Last post for now, I promise.
I'm definitely doing Comstock on October 2. It's a no-brainer, ridecamp out of the LV arena two miles from Where Dixie Stay At and The House. I am pretty sure she could do the 50 - she had a ton of gas in the tank after the 30 at Moonshine.
I'd love to finish up our season and give myself a badass birthday present with Patriot's Day Lake Almanor. That one's not a cinch, though - it depends on me getting a trailer, which is extremely likely but not quite in the bag.
Am I asking too much? I am sure she could do the 25 Comstock and the 25 Almanor 4 weeks apart. Could she do two 50s four weeks apart? Should I do 25 at Comstock then 50 at Almanor? Or maybe the other way around, because Almanor is hillier - do 50 Comstock then back to a 25 at Almanor?
I know that with endurance the answer is always "it depends on the horse," but I don't know if I'm asking realistic questions. Would you take a well-conditioned mature mare in her first ride season to two 50s four weeks apart?
Sunday, August 8, 2010
House, or, The WTF Post
Our Heroine is even closer to The American Dream of Home Ownership Subject to a Huge Mortgage. Here is the house update.
Ok, first, it won't be a huge mortgage as compared to other mortgages. It's just a lot of money if you think about the normal things you could buy with it. Second - this looks like a huge list of shit that's wrong with this house we're committing to, but it's not a new house and nothing is seriously, terribly wrong.
My husband has been doing an amazing job going to all the inspections, asking the right questions, lining up repairs if we have to do them. He gets all the credit for this update.
The well inspection was first. The pump is fairly recent, the well isn't terrifyingly deep (174' iirc) and has plenty of water, and the water is free from harmful bacteria. Buuut the well pump is sitting on the sand in the back half-acre and the power cable is just hanging out a couple inches under the sand. WTF? It needs a little pump house covering it up, and it needs the power line in a real conduit in a real trench a real foot or two under the ground.
The septic tank is in the front yard. The owners dug a bunch of mini-foxholes in the yard before they found it, but it was eventually found. It's in good shape and the leachfield passed, but the septic guy would like to replace a baffle for some reason. That one's optional.
The FHA appraiser dude appraised the house for 5k more than we have offered. Good! (Even better, FHA doesn't consider outbuildings in the appraisal... G wants to get it re appraised after we close and get the outbuilding / pool / hot tub included in the appraisal, get some instant equity, maybe get us out from under the PMI.)
The home inspector said good things and a few weird things. No termites - would've shocked me if there were. The crawlspace needs a couple more ventilation holes. One of the floor joists was jacked up and put on two supports - one of the supports is on a pier, like it should be, but one of them is just a post sitting on the sand. WTF?
There are two wood stoves and a propane furnace. One of the stoves, in the Fireplace Room, failed FHA inspection. We have to promise to remove it and if we burn the house down with it we get no insurance. It'll go with no regrets, because the great room / den has another newer wood stove, which passed inspection. Yahoo! My parents will just groan and roll their eyes, but I am totally nostalgic for wood fires. We had a (shitty leaky smoky dangerous) wood fireplace when I was a kid, which was replaced with an equally horrible fireplace insert. My mom doesn't remember it fondly at all but I do - I remember how to start a fire, how to tell if your wood is dry, how to chop wood, how to scream and drop the wood on your toe when a beetle crawls on your arm... I can't wait! Well, I could do without the bugs I guess.
The den / great room is an addition off the kitchen. It has heating ducts running to it, but they're all smushed and terminated in a bucket. A bucket? Yes, the base of a bucket is jammed in a cut-off piece of duct as a plug. WTF! That has to be fixed. And the attic over the den needs a roof vent and a gable vent.
The water pump for the swamp cooler went out a couple days ago, but the homeowner was already fixing that on Friday. And the swamp cooler is perched on a rickety wooden contraption near the hole in the wall for it, but not actually touching the hole in the wall. I don't know if that failed or not, but if it's not fixed when we buy it'll be the first thing I fix.
The south roof is totally shot and needs to be replaced, and there's a lot of peeling paint to be repainted. We wrote those into the contract, so they're definitely getting fixed. Apparently we get to negotiate about the other stuff. It's under 2k in repairs, so we'll see how much we can get the sellers to pay and we'll get the rest done on our own dime.
Less than three weeks to go! If we close on time, we close on my sweetie's birthday - what a great birthday present!
Ok, first, it won't be a huge mortgage as compared to other mortgages. It's just a lot of money if you think about the normal things you could buy with it. Second - this looks like a huge list of shit that's wrong with this house we're committing to, but it's not a new house and nothing is seriously, terribly wrong.
