Illinois State Fair!!

Just a heads up, this is gonna be a long one. Hope you make it through it!
I usually like to do posts in present tense like it was the day, but I'm gonna reflect on this one.

Harry did amazingly getting in the trailer both coming and going, which is something we were all kind of worried about. Seems like he's getting the hang of going places! The show was Friday and Saturday, and I decided to enter him in both performance and pleasure classes. I normally wouldn't have done pleasure classes with Harry, but I figured it would be good experience for him to get used to more time in the show ring. Plus the classes were cheap, so even if I didn't do all that well, he'd be getting exposure.

Friday were the performance classes. My brother had two and my mom had one and I had three. I rode against each of them at some point. My mom got 4th on Harry in the class she rode him in and I got honorable mentions and a 7th. My brother got 5th on Nina and my mom got 2nd in the trainer's class.

That day, we had a cake for the judge. While we were eating, I took the opportunity to ask her what she was looking for. She basically just told me consistency in the gait, which I found out later both by other people's conversations with her and how she was placing horses that it meant ONLY consistency in the gait, nothing to do with headset or even overall manners, which I think is COMPLETE bull. But whatever.

Harry was having a difficult time getting warmed up on Friday. He kept skipping around anxiously and not wanting to work. I found out that Paco had "rode the crap out of him" on Wednesday and it was supposed to be a surprise to help us win, but I don't know what kind of bit he used or anything and that had me really upset. I like Paco and all, and I really don't have a problem with him riding Harry whenever, I'd just like to have known, you know? I'm not sure what I could've done, but I still would've like to have known.

Every time Harry came into the show ring, he skipped right in front of the judge. I was trying to be loose on the reins, but he would then try to take off with me instead of doing his usual lovely corto and when I'd try to pull him back to speed he'd skip again. This went on for every class I had both Friday and Saturday until the last class, but I'll get to that.

Friday comes and goes, Jane visits with John and we find out that Paco will be hitching a ride with someone to visit on Saturday. We have a great time with one of the trainers, Paul, who is stalled next to us. Once upon a time, I ranted about a certain Randy, who seems to win every class. But after being stalled next to him as well, he and his family seemed to have gone complete 180 from ignoring us to being super friendly. After having the time to watch him and his horses in the some classes I wasn't in, I hate to admit that he's actually really good. I have to give him credit -- his family does everything. The other barns bring people to clean the stalls and help tack up, but he owns, trains, and did all of the cleaning while counseling his clients.

I have a certain nemesis who I won't even name, but she always beats me in every class I'm in (except for that one time Brie won 3rd place), and she's a client of Randy's. It just annoys the heck out of me that she just pulls up in the middle of the day, not sweating, in her show clothes, hops on her horse that Randy's prepared, and wins.

Saturday comes the pleasure classes. I have on in the afternoon and get honorable mention again. Harry skips a whole ton in the largo because I'm pushing him for speed which is what the pleasure class wants. It's very hard because I can't hold him back enough without him skipping in the corto for there to be a noticeable difference in speed between the two gaits. Then on top of it, there's a little gait on one wall of the arena that you KNOW you're not supposed to go through while horses are in there. Well we're going into the lineup and I'm doing my final lap around and some lady comes waltzing through it into the arena, spooking Harry halfway across the arena in one swoop (I don't know if the judge saw), so I turn my head and yell at the woman. The indecency of some people!

After that class, Paul comes up to me and my parents and makes a super generous offer -- he wants to take Harry with him when he leaves Springfield down to St. Louis to train him for a month for free. Then we would meet up at Nationals in Memphis, I would show him and then take him home. After much conversation, we decide not to. I'm still very torn about it. On one hand, it would give us a huge help because Harry would be ridden every day by a real trainer (not counting Ray who doesn't really work, or Andre who just broke him), Paul could figure out his problems, and address them. Then on the other hand, I don't want to be like my nemesis. I take pride in saying that I've gotten him this far. It's only his first year of showing and if he's qualified for Nationals that's certainly an achievement! Then there's the problem of his shoeing. Our farrier (who is currently MIA) was doing a particular job. But then any farrier could maybe see it and pick up where he left off. I feel like I'll be battling with this up until Springfield, but I can't go back and change what happened now.

Onto the night classes. These are the Stakes classes where I could win money. My mom was in one with Nina and I was in two with Harry. I rode against the horse in the neighboring stall, Entrenador and my friend Allison. Entrenador is a 3 year old stallion and I was kind of miffed when he beat me both times! But then I have to remember that Colin trained him for Allison before he left the state.

Both classes were huge. I made the cut in the first one and got honorable mention while Allison got 7th. The second class was the one I really thought I'd do well in. I had Harry collected, he wasn't skipping and his largo speed was perfect. But I didn't make the cut in that one. Later someone told me that the judge didn't even look at me the whole class, which is like what the heck, how could you already have passed judgment on me from the class before?! There was a huge difference in his gait and everything between the two and to not even be looked at is very upsetting.

But such is life. This is why I want to be a judge.

