I'm still alive, really!

I will get that Rolex post done on here I promise!  In the meantime, catch up on what I had to say over on the Ecogold blog.

Dressage

Cross Country

Show Jumping

Post Rolex Thoughts

Unfortunately I had to go back to work right away on Monday after Rolex.  And it has been crazy.  The last week of open enrollment is always a busy time for us and this was no exception.  Plus, Walmart apparently decided that since I needed Saturday and Sunday off I need to work the other five days of the week.  Luckily that meant I got Saturday off again so I could spend all day with the ponies.

Got to the barn early on Saturday and the kids started tacking up horses first thing.  Henry tacked up my Fanny-girl and I hopped on her first.  Man she is really enjoying the little bit of riding I've done with her.  Anyway, we warmed up on the flat and then started jumping over a crossbar.  Bonnie added a second crossbar as a two stride and then after a few times she turned the second fence into a vertical at about 2'.  Jumped that a few times and then the first fence was turned into a 2'4" vertical.  Fanny was a rock star as usual and just enjoying life jumping the slightly bigger fences.  And that brought Bonnie and I to the idea of taking her in the 2' walk/trot division at South Farm.  So it looks like Fanny and I will be heading that way.

After Fanny, Victoria brought Kaye out for me and I got a short ride on her.  I'm totally doing this backwards going from the smallest horse to the largest in my riding! lol  Kaye was great warming up on the flat.  A little resistant to the bit at first but that passed quickly.  And really it's just been the kids and Katie riding her lately so it's kind of to be expected.  We had a good warm up and then jumped through the combination several times, which for Kaye was a one stride rather than a two strider.  Didn't really take the fences up much but it felt great to be jumping Kaye at all.  I really haven't gotten the chance to ride her much lately.

Then Kaye and Fanny were turned over to the kids and I decided to play with Orphan Annie for a bit.  Bonnie and I found a new bit for the pony while we were in Kentucky.  It's a double jointed D ring with a medium port.  The idea is that she won't be able to get her tongue over the bit.  So I tied her in her stall with the new bit and just let her stand for a while.  She was pretty good with it.  Surprised me actually.  After I let her get used to it, I started grooming her and then tacked her up to lunge a bit.  She tried her best to get her tongue over the bit, but the pony was not successful.  So I'm calling it a win for the new bit.

After fooling around with the pony for a bit it was time to ride.  Tacked Naughtie up to ride with Katie and Mystic.  She warmed up beautifully on the flat and then it was time to start jumping.  Bonnie started us over just a single fence, a large cross bar.  And then she added another fence to make it a one stride.  And slowly Bonnie increased the fence height till we were eventually jumping 3'4"  And Naughtie was a rockstar!  I'm also coming to a big realization about my riding.  Quite frankly I suck!  No really, I'm learning that I've just let Kaye do so much of the work and been a passenger with her.  And I can't do that with Naughtie.  I have to work hard to ride her correctly.  And let me tell you it is hard work.  And I am sore every time I get off that mare.  But it's also humbling and very rewarding.  And I'm learning a lot.  Even more so than when I ride Kaye.  Yeah I might get to jump bigger stuff, but it's all Kaye, not me. 

Joni, Matty and I at 5801

The week in between barn trips was, well, typically boring.  I worked, worked and worked some more.  But I did meet up with Matty and crew in Pittsburgh at 5801 on the 13th to celebrate his birthday in style!  lol.

On the 14th, we decided to clear the jumps out of the arena so that we could work on some dressage.  I was up first on my Fanny-girl.  We ran through the new USDF Intro test B.  And Fanny strutted her dressage stuff!  Gotta love that pony.  Put her in a dressage ring and she just gets herself in a pretty little frame and moves right on.  You can barely even notice her off on that stifle at all.  So Fanny and I ran through the B test a few times and then I turned her over to Victoria.  Time to tack Naughtie up, with draw reins today.  After warming up, we started out by riding Intro test B.  Naughtie hasn't ridden a dressage test in a couple years.  And well, I'm just going to say that didn't count as she was ridden very well then.  But she was a superstar.  Worked in a nice, level appropriate frame and everything.  Next up was Beginner Novice test B (I refuse to ride test A)  And once again Naughtie rocked it.  She was relaxed and gave me just the nicest canter work.  So proud of my big girl.