My husband has been doing an amazing job going to all the inspections, asking the right questions, lining up repairs if we have to do them. He gets all the credit for this update.
The well inspection was first. The pump is fairly recent, the well isn't terrifyingly deep (174' iirc) and has plenty of water, and the water is free from harmful bacteria. Buuut the well pump is sitting on the sand in the back half-acre and the power cable is just hanging out a couple inches under the sand. WTF? It needs a little pump house covering it up, and it needs the power line in a real conduit in a real trench a real foot or two under the ground.
The septic tank is in the front yard. The owners dug a bunch of mini-foxholes in the yard before they found it, but it was eventually found. It's in good shape and the leachfield passed, but the septic guy would like to replace a baffle for some reason. That one's optional.
The FHA appraiser dude appraised the house for 5k more than we have offered. Good! (Even better, FHA doesn't consider outbuildings in the appraisal... G wants to get it re appraised after we close and get the outbuilding / pool / hot tub included in the appraisal, get some instant equity, maybe get us out from under the PMI.)
The home inspector said good things and a few weird things. No termites - would've shocked me if there were. The crawlspace needs a couple more ventilation holes. One of the floor joists was jacked up and put on two supports - one of the supports is on a pier, like it should be, but one of them is just a post sitting on the sand. WTF?
There are two wood stoves and a propane furnace. One of the stoves, in the Fireplace Room, failed FHA inspection. We have to promise to remove it and if we burn the house down with it we get no insurance. It'll go with no regrets, because the great room / den has another newer wood stove, which passed inspection. Yahoo! My parents will just groan and roll their eyes, but I am totally nostalgic for wood fires. We had a (shitty leaky smoky dangerous) wood fireplace when I was a kid, which was replaced with an equally horrible fireplace insert. My mom doesn't remember it fondly at all but I do - I remember how to start a fire, how to tell if your wood is dry, how to chop wood, how to scream and drop the wood on your toe when a beetle crawls on your arm... I can't wait! Well, I could do without the bugs I guess.
The den / great room is an addition off the kitchen. It has heating ducts running to it, but they're all smushed and terminated in a bucket. A bucket? Yes, the base of a bucket is jammed in a cut-off piece of duct as a plug. WTF! That has to be fixed. And the attic over the den needs a roof vent and a gable vent.
The water pump for the swamp cooler went out a couple days ago, but the homeowner was already fixing that on Friday. And the swamp cooler is perched on a rickety wooden contraption near the hole in the wall for it, but not actually touching the hole in the wall. I don't know if that failed or not, but if it's not fixed when we buy it'll be the first thing I fix.
The south roof is totally shot and needs to be replaced, and there's a lot of peeling paint to be repainted. We wrote those into the contract, so they're definitely getting fixed. Apparently we get to negotiate about the other stuff. It's under 2k in repairs, so we'll see how much we can get the sellers to pay and we'll get the rest done on our own dime.
Less than three weeks to go! If we close on time, we close on my sweetie's birthday - what a great birthday present!
Horse
When we last saw Our Heroine and her horse... Hahah, I can't do this. I can't write in third person. Too pretentious! Anyway, I'd ordered some bell boots because Dixie was clipping herself, I was waiting to take a lesson, and I was thinking about touching up her hooves.
I had my lesson Tuesday, and it was very helpful. To start with, M asked me to trot in a circle around her. We hurtled along and managed a couple strides of trot, a couple strides of canter, and then a very braced pace for 3/4 of a wiggly egg-shape. I pulled Dixie up and said "That is our relationship in a nutshell, and that's all of our problems." We talked for a while about what my goals are and what I'm willing to do for them. I said that I'm willing to do arena-type work a day a week, and I want to get her soft and supple on both sides and able to collect up and stretch out. I don't want to show, certainly not at dressage shows, but I'd like to work on dressagey stuff because it's good for both of us. I want to get my horse broke - or closer to broke, at any rate.
She showed me a couple of exercises to work on. It's all stuff that I've read about but never could figure out on my own. How to tell when she's crossing her rear legs when I ask for that one-rein stop. A different cue for backing up from the ground. Some stuff that I'm pretty sure is just to get me aware of my seat - get her to walk more and more slowly without touching the reins, for instance.
When I could get Dixie's attention, she was smart as a whip. The problem, as always, is getting her to focus on me and my weird demands when she wants to stare off into space and call for other horses. I stuck with it and the longer I worked her the better she got - even when all the other horses at the arena packed up and went home, she started calling for them but was still really on the aids. I told M about The House and that I'll take lessons as I can afford it, probably every two weeks, and she was fine with that.
