Author: Amanda

meme

Ten Questions

Amanda4 Comments

From Viva Carlos, of course.

1. How many pairs of breeches/jods do you own?


4 schooling, 2 show (grey & white), 2 winter. One of those schooling pairs is on its way out (I did throw away the black ones I featured here a week or so ago, sigh), and the other three don’t fit me – they’re a size too small and make me look sausage-y. Ah well. I like my show breeches and looooooove my winter breeches, so that’s something.

2. How many horses have you ridden?


I’m going to guess just over 100, if you truly count all of them – early lessons, summer camps, nose-to-tail trail rides, etc. Since owning Tristan, fewer than 10.

3. How many trainers have you had?


Oof. Trainers, as in I was in their program for a while and I came away substantially improved – four. Three for 2+ years, one for just two short winters but she was fabulous. “People who taught me riding things,” probably closer to 20.

4. How many barns have you ridden at?


Hm. Let’s see: childhood lesson barn, camp barn, barn in France, college barn, three post-college barns in MA, new barn in VT. Not that many, actually! 8 total.

5. What is the name of the horse you consider yourself to have the greatest bond with?


Tristan. No question.

6. What is your favorite show name you’ve ever encountered?


I don’t know about show name, but my favorite show name + barn name combo was a Morgan I knew years ago. Show name: Heza Little Devil. Barn name: Taz.

7. What do you consider your greatest weakness or flaw in riding?


I’m not committed enough, both in the sense that I’m always finding excuses not to really ride (I’ll longe, I’ll groom, I’ll just hack out…) and not to push myself or Tristan hard enough (I’m tired, he’ll break, I don’t have time…)

8. What do you consider to be your greatest strength?


Ground work. I can handle just about any horse doing just about anything on the ground and come out of it positively. I’m not saying I like to do that, but I have handled my fair share of assholes.

9. Have you ever leased a horse?


Yes. During and just after college: Sly. 

10. What is the name of the first horse you rode?

Not counting, say, pony rides at the state fair: Thistle. Isn’t that a great name? He was a lesson pony extraordinaire.
blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Marguerite Henry Readalong Blog Hop: Poll Results!

Amanda1 Comment

The results are in!

We’ll read King of the Wind, Henry’s Newberry Award-winning story about the origins of the Godolphin Arabian, one of the founding stallions of the Thoroughbred breed.
You can buy it new here on Amazon, used here on Half.com, or check it out from your local library.
Start reading! I’ll post here on Friday, November 7 with my review, and the blog hop link code. 
blanketing · smartpak · there's an app for that

Product Review: Smartpak’s SmartBlanket App

Amanda10 Comments

Eventing Nation had a post about the new SmartBlanket app yesterday, and being that I am in the midst of fussing about Tristan’s blanketing options, I downloaded it instantly and spent some time playing with it.

