Rain, rain, go away – in the mud we will play!

Sunday we were schedule to have a horse show. It was a rain date for a previous show that had to be cancelled due to the conditions. Lately it seems like it has rained daily here and of course Sat. night/Sunday morning we got another 2”+ and the arena was a mess. The show didn’t start until 2:00 but we had to let the judge know by 10:00 if we were going to have the show. We decided “what the heck” and held the show.



I showed up early to ride Lu around. She doesn’t much care for mud or puddles but she did well. DH and the boys stayed home so I was able to focus a bit more on her and not worry about other things. Surprisingly people started funneling in by the trailer load. They were thrilled we were having our show because “no one else in the state of Iowa is having one today because of the mud”. LOL

There were a lot of “higher end” show horses there and kids trying to get practice in before fair. It was nice to have some new blood there. I decided to take Lu in w/t, Jr. horse wp, and wp. We haven’t “shown” since last year due to her arena anxiety issues. I don’t remember how I placed as I wasn’t too worried about placing. In w/t she was perfect (for me)! She was soft, cadenced and not nervous! “Technically” she had an illegal headset (below the withers and behind the vertical) but then technically I shouldn’t have snaps on my reins either - I didn’t care. I’m pretty sure we placed 2nd out of 4 in this class.

In Jr. horse she did well again. I chuckled because on her good direction (counterclockwise) she picked up the wrong lead but I quickly corrected her but going her bad direction (clockwise) she hit the lead perfectly! Again we were behind the vertical or below legal and a bit too fast at the canter but she did well. I think we placed 3rd out of 5 in this class.

WP wasn’t quiet as good. She missed her bad lead 3 times right in front of the judge but did hit her good one. We placed last in this class but I was still thrilled with her performance. She stood in the line up (no turrets or fidgeting), no nickering, she wasn’t sweating like I’d ridden her hard in 100* weather for 8 hrs. Outside of the ring she stood quietly and calmly as well. It is like the beginning of a new horse!

One thing I did notice – I had my little bump spurs on and switched to my longer rowels spurs. She immediately became a pissy pony so I went in w/o spurs. She has some serious spur resentment so I’m going to have to watch that a bit. I wish I could have gotten some video or pictures but I was just happy riding!

Time for the trails!

This weekend was our first show of the season. I opted not to take a horse and had Chase ride Sis since he really hasn’t worked Abby too much this year. MIL and Chase both did well. Sis wasn’t at her peak performance wise but that is another post.

At the end of the show I had two tired “puppies”.



After the show DH and I headed off to the trails to celebrate our 11th anniversary. We both chuckled as we set up “camp” for the night. It was a bit different compared to how it was 11 years ago when we first set out for our honeymoon. Back then we had a 2 person tent and it was so cold I slept in the truck w/the heater (running with the heater on) while he slept in the tent with the dog. This time we both slept in the well circulated trailer & left the dog at home.

In the morning we got up and fed the ponies their breakfast only to find Lu had decided to unsnap herself and help herself to some grass. The “neighbors” came over to let us know that the one horse (Sis) beat up the other horse all night. This isn’t the first time Sis has done this and she’s going to learn quickly what a set of sideline hobbles are for. I refuse to give her an entire hitching rail just because she’s crabby.

We were on the trail by roughly 9:00. DH rode Sis and I rode Lu. I was a bit surprised at how “energetic” Lu was at the beginning. Usually she’s the calm one. We weren’t 20 feet into the trail head before we hit our first hill. It was a fairly steep one so I was happy when Lu sucked back and went down slowly, step by step.

Here she is at the beginning. Ears perked forward and ready to go.


The weather was beautiful but the bugs were horrendous! As we got closer to the river you could feel the cool breeze coming off of it. Lu is not a fan of water so I chuckled when we had lots of small water crossings. That was until we got to this one.

Lu says: “You want me to cross what?”



Here she is trying to turn around and go back.



