The Month of July So Far

So many things to post about. 

I was riding Ladd regularly at Jean's for about a week.

My mom was kind enough to take photos of us, as she did last year.

Every morning I went and rode him, first warming up in the arena, then heading out on the trails. This is Ladd's tattoo ;)

Last week I rode him a couple days in a row and had good rides, but then Thursday he completely changed. We headed out on the trails, cantering along as usual, but he was stronger than the other days. I had trouble slowing him down to make a turn so we were trotting quickly as we turned, right into a field of freshly cut hay. He sidepassed madly into the field, his legs getting tangled up with hay, and he hopped on his hinds and spun and turned. He was flipping out, for no reason. I mean, yes, there was hay on his legs, but I could feel it happening before we even hit the hay field. I turned him around, to head home back the way we came. He wouldn't have it; he didn't want to go forward, nor backward. He sidepassed the length of the field we had just cantered up, and I decided to just give up and let him cross the field and head straight home; I was trying hard to balance and not come off, and I just wanted him to stop. We weaved in and out of big round bales, and I tried to get him a job to do in the middle of the field, to teach him that his behavior wasn't acceptable.

I tried big and small trot circles, canter circles, etc, but nothing worked. He planted his feet, and spun, and backed up, and rocketed forward, completely ignoring all my requests. It was all I could do to stay on him pretty much. I finally gave in completely and headed back to the indoor, intending to work him there.

He refused flat out to give me any sort of calm walk circle worth mentioning. I finally got off and found him dripping sweat. It was crazy.


Then he was moved to my friend Katie's barn, where we have been riding together almost every day.

This month of July I've ridden him 16 times so far. I had a riding lesson on him yesterday with Karin, an instructor I've lessoned with a handful of times. I left yesterday's lesson feeling bummed about my ability to ride Ladd. I do feel I learned more about how to correctly ride and jump him, but I realize now that I'm more in over my head than I thought. He's not a horse that jumps just because you point him at something; his striding, lead, take off, landing, etc, must be perfect, or else he throws a fit of sorts. He's very in-tune to the rider's body position, and I'm not very good at controlling every small motion that I make. He's a difficult horse, and though it's been a pleasure to ride him this month, I'm not cut out for him in the long term.


I posted two videos to youtube, one of Katie and I doing flatwork at her farm, and one of us jumping. 
Flatwork:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t40JApHryL4

and jumping:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPI0EHjWvc

I went to my first pony club dressage rally at the beginning of July. I went as stable manager, meaning I didn't ride, only helped the other riders with whatever they needed. It was a lot of fun! On August 13th there will be a show jumping rally 3 1/2 hours away that I had planned on taking Ladd to, but I've decided to take Daisy instead. I'm excited for it! We will be trailering over the day before and leaving the horses in a stable overnight. The jumps aren't going to be higher than 2' for my division, so Daisy can definitely handle it.

This was our club at Dressage Rally: 

I've taken two lessons through pony club with an instructor named Abby who actually instructs hunter-jumper riders. I love her! I'm excited to take a few more lessons with her before show jumping rally; she's very positive and a great teacher. 

Today I rode Daisy with western spurs because she was being incredibly bull-headed. Once I got her through that, she was excellent! I have been struggling to train Daisy to give me specific leads on a straight away, and it's been very frustrating. I was getting the impression that she either didn't understand what I was asking, or knew very well but was just being her stubborn self and refusing to do it.

It was the latter. Today with the western spurs; voila! We have our leads! I'm so excited to say that she totally knows what lead I'm asking for when I press her with certain legs with the spurs on. I don't even need to touch her with the spurs, just their presence makes a huge difference! Success at last. I have a feeling the flying lead change is in the future :)

County fair is this coming week! I will be showing Ladd on English day, Tuesday, and Daisy Wednesday through Saturday in mounted games, western, and barrel racing. 

A fellow 4Her has also offered one of her draft horses for me to show in a draft horse show Wednesday night. I'm going over to ride him today to get to know him a little; the classes are very laid-back.
I probably won't post for a bit; busy week ahead! 

Didn't Notice My 300th post...and thus, 301.

 So I can't figure out how to write above the top picture... :-/ 

(THIS POST IS SORT OF LONG. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT ALL...FEEL FREE TO SKIP TO THE LAST THREE PARAGRAPHS. THAT'S THE PART I REALLY WANT FEEDBACK ON. :P THANKS)

Anyway...this was quite the eventful show. The picture above and below are from the show on September 12th with Laddie :) Love that boy.

I look so silly in the above picture...but it's such a cute, typical Ladd-face, I had to share. :P

 And the next two pictures are from today's show. Daisy was excellent. Truly. Now on to sharing my exciting stories. :)

A short time into the show, we had an accident. The father of one of the 4H kids from our county went out to do a run on his Percheron. He'd barely crossed the timer before the Percheron swerved and started bucking...after 2 or 3 bucks, he fell. It was scary to watch (after all, Percherons aren't small; it's a long way down). once he landed, he was on his stomach, face in the dirt. There was this big climactic second where I was just thinking "Come on...he's going to sit up...he's going to be fine"...but then it passed and he was still completely still, lying there. Everyone started running into the ring, and he was still still, and Jean ran in, with the shout that she was a nurse (which she is). It was so scary to watch. I felt sick to my stomach watching. His daughter went screaming to the ring. I didn't notice, but Jean got over and she says he was seizing; moaning and mumbling. He had dirt in his nose and mouth, and she insisted they flip him over so he could breathe.

