Some Pretty Pictures of Horse Country

I am so lucky to live in one of the most gorgeous pockets of Horse Country. I know there are different areas spread throughout the States that can claim to be Horse Country- but few have the scenery to go with the horses! The ones that come to mind (at least in my general area) are Southern Pines, Fla, Aiken, and VA. All of those are located in flat boring places. I hope you love pine trees if you're in SP or Aiken. I do agree that they have pretty spots within those communities, but I can't help but love the views I see every day while driving around Tryon Horse Country. So here are a few non professional pictures taken of the area. These pictures were taken with my iPhone so the quality and sharpness isn't near what a skilled photographer could catch with a really nice camera.

I hope you enjoy just scrolling through a couple of these pictures- I have more but have had difficulty with remembering to load them onto my computer. I also hope to write a separate post about the NEW very sexy Tryon International Equestrian Center that has just been built!!!! I took pictures from the 1st Grand Prix and plan to take pictures of the 3rd Grand Prix and hopefully more of the facility on Sunday. It is a gorgeous facility and I hope it is successful but doesn't take away the Tryon Charm with to many fancy rich people that buy up all the land and turn this area into another Wellington. I love what the facility could do for our community but I also worry what it could take away. Only time will tell! And back to the purpose of this post... pretty (ish) pictures!!!

Here we go....

This is the view from my parent's house. I randomly found it when searching through my pictures and thought it was quite a fun shot. I can't help but love the mountain views that are a part of my every day life. I don't have a mountain view from my house but every time I leave my neighborhood I get to enjoy a panoramic view of the mountains. What could be better than living in Horse Country with pretty scenery????

Continuing on the sun setting and picture taken looking at the sun theme... I snapped this one with my phone while waiting for jog outs at Eventing Rally in May. 31 and 32 in the picture were 2 of my girls that I was "chaperoning" for rally- aka they wrote my name on their stall card and I if I was needed I had to be on the grounds. It was such a fun shot and the girls were walking their ponies around before heading into the covered arena to jog for the vet.

This is a pretty sunrise taken as I was driving down the road I live on. I can't remember when I took this picture exactly- but it obviously was a day I was doing something with horses b/c that's about the only reason I'll get up super early and see a sunrise. Ok there might be other reasons but they're so few and far between that they don't count- horses are the main reason I see sunrises!!!

An ear photo of the big guy Chimi. Fun fact- during this picture taking session (b/c I tend to take 1million photos and then delete the bad ones) I was bitten/stung by a flying ant and my finger swelled to most annoying proportions! Also this was the trail ride with quite a lot of wildlife viewings- we saw a hawk on the way to this field, a turkey in the field, a flying ant that bit me (grrr) probably some deer (it's normal to see 20-60 deer at sunset in my neighborhood) and then a white creature lurking in the woods. This white creature turned out to be none other than my dog Jello who had wiggled her way through the dog proof fence and followed our scent (I guess?) and met us on the trail. I'm sure she would like you to believe she was worried about us but I guarantee she was out hunting and then tried to look all innocent when we found her! Bad dog :)

Another Ear photo of Chimi. Here we took a stroll down to the river and had a nice hack. There are mowed paths through the tall grass that criss cross back on each other- you can easily create figure 8's and have a nice trot and canter on soft, flat ground. It's also fun b/c if you go at the right time of day (dusk to be more specific) you can work on despooking your horse! The last time I took Chimi down to the river we saw 10ish deer jumping out of the tall grass as we approached. The grass is so tall right now (not when this picture was taken) that you don't see there deer until they leap up in the air and take off. As state before- great lessons in despooking!!!!

That is it for now- until the next post!!!!

Under all that Hair...

It finally happened! Gus is now one super cute CLIPPED over grown pony!!!!

After much pondering and consideration to the future weather forecast, available "free" time, and future ride plans, I made the decision to bathe Gus on Sunday and then clip him on Monday (the day of the monsoon!!!) because those were the last of the really warm days before fall (and an inkling of winter) decided to set in.

So on Sunday- out came the shampoo and scrub brush! I'm not going to bore you quite yet with tips and tricks to get your horse so squeaky clean that you can pass a HA Formal Inspection at a Pony Club Rally (or rating for that matter!) That'll be for another post on another day! (Just for those that might not know- H.A. is the highest level of Horse Management in the Pony Club Rating system- check out ponyclub.org)

Just some of the "tools" needed to be "HA" clean!!!

Now it was Monday- clipping time!!! I opted to give Gus a little Ace to keep him from being bothered by the tickling from the vibrations of the clippers. I wasn't worried about Gus not letting me clip him, but I know he is very sensitive and I have to use the softest curry combs and brushes because he's so ticklish. I waited about 20 minutes after giving Gus some Ace and into the cross ties he went! 

