Nomnomnom

The speed and intensity with which my horse hoovers up grass is a source of constant astonishment to me.

The Webb Family of Vermont

Subtitle: "It's Hard Out There for a Vanderbilt."

It is miserable and wet and cold and we are predicted for #@@%#@$@ SNOW on Sunday. Instead of complaining, have some photos. In the last few weeks I've visited both the Shelburne Museum and Shelburne Farms, both institutions founded by members of the Webb family, descendants of the Vanderbilts. Basically instead of building the Breakers or Biltmore, this branch of the family came to Vermont, built staggeringly gorgeous farms, founded museums, and were really, really obsessed with driving. They bred their own line of Hackney crosses and had dozens of carriages shipped back and forth between Vermont and New York City so they could drive whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted.

The Shelburne Museum, nicknamed the "Smithsonian of New England," is a really terrific museum but what caught my eye was its unbelievable carriage collection. Easily over 150, ranging from unbelievably luxurious to everyday delivery wagons. Not all of them were owned by the Webbs, but the majority of the more luxurious ones were.

Oh yeah, and they collected equestrian art, too. This particular statue is meant to be of a cowboy bailing on a horse that's just had enough. I hope it wasn't done from life.

One of the Webbs foxhunted and had a private hunt called the Shelburne Hunt, and there were a few dozen paintings of his favorite carriage horses and foxhunting horses & hounds.

Next up, Shelburne Farms, one of the most beautiful places I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. This was the actual Webb homestead, the Olmsted-designed site of their mansion and breeding operations, and today it operates as a conservation education center.

I didn't do much looking about - I will have to go back for the Farm Barn and the Breeding Barn, the latter of which has an indoor arena that was used to exercise carriage horses in the winter, and is supposed to be the largest indoor space in Vermont. But the meeting I attended was in the Coach Barn, original home to some of the carriages that are now at the museum.

Interior of one wing, box and straight stalls, now used for storage for special events.

Central courtyard, main entrance.

View of the whole structure.

5 Rides

Last night was Tristan's fifth ride since August. We're still walking only, but in those five rides - one a day except Tuesday, which I took off to give him some recovery time - we've walked inside and outside, uphill and down, in the ring and out of the ring, with other horses and alone, within and beyond sight of the barn, and last night's ride was bareback.

He's been an absolute rock star. I've always known he has one of the best brains in the world, but on his first ride the barn cat leapt down from the arena wall directly behind him - and he barely flinched. Last night, when I was bareback, he kept focused when the tractor started up directly next to him, just outside the indoor. He also let me vault onto his back from the ground, with much flailing and some kneeing in the ribs.

The vet was there to see the pregnant mare (baby in July!!!) and I took him out to show off his awesome-looking foot, and she had me jog him out at the trot for a few strides and gosh, he looked good. Springy and floaty.

He was short in the hind end for the first few rides, but I've asked him in each ride to loosen a bit more, take a few steps under himself, sideways, into the bend - not much, just a teensy bit, and a few steps at a time, and he's unlocking there, stepping through bigger and more evenly.

I'm still pondering what our step up will be. I think on Saturday morning, before I head in to work, we'll move up to 30 minutes of walking, and do a bit more hill work (considering we are doing, at most, one hill per ride right now, so a minute or maybe two, we may do 5 minutes). I may add trot the week after that, and then increase our walking time the week after that, then add in more trot. There's no reason to rush; I'd like to get out fox hunting at some point this summer, but the season doesn't properly start until the fall, so it would just be hauling him over to the kennels to acclimate him and to hack out with my friends.

Best. Pony. Ever.

The State of the Foot

I'm not saying I won't be checking back in with pictures of Tristan's foot as the last of the awfulness grows out, but these are the last for a little whole. Here's what his right front currently looks like, after the farrier worked his magic.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

We had our fourth ride tonight, circles and one or two lateral steps in the ring then a walk up the hill and around the dressage ring, back down the hill and a few more minutes in the ring. He will get tomorrow night off, as he was a bit tired tonight, and on Saturday we bump up to 30 minutes.

Here's my view these days.

YES

I RODE MY HORSE LAST NIGHT.

For the first time since August 14, when I finished my weekly lesson with a feeling of disquiet and thus started our endless diagnosis/treatment cycle, last night I saddled my horse, put his bridle on, and sat on him.

He was good as gold. Even though I'd closed every door to the indoor and alerted the barn manager, he stood at the mounting block and walked off sensibly. I don't know why I expected him to forget everything he's ever learned in the past 9 (!!!) months, but he responded willingly when I asked him to stretch down, to have a teensy bit of bend in the corners, to go on a 20 meter circle.

We walked for 20 minutes in the indoor. I didn't ask for anything complicated, just to stretch down a bit into my hands, bend a little bit, access the inside hind on a circle. He was quite short behind but even up front - I couldn't feel a hint of a problem in that RF. At the end of 20 minutes I could feel him getting the smallest bit muscle-tired, but he was definitely better in the hind end.

I could have ridden forever, and got a little teary at one point. He is the absolute best, and I am so glad to be riding him again.

The plan is to stay at 20 minute walks in the indoor through the next week at least, then start hacking outside for 30 minutes, whether fields or road work. I am a teensy bit nervous about how his soles will hold up on the dirt roads, with all their rocks, so I want to work on getting them tougher before we do that - lots of Durasole.

Tonight, I'll take pictures of his new glue-on shoes, which are kind of funky looking. The farrier also used epoxy to clean the whole RF up, so it looks practically normal save for the scar tissue lump that's slowly working its way down the hoof.

In conclusion, \o/