A Long Overdue Update

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

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

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

Bugsy enjoying his pedicure

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

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

Tired pony after school :)

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

Buddy after our first ride

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

Mystic waaaay over jumping the baby crossrail with Katie

Even here you can see he's not really bending

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

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Moving On

Well, I had plans to write this big catch up post but time has just gotten away from me.  And quite frankly I just can't think of everything that's happened.  So we're just starting fresh.

We have a new boarder in the barn, Courtney.  She just moved here from Texas to work as an engineer at Shell in Cranberry.  Very, very nice.  And she has two very cool horses.  Bucky is her BIG (17.3 h) Dutch Warmblood gelding.  She has shown him through Intermediare and is school Prix St. Georges so it's really neat to watch her work him.  I want to take Twinkie out with him someday and just let her watch.  Maybe she'll learn a thing or two.  :)  Courtney's other horse is her young pony mare, Kiwi.  Kiwi's just been under saddle for about 7 months, so she's still just learning, but oh so cute to watch.  It's nice because Courtney will come out in the evenings after work, so I've been getting in a few extra rides on my days off with her.

I'm starting to get out to the barn super early on Saturdays so I can find time to ride all the horses that Bonnie keeps adding to my string.  I haven't been on Kaye since the combined test at South Farm two months ago, and actually I'm okay with that.  I've got so many other great rides that I don't mind giving her a break from me.  She does enough with all the little kids, especially in this heat.  I'm still riding Bugsy every chance I get.  And after our success at the Boyd Martin clinic I've decided to enter him at Erie Hunt and Saddle Club Horse Trials on August 20th.  Erie is a great local event and I really encourage everyone to support EHSC.  We've been in the process of changing out the arena footing the last couple of weeks.  The new footing is all in now, but we haven't moved the jumps back yet.  We'd like to get them washed before we do that, so it's been a lot of dressage work.  Which I don't mind in the least.  I know Bugsy will jump everything, that's not a problem.  And water will be an option so I won't even attempt that.  And I know that if I can just get a good dressage ride, we have a chance at doing really well this weekend.  I had some real break through moments with Bugsy and I'm really pleased with how well he's going for me.  It's kinda funny actually.  He's really rather agreeable to working for me.  I certainly don't make him do it.  But I bribe him with lots of treats.  I and ride him enough like he likes, as in I know what I'm doing and I know how to ask for it.  But on the other hand I don't have enough leg on him to annoy him, and I don't pick on him, so he likes that.  So he's agreeable to working.  Plus I think he realizes that if I wasn't riding him, no one would be.  And Bugs is not one that enjoys hanging around without a job to do. 

The other horse Bonnie had recently added to my string is none other than Scarey Airy!  I had tried riding Airy in the past and it just wasn't a good match at the time.  I still had the tendency to grab with my legs and of course Airy took that to mean take off.  On the flat it wasn't too bad, but try and jump and she just bolted into the fences.  Fast forward a few years and lots of lunge lessons later, and low and behold, I can actually ride her.  And pretty well too if I do say so myself!  I got on her again for the first time a few weeks ago, originally only intending to ride her on the flat.  But after some good flatwork Bonnie suggested trying her over a couple fences.  We had been getting along well so I figured "why not?"  And Airy was a gem!  No rushing, just nice and easy over the fences.  She's such a change when jumping from Kaye and Bugsy. Both of them are so powerful over a fence, you really feel them sit back and push off into the jump.  With Airy though, you could close your eyes and honestly you wouldn't able to tell when she jumps, she's that smooth.  No less powerful than Bugs or Kaye, she's just a warmblood and jumps like one.

I've also started working with Twinkie a little bit again. She has been her usual good self.  I lunged her a bit before I got on her the first time, of course it was completely unnecessary.  I got on her and she was so good for me.  She's still a wiggle worm under saddle, we haven't quite figured out how to move off my leg yet, but she's getting there.  And she's very willing at both the walk and trot.  She really needs her feet done and shoes on the front so we haven't done too much with her yet.  But Ari did get on her and walk her a bit the one day and they got along well.

Let's see, what else has been happening?  Well X decided to scare the crap out of me a couple weeks ago.  It was Saturday and Jim was coming to put hay up in the loft.  So Bonnie, Katie, Victoria and I were upstairs doing that.  While waiting for Jim between bales I poked my head down the trap door into X's stall to say hi and he was laying flat out in his stall.  Very much not like him to do when there are people in the barn.  I called down to him and he lifted his head to look up at me but made no move to get up.  At this point I wasn't too concerned, it was super hot and he was in an inside stall, so I just thought he was stressing because he was overheated.  By the time I got downstairs he was working on getting up, so I snapped on a lead shank and took him out to the arena to hose him off and cool him down.  We go through the whole hose and scrape routine a couple times and I take him into the barn and clip him in the crossties where he can get the cross breeze.  I ask the kids to start working on his stall for me, and then Sarah comes over and tells me there's blood in his stall.  It's a tiny little bit, maybe like an inch in diameter.  I noticed he had a few places where he had rubbed on like his hip so I figured that's what it came from.  But I checked him over again just to be safe.  As I knelt down to feel his legs, I looked up and saw this:

You can imagine the panic I went through.  Well Bonnie managed to get me calmed down and she and Katie took him out to the ring to wash him well while I called Dr. Maro.  He didn't think it was too serious, it wasn't bleeding much and it didn't seem to bother him at all.  Keep it clean and moist and he would be out in the afternoon to stitch him up.   Needless to say it ended up being a long day for me.  Dr. Maro didn't make it out until about 5, and well, the location of the cut made it somewhat difficult to stitch.  But he was taken care of, he'll probably have a scar I'm sure, but he's okay and in one piece, so for that I am grateful.

Buppi is a lightweight!

After the stitches

Other than that it's just been a lot of working at both jobs.  I'm so ready for a break from that, let me tell you.  Erie's coming up this week, so I should have more to report soon!

