Another Year Gone By

2011 is just around the corner... just over 8 hours away now.

So. I picked out some photos that showcase my accomplishments through this year. These are in absolutely no special order. :)

Bubba and I at fair. I had never jumped 3 feet before, but we ended up doing three classes, all including this rather large 3 foot oxer. Was I nervous out of my mind? Absolutely (just ask Bethany, who took this photo). Did I have a blast? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. I'm always going to look back and think the first sizable jump I did was on Bubba. That said, I think that was (and will be) the last time Bubba jumped so high... I'm so honored that I had the opportunity to enjoy  him.

Ladd and I!!! Our first show. What a blast! He really blew me out of the water. We didn't place in our first class out of four, but the next three were all blues. He's really that awesome :D.

I'm looking forward to showing the big guy at fair this coming year!!

I did two schoolings with Daisy this year, plus a cross country lesson at camp in August. This photo is from the October schooling. I LOVE. SCHOOLINGS. My goal for the year was to do an event. We didn't accomplish that, but I honestly don't really care. I will keep doing schoolings, and that's good enough for me, whether we ever really event or not.

County fair western day (and Gymkhana and Mounted Games) with Daisy! We recieved western high point for the day for the senior division (and High Point award on Bubba for English day...and overall senior high point division trophy!). Looking back, I remember our first class that day was horrible. We won 2nd, but I totally felt like as an individual pair, we didn't deserve it. She did everything she had to do, but we weren't clicking. We ended up spending a good amount of time in the warm up ring afterward getting the focus back on me. The rest of the day we shined for real :) 

We did our first western reining pattern, very impromptu. We were disqualified for a minor error in the pattern that I didn't even notice, but I was glad I did it, and I definitely want to do it again this coming year.

More jumping Bubba pics! This one was from the schooling period. Notice I jump everything off center? Yup. I treated it all like an eventer would have...little did I realize it was judged like the hunters. I'm not complaining, we still got two seconds :)

I hadn't really noticed this picture until picking through the CD today. By the end of western day, I was just plain happy, and smiling like a dope :P. We did the versatility class, and Daisy was found the most versatile out of 20 horses. That's m'girl.

I don't judge everything in awards...I'm obviously thrilled with individual accomplishments as well, it's just easier to explain in saying what we won, because...well, they reflect what we can do.

Anyway, I swam with Daisy this year! Three times to be exact. The first time (picture below) landed us with a large article on the front page of two different papers. That was pretty awesome for me because since I'm not on any sports teams, I would normally not be in the paper... but we're covered for life with that article, I think.

And the second time we swam in the lake... we really truly swam. She's the lock-ness. :)

I had some goals for this year. I didn't accomplish them all...but lets just take a look.

This is what my goals were for this year, per my last year's New Year's post:

1. Skills: Turn on the hindquarter and forehand, hopefully flying lead changes.(<--We can do turns on the forehands just fine now. hindquarters still confuse her; she won't plant her one hand for the complete circle. Any tips on that? We worked a lot on flying lead changes, and she still won't get them on a straight away, but she'll do them on a figure eight)

2. Events: Eventing. More schoolings, lessons, boarding, jumping, 3 phase eventing...that will be *quite* an experience. But I'm up for it, and I'm pretty sure Daisy is, too.(<-- a) I sound incredibly stupid the way I wrote this and b) we didn't accomplish it. We had the schoolings, lessons, boarding, jumping down, but no eventing. But as I said above...I've come to a point where I know whether or not I event does not determine if we're successful or not).

