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Tessa's Journal (training, drawings, stories, pictures etc.)

6K views 75 replies 8 participants last post by  whisperbaby22 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, there've been a lot of things I've been wanting to share lately but decided they weren't significant enough for making an entire thread for them. So I got an idea! Why not make a journal for my Tessa? I can include her training updates, funny stories, pictures, some drawings/doodles of her...whatever I want to share about her for that day!

This post is going to be an introductory-type thing, so if you already know Tess and our story, feel free to skip it. I'll actually start adding new material and updates in the coming days. I'll try to just do a brief overview.

I've loved horses my entire life and once my parents realized I wasn't going to "grow out of it," they agreed to signing me up for lessons. They thought that once I got over the "sunshine and rainbows" part of horses and saw the hard work and ups and downs I'd give up. Haha that wasn't the case. After a few years on lesson horses, I went on to lease a lovely little mare, Maggie. I loved that horse so much, but her owners suddenly decided to sell her and I found out the day before she left. It broke my heart. I started taking lessons on other horses again, but I had to take some time off to grieve because they weren't like Maggie; we just didn't click and I was missing my girl too much. During all of this time my parents had been considering caving in to my begging for a horse of my own- so I could bond with it-truly knowit, not worry about losing it, and have a say in how it was trained and cared for. (Though I had been asking for a horse pretty much since I could talk and had brought it up many times before all of this)They finally agreed that we'd start looking into getting a horse for me on one condition: I had to work for it and continue working to pay for some of the costs. I readily agreed, of course:D

Well, shoot. This brief overview isn't so brief. Okay, I'll cut to the chase. After months of looking and trying different horses, we found Tessa. She matched everything on the list I had written previously for what I wanted in my horse. I wanted a mare, around 15hh, close to 10 yrs, relational, smart, calm, ability to become an all-around horse. Those were the ones that I weren't flexible on. There were other qualities that my "perfect" dream horse had that I imagined and drew out (literally, lol). These qualities weren't as important as the ones listed above but nonetheless I hoped that I'd somehow end up with this seemingly impossible horse. My favorite horse color was always a red dun tobiano, favorite breed a paint, and favorite markings were a star and snip. Well, I found Tessa's ad on Facebook and she matched EVERY LITTLE THING on my list! She was even local and within our price range! There were 4 people who were already interested in her when I contacted the owners, so my hope of getting her was quickly waning...until the owners replied when they heard more about me and what I was hoping to do with the horse. They wanted her to go to a loving home where she would be cherished and used (she was currently just a pasture-pet with them). Her name with them was Crush (her registered name is JL Orange Crush Kitty, so that's where they got THAT name). Needless to say, I wanted to rename her. I find many of my animal's names after my favorite books-I find that my animals fit the characters in many of my books. When I first got her I was torn between the name Dove from Scorpio Races (Dove is the smart, sassy, lovable dun mare in my long-time favorite horse book) and Tessa from The Infernal Devices (Tessa is an independent, smart, strong young heroine from the book). I decided on Tessa ;-)

Well, fast-forward a year and a half, and here we are! I work at the stable Tess is boarded at; it's only 10 min. from my house! When I first got her she wasn't muscled very well and not very knowledgable on anything more than simply moving through the gaits in a straight line. My trainer/stable manager/friend works with us occasionally since I don't have all the knowledge to take Tess where I want to by myself. Tess has taught me how to be a much better and more confident rider. Not how you'd think, though...Tess has a lot less experience than we originally thought and a lot more, well, sass lol. She's super sweet and smart and works her little heart out! But she's also SUPER sensitive and will definitely test her rider. This forced me step up and be the leader she needs me to be. Most of the horses I'd ridden before her were lesson horses and were pretty much push-button horses, so it wasn't a real big battle for dominance. Of course, some of the lesson horses had a bit more spunk and would feel out if you were fit to be a leader. My Maggie was definitely like that at first haha.

Well, I've been doing a lot of Dressage with Tessa since it works on her carrying herself properly and going through some complex movements. We've jumped a little and I want to go back and do some more jumping but for now I'm really enjoying where we're at! Anything learned doing flat work translates into jumping anyways. My trainer is impressed with how well Tessa is carrying herself now and what a good team we are. It always feels good to hear that after all the hard work I've been putting into my girl! She even told me that we're becoming so in sync that she can't even see the cues I'm giving her all the time (this coming from an experienced eye)! Whoo hoo! Planning on showing her Spring/Summer 2017.

It has definitely been a journey getting to where I am now with the horse I am blessed to call my own. As a Christian, I see God's hand working in all of the circumstances that led to me having Tessa and the stable we are at now. There were a lot more ups and downs and quite a bit of heartbreak of losing horses that I didn't include, because that would just take too long to go through haha. And I'm not naive enough to think I'm the only one who's had to deal with some tough stuff or to think that everyone wants to hear every single little detail of my life. :wink: When I was little I used to pray for the "perfect horse." And though no horse is perfect, Tess is definitely my answer to that prayer. I'm not saying that if you pray for a horse it'll happen or that you get everything you want through prayer. Just sharing that God worked a little miracle in my life! :D

My photobucket account has been acting up, so I don't feel like struggling with that right now to upload some pictures. I have tons of pictures of her on her profile page if you want to see my beauty:wink:I'll try to post some new content tomorrow...
 
