Author: Amanda

book review

Book Review: The Black Stallion’s Sulky Colt

Amanda3 Comments

The Black Stallion’s Sulky Colt
Walter Farley

Oh, boy. I bought this for $2 at a used book store because of the cover: I couldn’t resist. Hands-down my favorite cover era for the Black Stallion books. I had vaguely positive memories of The Blood Bay Colt and Jimmy and Tom and ever-so-vague memories of this book, so this would be good, right?

Wrong. Oh, it wasn’t bad, in the way of that Island Stallion book with the aliens (YES REALLY), but nor was it a Black Stallion and Satan, or The Black Stallion’s Filly, either.

Let me summarize this book for you.

Tom is an asshole.
Alec is an asshole.
Henry is an asshole.
Jimmy is an asshole.
Bonfire puts up with them all.

So let me back up. This book picks up after the storyline of The Blood Bay Colt. Bonfire, the second son of the Black (out of a harness mare named Volo Queen, because why not breed your nutjob mystery stallion to a Standardbred) has moved from the county fair circuit to the big time, and is prepping for the Hambletonian. One night, Alec Ramsay decides to go see Bonfire race; it just so happens that during the race he watches, Bonfire gets into a bad wreck. Thereafter, Bonfire is nervous and jumpy and seemingly ruined for harness racing.

If you’e ever read a single Black Stallion book, you don’t need me to tell you what happens next. If you haven’t, know that Alec takes over the reins and mysteriously a) is instantly an expert sulky driver and b) gets his driving license by magic after Tom is injured. Despite unexplained and bizarre prejudices against harness racing, Henry Dailey arrives on scene to save the day. Alec and Henry help Bonfire overcome his (um, totally justified) fear, thanks to a clever mechanical hood & blinker arrangement, and then win the Hambletonian. Shocking, right? (Yeah, no.)

Things that annoyed me about this book:
– all the characters who were not horses
– Henry’s bizarro prejudices
– the way Alec and Henry came into the harness racing world and never asked anyone to explain their training techniques, simply forged ahead with their own and were of course miraculously succesful
– the deification of Alec and Henry
– how poor Tom was basically turned into a demon for plot purposes
– how horrible everyone was to the horses, while outwardly talking about being gentle and easing them along and blah blah

Things that I really liked about this book:
– Walter Farley writes a racing scene second to none; all of Bonfire’s races were genuinely exciting and tense
– quirky horse antics! I never get tired of quirky horse antics in these books
– it was a short, straightforward story told relatively well

Anyone else read this one? Thoughts?

nutrition (human)

What makes a good barn snack?

Amanda10 Comments

If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly running from place to place in your life, and trying to make good choices in between. One of the choices I struggle with almost constantly is the right barn snack. I’m not necessarily talking about snacks at the barn, but rather what to eat when you’re on your way to or from the barn. That boring, dead time in my commute – which always falls at the end of a long workday or after a tiring ride – is a danger zone when it comes to fast food.

So, what do you snack on when you’re driving to the barn?

Here are a few things that have worked for me consistently.

Luna Protein Bars

I used to looooooove the regular Luna bars, too. Then I got so I could only eat a few kinds of them. Then the idea of them made me kind of nauseated. Luckily, Luna came out with these protein bars about the time I ran out of regular bar flavors that I could eat. Are protein bars basically slightly healthier candy bars? Probably. Do they fill me up with halfway decent ingredients for fewer calories than a Snickers? Yes! The catch to these: they are on the expensive side (just over $1 a bar if you buy in bulk, as I always do) and they melt in the summer. My favorites are the chocolate cherry almond and the chocolate chip cookie dough.

GoGo Squeez Applesauce

Worst product name ever, or worst product name ever? Either way, these hit the spot beautifully. I bought them originally as snacks for the Vermont Moonlight ride and they have stuck around and been a great pick me up while hiking, on the way to the barn, etc. The bonus for me is that I really can’t handle straight applesauce unless it’s homemade, so the mixed fruit flavors are outstanding. I like the Apple Mango and Apple Berry the best. They’re less expensive at about $0.50 each, even retail. The catch here is that they’re not huge, and if you have any blood sugar problems these won’t help you balance those out.

