After the loss of a special horse, I wanted to find a way to honor his memory and the lessons he taught me. This blog is about my continued reflection on the lessons I've learned so far and my pursuit of new information to help me be the best horsewoman I can be.
Every year I struggle with getting through the Christmas season. It seems like there is so much to do, and never enough time to do it. But I used to mock the people who started their shopping in July or did their decorating in November - I thought that doing Christmas things outside of December was inappropriate. I mean, I don't even know why I thought that. It seems ridiculous now. I've come to realize that starting early may be the only way to get everything done without having a mental breakdown.
This year, I vowed to start early, and I did. At the end of October, I began diligently shopping for gifts and mentally prepared myself for the tasks I needed to get done. And I really did work at it. Normally, I'm a huge procrastinator, but I didn't procrastinate about anything. And when December arrived, I felt really good about where I was. My Christmas cards were ordered, I had already made some gifts and I had all the supplies for the gifts I still wanted to make, all my shopping was done, we had the tree, I had done some decorating in the house, and I had a plan to accomplish all the remaining things on my to-do list that seemed very manageable.
And up until a few days before Christmas, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I had only a few gifts left to wrap and then the cooking/baking for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Yay for me!
But then I ran out of gas and motivation. By the time Christmas Eve arrived, I still hadn't wrapped three gifts, and the thought of actually going through Christmas was a little unappealing. All I could think was that it would be so nice if I could take a break from Christmas for a couple of weeks. (It's possible that I started repeating the line from The Grinch - "I must stop Christmas from coming. But how?) My husband said that I must only have so much Christmas in me, and I had run out - LOL!
Which kind of sucked. I do love Christmas, and I had really been looking forward to enjoying the time this year. But in the end, I felt sort of bleh. And I overdid the whole cooking and baking thing too. I spent too much time in the kitchen and not enough just sitting in front of the tree and enjoying the day. So lesson learned, I guess. Starting early has its benefits, but I can't keep steadily doing Christmas stuff for eight weeks.
I'll have to come up with a new plan for next year that somehow involves starting early but also leaves room for me to take a break. I'm curious to know how you get through the season. Do you start early? Do you reduce the number of things you do? Do you procrastinate and then give one big effort a few days before Christmas?
I will say that the one fun thing about Christmas was seeing Gemma's face as she opened her horse-related presents. She had one thing in particular that she desperately wanted - a leather halter with yellow padding and nameplates for Freya and the name of the farm we board at. Of course, as far as I could tell, leather halters with yellow padding are not something that is widely available, so I got in touch with Taylored Tack, which made all my endurance tack for Nimo. Amanda Taylor, who makes the tack, is delightful to work with and does high-quality work, so I didn't hesitate to order a synthetic halter in a leather color with yellow padding. I ordered nameplates separately and put them on myself (actually not as easy as it looks...). The halter turned out great and Gemma loves it!
I also got Gemma a custom cooler for Freya. (We've been using an old one of Nimo's, which fits Freya surprisingly well. Her blanket size is 80/81, and Nimo's was 84. But I knew Gemma would want her own stuff.) Her favorite color is yellow right now with green being her second favorite. (She has all the colors ranked in order - lol!). But she still loves rainbow colors too. So I worked with HeatherWearHorse to put together a lovely fleece cooler with rainbow fabric, yellow fabric, and green trim.
A friend got her a Horse Bums saddle bag (yellow of course, but with peacock fabric trim and a purple zipper) and her mother-in-law got her one of the Weatherbeeta ombre saddle pads. And Santa brought her a rainbow browband for Star's bridle. So I hiked with Gemma and Star out on some trails at the barn so Gemma could try out all that new stuff too.
It was a bittersweet day for me. The temperature got up to 72 degrees, so it was an absolutely beautiful day, and the trails were new - the barn has been putting them in over the last few months. And I was so happy that Gemma had a great horse to ride. But I really missed Nimo as I walked the trails on foot. (Freya is fighting a hoof infection, and was a little sore, so we aren't working her under saddle right now. More on that next week.) I imagined how much fun it would have been to be out there riding him with Gemma, and it was hard.
I think the longer we live, the more Christmas has a tendency to accumulate a mixture of memories, good and bad. I am super thankful for all the wonderful things in my life, but it does still feel like there is a hole where Nimo used to be.
Anyway, I hope that if you celebrate Christmas, you had a good one:)
Do not let this sweet face fool you - I had just dragged her out of the tree, which she had tried to climb into, and she tried to chew on the ornaments too. (eye roll)
After we got Freya's Christmas pictures done, Gemma started planning for Star's pictures. Thankfully, we ended up with nice weather and because Star is a chestnut, we didn't need to do a full bath. So, it was a much less intensive process.
We got some pictures in front of the barn tree and then we headed out to the trails in the woods and out by the pond. We tried to get a jumping picture too, but the light had faded too much by then, so even though I got a good shot, it was really blurry. Gemma didn't care, though. She had a blast hanging out with Star and posing for the camera.
Does anyone else dress their horse up for holiday-themed pictures? I still have to think about what to do with Donut, because Gemma thinks we need to make sure Donut has as much "fun" as Freya and Star did:)
As I watched the towering wall of dust materialize out of thin air and approach at a phenomenal speed, I had a brief moment to wonder if that is what the Dust Bowl years looked like. Then it was on us. Visibility was reduced to almost nothing. Dust particles stung the skin on my face. And the wind took my breath away.
