Breeches & Boat Shoes

Beka from The Owl Approves is hosting an 18 week blog hop, one for every week until her horse’s 18th birthday! I have made it my mission to participate in all 18 hops, so bring it on.

Week four asks “Let’s talk about your horse’s biggest fail.  What did Thunderhooves do that embarrassed you, scared you, shocked you or just annoyed the hell out of you?”

This topic made me laugh because I didn’t have to think very hard about what Ax has done to be a goofball. He usual does a few small things that annoy me as opposed to one thing he does consistently. Lucky me. Therefore, I have complied a list.

• He hangs his wing-ding out constantly. I mean CONSTANTLY. And not just letting it slip out and then go back inside, he lets its flow in the breeze and swing all around. To the point where people ask me if he has to go to the bathroom and think I am a bad mommy and won’t let him go. The answer is always “no, he just likes to flail it around for everyone to see.”
• He is always looking for treats. This is probably my fault since I am the cookie-bearer, but when you cant get out the stall door because your horse is searching your pockets, it gets really annoying rather than cute.
• He has to shake out his hay flakes so it ends up all over his stall like he is living in a giant pony salad.
• He LOVES to grab your zipper pull and drag you around by it.
• When you go to pull down your stirrups and tighten your girth, he likes to slowly turn his butt in a circle away from you. So you don’t really have to chase him, but it takes longer than necessary.
• Long spots are not an option unless it is the third Wednesday of the month at exactly 2:07.18 and the temperature is 47 degrees. We either find a nice distance, jump from the base, or slam on the brakes.
• Some days impulsion is our middle name. Some days it is not even considered to be in the English language.

-TC

Read the previous weeks:

• Week One
• Week Two
• Week Three

Check out the other blog hoppers here:

I have accepted it. I am a full month behind on this hop.

Beka from The Owl Approves is hosting an 18 week blog hop, one for every week until her horse’s 18th birthday! I have made it my mission to participate in all 18 hops, so bring it on.

Week three asks “Let’s talk about the biggest achievements your horse has accomplished.  I’m not talking about you as a rider – I want to know what your ponykins has done to make you proud.  Is there a glorious satin collection, did he/she figure out some dressage movement that took months to learn, or are is it just a great day when your butt stays in the saddle?”

Each time I dismount after a ride feeling like a made progress, I am proud of Ax. He has stepped up to everything I have asked of him, no matter what it was, and I can’t ask for more than that. That sounds quite cheesy, but who doesn’t love cheese? I wish I could say that there was a huge ribbon we won out of a class of who-knows-how-many-riders, but we haven’t been ready for that yet.

I think one of the proudest moment I had was during one of our recent jump schools. Gone was the rushing, the head in the air bracing against the martingale, and the flat-backed jump with sloppy knees. Out came a steady hunter who jumped round over the fence and squared his knees.

-TC

Read the previous weeks:

• Week One
• Week Two

Check out the other blog hoppers here:

Admittedly, this post is two weeks late. Oops.

Beka from The Owl Approves is hosting an 18 week blog hop, one for every week until her horse’s 18th birthday! I have made it my mission to participate in all 18 hops, so bring it on.

Week two focuses on the making of our horses, asking “Who trained your horse?  Is your ponykins still in the process of figuring out this whole monkey-on-my-back thing, did you send off for thirty or sixty or ninety days, or did you buy a horse with all the bells and whistles?  Who has helped your horse become what he or she is today?”

As I sort of explained in week one, Ax’s past history and training is very cloudy. I know that he had some sort of training down south and then some more once M brought him to New England with G and a few others. Somewhere along the way, he had a rough patch of refusals and was sent out to G for some training and that is as much as I know. So I guess the safest place to start would be beginning with when I purchased him.

Ax came to me as a hunter who had also done some 3′ adult medals, but had some jumping issues once the fences went up in height. Although there was nothing wrong with his flatwork, the dressage rider in me wanted a little more from him and for him to use his haunches. So for the first year after purchasing him I stuck to flat work with a tiny bit of jumping every now and then. With the help of my mother, barn friends, my coaches at school, clinicians, and lots of reading, Ax is where he is now. I think it is safe to say that he is an entirely different horse.

Now we are up to date and are beginning to get back into jumping. Some days are amazing and some days are atrocious, but it is all progress.

-TC

Read week one: https://breechesandboatshoes.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/toa-blog-hop-1-history-of-the-horse/

Check out the other blog hoppers here: