XC Schooling and more horse selling nonsense

Last Sunday, Misty's lessor was planning on schooling cross country near me at Inavale. I scheduled an interested buyer to come and see her. I have to say, I'm about ready to give up on selling this horse and just keep her already. I absolutely adore her and she's fantastic and trying to sell her sucks. I don't have time for two horses... But still.

The person that came to see her was so rude. The lessor is notoriously late and slow to get ready. I warned the group that came of this. They said nothing about time constraints. SH joked with them about how she was slow as mud getting ready, and asked the girl some questions. She never came over to say hi to Misty or asked any of her own questions. Misty's rider was having trouble with the studs but was just about ready to hop on when the group said they were done waiting, they had other horses to see and up and left. 

Later they sent me an email saying that SH was "rude" to them (she wasn't, she might be brusque sometimes, but she was being nice to them) and that they couldn't spend that much time waiting. I resisted sending a snarky email back that it is considered courteous to let all parties involved know that you are on a tight schedule so they can make an effort to hurry things along, especially since they had wasted a lot of my time in coordinating this event and by taking time out of my day to be there for it. I was very annoyed by this. 

But anyways, it was still a pretty good day. I got to watch Misty's lessor school her cross country. Misty's looking a lot more fit, though I didn't like how girthy she was acting while tacking up. She always holds her leg up since she knows she can't paw, but she never bites the air. They're using a nylon girth, which I think is the main problem, plus tightening it up too much, too quickly. 

Misty was having a lot of refusals because her lessor didn't have her leg on. She's used to riding hotter horses that you have to hold back instead. She needs to put her leg on and kiss a couple strides away versus kicking right at the base of the jump - this will fix their crooked approach, refusals and bunny hops. 

At least Misty is tolerant. She gamely cantered through the water and tried hard. She just needs a confident push over the jumps. They are showing at the Young Riders HT this weekend, which I'm excited for them about. Her lessor's goals: not get eliminated, not fall off and have a good dressage score. She's not used to having a horse that's good at dressage and I told her that we once scored a 28 so she better get in the mid-30's at least! 

Im very excited to hear how she does, though I hope the refusals don't end up hurting them. I've done two shows with her and combined, we had one refusal on cross country, no time penalties, show jumping was double clear, and she placed high. So she better behave herself! I advised that she wear spurs and I am going to purchase some pro pictures possibly. I thought it was amusing though... They registered her with USEA as Unmistaken Diva. This poor horse is going to have more names an she can handle! Her USDF name is Mistaken and her registered APHA name is Henny Penny.

In the meantime, enjoy some tiny clips of schooling. I can't embed them on my iPad (or at least can't figure out how to). 

http://youtu.be/XfPA83rMgKQ

http://youtu.be/on-ZjRCiQ4s

http://youtu.be/wvt99oS1gAY

Past-Due Pictures

Finally got some photos of Misty from our show at the end of May. Long overdue, but hard to get because I have no computer, only an iPad which means no USB port and no disc drive... Impossible to do anything productive with. 

Anyways, the pictures:

I can obviously see that I have quite a bit of work to do in the equitation area... Sit up, look up and heels down for goodness sake! Also Misty tends to get tense in the neck and back and she really needs to be pushed forward to get her to unlock. Though I love seeing her stretchy trot and how nicely she was bending in the corners and bending lines. I miss my little roany paint pony!

And Then There Was One

It is very strange having one horse. I have not had one horse in many, many years... Misty went to her new temporary home on Sunday. It was very much a whirlwind and snap decision. The vet I used to work for is an eventer and she is looking for a new horse for her daughter. Her daughter's horse is older and recently went lame with a soft tissue injury, so she won't likely be back to work for some time a least.


They were competing at the Inavale HT and messaged me at 10pm on Saturday night. "Can you bring Misty out to Inavale so we can try her out? Would you be interested in leasing her for the summer? We'd compete her at recognized shows, take lessons twice a week and ride almost every day." My truck's brakes have been kind of iffy, so I told her I'd rather she came out to my barn. She responded with "Oh, KP can drive (my vet friend down the road from my barn)".


So bright and early on Sunday morning we headed out to Inavale. I gave Misty a quick bath since she was filthy and warned SH that she hadn't been ridden in a month. She was pretty naughty when I warmed her up, wanting to canter when I asked for a trot, giving me a sassy head toss on occasion and throwing in little crow hops while cantering.


SH's daughter got on and rode her around. I was very surprised at what a green rider she was since I knew she'd been eventing all season. KP gave her a mini lesson to get her to soften through her shoulders and elbows as she was really stiff and 'holding' Misty too much. She really needs an elastic connection because if you brace, she will brace as well. KP also taught her how to turn Misty as she was using big opening reins to ask for a turn, the kind you use for a green or baby horse. Misty was slightly confused why she was being so obvious with her cues. KP told her "That is not how you turn a trained horse" then proceeded to explain the outside rein cue.


