Horse Hunt (non)Progress Report #6

It’s looking like deja vu all over again. After a small flurry of activity, things are starting to go hinky. When we were shopping for Rodney, the weirdest things went wrong.

    We were scheduled to drive two hours south on a Friday only to have the horse turn up with a stone bruise. She swore the horse would be sound by Monday, did we want to come then? Um, thanks but why don’t you get him sound & call us?

    We never got to the Big Name Rider in our state. He went out of town. It snowed. I went out of town, Mathilda had the sniffles and we didn’t want to infect his barn. This went on for months.

    One trainer canceled a meet because the horses had just been vaccinated. Was this one of those sneak-attack vaccinations that come up without warning?

    I arranged to be at X barn on Y day at Z time. This was interpreted to mean I wasn’t interested in the horse.

    We asked a trainer if the horse in question was the sort that one had to pull or that one had to kick. She became irate and explained in a tone used to address imbeciles that all horses are one or the other. Well yes, that was our point.

    Another candidate was a young, green horse we found early on. We passed. As the months went by, we decided to give him a look. Photos and emails were exchanged. We chatted. We exchanged life histories. An appointment was made. The night before, she canceled. Never explained. Ever. Never contacted us again. Dropped off the planet. We posit that the young, green horse was taken for a final outing and acted a little too y&g. But we don’t know.

This time, we are starting to accumulate non-responses, even from folks who were initially happy to talk with us. Is it me? Do I offend without intending? If I’m going to piss you off, at least let me do it consciously so I can get my teeth into it.

Plus, we were all set to go check out a horse for sale at a local show only to have her go lame in the same storm that caused so much fun around here [Blustery]. Yes, **** happens with horses, but after last time, I’m prone to over-reaction.

I bought four horses before Rodney. Those four purchases combined did not give me a fraction of this much trouble.

Your horse buying experiences – similar to my early, easy ones or the later, hard slogs?
List of previous horse shopping posts.

Red Saddlepad
Turns out Dressage has the same up-or-out system as Show Jumping. I just wasn’t paying attention after the Grand Prix.
Low score for the GP Special: Patrick van der Meer riding Uzzo.
Lowest score to move on to GP Freestyle:Valentina Truppa riding Eremo Del Castegno.
I believe the scores reset for Thursday, so no one in last place here either [Tip].

Horsekeeping Tip #1


A quick drizzle of hoof oil prior to hosing protects the hoof wall from the wet/dry rollercoaster.
What is your favorite horsekeeping tip?

Red Saddlepad
The show jumping competition is messing with my head. Determining the Red Saddlepad is even more confusing today. As before, there was a cut-off. Highest penalties for Round 3: Jose Robert Reynoso Fernandez Filho riding Maestro St Lois. Highest penalties & moving onto Round 4: two of the three 16-faulters. The other fellow can’t move on because he is the fourth from his country to qualify. Plus, tomorrow the scores reset. No one is in “last”.

Spectator Burnout

A funny thing happened while I was watching show jumping. I got bored. In the middle of watching some fabulous horse or another, I found my mind wandering. I didn’t have this problem during the Dressage Grand Prix.

It could be my latent Dressage Queen emerging. While I have been told by more than one person that dressage is actually interesting to ride once one climbs out of the swamps of the lower levels, I remain dubious. The explanation of closet DQ rates as technically possible but unlikely.

It could be that I have spent far too much of my life watching showjumping. Way back in the pre-Internet dark ages, we lived near a showgrounds from which I covered hunter/jumper shows for the Chronicle of the Horse. My notes of the big class were so thorough that a competitor once used them to protest her score. In contrast, upper level dressage is a novelty.

Mainly, I think it is the camera angle. Since horse and rider rocket back and forth across the ring, cameras are confined to the edges. You get a quick close-up as the horse zooms past then back to the view from the wrong end of the telescope. For Dressage, the cameras can get close enough to see what the horse is thinking.

What have you been watching?