The app purports to offer tips about blanketing, based on a series of customizable questions about your horse and your location. You can add multiple horses later on.
So here’s Tristan’s information in the add-a-horse phase. I liked the questions they asked, actually, and there were lots of options in each section. One option under clipping style was “show coat,” which took me a while to figure out – they mean clipped short but not all the way down to the skin. I’ve never seen a horse clipped like that, but I guess anything is possible!
Here’s the thinking screen. That little blue arrow circles the horse. Kind of fun. It made this thinking screen anytime I changed a setting for Tristan. It didn’t last terribly long – a second, two or three at the most. I’ve waited much longer for apps to load!
Ta-da! Here’s Tristan’s recommendations. I really like that they gave separate recommendations for night versus day, keeping in mind that it would be colder overnight. They also took into account the rain – if you scroll down to days when there’s no rain predicted, it suggested I leave him with no blanket.
I monkeyed back and forth with the settings quite a bit – pretending he was all the way clipped, partially clipped, overweight, underweight, etc. I got it to tell me he should go totally naked all the way up to a medium weight turnout overnight, depending on the settings. The little “i” next to each blanket type will lead you to more information, telling you what exactly they mean by each blanket.
It’s easy to adjust the settings: see the horse head in the upper right-hand corner? Tap on that and it gives you a list of horses you have saved. Then you tap on the horse’s name and it brings you back to the information screen that I showed above. You can just adjust things from there, save them, and then it will recalculate everything.
In general, I was pleasantly surprised to see this app erred on the conservative side for blanketing. I admit, I was expecting it to recommend all the blankets! all the time! and it definitely didn’t. For example, on the night when it recommended just a turnout sheet for Tristan, he would probably wear a stable sheet + turnout sheet, or a cooler + turnout sheet. Yesterday during the day, he was actually wearing a stable blanket + turnout sheet. This year is the first year he’s being blanketed that aggressively, though – remember, he colicked from the cold just a few short weeks ago. Any other year these recommendations actually would’ve been spot on, or perhaps a titch more than he needed.
Moral of the story? If you are really new to blanketing, or new to your horse, and need some rough guidance, this actually works really well! I love the updated weather information, I love the customizable features, I love that it saves multiple horses. If you need some more information to take in while considering your decision (if you’re like me and can’t get enough data points for neurotic things like this) it’s a great thing to have around.
I think its recommendations are a lot like what an old trainer of mine used to say about Pony Club stuff: you will always be okay following their rules, but sometimes there’s a better way to do things. It’s a good baseline.
Another thing about which I was pleasantly surprised: it didn’t push the Smartpak brand sheets too much at all. I didn’t really even notice too much brand creep. Just the facts, ma’am.
The last pieces of the app were interesting, but not terribly useful for me, honestly. 
Again: if you’re new to blanketing, or new to blanketing a particular horse, I think some of the fit tips, how to measure, and blanket type glossary information would be really useful. I read through a lot of it and it’s good, solid information. I even learned some things I’d never heard of before: apparently a rain sheet is something even more specialized than just a waterproof turnout. HUH!
If you find yourself in any of the situations I listed above – new to blanketing, new to blanketing a particular horse, or in need of/curious about extra data points for your own blanketing – I’d recommend this app. If you’re a longtime, confident blanketer with a horse you know well, I’d probably skip it.
Anyone else download it and play with it? What do you think?
blanketing · longeing

Monday Morning Longeing

Amanda4 Comments

After a short hack out on Sunday –

hold please, I need to complain.

AFTER A SHORT HACK IN THE SNOW ON SUNDAY. YES, SNOW. NO, IT DIDN’T STICK AND IT WAS ONLY SPORADIC AND FOR 10 MINUTES. IT STILL COUNTS.

Anyway. After a short hack out on Sunday, Monday was for longeing, for a couple of reasons: I didn’t have all day to tack up and go through a lengthy warmup for a dressage school, I didn’t really want the kind of work that a dressage school promised, and I wanted to get back in to using the chambon and the resistance band.

(Side note, someone on COTH linked to my original post about my homemade resistance band and it has taken off in the last few days. Kind of cool!)

I was very glad I had chosen longeing, because I got a nice, clear progression. He started off a bit stiff when loose, and chose to canter for a while instead of trotting. I let him, because it was a nice, soft, semi-balanced canter, not careening around, and if that’s how he wanted to warm up, I was ok with it.

After 15 minutes of warming up, I put the chambon and resistance band on. Initially, he fussed about them both, but within a minute or two he actually settled in to the work nicely. He had some lovely, LOVELY soft, stretchy work, especially to the right. Huge difference in length of stride and the way he used his body. I worked him for another 10-15 minutes, and then put him away in his wool dress sheet – he was the teensiest bit warm, and I wanted him to cool out but not get cold quickly, especially since the temperature has plummeted 40 degrees in the last 2 days.

