Lazy Saturday

Had a wonderful, lazy day today where I slept in really late and then spent the evening at the barn.

I rode Tux today and he was having a bit of a bratty baby day, but it was understandable after two days off and a ton of activity - it was dinner time so everyone was getting their food and then we rode with someone else in the arena for the first time so he was very distracted and didn't want to listen to my leg one bit, so we had a discussion about that and we ended on a fairly good note, though poor Tux was so sweaty. It's difficult being naughty. He was actually quite sassy today and gave a few crow hops in the canter, but once he settled down we got a fairly nice canter. It's getting there! He's also due for a body clip sometime soon which I always think is exciting, so as soon as I get my new clipper blades in the mail it's going to be a spa day!

Are we done yet?

Poor tired pony

Wonderpony and The List

Tuxedo is such an awesome boy! I've ridden him twice at the new barn and he just keeps blowing me away with how amazing he is. At this point, I seriously feel like I could take him to his first show and pull off a respectable First Level Test 2 perhaps. His canter is not as nice as I'd like to see it. He still gets tense and it gets choppy but I think as he gets more and more time in the canter he'll end up relaxing. But he's getting more steady in the bridle. He is so adjustable with responding to me moving his shoulders or haunches. Leg yields are NBD, lengthenings are gorgeous. He still falls on his forehand occasionally or lets his haunches trail but a slight correction and he's doing almost perfect. I'm currently trying to figure out ways I can keep him - how to afford two horses' board and live without the money I'd make selling him...

He's just so much fun to ride! Last night, I'm afraid I rode him a bit harder than I normally would have because he was doing so well. It wasn't until a walk break that I noticed the steam rolling off of him. Sorry buddy! He's just so game to do everything. Today we worked on keeping his shoulder up through the corners in the canter and working with the free walk and stretchy trot. By the end he was doing so much better and he pulled off a beautiful 20m canter circle and a fantastic stretchy trot.

Here's our list of things to work on:

• Cantering - picking up the correct lead automatically, not dropping his shoulder through the corners, work on adjustability and roundness
• Shoulder-in and haunches-in
• Teach him to self load in the trailer
• Continue to work on desensitization
• Start over ground poles and small cavalettis
• Go to a show
• Take him to different arenas to ride, go play on the big indoor trail course, etc.
• Lesson with TS maybe?

Settled in

Tuxedo is all settled in! I moved him in on Saturday - in between going to the tack sale and setting up the dressage arena for our team show. It was a long day, starting at 6 am and going until 7 pm. Too long I tell you, without a break.

Anyways, I ran home after the tack sale and loaded up the trailer with more tons of stuff - his bridle, girth, pad, and blanket. Then all the jumping blocks, barrels and poles went into the trailer. I even picked a whole bucket of apples to bring up to the barn for all the horses. I thought there wouldn't be many apples this year, based on how many tiny little baby apples there were earlier in the season. But the tree had a ton of apples with very few worms/blights and they actually got pretty big. I even munched on one while I collected a bucketful and it was really good.

Poor Grady's all by his lonesome now. I gave him his dinner when I took Tux out so the poor guy barely noticed that Tux was leaving. Tux loaded up fine (with a slight, this again? attitude) and the drive up was quiet and long. We got to the barn and he snorted his way off the trailer. He almost didn't go into his stall he was being so silly. Once he got inside though, he decided it was ok since there was food :)

Sunday I was so tired and I still had to study for a midterm so he just got lunged. Today, he got half a bath - just his legs and tail and some of his belly. He doesn't look like such a piglet anymore :) He wasn't pleased - I put him in the cross ties and turned the (hot!) water on and Tux almost fell over. Dork. He settled down though and I got him all cleaned up.

