Possibly Addicted

Oh my gosh. Guys, I had so much fun yesterday!

First ranch sorting competition EVER and it was a blast. Well worth the nerves and the fact that I spent the whole entire day waiting around for my divisions which were the very last to go.

It was supposed to start at 9am so I got there at 8:30. I think that I need to learn to show up later than I *think* that I should... JF and DC (who I've practiced with/invited me) were already there luckily so I went to talk to them and they helped get me entered because I had absolutely no clue how things like this worked. I was feeling so intimidated too when I got there. Everyone knew everyone else, plus half the people there had trophy saddles and obviously were quite good at what they did. Plus, the office person was having a hard time explaining to me what the classes were like and I was having a hard time understanding... Pretty much I spent the whole morning wondering why I decided to come. But, you've got to start somewhere, right?

Pretty sunrise on the way out to the competition

Everything got started at around 10am. They began with a Round Robin class which took forever. It was basically a higher stakes class with a huge jackpot. Each rider rode with every other rider in the class so with 13 entries there were 78 pairs. FOREVER I tell you. They didn't get done with that class until after 2pm. But, it was really fun to watch all the experienced people because they were really good.

Then came the "8" class. Everyone's ranked on their experience/how much money they've won. So me, being absolutely brand new, am a "1". The numbered classes mean that the pairs' ranking cannot add up to more than the class number. So if you have a "5" and a "2" rider, they can enter the "8" class, but not the "4" class. Same with a "3" and a "4" ranked rider, they could also be in the "8" class. So basically, they're the more experienced riders.

Warm up time

I entered the "4" class with 2 rides and the "11" Ranch Hand class with three rides. Finally, it was my turn to go. Besides a minor mishap of Misty untying herself at the trailer and wandering off to graze, she'd been standing most of the day. She warmed up BEAUTIFULLY. Everything was just spot on. But when it came to my turn, I was super nervous. Plus, I was tired. I had been worried about getting Misty to wake up, but it turns out I should have been more concerned with myself!

My first run was a draw, so I had a random partner. We got three cows in clean, then two dirty cows made a break for the hole (which I was supposed to be guarding) and I just simply didn't run them off fast enough, even though I had plenty of time to. Embarrassing. So no time on that run.

My next run I was with DC so I at least knew her which gave me a lot more confidence. We were able to get 5 cows in clean which I was super happy with. I no longer felt like a failure! Since we had 5 cows, we got to come back again for the next round. We got 5 cows again, placing us in second! Only the top two placings got paid out in this class since there were 20 pairs. Cue awesome feeling - I was thinking, Hey, maybe we can actually do this.

Everyone just waiting around - did I mention how many gorgeous horses were there?

The next class, the Ranch Hand one, was for an experienced rider and a less experienced rider. The more experienced rider would stay in the hole while the less experienced rider got all the cows. This was the one for us. First time in I was with JF and I got 5 cows in clean. Not too shabby. My next run was a draw and I got a lady that I'd ridden with before at practice, KP. I really admire her. She's 78 years old and still riding. She used to be a barrel racer and now does sorting. She's had both hips replaced. I really hope I'm still riding and as competitive as she is when I reach that age!

Anyways, we decided to trade off guarding the hole since neither of us were that experienced and I was told not to run more than one or two cows at her at a time because she wouldn't be able to split off more than that. We got three cows in and then I brought two to her, I was having a really hard time with the number we were supposed to get and the cow just wouldn't separate from it's buddy and KP wasn't able to split it off so they both went through, so no time on that run. But oh well.

Next run I was with an experienced guy and he told me to just be really aggressive and go for it. "If you feel like you should be walking, trot." I got five cows again clean this time. Since I got 5 cows on two runs, I got to come back again twice.

I figured I might as well go all out since both the people I was riding with were really good, so I should just go for it! Boy, did it work out. With JF I got 8 cows in, almost 9 and was heading for the 10th cow when the buzzer rang. Awesome! Then with the guy, I got 9 cows in clean!

It was so amazing. Misty listened really well. We still have a lot to work on, but it was SO MUCH FUN. Seriously, the feeling after doing a run was pretty dang close to the feeling you get after doing cross country. Dare I say it was even equitable??? We placed first in that class, so with the money I won, basically I didn't have to pay any entry fees. Pretty sweet. I think that I am definitely hooked now. Can't wait for the next one!

Sunset back at the barn. What a good day!

Jack of All Trades

My mom always likes to remind me: "Jack of all trades, master of none." I've always enjoyed doing EVERYTHING possible in the horse world, whether it was dressage, eventing, reining, driving, trail, or anything else I could weasel my horse into doing.

