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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trail Trial tomorrow! :)

I'm Still Alive...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lesson on Ladd, Game Show, and Jumping

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 12th Daytime Game Show

Hello!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hmmmm...Just Some Stuff

Hello!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday, August 15th, Evening Game Show

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

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

Saturday Game Show

READ THE POST BELOW THIS ONE FIRST IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!

These pictures were taken yesterday by my mom at the horse show. You can see more at her blog at http://cdgagudl.blogspot.com.

The others were taken last Sunday at the open show during the trail class. Photos by Jean's sister...I LOVE the picture of us going over the jump. :)

Yesterday I was surprised and happy to see my old riding teacher, Dana, at the show with her daughter Amberlea who was showing and her husband and new baby, Chase. I took lessons at Dana's for 8 years starting when I was 4 years old and the first pony I rode there and the pony I started lessons on (and rode for years--not regularly, but probably once a year minimum) was Sunshine aka, Sunny. And GUESS WHO WAS AT THE SHOW!? Sunny!!! He's now being ridden by Amber, who is 5, and Amber rode him in the walk/trot division yesterday. She was great! It was so cute to see her bouncin' up and down to Sunny's choppy little trot, and she maneuvered the courses really well. So cute to watch. I will always remember those years riding at Dana's and remember Sunny. He's a wonderful little pony.

Lydia (who rides with me, from and older post, owns Stewy) came as well! I don't have a picture of her (:-/) but thanks for coming, that was really nice of you!

They have "lead line" classes for kids who don't know how to ride. They just sit on the horse and hold the reins while another person leads the horse around the course. One of our 4H group members did lead line on Bella and Jean led her around the course. She didn't want to do lead line when she came because we didn't know that she'd be able to do it, so when we asked if she wanted to she said "no". However, we got her to do it and she ended up getting Grand Champion in the lead linedivision! Imagine the surprise--Mrs. I-don't-want-to got a trophy! She ended up loving it and she was very happy with her trophy (Jeez, I should do lead line!). Jean's son, Levi, came toward the end of the show and I ended up doing lead line with him! He doesn't really ride and only likes western, so he wanted to ride Daisy. The stirrups didn't even fit him (he's 7) but he rode anyway, and I ran him and Daisy around the pole bending course (we didn't go off course :-P). My running paid off--Levi got 5th place! A ribbon! YEY for him! :) It was really fun and when asked if he wanted to do lead line on Daisy or Bella next year he said "Daisy" in a "duh"sorta way. :) Yey! Daisy's such a sweet girl. She may not be a fast barrel racer (Something I have come to terms with during the show yesterday--I realized, I mean) and she may not be a western pleasure horse, but she's all-around wonderful. She seems so mean on the ground, but really, she loves attention. You should have seen her a few days ago at the barn--she had I think 5 or 6 people and kids around her, petting her, and she was really quiet. Good girl.

Anyway, I'll try to post on Tuesday...I've got interesting news! But it'll have to wait. :)

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