First Attempt At Novice

Long time no post! My computer charger was broken for about 6 weeks, and I've been super busy.

Rileigh and I attempted our first Novice this weekend ...key word being "attempted."
We also did a Beginner Novice 2 weeks ago and we're doing the Area III YR Camp next week.

I had a super fun weekend, regardless. I went up to my friend's barn Thursday afternoon, and left early Friday morning with a convoy of 3 vehicles to go XC schooling with her trainer and then head to a little event. Our XC school was almost rained out, but it cleared up just as we were getting on. Rileigh was very good; my friend's trainer had never seen me ride before, but she loved him and asked if we wanted to show at Training level, because we looked like we were ready for it. That made me so happy, because I've had people tell me that Riles will never be able to go Training. We're definitely not near ready yet though! We schooled all the Training stuff -- double banks, 2 corners in a 1 stride combination(that may have be Prelim actually), banks and jumps into water, etc. Riles was great.

After schooling we headed up another hour and a half to the show venue, got the horses settled in, walked courses, and all that.
I immediately had reservations about the water ...it was very, very unfriendly. Basically looked like an enormous puddle in a low spot, shady and surrounded by trees, filled w/ algae and little rocks; and it was shaped like a tight "L" and necessitated an extremely sharp turn in the middle of the water. We were supposed to enter the deep end: over a foot deep, but looked like a mud puddle. Last week I inadvertently traumatized Rileigh of water when I took him in a lake that I had been assured was safe for horses to swim in, but it was not and he fell and got stuck in the mud, no physical damage though. I'm sure you see where this is going ...Anyway, I thought that maybe since he was so good schooling yesterday(very inviting water that he'd seen many times before) I could push him into the water. Honestly, had I ever seen the water before arriving there I never would have entered him in the event, but I certainly wasn't backing out at that point.

I was positively terrified for dressage, I hyperventilated and nearly passed out before going in the ring. Our test could have been a lot better, but it wasn't truly horrendous. We got a 43, nothing to be proud of in most circumstances, but it's our lowest score yet, so I know we're at least heading in the right direction. I have a new dressage saddle that definitely fits Riles much better than the County - a Duett Encore with a 34cm hoop tree. I think the hoop tree is key.
Rileigh was amazing for stadium, took almost every distance I asked him for, even the slightly long ones, and was game for everything. We went clean. I was so proud of him.
XC started out really well, we had a maxed out rolltop as the first jump, then a small log pile, up an extremely steep hill (at least the way we went up was super steep), jump a little floating log thing on top of the hill, down the hill to maxed out chevrons, then WATER. He wouldn't even go near the water and we were eliminated. I was incredibly disappointed. He'd been going so fantastically up until that point, we were hoping for a 3rd or 4th place if we'd gone clean XC. He was going so well though that I honestly can't be too upset w/ him; I wouldn't have gone in the water either. We will definitely be working on scary swamps all summer and will be ready to kick some tookus at Novice next season!

Rocking Horse Spring HT

My County Competitor arrived the day before we left for the event, so I got a chance for a quick ride in it at home before heading out. I like it, the balance is better for me than my old saddle. I wish that the flap was just a bit wider, to accommodate my fairly long legs and the fact that I ride dressage a hole shorter than I perhaps should, but it's not bad at all. The trouble though, is that I think it's slightly too narrow for Rileigh. I'm surprised! I've always heard that County's trees tend to run wider than most other brands. Riles' jumping saddle was a MW which has been adjusted to a W to fit well, and this saddle is a W ...so I'd think it would fit. I'm definitely planning to have the fitter take a look before continuing my search, but I have a feeling that this saddle won't be able to work for him.


Our event was, well, eventful!
My friend came and groomed for me, which was awesome, especially since I can't braid. I really can't at all. Before we arrived I warned her that Rileigh sometimes tries to get out of his stall at shows, but clearly I didn't impress this enough ... On Saturday morning she went into his stall to comb out his mane and get him ready to be braided, and left his stall door slightly open while brushing him. There was only enough space for him to fit his nose out the door, but that's all he needs; he's so fast once he has a plan. Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner, unsuspecting of anything awry, to see my horse galloping around wildly with Karen O'Connor, of all people, in hot pursuit. I immediately grabbed his halter and a bucket w/ a handful of treats and commenced to following him, along with half a dozen other people. Ms. O'Connor was quite upset with me -- I'll spare the details but she did yell at me a bit and condemned my inadequate horse wrangling skills. He was caught after about 10 minutes with no harm done. I was quite embarrassing -- but what is there to do but laugh about it?
Of course, once we caught him he stood like an angel without moving a muscle for 30-40 minutes while he was braided. You would have never known.

