Today is Mike's birthday. He is not a birthday kind of guy. Still, I kept asking him what he wanted to do today. To my surprise, he said he wanted to go for a ride. No need to twist my arm! We ended up going to Horseshoe Bend and doing six miles in the snow. It was very pretty.
Last month, Chip got to experience his first snowfall. Of course, I couldn't resist taking the real camera to the barn for some photos. I put him out in the big middle pasture because the snow was undisturbed. I let him loose and he promptly took off at top speed. He did a handful of laps with the zoomies, then came trotting up to check in with me. I rewarded him with a snack, like I so often do when he comes over to see me. Well, that was the end of photos. He decided that he'd rather hang out with me than run around. I didn't even have to halter him to lead him back to his paddock. He just followed me like a puppy dog. Guys, I love this kid so much.
So, without further ado, have a million photos of Chip at five months old. (He turned six months yesterday and I already need to do updated photos!)
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| My favorite of the series. You can see him keeping his eye on me, even here. |
At the end of January, we got a few inches of snow and it was just the right consistency for horseback riding. It didn't last long, but I took advantage of it and had Mike come to the barn to take pictures of me riding the girls. As always, this means I'm going to spam you now.
Things have been quiet here on the blog. They've also been pretty quiet in real life. For starters, the weather has mostly been atrocious. It's January in New Jersey so that's not really surprising. We are currently having a winter storm with several inches already on the ground and a few more on the way. Mike is snow blowing the driveway so we can go take care of the horses as soon as the roads are passable. Meanwhile, I've plugged my personal laptop into my work station and am gleefully typing away on a real keyboard with dual screens.
Despite the short days, mercurial weather, and new work schedule, I have been riding almost every day. I am 22 rides in to the new year. Ten on Booger, eleven on Lucy, and one on Miss Lilly. With any luck, I'll add one more on Boo later today.
Most of these rides have been on my lunch breaks now that I'm working from home. The barn is ten minutes from the house and I get an hour for lunch. I'm also throwing hay and checking waters, which doesn't leave much time for the actual riding. Generally, my rides end up being 20-30 minutes, and I alternate which horse I ride. I still run to the office on Wednesdays (40 minutes from the barn) so I generally don't ride on Wednesdays.
I was worried about what this change of pace would mean for the girls' training, but to be honest, they are thriving. Knowing I won't have much saddle time means I can't set any concrete goals. I have to live in the moment and just appreciate being on the horse. With the questionable footing, we've been doing a lot of walking. These horses work pretty regularly year round, so slowing down for the winter is not a bad thing. Booger wilts without regular attention, so she appreciates getting sat on three ish times a week, but both girls are getting to relax and have a mini vacation.
Of course, I still take six million photos of everything, so I have a shocking amount of media from this otherwise quiet month.
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| I love the first real snow of the season, and couldn't resist a quick bareback ride on my lunch break. Lucy felt like a powder keg and was very huffy and snorty. In her defense, it was quite blustery and the wind was making little snow tornadoes in the field next door. |
On Valentine's Day, Eryca and I got together for a trail ride. When I looked at my calendar that morning, I realized that I had ridden Lucy six days in a row. That never happens and she definitely deserved a day off. Instead, I decided to bring Booger along. Lilly had also had a busy week so going for a shorter hack at a slower pace would be good for everyone. Booger had been really good on her first two trail rides of the year, and she'd been awesome in the ring. I was looking forward to getting some miles on her.
Booger was being sweet and cuddly as we groomed and tacked up. She has definitely matured and come out of her shell somewhere along the journey. She still isn't a horse who wants a lot of fussing and touching, and she still picks seemingly random people to like or dislike, but over all she seems like your average horse most days.
Still struggling to catch up on my back log of riding media. On February 13th, Eryca and I managed to get a change of scenery on our trail ride. We were able to cross the creek for the first time since the big snow storm and ended up doing a five and a half mile loop in a different direction than we normally go.