Thankfully, the horse that I was attached to was Freya and not Donut, or I might not be alive to tell the tale. That said, Freya was really not a happy camper. Just before the appearance of the dust storm, we had watched an entire tree blow over about 200 feet from where we were. It was already pretty windy at that point. (And by pretty windy, I'm talking about gusts of 40-50 mph.)
But my daughter, who may get her own classification as a force of nature, had insisted that Christmas pictures must be done on this day. Despite the wind (or maybe because of it), the air temperature was warm - in the mid-60s - and it was otherwise a perfect December day to give Freya a bath.
So, by noon, we were out at the barn, with Freya finding herself in the wash stall instead of out with her friends on a beyond blustery day. She was definitely not her normal self, and she was agitated to be inside. But Gemma prevailed, and within 45 minutes, Freya had been scrubbed from head to toe. We put a light cooler on her to help her dry, and my job was to take her outside in the sun and wind to help her dry before pictures.
As I walked Freya outside, I noted that the wind seemed to have picked up a bit more, and was again questioning the wisdom of trying to do fun Christmas pictures. Freya is generally fine on windy days, but we had passed windy awhile ago, and we were in the vicinity of storm-like winds, despite the bright sun.
Freya decided that she could maybe eat some grass, but no more than 10 seconds had passed before the wind took its first victim on the farm. A tree blew over at the edge of the woods. I sort of stared in shock. And then I registered that the greenhouse we were standing next to sounded like the panes of plastic might rattle free of whatever containment system was holding them. Or maybe the whole building would just take flight. Either way, I was becoming aware that standing outside was not a great place to be.
Freya had that realization well before I did, and she was dancing around on the end of the lead rope, trying to convince me that we needed to move. Which is what I was planning to do when we got hit by the mini-dust storm. For a few seconds, all I could do was brace against the dust and wind. But Freya was becoming increasingly insistent that we needed to get out of there.
Her plan was clearly to head back to her field. My plan was that we needed to get into the barn. About one minute of discussion ensued before I finally convinced Freya that we were going in the barn. She was really not happy about that. And I can understand her perspective. I think a lot of animals feel safer outside in a storm because they can see and have the freedom to move. Unlike people who tend to feel safer inside.
And if we didn't need to do pictures, I would have been happy to turn her back out. But then I would have incurred the wrath of a tiny 9-year-old:)
So I put Freya in Donut's stall, where she proceeded to express herself in a way that only mares can. There was much head-flinging and neck-snaking and squealing and bucking in place to demonstrate how very miffed she was to be in the stall instead of in her field. Then I pointed out that there was a nice beet pulp mash and a flake of alfalfa in the stall for her. That attracted her attention, but she didn't want to give up too easily. For about 15 minutes she alternated between grabbing a bite and expressing her irritation. And then she settled down. I guess she figured if she had to die in this God-forsaken barn because of a human's stupidity, she could at least have a nice snack first!
At that point, it was just a waiting game. Gemma and I hung out in the barn for a couple of hours while Freya dried. The wind would die down for a bit and then pick up again. It repeated the cycle all afternoon. Gemma pitched in with some barn chores while I caught up on email and social media.
Then, finally, Freya was reasonably dry and it sounded like the wind was in the blustery category rather than the tornado category again. It was time to take those pictures.
We started out in the barn. Gemma was desperate to get pictures by the Christmas tree. And Freya was actually quite cooperative. She'd apparently forgiven us for our earlier stupidity and was happy to hang out with Gemma.
I thought maybe we should call it good at this point, but Gemma still wanted to at least try taking pictures outside. So we saddled Freya up and headed to the Great Outdoors.
Freya was definitely very alert, but I did manage to get a few decent pictures.
It ended up being a long day out at the barn with a little more excitement than I like these days, but the pictures are done. So at least one force of nature has been taken care of:)
(BTW: In case you are interested, I got the horse Santa gear from Equinavia. Here are the links: Horze Santa Horse Cap, Horze Santa Halter, and Horze Santa All-Purpose Saddle Pad. A search for "Santa" will yield a number of other fun products like leg wraps, a horse blanket, a riding blanket, a helmet cap...)
Last year, at about this time, I came across a company called Emerald Valley Equine. The website offered a variety of horse feeds and supplements, but what really caught my eye were the mashes. They didn't include any bran, and were instead based on one of two products manufactured by British Horse Feeds: Speedi-Beet and Fibre-Beet. I am a sucker for feeds and supplements and have tried dozens and dozens over the years. And if I'm going to feed beet pulp, Speedi-Beet is what I now use, because it soaks crazy fast (it's usually ready in 5 minutes!). But back then, I was still learning about the products, and I wanted to give the mashes a try. So I ordered several different kinds, including one called Santa Mash.
I tested it out on Donut, who loved it, along with the other kinds I ordered. The one thing about the mashes, though, was that I couldn't get them locally, so the price of the mash plus shipping was cost-prohibitive for any kind of frequent use. The mash costs either $6.95 for a single serving (13 oz) or $59.95 for 10 pounds. And with shipping costs now - I just discovered the small flat rate box through USPS is now $9.20!!! - I was struggling with the economics.
But there aren't many ingredients in the mash, and it occurred to me that I might be able to deconstruct it and make my own. So that is what I did one evening. The mash basically has 4 ingredients: Fibre-Beet (beet pulp and alfalfa meal), rolled oats, shredded coconut, and dried cranberries. (The ingredient list does include a few other things that are probably for flavor: cane molasses, vegetable oil, calcium carbonate, biotin, and peppermint flavor.)
