Okay, let's be real here. I'm just excited to be on a regular schedule for lessons.
I moved Gwyn to her new facility on Monday. We can call it a facility loosely because I found the one damn place in all of Snohomish and King County with minimal fancy shit that was actually near where I live and didn't cost upwards of 800/month. New boarding place is literally a pasture, some shelter and they feed hay in the winter and make sure water doesn't freeze. It's perfect. I can store my trailer there and that's my tack room. There is a tack room for boarders but eehhhh, it's not big and if I'm lessoning frequently, it just makes sense to keep everything in the trailer.
ANYWAY
Lesson! This was at L's house in the Tolt Highlands near Carnation. She found a turnkey equestrian property. She teaches lessons and it's just this gorgeous house/barn (house on top, barn below) with a pasture paradise track, arena and pastures. She also does endurance with Cortney!
"These are way fancier digs than where I stayed the past couple days..." - Gwyn
I packed up Gwyn after she gallivanted around the hay field (grrrr, MARE) and was still on time because I was operating under the "it will take an hour" mindset and it did not take an hour! Win! I'd previously been to the farm to pick strawberries with Trudy and my kids so I was generally familiar with how to get there.
It was a lot of twisty road up into the foothills but it's a lovely secluded little farm.
*boop*
Looking fancy shmancy. I finally got rein stops
Despite that, Cortney and Jim were late. I think if it were anyone but Jim, I'd be upset. But he's coming from his primary job and traffic is a bitch out here.
Right away I was remembering the feel of my rein aids and how that helped Gwyn bend. We had warmed up in the walk while we waited for Jim and he started us off on the rail in the arena (small dressage court sized) doing shoulder in down the long sides in the trot. Slowing and controlling my posting was super key. Once I got a good tempo and steady slow trot, Gwyn's head dropped and she bent around my leg and reached into contact. It was fantastic. If I started to lose her I'd do a 10m circle and she'd come back to me.
I want to try this solo now in the field and see if I can recreate it.
I take pictures when we stand around to discuss the theory of what we're working on.
L is on her morgan on the left.
We also had to go around in 2 point, maintaining our good trot and shoulder in. I did pilates yesterday. I am SORE today, haha. But I'm feeling so positive about the fitness I'm improving in myself for the sake of Gwyn.
We took turns cantering since the arena wasn't that big and we each had slightly different things to focus on in this gait and each of the horses had different needs. My focus was making sure that when I asked, it was from that good trot, and not the giraffe trot. Gwyn threw SEVERAL bucks each time I cued for canter. Third time on her good side I got a decent depart that we held together a little bit before it got discombobulated. Then we switched directions. Immediately she was way more tense and it took a lot of work to just regain that relaxation. She was anticipating the canter cue and bucking and crow hopping before I even put leg on. We didn't push it. I need to get the chiro out to see her.
And then we did JOMPIES! My last jumping lesson was when I school X-country in 2018. Jim is big into the idea of everything is dressage and dressage is for everything. And of course we had our educational bit about how there are only 2 types of jumps. Vertical jumps, where you want the horse to give you height, and liverpools, where you want the horse to stretch out and give you a broader parabola without as steep a curve in the jump. We basically worked on the liverpool style and asking for that length.
The jump started as an oxer set of x-rails. L and I needed to add leg to get the impulsion. Cortney was tasked with slowing her mare down because she was frogging her way through it and not gathering herself up appropriately. Then Jim moved it to be a straight oxer.
Again in the jumping my goal was to collect her up and keep a smooth, relaxed trot going into the turn toward the jump
Cortney did get video, of our second to last attempt where I got majorly left behind. Our final attempt was much much improved. I'm really pleased. We'll be back at L's next week. The lesson day is fluid due to Cortney's endurance schedule. Thankfully I can be fluid too.
And yesterday Saffron got moved to Cortney's house. I've been getting updates from Cortney and it seems like she's settling in well.
Splendid came to escort Saffron. She's a good girl and Kaylee was tasked with bringing her down to the barn.
Reign and Amira are intrigued
Saffron is unsure though...