And finally that takes us to this weekend.  Again we decided to work on dressage first.  And I was up first on Fanny-girl.  We ran through both the USDF Intro test B and test C.  Even adding in the canter work Fanny was such a good girl for me.  Handed her off to Victoria and then went to get Naughtie ready.  While I was getting her ready, which took a while as she had a new (to her at least) bridle and new reins that needed to be fitted, the kids finished up with dressage tests and Victoria started moving jump standards into the four corners of the ring so we could have a little mini combined test.  By the time I got out to the arena, the jumps were set up and Naughtie definitely noticed them.  She thought it was time to jump.  And she was not too happy when she realized that it was dressage time first.  She was a bit heavy and strong in the bridle, but not too bad overall.  We ran through both Intro test B and C and she gave me some really nice movements.  Then a quick swap of the draw reins for her running martingale and it was time to jump.  I took over over the cross bars first and then we just hung out for a while waiting for Ethan and Henry to ride their dressage tests.

The jumps were then all turned into verticals at about 2'6".  Bonnie decided that I better get on Fanny and take her around the first time over the bigger fences.  And man did Fanny have fun!  She was getting some serious air over those things!  Back on Naughtie and we got our turn over the course.  Bonnie's directions were pretty much just pick a course of 8 or 10 fences.  So I figured I would ride both straight lines and then both diagonal lines. Naughtie was tearing up that course.  She was seriously just trucking around and launching herself over it all.  I'm thinking the 2' divisions at South Farm are going to be a piece of cake for her.

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T minus 9 days!

In ten days I'll be in Kentucky.  Cannot wait!  With the Ecogold gig, I'm even more excited than usual for Rolex.

Anyways, I had a good day at the barn Saturday.  We had some manual labor to start off the day.  The gate between Twinkie and Naughtie's stalls needed to be rehung, which ended up being much more of a process than we first imagined.  And then we had to rehang Buster's door.  Anyone up for Buster burgers at Rolex?  Finally I got to hop on Fanny for a bit and get her ready for the kids to ride.  Changed things up a bit with her this weekend.  I put a flash on her bridle, she has a tendency to gag on the bit when you try to take any contact with her mouth, so we thought that would help.  Lunged her in it a bit first, just to make sure she wouldn't flip out.  Of course, being Fanny she could have cared less about it.  So I hopped on and started to warm up on the flat.  After about 15 minutes or so Bonnie came out and we started jumping.  We started with a 21ft in and out, which normally would be a one stride, but for Fanny was a short two stride.  Jumped that several times and then Bonnie had a third fence to the exercise.  Little Fanny was having a blast.  And finally I got pictures of me riding Fanny like I promised.

After I finished with Fanny and handed her off to Victoria, I headed inside to start getting Nuaghtie ready to ride.  We started with only a low crossbar and then slowly raised the height and eventually added a second crossbar as a one stride in and out.  Naughtie was such a good girl, jumped through everything perfectly.  Then Bonnie finally set the second fence as a 2'9" vertical.  And I had my usual issues and stopped the first time through.  Damn it!  Deep breath, turn around, and go again.  This time Bonnie tagged Naughtie with the whip before the first fence.  Man did she fly!  Scared the crap out of me since I wasn't expecting it.  The kids measured after we finished.  Apparently Naughtie landed about 10 feet after the fence, that's how big she jumped it.  We went through the combination a couple more times.  And while Naughtie didn't jump quite as big again she still made a big effort, she was not about to risk getting hit by Bonnie again!

Unfortunately this meant that I didn't have time to get on Miss at all before I had to leave for work.  :(  She's not happy with me I know, I'm seriously going to have to make up for that this weekend.  Which will be the last one at home before we go to Rolex!  WooHoo!!!  Cannot Wait!

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Back in Action!

It was a long week for me last week.  Our office finally moved upstairs to the third floor.  And although the new office space is nice and new, the actual move was horrendous.  Add in the fact that I have come down with a bad cold, well I was pretty miserable.  I did actually consider staying home from the barn Saturday morning, but well I just can't stay away.  I rolled up to the barn about 9:00, just as Bonnie was finishing up with feeding.  Someone was possibly coming to look at Naughtie, so I pulled her out of her stall to clean her up a bit.  Katie had given her a bath a couple days before, so she was relatively clean, she just needed a bit of grooming.  Well no one showed up to look at her so Bonnie had me tack up and ride with Rachel.  What a great ride we had.  She actually hasn't been ridden since sometime last fall, but Bonnie was the last one on her so really couldn't tell that she had so much time off.  Naughtie was ready to get back to work and happily moved out into a forward, marching walk once I was in the saddle.  She was soft in my hands and very responsive to my legs.  After lots of circles of various sizes at the walk, we moved into an impulsive trot.  A little warm up at the trot and it was time to shorten our stirrups to jump.  Bonnie had set up a low cross bar in the center of the arena and we popped over that several times before she had us jump another cross bar that was set up to the right at a slight angle.  The trick though was to trot through the other jump standards only making the right turn about a stride before the fence.  We did that a bit and then Bonnie added another fence in front of the first fence in the center of the ring as a one stride combination.  We jumped that a few times and then jumped the first fence and turned to jump the angled fence.  First time through doing that wasn't very pretty.  I actually didn't make the angled fence as I was waiting too long to turn Naughtie.  Thankfully she is very athletic and managed to jump over the center fence even though she wasn't at all straight for it.  It took us a couple of tries but we managed to get the idea.  Then Bonnie added a third fence to the middle so that we had a bounce to a one stride.  Jumped that a few times and then Bonnie set up another angled fence on the left side of the center line.  This one she put back a bit further, giving us a little more room to make the turn after the bounce.  Then we started alternating, first jump the bounces turn to the left then loop around and jump the bounces and turn to the right.  Finally we ended on a small course; straight through the center, bounces to the left, bounces to the right and finally finish through the middle.  It was a fun lesson, and even though we only jumped small fences it was something new to Naughtie.

