The horse in harness is Stella, Gwyn's dam. The one being ridden is Blanche
This is from the weekend where I used my new brushes on her and she gleeeamed in the setting sun
Peep Henny photobombing in the background
I made sure to get out to the barn to say Happy Birthday but also because I needed the chill alone time. I sat in her pasture while she begged for chin scratches because she's still shedding in many places. Then I took her up to the belly high grass while I had my zoom call for the EDRA board meeting and got eaten alive by noseeums. It was a nice night where I could just forget all the shit that's going on in the rest of my life.
But it did let me ground myself enough to talk about shit with Erica and that combined with my emergency call with my therapist that afternoon helped immensely. I have my routine therapy this morning (in 20 minutes) so hopefully coping improves. Plus I'm planning on ditching work early tomorrow for another conditioning ride at Lord Hill.
Anyway, happy birthday Goober. It's also almost your gotcha day too!
We went south to Myrtle Beach (via car) for Christmas, hence the radio silence. I tend to not do bloggy things without at least a laptop and I didn't want to use my parent's computer. All of the critters were in my neighbor's capable hands.
The kids had a good time, I got sick AND injured (though I managed to do quite a bit of exercising which is great for me!) and I'm still recovering from the injury.
Meanwhile, it seems that Saffron decided to be a troublemaker while I was gone! Neighbor texted to inform me that Saffron went on walkabout one of the days, but was caught and returned.
Of course, when we got home (2 am, decided to drive all the way through rather than stop for the night thanks to a vomiting child...) I was rudely woken up early by the news that Saffron was out AGAIN. And then got a text that she was out a second time in the same day.
It's been about a year since her last escapades but we had discovered her means of egress and blocked it. Her method is once again a mystery.
And then last night I got a message from Cheri that said that Blanche, Gwyn's aunt, had passed away in the pasture. They found her down in the yard, with erratic movement that the vet later said indicated a possible heart attack. She was gone quite quickly, which is a blessing. She was a grand old mare, just a few months shy of 27 years old and had done a LOT in her life.
My friend put it best:
3 hours ago, we lost one of the most phenomenal, athletic, and beautiful mares that I have ever owned. Eric and I came home from an afternoon out, to find Blanche down and uncoordinatedly ‘galloping’. In the time it took for us to find her, and call the vet, it was over, and she was gone. The vet says she had either a heart attack or an aortic aneurism; the ‘galloping’ movements being one of the classic signs. Either one, didn’t matter. It was over super quickly.
While I am incredibly sad, I am glad that Eric and I got to be her final owners. And tho I was raised on a horse farm, Blanche taught me so very much. She’s the first senior horse I’ve ever owned. She loved men and children about as much as she loved peppermints and chicken salad sammiches. She was careful with toddlers and new riders, and a fancy, saucy ride for the more experienced. She was always careful when she took a treat from you, and never stepped on someone unless she thought they deserved it. She only kicked me once because I touched her udder while applying bug repellent. She never kicked Eric. She had 7 babies, of which Nyx is the last one. She excelled at combined driving, got 9’s on her trot in driving dressage, and qualified for World. She and two sisters pulled their original owner 3,200 miles across the U.S. to raise awareness for handicapable horse men and women. She also loved to tilt and joust, tho she wasn’t too keen on mounted combat. She loved a good stall, and several times she busted out of her pen and parked herself on a neighbor’s porch. She was an unofficial member of the BCSO Mounted Posse.
Stonewall Blanche, big leopard Stonewall Sporthorse mare, you almost made it to 27. You were amazing. Gonna miss you so very much.
I dug through my past photos to find the ones of Blanche. They were taken when film was still better than a cell phone.
That's a young Gwyn on the left, Blanche in the middle and Blanche's daughter Nyx on the right
But at least she's with Stella again. <3
And now I'm finishing my vacation glued to the couch, foot elevated and KT-taped while watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And I'm going to hug Gwyn tonight and teach the new foster child next door everything she could ever want to know about horses.
So, let's move on to better stuff. I had a little less than 2 hours between dressage and my cross country and I used that time to walk my course. Note to self: My old Ariat Terrains need to just be tossed. They are no longer waterproof. My foot was squelching in my boot by the end. Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring a second pair of boot socks (one of my gift exchange pair!)
Casey hung out with Gwyn while I did the walk.
The course was being run while I was out there so many of the pictures aren't straight on because I was trying to stay out of the way while at least figuring out where I was going to be going. Novice and then Beginner Novice were running while I was out there so the stadium jumps are set to those heights. They were not as big for Starter. I'm going to use these pictures to talk about the course as it rode.
I had a little more time for warm up before cross country which was good. Gwyn was still excited. She refused the first warm up jump but the second time I pointed her at it (a simple cross rail) she launched over it. We mostly trotted and just worked on being in control in the warm up ring. The ground was soft too, since it had rained the previous day and I just wasn't feeling like taking the chance of getting out of control.