Then we cantered wildly home, as if to underscore the importance of following through on this. :) It was a lot of fun but it was the same old fight about how fast she gets to go - she wanted to gallop, I wanted to rack or even trot, we ended up with a canter.
Friday my Pro Choice Ballistic Overreach No Turn Bell Boots came in, so I picked them up, then I stopped at the other feed store and got a really good brand new rasp. I laboriously shaved off a fraction of the flare on her back right hoof - the flared quarter is just out of ground contact now. I think I will try to keep it off the ground for a trim cycle and see how it starts to grow in. Holy crap dude, her hooves are SO FREAKIN HARD.
Then I tried on her spiffy new bell boots. I'd asked them to order M and L for me, because I wasn't sure what size she needed but I thought I'd know when I saw them. M looked too small for her dainty (snicker!) legs, so I went with L. Here's the test fit:
They seemed to fit, she didn't care that they were on, and they didn't turn. Good enough.
Then we did some ground work with the clicker. She's almost given up bullying me for treats, and now she's turning all her attention to figuring out what I want her to do. (And doing it over and over to make the Treat Dispenser hand out more mini-wheats.) I got some lovely light straight backing up and some head down, so I moved on to getting her to move her hindquarters / turn on the forehand, whatever you call it, from the ground.
I held her head still and started twirling the rope at her hindquarters, which really pissed her off. Lots of tail swishing and backing and sidepassing and then the inside leg crossed the other and by god, I clicked at that instant! I am very much a novice clicker trainer, and my timing still sucks, so that was huuuuge for both of us. Lots of praise and treats, a couple more repetitions, and then the off side was relatively easy. And bending to the right is definitely harder for her - she clearly remembered what I wanted on the near side and was trying to repeat it for more delicious treats on the off side. I love that horse so much when she tries for me :D
Yesterday a big storm front moved in about 4 and cooled things off considerably, so I took the (incredibly hyper and bored) dog with us. I put on the full kit - breastcollar, crupper, and bell boots - and we headed up in the hills for a short ride. Well, short for us, long for Cersei in the middle of summer. Guess what! Bell boots are going to be expensive disposable items for us! How exciting!
Most of our fast work was downhill, so it was mostly pace. She doesn't clip at the pace - it's physically impossible, unless your horse travels really weird in the back and somehow clips a front leg with the other side rear leg. But we did get a bit of extended trot on the last straight stretch coming home, and she did clip herself, and the boot did protect her, and it's already ripped. So much for bulletproof-vest ballistic nylon. Argh.
Does anyone make Kevlar bell boots? I'll keep using these til they quit protecting her, but they're not going to last til fall at this rate. Better yet, someone should send me free boots to review. I'll take pictures and write words and my huge audience of loyal fans will rush out and buy the ones that work the best. It'll be like a cage match, Dixie's Adamantine Hooves vs. Man's Strongest Materials.
I had my lesson Tuesday, and it was very helpful. To start with, M asked me to trot in a circle around her. We hurtled along and managed a couple strides of trot, a couple strides of canter, and then a very braced pace for 3/4 of a wiggly egg-shape. I pulled Dixie up and said "That is our relationship in a nutshell, and that's all of our problems." We talked for a while about what my goals are and what I'm willing to do for them. I said that I'm willing to do arena-type work a day a week, and I want to get her soft and supple on both sides and able to collect up and stretch out. I don't want to show, certainly not at dressage shows, but I'd like to work on dressagey stuff because it's good for both of us. I want to get my horse broke - or closer to broke, at any rate.
She showed me a couple of exercises to work on. It's all stuff that I've read about but never could figure out on my own. How to tell when she's crossing her rear legs when I ask for that one-rein stop. A different cue for backing up from the ground. Some stuff that I'm pretty sure is just to get me aware of my seat - get her to walk more and more slowly without touching the reins, for instance.
When I could get Dixie's attention, she was smart as a whip. The problem, as always, is getting her to focus on me and my weird demands when she wants to stare off into space and call for other horses. I stuck with it and the longer I worked her the better she got - even when all the other horses at the arena packed up and went home, she started calling for them but was still really on the aids. I told M about The House and that I'll take lessons as I can afford it, probably every two weeks, and she was fine with that.
Then we cantered wildly home, as if to underscore the importance of following through on this. :) It was a lot of fun but it was the same old fight about how fast she gets to go - she wanted to gallop, I wanted to rack or even trot, we ended up with a canter.
