Midweek Riding Interlude

Wednesday I had the day off for yet another appointment with Dr. Connelly (more on that later)  So of course I took advantage of the time off to head out to the barn in the morning.  I got there early and helped Bonnie finish feeding, then we headed out to breakfast before getting sawdust.  The sawmill was very slow that morning so we ended up waiting quite a while to get loaded up.  After making it back to the barn, we brought Bugs in and then turned Cuddles out.  While Bonnie unloaded the sawdust, I tacked up Kaye for a lesson.

Our warm-up was great.  Both Kaye and I were relaxed and she was easily coming back into the bridle for me (WIN!)  It was lovely and soft and not at all tense.  Now if I can just continue with that.  then it was time to shorten the stirrups and jump!  Started out over just a single crossbar and it was, well not great.  As usual we didn't have enough impulsion going into the fence and so it was pretty bad.  Ok, Jen, let's get this together and do it right.  While things did get better it still wasn't great.  I wasn't really getting myself out of the saddle enough and I have a tendency to ride with my reins too long and then my hands end up in my lap, and well it's just all bad.  Things improved a bit, enough at least that Bonnie gave us a second fence as a one stride in and out.  Still though was not getting myself in a good position.  Time to fix that, so the reins were tied in a knot and we jumped with no hands.  Amazing, suddenly my position was 100x better!  Still though I felt like I wasn't quite getting up out of the saddle enough.  So I gave in and hiked my stirrups up another hole.  This is 4 holes shorter than my dressage length!  I think Bonnie would like me to go even shorter but I just can't with my knee,  even this short was putting a lot more pressure on it.  But I was jumping better with the shorter stirrups.  So I guess that means I'm going to have to suck it up and shorten them.  I think I'm going to start warming up in my jumping length from now on though.  Usually I start out with the longer, dressage length stirrups.  Maybe it will help if I just start with them short.  Meh, we'll see.  By the time we finished riding I realized it was going on 2:00 and I needed to book it home and get ready for my doctor's appointment. 

After getting the quickest shower known to man, I did actually make it to my doctor's appointment on time.  Pretty much the same old same old.  Mom went with me, and she helped me to explain to him that things are not getting better.  And that I'm not going to keep spending money to come in and for him to tell me that he still doesn't know what's wrong.  He did give me a new medication to try.  And he gave me enough samples to last a month.  So the plan is to try it for a few weeks and then give him a call and we'll discuss how it's working.  And go from there.  If it seems to be working he'll get me a prescription and I'll get that filled.  If not, well then I guess we'll try something else.  We'll see at that time. 

Back out to the barn in the morning.  And it's going to be a busy day.  I'd like to ride Naughtie again.  And Fanny.  And I have to ride Miss.  I can't take it if she gives me the stink eye again!  Hopefully Astrid will be there and I can get her to take some pictures.  I'd really like to have some of me riding, especially Miss.  But I kinda want some Fanny pictures too.  LOL should be funny at any rate. 

Getting close to announcing my Rolex news.  Stay tuned for that!

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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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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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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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I GOT TO JUMP MISS!!!!

Ok, as you can probably tell, I had a great ride on Miss this weekend.  I got out to the barn a little late Saturday morning.  The kids were already there and get Kaye and Fanny tacked up to ride.  Astrid took Kaye out for a lesson and Victoria was on Fanny, so I figured I would tack up Miss and take her out to walk with them.  For the past few months, as I've been tack walking Miss, I've been tacking her up in the dressage saddle.  Saturday was no exception.  By the time I finished tacking up and getting myself dressed, Astrid and Victoria were almost done with their lesson.  But I hopped on and started walking Miss around.  The kids all switched horses, Carlee got on Kaye, and Henry got on Fanny.  I continued walking Miss and asked Bonnie to set up some ground poles for us to step over.  So we did that a few times.  And then Miss heard something that was apparently very scary and she decided to spook.  Which of course for Miss is just sort of humping her back and bouncing in place, and she thinks she's bucking.  And I just laughed.  So I got her settled down, and walking again.  Bonnie has the kids start trotting and tells them to go ahead and trot through the ground poles.  And Miss spooks again. At that point Bonnie just told me to put her in a trot and let her work off some of that energy.  Now I haven't really trotted Miss much in the past.  She would trot like 2 circles and get very wheezy with her breathing.  But I figured if she got too bad we would just go back to the walk.  So we trotted around a bit, through the ground poles.  And then after a while Bonnie set up a baby cross-bar and told the kids to go through.  I just kept trotting Miss on the rail and Bonnie told me to take her through too, see what she does.  First time she was sort of just figuring it out, it has been about a year since she jumped anything.  Next time through, she just attacked the fence, power trotted through the poles and then really over jumped the fence.  Normally, a baby jump like that she just steps over, she has to get up to 3 1/2 -4 feet before she really starts to use herself.  Well she was using herself over this little fence.  I could really feel her snapping her shoulders and back over it.  The whole time her ears were perked and she was eager to jump.  She loved it.  And I was just laughing pretty much the whole time, I was so happy she was jumping.  We jumped that about a dozen times or so before calling it a day.  And Miss wasn't breathing hard at all.  I'm amazed.

