Blog hop? Yes. Taken from Olivia, who took it from Amanda, who took it from Alaina.

Q1: What hobbies do you have outside of riding?
I like reading late-18th and 19th century British and European literature, especially the Gothic stuff. Pass all of the “horrid” novels this way. Trivia, which has always been enjoyable but I finally have an outlet for all my useless random knowledge about stuff: an online league. It’s improved my quality of life greatly. And … would Epicureanism count as a hobby? Can I live on aged cheese, stuffed olives, and wine?

Q2: What is your boarding situation? Are you happy with it?
I keep Eli at a full care hunter/jumper & dressage facility. I love it.

Q3: What’s on your horsey-related wish list?
I would like another set of my Professional’s Choice ice boots so I can ice all four of Eli’s legs at once.

Q4: What is your most expensive horsey-related item?
Probably the horse. The saddle is second, and well below Eli’s purchase price.

Q5: What was the hardest horsey-related decision you’ve had to make lately?
I feel as though I have been making tiny but difficult decisions daily with Eli, as we are in the middle of rehabbing an injury. These have been decisions related to the amount of turnout, amount of exercise, treatment decisions, dietary decisions … and then I check my brain, follow the vet’s advice, and focus on the bigger picture.

Q6: What’s something you feel you can’t live without in your routine?
Coffee.

Q7: What’s on your horsey-related calendar for the rest of the summer?
More trotting in straight lines.

Q8: What is one thing you would willingly change about your horse?
The answer to this is either “nothing” or “I wish I got my hands on him when he was young to see what he’d be like without having raced, what he’d be like if I pulled that tooth early in his life to have prevented that god-awful sinus situation, what he’d be like if I got to ride him as a 3-year-old and introduced lead changes without the track training and overuse of a crop.” (There is video evidence of Eli experiencing overuse of a crop in a race; I am not just assuming it blindly.)

Q9: What is something you most want to improve on with you and your horse?
LEAD CHANGES. Jeez.

Q10: What has been your [current] horse’s most severe injury?
Answering this feels like asking for bad luck and bad vibes. He is healing from an injury right now.

Q11: What do you feel your biggest downfall is as a rider?
Lately, my mental discipline is non-existent. This hasn’t always been the case, so perhaps I can foster some as Eli’s workload increases. Or not. Do I need mental discipline? I enjoy just hacking my horse for fun and fun alone. So maybe my downfall is that I am not at all competitive even though I once was and probably could be again. Is it selfish of me not to try harder? Am I wasting opportunities if I don’t have goals? I do not know the answer to these questions.

Q12: What feeds your motivation?
First: a desire to overcome an anxiety disorder one day at a time. Luckily, I have very little anxiety about riding itself. I feel healthiest when I am on a horse. Tied for first: enjoying time with my animals as much as possible and developing strong, positive, harmonious relationships with them.

First, thank you all for the kind words of support and encouragement about Eli’s progress. Eli says thanks, too.

Now, stealing content from the $900 facebook pony, who borrowed from Viva Carlos … I am not on tumblr so I have no idea who should get credit for originating the questions.

1. What is the first thing you do when you get to the barn?
I grab Eli’s halter from my tack locker and go get him. If I don’t do this immediately, he starts yelling at me.

2. Is there a breed that you would never own?
I don’t know. I can’t imagine that I would have occasion to own any breed of draft horse but I wouldn’t rule it out entirely. You never know. I could win the lottery and start a horse rescue and welcome neglected draft horses into my life. Never say never, unless you actually want what you just said never about to happen.

3. Describe your last ride?
Sunset hack on a TB mare over a week ago.

4. Have any irrational riding fears?
No … of course not … my fears are rational. And they are of rotational falls. Or rather, of catastrophic injuries to horse and rider due to a rotational fall.

5. Describe your favorite lesson horse?
This is both hard and easy, because I love so many lesson horses, which makes narrowing it down to one difficult. But not impossible because one of my all time favorite horses ever is now a lesson horse. His name is Skip and he is perfect, no matter his job. He also recently had his top teeth removed due to gum disease (I think he had that EOTRH thing but not sure), and this makes him even more perfect. He is literally perfect. And oh crap I just realized that one of my own horses was the world’s awesomest applebooty lesson horse so maybe this is a tie. I hate ties. But my answer is Skip AND Anchor.

6. Would you ever lease out your horse?
I probably will not ever lease out Eli. However, my three previous horses were all leased/free-leased/borrowed at some point in their careers so I am not at all opposed to the idea. Again, never say never.

7. Mares: Yay or neigh?
No, thank you.

8. How many time per week do you get to see your horse?
Every day, most of the time.

9. Favorite thing to do on an “easy day” with your pony?
Bathe and graze in the sun. We take “easy” seriously.

10. Conformational flaw that bothers you the most?
Excessively short back or neck. I am not a fan of thick throatlatches, either. Too long or too short pasterns give me pause.

