Next Steps for Starlight

Starlight is ready for something more.  She has consistently shown a cooperative, calm and adventuresome spirit under saddle and it’s time to take her out in the world.

Riding out.

For instance, last night, I rode her up the pipeline right-of-way.   This entailed many firsts for her: It was the first time crossing rocky ground with a rider, the first time crossing a muddy area with a rider, the first time negotiating up- and downhill over varied footing, with a rider, and the first time riding up the hill with her pasturemates hanging out in the complete opposite direction, so she had to put more and more distance between herself and them. 

Her reaction to all this newness was a high head.  That was it – just a high head.  There was a point when I asked her to halt, and gave her a moment to assess the situation.  Some horses would have decided this was a good opportunity to turn around, suggesting to me it was time to head back to the known.   But after a pause, Starlight went forward, further up the pipeline at a quick walk.  This little statement on her part surprised me, and really made me happy.

So now my poor, overtaxed brain is noodling away: Where to take her?  Ideally, I would have an excellent trainer at lovely facility about 15 minutes from my home, so I could load her up and start taking lessons.  It would be a short enough trip so neither of us would dread it.  But that’s not reality.  Still, there are several good trainers within 35 or 45 minutes, so even if I don’t get the ideal situation, I can still find a good one.

My friend Wendy said we could join her and her boarders on a trail ride, or maybe we could set up the obstacles in her arena and practice them.   Her husband built a bridge, a teeter-totter, a “car wash,” and some other obstacles to take horses over and under.   That would be fun.  I’m going to build a course like that here in the near future.

The combination Paint/Pinto show in July at the Chemung County Fairgrounds is a possibility.  And there are several hunter paces, after I build up her stamina.   She and I will learn some Western-style activities together eventually, but for these early trainings, I’ll stick to what I know, and tearing across the countryside is one thing I know.  Add jumps, so much the better.

It’s fun and scary to make plans that will start the career of a good pony.

Twin Tiers Horse Activities, June 17-22

Here are this weekend’s upcoming equestrian events in the Twin Tiers.   I would love to go to the BLM Auction at Cornell, but I don’t dare.  I don’t think I could leave there without a mustang and I don’t need another horse.  Have a great weekend, horse people!

June 17-18:  Wild Horse and Burro Adoption

Cornell University's Oxley Equestrian Center on Pine Tree Road in Ithaca, New York.

Friday, June 17: Noon to 6 p.m. -- Preview
Saturday, June 18: 8 til 5 -- Adoption. It's not a bidding auction; it's first-come, first-serve. Bring your stock trailer, $125 and a drawing that shows your facility meets the BLM requirements, and take home a mustang or burro.

For details: Contact the BLM's Eastern States Office, 800-370-3936 for details on internet adoptions or visit the Internet Adoption web page.  

 

June 17-19: NBHA "Syracuse Spectacular" Barrel Racing

Regional 4D barrel racing.

NYS Fairgrounds Coliseum

Free admission; Friday 4pm, Saturday & Sunday 8:00am

For details: 706-823-3728 Visit Web Site nbha@nbha.com

June 17-19, 2011: Twin Tier Trail Riders

Susquehannock State Forest Mountain Laurel Ride.  Needs a count on how many people are coming as early as possible for camping permit. Planned location is at the Twelve Mile Gas well site but subject to change once we have the total count so check as we get closer to the ride time.

For details:  Contact Jeanne Root at 570-596-33653 or jroot@npacc.net.

June 18: Big Loop Hunter Pace 640 Artline Rd
Eldred, PA 16731

RAIN OR SHINE!

9:00 AM - 12:30 PM

All riders who intend to ride at a leisurely pace, come early! Ribbons will be presented when all riders are back at the barn!

Big Loop reserves the right to cancel or add dates for the 2011 series

For details: http://www.chandellefarm.com/bigloop/dates.htm

June 18 – 19: Bridle Path Manor Open English Horse Show

NYS Fairgrounds 4H Rings and Stables

8:00am – 8:00pm

Free admission

The Bridle Path Manor Open English Horse Show offers a variety of classes on the flat and over fences as well as Hunter Typr Halter and English Showmanship. Classes over fences range in height from crossrails to 2'9" and all flat classes (including Hunter Hack) will be held in a seperate ring. At the Beginner, Intermediate and Open levels, high point divisions are offered for both flat and over fences classes. Hunter Stake classes are included in the Schooling, Special, Low, Open, and Green divisions. For details: For class lists or more info about the show call 315-673-0172 or 315-729-8507.

June 18 –19: Cayuga Dressage, CDCT Sport Horse Breed Show (June 18) and Dressage Show (June 19)

Chemung County Fairgrounds, Horseheads NY
For details:  http://www.cayugadressage.org/ Schedule of Classes

June 18-19:  Bill McMullin Dressage Clinic at Leysabach Farm

East  Syracuse NY.

For details:  Dawn Foster foxroadent@windstream.net

June 19: Bristol Hills Pony Club Spring Hunter Pace,

9 am - noon at Knight Farm, Pierpont Road, Honeoye, NY.

For details: (585) 313-8274. www.bristolhills.ponyclub.org/

June 19: Hunter Pace and Timed Trail Ride Series

Open to the Public

Come enjoy the ride!

Five to seven miles of trails over natural terrain with about 30 jumps

from 6 inches to 2.5 feet. All jumps have optional go-a-round.

2-5pm; last ride out at 4pm

Location: Impatient Acres

(Vicki Bolton Farm)

3120 Henry Drum Road

Cohocton, NY 14826

Cost: Adult $20.00 per ride

Youth (under 18) $15.00 per ride

Season pass: Adult $60.00, Youth $50.00

Signed insurance waiver and proof of current Coggins test required at

registration.

Helmet and appropriate footwear required.

For details:  Contact: Lynn Sick 585 384 9221 or 585 519 1039

June 21: Genesse Valley Riding and Driving Club Twilight Dressage Schooling Show

Paduka Run, corner of Rt 39 and Roots Tavern Rd, Geneseo, NY.
Volunteer Opportunity: Volunteer scribes and ring stewards are needed during the show.For details:   Donna Hecht at (585) 739-4520 or donnahecht_ny@hotmail.com to confirm volunteer times with her.  http://www.wnyda.org/docs/4%20Twilight%20Entry%202011.pdf

June 22: GVPC Schooling Fandango

Wheeler Green, Nations Rd, Geneseo, NY.

For details:  www.geneseevalley.ponyclub.org

A Cure for What Ails Ya'

My stomach hurt when I got home from work and I didn’t feel like riding, but I forced myself, trudging up to the barn with Hudson’s extra-wide Thornton and her black dressage bridle with the flash nose band removed (and long gone).

Oddly, Hudson’s seemed a little cranky tonight, too.  So I promised her a short ride and off we went up the hill.

Karen O'Connor in galloping position on Mandiba (from "Finding my Way" blog).

I had just read an article about the five cross country riding positions that every eventer must practice.  It was in the May, 2011 Practical Horseman and written by Jennie Brannigan.  One of them, “galloping position,” rang a dim little tinkle in my brain, from my Pony Club days.  I remembered charging around an arena with the other riders, standing in galloping position.

I had to try that again!  So, on the way to the 12-acre field, I got into galloping position as Hudson galumphed up the hill.  It was a challenge to stand that tall with my feet flat in the stirrups, without dropping my heels.  Then we trotted into the field and I was balancing pretty well.  This was proven when we scared up three deer and Hudson swerved widely and went into her own version of galloping position.  That would be, galloping.  It was a blast, galloping through the long grass up the hill.

It was a fun, short ride, as promised, and I think we both felt better afterward. 

Then I worked with Starlight, doing some longeing and ground driving before getting on her for the first time since Dee tossed me off a couple weeks back.  I’m still sore on both my shoulder and tail bone, but Starlight has been an honest girl so far, and I decided it was time to get back at it.

I’m glad I did!  While we were riding up the hill in the hay field by the house, through grass as high as her face, she decided it would be easier to get through it if she cantered.  I did not ask for the canter, but I didn’t stop her either and she bounded like a carousel pony up the hill, taking big high strides over the long grass.  It was fun, as I just stayed with her, both enjoying it and also watching for the telltale sign of a pre-buck head drop.  But she didn’t even seem to think of a buck.  She just gave me a fun pony ride, for which I thanked her.

This just goes to show you that horseback riding is a great cure for a stomach ache.

Road Ride in Boots

Hudson’s rubber-covered hooves make the best clomp on the hard-packed surface of the road near our house.  This dirt and gravel road is just a couple miles long and there are only two houses on it.  One of them is my neighbor’s with the cows, and the other house sits about a third of the way up.  The rest is farm fields, hay and corn, and one gas well that sits quietly in a field, pumping out natural gas while the farmer plants his corn up to the edge of the well pad.

Huds and me after our ride.  Her head doesn't fit in portraits too well!

Hudson’s hooves were covered with Cavallo Simple boots on our ride tonight, and the clomp was muted, yet louder than when her feet are bare.    She was diagnosed with soft soles last year after she came up ouchy after a hunter pace, and I bought the boots because I don’t want to put shoes on her.   She wears them happily.  She can go right over rocks and road gravel, even at speed (well, relatively speaking, considering she’s half draft) without a paintful step.  As we go, I listen to her rubbery clomps and subconsciously note that the boots are still on.  They have never fallen off, but I still listen for them.

This was the first time she wore them this year.  I noticed her being a little sensitive on rocky trails and the road on previous rides and decided it was time to pull them out.  After all, we had to put in a long ride on the road tonight.  My Hudson is so fat that she needs regular, long walk-trot rides on the road and hills to start working that fat off.

I’m afraid I may also have to pick up a grazing muzzle for her.  But as an alternative plan, I put them all out in a smaller pasture near their sacrifice area, so they can munch it down low.  Then I will make that Hudson’s pasture so she doesn’t have the long, lush grass she has been enjoying the past couple of weeks that have bloated her to the proportions of the Staypuft marshmallow man.

On tonight’s ride, she walked slowly, but trotted out willingly and quickly whenever I asked.  She can trot for quite a while without getting winded, which really surprises me.   She is happy on these rides, alert and calm, looking around and sometimes sniffing the road as she walks, nose all the way down like a blood hound.  I read somewhere that letting a horse sniff like that can help it become a good search-and-rescue mount, so I let her sniff away, just in case we become search-and-rescuers.  You never know.  It could happen.

On quiet, pleasant rides like this, I work on things like my seat, her straightness, my leg position, on gaining a consistent rhythm in her gaits.  Or I practice feeling each of her legs moving in turn, noting which one is hitting the ground, and just enjoying the clomp, clomp, clomp of her booted hooves on the hard, dirt road.

Dentist Day!

Friday brought an activity I have been happily anticipating for a couple of weeks: A dentist visit!

I don't mean that I visited the dentist.  Believe me, I have done that a lot in the last few months, and, with apologies to any dentists among my readers, I just don’t happily anticipate any of those visits.

Sasha works on a sleepy Starlight.

This dentist was Sasha Kone, owner of Endless Mountain Equine Dentistry.  Sasha is a Certified Equine Dentist and is certified with the International Association of Equine Dentists.  

She has taken care of my horses’ teeth for about three years.  I initially contacted her on the recommendation of a friend, after I had experienced some unfortunate dental work from another provider.  My horses give Sasha's work a high rating of four hooves up (out of four).

As for me, I’m always glad to know, after she does her work, that their naughty behavior is not due to painful dental problems.  At least that’s one possibility I can rule out!

On Friday, Sasha work on the horses I have been riding the most, Hudson, Dee and Starlight, removing sharp areas from their molars, and correcting their incisors for proper jaw alignment.  While Hudson’s and Dee’s teeth showed normal wear and growth, Starlight’s were sharp and had caused ulcerations in her cheeks.  I had a suspicion this was a problem for her, and, since she had the same problem last year, I’ll be getting her teeth done more often.  The idea of asking a horse to respond to a bit when their teeth are cutting into their cheeks is horrifying to me.

