Spring is in the Air

Spring is finally coming! Today temperatures reached 60! It is going to be chilly tomorrow, but the rest of the week is going to be in the 60s! Yay! It was so nice to ride in just a tshirt and sweatshirt and one pair of pants. We did unfortunately have tornado force winds which were not very fun, but can't complain.

Our ring finally thawed out last week and has been useable which has been awesome. I had a lesson last week and we did work on lead changes. It started out a little rough, but ended great. It is good timing for the ring to be back in action since I have bending homework to do.

In other news, a new project pony has just entered my life. A fellow photographer I know through horsey friends has a 7 year old Grulla QH gelding that has been in training with my trainer, the wonderful R, all winter. She plans to bring him home in May and asked if I would ride him a few times a week when she does. Apparently she had a riding accident a few years ago and since then just does mainly walk only rides. From what I hear my trainer has completely turned this horse around from when he first came. I am not surprised in the least as she is awesome. Anyway, I went on Saturday for a test ride on him. I watched R ride him first and she put him through his paces, explained his quirks to me, and told me how to cue him. Then I got on and rode him for about half an hour. It was very windy out so the indoor was making lots of scary noises. He was a bit looky and snorty with one or two little spooks but nothing major. All in all it went pretty well. As the ride went on and I got more used to him it only got better.

My trainer was very happy with how it went. She said that was him on a bad day so that on a normal/good day I should have no problems at all. She thought we got along very well and that he liked me and I handled him well. She also asked me if I wanted to come once a week and have a lesson on him, which of course I said yes to. He is a nice horse and I think I will have fun with him.

Favorite Racehorses

Well apparently this is my week of favorite videos. Here are my two favorite racehorses.

This first video is of Ruffian, the greatest filly to ever run a race.



The second is of Secretariat in the Belmont, his greatest victory.

Stacy Westfall

As all of you know from reading this I am a huge fan of Stacy Westfall and she was the one who inspired me to start doing bareback and bridleless with Satin. I don't know any horse people that don't know who she is and I think every single horse person has seen the run that made her famous. But, for those of you who are not horse people, it is a MUST see. So check it out below:



I have met Stacy in person and she is an absolute doll. She was so nice to me and every fan who approached her. She took the time to answer everyone's questions and sign posters and other products. Today I finally saw the video of her freestyle at WEG with her newest superstar stallion.



Just wanted to share a great rider and fantastic horsewoman with you all. Hope you are all as inspired as I was!

Sorry!

I know it seems all I have been doing is apologizing lately, but things have just been so busy that my blogging had to go on the back burner.

Anyway, to sum it up winter SUCKS! There has been nothing but a continuous onslaught of snow and ice. It's snowing right now as I write this actually. This means riding has been limited. Thank God for my lessons and the use of my trainer's indoor. When at home I have basically been riding through and playing in the snow or sledding. Last week we had some rain and it cleared off part of the ring so we have been able to ride in a small portion in the middle which was nice.

While Satin has been getting some work, Hottie has not. I can't get on him and ride him through the snow like I can with old reliable. I hope to get him back to work soon though.

Also this month the wondermare celebrated her 22nd birthday. Though she still thinks she is about 3 or 4. LOL

School is back in session and I started my new internship so between that and the horse, etc I have been busy busy, but I promise to try to be more diligent on here!

Winter Has Arrived

So winter is here and has definitely made an entrance. It's been in the low thirties during the day and low twenties at night this whole week and let's not forget the brutally cold winds. Honestly, it wouldn't be that bad without the wind. Of course with wnter comes the depression at the thought of cold weather riding and chores. But, as always the Showtime Stables crew is bundling up and braving the elements like all other true horse people. With no indoor winter riding is tough, but we make it work. It has put a damper on things though.

The days I have my late classes it is hard to get riding in as by the time I get there it is not only dark but frozen. It gets really hard to motivate to ride and sometimes I can't because it's just to cold and the ground is hard. The old mare deserves an easy winter though so its okay.

We had a great lesson with R last week. Thank God for her indoor! We did more cavaletti work and it went well for the most part. I took Satin to a local farm that is having an indoorn winter fun show series last weekend. We had fun albeit the cold, but Satin was a bit lazy. I knew she wouldn't run full out in the indoor. I don't know why but I could just tell this about her.

