A Long Overdue Update

Winter has definitely settled in for western PA.  While we haven't yet had a bad winter, it has gotten cold and it's dark so early.  Unfortunately my time with the ponies has suffered because of it.  I just can't quite bear that much riding in the cold, especially since they all tend to feel pretty good in this weather.  Luckily over the past month or so I have gotten some good rides in.  And added some new ponies to the string.

The week between Christmas and New Year's saw me at the barn pretty often.  The nice thing about working for Pitt is we do shut down for winter recess that week.  So I was able to get out almost every day.  I had several very productive dressage rides on Bugsy.  Slowly but surely we are mastering this whole dressage thing.  And it's making more and more excited for show season to start.  I also had a ride or two on Kaye, which was a nice change.  Although it was very apparent that only the kids had been riding her for a while.  She was very stiff and all strung out.  And she was rather resistant to changing that at first.  But we did a lot of circles where I just dropped my outside rein and made her work entirely off the inside aids.  It worked, but she needs some occasional tune up after the kids.

Buggers got a sweet new pair of kicks, so he got a couple of days off.

Bugsy enjoying his pedicure

I love when Matt is home to shoe the horses.  First he does a hot shoeing, which I just like the fit of the shoes so much better.  And then second, he takes the time to do the job right.  Not that our other farrier isn't great too, Matt just really takes the time.  I tacked up Bugs when he first got there so he could watch him go.  See Bugsy has one front leg that is just a hair longer than the other, so if you trim his hooves identically then his stride is just the tiniest bit uneven.  But Matt watched me work him a bit and then pulled the old shoes and started trimming.  Then I worked him a bit more before the new shoes went on so Matt could evaluate his movement again.  Bugs felt great with the new trim!

Since Bugs got a mini vacation, it gave me some time to ride my own pony.  X was thrilled when I put him back to work.  And I mean work.  Ari's been riding him a lot lately.  And she does do a great job with him, but I've noticed he's been really resistant with his head when changing directions and I'm not entirely pleased with his canter.  So he got tacked up in the western saddle with draw reins and went back to school.  It was an enlightening experience for him.  Everytime I would ask him to change directions he would stick his head up in the air and to the outside.  And everytime he did that I would drop my outside rein and turn him in a small circle, making him bend and give in the head.  With some encouragement from the big boy spurs when necessary.  Eventually he figured it out.

Tired pony after school :)

Towards the end of the week Bonnie added a couple new horses to my string.  I got on Buddy for the first time.  And I have to say, he's a pretty cool little horse under saddle.  He hasn't really done any work at all in a couple of years, and that was evident in how quickly he tired.  But damn if hasn't forgotten a thing.  Typical arab he had to think about it the first time, but then once he got through that first time, it was like 'oh I remember how to do this.'  Of course I did feel like I was practically on the ground.  Slender, 14 hand Buddy is quite a change from rolly polly 16 hand Bugsy! First ride we didn't do too much, just some walk/trot, mainly so I could get used to him.  The second ride we did a little more.  We incorporated a lot of trot work and some cantering.  Again, he tired easily since he's so out of shape but he was a really good boy for it all.

Buddy after our first ride

And then the second new horse added to my string was Mystic.  You might remember Mystic from when Katie was riding him last year.  Well, he's kinda had a break for a while since Katie left the barn in August.  And actually a break was probably the best thing for him.  I tacked him up and lunged him a bit the first day before hoping on.  While he was very wild and full of go on the lunge, as soon as I got on him he turned into western pleasure pony.  Personally, I'd much rather ride a forward horse then one you have to make go all the time.  Did have to get after him with the whip a few times just to get him to move on, and then he was a little better.  The worst part though, was that he goes very much off the outside rein and hardly at all responds to the inside leg.  He really just wants to go around very stiffly, with little to no bend and just drop his inside should and fall around the turn.  Not acceptable!  That first day I just did a lot of circles with him, asking for the bend, making him do it right and hold that shoulder up.  Lots of changes in directions and I started to get him moving off my leg by asking him to spiral in and out of the circle.  Second ride on Mystic was much improved.  While he isn't the brightest bulb in the barn, Mystic can figure things out.  Something from our ride the day before must have stuck because he was a little more responsive.  Of course that also might have had something to do with the spurs I rode in.  :)  It was a lot of the same stuff from the first ride, lots of circles and changes in direction.  And I started to include some baby leg yields.  Anything really to get him moving off my inside leg and carrying himself properly off the inside aids rather than the outside aids that had been favored by his previous rider.  And he is actually learning and starting to change the way he carries himself.  I just foresee lots and lots and lots of circles in his future. 

Mystic waaaay over jumping the baby crossrail with Katie

Even here you can see he's not really bending

I'm really starting to get excited about the new year.  I've got a lot of horses to work with, and I'm planning to show as much as possible with Bugsy.  2012 is looking very good!