11. Thing about your riding that you’re most self conscious about?
Oh, I do so enjoy being told I am on the wrong diagonal … yes it still happens because sometimes I am paying attention to something else, to the overall detriment of my riding. But it’s also hilarious.

12. Will you be participating in no stirrup November?
No. Why don’t YOU come here and ride Eli without stirrups for a month, instead? I am sure he’d love that. If I had an Anchor or a Skip I would be more amenable to it, though. I did no stirrup work at the end of almost every ride daily for years on my little black horse, so I do understand the value of riding without stirrups.

13. What is your grooming routine?
Wipe nostrils with baby wipes. Pick feet. Curry. Brush mane and tail. Brush coat. Paint or treat feet. Wipe fly spray everywhere.

14. Describe a day in the life of your horse?
Right now his days are pathetic because he is on stall rest. So his day is stall rest, with about an hour outside of his stall to graze, get groomed, and hand walk. Otherwise he would be out of his stall 4-6 hours a day in turnout and work. Eating or napping the rest of the time in his stall. Night turnout is going to gradually be instituted at Hilltop soon, but I am not sure Eli would be a candidate for that. I have had rotten luck with night turnout in the past and am leery of it. Considering he has jumped out of paddocks and the round pen before, I have nightmares about that happening at 3am when no one is awake to notice.

15. Favorite season for riding?
Whatever season not-winter is.

16. If you could only have 1 ring: indoor or outdoor?
Outdoor but covered.

17. What impresses you most about the opposite discipline (english vs. western)?
A good working ranch horse is the marvelous treasure of the American West.

18. You have unlimited funds to buy one entire tack set for your horse, what is he/she wearing?
Probably about what Eli wears now. Might get the saddle and bits custom, I guess. And I guess I could fork over for some new Edgewood strap goods.

19. How many blankets do you have? When do you blanket?
Eli has 3 sheets and a blanket. I blanket him when it’s cold. Cold is subjective, and Eli is a hot weather horse. So he wears clothes a lot during winter.

20. What is your horse’s favorite treat? Favorite place to be scratched?
Eli loves Gala apples and Stud Muffins. He likes Mrs. Pastures, too. He won’t say no to carrots, and two of his supplements are in treat form and he loves them, too, especially the omega one. He likes the tops of his shoulders scratched, like right in front of the withers.

21. Something about your barn that drives you crazy?
I like where I broad my horse. And not having a covered isn’t exactly driving me crazy but if I could wave a magic wand and get a covered built there, I’d do that.

22. Roached manes, pulled manes, or long flowing manes?
Short — pulled or trimmed appropriately.

23. Can you handle a buck or a rear better?
Do you mean emotionally or physically or what?

24. I would never buy a horse who ___________________?
Flips himself over. That’s never an okay response to something. (I have a long long list of things I don’t want in a horse but this one tops it.)

25. Favorite facial marking?
Any and all! Super asymmetrical ones are especially adorable.

Hillary’s GIF name game turns out to be pretty fun and spooky accurate. And I think maybe Amanda invented it? I don’t know, but it’s funny.

Eli’s a bit of a grump generally…

That expression is his factory default setting unless you are showering him with treats. Eli has his barn/show name AND his JC name so I had to hunt down all of it. Which was very easy with Google.

I just picked the first hits …

 

 

Oh, hey, I see now that’s Matt Damon.

 

And then searching “Carlisle’s Elysium gif” yielded probably my favorite …

That is EXACTLY like when Eli tries to bite me when I am blanketing him: he gets me in the ribs.

My horse is a little complicated; you may have noticed.

I have been loving the Instagram question templates just like everyone else, but Amanda had the genius idea of blogging the questions, so us slow people can actually read and provide good answers.

Why horses? Why not a sane sport, like soccer or softball or curling?

I am convinced there is some gene mutation that expresses as “horse person.” Otherwise I don’t really know “why” horses. I do know “why not” other sports: I don’t run, I am barely coordinated on a good day, and I like sitting as opposed to standing. Are darts and billiards sports? I feel pretty good about doing those, although not well.

What was your riding “career” like as a kid?

I started lessons at a neighborhood barn, got my first horse, was a working student, and started competing in lower level eventing and dressage, and bought a second horse off the track. I got burnt out by 16 and took a few years off from showing, although not from riding.

If you could go back to your past and buy ONE horse, which would it be?

Okay my real truth is I would buy them all, but I have been lucky enough that some of my favorite horses that I haven’t owned have stuck around for me to be their weird aunty cookie lady. However, around the same time I started riding Eli, a dressage trainer at the barn had a sale horse in the form of a Trakehner named Foxxy that I also got to ride frequently. I REALLY liked him and totally would have bought him had I the money. I did eventually buy Eli, though, so I am not too sad about it.

