Show Day!

Show day was fun! My husband was kind enough to take videos and pictures of me in the events. In the end my results: 7th, 6th, 6th, and 6th. Not too bad for my first show in almost 20 years!

I've been watching and rewatching my videos. I didn't look as bad as I thought I looked on a horse. Tessa looked really cute with her hair all done up. There is room for improvement on both sides but that's the fun of it all!

Here's a video of our performance in Hunter Under Saddle. Enjoy!

Sometimes you just need a reminder...

Tuesday, I came home thoroughly disappointed and with a sad voice, I said to my husband, "I don't think Tessa and I are meant to be." We'd had a rough ride. Here is what happened.

I arrived for my practice ride on time. I found Tessa eating grass out in the field. As I got closer to her, she stopped to greet me with a look and then went back to eating her grass. I put her lead on her and led her back to the barn. I'm not sure if anyone else encounters this but she seems to be very particular about where I lead her. It's almost like she remembers the path she took to get to her spot in the field and she wants to take the exact same path back. Is that possible?

As usual, she was a breeze to groom and tack up. Once done we went to the outdoor riding ring. We had the whole place to ourselves! I love it when that happens. We can do what we want without worrying about other people accidentally getting in our way.

We walked and I practiced pushing her into her corners and pushing her back on the track. Once she seemed warmed up, we started a light trot. She did a light trot and quickly moved to a faster pace. Things seemed to be going really well and I was getting excited to try a canter. You see on Sunday, we tried to canter and she would start her canter and then give it up. I tried squeezing at top capacity and still she said, "no way, I won't do it!" and stopped. I tried my crop for a little more motivation but still it was a no go. Anyhow, I was thoroughly hopeful and excited to see if she would put more effort into her canter this time around.

After riding for about 30 mins, I asked for a canter. 2 strides and she quit! ARGH!!! I asked again. 3 or 4 strides and she quit. I then tried the other direction. This was her good direction and she made it 1/4 of the ring and then quit. I tried again and this time she started throwing her head around. I tried my crop and all that did was piss her off and she kicked! She kicked!! My trustworthy horse kicked out in protest to something as simple as cantering! What was going on?? Disappointed, angry, I gave up and cooled her down in the grass. Tessa did not get cookies that night (mostly because I'd run out of molasses and couldn't make them for her.) She did get some grass but not nearly as much as usual and after a short munching session, I put her out in the paddock and went home.

After telling my husband that I didn't think Tessa and I were meant to be, I wondered if I should even be part-boarding her at all. I decided that on Thursday I would give Tessa and myself a break by riding a different horse.

On Thursday, I arrived at the barn and found that Tessa was already being ridden in the earlier lesson. It seemed like fate split us up for one night. I looked at the lesson sheet and found that Duchess had been ridden earlier in the day as well. I decided to ask the instructor who I should ride. She suggested Candy but I wanted a horse that I could practice my canter with and Candy's canter is a little funny. She then suggested Tara. I had heard good things about Tara so off I went to get her.

Tara is a sweet ex race horse who is very particular about her bridle and who is very slim. She is a bay horse with small white spots all over her body. I was warned that she is more forward than Tessa and told not to use a crop.

I tacked her up except for the bridle and headed out. The instructor put her bridle on. After walking her around a little bit, I got on. Sitting on her felt like I was sitting on a banister. She is tiny! And tall! It was odd being up there with little for my legs to hang on to. She walked around a little slowly. At this point she didn't seem very forward. After a few rounds, the instructor asked me to put her into a trot. I squeezed. Nothing. I squeezed harder. She sped up her walk to almost a trot. A little more squeezing and off we went. Her trot didn't require too much squeezing to keep her going but it felt weird posting with my legs so close together.

We changed directions and then we were asked to canter. After my experience with Tessa in our last two rides, I was worried. I was worried that I had forgotten how to ask for a canter. Turns out I hadn't forgotten. I asked and Tara cantered! Yeah! It was a nice smooth canter too. We were asked to canter through the middle of the ring and change directions and this is where things started to go downhill. I asked for a lead change and she kicked her canter up a notch. I had a small panic moment but got her to a trot.