The girl before us had a hard time getting her horse into the starter box when we were called to be on deck. So we just stood there and hung out and chilled, which honestly I think was more valuable practice than flying over another jump in warm up.
A bonus, I guess, to this being Gwyn's first event, is that she has no association with excitement with walking into the start box. So at the 10 sec countdown she calmly walked in and stood there looking around, just... ready. That is something I want to preserve in schooling and future events.
Jump 1: Big X
And then we were off!
I saw some horses giving the first jump some issues because of the foxy log just to the left. This was not a problem for us.
Over Jump 1!
Gwyn left easily at a trot toward the first cross rail. I had my crop but I don't think I ever used it. I think I realized leaving the start box that I hadn't put boots on Gwyn but honestly, she was fine. For bigger jumps I'll make sure to boot her, but it would really only complete the purple coordination we have, haha.
This is a happy Goober Mare, by the way
The second jump I felt her waver a bit at but just a bit of leg and some verbal encouragement and it was all fine.
Jump 2: Vertical
Jump 2
Jump 3: Oxer (on the right)
Jump 3!
After the oxer I felt her start pulling toward the jumps as she figured out the game.
Jump 4: Log on Legs
Just before this one she gave a little jump into the canter. I was planning on trotting most of this since I knew she had the trot endurance to finish, but not necessarily the stamina to maintain a canter for the whole course (something we've been and will continue to work on). She has gotten a LOT better, which is another reason why I felt more comfortable coming to this show finally. I think if I had pushed for more canter she would have tired out on course and I didn't want that. We had enough time (and I was already eliminated, LOL) that I knew we could finish the course before the maximum allowed.
Plus many of the early jumps were on a steady climb. There was steady climb up through the first third of the course.
Jump 5: Stumpy Log
After the Stumpy Log the path went into the woods and past the scary Training Level Spider Log. Gwyn did NOT like this log. Not at all.
Behold the Very Scary Jump that we didn't have to go over but did have to go past.
Then through the woods and around a dip and over the ramp
Jump 6: Ramp
After the ramp there was another uphill climb to the upper field where a ton of jumps were. The sawmill timber was nice and simple and inviting.
Jump 7: Sawmill Timber
We curved around to the far edge and had the Bleachers and Ditch option.
Jump 8: Bleachers / Ditch Option
I've schooled the ditch option before and Gwyn was fine but I chose to jump the bleachers side.
Better view. We've schooled the ditch before.
Then a turn left to the Mulch Feeder. We had to pass a GIANT table and I felt Gwyn eyeing it again like "Mom, we don't have to do THAT one right?!"
Jump 9: Mulch Feeder
After the mulch feeder it was back into the woods and down hill hill. Gwyn, being the good endurance pony that she is, slowed to a walk on the partially wet downhill. I won't fault her for that. We've done a lot of trail work and having her be mindful of footing conditions and take care of herself is a very useful skill.
When I walked the course I was confused where I was supposed to go to have the approach for the next jump. There were three paths. One, to the left, was heavily trafficked but by the other levels. I felt if we went to the right, there wouldn't be a good approach to the next jump, or at the very least it would be abrupt. There was a middle path but it was not... cleared at rider height.
I opted for middle but strongly suspect I should have gone right.
Jump 10: Steppin Up
After this was another steep downhill section into the field above the dressage arenas.
Jump 11: Brush
Jump 12: Kibblet's Cabin
All riders had mandatory flags in this far corner and then down around the field.
Mandatory Flags
Jump 13: Log Mountain
After Log Mountain Gwyn saw the dressage arenas - WHICH WERE VOID OF HORSES - and decided we were going that way. So we had a bit of an argument again about turning left. This time I did remember what one of my trainers had said about turning and made sure to drop and open my left shoulder and brought both hands to the left.
We turned left!
Jump 14: Cutest Little Coop
And had a refusal at the cutest coop. I circled and reapproached and boom, over we went and continued. The path went into the woods through some goopy mud and then we were on the last two jumps!
Jump 15: Big X
Between Jump 15 and 16
Four feet off the ground!
The final jump she did bring down a rail with her hind leg and then we were done!
Jump 16: Vertical
Finish!
You guys, I was SO ELATED. That was our first official cross country course in competition and my first one back as an adult after 15 years. FIFTEEN YEARS. And I did with pelvic floor issues threatening everything and a stomach that decided it actually DID need to vacate its bowels moments after I got on my horse. And probably about 100 extra pounds.
The Optimum time was around 6:24 minutes and we were a minute over that but far from the maximum allowed of nearly 13 minutes. We finished and Gwyn was barely sweating. Granted it was a cool mid 60s and overcast with occasional little drops of rain, which was fucking perfect weather.
Have the HELMET CAM BADABOOM!
I rode her in a french link D-Ring snaffle and I felt she was very responsive to rating back when I asked so we'll continue to use that bit for now. Honestly she goes pretty much the same in all bits so while I want to find the right one for her, I've got no indication that one is better than another yet. Strange mare.
