Day 218

I have everything, as promised! Here are some more pictures of Nina's cut.

Right after we took her out of the stall. Getting ready to clean it.

Front view. It goes all the way into her nose.

After cleaning it.

This is the blue stuff I'm talking about!!

After seeing it today, we've decided to call the vet tomorrow and have them take a look at it. From there, it'll be their decision to put stitches in it or not. My poor Nina. Maybe the stitches will be out before the show.

Once we made that decision, we played some more, since we didn't get to play for as long as we wanted to yesterday. I did some walking around and Harry followed me wherever I went. We got further with the Friendly Game and he'll now let me swing the string at the end of the carrot stick against him. Next goal: getting to swing the string over him and around him. Then my brother set up the tarp. I was pleased that I managed to keep Harry's attention and relative calmness while my brother unfolded and put the tarp out. He made Nina longe over it, which Nina thought was the most fun thing ever, and my mom made Brie go over it, which Brie thought was the biggest waste of time ever. I decided to take Harry over by the poles that my brother had set up and we tried to walk over them. He walked over them once, but then everyone else wanted to, so we started with the tarp.

Thinking about it

Smelling it

There are literally 90 other pictures of him sniffing the tarp. He was snorting the whole time. Once in a while, but not often, we got shots like this.

You want me to do what, now?!

 The important thing is that I never forced him into anything. Although this picture shows me pulling him with the lead line to prevent him from rearing, I only pulled this hard in times like this. Otherwise I had a very gentle tug and immediately released when he moved his neck or foot closer.

Circling around the tarp.

The final sniff

Stepping on the tarp!!!

Finally he stepped on it! I'm so proud of him. It certainly took a while, maybe close to an hour, but next time it will be even less and before you know it, he'll be able to longe over it like Nina!

I worked Harry first, since by the time he stepped on it, everyone else was already tacked up and riding. He was very good on the longe, no fishtailing, and was pretty calm. Maybe a little too calm. He paced a lot when I rode him today, unlike yesterday. Maybe he was tired too from mentally exerting himself over the tarp. But he wasn't bad. He just needed a couple corrections. After much riding, here is the final video!

Day 217

My mom has to have surgery next week on her spine, so she's trying to take advantage of as much time with the horses as she can. Today she rode all three horses and tomorrow she plans on doing the same thing. I hope that everything goes well for her in the surgery and there aren't any complications.

After looking at some stuff on Parelli Connect this past week, we went in with the intention of playing as many of the Seven Games that we know. I was more focused on getting Harry to play the Friendly Game because he had such a hard time with it last week. My brother and mom were playing the YoYo Game when Samantha's mom pulled in and started talking to my mom. Harry was making wonderful progress, coming in closer to see the carrot stick and letting me pet him with it when my brother called my mom and I over in a panic.

As we came in, he showed us a gash on Nina's nose that we hadn't seen when we came in because of the dirt covering it. It looked pretty gross, but not very bad. He took her out of the arena we were playing in to go into the wash rack and wipe off the dirt. My mom followed. I played with Harry a little more and heard some banging and my mom came in to ask me for help.

Nina was having a fit in the wash rack when you tried to touch her nose. I put Harry on the cross ties and went over to look at it. They were just trying to press a compress onto it to make sure that it would stop bleeding. It looked a lot worse once it was cleaned. The cut is about three inches in length and about half of a fingernail deep, but it's not bleeding. After much calming and talking, I can get the washcloth on her nose for about a minute before she starts thrashing around again. My mom took the hose and just let it run over her nose (which Nina still didn't like) and then I poured some hydrogen peroxide in my hand and pushed it onto Nina's nose. I got it all in one try because the length of her cut started to bubble white like cuts do when you put peroxide on them, so now it's disinfected. We put this blue stuff we have on it (I really need to learn what it's called) and only after then did I remember that I should take a picture.

Not a very good picture of the cut, but still. Maybe I'll get another shot tomorrow.

After inspecting her stall, my brother found that she must have cut her nose on her feed bucket. It was kind of shoddy looking before and I have mentioned it to Paco when Harry was living in that stall, but he never changed it. Well Nina must have cracked it and then went in to eat and sliced her nose on it. I'm just thankful it's not on her eye or her entire face or something worse like that. I am worried though that it won't grow back together and that there will always be a separation. I don't know if she needs stitches or what. Someone suggested butterfly closures, but she'd need to be sedated anyways for us to do that, and if that's the case, stitches might be the better option. We'll see how it is tomorrow.

Once we found out the bucket was the cause, my dad took down all three of the horse's feed buckets (their waterers are steel automatic) and put in new ones. Much better.

