The Dog Days of July

Hello Dear Readers! Contrary to all of your fears, everything is fine here in the world of the Silly Pony and the Serious Girl. Thanks to RiderWriter for pointing out how long it had been since I posted. Ooops! Time sure flies when you're on vacation!

I had meant to post before I headed home to MN/WI for the month of July but it was a rather busy week tying up loose ends, packing for a month and entertaining my dear mother while she visited. She so kindly volunteered to fly out to Ohio to spend a week and then accompany me on the long drive to that glorious land where Wisconsin kisses Minnesota with dual blue bridges. And by glorious I mean it's hot and humid and the heat index has been over 110. Gross. But I am NOT complaining because I NEVER complain of heat. Only of cold.

The day before the journey Mom and I took in the Columbus Zoo and I FINALLY got an upclose look at the Okapi. They are totally my favorite exotic animal. It's like there were only mismatched parts left over when the Okapi came to be. Part Zebra, part Gazelle, part Giraffe. And prettiest softest looking brown fur I've ever seen. No idea what they really feel like.

Okapi!

Then we took Junior and Max on a little trail ride around the property. As you might remember, Mom had horses when she was a teenager and she still enjoys a ride every time she visits. This is the first time we've been able to ride together on 2 horses in years and years. Max is an awesome trail horse. Junior continues to be annoyed by trees, but he gets better every time and I get better keeping him on task. I got some nasty head tossing when we had to stop and wait for everyone to cross the creeks, the kind that tosses a rein up between the ears. Stinker.

Reports of Junior continue to be great. He has managed to stay hive-free so between the new fly sheet and the Smart BugOff something is working. Monet rode him on Saturday and Max's Chloe took some nice pictures of the ride.

Oooh! Dressage Pony!!!

If Monet had her way we'd be Eventing.... ha!

Happy Sweaty Mohawk Boy

I'm here until the end of the month then I'm home for a short respite and then it's back to the grindstone getting ready for the new school year and the challenges of a new curriculum, a new colleague, new students, and a LOT of shows to design. It will be a busy year!

I'm also woefully behind on my blog reading. I've been skimming but haven't had much time to really read. I'll catch up eventually.

See you all in August!!!

Show #2 of 2011 - The Rest of the Story

It was a good show. It was a short show with some highs and lows. You've seen the photo with the three blue ribbons and I had to just show that without telling you the story, just for fun.

I showed in 7 classes and took home 4 blues, a red, and a yellow. Which seems really sweet, until I tell you that the first 3 blues (in the picture) were both 1st and last place. Yes, I was the ONLY adult English rider at the show. There was NOBODY there. The entire show of 43 classes was done by 4pm. At the show in June we left after class 35 and it was about 7pm. This meant two things: not a lot of competition and not a lot of time between some of my classes. Not that I mind taking home the blue ribbons, but it seems a bit lackluster when it was basically an exhibition.

I got a stall and a tack stall which was good since it rained most of the afternoon and my BM and her awesome doberman, Dakota were my indispensable show grooms.

Adult Hunter Showmanship:

Didn't screw up the pattern, Junior was pretty good, but wouldn't keep his pivot foot planted. Not pleased I was the only one in the class but whatever. Not a lot of adults do the showmanship. Maybe they're afraid of running in public? 1st out of 1.

Adult Hunter Under Saddle:

I couldn't believe there wasn't anyone in this class and surmised that if no adults were doing HUS then none would do Equitation, either. Crap. He made me work for it with both an extended trot and a "controlled hand gallop" which I haven't had to do in about 10 years and I only had a little tinkle of KAT's voice saying "for the hand gallop they want to see 2-point" so I guffawed, kissed him forward and went into 2-point. 1st out of 1 ...lame.

Adult Equitation:

The pattern was not too difficult and I only managed to go slightly off pattern. Thought it odd that Junior wasn't picking up his upward transitions as well as he usually does and realized that was a slight problem in HUS, too. Hmmmm. 1st out of 1...again... sigh.

Adult Western Showmanship:

Guess what? I jacked up the pattern. Surprise! I did everything right and Junior was good - still stepping out of turns though. The last piece of the pattern was a 270 but as I passed 90 I realized it couldn't be a 270 cause that would be facing the wrong way and ended up doing some sort of an awkward 405. 3rd out of 3. This actually really upset me because I finally had a little competition and I messed up the pattern so badly of course I was the bottom of the group. If I hadn't done that where would I have been? I'll never know. :(

Adult Horsemanship:

I had barely enough time to tack up for Horsemanship and was so late I only looked at the pattern as I was walking to the in-gate and as soon as I handed the pattern off and walked in my mind went completely blank. There were cones. I didn't have a clue what to do with any of them. I was the last in, therefore supposed to be the 1st to go. Judge asked if there were any questions. I asked to please not go first. Either look like an idiot that way or have to ride and make something up and look like a complete idiot. I literally learned the pattern by watching the other two riders. Felt like an ass. Somehow won the class. 1st out of 3.

