Thanks for sharing (showoff).

Thanks for sharing (showoff).

Post by Anne-Sophie de La Gatinais.

Actually I love this footage.

BTB Browband giveaway!

To celebrate my 100th like of Facebook, I'm giving away the very first browband I ever made to sell. It's actually a lovely browband and I'm surprised it hasn't sold.  I'm also giving the winner the option of taking this natural stone eartone browband, or this blue postermodern design instead. All are 16" curved style. Thanks to all who have taken an interest!

To enter: LIKE my BTB Browbands Facebook page and leave a comment either on FB or on my blog with your contact info.

Modern Farmer: Donkeys are the new goats?

Who knew donkeys are the new goats? I bought this issue of Modern Farmer so that I could understand the headline, "Donkeys are the New Goats." Well, the article on donkeys is nice, but it's entitled "The Guide to Donkeys." Not a syllable about goats, much less explaining how donkeys replace goats.

Anyone?

Go to 30 seconds and see the toughest competitor

Looking back, I think our toughest competitors today may not be so tough. Go to the 30-second mark and watch the Ted Edgar go at it.

  

Harvey enjoys Christmas brunch

Harv enjoying the dregs of his mash-and-senior mixed with apples and crushed peppermints. 

I pulled off his blanket for the first time in awhile; it was gratifying to see him looking pudgy.

Harvey's Christmas Blanket

I got it for $30 from Ebay (AJ Tack) -- for some reason the price is now $50 but it is a good buy nevertheless. Nylon, strong, prettier in person than in the ad...

Happy Holidays from Bob, Harv, Stacey, Riley

Truly the warmest wishes from me, Bob, Harv, Riley, and the Kitkas (Newman and Red Kitka)

I wish Riley were included here, but it was not to be. Separate barns, no group photos. 

Happy Holidays from Harv and I!

Blue roan dressage love!

I would fly to Colorado to see this blue roan -- a Holsteiner/Quarter Horse cross!

You can wrap this up for my Christmas present

This is such an appealing horse! Cute face, lovely movement, apparently a good work ethic. Wrap him in a bow and call him mine...

When Spines Align: Book Review

A long time ago, a trainer told me "the problem is, you don't know what you're doing." While that is not an especially insightful or helpful comment for the average rider,  I agree in sense that many riders wonder if they are doing things correctly. Does my half-halt feel right to the horse? Am I sitting too heavy? Engaging my core properly? Weighting a seatbone too much? Is there too much weight in the rein?

One of my fantasies has been to momentarily "sit inside" a great rider while they are working a horse, and to get a feel for what they are doing. That probably isn't going to happen, but...

Beth Baumert's book When Two Spines Align: Dressage Dynamics, comes close to that fantasy. This is easily the most influential book I have read for a long, long time. Much as I love Sally Swift, this book had a bigger impact for me than Centered Riding did. It captures that many of the ideas in the simple (and useful) Swift metaphors and goes further in its analysis of what constitutes good riding -- there are exercises too. When Spines Align is about more than posture -- it has helped me to better understand the right "feel" -- both in the particulars (connection, use of weight, etc) and more generally. I have been implementing what I've learned for about a month, and I can feel a distinct difference.

The book is divided into How Riders Work, How Horse Work,  and How Two Spines Meet in Balance. Baumert talks about "powerlines" -- the vertical powerline, the connecting powerline, the spiraling powerline, and the visual powerline. So many great concepts it is almost overwhelming.

HUGE thumbs up -- you will love this book.

How to amuse the judges at a dressage test

Tough day, but well-handled...
 

Harvey at ten years old

Here is Harv within the first week that I bought him.  I boarded him in Raleigh, NC at a place called Theys Farm on Theys Road -- it was a co-op barn run primarily by eventing folks. Harv was so much fun to ride, he was my first horse, and I was in heaven...

Shire dressage - check out the extensions!

I appreciate how quiet this horse's mouth is, how confirmed he is in the bridle, and overall power and balance. Love!

  

101st time is a charm....