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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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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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31DC: Day 6

A Picture of Something That Makes Me Happy

Well really did you expect anything other than my pony?  This was taken on X's birthday a few years ago.  After our lesson I hosed him off and we went up on the hill so he could graze a bit while drying off.  Of course my camera made the trip with me.  I took a couple of pictures of him that day, but this is by far my favorite.  I love the blue sky as the backdrop.  But also every time I see it I remember that day and just how relaxed and happy I was.  Just laying in the grass while my pony grazed around me.  Just seeing this picture takes me to that happy place and all those feelings.

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Thanksgiving Weekend and Other Updates

I know I'm like a week late on my Thanksgiving post, but oh well.  It was wonderful to be off from Pitt for a couple of days.  Wednesday we got out early (at 3:00) and I didn't have to be at Wal-Mart till 6:00 so I got to do a bit of shopping in Cranberry.  Wal-Mart was busy, but that's good, makes the night go quickly.  Thursday I really lucked out and I had the day off from Wal-Mart!  Woohoo!  Headed out to the barn in the morning.  Katie was there but no Bonnie, which I knew about.  She had to go in to work early so she wasn't planning on being in the barn.  Katie and I cleaned some stalls and then she tacked up Mystic and I got Miss ready.  Katie just did some walk/trot flat work with the poopalossa.  And I was planning to only do some walking with Miss.  Well Miss had some other ideas, and she just popped into this nice forward trot.  So I let her go and we trotted a couple of circles.  I only let her do a couple as she's really not fit at all, and even then I had to fight her to get her back to the walk.  She has certainly been feeling good. 

Thursday evening it was down to Aunt Sandy's for dinner (of course!)  As usual the meal was fantastic.  Aunt Sandy always outdoes herself with these family dinners.  It was great to be able to spend the evening with my family.  Friday morning I slept in a bit and then Mom and I headed out for a little shopping.  We didn't go out until about 10:00 so we missed most of the craziness, although it was still hard to find a parking spot at the mall.  We did manage to get a good start on our shopping though, so I'd say the day was a success.  Then I had to head into Wal-Mart at 6:00.  And actually, it was really pretty dead.  I guess it was super busy in the morning until about 8:00 or so.  And then it was pretty much a normal day, only it seemed really slow because there were so many of us working.  At one point there was like 7 cashiers in a row standing out at the end of our aisles. 

Saturday I headed back out to the barn for lesson day.  Got some stalls done first thing.  And I had a great ride on Miss.  She was just feeling so good.  A couple of times she broke into a canter, which I quickly stopped, she doesn't need to be doing that yet.  But she was feeling good.  And she's looking good too.  She's really filling out and thanks to the riding, she's starting to build up her muscle again.  Her hindquarters are filling out and she's really picked up along her back, for the longest time you could really see her spine and she had no muscle or anything there.  She was putting on weight, but it was all in the belly and she wasn't able to carry it right.  Not anymore.  She's really is looking like a healthy horse again.  Yay!  My baby girl's doing better!

Unfortunately I had to go back to work at Pitt on Monday, but I did have Friday off.  Even if it was to go for more testing, at least I didn't have to go to work.  First thing Friday morning I headed over to Dr. Connelly's office to swallow a small camera pill. 

And then I had to wear this lovely belt and recorder all day.

So that pretty much meant I couldn't go out to the barn at all.  And to make it even worse I couldn't drink anything for 2 hours and no food for 4 hours.  Which at this point I hadn't eaten anything since Wednesday night.  So I was starving.  I headed home and snoozed on the couch for a couple of hours.  Then I headed out to Monaca for a bit.  Did some shopping and got a really cute pair of shoes, among other things. 

After that I stopped down to visit with Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ralph.  they were taking down all the Thanksgiving decorations so I helped with that.  Then we headed out to the back porch and just procrastinated.  Uncle Ralph really didn't want to start bring the Christmas decorations down from the third floor.  I had to go back over to Dr. Connelly's office at the end of the day to turn in the belt and recorder.  And then I went back to Aunt Sandy's for some of Uncle Ralph's yummy cheesy ham casserole.  Yum!  And then we did the usual, watch NCIS on USA then the Hallmark Channel.  Good evening.

Saturday I headed out to the barn for some pony time.  I got X's stall cleaned and then I tacked up Miss Moose for another walking ride.  And she was trying to canter again.  Silly mare!  I think it's time to start doing some trot work with her and maybe add some cavellettis.  But she really needs her feet trimmed before I start increasing her work too much.  So I'll discuss with Bonnie next week and see what she thinks. 

In other news, the Northeast Ohio Mini Trials Series has posted their 2011 schedule.  So now it's time to start thinking about where to take my little painted dressage pony this summer.  Titus will be doing some walk/trot dressage this summer at the very least, maybe even some crossrail mini trials.  Yay, I can't wait!  I think I heard that Tammy will be sending him back to us over Christmas sometime.  So hopefully I will get some more riding time on him.

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31DC: Day 1

Introduction, A Recent Photo, and 15 Interesting Facts


Well an introduction is probably a good thing, since I don't think I ever really did a proper intro on here.  My name is Jennifer, I'm 28 and I live just outside Pittsburgh, PA.  As you can tell by this blog I'm just your typical horse crazy girl who was lucky enough to finally get my own pony.  I was bit by the horsey bug early and to be honest I'm not sure where it came from as no one in my family is the least bit horsey.  For as long as I can remember I would devour any type of horse book.  I had so many guides to horse breeds, tack, grooming and so forth.  I've lost count of the number of times I read the Black Stallion books.  Any movies with horses I had to watch no matter how cheesy they might be.  I watched the Spruce Meadows show jumping competitions when they were broadcast, and every horse race I could find on TV I would watch.  I think I saw almost all of Cigar's races, he was really the start of my love of the thoroughbred.  After years of begging I was finally able to start taking lessons when I was 14.  Two years later I switched barns and joined the local Pony Club.  It wasn't until I was 24 that I got my own pony, the one of a kind X-Tra.