Friday my Pro Choice Ballistic Overreach No Turn Bell Boots came in, so I picked them up, then I stopped at the other feed store and got a really good brand new rasp. I laboriously shaved off a fraction of the flare on her back right hoof - the flared quarter is just out of ground contact now. I think I will try to keep it off the ground for a trim cycle and see how it starts to grow in. Holy crap dude, her hooves are SO FREAKIN HARD.
Then I tried on her spiffy new bell boots. I'd asked them to order M and L for me, because I wasn't sure what size she needed but I thought I'd know when I saw them. M looked too small for her dainty (snicker!) legs, so I went with L. Here's the test fit:
They seemed to fit, she didn't care that they were on, and they didn't turn. Good enough.
Then we did some ground work with the clicker. She's almost given up bullying me for treats, and now she's turning all her attention to figuring out what I want her to do. (And doing it over and over to make the Treat Dispenser hand out more mini-wheats.) I got some lovely light straight backing up and some head down, so I moved on to getting her to move her hindquarters / turn on the forehand, whatever you call it, from the ground.
I held her head still and started twirling the rope at her hindquarters, which really pissed her off. Lots of tail swishing and backing and sidepassing and then the inside leg crossed the other and by god, I clicked at that instant! I am very much a novice clicker trainer, and my timing still sucks, so that was huuuuge for both of us. Lots of praise and treats, a couple more repetitions, and then the off side was relatively easy. And bending to the right is definitely harder for her - she clearly remembered what I wanted on the near side and was trying to repeat it for more delicious treats on the off side. I love that horse so much when she tries for me :D
Yesterday a big storm front moved in about 4 and cooled things off considerably, so I took the (incredibly hyper and bored) dog with us. I put on the full kit - breastcollar, crupper, and bell boots - and we headed up in the hills for a short ride. Well, short for us, long for Cersei in the middle of summer. Guess what! Bell boots are going to be expensive disposable items for us! How exciting!
Most of our fast work was downhill, so it was mostly pace. She doesn't clip at the pace - it's physically impossible, unless your horse travels really weird in the back and somehow clips a front leg with the other side rear leg. But we did get a bit of extended trot on the last straight stretch coming home, and she did clip herself, and the boot did protect her, and it's already ripped. So much for bulletproof-vest ballistic nylon. Argh.
Does anyone make Kevlar bell boots? I'll keep using these til they quit protecting her, but they're not going to last til fall at this rate. Better yet, someone should send me free boots to review. I'll take pictures and write words and my huge audience of loyal fans will rush out and buy the ones that work the best. It'll be like a cage match, Dixie's Adamantine Hooves vs. Man's Strongest Materials.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Breaking NHR news
There is a series on TLC called Police Women of Memphis which yall MUST watch if you ever hope to understand the truly bizarre town I used to live in.
I have to watch this woman have hysteric about her son steal her money, but I swear I will update yall on my new saddle pad, my lesson, and our (increasingly more likely) house real soon now.
UPDATE: She say he stole her money. The dudes in the neighborhood say she tried to run him over with her car and she just went snap.
I have to watch this woman have hysteric about her son steal her money, but I swear I will update yall on my new saddle pad, my lesson, and our (increasingly more likely) house real soon now.
UPDATE: She say he stole her money. The dudes in the neighborhood say she tried to run him over with her car and she just went snap.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Back to school
So Dixie and I are going to try a lesson with a local instructor tomorrow night. I blame this one equally on Kate and AareneX. Aarene is always extolling the virtues of taking lessons (and I totally agree - but she keeps it in the front of my head!) and Kate just did that awesome clinic with Mark Rashid. So when I saw this lady's Craigslist ad for a discounted first lesson, and she mentioned how she'd worked with Mark Rashid, I decided to jump on it.
Things I need help with: posting the elusive other diagonal. Sitting the canter better. Getting Dixie on the bit, at least some of the time! Riding from my seat, instead of (or at least in addition to) my voice.
I haven't posted hoof pics in a while. AareneX asked if Dixie's toes were too long - they don't look long to me. I've seen her wear them shorter, but I haven't deliberately trimmed them much shorter than this.
There's a goat in this picture.
Side view. The phone cunningly chose to focus on the manure ball, but the hooves aren't too fuzzy.
RF solar. You can see how my trimmer took down her inside heel a bit. And that month of light duty really took its toll - I have to ride more, or at least touch up in between trims if I'm not riding more.
RF heel. On the right side of the picture you can barely see where she clipped herself Saturday.
Right rear. See the flare on that outside wall? I am almost positive that's what's making the rear boot fit poorly. (Thank you Kirt!) I am going to start keeping that rolled back once every couple of weeks.
