Blanket Sewing Adventures

A few weeks ago in my "shopping spree" I had mentioned that I ordered stuff to make some changes to Penn's SmartPak Ultimate Turnout Hoods because he has a new best friend who undresses him.

2" by 10yd roll of Nylon $16.20

1 pack of 10 Rubber keepers - $1.95

2 sets of Surcingle Clips, $2.50 each

4 Replacement Clips, $1.69 each (PLUS $7.95 shipping...)

Basically, the hoods are great. They're super indestructible (I'm sure Penn's hoods will now rip and die). What they are not is discouraging to extreme tactile nosed horses.

A simple velcro closure is nothing for Penn's new friend Teddy. Teddy has Penn's hood off in minutes each morning and it only stays off the ground because of a single metal clip attaching it to the body blanket at the whithers.

Super long ELASTIC and velcro straps for 2 of the 3 hood-to-body connections.
The dirt is from where I tied knots in the elastic to shorten the damn straps, which ended up not being short enough to prevent gaping between the hood and body blanket. We would pull the knot through the D-ring, then shove the velcro through the D-ring AGAIN and velcro it to itself around the knot.

I got most of the pieces in the mail just before I left for my last set of lessons with GP Trainer, so I was off to the sewing races!

This poor machine was suffering greatly by the end.

I started with the light weight hood because it was cold outside and Penn didn't need it.

First thing I did was tape off everything to about where I wanted it. The goal was to convert the existing velcro straps into surcingle hook straps with a small amount of velcro leftover. I suppose I could have sewn an inch wide strip of nylon to the velcro, then sewn a D-ring onto the hood to do a snap clip instead, but I still like the look of this better. The clip and D-ring would have allowed the hood to still be opened because I think Teddy would still be able to tug on the velcro and separate it... even if the clip held the hood wrapped around Penn's neck.

Cut 6 to 8" lengths of nylon from the 10yd roll and tape it together. Well planned sewing.

Mixed with VERY rusty sewing skills that are very obvious because I couldn't get gray heavy duty thread from the local craft store (and I was unwilling to switch brands of thread when I knew this brand would hold up to heavy pony use).

Sewing the existing velcro to itself proved to be quite difficult. This sewing machine has managed vinyl layers for my trailer's new butt and chest bar padding, but it had a tough time with these because it was so thick when folded over.

No X's for these- I wasn't even able to get a second row of stitching on one- so I ran the machine forward and back many many times, and then sewed the tape right in where I couldn't pull it out.

It was easy to sew the new straps to the hood.

OMG the poor sewing skills. I was having trouble maneuvering the hood under the machine and making straight lines, and getting the right speed... sigh.

But the end result was very securely fastened, if a little ugly. So... success?

Light hood = mostly done. (still had the hood-to-body attachments left)

I did the medium weight hood later in the week (I traded hoods at the barn)... which is where things took a turn for the worse for my sewing machine. I got the new nylon pieces sewn up nicely this time (yay!), opting to skip the X in favor of sewing the square twice because it made for a cluttered final look (or it could be my poor sewing skills, one or the other).

I had the hardest time getting the surcingle buckles sewn onto the existing velcro. The machine did one doubled over strap, but towards the end was making terrible clunking noises and stitches started missing. It just wouldn't for the second. On try 4 or 5, I ended up getting about a centimeter's worth of good solid stitches, and then a couple random stitches further across the strap, so I called that good enough. I tied the ends of the thread to each other and around the velcro to make it work. I could tug on it pretty hard and it still felt quite solid. I resolved to make this work and have a blanket repair shop put in some solid stitches for me later.

I had a small bit of trouble getting the new nylon pieces attached to the hood, but I got it done and it looked much better than the first time around!

The new straps look better! But you can see where I had to give up on the old one. It was just like having Tim Gunn telling me, "Make it work!" in the final hour on Project Runway... Except this is Project Pony?

