JUUUUMMMPP!

This is Gypsy being totallly fabulous and jumping really high! She is starting to love jumping I think...and the [for once] good quality video is thanks to my lover :)

This is how high the jump is in the video. When I walked her up to it she was so excited and wanted to jump it again. Haha

Jump what?!

Haha, I am greatly enjoying this jumping Gypsy business. Sent her over some more today, and she actually let me free lunge her over the jump, instead of leading her into the chute. I didn't really make a chute today actually...because I was too lazy. And sure, a lot of the time she was boogery and dodged the jump, but she went over quite a few times too! She is learning to do it right :) Haha.

A sidenote- she is getting to have such an awesome walk and canter. I wish I could find somebody to take a picture or video of her ridden. I would say under saddle, but I almost never ride with a saddle anymore. I mainly ride bareback these days. Hey, what can I say? I don't like my english saddle all that much, and its easier to just hop on without it.

This picture is the highest jump she went over today. She still only does crossrails- she thinks the straight bar is scary. So next on the list is to get her going over those. She's so cute in this picture. "Jump? Jump what?"

Oh and another video. Because they are fun. But it's only ....one second long. Ha! I was having a super difficult time taking video while sending her over the jump all by myself. When I tried to take a vid, she would be naughty and dodge the jump.

...Western?

Ahh and so the week of weirdness continues. Hey, its Friday, I still have some of the week left to squeeze in some more weird! So today, after a year of english-only riding, my old western saddle emerged from the dust of the tack box and faound its way to Gypsy's back.

Sooo...Haha. She was actually pretty dang good about it. I used to ride her only western, but that was back in the days of..."riding consists of just trying to stay on". So on I hopped, and she wasn't thrilled at first. But I set her to work, and I actually rode her exactly like I do english. So technically I was still riding her english, she just happened to be wearing a western saddle. Haha. So we worked on keeping her head low and in frame, and after a little bit she was trotting fabulously around! Even tried to get a little bit of a slower trot so that I could sit a little easier all western-like, ha.

And now back the saddle goes into the tack box for another year. Ha.

The week of weirdness.

Ok yeah so weird week for Gypsy. She has been getting teased for the first time in her life, and she wasn't so sure how that goes at first. She would kick and squeal and hate the stud, then turn her butt to him and start showing a few heat signs. She is confused. Haha. She hates palpation with a fiery passion, as well as ultrasounds. Speaking of which, we ultrasounded her the past few days and she was showing a follicle looking pretty ready, but it just looked bizarre and not right. Vet said that it was an abnormal follicle that didn't ovulate right, so she is infertile for this heat. So miss Gypsy gets to not be bred for another week or so. If we wait for a normal heat cycle it will be too late in the season, so in a week or so we are gonna stick her with a shot to bring her into heat, and breed her then.

Other weirdness too! But happier weirdness. I have been oober unmotivated this week, who knows why, not I. So instead of having a real ride yesterday, I hopped on bareback with nothing but a lead rope around her neck. I was totally expecting her to take off and kill me. But no! She was actually a very good girl! We walked around, turning both ways and stopping. So we then trotted around too, in circles and figure eights! It was amazing, and mucho fun!

And then today I really wasn't feeling well at all, so I decided to try something different...again. Ha. I set up a little jumping chute and tried to free jump my pony. Ok, I don't think she really likes jumping all that much, but she was trying for me. She just gets nervous about anything high enough to be called a legit jump. Haha, ok she's not really that bad. But I can't lunge her into the chute to jump- she just doesn't do it! She gets her evil hat on, and ducks around or runs to a corner. So I would grab her halter and lead her up to the chute entrance and then let her go, and then she would jump! Haha. Oh boy. But it was neat.

Babies? Babies!

Ah yes, the epic decision has been made. My little Gypsy is going to be bred! I am mucho very excited about it. Because if you think about it...all of Gypsy's silliness is training-related. She got a very late start on some decent training. But she is calm, and super friendly and gentle. She is built beautifully! Fine boned and straight, with a gorgeous typey little head, and that famous Arab floaty trot that is smooth-smooth-smooth when she is behaving. So, she is going to be bred to LS Andretti, aka Mario. He is a beautiful beautiful bay Arab stud. He has amazing bloodlines that you couldn't ask more from, is sweepstakes nominated for his foals, and has a futurity title under his belt. I've met him in person a couple times, and he is so quiet and sweet. He seems like such a nice boy. So! Today was Gypsy's first teasing session! I had no clue as to what expect from Gypsy...She's never been bred before.

So we took her over to Ace- a paint stud that is at our barn. He was the teasing extrodinaire for the day. Gypsy got to sniff noses with Ace (who was in his stall). She wasn't too sure what to make of this noisy boy at first, but she definately warmed up to him! She decided he wasn't so bad at all, and turns out Gypsy was in heat for her very first teasing! Well done, Ace! Haha. So currently the plan is to ultrasound Gypsy tomorrow to be sure of her heat, and then Mario will make a trip to our barn for some Gypsy romancing! Haha, except we are going to AI Gypsy...So I suppose there will be no actual romancing. Ha. So yes, I'm very excited. This should be a very nice foal. I am hoping for a NOT-Grey filly.

Then I lunged her around to rid her mind of silly boy thoughts, and rode her. And she did amazing! After not riding since...ohh...friday? Hopped on bareback (as always, right?) and she was being soft in the face and very nice. Walked and trotted around, and I think it was our best trotting yet! Success!

In other news....At work, drafty mare has been hitched to the cart for a second time. She did awesome. And TB gelding is doing great too! I rode him outside, and he has now had his first two experiences of cantering outside! He was a good boy....bucked me off once...but he was behaving wonderfully before and after that little incident. Ha. So if you ignore the buck-off, he was awesome. ...Right.

And in a completely random and unrelated sidenote, I found a baby starling in the barn today. So I grabbed it and threw it outta the barn. It wasn't too thrilled about this idea, as you can see. Hehe. Too bad I'm a tard and forgot to rotate the picture. So just tilt your head.

Schooling Show

I took my training horse from class to a little, low key schooling show yesterday! The owner of the horse, and the lady running the show had entered me in a lot of classes and I was really very worried about it, but it turned out just fine! My little mare did fantastic, I am so proud of her!

So we entered into.... Lets see if I can remember this. Ha

1.Walk/Trot novice horse (english)-----2nd place

2. Walk/Trot green horse (english)-----2nd place

3. English Pleasure novice horse----2nd place

4. English Pleasure green horse----1st place

5.Walk/Trot novice horse (western)---2nd place

6. Western Pleasure green horse----3rd place

7. Extreme Trail novice horse-----no place

I am SOO proud of her!! I think the judge really liked her- we kept placing really well, even in classes where I didn't think we had a huge chance. So take that, those of you who say headset is the most important thing! My girly doesn't have a good headset right now...She kind of trots and canters around with her head and neck straight out...But she has a beautiful and even cadence- she is very very consistent! This was her very first show ever, and also mine (discounting the IHSA where you don't ride your own horse). And I won my very first blue ribbon ever! I was so very extremely excited. The only thing that was difficult for her, I think, was the very long waits between classes. Sometimes it was an hour or more of just standing around saddled and being sat on, and she was very impatient with that. But she has never had to do anything like that. She did fantastic, better than I would ever have imagined! Yay!

Good Pony Day

Well today was a good day for working horses! I went out to ride Gypsy, but was feeling fabulously unmotivated. So I packed a sketchbook in a bag, and walked Gypsy out to the field. I took off her bridle and let her eat while I drew for a while :)

Welcome to the fruits of my labor.

But then decided I probably should work Gypsy instead of just letting her gorge. So I threw her bridle back on, and walked her in a big circle around the field. Then I tried to trot her...But she gets very very hot and weird when I do that outside, remember? But we kind of worked through that, and I tried to have lots of good patience. And Gypsy got a lot better. Mind you, it wasn't a very pretty trot, but it was oodles better, so I was happy.

Then I went over to work, and was drive-training miss drafty! She is so calm and wonderful about everything, that I decided I would try and hitch her to the training cart for the first time! Had the owner help me, but she did great! More than great! She couldn't care less about the cart and pulling it and such! I am SO proud of her! :)

I got some pointers and tips from my driving horse trainer friend, about placement in the cart and the shafts and such. So yes. Successful day.