One thing that we all thought was hilarious was when Paco rode Tormenta, a horse that Ray considers to be garbage, against Ray on a horse he considers to be amazing, in a Stakes class, on a whim, and BEAT HIM. Paco's not even a trainer, he's the help around the barn, and he beat Ray on a horse that is supposed to be insane. What a kick =]

At the end of the day, I'm happy with Harry's final performance. Even though it was the last class and he wasn't looked at, the improvement from the first class on Friday made me extremely proud. I left with some final advice from Paul -- stop cortoing and LARGO LARGO LARGO until he gets it down pat. I have 8 rides between now and Nationals, so I'll leave the collection until the last 4, maybe 3 rides. Something else I want to work on and perfect -- longeing! It shames me to not have longed him because I was scared he'd embarrass me by running out. So we're going to work on listening to me on the longe line, not stopping when he feels like it, and largoing our butts off.

A final note: after seeing the gaits, performances, and placing of the horses in performance classes, I've decided I'm going to put Brie in performance next year. She's had her arthritis shot, which may have been part of the problem later in her show career and seems to have really calmed down with her age, even going out on trail rides. I hope there will be a couple of fun shows around the area that I can haul her too in the fall for some practice. But after watching my nemesis's horse win class after class, that horse is really no different in performance and appearance from Brie. I would love to kick her butt. All I'd have to worry about is actually making it through the class without her refusing to move and trying to run over the judge. It's a chance I'm willing to take.

Springfield Show 2011 (long post!)

Alas, I will put pictures up later in the week. So sit tight for those!

Friday

Harry went into the trailer really well today, so I was happy. By the time we packed everything up at home and got to the barn and packed there, we were about 2 hours behind. So we left around 6pm and made it to Springfield at 8pm. We settled them all in and went to grab some dinner, hit the hotel, and then went back at around 11pm to work. This ended up being a mistake, but we worked until 1230. Everyone worked pretty nicely and everything and we hit the sack at about 2.

Saturday

Woke up early today! I was sooo tired. We fed at around 8pm and got Harry and Nina all groomed up and washed really well after we worked them a bit in the morning. We ended up rushing at the last minute because we got stuck in lines for lunch and I missed my mom's class with Nina (3rd place) because I was changing to get ready for my own class. I hopped on Harry with barely time to go around the warm-up once before my class was called, in which I got 3rd from one judge and 4th from another! So I'd say that was pretty good for being pretty disoriented at the time! They were both a little groggy, and my brother took a 2nd and a 3rd (he was really disappointed, since Nina usually gets 1sts). We both qualified for the championship class (my first one ever!!!) but we didn't place. My mom took Nina in for the championship class and got an honorable mention. We finished out the day early, hung around and chatted before we hit up Walmart for a dog crate -- we brought Bella with and she was driving all of us nuts! We had this little tent for her but she figured out how to roll around in it and was moving the tent around. So we got a solid crate that turned out to be amazing.

Sunday

Last day of showing! We were prepared today, but the horses looked significantly more tired than yesterday. My mom took Harry in the professional's class today and she took a 3rd, beating out one of the better known trainers. Then I hopped on to cool Harry before my class while my brother went in with Nina and came out with a 4th (again, really disappointed). I ended up with a 4th because Harry was not getting pumped up at all. I could tell he was trying, but he just couldn't get enough oomph to get an amazing gait. My brother ended up with another 4th and that was it for showing today!

In the end we ended up with: two 2nds, four 3rds and four 4ths.

I felt really bad trying to get Harry into the trailer. It started storming and we backed up the trailer into the barn to load him because we figured it would be better. I tried a couple of times and he refused and then he ended up rearing and slipping on the concrete and falling with his legs all splayed out. I was so scared that he was going to break a leg or something but I kept up for a couple more times until my mom said that she would do it. We ended up pulling the trailer back out while it was raining and when my mom was about to bring him in, Colin came running down the aisle out of apparently no where, running from the arena with someone from his barn to help us. The worker must've seen Harry fall and called Colin to help us, so he went over to my mom and asking if he could help really quick before he had to run back to help his client in the class, and he and the worker got Harry into the trailer with some yanks and whacks on the behind. He had both Harry and Nina in the trailer in about 30 seconds, said he'd see us later in the week, and ran back to his class.

Boy, did I feel stupid. Just as I thought that Harry had it down pat, he goes and does this. Looks like it's back to square one.

Day 128

I didn't go out yesterday because I went to the dog show! Yayyyy doggies!!

Today. Was. FABULOUS.
Mainly because Colin came out today and Ray wasn't there. We chatted and he showed us three new stallions that he brought up from Florida. The poor things are so skinny! We're determined to get some weight and muscles on them. He promised to let me ride one, Cache, once he's settled in and has a bit more weight on. I'm super excited, Cache looks like a train coming down a track. So much power! I know I can be bad about getting pictures and videos up, but I promise I'll get a video of me riding Cache up as soon as I do!

