Worst Blogger Ever!

I am SO bad at keeping up with this blog!  Things got very hectic through July and August, and with long days teaching lessons and trying to fit life into my schedule, I got very sidetracked.  So, here's an update and some insight to what's been going on, loaded with pictures.

This horse is the best horse anyone could ask for.

I guess I should introduce the two new members of our herd: Taylor and Rowdy.  I've known Taylor for five or six years.  He's 31 now, but nobody's told him that.  Long story short, he was the first horse I ever taught on, and my first student leased him for five years before his owner died and a lot of drama meant that Shi's family couldn't take him.  I believe I have some more entires about him, so check the tag for a little bit more about him.  Anyway, the person who ended up taking him just moved to FL, and didn't want to bring him with them, hence he was offered to Nicole.  When we went to go look at him, I hopped on him bareback to see if he was sound with weight on his back, and he promptly spun me around and trotted me into his field and dragged me to his feed bucket.  He was the only horse who didn't get sick of our campers after a week of being ridden and gamed by seven year olds, and he has the world's biggest heart.  I'm so happy he's back and here and safe.  We surprised Shianne with him, and when she realized it was her Taylor man, she burst into tears and spent an hour hugging him.

Rowdy's story is a little less heartwarming.  We went over to the local auction lot to find a big stocky horse to add to our lesson program.  Instead, we ended up with a very cute paint pony with a long mane and not much of a canter at all.  He's adorable and very mellow - but on the way home, he hopped over the chest bar and opened the trailer door... so, Rowdy, it is!  He's still in QT and will be for another week or two, but afterwards, I'll try to update on his progress.  We're still trying to see if we'll flip him, or if he'll have a spot in the lesson program.  I think once he has some education, he'd be a really cute child's mount, for trails or local schooling shows.  No idea if he jumps, but he seems game for everything and other than being a little feral right now (QT will do that to a horse...), he's pleasant and happy and absolutely adorable.

Tater and Dory earned their keep during our camp!

Gali and I were ready to start up on some first level work mid-July.  This season has been a nightmare for us, show-wise, and we had another two shows filled or cancelled on us.  We did have two nice shows at Suddenly, with scores of 60% and 61% in Training 2 and Training 3.  Last weekend, we were supposed to head over to Bit O Woods for our first level tests, and three days before the show, Gali sliced his leg open in a weird spot, and came up lame.  The injury wasn't bad enough to require stitches, and so the big goofball had a few days off.  When I went to put him back into work, he wasn't quite right going to the right and on smaller circles.  While I've been quick to treat his ringbone (I ice him and use a DMSO/Absorbine gel combination on his legs, he's on polyglycan, previcox, and SmartFlex Repair), I'm wondering if something else could be bothering him.  He is, after all, 18 years old.  He's not "lame", per se, but he's touchy, and he's not himself under saddle.  Maybe I'll run a Lymes titer. Myself and a bunch of friends are going to the Outer Banks next week, and my plan is to make a vet appointment for after vacation to try to figure out what's going on.  Until then, he's just hanging out in the field, and I'm grooming him and continuing to ice him and spend time with him.

Acorn, however, is in full work and doing pretty well.  We showed in one test at the Suddenly show (T was riding Acorn in the other two tests - T1 and T2) and scored a 65% in Training 3 - which was his first time with that test.  I was very proud of him, but after getting my scores for Gali, I was hit with a little bit of a realization.

In Gali's two tests, the horse was much more pleasant to ride.  He felt more balanced, more forward, had steadier contact and was overall putting more effort into his work than in Acorn's test.  Acorn's test was pleasant and steady, but he wasn't as forward through his back as I would have liked.  I was happy with it because he was nice and relaxed, though.  Gali scored a 61% and a 60%, respectively.  Acorn came out of the test with a 65%.  His scores were higher because he's naturally a better mover and naturally a little... cuter? than Galahad.  That frustrates me as a rider, and I guess I'm finally seeing exactly why this dressage journey with Gali has been a little tougher than I expected.

