Dealing with loss

We’ve lost two horses this year – Saga in January after several months of ever-worsening mystery lameness, and now Oberon, suddenly, due to a twisted and displaced intestine from gas colic. I’ve owned horses for 17 years (Cash is my first horse) and these are the first ones I’ve had to put down. Both were young, healthy, and in their prime. To say it sucks is an understatement.

The good news in both cases is that I have absolutely no doubt in my mind, no second guesses, that we made the right decision at the right time for both of them. In Saga’s case there was literally nothing we could do, which we knew when we put him down but the true severity of the situation was revealed via necropsy. In Oberon’s case, colic surgery may have helped him. I say “may” because there are no guarantees.  The reality of surgery is that while some horses do great, others take 6 months to a year to recover, or never fully recover. There are lots of second surgeries, complications, and plenty of deaths on the table. I’m not knocking anybody who chooses to do surgery, it’s an individual decision (and not an easy one), but it’s something that we are not prepared to do.

As for how I’m dealing with things, the answer is OK. Yesterday I was on-and-off sniffly and didn’t get much done at work. The outpouring of love from the people who knew Oberon has been incredible. My poor husband is, as you might imagine, very upset and raw. What makes it worse is that he’s on a ship in Alaska right now, and not even accessible by phone. Imagine sending your husband an email that goes something like, “Honey, there’s no easy way to say this, but your horse is colicking and has a displaced intestine. Surgery is the only option and we've already discussed not going that route. I’m so sorry. Let me know when you get this.” That’s probably the worst email I've written in my entire life. Luckily we did manage to chat for a bit via Gmail, and I sent him emails from my phone when we were at the vet in the final moments, so he knew what was going on. Still, not being able to say goodbye in person must be awful. I’m very glad I got to be with both Oberon and Saga at the end. I’m also glad that it was fast and painless. Thank goodness for small mercies.

I don’t think saying goodbye ever gets easier, but maybe it gets… I don’t know, more real? Many years ago I was faced with putting Cash down due to impaction colic. We drove out to the hospital where he’d been all night to put him down. I’d come to say goodbye to him, but when we got there he was more comfortable so we decided to wait. We stayed with him all day, hugging him, grooming him, just loving on him. Somehow, by some miracle, he pulled through. Since that day, I think I’ve accepted – really accepted - that our time with them is fleeting. You could literally, at any moment, have to make that decision. In that moment with Cash, it went from being a theoretical “this is what I’d do if I had to say goodbye” to a real, in-your-face understanding of what it’s like and what you have to do for your horse. I was on the edge of the cliff that day, and by the grace of whatever deity you believe in, I got to step back. But I've never, ever forgotten that we’re really always on the edge of that cliff, most of us just don’t realize it. You might have to step off it at any moment, and every day you don’t is one more to be thankful for.

Saturday night I hit that cliff when the vet said “gas colic with impaction and displacement”. I had to sit down. I knew what it meant, but we agreed to try fluids to see if the impaction would resolve and allow the gas behind it to escape and let the intestine move back into place. Oberon was kept comfortable the entire time, and was feeling good enough at the end (due to the drugs) that he had some carrots, acted like his usual annoying self, and gave me a "hug" when I gave him a last hug from his dad. Sadly, medical treatments weren't enough – the displacement included a twist that we didn't know about until the necropsy was performed. But in the end, it wasn't a hard decision to make - it was the only one to make, because we’d already made it. There was a certain peace in knowing that we knew what we were going to do, because we’d discussed it before.

So I guess… be as prepared as you can. Really think about it and plan for it… it’s not fun, but it’s easier to make decisions ahead of time than try to make them when emotions are high. Know what you’re going to do, and know what your limits are. Try not to second guess yourself. Listen to your vet and your horse, even though your heart is breaking.

And give them one last hug. Every damn day.

Oberon: June 1 2002 - July 14 2013

Colic takes too many of them too fast and too young.

Rest in peace, Oberon. I hope that wherever you are, the bucket of treats is bottomless. 

May is the new December!

Yet another late winter storm is sweeping its way across the country. I know lots of folks have snow and truly nasty weather, which fortunately we are avoiding. However, tonight we've got wind gusts up to 50 knots, and we're setting new record low temps for our part of the world. Um, yay?

Put another log on the fire!

Since it's been in the upper 80s for the last month, the boys have completely shed out their winter costs. I washed all the winter blankets several weeks ago and put them away. Tonight, I pulled everything back out of storage and rugged everyone up.

Seriously, mom? This rug is SO out of season.

With the gusty wind, blanketing was more challenging than usual. Echo had the grace to spook at his blanket (which he's worn several dozen times) AFTER I put it on him. Doofus. I'm really glad I cancelled my lesson tonight! And of course, everyone's been running around like complete loonies.

Loonies, I tell you.

Total loonies.

I hope everyone's staying warm and toasty tonight!

Happy Birthday Cash & Reddums! (Or, how to host a horsey birthday party)

This week, Cash turns 25 and Red turns 20. In honor of their somewhat impressive ages (especially given Cash's myriad ongoing issues), I decided that if I was ever going to host a horsey birthday party, now was the time to do it. So we invited our horsey neighbors and riding friends over for a cookout and some very silly afternoon fun.

Did anyone else have/attend birthday parties as a kid where you played the traditional party games? Well, at this party, the horses got to play the games!

First up, we had a pie eating contest. The "pies" were chopped apples sprinkled with oatmeal and drizzled with a bit of molasses. Oberon, who is apparently part goat, won this contest in approximately 1.3 seconds.

Imagine a hoovering sound with this picture.

Just to be certain of his victory, Oberon also tried to eat the plate the pie came on. Here hubby and TD are trying to pry it out of his teeth (they were successful).  

 Then Oberon finished off Echo's pie, since apparently baby racehorses don't eat apple pies.

!?!?!?!?!?

Next up, bobbing for apples! 

Oberon was a natural at this as well, and did not let the water up his nose deter him in the slightest.

Red was slightly more skeptical.

Cash decided that such games were entirely beneath his dignity and opted not to play.

And finally, the absolute silliest game... the carrot-and-stick races. Yes, we literally tied carrots to sticks and then timed the boys as to how long it took them to get to the finish line. You were not allowed to touch your horse, call him, or make any clucking or kissy noises, you could only use the carrot to lure your horse forward.

Taran was not about to move his feet to get the carrot, but instead stretched as faaaaaaaar as he possibly could (note the hind legs).

