The Plague is ending!

I'm finally getting to the end of my terrible cold! I'm hacking all over the place a lot less, and I can -gasp- actually breath through my nose most of the time now! Yay! So I rode Oscar yesterday, and it felt like I hadn't been on him in forever! But he was a most excellent boy, and was more forward than he's ever been for me! But in Oscar-land, this is a good thing. He is usually on the lazy side. We did a few flying changes to show off for my boyfriend. :) This is now the only picture I have of me riding Oscar!

Oh and I survived (barely) my weekend long class, those 2 credits better be worth it. So now I should be able to return back to work too. As long as the weather gets better anyways. Its been terrible and rainy and windy, not too great for the outdoor arena.

He CAN Move!

Very sick and miserable this week, so not much in the riding department. Didn't ride Oscar yesterday so I let him run loose around the arena like a mad-man. Oh boy, if anybody says that horse can't move, they should see this video. This is all him too, I wasn't shooing or encouraging or making noise. I just stood there in the middle and let him do his thing.
What a cute funny boy :)

My old Gypsy Friend!

Back home just for the day, had stuff to get done. Got to see miss Gypsy again! So I went out and prettied her up. She always looks like a hobo pony when I come see her now, ha. Gave up and braided her mane and tail in hopes that it stays untangled and tame. But yes, so I couldn't resist trying to ride her. I grabbed her old handy dandy bridle out of the trunk [where it likes to live now]. I put her light sheet over her butt to keep her a little bit warmer- its freezing here! Snowing in late February?! Rediculous. But anyways...prepare for it....Gypsy was amazing for our short little ride!! She was almost over-sensitive, but not in a crazy way. She was super soft on the bit and to my legs. I could scoot her over with my leg just like nothing! I asked her to drop and tuck her head a little, and whoop there she does it. We trotted around and she was soft and had an even pace-not dirt slow but not fast either- a nice controlled lovely trot. We did a little sidepassing and I don't think I've ever been able to just barely ask for it like that. I mean she's always been good at sidepassing and such, but gosh I barely pushed her with my leg and off she went! Wow. Very nice. Didn't canter, didn't want to try my luck. But I was very pleasantly surprised to find she was so good for a ride. YAY!! Makes me miss her a little more :)

The Warmbloods of My Life

Its a bird, its a plane...no, its BEAUD!

And nobody can forget Mr Oscar Man!

Long lost work ponies

I finally made my way back to work! I should be given a big F for failure for not going much. But today was sunny and lovely, and they just finished the new outdoor arena. So I went to try it out, and it is great!! So much better than the indoor, I will actually enjoy riding in here. It's nice and big with lots of room, and a nice sandy footing. A tad deep right now, but give it a month of riding and it will pack down a little.

Anyways, I worked miss Beary today. She was amazing! Did everything perfect today. I am sort of reverting back to drive-training her instead of under saddle. I can't help it! Just look at her, she is just begging to be hitched and drove around a parade or something! She is so adorable in harness, and she really has a great temperament for it. And it comes so easily to her- she does it like a pro and its been ages since I've worked on it with her. So I harnessed her up and lunged her, then ground drove her around. Turning, stopping, backing, trotting. She did everything awesome. Yay! So I brought out ye olde training cart that kind of resembles nothing but a hunk of twisted metal that hapens to have wheels. Haha, desensitizing and de-scarying is all its really good for now. And if she gets weird and hurts it? Well, who cares? It can't get worse than it is now! So she was a little wary of the cart at first but got pretty chill with it. I was by myself though so it was a little difficult doing that part. Might convince somebody to help me next time.

Also rode Cheyenne today. I am starting to ride her in a more advanced bit now. It's about time she progresses in her training a little. My boss has this really bizarre looking bit...Its got a medium sized port, with circle snaffle-looking cheeks. But its got a small ring you can hook reins to that gives a little bit more leverage. And then on top of it all is this weird black thing that goes over nose under chin like a noseband, but in a strange parelli-lets-make-this-totally-weird way. Anyways, Chey was pretty good. I don't think she liked how deep the footing was. She walked and trotted pretty well, but her canter was having some big issues. It's so weird. I always have issues with her canter. I would say I think she has hock issues, but she canters on lunge without a problem. But under saddle she got all upset and pissy, wanted to buck a little, and kept breaking out of gait. Hm. So I rode her around in the arena, then took her outside into the field. And her attitude sure changed! She loves riding outside, and we trotted and even cantered in a big circle out there. And zero problems with the canter. She picked it up right away and kept in it until I asked. Okay..... Well the footing was just grass so maybe she liked that better? Maybe if she has hock issues the deep sand footing would make the problem worse? Who knows. All I know is Cheyenne was great outside, we walked through this big water puddle pond lake thing in the pasture. Sucess. I like this picture of her! She looks sooo quarter horse in it, ha. You can't see the percheron at all!

Oh and It was so adorable. I was bringing Beary through the indoor arena to take her to the outdoor. The minis were in the indoor arena- the mom and the 6 month old baby. And oh boy was the mini colt so interested in Beary! She whinnied to her and ran all around her, she sniffed her and nibbled on her fluff. And much to my suprise, Beary loved the little guy! She nickered to him and sniffed noses. They were best buddies! Ha! And then when I took Cheyenne through the arena, the colt tried to do the same thing. But ohhh no, Cheyenne would have none of that! Pinned ears, swishy angry tail!

IHSA Show...Wherever it was

Another weekend, another horse show. But this one was my last. I was supposed to have one more show, but sadly enough, stuff got in the way. So off we drove to....Poulsbo? I want to say it was CWU's hosted show. And all the long drive I prayed to the IHSA gods, who hate me most of the time, to deliver me into the hooves of a decent horse. And voila! For once it worked! Watching warm up there was the most adorable little Appy gelding ever and I thought to myself....I MUST RIDE THIS!! :O And I did! Miracle of miracles, I drew the horse I wanted. He was super tired by the time I climbed on, but he still earned me a second ribbon!

