County Fair is Going Great!

Just a few teaser pics; had a great day on Ladd, and LOVING my mare as much as ever! More details to come. Tomorrow is Gymkhana (barrel racing) with 4H, and Saturday is an open gaming show--then we are done!

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! 

Ground Driving, A Ladd Update, and Expanding Our Horizons

Sunday evening I ground drove Daisy for the first time in at least a month and a half. I wasn't sure what to expect, but. . . she was excellent! She was completely responsive to my voice commands, which is interesting because I don't really use them while riding (at least not the forward commands; I do use woah). I really want to get a cart and hook her up, but I'm leery. . . I was hoping I could find a cart in the area that I could borrow just for the first time to see if she could even handle it, but I didn't have any luck. So if I do it, it would require driving an hour or so away to pick up a ~$500 cart, in the hopes that Daisy even takes to it. So at this point, I haven't done anything more than think about it.

Monday morning finally left time for me to ride Ladd. He was full of it, as seen when he came cantering up to me full speed in the pasture and almost plowed me over. He had canter on the brain the whole time we were in the arena; I was trying to ride my PC dressage test with him, but the trot circles were turning into fights to see who would win; me at keeping him at a trot, or him at winning a canter. He was lathered up and sweaty after a half hour, and I took him out on the trail. He was surprisingly well behaved. I admit I'm a little anxious about riding him outside because when we canter, I always have the feeling that I'm on the edge of losing control, and I hate that thought. Not so on Monday; he was right in my hands the whole time, energetic, but disciplined. 

This is him and I before our ride:

Tuesday morning I took Daisy out for a ride Western. We headed out on a road we generally ride on, but we didn't turn back where we normally do. She was getting bored and lazy with the roads we always ride on, so we carefully crossed a busy road onto a new road. As I expected, she instantly perked up and was curious about her surroundings again. Love that!

The last time she was trimmed, I fear she was trimmed too short (in fact, I know; her sole was visibly too low to the ground) and as a result, she's been sensitive on stones. This aggravates me, because trimmed correctly, I know she (and all horses) can be sound, but being an advocate for barefootedness is not easy when my own horse isn't sound. I've been using her easyboot gloves for every single ride, which solves the issue and she's fine that way, but I still wish she could just go bare. 

Ah well. Onwards and upwards,

Dressage, Conditioning, Summer, Homeschooling, Thoroughbreds. . .

Much good has been going on on my life of late. . .
Tuesday was my last day of school; now I only have state exams the next two weeks (Only two left now). I've decided to home school next year, so the last day was bittersweet. This was Daisy and I when I got home.

My cats are basically the most adorable things you will ever see. This his Gronemeyer:

With his sister Genevieve, lounging together on our patio table this morning.

And then there's Miss Daisy, chest-deep in grass for an hour or two a day, depending on how bad the deer flies are. Nom, nom. . .

We've been riding over to Pony Club mounted meetings every week, which have been fun. We've worked on flat work and jumping. The last two weeks we practiced in a dressage ring. This past Wednesday was amazing! I remember to wear spurs and Daisy's dressage felt absolutely wonderful. It probably didn't look that great from the outside, but as I rode I could feel how awesome it was. Our instructor had me focus on sitting up straighter at the trot and canter, and boy. . . as soon as I fixed myself, Daisy's canter was much lighter and less forehandy. Funny how that works ;)


Tomorrow we're riding in our first off farm event of the year! I wasn't sure if we'd be doing anything until county fair, but our PC group is hosting a hunterpace as a fundraiser, and Jenny agreed to take me along and ride in it with me! We trail cleared last week and it looks like it's going to be a great time. I'm so excited! I rode 5.2 miles with Daisy yesterday to prep and she was marvelous. It was the first time doing the 'long' block this year, but she was full of energy, so we did lots of trotting and cantering (in her easy boots) and it was just grand :) 


I'm going to be showing Ladd at fair next year! I'm going to try to get out and ride him more often from now on. He's a 17hh TB that I was riding last summer already; he's a riot :) 


Until later,

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!

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. :)

 

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! :)

First Show on Laddie!

Yesterday I had my first show on Ladd.
I rode him 3 times last week, all in my own wintec, and he was pretty good with it, and with the riding. Friday we had a club mounted meeting in prep for the show, and suddenly Ladd pulled some funny stunts...Like bucking when a horse passed at the canter...! What's up with that?! He wasn't doing that the other days!

Ladd is an OTTB. Having been a racehorse, it seems he had his ear twitched at least once or twice...and so is incredibly head-shy normally. On a small horse, this isn't such a big deal, but on Ladd...well, if he doesn't want you to touch his ears, chances are you won't get to. So he had some burrs in his forelock from probably July. I had to get those out for the show! Luckily I'm not short. I rubbed baby oil in with one hand, and then standing on tip-toes I reached up and slowly but surely got those nasty burrs out (all the while he acted like I was pulling teeth or something!). Of course, once they were out, his forelock was a greasy mess. Somehow, he seemed to admit defeat at that point, and obligingly put his head down to get his forelock braided...a miracle. :)

We unloaded rather badly at the show grounds...Bubba and Ladd were together on Jean's two-horse trailer, and when Bubba was taken off to get tacked, I wasn't ready to take Ladd off yet. Of course, once Bubba got off, Ladd immediately strained against the trailer ties to get out...on with the lead, off came the butt-strap, and he shot out of the end of the trailer. oops.
There are cows across the street of these showgrounds. Of course they fascinated him :P. I got on him and lowered my stirrups a hole, to get more leg around him, at least until I knew he wouldn't do something silly. I took him in the arena (alone) to warm up. He was just fine going left, and then had to spook at everything going right. Figures. :P The advertisements on the sides of the ring and some paint stripes threw him off.

Time came for first class, English Pleasure. I thought before I came that, if Ladd held it together, we could be in the ribbons. I think he would have been first class, but that at one point he broke to a trot from the canter, and I asked for it again right away, and he got it, but while moving back to the rail he did a flying change. I had to go back to the trot and pick it up again, and by that time it was a pretty noticeable break of stride, and so we didn't ribbon in pleasure. That was ok-I was happy that he held it together as well as he did.

Next class was English Equitation-Equitation judges the rider, not the horse (which is judged in Pleasure). We had to do an extended trot in that class, and after my work on extensions at camp, I could tell that he was truly extending and not merely speeding up. I think at the end the judge even complimented us on our extension :)
The pattern for equitation was really nice: Canter the length of the ring in a straight line and do as many lead changes as possible, simple or flying. I tried to avoid getting in on either end of the line, but of course this particular judge started from the middle and picked me to go first.
That's my face when she said "You're right in the middle. Thanks for volunteering to go first!".
Oh dear :P

I chose to do simple changes with Ladd because I know he speeds up during flying ones and I wanted get at least three changes in. I did a few strides of canter, right to a stop, and then the new canter lead from a standstill, four times. He was so so good! :)
And...we got a first :)

By the time Hunter Hack came along we got in and it was pouring. Ladd jumped fine (they're tiny jumps) and it was decent, but we were all soaked at the end and the ring was slippery...so we opted to go home. That was fine with me-I would have only taken him in the western classes, riding English, to school him anyway. Ladd and I got first in Hunter Hack as well! :)

In other news, I got Daisy's new snaffle and love it. More on that another time. :)
All photos by my mom :)
Until then,

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. :)

Mostly Lopez

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

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

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

This was my lesson group (below). :)

Anddd Lopez and I :)

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

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