They did, and he came to. Once he did, he wanted to get up, but they wouldn't let him. They had called an ambulance, and it seemed to take forever to come. It finally did and drove right in the arena, and picked him up. His vitals were off though and the emergency technicians thought they felt something wrong in his spine though, so they called Mercy Flight, which is the helicopter ambulance. It landed just 2 minutes later in the field next to the grounds. (That is how I got the second picture of Daisy...new joke: it's so hard to get her ears forward for a picture, you have to land a helicopter in front of her).

 

He's still in the hospital now, getting CT scans done. He had a helmet on. This is yet another reason we wear helmets.

Daisy was great at the show. I borrowed western spurs from Oliver and used them...something I have never done. I chose to do it though because at the mounted meeting Friday, she was completely ignoring my leg and rammed me into a barrel with my leg twice. And that hurts.
The spurs made a big difference. She turned barrels much tighter because of them, and had a tiny bit more speed coming home. Our times were closer to the winning ones...Despite the fact that we still only got two fourths and two fifths (but hey--we placed in all the classes! and never last!)

I was thrilled with how she did. I really really was. Twice we were just milliseconds away from a third instead of a fourth or a fourth instead of a fifth.

 On Friday after the mounted meeting I had a 4Her ride Daisy (If you wanna know who, you can spot her in the above picture, in the bottom corner :) This is because...I'm planning ahead. Inevitably, I will be out of high school in 3 years, so God will. At that point, I may go to college and not be able to take Daisy with me. Or I may want to take a different horse. Or choose to ride a college horse, for whatever reason. Or I won't go to college and I'll go somewhere where Daisy can't come along. I love Daisy...with all my heart. I cannot describe the bond between us, she is simply the greatest thing that has ever happened to me (Besides my relationship with God...and being born into my family..blah blah blah ;) :P). I'm so proud of her, and so want to see her go to a good home. I don't think I could ever sell her, partly because I don't think there's anyone who would be willing to pay for a horse that's so angry all the time. But I would be interested in full-leasing her. And so I'm putting my feelers out. This winter, I plan on having some of the other kids ride her and see if any of them like her. So Friday was my first attempt. It went well.  Whether Daisy was tired, or she was testing her rider, or she wasn't sure her rider could handle speed, I don't know, but she was on the lazy side. But said rider did get her to canter in the end for a few laps around the ring, and said she liked her. Good start :)

Onto my last topic. I witnessed someone at the show today using spurs in a way that I've never seen them used. Have any of you ever used spurs so hard that you knowingly made your horse bleed? This said horse went into the ring and, just after crossing the start line, refused to move a single inch. What would you do? Spur your horse so hard it bled(I only saw the aftermath. but apparently it was dripping blood....)? Maybe I'm just naive and I don't have enough experience to know that when a horse is stupid like that, you have to "beat them" like that. But somehow I feel like that's wrong. I was later chastened for taking it too hard and being angry about it. Am I wrong? What are your takes? I've been riding for 11 years now. And I can think of better ways to make the horse go. Yes, the horse did do the next pattern without hesitation, but...did it really need to happen like that? Also...hate to be a know-it-all, or point it out, but said rider hadn't ridden this horse very much coming up to the show. 

The way I see it...why should a horse work for you, or how can you expect so much from a horse, when you have barely ridden it coming up to the show? Shouldn't they have done something different to work the horse through the pattern? 

What would YOU DO? I'd really like to know. This has thrown me off a bit...I'm not sure what to think, but I'm willing to accept that maybe I'm wrong. I know we all have different training techniques, but...that would not be one I'd choose.

P.S. thank you all SO. MUCH for your comments! 5 comments?! That's so cool. Thanks. :) Glad to know people read... :))

Trail Trial tomorrow! :)

I'm Still Alive...

 So I'm trying this new blogger post thing right now...so far unimpressed. Only upload one pic at a time now?! They should at least allow the "Ctrl" option so you can choose a lot at once...but anyway.

I haven't posted in a bit, school has been keeping my incredibly busy. I also don't feel very motivated due to the fact that I never get comments anymore...I'm doing this for myself now, I guess. I happen to know that people still read, and if you wouldn't mind commenting once in a while, that'd be great. No need to linger in the shadows.

Daisy and I have two events this upcoming weekend. Our last game show of the year is Saturday, and our first ever Trail Trial is on Sunday, to benefit Happiness House. Our club's ride time is around 10 o'clock. We'll also be there all day to run concessions and food...should be fun!

In an effort to prepare for the ride, I set up a vine obstacle like I once saw Lisa from Laughing Orca Ranch do. Daisy was definitely skeptical about it...after a few days of working on it, she went through relatively easily. I both walked her through and rode her.

I got Daisy's snaffle a few weeks ago. It's a loose ring double joined snaffle. I honestly have only ridden in it about 5 times because I've been riding more western to prepare for this coming weekend, which I'm riding all western. The few times I took her out in it went well though. There were one or two times where she tried to take off, but I simply pulled her in a circle and stopped her. The last couple days I've been working on her stop more. Going away from home, she can be going at a good canter, and with me simply sitting back and saying "whoa" she'll go to a dead stop from a canter. Unfortunately, going toward home she's not this good. Not at all. So I've been working with her on it, as well as asking her for different leads from a standstill like I did with Ladd at the show. She's good. :)

Lastly...I made the sweatshirt above on zazzle.com. You like it? :) I love it.