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#2 ·
First Update on the Tess

As promised, here's an update on how Tessa's been doing.

It had been very warm over here (for this time of year at least) but suddenly got super cold. This affected the horses a lot, especially my sensitive lady. I took extra care to warm her up slowly and just do an easy ride for her. So I decided to ride her bareback this past Thursday. I love riding bareback in the winter because I get cold easily and Tess is SO warm! She gets a really thick winter coat! Also, I don't have to deal with the extra time of saddling her up and untacking her. Plus, I just like riding bareback- I use it as a check to make sure I'm not relying on the saddle or stirrups for balance. I ride without stirrups sometimes too as well. Anyways, I was riding her bareback after warming her up on the lunge line. However, this little flock of birds (I think they were finches or sparrows) decided to have themselves a little party in the arena (it's an indoor). Every time we passed by the same rail, all of them would fly out right in front of us! Tessa handled herself very well for the most part, but a few times when they flew right underneath her nose she took a few canter steps or jumped to the side. Nothing major; was very impressed with my girl for handling herself in the circumstances.

Also, this last Saturday, some of my cousins came to meet Tessa! They've been wanting to since I got her but it never happened. So my aunt and her 3 daughters (ages 6-12) came to meet my Tess-Mess. They had about a question and minute for me to answer lol. It was a lot of fun, though. I rode Tess first to make sure she didn't have any spunk in her (she gets extra spunky in cold weather, as do all the other horses). She was great...if anything a little lazy. So I put her on the lunge and let my little cousins get on her. I just walked her around and did a little bit of jogging with the older girls. She's very good with kids as long as there's someone telling her what to do. By being good with kids, I mean she's patient with them and would probably just plod around or stop if they were left to ride her on her own. To be safe, I always put beginner riders or small kids on the lunge if they want to ride her.

I'm leaving on a week-long trip tonight so I wont get to see my girl for a while :-( I gave her an extra good brushing and lots of treats before I left....going to miss her so much! Even though a week's not a super long time...I'm just used to seeing her 4+ days a week! The hardest was when I went to South Africa and was gone for 2 1/2 weeks! I thought I was going to die!
 
#3 ·
Tessa's been doing great! I've been lunging her a lot more since I don't always have time to ride before I work. I've been lunging her over a lot of cavaletti and she's doing so good! She used to try to run and jump over all of them, but now she just trots over them like a pro! She also used to get so excited that she'd tune me out. So, to test if she was listening to me and not in her own little world, I asked her to "whoa" in between two cavaletti.

Now, I should explain that her first trainer trained her using Natural Horsemanship. When he asked her to whoa, he wanted her to come to him and stop. Sometimes Tess still does that on the lunge. This was the case when I asked her to stop between the cavaletti. She spun on her heel and came right to me :lol: She put her head in my arms and gave a huge sigh. I think she was more than eager to get out of work, so she decided to come for me instead of stopping between the poles and then going over the rest of them. She's too smart for her own good sometimes lol.

Today we had another riding lesson! It went great as well (all of them have been). Today my trainer had me work on posting without stirrups. I definitely had to work hard today, but it felt great. My legs were so tired by the end of the hour lesson that I could barely move them :lol: It felt good to work and feel tired muscles...just goes to show how much muscle and exercise you get while riding!
 
#4 ·
Tessa Snow Video!

Well, so far I've just posted updates on training/riding and so far not getting much interest. I totally understand lol- I'd choose looking at horse pictures over reading several paragraphs.:mrgreen: But I thought I'd mix it up. Today it snowed a bit and it was also one of my work days. The roads were super slow because of it, so I didn't get to ride. But when I was mucking out Tessa's paddock she chose to come run (trot) to greet me. I thought it was cute and she's such a sweetheart- nuzzling me and sniffing my phone lol.

I wish I got more video but it was with my phone and I couldn't take a video with gloves on so I literally had to do it with my nose :lol: (I was unwilling to take my gloves off as it was 10-15 F!) There was a snow plow finally clearing out some of the roads and the horses kept rearing and bucking every time it made a loud noise. Really wish I got a video/picture of that- they were SO PRETTY!! Tessa would come over to me, spook at the plow, run back to her spot at the top of the hill, come back to nuzzle me, spook again, rinse and repeat :biggrin:

The song I used for this quick clip was Carol of the Bells by one of my favorite groups: Pentatonix. Enjoy! Her flattened ears were in response to Jaxie, the dominant mare, coming up beside her. Love my cute little girl, though!:love:

 
#6 ·
Thank you and thanks for taking the time to look at it! :mrgreen:


So today I got to ride Tess Mess in the freezing weather once more haha. I layered up so much I could barely fit my riding pants on! My toes and hands were the coldest, though. I can't ride in gloves thick and therefore warm enough while I ride since it prohibits hand movement which is necessary for riding! I often need to sponge the reins while I ride to calm Tess down which is especially difficult!

