Saturday
Now I can finally tell you my exciting news! Ray is leaving!!! Yep, he is no longer training for our barn and we're getting a new trainer hopefully soon. I can't wait to see who is coming up. This might not seem very exciting, but trust me when I tell you I'm overjoyed.
Since it was super cold today, no one wanted to ride for very long, so I just got Harry to walk calmly around with Brie by his side and got off after about a half hour. We finally got two more coolers, so everyone was nice and toasty after their rides, and by everyone I mean the horses, because after I stopped moving around, I started to turn into a popsicle! Jane came by as we were getting ready to leave, so we stuck around while she started to ride Taco. She put his bit under his tongue unknowingly and he started backing up and starting to hop when she got scared and jumped off. I fixed the bit for her and my mom offered to teach her how to longe, but she got dizzy, so my mom longed Taco for her. He had a ton of energy, but calmed down after his little burst and then I rode him around twice to show her that he was better now and she didn't have to be scared, so she got back on and was happy with her ride. I love helping other people ride. =]
Sunday
It was so great seeing Ray pack up.
I rode Brie today thinking it'd be a break. As usual, I was wrong! She wasn't bad, just wanted to go really fast. She was really tight on her turns and it made me think if she could be a good barrel racer...my mom thinks that she's getting sore in her hock again, so when the vet comes out to float teeth in May we're going to have another steroid injection in her leg. We rode for a little longer than yesterday, but not by much. In the end, Nina and Brie had a largo race. I'm surprised how little Nina is getting faster! She was beating Brie up until the end when she ran out of steam. Until yesterday, I hadn't known another horse who could keep up with Brie's largo!
I'm so excited for this weekend. Now that Ray is gone, we can turn out the horses in the arena and not have to worry about turning them out in the snow and possibly ice. We're also going to have a huge feast! I'm in charge of baking the desserts!
Showing posts with label Ray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ray. Show all posts
Monday, January 16, 2012
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Day 186
I knew this day would come, but I was really hoping winter would put off the below freezing temperatures for just a couple more weeks.
I worked only with Harry today. While I was grooming him, he unzipped my coat. Silly horse, I need that to stay warm! I got the carrot stick again and went out to longe him and he was sure feeling the nip in the air when he tried to take off before we even started! I got him back and moderately calm and then Ray came in the arena with Ken, the colt. I mentioned it before and I'll say it again: Harry does NOT like Ray at all. After Ray came in, Harry was a nervous wreck. He finished longeing quietly while Ray longed on the opposite side of the arena. When I got on Harry to do circlework, Ray was also riding around, and Harry was running out from under me and skipping and tap-dancing...everything. I was trying my best to keep him calm and make him pay attention to me. I would be lying if I said it worked, because he was only slowing down as I pulled the reins, but still skipping and jumping. He only calmed down when Ray left the arena.
After Ray left, Harry and I flexed and worked serpentines. We went out on the wall and it took a lap or so to get him in gait without jumping or pacing after we walked, but once he got there, he was beautiful. He felt confident in his step and perfectly in gait! We're trying to work on lengthening his largo now and it will definitely take some time for his confidence to build while largoing, but he was doing well today. He'll to even better tomorrow! Hopefully it's not as cold!
I worked only with Harry today. While I was grooming him, he unzipped my coat. Silly horse, I need that to stay warm! I got the carrot stick again and went out to longe him and he was sure feeling the nip in the air when he tried to take off before we even started! I got him back and moderately calm and then Ray came in the arena with Ken, the colt. I mentioned it before and I'll say it again: Harry does NOT like Ray at all. After Ray came in, Harry was a nervous wreck. He finished longeing quietly while Ray longed on the opposite side of the arena. When I got on Harry to do circlework, Ray was also riding around, and Harry was running out from under me and skipping and tap-dancing...everything. I was trying my best to keep him calm and make him pay attention to me. I would be lying if I said it worked, because he was only slowing down as I pulled the reins, but still skipping and jumping. He only calmed down when Ray left the arena.
After Ray left, Harry and I flexed and worked serpentines. We went out on the wall and it took a lap or so to get him in gait without jumping or pacing after we walked, but once he got there, he was beautiful. He felt confident in his step and perfectly in gait! We're trying to work on lengthening his largo now and it will definitely take some time for his confidence to build while largoing, but he was doing well today. He'll to even better tomorrow! Hopefully it's not as cold!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Days 182 + 183
Saturday
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! While I'm sad that today was probably the last warm day of the year, it's a good thing because it's supposed to be cold in November. Unfortunately, that means that my horses will be quite stinky until it warms up enough to give them a bath. I can only shudder when I remember how dirty they got last year.
I thought that Brie was perfect today. She was responsive, well-mannered, and flexible. Perfect in every way --- until she hit the board. It was the most bizarre experience, being on Brie when she sounded like she was pacing. She's never been out of gait since she finished training 7 years ago. I thought, "Could I possibly be doing something wrong? Could she not really be as flexible as I thought she was being?" So we did circles and she still wasn't gaiting. My mom suggested that I ease up and let her just walk because it might have been her arthritis acting up. I felt so bad after that! It's so hard to remember that she might be in pain...my poor baby is getting old. =[ But after a nice (most likely) final bath of the year, she seemed pretty happy to go back and continue eating, as usual.
The reason why her leg could be bothering her is because she's KICKING THE STALL so much!!! I don't know what's her problem! Is she hungry? Is she bored? She has a salt lick and a Jolly Ball to play with. She gets outside. It's the saddest thing, especially when it looks like we'll have to be replacing the boards on the wall soon!
Mom worked with Harry today. He was being such a brat longeing! Paco had to step in and we've now made the decision that he won't be working off of the pisador when he's longeing anymore. He'll be working off of his noseband. I do not understand him. It's not that he ever wants to go too fast to stop him, it's that he speeds off and then fishtails out and back, pulling you forward. You would think that after a year of working on this, he would get the picture without having his nose held.
Sunday
Exciting news today! Taco is going to move over to our side of the barn! But now the baby has to take his place on the other side. I'll miss him =[ We don't usually go over there because it's where Ray keeps all of his horses and where the Gary keeps his and Ray just generally excludes us, but we'll have to wander over now and then to visit the cutie pie!
So now that Taco is moving over, we have to rework the stalls. Going back to Brie's kicking, Paco mentioned that maybe even though Nina and Brie grew up together, it's just a mare thing. It's funny that we never thought of that before because we humanized them so much. "Oh they love each other! It must be something else." But it's worth a shot. We know that Brie hates Harry from when she first started kicking to make damage to her stall and it stopped when she was on the end next to Nina for a while, but Paco says it's gotten horrible lately. So we're going to try moving Brie in between Taco and Harry and then putting Nina on the end. It might make her mad that she's next to Harry, but she seems to like Taco and hopefully her like for Taco outweighs her hate for Harry.
She was much better today, gaiting like normal. It must've been her leg bothering her yesterday. We worked more on flexibility today and keeping her corto contained after a largo, because usually after she largos she just wants to fly at a corto, but that won't do if I want to convince my parents to bring her along to shows this year!
I also got to ride Harry today after my mom worked with him. We put weighted bracelets on his back legs again to see if they would help with his tap-dancing, but I don't think they did...Anyways, we're figuring out what we want to do with his largo/corto difference and we're trying to collect his corto a little more and push is largo a little bit. Just a little in each direction. Going counterclockwise he works phenomenally, but clockwise is a little harder (just like longeing). After some fighting on the counterclockwise, we settled into a super collected corto and a smooth but not very fast largo. Clockwise, I fought with him the entire time until Paco told me to just walk and then quit after he gave in at a walk. I have a feeling that if Harry were a person, we wouldn't get along very well, we're both stubborn. But he did give me a nice walk at the end, so I'll give him that.
The farrier also came this afternoon. We did Brie without tranqing her, which is what's normal. She's 10, she's used to this, but he wanted her tranq'd every time he came out before this. I'm glad she was able to show what a good girl she is for the farrier. We started Harry but when he got to the front feet Harry started to try and rear, so we had to tranq him. Of course we needed to tranq Nina. I wonder if she'll ever be able to do it without being drugged...maybe we should lessen the amount each time until she can remember that it's okay? They're all going barefoot for the winter time, so I hope they don't get any cracks!
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! While I'm sad that today was probably the last warm day of the year, it's a good thing because it's supposed to be cold in November. Unfortunately, that means that my horses will be quite stinky until it warms up enough to give them a bath. I can only shudder when I remember how dirty they got last year.
I thought that Brie was perfect today. She was responsive, well-mannered, and flexible. Perfect in every way --- until she hit the board. It was the most bizarre experience, being on Brie when she sounded like she was pacing. She's never been out of gait since she finished training 7 years ago. I thought, "Could I possibly be doing something wrong? Could she not really be as flexible as I thought she was being?" So we did circles and she still wasn't gaiting. My mom suggested that I ease up and let her just walk because it might have been her arthritis acting up. I felt so bad after that! It's so hard to remember that she might be in pain...my poor baby is getting old. =[ But after a nice (most likely) final bath of the year, she seemed pretty happy to go back and continue eating, as usual.
