Monday, 30 December 2013

5 Day Challenge Day 5

21. Favorite classes to watch

Of course I love watching cross country. I don't go to that many other shows outside of events though, but when I'm bored I'll youtube all sorts of things. My first pick is intermediate and advanced cross country, buzzterbrown's channel on youtube is my go to, he takes absolutely amazing cross country footage and I love seeing all the different courses down in the states. I also love watching hunter and jumper derbies, the courses look like so much fun. Another thing I like to watch is hunter work offs. Some of those horses and riders are amazingly talented and make everything look easy.

22. What’s in your cooler at horse shows?

Lots of ice water! I also stock up on coconut water (my like clockwork horse show headaches are totally gone since I've started drinking it!!), mandarin orange cups, swiss babybels, and granola bars. Depending on the event, they are the one time I will have energy drinks. Just because I don't sleep worth a crap away from home, and events in general mean really late nights and super early mornings, and it's nice to not be nodding off mid afternoon when I need to get out and walk cross country!


Of course we all would love if it was a bit more affordable! But if you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen, it's all about priorities and it's different for everyone of course. I find it very interesting watching the younger eventing crowd over the years, which ones sell the horse as soon as mommy and daddy stop paying for it, those who plug along through school and still do the odd event here and there, and the ones who come back to it later in life. It's a very interesting dynamic that I find fascinating.

24. Your ringside crew

My amazing bf Kris is always there, rain, snow or shine, camera in hand! And I can't thank him enough for all his support and everything he does. I am incredibly lucky to have a bf that is not only interested in the horse side of things, but insists on coming with me on most of my horsie outings.

I am a very independent person when it comes to shows and horses in general, for a long time I would only go to events by myself, it was way easier just having only myself to worry about, and not having to entertain/babysit others! But the past few years I have found a few eventing friends that I regularly hook up with at events/clinics, etc. My friend Jenn, who is an amazing rider and coach, we compete alongside each other at prelim, and have similar goals for the next couple years.

Also my friend Erica ( We initially met online a few years ago (I like to refer to these as my creepy internet friends, haha) and I introduced her to the eventing scene here in Alberta. She lives very far away in an isolated part of the province, so visits are few and far between, but we get along great and have lots of fun when we are together. It's been fun to see her and her horse progress even just from the little bit of eventing they've been able to do so far on their journey together. We also both have a thirst for knowledge so we are forever sitting down "together", despite our distance, to watch jumping at Spruce Meadows, Rolex, or the Royal Winter fair online or on tv, and facebook messaging back and forth discussing it for hours.

25. Best prizes.

I'm not too picky, I always love ribbons because they are usually few and far between at events. I would never turn down any sort of prizes though, and would love to add some Back On Track stuff to my tack locker!

Monday, 23 December 2013

5 Day Challenge Day 4

16. One thing you’d like to change about your horse

If Sunny were just a *little* bit taller! When I was horse shopping I didn't really have a certain height requirement, and I'm very glad for that now because if I had, I might not have even bothered to go look at Sunny. I was definitely hoping to find something taller than Sabre, who is maybe all of 14.2hh in his barely a horse glory. Sunny's ad said 16.1, which she very obviously is nowhere near, maybe it was a typo? But she was bigger than Sabre and that was all I cared about!

I've only just started to run into a bit of the height issue now that I finally have a dressage saddle, at proper dressage length stirrups I end up not having much of my leg actually ON her at all. My legs don't dangle way below her belly though, it's just the way her ribs are sprung.

17. Your horse’s future

Well we are currently running prelim and I don't feel like Sunny is struggling or near her limit in any way yet. She skips over all the jumps no problem, any jumping issues we've had have pretty much all been me, basically the bigger or more technical things get, the better she jumps! While the dressage is more difficult than jumping for us, it just means we need to work all that much harder on it! Honestly, I know we are never going to win the dressage, but we can certainly aim to put in a presentable and accurate test.

Goals for the next year include doing a one star, and ultimately we'd like to move up to intermediate somewhere along the way.

