Sunday-Monday

Isn't that some sort of song?

Yesterday was not so much of a pony day as a do-everything-else day. I did drag Hubby along to the barn, but it was to work a little more on the cross country course. He fixed the zig-zag fence, the ladder fence, and the ditch. Then we built a new jump. We were going to make it an oxer, but the logs we're using are just way to wide for the level of everyone in the barn so we left it as a hanging log.

heights from left: 2', 2'6, 2', 3'

2'6 for all--they're set on a slope

digging out the posts in the ditch

tah dah! boards that lay flat!

hubby's fancy xcountry knot.

the new jump-2'7

Working with the logs we have, we'll probably be able to make a hanging log at 3' and put some brush under it so it's not as boring, a trakhener at 2'6, and a narrow oxer with some of the 8' thin logs that are a little more pole like.

Here is Hubby pole dancing/ packing down the dirt:

To make sure you get your pony picture fix for the day at least, here are a few of the wild herd that were helping us:

Bentley

Diesel

Benny and Diesel

After slaving away (Ha! Maybe on Hubby's part!) under the brutal heat and sun (it was seriously 85 degrees yesterday), we took the hounds down the the Covered Bridge Festival in Elysburg where there were actually no covered bridges to be found. It was a craft fair sort of thing and we made out like bandits for under $20--homemade icecream, kettle corn, honey sticks, a cat nip toy for the Fat Cat, and way too many dog treats for the girls.

 Today, I rode both Red and Spyder. I had a really fabulous ride on Red in the indoor. I worked mostly on myself today which obviously helped Red go better. My main focus was just keeping my hands picked up and kept apart; I tend to let them rest on his withers/neck and keep them clenched together. I don't know why, but it's obviously a really bad habit. Red went well because of it and was actually bringing his chin in without having a nervous meltdown and dropping his back to the ground. He also picked up his right lead the first time during warm up and even though he broke to a trot during one of our circles because his shoulder was dropping to the ground, I gave him a tap with the dressage whip and he leapt back into it.

I ran through the Novice A test once. I love how much easier it is than BN B! I almost feel surprised when we're done because there's no drama involved from either Red or I during the whole thing! He did miss his right lead the first time I asked for it during the test, but he got it the second time and he did the rest of the test super well. That was definitely the first time in a loong time I've finished a dressage test smiling. Now, as long as I don't psych myself out going cross country, we might consider our Novice debut something to look forward to!

he only made it ten steps past the gate before taking a
nosedive into the hay.

Spyder scoping out Emily.

Spyder (Abetter Return for those interested) was super stocked up in the hind from something that was going on with him yesterday and he took awhile to work out of it. I longed him in side reins at the walk and trot for about fifteen minutes first, then we had a good w/t ride. He is SO responsive to your seat it's crazy. I wish Red was like that! All you have to do is sit a little deeper and he either slows down or stops; sitting a bounce across the diagnol made him come back down the walk until I gave him a cluck and a squeeze when I did it the next few times and he figured it out.

He's the type of horse that really wants to please you and tries really hard to understand what you're asking, but he is only five and he's only been off the track for a couple of months and he's a monstrous 17 hands so if he's still as green as grass.

BO had told me Saturday that his canter was coming along really well, but I have no idea what she was talking about after trying it today. He was a hot mess. He trotted at mach speed for several strides before lucking into the canter, then proceeded to race around the arena, taking advantage of me trying not yank on his face every chance he got. I decided very quickly to "Fuck that" and worked on getting a calm, steady trot to finish things off. After several half halts that would have slowed a runaway six horse hitch, he got the idea and went around really nicely.

I rode him up the driveway back to the barn and he was totally fine. He looked around, but he wasn't tense at all and was very lah-de-dah about the whole thing. It probably wasn't much of a variation from walking back to his stall from the track. Gotta love those OTTBs!

I'm lacking in pictures.

Sorry for the lack of exciting pictures lately. I'll force Hubby into action tomorrow and try to do something exciting.

I did a little cross country schooling with two other girls today (Sarah on Blackberry and Olivia on Kidd). Red and I did our very first drop! I may or may not have let out a little scream the first time down (Ok, I screamed. Loudly. But I kept it short.), but we did it three or four more times without incident. Red acted like a pro, showing me up and making me look like an idiot for worrying, as always. I walked him up to it and he just hopped right down. Super pony!

I also did the bank combo (a 3' jump up to six strides to a 2' jump up) twice. Red was a little awkward and I wasn't much help, but I did manage to stay out of his way and he didn't get mad at me.

Over everything else he was his usual fabulous self. The jumps aren't big by any means, but it's rolly terain and he did a couple of jumps off of cantering downhill.

I scratched Bucks tomorrow. It's just not worth it to me to go out there when no one is totally sure there will even be any BN/N/T jumps available and I hate the BN B test. I'm going to try to schedule a schooling day at Burgundy Hollow the weekend before Plantation to do some N stuff. Sarah for sure wants to go and Olivia is interested too. Fortunately BO has a 3 horse. Hopefully she lets us borrow her truck, too!