The reason why her leg could be bothering her is because she's KICKING THE STALL so much!!! I don't know what's her problem! Is she hungry? Is she bored? She has a salt lick and a Jolly Ball to play with. She gets outside. It's the saddest thing, especially when it looks like we'll have to be replacing the boards on the wall soon!
Mom worked with Harry today. He was being such a brat longeing! Paco had to step in and we've now made the decision that he won't be working off of the pisador when he's longeing anymore. He'll be working off of his noseband. I do not understand him. It's not that he ever wants to go too fast to stop him, it's that he speeds off and then fishtails out and back, pulling you forward. You would think that after a year of working on this, he would get the picture without having his nose held.
Sunday
Exciting news today! Taco is going to move over to our side of the barn! But now the baby has to take his place on the other side. I'll miss him =[ We don't usually go over there because it's where Ray keeps all of his horses and where the Gary keeps his and Ray just generally excludes us, but we'll have to wander over now and then to visit the cutie pie!
So now that Taco is moving over, we have to rework the stalls. Going back to Brie's kicking, Paco mentioned that maybe even though Nina and Brie grew up together, it's just a mare thing. It's funny that we never thought of that before because we humanized them so much. "Oh they love each other! It must be something else." But it's worth a shot. We know that Brie hates Harry from when she first started kicking to make damage to her stall and it stopped when she was on the end next to Nina for a while, but Paco says it's gotten horrible lately. So we're going to try moving Brie in between Taco and Harry and then putting Nina on the end. It might make her mad that she's next to Harry, but she seems to like Taco and hopefully her like for Taco outweighs her hate for Harry.
She was much better today, gaiting like normal. It must've been her leg bothering her yesterday. We worked more on flexibility today and keeping her corto contained after a largo, because usually after she largos she just wants to fly at a corto, but that won't do if I want to convince my parents to bring her along to shows this year!
I also got to ride Harry today after my mom worked with him. We put weighted bracelets on his back legs again to see if they would help with his tap-dancing, but I don't think they did...Anyways, we're figuring out what we want to do with his largo/corto difference and we're trying to collect his corto a little more and push is largo a little bit. Just a little in each direction. Going counterclockwise he works phenomenally, but clockwise is a little harder (just like longeing). After some fighting on the counterclockwise, we settled into a super collected corto and a smooth but not very fast largo. Clockwise, I fought with him the entire time until Paco told me to just walk and then quit after he gave in at a walk. I have a feeling that if Harry were a person, we wouldn't get along very well, we're both stubborn. But he did give me a nice walk at the end, so I'll give him that.
The farrier also came this afternoon. We did Brie without tranqing her, which is what's normal. She's 10, she's used to this, but he wanted her tranq'd every time he came out before this. I'm glad she was able to show what a good girl she is for the farrier. We started Harry but when he got to the front feet Harry started to try and rear, so we had to tranq him. Of course we needed to tranq Nina. I wonder if she'll ever be able to do it without being drugged...maybe we should lessen the amount each time until she can remember that it's okay? They're all going barefoot for the winter time, so I hope they don't get any cracks!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Day 178
I brought Emily from the Equestrian Team out to the barn today!! It was so nice to have someone else to ride with and teach allllll about my lovely Pasos!
She comes from a polo background, and apparently didn't learn how to actually ride/do all the required horsey things before they set her on a pony and told her to chase that ball! So I got to teach her how to groom and tack up and longe. The tack part might be conflicting with the English tack, but it's similar enough.
I was going to set her on Brie, but Paco got out Extremo and warmed him up for Emily. Emily got on Extremo and oh boy, away they went! I could tell she was freaking out because Extremo kept pulling her into the middle whenever she wanted to go fast. After much instruction from Paco and myself, she finally got him under control though! She even looked like she was enjoying him because she was making the right corrections and handling him very well once she got the hang of it! Now she knows how hard of a transition it is for me from Pasos to hunter/jumpers every week! They're pretty much polar opposites!
At one point, I switched from Brie (who Paco started to ride, lucky her) to Harry. After chasing Extremo and Emily around for a while, Jane asked me if I could ride Taco, and Emily switched onto Nina. While Taco was pulling me around the arena at the start, my mom stayed with Emily and told her how to ride Nina (basically, you just sit on her). Emily liked Nina WAY more than Extremo =] Which makes me happy. My horses are awesome.
Once I got a hold of Taco, Emily offered to get off and let Jane ride Nina because she insisted Nina was so perfect. Jane was a little hesitant, but of course she fell in love with Nina who continuously walked, which is all Jane's looking for!
After that, we all gave the horses baths, mucked and fed, and then we started to barbeque. Ray wasn't there this weekend, which worked out perfectly for bringing Emily and having this little party. We made chicken and steak tacos and mexican rice and had cupcakes and apple pie and pasta salad and potato salad...a true feast! After eating until we exploded, we talked, handed out carrots, we packed up for the ride home, during which Emily, my brother, and I all slept the entire ride home.
So not much training on the home-front today, but it's always good to just get out and share your love of horses with other people!
She comes from a polo background, and apparently didn't learn how to actually ride/do all the required horsey things before they set her on a pony and told her to chase that ball! So I got to teach her how to groom and tack up and longe. The tack part might be conflicting with the English tack, but it's similar enough.
I was going to set her on Brie, but Paco got out Extremo and warmed him up for Emily. Emily got on Extremo and oh boy, away they went! I could tell she was freaking out because Extremo kept pulling her into the middle whenever she wanted to go fast. After much instruction from Paco and myself, she finally got him under control though! She even looked like she was enjoying him because she was making the right corrections and handling him very well once she got the hang of it! Now she knows how hard of a transition it is for me from Pasos to hunter/jumpers every week! They're pretty much polar opposites!
At one point, I switched from Brie (who Paco started to ride, lucky her) to Harry. After chasing Extremo and Emily around for a while, Jane asked me if I could ride Taco, and Emily switched onto Nina. While Taco was pulling me around the arena at the start, my mom stayed with Emily and told her how to ride Nina (basically, you just sit on her). Emily liked Nina WAY more than Extremo =] Which makes me happy. My horses are awesome.
Once I got a hold of Taco, Emily offered to get off and let Jane ride Nina because she insisted Nina was so perfect. Jane was a little hesitant, but of course she fell in love with Nina who continuously walked, which is all Jane's looking for!
After that, we all gave the horses baths, mucked and fed, and then we started to barbeque. Ray wasn't there this weekend, which worked out perfectly for bringing Emily and having this little party. We made chicken and steak tacos and mexican rice and had cupcakes and apple pie and pasta salad and potato salad...a true feast! After eating until we exploded, we talked, handed out carrots, we packed up for the ride home, during which Emily, my brother, and I all slept the entire ride home.
So not much training on the home-front today, but it's always good to just get out and share your love of horses with other people!
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.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Day 159
I worked with Harry today. What a little punk, he tried to rear when I was going to flex him on the right side! At first, I got off and started to flex him from the ground, then I got back on and of course while everyone was watching he started to act up again. He started spinning me around until I kicked him to go forward instead of backwards. Then he stood still and slowly gave me his head on the right side. We did flexing for a few minutes until he wasn't giving me any problems anymore and then we worked on walking. He has a nice walk when he isn't all riled up, but after that it's kind of hard to get him to walk again.
His corto was kind of all over the place because Ray was in the arena cowboying another horse, so Harry was nervous. He settled down only when Ray left into a nice corto. After working a corto for a while, we tried to largo. He had a good largo for a while and then started to break into a canter. By that time his little brain was fried from the heat, so we all decided to go for a walk outside around the property. After walking up to Gary's house and talking to his dad for a while, Harry seemed to have the walking-outside-thing pretty much down pat and we walked very calmly while Brie was the one acting up with my mom. She just wanted to charge everything! She's so goofy, I swear. One day she's walking with a super loose rein outside, confronting deer and the next she's this insane little dinosaur!
Afterwards, we gave them all nice baths and my mom did a little talking to Gary about Brie's leg since it looked kind of swollen today. He suggested that if it keeps up even after we had the steroid injection in her hock that we should bring her down to the University's animal hospital so that they could study her and have more of a cutting edge team working to find out another solution. He made a good point: the vet won't think about it for very long, but she might serve as a good couple of class sessions for a whole swarm of new-thinking vet students! So we'll just have to keep an eye out for any more leg problems.
His corto was kind of all over the place because Ray was in the arena cowboying another horse, so Harry was nervous. He settled down only when Ray left into a nice corto. After working a corto for a while, we tried to largo. He had a good largo for a while and then started to break into a canter. By that time his little brain was fried from the heat, so we all decided to go for a walk outside around the property. After walking up to Gary's house and talking to his dad for a while, Harry seemed to have the walking-outside-thing pretty much down pat and we walked very calmly while Brie was the one acting up with my mom. She just wanted to charge everything! She's so goofy, I swear. One day she's walking with a super loose rein outside, confronting deer and the next she's this insane little dinosaur!
Afterwards, we gave them all nice baths and my mom did a little talking to Gary about Brie's leg since it looked kind of swollen today. He suggested that if it keeps up even after we had the steroid injection in her hock that we should bring her down to the University's animal hospital so that they could study her and have more of a cutting edge team working to find out another solution. He made a good point: the vet won't think about it for very long, but she might serve as a good couple of class sessions for a whole swarm of new-thinking vet students! So we'll just have to keep an eye out for any more leg problems.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Day 150
No word from the vet. We'll call tomorrow when they're back in office.