We are still working on plans for 2014, but it is shaping up to be a VERY exciting year, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!

18. Your worst show ever

Getting eliminated for dangerous riding at an event several years ago. It was back when I was struggling a LOT with Sunny, and while I don't think the situation was wholly unfounded, I still feel somewhat like they were just looking to make an example of me, and that the ground jury and others involved were extremely unprofessional and frankly a bit cruel with the way they handed things. That disappointed me a LOT. Sunny and I were having a lot of difficulties at the time, and it wasn't WHAT they were saying, because honestly I did agree with a good chunk of it, it was more HOW they said it that was the problem. There are ways to handle issues, and that includes being tactful and professional throughout. Neither of which were present in my situation unfortunately. Thank god I have fairly thick skin, I don't think that some other people would have been able to bounce back from something like that, and I can honestly say it was one of the most awful and humiliating things that has ever happened to me. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I have a link to a different blog of mine that has a pretty detailed account of the whole situation, I have made it public for a short time and if anyone would like to read please comment here then email me at and let me know who you are and I will send you the link. I don't feel comfortable posting it for the whole world to see.

19. Favorite horse show venue

Hmmm. This one is a bit tough. I guess I would have to pick Chase Creek, because even though I have never done an actual event there, it is one of my favorites places. They have so many jumps and fun things for all levels to school over, the clinics there are just amazing. I also love having the creek right there as well to soak legs after a ride. The fact that it's situated in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been is definitely a plus, it's seriously like heaven out there. I am so excited they are bringing back the event next year, I am aiming to do the 1 star there, and I know the cross country course will be AMAZING and so much fun! I can't wait!!

I guess Evergreen Park up in Grande Prairie would be another top pick of mine. They have lots of space, variety and terrain in their cross country course. It's one of the few places we have ACTUAL covered stalls for stabling instead of makeshift pens in a field. The clinic/event there is always a fun week for camping and riding, so much room to hand walk/hack/graze the horses and we always have a blast Riding on the racetrack is always a highlight for Sunny and I! The only downside is that it's so far away:P

20. Your show day routine

For a 2 day (Saturday/Sunday) event, we ship out Friday evening, so I start my main prep on the Thursday. I ride, bathe then braid! I am lucky that Sunny does not mess with her braids at all, and I show sheen her white leg markings as mentioned in my last post so any possible poo stains or mud will brush right off. I blanket to make sure she stays (mostly) clean. Then I will load my car or trailer and have everything ready to go thursday night. Friday after work, I load Sunny and go. Get to the event, set up the stall, settle in, and usually have a short dressage school. Having everything ready a day in advance leaves me with basically nothing to do after I ride besides pick up my show package, feed Sunny, maybe take a look at some of my cross country course, help out my friends, and then have a few drinks and just chill.

Usually we have dressage at 8 or 9am Saturday morning (prelim always goes first both), so I'm usually up around 5. I will feed, throw Sunny's BOT back warmer on, and take her for a walk to stretch her legs and let her eat some grass. Let her finish her breakfast and I will grab myself a quick bite. Then I'll clean my tack, get everything out and organized so I can tack up and be on roughly an hour prior to my dressage time. After dressage we usually have a couple hours before stadium, so we'll put the horses away, chill for a bit, before tacking up again and heading over to walk our course. After stadium is time for walking cross country (twice!), watching friends ride, photographing, etc. Will take Sunny out for another handwalk & graze or two before putting her to bed.

The Sunday is a bit simpler, I don't have to get up as early! Feed Sunny, quick hand walk, then start booting up for cross country! Tack up, be on about half an hour before my time. Then afterwards we will cool out the horses, wait around for results or to watch friends ride or take photos. Clean stalls and load up, and go home. Pretty simple:)

Friday, 20 December 2013

5 Day Challenge Day 3

11. Critique your horse’s conformation

At first glance, Sunny doesn't look like your typical eventer. The first thing you notice is that she is LONG. People are shocked when they find out this little 15.1hh girl rocks a size 80 blanket.