Clipping a horse is kinda of like walking in the snow. Taking that first row of hair off with the clippers is like the first step into a completely unmarked area of snow. You can't help but look at it and think- I hope I don't mess this up!!! But at the same time I love it! Just like hearing the snow crunch under your boots and seeing your footprints follow behind you, there is something satisfying and thrilling watching the blades cut little paths into the coat. There is something exciting about transforming a shaggy pony into a work of art! I guess it's the same feeling that artist get when they start a new project? Taking a canvas and seeing it transform beneath the paint? When you reach the end you hope it's something that you can be proud of! 

Ok so remember in the last post where I was talking about Quarter marks? After some Google searching I came up with a fun little design that I was going to attempt to put on Gus's butt. Typing in "Augustus" (because that is his show name) I found a lot of marble faces staring back at me. Along with these stone faces were random pictures of faces on coins. So I thought, all coins have a tails side so maybe there will be an easy design on the back of an "Augustus coin"? Sure enough, there was!

Augustus Coin

So here's a little history lesson- Caesar Augustus is considered the first Roman Emporer. He was Julius Caesar's nephew/adopted son. Approximately four months after Julius Caesar was assassinated, a comet appeared in the sky. (Can't you hear it now? Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...oh a comet!) Augustus declared that this was Julius Caesar ascending into the heavens. Apparently this comet was so bright that it could be seen during the day and was visible for 7 days. The comet became a symbol for Augustus and was printed on the back of these Augustus Coins. So there is your history lesson for the day! Thanks to Wikipedia's Caesar's Comet and other websites that I will not link to because they tended to be discussions about the religious context of the star and since this blog is not about religion, I've opted for you to search for yourself if you are interested. (Google image search "Augustus Coin" and click on any coin that looks like/similar the one above and it'll probably take you to the right page)

The "Practice" Side- eventually was shaved off

Well I am NOT that skilled with a fast moving blade to write out words or create the tail of the comet, so I opted for a little artistic rendition for Gus pony's quarter mark. Taking masking tape and a bottle with a round bottom, I traced the bottom of the bottle onto Gus's bum and then used the masking tape to make the rays of the comet. Originally I was trying to cut around the masking tape with small clippers, but that ended quickly because the blades were to close together and was cutting the hair sooo close to the skin that I was going to have a bald pony if I wasn't careful! Since I hadn't clipped the other side of his bum yet, I took masking tape and made a quick small version of the comet. Then taking the big clippers I buzzed over the masking tape and cut the exposed hairs. It ended up looking decent enough so I thought, might as well try it on the other side! Anything would look better than a bald booty!!!

As for the rest of Gus's body, I ended up doing a trace clip combo with a hunter clip. I shaved off all the hair on his body, but left the legs and a saddle pad (like the hunter clip) and only clipped off the hair from the bottom side of his neck (like the trace clip). The reasoning behind my motives is simple. Gus has plenty of blankets to keep his back warm this winter, but this doesn't help his neck out (even though all his blankets/sheets are high neck) So by leaving some hair on his neck he can stay warmer while he's hanging outside in his pasture pigging out on the dying grass and eventually hay (when the grass finally sleeps for winter). The underside has been clipped to keep him cooler when riding because that is where he (and all horses) sweat the most on their necks, henceforth why you clip that part of the neck!

Now it's time for the drum roll..... The end results of Gus's new haircut!!! After hours of scratching and itching from the hair finding it's way into my shirt, and straining my eyes to make sure I wasn't leaving clipper lines, I present to you, Prairie Augustus, ready for winter riding!!!!!

The Right Side

The Left Side (note Comet on hind end)

Closer view of Gus's Quarter Mark!

And on that note I leave you with a joke-

What is the difference between a good clip job and a bad one?

2 weeks!!! Grow hair grow!!!

A Bit Better

Recently I have decided to change Gus's bit. I have been riding him in a loose ring double jointed KK that   I've had forever! It was the bit that I used on my old eventer, Johnny, back in the day (talking 1999-2007 when he retired from riding) It has always been a great bit, and still is a great bit, but something wasn't working so well for Gus.

o-KK

Gus always opened his mouth and took the bit without question, but in the past couple of months I'd have to pry his mouth open with my thumb and stuff the bit in as quickly as I could before he'd clamp his teeth back together. He never flipped his head or did anything naughty so I pondered what was it about this soft, nice, snaffle that had my horse thinking it was the worst thing ever??? He regularly gets his teeth checked and floated so I knew it couldn't of been a bad tooth acting up, and once it's in he doesn't open his mouth or try to evade the bit, heck I ride him with a plain, loose, noseband with nothing fancy attached to it to keep his jaw in place. 

