Revival of the Jump Tack

Thoroughbred is very much a thoroughbred

My husband finally rescued my tack trunk from being his table slave and I was able to ride the Baconator in the jump tack. I had a feeling my already fiery pants pony would be even more fiery once I put the jump tack on. But, she chilled out more than I expected, and I was very thankful.

Ready to go

I kept warm up pretty brief. All I wanted was her to respond to my seat and pay attention to me. She was mostly behaving, and one thing I have learned with this horse is that the more you try to fidget and fine tune something, the more nervous and tense she gets, so I took what I had and called it good.

Tiny sand square

After our warm up in the sand square, I took her out to our sad looking dirt pasture where we had placed a single trot pole, as well as a line of four trot poles. I thought I had spaced them out at 4ft, but looking at the pictures, they look longer than that. Whoops! I was cracking up as she snorted and eyed the poles on the ground. Are you kidding me horse? We jumped around novice last year.

What r this?

We started off a little rough, but smoothed out the single trot pole. We have never done well with trot poles, but hopefully this year we can change that. I aimed her towards the four trot poles and prayed that she wouldn't try to leap them, as she usually does. She thought about it, but held it together through the poles. Hooray! The second time around, she thought about breaking to the canter, but didn't. We had a few pole touches, but it was better than I thought it would be. She was listening pretty well to my seat and trying really hard to keep her excitement under-wraps.

Go Bacon go!

I thought maybe we could do a xrail a couple of times because she was behaving. She had a really good look at the xrail both ways, because damn, xrails are scary. And after that, we cantered the jump and she waited and waited and listened UNTIL THE LAST STRIDE BECAUSE WE CAN JUMP THE JUMP BACON KNOWS WHAT TO DOOOOO.

WHOA THE POLES CHANGED

Hold on mom, I got this!!!!!

Oh horse. We cantered it a couple of times and she listened to me. Until that last stride. I just giggled, because this is what happens anytime we have a long break from jumping. Soon she will be listening and I can put her wherever. I was happy to be riding such an excited pony.

Oh yeah, we can just canter over this, can't we?

Getting Back Into the Groove

The best stretchy trot we could do that day. 

Bacon and I are stepping back into work and it has been interesting. Riding seems harder for me this year. My body is so very sore after a ride, and I am hoping that it is just because of the long layoff, but I don't remember it being so bad last year. It is very difficult to walk and I get very cold after I return to the house. Fingers are crossed that it gets a little easier for me as I start to ride more!

A little play time with the other girls too!

Bacon has been a little hit and miss. Some days she is relaxed and awesome and listening and not super reactive. Other days are just the opposite of that. She isn't terribly bad. She just gets tense and starts getting faster and faster and faster and quite reactive. I can get her back to listening and accomplishing little things, but she can't quite relax. I am hoping to find a good way to bring her brain back down to earth in these cases and just help her relax.

Can't wait to get my mane pulling comb out of my trunk!

Part of our new routine is to mix things up a little bit more. I am very bad at drilling and drilling on certain things (I hate that part of me, ugh) and so I am trying to be a little more loose and care free with everything. If all goes well, I plan to have a dressage ride, jump school, western ride, lunge day and hopefully another random ride day (possibly a conditioning day) in a week. This is probably quite a stretch, but I would like to try to stick to it.

Damn, that vest is bright.

Unfortunately, some of my jump tack is in my trunk. And said trunk is currently being used as a table top with a bunch of husband's truck parts scattered all over it. So, there have been no jump tack days, but that is ok because we have to build fitness back up anyways. But, damnit, I want to ride in my jump tack! We did western day, and I forgot how cute my horse was in western tack. I always assume that she will look awkward, but she actually pulls the look off quite well. Except for the boots. They don't really make SMBs for giraffe legs.

Cow pony?

Could use a little more height...

So, that is our start. It is a little rough, but that is ok. I know we will have a wonderful year. This past Friday was 4 years of having my girl. Facebook reminded me and I had to smile at what I said on the caption: Bacon! My new thoroughbred, off of the track! Hopefully this is the start to a long and fun journey. 
I am sitting there on this scraggly rough looking creature with a halter straight off the trailer and a big giant grin. A fun journey it has been!

Fresh off the track and trailer and into my arms!

What Character is Your Horse Most Like?

I like playing these games where I determine which songs remind me of my horses, or what objects they look like, so when Austen shared Pig's likeness to Kuzco, I had to jump on the bandwagon.

Who, me?

Unfortunately for Bacon, her likeness resembles Chuckie Finster, of Rugrats fame. She is not a redheaded boy, but she is paranoid beyond belief. 

Things should always be in order and on time and never change. Any change results in a panic attack.

Bacon believes in clothes. She gladly holds still while I put them on.

She is clumsy and often forgets how to use legs.

Rocking soothes her.

She has a best friend. I am her Tommy.

I will do one of these for each horse each week, because damn this would be a long post if I did all four.

