DressageLife

The Swing of Things

2008-11-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

Weeell, sorry for not be a good blogger lately. As always, I've been extremely busy, but this broken hand is really slowing me down. EVERYthing takes longer. It's amazing how people adapt to different ways of life though. Here I am typing, using only one finger on my right hand, and I'm actually typing relatively fast. My grandpa was watching me type the other day and asked how I can type so fast. I just laughed, I mean, I was only using one finger on my right hand!!

Apparently I have won a CSDEA (Region 4's GMO) year end award... I don't know what it is yet, but quite a few people from Pferde Farm have been notified of their impending awards, so we're all going to go to the year end banquet together. That means I get my picture in the CSDEA's magazine!

Anyways, I have a few pictures for you guys... One is from my C1 rating with Sackett and the other is from the Otter Creek Fall dressage show with Grady. I look like a retard in the jumping picture, so just try and appreciate our good form and ignore my facial expression. The wall was 2'9". I will be getting a disc of pictures from my rating soon, so I'll put up lots more pictures when I get it.

In other news, Isis is at Birchbury right now for the duration of the deer hunting gun season. My dad doesn't let me ride during hunting - I always say it's not because he cares if I get shot, but because I'll scare the deer away. I always board Isis during deer hunting. To say the least, Rocky LOVES Isis. Actually alot of people do. The other day Rocky told me that I should sell Grady and just keep Isis. THAT won't happen, but she has definitely wiggled her way into a few more people's hearts. I'd been having problems with Isis fighting the bit, so when the dentists were out on Monday I asked them to check her and they filed on Isis's teeth for a good 45 minutes. It was interesting, the dentist looked and said "She has these problems, which can cause these problems when riding." I was like, "YEAH, that's EXACTLY what's happening!!" She's much improved. I can tell that she still has some throw back resistence, but it's becoming less and less.

I took a jumping lesson on Isis yesterday (she really hasn't ever jumped) and she tooled through the grid as if it was old hat. She did a 2' three bounce/one stride combo and just kind of trooped her way through, no problems, no mistakes... Then she looked as if she was board and wondering when she'd get to eat. Rocky was impressed with her amiable attitude and thinks she's a pretty stylish jumper to boot. I'd like to event Isis; I think she'd be a good event horse. Grady likes to jump and he'll be jumping for the rest of his life, but he'll never have that "can-do" attitude that makes life easy. Jumping Grady has been the best thing for my jumping ability, but I think it will be a long time coming before I'd be able to take him out and do a XC course cold. I think my new goal is to make Isis my event horse. Grady can be my dressage horse that jumps.

Speaking of Grady, he has been doing SO well lately. His attitude is getting better and better all the time. The other day I took him out and breezed him around the galloping track (Is Birchbury an equine resort or what??!!) and he went no problem, no questions asked, no spooks, no resistence. It was SO much fun.

My rides on Sackett and Julia have also been excellent. The other day I did an exercise on Sackett where I had to do a serpentine with jumps in the middle with each direction change (hard) BUT there were also skinny jumps set up along each curved part of the serpentine (crazy insane hard!). Rocky couldn't believe I actually did it. Riding Julia is so much fun. It's been so nice to ride such a well trained, sensitive upper level horse. I think Lindsay is impressed with how well we get along.

I know this is going to sound completely juvenile but... I LOVE YOU LINDSAY AND ROCKY!!!

Where to begin?

2008-10-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have so much that I want to say... So much that I want to go into long, rambling detail about. It's been hard because long, rambling details take awhile, and I have been incredibly scrunched for time what with work, homework, and horses. Typing one handed slows down the process even more.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing last week was. Isis was over-all very good (as usual), and Sat. we went for a 45 minute, early morning gallop. You would not believe how refreshing that was, how much it cleared my head from all the jumble of the week. Isis is very careful when she goes fast, it's almost as if she's afraid I might fall off if she's too exhuberant. I have to convince her that it really is ok to gallop like a bat out of hell with me on top of her!

Grady was great too. I went out on the XC course and cantered him over hills and through the woods. He didn't spook ONCE. My lesson on Grady with Lindsay was simply amazing. We did a cool exercise where I rode a 20 m circle one way and then a 10 m circle the other in a figure 8 pattern. This was supposed to activate his inside hind more. Then we changed the exercise so that I would stop in the center of the arena on a 20 m circle and do a few steps at a time of turn on the forehand - but he HAD to stay round. If he pulled or faught (which he did) we would continue until he gave in. Then the minute he took a step relaxed and supple, I sent him on at the trot. It took several trys before he understood that the trot was IMEDIATE. Once we got this down, we moved on to transitioning down to the walk, doing a few steps of turn on the forehand in the walk, and then trotting off. Then the turns were done at the trot, which felt very cool and oddly slippery. (That's really the only word I can use to describe that!) Then we did the turns at the trot and then imediatly stepped into canter. The quality of his canter was the best it has ever been, I can't describe the feeling of weightlessness - as if we where cantering on air. Lindsay said it was by FAR the best canter she's seen from him. Why? Because his hind end was (probably for the first time) fully engaged. Not just engaged, but also lifting - It was bordering on a spiritual experience, what I would imagine flying to heaven to feel like.

I rode Julia a couple times, and that was excellent also. I had some very fluid, correct, and beautiful leg yields BOTH ways, and also had some very lovely shoulder-in work on the center line. Lindsay wont let you do shoulder-in on the rail because it's too tempting to push the haunches out rather then bring the shoulders in.

Jumping on Sackett was also awesome. My whole lesson on Friday went well from start to finish. We worked on having a more fluid two point (toes OUT, Rocky: "IT'S NOT DRESSAGE!!!") which felt MUCH better once I got it, and then we worked on stadium. I actually rode two courses, and for the first time they both felt smooth from start to finish. Usually I start out strong, and then start to bobble, and then just manage to finish the course without any major disasters. But this time it was smooth as silk the whole way through. Actually, I did have ONE bobble at a ramped oxer going into a combination. Our distance was a bit long, but what was so great about it was that I absolutely recovered right away and the very next stride after the oxer was controled and we had a great distance to the next jump.

*sigh* Everything was going so perfectly last week... But I shall ride again on Friday!!

Broken Hand

2008-10-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

This past week was a very exciting week filled with all sorts of good rides, light bulb moments, and great achievements.

Then Grady broke my hand. He broke it yesterday. I was riding and he decided to pull one of his typical stunts. He reared just a little, but snapped his head back. My hand was right where his neck was going and he crunched into it. My hand was in a fist and his neck hit my knuckles dead on. This shattered the bones in my hand that go to my pinky and forth finger. I knew it was broken right away, I heard a *pop, pop* and felt a sharp pain. I pass out easily, so I imediately just layed down on Grady's neck so I could breath and clear my head of the fuzz and ringing. THEN I decided that I didn't want Grady getting away with being naughty, so I rode with a perfectly broken hand for another 40 minutes. Remarkably, my breaks are very clean and the bones are lined up to heal well. I am getting a cast on Thursday, and the doctor said that I could probably ride after I get my cast. I'll just have to hold the reins between my first and second finger! Rocky and Lindsay will be riding Grady this week, and I *might* ride Isis since she doesn't pull dangerous and unpredictable stunts.

GOING TO WORK FOR BECKY HOLDER

2008-10-22T15:07:00.001-07:00

YES!!! I haven't said anything on here incase it didn't happen, but I applied to work for Becky Holder down in NC this winter. And I got in!!! I'm sure it didn't hurt that there are personal connections with Birchbury, but hey, I'm in!! I am going the month of Feb. so that I won't take a huge chunk of time out of my job. I wish I could go for longer (actually, Becky said that in her last e mail to me too), but I simply can't because of my job. I hope that if there's a next time that I'll be able to go for the whole winter season.

Grady will be coming with and I will be riding him every day in lessons. This will be GREAT because I'll be able to ride him outside and won't be stuck in a box all winter! He'll also get some fairly intense jumping training, which will be really awesome.

I have to pay for Grady's "slot" at Birchbury even if he isn't there, so Isis is going to be taking his place and Rocky will be riding her a couple times a week to keep her going. It's perfect!! I am so excited!!

Twilight

2008-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally gotten around to reading the Twilight series. They are HUGELY popular and the whole series has been on the ten day status pretty much since they were published... Not even Harry Potter can claim that. I started the first book, Twilight, last night. And I read. And I read. And I never went to bed. The book is probably 600 pages. I finished it around 5:45 this morning and then went back and re-read some of my favorite parts. I re-re-read my favorite parts again this evening... And now I can not WAIT to read New Moon!! Thank goodness I'm going to have to wait a couple weeks for it though, or else I'd be pulling tons of all-nighters and not getting my homework done. I don't want to give away the plot to anybody who hasn't read the series yet, but take my and million's of other people's words for it - THEY'RE AWESOME!! I simply could not get enough of Edward. I had tingles running up and down my spine, and I was hyperventilating for quite a bit of it. Twilight is coming out as a movie this Nov.... And every cell in my body is planning on going to see it. As an extra plus, the actor who plays Edward (can't remember his name) is the same guy who played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies.

Got my C1

2008-10-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, this weekend was one of the most interesting and unique weekends I think I've ever had. It brought me up to the north shore and introduced me to some very interesting people. I'm at work right now and don't have time to tell the whole story, but I'll try to get to it this week. I will have pictures as well. But to make a long story short, I got my C1 and it went very well!

3 hour test...

2008-10-15T15:09:00.001-07:00

Today my Pony Club DC told me that she has no doubt that I'm going to be an Olympic rider someday... She watched me jump Grady. Grady did pretty well, and by the end of the lesson he jumped his first 2'7" oxer.

Anyways, I have a three hour test to take now. I am buried in the school library and will not be resurfacing until about 8:30. Wish me luck!!

Picture of Hokan

2008-10-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

I was unable to take pictures at the clinic because of poor lighting, but today I found a picture of Hokan riding. Hokan rode one of the horses at the clinic, and it was very fun to watch. Check out the website of the barn he works at: WARNING! The main page has a video, so don't bother if you have slow internet. If you have fast internet you can see videos of him riding!

http://www.wellington-farm.com/about_us.php

I am going to be taking my C1 Pony Club rating this sunday... It's almost 4 hours away, so I'm going to be leaving bright and early!! Wish me luck!!

Yesterday in my jumping lesson we worked on jumping single 55 gallon barrels (on their sides) to practice jumping skinnys. Since they were barrels they didn't have standards, and it was is HARD!! It was raining, so I rode in the indoor (Of course, the weather was beautiful once I got to work). At the end of the lesson I jumped a single oxer to work on height for my rating. I jumped it at 2'9" a couple times (the height required for the rating) and then Rocky moved it up to 3'1". The higher jumps are actually a bit more fun because there's more thrust and air time.

This morning I rode Isis and practiced my emergancy dismounts at the trot. This is also something required for my rating. You kick your feet out of your irons, put your hands on the horse's withers and swing off quickly. I was SUPPOSED to practice coming off at the trot, but Isis - being the wonderful, considerate mare that she is - realized that I was trying to get off, so she stopped each time I dismounted. This made dismounting considerably easier, but also defeated the purpose of the exercise. It was incredibly adorable!! I gave her big hugs and kisses for being so considerate.

Hokan Thorn Clinic

2008-10-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend I rode Grady in a clinic with Hokan Thorn. He came to Lindsay's barn... It was great!! Hokan is a Swedish rider who went through the German training system. He has ridden 12 horses to Grand Prix and 26 to Prix St. George.

Grady was well behaved, so we were able to really work. One of the main issues Hokan worked on with me was my tendency to hold my right hand too high and stiff. I learned that if I carried my hand a few inches lower and played more with my hand - always thinking of suppling - that Grady was much better and VERY steady in the contact. We also concentrated on keeping Grady's neck a bit longer. With those issues addressed and being improved on, we moved on to working on circles, straight lines, leg-yields, canter transitions, and simple changes... Basically always in shoulder-fore. Almost every movement that we did was done in shoulder-fore, which actually helped alot! I was very happy; it was nice to hear a rider so incredibly accomplished say "good! very good!" He was extremely encouraging.

Grady was TIRED by the end. He slept over at Lindsay's and he was just standing in his stall looking glassy eyed and exhausted. The next day I could tell that he was quite tired during my ride. He was a little grumpy, but over all our work was actually better. We more or less picked up right where we left off and we began working on more shoulder-fore and circles. Then we worked on more leg yields (the leg yield work was very good by the way). Hokan said that one of his favorite exercises is to turn down the center line, say on a right hand turn, and then leg yield right and vice versa. Hokan said that this establishes a steady connection on both reins. Grady was working so well that it really wasn't difficult, and we even leg yielded in shoudler-fore! Then we worked on our canter transitions and simple changes, and then we worked on half-halting in the canter to bring him back and collect him more. That was AWESOME. After a couple trys Grady would come back into a beautiful, floaty canter that sent tingles down my spine. I have never ridden that fabulous of a canter on Grady before... I'm not sure if I've ridden that kind of canter on ANY horse! Then we worked on doing shoulder-in before going across the short diagnol in lengthened trot. The shoulder-in got the inside hind leg activated so that he was ready to push when we turned off the wall to go forward. This greatly improved the quality of his lengthening. Absolutely all the trot was sitting after our warm-ups.

The other riders all had a successful clinic experience too... It was great! I would highly recomend him to anyone, both for riding with or auditing. It was so much fun to watch other riders and absolutely and visibily see changes in the quality of their work!

Flying Changes on Grady

2008-10-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Check out this web page about Lindsay...

http://www.medalequestrian.com/Lindsey%20Haugen,%20medal_equestrian_foundation.htm

I have been very busy trying to catch up with school. Last week I did the minimum amount of homework that I could get away with so that I wouldn't have to worry about it during the show... I pushed all of my 2 week projects to this week, so I've been very busy!!

On Monday I had a jumping lesson on Sackett and that went pretty well, but it was hard. We worked on jumping on angles and after sharp turns. It was pretty hectic and not that smooth, but it got more organized towards the end.

Tuesday morning it was POURING out. I decided that I wanted to ride anyways, so I rode Isis around the field. She was excellent and I had a good ride. My underwear got soaked though.

This morning I rode Isis again and she was brilliant. Positively excellent. I had been having some issues with her last week. Let me tell you, I can tell a difference in my riding when Lindsay has been coaching me alot. Last week she coached me four days in a row with the show. She made me very aware of my hand position, because I tend to let the reins go too long and hold my hands too close to my body. She has been trying to get me to shorten my reins and hold my hands out in front of me. I think I finally got the message and it has made a HUGE difference in Isis!! It puts you in just the right spot to play with the reins and get the horse to soften without pulling. Lindsay is a model of that hand position!!

Today I jumped Grady. We were in the indoor because of all the rain... Grady really doesn't like the indoor, but when he's jumping he more or less forgets about his issues. We actually worked on flying changes over ground poles and HE GOT THEM! Like, right away. Like, it wasn't even a challenge to get him to do them. We did serpentines and figure eights with flying changes and he did them clean almost every time. It was very encouraging to do something inherently difficult but have it not be difficult at all. I guess Grady just does them naturally!! Rocky eventually built the jumps up higher so that by the end they were roughly 2 feet. Rocky got on him at the end and did the exercise a couple times so that I could see his jump. He's got a SUPER jump!! I'll have to get pictures of her jumping him sometime.

Otter Creek Fall Fest

2008-10-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well, this last weekend was the Otter Creek Fall Fest. I do not have any pictures yet, but I will put them on as soon as I get them. Todd, one of Lindsay's clients, is going to school for photography and he was taking pictures of all our rides. He said he'd give me CD with all the pictures, so hopefully I'll get that later this week.

Where to begin!! I have so much to talk about. Friday morning I gave Grady a bath and put on his new sheet. I stopped at the tack store on Thurs. and got a sheet for him. The only water proof sheet they had that wasn't outragiously expensive was blue camo... Pretty wild. He looks very sexy in it, but it's a bit "out there" style wise. I'll get pictures of him in it later this week although it will probably be dirty by then. I followed Lindsay to Otter Creek and had a smooth, uneventful drive out. We made a quick stop at Fleet Farm, and I listened to the news and talk radio the whole way out. (No comment... I'm so sick of these politicians, democrats and republicans alike!!) Lindsay and I were the only ones going at that time, so when we got there we set up shop and rode horses. There were supposed to be five of us riding but two people couldn't go due to work and a death in the family, so it was just Lindsay, Taylor, and I. Lindsay was riding one of her client's horses. Grady did pretty well and Taylor came out near the end of my ride and rode Rebel for awhile. We braided and were done at the barn by 6:30. That was unbelievable and very nice.

That evening we scouted out the town for good eats. One lady recomended a place to eat, but when we got there it was a noisy, smokey bar and we left almost right away. We ended up going to a "nicer" restaurant, and the food was ok, but the service sucked. Then we went to the hotel and sat around watching the Amazing Racist videos on YouTube.

I shared a bed with Lindsay... And my gosh is she awful to sleep with! I mean, it's actually pretty funny, but I did not sleep well at all. She is the biggest snuggler I have ever encountered. She literally could not be NOT touching me. She contoured her body to mold around mine no matter what position I was in. She also pushed me to the edge of the bed. I did not sleep hardly at all that night. At one point I was laying on my back and she sat bolt upright, said "what the f*** was that?!!!" and then fell back down, elbowing my stomach as she came down. It WAS pretty funny, but I was really tired the next morning!!

It was cold the next morning, only 28 degrees. I bundled as much as I could! The show was very small, so the atmosphere was very relaxed and pleasent. We didn't feel pressured or stressed the entire time. As a group we only were doing Training and 1st Level tests, so all three of us were done by noon. I did Training 1 and got a 63.9% and Training 4. My Training 4 test had its good moments, but an old junker of a golf cart had been parked next to the arena and it was making some awful sputtering noises which discombobulated Grady quite a bit. I was actually quite happy with him, he could have been alot worse, but our canters were pretty wild. We only got 57%, which was a bummer because I feel that we could have done quite a bit better if the golf cart hadn't been there. Oh well, what can you do? I better get used to it because it wont be the last time it happens.

We had the whole afternoon to blow so we went out for lunch at the local biker bar and then Lydia decided she wanted to go to the "Fall Festival." The "Fall Festival" was supposed to be this fun occasion with hay rides, animals, craft booths, and games. Well, we got there and there were three alpacas, four rabbits, four craft booths, a tiny tractor with a tiny trailer, and a bean bag toss. The place hosting the "Fall Festival" was a place that made homemade old fashioned candy and baked goods, so I'd say that was about 75% of the "Fall Festival." They WERE giving away free samples of homemade candy though, so it wasn't a total waste.

Then we went into town to check out the movies at the theater, but there was nothing good playing so we scrapped that idea. Lindsay saw a pet store with a puppy sale so we simply HAD to stop and pet the puppies. So we did, although I spent alot more time with the birds and rodents.

Then we went back to the hotel. Lindsay napped while Taylor and I fought over the TV chanel. We were at the hotel for a couple hours and when it came time to go back to take care of the horses for the night, Lindsay was refusing to get up. We were trying to wake her up but she kept squeaking and kicking like a horse. Taylor eventually dumped water on her head, which got Lindsay up but she wasn't very happy! Taylor and I thought it was really funny.

We met Todd and Tammy in the lobby and headed back for evening chores. Afterwards we went to Pizza Hut, and Lindsay, Taylor, and I got into a squabble over what kind of pizza we wanted. We are SO mature.