By the end she was getting some good trot work, with Misty flexing at the poll and doing nice serpentines. It's going to take some work, but I know this girl will learn a lot from Misty as she's never ridden a horse who knows how to do flat work. I just hope it's a good experience for Misty as well, which I think it will be. She'll get ridden much more often than I would, she'll get in shape, she'll be jumped regularly, and she'll get a competition record at recognized horse trials with a junior rider. I think it will be good (I'm just continually telling myself that because I'm so nervous).


The really negative part of this deal is that SH was very firm on the fact that Misty will be getting shoes and her mane will be cut and pulled to dressage length. I'm pretty heartbroken over this fact. But everyone (SH, KP, and her trainer and other onlookers) were adamant that horses have to have shoes in order to compete, which irks me to no end. Plus her mane is gorgeous and so easy to just braid in a running braid, but her "trainer hates running braids".


So it's definitely got some negative aspects to the deal. But at least she'll still show Misty to potential buyers, I can potentially increase her sale price as she gets a show record, and Misty will be paid attention to. And the added benefit of not having to pay for the feed/board of a second horse and now I can focus on Jetta!

But I already really, really miss Misty. I had so many plans with her this summer: sorting events, a trail competition series, a dressage show in two weeks (that I now have to get refunded... hopefully), a combined test we were going to go to, and of course trail/beach rides with friends. 

Going to miss this girl!

Travel Time

Won't have much to write about for the next couple of weeks as I'm in Italy! I've been here a week so far, one more week here than another week in Germany. I love it! Of course I miss the ponies, but they seem to be doing well based on all reports. Weird leaving them at this barn where I actually don't even know anyone that well. But they have my vet friend's number, who lives just down the road and my bf promised to visit them once a week for me. 

Of course I meant to post a nice little video I took of Misty right before I left, but then I deleted it accidentally in a sleepless haze. Bummer. I was planning on using that video for marketing her, as it was a bareback and, for half of it, a bridleless ride that went quite well after not riding her for an entire week. 

So you just get some pictures of poor neglected Jetta. She's still shedding, and looking quite homeless because of it, but before I left I gave her a good grooming, roached her mane again, trimmed her hooves and let her run around in the round pen. She's looking quite good right now minus the complete lack of muscle. I'm hoping now that my thesis is almost (almost!) so close to being completed, that I will FINALLY get to start riding her regularly again. I miss riding the stubborn brat! Good ponies sometimes get a little bit boring, sorry Misty. 

That's all I have to share for now. I'm hoping so have some kind of horsey content to write about when I get back. Currently plotting to find a tack shop of some sort, but we'll see. 

She's back to being at a good weight, I just wish she was muscled!

She can look kind of nice sometimes.

Gorgeous cathedral in Milan.

Selling Horses is a Pain

So frustrated lately with trying to get Misty sold. This is the second time I've had her sale pending, and the second time it has fallen through.

I've never had this much trouble selling a horse and Misty will be the sixth horse that I've sold, also the horse I've had listed for the longest as we are going on almost 10 months now.

This time, a high schooler came out to try her. They seemed like a really nice family, the girl was a competent rider and they seemed to really like Misty and were very impressed with her nice ground manners and how sweet she was. Misty was ok. We pulled out a jump and after not jumping in a month she was excited and a little sassy - she pinned her ears a few times and tossed her head. Not a big deal. She jumped nicely and showed off her flying changes, wasn't lazy, etc.

The next day they said they would like to take her on a trial and possibly buy her pending a vet check. They were planning on picking her up Wednesday or Thursday, but they had to show their trainer the video of her first.

Then this morning I got a text that their trainer didn't think that Misty was the right fit for this girl. I was so bummed and so frustrated. After the last time I thought that I almost had her sold, this time I kept my hopes very low. I still got bummed though.

I'm just frustrated. I have had only 5 people come to see Misty. I think she is reasonably priced. She is such an awesome horse, I know that she will be great for whoever buys her. She has fantastic manners, a great work ethic, she's safe, sweet, fun, she learns quickly, and she's adorable.

I'm just sort of at a loss. I'm ready to drop her price (yet again) and am finally considering leasing her out locally. It's just such a time drain to communicate to buyers via email/facebook/email, then make time to bathe Misty to make her presentable, then make time to have these people to come try her, then get my hopes up when they say that they want to buy her, only to have nothing follow through.

How could someone not want this adorable horse?

/end rant.

On a slightly happier note, I was contacted by Queenie's new owner not too long ago and got a much needed update on her. If you haven't followed for long or don't remember, Queenie was one of my aunt's horses. A Clydesdale cross, mother of Tux and Katy, two Gypsy Drum Horses I trained and sold for my aunt. Queenie was such a neat horse, she found the absolute perfect home (just like all of my horses I've sold have). Her new owner told me that she still was absolutely in love with Queenie, now named Emma. She bred her last week to a Gypsy Vanner to get another Gypsy Drum horse. She even sent me an absolutely gorgeous photo of Queenie who got included in her wedding photos! It made me so incredibly happy that I was able to give Queenie the skills to be such an awesome horse for this woman and so happy that she found this awesome home.

