Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Mostly Lopez

I rode Lopez during camp for jumping. I only ended up riding him 3 times...one day I rode Daisy all day, and once my lesson on him was canceled because of a thunderstorm.
Lopez is a 10 year old Appendix gelding. I think he's about 15.3...maybe 16hh? Not sure.

He was a good boy. The first day (when I took the picture below) he had a funny habit of untying himself. Again...and again...and again. Try doing up a girth one handed, the other clutching a lead....interesting. Needless to say, I wasn't really that excited to ride him. Funny as he was on the ground, though, he was great in the saddle. For the record, I tacked him in a stall the other 2 times and he didn't give me any trouble.



He tripped a lot, much like Bubba does...very forehand-y. He was a good boy, though. He jumped everything I asked him to. He died out a few times...He'd come to the jump at a good canter, and then fall to the trot :P but leg got him through it.


This was my lesson group (below). :)

Anddd Lopez and I :)

Local news:
I ordered a new bit for Daisy, one most like the one I used at camp. A loose ring, french link snaffle. This one. I'm dying to get it and start riding with it....I want to start riding Daisy up to Jenny's arena and working her in it. :)

I rode Ladd today at Jean's. He was a good boy :), even in an arena full of other horses. We did some drill team stuff to music and he was surprisingly agreeable.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

A Bit About Camp & List

Camp was really fun! It's good to be back though.
I had a really really super duper great instructor. I'm gonna miss her.

I worked Daisy with a Kimberwicke until Thursday. We worked on direct transitions Monday morning and they went well. Tuesday we did about 40 minutes without stirrups, and it helped SO MUCH. First we did stretches and things to loosen up our muscles and be more relaxed in the saddle, then we worked on walk/trot/canter a bit without stirrups and focused a lot on body position. It was really helpful, and my stirrups went down two holes; felt good. :) Probably should have done that earlier. Tuesday we worked a little on getting horses to track up, and Daisy actually tracked up! I was really proud, but it gets better. :D

We went to horse pond on Wednesday morning and untacked to swim. Daisy went in without too much fuss. It went down gradually with an area where you were able to stand (the horse could) with a radius of about 6 feet before it dropped off. Daisy splashed through all content and then suddenly she was swimming. She was surprised! She turned around in the water and went back to where she could stand. I made her go out again and she turned back again. On the third try, I was persistent and got her to swim her way for real across the pond. It was a really short swim-about 15 seconds-but I was still so proud that she did it! I don't think she really enjoyed it, but she did it for me and I was happy :). My good girl!

Wednesday evening we jumped cross country. Daisy didn't refuse the first jump, but all the ones after that she did. They weren't dramatic refusals; I think with a lot more leg I could have avoided them, but the jumps would have been messy. She would go to a jump with a really good canter, and then just before she'd falter and die out and stop. She'd stand and look for a minute, and then going back and trying again she'd go over fine. Once we did the entire course at the end there were no problems. My instructor said that she thinks Daisy's a good jumper, she just needs more miles and experience because she loses her confidence and sort of second guesses whether she can make it over by the time she gets there; not so much a fear issue. I was still happy with the ride; she jumped well when she did jump, and she got to gallop a bit and she really needed that :P

I had already said that I wished I could try Daisy in a snaffle, and so on Thursday morning my instructor got me a loose ring, double jointed (aka french link) snaffle bit for her. Daisy LOVED IT. I'm so so happy with that, and am definitely getting one soon. (SOON). She stopped pretty easily; she got strong a couple times, but had trouble grasping the bit I think like she normally does to ignore me, so I think for now loose ring is definitely the way to go (perhaps...one day...bitless. ;)). We worked on extending and collecting strides. It went so well! I got a lot of tips. Once we'd worked on both, we did a cool little exercise. We trotted through two poles that were pretty spaced apart and counted how many strides we got in in between. Then we'd extend the horses trot and go over again. If we got one less stride (or more) we'd successfully extended! We did the same for collection. I thought it was a cool way to check ourselves. I was really happy with how Daisy rode over all in the snaffle.