I was in bed at asleep by 9:30 that night. I claimed my portion of the bed and fell asleep BEFORE Lindsay pushed me to the edge, so I slept quite a bit better. Oh, did I mention that Lindsay was sick? Well she was, so she was coughing and blowing her nose constantly. I'm sick now too.

The weather was warmer on sunday, but it was also cloudy. It started to rain mid morning, right before my tests. I didn't have much to do until my tests, so Taylor and I were eating ginger bread pop tarts (my favorite). I was standing by Grady's stall and he decided that HE wanted ginger bread pop tarts. He was reaching as faaar as he could, neck and head and lips outstretched towards my pop tart. I gave him a corner and he seemed to like it. Then he reached out and bopped my arm which caused me to drop my ginger bread pop tart. SO he got the whole thing, and he seemed quite pleased about that.

It was a pretty cold rain, so I decided to scratch my Training 2 test and just do my Training 4 test. I think it was a good idea and I'm glad I did it. Our warm up went well and the test also went well. We got 62.8%, so a qualifying score for next year's regionals. Now I just need 6 more scores over 62% to qualify for 09 regionals!

After our tests we packed up in a whirlwind and headed home. Lindsay had to head out to Temple Farms in Chicago to ride with Conrad Schumacher as soon as she got home, so we left ASAP. The trip home was also relatively uneventful and Grady was happy to be back at Birchbury. When I put him in the pasture the other horses were too far to see, so Grady was walking around calling. He eventually walked back over to me like, "I can't find my friends!!" Me (being the sucker that I am) put on his halter and led him out far enough so that he could see his buddies. When he saw them I took off his halter and he took off at a gallop with one fabulously big buck. He is so adorable!

Late afternoon I hung out with Isis in the barn. I didn't ride because it was still raining. She's so adorable! I pretty much fell asleep sitting on the bottom board of her paddock, and she just stood with her head hanging over mine.

This morning I had a jumping lesson on Sackett and it was really hard. We worked on angled lines and SHARP turns. I feel that I was relatively successful, but it was a very difficult lesson.

Pictures of the show as soon as I get them!!

XC Grady

2008-10-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

*phew* I'm taking a mental break from homework. I'm under quite a bit of pressure because I have a horse show this weekend and basically have to be done with homework by tomorrow. So I have three days less than I normally would to complete my homework, which is bad enough in and of itself, but my web design publishing software is glitching up on me!! I'm ready to go insane!! For the first time EVER I might have to write my teachers and ask them to extend my deadlines...

I had a jumping lesson on Grady... we did XC!!! First time for the big G. We worked on up and down banks (beginner novice & novice), logs, little roll tops, and the beginner tires! The tires are a solid 2'6", but Grady sailed right over them the very first time. Oddly enough, he had the biggest issue with the logs... He was just unsure as he was approaching them. He was having so much fun though, Rocky and I think that he really likes this jumping stuff. He was alert and interested - if not a bit exuberant - over the jumps. I think my guy is finally figuring out that the life of a ridden horse isn't as awful as he thought it was.

Below is a pic of the BN tire jump, although right now it's between two large tractor tire standards with wooden bases and plants. I would post more, but I'm not confident in the legality of putting a copy righted picture in my blog!

LOTS going on... Wow.

2008-09-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning I had to SI again (*sigh*) and it went ok. I felt better about it than I usually do; I got a VERY firm grip on comma splices. It's hard because I'm trying to learn the material fast enough so that I can turn around and teach it five minutes later. I am definitely going to say NO to SI-ing next semester. I actually said no this semester too, but I got scheduled for it anyways.

I spent all Thurs. afternoon doing homework and then went out to the barn late afternoon. I took Grady out the XC course (he walks out quite nicely now, or atleast he has been lately) and rode him in one of the big open fields. He is SO much happier out there, he just went right to work. He's very forward, very solid, very responsive, and actually quite eager to work. We worked on transitions and simple changes for a bit, and then I let him gallop a few laps around the field. After the gallop I brought him back to trot and worked on stretchy chewy circles. The concept has finally seemed to *click* with him, and I was very pleased.

When I got back Jill and Tess had just gotten there. Jill wanted me to come riding with them so she asked Patty (barn owner) if I could ride one of her horses. So I got to ride Walter, a 7 year old prelim event horse that is the EASIEST horse I think I've ever ridden. It was very disorienting to get on a horse and have him autimatically go on the bit without even having to ask him. It was actually quite bizarre, but he was very fun to ride. We went out and went for a nice gallop.

Yesterday I rode Isis early and she was pretty good. Then I had a XC lesson on Sackett and it was AWESOME!!! We are starting to jump higher jumps and harder questions, and it's actually going really well. I pretty much did all Novice fences and a few of the easier Training fences. Rocky had me jump the hardest Novice jump Birchbury has. It's on an incline going into the woods, it's a skinny with a tree on both sides, and it's a very intimidating looking jump. Or I guess it's supposed to be, but I didn't think it looked very scary. Anyways, I jumped it perfectly the first time! I find that the hardest XC jumps for me are "square" roll tops where the top is flat. It's really hard to find the distances to those... But Rocky said that that's normal and that it's hard for most people.

Then I brought Grady over to Lindsay's and had an excellent lesson on him. We worked on getting a firmer connection to the left and smoother transitions. Our work was actually really nice. I discovered that my connection is much steadier going to the left if I lower my right hand. Isn't it weird how dumb little things like that can make SO much of a difference??!! Lindsay was also very impressed with his sudden improvement in stretchy chewy circles... She said that all the ones we did were worthy of atleast a score of 8!

THEN I rode Julia and had a great ride. First we worked on lengthening the trot, but the word extending is probably more accurate. We were doing WAY more than a lengthen. Then we worked on cantering and keeping her body straight. She has a tendency to push her haunches to the inside (something typical of more advanced dressage horses) so I had to really work on getting her straight. I was having a heck of a time until I started just *thinking* about riding a half-pass. Not actually DOING a half pass, but thinking about it. Suddenly she got straight! At the end we worked on leg yields and they were the most beautiful and excellent feeling leg yields I have ever ridden. Yay!! Lindsay was also very pleased with them.

Bad boy!!

2008-09-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

It rained all day tuesday. Not just rain, but thunder and lightning and wind. I got up at 6 to ride Isis (I was planning on being at the barn by 7), but it started to storm shortly after, so I didn't ride her. SO I cleaned my riding boots and Isis' bridle - And watched Dinosaur. Yep, I did. I like Disney movies, always have, always will.

I rode Grady that evening. He was AWFUL. Just awful. I had to ride in the indoor. Birchbury's indoor is very large, open, and bright, but it's just not the same as riding outside. He pulled his typical stunt of picking a corner to be "scared of." I do a pretty good job of curbing that behavior now, so when he figured out that he wasn't winning he decided to buck, rear, and run sideways instead. This sort of behavior is pretty typical if he doesn't want to go somewhere. It's the same behavior he pulls going out to the XC sometimes. But this was BAD. We battled for probably a good half hour. Eventually he came around and went forward without balking at the corner, but over all it was just not a good ride. But I'm glad that I "won."

I rode Isis yesterday morning and she was ok, but the footing was pretty bad after the rain. It was either too deep or too slippery, so the quality of our work wasn't as good as I would have liked it to be.

I had a jumping lesson on Grady and that went pretty well. It was in the indoor since the footing was so bad outside, and we did the dreaded "circle exercise." Grady was quite confused by it and was NOT very smooth, but he was pretty well behaved the whole time. The exercise is where you have four ground poles and/or jumps equally spaced on a circle. Sound easy? IT'S NOT!! It's hard enough on Sackett because I have to think so hard to get the striding equal and the distances correct. On Grady it was next to impossible. Thankfully, Rocky didn't even have me worry about striding; it was just my job to ride a circle and let Grady figure it out. We had jumps where he took off WAY too long, jumps that he came in so tight he had to take launching bunny hops, and several jumps where he simply crashed through them. He was completely bamboozled by the exercise, and he was having a very hard time both mentally and physically... And that's good! It's VERY tiring (for both of us) and by the end of the lesson I could tell that he was really struggling. It's so hard because you're constantly turning at the same time you're trying to jump. It's great for him!

I've been doing LOTS of homework. I'm swamped... SO I'm off to do more!

Web Design!

2008-09-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

I'm getting more and more excited about web design. I think it's the perfect supplement and back up to my riding career. I have tons of fun doing it and my creative juices can run - no drawing needed! (I suck at drawing) I'm looking into more advanced online web design degrees that I could possibly persue while I persue my dressage career. So exciting!

I didn't have a jumping lesson this morning, but I still rode Sackett. I went out to the XC course and worked on dressage. When I jump him I don't care about having a dressage head set, and I have a feeling that nobody else who rides him does either... So when I asked for it it was a bit of a struggle to start. But he came around fairly quickly and we had some really nice, steady, consistent, on-the-bit work. He has a really fun canter, it's very floaty.

No Title

2008-09-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

I am very tired. Just worn out... Just from being so busy. On Thurs. I had a lesson on Julia and it went really well, I had some brilliant medium trots. Then I rode Grady out on the XC course. I was so proud of him, he marched right out there without misbehaving at all! The ride went VERY well too, he was very forward and responsive. I rode Isis early yesterday and she was pretty good. I had an AWESOME XC jumping lesson on Sackett. Rocky said that my jumping on Sackett has improved alot since I've started jumping Grady. She thinks that's because I have to be extremely tight and secure (so I wont die) on Grady, so my leg and seat have to be extremely solid and I have to be very motivated to get over the jump. That solidness has translated over to Sackett, and my jumping has improved by quite a bit. I even jumped a few Training level fences, all with great success. Then I had a lesson with Lindsay on Grady. He wasn't naughty persay, but to quote Lindsay, "Our dressage sucked." It was just not good. He wasn't forward and he was constantly trying to bow out his right shoulder. I was supposed to ride Julia again, but Lindsay said to ride Grady AGAIN instead. So I did... And I'm very glad I did. I got on his case right away about being forward, and the quality of his work was much better and his body was much straighter. We even had an "ah ha!" moment! I was having trouble getting him to smoothly transition from the canter to trot in the left lead, so Lindsay had me go into a "leg yield along the wall" position while I asked for the downward transition. This got his right shoulder underneath him and made the transition very smooth. I can't wait to work on it again!

Odd...

2008-09-17T14:41:00.001-07:00

The slideshow does not appear to be working. *rips out hair* I am so sick of this!!!

Slide Show

2008-09-17T14:27:00.001-07:00

Agh! No Photoshop!

2008-09-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

I came up to the computer lab all geared to work on my banner strip for this blog and *gasp* no Photoshop!! How can the computer lab not have Photoshop?? The computers in the Academic Support Center do, but funnily enough (I know funnily isn't a word) you can't use it unless you're doing homework. So the one place I CAN goof around is the one place that DOESN'T have Photoshop. I also made a slide show on Photobucket, but I am having a heck of a time figuring out how to get the slide show onto this blog as a feature. I figured out how to SHARE the slide show and put it into a post (I just posted it today), but I can't figure out how to put it in that slideshow thing in the Layout tab. If anyone has any brilliant suggestions I'd love to hear them!

I am LOVING my web design class. Once I have my current web design project published I'll put the link up here so you guys can see my work. Have I mentioned that I am going to be making Pferde Farm a website as my "big" web design project? I am so excited!! I've already been brain storming like wild.

My jumping lesson on Grady was AWESOME today!! Grady is finally starting to get over it and just JUMP. Before he would jump nicely, then when Rocky would switch up the program (like adding a new jump) he would put up a fight. We'd fight through it once, then he'd be cool. Then it would happen again the NEXT time we switched it up. But today he was really quite good the entire time. There were a few jumps where you could tell he was questioning or hesitant, but he never once refused. At the end we jumped a nice little course and I was praising him like he'd just jumped a clear round at the Rolex!

Breast Cancer Benefit Show

2008-09-15T15:52:00.001-07:00

This weekend I went to a breast cancer benefit schooling show. The proceeds went to Laurie Nelson, a local dressage trainer with breast cancer and no insurance. Jo, Kaitlyn and I rode while Lindsay coached. It was an exhausting weekend! I worked all day saturday and then went straight from the library to Birchbury. I had Grady loaded and ready to go a bit after 6:30 at made the long journey to the barn the show was being held at. It was about an hour and 45 minutes and it was basically dark when I got there. I brought Grady into the barn and started searching for my stall when all ofasudden I heard galloping hooves and the barn was flooded with horses. Evidently that barn lets all the horses in at once and they find their stalls. Grady and I were caught in the middle of it and I am SO lucky that Grady didn't freak out and that none of the horses attacked us! When an employee came in we were still surrounded by stampeding horses and I just started yelling "help!!!" It's always nice to have something get your adrenaline pumping.

The others had gotten there only a bit earlier and were just finishing up riding in the show ring to get the feel for it. (Side note: On Saturday Lindsay brought her filly to an Oldenburg inspection. Her filly got premium and was the highest scoring horse at the inspection!) I took Grady out and walked him around the arena a bit, but I didn't want to ride since it was pitch black and getting pretty late. I live close enough to the facility that I spent the night at home. On my drive I stopped to get gas and as I was filling up an all out brawl started by the gas station. Cars honking and screeching, girls and guys screaming, swearing, punching, drinking, kicking, slamming... I put in fourth of a tank and got out of there!!

The show went (I think) very well. Grady was 100% well behaved the whole time. He never once spooked or pulled any sort of tricks. Thanks again Lindsay!!! I didn't get any pictures because no one was taking any and I didn't have any parents there to take them for me. But anyhoo, Grady's first test was *ok*. It was actually fairly smooth, but there were certainly things that I could pin point that we needed to improve. It was doing this awful cold drizzle the entire day and the warm up arena was very slick. Grady kept slipping so my warm up for my first test wasn't very comprehensive (although Grady was well behaved!) and my warm up for my second test basically didn't happen. I got on him while the rider before me was doing her test and went in cold turkey - he did well though.

The judge was scoring VERY low. There were only a few people that got above 60%. I got a 59% on my Training 2 test and third place. I got a 57% on my T4 class and WON!!! I think that's very sad that I won with 57%, and there were 8 people in the class. Lindsay saw both my tests and said that if I had had a test like that at a rated show that I would have scored much higher! Both of my tests were fairly good and I was pretty happy with them. There are three things that I need to work on: Keeping a more consistent contact (Grady has gone from pulling on the reins to be a little too soft! Now he has to PUSH to the bit), snappier upward and downward canter transitions (these are generally pretty good at home, but they weren't as sharp in a strange place with no warm up), and not screwing up my halts!! I totally messed up on my last halt and it was so utterly embaressing. He halted very evenly but I thought he was crooked so I bumped him a bit to try and even out his legs and of course he took a huge step. I've decided that when we halt at shows I am not going to worry about straightness after we've gotten the halt!! The halt we get is the halt we'll have - That way I don't risk messing up a perfectly good halt with my stupidity.

The day was a BLAST though. Both Jo and Kaitlyn did very well, and it was very fun to see them ride at the show. Jo is the barn manager at Pferde and Kaitlyn is her daughter. They are both pretty new to dressage so I think they did VERY well. They got some 2nds and 3rds and were scored just as horribly as I was.

During the middle of the day we had a fairly long break between classes so since we were freezing our buns off we decided to sit in the office. I told Lindsay about my chinchilla Jupiter and how he does is girlfriend pink fuzzy slippers... She found this to be quite hilarious and wants videos, so you might be seeing some X rated pink fuzzy slipper videos soon! Lindsay is the queen of burping so she was trying to teach me how to birp, something I've never been able to do very well at all. I downed Dr. Pepper and only had a few small, inaudible birps. No window rattling ones like Lindsay can do. *sigh*

We also watched some equ classes and Lindsay and I chatted about training with Conrad Schumacher. She hopes to go to Chicago for a few days in Oct. to train with him and asked if I would like to come with. I wouldn't be able to ride with him (you have to be invited to), but if I go I would get a chance to have Lindsay introduce me and recomend me for lessons so it would be worth the trip. I'd love to go, I just have to get my work covered!! He's going to be back in Nov. so maybe I could ride then? We'll see. Update you more on this later.

Busy Again!!

2008-09-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

My brain has been on over drive this past week. I have been going none stop all day, every day from about 6 in the morning till midnight. I'm tired and when I get this way I think my brain starts to malfunction. I can't remember simple things.

Yesterday was quite a busy day. I rode Sackett first in a jumping lesson and that went pretty well. I still get a little thrown by larger courses of jumps, I need to get a better feel for taking each jump at a time without getting psyched about the next one. A course will start out very organized and then it will get sloppier and sloppier as we go! Rocky seemed to be happy with our work for the day, but I felt like I could have done better.

Then I rode Grady over at Lindsay's. I love it over there, it is so much fun. I tried Bev's Albion saddle on Grady and it seemed to fit him pretty well. I've had a heck of a time finding a decent fitting saddle for Grady. If I decide to buy this one it will be my 4th saddle for him, but I think it's the best fitting one I've tried so far. I am going to ride in it today and tomorrow and see if he seems to like it with a few days of use. The lesson went pretty good... He tried to pull a few fast ones but we worked through them. I am so thankful I have someone who is helping me with his issues!

I rode Julia next... She is tons of fun to ride. It's so nice to be on a big, flashy, well trained,horse - and she actually behaves!! Maybe someday Grady will get there, but he's not there yet. I think Lindsay was impressed with how well we do together because Julia is NOT an easy horse to ride. She's well trained and knows enough that your cues have to be dead on to get the correct results... Plus she's just a, well, a b****y mare!! I am so happy I get to (finally) ride an upper level horse that I really click with.

I rode Isis in the late afternoon. She was very good and we worked on more transitions. I upped the difficulty a few notches and I was very pleased with how she responded.

Videos of Isis and I

2008-09-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got my act together and got some videos of Isis for you guys. Actually, I had my dad video tape me because I wanted to see how Isis's lengthenings/ leg yields/ and medium trot were coming along. As you'll see in the videos, her gaits aren't that great - particularly her canter. I love her to death, but she just doesn't have any brilliance in that canter!! her leg yields are functionally correct, but also not brilliant. When I watch Grady leg yield in the mirrors in the indoor his inside leg literally crosses a good two feet over his outside, but isis just kind of steps across. *shrug* Anyways, enjoy! Please ignore how utterly retarded I sound. Infact, turn your sound off!!!

I had another jumping lesson on Grady today. Lynn joined us with her baby horse Natalie, an awesome Oldenburg. We started with a grid (eventually built up to two feet) and then added additional fences on. Grady was a bit thrown off by the "turn/jump/turn/jump" thing because so far he's just had to work through a grid... There was one jump with white (OMG!!!!) poles that he found scary every time. I rode him hard towards that fence and he'd be fighting the whole way over!! Rocky said that I have to be like cement to get him over those fences. Lynn was laughing at me because of how "cementy" I was!! She was like "there was ALOT of 'grrrr!!' in that ride!!"

You'll see two simple changes, a canter lengthening, and a trot lengthening in this video.

You'll see two leg yields to the right

You will see some medium trots across the diagnol and then a leg yield to the left (my tricky one)

Another leg yield to the left

Transitions!

2008-09-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

Oooh man, today was brutal. Last night I was up super late working on my archaeology homework. Then I got up at 5 this morning... And it was only 35 degrees out!! I'm sorry, but that's just too dang cold for early September. I rode Isis this morning at about 7:30. She's been such a trooper lately and we've been working so hard on 2nd Level stuff... So today I decided to go back and work on something that any good dressage trainer would say you should do often, on any horse, at any level: Transitions!! It was a great tune up session.