What disciplines have you participated in?

Eventing, dressage, jumpers, & hunters

What disciplines do you want to participate in some day?

I could go back to dressage. Polo looks fun, too. I’d really like to try mounted archery, actually. I like regular archery as it is, so why not?

Have you ever bought a horse at auction or from a rescue?

I have not, but I would consider it.

What was your FIRST favorite horse breed – the one you loved most as a kid?

You can blame the combined powers of Walter Farley and Francis Ford Coppola for my brief obsession with Arabians. Cass Ole lived (sometimes) in the neighborhood where I grew up, so obviously my mom took me to go see him.

If you could live and ride in any country in the world, where would it be?

I think I am pretty happy in the United States. Canada is looking pretty fabulous, too, lately, but the cold would be hard to get used to.

Do you have any horse-related regrets?

Not especially. I constantly think about decisions related to my horses’ health and well-being and question whether I did the right thing or not, but that’s not exactly regret.

If you could ride with any trainer in the world, ASIDE from your current trainer, who would it be?

What is one item on your horse-related bucket list?

Pony trekking in Scotland.

If you were never able to ride again, would you still have horses?

Definitely. “Never able to ride again” is such strong language. When I see the Para-Olympians riding, I am not sure what it would take to get to “never.”

What is your “biggest fantasy” riding goal?

I am not really making goals right now and I pretty much ride for the enjoyment of it. BUT for the sake of the question, I will answer: “International Hunter Derby.” This would not be an Eli goal, in case that’s not obvious. It is also not financially feasible for me right now. Nor do I currently have the time or discipline for it. Such is the nature of fantasy.

What horse do you feel like has taught you the most?

This is really hard, to know what to answer. I have learned so much from many of the horses I have ridden and interacted with. The horses I have owned have taught me the most, obviously, but I can’t really say who among them has taught me the most. Except to say that every horse is an individual and probably has something valuable to teach.

If you could change one thing about your current horse/riding situation, what would it be?

A covered arena would be nice.

If you could compete at any horse show/venue in your home country, where would it be?

Devon I guess? WEF if I had the money? I am not super into showing so I am not sure the venue matters that much to me. The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival actually looks like a really nice option.

If you could attend any competition in the world as a spectator, what would be your top choice?

CHIO Aachen.

Have you ever thought about quitting horses?

I do not understand this question.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the horse industry, what would it be?

I’d eliminate cruelty, neglect, and abandonment.

What’s the dumbest horse-related thing you’ve done that actually turned out pretty well?

I try not to do dumb things around horses because they usually do not turn out pretty well.

As you get older, what are you becoming more and more afraid of?

Uncontrolled anxiety.

What horse-related book impacted you the most?

National Velvet still stands out for me today.

What personality trait do you value most in a horse and which do you dislike the most?

I value a horse that has a desire to work. I dislike dullness in a horse.

What do you love most about your discipline?

The behind-the-scenes dedication, detail, and hard work it takes to produce a competitive round.

What are you focused on improving the most, at the moment?

Ha, I think the answer to this question will never not be “the canter.”

Nadia posted the three words she would use to describe Macy, and I found myself relating quite a bit to some of her description of Macy–I could use similar words to describe Eli, but of course not quite the same words and not quite the same reasons.

Agile

Eli is not simply athletic. I put him in some awfully awkward spots and he gets out of them in good form. I can’t ask more than that. And then of course there are his embellishments …

Intense

I would not consider Eli to be a horse for everyone. He can try my patience sometimes with his quirks and reactiveness. If he is having emotions, everyone knows it. The funny thing, though, is that this intensity is reserved for humans. Around other horses, he really just wants to play bitey-face and if a horse squeals and strikes out at him because of that, he walks away without a word.

Devoted

This is a very silly and tricky word to use to describe a horse. I don’t think he is devoted to me, particularly (my presence just offends him the least because I am a cookie vending machine), but I do think he is devoted to doing well under saddle if we are going to be doing that. Everything I ask, he does. Sometimes he does a little extra, but I don’t think of that as an issue. I think we are finally doing what he really wants to do and he tries really, really hard to understand his job. Maybe dedicated would be a better word, but it doesn’t have the same emotional gravity with which Eli approaches his work. I think many thoroughbreds could be described this way.

I tried to get some video last night but the Polaroid Cube is just not good for night videos. Then it ran out of room and didn’t catch the last part of our ride. That’s my fault, though, since I hadn’t deleted like three other videos–it does have a good bit of space for video storage. I couldn’t ride my way out of a paper cup last night, anyway, so it’s just as well.

A while back, Olivia posed the question, “what is your perfect horse?” I thought about this a lot and kept coming to the same conclusion.