Despite a decent dressage ride Friday afternoon, the start of our dressage warmup on Saturday did not seem promising. All the horses milling around was somewhat overstimulating for Riles, and we were interrupted by a downpour which delayed the show for 20 minutes. Once we were back on there was some improvement though; Joe Meyer warmed us up, and in 20 minutes he made such a positive difference in our dressage. It was astounding, I will definitely be trying to ride with him more often. It started raining again right before we entered the ring, and our test wasn't great, but it was better than last time. My only real goal for the weekend was to score under 50 in dressage, which I'm happy to say we accomplished with a score of 46. We had mostly 5s and 6s, with a 4 on our awful halt and a 7 on our walk. What the judge emphasized most was our "floaty connection." I completely agree that's what we most need to work on. Rileigh is not very steady in the bridle and I do him no favours. We have a plan for the next few weeks though.



Cross country was late Saturday afternoon. My horse is a beast. We came in 76 seconds under optimum time with 8 time penalties. I was looking for somewhere to add time but there weren't any good places to circle, and the course was over before I knew it. So much fun though! I bought a fantastic 8x10 of us going into the water -- the first water picture shown here.


On Sunday morning I took Rileigh up to the Kentucky Equine Research booth to be weighed. They were giving away free saddle pads to those that could correctly estimate their horses' weight within 50lbs. Rileigh hadn't been weighed in over a year and was underweight then; I'd just been eyeballing his weight and was really curious to know how close my guesses were. Turns out I correctly estimated his weight within 8lbs! I thought he weighed about 1100, and the scale read 1108. I used my new saddle pad in stadium that afternoon.
Rileigh was fantastic in stadium, speaking of which. He warmed up great and was jumping really nicely. We had 1 rail at the last fence when I committed to a bad spot and made it impossible for him. I was so mad at myself! He was a superstar though.



Overall it was a fabulous weekend. My only goals were to come away with less than 50 penalties in dressage and to give Rileigh a good experience. Nothing lofty, but I'm happy to say we accomplished them. We'll be working really hard on our dressage all summer to be ready for novice next season. In the interim I think I'm planning on doing BN at the FHP schooling 3-phase in May, and N at the one in June. I may take Zipper tadpole in June as well.

Saddle Hunting

I don't believe I've mentioned it here, but after a few months of marketing, I sold my dressage saddle before leaving for France. I'd received several offers lower than what I was willing to take, but in the end I sold it for what I think was a fair price for both myself and the buyer. It was a very nice saddle, a two-year-old Laser Rendezvous in fantastic shape, still what I would call "demo condition." I really liked it, but unfortunately it was becoming more and more clear that while it hugged my bum and thigh nicely without much wiggle room when I was svelte and in shape, it was not kind to a slightly blubbier version of my body. I realized that as someone who's weight tends to "yo-yo" a bit, I needed a slightly larger saddle to accommodate that, perhaps with a more open seat.

illustration by Jared Lee

I've been scouring the internet for saddles over the past few weeks, and haven't found a whole lot. The trouble is that I am in a seemingly constant financial ebb, and so although I sold my saddle for decent money, I need that money and can't spend it all on a new saddle. I have a budget of $1500 with very little stretch above that, and it seems that nice 18" wide dressage saddles in that range are somewhat few and quickly snatched up, understandably.
However, I've had the luck to happen upon a lovely County Competitor for only $800. It's in good condition, better than the Competitors typically seen in that price range.
I was the one to snap this deal up. I figure that if County's famously wide, curvy tree type doesn't fit Rileigh, either by virtue of being too curvy or too wide (more likely the former), it shouldn't be terribly hard to resell the saddle and at least make my money back. Hopefully though, it fits him excellently with only minor, if any, adjustments, and is a joy for me to ride in. Wouldn't that be nice? Everybody cross their fingers!

I had a fabulous time in France. We happened to arrive just as spring had sprung, which unfortunately made for some slightly slushy "mashed potatoes" skiing on the lower slopes, but aside from that the weather was just lovely, I was skiing in just a tshirt at some points. Perfect for traipsing around town.


I've not had such a nice time since arriving home; I've been sick with the flu for most of the week. Today was the first day I managed to make it out for a ride, and even then it was a short one, since I'm still not feeling 100%. I'm sure over the next few days I'll recuperate completely though.

Busy Busy!

I really have been busy this time! I have so many things coming up that I'm not ready for. On Saturday I'm leaving to spend a week skiing in the French Alps, and I haven't even come close to starting to pack. In three weeks I have an event, and I haven't even looked at the test (BN B), and won't have a single opportunity to practice it before showing. Dressage gives me panic attacks, so this is a big deal. I'm moving next month; taking two horses and my entire household about an hour south, hopefully it will be the last move for a while. The house is a complete wreck and I haven't started boxing things up in the slightest. Six weeks from now I'll be leaving for Rolex. While it's exciting, there's a lot that hasn't yet been coordinated, and I must admit I'm not looking forward to the 16 hour drive(one way).
Very stressful stuff.
AND I had to stop in the middle of writing this post due to the fact that our apartment was flooding. Because I need more things to worry about.

Anyway, the show over the weekend was alright. We didn't do very well Saturday but had a new plan Sunday and our performance was greatly improved. Rileigh gets burnt out so easily, he really doesn't do well w/ the "hurry up and wait" environment at H/J shows. I'm learning how to accommodate his needs and keep him happy in that setting, though, which is paramount. No placings this time, but I was pleased with how we ended the weekend - only one rail Sunday.


I definitely have some things to work on in our next lesson. What on earth has happened to my leg?!
Mainly though, I direly need to give my poor horse a softer, more following release. I used to be a lot more generous, but as he got stronger and stronger over fences I got into the habit of holding. With the gag he's in now, I don't need to worry quite so much about getting him back after a fence, and my holding his face is clearly impacting his jumping style negatively. Correcting this is absolutely my #1 priority. He looks so uncomfortable in these photos, I feel awful. It almost makes me want to cry.


I briefly mentioned an event ...We are doing Rocking Horse Spring HT in a few weeks, it will be Riles' first recognized event. I'm very excited, just anxious about dressage, as always.

The Horse is the Cheapest Part!

My dear Rileigh got his saddle fitted on Friday ...to the tune of $560. He needed the tree widened and the flocking adjusted. I'm very glad that I didn't have to buy a new saddle, and my saddle could be worked on that day - but I really was not expecting to spend so much money! There's a noticeable difference in Riles' way of going in his newly adjusted saddle, though; he seems much happier, so I guess it's worth it.

I took a lesson yesterday to prepare for our show next weekend. Rileigh was doing fairly well.
That horse can't find distances to save his life! He's so funny, and totally lacks confidence in his ability to get to the jump. Honestly, the jumps don't intimidate him as far as I can tell, but getting up to them does. Even if I set him up well and see a perfect distance, he still would rather run into the jump trying to get closer than take the good spot, unless I very clearly tell him exactly when he needs to get his butt off the ground. Even then, he does it because I ask him to, but one can feel/see that he's still unsure. It's kind of weird; he's never had a crash or traumatizing experience from missing a distance, and at the heights we're doing he's more than capable of going quite long and getting over nicely. We're working on it though!

See Exhibit A: My doofus horse jumping like a freak, per usual. It's not like he's barely getting over them!


My trainer swears to me that most of these fences are around 3' ...they look quite small to me, though.




I completely love this photo, taken the last stride in front of a jump.


In unrelated news, I accidentally shaved my head last night and now have a very short buzz. I was a tad upset, but there's nothing I can do but embrace it. Hair grows, anyway.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

I'd love to say I've been busy, but such is not the case; I'm just unmotivated.
I suppose now's as good a time to update as any, though.

I'm showing in 3' jumpers with Rileigh over the first weekend in March. It's our first time showing at 3', so I'm excited. I'll be sure to get photos.
He was adjusted by the chiropractor yesterday, and my fears were confirmed - his jumping saddle is too tight behind the withers, especially on the right(he's a little bigger on that side). Riles has added a ton of muscle to his topline in the past 6 months, and I'd been suspecting the saddle fit might be getting a little off. I'm calling to make an appointment with the saddle fitter today, and hopefully the problem can be fixed with a flocking adjustment.
Otherwise he's been doing well. He was great today, the adjustment obviously helped; he was much more forward in the bridle. He's always forward, but more "run around" forward, not into the bridle nicely without being asked. It was a good feeling today.