If you need a laugh, look under every tab of this website. Prepare to get strange looks for your almost stifled giggling. 

From me, to you.

I suffered through an incredibly boring Montour County Farm Bureau meeting last night just to bring you lovely, loyal readers back a special code:

PAFB2009

Enter that the next time you shop at HorseLoverz.com and you get 10% off everything, no minimum order required. You can thank your local representative for that.

You're welcome!

If it doesn't go through (I've honestly never used it before), or if you need a member number or something, let me know and I'll see if I can help. I need a stock tie by Plantation (need is a relative word--I'm confident it's going to be so cold that I'm not going to want to do my test without my coat and I only have a hunter choker currently) so I'll probably test it before the 29th.

I also got one of the mums that were on the tables for having a birthday close to June 15th. It did not make listening to old men for two hours worth it however.

In Company

I rode with fellow boarder Sarah today. She has two horses: a fat, black Quarter Horse that she used to do low level (Elementary) eventing with, but now leases out. However, I have renewed her interest in it and she's super excited to try it again with Blackberry! She also owns a big, fancy Thoroughbred named Memphis who used to be a 4' jumper but is struggling with suspensorary issues so he only flats now.

We went up to the outdoor to jump, her on Blackberry and me on Red.We kept the 3' vertical, the 2'3" picket fence, and the big xrail. We stacked the tires up another level, laid a single barrel on its side between two cones, and half dragged half pushed the five hundred pound coop out of the corner into a jumpable spot.

I switched Red to the slow twist snaffle to see how he would jump in it. He went well; he wasn't fussy at all and he was very well behaved. I think I'll use it this weekend.

We went over the picket fence, the vertical, and the tires fine. He trotted over the coop, but he didn't feel it was wise to canter over it. He threw an absolute pissy fit when I asked him to go over the barrel. Blackberry, who rarely jumps, showed us up and trotted right over it. Red then decided it was not horse-eating and cantered over it like there was no issue.

sarah and blackberry- i swear this wasn't as awkward as it looks.

BO told me to get on Spyder if I had the time and because I have no life, I did.

eating leaves. because he is intelligent.

Spyder is a 17hh young OTTB. He is as green as grass and not particularly clever. However, he has a lovely trot and he's very willing to work with you--as long as the question isn't too hard to figure out. I longed him at the w/t a little before getting on, did w/t/c on him, then finished off longing him five minutes each way with the side reins on the last hole. He was fairly certain he wouldn't be able to move with them on, but once he got trotting and realized they didn't have nefarious intentions, he went well in them. He's not totally sure what a straight line is, has no idea how to back up, and thinks circling should be done at mach speed, but he's cute and I think with more miles under him he'll be a good pony.

"you couldn't possibly be referring to me!"

Ok, Dover. Get it in gear!

I sent the cob Micklem bridle back last Monday priority mail, guaranteed to arrive by Wednesday. This Monday rolls around and I haven't gotten so much as an email from Dover that they've recieved the bridle. So I email them. At 9am. This morning--Tuesday--I finally get an email back from them at around 10:30am saying that the bridle has "just come into our warehouse and will be processed soon." Really?! A week later you're just now getting around to taking a look at it? Thanks. It's not like I needed it or anything. It's not like it's a $200 order or anything. I can go another week or two without it. It's not like I have shows to do or a fussy horse to school. No big deal. Grrr.

I decided to hop on Red yesterday since there are no lessons on Monday and I would have the arena to myself in the evening when Hubby could drive me out there to conserve gas money. I'm glad I did because he was super loose and stretchy. Maybe he needs a good gallop before shows? Hm.

I worked mostly at the trot, doing lots of lengthening and shortening of his stride. He was actually going really well for him by the end. Usually, when we try this exercise, his trot just gets reallysuperfast instead of just getting longer, but I took a little more of a hold of him and he was going much better. His shortened trot was better, too. Instead of just being sloth-like, there was actually a little bit of umph behind it.

I cantered once to the left and once to the right. His right lead depart was ehh and it took us a couple of tries to get it, but I was pretty happy with the canter both ways. I only rode for about thirty minutes before this came in:

A baby donkey! His owner said he wanted him here to be weaned, but turns out he's not even halter broke and doesn't know a thing about leading. So BO wants his un-gelded, braying, kicking, spinnning self out. But he is cute....

I was done anyway, but "Surprise" put an end to any work. Red hates braying animals. When I was boarding him in Illinois, the BO there had a mammoth jack that he kept behind really hot high tensile fence. Red was grazing after a bath on the grass strip outside of the mule's pasture. The mule walked over to say hello and Red stretched out his nose to smell him. His nose touched the electric fence at the exact same time the mule let out a huge bray. Red went ballistic and he now associates braying to getting zapped. So when little tiny baby donkey started braying from being alone as Red and I headed out the gate, Red slammed on the brakes, slammed his ears back against his head, and kicked out like he was going to nunchuch that punk from across the arena. Baby donkey is cute, but Red and I will not miss him.