The "nose wiggle"technique was also popular, to try to snag the carrot from midair.

Here's a short video of Red demonstrating how it's done:

Also, I am pleased to announce that ECHO FINALLY WON A RACE! That's right, folks, Echo won the carrot-and-stick race. This is even more odd because he's still not 100% sure he even likes carrots, but we're working on that. (And sadly, there was no photographic evidence of his victory, but there were lots of witnesses. Yay Echo!)

After the festivities, we had a brief photo shoot:

MC with the birthday boys.

Fuzzypony with Taran.

Me with Echo the EAdorable.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Schpotted Pony and Reddums the Feerless War Pony!

Pin Oak Charity Horse Show & Joust

First off, no, I'm not dead yet. Between having company in town, being super-sick for more than a week, and having my computer croak on me, blogging has been at the bottom of my to-do list. But I'm feeling better, and hubby resuscitated my laptop, so hopefully it's back to regular blog posts!

When we last left off, we were heading for the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show to do a jousting demo...

Through some People Who Know People, and the generosity of a very wonderful sponsor, A' Plaisance, LTD, which is run by a good friend of ours, was invited to put on a jousting exhibition on opening night of the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show. This is a really big deal for jousting in the U.S. - the Pin Oak show is a huuuge multi-discipline show, with over 1500 competitors and 2000 horses. Participating in the show opens up the potential for jousting to move from its niche in Renaissance Festivals, dinner shows, and extreme sports to a more accessible, mainstream sport. Of course, I doubt the folks on the six-figure A hunters are going to want to participate, but it's still awesome to be able to show off that we're real riders on real horses who just happen to be in armor instead of Ariat hunt coats.

We've been rehearsing our 30 minute "show" since the beginning of the year. Even though what we do is not choreographed, in that we never know who is going to break a lance in the joust or who is going to hit whom in the mounted combat, we wanted to make sure the horses and riders knew what was expected and that the show would run smoothly. Just like with other disciplines, there are days when the best jousting horse decides he's not into it (Oberon did this last week and had to be headed into the lane), or when the most Feerless War Pony decides he's had enough. We'd tried different horse/rider combinations, different horse/horse combinations for the jousting runs, and different lineups for riding 3 abreast for our grand entrance.  We'd polished our armor, our horses were decked out to the nines, and we had a plan.

We had a mounted combat demo Wednesday and Thursday mornings for groups of school children, and they loved us. The combat was made even more fun that usual because we did it in an arena full of jumps, and the obstacles added an extra element to the game. Red was CERTAIN we were in there to jump things, but we stuck to the script and only whacked people with swords.

The main show was Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. We had a bit of a challenge with warming up, because none of the horses at the show have ever seen a horse in a caparison with an armored rider before. But apparently freaking out other horses was not enough - Red decided to take exception to the announcer and the tractor dragging the arena, and one of our many FANTASTIC ground crew had to hold his head and pet him to keep him from losing his marbles. Of course Oberon and Taran acted like they were in big coliseum-style arenas every day, lol!

The joust went off without a hitch. Hubby and his opponent hit 5 runs out of 5, and Oberon and Taran both ran straight and true. Oberon probably did not have to be headed into the lane, but we didn't want to take any chances in front of an audience. Red was NOT PLEASED that he had to stand while his buddies jousted, so we made a lot of circles while they did their runs. The next two exhibitors also had flawless runs and hard hits, until a strap broke on a shield. The jousters retired since we could not fix the equipment on the spot, and we moved on to the next portion of the show.

One of the jousters takes lesson from Pam Fowler-Grace... yes, THAT Pam Fowler-Grace, the one whose Grand Prix dressage horse, Pay-N-Go, is a Bryer model. She graciously agreed to perform a Grand Prix freestyle - to medieval music! - aboard her (now retired) horse Stars-In-Stripes. While she was performing, the jousters had their shields and jousting faceplates removed, courtesy of our amazing ground crew, and the jousting lane came down in record time.

Once Pam was done, we did our final mounted combat exhibition. Red was his usual zoomy attack-pony self, and we had a lot of good exchanges. I was super-lucky to be riding him, since my sword work isn't terribly good - you can make up for a lot if you have a good mount! We finished with our exit parade to a good round of applause by the audience.

The horse show raises money for children's hospitals, and this year there was a special little girl named Caydee that the show was sponsoring. Through the Make-A-Wish foundation, she had asked to be a princess and have knights joust for her - well, she got to be a princess at Disney, and we were the knights jousting for her! While she was unable to actually be there for the joust, it was for a wonderful reason. Two days before the show, she got her long-awaited lung transplant! She is apparently doing very well and was excited to receive the pink scarves (favors) we all wore during the joust, as well as the big card we all signed for her. It was super-special to be able to participate in something for such a special little girl.

There aren't very many pictures of the joust because the lighting in the arena was very low and the photos were all quite blurry. The few pictures that do exist are currently in private Facebook groups, so I can't share them. However, there's a few pictures on the Pin Oak Opening Knight Facebook page.

There's also a short bit from a KTRK Houston news broadcast, beginning at 1:20 (sorry, Blogger wouldn't let me embed the video).

Now that we're done with the demo, jousting will take a back seat until fall. After April or so, it simply gets too hot here to wear all the armor that's required. Besides, I HAVE A NEW PONY who will be taking up some blogging space in the near future... ;)

Out-stubborning Mr. Stubborn

Oberon is, we're pretty sure, part goat... and part mule.

We knew when we got him that he could be hard to persuade to do certain things. If he didn't want to go near an object, he'd simply plant his feet and refuse to move. No amount of kicking or smacking him with a bat (bats made and impressive sound at least, dressage whips don't phase him at all) could get him to move. And those Natural Horsemanship games where you "annoy" the horse enough so that he moves his feet? Yeah. Oberon doesn't annoy easily, if at all.

But still, he was good when we needed for it to count. He's not afraid of armor and is a jousting wonder pony. He foxhunts, he jumps. We could put up with his oddities.

Unfortunately, we've had to get rather creative to work through them.

Although he's boss in the pasture (yes, Red lost his status), he REFUSES to lead on a trail ride. Red happily strides out all day long, feerlessly passing bikers, dogs, horse-eating rabbits, and other terrifying things. If we ask Oberon to lead, he stops dead when he gets literally one step past Red. Usually he'll then start backing up, as this is his favorite mode of evasion. Hubby has learned to smack, kick, and move his head left-to-right, to keep his feet moving. If this doesn't work, we turn him around and BACK HIM UP down the trail, in the direction he doesn't want to go. Since his evasion is to back, this actually works pretty well.