^ feeling frisky over the weekend during a random cold snap(35F that morning!) in between 80 degree weather.

Zipper was also adjusted by the chiropractor. I've been suspecting a bit of hip or pelvic soreness resulting in some troubles he has picking up the right lead, which is why I wanted him looked at. Fortunately, the vet that does the chiropractic work is a pelvic lameness specialist at a university hospital up north, and was immediately able to tell his right SI joint was out just from watching him jog. In addition to the sacroiliac pain Zipper's left poll was very sore and required major adjustment. The vet said he's probably had the poll out for a while, and the SI trouble was caused by compensating for that. He expects huge improvement now. It was really obvious that he felt so much better even right after being treated. I'm looking forward to hearing from Hannah how he is under saddle today.

^ looking extra manly in his pink unicorn halter

MJ's still getting into the swing of things under saddle, but she's improving with every ride. I'm feeling that in another few months she'll be doing really fabulously.

^ being ridden about a week ago. Still quite tense, but such a leap from where we started, and she's doing even better now.

Too Long

Long time no post! Sorry. Lots of things have been happening. I keep meaning to say something of actual substance on this ...but it hasn't happened yet.

MJ had her teeth floated and I've started riding her again. She's been doing decently, spooky and extremely tense, but improving every ride. The vet did a fecal and said worms were not a concern; he hopes that her condition will improve since her teeth have been floated and she can eat more comfortably. She'll also be putting on some muscle now that she's back in regular work. Running from invisible mare eating monsters in the ring takes lots of work.




Last week my boyfriend, David, rode Zipper. He has some riding experience, can w/t/c and jump small jumps comfortably, but he hasn't ridden regularly in a long time. I'm hoping that Zipper will be the ticket to getting him back into riding. I'd love to be able to ride/show with him. Zipper was awesome, I was worried that David might be a bit much for him to carry(he's gained a lot of weight recently ...), but he didn't seem uncomfortable at all.



Later in the day, after David rode, I sporadically decided to hop on Zipper bareback. He behaved super well. However, it was so uncomfortable. He's definitely not built for being ridden without any sort of padding; I'm still in pain a week later.


Rileigh's been doing well. I'm planning to take him to the next show my barn is going to(next weekend? I'm not sure). I don't often show with my barn because of the cost, so it's exciting. XC schooling this weekend isn't going to work out, the venue I was planning on is preparing for a big event a couple weeks out. I'm still planning to go up to Ocala, because I need some things from the tack store.

The Small Things

I have several topics I'd like to address this week. I could hardly decide what to start with, honestly. I've decided to first talk about happenings with the horses, because that's an easy thing to discuss. The next post will be more in depth and will probably require some time to turn from incoherent rambling to something actually understandable. Start simple, I suppose.


MJ's been doing well. We've made a lot of progress recently on the ground. From not being able to coax her within 5 feet of tying post(or a rubber mat, or the wash stall ...or anything really), to standing quietly on carnivorous rubber mats(even the extra ferocious one that eats more horses than any of the others), walking under terrifyingly low roofs, through tight passageways, and stepping up on insurmountable concrete pads. Nothing too exciting for many horses, but a very big deal for dear Mare.
She's been so good about standing [untied] in the cross ties that today I even tied her up for a moment. When she realized she was tied she looked paralyzed for a second, and I thought she might pull back and try to take off, but she just took a deep breath and stood. I was thrilled, sometimes it's the small things that really denote the most progress.
I also hand walked her about 1/4 mile down the road, and she was very well behaved.

I worry she's been looking a bit wormy lately; she has a big belly, but some visible ribs now. She's been dewormed fairly recently, but it wasn't a targeted treatment, and she's on the property with probably 30 other horses. Worms are definitely a possibility.
I'm planning to do a Panacur Powerpak, but I want to have the vet do a fecal first when he's out to float her teeth, just to confirm.



Rileigh got a bath today. He gets awful dandruff every winter(no fungus or anything, it's been checked out previously, just dandruff) whether he's clipped or not. It's a little bit gross I admit. He got a good scrubbing with Head&Shoulders today, much to his dismay, and hopefully his dander will dissipate quickly as spring nears.



