Finally the Flagstaff Pics

Bean, the fancy dressage horse:

Me, the horrible stirrup losing rider:

XC:

Wednesday

Wednesday afternoon Banana is getting a PPE. If all goes well I will be writing her owner a check shortly after.

What is it about something falling in your lap after you've sworn you don't want it?

Pretty Pony Stallions

I spent a short period of time contemplating breeding Penny. I knew I shouldn't, and of course I didn't, but it was great fun looking at fancy pony stallions. Here's some of my favorites:

Tre Awain Goldsmith Connemara

Gallod Auryn Section D Welsh Cob

Burberry German Riding Pony

Wedderlie Mardi Gras Section B Welsh Pony

If I ever have a worthy mare I still want a baby from one of them.

Double lunging

Today I learned how to double lunge. I knew how to ground drive; it was one of my favorite things to do with Penny in the winters when it was too snowy to ride. Double lunging is just slightly more complicated. For Banana, who thanks to her Parelli training likes to turn in and come at you, it gives you some control over her outside side to keep her out on the circle. She's pretty good, but I had to consciously remember to stay more towards her rear than her shoulder as she circled, otherwise she stops and starts backing up. Then you have to run fast to get back behind her, otherwise she just keeps going back. Things to work on.

Meatball was very alert today and desperately wanted to do more than I was letting him.

Finally! The Giant Horse is back!

After his two month layup after scraping his right hind leg to the bone I was able to get on Meatball yesterday. Oh how I missed him. It was almost like we'd never left off. We did have to realign a bit on what aid meant what, but we had a lovely ride. He gave me nice stretchy walk and a bit of stretchy trot. I didn't ride him long, maybe 20 minutes, since I kept the fact that he's out of shape very much in my mind. I'm so happy he's back on my list of horses to ride.

I went into the pen that The Idiot and Tommi the mini share and gave The Idiot a big hug and he hugged me back, just like Meatball does. He learned that from watching Meatball do it. I need to give that horse a new nickname. He's started growing on me.

Penny and Condi were very happy to see me: nickers and neighs. I really adore Penny's low pitched neigh, she's like the Kathleen Turner of ponies. Condi seems a bit depressed back in his sand corral, but I'll get them back to my house soon. They only needed to be away while I was out of town and now I'm back.

Sales Photos

One of my big pet peeves is bad conformation photos of sales horses. I really feel that if you're asking more than $15,000 for your horse you should hire a professional horse photographer to take your pictures if you can't get good ones yourself.

This is a blog post I've had floating around on my hard drive for a couple of years on the subject.


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The sales photo is the first impression potential buyers have of your horse. Like going to a job interview, you want your horse to look her best. Would you have her show up in jeans and a t-shirt or a suit?

A suit starts with good care, including good feed and regular grooming. If there's a stain on your shirt you throw it in the washer. The following picture is a horse I had and all I did was give him a bath and comb out his mane and tail. There are no shine products on his coat, though there is some detangler in his tail.

That sort of shine did not happen overnight. That's four months of effort.

Shoes:
You don't put your mud covered barn sneakers on with your dress pants, you shine up your dress shoes. Take your pictures after your horse gets a trim. Long toes can indicate lack of care, and you want people to know you're taking good care of your girl.

I did not put hoof polish on him, since it would have just ended up covered in dust. It does pain me that his feet look rather invisible. In a perfect world he would not be standing in the grass.

Think ahead:

You always give yourself time for traffic on your way to the interview, right? If there's any possibility you're going to sell your horse over the winter get a good picture of him before that winter coat grows in. This is a picture of the same horse from five months earlier when I bought him:

There's really no question which one is more likely to get a buyer's attention.

Background:
As flashy jewelry and pink hair would distract an interviewer, so would trash and junk distract from a nice photo of your horse. If you don't have a spot that meets these guidelines you really need to clean up your place.

Persistence:
You don't apply for one job, you apply for many. Take lots of pictures of your horse. I took 80 shots to get the one at the top.

Show off her skills:
The interviewer is going to ask what you're good at, show potential buyers what your horse is good at. Make sure the rider is appropriately and non-distractingly dressed. You're not selling the person, you're selling the horse. Put the horse in their normal (cleaned) tack, as potential buyers will want to see what the horse normally goes in. If you don't get any pictures of the horse at their best then it's better not to show them.

I don't have any good pictures of this horse doing anything. Here are some ones I wouldn't use, from when I tried him. They point out why you want a good rider (this is me, and I hadn't ridden really in about six months.)

Photoshopping:
Generally, just don't do it. Unless you're a photoshop wizard someone will be able to tell. Badly photoshopped pictures are often the recipient of much ridicule on various blogs. The top picture is actually photoshopped, not perfectly at this point, but it looks decent enough I have to point the difference out to people. What's the change? He had his penis hanging out.

The next nicest picture wasn't nearly as nice as this one, so we went ahead and edited out some of his male anatomy. Getting rid of something like that is one thing, trying to put the legs of another horse on yours is another.

Lying to the interviewer:
If you can't speak Swahili, don't tell the interviewer you can. Be realistic about your horse and her skills. It will save you and potential buyers time. If she has a big fault, mention it. It may be a deal breaker for some people, but better they know early in the process so your time, and theirs, is not wasted.


The top picture? It sold that horse. The horse in question is the one I refer to as "The Bay Bolter." I fully disclosed the fact that he had bolted and I came off. The person that bought him took him out on trial anyway and fell in love. They're in a great relationship with each other and I couldn't be more happy for the both of them.