Homemade Tack Room Plaque!

Last night I saw my friend make this SUPER cute stall plaque for her horse. So, what do I do? I of course make one for Ava!! But instead of a stall plaque I make it into a tack room plaque. It was a lot of fun to make and it didn't take too long either, the hardest part was finding the wood. All I have to do now is put some hooks in it and take it to the barn, I can't wait! For some reason I really like doing these kinds of things, it makes me feel all giddy inside. Anyways, here is a picture of how it came out, Instagram made it a little grainy but the picture you get the idea.

I Love Wet Saddle Pads

Today was quite eventful and long. I stayed down at the barn for around four hours. I did a lot though and if Ava behaved better I would have stayed even longer. I also tried out my Wintec Pro Endurance saddle that I own (I've had it for a few years) on Ava and. . . It fits her!!! I took a picture just to show the even sweat marks all over the pad (it already started to dry when I took this). Oh, happy day! Now I can use all that hard earned money for something else. The reason I hadn't tried that saddle earlier is because it is quite uncomfortable for me, especially on my bum. Right now I'm sitting on two bruised tush cheeks. But as long as the saddle fits my girl then I am happy. I can just buy a seat saver or something. 

In other news, I rode Ava. We started inside to get warmed up and hopefully a little worn out and then we went out in the outdoor arena with the BO's two sons. They are practicing for their 4H fair next week for trail and had an obstacle course set up so I thought I would tag along. But while I waited for them to get ready I walked Ava around outside the barn. We even found a new spot to explore, it was a nice little loop and Babe did good for her first time. When the boys were ready I was already trying out the course. Then Ava started being a little pill ever since they arrived. I got her to do things but it wasn't willing or "nice" like. It was more like she was giving me the bird every time she would respond to something I asked. Nice right? . . . Then to top it off the youngest son started to try and scare Ava by like running his horse up next to her and stopping, stuff like that. . . He was being a little turd but I guess in a way it was good Ava was experiencing some of that, I want her to know that she doesn't need to freak out when a horse does stuff like that. But it was still rude for him to do that. . . Oh then after I did the course a little longer we then went over to a barrel that had a red saddle bag filled with cans in it. I thought, "Ava can so do this, she's done it a million times before" oh but what happens? She totally freaks out and I almost fall off... Luckily I stayed on and was able to gain control of her. Of course I started to get quite agitated with her but I also realized I had been riding her for over three hours and we were doing lots of new things too. I think her mind just couldn't take much more, I felt kind of bad. To end the ride I desensitized her to the noisy red saddle bag (she was great!) and then I hand-walked her back into the barn with the older son riding next to me (he was much nicer, didn't try to scare my girl. He does like to tease/make fun of me though.) After things were all done I gave Babe her "after ride" rinse then put her away. Those baths are definitely growing on her, she almost falls asleep every time! And that is so unlike her!

Moving Forward

It was perfect riding weather today, I'm not even kidding! Hot but not too hot with a slight breeze, perfect! The barn was quite busy and there wasn't much room in the arena so I decided to take a ride outside. I haltered up Ava and then lunged her until she was nice and calm. It seems to me that she is improving everyday, although the progress may be very slow I can see that five years from now she'll be the best horse anyone could ask for. Five years is a long ways away but I'm in no hurry, I want to try and enjoy our journey as much as possible (no matter how stressful it can be!)

Lunging took a little bit, longer than I expected. It was worth it though because when I got outside she was so ready to go on a trail ride, sadly she can't handle cows very well yet and since all of the "long" riding is out in the cow fields we'll have to wait until she's fine with them. I'm hoping I can tag along with some other folks to help start Ava but we'll have to see. I want to hand walk her out there because I think that would be a good start too but I haven't asked if that is okay, I need to remember to do that!

When she is outside while being ridden she gets ready to go so it was a little difficult to get her to pay attention. Everything worked out in the end though. I walked around the barn multiple times, we did some rollbacks, stopping, trotting, etc etc. I hope one day I will be able to canter her in the fields without having to worry about her taking off or doing something weird. That would be a dream come true!

Sweat, Bulls, and Rain!

It has been kind of rainy here in the mountains. Really weird! We don't usually get this much rain in the Summer time but thanks to global warming we are getting a lot. I rode Babe/Ava yesterday, luckily the weather was nice and warm. Before we saddled up I started out by walking her over to some little bulls that were acting crazy. She is getting better around cows, not great but better. Ava was kind of snorty at the beginning (mainly because the other horses around were in "hyper mode" and wouldn't chill out) but I built her up to them and she ended up doing really well.

After the bulls were taken care of I took her into the barn and put her in the round pen. Then I went off for a minute to gather the equipment I was going to need. When that was finished I free lunged her for longer than usual, I wanted her to be nice and chill before I got on. Nobody likes a crazy horse! (Maybe some people do!) I hadn't been able to give her a big workout because on Saturday she needed her booster PHF shot and I can't ride the day after. It is amazing how much energy she has even after missing one day of exercise. Anyway, when she got all tired and sweaty we saddled up and headed over to the arena. A newish (novice) rider was riding in there so I couldn't do too much at first. When she finished though we worked on desensitizing to the scary corner of the arena, the other day Ava spooked quite a few times over there because people were fixing a fence and it was making some loud noises. It annoyed the crap out of me... But she did a lot better today. Then we did rollbacks while trotting or loping off. That was fun and it helped with her leads! Finally when I got her listening to me I rode her outside. It was just around the barn but then pushed it towards the outdoor arena. She did good, a couple spooks but she's definitely getting more confident with each outing. I just have to be patient and remember to build up to things, I can't just force it on her and expect her to do it right away, I always need to remember that.

It was a good day.

Currently I am obsessed with Instagram! This is Babe right after her workout.

Bad Boy Riser Pad

I got more feedback from some people and someone said that I should get a back riser pad. It makes sense, if I look at Ava's saddled up photos you can see that the saddle isn't completely level, it dips in the back slightly. They said she is quite wide and has somewhat high withers and the riser should help. I mean it can't hurt right? Although if this doesn't fix her little saddle fit problem then I'm (eventually) getting a new saddle. A Wintec that has the easy-change gullet system, unless I miraculously find a saddle that fits her with a fixed tree then great! but for now I'm pretty set on one of the gullet changer saddles. End of story. In the meantime I'm gonna get one of these bad boys [click here]. It's a back riser pad and hopefully it will do the trick. Wintec always has the most useful things, haha!