I guess I should include a little about my life outside the barn.  After I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004 I worked as Assistant Manager of the Borders Express in the Beaver Valley Mall for 3 years.  Currently I work for my Alma Mater in the Benefits Department.  My current position is Benefits Bitch, oops I mean Benefits Specialist.  Pretty much I do anything and everything in the office, answer phones, help people at the counter, enter family status changes, and do adjustments.  It's very stressful and most days I pretty much just want to cry when I leave.  And because Pitt pays next to nothing, I'm working a second job in the evenings.  A couple nights a week I work at Wal-Mart in Cranberry.  And actually I really enjoy it.  I miss retail, as sick as that sounds.  I wouldn't mind getting back into retail full time if I could find something that paid well enough.

The picture is from this past summer.  That's my trainer's horse Bugsy with me.  I had just learned a new way to braid manes and Buggers was my test subject.

And now for 15 facts:

1. I love Pittsburgh football.  whether it's the Steelers or my Pitt Panthers, I've got to watch the game or at least listen to it. 
2. I hate white socks.  I never wear them if I can help it.  They're just too boring.
3. I have terrible short term memory.  I can't remember what I did last week, but I can remember conversations from 10 years ago word for word.
4. I cry way too easily.
5. Lexington, Kentucky is one of the most beautiful places in this country.
6. I've lived in Western PA my entire life.  In fact, all of my family lives in the same town.
7. I love to travel.  I don't mind flying anymore, but I still love road trips.  Nothing like traveling with the windows down and the music blasting.
8. I am extremely close to my family.  I talk to my mom everyday.  And I see my Aunt and Uncle at least once a week.
9. I have the best friend I could ever ask for.  She knows me better than I know myself.
10. I have very eclectic taste in music.  My iPod has everything from classical to broadway to Britney to Eminem.
11. However I could listen to Christmas music all year long.  I love it!
12. There is no better feeling in the world than flying over a fence with my horse.
13. My goal is to someday compete in a long format event.
14. my biggest fear is failure.
15. When all else fails, seeing my pony instantly makes me feel better.

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This and That...

I know, I know.  I've been terribly lax about updating.  What can I say, I've been busy.  Between working both jobs, NaNoWriMo writing and trying to squeeze in time with the ponies, well there's just not enough hours in the day.

Anyway, I had a good jumping lesson on Kaye a couple weeks ago.  Bonnie had these triples set up across the diagonals, kind of like an x in the middle of the arena.  That was pretty cool, Kaye and I actually didn't have any bad fences to start out with.  Unfortunately we were riding with Katie and Mystic, and since Mystic is still pretty green, we were only jumping baby cross bars.  That sucked, would have been a lot more fun to jump slightly bigger fences.

Then last week I didn't get to ride Kaye since all the kids ride her.  But I did tack up Miss in the dressage saddle and took her out for some walking work.  Miss has been chowing down on her grain the last few weeks, so unusual for her.  So now that she putting some weight on, we need to get her to build up her muscles as well.  I tried something a little different with her before our ride.  I gave her a squirt of Albuteral before we headed out to the arena.  And man did that make a difference.  Her breathing was a little bit rumbly but she never coughed and she didn't start wheezing.  And Miss loved it.  We did a lot of walking on a loose rein, bending circles and all that.  Then I would pick up the reins and collect her into a dressage frame for some leg yields and half passes and such.  Then back to a loose rein for a bit and then some more collected work.  All in all I rode her for about 45 minutes, and she was doing great.  Ari and Sara both took lunge lessons on my pony.  Ari has decided that she loves lunging on my horse.  So she rode him a bit and then Sara took a turn.  She wasn't sure about him at first, she hasn't been on anyone but Fanny since coming to Bonnie's, and he is a bit bigger.  But after she took a couple of laps on him, she started to relax and then enjoy it a little more.  After Sara finished I had Victoria lunge me a couple of times so Sara could see what she should be doing on the lunge, how to relax and sit the trot without a death grip on the saddle.

This past Saturday, I got to take a dressage lesson on Kaye.  Which is fine with me, I really want to focus on dressage this winter.  We got some good canter moments, plus some really good leg yields.  So I was really pleased with that.  After I rode Kaye, I tacked up Miss again and took her out for some more walking work. Once again I gave her some Albuteral before we rode, and she was great.   She's really enjoying getting back into some work.  I don't know if we'll ever be able to do anything more with her than just walking.  But even if that's all she can do, I'm fine with that.  At least she's still here with us.  And still happy.  And happy ponies make me happy.  So I'll take it!

Good news is this is a short work week.  At least at Pitt.  Of course I'll still be working at Wal-Mart all weekend.  But I'm off on Thanksgiving so I can head out to the barn in the morning.  And I don't work till 6:00 PM on black friday, so unless Mom drags me out shopping, I'll be at the barn then too.

Miss, still bright eyed and ready to go after our ride.

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Lunge Lesson Magic

Bonnie had Tuesday night off from work, which ended up working out well for me.  Meant I could stop out and ride after work.  Yippee!  When I got to the barn, Tammy was there with two of the girls she's been teaching.  They were riding Kaye on the lunge already, which was kind of disappointing.  Meant I couldn't jump her.  And Tiff had been out to ride that morning, so I couldn't ride Bugs either.  Oh well, good excuse for a lunge lesson on my pony.  So I tacked up the Pon-Pon and we headed out to the arena for 45 minutes of torture from Bonnie.  :)

It's amazing how well X is going on the lunge line after just a few lessons the past couple of weeks.  His canter work on the lunge is incredible!  His hocks are underneath him and he's together and very uphill in his canter.  And this was with no contact at all!  So proud of my boy.  And he really likes the lunge lessons.  I mean don't get me wrong he'd still prefer to be in his stall eating, but if he has to go to work, lunge lessons aren't so bad.