3. Personally improve in the english riding department :P and work with Daisy to improve dressage. (<--Yes! And still in progress. We got somewhere at camp with our lessons and dressage, and I truly realized at camp that lessons can be fun. So we called a different instructor, and are waiting on a phone call back. So...hopefully we'll have some regular lessons soon)

4. Do incredibly at county fair, SENIOR level this year...but we'll see. :P (<-- Bingo, bingo, BINGO. First year in senior and Bubba, Daisy, and I made it to overall senior high point. A little bird told me that certain people resent me because I came in with Bubba the ex Prelim horse, but you know what...I was on my own pony the rest of the week, and we still got western day high point. So no excuses )

5. Excel at everything *despite* (because certain people think it's a bad thing) being barefoot. Advance my barefoot knowledge and be able to show others the benefits. (<--Just today Daisy and I were out on the road and we were flying across gravel. She doesn't even attempt to avoid it. There's the proof. Daisy is completely happy barefoot. Whats more, I did a presentation for 4H on natural trimming in February,  and have another one coming this February. )

So I didn't accomplish all my goals. Not for lack of effort though.

Goals for Two Thousand Eleven..oh goodness. Looking back, I'm not really sure what to say. I accomplished so much more than I thought I would this year already, that I could say anything really...  But here are some general goals. 

1. Teach Daisy to truly drive...a cart. Obtain this goal by doing a lot of bomb-proof training style stuff.
2. Take regular lessons! For dressage. 
3. More trail trials...GET TO A HUNTERPACE AGAIN THIS YEAR!
4. Saying this is sort of far fetched, but seeing as how anything is possible considering I'm actually teaching my horse to drive now....try team penning! 
5. Swim with Daisy some more. 
6. Haha...do what I can to keep Daisy from colicing! Which, I've never mentioned it, but....this fall was Daisy didn't colic AT ALL! I didn't want to jinx it, so I didn't say anything all fall, but it got later and later and...no colic! I'm not sure what did it, but I changed a few things this year. She had a selenium block that she's never had before because I read that selenium deficiency can cause colic, she was on ACV every morning and evening instead of probios, I cut her off grazing earlier this year than last year. 
7. Celebrate our 4th year together (wow...time flies!) and have a blast next show season. :)

Pretty humble goals this year...haha. I've done so much with her now, my goals are dwindling! 

In any case, the New Year is 62 minutes away...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mish-Mash of Subjects

Bonjour Bloggers!

Just a quick post..first of all, I've read many a horse quote in my time, but the one I found today (above in photo) is by far the winner. So well said. :)
The photo is of Bubba and I at fair this summer... He's a champ.

I rarely talk about things outside of my life with Daisy. But this is not to say that I do nothing besides work with Daisy ;) 

The picture above is of the friends I had over for a party on Friday... (minus 2). I love the picture is all :)

And above, last but obviously not least, Daisy, standing in the cross ties at Jenny's barn. I have yet to talk about how much I like having her there, but...  there's a picture. :) We've been doing a bit of playing around, some ground driving, some bareback & bitless barrel racing (probably her favorite ;)), some outside riding and galloping...and such.

5 days until Christmas! We all finish our shopping yet? ;) I did. I can hardly wait. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving readers! I hope you're together with those you love and you get to eat lots of turkey (We will be. We bought a 23 pound turkey, then our guests fell through. So that's 5 people to eat 23 pounds of turkey, haha) 

The things I'm thankful for don't really change every year, and I'm generally thankful for them all year anyway, but...they include such things as Jesus, Daisy, my family, and my various other pets. And friends. :) And experiences.

Daisy's been a pretty good girl lately. The day after she kicked me we went on a ride and it was pretty terrible...but alas, she seems to have gotten over it now. I had the pleasure of riding Bubba and my Laddie boy yesterday :) (Note: I call him "my" but he's not actually mine)(I have a fund goin'. You never know, one day he might be ;) ). It was a pleasure to ride both of them :) 

I rode Daisy yesterday as well and we went for a nice ride to visit horses in the neighborhood. We seem to have more and more horses around here... if I think about it, there are 7-8 that we can reach for Daisy to smell noses over the fence. 

