Equestrian Team

Today was my first jumping lesson.
I didn't actually get to jump. Or canter. Trotting is hard! This is, to me, a completely different ball game from Paso Finos. What is a diagonal and why can't I get it right the first time? How still do you want my hands to be? I thought they were perfectly fine! Apparently not. Eee. And I thought that Paso people were perfectionists.

Even though this was a bit foreign to me, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls I met on the team today were super sweet, and I was a bit more talkative than I usually am when I meet people for the first time (well, with one of them at least). I love it. I'd love to learn to do this during the week while learning even more about Pasos on the weekends, that way I can be a more versatile trainer.

Now it just comes down to the money. Granted, $40 a week for lessons doesn't sound so bad, but when you only have $20 in your bank account and haven't gotten scheduled at work for two weeks, it can prove an issue. I've been scheduling, or asking, for Thursdays every week for the rest of the quarter, but then that means I'd have to find a different day to have lessons on. Maybe I'd have to do Sunday nights, straight after getting back to school from my stable.

I do know that I want to take lessons over the summer. My parents' friend's daughter teaches at a stable, I don't know where though. I'm sure I could get a discounted price for lessons through her.

One thing that I found really amusing was that these people were referring to horses about the size of Pasos, or even a bit taller, as ponies! I wonder what they'd think Nina is, because she's smaller. Maybe they'd consider her a mini.

Overall, today was a good day that greatly lifted my spirits this week. And now I'm extremely tired.

Day 37

I didn't get out yesterday, I was swamped with homework.

I was riding Brie.
Until my dad put in his two cents. So I got off after telling him to leave me alone, chased him around and insisted that if he knew everything then he should ride.
The answer was no. That's what I thought.

So instead of getting back on Brie, I let Paco ride her. When we first arrived at the stable this morning, Paco was riding Ghandi, who was gelded on Monday (aw man. There goes that horse). Apparently, he was given two weeks by Ray to train Ghandi. Ghandi is phenomenal! It's really a shame that he's gelded now. So I let Paco ride Brie and she did really well with him. She tried her hardest to mess with his head and he calmly yet assertively made his place as boss known. I think it's good that Brie gets experience from others (who know what they're doing) once in a while. It's good for her brain.

Nothing much with Nina. Ray wasn't here this weekend so we didn't get to ride her (or even play with her, because "the arena is a classroom not a playground").

So since Ghandi is now a gelding, I'm moreso considering this other horse that my parents were interested in. He's supposedly a fino colt, 4 years old, and is not registered with the PFHA yet. His unofficial name is Sonador (Dreamer), but if we bought him he would be named Hombre de la Casa (Man of the House). He's in Florida, in Ft. Lauderdale. We're thinking of making a weekend trip down to Florida to check him out.

I'm also getting more interested in the Equestrian team at school. I have a lesson set up for Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. I won't be pushed around by another trainer because I'll introduce myself as a trainer, since that's what I am (in training anyways)! That way we're on the same level. But whether I can join or not (if I like it) really depends on if we get Hombre or not.

We'll see where the winds carry me.

Day 36

What an interesting day.
Brie was still a little stiff. My mom rode her first because she was feeling left out. We both rode with double reins this weekend because Brie kept putting her head up in the air instead of setting it. Maybe I'll continue working with double reins for the next couple of weeks and go back to the single reins mid-March to start prepping for the show season.
Speaking of shows, I can just imagine Brie's delight when she found out she was in a surprise show! A bunch of people were riding in the arena and Ray decided to have an impromptu show, which my mom was in. It consisted of the changes between largo and corto and walking, the usual. The lineup, and then he asked everyone to do a serpentine and take the sound board. Brie and one other horse were the only horses who did it right, so they tied for "first place". It was a cute idea and very effective. We should have more of those, just to keep the horses on their feet.

Ray also talked to us about Brie. My dad wanted to hire Ray to work with Brie and I the month before shows started and Ray basically said that he was afraid of messing up what I had done with Brie because I did such a good job and is trying to convince us to buy another horse. He says that for the money we would be (essentially) wasting on him to help Brie and I when we don't really need help could better be used to pay for another horse in installments that is already trained, a horse that we can just get on and win with. That all sounds fine and dandy, but personally I like a challenge, which is why, out of all the horses that Ray offered for me to ride to test out for purchase at our barn, I'm going to be riding a young stallion named Ghandi. This horse is the most beautiful statue-esque horse you'v ever seen. He's pretty much like a movie horse with the flowing mane and the defined yet delicate face.
I only hope that I can handle him and buy him. I have to wait two weeks for that since Ray's gonna be out of town helping the owner's daughter, Georgina, secure her spot in the Youth Mundial (World Championship). I wish her the best of luck!

Day 35

Brie was a little...well...crooked today. She kept walking at a crooked angle towards the wall. I don't know if it was because she was stiff and it was cold (it shouldn't be, I warmed her up first) or if she just didn't want to work. She's also having difficulty setting her head. Maybe we need to wait for the warmer weather. Hopefully it will bring good changes.
Other than that, let's see how tomorrow finishes off this weekend.

Brilliance

Brilliance. An intense brightness of light.
This is an odd name choice for a black horse.

Brillante - Brilliance in English - is my black Paso Fino mare. For 5 years, I've bonded with this perplexing animal with a mind like no other I've come across. She's earned a reputation wherever she goes as "the crazy horse", but she will never miss a beat (a quality all Pasos want!) and will take care of kids.
She's been excused from show arenas for stopping and refusing to move, even when *sniff* I had to kick her. She's been placed last because she tried to run over a judge (you'd think we'd get excused for that too, right?). She's reared, almost kicked me in the chest, bucked plenty of times, and I love her to death. Why? Because I finally understand her.