When I deconstructed the mash, I was able to approximate how much of each thing was in the mash. Here are the weights that I got:
Fibre-Beet: 10.16 oz
Dried Cranberries: 1.16 oz
Shredded Coconut: 0.25 oz
Rolled Oats: 1.2 oz
(I know it is just short of 13 oz, so probably I had some measurement errors on my scale.)
I don't have access to Fibre-Beet at my local feed stores, but I can get
Speedi-Beet, and I feed it daily to Freya. So I already have it. We
eat oatmeal occasionally, so rolled oats is easy to have on hand. And I
already feed shredded coconut to Freya every day. So really, the only
out-of-the ordinary thing was dried cranberries. And it would be fun to add peppermints or candy canes.
The next thing I did was price it out the ingredients. If I replaced the Fibre-Beet with Speedi-Beet, I could get everything either from local stores or through Amazon.
Candy Canes (35 individually wrapped): $I have no idea because I forgot to save the receipt, but maybe $5?)
Based on the above amounts, I decided it was worth it to make my own and see how it went. And then I had a bright idea. What if I made Santa Mashes for all the horses at the barn for Christmas? I always want to do something for everyone, and then I run out of time and never do. But if I got started early, maybe I could manage this.
So I ordered everything or bought it locally, and this past weekend, Gemma and I made 30 Santa Mashes. I used 5x8 inch Mylar bags as packaging, and we experimented with how much of each thing should go in the bags. Despite the fact that the bags appeared to be the exact same size as the ones the Emerald Valley Santa Mash came it, Gemma and I were only able to get about 8 oz per bag. I suspect that is because we don't have manufacturing equipment to compact and vacuum seal the bags, although we did discover that the Speedi-Beet will settle quite a bit if the bag is shaken, so the amount below is based on some compacting to get everything to fit.
Here are the approximate amounts per bag of the ingredients:
Speedi-Beet: 5.5 oz (a little under 1 1/2 cups)
Rolled Oats: 1.4 oz (a little under 1/3 cup)
Shredded Coconut: 0.5 oz (about 1/8 cup)
Dried Cranberries: 0.75 oz (about 1/8 cup)
1 candy cane
These aren't the right amounts to add, just a picture so you can see what everything looks like.
After adding a gift tag, here is what the finished product looks like:
Note that I didn't heat seal the bag. My understanding is that it can be done with a flat iron (like for straightening hair), which I have, but I felt like the Ziplock seal was sufficient.
The gift tag is printed using digital paper from Ali Edwards' December Daily 2020 Main Kit, and I added the text in Photoshop. I was going to cleverly print the instructions for the mash on the reverse of the tag, but that is easier said then done, so to preserve my sanity, I printed the instructions on a different sheet of paper, cut them out, and adhered them to the back of the tag. Then I punched a hole in the tag and the bag and used a piece of twine to tie everything together.
When I calculated the cost per bag of my version of the Santa Mash, it came out to $1.92 per bag (not including the gift tags and twine). So that is a huge savings over buying the bags individually, and well worth it if I'm going to make them in bulk.
I think these little mashes would make great stocking stuffers for friends and family with horses (not to mention your own horses would probably love them!). And they would make fun additions to prizes for shows too! Plus, you can easily customize the mix to exclude ingredients that aren't the best for your horse or to provide some variety.
Overall, I'm super happy with this particular DIY, and it might be the only one in my history to actually cost less than the thing I was trying to imitate!:)
Gemma is planning to move up a level in her hunter shows for next year (even though, based on her age, she could stay at the current level for two more years). So she'll be going from Pre-Short Stirrup to Short Stirrup. Pre-Short Stirrup has one division with three flat (i.e. no jumps) classes. One class is walk only, one class is walk/trot, and one class is walk/trot with fancy stuff like jump position and sitting trot.
Short Stirrup has two divisions, one focused more on the rider (Equitation) and one focused more on the horse (Hunter). I'm still trying to figure this level out, but here is what I think I know so far. In Short Stirrup Equitation, there are three classes. One class is walk/trot on the flat, one class is walk/trot/canter on the flat, and one class is over fences not to exceed 18" (with the option to trot the course instead of canter). I think the maximum is five jumps for the course. This division is not VHSA-sanctioned, which means the Virginia Horse Show Association doesn't offer the option to compete in it for finals. (That may or may not matter, depending on how the year goes.)
Short Stirrup Hunter, which is VHSA-sanctioned, also has three classes. One is walk/trot/canter on the flat, and the other two are over fences (with the option to trot the courses instead of canter). The courses are simply the reverse of each other, and I think there are five jumps, with the possibility of one change of direction (so the horse needs to be able to do a simple or flying change if cantering).
What all this means is that Gemma needs quite a few more skills to show in Short Stirrup than she did to show in Pre-Short. She has already been practicing full courses of 7-8 jumps of 15-18" at the canter, and really the only skill she needs there is learning simple or flying changes. She also needs a horse that is fit enough to canter at least one course for equitation, at least 2 courses for hunter, and up to three courses if she wants to do both divisions, plus walk/trot/canter flat work.
Freya is coming along, but we had a little set back. I'll write more about that in another post. Essentially, though, we had to pull her out of work for a few weeks. We are gradually putting her back in work now. I don't have any concerns that she would have the fitness level to do both divisions in Short Stirrup, but my big goal for her is that she learns how to move correctly and in balance while she does it, so that she stays sound and happy for Gemma for many, many years to come. That means I'm willing to take the time it takes on that front.