Red Saddlepad
Highest penalties w/o elimination: Ahmad Saber Hamcho on Wonderboy.
Last of the top 45 pass on to Day 3: A 16-way tie among the 8-faulters.
(I’m still undecided on which way to award this.[Poop])

Poop Happens


Using quasi-compost on the washed-out, rocky areas to create a comfy path for her Ladyship to reach the water trough. I think it looks lovely. And surprisingly warm!

Olympics
Red Saddlepad not awarded for Show Jumping Day 1 due to the nature of the results. For the round, Reiko Takeda on Ari had the highest number of penalties to pass thru the finish flags. However, the highest score and qualified ride again on Day 2 was a 4-way tie: Samuel Parot on Al Calypso, Tiffany Foster on Victor, Luciana Diniz on Lennox, Pius Schwizer on Carlina IV. One could argue it either way.

New Tank Syndrome

Sixteen years ago, I was fortunate to spend a month volunteering in Conyers, Georgia, the Equestrian site of the Atlanta Olympics. For the blog, it was my intention to spend the London Olympics, from Opening to Closing Ceremonies, on a sentimental journey much as I did during the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event [Peregrinatio to Aftermath]. However, spectating the Games, surviving the storm [Blustery], & having a faint vestige of a life (zoo volunteer, LEGO Volunteer) has gotten in the way of organizing a proper retrospective.

Plus, I find I am not as sentimental about the Olympics as I am about Rolex. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be in Greenwich, running around keyboarding my fingers off. But I don’t drown in overwrought, emotional mistiness at the thought of the Games carrying on without me.

The problem is that the Games by definition are at a new place, with a new look, organized by new people.

The take-home message is that because of this the Games will never be as well run as Rolex, or the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, or Dressage at Devon, or any show that’s been in place for eons. The judges know how to judge. The volunteers know how to volunteer. But never together in this place.

I spent a lot of time before and in Conyers hearing of all the dire things that would go wrong. I heard the same about London. Yet, come the day, the judges and volunteers and company all seem to remember how to put on a horse show.

The Red Saddlepad for the Dressage Grand Prix: Yassine Rahmouni riding Floresco.

Foto Friday: Reflection

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Olympics
Earning the Red Saddlepad for Dressage Grand Prix, 1/2 way: Yassine Rahmouni riding Floresco. From Morocco, the 1st African representative in Olympic dressage. I caught his test. He was thrilled.
&
I tawt I taw a helmet! Go Canada!
With regrets to their team. Why does eventing get 2 drop scores & dressage none?

New Horse, New Rules

At what point will I get it through my head that Rodney is not Previous Horse?

Previous Horse was grouchy old coot who had moments of supreme ill-temper. On the night before he died, one of his last acts on earth was to kick me. Therefore, it had always been made extremely clear to him that when the halter was on, he must behave. Stand where he was put. No biting. No kicking. He could bite the air. He could pin his ears. But any illegal action would would result in swift justice. Halter off, all bets off.

That didn’t necessarily mean that no halter = hostile horse. If I took the halter off & he wanted to stand around & be fussed on, cool. If he wanted to leave, also cool. Halterless time was his time. Mathilda has a similar routine but the difference is less dramatic in her case.

DIY bathtime
Rodney doesn’t see it that way. When I catch him for his daily shower, I usually don’t bother with a halter. Just grab him around the nose & lead him up to the water trough. This is the only time I do this with him. We do this every day. Some days he say, ‘Oh goody!’ and saunters along. Other days, he resists as if I am asking him to work. Then he stands quietly and won’t leave until I’m done. He doesn’t interpret no halter as permission to walk off.

I think I am being consistent. He thinks I am being confusing. The lines he draws to categorize the world are 90 degrees to the lines I draw. He thinks he is being consistent. I think he is being confusing.

Olympics
No competition, therefore no Red Saddlepad. Instead, I recommend a post by the USDF‘s Olympic blogger about the Dressage jog. She has a USDF Silver Medal, so she’s allowed to call dressage horses fat. Also, note the look on the face of the rider whose horse is acting up. She looks annoyed, but not at all surprised.

How long is your new horse adjustment period?