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South Farm and the 4th of July Holiday

There's not too much that's better than a long holiday weekend.  I have to say I was really looking forward to the 4th of July weekend.  Ron was kind enough to let us out early on Friday at 3:30, so I enjoyed getting out then.  Of course I used my extra time to head out to the barn.  Astrid was there and Carlee and Colleen came soon afterwards for Carlee's lesson.  While Carlee was riding I tacked up Kaye for a jumping lesson.

Once again I am reminded how freakin awesome Kaye is.  After we had warmed up, we started jumping the single vertical that was set at about 2'7"  Jumped that once or twice and it was time to knot my reins and jump with no hands.  Been a while since Bonnie has had me do this particular exercise, but man does it really just fix my position so quickly.  So we jumped that several more times and then I got my reins back and was told to head to the triple bounce.  And instead of collecting Kaye to it, I ran her into and we stopped.  Completely my fault.  Tried again, but now I was a little afraid and so we had another stop.  So we went back to the single fence and jumped that a few times to get a nice jump, while Bonnie took down the first fence in the triple.  Then we turned for the bounces again.  Although Kaye was slow and I was holding her back through it, we jumped the bounces.  Second time through was much better once I realized that there was nothing to be afraid of.  So we jumped just the two fences a few times and then Bonnie put the first one up again.  Although our first trip through wasn't pretty, we did.  Jumped the triple a few more time, getting better each time, before we called it quits for the night. 

Saturday morning I picked up Astrid early, we headed out to the barn to feed and then we all piled into the truck to head to South Farm.  Bonnie and I had volunteered to jump judge for Sarah, and we figured it was a good opportunity for the kids to learn.  So Astrid, Rachel and Katie all decided to go with us, and of course Chloe tagged along too.  Made it to South Farm just in time for the jump judge briefing.  The TD was Cindy DePorter from North Carolina.  Super nice lady, very knowledgeable and very entertaining in her briefing.  Once the briefing was finished, we all grabbed lunch and headed out to our fence.  We were at fence number eleven on the prelim course.  It was a corner with a sharks tooth option.  And yes it was the infamous Rob corner, the one that you jump between the 3rd and 4th board.  We saw quite a bit of bad riding at the corner,  several kinda scary jumps and a few refusals.  And then there were several riders who never even made it to the 11th fence.

After the prelim division finished up we headed back to fence number one for the training division.  It was an easy, inviting log.  So we didn't really see any problems there, some bad riding of course though.  I did manage to get some good pictures from both the first fence and the last fence.  For novice we stayed with fence number one, although we did have to move to a different part of the cross country course.  Another easy, inviting log, but man was there some bad riding!  Including a very ugly, scary jump from a well known local trainer.  Then to finish up the day, we headed over to fence number three for beginner novice and starter.  Both of the fences were little coops, very easy for beginner novice.  Altogether it was a fun day.  But even though all I did was sit outside all day, I was beat by the time we got home.  I helped Bonnie feed the ponies and then I headed for home and my bed.

Sunday morning I was up early and out to the barn.  Mom was having the whole family over for a picnic at dinner, so I wanted to get my riding time in the morning.  Started out the day with some stall work.  Got Annie and Jade both cleaned while they were outside.  Then got X, Kaye, Bugs, and Cuddles done as well.  After we finished up with stalls, Bonnie had me tack my pony up for a lunge lesson.  She let me keep my stirrups for the whole lesson, but that was the only way she went easy on me!  X and I both had to work a lot.  We did a lot of posting trot and then quite a bit of canter work each direction as well.  By the time we finished poor X was lathered!  But he got a good bath which he enjoyed, and then he had his nice clean stall to go lay down in.  We grained the ponies and then headed home.

Mom's picnic was nice, always good to see the family.  Would have been nice if my brother and his family could have been there.  But Todd had to work, the hospital recognized Monday as the holiday, and Kris took the girls to one of her sisters.  It was still a nice evening with the rest of the family.  Jeffery was even able to make it down from Pittsburgh for a bit.

Monday, I had the day off, so of course I was out to the barn.  Ari, Victoria and Katie were all there as well. So we got quite a bit done.  I picked all the stalls I had cleaned the day before and then cleaned Fanny's stall as well.  The kids got Twinkie done and Katie worked on some of her stalls.  Bonnie gave me another lunge lesson on X.  Poor pony I think he was horrified when I tacked him up again.  But he's going very well right now.  He actually had a really nice canter on no contact at all.  So as much as he doesn't like the work, it's been very good to him.  I did feel bad though, pony was pooped!

Ari and Victoria tacked up Kaye for lunge lessons and I headed out to the hay field with my trusty steed Edgar.

I brought in the last ten bales for Bonnie.  I did pretty well, didn't have any problems until i was bringing in the last bale.  It was a heavy one and as I was coming up the hill, the front end of the tractor was off the ground!  So I was trying to use the brake pedals to steer, that didn't work out too well.  And then I lost the bale off the back of the tractor.  Of course it landed on it's end.  I use the fork on the tractor to tip it over on it's side.  And then I watch as the bale goes rolling back down into the field.  So I turn the tractor around and go back for it.  I was a little more careful and managed to get it up the hill on the second try.  I was glad that was the last one though.

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Back Home and Another Horse Show

I was feeling pretty guilty about not having seen my pony in weeks.  And not having ridden him since Memorial Day (although I doubt he was upset about that part)  So I decided to stay home from the Westmoreland Horseman's Association Show.  Friday night I headed out to the barn after work.  I was planning to clean X's stall and maybe a few others, but I couldn't find either of the wheelbarrows.  And since I wasn't about to drag buckets out to the manure pile, that just didn't happen.  Instead, the little dirtball got scrubbed clean and then tacked up to ride.  I didn't do too much with him, just a little bit of walking, and just picked up both canter leads.  But I did do a lot of walking.  And focused on getting him to relax and put his head down.  And more importantly keep his head down on the the downward transitions.  Which we were actually pretty successful on.  So yay!

