The (Mostly) New Kid

Emma's post about finally getting the perfect dressage saddle for Charlie was the kick in the pants I needed to post about my own dressage saddle shopping experience. Or maybe it was just that I have no other topic of conversation now that I've exhausted every goal/review/recap post of 2017 I could draw out.

I could write about Opie's CTJ on the longe line after BM complained about him being The Worst outside, but...I don't know. The CTJ wasn't anything special, and the reason I put him back to "work" even though it's colder than I would want to do anything with him in is not something I'm ready to tackle mentally yet. If I don't see him do anything, is he really being Satan? (The answer is yes.)

Stupid horses.

On to the bulk of that $4k+ tack shopping category!

not always the best. sometimes the worst.
but that saddle tho.

I rode in the Stubben Roxanne I bought March '17 most of last year on Bobby. It's a nice saddle. It's comfy--especially for a lower end Stubben--it fit Bobby fantastically, and it was by far the nicest piece of tack I'd ever owned.

However, I struggled with my position in it far more than I ever did with my Tekna. It wasn't the worst for sitting the trot, but it was impossible for me to post in it, and it never felt like the best fit in the seat size. I was determined to make it work because I bought it and I had it, but once I got Opie and pulled it back out for the first time in awhile, I only rode in it one more time before pushing it aside for my ancient jump saddle.

hot mess express. trying to heft my ass out of the saddle was ridiculous.

Since I want to show primarily in dressage (and personally I think a dressage saddle is a thousand times more comfortable to ride in on the daily anyway, but that just might be my crippled knees talking), I wanted to make getting a new saddle a priority.

Once an idea is in my head, I can't just sit and wait on it. There are no local (or even semi-local) tack stores around here that carry dressage saddles for me to try. Trust me, I asked. I have a really long thigh and finding something that my knee doesn't blast over the flap has always been hard for me. I have next to no knowledge of what types of saddle work best for what rider, and while research left me with a list I really didn't want to end up with another Roxane problem--a lovely saddle that fit either myself or the horse, but not both and now I can't sell the thing.

Having never done so before, I put the question out to the world of Facebook on what the cost of demoing saddles is. You guys gave me some fantastic responses and I felt confident that at least was something I could afford to get done right away, and then I could keep an eye out on whatever the fitter recommended.

look at all the pretties. LOOK AT THEM.

I ended up starting with (and, uhh, finishing...okay, never moving on from) County at the recommendation of a local rider that gave me tons of great advice and recommendations when I moved up here. The rep was fantastic to work with--friendly, great with communication, knowledgeable, patient with Opie having all of a dozen rides off the track when she came out, and she never once tried to shove her product down my throat. I didn't feel pressured into buying anything from her, and she went above and beyond to make sure I got what I wanted.

She started off taking a tracing of Opie and then went right to pulling out saddles.

We started with the Competitor, but the flap didn't feel forward enough and alongside my knee shooting off the edge, we agreed that I was basically stuffed into the thing and a bigger set size wasn't going to help there.

Next up was the Fusion. This one had the external knee blocks which I'd never ridden with before. I was ready to be wowed. I loved the look of it, and Opie immediately moved off better than he ever had. The blocks didn't do it for me though. I felt like my knee was banging into them, and the flap still didn't seem forward enough. I told Rep upfront I was not going custom and needed something to fit me essentially off the rack. On to the next.

The Connection was like butt magic the second I swung my leg over. The seat was roomy, the flap was forward, the blocks were unobtrusive, and Opie was moving freely and happily. I told her it was my favorite hands down, but she wanted me to try the last model just in case.

oh, that's how your leg is supposed to hang. and it shouldn't be impossible to post?
what a concept!

I was in and out of the Perfection in less than a lap. It was my least favorite of the four, and after riding in the Connection I didn't even bother making my thus far impeccably well behaved baby horse go around yet again.