We all rode after that. I rode Brie first and she was kind of limping. I guess it must be time for her to have another arthritis shot. I was trying to get her to walk because of the limp, but she didn't want to. So after a while of struggling with getting her to walk, but a little bit of calming down, I let her corto the rest of the ride and she seemed content. Then my mom switched with me and I got Harry.

This largo is the kind that we've been looking for. He is so ready for show in a couple of weeks, I can't wait! He was absolutely flying in his largo without breaking gait (only a couple of times in the counterclockwise) and had a very nice, high-stepping, collected largo. Hopefully I can get some pictures and a couple videos tomorrow!

In the end, I ended up riding Taco a bit for Jane, because it was muddy out and she didn't get to let him out in the round pen to longe, so he was being a bit naughty for her. It took a couple of laps to settle into his tweaks, but he worked nicely for me after that. He likes to break into a canter though. If I were training him, I'd definitely have to work on that, even though his canter is gloriously smooth, it's unacceptable in show. At the end of my ride, John asked if I would show Taco. I sure hope that he was serious! I would love to! And it would give me an excuse to get a different show jacket =]

I really hope that Nina is okay. Please keep both Nina and my mom in your thoughts!

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 4

Because of an unforseen event which happened yesterday, I won't be able to go riding for at least two weeks, which is okay, because after all, I'm not really feeling it. So I went into my lesson today determined to make it a good one, should it be my last if I decide to just not continue after today because of the two-week break and then finals will be looming.

I rode Sunny again. I approached the whole situation very calmly, with kind of a checklist in mind. Don't fuss over Sunny. Make sure to not get bit while cinching. Keep my leg on her. Avoid having to drop my stirrups. Have good posture. Put on my gloves first and remember to buckle my helmet.

Get over jumps.

I can proudly say I accomplished all of those things. Picking up the canter was a little iffy today and Stacy had to give me a crop, but I was determined to do well enough on the flat in order to get over fences today. I got to go over my little single X and then my double X line. I didn't fall off. I kept my leg on her over the fence. We worked together. It was a good feeling. While the landings might not have been ideal, I went over the fences. That was all I wanted. To prove to myself that I won't be scared of it, that I CAN do it, and that if this is the last time I ever jump, at least I will have gone out proud of myself.

After my lesson, when I brought Sunny back to her stall, she turned around and looked at me when I closed the door and came up to the bars to put her nose out. With a pat on her nose, should I walk away after tonight and never  go back again, I feel proud of myself for giving both myself and Sunny the chance we both deserved -- to prove that we could do it.

Day 216

Yesterday we went to the Midwest Horse Fair and it rekindled my interest in Parelli. So we bought two more halters and leadlines and their Hit the Trail DVD (especially interested after last weekend's fiasco with Brie) and set out today to play some of the games we knew.

We went in the outdoor arena because the indoor was pretty occupied. Brie is a pro at the 3/7 games I've taught her so far. I found out today that we never taught Nina the YoYo Game, so my brother spent the time teaching her that. Harry, while he knows the YoYo Game, sucks at the most basic of all -- the Friendly Game! He's just so scared and thinks that when I swing the rope over by him that I want him to longe so he takes off. We really need to work on that before moving on with anything else. It's really opened up my eyes to how much he doesn't know and just to the extent of how scared he is of everything. I didn't think he would be that scared of the end of his lead rope. Although he did think that the carrot stick was amusing, he kept trying to bite it when I would rub it on him or swish that rope around a little bit.

After everyone played the YoYo Game and we finished freezing in the wind outside, we tacked up to ride. My mom wanted to see how Brie would react to her baby Myler bit, but put it under her tongue and I didn't notice for about 15 minutes into my warm up. So I had to fix it. After I fixed it, she was just not listening at all, so I switched back to her bit that she's been using for a while. She never really wanted to calm down and give me a walk, so I had to keep circling her. Then she didn't want to back up straight, so we did that. My mom decided to switch after Harry bucked, but Brie still wasn't behaving.

Brie apparently got a little better while my mom was on her and Harry calmed down while I was on him. He really is doing nicely. We largo'd today and it was fantastic. Just to feel him go with such a difference in speed, the difference we've been working at, without breaking gait was a great feeling. I can't wait to show him next month! So starting next week we begin preparing for the Midwest Classic. I think that next weekend is our last full weekend of practice before the show, because the week after that the farrier comes out one day and the week after that the vet comes out and by then it's the show the following weekend! I can't wait. I hope we do well.

