Photos

 We got the photos from the photo shoot. I was super impressed with them.  I think she captured my horses in body and spirit. 

Here are some of my favourites (photo credit to Beatrice Schuler, Vitaminbea):

sorry Julia but I love this and had to put it here

There are more that will find their way on to the blog at some point. 

Thank you Julia for arranging it. 

Unlocking the Neck

 Based on my recent blogs you would think that Carmen and I have not had any lessons lately. Between weather and other things, we have managed to squeeze in a few.  

Carmen has been a bit of a dragon this fall (as usual). Some of my rides were definitely less than fun. The trick is to stay course and not give up. Also, groundwork- lots and lots of groundwork.  But I  noticed a change this week in her overall feeling. Which coincided nicely with our lesson on the weekend. After a day and night of rain the morning was much improved. The weather was drizzly and gray but the wind was quiet and it was a lovely gray fall day. 

I do love these soft mornings

The ring was saturated- too wet to even dragging to be of use. But the nice thing about my ring is that the footing stays good and doesn't get slippery.  Jane arrived as I was getting on and we talked about how things had been going. Jane was describing another horse and said 'she's the queen of compromise.' 

Just like Carmen I said. 

Ha! Jane responded Carmen does NOT compromise. 

I laughed. fair enough. 

Our lessons have moved into working on Carmen's alignment and getting the half-halt to actually go through. Carmen's tendency is to lock her neck. This not only blocks the half-halt, it stops her from being able to really lift and come from behind. If I understand it correctly, if her neck is locked, the energy from behind hits it and bounces back, pushing her back down and her legs to go out behind. 

see how wet it is? Also see Carmen standing quietly in a puddle. 
Water has never been a problem for her. 

We won't be able to really progress if we can't get her to loosen her neck and soften. Not to mention that when her neck is locked steering is more 'Jesus take the wheel' than I'm comfortable with. 

You might think that Carmen was quite happy that I realised this and was working to help her use her neck properly. 

You would be wrong. Appalled might describe it better.  I'm not going to show you the start of our lesson, but trust me it was pretty awful. The goal was to use the half-halt on the outside rein and get her to soften on the inside and flex at her poll. I had been unaware of how much Carmen was choosing whether to listen to my half-halts and how much I was accepting that. So now that Jane won''t allow me to give up that means I can't let Carmen choose. 

 

However, we weren't a total disaster and our turn on the haunches are improving. 

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have persisted as much without Jane there talking me through it and encouraging me to embrace the suck. 

here I am embracing the suck. it actually made me giggle

 As the lesson progressed things became softer and her neck really began to work. Rather than being a solid mass of muscle it became much more fluid. 

This photo was from the week before but shows how 
we're coming

Our canter work is really improving. Carmen is much more aligned, which allows her to lift. 

We picked up a right canter and Jane had us take it up by C. There was a lot of water there and as Carmen cantered through I couldn't help but squeal 'wheee' like I was 12. It was so much fun. 

Lot's to pick apart in terms of my equitation, but who cares? 
I am having so much fun and so is Carmen. 
And oh my, the mud!

Jane commented that I should compare our trot work to this time last year. When I looked I can definitely see a difference in how she's carrying herself. 

October 2022

October 2021

When I look I see her a lot more free in her shoulder and lower neck. Our last lessons have been hard- like boot camp hard. But I love this work. I have a vision of what I need to accomplish and what I need to do to get there. I can feel how much better Carmen feels when she's aligned and soft in her neck. It is not going to be easy - there's a lot we need to unpack and rebuild. But that's okay, I've never been afraid of hard work. 

Strike a Pose

Last month Julia, who rides Irish, was married. I jokingly told her that she should have wedding photos with Irish. I guess that got her thinking because she asked if she could bring a photographer to get some photos of Irish and her and  I could get some as well. I thought it was a great idea so she made all the arrangements and we did it yesterday. 

Who called this meeting anyway? 