We just brushed up Brie and let her out in one of the small pastures with a little bit of grass while we rode today. She seemed happy as a clam and was even napping when I went out to go get her. I rinsed her off after I brought her in, fly sprayed her and bleached her feet before putting her back in her stall with a carrot (or five).
While my mom warmed up Nina today, I worked with Harry some more. I really do need to strengthen my core. I never was able to stay committed to a workout before, but now that I see how it's affecting my riding, I really do need to start and stick with it! It's getting hard for me to remain in posture and Harry feels it, jolts forward which throws me further off balance and then we have to start all over again! After my mom let my brother take over Nina, she worked with me and my darn hands! It was hard for me to not focus on Harry's speed and just focus on my hands and his headset, but by the end of the day, his head looked beautiful and the gait was following. I worked some transitions in a circle again like yesterday since he was pacing on the rail, walked him, then handed him over to my mom, who took him for a reward ride outside.
Next week I have to really nail transitions, because the weekend after that we head to Michigan for another show.
Here's a funny story. We were pulling into the driveway to the stable today and this dog was chasing a car behind us then saw our car and headed over by us. She had no collar on, so we put her in our trunk and drove down the street to look for where she lived. We ended up finding her house because a neighbor recognized her, so we tried to leave her there but she followed our car back to the stable. Meanwhile, Ray is riding on the street and sees us coming with this dog chasing our car and tries to ignore it and go in the driveway, but as soon as the dog sees him, she goes after his horse! I think she nipped the horse in the heels, so the horse spun around and when she did, Ray took off after the dog down the street! It was the funniest thing! I wish we would've gotten it on video!
We just brushed up Brie and let her out in one of the small pastures with a little bit of grass while we rode today. She seemed happy as a clam and was even napping when I went out to go get her. I rinsed her off after I brought her in, fly sprayed her and bleached her feet before putting her back in her stall with a carrot (or five).
While my mom warmed up Nina today, I worked with Harry some more. I really do need to strengthen my core. I never was able to stay committed to a workout before, but now that I see how it's affecting my riding, I really do need to start and stick with it! It's getting hard for me to remain in posture and Harry feels it, jolts forward which throws me further off balance and then we have to start all over again! After my mom let my brother take over Nina, she worked with me and my darn hands! It was hard for me to not focus on Harry's speed and just focus on my hands and his headset, but by the end of the day, his head looked beautiful and the gait was following. I worked some transitions in a circle again like yesterday since he was pacing on the rail, walked him, then handed him over to my mom, who took him for a reward ride outside.
Next week I have to really nail transitions, because the weekend after that we head to Michigan for another show.
Here's a funny story. We were pulling into the driveway to the stable today and this dog was chasing a car behind us then saw our car and headed over by us. She had no collar on, so we put her in our trunk and drove down the street to look for where she lived. We ended up finding her house because a neighbor recognized her, so we tried to leave her there but she followed our car back to the stable. Meanwhile, Ray is riding on the street and sees us coming with this dog chasing our car and tries to ignore it and go in the driveway, but as soon as the dog sees him, she goes after his horse! I think she nipped the horse in the heels, so the horse spun around and when she did, Ray took off after the dog down the street! It was the funniest thing! I wish we would've gotten it on video!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Day 146
Important news: I have a bet running with my dad for $400. I won't tell you what it's on yet, but just know that it's horse related. It's one of those things where I'd love to win the money, but for the greater good, I'd rather lose.
So, the farrier showed up this afternoon, way past the time that we expected him to and so he didn't do our horses today. I just have a question: Is it that all farriers don't like you watching them work? We've only had one who hasn't openly complained about it. I mean, as concerned horse owners, you'd think that it would be understandable. That would be like not going with your kid to the doctor if you didn't watch, in my eyes. Hoof care is just as important as getting shots and their teeth floated if you ask me, so why not be there?
Anyways, he's supposed to be doing shoes tomorrow. We're putting shoes on all three of them most likely because it's going to be summer time/show season and their hooves get cracked up from going across the rocks outside and to and from the arena at the shows. We'll see how that goes. Let's just say that I have a dislike for this farrier and would rather get another one, but what do I know, I'm just the kid apparently.
Brie looked loads better today. She even looked better in her eyes. My mom lunged her so I could watch if she was limping and she was only skipping a bit going counter-clockwise. I groomed her really good (every time I do she sheds the amount of a small dog because it's getting warm) and then did about a half hour of walking with her before I got on Harry. She walked very easily, was very relaxed, and slipped into a trot here and there, but I mostly kept her quiet. Don't want to overwork her, especially if she's coming off some muscle soreness!
Harry was very impressive today. Not so much with gait, but with overall concentration. We got a new rolling rack for saddles and brushes at the shows and we put it in the trailer today so we won't have to mess with it on Friday when we leave. Our trailer doesn't have a tack room. It's a straight-load that has about 3 feet of space for storing hay (or in this case a rolling rack) in front of the bar that keeps the horses tucked in properly, so we put it there. I walked Harry in, leading him, went under the bar onto the rolling rack side and hooked him up while my mom closed the back. I moved out of the way and as soon as he saw the rolling rack, his eyes got huge and he started snorting! Like it's a new monster! But as soon as he realized it's not going to move or kill him, he was fine. We did find wasp nests in the trailer though...good thing we found them now! I'd hate to have arrived in Springfield with two horses all swollen from bites!
So I rode him after my mom warmed him up and he was pretty patient. He had a couple little bucks because I wanted him to walk, but other than that he was great. Especially because Ray was in there riding and if you remember he really gets freaked out when Ray's riding. We passed him up very smoothly and Harry didn't even seem to be nervous. I really hope we do well at show, especially because my mom's making us adorable new jackets. It would be such a waste to get all dressed up to not place high enough!
So, the farrier showed up this afternoon, way past the time that we expected him to and so he didn't do our horses today. I just have a question: Is it that all farriers don't like you watching them work? We've only had one who hasn't openly complained about it. I mean, as concerned horse owners, you'd think that it would be understandable. That would be like not going with your kid to the doctor if you didn't watch, in my eyes. Hoof care is just as important as getting shots and their teeth floated if you ask me, so why not be there?
Anyways, he's supposed to be doing shoes tomorrow. We're putting shoes on all three of them most likely because it's going to be summer time/show season and their hooves get cracked up from going across the rocks outside and to and from the arena at the shows. We'll see how that goes. Let's just say that I have a dislike for this farrier and would rather get another one, but what do I know, I'm just the kid apparently.
Brie looked loads better today. She even looked better in her eyes. My mom lunged her so I could watch if she was limping and she was only skipping a bit going counter-clockwise. I groomed her really good (every time I do she sheds the amount of a small dog because it's getting warm) and then did about a half hour of walking with her before I got on Harry. She walked very easily, was very relaxed, and slipped into a trot here and there, but I mostly kept her quiet. Don't want to overwork her, especially if she's coming off some muscle soreness!
Harry was very impressive today. Not so much with gait, but with overall concentration. We got a new rolling rack for saddles and brushes at the shows and we put it in the trailer today so we won't have to mess with it on Friday when we leave. Our trailer doesn't have a tack room. It's a straight-load that has about 3 feet of space for storing hay (or in this case a rolling rack) in front of the bar that keeps the horses tucked in properly, so we put it there. I walked Harry in, leading him, went under the bar onto the rolling rack side and hooked him up while my mom closed the back. I moved out of the way and as soon as he saw the rolling rack, his eyes got huge and he started snorting! Like it's a new monster! But as soon as he realized it's not going to move or kill him, he was fine. We did find wasp nests in the trailer though...good thing we found them now! I'd hate to have arrived in Springfield with two horses all swollen from bites!
So I rode him after my mom warmed him up and he was pretty patient. He had a couple little bucks because I wanted him to walk, but other than that he was great. Especially because Ray was in there riding and if you remember he really gets freaked out when Ray's riding. We passed him up very smoothly and Harry didn't even seem to be nervous. I really hope we do well at show, especially because my mom's making us adorable new jackets. It would be such a waste to get all dressed up to not place high enough!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Day 145
Brie was still limping today, so we let her rest. We put them all out in the paddocks and she didn't want to do much, so we put her in the round pend and asked her to lunge and her limp wasn't noticeable at a walk, but when she started trotting/gaiting, you could see her limping. So we decided that another week of rest would be good, and if she's still limping next weekend, we'll call the vet out.
We also found out that the baby across the aisle from us was weaned yesterday. How horrible, of course Ray had to do that for Mother's Day. Jerk. I mean, horses don't know the difference, but still. It was sad =[ He was watching us and kept crying when we took all of them outside or in the arena to ride.
My mom warmed up Harry and then I got on. He gaited super fantastic until Ray came in the arena with his horse, then he tensed up really badly until Ray left. He's got to get used to distractions! Personally, I think it's just something he has against Ray. Luckily, Ray doesn't have any geldings to ride in show =] After we gaited some more when Ray left, we worked on WALKING! The hardest thing in the world! I worked with him for about a half hour trying to make him walk. Every time he started to pull me forward, I made him stop and he was getting very antsy about me on his mouth almost constantly because of that, but as soon as he realized I'd lay off the pressure when he slowed down, he was a doll. And he went in the trailer like an angel today too! We didn't even need to nose chain lead to walk him in! Now watch, he'll magically forget everything when we're trying to come home from Springfield, right? Isn't that how luck goes?