Needless to say, Miss got lots of treats after we headed back into the barn.  And she got a good grooming and her tail put up in her snazzy new tail bag.  Sheet back on and she was tucked into her freshly cleaned stall with another can of grain.  Of course by the time I left the barn she was sacked out in her stall.

Other than riding Miss, I didn't get much else done at the barn, cleaned some stalls and helped the kids a bit.  But with having to work at 5:00 I didn't have much time.  Looking forward to having the 11th off, so I can spend all day in the barn while the kids are at school.

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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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Guess Who's Going Training At South Farm...

My personal goal has been to go Training at South Farm in May.  But it hadn't really been discussed with Bonnie yet, so of course it was kinda all up in the air.  Not anymore!

Kaye was feeling pretty good on Saturday, the weather was getting a bit warmer and she had been cooped up all week.  Katie got the first ride on her since I had to go pick up feed at Agway.   And Kaye was going her best to spook at everything.  She was jumping the patch of snow that had blown in the doors, she was spooking at every noise.  In other words, feeling good and expressing it the only way she knew how.  After Katie rode, I got to hop up and make sure Kaye was settled before any of the kids got on her.  Once I got on though, Kaye realized it was time to settle down and get to work.  We went through the spooking stuff last winter, and she's come to realize that I don't put up with that anymore.  Even though Katie had warmed Kaye up already, I still started her out with a good bit of walk work.  The free walk has a coefficient of 2 in all the dressage tests, so really you can't spend too much time working on the walk.  Especially with Kaye, who doesn't have a real great walk to begin with.  Plus I wanted to make sure that I had her attention on me and not everything else.  Then when Bonnie rejoined us in the arena, we picked up the trot.  I've really been working on keeping myself relaxed.  As soon as I get any bit of tension in myself, I get tense all over and Kaye picks up on that.  Then she gets tense and starts resisting.  And actually my last two rides were pretty good with that.  She was pretty good both at the trot and canter, soft and responsive to my aids.  Then it was time to jump a bit.  We just worked over a baby fence, since this was my first jump school since October.  As usual my first fence wasn't all that great, but it actually wasn't as bad as usual.  And my second fence was pretty darn good!  Biggest thing was that I just wasn't getting my timing right.  So the reins were tied in a knot and I started jumping with no hands.  Fixed that problem!

So after we finished jumping, I was walking the marsie around and Bonnie asked what level I was going to do this year.  I was honest with her, told her that I wanted to move up to training this year.  That for me, I'd probably go Novice at the first combined test, but then move up to Training at the next one.  And Bonnie agreed with me!  In fact she thinks that I should just do two divisions at the first CT, Novice first then Training after.  She pointed out that I thought the Novice jumps were small, and after school some Training level fences with Boyd in the fall I am ready.  And the CTs are a good place for me to move up.  They have pretty easy courses, nothing harder than what we jump at home, so I can do it no problem.

So Kaye and I will be tackling Training this spring!  I can't wait for show season to start!

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Back in the Saddle

Well I finally made it back to the barn two weeks ago.  And I actually got a ride on Kaye!  Amazing.  Bonnie gave me a short flatwork lesson in which it was painfully obvious that I cannot go that long without a lesson.  My leg was horrible, I was tense, Kaye was tense.  All around it was not pretty!  But regardless it felt so good to ride her again.  I also had a another good ride on Miss.  She is definitely perking up and feeling good.  The snow falling off the roof of the arena gave her just the excuse she needed to give a little spook.  She humped her back, and bounced her hind legs in a little baby buck before breaking into a canter.  I couldn't help but laugh at her, which made it a little hard to bring her back to the walk.  I was just so happy that she was feeling good enough to even try to buck.  Of course, being Miss, she really has no idea how to buck, but the thought was still there.

