Tonight, this happened:

(But really, isn't it obvious that he already was?)

That's a hard thing to swallow, for multiple reasons.  Like: 1) It means I'm not in control.  2) It implies that something "greater" is at work.  3) And it's generally a platitude spewed when things don't work out your way.  Imagine my surprise when my there-is-no-greater-than-us husband said it to me, as I sat with my smokey Subie on the side of the road.

That's not good, right?

I was super excited.  I had another surprise and I didn't want to tell anyone about it because it made me incredibly nervous.  Like, pop half a Xanax before leaving the house because the nerves are eating me alive already and I'm not even at the barn yet.

BM had invited me on a group trail ride.

I knew, from another boarder, roughly what to expect.  Five or so riders and an easy two hours in the surrounding trails.  I've joked with her multiple times about our trail-sucking OTTBs who either chase off the other horses, chase after the other horses, or refuse to enter the woods altogether.  I'd also lamented the fact that it has been years since I've cantered a horse in the woods and, dammit, I miss that.

But it wasn't meant to be.

I texted BM to tell her that my car was acting up.  They offered to wait a while for me.  After inspecting a pipe spraying the overly-hot radiator with fluid, I told her that I wouldn't be able to make it at all.  It took me about an hour to get the Subie the three miles back to the house, stopping frequently to let the engine cool.

Britches, half-chaps, boots, a gallon of water, and a piece of shit.

When I stole my husband's much nicer car to go to the barn yesterday, I learned that the trail ride had reached epic proportions.  Not only had there been ten horses with eleven riders (a kid tucked up front), they had gone out for three and a half hours.  Part of their journey had involved walking BESIDE A HIGHWAY.  You know, with CARS.  Aw, fuck no.  BM even said that she wasn't keen on that part, but wasn't leading.  I'm not even comfortable riding trail-broke horses beside active roads.  People are idiots (I'm no exception when it comes to driving).

So maybe it happened for a reason.

Friday night, compliments of Wallpaper's Good 4 It.

Hi, Mom!

Oh, hey, check out the last post for a freaking giveaway, guys!

When D and I were in Athens for the UGA/LSU game, I stopped at a tack store.  Of course, I stopped at a tack store.  Happy birthday, hubby?

I didn't mention it much because of the things I purchased there.  Things I have never heard y'all talk about and I secretly hoped that I had landed on a gold mine.

I did.  And you can, too.

I purchased two shampoos from a company called Elite Equine Evolution.  The ones I picked are the Argan Oil and the Antibacterial/Antifungal lines.  The Argan Oil caught my eye because of my neurosis about adding oil to hair.  I had a mini-lecture session on this here.  Oil is important for healthy hair, yet we love to strip that shit and dry out everything.  And the antibacterial/antifungal appealed to me because it contains ketoconazole.  I'm sure Saiph would back me up on this, but ketoconazole is a medication used in fancy veterinarian-grade shampoos to treat all sorts of grossness in dogs' skin.  Savannah had to use it for a while when she had a gnarly flea allergy dermatitis reaction.  While I don't look forward to next summer and the impending dry coat/rain rot/general funk it'll bring, I'm excited that I have something legit with which to combat that crap.

But back to the review:

We had a warm day last week and I took a moment to give Archie a bath.

Large bottles!

Sorry for the glare!

Happy horse is happy.

Five minutes after have soaped up this side, he's still got a nice lather.

Not labeled as a "brightening" shampoo, but I think this speaks for itself.

Check out that shine!

Pros:

Argan Shampoo is actually one of their newest products and hasn't hit the website yet, so here's some info.  It also comes as a waterless shampoo!

A Giveaway

I had my fourth lesson with T3 last night.  Archives:  first, second and third.

Because it had been a few extra weeks (five, I think, instead of three), I couldn't remember what time I was supposed to leave work in order to get there with adequate time.  So I just left work a little early.  I got out to the town that I have to drive through to get to the barn and stopped at a grocery store to pick up some apples.  Archie loves apples.  Archie deserves apples.

I got there in plenty of time to warm up outside of the ring.  While I was walking him around, I watched a bit of the lesson prior.  T3 had created a grid in a chute and they were cantering through it.  On the last fence, both reins were to be in one hand and the free hand was supposed to be straight forward from the shoulder.  I think it was to bring attention to where their bodies were while also multitasking.  I swear, these kids!

When my lesson started, T3 and I caught up a bit about what we'd been working on.  I said that I wasn't excited about the canter transitions and that he wasn't consistently picking up the correct lead (but that I felt it was my fault) and was breaking.  I told her that we had cantered some baby fences, but hadn't spent a whole lot of time jumping.  I said that I also felt like tracking right was now our stronger direction.

She had me pick up the trot on a loose rein for a few laps and then change direction for a few laps.  Then it was picking up contact and positioning him to lift his core.  We had a few little issues. Tracking right, he wants to drop his right shoulder through the turns, so I actually need to lift the inside rein a couple inches and correct that.  (This flashes me back to riding Duke, with whom I would do the same thing over fences to cue the landing lead.)  Tracking left, I've completely forgotten about his left hip falling in (I need to consistently review my old lesson posts!), so I have to remember to bring my inside leg a few inches behind the girth, push the hip over, but not cross my left hand over the withers - because then I'm asking him to shift and it isn't correcting the hip.  She kept telling me that he looked so much better than he had when we started taking lessons.  He was using his hind end, balanced, swinging evenly in the back.  Just freaking awesome.

At the canter, she corrected my lead issue.  It's me.  It's my hands.  My hands want to do weird things and cross and pull in random directions.  I need to push him into a working walk (oh, yeah, we're ballers now - walk/canter transitions, FTW!) with contact, slightly increase the outside rein pressure and cue with the outside leg.  As many walk/canter transitions as we had last night, I only had an issue with the wrong lead the first time.

After we succeeded with the flat work, we had our first exercise.  T3 had set up two ground poles a canter stride apart.  She said that the goal was to treat the poles as jumps and not splice the front legs.  We were pretty much okay with that exercise, but she had to adjust the poles after the first trip.  I never knew this about Archie, because it's never been used, but he has a naturally large canter stride.  She pushed one pole out a little to make room for that stride and also told me to work on collecting it.  He would clear the first pole just fine, but wouldn't lift his hind legs over the second pole, knocking it.  This would jar me in the saddle and just felt like shit.  We did this exercise several times in both directions until it was smooth.  We had a few blips, but T3 complimented the snot out of my ability to recover.  She said it was good that we were exercising that ability over poles before we got to fences.  Oh, and he also tucks his neck when jumping, so I need to account for that with shorter reins and more forward hands.

She took the chute that the girls had been working with and turned it into two sets of trot poles.  Then we had a grand laugh at the Kid not picking up his feet over the poles.  "It's like he's doing it by Braille!"  Trotted through it twice and she made the second set a cross rail.  Trotted through that fine and she made the front a cross rail.

"Okay, canter it."

Wait, you mean trot in and maybe canter out right?

"No, canter in and canter out."

Okay........

We did it and it was messy and scary.  And as soon as we were on the other side, I raised my hand like a school child.  "Can I just say?  That was the first line we've ever cantered."  (I mean, shit, we just cantered our first fence like a week ago.)  Her response:  that explains why you were in the fetal position.  Touché, T3.  Touché.

She then said that it was meant to be three strides, but he was taking it in two.  Did I want two or three?  I replied with something noncommittal before I got that she really wanted an answer. Could I tell her after we jumped it?  :)  No.  I said I had no idea, maybe two.  She answered the question for me, pushed the second fence out again and told me to take it in three.  We spent a lot of time with those two cross rails.  I nailed the approach every single time, but had to work on not curling over his body over the fence.  Also, I threw him away down the line and left him to fend for us both on the second fence.  But back to the approach:  seriously.  Picking up the canter from a walk, on the correct lead, and locking on the first fence and turning in to the line from the rail.  It was like we had been doing it every day for years.  We finally got decent at the over-fences part and she raised the second fence to a baby vertical.

Guys, it was fucking magical.

I cantered my horse down a line from a cross rail to a vertical on both leads with no issues.  I kept my boobs out, my head up, I didn't throw him away and it was all perfect.  She was so enthusiastic for us both.  I felt like we achieved something.

Baby vertical.

We talked about the show in November.  I told her that I was thinking about W/T cross rails and she told me that would be good.  Better to push or better to have a good experience?  Better to have a good experience.

After the ride, I did more miserable 2 point while walking him out on the trail.  Then it was brushing him down, letting him cool while I helped BM's kid take down the chute, feeding him, sheeting him and walking him out.  Fed him an apple and gave him kisses and just told him what an amazing horse he is.

My legs were jelly after the lesson and the 2 pt.  I slid out of the saddle and landed underneath Archie, who promptly tried to step on my toes.

That weird time of year when you need both the fly mask and the sheet.  Also, I fixed the gaping hole at his chest once I saw it was there.

To review:

• Archie's left hip tracking left - push it over!
• Don't let him get strung out and super long at the canter.  He will.  It will be messy.
• Lift the right hand a couple inches when turning right to help him not to fall in.
• Maintain pressure with the outside hand so he doesn't throw the shoulder that direction (particularly, coming in to the first fence tracking left, he would bulge the right shoulder - maintain a feel so he can't do that).
• Whoa between fences.
• Land in heels.
• Shorten reins for fences so I can maintain contact when he starts to tuck.
• Shoulders should be facing forward over fences, not towards the ground.  Don't curl over him.
• STOP POSTING SO FREAKING HIGH!  (How many times have I heard that now?)

It's neat fucking amazing to watch the transformation that has occurred in my horse.

I mean.  He's got personality, right?  He doesn't hesitate to kick out or be a grump when he disagrees with something.  But, ultimately, I know he still wants to please me.  And I'm learning that he trusts me.  I'm learning that with the ever-improving communication between us, not only does he want to please me, he knows when he is.

Such a charmer!

I don't think I've ever been at such risk of anthropomorphizing my horse.  Dude knew he was the shit last night.

BM was teaching a lesson in the ring, so I took my time grooming and mounted in the grass riding area.  It's smaller than the ring, which is also a tiny bit compact, but it's level and feasible.  By the time I was considering trotting, the lesson had ended and I moved Archie to the ring.  Oh, he's also figured out that "open the gate" means to shove it with his face and proudly march through.  Though, last night was the first time that I got him to stand long enough and close enough for me to latch the damn thing closed again.

We spent a little bit more time walking with contact before I asked him to trot.  I tried to think of everything that T3 is going to expect of us and worked harder to ride like I was in a lesson, rather than just hacking.  I expected to maintain contact in all of the transitions, though we're really going to have to work on the downward.  We go from speed and impulsion and using his back end, to slamming on the brakes and crawling.  I literally fall forward.  Classy as shit.

I pushed him up into the contact and actually asked for extension on some of the diagonals.  T3 explained it previously as extending his back end and shutting down his front end, so he rounds in the center.  (I wanted to use "bascule" instead of "rounds" in that sentence, but I wanted to make sure that I was using it correctly.  Wiki actually has an article on the arc a horse takes over a fence.  Who knew.)  Coming into a turn after that extension, I had that magical, lifted floating trot and Archie's ears were pricked forward.

It dawned on me:  he knows what I want and he's happy when he achieves it.

So of course I took a blurry photo of happy ears mid trot. See the bulge in the neck, too?

We spent some time cantering afterwards.  Two laps of just going forward, to extending, to collection, to a halt.  Both directions.  Would I have tried this at the old barn?  (Never.)

And then, of course, more 2 point.  The end is near!  I put an angry three minute song (Skillet, Sick of It) on repeat and demanded of myself to stay up for the duration.  I almost gave up before the song even looped.

By the time all of that was done, we were walking to a darkened barn with ever-lessening light.  It was peaceful and quiet.  I untacked the Kid and brushed him off.  I put him on one cross tie so he could eat his dinner and his beet pulp and brushed the aisle of the barn.  It was pitch black by the time we were all finished and I walked him out to his pasture with the assistance of my iPhone flashlight.

I just can't get over how much he trusts me.

Tonight, I'll go home.  Hopefully run.  Maybe swing by the hardware store and purchase more rope than I ever thought I'd need for a halter.  Tomorrow, we have our fourth lesson with T3.  Stoked!

On Friday, I rode.  And my thigh throbbed.  And it was hot.  But I rode.

I kept it flat because I hadn't ridden much lately and I was directed to only jump three times a week, so I have to make sure that the percentage is equitable.  I don't want to overwork Ponykins.  (Is that even possible?)  But he was brilliant.  He's caught on to what it is that I want and works very hard to give it to me.  The only issue we're having is picking up the correct lead.  I still think that's a me thing, though.  I'm not asking consistently or I'm screwing something up.  He just wants to please me.

We did a lot of cutting across the ring.  There are dressage markers set up, but I don't know a damn thing about them.  I just used them as placeholders for my serpentines - which was a new exercise for the Archer.  Why, yes, you can maintain contact and a working trot while turning.  Good boy.

I did more two-point. It's started aching in my feet, which tells me that I'm not using my calves nearly enough.   I guess part of that goes back to T3 adjusting the whole position of my calf/ankle and those little muscles having to shift their memories.  Or something.  Maybe I'm just weak!

Saturday.  Ran errands, worked out, ate Mexican, drank a lot of beer.  I took an afternoon nap and woke up to a storm, so the pony unintentionally had the day off. I had wild dreams nightmares about sharks and being a server again and losing all my customers.  It make come as no surprise, but I do not have the nature necessary to be a successful server.  Worst year of my life. (Total lie.  I'm not that petty to be ruined by employment.)

On Sunday, I drank pumpkin spice coffee.  I ate an egg and cheese bagel.  We meandered our way to the gym, to lunch, and to photograph a million animals (not really a million - a lot less than I expected).  I quickly changed clothes into my riding stuff and as I left, the husband was spraying the yard for bugs.  Love that guy!

When I got to the barn, it was full.  Two horses in the cross ties in the aisle, another in the wash rack and two more by the BM's tack room.  I stopped to talk to the Eventer about the clinic she'd gone to the day prior.  She said she had a great time, really improved the canter, but that even her husband remarked that her horse isn't going to be able to take her to the level she wants.  She was body clipping her pony and I wondered again about ever doing Archie.  I know a lot of people clip, but I've just.. never.  He's never needed it.  He doesn't get super fluffy.  I do need a cooler, though!

(Side note:  I just got caught in the black hole that is the SmartPak website, looking for coolers, started thinking about how the girth I bought last year to match the Stubben was rusted to all hell, and contacted the SmartPakers.  They're sending me another girth, based on their 100% satisfaction guarantee.  Crossing my fingers that this one lives longer than a year and a half!)

BM was teaching a lesson in the ring, so I opened up a side pasture to ride in.  Archie has actually never been in this pasture before, but was remarkably good.  A mare was galloping the fenceline while screaming and kids were coming out of the woods.  He maintained calm and the only "spook" he had was to come to a stop and stare.  I'm okay with that. It really just felt like more of the same - walk, trot, canter, trying to get contact and him using his back end.  I'm starting to feel like he's actually more balanced tracking right than left, which makes me wonder if we need to start warming up to the right first.

After getting some nice canter departs on the correct lead, his cool-out was to walk around while I did my two point.  I don't know if I can maintain this same level of improvement every ride.  How many more days in October?

I finished the ride with a warm bath for Archie.  I tried a new product, so wait for that review!

Noms.

I just got back from a big trip and bought myself something expensive immediately afterwards.  So I'm trying to sit on my funds.  Because I'm officially a grown up, right?  So what better way to celebrate that than to list a bunch of shit I want.  Yay, commercialism and consumerism!  (Also, I haven't ridden since Monday because ouch, so I have no fodder.)

Thinline Schooling Boots.

I don't like boots with neoprene because I like things that breathe, but these aren't neoprene.  They're the same stuff as in my Contender II.  And for shows and showing off:

I like the look of black on my bay, but I think some saddle-matched leather would be nice with some poppy white fleece.  These are the Pessoa's, but I'm not brand particular.

On Sunday, July 7th, my husband and I lost Aphrodite.

It's something that I've struggled with, tearing up at random when I think of her or I just fucking miss her.  And the guilt.  I knew the guilt would be horrible.  It has been.  I still don't look at my dogs the same.  They're my furry bitches, but they are also horrible monsters that I brought into my house and consistently cuddle with.

You can read about the story of Aphrodite here.  I don't want a dreary tone for this post, dammit.

In the process of preparing her body, in grieving  I'm not going to give you oodles of details

Before we buried Little Girl, I took some stamps of her paw print.  Not the first time that I've done something like this, but it was the first time that it was one of my own.  And it made that shit hard.

Tuesday night, I finally got that little paw print tattooed on me.  Sunday, October 13th, marked one year that Aphrodite and Achilles had been in our lives.  The day after my 29th birthday we found them.  Here's that story.

It's imperfect and it's smudged and it's perfect.  B, my tattooer who I adore, and I both sat down for a moment and looked at the stamp.  "Are those claw marks?", he asked.  I replied, "Yes.  Because she was a fighter til the end."  B and I talk animals every time I'm in his chair.

The paw print was actually number two of three tattoos.  But it was the most important.  And, weirdly, I didn't feel it.  It never hurt.  The vibrations through my foot tickled.

The first tattoo I got on Tuesday was of my fox.  I took B about four photos of foxes tattooed or water colored and pointed out what I liked about each one.  And then he combined them to give me a custom fox.

Immediately afterwards.  See the raised flesh?

I was hobbling to the bathroom between tattoos two and three when I encountered another artist.  "Hey, foxy lady, what's the fox for?"  I told him that fox hunting essentially got me started in horses, but that I had also just turned thirty and wanted to still feel hot.  He said I succeeded.  :)

I don't have any photos of the third tattoo, but it's a filler phrase so I no longer have a gap on my half sleeve.  Woo!

This is it, I promise!  I went back to miserable work on Tuesday, so all the fun ended on Monday.

I intentionally took Monday off work because I think it's a crime to have to go to work the day after travel.  It blows.  A day trip?  Fine.  Two flights?  No.

D and I slept like the dead and I didn't even stir when he got up to go to work on Monday.  Poor him.  He's also "under the weather", which means that he's just a tad sick, but he's in the health care profession, so he's dying.

I lounged about the house for about an hour after waking, watching something like Elementary or Bones.  And then I headed to the barn.

I was super excited when I got there because no one was there.  This has never happened.  And then I realized that I could see a tacked horse running circles through the trees.  Recognized the horse, knew who would be working her, remembered that it was a school holiday and happiness fell just a notch.  Whatever.

Husband bought me a gorgeous pair of Equi-Star synthetic field boots (insert reminder here about being a vegetarian) and I spent a minute moving the spurs to them from my paddock boots.  And then I spent another few minutes removing them from the field boots and putting them back on my paddock boots, because I could not zip up the field boots.  This has never happened to me.  A quick perusal of the reviews on SmartPak shows that these guys run small and to only get the wide.  But wide take six weeks because they come directly from the manufacturer.  And the November show is in five weeks.  So, the boots are going back to SmartPak, husband is getting a refund, and the next time we're in Charleston, I'm going to try on every single boot that fits and just get something.  It's a shame though - these fuckers were gorgeous.

I grabbed the Kid, who seemed happy to see me.  As I was walking him out, the Eventer and I crossed paths.  I was a little more sad-faced, because I had hoped to have all the spaces all to myself.  Birthday weekend.  It ended up not mattering, though, because she went off towards some mystery trails that I didn't know existed.

I tacked him up, put on his fancy boots, set up a crossrail and got to it.  We spent time going forward with contact at the walk and trot, trying to do the same at the canter.  BM's kid was riding in the ring with me, doing her fancy Western stuff.  I ask her questions every single time I see her and I've learned so much.  Anyways, we started trotting over the cross rail in both directions.  And then I dismounted and lowered it super low.

And we cantered it.

Multiple times.

On both leads.

And here's the kicker, the no-shit,-I-knew-Beka-was-a-wimp:  I've never willing asked Archie to canter a jump.  There have been times where he was cantering towards a jump and I would let him canter over it, but I never asked for it.  I never lined him up and demanded that he not break.

And my horse was freaking awesome.  And I'm super excited to start cantering more jumps because it's like something in me woke up, like something in me has been perpetually waking up at this new barn, with the jumps and the trainer and the abundance of professionals.  And I caught this shit on video, yo.

Noms.

32 oz Miller Lite, cheese nachos, and a book.  Yes, please.

Anthropologie glassware.

Tiny and $12.

End of Birthday Weekend!