Next weekend the farrier is supposed to be out, and then it's off to Springfield the week after! I'm so excited, but I only get to be entered in one class now that I'm no longer a Youth competitor, so I'm just going to be in Amateur Owner's class. We better get a ribbon!
We also found out that the baby across the aisle from us was weaned yesterday. How horrible, of course Ray had to do that for Mother's Day. Jerk. I mean, horses don't know the difference, but still. It was sad =[ He was watching us and kept crying when we took all of them outside or in the arena to ride.
My mom warmed up Harry and then I got on. He gaited super fantastic until Ray came in the arena with his horse, then he tensed up really badly until Ray left. He's got to get used to distractions! Personally, I think it's just something he has against Ray. Luckily, Ray doesn't have any geldings to ride in show =] After we gaited some more when Ray left, we worked on WALKING! The hardest thing in the world! I worked with him for about a half hour trying to make him walk. Every time he started to pull me forward, I made him stop and he was getting very antsy about me on his mouth almost constantly because of that, but as soon as he realized I'd lay off the pressure when he slowed down, he was a doll. And he went in the trailer like an angel today too! We didn't even need to nose chain lead to walk him in! Now watch, he'll magically forget everything when we're trying to come home from Springfield, right? Isn't that how luck goes?
Next weekend the farrier is supposed to be out, and then it's off to Springfield the week after! I'm so excited, but I only get to be entered in one class now that I'm no longer a Youth competitor, so I'm just going to be in Amateur Owner's class. We better get a ribbon!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Days 112 & 113
Saturday
Didn't go out last Sunday because of a huge snowstorm. No one's been let outside because the ground is icy, so of course Brie, Nina, and Harry loved running around in the arena while no one was here today! Ray is in Memphis and no one was out, so we let them all play. We let Brie run around first and she had a grand old time, bucking and squealing all on her own, then we stuck Harry in with her. She kept racing him and trying to make him run into the tractor in the corner! Thankfully he's quick and smart and never ran into it, though Brie did manage to stretch her leg in some ungodly direction to try and kick at him as she ran by! We let Nina in on the fun, poor little fatty, she only made it around the arena once before she stopped and wanted to just chill with Brie. Paco chased them all around and made them run. Once again, someone said that Brie should be put on the track. I swear, she was born the wrong breed! Should've been a Thoroughbred.
I rode Nina first! I was so happy! She has a very ploppy gait, kind of just moseys along but it's really cute. She takes some getting used to -- I never get to ride her so I have to figure her out! I knew she was having problems tossing her head when you're trying to make her flex, so I worked on that with her until she was being quiet about it. We did some figure 8's, some patterns in the sand, just things to relieve her boredom of going around in circles all day when my brother rides her (he stayed home, by the way. Sick.) and eventually she kept her head down and collected for me. Her gait sounded wonderful on the board, no breaks or bumps. She worked pretty hard for not doing so much by my standards! She was sweating up a storm!
Paco rode Harry. I didn't pay attention to him much because I was trying to concentrate on Nina, but my mom said that Harry looked nice. No problems, as usual recently. His speed was a little on the fast side, but that was Paco letting him have some fun. Paco must miss having him to ride, because he rode for a long time and then gave Harry a full bath! Thankfully the barn is heated, and we made him stand in the shower stall with a fleece cooler blanket on for at least a half hour to make sure he was okay.
My mom had some problems with Brie's gait going across the board. It was very odd and she was blaming it on my cantering her all the time. I figured that I wouldn't canter her today and just work on making her understand that when someone wants her to gait, she has to gait and not try to sneak in a couple canter strides. She was pretty good after some resetting of her mind doing some patterns. I rode all without stirrups. And when she went over the soundboard she sounded perfect. Since she sounded so good, I decided to do some cantering in a circle, not the entire arena, to work on speed, and she did really well (as did I, without any stirrups!). Hopefully she'll get the hang of not wanting to bolt into a canter/gallop and keep it more lopey and relaxed soon.
Sunday
Boy are my legs sore from yesterday's no stirrup riding.
I rode Nina again today. Pretty much the same deal as yesterday, except today I worked more on making her round her reverses instead of taking them stiff like a board. She's a smart girl, so it only takes a couple of tries with whatever I want and she gets the idea. She was a little excited today though! She tried to sneak a canter in the corner, except her's is so different from Brie's because it's so short and cute you barely notice it! Brie's canter stride is about 3 times the canter stride of Nina. It's pretty adorable, watching Nina canter because she has such short legs!
I rode Harry too today. In fact, I was the only one who rode at all today! Harry was MAGNIFICENT today. I haven't had a good, clean-gaited, high performance ride like that from him in about a month, so I was thoroughly pleased. It was like he gave me a Christmas present of a fantastic ride today.
My mom, Paco, and I were all talking about the horses and how far they've come. We talked mostly about Harry and how psycho he was when we first got him. Paco attributes a lot of it to the fact that he's gelded and most of the testosterone has calmed down, but it's definitely that we're so nice to him. We love on him and everything, but we don't let him walk all over us. He's definitely successfully turned into a family horse and turned out to be the cuddliest one out of all them and the most attached to us as a family. I feel like Brie and Nina, while they are attached to us a great deal, are more attached to each other in a human-like big sister/little sister kind of way, while Harry is more focused on everything we're doing. We like to walk them around in the arena every so often without leadlines and see if they'll follow us. Brie and Nina follow us but most of the time they get distracted by little things in the arena that they decide are more interesting than watching us run around the arena, but now no matter what else is in the arena or going on, Harry always follows us around. Always focused on us. It's really sweet to see that he's turned out to be such a good horse.
I was thinking about Brie too. It seems like impossible how hard she was for me to deal with when I first started this blog. Or the one or two month time period where she'd try to kick me every time I went in her stall to go get her and how now she comes up to the door to greet me when I go to halter her. Or how I used to beg to ride Nina after Brie for a "nice relaxing end to my day", when now I look to Brie for that because she's calmed down so much. It's just really rewarding to look back and see how far I've come with them. That's probably the best Christmas present I'll get this year.
I hope you all have a Happy Holiday, since I won't be writing again until after Christmas!
Didn't go out last Sunday because of a huge snowstorm. No one's been let outside because the ground is icy, so of course Brie, Nina, and Harry loved running around in the arena while no one was here today! Ray is in Memphis and no one was out, so we let them all play. We let Brie run around first and she had a grand old time, bucking and squealing all on her own, then we stuck Harry in with her. She kept racing him and trying to make him run into the tractor in the corner! Thankfully he's quick and smart and never ran into it, though Brie did manage to stretch her leg in some ungodly direction to try and kick at him as she ran by! We let Nina in on the fun, poor little fatty, she only made it around the arena once before she stopped and wanted to just chill with Brie. Paco chased them all around and made them run. Once again, someone said that Brie should be put on the track. I swear, she was born the wrong breed! Should've been a Thoroughbred.
I rode Nina first! I was so happy! She has a very ploppy gait, kind of just moseys along but it's really cute. She takes some getting used to -- I never get to ride her so I have to figure her out! I knew she was having problems tossing her head when you're trying to make her flex, so I worked on that with her until she was being quiet about it. We did some figure 8's, some patterns in the sand, just things to relieve her boredom of going around in circles all day when my brother rides her (he stayed home, by the way. Sick.) and eventually she kept her head down and collected for me. Her gait sounded wonderful on the board, no breaks or bumps. She worked pretty hard for not doing so much by my standards! She was sweating up a storm!
Paco rode Harry. I didn't pay attention to him much because I was trying to concentrate on Nina, but my mom said that Harry looked nice. No problems, as usual recently. His speed was a little on the fast side, but that was Paco letting him have some fun. Paco must miss having him to ride, because he rode for a long time and then gave Harry a full bath! Thankfully the barn is heated, and we made him stand in the shower stall with a fleece cooler blanket on for at least a half hour to make sure he was okay.
My mom had some problems with Brie's gait going across the board. It was very odd and she was blaming it on my cantering her all the time. I figured that I wouldn't canter her today and just work on making her understand that when someone wants her to gait, she has to gait and not try to sneak in a couple canter strides. She was pretty good after some resetting of her mind doing some patterns. I rode all without stirrups. And when she went over the soundboard she sounded perfect. Since she sounded so good, I decided to do some cantering in a circle, not the entire arena, to work on speed, and she did really well (as did I, without any stirrups!). Hopefully she'll get the hang of not wanting to bolt into a canter/gallop and keep it more lopey and relaxed soon.
Sunday
Boy are my legs sore from yesterday's no stirrup riding.
I rode Nina again today. Pretty much the same deal as yesterday, except today I worked more on making her round her reverses instead of taking them stiff like a board. She's a smart girl, so it only takes a couple of tries with whatever I want and she gets the idea. She was a little excited today though! She tried to sneak a canter in the corner, except her's is so different from Brie's because it's so short and cute you barely notice it! Brie's canter stride is about 3 times the canter stride of Nina. It's pretty adorable, watching Nina canter because she has such short legs!
