Blog hop! Questions!

A fun blog hop from That Red Mare

Here we go!

1. Mares or Geldings? Why?
A good mare will work harder for you than any gelding.

2. Green-broke or Fully Broke?
Fully broke

3. Would you own a "hotter" breed (ie. Arabian, Trakhener, etc).
Nope, nope, and nope


4. What was your "dream horse" growing up?
Any horse!

5. What kind of bit(s) do you use and why?
Full cheek JP snaffle and bit keepers. Improved steering and my horse likes the JP curved bits.

6. Helmets or no helmets?
I always wear one.

7. Favorite horse color?
Bay roan!

8. Least favorite horse color?
Chestnut+white socks

9. Dressage or Jumping?
Trails! Duh.

10. How many years have you been riding?
20 this year


11. Spurs/whip or no spurs/whip?
Nope, horse doesn't need them

12. Your first fall?
I was like 6 and landed on my feet, so it hardly counted!

13. When was the last time you rode and what did you do?
I took John's horse foxhunting




14. Most expensive piece of tack you own?
My Dixieland western saddle


15. How old were you when you started riding?
4-6?

16. Leather or Nylon halters?
I have rope halters for home and leather for hauling, I don't turnout in halters

17. Leather or Synthetic saddles?
Leather

 18. What "grip" of reins do you like?
Softgrip rubber from Bartville Harness...THE BEST

19. English or Western?
Used to be English but I am liking western more and more!

20. Do you board your horse? Self-care/full board? Home board?
I don't board, they live at my house. This is great.

21. How many saddlepads do you have?
I have one western and probably 4-5 english

22. Slant-load trailer or straight haul?
STOCK

23. Why do you ride?
Because I am nuts.

Weekend fun and some farm projects

As the weather gets colder and opportunities to ride get to be few and far between I am trying to squeeze in as much pony time as possible on the weekends since riding during the week is mostly out of the question because it is always dark (boo!). In addition to riding there are also a bunch of obnoxious "get read for winter" projects.

Saturday:
I had work in the morning and then headed up to Michaux State Forest. This is one of my favorite places to ride and I was really happy to make it there one last time before the weather gets really bad. I got to touch up Frosty's chaser clip, roach her mane and do some trimming on her face and legs before heading up. It was chillier in the mountains than I expected and I did NOT dress warm enough lol! We went pretty fast and Frosty was STRONG so I warmed up really quickly. I rode western for this ride, this was Frosty's second time as a western poneh and she did really well.

Friends! Yay!

Frosty making a cranky mare face

Sunday:
Sunday was the Beaufort Hunt's second junior hunt of this year. This was a really great time and they had an excellent turnout! We took John's horses.

John is in front (blue saddle pad) and I'm in back (teal-ish saddle pad) 

 

When we got home from hunting I set up Frosty's fence to it's winter configuration. Our land is really hilly and I like to keep the horses off the hills as much as possible in snowy/icy/muddy conditions for safety and to reduce erosion, hence this fence set up.

Early morning picture of fence

John also did some (much needed!) tree removal of the two huge pine trees next to the barn. This will eliminate the pine needles which get everywhere and allow more sun to reach the hill/barn area this will hopefully lead to less ice/snow sticking around in those areas.

Picture from last year of 2 pine trees next to barn

Awesome!

In addition to these projects John's awesome friend Harry was in town a few weeks ago to help with some improvement which I am THRILLED about. The first was installation of our custom made "inner" barn doors. This will allow the dutch doors to be left open and increase airflow in the barn while allowing the horses to see out. The second was a NEW WATER LINE and spigot located closer to the horse water troughs and barn. I am freakishly happy about this and it should make my life much easier this winter when it comes to watering horses.

Another early morning photo of the new inner barn doors...I need to get a better one in nicer light

Horse husband!

 Found these questions on the Jumping Percheron Blog (http://jumpingpercheron.blogspot.com) and just had to share, since John (horse husband extraordinaire) is such a huge part of my life with horses!

Real Name: John

When Not Busy Being a Horse Hubby You Will Find Him: Selling tools, hunting

Height: Taller than me

Favorite Thing to do With the Horses: Foxhunting or trails

Can be Found at Horseshows:  Talking to the other horse husbands, being the "go-fer" for me

Least Favorite Thing About Horseshows: Waiting around

Super Power: Fixing things! Lawncare! Driving the trailer!

No Matter What Barn We Go To...: He ends up fixing something or giving someone diesel truck or horse trailer advice

Permanently in Charge of: Trailer driving!!!!!!

 

I Know He Doesn't Like it, But He Does it Anyway: Taking Frosty and I to the indoor

Best Trick: Backing up any trailer, anytime, anywhere

If He Gets an Attitude: I'm the one with the attitude problem

When He's Been Really Good: Beer.

 

I Can Always Count on Him to: Be there for me and fix all the stuff I break~!

Quick fall season overview

It's been forever, I've been busy with horse and non-horse things and have been to some fun events this fall.

9/27-Beaufort Hunter trials:
This was located at the gorgeous South Branch Farms facility. It was a pleasure to ride there. I did the walk/trot division and ground poles with Frosty, we got reserve champion in our division.

10/11-Pink Poker Prance
Breast cancer awareness ride at Fair Hill. This was a lot of fun and I was very pleased with how Speck handled all the horses and riders in costume/pink decorations. I definitely need more pink if I do this next year!

 

10/18-The Pacemaker Fall Fest

Pace event at Lancaster county central park to benefit mounted police. This involved driving the horse trailer through Lancaster city (husband driving NOT ME). The park was really different! It had a little bit of everything, wedding venue, frisbee golf course, fountains, pool, a skate park. Frosty did excellent despite the cool and breezy weather. Added bonus=getting to ride with the mounted police officers. 

 10/24-Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunter Pace

Located at Spring Valley Park very close to home! A nice long ride with a little bit of everything, woods, open fields, some jumps, water crossings etc. Frosty settled in nicely after a long trot at the beginning of the ride. No photos from this event as I was running a bit late due to having to work that morning! 

11/1-Beaufort Hunt Opening Meet

At a beautiful farm in Dauphin County, PA. A rough day, Speck was a bit of a nut. Oh well!

Pic not from opening meet, but a nice photo of Speck looking reasonably clean!

  

 

Its been a great season overall and we have really been lucky with the weather, it has been excellent!