I also want to, at this point, reiterate how important it is to ride with a helmet for all you riders out there who think you're above it. A couple weeks ago, Jean's sister-in-law was on a horse simply walking without a helmet, and she blacked out, fell off, and fell on her head. She now can no longer be left alone at home and isn't herself at all. A week later, Jean was out with a woman on a trail ride, the woman on Bubba, and Bubba tripped, somersaulted, and the women came off. She was out for 3 mintues, and now has "paralysis" (sort of) in her right hand and it doesn't function correctly anymore. Granted, she had a helmet, and this all happened, but...if she hadn't had the helmet, more than just her spine could have been hurt. I know when I go to the game show Saturday everyone besides me who's over 15 and no longer legally needs to wear a helmet won't be wearing one because it looks stupid. 

You know what else looks stupid? Brain injury for not wearing one. So invest in a helmet people.

I've only had time to post today because I'm home from school with a bad cold.
Until I find time to post again,

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 :)

County Fair Week Daily Overview

Fair week is over...it was jam-packed. I'm going to attempt to summarize the main points of each day.

Tuesday: English Day (on Bubba)
I was in the senior division for the first time this year. In past years, there was always this one girl who won every single class, it seemed, with ease, and I was sort of jealous of her...or impressed...or felt she was arrogant...etc. She "graduated". This year, I was her. Bubba and I took blue in all the flat classes...no kidding. Class after class after class Bubba and I got the blues....I was tempted to go into a class and do everything wrong (wrong diagonals and ask for counter-canter ;)) so someone else could win for once. I felt bad! Bubba was amazing as he generally is. I rode him in a Kimberwick...and my arms were saved. Thank God.
We moved on to jump classes. Turned out max height for seniors is 3 feet. I've barely jumped 2. Jean coached me over the jumps in the schooling before the classes, and he jumped everything, including the "scary, big oxer"... (we all got cheers after getting over the oxer :P). I was pretty nervous...just ask Bethany, my friend who came to visit ;) I did the two jump classes, hunter over fences and hunt seat equitation, and got 2nd out of 3 in both classes. The other two riders were very good, too...competition was close. Looking back, I guess it's pretty cool that I got 2nd because I always thought my jump equitation was really bad. :P I was invited back for the judge's invitational jump class. Bubba was tired by then (an ex-event horse in semi-retirement; he's not used to jumping so much) and he knocked two jumps I think...so we got last place, but that was ok. I was still immensely proud of him; and proud that I actually got over those jumps---3 feet! It was incredible to jump them. Bubba was sooooo good. We received Senior Divison English Day High Point. :) We qualified for state in quite a few events....we are considering going.

Wednesday: Mounted Games Day (teams) on Daisy
Not much to say...our team wasn't that fast but Daisy made up for the other member's and we placed in 1st and 2nd a few times. She was funny; we always ran last in the relay races, and as soon as the first horse left, Daisy couldn't stand still, moving all over the place. I had to turn and face the fence to keep her from taking off.

The loudspeaker had problems all week...making crackling noises for no reason. It didn't bother Bubba, so it didn't occur to me that it would bother Daisy. Learned the hard way that it did :P I lead her through the barn aisle one of the first times that I went out to the practice arena, and it crackled behind me, and another club member was swinging a rope behind Daisy...this all unbeknownst to me. All I know is, Daisy shot forward behind me, and ran me over. I fell, and Daisy stepped on my ankle, stopped, with me pulling my boot out from under her. My ankle swelled up and hurt. It's still swollen today, but at least it's not painful. Later that day, Daisy walked through the same aisle, and put her head up just as we passed under our club banner hanging from the ceiling...I looked back, saw her ear touch it, and instantly she tensed up...and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before she exploded. Explode she did, forward, luckily not on top of me that time. She was alright, too.

Thursday: Western Day on Daisy
Western day started out with Daisy in a pretty frustrating frame of mind. First class, after showmanship, equitation, got us a 2nd but I didn't feel we deserved it. I guess I deserved it as a rider, but Daisy was being dumb. She was spooky for no reason, her trot was too quick, she was ignoring me...it was the worst she ever was in the show ring. Needless to say, I was annoyed. I took her to the warm up ring after that class and worked her. 8 steps forward, 5 steps back, literally, to get her mind on me. Then the same at the trot and canter. I did that in both directions...and after all that good mind work, she was focused back on me and she shined the rest of the day. :) Each year there's a reining pattern, but I've never done it because I didn't want to memorize it, and I thought I couldn't do it. I wasn't going to do it this year, but...I sort of accidentally memorized it by watching all the other seniors go. By the time they were at the second to last, I changed my mind, bridled, and went out. I had the whole pattern right...except part of it. You had to do circles, and after two circles in each direction you would do 4 small, tiny ones (like pivots) in a row. I accidentally did 5 once :-/ and so we were DQed for being off pattern :( She was so good otherwise! I was actually surprised how good her roll-backs were. I'm definitely doing it next year :).
Daisy and I always shine in trail classes. I worked hard one winter teaching her to sidepass over a groundpole, something that all the horses seem to balk at, and since she knows that, we generally have trail in the bag. We went out as the first seniors to do the trail, and we seriously breezed through...walk over bridge, trot poles, sidepass over a pole to a mailbox, get mail, put back, sidepass back over, pick up a slicker from a pole and move to another pole, go through a "bent" back up station, canter a crossrail...it just went perfectly. We got first :)
There's also a class called versatility. You go out, starting in English tack and clothes, do an English flat class, and then you have 2 minutes to switch clothes and tack. "Pit crews", including 2 people, are at the edge of the ring to help, one to tack and re-tack the horse, the other to help the rider change. Once they change to western, you ride a western flat class and run a cloverleaf pattern. There were 10 people in our class this year. Last year Daisy and I had 2nd. This year, we got 1st :), and a nice plaque. And we got Senior Division High Point for the day again :)

Friday: Gymkhana Day on Daisy
The day started off with Daisy stepping off the trailer with an injury. It seems Laredo the Evil (who kicks and bites other horses a lot) snapped at Daisy on the trailer...