The saddle I demoed was a 17.5" medium tree in bull leather. I loved everything about it, but Rep told me the bull was almost $1k more than the elephant print. I wasn't totally sold on it because even the price of a demo with the elephant was astronomical for my little baby budget, so she dug out a weirdly sized 17" wide tree with the elephant print, and after checking to make sure the tree worked for Opie, told me to keep it until she was back up probably in a week and see what I thought about it, no strings attached.

I put in a couple of rides, and even though the seat was a bit too small for me (while the 18" Stubben was way too small for me, the 17.5" County is perfection), the difference in Opie and the ease of holding my position and working my body parts sold me.

it just cuddles my leg and i love it. #obsessed

I told the Rep I wanted it, she sent in the order to the County office, and they shipped me the 17.5" wide tree from another rep in two days. Rep came out shortly thereafter to fit it specifically for Opie. It needed a little lift in the right for his less developed shoulder, and she told me to use a Mattes pad for a couple weeks until he truly filled in the wide tree. Uh, yeah. Four years old, two months off the track with not a whole lot of rides, and he was rocking a wide comfortably. Though he be but little, he is fierce a sofa.

welcome home.

My mom generously donated a large chunk of change for Christmas that paid off a third of it, we were able to budget in another third, and County financed the last third which we plan on paying off in full by March. I sold my jump saddle to BM since it turned out to be way too narrow, and with the proceeds bought my own Mattes half pad (having been borrowing one from a generous barn mate) and a 22" Total Saddle Fit girth since Bobby's 28" memory foam girth was swallowing Opie whole.

i maybe also stuck with county because it's riding bestie's fave and i trust her judgement

It's hands down the most money I've ever paid for anything besides my truck. It's more than I paid for my horse trailer. It's more than three times the amount I paid for my horse. ALL of my horses! That makes me a little twitchy sometimes when I spiral down the whole "What if I paid too much?" "What if I could have found it cheaper somewhere else?" "What if there's a better saddle out there that's cheaper AND works better?"

And maybe all of those things are true, but it's the saddle I have and mostly paid for, and hot damn is it comfy and dreamy and makes my horse move like a unicorn. It can't be all bad!

of course i haven't sat in it in two weeks, but it's still nice to
look at.

Have you guys ever demoed saddles before? Any brand preferences? Do you make questionable life choices large purchases without shopping the market like I do?

The Cost of 2017

I did a 2016 post and ended up really enjoying being interested in where my expenses were for my horse. It was also interesting that while obviously horses are expensive and I spent more than any sane non-horse person would ever fathom, once again I didn't end up spending as much as I thought I did. Of course that's easy to say now that the bills are far behind me because they sure felt like they were getting otherworldly at the time!

I didn't make my categories quite the same as the previous year, but close enough for comparison.

Supplements and health care (meds, ointments, creams): $1,522.04

• Almost $100 of that was spent on various sized jars of Krudzapper. #noregrets

Farrier: $555

• God bless my fucking farrier. All year long, we never went two cycles in a row without changing Bobby's shoeing. Since she does almost the entire barn she's out all the time anyway, but she never once charged me every time she stopped in on her way to somewhere else to check in, or Bobby lost a shoe, or I needed her to hoof test, or wanted an opinion after Vet was out, or every time I had her consult with whoever I was working with at the time. Bobby's laminitis treatment and outside consult she brought in? I never saw a bill. She knew we were at the end, and even when I tried pushing money into her hand, she refused to accept it.  

Lessons: $1,130

• Hopefully to resume next month or March at the latest!

Board: $1,325

• I quartered this from what I paid last year by picking up more barn chores. It's worth it to afford more lessons, shows, etc. At least that's what I tell myself as I drive 30mph through a blizzard in 10* to take care of 22 horses. 

Vet: $3,058.61

• $1,000 of that was the Cornell trip, and that doesn't include close to another $1,000 a bunch of crazy fucking bloggers raised for Bobby's last bills. Love you crazy fucking bloggers! Much like Farrier, Vet really tried to work with me to keep costs down, and we did a lot of phone calls and emails so she didn't have to keep coming out every time something with Bobby's leg changed.

Shows: $848.51

• This makes me twitch since I only attended one and one-third shows this year, and that hunter show only cost me $109. Enjoy your fucking donations, USDF and USEA!

