Friday
So, it's official. We won't be going to State Fair next weekend. A whole bunch of things are working against us, the most important one being that we can't get ahold of our farrier and so we couldn't show Harry anyways because he only has half a set of shoes on right now. Plus, Jane found out some stuff that made her not want to go either, so I guess we'll just all stay home and have a picnic that day or something.
But today was so much fun. All summer I've been babysitting three kids, Dana (7), Nina (6), and Steven (2). Their mom works with my mom and they've been asking if they could come see my horses. We all finally settled on today and they came along and so did another girl my mom works with. It was so cute! Nina (the girl) absolutely demanded that Nina (the horse) be hers for the day, since they have the same name and are the same age, so she stayed with my brother all day and helped him brush Nina and give her a bath. Dana was kind of scared, so she stayed with me and Brie all day. Brie may be a lot of things, but she's amazing with kids. She never once misbehaved. We were hesitant to put Dana on Brie, since Nina was taken, but then we remembered that Brie is the one who taught my brother and I how to ride when we were only a bit older than Dana, and Brie's motherly instincts proved still intact. Dana was scared at first, going around the arena, but after the first pass, she didn't want to get off!
Nina (the girl) looked so cute on Nina (the horse). She was fearless and had the look on her face that showed it! She made my brother run with her around the arena and across the soundboard and was loving every second of it! Then she hopped off and got on Brie and made me do the same thing! Needless to say, it's much harder on the ground than in the saddle!
Steven fell asleep before he got to ride anyone, since he was so exhausted from chasing Paco's dog around the back and feeding peppermints to all of the horses. He would pet Harry's nose and his hair and then squeal with delight! Such an adorable sight.
After the girls were done and Steven was fast asleep, the kids' mom and the other girl took turns on Nina (the horse) in the arena while my mom rode Brie. They sure looked like they were having fun! It's so great to share the love of horses with others.
But! Harry was the only one who made the day not turn out to be perfect, as today was the first time ever my mom had to emergency dismount him. I don't know what his problem was, but he was not having work at all. Maybe because today was Friday, I don't know. But he is in for it tomorrow.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Days 240 & 241
Saturday
First thing when I got there today, I was bothered. Let alone that it was almost 100 F, but I show up and Paco is riding Taco. And then, to add to it, Samantha's dad is now learning how to ride on Taco. Taco is not an easy horse to ride and aside from the fact that he is not the starter horse, I was upset because I didn't want a complete newbie doing anything to screw up Taco. I never got the chance to say anything, and wasn't quite sure how to, but it stayed with me.
I tried to ride Harry, but it was a total failure. I'm not sure if it was because it was hot outside or because he was stiff or because of my sour attitude about Taco going into riding Harry, but he was just not behaving. He was bad, like trying to buck me off bad. I didn't want to give up, so when I finally got him to just go around without being terrible and make a nice pass across the board, I got off. I wasn't in the mood to fight with him today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Sunday
I went in wanting to say something to Jane about Paco and Samantha's dad riding Taco before the show, but again I never got the chance to because Paco was always with Jane and I didn't want to just call him out in front of her, even if he does undermine me quite often in front of other people. I just can't be that confrontational. So Jane rode Taco and then Samantha's dad got on for a lesson while I was riding Brie. I made the mistake of taking her outside before she calmed down in the arena first and that set the tone for her whole day, with me and my mom afterwards. She's also hiking her back right hip up and I'm thinking it's because of her arthritis. If it keeps getting worse, I suppose we'll have to give her another shot or talk about other options with the vet, but I hope that it doesn't get worse...she's only 11. I would hate to have her unrideable at this young.
I plopped around on Nina while I was waiting for Samantha's dad to finish, and I love her more every time I do! She has such a relaxed walk and she's so focused on what she's doing. She's like a little steam boat. If we make it to State Fair (as now that's up in the air as well), I would really love to do a Pleasure Stakes class with her because I know we could win some money =]
Also more excitement! My dad rode for the first time since he was thrown off of Harry right after we bought him. That's about two years ago! He rode Nina and I knew that he was trying to look like he knew what he was doing as far as making her gait, but she's so automatic that even if he was doing something wrong, she just went on about her business and gave him a really great ride. I think it definitely made him feel better about coming out to the barn with us all the time.