Of course the actual snap clips I ordered from Dover took FOREVER to get to me, arriving the day I left for GP Trainer's, so I couldn't have the project complete before our warm spell was over. I got home around 10pm Sunday night after lessoning and driving all weekend, had Husband help me take out the knots in the elastic with pliers, sat down at the sewing machine, and tried to sew the clips on to the hood-to-body straps (because Penn needed both hoods back the next day because we were due for another "cold" snap).

I say "tried" because the machine had hit the point of, "I just can't even." Something as simple as mid-weight elastic was outside this poor machine's abilities. It's a heavy duty machine, it should be able to do this with ease. Husband asked if we had ever changed the needle since we bought the machine, because if we hadn't, it's been through many very tough projects. I didn't know, so we popped the needle out and lo and behold, the darn thing was not the strongest one in the sewing box, nor was it straight anymore. It had a nice solid curve to it, which is probably why it was missing stitches on the velcro and just couldn't even on the elastic.

I popped in a new, very heavy duty needle, and the machine flew through sewing the last 4 clips to the hoods. Success!

Ready for playtime!

This project was actually really quick- I think I spent 2-3 hours over the course of a 3 nights working on it? Most of that time was spent getting the machine set up properly, figuring out how to wind bobbins, and trouble shooting. It wasn't hard, but this heavy duty machine is probably the weakest one you'd want to use to do it. It did cost a moderate amount to do, around $45 after shipping costs (and I have a ton of gray nylon leftover that I don't know what to do with, so I factored in the entire $16 roll). I think if I had asked a blanket repair service to do it, it would have cost more though- they'd charge me to wash the hoods (if I didn't do it myself), at least $5 a strap, but probably more since each one needed metal, so maybe $10 a strap? I needed 6 straps on each hood to be adjusted/created. I also bet the turnaround time would not have been a few days, which is how long it took me to do. Overall, I feel pretty good about doing it myself, even if it the stitching looks a little shoddy.

A clean hood attached to a very dirty blanket.

So far my skills have held up to Teddy's abuse! With the shorter velcro, it's actually a little difficult for human hands to unhook the surcingle buckles (which makes me even more pleased with my decision to do it this way rather than sew snap clips to the end of the velcro). I've made the BO happy too because the wrapped-up-knot process in the hood-to-body attachment made it very difficult to swap out hoods. Now it's just unclip and go!

New 2017 Goals

Lessons were GP Trainer were a bit of a downer this time around. Penn is not going to be ready to do what I want him to do this year, at least in the time frame I want him to do it in. I think GP Trainer's idea of "ready for the level" is more along the lines of going out and scoring 65-70%, where my idea is going out and getting 60%+ and getting better throughout the year. Her idea isn't bad of course, that's ideal I'm sure, but I enjoy showing. It's a solution for my extremely competitive side. I also have a very set show season, since I don't go south, so starting showing in August or September means I'll hit one or two recognized shows before waiting another 6-8 months to start over.

So new goals are in order. Sigh. I hemmed and hawed over what to do for a week. It pained me to do it, but I have to because I am lost without them.

Making my goals smarter.

2017 Main Goals

• At least one score at first level (recognized) over 70% - Because if we're going to repeat, let's do it in style.
• Second Level Rider Award - I need one more score.
• Bronze Medal - I need two Third Level scores.
• Region 2 Championships at First Level - Go there and compete, and do it well (top 5 or 67%+)

2017 Stretch Goals

• Earn one Dover Medal - Because medals are cool.
• US Dressage Finals at First Level - Because he's leaps ahead of where he was last year.

I already emailed the schooling show series I entered back in December and had them change my entry from 2-3 and 3-1 to 1-3 and 2-3 for the two remaining shows. I will continue to practice 2-3 at schooling shows because 1) I have no desire to ride any other first or second level tests since I do not plan on riding them ever, 2) it's a schooling show and not recorded anywhere except here, and 3) it'll give me an indicator on how his second level engagement at canter is progressing according to someone other than GP Trainer.

I will have to repeat any 2nd and 3rd work we end up doing during next year's show season because Penn will not be ready for anything more by the end of next year, so all of the 2nd/3rd level goals will be for next year as we get very solid at those levels and work on being able to mix the two easily.

