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)

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. :)

Quick Update

This is a picture my mom took of Daisy and I last summer that I absolutely LOVED to begin with. Anika changed it on picnik.com and I love it even more! Isn't it cool?!!

Okkkkkk, Lydia, who owns Stewy, made a blog. She'd love some new visitors! Check it out! http://stewylydia.blogspot.com

Daisy and I are doing good. hunting season started today (just bow hunting--deer) but that means we (meaning I) have to start talking really loud (meaning singing) while we (meaning I) ride and I (meaning I) lol have to wear an orange vest while I ride....

Showing and All the Rest-AKA, Longest Post EVER

Sooo, I'm sorry it has taken me two days to update you, but as you watch the slide show, you will realize it was a BIG job to make it, as I got pictures from myself, from Jean, from Jean's mother, and from my mom. Thank you to all the people contributing pictures, I appreciate it!

So last week staying at Jean's started with the Stuart Horse Trials in Victor, New York, which Jean rode in. It was a BIG deal to ride in, and it was pretty cool to watch. It was a big eventing competition-in eventing you ride in three different parts: cross country jumping (jumps on a big course made of "natural" materials (trees, wood, indestructible fences), stadium jumping (jumps in an arena made of stands and poles that are more destructible and yeah....) and dressage, which is just a complicated riding on the flat (without jumping). Congratulations to Jean, she got SECOND! Bubba was just pretty much awesome, and it was all cool...

On Sunday we went to the game show, which I wrote about, so just look at pictures and that's all I have to say about that...

Monday was an open show, which I have no pictures of right now, and I rode Bubba in the morning. I rode him in an English Pleasure class, which is where you ride through your gaits and they focus on how the horse carries itself. Unfortunately, I was a little more in the mind frame that it would be easy, a piece of cake, so I didn't focus as much as I should have. When we went to go from a canter to a trot and then a walk again, he wouldn't stop cantering, he more like started galloping, and I was so shocked I didn't try hard enough to stop him, and they dismissed me from the ring ("Rider number 50, you are excused"). Well, that was disappointing. I entered the next class, English Equitation (same as English Pleasure, except they judge the rider's form) in walk/trot instead of walk/trot/canter, and we did better. That afternoon I rode Daisy in a trail class. There was a bridge that I had to walk her over, poles, a mailbox to ride to, open, and take out a paper and show it to the judge, a rain slicker to pick up and put down, a box to do a 360 in, and a part to back in. Daisy (in my opinion) did very well, but we only got 7th. That was ok, though, because the class itself was fun, and it didn't really matter to me how we placed. That night we did Western Pleasure and Western Equitation (like the English versions) and we placed 2nd in both...out of 4 riders ;-). Then we went home, late at night.

On Tuesday I rode only Bubba. I rode him in the same classes as the day before, and I got FIRST PLACE in the class I had been sent out of the day before! I was really focused on not letting him get away with me, and it payed off. We got third in Equitation because he was harder to stop the canter again toward the end, so I just stopped him messily, and that cost the ribbon, but the way I look at it, at least I got him to stop! That afternoon we did a command class, and we got third place.

On Wednesday, which there are pictures for in the slide, I rode Daisy. It was all just mounted games (relay races) and it was a lot of fun, a very laid back day. I don't feel like listing what we placed and what the games were, it's too much work ;-).

On Thursday was Western day. I rode Daisy. We got only 2nd in Western Pleasure and Western Equitation (out of only two riders, me and Daisy and a girl named Sam and her own horse, name which I have forgotten) because BOTH TIMES Daisy picked up the left lead when we were supposed to do right...she was having an off day, but it wasn't too bad, so I'm not mad at her (:-P) because otherwise she felt wonderful. We got first place in command class, though! For once her quick, even if they are a little messy, transitions came in handy, lol. We did a trail class again that afternoon, and she got 2nd with me, which is great.

Friday was THE MOST AWESOME DAY EVER! Although between the games I had such a bad eye (it happened on Wednesday, too...my eye must have reacted to something in the air and it burned horribly and watered) I still had fun, and just wore sunglasses a lot. First of all, Daisy is THE MOST AWESOME HORSE I COULD EVER WISH FOR! I had heard that Daisy had done VERY well in western games (barrels and poles) but I didn't know for myself. Well, I rode her in pole bending, and got a 2 second less time then Sam riding her grampa's experienced gaming horse, Joker! Daisy just whipped around everything like she'd been doing it and practicing forever, when in reality, I've NEVER done poles, and she hasn't done them in about 2 years! We won first place in pole bending! We also won first in stake-n-barrel. In that game there are two barrels, standing across from each other about 20 feet, one is empty, open can with a stake in it, one is a closed, regular barrel. You have to run in, grab the stake, figure eight around the second barrel, drop the stake back in the first barrel, and run for the finish. Daisy did great AGAIN! We got second in keyhole, with a time of I think 11 seconds (slow time, I guess). Keyhole is just where you run through the start cones and ahead on the ground is drawn a keyhole shape like on a door handle, and you have to run in, turn around without leaving the white lines of the hole, and run back...All in all, the day was totally fun, and Daisy seemed to like it, too. She was soooo sweet-waiting for the races she stood like she was asleep, but the minute I put her out there by the cones and asked her to gallop, she took off. She listened so well to me, and all I can say is, "Thank you, God, for giving me such an awesome horse!".

Well, I won't bore you anymore. I'm sorry this post was so incredibly long, I can't help it! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

5:49 PM