Cleaning Horsey Stuff, Part 1: Saddle Pad

Ariel isn't my horse per se, and I don't own a horse (yet...) so logically, I have little horse tack. I did however, purchase a saddle pad in the spring because I was having trouble being able to regularly find a saddle pad for Ariel. I bought a "Union Hill LETTIA pad" in navy with green whales from Bahr's Saddlery. Perhaps not the best decision for a white horse, but it has matching polo wrap too! I didn't get those :P

Time for a clean up!

This summer hasn't been too bad in terms of heat but that doesn't mean Ariel doesn't sweat during a lesson. Add to that the fact that she loves to roll around in the dirt and come to me with mud caked on. I figure that since we riders wash riding clothes after a sweaty lesson, the same should be done for horse stuff (note: I intend to learn how to clean bridles and saddles eventually). I already wash the bit after lessons and ensure there isn't anything crusty left on there and then tie it up neatly in a figure 8. I also decided to wash my grooming brushes since I needed the dandy for the saddle pad cleaning.

Colour fast detergent for the saddle pad and dish soap for the brushes

Needless to say, the pad looked (and smelled like a dirty gym sock that a horse wore) like this:

That's a season's worth of yuck!

Upon closer inspection, I see that the once fleecy underside is now smooth and slightly shiny with dried sweat and dirt. The common concern that many riders have is tossing it straight into the home washing machine, full of dry dirt, sweat and horse hair. Yes, like all laundry, it goes in dirty and comes out clean. But, that doesn't mean that it's going to leave the washing machine clean enough to do your un-mentionables, or not clog up your pipes. So, after brief consultation with J, I laid the pad, underside up on the grass and grabbed the (synthetic) dandy brush to brush off as much of the loose dust, dirt and horse hair as possible.

Not much improvement...

Then I filled the brown bucket with water and a little bit of colour fast detergent. Next, I soaked the pad from top to bottom with the hose going at super stream, not spray. It didn't get a lot of the dirt off but now everything is wet; the pad is heavy, soaked with water so careful not to throw your back out! I dipped the same dandy brush into the bucket and proceeded to scrub the pad on the underside first: it was magical to see things just disappear. My final step was to dump the bucket of water onto the grass and then blast the pad with the hose on both sides. This made the pad super heavy and I had to do some squeezing and picking off of leaves and grass. I messily rolled the pad into a bundle, dumped it into the bucket and headed inside. We have a laundry sink that I used to further rinse the fauna debris from and as I was kneeding the pad, I would see all this brown water go rushing out of it. I did it a few more times and then got the washing machine ready with cold water on a quick cycle with minimal detergent (the tag called for "mild detergent").

It came out clean but I had to clear up the machine walls of any missed debris and then I put it to line dry. I go one step further and line dry outside since the weather is still good. When I get home, I check out the pad and see that there is a LOT of hair still embedded--particularly the underside. I spend the evening outside picking much of the horse hair off and then brushing with a lint brush. (Almost) good as new!

Front side after picking hair...

Still picking hair as I type this... but it's a vast improvement

After looking at things more closely and rethinking the whole dirt, sweat part, I've decided that I'll probably be washing this thing as frequently as my own breeches. AND, I'll be adding a new saddle pad to my "wish list" (in time for The Royal and the Greenhawk super warehouse sale) so I can rotate them, over the cold months.

Note: always read the cleaning label of your saddle pad! Also, I only tried this on the standard cotton/poly saddle pad.

Lesson #129: Course Work Weak Points

It's the start of a new month of lessons and G has joined our Sunday morning lessons. However, this means that +ADW won't always be riding his usual mount, Molson. It's likely that he'll need to sort out the riding of Molson with G. This time, he's been assigned Georgia and I'm with my usual friend Ariel.

I really liked the warm up we had where Sheri told us to go nuts and just include lots of bending lines and the like (at trot); the arena has ground poles set up all over (from the previous lesson) so we just did lots of pole work, circles, shallow loop serpentines etc. I'd say it went very well and once things were sufficiently warmed up, we headed into the outdoor arena. I haven't been in the outdoor arena in weeks now. I also always get a little anxious when we head outdoors because there's so much open space and the paddocks are nearby so there is plenty of distractions for the horses.