GP Trainer seemed to think he'd be leaps and bounds ahead in six months, so August/Sept/Oct we'll find somewhere to make a 3rd level recognized debut. By then he should be a ton stronger and we'll hopefully have sorted out his flying changes. I still plan on doing 2nd around June, because I think by then we'll be 60% ish. Maybe we'll be able to push other stuff forward in time, but for now I have other stuff to work on. Like qualifying all over again at first level and positively rocking its socks off. I thought about doing a first level freestyle, but I don't have time for that (or access to a standard size dressage ring to properly ride/get musical timing/practice it).

I watched our trot-work video the other day, and then our championship test rolled directly afterwards. He's so much better now than he was then (and I'm so much better too), and we managed a 66% for 9th place. I would hope a year later and ready (or almost ready) for 3rd would mean we'd be able to completely rock first level and do extremely well in the championship test and hopefully earn a ticket to finals.

I still believe we will hit 2nd and 3rd this year, just not in time to get 3-3 qualified for September championships, and I won't have time to get comfortable enough with the test enough for that anyway.

Still has some meat to it, hopefully more appropriate.
NODA in July is more of a "do you want to go somewhere" and then "who knows what we'll be ready for" type thing.

I also made another very difficult decision. I am going to stop lessoning with Trainer. I would love the eyes checking our work at home, but I can't afford to lesson with Trainer and GP Trainer, especially since I'm going to make a huge effort to see GP Trainer once a month. I am hoping Trainer understands; we've been together for almost 10 years. She is an event rider, and an excellent trainer, but Penn and I are knocking on 3rd level, which is as high as she rides for Advanced, and I want to go well past 3rd. Just a bunch of hard decisions coming around these days.

2/19/17 Day 2: A New Work Ethic

I came to lesson the next morning with a new attitude, no longer completely in despair after a good night's sleep.

Nearly square, nearly all the time now!

The first thing GP Trainer asked me was if I got to watch yesterday's videos. I told her I did, and man, I've been going easy on Penn in the canter. It made me wonder if I should do two day trips a month where I'd drive 10+ hours in one day for a lesson so I can check in more often. She said, we'd love to have you and can totally do that, but we really don't need to. Just video your rides to make sure you're on the right track.

SoloShot3, you need to hurry the f up! GP Trainer just ordered a Pixio and it was waiting for her in FL. Apparently Pixio does better indoors, but SoloShot3 is better in almost every other way, especially in outside range- I keep seeing that Pixio only has a 330' range. Husband was willing to chip in for the SoloShot3 because it could track him over an entire autocross course (further than 330').


Trot work:

Anyway, back to lesson. We started with the trot... and it was spectacular. I was thrilled that all the pieces worked together so well, and I was able to influence his medium trot and make it better, all on the same diagonal. GP Trainer was pleased too, she said we could have taken that work anywhere and done well. Riding this kind of work is just plain fun. GP Trainer said to keep raising my expectations with his trot, even though this is good work.

Link to YouTube

Suffer through the screenshots. I loved riding this work.

Medium Trot

Half pass magic

The shoulder could have led more in the second half, but super happy.

Shoulder in

Just super happy with it all. Very much improved.


Canter Right

On to the canter! I brought new determination to lesson with me- I will make him sit the hell down by sitting up myself and really riding it! #ExpectMore

This was also where I asked her if I was ruining his walk- she said no. We're not trying to fix a lateral walk, he's just doing that as an evasion to the job at hand. When the walk clears up, the canter will most likely have cleared up too.

We rode the canter in shoulder fore- I found it MUCH easier to maintain the jump in shoulder fore... probably because doing that most likely put him straight and not actually in shoulder fore. (Put a big star on this- I've been using it religiously at home and it is helping a ton. I get better quality work a lot faster.) I also love the hop he's getting in his hind end when it's really working. I mean, the hop up front is great too, but it's so cool to see that he's still picking up his feet behind too.