So we rode all together and when he was done riding Cache, Colin came back in the arena to watch my brother and I ride. He immediately took to my brother and pretty much gave him an hour long lesson on Nina, giving him tips and tricks on how to ride her better so that she's more relaxed, more balanced, and gaits tighter. Unfortunately I didn't hear any of those comments because I was working on warming up Brie. I got around the arena a couple of times before my mom demanded a switch with me so that I would ride Harry.

What a handful. I know that I should be light on his mouth, but it's just so hard when he pulls and tries to take off! So, like a bad owner, Colin saw me struggling with Harry today. As soon as he was done working with my brother, he asked if he could ride Harry, and I obliged. First thing he pointed out was that Harry has a really unnecessary fear of the wall and we're going at it the wrong way. We use our inside leg to apply pressure and the outside rein to try to get him over to the wall, while Colin said that we should just not fight with him like that, just make him go straight, and instead of reversing into the arena, we should reverse onto the wall. Another pointer that he had regarding my fighting with Harry was instead of pulling on his bit constantly trying to get him to slow down is to just turn him into a wall or a corner and he'll have no choice but to stop.

Colin set a few goals for us with Harry:
1. Extinguish the fear of the wall.
2. Get him to relax while not wanting to take off.
3. Make him STOP when we want him to stop.

I think I've mentioned before that Harry has a tendency to tap-dance when he gets nervous. We've been told lots of different things to stop this and none of them have really worked. Colin suggested just keeping pressure on him at all sides when he starts tapping until he stops and then immediately release pressure and he'll start to get the message. It's worth a try.

He also mentioned that trotting is a good thing for the horses. We're all so concerned with gaiting all the time that they never get the chance to relax, and he said that giving them an opportunity to lapse into a natural trot is relaxing for them, and that when we ask them to gait from a trot, they'll have relaxed and then be ready to work really well in a gait. We can give that a try too, though I'm a bit skeptical about that. All we can do is wait and see.

But now Colin will be around more often, or so he says. I really am looking forward to having him around. It's nice to get some new pointers and tricks every once in a while, because thinking of ways to deal with issues gets a little exhausting on your own!

Day 102

What a magnificent day!!!

I got my one wish so far: for Colin to see me ride Harry! My mom worked Harry first while I was working with Brie and my brother worked with Nina. Brie really wanted to walk, Whig was a surprise, and so we walked while mom worked. We were just finishing up our rounds of corto and largo when my mom asked if I was ready to ride Harry.

Boy was he phenomenal! We started out walking and I was working with reverses because he still doesn't like to give to the right side. We picked up a fino and went across the board: it was the tightest and loudest he's ever been! I could feel his joy as I rode and all I thought was "wow, I wish Colin comes back and can see" and no less than 10 minutes later he's back! We said hi and I took the board and it gave me so much gratification to know that Colin, Ray, and a new trainer were watching as I tore up that sound board. I only wish I had a camera so I could show you guys!

So after that they all left and I hopped back on Brie and we worked up to our canter. We're working in a large circle around the pole before I ask her to take the entire arena. I also want to get her to slow her canter down a little bit, because she will only go right into a largo if I ask her to slow down a little. Overall, I'm really pleased with our progress.

My progress, however, could use a lot of work. I didn't realize how little I knew about riding hunt seat and it drives both me and my mom insane. I have to really work on my form rather than worrying about teaching Brie because she will jump over anything! We went from a little X to a 1.5 ft today and she just took it perfectly. The only thing that looked ugly was my form! It's so frustrating! I'll just have to keep working on it. We also have to order boots for her, hopefully for Christmas when we order all of them leather name plate halters.

Nina? Well, hopefully I'll be getting to know her and work with her over the winter. I'm not even concerned with training Nina because my mom and brother have done a fantastic job. I just need to learn how to ride her.

I'm so happy with how this weekend went. It's been such a stress reliever, it's all that I needed after everything I've had to put up with since school started. I can't wait until next weekend! The farrier is supposed to be out on Friday.

Happy Halloween!!

Day 83

A new trainer, Colin, was up at the stables today. I think he came from Florida, but he works at the Paso stable down the street about 20 min away. I'm real disappointed that I didn't get the chance to talk to him because I've only seen him work from a distance about 3 years ago before I was seriously into training. Too bad we're not going to Ohio.

Anyways. I'm working with lunging a lot with Harry. My goal is to get him to lunge in the arena without having to use the round pen since there won't be one in a show warmup arena. I did basically the same thing as yesterday except he was better in the arena and we didn't have to go back out. He was tightening his gait fantastically today and his board sounded phenomenal. Too bad Colin wasn't in the arena at the time, I wonder if he would've said anything. Harry's largo is great! He'll definitely be ready for performance classes next year.

Do I even need to mention Nina?

Brie was really excited outside today. She broke into a canter a few times, but I got her back. We went in the puddle again today. She didn't want to leave it! It was the funniest thing and she kept splashing the water. Needless to say, she needed a bath.

While today I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to pick another trainer's brain, I'm very pleased with how Harry is coming along and how Brie is starting to conquer some fears.