Then I had to tutor for the first time. It went pretty well over all. Fortunatly I'm with a group of other tutors that I really enjoy. I worked with a girl on her english paper for about a half hour and then I worked on the computer with another lady. She was taking an online class about computer concepts... Well, the problem was was that she really wasn't even sure how to get into her online class. So she hadn't done any of the homework for the first two weeks. I worked with her for about three hours. She was super nice and I was tutoring the subject I enjoy, so it was a good experience, but it was exhausting... I literally had to teach her everything from opening a file to how to do her homework. But that's ok, that's what I'm there for. And she'll get it - it'll just take time. At the end she gave me a big hug and thanked me about six trillion times, so that was really nice. It was also in front of my boss and that can't hurt anything!

I worked at the library through the afternoon. I was close to brain dead by the end. Typically on tuesdays I go to Birchbury after the library, but there's a show this weekend, so I figured I'd better try to get my homework done before the weekend since I wont be able to work on it then. I'm also getting other things like paper work, answering emails, and other stuff like that done too. *sigh* I hate having to choose homework over my horses. My only consolation is that my classes this semester are the classes I need to get my career going, so it's really just a short amount of time before horses can be the focus. Stay strong Kristie!!!

Yesterday Lydia and Taylor dropped in at the library and gave me some prints of pictures from Otter Creek. Two of them were of the downhill portion of the canter stride, so neither where that great, but I scanned the other two which are both ok.

CONGRADULATIONS LINDSAY!!!!

2008-09-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Lindsay is the USDF Region 4 Grand Prix Open champion. Yaaaaaaaaaay!!!! Congrats to Lindsay!! Everyone else from Pferde Farm did very well. There are no other championship titles, but everyone placed and scored well. So congrats to everyone, I can't wait to join you next year!!

My jumping lesson went really well today. We worked on a grid with bounces and then added that grid into a larger course. My sharp turns after fences are greatly improving (Rocky continually told me not to run through the arena fence), and ever since that fence snafoo at the show, Rocky has been having me practice alot of sharp turns. (The turn wasn't the problem though - it was my memory!!) I over jumped the first bounce we did and Sackett tried to jump two jumps at once... But after that our bounces were quite smooth.

And guess what, somebody GAVE Rocky a 3rd Level dressage horse and his $5000 custom made saddle. Yes, GAVE!! Lucky!! Yes, I am extremely happy for her... I just can't wait for the day when someone will be giving ME free 3rd Level horses! The horse's name is Arthur and he has been consistently scoring in the mid 70s at 3rd Level. *sigh* Some people have all the luck. Of course, she is a trainer with a great reputation and lots of experience... So I guess I just have to wait my turn!

INTJ

2008-09-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

As part of my on going tutor training I had to take a personality test... It was a very interesting test and I am supposedly an "INTJ." I saved the results page on my favorites, but it will not display my results any more... So I can't give any exact quotes on what exactly an INTJ is, but it was pretty interesting and amazingly accurate. Basically it said that an INTJ is extremely unusual and only about 1% of the people who have taken the test are INTJs. But it described me almost exactly: I like to make plans, I feel uncomfortable when I don't have a plan, I can make quick decisions, I don't waste my time doing anything I don't need to do, I get everything that I do need to do done on a timely manner, I enjoy socializing but would rather not be overly social, I'd rather not lead but I can if I have to... I'm not particularly compassionate and I'm all about gettin' er' done. The test actually said that INTJs are unconventional geniuses. Of course, a survey quiz is never a 100% garuntee, but I was surprised by the accuracy of this test. I guess I always thought I was different in the exact ways INTJs are supposed to be.... And that's also probably why I'm so abnormally and maniacally driven.

If you're interested in taking the test here's the link:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

In other news, I rode Grady earlier today and he was pretty good. I rode him out in the jumper ring and he hasn't been out there for a couple weeks. The jumper ring is a complete hazard zone of jumps and jump parts laying in and around, so it's a great place for Grady to get his spook on. He actually did try a couple times, but I've gotten pretty good at preventing and correcting him when he's naughty. (Thank you Lindsay!!) He was "on edge" the entire ride, but he was absolutely obedient and was actually quite brilliant. He even walked over a liverpool several times without (hardly) any hesitation.

It's such a beautiful day today, I'm going to go out and take Isis for a trail ride soon...

Some Pretty Faces

2008-09-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Over the next couple weeks I am going to put up pictures from the "other parts" of my life that have nothing to do with horses. That way you can see that there ARE other parts, even if they aren't very big parts! I have two very precious cocketiels named Pete and Polly (Extremely original, I know). I have had them for 11 years... And they still hang out with me pretty much every day. They like to help me eat my food and sit on my head and shoulders. Pete is quite sociable and is pretty much a dork. He maintains a running commentary almost constantly and can whistle a very vague version of the Andy Griffith theme song. On the other hand, Polly is very serious and gets extremely annoyed at Pete's antics. BUT she is far more tactile and loves to have the feathers on her neck ruffled. She asks you to do this by butting her head up against your hand. While you ruffle her feathers she closes her eyes and rotates her head from side to side... But then you do something wrong and she bites your hand. These pictures demonstrate their personality's perfectly.

Polly

Pete

In other news, yesterday I rode Grady out on the XC course. The weather was cold and windy and I wasn't sure how well he was going to behave... But he was a super star!! I only rode him for 20 minutes because there was absolutely nothing more I could have asked of him. I also rode Isis and Sackett and they were both very good. My jumping lesson schedule has been a little hairy this week because of Labor day and Rocky's daughter's first day of kindergarten... But next week it will get back to normal.

I had to work all day at the library today and that was fine. Then this evening I rode Isis and dad filmed my ride. I wanted to see her lengthenings, medium gaits, and leg yields. I was really pleased with what I saw when I watched the video. I hope to post some clips on here later this week... So stay tuned!!

Agh! No picture!

2008-09-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

That blog thing on 07 didn't put the picture in... So here it is.

Word 07 Experiment

2008-09-05T13:08:00.001-07:00

Well, so in my adventures of taking computer classes I ran across a feature of Word 2007 that I didn't know it had… The ability to make blog posts. So I'm giving it a try. Hopefully this will work; I've never done it before so this is more or less an experiment. It's kind of odd though and the blog post document is behaving in ways that normal word documents don't. I was hoping I could add borders and all that, but it doesn't seem to have that capability.

Anyways, have I mentioned that my sister graduated from basic last week? Here's a picture of her and my dad looking rather serious. My parents went down to her graduation, but I didn't since I have school, work, and (of course) my poniez. Did you know that dressage riders that are in the army can compete in their dress uniforms? I keep telling my sister that she needs to start doing dressage so she can ride in that sweet coat she's wearing.

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I'm liking this blog thing… Oh well, I'll try it this one time and if I don't like it I won't use it again. It's also annoying because it's catching all my grammar errors. Well, DUH, of course I'll have grammar errors when I'm writing casually.

Oh, and by the way, Lindsay and the rest of the competitors from Pferde Farm or down in Mason City, Iowa for regional championships right now. Good luck to them!! I wish I could have gone, but I didn't make it to enough shows to earn enough qualifying scores. Oh well, there's always next year! And if Grady continues in the way he's going now, he'll be absolutely FABulous by then! There is actually one show for qualifying for next year that is on the first weekend of October, so I'm very excited about that. And it's at Otter Creek… Grady seemed to be quite comfortable there. It is SO nice to be with a competitive barn. I'm going to go to practically all the shows next season!

Yesterday I was extremely tired and didn't feel very well. I was a little sick to my stomach and had a head ache. I know that on days like that it's better if I don't ride Grady. I just don't have the energy to ride as hard and discipline the way I need to. So I didn't ride him, I just brought him in and groomed him for 45 minutes. The one thing I definitely DON'T normally like to do is groom. My grooming is typically about 5 minutes max if I'm going to ride - just getting the dirt off before I put the saddle on. So Grady thought it was weird that I was just sitting there and brushing and fussing. I feel really bad though because I picked his feet and left a bunch of dirt on the floor and forgot to sweep it up. I had every intention to, but I was putting his stuff away and thinking about how nice it would be to just be at home and lay on the couch. So I forgot. So I feel terrible about it.

I rested for awhile and rode Isis in the evening. I went the "Anky van Grunsven" route last night and rode her for about an hour and a half. You know, a lot of people don't like Anky but I think she's great. We worked on pretty much everything: medium gaits, simple changes, walk/canter and canter/walk, haunches in, shoulder in, leg yield etc. Isis did very well. I think one of the most valuable and helpful things Lindsay has taught me so far about leg yields is that you DON'T look in the direction that you're going. My old trainer always told me that I should and it always felt extremely awkward. The other day in a lesson Lindsay was like "are you looking at the wall? Don't! Look straight ahead!" And it made a WORLD of difference. My leg yields on Isis are also far easier if I ride with my head straight forward. Whatta ya know.

Well, it's off to the barn. He he, I have ALL my homework done for the week. Absolutely everything is completed and turned in. Quizzes are taken. Yesssss. And I have an A in all my classes so far. So I'm going to start working on next week's homework tonight so I can get ahead!! Incase you haven't noticed, I'm no procrastinator.

English SI

2008-09-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

So you know that I really didn't want to SI. I don't remember if I've mentioned that before. SI is Supplemental Instruction. And it's for english. The whole "sentence structure" thing just isn't for me. Thank goodness we wont be spending much time on this. I can write and, believe me, when I'm writing for a college paper my writing is GOOD. Much better than on this blog. But I more or less write with feel, not mechanical knowledge... I can write a good sentence but not know what each part of the sentence is. That is why I didn't WANT to SI for english. *grumble*

JUMPED GRADY

2008-09-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back in business. Sorry about my lack of posting, but my internet service was on the fritz for the last week and a half. It was extremely annoying, particularly since all my classes are online!! I'd get online then get booted off in about ten seconds. Over and over. It sucked.

Anyways, life has been super exciting though!! School is (so far) going pretty well. I like the classes that I'm taking. I've decided that I don't want to go the college route right now (rather get a working student job at a barn or something like that), so since my parents want me to go this year I'm just taking classes that I want to take. So I'm taking Intro to Archaeology, Microcomputer Word Processing, and Web Design 1. I do like computer stuff!!

My riding has been going really well. My lessons with Lindsay have really improved Isis's work at home. She is solidly working at 2nd Level, really getting it together. Very exciting!! Even leg yields are going really well. Grady has been doing really, really well too. He's actually developing quite a work ethic. Lindsay is amazing!! And guess what?? I took a lesson with Rocky on Grady today. WE JUMPED!! Not kidding. We started over ground rails and then built up to cavaletti. Grady was being so good that Rocky just kept making them higher. By the end of the lesson Grady was going through a gymnastic that started out with an 18 inch cavaletto, than two ground poles, than a 2' one stride combination!! I could not believe it. And he was absolutely trucking his way through, he never once said no... It was very exciting. I'm going to keep up with the jumping on him, I think it's great for his brain.

Speaking of jumping, here are some links to some recent jumping events. The first link is of the jumping schooling show I did a couple weekends ago (yes, when I crashed through the fence - sorry, no pictures of that). I am on Page 6 and I'm the rider in the brown shirt. I like the look of the first picture but I look utterly demented. In the second picture I really like how Sackett looks but my left leg swung back. This is becoming less and less of a problem thankfully. My right leg is as solid as it can be, but my left leg sometimes swings back if I'm not thinking about it.

http://blazinglaurels.smugmug.com/gallery/5794129_KjBrz#358836272_qTieC

In addition, Trottbrook Horse Trials, Minnesota's only recognized event was Labor Day weekend. It's very exciting to watch and I hope to do it next year. We had about 8 people from Birchbury compete this year. Lindsay's student Jen was also there, and Lindsay coached her for her dressage. It was very fun and what makes it even more fun is that now I know TONS of people there. Jill did her first prelim event ever and she made it through with a 7th place finish. Lynn won her Training level division which was SUPER exciting. All the Trottbrook pictures are at the link below. Jill's pictures start on Page 27 of the Prelim pictures. I did Einstein's braids!! Jill's dressage test didn't go as well as I've seen her do... I think her brain was perhaps getting in the way a wee bit!! *smile* Her XC went pretty well, she had two refusals. The first was at a very difficult corner jump with a very hairy approach. As you can see, when she got over it the second time she broke the flag!! She also had a refusal in the middle of the bounce because she didn't have enough gas coming in. It was funny because while we were watching Rocky said "c'mon Jill, he needs more gas or he'll never make that bounce..." And then afterwards Jill said "We needed more gas to make that bounce!!" It was pretty funny. Lynn's pictures start on page 16 of the Training Level picture group. Her dressage test actually went quite well and she got a 35. Her horse is Good Bye Ruby Tuesday and she is so pretty!! Her stadium was flawless and her XC pretty much was too. Jen's pictures start on page 27 of the Training group (she got a 33 in dressage, but unfortunatly her horse, Loose Cannon, was so tired for XC that he almost didn't make it through and actually stopped a few times) and Avery and So Far So Good's pics start on page 44. Avery placed 7th and did FAR better in her dressage than she thought she would!

http://blazinglaurels.smugmug.com/Sports

In other news, I rode one of Lindsay's upper level horses for the first time last week. That was incredibly awesome and it was SO much fun to ride a horse that is so well trained. My riding had to be ten times more precise than what I'm used to. Evidently that horse, a Hanoverian mare named Julia (but pronounced Hoolia), is kind of a testy sort so Lindsay was very impressed that we seemed to get along so well. I'm hoping that if I can ride her through the winter I can perhaps show her next year at 2nd Level. She is not only a very well trained horse, but she is very stunning too so I am very excited!!

1st Day of School

2008-08-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Bleeeeech. I'm back on campus, sitting in the library, just about to log into my college account. I do well at school, don't get me wrong it's just - It's so time consuming and I really don't have any plans to get a degree at this point so it's sort of pointless. My parents want me to take some classes. Just think of all the precious riding time I'll be missing because of school!! Actually, it's not so bad because - like I said before - my schedule allows for 5 rides each per week for my own horses and a couple rides per week on Sackett and Lindsay's horses. But still... yuck!! *Gearing up to log in* Here goes......

Jumper Infamy

2008-08-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, do I have the stories to tell... And unfortunatly no pictures to go with.

Yesterday was a LONG day. We went to the Como Zoo with my 8 and 5 year old cousins. The zoo was interesting (I've been there quite a few times) and I very much love the conservatory. Charissa was quite enthralled with the Japanese Garden. THEN we went to ComoTown, a small kiddy sized amusement park. Uuuuugh... We were there for FIVE hours. And of course, KRISTIE has to go on ALL the rides, most of them spinny rides. I don't handle spinny rides too well. We did the swings, the little roller coaster, the tea cups, the pumpkins, the frog hopper, the train, this weird ride that went up and down slow while you shot water at fake fire, and OH the bumper cars. Ian, the younger of the two, is more or less a wimp and wouldn't go on many of the rides. But he would go on the bumper cars (go figure), and since he is only 5 I had to go with him as the adult. But the bumper cars are very small and I really couldn't fit that well, so every time someone bumped us my shins would smash up against the front of the car. And we went on them over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. I was motion sick, tired, and cranky by the end of the day. But I didn't let on the cranky part.

TODAY I particpated in my first jumper schooling show. Here is the tale:

To start off, I have two things to say : 1) I'm glad I have no problem laughing at myself, and 2) Sometimes Sackett is too good for his own good!! He he. Yes, so I went to my first jumper show today. Sure, it was schooling show, but you've gotta realize that I know squat about jumper shows and that it was an incredibly confusing ordeal for me. Signing up for classes was a mess because I didn't know what things like the roman numerals "I" or "IV" meant, I had no idea that some of the classes were optimum time (and never found out what that time was!), and I accidently signed up for a jump off class, which I had not wanted to do (I switched classes). Figuring out and memorizing the courses was also a bit of a hassle.

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So I entered into a 2'6" optimum time class and a 2'9" speed class (to avoid the jump off). My 2'6" class went super good and I ended up getting 4th place out of roughly 15 people. I was just tooling through it without really trying to go fast or hit the optimum time. (Because I didn't know the optimum time anyways) It was the 2'9" class that was interesting.

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It started off with a verticle, four strides to another verticle, a sharp left turn to a square oxer, then another sharp left turn to a verticle. You were then supposed to do a SUPER sharp roll back turn to the right to a skinny verticle. The verticle with the roll back turn after was set very close to the arena fence and you only had about a stride and ahalf of space to get your turn in before the arena fence. I'd say the arena fence was about 4 feet.

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So I'm going through the course, trying to get my speed on a bit. As I'm going over the verticle with the roll back I more or less "forgot my lines" and couldn't remember if I was supposed to turn left or right. I landed and Sackett went straight. During that stride I realized that I was supposed to turn right and so I began to open my right rein when I realized (oopsy) that Sackett had locked in on the arena fence!!! He was completely committed to that fence and was attempting to jump it the same time I was attempting to turn right. SO he did a stumbling leap over it, nocked it half way down, and stopped while straddling the fence. I actually didn't fall off, but I jumped off right away because I thought Sackett might freak out straddling that half demolished fence. But he didn't, he just stepped through it, pulling it down the rest of the way as he went. He wasn't in even the LEAST bit phased.

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As soon as everyone found out we were ok it was pretty much a roar of laughter. The judge let me finish the course (my turn was VERY nice the second time) and it finished out ok even though we didn't place of course. I had several people tell me afterwards how "cool" or "awesome" it was to watch! Rocky told me that when I realized he was going for it the best thing to have done would have been to just gone with him, but I obviously wasn't thinking too fast at the time. *sigh* My first show and I'm already infamous for destroying property!!!

Gulp Fall Schedule

2008-08-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Wow... I just sat down to figure out my fall schedule as close as I can for right now. I think I have it pretty much exact now and I've gotta tell ya... It's pretty crazy. I'm going to be working roughly 30 hours a week, taking a full college load, 2 jumping lessons on Sackett, I've planned out 2 lessons a week on one of Lindsay's lesson horses, and one lesson a week on Grady. (Love to take two on Grady - it would certainly be the ideal situation - but my finances are stretched as it is...) I also have my life scheduled out so that I will be riding both Grady and Isis five times a week. SO that's five rides per week on Isis, five riders per week on Grady, two rides per week on Sackett, and two rides per week on Lindsay's horse. I'll be going non-stop 24/7, but that's the way I like it. Although I'd prefer if school wasn't in the schedule! I should have my entire schedule verified and solidified by the middle of next week.

I had a lesson on Grady yesterday. It went quite well, and I was really happy because it was the first lesson with Lindsay where he's been really naughty. I know I've mentioned before that Grady will "pick a spot" to spook at and generally be difficult about. Well, yesterday he finally picked a spot. BUT the major difference was that Lindsay actually got us worked through it! It took alot of hard riding and guts... Grady was doing his leaping, plunging, bolting ****. I did lots of small spinning circles and lots of strong pushes from my seat while driving like a crazy person with my legs and whip. BUT let me tell ya, we worked him through it. By the end of the lesson Grady wasn't misbehaving anymore. He was also quite stiff and resistent. Rather than going forward in flowing happiness he was stiff and tight in his neck. Lindsay basically had me go till he gave. Basically we picked up a big canter, I held my hands wide, and I rode Grady forward, forward, FORWARD!! And he did indeed eventually give up and work correctly. So I was very happy with the lesson because Grady demonstated both of our major issues and we worked through both.