Trotting around and keeping them occupied with what we're doing is the aim and I immediately get Ariel's attention on what we're doing, not her friends out in the field. I maintain her attention at the corners and don't allow her to fall in or cut them off. We quickly get into the canter and we canter around and I try out the shortening and lengthening of the canter again... I mention this little item I learned and successfully tested previously and she points out one thing: my seat. More specifically, that when I sit up (to shorten the canter stride), I am not to drive with my seat or that is a whole other message--basically it's a change of where your upper body is: forward or more upright. Good to know! Unfortunately for ADW, something went awry and he went one way and Georgia went the other; all I heard was a "thud" and when I turned around I saw him getting up. Ouch. It's his first real fall and he didn't do too shabby since he got back on and did some trotting around for the remainder of the lesson.

Next, the aim for G and I is a mini jumping course of 3 jumps: a couple bars and an X. The straight bars are not just bars but one of them is a "wall" and the jumps are (I'd say) probably around 2'6". Similar to the last lesson, we start with single jumps and work up the full course. The same issues persist for me... a weak 2 point over the jumps, the turns into the jumps and even taking the jump straight (as opposed to twisted--thank you, Ariel). I'll need to continue to work on that aspect of my lessons since it is hindering my course work.

Lesson #128: Finding that "Moment" of Relax

I was completely exhausted on Thursday and quite honestly, part of me just didn't feel like getting into the car to make the drive out. A large part of me wanted to stay home and relax because let's face it... if I go, there is a chance I might have a sucky lesson. But at the same time, there is equal chance of having a fantabulous lesson. Like my coworker L always says, "you can't win that lotto if you don't play."

When I get in, I see a white horse up on the far west corner paddock looking curiously over my way. It tosses its head and goes racing around the paddock in... Ariel fashion. Just as I've been told, she's being put into a single paddock (she can still see the other horses but just doesn't have any to boss around) so that she doesn't take down the fence line to get cozy with the other mare or otherwise. As I am walking up to the paddock, I see her doing more of the racing around and head tossing and she comes raring to the front of the paddock and stops on a dime. She's so ready to get out.

After tack up, we get working on our usual bendy warm ups in the arena. Tonight, G's riding and J's on Hank. Again, I'm particular about Ariel's movements and I don't allow her to fall in at corners and I push her onwards when she doesn't feel like working. Next task, cantering. I get nice clean transitions upwards and was able to move my own position into a better place while relaxing my hips and getting into a "zen moment" to be able to focus on my hip movement with Ariel and then encourage them to follow Ariel's motions. I also remember a video that I had watched online about "How to See the Perfect Distance" and while I'm not quite there, I did take away an exercise that they did in the first part of the video series where they are collecting and extending the canter between two ground poles. I change nothing else and sit up some more and she begins to collect herself into a more "up and down" canter and then I let her open up by moving my weight a little forward. It works! I finally feel what that collected and lengthened canter is like and I know how to get it. Next time, I'll need to feel out how many strides it takes for it to take.

After several rounds of canter, we move to get into jumps. We take each one, singly and then once we get over them all satisfactorily, Sheri puts them together in a mini-course of 3 jumps. We do take jumps at the trot but come out at the canter. My 2-point isn't as good as it should be as often, I end up doing that "bow" instead of hip hinging. However, there was one jump that I knew I got it right on... where Sheri commands "relax!" and I can feel my body relax and fall into a proper 2-point. Of course, the third jump in that round was miserable and I have to try again.

We end the lesson with a nice cool down on a loose rein and I pop out my cell phone to snap a photo of Ariel's neck:

Bendy bendy!

Lesson #127: Intention

This time, I woke up late since I've been spending the last few days at FanExpo!! The last day was Sunday but I started with my usual lesson and would get back into the city for 1pm to see Ian Somerhalder (who recently bought a horse!). This post isn't about how awesome the panel (or entire weekend) was but my lesson; so, onwards!