DH and Sis taking a break while checking out the best place to cross.



The top crossing was very rocky and it was hard to navigate so we opted to go through the bottom. It got deep enough to have water up to my shins. Man that is the best way to ride!

After the ride and back at camp. This was pre-bath. Lucy got a wet saddle blanket.



After a sponge bath – “Can I haz treats?”




Just chillin



We headed back home in the afternoon but had to swing by a tack store on the way home. I bought another Cashel Feed Rite Bag. Those are wonderful out on the trail or for a messy eater (like Lu). We also purchased a new Stacy Westfall activity ball for the horses.



I’m hoping this will be something fun for the kids to play with and something to help me challenge my training (is the horse listening to me or focusing too much on the object?).

1 down – 3 to go

Show season is slowly dwindling down. It feels as though we haven’t really had much of a season with all of the rain we got at the beginning of the year but it has still been a good year. This past Sat. MIL, DH and Chase showed. I opted not to take Lucy because Ty was going with and I know how that usually works. Plus she really isn’t ready and it isn’t fair for her when I have high expectations but haven’t put forth the work. We’ll be ready next year.

Due to a lack of volunteers I had to help the judge so a few good friends helped out with Ty while MIL and DH were showing (thank you Brenda and Terry). Chase got to use Sis in w/t and while she was a bit fast from all of her long trotting during her rehab he still had the quietest horse out there so he placed first. I know MIL placed in w/t and WP but I honestly don’t remember what her results were. She didn’t do as well as she normally does (again Sis is strung out and fast) but she was still in the top 5.

DH didn’t place (not that we expected him to). Black was a bit gimpy in the back end. I almost asked him to come to the center but I didn’t want to call him out. He put her up after the class and that was the only thing she went in for the day.

Chase had a GREAT pole pattern and took first. He got a little “big for his britches” in barrels and while they gave him a 2nd place placing, I told him he wasn’t getting his ribbon because he broke patter. I know, I’m a mean mom but he’s moving up w/the “big boys” next year so he’ll get knocked off of his pedestal quickly anyways. He needs to practice more and quite blaming it all on the pony.

Abby was being a bit of a handful for him though so I popped my saddle on and signed MIL and I up for barrels. It was a good crowd so I knew I’d get the opportunity to “fix” some of her issues. At the end of the pattern she likes to crow hop so as we ran for home I prepared. As soon as I felt her head go down I turned her in and nailed her w/Mr. Crop and asked her to continue running in a circle. I think I caught her by surprise.

After that MIL hopped on. She had a nice run (no crow hopping at the end) and I do think she placed 5th.

I took Carmella back and MIL took Sis and Cat back to her place so I’m back down to 4 horses at home. It is kind of a nice break since DH will be leaving to help with harvest soon.

When we got home, as I was picking out Black’s feet (assuming the gimping was from thrush), I noticed some liquid. She has an abscess on her back left foot. It looks like she bruised her foot on one of our road rides last week. While I’m not thrilled about it, I’m happy that is what the problem was and that it wasn’t another laminitic episode (I was starting to question that too). So for now I’m soaking her foot once a day in Epson salt, ACV and water and I have her in an icthamol wrap. I bought some of the new Easy Care Glove boots for her back feet and so far I LOVE them! I’ve got one over the wrap and she seems to be feeling a lot better now that the abscess is draining.

This means that Lu is going to have to temporarily fill in at drill. I think this will be good for her but we’ll see what she thinks.

Where to begin?

I’m not even sure where to begin with this weekend. Saturday I got up, headed to the ATM to get some money as we had two shows to head to. One was for a drill performance and the other was to actually ride/show. When I got to the ATM I got a message saying “card restricted” and no money. It was too early to call the bank so I headed to the barn to finish cleaning up ponies.

While finishing up I got a call from the bank asking if I had authorized two internet purchases. No I hadn’t. So needless to say my card was cancelled & I will be watching my account closely. Thank goodness for mom and day (I had to borrow cash from them).