Unfortunately the next weekend it got very cold again, so that meant no barn.  Boo!  But I understand why Bonnie doesn't want to open the place up in that weather.  I was able to get out again this past weekend though. I tacked Miss up first and took her out for a walk.  So was feeling good again.  And she is looking great!  She's putting weight on, her ribs are completely covered.  But I think I'm going to have to talk to Dr. Maro about getting some more albuterol for her.  We're pretty much out of it now, and it really has helped her breathing.  Then I got to hop on Kaye for a short lesson too.  And this one went much better than the one two weeks before.   I was much more relaxed and so she was much more relaxed.  And we had some really good moments at the trot and canter.  Really looking forward to riding more and getting ready for show season.

I talked to Bonnie about getting Twinkie's feet done so that I can start riding her again.  Ari and I were talking a couple weeks ago and she mentioned that she would try riding Twinkie again after I had a little more.  Twinkie really is a sweet horse, she doesn't do anything, but she's still just green.  She doesn't really know what leg means yet, so she's a wiggle-worm all over the place.  But she doesn't have a mean bone in her body.   She'd never even dream of bucking or anything.  I can get on her cold even when she hasn't been ridden in months, even if she hasn't be turned out in a while.  She's just so laid back and calm.  I'll lunge her more out of habit than any real need to do so.  So I've got a call into Jamie, just waiting to hear back from him.  X needs his shoes pulled and trimmed, and then Twinks can get done at the same time.  I was thinking that maybe I would take Twinkie to a combined test or something at South Farm this spring, she how she would do in the very green division.  Or maybe if we get her cantering I'll take her in baby beginner novice or even beginner novice.  So we'll see.

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I know, I know...

Yeah I know I pretty much disappeared for a while.  But things have been crazy.  Between work and horse shows and the annual Albany trip, I've barely had a moment to think in the last month!  So where to start?  I guess with Catt Co Horse Show.

Friday afternoon I headed up to Little Valley after work.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get Friday off, so I ended up missing all the Friday classes.  But we did make it up in time to party Friday evening, always important.  :)  So Saturday I ended up riding in 3 classes.  First up was the Arabian Ladies Western Pleasure, where Dalal and I ended up 3rd out of 5.  Not to bad to start off with.  Later in the evening we went back to the Open Ladies Western Pleasure.  It was a tough class, not only did I have Emily to contend with, but her sister Shelley as well.  We ended up 3rd out of 10.  Very respectable.  And then just a couple classes later was the Arabian Western Pleasure Open.  Luckily this year there were no explosions to contend with.  I though Dalal and I had a really good class, but apparently the judge disagreed and we were 4th out of 8.

That evening we had a bit of excitement after the exhibitors party.  It started out as an adventure, but got pretty scary towards the end.  Since it was pretty cold at night, and New York state law doesn't allow fires anymore, the adults all set up for cards in the barn aisle.  We hung out with them a bit but soon got bored.  So Emily, Shelley, Daphne and I all piled into Kim's golf cart and went for a drive around the fairgrounds.  Well shortly after we left the barn we saw this old beat up boat of a car driving around.  And he was driving around all road blocks.  Emily and Shelley had seen him the night before and thought he was creepy so we decided to follow him around.  He was acting very weird, he would drive up to a building, stop, turn off his lights and sit for like 5 minutes.  And then he would turn on the lights and drive a little further.  And then stop again.  We followed him for a little and then we decided we would get close enough to get his license plate.  Well as we drove past him we saw that he had a police uniform on.  We kinda laughed at first, but then started thinking that even if he was a cop, it was still kinda creepy behavior.  Plus you hear all those stories about people buying police uniforms and posing as cops to lure kids into their car and kidnap them.  So we headed back to the barn to tell Kim all about it.  And Kim was basically like "he's ok, he's been here all week.  He's a cop."  So we drop the whole thing.  Shelley decides she's ready to go to bed so we take her over to her camper.  And then we drive over to Daphne's trailer.  And eventually head back to the barn to give Kim his golf cart back.  It's close to 1:00 and we start heading back to the campers to turn in for the night.  Well Daphne was parked over on the other side of the gate from where Emily and I were.  Just as we were getting to the point where Emily and I split from Daphne, the 'cop' drives around the corner and starts yelling at us through his window.  He's yelling for us kids to get where we belong.  Well Emily and I can't resist being smart asses so we tell him we are where we belong.  He yells again about calling our parents to come and pick us up at the gate and crap like that.  Well both Em and I are like we're 28, not kids.  And Emily tells him to go ahead and call her parents, her dad is sitting in the barn.  He keeps on yelling a few more times about us kids getting off his streets and to stop causing trouble and stuff before he starts to drive off.  Well Emily and I look at each other we figure we better mention this to Kim.  Even if the guy really is a cop, he has no business acting like that and yelling at anyone.  So we turn ahead to head back to the barn and the 'cop' was just a little past the barn.  Well he sees us walking back that way and whips his car around and drives towards us.  Emily and get off the road and more towards the barn and we start speeding up, Emily calls for her Dad.  Well the next thing we know the guy has stopped his car and is getting out to follow us!  We start running for the barn, Emily's screaming for her Dad, I'm screaming for Tom.  Ace comes running out of the barn first, followed by Tina, Tom, Bill and Kim.  Emily and I get behind the other adults and Kim walks up to the guy trying to calmly speak to him.  Ace meanwhile is just circling waiting for an opportunity to do something.  Well the 'cop' starts getting in Kim's face and eventually starts threatening to take him to jail because he's intoxicated.  It was ridiculous.  Finally he went away and left us alone.  It was pretty scary while it was all going on though.  And I really don't think he was a legit cop.  I mean he never identified himself or anything.