I’m still learning and feeling my way through how to handle and manage him with blankets and the winter coat. When I got to the barn he was wearing his quilted stable blanket with turnout sheet over it, though it was about 35. I felt under the blanket and he felt cozy – not too warm at all. Good!

After a little while of putting away tack, I put his blanket and sheet back on and out he went. I scattered two flakes of hay all over his dry lot so he’d move around a bit, and he was happy as a clam when I left.

PS – Don’t forget to vote in the Marguerite Henry Readalong poll! So far, King of the Wind is handily in the lead; add your vote for that to ensure its victory or pick another book.

PPS – Giveaway alert! Check out Equestrian at Hart for a Spreadshirt custom t-shirt giveaway.

mustangs · rescue

Rescuing Wild Mustangs in Maine

Amanda1 Comment

Ten years ago, I graduated from college and moved to southern Maine to live with family for the summer. Lacking in funds but in need of horse time, I followed my aunt’s recommendation and called up Ever After Mustang Rescue and offered myself as a volunteer. I had some rescue experience, and a decent amount of horse experience.

I met Mona Jerome on the first day and quickly learned that she was one of the most dedicated, intuitive horsewomen I had ever seen. She had an eye and a quietness about her that was truly extraordinary. Any ground handling and training skills I have today are due to the summer I spent under her tutelage.

Midway through that summer, I was given a horse nicknamed “Big Red” as a training project. I taught him to stand to be groomed, pick up his feet, accept a saddle, and gave him half a dozen rides under saddle. When I left Maine for my job in Vermont that fall, I missed him desperately.

The rest, as they say, is history. Mona and her husband Brad hauled my new horse – renamed Tristan – to me on January 2 and my adventure began.

I tell you this because I recently came across a wonderful article about Mona and her work, and I wanted to share a little bit of my background with her.

Enjoy the article: Rescuing Wild Mustangs in Maine

blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Poll: Which Marguerite Henry Book Should We Read First?

Amanda1 Comment

I got enough positive responses to my poll about a Marguerite Henry readalong that I’m going to go ahead and do it. So, here’s a poll about which book we should read! Again, the idea is that everyone reads the book and publishes their review as part of the blog hop, on or around the same date. We’ll do this a few times for different books if it works out.


Here’s my proposed timeline:

October 22: Poll closes
October 23: Announcement of winner, start reading!
November 7: Blog hop post here with my review

product review · puppy

Product Review: Four reasons I love Chewy.com, plus my favorite dog toys & accessories to buy there

Amanda2 Comments

First things first: this is not a horse-related review. Not obviously, anyway.

However, many of us who have horses also have other pets – dogs and cats particularly. Hannah first turned me on to chewy.com when we got our new puppy, and after my first order or two I have become an obsessed devotee.

Link here: chewy.com. Please know that the following is not endorsed in any way. I just love them!

First: price. Everything on Chewy is dramatically better priced than I’ve been able to find it ANYWHERE else. Truly, anywhere. Food, toys, necessities like poop bags – you name it, I guarantee it will be better than even the sales price at Petco or Petsmart.

Second: selection. I have only missed one or two things on Chewy, and they were in the nature of random/obscure things, anyway. Other than that, whenever I’ve gone looking for a new toy, new type of accessory, you name it, it’s there. That includes some of the more specific prescription and/or natural food out there.

Third: convenience. Wow, is it easy to just click a few buttons and have new food arrive, with a few bully sticks and new poop bags to round out the order. It’s so easy and so convenient I’ve only had to stop at a local pet store to pick up new food once, and that was after two solid weeks of major fail on my part.

Fourth: customer service. The BEST. Anything over $49 is two day shipping, which feels like it’s immediate. One bag of food for Arya hits that low bar. One bag of food for the cat, plus one or two toys for Arya, and we’re there. Then it’s on my front porch. Unboxing days are the best: the cat loves the boxes, Arya is excited about her new toys, I’m thrilled I don’t have to carry home 30lbs of dog food, everybody wins! They also sent a really nice note saying they hoped we were enjoying our new toys & treats after my first order, and I’ve heard phenomenal things from people who have called them up to discuss options.

