Holy hell; what a week this has been. Frankly, it's been one hell of a month, and not in a good way. Yesterday, I sat at my desk from 10:00 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. without getting up once. I am not exaggerating. And with 20 minutes left in my day, my administrator came in with a project that had to be done that day. I cranked it out of course, but not before saying a few choice words. My new favorite is holy shirt! You know it's been a long week when you can't even stop for a pee break. TGIF ..read more

I had a hot mess of a ride on Thursday - something spooked Izzy down to his bones; I don't know what happened. We were walking along on the buckle in the first minute of the ride when I suddenly found myself hanging off the left side of the saddle. The next instant, I was tossed to the other side. I sat up hard, yanked back on the reins, and found the middle of my saddle. Izzy spun back the way he had just bolted from and stared fixedly at nothing. All I managed to do for the next half of an hour was walk, and half of it was from the ground. Despite being an actual keg of dynamite, he ev ..read more

Son of a bee-biscuit! This thing just will not heal. Izzy is sound, but the wound just will not epithelialize. Heal, dammit! It started to show a bit of proud flesh, so over the weekend I scrubbed it good and hard and then re-bandaged it. Back to this again. Close up already, dammit ..read more

Before starting Tuesday's lesson with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage, I told him about Izzy's rear and how I had worked through it all. I was a little surprised by the follow up questions Sean asked. In my mind, I had closed the case. I had worked worked through it, and that was the end of it. Not to Sean; he wanted to probe a bit deeper, and after answering all of his questions, he suspected that we have been packaging Izzy up too much, too soon. Remember, he had most of the summer off as he recovered from two different injuries. Not the canter, but same idea (October 22 ..read more

For the past month or so, the ranch owner and I have fallen into a weekend trail riding routine. She's rebuilding some confidence, and I am finding it good motivation to take Speedy out for some fun. For the past two weeks, he had been an absolute stinker, and it seemed like it was a behavior pattern that was getting worse, not better. I decided that a third week of sassy bucking, kicking out, and flat out running through the bridle was not going to be acceptable. I pulled out his old Mikmar bit and dusted off my endurance headstall. Mikmar Flexion Combination Jointed Bit Speedy loved this b ..read more

I haven't done an update on Izzy's heel wound in a few weeks, so I thought it was time. It has been 59 days since he sliced himself open on who knows what. I quit wrapping it a couple of week ago, and I only took the bell boot off on Saturday. It seemed like the bell boot was keeping it kind of sweaty - it was a very thick bell boot, so I decided it should come off. A day or two later, the wound looked freshly oozy, so I put the darn thing back on. It hasn't completely epithelialized yet, but I don't think there is anything else I can do for it other than keep it clean and as free of flies as ..read more

Now that we're back to schooling flying changes, or at least the moments before the flying change, Izzy is once again feeling a good deal of anxiety. On Saturday morning, as I put him into a regular working canter during the warm up, he blew through my outside rein because he thought I was going to set him up for a change. When I put him back in position and asked for a right lead canter, he jumped up and then reared. I am not going to lie; I had a definite oh, crap! moment because he felt very close to falling backwards. Very old photo, but it was one of these. He hasn't reared in a number ..read more

My life sits upon a tripod. The first of the three legs is my home life which means my husband and our two dogs. The second is my barn life which includes Speedy and Izzy and their health and happiness. The third and final leg of my life is work. The work I do as a teacher is very fulfilling and as such, it is something that keeps my cup full. Usually.  My home life. I don't know how many legs most other people use to hold up their lives, but I suspect it might be four, with friends being the fourth leg. It's not that I don't have friends, I do, and very good ones at that. It's that tho ..read more

When I left the endurance world for dressage, I slowly but surely began accumulating various pieces of tack. I've bought at least four dressage saddles, several dozen pads, at least a dozen bridles, and every type of bell boot, splint boot, and polo wrap they make. The one and only piece of tack that I never replaced were my stirrups. MDC Sport Classic - left Having ridden in endurance stirrups that had a massively wide base, a thick foam footbed, and a design that flexed when a horse was trotting, typical Fillis irons received a hard no from me. None of my trainers liked my choice of stirru ..read more

I turned Speedy loose to graze in the yard after a quick bareback ride around the property this weekend. I sat down to take off my boots and check my phone. I looked up to see him nose open the door as strolled in to find Izzy's lunch. He bypassed his own bucket for the much fuller one that was Izzy's I get absolutely zero privacy at the barn. That horse thinks he rules the roost, and he's not wrong. Once my boots were wiped clean and stored, I threw on my muck boots and backed Speedy out gently. I picked up his bucket, leaving Izzy's for after. I headed to Speedy's paddock while he followed ..read more