This morning I rode Grady before my jumping lesson. I took him out to the XC course and we trail rode for about 20 minutes. Then I took him out into an open area to do some work. Being out in the open like that Grady wasn't spooky, but he was doing the tense choppy gaits and stiff neck again. So I did the same thing that I did in my lesson, I rode him forward fast and hard, hands a little wide, and just kept going. It took a good 25 minutes to accomplish the job in my lesson, but today it only took about 10 minutes. The difference was amazing... We were going along, stiff and tense, and all of asudden Grady just relaxed through his neck and back and his body started to work with swing, rhythm, and relaxation. The difference in the ride was simply amazing and it was such a quick, drastic change. He literally just gave up. I cantered one large loop around the field in that nice canter before quitting.

I had my jumping lesson after, and that went really well also. We worked on jump combinations with different striding and turns. I'm getting much better at rating the speed between jumps and finding my distances. Rocky set up the jumps at 2'10" and 3 feet... And then didn't tell me until afterwards! I had no idea I was jumping 3 feet and I never really looked at the jumps and thought "that looks bigger." Rocky has been making the jumps bigger and wider so imperceptibly that I don't even notice. At the end I did a course that to me felt kind of sloppy, although not incorrect. Rocky said that it was actually really good because I had my timing right through the whole thing. She said to keep in mind that when you're doing a 12 jump course it's so fast that you don't have time to make each jump a perfect jump. She said that pretty much all stadium courses have a "messy" feel to them simply because you're moving so quick and simply can't be perfect over every fence. But she also said that even though it feels a little messy and awkard to the rider, it generally looks smooth to the audience. I'd never thought of that before, so I thought it was an interesting insight.

This afternoon I went to a tutor training session. *ahem* I was more or less told that I HAVE to pick up an extra shift as a supplemental instructor for an english class. That was the thing I definitely didn't want to do and I had to re-work my life to make it fit. I'm actually ok with it though, and I actually like my re-worked schedule better. Plus I get more hours. Anyways, so it all worked out. I also stopped and picked up a new whip at the tack store, I broke my old one yesterday while I was mounting Isis. It got caught on my shirt and snapped!!

This evening I rode Isis. It was a great ride. I've been thinking about how awesome Grady feels when he's working the way Lindsay wants him to, and I was thinking that I'd like it if Isis would feel that way. Isis and I have been at sort of a down point in our riding... It just hasn't felt that great lately. I felt like she wasn't reaching firmly to the bit and that her strides were short and lazy. For whatever reason, our dressage has just sucked lately. So I decided that I was going to duplicate Grady's feel in Isis. And boy was Isis PISSED. She had to go firmly on the bit and work alot harder than what she's had to lately. She threw her head in the air and put up a heck of a fight. I kept riding forward, driving and asking, driving and asking. Finally she gave in - and suddenly she too was solidly on the bit, very round in the back and powering forward. I most definitely had my mare back, and she was even better than ever before. Her lengthenings and medium gaits were phenominal and get this: Her first leg yield was perfect. I had been blown away by the fact that all my leg yields on Grady were great in my lesson... I had wondered what the difference was that made my infamously bad leg yield suddenly work like a charm... And I decided it must be this bigger, more forward, and more powerful horse. So whatta ya know, Isis's leg yields worked like a charm too. I can't even begin to describe how much I love Lindsay right now!!!

Dressage Fest Pt. 2

2008-08-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Aaaah, I'm still very busy. I had an awesome jumping lesson monday and did my first 2'10" course that felt smooth and well ridden all the way through. Yay! Isis also has been doing well and Grady had Monday and Tuesday off. I have been going through the training for tutoring this week. There's a manual and lots of homework, so I've kind of been doing school before school. But that's ok, I'm enjoying it and it's getting me back into the mindset. I've been going to training sessions also, which is interesting. I worked through two chapters of the manual earlier today and have my homework done for those two chapters. I'm going to work on more tomorrow after the training session. I also got some hours added, which is nice but squeezes my schedule a bit. I think it will be ok though, and I'm pretty confident that my fall schedule will work out. I hope to finalize everything later this week.

Anyways, so to summarize the rest of the show... It was a great time. We went out to eat quite a bit (way more than I would normally) and everyone is super fun to be with. Lots of laughing and joking. Lindsay is young enough that she can join in and act the part of a college age person!

Sundays classes didn't go as well for anyone. Grady was tired and grumpy by then, and although I felt the tests went alright, we were with the low scoring judge so we didn't get that great of scores. Here's what I didn't understand though: For our first circle to the right someone started their car and started to move RIGHT next to the arena. Grady caught it out of the corner of his eye, spooked, bolted, did a rearing pirouette thing, and turned to the left. So not only was our circle bad, we also went off course. But we got it together right away and I felt that everything else went very well. I was expecting a 2 on that circle and decent scores on everything else. But instead I got a 5 on it (what the heck) but I also got fives on pretty much everything else... So I'm really not sure how one justifies a 5 on a terrible, off course circle but then gives fives for everything else too. *shrug* Oh well. Even though the scoring sucked I am super, super proud of Grady and extremely happy with my new barn and trainer.

I wish I had time to go into more detail but I'm working through more tutoring homework and am hoping to also clean my boots tonight SO I think I'd better leave it at that. There are lots of fun details that I could add such as funny jokes and Wim Foekema (fricking AWESOME Grand Prix rider) trying to trip me as I'm carrying a bucket of water... Hopefully next time I'll have more time to add those sort of details.

Otter Creek Dressage Fest

2008-08-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went for my first dressage show with my **NEW** barn. It was amazing!! I had so much fun and I really love the group. We left Friday around noon. That morning I went and clipped Grady and gave him a bath. I gotta tell ya, it is NICE to have a wash rack. My old barn didn't have one so I had to give baths in the yard and that wasn't very fun. So yes, I am enjoying the wash rack alot. I trailered Grady over to Pferde Farm and helped everyone over there finish up getting ready. Then we left... The show is in Wisconsin, about two hours away. The drive ended up being closer to three because we got stuck in stop and go traffic for 16 miles. So we got there (Otter Creek has built an awesome new barn by the way) and set up shop. We had 8 horses and three tack stalls. (It's GREAT to be in a group!!) We rode our horses that evening in the show rings. We went in groups and Lindsay rode alot of horses, but she coached Taylor and I. Taylor is another girl from the barn and she always has phenominal tests. Her horse is as steady as a rock AND a pretty mover. This year she's competing in Training level but will move on to 1st Level after the regional championships this year. (Which she so qualified for, and will probably win) That's good because next year I'll be showing Grady at Training Level again so that way she wont be beating me to the blue ribbons! She's awesome though, she's actually how I found out about Lindsay.

Our ride Friday night went very well and Grady was absolutely perfect. I can not believe the progress we've made in TWO WEEKS! Two weeks! After everyone rode they hung out in the barn, but I went back out to the arenas to watch Lindsay school her Grand Prix horse Rannoch. It was very interesting (we had some private conversation about dressage training) and I also hiked the XC course a bit while we were out there. Then we dropped in at the near by biker bar for supper and then went back to the barn to braid. I braided Grady and another horse as well since I'm pretty good at braiding. We didn't get to the hotel until after midnight and we pretty much crashed. I was in a room with Lindsay, Katelin (not sure how she spells her name), and Jen. We're all still younguns so we had quite a bit of girlish chattery talk going on.

We got up at 6 and chocked down the absolutely disgusting continental breakfast. My first ride was at 8:27 so I got on at about 8. There were so many people riding from the barn that Lindsay couldn't give individual attention or make sure all of us were coached all the time, but I was cool with that. Lindsay also rode three horses herself. Our first test (Training 1) was ok and we got 60%. The score was what I figured I'd get and I was happy because Grady didn't do anything majorly stupid. The judge was sitting in a white van and Grady hates white things so we got shaky when we'd go through the C end. But I was happy with the test over all.

Our second test (T4) was at 11:57 and it was by far one of the best tests I've ridden on ANY horse, not just Grady. He was solid through the whole test. However, we had a different judge and she was scoring EVERYbody low and we only got a 62.8% on it. I was bummed about the score but took comfort in the fact that pretty much everyone was getting very low scores. There was literally waves of discussion and grumbling up and down the barn isles about the judge. Her comments were quite negative as well. No matter what the score though I was very very happy with Grady. He absolutely trooped through the day and was just great.

Well, my break is almost over and I need to get back to work, so I'll have to finish the story of the show tomorrow because there's alot more to tell. But I took some pictures of one of Lindsay's Grand Prix tests so here they are. I don't have pictures of my rides yet because Taylor's mom was taking them and hasn't gotten them to me yet. Rannoch is not Lindsay's first FEI horse, but she's the first horse Lindsay has started as a 3 year old and trained all the way to Grand Prix.

Extended Trot (Lindsay was unhappy with her extended trot)

One tempi

Piaffe

Pirouette

Passage

Dumb Blog

2008-08-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

I have lots of exciting things to talk about (lessons, shows, etc) but the blog keeps telling me it's having "internal errors" and can't upload pictures or anything. SO hopefully this blog will get published...

shakes head UNBELIEVABLE

2008-08-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

Alot of my August titles are things like "WOW" and "WOOHOO"... Well, I have good reason for it... That's how this month has been!!

I had another lesson today and it was phenominal. Grady got right down to business and wasn't naughty once. He was forward, powerful, obedient, and awesome. Lindsay is absolutely amazing...

There are two children here yelling, screaming, and wanting me to play with them. Did I mention that my 5 and 8 year old cousins are visiting? They're tons of fun, but I can't play with them ALL the time... I get exhausted.

Michael Phelps is still on a roll.... Yessssss... He is SO hot!!

Thankful

2008-08-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Wow... You know, it's really hard to describe what my life has been like for the last couple weeks. Really, really amazing. Aaargh, this is one of those times where I have all sorts of emotions, thoughts, and feelings bubbling up, but it's hard to put into words and nobody can quite understand anyways. Where to begin??

As a teenage horse person without alot of income (and with parents without alot of income!), the accomplishments I've made so far have been largely through my dedication to this "horse thing." I've already expressed my annoyance with the equestrian situation... The most successful riders are generally the ones with the most money. And as I've said before, it is and has always been my goal to break that rule and then figure out a way to help others break that rule.

I was so discouraged though... This past year I was in a really bad place, just go back to past posts to see what I mean. I didn't have any of the things I needed to succeed: a dedicated coach that actually invests in students and goes to competitions, upper level horses to learn on, connections (important!), and I wasn't getting the help I needed with Grady. I'm not a bad rider, I'm not a wimpy rider, but I just didn't know what to do with him.

This summer has been the most amazing summer though. I finally put my foot down and said "enough!" I finally decided that I was done in the current situation... I was frustrated, depressed, confused, and even a little angry.

But now... I can't even describe how wonderful this last month has been. I feel like my riding career is finally falling into place, it's finally here!!! So far Lindsay has been wonderful and in a few weeks time Grady is better than I'd hoped he'd be over several months! Not only is that exciting in itself, but I feel like I've finally got a real coach. Someone who is invested in her students, someone who competes and brings her students to shows, someone who is invested and interested in her student's progress, someone who has connections, someone who demands commitment from her students. I HAVE A REAL COACH!!! Before my first lesson she told me that if I'm going to be her student that I have to give it my all... This is it... It's what it's about. That's what I want demanded of me. That's the kind of pressure I want... It's how it should be. And she demands dedication... She wont give one lesson a week, if you're her student you have to study with her... You have to be IN dressage. It's what I've always wanted, and it's what I've finally got. Plus I will also be riding a lesson horse... I'm going to start on a horse that is schooling 3rd Level and is solidly showing 2nd. Lindsay wants me to get my solid 2nd Level back before I ride a horse that's more advanced. It's hard to describe how this feels - I am on my way!!!!!

WOW!! (Phelps)

2008-08-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

Bad news, Becky Holder's first Olympics ended with refusals on the XC course. It's too bad, but her international career is just starting. Now... Moving on to the topic of the guy I've had a celebrity crush on for about 5 years... Michael Phelps! WOW!!!!! Was that relay last night awesome or what?? I was screaming like a lunatic and it took a good ten minutes for my adrenaline to level out. Wooohoo!!!!

I took Grady for his first solo trail ride ever yesterday. He was pretty good, we had one odd moment of naughtiness where he started to do that signature spin and rear, but I pulled him around and smacked him with the whip and he got over pretty fast. (Probably remembered what happened yesterday in the lesson!!) He was also scared of a pile of old round bales, but I didn't give him much trouble about that because they did look pretty scary. I just let him go around them snorting and blowing and acting like a dink, alot of horses would.

I rode Isis last evening as well and she was PERfect. It was like the flawless ride, and we got a great off-the-right-leg-legyield on our third try, which is the quickest I've ever gotten one. The bug population is going down so I took her for a trail ride after that leg yield. It was very awesome.

Wow..... I have so much that I want to say but don't have time to say right now. I just need to express all that's going on in my life right now... It's simply amazing. Hopefully tomorrow I'll find time, it's hard because my 8 and 5 year old 2nd cousins are visiting and it's ALL about playing with Kristie when they come to visit!!

WAAAAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Weeell, I had my first lesson with Lindsay today.... It - was - AWESOME. My lesson was at 10 so I left around 8:15, driving our rig all the way to Birchbury. I kind of like driving the rig, dunno why. Anyways, so I got there about 9. It takes a solid 20 minutes to get a horse if they're near the back of the pasture (which they were), so you have to allow for that time. I groomed Grady at Birchbury and then loaded him up. He loads just wonderfully now. Basically I point him at the trailer and he walks right in.

Pferde Farm is about a half mile down and off the road Birchbury is on. I had never been there before (I forgot to go the other day to find it) and I was a little worried that I wasn't finding it. There were lots of houses and drive ways and trees... I could barley see the barn from the road, so I'm glad I found it without having to turn around. It was such a quiet residential street!! Pferde Farm is deffinetly a small barn in a small area, but very, very nice. There are lots of paddocks and the barn is absolutely beautiful. It has about 20 stalls plus a wash rack and tack room. Beautiful stalls and the walls were wood paneled. The farm doesn't have an outdoor arena (Lindsay wishes they did!) and I'm not sure where they'd put one... But the indoor is absolutely beautiful. They had both end doors open and the whole place was flooded with natural light so it kind of felt like riding in a covered outdoor.

The lesson started out with discussing Grady's behavior issues. Then she had us walk for maybe ten minutes while she observed Grady. Then we started to work... And when I say work, I mean it!! We started out trotting on a 20 meter circle and we talked about his neck and where it should be, as well as what to do when he gets distracted and looks to the outside. Grady was tense through his neck and through the lesson she had me ride him much deeper than I normally would. She said that at this point we're more concerned about his attitude than we are about absolute correctness, and that she prefers to ride naughty horses a little deeper. She also said that when he's naughty, it's my job to "cowboy through it even if you have to go ****ape on him. There's nothin' classical about it!!" She also pointed out that he's tense, backed off, and lazy - all things that I've known about, but haven't known not how to fix. His attitude makes those issues hard to fix, but he HAS those issues because of his attitude!! So we worked on getting him forward... And oh...my...gosh... did he ever get forward!! I didn't know Grady was even capable of being that big and powerful. I have never ridden Grady where he felt that amazing. We intermixed trotting and cantering the full arena, transitions on a 20 meter circle, and trotting over ground poles. The lesson was 45 minutes and I'd say we got maybe two 30 second walk breaks. Grady was absolutely drenched; he had sweat running down his legs. BUT HE HAS NEVER, EVER, EVER FELT THAT AMAZING BEFORE!!! He had one moment of naughtiness where he started to run backwards and rear up, but I did what Lindsay said and spun him into a little circle and kicked and smacked with my whip until he went forward again. He never did it again.

I am so pumped I can't even begin to describe how awesome that lesson was. For the first time it felt like Grady was WORKING and working happily. THANK YOU LINDSAY!!!!

Beijing Olympics

2008-08-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are here!! Good luck to all competitors... Especially those competing in dressage, eventing, and show jumping!! An extra wish of luck to Becky Holder and her horse Courageous Comet. Becky is a local and common face at MN events. She will be representing the United States in eventing for the first time. She's closely connected to Birchbury Farm, so it's extra exciting!!

Becky Holder & Courageous Comet

I am a HUGE Olympics bum. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Olympics, for as long as I can remember. I remember as a 2, 4, 6 year old girl sitting in front of the TV and watching the Olympics. I automatically get teary eyed whenever I hear the theme song, and I still watch as much as I can. My family has always watched as much as we could and I've always wanted to compete in the Olympics... Maybe someday!!

Miners Farm

2008-08-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well, my lesson on Grady yesterday went well. He tried his sideways spooky, leapy, reary junk several times, but we were able to work through it. Rocky put a martingale on Grady that prevented him from whipping his head down as far as he normally would and that made it more difficult for him to spin down and to the side. I've never seen a martingale like that before, it actually is meant to prevent the horse from putting his head to LOW instead of too high. We worked over ground poles, small cross rails, and a pile of ground poles that Grady thought was VERY scary. The encouraging thing though is that once he got over it once he was willing to go over it again.

Last evening I rode Isis and she was back to her old, brilliant self. Actually, the ride was pretty much flawless, although I didn't push her. I simply did walk/trot/canter, simple changes, stretchy trot etc. Nothing difficult. I'm happy that she's back on form. I rode her again this evening and she was quite good again. I pushed her harder, working on our leg yielding and over all quality. Like I've said before, Isis leg yields flawlessly off my left leg, but tends to try and pop her left shoulder out when leg yielding off the right leg. So we practiced our leg yielding and she leg yielded straight, rhythmically, and correctly off my right leg after a bit of corrective work. So I'm happy with her. Tomorrow I plan to ride her out in a grassy field. It got mown last week so it's actually rideable now.

This morning I took Sackett and went with Rocky and several other boarders to Miners Farm to school XC fences. The farm was quite extravagent, but they only have beginner novice and novice fences, which is fine since that's all I'm capable of right now anyways!! Most other people brought young horses. I was in the second group of people that rode, and I watched the first group fairly closely so I'd get a feel for the course. I also took some pictures, but I'm horrid at timing over jumps. The first group was Jill riding her 4 year old Theroughbred (4th time doing XC) and Mary riding her horse Lola. I feel terrible because I can't remember Jill's horse's name. It's something like Freya or Felda or something like that. Anyways, I also jumped the fences shown in the pictures. The schooling went pretty good. I was with Missy and Avery. I started out pretty good but was a little hairy with my distances at first. By the end of our lesson though I was really cooking. The last jumps we did were also the biggest jumps (novice), and they felt the easiest and most controled. Rocky also said they looked very nice!!

Mary and Lola over a rock wall

Mary and Lola (almost) over a coop

Jill and her young horse over a roll top

Other people rode after our group. Jill had also brought her horse Einstein to school prelim stadium. Rocky recruited several of us to work the fences and she told us where to set the poles. We were confused because the height just didn't seem right but we went with it anyways. Jill was having some mental issues with how large the jumps looked, but she was really doing well and after some successful jumping Rocky said "ok Jill, we're going to lower the jumps to prelim now. You were jumping Intermediate." It was a classic moment, all of us jump people were like "THAT'S why we thought the jumps looked high!!" Jill was just flabergasted. It was great!