We finally got the ponies loaded and headed out. The performance was less then perfect (our worst of the year). Black did great (we have an easy job) and I do think she really enjoys it. Abby popped her butt up once but MIL was quick to whack her. She is getting a little bit better with each performance. I’m not sure what happened but someone got out of place. When you get out of place it is very hard to get back in and it messes up everyone else. Needless to say they managed to make it “look” ok but we were all pretty embarrassed. Thankfully, most of the crowd had no clue what happened.

We loaded up and headed over for the show. I had to do registration so I needed to be there early anyways and I wanted to have a chance to ride Lu a bit before the show. I decided to go ahead and take her in w/t at least. She really needs to get the experience even if we don’t do well. I had been having issues bending her but she was doing great! Her head was low and soft and her trot was to die for. She was getting a bit nervous when the other horses would get around her (looks like I need to take her to a few drill practices) but for the most part she was great. I rode for maybe 20 min. or so and then took her to the trailer until closer to my class.

Once the classes started I saddled Lu back up and headed over to wait. Chase was in his w/t class and he was as stiff as a board but somehow managed to come out with the first place ribbon. There were two more classes before my class and Lu would not stand still. She’d either back up or want to walk off so we did flexing and bending but she still refused to stand still. By this time she’d started to sweat and laid down on me. I hopped off and kicked her and then whacked her w/the reins until she got up. We then went for a “behind the trailer” session. Nothing big, just some LFR to let her know that wasn’t a good idea.

I mounted back up and headed in for my class. By now she’s dripping with sweat (I think it had more to do with nerves vs. heat) & I could tell the sand arena was very appealing to her. The class was so bit they split it in half. I tried to keep Lu moving so she wouldn’t go down. The class finally started and she was moving beautifully. Her head was low and tucked and her knees were flat and flowing. She was getting annoyed (by the sweat) so she tossed her head and as she did my headstall came flying off (the new one DH just got me). I got it back on and we continued w/the class. After lining up and backing I dismounted so she wouldn’t go down with me again. They called for the second batch so I left the arena and headed back to the trailer.

At the trailer I put on her halter but did not untack her. For those who have followed my blog and have followed my “adventures” with Lucy you will know that when she gets hot (even if I’ve only worked her 15 minutes) she will try everything in her power to lie down, even if she is tied. A lot of those times she’s succeeded so it has ingrained the behavior even more. This was one of the reasons I refused to unsaddle her. She needs to learn how to deal with it.

I walked her behind the trailer and anytime she’d tuck a knee like she was going to lie down I’d back her a few strides (I had my crop ready in case she actually went down), nothing hard or fast but just me saying “no”. She was fidgety and would not stand still. She tried several times to tuck her knee so she could go down. When she got close to the trailer she’d throw herself into it to try to rub/scratch my saddle off so I’d move her back over (another reason why I didn’t just tie her up).

I had already decided that *if* by some odd chance I was called back in from the split that I wouldn’t be taking her in. As expected, I wasn’t called back in so it was no big deal. This is when things started to get fun. Another participant decided to come back and offer me some advice. She politely (using the word politely very loosely) suggested that I needed to untack Lu. I thanked her for her concern but assured her that she was fine and told her that I would not be untacking Lucy. She again politely (again using the word loosely) told me (this time she didn’t suggest) to untack Lucy. I again assured her that Lucy was fine and informed her that I would not be untacking her.

I was then informed by her that she has been in the consulting business for over 40 years and knows when a horse is tying up (Lu’s abdominal muscles were tight but so where about 50 other horses at the show). She then proceeded to threaten me that if I didn’t untack Lucy that she would call the Humane Society on me. I encouraged her to do so (by this time my patience was gone).

