The Beginning of the End

Dante has finally begun walking under saddle! The other night, Stephanie of Graystone Stable in KY got on him for the first time and proceeded to walk him for 45 minutes. According to her, he spent about twenty minutes pretending he had never been ridden, then settled and was fine for the rest of the ride.

This ride marks the beginning of the end of Dante's vacation. For the next couple of weeks, he'll walk under saddle for 30-90 minutes, followed by 10-15 minutes of trotting on the lunge after the shorter rides. Dr. Newton decided to keep him barefoot until after the holidays; as soon as he re-evaluates Dante, we'll add shoes after the first of the year. If all continues to go well (and at this point, there's no reason to believe that it won't), he'll get a new set of shoes in early February. At that point, he'll come home to me in Virginia.

Having a tentative date set for his return to me is a huge relief. I know that if anything goes wrong, that date will be pushed back again. I know most of you are aware that Dante has been living in Kentucky while I'm starting my new life in Virginia. What I haven't been very frank about is how much I miss him, the horse, and not just riding. Since I bought him almost six years ago, I haven't gone without seeing him for more than a couple of weeks. He's been with me through three cross country moves (not counting this latest ones), four relationships (with the fourth still going strong!), and two years worth of vacillating over my future. Not having him with me through this latest upheaval in my life has been a lot harder than I thought it would be.

So it's with a great big sigh of relief that I have a tentative date. And with that date, I can start planning for the show season in 2013. I already had my official USEA schedule worked out, but now that the local farms are putting out their schooling show schedules for winter, I can start penciling in dates for February and March. The vet is on board with my show schedule, provided all continues to go well, and hopefully we'll begin making appearances at dressage schooling shows at the end of February, with our first official USEA event scheduled for Loudoun Hunt at the end of April.

In the meantime, I have the holidays to distract me, and after the New Year, I'll put my nose to the grindstone and find Dante a place to live. At the beginning of January and February, I'll be helping out at Destination Farm's schooling jumper shows. Over MLK weekend, I'll head up to NJ to see my SO. The end of January brings Nicola Wilson to Locochee Farm, and I plan on auditing every second. So my time will be filled, and hopefully time will fly by!

(Dante pretends that he has no idea what is going on. What is that strange saddle thing?)

Much Ado About Nothing

So. Pretty much what the title says.

Not much has been happening on the Comedic Eventing front since I bought the trailer. I haven't seen it since yet, since it's living about an hour away from me and it's not as if I really need to go SEE it.

Dante was doing very well, but had a set back when the farrier rasped his feet too short in mid-October. The farrier had been doing a good job until this point, but suddenly quit/retired without warning to any of his clients shortly after doing Dante. When Dr. Newton came out a couple days later to look at him, he was lame in all four feet with 30% less foot than he had had before.

Le sigh.

In terms of setbacks, it could be worse, really. It's an easy fix, just wait for his foot to grow out. Again.

When Dr. Newton looked at him a few weeks ago, he was 90% back to where he was before. He said at that time we could put shoes on and see how the horse was, or be conservative and wait a couple more weeks. I figured I'd waited this long, might as well let the horse be 100%. He'll be out to look at Dante again on Friday, and hopefully we'll move ahead on shoes.

We updated Dante's FEI passport as well. This is so important to keep updated, even if your horse is currently being a pasture puff. The officials can give you the hairy eyeball if there's a gap in your horse's vaccinations, and possibly eliminate you. We had a scary incident last spring where almost half the kids at the barn were almost retroactively eliminated at an FEI competition after dressage due to a secretarial clerical error on their passports that said the horses had been vaccinated less than seven days before the show. This wasn't the case and they were allowed to complete after much hoopla, but there were a lot of tears and heartbreak before the whole mess was sorted out. Moral of the story, keep your FEI horses religiously updated on their vaccines!

I haven't looked at a single barn yet. Since Dante had a setback, it's likely he won't arrive until late January now. I can't quite bring myself to go look at barns until I know for sure he's coming, or at least until he gets shoes.

I've been running quite a bit, trying to stay in shape. The hills of Middleburg are kicking my butt! It's hard to stay motivated during the week though, when I arrived home and it's already completely dark and cold. I'm looking into buying a P90X or similar program, that I could do inside.

I've been traveling too, went to Vegas for a high school friend's wedding, and up to NJ over Thanksgiving to be with my SO for the holiday. I managed to run my two miles on both occasions!

