Friday, April 24, 2015

Spooking Fool Acting Cool


Lots of noise at the barn tonight as they were working on the manure pile. Big trucks and two tractors and beeping and noise. I took Pippi in the indoor anyway and she was totally fine. 



I was very proud of her. She was curious but not at all bothered. Yay for progress! 




Birthday Banana

On your birthday its fun to try something new. This year on Pippis 10th Birthday she tried a Banana, and she liked it. Gobbled the whole thing down.

Three days later she tried another, and refused to open her mouth. It's okay to change your mind!

Changed my mind - NO bananas!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

"Selfies" are hard!


Pippi still has a little heat in her hock, so we are spending our time cold hosing and walking about. Today she kept putting her head over my shoulder giving me little hugs while we were walking about in the indoor.  Tracy over at Renatus' page takes great selfies, and I thought how hard can it be? (Tracy is adorable, Renatus is stunning, so that helps!) I hate pictures of myself as a rule, but I am trying to get over that. The pictures I have of my mom are very precious, and I bet my kids would like to have pics of me too ( I know my daughter would as she moans about the lack of pictures I take all the time!)  

So I picked up the iPhone and started trying to figure out how to get both Pippis face and my own in the same shot. The moment the phone came out, Pippi was no longer interested in hugging me. It now became a game to stop moving until I lifted the phone, and then quickly move out of range. I took a host of pictures, a sampling you can see above, I took 14 pictures, and I like 1!And that is not my favorite of Pippis. I don't see us doing more of these anytime soon......

Making some changes

I made the decision to change the name of the blog and Twitter to better reflect what I actually do: Ride Pippi in Dressage. Hope you like it!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Sometimes the right person wins

http://sukithehorseburnsurvivor.blogspot.com/

Above is a link to the blog for the winner of the saddlepad I gave away for Pippis Birthday. Suki survived a barn fire, and you can read all about it at the above link. I could not be more pleased to give a gift to someone. The Owner said that she hopes to get Suki under saddle this summer, and I am thrilled that she may be wearing my sparkly pad.

I hopw she doesn't mind that I stole her photo (if you do please tell me), but I just had to show this horse. Madam Suki in all her beauty:

What a stunning Lady she is - Amiritta

Monday, April 20, 2015

We have a winner!

The winner of the Pippi Birthday Saddle pad give away is: @amiritta!


I used the Random Number Generator and #7 won! Congrats! 

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Pippi celebrates her birthday

Today April 19th is Pippis 10th birthday, and we celebrated like we always do with a song and some yummy fruit. 


You can see video of her enjoying her Apple on you tube. 

The birthday was not all we wanted it to be because Pippi sustained some deep gashes in her hinds Saturday. She rolled too close to the fence, and got her legs stuck between the boards. I hear she kicked the heck out of the fence and we are lucky this is all she did.
Poor Pippi! So today we spent the day cleaning and cold hosing and icing her legs. Thank goodness for the Ice Horse tendon wraps. I love them and have been using them creatively all day. 

I recommend them highly! 
Pippi did get a massage today though, and since she was sore from our lessons she loved every second of it. Thank you Brooke! 
I will be going out before work in the morning to hose her legs again. There is still some heat, but not much swelling. Let's hope she heals quick 

Friday, April 17, 2015

Still Loving Lubrisyn!

Just wanted to give you all an update on how Lubrisyn is working for me. I LOVE IT! You can read all about how I got started here.
At this point I take on teaspoon full per day, and my knee feels great. No more popping sound, and no more numb toes after riding.
Pippi has been on the Equine version, and it seems to have made her softer and more able to extend in each gait. She did not have a major issue before hand, so its harder to see superb benefits, but she is just smoother if that makes sense.

I on the other hand feel great. One of the benefits that I didnt pick up on right away, is my new found ability to move my seat bones one by one. Did you know you are supposed to be able to do that?

I always had a hard time with that, as I felt my hips were locked, but now I can shift weight and thereby help Pippi. YAY!

So there you have it! I am a lifelong fan of Lubrisyn HA.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Pippis 10th BirthDay -and a BDay Give away!


Pippi will be turning the big 10!! this year on April 19th. In order to celebrate I will be doing another give away. I KNOW! Isn't that exciting?



All you have to do to win is follow @2PointBling on Twitter and Give me your Twitter handle as a comment to this post, Easy Peasy!  (and live in the continental USA due to shipping, sorry)

What do win? What can you win? WHAT WILL YOU WIN?

You win THIS!!

This is a bright peach Dressage pad with that design (on both sides), and a few Swarovski crystals for good measure. Cool Huh?

So help me celebrate Pippis fabulous 10th Birthday on the 19th! I will randomly select a winner in the 20th. Good Luck!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

First Hottt! Day!

It was 80 degrees here yesterday, and quite muggy. The sun was shining, but it was clear that a storm and rain was heading in so after work I hurried to the barn. I really wanted to ride outside in one of the two large outdoor arenas (the reason I board there really!).
After tacking up one of the other boarders kindly moved her mare from the jumping arena (she was just turning her out), and Pippi and I entered. The surface was really hard after the recent bad weather, and it had not been worked up at all. After lunging in both direction, which I always do to check Pippi out and let her get her crazy out if need be, I mounted. Pippi was not super forward on the lunge, but once my butt hit the saddle it became clear that I had some power underneath me. After trotting for quite a while in both directions, and holding Pippi back I decided to let her go, and Oh Boy!

I really didnt like the surface in that arena, so after another boarder was done in the flat arena I chose to ride over there hoping that some of the power was Pippi not liking the surface. The other boarder left the gate open, and since I was mounted and the gate drags I could not close it without getting off. I decided to leave it, and see how Pippi would act with me riding by it. Once I came around the other side I saw that the gate there was open too. Since many dressage arenas are open I figured this was a good test for us, and left them both.

We are still working on soft bends, and straightness, and so we trotted around and did lots of voltes, circles and serpentines. Pippi was still very strong, and broke to canter a few times. When I let her canter, it was incredibly powerful. Not at any time did I feel out of control, but boy did she fly! I was very proud of my ability to slow her canter, and when asked ( I did have to really ask) she came back to me. The difference between the canter on the long sides versus the short sides of the arena were huge! And it was a thrill to know that I had a working canter, and an extended canter, and that the difference was so clear. I wish someone had filmed us, because I would have loved to see if it looked like it felt.

At this point Pippi was hot and sweaty, and the flies were bothering her. Ever the queen she was throwing her head up and down, and ducking and acting a nut. I made her work anyway, but the fun was over. I will be giving her a hair cut this week. I love her mane, but the length and thickness add to Pippis discomfort and makes her very hot. So its coming off! I have a lesson with Jennifer Roth again on Friday, so I will try to get it trimmed ahead of that. I really dont want to, so I may either wait to the last moment or get it over with asap.

Here is the hot and sweaty Queen: