I've been a very bad girl and haven't been keeping up this blog, but somehow despite that the universe rewarded me with a very happy birthday weekend. My birthday was Saturday and at noon I met with the costume designer that I'll be assisting for the next few weeks doing costumes for Austin Shakespeare Festival's production of Measure for Measure. I'd been a bit nervous about meeting her because, frankly I don't always get along with people, but she and I seemed to hit it off. I liked her designs and she seemed to appreciate the comments that I made. So that made for a nice birthday experience.
After I got home, as part of his birthday gift to me, my husband took me to half price books so I could add yet more books to my overflowing collection. I am an absolute bookaholic who has been having to do without, due to tightening up our budget in order to have enough money to buy and maintain a horse for me. So finally having free rein (pun intended) to buy some new (okay used, but new to me) books, was very nice indeed. After buying me some books, Foxfire took me out to Johnny Carino's and we had a very nice dinner out. Another thing that we haven't done in quite a while as part of saving money. I had my favorite dish, chicken scallopini minus the tomatos and mushrooms with capers added, and a pomegranate granita which is just the most delicious drink that I've ever had.
On Sunday, Foxfire and I got up early, joined our friends, SH and DA, and we all went down to Schlitterbahn for the day. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and it wasn't raining which it did last year for my birthday trip. It wasn't very crowded and for some rides there wasn't even a wait at all. We made it through all three sections of the park and hit almost all the red diamond rides, some of them several times. It was an absolutely fabulous day! After we left the park, we stopped at Oma's Haus German Restaurant and had a nice dinner.
The only bad parts of the day were at the very end. As we were driving back to Austin, my stomach started feeling bad and we had to stop at a Whataburger so that I could use their facilities. I think the lunch that I had at the park didn't agree with me. Either that or I accidentally swallowed some water on one of the rides and some nasty protozoa or another was making it's presence known. Also, once we were home and putting things away, I stepped on a scorpion which stung me to express its displeasure or its general scorpion-ness, since I know that simply stepping on a scorpion barefoot isn't going to hurt it that much. (I really should write a post about my unique way of dealing with the scorpions that I find in my house(or more usually that my cats find and point out to me).
Anyway, all in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and I'm already looking forward to doing it all again next year.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Keeping notes pays off
Keeping all those notes about the horses that I've called on or looked at has had an unexpected dividend. I saw this ad on CraigsList posted by a girl looking for the horse that she was forced to sell years ago:
I recognized the horse's registered name, looked in my notes for the contact info of the person selling her and passed it on to the person looking for the horse. She sent me an email thanking me for the info and later sent me one telling me that she was able to find her horse because of the info that I gave her. It made me feel really good.
The ad now reads...
Looking for a long lost horse... - $1 (Bastrop, Austin)
Please don't flag. I am looking for a Thoroughbred Mare I sold a couple of years ago to a girl named **edited** who lived in Bastrop. She has since been sold again. Her registered name is **edited**. She is a Chestnut mare about 16hands, approx 13 years old. She was extremely sensitive and flighty and accident prone. I would like to know she has a good home and I would be willing to buy her back if her current owners aren't happy with her. I was forced to sell her during a rough time in my life and regret it very much. So please if you know of this horse email me any information. Her barn name when I sold her was **edited**.
I recognized the horse's registered name, looked in my notes for the contact info of the person selling her and passed it on to the person looking for the horse. She sent me an email thanking me for the info and later sent me one telling me that she was able to find her horse because of the info that I gave her. It made me feel really good.
The ad now reads...
Looking for a long lost horse... FOUND! - $1 (Bastrop, Austin)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
He certainly didn't run away with me
I haven't ridden my husband's horse, Ziggy, for a rather long time because he had a tendency to run away with Foxfire. But recently, Ziggy's been behaving better and Foxfire finally decided that Ziggy was calm enough for me to ride him. So this evening, I mounted up on Ziggy for the first time in quite a while. I had ridden him before, back when he was still recovering from the malnourishment and stomach ulcers that he suffered from when we first got him. As part of his rehabilitation, Foxfire or I would ride him at a walk for no more than 15 minutes. Gradually, we increased the amount of time that we would walk him. Once he'd recovered a bit more we added a few minutes of trot to his riding time and eventually Foxfire started cantering him. However, once Ziggy truly started feeling better, he became a somewhat "hot" horse. Foxfire had trouble keeping him at a trot, and once he started cantering, he was very difficult to slow down or stop. So Foxfire decided that he was too much horse for me to ride until I became a better rider and/or Ziggy became easier to control.