The weather cooperated and it was a gorgeous October day. To paraphrase Leah "I'm glad I live in a place where there are Octobers". Julia came over early so we could get the horses all shined up. Carmen needed a bath and Irish just needed a rinse. I hummed and hawed about Quaid and then decided to do it since I had help. It was, as far as I know, his first bath. Not that you could tell by his complete non-reaction. Of course he'd been hosed off often over the summer and that is usually the biggest hurdle. But he didn't care about me scrubbing his white socks or slapping a soapy wash mitt on him. I kept him out in the sun to dry because I knew he'd want to roll. I was not prepared when he suddenly dropped and rolled on the grass. I had to laugh. I let him dry  more and then put him in the stall while we did more prep work. His winter coat is coming in really well and he took a long time. Of course he rolled again. 

I'm so glad he's not gray

We turned them out until the photographer arrived late in the afternoon. Before then I suggested a fun photo of Julia and Jim with one of my chickens. I have to say it's one of my favourite photos now. 

Like every couple should have a wedding photo like this

Don't worry- Guinness was not left out
Guinness: I don't know why I wasn't at the wedding, 
these things need security

I then changed into clothes that I wouldn't mind being photographed in. I had bought some Dubarry boots in Ireland (just closed my eyes and handed over the plastic) so figured that those should be worn. (I don't regret buying these boots but that's a different post.)

When the photographer arrived we walked out to the field with the horses. Our thoughts were that Julia and Jim could pose with Irish and I'd keep the others away. Julia walking out in her dress caused some fun reactions. 

Irish: what on earth are you wearing? I don't like how it flutters. 

Carmen:  uh oh a dress. I knew something was up. Is this another musical ride? 

Quaid:  oooh people. I LOVE people. Let me check out your dress. It tastes funny. Look at that bag. Let me check it out. 

Irish: back off, this is my photo shoot
Quaid: but I had a bath and am so much cuter

Quaid was all over the photographer. He wanted to play with her camera and tried to grab her bag with her extra lenses. It was cute and nerve wracking. 

Quaid: I just want to look, c'mon let go!
I won't ruin anything, promise

We ended up taking Irish out to get some photos and he was so cooperative. Even when Jim boosted Julia up to sit sideways on him. He's such a star. The other two watched on, fascinated. When we brought him back in they went back to swarming. 

Carmen: stop taking photos of Irish, I'm the beautiful one

Then I brought Irish back in and the photographer took photos of me with each of the horses and all together. I really relaxed and just interacted with them as I would normally would. I quite liked the photographer- she knew her stuff and understood horses. Her suggestions were soft and she kept us all having fun. Carmen was quite friendly with her as well and that is not something I expect- she tends to be stand offish with strangers.  

I am excited to see how they turn out. In the meantime I am enjoying the out takes. 

Quaid: hey man, that's the best spot to scratch, thanks

An Easy Season

 How is almost mid October already? The horses are definitely enjoying the cooler weather. I haven't been riding as much as I'd like but it's been worse. 

I love this old maple and in autumn 
she never disappoints

Hurricane Fiona hit our province (and the rest of the maritimes pretty hard). We were fortunate and she missed our area, but other places were damaged quite extensively. Some of my rides have been pretty hairy and others really good. Which is pretty typical for her in the fall. I think it's a combination of the increased sugar in the grass and she always has a nasty heat in October as well. 

I realised how far I'd come when the other day the neighbour gunned his engine repeatedly, followed by squealing tires and raced down the road. We were just coming by the part of the ring closest to the road and she was already tense so this put her over the edge. She spun and took off I couldn't stop her. I sighed, muttered about the driver and turned her onto a circle. We cantered until she didn't want to anymore and then we cantered a little more. I wasn't even upset. There was a time her bolting resulted in my brain freezing. Funnily enough, once we get through the crap she lets out a big breath and then is soft and amazing. 

These two are getting along well.

Quaid is growing like a weed. I've been doing some more ground work with him and he's doing well. I find he asks me more questions then he used to but I'm actually happy about that. It means that he's trying to figure it out. He's also hungry all the time and chewing on everything in sight. 