Let's just say Oberon's done a lot of backing in the last few months. A LOT of backing. Hubby will back him past whatever he refuses to go past. Initially he'd have to back him 20 feet down the trail, but now it's to the point where a few smacks and kicks usually gets him going. Brat.

You never know when this ugly tendency is going to rear its head. For example, Oberon's always been a good loader. You toss the lead over his neck, walk him up the ramp, and in he goes. Self-loading. Love it. Until last weekend... when he decided he ABSOLUTELY WAS NOT going to get within 20 feet of the trailer. I wasn't there, but I understand it was quite a show. He reared, he backed. He snorted. He reared some more. He wouldn't put a foot on the ramp. Finally, after 15 minutes of antics, with one person pulling on his lead and the other tapping him on the butt, he loaded himself right in. BRAT.

The funny thing was, he wasn't afraid. He's been in this trailer once or twice a week for the last year. Nothing had changed, he simply didn't want to get in. The only thing we can figure is that it was on the way home after a 3-hour haul there, and he didn't have a buddy. We almost always haul 2 horses, so maybe he was objecting to hauling solo? Who knows. Regardless, it's unacceptable behavior.

Another lovely habit that Oberon came to us with is that he likes to set back, break his halter/lead/tie point, and wander off. We've watched him do it any number of times - he'll simply be standing there one moment by himself, and then he'll pull back until something snaps, wander off 5 feet, and start to graze. He's broken two halters, half-a-dozen leads, and the tie point on the side of the trailer (&^$!). Clearly he's learned over the years that he's big and strong and can get away with this. Trust me, this is not a fun habit for a horse to have.

He uses anything as an excuse to do this - from "just because he feels like it", to someone walking around the corner of the trailer, another horse, being asked to move his butt over, and most recently, wheelbarrows. He's decided he's absolutely terrified of wheelbarrows, but only when he's tied (I can trundle past him while he's out in the pasture, and he never bats an eye). The ties in our barn are all Velcro safety ties (they tear apart when under pressure), which is a good thing because otherwise, we'd have to invest in another dozen lead ropes. Gah.

So the rule with Oberon is now that we either hard-tie him (rope halter attached with a bowline knot to a 3/4 inch thick 25 foot rope, then tied to an immovable object) or we tie him with something that will give, so that we don't have to keep replacing things that break. For the past few days, we've been hard-tying him in the barn during morning and evening chores. Hubby holds the end of the lead and has it wrapped around a post so that when he sets back, he can put some pressure on the rope, or let it slide if that seems like the better option. If I come around the corner with a wheelbarrow, he sets back, rears, sets back more... it's quite a show. If I truly thought that he was afraid of the wheelbarrow, I'd be concerned, but he's not snorting, trembling, the whites of his eyes aren't showing... in other words, there are none of the classic signs of fear that you see in a horse. Instead it seems that he's learned he can do this, so he's just going to do it.

Did I mention that he's really quite a brat?

New trainer

Finding a dressage trainer - a REAL dressage trainer, who nitpicks every stride, doesn't ride in draw reins, and says something more helpful than, "mooooore bennnnnnd.... goooood... annnnnd twenty metre cirrrrrclllll" - has been something of a challenge. Years ago, I boarded Cash at a barn nearly an hour south of my house, and got completely spoiled by the Grand Prix trainer there. These days, high-class board and $100/session private lessons aren't in the budget - and finding time for an hour one-way trailer ride has been a challenge - so we've been trying to find someone closer to home.

I ended up using good ol' Google to find dressage trainers near me, and found a barn not 20 minutes away - with a COVERED arena. The instructor rides Grand Prix, but was going to be in Florida for the next 2 months or so. However, she had an Irish gentleman named Brian who would be riding her horses while she was gone, and she suggested I take some lessons from him in the meantime. His background was in eventing and foxhunting, so we decided to give him a try.

Unfortunately, my rides with him thusfar have been less than stellar. I've been riding Reddums, who tries hard but at the end of the day is not a dressage horse. Brian's first words to me were, "You've been riding a while, have you?" to which I replied that I had, but for the last 10 years it had been rather sporadic. I rode for him for about 10 minutes, and he stopped me and said, "You have a lovely seat, nice leg, and very soft hands... and you need a real horse." Poor Reddums. I mean, I get it - he's small, he's gaited, but sheesh, I'm riding what I have and doing the best we can! I don't think Red lets such comments affect his ego though, and I'm sure to tell him he's my star Reddums pony often. :)

Fortunately, the second ride went much better - Brian kept commenting about how nice his walk and trot were. Of course his canter continues to be lateral and unbalanced, but it's been getting steadily better (for him) over the last several rides. We've been working on keeping the contact in the outside rein - especially the right one - and not hanging on the inside rein when Red sets his poll and jaw and starts to gait (because hanging on the inside rein makes it worse. Who knew?). I've also been working on laterals quite a lot, and they're getting much better at the walk. The arena has mirrors, so I can see when I'm getting enough crossover and when I've let his hind end start to trail. Hooray! Trot laterals still take a lot of delicate riding on my part so that Red doesn't get his legs tangled up, but are starting to exist. I have also learned that I point my toes out when I apply my leg, and it's SUPER obvious in the mirror! Doh! AND I have figured out why my right calf cramps up on me sometimes - apparently when I'm asking for more forward, I tend to pretend to step on the gas (like when I'm driving) with my right foot. Do it hard enough and long enough and volia! Calf cramps. Sooo many bad habits to fix.

The good news is that hubby's lessons with Brian have been nothing short of a miracle. In just three rides, he's got his leg under him, is posting 1000x better, is getting control over his hands in the canter, and has Oberon making transitions immediately on request. Maybe it's because Brain is male, and this is the first male instructor that hubby's been able to ride with, but things are really clicking for him. So even if my progress hasn't been all that great, at least it's working out super well for hubby. I'm riding Oberon in our lesson Monday (hubby is out of town) so I'm hoping that perhaps the change of horse will challenge me and I'll be able to get some more work (laterals, medium trot) done. Fingers crossed!

I have tried to take some pics and vid of our lessons, but the covered arena is dark so none of them have turned out. Just imagine both Reddums and Oberon looking awesome!