Such a pretty girl

Drizzly Show

Our show that I have been looking forward to for the last month or so finally arrived last Sunday. I got the Misty-monster all bathed on Saturday morning and wrapped up in her sheet and sleazy. Miraculously she was mostly clean by the time that Sunday arrived.

Our first class was Training Test 2. Misty was quite awful in warm up. All was going well until I asked for a right lead canter. NOPE. Misty just couldn't do it. We haven't had issues with this lead since I got her.... Which was about 2 years ago. But for some reason, the show day just brought it back up. She got all worked up in warm up by the time she finally decided that she could in fact canter on the correct lead.

She was quite good for her test though. She was very tense the first half and didn't want to really soften until we got to the first canter. Besides that though, I couldn't really complain. Our first halt was very braced, but that was part of the tense-ness that pervaded the first half of the test. Plus she's just awful at nice, relaxed halts. She did a good job on both her stretchy walk and trot. She even got a 7.5 on her stretchy trot circle! She was a little unsteady in contact in some areas, as per usual. She picked up her right lead canter just perfectly, though I asked a little too exaggeratedly. And I was very pleased with a 7.5 on our final halt with the comments, "straight and square". Who'd a thought she could do that!

Collective marks were nothing new, except for the fact that she said Misty had a "terrific walk and canter". I know she's got an awesome canter, but I've never been a super big fan of her walk, so we've been working on it. Guess it must have paid off!

I was surprised and pleased to see that we placed 3rd in a large class of 17! She got a 66.54%, just shy of 2nd place by 0.4%. 

Our second class was Training Test 3. I kind of forgot that there were the bending lines in it, so I didn't even warm those up. Right before I went in the ring I remembered that and thought uh oh, hopefully she does them ok. I was super pleased with how supple and calm she was through the bendy lines. Sometimes she loses impulsion in turns and either her shoulders or haunches falls out, or she gets tense with the change of bend. Not today! But our scores didn't reflect how good I felt about them. 6.5's on each... with no comments. Helpful.

But I was very excited to see an 8 on her left canter circle. And a 7 for her final square halt. At least we can do a nice final halt even if we get a crooked first halt?

Collective marks were more of the same, but with the comments "She's nicely forward but not well balanced through movements so she falls on forehand or loses bend/frame". I happen to think that she wasn't nicely forward at all, she was behind my leg so I should have sacrificed one movement to tap her with the whip and get her thinking more in front of my leg so we wouldn't have those heavy forehand/unbalanced moments. Overall, I was still really pleased with this test and our score of 65.9% putting us in 5th place in a class of 14.

Not a bad kickoff to our first show of the season! Unfortunately no video because I absolutely failed and forgot my camera and didn't charge my phone. But I may be getting some pictures from a friend. We shall see!

I'll leave you with this picture of Misty showing you exactly where she wants to be scratched...

"Scritches right here plz"

Spring is Here

Ahh, I love spring. The weather, the getting rid of winter coats, the flowers, just about everything. I feel like I have so many things to update on! In reality, probably none of it is super exciting, but things have been going really well.

Misty has been getting ridden about 3-4 times a week, which I'm really pleased with. We've been doing a ton of dressage and a little bit of jumping.

First off, the shedding has been ridiculous. I don't know how this little horse is capable of growing so much hair (especially since she barely looks that hairy in the winter) much less how she is capable of losing it at such an alarming rate. The good news is that she's almost done shedding! The bad news is that my car is covered in white horse hair and Jetta is just beginning to shed. Sigh...

SO

MUCH

HAIR

Misty's dressage work has been feeling really good lately. Sure, plenty to work on still but she's starting to really pick up on the stretchy trot, leg yielding and transitions have been quite perfect lately. I've introduced 15 m circles and lengthened canters finally with some pretty good initial work. I'm really looking forward to the dressage show next weekend!

We have jumped a couple times and she has been pretty awesome as usual. I was super, super happy with her. And we even did our first triple line! She definitely looked at it and we ended up trotting the entire line the first time, but she was awesome! Now if I could just set the line better next time so she can do it all smoothly, that'd be great.




Additionally, we had a really fun trail ride last weekend. I took my boyfriend for his first trail ride with me. The deal is if he went trail riding with me, I would go on a motorcycle ride with him... Terrifying. But he endured a torturous three and a half hours, so I think the least I could do is go riding with him!

We ended up getting pretty lost on the trails (hence the almost four hour ride... I seriously intended a nice short and sweet hour long ride!), but it was an absolutely gorgeous day so it wasn't all bad. He used to ride as a kid so he looks like a natural. Misty was great as per usual, though by the end we were all a tad grumpy and just plain "done" with the ride. Overall though, it was definitely a success!

Gorgeous weather and views!

*swoon*