First Ride

A nice day for a ride

Bacon and I had our first ride of the year last week. That was a little depressing to say out loud since it is the end of February, but between the weather and footing and my Arizona trip, this is just how it happened. Part of that difficulty is having someone there while I ride because I am not allowed to ride alone anymore (thanks evil health). I convinced our friend, Ross, to come over for an afternoon and I was so excited to climb back on my giraffe.

Trying to not ride like a clown

Part of the added excitement was using all kinds of new toys. That all entailed: new bandage liners and polos, back on track saddle pad, FUN bonnet, Premiere bridle, Ariat boots, and Success equestrian pad. Ross rushed me through the getting ready process, so as you will see in the photos, Bacon only had front wraps on.

Bend around thy leg, Bacon. Stop tilting, Alyssa.

It felt so nice to swing a leg back over the pony. We stayed mostly in the walk and worked on stretching down and out. She has been faking the stretch and instead curling in and going more on the forehand. It is definitely a work in progress (isn't everything?) but she actually had a couple of really nice stretches, especially after trotting.

Still a little curled in, but not bad for her.

We kept the trot work to fairly easy. The biggest issue I have with her is bending around my leg. I need to get her to loosen up all over and be a flexible giraffe! But every bit of it brought me some joy. I am really hoping to get some dressage lessons this year and hopefully my horse and I will be less laughable during our tests.

Yeah, she is wearing a western bit. Need to find a copper eggbutt to try!

She actually quite liked the western bit though!

After some more use, I hope to do a review on the new bridle. So far I am pretty impressed with it, especially given the price. I will probably also do a review on the Success dressage half pad and Ariat V Sport boots. And then you can tell me whether or not you think I should try to dye the tops purple...

Good girl Bacon!

Ladies and Gents, We Have FROGS

Fresh clip job and fresh toes!

Remember when I posted pictures of Bacon's feet (and I died inside) and then you gasped in horror, but then wrote kind things in the comments because you all are angels? No? I will refresh you.

Almost an inch of concavity. Oh, my heart :( October 2015

Bacon had epic battles with thrush throughout last winter and spring. It cleared it, but resulted in the loss of her frogs in her front feet. And she dealt with lameness off and on (I would too if I had to stand on my toes for months) as we tried to find the best solution for her. We know she needs shoes because of her crazy weaving. We tried just shoes to allow concussion from the ground to help stimulate the frog to grow. She was really uncomfortable with that option.

View of left front. So gross. October 2015

We then tried the pour in epoxy pads (EquiPak) completely level with the shoes. It seemed to help a little, but did not stimulate growth and she was still sore. We also tried to use the EquiPak designed with a frog and traction support. She was very comfortable with this option, but this setup makes you unable to use the mesh to help hold the EquiPak in and it fell out in 3 weeks. Sighs. Sighs all around.

Filling the void with hopes and dreams and chemicals.

Farrier recommended we try regular frog support pads nailed on with the shoe. I brought up using Magic Cushion as the filler and he thought that was worth a shot. We put those on and I crossed my fingers and toes but worried that there wouldn't be enough stimulation to the frog area for there to be growth. Boy was I wrong.

Feets today! Feb 23 2016

The day before my farrier was to come out, I hymed and hawed and thought about what else I could do to stimulate growth. All horses react differently to frog pressure. Some need more, some less, and it can be hard to determine which is most comfortable while still doing a good job stimulating the frog. I rushed to the dollar store to buy thick foam just in case we needed it. And when my farrier took off her pads, I was so pleasantly surprised to see a FROG. Not even a little frog. A decent sized frog!

Look look look! JOY. Feb 2016

Now I feel slightly less like the worse owner ever and I am so glad that my horse has that important cushion on the back of her feets again. I didn't know what to expect but I didn't expect that. I ran into the house to grab my phone and take a picture of it and my farrier was pretty happy with my excitement. We went ahead and shod her the same way again and we will see what we have at the end of that cycle. But, I think we have found the right solution. Yay!

Last of the Homeland and Traveling Hell

One of my mom's nicknames is "Gibbon". It is fitting.

The last couple of days with mom and grandma were mostly lounging around and avoiding the heat, but it did include one more fun trip. To the zoo! It was 93 degrees, but I hadn't been to the Reid Park Zoo in Tuscon since I was around 12 and I was ready to hear the gibbons with their musical morning howls and the peacocks chilling near the giraffe pen.

Eeeee anteater!

Grumpy sisters

I sent my husband a pic of a giraffe. He asked me how I got home already and took a picture of Bacon.

So that's how they do it...

Much of the zoo was just how I remembered it. Coloring posters for kids to purchase were the exact same, and the tiger was there to greet you at the entrance. I could hear the gibbons before we even made it into the facility. We made sure to visit every animal and though it isn't the largest zoo, it is still pretty great.

Blending in

Beautiful girl

Hello handsome

My last night included one more ride in the dune buggy during the sunset.  I'll give Arizona one thing, it has awesome sunsets. The mountains were turning purple and the sky painted fiery as we hauled ass through the sandy terrain. It kept the sadness of knowing I would be leaving my family members the next day hidden in the blurry cacti and tire tracks.

