Looking Forward

Not much has been going lately, but we're staring to look forward towards fall.  I rode Tia yesterday, did a little jump school in the sand arena then went on a field ride with some friends.  There's a section of land in the middle of the fields that has a holding pond for water used in a bean and corn processing plant. Worst smelling thing ever!!  They pump the used water out to the pond, then use it to fertilize a field of corn and grass.  Sheep are run in the grass field and usually the horses don't care about them.  Last night they were pretty close to the fence and half the flock ran away while the other half moved towards us.  Tia was terrified.  She stopped and snorted and was shaking.  I took her to the outside of group so she had two horses between her and the sheep and that seemed to help.  The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.

Scary, scary sheep

Tonight I caught the end of Anna's lesson where they did a 2' vertical!  Apparently early in the lesson Phoenix stopped at it, but Jen said Anna had him trotting so slow they were almost going backwards.  They looked great when I was there and Anna was so proud of herself.  Nik and little A also had lessons which I missed but both apparently did well. 

We've been trying to find a schooling show on a Sunday to take the girls to, as little A goes to church on Saturdays.  There's one Oct 27 that we're going to aim for.  In the past they've had a costume class since the show is always right around Halloween.  So tonight I spent  a good amount of time trying to think of something for Buddy and I to be.  Since his show name is One Bud Wiser I've decided to go with a beer theme.  I found a beer glass costume for me and I think I'm going to make Buddy a keg (grey sleazy or sheet) with the Budweiser logo on it. 

I might be hand walking him for the class.  No drinking and riding!

Getting Ready

So we're showing on Saturday and my horse just had three days off in a row.  Way to be prepared!  He got Saturday off after our lesson on Friday.  I was planning on riding Sunday and Monday, but came down with a summer cold/flu and couldn't get out of bed Sunday.  I felt much better yesterday but not 100% so I didn't ride.

 I think Buddy enjoyed his 3 day weekend and was cranky about going back to work today.  He was barely moving when we started warming up. I think we might have even been too slow for western pleasure jog we were so slow.  There were some little crossrails set up so I jogged him over those to see if that would wake him up.  It did and then we were finally able to get on with our ride.  He was still a little tense and defensive about his mouth in our canter warm up but relaxed into it by the end of the ride. We got some nice counter canter work, a full lap each direction which is an improvement!  To cool down we worked on some leg yields and figure 8s.

Jen is out of town for the show and unfortunately I'm the only one going who knows how to haul. There's 4 of us going and I only have a 2 horse trailer, as do my BO so we've had to borrow a 4 horse from the people who own the barn where we go chase cows. I've only ever talked to them briefly but thru the magic of Facebook they offered their trailer.  Only problem, I've never hauled a goosneck.  Guess I have to learn at some point, righ? 

Pics!

Jen sent me a couple pics that our wonderful show photographer took yesterday. I have another of Bud and I in the our eq round, but blogger won't let me upload it. Enjoy!

Amy and Buddy in the jumper round in the rain

Buddy and I, jumpers in the rain. This is one of the fences I smacked him on, hence the one handed riding.  I think I might need a breastplate....

Amy and Buddy in the hunters

Power and Speed

The show yesterday didn't go quite as planned, but it was still a great show!  We took four horses and six riders, the biggest showing from our barn/the college team in years.  Friday night the girls all came out to the barn to clean/clip/do manes on the horses, clean tack, and get everything ready.  Jen and I ended up helping clip/pull manes on a couple horses that were naughty but for the most part everyone got their own stuff done.  Amy is a former pony clubber and loves cleaning tack so she took apart both my hunter and  fig. 8 bridles to clean, did my saddle, martingale, girth and my leather open front and hind ankle boots!  I told her she's the best groom ever!

Saturday dawned cloudy and rainy but we pulled out at 6:30 and got to the show with no problems.  It was dry at that point and everyone hurried to tack up to school.  As we were getting ready, the sky opened up and poured for about 15 minutes. Luckily I had one of Buddy's clean rain sheets in the trailer (I store my winter blanket in the trailer during the summer) so I threw it on him as we walked to the ring.  Amy got on first to school and I took shelter under an awning by the announcer's booth.  Buddy looked good in warm up, as did the other horses from the barn. We didn't time it right, and I only had about 5 minutes to school after we switched, but I schooled the lines with him and we were good.