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Catching Up

Alright, I know.  It's been crazy and I haven't had a chance to catch up on the barn/riding activities.  So that means this is gonna be a long one!  lol

Going back 3 (!) weekends ago, I had a great ride on Miss.  I started tacking her up when Rachel headed out to the arena.  That meant they were just starting jumping when Miss and I made our way out there.  So I did have a somewhat distracted Miss, but we handled it pretty well.  She's still not bending really great, somewhat stiff, so i know that's something we need to work on, but other than that she continues to amaze me.  She was forward and willing.  When I asked for the trot, she easily moved into a swinging trot.  And she was moving very straight, woohoo!  So we warmed up at the walk and trot while Rachel finished her lesson.  We did a lot of transitions, changes in direction and laterals.  And then it was time to jump.  I was actually riding in my Collegiate saddle so it would be easier on me to jump this time around.  I hiked up my stirrups while Bonnie lowered the fence back down and we were ready to go.  We got to jump a small vertical this time.  And Miss loved it.  First time through was pretty crappy on my part (as usual) but Miss was a rock star.  She's using herself so well over fences and she's just loving it.  We jumped that about half a dozen times or so and Bonnie bumped the fence up.  Which of course made Miss even more excited.  After jumping that several times, Bonnie bumped it up again.  But unfortunately I had one of my moments and we had a stop.  Rather than risk hurting Miss, we just dropped the fence back down and finished with that a few times.  After we finished Sarah measured the fence and we had been jumping 2'8" so just over beginner novice height.  Woohoo!  So pleased with my baby girl!  Of course by the time I took care of Miss and put her away I pretty much had to leave to get ready for work, so I didn't get any other riding in that day.

The following Friday I had off work for Spring Break, so of course that meant I headed out to the barn.  the plan was to clean some stalls, but mother nature had other ideas.  Between the snow and the rain, everything was pretty much mud behind the barn.  It was so bad trying to get the wheelbarrows through the mud to dump them.  So Kaye's stall got cleaned and then I gave up on stalls.  That's ok though, cause it was time for Spa Day.  Since Kaye was already in the cross ties I started with her.  She got a thorough grooming and then I pulled the clippers out and she got her bridle path clipped and all her whiskers trimmed as well.  That darned mare knows that it's getting close to show season and she's getting excited for it.

While I was working on Kaye, I was interrupted by a phone call from Sandy and I figured that since her ponies were going home in a week I better start to clean them up a bit.  So I pulled Buddy's blanket off, and first we headed out to the arena to exercise a bit on the lunge line.  I let him work off a bit of energy and then brought him back in the barn and started giving him a good grooming.  Which involved using all of my Cowboy Magic to untangle his mane.  GRRRR!  A while later he was groomed, clipped, braided and re-blanketed and back in his stall.

Finally I got to pull Miss out and give her a serious grooming.  It's been a while since she's had pre-show season day like this and she was loving every minute of it.  Started off with some serious time with the curry comb, and the hair was a flyin'!  So glad to see that, as she has been one of the last horses to shed the past few years.  Then she got her bridle path clipped and her whiskers trimmed.  And then finally I got out the pulling comb to work on her mane.  It still needs pulled some more to look respectable, but it's a start at least.  

Got to love how white that sock stays

Saturday, well that's when everything with Tru started, so it wasn't really a good day.  I did get a good lesson on Kaye though.  We had some great moments on the flat and some pretty good fences as well.

And then finally this brings me to this past weekend.  I took the day off on Friday so that we could head down to Frederick, MD in the morning and take Cuddles and Buddy home.  I got to the barn early so I could grain and water before Bonnie got home from work.  She stopped to pick up Astrid and then the trailer from Tammy's so it was about 8:30 by the time they got there.  Astrid and I groom the two ponies a bit while Bonnie was haying everyone and then we hosed their legs clean and loaded them in the trailer.  It ended up being around 10 by the time we left, a little later than I would have liked but not too bad.  Bonnie drove until we got our toll ticket on the turnpike and then we switched drivers so she could sleep a bit.  It was a gorgeous day for a drive.  We had the windows down and my iPod was plugged in the radio.  We stopped at Somerset for lunch, and of course I had to get Chloe lunch too.  lol  Finally we stopped at Hagerstown for fuel and bonnie took over the driving duties, which was fine with me.  I don't particularly want to drive the back roads to Sandy's place.  It was about 3 when we pulled into Sandy's.  After getting the ponies settled in their stalls we had a nice (brief) visit with Sandy before we piled back in the truck and headed home.  Bonnie drove for a bit in Maryland and then turned driving back over to me as she started getting tired again and I drove the bulk of the trip home.  We stopped on the turnpike for fuel and dinner and ended up making it home about 9:00.  Of course by the time we took care of the horses and I drove home it was after 11:00.  Oh and to make it even better.  When I went to get in my car, my right front tire was low, like majorly low.  Stopped at Kwik Fill and put air in it, and at that time I found the huge nail in the tire.  