Ideally if you separated a horse into 3 sections, forequarter, back, and hindquarter, a balanced horse would have 3 equal sections. Here you can very easily see with the green lines this is NOT the case with Sunny! Her long back is by far her weakest characteristic. She finds it difficult to really lift her back and step under herself, tracking up under saddle is a challenge, partly because her hind end is just so dang far away from the front!

The LS joint should be placed directly over the point of hip for optimal hind end strength transfer and carrying power, but Sunny's is set slightly to the rear. She is also very wasp waisted, which combined with her long back, makes her have a weak loin coupling, further hindering her drive and power from the rear. It's not a big surprise that dressage is our weakest phase!

Now on to some positives. She has short cannons, flat knees, her legs overall are pretty good. Nice and straight, from both the front and the side. Pasterns are maybe just a tad short but angled nicely. She is standing a bit funky behind in this photo so it's not the best representation of her hind legs. From the point of hip to point of buttock to stifle, those sides of the black triangle are fairly equal, which will allow her to compress her hind end well for jumping. Her stifle is nice and low and placed well away from her body, which gives her scope to clear height as well as width.

Sunny has a large shoulder with a decent slope to it. Her humerus is on the longer side and nicely angled. This is where her killer front end over fences comes from. She has tons of mobility in her front limbs to roll her shoulder blade back and swing those knees up and forward. Her elbow is set well away from her body, which will not limit her front limb mobility.

Despite her level topline, Sunny is built slightly downhill. Her stifle sits slightly higher than her elbow, shown by the yellow line, and while the black line drawn upward through her front end does come out in front of her withers, it still shows a lot of Sunny front end in front of that line, which causes her to travel heavier on the forehand. Her neck is very long which makes it easier for her to use it as a counter balance while jumping, but makes it harder to keep her straight on the flat. Her neck also ties in low which also weights the front end more and will limit her ability to carry her head and neck in a higher level dressage type of collection.

Sunny is far from the perfect specimen, but despite her obvious shortcomings, she does have a lot of good things going for her. I'm sure her huge heart plays a large role in overcoming her weakness as well. I am proud to say that despite her sort of mish mashed looking conformation, she has always been sound and has not yet needed any sort of maintenance.

12. Horse’s favorite riding exercise

Variety is definitely the spice of life for Sunny! By far she enjoys jumping the most, but since we can't jump every day, I try to mix things up as much as I can to keep her from getting bored. She seems to enjoy anything new or different, whether it's pole work, hacking out, conditioning work, etc. Even in our flat work I keep things varied and interesting, lots of transitions and different movements and figures, and I like using poles during our flat rides too. Sunny is the kind of horse that can apply herself and has an incredible work ethic, but you HAVE to keep her busy or else she makes her own party!

13. Favorite spa day products

Sunny very rarely gets an actual bathing, I'm more a fan of just a quick hosing off with plain water after a ride instead. Before a show I'll usually hose her off well and do a quick shampoo of what little white she has on her legs. Show sheen is my go to product for sure. I'll show sheen her tail a couple of days before a show and then just braid it. Then go to the show, unbraid, finger comb, and voila! I'll also show sheen her white leg markings after I shampoo them, that works like a darn for any dirt or poo stains she might get during the show, the markings stay slick so that everything brushes right off.

14. Three best things about your horse

Sunny is ridiculous honest while jumping. If there is any possible way she can get over the fence, she will absolutely do it, even if it's not conventional or pretty. She tries SO HARD for me all the time, even when I'm riding like crap and definitely don't deserve it! I have had horrendous stadium rounds where I wasn't on my game at all and was just burying her so deep to everything, and instead of just stopping like I know so many horses would, she still bailed my ass out, no questions asked. Her heart is absolutely huge, and I think that is what I love the most about her. She definitely trusts me, and would do pretty much anything I asked, and I am so grateful for that, and extremely careful with it as well.