We're going to start boarding at Jean's sister's around the corner soon. Should be fun to have Daisy somewhere new, and I'll feel better that, at least on days I can't ride, she'll have the company of Jenny's mares. :) 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I made a video in 2008 for Thanksgiving...it's kind of cute, and it still all applies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXBJ99YmVCA

I'm Back...

 

Hello, bloggers.

I was never really gone...just not at all motivated to post. Not for lack of things to post about, because I had a lot of stuff I wanted to post over the last month.

Here's a short overview (that really doesn't do it any justice).

I've been riding basically only bareback or with my new Abetta endurance saddle (see above) which Jean's sister sold to me for a very very generous price (Thank you!!). I love it! It's very light; I think Daisy enjoys it as well.

I've simply been enjoying Daisy, and getting back to basics. This month included a lot of work on stopping in the snaffle bridle. I regret not doing the schooling in the snaffle; she would have been fine. She's excellent in it now. I've been trying very hard to use all my aids when I ask for the stop, and my hands and reins as a last resort. She's doing well.

I've been trail riding often as well, and have taken her just in a halter and reins numerous times. She's been not quite as good as in the snaffle, but very close. One day I meant to only trail ride, so we went without a bit, and I ended up out on the road anyway because the trail was too wet. Once I got out there, I realized I only had a halter and reins. I took the chance anyway, and she was just fine, even on the road, cantering toward home, I had her stop right there. I've been riding carefully lately to make sure everything we do is a result of me asking her for it, not simply her guessing correctly what I want. Normally, in places where we canter, Daisy knows it and I just let her choose when we start cantering and that's all there is to it.  Now, I make sure she's at a very nice, controlled walk or trot and not anticipating the canter, before I ask for it. I've successfully gotten her to walk very calm in areas where before all she'd do was jig.

Daisy's hooves have held up excellently. This was our first full season on the 'natural' barefoot trim...if I wasn't 100% convinced before, then I'm 200% convinced now. She doesn't even avoid stones now; the majority of the time she'll walk/trot/canter over gravel without a flinch. Her hooves are never bruised (except a tiny spot that we found when she was trimmed yesterday from her bars being quite long) and she's a happy camper. I use her easyboots when time allows; she loves those as well. She seems to walk extra hard on the gravel those days, just to prove how awesome they are. 

I love my mare. She makes my life complete. I can't imagine what I'd do without her. She's my go-to whenever I need a picker-upper...and she always succeeds in making my day. Some rides start out sour, but at the end of it, I look at the little things we've accomplished that day and I'm always immensely proud.

I've ridden over 60 horses in my almost 12 years of riding. There are very few moments where I am afraid on a horse. I realize however that one fear I do have, and admit to, is my fear of being run away with. I'm not sure why it's such a fear of mine. The last time it truly happened (at the trail trial, on Daisy), I wasn't really scared while she was really running; simply angry that she wasn't listening. So I guess a better way to phrase it is, a fear of being out of control. I know they're big animals and I have a lot of healthy respect, and I never let them get away with things. But if they truly want to do something, they will succeed. I feel almost constricted when I ride Ladd or Bubba, because they are truly very strong, and I feel like I lose control with each passing moment at a canter (mostly only out on the trail). I hate that feeling. I know deep down if they took off, it wouldn't be that bad, they'd eventually stop, and I can always one-rein stop. But it still scares me.
I've resolved to fix this fear, at least on Daisy. I'm going to practice letting her go all-out, and then get her back to a stop. I tried it a little today...such a silly fear. She was going full-speed, and I had her to a walk in 10 seconds, tops. It all depends on the day, though.

 My oldest brother and I shared a trail ride together at Jean's. It was a lot of fun :)

 And last Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting my friend who lives about an hour away and I went riding with her, on a delightful draft-cross named Allie. :)

 

Just Reflecting...