So after all the excitement Saturday night we had the Championship classes on Sunday.  Tom took Dalal in the Open Western Pleasure Championship and then I got to take him in for the Arabian Western Pleasure Championship.  We had a good ride, but we were up against Emily and Tony and another really nice gelding. We ended up 3rd out of 3 in the Championship.  We had a good ride though so I'll take it.

Back at home, I've been getting a lot of lessons from Bonnie, getting ready for the Boyd Martin Clinic in October.  So of course that means schooling lots of gymnastics.  I'm just glad that we're going into fall and I won't be wearing shorts any time soon.  My new method of actually getting over things the first time is to smack myself in the leg with my crop.  So I'm getting a nice red welt on my leg.  But I'm getting over the fences so it actually works.

In other non-horsey news, my cousin Jeffery got married Labor Day weekend.  And well it was about what we expected.  Jeff asked me to light a memory candle for Bum Bev and Pap Bill at the beginning of the ceremony.  I was kinda touched that he asked me to do that.  Otherwise, I pretty much didn't want to be there at all.  It didn't help that I ended up having to go alone thanks to a staffing crisis at FedEx.  Already I was kinda feeling like crap watching my younger cousin get married before me.  But to have to go alone too, that was even worse.

I also had the Pink Ribbon Horse Show last weekend, but more about that in a seperate post.

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Stock Seat Dressage

Well this weekend brought two more great rides on the Pony. Friday night I stopped at the barn after work. I ended up spending about an hour with my horse child. Getting him all cleaned up and presentable. Well, at least as presentable as he gets in the winter. Dressed him all up in his slinky and blanket so he stayed clean overnight. I would have liked to clean his stall, but it was way too dark to dump manure out the back of the arena so it just had to wait.

Saturday morning, of course, was a bit on the hectic side with all the kids. Tammy came out to ride, and she brought her friend again. So she gave her a lesson on Kaye and I tacked up Miss. Miss is still looking really good, but she's back to not really eating. So we were hoping that a good ride would stimulate her appetite. I started her out on a lot of walking. Lots of circles and bending, getting her to work those back muscles. We did some trot work through the cavalettis and Bonnie put down the scary blue tarp. Eventually she put up a small vertical for us to jump. Took her over the fence about 10 times or so, and by then she was pretty tired. That's a lot of work for her, especially not being very fit right now. But she had fun, she loves being back in work. And she really loves when she gets to jump.

So Miss got put away and I brought the horse child out. X was just thrilled to have been blanketed all night, he really gets annoyed when he can't get dirty. Mainly because I think he likes being groomed so much. It's funny actually. When Miss first went to Dr. Morrow he gave us some exercises to do with her. Well one was to put pressure under her belly and get her to pick her back up. We could never get her to do it. Dr. Morrow could, none of us could though. We tried everywhere on her belly and nothing. Well I discovered that my horse does that one quite well. I was currying some of the gunk off him and I got to his belly. He just picked his whole back up and groaned. It was hilarious! Anyway, tacked him up in the western saddle again with draw reins and we headed out to the arena. Walked some circles, staying out of the kids' way. Finally we started to trot some and finally did a LOT of canter work. We did the canter into the wall, stop, change directions and canter the other direction. Lather, rinse and repeat. He really started to get back on his hindquarters and get collected at the canter. So yay!

I took my camera out with my Saturday and Ari was kind enough to film some short videos of us.

Saturday after we finished up in the barn, it was a quick trip home to get cleaned up and then out to the von Rintalin's for Maeve's going away party. Maeve was very surprised by the party. It was a good time all around. Good food, good company. If only Maeve wasn't moving away. I'm really going to miss that kid. She turning into a really good little rider. And she's such a help in the barn.