Anyway, Acorn has been in steady work since the last show at Suddenly. In one of the shows that Gali and I missed, a lesson student (T) took him out to do two tests and a clear-round jumping test.  His dressage went well, but apparently, he refused every jump he approached and his jumping round was atrocious.    This confused me, because he never hesitates when I jump him, and I'm certainly not bold or confident to fences yet.  I wrote it off as a little bit of a fluke, but when another lesson student jumped him at home and he skipped out on a few of the fences, I got a little worried that his confidence had been shaken.

Not amused by hunter shows.

I schooled him over a few fences at home and he felt steady and brave, but we decided to take him and Tater over to a local schooling hunter show before attempting the clear-round jumping at BoW again.  At the schooling show, we entered a crossrail division, and he did VERY well.  He didn't think about any of the fences, and he was so excited that I was actually fighting to make him trot between the diagonal lines in the short courses.  In our last class of the crossrail division, I did let him canter, and it went very, very well.  He's a smart horse and he does a very good job of finding out where to put his feet over fences.

Towards the end of the day, Tater was being a monster about going over any jumps, so somehow I got entered into the last division of the day.  Acorn had a meltdown about being used a second time, no thanks to commotion on the rail during up transitions and the fact that he isn't very comfortable being close to other horses under saddle.  After one canter transition resulted in him crow-hopping and throwing a buck, I decided to just trot and focus on relaxing him and letting him realize life isn't all that hard, even if you have to work twice in one day.  The judge later came out and told me that I made a good decision in skipping the last two canters.  Anyway, I was proud of him for not being bad in the first division, and didn't really hold it against him that he was pissy in the second division - it was a long day and he was standing around and had gotten tacked up very quickly for the second division.

Look, I *can* sit!

On Saturday, we went over to BoW for two dressage tests and a CRJ round.  His first test was lovely - he was relaxed and moving nicely and was allowing me to ride the test accurately and smoothly.  The judge loved him!  Our jumping round was SO fun.  I was very nervous because to me, 2' oxers are still large and scary, especially away from home in a big open field.  I did my best to stay out of Acorn's way, and after two very exciting warm-up jumps, the woman running the jumping said "Why don't you just walk the course?  Trot a few steps before the jump, think walk between all the 3 stride lines, and just take your time."  I ended up doing just that - I trotted all of the jumps except I think two, and we had a wonderful round.  Everyone was proud of us for surviving (LOL) and I was very proud of him for how relaxed he was!  It was the first course I've ever taken him through where he wasn't strong and rushing.

What a wonderful pony!

We had four hours between our first test/jumping and our second test, and once again Acorn threw a fit when i twas time to ride the second test.  It was an absolute disaster, he was fishtailing and threatening to bolt/buck the entire time, and he was miserable.  I was tense, he was tense, the judge chopped us in half, and I left the ring angry.  I tried to take him back into the warm up to make him work out of it, and by then, he had ENOUGH and was being a terror.  I jogged a few figure 8's before pulling him up and telling Nicole, in tears, that I couldn't work him through it.  Our friend/groom/new boarder got changed and rode him for me back by the trailer, and she just hunter hacked him around and was able to get him to relax and come down a bit.  After she got off, Nicole lunged me and got myself out of my own head, and we ended everything on a decent note.  I was very upset with myself and with Acorn, despite our successes from earlier in the day.  Now he's in a bit more of a boot camp, so that he gets over this by Championships.  Our next show is two weeks from now, and I sent in my entry requesting separated ride times, so he and I can both learn to deal with it.

Relaxed and happy and just a lovely guy.

Last night, we had a great lesson that lasted well over an hour, because Acorn was having a bit of a fit about being tired, and was mentally checking out of our ride.  Nicole made me ride through it, and made me push him til he was pissy and then get through that, and we finished on some very nice notes.  I have a lot of hope for this horse, and at this point, I just really need to learn to let go and ride him more confidently and more like a trainer, because that's what he needs.