I was just thinking about this yesterday as I drove home from a lesson on cows. I simply can't make myself just choose one thing to be really good at and focus on, I want to do it all, even if it might mean sacrificing "greatness" in one area to just be "good" in all areas. It's just too much fun.

I took Misty to JF's to do some cow work since I'm thinking of doing a ranch versatility show on Sunday, but have never actually worked cows in that context. Misty did really good. She's lacking fitness which made it hard, but she tried everything I asked of her and it was fun. She's definitely still very green in pretty much all areas, but she has a really good basic foundation in place now.

We practiced boxing, fence work and circling the cow. Oh my gosh. This is tough! I really am enjoying it though. It's new and different plus it's really challenging. I'm the kind of person that always wants to be challenged, probably part of the reason I can't make myself settle on one discipline. I get bored. But there's so much new stuff to learn about doing cow work. You have to read the cow and know what they're going to do before they do it. You have to get your horse really in tune with your aids so they can go from a halt to a gallop in a second flat, or come to a screeching halt and spin around the other direction. Then you have to put it all together and get it done.

Circling is DEFINITELY the hardest. You have to position the horse on the cow just right so that you can make the cow turn in a circle, without allowing them to turn and spin the other direction or run away from you. The smaller the better, because then your horse doesn't have to run as fast. Basically you're trying to make the cow pivot 360 degrees, then you reverse. You have to keep your horse's nose by the cow's neck to keep them moving forward and turning, if you get too far back by their hip then they'll just run away from you, but if you get up by their head then they'll turn around and go the wrong direction.

Anyways, it was a good lesson. We spent about two hours playing with the cows and I got a lot of great tips and homework. Can't wait to get to work on it!

Here's an example of working cow horse. First they do a reining pattern, then they do the cow work. I thought this horse was quite a nice example of how to get it done (in my very limited experience). Start at the 2:30 mark for the cow stuff. First is boxing, which is just getting the cow to go back and forth, just showing how you can control it. Then they fence the cow, run it all the way down, turn it, run it back, and turn it again. Then circling, when you bring it off the wall and make it circle 360 in each direction. 

No Regrets

I had such a great ride on Misty today! The weather's been verrry unusually cool lately which means that I haven't been having to wake up early to avoid the heat. I got to the barn in the afternoon and first doctored Miss Jetta, then rode Misty.

I have to say that any misgivings I've had about buying a second horse are pretty much gone. Sure, it was a poor financial decision, but it's working for the most part and I hope I can maintain that. But, I don't regret it because I'm having so much fun with her!

I almost thought about entering the Ranch Versatility show this weekend because she's doing so well...

Such a good girl!

Anyways, I've been working on some western stuff. She still doesn't quite understand why I want her to jog, but she's getting moments where she'll jog along quietly on a loose rein. Her left lead canter (the easier direction for her) is much slower and smoother and "lope-y" than the right lead canter.

Aaaand, drumroll.... we have flying changes! Kind of sort of at least. I asked her for one and she gave it to me, albeit slightly more energetically than I would have liked and she was a stride late behind, but it was there! I asked for one in the opposite direction and got it too.

We worked on roll backs which are definitely going to need a lot of work. I made the mistake of swatting her with the end of my rein when she completely ignored my cue to move her shoulder over and got a panicked whirl around and for the next few minutes anytime my hand came into her field of vision she spooked. Oh, mare. She just needs a lot of slow work to make her relax I think, she tends to get a little wound up and nervous when I ask too much of her at once or if I give too strong a cue.

I'm trying to get her to stop nicely on just a cue with my seat and at home it's 99% there, but when we went to the cow sorting practice she didn't respond at all to my seat cues so that will take some more work.

I asked for another set of flying changes again and she gave them to me, albeit with a little crow hop in the middle. I'll take it though! Much better than Jetta who only changes when she feels like it and if you ask her too much she'll give a big buck and won't change, so I'll take exuberant but clean changes any day! Looking back, I think I just need to give a quieter request for the changes. I'm used to asking Jazz for her flying changes and I think that way of asking is just too abrupt for sensitive little Misty.

By the end we were able to do two full laps around the arena (one in each direction) at a nice little jog trot. Mostly because she was probably a little tired, but that jog is in there! I wish I had known about the one this weekend earlier, that way I could have been more prepared and possibly entered this one!

But, now we have plenty of time to prepare for two shows in September. There's a QH show in on the 14th that has a trail competition that I've done with Jazz a couple time (where 3 of our 5 buckles come from!) and they also have "beginner" classes where you don't have to have a registered QH to compete and you could win a belt buckle. They have a reining and a cow horse class that I'd like to enter. Then, on the 15th, there's a Ranch Versatility Competition. So excited!!

