FAVORITES!

My favorite bridle!

Bobby's bridles are great quality at a decent price and look good, whether you take care of them or not!

Both of my brown show bridles are Bobby's (well, most of pieces are, anyway), and a lot of my students have them also. The leather is great, the padding looks wonderful and they tend to fit true to size- my horses actually wear HORSE size, not cob!

Murphy and Jazz sporting their Bobby's bridles.

Best of Craigslist, take 2!

Remember this awesome warmblood mare from my last Craiglist bashing post?

She actually looks kind of nice now!

She may be a nice horse for someone!

Then, there is this guy.

The ad reads:

WE ARE SELLING OUR 10 YEAR OLD STALLION DRAFT HORSE ***1/2 ROMAN 1/2 GYPSY 18.5 HANDS & 1800 LBS,,,100% COGGINS FREE VET CIRTED. SHOE'D ,,,,HE IS AS GENTLE AS A ST. BERNARD,,HE DRIVES AWSOME AND WILL BACK UP / STAND & DO WHATEVER IS ASKED OF HIM,,,HE COMES WITH MENNONITE HAND BUILT TIMBER WAGON ALL PULL + DRIVE HARNESS AND A SMALL CIRCLE CORRAL. HE WILL WORK IN THE WOODS OR ON THE STREET PULLING A CARRAGE, HE LOVES TO BE BARE BACK'D OR IF YOU HAVE A (LARGE SADDLE ) SOFT SADDLE RIDDEN WHERE & WHENEVER, DOC@ 1-615-210-9254,,,IF YOU'RE READING THIS ADD HE'S STILL FOR SALE HIM & EVERYTHING FIRST 5K NO BARTER / NO LESS THAN CASH IN HAND SALE ONLY!!!! NO I WILL NOT HOLD...THANKXXXXXX

Incredibly, this horse is a whopping 18.5 hands tall.

With renowned breeding, Roman horses are rare and according to a quick google search, the horse conformation and breeding expert, Virgil, states this about them:

"From the first, the foal of a noble breed steps higher in the fields and brings down his feet lightly. Boldly he leads the way, braves threatening rivers, entrusts himself to an untried bridge, and starts not at idle sounds. His neck is high, his head clean-cut, his belly short, his back plump, and his gallant chest is rich in muscles. Good colours are bay and grey; the worst, white and dun. Again, should he but hear afar the clash of arms, he cannot keep his place; he pricks up his ears, quivers in his limbs, and snorting rolls beneath his nostrils the gathered fire. His mane is thick and, as he tosses it, falls back on his right shoulder. A double ridge runs along his loins; his hoof scoops out the ground, and the solid horn gives it a deep ring."

Here is a photo of the breed standard:

Thankfully, he is 100% coggins free, and the vet must feel pretty strongly that he is because he was given an incredibly rare certificate stating his coggins-ness-less.

As most 18.5 hand stallions are, he is as gentle as a St. Bernard.

He also loves to be Barebacked.

(Other images that comeback when google searching "bareback" are not appropriate for ANY eyes... of course, in this area, anything is possible.)

So, anyone looking for a nice project horse, whip out your checkbook and get ready for your 18.5 heathen to come home, corral, wagon and all!

Super exciting weekend!

Amy came out to give a clinic on Saturday, and I think we ALL had a great time. I was super excited about all of my students improvements during their lessons, so I thought I'd give them kudos for their great moments:

• Amanda on new horse Zara jumping 2'6" for the first time confidently (and maybe 2'9"!)
• Shannon cantering jumps on Pumpkin flawlessly!
• Leslie trotting over crossrails on Sam in good style!
• Kelly starting to "put it together" on Scout and understand adjustability!
• Jess understanding available energy on borrowed horse Clair, jumping 3'3" from a trot!
• Kellyanne SOARING over a 2'9" oxer on 14 hand Pumpkin- both of their biggest jumps to date!
• Olivia getting the right lead on Major on the first try! Lets keep it up!
• Tori and Snickers keeping up with the BN group in the clinic even though she was nervous about it!
• I should mention that Rion trotted over his first cross rail and we saw the first glimmer of "getting it" on his very last effort. :)

Special thanks to Amy for making it all happen!

Amanda and Zara!

Kellyanne and Pumpkin at their first show together a few weeks ago

Tori and Snickers over a big coop at Butlers Bend!

 I also heard that Miss Ansleigh had a great time at the clinic she attended today, jumping a 2'6" course on HER new horse, Classic, while little sister Diana rode Ibn around in the grass, and I'm assuming, cantered in the open! 

 We also tried a new horse for Hannah today, a super cute polka-dot pony named Apache, who we are hoping will be a good match for Hannah to event and just enjoy riding, and Hannah's mom to trail ride!

Plus, earlier this week, Julia had her first jumping lesson on Cowboy and he took to it like a duck to water! Look for his eventing debut this spring!

 AAAAAAND lastly, huge congrats to Panther Springs Riders at Flying Cross- Megan had a FUN, CLEAN XC on red-headed wonder, Mia and I'm told Stacy had a great, clean round on Doc.

Congrats to ALL my friends and students on a fabulous weekend!

T3D: Fun things!

Of course I've been conditioning all summer, that's part of life with a draft cross, I found, but I'm definitely logging more saddle time on Brandy now than I have previously. In fact, I'm doing my 20-minute post-dressage hack as I type this with my right thumb. Not kidding. Anyway, the neat part about that statement is that that means I'm not desperately trying to keep Brandy on the bit with both hands as we hack. Which means she's walking. Flat footed. Which actually has never happened before. I think it's a combination of 2 reasons- I did notice a vast increase in her willingness to walk when I started riding her in the Micklem bridle, and I also mentioned to Amy that I hoped the more hacking I did with her, the more she might understand that it's okay to Just Walk. I'm hoping that is finally the case!

I am fortunate (?) that Brandy's normal walk is quite forward, so there is no kicking her along, but IF she's walking and not jigging, her gait is usually quite animated- something that would look nice... Oh, say, pulling a cart. Imagine that. But today she walked like a normal horse on a loose rein! That makes me happy! Roads and tracks will be much more pleasant if she keeps that up!

The other fun thing is her dressage. She's no grand prix horse and definitely not a warmblood, but I've never brought a horse as far along as her and it's just COOL. We're currently installing leg yields for the T3D and she's really starting to enjoy trying to answer the questions I'm presenting her with on the flat. We knew that would be the case, it's just been a long road to get there. Since I grew up with NO dressage background at all, I'm learning with her and it just never ceases to amaze me what these horses, even the most unlikely ones, are able to come up with when you find the right buttons!

Ari's still lame

No surprise there, right?

Anyway, I'm considering SI injections. Anyone out there have any experience with these?

My vet and I discussed Lyme, PSSM and SI issues again. He thought the first two were possible but not probable and he actually was the one who said "You know, we did talk about SI issues, it might be time to go that route." So... I'm wondering if it is. And if it's not... whats another $300, right? I mean, I'm just going to be paying on my vet bill until the end of time.

Weigh in, horse friends.

Thus begins the road to the Training 3 Day.

Thiiiiiis is an entry. Not just ANY entry, though. See that upper right hand corner where it says T3D? Yep. A lot of things have to happen between now and trotting out for phase A in 40 days or so, but I am EXCITED!

My goal is to document as much as possible for you and me both, and since a conversation with Amy (my fabulous, wonderful trainer) this morning has my conditioning schedule planned out and my entry goes in the mail tomorrow, I guess today is the "Start of the Road to the T3D."

Well, I guess technically it started in... 2008? Three years and three horses ago.

Initially, my goal (along with a dozen or so others) was to run the T3D in 2010. I was supposed to run it on Ari. At this point, Ari may or may not be destined to run training. He may or may not be destined to be sound enough to be a lesson horse... I don't know... but in the meantime, I've been blessed with an incredible, unlikely partner in Miss Brandy, aka SPF's Big Idea- aptly named by Susan minutes before I sent her first entry in to KY Classique in 2009 after selling my first (successful) eventing partner, Lyra.

Lyra at our first Novice (and last show together)

Baby Brandy, just 8 months under saddle at her first BN

I'm sure most of you know her story, but in short, she was a (ubercheap) Craigslist purchase, intended to be my lesson horse for a couple larger adults who wanted to trail ride. After all, a draft cross should be pokey and quiet right?

Wrong. Brandy is forward, quick as a WHIP and um... expressive (aka opinionated.) However, she is also brilliant to jump, so our dressage has been hit or miss, but she has taught me SO MUCH about jumping and XC and given me oodles of confidence!

So, assuming my entry is accepted etc, my basic conditioning schedule will include riding 6 days a week. Two days of dressage with a 20 minute hack out on the hills, one jump school with a 10 minute hack, one day of trot sets (3x5), one day of canter sets (3x5), and one day of walking hills for about 45 minutes. I'm certainly open to amending this as needed, so anyone with experience, please chime in! Brandy is a drafty, but not very heavy. She's fairly easy to keep fit, so she's not your typical draft, but she's definitely no thoroughbred!

We did our trotting 3x5's today and, as always, Brandy was delightful. I did, however, learn that she knows how to count. Maybe not while she's trotting, but after two minutes of walking, she's DONE and she knows it, and don't you try to tell her otherwise!

Brandy's "pre" picture

As for my "ground crew," I'm very, VERY lucky to have my friend Megan in my crew. She has decided not to show so that she can be there for me, and I can't tell you how glad I am! She's also excited to attend the clinics etc, but I just know I'm going to be relieved to be able to know B is in good hands in between phases.
I'm hoping Stacy (the queen of the T3D herself) will be around to help me, and Julie (groom to IEA's 2010 T3D Winner) as well.

I know I'm going to be relying heavily on Stace and Amy to educate me in the next few weeks, and any one else who's done a T3D, please, I need your guidance!

The Many Adventures of Lauren, a pictorial guide.

I'm running on what's left of my one remaining functional brain cell, but I had to throw this up here really quick because I think it's pretty indicative of my life. Not everyone can have two such contrasting pictures posted of themselves within a few minutes!

The first is Brandy being a total freaking rockstar this weekend on cross country with me in the drivers seat.

The next is me looking awfully girly (self-applied makeup and all!) at my joint 27th birthday party with my bestie/roommate Robin. It was a super-hero themed murder mystery, hence the cape (and the girl decked out in fishnets and boyshorts in the background).

So there you go- the many facets of Lauren, in two pictures. 60% Bad ass eventer chick, 30% die-hard theatre geek, 10% girly-girl.

Birthday girls!