Also, when we bought the DVD and halters, we signed up for ParelliConnect! I'm using it under my mom's name and will definitely be exploring it during boring parts of class my free time =]

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 3

Not gonna lie, I only went tonight because I thought I was going to be able to see my friend who lives close to the barn.
Also, I didn't want to jump, but had a valid excuse not to. I was lifting weights this morning and somewhere in there, I must've strained my neck, because about 30 minutes after I was done, my neck started hurting really badly. So I didn't jump because of that.

I rode Sunny again. Worked a lot more on keeping my leg on her and being effective with leg contact. I feel like I improved since last week, which made me happy. I really felt proud that I stayed in a half seat for an entire trot lap around the arena and was able to pick up a canter within two strides like you're supposed to rather than fighting for about eight strides. At the end of the lesson, Stacy made me do some posting without stirrups...which hurts extremely bad! But I didn't fall off, which was my main concern while posting, so I'm proud of myself for that too.

I really don't know if I want to continue...I don't really care either way right now, even though I was happy with the little progress I made tonight. I know in a couple of weeks I have projects to work on for school and while I normally would be devastatingly stressed over losing Wednesday to work on them because of riding, I'm actually considering just not going riding to stay home and do my projects.

I don't know. I just feel like I'm in a weird place right now.

Days 214 & 215

Saturday

I would just like to point out that after I was made fun of for trying to get Harry to walk over the tarp a couple of weeks back, that Paco and Nick tried during the week and in the process destroyed our tarp and had to buy us a new one. Make fun of me again.

My mom wanted to work with Harry first, so I took Brie. Once again we spent quite a bit of time trying to make her stand still next to the mounting block. Eventually I was pushed away from it by Nick's daughter who took hold of it as a chair while I was in the middle of corrective longeing Brie, so I just went to mount Brie from the middle of the arena. She stayed perfectly still. What a strange horse.

After finally get on, she was acting really nice. She was behaving and we worked on flexing and circle work before going into cortoing and largoing. My mom wanted to go for a walk outside, so we went for it. While we were walking along the front pasture's fence though, Harry started acting up really badly and started bucking and rearing and my mom almost fell off...so at that point, I jumped off and we switched horses. But then Brie, who was acting nicely up to this point, started acting up for my mom too! Not so much as Harry was, but she was doing her usual walking sideways and general brattiness. I managed to calm Harry down and we made it back to the barn safely. I wish we would've known what set Harry off.

Sunday

I worked again with Brie first today while my mom worked with Harry. She was acting just as good as yesterday, and I've discovered that she'll stand still by the mounting block, just not on the higher end of the steps. Neither will Harry. I think they have some issue with us not wanting to tower over them, but that's just a theory. At least they stood still for us to use some part of the block to mount.

I worked Brie much the same as yesterday and then my mom handed Harry over to me. He's working wonderfully! I don't know whether it's just him, the supplement, or the bit that is making this great change in his work ethic, but he's really performing wonderfully! I hope that he keeps this up for show.

So we decide to go outside again today. My mom kept on Brie and I kept on Harry after yesterday. Brie was absolutely horrible outside today. She hopped up the little hill in the front pasture and wouldn't approach the barn straight coming back in and slammed my mom into the side of the building. I do not know what her problem is, but she needs to get over it. She was getting so good at going outside last year without acting crazy. I was thinking that maybe I should just start working her only outside and then when she's being good, we can finish in the indoor, rather than starting in the indoor and when she's good, going outside, because she goes crazy outside.

Oh Brie. What to do with her...

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 2

This lesson was by far better than the last one.

Today I rode Sunny, who was infinitely better than Wonder last week. She was a little wiggly, but overall very nice. I got to work on my balance over poles and then got to go over some little jumps, which was really nice. It was a good confidence boost. I don't know why, but I'm so much more scared suddenly of jumping on these horses, which is stupid, because at home I make Harry jump over things he's dead scared of and have no fear, and make Brie jump over bigger jumps going really fast. I don't really know what's up with that, but the entire time tonight that I jumped I tried to tell myself, "It's fine, don't freak out, it's just like going over with Harry." I feel like I would do infinitely better with my own horse, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And I know this sounds stupid, but I think that if I can't get over this funk with jumping by the end of the school year, I might not join the team again next year. I feel like I'm happy with having tried out jumping and now know that I'm not missing anything by not doing it and would rather save the lesson money every week and put it towards board or shots or shoes or something for my own horses...because in reality, when I get my own horses again later in life when I have a real job and what not, I will undoubtedly go back to Paso Finos. I might buy my own jumper or dressage horse for fun, but I feel like as you get older, it gets harder to get into different show circles than what you were raised in if you're serious about showing (which I am). I'm not trying to make this sound like a crutch or anything, but the more time I spend with the team and their jumpers, the more I just want my Pasos. Maybe it's school horses, maybe it's the sport itself, but I'm not really all too thrilled with it anymore. And I'm perfectly okay with that.

