Laying Low.

We're still out here...

PonyFaces!!

 Her Majesty in her fly sheet.

 You can actually see where Klein's heart shaped star used to be in this pic!

 Oh Le Moch...we'll get that back up again.  My fault for giving her some down time.

Little bit of a McButter Pony right now, thanks to me.

 She always just halts so nice on the lunge line.  Stops and stares quietly awaiting instruction.  She can be bolting and have all kinds of silliness going on, but if you tell her to halt the shenanigans instantly turn off.

 Klein and I recently hit the jackpot with trails and found miles of them not far from the barn.  We had never wandered over to this area.  SCORE.

 Uphill.  Yes.

Ponies Being Ponies.

My heart at a gallop.

BFF's.  Klein was nice and let Moch get a head start on her.  That lead didn't last very long.

Last night was a beautiful, breezy evening.  Klein doesn't always join in when the ponies start running around but last night she humored them.  Most times she'll ignore them, as you'll see in the first video.  I took two short videos last night of the silliness.  

One of the happiest sights in my life is watching them play and generally enjoy life.

Klein in the News Again

I have a nothing short of a Klein Shrine behind my desk at work.  I am in a very, very high visibility section at work and I have a lot of traffic consisting mostly of First Sergeants and Commanders because of what I work on, court-martials.  The Klein Shrine is a big conversation piece with a lot of people asking if 1. my horses are here with me and 2. pointing at the pictures of me jumping Klein 3'9" and asking "IS THAT YOU?!?!?!"  I still don't know which person it was but, one of my regulars told the Wing Public Affairs Office about my hobby and that sometimes I compete for the Air Force.  They called me and asked if they could interview me and take some pictures.  I tried to get them to use some show pictures of Klein all clean and braided up, and me with my service coat on.  They insisted on coming out one morning and taking pictures here.

They also interviewed me and wrote a pretty long article.  It was published on the front page of the Moody AFB web page last week. 

 Screenshot from the Moody home page.

It will also be printed in the base newspaper this week.

Here is the article:

 http://www.moody.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123336022

Not M.I.A.!

 Coming home from R.O. Ranch.

 This has been one of the longest breaks from posting I've had on here when I'm not gone for work.  It's been almost a month.  I've just had some pretty big life events going on, but, I am still riding regularly.  The three of us are just fine!  Just have not had time to sit down and really post like normal.  So, this will be the short version of the past month.

I took Moch down to R.O. Ranch in FL for a day last month.  It's a 20,000 acre equestrian park with miles of trails.  It's a beautiful, quiet place and every one there was super, super nice.  I'm looking forward to going back.  It's not too far from us.

 More trails at R.O. Ranch.

 Moch got right in the water.

 Campsites with stalls at R.O. Ranch.

I took a dressage lesson on Klein with a local instructor that rides with Eugene Abello.  I really enjoyed our lesson and I plan to ride with her atleast once a month.  She gave us some homework that we've been working on.

 Klein after our dressage lesson.

 Moch over a 3ft oxer.

 Out hacking on Moch.

She didn't care that it was 70 and sunny.  A bath wasn't her idea of a good time that morning.

With Klein we've been jumping, doing gallop work, our dressage homework, and hacking out of course.  I'm planning on getting Klein out on a xc course here in the next week.  We're a little overdue for a good Training level xc schooling.  The beach is in our near future too.

Moch I've been just hacking out and working on the lunge line. 

An Evening Hack With The Odd Couple

Out for a sunset stroll.

Yesterday evening I took The Odd Couple for a walk.  I rode Klein and ponied Moch.  It was a beautiful evening to just go hack around and relax.  They're very easy to take out together, so I really enjoy taking them both.  You can walk, trot, canter them together and they're on their best behavior.  Mochi was really enjoying herself.

Excuse Klein's crazy mane.  I just thinned it and shortened it up last week.  It's just so thick it's impossible to ever really thin it.  It looks good from the side.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been working a lot on the flat with Mochi right now.  I've been trying to find a happy medium with her as far as getting somewhat organized.  She is just always in a such a hurry, which I do appreciate very much!  I'd rather have that than the opposite!!

 

Out for a hack last Saturday morning.

 

On our way back.

 

Being a fancy pants on the lunge line.

Klein out for a hack with Chancellor.

Saturday I also re-clipped them both with Irish clips.  Neither of them have what you'd call a real winter coat, but it's been in the high 70's and low 80's so every little bit helps I guess.

The extent of Klein's "winter" coat.  You can barely even see the line.  I took it from the side to show depth since gray blends so well and you can see that there really isn't any depth either.  She's enjoying South Georgia winter!

This was the line with the 3'9" that we jumped on Sunday.  The first vertical is a 3'3" one stride to what started at 3'6" then I raised to 3'9".  Klein really flowed right through it no big deal.  We hit the distance every time, it was niiiice!  I'm looking foward to some jumper shows.

The Total Package

I say Klein is the total package because just LOOK at this girl go!!  The above picture is of a 3'9" vertical yesterday.  She has the brains, the beauty, the heart, the motivation, the talent, and the athleticism.  Plus, I'm pretty sure she'd save me from a burning building.  Words just can't describe her.