Star is also coming along and continues to amaze me. But the reality is that she is 24 years old, and that we don't have full access to her. Gemma can ride her 2-3 times a week, and if she does, I can't ride her at all. Which means I can't work Star like I would prefer and give her the kind of work that would be most beneficial to building her strength. (Although even with me only riding her occasionally, she wowed everyone during our last lesson with my instructor. She was doing a fantastic shoulder-in at the trot and we even started shallow half-pass at the trot. I wish I could ride her more!)
But Star is currently not fit enough to handle two divisions with three jump courses. I'm positive that she can do the Equitation division with just a little more conditioning, though. So I've talked to Gemma about it, and we've agreed that our goal for Star next year is to get her fit enough for Equitation and we'll leave the Hunter division for Freya when she is ready.
My preference is for Gemma to get the hang of the Short Stirrup level (particularly the walk/trot/canter class) with Star, whose only fault is likely to be going too slow, before she uses Freya. Freya has shown herself to be very good in a number of situations, including one where Gemma was riding in the arena and another person got bucked off of their horse and said horse went cantering around like a loon. Gemma knew to halt Freya and wait for the loose horse to be caught, and Freya was perfect at standing still. I've also seen her stand completely still near a jump while another horse cantered behind her and over the jump. She can spook, but if she does, she typically moves sideways for a couple of strides and then stops and looks at the thing that is worrying her. So Gemma can easily sit that. The one unknown is how she does if she is in a large group of horses all cantering around the arena with riders of different skill levels.
I admit to a full-on panic attack when I think about Gemma cantering around an arena with 15 other horses whose riders have no clue and that look on the verge of being out of control. Not every show is like that, but some of them are. As of this writing, I've not seen anyone get hurt, but it isn't safe, in my motherly opinion. (One of my friends - who has raised a horse-riding daughter - recently pointed out to me that it's possible that I might be overprotective, before admitting that she was pretty cautious when her daughter was younger too. The problem is that I know exactly what can go wrong and how significant the damage can be, so even though the likelihood of something going wrong is small, the amount of damage that can be done is huge, so I continue to err on the side of safety, and I refuse to apologize for it. I want Gemma to have a long life with horses. And yes, at some point, she will probably have an accident that injures her, but the more skills she gets, the easier it will be for her to handle the situations that could lead to an accident. Which means my focus is on building those skills as safely as I can, and not worrying about chasing points and getting ribbons.)
Anyway, this whole long explanation is the backstory for why we are now being more diligent about conditioning Star. The biggest thing she needs help with is cantering for longer periods of time. So out to the fields we go for some trot and canter work on hills and over jumps. Cross-training is our friend:)
Luckily we are blessed with two things out at the farm where I board. One is a field with a low hill that is perfect for strengthening exercises. The other is the very recent addition of cross-country jumps that are low enough for Star to jump.
The plan right now is to get Star out in the field for (short) trot and canter sets once a week. Twice would be better, but it will be hard with the other lessons that she has going on. Although, I am contemplating whether we can get away with doing field work on the same day she has a beginner lesson. The lessons typically aren't physically challenging for her, so it is possible that we could add 20 minutes of hill work on those days. Even just walking up and down the hill a few times could be helpful. And I'm even wondering if that work would help warm her up for her lessons. Right now, she really needs about 20 minutes to warm up and even then, the longer she moves, the better she moves, up to the point of getting tired, which typically doesn't happen for about an hour.
One of the things I want to work on is helping Star move more "uphill." This was our first time cantering her up a hill, and it was hard for her. I expect that with more conditioning, she will be able to keep her balance better. But we have to start somewhere!
The other thing is to get Star out over the cross-country jumps once a week as part of Gemma's regular lesson. She surprised me by jumping them with ease for the first time last week. I don't know if she has ever jumped cross-country jumps in her life, but if she has, it has been at least 10 years. And she acted like she had been doing it for years.
Then, of course, Gemma will continue to work on dressage/flat work, ground pole exercises, and regular jumps in the arena. My hope is that both the variety of work as well as the focus on increasing Star's endurance at the trot and canter will be what she needs to help her feel comfortable doing the higher level division.
I would love to hear from you if you've had experience bringing an older horse back into condition. Were there any exercises that seemed to help more than others? I know we need to go slowly and pay careful attention to make sure she doesn't lose weight or strain herself. And if, in the end, she isn't up for it, we will stop the work. She is an amazing horse, and neither Gemma nor I want to see her injured. On the other hand, she continues to surprise me with her willingness to work and her ability to improve both her endurance and her skills.
It's that time of year when the sheets and blankets come out of storage (or in my case, come out from under the seat in the truck where I wadded them up from the spring with the expectation that I would wash them before fall). I'm not actually a huge fan of blanketing, but I do always try to have a waterproof sheet and a mid-weight blanket on hand, just in case.
Star's blankets from last year needed to be replaced, and I bought Freya a set as well. Donut does fine without any blankets, so I'm waiting until she is done growing before getting her any. But with two horses that share a blanket bar, I figured it might be a good idea to label the blankets both for us and for the barn staff.
I turned to one of my favorite resources for customized horse stuff - Etsy - and it didn't take me long to find some good candidates. I ended up choosing a shop called CarolsStitchery for my first order. Gemma's favorite color is definitively yellow at the moment, but she is always a fan of rainbows, so we ordered two tags for Freya with yellow and rainbow embroidery. The tags were shipped within a few days and were clearly well-made. We got one on a sheet for Freya which you can see below:
I have to admit, the rainbow version of the tag is pretty cool.