The learning curve in dressage is not a nice smooth trajectory, and in my case it looks like shark's teeth. Ri and I were facing a barrier to progress in this last few weeks, and despite good advice and support I was at a loss. Sometimes you have to go back a few steps to move forward, and that's what we did. I needed to re-examine my whole notion of contact, or what I thought was proper contact. I think we are moving in the right direction again!

 This video is wonderful, and came to me at the right time. It ain't the first time I've heard it, but maybe the 101st time is a charm. It has really helped me.

Horze tendon boot giveaway! Navy

Horze is a style and color-conscious company. Check out their site -- whether you are a flamboyant fashionista or a conservative dresser, you'll find things to love on  Horze.com.

These Horze tendon boots come in twenty (20) colors -- and not the standard navy and forest green -- they have ginger and four shades of blue, taupe, pearl, pine bark, chili pepper red, and more.

They sent me a pair, and I'm impressed. They are sturdy, well-made, and easy to apply.  At $26 they are a bargain. Horze is offering a giveaway of the navy boots shown right -- to enter, just leave your contact info in a comment and like the Horze Facebook page.

Powercap for late night whatever

The Powercap CUBWB comes in great colors and offers dual headlights for late night or early morning  turnout, or even cleaning dark stalls. I bought one for myself and one for Harv's barn manager. I have an LL Bean baseball cap and didn't expect this cap to outperform the LLBean cap -- but it does. It's a comfortable cap, too. Great Christmas gift!

 

Shannon Peters explains the hands and connection

"Think about closing your upper backline -- when you feel your elbows drop into your hips, you know it's right. That, for collecting your horse, is ultimately important. If you can strengthen that circle of your your body, and strengthen that connection between the hip and elbow, you create a feeling of the horse wanting to collect up underneath you...."

If she hits your hand and she hits this feeling [Shannons hands are lowered and her body erect] she comes right up. If she hits that [hands are raised] and you pick up your hands or you hold a little bit, she'll end up pulling down and against you in the shoulders."

"Anytime they can change our position or pull us out or make us lift our hands and disconnect our elbows from our seat, they start to own the connection more and more and more..."

Toe woes: Icky photo alert!!!

Icky photo alert! At the bottom of this post is a photo of Bob's toe, which is badly blistered. If you don't want to see it, don't scroll down!

I read somewhere that if you want to know something about a person's health look at their feet. Poor Bob is having foot issues, probably related to the CTCL, the chemo, and the radiation.

  It started at the gym...
We went to the gym together Sunday, had an uneventful workout, and we came home. He pulled off his shoes and said, "Oh, My." He had a whole-toe blister on his fifth toe from the tip to the base of his foot -- it was, and is, huge, puffy, and angry-looking. He had felt slight discomfort on the treadmill, and got off sooner than normal. He can't have walked more than a mile. It has grown every day. The photo below was taken Monday. Now, Thursday it has covered much of the top of his foot.

What the heck?
The radiologist confirmed that the blister was indirectly the result of Total Skin Electron Beam Radiation (TSEB) treatments. It is not code red, despite its alarming appearance, but we have to watch for infection. Bob's temp is normal, and the pain is minor, so infection is likely absent at the moment.  He had had his last treatment on December 1, but there are after-effects. His white blood cell count is low, he can't feel his toes at times, and I guess his skin is ever-more delicate.

Wake up call
While we are informed about Bob's CTCL, on a day-to-day basis, I don't really think about this disease as a cancer -- I don't really acknowledge to myself that "Bob has lymphoma." His form of the disease has acted more like a skin condition for the last few years, and the treatments have not the kind that dramatically impact the quality of life or health.  Now that we have moved on to the more "heavy duty" treatments, like TSEB, both of us have to come to to the realization that this is not "cancer lite." This goofy blister is behaving like no other blister we've ever seen. You know how when you search a medical ailment on the Web and these awful over the top photos come up? You think oh that could never happen to me/us.  And now here we are. It has us both upset.

This is Monday -- by Thursday it had reached his big toe.

First photo of Harv

This was in 1998 when I was leasing him...

Bob and me, a conversation

I was telling bob about a barn worker that stayed with a horse through the night when he was sick...