She really steps up to the plate. Nothing phases her. Well, I shouldn't say that exactly, because she *can* get worked up very easily! Simple things like a bunch of canter poles on the ground can really blow her mind sometimes, it's hilarious. But the things you *think* would typically bother a horse, like having a super awkward jump or crashing through a fence, misreading a cross country fence and almost wearing it as a hat, or us just having a unfortunate moment while schooling where I have a nasty fall, those are the times where Sunny really puts on her big girl panties and really rises to the occasion. She doesn't get frazzled or anxious. I can come back around to the same question where we had problems, and she goes right back at it like a tiger, just as determined as I am to nail it and get it right, with no thoughts to whatever happened moments before. She gives me so much confidence that way, she really buckles down when it counts.

She's not malicious. Some people would automatically assume differently seeing her spaz out and bolt and buck under saddle, but none of it she does to get me off or deliberately try to hurt me. That's the difference. I have ridden horses that wait for you to let your guard down and then will let out a huge buck or slam on the brakes at a fence for no reason, or crow hop or rear because they don't want to work. Years ago, as favor to a friend, I was riding their horse who had learned to curl and slowly duck behind the contact, slam on the brakes, drop his shoulder and spin during rides to try get you off. It was definitely a man made habit, and made me angry every time this horse would try it. I was able to break the horse of the habit after a few rides, but as soon as the owner got on, the horse was instantly back to its old ways. One of those situations where I just had to cut my losses, as the owner wasn't willing to change anything in their riding. THAT kind of stuff I can not stand, just your typical spoiled horse stuff. Shenanigans I can deal with, no problem. When a person has caused a problem I'm a less forgiving. With Sunny it's different. Sunny is Sunny and is going to do her thing regardless, whether it's letting out a celebratory buck in the middle of a dressage test or jumping 1.15m like it's 1.30m. If I can't stay with her, that's MY problem, not hers!!

On the ground is another story, as she can definitely put on a mean bitch face and will test people she doesn't know. I know she would never bite *me*, she knows better, but I can't say that she would be the same with someone else.

15. Favorite picture of your horse

This is still one of my favorites, from last summer. Our first double clear prelim and we ROCKED it!! That chevron was huge as well, almost 5 feet with that brush on it.

Saturday, 14 December 2013

5 Day Challenge Day 2

6. Favorite equestrian book and movie

It took me a good hour of googling to find the books I was thinking of! I had a couple books from the 80's, the Blue Ribbon Series by Chris St. John, back when I was younger, and absolutely LOVED them!! Eventing books were (and still are!) fairly hard to come by, and I liked how these ones didn't have as much silly teenage fluff as a lot of the other books I've read. Would love to track down the whole series!

Another of my current favorites is Finding My Distance-A Year in the Life of a Three Day Event Rider by Julia Wendell. It leaves out nothing, you go through all the ups and downs, victories and hardships right along with her, I really enjoyed it. I've been lending this one to all my horsey friends!

There is one more book that I had as a kid and I have googled and googled and can't for the life of me remember the name! It's also an old eventing novel, a girl and her horse go to a big event after coming back from an accident where her and her horse crashed on a fence at the bottom of a steep hill, one of the guys on the farm had bet her that she couldn't do it or something along those lines. Anyways, the book covers pretty much the whole time she is at this event, and they do well if I remember correctly, even conquering the scary 3 fence combination on cross country set on a steep downhill. If this is ringing a bell for anyone I would love if you let me in on it, haha. Another book I would love to track down again!

ETA: THANK YOU DAWN!!!! It was Three Day Challenge by Joan Weir, also later published under the name Storm Rider.

As far as movies go, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken is definitely up there, along with Sylvester.

7. Most common riding misconceptions

The most obvious one is that "the horse does all the work." Which we all know is FAR from the truth! The other that bugs me is the assumption that anyone who has horses is rich. I've had some very odd/borderline offensive questions from non-horse people about the cost of horse things as well as my personal finances. I find it very funny how some find it appropriate to ask a perfect stranger personal questions about their spending and financial situation!

