A timeline of a horse show. :)

7 a.m.: Get to barn, fetch horse from pasture. Throw him in stall to eat his breakfast.

7:15 a.m.: Off to hook up trailer. Get trailer hitched and pull up to driveway. Discover a tire is flat. WTF!!!!

7:16 a.m.: Limp up the road to nearest gas station to put air in tire.

7:30 a.m.: back at farm, load up last minute things. Start to braid the horse.

8:15 a.m. Finish braiding said beast.

8:30 a.m.: Load horse, hit the road.

9:40 a.m.: Arrive at show. Wow. LOTS of horse trailers here this time. Find a good place to park. Unload horse, throw him in stall with hay and water. He was a bit sweaty coming off the trailer.

... So my friend/groom/reader and I spent most of the morning just watching and relaxing. I felt it would be good for Hampton to spend some time in his stall without me bothering him. Also I wanted to get a feel for how the combined tests and event derbys were run.

12:30 p.m.: Start grooming beast.

1 p.m.: Off to lunge the horse. He was an idiot on the lunge. Great. Super tense, some screaming ... But did eventually start to calm down. I realize he might be a little too fit for a young dressage horse. We lunged for nearly 40 minutes and he wasn't even out of breath in the slightest. I decide to just get on as I know I can get his mind working better under saddle.

1:45 p.m.: Aboard the horsie. We spend maybe 15 minutes just walking to see if he will RELAX. Works maybe a little. The hunter pace begins and we are informed that those participants will be galloping directly through our warm-up ring - including a log jump obstacle. This freaks out a few people, but the horses never even blinked.

I love Triple Creek Farm.

2 p.m.: Still trying to relax the horse. He is tense, wiggly and is bucking through canter transitions. A classic sign he is super super stiff right behind the saddle. Turn on the haunches helps him some and starts to get him somewhat more obedient.

2:30 p.m. We go in the ring for Training Level test 3. Right off the back horse spooks at a terrifying hay bale in the field next to the ring. Judge is kind and lets up work that out before ringing the bell. Off we go.

2:40 p.m.: Our test begins ... there is much spooking (not at the hay bale). One side of the ring butts up against the side of the barn and so when we rode by, the sand would hit the siding and Hampton was most offended. This resulted in a 3 for our first trot loop. Yes, a 3. And a comment of "disobedience." Everything seems like a hot mess. So much so that now I am laughing. I am surprised I did not get a -2 for use of voice. :) End of test - judge kindly smiles and me and says that was a very "tactful" ride. I am grateful for her kindness and understanding. We manage to pull off a 61% and 3rd place.

There were some lovely moments ...

3:15: Next text Training Level 1. The spooking went away but now horse is irritated (I later discover he really, really had to pee). There was much squirming and BUCKING at the canter transitions. Good grief. Also, my reader loses her place. Thankfully I had the test memorized and continue on. Again, I am laughing at what a hot mess this has turned out to be. This test earned us a lovely 59%. Oh Hampton! :)

3:20: Put horse back in stall. He pees like a race horse. I take a break and decide to scratch out last test and decide I will just school him instead. I get my scores and find I have earned 8's on rider position and seat!! This makes my day!!

4:30 p.m.: Hop back on horse to school. He is of course relaxed, no bucking, and obedient. :) I am happy with this as I wanted his last ride to be a good one. I start eyeing a cross rail set up in the warm up ring for the jumping people. ... I wonder over there .... I will just trot him up to it and see what happens ...

4:35 p.m.: Hampton jumps his very first cross rail under saddle. At a show. In the middle of a field. I am BEAMING now. We pop over it a few more times. One time he did a little happy buck after. He LOVES this. I now eye the cross country area ...

4:40 p.m.: We "school" just a bit of cross country. At the walk! We walked over the bank and over a few logs. :)

4:45 p.m.: I look out over all this beautiful jumps. At the beautiful farm. At my naughty but beautiful horse and realize just how lucky I am. I also feel an irresistable desire to try this eventing thing ...

4:50 p.m.: I trot back to the barn as the skies are now black and there is thunder. We quickly pack the trailer, unbraid the horse, load the trailer and load the horse just as a massive torrential downpour hits.

6 p.m. Home safe. I turn horse out and he GALLOPS out to his friends. I guess he wasn't tired. But I sure was!!!

Photos from the show!

Well, I am exhausted so I will save my write up for tomorrow. But I will say that as usual, it was an adventure. :) No blue ribbons and no super awesome scores but  a really fun day and some hilarity. :)

Here are some photos for now:

yeah baby!

After giving Hampton Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off ... I rode him lightly this evening. And he was SO ON. The canter was back. He was up in the poll and right there for me. So I quit after 10 minutes hoping that same horse will come with me to the show tomorrow. So it's a go!! Can't wait! (Please let the storms stay away ...)

.... to be continued!

No freaking out needed

You guys are 100% right. Giving him time off before a show isn't going to affect his performance on show day and infact just might make it better. So that is what I am going to do. I may lightly lunge him Friday evening just to make sure he isn't officially lame (if that's the case obviously we won't go to the show). Frankly I am the one who needs to practice for the show - not him! :) And I have Zippy and Marisol to practice my tests on tomorrow and Friday. It won't be perfect but I can at least ride the pattern. I doubt I would have ridden Hampton today anyway since this sudden hot weather has everyone acting rather blah (I'm not complaining!! It's just that we aren't used to it yet)

So today was the perfect spa day for the big H. I clipped his legs, trimmed his mane and gave him a good bath and scrubbing. I also washed his filthy tail. I think I'll wash the tail again on Friday for good measure. It's so nice to enjoy those few minutes when your horse is clean and shiny and smells like V05 ... and then they roll. *sigh*

And now I must go shower. Clipping horsie + lots of sweat = very gross human.