Jane hopped back on Taco after Samantha's dad and so I got on Harry. He was so much better today. He had a wonderful largo and a great board. I think he's super sensitive towards what attitude you have when you get on him, because I was feeling much better today, even though I was still ticked at people other than Jane and I riding Taco. But rather than try and kick everyone else off, it would be more of an accomplishment if I could overcome the obstacle of having other people screwing with Taco and still place...that is, if certain people don't try and take credit for my win, saying that it's because they rode that Taco did so well. Taco might not even be going to the show, because he has to wear pads on his front hooves and that's against the rules, so if the farrier can't put shoes on the back feet or doesn't clear him to take the pads off, then he can't go.
I finally got my chance on Taco and had a bit of a hard time getting him to gait and he did try and pull me into the middle, but after those hiccups had passed, he settled into a wonderful, slow corto and really listened to me. He's even doing better on the corners and isn't cantering as often as before. After he worked (and he was sweating!), we went and walked outside around the pond to cool off. I went with my mom and Brie, and I couldn't believe that Taco was so good outside! He was very relaxed and calm and Brie was the crazy one. I had just anticipated that he would be a handful, but it was a really pleasant surprise to both enjoy the ride and cool down.
I'm really excited for this Friday because the kids that I babysit during the week are coming out. They're little ones, all under the age of 7, and it'll be so great to spread the love of horses with them! Of course, they're only going to ride Nina =]
First thing when I got there today, I was bothered. Let alone that it was almost 100 F, but I show up and Paco is riding Taco. And then, to add to it, Samantha's dad is now learning how to ride on Taco. Taco is not an easy horse to ride and aside from the fact that he is not the starter horse, I was upset because I didn't want a complete newbie doing anything to screw up Taco. I never got the chance to say anything, and wasn't quite sure how to, but it stayed with me.
I tried to ride Harry, but it was a total failure. I'm not sure if it was because it was hot outside or because he was stiff or because of my sour attitude about Taco going into riding Harry, but he was just not behaving. He was bad, like trying to buck me off bad. I didn't want to give up, so when I finally got him to just go around without being terrible and make a nice pass across the board, I got off. I wasn't in the mood to fight with him today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Sunday
I went in wanting to say something to Jane about Paco and Samantha's dad riding Taco before the show, but again I never got the chance to because Paco was always with Jane and I didn't want to just call him out in front of her, even if he does undermine me quite often in front of other people. I just can't be that confrontational. So Jane rode Taco and then Samantha's dad got on for a lesson while I was riding Brie. I made the mistake of taking her outside before she calmed down in the arena first and that set the tone for her whole day, with me and my mom afterwards. She's also hiking her back right hip up and I'm thinking it's because of her arthritis. If it keeps getting worse, I suppose we'll have to give her another shot or talk about other options with the vet, but I hope that it doesn't get worse...she's only 11. I would hate to have her unrideable at this young.
I plopped around on Nina while I was waiting for Samantha's dad to finish, and I love her more every time I do! She has such a relaxed walk and she's so focused on what she's doing. She's like a little steam boat. If we make it to State Fair (as now that's up in the air as well), I would really love to do a Pleasure Stakes class with her because I know we could win some money =]
Also more excitement! My dad rode for the first time since he was thrown off of Harry right after we bought him. That's about two years ago! He rode Nina and I knew that he was trying to look like he knew what he was doing as far as making her gait, but she's so automatic that even if he was doing something wrong, she just went on about her business and gave him a really great ride. I think it definitely made him feel better about coming out to the barn with us all the time.
Jane hopped back on Taco after Samantha's dad and so I got on Harry. He was so much better today. He had a wonderful largo and a great board. I think he's super sensitive towards what attitude you have when you get on him, because I was feeling much better today, even though I was still ticked at people other than Jane and I riding Taco. But rather than try and kick everyone else off, it would be more of an accomplishment if I could overcome the obstacle of having other people screwing with Taco and still place...that is, if certain people don't try and take credit for my win, saying that it's because they rode that Taco did so well. Taco might not even be going to the show, because he has to wear pads on his front hooves and that's against the rules, so if the farrier can't put shoes on the back feet or doesn't clear him to take the pads off, then he can't go.