Amy and Buddy, Jen, Anne and Blue, and Ella and Hunter

Amy did a 2' hunter class with him as a schooling round and it went ok.  Buddy wasn't impressed with the fences, and they had a couple awkward distances but ended up 5th. Bud then got an hour or so break before my 2'6" eq classes.  I was planning on doing the eq and mini medal but I was the only one in the medal and they need 3 to run the class so they cancelled it. I was pretty bummed out about it, but there will be other shows.  Our eq round was decent, he was a little tired and we opted to make the lines a short 5 strides instead of trying to run at the 4 (which they were set).  We got a 3rd which I was happy with.

Tired pony is tired...and says "Please don't make me go again"

Buddy then got another couple hours break while they did the 3' hunters and had a lunch break. The jumpers were supposed to start at 2:30 but everyone was there so they started about 1:45 instead.  We didn't do another warm-up, just trotted Buddy around a bit. Amy did two rounds with him, a timed first round and a table 2b.  The first round wasn't great, had a couple rails down and they weren't in sync.  The second round was a lot better and they got a 1st. 

We switched again and I took him in a power and speed class.  My goal was to keep it together for the first round so we could do the jump off.  He was very tired by this point, and about 3/4ths of the way thru I had to go to my crop at one of the fences.  It was the first in a diagonal line, and we were veering slightly left of center to the second fence, so I yanked him back to the middle and went to my crop again.  Luckily that woke him up a bit and we had a nice pace going into our last fence/start of the jump off.  The first two fences in the jump off were a line, and again I knew we didn't have it in us to do the 4 strides, so we balanced for the 5 then turned up the speed.  We had a bending line after that to a really tight rollback to a slightly easier rollback.  I was thinking the whole time "hands up, sit, sit, sit, leg!" He really dug in around the turns and while it wasn't the prettiest round it was the fastest!  We ended the day there, both Jen and I agreed that we weren't going to have pony for the take-your-own-line class.

The other girls from the barn did great too.  Everyone came home with a blue and one of the girls, Anne and Blue won the 2'6" pre-child/adult champion!  It was even better since it was Blue's first show.  I asked the announcer if they were doing champions for jumpers and he said no, but if they were Buddy would have been the .75m champion. 

Recovery

After the whirlwind that was last weekend  (parents, out of town friends, and helping to run the show) I've been exhausted the past few days. 

I took Buddy over to the show on Sunday to school and he was great. Jumped everything without questioning, including the triple combination. After we were done schooling, I grabbed my XC vest and we headed out. I didn't do too much since we were alone and he had already worked hard. We went back and forth thru the water and did a couple logs and a coop. Bud then got to spend the rest of the day in a day stall and relax. 

He got Monday off and Amy had a lesson yesterday. She said he was good and I think they'll do a couple 2'6" jumper classes at the show on Sunday. I'm planning on doing the 2'6" eq and mini medal and maybe a $150 2'6"-2'9" take your own line jumper class. We'll see what Jen says and how much pony we have left at that point. 

Warning: Long Ranting Post

Anna had a 4H pre fair show this weekend, and it wasn't pretty.  Friday they had another lesson with Jen and it ended great!  They were able to do a line at 2', trotting in and trotting out with any drama.  I had high hopes for Saturday.

I had to hold Buddy for the farrier Saturday morning and I missed Anna's showmanship class. I heard they did well and they got a red.  Anna had a big break before her English eq class while the other two girls from our club did their western eq.  When Anna got on to warm up she was nervous but did ok.  I had her run through the pattern a couple times.  It was pretty easy, posting trot on a straight line, a sitting trot circle, a right lead canter circle, then posting trot with a halt and back. Somehow in the two minutes it took to do the pattern she freaked herself out.  She kept saying she couldn't do it (even though she just did) and was almost shaking.  She asked if I could lead her around. I told her no; if I had to lead her around like a beginner I wasn't going to let her show.  She got over it and we headed out to the ring.

They had to do rail work (walk trot canter each way) before they did their pattern  Anna's rail worked look fine.  Phoenix was a little disjointed and slow but looked fine.  Anna was first to do the pattern and didn't canter in the pattern.  After she said he felt high.  I told her that he looked like half asleep.  At that point she said she didn't want to do hunter hack, even if it meant that she couldn't show over fences at fair.