But I did post bareback today for the first time! I've been posting without stirrups with the saddle so I did it bareback, too! I was so amazed how much easier it is to post bareback than with a saddle. The saddle kind of inhibits movement and being totally connected to the horse. I also took Tess over a very small jump today several times and she went over it perfectly every time! She just lifted her legs higher in the trot instead of taking a mad jump over it! So proud of her!
 
#8 ·
Thank you! It was a little discouraging at first but I realize that not everyone wants to read all the details of my Tessa and some do read it but just don't respond. I like seeing that people are looking at my journal, but it is definitely for me as well, so I can go back and track our progress:grin:
 
#9 ·
It's been awhile since I've posted an update but that's partly due to the fact that there hasn't been a whole lot going on. It's been a much colder (and snowier) winter than usual. I believe I heard that this year made a new record for snow depth. Because of all the snow and bad roads and freezing weather, I haven't been able to ride much. I've been able to layer up, grit my teeth, and just get through it, but now I can't hardly drive to the stable, so that severely limits my riding. My car only has front wheel drive and many of the roads near us aren't plowed. My car got stuck coming out of my driveway for goodness' sakes! We have two 4 wheel drive vehicles in my family, but my dad uses one and my mom uses the other. When my mom's home, my older brother (who is currently home from college) uses it. So when I have to get out to the stable to even work, I have to catch a ride with one of my family member's, and they all have fairly busy schedules. Yesterday I wasn't able to get a ride out to the stable or have a 4 wheel vehicle available to me, so someone else had to take over my work "shift" last night. :sad:

So, yeah, it hasn't been ideal. The few days that I HAVE been able to get out, I haven't really ridden. At first I tried to, but it's really not that great for my lungs or Tessa's. And Tess is a little under the weather (runny nose, bit of a cough) but my trainer and I think that's due to the cold. She's blanketed and has shelter, and we have cough medicine on hand we bought last time she got a cough (she gets coughs pretty easily when the weather is finicky- either too wet or too dry). We're all keeping an eye on her if it looks like she'll need a vet but she's acting healthy aside from that.

My last ride on her, which was a week ago:sad:, went very well. All of them have been. She's getting a much better extended trot and is getting a whole lot looser! It's such a weird feeling to have her go into a fast trot without running off; it's very liberating :mrgreen She's staying with me and I with her. We're also working on her transitions, which are getting a LOT better as well. Trot to canter on the left lead is pretty good. She has a harder time picking up her right lead, though. Her left hind is a little stiffer than her right so it's very likely due to that, since she has to kick off with that leg. Since Tess has a tendency to get tight (like me haha) I always do leg circles and some stretches with her recommended by her bodyworker before I ride. I've been spending extra time working on that left hind and am trying to go out and hand walk her in long walking strides to stretch it out. But, as I said, I've barely been able to get out there to work, much less spend time with my girl. :sad:

I'm really hoping that next week I'll be able to see her more! I miss her. I get to give her some scratches and loving when I work, but I still feel so guilty. Especially when I leave and she just stands by the gate, watching me all the way back to...wherever I'm going haha. Either to my car/ride or up to the upper barn to feed the other horses. The plus side about the freezing weather is that mucking out is super quick...mainly due to the fact that the manure is frozen to the ground and then covered in snow and ice, so you can't scoop it up! Thankfully the horses all have water heaters so their water doesn't freeze!
 
#10 · (Edited)
This week has warmed up enough for me to ride!:loveshower: I rode and worked Tues, had a lesson yesterday, and lunged Tess today. Finally getting back into my routine of working with her 4x a week.

Tuesday's ride started out a little rough, since I hadn't ridden in a couple weeks so Tess also hadn't been ridden in a couple weeks. Also, her 2 pasture mates (2 of my trainer's mares) were in "turnout" with her. So there were a few distractions but it was good for both of us to ride with them. I trotted her over a small jump and some cavaletti. Since she was wet from the rain where the blanket didn't cover her, I didn't want to exercise her too much. Also didn't want her to get sweaty before she went back out in the cold. Short video clip below when I was cooling her out. I dropped my glove when I was fiddling on how to video it so that's what she's sniffing at on the ground haha. Excuse her muddy neck: that's where the blanket didn't cover her so she was wet and then she rolled...I cleaned her up the best I could but she was a mess. There's a reason I call her Tess Mess:wink:


The lesson yesterday went great! My trainer had me go into 2 point for most of the hour lesson. My muscles definitely burned by the end but not as bad as I thought they would. We worked on transitions some more and how to control them and speed when your seat bones are out of the saddle. We cantered over some cavaletti and did a lot of figures in the trot.

