More Show Pictures

Here are some more show pictures that were sent ot me. I am just that proud of my BigRedHorse.

He is such a handsome boy!!

this is my fav....

A bit ahead, but still cool.

And I wanted to let everyone know that when I returned home after leaving my house unattended with 4 males it was CLEAN!!! What a great husband!!!

To Fall, Or Not To Fall, That is the Question...

Yesterday as I peel myself out of bed and make myself some coffee I start hearing about the earthquake in Chile. Who couldn't? After about an hour my hubby calls me and says "hey there is suppose to be a tsunami hitting Hawaii," STACEY!!! I instantly grabbed my cell and text her telling her to GET UP! The text wasn't as polite. I wasn't sure if she had even heard. Luckily and thankfully she text me back saying she was on it. I followed the KHON2 live news feed for a few hours and then decided that the big worry was not so big, everyone was gonna be fine. Whew! After finishing my coffee I get my Carhart and head out to do some slow canter work with Olly. We start off with pulling and racing, not my favorite. After fixing my seat and lots of circles I decided to take my coat off and lay it next to the camera. We had some jumps to work on. Well, let me tell you this next part didn't go as planned. NEVER, NEVER take your jacket off while on a TB who thinks he is from off the track (he isn't he just thinks he is). I totally wish I had the camera on to film me. It would have been the most embarassing moment of my life to capture it but, it would have been good! As I am walking to the tripod, I decided to kinda hang my jacket a bit further out than normal. At first he kinda shied, but then recovered. Good Boy! So what do I do? Let's shake it a bit! OMG, this totally was not proof of me having a brain. He held for a minute but then started skittering to the right, I had this!!! I sat and rode him about 15 feet, then he spun. I had the reins in my right hand and the jacket still in my left, yup, that's right folks, I never even thought of dropping the jacket. Not even after I was laying flat on my back. I waited for a 3 count to make sure I didn't lose my breath. I hit hard on my left shoulder, I even have a pretty nice bruise on the inside of my left elbow. As I sit up I see Olly looking at me like, "Mom, I am soooo sorry, it was gonna eat me!" I got up and started walking to him and he hangs his head and meets me. I told him I was sorry and it was all my fault. I carried my jacket over to the camera, brushed te leaves off and turned ON the camera. This is the video I got. We worked alot on slowng down. I decided to keep the Boucher on him for the time being. I think that he will be fine with it. I think I need to fix my riding. Until I fix myself I really don't want to change bits. I can already see some habits that are carrying over to him. The speed is the biggest. He is now attacking the jumps with out pausing and I am now the problem. I remembered a lot of information at the lesson that I HAVEN'T been applying when I ride. Like Terri at Brandywine Farms said "the hardest thing is to do nothing on his back." And it is. After trying so hard to get him over those jumps, now all I have to do is nothing....seems too easy. But I am trying to break my habits. After about and hour of going slow, or trying really hard to go slow, Olly was in a sweat. It is hard work to try to exert litlle enegry when you are a big red horse. We walked home, I was on foot. He had worked so hard he deserved to not carry me the last 1/4 mile. After a good brushing and some sugar cubes, I went straight up to the bath with my homework and sat in some HOT water to try to relieve what aches would be there in the morning.
Today we worked on the same thing, no jumping and no cantering. Just a nice even pace at a walk and a trot. We worked in circles alot and collecting. He actually did better than I thought. He is really slow and collected with these two gaits, it is really just the canter we have problems with. My thought: Lets work in the trot for a bit and then make the canter our next project. I am going to set up some low verticals (2ft) and work on speed before and after the jumps. That will be next weeks project. In the mean time, over the next few days we are going to continue working on our flat work, trotting and cantering controlling our speed over ground poles. Our first show is March 27th. So time is ticking. I am curious to see what he will be like in the show ring.

Hunter over fences show...