Next we jumped. While asking for a lead change made her go fast, seeing a jump made her go even faster. We did a few jumps but the speed was frightening. Her jump was a little downhill too. She rushed to jumps, jumped, and then dropped her head. This left me with nothing to hold on to and because my legs also had little to hold on to, I kept losing my balance. It felt dangerous to be off balance at such a fast pace.

After a few attempts, I turned to one of the other girls in the lesson and asked her if she wanted to switch horses. She loves to jump and she was riding a pony, Loki, that reminded me a little bit of Tessa. We switched. She had a great ride with Tara around the ring and didn't mind the speed. I took Loki to a trot, then a canter, and then ended my lesson.

At this point, all I wanted was my horse back. I wanted my Tessa. I think she missed me too. After putting Loki in the paddock, I went in search of Tessa to give her my second apple and to tell her how much I missed her and how much I was looking forward to riding her again. When she heard my voice she backed away from the hay she was eating to greet me and I gave her my apple.

I now think that we are just two friends who had a bad night and maybe we are meant to be after all.

Alright, I have rules too...

On Thursday, I posted Tessa's rules for riding. I thought about it and I think it's only fair that I post my rules for riding as well. Outside of the ones related to her rules, here are my rules:

1) Be patient! with myself and Tessa.
After troublesome rides, I sometimes come home worrying that I am not cut out for riding and that maybe I am doing more harm to Tessa than good. Even though I feel this way, I have to remember that the good rides far outpace the bad rides and that the bad rides are really just learning opportunities for next time.

2) If I don't understand something, ask someone about it or look it up.
In my 14 year absence from riding, I have forgotten things. Sometimes the instructor will ask me to do things that I just don't remember doing 14 years ago. For example, I did not know what the instructor meant by the left rein or the right rein. Turns out it means the direction in which you use the left rein cues or the right rein cues.

3) Stretch after every ride!
I didn't do this the first few months. I probably should have because I was building up muscles in my legs and core that I hadn't used a very long time. I think they would have benefited from regular stretching after rides, although, I did go to Yoga class once a week. Ever since I started stretching after my rides, my recovery time has improved and my muscles don't get fatigued as quickly.

4) Get rid of my banana back!
The technical term appears to be Lordosis or Anterior Pelvic Tilt. Over my many years of school and work, the muscles that keep my lower back straight have weakened and become imbalanced. According to End your back pain now, I need to add a few new stretches and strength building exercises to my after ride routine. Of all the rules, fixing my back is where I am slacking the most.

5) Read!
I have 4 horse magazines on the go right now. Plus, I am listening to The Horse Radio Network and reading various articles posted on twitter. I want to learn all that I can about horses whenever I can. So far, reading about riding and reading about working with horses has given me a tonne of new ideas for improving my riding and horsemanship.

6) Keep my elbows at my side.
One of my instructors describes me as a water skier on a horse! It's embarrassing! I want to keep my reins short to maintain control and I have developed this bad habit of releasing my elbows to allow Tessa more room to stretch her neck. I have noticed that my water skiing arms also cause imbalance because I have no more give if she suddenly drops her head. If I lengthen the reins and put my elbows at my side, I forget to keep them there and lose control because the reins are too long. I have been practicing keeping my elbows close to me at a walk and I think I am improving but I have a long way to go.

Like Tessa, I have some tough things to work on. Acknowledging that I have problems is the first step, right?

Rules are not meant to be broken

Tessa has a great memory. Before I take her back to the paddock after our ride, I always give her cookies (mostly). The next time I see her (sometimes days later), she still remembers that the last time she saw me she got cookies. I know this because her nose goes straight to my hands to find the cookies.

Anyhow, I am trying to use her special talent to remember everything to my advantage by creating a set of rules when we ride. I do my absolute best to keep to the rules during our rides with the hope that the next time we ride she will remember the rule. It's starting to work! Not perfectly though and the list of rules is starting to get long...