McKinney Roughs ride

About 30 minutes away is a lovely state park with several miles of sandy bottomland trails that are open to horses. We haven't been there in years, but decided to go last weekend since we couldn't go foxhunting.

Reddums was his usual star pony self, blazing trails, marching past terrifying (for Oberon) fallen logs, and being only mildly interested in the armadillos.

 

Ear pictures are always cute, don't you think? When leading, Red's ears are constantly swiveling to keep an ear on everything around him. His ears are my "early warning system" for approaching horses or hikers.

 

 

Oberon mostly played follow-the-leader. 

 

Red tromped right through this mess of fallen tree branches; Oberon took a moment to decide to go. Doofus.

 

The park is right along the Colorado River (not that Colorado River, the other one), and the trails by the river go through an old bottomland pecan grove. This is the trunk of an enormous, 200 year old pecan tree we rode past. Beautiful!

 

ERMAHGAWD! A picture of ME!

According to Runkeeper, we rode about 7 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I don't think we'll be doing any endurance rides any time soon, LOL! However, it was pretty warm out and the boys both have full winter coats, so we were having to be careful about them overheating. We also spent most of the ride walking, although we had two good gallops and a super-fun trot/canter through the woods. 

Hubby and I have made a pact to go riding here if the weather is reasonable and we can't foxhunt. I think next time we're going to pack a picnic lunch and eat at one of the lovely scenic spots!

Show pics - better late than never!

MC, Fuzzypony and I finally managed to trade pics from the LOPE benefit show. I'm still waiting on the professional pics from the show, and am hoping that maybe there's one or two of the jumping. But, they took some lovely shots of Saga and Oberon, so here goes!

 Saga looking pretty fly (for a bay guy).

 Mr. I-won't-bend-at-the-poll Oberon (me tipping forward probably does not help. What am I DOING?).

And for your viewing entertainment, we have Intro C on Oberon. Notice the lovely walk-canter transition at 3:08 (which I don't actually recall being in the test...)

 MC riding Cash, AKA Black Tie Affair, AKA The Fabulous M'sieur Schpot. (Yes, he is being ridden bitless. The show allows sidepulls - how awesome is THAT!?!?)

 Me and Saga with Lynn Reardon, the driving force behind LOPE.

This one's my fav. :)

Saga wins ex-racehorse award; Oberon kicks butt in dressage (but gets eliminated by a culvert)

Today was the LOPE benefit show, which was rained out last weekend and rescheduled for today. Fuzzypony took Taran, MC took Cash (his first show in 5 years!!!), and I took Oberon and Saga. I had entered Oberon in an in-hand trail course, Intro B and C, and the 18 inch hunter class. Saga was entered in Intro B and C, the 2' hunter class, and an under-saddle trail course. In hindsight, riding two horses in four classes each, with only about 30 minutes in between each class, was probably a really bad idea, especially since I had to change tack between every class. BUT... we had a fantastic day, all four of the boys were great, and we brought home some really nice ribbons!

I started out with Oberon in the in-hand trail course. It involved walking through an L, a zig-zag, over a bridge, and a few other things. I thought he would stop at the bridge, but after a slight hesitation, he walked right over it. I got a few points off because I told him "good boy!", but whatever. We ended up 4th out of a very big class... I think there were 15 or so people in it. Considering he'd never done anything like that, I was very pleased with him.

Next up was Saga on Intro B. I had let him get some yucks out in the round pen several hours earlier, so I kept our warmup short and sweet. He was not as through his back as I would like (an ongoing issue), and I failed to set him up for good bend through some of the corners. All in all, I felt like I rode a really solid test, and we scored a 67.19%. This tied us for second place...

... with Oberon. Yep, somehow I managed to ALSO get a 67.19% on Oberon. I wasn't as happy with this test to be honest - we had almost no warmup time (the show was running 15 minutes ahead) and he took a really hard look at the judge's stand. He was also really sluggish and behind my leg for most of the test - I got "Needs ERG" like 5 times on my test. Oh well, we managed to muddle our way through.

After a quick tack change and even quicker warm-up, Oberon and I were off to the hunter class. The hunt classes at this venue are always fun, because it's over undulating terrain out in a big field, and in addition to jumping stuff you also have to some trail-type things. At this show we had to go into a "pen" with fake Canadian geese. I was really worried about the geese, but I SHOULD have worried about the culvert and bridge to the right of fence 4. He had a tantrum right in front of the jump - which in of itself didn't phase him, but the culvert, OMG THE CULVERT. After three refusals (the last of which involved me smacking him, HARD, and kicking the tar out if him) it became apparent that we were not going to get over that jump, so I went around it and finished the course. It's funny - the actual jumps were not the problem, but all the other stuff around them was. He spooked at the pond. He looked at some rocks. He looked at wreaths hanging on the fences. He spooked at the flowers in the finish box. ARGH! I could not keep his little walnut brain on the task at hand. Since we skipped the one fence, we were eliminated, but dammit, we made it around, more or less. Brat.

Another speedy tack change and it was Saga up for the 2' hunter. He didn't look at a single thing, but was a bit full of himself. He tossed in a buck coming off the second fence, then would not come back to a trot for the third element (the Canadian geese). We managed the geese without a problem, then got a good rhythm going for fences 4, 5, 6, and 7. I remembered to stay steady before the jump, but I am making huge movements for such tiny fences and it's really throwing him off. Oops. I again had a hard time getting him back for the 8th obstacle (walking over some logs on the ground), but our last fence was tidy enough. We're fine if we have a rhythm, but if anything interrupts it I just can't get our shit together fast enough. We managed a 3rd place on that one, behind two girls who ride at a hunter barn.

Next Saga and I had to go put in our ride for Intro C. Saga was hot from the jumping and had suddenly forgotten how to canter on the right lead, so going into the test I was concerned about getting the canters AT ALL. As it turned out, the canters were fine (well, for him. We scored poorly because we were unbalanced, but I expected that). However, he kept doing his "hopping" thing at the trot, where he throws his head up and tries to do a little mincing canter transition. My fault entirely, I didn't give him a real chance to come back to dressage mode and relax into forward contact. Still, we landed a very generous 62.5% for 6th place.

Finally, I had Oberon for Intro C. In the warmup I focused on forward. I got really lucky in that we rode right after the judge took a break, so I while she was gone I took the opportunity to show Oberon the judge's stand, and go down center line a few times. The result was that, if our turn off centerline wasn't perfect, at least we didn't spook and careen off centerline! I was very pleased with our test - it was much more forward, our canters were decent (for us, they still aren't super), and he had a lot more energy. I still can't really get him to bend a the poll - like at all - so we got marked down on submission. But I'll still take our 67.5% and second place!

