Going Naked

Rain has been having issues standing for the mounting block. Who could blame her? It's not like they practice standing still for that on the track; one person leads the horse, one person boosts the jockey, and the jock hops on while the horse is walking (or trotting, sometimes) forward. So I decided that tonight, we'd work on it. Bonnie suggested that every time Rain moved, she be put to work.

So, I dragged the mounting block into the round pen, and dragged Rain in, too. I decided that I didn't want a saddle, because I had some weird hang-up about getting caught up halfway in a stirrup if she got stupid. So, bareback it was. And, I figured, why not go all natural horsemanship-esque and just use a halter and lead rope (plus I didn't want to be jerking on her face with a bit in her mouth if she happened to walk off while I was still on the mounting block).

It started off rough, ain't gonna lie. She trotted a lot of circles in the round pen before she decided that standing still was easier than wiggling all over the place. I got her to stand still, then laid all over her, patted her everywhere. Finally I told myself to stop being a pansy and just swing my leg over. She stood like a rock. I was thrilled. So then I slid off. Then I did it all over again. We tooled all over the round pen, stopped, backed up. Rain was so quiet. I continued to be thrilled.

Please ignore the glowing eye.

I dragged the shoer out today. Rain been done 3 to 4 weeks ago, and shouldn't need shod for 7 to 8 weeks after the shoeing date, but I could swear her toes were getting long, particularly on her problematic left front.

My friend Bonnie, mentioned in yesterday's video, agreed that something looked off about her foot. "I don't know if her toes are long," she said "or she tapped the shoe back, or what."

So I called out the shoer. He walked around her, picked up her feet, asked if she was lame (she's not) and declared that she was fine. Apparently the left front, which has a funky flare on one side, was looking a little long due to the flare. He said she as good to go until next shoeing.

Oops. I hope he chalks it up to the neuroses of a first time horse owner. Better safe than sorry, though.

News, and a Video!

Bonnie and I rode our ponies in the arena at the barn where I board tonight.

Her mare, also a TB, is the same age as Rain. Incidentally, her mare and my mare were both up for auction at the 2008 Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association sale as yearlings. Her mare was bred by the University of Arizona (from where Bonnie and I both graduated), and one of about 8 yearlings they took to the sale. Her mare, Gabby, was a no-sale, having received no bids. She was offered to Bonnie by the UA Equine program director for something like $350.00. She went home with Bonnie.

Rain was bred by the Vaughn-Calvert Ranch in another part of the state. She was one of something like 3 yearlings to go through the sale for that ranch. Rain had a reserve bid on her (which I haven't been able to find). Rain also no-saled. I haven't been able to find out if she received any bids at all, or simply no bid ever reached the reserve set by the seller.

Rain and I on the left, Bonnie on Gabby on the right.

The girls were good tonight, and we had fun wandering around and talking and half-hearted schooling. My fiance CJ stopped by, and we coerced him into taking some video. As self-conscious as it might make you, taking video and reviewing it is a great way to analyze where you're at. We circle to the left OK, and then fall apart to the right. I need to get my hands out of my flipping crotch and get my legs back. As we come around that circle to the right, as she tries to throw her hip out and I pull her head around to the right, if I can put my outside leg on her, I can probably get her ribs back under her.

We're both a work in progress. For a horse that hasn't had 30 days under saddle (other than what she got from race training) she's doing pretty darn well. I'm so lucky.

Acquiring Rain

Rain is a 4-year-old thoroughbred mare, who I purchased for a whopping $200.00. Prior to me owning her, she raced 6 times during her 2-year-old year. Apparently not motivated to be a runner, she only won one race; her maiden. It was a 2 furlong race. Up until I bought Rain, I didn't even know that 2 furlongs was a distance Thoroughbreds ran; something that short is more like a Quarter Horse distance.

Her registered name is Cat Skylar. For those who follow bloodlines, she's a Storm Cat on the sire side, and a Mr. Prospector on the dam side. Her former owner called her Cat, but I thought that was boring. While brainstorming barn names one night, I asked my half-asleep fiance what he thought I should call her. "Cloud," he mumbled. I discounted that (poor half-asleep fiance); then suddenly hit on Rain. So that stuck. It turned out to be pretty fitting, since the first ride I put on her as her new owner was under a gray sky, with rain falling intermittently. I couldn't have cared less that it was raining; I was putting my first ride on the first horse I've ever owned.