Soooo beautiful out today.
I took a bunch of pictures on my new DSLR, but I'll post all of those tomorrow as I'm sure there will be more!
So taking into account Paul's advice of more largo and double reins, that's exactly what I did today.
Boy do we have some work ahead of us. Harry is awful at largo-ing. He doesn't gait, all he does is pace and skip and is unsure of his step. Honestly, I don't understand how it's any different, it's the same walking pattern just faster. Who knows what goes through their minds.
I warmed him up longeing (which was fabulous by the way) and got on for some flexing. He was super while with the double reins on. Then we walked a little bit to warm up and started straight for a largo. Well he skipped pretty much across the entire arena, so we went out into the round pen. I thought he was gaiting and calming down in there when my mom told me that he was still pacing. So we went back into the arena to practice smaller circles and go over the board to hear if he was gaiting or not, and he wasn't. By this time he'd already been (attempting) flying around in a largo and failing, hot and gross, so we did a corto around the arena once, over the board, and went outside for a nice relaxing walk around then a cool bath.
This might take a while. I can't believe he doesn't know how to do this! It's just like power-walking but he isn't getting it! So tomorrow I think my mom's gonna ride him with the fruit basket on and see how he goes with that.
Brie was limping today, probably because she's been cooped up and unridden for a week, so my mom just tried to get her to slow down, because even though she was limping she was all GO GO GO! I put lineament on her arthritic leg after she rode. Hopefully she feels better tomorrow.
And Nina was perfect, as usual.
I have some exciting news! But I'll wait for a week or so to see if it plays out, and then I'll tell you =]
Showing posts with label Paul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul. Show all posts
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)