I finally got my chance on Taco and had a bit of a hard time getting him to gait and he did try and pull me into the middle, but after those hiccups had passed, he settled into a wonderful, slow corto and really listened to me. He's even doing better on the corners and isn't cantering as often as before. After he worked (and he was sweating!), we went and walked outside around the pond to cool off. I went with my mom and Brie, and I couldn't believe that Taco was so good outside! He was very relaxed and calm and Brie was the crazy one. I had just anticipated that he would be a handful, but it was a really pleasant surprise to both enjoy the ride and cool down.
I'm really excited for this Friday because the kids that I babysit during the week are coming out. They're little ones, all under the age of 7, and it'll be so great to spread the love of horses with them! Of course, they're only going to ride Nina =]
Monday, July 30, 2012
Days 238 & 239
Saturday
I can definitely tell a difference between Harry on the Calmex and Harry off of the Calmex. He is so much more relaxed when he's on it, but then at the same time, he's so pokey. I don't know which is easier -- to get him to wake up when he's pokey or getting him to calm down when he's anxious. He was a beast to longe today. I ended up having to use the pole, which I haven't in a while, but riding he was very relaxed. I can't believe that State Fair is two weekends away. I don't feel very confident about it.
Taco was great today. Totally performed. I'm feeling very confident about him at the Fair. Too bad I feel more confident on Jane's horse than on my own...I also found out that we can't bring Brie with...Jane gave the spot in her trailer to Samantha. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about it. Samantha otherwise wouldn't have been able to go, and we would've brought three horses. I guess I just have to wait until next year to try Brie in showing again...
Sunday
I rode Brie a lot today. She is so good. I can't believe all of the progress we've made in her attitude. She just seems so much happier. Although, she did get a little crazy outside when I asked her to canter. I figured she was being so good lately that she deserved it...maybe I shouldn't be asking her to canter anymore either. She was pretty upset after that and it took a couple times around the ring once we got back inside to calm her down.
Taco was still nice today, but a little buggier. He takes a while to settle down into a speed that's acceptable. I brought him outside yesterday and today for a change of pace and he seems really happy!
Harry was a lot better today. He seemed more awake. I'm just really nervous about the show now.
I can definitely tell a difference between Harry on the Calmex and Harry off of the Calmex. He is so much more relaxed when he's on it, but then at the same time, he's so pokey. I don't know which is easier -- to get him to wake up when he's pokey or getting him to calm down when he's anxious. He was a beast to longe today. I ended up having to use the pole, which I haven't in a while, but riding he was very relaxed. I can't believe that State Fair is two weekends away. I don't feel very confident about it.
Taco was great today. Totally performed. I'm feeling very confident about him at the Fair. Too bad I feel more confident on Jane's horse than on my own...I also found out that we can't bring Brie with...Jane gave the spot in her trailer to Samantha. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about it. Samantha otherwise wouldn't have been able to go, and we would've brought three horses. I guess I just have to wait until next year to try Brie in showing again...
Sunday
I rode Brie a lot today. She is so good. I can't believe all of the progress we've made in her attitude. She just seems so much happier. Although, she did get a little crazy outside when I asked her to canter. I figured she was being so good lately that she deserved it...maybe I shouldn't be asking her to canter anymore either. She was pretty upset after that and it took a couple times around the ring once we got back inside to calm her down.
Taco was still nice today, but a little buggier. He takes a while to settle down into a speed that's acceptable. I brought him outside yesterday and today for a change of pace and he seems really happy!