The most handsome of baby geniuses

Guinness: license and registration please

On the weekend Julia and her sister came to visit for a couple days. It was fun- I rode Carmen, Dominique rode Irish and I had Julia work with Quaid in the ring. It was a lot of fun and all three horses did really well. I would have expected that Quaid would be distracted but he was good. Irish loved it and you see having us all together put a real spring in his step. 

I love having a busy ring

On the second day we all went into the woods. Carmen led and when a grouse flew up just stopped and looked before carrying on. It was fun. 

we have a new addition! 
Everyone meet Raven

I'm going to enjoy the good weather as long as it lasts. Because we all know that winter will be here soon. 

The Mystery of the Haunted Barn

 I have a lot of things to write about and catch up on, but instead I decided to share with you some mysterious happenings at Oakfield Farms. 

Feel that I ride better than Nancy
(also fun fact: Carolyn Keene was not a real person, 
the books were written by a number of ghost authors)

Back in 2010 when we bought our property we were not living in it because it needed a lot of renovations. I have shared how I knew as soon as I saw the house that it was going to be ours. While we were planning and beginning renovations we would come to the house often. Shortly after our purchase I walked into the house by myself and said 'Hi honey, I'm home!'  As soon as I said that the doorbell rang. Here's the thing: there was no working doorbell in the house. There was one that was disconnected. I did check all the doors and there was no one. I joked that the house was saying 'hello'. 

If you do believe in ghosts, our house would fall into the category of 'possibly haunted'- it's over 100 years old, people have died here (once when a barn collapsed during a hurricane according to a story I was told). 

But that is all back story. 

This summer, there were a few occasions where I would go out to the barn in the morning and the barn doors seemed to be closed more than I had left them. I figured I had done it on auto pilot so just shrugged it off. When we were away Joanne messaged me one day that she didn't want to worry me but one morning the doors were closed and she knew she left them open. Apparently this happened a few times while we were gone but she didn't want to worry me. She even stayed up to watch the barn one night and saw nothing. 

The night Ed and I came home from our trip I noted that the doors were pretty open but it was warm so I let it go. In the morning they were about 6 inches apart. 

Shit was getting weird. 

Ed and I talked about it. 

Was someone messing with us? Why?  Was someone sleeping in the barn? Nothing was missing or moved around in the barn. I borrowed a baby monitor and had it on every night. FYI, one of my horses snores. But other than learning about their sleeping habits, nothing happened. 

It felt weird, like our property was being invaded. I semi-joked that between this and stray cattle I wanted to put up a 10 foot chain link all around the property. It felt icky. 

To quote Thelma: "jinkies"

I was away last week for work and while I was gone, Ed had the same experience of the doors being closed more than he had left them. We ordered a security camera and I hung bells on the door. 

It was a mystery that made zero sense. 

Then on Sunday I had Cynthia and Andrew for dinner (they had no power post hurricane Fiona). Andrew looked at the barn doors and spied something we had all missed: subtle teeth marks. Turns out it was Quaid all along.

Two year old's, amiright? In my defense, I don't really look at the inside of door because they are open or I am closing them from the outside. (I still felt like a fool).

Do I need a lawyer? 

There and Back Again

 Well, it has been a while since I posted. Ed and I were away on a long-awaited vacation. We started planning for this trip with our friends back in 2019 to go in 2020. You can guess how that went. 2021 also was out. But this year we were able to go.  

Cliffs of Moher

Our trip self-driving tour with 8 days in Scotland and 8 days in Ireland. It was a busy but great trip. I loved the smaller towns in Scotland and Ireland. The guys were excited because they golfed in St. Andrews and Carnoustie (they also golfed in Ireland but St. Andrews was the bucket list item). Cynthia and I rode once in Scotland and once in Ireland. 