My desires are simple — I like thoroughbreds that can jump well. I prefer a gelding, and something in the brown category, probably 16hh, and something with genuine streak of wanting to try. I thought about what if money were no object and I could import or breed something with tons of scope and an amateur-friendly attitude. What if I could get one that doesn’t colic and never goes lame. Or if I could have a young one with proven success in competition and we could go over to Europe and blah blah blah.

That’s a lot of ifs, and I hate flying … don’t think I am not drooling over Diarado progeny at this point, but I also recognize dreaming within my limits is ultimately much more satisfying because I can live those dreams.

My severely-biased reality is this: I have my dream horse. For a little while, after I sold a very successful adult/children’s jumper, I lost some interest in riding and all interest in competition. I was simply happy to hack around on whatever sale horses needed some exercise and my interest in jumping waned. I didn’t feel like I would have a budget to accommodate horse ownership any time soon. I didn’t want to quit riding, but I didn’t want to go anywhere with it, either. And then I rode Eli, just one idiosyncratic TB in a string of sales horses. He carried a lot of baggage, reacted melodramatically to just about everything, and sometimes became difficult to handle even for the simplest tasks (like picking out his hind feet …). Even so, we clicked. He reignited my interest in really riding, jumping, I even started to think about horse shows again. I still remained in riding limbo for a long time, but Eli stuck around long enough for me to informally half-lease him. Then, in my opinion, circumstances became such that he needed an owner. I am that owner.

He fits my simple dreams of a bay thoroughbred gelding with a nice jump and decent gaits. I am grateful for the opportunity to own him, and I look forward to whatever adventures we end up chasing down the road. What more could I ask for?

Rocking E Cowgirl is keeping it interesting with these 10 questions!

What is your earliest, clearest horse memory?
Visiting the Budweiser Clydesdales when I was 4. I tried to run up to one. My mom had to grab me and pick me up so I could pet them, while pushing my brother around in a stroller. I have never not been obsessed with horses, and I think those Clydesdales cemented my coat color preference in horses right away–blood bay with some chrome.

Describe the perfect summer day.
One with access to cold beer and air conditioning.

Are you reading anything right now? Tell me about it!
The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parsons — one of the seven “horrid novels” listed in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I love Gothic fiction. I am also trying to read a bunch of other stuff, but this book is short and holding my attention the most right now.

Do you follow a celebrity (horsey or non) that you’re embarrassed to say fascinates you? Tell me. NOW.
Dear James Comey,
Please write a book.
Thanks!

What is your single most biggest horsey dream or goal?
Really just to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as possible.

If you were at Starbucks right now, what would you order?
An almond croissant.

What is your biggest equine pet peeve?
Pet peeve that horses do: cribbing
Pet peeve that people do around horses: leaving halters hooked up to the cross ties–especially annoying if it’s a rope halter, which why are you crosstie-ing a horse in a rope halter?!?!?!

With everything going on politically and in the media, tell me, do you follow it religiously? Tune it out? Or something in between?
Obsessively following. Make no mistake … That awkwardly-scripted “cabinet meeting” yesterday? That is what fascism and despotism look like. This is worse than Watergate because a hostile foreign power is implicated. The First Amendment could not be more important than it is right now.  I recommend EVERYONE watch the film All the President’s Men. Or read the book.

If you had to show your horse to a song, what would you choose?
I’m just really into Duran Duran’s “Rio” right now so probably that, although I am not sure how much that would go with a hunter round?

What are you most looking forward to this summer?
Cold beer and air conditioning.

 

Amanda posted yesterday about her favorite exercises both on the flat and over fences, and asked us the question: what are our favorites?

Flat

Hands down, I love working on the counter canter. Performing a correct counter canter does so much for the horse and rider — improves balance, strengthens the hind-end, heightens body awareness, and incorporates all the “natural” aids and being able to use them independently (meaning hand, seat, and leg, not necessarily a crop or spur).

I periodically work at counter canter on both leads, although not daily. When I do work on it, it’s not for very long–just long enough to make sure Eli’s hind end is working right and he’s listening AND I am telling him the right thing. Sometimes I forget to use my seat and he falls into a trot. I don’t have a problem with him swapping out during the counter canter, at least!

Over Fences

I have written about his one before: I love the tight oxer-to-oxer two-stride exercise, described in great detail in an article by Peter Pletcher, a Houston-area hunter/jumper trainer.

3’6″ peter grid 1 from patentlybay on Vimeo.

First off, it’s fun. Second, it’s simple. Third, it works.

Two oxers, 33′-34′ apart. Canter in and let the horse back himself off. I add a cross-rail in front sometimes, same distance–this makes it a little easier to get to the deeper distance you want coming into the first oxer. It is more of a challenge for me without the cross-rail, so I think doing it both with and without is a good way to help establish that elusive “feel” for it that we all chase after.

Can’t wait to read about everyone else’s favorites!