After we got home I got Grady and tried my Wintec on him. My County is too small from him, which is annoying. I have my Wintec absolutely as wide as it goes and it's still a wee bit tight on him, although not as bad as the County. I've been suspecting that the County doesn't fit for several months, but my old trainer kept telling me it did. I asked Rocky to check it yesterday and it took her about 10 seconds to proclaim that it IS indeed too small. I'm thinking that I might sell my County and use that money to buy a couple more Wintec saddles. I actually really like Wintec saddles, and amazingly I like the cheapest ones best. I don't like that fake suede stuff, so I bought a Wintec 500 and I really like it. I'm going to call a friend of mine that works at an english tack store and see if they have one of those super wide Wintecs to try on Grady...

Anyways, my ride on Grady was great! I went out to the XC course with Lynn. We began by just walking around, and eventually began to trot and canter. I let Grady follow Lynn's horse Tuesday to start, and that helped him with his confidence. He loosened up and wasn't so tense. After following her for awhile I asked him to go off by himself which made him mad. We had a rather serious discussion about that (Lynn: "Wow, he can have some attitude!!") and Grady gave in. After riding him around seperate from Tuesday for a bit, we went out into a large field and galloped around the whole field both ways. It was the first time I have EVER rode Grady where I felt like he was having fun. We were seriously booking it, pretty much going as fast as Grady was willing to. He really seemed to have fun, and I bet it's the first time in his life that he's been galloped in the open. I doubt he's been galloped at all really. He loved it. Not to mention that we did our first flying change!! He picked up the right lead going left, and I was asking him to slow down to do a simple change. He didn't want to slow down and so was going into a shorter, more collected canter rather than breaking to trot. When I felt this I thought, "hmmm, this seems like the perfect canter for a flying change!" I put my leg back and BAM, he switched absolutely clean. I'm very proud of him!!!

Subway... MMMMM

2008-08-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit of blog advertising:

OK... SO I've still been really busy. I worked all day yesterday then drove straight to Birchbury to ride. The library is half way to the barn so it helps save a little gas to combine trips. Gotta tell you, those $5 footlongs at Subway are a life saver! Lunch and supper, and it's actually fairly healthy...

Grady was *ok* last night. He actually had several moments of extreme naughtiness where he was rotating crow hopping and rearing. I used some of the strategies Rocky gave me at the last lesson and was able to push him through. I asked him to walk over a (very) low cross rail and he was spinning and bolting from it. I did my best to ride him forward towards it, pushing him and not giving him any other option. Weeell, so I'm not THAT great at this whole new style of riding yet, so to start I didn't get him over it. Patty, another boarder at the barn walked her horse over the cross rail for me and Grady followed then. For the first couple cross rails he more or less launched himself over and bucked afterwards, but I didn't really care. He finally started to get over the cross rails and following the other horse was a big help. By the end he was comfortably trotting over a series of cross rails that were set up, and he was basically behaving. So we've still got a long ways to go, but there is hope!!! I have another lesson with Rocky this afternoon, so hopefully she'll have more suggestions for me.

Quick Notes: After my lesson I'm going to drive to Lindsay's barn just so I know for sure where it is. I have my first lesson with her this Saturday, yay!! Tomorrow I am going with a large group of people from Birchbury to another barn with a XC course to school and take a lesson with Rocky. (It's SO nice to have coachs that actually DO stuff with their students!) I will get pictures!! I've been enjoying having this two weeks of time between my old job and when school and my new job starts. I really like just being relaxed and taking extra time with my horses. If only all of life could be this way!!

phew Busy!

2008-08-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

I very much intended to post both Saturday and Sunday, but I ran out of time. My weekend has been very busy...

Saturday morning I went down to Birchbury to ride Grady. I met up with Missy, a girl a couple years older than me who events. (Almost everybody at the barn events... That must be why it's an eventing barn!) You can't go on the XC course to jump by yourself, so we decided that we'd go out together. She would pop over some jumps and I was just going to walk/trot/canter Grady around. He did pretty well and didn't spook at any of the jumps as we went by. I could tell that our lesson the previous day REALLY helped. I had more control over him and was able to push him past moments of potential naughtiness. I'm very proud of him.

Saturday afternoon I cleaned around the barn and deep cleaned my horse trailer. I scrubbed the walls and pulled out the mats and scrubbed the floors. I also took everything out of the tack compartment in the front and swept it out. Then I went out and did some arena maintenence with my dad.

That evening I rode Isis and something rather baffling occured. Isis, my wonder horse who automtically goes on the bit and is solidly training 2nd Level, wouldn't go on the bit. It was very, very odd. Her neck was down and her head was on the vertical, but she WOULD NOT stretch to the contact. It was a weird feeling, like the horse that I know and love just wasn't there. I rode for over an hour, just keeping my hands steady and doing lots of changes of bend, changes of direction, and transitions. She was very rushy to start, also something that is not normal. I simply kept riding with steady hands and a soft rein and just kept going until she finally came around and was working properly on the bit again. It was a weird and discouraging experience, I even cried a little bit because it kind of felt like I was riding a vacant, distant horse. Atleast she came around...

It was very rainy on Sunday. The original plan for sunday was a Pony Club meeting where we were going to watch a hunter/jumper show and discuss PC rallies. I was really looking forward to this, but with the rain it got called off. So I spent the first part of the afternoon cleaning my room. It ended up into more of a ribbon re-arranging session and nothing else really got accomplished! The plan changed into riding Isis and then going to Birchbury to ride Grady. Then Peg, a good friend of mine and client from my old barn, called me up and asked if I'd be willing to help her for a "half hour" with putting a few fence posts in. Being the nice person that I am, I agreed to help. We ended up starting off by setting up a large round pen to get the panels out of the way for where the fence posts were going to go. Then we started to dig the holes. We had a two person, gas powered auger so it really wouldn't have been a difficult or time consuming task if not for all the rocks!!! We'd go a few inches then have to stop and dig out rocks. Then another few inches then we'd stop to dig more rocks. It took FORever (a couple hours) to get 8 post holes dug. Not to mention that when I was handed the auger my arm hit the exhaust hole and it now has a two inch long burn on it. In addition to the burn, Peg was lifing a post and lost her grip on it - it fell directly on my head and I now have a painful lump. I told her that she is never living this down... I agree to come help and all she does is burn me and hit me on the head with boards.

SO I ended up riding only Isis at 7:30 in the evening. She started out weirdly vacant again, but I just did the same thing. She came around quite a bit quicker and her work was quite nice by the end. But all I was doing was basic walk/trot/canter with a few simple changes. Nothing even close to 2nd Level work, not even really 1st Level work. She WAS working VERY nicely by the end and if she STARTS that way the next ride (like she normally does) we'll be able to get back into working on more advanced stuff again. I am quite baffled on the cause of this, and I'm curious to see how she starts out the next ride. I wont be able to ride her until Wednesday because of my work schedule, but I'll let you know how it goes. As a side note, Isis has her teeth checked twice a year and her saddle was professionally fitted and still fits her quite nicely. I really don't think this is a physical issue, I think it's a training hiccup, even though I have no idea what the cause is.

This morning I had a jumping lesson on Sackett and it went quite well. We worked over low cross rails the entire time and focused on my equitation. I wasn't sitting up enough inbetween fences and I evidently have a tendency to roach my back a bit. I improved a TON in the lesson and Rocky was very pleased. Grady also got his first trim from his new farrier today. This farrier does most of the work at Birchbury and I'm impressed with his work. I also saw Lindsay this morning and gave her my fall schedule so that she could work on figuring out lessons for me. We're going to talk tomorrow morning because I'm hoping to squeeze in a lesson later this week.

In other news, I have decided to drop my Biology class and pick up an online class with equal credits. Then I'll be taking all online classes, which will greatly increase my available time for riding. I really enjoy graphic design and computer work. My first semester I took a class on Microsoft Office and did really well. I am going to be tutoring the subject this semester, so I've decided to sign up for the super advanced word processing class. I've got all the pre-requs for it and I think it will be alot of fun. A four credit class on Microsoft Word! Woohoo! My friend is taking the basic class that I'll be tutoring, so I'm going to borrow his text book for the next couple of weeks to refresh my memory on the class I'll be tutoring. I figure it will also be good to be activelly using the programs I'm going to be teaching anyways, so I'm excited about the class change. I am going to go Wednesday morning to switch classes and get my text books.

Swimming... Pics!!

2008-08-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I rode Isis and took her for a swim after. Lately I've been really pushing 2nd Level work with her. Walk/canter, canter/walk, canter/halt transitions, medium gaits, some lateral work, and just working in a generally more collected frame. However, last night I went back and we reviewed the basics, working in more of a Training level frame and doing simpler work. I find that we make the most progress when I push Isis for maybe a week or so and then spend a couple days reviewing the basics and doing simple work. Then I push her again and the quality of her work nearly always improves. Anyways, so she was hot and sweaty after our ride so I took her for a swim. It's been pretty dry this year so the pond isn't very deep. Oh well, we still had fun. Here are some pictures of our outing, but I look like a retard in them. Just ignore me! Oh, and yes I'm wearing jeans. I ride Isis in jeans alot. I also took off my boots and her bridle and put one of those halter dealios on her. I didn't really want to get any of my leather tack wet. I ride Isis in a Wintec, so I don't have to worry about the saddle!

This is pretty much the deepest spot in the pond right now.

Splashing with her left leg...

... Splashing with her right leg!

Our dog was swimming too, so Isis had to keep an eye on her.

More splashing!!

In other news, this morning I took a lesson on Grady with Rocky. It was AWESOME!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! I fell of twice, but I'm happier than I've been in a long time. The lesson started with Rocky saying "Ok, this isn't a dressage lesson or a jumping lesson. This is a lesson to teach Grady to behave." I was like "YEAH!!" First we worked on a circle and we discussed getting his attention when he acts like he's going to spook. She talked about the fact that alot of dressage riders are afraid to get on their horse's case and over bend them. She was like, "When your horse is spooking IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR HORSE IS OVER BENT!! Sometimes dressage riders are so worried about dressage that they forget to ride." So every time his ears would slam forward I would smoothly bring his head the opposite direction of the scary object so he'd have to bend his neck and pay attention to me. Then we worked him over ground poles. The first time we tried trotting he spun and dumped me. The next time Rocky had me really concentrate on sitting up and pushing with my butt, sticking my feet even a little forward. She was like, "Don't be nice to him!! He's a jerk and he needs to learn to go when you say!" So the next time, as he was getting ready to spin off, I sat down and kicked hard. He stumbled over them and then got better each time after. He did the same thing the second time he dumped me. He was just being a jerk and Rocky said that even though I can ride him a little more freely after he's done the right thing a couple times, I still can't trust him. So we worked him for longer than the original plan because of that second stunt of his, but by the end he was cruising over the poles in trot and canter and was responding well to my repremands when he started to get naughty.

It's been the first time in long long time that I truly feel like I have hope for us. Rocky told me that I'm not a wimpy or bad rider, but that I just don't know what to do with him when he's naughty. So we made HUGE strides today with me getting on his case and getting him through it. I don't mind that I fell off a couple times, it really reinforced that I can't let down my gaurd and that I have to get on his case when he's naughty. By the end he was working nicely over the back, paying attention, not spooking or acting like he might, and he smoothly trotted and cantered the ground poles. Rocky said that she has no doubt that we will be able to work through his issues and that we can get our act together. After this lesson, I don't doubt it either...

Sailing On

2008-07-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that I am a recipient of a blog award!! More info on this soon...

Well, today was my last day working at the barn. I am happy to be done and I think life will be alot less stressful now. I am kind of sad that I wont be seeing the horses over there much anymore... Being a horse person, I enjoy all the horses over there. They were certainly not the cause of any of my problems. Now we'll see what life has in store for me...

Grady was turned out in the pasture this morning. He is doing well and made instant friends with Toadspit. If you click on the blog link about XC you will see pictures of Toad. He is Tess's horse. They were standing together with their muzzles touching and getting along just fine. The horses get grain twice a day in a barn that has about 20 tie stalls. The barn is wide open and the horses can go in whenever they want. There is also a very extended roof to make a large loafing area, as well as another loafing shed a distance away. Plenty of shelter for everyone! Grady was having a hard time figuring out the grain routine this morning and was scared to walk into one of the tie stalls. I'm sure he'll figure it out in a day or two!

Sail on silver girl

Sail on by

Your time has come to shine

All your dreams are on their way

See how they shine...

Grady has Moved

2008-07-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I told my current trainer that I am switching trainers. I would love to not spare any details on the conversation, but I feel that would be inappropriate as I am not trying to embaress anyone. You probably get the idea from that comment anyways.

Moving Grady went very well this evening. He loads by himself quite nicely now, so he waltzed in and I drove off into the sunset. Well, tomorrow is actually my last day working. Anyways, he is currently in the round pen at Birchbury. I'm not sure when he will be moved into the pasture, but hopefully soon. I'm excited and nervous all at once... Wish me luck!!

Here are some pictures of Grady in the round pen. Birchbury isn't exactly a fancy barn but it's very functional and I really like it.

he he, I guess he's not feeling too stressed out!!

Quick Notes

2008-07-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

GRADY IS GOING TO BIRCHBURY TOMORROW EVENING!!! WOOO!! I've also been teaching him to self load, a handy skill that makes life alot easier. I'll take pictures of him going into the trailer all by himself tonight. We had a few frank exchanges of opinion while discussing the topic, but he's doing quite well and now smartly walks into the trailer all by himself. He can be so smart, I just wish he was easier to ride!!

I am going to tell my current trainer the news tomorrow. Wish me luck, I doubt she'll take it well.

In other news, Mike, my coworker at the library, is quitting. It was pretty unexpected. There are only three of us that work here, the branch librarian Diana, Mike, and me. It's a bummer because now Diana and I are scrambling to figure out covering hours for after Mike is gone, getting the new person trained in etc. The GOOD news is that I have been able to reajust my hours so that I get more and I get the hours that I want. So I think this will all work out nicely in the long run, although I'm sad to have Mike leave because he's tons of fun. Very cool guy. He walks/talks/dresses like a rap loving gangsta but he's really a huge softy with a love for philosophy and politics.

My Tag!

2008-07-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

1. I got tendanitis from Lion King. It was my favorite movie ever when I was little so I crawled around on my hands and feet CONSTANTLY because I was pretending to be a lion. My wrists are totally ruined now, and I have trouble writing, gripping, or doing any repetative tasks with my hands.

2. KDWB is my favorite radio station. They play the current hits.

3. I used to be allergic to dairy. I would throw up, get ear infections, and get really sick. It was a bummer because I LOVED dairy products... Yogurt, pizza, ice cream... Then around 7 I suddenly lost my allergy and I eat it like crazy now!

4. I love ancient Egypt. I've read volumes about ancient Egypt that most people would never wade through. If a job with horses doesn't work out I'll probably go into Egyptology. Thutmosis III is my favorite Pharoah!!

5. Calvin and Hobbes is my all time favorite comic strip.

6. I used to be a HUGE Star Wars freak. From like age 7 to 11ish. I read so many books that I finally got Star Warsed out.

D3 Rating

2008-07-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

I know that I was tagged but I will be giving my answers to that tomorrow. Today I want to talk about my rating!!

It went really really well. I had to demonstrate basic dressage (walk/trot/canter) and jump a 2'6" XC and Stadium course. Basically demonstrate that I can do Beginner Novice eventing. I also had to answer lots of questions on horse health/care/etc. Anyways, Sackett was a complete angel the whole time and seemed to enjoy himself. My stadium course was AWESOME. Absolutely smooth from start to finish, and the rater was like "WOW, that was flawless!!" She wrote lots of nice comments about my stadium jumping on my test sheet. XC also went really really well. Sackett LIVES for XC so he really ate up the turf. It was lots of fun!!

To say the least, I passed with flying colors. Infact, the rater said that I could probably take my C1 right now and do just fine. BUT I don't have all the book work done for it yet. I'm hoping that I might be able to take my C1 later this fall...

Discussing our dressage. I'm on the right.

2'6" oxer

Right after a coop. I jumped the small and medium, the medium is 2'6".

Fun picture!!

He's an A hole

2008-07-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

This saturday is my D3 Pony Club rating, so this morning I practiced my stable wraps and "suppling exercises" on Isis. Isis is a very nice horse to practice on because she's more than happy to stand still. It was probably the easiest training session she's ever had - All I wanted her to do was stand still for me!! She came through in spades. What a sweetie.

Then I went for my jumping lesson. We did XC. Jill, Heidi, and Patty all came out with me so we all did XC together. It's so much fun when you're in a group, it's like an encouragment party. Jill was riding her off-track Thoroughbred mare and it was only her 2nd time on the XC course. She hadn't really done any XC jumping though, and when Jill tried the roll top her horse refused probably 10 times atleast. But then suddenly she made a flying leap, leaped over it several more times, and then it was like *click*! She got it!! And suddenly Jill was jumping 2'6" and 2'9" roll tops, banks, tires, drops, logs, tables... I am so happy for her! Jill is a great rider though too. The lesson started out well for me but we had some glitches over a table. For some reason we were jumping to the right on the jumps and it was quite awful. He kept doing it so Rocky finally was like "RIDE LEFT, GET ON HIS CASE!!" So I got on his case and then we were jumping straight for the rest of the lesson. We were having so much fun together we rode for 2 hours!!

This evening I rode Grady and he was ok. Not the best he's been but certainly not the worst. No major spooks or mishaps, he actually worked quite nicely but it took some time to get him to relax at the canter. This morning while we were tacking up for our ride I was telling Patty (who is Rocky's mom by the way) about the issues I have with Grady. When I was done describing how he gets spookier the more familiar with an area he gets, Patty just simply said "he sounds like an a**hole. We had a horse here like that once, he was just a mean a**hole." She described that horse and he sounded aLOT like Grady. To be honest I've been thinking this for quite awhile now, but it was nice to hear an experienced horse woman give the same diagnosis, even if she's never met Grady before. I really think it's true... I really think Grady IS just an a**hole. So I'm looking forward to Lindsay's and Rocky's opinions on him.

SO... EX.... CITED!!!!

Show Story

2008-07-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to apologize for yesterday's post. It was inappropriate and I really shouldn't have said what I did. I meant every word of it, but I realize that it is not public blog material.

............

I really did mean everything I said though.

............

ANYWAYZ, so I promised I tell the story of the show this past weekend. It was the Midsummer Dressage show, but it sure didn't feel like midsummer. The show was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday but I only went Saturday. Going for more than one day with just my mom and dad is hard because they don't really want to go for more than one day. I feel bad dragging them to shows when there is so much other stuff they need to do. (Another reason why I'm excited to be switching to a barn that actually GOES TO SHOWS!! WOOT!!!) My ride times were late in the day, not until 4:01 and 5:03. It was kind of nice though because I didn't have to get Grady ready until that morning and I didn't get up until 7 AM, so I felt well rested and I wasn't stressed out.

My mom and I gave Grady his bath and I got him braided. We left at 11 and picked up my bestest friend Rebekah on the way. Rebekah wanted to come to one of my shows and she was very nice to have along. She doesn't have horses but she's taken lessons before and she has "horse sense", so she was a big help. We got there a little before 1, settled Grady in, checked in, watched some tests and ate lunch.