Here are my current rules:

1. Wait until you have your halter on to eat grass.
2. Follow my commands and not the other horses in the lesson.
3. Hay should not be eaten in the arena, only in the paddock.
4. Get the wrong lead, we stop cantering and we try again.
5. Keep your canter until I ask you to slow down.
6. Don't slow to a trot in front of the jump.
7. Keep a canter after the jump.
8. No cutting into the center of the arena to be with the other horses right after jumping.
9. When I take one of the ties off in the barn, move towards the opposite wall to let a horse by.
10. No cutting corners in the riding ring.
11. Don't cut into the ring out of protest when I ask for a trot or canter.
12. Also, no protesting by either swinging your head back and forth or by throwing your head up.
13. Walking is not always break time.
14. Put your butt in gear when we are trotting or cantering, I don't want you to trip!
15. Don't follow other horses too closely, we don't want to get kicked!
16. Walk on when I am leading you out of the paddock.
17. Just because the horse in front of you is walking, that does not mean you are also walking!

Of the 17 rules, we are consistently following: #3, #9, & #16. We are getting close on some of the other ones though! #2, #4, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, & #17 are leaps and bounds better than when we first started working together. Lots of rules and the more we ride, the better we get at following them. It's a huge sense of accomplishment when we see an improvement!

What are your riding rules?

Horse Cookie Recipe

Tessa is a very food focused horse. She sees or hears food coming a mile away! As soon as someone crumples a bag, her ears perk up, her neck lifts, and she starts moving her head side to side. For those of you who do not know, horses are prey animals and as such are designed to have fantastic peripheral vision. They do not see well straight ahead and have a blind spot right in front of them. When they try to focus on something directly in front of them they move their heads from side to side to see it better.

With Tessa, it does not matter if it is me with the treats or someone riding a different horse. She is excited either way. The other riders think she is cute so they give her a treat to make her happy and to reward her ability to scent, hear, or see treats.

I love food focused animals! I find they are generally easier to train and it makes me really happy to make them happy by doing something as simple as giving them a piece of food. I also love animals who enjoy a good scratch. Actually, I love animals, point final.

In July, I was buying carrots for Tessa but I was having trouble using them all before they started to rot. The weather was so hot and I could not keep them in good condition long enough. I decided to buy horse cookies instead. I found a great brand at the local tack shop. Tessa loved these cookies and so did all of the horses that I gave the treats to. The only issue was that the cookies were expensive. Instead of buying another bag of these treats, I decided to try and find a recipe online that had similar ingredients.

It did not take long to find a recipe with molasses, bran, and oatmeal. Yummy Oat Cookies fit the bill. My first try at the cookies was a little watery and the batch was too large. I decided to make some modifications to the recipe. Here is my version:




1/4 Cup Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Steel Cut Oats
1/2 Cup Bran Cereal
1/4 Cup Molasses
1/4 Cup Water
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Salt




Spray a cookie sheet with vegetable oil. Set the oven to 350F. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until the bran absorbs most of the water and molasses. Use a teaspoon to layout a bunch of little cookie mounds on the cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes. Take them out, flip them, and bake for another 5 minutes. There should be about 13-15 cookies.

With less salt, these cookies are also good for humans. I've munched on them. My dog also loves them and will do tonnes of tricks for a piece of horse cookie. Most importantly, Tessa is a big fan of my cookies! When she thinks I am not looking, I sometimes find her sniffing through my riding bag trying to find them. If I forget them or run out she still tries to drag me to my bag to find them.

 
Unlike my bug spray recipe, these cookies are definitely more economical than buying a bag of horse treats. As an aside, my homemade bug spray is still 3/4 full so it appears that though it was less obvious, I did end up saving money on bug spray by making my own.

Bug Spray Recipe

The combination of rain in June and the extreme heat in July led to an influx of BUGS! Poor Tessa with her fear of bugs spent many a lesson throwing her head, tail, and legs around trying to get them away from her. Cantering was not fun since every so often she kicked out a leg throwing me off balance.