Here are a few of my favorite things I’ve bought at Chewy.

Busy Buddy Tug a Jug Toy

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. We use this daily, sometimes three times a day. Whenever we leave Arya home alone she gets food in this; whenever we need her distracted while we’re eating dinner, this is how we feed her. It had a bit of a learning curve but now she loves it and she’ll sometimes bring it over to us to indicate that she is starving and has never been fed, ever. It keeps her mentally busy, keeps her from totally inhaling her food, and is a great distraction when we need one – 1 cup of food (which fits easily in the large size) takes her about 20 minutes to get out entirely.

KONG AirDog Squeakair Balls

Does your dog love squeaky toys? These are the absolute very best squeaky toys. Arya will run around just squeaking them. She also loves a tennis ball – she shoves them around with her nose and then pounces with her front paws. (Definitely half Boxer…)

Prairie Dog Elk Antler Splits Dog Chews

Yes, these run small. The X-Large is just about big enough for Arya, at 40lbs, so with a bigger dog you might want to find a different brand. But it’s been one of the longest-lasting, most substantial, tastiest chew toys for her. She’s what you would call a power chewer, with a solid jaw and a habit of shredding most things very quickly. She goes on and off on this thing but loves it when she’s “on”. She has some un-split ones but doesn’t like them as much – having the marrow exposed is a definitely plus.

Charlee Bear Turkey Liver & Cranberries Flavor Dog Treats

These are great low-calorie training treats. They’re our basic reward treat. I like that they’re made in the USA (a must for all her food items), dry (no gross hands!), and  you get approximation a million of them in one package. They’re also more on the natural end of dog treats: no random preservatives. Just basic ingredients. Arya likes the Turkey/Cranberry flavor the best.

Kyjen Outward Hound Blue Port A Bowl

I love this thing. I keep one in my car and we have one in the hiking bag. I’ll admit: I fussed about buying one for a while. I figured I’d just keep an old tupperware in the car that she could drink from. But that tupperware got grungy, it took up space, blah blah. For $5, this is rugged, collapses easily, and oh so convenient.

Earth Rated PoopBags Refill Case, 900 bags

We live in a suburban area, and even when we’re out hiking, we carry poop bags so we can carry out. These are hands down my favorite poop bags for a bunch of reasons. The dispenser has a clip that means it lives on Arya’s leash at all times. The plastic they’re made out of is recycled AND formulated to degrade far more quickly than other plastic (in as little as 24 months!), AND they come wrapped around a recyclable cardboard core. We got through one or two rolls a week. $35 for a 900 roll case is a little more than a year’s worth of poop bags. SUCH a good price, so worth it to know we won’t run out! And a “case” isn’t actually huge; it fits easily under the kitchen sink, and came with a few extra dispensers that I’ve distributed to cars, travel bags, etc.
blog roundup

Weekly Blog Roundup

Amanda6 Comments

Here’s a quick selection of some interesting blog posts over the last week.

PS of Sweden Bridle: First Impressions from The $900 Facebook Pony
You guys, this is the weirdest bridle I have ever seen. I am utterly fascinated. Check it out!

Candy Corn, the Vegetable of Candy from Guinness on Tap
I kind of love this. Horses like the weirdest things sometimes. I’ve never tried giving Tristan a candy corn (mostly because I don’t like them, and never have them around) but I have tried feeding him all sorts of other weird things and his reactions are often hilarious.

You’re Invited to a Horse Bloggers Weekend from She Moved to Texas
This sounds amaaaaaaazing! There’s zero chance that I can go, and I’m super jealous. Have fun, y’all! (Isn’t that what they say in the south?)

On Splints from Boots and Saddles
Hands-down the best explanation of a splint I’ve ever seen, complete with clever and funny cartoons.