Today I lunged Tess over a small jump (10-12"). She did so great! In the past she would attempt to take a mad leap over a ground pole. Now she lifts her legs up higher and extends her gait in the trot to get over a small jump! I was impressed with how high she's getting her legs now. My trainer is, too. I also did some canter work with her since she needs some work in that area. My trainer doesn't think she was worked in the canter much before I got her. So we worked on having her pick it up and she's improved so much! Also cantered her over some cavaletti.

Oh! I also got this awesome shirt! I ordered it in light blue. I would've posted a picture of it but I wore it to the stable (of course) and Tess slobbered all over it, so...

I ordered it off Etsy since I sell my art on Etsy and thought I'd support some other people on there. Here's the link to the shirt: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1232273833
 
#12 · (Edited)
First Fall


Haha thanks my trainer loved the shirt too!

And unfortunately today's post isn't as happy as the other ones. Yesterday it warmed up again to 35 (practically felt like summer compared to the weather we'd been having lol) so I was able to do a lesson. It was also warm enough that my mom wanted to watch since it had been so long since she'd seen me ride (she wont come out if it's cold). Well...Tessa was really hyper and acting different than usual. As I said, the weather had been bad so she couldn't really run in her paddock. She's had some turn out time in arena and I lunged her but not quite the same. There was also snow falling off the indoor arena roof. Well she was being testy but nothing that concerned I or my trainer too much. She just wanted us to work through it.

After one of her testing moments, I wasn't as connected to the saddle to give me complete balance. Nothing too severe, but when she turned into a bucking bronco I didn't have 100% of my balance to keep me in the saddle. She's bucked before but the worst that's happened was me losing a stirrup. But what did me in yesterday was the continuous bucking and then the twist she did at the end. So...I fell of a horse for the first time in my life. I aimed to land on my shoulder and then rolled when I hit the ground. This diffused the blow and put me out of harms way. However, I must've landed on my wrist sometime during the fall and broke it, though I didn't know it at the time. So I got back up and talked to my trainer. I knew the whole, "you fall off a horse and get back on" bit. So I got back on, but started to pass out from the pain so had to get off again haha.

My trainer was very surprised at Tessa's behavior yesterday since she's never done that severe of bucking before. She worked with her after I left and thinks that there were several factors but her body may be one of them. Tess has had body work done and her body worker gave me exercises to do with her before each ride, which I've been doing. I also had my trainer (who has some education in body working) feel her to make sure she wasn't getting tight again.

Since I can't ride or do anything for 6+ weeks, I think we're going to have my trainer keep working with her so she doesn't regress. I'm going to watch when I can so I'm still learning more and understanding more about Tessa, There's no way I'd survive not seeing Tess or the people at the stable for 6 weeks!

What makes me laugh is I've been bragging to my family over how well Tessa's been doing. And then my mom watched me get bucked off for the first time. The best part? She got it all on video:lol:

What I am thankful for is that it's only my wrist I injured. Nothing else. I also didn't get the breath knocked out of me because that's not fun. Neither is breaking a wrist but...you know what I mean ;-) I also wasn't scared when I fell or got back on. I'm sure when I can finally ride again I'll find I lost some confidence. But I'm not really afraid, which I'm thankful for. Tess also didn't run around after I came off, which I was worried about during my fall. Ha. I was still worrying about my horse when I was coming off of her :) When I went to her after I fell she was just standing there, looking kind of confused. She nuzzled me when I got to her. My trainer doesn't think she bucked because she was trying to be mean or anything. Just a modge podge of circumstances that came out in those bucks. If I'm honest my prides a bit bruised too. I thought I'd be able to stay on through those bucks. But itall happened so fast I didn't really have time to attempt to regain my balance. Courtesy of the video, I know it all happened within 2 seconds.

So...I'll try to post updates of my trainer's work with her but probably not too many. Partly because it takes sooo long to type with only 1 hand ;-)
 
#14 ·
Thanks :) Since I've loved horses my entire life, my parents were able to find a horse camp or a trail ride about once a year. They kept hoping I'd grow out of it but when I didn't, I started riding consistently, about 1-3 times a week. That was 3 years ago. I've had many close calls but never came off until Saturday. I knew it was bound to happen but just wish I hadn't broken the wrist so I can ride again! :D
 
#15 ·
well, that fall counts for 4 normal falls, so you will now have at least 4 more years without falls. (or so one likes to think)

I haven't fallen for about 2 years now. I am overdue. I used to fall every 6 months, then got it down to once a year. now it's about every 2 years, but I ride very sedately now, so umnless a bobcat jumps out at us, or something totally unexpected, I probably have no excuse for a fall. that's fine with me!
 
#16 ·
Haha I hope your calculations are correct then. And I have a friend at the stable that reminds me of riding how you described. She has a sweet Arabian x Quarter Horse cross that's very calm and easygoing (it helps that he's an older guy). She mostly takes him out on trails. But one day a deer was laying in the brush at their feet and jumped up when they were almost on top of her! So that was one of her few falls off of him haha.