Harry was a lot better today. He seemed more awake. I'm just really nervous about the show now.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Days 236 & 237
Saturday
Unfortunately, we've decided not to go to the Florida show. On Thursday, my dog got injured and after going to the vet, we've learned that he tore his CCL. The common response to this is to undergo surgery, but since he is so old (He's 11, maybe older, since we adopted him) and he has an existing liver problem, we can't put him through surgery, so all we can do is manage his pain with medication. We've been looking into braces, but haven't gotten far with it yet. We might not even go to State Fair now, because how could we put him in a kennel? He would be so freaked out. The only place he might be able to stay is at the vet's office where it's quiet and he's being watched for his problems all the time, but that's only if the vet says that it's okay for him to move out of the house for that time. It just kills me, because I was finally getting him out on walks since I was home over the summer and he was having such a great time, and now he can't go on a walk again, as far as we know =[
With that said, Harry was pretty okay today. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't super awesome. It's kind of what should be expected on a Saturday, since he hasn't been worked all week. His gait was nice, but now we're working on the largo again since he is back to pacing. He'll get there, I know he will. The calming supplement also arrived this week, so he will be going back on that again as well.
I rode Taco today. Jane bought this calming paste, B Kalm, and wanted to try it to see if it would help Taco and give her an easy ride. She said that he was still pulling tricks, but he listened to the corrections quicker than usual. I got on and saw that he was responding quicker. He is still having trouble breaking into a canter, but I know that as we work at it, it will get better. Near the end of the ride, he settled into an extremely smooth corto, which was great because I was able to get him to slow down for this corto and really make his default speed his largo. His board was phenomenal! But we will have to see if it was this paste or if he is really starting to listen to us.
Sunday
I am so proud of Harry! He got over one fear today (although it wasn't the tarp). I took a leaf out of my brother's book today when I warmed Harry up by walking in a circle and flexing instead of just walking or just flexing. I followed my mom and Brie outside as opposed to working a lot in the indoor before going outside and I was pleased that Harry only had a couple of bumps getting out to where Brie was and then he settled down wonderfully. He didn't jump or spook or pace at all, just this adorable little gait, and he kept it up when we went back inside. He had a great board, and my last goal for the day was going to the outdoor arena and around the serpentine posts then over the board and coming back inside. He did the serpentines nicely and got on the board nicely, but then we got to the huge concrete pad that they decided to put smack in the middle of the board and he got scared. He jumped off the board and walked around the concrete, snorting. I went on the other end of the board and asked him to go across again and he just did the same thing.
Instead of sitting there and continuing to bother him to go over the concrete, I got off and tried to get him to walk over it on foot. At this point, everyone saw me trying to get him to follow me over it, and my brother and Nina came outside to show Harry that it wasn't so scary. Nina stood on the concrete and after Harry walked around it a couple of times, I lead him on to the board and kind of zig zagged over to the concrete and he walked on it with no problem! After a couple more times of doing this, I was able to walk and approach it on the straight without him bawking at it, so I got back on and after we went all the way across the board and concrete and back again, I got off and told him how good he was. I'm so proud of him!
I also rode Taco again today. I can't tell if the paste helped or if he really is turning over a new leaf in his book of life, but he was great today! The cantering is still a problem, but he is getting better. His board was great and as long as we get the canter out of him, if we go to State Fair, he will definitely do well.
Unfortunately, we've decided not to go to the Florida show. On Thursday, my dog got injured and after going to the vet, we've learned that he tore his CCL. The common response to this is to undergo surgery, but since he is so old (He's 11, maybe older, since we adopted him) and he has an existing liver problem, we can't put him through surgery, so all we can do is manage his pain with medication. We've been looking into braces, but haven't gotten far with it yet. We might not even go to State Fair now, because how could we put him in a kennel? He would be so freaked out. The only place he might be able to stay is at the vet's office where it's quiet and he's being watched for his problems all the time, but that's only if the vet says that it's okay for him to move out of the house for that time. It just kills me, because I was finally getting him out on walks since I was home over the summer and he was having such a great time, and now he can't go on a walk again, as far as we know =[
With that said, Harry was pretty okay today. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't super awesome. It's kind of what should be expected on a Saturday, since he hasn't been worked all week. His gait was nice, but now we're working on the largo again since he is back to pacing. He'll get there, I know he will. The calming supplement also arrived this week, so he will be going back on that again as well.