Saturday morning I had to feed at Tom's before heading out to my barn.  Started working on cleaning stall first thing.  And then when Rachel came we tacked up Naughtie for a lunge lesson.  Rachel was up first and then I got my turn.  And actually I had a really good lesson.  I was relaxed and going with the horse.  I hardly ever had to hold on.  And I wasn't grabbing her with my legs, which was very evident in the relaxed and happy horse I had under me.  So that was great.  Astrid actually ended up lunging me while Rachel went and tacked up Kaye to jump a bit. 

After Rachel rode Kaye, then Astrid had a short lesson on her.  And then finally I rode with Rachel and Airy.  We had a good jump school, jumping the single vertical and then the bounce.  All the fences were right around 2'9"-2'11"  God it felt good to jump Kaye again.  I haven't been on her since the last South Farm Combined Test, and it was good to get back in the saddle.  We had a good jump school.  None of my usual mental issues came through.  Although I still keep having that crappy first fence and it's driving my crazy!

Saturday night it was back out to Tom's to feed.  And of course I run into problems.  Bring the three horses in to feed.  And the new boy's eye is completely swollen shut and really weepy.  Great!  So I call to see what he wants me to do.  He calls Nikki who says to wash is out with saline solution and that Maryann has some for her contacts.  Walk down the hill to the house, get the saline.  Walk back up the hill to the barn and squirt some in his eye.  Decide to keep the two boys in for the night, so I tuck them in with some hay and say goodnight.

Sunday morning, the boy is looking somewhat better.  Eye is not quite as swollen, he can actually open it a little.  So I rinse it out again and kick the two of them out for the day. About 9:00 Maryann and I head up to Crook Creek to meet Tom and see the last day of the show.  We made it just before Tom headed into the ring for the Open Western Pleasure.  Dalal was a complete shit and did not want to listen to anything.  And so they ended up in 5th place ahead of Emily and Tony.  Which really didn't make any sense because Emily had a pretty decent ride.  The only horse they really should have beat was the quarter horse that was two beating.   I really have no clue what this judge was looking at.  Tom headed back in the ring a few classes later for the Jack Benny.  He had a fairly decent ride, and he ended up winning the class and beating Tina!

And then it was right back into the ring for the Open Western Pleasure Championship.  Dalal was again a little snot and he gave Tom a pretty tough ride, leaving them in 5th place.

After that we had enough of a break to take Dalal back, untack him and hose him off.  I'm sure he appreciated it.  Then he chilled in front of his fan while we watched a couple of classes.  It wasn't too much longer though before it was time for me to get dressed and Dalal back under saddle.  There were quite a few scratched classes.  I don't think too many people were up to showing in the heat.  Anyway, we didn't do much in the way of warm up, jogged a bit and picked up each lead.  And then we just hung out in some shade.  Dalal was pretty good for the little warm up we did.  However he turned into a little shit as soon as we went in the ring.  Would not keep his head still, did not want to walk at all.  I was lucky to keep him together as much as I did.  Needless to say I wasn't exactly happy with him.  Unfortunately the championship class didn't go much better.

See what I mean, he would not put his head down

I do think this one's cute.  If only he didn't have the jackass ears

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Red, White and Blue Horse Show

Not much that went on since the Combined Test at South Farm, so we'll just sorta skip all over that and talk about the horse show at Canfield this weekend. I took Friday off from work (shh!) and Bonnie took X and I over to the fairgrounds. Tom was already there with Dalal and his new stud colt. They had gotten in the day before. And that was nice because he had a stall held for us right next to him. So I got X settled into his stall and Tom was just starting to get Dalal ready for his first class, Reg. Arabian Western Pleasure Amateur. Got him tacked up and I hopped on while Tom got himself ready to ride. Just walked him around the grounds a bit and then handed him over to Tom. At that point I figured there was no time like the present to see what my beastie would do. I pulled him out of the stall and tacked him up in the western saddle and then we headed over to the smaller warm up ring. I lunged him around there for a while and then finally hopped on. As I expected he would not settle down to walk, but that's ok, I was fine with him trotting. Of course then every time he saw something new he had to break into a canter. And then after about half a dozen strides he realizes nothing is going to eat him and he wants to stop, I don't think so Bup! So we cantered a lot that first day. By the time I headed over to the main ring to watch X was completely lathered. And of course he chose this time to show me that he can be a little energizer bunny when he wants to be. Tom still had some time before his class and so I joined him in the warm up ring. Tom and Paul Clemens were there as well and I just have to say it was very weird to see them both on chestnuts rather than their black horses. So X still decided he was going to canter around the warm up rather than trot or walk like a sane horse, so when Tom and Dalal finally headed into the show ring he was dripping, it was quite gross.

Tom and Dalal had a great ride in the Ammy class in which they won out of 5. And Kelly and Lark were 2nd. Kelly was completely shocked! Going into the class she kept thinking they would be 5th, but she put in a nice ride. I was really happy for Kelly. She's been through some rough times with Lark and she really wants to do this. So good for her.

After the class was over both ponies went back and got hosed off and then tucked in the stalls with some hay to munch on. For the rest of the afternoon I got to just hang out and catch up with everyone that I haven't really seen since last summer. Nikki showed up later in the afternoon, so it was good to get to see her as well.

That evening I got to ride Dalal in the Reg. Arabian Western Pleasure-Open class. We had a pretty decent warm up, especially considering that I haven't really been on the horse since September. We had a decent ride in the class, except going the first direction Dalal broke at the lope and then I got the wrong lead when we picked it up again. Luckily though the judge didn't see any of it and we ended up 2nd in the class. Pretty good for my first trip back in the show ring!

