Saying it Out Loud...

I'm not pulling Sophie's mane.

Ever.

There, I said it. When I bought her it had been hacked off and looked awful. I was letting it grow, because I wanted some pictures of her with it long. But you know what, I *like* it long! I braid it for every ride and it takes less than 5 minutes. The braid stays in and looks great from beginning to end of my lesson. Then it's wavy and lovely after I undo it.

I do use a lot of detangling spray on it (and her tail), but she really likes having it brushed (as long as I do it gently if it's knotted). The most relaxed I've seen her is when I stand next to her, brushing her mane. I'm going to make up a mixture recommended on UDBB to see how well it works, since I hate just using silicone based products on her hair.

1/3 water
1/3 showsheen or other silicone based detangler
1/3 mane & tail conditioner

I've also been doing something different with her tail, knotting it near the tail bone to keep the longer hairs from dragging in the mud. I tried it during my last ride and all of the knots stayed in great and weren't tangled when I undid them last night (as week later). It didn't look like there was much in the way of breakage, but we'll see how it looks on Thursday.

I've been debating braiding it and looping it up on itself, but I'm worried about moisture staying in the tail and it rotting off. I also don't know what to do in the summer, because right now, flies are not an issue, so she's not using her tail much. I may braid it up then, if it's not as muddy.

Taking It Easy...

Today was an easy day for Sophie. I think she's feeling better and appreciated the easy ride yesterday because she wasn't leaning into the curry comb today. But I still curried and brushed and curried and brushed. I fly sprayed her and brushed out her tail too. Then I braided her mane into chunky braids to keep her mane off her neck because she was a little damp from the humidity. It's supposed to be pretty hot this weekend and I think she'll appreciate it. I only braided the top four inches, so the ends of her mane are free to "swish" at flies too. Her mane is getting pretty long. After done brushing I fly sprayed her really good and then sprayed her tail with Avocado Mist. I'm not sure it really does anything, but I already have it, so I'm going to use it up rather than just throw it away.

I also picked up all of my gear to ride Jessie this weekend. Sophie will get to enjoy her next two days off and we'll see what Jessie remembers, I'm excited, I haven't ridden him in close to six months. Fortunately he's the kind of horse that can have a year off and you wouldn't know it other than he might be a little out of shape. I've come to terms with "losing" Jessie, years before I'd planned on it. The one regret I have is that my parents never got to see us after months of lessons...and I only have one batch of pictures.

My eyes were horrible yesterday, I woke up at 5:30 to study because of course, I miss a week of school and have two exams on the same day the following week. So I was awake from 5:30-12:00 yesterday and my eyes got *tired*. I was having to put drops in them constantly. They're much better today, but still tired.

Such a Good Girl!

Sophie did sooooo well today. I figured out how to tack her up for our longe session with very little struggling on my brain's part using the new running side reins. We got started and I only had to adjust them twice, but I think that's necessary because I don't want to start her out in the same position as where she will be by the end of the session.

We started out on her mane side, which is her worst side. It was hard to get her to bend toward me in the beginning, but then she got better about it. After 12 minutes in that direction we switched to her non-mane side and she was fabulous. Trying, reaching, trotting out when I clucked and just going really well. We'd worked on stopping a bit to the other side, after reversing we worked some more on stopping as well as a little on cantering. We did about 10 minutes on that side and then I took off the side reins and walked her for 10 minutes to cool down.

She was pretty sweaty (though still not as bad as yesterday) and tired once we were done, so I stripped her down, gave her her bobbing bucket to play with, and put everything away. I found stuff to do until she was dry and curried and brushed her really good a couple of times until she was smooth and shiny. There was one downside though, when we're switching sides she tries to stretch her head out and pulls the surcingle forward so it rubbed her elbow a little. I put Corona ointment on it and we'll see how it is tomorrow. I noticed a little rub after the first day she was longed but it was haired over again within a week so I didn't think it was still a problem. She may get tomorrow off, depending on how it looks.

Is it possible to have a little OCD? I've noticed that I'm slowly becoming more and more OCD, if that's possible. Last year it started with cleaning my tack after every ride. Now it's grooming Sophie (and still cleaning everything). I also like my little area in front of Sophie's stall to be just "right". I have my two lead ropes and spare halter hanging on the claw thing, my empty saddle rack next to that, and my cupboard, which I keep in pretty good order. Except today my saddle rack wasn't empty. *Gasp!* One of Kim's saddles was on it, I think because the girl whose horse is stalled next to Sophie is using it. That's fine, but don't put it on *my* saddle rack. Just because I don't leave five feet of stuff on it every day doesn't mean I don't use it!!! I use it every time I come to the barn, thank you very much. So I moved it over to a different rack and unhung the saddle rack and rehung it so that it's laying flat against the wall instead of sticking out.