By then, I was pretty beat. Today's high was about 95, no breeze, no shade. Oberon takes a lot of energy to ride, and his Intro C test was my 7th go of the day. I was supposed to ride Saga in a trail class, but I scratched. I knew that he was done, and I was toast for sure.

When we went over to collect our scores and such, and the show organizer told me that the judges had nominated Saga for their special "ex-racehorse" award! He got a giant purple neck ribbon, a tub full of sooper speshul horse cookies (I may eat one or two), and his photo taken with the organizer. *I* got a $75 gift card to a local saddlery. Woot! It's possible that I also got reserve champion for the show, but they were having some issues tallying scores. I should know in a couple of days.

I only have a few pics that we took when we got home, but I'm hoping that I'll get some nicer ones from other photographers later in the week. 

 Doesn't Saga look handsome with that big purple ribbon around his neck?

 Oberon required carrot bribery to stand for pictures.

MC did a lovely job with Cash in Intro B and C. I believe she scored above a 60% in both! Not bad for a rider who hasn't shown in 15 years and a horse that hasn't shown in 5. She also took him in the advanced in-hand trail class, where she got 2nd. She would have won if she hadn't used her voice to tell him "good boy" a few times, but oh well. He was a super star and he knows it!

I'm off to bed now - hopefully more pics soon. I hope everyone else had a really great weekend too!

Show postponed due to rain? Go foxhunting instead!

The LOPE benefit show was postponed until next Sunday, due to all the rain we've gotten in the last few days. While I was a bit bummed that the show was postponed, we really needed the rain. It's been almost 6 weeks since it last rained, and the ground was starting to crack pretty badly.

Besides, despite the wet conditions, the first real foxhunt of the year was ON! Well, OK, it's only cubbing season, which means polo shirts and a much more relaxed atmosphere. BUT STILL! We got to take the hounds out to my favorite fixture, and  it was FANTASTIC!

I took Oberon instead of Saga, since he's never actually been on a real hunt before. We started second flight, but first wasn't going too fast so we moved up after about 10 minutes. OMG, Oberon is a natural-born hunt horse. He just keeps up with the group, no matter what they're doing. He also totally "gets" the hunt thing.

Hey mom? The hounds are over there in the trees. 

Fuzzypony went too on Taran.

We only had one silly/spooky moment. Those dots you see in the pond are hounds swimming (they were cooling off and getting a drink). Oberon was fine with hounds on land, but hounds in the water were a bit much. He had to stop and stare a bit.

The hunstmistress goes by with the hounds.

The only bad thing about this fixture is the mesquite. The grey spines you see in this picture are thorns - they are each about an inch long. There were small shrubs like this EVERYWHERE. Oberon for the most part went around it or hopped over it.

We were out for a good two hours, which is pretty great for the first of the season. First flight saw FOUR Talley-hos! Well, OK, it was probably the same two coyotes twice, but still. The hounds kept catching the scent and losing it, and then we'd see one of the coyotes go sauntering off from one copse to the next. We actually had one where the coyote went perhaps 20 feet directly behind the huntsmistress as she was cantering along! The hounds were nowhere to be seen, and the coyote was headed downwind so of course they did not catch the scent at all. Coyotes are very, very crafty creatures!  Good thing too - it means there's always something for us to chase next time. :)

The hunstmistress and hounds on the left, and second field on the right, headed home.

Oberon was an absolute blast to ride. He trotted when the lead horse trotted, stopped when he stopped, and cantered when he did too. I never had to haul on him to slow down, and the one time when I felt him accelerate into a flat-out gallop, I stood up a bit and half-halted, and he came right back to me. He was very balanced, even cantering down hills (Saga tends to sort of roll down them). He was happy to stand when the others stood, but caught on quickly that he was to move off with the group. I was worried that he'd have a problem keeping up with first flight, but I shouldn't have - he had no trouble at all. What a star pony!

 

 Yes, I'm all that and a bag of chips. Feed me now?

The hubby might not be getting his horse back. ;)

And then suddenly...

... I started blogging again.

You know how sometimes there's plenty going on, but you're just not inspired to blog? Yeah, that's been me. I've been riding - although with highs last week of 105, I admit not as much as I'd like, especially given that we've got a show this Saturday. I've made it through the entire four seasons of White Collar (yes, in two weeks. Don't ask.), and am now bummed that I will only get to see Matt Bomer (swooooon) weekly, or on re-runs. The husband is out of town, but nothing has broken (yet) - still waiting for that axe to fall. And the current scorpion body count stands somewhere north of 15 (UPDATE: Make that 16. I just squished another one on the wall. Ugh). I have no idea why there are so many all at once when I haven't seen any for months, but at least the little bastards are showing up dead or nearly so.

Let's see, what to catch up on. Oh, Saga's got a new farrier. This one also works for a (different) vet, but actually calls back and responds to text messages. He makes house calls too, so I might not have to haul any more to get Saga shod. That would be super-awesome-nice. The first shoeing job was a little scary, but Saga is sound and comfortable, so... I guess it's all good.

 LF. That damn bulge is STILL there, after two years of trying so many ways to let it grow out. The new farrier is trying to rasp down the hoof wall, which makes me cringe. HOWEVER, when I pointed out that what really needs to happen is that the wall needs to be at the same angle all the way down WITHOUT rasping, he said, "You're right, and that's where we're going to be in six months or so." At least we both have the same end goal in mind!

 When he pulled the previous set of shoes, a huge chunk of toe came off. Awesome. Saga was at 5 weeks exactly... he looked more like 9 weeks.

 LF. Better, although the hairline is still pushed up at the quarters.

At least he's sound.

I've been doing regular jumping lessons, and seem to be mostly improving. I'll work on one thing and then something else (that I thought I'd already fixed) will break. Also, after seeing me school some of the Training XC fences (3'3 ish), Paige has jacked the fences up. We're jumping mostly 2'6-3'. It's going pretty well - my big challenges continue to be keeping the elbows in, and not letting him get rolling up to the fence. Saga is naturally downhill and has a big chest and shoulder, so it's hard for him to balance back. We're getting better, but we've got a long ways to go before I'll really feel like the power is coming from behind.

