Whoa!

Have had two good days with the girls!

Yesterday I let Misty have the day off and just rode Jetta. I decided to ride her in a kineton noseband. I'd bought it a long time ago, but for some reason forgot I had it and never tried her in it. Since going back to work she's been super heavy and pulling, like she usually is until we can work out of it. But with how strong she's been I was thinking of possibly switching from her plain Myler loose ring to a french link 2-ring gag that I have. That way on endurance rides I could start out on the lower ring at the beginning of our ride so I could have a little more "lift" and then switch to the snaffle ring once she's chilled out a bit. But, an even better idea was the kineton.

I'd researched lots of bits and nosebands for Jetta since she is a puller, yet at the same time she cannot go in a severe bit because it just makes her even worse to ride. I came across the kineton and puckle nosebands. The puckle kind of looks like a flash noseband but the lower strap that usually goes around the mouth just attaches to the bit on either side. Both of the nosebands have the same idea of transferring some of the pressure from the bit to the nose.

Jetta goes really well in a sidepull, so I thought that one of these nosebands would be perfect for her. I'd prefer the puckle noseband, but they're really rare. More common in Europe than anywhere else, and still rarely at that. CWD makes a couple varieties, one with elastic and one without, but they're super spendy. Anyways. I found a cheap kineton on ebay and bought it a while ago and then yesterday finally tried in on Jetta.

First Whoa! moment: It was awesome. She tried to pull a little bit but found she couldn't. But, since it was still her regular, soft bit, she could still hold contact with me. It was really nice. I'm excited to keep riding her in this to see if this dramatic effect is going to wear off or not. It might even be a good option for cross country instead of or in addition to her waterford bit.

Before I rode her I walked her around the BO's new mini trail course. I took pictures of her but apparently they didn't get saved to my phone. She was really good! She usually likes to remind me that she is not a competitive trail horse and regularly refuses to cross bridges on the trail and spooks at anything mildly "scary". But she cruised around the little course at our barn like it was no big deal. I was even able to perfectly ask her to back the "L" which a lot of horses have a hard time with. She crossed the little bridge and went over a tarp full of empty plastic water bottles that were nice and crunchy with barely any hesitation.

I rode Misty today and she was semi-good. In that, we really worked on getting a good, solid stop without any of those trailing steps. Second Whoa! moment: She finally seemed to really get it. She's really good at stopping with her hind end under her, she just needed to understand that when I asked for a halt, I meant halting now and no extra steps. So then we moved on to doing a "square" exercise where in each corner I asked her for a quarter turn on the haunches, concentrating on not using my hands and getting her to really pick up her shoulder. It was kind of 50/50. Sometimes she'd really get it and it was awesome. Other times she wouldn't get it at all. And then still other times she would skip around (skipping = bad. It's supposed to be more like trotting than cantering). I guess that's more like 33/33/33 than 50/50, lol. Then we returned to the stopping and she wasn't doing it as well as previously, though I'm hoping it was just because she was physically/mentally tired. At least I know she can do it!

Third Whoa! moment: my post about the ranch versatility show from the other day got 105 views. Wow. Usually I average about 30 views per post, so that was a huge surprise! Not sure why it's so popular.

The weather's been super rainy this week so I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it out on the trails. I really want to go at least once with Jetta and once with Misty and then take one of them and go with a friend, so three times total in the next two weeks. But the weather's just looking icky so we'll just have to play it by ear...

One benefit of being rainy = pretty clouds

Ranch Pony

Well, we sucked it up and went to our first ranch versatility competition on Sunday! All week I had been stressing about it. Worrying that we were going to embarrass ourselves or that we wouldn't fit in, something would go wrong, etc.

I'm glad that I decided to go though. It was a perfect first introduction to this new discipline. And it was FUN.

Rundown:

Flyer said it started at 9am so I planned to get there at 8:30. Showed up with perfect timing and there were a few people were warming up but no one had a clue what was happening. So we just chilled for a bit then I warmed up and then took Misty back to the trailer.