Maybe I'm just too anal, but I like having my space and being able to grab my stuff out of the trailer and being able to just put it on my saddle rack without having to worry about moving someone else's stuff out of the way. The girl who put the saddle there has 7 saddle pads and her ancient all purpose saddle on the rack in front of her horse's stall. There were also 3 sugar cubes on the drawer directly under my cubby as well. I was very confused when I arrived at the barn. I just hope it doesn't happen again, I hate to be confrontational over something so silly, but it does bother me. Right now I'm just putting my thick, western saddle pad on my rack and Sophie's dressage boots because that's all I need for longeing. But when I'm grabbing my dressage saddle, pad, and girth out of the trailer on my way into the barn I'd like to be able to just set it down when I get there.

So am I being silly to be annoyed? I guess it doesn't help that this girl hasn't ridden or come to the barn more than 15 times this year (and none last year since I started boarding there), she's only riding now because she has the county fair coming up. I've been out to see my horse more in the last month than she's seen hers in the last year, and I can't even RIDE!

Poor Sophie!

Sophie had her little legs worked off of her today. We started out just fine with the longeing, she was doing great, I was doing great. Then Kim stopped by to watch and suggested that we raise the side reins to simulate hands more so because Sophie is progressing so quickly. So we moved the side reins and didn't get the results we were looking for. Then Kim pulled out the sliding side reins which had Sophie in more of a Training Level/First Level frame than just Intro/Training. Then we ran into the problem of getting her to extend her trot. Everytime she was clucked at she started cantering, after all, it's much easier to canter than it is to extend the trot. So after some persistence we convinced Sophie to extend when clucked at, not canter. We also worked on whoa on the longe and a little on kissing to mean canter.

Overall it was a great session and Kim's input helped a lot. I just hope I can figure out how to attach the sliding side reins tomorrow. Sophie was soaked by the time we were done, it was 85 degrees, so warmer than the last couple of days, but we were also asking her to do a lot more. I could just envision her under saddle while watching her today. She has a gorgeous trot, especially when she has a lot of impulsion to move her along. Kim said that she's progressing faster than she thought she would, and asked if I'd heard about my saddle recently. I was going to call when I got home, but forgot, I'll try to do it tomorrow instead.

Today was just a further lesson in how I need to expect more and expect perfection when I ask for something. I'm sure Sophie prefers it when it's just me and her, with no "help" from Kim, but this is what's going to make us good. I console myself with thoughts of her apple/carrot water that she gets after the workout is over. Today I tried throwing some treats in the bucket as well, to see if she will eat them when wet. She did, fortunately, so now I have a back up for if I forget vegetables or we don't have any. Especially since they float, so she needs to bob for them, and they absorb a lot of water. She really enjoyed bobbing for her food though, it was fun to watch her.

Anyway, I got some of the pictures from the other day uploaded. Where I was playing with Sophie like she was a Barbie horse, or a My Little Pony. So enjoy!

Pretty Pony Hair School Pictures

A nice picture of my shiny horse from her hairless side. This was after I decided to braid her mane. When we show seriously her mane will most likely be pulled short and braided in regular dressage braids. But for this summer I'm letting her mane grow out so that I can get some pictures of her with a long, pretty mane to keep. I figure there's plenty of time to cut it next year, when I start showing.

This was my first attempt at a running braid on Sophie. The first I've done in a very long time to boot. It was fun, and started off as just a lark. She was hanging out in her stall and I was brushing her and decided to give it a try. So I went to work and it was tight and wonderful looking, but I had no rubberband! And Sophie didn't even have a halter on. So I finished the braid and pulled the rubberband from my own hair and wrapped it 30 times around her little tail while I got a horse rubberband. Unfortunately the braid looks crinkly when she lifts her head higher than it was when I was braiding. She stood still the whole time I braided as well, which I was happy about. I think she's flexing her neck in this picture.

Stretching out, showing off the running braid at its best. It looks equally good if her neck is exactly level as well (which is where it was when I was braiding it).

Continental braid...my first attempt. Haley walked by as I was nearing the end of it and said "looking good". Then when she walked by the next time I was pulling the rubberbands out and she said "you did all of that work for nothing?" I told her I took pictures, but she didn't seem to think that was worth the time, lol. But it didn't take that long, especially since Sophie's mane isn't very long right now.

I told her she looked like a fairy horse with her mane crimpy. She just rolled her eyes at me and looked scared.

Eyeball picture.

Showing off her tail (and shiny rump).