One day after a ride, a big black furry bug landed on her back. She immediately started to panic and ended up dropping and rolling around in the grass to get rid of it. In the process, she nearly knocked me over since I was dumb enough to sit behind her while she was grazing.

On a hack in the woods near the barn with a couple of riders, I mentioned Tessa's fear and the ladies suggested I use bug spray. After the ride, I went to a local tack shop to buy it. They had a few bug sprays in stock. Some even boasted long lasting bug relief for up to 5 days. Spraying Tessa with a bunch of chemicals didn't make sense to me so I opted for an all natural spray. It was $21.95. I used it up in a couple of weeks.

Spending another $21.95 on bug spray seemed silly so instead I looked up all natural bug spray recipes online. After searching through a number of websites, I found a recipe that made sense to me. I found it at About.com Natural Insect Repellant.

The recipe that I put together is as follows:

15ml of Lemon Eucalyptus Essential Oil (mosquitoes, ticks, and lice)
10ml of Citronella Essential Oil (mosquitoes and biting flies)
10ml of Cinnamon Essential Oil (mosquitoes)
450ml of Vodka (good base since it isn't oily and you don't want an oily coat)

Overall, the results have been good. I like the smell of the spray. The girls at the barn say it smells like Cheerios. I'm not sure I agree but it seems to do a good job of keeping the bugs away for most of the ride. Also, I tested the spray by putting the bottle on the desk where a bunch of flies hangout and the flies moved away from the desk. Like any other spray though as the smell wears off and the horse's natural scent comes through, the bugs return.

In terms of cost, I might have been better off to buy the $21.95 all natural bug spray because essential oils and vodka are not cheap. On the other hand, the spray I made has lasted longer than 2 weeks but that may be more due to the spray bottle I am using. It sprays in a mist, which covers more of the horses body than a direct spray does and so I do not end up wasting as much of the bug spray.

Best friends

Every time I go into the paddock to get Tessa for our ride, I find Simon standing next to her. As far as, I know they are the closest pair of horses you will find in the paddock.

In the beginning, I would get dirty looks from Simon when I would come to get Tessa out of the paddock. He would stand there watching me with his ears back. Never taking his eyes off of me as I put the lead rope on her and walked her into the barn. Overtime, he has learned to accept me as his friend's other friend and I never get the dirty looks anymore. In fact, he doesn't look too disappointed to see me and accepts the nose rub that I offer him.

On a couple of occasions, Simon has followed us back to the barn and even into the barn. On one occasion in particular, the horses were out of the paddock and in the field grazing. Tessa and Simon were together at the far end of the field. I walked up to Tessa and said a hello to Simon. I proceeded to lead Tessa back to the barn. Simon followed us the whole way and into the barn. Luckily, another rider was in the barn to help me get Simon back into the paddock and the barn door shut.

There have been a few nights when I was very slow returning Tessa to the paddock after our ride where I could hear Simon calling after her in the paddock. When I opened the door he would be standing there waiting for her with a final neigh, informing me that I had kept her out too late.

Sometimes when Tessa and I are grazing after a ride between the riding ring and the paddock, Simon will come watch us. He recognizes my voice now and will perk his ears when I talk to him during Tessa's grazing.

I suspect that Tessa behaves similarly when it is Simon's turn to go for a ride but I haven't had the opportunity to witness it since I ride Tessa regularly. Maybe one day, I will experiment and take Simon out of the paddock.

These are two of the very best friends who have been lucky to find the other to share their lives in the paddock at Churchill Chimes. If only, we could all be as lucky as they are in our lives outside of the paddock.

The day I found my legs

The day I found my legs was also the day that I nearly broke my neck. Before I get into that let me give you a bit of background.

In one of my first lessons at Churchill Chimes, I had the privilege of riding a black and white paint horse named Simon. At the time, Simon was a bit chunky and so he was on the "Jenny Craig" horse program at the barn. He was in a paddock where all of the chunky horses were staying. Tessa was in this paddock as well but I didn't know it at the time. These horses were fed hay and no grain for a month to help them lose weight and during meal times, they were left outside to watch longingly as the horses in the next paddock went into the barn to have their breakfast or dinner of sweet grain.