Day 213

Saturday

I didn't really have a specific goal for today. My mom wanted to ride Harry because he's less bouncy than Brie, and her back hurts, so she rode him. I knew that I wanted to try switching Brie's bit. So I switched it from her baby bit to something else in our bit box that didn't look too severe, but didn't look super ignorable...I should've taken a picture. But anyways, it didn't really work any differently than her baby bit, so sometime when she's not being ridden the same time as Harry, I want to try the bit that we just switched him into on her and see if it makes a difference, that way I know if we should buy another identical one or not.

It took me 30 minutes to mount today.
I could've just hopped around on one leg, one leg in the stirrup, as usual while Brie moves around and swing up onto her. But I figured that since my mom isn't feeling too well lately (and the fact that Brie is supposed to STAND STILL while I mount), that I wasn't going to put up with it today.

We lined up with the mounting block, but I figured I didn't want to get too ahead of myself today, so I made enough space between the block and myself to mount from the ground, but just close enough that she would get the idea that mounting block = standing still. At first, every little step that she took away from the block, I would walk back around and line up again. When that wasn't working, I made her longe, and then  come back to line up with the block. We spent most of our morning doing this. I only wanted to accomplish this goal once I started out with it, and it may have taken quite a long time to do it, but when she finally stood still as I put my leg in the stirrup, stood mid-air, and then finally swung my leg over onto her to sit, it was all worth it.

After that, I found out that the bit wasn't working as well as I thought it might. But we walked and corto'd and then worked on not bolting once we get outside. All in all, it was a successful day with Brie.

Once we came back in, my mom asked if I wanted to ride Harry. He is just amazing. I couldn't be more proud of him, and I only hope that he keeps it up for the shows! Even Nick (who laughed at me last week) had to stop and watch as I passed over the board with Harry, we were THAT good =]

I'm really quite annoyed with Gary and Paco though...Gary bought some new horses from Florida, and two of them are with foal, so they're going to be taking up the only two grassy pastures that he has until they foal, so Paco said that no one is going out anymore. The only other paddocks that are there are these little mud ones that aren't as nice as the grass ones...Gary better be putting in other pastures for the rest of the horses, because he never cared about putting any of his previous pregnant mares outside, and now he suddenly does, so no one else gets to go out and have grass. Once again, it's things like this that remind me why I need to be successful enough in life to have my own property.

To end on a nicer note, here are some pictures I took while they were playing in the pastures they won't get to be in anymore. Poor Harry, Nina kicked him square in the chest while they were outside!!

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 1

After not taking lessons for over two months because of my possible stress fracture, today was the first day back with the team.

To say it was terrible would be an understatement.

I was stuck with this little pony, who seemed like she might be annoying based on her ground manners, but I figured I could handle her. I got on, walked around a little bit and then started to ask for a trot.

This demon would NOT move at all. Stacy had me switch crops multiple times during the lesson and even with that, Wonder wouldn't move. She would only swish her tail, flick her ears, and continue on. Kicks, crops, even kisses, she wasn't having any of it. I felt angry when Stacy yelled at me to keep my leg on her because I WAS keeping my leg on her. This horse just would NOT go anywhere!

I literally spent the entire hour trying to get this horse out of a walk. She would only trot if Stacy walked behind us or yelled at me from across the arena, and cantered for half of a lap because Stacy yelled and snapped a longe whip at her.

Basically, I paid $40 for a pony ride.

I felt like crying for the entire second half hour because no matter what I did, it wasn't working.

At the end of the lesson, when everyone came in by Stacy for her little "moral of the lesson" story, her moral today was to believe in yourself and then you'll succeed in getting your horse to do what you want. I can only believe in myself until it's proven otherwise, and it was, so I accepted that this lesson wasn't going anywhere.

Afterwards (in which I untacked and groomed in record time because I was so sick of looking at Wonder), I went to talk to Stacy, and, ultimate insult, she said that I should come back for private lessons instead of group ones for a while. This really knocked me down. Even the girl who doesn't know how to ride, let alone have her own horses to train, was getting her horse to move. I'm trying not to take it as an insult, because I know Stacy didn't mean it that way...she said that she wanted to spend more time trying to fix this problem because my posture is great but it's like my legs aren't effective. She wants to analyze my riding more closely and figure out what I can do to really improve. I guess I should feel honored that she's asking to just spend time teaching me and working on my riding to really be where it looks I should be, both based on my experience with my horses and with my posture. So I have to figure out when I can start private lessons again. I might give next week's group lesson a go and see if it's any better on another horse. If not, I'll do privates for a while. I actually prefer privates.