I rode Harry too today. In fact, I was the only one who rode at all today! Harry was MAGNIFICENT today. I haven't had a good, clean-gaited, high performance ride like that from him in about a month, so I was thoroughly pleased. It was like he gave me a Christmas present of a fantastic ride today.
My mom, Paco, and I were all talking about the horses and how far they've come. We talked mostly about Harry and how psycho he was when we first got him. Paco attributes a lot of it to the fact that he's gelded and most of the testosterone has calmed down, but it's definitely that we're so nice to him. We love on him and everything, but we don't let him walk all over us. He's definitely successfully turned into a family horse and turned out to be the cuddliest one out of all them and the most attached to us as a family. I feel like Brie and Nina, while they are attached to us a great deal, are more attached to each other in a human-like big sister/little sister kind of way, while Harry is more focused on everything we're doing. We like to walk them around in the arena every so often without leadlines and see if they'll follow us. Brie and Nina follow us but most of the time they get distracted by little things in the arena that they decide are more interesting than watching us run around the arena, but now no matter what else is in the arena or going on, Harry always follows us around. Always focused on us. It's really sweet to see that he's turned out to be such a good horse.
I was thinking about Brie too. It seems like impossible how hard she was for me to deal with when I first started this blog. Or the one or two month time period where she'd try to kick me every time I went in her stall to go get her and how now she comes up to the door to greet me when I go to halter her. Or how I used to beg to ride Nina after Brie for a "nice relaxing end to my day", when now I look to Brie for that because she's calmed down so much. It's just really rewarding to look back and see how far I've come with them. That's probably the best Christmas present I'll get this year.
I hope you all have a Happy Holiday, since I won't be writing again until after Christmas!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Day 101
Just to think, I gave up a month of this for something that wouldn't even last, but I'll get to that.
This sure was an interesting return.
I'll start with the weird stuff first. So Ray rode Harry today...yeah, that's what I said. Crazy, isn't it? My mom was having a bit of trouble with Harry lunging, since she wanted to start him out today, and Ray offered to help lunge him, so she let him. After lunging Harry for a long time and after Harry was sufficiently worked up, Ray asked if he could ride, so my mom agreed. Good news is, as far as I can tell, he didn't screw Harry up--he was still fino-ing across the board. The entire thing was just really strange though. I want to start Harry tomorrow.
I rode Brie for a really long time today! We walked and corto'd and largo'd and went outside in the trail and worked on cantering...she even jumped! Her cantering is getting really good: I'm getting to the point where I don't even have to squeeze, just shift my legs and she picks up the right lead. It's a little harder to the left, but we'll get there. As soon as she has the basic signals down pat, I want to work on flying lead changes.
We jumped a tiny X set up out of wood and traffic cones. She over shot it a couple of times, and my position needs work, but I'm so excited! I'm going to ask my Grandpa to make a set of jumps for me for christmas. I need to learn hunt seat, since all I learned on the team was equitation.
Speaking of the team: I quit. Yeah. I'm not too bummed about it. I'll miss the girls in my lesson the most, but it just became this big political power trip for the exec board, plus I wasn't too pleased with where we were at. No skin off my back, now I have $40 extra to put towards a car every week =] so I can go see my own horses.
I'm really excited to keep jumping Brie though. My mom was an amazing hunter jumper in her day, so she'll give me lessons on position and everything.
I don't know when I'll find time to ride Nina though! My dads shift is changing at work so now we'll have to leave really early on Saturdays. =\ this also means that if I want to stay on a Friday at school, I definitely won't be going out to the barn on Saturdays. I'll have to choose wisely.
Two weeks til the Iowa game, three weeks til the Wrigley game, and four weeks until normalcy.
This sure was an interesting return.
I'll start with the weird stuff first. So Ray rode Harry today...yeah, that's what I said. Crazy, isn't it? My mom was having a bit of trouble with Harry lunging, since she wanted to start him out today, and Ray offered to help lunge him, so she let him. After lunging Harry for a long time and after Harry was sufficiently worked up, Ray asked if he could ride, so my mom agreed. Good news is, as far as I can tell, he didn't screw Harry up--he was still fino-ing across the board. The entire thing was just really strange though. I want to start Harry tomorrow.
I rode Brie for a really long time today! We walked and corto'd and largo'd and went outside in the trail and worked on cantering...she even jumped! Her cantering is getting really good: I'm getting to the point where I don't even have to squeeze, just shift my legs and she picks up the right lead. It's a little harder to the left, but we'll get there. As soon as she has the basic signals down pat, I want to work on flying lead changes.
We jumped a tiny X set up out of wood and traffic cones. She over shot it a couple of times, and my position needs work, but I'm so excited! I'm going to ask my Grandpa to make a set of jumps for me for christmas. I need to learn hunt seat, since all I learned on the team was equitation.
Speaking of the team: I quit. Yeah. I'm not too bummed about it. I'll miss the girls in my lesson the most, but it just became this big political power trip for the exec board, plus I wasn't too pleased with where we were at. No skin off my back, now I have $40 extra to put towards a car every week =] so I can go see my own horses.
I'm really excited to keep jumping Brie though. My mom was an amazing hunter jumper in her day, so she'll give me lessons on position and everything.
I don't know when I'll find time to ride Nina though! My dads shift is changing at work so now we'll have to leave really early on Saturdays. =\ this also means that if I want to stay on a Friday at school, I definitely won't be going out to the barn on Saturdays. I'll have to choose wisely.
Two weeks til the Iowa game, three weeks til the Wrigley game, and four weeks until normalcy.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Day 80
Today was probably the best day in the entire summer so far.
While I was grooming Harry, I got this idea: what if I lunged him in the round pen without his lead rope, just using the carrot stick? I don't know why I didn't think of this before. It seems like the most obvious thing in the world now. So after I braided his mane to train it on one side and his forelock so he can see, we headed out to the round pen armed with only the carrot stick and a lead rope (for some ideas later).
We entered, I unclipped him and walked to the middle and he followed, probably still thinking he was attached. I put my carrot stick and arm out to the side, waved it a little, and off he went. He started out slowly and then realized he was free. He has the cutest little gallop! He galloped around counter clockwise for about 10 minutes until I switched hands and yelled "Reverse!". Well he didn't really get that so I ran to the side of the pen where he saw me, yelled again, and he turned to go clockwise. I did that for a couple of reverses until he got the hang of what a tiny two-legger meant by yelling "reverse" at him. Then I tried to get him to stop on command. He didn't really get it so I had to run to one side and then the other, like the reverse, saying "whoa!" and keeping him from speeding off the other direction until he stopped and looked at me all puzzled. I held out my hand and he came to me, then I told him whoa again. Sent him back out and repeated until I just put my hands down and had to say whoa and he was coming right to me. That impressed Paco =]
After free lunging, I hooked him back up and put my carrot stick to the side and lunged like that. He was gaiting beautifully and keeping his distance from me. I called the reverse just as if I had the carrot stick and he reversed. He did try to stop a couple of times, nothing like Wednesday, but I got him back out without having to chase him; I just waved my arm like I had the carrot stick. He did so well! I let him back off for some final runs around before I called the final whoa, hooked him up, and walked him for a bit because he was dripping hot!
Saddled up and rode. He was positively charming and it makes me so smug to know that Ray watched me the whole time. The only complaint I have today about Harry is that he liked to rush the soundboard in the counterclockwise and so I'm trying to break him of that. Only one shot in the show and the sound board can make or break you! If I wanna win some money, we better have a good sound board!
I finished up completely happy and asked my mom to wash him off while I rode Brie around. A little miffed that I took her away from the crossbreeze in the doorway, we went over to the poles. Is it bad that she knows the pattern I do for the poles? We went around the indoor 4 times before heading out. She was wonderful! It's hard to believe she's the same horse! I have to keep thinking of new routes to take around the limited property, but we have fun. She didn't crowhop at all! I think she genuinely enjoyed herself. I'm so happy I finally found something she likes. If we keep working at it, maybe I'll even get a trail ride down the end of the country-block before summer's over!
While I was grooming Harry, I got this idea: what if I lunged him in the round pen without his lead rope, just using the carrot stick? I don't know why I didn't think of this before. It seems like the most obvious thing in the world now. So after I braided his mane to train it on one side and his forelock so he can see, we headed out to the round pen armed with only the carrot stick and a lead rope (for some ideas later).
We entered, I unclipped him and walked to the middle and he followed, probably still thinking he was attached. I put my carrot stick and arm out to the side, waved it a little, and off he went. He started out slowly and then realized he was free. He has the cutest little gallop! He galloped around counter clockwise for about 10 minutes until I switched hands and yelled "Reverse!". Well he didn't really get that so I ran to the side of the pen where he saw me, yelled again, and he turned to go clockwise. I did that for a couple of reverses until he got the hang of what a tiny two-legger meant by yelling "reverse" at him. Then I tried to get him to stop on command. He didn't really get it so I had to run to one side and then the other, like the reverse, saying "whoa!" and keeping him from speeding off the other direction until he stopped and looked at me all puzzled. I held out my hand and he came to me, then I told him whoa again. Sent him back out and repeated until I just put my hands down and had to say whoa and he was coming right to me. That impressed Paco =]
After free lunging, I hooked him back up and put my carrot stick to the side and lunged like that. He was gaiting beautifully and keeping his distance from me. I called the reverse just as if I had the carrot stick and he reversed. He did try to stop a couple of times, nothing like Wednesday, but I got him back out without having to chase him; I just waved my arm like I had the carrot stick. He did so well! I let him back off for some final runs around before I called the final whoa, hooked him up, and walked him for a bit because he was dripping hot!