Day two, I drew a cute little fluffy grey mare. Sweetheart, but lazy is not a strong enough word for her... One of our best riders on the team drew this mare the first day. With her awesomeness and spurs she broke out of the canter. Okay...I wasn't allowed to have spurs in my class, so we definately broke out of our canter. This horse.... wouldn't move forward if its life depended on it! But at least it did it in a nice way, not a I-want-to-murder-this-horse way. That mare earned me a fifth. Which was sort of a miracle that I didn't come in last....two breaks?? That should have sent me straight to the bottom, but I beat somebody. Boy, that other person must have had a doozy of a ride. Poor other person.
Pictures will follow, but they are on the other computer.
IHSA? No more for me. I am all done with my show season, and my IHSA career. It was a good experience, a horse showing circuit unlike any other. I will miss it- my only chance to get out there and show for the first time in my life. But going to regular shows on a horse you know and trust sounds a little more appealing...Now to just get a horse that I can do that on.
Speaking of which, I finally went back home and visited Gypsy. I haven't seen her since I sent her home. She was full of crazy beans and bouncy and weird, ha! Too much grain for the pasture pet, but she needs to gain some pounds. I lunged her a bit and she settled right back down and remembered how life works. But OH NO! She had a terrible knot of Bob-Marley-esque dreadlock in her mane! Her precious mane I have spent countless hours brushing and conditioning! Parents are officially fired.

Shows and Jumping

Well life continues as always. Nothing too massively thrilling. This last weekend was a NON horse show weekend, it was amazing. But never fear, for this weekend we have an IHSA show in Washington. Hopefully I draw a good horse, here's hoping! There was another show scheduled for the 26th or 25th or whenever, but I unfortunately can't go to that one. Sad day. I am taking a two credit elective class because I am in desperate need of electives to graduate, and it is on two days over a weekend. That same weekend as the show. Bah! So I probably won't point up to go to regionals because I will only have two rides to do it, instead of four. But that's all right.
In other news, I got to jump Oscar a little bit today! I rode him for equestrian practice...usually he is a butthead ridden in groups in practice, but he was being much better today! So at the end of practice our coach set up a tiny crossbar and was having us trot over. I can tell Oscar loves to jump so much. Very fun! And in my schooling the horse class that I ride Oscar for, I am going to learn how to jump! This week I am meeting up with the coach privately to get a little mini-jumping lesson! YAY! And, I would like to announce, yesterday Oscar walked into the trailer with ZERO, read it- zero- hesitation. We just walked right in, no big deal! Great success :)
Oh and I went over to BeauD's owners place. He has some horses who want to be Bob Marley with the dreadlocks and scaryness. So out of boredom I decided to fix them. I cut BeauD's mane so it was nice and warmblood-y, then pulled it a bit so it wasn't totally uneven and ugly. He looks amazingly better, I seriously need to take a before and after shot. And then....my shameful story.. There is a little Arab at his place, real cute little chestnut with a flaxen mane. But the dreadlocks, oh the dreadlocks. You've never seen such crazyness. But it's an Arab- you can't cut an Arab's mane! It's like...against the law or something. But there was NO untangling that mess, seriously. No hope. So, alas, I took the clippers to the mane and cut out the dreads. And oh it was painful. I am going to Arabian Horse Hell, I think. After I was done with her and tried to even her mane out, she kind of looked like a yearling Quarter Horse. Ha. But I will admit she looked a lot better with a brushed out mane, even it if was cut. And manes grow out, right? Ha, we can only hope!

LBCC IHSA Show

Another weekend, another show. This time it was my own school that hosted the show. It was a long long crazy weekend, I must say. I'm pretty sure I will never catch up on my sleep again, ha.
Leave it to me, though, to draw another evil psycho horse. I am really just good at that. So I drew originally a horse that couldn't canter to the right. So it got scratched from the show, bye-bye Jet. So I was reassigned to a different horse- Dutchess the grey thing. Okayy....So I watched it warm up, and oh joy, I got another one that is incapable of walking. It pranced sideways, oh yes. And not to mention that it was so painfully sweaty that it didn't look like a grey horse anymore. So I am dreading this ride...I get on, and of course it is silly and stupid. It is terrified of one whole side of the arena, and tries to rear at one point. Needless to say, I came in last in my class. It's almost funny though, my parents were there and took pictures. In pictures, the horse almost looks really good because it tucks its head and rounds up. Well, it was going too fast and being wacky, but it looks nice in a still photo. Ha. I was so upset by my ride, let me tell you. Two shows in a row? You've got to be kidding me?





So day two, desperately hoping that I draw a good horse. I watch warm up for the english flat horses, and my coach gets on my grey horse from yesterday. She goes out to warm the horse up, and lo and behold, it is prancing sideways and being weird. Again. My coach comes back mere minutes later and commands the horse be brought back to the barn, it is being scratched from the show. BAHAHAHAHA! I can't tell you the horrible glee I felt when she got scratched. My coach came over to me and said she understood my frustration- that horse was terrible. And guess what? I drew an amazing horse for my ride on the second day. Po- a horse owned by a girl on my own team. Other riders were winning on him. Super fabulous. I get on for my ride, and oh boy, it was such a good ride. It felt so easy and fun! Walk, trot, canter....he did everything super perfect! And I won my very first IHSA blue ribbon! So very super excited! It was amazing! The only sad thing is that I have pictures of my day one ride, and not my day two ride. But that is plenty all right!