In other news, I'm pretty sure Stacy is going to come out and ride this month! I'm so excited =] I just know that once she sees me riding my own horses, she'll be able to come up with something to help me better translate that into jumping. I would even love to bring Brie out for a jumping lesson some time, if we have a private lesson, or even a group lesson. I would love it even more if it were a group lesson so I could show everyone what my horses can do, but realistically I'll probably have to have it be private because we'd have to trailer Brie out there.

It can only get better from here, right?

Day 212

I decided I wanted to ride Brie again today, for real this time. My mom took Harry and she changed his bit since apparently he had a "baby bit" still on...bits are so confusing. I wonder if it's just the Pasos that are this difficult and have this many bits. So she changed his and that in combo with the soft bosal we changed to yesterday had him looking phenomenal! His board was magnificent, probably the best board we've heard in a while, and his headset was perfect! I can't wait to ride him next weekend and feel it for myself.

Brie, on the other hand, was over due for giving me a tough time. I spent the majority of my time trying to make her walk, and then when I got that, I stupidly made the decision that she deserved a canter for being good...wrong idea. After not practicing it for a while, she went back to taking off like crazy, and wasn't even responding to my leg or body weight when she decided to exit our circle and try to take off around the arena...then when we tried to calm down again and hit the board, she jumped off the end and wouldn't approach it straight on...I think that if I'm serious about getting her back in the show ring, I might have to stop trying to canter her...it just makes her so hyper! I'm thinking about changing her bit too next weekend. 

After finally getting a good pass back in the indoor (we rode in the outdoor), I hopped off and, on a whim, decided that I wanted to ride Nina, as my brother was finished with his ride too. I wish every horse were like Nina! This is probably the first time in the 5 years that we've had her that I've actually ridden her to ride her, not just poke around the arena and enjoy a horse who actually walks. She is so powerful! I could feel her little hooves pounding beneath me. She is so willing to do whatever you ask of her. She's just amazing. We had an amazing pass on the board too, and after that we just walked around outside for a little bit with Harry (who was NOT calm) and went back inside to hose off. 

After this ride with Nina, I'm hoping that I can ride her in the pleasure mares class if my brother lets me, since he's going to ride her in the performance mares class. I'm sure she'll do well wherever she's placed! Last time I rode her was spur-of-the-moment at the Michigan show last year in the pleasure class and we won a 2nd! And I hadn't even practiced on her! If I get her after I'm done with Harry every weekend until our first show, I'm sure we could be winning 1sts! 

Now on a more personal note...I'm really disappointed with everyone at the barn...I feel like no matter where we go, we get laughed at for doing things our own way. When we were training with Andre, people laughed at us for using him. Since then, we've pretty much done everything on our own, and people always talk about us like we're some crazy people who don't know what we're doing...and even though we're winning classes (at least on Nina), they still don't have respect for us. I don't know if it's an industry thing or what, but it's hurtful to feel like you never really have true friends, or even allies, in this business. Like yesterday, I found out that Nick was laughing at me for trying to make Harry unafraid of the tarp last weekend...but I don't see any of his horses walking all over it and playing with it like Nina and Brie do! So what if it's taking Harry a little longer, we didn't go into desensitizing with him straight away like we did with Nina and Brie because, as a 5 year old, we had figured he had already been exposed to all of this. And I don't see too many other horses in costume class with dresses touching the floor (or dresses at all, for that matter). 

 Or even today, when talking to Paco. I made signs this morning for feed directions to hang on the horses' stalls so that it would be easy for him to remember because we change Brie's feed amounts around whenever she gets too high in sugar or too low in weight, but when my mom approached him about changing Brie's feed, he basically dismissed her and said that no matter what she said, he would do what he wanted to in the end. I was just angry and felt betrayed! Here he's supposed to be our friend, and then he goes and discounts us like this anyways? This is our horse's health we're talking about, and he's not exactly a specialist in horse health and certainly not in Brie's condition. 

I hate feeling like we're at the mercy of someone else all of the time...and it makes me really appreciate what we had when Andre was taking care of our horses. Sure he got angry Harry that one time and might have scarred Nina for life in terms of being afraid of farriers, but at least we knew up at Brie and Nina's breeding farm that they were being let out and fed properly. 

If anything is encouragement to stay in school and get a good job, this is it. I need to get a job that can support my horses on my own property that way I can ensure that they're being taken care of the right way all of the time.