Paige also snuck up a nice 3'3-ish oxer on a line we were doing. I came around and said something like "HOLY CARP THAT'S HUGE". She reminded me not to look at it, and Saga jumped through like a pro. Is he awesome or what?!?! (Please ignore my 'flying chicken' elbows).

This coming Saturday is the LOPE benefit horse show. I'm riding Saga and Oberon in two dressage classes each (Intro B and C), a hunter over fences class each (Saga at 2'6 and Oberon is jumping Xs and will likely spook at the flowers), and a trail versatility class each (Saga ridden and Oberon in-hand). One of the likely obstacles on the trail versatility course will be walking over a tarp on the ground. Oberon will walk over one, but every time I move it to a new place, it's a whole new game. Most recently, he licked the tarp and then picked it up in his teeth, managing to scare the crap out of himself when the whole thing moved. Yep, he's speshul. I just hope he doesn't do something that classy at the show. I'm also on to him about eating fake flowers (he tried that at our jumping lesson last week). With his penchant for sampling anything and everything, I'm starting to wonder if perhaps he's part goat.

Intro B I'm not worried about. Intro C, with the canter, is going to be ... bad. Oberon has a canter departure that sort of resembles a Lazy Boy sofa trying to throw itself across the room, or maybe a hippo trying to heave itself to its feet. You can almost hear him go "UH!" on the departure. It's not exactly the most graceful thing ever, and I can't wait to hear what the judge has to say about it. Saga's canter departs, especially to the right, usually involve falling in on his shoulder, pinning his ears, and running. They're awesome and make me feel like SUCH a good rider (NOT). I decided to take him out and longe him the other night to see how he did on the longe line, and the answer is... he can't do a canter depart to save his life. He's so unbalanced he just can't do one cleanly, even on his own. It was really eye-opening watching him struggle so much - it's not just me, although I am obviously not helping any. We're not going to fix anything in time for Saturday, but I'll be longing him more regularly to help him figure it out on his own. In the meantime, we'll just muddle through the test and hope for a miracle.

Did I mention that MC, Cash's beloved Auntie (and Chief Bringer of Carrots) is taking him to the show as well? And that Cash's canter departs are nothing short of perfect? I'm going to get my ass kicked by my friend riding my "retired" schoolmaster. But hey, the ribbon she's going to come home with will look great just the same! ;)

Every ride should be this much fun!

Hubby and I went roading with the hounds again today. They were short on whippers-in and the MFH was traveling, so instead of staying out of the way of the huntsmistress and hounds, we were actively encouraged to help set up a perimeter and discourage the hounds from leaving the property in case they caught the scent of anything. It was a good thing too - they flushed three rabbits, and we were actively engaged in holding a perimeter twice.

Saga now knows exactly what's going down when we unload him at the huntsmistress's barn. His ears were on high alert as we tacked and groomed.  Fortunately, he was pretty chill once I got on, and was cool to hangout chatting. Naturally, Oberon just looked around for more foods.

The hunt started off going counterclockwise from the kennels. As we made our way down along the northern fenceline, the hounds flushed a rabbit, which headed straight for us. The leader of second flight and I got there first, and did our best to stop the hounds, but they were quite keen on their quarry and didn't listen to our shouts of "LEAVE IT" and "GET TO HER". About half the pack made it past us before the whippers-in and ATV got there, and there was much excitement as they laid about with rat shot and hunting whips (note, I've never seen anyone hit a dog, it's just used for noise to distract them). We were in among the hounds and the ensuing chaos, and I remember thinking that Saga was being SO GOOD about all the commotion. He went where I asked, didn't flinch at all, and just sort of waded in and did his job. He's such a good boy!

After that excitement, we rounded up the hounds (well, I got out of the way while others rounded up the hounds) and got them back to the huntsmistress. We continued our ride over to the southern fenceline, when another jackrabbit popped up between us and the hounds. The rabbit was downwind of them and I'm not sure if they saw it, but when we started yelling "rabbit" and got into position to potentially head the hounds off, they figured it out and started going after it. Fortunately, it was much too fast for them and they left off the chase pretty quickly.

Because the hounds were cueing off of things that move instead of scent, they were put up for the day. As usual, we got to go play on the XC fences. I'm still sticking to the smaller ones, but I'm definitely feeling much more confident over them. Saga is staying much more balanced under me for longer, and I can tell he's getting more fit. I, unfortunately, can't keep up with him. He's getting really strong when there are horses in front of us, and the waterford that I'm using just doesn't give me enough brakes. I'm thinking of bitting up to a kimberwicke, or possibly a pelham with a converter on it. One of the other riders even commented that I'm so little and he's just yanking me around. It's embarrassing not to be able to stop your horse, you know? It's also way embarrassing to have to pull off because you are gasping for air. I HATE jogging, but I'm going to have to do something to get more fit. Sure, I can buck hay with the best of them, but that's clearly not going to be enough if I want the fast ride up in front.

Anyway, the XC fences. We did our usual little logs, and did the training-level doghouse into the water with a log coming out. There were a couple of other training fences that I wanted to try, but there was nothing really straightforward (that is, not funny-looking, and either on a flat area or uphill) that caught my eye. Next time. ;)

Oberon is also getting more confident, and for some reason today was really putting forth a lot of effort on the jumps. Well, OK, some of the time. This one 2'6 log pile he cantered up to, broke to a trot about 2 strides out, walked about 1 stride out, and then delicately hopped over from a walk. It was quite tidy, he didn't touch a thing, but he was clearly going over it in his own time, thank-you-very-much. Goofball. He also launched off the bank (normally he just drops down), although his effort up was less than stellar (more of a climb than a jump, really). I think he just needs more time and more miles - this is really only his 15th or so ride over fences, so I'd say he's doing pretty damn well all things considered. And he takes good care of hubby, which is really the important part.

Oberon and hubby on the final jump of the day - a coop on a fenceline. Not too shabby!

Next weekend is more roading and possibly some trails... we'll have to see what the plan is. I am SO looking forward to it!

In which I convince my H/J trainer to come over to the dark side

Today Fuzzypony, my H/J trainer Paige, and I went roading with the hounds. We also got in a number of XC fences while we were at it, and man did we have a BLAST!

