A visit with Cash & Red

After Cash's scare last month, I decided it was high time to pay the retired boys a visit. MC, Fuzzypony, and I headed up on Saturday to say hi and feed them carrots. They both look great - Red is as fat as ever, and although Cash has lost some weight he seems to be doing well.

Note the tongue.

Spotted woolly mammoth.

As ever, he's so polite about asking for carrots.

This is as cuddly as he gets.

Have an extreme close-up of Reddums begging. 

As always, many thanks to Claudia and her amazing team at Paint Creek Farm for doing such an amazing job taking care of the boys. I know that Cash especially requires a lot of extras, and it provides so much peace of mind to know that she's giving them what we cannot.

If you have older horses, I hope they are faring well this winter!

Big changes for Cash and Red

Some of y'all may remember my post about retiring Reddums. We had originally planned to take him to a nearby retirement facility, and keep Cash at home with us. Five horses really is too many here, and it made the most sense to keep Cash home, considering the level of care he requires.

And then... then we realized just how bonded Cash is to Red, despite the fact that Red bosses him around. When Cash lost his BFF Saga several years ago, it took him months to recover. We felt like, at his age, it wasn't fair to put him through that again, especially if we could avoid it.

Over the past few months, Cash has gotten more and more stressed at any small changes in his routine. It actually got to the point here where taking any of our other horses off-property would cause him to panic, pacing himself into a sweat. Even if Red was right with him, he fretted. Of course, hubby and I often take Paddy and Brego on trail rides, and we usually haul out for lessons at least 1-2 times per week. That meant that Cash was constantly in a state of worry when someone left. In fact, that was the deciding factor in choosing to move them both together - we just can't provide the type of stability that Cash seems to need at this point in his life. I really do think that older horses get a bit senile, and changes in daily routine become very stressful.

But where to take him? The local retirement place doesn't provide the level of care that Cash needs. However, several years ago, Cash was retired at an amazing facility called Paint Creek Ranch (appropriate, since he's a Paint, no?). It was truly horsey paradise, and Cash loved it. Unfortunately, the facility moved from about 45 minutes from us to over 3 hours away, right about the time we bought Wyvern Oaks, so we decided to bring him home. However, Claudia (the owner) is one of the few people in the world I would trust to take care of my horses long-term - she actually provides better care than we do! So I called her and got both of the boys placed on their waiting list. I was warned that it might be a while, but that's expected.

In the meantime, Cash's stress level continued to get worse. Bringing another horse into the aisle for grooming stressed him out. Having to stay in due to inclement weather stressed him out. He would stop eating, sometimes for several meals. I called Claudia and asked if she had any suggestions, and amazingly, she told me to go ahead and bring both boys up right away.

MC was kind enough to make the long drive with me, and help Mr. Schpot settle in. The boys have 16x16 stalls when the weather is bad.

Red took approximately .0003 seconds to settle in and point out that the food pan was empty.

Claudia instantly made friends with Reddums. I think the treats in her pocket might have helped.

Red surveys his new domain.

The boys have settled in well, and Red now acts like he owns the place (of course). Cash is gaining weight daily, and seems to like the more stable routine. Claudia also sends me pictures often (LOVE THAT), and the boys look fantastic.

Poser.

They get brought in and separated for feeding, 3 times a day. 

I have no idea how the staff at Paint Creek got the boys to do this. They are just that good!

Still handsome after all these years

And filthy, lol!

We are hoping to go visit them next month - it's a 3.5 hour drive, so we won't be able to go very often. Still, I know they are getting the best care possible, and that sets my mind at ease. They both deserve the best after everything they have done for us. <3 p="">

How do you know when it's time to retire them?

Cash is the only horse we've had long enough that we had to make a decision to retire him. First, I retired him from jumping at age 11, due to a bone lesion. We then focused on dressage for a couple of years, until it became obvious that fourth-level work was too much for him, and he was relegated to being a Training level schoolmaster. At 19, he had a mystery recurring lameness issue high up in his hind end, and we decided to fully retire him. After three years off, he came back sound, and has since been used for very light riding.

Despite the issues over the years, Cash never stopped wanting to work. To this day, he puts his head in his bridle, and you'd better have your act together or he gets impatient for you to get the buckles done. He still loves going on short trail rides, ears perked, a swing in his step. Sure, he's stiff and creaky and not fit, but he still loves to pretend that he can do half-passes and baby piaffe steps.

Red, however, is an entirely different story. At 21, he's been lame exactly once in 11 years, for an abscess. He's not on a single supplement, he's never had injections, and still moves like he's 6. He's fat, shiny, and as bossy as ever. There's just one problem: he doesn't want to work any more.

