Top Ten List: Equine Books

/ Ashley Wingert / 4 Comments

Inspired by the idea of the ‘Top Ten’ in endurance, I’m presenting my Top Ten list of favorite equine-related, non-fiction books.

I’m a crazy bookworm who is an absolute research geek when it comes to topics I like.  (Pretty much anything relating to four hooves, a tail, and a whinnied greeting.  But my research shelves also contain tons of writing stuff, and a ton of cookbooks.  To further the eclecticism: An assortment containing everything from theatre to home decor books.  The only unifying theme among all of these is that they’re topics that are interesting to me.  Show me a math/chemistry/physics book and my eyes glaze over.)
My Top Ten Favorites
The Complete Guide to Endurance Riding and Competition, by Donna Synder-Smith
Though it was written quite a few years ago, much of the information is still relevant today and it’s my favorite go-to endurance guide.  I’ve been skimming through it as a refresher course with the thought in mind that one day, I am going to have to bring a new horse along in endurance.  I have several endurance-related books in my library, and I end up going through all of them, but this one ends up being the one most frequently grabbed.
Centered Riding, by Sally Swift
A timeless classic that should be on every bookshelf.  Even if you’re not interested in any kind of arena-based competition, this is a valuable resource as a book because it gets down to the functional basics of riding that are important no matter what your discipline.  I am constantly learning from it, even with close to 20 years spent in the saddle.
Conformation & Performance, by Nancy S. Loving, DVM, photos by Bob Langrish
This was actually one of my textbook (!) for an Equine Science class I took in college.  Best class ever…well, toss-up between that and a Theatre Movement class that involved stage combat…but the equine one turned out to be a little more relevant.  Warning: Once you read this book, you will never be able to look at a horse without finding fault in their conformation, and you start wondering if you’ll ever find a perfectly-conformed horse.  Hint: You won’t…it’s a matter of learning what conformation flaws you can live with and which are unacceptable.  The photography is a major part of the book, and makes it really easy to identify each conformation aspect that is being discussed.
Getting in TTouch, by Linda Tellington-Jones
This book fascinates me.  I absolutely love analyzing a horse based on their physical characteristics.  I’ve applied the principles in the book to enough horses that I’ve know to find it’s eerily accurate.  I love horse “psychology” for lack of a better word, knowing ‘how’ and ‘why’ a horse is going to react to something the way they do, and these kinds of books have gone a long way towards altering my perception of working with the horse and turning them into your partner, versus an automatronic sheep.
Arabian Legends, by Marian K. Carpenter
I am a lightweight, a complete novice, when it comes to bloodline research.  I know just enough to know what I like and what to avoid.  But bloodline history is fascinating to me.  Especially with Arabians.  They’re such an old breed, with so much history tied in to them, that just going through this book is an interesting read.

How Good Riders Get Good, Denny Emerson
A new addition to my bookshelf.  I started following Denny’s blog a few weeks ago, and very quickly ended up purchasing the book.  I’m only a little ways into it at this point, but already loving what I’m reading.  Not so much a technical manual as it is a mental strategy guide and examination of you as a person and how that translate into you as a rider.  He doesn’t pull punches, but lays out the facts, sometimes in ways that’ll make you cringe to yourself when you realize you’re guilty of doing exactly that thing.  But he also manages to do it in such a way that it never feels like a personal insult or attack, but rather a bald statement of fact and motivation to look for how to fix/change it.  Looking forward to finishing this book…and then re-reading it.
Ten Feet Tall, Still, by Julie Suhr
I must get Julie’s new book.  But until then…I love this book.  I love her writing style…she’s a fantastic storyteller and I love that she lets so much of who she is come through in this book.  It’s a memoir, not a technical manual…and yet, there is so much to learn from it.  It’s entertaining, and her description of riding Tevis has brought tears to my eyes on a number of occasions.
The Level Best for Your Horse, by Dale, Ron & Bob Myler
I am a certified bit geek.  I love collecting them…love figuring out whether they work or not…and this book really opened my eyes.  I learned things about bits that I either didn’t know, or had a pretty drastic misconception of.  I will never stop learning or trying to further my education, and this book is one of those really good examples of why.  I also just love reading about all of the different options for bits and how they all work.  I could go broke just buying bits.
Correct Movement in Horses, by Gabrieke Rachen-Schoneich and Klaus Schoneich
I was introduced to this book at the Dr. Kerry Ridgway seminar I attended a couple of months ago.  Many of Dr. Ridgway’s principles of training and balancing of horses comes from this book.  This is a really good, even further in-depth explanation of the problem of “the crooked horse” and training solutions for how to go about solving it.  I’ve not had a chance to put the theories into practice yet, but I’m enjoying adding this knowledge to my repertoire.
Horse Owner’s Guide to Natural Hoof Care, by Jaime Jackson
My go-to resource when my original trimming mentor Kirt Lander is unavailable.  I like his approach to trimming and it’s written in such a way that I don’t feel too overwhelmed.  Most of my trimming is done by instinct or feel…which is why I can’t teach other people how to trim…but of late, I’ve been wanting to expand my technical knowledge of barefoot a lot more.  (I think I want to get my hands on the Pete Ramey DVDs at some point.)
It was actually kind of hard to narrow it down to even ten…I’ve got another half dozen or so that I really like.  Decisions, decisions.  And I think I might continue this Top Ten list trend, just moving around to various topics.