I've been watching other riders in our club ride lately, and it just makes me reflect...so I feel like journaling about it.
These days, when I watch the other kids ride, I critique them in my mind...what they could be doing better on the flat, what can be improved jumping. It's making me realize, though, how far I've come, even in the past year. I will not claim to be the best rider...I'm most definitely still learning and improving.
I find it interesting, watching riders who are just starting to jump, to see them fold over small jumps, even ground poles. Just in the last couple weeks have I came to the point where I don't force myself to fold. I go over small stuff, but I stay basically upright; I know there's no need; it just throws the horse off balance when it's small anyway. I know in the past I was just like the other kids, folding over dinky stuff.
This was me at my first real cross country schooling last year (which was super fun):

I've critiqued my jump pics and videos a ton, practically over-analyzing. (Especially this video). In the picture above, I feel like I'm probably putting too much weight on Daisy's neck. My fold isn't very good...I'm sitting up too much but I'm completely forward out of the saddle (I know I used to be way worse but I can't find any pictures...)
Fast forward to this picture from July at county fair on Bubba.
When I jumped him there, I didn't try to fold, like I used to when I started out. I let his body push me into a fold, but not an extreme one.
Looking back on this photo, I think I definitely should have released more over the jump (although this is the second half of it...I may have released and moved my hands back, but that's still not right). I do like that my legs are really far back...I see that mistake a lot, but somehow I don't think I ever had a big problem with that.
And, as usual, I could definitely do to roll my shoulders back more :P

Anyway, I think about this all because I'm reminding myself not to be hard on the other kids (not that I say anything anyway... :P) . I was there once. They'll learn. We all learn, slowly.
I definitely think though that watching videos and looking at pictures helps-a lot.

On the Daisy-front, I took her riding on the neighbor's trails today, just walking because I bet the swimming made her sore. It was very relaxing :)

What do you see that I could be improving? Enlighten me :) I can always use it.

Swimming & Trailing & (Upcoming) Showing

Hellloooo blogger world!
I went swimming with Daisy in the lake again today! We dodged the paparazzi this time and headed to a privately owned beach. (We will not be making front cover of the paper this time. (Did I ever share that article? See here. The comments are pretty ridiculous there too :P) It's been in the high 80's, low 90's since Monday....so it was necessary. Bubba [The Great] went in just fine like last time :) and Daisy reluctantly followed suit. Twice, I took her deep enough so that she had to truly swim...the second time, we swam a good bit out from land before turning around. It was CRAZY! It sounds silly, but it felt like what I imagine it would feel to ride a seahorse (if I was small enough to do so :P). She was plunging through the water, up and down and up and down...the first time, I was caught off guard. I grabbed her mane and just hung on, trying not to slide of the side....so funny! I wanted to get her out a 3rd time to get it on video, but Daisy was adamant and refused to do it....Pictures to come.

I also received permission this week to ride on our one neighbor's property. I went there yesterday for a walking trailride (it was so hot out, but I really wanted to explore) in the cool woods and I'm thrilled with the land! There are a lot of nice wooded trails, and a meadow for nice gallops. Best of all, the start of the trails is very close to our house...just a short distance down the road.

And last but not least...there is a show September 12th. I will be riding in it. And I will not be riding Daisy. And I will not be riding Bubba....I'm taking...LADD! :D
Should be tons of fun...like, really fun. We're already tentatively talking about him being my county fair English mount next year....we shall see. :)

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.

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!

Boot Update, Fair to Start...TOMORROW. :D

Sooooo....guess who was on the front page of the paper today?! ;)
ABOVE the fold. Mmmmmhm. Moi. ;) It was pretty cool.

I took the boots for a real spin today once Daisy was at Jean's. One sounded loose as I was cantering, and it suddenly came off, stuck still to Daisy's pastern...she just sort of spooked, but I got off. It was loose...only on one hoof. (her front left). The trimmer came out 20 minutes later (he was in the area) and got me a 1/2 size smaller boot to exchange for that left boot, and some Power straps for the boots. Bright green :) (He had no black). Otherwise...I liked how she rode with the boots on the flat. She seemed to be stepping lighter.....