After we headed back to the stalls and got Dalal settled I was introduced to Danielle, who Tom met online while watching Nikki at Scottsdale. Danielle had groomed for Tommy Garland at Nationals and so she and Tom had started talking. And then about a month or so ago she moved to Washington, PA from Michigan and so Tom invited her out for the show. I have to say, I really enjoyed meeting her, she's a couple of years younger than me, but we really hit it off and had a good time together.

Although it had rained during the night, Saturday morning dawned pretty nice, unfortunately it didn't stay that way. The sun was out and shinning when we headed down tot he main ring for Tom's Men's Western Pleasure class. Unfortunately it had started to rain by the time he went into the ring. And Dalal was a little shit for the class. There was only one other horse in the ring, this little appy mare that was in heat. And Dalal was well aware of that fact. Luckily the other horse wasn't even close to being competition, but Tom certainly had his hands full. After the class we got Dalal settled back in his stall and then waited out the rain. Unfortunately it didn't want to stop any time soon.

After a while Kelly, Danielle and I decided that since it was raining and we couldn't do anything anyway we would head out to get something to eat for lunch. We piled into Danielle's car along with Kelly's son Gavin and headed into Boardman to see what looked good. We ended up trying out this Stonebridge Grill and Tavern. Kelly had mentioned that she always drove past it and thought it looked good, but she hadn't eaten there yet. So we figured we would give it a try. The food was delicious, I had a tasty lobster bisque soup and a turkey sandwich. Everything was quite yummy!

While we were eating the rain had stopped, so when we got back to the fairgrounds, I pulled X out of his stall and tacked him up for a ride. I lunged him first in side reins and then after a while I went ahead and hopped on him. He was pretty good in the warm up ring, so then I took him down to the main ring. I figured since the show was on break until the evening session at 5 I might as well take advantage and get him into the main ring. He wasn't too bad, but he was once again using every little thing as an excuse to spook and start cantering. So we cantered a lot of circles. Eventually he settled down and we got some good work in. I even rode some centerlines towards the judge's tent in the middle of the ring. While he wasn't too thrilled about that to start with, he did get better about it. So good ride overall, when I started to hear thunder I figured it was time to take him back to the stall. I quick bath and X was tucked in his stall with a couple flakes of hay, happily munching away.

So we waited out the afternoon rain and it did stop by the time we headed up to the ring for the evening session. Tom was first up with the Jack Benny class. And then just two classes later I had the Ladies Western Pleasure. And then at the end of the evening was the Open Western Pleasure. So Tom and I had a little friendly competition going on. Whoever did better in their class got to take him in the Open. As he was heading into the ring I tried to get some support for my cause from Tina and Judi. Not that either one of them needs encouragement to beat Tom. However, Tom had a great ride and won the class. Really put the pressure on me for my Ladies class. I get the number from him and hop up on Dalal. Since there was only one class before we went in, we just hung out near the in gate. And then it was time for our class. We headed into the ring at a really nice jog if I do say so myself. And it was a good class, 10 in the ring (biggest western class of the show I believe) and several nice horse and rider pairs. But Dalal and I had just had a great ride. And it paid off when they called our name as the winners! When I came out the ring after the class Tom made a big production out of taking off his chaps to show that I could go back for the Open. We just chilled in the warm-up until it was time to go back in, trying to keep Dalal's attention on showing and not thinking that he was done for the night. Unfortunately he was tired by that time. Not getting any real conditioning for show season and the mucky ring had definitely taken it's toll on him. But he jogged right in the ring when I asked him to. We were having a good ride until they asked for the lope in the first direction. And we proceeded to pick up the wrong lead three times before we finally got it right. And the judge missed the whole thing! I think he must have liked us and wanted to place us so he ignored it and purposely kept his back to us. I don't know how he couldn't have looked I had like 6 people on the rail calling "No, No! Still Wrong!" If I heard that I would be looking around to see what the problem was. I figured that we had blown the class, but I just kept riding. I was completely shocked when we were called as the winners! I couldn't believe it!

Sadly, Tom had to leave Canfield by noon so that he had time to get home and get ready for his flight back to Las Vegas that afternoon. And since the western pleasure championships were in the afternoon we didn't get to show in them. Which was kinda disappointing. I got to watch the Arabian Western Pleasure Championship while I was waiting for Bonnie to come pick me and X up. And it was kinda sad. Three horses in the class. Chuck and his bay stud were first, then Nikki and Armani were reserve and then Kelly and Lark in 3rd. We could have done very well in the class. But oh well.

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It's Rolex Week!

Woohoo! It's finally here! Wednesday night we'll be leaving for the annual pilgrimage to Kentucky. But first one more weekend at home to recap.

Stopped out at the barn Friday night after work to spend some time with my Bupi. Worked on grooming him for about an hour. Really trying to put some elbow grease into getting his winter coat shed out. And then after I finished with him, it was time for Bugs to come out for a good grooming and mane pulling session. Of course he just loved the mane pulling. I still can't believe that horse and his little issues. Bonnie pulls his mane and he has a fit, he has to be drugged to pull it. However I can pull all I want and he really could care less. Bonnie taught me to pull manes, I do it exactly the same way she does, so why does he tolerate it from me but not her? Who knows, one of life's great mysteries I suppose.

Saturday morning we took it pretty easy with Kaye, so I didn't ride. The blacksmith had been out Friday and she was done. He actually took quite a bit of hoof off of her but she doesn't really grow much in the heel. So he changed her angles quite a bit. So she got bute Friday night and again Saturday morning. The kids were all out. Rachel rode Naughtie on the lunge line and then had a jumping lesson on Airy. Astrid had a short lesson on Kaye and Tricia rode her evil little pony. Pele was being something of a snot, but Tricia stuck with him and they had a pretty good ride. I planned to take a lunge lesson on my horse, in fact I even had him all tacked up. But it was getting late by the time the kids all left and Bonnie and I needed to get to Costco's before they closed at 6. So untack the pony and head home for a quick change of clothes. We made it to Costco and Walmart for supplies for the trip this week. Plus a trip to Best Buy so Bonnie and I both could get an extra battery for our respective cameras.