Red has never let his size stop him from ruling the world and everything in it. Photo courtesy of Azulox Photography.

Red has always hated arena work with a passion. He is absolutely disgusted by repetition - in his opinion, if he did it right, his rider needs to do it right too, and once it's right, everyone can be done for the day. When I've prepared him for shows, I had to be very careful not to over-school him, or he'd just get more and more frustrated. With Red, less is more.

Rider just needs to match horse in talent.

Where he really shines is doing mounted combat, or trail riding, or fox hunting. He loves bossing other horses around in mounted combat, and he and hubby are pretty much undefeated. He totally understands where he's supposed to be and what he's supposed to do on a hunt, and he watches everything carefully and pays attention. Trail rides are the same - he loves cantering through the woods on a nice loose rein, careening 'round the trees. Unfortunately, as he gets older, it's harder than ever to get and keep him fit for hunting. Normally, we do a lot of trail riding and canter sets to prep for hunt season, but this year even trail riding seems to have lost its shine for him. He's actively walking away from anyone who goes out in the pasture with a halter, and he stands to be groomed with a throughly annoyed look on his face.

On a trail ride last winter

I know what you're thinking: work him thorough it! Don't let him get away with it! But here's the thing - something has changed for him. He's not sore, he's not lame, he's in great health, so I don't think it's a physical problem. I think he's just tired of it all, and he's showing us as best he can that he's ready to be done.

Definitely not his favorite thing, but he still looks good doing it.

Hubby, who never ever wants to admit that any of our animals is getting older, took Red on a trail ride the other week. After he got back, he looked at me sadly and said, "Something's not right with Red. I don't think he wants to do this any more."

So we have decided to retire The Feerless War Pony. He'll be moving to a very nice retirement facility about 45 minutes away, where he can boss several other geldings in a 15 acre pasture. We may eventually bring him back home, but for now it seems like letting him hang out in a big pasture and be a horse may be the change he needs. Because at the end of the day, he's given us 110% for the past 11 years, and he deserves the same treatment from us.

Have you ever retired a horse? When did you know it was time?

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeee... Two turtle Haffies...

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeee... Two turtle Haffies:

Recipe for Turtle Haffies:

1 large Haffie (if you only have small Haffies, use two)

Pecans from 1 tree

Eleventeen pounds of chocolate

1 teraflop of caramel

Melt caramel over a triple boiler. Add pecans, including shells. Spoon caramel/pecan mixture onto Haffie and drizzle with melted chocolate. Garnish with lamb's quarter, if desired. Bon appetit!

And a Haffie in a pear treeee.

No Haffies to be seen here. Move along.

In other news, hubby and I hauled to a local state park for a trail ride on Christmas Day. Most of the trails are down in gorgeous pecan bottoms with lovely sandy footing, so we had a great time trotting and cantering through the woods. Red was his usual superstar self, and Paddy was quite brave and sensible. He was very ratable on the canters, and is pulling leads consistently when asked. Hooray!

Paddy looks cute at the trailer while Red explains to him about personal space.

Hubby and Red at a 200 year old pecan tree. Impressive tree!

We switched horses halfway through since Red was getting a bit tired and I'm lighter than hubby is. Reddums finished strong and hubby had a great time riding Paddy.

Jumping ALL THE (small) THINGS on cross-country

Yesterday, the weather finally cooperated and hubby and I made the two-hour drive to Pine Hill to take Red and Paddington cross-country schooling. It was Paddy's first time out, and I wanted to have a super positive experience. The plan was to jump all the Green-as-Grass (GAG) and Goldilocks fences, and maybe to a Beginner Novice jump or two if they didn't look too scary.

Almost as soon as we unloaded, we were accosted by a lady who had grown up riding a Haffie. Paddy got the requisite "HE'S SOOO CUUUTE!"  exclamation, and we chatted a bit about how awesome Haffies are. Paddy's great at the trailer except he wants to be able to see Red at all times, so he carried on this little one-sided conversation while we were tacking. Red could have cared less about the whole thing, and ate grass on his side of the trailer while pointedly ignoring Paddy.

Eventer Haffie outfit.

Eventer war pony rockin' the plaid.

We started out with a WTC warmup each direction - he was super awesome. Not looky, didn't rush, got the canters both ways with minimal fuss (hooray!). We took a quick walk break, then trotted up to a small log. Paddy hit the brakes right at the base, I clucked to him and smacked him on the shoulder, and he launched over it. We jumped it a few more times, then moved on to the first official fence on the course. Given that he was hesitant about the first jump and I wanted this to be very positive for him, I decided to follow Red over the next few fences. We did a rolltop, a small white coop, then a brush fence. Paddy jumped them all like a pro following Red, then we went back and did each one by ourselves. He was balanced and forward and cracked his back over every one!