Also the questions "How much money do you make eventing?" (Um, none.) Always so predictably followed by: "Then why do you do it?" There's basically no chance in hell of explaining this in any sort of sufficient way to someone that's not a horse person.

8. 2 riding strengths and 1 riding weaknesses

One of my strengths is being able to step back and look at things objectively while riding. Most specifically when things go pear shaped. If I fall off or something goes wrong, instead of getting upset or scared I go "Well A, B and C went wrong, and I should have did X, Y and Z instead, so I'm getting right back on to fix that immediately!" I've had some things happen while I'm riding which I'm sure would scare the crap out of a lot of people, but for some reason I can easily push the emotional stuff aside and just carry on.

I guess I could call it a strength, my ability to just go with the flow. I see many riders, especially when jumping, get all flustered and upset if the slightest thing goes wrong or their horse blows a lead or gets an awkward distance in a combination, they will just stop or circle instead of working through and/or correcting the problem. Not everything is going to be perfect everywhere, especially in the show ring, so I think it's very important to be able to push through and just ride what you have at that moment, whether it's ideal or not.

A weakness could be that I don't see distances to jumps very well sometimes. That would be totally fine if I just sat up and rode whatever the horse gives me, but I for some reason I have this annoying habit of tipping my upper body forward when I don't see the distance. This sometimes results in my flailing around in a very awkward and ineffective way, and on occasion I will flail myself clean off the horse, which usually results in some fantastic photos! Definitely not ideal, especially on cross country where the back seat is the place to be!! But I'm working on it!

9. Least favorite thing about horses and/or riding

The financial aspect can be difficult at time. But that comes with the territory, you do what you gotta do, and I know many can relate! I am forever wearing my own jeans until they fall apart, or pushing back getting an oil change on the car because Sunny needs the chiropractor or a new blanket. It's all about priorities, and it can very hard to balance everything sometimes!

10. What do you feed your horse?

My current barn is one of the first places I have boarded where the barn takes care of the feed, not me. I've boarded at many places over the years and have gotten horribly anal about what my horses eat. I just shudder when I think about some places I've been over the years that feed sweet feed only or give all the horses the same scoop of feed twice a day regardless of whether they need it or not!!

Sunny gets free choice hay, timothy with a bit of alfalfa. The barn provides a high fat high fibre complete pellet, and I feed Sunny myself after I ride. Through the winter she basically gets as much pellet as she'll eat after I ride (1 1/2-2 scoops). She stays a bit on the thin side naturally, and I work her fairly hard year round, so we want to gain or maintain over the winter, not lose weight. Otherwise she usually gets about 1/2 scoop a day. No regular supplements at this time.

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

5 Day Challenge Day 1

Going to do a few different things on here so I can keep up with posting! Saw this on a friend's blog and thought it looked fun! No guarantee I will keep up with the 5 days straight thing, but I can try! :)

Day 1

1. Most influential person on your riding

This is a tough question! I didn't have the typical horse experience growing up, I have always been and still am very much a "do it yourself" kind of person, I learned how to ride by reading tons of books and trial and error. I never had that one instructor who I was with forever who helped mold and shape me into the rider I am today. Other than a handful of jumping lessons one spring back when I was about 12, and the very odd coached ride on a random horse here and there, I never really had any sort of actual formal lessons until I attended Olds College in 2003, I was 20. I guess I couldn't have been doing that badly for myself because I was one of the 10 students they chose for the program, but very often I find myself looking at kids and teens and I think "Gosh, imagine how much farther along I would be in my riding if I had had good (heck, ANY!) regular instruction when I was younger!"

I am a big fan of clinics, and I'd have to say that Sandy Alexander has had the biggest impact on my riding, although I definitely don't get to ride with him anywhere near as often as I'd like! He has an amazing natural intuition, I have never met anyone who can watch you ride for 10 minutes and instantly know everything about you. He's very honest and blunt, sometimes to the point some would consider rudeness, and has been known to make riders shed a few tears, but he is 100% bang on about everything he says and does not apologize for it.