She was actually being quite bad (for her, which isn't saying much) in warm up. She was plowing through my aids, not wanting to stop, not picking up her right lead and not giving me clean flying changes. Humph. She had been doing so well at home, I was a little bummed and now more nervous about our "debut".

The show finally got on the road at 10am. They had us all meet and explained the trail course. There were 13 obstacles and you had to pick 8 to 10 to do. They gave us a course map, but then explained that you don't have to follow it. You could make up your own obstacles even if they weren't on the map.

I was third to go and running on a lack of sleep so I did nothing spectacular. After watching everyone after me I thought of all the cool things we could have done to gain more points. Obstacles were scored 0-6 based on how your horse performed it, how you rode it and how difficult the obstacle was. Most people did just fine. It was an easy-peasy course.

Then was the reining/cow part. All movements scored 0-10.

Again we were third. The two people before us had rather... interesting... rides. The cows were really, really dull. I befriended an older couple there that were also first timers and they had been at the clinic the day before so were telling me to cross my fingers for a brown cow since they were a little more exciting.

Our reining pattern actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't think she would pick up the right lead but she did. Our circles were a little wonky (circles with corners anyone?) and I wish we had a big arena to practice in at home, but overall not too bad. Flying changes were acceptable, the one from right to left was a stride late behind though. The scoring was kind of weird - we got a 6.5 on the late change, the lateness was also noted, then the next change which was clean, got a 6. Though I guess it wasn't as smooth as it could have been, it's her harder direction so I basically rocked her off balance to make her change, aka not as smooth as it could have been. Our rundowns to roll backs were actually quite good on the stopping front considering how she wasn't stopping well earlier, though we need to work on getting no trot/walk strides after the initial halt. Roll backs could use some work.

Our "sliding stop" was quite good, back up ok. Then the spins. Were awful. I'm just too handsy. We need to work on that a lot. At least we did way better than the two before us, both of which did tight circles/forehand turns instead of haunch pivots.

Then it was time for a cow. We got a brown one! I was pleased. Of course it gets away from me almost immediately, but personally I'd rather have that than one that won't move. Though apparently you score higher with a cow that doesn't move... (according to how placing ended up).

Go Misty Go!

Misty was fantastic. She listened, watched the cow and didn't get too far ahead or behind. I was really worried about circling because it's so hard, but we didn't have much of a problem, even earning a 9!

Here's a video of our run. I apologize to my mom, but she wins the award for worst videographer. I appreciate her effort so much! But it kind of sucks...



So much fun! I thought Misty did super well and was proud of our first outing. We didn't embarrass ourselves. We watched the rest of the riders and I estimated my placing as 2nd or 3rd.

I was super bummed to find we'd placed 5th out of 7 in the Novice category. I can't help being super competitive and wanting to place well. Though really, I went into it just wanting to have a good experience which we were successful at.

At the risk of sounding like a poor loser, my mom and I were chatting after and honestly I think we placed so low because everyone who placed higher had done the clinics the day before with the judge. He knew them and their horses so he probably was able to see the improvement in them, thus scoring them higher. Just my opinion. Because the lady who placed fourth had quite the rough ride - her horse almost ran into the fencing because she couldn't get him to stop, he did simple lead changes instead of flying and didn't do spins (just small circles) and had a dull cow so you didn't get to see how cowy her horse was. But then again, this probably just shows how little I know of ranch versatility scoring...

Pink horse gets a pink ribbon

Despite all of that, I really enjoyed myself. I felt like we fit right in with all of the beginners there, even the "experienced" people weren't that amazing so I felt like we were right on the same level. I was thinking I'd be slightly self conscious about wearing my helmet because I always get "those looks" when riding with the western crowd, but I needn't have feared. Out of 10 riders, 6 were wearing helmets including me, and only one of those was a youth. Way to go helmet people!

I would definitely go back, though this was the last one of the year.

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 :)