Happy birthday to my dear pony-girl, who turns 23 today! Semi-retired, but still as sassy and pony-esque as ever! Thank you for all the years and the miles, and the thousand and one life lessons along the way.
About a month ago, Mimi had a change in her living situation at the barn.
Previously, she’d been in the multi-stall mare motel (Same as at every other boarding place we’ve been), and she was “typical” Mimi: kicking the stall during feeding time, any time she was hungry, or if her neighbor was “too close”; stealing her neighbor’s hay; grumpy mare faces at other horses; crunchy/puffy hind legs (from the constant kicking).
Honestly, it’s something close to a miracle that she’s even remotely sound at this point, since this has been the norm since pretty much forever, especially the stall kicking.
Apparently it had gotten pretty bad: kicking at 3AM so that the barn owner could hear it even in her house (albeit with the windows open, and sheet metal siding on the back side of the stall, which reverberates nicely…), and even the neighbors were starting to say something. (Really?!? You run a cattle operation, which involves almost constant fence banging, clanging and clattering, and relentless mooing and bellowing of bulls. No place to say anything about noise.)
The departure of a couple of horses at the barn opened up a couple of stalls, and barn owner was able to convert a three-stall shedrow that was separate from the main barn into one large standalone stall + mini turnout paddock…all for Princess Mimi.
Pony’s new digs
She’s got about a 16×32 stall that opens up into a mini paddock space…coupled with her “big pasture” turnout with the rest of the herd for the standard 12+ hours a day.
It’s really an ideal set-up for her — there’s about a 15′ aisle between her “suite” and the main barn, so she’s got other horses close…but not too close. She also gets fed first, and turned out first, and her general response to the whole thing seems to be “Finally, I am being recognized for the Princess that I am.”
The change has been pretty amazing: She’s completely stopped kicking, she’s lost weight because she’s not stealing her neighbor’s hay, the “puffy stovepipe” hind legs are looking almost normal (just some permanent windpuffs above her fetlocks), and her demeanor in general is much more cheerful and content.
And yesterday, I had one of the best arena work sessions I’ve had with her in a long time. No hind-end tripping whatsoever, and she was eager and happy. We had the barn to ourselves (peace and quiet at the barn = happy mental place for me), I had music playing, and we danced.
She gave me some beautiful spiral sets, at all three gaits (even the canter…I was shocked), and she was beautifully balanced and light. I swear I even got what would probably be considered trot lengthenings in dressage terminology.
A funny moment: What happens when you’re working dressage-esque moves such as a turn down the center line with your former gymkhana pony? Oh, yeah. Straightaway = go time. All I could do was laugh and gather her back up. After everything she’s done for me, she deserves a change to play.
sleepwalking pony
And finally, it’s been a long-time goal, and after a couple of years of slowly adding to the collection, I finally have a set of Taylored Tack for Mimi. (Her s-hack set-up is also TT.) Just because we’re not competing anymore doesn’t mean she can’t look pretty…and I would be remiss in my duties as a tack hoarder to pass up amazing deals on barely-used-like-new pieces of tack I stumble upon, especially when they’re the right size/color.
a tack set worthy of the Purple Princess
One of my favorite mementos from a ride, beyond t-shirts and buckets and other logo’d items, are ride photos.
If a photo is available, I buy it.There have only been a small number of rides I’ve been to where there has not been a photographer, and as a result, I have an entire album that is filled with photos. It’s one of my prized possessions, kept in an easy-to-grab location, and is worth hundred, if not thousands, of hours of memories.
Just for fun, I thought I would go through and post a photo from each ride that I have…the good, bad, and hilarious, from the beginning (March 2001) up through the most recent ride (Feb 2016).
Taxman. Estrella Mtn Park NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Goodyear, AZ. March 2001
Skip Me Gold (“Mimi”). First of Spring NATRC. Novice 1 Day. El Cajon, CA. April 2002
Skip Me Gold. Helen Logan River Romp NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Santa Ynez, CA. June 2002
Skip Me Gold. Descanso Desperados NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Descanso, CA. October 2002
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ Sage Hill NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Santa Ynez, CA. November 2002.