Saddled up and rode. He was positively charming and it makes me so smug to know that Ray watched me the whole time. The only complaint I have today about Harry is that he liked to rush the soundboard in the counterclockwise and so I'm trying to break him of that. Only one shot in the show and the sound board can make or break you! If I wanna win some money, we better have a good sound board!
I finished up completely happy and asked my mom to wash him off while I rode Brie around. A little miffed that I took her away from the crossbreeze in the doorway, we went over to the poles. Is it bad that she knows the pattern I do for the poles? We went around the indoor 4 times before heading out. She was wonderful! It's hard to believe she's the same horse! I have to keep thinking of new routes to take around the limited property, but we have fun. She didn't crowhop at all! I think she genuinely enjoyed herself. I'm so happy I finally found something she likes. If we keep working at it, maybe I'll even get a trail ride down the end of the country-block before summer's over!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Day 68
Yay for progress!
I may have told you a while back that I started working with Harry on some Parelli games. Well, actually, game in the singular. I started working on the Friendly Game with him and he was okay with the string for the carrot stick and the carrot stick separately, but not together, probably because it looks like a giant whip (but it's really not). We made huge progress today when I was able to connect the two and rub them over him and he didn't flinch! It was fantastic. Step 1 of the trust-building achieved!
It was thunder-storming today. Last time I rode Harry in a thunder-storm he got kind of freaked out. He was okay today, probably because the thunder was far away and it was just raining hard. I lunged him for quite a while and then started working. We changed his bosal and barbada (noseband and chin piece) and his entire jaquima because of Paco's recommendation yesterday. After working for a while, trying (unsuccessfully) to get him to walk on the rail, Paco adjusted the jaquima and told me that sometimes I have to give a little to get something in return from the horse, otherwise he'll just be mad at me. Makes sense. So he told me to just work on going straight down the line, not necessarily on the rail, and that each time to push Harry over a little bit and soon he'll be on the rail. Hopefully that works.
I also have exciting news. Exciting for me at least. Ray was watching us today while he was training and he told me as I passed by on Harry that I was doing a good job and to keep it up, I'll get there eventually. That may have just been a crock, but it gave me a smug feeling to know that he complimented me.
Didn't ride Nina. Again.
Rode Brie. This is our second to last practice before our Michigan show next weekend. I'm excited for it. She was a little uppity today, hopefully she's more calm on Wednesday for our last practice. I really hope she does well, I have to admit, I'll be really disappointed if she doesn't. All I'm asking for is to NOT get excused and to NOT come in last place. Second to last place is completely acceptable at this point. I gotta work my way up.
I may have told you a while back that I started working with Harry on some Parelli games. Well, actually, game in the singular. I started working on the Friendly Game with him and he was okay with the string for the carrot stick and the carrot stick separately, but not together, probably because it looks like a giant whip (but it's really not). We made huge progress today when I was able to connect the two and rub them over him and he didn't flinch! It was fantastic. Step 1 of the trust-building achieved!
It was thunder-storming today. Last time I rode Harry in a thunder-storm he got kind of freaked out. He was okay today, probably because the thunder was far away and it was just raining hard. I lunged him for quite a while and then started working. We changed his bosal and barbada (noseband and chin piece) and his entire jaquima because of Paco's recommendation yesterday. After working for a while, trying (unsuccessfully) to get him to walk on the rail, Paco adjusted the jaquima and told me that sometimes I have to give a little to get something in return from the horse, otherwise he'll just be mad at me. Makes sense. So he told me to just work on going straight down the line, not necessarily on the rail, and that each time to push Harry over a little bit and soon he'll be on the rail. Hopefully that works.
I also have exciting news. Exciting for me at least. Ray was watching us today while he was training and he told me as I passed by on Harry that I was doing a good job and to keep it up, I'll get there eventually. That may have just been a crock, but it gave me a smug feeling to know that he complimented me.
Didn't ride Nina. Again.
Rode Brie. This is our second to last practice before our Michigan show next weekend. I'm excited for it. She was a little uppity today, hopefully she's more calm on Wednesday for our last practice. I really hope she does well, I have to admit, I'll be really disappointed if she doesn't. All I'm asking for is to NOT get excused and to NOT come in last place. Second to last place is completely acceptable at this point. I gotta work my way up.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Day 51
It's over!
Ray is fired. Long story short, my parents got in a huge argument with him and he's done.
One problem: now we need a trainer.
At least, that's a problem in their eyes. I personally cannot wait until tomorrow when I get to ride all three of them and Taco too.
Today was beautiful out. I didn't ride because when I showed up I didn't know if Ray was going to work with them/us or not so I gave them all bathes. They looked and smelled marvelous until I let them outside to dry in the sun and they all rolled around in the mud. Ugh. Horses.
But the one super exciting thing that comes out of this is that now they get to go outside everyday. Ray wasn't going to let Nina and Harry out because he was training them but now they can go out. It's going to be gorgeous this week, so hopefully they'll all be in good moods next weekend. Especially since next weekend is MY BIRTHDAY!!
Yup folks, next weekend I'm turning 18!
What would make it a fantastic 18th birthday would be if I got a car, that way I could go out all the time on my own to ride. Training would be much more effective.
I can't wait until the day that I have my own farm and can ride all I want to.
Ray is fired. Long story short, my parents got in a huge argument with him and he's done.
One problem: now we need a trainer.
At least, that's a problem in their eyes. I personally cannot wait until tomorrow when I get to ride all three of them and Taco too.
Today was beautiful out. I didn't ride because when I showed up I didn't know if Ray was going to work with them/us or not so I gave them all bathes. They looked and smelled marvelous until I let them outside to dry in the sun and they all rolled around in the mud. Ugh. Horses.
But the one super exciting thing that comes out of this is that now they get to go outside everyday. Ray wasn't going to let Nina and Harry out because he was training them but now they can go out. It's going to be gorgeous this week, so hopefully they'll all be in good moods next weekend. Especially since next weekend is MY BIRTHDAY!!
Yup folks, next weekend I'm turning 18!
What would make it a fantastic 18th birthday would be if I got a car, that way I could go out all the time on my own to ride. Training would be much more effective.
I can't wait until the day that I have my own farm and can ride all I want to.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Day 49
We were supposed to go out on Saturday, but a wind storm knocked over my tree and we had to get rid of it, as it was laying on the power lines. Not good.
We went out Sunday. I'm just gonna write it in present tense at times, it's easier to remember things.
First thing we see as we drive up to the stable are people outside! Yay! I was mega excited to be able to use the outdoor arena for the first time since winter, it was beautiful out. Ray approaches us and says for us to not ride Harry and Nina because since he's not training next month he wanted to show us what he's been doing with them. So we just brush them off, Brie was SOOO DUSTY by the way, and get Nina first. He has this really rough looking jaquima on her, at least the underpart (I forgot whether it's bosal or barbada, but the part that goes under the chin). He told us that she might get scratched up today but that he doesn't use it all the time. He also was using a different bit on her. He worked Nina really well outside and she had her head set really nicely.
Then I noticed that she was bleeding under the chin from the bosal/barbada. My brother rode her, she was okay, then I rode her. Obviously I didn't want to move my hands or do anything really because all I could think about was that she was bleeding so she wasn't that great.
Ray got Harry next and worked with him. Harry was a little wild, he reminds me a lot of Brie. I rode him really well though, maybe because of Brie, and Ray even gave me compliments on him.
Ray also did this really backwards apology type thing which resulted in my parents considering keeping him as a trainer up until May. We're going to start Harry on the same calming supplement that Brie is on and see if it makes a difference.
Brie was FANTASTIC! Well I mean, she still didn't want me to take her out of the stall, but we rode outside in the arena and she had fun, I think. She didn't want to walk, but I managed to get her to a slow corto. We cantered! It was probably the best cantering experience with her so far because I know what I'm doing now!
Show Update!
Memphis: Week of April 19th
I don't think we're going to bring Nina or Harry to this one. If anything, I'll convince my parents to trailer Brie down there and I'll show her. Otherwise we'll just go and be spectators, which might be kind of fun. I don't know yet.
Spectrum- Miami: Memorial Day Weekend
I'm super looking forward to this one! It's bigger than Nationals, almost as big as the bi-yearly Mundial. Horses are coming in from Puerto Rico and Colombia to compete. Naturally, we'd go as spectators, but it would be one hell of a weekend! I can't wait for this, especially because when we get bored of the show, we can go lay out on South Beach. =]
We went out Sunday. I'm just gonna write it in present tense at times, it's easier to remember things.