The other girl from our club convinced Anna to do hunter hack with her.  They had a quick warm up, with a 4 stride cross rail line set up.   Anna and Phoenix were great!  Trotted over both with no fuss or any problems.  Anna was hunched and obviously nervous but I told her as they walked past that Phoenix was the only horse out of the 6 that didn't refuse the jumps. She seemed happy and I figured everything would be ok.

Again, they had to do rail work before jumping. She was fine till the judge asked for a hand gallop.  She freaked and brought him back to trot and refused to even do a regular canter.  She lined up to go last over fences and that wasn't a good idea.  By the time she went she was picking on Phoenix, causing him to fidget and not stand still. They trotted around to the line and about 10 strides out Anna locked up and pulled Phoenix to stop.  She was shaking her head and backing him as I motioned to her to circle around and come back.  She looked at the judge then walked back to the line up.  I was livid.

Once she came out of the ring I told her to get off and proceeded to tear into her a bit.  I asked if she knew what she had just taught Phoenix.  She said no, and I told her that it not acceptable to take a horse up the jump then back them away from it and not jump it.  That it taugh them its ok not to jump.  Obviously I know that in some circumstances it ok, but I had to get through to Anna that it wasn't.  I told her that she was completely fine in warm up, and that I was disappointed in her for not even trying.

I felt bad after for getting on Anna, but I feel like we've been coddling her and Phoenix has been great since he bucked her off. It's hard to know when to support them and when to push. When we got back to the barn she looked like she had cried a bit and asked when she should ride and jump again and I told her Monday so we'll see what happens.  Her mom and I talked today and she agreed with me about trying to push her.  Her mom doesn't know what happened either but wants her to push through. 

Arbor Grove Show

Great first show of the season!  We started early, left the barn by 6:30am and got to the show about 7:30.  Two of the college girls were showing, and they both ride the same horse so we loaded Tia and Buddy up and off we went.  My truck is having some battery problems so Rick and Connie were nice enough to let us use their dually to haul, and all we had to do was pay for diesel.  I had hooked up Saturday afternoon so we would be all set Sunday.

I always feel like a badass driving this monster.

It was colder than I though when we got there, but luckily the rain held off all day.  We walked the ponies around a bit before tacking up and warming up. Buddy was really high during warm up and we had a couple discussions about striding in the lines.  The outside lines were a three and a four, both a little long for us.  We could get them, but Buddy was flat and strong on the landing so Jen had us wait and add.  There was also an end fence on the far side of the arena that was just a brick wall box with two tall potted shrubs as standards that we did a few times. Buddy didn't look twice at it but Tia, who is a been, there, done that ex A-circuit hunter spooked at.  Once Buddy had quieted down Nik and I switched so she could get ready for her trot a pole classes.

Luckily Nik was able to school some poles and Bud was nice and quiet for her.  Their rounds went well and they ended up with a 1st and 2nd! 

The ribbons were the size of her torso.

Buddy then got a couple hour break while we waited for my classes. I untacked him and put his sheet back on and brought him to the arena to watch. He literally fell asleep standing up and didn't move for about and hour. While we waited one of the college girls had her rounds.  They did ok, but this was her first show in a few years, and first real show (she had only done shows at her old barn) and she was really nervous.  They ended up going off course in the last round and Katie was pretty disappointed.

They had a schooling break before my classes (the 2'6" pre-adult hunter, eq and mini medal) so I got Buddy re-warmed up and popped over a couple fences.  He was a lot quieter than in the morning which was nice.  We schooled a bending line that we would have to do in our eq and medal classes and called it good.    Our first round was pretty nice, except I had to move him up to the first fence in the one outside line and ended up going for a long three instead of our plan for four.  We did manage to get all our leads and changes. We ended up getting a 4th for that round.

The second hunter round and our eq rounds were a bit of a disaster.  The last stride before the first fence in the hunter round Buddy tripped and we ended up taking the entire fence down. He was a bit discombobulated but luckily we had a long ride to a single diagonal to regroup.  He did jump the rest of the course a lot higher and scopier than normal.  Then in the eq class he ran out of gas and stopped at a fence.  It wasn't a dirty stop, but a slow stop.  I smacked him with my crop then circled back to it.  We made it around the rest of the course but I could tell he was done.  Even with our mini meltdowns we still placed in both classes with a 6th and 4th respectively.  I will say that there were only 6 in all of our classes.

There were two flat classes between my eq round and the mini medal so I got off to walk him out.  Jen and I talked about if I should scratch and she told me as long I was prepared to ride every fence fairly aggressively we could still do it.  Luckily Buddy regained some energy in his 20 minute break and we went first into the medal.  We were a bit slow and conservative in our lines, and I stared down the end box fence getting a funky distance to it, but overall it was a nice round and we got a 3rd.  They had the top two come back for the test and I was disappointed to be one place away from it.



Our loot for the day
 

I was very happy with how we did.  So we had a few oops and mistakes but I wasn't nervous with the fence height or trying too hard to find my distances.  I felt in control (minus the fence demolishing) during all of our rounds and we nailed almost every lead change.  We didn't place the highest, but we placed well and I'm proud of Buddy.  Now he gets today off with his BoT sheet and an easy flat hack tomorrow.

Coming Together

Getting excited for our first show on Sunday!  Buddy got clipped, his mane pulled, and a mini bath today.  I washed his socks and his tail since they were gross, but he'll get a full bath on Saturday.  It's also been decided last minute that Nik will take him in a couple trot a pole classes. She hasn't been riding much lately, and when she does she's been on another horse but they had a lesson today and did good.  I did hear today that Jen's friend will be there to take pictures too and I'm hoping to find a new battery for my video camera so we'll hopefully have both pics and video!

Whirlwind Week

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!! It's been a busy week for me.

Last Friday my plan after work was to ride Zoe, lunge Bud then clean and pack for our show on Saturday. However one flat and one very low tire on my trailer derailed that. Luckily Rick was able to change my flat and put air in the low tire. With an hour till closing time, I hauled the trailer over to Les Schwab and the wonderful guys fixed both tires for free!!

Saturday was very cold and wet and I was glad I spent the money to get Bud a day stall at the show. We got there early enough to eat breakfast and watch some rounds go. I had a 2' schooling round first, and Bud was pretty backed off in warm up. The footing was pretty hard and packed in the warm up ring and he didn't like it. Our round went ok, the lines were a little long and we had to scramble a bit to make them.

My 2'6" rounds weren't much better. Buddy woke up for the bigger fences but it was still hard to make the distances. I did have a couple "oh shit" moments but Bud held it together. Surprisingly our last round, the mini medal, was our best round. I only placed 6th, and both Jen and I thought I should have been higher. The girl who was 5th had a couple funky lines and her horse swapped leads a couple times. Oh well.

Sunday I flew down to San Diego to my parents for the week. It's been shopping and cooking, my favorite things after riding!

What a good girl!

Zoe was great today!  We got a 1st, two 4ths, and a 5th. She had a nice rhythm, got almost all of her leads, and was complimented by many people too!  Yay mare!

When I got to the show this morning, I was the first one there so I wasn't sure where I needed to park.  I left Zoe in the trailer while I went to the office to ask.  When I came back, my trailer was rocking side to side and Zoe was throwing a major tantrum.  Apparently she doesn't like be hauled by herself.  Once I re-parked and unloaded her, I  notice a big scrape on her head.  I checked the inside of the trailer, but couldn't figure out what she hit her head on.  She mostly just scraped of the hair, but right under where the browband would go there was a tiny little cut that was oozing blood.  The barn owner's were nice enough to let me use their washrack and clean it up.

Don't believe that innocent face.  She can throw a mean tantrum.

Despite her knock to the head, she warmed up really well. We had about a half hour to school in the ring before the show started.  There were a lot of flowers, shrubs, and bushes by the fences that I made sure to let her look at.  She didn't seem to care at that time.  We didn't do a big warm up, just a little walk, trot, canter, and I popped her over a couple fences.

We had a couple hours to wait till my classes went, so I got off and we hung around watching and talking to Deb, her owner.  The barn owner came by to check how her cut was doing and said he had seen us warm up and said she was very cute and liked how chill she was waiting to go.  He was so nice!