Left rear doesn't bell out, and the left rear boot doesn't get sand. (I think. I forget which boot gets sand in it, despite my best attempts to remember.)
Left front solar.
Left front heel. In this view, it looks like the outside front quarter is a bit long... I might take that down too.
Bonus goat!
As always, feel free to comment on her feet!
Things I need help with: posting the elusive other diagonal. Sitting the canter better. Getting Dixie on the bit, at least some of the time! Riding from my seat, instead of (or at least in addition to) my voice.
I haven't posted hoof pics in a while. AareneX asked if Dixie's toes were too long - they don't look long to me. I've seen her wear them shorter, but I haven't deliberately trimmed them much shorter than this.
There's a goat in this picture.
Side view. The phone cunningly chose to focus on the manure ball, but the hooves aren't too fuzzy.
RF solar. You can see how my trimmer took down her inside heel a bit. And that month of light duty really took its toll - I have to ride more, or at least touch up in between trims if I'm not riding more.
RF heel. On the right side of the picture you can barely see where she clipped herself Saturday.
Right rear. See the flare on that outside wall? I am almost positive that's what's making the rear boot fit poorly. (Thank you Kirt!) I am going to start keeping that rolled back once every couple of weeks.
Left rear doesn't bell out, and the left rear boot doesn't get sand. (I think. I forget which boot gets sand in it, despite my best attempts to remember.)
Left front solar.
Left front heel. In this view, it looks like the outside front quarter is a bit long... I might take that down too.
Bonus goat!
As always, feel free to comment on her feet!
Beautiful Nevada
It's been too hot to take Cersei on my rides, so I've been taking her up on the mountain and throwing the ball at dusk. Some days I get out there early and get badass sunset pictures. Here's a few to share.
I thought of Karen Chaton's Skywatch series when I took this. No pictures for her husband, but a good night for me and my camera phone!
I thought of Karen Chaton's Skywatch series when I took this. No pictures for her husband, but a good night for me and my camera phone!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Pretty girl
I got up early Saturday and went for a pretty pleasant ride on Dixie. It took us 27 minutes to make it out of the subdivision - various commonplace sights really spazzed her out - but we made it out and she behaved fine. On the way back home, she clocked her right front with her rear hoof, right above the bulb of her heel. She bobbled once, and that must've been when she whacked it, but afterwards she was rock solid and I didn't know til we got home.
This is the third time in a couple of weeks that she's interfered. I think she's just learning to really stretch her stride out - she was trotting at 11 mph, and pacing downhill at 10 or so - and she's banging herself. But I still don't want her to keep doing it, so I ordered some no-turn bell boots from my local feed store. She's hitting low enough on her foot that I don't think the heel captivators on the Renegades would protect her. Hopefully some time and the bell boots will help her learn how to travel.
After our ride, I gave her a real bath. I scrubbed her mane with tons of purple shampoo and it came out very white and shiny. Look at this glorious mane!
It's 22 inches long. It's just unbelievable. She has the kind of hair that you only see on Other People's Expensive Horses.
Anyway, I do love her, so after I took pics of her mane I let her roll :)
The house is looking good. We got really approved by the underwriters, and it passed the well inspection. A couple more inspections, then we hope everything goes ok at the very last minute. I've heard of too many closing days gone terribly awry to be confident about it. Buuuut I think we really might own our own little suburban farm in less than a month :) Now taking suggestions for witty names - although I think DP's Farcical Farm is probably the best name ever.
This is the third time in a couple of weeks that she's interfered. I think she's just learning to really stretch her stride out - she was trotting at 11 mph, and pacing downhill at 10 or so - and she's banging herself. But I still don't want her to keep doing it, so I ordered some no-turn bell boots from my local feed store. She's hitting low enough on her foot that I don't think the heel captivators on the Renegades would protect her. Hopefully some time and the bell boots will help her learn how to travel.
After our ride, I gave her a real bath. I scrubbed her mane with tons of purple shampoo and it came out very white and shiny. Look at this glorious mane!
It's 22 inches long. It's just unbelievable. She has the kind of hair that you only see on Other People's Expensive Horses.
Anyway, I do love her, so after I took pics of her mane I let her roll :)
Clean horse becomes dirty from Funder on Vimeo.
The house is looking good. We got really approved by the underwriters, and it passed the well inspection. A couple more inspections, then we hope everything goes ok at the very last minute. I've heard of too many closing days gone terribly awry to be confident about it. Buuuut I think we really might own our own little suburban farm in less than a month :) Now taking suggestions for witty names - although I think DP's Farcical Farm is probably the best name ever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)