mimi

a bit unexpected

/ Ashley Wingert / 3 Comments

Or, alternately, “pony knows best.”

This weekend, I decided to, on a whim, check out a consignment tack store not too far away from me in Phoenix.
I hit the jackpot in the bit department. A truly excellent deal on a Myler bit — which, as anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows, is a major weakness of mine. Bit Hoarders R Us.
I was quite excited when I found this bit, since I thought it was a Level 2-3 mouthpiece I’d been contemplating as one I thought might work pretty well for Princess Fussy Mouth. Plus, it was a kimberwick, which is my preferred bit for distance riding.
Bought it…used it the next day…
She LOVES it.
She mouthed at it a couple of times while I was messing with the adjustment (no matter if it looks like the same height as the previous bit…it will inevitably require adjusting of the bridle), and then that was it. Once it was comfortably seated in her mouth, she didn’t seem to give it a second thought.
No weird jaw-crossing or mouth gaping, no tongue sticking out, and most amazingly, no leaning on the bit. At all. Walk-trot-canter-circles-stop. All light, soft, and responsive.
“Okay,” I thought. “Guess I was right that this would be a good bit for her.”

And then I started doing some research this morning. Turns out it wasn’t quite the mouthpiece I thought it was. Very similar…but it’s actually a Level 3 mouthpiece.

Which, in a twisted way makes sense: it’s designed for finished horses who work well off of leg, seat and hands. Which is Mimi.
I just always figured a Level 3 would be “too much” for her and that her small mouth and (presumed) low palate wouldn’t like having the higher port, which was why I always tried to stick with the lower level bits, figuring a lack of high port would be “kinder.”
Turns out all my pony wanted was tongue relief — which is why she leaned-leaned-leaned on any of the lower-level bits that would lay across her tongue, and she softened more when I put her in a Level 2-3 with more tongue relief.
This mouthpiece (MB33) has the most tongue relief of any of their mouthpieces, and she is one happy little girl.
Granted, we only used it in the arena and I haven’t tried it out on trail, but for her, I still prefer the s-hack for going “out” and saving the bit for the arena schooling stuff.
So, go figure. I think the lesson here is that horses are always teaching us stuff if we’re willing to listen to them. (And even after 16 years, my pony still has something to say to me.)

fashion plate

/ Ashley Wingert / 1 Comment

My pony has new clothes. :)

We be official, all decked out in Renegade orange. And it looks surprisingly good on her. I think she likes her new get-up…she was positively preening as I was messing with adjustments.

And we look a bit more put together now than the color-clash fashion disaster we had been turning into.

Still working on my Tevis write-up.

Fun With Boots

/ Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments
Destructo-Pony. Or, “Hoof Boot Crash Test Dummy”

Don’t let the sweet face fool you.  This innocent-looking little pony has been responsible for more personal property damage than multiple horses put together.  And by “personal property” I mean:

– fly masks
– lead ropes
– tail bags
– hoof boots
In her younger years, she was extremely oral.  The ends of lead ropes were her favorite victims of her chewing fetish, and the local tack shops loved me because I predictably was in to buy cheap nylon lead ropes every couple of months.  When I wasn’t buying lead ropes, I was buying fly masks or tail bags to replace the ones she had shredded beyond repair.

Fortunately, she eventually outgrew the chewing habit, I stopped using tail bags, and flymasks usually last at least a year+ these days.

But she is really hard on hoof boots.  I pulled her last set of shoes in the fall of 2004 and started using boots.    And she promptly started destroying them.  I tried everything that was on the market at that time available in her size.  With each boot I’d try, or boot modification/fix made, she’d find a new way to wreck it.  If there was a part that moved or was somehow attached, she’d find a way to either break it or detach it.

I went for a period of time there were just about every week, I was getting a box in the mail with either a new boot or spare parts, and I tip my hat to the truly patient customer service people at, what was at the time, Sportack.

I’m not sure what it is about this pony that makes her so hard on boots.  Her movement is very low to the ground… half the time, she just can’t be bothered to pick her feet up if the footing is good.

Fast forward through a couple of years of Interesting Times and Expanded Vocabulary to the summer of 2007, when I first started using Renegades on her.  That’s five years now that I’ve been using them and they’ve withstood the most pony abuse, even through the different trial-and-error sessions of figuring out what size works best for her.

In five years, she’s ripped one boot shell and broken one cable.  Worn out countless boot shells and Velcro straps, yes…but that’s only after 500-or-so miles of training and competing.

But even after five years, she’s been a head-scratching exasperation to size, especially her front hooves.  She’s gone back and forth between a size 00 and 0.  When freshly trimmed, her measurements were a classic size 00.  But the shape of the boot didn’t match her hoof quite right, so she always had a gap on the front, and I had to remain diligent in keeping her hoof constantly maintained.

So I’d try a size 0.  The boot shape was perfect…but they were big on her.  Not sloppy, but not ideal either. So going back and forth between sizes has been the story of my booting life with her…until recently.  Y’see, I forgot to take my own advice when it came to boot sizing: Their feet grow and change.