I rode Taco today. Jane bought this calming paste, B Kalm, and wanted to try it to see if it would help Taco and give her an easy ride. She said that he was still pulling tricks, but he listened to the corrections quicker than usual. I got on and saw that he was responding quicker. He is still having trouble breaking into a canter, but I know that as we work at it, it will get better. Near the end of the ride, he settled into an extremely smooth corto, which was great because I was able to get him to slow down for this corto and really make his default speed his largo. His board was phenomenal! But we will have to see if it was this paste or if he is really starting to listen to us.
Sunday
I am so proud of Harry! He got over one fear today (although it wasn't the tarp). I took a leaf out of my brother's book today when I warmed Harry up by walking in a circle and flexing instead of just walking or just flexing. I followed my mom and Brie outside as opposed to working a lot in the indoor before going outside and I was pleased that Harry only had a couple of bumps getting out to where Brie was and then he settled down wonderfully. He didn't jump or spook or pace at all, just this adorable little gait, and he kept it up when we went back inside. He had a great board, and my last goal for the day was going to the outdoor arena and around the serpentine posts then over the board and coming back inside. He did the serpentines nicely and got on the board nicely, but then we got to the huge concrete pad that they decided to put smack in the middle of the board and he got scared. He jumped off the board and walked around the concrete, snorting. I went on the other end of the board and asked him to go across again and he just did the same thing.
Instead of sitting there and continuing to bother him to go over the concrete, I got off and tried to get him to walk over it on foot. At this point, everyone saw me trying to get him to follow me over it, and my brother and Nina came outside to show Harry that it wasn't so scary. Nina stood on the concrete and after Harry walked around it a couple of times, I lead him on to the board and kind of zig zagged over to the concrete and he walked on it with no problem! After a couple more times of doing this, I was able to walk and approach it on the straight without him bawking at it, so I got back on and after we went all the way across the board and concrete and back again, I got off and told him how good he was. I'm so proud of him!
I also rode Taco again today. I can't tell if the paste helped or if he really is turning over a new leaf in his book of life, but he was great today! The cantering is still a problem, but he is getting better. His board was great and as long as we get the canter out of him, if we go to State Fair, he will definitely do well.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Day 235
Sunday
First off, let me say that with only one more view, this blog will have hit 11,000 views! Thank you all so much, it's great to know that someone is actually reading my journey.
I got Brie today, which was nice. I didn't go out yesterday because of a school-related function, but my mom said that she is definitely ordering calming supplement for Harry again because he was ballistic yesterday. She wanted to try him again, so I got to ride Brie, which was nice, because I haven't ridden her for a week or so. She was go, go, go today, as no one rode her yesterday. She was pretty stiff and limping a little, but eventually she worked it out. Poor Brie. She's still so young (11 years old) and she already has arthritis. It just breaks my heart. Once we had all the speed out of her system, we worked on our performance walk, because I want to put her in a performance class. I figure A) Why not? and B) There are less horses in performance classes so she shouldn't get as nervous as she would in a huge pleasure class. I really hope that I can bring her to State Fair. I don't even care about winning with her, I just want to calmly make it through the whole ordeal and show her that it's nothing to be scared of.
After Brie, I got on Harry for a short bit. He was way better today, but his movements were very vertical. I wasn't really used to that, but he was gaiting nicely and behaving like he should. Now he's been having problems keeping his headset, and I don't want to use a martingale, so I have to keep checking him and reminding him to set his head. His largo broke a lot, so now we have to work on that again. I hate feeling like I'm back at square one with him after that period of him working brilliantly, but I just have to go back to basics again.
I got to ride Nina today! So, we're thinking of going down to this international show with her next week in Florida, and we would only show in three classes: one for my mom, one for my brother, and one for me. Since I don't usually show her and this is not the arena to be testing out pleasure classes when she's been in performance her whole life, I'm going to do a costume class with her! I haven't done costume class since Brie stopped showing, because she is the costume horse, but I thought that it might be fun with Nina and she's so well tempered that it shouldn't bother her that I would ride her with a long skirt on. We brought the skirt today to test her with it and sure enough, she was just fine!
We also brought the shipping boots, as it's about a 15 hour drive, to test her with and she was fine with those too, which is surprising because she hates the farrier so much, we figured that would transfer over into a fear of thing secured around her legs, but she was just fine. When we originally got them, we got them for Brie when she was about 4 years old, and she flipped out, so we never used them. Today we tried them back on Brie and aside from taking a couple of minutes to get used to walking a short distance in them, she was fine. Then we tried Harry. I thought for sure he would freak out, but he was good too! I love when horses give you good surprises =]
Lastly, I rode Taco. The only way that I could bring Brie to State Fair is if we bring Taco in Jane's 2 horse trailer, so Taco HAS to go to State Fair. He was surprisingly good as well! My mom says it's because she rode him yesterday, but usually it doesn't matter how many times you ride him, he does what he wants. He tried to pull a few tricks at the start of the ride, but I quickly corrected him and we went along great! I'm working on not breaking into a canter on the corners and figuring out exactly what I need to do to get him to have a wonderful board, along with making it a goal to slow what I'm now calling his largo into a corto, because his default gait speed is very fast and I'm thinking that if he goes any faster, since he's already breaking on the turns, that he will break into a canter. It might be easier to slow him down rather than try to speed him up. But if he shows like he rode today, he'll definitely place in a class! Which is how it should be, as he was a National Champion in the good old days!
So now this weekend is the last weekend of practice my mom and brother have before the show next week. I'm so excited, I hope everything works out and we actually go, and that we make it safely down there, and that we win! That way we can prove those people who were supposed to be our friends (no names) wrong and we get to show that our best horse can run with the very best international competition.
First off, let me say that with only one more view, this blog will have hit 11,000 views! Thank you all so much, it's great to know that someone is actually reading my journey.
I got Brie today, which was nice. I didn't go out yesterday because of a school-related function, but my mom said that she is definitely ordering calming supplement for Harry again because he was ballistic yesterday. She wanted to try him again, so I got to ride Brie, which was nice, because I haven't ridden her for a week or so. She was go, go, go today, as no one rode her yesterday. She was pretty stiff and limping a little, but eventually she worked it out. Poor Brie. She's still so young (11 years old) and she already has arthritis. It just breaks my heart. Once we had all the speed out of her system, we worked on our performance walk, because I want to put her in a performance class. I figure A) Why not? and B) There are less horses in performance classes so she shouldn't get as nervous as she would in a huge pleasure class. I really hope that I can bring her to State Fair. I don't even care about winning with her, I just want to calmly make it through the whole ordeal and show her that it's nothing to be scared of.
After Brie, I got on Harry for a short bit. He was way better today, but his movements were very vertical. I wasn't really used to that, but he was gaiting nicely and behaving like he should. Now he's been having problems keeping his headset, and I don't want to use a martingale, so I have to keep checking him and reminding him to set his head. His largo broke a lot, so now we have to work on that again. I hate feeling like I'm back at square one with him after that period of him working brilliantly, but I just have to go back to basics again.
I got to ride Nina today! So, we're thinking of going down to this international show with her next week in Florida, and we would only show in three classes: one for my mom, one for my brother, and one for me. Since I don't usually show her and this is not the arena to be testing out pleasure classes when she's been in performance her whole life, I'm going to do a costume class with her! I haven't done costume class since Brie stopped showing, because she is the costume horse, but I thought that it might be fun with Nina and she's so well tempered that it shouldn't bother her that I would ride her with a long skirt on. We brought the skirt today to test her with it and sure enough, she was just fine!
We also brought the shipping boots, as it's about a 15 hour drive, to test her with and she was fine with those too, which is surprising because she hates the farrier so much, we figured that would transfer over into a fear of thing secured around her legs, but she was just fine. When we originally got them, we got them for Brie when she was about 4 years old, and she flipped out, so we never used them. Today we tried them back on Brie and aside from taking a couple of minutes to get used to walking a short distance in them, she was fine. Then we tried Harry. I thought for sure he would freak out, but he was good too! I love when horses give you good surprises =]
Lastly, I rode Taco. The only way that I could bring Brie to State Fair is if we bring Taco in Jane's 2 horse trailer, so Taco HAS to go to State Fair. He was surprisingly good as well! My mom says it's because she rode him yesterday, but usually it doesn't matter how many times you ride him, he does what he wants. He tried to pull a few tricks at the start of the ride, but I quickly corrected him and we went along great! I'm working on not breaking into a canter on the corners and figuring out exactly what I need to do to get him to have a wonderful board, along with making it a goal to slow what I'm now calling his largo into a corto, because his default gait speed is very fast and I'm thinking that if he goes any faster, since he's already breaking on the turns, that he will break into a canter. It might be easier to slow him down rather than try to speed him up. But if he shows like he rode today, he'll definitely place in a class! Which is how it should be, as he was a National Champion in the good old days!