Sunday morning I was back at the barn. Bonnie and I cleaned stalls for a while. And then I tacked up the horse child again. Once again he went in the western saddle and draw reins. We had a really good ride. I took it pretty easy on him since we had done so much canter work the day before. But he was working in a nice frame. And he was on the bit and not resisting so much with his head. Yay! Still have that resistance when we go to stop. Which I know part of that is from me being to much on his mouth. But we're getting there. Slowly, but it's happening. So pleased with my little pony. And he's really starting to muscle up with only a little bit of work already. His neck is rock solid. And I can already see his shoulders and hindquarters starting to muscle up. He's turning into my little quarter horse impostor again. Bonnie said if the weather stays on the warmish side, she'll start doing a little riding. Including X. I know he'll just LOVE that. And now that Astrid is doing cyber school she's out at the barn several days during the week. I told Bonnie to feel free to use X for lunge lessons for her. It's a win-win situation for us both. X will get some additional riding time and he's a really good horse for the kids to lunge on. Once he settles in after half a dozen circles, he's very smooth and cadenced on the lunge. Easy to sit on and balance. So if I keep up working him twice on the weekends and he gets one or two extra rides during the week, he'll be conditioned and fitted up in no time. Plus, as soon as the weather breaks and it starts staying light a little later, I get back to going out and riding him one or two evenings through out the week. He was going so well when I was doing that before my little hospital stay. I really want to get back to that point.

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Snowpocalypse 2010

Well winter hit us again with a vengeance last weekend. But before I get there, I had an interview last Friday!!! Heritage Valley finally called me about the application I filled out. I took a half day from work and headed to Moon Township for my interview at 3. The interview went well I think. Only thing that might go against me is that I don't have any real employee relations experience. I mean I did things of that type at Borders, performance reviews, disciplinary actions, things like that. But I don't have the employee relations job title. So we'll see. They said they would be finishing up the first round of interviews the following week and I should hear if I'm called for a second interview in two weeks. So fingers crossed I get some good news soon!

Unfortunately while I was at my interview the blizzard started. At least it was still early yet and once I got off 60 at University Blvd the roads weren't too bad. Took my time getting home and I didn't really have any problems. However by the time I woke up Saturday we had about 2 feet of snow on the ground! It was insane. I was pretty much going stir crazy being stuck inside and not able to go out anywhere. Luckily for me Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ralph only live three blocks away. So when the show they had tickets to in Pittsburgh was canceled I walked down to their place and spent a couple hours there. Plus they fed me which was pretty nice too. By Sunday morning the snow had stopped but the roads still weren't real great. Dad came down with shovels and we dug my car out, plus shoveled a little path for me to the door. And then I ended up going out to the farm for a big. Jim had plowed out Bonnie's driveway for her, but I was still a little nervous about taking my car up Greenwood Road so I had her pick me up at Giant Eagle. As much as I don't like snow, I do have to admit the farm look very pretty. Chloe's new blanket had come in earlier in the week and so she finally got that. Chloe loved her blanket! She runs into the house and lays down before Bonnie can take it off of her. She's actually slept in it a few nights! So cute!

Anyway about 10 Sunday night I got word from Carol that Pitt was closed on Monday. Yippee! Seriously that just made my weekend. So Monday morning I ended up going out antiquing with Mom and Dad. We headed over to Ohio in the morning. Of course we had to start the day with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. And then we spent the day at the I-76 antique mall. Dad got a new meat press plus we picked up a couple of gifts. Good day though, I actually have a lot of fun going antiquing with Mom and Dad. Well then Tuesday we got another snow storm. About 8 more inches or so of the stuff was dumped on us. So Tuesday and Wednesday I was off from work as well. Tuesday I had to pick Mom up from work and run her out to the dentist. She was nice enough to take me out to dinner though afterwards. So that was a good time. Wednesday I pretty much did nothing. Which was actually pretty nice to not do anything for a day. I laid around and watched some JAG and Bones on DVD. Squalie-cat curled up on top of me in bed. All in all it was a good day. Sadly though I had to go back to work on Thursday. Luckily Dad was working 7-7:30 Thursday and Friday. So I rode into Sewickley with him and then caught the 16A into Pittsburgh. Glad I did that. Roads in Oakland were horrible. It was just snow covered and slush.

By Saturday I was desperate to get to the barn. I needed to ride my pony! The kids were all there and we were able to get a lot of work done. We got like 7 stalls clean and everyone rode. I got there early and spent about an hour grooming my little dirtball. I actually managed to get him relatively clean for once. And so I actually rode him! First time I've been on him in more than two months I think. I was cold though, and I didn't want to lose any of my layers, so I tacked him up in the western saddle and rode in that. I think he likes the western saddle now. Plus if he does anything stupid he has to work a lot harder to get me out of it. Not really worth the effort for him. I had a good ride on him Saturday. And then Sunday I rode him again. Two days in a row of good rides. I was really pleased with how he went. I think I'm going to get Ari to take video of him this weekend. Since I'm always on his back I really want to see how he looks under saddle.

