Author: Amanda

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Different Worlds: Adult Camp at the Barn

Amanda2 Comments

It is adult camp week at the barn, and one of those times of year when I realize that despite living in a sleepy corner of Vermont, I actually board at a high-powered dressage barn. (The other times include when they load the rig to go to Wellington for the winter, and the going-away party for same.)

The adult campers are generally lovely people, and they look like they’re having a ton of fun! That said, they are mostly (though not all) of the socioeconomic background that means they can take a week with their horse to drive to Vermont for a pricey adult horse camp. They are all impeccably put together and have very nice horses and I usually spend the week sort of sneaking around the edges. My inner rebel often feels the need to ride in ratty breeches, half-chaps, Ariat sneakers, and bareback all week.

Last night, I took Tris out for a relatively short field hack, mixing it up with some short stretches of trot. (Side note: Endomondo said we topped out at 20mph last night, which seems absolutely absurd unless it was sensitive enough to track the swing of my arm while we trotted up the big hill?)

When I brought him out to the wash stall to hose him off for a minute or two, I saw two adult camp riders leaning over one’s cell phone and overheard the following statement, which I swear to you I am repeating verbatim:

“So that’s our house in Montauk…ignore the construction, we’re having some updates done.”

Yeah.

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Ch-Ch-Changes: Introducing Bel Joeor

Amanda4 Comments

One big change, one small change.

First: I’m changing the blog title. I’ve never been wild with “An Eventful Life.” It was a bit generic, a bit boring-punny instead of clever-punny, and let’s face it: my life is just not all that exciting, and I prefer it that way.

New title: Bel Joeor

Bel Joeor comes from Tristan’s show name, which is “Tristan’s Bel Joeor.” It means beautiful player. In one early French telling of the legend of Tristan, his horse’s name is Bel Joeor. (More about Tristan’s renaming here.)

I’m also putting a label on a gradual shift that I’ve been doing away from eventing. It’s a little bit sadness at the way the sport is going, a little bit unsuitable horse, a little bit lack of funding, a little bit current location and circumstances. I’ve always been interested in all the varieties of horse + human, not just one sport, so it was time this blog officially represented that.

I was bored with the standard Blogspot template, so I tinkered around a little bit. I stuck with one of their layouts + color schemes, because my artistic eye is wholly nonexistent, but I did put together a header. I’d talked about doing this before, but finally got around to it.

So if you visit the blog’s main page, you’ll now see some summery pictures of us out and about. I plan to rotate them with the seasons.

adventures with the vet · eye problems

Tristan’s Eye Problems

Amanda1 Comment

As I’ve posted before, it’s not unusual for Tristan’s eyes to get weepy and itchy during the summer. He’s had that challenge for as long as I’ve owned him.

This summer, however, we just can’t keep on top of it. Our most recent bout meant a vet call; he got his tear ducts flushed, went on oral antihistamines, got steroid ointment in both eyes, and had an initial dose of banamine to get the swelling down.

About 10 days after that vet visit, his left eye started getting goopy and a little swollen again. Back on the oral antihistamines he went, and we started up regular flushing with saline solution. That was last Tuesday. Then he ran out of the oral antihistamines and the vet is having some trouble getting him more, so he went on a lower-powered one that the barn had around as a stop-gap.

Here’s about what it looks like right now; photo taken on Thursday after flushing.
He’s now wearing his fly mask 24/7, and has been switched back to the last few bales of the old hay. He actually seems to be making some progress on that regimen. The swelling is down slightly, as is the discharge. We’ve actually eased off on the regular saline flushes, which is happier for all concerned as he is a jackass about them. (I can’t really blame him, honestly.) I’m examining the eye closely on a regular basis and the red irritation is easing. There’s never been the slightest sign of cloudiness or any problems with the eye itself, both per the vet and my own continued monitoring.
The only thing I can think is that the Cushing’s is depressing his immune system and leaving him more susceptible to eye problems. Probably he gets them slightly irritated from his normal allergies, and then rubs and rubs to itch them, and then escalates the problem. Hopefully as he settles in with the medication his own body will start to fight back a little better.

blog hop · clothing · stupid human tricks

Blog Hop: Horse Clothes

Amanda1 Comment

I am so very far behind in this blog hop that I totally missed the official code for it, but I was folding laundry the other day and thought “self, you have a really embarrassing number of horse-related shirts, and you need to share that with the internet.”

