Pony Profiles: Ziplock's Miss Murphy

So I've come to realize that although you guys know a lot about my current ponies, I've not really talked in much detail about the ponies that have brought me to where I am now.  Since winter is upon us once again after two days of warm weather teasing us, I can't really do much riding.  So it's the perfect time to take a trip down memory lane.

After much begging and pleading, my mother finally gave into my need to ride a horse.  Of course living in town we really had no idea where to go to take lessons.  Luckily my great aunt's neighbors had horses and were willing to take on a horse crazy kid.  Those neighbors were, of course, Nikki and her dad Tom.  I didn't really get lessons, per say, as Nikki wasn't an instructor.  But she did let me ride her horses and started me on this obsession.  Even without formal lessons, I learned a lot from Nikki and Tom.  Not only did I learn the basics of riding, but I learned how to take care of horses, how to be a show groom and things like that.  The first horse that I rode was a 1989 Appendix Quarter Horse mare named Ziplock's Miss Murphy.  Murphy was Nikki's hunt seat horse after Natasha was retired and while she was waiting for Image to be old enough to ride.  When I met Nikki, Murphy was actually in foal and so I learned to ride in a western saddle as we couldn't get the english saddle on her.

I was able to get a couple of months riding on Murphy before she had her foal.  Who, by the way was an adorable little palomino colt, SA One Tuff Zipper.

Nikki ended up selling Murphy shortly after Tuffy was weaned.  Once I could no longer ride Murphy, I spent some time riding Image a bit.  But around this time is when Nikki headed off to school and I had to find somewhere else to ride.  Nikki gave the names of a few barns, one of which was Windhurst Farm.  After calling around, we decided that Windhurst sounded like the best option as I could join Little Creek Pony Club.

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Natasha's Image

Rest in Peace Image

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,

is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.

Where the friends of man and woman do run,

when their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,

is a place where beloved creatures find rest.

On this golden land, they wait and they play,

til The Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,

for here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.

Their limbs are restored, their health renewed.

Their bodies have healed with strength imbued.

They trot through the grass without even a care, 

til one day they whinny and sniff at the air.

All ears prick forward, eyes sharp and alert.

Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the herd.

For just at that second, there's no room for remorse.

As they see each other...one person...one horse.

So they run to each other, these friends from long past

The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart

has turned to joy once more in each heart.

They nuzzle with a love that will last forever.

And then, side-by-side, they cross over...together.

~Author Unknown

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End of the Season

Well, it looks like the horse show season has finally come to an end. I went with Tom to the Pink Ribbon Horse Show in Meadville the second weekend of the month. I had a lot of fun there, even if we didn't place all that well. The ring was pretty crappy, the footing at the rail was so deep. Dalal did not like going through that stuff, so I was staying about 5 or 6 feet off the rail, and I guess the judge didn't like it. We ended up 4th in both the Arabian Western Pleasure and the Adult Western Equitation. And then we were 5th in the Arabian Western Pleasure Championship. I blew a lead in the championship class and so that put us at the end. Oh well, we had a good time.

Then last weekend we went to Randolph Classic Charity Horse Show. Nikki took Image and KC, and she also brought her friend Kelly, and her horse Lark. Now I love Nikki dearly but I have to say, it's so much more relaxing to show without her! She takes it all so seriously! So Friday we didn't have any classes. Nikki and KC had the Half-Arabian Halter in the evening session, but no performance classes. I went to work Friday and just left early so I could make it there in time for KC's class. They ended up 3 out of 3 in the class. She was pretty pissed though because according to the show rules, you couldn't show in the Open Halter if you showed in Breed Halter class. Tom and I tacked up Dalal and I rode him a bit in the warm-up ring. Tom asked if I was willing to ride without stirrups. He asks me this like it's something that I wouldn't be able to do. Like Bonnie doesn't torture me with things like that all the time, like I don't jump without stirrups. Anyways, Dalal and I had a good ride that evening, made me feel pretty good about the show.

Saturday morning I had the first class, Adult Equitation and Nikki was in my class. We had an okay ride in the class. Only when we went to lope the first direction, I was a little too close to Dr. Holly and Dalal picked up the lope before I asked for it and we got the wrong lead. It was a big class, and it was a good class so that was enough to keep us out of the ribbons. Then in the afternoon we had the Arabian Western Pleasure class. Again it was a good class, Nikki & Image, Emily & Tony, Tom C, Paul C, and then the other Tom with his untrained horse. The untrained horse won the class with Nikki second. It was pretty bad, I don't think the judge really knew what he was looking at. Tom ended up taking Dalal back in for the Arabian Championship that evening. Again the untrained horse won and Nikki was second.

Sunday morning Tom had the first class with the Open Western Pleasure, they had a decent ride and were third behind the untrained horse and Nikki. Then I went back for the Western Equitation Championship. Of course Nikki won and then Shelley and her QH mare were second. Dalal and I ended up third. Then we were 4th in the Ladies Western Pleasure that afternoon. Actually that one really pissed me off. We had a good ride, except right as we were jogging down the far rail some people under this one canopy squirted some baby powder, like they use to get the saddlebreds up and showing. Dalal saw it an shied off the rail. Then the next time around he shied at the same spot. Then when we lined up at the end of the class, one lady brought her mare right next to Dalal. So of course his attention was on the mare all throughout the line up. She ended up second in the class. And I later found out that the people under the canopy were with her barn. Kinda makes me wonder if the powder was an accident or was on purpose to help her place better. Oh well, what can you do.