So Saturday morning I had to first wait around until Smallwood's opened at 9:00 to have my tire fixed.  I was there early so I was the first one in.  And luckily they were able to patch my tire.  Which is good, I would have been pissed if I had to replace it.  That tire is only 2 months old!  It was going on 10:00 by the time I finally made it out to the barn.  We were running low on hay so first order of the day was to move some hay down from the upper building.  Since we didn't have Jim to put it in the hay loft we just put some in the barn.  X lucked out as Bonnie wanted to put a bale down by the arena doors, but she needed someone in that stall who wouldn't balloon out eating hay nonstop.  So Repo got moved and X went into that stall.

He's in heaven with the new arrangement.  So after we finished with the hay it was time to tack Kaye up.  I got on first to work out her spookiness.  And man was she feeling GOOD!  lol  As I was walking to loosen her up, we had to spook at the doors, all of them, every time we went past.  We had to spook at the very scary hay bales sitting at the far end of the arena.  Oh my god, how could I possibly expect her to work in such scary conditions.  Eventually I just pushed her into a trot, getting to work usually settles her down.  It was successful for the most part, Kaye moved into a forward, swinging trot.  She was relaxing and on the bit. We did some trot work, throwing in some laterals every so often and then asked for the canter.  As usual, she did pick her head up a bit at the canter, but she came back down on the bit when I asked, so I was pleased with that.  And she did a couple of really nice, responsive simple lead changes.  Then it was time to jump.  Bonnie had me shorten my stirrups even more than normal.  Usually I dressage with my stirrups on the 9th hole (give or take a hole depending on the horse) then for jumping I shorten them 3 half holes.  Bonnie had me shorten them 2 more half holes.  That's a big difference for me, a big difference for my knee really.  At that point I could definitely tell it was time for another cortisone shot.  Guess I better call Dr. Yakish.  

So stirrups shortened I was ready to go.  Bonnie had set up a smallish oxer for us (2'6"-ish)  And I was all over the place.  It was bad.  I was leaning on her neck, pinching with my knees so my lower leg was swinging waaay back, and then grabbing with my legs for balance so Kaye was taking off after the fence.  Time to try fixing this.  Reins tied in a knot and next time we go with no hands.  I'll admit it took me a couple of fences to get comfortable jumping with no hands again, I'm so rusty at jumping now, going so long without any lessons is not what I need at all.  After several times with no hands, I did get better with my upper body position, and my lower leg wasn't swinging quite so much.  So progress was made, not as much as I would like though.  I really need to step up here if I'm going to go training at South Farm in May.

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Jumping Helicopters

Kaye and I tried something new this weekend. Bonnie set up a helicopter fence. It's one that Lucinda Green uses in her clinics a lot. It's basically two fences set up to look like a plus sign if you looked at it from directly above. You jump it in the middle where the two poles cross. Of course I had some mental issues and we had a couple of stops first. But I tried again and we got over it. Then we jumped it from the other direction and didn't have any problems that way. So good ride.

I wasn't able to stay at the barn very long. Ethan's older brother had his Eagle Scout ceremony in the afternoon and Bonnie volunteered me to be the photographer. So I had to leave the barn about noon so I could go home and get cleaned up. I also had to make sure the camera was ready, battery charged and an empty memory card and all that. It was a nice ceremony at their church in Harmony. And there was good food, so really I didn't mind doing it all that much. I just hate that it cuts into my riding time.

After the Eagle Scout ceremony, I intended to run up to Best Buy. But before I went there I decided I was in the mood for a Black & White Frappalatte at the Beanery. So I headed into the mall for that. And of course I couldn't go to the mall without stopping by the bookstore to see who was working. That ended up being Pami and Matt. Which of course meant that I ended up spending my entire evening in the bookstore. It was good to see both of them and spend the evening catching up. I always really enjoyed working with Pami, we have always gotten along well and I really should make an effort to do something with her outside of the bookstore.

Sunday I was back to the barn. Tacked Naughtie up for Bonnie to ride first thing. And then I rode Kaye with Tricia and Pele. It was an okay ride. I mean I was pretty good with my position, but we were just jumping little stuff. Of course riding with Tricia we could only do little stuff. She's only been on Pele a handful of time since she had the baby and this was only her second time jumping since then. So not going to make her jump 3 foot fences. :)

In other news, Buddy shocked Sandie Sunday morning. He was out in his pasture and something must have scared him. And so he jumped the pasture fence to get back in his stall. Four and a half foot pasture fence. I always said Sandie should have let us take him prelim. :) Buddy was ok, a little off. But Sandie doesn't have much grass around the outside of her pastures, the gravel driveway pretty much is right up against the fence. So he's just a little sore from landing on the gravel. Otherwise he's just fine, didn't hit the fence at all.

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