That afternoon we rode again in pony club games--mostly walking or trotting races. They were fun! Our team won :). The best race involved walking your horse down the ring and stopping at the end, dismounting, and getting down on your hands and knees. There were three bowls, and you had to bend down and pick up a marshmallow in your mouth in one bowl, dip it in maple syrup in the second bowl, and dip in rice krispy cereal in the third bowl. You were of course forced to finish running back with rice krispies and syrup running up your nose :D lol!

Friday was so bittersweet.
We worked on flying lead changes (again in the snaffle). We each asked for the changes over a center pole, working on changing our horse's bend as we went. Daisy made me proud! Better even then some camp horses, she changed both her front and back leads in both directions. :) After we went successfully a few times changing over the pole, our instructor had us aim to the side of the pole, still changing in the middle but not over it. Daisy did it! :D I'm SO happy! I can't wait to play around with that tactic more and be able to get a real cue for it. yey! :D And then she got this shot:


Your thoughts?
I think she looks relaxed and in about as much as a frame as I've ever had her in! Her head is down perfectly and she's truly on the bit, and she's almost tracking up! I think I had her tracking up but she was relaxing so much she was getting dull :P. I think she looks really great! I'm a little leaning forward...but otherwise... :)

Sooo....I need to take note of a few things to remember to work on them in winter:
  1. Get a snaffle, lose ring, preferably double jointed (don't wait until winter)
  2. Get a dressage whip, and use it to "tickle" Daisy back just below her stifle to get her to engage her hindquarters more. The more she engages, the stronger the muscles, the easier it will be.
  3. When extending a gait, widen the hands and run the bit, half halting but squeezing and driving forward with your seat at the same time. Work in the ring extending on long sides and collecting on short sides.
  4. Squeeze with legs on the inside of a bend to get her to engage
  5. Keep hands higher up to encourage Daisy not to be so much on the forehand, but keep in the inside hand just slightly lower and give small tugs to get her to bend.
  6. Work on flying changes, really exaggerating body posture and how it changes when leads change.
Can't wait for winter and that arena. :)
Possibly more pictures to come, and more news on Lopez, the camp gelding I used in jump lessons :)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Cavorting with Missy

Alright...I lied. I wasn't going to post anymore, but just after the last post these pics showed up on facebook, and...I need to share them.
This is me and my friend Lisa doing pick-up on her draft horse, Missy, that I rode Friday evening (this picture was from Saturday afternoon of fair week). (All photos by Gracie Seely). We had so much fun doing this...I was BOUNCING like crazy in the back but I stayed on :)

Then came ribbon race. I did ribbon race a few years ago on Daisy with Lisa and a different draft that she rode back then...so we did a replay ;). Daisy was funny. You can see it in the picture below...Missy was interested in making friends and Daisy sort of decided to pretend it wasn't happening "I'm just not gonna look. I don't wanna see it. I am
not making friends with this horse!" x)




Ahh, the ribbon broke...but I let Daisy have the pleasure of racing back anyway :)


For real now, I'll talk to y'all Friday :)

Camp Tomorrow!


But first! News :)
Blogger friend Wanda hosts an art challenge each week. Daisy is the subject this week! :) I can't wait to see the drawings and paintings when I get back :)

Tomorrow is camp, so obviously I will not be posting until I'm back on Friday. That is, except for Thursday's scheduled post. Check it out then.
Have a great week everyone! :)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Just an Update


Hellooo...

I didn't get to go to the schooling yesterday. I would have been able to, but there was no one to trailer me :-/. My friend who trailered me last time had an appointment and wasn't going, and Jean's trailer was full, so no schooling for me :(. I do get to go to camp though...hopefully it'll be as fun as a schooling or two ;)

I went instead to my friend's county fair horse show today! :) That's her above, on Abel. They did a great job! I love going to shows of all kinds, of course.

Daisy has been a good girl...I rode her on the usual 5.2 mile block on...Tuesday I think, and towards the end we came down a street, a downhill and we came up to road construction...The road is bendy, and before we came around the corner I heard it already, and thought "Uh oh..." and tried to think of other ways to get home...but there was really no way except to go the 4+ miles back again...so I forged on. :P Turned out to be two bulldozers and a roller. Of course, first we had to pass the parked-with-engine-running truck with the flashing lights on top....it was all very fishy, you see. ;) Daisy was a good girl, though. She was nervous, I could tell, but she kept her cool and kept walking, one ear on the machinery and one on me. :)
It is tempting to get a horse like Ladd, (ok...Ladd. Just Ladd. Not a horse like him. HIM), but then I realize that he would never keep cool in a situation like that :P and I'm happy to have Daisy-Mae. :)

And so...Daisy and I await camp in 3 days :) (...and Daisy's birthday one week from today)

Until later,

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Random Ramblings


I don't have anything new to report, but I feel like posting...

