Blogging Pays Off -- Again!

Eating up the Five Points Novice course last September.

Like many horse bloggers, I started this venture simply to track where Solo and I had come from and our progress (or failures!) along the way.  It's been invaluable to look back on veterinary and training issues, and just fun to have all our event images and stories organized.

Yesterday, I mused aloud on Encore's journey this fall (with a caveat of not breaking himself, laughingly, because plans ALWAYS need adjusting over and over and over and over).  Just writing it down really helped clarify the variables, risks, and perspective of the question at hand.  Perhaps it's just the way I think, but simply going through the mental exercise of making things coherent on paper forces my brain to draw more distinct lines than normally present in its usual spinning chaos.  Some excellent comments further delineated the issues.

And conundrum resolved!

I KNOW CHP has tough, tough XC courses at Five Points.  As in not only maxed out, but with technical questions to boot.  It would be extremely poor horsemanship to throw both at Encore at once at this point in the game.  Talking to a course designer further emphasized this point (hey, benefit of volunteering, you meet officials and you learn new ways of thinking about courses).  I want him to always believe he is the confident bawss horse seen below.

I am adamant that the focus stays on Encore's development.  It can not ever get waylaid into, as a friend so aptly put it, chasing NQR's for my beloved T3DE.  No matter how badly I want it, I will never, ever sacrifice my horse's long term wellness, both mental and physical, for any numbers on paper.  This journey is about the joy of the gallop and I want there to be as many of those as possible!

Dis de biggest thing you gotz?  Let me rockz it for you!

I am also lucky enough to have access to a decent fall calendar of high quality CT's, jumper shows, and schooling horse trials (still at my dear CHP).  So I have ready access to my choice of challenges, all valuable, within 45 minutes to an hour, should Encore decide to cooperate.

Will I enter Five Points at all?  I would really like to run it at Novice, not least to try out the new courses!  In the end, it will come down to careful budget choices.  I have to make the farm a priority right now.  While some competition, even a $15 jumper class, is important to keep Encore strong and sharp and keep his brain (and mine) from dying of boredom, we can't have it all.  At least at CHP, we do not have to stable thanks to awesome and generous eventing buddies and I can either lodge with them or on my technical trailer tarp, ha.  That is a HUGE money saver, as stabling alone at the Park for two nights is around $150-200 for a recognized event.  That's my entire month's board!!!

Hmmmm, anyone need services they are willing to pay for in the Triangle area?  Wait, something about that doesn't sound quite right...

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The Conundrum Of A Sound Horse

Oh yes, they are a puzzle too, albeit an excellent one to have!  You have to decide what to do with them!

Encore feels good.  He's moving well, working well, and improving.  I am sure he will be lame again (he is still a horse), but for the time being, I want to enjoy him while he is GOOD.  Actually, I'm terrified to let Dr. Bob inspect him for fall shots, for fear of him finding a sore spot I didn't know about!!

But it means a lot of decisions.

The flying Throughbred at Becky's in March.  He's back!

He's perched on a brink, level-wise.  We've been hard at work on the assignments from Becky and Eric, and always in the background are our exercises from David and Priscilla, and he just keeps getting better.  He is working confidently in the long lines and I am encouraging him to increase the swing of his shoulder little by little.

What this all boils down to is that he is getting very close to being ready to move up to Training.  How exciting is that?????!!!  So, while he will probably break himself, I'll just pretend...

The jump is there.  3'3" is not an issue for either of us and we have schooled there quite a bit.  My eye is accustomed to it, as is his.  The gallop is there, naturally, heh.  The basics of the dressage are there.  He doesn't have an extended trot yet and we still need to work on crisper transitions within the gaits, but that doesn't worry me very much.  I am completely of the view that the dressage is always a work in progress and even scorewise, you can still do very well even when one movement is not quite there yet.  Heck, you know me, I get excited when I am not last!

Herein lies the puzzle.

I am aiming him at Five Points in September.  I just love the events at Carolina Horse Park, I very much like the new organizer, Marc Donovan, and am intruiged to see what Hugh Lochore does with the XC courses.  I always run into eventing buddies there and it's my own little vacation.  It will be a little longer this year since it will be a three-day event over three actual days (although XC last, poo on FEI format), so I will have to be little more clever with my scheduling.

Jumping into CHP water complex in Sept 2012.  Looky but willing.

Do I enter at Novice?  He hasn't run XC since this spring, but we need to do a school anyway since he needs to practice jumping into water.  He is bold and honest and I am confident on course.  Stadium and dressage will be very easy, even if I manage to hold my breath and crap up our dressage test, it's not like he can't do it.

Or do I go for the Training moveup at my home showground where I know the land and the facilities?  CHP may be familiar, but it is rarely soft for the level, especially after Southern Pines I in March.  The last thing I want is to overface us.  Solo and I ended badly, but it didn't have much to do with the level, nothing to do with XC, just a horrible time snafu.  And, as I did with Solo, Encore will do Training height during at least a jumper show and CT before we go.

All of this will require a financial investment as well.  I need to be sure, via lessons and schooling shows, that we are prepared for anything so no officials or volunteers have to be horrified (I certainly don't appreciate it when riders make me gasp with fright when I volunteer, although I certainly know 'oh shit!' happens!).  I also need to be very frugal and make sure we are getting the most bang for our buck.  It's not like spare change is lying around here.