So after I posted about Lucy's pedigree yesterday, I got really curious about what percentage of her lineage is made of up which of the various breeds that formed the MFT. I am compiling a megapost about her ancestors, complete with photos and articles. I am fairly certain that all gaited horses in the US can be traced back to the same handful of Tennessee Walking Horses, which in turn means they all go back to certain Morgan and Standardbred lines. Still, it was really cool to trace Lucy straight back to Hambletonian 10 and Figure aka Justin Morgan, and that's just on her sire line!
In the meantime, I'm going to break up the history lessons around here by continuing to catch up on my back log of riding media from February.
On the 11th, Eryca and I met up for a trail ride. The snow was an average of knee high on the horses and powdery fresh. It was a gray and chilly day, but that has not historically slowed us down. That day, I decided I was too lazy to bother with a saddle, and that I wanted to take Lucy on trail bareback. It is, after all, the best way to stay warm during winter!
"Do you want to try Lilly bareback too?" I asked Eryca.
She looked pensive. "Can I try it in the ring first?"
Eryca later revealed that it has been about a decade since she last seriously rode bareback. I had no concerns, however. Eryca has proved to be a sticky and balanced rider over all, and I wasn't planning to do anything crazy. We were still pretty much stuck riding around the neighbor's farm. Both girls had worked hard that week already. I was perfectly happy if we just tootled around at a walk for half an hour or so.
We wound up doing over three miles that day! After letting the horses warm up a bit, we snuck into a trot. Lucy can canter at crawling speed, and it's much more comfortable than trotting, so it wasn't long before I let her roll into a lope. Next thing I knew, Eryca was cantering alongside me!
We had an absolute blast, and I think this was my favorite ride so far this year. We moseyed and took in the scenery. We cantered here and there, and opened the girls up a bit on the pipeline. We laughed and stuffed the mares full of cookies. We posed for pictures and giggled as Lucy repeatedly knocked snow off of trees all over herself and me. It was a great work out and a good way to work on our seats. I knew we'd be sore for yoga that night!
I ride bareback on a fairly regular basis, not just with Lucy and Booger but in general as part of my routine. Still, it has been a very long time since I took a real trail ride without a saddle. It's so nice to have a horse I can just play around with. It makes me feel like a teenager again.
And, of course, I took a billion photos.
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| Too cool for saddles. |
At the beginning of the month, I took pictures of the girls running around in the snow. Afterwards, Booger was pretty well warmed up. I had just taken her on that trail ride with Neighbor Friend™ and I was feeling brave that day. I decided to take her for a quick solo trail ride, just around PTF.
Just another media dump of riding in the snow. This week the temperatures have been all over the place. We've had ice, snow, sleet, and rain. The footing alternates between slushy and crusty. I have tried to ride Lucy twice, and both times have been a bust. We've just moseyed out to the ring and back. I have taught two lessons in three weeks. While I have quite enjoyed playing in the snow this winter, I am now ready for it to go away. While I don't want to deal with eight weeks of mud, I am ready to go back to work, and I miss riding. Plus I can't turn Norman out until he's three weeks old or the weather improves, whatever happens first.
In the meantime, here's a throwback to the beginning of the month when we still had good snow, and Eryca and I got out on the trails for five miles.
I'm running out of post title idea. It's pretty much been Ride in the Snow, Snow Ride, Ride in the Snow Again, Still Riding in the Snow. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but it doesn't make for creative subject headings.
On the fourth, Eryca and I met up for the first of many trail rides following the snowstorm. We headed next door to Pine Twig and did just shy of three miles with Lucy and Lilly.
I have completely gone off the deep end. I ordered a complete set of Taylored Tack for Booger.