(The most awesome window display ever in Vegas.)

In October I was lucky enough to score some tickets to the Puissance at the Washington International Horse show. It was quite entertaining to take a subway to get to a horse show, not to mention all the stalls in the middle of the street. This weekend I am excited to witness the Middleburg Christmas Parade, something that apparently can draw over 10,000 people! Thankfully I automatically have parking at my house! So I'm finding ways to fulfill my horsey fix. Hopefully the wait will be over soon.

Getting Mobile (Or, How Hurricane Sandy Messed with My Head)

After a mildly obsessive search that included cross-referenced Excel spreadsheets, daily repetitive searches on the usual websites, and maybe $100 worth of fuel costs, Comedic Eventing is finally mobile!

I liked to joke earlier this year that I may have been the only Advanced Level eventer in the entire country to have neither a truck nor a trailer. Now obviously, that is a completely wild guess, but most people at that level at least have one or the other.

In June, I partially rectified the matter and made the first big purchase of my adult life, obtaining my truck. I was halfway to freedom.

On Saturday, I kissed goodbye to my savings account and bought a 2004 Hawk two horse straight load, one of the brands and models I had been lusting after. It has almost everything I wanted: a rear ramp, dressing room, gooseneck hitch, water tank, fan in the horse area, extra space in the horse area, and above all, a side ramp. (You see, Dante has never quite gotten the hang of backing down a rear ramp with any sort of coordination. Every time I remove him from the trailer backwards, I live in fear of him being an absolute ding-dong and injuring himself somehow. Hence, the side ramp.)

(Look at the shiny! Or rather, the matte aluminum skin...)

As a bonus, there's also a large gate in the center that I can shift between two positions, so I can haul two horses in the rear, with the gate shut and equipment or hay in the front. I can also shift the gate back a couple of feet and haul one horse loose in a box stall configuration in the front and haul equipment and hay in the back. Or I can remove the gate all together if I like, or even remove all of the gates and hardware to form one giant box. (I'll never have to rent another Uhaul trailer for moving ever again!) Another bonus was the ability to plug the trailer into a hookup and get power for two outlets.

So on Saturday, I bought the trailer (name still pending, and yes it needs a name, I name everything), and took it to its temporary parking place out in Poolesville, MD. Then, mindful of the impending inclement weather (Some of you might have heard of Sandy?) I tried to get it insured on Sunday.

Turns out the insurance companies stopped binding all policies on Friday due to the expectation of a hurricane.

Lesson learned. Never, ever make a big purchase that must be outside two days prior to a hurricane arriving. You will spend the entire storm obsessively checking the hourly weather where said purchase is located and hoping that the wind gusts aren't strong enough to knock over any trees and toss them onto your trailer.

Well, you'll be checking obsessively until you lose power, of course.

Luckily, for those of us in NoVA, the wind and rain was not too bad, and although there was some damage due to downed trees and power did go out mostly overnight and some on Tuesday, we largely escaped Sandy unscathed. I got the report that my trailer was fine, and I breathed a sigh of relief. And promptly on Wednesday, got the thing insured.

The Fairest Hill of All

This past weekend YB and I trekked up to Elkton, MD for the annual Fair Hill. This gave me mixed feelings, as I would have rather been competing this weekend in the two star. However, I felt like I kept the blues at bay quite admirably, mostly through being tired, coffee, great spectating, coffee, crab bisque, and coffee. Oh, and being terrified of getting shanked in the sketchy motel. (At least we didn't stay in the motel where someone was murdered on Monday night...) And instead of using my pen as a tool to convey how the weekend, I created the following video blog.

I also taped a TON of riding. The next five videos include CCI** XC, CCI*** XC, Jogs, CCI** SJ, and CCI*** SJ. Youtube only allowed me 10 min per video, so I had to cut a couple of SJ rounds, but I tried to get much of the top riders.

Enjoy!

The Second Horse Itch

There comes a time in every rider's life when the eye starts to stray. Often it's during a period of rest or injury for their horse, and the lack of riding is slowly driving them mad. Sometimes it's because the horse is getting up there in years, or isn't quite tackling the course the way they should. Other times, it may simply be because the rider misses the ways of the baby horse.

At this point, many riders are struck with what I like to call the Second Horse Itch.