I got on about 15 mins before my first round and took her for a couple times around their grass ring to warm her up again.  In our first round she looked hard at some new flowers that had been added to one of the jumps and cut way in to the right.  I could see that we would be getting a very awkward, off center distance so I circled her and came back to it.  The second time around I used a lot of right leg to keep her centered.  She still looked, but went over.

Our second round was much better; no looking or trying to fall in.  I did get her pretty deep to one fence and she ended up knocking it.  Our third round was perfect!  Nailed every lead, had a nice steady rhythm and got good distances to each fence.  Unfortunately she tired out for our fourth and final round and decided that trotting a couple fences would be easier than cantering.  I also had a brain fart and forgot to collect her to the first fence so about two strides out I realized it was going to be really short.  Oops! 

I am so pleased with how she did!  She felt really good and each of the little bobbles we had were minor and mostly rider error.  There was a pro photographer there, so hopefully we can have some nice pics in a couple days.  Since this was probably our last show of the season I'm glad we ended on a great note!

Not pictured the bag of treats we got for getting first.

ADD Pony

Buddy has decided dressage isn't for him.  While he wasn't bad at our dressage show on Saturday, he wasn't good either.  He was very ADD and wouldn't focus on me for more than a couple strides at a time. We warmed up pretty well, but once we were doing our test everything seemed to distract him. We had some nice moments but overall our tests lacked focus.  We received a 57% in training test 3, and a 56% in First level 1.  In the comments, the judge called him very cute and willing, but did mention that he needs more impulsion and swing thru his back.  We'll keep working on it, and hopefully do better next time.

Not our day

So before we even left for the show yesterday morning things started going wrong.  My truck overheated at 5am as I was hooking up the trailer.  It was in for an oil change 3wks ago, and I had driven it Thrus and Fri without any problems.  So after a frantic phone call to Jen, I woke up Rick and pleaded to use his truck. Understand that this truck is Rick's baby.  Connie doesn't even get to drive it that often.  I have driven it once before, but had never hauled with it.Rick's truck is 2009 1-ton dually....which compared to my half ton pickup is a whole lot bigger! 

Once we switched trucks and loaded up, we were only a half hour later getting started.  The drive up was nerve wracking since I was worried about wrecking the dually.  I must say, it's a dream to haul with.  So much smoother and powerful than my truck.

Never get between a man and his truck

Once we got to the show, things started ok.  I got on Zoe to school her first while Nik got on Buddy.  Both warmed up well, with only one spook from Zoe when one of the jump crew lifted a brush box above his head to move right as we walked past. We did a few circles in the now scary corner and she got over it. I hopped on Bud a did about 10mins of warm up with him, jumping a few things just to get a feel of how he'd do.  He was excited, but good. Nik's classes went first, and while they were small she did awesome!  She got a first in her walk trot class, and a first and second in her trot-a-pole.  Ended up walk trot champion! 

It was probably 10am when I went in with Zoe and it was close to 90*.  She was so tired and we couldn't seem to find a rhythm.  About half way thru the course she stalled out going past the gate and we couldn't come to a decision about a distance to the next fence.  She stopped and almost ran into the standard.  I was up on her neck, trying to get back in the tack when she went sideways trying to make it over.  I did a slow roll over her neck and landed in the dirt on my shoulder.  I'm fine, and got up right away.  Zoe looked at me and seemed like she was upset.  I told her it was my fault and we walked out.  In our next round, she really backed off that same fence, so I went to my crop and smacked her about 3 strides out.  After that she was much better.  Our last two rounds were ok; she was still pretty slow and tired.  We didn't place but I was happy with how we ended.

After a quick break to put Zoe away, grab a quick lunch consisting of beef jerky and a milkshake, and get Buddy ready, I went back to the ring.  By this point it was closer to 100* and I was pretty much done.  Feeling like puking is not how you want to go into the ring.  The first round with Buddy started with a short approach to a vertical on a short diagonal that Buddy knocked.  I don't think he realized we were jumping it to about a stride away.  He landed strong and we had a bending line to a single outside fence that was all brush boxes and flowers.  I couldn't see the distance and we ended up having a refusal but at least this time I stayed on!  We came back and got over it ok.  In the next round we had a stop there too.  I was just too tired and was getting psyched out.  Luckily in our last round, and eq class, we didn't have to jump the flowers.  It was decent round and somehow I ended up third.  I was just so happy to be done I didn't care.