I went out to see Tess yesterday (hard because I can't drive right now so I have to find a ride). My mom didn't want me going inside the paddock since she didn't want a horse to bump my arm. So I had to wait by the fence. Tessa saw me almost immediately and left her food to come to me. She LOVES food. I felt very loved:mrgreen:love:

Hopefully going to get some pics/videos of my trainer working with her since I'm normally the one lunging/riding her I can't get videos of her from the ground. She's a really great mover so I'm looking forward to showing her off to all of you! ;-)
 
#17 ·
Okay I finally found something I can do with a broken wrist with Tessa: Liberty! She's so smart, sensitive, and relational so I think it's going to be a perfect fit! I'll just be doing basic stuff with her, nothing like rearing or tricks that could potentially become bad habits. My trainer thinks it's a great idea for me to do this to keep spending time with Tessa. This will also strengthen our bond since it's one more thing we can do together.

Below is a video of the first day I introduced it to her. I'm using the clicker to assist in her understanding this. I think she did fantastic for her first time! She's followed me around without anything on before so she understood that right away. She's also desensitized to the whip and knows vocal cues, so that also helps.

I went out again today and worked on having her follow at my shoulder instead of several feet behind me. I also worked on turning and coming. At one point she was off running and doing her own thing and I called her and she immediately came to me; I was so pleased with her! :mrgreen: I also had her trot beside me a few times, but that's going to take more work. Often she'll trot beside me for a few steps then keep on going past me:lol: But by the end I got her to trot beside me and then turn and stop, all while staying by me, so I was very pleased! I didn't video anything today, unfortunately, but I'll try to bring my camera out next time.

Tomorrow I'm going to go out and watch my trainer work with her, and I'll try to get a video or some pictures. She's been keeping me updated and said that she's very pleased with how Tessa's been doing.

So here's the video! You can tell she had a bit of energy, and she spooked once haha. I moved out of the way to be sure she didn't bump my wrist. But I love how she calmed down right after and came right to me. At the end I have some repeat clips, sorry, I wanted to play through the end of the song. You can also see her being her sweet, goofy, self. She always brightens my day, I love her so much. She has also been the biggest sweetheart with me only having one working hand. She shoves her nose way down into the halter and holds perfectly still while I clumsily put it on. When I have to take it off she helps shake it off! And she stands perfectly still while I have to take her blanket on and off one handed!

Spirit music to play with the video because there's nothing better:love:

 
#18 ·
Aww! I love that video! Liberty is so much fun and it strengthens the bond and trust between the horse and owner! My mustang I got a year ago does a lot of liberty, but my fav is laying down without anything, it is amazing how much a horse can learn to trust in a short year.
Sorry about your wrist, I can't imagine coping with a cast on.
 
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#20 ·
Love the video. :) She is such a sweetheart.
Thank you, both of you! :-D
I finally compiled a more recent video! But before I go into that, I had to share some of pictures I took of my little girl yesterday!

My teacher and friend has a little girl who is currently obsessed with horses and unicorns. She believes that they actually exist, so Tessa helped me out. She was such a good, patient girl, even if she was a little bit grumpy lol. I figure it’s good for desensitization anyway. I sent the picture to my teacher and she said her daughter loved it!


And here we see the rare Tess Mess in her natural environment.



Balancing on her back. She's got talent. I guess that's what I do, though haha.


Shake shake shake!


Instead of posting several different videos, I just made one single one with some of the training my trainer has been doing with her. And then I got some more video of me working on her with liberty, as well as her being a spunky gal. I got some good clips of her goofing off and enjoying herself, but as soon as I turned the camera off, she gave this huge rear and then got same crazy air with all 4 legs in the air in a buck! I got more liberty clips, but my camera kept turning off from the cold so it missed a lot :-( But you get the general idea of what we worked on. The camera missed some trotting clips with her loose by me and I had her do some side passes.

I am so proud of her on how much she’s improved on the handful of times I’ve been able to work with her! You can see that she’s so much better at following at my shoulder and stopping. By the end she was stopping on the dime! I included a few of the times when she was confused and just ran away. So I took a step back and put her halter back on, but with a slack rope. This way she was still doing everything off of my body language, but if she started to go too far forward I could get her back to me and solidify the concept. What I really loved was that right after she would run off, she would come right back to me and follow me once more.

I’m hoping to head out to the stable again tomorrow and try to get some video, though I may wait so I can just make one full video again with different sessions.

Note: When my trainer is riding her, she was getting Tess to work on self-carriage. That’s why the reins often seem long and the hand movements so exaggerated. This was also when they were warming up so a couple times they weren’t as smooth as could be. But Tessa is such a beautiful mover, I love being able to watch it all from the ground. Speaking of, I had a doctors appointment a couple days ago and they told me I can do some gentle riding in 3 weeks, but I can’t do any intensive riding or working at the stable for another 5-7 weeks. So longer than I was hoping, but in the long run I know it’ll be important to not rush my wrist so I don’t have complications in the future. I’m also hoping to finally post some Tessa art on this thread.