Tack/Gear: $4,697.31

• Um, whoops? I think I did Tack Ho Nation proud. That includes my Stubben dressage saddle I bought in the spring that ended up not working at all for my sasquatch legs (Still for sale!!), and 2/3 of the cost of my fancy new County dressage saddle. Worth....it....? Look away, Hubby. Just look away.

Miscellaneous (memberships, registrations, repairs, etc): $918.74

• My truck got new brakes in the spring which was a good chunk of that. 

Overall total: $14,055.21

• Only about a $2,300 difference than last year. See, not bad at all! Oh, wait. I also bought a horse. Might need to work on that 2018 budget a little bit.....

How'd you guys do? More expenses than usual, or were you able to keep your wallet under wraps? Anyone else want to share their poor life choices?

2018 Goals

Finally, the last year-end post is out the door! It was the perfect week to get all of these written up as all I've been doing at the barn is having mental breakdowns over dealing with the cold. How cold? So cold the fucking lighter I had to go out and buy to thaw the snaps for the water buckets shit out on me after all of two minutes of exposure. This is decidedly not helpful when the snaps re-freeze in the time it takes you to pound ice out of buckets. And the hose froze despite being kept in the heated tack room, and my face just burns nonstop, and I hate everything about this state.

But that has nothing to do with goals, so let's get these going!

1. Fully outfit Opie in all his own necessary gear. Most of what he has was Bobby's and most of it works for him. I did buy him his own fancy dressage saddle that was mostly for me as the Stubben fit him fine (It's for sale--someone please buy it!), but was a mess for my body parts. However, we are down to no jump saddle, and a jump girth that's too big for his itty bitty self. I'd also like to get him a blanket with a neck for next winter.

2. Figure out the best show routine to make Opie comfortable off property. He's a pretty sensible dude so I'm not expecting him to be unmanageable, but I know he's going to revert to weaving and screaming. I'd like to have those things completely nixed when we leave the barn.

3. Complete 25 hours for TIP trail riding patch. Mendon Ponds, here we come!

4. Be able to trailer Opie by myself. This ties in closely to the goal above as I trail ride almost exclusively by myself. I also show a lot by myself, so he's going to have to learn about self loading.

5. Smooth out the basics. I want to develop a better canter and have him working through lateral moves--leg yield, shoulder fore, shoulder-in, haunches-in. I'd also like to start seeing some adjustability within the gaits.

6. Don't get hung up in how everyone else is progressing. So many bloggers got new partners in 2017 that it's easy to compare yourself to what someone else is doing. People think the way they're training is the best way and the only way, and if you're doing it differently you're doing it wrong. I've been down the OTTB training road several times before, and I need to trust myself instead of getting caught up in someone else's journey.

let's do this thing!

2017 Year in Review

Imma do it, you guys. I keep psyching myself out because I don't particularly want to look back at all the shit this year brought, but my archival OCD won't let me not have a review post to put on the list. So. We'll make it succinct and get it over with.

In January, Bobby carried on the yearly tradition of being a flaming rage monster idiot in the winter. We fought over flying changes and shoulder-in for no particular reason, both of which were resolved in a follow up ride. Bobby never failed to enjoy making more work for himself, getting upset about it, throwing massive tantrums, and then magically getting over it the next day.

while a raging asshole, he was also totally trustworthy for all manners of shenanigans

February brought the first hint of what was to come with Bobby's leg. The vet was out for a couple of other horses and I had her take a look at what I thought was some fungus on his knee and ankle that was causing minor swelling. We put him on SMZs, treated with Equiderma, and while it never went completely away, it didn't seem to be a cause for real concern at that point. I dealt off and on with his sore feet from his navicular, but we manged to get him comfortable enough to participate in jumper night.

Apparently March was just a lot more of managing the drama king of winter. Reading back through these posts made me realize how truly awful this horse sometimes was. Fuck, he was a difficult bastard when he wanted to be.