A rider and her do on the beach in Carnoustie

I like riding when I travel because you get to see different things then you do in a car or walking. In Scotland we rode at Barbara Riding School. It was a 2 hour hack through fields of sheep and cows. My horse was quite funny- he was  gray gelding who at first was like 'I'm a race horse' and at the end was like 'Okay, enough cantering for now'.  

rode by this old castle and manor home

In Ireland we rode on the mountain in Dingle. The views were stunning. which was great because I was riding a gray opinionated mare (I swear, it's like I have a type).  I enjoyed the ride. To be honest I don't care whether I canter, trot or walk. I wanted to see the view. But of course, I can canter whenever I want so my perspective is different. 

you can't see it here but sheep kept popping up out of the heather

I loved the views

Besides riding we toured around, kissed the Blarney stone and ate far too much and drank just enough. After pandemics and lock downs it was lovely to get away. We got a booster before we left and I've done two rapid tests on our return that were negative.  Despite all the horror stories, our flights were uneventful. As nice as it was I really missed home. I was very happy to get home to my farm. I really missed Guinness and the horses. I think that 16 days is too much for me or I'm just getting old. Both can be true, I guess. But I came home rejuvenated and ready to tackle the fall. 

Blarney Castle

Quaid's Big Adventure

 Heads up- this is a post about how amazing Quaid is and how happy I have to have him in my life. 

Don't say I didn't warn you. 

As you know I've been working with Quaid since he arrived June 30 (although it seems like he's been here much longer). I've been keeping our sessions short and wondering if I'm doing it right (the curse of AAs, right?). 

Practicing our tying 

\

Way back in the winter when getting a third horse was barely a thought I signed Carmen and I up for a Horsemanship and Obstacle clinic for Aug 20/21. I always get a lot out of them but mostly they are fun for both Carmen and I. 

As I've been working with Quaid I began to entertain the idea of taking him instead. He was settled in nicely at home, was doing well and I thought that it would a great way for him and I to spend some quality time together. 

So I started to prepare. The last time Quaid was trailered was his journey to come home. I figured he might have a few worries about that so I hooked up my trailer and we spent the next week just loading and unloading. The first time he was 'oh oh! NO! I don't wanna!'  but we kept it slow and easy. One foot, off, two feet, off etc. Within a few days he was walk on and stand quietly with a leg cocked. 

The day we left I repeated our process- walk on, walk off, walk on, etc. And then I had Ed quietly put up the butt bar and then close the door. And then we were off. Quaid kicked the trailer 4-5 times as we headed out and then was quiet the whole way. To be fair, until he got on my trailer I think he'd always been free (in a box stall or a stock trailer) but I don't know that for sure. 

Our ride was about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Once there, Paula (who was doing the clinic with her mare) helped me unload. He backed off quietly and, although his eyes were huge, he followed me into his stall. That night I took him into the indoor (his first possibly) and hand grazed outside. He and Georgie (Paula's mare) were across from each other and he fell in love (to be fair she is gorgeous). I was told that after we left for the night he did pitch a small tantrum in his stall but he settled after about 20 minutes so she didn't call me to come back. 

Quaid: is this my new home? What is happening?

checking out the indoor

I stayed with Paula, who lives about 15-20 minutes away. Her place is lovely and has the best view for sunrises. 

The next morning we all gathered together for the clinic to share about our horses, what our goals were etc. I always really enjoy those sessions. It's fun to hear from others and to identify similarities and shared experiences. It's also great to hear other perspectives. 

I shared that I brought my 2 year old and that I was looking for: 

• feedback on my groundwork because I have probably gotten lax since Carmen understands it so well
• an understanding of how Quaid thinks and reacts to new asks. 
• for Quaid to have a good experience
• for us both to get to know each other a little better. 

there were kittens everywhere! They loved all the whip action. 
Quaid was quite entertained by them

We were in the first group and I brought Quaid out. Funny conversation with Nikki when she came over to meet him: 

Nikki "he's very pretty. He's an Andalusian right? 

Me: no

Nikki:  *looks at me in surprise* are you broken? 

I laughed and explained that he is an Azteca and in this case a Lusitano/QH cross. 