Despite making a late start, we +ADW and I arrived early and just made our way to get ready as usual. We rode with T and her mare. Usually T doesn't do any jumping in classes and just does flat work. We start with the flat work and I checked myself in the same mindset as the other day and was intending to ride every stride and keeping Ariel in the corners. She threw up a fuss at the get go expressing her desire not to work and in response, I ensured there was contact in the reins and pushed her forward. The rest of the warm up was pretty good and she continued as I asked. Riding, even at warm up, is not like driving a car. I am required to literally ride every stride or Ariel will take advantage of the situation and she'd cut corners or fall in.

As usual, Sheri has a plan and we start with simple ground poles set in a line. As we go over them, Sheri progressively places them so that there is a low jump with a ground pole pre-jump. So far, so good. The only thing that was rather unexpected (though not surprising) is that Ariel sped up when the direction was towards her paddock and I needed to bring her back together otherwise I was afraid she'd go running right through the door and back to her paddock. That said though, I regained control after recognizing this and recomposed Ariel enough to get through a few more rounds. Then, the second jump of the line went up. "Nothing changes," says Sheri as she's putting it up. I take it at the trot a couple of times and then I'm asked to take it at a canter. I remind myself that a 2 point is hinging from the hips while pushing your butt back and keeping the weight in your heels; not tipping forward into a bow. Because I have Ariel in control with a good pace, I manage to take notice of my heels following the first jump and am able to reposition them so that I make a better 2 point over the jump. Success! I do pretty well and Sheri reiterates my thoughts about the ride and said that I took control and was able to maintain a rhythm with Ariel through the "course". The best part is that I've noticed my canter departs are much smoother these past few lessons and there isn't any bouncy pony trot.

I had a pretty smug grin on my face as we were leaving the stable even though ADW had to rush us out of there to make the afternoon session. Hopefully this consistency will translate for tonight's lesson!

Lesson #126: Invincibility Star

Since I took Thursday off, I decided to move my lesson earlier in the day after I picked up my new Tipperary vest. The weather and temperature were amazing and the skies clear and blue. I took the scenic route from King City to Hillsburgh and enjoyed some of my favourite parts, ranging from the incredible country estates to the hilltop view approaching Caledon.

Vast expanses of countryside green: my favourite stop point

As I was approaching the stable, my heart skipped a few beats as I thought: "... I'm wearing my flip flops... did I bring my boots?" I reach back and immediately feel nothing--I had forgotten my boots!!! I was so upset that I caught myself let out a scream. My heart sank but I was so close that I knew I didn't have another chance to turn back... I was stuck. My only option was to ask and see what might happen.

G arrives and I share my lapse in memory and she helpfully offers her street shoes to at least be able to get tacked up. We search various boxes as well but no luck. We both decide it best to leave that in the hands of Sheri (and fate, to a degree) when she would arrive. I got Ariel put together and in strolled Sheri with her own boots in hand! Thank heavens!!

In addition to G, J was riding Texas in the lesson and we worked on a jumping lesson. My flat work was fabulous because I took control of Ariel, rode each stride and we were bending in the corners and she wasn't giving me much lip. It's like in a video game when your character powers up, and like any other video game, your character is going to take several punches or even lose a life.

As we complete our warm up and the many bending and circles and changes in direction, Sheri puts up the first X jump at approximately 2'6". I wouldn't say this was easy but I was able to get through it okay. My "power up bar" is still full at this point. She eventually adds the second bounce and we take turns. It's my turn and as I'm approaching, I feel myself tipping forward instead of moving into the 2 point and then disaster strikes, I topple over onto Ariel's neck as we get over the first jump and my power bar is quickly being depleted as I am draped over Ariel's neck and she continues to pick us both us and get over both jumps. It is a miserable experience to have your whole face and front being jostled up and down on the horse's crest.

But I have a moment of realization in my body that my legs are still in a good place and I pull myself back together and am able to get back upright just as we are coming out of the second bounce and heading towards "home".

Power Up!

While I was more or less physically fine, I felt pretty bad about myself. I was glad that Ariel didn't drop my butt over the bounce and committed to carrying me over with her. It was enough for me to take it down a notch and just reexamine what might have gone awry. I blame my poor form over the jump to be my primary issue, among others. But I'll be sure to work on a better 2-point.