Inside Starlight's mouth

Hey, is that Jonah I see down there?

The horses received a minor tranquilizer, which Sasha is allowed to administer under the indirect supervision of a vet.  I picked the shots up from my vet before her visit. 

Sasha said she is doing more dental work without tranquilizers, but since we don’t have a stall here yet and were working out in the open, it was better to dope them up a bit rather than risk them running off during the procedure, wearing the dental speculum that keeps the mouth open.  That would be dangerous for all concerned.

As it was, the mares were fairly well behaved, if a little fuzzy headed, and were soon happily testing their new and improved teeth on some of the hay we recently baled.

I kind of like Dee this way.

Anyone interested in contacting Sasha can track her down here: 570-265-2579; 607-351-6423; EndlessMtnEqD@gmail.com. You can also find her on facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sasha.kone.

Horse Events, June 8-12

Here are this week’s horse-related events in the Twin Tiers.

June 11- 12: Eddo Hoekstra Dressage Clinic, Chestnut Ridge

Equestrian Center, Gasport, NY

For details: www.chestnutridgeequestriancenter.com

June 12: CNYDCTA Mock Horse Trials at Deer Hollow Farm

Cazenovia, NY

For details: Nancy Novak - cazenovak@windstream.net

June 8-10: Houghton College Adult Dressage Camp

Houghton, NY.
For details: Jo-Anne Young at (585) 567-8142 or joanne.young@houghton.edu

June 11-12: Obstacles Clinics at Gentle Dove Foarm

Joann Long, National Mounted Police and Toronto Police Mounted Services Certified. Hosted by Oakhill Farm and Ranch 8983 Oakland Rd, Nunda, NY 14517.

June 11: "Basic Obstacles" 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

June 12: "Advanced Obstacles" Join us from 9 am till 12:30 for the clinic with a 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm trail ride and practice.

For details: www.GentleDoveFarm.com or download a flyer. You can also contact Joann at (585) 738-7477 or jklong@rochester.rr.com

June 11: High Standard Stables, Open Horse Show Series

Starts at 9 am, Dansville, NY.
For details:  www.highstandardstables.com or contact Amy Becker at (585) 905-9955 or amy@highstandardstables.com

June 11-12: Eddo Hoekstra Dressage Clinic at Chestnut Ridge

Gasport, NY

For details: Sue Williams at (716) 772-2707/2957 or wiliamsbrg@aol.com. For entry forms, go to www.chestnutridgeequestriancenter.com

June 12: Genesee Valley Pony Club Spring Hunter Pace

8 am until Noon at Oxbow Lane (corner of Nations Road and South Avon Road, Geneseo, NY). $25 for GVPC members, $30 for others. Entry Form or sign up and pay at the event.

For details:  Marion Thorne at (585) 451-8143 or mthornegvh@gmail.com

June 12: Barrel Racing, Crystal Vally Saddle Club

River Road, Corning, NY. $500 Added

June 9- 12:Empire State Quarter Horse Assoc. & Youth Assoc. Horse Show

NY Fairgounds Coliseum

7 a.m.

For details: 607-546-7373Visit Web Site wmffarm@aol.com

June 11 – 12 ASPC/AMHR National Area 1 Mini Horse Show

NY Fairgrounds, 4H rings

The ASPC/AMHR National AREA I Show is inviting small equine lovers to come enjoy a fabulous weekend watching the best of the best compete. Spectators will have the chance to watch the excitement of American Miniature Horses and American Shetland Ponies competing for championship titles in conformation, jumping, obstacles and driving classes.  

For details: 315-986-3026; Visit Web Site; norlea@aol.com

June 11 & 12: NYSMHS - The New York State Morgan Horse Society Horse Show

Chemung County Fairgrounds, Horseheads, NY