I'm going to enter Costume Class with Bubba tomorrow as a headless horseman ;). And Daisy and I will be biker chicks on Thursday. Should be fun!

Until...some other time,

Fair Prep: t-6 days!

County Fair officially starts on Tuesday! Tuesday is English day, on Bubba, Wednesday is mounted games on Daisy (the rest of the week is on Daisy), Thursday is Western Day, Friday is Gymkhana...
Jean and I are discussing doing costume classes with the horses...I wanna dress Daisy and I up as biker chicks...any suggestions as to how to do that? Or what music to play (as we gallop around the ring)? I wanna dress up in all black, and her too....makes me wish I had a black quarter sheet ;)

I've also been working with her walking (and trotting) over a tarp...The first day, I started out over a blanket, then progressed to a folded up, 1 ft wide tarp, and made it wider and wider as she got comfortable...but when it was full sized, after walking over it a few times, I had her stop in the middle and I let her smell it, and she flipped...back to square one. I took her back to the blanket, and she was skeptical, but went over and we ended on that good note...I went back the other day and did it all over again... She's alright with it, but you can tell she's not comfortable. One time she'll walk over, the next she insists on rushing over. If I ask her to stop, she'll either stop, and then shift all her weight back and suddenly shoot backwards, or she'll stop and walk over fine...it's always different. I've been using food rewards for each good step she takes...but she's still not totally comfortable. The only thing I can think is that at least if it were to come up to a tarp in a trail class, I could probably handle walking her over...but not if we need to stop in the middle ;) :P.

So...I would love suggestions for the costume class Thursday... ;)

P.S. We sent pictures of our lake swim to the paper...and a reporter emailed and said that our swim was legal, but they brought the subject up before a city meeting to decide whether or not an amendment should be made to ban the swimming...I don't know yet what the outcome was. But we'll be in the paper with an article and interview :) Daisy goes public. haha

First Swim in the Lake!

Yesterday was absolutely a blast...Jean and I took Bubba and Daisy to the lake and went swimming! It was SO FUN!
They were both a little unsure about it to start off...but once Bubba took the brave plunge, Daisy followed suit. The place where we went in got deeper very gradually, so to be able to truly swim we would have had to go pretty far out...so we only "waded". That was fine with me! I got pretty wet :) Once we were in, I think the horses liked it a lot. Daisy was so good! It was truly really really fun. :D
There are a lot of pictures...soooo....I don't expect you to see them all :P but they are pretty cool. We drew a crowd down there; from the start people were stopping and pulling out their camera phones. So funny! Pictures taken by my mom and Jean's mom. (the majority are my mom's)

Lots of Things in the Future!

Not much has been going on...I visited my friend Wednesday and Thursday, and Thursday I watched her riding lesson and took a ride with her, she on Abel and I on a horse named Willie. It was fun :) I made the video up there (dressage stuff first, then jumping pics and video toward the end).

Daisy went to Jean's yesterday morning in preparation for my horse show tomorrow. I rode her there yesterday and jumped in the ring and she was really good :). She had trouble at first sticking her nose in the air so she could rush the jumps, but I worked with it and got her to do it "on the bit" with her head low and not rushing...so that was good :) Today I have a mounted meeting on her at 2.
I also rode Ladd. Jean's been riding him a lot more now and he was incredible when I rode him yesterday...she's using a martingale on him and I've never ridden one, and initially wasn't impressed, but it did seem to help.
Other big news...I'm tentatively planning on doing my first event ever (!!), probably intro-level :P, at the very end of August! :D Should be pretty awesome...hope I learn a lot before then though.
And on Monday I'm giving a beginner lesson on Daisy...and Tuesday Jean is tentatively planning on going swimming in the lake, me on Daisy and her on Bubba. I hope it works out! Neither have ever gone swimming from what we know...I predict that Daisy will refuse to go in at first, but with persistence, she'll do it. (I hope so anyway!)