While Ziggy was recovering, I had never really had much trouble riding him. Sometimes, I did have to hold him back a little, but he had always listened to me and never actually went faster than I wanted him to. The only time, anything "bad" happened was one night at the barn when a mare had gotten loose and run around madly, getting all the other horses worked up. That night I did have to work a little harder to keep Ziggy at the walk. And to top it all off, while I was riding, something fell over and made a VERY LOUD BANG. Ziggy spooked and reared, then danced in place for a few moments before calming down. The thing is, it felt like he started to bolt, and I twitched the reins the way that I had been doing to keep him at a walk, and instead of bolting he reared. So... in a way, he was still paying attention to me. He was just too startled not to do anything, so he reared. After the initial fright of,"OMG, he's rearing!", it wasn't really that bad. My body just automatically leaned forward to keep my balance. I managed to keep my hands down and not tug on the reins so that I didn't pull him off balance or anything. And it only took a second or two for him to stop rearing and come back down. When he came back down, I was still leaning forward until Foxfire yelled at me to sit up straight. And Ziggy danced in place for a few more moments while I just tried to relax into his back and calm him down. Once he'd calmed down a bit more, I let him walk around a little to finish letting his nerves out. Once he was completely calm, I dismounted. It was almost time for the end of his ride anyway. Of course, this happened while he was still in recovery. If he'd been fully recovered and full of energy, it might have gone differently.
I rode him several more times after that, up until the time that Foxfire decided that he was getting to be too strong for me to handle. Lately, Foxfire has been working on Ziggy's brakes and our friend, JJ, has been helping. And if you've been reading this blog, you know that I've been taking riding lessons. So tonight, Foxfire decided that it was time for me to try and ride Ziggy again. We saddled him up, and I mounted and sat there very carefully for a few moments taking deep breaths and making sure that I was ready to hold him back if he tried to go faster than I wanted. Then I tapped him very gently with my heels and... nothing happened. I tapped a little harder and Ziggy very slowly began to walk. Veeeeery slooooowly. I tapped him again and he may have moved infinitesimally faster. I finally gave him a solid kick and he began to move about as fast as very fit turtle. The good thing was that he was staying nicely in frame while we moved at these glacial speeds. I tried loosening the reins, tightening the reins, pushing with my legs, my seat... Eventually, I managed to get a decent walk out of him. Not exactly energetic, but decent. So I walked him around for a bit with Foxfire following nervously nearby. Ziggy kept slowing to a meander any time that I stopped pushing him, and I admit, I was getting a little frustrated.
Foxfire said that Ziggy was always a bit slow when he first started riding him, but that once he started trotting, he became more energetic. So I decided to trot him. I was a little nervous, because trotting was usually where the trouble started. Ziggy would stay at a walk really well, but once he started trotting, he generally wanted to start cantering and keep cantering. But I was getting really frustrated going so slowly, and he was paying great attention to me in every other way. All I had to do was think about turning and he turned. And just a little bit of pressure with my inside leg moved him outside. I love a light horse! I just wish that he had been that light with his speed controls. Anyway, I shortened the reins a bit and gave an even firmer kick to get him to trot and he... walked slightly faster. I set myself firmly in the saddle and gave him a strong kick and he... walked slightly faster.
I loosened the reins and let him walk while Foxfire and I tried to figure out why Ziggy wouldn't trot. He didn't feel "off" to me in any way, but I asked Foxfire to watch him closely and see if it looked like Ziggy might be favoring a foot or showing any sign of pain that might make him not want to trot. Foxfire said that he looked fine. So he suggested that I get off and let him in the saddle to see if Ziggy would trot for him. Once Foxfire was in the saddle, Ziggy trotted right off. I watched and he looked perfectly sound and pain free, and Foxfire said that he felt fine, so we switched places again.