After I finished with Naughtie, I gave her a quick bath and then tacked up Fanny-girl.  Fanny was a super little pony.  headed right to work on the rail with minimal screwing around.  I did have to get after her a bit once when she kept giving the roundbale the stink eye.  After that she was as good as gold.  We warmed up at the walk and trot and then Bonnie had us go down on the circle and try the canter on both leads.  The goal was to try and slow her canter down to an acceptable western pleasure pace.  Much easier on the right lead than the left.  But the left is her harder side as she does have a bit of a stifle issue there.  we don't usually canter her too much on the left lead, definitely not as comfortable for her as the right lead.  Then it was time to jump.  We started out over the single fence in the center and then added the second fence to make the one stride in and out.  And then finally we added the two angled fences.  Fanny was having so much fun!  She's really enjoying herself with getting to play with the big kids.  And she much happier then when the little kids get on for their lessons.

Ari had tacked up His Poniness for a lesson and she rode him on the flat in the same group as Fanny and I.  She's doing a really good job with him.  He's looking very happy with her riding, the same cannot be said for some who have been on him in the past, so that's important to me.  And she's having fun.  At first they were going to have a lunge lesson, but then Ari just sort of worked into the group and rode him on the rail.  But she still worked on things like riding without stirrups and posting without stirrups.  Heather came to pick Ari up before she had a chance to put X away.  And so rather than immediately untack him I decided to hop up for a little.  We didn't do too much, just trotted a little bit and then picked up the canter.  He's still tossing his head at the canter which I don't like, but overall he wasn't too bad considering he really hasn't be worked other than on the lunge in a while.  I had planned to ride him a little longer, but then Miss decided to escape from her stall and come running out to the arena.  I guess she had enough of waiting around for me to get to her and  took things into her own, well hooves.  So I put X away and tacked up the Moose.

Miss just got some flatwork, a lot of walk and flexing and then some trot work too.  By that point I didn't really have time for too much else.  But Miss was breathing a little heavy, kinda rumbly, so it was probably a good things that we didn't do too much.  She gave me some good moments at the trot though.  And then we just had some fun walking around and playing a bit.

Good day at the barn, although I think I overdid it a bit seeing as I was coming down with a cold.  So I was pretty miserable at work that evening.  At least I only had to work till 10:00 rather than midnight.  I'm taking Wednesday off for my appointment with Dr. Connelly, but that's not till the afternoon so I should get a chance to go ride in the morning.

Still have some super secret Rolex news to share soon.  And another post that I'm really not looking forward to writing.  I seem to be doing too many of these suddenly...

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Baby Bounces

First off in case you missed it, Ecogold pulled a hilarious park on Friday.  Go check it out

Breaking News!  US Team selects new coach

More Breaking News!  Reactions to US coach announcement

Shocking turn of events!  New US coach resigns

So Saturday I had two great rides.  First I got on Fanny before the kids rode, get her listening and paying attention.  She was being a bit of a snot to start with but she settled down once we got to work.  I warmed her up on the flat at the walk and trot, and even threw in a couple of leg yields, something she hasn't done in a long time.  And then I shortened my stirrups and we popped over some fences.  Started off over just a single fence and then after a few times, Bonnie added a second fence as a bounce.  Fanny was so cute!  She was really getting into it.  She'll be the only walk/trot horse at South Farm who does combinations.  lol

The kids all rode then.  And I gave both Astrid and Ari lunge lessons on his poniness.  It was pretty funny actually.  Astrid went first and then Ari.  Well when I went to hook him up for the second direction with Ari, he started backing away from me.  I just had to laugh at him.  Silly pony, too lazy to do a little work.