Roading was significantly calmer this time than last. For the most part, we stayed even with the hounds for about 30 minutes, helping to set up a perimeter around where they were working. We got some good trots and canters in, and Saga was much happier right behind the leader than he was last week at the back of the pack last week. We had another moment of excitement at the end where the hounds flushed another jackrabbit and we tried to head them off, but we were really too far away to be of any use so after a brief uphill gallop, we pulled off and let the whippers-in go after them. Oberon lumbered along gamely enough, and Paige seemed happy to have a horse that didn't need to be at the front of the pack. I asked her a couple of times if he was fast enough for her and she said yes - I know he can keep up and really get going, so I think she was holding him back a bit. Totally fine for someone who is used to being in an arena all the time!

After they put the hounds up, we went off to do some XC fences. I was feeling pretty brave after yesterday's fantastic jump school, and opted to do a few of the easier Training level fences. Saga and I were not as balanced and together as we could have been, and I'm learning that he gets like that when he gets tired. If we want to do any eventing this fall or next spring, we are really going to have to work on fitness for both of us!

When in doubt, go for the really long spot?

We started off playing in the water jump. Oberon was pretty sure that he was DONE, and Paige had a lot to do convincing him to go forward to the jumps. He did actually jump them all, he just sort of trotted up to them and flopped over. *Facepalm*

I did a Training-level "doghouse" style jump into the water, then a log coming out. Saga really made the effort over the doghouse but lost momentum in the water. Oh well, he gets an "A" for effort over the element that really counted.

Next we headed off to do a couple of logs. Once Paige convinced Oberon that it was time to jump, he was really nice and steady to the fences. He's jumped all these before with the hubby, but a refresher course was good for him.

Next up was the stairsteps that I had caught my eye last week. We came around, but about five stride out Saga threw his head up in the air and said "OMGWTFBBQ!" He veered off to the left, but I managed to stop him before he got past it. We went up the side of the first step instead of the main part. I really think he just looked at it and had no idea what he was supposed to do - stair steps look kind of like a solid wall when you're coming at them. We came back around again, and the second time through he jumped it quite well. There was a bit of a shuffle in between, but he got up it well enough. Good boy!

saga-stairs-8-12-12

Awwww yeah.

After that success, I was ready to call it a day since I knew that Saga was tired. Paige wanted to see if Oberon could do the stairstep, but from about 50 feet away he decided he didn't want to even get near the side of it. I gave her a lead and we walked across the middle of the first step, parallel to the jump. On the far side, I went down a tiny hill, then turned around, expecting to see her following after. Instead, Oberon had taken exception to a clump of grass (!?!?!) and was handily backing away from it - right toward the step down! It was one of those slow-motion things you wish you had on tape - he got to the edge, backed down the 2'6 drop, and then nonchalantly brought his front end down with him. Luckily, Paige had the forethought to grab his neck, and they landed tidily, with Oberon still staring at the suspicious clump of grass. We all agreed that's the first time we'd ever seen a horse do a drop backwards, LOL!

After that bit of fun, we decided that Oberon needed a little practice with single banks, so we went over to the bank up/down that I did last week. Paige picked up a nice canter, and all was going so well, until...

My favorite part is when Oberon realizes that the grass is RIGHT AT NOSE LEVEL! You can see his ears flick forwards and he's like "Oooh! FOODS!" just before he decides to heave himself to the top of it. We were all laughing at his antics.

Paige turned him around and went down the bank, which he did quite handily.

Nice and tidy.

We decided to call it a day after that, and watched some of the other riders do a couple of Training-level fences. Once Saga is a bit more fit, I think we'll be able to do a few more of those, too. :)

On the way home, Paige informed me that I'm not allowed to do the 2'3 hunters anymore. Something about watching us do those Training-level XC fences, I guess? She's also planning to look at her calendar to find the next available Sunday so she can come back, and is contemplating which of her horses might work for hunting.

I HAVE BROUGHT HER TO THE DARK SIDE! MUAHAHAHAHAAA! And I didn't even need any cookies!

Fab jumping lesson on The Big Bay Boys

Hubby is out of town (in Alaska, where it is NOT 102 degrees, the lucky man), so I took both Saga and Oberon for a jumping lesson this morning. I figured Oberon would require more energy to ride, so I hopped on him first, and boy am I glad I did!

Oberon started out very looky in the arena. The roll-top and the stone wall were both horse-eating objects that required careful inspection. There were also some piles of new arena footing that were somewhat suspicious, so our trot warm-up was less than straight and together. We sort of swerved around the arena a couple of times, not really spooking but definitely looking at stuff. Eventually he decided that it wasn't worth the effort and settled down. When we went to canter, I ended up pulling him back to a walk and asking for a walk-canter transition, which he does very well. His trot-canter transition tends to flop on the forehand and end up with some running, so I need to get with my dressage instructor and work on that a LOT.

The thing about Oberon is that he doesn't ever feel like he's really going anywhere at the canter. If he does get forward, he sort of flattens out his stride, which is not good for jumping. He also likes to chip in to the fences if he's not right on stride. Lucky for me I've been working on waiting to the base of the fence for oh... the past two years!... so I'm getting pretty good at staying with the horse even if the spot is less than perfect. I can also usually now tell when it's really going to suck, but am still not to the point of being able to reliably fix it before it falls apart.

This is the first lesson I've had since the hunter show, and after staring at the pictures of me jumping for faar too long, I knew what I wanted to focus on. I concentrated on keeping my wrists against his neck instead of my knuckles, and keeping my elbows in. And you know what? My problem with popping up too quickly after the fence magically disappeared! I think that I was somehow compromising my balance on the landing side with my hands in chicken-wing knuckle-in position, and I was having to sit up really early as a result. Biomechanics are so interesting!

One thing about today is that Oberon was much more respectful of the fences than he has been in the past. I think the solid XC fences that we've been doing have really helped with that. He also requires a huge amount of leg strength to keep him going. I felt like my leg was on him constantly, whereas with Saga I'll use my leg to support him when needed. Using my leg all the time meant that I was sitting more in the saddle than when I ride Saga. Not sure if that's good or bad, it's just different.

I did manage to get a little video of us at the very end. I'm still arching my back far too much, which means my core is not engaged. I think my hands are a little better though. One thing at a time!


Next up was Saga. I was having serious reservations about doing two horses back-to-back - it was already 95 degrees out and I'm not in any kind of shape. Lucky for me, Saga's the "easy" one, so it wasn't so bad. We warmed up very nicely in trot - Paige said we looked "pleasant". It's amazing how much nicer things are when you're not trying to run your poor horse off his feet! Our canter transitions were still kind of sticky the first time, but he got better as the ride went on. He's definitely still falling in on his right shoulder - that's something I really need to spend some time on in the walk and trot to try to build him up so that we don't careen around corners when jumping. He did canter very nicely - better to the left than to the right, where he loses his balance and falls in.