For my next order, I got a purple tag for Star. The shop has an option for either a snap or a split ring as an attachment for the tag. I had gotten the snaps for my first order, but decided to try the split ring next.
I like the split ring option a lot. Gemma likes to move things around, so having the snaps on the tags she uses for Freya makes sense, but the split rings seem a bit more permanent and less likely to come off with a lot of handling.
I ended up placing a third order for a tag for Star because we didn't have her mid-weight blanket at the time of my second order, and Gemma wanted to make sure the tag would coordinate. What was really great was that I forgot to add a note stating that I wanted the split ring for the tag (the default is the snap), and the seller promptly messaged me and asked if I wanted the split ring because she knew I had gotten it on my previous order. I consider that to be impressive customer service!
If you are looking for blanket tags to help keep your blankets straight, I think these are a great option. They cost $9 per tag ($10 for the two-line tags), and they are available in a multitude of colors and fonts, with two attachment options (a snap and a split ring). They ship quickly and are well-made. Plus, they would work great as stocking stuffers for Christmas:)
I have to admit that when I got pregnant and found out I was having a girl, I did fantasize a lot about her loving horses. I hoped she would follow in my footsteps, but I also reminded myself that everyone has to find their own path in life. I know plenty of moms who love to ride but have kids who do not, so I tried not to get too excited about having a horse-crazy kid.
And for the first few years of Gemma's life, I wasn't quite sure how things would go. She definitely loved horses and visiting the barn every once in awhile. But it wasn't an obsession. She loved lots of things back then, particularly climbing, so I didn't push the horses. And honestly, I needed my time alone at the barn to decompress and be myself every day.
But over the past few years, her horse-loving genes expressed themselves more and more, and now it is rare for there to be more than one day a week that she doesn't go to the barn with me. (The one day is at my insistence - I still need alone time with horses!)
When she was 6, I started her in a lesson program. I wasn't quite sure I should - riding lessons can come with their own set of challenges. But Gemma ended up loving them, and it gave her regular time with a horse and helped her build skills in a way that I couldn't. My only equine resource back then was a 17-hand Friesian who could not, under any perspective, be considered "beginner-friendly." I could lunge her on him and he was fantastic, but he wouldn't have been a good horse for her to learn independent riding on.
Almost a year after she started taking lessons, she asked me about showing. She wanted to try it. The barn where I board and she takes lessons also hosts dressage and hunter shows, so I figured that if we could find a horse for her to ride, she could give it a try. There were only two hunter shows left that season and she did both. She had an absolute blast and the smile on her face was epic. I still remember her excitement after the first show. She'd gotten sixth place in all three of her classes and she asked, "Mom, how did I get so lucky to win THREE green ribbons!"
Gemma and a pony named Clever. He passed away not that long after this picture was taken, and his passing was mourned by all who met him.
I knew that if she stuck with it, her attitude about the color of ribbons would probably change, but I was thankful for her enthusiasm and decided that we as adults could probably benefit from adopting the same attitude.
Then the pandemic hit in early 2020 and all the horse shows were cancelled. A few bigger ones started up in late summer/fall but the requirements were so burdensome that smaller shows like the ones my barn hosted simply could not comply. Gemma was disappointed, but she kept riding and learning and practicing.
This year, the horse shows were back in full swing, and we attended all of the ones that we could hosted at our barn as well as a few hosted by another barn nearby. I think Gemma showed at about 15 shows between April and October. Her last one was this past weekend. It was an epic finish to a season full of accomplishments, and I'm so proud of her.
A lovely expression on Star's face in the second class of the day in the Pre-Short Stirrup Division.
Star's trot at this show was simply gorgeous and just kept getting better with every class.
Gemma's goal for the show was to get a blue ribbon on Star. While she has won a couple of blue ribbons in dressage this year as well as a blue ribbon on Olaf in a hunter show, she hadn't gotten one on Star in the hunter shows. So when she won the third class of the day, beating out a rider on a horse that typically wins every class he is in, she was thrilled!
Showing should never be about the ribbons, but Gemma and Star have worked hard this year and the first, second, and third place ribbons in the individual classes, plus the Reserve Champion for the Pre-Short Stirrup Division, and the Reserve Champion for the show series were earned.
I have been stunned on more than one occasion as I watched Gemma handle situations that would have thrown some adults (like me) for a loop. There was the time Freya got bitten by a horse fly during a dressage test and Gemma kept Freya on track even though she was periodically crow-hopping to try to get rid of the fly. And the time Olaf was going through his "drifting" phase and he drifted himself right out of the dressage arena during a test. Gemma turned him right back into the arena and finished both her circle and the test. She didn't cry or fuss or get mad at either horse, like I've seen so many kids (and adults) do. She laughed it off and vowed to try to avoid the situation again in the future. Freya gets loaded with fly spray now, and Gemma is learning about the usefulness of an effective outside rein.
I've also seen her get stuck in a pack of no less than seven horses with no way to get out, and she and her saint of a pony just kept trotting and showing, like there was no problem at all. And this past weekend, I saw her execute a very nice reverse in the hunter ring, only to have her pony come face to face with another pony, whose young rider forgot that the horses need to turn to the inside. The rider had turned her pony to the outside and right into Gemma and Star. Both Gemma and Star acted like nothing happened. They finished their turn and went right on showing.
I've said many times that there is a difference between being good at riding and being good at showing. A person can be a very effective rider, but be anxious in the show ring or lack some of the polish or nuanced skills that judges look for. Likewise, a person can be good at show strategies (like how to keep the horse positioned so the judge has the best opportunity to see her) and have a pretty position as long as the horse they are riding never gets into trouble or needs a correction or help with a jump. It takes a lot of work to be good at both, and I think Gemma is well on her way.