I barely trail ride her and it's not like she's going to be an endurance horse, but I got tired of having to switch holes on Lucy's bridle all the time. Plus I'm a tack hoarder. More legitimately, I recently added a running martingale to Boo's set up. I was really reluctant to do it, but it has definitely helped with her tendency to brace her jaw and go around like, well, an Arabian. While I got the quick attachment style from Distance Depot, having the rings jingling on Lucy's reins when I ride without the martingale was making me crazy.
Of course, there's also the fact that I just love the variety of available beta biothane colors. At first, I was going to try to get some sort blush tone for Booger. I love the wine on Lucy. Eventually, I decided lavender would look lovely on Bug. I specifically dreamed up lavender beta with purple maze overlay. Unfortunately the lavender beta is discontinued so not everybody carries it. Taylored Tack does not offer lavender. I even emailed Amanda directly to find out if it was something I could pay extra for. When that wasn't an option, I looked at other tack vendors and polled the audience on FB. In the end, I decided the quality of the product was more important than the color. The places that had quality and lavender beta didn't have purple maze overlay.
Eventually, I decided to stick with Taylored Tack and explore other color options. I debated just getting regular purple, but I really wanted something lighter/brighter against Boo's dark coat. I briefly contemplated teal, but I think finding matching items would be even harder than trying to match the wine set.
My favorite color is blue, and most of Jen's endurance horses go in blue. I have no plans to do endurance for the foreseeable future *sob* but it would be nice to have a full set of gear of my own if I ever do go back to catch riding. So then it was just a matter of picking the right shade of blue. I won't bore you with how drawn out of a process that was. I really am coming apart at the seams, I think.
In the end, I went with the ride and tie style bridle with a blue noseband on the rope halter. For the tack, I chose beta blue with meadow lands overlay.
Unfortunately, Amanda wasn't willing to exchange the Conway buckle on the girth strap like she did for Lucy. There was also a delay in manufacturing due to some strapping being on back order, which was fine, but I had to reach out three weeks after my order to find out what was going on. I still recommend Taylored Tack for the quality of the product, but I have been really cranky about a lot of places and their customer service lately. Don't even get me started on CVS. And I have a whole other saga about a certain product that will have to wait for a separate entry.
Booger's tack arrived on Saturday just as Eryca and I got back from our trail ride. Mike, being the Best Husband Ever, threw the tack and his camera in the car and came right over to the barn. All my concerns about color choice faded the second I put the tack on Booger. I'm biased, but I think it looks spectacular on her. I was like a little kid as I tacked her up for a quick photo shoot in the ring.
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| ❤❤❤ |
But mostly Booger because Lucy did a courtesy lap around the ring and then jumped out and ran back to the barn. I guess she's taking these jumping sessions to heart. Oh my.
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| Deep snow is a good way to build those butt muscles. |
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| Lining up the gate opening... |
Pop quiz!! How many animals is Dom currently caring for every day? If you guessed fifteen, you are correct!
2 dogs, 7 horses, 4 sheep, and 2 cows!
Last Wednesday, the day after the blizzard, the driveway at Gunner's barn was still inaccessible so Jess had to cancel her lesson. Instead, I invited her to come for a trail ride with me instead. We ended up doing four and a half miles and I had an absolute blast.
Apparently it's winter.
Eryca took the day off on Friday to meet me for a trail ride before the blizzard hit. On Thursday night, as we were settling into bed, Mike asked me, "Did you see the forecast for tomorrow?"
"Yeah, it's gonna be like 24℉ and sunny."
"...and the wind?"
"What wind?"
I opened my weather app. Sure enough. Winds steady at 20-25mph, with gusts up to 40mph. Whoops.
I texted Eryca with a heads up. As always, she was game for whatever I had in mind. I figured we'd bundle up and head next door into the woods. If it was really terrible, we'd just do a quick jaunt around the neighbor's and come right back.
So with a real feel of six degrees, I put on my Windpro breeches, Woolrich socks, and Columbia down jacket (the kind with the metal heat shield lining). Then I grabbed a scarf and gloves, and dug through the front closet for my Rabbit Run completion hat, which is fleece and thin enough to fit under my helmet. Meanwhile, I heated some milk up on the stove before mixing in an extra packet of hot chocolate mix. I poured that into some awesome thermoses that my mom got us and grabbed my saddle bags out of the barn.