The pesky Second Horse Itch starts as just a little tickle. It may start at a horse show, when you see a particularly nice Novice horse float across the ground in front of you. It may start at your barn, when a fellow barnmate buys a new one and the excitement spreads around. It can even start in your daydreams, as you race across the Rolex course on a horse you made yourself (in your mind).

That tickle grows slowly, slowly. You might begin surfing the web for horse ads. At first, you search Dream Horse for all the horses worth $50k or more, finding your perfect upper level school master who takes you to the autumnal woods of Fair Hill and the balmy sands of Galway. With your perfect $75K purchase, you head to England to compete with William and Mary, and the Netherlands to joust with Michael Jung and the indomitable Sam. You ride down centerline at the London Olympics, having just performed the test of a lifetime. This dream horse and you are unbeatable.

Reality is an enabler for the Second Horse Itch. Reality brings you back from the horse-saturated landscape of Europe and places you firmly on solid ground. That four star packer is out of reach, financially.

But you can afford a baby.

It doesn't hurt to look, right?

It starts off with the fantasy of importing a phenomenal young three year old. You watch video after video of Irish Sport Horses cantering and free jumping. One or two catch your eye, and you again daydream, this time of pulling a fancy young horse off the trailer, freshly arrived from Ireland, with a moniker to match. You think of hacking the baby through the hills of Virginia, teaching him to be brave and strong. You think of bringing him to schooling shows and training him so carefully that his first debut at a rated show goes perfectly, and the pair of you spend a lifetime going perfectly up the levels.

The you look at the cost of a plane ticket for a horse.

On to square three. The Second Horse Itch needs attention, and at this point you can't help but scratch it.

You think of buying a young warmblood from a breeder in this country, a progeny from Brandenburg's Windstar or Salute the Truth. You drool over Riverman offspring and covet those sired by A Fine Romance. But the bottom line looms.

Inevitably, your mouse hand drags you to the CANTER sites, where you peruse the ranks of young OTTBs. Not all of them are to your liking, or even many, but finding the proverbial diamond in the rough is part of the game. At this point, the Second Horse Itch is a constant, nagging thought.

You find a thoroughbred to fit your criteria, who looks perfect on paper and in the photos. You even have his purchase price in your savings account. The Second Horse Itch compulsively pushes your hand to the phone, ready to call the trainer.

Then you look at your bank account. Work out your finances. Realize that the expensive part of owning horses is not the purchase price, but the upkeep. Sadly, you put the phone down.

But you come back to that photo of the young, OTTB daily. You both dread and can't wait for him to be sold. Finally, the ad goes away, indicating he is no longer available. You think you're free of the longing.

But you're not. There's always another Dream Horse, another import, another fancy youngster, another OTTB.

The Second Horse Itch never truly goes away.

Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel

(Welcome to Middleburg, home of the Red Horse Tavern.)

Now that I'm finally settled, I've been starting to think about where I'm going to keep Dante when the time comes for him to end his vacation. I'm in the middle of horse heaven, so it shouldn't be too hard, right?

Of course, it's never that easy.

First, let's go ahead and assume that his hooves conform to our schedule and he is ready to compete again next spring. That means I need to bring him up in January after a month at Kesmarc in December to start trot sets, so I can flat in February, and start jumping by March.

Wheee, trot sets in January.

So first I think of all the things I want in a barn:

1) All weather footing and lights in outdoor rings.
2) Indoor or covered, if there are no lights or all weather footing.
3) Good footing in the turnout, and no more than 2 pasture buddies.
4) All day or night turnout, depending on the season and weather.
5) Deeply bedded stalls that are cleaned well.
6) No required lessons with trainer (unless it is a trainer I want to ride with).
7) I can use any vet or farrier (which is not a big deal if I like the barn vet or farrier).
8) Trailer parking (I don't mind paying a small fee for a small trailer, just needs to be available).
9) Within budget! (Which isn't super tight, but the less money I spend on board, the more I can spend on lessons. Or save for shows....)

My plan is to trailer out for lessons twice a week, once for dressage (preferably to an actual dressage instructor) and once for jumping (would love to find a jumper trainer to work with two times a month, and then to an event trainer for a touch of XC and a jump lesson maybe 1x a month.) I definitely want to build up a rapport with an event trainer so that when I go to big events (FEI mostly) I can stable with them and course walk with them, as well as have a flat and SJ warm-up. However, I can't afford the time or money to have Dante on training board with someone like I did in Texas, and I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity to train with specialists.