"You guys are annoying" - Saffron
Saffron has found a little spot under some trees that she likes. The horses are idiots and don't seem to have figured out that's where she hides. So it's now Saffron's spot. The mares all vye for Saffron's attention. Saffron doesn't give a fuck.
Now that I'm back with Cortney, shenanigans can resume. She's already roped me back into a riding lesson with Jim. I'm not upset about this at all.
On Sunday we had been invited out for a welcome back dinner with her family and we arrived early to go on a quick trail ride and introduce Kaylee to Comet.
Gwyn should never ever give cows side eye again. *famous last words*
I do need to figure out what settings handle PNW trail good on the phone. I do have some manual settings in the camera and it's going to be necessary. Last time I had a point and shoot digital camera. The blurriness is bothering me A LOT.
The road trip has really strengthened the herdboundness of Gwyn and Saffron. I have not tried fully separating them yet and I'm not sure it would be healthy or safe to even do so. As such, Saffron also went on her first trail ride.
We pulled out Comet, Gwyn and Saffron and Cortney trailered Splendid to her mom's. Splendid is an old hat gray arabian mare who doesn't take shit. She was Gwyn's first boss mare when we initially moved to Washington. She's also super duper in love with Saffron and Saffron couldn't care less. It's made for an interesting love triangle since Gwyn very much remembers and loves Splendid while Saffron just wants Gwyn.
We opted for a western saddle for the pony and started with Cortney ponying Comet and me ponying Saffron. Saffron decided this wasn't acceptable and yanked the lead rope away and decided to be a free trail going donkey.
Kaylee got a quick crash course from Cortney and still was too timid/unconfident in steering. Comet was in a hackamore and when you do halt him, he's very good. You just have to actually whoa him. Baby steps. This is different from Gwyn, whose default is to return to me and stop when Kaylee rides her.
Blurry, loose, VERY HAPPY, donkey
We stuck to the road that Trudy (Cortney's mom) lives on. It's gravel/dirt, and it's only traveled by the people who live down it, which is limited and comprised of a lot of horse owners/people familiar with horses on roads. Gwyn handled the cars really well. I was pleased.
Catching the donkey who is visiting the neighbors
We didn't go out for long. The big gravel was super ouchy for Gwyn at the very end of the road. I need more hoof armor and probably boots. We switched who was ponying. Splendid was getting iritated with Comet, but Gwyn was in love. IN LOVE. Like, stopping and peeing all the fucking time in love after I started ponying him. WTF Gwyn.
A wild Kara dog, who loves trail rides
However, ponying this way went really well. And once Saffron realized that she still got to go with if she was ponied, she also started cooperating. I think she's going to become a trail donkey with Cortney.
"I love you, Comet." - Gwyn
It was short, but so nice to get on. And as we started untacking, the rain arrived. But it was Washington rain, so we just got misted on mostly.
Maybe if I rub my itchy face on his saddle he'll love me back? - Gwyn, probably
"I love you..." - Gwyn
"I love you, donkey," - Splendid
Gwyn snoz
I'm still looking for my more permanent home for Gwyn, but still can't commit anywhere until the house sells. I really hate limbo, and I hate not even being in our rental yet. Soon. Sooooon. But the riding lesson will happen even before we get to move in there.
On Saturday, with one kid refusing to come outside and the other intent on 'hleping' (intended typo there...) the SO and I went out to deep clean the runs.
Full disclosure, I am a lazy horse owner and clean outside the barn the way I clean in the house, leaving little things until they're big things and then doing a major deep cleaning. The stalls stay good and the pasture stays good, it's just the dry lot that gets looking bad...
The runs needed a deep cleaning and this was the second day in a row of above freezing temperatures, so thawing manure had to go.
Gwyn and Saffron were taken to the spring pasture, much to their delight.
I hooked up my trailer to the ATV and just tackled the giant pile of poop with the gates wide open to facilitate moving things around.
My 'hleper'
I managed to get all of the not too frozen poop out of the run, and boy was it a HUGE improvement.
My 'helper'
Meanwhile, Eric determined that we needed a new manure pile spot because he apparently has something against using the trash service to haul away manure. So he raked in the old straw from the original manure pile that was there when we bought the property and then made a barrier using the T-posts and some of the pallets we had lying around.