Skip Me Gold. Estrella Mtn NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Goodyear, AZ. March 2003
Skip Me Gold. First of Spring NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Warner Springs, CA. April 2003
Skip Me Gold. Chino Hills NATRC. Novice 2 Day. Chino Hills, CA. April 2003
Skip Me Gold. Helen Logan River Romp NATRC. Novice 2 Day. Santa Ynez, CA. June 2003
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ Descanso Desperados NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Descanso, CA. October 2003.]
Skip Me Gold. RAHA Rally NATRC. Novice 1 Day. Ramona, CA. October 2003
Skip Me Gold. Estrella Mtn NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 2 Day. Goodyear, AZ. March 2004
Skip Me Gold. First of Spring NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 1 Day. Warner Springs, CA. April 2004
Skip Me Gold. Man Against Horse 25. Prescott, AZ. October 2005
Skip Me Gold. Land of the Sun 25. Wickenburg, AZ. January 2006
[MISSING PHOTO: Zander Syene @ Old Pueblo 50. Sonoita, AZ. March 2006.]
Skip Me Gold. Desert Forest Spring NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 2 Day. Wickenburg, AZ. March 2006
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ First of Spring NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 1 Day. Warner Springs, CA. April 2006.]
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ Man Against Horse 25. Prescott, AZ. October 2006.]
Skip Me Gold. Las Cienegas 25/25. Sonoita, AZ. December 2006
Skip Me Gold. Desert Forest Spring NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 2 Day. Wickenburg, AZ. March 2007
Skip Me Gold. First of Spring NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 1 Day. Warner Springs, CA. April 2007
Skip Me Gold. Descanso Desperados NATRC. Competitive Pleasure 2 Day. Descanso, CA. May 2007
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ Man Against Horse 25. Prescott, AZ. October 2007.]
Skip Me Gold. Land of the Sun 50. Wickenburg, AZ. January 2008
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ Devil Dog 60. Williams, AZ. June 2008.]
[MISSING PHOTO: Skip Me Gold @ Man Against Horse 50. Prescott, AZ. October 2008.]
JM Scatez Harley. Land of the Sun 25. Wickenburg, AZ. January 2009
Skip Me Gold. Valley of the Sun 50. Fountain Hills, AZ. February 2009
Skip Me Gold. Man Against Horse 50. Prescott, AZ. October 2009
Skip Me Gold. Valley of the Sun Turkey Trot 50. Fountain Hills, AZ. November 2009
Skip Me Gold. Land of the Sun 50. Wickenburg, AZ. January 2010
Brahma PFF. AHAA Halloween Ride 30. Fountain Hills, AZ. October 2010
[MISSING PHOTO: Rushcreek Thor @ Resolution Ride 30. Rio Verde, AZ. December 2010.]
Kodaakhrom. Fire Mountain 30. Ridgecrest, CA. January 2013
Rocco. Old Pueblo 55. Sonoita, AZ. March 2013
French Splendor. Old Pueblo 50. Sonoita, AZ. March 2013
Rocco. Prescott Chaparral 55. Skull Valley, AZ. April 2013
Liberterra (“Liberty”). Prescott Chaparral 30. Skull Valley, AZ. April 2013
[MISSING PHOTO: Rocco @ Ride the Divide 55. Socorro, NM. May 2013.]
Kodaakhrom. Bill Thornburgh Friends & Family 30/25. Inyokern, CA. October 2013
Liberterra. Lead, Follow or Get Out of My Way @ Bumble Bee 25. Bumble Bee, AZ. January 2014
Liberterra. Lead, Follow or Get Out of My Way @ Bumble Bee 25. Bumble Bee, AZ. January 2016
Liberterra. Wickenburg’s Land of the Sun 25. Wickenburg, AZ. February 2016
Special thanks to photographers: Cristy Cumberworth, Jane Grey, Cheryl Erpelding, Ray Brezina, Vern Wingert, Laura Bovee, Dean Stanton, Robyn Burgess, Steve Bradley, Tony Wilkie, and Susan Kordish.