Until later,

P.S. I will not be doing a Sunday Stills tomorrow.

Parade and My Coming Adventures with Daisy-Mae

I did not end up getting better in time to take the lesson on Ladd. Jean took it instead and it went well :)

I rode Bubba in the parade on Sunday and he was absolutely wonderful, again :) Such a handsome boy. I took red, white, and blue duct tape and wrapped it around his boots. You can sort of see it on one of his front's the the picture. What a good boy.

Picture by my Dad. (!!)

I found the picture below on my Mom's computer. It was taken just before I left for the XC schooling in May. I love how sharp Daisy looks :)

And my most exciting current news...I'm going to camp for 5 days with Daisy in August! :D I'm beyond excited. It should be really fun, especially since she gets to go with me. We're going to Forrestel Farm Camp. We'll be there over her birthday, too! :) And we have a pleasure show coming up this Sunday.

Daisy, Bubba, and the Ladd-y Boy

Hey readers who I know exist but don't comment? What's up?
(Note: I don't care that much about comments...but I do like to know that people are reading. So like one time if you wanna let me know through a comment that you live in like What-The-Heck-istan and you read my blog I'd love to hear that. Thanks. :))

Quick shot of Daisy...she's not square though. I wanna try to get a level picture of her square.
ROAD SIGN! That was the exciting part of our week. New road signs were put up. Obviously by the picture below showing how close we are to the sign you can tell Daisy didn't really have a huge problem with it :)

I rode the 5.2 mile block in spurs this afternoon...should use spurs more. It was so great :)

Rode Bubba this morning. My mom took pictures and videos :)

He has a trot and canter that sort of forces you to flow with him...so sometimes I think I must look like I sort of squirm in the saddle, but...it's just his way of going.


Unfortunately, I have no pictures of me smiling on his back. :P So I look so forced and grumpy and focused...haha. Oh well.

I rode in the jump saddle because I couldn't find his dressage one...I like the dressage one better. :P I'm not used to the jump saddle.

My first ride on Ladd will be Tuesday when Jean can be there. :)

I absolutely adore this picture. The lighting makes it look great. I love that horse. :)

Alrightyyy....I'm off to bed. Last day of school Monday, plus three Regents the following two weeks...but basically...I'm free! :D
Evening game show (5-10ish pm) next week Saturday. :)

What I Did When the Show was Canceled

The show was indeed canceled due to rain.

So I still haven't had a first show of the season :P

I went to the barn and rode Daisy, and...needless to say, I think I'm really glad we didn't have a show. We would have been terrible; SHE was terrible today. She kept sticking her nose in the air like "remember what it was like back when I didn't come on the bit?! Let's reminisce!!" Which of course was much appreciated. Not.

So...after much struggle to do circle work and get on the bit and get an inside bend, I finally got off and hooked up the side reins....and she was much better. I have videos from my phone but haven't uploaded them.

While I tacked and had my back turned, Daisy squirted in the aisle.
Of course. She's in heat. And was by Bubba and Ladd for goodness sake.
Yeah. This was their reaction (notice Ladd is doing it in the back too):

At least someone enjoyed it. :P

So, note to self, never give Daisy days off. ever. It only makes rides miserable :P

SO! I have exciting news....school is out the 14th, and then I'll start going to Jean's during the week (at least 3 days a week) to ride Bubba and...LADD!
Lets refresh our memory. Here's the handsome boy:

And he's at least 17 hands. And he's 7. And has evented to Training level I think. Jean's really busy with our club and lessons and boarders and such, and asked me to help her condition him...and I totally jumped on it. I think it'll be completely awesome. Hopefully the week of the 14th I'll take a lesson with Karen on him, and then I'll start riding him, and Jean will too...so maybe she'll actually make it to an event this year. He had a suspensory injury last year spring but has been cleared to ride for awhile now.

And now I must go,