After all the kids rode and things quieted down, Katie and I got ready to ride Mystic and Miss.  Bonnie had set up some random fences in the arena for the kids to jump some mini courses.  Nothing was really planned, it was just kinda turn here, jump that, turn there kinda thing.  Miss had a blast!  It's been two years since she's jumped any kind of a course and she was having so much fun.  They were just small crossbars, nothing big, but to Miss it was fantastic.  She was cantering between fences, and the couple of related lines we had, I just let her jump from the canter.  She was very pleased with herself.  Miss is looking so good, honestly I never thought I would see her in this good of shape again.

In other news, after riding Fanny, Bonnie and I got to talking.  And I'm thinking about taking Fanny back to her western roots and showing her western pleasure this summer.  How cute would she be?  plus if Fanny was going to the open shows, then Payton and I could go in the leadline class.  Payton and Fanny together would just be cuteness overload.  lol

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Walk/Trot Challenge

Friday night the plan was to head down to Mountaineer for an evening with my camera and some fast ponies.  However when I woke up Friday morning and saw the weather that idea got scratched for a few weeks.  Ended up being way too cold and I know that on the river after the sun goes down I would be freezing.  Hard to take good photos when you can't move your fingers.  So Astrid asked me to take her out to the barn and give her a braiding lesson.  We headed out to the barn about 6:30-ish and pulled Miss out so Astrid could practice.  I showed her how to do a couple and then let her try the rest.  She didn't do too badly for her first time.  And really she just needs to practice.  Once she learns to get the braids light and even she'll be good.  Poor Miss though, I think she thought she would be going to an event.

Twinkie didn't want to be left out

Not too bad for her first time

Saturday morning I head out to the barn early and we started the day by cleaning a few stalls.  Started with Kaye and Miss since Bonnie had turned them out in the arena.  And of course the goofy mares were difficult when Tabby and Sarah went out to catch them.  Then we turned Buggers out to work off a bit of energy so Rachel could ride him later, and we cleaned his stall while he was out.  By the time we finished with Bugsy, Rachel, Katie and Ari had arrived.  So Rachel tacked up Kaye, Katie tacked up Mystic and I tacked up Miss for a lesson.  Jumping lesson with Miss wasn't so great, completely my fault.  And I really don't know what my issue was on Saturday, I just had a mental block for some reason.  And so i feel horrible, I gave Miss such a bad ride and it wasn't her fault at all.  I watched the rest of Katie and Rachel's lesson and then Bonnie told me to put Miss away and get on Fanny to straighten her out.

Tabby and Sarah had tacked up Fanny to ride and well Fanny was being a snot.  Ari got on her first just to give her a little reminder about going into corners and things.  And then she put Tabby up for her lesson.  Well Fanny dumped Tabby.  So Ari got back on and Fanny did her best to get Ari off as well.  Didn't manage it, although she came pretty close.  But Ari just wasn't up to dealing with her crap.  Bonnie wanted me to get on her and make her listen, basically make her miserable if I had to until she started acting like the good little pony she should be.  I quickly switched saddles, put a martingale on her and hopped up.  I carried a dressage whip but actually never even had to use it on her.  I sent her right to the rail at a walk and in the first corner she thought about cutting it short, but she got a swift heel in the side and thought better about it.  Plus as soon as I got on her I shortened my reins up and actually took a hold of her mouth.  Which the kids never do, we keep telling them all to shorten their reins so they have contact, but the reins are always flapping with a big old loop.  Fanny and I came to an understanding a long time ago that she didn't intimidate me.  And it didn't take long for her to remember that.  After that she was so good.  We trotted around the arena with her ears perked and then followed Carlee and Kaye through the cavaletti.  First couple of times she tried to rush through because she's so used to the kids grabbing her with their legs, but after two or three times she realized that I wasn't putting any leg on at all and she didn't need to run through them.  Then Bonnie set up a tiny little crossbar for us to pop over.  It was so funny because I really didn't know what to do with myself.  Between the fence being so small and Fanny being so small (I felt like I was practically sitting on the ground after riding my big TBs) I was afraid if I got to far forward I would be on her ears.  So I just barely lifted myself out of the saddle and leaned forward just enough to get my weight off her back.  And Fanny responded with the cutest little hop over the jump.  Bonnie raised the fence a couple of times, nothing too big, but about 18 inches or so.  Bonnie made the comment about me setting the standard for all the kids to beat in the walk/trot division with Fanny.  So who knows maybe I'll be showing Fanny walk/trot this summer to challenge the kids to improve their own rides.  Could be fun.  If I ride Fanny again next weekend I'll have to have Astrid or someone take pictures.  It's got to be funny seeing me ride her.

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