5 Years!

/ Ashley Wingert / 12 Comments

Happy blogiversary to me…it’s five years now that I’ve been able to keep this going, and considering we’re only a quarter of the way through the year and I’m already at my second-highest number of blog posts/year, I might have finally figured out this whole “regular posting” thing.

Ironically, it’s during a time when I’m not riding competing, and should in theory have nothing to write about.

I originally started the blog for my own purposes of remembering stuff that happened and keeping myself on track.  I’ve always loved to write, have been fascinated by others’ ride stories, and figured this would be a good place for me to store my own thoughts and memories of rides I’ve done.

What I didn’t anticipate was how this blogging thing would spiral off in unexpected directions.  It’s been invaluable in forming a network and introducing me to great new friends.  It’s given me an outlet for writing.  And writing was an integral part of how I got my job with Renegade.

So I owe a lot to the blog…and THANK YOU, my readers/subscribers/followers, whether you’re new here, or been following me since the beginning.  I value your input, your contributions, and your friendship.  I still haven’t met most of you in person…but thanks to blogging, I feel like I know you and can call you my friends.

This sort of snuck up on me…I just happened to be looking at older posts when I realized, “Hey, the anniversary of my first post is coming up.”

And I’m actually writing this post a couple days ahead of time and scheduling it to post on the day, since I figured I would probably forget on the actual day.

But next year, I’ll plan better and come up with some kind of blog-party or something.

Before and After

/ Ashley Wingert / 6 Comments

It was Pony Bath Day today.

The Before:

I just noticed the tongue sticking out!

I took the worst pictures today.  Seriously, my adorable pony looks like a hippo.  But I wasn’t thinking when I took this first picture…should have stepped further back.

Funny thing, you can’t tell how dirty she actually is.  She is practically day-glow white in pictures even when she’s dirty, so no one actually believes me unless they see her in person and see how much dirt she packs into that coat.  Especially after I curry her.
She got a really thorough bath…fingernail scrubbing down to the roots of her mane and tail, rubber bath mitt all over her whole body, especially getting the scurfy stuff off her legs.  Sprayed her mane and tail with this avocado moisturizer spray stuff I really like (EQyss Avocado Mist) and left her in the washrack to finishing drying while I sized and fit Renegades on one of the barn owner’s horses.  
I really enjoy the whole process of boot fitting and sizing…it always interesting to see static fit versus dynamic fit — just because it looks like it fits at a standstill doesn’t always mean it’s the right fit once they start moving.  But that’s worth a whole other blog post.
Back to the pony, who was cooling her heels and getting cooed over by the two young daughters of a friend of the barn owner.  As a final touch, she got Show-Sheened on her mane and tail, fly sprayed, and this was the end result:
Again, my apologies for the hippo-head quality of this shot.  She kept making a bid for the grass the second I would try to step away far enough to get a decent pic.  So it’s her own fault.  And she really needed to be out in the sunshine for the full day-glow effect.
And I did this to my helmet:
Racing stripes!!!
They’re reflective, too.  I haven’t been using the velcro-on Salamander Beak visor of late, because I’m finding that sunglasses + tiny visor on helmet is really enough coverage, and it doesn’t block my upward vision quite as much.  If Mimi was a head-tosser, I’d be more concerned about not having a stiff visor to block potential upward head movement, but she tried that trick once, years ago, when I wore a Troxel helmet with a longer, stiffer visor.  She smacked her poll into the visor edge, and she hasn’t tossed her head upwards since.
Tomorrow’s supposed to be another triple digit day…I think I might hibernate next to the a/c vent.  Next weekend is supposed to be a reprieve down to the 80s (How you know you live in AZ: When the words “down into the 80s” is considered a reprieve) so the barn owner made some noises about hauling out to ride for one last chance at nice weather.
The one perk of hotter weather: Lees people out on the trail.