And so ends the 2009 show season. At least for us. I'm pretty sad that it's over. I know Bonnie didn't like me going to so many shows with Tom, but I really had a good time. It was always a lot of fun. And I really enjoyed hanging out with Tina, the Kims, Mary Lou and Bill. Really was a lot of fun and I'm definitely looking forward to next season. And I'm going to put some time in to really work for it next year. I want to do well, more so than just hoping on for the class and not really practicing at all. Plus I think next year X is going to go out as a hunter pony. As long as I'm going I might as well see if Tom will haul him too. Make X go out an do some work. I'm sure he'll love that!

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Home Again

Saturday was a busy day for me. Tom and Mary Ann were in Saratoga for the weekend so I was feeding his horses. Got his horses fed early so I could be out to Bonnie's about 7 or so. Miss had an appointment with a vet at 9 for a chiropractic check up so we had to leave by 8. Got all the horses fed at both places and on the road on time. Katie and Astrid both wanted to go with us, so they piled in the back of the truck. We found the vet clinic just in time for Miss' appointment. She was a mess all over. Her pelvis was twisted about three different ways. And then because she was compensating for that, her whole back was out of whack. He worked on her for about an hour, stretching her, and popping things back in place. As he worked you could see her relax and get more comfortable. When he finished I jogged her up and down the drive again, man was she moving better already. She climbed right up on the trailer, no hesitation at all on her part. He gave us some exercises to do with her at home, getting her to stretch through her back and lift her back up. When we got her home, I walked her in the arena for about 10 minutes. Of course Kaye had to come out with us. Miss was almost overstepping at the walk, which she hasn't done in a long time. She was in heat, and squatting and teasing Kaye, another thing she hasn't been able to do in a long time. I am amazed by the change in her already.

So after we got Miss settled in, Rachel and Beth came out for our lesson. I tacked Kaye up in the dressage saddle since we were going to work on dressage anyway. Plus I still wanted to go over my saddle with the Passier stuff after the soaking it got at Lost Hounds. So I got Kaye ready, Rachel had Airy and then Astrid joined us with Naughtie and Katie with Tru as well. We warm up and then rode some dressage tests. I rode the beginner novice test A once, and man was it good! Better even than I rode at the show. Then we ran through beginner novice test B a couple of times. It went pretty well, except Kaye started to get pissy at the end. She wanted to jump! So Bonnie had me change saddles. Which was a pain since I had to use the 16 1/2 which is just a tad too small for comfort. Bonnie set up a little course for us. We started out over the little crossbar in the middle. Kaye jumped it once and then she was not happy with that small of a jump. Eventually the jumps were raised. We ended up jumping the middle fence as a 2' oxer both ways, a 2'5" vertical and then a skinny that was about 2'8". Kaye had a blast and so did I. :) Katie actually did all the exercises as well and she only had two stops. That was a pretty good day for her as well. And she didn't get in my way to much, so yay for not annoying me!


In other news Spider was supposed to get gelded this week. Notice I said supposed to. Bonnie took him over to Tammy's on Wednesday, and both he and Titus were to get snipped. Well there were some complications with Titus. He started bleeding and they had to get him outside and finish it with him on the ground. He's okay now, but it ended up taking so long that they never got to Spider. So Spidey still has all his little manly bits. Titus came over to our barn to recover on Thursday. And so we've been having some fun training him. We taught him how to lunge and how to step over poles on the ground. We also taught him to step over the scary blue tarp. And then Sunday we saddle broke him. He was so good for it. I lunged him both directions first and then Bonnie brought out the pony saddle. We put that on him and just loosely did up the girth. Walked him around a bit, tightened the girth some. Walked some more and then tightened the girth a bit more. I lunged him then with the saddle. The only thing he did was a little cow kick when I went to lunge him, but he wasn't anywhere near me, and that was it. He was so good. Afterwards he went into the barn and was untacked in the aisle like the big horses. He's really liking all the attention he's getting. We put him back in his stall and he just looked at us like "hey where are you going? Aren't we going to learn something else now?" So cute. I wish he didn't have to go back to Tammy's.


Sunday I headed over to Crooked Creek Horse Park to see Nikki ride. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, Tom was in Saratoga, otherwise I would have had a horse to ride. I got there just as Nikki was tacking up for the Open Western Pleasure. And she was going in the class in sidesaddle. She had a sidesaddle on trial and she was thinking about buying it, but she wanted to ride in a class in it first. And since the show didn't have a sidesaddle class she had to go in a regular western pleasure class in it. Image was being a snot, he was feeling pretty good. Actually though, even with him being a brat, Nikki still had a better ride than the other two in the class. Unfortunately the judge had no idea what to do with her in sidesaddle. So she ended up third. Really a shame because the woman on the quarter horse who was in second was two handing her horse every chance she got. She should have been disqualified, that's illegal!

Loping the first direction

In the line up

Apparently the judge really liked Courtney because he placed her ahead of Nikki in a couple other classes and then Nikki came back to win the Adult Western Equitation. She ended up not going in the Arabian Western Pleasure classes on Sunday as she was also working for C & G, helping Jody get horses ready for the other riders. I had a good time getting to spend the day with Nikki and catching up on things. I hadn't had a chance to talk to her about her week working for Gordon Potts in Fort Worth yet, so I got to hear all about that, including about the job he offered her. Lucky her, she gets to work with horses full time now. She'll be travelling to about one show a month with Gordon and then working for Jody and C & G Ranch. I'll admit it, I'm jealous. I'd love to be able to quit me job and be with horses all day. Well, maybe someday I'll be able to.

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