I finally managed to get a trot, but it was so slow that I couldn't even post to it and Ziggy fell right back out of it into the walk. I kept at it and got a slightly better trot which he kept up for about 50 feet then fell back into a walk. I eventually managed to get and keep a trot for the length of the field. He again slowed to a walk before I asked him to, so I forced him back into a trot. It was finally getting a little easier to get him to trot, and he was finally doing a nice working trot. But again, he fell back into a walk before I asked him to. I got him to trot again and only went for a little ways before asking him to slow to walk. I didn't go very far at the trot because I didn't want him to slow on his own before I asked him to. Also, it was getting dark and we needed to feed the chickens before they roosted for the night. So I decided to be satisfied that I had at least gotten a trot that lasted until I asked for a walk. I did a very brief cool down. He hadn't exactly gotten hot and sweaty. And that was it.
I don't know why Ziggy behaved so differently for me than he usually does for Foxfire. Of course, the next time I ride him, he may decide to go into race horse mode. Who knows. Foxfire doesn't want me to ride Ziggy unless he's home for a few more times before riding him when I'm alone. Since we're no longer at the barn, and no one else lives here to notice if something bad happens, that seems a reasonable precaution. Hopefully, Ziggy and I will work things out and I'll be able to ride him more regularly. But... he certainly didn't run away with me.
While Ziggy was recovering, I had never really had much trouble riding him. Sometimes, I did have to hold him back a little, but he had always listened to me and never actually went faster than I wanted him to. The only time, anything "bad" happened was one night at the barn when a mare had gotten loose and run around madly, getting all the other horses worked up. That night I did have to work a little harder to keep Ziggy at the walk. And to top it all off, while I was riding, something fell over and made a VERY LOUD BANG. Ziggy spooked and reared, then danced in place for a few moments before calming down. The thing is, it felt like he started to bolt, and I twitched the reins the way that I had been doing to keep him at a walk, and instead of bolting he reared. So... in a way, he was still paying attention to me. He was just too startled not to do anything, so he reared. After the initial fright of,"OMG, he's rearing!", it wasn't really that bad. My body just automatically leaned forward to keep my balance. I managed to keep my hands down and not tug on the reins so that I didn't pull him off balance or anything. And it only took a second or two for him to stop rearing and come back down. When he came back down, I was still leaning forward until Foxfire yelled at me to sit up straight. And Ziggy danced in place for a few more moments while I just tried to relax into his back and calm him down. Once he'd calmed down a bit more, I let him walk around a little to finish letting his nerves out. Once he was completely calm, I dismounted. It was almost time for the end of his ride anyway. Of course, this happened while he was still in recovery. If he'd been fully recovered and full of energy, it might have gone differently.
I rode him several more times after that, up until the time that Foxfire decided that he was getting to be too strong for me to handle. Lately, Foxfire has been working on Ziggy's brakes and our friend, JJ, has been helping. And if you've been reading this blog, you know that I've been taking riding lessons. So tonight, Foxfire decided that it was time for me to try and ride Ziggy again. We saddled him up, and I mounted and sat there very carefully for a few moments taking deep breaths and making sure that I was ready to hold him back if he tried to go faster than I wanted. Then I tapped him very gently with my heels and... nothing happened. I tapped a little harder and Ziggy very slowly began to walk. Veeeeery slooooowly. I tapped him again and he may have moved infinitesimally faster. I finally gave him a solid kick and he began to move about as fast as very fit turtle. The good thing was that he was staying nicely in frame while we moved at these glacial speeds. I tried loosening the reins, tightening the reins, pushing with my legs, my seat... Eventually, I managed to get a decent walk out of him. Not exactly energetic, but decent. So I walked him around for a bit with Foxfire following nervously nearby. Ziggy kept slowing to a meander any time that I stopped pushing him, and I admit, I was getting a little frustrated.