The newest hot topic : Intro rides

/ Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

I apologize in advance for any perceived “shooting off of my mouth.”  I am under-caffeinated, with a benedryl  hangover (allergies + benedryl taken at bedtime that hasn’t quite worn off).  I don’t set out to personally attack or offend anyone.

Ridecamp and the endurance blogosphere are lit up like a fireworks factory right now over the topic of “intro rides.”

To me, it seems very much like another spin on the LD vs Endurance debate…but what do I know?

My two-bit summary of what I’ve managed to piece together from all of my lurking: The debate is whether endurance rides should sanction 10-15 mph “short” rides as an intro for newbies or people really not interested in longer distance.  That seems to be the heart of it, at least.  There’s some spin-off suggestions of adopting more of a “competitive trail” model.

For what it’s worth, here’s my opinion as someone who is still very much an endurance newbie, coming out of a background of NATRC.

I like the idea of intro rides.  They’re fairly popular here in the SW.  I think at least half of the rides I’ve been to have offered some kind of intro ride.  Sometimes they’re wildly popular — the 12-mile fun ride at Man Against Horse always drew as many day riders as the 25 and 50 combined (usually 60+ the years I’ve been there).  I think the fact it was a poker ride probably helped…anything that involves gambling, alcohol, and horses is pretty much guaranteed to succeed in Arizona.

When I volunteered at the McDowell ride this past fall, an intro ride was offered.  I think we had maybe a dozen people sign up.  They got a mini ride briefing in the morning during the time period between getting the 25s/50s/75s out and when we expected the riders coming in off their first loops.  They had maps, their own ribboned loop to follow, and grease numbers to scrub off their horses butts if they wanted.  We had an experienced endurance rider leading the group, and they had the option of staying with her the whole time or riding ahead/behind at their own pace.  I think it was something like a 12-mile loop they did, and at the end, they had the option of doing the pulse-down/vetcheck routine.  And they got completion t-shirts.

I don’t know what it cost management to do this.  I don’t know if it was profitable.  It didn’t take a whole lot of extra time, because they went out on a loop that had already been marked as one of the loops for the 25, and timed in such a way they would be off of it before the 25s started on that loop.  I don’t know if it piqued any of the participants’ interest enough to move up to 25s.

As someone with an older-and-crunchy horse, I could see doing intro rides with Mimi.  I’m too scared to even ask her to do a 25 anymore…but mentally, she could benefit from still getting out and “competing” in her mind.  10-15 miles would be right up her alley.  Yes, I can do that kind of mileage in a training ride.  I’m not paying for the miles…I’m paying for the ride atmosphere you can never quite replicate at home.

However…I don’t think AERC should sanction these mini-rides.  Leave it open to ride manager discretion.  More sanctioning means more man-hours to manage tracking miles and participation.  More man-hours means more cost — more people to pay, more awards to fund.  Make money off of collecting the day fees, offer riders a hopefully welcoming environment, and maybe that’ll inspire them to move up to 25s…then 50s…and maybe someday, Tevis.

Or they’ll continue doing fun rides and management can continue to collect day rider fees off of them.

There is one area of this discussion I vehemently disagree with: The idea of creating more of a competitive trail-inspired division.  I come out of a background of 5 years of NATRC.  I moved to endurance for a reason.  For one, the people that say NATRC/CTR is growing: In what region???  I switched to endurance in part because we are losing rides here in the SW (NATRC Region 2).  We had one ride in my state.  Everything else, it meant traveling over to California.  I could drive the I-8 and I-10 routes in my sleep now.

With endurance, everything I’ve done, I’ve managed to do in-state.  200 endurance miles, another 200 miles’ worth of pulls, and 225 LD miles.  (50/50 completion rate…poster child for Endurance Rider Fail?)

And here’s the thing: I was good at NATRC.  I come out of a show ring background, both myself and my pony.  The obstacles weren’t really a big deal.  I got tired of all the rules and regulations.  Early on, I think it’s a great learning environment.  It teaches both horses and riders a lot of self-control and discipline.  It instills a good sense of timing…or at least, the way Dad and I would ride, it did.  We always tried to ride about 10 minutes ahead of midtime to accommodate any on-trail SNAFUs along the way.  And they almost always happened, so we rarely had to “hold back” in order to come in within the acceptable time parameters.