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Brief Winter Thaw

So we had a brief winter thaw, which was kinda nice. I at least was able to get some riding in. Gotta say going three weeks without riding just kills me! I started riding Miss a little bit again. She is just doing so well. Since Christmas really she has just improved dramatically. She's putting on weight (she should be considering that she's getting like 6 big cans of grain a day), her hips don't stick out so much anymore, her ribs are actually covered and she's starting to pick up those muscles across her back. And the biggest thing is she's Miss again. She's acting like herself, she's perked up and enjoying life again. We turn her out with Kaye and Naughtie and she just runs circles around them. I rode her again on Saturday. Jumped her a little bit and even tried to canter her. That part wasn't so great, but that was my fault. I've always had a hard time cantering Miss.

Rode Naughtie on Saturday as well. Tammy was going to ride her, and Bonnie had me get on first to warm her up while Tammy was working with her friend that came with her. Well Naughtie was feeling good. Had a nice little spook right off the bat where she tried to bolt and was doing some airs above the ground. She was getting very pissy with my leg, and not wanting to bend or flex. Tammy decided she was just going to ride Kaye, that she wasn't quite up to dealing with Naughtie's shenanigans. So I ended up jumping her a bit with Tammy. She was being a complete retard. Bolting after the fence and stupid stuff like that. Then Cosimo decided he wanted to be part of the jump. I yelled at him and of course he didn't move, so I just aimed her at the fence anyway. Well he got scared when we were in mid-air and took off. Spooked Naughtie and she landed bucking and tried to bolt. The good thing about all this is that I am getting a very secure seat. I even lost my stirrup when she did that, but I just sat up and didn't even let her bother me at all. My position never changed. Pretty cool.

After I finished with Naughtie I had to head home. The ICHA banquet was that night and I had to be at Nikki's a 4:20 so we could all ride together. Kelly was meeting us there also and we were all riding together in her Blazer, plus picking up Nikki's other friend Monique. Well of course nothing can ever be easy and we had some adventures just getting there. Nikki got confused about where we were picking up Monique. We ended up getting on 60 and had to do an illegal u-turn. It was fun adventures though. The banquet was fun. It was nice to see everyone. Nikki didn't end up doing enough Inter-County shows to really win anything this year. She did win the Adult Western Seat Equitation and was Reserve in the Arabian Western Pleasure. Looks like I'll be joining ICHA this year. Tom wants to see Dalal's name up there in High Point Awards.

Sunday of course I was back out to the barn. Rachel came out in the morning and I had a lesson on Miss with her and Kaye. I really am so pleased with how she's doing. Bonnie set up some cavalettis for us. They were too short for Miss! She even spread them out a bit and they were still too short. But because of Kaye we couldn't spread them anymore. We did the cavalettis for a bit and then Bonnie set up a cross-bar for us. Miss was really using herself over the fences, rounding through her back and using her head and neck. Finally the last fence Bonnie added a back rail to make it into an oxer. Miss just felt amazing over it! So proud of her!

Taryn came out later in the afternoon and we had a lesson on Bugs and Naughtie. Naughtie was much better than she had been the day before, not nearly so worked up. We did a bit of jumping. And I took her through two bounces for the first time. Pretty sure that was the first time she's ever done bounces. She wasn't real sure about it and she kept sneaking in a tiny extra stride, but she didn't hesitate and she jumped. So we were pretty pleased with her there.

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There is no secret so close as that between a rider and his horse -Robert Smith Surtees

Thanksgiving weekend was nice, very relaxing which is something that I don’t get all that often. Tom and Maryann had gone to New York so I was feeding his ponies Wednesday evening through Friday evening. They are super easy to care for of course. Thanksgiving itself really ended up being a lazy day. I got up and fed at Tom’s in the morning and then I came home, put the PJ’s back on and crawled in bed with Squalor. It was great. Squalie-cat loved it as well. As soon as a laid down again he was immediately on my shoulder, almost like he was trying to keep me in bed. Anyway I ended up not getting up again until it was time to get ready to go to Aunt Sandy’s.