My lesson was at 9am on a Saturday morning. At 8:30am (around breakfast time), the barn hand took me to the paddock, which was a bit of a walk from the school barn, to get Simon. Simon, convinced that he was finally going to have breakfast, came barreling towards the gate to meet us. This was the second fastest that I have ever seen Simon move during my short time at Churchill Chimes but I get ahead of myself. We opened the gate, I put the lead on his halter, and off we went to the barn.

This was a stormy March day and the wind was blowing really hard. I made it through the boarder barn and into the school barn when suddenly the wind picked up and shook the whole building. Simon nearly lost his mind. I managed to get him through the narrow passage to the open area but once there, Simon calmed down and proceeded to drag me to his stall so that he could have breakfast. Of course, there was no breakfast. Poor horse looked a little forlorn as I walked him out of his stall and tied him up to groom him.

At 9am, we made our way to the riding arena. Because I had seen him gallop to the gate, I had high hopes that he would be a fun ride. My high hopes were crushed when he barely kept a trot for me. Cantering was even worse.

Fast forward a couple of months and I was at the barn with my family for the Family Free ride. My mother, father, father in law, and husband were all at the barn to check it out. My mother and husband had agreed to try riding. My husband was assigned to Candy and my mother was assigned to Simon.

Candy was already in a lesson so we only had to tack up Simon. Despite the pictures and the horse petting, we groomed him and tacked him up in good time. By the time we were ready, the lesson was still in progress in the arena and so we waited outside and took pictures with Simon. All in all, we were having a great time with him.

In the arena, I helped my mother walk Simon around while one of my riding friends helped my husband with Candy. When it came time to get on their horses. My mother full on chickened out! Well she did get on Simon but then quickly got off of Simon. Since Simon was all tacked up and ready to go, the barn owner said that I could ride him. I took my mom's helmet and got on to ride.

It had been two months since I'd last ridden Simon and it was as if I had a new set of legs. These legs squeezed and actually squished him. While I felt a little bad for squishing him, he was responding to everything I asked him to do and that was great! I couldn't believe the change that had happened in just 2 months! These legs made him walk around the arena at a good pace and then when the coach said to trot, they made him trot without argument. He didn't even try to quit trotting either! After a couple of circles of trotting, the coach told me to drop my stirrups and trot around the ring stirrupless. So I dropped my stirrups. I was feeling pretty confident and Simon did have a nice smooth trot.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the sky opened up and let fall a fury of rain drops onto the arena roof. Well Simon took off like a bullet from a shotgun. In case you were curious, this is the fastest that I have ever seen Simon move. Anyhow, here I was on a horse at his full gallop with no stirrups!! I made it 50 feet before bailing and landing on my shoulders and neck. I was lucky not to have broken anything but my neck did suffer from whiplash and I suffered a very painful week. To this day, my mother believes that divine intervention made her get off of Simon and put her 'experienced' daughter on him instead.

While I could dwell on the fact that I nearly broke my neck that day or that it was incredibly embarrassing to fall off of a horse in a beginner lesson, I prefer to dwell on the fact that this was the day that my riding legs came back to me.

Introducing Tessa

Very quickly, I realized that riding once a week was not going to be enough so I signed up for 2 lessons a week. By the 2nd month of riding, I decided I wanted to part-board a horse for the summer.

I really liked Duchess, Whim, Koby, Cayenne, and Sasha. To be honest, I liked every single one of the horses that I tried. It was really hard to choose. The barn owner was a true believer that you need to find the 'one' before you decide and I took this to heart.

One lesson in early May while I was riding Candy, I looked over at the other rider in the lesson and she was riding a very pretty chestnut horse that I hadn't seen before. Her name was Tessa. The coach was explaining to the rider that Tessa was on the obese side and that she was one of her laziest horses. The rider seemed to have her number though as she prettily trotted around the ring. While I thought she was a beautiful horse, I was a little worried about the lazy horse comment so I disqualified her from my search before I even tried her.

