the front-runner is a semi-custom K&K steel trailer (made by Bee) that is made of galvanized steel. They swear it won't rust if the paint is knocked off, but it will rust if gouged. We're considering the stock-type trailer with some of the options on the enclosed trailer, pictured below. It won't be soon enough for me -- or the next Pony Club meeting.

Truly Obnoxious Teenage Horse Girls

When I was young, Saintly Brother taught his horse to rear in the style of the Lone Ranger. Of course his mare was named Silver, and he also taught her to bow. He made Silver a trick horse. They were quite a pair.

One day when I was a teenager my friends and I got bored. Yes, it's me, not Lily, who is/was the truly obnoxious teenage horse girl.

We decided to use Silver's rearing trick to fool passersby into thinking that one of us (we took turns) had fallen off a rearing horse and gotten hurt. We wanted to see if people would stop to help. We'd get on Silver, get her to rear, and fall off. No one stopped, probably because three girls laughing their heads off don't appear too damaged. But Silver got tired of this trick and her rears got less and less spectacular.

So on my next turn, I asked her to rear so high that I pulled her over backwards. I fell off to the side. She landed on her back, crushing the saddle tree and flattening the cantle. Silver was thankfully all right, and I never did it again.

It didn't scare me then as much as it should have. But now I have a better understanding of physics and I can only be thankful that God looks after fools, such as I once was, and in many ways, still am.