Sunday, I had a short lesson on Kaye. Still trying to break in the new boots, which is a slow process. I think I need to take them home and just stand on the steps in them. I'm having such a hard time getting my heels down because the boots are so stiff. But the jumping was pretty decent.

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The Countdown Is On!

One week from today and I will be getting ready to leave for Rolex in the evening! Woohoo! I am so excited for this year. For the first time we will be going down for all four days of competition. No more missing the best dressage rides because we didn't make it down for Thursday. Plus they are also running the Kentucky Cup Test Events. So Thursday night we have tickets to see the Dressage Freestyle test and Friday and Saturday evenings are some Show Jumping test events. So excited to get the opportunity to see riders from these other disciplines. And of course all the fantastic event riders that will be there as well.

In other news, I finally got my new boots. I'm actually pretty pissed that I had to buy new boots. I have really nice Ariats that I have worn maybe 5 times. But I tried to put them on and I was able to get the one on but it was so tight across my calf that it was painful. Couldn't even manage to get the other one on all the way. I have always worn a regular calf boot, but not anymore. So Friday after work I headed out to Luster's and tried on every boot they had. I liked the idea of getting something with a zipper, easier to get on and off, and probably won't be as noticeable if it gets a little tight. I ended up buying a relatively inexpensive pair of Devon-Aire boots: the Hampton Not too bad for the price. I wanted to get them now so I'd have some time to break them in and ride in them for a few weeks before South Farm.

Saturday morning I rode in my new boots for the first time. I had a short jumping lesson with Kaye before the kids rode. Overall it was pretty good, we started over the liverpool (which now has a big blue barrel in the sled) jumped that a few times and then added the swedish oxer. Then finally we ended with a little mini course. Blue barrel with the bending line to the swedish oxer, big left turn to the tarp and then the diagonal line to finish over the blue barrel. Overall we had a good jump school, but my first fence is still crap. I hate it, no matter what I do we always have a crappy first fence. We almost always chip in and take an extra short stride, and I'm usually all over the place. Then once I have that crappy fence I can usually settle in and actually ride the rest of our fences. I just want to be able to do it right from the first one.

Then later in the day after the kids all rode, I tacked up my little dirtball for a ride. Started out pretty well. He was tense when I first got on but we worked through that and he relaxed at the walk. And then started with some nice trot work. I didn't put the draw reins on, just rode in his running martingale. He was actually, going with his head down and mostly on the vertical. Then I asked for the canter and everything went to hell. He would not pick up the canter for me. Then he just turned into an all around jerk. Fussy with his head, not listening to my outside leg at all, dropping his inside shoulder, and just being a jerk. I've been asking Bonnie for months to get on him and school him a bit. However as of yet, she hasn't done so.

After I finished at the barn for the day I had to head home to help Mom empty, clean and refill the spa. We also got the brilliant idea to try and pull down the dead tree in the backyard. Yeah didn't end up working so well. Needed Todd's help to pull it down. And then to finish off the night I met Bonnie and Lee and introduced them to the goodness that is Wooley Bully's. It was a little bit weird being there on a Saturday night. Different crowd, different bartenders and no Victor. But the pizza was still good so I can't complain.

Sunday morning I was at the barn early. Got the ponies all fed and then Bonnie and I headed out to the field to try and decipher the deed to the 5 acres she's selling. We got the property marked as best we could determine. And then took Chloe for a nice little run around the farm. I remember not all that long ago when she hated the quad, now she loves to go for a run with us. Back to the barn to clean a few stalls and then when Tricia showed up to ride I tacked Miss up with her. Apparently though it was not my day to jump Miss. Had a couple of stop (completely my fault) and that's when we decided to call it a day. She's just getting better and I don't want to risk injuring her again because of something I'm doing. I did get some pretty decent flatwork from her though, so the lesson wasn't a total loss. After that we pretty much just finished up with the ponies and headed home.

So one more weekend at home and then we'll be heading down to Kentucky. And then the weekend after that will be the South Farm CT. Show season is gearing up and I can't wait!

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Happy Easter!

Hope everyone out there had a great holiday weekend. I know I certainly did. My only complaint is that the weekend wasn't longer! Friday afternoon Ron was kind enough to let us out early, so I got to head home at 3:00. And traffic was pretty much not existent so it took me hardly any time to get out of the city. Quick stop at Tractor Supply to get Miss some more of the peppermint treats she likes and I was at the barn. Rob Moro was coming out in the morning to do coggins and shots so Bonnie and I just worked to get stalls cleaned, besides Rachel had already taken a lesson on Kaye that afternoon. We worked to get Bugs, Mickey, Twinkie and X's stalls all stripped and cleaned. And then it was time for the impossible task: getting X-tra cleaned up. He was disgustingly filthy. Brought Twinkie in and then hauled all my bathing goodies out to the arena to give dirtball a bath. Hosed down the first side and then tried to get some Orvis worked into his coat, but he was shedding so much that the bath mitt was caked with hair after one pass. So I just spent about 10 minutes grooming him with the bath mitt to get the hair off. Finally I got him to the point where I could actually use some soap and I at least managed to get the first layer of dirt off. He wasn't really clean yet, but at least I wouldn't be embarrassed to have the vet see him.