This past week I somehow threw my back out. I actually woke up Wednesday morning with the WORST kink in it. Friday night it was so bad I was laying on the floor and couldn't even get up. So what a blessing it was when we got to the show and there was a chiropractor there!! Kyla Awes, one of the regular competitors in our region is apparently also a chiropractor and she was giving ajustments. I got one and it felt SO good. My neck is still nice and loose. My back still had the kink in it but it's been getting better ever since. She said I had a couple ribs out of place and the base of my spine was rotated. My neck was also pretty messed up. My soon to be trainer Lindsay also got an ajustment. She brought three baby horses to the show; all showing at Training level in their first show seasons. It was her show to concentrate on the young ones. Oh, and you would not BELIEVE the huge rig Lindsay's got. It's like an 8 horse and it has HUGE Pferde Farm logos on the sides. Pretty sweet. I am SO excited to be part of that soon!

I got on Grady around 3:15. Friday evening I had had a lesson and we worked on the quality of his gaits. He was working very nicely by the end of the lesson and Grady picked up right where we left off. However, the weather was getting pretty iffy. The wind was blowing, the rain was falling, and the tornado sirens were going off through practically my whole warm up and test. The show announcer kept saying that the severe weather was going to miss us so the show plowed on. I was very surprised at how happily Grady worked during our warm up; the conditions were unbelievably awful.

Lindsay was warming up a nice looking chestnut mare at the same time. She is such an elegant rider and the horse was working in a perfect Training level frame. What really impressed me was that Lindsay looked elegant even when the horse decided to buck!! She did very well with all her horses that day.

The ring that we were showing in was the ring Grady had dumped and dragged me a month ago. (Yeah, remember that story?) The show was running 20 minutes early so we only warmed up for 25 minutes, but I felt that there was nothing else I could ask for in the warm up so I went in to ride my test. Well, I tried to go in. The bit checker had a white chair set up by the in gait and Grady has issues with white objects. (That's why he spooks at the letters in dressage arenas, *sigh*) I asked the bit checker if he would be willing to sit in it and once he did Grady walked past it. Grady was quite tense going around the arena and he spooked several times. We rode the test, I can say that much. I was riding with all my might, through spook and testiness. It was NOT easy riding. Grady was not happy about being in that ring and he let me know it. I hit all the transitions, did all the work, but he was so tense that the test was really just a load of junk. I was happy that I got him through it and that I was able to maintain enough control to get our transitions where they should be. That's about all I can say we accomplished.

They called the show after my test. It started to POUR. I didn't get to ride my second test and I still don't know what I got for my first one. It's supposed to be mailed out to me. Probably not a great score though.

So we hung out in the barn, waiting for the rain to stop. Rebekah and I made a dash to the office to ask about scoring. The office had a four inch puddle stretching about 10 feet around it in all directions so our shoes were quite soggy afterwards. We reverted back to our child hood and pretended that we were on a grand adventure. We lept puddles and had as good of a time as you can in a monsoon rain storm. I don't know why I didn't think to have dad take pictures of us, they would have been classic. Dang it!! I'll keep that in mind for the future. Take pictures of the "other stuff" too!!

After the rain let up we loaded the trailer and headed home. I'm happy that I atleast got Grady out and made it through another test. Thus far this year every other show has been great and every other show has been horrid, so if we follow the pattern the next show should be a huge success!! AND the next show will be with my new barn. Woohoo!!

This picture gives a good idea of what the weather was like during my test.

Grady was pretty tense

I actually like this picture, but my hair came out and I didn't know it!! How embaressing.

This picture gives you a good idea of what the test was like and how difficult it was to ride. Yuck, what an awful picture!!

A Confession

2008-07-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

One of my goals of having this blog is to be honest on my feelings no matter what they are. I realize that this can be accessed by many people, but I want this to be a genuine representation of my life. Having said this, I have something rather shocking to confess....

BWAAAA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

*giggling* I can't even describe the gitty feeling of excitment I have for next month. I am so happy to be almost out of the awful work situation I'm in, I am so happy to have my horse at a place like Birchbury, and I am SO excited to have a new coach!! Yay!!! I get excited and happy and gitty just thinking about it. I feel the way I did when I was little and it was Christmas, or my birthday, or the day before a vacation. Unbridled (no pun intended) excitement!!!

The other day my soon to be ex-coach asked me if I wanted to go to a schooling show on August 3rd. Well, I had already decided that I wasn't going to go because I will have just moved Grady to Birchbury and I don't need to have a show to think about for that same weekend. But it was the WAY she asked me. Something like this: "Are you going to the show on the 3rd or are you only going to Class A shows now?" Sarcastic emphasis on the "are you only going to Class A shows now." I assume that emphasis means that I must be a big pompous snot who thinks I'm too good for schooling shows. She doesn't know that I'm moving him to Birchbury. When I confided this information to my coach's best friend, she said "I wouldn't even tell her. Just cancel your lesson and never show up again!" (Yes, her best friend said this... We all are dealing with some issues) I don't want to do this because I love alot of people at the barn and am not interested in breaking my connection with the barn. It would be utterly unreasonable for my coach to get angry at me for switching barns, but she isn't always the most reasonable person. I figure I can take anything she throws my way, but I really have no interest in breaking bonds with the barn. Anyways, when my coach asked me if I was going to go I just said that I wasn't because I would have just moved Grady (didn't say where, she assumes to my home) and that I don't want to deal with a show that weekend too. So she asked me if I could do chores for them so THEY could go. Keep in mind that I said I was quitting at the END OF JULY.

*ahem* So another confession... I took great delight in saying "NO!!!" I have a Pony Club meeting that day and I want to go. And that's that. She got angry and said some things to me, but for the first time EVER I didn't care!! Afterwards I felt like leaping and whooping and hollering for joy.

I would not wish this situation on ANYone. It has taught me alot about life, but God forbid anyone have to go through the hell I've gone through.

*he he he* *ha ha ha* I feel gitty and excited right now!!!

Dark Knight

2008-07-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was at a horse show. Details on that later this week... When I have time to get the pictures up and sorted through! I went to see the new Batman movie last night. I am a HUGE fan of the movies. Let me just say that this movie was very very awesome. I'll be seeing it again soon, I want to make sure I got the plot right. Heath Ledger was amazing, it's too bad he isn't around to see his success. The movie gets four stars in my book!!

Two Day Break Down

2008-07-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

I have been so incredibly busy!!! This past wednesday was my birthday. Yeah, 18 years old! I can sign my own show papers now! Woohoo! I didn't do much for excitment though. Actually on Tuesday my boss at the library gave me cupcakes and a $20 gift card to Subway. Then we all went and got Subways and had cupcakes after! That was nice. But on my actual birthday I just worked, took Grady on a trail ride, and then rode Isis in the late afternoon. We worked on our canter to walk transitions. We rode for a good hour and we were both hot and sweaty afterwards so we went for a swim! Dad's hobby is raising fish in ponds so we've got swimming holes right on our property. I always go in the shallowist one which is about 4 to 5 feet deep. Isis never rolls with me on her, so we always wade into the middle (the water goes up to the middle of my thighs or almost to Isis's withers), Isis splashes around for awhile, dunks her head under water once or twice, walks around a bit, splashes a bit, then when she's done she walks out. I just let her do whatever she wants in the pond. It's the most fun that way. I'll have to get pictures next time!

That evening I cleaned tack and watched the Spongebob Squarepants Movie. Mike, my co-worker at the library, insisted that I must see it once in my life. Ok, it was kind of funny.

Yesterday I rode Isis in the morning, then went for my jumping lesson. Sackett had a kick mark on his back right gaskin and was a little stiff, so I ended up not taking a lesson. Came back home and went to work. I rode Grady after I got my work done and he did pretty good. I did the Parelli "Pushing Passenger" exercise for twenty minutes or so, I think that really helps him. It's almost like when HE gets to choose when to go past something it's not scary anymore. I don't know, it's weird. Then I just worked on basic walk/trot/canter. No major mishaps. At the end I worked on stretchy chewy circles. Then in the late evening my dad and I stacked 100 bales of hay - We're done with hay for the year!! Yay! There's no better feeling than a barn full of hay.

Pics from my Aunt

2008-07-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

On the day of my grad pary my aunt and cousin came out to meet my horses. My aunt took pictures and sent me some printed copies in the mail. I thought some of them were cute so I scanned them. The quality is obviously not very good because of the scan, but I hope you enjoy the pictures anyways.

My cousin Natalie and Grady

Isis and I bonding
Grady LOVES to have his face scratched. And I don't mean just a stroke or two, he likes it when you take both hands, dig in, and push as hard as you can. He pushes back and tries to rub his face up and down, which I think he thinks is supposed to help, but it actually makes it alot harder! He likes his lips, forehead, cheeks, eyes, and chin to be scratched, scratched, scratched! HARD!

Speaking of scratching Grady, this evening I put my hand up his sheath to check how things were going down there. The gnats crawl up and bite him in there, so I started to scratch around. His neck stretched out, his lips curled and he started to weave back and forth in total enjoyment of this private parts scratching. What was REALLY funny was after a few minutes he lifted up one of his back legs and held it up so I could get in at a better angle!! What a goof!

Update

2008-07-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Lindsay (hopefully my new trainer) was at Birchbury giving a lesson this morning, so I was able to speak with her. I told her my situation and that I hoped to start taking lessons in August. She said that August would be fine. I also told her that I would also like to take lessons on a horse trained at higher levels and she said that an upper level lesson horse would be available at the end of August, so everything sounds like it's going to work out!! I am going to bring Grady down to Birchbury at the beginning of August and lessons will begin right away. Yay!!

Trip to SD

2008-07-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Friday my mom and I took a trip out to South Dakota to visit my Uncle Marc and cousins. The last time I was there was for my aunt's funeral. We went out to visit and to check out the South Dakota State University campus as long as we were in Brookings. I worked all day at the library friday so we left around 7:15 friday night. We drove through a 15 minute downpour and then it was smooth sailing from there. We took my car because it gets good gas mileage. I have an awesome little Saturn that gets 36 mpg. We stopped for supper and coffee, but otherwise drove the 5 hour drive straight through. I drove most of the way and it was quite a pleasent trip. The weather was cool and the driving was easy. We got to my uncle's house a little after midnight. My uncle lives out in the country about 20 minutes from Brookings, my cousins Kelly and Wendy share an apartment in Brookings, and my cousin Kari came up from Kanses City, Missouri for the weekend. The girls stayed at their dad's house for the weekend.

When we got there we snuck into the house quietly, thinking we'd sneak to bed. We were just taking off our shoes when Kari came speeding out from the bed room. (All three of them were sharing their mom's bed) Wendy came soon after, and Kelly came out right behind her. Understand that my cousins are extremely jolly, upbeat people so there was lots of squealing, hugging, kissing, giggling, and laughing. We chatted for awhile and then went in to see if we'd all fit on my aunt's bed. Of course we didn't, but we had fun piling on top of eachother. We were up for about 45 minutes and then we went to bed.

The next morning we had a light breakfast. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and I took a stroll around the property and took some pictures. The entire place is landscaped just beautifully, with gardens, paths, ponds, bridges, etc. I took a couple pictures. Here is one, but it really doesn't give it any justice at all.

Then we went into Brookings for the annuel Art in the Park festival. It has hundreds of booths with artisans both local and from around the country. Plus lots of fair food and entertainment!! We bee-lined for the food where we got cheese curds and gyros. Then we began our tour around the booths. Wendy got a strand of hair wrapped with string in a very colorful, pretty design with a fairy charm hanging off the bottom. Then we watched a juggling show, which was very entertaining. The jugglers were very funny and really got the crowd laughing.

We continued to tour the fair after that, checking out the booths. I'm not a particularly artsy person so it wasn't a huge thrill for me, but I do like to browse. I actually did buy a t-shirt that says "Looking for a Cowboy (Must see horse first)" It's very cool. We also got cotton candy and fried Snickers bars. Yum!! We stopped into Uncle Marc's sister Karen's booth. She sold bright, colorfully decorated hand made furniture for kid's rooms. They had some really nice stuff.

This picture is one of my Art in the Park "atmosphere" pictures.

From left to right: Mom, me, and Kelly.

From left to right: Wendy, Kari, Mom.

Wendy and I got henna art done on our hands. They draw the design you pick on your hand with this ground up henna goo. It's brown and smells like cloves. You leave the goo on for several hours and it dyes your skin. The dye lasts for about a week. After we were done we went to Wendy and Kelly's apartment where we took this picture of our henna art.

Then we went to Shade' Winery where we did wine tasting (yes, me too!!) and bought a couple cases of wine. Most of it was pretty good, but some of it was pretty gross too.

Then we went back to Marc's house where we relaxed for a couple hours, tooled around on four wheelers, and drank iced tea. Kelly, Wendy, and Kari had gone through their mom's closet on friday and compiled a fabulously frumpy outfit. Kelly kindly modeled it for me!!

Then we drove down to Sioux Falls to eat at the Brazilian Festival Grill. It was quite the experience!! It had a wonderful, upscale atmosphere. We started off the meal with Brazillion pop and champagne, and then hit the salad bar. Most of the food wasn't that appealing to me, as much of it was sea food and I don't like sea food. (Octupus? Yuck!) I had a nice salad though. The rest of the meal was the interesting part. Each person had a dial by their plate with red and green sides. If your dial was on green then these guys dressed in some kind of Brazilian outfits came to you, each carrying a sword with hunks of meat on them. They would offer the meat to you and if you wanted some they would slice some off the hunk of meat on the sword. They had all sorts of styles of beef, pork, chicken, and sea food. I ate WAY more meat than I normally would (I'm not a big meat sort of person) but it was very excellent. Afterwards we got two desserts and split them. It was a VERY fun, VERY filling meal!!

Here's a picture of my cousins, Uncle Marc, and one of the many sword servers.

That evening we took a walk around the property. When mom suggested the walk and Kari, who was very hyper, started leaping around and yelling "YES, LET'S DO IT, LET'S DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!!" Afterwards we hit the sack.

Today was a pretty layed back day. Wendy, a paramedic, went into Brookings because she was on call. Kari had to leave to get back to work (she manages a Starbucks). So we went with Kelly into town and she took us for a tour of Brookings and the SDSU campus, which is VERY nice. What a beautiful, fun place!! We stopped at Subway for lunch and then went out to the horse facility, a massive complex of barns. The university owns hundreds of acres dedicated to horses. They have several indoor arenas, probably 6 barns with stalls, lots of pasture, and they are in the process of building a new multi-million dollar riding and boarding complex. The competitions are in an enormous stadium called the Swiftel Center. I met with the SDSU equestrian coach, a very nice lady who is also an FEI technical deligate, eventer, and Prix St. George dressage rider. She told me all about the equestrian team, try out process, and how the competitions worked. I asked specifically about dressage opportunities in SD, which are not exactly abundent. If I were to make it on the team and if I worked hard for the team, she said she would give private dressage lessons. There are also clinicians that come in regularly. Most people on the team get athletic scholarships, which would be a nice thing to get. My problem is that most of the riding I would be doing is NOT dressage. NCAA English competition is equitation over fences and on the flat. I have no experience in either, so I'm not sure if I could get on the team. And even if I did, I'm not sure if it's the route I want to take. SD isn't a big dressage area, and I'm not sure if college is the route I want to go right now anyways. I'd really like to take a couple years to concentrate on my dressage. I suppose once my Young Rider and Pony Club years are over I could go back to school if no horse opportunities crop up. I just really don't want to put a hold on my dressage right when it's the prime time for me to be persuing it.

But other wise I LOVE the town of Brookings and think it would be a fabulous place to live and go to school. Plus, as my cousins pointed out, I have "built in friends" there!! I'm a little torn over it, being as I love the area so much and would love to get an athletic scholarship. But like I said, I'm by no means garunteed a spot on the team and dressage IS my passion. I guess I'll wait to see how life unfolds through the next year.

After our tour we left town and had a pleasent drive home. We're now home and I was very happy to see Isis. I think she missed me too!

sigh

2008-07-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

I rode Grady today. He was NOT a good boy. I don't know what to do with him... He can be so brilliant, but that's the exception, not the rule. He has been down right dangerous lately. He was pretty good at the show, but the trick about Grady is that the MORE familiar he is with a place the spookier he gets. This is why I don't believe he's actually scared of things, but instead perhaps bored and annoyed with work. I don't know what to do with him. He's not just "sort of naughty", he is DANGEROUS. I'm sick of fudging through my rides on him, forcing him through his paces while I'm desperatly attempting to prevent him from leaping, bolting, or rearing.

I bought Grady because he was a gorgeous, but challenged horse. I have done everything I know to do. I did several months of interactive ground work (NOT just longeing), have maintained that ground work, trail ride, show, and work him 5 or 6 days a week. All our work has been heavily supervised by a trainer. Grady has greatly improved, but it's been a year and ahalf. I believe his tendency to get jumpy and obnoxious in FAMILIAR areas is a *quirk* of his and I don't think it can be fixed. I can change things up, make things interesting, but in the end I need a horse that I can do consistent dressage on. I love him besides that, but I'm starting to wonder if he's worth my effort...

Lesson on Isis

2008-07-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

I brought Isis to a lesson today. It was a very encouraging lesson. I take a lesson on Isis at the MOST twice a year. She is a wonderful, wonderful horse - but not especially fancy. For that reason I keep her at home where I ride her faithfully, just plugging along with the knowledge that I have. I wanted to bring her over and have our work evaluated, figure out where we are. I was pretty confident that all our 1st Level work is good. I demonstrated all the movements in 1st Level - including the leg yield! - and it all went very well. I got what I wanted, which was confirmation that our 1st Level work is good, correct, and well done. I also demonstrated the shoulder-in, which was also good. At the end of the lesson we discussed the 2nd Level work I need to be doing. I am excited to continue my work with Isis, she is my best friend. And she's about 500 times more fun to ride than Grady!!

When I ride Isis I tend to ride her with a longer, looser rein. Isis does not work well on a short rein, she gets tight and upset. Also, because she's built like a Quarter Horse, I really have to continually encourage her to stretch and work over her back because it's so easy for her to get blocked up in her body. For that reason I ride her a little more "strung out" with a few minutes of more collected work here and there. I REALLY have to be cautious of how much and how long I ask her to shorten her frame.

You'll have to forgive my rather pathetic appearance, at this point of the day I'd been at the barn for 10 hours and Isis was my 5th horse.

He he, this is my favorite picture!!

Long and low (Isis's favorite)
I think this is a leg yield, but the pic is at a bad angle

Counter Canter

Warm up canter (notice how long the frame is)

Did the math...

2008-07-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was blown away when I sat down and did the math. It is CHEAPER for me to board Grady at Birchbury then it is to keep Grady at home and trailor down for lessons. WOW!!!! I counted everything, gas, horse care costs, lesson costs... I couldn't believe it!! I'll update more later - I still have to figure out the details.

New Trainer?

2008-07-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

I just wrote a huge comment to someone else about this, so I decided I'd just post about it. I am thinking of switching trainers. I met Taylor's trainer yesterday and she seems like a wonderful person. She is a USDF Bronze, Silver, and Gold medalist and has several FEI level horses. I spoke to her about the possibility of taking lessons both on an upper level horse and on Grady. I need to regain the feel for mid to upper level movements for Grady's sake, plus I just want to regain and learn more feel! I've been more or less stuck at Training and 1st Level for the last couple of years. Isis is working at 2nd Level, but it's hard when I'm not actively riding a horse that understands what I'm asking for when I'm not 100% confident in what I'm asking for. Her name is Lindsay Fuchs and at this point I'm not finding a website for her barn. I can't really remember the name of it!!