Satin is easy to ride and handle in any weather. Hotty, on the other hand, being the typical sensitive, nervous Thoroughbred is not. I don't ride him on very windy days, even when its not freezing. So the freezing temps and wind alone put us out of commission all of last week. The beginning of last week though he gave me a difficult time at the end of our ride. Then the next two days he gave me a hard time coming in from the field. He would plant his feet and refuse to go forward no matter what I did. It took me forever to coax him in a few steps at a time. When I got him the first day I discovered her was very stiff in the hocks and short stepping in the front, so this issue put us off too, but was resolved in a few days. The second day I had to use bribery to lure him in. He has been better coming up, at feeding time at least. Though the wind and cold has made him frisky and he spent part of the walk in flying sideways and backwards earlier this week at feed time. We are in for a warmer weekend so I hope to get him back on track before a very cold week next week.

In other news we are nearing the end of a semester, a joyous and painful time. I am happy for it to be almost over, but with the end comes lots of work between final papers, projects, and exams. I am forging my way through a little at a time, but wont be free until my last exam which is of course the day before Christmas Eve.

Hotty Update

Okay, so a while back I wrote about Hotty, my friend's OTTB I had been riding. Well I have more bragging to do. He has just been doing AWESOME! He gets better and better every week.

He has become even more of a pleasure pony than when I last wrote. His jog is amazing. It just gets better every ride. I now have him neck reining like a champ. When his ADD isnt acting up and he concentrates on me he moves completely off my seat which makes neck reining a breeze. I have him figure eighting and serpentining all around on a loose rein at the jog. We haven't been doing much canter work lately because I have been focusing on developing his jog and neck reining, but I plan to get back to it soon.

He has also become a wonder trail horse, meaning trail obstacles. I started each obstacle on the ground with some treats and he took to them right away. He works the mailbox like a champ. Once he found out there were treats hidden there he decided he loved it. LOL I also have him walking calmly and willingly over the bridge, our bridge being a flat piece of plywood. He will even back over it and stand on it. We have also practiced knocking a pole down off 2 barrels and walking over it, which he was completely unfazed by. Most recently we began working with picking up a jacket off one standard and moving it to another. I started practice on this on a breezy day taking off my jacket which I flapped all over his neck and head without so much as a flinch. Then put it on the jump, picked it up, moved it, etc, no issue at all! Afterwards I even put it over his face when on the ground and he didnt care. We also began practicing the rope gate on the ground which didnt faze him at all.

I am so proud of the progress he has been making so quickly. I just grow more attached to him by the day. He is so smart, talented, and willing.

Catch up

Okay so now I will try to sum the past 6 weeks up for you.

Let's start with the most important topic...Satin. Okay so since we last spoke we had our last horse show which went pretty well. Her barrel run wasn't her best but she woke up for the last two events and we ended up reserve for the show and for the year. Our banquet is tomorrow where we will receive our trophies.

About two weeks ago i broke down and decided to have an english lesson with some encouragement from R. The monday before the lesson I had my jumper friend S give me some pointers. I switched Sat from a snaffle to pelham to help with the getting too strong problem and she was better. We did some nice lines, jumped our first oxer, jumped hay bales, and did some jumper turns and rollbacks plus a mini course. My lesson with R went the total opposite. I went in too confident and determined to impress R. Well to make a long story short I had several refusals and I say I because it was me not Satin. Once she had gotten a few stops she just kept going with it. Then we had one jump I went over without her. All in all it was just bad. R was her usual wonderful, patient self doing her best to help me through. That Saturday K and I had planned a Halloween show at our farm which would benefit my cousin's cancer fund. There was a Gambler's Choice class and I planned to ride in it. R suggested I jump her very lightly Friday to get my confidence back. I enlisted S's help again and we just jumped a simple line I was confident on. I had one stop but got it together and ended well. The day of the show I pulled Sat out to find her shoulder was a bit blown up. She was sound but S suggested not jumping her or using her for the speed that day and I agreed. I decided Sat's jumping career was ending before it started. That week had just been too much jumping for her, much more than she was used to and the inflamation was due to the fact she was using muscles she didnt normally use, but she is going to be 22 years old and I don't feel the need to push her into something she doesnt need to do. I will still learn and I will still jump her on occassion just for fun.