First thing we see as we drive up to the stable are people outside! Yay! I was mega excited to be able to use the outdoor arena for the first time since winter, it was beautiful out. Ray approaches us and says for us to not ride Harry and Nina because since he's not training next month he wanted to show us what he's been doing with them. So we just brush them off, Brie was SOOO DUSTY by the way, and get Nina first. He has this really rough looking jaquima on her, at least the underpart (I forgot whether it's bosal or barbada, but the part that goes under the chin). He told us that she might get scratched up today but that he doesn't use it all the time. He also was using a different bit on her. He worked Nina really well outside and she had her head set really nicely.
Then I noticed that she was bleeding under the chin from the bosal/barbada. My brother rode her, she was okay, then I rode her. Obviously I didn't want to move my hands or do anything really because all I could think about was that she was bleeding so she wasn't that great.
Ray got Harry next and worked with him. Harry was a little wild, he reminds me a lot of Brie. I rode him really well though, maybe because of Brie, and Ray even gave me compliments on him.
Ray also did this really backwards apology type thing which resulted in my parents considering keeping him as a trainer up until May. We're going to start Harry on the same calming supplement that Brie is on and see if it makes a difference.
Brie was FANTASTIC! Well I mean, she still didn't want me to take her out of the stall, but we rode outside in the arena and she had fun, I think. She didn't want to walk, but I managed to get her to a slow corto. We cantered! It was probably the best cantering experience with her so far because I know what I'm doing now!
Show Update!
Memphis: Week of April 19th
I don't think we're going to bring Nina or Harry to this one. If anything, I'll convince my parents to trailer Brie down there and I'll show her. Otherwise we'll just go and be spectators, which might be kind of fun. I don't know yet.
Spectrum- Miami: Memorial Day Weekend
I'm super looking forward to this one! It's bigger than Nationals, almost as big as the bi-yearly Mundial. Horses are coming in from Puerto Rico and Colombia to compete. Naturally, we'd go as spectators, but it would be one hell of a weekend! I can't wait for this, especially because when we get bored of the show, we can go lay out on South Beach. =]
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Day 47
Didn't go to the stables yesterday because I was at the Black Eyed Peas Concert! Whoohoo!
Onto today,
predators trainers never last long.
In short, Ray contradicts himself a whole lot.
Firstly, he caused an uproar when he announced that he wants not only his hotel paid for at the Memphis show (understandable), but he wants his food and drink paid for too ("I go to party with my friends, too"), is charging a "show fee" and wants to be tipped (but will disagree if he is tipped too little). Secondly, after telling us last week that we had the best horses in the barn potential-wise (Nina and Harry), he turns around and says he has no idea why we bought out horses because basically they're crap and he could be doing better things with his time. Seriously. WTF.
Brie was pretty angry today. Maybe it's because tomorrow's her birthday and she's like every other woman who hates birthdays. So I didn't ride her and instead stuck her outside for the first time since it started snowing. I like to think that made her extremely happy.
So after Ray was done getting in an argument with my dad which resulted in him saying that he would train Mon-Fri and we could do whatever we wished on Sat & Sun until April 1st, I got on Harry and rode. Ray rode him first though to explain the problems he was having with Harry, which was basically just excess energy and a lack of flexibility, so I'll be working on that. He was very antsy and I walked him for a good hour so hopefully I'll make some more progress this Saturday.
As for Nina? Well. Ray rode Nina and said that she's been giving him problems with rearing. Hold the phone: Nina. Rearing? I couldn't believe it! It looked more like he was making her rear because when my brother got on she was perfectly calm. Admittedly she is having problems collecting her head when gaiting, but that is a problem we can easily fix.
So it sounds like we're just riding this deal out until April 1st and then finally, we start the real training. And oh, won't I be looking forward to that.
Onto today,
In short, Ray contradicts himself a whole lot.
Firstly, he caused an uproar when he announced that he wants not only his hotel paid for at the Memphis show (understandable), but he wants his food and drink paid for too ("I go to party with my friends, too"), is charging a "show fee" and wants to be tipped (but will disagree if he is tipped too little). Secondly, after telling us last week that we had the best horses in the barn potential-wise (Nina and Harry), he turns around and says he has no idea why we bought out horses because basically they're crap and he could be doing better things with his time. Seriously. WTF.
Brie was pretty angry today. Maybe it's because tomorrow's her birthday and she's like every other woman who hates birthdays. So I didn't ride her and instead stuck her outside for the first time since it started snowing. I like to think that made her extremely happy.
So after Ray was done getting in an argument with my dad which resulted in him saying that he would train Mon-Fri and we could do whatever we wished on Sat & Sun until April 1st, I got on Harry and rode. Ray rode him first though to explain the problems he was having with Harry, which was basically just excess energy and a lack of flexibility, so I'll be working on that. He was very antsy and I walked him for a good hour so hopefully I'll make some more progress this Saturday.
As for Nina? Well. Ray rode Nina and said that she's been giving him problems with rearing. Hold the phone: Nina. Rearing? I couldn't believe it! It looked more like he was making her rear because when my brother got on she was perfectly calm. Admittedly she is having problems collecting her head when gaiting, but that is a problem we can easily fix.
So it sounds like we're just riding this deal out until April 1st and then finally, we start the real training. And oh, won't I be looking forward to that.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sweet Girl
A nursery of foals running around in the pasture, wobbly on their new legs.
This is how I first met Dulce Nina, who we just call Nina for short. I met her as a foal one weekend, she had been born during the middle of that week. Not really standing out from the lot, my brother
and I just enjoyed watching them play because they were so adorable.
We never took particular notice to Nina until she was kept in the stall over the winter because she had an eye infection. More like 'Shy Girl' instead of 'Sweet Girl', she stood facing the corner, refusing to look at us, no matter how hard we tried to lure her out. Once she was released from the infirmary, she was let back outside to grow.
We never really planned on getting another horse. It just came spontaneously. When we heard that Lorraine wanted to sell the barn and auction off all of the horses, we asked Andre which one of the babies was the best. At the time, it was down to three babies: Obrero, Futur
o, and Dulce Nina. He said that out of them, Nina had the most potential other than his own baby, Elegante, that he recently bought from Lorraine at the auction at Nationals that fall.
Auction day was a blur. We walked in to find a crowd of people seated on hay bales in the arena; all the horses were lined up and wearing numbers on their flanks. My brother and I approached Nina in her stall and my brother promised her that he would buy her. A whirlwind of bids later, we were the proud owners of Dulce Nina. My brother and I rejoiced and took about a million pictures of our new family member. Nina was just over a year old.
So now we have this baby horse. What do we do with her? The first step we made was desensitizing her. We worked on our bond with her, my brother connecting with her the most. Andre suggested that we do Bella Forma with her. Bella Forma is a class in shows where you have either one or two people and you walk the filly or colt around the arena to show her or his gait. It's kind of like a dog show, only with a
horse. The first year we competed with her, my mom was by herself with Nina because Nina was still little. As Nina grew, she went on double lines and my brother joined in. We won a few classes, I believe we qualified for Nationals, but we decided not to go.
This past year was Nina's first year competing under saddle. We did well, but not as well as we would have liked to. Andre told us that she had a lot of potential and was even turning out better than Elegante. He told us that we had a pretty good Fino horse on our h
ands and we were thrilled. What luck we had to have a Fino horse bought at an auction! But something went wrong, and Nina became angry and unwilling to work. We thought, maybe Andre was over working her? But none the less, she flat out stopped in the middle of the sound board when we were competing in Kentucky this past year. She became angry and wanted nothing to do with us anymore. Shortly after that, we stopped training, and after that, Andre was fired from our current stable.
Now Nina is getting down to work. After having quite a few months off to play, bond even more with Brie, and not do really anything, she is very eager to learn under Ray. Ray tells us that at the least, we will have a very high quality performance horse, but that he doesn't want to make any promises about whether she is Fino or not. We're all very eager to see how she turns out, but she has now grown into her name none the less. She is certainly a sweet girl.
This is how I first met Dulce Nina, who we just call Nina for short. I met her as a foal one weekend, she had been born during the middle of that week. Not really standing out from the lot, my brother
and I just enjoyed watching them play because they were so adorable.We never took particular notice to Nina until she was kept in the stall over the winter because she had an eye infection. More like 'Shy Girl' instead of 'Sweet Girl', she stood facing the corner, refusing to look at us, no matter how hard we tried to lure her out. Once she was released from the infirmary, she was let back outside to grow.
We never really planned on getting another horse. It just came spontaneously. When we heard that Lorraine wanted to sell the barn and auction off all of the horses, we asked Andre which one of the babies was the best. At the time, it was down to three babies: Obrero, Futur
o, and Dulce Nina. He said that out of them, Nina had the most potential other than his own baby, Elegante, that he recently bought from Lorraine at the auction at Nationals that fall.Auction day was a blur. We walked in to find a crowd of people seated on hay bales in the arena; all the horses were lined up and wearing numbers on their flanks. My brother and I approached Nina in her stall and my brother promised her that he would buy her. A whirlwind of bids later, we were the proud owners of Dulce Nina. My brother and I rejoiced and took about a million pictures of our new family member. Nina was just over a year old.