Despite Gemma's successes, there can be no doubt that the last six months have been hard for me. My husband knows nothing about horses, so there is only so much he can do to help out. Which means the burden falls on me to make sure everything is in order and that Gemma gets lots of riding time and good coaching in between lessons as well as at shows. There have been lots of early mornings, snack runs to Target, late night laundry sessions, frantic trips to the tack store for lost or outgrown items, last minute touch-ups before the show starts, sacrificing my alone time or time to ride, long days, hot days, cold days, windy days, and watching endless classes that all look the same but for their names. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, especially when I had to explain that sometimes judging doesn't make sense and sometimes no matter how hard you work, things go wrong or the judge doesn't see your shining moment. I was irritable, grumpy, exhausted, stressed, and wondering if it was really worth paying $45-$75 per show for entry fees. And I definitely thought that parents who love horses but have kids who don't may be the lucky ones.
But a friend reminded me that there are the small moments that really matter. There are the giggles when something goes horribly wrong (like the glitter explosion of last weekend), the quiet moments at the end of the day, the shared inside jokes, the camaraderie with other moms and competitors, the taste of a hot dog fresh from the grill, the scent of a special horse, and bigger-than-life smiles when everything comes together.
So am I going to do it again next year? Absolutely! After I take a nap for about six months:)
Gemma and Star and I were taking a break between dressage tests.
I've often commented that I think the universe likes to challenge me, as if it knows that my internal mechanisms seem to believe that something isn't worth doing unless it is time consuming, expensive, frustrating, and/or potentially hazardous to my continued existence. It turns out that making a Rainbow Princess (and her pony) is not as easy as it sounds...
It was just a regular day. We were at the barn and Gemma was getting ready to tack up. I forget which horse - it could have been Freya or Star. She had gathered her tack and put the saddle and saddle pad on the saddle rack in front of Donut's stall. I was around and doing something like getting brushes or feed bags or whatever.
Gemma got her horse from the cross ties in the wash stall to bring her over to the stall to tack up and exclaimed, "What happened to my saddle pad?" That was a good question. It had been there a minute ago. I finally spotted something that looked like it could have been a dead animal in Donut's stall. But it wasn't a dead animal. It was the saddle pad, wadded up in a mess of shavings and hay.
I rescued the pad from the tangle, and shook it out, fully expecting that it would just need a good cleaning. Regrettably, its state was closer to that of a dead animal. The inner lining had been torn in about 10 places and the batting was starting to come out.
Normally, that probably wouldn't have been a big deal. Between Gemma and I, we have enough saddle pads to open our own tack store. So we could have just pitched it and gotten a new one. Except that this pad was special. It was a RAINBOW pad. And Gemma had decided that she wanted to dress up as a Rainbow Princess with her Rainbow Pony for the costume/dressage show coming up in a few days.
Oh, Donut...I'm not quite sure how she even managed to get the pad. Gemma had deliberately used a saddle rack where Donut couldn't access the saddle by reaching through the cut-out in her stall door. So what must have happened is that the horse in the next stall over grabbed the pad and was playing with it and Donut was able to reach through the tiny cut-out in the front of the stall that is just big enough for a small bucket to dump feed in her feed tub and grab it. How all that happened with neither Gemma nor I noticing is a mystery, though.
There wasn't enough time for me to find another rainbow pad and order it in time for the show. So Gemma resigned herself to using a different solid color pad. It would be fine.
In the meantime, my brain sort of nudged me a few times, indicating that maybe I should figure out how to use the assorted Rainbow Pony-making products I had purchased. I am giving myself huge credit for being on top of getting All The Things in plenty of time. We got Gemma's costume from Target. I ordered some glitter-type products for horses. And I even got some mane and tail extensions from a shop on Etsy. Everything except that pad was good to go. And my knowledge about how to use said glitter products.
We did test the main and tail extensions a couple of days before the show, and they turned out to be easy to apply. One thing I did realize, though, was that it was best if the mane and tail were dirty and not well-brushed so the small combs that attached the extensions to the existing hair had something to grip.
I did finally get around to finding a YouTube video about glitter products the night before the show. And let me just say that it would have been super helpful to have seen that video before I even ordered the products. So you don't make the same mistake, here is the video, if you feel compelled to learn about Twinkle Glitter products.
There wasn't much I could do with my newfound knowledge except do the best I could for show day. I decided not to worry about it too much, and tried to get a decent night's sleep.
The day of the show dawned with temperatures in the upper 40s, which was a huge change from the unseasonably warm weather we'd been having. A cold front had come in the day before. But I was thrilled to see something resembling fall after almost 6 months of summer-like temps. And the death of the bugs. I celebrated with as much enthusiasm as my exhausted self could manage. In fact, I'm thinking we need a national holiday celebrating their demise. National Bug Death Day. Good riddance gnats, ear flies, green-heads, mosquitos, horse flies, and weird, tiny black flies that stick like glue to my horse and irritate the crap out of her.
Anyway, I was up early at a little after 6, so I could have a little quiet time before the tiny monster that is my daughter arose. She is delightful, of course, but she gets a little crazy on horse show days, and I needed a half hour to prepare myself for her energy level.
Too soon, she was up and we were loading the truck, packing the snacks and cooler, double-checking to make sure we had the costume and accessories, and assuring the dog that just because we were leaving didn't mean that we were having fun without her (I mean, we kind of were, but I felt like it was unfair to tell her) .