About a month later, the coach asked me to ride Tessa since she needed the workout. I went back to the barn a little worried. I really didn't know what to expect and I was worried that she would embarrass me in the lesson by not cooperating. With reserve, I found her in the paddock and proceeded to try to bring her into the barn. She didn't move. I tried again. Nothing. I tried changing directions. I tried talking to her. Still nothing. Finally, I remembered watching another rider with a stuck horse threaten them with the lead rope. With a heavy heart, I tried it. I barely touched her but it worked and finally she walked on.

Once in the barn, she was a breeze! To be honest, she barely needed to be groomed. I discovered later that she rarely rolls around in the paddock. She helped me lift her hooves off the ground for hoof picking. She stood very still while I brushed her. She liked to sniff the brushes before I groomed her with them. Putting the saddle on her was easy. Tightening her girth was easy. My impression of her was quickly changing.

After putting her bridle on, I took her out to the riding ring. The coach had me take a bigger crop for the lesson. She explained that while she suggests that her riders coddle most of her horses to get them to work well in the lesson, Tessa needed a person that takes control with some force. I really don't like to use crops but I did what I was told to do. Luckily, it worked and Tessa was great in the lesson! Jumping was a bit rough but timing is an issue with me.

At the end of the lesson, I was telling people how much fun I'd had with her. I was surprised! She had nice movement and she really wasn't as hard headed as I was led to believe.


In the next lesson, Tessa was assigned to me again. This time, I used a normal sized crop and I barely used it. She did what I asked of her for the most part and we had fun! I was sold. This was the horse that I wanted to part-board. Only one snag, her owner rode her on Wednesdays so I could only ride her 2 days of the week. I decided to ride Duchess on my third day of the week. I had my 2 favourite horses to ride every week. I was so excited for July to begin!

New Beginnings

One Sunday in March, I was sitting on my couch watching TV. As I sat there, I kept thinking that there must be more to life than this. There must be something more I can do with my time.

Up to this moment all I had been doing with myself was waking up, going to work, working, coming home, maybe hitting a yoga class but maybe not, and watching TV. Outside of Yoga, I was leading a pretty sad life.

There I was on the couch, thinking and on the verge of a life changing decision. I can't remember how this thought entered my mind but suddenly I was thinking about how great it was to ride a horse. How beautiful horses were. How much fun I had as a teenager at the barn. I HAD to grasp onto the small feeling of happiness that I felt with these simple thoughts.

I turned to my husband and said, "I'd like to try horseback riding, again." These words combined with the act of phoning a barn in North Markham sealed my fate. I was going to ride again!

In addition to the barn in North Markham, I also found two barns in Stouffville to try out. Each barn was very different from the other. At the first barn, I rode Dodge, an elderly grey horse. Dodge was a great horse for a returning rider. He cantered with very little ask. He maintained his trot without much convincing. I really enjoyed him. The lesson though was too much of a beginner lesson for me and there weren't enough options in the week to take other lessons.

The next day, I went for a ride at the second barn I had on my list to try. Not the best idea to ride 2 days in a row since my body was tired from riding the night before. I did like the level of instruction at this barn. The coach gave me ideas for things to improve but did not overwhelm me with things to improve. Also the atmosphere was very friendly and there were a large number of lesson options. At this barn, I rode a white horse named Gwen. Unlike Dodge, Gwen made me work for every movement. I had a difficult time trying to get her to canter. She eventually cantered but not for long. At the end of the lesson, I was extremely exhausted. I did want to come back and try another lesson though so I signed up to come back the next Friday.

The last barn I tried was a very fancy barn. There were a few lesson options that worked in my schedule and I really liked the facilities. Here, I rode Duncan. Duncan was a handsome bay gelding who pretty much did what I wanted him to do despite my weak muscles. The coach at this barn gave me a tonne of instruction. It was hard to follow everything she said but I tried. At the end of the lesson, I signed up for another class.

After a few weeks of trying out the 2nd and 3rd barns, I decided on the second barn, Churchill Chimes. I liked the community feel, the more laid back instruction, the coach's stories about each of her horses, and most importantly, I loved the horses!