Anyway the horse show went very well. All our planning had paid off and it was a very successful day. We raised almost $900! I won the in hand class with JB aka boyfriend. We are currently 3 for 3 in in hand wins. A kid from my old barn named Shyanne rode Sat in 2 gait pleasure and took a 5th having to ride the class with no stirrups because she can't reach mine. Sat and I took a 4th in the 3 gait pleasure. The two jumping classes went very well with my friend winnning Gambler's Choice on a 25 year old semi retired Qh! I pulled my adopted child and Satin's pasture mate Jewel out for the speed. The mare is quite the bullet even for being extremely out of shape. She bolted into the arena and was so excited I couldnt bring her back quick enough so our first barrel turn was wide but we fixed it in the end though took 4th because of it. We were ready for the dash and took first in that. We then teamed up with my barnmates K, E, and L for the relay in which we took 2nd. In the command it came down to K and I and Satin humbled me when I got a bit cocky saying I could counter canter all day long after which she promptly changed herself to the correct lead getting us 2nd in that class. Our final class was ride a buck in which we took 5th. My little cousin rode her in the costume class dressed in pink breast cancer stuff as the breast cancer awareness team as that was what we were raising money for. We are going to do another charity show in the spring as everyone had such a good time.

We just had another lesson with the wonderful R yesterday which went very well. Satin's changes were flawless and we did a difficult but very good cavaletti excercise.

In other news, school as been hectic with papers, exams, scheduling next semester, etc. I got a great schedule though and the next thing is looking into grad schools and the GREs.

I had a big photo job a few weeks ago for a local barn. I did 45 minute sessions for 20 boarders. The shoot took the whole weekend and was a lot of fun and a big success all around. I am still editing the over 3000 pictures I took but the customers were very happy and want to do it again in the spring!

I'm Alive, Really! (WEG catchup)

I have been an absolutely horrible blogger these days. I left you guys on a huge cliff hanger with WEG and then fell off the face of the Earth. I am still here though, I promise! Things have just been super hectic lately with school, the horse, work, etc, etc etc.

WEG was absolutely AMAZING. Best experience of my life. If you remember I was going down with my Standardbred friends who would be giving several breed demos. My friend E from Maine drove down with her mare and her friend T on the Thursday and we all spent the night at H's. Early the next morning we loaded E's mare Dreamy and H's horse boyfriend on the trailer and started the trek to Lexington. It was quite the road trip to say the least. We expected it to take about 12 hours pulling the trailer and it took 14! We left in the dark and pouring rain. Luckily the rain let up within the first hour or two and was done by the time we made our way into PA. The next problem was when we drove through West VA because it is full of hills and mountains causing us to have to drive very slowly with a large rig. To make West VA even more fun E accidently locked the keys in the truck when we stopped for lunch. Luckily she has Onstar though so we were back in in a matter of minutes. It may have taken a while but we made it to our friend L's house about 20 minutes outside of Lexington about 8 pm without any major incidents. Both horses traveled well and settled in nicely in L's barn.

The Harbour Inn as we referred to L's place would be our home away from home for the next week but the horses would only spend two nights there before going to WEG. We found waiting for us a hot, home cooked meal, hot shower, and warm beds, just what we needed. The next morning we got the horses all cleaned up and ready to go to the Red Mile, a harness racing track, where we would have the first and only team practice. First we all went to lunch at a nearby restaurant and got to meet the rest of the demo team who had traveled form FLA, CA, PA, and another friend from NJ. We headed back to the barns were the horses were outfitted with the halters and blankets provided by Finn Tack for a photoshoot which was turned over to me to run by the USTA rep heading up the demo team. We took group and individual shots then got ready for the practice run in the in field. Practice went pretty well and we headed back to the harbour inn to get ourselves and the horses bedded down for the night.

The next morning we rose early for move in to WEG. This was a long and physically straining process, but we got everything in and the horses settled into their stalls for the next few days. That night our demo was 5:30 so we then had some time to explore the grounds and enjoy WEG. L, T, and I discovered in our search for a bathroom that our passes that allowed us access to the barn, also allowed us access into the stadium for the show jumping! We got a great view of some of the famous show jumpers in the world. I also got some great pictures! The first demo went well though due to rainy weather and the late time there was not much of a crowd. That night the Harbour Inn was hosting a bbq for all the STB team members. It was a nice gathering with good food though we were all tired.

The next day we took the opporutnity to sleep in a bit since our demo was even later at 6 pm. L took us to Walmart because 1) we were all freezing and wanted to buy gloves and hats and 2) they sold WEG apparel there. We then made our way to the Park and spent the afternoon exploring more of WEG and doing some shopping. The demo again went smoothly though still no crowd due to the late start.

