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!

Midterm Week Review ;)

Bonjour, ma amies! Oui, je prends l'examen francais aujourd'hui. :)
(I know; my french stinks)
All done. Stick it in a translator...or use common sense ;).

Helloooo (in native language)! I should start writing in German...hmm...well, anywhoo. I had midterm week this week, so besides Monday I had the second half of Tuesday and Thursday off, all of Wednesday, and tomorrow I technically have off but I'm going to a pretty longgg choir practice. But ANYHOW, I had lots of fun riding this week! First, we start with a little story from wayyy back last Saturday.

Daisy has a stall issue. She constantly tries to rush into her stall at Jean's farm, and she'll run you along the wall if you don't watch out. Jean doesn't allow anyone besides herself or another experienced adult lead her (besides me, of course) into the stall because she's gotten away with it too many times. She just gets rushy, and it's all Daisy can do to keep herself at a walk. So, last Saturday she was behaving just like that with Jean, and Jean made her walk and got her in the stall, but Daisy was in a big hurry to turn around and get to her hay that she spun so fast she wiped out, no kidding. Jean says she fell over completely, had a sort of stunned look on her face for a millisecond, and then scrambled up. Daisy *strongly dislikes* being seen lying down :P. Needless to say, she seemed a little sore riding on Sunday, but not too horrible. She has also gotten much better about going in her stall, with the help of a chain lead. She doesn't rush in or spin fast at all. I guess sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way ;).

I didn't get to ride on Monday, came back Tuesday and worked her pretty hard at the canter. I've had comments from more then one person saying that Daisy is much calmer this year and collected. She collects so nicely at the canter these days; not rushy at all like last winter. She collects beautifully at all gaits, really. I suppose I should clarify, however, when I say "collect" I don't mean stepping under nice dressage collect (Sheesh...I wish!), I just mean, she's much slower and more controlled. I'm very proud of her these days, with the control and her getting "on" the bit so much.

Wednesday was quite a fun day! A member of the Yautzy Road Yahoos, our 4H club, who rides at Jean's farm received an early birthday gift! She'd been taking lessons on Jean's (technically new) Morgan mare, about 24 years, for a couple months and really liked her; the Morgan is quite showy, and this rider just clicks with her, you can tell. After a bit of grooming and ribbon tying, Jean and I hid behind a feed bin in a stall and watched as said rider walked in to find her favorite lesson pony in the crossties with a big bow around her neck and a sign that asked "Will you be my human?". Of course, it was an adorably sweet moment. I taped it...not sure if I'll put it on here, though. In any case, it was sooo nice to see :). We rode after that, and then went to horsebowl (topic: skeletal and muscular system).

Today was collldddd ( about 12 degrees during the day; 8 degrees currently), and we got a blizzard sorta thing, and after our language tests, my friend and I headed to the barn. We mucked a couple stalls, and then rode Daisy. The arena was loud today with all the wind and snow falling off the roof, and Daisy was actually nervous (which rarely happens). I had to walk her past the shaking and creaking "doors of doom" (also known as the horse-eating entrance) a few times inside before she calmed down enough to ride. I got on, got her a job, and warmed her up and she was ok. When I felt she was doing good, my friend (who's been taking weekly lesson about 3 years) got on. I warned her to stop any time the arena got real loud, but there were no problems, and only one time did we need to do that, at which point the human door of the arena (which is handle-less :P) flung open with a startling noise. Daisy tensed a little and looked up all alert, but she didn't move, and it turned out fine. My friend walked and trotted her, and it was pretty cool to see my horse being ridden from the ground. Two things that really stuck out: her hind end seems to have very little muscle, so she doesn't step under much (however I have been doing the exercises :)) and she has an absolutely beautiful long tail that kinda waves behind her when she trots :). I knew there was a reason why I am adamant about long manes and tails ;).

Also, concerning our goals for 2010 (I haven't forgotten) Daisy can pretty much perfectly do a turn on the forehand to the left, and almost perfectly to the right. Turn on the hindquarters is another story; she sorta does it, but she's confused because she thinks I'm asking for a side pass :-/...And I've been working on flying lead changes over poles in the arena that are set up in a pattern-y-thing (Maybe I'll draw a diagram at some point :P) and she does really well over poles (gets the leads I'd say 90% of the time) but won't do a thing on the flat...any tips?

Alright, sorry this is sorta long...Do you like my new layout?
Hope you're staying warm tonight wherever you are!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!
I'm sorry I haven't posted...I have a lot to say, so I almost don't want to start! SOO much to talk about!
I will *hopefully* get around to it during these next ten days off of school.
Until then, enjoy my card. All pictures taken today by my mom!

Love,

Happy Mother's Day!