Banana Bread

Something about banana bread is just perfect barn snack food for me. I can go through a whole loaf in just a few days. It’s filling, semi-healthy, and, since it’s homemade, cheap. Usually two slices is plenty for me to go back and forth. I usually make mine with whole wheat flour, since banana bread is flavorful and solid enough that it can take the heavier, nuttier nature of whole wheat without any real changes.

Fiber or Cereal Bars

I’ve consistently liked these for a few years now. They make good quick snacks, though they’re not terribly filling. They’re good in a pinch. The caveat here is to always buy name brand, unfortunately, since most store brand knock-offs have high fructose corn syrup and that is a no-go for my gout. Their drawback is that they crush easily. These aren’t the toss them in your bag and go kind of snack.

Those are probably the things I most consistently keep in my car or my tack trunk to snack on. What do you eat?

nutrition

THANK YOU to the blogosphere!

AmandaLeave a comment

A big, huge thank you to everyone who commented and weighed in on the question of graining + riding. Consensus seems to be that it really won’t hurt either way, but most of us wait anyway. I’m glad I’m not too much of an outlier.

A commenter also pointed to the existence of another blog post giving some of the great scientific background to the conversation, from Team Flying Solo, which I have to apologize out; it actually sparked my thinking on the topic and led to my post, but I failed to acknowledge its existence.

So here, go and read and get some more background: Rocket Fuel & Other Stories

nutrition

Should you wait to ride after grain?

Amanda10 Comments

Here’s a problem I’ve been struggling with on and off for quite a while now.

The barn feeds hay at 4pm, then grains at 5pm. If everything is going right for me, I get to the barn right around 5pm. Some days right before they get grain; some days after.

It’s the days after that concern me. If I get there and he’s in the midst of his grain – he gets just under 2lb per feeding now – my rule of thumb is to wait a solid hour. And then I still worry. A lot. Definitely way more than I should.

Typically, if I’m riding earlier in the afternoon, the rule is to hold grain until he has completely cooled out. I’m not just talking returning to a resting heart rate – I’m talking dry & cool.

I have no problem with him eating forage while sweaty/hot, or pulling him off a pile of hay to ride. (The only exception is if he’s genuinely so hot I want him to keep walking to cool, and I try not to work him that hard anyway. See above re: worry.)

Does anyone else have this timing problem? I believe science has officially said that I can grain my horse whenever I want in relation to riding, but I can’t get ride of the nagging worry. Too much Pony Club, maybe.

What do you do?

handwalking

Handwalking Hills in the Heat

Amanda2 Comments

Vermont has been getting a nearly record heat wave these last few days, which will continue through Friday. Yesterday was the peak. Tristan seemed to handle it quite nicely, thankfully, not sweating standing around – I was worried enough to text the barn manager, who told me to quit worrying.

However, I got to the barn and it was still 75. And I’d fussed on the way there about how I wasn’t getting enough exercise personally.

Solution: put a halter on him and march alongside him.

We did just under two miles of road walking together, down a 1/2 mile spur and then 1/4 of a mile up a steep grade of dirt road. Tris would rather not have done the hill part, though after a few minutes of road walking he seemed to shrug and accept that this is what his silly human had him doing for the evening.

I felt good about the work he did and the way I was able to encourage more march in hand. He blew out and farted and was even licking and chewing a little bit, so his body eased into the work as well. I also felt good about my own exercise goals, really feeling like I’d gotten in more movement than I would have otherwise. Win-win!

dressage

Hillwork and Dressage Rides

AmandaLeave a comment

I was glad to see when I got on last night that my theory about Tristan’s hind end being a little sore as the cause of his tripping/stumbling was correct. He still stumbled a little bit, but it felt more like wobbly weakness and being sooooooooo behind the leg rather than the hind end wonkiness of a few days ago. Whew.

Last night, we started off with a walk around the big field on a loose rein: a mile in about 20 minutes, steady up and down the hill. I’m starting to think that heading straight downhill is not the best way to warm up, but we have so many hills that I’m not sure what else to do. Walking circles around the outdoor, then hillwork, then a dressage school? Boooooring. But perhaps necessary.