Anyways, I'd want to take lessons both on upper level horses and Grady. The barn is within a mile of Birchbury so I'm almost contemplating the idea of boarding Grady AT Birchbury. It's $250 cheaper than Lindsay's barn and not much more then what I'm paying for board now. That has yet to be decided though. I will be getting information about the barn shortly and hope to check it out soon. I probably wont make any switches until August, so we'll see what happens!! It sounds like a great opportunity and I want to look into it. There aren't many Grand Prix riders around here - I'd never heard of Lindsay before and here I've been looking for a trainer with upper level horses for HOW long? I am very blessed to find this opportunity!! I hope it works out, it sounds expensive, but I'm going to do what it takes. It would be a GREAT opportunity to (finally) get a leg up!

Parkside Dressage

2008-07-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

*phew* Life keeps trucking. On the 4th we went with some extended family members to see fire works. The place we go has some of the best in the state - they are always awesome and they get better every year. I am so thankful for my country, where else would I have the opportunties that I have here? I always get teary eyed during fireworks!

I had another show this weekend. Yesterday I worked and then spent the rest of the day getting ready. I only went today (the 6th) because of the 4th of July being Friday. Tradition does not make room for horse shows!! Family time is very important to me.

The show grounds were absolutely wonderful, and the rings were wonderful. Grady was very comfortable in them (amazing!) and didn't even spook once, although he did several times during the warm up. The warm up wasn't so great, it was in a big indoor arena that was really dark and dismal. Grady didn't like it in there at all. But like I said, he was quite comfy in the show rings which I was SO thankful for. Another exciting part of the show was having people there that I know!! My friend Taylor was there with her trainer, so she was a HUGE help to me with getting ready and warming up. Thank you, thank you Taylor!!!

I did Training 2 and 4 again. Our first test, Training 2, was quite nice and I am very pleased with it. We got 62.5% and 5th place. Understand that while 62.5% isn't something most people would be too impressed with, (normally I wouldn't be either) and even though my test was nothing to make anyone else jealouse, being able to go into the ring with Grady and have him work without any major mishaps was SUCH a huge step for us!! I'll never forget reading an article by Jane Savoie in Dressage Today where she talked about making goals for yourself instead of just trying to get great scores or beat everyone else. Then you can be happy when you meet them - and I'm very happy! My goal was to go in, ride a respectable test and not have Grady do anything naughty. I met that goal.

It was EXtremely hot today (coats were waved). It got well above 90 degrees. The show did not provide stalls for those of us that were showing for just one day, so I had to show out of the trailor. Not exactly the most pleasent thing in the world let me tell ya. It was a good experience for Grady though and he did quite well. He did get really really warm though. I rinsed him off with cold water several times, but he really was pretty miserable. I don't feel too badly about it though being as I want him to have as many "life experiences" as possible. The show was such a great show though, I am planning on going both days next year.

He was hot, tired, and unhappy for the second test. BUT he was never naughty, and for that I am so proud of him. Our test was quite lacking. We didn't have any major errors and we didn't have any spooks, but it just lacked pizzazz. The judge even commented that Grady looked really tired. Our lackluster, somewhat pathetic (but not incorrect) test only got 56%. I thought I deserved a little more then that being as there were no major errors, but what can I say? I know it lacked energy, I know Grady was tired, and I refuse to gripe about the judging.

My dad realized at the last minute that the camera didn't have a memory card in it, so he put a the little bitty card that came with the camera in. He only got a couple pictures, so here they are. Neither of them are anything special.

XC Pics

2008-07-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I rode Isis before heading off to my jumping lesson. It was really really cool this morning for July, only 45 degrees F. By the time I rode it was somewhere in the low 50s. Anyways, the bugs weren't bad so I decided to go for a trail ride. I rarely trail ride in the months of June and July because the bugs are SO bad at my house. But since they weren't, we went out. I wanted her to get some excercise so our "trail ride" was mostly trotting and cantering. Oddly enough, Isis really doesn't enjoy that. She can be very big and bold in an arena, but the minute I go out and canter on the trail she sucks back and gets pretty unmotivated. Maybe she's just nervous.

My mom came along to my lesson today because we were going to do some shopping afterwards. And I also had to go to the dentist. I'm actually really glad she came because her directions to the dentist would have been wrong and I would have been loster than lost. Our dentist is quite a ways from our house because that's what my dad's insurance covers. I'm not very familiar with the area, so being as my mom got us lost trying to get there, I'm sure as heck glad I didn't try myself!! (By the way, no cavaties (sp?). I've never had one!!)

My mom is camera impaired, and while she did try, she didn't get many good pictures of my lesson. I'll post the two that managed to have all of Sackett in them!!

This is the only picture my mom got of my jumping. I actually really don't like it, I'm behind the horse a little bit. This roll top is a Novice jump (2'9") and the approach was cantering through the water then two strides to the jump. We had had some balance issues through the water (I'm not great at water yet) so our approach to the jump was a little hairy. I wasn't prepared for the jump, I think that's why I got left behind a bit. But I had alot of awesome jumps where I was right with Sackett. (Why couldn't mom get a picture of THOSE??) Normally I grab mane so I can hold on, stay with him, and not sit back too soon. *shrug* It's ok though, I've only been jumping for three months. I've gotta learn somehow!

The picture is small, but it gives an idea of what Birchbury's cross country course is like. It's VERY nice. It has beginner novice through Prelim jumps with some Intermediates thrown in. The girl on the gray horse is Tess, we're about the same age (both graduated this year), and we're going to be taking lessons on Thursdays together now. She's evented through Prelim so she's quite a bit better than I, but her horse is recovering from some lameness issues so she isn't jumping very high right now. It works out great! Then I can watch a more experienced rider do things before I do them myself.

Anyways, I didn't work since I went to the dentist and did some shopping, but I had a lesson on Grady this evening. He started out lazy as always, but after the first five minutes I got on his case about it (I always let him go lazy for a bit since we're just warming up) and he was EXtremely nice after that. I love it when I can sit the trot and have this big, huge, powerful trot underneath me where the horse's back is up, round, and strong and the horse is absolutely solid on the bit. It's the best feeling! We worked on our leg yields again; I figured out that part of my problem is that I tend to grab onto my left rein and keep it too close to his neck. (When leg yielding off the right leg, my trouble leg) I FORCED myself to get my hand four inches out farther and then he leg yielded really nicely. *he he* *sheepish grin* It's by no means a natural inclination for me to hold my hand out, so it's going to take some work on my part. It felt SO awkward!! So Grady was just awesome, powering along. At the end I went back into posting trot to let him stretch out and he was going really nicely - then did his signature, no warning leap to the side. 90% of these leaps unseat me (it's like having the floor pulled out from underneath you, it's fast and there is NO warning signs from Grady) and this was no exception. But I actually landed on my feet so I got on his case quite severely, got back on, and rode him around that end of the arena again. He was quite good. That little punk.

Trail Ride!

2008-07-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a pleasent day at the barn. Pat brought some "none-horsey" people over, that's always interesting. I like to watch them back away
whenever a horse walks up to them. Oh well, they're muggles. That's what I like to call none-horsey people. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan by the way.

Over lunch I attempted to help Val translate her L program material. Seriously, that stuff is worse than a text book! Whoever wrote that takes pride in their jargon. We're all very well educated dressage people and we were having trouble figuring half of it out! When you talk about the abducted angle of the hip vector or whatever, it just gets a wee bit overboard on the fancy language.

We went for a trail ride this afternoon and I brought the camera!! Val, Linda, Katrina, and I went out for a jaunt. The weather was just perfect today, sunny with a breeze just strong enough to keep the gnats away.

This evening my dad and I stacked hay. I kind of like stacking hay, but he hates it. Atleast he's willing to help... Couldn't do it without him.

Val is on Czar (horse I rode for the 1st time last week) and Linda is on Bert. They come out for a trail riding lesson once a week. Bert is one of the lesson horses. Notice Grady's ears!!
Val on Czar

Katrina is riding Corky, he's 28 or 29 and currently the oldest horse at the barn. Bert is shaking off a fly in this picture.

Grady!

Quitting My Job

2008-06-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided to quit my job at Volte Equestrian (pictured above). I informed Val and Larry yesterday. I know that this may seem abrupt on my blog, but it was a long time coming. For the sake of sparing dignities, I do not want to share details on the situation. But I would like to say that working there has been a wonderful, eye opening, door opening experience. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else, both the good and the bad. I have learned so much there!! If not for that job I would not be where I am today with my riding. My life has been richly blessed because of it.

I will be working until the end of July. At that point I will begin work as a certified tutor at my college. I also hope to find some other riding opportunities. (We'll see!!) I believe I have some potential work lined up. This will be good because I will still be able to ridemore horses than just my own. It's a big step for me and nothing is written in stone, but I am looking forward to the experience.

I will still be taking lessons from Val. That is really important. I will be bringing Grady home, we're upgrading and fixing up our facility this month. I think it will work out nicely. I will also be able to show freely, and I will be making more money per hour. I truly think this is the best thing I can be doing right now as far as horses are concerned. I think I will be able to make greater progress. Isn't that ironic?

I will continue with my dressage, continue with my jumping, do my Pony Club ratings. My hope is that after I get my C2 or C3 rating I can apply for jobs at dressage barns with good riders. Great riders! I'd love to work for an Olympian. It's a tall order, and unfortunatly I lack upper level experience that many young riders have. But I will do my best. I hope that if I can get a job working for someone that I will be able to ride a more advanced horse so that I can regain my feel for more advanced movements. Then I will be able to work with young horses to develop that feel in them. That's my ultimate goal. Maybe I will even be able to compete in Young Riders. We shall see.

In other news... This coming month of July I have two shows AND I am signed up for my D3 Pony Club rating!! I think I will pass with flying colors. I am so excited, I am finally making visible progress again. I *think* I might even be able to get my C1 rating late this fall. That would be so wonderful! So three out of my four weekends this month are tied up in horse stuff. It's great!

Great Quote

2008-06-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

"Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and, once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Frustrating Day

2008-06-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

This might be my first offical vent, and it has to do with showing and my coach. The dynamics of our relationship is different because she's not only my coach, but also my employer. This can lead to some problems, mostly because there are not enough employees at the barn (just coach, her husband, and me) so it makes it very difficult to work out traveling, showing, and doing chores at home. My coach also tends to have a more abrasive personality.

I made it very clear this early spring that I intended to show alot this summer. I knew that my coach would not be able to come to many of the shows because of her judging schedule, but that doesn't bother me so much. I like her along when it works out, but I'm not going to not show because she isn't with. Anyways, I explained that I would be showing alot this year because I have a quality horse that is worth investing in. The reality is that the only reason I even own Grady is because I bought him with the intention of showing him. Grady isn't a fun enough ride just to own "for the fun of it", and I can't afford to pay his bills if I'm not doing what we're supposed to be doing: showing!

I've told my coach all of this. I thought it was pretty clear. I said "I will be showing alot this summer."

The dynamic of being an employee makes things interesting though. They want me to work on weekends. I understand this, but I also made it clear that I was going to be showing alot. The situation HAS changed this year. I want to take every opportunity I can to show. I'm not going to be around as much. I thought I made this clear, but when I talk about going to a show the response I get back is, "oh, so that's ANOTHER weekend you wont be here." Yes it is another weekend I wont be here, but I warned them with plenty of time. The situation has changed. I have encouraged them to try and find someone else who can also help out at the barn. When I am at the barn I work my hardest. It's frustrating because I was hoping that since my coach played a big hand in my aquirement of Grady that she would understand the necessity of showing. THERE IS NO POINT IN ME OWNING OR RIDING THIS HORSE IF I CAN'T SHOW HIM!!!!

What makes me sad is how she reacts in such a discouraging way. As a coach I would think she'd WANT her students to show. I would think she'd be excited that we are getting out there. It seems like that's the way most trainers are. I see trainers at shows that have 8 kids with them, all competing. That would be nice, but I understand that my coach has other things going on too. It would be so nice to just hear some encouragment from her. Some recognition of my attempts at success. I feel really sad and discouraged about this. Why is she teaching me how to ride, why do I own Grady, what is the POINT of everything she has helped me learn if I do not go and show??

And like I said before, being an employee does change the dynamics a bit. But I gave fair warning, I said that I would be showing alot. Since they are aware of that they should either get over it and encourage me to reach my goals, and/or find someone else to help out on the weekends I'm not there.

I would love to tell her how I feel about this. I would love her to know how burdened I feel over it. I don't know what she would say if I try though. She really doesn't do well with "heart to hearts", she tends to get defensive.

Saying this to the public takes some guts on my part. But it is my goal to be open and honest about my situation. I refuse to make things look like they're going well if they're not. This is my situation, I am struggling with it. I just want a coach that acts like a coach, not someone who makes discouraging comments when I talk about going to shows, not a coach that harps on my not being there on weekends.

Mark my words, if and when I'm a coach I will encourage my students to show. I want them to show. Showing will be my top priority. I don't care if they will be working for me or not, I will be excited and happy that my students are going to shows.

Hard Work

2008-06-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ugh, long day. Quick recap: I rode Isis this morning. She was pretty good. Then I went over to Val's and cleaned all the pens. Val was hauling horses for someone so Larry and I rode after I was done with the pens. I rode a horse I have never ridden before. He's a 17 hand colored warmblood, a dutch/something cross named Czar. He was alright to ride. Very big and maybe a little clunky feeling. He's not very far along in his training, and he was a little lazy at first. Figuring out his canter cue was also a bit tricky. I had to "sit down" mentally and invision going into the canter, and once I did I could get the canter. After riding I cleaned the stalls and then went for a trail ride on Grady. After the trail ride Larry and I stacked hay. Then I had a riding lesson, also on Grady. We worked on leg yields. I have a difficult time teaching leg yields off my right leg. If I am riding a horse that KNOWS how to leg yield I can leg yield as long as you'd like. When I was riding Holly, who was trained to 3rd Level and was training me at 3rd Level, my leg yields were flawless. There are many other horses that I can leg yield without a second thought. But TEACHING the leg yield off my right leg is SO HARD for me. Both Isis and Grady leg yield like super horses off my left leg. Off my right it's like, oof, ugh, ergh, SO not pretty. I know it's my fault, because I have the same problem on both horses. Isis leg yields alright, but it's quite difficult on Grady. Val got on Grady to see how he felt, and even she had difficulty getting him to cross. Even at the end he wasn't consistent, but better.

The fact that I can't teach the leg yield off my right leg seriously annoys me. I WANT to, I WANT to!! My summer goal is to teach my horses to leg yield nicely off my right leg. AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!

THE SHOW

2008-06-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, here is the news on the show this past weekend. Grady and I competed in the Sundance Dressage Show on Friday and Saturday. I entered him into Training 2 and 4. It was just me and my parents that went. Val was unable to go. It was long and stressful, and unfortunatly I wasn't feeling 100% so that added an extra element. Thursday evening mom and I gave Grady his bath and clipped him. We then did most of our packing that evening and loaded up the truck and trailor Friday morning. I also braided on Friday morning before we left. (It was SO nice to not have super early ride times!!)

We arrived around 11:30 and got Grady settled in. Then we ate a picnic lunch and watched some of the other tests. My first ride was at 2:38 and since I like to have ample warm up time I started to get ready a little after one. I was then on Grady about 50 minutes ahead of my first class. The warm up went really, really well. He was relaxed and worked quite nicely. Then came the test.

We were riding Training 4 first that day. That test was to be in the main ring, the nicest but also busiest ring. Walking into my test Grady spooked several times. The judge rang the bell, but I was still attempting just to get him together. He then saw the tent next to the ring and that was it. He bolted and started pitching. He actually bolted INTO the arena. Needless to say, it was nothing I could stay with. I fell off, but held onto the reins with my right arm. Grady dragged me half way across the arena!! The judge came out and asked if I was alright. I was, and I asked her if I should leave the arena or if I could try again. She gave me this surprised look and said, "you WANT to try again?!" When I said I did she let me try again. I got back on Grady at A, re-entered the arena and rode an accurate, but tense test. We got 59% and 6th place.

It was quite a way to start out the show. My whites (breeches) had dirt ground into them all along my right leg. I was quite a mess. I was able to ride the test with a smile on my face, but afterwards the shock hit and I had a few teary moments. It was frustrating, but only to a point. I know that this happens to everyone at some time in their riding career. I refused to take it out on Grady, I exited the arena on a loose rein, rubbing Grady and encouraging him. I HATE it when people jerk on the reins or get mad at their horse. Needless to say, it was quite a grand entrance. Like I said, it was frustrating, but I think it's just going to take lots of time and showing so that he learns it's ok to go into the arena and work. He doesn't have confidence yet, so it's my job to help him get there. In the warm up ring you can walk around for 10 minutes before you get to work, but in the show ring you have to go right in and pull it off. It's hard on green horses, so I really can't get upset with him.

My next test was at 3:29. I had just enough time to try and get cleaned up a little bit and get to my next test. The second test was in a different ring, so I knew he'd have to get used to that one too. He warmed up all right for that test. He was still just as tense going in, we got 60% and 3rd place.

After the test I settled Grady back into his stall and we made a trip into town to go to the laundry mat and try to wash my breeches. They were the only pair I'd brought, which was foolish and something I will never do again. The dirt really didn't come out of the breeches, so we bought some Borax and laundry detergent and went back to the show grounds to put my breeches in a bucket of water to soak. After checking on Grady again we went back into town to eat supper (Burger King!) and do some shopping at Fleet Farm.

We tented it at the grounds, something alot of people don't do, but I'm fine with it. I wouldn't sleep any better at a hotel, and I don't feel comfortable leaving my horse anyways. That evening while we were showering and brushing our teeth a trainer from Duluth named Deb came in to shower too. We got aquainted and told our show tales of the day. It was such a blessing to meet her, when she found out that I didn't have a pair of clean breeches she let me use one of hers, they fit very nicely! I am so thankful to Deb from Duluth!!

We got up at 7 and I went and did chores in my jammys. Grady drank TONS of water while we were there, I re-filled his bucket probably once every two hours. After Grady was completely taken care of (food, water, clean stall) we ate breakfast. Then I took Grady out for a walk and washed his sock off because he had a poop stain on it. We spent about an hour relaxing and watching tests, then it was back into the grind for me. I got Grady all prettied up again, and headed out. Neither of the tests were in the main ring, something I was actually kind of thankful for.

Warm up started out AWFUL. Just awful. But I had Val's voice in my ear saying "just ride forward, don't pull, just ride forward." As I warmed up he got it together and he was actually feeling quite nice by the time it was time for our test. The test wasn't great either, we got 62.5% and fifth place.

We had time off between tests, so we watched one of Deb's 3rd Level rides, which was quite nicely done.

Warm up for the last test was AWESOME. By far the best. I was feeling so confident about the test. Going into the arena he was forward, powerful, and amazing feeling. We powered down centerline and had an amazing halt and salute. Then we powered forward again and Grady completely lost it. I could feel him tensing the closer we got to C. The entire test was probably the worst test I have ever ridden. And it WAS the worst score I've ever gotten on any horse. Grady was so hot and bothered I was basically trying to fudge through the entire test. What can you do? All you can do is ride forward and do your best. We got 53% and 5th place.

Even though the show wasn't great over all, I'm still proud of myself and my horse. I was gutsy and strong, and he's still trying to figure out what it means to be a show horse. I am so excited for the next show now. I can't wait to see if he'll be better!!

After we got our scores we packed up and had a safe journey home. It was a stressful weekend, but I'm happy I did it.