Aside: does anyone else mentally separate clothes into work clothes, barn clothes, civilian clothes? I think I wear non-work, non-barn clothes mayyyybe once a week. Possibly I need a life.

Fancy technical shirts for riding on days when I need to dress up. On the left, from the Bromont CCI3*, which I’ve blogged about before here; on the right, from my old barn.

Get it? I ride a mustang? There are a surprisingly number of mustang-the-car themed shirts and other gimmicky things that I feel tempted to own.

The two left I got at an Equine Affaire; the right suits my mood sometimes…

One of my all-time favorites, a gift from a dear friend, and a discontinued design on Threadless. The ponies have, from left to right, a stick of dynamite and a six shooter on their butts.

Remember when Life is Good made equestrian t-shirts? This is still a favorite of mine. I deeply regret not getting the eventing & dressage ones when they still made them. (If you can’t read, it says “Hold Your Horses” and the little stick figure is giving the horse a hug.)

Sorry this picture came out so poorly, but: Rolex! I picked this up for, no joke, $12 at the clearance tent on the way out after showjumping. It’s a men’s small, and has only fairly recently shrunk with washing to look not ridiculous on me. It was the only t-shirt I saw all that weekend in my colors (gray & black) and I had to have it.

Volunteering t-shirts! Left and right are Vermont Dressage Days from different years (so in love with the new one I got this year, on the right!). Center is King Oak; for all the many times I’ve volunteered for them I usually take pens. This is the only t-shirt I ever took.

College stuff. I went to college in Vermont. T-shirts would not cut it. LL Bean quarter zip fleece on the left, LL bean insulated jacket on the right. These are both approaching 12 years old and I wear them constantly and I am probably going to have a small breakdown when they finally wear out. I should call up my old coach and have her put me on the next order…
I think I am missing one of the other My Little Pony t-shirts, but you get the idea. 

endomondo · long slow distance · road hacking

Long[er] Slow Distance

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Starting to push the boundaries a little. Tris recovered just fine after this ride too; pulse of 50 while eating his post-ride hay. Probably 75% of this ride was on grassy hills, and the remaining 25% on the road. He started off slow like molasses, but the last mile was a bit of a faster walk. We had one very short spurt of trot toward the end just to see what he would think, and he thought he wanted to GO HOME, NOW, so I posted very defensively and let him trot huge for 50 yards or so, then brought him back before he grabbed the bit and just went.

So this was Thursday night; I followed it up on Friday night with 12 minute of longeing. Yes. 12. I got stuck late at work and then realized I did not have nearly as much time as I thought I did to get back in to town to meet the fiance for our new cricket class. I threw myself a small pity party, and then decided that some work was better than no work, slapped a longe line on Tristan’s halter, and did 3 minutes of walk and 3 minutes of trot each way.
The plan for Saturday night is about 2 miles, and then projecting the week ahead to do 2 more long rides like this one, interspersed with longeing. Sunday he gets up to his full dose of pergolide, and I’ll start scrutinizing his overall demeanor and recovery even more closely.

longeing

Longeing Regimen

Amanda3 Comments

In addition to Tristan’s long slow distance hill rides, I’ve been longeing 1-2 days a week.

Whole lotta gear. Half pad, surcingle, elastic thingy, longe line, chambon, side reins.

Typically we start out with a walk both directions with the chambon and the elastic thingy. 
When I first started back up with the longeing, I tried out the side reins, to see if they worked for him now that he had a better idea of self-carriage.
NOPE. I don’t have pictures, but he basically inverted his neck and braced against them and never once softened and in fact was clearly building strength in all the wrong ways. Back to the tack box, side reins.
I do really like the chambon, though. It’s firm but gentle, and it reinforces the things I want, namely, don’t keep your head at a 90 degree angle to your body. It does not do anything about his nose, simply encourages a lowered poll.
Clearly we have some work to do, both on my photography skills and on his tendency to fall on the forehand in the trot when I’m not nagging every step.
See what I mean about the chambon, though? He is, yes, a bit on the forehand but he’s actually doing a little bit of coming up through his back thanks to not having his ears in the rafters.

All’s well that ends well!
polls

Poll Results

Amanda4 Comments

Last week, I posted that I was starting to ride in half chaps more and more often, and asked you all what you chose to ride in. The poll closed yesterday, and the results?

Surprisingly split, with an edge toward half chaps. Thank you all for participating! I’ll have the next one up soon.