It was a surface wound. I washed it out (to Daisy's dismay) and tried to put ointment on it, but it was too wet to stay on...so I let it just stay. It dried into a scab now, with hay unfortunately stuck in it because Daisy was eating :P. I'm curious...will it scar? Horses grow white fur in when their hair gets rubbed out...with this get white skin? ;) haha.

Gymkhana day wasn't as good as past years. We did get some great advice though from one of the people timing. This guy watched a few runs, and then as I came in for one he stopped me. He said that he was watching and that Daisy is really responsive to me, but that I move my hands around to much and so make her worked up. He said if I hold them completely still and give short, small tugs just as we get in the pocket of a barrel, our runs would be smoother...I put that to the test Friday and Saturday. It definitely helped a lot! Daisy's turns around barrels were much tighter and smoother. Daisy gave me trouble the whole day with taking the bridle on and off because it touched her fat swollen lip.
We had done costume on Thursday as biker chicks. I joked that Daisy took her Harley out to a bar that night and got in a bar fight, hence swollen lip. ;)

Friday ended with me getting the Overall Senior Division High Point trophy. I got it for junior last year. It means we accumulated the most points for the week (points are accumulated based on placings in class...the better placing, the more points). I'm so proud of Daisy-Mae! :) We were also published in the paper again on Friday, with the same article. :)

I also got to ride a draft on Friday...eek! It was comparable to the lake swim-SO. FUN. It was "bareback", but with harness everywhere...I got her to canter a few times, but I was swinging my legs out and hitting her in the side just like a little kid trying to get the lazy lesson pony to trot. So funny! They are SO SMOOTH and very light in the hands-I was surprised!

Saturday: Open Game Show on Daisy
This game show was fun, as it is each year. They do some really unique patterns, which is nice, and sit-a-buck (we got 3rd this year). Daisy actually got 1st once, in Quadrangle barrels! I was SO proud! ;) Her turns remained tight and quick. The rider teacher that I had from the time that I was 4 'till I was 12 was there, her daughter showing the pony I started out on way back then. It was pretty cool to see the little pony going. :) I did pick-up race on Daisy with Sara, from our club. I also did pick-up, as the pick-up person, with a friend of mine and her draft mare(that I rode Friday). Pick up requires one person to ride down to the end of the ring and let another person waiting at the end swing up behind them in the saddle, and then race back riding double. It was a riot doing it with the draft! We actually placed 5th out of 9, too :) Daisy was a really good girl as the pick-up pony, too.
I did ribbon race, too, with three different partners (racing around the ring to the timer holding a ribbon between two horses; not letting it break or fall). I did it paired with Lydia (on Stewy), and my friend and her draft, and Jean on Bubba. Going with the draft was funny; I put Daisy next to it, and Daisy sort of turned her head away standing there like "Oh man...I'm not even gonna look." :P Daisy ran the fastest I think she's ever ran with me on her when we did ribbon with Bubba and Jean...she was HAUL.ING. Crazy!
It was a really fun open show...definitely the best of the year. :)

Daisy got today off. She's exhausted.
I'm going to put together a video of Bubba and I jumping...and maybe post some pics from the other days. There are so many!

Lesson on Ladd, Game Show, and Jumping

I had my lesson with Karin on Ladd Friday. That was...just as insane as my other lessons with Karin. It's sort of hard to describe :P but I'll try my best.
We started out just working on circles, getting him to bend and getting me to sit up straighter. Height apparently hinders sitting up straight; apparently I have a turtle back :P. I think I knew that already.
We worked on circles at a trot first, then moved to a canter, and it actually went really well. I thought the lesson would revolve around Ladd and how to ride him better...but in the first half of the lesson I had the thought "Wait...I'm riding Ladd!" because he was so good, we were focusing so much on me and how I was riding, I sort of forgot who I was on. :)
Jean warned me the other day about taking breaks. She said that, though Bubba is known for doing better if you ride him, then walk him a bit, give him a break, and then keep going, Ladd is the complete opposite. He's bad after breaks.
Understatement.
He was really really good the first half. Then I got tired cantering (my biceps are not used to that work at all :-/), and Karin let us walk and rest. We went back to "riding" riding, and whoa...it was insane. We were cantering, my arms were SCREAMING. She was talking about riding "up" not "rocking" with his canter, not letting my mid-body move, just letting my hips move, and hugging him more with my ankles and legs to quiet my body and allow him to canter more forward and "springy" like for jumping...It went ok at first. But then...I don't know. The entire time we were cantering I was conscious that I was breathing in gasping breaths through my mouth, because I was working hard...but at some point it just went downhill. His break made him even stronger yet (such an event horse :P) and we were doing a canter in a small circle, and he just went faster...and faster....and faster. And Karin was telling me "slow your body and he'll slow down, just make your body quiet" and telling me all this other junk, but...I was gasping for breath. I could not stop him. I was trying so hard and he was going faster and faster and I'm GASPING for air, saying incoherent things as I gasp for breath, things such as "crap...Karin...dying....can't breathe...can't breathe...my arms....can't stop....gasp gasp gasp...air...karin....help" etc. Seriously, you can laugh. Of course looking back my pathetic-ness is hilarious, but that point...holy canoli, I seriously truly believed I was going to die...like, just bail and fall on the ground and pass out. And of course she's telling me what to do and I'm not listening to a word and there comes the inevitable "good, that's better! Good" and I'm like "Lady, I have not listened to a word you're saying, I'm just trying to survive the next time around this canter circle, but I'm glad I'm apparently improving". I'm not really sure how, but I guess I did manage to slow my body, because I did get him to a walk again...Karin was like "Melissa! I thought you were stronger than that!" (sheepish grin...or grimace....). In the end, I walked him out while Karin set up a crossrail for Oliver's lesson coming up...or so I thought. I'm all relaxed, cooling out, breathing through my nose again, and she says "Ok, pick him up to a trot again and take him over the crossrail".
She just had to be kidding me.
I'm thinking along the lines of: if he's strong on the flat, I do NOT want to experience a jump on him quite yet.
I was like "Yeah I talked to Jean. She was like 'I will be seriously jealous if you're the first to jump him' ". Karin was like "Oh it's fine, just take him over."
Oky-dokey then.
He was great jumping. He stayed to a trot. He didn't rush the fence, and he cantered after but came back down fairly easily. We jumped it four times (!) ( ;) :P) and I'm still alive to tell the tail. It was a tiny jump, but he rounded really nicely over it :) Good boy.
So it ended on a good note. Of course, I was sore, Sore, SORE the next morning...my left calf still hurts to the touch, and I have a blister all up the middle part of my right hand ring finger :P. And my shoulders killed (it's seriously so hard to keep them rolled back :-/ )
I'm going to ride him again tomorrow and Thursday.....my official last exam was today and I'm free!!