So it wasn't our day, but at least we made it thru!  I am happy with how Zoe recovered.  Her owner came to watch and said she looks great, and wants me to keep showing her.  I know my problems with Bud were my fault, and as much as I want to beat myself up over it, it only hits 100* once or twice a year.  I think if it hadn't had been as hot, and if I hadn't spent the morning freaking out about the truck swap I would have been in a much better head space.  I am proud that I made it thru the day without crying or puking!

Getting Ready

I started getting the ponies ready for our little schooling show on Saturday.  I'm taking Zoe in the 2' long stirrup and Bud in the 2'6" pre-adult hunters.  Nik will also be taking Bud in walk trot and a couple trot-a-pole classes.  If I have energy and its not blazing hot (the forecast calls for 91*) I might enter a couple jumper classes in the afternoon.

Both ponies had their manes done yesterday as well as getting clipped.  Zoe is still horrible about having her ears done, but after  a come-to-Jesus talk, she's getting better.  Unfortunately my clippers started dying as I started her ears, so I'm charging them tonight and we'll try again tomorrow. I also washed and conditioned both their tails and they'll get bathed on Friday.

I'm excited because my friend will also be showing in the 3ft hunters.  We showed together a ton a few years ago, but she moved back up to Portland after she graduated.  We haven't managed to show together since, so hopefully Saturday will bring back all the good times!  I'll also have my own little cheering section; Zoe's owner and possibly her daughter will be there, Rick and Connie are coming to watch with the 4H girls, and Jen's friend is coming back to take pics.  Hopefully I can get someone to video as well.

Looking as cute as can be!

Dressage'n it up

Yesterday I went with one of the 4H girls to a little dressage schooling show.  I didn't get my stuff together in time to send in an entry for Buddy, but I told Abbi I would go help coach and be her reader.  Unfortunatley right as she started tacking up, it started raining.  On the plus side, it was warm, around 70, but it kept a light rain during all of her two tests.  Of course as soon as she got off, it cleared up. 

Abbi did really well, a 58.5% and a 62% in training level.  She had a couple little bobbles, but for her first dressage show she did great!  Watching her go, I really regret not taking Bud.  I know we could have done pretty well. 

Today Buddy and I practiced movements from training 3 and first level 1 tests. Our trot lengthenings still need a little work, but our canter lenghtenings were actually pretty nice. In the stretchy trot circles, Bud stretches down well, but tends to speed up.  I had a little light bulb moment.....to keep him in a nice frame and pace I really have to close my thighs and slow my post to slow his rhythm. Riding like that is better than a ThighMaster!  I could feel the burn and I know it will be worse tomorrow!

They are having another schooling show in August and I think like 6 of us from the barn are planning on go.  We'll have a regular caravan up there!

Pictures!

I finally got some pics from the Freeman Farms show.  Unfortunately the memory card that had the pics of Buddy and I isn't working and we might not be able to get those photos.  But here are some of my favorites of Zoe and Nik and Bud.

Such a pretty shot!

Trying so hard!

Love her look at the photographer!

Trying to figure out what class and course I was doing

Zoe loves Buddy

Yay Mare!



Freeman Farms Show

I woke up at the lovely hour of 4:30 today and had the trailer hooked up and loaded (minus ponies) by 5:15.  Personal best!  Both Bud and Zoe loaded fine and we made it to FF by a little after 7.  We were the first to pull in, but by the time we had Buddy tacked up the parking lot was full.

I schooled Bud first, and he was in go pony mode. We schooled everything in the ring, and after deciding to let him go for the big boy strides, we had a pretty good ride.  I got off him and on Zoe while Nik got on Bud. We went to the indoor to school, but by that time we only had 15mins before they closed the ring to set for the first class. It was a mad house! Little kids and ponies everywhere!  I did a short warm up with Zoe and popped her over a couple x-rails.  She was nervous, and looky, but not necessarily bad.

In our first x-rail round the plan was to canter the whole course.  We started out and she almost stopped at the first fence.  She managed to get over and regrouped and tried to canter the next fence.  Same thing.  Poor little mare was so nervous!  I decided to just trot the rest of the course, and by the end she was better.  After talking to Jen, we decided for the other two classes to just trot.  Why push her?