Don't worry, my uncle is kinder than he looks

The next morning was rough, but I held it together until we got to the airport. I was checking in and was told that my flight was cancelled but if I wanted to make it to Idaho that night, they would rush me onto the next and only flight out that was leaving in 15 minutes. I took that option and had the most rushed goodbye to my mom and grandma ever (which I absolutely hated) and tears flowed as I hobbled through the security.

I'm the tallest! At 5'2"...

I made it to my lay over destination in San Francisco around 2:30pm. I was already pouting because I would have to wait until 6:45pm to go to Boise. My phone started to notify me that my flight had been delayed until 8:30pm. And then 9:03pm. And then...cancelled.

My face upon finding out that info.

DAMNIT. Stupid United Airlines. All I wanted to do was go home. I wanted to bury my face in my husbands arms and be able to be sad without weirdos watching. I didn't drink anything that whole day, so I finally tried to sit down with a water and some soup. It wouldn't have been as bad if I wasn't alone, but I was. Whenever I had to go to the bathroom, I had to carry everything with me. And I would lose a coveted seat next to a plug in. Everything was expensive and I was freezing cold. It was as if time stood still. Later on, I was able to snag a dining table with a long booth to try and sleep on. I thought I had at least 2 hours of sleep (which made me excited about helping the time pass by) but it was only 30 minutes. The earliest flight I could get was at 10:40am and it couldn't come fast enough. Fortunately, that plane actually left and I was finally able to go home.

What my hair resembled when I got off the plane.

I felt like a zombie. I looked horrible. I did learn that since I have a cane, I get to preboard, so that was kind of nice. But they didn't even have a SkyMall! Fail. My husband had also had a crash on his motorcycle and hurt his back, so the house was kind of a disaster when I got home. I went outside right away to see all of my critters and was immediately bummed out when I saw that a storm had hit while I was gone and had destroyed the paint girls' shelter. And some super dirty pens.

:(

BOO

I tried to clean them, but got in trouble with the husband and was told to go rest. But this had arrived while I was gone...

OOOOOOOooooo

Homeland Visit: Day Two

Grandma, uncle, and Holly.

Soooo, yeah. You saw how the trip started. Thankfully, it got into a smoother rhythm from there. I had a great sleep and recovery day the next day and after that, we went looking for tack stores. Much to our demise, we only had two places to check out and neither carried english supplies. We drove to two different locations but discovered that they were no longer in existence. Boo! I did score a pair of bell boots for the almighty destroyer, and a mini Bacon Breyer ornament. Thanks grandma!

Will have to pain that sock, but looks like the Baconator!

Amethyst.

Citrine.

Grandma and I also hit up a gem show (they are everywhere along the freeways). There were so many pretty and sparkly things. Since Arizona doesn't have cool things like grass, they have to have cool rocks. And they do. And stupid cactus. We also went to the Desert Museum. I highly recommend going there if you ever have the opportunity. We always go when I am visiting. This time we checked out the birds of prey program and it was very informative and very cool. They showed us a variety of birds, as they flew over head (some wings even grazed my head). But I started to get weak feeling and we didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked.

Cactus and pokies as far as the eye can see.

This beautiful girl was my favorite.

A Prairie Falcon

Hummingbirdy

This one wears the right colors.

As a group of crazy animal loving women, we are quite entertaining to watch when things like dog shows are on tv. Fortunately for us, the Westminster Dog Show was on. Ever since I was a wee one, we use to watch the dog shows together (and yell at the judges for picking the wrong dogs). Our favorite groups are the working and sporting, but they never pick our favorite breeds. This year's show had a pretty great line up though, even if we were super pissed off about them picking that damn Skye Terrier again. Fortunately, the Best In Show judge agreed with us, and picked the German Shorthaired Pointer as the winner and the Borzoi as the reserve champ.

No Bedlington Terriers allowed either.

We made another trip back up to Phoenix to hang out with our favorite trainer again. He had two in that day, Nibbles (Outrageous Deal) and Albert (Alpine Gathering). I felt right at home again getting the horse's ready for their races. Mom and grandma loved on all of the other ponies (one tasted grandma's flesh) and headed up with Nibbles first. She came in a super game second place!

Peanuts and momma.

Be nice to grandma, Albert!

Aww, pretty Nibbles.

Go Nibbles go!

Galloping out strong.

Albert was next. It was his first race on the turf and he showed off his class as he held off the rest of the competition down the stretch. His handsome nose crossed the finish in first. Grandma and mom were sooo happy and we headed down to the winner's circle to greet our trainer and horse. That was a super fun afternoon.

In the mix going into the first turn.

Winning!

Two beautiful ladies.

We got to spend some time and my aunt and uncle's house too and that included some loving on Cheyenne, my aunt's horse. My mom and her had a little grooming session. That went both ways. Their two Boxers kept us on our toes as well, and I had a quick ride in my uncle's creation: THE dune buggy. It was kind of bad ass.

Kisses.

Soaking up the sun.

Junior.

Puppy play.