Goal Setting

“What are your goals for this year?”

I am sure that by now, most everyone has heard of the importance of goal setting- whether that be financially, in academia, professional career, or general life choices…but what about for your riding?

At one point I was boarding Ruby at a very nice, quiet barn. There was no resident trainer, so Connie was traveling an hour each way to come teach me once per week. However, only so much can be done in only one weekly ride, and the fact that the other boarders had horses more as pets did not help my motivation. Stepping back, I realized that I was spending all this money on board and lessons for…what? Shortly after this epiphany, I moved Ruby to an active barn where others had more of the same goals that we did- showing the local circuit.

Debi asked me about my goals in my last lesson, and I honestly did not know how to reply. I mean, I knew I wanted to take Ruby to shows, but had not put much thought into what kind of shows/at which level/how far away. After all the years of incessant blood, sweat, and tears (literally), I suppose it never occurred to me that Ruby and I had finally reached a point where we had options: Did we want to compete Hunter/Jumper, Dressage, or continue with Horse Trials? Maybe all of the above?

Finances are still an issue for me at this point in my life: juggling the cost of living, Ruby’s other expenses, student loan debt, and retirement; because of this, I had to be especially careful/picky about this decision. Debi and I agreed that our near term goal would be our first recognized show in October: Middle Tennessee.

What is goal setting?

Goal setting is the process of defining goals (short-term and long-term). Seems pretty self explanatory, right?

In my opinion, there are a few requirements for goal setting that will make you more likely to succeed. For riding, the general guidelines for business goal practices are applicable:

1. Write your goals down: make sure to include a time-frame, specific terms, and make sure it is measurable. If you write/log your goals you are much more likely to commit to them!

2. Make a goal that has value- choose something that is important enough to you that you will not lose motivation when you hit obstacles.

3. Goals should be achievable, but challenging.

4. Choose a support group- having others who support your goals can help keep you motivated and on track.

I am going to start out with saying my goal for this year is: Finish BN at the Middle TN show with Ruby!

8 Years of Friendship

"Thanks for being you, Ruby"

Today marks mine and Ruby's 8 year anniversary.

That smile sums it up

Recently, I have been swamped with medical bills, car repairs, and one difficult cat that keeps getting sick. This has forced me into a very sticky financial situation; one where everyone automatically says "why don't you get rid of the horse- you'd save SO MUCH money then!"

I won't deny it- I WOULD save a lot of money; it was a financially irresponsible decision to have a horse while I was paying for school and living on my own back in 2007.

I will starve first.

Yes, it costs money. Yes, I sometimes wish I could have my own house now, or go out with my friends every weekend, and update my aging wardrobe. But what you have to consider is this: what has Ruby done for me, and what is the price of that? When my ex of 6 years cheated on me and all my friends had abandoned me- Ruby was there. When I was struggling with bullying, lack of self confidence, and depression- Ruby was there. When I graduated college and had to deal with the stress of my first 'real' job- Ruby was there. Even when I showed up only once a week at 11pm, she was there to greet me with her cute Ruby nicker. No matter what, she is always there; to hug, to make me laugh, to remind me that not all strong bonds have to be human. She will never betray me, she will never tell my secrets, and she will never give up on me.

How do you put a price on that?

So to Ruby:Thank you. Thank you for being there when no one else is. Thank you for your patience, your kindness, and your uncanny habit of not allowing me to mope. Thank you for your willingness to give in a world full of takers. Thank you for helping my dreams become reality. But most of all, thank you for being you.

Chattahoochee Hills Schooling

"Well that went better than expected!"

Ruby and I went to our first overnight show this weekend at Chattahoochee Hills- schooling show. This was our second eventing event, so I was still a bit nervous about how she would do; the xc will probably always make me nervous, but recently we both have been much more consistent and confident in our jumping so I figured 'why not?'

I decided to enter us in the same division as our Riverdale show (Tadpole 2') since this was our first time at this venue.

Dressage Test: overall, much better than our last test except our halts were pretty much non-existent. This judge was more difficult than the last one; although our score was lower this time, trust me when I say it was still the better test.

We scored a 66.25% with scores at:
1. 5.5 (nicely forward, careful motion; halt for 3 sec)
2. 7 (active and steady)
3. 7 (active and steady)
4. 6.5 (could be softer into hand, better balance)
5. 6 (up transition too early)
6. 6 (up transition too early)
7. 8 (nice and steady)
8. 6.5 (circle loses roundness, but active)
9. 5 (past A)
10. 7 (fairly smooth, nice march)
11. 8.5
12. 6.5 (smooth pickup; anticipated trans early)
13. 4 (unstable in halt)

Like I said, halts did not happen today- she might have just been nervous. For the last halt I think she just wanted out of the ring! For future reference; practice a couple walk-halt transitions before coming in...