We were on the road by 7:30, and we got to the barn a little after 8. Gemma is actually quite self-sufficient on show days for the routine stuff. So while she started getting her pony clean, I was out in the field explaining to Donut that she couldn't come in to eat today because we needed her stall for Star's makeover project. Donut was horrified by this development even though I provided her with her breakfast. I tried to explain that turnout would be changing soon anyway, and she would be out all the time (I only have her in the stall during the day during the summer because of the heat and bugs; otherwise, I like her outside all the time). Eventually, Donut and Freya ate their breakfast, but I could feel Donut's accusing eyes on me as I walked back to the barn. I figured she would forgive me in time...
In my head, I had imagined that we had plenty of time for the pony makeover we were attempting. I mean, I had budgeted an hour for general cleaning, an hour for the rainbow makeover, a half hour for changing into a costume and tacking up, and a half hour to warm up before Gemma's first test. (My boarding barn was hosting the show so no trailering needed. This is the only way to show, in my opinion. It takes out a huge part of the potential for stress, drama, injury, and general annoyance.) I figured I would even have time to set in the chair I set up outside the stall and enjoy my coffee. (I know, I'm a slow learner.)
I checked my watch when Gemma was finished with washing some mud off Star and grooming her, and we were ahead of schedule. (Thank God for chestnuts who don't roll in the fresh mud from the previous night's rain.) Star looked great, even though Gemma was traumatized that she couldn't give Star a full bath. But I thought it was too cold for that and unnecessary. See above about dirt-colored hair and lack of rolling in mud.
We put Star in the stall for her hooves to dry. We needed them to be dry for the application of glitter hoof polish. I figured we would wait about 15 minutes and then start the process of applying some kind of glitter gel using templates. (That sounds totally simple, right?)
But first I decided it might be good if we put the mane and tail extensions in while we waited. They were easy to do. I put the ones in Star's mane, and Gemma did the one in her forelock and the ones for her tail.
I have never used extensions before, but I ordered from an Etsy shop called AHorseNamedPilot. I was pleased with the color selection, the ordering process, the fast shipping, and the ease of use. Here is a link to the extensions I ordered: Design Your Own Mane Hair Extensions. All we did was move some of the hair on top, slide the comb from the extension onto some hair (not too much or the comb won't close), snap the comb closed, and then move the hair on top over the attachment point so you couldn't see the comb. I ordered maybe 8 extensions for Star's tail and close to twice that for her mane. In the future, I think the tail could hold a few more, and the mane probably could too, but it turned out pretty good (pictures coming below).
Feeling pretty please with our progress, I felt ready to move on to the glitter application. I gathered my supplies, which I had thoughtfully made sure were all at the barn the day before so I wouldn't forget anything. I went over the plan. Put template on horse. Apply glitter gel with sponge thing. Admire my work.
Soooooo. Just so we're clear. You should definitely practice with this stuff ahead of time. You should only work on a horse that stands completely still at all times, and is preferably flat. And you need at least six hands plus a roll of paper towels, a bucket of water, an alcoholic beverage, maybe some chocolate, and an appointment for a massage immediately after application. Multiply everything by 2 if you are working with a bossy nine-year-old.
The concept is simple enough. You use a template to guide the application of some glitter gel to create fun patterns on your horse. The first thing I realized when I put the template on the horse is that the template is made of somewhat flexible material, but there is no getting around the fact that you are trying to use a two-dimensional object to conform to a three-dimensional horse butt. Also, if the horse even shifts its weight, the template can move around, even if you fastened it with something like painters tape. Thankfully, we were working on Star, who is generally quiet, but even she needs to move a little.
The other issue is that the gel is, well, gel. Too much of it and it oozes down your horse outside of the template. Too little and you can't really see the pattern. Plus the sponge thing that comes with the kit. Totally not big enough. So you use your hands. And now you have glitter gel all over your hands and then your clothes and probably the floor. Also on the people who are standing around watching the unfolding catastrophe who then offer to help out of pity.
One of the tips I got from the video I watched was that two coats might be needed. But you need to wait until the first coat is dry. One question I had after watching the video was, "How long does it take glitter gel to dry?" I was about to find out. Let's be clear that it isn't 5 minutes or 10 minutes or 30 minutes. Eventually, I gave up and just glopped the stuff on as thick as I could and called it good. Also, the barn is now partially bedazzled because I got glitter everywhere. The stool, the floor, the walls, etc.
Now for the hoof polish. Again I wished I had watched the YouTube video earlier because the reviewer said that while the actual solid color hoof polish from Twinkle Glitter was fabulous, the glitter polish, which is what I got, left more than a little to be desired. Much like glitter nail polish, it takes multiple coats and works best with a solid color underneath. I did not have a solid color, so I was going to have to live with the deficiencies.
I brought Star out to the concrete floor and brushed her hooves off really well. Then I took a deep breath and started applying the copper colored glitter polish (Gemma's choice...). Much like the video, I had trouble getting good coverage. Two or even three coats were recommended with each coat drying before applying the next one. Again, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THE POLISH TO DRY? Please, dear company, for the love of God, put that information in big letters where my feeble eyes can easily find it.
Much like with the glitter gel, I had to wait and test the dry time for myself. I am guessing it was about 15 minutes. Which left me only enough time to do two coats. I wasn't that happy with the coverage, and you can see in the picture below that it is gloppy and not that attractive, but I will say that when Gemma was in the full sun in the arena for her dressage tests, the sparkle was really obvious and it did look good from a distance. So the moral of this story is that there is a bit of a learning curve and using a solid base coat and allowing lots of time is the best way to get an optimum glitter hoof.