As I suspected, my timing and clarity needed improvement but mostly it was my expectation. Mike talked to us about having a 'spot' for our horses. It can be close, it can be further away, we get to decide but it's important. It helps the horse to relax and understand the ask and allows us to be safe. I have to say I loved working on that. It helped a ton with the leading and when I was cleaning out his stall. Normally the horses go out and I clean when it's empty (I might pick it out with them in but not clean). I couldn't do that at the clinic so it was great to work on that in the stall so I could keep him out of my way and out of the wheelbarrow. 

Here's what I learned about Quaid: he's amazing. 

No seriously, he was able to figure out to stay on me even when stuff was going on around him. He tried his best to figure out everything. We even began to work on ground tying. Which is hard, especially with all the kittens. 

The morning is groundwork and the afternoon introduces the obstacles. We start on the easiest- the square part of the L (the L is a small square platform about 4" with two narrow arms, one higher than the other). Quaid walked up, sniffed it and the was 'okay' and walked over. 

He was like that about every single thing. When he was unsure he'd look at me. Like the first time over the teeter totter (set very low), he stepped on it, felt it move, looked at me 

Quaid: did you see that?

Me: yes, it will be okay, I'll help you. 

Quaid:  okay, if you say so. 

His eyes were huge after lunch when he saw all the things. 

We did A-Frames, balance beam, saloon doors, curtain, moving platform, teeter totter, water box and the flintstone car. Here's an old video of Carmen pushing the car. It was always her favourite. I was happy that he was able to work with me when other horses first started pushing it around. He definitely was a little worried but stayed with me. 

He was more worried about the teeter totter than the moving platform (maybe it reminded him of the trailer). I was even able to give him some freedom and he would walk over the things. He was also a little startled by the saloon doors and the curtain. The approach is always slow and easy with us holding things to the side and gradually letting the horses feel it touch their sides. This is going to be very useful for trail riding so we'll keep working on it. But honestly, his struggle was to scoot a wee bit. 

He loved the water box. The first time they go through it's empty. The next day it's filled with water. I waited my turn and Nikki was there to help. The idea is to line them up to it to go over the short side. At first it's just about them thinking forward (think trailer loading). Nikki turned to answer a question, Quaid looked at the water, put his foot in and then walked right through. He went around and walked through again all on his own. Nikki turned back and said 'well that was easy' I said (with a lot of pride) 'that was actually his second time through. I then lined him up to go through the long way and splashed though quite happily. 

I know that this sounds like shameless bragging but he was a total star and everyone fell in love with him. Mike took him from me a few times to play with him. 

I couldn't take pictures of us working the obstacles but here's a short of Mike showing me to give Quaid some freedom to make a mistake and then gently correct. This helps him learn to control himself and not have me micromanage every step. This happened after we had gone over it a few times so that he knew the ask. 

Every session I was careful to give him breaks and then to put him away before he felt tired or overwhelmed. I mean, he did it all really well, there was no point in drilling. the last session on Sunday afternoon I questioned if I should even bring him out or not. He had a lot thrown at him and handled it well. Mike suggested I bring him out, walk him through each obstacle and be done with it. So that's what I did. 

Then Paula and I helped each other load up and get on our way. He walked on the trailer like a champ. I feel that he might be ready to learn how to self-load. When we left there was no kicking or fussing in the trailer. When we arrived home, Irish started to call. he answered.

Irish: Quaid is that you?

Quaid: yes, it's me!! I'm home. I thought I was in a new place forever but I'm back!

Despite being excited, he backed off quietly and I needed a few gentle reminders that he couldn't pass me to get back to the barn. Even Carmen nickered at him when we were walking up. 

I let him into the paddock where he greeted Irish and Carmen and then trotted of happily to his field. He spent the next hour grazing and cavorting and just generally looking really happy to be home. It was adorable.  I let Carmen and Irish in for supper and I had to go out to the field to get him. Clearly he feels all grown up now. 

I am so glad that I took him. I got some great insights into his mind and character. I think he got some insights into me as well. I think we're going to have a lot of fun together.