Collective remarks: Gaits 7, Impulsion 7, Submission 7, Rider Position 6.5 (bit of a chair seat), Rider Effectiveness 7 (careful to balance halts), Geometry and Accuracy (movements came early)

Overall remarks: Clean up the details, especially those early canter transitions, Lovely horse and capable rider.

(haha, see Ruby, someone called you 'lovely')...

The jump course was 8 jumps: diagonal single right lead 1; rollback right to bending line 2,3; left turn to bending line 4,5; right turn to outside line 6,7; right turn to opposite outside single 8.

XC consisted of 12 jumps through the field and one water element. In practice, I was able to get Ruby through the water. In the show the next day, she spooked at the water and darted sideways. Since the water was not actually marked on my test, I continued around it. Probably should have forced her in, but I was not really sure how "disobedience" was scored if it was not a mandatory part of the test...

Overall, good day! We finished on our dressage score, with a final of 33.75. This put us in first out of 12 pairs.

First Three-Phase

"Aw, beat out by half a point!"

Ruby decided to behave and load on the trailer for our Riverdale show (thank God!). This was our first time ever being judged in a dressage class. Since we have not worked much on cross-country, we decided to enter in the tadpole 3-phase (USDF Intro C, 2' stadium, 2' XC).

For the dressage: not our best performance. Mostly from nerves on my part- our warm up was absolutely beautiful, but once we were in the ring I started getting overly anxious. This resulted in messing up a cue for our sticky left lead, so we picked up the wrong lead for that canter circle (ouch).

We scored a 73% with scores at:
1. 8
2. 6.5 (not deep enough in corner)
3. 7.5
4. 6.5 (awkward circle)*
5. 6 (abrupt)
6. 8 (very good rhythm)
7. 7.5
8. 3 (picked up wrong lead)
9. 4 (still wrong lead). Didn't fix it, so my bad haha
10. 6.5
11. 5 (needs to stretch down more)
12. 7.5
13. 7 (not straight but beautiful halt)

*awkward circle- I practiced my tests at home in a full (large) dressage arena...which  means I was missing a whole circle in there and had to do some interesting calculations quickly.

Collective remarks:
Gaits 7, Impulsion 7, Submission 7, Rider Position 7.5, Aid Effectiveness 7, Geometry and Accuracy 7.

Overall comments: Very nice test; circles and bends very good. Need to pay attention to your corners.

Not too shabby for our first time :)

The stadium jumps were fairly straightforward. Very simple hunter course with an outside line, two diagonal lines, and another outside line. The first jump was the most difficult/spooky since it was a plank. I had Ruby trot in and canter the rest of the course. Clean round.



Thanks to Dan for the pictures!



I did not get any pictures of the XC round because Dan had to leave (to make me dinner!). Since we have only ever had one XC lesson at Debi's I decided to start out trotting all the jumps. By about jump 7, Ruby broke into a nice quiet canter so I figured, why not? Completed the course like a champ!

From an artistic standpoint, Dan snagged an interesting shot for me (which I tweaked a bit with my "I am too poor and cheap for PhotoShop alternative, Picasa").

Next show is on June 6th at a new venue: Chatt Hills. Can't wait to see how that goes.

Trailer Failure

"Well, guess I can go back to bed"

Nothing is more frustrating than having a horse that doesn't load...especially when the issue arises out of nowhere!

Debi trailered Ruby to a show earlier this season with zero issues, so when I scheduled Ruby for her next Riverdale show, loading was one of my last concerns. I was more worried that I would forget my dressage test! (This was to be our first dressage show).

Here is the interesting thing: Ruby walked on the trailer fine. She would go in, get up to where she was supposed to be, and have an exceptional panic attack resulting in her 900 lb (eh, give or take a few) pony body flying out backwards at ten million miles per hour. Yeah, okay Ruby, let's decide to be a serious safety hazard shall we? In this situation, the key was to get Ruby in, calmly stand there, and back her out quietly. Debi had me walk her in, stand, praise her, and keep contact off if she bolted back out; once out, we immediately walked back in. The first few times were terrible! At one point, I went under the escape bar thinking if I were in front of her she would, I don't know, chill out. Except instead, she bolted and I couldn't do anything but let go of the lead rope...