Link to YouTube

One day I'll have Mom learn to zoom in. Until then, you get gif's of awesome transitions from very far away. You'll just have to click on it and make it bigger. Sorry!

This is actually from Saturday lesson's walk break, but I forgot to include it. He's like, "More rein please." and I'm like, "I'm already holding them at the buckle." It's how you know the horse has been working hard sitting! He wants to stretch way down.

Why Yes, I Would Love to Ride the Left Lead Struggle Bus Some More

To go with a long left lead video (which isn't even all of the left lead work we did, I cut out the start to cut the length, sigh), GP Trainer basically said this: All of these little failures are perfectly fine because while this is about teaching him to sit more while cantering, it is more about him being able to take the pressure of me asking and continuing to try. He was continuing to try, however I gave him a couple taps with my whip to help him dig a little deeper. He was riding the struggle bus Sunday for sure!

Link to YouTube

Just before he broke to trot, lol.

After lesson, I took Penn for a walk in GP Trainer's XC field. Maybe one day Penn will jump well enough (and I'll be confident enough) that we can jump all the logs on her little gymnastic loop of logs. The first image of the below gif has a hexagon shaped group of big logs. I don't want to jump those, lol. And watch for the couple pics where he's looking left and a log is progressively getting closer. Yes, I had to stop him from walking into it and tripping. #NotAJumper

I walked him over the little log on the ground after he was distracted, and we trotted to two little uphill logs at the end! And he jumped! Well, he jumped the first one and kind of tripped over the second one. I'll just say his butt was tired. ;-)

Penn moved during the panorama... but this one turned out the best for the background shot, lol.

So the homework is to keep hacking away at the canter. More sit. Hold it longer. Round and round we go. Apparently one day I will look back on the struggle and laugh. I sure hope so! Writing yesterday's post put me in the same depressed mood I had post-lesson. Glad this one was a bit more determined to do better.

We'll be going back to GP Trainer's in two weekends. Let's see what we can do in 3 weeks time!

2/18/2017 Day 1: Wake Up Call

We had beautiful weather for our February trip to GP Trainer- 60's and sun!

I got to the farm a bit early and was able to watch the tail end of a lesson with an Intermediare I student who is working on riding Grand Prix late this summer. I thought this was super interesting and want to repeat it back for anyone having trouble, or for if I ever have this problem, and I just thought it was an interesting solution. She was working on the canter GP zig zag, but her horse kept anticipating the change and then her next half pass suffered because she never got the haunches behind the shoulder again. GP Trainer had her screw the count for a moment and do the following: half pass, then put the horse in the new half pass's shoulder-fore position, while holding the original lead. THEN she could ask for the new lead and the new half pass. The horse listened well at that point and they went back to the zig zag but with the last few strides being straight, shoulder fore, new lead. It got a lot better and her half pass covered more right/left ground since she had the shoulders ahead of the haunches at the start each time. I also got an interesting saying for how to get your butt to stick to the saddle, especially in canter when we tend to bounce out...

Ready?

Sit on your butthole.

Seriously, go home and try it and pair it with pulling your belly button into your spine. It worked super well for me, so try it and report back!

Tough Love

We started our lesson by showing GP Trainer where we were at- trot work was good but the canter was still a struggle for the simple changes. We talked briefly about the schooling show and she gave me some tough love.

He has a 3rd level trot, no problem. He still has a 1st level canter. The two do not average to 2nd. No more showing 2nd and 3rd until we get canter sorted out (little does she know we already entered two more schooling shows since I had to send in the entry back in December- which I am still going to ride in- more details to follow on that in a later post).

Good Trot

Right Lead Canter

First we attacked the canter. Penn does not have enough jump or sit in the canter. So back we go to me sitting up and back as much as I can (leaning behind my vertical just won't happen for me, I tend to ride more forward), and really lift his front end. We found the proper canter quickly to the right (it felt like we were not covering ANY ground), and then we put him on a 10m circle to ask for even more sit and then walk.