An unhappy, soap covered horse. He only tolerates baths on the best of days, and today was ridiculous. It was seriously like washing a cat.


Zipper had a bath and his mane pulled just yesterday. He was a gentleman about it, of course.


I feel like I should note that my three horses are at three different barns. The three barns aren't all near each other, so I essentially never get to see more than two of my horses in one day.
The reasoning to this is not exactly a "long story," but there is a bit of an explanation behind it. I'm sure I'll go into it at some point in the future.
They'll all be together in the same location after I move in April. That will be nice!

The Bay Boys

What a great day!
My timid friend had a ride on Zipper today. She's been struggling to ride regularly and has had trouble finding a lease horse, and she loves Zipper. They had a good ride this morning, even cantering a 2'3" vertical! Quite a feat for her. Zipper was a star.

I've decided to take the bay boys cross country schooling again next weekend, with my younger sister riding Zip. I don't plan to do anything too difficult, or make it a weekend of hard work for the horses. Honestly, my main motivation is a trip to a tack store in Ocala that I can't justify making unless I'm up that direction for some other reason(it's a 6 hour round trip). I've been wanting Hannah to school cross country for some time now, and if I can combine the two, we may as well. It should be a fun, relaxing weekend.



Afterward, I had a ride on Rileigh. We had some fantastic, true and correct work at the beginning of our ride; it felt wonderful. However, some horses entered the ring in the middle of our ride and so distracted Riles that everything following was a bit subpar. This surprised me somewhat; although he tends to be very easily distracted, Riles' focus has been really improving lately. I suppose everyone has their days though. I'm looking forward to having some dressage rides this week before we school cross country. I'm also seriously hoping to take Rileigh fox hunting before the season is up. I have a friend that hunts regularly who is supposed to set a date for me to join her. So exciting! I've never hunted before, but I'm looking forward to it immensely.
Please excuse my habit of staring down. I really try to work on it, but it's hard to remember when there's nobody yelling at me!

Lead Changes

I had a lovely lesson on Rileigh early this morning. I'm very thankful my trainer was able to work me into her busy schedule on relatively short notice. The jumps weren't too high, under 3' for the most part I think, but we did some "scary" ones. A brightly painted swedish, a skinny, fences w/ rainbow fillers and pine tree fillers. Riles didn't bat an eye at any of it ...except a cavaletti on the ground next too a fairly plain and boring vertical. The cavaletti in question was lighter coloured than all the others, so I guess to Rileigh that made it terrifying; he threw quite the fit the first time we had to go closely around it up to a jump.
He was very good though.

Toward the end of the lesson we worked on lead changes, something that Riles has only been introduced to very recently. His left-to-right flying changes are coming along quite nicely, they're getting fairly smooth and easy under the right circumstance. The right-to-left changes however, need a lot of work. He changed late behind almost every time onto the left today, w/ a lot of dramatic flinging his body around. We ended on a good note w/ a nice change onto the left lead though. I expect it will come more easily w/ time; the left is his more difficult direction anyway, so it makes sense that he'd have more trouble figuring out the change from right to left.

Florida Winters

My, it was warm today! Close to 90 degrees. I think it hit 88F.
Poor Riles was quite hot by the end of our ride; he's so hairy, you'd never guess he was clipped about 9 weeks ago. Meanwhile Zipper was done around 7 weeks ago and his clip still looks fresh. The difference is astounding. I'm not sure I want to clip Rileigh again this late in the year, but I may have to, we'll see.


Rileigh today

Despite the heat, I had a lovely ride on Rileigh today. We did trot & canter sets as well as some cavaletti. I switched him to the Stubben "Golden Wings" gag for jumping about a week ago, and the difference is wonderful. Rileigh can be very heavy and extremely difficult to get back after fences, and I was really resistant to putting him in anything but a dressage legal snaffle for the longest time, worried that then he wouldn't be able to go easily back to a dressage legal bit when needed. I'm so glad I made the decision to put him in a mild gag. Today, doing cavaletti lines, we were actually able to come out of the line at the same speed we came in. Fantastic! And so far he's been flatting in a snaffle just as well as always.
I'm pleased.