Dinner was small this year. Todd, Kris and the girls were at her family’s for dinner and Daddy had to work. But the food was delicious as always. And then Sheri and Joe stopped by after dinner. I did have to get up and leave to go feed at Tom’s. But I had filled water and laid out hay in the morning so I only had to dump grain in the stalls and bring the ponies inside. Didn’t take very long at all. Then when I got back to Aunt Sandy’s Todd and crew had arrived. And Todd had found a job for me to apply for. It’s at Heritage Valley, it’s an HR Consultant job. The primary location is at the HR Offices in Moon Twp, but some travel would be required to the two hospitals. And the best part is that it would be a pretty significant pay increase. Even just the starting rate is about $7 an hour more than I make now. And hopefully with my experience I would start somewhere in the middle. The mid point of the salary range is about double what I make now. Plus it would almost be like even more of a raise since I wouldn’t be spending $92 a month to park, and I wouldn’t be spending as much in gas. Moon Twp is a lot closer than Oakland, plus not nearly as much of a hassle to get there. Aunt Sandy of course is helping me out and got Dr. Yakish to give me a reference. And she talked to the COO of the hospital to put in a good word for me. And Aunt Sandy knows the CEO of the hospital. So fingers crossed. I’m hoping Aunt Sandy’s help will at least get me the interview and then I just need to dazzle them and get the job.

Friday morning I had to feed both at Tom’s and Bonnie’s. Got all the ponies fed and then started cleaning some stalls while I waited for Bonnie, Astrid and Ethan. We got a lot done that day. I picked horsechild’s stall and then the kids and I cleaned the four stallions. Buster and Mystic weren’t too bad. And Ethan and Astrid had cleaned M-N-M on Wednesday, so he only needed picked out. Spot of course, was the worst. It took all afternoon to dig it out and clean it. But it was nice to get that side cleaned. Now we just need to get some of the empty stalls over there cleaned out so the outside horses can come in. Before we left Astrid and I took turns lunging on X. He’s such a good boy on the lunge line. Astrid though, I couldn’t believe that she shortened the stirrups on my saddle to ride. She’s taller than me, if anything she should have to lengthen them! Feed Tom’s horses on my way home and then I quickly got cleaned up and over to Aunt Sandy’s for leftovers. Watched the Pitt-WVU game, which was enough to drive me to drink. Don’t really want to talk about it.

Saturday I slept in a bit and didn’t make it to the barn until later. Rode on the lunge first with Astrid on Naughtie. Astrid’s trying, I know she is, but she has that horse so dead sided. And not bending at all. I would end up pounding my inside leg on her just to get her to move over, only she would just speed up. She has no concept now of independent leg. So that means she’s going to be getting lots of lessons with spurs and draw reins. I did have to laugh because once I put Astrid on her, she didn’t dare cut her circle short. Not because Astrid was keeping her out, but because she knew she wasn’t allowed to do that with me. Then I rode X with the group. Rachel rode Airy, Astrid on Kaye and Katie on Naughtie. We did the cavaletti’s with them, but bowed out of the jumping. Now quite ready to jump my own beastie yet, he tends to get a little too exuberant over fences, especially when he hasn’t jumped in a while. After the kids finished jumping I did some canter work with him. He started out being a jerk. But we did the exercise where we canter a circle, stop at the wall, turn on the haunches and canter the other direction. Rinse and repeat. After we did that a few times he was cantering very nicely.

Sunday of course I was back out at the barn. Bonnie and I got a lot done. Twinkie, X, Bugs, Cuddles, Miss and Kaye’s stalls all got cleaned. Heather brought Ari and Elaina out, along with their friends, another Elaina and Jenna. The kids all rode Fanny and then Ari and Jenna went to go interview Lisa Culver for their Girl Scout project. After they finished there, Heather dropped the two of them off to help clean stalls. It was nice to have their help with things like getting sawdust and whatnot. Anyway Bonnie and I were just starting to feed when Taryn and her Mom showed up. So Bonnie finished feeding and Taryn and I rode. Taryn got Bugs, who was not all that happy to have been ignored for a few days. And I rode Naughtie. I wanted to spend some time with her in draw reins and with spurs. She really needed the work on bending and lightening her sides. After we worked on the flat for a while I popped her over a few jumps. First cross-bar she just tried to stop at it. After that I really got after her going down to the fence. Of course though I ended up having to turn the fence intoa small oxer before she's even bother to jump it. Silly TBs have to make everything so difficult.

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3'8" Baby!