Link to YouTube

We're basically working on him taking longer slower steps with his hind legs so he's "not so scrambled eggs." Lol.

Less scrambled eggs.

We had a super finish to the right lead work:

Link to YouTube

Developing hop!

YAY CANTER WALK!

Left Lead Struggle Bus Hurtling Down the Highway of Despair, aka Left Lead Canter

The left lead is a disaster. It is so much harder for him. I'll just leave this video here for you. Listen to GP Trainer in the first part of the video, then you can skip it (I'll pull some gif's out). She basically says these issues are the things no one talks about- the absolute struggle and hot mess that happens and the side effects (losing the quality of the walk while you sort out the wiggles for example). She also stressed, "Do not despair. This will pass." (she had to reassure me the next day that I was not going to ruin his walk because I was horrified watching the videos)

Link to YouTube

How to be a hot mess.

We eventually worked it out.

We spent a LONG TIME in walk between canters because I was fighting his wiggles- the haunches move, the shoulders move, he walks like an f'ing cat with his front legs, he drops any connection to the bridle- it all raged like crazy as an evasion to sitting and connecting to the bridle while walking. GP Trainer stressed that I have to wait him out. We will win the fight by simply outlasting him. GP Trainer would rather I focus on having him straight by a relative point in the distance in front of me, rather than straight right now, because it keeps a focus on moving forward within the walk and I'll actually get straight faster (this point took me the entire weekend to understand).


Half Pass Made Easy

Like, stupid easy.

She said we could address my half pass issue- basically Penn takes me wherever he wants in it and I have very little control over where we go and if the haunches lead. She had me think about it like this: Turn on your diagonal. Ears, chest and hips are all pointing towards the end letter of your diagonal (our example letter E). Take the first step on the diagonal, then ask for haunches in, pretending that diagonal line to E is actually a wall. Chest, ears, and shoulders stay pointing at E, outside shoulder stays on the line to the letter, while the hips come in. While the shoulders stay pointed at the letter and outside shoulder stays on the line, it is very hard to get the haunches to lead.

Video description of GP Trainer walking out the explanation for the first two min, then we actually get rolling at the 2:55 mark.

Link to YouTube

Holy crap guys, doing it this way was EASY and FUN. I use basically no outside leg for it, he simply went and it was amazing. Since this lesson, both Penn and I actually enjoy and have fun in half pass- he gets very swooshy and seems to really enjoy it (it's probably the one thing we both go, "Weee!" in).

Tough love in our first lesson this weekend. Tomorrow, I bring a "Let's Do This" to the party after getting to watch my videos from this lesson and we keep on building.

Preview

I need to edit videos, pull some screenshots, etc from lessons this weekend, but this was one video that did not require editing, and I found truly impressive of where Penn's trot work is at. This was in the first 10 min of our ride Sunday (ok, I used YouTube to edit out the first 40 seconds of non-horse related chatting while we were going in straight lines around the ring).

It's a long video, but is just over 6 min straight through of beautiful trot work: 10m circle, SI, HI, half-pass, medium trot. Penn is going to get extra cookies today when I drop off some stuff at the barn.

Link to YouTube

Post Show Rides: An Exercise in Straightness

I will not pretend that this is my bible. To be honest, I feel like the bottom should be a circle.
However, I feel it does demonstrate a hole we've developed (hint, it's #5).

We all know I'm a bit disappointed with my scores from the schooling show, but pleased with Penn's actual performance. I knew he wasn't "show ready" so this was a way to get out and do it and see how far there is to go.

The judge harped a lot on: tight back (maybe she really meant he looked stuck to the ground and slow, so his back didn't swing a ton?), needs bend, needs engagement blah blah blah. I went to Megan for some advice because I really think this judge was a bit harsh in numerical values and I didn't find the comments incredibly helpful (though I do think they were spot on). Megan gave me something very constructive and useful: Instead of sitting into the movements, Penn wavers his hind end (that wobbly feeling I get, plus the whole "I've lost his hind end and can't get it back behind his shoulder" thing that happens). She told me Rico did the same thing, and how she worked on it. She would get him super connected in walk, slow the walk, and ask for a tiny trot. He had to stay STRAIGHT. If he shifted the haunches, shoulders, sped up, inverted, or did anything besides trot straight, she'd stop the trot from happening and reset and ask again. To help with this, she used a chute of poles as well.