I’ve gotten so used to her “tiny” feet that I’ve been determined to keep them that way…not taking into account that, no, she’s not “getting long” but that her feet might naturally be getting larger.  I’ve been, in essence, “over-trimming” her and doing a major no-no in trimming the hoof to fit the boot, instead of evaluating the hoof for itself and then fitting the boot to match.

So Mimi got a break from my zealous over-trimming, and after letting her grow out for a month or so, I had more of a clean slate hoof to work with.  A minor trim later, I re-sized her for boots, and she’s moved up almost an entire size.

Her fronts now fit into a size 0-Narrow with a Cutback on the length, and her hinds fit into a 00 with a cutback.  And then we got to the fun part: the box of shiny new boots with her name (okay, mine, since that’s what’s on the mailbox…) on it.

Every girl loves to get new shoes boots

And yesterday, we had some fun putting them to the test in the roundpen.  Her outlook on the roundpen is a somewhat haphazard, no-holds-barred, cage-match type of game.  Which usually involves bucking, spinning, sliding stops, fast starts, sudden sprints…all the things that make me cringe and wait for her to go crashing into one of the panels.

In short, things that will test whether a pair of boots will stay on or not.

And I actually got pictures.  (Testing my camera to make sure it’s all systems go before Tevis.)

She starts off all slow and innocuous.

So I love the bright orange boots.  They look so good on her and they’re so noticeable.  The yellow looked good, but I love these even more!

Pausing to show off just how pretty she is. Once a show pony…

She’s actually good about giving herself a slow warm-up on her own.  Ambling along, checking out the scenery, until…

THIS happens. Something made noise next door and that was
all it took to set her off.

Once she’s going, she stays going.  Most of the time, she sticks to a trot.  And what a trot she has…still.  There’s a reason that she can keep up with 15+ hand Arabs that are cantering while she’s still trotting.  And while I rarely allow the big trot (cringing at the thought of tendon/ligament damage), it is pretty to look at.

All four off the ground!

I would have loved to GPS her.  Based on GPSing while riding, I know she’s capable of hitting 13-14mph at the trot.  She can make those little legs GO.

And go some more. Her roundpen canter is fast, and usually
involves one of her shotgun, drop-and-dig gymkhana starts.

Her canter isn’t the greatest anymore…fused hocks tend to make an already- rough canter even worse.  So she usually prefers to trot, and under saddle, I have to really hold her in a frame to encourage a good canter.  But in the roundpen, she really digs in and lets fly.

With all of her sliding stops, spins, and crowhops, I was kind
of glad not to be on her back.  Really, she’s 19…

I think she enjoys playing in the roundpen.  I’ve always kept it low-pressure, choosing to go for more of the fun, “let’s dance” route, versus the “drive you around in fast circles until your little eyes are bugging out and you’re begging to stop” approach.  So consequently, it’s more of a game for her.  She would do some laps, then she’d slow down and come into the center where I was.  She’d pause, I’d scratch her head, then she’d send herself back out and pick up the speed again.  I generally let her pick her pace and change directions on her terms, stepping in once and a while to make sure she ends up going both ways an approximately equal amount of time.

She really likes her boots. I get the best movement out of her
when has them on. She’s capable of going bare, but at this point,
she still prefers her boots. We’re working on it.

She had quite a little ‘tude going yesterday…in a good way.  Lots of changes of direction that involved her skidding to a stop, spinning around, crowhopping and kicking up a few times, leaping, half stepping on herself, then sprinting off.

Pony + Mare ‘tude

All maneuvers that are pretty hard on boots.  She put a lot of torque on them, and the roundpen is all sand.  When we were done, there was a collective teaspoon or so of dirt/sand in the boots.  I’m sure stuff was getting in the boots as she was going…you can see how much sand she’s kicking up in some of the above pics.  But the open-back design of the Renegades allows most of the sand and dirt to filter out.

And the best part was that after her workout, her boots hadn’t budged.  The pic of her displaying her new boots in the barn aisle was actually taken after her workout, and they hadn’t shifted or re-adjusted at all, which is a really good sign that I’ve got the fit down and they didn’t shuffle to a “better fitting” position.
The roundpen is a good start for testing, but now I can’t wait to get out on trail and really see how they do!
So today’s take-away lesson?  Horse’s hooves can change, even ones that have been barefoot for a while.  Periodically check and reassess boot fit and sizing. 
Oh, yeah, and I love my Renegades.
So does my pony.

some days…

/ Ashley Wingert / 5 Comments

“Pony” is said as a term of endearment.

Some days, it’s a four-letter word.

Today was kind of the latter, at least for part of the time.

I took advantage of getting up early and forced myself to get. out. the. door. in a decent time fashion, versus frittering away the time on the computer.  It paid off…it was 86* driving down to the barn.  Windows down weather!

