great ride on win!

So, I REALLY rode Win this time. AND it was still almost 90 degrees. And yet, SOMEHOW, we had an AWESOME ride!

He’s still stiffer to the left (although much better), and as he’s so out of shape the canter is a bit rough (go figure), and I seem to alternate between being a dressage rider and reverting back to my hunt seat position every stride or so! But otherwise…he did great! Really, I forgot how much this horse LOVES to work. The more you push him, the more he just goes for gusto and gives it to you. Now if only I’d ask him for something!

I’m still all geeked…I haven’t had a great ride in a while!

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rode win…

…sort of 😉

It was 90 degrees, it was in jeans and a western saddle…and I didn’t feel like doing work any more than I expected Win to.

And yet – he felt pretty GOOD. We mostly walked around, did some bending and suppling exercises and reminded him he could NOT lean on my left leg. But all things considered, he felt good! Tomorrow I’ll ride for real, and see what I think then!

win for sale

Well, my mom has finally come to a couple conclusions about Win.

First is that she really just doesn’t “click” with geldings. She’d owned two mares before buying Win, and she’s got Allie now, and she just can’t shake the idea that “lights are on but nobody’s home.” He’s by no means stupid, but she really likes the more sensitive mares.

And secondly, she’s realized that if she DOES get back in the saddle after her accident, it’s going to be on something more confirmed, something you could ride while sleeping, and something a couple hands closer to the ground 😉

So, she has decided that she’s going to sell him.

I guess that means I’d better ride him?

allie update

Just realized I forgot to update after our little “change in plans” before the show!

We picked Allie up Thursday the 17th, and bred her one last time before taking off. That was my first time seeing AI – very interesting stuff 🙂 I learn so much every time I go to that farm! Michelle (the vet) said Allie was still wide open and relaxed though, so we weren’t really holding our breath for her to have taken (but as we were ALL leaving town the next day, we figured time to pick the girls up). But sure enough, by Friday both girls were CLEARLY out of heat, and showing no interest in Alpha at all. Two more weeks to go, and then if Allie still doesn’t tease we’ll call the vet for an ultrasound! Yay!!

on the road again!

Another early morning, and another trailer ride for Snow!! Much less “fun” for her than a show though 😉 It was boot camp time!!

And once again, Snow was awesome!

She walked calmly off the trailer, was thrown into cross ties, tacked up, and put right to work. And go figure, she’s made of some good stuff – she happily went right to work and did great! I ground drove her for bit to show Anita and Denise what we had been doing, and then Anita took the reins to see how she felt. They helped me rig up a sidecheck so Snow can’t nose-dive on me, but feel that she’s in a really good place!!

Homework includes adding in some trot transitions and more frequent changes of direction, and to get my mom pulling on the traces. If we do that a few times this week and all goes well, then next Friday we’ll have her pull a tire! Yay Snow!! 😀

perfect pony – or possibly too hot to argue

It may have just been that it was 85 degrees yesterday. But I prefer to think of it as my pony just simply being brilliant. She walked when I asked her to walk. She turned where I asked her to turn. I even mixed it up and threw in some smaller circles too. And most importantly, she stopped where I asked her to stop – and STAYED stopped. Better yet – no pawing, no looking around, no impaitence – she’d just drop her head and wait. The perfect response! I’m sure it was the weather, but hey – we’ve got near-record temps again today, so who am I to complaint?

boredom is expensive

It is in my infinite boredom at work that I do things like update this blog. But it is also in my infinite boredom at work that I tend to do bad bad things like empty searches on tack trader just to see what comes up. Boredom is expensive.

Anyhow, yesterday something came up 🙂

A lightly used Smuckers Deluxe – black with patent and brass – for $375. There are marks where the last person took a small monogram off the blinkers, but I figure there’s one very easy way to fix that, so we’ll be getting mongrams made up! Otherwise, it looks like the only thing wrong with it is one of the blinkers has a small wrinkle at the edge. BUT – I figure the bridle won’t fit my girl anyhow and already plan to buy a new one to match anyhow. Oh, and I’ll probably want lines, since for some reason it sells with black bio reins? Whatever. Even if I have to spend another few hundred buying a bridle and reins…for $375!!!

I forwarded the ad to my mom, who agreed to split the cost with me and hopefully it’ll fit some combination of both of our horses 😉 We amazingly got a quick response with pictures. It was gorgeous and not yet sold. She took paypal, and it’ll be mailed out today!!!

Yay for a new show harness!!!!!!

two for two

It was just a gorgeous night last night. I was heading out to the barn much later than usual (not until 9:00), but it was just a perfect summer night for driving out there with the windows down and the radio up.

Jim was just finishing for the night when I got there, and the horses were all looking at me wondering when on earth I planned to feed them. I gave them their dinner, chatted with Jim about Allie’s trip down the road, and decided I just had to work Snow. I hadn’t planned on it since it was so late. But she was SO good the night before, and the night was just SO nice…there’d be enough light from the barn that I could see in the arena, right?

I tacked Snow up while she was eating, and she didn’t care one bit. I used the bridle instead of the rope halter, threw the lines over the saddle, and we headed out into the darkness. Jim’s horses called to Snow as he led them back outside for the night. Win was SCREAMING for Snow from inside the barn. The dogs were barking. Things were making noises. And it was much darker than I expected. And yet…Snow just stood there. And I went to ground drive her and she just walked right off. She didn’t trot once. And she even stood pretty well. She really didn’t put a foot wrong the entire time. And it was dark. She was SO GOOD.

I brought her back in, gave her a treat, and turned them all out to enjoy the rest of the night.

Two for two 🙂

on a roll??

I fully intended to give Snow the night off yesterday…she did great all weekend and earned a break. Yet, she did well all weekend, so I was more than excited to keep moving, and we had some extra time, so I decided to not only work her – I was going to try and get us back on track.

We’d spent the past couple of weeks at Jim’s reestablishing manners, and I really wanted to get back to working her. I wanted to start making progress again, instead of just regaining lost ground. I know there are ups and downs in training, but I was sick of this backswing!!

So I hauled out the surcing and long lines.

I’m still not entirely sure how, but the first trip around the outside line managed to get caught under Snow’s tail, which she firmly clamped down, and went bucking aroudn in circles. The surcingle also turned itself sideways. Bad bad start, and Snow is still bucking circles.

She’s had a crupper under her tail, so I’m not sure what all that’s about, but I got her stopped, calmed down, and switched to a saddle and breastcollar so we wouldn’t have the slipping issues. I’ll work on the crupper later. First off, she looked freaking ADORABLE in a western saddle and breastcollar. TOO CUTE!!

So then I sent her on her way again. And she did great!! Tried to trot once or twice, but once I’d turn her she’d go right back to walking calmly. And walking and walking and walking. She just did great!!

Even Jim was impressed, and said she’s definitely ready for the next step!

I’m glad she finally remembered what she was doing, and it was a nice change of pace! Yay Snow!! Again…very proud of my girl!! So, tonight I’ll long line her with a bridle on. Tomorrow I’ll reintroduce a crupper and see what was up with that…maybe just long line her completely harnessed. If she still remembers what she’s doing there (and I know she used to!), I’ll probably only spend a week ground driving with the bridle, another week pulling on traces to make sure that doesn’t bother her. At least three weeks pulling a tire, then we can put her to the cart….I think she might be ready to go by the end of July or early August 🙂

we survived the first show!

Not only did we survive it, Snow did awesome!!! I’m SO proud of my girl 😀

It was her first ever show and trip out into the big scary world 😉

We hauled in Friday night and she screamed her head off, spun in circles, forgot how to lead, panicked at every passing horse, etc etc….but all in all didn’t kill anybody so I thought it went pretty well 😉 We found an empty outdoor arena, and I was able to work her a bit in a somewhat contained area, let her get rid of a few bucks, and then bring her back to the indoor where the show would be before tucking her in for the night.

I got there plenty early Saturday morning so I could remind her how to lead, and maybe lunge her a bit before halter. She was calm as could be when I pulled her out of her stall, walked calmly across the parking lot, and lunged like she even knew what she was doing! Apparently, she decided this show-pony gig wasn’t so bad 😀

She was a bit nervous in her first halter class (pony halter), and did much more spinning than standing for inspection, but didn’t panic or get out of control at all. By the second halter (junior horse halter) class she even stood still for inspection, and although we didn’t place, I couldn’t have been happier with her performance and attitude about everything.

Pony trail and pony in-hand jumping were a last minute entry-on-a-whim on my part, once I found out that big ponies CAN enter the mini stuff 😆 …and then I barely made the class since it ran the same time as the driving stuff I was doing with a different horse. Trail went VERY well, since we didn’t have much (read: ANY) home prepping – she had never seen a tarp, never been asked to sidepass, etc. The pattern was walk over a tarp, sidepass over a ground pole, put a plastic bag on her back, BACK through a zig-zag of five cones, and trot out. But she pulled off a sixth since she’s so willing to try, and is just so calm about everything. She still doesn’t sidepass, thinks backing through cones is stupid, but she doesn’t mind plastic bags on her back. Oh, and she prefers ATTACKING tarps and making sure they’re good and dead before walking over them 😉 She planted her feet at the edge of the tarp, reared up and struck the tarp, and then walked calmly across it. Jumping didn’t go quite as well – she’s been jumped before, but not in hand, and she was much happier to follow me AROUND the jumps 😉 We only broke one standard…yikes! The judge was great though and let me basically rearrange the course, turn some things into x-rails, and school her right then. People loved how she just kept on trying over and over again.

And then thanks to a friend, they left up the jumps for us to school over Saturday night, and although I still decided to scratch Sunday’s class, she schooled very well, and went cleanly over many jumps, all by her big girl self!!

Halter yesterday morning went, of course, even BETTER than Saturday’s, and she placed fifth in the pony class!! 😀 (Which actually put her placed higher than a former World Halter Champion miniature horse 8) ) I’ll be curious to see how she does once she’s actually matured, filled out, and not growing! But compared to all the quarter horses we were up against, the junior horse halter class was something we were pretty out of place in to begin with. I then made the trail class ahead of time, and Snow was brave enough to go first. There was a different pattern that suited Snow (and everyone) much better today (tarp, trot poles, 360 in a box, sidepass L, mailbox). She didn’t try to kill the tarp this time, and the trot poles early on were just great for Snow….she LOVES doing that, and everyone on the side lines got to ooh and ahh over her pretty knee action 😛 She didn’t FIT in the box made for minis, so I politely told the judge we were going to do our 360 “over there.” But the sidepass L was just a bit more than she was ready for (because, as she reminded me, mommy never taught her to do that one!). She also tried to eat the mail, which got everybody laughing. But again, she did even better today and placed fifth!

And then I went and had some fun with the driving group again, and was then asked to judge the driven dressage class! Fun stuff!!