Tuesday was my last day at WEG since I had to return to classes. We got there early and did some more exploring and of course a little more shopping. We took a pic of the Fab 5 as we called ourselves with the Secretariat statue and dressed in Swedish gear at the Swana booth because you know everyone wants to be Swedish! We also watched a great Clinton Anderson clinic after T and I had talked to him not even knowing it was him! We had been walking the barns that morning because our horses were stabled right next to Lynn Palm's Rugged Painted Lark, Clinton Anderson's horses, John Lyon's barn and all the great clinicians, so we wanted to explore. During our walk we saw John Lyons just sitting on a bench grazing his horse and walked past a man leading a horse who said good morning to us wearing A Down Under Horsemanship jacket, Anderson's company. We just assumed it was someone who worked for him, but found out later it was the man himself! The demo that day was slightly earlier at 4pm which brought out some more people including our friend Lella from home who was in Lexington. As soon as the demo ended T and I rushed to the car to get me off to the airport. We couldnt find the car for almost 20 minutes but luckily it was smooth sailing from there and we made it to the small Bluegrass airport with time to spare. My flight went well and I arrived home late that evening.

So suffice to say I had the time of my life and am so glad I had the opportunity to go.

WEG Here I Come!

On Friday I leave for the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY. I can't wait!

Okay so here is the back story. My friend H with the horse I call boyfriend was one of the horse and rider teams chosen by the USTA to be part of the Standardbred versatility demos at the games. She was chosen to demo show jumping. Our friend L from Maine was chosen as well, and so was our friend LH from Lexington. Well being I am H's show mommy and offical photographer where she and boyfriend go I travel! L will be driving down with her mare Thursday and then bright and early Friday morning we will all be traveling to Kentucky. They begin demos on Sunday and unfortunately I fly home Tuesday night while they stay til Thursday because I can't miss that much school.

I plan on taking tons of photos of the games and maybe even doing some writing as well. The trip will also be well documented on this blog as I will be making an effort to constantly update with a play by play of our trip and of course ad pictures.

WEG Here we come!

Updates

Okay so updates since we last spoke. Satin has been wonderful as always. We had a show two weeks ago and it went well. Her turns were great and she had good times. We were reserve and Kayla was grand as always, so I was happy. We also had a lesson last week which went well. We did more work on lead changes teaching Lexie and refreshing Satin. Satin was extra quiet and lazy. I think this was due to the unusual 90 degree heat. She is usually very forward on her changes but sleeping and loping along making the changes either not happen or only happen in the front. R changed up the excercise and we gave Sat a pole to help her out. We started doing it in a figure eight with a change down the middle then moved to getting them on the diagnonal. By the end we had nice changes at a slow collected pace which was even better!

We worked on our homework yesterday that R designed to help improve her lead changes especially at a collected gait. I brought her up into her really collected canter which she is becoming quite good at it. It is getting easier and easier to bring her into it and hold her there. At the collected canter I bent her to the inside for a few strides then the outside, inside then outside, etc. I did this in both directions. Then I brought her into a semi-collected counter canter and asked her to bend to the inside. R said to hold her there until she wanted to change to the correct lead. I did and once I got her whole body bent to the inside she wanted to change and would do a simple change to do so. Though I will say I was proud of how good her counter canter has gotten that she was able to keep a nice pace and hold the counter canter even when I had her head bent to the inside and was circling her and she even held it a little when I first got her body bent inward.

We were hoping to go barrel racing tomorrow, but its been raining since last night and it is supposed to continue into tomorrow so its not looking good unfortunately :( Especially since I had R talked into coming. Well hopefully in two weeks we can go.

Now I have to brag about Hotty. I believe I mentioned I had begun riding my friend's Thoroughbred gelding. Well he has come such a long way in the short time I have been riding him. First off he thinks he is a western pleasure horse. He jogs like a champ with his head in the perfect headset. He has a gorgeous comfortable trot. We had a little issue trotting around to the left in one part of the ring which we quickly got over. We have been doing canter work and yesterday for the first time he was able to hold left lead twice around the ring instead of just half way around! Then we worked on right lead which is his weak direction (probably from being off the track) and after a few tries we actually got a few strides of right lead! I was so proud of him!! We also recently started going for walks around the property after we finish working and he has been an angel. I am also getting him more used to riding with other horses and yesterday my friend was jumping, doing lead changes, and cantering around right by him and he didn't even flinch. Also when I first started riding him he didn't want to back up at all and now he loves backing up. He does it like its his job and I have him backing through shoots. He is so ready for trail LOL This doesn't sound like much, but for this horse this is amazing progress in a short amount of times. I couldn't be prouder. He is such an AWESOME horse with so much potential. Now that he trusts me he is so eager to please and do anything for me. I just love him and hope to be able to continue working with him for a while. His owner is looking for a new home for him but I hope that doesn't happen anytime soon. I want to show him in the beginner western next year. Fingers crossed!

In other news, I have my big photo shoot job coming up for a local barn. And I also leave for Kentucky this week, but I am going to make a separate post writing all about that.