#angryunicorn celebrates his twelfth birthday 

April was the month of ramming in all the lessons we missed due to inclement weather. I'd pretty much stopped jumping at that point due to Bobby's navicular issues creeping back up, and BM ripped our sorry dressage basics apart and rebuilt from the ground up.

Shit got real in May. We started off with Bobby feeling especially crippled in his feet, but Farrier did another shoeing change and we managed to get him comfortable again. Shortly after that, I had the vet out for the third time this year as Fungus Leg had taken an abrupt turn for the worse. Biopsy results gave us our diagnosis of Sarcoidosis. My horse was sore, depressed, and the vet was telling me to brace myself for euthanasia being an immediate option.

Instead, in June Bobby fucking rallied. We hit our only full show of the year, we did a high intensity hunter pace, and Bobby went back to work like nothing was wrong with him.

bobby never really got behind hunter shows

I posted two whole times in July, both of which were about the lead up to Bobby's return to eventing.

However, August was more rain and the event was a no-go for us. It was a complete waste of hard-earned savings that was so horrendously handled by the show management for yet another year that I sent in a scathing event review to USEA. We got up to all sorts of other things, though! We went to Cornell to do ALL THE TESTS only to be told they had no idea what the actual fuck was going on in his leg/coronary band/foot, but wow sarcoidosis is so cool, p.s. your horse is the only one in this country in recorded history to have this particular type. With even more shoeing changes, we got Bobby sorted enough to go cross country schooling with a couple barn mates. We also introduced him to the double bridle because he was owning the Third Level work, so it wasn't a complete wash of a month.

loved his job

September was officially the beginning of the end. We were able to get some great days in during the very beginning of the month, and my last ever ride on Bobby was jumping him over the skinny chevron Hubby made for us. Then he went very, very lame very suddenly. I panic-texted Farrier saying I thought he was foundering in his RF. She came out, didn't want to confirm or deny anything, and brought in a colleague to get yet another set of eyes on him. The second farrier was slightly more optimistic, but I think Farrier knew, after working on him so closely for so long, that we weren't in a good spot. They recommended putting the vet on standby in case he full on foundered, but I went ahead and called them out take take yet another set of images.

On the second of October, the vet came out, took a new set of rads that showed Bobby's coffin bone had disconnected and dropped and was about to come through the bottom of his foot, and I knew it was time. My whole barn family dove in to give Bobby the best last days of his life. One week later, either the night before or the morning of his appointment, his coffin bone came through his sole. He was on three legs hobbling out to where we chose to put him down and bury him. It was not an easy euthanasia. He did not go quietly. But I will instead always remember that with a foot that was completely useless, in the freezing, whipping wind and rain after being confined to a stall for weeks, he followed along behind me on a loose lead with no hesitation--always trusting, always looking for an adventure, always the kindest horse.

always very, ahem, relaxed about pictures

I drowned my sorrows by going to Fair Hill for the first time and having an epic blogger meet up with some of my faves. The next weekend I decided to go to the track just in case I saw something that struck my fancy and came away with a little grey 4yo.

so small, so snootable. how could you resist?

I spent November getting to know Opie and introducing him to his new life. He went trail riding for the first time, did his first free jumping, learned about bareback ambling, and just generally adjusted to his new set of rules while proving to be just about the easiest baby horse ever in existence.

And finally, the month of December brought Opie's first real trail ride, his first jump courses, first "horse show", and his first ribbons! He's wrapping up the year the same way I think most of the horses in the Northeast are--on vacation because of brutal cold.

and taking his first selfies which he was very into

I had big ambitions of year-end awards and moving up a level, but instead finished it out down one partner and getting to know a new one. It's not a year I'll look back fondly on, but it was--to try to put a positive spin on it--a learning experience, and I know I've come out the other side a changed horseman.

Here's to 2018 not being so spectacularly shitty!

A very blogger Christmas

Just in time for the holiday itself, Hubby walked in the door with the mail this morning and asked me what I'd ordered from Alberta. As we're on a spending lock down for the moment to make sure present shopping doesn't get out of hand (ahem, my saddle), I feel as though he was accusing me of being a little bit frivolous with ye olde checkbook.