 
#22 · (Edited)
Back in the Saddle!

Can I just start this off with saying YAY!! After 8 long weeks in the cast, I finally got to ride again (this being 1 week ago)! Since the doctors didn't want me doing any intensive riding for another 2-4 weeks (putting me in at 10-12 weeks in all), I decided to ride a sweet, senior Morgan mare. She's easier on my wrist and I can also sort myself out after not riding for 2 months without worry of upsetting Tessa. I still have to wear a brace when I ride but it doesn't inhibit me too much. It felt so amazing to get back in the saddle, though! I am now on spring break but I'm leaving for Iowa tomorrow to visit my brother in college, and to visit the college itself since it's one I myself am considering going to:mrgreen:

So today I spent a long time with my sweet girl, as I won't see her for a week :-(. We worked on some liberty stuff and she did amazing! I wasn't planning on videoing anything but she was just too cute to not so I used my phone. Those clips are in the video below, so sorry they're such bad quality:redface: She's getting really good at trotting at my shoulder on a slack lead- she picks up my cue via body language immediately now. And she comes every single time I whistle for her! Pretty amazing feeling. I also attempted having her trot without anything and made it more into a game of chase. I played around with her a lot today and she was a complete goof, though didn't get any of those clips on video...But the free trotting I did! And I was so proud of her! She didn't run away or anything; she even followed me through a turn! Another moment that made me SO proud today was when it started storming unexpectedly. Walls/roof creaking, rain pattering on the roof (very loudly I might add), plastic bags blowing...I was for sure expecting a spook! She tensed and listened alertly for awhile, but she stayed by my side the entire time- no spook! She gives me so much to brag about ;-)

On a previous day I worked with her, she followed me over some raised cavaletti! I was so proud because in the past she would attempt to run and jump over all of them, and here she was coming to my whistle and choosing to walk over them:love: By the end she was really stretching out her stride, though she tripped a few times figuring it out at first.

And here's the part that makes me absolutely giddy! I rode her today for the first time in 9 WEEKS, bareback and in a halter! I've ridden her bareback plenty before and have even dropped the reins whilst doing so, but I never rode her in a halter before. It wasn't that big of a deal, since I ride primarily from my seat anyway. But I laughed to myself because the last time I was on her back, she bucked me off. And my first ride back is bareback and in a halter:grin: She also moved off of my seat beautifully! The go and stop in the video is all off my seat. It also warmed my heart to see her nuzzling at my boot and relaxed enough that she was chewing (which you can hear very clearly in the video lol). I also posted (since I can post without stirrups, why not bareback?) And even two-pointed for the heck of it. It was such an amazing feeling!

Here's the liberty clips: (Note: I don't normally run like that- her cue to trot is me exaggerating jogging/high knees. Just wanted to let you know I'm not an awkward runner haha)


And the short riding vid:
 
#23 ·
Thought it was time I posted an update again!

Tessa's been good- my trainer's still working with her since she wants to make sure Tess continues to carry herself properly and continuing to develop the correct muscle. We've been seeing a lot of self-carriage on her part, which is huge since she used to always fall in and make the rider hold her up. She's also relaxing a lot more! She used to be more tense but now she's so relaxed that if you rub her, her muscles (not fat) jiggle! She's chewing a lot more; it used to take a lot to get her to chew but now it's becoming normal. That, and this new habit of licking. It's adorable, I think, even if she gets horse slobber everywhere :)

I still get to ride Tess and actually just got back from a ride today. In between my rides on Tessa, I've been riding Gypsy, the retired Morgan mare I wrote about before. Tessa also trots with me without a halter with liberty now!

My trainer is super pleased with how far Tessa and I have both come along. She (and I) are both very excited to see what lies in store for us now that we've got Tessa's bucking all figured out. Oh, and I can't remember if I specifically addressed this, but I've decided that I'm going to pursue Dressage. Before, I was viewing it as a means to an end, which was Eventing, specifically jumping. But, Tessa is better suited to Dressage what with her conformation, personality, and movement. And I think I'm better suited to Dressage too, since I'm graceful and I'm not an adrenaline junkie (not to say jumpers are, but it is more of a risky riding that's faster paced). This isn't to say that I won't still jump some crossrails with Tess occasionally, but my main focus is going to be on Dressage.

It was also miss Tessa's birthday this past Monday! She turned 11!!!

Also, have to share some transformation photos!

These first 2 are from when I first got her. She's lacking a lot of muscle and looks a little scrawny tbh. It's hard to compare them with the ones I took today since these aren't of her standing square, but it gives you the idea.




And the ones from today. She wasn't standing straight-on but ah well. She also was holding herself up better after the ride, but I didn't get pictures then. You can still see a difference, and I'll try to get pictures of her when she's lifting herself up more.