Edited to add: Just got my ride times for this weekend. Our first test isn't until 2:17 p.m. Sweet Jesus a horse show I can take my time at!! Plenty of time to get there and school. YAY!!

Dang it!

"Treat?"

So Hampton's right leg/hock/stifle? is bothering him again. Damn it! I hope I didn't push him too far on Friday. His canter that evening was fan-freaking-tastic. So the point where I started to ask for canter-walk transitions and just a tad more collection. I was smiling the entire time!

Saturday we did only trot work and a trail ride. Sunday we did ground poles on the lunge, a little piaffe work in hand and some fun free jumping on the lunge line for fun. Monday he had the day off. Which brings us to today. He was working just fine - I wanted to go back to easy basics today and school Training Level Test 1 a bit.  We also did a few leg yields at the trot. Many circles. The right lead canter was still lovely, and the left lead wasn't to the point of "oh shit I need to call the chiro" bad ... but it was stiff. And he wanted to drop the inside shoulder (not like him). During one downward transition (to the trot) he even took a really stiff/lame step with the right hind as he switched gaits. *sigh* Oh Hampton. So while our ride was good, and our run through of the test was acceptable ... now I'm not sure what to do. Do I give him another day off the week of a show? Do I keep working him lightly? ahhhh!!! I know tomorrow he will spend some time in his magnetic hock boots ... and I guess I'll work him lightly and see where it goes. A back massage is probably in order.

Aboard Noah

Noah the giant also is making progress - as slow as it is sometimes. Today I rode him off the lunge line and with no ground person for the first time ever. And he was totally fine. Steering needs more work, but he's coming along. I am loving the hot weather. It makes for cooperative young horses. heh heh. Tomorrow I'll climb back on him and see if we can trot. He is likely going back home at the end of the month so I supposed he should be at least walk-trotting under saddle. He just needed so much handling and ground work to start with. And I think that's more important.

Hoping everyone's ponies are well behaved and healthy! :)

Who am I with my horse?

I took Baxter home yesterday morning. :( On a good note, he was a peach to haul and hopped right on my trailer.) I will miss him though and all the fun upper level work I could practice with him. :) He is now living at the big farm where I take lessons so I will still be able to see him and even ride him on occation.

It's back to serious work for Hampton this week in prep for our May 14 show. I'm breaking out my 101 Dressage Exercises book for guidance.

And on an interesting note, I came across this website recently. I took the personality assessment quiz and ended up with a tie between a Healer and a Shaman. I can relate to qualities of both, so I think it's pretty spot on. Check it out - which one are you?

Here's part of the Shaman description:

How they see the world. As connected and as One. That everything happens for a reason and there are no absolutes, no either/or. 

 How they are toward others. Balanced. Enjoy the company of others but also appreciate solitude. Seen by others as calm, wise, pleasant to be with. Enjoy being “in service” to others. 

 How they see horses. As partners. As different but equal in terms of deserving a voice, a choice. Advocate for horse. Horses drawn to steady, calming ways. “Horse Whisperer.” 

 What they want from a horse. Whatever the horse is able to give given who they are their situation and their history. Will ask of a horse and then wait to see the response. Expectations are minimal – take what is offered by the horse and work forward from that point. 

 As a riding student. Have a special connection with whatever horse they ride. No matter riding ability have a calm, open, curious presence when learning. Will be less inclined to choose mechanical aids for riding (crops, whips, spurs, some bits, biting devices). Uncanny ability to calm horses in any environment with no obvious effort or technique – just their presence. 

As a competitor. Less drawn to competition than other archetypes. If compete has the ability to stay calm and focused. Enjoys the challenge of competition in partnership with horse. Results not so important. 

 Riding discipline drawn to. Shamans have such a deep connection to horses they can step into almost any discipline and create a profound relationship with the horse. 

 Horses they are drawn to. Horses of all kinds are drawn to the Shaman and most Shamans appreciate all kinds of horses. 

 Horses they should to avoid. None. A shaman is a gift for any horse to have in their life. 

Greatest Strength. Way of knowing intuitively and through wisdom how to connect and form a true partnership with horses where the horses have choice. 

 Greatest liability. Not being understood or accepted by others who still see horses through a dominance/submission paradigm. 

 

Ramdom noms

Well that little virus I had on Sunday turned into something rather nasty. Monday was horrid and yesterday both of my eyes became infected. Isn't that exciting? So Hampton has had a few days off. I went out to the farm today just to spend time with him, but figured I could use one more day off to let myself recover. Plus I hate riding in my glasses and I can't wear my contacts until my left eye is a little less angry and goopy.

So here is a random video of Hampton mowing around the farm this morning. I didn't add music to this one because there is something about the sound of a horse munching away that is so soothing to me. I am sure you all can relate. :)

Also, I realize that letting him loose with his lead rope dragging is not really safe, but he doesn't freak out when he steps on it and he is always supervised when I allow him this freedom. Ok there's my disclaimer. :)