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.