The other two round were much better!  She relaxed and plodded along like no big deal.  We did another x-rail class then an 18" round. She actually jumped some of those, and I had her canter around the turns then trot the approaches. She ended up winning both the second and third rounds!

Nik's walk trot classes were pretty big, but she got a 5th in one.  She looked great, but she's still working on posting diagonals, and that's what got her in the second class.  Unfortunately Buddy was  a little too forward in the trot-a-pole, and jumped the first pole and cantered off.  Nik recovered well, but she was shaken.  The judge let them start over, and the round was perfect!  She used all her space, went deep in the corners and had a nice trot.  While not the ideal first show experience, Nik didn't seem discouraged after she got over it.  It was great to see her push on thru  while Buddy was being a brat.

As soon as she got off Bud, I had to get back on him.  He still had energy! Seriously, if I hadn't feed him Friday night and Saturday morning, I would swear someone had given him rocket fuel.  He never has this much energy at home!  In our hunter rounds, I'm pretty sure we were the fastest but not the prettiest.  I had to work hard on getting him to come back to me and balance in the corners. In our first course I almost made one of the cardinal sins of jumping...forgetting the last fence. We had to do a lovely swervey thing to get to it.  Oops.

They had added some flowers and brush to the fences after we had warmed up, and while I was a little nervous about one of the fences (hopefully I'll have pics in a couple days, it was almost solid brush, like an xc fence) Buddy didn't care. The classes were small, but we ended up with a 4th in our hunter round, and a 3rd in both the mini medal and our eq. round. 

I had signed up to a jumper round, but after our hunter classes I was exhausted.  We would have had a 2hr wait for one class, and I decided it wasn't worth it. When we went in the office to scratch, we found out that Jen had won a raffle and won $60 off an entry for another show they are having in August.  So we'll be back in August!

Progress

Buddy's had a pretty easy week after the show.  I did a couple light hacks, one bareback, and Nik took a lesson on him.  I was going to jump him today, but it's been raining off and on and since it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70s this weekend, I decided to wait a day. 

I had a lesson last night on Zoe, and as usual the little mare rocked!  We did our first full course, a mix of x-rails and verticals.  She really wants to throw her haunches in at the cater, especially going left.  Jen had me do canter circles with her, spiraling out using only my inside leg.  The second I put my outside leg on, she would throw her haunches in.  It felt very weird to drive from the inside leg and ignore my outside leg!

Jumping we worked on straightness, and going forward.  She wants to do the slow pleasure lope and is slowly starting to realise that she won't get punished for going faster.  She's surprisingly easy to find a distance on and we were able to get a couple flying changes!

On the 19th we are taking her and Bud to small local show.  I'll be doing the 2'6" hunters and a .75m jumper round with Bud, and then a couple x-rail and 18" green horse classes with Zoe.  Nik will be making her show ring debut doing walk-trot and trot-a-pole!  So exciting!!

Cornerstone Hunter Show

The show went really well.  We got there plenty early and were able to school in the show ring before the show started.  Buddy was motivated and in front of my leg, so we worked on using our space (our arena at home is much smaller than the show ring was!), and having a nice rhythm.  There were two outside lines set up, one a 4 and one a 5, but when we schooled we got 5 and 6.  Both lines felt comfortable (to me) with the extra stride added, so that was our plan for the day.

We had a huge wait between when we schooled to when I actually showed, like 4+hrs.  Buddy got tied to the trailer with hay while Jen and I got breakfast, watched some walk-trot classes, and took naps in the truck.  I did take Bud for a walk and let him graze for a bit. I've shown at this barn before, but its been a few years and I had forgotten how slow their shows always run. 

Once I got back on for my rounds, we warmed up a bit and popped over a couple x-rails.  Our first round was ok, Buddy was actually a little fast and we ended up getting 4 and 5 strides in the lines instead of our plan to add.  There was a long ride to a single diagonal oxer as the last fence that was our downfall.  It rode towards the in gate, and Buddy got long and strung out.  I didn't have my leg on, or my shoulders back and we broke to trot about 3 strides from the fence. Dang it!

So tired!