So now we have this baby horse. What do we do with her? The first step we made was desensitizing her. We worked on our bond with her, my brother connecting with her the most. Andre suggested that we do Bella Forma with her. Bella Forma is a class in shows where you have either one or two people and you walk the filly or colt around the arena to show her or his gait. It's kind of like a dog show, only with a
horse. The first year we competed with her, my mom was by herself with Nina because Nina was still little. As Nina grew, she went on double lines and my brother joined in. We won a few classes, I believe we qualified for Nationals, but we decided not to go.This past year was Nina's first year competing under saddle. We did well, but not as well as we would have liked to. Andre told us that she had a lot of potential and was even turning out better than Elegante. He told us that we had a pretty good Fino horse on our h
ands and we were thrilled. What luck we had to have a Fino horse bought at an auction! But something went wrong, and Nina became angry and unwilling to work. We thought, maybe Andre was over working her? But none the less, she flat out stopped in the middle of the sound board when we were competing in Kentucky this past year. She became angry and wanted nothing to do with us anymore. Shortly after that, we stopped training, and after that, Andre was fired from our current stable.Now Nina is getting down to work. After having quite a few months off to play, bond even more with Brie, and not do really anything, she is very eager to learn under Ray. Ray tells us that at the least, we will have a very high quality performance horse, but that he doesn't want to make any promises about whether she is Fino or not. We're all very eager to see how she turns out, but she has now grown into her name none the less. She is certainly a sweet girl.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Day 42
We bought Harry!
I'm going to start watching Parelli again. I've been totally unproductive at school with my free time, and this is a good thing to start again. I'm going to start working with Harry on this corner that he will not go into because of his past. We're hoping to have him at a good point for showing in April.
Brie. Yeah, she scares me when she gives me her butt in the stall. I can't help it! I appreciate my limbs, even more so since I had knee surgery. Paco thinks it's the horse next to her, who is always kicking, that is making Brie uncomfortable and keeping her awake at night. Hopefully he can switch this horse and Harry. Overall, she did really well. I walked her a lot and cantered for a bit. Maybe I should cut back on the cantering now that shows are approaching. I'm just getting so restless being cooped up inside, and I'm sure that she's feeling it even more than I am.
Nina is still not being trained since Ray is away. Since he was gone basically a whole month, we won't pay him again for March.
I'll only have one day out this weekend, on Saturday. Brie's birthday is coming up! I'm gonna learn how to bake her a cake.
Hopefully I'll take lots of pictures on Saturday of Harry and have them up for you!
I'm going to start watching Parelli again. I've been totally unproductive at school with my free time, and this is a good thing to start again. I'm going to start working with Harry on this corner that he will not go into because of his past. We're hoping to have him at a good point for showing in April.
Brie. Yeah, she scares me when she gives me her butt in the stall. I can't help it! I appreciate my limbs, even more so since I had knee surgery. Paco thinks it's the horse next to her, who is always kicking, that is making Brie uncomfortable and keeping her awake at night. Hopefully he can switch this horse and Harry. Overall, she did really well. I walked her a lot and cantered for a bit. Maybe I should cut back on the cantering now that shows are approaching. I'm just getting so restless being cooped up inside, and I'm sure that she's feeling it even more than I am.
Nina is still not being trained since Ray is away. Since he was gone basically a whole month, we won't pay him again for March.
I'll only have one day out this weekend, on Saturday. Brie's birthday is coming up! I'm gonna learn how to bake her a cake.
Hopefully I'll take lots of pictures on Saturday of Harry and have them up for you!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Day 41
I think that Brie may be going through some hormonal changes right now. For the past three weeks, although I have failed to mention it, she has been giving me attitude when I want to take her out of the stall. She may just not want to work, but she doesn't get out all week because of the ice, so you could assume that she'd be happy to leave, right?
Well, I'm trying to be patient with her, yet again. Just getting her to walk today with 3 other horses in the arena was a challenge and she worked herself up. I guess I never have a dull moment with her. She ended on a good note though, finally walking, so I walked a couple rounds bareback, which hopefully she enjoyed.
Still no progress with Nina, as we've just found out that Ray's mom died this week. He's been in Puerto Rico with her for close to a month now, and won't be back until the middle of next week. Please keep him in your thoughts.
I rode Harry again today. He reminds me more and more of Andre's horse, Querida, and maybe a little bit of Brie too. He's young though, so I should give him a chance on the Brie aspect of it. He may have a lot of potential on the Querida side of it, because Querida is a Fino horse. Right now, since Harry's young, we might just show him in Pleasure classes if he's really not where he needs to be, otherwise we'd show him in Performance. If it turns out that we've struck gold again, we might have a Fino horse, along with Nina being a possible Fino horse!
Now why do I speak like I own Harry?
Well.
I do. =] Not officially though. We still have to seal the deal tomorrow and, obviously, pay for him. I should've probably waited to tell you guys in case it fell through, but I'm so excited! While I release a small groan at having to calm and desensitize another young horse, I can't say that I'm not looking forward to the challenge. It will all pay off in the end.
Well, I'm trying to be patient with her, yet again. Just getting her to walk today with 3 other horses in the arena was a challenge and she worked herself up. I guess I never have a dull moment with her. She ended on a good note though, finally walking, so I walked a couple rounds bareback, which hopefully she enjoyed.
Still no progress with Nina, as we've just found out that Ray's mom died this week. He's been in Puerto Rico with her for close to a month now, and won't be back until the middle of next week. Please keep him in your thoughts.
I rode Harry again today. He reminds me more and more of Andre's horse, Querida, and maybe a little bit of Brie too. He's young though, so I should give him a chance on the Brie aspect of it. He may have a lot of potential on the Querida side of it, because Querida is a Fino horse. Right now, since Harry's young, we might just show him in Pleasure classes if he's really not where he needs to be, otherwise we'd show him in Performance. If it turns out that we've struck gold again, we might have a Fino horse, along with Nina being a possible Fino horse!
Now why do I speak like I own Harry?
Well.
I do. =] Not officially though. We still have to seal the deal tomorrow and, obviously, pay for him. I should've probably waited to tell you guys in case it fell through, but I'm so excited! While I release a small groan at having to calm and desensitize another young horse, I can't say that I'm not looking forward to the challenge. It will all pay off in the end.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Days 38 & 39
Saturday
Freezing! Ray isn't here because he's in Puerto Rico with his mom, so we can't do much with Nina without him here. It was very quiet and lonely at the stable today, only us and Paco really. Played around with Nina for a bit, rode Brie. Her cantering is getting better! Better as in synchronized, so that's good, now I just have to work on slowing her down.
Rode Ghandi today, who, I found out, is not really Ghandi, apparently his name is Jardinero, and we're calling him Harry from now on until we come up with a better nickname. He is so lovely! He has the prettiest hair ever, so long and graceful looking. If only he weren't a gelding.
Sunday
People were here today! Jane was here for the first time in pretty much EVER with Annie. They brought their horse Grace and played around with Taco. I feel so bad! I almost forgot that Taco existed! I mostly walked Brie today and let my family have their fun with her. My dad rode her for the first time in a lonnggg time. I could tell he was nervous. I think that's my little mission now, to get my dad better at riding Brie. Maybe it'll make him respect me more as an adult.
I rode Grace. I think I'm finally understanding what 'diagonals' means! I did it right the entire time I trotted, even though that was not that long of a time, as Grace didn't really want to move.
Rode Harry again. We're back to thinking of buying him. If the price is right, he would be a great addition to the family. He's so adorable and really sweet. My dad just brought up the issue of who's horse would he really be? It took me a couple of months to really bond with Brie while my mom couldn't ride because of her surgery. It took my brother and I a year to figure out that Nina was really "his horse" rather than mine. I wonder who's horse Harry would be.
Probably my dad's. He seems to be the most excited about Harry. So I'll keep you updated on this little colt (4 years old!) and am so excited that the show season starts for me in the next 2 months!
Happy trails!
Freezing! Ray isn't here because he's in Puerto Rico with his mom, so we can't do much with Nina without him here. It was very quiet and lonely at the stable today, only us and Paco really. Played around with Nina for a bit, rode Brie. Her cantering is getting better! Better as in synchronized, so that's good, now I just have to work on slowing her down.
Rode Ghandi today, who, I found out, is not really Ghandi, apparently his name is Jardinero, and we're calling him Harry from now on until we come up with a better nickname. He is so lovely! He has the prettiest hair ever, so long and graceful looking. If only he weren't a gelding.
Sunday
People were here today! Jane was here for the first time in pretty much EVER with Annie. They brought their horse Grace and played around with Taco. I feel so bad! I almost forgot that Taco existed! I mostly walked Brie today and let my family have their fun with her. My dad rode her for the first time in a lonnggg time. I could tell he was nervous. I think that's my little mission now, to get my dad better at riding Brie. Maybe it'll make him respect me more as an adult.
I rode Grace. I think I'm finally understanding what 'diagonals' means! I did it right the entire time I trotted, even though that was not that long of a time, as Grace didn't really want to move.
Rode Harry again. We're back to thinking of buying him. If the price is right, he would be a great addition to the family. He's so adorable and really sweet. My dad just brought up the issue of who's horse would he really be? It took me a couple of months to really bond with Brie while my mom couldn't ride because of her surgery. It took my brother and I a year to figure out that Nina was really "his horse" rather than mine. I wonder who's horse Harry would be.
Probably my dad's. He seems to be the most excited about Harry. So I'll keep you updated on this little colt (4 years old!) and am so excited that the show season starts for me in the next 2 months!
Happy trails!
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