Sunday the Oct 11th we went to our first hunter over fences show. It did have a few flat classes that we entered, but it was mostly jumping.
It started the night before, as all show do, with the banding and cleaning. I wanted to give Olly a bath, but the weather ended up really chilly that night. Little did I know that was nothing compared to the next morning. Terri arrived at my house at 1730 to pick up Olly. We had to leave a 0630 to be at the show for another rider to school. It was easier to get him the night before. I followed her back to the farm to feed Olly dinner and make sure he was settled in. It was hard to know that he would be staying the night not with me. How could have I boarded him before? It seemed like a crazy thought now. I enjoy having him right outside my window that it is hard to know that he was staying the night somewhere else.
Of course he was fine the next morning when I showed up. He was still in his ninja suit all clean. I know that it was only a schooling show, but I take it seriously. Banded, braided and ready to go. Don't even get started on clipping. Even thought it was a "just for fun" show you should still look nice.
0530 comes pretty early in Va. It came so early that "warm" wasn't even up. it was a whopping 42*. isn't that against the law? I mean can you ease a Hawaii horse into the cold weather? Va is rough!! Good thing he had his rain sheet and ninja suit on, oh, and he had shipping boots. He looked like he was from Hawaii! If they made Parka's for horses this is what they would look like lol. By the time breakfast was over it was 0630, time to load up. Olly is great at loading. Sometimes in a new trailer he will give me a look and I will say it's ok and give him a pat and that is all it takes. He is trusting me more and more everyday. After a 30 minute ride to the show, a quart of coffee and a quick prayer that the sun WILL shine today we arrive.
I sign up for my classes, which were $10 each (!!!), when I was younger (boy I sound old) they were only $3, I go to saddle up. Since I am here this early better use my time! As I head to the arena all I can see are these extravagant jumps. Hunter my butt! We are talking painted rock wall, lattice gate, purple, pink and any other pastel color you can think of, flowers and the list goes on. I already knew my jumping day was over before it even started. We warm up and Terri suggests we try a "baby hunter" jump (18"). i told her right at the get-go...he ain't goin'! We'll try a packer, she says. Ok but I am telling you he isn't a dumb boy. Little Oreo was chosen for the job. He is a 12h pinto that can jump the Empire State Building. Off at a trot he goes, Olly and I 10ft behind him. It was going ok until, literally, 2ft to go. I mean he should be at take off by now and well, we weren't. He planted his feet and I went crotch to the pommel. All I could think was DO NOT fall off at the hunter show with 50 people watching. I hear Terri (faint over my own thoughts) SIT!!! I jammed my heels as far as they could go grabbed a bit of mane and sat up. SHIT! That was a close one! I vowed by the next weekend he WOULD go over some flowers! I don't care if they were drilled into a ground pole. We are still working on the trust. I schooled a bit more and then back to the trailer we went. Our flat classes were a few hours away.
The first flat class was really great. We did all we were asked and at a very slow collected pace. I was so proud of Olly. As we lined up for the results, a woman walked up to me and said, ummm I am sorry to tell you because you did so well, but flash nosebands are illegal in hunter classes. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Are you kidding me?? I got 6th out of 6. Out of the 50 people that were standing around the damn arena no one thoght to tell me? Thanks Va once again! All in all it was just a schooling show and we were just there for fun, but it does make it nicer when you don't place....last.

The last three classes were just the same. under saddle and two eq classes. I ended up getting a 4th, 5th and a 6th. No last places, which was good. olly was in the zone, or should I say not in the zone. He was totally calm. I think it had something to do with me not being nervous. I guess if that is all that it takes then I will do what ever I can to keep it undr wraps.
At the end of the day we had competed in 4 classes and gained experience. I couldn't ask for more. I also had a Walmart craft center shopping trip planned for some brightly colored flowers ;)

See those stinking flower jumps!!

Dressage Show

We had our first Deressage show on Sunday. The plannign started out on Saturday afternoon. We went and practiced the test a few times and they the grooming started. I was a little nervous because i ahve NEVER clipped him before. I knew that everything would go smoothly with his body and muzzle, but I was concerned with his ears. I mean who likes buzzing in their ears? We were about ot find out...
We started with the ears just in case we needed to take a few breaks. He actually did fine. It didn't get bad until I had to get down into his ear where all the fuzz was. We did one ear took a break and then did the other. After that the rest was pie. Next was bath time. I love giving him a bath. He looks so nice. All clean, no dirt. He shines. Although I had to make sure he had his ninja suit on and a blanket and standing wraps just to keep hiim clean, he ended up pretty for show day.
We only showed in one class. Which was enough for us this time.




I have attached the video.

This weekend we are going to a hunter show to do some light jumping and equitation classes. More to follow.