One day it kind of hit me what might be the problem. As I was doing my best to pry open his mouth by applying pressure to the bar of his mouth, I realized at the same time I was doing my best to avoid his canine teeth from chomping down on my thumb as we played cat and mouse with the bit. So as soon as I got the bit into his mouth, i curled back his lips and had a look. Sure enough his bit was really close to his canine teeth and when he started chewing it would clank against his teeth. I was in a bit of a quandary because obviously the bit was to low in his mouth, but if I raised it any higher it would be to tight against his lips- there would be 3 wrinkles instead of the 2 that you are suppose to have when the bit is placed in the mouth. What about using a smaller sized bit? I tried that (I had 1 size smaller sitting in my trunk from Liaison) So into Gus's mouth that went. It looked great- 2 wrinkles, no teeth clanking, but it still wasn't perfect. Where the loose ring slides through the mouthpiece it was really close to the corner's of Gus's mouth and was only a matter of time before it would start pinching his mouth and causing sores there. So that was ruled out.

I started thinking about all the bits that were at the barn and I thought about the bit Gunner uses on Byrd. It is one of the Nathe rubber bits and figured it had 2 advantages over the loose ring snaffle. 1) It is rubber, so if it hits Gus's teeth it won't be as bad as metal hitting them, and 2) it is a mullen mouth so it shouldn't hang low and hit his teeth.

The Nathe

On Sunday my friend Alyse and her sister Cory came over and rode around the front field. I figured it would be the best way to find out of I had any control in the Nathe bit, and better to find out at home then at a show, clinic, or lesson! If Gus did run away with me we'd still be in the pasture and he could run around to his heart's content and I'd know that it wasn't a good bit for him. But this wasn't the case. He was so soft and happy in the bit I thought well damn, what have I been missing all this time? Just after a few minutes of trotting he developed some nice "lipstick" (the slobber from working the bit in the mouth) which is something that Dressage judges look for because it means that the horse is accepting of the bit. We even galloped around the field and I was able to stop him quite easily before crashing into the electric fence, which I know would of stopped him!!! He jumped great, we worked a little on our flying changes, and I couldn't of asked for him to be any better. He was a little motorcycle-y to the left, but that was just me needing to balance him a bit more and not let him lean left. To make sure that this wasn't a fluke or caused by the pretty mare that Gus took a shine to, I rode him in the bit again for my jumping lesson today and again he was perfect!!! I wasn't asking him to round up and go on the bit, but at one point I did take a little more rein up and closed my leg around him and I felt him round and soften to me before letting him have his head for jumping. Gus is so well trained that I don't really need the bit for steering or stopping because my leg and seat do most of that anyways. The bit just seems to be more of a comfort for Gus- something to balance against as we jump around- and when I say balance, I don't mean that he is leaning on the bit and pulling down on his forehand, he just jumps better if I have light contact with his mouth instead of looping the rein and going all free bird on him. I think it's his way of knowing that I'm there too. I could be wrong, but it sounds nice!!!

Now that I know how much Gus likes the bit, I'm in need of buying one of my own. Byrd's bit is to big for Gus and slides through his mouth a little more than I'd like, plus it's Byrd's bit. Not that Byrd even needs a bit, but for whatever reason his rider likes riding him in the bit better- even though he has a Micklem Competition Bridle set up to be bitless. I think it's more of a mental thing that Gunner and Cindy have, because Byrd's not going anywhere and he's happier without the bit- heck he's practically chewed through the Nathe! Though when it comes to the Nathe bit I can't help but gag at the price of it!! Seriously- for a piece of SOFT RUBBER it's going to cost me a cool $75.95????? What the heck makes it cost that much??!?!?! It's a piece of rubber!!!! An expensive Happy Mouth costs $50 but normally runs in the $20-$30 price range- way easier on my pocketbook!!! But what if he doesn't like the Happy Mouth??? So after my lesson I called mom in hopes that she might have a nice Happy Mouth somewhere in her bit collection and sure enough she did!!! Fantastic!!! I figure I'll give the mullen Happy Mouth a try and if Gus hates it and doesn't go as well in it as the Nathe, then I'll shell out the $75 for it, but if all that he liked about the Nathe was it not hitting his teeth and being made of rubber, heck that's exactly what a Happy Mouth will do!!! I'm headed up to Mom's this weekend so Happy Mouth test here we come!!! Here's to hoping Gus likes it just as much if not better than the expensive piece of rubber that calls itself Nathe!!!

Happy Mouth Hopeful!!!