We warmed up over the verticals that Oberon had finished on (LOL!) and then we did a little course. And DAMN, we were ON! Steady all the way around (yes, I counted one-TWO, one-TWO the whole time. What's your point?) and we got to the base of every fence. We missed the left-to-right lead change (same one we missed at the show) but did a simple change quite tidily in the corner. His balance was great, I was steady over the fences, and I didn't pop up after. Interestingly, he also landed in a much more balanced frame when I stayed down after the fence, which is something we've really been struggling with. When we'd finished the course, I patted him like crazy and told him what a good boy he was, then looked back at the jumps - which had all magically gone up to 2'9. Paige was smiling and said "Wow, that looked like a really nice hunter round!" Not that I wanna do hunters, but that's a pretty good compliment considering where we were not that long ago!

I asked about teaching Saga to do flying changes, which he doesn't currently do (or if he does, I don't know how to ask). I pointed out that if I'm going to do a few hunter schooling shows, at least I can *try* to get the leads, since that's part of what knocked us out of the ribbons last time. Paige said we should start by asking him to do them over the fence, gave instructions for how to do so, and then I gave it a go:


In my efforts to get the lead change, I completely forgot about pretty much everything else, and left poor Saga to save my sorry ass crawl over the fence. He's SUCH a good boy!

I sort of managed to redeem myself on the next line though. We came in a little awkwardly, but I managed to sit up and ride in between, so the second fence was pretty clean. We even got the right lead on the landing after the last fence, which is his hard lead. Guess I just have to ask correctly!



Oh, and I captured this still from the video, of the last fence.

Hellz yeah.

Paige did ask if we wanted to try the 2'6 or 2'9 hunter classes next weekend. I told her I'd think about it. :)

Screw that show stuff, let's bust out with some XC

After the hunter show on Saturday morning, I repacked the trailer so that we could head out Sunday for some XC schooling. I had contacted the hunstmistress with Independent Foxhounds to see if we could join them for roading (since Oberon has never seen hounds before), and instead she invited us to come school on her private XC course. She has about three dozen jump complexes from BN through Training, including banks, water, ditches, trakheners, nice bendy lines, coops... you name it. It's a super nice course on rolling hills with a path mown through it - just perfect.

We pulled in around 9 am Sunday and tacked up, then headed out with the huntsmistress, hunstmaster, and their three working students. We somehow lucked out with the weather - it was in the mid 80's, cloudy, with a nice breeze. For Texas at this time of year, that's FANTASTIC! I was a little nervous to be out on course, so Saga was a little jiggy, but settled down after the first few jumps. Hubby followed me on Oberon for every fence - since Oberon had never seen a solid fence before, we wanted him to have extra incentive to jump it.

Both horses were complete and total rockstars! Saga never batted an eye at anything, and the huntsmistress commented on how nicely he jumped and how tidy he was with his front end. I remembered to look up and count "one... TWO... one... TWO" in front of the fences so I wouldn't screw up the rhythm. I made sure that Saga was going the rhythm I wanted and not bolting at the fences, and for the most part it really worked out. Hooray!

Naturally there aren't any pics of me, since I was the one with the camera, but I did get some video of hubby with Oberon.

First up, the log pile. This was actually Oberon's best jumping effort, despite an early attempt to go around (not caught on video).

Oberon over Log pile

Next up, a mini-trakhener. Hubby had to learn to balance him since it was coming down a slight hill and he tends to get long and cruise-y if you let him.

Oberon over Trakhener

And then of course, the Ditch of Doom. Oberon followed Saga over it with no problem the first time. When hubby tried it on his own the first time, Oberon hit the brakes, but he turned him around immediately and tried again:

Oberon over Ditch

Finally, we did the water complex. Oberon once again followed Saga in the first time and then cheerfully trotted through. This was the second or third time they went through - jump in, jump out. Not bad for a horse who has never been XC!

Oberon in the water

We finished up our day by doing an entire course. Unfortunately by then, Saga was pretty done. When he's tired, he ends up being a train wreck, sprawling along on his forehand. He can't balance himself and I can't balance him, so he just runs faster and longer. I pulled him up after the second fence, when it became pretty clear that I had no brakes and minimal steering. He had been a really good boy all day, so I can't fault him for the bit at the end. Oberon was still going strong, and hubby followed the hunstmistress over about 7 fences. I think there was a fence or two where Oberon decided that going around would be easier than jumping, but hubby turned him around, set him back up, and got him over.

On the drive home, hubby and I enthusiastically recounted the highlights. We were both really pleased with our horses - for never being out on course before, Oberon was a total star. The hunstmistress really liked him and said he seemed like a good match for hubby, although she did laugh at one point and called him a "minimalist" when he cleared a jump by about 1/2 an inch. At least he gets the job done! Saga was he usual bold self and carted me over everything. When I rode him steadily he gave me great jumps. I do need to get more used to riding at speed though - I'm spending too much time in the arena going at hunter speeds. Luckily, we've been invited back every Sunday, and starting August 5th they'll be riding out with the hounds on course.

Gee, it's just TOO BAD that the Sunday foxhunting stuff coincides with those hunter shows, don't you think? I wonder which one I should do... ;)

Baby Oberon Pics, and a little help with history

Oberon's previous owner sent me some pics of him, and since everyone loves baby horsey pics, I figured I'd share!

 

Mom and baby Oberon. I think her brand is 73, then 3, and either 1 or a down arrow. Can anyone else tell? I tried blowing it up in Photoshop, but the picture quality is pretty crummy.

 As a weanling bought at auction. 

 As a four-year-old, ridden by the trainer. (So next time he tells me he can't possibly go on the bit and carry himself, I'll know that he's LYING.)

Now for the help with history part. I believe Oberon is a PMU baby. Mom was supposedly a Standardbred mare (although dang, she is a BIG STB!), name unknown, and Dad was supposedly a black Percheron named Commander. Other than that, I know absolutely nothing. I've done a little Google searching on Commander and haven't found anything. There are a couple of Perch stallions with "Commander" in the name, but their ages aren't listed. Oberon is supposedly 10, so the stallion would probably have to be 1999 or earlier.

Does anyone know anything about ID'ing brands, or tracking down PMU babies? Google searches weren't very helpful, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person in the world who is interested in doing this.

Any help would be much appreciated!