Burgundy Hollow HT-- BN

Red. Was. A. SUPERSTAR.

Dressage:

He was a little tense in warm up, but after I worked through the basic w/t/c, I let him just walk around, working on getting him to bend and stay focused on me and not the crazy stallion weaving around the arena screaming his brains out. But that's a different story. I joked with the volunteer keeping us all on schedule that my only goal was to keep him in the arena and we would count that as success. But it was only half a joke with how fruity he's been the past week.

His test went really well for him. He was tense, and it showed, but he was very obedient and didn't offer to spook or throw his head into my face. He didn't get the right lead the first time, but I brought him back to the trot and asked again and he picked it right up without throwing a huge tantrum. I'll count that as success! He also didn't want to halt, but when he did he was nice and square so that was a success, too. You have to take the small things!

The judge told us to ride really deep into our corners for the changes across the diagnol and they won't come up so fast, making the turns so sharp. Good advice, and something I'll definitely practice this week. We ended up with a 36.7 which put us in last (8th), but I was proud of him for being a relatively good boy and he got loads of pats and peppermints.

(excuse the long wait before the test. it doesn't start until 1:30ish)

Stadium:

Red was a monster jumping. I was giving him huge tugs between each fence to keep him from galloping full speed ahead. I don't think his copper egg butt is going to work for jumping anymore now that he's back on full rations of good grain and hay. However, as awkward and fast as the round was, his forward momentum worked in my favor when we got to the coops under the eigth fence and he really thought about refusing but he was going too fast to. The plan was to actually trot up to that fence so he had less of a chance to whip out to the side and runout, but he popped right over at the canter. Whatev, Red! We went clear for the first time and headed out to cross country with loads of confidence and a few more peppermints under his belt.

cute jumper pony knees.

i was just along for the ride.

we went over. sucker.

Cross Country:

He was equally beastly xcountry. The second fence was a maxed out coop, and third through fifth fences were nothing we'd ever seen before (a wide table, a hay feeder, and a bench-like thing) and I was nervous heading up to all four, but Red took the wheel and got our asses over. All I did was point him at the right one and not pull back. At the hay feeder, I actually yelled out, "You just saved my ass, Red!" because all I was thinking coming up to it was, "Please jump this" as I just sat there. But he was cruising right along and nothing was going to stop him today.

He didn't even glance at the ditch, hopped right up the bank, and--from the walk more from my urging than his as it was his first time through water on a course--splashed happily through the water before leaping over a looky, airy oxer to jump clear! Yay!!!! The judge at the water probably thought I was a little loony because I was yelling "WHAT A GOOD BOY YOU ARE!!!!" so loudly as I went through the water and through the finish flags past her.

"i love water, yes i do!"

huge pats for the red pony!

We ended up fourth for easily Red's best placing yet. May we only go up from there next weekend at Bucks!

what red has to say to anyone that thinks they can beat him
at jumping when he's on his A game.

Ride times!

Ride times for Burgundy Hollow are up, and let me just say that I seriously always get THE BEST ride times.

Dressage: 11:06
Stadium: 12:57
Cross Country: 1:12

BH is only two hours away, so we'll be able to cruise out of the barn at 7-7:30 and hopefully be home by five at the latest. All but two people are doing Test B, so at least we won't be going up against people doing the way easier test. I think I'm going to see a lot of them at Bucks the next weekend.

Red was a hot mess yesterday. He was tense, spooky, uncooperative, and straight up nutty.

He was okay with the three others horses in the ring--tense, and not giving me great work, but relatively focused. Then those horses left and all hell broke loose. Red is usually totally fine by himself, on the trails and especially in the arena. But yesterday it was really chilly, the sun was out for the first time in weeks, and all the dead leaves were sliding down the metal roof in a very spooky way. Plus, every time we passed the gate, his head went into my face and he had a snorty prance past it.

I finally gave up and put him on the longe in side reins to try and get his brain back in working order. It took awhile, but he finally settled into his work (trot and a little canter). I got back on him to try to canter and he went right back to nutso Thoroughbred. After five minutes of him leaping into a canter whenever I so much as shifted my leg when all I wanted was a trot, I put him back on the longe and just let him canter his crazies out.

I cooled him out at a hand walk around the barn, then let him graze. Unfortunately, the walnut tree was shedding and dropping walnuts on the barn roof which caused Red to go from the bottom of the grassy knoll to the top in about point two seconds multiple times. I gave up on that pretty quickly since he was too busy giving the tree snorty white eyes to graze.

I hate whe, he remembers he was a racehorse.

Usually, as I wrote before, I don't ride the day before a show. But today I'm going to put the draw reins on him and do some loooong trot work with him.