It was at the point where my trainer, Andre, had given up on her. She was just "not a show horse, but would make a good trail horse". Hardly. She hates being away from the barn, a result of being acutely barn-sour. So, after a clinic with famous Dominic, I learned that she's just a very anxious soul, and like a human, needs to be dealt with in the appropriate way.

This all happened before I started this blog by the way.

Dominic told me that I should spend at least a half hour making her walk around, for at least a few months, and make this routine until I can feel her relaxed under me. I was vigilant about this, and come the show season...well we got excused from a couple of classes, but not as many as I expected! She's been doing really well with everything I've asked of her because I've taken the time to try to understand her, not to just force her into doing what I want her to, because oh boy, will she fight back.

And yet, despite all of my efforts, people still refer to her as "the crazy horse" which isn't exactly fair. Especially since I took third place at the last show of the season.

And still, despite these efforts, my parents still want to hire a trainer, a TRAINER! A "professional predator", someone who won't take the time to understand her mind and just throw a harsher bit in her mouth, tie her head down, and put on the spurs.
I won't allow that to happen.

My goal with Brie, the entire reason I'm writing this blog, is to get a blue ribbon, a first place, in a class of at least 10 horses. Only then will she show her true brilliance.

Brillante - A History

I realized that I never really went fully into detail about my horses. I'll start off with Brillante since we've had her longer. Her nickname's Brie, and that's what I've been calling her throughout all of my posts.
I got Brillante when I was in 7th grade. I was not too thrilled about her. I was never the girl that asked for a horse on her Christmas list (I always asked for a cat), and I was under pressure because I was trying to get into one of the most prestigious selective enrollment schools in Chicago. How could I focus on school when I was trying to take care of a horse?!

Anyways, we found Brie by accident at a horse fair up in Northern Illinois. We were already looking into share-boarding a horse in a place I can only describe as "the middle of nowhere" because I can't recall where it was. My mom was looking for hunter/jumper horses, just to see if she could convince my dad to buy one, but as we watched the breed demonstration, my dad was immediately smitten with Brie and sought her out right after she left the arena. Just a three year-old, everyone told us not to buy her, she was too "green", she'd hurt us kids (my brother and I). But my dad was sold on the idea of his horse and his kids growing up together (and keeping us out of the malls doing absolutely nothing on Saturday afternoons).

So now we have this horse. What do we do with her? And what the heck is a Paso Fino? Why did we buy this instead of an Arabian? Completely dazed and confused, my mom attempted to implement the methods of training Arabians she learned when she was a youngster, mucking stalls in return for one 30 minute lesson. Brie wasn't loving that too much, until one day, the trainer (who we originally mistook for the owner), our beloved Andre, asked us "What the heck are you doing? And why do you have that 50 ft rope?!" He rode Brie for us, like he did in the horse fest, and we wanted him to train. To make a long story short, the real owner of the stable we were at wanted Andre exclusively for himself and we had to leave to another stable.

Without naming names, that new stable was a DUMP. But we had to stay there since it was close to Andre's house and he had to do something with Brillante and teach us what to do with her since we had no clue. What turned out to be a 3 month deal turned into a long-lasting (until recently) friendship that remained even when things went completely downhill with the stable. In retrospect, we did a lot of stupid things with Brie that could have gotten us killed. For example, I remained on her after a day of full-on rears (which is actually kind of impressive). We started looking for new places when Brie's sweet demeanor turned nasty and she became extremely head-shy. The final straw? We up and left one day after we walked in only to find huge bite marks along Brie's neck line and chest. We still don't know what they were to this day (rats? a wasp? cigarette burns?).

Off we went to our third stable where another trainer was, Juan. We didn't hire him because by then we thought we knew enough to work with Brie on our own, and we did fairly well. Time at this stable is really a blur, and all I remember is that Paco worked there (that's where we met him) and that the owners of the stable we're currently at were there as Juan's clients. Things were okay for a while, then immediately went downhill and we left back to where we started, the stable where Brie was born up in Northern Illinois.

Things were peaceful, quiet. The place was really beautiful, light and airy. It was more rustic and beautiful that I remembered. While back at her "home", Brie had an encounter with laminitis. We caught it early enough, thankfully, and Andre was living on the property so he was there to give her medication everyday. It was then that we found out that Brie is insulin resistant and can't be getting apples everytime we go out or a multitude of cookies or an excess of grain. There was no rotation and we really lucked out with that one, and now we're vigilant about her weight and what she eats.
Aside from the chill in the winter, it was paradise. But since the owner died and his wife was too depressed by running the business without him, so she sold it, and we packed up and left to the stable we're currently at.

So this ended up being a not-so-short history of Brie's moves and medical condition. I was going to post more about her attitude and things I'm trying to work with her on but I'll save that for another post, coming soon.

Day 34

It was super cold today.
We decided to give the horses a break (yeah, even though they got a two week break) and we just let them run around the indoor arena. They haven't been able to go outside since it started snowing and icing over since no one wants a horse with a broken leg. They seemed to really enjoy themselves running around and playing with each other.
Sometimes we all just need a real break, time to stretch our legs without being told what to do, and have fun.
Why not give that break to our horses as well?

Day 33

Happy New Year!
I didn't get to the stables last week. I painted my room for the first time since I was 9. I figured I was due for a new color.

Now I saw the consequences of not going out last week. Brie was fiesty and I had some difficulty getting her out of her stall. I walked her for a long time and we wrote words in the sand with her feet. Just a little trick to get her mind thinking about things other than going in circles.
I also cantered her today. She's better cantering to the right than to the left, so we'll have to work on that.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I have the feeling she might be a little sore in the morning so I'll have to rub some linement on her before I ride just to be safe.
Hope you're having a good start to your new year!