Busy, busy, busy

Last week MIL took Sis and Cat back to her house until Sis is healed up. Saturday we loaded up the ponies and headed over to the arena to ride. I wanted Chase to get on Abby before the show on Sunday and MIL needed to practice too & for once I got to ride my own horse!

Lu was great! She was soft, she was tucking her head and she was moving great! I joked about taking her to the show on Sunday. MIL was having a blast on Abby. A friend was there and they “raced” around the arena. MIL almost fell off when Abby turned but she managed to squirm back into the saddle before slowing down. She had a smile from ear to ear and she needed that after the news about Sis.

After that Chase got on and rode her around a bit while I got on Black and worked on carrying the flag on her (we might be opening up for the drill team at the rodeo on Friday night). DH hopped on Lu and I just looked the other way. I told him to watch her because she would probably try to lay down with him (when she’s hot she wants to roll). The next thing I notice is Lu on the ground and DH kicking my saddle (next time honey, kick the horse). I really wanted to say “I told you so” but instead I gave him back Black.

Chase was having issues with Abby so MIL hopped on Lu while I worked with Chase. We worked on post to post and Chase looking where he was going vs. looking at Abby. It made a HUGE difference in Chase’s riding and Abby worked a lot better for him.

I had decided not to go to the show on Sun. so Sun. morning DH got up and loaded up. DH called me to tell me he’d thrown Lu in the trailer so Ty and I headed to the show to keep an eye on Lu. When I got there DH was riding her in the arena w/Chase (we are going to have to have a discussion about him riding my horse). I took her back to the trailer and tied her up.

We put Abby in a one handed bit for walk/trot. She’s not fond of them but I’m trying to teach Chase to follow rules. The young kids do not know how to spread out and I could see trouble brewing with one horse before the class even started. Abby would trot and then walk then trot then walk and on one occasion she went ahead and popped into a lope so I knew Chase wasn’t going to place. I know this is not Abby’s strong suite so we’ll have to work on it. When going the second direction at the trot one of the horses started bucking (bronc style) so I yelled at Chase to stop Abby. The announcer must have heard me because he then FINALLY directed the other children to stop their horses as well. Luckily no one else was hurt.

I decided with no preparation to take Lu in walk/trot. She did great for what little I’ve done with her. She wanted to have her head up but when I asked she tucked it nice and low. Her trot was a bit fast but she looked amazing in my show bridle! The arena was packed! We didn’t place but I was happy with her performance.

Chase did great in poles. He watched where he was going and placed 2nd. By the time we got to the barrels it had started to rain softly. Chase went in and did a great pattern as well. He placed 2nd again and he was happy with his “paycheck” from the show.

This week is a busy one. Tomorrow we have drill practice, Thursday & Friday we have the rodeo & Saturday Chase shows Dozer.