Next we decided to play in the water a bit. Paddy followed Red in the first time, but I don't think I needed to have been concerned about him going in - he was quite happy splashing around in it, and popped in and out with no problems!

Needs rubber duckies.

Other notable highlights included a canter up a steep hill to a small log at the top and then cantering down the hill (no problem, and he was very balanced both up and down the hills), a small ditch which he cleared by 10293472 feet, and a good-sized brush fence that he didn't even blink at. The very last jump on the course was a rolltop that is shared with BN - not huge, but Paddy made a good effort over it.

For his first time out, I could not have asked for more. He was quite balanced and rateable (I rode him in a kimberwicke) and he jumped ALL THE THINGS. We had a few iffy moments at some "scary" fences, but I sat up, closed my leg, and gave him a little smooch or tap, and he went right over.  He's definitely a forward-thinking guy, and that's really what you want in an eventer.

Now we get to go out and do it for real at a schooling show on January 19. Eeep!

In which Paddy makes his acting debut and Red plays a stunt double

DISCLAIMER: This post contains pictures of myself and others riding without helmets. I am all too aware of the dangers of riding sans-helmet... so much in fact that I literally cannot recall the last time I did it. Yes, we all took a calculated risk. No, I don't recommend ever riding without a helmet. You will also see pictures of things happening that most horses would not tolerate. As jousting horses, our boys are exposed to things that most horses aren't, and tend to be somewhat more tolerant. Again, it was a calculated risk - don't do this stuff at home, folks. I am probably risking The Wrath of the Internet with this post, but for some reason I thought it would be fun to share, because it was a cool experience and we enjoyed doing it. If you feel that one should always wear a helmet no matter what and never do crazy stuff like this, please go read another blog. If, on the other hand, you enjoy a short story about Crazy Stuff We Did This Weekend For A Charity, read on. 

And now, the good stuff:

As if a stellar first-time dressage show wasn't enough for one weekend, on Sunday we took Red and Paddy to help film a holiday commercial for Goodwill. It was a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend situation - someone needed horses and knights in armor, our friend knew just which suckers who to ask. So we showed up bright and early on Sunday with our best jousting caparisons, my matching heraldic dress, and hubby's armor.

The gist of the commercial is that a little boy is dreaming that he's riding with an entourage through a medieval village, and meets the king, who gives him a sword. The scene then cuts to modern-day... and I'm not involved in that part, but it involves donating to your local Goodwill store. 

This was my first experience with film, and let me just say it's not as exciting as it looks. We literally had to do the same walk-down-the-path shoot 30 times, with the cameras in different positions, getting close-ups of each person's face, getting close-ups of each horse, etc. Hubby and I played part of the boy's entourage for this part of things, although we were in the back. 

Paddy practices his medieval warhorse look, while I demonstrate why there is no way I will ever be able to do Hunter Hair under my helmet.

In between takes, we all chatted, while the horses took turns staring and snorting at The Sheepskin Of Doom, which one of the crew had left sitting out.

Big Perch-X mares refuse to get anywhere near the sheepskin. 

Paddy was feeling pretty "meh" about the sheepskin while the two big mares (shown above) snorted and stared at it. I asked him to walk up to it, which he did. Then he reached his nose out to touch it... and apparently the sensation of it tickling his nose surprised him, because he teleported about 15 feet to the left. I was all loose in the saddle and went with him no problem, but everyone thought it was pretty hilarious. Red, of course, marched right up to it, stuck his nose in it, and was all "Feerless War Ponies are not afraid of Sheepskins!" I halfway expected him to pick it up in his teeth and toss it at the mares, just for the sheer fun of seeing them bolt for the hills. Alas, apparently Red doesn't have quite that much of a sense of humor!

Red has the War Pony thing down pat.

After we finished doing the 912348767834 takes of the horses walking down the road, we moved to another site on the grounds to get some shots of riding, from the little boy's perspective. For this, the Steady-cam camera had to be attached to a person in the saddle... and the horse that the little boy was riding was not interested in being part of that. Since Red and the little boy's horse are both chestnuts, we decided that we'd see if Red could handle the camera contraption on his rider and be the "stunt double" for the other horse's ears. We talked to the camera guy about the risks of riding a horse, waved the camera around up over Red's head, had it make whirring noises... Red didn't care. Finally, we carefully got the camera guy on Red, then carefully attached the camera to him... and off we went. Either I led Red while the guy filmed, or Red was led by someone on horseback with me close by, ready to grab the horse and/or the camera guy in case something happened. We needn't have worried, though, as Red was a total rock star and never put a foot wrong.