The second round was much better, had a more even flow, but we still got a weird distance to the single oxer.  Something about that fence was not working for us.  By our third round Buddy was tired, and I had to push a lot more to keeping him flowing.  We still managed to get the 4 and 5 strides, but it was a lot more work.  Finally, in our last round we nailed the distance to the single oxer (it was the first fence in the course) but we fell apart after that.  Bud was done and we ended up getting a very long 4 then adding to get a 6.  There was a short approach to the last fence, and as soon as we came around the corner I felt Bud back off, so we ended up trotting that one.  We got a 6th for our first round, a 4th in the second, and a 5th in the third.  Didn't place in the last class.

We ended with an eq. on the flat class.  We had had about a 30min break after our last over fences class, so Buddy had recovered a little bit, but he was still pretty tired.  Our canter to the left was icky.  He was strung out and I had to work really hard to pull him together without letting him break to the trot.  Going to the right was easier, so I could focus more on my equitation.  Somehow we placed 4th out of 9. 

 While things may not have gone smoothly, I'm still very happy with how it went.  Buddy didn't care about any of the fences, didn't look at anything, managed to get the "big boy" strides in the line (except that once) and we nailed every single lead change!  He's earned a well deserved day off today!

Back home with his ribbons

Catching Up on the Other Ponies

So this blog is about my adventures with Buddy, but I have to give some updates on Zoe and Phoenix.  Phoenix is being leased by girl for 4H, and they had their first show this weekend.  She showed him in trail, showmanship, and English Eq.  Phoenix has never shown in trail or showmanship before, but I have schooled some of the show trail obstacles with him. 

Trail went pretty well. Anna was very nervous (it was her first show ever) but Phoenix could have cared less.  He was a little hesitant about crossing the bridge, and didn't want to stand next to the gate so Anna could open it, but he had no problem walking and trotting over poles!  Considering the first time they practiced showmanship was 15mins before their class, they did very good.  They got reds in both

English Eq was their best!  They just did walk/trot, and they nailed it.  The judge did tell Anna that she has to work on her sitting trot, but considering Phoenix is so bouncy she did well, and they got a blue!  I'm so proud of both of them!

Zoe is doing awesome as well.  I've been jumping her about once a week, over some bigger x's and some 2ft verticals.  She seems to take it all in stride, and other than being a little wiggly she feels like she's been jumping for years! I took a lesson on her a couple weeks ago and here's the video.  This was our 4th or 5th time cantering a line.





As for Bud, he's had an easy week after the clinic last Sunday.  I'm going to jump him today and we'll have a lesson Wed or Thursday, then next Sunday we're going to a little hunter show.  I'm still on the fence (no pun intended!) about what classes to do.  I really want to do 2'6",  but I'm not quite sure if we are ready.  





Good Ponies

I jumped both Buddy and Zoe Wednesday.  I realized that the Kevin Freeman clinic that I'm doing with Bud is just over two weeks away; and I don't feel ready.  It's been pouring down rain for the past few days, so I set up a single fence in the indoor.  Since I haven't jumped Bud in over a week I thought we would work on having a nice pace, rhythm, and straightness over the single.

I put Bud back in his normal standing martingale that I use when we jump.  I didn't want to use the German over fences, even though I'm sure it would have been fine.  After a light warm up we started trotting the little crossrail working on  stopping on a straight line after.  He was good, but really over bent left. We cantered it nicely a couple times, then I raised it to a vertical. 

Since our indoor is so small, it takes a lot of work to keep Buddy collected and put together to jump.  I was trying hard to sit down and keep my seat and leg on him to have a a nice forward canter to the fence.  The first time thru after I raised it, he was strung out and got deep to the fence.  He pulled the rail, but after that I really felt him start to sit back on his haunch and drive from behind.  It felt great!  It was like I finally had that nice canter that I could collect or extend as needed.  We did the vertical about 4-5 times each direction then called it good. 

With Zoe, I'm still working on getting her forward and into my hand.  I've started doing some bending lines and serpentines  at the trot to ask for flexion.  Her canter is starting to smooth out, but I think it will always feel somewhat choppy, at least to me.  I set the jump back down to an x and made sure we had a nice strong forward trot approaching it.  She  just trotted over it like no big deal.  We did it a few times each way, and every time she just trotted over it.  Good mare!  I'm going to start lunging her over some little verticals at the canter this weekend to see how she does.  Her owner told me that if I think Zoe's ready, that she would like me to take her in a couple trot-a-course classes at a show soon.  Exciting!