I then transitioned to more work in the fancy dressage ring. I worked on his focus and steadiness. mostly, keeping him even in the bridle and focused on me. He Did Not Want to play for the first 10 minutes, flipping his head all around, and either rushing forward or dragging his feet (metaphorically, not literally). Fuss, fuss, fuss. I kept at it, and eventually got some nice even forward trot out of him. It wasn’t exactly self-carriage or filling up the outside rein, but I’ll take it.

One feature of riding in the outdoor is a hint of barn sourness: he goes MUCH faster toward the barn than away from it. Making the turn away from the barn back down the other long side is a maddening few strides of laying down the law. The first few are always ugly, and then last night I worked hard on my own communication, completely closing the outside aids and not letting him duck out at all.

We did a little bit of canter, and what we did I was really, really happy with. I tried to focus on quality, not quantity, and got some nice uphill transitions and then worked hard on keeping a very rambunctious canter controlled through my seat and legs, not my hands. I felt solid and secure and was thrilled with the progress we made even through three short 20m circles of canter.

Today, we’re getting some kind of last gasp indian summer weather: it might get into the 70s. So probably we will just walk and walk without real work, since I bet he’ll even be sweaty under his winter coat while he’s just hanging out.

blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Blog Hop Idea: Marguerite Henry Readalong

Amanda6 Comments

I was happy to see how many people liked my review of Black Gold, and had fond memories of reading Marguerite Henry books. I’ve been looking over my collection of horse books for the last few days, thinking how many other great books she wrote.

I thought it might be fun to host a blog hop readalong of Marguerite Henry books. She wrote, apparently, 16 of them, which actually seems like a small number now that I see it in print!

I have one question – well two questions.

First, would anyone actually participate?

Second, should I do it so that you pick whatever Marguerite Henry book you want and then say 2 weeks later post a review?

Or should we all vote on a particular book to read, and do that 3 or 4 times?

So, a poll. Comment and let me know if you’d be interested in doing these, and vote in the poll to tell me how you think we should run it.

dressage · showing · winter

The Great Migration

Amanda2 Comments
Trainer left for Florida yesterday. This picture is from the first set of horses leaving on Friday, who are shipped commercially in the huge shiny trailer you can see behind trainer’s four horse.
I’m always torn about this annual migration. On the one hand: it’s really sad to see everyone go, and it means that winter is well and truly on the way. I really like my trainer and her assistant trainer, and they always have great working students. I miss seeing horses in really high level work, every day, and there’s a fun buzz of activity around.
On the other hand, there’s a soft calming quiet that settles in once the “show barn horses” head to Florida. Our barn is only about 2/3 full during the winter, and it feels cozier and smaller. There’s less to worry about in terms of activity – all the dogs, all the horses going every which way, always hunting out the right parking spot. It goes from being a barn chock-full of fancy horses to being a barn of lesson horses with quirky, wonderful personalities. Some of them are very fancy, too, but I just feel like I fit in better with the quirky horses.
Does anyone else have a barn that empties – or fills – over the winter? Anyone else’s barn winter in Florida or elsewhere?

dressage · longeing · stupid human tricks

Why Blogs Are Useful

Amanda3 Comments

I woke up Saturday morning thinking about the way Tristan wobbled downhill on Friday night. I didn’t like it. I kept mulling it over and over again, remembering the feel of it. I remembered that he felt okay, strong and fresh even, on the flat and on gentle inclines.

Then I was skimming back over my blog and I re-read my Thursday night post about longeing on the circle of death, and a light bulb went off.

I overworked him a bit on Thursday. All those poles worked his hocks and his stifles and gaskins, and he was too sore/tired to balance himself properly going downhill. The work we did in the dressage ring – steady, rhythmic, workmanlike but not spectacular – was just what he needed to stretch through there.

Ever feel like you’re constantly having revelations just a little bit too late to actually help? Yeah. I wish I’d given him a little bute Thursday night. Still, I’m glad to have an explanation rather than worrying. I was actually flirting with the idea of having the vet out to do a lameness eval.