I thought about posting pictures of Daisy and I at fair..buuuut...I'm just going to post one. I posted a lot of photos on my facebook and I don't feel it's necessary to post them here too. I am under the impression that people don't care
that much.
This one is of Daisy and I during the reining pattern...I'm thinking of actually teaching her to do good rollbacks and spins this winter. May be fun! If I recall correctly, her mom went to state for reining quite a few times...maybe she has it in her ;)

Notice me, the loser, was so worried about the pattern and such that I forgot to pull the chaps down for that class :P

I did a spider weave pattern with her mane that day ("spider weave pattern"...is there a real official name for it? :P), used 57 rubber bands (one more then 2009 :P) and got a lot of compliments...and a lot of kids stopping and pointing "LOOK AT THAT HORSE'S HAIR!" like they thought it came that way. So cute :) It actually lay flat this year. Loved it.


Other news...I've been looking into Tipperary jump vests, but they were all super expensive ($150-$200). I put an ad on craigslist in the "items wanted" section for a vest for up to $80 or cheaper. I received the phone number of a lady 20 minutes away who has a used clothing and tack shop (equestrian clothing) and had a few vests. I went yesterday (she's only open 4 days a month... :P) and she had two vests available: a flexrider one (which looks dorky, but I would have taken it if I had to) and a tipperary that just came in the day before. The tipperary fit! And, as a bonus, it's red with black trim! Red is our club color, and one of the combos I thought of doing for cross country *some day*, and it's sort of ironic that the trim is black because Jean always does XC in black and red..pretty cool. :) I love it.

Otherwise, camp is one week from today (!!!) and I might be doing a schooling with Jean on Wednesday! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) :)
I'm pretty excited. Daisy's such a good girl :))
I've been using the boots...without the power straps. (I put them on, but the boots were pretty much impossible to get on with the power straps, and even WORSE to get off...I felt like I was gonna pull her hoof off altogether!) I did 2 pretty serious road rides with them, and I love them. Daisy loves them too. She steps much more confidently, and she feels better too...like she uses her body more. Pretty neat.

The horse flies are back again (started on the 1st of August. You think they understand calenders?). I always say they come in August, and here they are. They are vicious beyond belief...I put Daisy's fly sheet on, but they are relentless on her exposed neck. The only good thing is that they are super easy to kill. :P

I received my school schedule in the mail. *Shudder*.... as of tomorrow...one month left. That's a lot though! A WHOLE MONTH! :)...but yeah. It's goin' down soon.
ANNDDD! I registered to do a trail trial in our area (Like ACTHA but not) and I'm looking into doing a hunterpace in September too. I'm happy not eventing as long as I still get to play around cross country. I don't need stadium and dressage :P Not now, anyway. :)

And so...3 days to schooling, hopefully....7 to camp.

Until my next post,

Friday, August 6, 2010

Jumping Bubba Fair 2010 Video



I personally really love this video. I originally had "Superman" by Five for Fighting playing, but it made me too sad listening and watching :( Now looking back, I realize maybe I should have chosen a song that doesn't sing about beer...whoops. :P I can't figure out the way to use iTunes music in videos like this (made on Windows Movie Maker) so my song choices are very limited :-/

Anyway, watching makes me realize there's a good chance that that's the last time Bubba will have jumped a course like that, being judged (and 3 times at that)...*sniff* He was soo good. What a good boy he is. He's super-duper.
Anyway, enjoy.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Magazine Recommendations Anyone?

Any magazine recommendations for riders out there? I currently get EQUUS and had been getting Young Rider but I'm not going to renew...I'm looking at Horse & Rider, and Practical Horseman...any suggestions? Which is 'better' (and what do you ride to effect that opinion; English or Western?)?

Thanks very much :),

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