Sandy is huge into the psychology side of things as well, he merges both the mental and physical sides of riding and really holds riders accountable for everything. When riding with him you can count on the fact that he will cover ALL the bases, he will go deeper and quickly discover your weaknesses and shortcomings, and help you to improve them. He will break you down and then build you back up, in the best way possible.

I find him very similar in teaching style to George Morris, who I have not yet had the honor of riding with, but someday I hope I do! Both are very honest and blunt, but if you are open and have truly come to learn and try hard, you will walk away with far more knowledge gained than you ever thought possible.

2. Piece of tack you’d love to splurge on

A custom jumping/cross country saddle would no doubt be at the top of my list, but is definitely not in the cards at the moment. Staying a little more practical, a Back On Track mesh sheet will be my next splurge for sure. I have the quick wraps and back warmer for Sunny, and she absolutely loves them, the back warmer works absolute wonders for her tight muscles and has improved her cold back so much. I think she would definitely benefit a lot from a full blanket as well.

3. Top 5 riding playlist

I'm probably a bit behind on this trend. I have never been one of those people who puts on headphones to do things. At home when I'm by myself I'll throw on headphones every once in awhile, but in public it makes me very uncomfortable to be cut off from everything going on around me. I've had a jogger wearing headphones totally unaware run out of a driveway in the country onto the road directly in front of my car, and thank god I managed to narrowly miss her, and she didn't even notice what had happened until I was already half in the ditch and had already passed her by.

There is always a radio playing in the barn though, on various random stations, and certain songs do help me get into a better rhythm while trotting or cantering.

I must add that one of my dreams has always been to compete in the indoor eventing at the Royal Winter Fair, and now with the Royal West starting up in 2014, it's looking like that could possibly be less of a dream and more of a reality! If I ever get the chance to do it, and I know that they usually just play random music during the rides, it would absolutely make my day if they played Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO while I ride:)

4. Most important aspect of your barn?

I will admit that I was a barn hopper for a lot of years. There was a few reasons for it, the main one was that I was (and still am) very much a rider on a budget. I would go to a barn with a indoor arena for the winter, then do self-board somewhere cheaper for the summer. I also never found a real barn that I connected with and actually enjoyed. Many places I've boarded at over the years were the typical barns you hear about, crazy owner/boarders, drama, sub par care, etc. They were fine for a few months but nowhere I had any desire to stay long term. Then I went to my current barn.

Again it was supposed to be just for the winter, but this place was different. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. They really welcomed me in, the lone eventer in a barn of jumpers. I got along great with the BO/coach there, which was surprising after having some bad experiences with a few different instructors. I didn't go to this barn looking for a regular coach, just a place to ride for the winter, so that was a plus. Everything just fit. Sunny seemed a LOT happier there too, she was far more relaxed than she'd been at any previous places. And then when spring came, the time when I would've moved for the summer came and went, and leaving never even crossed my mind.

So definitely the most important aspect is the team atmosphere and camaraderie between everyone. I'd never been in a lesson where the other students were encouraging and cheering you on, and celebrating the little things right alongside you. The great care is definitely a plus as well, the farrier at the barn is fabulous, Sunny has never thrown a shoe after moving there! There are a few things that I wish for here and there, like more space to ride outside the ring for conditioning and trails for hacking, but there are more positives than negatives so I make do!

5. Three winter riding goals

1. Be able to sit the trot *well*. (And ultimately be able to sit a whole dressage test!)

2. Conquer haunches in and perfect our shoulder in, then start half pass.

3. Really get comfortable jumping up to 1.20m. (Riding Sunny's BIG jump!)

And just dressage in general. This is all to go with my goal of moving up to Intermediate in 2014. We have a long ways to go and a lot of things will have to go right for us to get there, but it's all a lot of baby steps along the way!

Sunday, 8 December 2013

The Rest Of The Summer...The Condensed Version!















Here's some pics. Thank god for porter boots!!  photo

Stifle immediately after.  photo

Redneck icing party, haha.  photo

Swollen stifle later that day when we arrived home.  photo

Video stills from my helmet cam.  photo