So onto my pony, who is just absolutely amazing and such a great ride compared :P (I do really like riding Ladd....Daisy's just simple(r) all the time :P)

We went to an evening game show with our 4H club on Saturday, but had a practice mounted meeting the night before. We practiced games, and pick-up race, where you race down the end of the ring, pick up another rider, and race back. I practiced with Sara from our club (You don't know our club so I don't have to specify which sara; there are 3 :P). She sat behind Daisy's western saddle and rode around walk and trot...I told her she couldn't leave without trying a canter "Fine...ONE STRIDE" (easier said than done, haha :P) We went into the canter, and ended up doing it way more than one stride :P Daisy was really awesome for it. She wasn't phased at all :)

Game show went well...Didn't end until just before midnight (starting at 5) and that was with one event scratched, but Daisy was good. We actually placed (!!!) 5th in Keyhole which was a big deal because we NEVER place, and we didn't even get last place! (I think there were 10 people in the division). We didn't place in poles (pictures below). We were doing really well, but she was so into gamer-mode, she turned and skipped the second pole of the weave...so we had to go back and do it (that's why she's on such an angle below) and lost time.
We did quadrangle barrels and she was AWESOME. I really think we should have placed; she had neat, tight turns, and a lot of speed...cloverleaf was our last event and I didn't push her, we didn't place; no surprise. It was a lot of fun though :) and I really think the vinegar is making a difference.

Then yesterday I jumped her in Jean's arena...stadium jumps on her are really disappointing...she definitely jumps XC way better....simply because the she takes the jumps seriously. She just blows off stadium :P So there's the video below....I know I really shouldn't two point so much...or at all...it's just so habit, and I need more time jumping to force myself not to do it.

Also, does anyone have any experience clicker training horses? It looks like fun; just want some input.

Colic, Dentist, and Upcoming Show!

Hello! Sorta-long-ish time no post!

Some of you who commented last time...I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to your blog! I'm busy, and forgetful :P I'll try when I'm done writing this.

So to update you...well, again, I'm forgetful so I'm probably forgetting to write something. Riding has been uneventful. The last two weeks I haven't really paid any attention to Daisy's leads, I let her do what she wanted out on the road rather than fight her all the time. I think that was a good thing, because when I rode yesterday, she actually listened to my cues for leads! That never happens. NEVER on a straight-away do I touch her left outside and actually get a right-lead canter on the first try, without sidepassing. And I did yesterday. AND we went for a real gallop, and she felt amazing; very controlled, but fast.

My friend came on Saturday and rode Daisy...she was good until we got to the point where we normally gallop. And she didn't want to walk. :P Bethany did a good job handling her...and could have got her through but I didn't wanna wait :P. Of course, once I got on, she got her butt in gear. She's smart, that horse.

Our first game show of the year is Saturday! I am frankly not feeling ready...not that it matters. I just feel sorta bad that I'm not riding much western but will show western on Saturday...heavy saddle and all. I've only ridden western one other time (I think...) since the last western-riding-picture post. Lydia will be joining our club at the show! :)

Daisy's dentist came today. Which brings me to the question. Should you have horse's teeth floated yearly, *even* when they're "young"?
I think you should. Because it's not like they don't grow when they're young. It's not like they can't have problems when they're young. Why wait until they have an issue? I'm for prevention. :) Plus Daisy likes it; she leans into it ;). And I feel better about her. Some horses will ride, while in pain, and seem to be fine, because they're good little ponies. Others may have issues that may seem behavioral...but could just be caused by pain because their teeth are too long. Yes, older horses might need more dental work because their teeth are "old", but they can essentially have the same problems as young horses. Age shouldn't be a deciding factor (in my opinion) So I wanna know; what do you think? Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to know. Also, do you think people can still do a good job floating teeth without using one of these thingys to hold their mouth open? Mine doesn't use one, but he looked in her mouth today with a light on his head....sooo...just wondered.