After that, he fixed the stall liner that was coming off the wall for me and then helped me take down the electrobraid that gives me three runs so that the animals could have one giant dry lot. It's just Gwyn and Saffron so I don't really see a need to have three separate runs. It'll make replacing the footing, which needs to happen at some point, easier if it's one big space.
So now my dry run is much nicer and cleaner. And so every night since I've been making sure to pick up what new poo has acccumulated and you know what?
My fingers don't go numb when I do this.
This may sound like a strange revelation, but I have some poor circulation issues, a combination of Reynaud's and cold urticaria. Most nights in winter even the thickest gloves would leave my fingers like ice, and super painful.
If I do a brief poo sweep, and fill my manure bucket, not even the full wheelbarrow, all I need are my Back on Track liners and I come in with hot hands. Just adding that little bit of activity is enough to push me into blood moving versus normal barn chores and it's been lovely. My barn is cleaner and my hands are happier each night when I go back inside.
I've also now used the Magic Brush twice in a row. I love how mud just disappears and how soft it leaves Gwyn's coat. Tonight I tried it on Saffron. If Gwyn is a sappy, loves any kind of attention that could be semi-related to grooming kind of horse, Saffron is the opposite. She is standoffish, she is not affectionate and she tolerates me grooming her (she'll stand still for the kids for hours though)
I think she likes the Magic Brush. Which means it's definitely magic. And bonus, Donkey winter coat is super wiry and thick. Normal horse brushes really don't work well on it unless they're super stiff and yet the Magic Brush cut through and lifted dirt off of her. I couldn't believe it.
So now I need to get Saffron her own. Maybe two for Saffron so the girls can brush her at the same time.
So over at DIY Horsemanship, there is an easter contest running! You can easily enter by just commenting, but you get BONUS points and potentially an extra prize if you do an 'easter egg hunt' with your horses using homemade treats from a recipe by DIY Horsemanship.
That was my plan for today!
I used the Peppermint Horse Treats recipe. I made a few modifications since I couldn't find flax seed (it's probably in the deep freezer, honestly). I omitted the flax seed and horse feed. The horse feed was because I didn't want to run out to the barn to grab it and leave the kids unattended in the house. That's how things get destroyed.
I also really didn't measure exactly. I just eyed it. The recipe ended up being more of a guideline, hahaha.
I got distracted easily.
I picked these silicone muffin pans from the dollar general when I also grabbed easter regalia. $3 each! Since I had some mixture leftover but not enough to fill my big silicone muffin tin, I also used my swedish horse small cake form and a dolphin cookie cutter.
I baked as directed for 45 minutes only to find when I pulled them out that someone had turned the temperature of the oven to OFF. Gosh, I wonder who that could be (my bet is the 2 year old...)
Rechecking that the peppermints I had were not the easily melted kind, I bumped the temperature back up, stuffed the cookies full of peppermints, and threw everything back in for another 20 minutes+.
No regrets
It worked. Though I think it'd be really hard to screw this recipe up, honestly. So if you're scared of screwing up, don't be! I changed so much and it still all worked out and made treats that my animals were mad at me for leaving without giving them more.
Once those were made, and the tiny terror (2 year old) was down for a nap, we headed outside to 'hide' the 'easter eggs'
I took six, figuring three treats per animal since they were fairly large, would be sufficient.
I also made the decision that the zombie garden gnome would become a jump decoration
Paying VERY close attention.
After I decorated the animals with easter regalia Gwyn got mad and I had to entice her back into the arena.
Saffron wore the bunny ears
Their easter best, mud and all
Saffron figured out the game immediately.
So did Gwyn
She ended up knocking the treat off the standard and into the dirt
"Okay lady, where are the rest of them?"
"Hmmm, this isn't a treat..."
"AHAH!"
"The Tiny Human does not, I repeat, does not have treats at this time"
Kaylee wanted to speed things along so she ended up feeding Gwyn's third treat by hand. I had to seriously point out the second. Her smartness finding the first must have been a fluke, LOL
But then she had to investigate ALL the jumps to make sure she didn't miss any more.