Stretching out


Also, this pose she struck reminded me so much of a Georgian Grande


Here's a pic of a GG just from Google images
 
#24 ·
I also forgot to add (and it took me long enough to remember that the edit feature is no longer available on the above post haha) that today Tessa was super spooky. Trainer said it's the worst she's ever seen her, but all horses have bad days. Tessa isn't really a spooky horse, and when she does spook, it's normally just a bit of a jump or a few running steps...no bolting, thankfully! My trainer had been working with her when she happened to get all spooky and took a bit to get her through that and focused on her again instead of whatever was going on outside.

The reason I added that is to show that, even though she was high as a kite at the beginning, she was fantastic during my ride. She was moving beautifully off of my seat (though since it had been a long time since I've ridden her consistently- not since before I broke my wrist- she was definitely testing me again to test the boundaries). She now knows how to differentiate between a turn from the hind end and a turn from the front end. It's really cool to see how much better she is now than when I first started with her.

Also, since I also originally planned to post some Tessa drawings on this journal, here's one of my recent ones (I may post it on my art thread as well, since it's been a while since I've updated that :))

This is a graphite of me as a little girl with Tessa. I didn't own her when I was that age- she actually wouldn't have been born yet- but it was always my dream as a little girl to have owned a horse. I think that's the case with the majority of horse lovers, but in this drawing I made it happen.


I absolutely loved doing her muzzle with all the whiskers and shadows and bumps and those lovely white markings she has (though since it's graphite, it's hard to tell the difference between the white markings and the sheen of her coat lol)
 
#25 ·
Long Overdue Update

Forgot to update this journal...sorry:lol: I post every few days on my instagram @ katz_kreations so if you guys want to keep up to date on what's going on with Tess, that's where you'll find current pictures and such!

I'm going to try to keep this short so you guys don't have to read a paper. So I interned under my trainer this summer in between my days of working another job. I had an amazing time and learned a lot. It felt amazing to be able to work with other people's horse's and help both them and their horse work through some problems. Every horse has something new to bring to the table so I picked up some great skills that I wouldn't have learned from Tessa. For example, one of the horses used to have severe body issues and was unrideable. Over the summer I was able to ride him a little bit, but he didn't want to use his hind end for fear of pain, so he constantly threw up his head or jerked it down. It taught me how to keep my seat in the midst of being pulled forward. Fast forward to now and he's so much better!

I've been able to ride Tessa 4 times a week consistently since school started. I had been worried about not being able to ride as much since I'm taking on a heavy course load at school this year but so far it's been working out! She hasn't bucked or run away once since before I broke my wrist, so that's great! There's still so much to work on but we're learning a lot. I had an unplanned test to see how my seat was when she spooked and went from a walk to a full gallop (sideways I might add). It could've turned into something bad but I brought her back down to walk and went on as nothing happened. When I got her back under control I discovered that I was still in her center of balance so that felt pretty good!

I've also been riding her tackless which has been a great eye-opener to how much I have to depend on my seat when there are no reins or halter or anything to use to turn her head. Let's see, other news...um we've been featured on SmartPak's and Reins for Rescues instagram pages :lol: And I'm hoping to take her to a show in the spring. Maybe a small halter show to get our feet wet and so I can get an idea of how she'll do in a show without being on her back. I know this is a ways off yet, but I really want to do Freestyle Dressage! I love music and I think it really highlights how Dressage is like "horse ballet" and shows the dance it really is between horse and rider.

One of my friends at the stable did a photoshoot of Tessa and I over the summer! So I'll share a few of those below. I'm hoping to do a mini Halloween photoshoot soon as well.
 
#26 ·
Here are the Halloween pics http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/halloween-tessa-781538/

Had a great ride today on my little Tessa girl! She's been such a great stress reliever too. I've had a crazy busy week this week (homework, SAT, and just life) and next week will be as busy or busier. And then as soon as I get to the stable Tessa brings a smile to my face with her antics and as soon as I get on, I'm forced to relax (that's almost an oxymoron haha) since if I'm tense or off-balance at all...well let's just say she lets me know how she feels about that lol.

I've been a little worried coming into winter since last winter we had issues with her body and her acting out because of that. She's just SUPER sensitive to weather changes. But so far we haven't had any issues. Sure, she'll be spooky but now I'm able to relax and drop into my seat as my first reaction and that resolves any issues.

And today I rode without stirrups for awhile (in honor of No-Stirrup November). I warm up without stirrups normally, but I'm trying to do it for longer/the entire ride. Sitting and posting trot was a piece of cake without stirrups, I am happy to say! I also trotted her past the rail where she always used to run, buck, or get grumpy/nervous in general. I've been working with her (and myself because it became a mental thing) and today she didn't even put her ears back and stayed in the jog I asked her into before approaching the rail. No speeding up. No Grouchiness. No anxiety. Yay!!