More good news is that I found a place to work with cows that's a lot closer than JF's. I'll probably still haul down to JF's every so often because I really love everyone that's there because I know almost all of them and JF is awesome, but I will save gas and $5 by going to the one near me. Plus they serve you food :)

Discipline ADD

Gah, there's too many fun disciplines to do and not enough time!

I really would do it all, if I could do everything well and had enough time to fit it all in.

I took Misty to a sorting practice yesterday. Since she's supposedly a ranch horse, I decided that we needed to test this out!

SO. MUCH. FUN.

My trainer JF (well ok, I call her my trainer but I haven't actually taken a lesson with her for almost three years, but she has been my main trainer and greatest support throughout high school) is the one that ran the practice. She's recently really gotten into doing the cow stuff and has a couple herds now. She stayed on the ground and instructed everyone. She told me that I needed to get rid of Misty's dressage saddle and make her my cow horse!

If you don't know what sorting is, it's where you basically have two round pens that are connected in the middle, kind of like a figure 8. You have a herd of cows numbered 0-9 with two unmarked cows (the "dirty" ones). You and a partner go in the pen and start out in the middle (the "hole"), all the cows are in one of the two pens. The judge will call out a number. You go get that cow while your partner keeps all the other cows out of the other pen. Once you get your cow into the other pen, your partner goes and gets the next cow. For instance if 4 was the number you were supposed to get first, then the next cow would be 5. You do this as fast as possible since you only have 60 seconds to get as many cows in the correct order as possible. The goal is to get all of them, but to keep the dirty cows out. If the dirty cows get through the middle, then you're done.

Bringing the cows up to the arena from the pasture.

Misty was awesome. She's definitely cowy. She listened well and got a little aggressive (in a good way). By the end, she definitely knew her job - cut out the cow I told her to, then run it back to the middle, stop and spin and defend the hole!

It's not the first time I've done it since I've done it with Jazz a couple times and I've ridden JF's husband's horse Calvin who by the way is SUPER fun. But it was awesome to have such a cowy horse that was mine and I can't wait to do it again. And I learned a few new things:

• Don't stand right in the hole, come out further so you have more room to defend the hole
• Stare at the cows you don't want when you're in the hole. If you look at the cow that's supposed to be coming through, chances are he'll turn back. Kind of the same idea that your horse will refuse a jump if you stare at it.
• Keep your horse's hip straight. If they're not straight, cows know that you won't be able to move quickly enough to keep them out of the hole.
• If you're going after a certain cow that is glued in the middle of a pack of three, don't wait for them to separate, charge in there and get it done!

 A bunch of them are doing a ranch versatility show this weekend and tried to get me to come with. While it would have been perfect since Jetta is temporarily out of commission (I was planning on going to a one day horse trial), I decided that we're just plain not ready. But, I plan on going to watch so I can figure out how it works and cheer on everyone I know!

There's 4 divisions: western pleasure, reining, trail and cows. Misty isn't really finished in ANY of those areas so I don't want to go and fail miserably. But that being said, a friend of mine is riding his mule through... While Bailiff is an AWESOME mule, he isn't exactly quick on his feet though he does try. So we certainly wouldn't be the worst there ;) Though I could take Jazz because she is finished in all of those areas... However, I would like to do a ranch versatility competition with Misty someday though, so here's what we need to work on for it.

• Reining: 
• Flying changes - I don't know if she does these because I've never asked, but I doubt it, so they need to be installed. 
•  Stops - she needs to learn to tuck her butt and stop without flinging her head
• Roll backs - non-existant
• Spins - kind of sort of? She gets upset then gets discombobulated when I ask her to increase her speed

• Western pleasure - this is a pattern class
• Head set - low neck, but not quite as low as "real" western pleasure. More natural
• Jog trot
• Work on transitions between collected and extended gaits
• Lope - non-existant

•  Trail
• Make it look "pretty", still rough around the edges at this point
• Get it so we can do things on a loose rein
• Sidepassing logs

•  Cows
• Basically everything. While I have a general idea of how to fence, box and circle a cow, I have absolutely zero practical experience. I'm sure we could get it done semi-well, but I'm sure there's a lot of little things I need to learn in order to do it correctly. 

So yeah, that's what you have to look forward to reading about! I think I'm going to go again next Wednesday to the sorting practice. Maybe we'll get a chance sometime to work cows outside the sorting pen and learn this whole fence-work-boxing-circling thing. And I'm planning on taking Misty cross country schooling sometime in the next week or so. Then next weekend is the second trail competition!