Bob: There is a special place in heaven for people like that.
Me: [pondering] Do you think that caring for Harvey will get me into heaven?
Bob: [laughing] It's probably the ONLY reason you'd get in.

That's frighteningly close to true, I fear. I know Harv will put in a good word for me up there. 

If only this was real...

I got this scammy check in the mail last night -- love the "National Funding Dept" -- sure wish it was real.

Rolex shopping: Never too early

Available at the rk3de.org web site, this huge coffee cup is only $10 and it's customizable. On sale during the holidays!

Harvey workout tips

Harvey's workout tips are illustrated in the video, but here they are in a nutshell.

1. Lie down and stretch; dislodge clothing as best you can.
2. Start off with gusto!
3. Be impressive while people are looking. Make a big show of it, and breathe like Darth Vader.
4. Nearby humans will want to feel in charge,  but they can be safely ignored.
5. Don't let it go on too long. Quit while you're ahead.

Dark Horse: Movie Review II

Preparing to compete for the "trophy at the Classic."

What was realistic:

• The "dangerous" Friesian was pretty nice.
• The warmup ring at the big show was a real warmup ring.
• The attire was dressage-correct, at least at the show.
• The horse was not made into something "majical."

What was silly:

• Everything else.

The Dark Horse: A movie review I

Saturday night's Netflix selection features The Dark Horse, the story of a girl who's going to save her family farm from foreclosure by winning a big dressage competition. I'm guessing this would fall in the genre of fantasy.

Winterizing your car, equestrian style!

Winterizing your car, equestrian style. Hatchback equipped w/two containers piping hot water; carrots and apples lightly steamed; bucket o beet pulp, covered by a heavy cooler.

For the Harvster of course!

Bright shards of someplace else: Short Stories (GIVEAWAY!)

Another giveaway -- this time I'm giving away an award-winning collection of short stories Bright Shards of Someplace Else, by Monika McFawn. The author Monica asked if I would be interested in reviewing the book, noting that two of the stories are horse-themed. Keep in mind, though, that saying two of the stories are about horses is like saying Moby Dick is a book about whales.

Monica has insight into the psychology of horse-obsessed women, and her two equestrian stories are stark but real. It's a wonderful collection -- it won the Flannery O'Connor Award and was named one of the top 25 books of 2014 by NPR.

To enter the giveaway, just leave comment on this blog with your email. Thanks!

Horze Bell Boots: The Riley experience

The Centaur bell boots that I had been using all summer were not that great for winter use -- they get hard as a rock when cold! I was eager to try these Horze reflective bell boots in orange with reflective tape. They are soft and dense, as I mentioned in the last post. 

Out Riley went in his nice boots...

He's worn them 3-4 times with no signs of problems, breakage, or weakness. Don't they look nice? They're easy to put on and I think having something other than cold rubber on your ankles is probably something Riley appreciates -- at some level. 

Here is some "cool factor" I took a photo with a flash in the darkish aisleway -- you can see the reflective effect!

The barn where I board likes to double-bellboot the hroses. I was able to adjust these to cover the bottom of the hoof, but I prefer to cover further up his fetlock where he sometimes catches himself. 

Horze reflective bell boots

At just $20 I am thrilled with these Horze reflective bell boots.  The orange is softer than the traditional "international orange" -- pretty! For people who aren't in love with orange, the other compelling feature of these boots are the quality of the material that is used. It's dense and protective, but so soft! My chestnut horse Riley gets swelling when he wears regular rubber bell boots, and I don't have to worry with these cushy and forgiving boots. I also turn him out in the reflective leg straps from Horze.com --only $10.95. Many people probably buy them for nighttime visibility, but I use them because Ri tends to catch his legs at the pastern -- it's good protection. 

A big thumbs up -- and in a few days I'll be holding a giveaway for Horze brush boots -- stay tuned!

Crossover vest from Kerrits -- A holiday find!

If you are wondering if this Kerrits Crossover Vest from Riding Warehouse is flattering, the answer is... Yes! At about $74 it is not a bad buy, either.  I find the crossover design to be very warm and stylish.