And to top off an amazing ride, I asked her for a canter. We haven't really cantered since...you know come to think of it I don't think we've cantered since I broke my wrist. We've been working on so many Dressage things that I hadn't had time to miss it! Anyways, I asked her for a canter and she kicked off from her hind end, balanced, controlled, no bucking or grouchiness at all! Yippee! It's also a lot easier for me now that we have been doing all sorts of Dressage movements because it's second-nature for me to feel her steps, so I could ask for the correct lead after feeling the correct leg kicking off. She's also starting to get her winter dapples in!
 
#27 ·
Tessa girl was favoring her right foreleg this past week so we didn't do as much riding as I'd hoped. Really we just did a bunch of in-hand work to get her on her hind end and supple. Didn't ask for too much since, like I said, she was favoring that leg. We suspected it was her shoulder muscle so called our faithful horse masseuse out to get her checked out!

She found out that, yes, it was her shoulder. She was really tight so massaged it out and did some exercises with her. The best part is that she said Tessa has no other tightness/soreness which is fantastic news since we've worked so hard to overcome her body issues! I've been worried about that coming into another cold winter since last winter was...less than ideal lol. I'd rather not break my wrist again. She said I've done a great job with her and gave me some new exercises to do with her to loosen up her shoulder and preventative stuff.

And oh boy something spooked her pretty bad a couple of days ago. She was high for the next hour. Snorting like a freight train, trying to run (which I didn't want her doing with her hurt shoulder), and more focused on what was going on outside than with me. So I just did a TON of ground work and in-hand work with her until she was walking slowly beside me on a slack rein without plowing me over. It also didn't help that dinner was starting to be fed outside (it gets dark so early now that they feed pretty early- right during my ride time. Thankfully I can feed Tessa's paddock after I'm done but she still thinks the other horses are eating her dinner).

I also think I'm going to put Tessa on some supplements since she's such a sensitive girl. The masseuse said she doesn't think she needs any for her muscles, but I'm going to find a supplement for her marish behavior. It's not that she's especially hard to manage when she's in heat, she just gets more sensitive than usual and sometimes gets really tender around her belly and udders. So if putting her on a supplement alleviates that discomfort...seems like the right thing to do.

Since I love everything SmartPak (you may have noticed my Piper Breeches and engraved halter from them) I'm going to try some of theirs. Tessa currently gets chia seeds with her daily grain. I'm looking at SmartMare Harmony Pellets and may add SmartCalm Pellets. I'm going to start with SmartMare and see if it makes a difference on her behavior/sensitivitiy. Then may add SmartCalm to target Tessa's spookiness, which I think has more to do with the cold, stormy weather and being in heat. It's not super high up on my list, because for the most part when she spooks it's not too bad. We'll see how she is as the weather continues to progress. Buying supplements comes out of my (high school student that can't work during school year) pocket, so I want to be frugal with how I spend my money. Anyone have experience with those supplements or other ones?

And on a completely different note...my mom was going through our old pictures and found this one of me from a long time ago. Must have been at a horse camp. Not entirely sure what we were doing- "vaulting" maybe? :lol:
 
#28 ·
I've had a lot of fun with Tessa over Thanksgiving Break!!

Yesterday I worked with her on some target training and manners, reaffirming clicker training using The Willing Equine's method (which is amazing by the way you should totally check it out). She picked it up so quickly I was so impressed! Hope to do more with her on this and teach her a couple of tricks. I plan to buy one of those giant horse balls and teach her to roll it around. This will desensitize her to one more thing and shift her perspective from being scared to new things, to being curious and playing with them.

And today we had a great lesson! Her shoulder is a lot better but still not 100% so did a lot of work getting her to open it up. I learned a lot today and worked on using more outside rein during flexion and opening up my outside leg. This was easy going to the left but hard going to the right since I like to grip with that leg. Also worked on bending and putting more emphasis on her left hind as she steps to get her off of her right shoulder.
 
#29 ·
No Stirrup November

Today concludes No Stirrup November! I think it's a great idea to do it to make sure that you aren't using stirrups as a crutch. I enjoyed doing it this month, but I was sick the entire month so my riding wasn't as great as I wanted it to be. Like, my brain would tell my body to do something and my body just couldn't cooperate. So my eq wasn't up-to-par but hope you can still enjoy this video I made with some of the clips this month lol.
 
#31 ·
Lol

Sometimes I forget how sensitive my girl is...then something like today happens and I'm reminded haha.

The company Equiccessories recently asked me to be their ambassador (super exciting yay!) so I ordered a browband to start promoting their products. It's a gorgeous browband and I've gotten lots of compliments on it. Tessa's the only one that has a problem with it. It's made of beads (pictured below) so it moves around a tad more than a regular browband. Not much, mind you, but enough that Tessa throws a ruckus- head tossing, ears flat back, etc. It literally just shifts the tiniest bit- so little that I can barely see it. So I tried fastening it better in place through all different methods but none of them have worked so we're back to our other browband lol. I love my horse and she looks absolutely adorable in it but her comfort comes first. Anyone else use browbands like this?
 
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