Here are a few pictuers. One of them is from the test right after my first test. I'm still in my dirty breeches! The rest are from the next day with Deb's breeches. Thanks again Deb!!

1st XC lesson

2008-06-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hey, check it out... There's a picture of Grady and I on the St. Croix Saddlery web site! There is also a picture of Val's husband Larry on Gecko. This was from a schooling show earlier in the year. I'm the one titled "A Happy Dressage Pair." Here's the link:

http://www.stcroixsaddlery.com/Schooling_Show_Pictures_s/281.htm

Today I had my first cross country jumping lesson. It was awesome!! Rocky, (jumping coach), her niece Audrey, and I all tacked up and cantered out to the XC field. It was a little shocking to be walking along and then have Rocky yell "LET'S GO!!" and then take off! It was tons and tons of fun. We worked on banks and trotting through water. Rocky pointed out various combinations for me to try, such as galloping over a log, trotting through water, galloping down and through a path to a roll top. We then did some combinations over different jumps in the woods, then went back out into another field where we jumped tires and coops. It was really exhilirating. It was so much fun just to feel the wind on my face and book it across the fields. I did really well too, I'm really happy with how I was able to find distances. Rocky taught me how to count strides going up to the jump. If I count "one-two, one-two" with each canter stride it's really easy to find the distance. When I am unable to add in another one or two in front of a jump, it's time to jump! It makes it amazingly easy. I think Sackett thought he'd died and gone to heaven - he hasn't done XC in over a year. He really enjoys it too, he was so worked up and excited. It's really hard to describe the feeling of speeding across the country side on the back of a horse, launching over jumps. It's something you have to experience to understand. I jumped beginner novice fences with a few novice fences thrown in. It was so much fun! Thank you Rocky!!!

Deaths, Parties, Shows, and Departures

2008-06-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Weeeeell....... My hope is to start posting consistently now. I think the weird, super busy time in my life has (hopefully) blown over. I will do a quick recap of what has happened and then pick up a more consistent posting habit here after.

On June 14 I had my high school graduation party. It was alot of fun! I had two other friend's parties to go to as well so it was a very busy day. We had my party at a park since our drive way is long and narrow. It is hard to have an open house if people run into eachother getting in and out. The weather was lovely, there were no bugs, and it was fun to have a gathering of all my friends.

On tuesday my sister left for the army. Good luck to her!! My parents have taken it quite a bit harder than I have. I think they really miss her. I didn't see her much (I work days, she worked nights), so it's not much different, but it is kind of weird to have her go.

The rest of the week has been hard riding and ALOT of hay stacking. (Such a necessary evil!)

This past friday and saturday I took Grady to his first rated show. It was - interesting. More details on the show tomorrow!! Here are some pictures from my grad party. Enjoy!

My sister and I

Family and friends looking at pics

My grandmas Dorothy and Dorothy. (yes, same name)

My best friend Rebekah and her dad

Death in the Family

2008-06-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we recieved a phone call that my aunt, Leslie Crevier, died at 5:45 in the morning. Leslie was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half ago and fought a remarkable fight that ended that morning. Leslie was my brightest, spunkiest aunt and she always made family get togethers and activities more fun. She was a hair dresser who had done my hair my entire life. She lived in Brookings, SD so whenever she would come to MN to visit she would have all sorts of clients come to my grandma's house and cut hair. Most of my memories of her are in Grandma's kitchen, listening to her tell story after story. I will miss her very much. She was survived by her husband Marc, and three adult daughters, Kelly, Wendy, and Kari.

Here is a Link to her Obituary and a picture:

http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=185464&fh_id=10308
The reviewal was on sunday and the funeral was on monday. We drove down sunday morning. It's about a five hour drive from where we live. The drive was very pleasent and I enjoyed sizing up the different equine facilities that we passed. We arrived at the funeral home around 3 pm for a private, open casket viewing for the family. I had not seen her for over a year. She was so thin and gaunt, it didn't even look like her. My mom is a nurse, and she had gone down and spent alot of time helping take care of her, so she knew how Leslie looked near the time of her death, but it always comes as a shock for someone like me.

We stayed through the entire closed casket reviewal as friends came to offer their support. Many tears were shed and there were alot of hugs that went around. After the reviewal the family went to eat at the HyVee, an interesting buffet at a grocery store. Kind of an interesting place to eat.... My Uncle Marc said it is where they often went on dates.

Afterwards we went to Marc and Leslie's home. Leslie had designed gardens for around their home and Mark maintains them maticulously. The garden is a beautiful place with ponds, bridges, walking paths, statues, etc. It was a beautiful and somber experience.

After our garden tour we went to Marc's sister's (Karen) house, where they had remodeled a barn into a bunk house. Our entire family stayed either in the bunk house or in Karen's home. Then we went back to Marc's house where we sat around a campfire, talking and laughing, enjoying our time together as a family. Our entire extended family all get along quite well, so it was a very special occasion.

We slept in the bunk house (Eric snored!!) and the next morning went to Perkins for breakfast, where we met up with other relatives that could not make it until monday. Then we went to the funeral, a lovely service in which Leslie's life was celebrated. Our entire family are strong Christians, so we celebrate that we will someday see Leslie again.

The drive to the burial site was made special because we drove through the gardens Leslie had designed. It was one last reminder of the beauty she was capable of creating. The wind was blowing strong at the cemetary, but the sun was shining. Tears flowed freely. As a family we embraced and held eachother. It was a sad, but beautiful experience. I can't describe what it is like for a family going through this kind of situation, when everyone loves eachother so much, and the person who has died is loved so much.

We had a meal at the church afterwards and then left. It was a beautiful, sad time.

Busy Life

2008-06-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

My summer schedule has really taken off. I've been so busy! My hope is to post every day, but it wont happen for a few more weeks. My sister joined the army and will be leaving for boot camp soon. My evenings have been taken up with doing various family activities before she leaves. I expect that once she is gone I will have more open evenings. Good luck to her!

Monday morning I had another jumping lesson. I did the "circle exercise." Basically, four jumps on a 20 meter circle. I had to try to get the same striding between each jump. It was REALLY hard!! I've been told that jumping is dressage with speed bumps. That may be true, but no one told me how hard it is to do dressage with speed bumps!

I've started working full days at the library (summer schedule), so both monday and tuesday I worked full days. I had my lesson monday morning, and rode Isis tuesday evening. So today was my first day back at the barn all day. I rode a horse I've never ridden before. A teeny weeny, 3 year old, dun paint mare with blue eyes. Her name is Boots. (Reminds me of Dora the Explorer) Val does some western training, and this horse is a western horse all the way. This little horse's owner is a 13/14 year old guy, kind of chunky. Anyways, he thinks he's a western cowboy - and it shows. Unfortunatly, it doesn't go over well with Boots. If I rode her with a loose rein and just let her work she was really good. I couldn't get nit picky on her. Val told me not to worry about bend or correctness, but to be happy if I could get her to walk/trot/canter where I want, when I want. This normally goes against my horse training nature, but considering who will be riding her, I'm not sure there's much point in frustrating the poor thing. She actually was quite nice.

Other than that, life has been fairly normal. I rode a couple horses this morning, went on another trail ride this afternoon with Grady, worked, worked, worked, and rode Isis this evening.

I hope to put a more detailed update on soon.

Horse Show Today

2008-06-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

I had my second show of the season today. It was a schooling show - Grady's first Class A show EVER is in a few weekends. The judge is a Class A judge though, so the the scores are the same as what you'd get at a Class A. Anyways, the show last weekend was not that great. Grady was on edge through the tests. But today's show went much better. Yesterday was my worst preperation day ever. I had a riding lesson which wasn't too bad, but bathing/braiding etc. was not so good. Grady is boarded in a paddock with a shed 24/7, but I usually put him in a stall the night before a show. I was told that there wasn't a stall open for him last night, so when I put him back out he rolled and took half his braids out. Then I'm told that there IS a stall for me. *sigh* Anyways.

This morning my dad and I trailored and Val followed a little later. I drove the truck... I've only hauled once before. (I've only had my license for a little over a year) I'm proud to say that I did very well. No jerky stops or anything.

I rode Training Level 1 and 2. My goal is to show Training level all this season and hopefully qualify for regionals. I'm hoping to show him at each level per season and work our way up as far as he's willing to go.

Anyways, so he actually warmed up really really nicely. The warm up is a big open grass area and his gaits were light and springy. It rained alot yesterday so there was a HUGE puddle right at A. You had to go through it to get into the arena. Grady did not want to go through it. Grady spooked, reared, and ran backwards. But we got in, and the test was *ok*. All the work that we did on the 3/4ths of the arena that wasen't under water was good. But the work at A was, well, not so good. He spooked and jumped out of the arena, so we got eliminated. But the judge told me to finish my test and they still gave me my score. We ended up with a pretty meager score of 59.595%. What's even more, well, kind of pathetic, is that if I placed I would have gotten 4th place!

The second test went REALLY well though. Even as I was riding I thought "this feels good." And it was pretty good... We got 68.595% and first place! I was very very pleased with him. My hope is that we can get our scores into the 70%s within the next couple shows. Woo hoo!

We got home from the show around 4 pm so I took Isis for a trail ride. I sang the whole ride. Then I pulled up the mats in the trailor and cleaned out the whole thing so it would be nice and clean for next time.

So I picked out some of my favorite pictures. Here they are, but they got out of order in the posting process.

Picture 1: Right lead canter. Grady has a tendency to switch his hinds in his right lead. Val told me to make sure to keep my leg back and drive him forward, and you can tell that's what I'm doing. He didn't switch his hinds once. We've been working on his balance and straightness in the right lead, so it's improving.
Picture 2: Our first halt and salute. (The bad test) His front legs are a little off.

Picture 3:Left lead canter.
Picture 4: Free walk
Picture 5: Trotting
Picture 6: More trotting

2008-05-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

Wow.... This has been a crazy last couple of days. I was going to post yesterday but there was a thunderstorm and our power went out. So this post will be a little longer, but I'll try to keep it down. My posts always look so much longer on my blog than they do here where I'm typing them.

Yesterday was one of those humbling sort of days. It started out dark, dreary, and rainy. I had a jumping lesson in the morning, so I drove down to the eventing barn I take lessons at. I'm leasing a jumping horse there, Sackett. He is actually a very small (15 hand) Quarter horse. He is unbelievably skilled for his size and breed. He is a pretty decent dressage horse, and can jump unbelievably high for his size. Luckily I only need to jump a maximum of 3 feet for my PC ratings.

The geldings are out on a large pasture, probably 20 acres. Sackett has usually been in the front or middle of the pastue, so I'd never been all the way to the back before. I didn't know that there is a shallow pond that goes all the way across the pasture. I was in my riding boots. Sackett is at the very back of the pasture. What choice did I have? I slogged through the pond, soaking my riding boots. Then whatta ya know... Sackett runs away from me. There are few things that annoy me more than a horse that runs away. He runs through the pond, aaaall the way back to the other side of the pasture. So I slog back through and walk another 8 minutes back to catch him. And then he just stands there, looking at me. And I put the halter on. Chasing a horse is a humiliating experience. It makes me feel like I did something wrong...

The lesson was excellent though. We rode in the indoor since it was raining, and we first worked on flying changes on the flat while doing serpentines. She then built up jumps where the lead changes would be for the serpentine and I worked on my lead changes over the jumps. Everything fell together quite smoothly after the first ten minutes. It was very excellent.

I took pictures of Sackett after our lesson. You can tell he's sweaty. They aren't good pictures either, but it gives you an idea of what he looks like. No one else came with me so I don't have pictures of my riding, but atleast you get to see Sackett. Unfortunatly the first one shows up dark.

That afternoon I was having pictures done by Avalon Photography, so I needed to get my horses ready. I decided to have the pictures taken over at the barn since it is so buggy at my house. So I trailored Isis over and braided Grady. It was still raining and we were crossing our fingers, hoping for a window of time to take pictures. There was... About 45 minutes. But it was extremely windy and damp. The photo session was fast and furious, but it went pretty well. Grady was being pretty beastly about the whole ordeal, he wasen't too happy. But atleast we got the pictures taken.

So after the pictures we went to load Isis again. Wouldn't load. Would not. Now, I am not one to try and force a horse into a trailor. I don't think it makes sense and I think it's dangerous. So I worked with her for probably 45 minutes. But the entire time was (somewhat) relaxed and she eventually loaded. It was frustrating that she didn't load, but I am pleased that I was able to take my time to slowly work with her rather than get angry and try to force her in. I knew that sort of attitude wouldn't work with her anyways.

It was a long, exhausting day... One of many!!

This morning we drove down to the studio to pick the pictures we liked. There were so many beautiful pictures. It was amazing because the pictures looked so tranquil and serene, no one would guess that the wind was blowing and that Grady was throwing hissy fits the whole time. Truly beautiful pictures. I asked if I could have some of the pictures e mailed to me so that I could put them on this blog, so hopefully I will be getting those soon.

I worked at the barn for the afternoon and then rode Grady and Isis in the evening. They were both lovely. It's so nice to have a day when they are both right on form!!

Good rides, Trail rides, and Spiffing up Isis

2008-05-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

I work at a library as well. Part time of course. It offers more money than horses do right now. I am a library aid, which means I'm trained for both reference and circulation. Yesterday I worked a full day and then rode Grady in the evening. This past weekend we were at a show (he did ok) so he had monday off and I rode him last night. He was amazing. Simply amazing. Grady is a very very difficult horse and he is coming around so nicely. I am so excited to see how he will do this year.

I spent the day today at the barn. Riding horses in the morning, cleaning paddocks, water tanks, and automatic waterers in the afternoon. The riding went well and I do like the physical work.

This afternoon I also went on a trail ride on Grady. He's a great trail horse, he doesn't spook at anything. I went with Val, Linda, and Katrina. The weather was beautiful, cool air with a warm breeze, the sun shining brightly. It would have been a perfect ride if the misquitos hadn't swarmed when we went through wooded areas. I brought the camera because I thought it would be fun to take pictures, but then forgot to bring it along the actual ride. Oh well, I will the next time out. This has been such a cool spring, we're just now starting to catch glimpses of summer. The flowers are out, the air smells sweet, and life can be so good.

Tomorrow Avalon Photography is coming out to take pictures of me with my horses. So, rather than riding Isis, this evening I worked on spiffing her up. Actually we practiced trailor loading first. Isis is used to loading into three horse slant loads, but our new trailor is a two horse straight load. She isn't very comfortable with it. So we worked on loading, she probably loaded 20 times this evening. She was quite good. If I take it slow and easy with her she will oblige - you can't force her into anything. So then I pulled her mane, clipped her face and legs, trimmed her tail, and gave her a bath. Dad took pictures of her after her bath. Such a pretty girl.

My First Blog

2008-05-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Kristie. My profile does a pretty good job of describing who I am and what I'm about. I LOVE dressage and it's more or less what I live and breathe. I wanted to create a blog so that others could follow my journey and watch my adventures unfold. And believe me, I have many adventures!! My hope is that each blog I post will unfold more and more information about me and my goals and dreams. I also hope to cover the day to day ups, downs, and plateaus of my experiences. But since this is my first blog, I will take the time to fill you in on who I am, why I'm here doing what I'm doing today, and what my goals are.

I am 17 years old and I am currently employed at a dressage barn called Volte Equestrian. Val, my employer and trainer, has successfully competed through Intermediare I and has ridden all Grand Prix movements. She has also earned her United States Dressage Federation (USDF) silver medal. I ride horses and (of course) clean stalls and paddocks. I own two horses of my own, Isis and Grattitude.

Isis is 6 or 7 and I’m not sure what breed she is. I bought her as a 2 or 3 year old and trained her myself.

She gave me a big run for my money to start, but is an excellent horse now. She is currently a solid First Level horse and is schooling Second Level. Her hunky chunky quarter horse build and my (at that time) lack of training talent is the reason that her training had progressed so slowly to start. I used the Parelli Natural Horsemanship method with her and graduated Level 1. I gleaned many excellent insights from the Parelli programs and have learned to implement these insights into work with dressage horses. Val has also used Isis for lessons when she’s been in a pinch.

My other horse is a Swedish Warmblood named Grattitude, aka Grady.

Grady was sold to me for an excellent price because of his difficult personality. Actually, Grady had been to several trainers, all of whom declared that they would not ride him anymore and kicked him out of their barns. His owners were to the point where they were considering putting him down. He came to me instead, and has led me on an extremely interesting adventure. Difficult doesn’t even begin to describe him, but he is beautiful and I hope that with continued, dedicated work he will come around the rest of the way.

I have been successful in the local show ring with both Isis and Grady. This year I will be showing Grady in Training Level and intend to bring him to as many shows as possible with the hopes of qualifying for (and doing well in) the USDF and Central States Dressage and Eventing Association (CSDEA) regionals. Last fall Grady went to only a couple small shows ,so this will be his first year showing in the big time. It will be very exciting.

I am also currently leasing a jumping horse at Birchbury Farm so that I can achieve my ratings in the United States Pony Club. (USPC) Until now I have been a member but haven’t achieved my ratings because I haven’t done much jumping. I am currently rated at D2. I have been taking lessons for about a month and a half and am already comfortably jumping 2’7”. I am now well on my way to achieving my pony club goals. My hope is to achieve my D3 through C2 ratings and then do my C3 through A ratings with a concentration on dressage.

I also rode one of Val’s horses and worked on my Second and Third Level dressage skills. Unfortunately the horse is older and now suffers from respiratory issues so I can’t rider her much anymore.

My parents have no interest in horses although they have supported me as much as they are able to. We are a middle class family, so there isn’t much money to spare for my dressage. I support my efforts largely on my own.

Although I am perhaps just an intermediate rider, I have excellent feel and I learn quickly. My dedication to learning makes up for any skills I currently lack. I ride every day, my own two horses as well as several others. Val has told me that I have an instinctive feel for riding and that what I need is to simply continue to develop it. The more I ride, the more inadequate I feel because I realize how much more I need to learn. But my answer to these feelings of inadequacy is simple: Ride More.

I am also currently attending college and have done very, very well. I intend to stick around here for another school year while I work on getting my Pony Club ratings. Then I plan on starting to search for other working student positions so that I can expand my knowledge as well as my dressage network. At the same time I will continue working on my Pony Club ratings and hopefully continue up the dressage levels.

My biggest road block and frustration is that I do not have an upper level horse to ride. I need a horse like this so that I can achieve feeling for the upper levels. Right now I am limited to Second Level because this is about as far as my solid training has gone. I know that if I were only able to ride a more advanced horse I could progress so quickly and I would also be a better rider for Grady. This is my biggest heart ache and desire. I do think that if I were able to ride an upper level horse I would be able to successfully compete in Young Rider competition. I would love to compete in Young Riders. Since I cannot afford an upper level horse of my own, I have asked several people if they would allow me to ride their horses - but have had no luck. When I say that I want to ride an upper level horse, I’m not just sitting around hoping one will drop in my lap. I have even gone so far as to call complete strangers and ask if they have a horse I could ride. If nothing else, I hope to find a working student position where I can ride an upper level horse.

The frustration I have suffered has only increased my desire to succeed. And if I do succeed, my goal is to shepherd other young, dedicated riders to success. I want to be able to provide them with the horses and help they need. I don’t want others to have to go through what I am going through. Although I want to have success in dressage, my desire for success is coupled with my desire to further our sport by helping others with lots of talent but lack of means. I am very passionate about this goal.

And so I invite you to come along and experience the journey. I may or may not succeed, but I want the world to know that I have at least done my best.