Casey said that we were flying around the course faster than she expected and we pretty much caught the rider in front of us. All of the photos of me on Gwyn were taken by her. I have more but I haven't had time to edit and upload them all given our slow country internet and my limited time after kids are in bed.
So there you have it. Someone asked me as I was grabbing my dressage test if I had a good show. I told her I had a good experience and I stand by that. It was a VERY good experience. It gives me a direction to work in and it lets me know what some of our strengths are with this discipline. Ever since I got Gwyn I've wanted to do eventing with her. And we have. That's a goal achieved! And now that we've passed those goal posts it's time to set new ones. Next goal: Don't get eliminated in dressage! LOL. But absolutely come back and try again.
This is a stitched together, zoomed in view. The GPS is NOT accurate, we did not have any water option, lol. You can see the one refusal and circle that we did.
The two goals posts on the lower graph show where I estimate my start and end time were. Blue gives you an idea of the elevation changes. It's a fairly hilly course for Michigan, which I appreciate!
The general stats for the time that I was running the app. I started it before warm up and stopped it after we got back to the trailer.
As I very belatedly get the paperwork together to register Gwyn and do all the official transfer of ownership stuff (7 years after the fact..) I wanted to share some of the images of Gwyn's ascendents. All Breed Pedigree is pretty fantastic and with some of her lines being from very established studbooks (Percheron and racing Appaloosa, most notably on her dam's side and Friesian on her sire's) I can get back to the 1600s with images of her ancestors.
Stonewall Stella ca. 2007
I'm going to break this up into at least three posts (maybe four but it depends on what I find on her Sire's side) but we'll start with her dam, Stonewall Stella and Stella's Percheron sire, Gwyn's grandsire on the bottom, Charlie Degas.
This is a weird picture but I honestly have scoured the interwebs and haven't found anything better. Everyone uses this photo if they're referencing this sire.
Charlie Degas was a grand champion Percheron stallion who came to the Stonewall Sporthorse breeding program through an auction after he'd fallen on hard times. Due to this, you can trace the pedigree back centuries. It's fascinating! Especially since there are very old photos and then eventually just drawings of the horses.
Going back from Charlie Degas to horses with actual pictures, you get Rem Degas, from 1941, who is on the GGGgrand level. He must have been heterozygous for Gray as there is no gray further in the line. He's a hunky beefcake too.
Rem Degas (1941 foaled)
If you follow the top sire line of Charlie Degas, you go to Great x4 grandsire Corlaet. o/b Bonny Brae Farm Weighed 2,200 lbs when he won Grand Champion Stallion at the 1938 National Percheron Show.
Corlaet (1930 foaled)
And from Corlaet you jump to grandsire Laet with this information: b/b Col. E.B. White, Virginia, o/b W.H. Butler, OH, Woodside Farms, International Grand Champion Stallion 1921, and sire of champions, died 1940 Woodside Farm, 212 recorded foals. Laet also ends up in Charlie Degas' damsire line as well.
Laet foaled 1916
Then jumping back even further (as not all of the line has images, sadly) you get Seducteur, again a homozygous gray.
Foaled 1884, b/b M.Peuvret, Dept of Orne, France. D-1905 Brought to US 1888 by W. L. Ellwood, IL.Used by Lakewood Stud, IA A great show horse, and a great sire. Painted by George Ford Morris.
Seducteur, foaled 1884 in France.
Brilliant
Then there's a triple connection to Brilliant, because yay inbreeding!
Foaled 1876.
And then, the earliest I can go back on this line is an Arabian stallion whose allbreed pedigree is in French, foaled 1803, translated to this:
Arabian stallion belonging to the state, in 1812 French Studbook 1838 Volume 1: Gray Persian stallion, born in 1803, coming from the stables of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, to the Royal Stud of the Pine from 1813 to 1820, to the regional deposit of Langonnet from 1821 to 1823, died in 1823 after riding Journal des Haras 1861: good breeder, highly distinguished and good together. Some beautiful mares in the Merlerault, very few purebred products, so it was difficult to judge this production.
He was Gwyn's Gx20 maternal grandsire. LOL. And also features rather frequently in several of the percheron lines.
What neat stuff have you found in your horses pedigree?
As it's coming up on the anniversary of getting Gwyn and her birthday, I finally bit the bullet and figured out exactly what I needed to do to get her registered with the appropriate places. She's primarily a Stonewall Sporthorse but can also be registered as a Friesian Heritage Horse and a Friesian Sporthorse. My first priority is Stonewall since her dam was very beloved by the founders and I feel I owe it to them to have her be officially in the books.
They ended up waiving fees (I'll likely donate to their associated charity Access Adventure instead) because Cheri had helped them out so much in the early years.
Anyway, I needed to take photos to submit with the paperwork and thought I'd share them here. They're a good conditioning documentation as well.
I really need to submit her to UC Davis for color genetics testing just to see what the hell she is exactly. The current theory is that she's actually a color shifted Black (EE/aa/nLP)