BOT Brush Boots! Very white. Got to use them for the first time Saturday.

I was all excited to test this out over the weekend, but there were lessons happening Saturday so I had to make due with using my legs to keep Penn straight (the horror). I was able to keep him much straighter from the super connected walk, and it of course resulted in better trots and canters. We still had major cases of the wiggles in walk, especially when I was trying to ask for walk-canter. However, once we were in the next gait, it was fairly steady in connection and balance. The halts were also better- the judge had nailed me for single steps of walk into/out of them. Penn was very trot-and-HALT-and-TROT.

Side note, I thought I'd have a threatening to rear tantrum from this. I didn't. Instead, he'd shut down entirely, stop, and put his head between his knees. A very different problem, but I can work with it much easier than threats to rear!

In between lessons, I tried Penn's flying changes on the 3-1 pattern (10m circle, short diagonal, change) because that seems to set him up well in the past by letting the circle set him back on his hind end. Well, the changes are nice and broken. I got one late behind change from left to right (but he didn't invert or speed up), and one change right to left where he flip flopped the front for 1-2 strides then changed back. The rest were all no-gos. I tried some simple changes after that, and he wasn't even clear on those when I'd ask for the new lead- he still offers the old one, especially when changing left to right. Sigh. I'm sure it's a straightness/strength/clarity problem. We finished with some shoulder in to 10m half circle to half pass and I kept losing control of his haunches- they'd bulge in as he anticipated the half pass.

Dressage Poles of Doom

Sunday was lesson-free when I finished working, so I hurried up and set up 7 of our poles down one of the long sides and BO's daughter and I had at them (she liked the exercise too btw!).

I started with just walking through the poles, then using them for all my transitions in warm up before getting down to really insisting. Holy crap, it was the first time I've ever felt him really sit into a downward transition. I started with just simple trot-walk-trot-walk-trot down the long side, from sit trot. In the last steps of trot I felt him actually SIT and lighten the forehand as he walked. So freaking cool. And I got it to happen in a row, on more than one pass down the long side! I started pairing it with shoulder in on the opposite wall: transition refreshers in the poles, shoulder in, transition refreshers, SI, repeat. He felt steady before SI, in the transition to SI, during the SI (with bend! I could really feel his hind end stay straight), and out of SI. No bulging the shoulder/haunches in anticipation into/during/out of the corners. He was just ready and waiting for the next cue. He felt so grown up, and BO's daughter said he looked so grown up, and SO STEADY.

You know what else disappeared? His leg interference. The BOT brush boots give a lot of sound when he interferes, and it completely vanished with this work (and came back with a vengeance when I'd give him long rein to stretch and rest).

The canter work to the left was super- I started getting canter-walks that were SO CLOSE to canter-and-walk. And I could fit two in on the pole long side! I ended up doing two simple changes tracking left through the poles too, and they were better than our usual.

You know what is not super? His right lead canter. I don't know if it was muscle soreness, running out of steam by this point, or some combination of those, but the right lead sucked. I could finally feel him trying to shove his shoulders right and look left (and so he picks up the left lead), and it would take me the entire long side to get the right lead canter in a halfway acceptable transition. The canter itself was better, but I had to really ride it: sitting up, riding shoulder fore, and really using my thigh and seat and inside leg. Towards the end the right hind got so slow it felt like a lateral canter and there was no hope of canter-walk transitions. I let him quit at that point because I was not making it any better and I was just wearing him down.

Tired pony on Sunday. It was just warm enough to give him vetrolin baths both days this weekend!