So now this weekend is the last weekend of practice my mom and brother have before the show next week. I'm so excited, I hope everything works out and we actually go, and that we make it safely down there, and that we win! That way we can prove those people who were supposed to be our friends (no names) wrong and we get to show that our best horse can run with the very best international competition.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Days 233 & 234
Saturday
It was an excruciating 105 today and all that was set was the farrier coming out. Alas, he didn't show up on time, so we rescheduled it for tomorrow. We did give everyone a quick hose off and I played a little with Harry and the tarp. I didn't try to make him go over it, but I held it folded up and walked around with it and had him follow me, that way he would get the idea that he is supposed to follow me no matter what scary thing I might be carrying. Eventually, we did get to halt and then I inched my way over to him to press the tarp against his nose. When he finally let me do this, I put the tarp down, still folded up, stood on it, and played the YoYo game to make him come towards me no matter what scary thing was around me. At first he didn't want to come back, but after he came close to me, we called it a day. I'd say that was progress!
Sunday
Harry was absolutely miserable today. He hasn't been quite this bratty in a while. He kept trying to buck me off! I got so sick of him that I got off and made him longe like a devil. After that, he calmed down a little, but was no where near where I wanted him to be. I don't know what happened between now and a month ago when he was being such an angel. It's beyond frustrating.
I got to poke around on Nina today, which was nice. We walked around outside for a little bit. She's so nice. I wish that every horse was like Nina. Or that I got to ride Nina more.
Finally the farrier showed up and everyone stopped riding. Nina is getting better around the farrier. We didn't have as much tranquilizer that we normally do for Nina, we had about half of what she usually gets, and I'm proud to say that she was pretty calm for her standards! She didn't even try to kick him.
It was an excruciating 105 today and all that was set was the farrier coming out. Alas, he didn't show up on time, so we rescheduled it for tomorrow. We did give everyone a quick hose off and I played a little with Harry and the tarp. I didn't try to make him go over it, but I held it folded up and walked around with it and had him follow me, that way he would get the idea that he is supposed to follow me no matter what scary thing I might be carrying. Eventually, we did get to halt and then I inched my way over to him to press the tarp against his nose. When he finally let me do this, I put the tarp down, still folded up, stood on it, and played the YoYo game to make him come towards me no matter what scary thing was around me. At first he didn't want to come back, but after he came close to me, we called it a day. I'd say that was progress!
Sunday
Harry was absolutely miserable today. He hasn't been quite this bratty in a while. He kept trying to buck me off! I got so sick of him that I got off and made him longe like a devil. After that, he calmed down a little, but was no where near where I wanted him to be. I don't know what happened between now and a month ago when he was being such an angel. It's beyond frustrating.
I got to poke around on Nina today, which was nice. We walked around outside for a little bit. She's so nice. I wish that every horse was like Nina. Or that I got to ride Nina more.
Finally the farrier showed up and everyone stopped riding. Nina is getting better around the farrier. We didn't have as much tranquilizer that we normally do for Nina, we had about half of what she usually gets, and I'm proud to say that she was pretty calm for her standards! She didn't even try to kick him.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Day 232
Sunday
Didn't make it out yesterday, but today we were out super late, so that kind of annoyed me. Either way, I called dibs on Harry first and got really discouraged with him. He was all freaked out in the arena, so I did circlework and it didn't seem to calm him down, so I went in the outdoor where my mom and brother were riding. He was still being uppity and pacing so I tried to longe him in there and he turned into the fishtailing brat that he was a couple of months ago. So I walked over to the round pen and made him longe in there. He was much better and ran like there was no tomorrow! Finally he calmed down and I rode him in the round pen. He didn't want to collect and kept pacing, so when he finally got it right a couple of passes, I got off and walked back into the indoor and my mom wanted to ride him.
