House Post: Planting the Front Walkway

The whole yard is more than a little overgrown, and will take quite a bit of work to tame. I have some vague ideas for the rest of the yard, but I'm waiting and considering and letting ideas bounce around in my head and settle before I go anywhere with them.

I had an idea for the front walkway start to bounce around a few weeks ago, and in the last week it coalesced. It started with some solar LED lanterns I found at Walmart, which matched both the style and the coloring of the house, and then took off from there.

Before: weedy, overgrown, kind of boring, etc.

Step 1: Dig out the turf in a small line on either side of the walkway. This sucked. A lot. I can't overestimate how much it sucked. I did the whole thing on my knees with a plastic hand tool, which really aggravated my back. I can't recommend it.

I spent a lot of time thinking about placement, etc. They are not in a perfect line, but rather a sliiiiiight curve to match the walk. It grieves me a little bit, but the lanterns are easily moved and the daisies will fill in anyway.

The plants are "Brightside" Shasta daisies. They are perennial, and will grow in more thickly each year. They'll also be on the taller side than I might've liked, so in a few years if they get out of control I may move the lanterns. We'll see.

Step 2: Plant the daisies and set the lanterns. I may have half-assed the sod removal on the right-hand side a little bit. #sorrynotsorry.

Step 3: Mulch et voila!

I still have to remove the piles of sod - you can see them a bit on the side of the mulch - and cut a stronger edging line. A smarter gardener than I would've done this from the beginning.

A smarter gardener would've had better tools, too, and wouldn't have hated doing this so much, probably. Ah well. At least it looks good!

Weekly Blog Roundup

Here are some fun posts from the equestrian blogging world this week.

Rodeo Hangover from All In
Such a totally different and very cool world from the one I'm used to!

DIY Lattice Gate Horse Jump Tutorial from Fraidy Cat Eventing
So simple and it looks so terrific.

Product Review: Sun Shirt Showdown from She Moved to Texas
Great overview of three different shirts - and there's more good information in the comments.

Quite Possibly the World's Only Jousting Haflinger from Wyvern Oaks
Jousting. Haflinger. I don't think I need to say anything more.

But Wait - There's More! from Not So Speedy Dressage
Riding Lusitanos in Portugal! Siiiiiiigh.

I Love This Horse

After Tristan's great work on Tuesday night, I gave him Wednesday off, and then went back out last night. I waffled on my plans for the evening, all loosely centered around the idea of a short dressage schooling session. I couldn't decide where to ride: in the fields, with the uneven terrain adding a good balance element? in the outdoor, where I wasn't sure what the footing would be like after the rains? in the indoor, the boring but most focused choice?

I tacked up, and settled on the indoor, and then I stood at the door to the indoor and looked outside and just couldn't. It was 7:15 pm and still beautifully light out. We went outside.

I started off by warming him up at the walk in the fields, and made my decision there. They were too soggy in too many places to leave me enough useful space for schooling, so we went to the outdoor to test the footing. It was just fine - the rain had actually compacted it nicely, settling the loose sand that had made our lives harder last time.

I told myself to pay attention to how his feet were moving - the last time we were in the outdoor he tripped and I came off - and started him off.

He started off the trot warmup very up and down, so I stood up in the stirrups and let him have a bit of a canter. Not too much, since he wasn't up to it yet, but enough. He wanted to charge ahead but it was a good core workout for me to stay up in a two-point and yet holding him in. One of the best things to come out of our dressage work in recent years has been the ability to modulate his gaits from my core like that.

When we tried the trot again, he settled into it much better. My goal was simply to see what I had, and to get him to a good place to quit on. He started out like a 2x4, stiff and head-flipping, but pretty quickly steadied on the bit, and then started yielding to my leg back and forth off the quarter line. Once I had that re-installed, we worked on a 20m circle for a bit, opening the inside rein to soften up, pushing him out onto the outside rein.

We changed direction a few times, and then I asked for a very short canter to see what I had to work with. Again, he wanted to charge off, but I sat deep and held him in, and asked him to round up just a teensy bit. We started left, his trickier direction, where he has more power but less adjustability. He gave me a pretty good canter, and listened when I asked for some bend and softness.

After a minute or two, we took a long walk break and I kept an eye on his breathing. Thankfully, there was a good cool breeze coming down from the mountains, in advance of our predicted overnight thunderstorms. It was low 70s, and the breeze meant that when I wasn't actively riding I had goosebumps on my bare arms. Vermont! Even in mid-June you're chilly outside.

His breathing recovered quickly, so I picked him up tracking right again. I put him back together at the trot. Usually after a walk break he is a complete jerk, flailing and flinging and all don't wanna. Last night he actually got that over with a minimum of fuss, and within one or two laps of the outdoor was back between my legs and hands and ready to work. I put him on the bit, sent him a little deeper, and asked for the canter.

It started off disastrously: heavy, heavy, heavy, stiff as a board, alternating lagging with charging ahead. I was firm, and held him where I wanted him to be, put him on a 20m circle, and took zero shit. I was pretty pleased with how firm I was, actually, because I knew I didn't have all day to let him canter around like that - he was tired, it was getting late, and I didn't want him to overheat.

And then he put his head down. And he lifted his back. And he was a round bouncy ball for one, two, three strides - an entire 20m circle. I yelled GOOD BOY at the top of my lungs, and whooped, and then made a conscious effort to ride a solid down transition, held him together through a gorgeous, lofty, powered, light in the bridle trot for half the arena, then down to the walk, then dropped the reins and told him he was the best pony in the history of ponies.

We walked up and down the road for a bit to cool off, but his breathing came back remarkably quickly, and he was only a little warm by the time we got back to the barn, only the tiniest bit damp under the girth. He got a full rubdown and lots of treats.

Thus marks our first real dressage schooling session in over six months!

Throwback Thursday: Bright Young Things

Summer 2007

Which makes me 24 and Tristan 12.

sigh.

Riding Update: Actual Progress!

Hey crazy lady, stop taking pictures for your blog and let's get this over with.

We're continuing with trot sets, which are a little boring, but necessary.

Last night, we worked up to 8 minute trot sets with 5 minute rests in between them. When I do these I ask him for only the most basic acceptance of the bit: don't giraffe, maintain a good clip, and occasionally I'll ask him to stretch out and down a little.

As he's getting stronger and fitter and more willing, I'm asking a little bit more. So toward the end of the second trot set, I picked up the reins a bit more and saw what I had.

We did some tentative leg yields that smoothed out surprisingly quickly, then some spiralling in and out.

I put him on circles and worked the bend a little bit, and was more firm in my outside rein and told him the circle would be what I proscribed, no more, no less. He softened up his jaw, finally, and blew out noisily.

Then I used the circles to really get him into the outside rein, and asked for a little more engagement and a bit more of a frame. And he gave it to me - beautifully. Then he gave me more. The last 2 minutes of the trot set were in a lovely, deep, soft frame that was very nearly true self-carriage. It lacked a little bit of forward, a little bit more push from the hind end, but it was the best work he's done in months.

I called it quits on that, because damn. He was tired but pleased with himself because I was so happy. We went for a bit of a wandering walk around the property, and he proceeded to try to drink every single puddle dry. Guess he got himself a bit more tired than I thought!