I have a new man in my life. Frank is stable, supportive, looks good, and smells amazing.
I’m talking, of course, about the Frank Baines Reflex dressage saddle I brought home with me after Wickenburg.
;))))))
I have “joint custody” of Frank to love, coddle, and breathe in the smell of new fine leather…and ride, of course.
The hours in the saddle at Wickenburg showed that Frank is obviously a good fit for Liberty…and the fact I could ride 25 miles (and 6 hours in the saddle) and still be walking that afternoon and the next day showed it worked well for me, too. I hated the idea of it sitting around gathering dust, so I offered to bring it home and keep it in my house where it would be climate controlled…and maybe I could try it on Mimi and use it if it worked?
Guess what? It works.
As Mimi has gotten older, her back has gotten more rock in it, and I’m starting to suspect the Duett might be a little bit too flat for her anymore. So I toted Frank down to the barn a couple weekends ago and plopped it on her back.
I love the point billets on this saddle — they actually align with her girt groove, so the saddle doesn’t slide forward.
She moves really well in it, and I really like how this saddle makes me ride. I can’t “ride lazy” in it — but I don’t have to work to engage my core/inner thigh contact.
And Saturday was the second ride…and I got a solid 45 minutes of really good work out of her. She’s still doing a little bit of hind end tripping, usually coinciding with a deep spot of sand, which means she’s dragging her feet.
But she keeps willingly offering a canter, which is huge, so I think it’s probably mostly mechanical at this point, and it just means I have to ride her with a little more contact and support. Fortunately, this saddle makes that really easy.
the face of long-suffering when subjected to my “exploded box of Crayolas” color schemes
The shaggy yak is frantically dumping her coat, and she got the First Shampoo Bath of the Year (always an occasion) this weekend.
two weekends ago; previous photo in the crossties shows this past weekend’s offerings
And Frank has a new home in my bedroom…which makes me feel like I’m living in a tack room, as I now have two saddles hanging on my bedroom walls. At least all the biothane tack lives out in the garage.
that’s okay, I don’t actually need space in my bedroom or anything…
As in “the noseband is the thing getting trained.”
I love my beta/biothane hackamore nosebands. They’re becoming more and more available as replacements to the rope hackamores that come standard on a lot of s-hackamores, and some of the nicer s-hackamores (like Taylored Tack or Hought) are made with the them as par for the course.
However, there is one thing about them (and it has a lot to do with the number of layers and type of padding) that I find a little bit annoying: they tend to start out more rigid, without much shape to them, and thus will stick out from the side of the horse’s nose at first. Especially the more padding there is.
I have a basic, unpadded Hought biothane noseband on Mimi’s s-hack that is over 10 years old now. It has the top strip of biothane, with a single layer of thin, heavy-duty beta underneath. And it has a very nice curve shape to it.
Of course, that was aided by the fact that Mimi tends to believe in “excessive rein contact”. (aka “she pulls like a crazy freight train”)
way to foster the “all go” endurance horse reputation, pony…
That hackamore noseband shaped very nicely, and in a very short time period. (We’ll discuss my horse’s training and lack of “softness” on trail sometime next never.)
One a horse that is much lighter in the face, the noseband never really gets a chance to shape very much. It’s a small thing, but one of Life’s Minor Annoyances.
Noseband exhibit A on Beamer, who was very light in the face and never required hard contact.
Liberty is another one who is light in the face (a relief for my shoulders, that’s for sure) and it would be really nice if she stays that way…but my Type A OCD-ness demands that I do something with my nosebands if the horse insists on being polite and only needing light contact.
The noseband on the left is actually triple-layered (layer of beta that the buckles thread through, layer of thin beta under that, which is the same as Mimi’s purple one and the orange one to the right, but then with another layer of PVC waffle padding under that). Nice and cushy, especially for the sensitive horse, but really tough to get to hold a shape.
But hair elastics and keychains seem to be doing the trick, so they’ll stay this way until the next time I need to use them.
Go Pony • Go the Distance 