Now that the horse was in good shape with her rainbow hair extensions, glitter stars, hearts, and weird flower that Gemma insisted on, and sort of glittery feet, it was time for Gemma to get her costume on. She could do that by herself, so I turned my attention to the saddle pad problem. Because the top of the pad was still in good shape, I thought maybe we could use it if we put another pad underneath it to protect from the damage of the ripping and loose batting. I couldn't wash the pad because I thought it would disintegrate in the wash, so I started brushing it as much as I could. And I realized that maybe it could give us one more ride. I felt the torn areas on the bottom, and while I knew that would be no good for an hours long trail ride, it would probably be OK for a horse with part of her winter coat grown in with a light rider for about 40 minutes of actual ride time at the walk and trot. So I decided we'd use the rainbow pad and if Star showed any discomfort when Gemma was in the saddle, we would substitute a colored pad.
And then all of a sudden, it was time to go. Gemma was in her costume - no wardrobe malfunctions! - and Star was tacked up. It was a half hour, on the dot, before Gemma's first test, so we headed to the arena.
Gemma did a nice job warming Star up. Star is 24 years old, so she can appear a little stiff for the first few minutes. But Gemma just walked her and then eased her into some trotting and a little canter. When she was looking good, I was surprised to see Gemma playing with asking Star to yield through her poll and bend. Gemma still seems a little uncomfortable riding that way, so she only does it for short bursts or during lessons. But she was doing it on her own and she and Star looked great. I wish I had gotten some video of it. I told Gemma if she did that during her dressage tests, she would get really nice scores, but she still seemed unsure about it. I decided to let it go. Gemma shows for fun, and I don't want to take that away from her.
I also got some pictures of the whole ensemble:
Note the rainbow bridle that "Santa" got Gemma for Christmas. It was the one that didn't come until Christmas Eve last year after being stuck in I think it was Kentucky for 11 days. It was so handy to have it for this project!
When it was time for Gemma's test, I moved into position to call it for her. She was doing both Intro A and B tests. While she has Intro B memorized, she struggles with Intro A, so I call it to help her feel less nervous. The test went well, and I didn't make any mistakes calling it. (I'm prone to forgetting where I am at or misreading something or for one of my poor friends, calling the wrong test.) I even called it loud enough for people in the next county to hear, because Gemma routinely tells me I don't use enough of my outdoor voice:)
The judge for this show was amazing. Her feedback for each competitor was the best I've ever heard. She always led with something positive about the horse or rider or test and she picked one or two things to give constructive criticism about. If there was a formula for schooling show judges, that would be it, in my opinion. She was super complementary about Gemma's costume and the accuracy of the test, and she explained that Gemma needed to ask for a little more energy from Star and improve the shape of her circles. (If I had a dime for every time I told Gemma that, I would be independently wealthy, but what do I know?)
Gemma had a short break, and then she did her second test, which went a little better than the first one. I think she even got an 8 on one of her halts. It was nice to see that because Gemma went through a phase where she was asking for halt with too much rein and creating a stilted, sudden, uneven halt. Now she is working on preparing the horse for the halt and executing it more smoothly.
Keeping Star warmed up between tests
A walk to trot transition for Intro B
In the end, Gemma scored a 65.937% on her Intro A test, which was good enough for first place. And she got a 66.250% on her Intro B test, which earned her third place in the most popular test of the day. Plus, she got third place for the show series in Intro Level. Which was pretty impressive for her first year of showing dressage on a horse that wasn't even sound enough to ride in January of this year.
It was a great way to end the dressage show season, and Star enjoyed a big, custom cookie at the end.
And if you still want to know about the drying time of the glitter gel, it does eventually dry. I'm not sure exactly when, but by the time Gemma was all done showing, it was dry. So now I guess I need to figure out how to get it off...:)
One of the things that I never did when I had Nimo was to have a professional photographer take pictures of us (other than a couple of times a show). I do have a lot of great pictures of us and him, but I think professional photos always seem to have an extra something that isn't normally captured by an amateur.
Something that may have been holding me back, though, was that I didn't know any professional photographers. The idea of vetting photographers gave me flashbacks to planning my wedding, and I admit that I just didn't want to do it. Over the past couple of years, though, I have met and gotten to know two photographers that I like and feel comfortable with.
Given that Star is 24 years old, and I don't know what the future holds
for her and Gemma, I decided to set up a photo shoot for them with one of those photographers. And a little over a week ago, we met at the barn for a fun-filled (but hotter than we expected) photo shoot.
Star was a consummate professional, of course. But because she doesn't bat an eye at anything, we had trouble getting her ears forward for some of the pictures. We tried an app that makes horse sounds and we tried running and jumping, but all to no avail, as Star remained completely unimpressed with our antics. Finally, knowing her love of treats, I grabbed a treat bag and I started throwing treats in her direction. That did the trick, and we got lots of great pictures as a result. Here are a few of the highlights. All photos are by CarlyGPhotography and are used with purchase.
It was a great experience for Gemma - she had an absolute blast picking out her clothes and posing for the pictures. And having a wonderful, solid horse to take pictures with also helped to make the experience very positive for everyone. I loved not being behind the camera and having to try to make all the decisions. The photographer was a bit surprised when I said I didn't have any specific shots that I wanted - I guess most people do. But I happily did not plan or prepare in any way, and the mental break was nice. And I've got some wonderful keepsake photos of a special partnership.