I took the bay boys(Riles and Zipper) XC schooling over MLK weekend. Zipper's first time, w/ my timid friend riding him. He was quite good for her. Rileigh was fantastic as well. We schooled a lot of training level fences and he was really solid over everything. Unfortunately I forgot my camera(and I've misplaced it!), but my friend took a couple photos of Riles and me w/ her phone. I'm hoping to do a derby at Novice sometime next month ...maybe at Longwood?

Not a great photo, but what can you do? ...maxed out Novice slanty corner type thing

Horses, Part 3 - Rileigh

Rile E Coyote, aka Rileigh


Rileigh is my main horse, so to speak, and will likely end up the star of this blog. A 2006 Thoroughbred/Saddlebred cross gelding, I bought him in 2007, when he was 9 months old and I was 14.
He had a rough start to life. He was an accidental breeding, and his older, undernourished dam passed away when he was not but 6 weeks old. His uneducated and very busy owner assumed that he would learn to eat grass and get along fine ... When he was almost 3 months old, he got caught in his barbed wire fencing and cut his leg to the bone. It was at this point that the original owner realized that perhaps someone else may be better equipped to care for him. He was surrendered to a local ranch who rehabbed him and sold him, to me. I really can't imagine not having him.
Rileigh is truly "my" horse. I have done all of his training myself from halter breaking on up. I backed him, rode him at his first show, and took him over his first jump. He's a great horse, I think(not that I'm biased or anything). Hot, strong, and a little neurotic, but brave, talented and so much fun. Not the type of horse for everyone, but he's just my type and I love him to death.
He's eventing at Beginner Novice this year, hopefully moving up to Novice by the end of this year/beginning of next. He's been schooling Training level XC & stadium ...we just need to get our dressage in order. Relaxation!

Horses, Part 2 - Zipper

As an aside, I'd like to note that all my lovely, talented horses were originally 3-figure purchases. You can find super horses with a lot of potential for pennies these days, you just have to look for them.

Turn And Counter, aka Zipper


Zipper is a fairly new addition to the team. A 1997 Thoroughbred gelding, Zipper came off the track as a 4-year-old w/ only 4 starts. I found him in early December in someone's backyard, he'd not been ridden in 6 months, and had no formal training off the track. When ridden, he'd been used as a trail horse and for bombing around the yard. But he had potential!
He's a fantastic mover, and has the sweetest, cuddliest and most willing personality. I took him over a "jump" [a mop on 2 buckets] when I tried him out, and he too happily leapt over without a second thought.
While he's very green to english riding and most training concepts, he's been picking up on everything phenomenally. My younger sister, Hannah, has been riding him, and just the other day he took her over her first 2'6" ...which was also his first 2'6"! He went cross country schooling a week ago and was wonderful, didn't look at anything and seemed to really enjoy it.
I plan to event him a bit, but eventually gear him toward hunters for my younger sister.
Really a nice horse.


(^Hannah riding)

Horses, Part 1 - MJ

Briefly - I have attempted to start a few blogs before, but I can't seem to keep with it. I've made a bit of a resolution to stick to this one, so I'm set to try my best.
I have 3 horses, and my sister has a large pony. I'd like to start off my new blog with an introduction post to each of them.

M J Point, aka MJ


MJ is a 2002 Thoroughbred mare. She raced as a 2 & 3-year-old, with 14 starts total. She sat in a field for a couple years, and then I bought her as a resale project in late 2007, when she was 5. Despite not being the easiest horse I've worked w/, I put basic flatwork and a very light introduction to jumping on her, and sold her as a started prospect in early summer of 2008.
At the beginning of the summer of 2011 I saw her advertised online at a rather low price, and called her owner just checking on how she'd been doing. The daughter(for whom MJ had been purchased) no longer rode and MJ had not been worked in over a year. I simply let them know that if they were unable to sell her I would take her back and provide a home. A few months later I got the call, and went to pick her up and bring her back home.
She's a very nice mare, well built, and a lovely mover w/ a great jump. Mentally however, she is incredibly sensitive, "easily traumatized," I say. If she has a bad experience w/ something, she never forgets. She is to this day very frightened of small spaces due to what I can only assume was a negative issue w/ the starting gate.
When I took her back, she was extremely footsore from lack of quality hoofcare, had a mysterious swelling on her right hind, was covered in fungus, and wouldn't tie. She is finally sound, as of quite recently. We are still working on tying and some trust issues on the ground. Once she gets her teeth floated she'll be started back under saddle. It should be interesting! At this point she hasn't been ridden in 18 months.