Poor tortured pony

Jetta was next. I put the new girth on her and it fits! It's a 52" and Jetta is a 50" so I wasn't sure if it would fit, but it was too good of a deal to pass up, plus the lady selling it said it ran small which was why she was selling it. It was perfect on Jetta. We had a very short and sweet ride. I let Jetta be a little more forward with a more ground covering stride as long as she didn't rush and stayed soft. Worked on adjusting her canter and she was fantastic today. Finished up with a perfect halt at X. Not bad for two days off!

Good pony.

Are we stylin or are we stylin?

Show Time

The team dressage show was over the weekend. Boy am I glad that it's over. Two days in a row starting at 6 am and being full of stuff to do. We set up the evening before. Kind of disappointed in the team - of course everyone wants to participate in the clinics and such, but no one shows up to help at the shows, where we fund raise all our money. Me, two members and one boyfriend helped set up. But, we were motivated since it was cold and a football game was on, so we got it set up in record time.

The next morning was an early start again, especially since we stayed up till 11:30 pm watching the game. But it wasn't like I could go to bed early, what with everyone yelling at the TV so I stayed up to watch it and got some homework done.

Morning was way too early. I am not a morning person. We put out the letters on the dressage arena and set up the office. Of course I thought there was a table in the office for us to use, but there wasn't. So we used a little nightstand and a piece of plywood on a box. Resourcefulness at it's finest. The show went off without a hitch for the most part. The only problem was I forgot the waivers that we have to do through the university. I ran home to get them aaand they weren't there. And they weren't online. So I dragged my printer/copier out to the show so I could make a bunch of copies of an old version of the waiver.

Other than that - it stayed mostly dry with only a few light showers. No one scratched their classes, everyone paid, and no one got hurt. It was a good show. Just wish we had a better turnout!

ML rode in both her and Addie's first dressage show and did very well! Their high score in intro was a 69%. I caught some good pictures of them:

After taking the dressage arena down, setting jumps back up in the arena, taking the truck and trailer back to the barn (ML borrowed it) and studying for my morning midterm, I promptly crashed early. Who knew dressage arenas gave you such a work out?

Personal (Tack) Shopper

I should be a personal tack shopper. Seriously.

Today was the big tack sale so I woke up early for it - only for horse functions I tell you :)

It was a dark and rainy drive, but I made it there without any problems and got to see an amazing sunrise. It was all worth it. This has to be one of the best, hugest tack sales EVER. Love it.

Not representative of the sheer numbers of people there!

I had my list of things that I was allowed to buy and how much I could buy (gotta rein in the tack whore tendencies!) and I think I did very well.

ML asked me if I could find her a dressage bridle and surprisingly I found a very nice one for $35 - perfect! There was a lot more dressage tack this year. The year I bought my dressage saddle, there were a few old cheap-y ones and then there was my saddle. And that was it. This year there was quite a few nice saddles - I even ran into one that I was admiring (I really like textured leather) and I glanced at the price tag - $1700. Eh, that made sense, I didn't see what the brand was, but it was nice quality. I was about to move on when the owner came up and said "That's $170, not $1700". I wanted to buy it. Good thing I already had a saddle and it wasn't a wide tree :)

Too bad I'm not really riding western that much right now. These were gorgeous!

I also got an 84" cooler for Tux for a few dollars, a fly sheet for Jazz (stiffer fabric so it won't rip) for cheap and a $10 pelham bit that I'd like to try on Jetta for jumping. The icing on the cake? An Antares girth!!! A $215 girth for $80 and in perfect condition. It was too big for the owner's horse so it looks brand new. So excited! I always found at least one really good buy at the tack sale - I've gotten my Duett dressage saddle, the Veredus XC boots, and the $100 fly sheet for $15. Like I said, I love this tack sale.

Unfortunately no scrim sheets - I saw a grand total of two and they were burgundy. Definitely not my color. I was also hoping for some hind XC boots or some XL boots for Tux. Oh well.