And moving right along to...my new Tuffrider APPLE GREEN SADDLE PAD! :D I love it. I got it at Horseloverz.com. Which I linked in the sidebar ---> there but I wanted to point it out again. I LOVE that store. They claim they ship in "one day" and they used to ship really fast, but they don't seem to anymore...which is a bit of a shame, but it's ok. I got three bags of Nicker Snacks treats for free with the order. I can say I have first-hand experience with their customer "live chat" feature and it works very well. :) So just had to plug there.

And there's my bug! I took all these photos with my cellphone...I think they're decent! I'm not sure currently where I put my camera because I cleaned out my room and had it sort of re-done, and it's in one of my boxes...I'll find it tonight...maybe.... ;).

And this was taken just today of Daisy grazing.

OH! I remember now what I needed to post!
Daisy coliced. TWICE last week. The first time, Tuesday, was minor; not very worrisome. Thursday, it was bad. I went to go to Bible Study at night, and noticed she was pawing and not eating...again. My dad updated me while I was gone and after an hour said she was lying down in her stall...which was unusual. And my brother had seen her pawing. So I went home. After walking up and down the driveway a few times, I let her in her stall for a moment. About a minute after she went down and rolled. I was not happy. That's not a good sign. She's never been in enough pain to roll. So I made the decision and gave her a dose of banamine and walked some more. The eerie thing was that while walking, she was in a really good mood, the entire time. But as soon as we stopped, she pawed. So I guess the walking eases the pain...

I discussed it with various people on facebook. Some brought up grass. That can't be it because I'm slowly getting her used to it...she's only on for about a half hour a day right now. And Tuesday she hadn't even grazed. Another said lack of water...but she seems to drink a lot. I'm not sure if it's just coincidence, but Daisy's never been colicy at Jean's...there she's in a dirt paddock with no trees near her.

So I'm thinking it's leaves. There are no more red maples in her pasture, but there are sugar maple leaves...The other thought is that she went into heat on Friday after colicing....soooo...it may be a heat thing. I've never heard of other mares colicing when they go in heat, but it seems possible. Since Thursday, she's been fine. On grass and everything.

So that was my "big news".

Daisy goes to Jean's on Thursday. YRY mounted meeting Friday <3>

Until then (probably),

Nothin' Much

Hello, bloggers!
I'm all for quick posts lately... :P

Daisy got her rabies shot and her blood drawn for coggins yesterday...and was ridden by another student, who really enjoyed her :)

Today we had our first club mounted meeting of the year. She felt a little funny....stiff...but I blamed it on her neck, which was really sore from the rabies shot (she cowered in the corner of her stall; shook each time my hand got near her neck. Poor baby!) She felt decent at the walk and trot. Go to canter, and she really felt strange...She didn't want to collect, or go on the bit...and she had moments where I felt like I had no hind legs under me...like she was changing leads in her hinds. One time it was obvious enough that Jean said "Wow, she looks really off" and suggested I rest her so I did...we didn't really canter after that. We did some barrel patterns, but Daisy and I just trotted. At the end, I took the ring to myself and did an easy canter around and she seemed ok again...so I'm not sure what that was all about. Maybe she's still recovering from the swelling?

I ride her one more time at Jean's tomorrow and then she comes home. Jean had a new water crossing put in, and I want to try to cross it before I head home :). Should be fun...it's big enough that Daisy won't have the option to jump it...so that'll be interesting. Maybe I can film it-we'll see :)

And that's the video of her rolling like a pig. ;) She really dirtied up her fly mask. I thought it'd be fun to add.

Otherwise...I have nothing to report, but that our first game show is May 8th! Time to pull out the western tack... :)

September 12th Daytime Game Show

Hello!

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the game show today yet...I should have some next week.
I got to the barn just after 7:30 this morning, groomed Daisy so she was nice and clean, put on her SMB3 boots. I loaded her in the trailer, in the middle stall of the part that requires backing in the trailer...she was great! We recently took out a wall in the trailer, so it was sooo much easier to back her in. I didn't have my camera with me (I also forgot money and food this morning...yeah, school is making me lose it :P) , otherwise I would have shown you how adorable Daisy was with two "boyfriends", Scout and Phoenix, next to her :P. The got along great; when we were at the show grounds and about to unload, Daisy started eating dangling pieces of hay out of the boy's mouths! LOL so cute! She seemed to think they were hay nets :).

I tacked up, warmed up, and started out...for the first time this season, we got through a flour-pattern keyhole without being disqualified! YEY! And our time was decent!

Daisy was pretty great in all the classes...we weren't really more then about 3 or 4 seconds off at the most from the person who got the majority of the winning times...we got 4th out of 5 most of the time, although once we got 1st in Straight Line because people knocked barrels (Daisy nicked practically EVERY barrel, it was pure chance that they didn't fall over)...The best part of the time was the Mystery Event, which turned out to be ribbon race...Last year, I did ribbon race around this time with a girl named Jamie, who borrowed a friend's horse for the event as her's was out of commission...Coincidentally, the girl who actually owns the horse from last year, asked me to go with her today because she didn't have a partner...so for her turn, I was her partner, and we did well, it was fun. Then for my turn, Jean was my partner, and for her's, I was her partner. I wish I could have taped us. We had a BLAST.

Whoops, gotta back up a little...Jean decided to retire Bubba from eventing this year after his jumping became considerably worse then usual, and she's realized he's outgrown eventing. He's now a pleasure horse that she's going to use for advanced lessons, and for open shows. Jean decided to take back what she always said about never riding Bubba western, and is now riding him western sometimes, neck reining. He's picking up on it fast, through a lot of leg yielding, and Jean decided yesterday to bring him to the game show today, riding English.