Then I got on Taco. Jane said that he was being a little nicer this weekend, but he was still pulling her into the middle. I put another rein on him and got on to try for a pass around the arena at a walk and he did the same thing to me, so I brought him back out to the round pen. After a couple of bad passes in there, he was much more cooperative. He kept breaking into a canter though, so I had to keep slowing him to a walk and starting again. He finished nicely and I figured that we should try to go around in the arena for a bit.
He was just as horrible as he was when we left. He is so spoiled! That's because Jane is scared of him a little and gets off when he starts acting up, so he does that in order to stop working. I was working him the same as he was outside and he was getting better walking, but then I wanted a pass for a corto (which I probably should have just settled for a walk), and he kept trying to canter and take off into the middle of the arena to stop.
During all of this, Nick saw. He came over with a different jaquima completely on his own and changed it. This one had a steel bosal with bolt nuts on it, whereas the one Taco was using was a soft rawhide one. Nick told me that I can't use it all the time (nor would I want to!) and that he should be better once I changed it. He also commented on the size of the bit. I didn't change Taco's bit to Nina's today because Jane had already started riding when we got there, but hopefully I will be able to two weeks from now. Taco was a lot better with that new bosal and I was very light with my hand so I wouldn't hurt him. He was cantering a little, but I kept pulling him back into gait and we had a couple great passes on the board. I finished and got off, when Paco made a remark about how it was a terrible ride and how I let Taco win because at the end we just walked after he cantered. I was not in the mood for fighting with anyone, so I just got back on, corto'd a little without him breaking and then got back off.
People and their opinions. Gotta love them.
Didn't make it out yesterday, but today we were out super late, so that kind of annoyed me. Either way, I called dibs on Harry first and got really discouraged with him. He was all freaked out in the arena, so I did circlework and it didn't seem to calm him down, so I went in the outdoor where my mom and brother were riding. He was still being uppity and pacing so I tried to longe him in there and he turned into the fishtailing brat that he was a couple of months ago. So I walked over to the round pen and made him longe in there. He was much better and ran like there was no tomorrow! Finally he calmed down and I rode him in the round pen. He didn't want to collect and kept pacing, so when he finally got it right a couple of passes, I got off and walked back into the indoor and my mom wanted to ride him.
Then I got on Taco. Jane said that he was being a little nicer this weekend, but he was still pulling her into the middle. I put another rein on him and got on to try for a pass around the arena at a walk and he did the same thing to me, so I brought him back out to the round pen. After a couple of bad passes in there, he was much more cooperative. He kept breaking into a canter though, so I had to keep slowing him to a walk and starting again. He finished nicely and I figured that we should try to go around in the arena for a bit.
He was just as horrible as he was when we left. He is so spoiled! That's because Jane is scared of him a little and gets off when he starts acting up, so he does that in order to stop working. I was working him the same as he was outside and he was getting better walking, but then I wanted a pass for a corto (which I probably should have just settled for a walk), and he kept trying to canter and take off into the middle of the arena to stop.
During all of this, Nick saw. He came over with a different jaquima completely on his own and changed it. This one had a steel bosal with bolt nuts on it, whereas the one Taco was using was a soft rawhide one. Nick told me that I can't use it all the time (nor would I want to!) and that he should be better once I changed it. He also commented on the size of the bit. I didn't change Taco's bit to Nina's today because Jane had already started riding when we got there, but hopefully I will be able to two weeks from now. Taco was a lot better with that new bosal and I was very light with my hand so I wouldn't hurt him. He was cantering a little, but I kept pulling him back into gait and we had a couple great passes on the board. I finished and got off, when Paco made a remark about how it was a terrible ride and how I let Taco win because at the end we just walked after he cantered. I was not in the mood for fighting with anyone, so I just got back on, corto'd a little without him breaking and then got back off.
People and their opinions. Gotta love them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)