Saturday was the normal day of utter confusion at the barn. Tru had one of his cellulitis attacks and his hind leg swelled up again. I had to dig out the ice boots, where we needed both of them to fit around one hind leg. Katie just stands there with only a cotton lead rope and of course Tru jerks back. Come on Katie, at least put a chain over his nose! So Bonnie puts the lip chain on him and we try again. We get the ice in and Katie stands there holding him while I take Elena out for her lesson. Well Katie lets the lip chain get slack and Tru flips out again. Kicks the wall, breaks one of the muck buckets and manages to spook Fanny. She didn't really do anything, just trotted off a few steps, but Elena wasn't expecting it and she was scared. Although she was scared Elena rode through it like a trooper. We were finally able to start her lesson again. And eventually I got her to put both her hands on her hips. Fanny had another beginner lesson in the morning and then Ari tacked up Kaye for her lunge lesson. After Ari rode I got on Kaye for my lesson. Well a certain someone rode Kaye the day before since her horse was out of commission. And she rode like she rides her own horse, death grip with her legs and hauling on the reins. So when I started to canter, Kaye would not stop. I ended up spending my whole lesson putting a stop on the mare again. So I didn't get to work on anything else. Oh well.

Sunday I was back to the barn. I had to leave early since we had Karla's baby shower at 2:00. Kezia was home for the weekend so I rode with her and Airy. Kaye was such a good girl. We did some jumping, just started with a low crossbar as Kezia hadn't jumped in a while. Of course Kaye quickly got bored with that. Bonnie raised the fence to a 3'-ish vertical. We jumped that several times before Bonnie added a second pole, making it like 3'6"-ish. Jumped that a few times and then Bonnie added a back pole to turn it into an oxer. 3'8" baby!!! I love that mare. She sailed over it like it was nothing, which for her it really was. But I stayed with her and didn't freak about the jump height increasing. All in all good day!

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I had a couple of good lessons this weekend with Miss. The weather was beautiful on Friday, and since my brother no longer needed me to babysit, I made it out to ride after work. Tacked Miss up in the dressage saddle and had a short dressage lesson. She felt really great in the trot, canter still needs some work though. I'm not consistent enough in my aids and Miss is a horse that you need to be consistent otherwise she doesn't know what you want.

Saturday we had birthday cake to celebrate Miss's 21st birthday (we like any excuse to have cake!) I was going to have a jumping lesson with Astrid. However the evil little pony managed to dump her a few times and so she was too sore to ride Kaye. So I ended up working on dressage again. And I managed to get a couple of nice canter departs. Bonnie had me riding a shoulder in and then asking for the canter. First couple of times weren't real great. I actually had to really crack her with the whip because she wasn't listening (completely my fault, I had way to much spur on her for the shoulder in) But on the fourth one we nailed it. I kept her flexed and on the bit. All in all I was very pleased with how our lesson went.

Sunday I rode with Kelsey and Rachel. We started out jumping just a single fence. Then added another one to make a bounce, and eventually added a third fence as a bounce. I shortened my stirrups another half hole on Sunday to jump. I need to have shorter stirrups with her (I ride Miss on the flat in my jumping length on every other horse) Last week I felt like I was reaching for my stirrups too much over fences so I thought I would try shortening them another half hole. But the I felt like they were too short and I was up out of the saddle too much. I didn't feel very secure and actually a couple of times I felt like I was almost falling off. I got very nervous for the three fence bounces, and our first time through was bad. I didn't let Miss move on enough and we were very slow going through. Bonnie made me get off and kneel down to kiss Miss's nose and ask for forgiveness! I think Miss probably thought I was crazy getting off to kiss her int he middle of the lesson! Second time through was better, but still I just didn't feel very secure. Bonnie then turned the last fence into an oxer and I begged out, not feeling comfortable with the exercise as verticals, let alone oxers. I guess I need to play around with my stirrup length over fences, and find what I'm comfortable with. I also need a lot of practice with oxers, I tend to get a little nervous about them.

Anyway, I have Friday off this week. Yay Spring Hoiliday! The dentist is coming out in the morning, so X will get his teeth done. Maybe if it's warm enough he'll get a bath as well. I did ride him for a few minutes on Saturday before Vicky got on for a lunge lesson. He was not too pleased with having to work, and so I threatened him with Bonnie. :) He really hates when I do that!

I think I've figured out our show schedule for the summer. At least the recognized shows.

• June 19-21 Lost Hounds HT in Edinboro, PA
• July 3-5 South Farm HT in OH
• July 25-26 Gemwood HT in Dayton, OH
• August 15-16 Erie Hunt and Saddle Club HT in Edinboro, PA
• September 9-13 American Eventing Championships

Of course the AECs all depend on getting qualified and having the money to go. Lost Hounds and South Farm I'll be going for sure. Gemwood and Erie will depend on if I can get qualifying scores in the first two. But I have a plan. We'll also probably do some mini trials this summer. I'd like to take X to some and maybe even Naughty after she somes back.

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