And it stayed somewhat overcast and not unbearable right up until I was ready to depart the barn.  We even got misted-dripped-dribbled on for about two minutes while riding.  Hard to call it rain, since I think it evaporated before it even hit the ground.  But it was enough “wet” to piss off the pony.  I sort of wish I had a picture of it…we’re cantering along, I’m grinning like a loon because it feels good, and she has her ears pinned and the pissiest look on her face, since she is getting wet.

Think “Princess and the Pea” only with water instead of hard little vegetables.

Never mind that 30 minutes later, she was absolutely loving her bath.

She also wasn’t thrilled about doing arena work today.  Just for kicks, I turned on one of the GPD apps I have and tracked our time and speed, and to see just what all those circles amounted to.

One hour of riding, walk/trot/canter, 3.7 miles, with approximately the same average speed.  And it’s a sand arena…guess those years of circles actually have been good for something.

And she did the whole thing barefoot…without being gimpy.  Which is quite good, for her.  I think I’m finally getting it on her trimming.

It’s a sand arena, yes…but it’s not necessarily a “clean” sand arena…there’s random rocks and deeper spots and harder-packed shallow spots.  Arena, yes…perfectly groomed show arena, nope.  Which makes it a good workout and a good test on the hooves.

And when I say we rode for an hour, we rode.  Circles, gait changes, more circles, stop-go transitions…my show background is never far removed from the surface.  Oh, yeah, and I made her really work at carrying herself in a frame, since she wanted to keep being lazy.  When she’s lazy, she really embraces her daisy-clipper movement, which is a polite way for saying she doesn’t pick up her feet.

Which means she then trips on one of those aforementioned rocks, or a deeper patch of sand.  Since I’m not a fan of the whole -trip-fall-squish thing, I made her work and actually pick up those little legs.

And then I made it up to her at the end.

Pony swilling Gatorade…her second-favorite
flavor, “Cool Blue”
I kinda love how she’s giving me the hairy
eyeball as she grabs for it

Her Gatorade habit started back in my show days, before I had a clue what electrolytes were all about…all of us kids tended to do the “bite for me, bite for my pony” approach to food, and our ponies usually partook on whatever we were munching.  Only Mimi really loved Gatorade, especially the orange flavor.  Her preferred method of getting it was licking it right out of Mom’s hand…much better than out of a bucket.

It’s actually been years since I’ve given her any Gatorade, but I had gotten some for me last week during the worst of the heat wave, and brought the last of it down to the barn this morning.  And just for old times’ sake, I shared.
Yes, she got the last of it; No, I didn’t drink from that bottle afterwards.
Gatorade + a very refreshing bath and Pony Spa session made up for whatever ills she might have been feeling towards me.  Summer itchies + bugs + sweat + layers of fly spray mean that a bath is pretty much a weekly necessity from June-September.  She was lovely and clean when I left, although I’m sure an hour later, she wandered back into the arena and rolled in the sand.  And rolled.  And rolled.
Because she’s not happy unless she resembles a pigpen.

playing catch-up

/ Ashley Wingert / 6 Comments

Been rather busy for the past couple of weeks…nothing monumental, just lots of stuff that’s been keeping me occupied.  My parents and I did a massive garage consolidation and reorganization over the past two weekends.  It looks great, really organized and easy to find stuff now…I need to put a few finishing touches on some of the drawers where I store most of the horse stuff, but for now, it’s out of sight-out of mind…mostly.

And look what came in the mail earlier this week:

“Official” Renegade orange boots

We’re official now!  The orange is Renegade’s signature color, so we felt it only appropriate that my pony be sporting that color on her boots.  I’ve grown really fond of the orange, and it even looks good with our existing purple color scheme.  After all, purple/orange has worked for the Phoenix Suns for years.

Could we be any more matchy-matchy?
Mimi has decided that June is her favorite month this year…she’s feeling very good, flirting with everything that has four legs and hooves.  *sigh*  Her hormones didn’t get the memo that she’s 19.
Shameless flirt, talking to her favorite boyfriend

She got a really good workout this morning, breaking in her new boots with an hour in the sand arena.  We definitely put them to the test, messing with the fit of the hind boots.  She’s technically a size 000, her hind feet are so tiny.  But we’ve always been able to jerry-rig the 00 boots to fit, thanks to doing some custom shims in the sides.  

The only catch?  I always got my new boots at rides, where Kirt was on hand to be able to do the shims right then and there for me.  Since I’m not going to rides with the pony anymore, that sort of takes away that option.  However, it’s also one of those little tricks I need to learn to do anyway, so I’ll probably be messing with that in short order.  Once I do, I’ll definitely get pictures and post about it, since it’s bound to be a novel experience.
All spiffed up…the bright orange looks good
on her! Ignore her grumpy looks…she is really
not fond of mornings.

Really not sure what else I might have missed…like I said, staying busy and trying to duck the worst of the summer heart.  It’s officially monsoon season now, which brings at least the hope of afternoon monsoon storms.