Nah, Hubby! It's mother fucking Blogger Secret Santa time!

I always feel bad for whoever ends up stuck with me as I never have any idea of what to ask for. I give the vaguest suggestions, and every year my Secret Santa has delivered in spades. It was no different this year from Renate at Grain Before Groceries--one of the first blogs I started following because of the fellowship I felt to her through her blog's title. #preach

One of my favorite things about this gift exchange is seeing just how well everyone knows each other. The gifts are always so personalized that I think it makes it that much more special. Renate nailed it with a new blueish teal bonnet for Opie who looks dreadful in Bobby's old lavender bonnet, but who rocks all his blue gear. We'll be using this for trail rides and hunter paces for sure!

She also enclosed my favorite pair of socks that has been sitting on my Amazon wish list for eternity, and this cuff that had Hubby and I LOLing so hard:

so fitting.

Thanks Renate, and thanks Tracy for putting this together yet again!

2017 Goal Review

'Tis the season, even if all my goals this year became moot pretty much right off the bat!

1. Stay present while riding at shows. Can't cross this off as we only went to one and one third shows, and the goal was aimed at riding every movement of a dressage test.

2. Focus on year-end awards. Obviously not. We didn't make it to a single dressage show thanks to Fungus Leg.

3. Ride a Third level test. See above, although by the end of the summer I feel like we could have confidently attempted this.

4. Attend at least one horse trial. I saved pennies, did bitch work, renewed my USEA membership, and we completed the dressage only to have the cross country cancelled due to flooding and opting to stay home for the stadium since the footing was just as bad.

5. Stay quiet on approach to the jump. Nailed this one. I learned to just sit quiet, let the canter do the work, and let the jump come to me. I'm so thankful I got this out of the way as it's made me so much more quiet and confident as I start teaching Opie about jumping.

bobby never failed to drop weight in the hottest part of the year.

Lamest, most boring post ever I know. Had to do it for posterity. Now to think up some achievable goals for The Snoot!

Bobby's #BestNine2017

I tried the autofill calculator of insta-likes for my Best Nine this year, but it was pretty lame. A couple pictures of Opie, the post from the day I had to put Bobby down, and a few random ones that I have no idea why they were so popular. Things I didn't care all that much about, things I didn't want to remember, and things that have become a separate part of my journey through this year.

The most notable absence was of Bobby's face plant into water lilies, and that picture is what inspired me to create my own Best Nine--a tribute and a farewell to one Bobby Magee.

In June we went to our only completed show of the year. Bobby won one of the hacks, but it was his two over fences rounds in the Thoroughbred division that had me grinning like a fool. After his navicular diagnosis at the end of last year, I wasn't sure he was ever going to compete over jumps again. We'd got him back in fighting shape with corrective shoeing, but he still hadn't jumped more than a handful of times in the six months leading up to this show. More than that, a week before this he was handed his diagnosis of sarcoidosis and we were preparing ourselves to put him down. Instead he rallied and packed me around like a complete professional.

Who needs a dressage saddle for dressage? When sound, Bobby felt incredible in the strength department this year. He finally got his head in the game, and by the end of the summer I was feeling like Third was strongly in our grasp. This was a glimpse of the badassery that was to come.

I really struggled with keeping Bobby comfortable in his feet, and footing was something I always had to keep an eagle eye on. He never turned down a romp in the front field though.

We jumped 3'6" two times the whole year, just to prove we still could.

The crowning jewel of 2017. Hubby came along with us to Mendon for a photoshoot, and we couldn't pass up a chance for a dip before we left. Bobby's favorite speed was wading with a side of snacking on lily pads.

One of our last rides. Money was tight, but BM hauled us down for free with a couple other barn mates to go cross country schooling, and Bobby was in heaven.

The water beast in its natural habitat.

We attempted a second show, but the dressage was a shit storm due to footing, the cross country got cancelled due to flooding, and I opted not to haul back down for stadium on equally shitty footing. He still looked like a beast.

The end of an era.