Updates: JB

Next we have JB, aka boyfriend. As you all may remember, JB is my friend H's Standardbred who is quite the jack of all trades, basically the most versatile horse ever. This year we expanded his repertoire to include western pleasure, which he is a total rockstar at.

Unfortunately he is the horse I ride least as he is the furthest away, but we are still actively showing in model and western and he is kicking butt, if I may say so myself. He is better and better every time I ride him.

Two horse shows ago we were champion in open model against 12 other horses, most of which being Quarter Horses and Paints. He won both the gelding and open class. He has been consistently pinning well in open halter competitions all summer.

H, JB, and I after his Grand Champion win in Open Model.

He has been doing very well in his western classes too. As I mentioned he is better and better with every ride. He goes slower and puts his head lower every time. In our last horse show we were grand Champion against Appaloosas and Quarter Horses. He was 1st in pleasure horsemanship, and a very tough command class in which we backed basically a full lap around the arena. He received 2nd in trail which is his worst class since he is scared of everything LOL.

Some pictures from this summer:

May Show

I have been swamped with the end of the semester aka end of college so am a little behind on my updates. Last time we left off it was shortly before the May horse show, so that is where I will pick up.

This was the first time Satin was showing in the hackamore and she LOVES it. She was awesome. We had a fabulous barrel run, all her turns were perfect. They made the pattern much smaller by having a much shorter run home so we got a 17! We had a great poles run except she cut the last turn a little tight as she tends to do and we took out the last pole, so we got a 26 plus 5. Keyhole was interesting. I took her into the warm up ring to practice roll backs and wanted to start with the staircase excercise Renee taught us as usual, but she was so hyped up she started hopping and doing intense roll backs instantly. We got in the ring and she was good to go, took off like a nut. She was so excited that when she got through the keyhole she got a little lost and didnt know where she wanted to go. I planned to roll back left, but instead she dove left then right so I had to pull her around right to get her back in action which cost us a little time. It happens though so what can you do. I was still very happy with her overall performance and like her in the hackamore.

My handsome JB aka BF was a rockstar! He was 2nd on model geldings again and 4th in open model again too. More importantly, we were grand champion in beginner western!!!! The division was much smaller this time, but JB was also much better since the lesson, though he did not got as slow at the show as he did in the lesson, but we are getting there. We won the horsemanship class and command and were 2nd in horsemanship and trail, though trail still needs a lot of work. I was quite proud of him. We are going to another western show this weekend where he will be doing halter, showmanship for the first time and pleasure. His owner H will even be making her western debut on him so it should be fun.

Show Season 2011 = T - 2 days

Show season is just two days away! As you can all probably tell by the fact that I went from hardly posting to posting twice in the same week LOL I am excited but also have time to write because I am sitting in my internship with nothing to do right now.

Anyway, so Satin and I had a lesson on Wednesday. We tested out out new western spurs which went well and did help. It started a little rough and we had some rough spots on our lead changes, but had some beautiful ones as well. We went inside at the end to try and fix the problem with the one change and I asked if I could some practice pole bending first. My trainer had 4 standards set up like poles from my last lesson on Try. We did and she was perfect, especially for not having done them in months and for them not really set up for real pole bending. My trainer was equally impressed asking How I could get every change flawlessly and do what she was trying to explain to me to do in the poles and not in the figure eight. My reply was because when I am doing poles I am not thinking about getting lead changes. The crazy mare seems raring to go for Sunday!

I also rode JB yesterday and we practiced some trail obstacles. We did the shoot which he did perfectly and knocked down the pole. Then we went for the bridge which he did not like last time he encountered it. It took a team of people and carrots but we convinced him and by the end had him doing it on his own with just be aboard. He looks like a million bucks so I have no worries for in hand. I am looking forward to the beginner western too. It will be fun.

I had a great lesson on Try last week too. We did more work on transitions and simple lead changes and did some pole work. R is basically teaching me how to train as she said, since he is a young, green horse and basically everything you do is a training opportunity, as well as, excercise. This is awesome because who better to get training tips and methods from then the best trainer I know.