I rode him again last night, and while I had trouble connecting him in the walk to the right, his left direction work was great. I focused just on the trot last night- no canter. I paired trot-walk-trot-walk-trot transitions in the poles with 10m circles at C, E, and A, then with shoulder in on the empty long wall, then SI-10m circle-haunches in. I'd use SI to half pass to change directions. I could tell if the SI was faking bend by asking the following question: "If I asked him to 10m circle now, would he drift through my outside rein, or would he promptly step off onto the circle?" Not completely sure I could fix it at this point, but I at least knew right/wrong, and they were mostly right! The half pass would fail spectacularly if I wasn't right because I'd lose the haunches in the 10m half circle and he'd just take me for a ride.

Towards the end he was feeling very straight, steady, strong, and connected, so I changed the downward transitions in the poles to medium trot in the poles. The medium trot off the left rein was great- having the haunches directly behind the shoulder is great for pushing power (go figure right?). Transitions to medium trot were slow, but transitions from medium to collected were prompt and strong. The medium exercise to the right wasn't as good- he got hurried in it and it wasn't as easy to sit. I don't think I'm finding enough straight that direction, and I'm still not sure about the right hind's pushing power.

Overall, I'm really thrilled with these exercises in straightness. Penn really didn't take much reminding to stay straight once I established "this is how we do transitions now." I can really identify straight vs crooked vs bend vs fake bend now (as silly as that sounds). Thanks Megan!!

_____________________________

All of this has made me think of the training pyramid, and how in the long run, it's been kind of spot on (go figure, they knew what they were doing in designing it). When Penn came home, we had to establish a rhythm. Why did a kind of connected horse get less than 60% at intro? Because he couldn't keep a rhythm to save his life. After we established some rhythm, I had to reestablish supplement and contact. He's always had a lot of natural impulsion, but sometimes I squash it and we've cycled through it coming and going. Right now it's in a going phase I think (phases can last hours or weeks, because horses). I found straight over the summer towards the end of our First Level work, but no collection. GP Trainer had us increase collection, and we eventually lost our straight/impulsion/suppleness/rhythm/contact depending on what day it was, but the most consistent loss was straightness. I've been building all the lower pieces back up, and Megan helped bridge the gap from impulsion to collection.


I am beyond excited to visit GP Trainer this weekend and show her our progress! I do have some questions for her (ie that stupid 3-1 half pass), so I'm hoping we can work on a couple of my questions in addition to whatever work she feels is suitable.

Shopping Spree

I've been on a bit of a shopping spree... I've been making an effort not to buy things/spend money, so maybe it all built up? Sadly, I was able to justify everything (aren't we all when we shop?).

It all started innocently enough:

BOT Brush Boots, in flashy white of course.
I was looking for non-fuzzy brush boots because I'm tired of cleaning my fleece and these were actually one of the cheaper pairs (ME has yet to make their dressage boot in black and a mid-dark blue, so obviously I can't do those).

And then evolved into attempts to help Penn with his current workload because he is SO GRUMPY. Like, you walk by and he wants to bite you grumpy (Hawk can attest to this fact):

I'm doing this on the hunch that his muscles hurt- he's had a whole new workload since November and has laid down a ton of new topline muscle. I opted to put these in SmartPaks so that I could do the money back guarantee and it was actually cheaper than buying the bucket to scoop myself. Plus, total score on the first time SmartPak 50% off!

He started wearing his BOT Mesh Sheet at night- and LOVES IT. His SmartPaks are still shipping, so I know they haven't helped yet. I got a very excited report from BO that Penn was MUCH less grumpy about having his blankets changed (ie not trying to bite them anymore). I ordered him the BOT hood because the massage person identified some issues in his neck.

Other things that I've ordered but I'm not sure when they're getting here:

Lemieux Fairfax Lambskin Girth Cover
Actually extremely reasonably priced for what it is. See the above grumpy pants horse.

Lemieux Mesh Pad because it was a good price with the girth cover and came in navy. 

Acavallo Massage Gel Pad with full sheepskin
The local tack shop is ordering this for me (they are making me a deal on it). See above grumpy horse.