Foxfire said that Ziggy was always a bit slow when he first started riding him, but that once he started trotting, he became more energetic. So I decided to trot him. I was a little nervous, because trotting was usually where the trouble started. Ziggy would stay at a walk really well, but once he started trotting, he generally wanted to start cantering and keep cantering. But I was getting really frustrated going so slowly, and he was paying great attention to me in every other way. All I had to do was think about turning and he turned. And just a little bit of pressure with my inside leg moved him outside. I love a light horse! I just wish that he had been that light with his speed controls. Anyway, I shortened the reins a bit and gave an even firmer kick to get him to trot and he... walked slightly faster. I set myself firmly in the saddle and gave him a strong kick and he... walked slightly faster.
I loosened the reins and let him walk while Foxfire and I tried to figure out why Ziggy wouldn't trot. He didn't feel "off" to me in any way, but I asked Foxfire to watch him closely and see if it looked like Ziggy might be favoring a foot or showing any sign of pain that might make him not want to trot. Foxfire said that he looked fine. So he suggested that I get off and let him in the saddle to see if Ziggy would trot for him. Once Foxfire was in the saddle, Ziggy trotted right off. I watched and he looked perfectly sound and pain free, and Foxfire said that he felt fine, so we switched places again.
I finally managed to get a trot, but it was so slow that I couldn't even post to it and Ziggy fell right back out of it into the walk. I kept at it and got a slightly better trot which he kept up for about 50 feet then fell back into a walk. I eventually managed to get and keep a trot for the length of the field. He again slowed to a walk before I asked him to, so I forced him back into a trot. It was finally getting a little easier to get him to trot, and he was finally doing a nice working trot. But again, he fell back into a walk before I asked him to. I got him to trot again and only went for a little ways before asking him to slow to walk. I didn't go very far at the trot because I didn't want him to slow on his own before I asked him to. Also, it was getting dark and we needed to feed the chickens before they roosted for the night. So I decided to be satisfied that I had at least gotten a trot that lasted until I asked for a walk. I did a very brief cool down. He hadn't exactly gotten hot and sweaty. And that was it.
I don't know why Ziggy behaved so differently for me than he usually does for Foxfire. Of course, the next time I ride him, he may decide to go into race horse mode. Who knows. Foxfire doesn't want me to ride Ziggy unless he's home for a few more times before riding him when I'm alone. Since we're no longer at the barn, and no one else lives here to notice if something bad happens, that seems a reasonable precaution. Hopefully, Ziggy and I will work things out and I'll be able to ride him more regularly. But... he certainly didn't run away with me.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Pictures of potential horses
I have still been looking at horses, I just haven't been keeping up with posting about them. Mainly because I found a horse that I really liked and didn't want to post about him until I had bought him so that no one else would see my blog and go buy him. Unfortunately, someone else did find him and buy him before I was able to drive down for a second ride. Needless to say, I was rather upset and didn't really want to talk about horses for a while. The horse that I really liked is named Cat Ballew. Strangely enough, given my usual preferences, he is a 16.2 hand, solid bay, OTTB. But he listened to me and obeyed my slightest cue the way no other horse has done since I was learning to ride on Cash. I am still kicking myself for waiting to decide on him and letting someone else get him. Here is a link to pictures of Cat Ballew.
You can see the other horses that I have looked at by going to my Potential horses album and clicking on the names listed on the left. Obviously none of the others worked out for various reasons. If you have questions about any of them, feel free to ask, but I don't think that I'll be doing individual blog posts about them.
I have definitely learned a valuable lesson. Next time that I find a horse that I really like, I'm not going to wait around, I'm going to put a deposit on him right away.
You can see the other horses that I have looked at by going to my Potential horses album and clicking on the names listed on the left. Obviously none of the others worked out for various reasons. If you have questions about any of them, feel free to ask, but I don't think that I'll be doing individual blog posts about them.
I have definitely learned a valuable lesson. Next time that I find a horse that I really like, I'm not going to wait around, I'm going to put a deposit on him right away.
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