Que Ruby's catching issue.

Chased her around the property both confusingly fearful and yet almost hoping she would run into traffic and get hit by a bus. Really not pleased with the pony at this point- the only reason I caught her is because she stepped on her lead and jerked on her own face- we did have a chain on her.

Back to the trailer to try again. This took quite a few tries before she settled down. She never got quite where we wanted her to be, but she got on and waited for me to ask her to back out without killing anyone, so we called it quits at that point and decided not to take her to the show.

Debi met me at the barn on two other occasions this week to practice some more, with much better results. We are schedule to go to another show this Sunday- we will see if we make it there!

Bumps and Bruises: Hematomas

"It looks like Ruby has a chesticle..."

I showed up at the barn on April 13th to Ride after being away for 10 days (Dallas, TX for business travel). At first I did not notice anything was wrong with Ruby- until I tacked her up and she made a face as I tightened the girth (which she never does). I hopped on, took her to the ring, Debi looked right at her...and she asked "are her boobs usually that big?"

The lesson went fine and it didn't seem to have bothered her. I do not know when the actual incident happened, but the fist-sized lump was mildly squishy, not warm to the touch, and did not bother Ruby unless I squeezed pretty hard. At this point we decided it was probably a hematoma.

As you can see, there is also some slight swelling on the right (her left) side. This felt like it was all just stretched skin. These pictures were taken after the lesson, so you can see the swelling in relation to where the girth sits.

Typically, you want to hose a hematoma with cold water right when it happens to encourage the bleeding to clot. Most vets recommend not riding until the form has hardened so that you don't inadvertently cause more bleeding/swelling. The interesting thing about hematomas is that they occur post trauma- but the location of the hematoma is not necessarily where the trauma occurred: Ruby could have been kicked higher up somewhere, but the swelling was pulled down (thanks gravity) to where it sits now. Hematomas on the chest and under the armpit are pretty common for this reason.

Since Ruby's lump had already hardened by the time we noticed it, I missed the early treatment phase. Now, we wait. Smaller hematomas usually resolve on their own, but it can take months for the body to reabsorb the mass.

Here is an article about Hematomas.

By April 22nd, there was already some improvement:

All of the swelling/lose skin is gone on her left side, and the main mass has reduced. The hematoma is still hard and it does not bother her when I mess with it.

I will continue to monitor her each time I come out to make sure nothing changes. If you, at any point, notice that there is more swelling/heat/discomfort- call your vet.

Since Ruby's hematoma is pretty small (most vets consider 'tennis ball' sized as small), I will probably not end up doing anything to hers. However, larger hematomas can be lanced to drain them. Although this can speed up the healing process, you do run the risk of introducing infection/bacteria to the wound. Again, if you think lancing is an option in your case, discuss with your vet the risks of doing so.



It is ugly, but hey. I am hoping the judges won't notice in our next show.


Update (May 15th):

MUCH better-the lump is about the size of a small egg; it is hard to see at this angle because it has migrated a little farther back towards her belly. Still no signs of heat or swelling so everything looks good so far. I am hoping that in another couple weeks it will be gone completely. We have been continuing our weekly lessons with a few rides between (I would say about 3 rides per week) and she has been doing fine. Some people told me not to ride while the hematoma was healing, but it has not caused any negative effects and may actually be helping.

I will continue to monitor her 'chesticle' and update on here when it does finally go away.

Trying Cross Country

"Meet me at the top of the hill."

I have been at my current facility for over a year and have never made it out to the xc field...until now!

Other friends have mentioned that they thought Ruby would do well in xc, but it really isn't something I have seriously considered- you know, since people/horses die doing that shiz all the time. However, I have slowly been moving away from the hunter scene since xc/dressage events don't see to care that I am an adult and Ruby is a pony.

Debi had us warm up in the riding arena just to see what mood Ruby was in that day. We worked our way up to 2'7" (we did measure it), then headed out to the field.

Warming up in the arena

First jump out there! Little bitty log

Worked our way up to jumping small elements

                                                                                 
Since Ruby is a little mistrustful when I ask her to jump something 'new,' we took things nice and slow to give her plenty of time to look at the jumps before going over. By slow, I mean SLOW- we walked up to jumps and trotted a few strides away to give her PLENTY of time...no reason for her to go "oh wait wait?" like she usually does. This was a great idea for me as well, since it allowed me to just relax and let her do her thing. After the lesson, I thought maybe there was hope for us after all :)

thanks to my sister, Julia, for the photos.