And then to make sure I wasn't left out, a new pair of paddock/summer work boots because my current pair is completely worn out: they smell (actually they REEK), they aren't waterproof anymore (multiple holes in them), and the padding your foot sits on is so completely crushed that I was getting plantar fasciitis in both feet and walking like a cripple for days after wearing them. It was time.

Ariat Terrain Zip H2O boots. I loved my other Terrain pair (note their complete wearing out).

That was supposed to be the end of the shopping spree... but nooooo, Penn can't socialize properly. Penn likes to undress his friends. He also has a new friend who likes to undress HIM. While I find it amusing when Penn undresses his friends, I am annoyed that they return the favor (my karma for laughing I suppose).

Penn's new best friend is an OTTB who is just as mouthy as he is. Within a week or two, the horse has figured out velcro and zippers. Penn's hood didn't stand a chance (thank goodness it's Smart Pak's Ultimate Turnout with 10 year guarantee- that is the only thing that will stand up to this pair of ponies). Every day Teddy and Penn facebox and pick at each other's clothes- Teddy unvelcros Penn's 2 hood closures, and then unvelcros two of the 3 pieces that attach it to the main blanket (the 3rd attachment is an actual clip).

Basically, I have to change both of his SmartPak Ultimate Turnout Hoods from velcro straps to clip-able straps because Penn can't socialize properly and lets his friends undress him. *facepalm*

So I've devised a modification to the hood- I'm going to fold over the edge of the velcro closure and sew surcingle buckles onto the end (which means I'll have to sew additional nylon onto the main hood), so it both velcros and buckles.

Not using the bottom pieces.

Gray nylon. May or may not match existing nylon. From Amazon. Go Prime!

To further help the surcingle buckles stay buckled, I'll put these annoying rubber stoppers on them:

These are the devil's o-rings.

I'm going to go the extra mile and going to sew clips onto the 2 non-clip hood attachments. This is my biggest problem with these hoods- the whither has an actual metal clip, and the attachments on each side of the shoulder are super long elastic with velcro (which you put through a D ring and stick it to itself...dafuq). Why on earth there aren't 3 clips, I'll never know. The elastic velcro lets the hood and blanket gap at the shoulder (by like 4 inches), which lets in the cold and the rain. We've tied knots in the elastic and do some complicated loop through the d ring to take all of the slack out of the elastic. It makes it a PITA to move the medium hood between his medium and heavy blankets. Since I have to wash and sew both hoods already, I'm going to sew clips onto the elastic as close to the hood as I can.

Do you know how hard it is to find this particular snap? I had to order from Dover!

I ordered the main parts from Riding Warehouse and realized I wouldn't get the 2 day $5 air without making the $50 order minimum. Well you know I had to meet that so I can get sewing quickly! The more days it takes me to do this, the more days my pony will end up undressed.

I'm going to convert his BOT mesh sheet to a snap closure up front. Buckles annoy me.

The mesh sheet also has a stupid shoelace type tail strap. It also annoys me because it absorbs shit. Literally.

I love Noble Outfitters Peddies. I ordered two more pairs in black.

On the plus side, I sold Penn's original Stubben 1984 a few weekends ago, along with his old TSF girth, to a lovely lady at the barn who has always wanted to do dressage. She started taking dressage lessons and Dressage Trainer asked her to have her multiple saddles evaluated by a saddle fitter. It turns out all of her saddles are way too wide for her horse. I saw her tacking up with 4 saddle pads under her Australian stock saddle and asked her if she'd like to try my Stubben (she liked BO's Daughter's saddle and mine is similar but with bigger knee blocks). She loved it, but Penn's was a bit too wide for her horse. I fetched my old saddle that is 2cm narrower from the local tack shop the next day, hooked her up with a short girth for it (she has a horse that uses a smaller girth than Penn!), and she used it in her lesson 3 days after sitting in my current saddle. Everyone loved it. She got off the horse and wrote me a check. Awesome! I let it go for less than I wanted, but it is gone and is in excellent hands who love it.

No more shopping for me! This was more than enough.