She was in such a cheery mood yesterday too.  After I renewed her Irish clip I let her out in the sand paddock to have a break from standing still for me with the annoying clippers.  She didn't go far and I said "Klein baby!  What are you doing??  You don't want to go out??"  She came right over and stuck her head in the window of the stall I was standing in front of.  I was going to clean up our area a little more but she wanted to hang out.  I said "Ok, well if you're ready to work, let's get to it."  She followed me to the open stall and came in so I could bring her into the isle to get her tacked up.

Klein mare on the landing side of a 3'3" locking on to the 3'9" vertical and thinking "Oh look, a 3'9"...I'll see your challenge, and I'll raise you!"

Me getting left just a bit behind.  She gave me a BIG, fantastic, 110% effort over it.

I have a lot more to write about the past week but...I just wanted to show you guys these pictures from yesterday. 

When Klein and I are together, the world pretty much ceases to exist.  Whether it's jumping a 3'9", spending the weekend competing at a horse trials, hacking out on trails, going for a gallop, spending the day on the beach, going pedal to the medal on a Training level xc run, or just hanging out...we are in our own little world.

Commitment and Being a Stupid Human

 Wondering why their stupid human insists on taking sooooo many pictures.

I'm sure a lot of you visit Horse Junkies United regularly.  They update daily with news from around the horse world as well as commentary from trainers, clinic reports, etc, etc...  The other week they had a post that stood out to me a little more than others.

Goals, Schmoals and I Am a Stupid Human

It's not a long post, take a minute to read it.  In summary, it talks about a horse owner that realized the hard way how much her horse really meant to her.  That seems like kind of a stupid, obvious statement doesn't it?  There's plenty of us that know what our horse(s) really mean to us, right?  Maybe.  This owner thought she did until she got a reality check and realized "all I cared about was my end of the relationship."

This owner immediately hit the fast forward button as soon as she found out her mare had a health problem that could end her career as a riding horse altogether.  She was looking for a new home for the mare and window shopping for a replacement because she wanted to be in the show ring.  This was the mare that she "loved since the minute I laid eyes on her."  After crying her eyes out over the situation the owner decided she had "had failed her as a horse owner and her mom."

If you read the post you know it does have a happy ending but it was a rough trip for both of them to get to the happy ending.  She kept her mare and decided to give her "patience. Love. And time to recover. Time to be a horse again."

This post made me think about commitment.  I know there are plenty of horse owners out there that are 110% committed (myself included) to their horse(s).  Whether you know it right from the start, or you have a strong, bonding moment along the way that triggers an epiphany.  I know for some, horses are a business, they come and go.  For others they are a lease horse to tide you over until you find THE ONE.  But for those of us that aren't in those positions, how many of you are committed to your horse(s) to the point of if something happens tomorrow that renders them nothing else than a sound, comfortable pasture ornament, that selling them wouldn't even be a thought in your head?  What if you couldn't afford another horse and it was:  keep your supposed horse of a lifetime as a sound, comfortable pasture ornament or start looking for the new hotness?  What would you do??  How committed are you to your horse(s)?  I know mine wouldn't go anywhere.  The heart, motivation, and loyalty they have shown...I just couldn't let them down because of an injury.

The part about being a stupid human...in the post the author says, "let’s give her more calming supplements. Fight for an hour while we ride. Get off in anger and frustration. Wash, rinse, repeat."  I am a firm believer that 99% of the time you are having a crappy ride, it's your fault, not the horse's.  If something isn't going the way you imagined, it's most likely because you're doing it wrong.  The horse is only doing what you tell him/her to do.  Maybe the horse doesn't even know what you're asking them to do.  They're just giving you their best guess and receiving frustration from the rider in exchange.  There are times people need to recognize how lucky they are that their horse didn't dump them on the ground and head back to the barn instead of putting up with their bs.  Sometimes I think people get so carried away with what they thought they were going to accomplish in a ride they fail to realize that maybe there's a breakdown in communication.  Maybe the horse isn't quite understanding.  Or maybe it's just an off day.  There's no shame in saying "Ok, let's get two steps, frustration free, then go hack out the rest of the ride."  I mean sure, we all know their personalities vary as much as the 6 billion people on this planet.  So there's a slim to none chance you have that horse that just insists on flipping you the bird for whatever reason.  Most of the time, that's not the case.

This makes me think of my favorite quote from Doug Payne.  One of the reasons he is one of my favorite pros out there is because of his values, like this:  "It's very easy to come up with 10,000 reasons why your horse isn't performing to his potential. About 9,997 of those excuses are just that, excuses without solid backing. You have to treat your horse the way you want him to be. Ninety-nine percent of horses are born to please. They want to do things right, they want to please. Make it possible for them to do just that.... Don't get caught up in thinking, "he's young and inexperienced," or "he's never seen this before," or "he used to race, drive, was ridden by a poor rider, mistreated, etc...." You don't have control of where he's been, but you certainly have control of the future, so change it!"  That is the mindset of a someone that deserves success.  I'm pretty sure that quote is one of my all time favorite equestrian quotes.  Though George Morris' recent "This country is the king of sloppy" is a close second.  Just kidding, kind of.

The one thing I always try to convey to people about my horses, no matter if they ride or they have never seen a horse up close in their life, is that my horses are not just pieces of sports equipment to help me play a game.  They are my equal teammates, and they will be treated as such.  Always.