The situation becomes more complicated with Dante coming in January. I don't really need an indoor, I almost like the idea of riding in all the elements, so Dante gets used to being relaxed in all weathers. I can buy rain covers for my saddles, I can wear old half chaps instead of tall boots, I can oil my tack after getting wet. I won't ride if it's under 20 degrees (I might hack in certain circumstances, but no straining his lungs), but an indoor wouldn't really help that anyways. Obviously, I need all weather footing if it's raining.

Worse comes to worse, many places will allow you to use their indoor for a fee. I could do that once in a while if it's truly bad. However, I do very much need lights. With work, I may need to be riding at 10 pm on a semi-regular basis. I have no problem riding outdoors so long as there are lights and all weather footing.

I do want lessons by February, and seeing as I'm not sure that any of the trainers I would normally lesson with stay up in VA, I might be willing to board with a trainer with an indoor through the winter, then move. But moving is a pain. So we'll see.

Finally, this barn MUST be located within fifteen minutes of Middleburg OR located north of Middleburg no further north than Purcelville. My job will be sending me to work out of Germantown, MD for about a year (maybe more, maybe less), and my route home from work will probably bring me from the north out of Frederick. The commute itself is long enough that I really don't want to have to drive past Middleburg south (unless I am trailering to a lesson) and then return again.

Some things I can sacrifice on. I might be willing to let him have more of a herd if the acreage of turnout is larger. I might be willing to let him live primarily on turnout so long as he is either fed separately or I can ensure he is getting all of his food and none of anyone else's. I will not sacrifice on footing, care, or having either lights/all weather or an indoor. I won't sacrifice on location.

Luckily, Middleburg area suffer almost an overabundance of horse farms. I'm likely to find at least a few facilities that fit my parameters. Many of these farms are private with only a few boarders, and the only way to hear about them is word of mouth. So spread the word, Virginia folk!

Time to start the search.

The Courage to Change

It has been several weeks since I last updated, and I can already state with confidence that it is likely to be several more before I update again. The reason for this is simply that with Dante (temporarily) not in my life other than through text photos and phone calls, I don't really have much to blog about. 

That doesn't mean nothing has changed. I've recently moved to Middleburg, and I mean I am right in town! For the first time in my life, I can walk to shops and cafes. There are four tack shops here! I've currently resisted entering any of them due to lack of funds, but I have stopped in the biggest Dover store I've ever seen, which is conveniently on my way to work. It's a bit easier to not buy things when there's no serious riding to be seen in my near future, and my pony isn't within arm's reach. In any case, I've been busy attempting to sort out my house, find my bearings, and of course watching the Olympics. Conveniently, I start my new career on August 1st, which I didn't plan at all for with the Olympic Eventing in mind, but it works out perfectly. 

Our drive to VA was relatively smooth, barring a few tense minutes in the West Virginia mountains where the trailer was pushing my truck down a few steep grades. Anyone know an alternate route through WV from VA to KY, preferably including an interstate highway? We did stop over in KY, to see S and Dante. I haven't seen S since I ran the 2009 LF CCI* at Midsouth, so it was great fun to have a couple of days to reunite. I'm hoping to entice her out to VA to attend a few horse shows, cross your fingers! She's taking awesome care of Dante, who is fatter than I have ever seen him. The only way to entice him to lift his head from the lush bluegrass was with a carrot. He's not FAT-fat yet, as I've never been able to get him to gain much weight, but definitely looks like a rounder hunter. He gets to go out all night with his friend Fig, an older gelding who apparently bosses Dante around. Dante apparently doesn't really care what Fig tries, just eats nonstop.

(Dante grazes in his Kentucky field as the sun goes down.)

His shoes were also pulled about four days prior to my seeing him. The first day I was there, he was definitely a bit tentative when he walked. We stayed two full days after that and each day he got better. On the morning of the fourth day, you could barely tell he had been sore walking barefoot, although every now and then, he'd stop paying attention and stub his toe on something. Silly pony.

(Dante's bare feet!)

As of then, there wasn't much change in the shape of his hoof, but it had been less than a week so I wouldn't have expected anything yet. Hopefully, we'll see some seriously change within six weeks.