Now back to ribbon race. Jean and I got in the ring, me on the outside, and we were off; holy cow. We were insane. Bubba and Daisy were galloping full speed, no stopping them, it was INCREDIBLE! SOOO fun! First time, we got around in 12 seconds something....second time, Bubba was so "jacked up" that he was hard to steer, so he started to run from Daisy, and before I could catch up, the ribbon broke...but it was still fun. Daisy really liked it; I could tell. :)

So the show was worth it...next up, Hunterpace and pleasure show on Jan. :)

Hmmmm...Just Some Stuff

Hello!

I've officially started school again, so I probably won't be posting as often, as I'll be busy with school work :-/

Daisy was trailered to Jean's house yesterday because of a pretty busy two weeks that I have ahead of me. Today, the Yautzy Road Yahoos had a pre-game show mounted meeting (yey!). We worked on pattern's in Jean's arena; lots of fun. Saturday (tomorrow), we have an all-day game show. It's one of the best of the year; unlike the evening game show from a few weeks ago, this one is the best. It has a TON of events; keyhole, cloverleaf, pole bending, straight line, Texas T, ribbon race, can race, etc, etc, etc...very fun. :)

Saturday in a week (the 19th) is a special day; Jean and I are going to our *first* hunter pace! Neither of us have ever gone, so for the first time, she's taking just me :)...though we did invite our vet, who also events...we'll see. Next year we'll add a few club members. It's a 6 mile ride with optional jumps up to 2'6". I'm so excited! We're going to use red saddle pads, shirts, etc, and head out...yey! Daisy isn't the greatest at jumping (understatement), but it will still be fun.

I rode Daisy bareback alone through the woods yesterday at Jean's house...we jumped a log jump a few times; it's not super big, but it is a jump. She felt AWESOME! She has a tendency to either run-out on a jump at the last minute, or jump very flat. She did neither! She went over the jump really well; it really feels like you're soaring, especially bareback. :P

For your enjoyment, I've attached two pictures of us jumping in a trail class...last fall, then this spring :P

*Snort* in the second one, I'm just sitting there, doing nothing....looks quite funny.

The mounted meeting today was a BLAST!
I got on Daisy, western, and found right away that she was SUPER hyper...I wasn't sure why; I had ridden her the day before, so it was kinda weird...I jumped her out back on the trail a little again, galloped a stretch...and she was still "bouncing off the walls" when we got in the arena. The meeting was fun; just 7 of us on horseback, not too crowded, and we did some pleasure-stuff, then mounted games. Daisy was a ROCKET. SUPER DUPER fast. She was a crazy cantering, flying lead changing, hot barrel racer....crazy. While we'd wait to go again, I started sitting Indian-style on the saddle...something we've all taken to doing when we're riding, especially waiting for classes at shows...at some point, I ended up standing up straight on Daisy's rump! I should get a picture...it's SO funny. I drop the reins, and she stands fine as always, and I stand up slow on her back. Then I sat on her rump and slid back and forth; she just turned her head with a look on her face that clearly said "You're insane, I knew it" but she didn't move.

Later on, everyone was practicing for pick-up race, where one rider stands at the end of the arena, and a mounted rider rides up to the other one, swings them on the horse's back, and they race double back to the finish...the kids in our club only trot home, but it's still fun...I'd never done it with Daisy because I didn't think she'd stand it. I decided to try. I sat back behind the saddle, on the rump, and leaning forward, walked around, then trotted, then cantered around; she didn't bat an eye. Her ears were pinned, but they are 90% of the time, so that doesn't mean anything...she couldn't care less. I had Oliver go to the end of the ring, and I rode over, picked him up, and we walked and trotted double; Daisy didn't care.
Looks like I can enter a pick-up race with her, after all!

I went to feed Daisy after the meeting and was surprised to find Daisy's breakfast grain still in the scoop...uh oh. :P Jean mixed up one container with another and Daisy got I think 1 1/2-2 quarts of sweet feed! AHH! She's on almost no sweet feed right now; mainly crimped oats and sunflower seeds...so no wonder she was so hyper! :P Evidentally, she was fine, though, because she still handled riding double and me standing on her!

I'm so proud of my pony...she may not be purebred, or super impressive at shows, but she's so agreeable...she has the perfect balance of patience, spunk, and brains :P. I couldn't ask for a better horse. :)

Saturday, August 15th, Evening Game Show

Daisy and I went to another game show (Gymkhana) on Saturday evening! We had a BLAST. It was an evening game show, started at 5 pm...we finished I think around 9:30 or 10pm. It's been really hot here this week, so it was nice that it was a little later in the afternoon when it was starting to cool down. Daisy was great; better even than at fair, I think. We didn't actually win any great ribbons (so much so that I didn't bother to pick up the ones I did win :-P) but we had so much fun, and that's what counts. She was SO fast; watch that gallop back on the video up there! What a little race pony I have :-P. She LOVES the games; she really does. Unfortunately, I didn't have it filmed, but our cloverleaf pattern was great this time; normally we aren't that great at clover, Daisy doesn't seem to like it, and we end up doing the majority of it at a trot. Not so on Saturday! She kept up a good canter the whole way, a fast one, and even did lead changes. When we turned to race home, she went ALL OUT. She was hauling like crazy; I don't think she's ever galloped like that before! :-P

Be sure to watch her lead changes in the video up there, on our first line weaving :)...and I thought she'd never do that!

Horse Blogger's Meme

So we all love horses. First of all give us the name, age, gender, breed, height and markings of one of your horses. This can be a horse you ride, a horse you own or one you owned.