Saturday I had promised my mom that I would go look at new computers with her. I was up early and to the barn by 7. Fed the ponies and turned out the horses in the front pasture and then started on stalls. Bonnie came down and we turned Cuddles out in the arena and got his stall cleaned. And then I started to tack up Kaye so I could ride before the kids got there. Of course just as I was finishing Jim showed up to put hay up in the loft. So Bonnie and I headed up to move bales. Jim loaded us up with a dozen round bales so that should last us for a couple of weeks. Finally I was able to go down and get on Kaye. In the meantime the two Tammy's pulled in with Repo and Sugar, so they joined me out in the arena. After a good warm up, Bonnie got me started jumping and she recorded our lesson.

It was an ok jump school. I was letting Kaye get too strung out as the lesson progressed, forgetting to dressage between the fences. So I'm not real happy with myself for that. But on a good note, we didn't have any stops. Which for me is really good. Overall fairly pleased with how we did. Unfortunately I had to leave soon after I finished riding so I could get cleaned up and meet up with my mom for our Costco trip.

Sunday morning I was back to the barn early. Fed the ponies and then spent a little time with X after he had his little visit with the vet. He was a good boy for Dr. Moro and he now has his coggins and got his tetanus, flu and rhino shots. All for only $77 including part of the farm call. Not bad at all, I was honestly expecting closer to 100. The vet took at look a Tru's leg since his cellulitis has been really bad again lately. That hind leg is huge and again and the swelling has gone all the way up into his belly and sheath as well. He looks pretty miserable and he hasn't been wanting to put any weight at all on that leg. Dr. Moro did some acupuncture on the leg, he seems to think it has something to do with him lymph glands. Said to give it a week and then give him a call, if there's no improvement he'll give Katie some meds for it. So we'll see what happens. Miss got another adjustment and her coggins done. Dr. Moro was very impressed with how well she's doing. And then Kaye, Bugsy, Airy, Cuddles, Pele, Mystic, and Mickey all got their coggins and shots. So we are ready for show season!

Anyway, Bonnie and I picked a few stalls and then I tacked up Kaye for a lesson. Had a pretty decent warm up again. Really getting her listening to me and in the bridle. And then we started jumping. Started out of the in and out, did that a few times and then Bonnie raised it, first fence was 2'10", second fence was 3'. And the best part, I never even thought about the fences getting bigger. I mean the last few weeks I've been really good about not asking Bonnie to put the fences down, or saying that I can't jump them, but I still have that thought in my head. That 'oh no the fence is bigger, I'm a little scared.' It never even crossed my mind. I just rode down to that fence and thought 'Ok, hold her, keep contact and drive her forward into the bridle.' It was pretty awesome. Then we did the tarp and the liverpool, the helicopter and the swedish oxer. Really good jump school, so much better than Saturday. And Bonnie recorded the whole thing.

After I put Kaye away, I tacked up Naughtie for a lunge lesson. I really need to do more lunge lessons, but I actually made some big improvements on my seat just from that one. I have been starting to sit too far back, so Bonnie and I really worked on getting me to sit up straight and relax. And it was working because Naughtie was moving so much better. She was putting her head down and relaxing into a nice frame. Lately she has been carrying her head and neck pretty high and that's causing her to hollow her back. Not a pretty picture. Obviously I was sitting on her properly otherwise she wouldn't have been going so well. Bonnie left me after that so she could get ready to go to dinner with Lee. I stayed behind a while longer to lunge Bugs and Cuddles. Gotta get their energy levels worked down a bit so Bonnie can ride them this week. Hopefully we can get Cuddles going in time to take him to the South Farm CTs.

Of course later in the day it was time for dinner at Aunt Sandy's. The food was delicious as usual. And it was great to be together with all the family.

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Rough Week

Well it's been a rough week. On top of my lack luster performance over the weekend, Monday afternoon I found out that I didn't get the job at Heritage Valley. I sort of ended up having a little meltdown in the middle of work. Luckily Chris was the only one to witness it. I just need out of this job. I hate getting up in the morning and coming into work. I have never felt that way about a job before in my life but I do now. Sunday nights I'm actually making myself sick because I dread going back to work Monday mornings. I really think that this job is the reason I had that ulcer last fall. I mean really why else would a healthy 27 year old end up with an ulcer? I'm just so sick of coming into work here and getting a ton of crap dumped on me while certain other people do absolutely nothing. And then like I don't have enough to do already I get all kind of other work dumped on me. I don't have time to do it all!

It's just all getting to be too much for me. I hate this job, I make no money. I get no recognition for any of the work I do. And of course we're not getting raises again this year. But everything is going to go up. Benefits are going to cost more. So basically as off July 1st I'll be taking a pay cut. I just can't do it. I'm barely getting by as it is. I can't do it on less money. And like I'm looking for other jobs, but there's nothing out there that I can do. All the HR jobs are either director of HR or HR secretary. I'm either not qualified or way over qualified. Not to mention HR secretary jobs pay next to nothing. It's all just so frustrating!

So Monday after work I headed out to the barn. Always good for cheering me up. I had a nice ride on X. He must have know I wasn't in the best mood cause he was a perfect gentleman for me. I still wasn't feeling really great so I tacked Kaye up and rode her a little bit as well. I have to say there's something very calming about a dressage ride in the near dark. It was after 7 at this point, and it was getting pretty dark, but I didn't really feel like turning the arena lights on. I wasn't jumping and I know where everything is, so I wasn't worried about running into anything. Jade and Annie were happily munching away on hay so they left us alone. Kaye was so good for me. We had a great dressage ride, worked on some canter transitions and attempted to work on lengthening the canter (as needed in the Training A test) It was just all very calming and made me feel a whole lot better.

Of course that was all ruined when I got out to my car and checked my voice mail. I called my mom back, big mistake! I tried to explain things to her. And she was basically just like well keep looking. And then she tells me that I can't quit my job until I have another one. No shit Mother! Like I don't know that! I'm trying to tell her how unhappy I am. I'm making myself sick with the thought of going to work every week and it's just like she doesn't care! Seriously I should have known better than to try talking to her.

Hopefully things will get better this week.

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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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