Feerless War Ponies are also not afraid of dudes with big cameras attached to them. All part of a day's work.

For the final bit of filming, the boy's entourage meets up with the king, who draws his sword and hands it to the boy. The guy playing the king had had some bad horse experiences, and was understandably nervous about being on board again. We put him up on Paddy, who stood like a rock for over an hour while people jangled armor, drew swords, waved boom mikes in his face, and stuck light boxes under his belly.

The final scene, taken from Paddy's back. Cute Haffie earz (bottom center) played by Paddington. Guy in armor (lower right corner) played by Hubby. I'm on the left on Reddums, who appears to be taking a nap. Other friends are in the picture and shall remain nameless to protect their identities. Not shown: all the camera equipment to Paddy's left.

They finish filming this coming weekend, and the commercial should begin to air on Monday the 23rd. It will even be aired during the Superbowl on local stations! I don't know how much Red and Paddington will be visible in it, but I'll post a link as soon as it's available. In the meantime, Paddy and Red are considering a move to Hollywood to pursue their acting careers. After all, Paddy's got that blond surfer boy look... chicks dig that, right? Besides, after the show Saturday, he's getting used to girls rushing up to him squealing, "OMG HE'S SOOO CUUUUTE!"

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!

Pics from Pine Hill HT with Red

Remember back in January when I did the HT with Red? We finally got our pro pics, yay! They were just stadium, I wore my vest instead of my coat, and my saddle pad didn't match my vest 'cause I was in an all-fired hurry to get to the warm-up arena, but other than that... we don't suck!

 

Cute Feerless War Pony rocks stadium!

 

I am super proud of my position here. I'm solid in the saddle, totally with him, and I'm not doing the Funky Chicken with my elbows. Alas, as my H/J trainer is ALWAYS telling me, I need to pull my stirrups up a hole (or three). An automatic release would be nice too, but I've never mastered that, so... something to work on!

I'm really looking forward to showing Echo this fall over some baby stuff, but if I'm honest I would love to take Red again too. He was just such a BLAST to ride, and I'm really proud that I navigated him around an entire XC course that he'd never seen or practiced before. 

We'll just ignore the dressage part, mmmkay? ;)

Reddums - secure in his masculinity

Let's get the important stuff out of the way. Red ended up wearing a pink plaid blanket this weekend.

 

Only Feerless War Ponies can rock this look.

If you know me even a little, you'll know that I absolutely abhor pink. Passionately. I'm fairly sure I haven't owned a pink clothing item since I was about 8 years old (and Mom? Those pink outfits when I was really little? We need to talk.) There is no pink anywhere in my house - in fact the very first thing to go was the Pepto-Bismol pink tile bathroom. So for any horse of mine to be wearing something pink... well you KNOW there had to be extenuating circumstances.

Let me 'splain.

Saturday morning we headed up to jousting practice with some friends of ours. We've got a big demo mid-March, so we wanted to get as much ride time in as possible. Red doesn't joust anymore, but I'm riding him in the mounted combat part of the demo.

Yep, you heard right. I'm armoring up and we're going to go whack people with swords. All in the name of charity - the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show, to be exact.

You see, combat is totally Red's thang. He is absolutely not afraid of any horse out there, and he knows that his rider is going to smack the other riders. He's also super-maneuverable, spins on a dime, and can dart in and out at a moment's notice. He LOVES this game.

 

Objects in photo are much fiercer than they appear.

 

The team of combatants. Hubby is second from the right, Red and I are third from the right.

 

Alas, I don't have any pics of Red doing mounted combat, but here is a pic of hubby and Oberon doing some jousting practice. Go Oberon GO!

 

I also worked with Oberon in mounted combat. That's me on the left.

 And at the end of the day, Red handily doubles as a lawn mower. How much talent does this guy have?

Between the jousting practice for hubby and the combat practice for everyone, Saturday was a long day. We also decided to fit in another practice first thing Sunday morning, so we ended up leaving the boys at our friend's house Saturday night. It was in the 30s, I hadn't brought blankets for the boys, and Red grows almost no coat. DA very kindly loaned Red the pink plaid blanket, since it was the only thing that fit him.

It's a good thing that Red's so studly and all. I mean, not every gelding can pull off pink plaid.