But eventually, the nit-picking really started getting to me, especially in the years that I had started doing endurance and was going back and forth between the two sports.  Maybe this was just a regional thing, but my biggest gripe was how the judges (the vet judges especially) wouldn’t judge my pony under her own merit, but instead, compare her to the Arabians.   They refused to see beyond her egg-beater trot, and we were constantly getting marked down for it, just because she didn’t have a big, floaty, Arab trot.  Endurance vets watch the horse as compared to itself.  Mimi was getting “A’s” for movement in endurance, because the vet was looking at Mimi and how she should be expected to move, not comparing her to 16hh-floaty-trot-runaway in the next vet lane over.

Yes, I know that a lot of that is because of the nature of the sports: NATRC is a subjectively judged event, designed to look for reasons to take points away, and endurance is a race, won or lost on your own merit, with vets in place more for controls than anything.  Maybe I can just chalk it up to burnout over years of being subjectively judged, and now preferring something in which I have a bit more personal control over my success or failure.  (In theory.)

And that turned into a personal rant.

But my point is, I do not want to see AERC turn into the “rules for rules’ sake” organization.  We have enough of those.  If it floats your boat, go join NATRC or any of the other CTR organizations.  If you want the “controls” of NATRC without the dog-and-pony show of the obstacles, ride the “Distance Only” division.  You’ll get the miles without quite the same level of scrutiny.  And in the 12 years I’ve been involved in the distance riding world, I’ve seen very few people that happily co-exist within both organizations.  (Speaking from a SW-area, AERC to NATRC perspective.  I know there are different CTR organizations on the East Coast that are different from NATRC, and a lot of endurance riders back there cross-train in both.  I’m just speaking from what I’ve seen…there aren’t a ton of people in my area that do both endurance and NATRC.  But that’s a whole other can of worms.)

And I think ACTHA is a whole different breed.  It’s more of a trail trials than a distance event.  Probably good introduction for a young horse.  If they’re familiar and comfortable with the trail obstacle thing.  I’ve never done an ACTHA ride, so can’t really comment, other than what I’ve learned from friends who have done one.  But I have priced one out, and as a one-time thing, it’s just as expensive as doing a one-time endurance ride.  The ride itself is cheaper, but where they get you is the mandatory membership: Even if you don’t want to be a member, if you just want to do one ride to see what it’s about, they add on the $35/year membership.  AERC’s non-member/day-rider fee is cheaper ($15?) and doesn’t obligate you into membership for a whole year.  Yes, the yearly membership for ACTHA is cheaper…but there’s something about being obligated into membership that I might not want that just doesn’t sit well with me.

Do I have a solution for this latest debate?  Not particularly.  I think optional intro rides are a good idea.  I don’t think AERC should move into sanctioning them.  You can’t be all things to all people — that just doesn’t work.

And unfortunately, a lot of this has nothing to do with whether or not a certain distance is offered or not.  A lot of it has everything to do with the one thing we can’t really control: The suckitude of the economy.  That’s why I’m not riding.  I can’t afford two horses, and my loyalty is to my pony.  Keeping her is more important than being able to compete.  I don’t have a trailer, so even if intro rides were offered, I have no way of getting to them on my own.  There are no other endurance riders around me.  The other people at the barn have no interest in being endurance riders, or even intro-ride riders.

I personally kept my membership so I can keep getting my copy of Endurance News, for one, and for two, every so often I get lucky and someone loans me a horse at a ride, so it would be nice if those miles actually counted.

But off the top of my head, I can think of several endurance friends I know that aren’t riding, mostly due to the economy.  And there’s nothing we can do about that…if the money flat out isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how many distances, divisions, or incentives you offer at a ride: It won’t make a money tree magically appear in someone’s backyard.

Okay…morning rant over.  Don’t know how many cans of worms I opened or figurative trash cans I kicked over.  I hadn’t originally intended on “going there”…and I know a lot of what I talked about is clearly just personal issues…but personal issues are what make up the base of what motivates and directs us.

And with that, I’m going to go to the barn and torture my pony with a bath.  As Funder told me, “Pictures, or it didn’t happen,” so I am planning to take before and after pics of my filthy pony.