Adult Western Pleasure:

I only entered this class (and the next one) because my BO wasn't getting back with the truck until 4:30 at the earliest so I knew I was either going to have to sit around or keep showing. There were 6 riders. I figured I didn't have a chance but somehow was graced with 2nd. Apparently the judge liked our forward lope/canter.

Open Walk/Jog Western Pleasure:

He would start out the jog nice and slow but kept getting faster and faster. I had a hard time convincing him to stay slow. I did have a few times where all I did was shift my weight back and I felt him slow but there were other times he actually needed to be bumped. He even broke to a walk at least once. No place. Not sure how many in the class. At least 9 but I lost count as he started to fuss about leaving the arena last. I went ahead and used it as a schooling moment and he got over it pretty quickly.

So the high spots were feeling the slowing at the weight shift, sitting on him for a few hours straight between my horsemanship class and my last pleasure class and having him be relaxed and content. It helped that lots of people from the old barn liked to come up and love on him. Oh, and winning Adult High Point was nice but felt like a giveaway. I took the cash anyway.

The low spots (aside from STILL not being able to get 4 patterns down) were not feeling like I competed in the English. And to be honest, in the English riding classes I could feel myself not trying very hard and I'm disappointed in myself for that. The other low spot was that I think Junior hurt something. He's not visibly lame but between him not wanting to let that foot stay planted during the pivot (seems like once the leg starts to twist he needs to pick it up, rather than let it turn) and some of the difficulties in canter take offs, which he's normally really good at, and adding how he was on his toe (not resting, more like hesitating) on that leg when we opened the trailer, I think something's up. I'm going to give him a few days off and see how he's doing. Silly pony.

Show #2 of 2011 - Sneak Peek

I'm too tired to tell the whole tale tonight, but I will soon. Until then, a teaser:

Just remember that things are not always what they seem.... To Be Continued...

Thumbs?

I guess my horse has grown thumbs. Invisible thumbs, because upon inspection I could not find the thumbs. He doesn't even have ergots, so I suppose thumbs would be the next evolutionary stop?

Are you confused? Think maybe I'm drunk-blogging? I suppose I should explain.

Today I got an email, kindly stating "Everything is fine" in the first sentence because I don't know about you, but if someone from the barn calls or emails or texts I panic immediately so I appreciate permission to breathe. This email was from B and she just wanted me to know that she had tied Junior to our tie ring (I use it often while cleaning his stall or just teaching him a little patience - no big deal) while she cleaned his stall, and though she kept an eye on him since he does have a knack for untying himself (which is why I use a trailer tie on a zip tie instead of tying him with release knots) she finished the stall, looked up, and he. was. gone. BUT the lead rope was. still. there. She found him outside eating grass and caught him immediately with no problems. I'm not at all upset over the matter. I can see it happen and I have to laugh at the darn genius-of-a-horse. Totally something only MY horse would do. And I know I didn't take physics, but I canNOT believe he got a clip off of his halter. It's a standard heavy brass snap clip. The only way I can believe he got that open is if he grew thumbs. Have you ever had a horse manage to do that? I meant undo a clip, not grow thumbs. If your horse had thumbs I would have heard about it on the FuglyBlog. I know he's smart and very active with his face but... Really? More likely, the clip wasn't over the whole ring but rather clipped onto the nylon and when he pulled on it it just came off. I've done that before when clipping without looking. I can imagine poor B's face when she looked up and saw a swinging lead rope where a horse was supposed to be. But it's not a huge deal. This was a freak event no harm was done. Thankfully we're 3 for 3 on his escape attempts ending in "I'm fre-ooooh grass nom nom nom oh hai mom whatcha doin?" instead of any sort of running for the hills. Hopefully he doesn't ever escape in the winter! Luckily all the barn doors are shut in the winter. :)

Tomorrow is show-prep day. All of my stuff is sitting at the top of my stairs waiting to go down to the car. It looks a whole lot like THIS except everything is clean and inside of the bags. Tomorrow I get to do the morning barn feeding, have my 3rd lesson with JM, then hopefully the rain holds off enough for me to put the Bug out on the grass for a while while I pack and organize so we can end the day with a bath so I can go home, double check my lists, wash a tail, pack my clothes, and get to bed so I can be up at the butt crack of pre-dawn. I HATE that part of showing horses.

The plan is to get a stall at the show because it might rain and also because I think he'll be calmer in a stall surrounded by horses than he was tied to the trailer alone. And hopefully when he has to he will go ahead and PEE!!!!!