I love tack sales not only because of the good finds, because of the funny, random stuff you see. Like a western saddle marked "Like New!" that was obviously at least a decade or two old and very obviously used. Pretty sure it's not "like new"... Or this hideous, fugly multi-clashing-colored rope halter that needed to be burned and someone was admiring it saying "but it's only $10!" No seriously, burn it. Or people loaded down with blankets upon blankets - they bring wagons to carry them out to their car. Lots of crazy looking bits, etc.

Can't wait for the next one! Looking forward to May :)

Mixing it Up

Unfortunately, nothing too exciting going on around here. Today was not the best as I had two midterms and while I felt prepared and confident going into them, I came out feeling awful about how I did. I would like nothing more than to go cuddle my pony but I had already decided that today I wouldn't ride so I could study for my next midterm that's on Monday, plus I'm sore from my ride yesterday.

Here's what we've been doing the past couple of days.

Tuesday I decided to ride in the sidepull. I haven't ridden her in it since last school year since she tends to be such a handful at home so I was pleased that she was nearly perfect in it. I love riding her in the sidepull because she doesn't try to hang on it and I know that it's not a harsh piece of equipment. It was kind of an interesting ride because the whole family was out feeding the horses - the BO and her husband, her 5 year old and their absolutely adorable Frenchie all running around, feeding hay and grain, walking through the arena, etc. Jetta was incredibly distracted by the hay wheelbarrow going past multiple times, but she paid attention for the most part and didn't get grumpy that she was missing her dinner.

Wednesday, yesterday, I went out to the barn with the plan of working Jetta on the lunge line over some poles and cavalettis, maybe free-jumping her. However, once I got to the barn the trainer was riding and I didn't want to get in the way. I hadn't met her yet because she always rides in the early morning (four weeks and I've never ridden with anyone!) and this was the earliest I'd ever made it out to the barn at 10:30am. She was super nice and very chatty, like everyone I've met at the barn. While she's not exactly my cup of tea as a trainer (she does western pleasure and I'm not exactly a fan of her equipment) at least she wasn't mean to the horses, like a trainer at a previous barn. Instead I rode in the jumping saddle and worked on two-point and did some stirrup-less riding. Slightly self conscious because since I didn't plan on riding, I rode in my western boots instead of tall boots, but oh well. I'm now sore and have a large blood-blister-like-bruise on my right inner thigh from the stirrup leather pinching me so I guess it's a good thing I'm not riding today. I need to figure out how to fix that...

Speaking of riding today, I'm super jealous that ML is going with another person to go school cross country today. The course closes for the winter this weekend and it's supposed to rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so sadly I don't see myself doing cross country until summer rolls around again. Sad!

I'm looking forward to a horsey filled weekend though!

Taking a Moment

Wow, this term has been non stop for the past four weeks. I thought it would be nice and laid back because I'm only taking 3 classes essentially and I only have one morning class Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Instead, I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with no head. It's crazy and it doesn't look like anything's going to let up until November gets here.

This week has lots in store - my additional class outside the university, Forage & Pasture Management is on Wednesday, Thursday I have a dressage team meeting to prepare for our upcoming show in addition to two midterms, Friday the dressage team officers have to meet with the RecSports administration for our monthly meeting (ugh, paperwork...) while we're at it I'll throw in a meeting for Rotaract. Then Saturday is the big tack sale in the morning, then in the evening we're setting up for our dressage show. Sunday is the big day of the show. We don't have very many entries so it will go quick which I guess is a good thing, because I'm not sure when I'll find the time to write a paper for the camping trip I went on for a class this past weekend which is due on Sunday. Plus, I still have to print out all the tests and other paperwork before the show and make sure everything else is all ready. Sigh, it's madness.

All of this makes me glad I have a horse. It adds a lot of stuff to my schedule, but it's my stress reliever. I'm able to go out to the barn and spend time with my pony and relax. I don't have my huge "To Do" list running through my head. The barn is quiet and Jetta is being so good. I can take a moment for myself. This evening I caught a beautiful sunset just as I was leaving the barn and it made me glad I was able to take the time to go out to the barn!