I warmed my car up and threw on my muck boots as Mike kissed my goodbye with a skeptical, "Good luck..."
I met Eryca at Fran's ten minutes later and traded her a thermos of hot chocolate for hand and foot warmers. As the wind gusted hard enough to shake the barn, I glanced at Eryca and said, "We must be out of our freaking minds."
She grinned and replied, "I love it."
The horses were happily munching hay under the overhang when we arrived, but they came right over when I opened the barn door. I love that these mares always seem to be up for whatever adventure we have in mind. They mostly live out 24/7 so the weather wasn't news to them, and they're well adapted with their thick, fluffy winter coats.
I had a client ask how they handle the wind, and my reply was basically that horses get good at riding in the elements by being ridden in the elements.
Eryca and I tacked up quickly, giggling all the way, and then swung onto our trusty steeds and headed out into the corn field, where there was no shelter from the January bluster.
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| You know you're jealous. |
In case you missed the memo, we got some snow last month and I was determined to take advantage of it. On the 18th, Eryca and I met at the barn for a trail ride, and I was giddy. I can't even remember the last time I went trail riding in real snow. We got lucky and had a beautiful sunny day with surprisingly warm temperatures. It was the best of both worlds.
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| "These woods are where silence has comet to lick its wounds." ~Samantha Hunt |
As I already mentioned, we got some nice snow in December (for the first time in a long time). I took advantage of it to the fullest while it lasted (and I have secret plans for if we get more this winter). As soon as I saw the forecast, I got really excited to do one of my favorite things: bareback cantering in the white stuff! I think the last time I really got to romp around bareback in the snow was on Booger in 2017. We just haven't had winters like we used to. Oh yeah, and all my horses died. *sad trombone* I've ridden Lucy bareback a handful of times now and she is super comfortable, but I'd never ridden her in snow at all. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning.
Fran had left Lucy in the stall over night so Booger and Lilly would have access to the big overhang without Lucy getting shoved out in the cold. The dutch doors were closed overnight so Lucy didn't even know it had snowed until I led her outside in it. She definitely looked wide-eyed at first, and put her head down to sniff the ground as we walked out to the ring. She has seen snow before, but probably not this much.
I did half a second of ground work to make sure we weren't going to explode. Then I hopped on. Lucy was pretty cautious about the footing the first few laps, which I appreciated. I like a horse with a sense of self preservation. If they stay upright, there's a greater chance at avoiding a big wreck.
After some moseying around, we picked up a cautious gait, and after a few laps of that, Lucy stepped into a fancy, high-stepping trot (snow is good for knee action). I did support her a little more than usual with my reins, but I probably didn't really need to. It did take some convincing to get her to pick up a canter the first time, but once she realized how much easier it was to travel through the fluff that way, she was happy to keep going around and around. We kept it pretty short since working in snow is a lot more cardio than riding in a ring normally, and I wanted to keep it fun.
I am so pleased with this horse. She makes me feel like a horse crazy teenager again, which I really need in a world that leaves me burned out and depressed in just about every category of my life right now.
Anyway, here are six billion photos of me going around in circles on Lucy... again.
The week before Christmas, we got our first real snow of this winter. In fact, it was the first real snow we've had in a long time. We never got real snow last winter, and the winter before that we got one good snowfall in March but that was it.
As I've mentioned before, Lucy is from Texas. I don't know for a fact that she's never seen real snow before, but she certainly acted fascinated by it when I led her out of the stall Fran had put her in over night. Regardless of Lucy's past, this would be her first official snow fall with me, and as [apparently] a horse blogger [again], that was reason enough for a photoshoot.
If our riding career tanks, at least Lucy has potential as a model? Or maybe I'm biased.