It's something I am going to have to feel out.  I will be chatting with David about it after our lesson on Sunday to get his feedback and seeing how Encore does there and in our XC school, TBD.  I will NOT get greedy and end up moving up prematurely simply because I want to run at T.  Safety first!!!!

It's an exciting puzzle, even though I don't know the answer.  Were I closer to NoVa and had lots of money, my options might be different, but I'm not and I don't, so I need to find a schedule and an approach that will work best for me and my horse as individuals.  Hmmmmm..........

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Lusting After Your Own Absorbine TryPak???

That title ought to get me some Google hits, ha!  But you know you are.

Well, now you can win one.  And I'm going to tell you how.

Get ugly.

That's right.  And now I'm going to explain (apparently, I'm in the mood for announcing intent).

Snif.

We all know us working class horse people are broke.  Some of us more than others.  As a result, I do not buy a replacement item until its predecessor has well and truly collapsed into a panting corpse at my feet and gasped its final effort.

Example.  My VERY favourite gloves, a pair of mesh-backed Moxie gloves, never too slippery, never too sticky, always comfortable, inexpensive, and with a lifespan of TWO YEARS, as opposed to 6-10 months for my traditional SSG All-Weathers.

As an aside, I do now own a pair of SSG Digitals and another of SSG 10 Belows (sale on both) and they are worlds above the All-Weathers and so far excellent after their first year. 

When I finally had to give up on my dear Moxies, my skin was getting peeled off because they looked like...well, just look left.

It was a real shame -- had it been any other finger but my rein finger, they would have lived on, because the top still looked like...yep, look down.

2 yrs, perfectly fine!

I happened to be in a tack shop and replaced them with a pair of leather and mesh Heritage pull-ons...which got the first hole in the finger (I apparently have devil monkey claw fingers and toes, you should see my socks!) in ONE WEEK.  BooHiss.  This is what I longed in today (below).  The rest of the summer fall will be spent in a pair of sale SSG crochet-backs.

What they look like today.  I just cut off the fingers when they fell apart.

OMG, woman, this is the longest contest description ever!  Yes, you're right.  But here's what you do:

-Click the email link in my sidebar and send me an email titled "My Awesomest Gear." 
-Attach a photo to that email of your most persistent piece of equipment (dang, I should have taken a picture of my half chaps that are legally old enough to drive!). 
-If I don't get some photos of duct tape and hay string, I'm going to cry.
-Make sure all photos are submitted by Thursday, August 1st.

I want to see ugly, I want to see determined, I want to see creative!  However, said piece of equipment must still be in regular use.  I'm going to count on your honour for that!  I will post the top ten photos and the FIVE most talented salvagers (that's right, say thank you to Absorbine generosity) will be chosen by my mere whimsy careful scientific rankings to receive your very own Limited Edition TryPak Of Shiny Goodness to rock out in travel-size convenience at your next show or just to wave around the barn to the envy of everyone else.

Get out there and start collecting photos!!  May the most desperate poverty-warrior win!!

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In Which Apologetic Blogger Is Apologetic Again

Maybe I should rename the blog, ha.  But I am sorry, I have not been able to write much for quite some time.  The process of pulling the farm together has been a road of a million steps, although at least now, much of the legwork for the house construction is done.  The job and the rest of  life, along with trying to keep Encore strong through his back and hind end (success!) during busy season, just eats me alive!

I have so many posts floating around in my head, in draft form, on a list, but it's so hard to get them from that rather scary place to here.  I know that those of you who spend a lot of time writing know what I mean:  in order to write something meaningful, that I believe in and can read without cringing or falling asleep, the vibe has to be right, for lack of a better description.  Energy, time, mojo, and heart have to come together for the creation. 

It feels as if things are coming together on the farm front, although once construction starts, that just a whole new road with its own set of steps!  But I remain hopeful that as we move into fall, I'll be able to get some more writing in and have less crises to deal with. 

Up next though, hang tight for a contest!  You can win your very own Absorbine TryPak to make your very own shiny steed -- I hope to have details up this weekend, so keep an eye out and be a winner!!

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Absorbine Shine!

I owe the good folks at Absorbine a massive apology, but the climate has just NOT been cooperative.  I think we had something like 30+ straight days of rain, which is unreal for Carolina spring/summer.  

Getting the horses in from the pasture.

But ages ago, Absorbine sent TFS a nifty new product called the TryPak.  In this handy, dandy travel-sized kit is an equine body shampoo/conditioner, a green spot remover, and, naturally, their classic detangler/shine product, Showsheen. 

So I set to work (once it finally took a rain break for about an hour) giving it a go with the ambassador of shine himself.

Mr. Shiny is doing his best to impersonate Mr. Muddy.

Maybe the world's shiniest horse isn't the best demo, but Encore is always clean!

Solo was more than happy to be lavished with the attention as I soaked and scrubbed.  Shampoo first, then the stain remover on his white socks, and I finished by brushing the showsheen over his body and through his tail.

Here, mom, let me adopt my most awkward pose for you!

Now he has serious shine and immaculate white legs!!!

How is that for a clean orange horse?!  All three products worked really well and I was especially impressed with the stain remover, which got his legs amazingly white.  I absolutely recommend you give it a try!  We may even have a contest for you to win some of your own coming up shortly -- I just have to check with Absorbine, who may have disowned me by now for taking so long!

Hopefully, the sun is shining where you are today, we finally have a few moments respite from the clouds peeing on us here!  So I'm heading out to enjoy the blue skies while I can --

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