Name: Miss Daisy-Mae (Daisy)
Age: (On August 19) 11
Gender: Mare
Breed: Quarter horse/thoroughbred cross
Height: 14.2 hands
Markings: Socks on hinds and sock on left front, and crooked blaze w/ snip...her blaze looks like a penguin :-P

We need a visual of that horse. How about a picture standing still and a little description or story to go with it.

This is Daisy on her first day at our farm...or, rather, the first day our farm ever had a horse :-P. Originally, her fence had metal T-posts, but after a week they were replaced with wood posts, and part of her pasture was sectioned off for grazing. The picture above is her in the place where now there are two grass pens...every year she was fine int he pens, but this year she's been colicky each time she went in them...so now I can't let her graze there anymore and I have empty pens sitting there :-/

Now that we have seen a pic how about one of clip clop being ridden. Tell us about the picture.

I look so young in this picture! The first summer I had Daisy I didn't show, so I just had her as a fun backyard trail horse. I rarely do the above anymore; ride in shorts, bareback. I only ride bareback a lot in the winter; summer she's too sweaty. The first summer, I'd ride her in the morning or afternoon, and then in the evening, around 7, after dinner, I'd hop on her bareback and go for our "after-dinner ride" down the driveway...


Show us a head shot and a short story of a time with your horse. Doesn't have to be related to the picture.

Daisy LOVES to beg for treats...she can be food aggressive, but when out of her stall in cross ties she behaves for treats. She's not all "up in your face" pushy for treats. She stands there, stretches her neck out but doesn't move, puts her eyebrows up REALLy high, wiggles her lip, and waits for the treat. She tries to make herself look really cute. But she doesn't push you around; if she did, I'd NEVER hand-feed her, because that just BUGS me.


Horse have any bad habits?

There are miniature ponies that live down our street. Daisy knows that. So she's always trying to get down to see them. This year, my last ride before she got picked up for fair, I tried to ride her left off our driveway onto the road(the ponies are to the right). She told me she didn't want to, but she stepped out. But just a few houses down, she stopped. She does that sometimes; she'll go from walking along to just stopping and not budging. No matter what. Normally, I give her a smack, and eventually make her go foreword; I don't let her just turn around. But where we were stopped that day we happened to be in front of a house with kids playing in the front yard, and they were watching me and Daisy. So I feebly tried to give her a smack, but I didn't want the kids to think I was being mean to her (they were little; wouldn't understand) so I let her turn around and trot past our driveway and go down the road until we reached the minis. Then she gets all offended if you don't let her go right over to see them. So Miss Daisy forced me to get off and walk her back and forth in front of the property, to show her she couldn't go there until I said ok. We went off past the place and did some canter work farther down, and then I let her turn around and visit. The kick? Once she gets there, all excited, she just smells their noses once, then stands there and stares into the distance like they aren't there...I'm like, wow. ANYWAY, the pony she's visiting with above is Jax, the stallion she has a mini-crush on :-P.

A picture of your horse in action (ridden or not)

Daisy and I at county fair this year; one of her wild starts for barrel racing :-P.

Five things your horse likes

1. Being ridden. I keep her alone at home, and if I don't ride her for a day she's sad. I know it. She has her ears pinned 99% of the time when I'm on the ground, but on her back, just walking or trotting along the trail or road, they're never pinned. She's happy.
2. Treats. Apples, carrots, stale bread, sugar cubes, peppermints, skittles, horse treats, animal crackers, etc.
3.Barrel racing. Besides just trail riding (Where she snorts a TON in happiness at the start of the ride) she loves to barrel race. She may have her ears pinned the entire time, but that doesn't mean much; she obviously likes it :-P.
4. Galloping. I always let her go on pretty long gallops on the shoulder of the road and she LIVES for it; she knows it's coming. Her daddy was a thoroughbred; she's definitely got it in her. I haven't galloped her for real in a few days, and today she was really fidgety. I was wondering why, and then it occurred to me that I hadn't galloped her. :)
5.Having her face brushed. I really itch her face with a soft curry, and then brush off the loose hair, and she LOVES it.
Five things your horse dislikes
1.You brushing her chest. BIG no-no. She does NOT like that.
2. Spraying water under her tail. She doesn't always put up a fit, but sometimes she'll kinda curl her hind end in and act offended.(I guess I don't blame her)
3. Other horses near her. She will pin her ears and though she's never done it, I wouldn't be surprised if she kicked them.
4. Tennis rackets. At fair this year, we had to use one, and I thought she'd be fine with it; normally with stuff if she smells it and you let her see it and you talk to her you can talk her through being afraid. NOT with the racket. She was nervous of it the entire time :-/
5. Motorcycles. Those things are SCARY! She's pretty good about them passing her on the road as long as the engine isn't really loud, but she half-reared at the last parade and got really scared because bikers revved their engines. Dumb biker people :-(.

Random picture of your horse and the story behind it.

I got my hair cut about a month ago and I really liked it...so my mom did a photo shoot with me and Daisy and I didn't wear a helmet *gasp*...but she stood SO still when I sat on her like that. A lot of times at shows when I'm waiting for a class (in Western) I sit Indian style on her with my legs crossed over the horn :)

A picture of when you first got your horse.

Not sure if you can tell in the picture, but I have tears of joy on my face because just literally 5 seconds before my mom said the words "Should I write the check?" and I knew Daisy was mine. *Sniff*

Give your horse a kiss and tag a few friends

(the first week that I had her)

If you read this post and you have/had a horse/lease a horse/ride a horse, whatever, feel free to consider yourself tagged and do the Meme! Just let me know you did it so I can read it! And get ready; you need a wide variety of pictures! :)

I got this meme from Sydney at http://bitlesshorse.blogspot.com .