Now – as for the “concerned citizen”, let me give you a little bit of background on her. She is IDK how old (50 or so). She has trust money (and lots of it) so she hasn’t worked a day in her life. She buys OTTB, uses them up and then dumps them. I’ve rarely seen her keep one more then a year. NO ONE can stand her! The only reason they put up with her at the shows is because of her money (which I think is bullshit). She can not keep workers because she is such a xxxxx that no one can stand working for her. I was ok with her concern until it became a threat.

Needless to say about 5 minutes later I had about 10 people at my trailer looking over Lucy. ALL of them had seen her pull this before (getting hot and laying down) and they all knew I wouldn’t put her in danger (still not sure how untacking her would have kept her from tying up if that is indeed what she was doing). I stood my ground and they stood behind me. 15 min. later when the sweat had started to dry Lu was being a pain in my butt trying to get hay and treats. After she had fully dried off I untacked her and let her stand at the trailer the rest of the night happily munching on hay.

Now while this “concerned citizen” was all over my ass about Lu she never once said anything to the gal who was riding a weanling (gal said it was a 2 yr. old but it looked like a small yearling at the most).

I’m still very irritated that she felt the need to threaten to call the HS on me. How would you have handled this?

I forgot to mention - I was told by the ring steward that the judge REALLY liked Lucy but that she didn't feel like she could call me back in due to my tack mishap. She said she debated over and over because she really liked her. I guess that is good to know once I get her to quite laying down with me. :-)

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.

What’s Red & Blue?

The inside of our trailer! Why? Because MIL and Chase had a great show on Saturday! Chase started off with walk/trot. He looked great (yes I am biased)! He’s still having a hard time knowing what to do with his “free” hand but he kept it off of the reins so I was proud of him. He did a fabulous job and came out with a 1st place blue.

Next it was MIL’s turn. She looked great as well and had a nice ride. Sis was a bit fast for my liking but the judge must have liked her as she placed 2nd (1st place horse was very nice & would have been my choice as well).

Then MIL moved on to WP (Chase is still to young for that). I didn’t get to watch because I was in the class with her (on Abby lol) but they ended up winning the class so she must have had a nice ride. Abby didn’t do too badly. I figured at the beginning we’d be sitting in the middle of the ring before the class was over but the most she did was chomp at the bit. She got both leads well and while I had to push her to keep a trot she was more then happy to lope.

Next it was time for the games! Chase didn’t want to do poles because he always forgets the pattern. I told him to do them anyways and he did and won! He did the pattern perfectly and did most of it at a lope!

MIL and I took Abby in for shit and giggles and that little pony can turn! I ended up getting 5th on her which is sad because she wasn’t even trying (hmmmmm the wheels are turning – just kidding).

Next it was time for barrels. Chase got 2nd in this class but he did great! MIL and I didn’t place but we had a blast. Abby wasn’t as thrilled with it but it was good for her.

Here are a few pictures of “the man”. Doesn’t he look sharp?

Sign, Sign everywhere a Sign

Just like the song says, there are signs everywhere. Unfortunately they don’t do you any good if you don’t read/listen to them.

Let’s go backwards to Friday night………………………

Friday I had Chase ride Max in the RP so he could get used to the feel of him trotting and loping. I was going to let Chase use him at the show on Sat. instead of Abby and didn’t want him trying to stay on buy squeezing with his legs. He did really well. Max was hesitant to lope and kept coming towards me but all of the horses do that in the RP.

I decided to jump on Abby and ride her a bit to see if we could work on some of her separation issues. I rode her down the road a little ways and then came back and worked her around Max. Of course she had no issues (they seem to stem from the other horses leaving her not vice versa). We worked on WHOA and she’s a long ways from there! We did have a ground breaking moment though as she didn’t throw her head at the lope but just loped like she’s supposed to.

Saturday MIL came over and we banded up Sis’s mane and got her ready for the show. We hauled over and I braided Max’s mane (I took him in English Pleasure). MIL rode in the Miz Queen contest (for members 40 and over) and won. She was so thrilled until she noticed that her prizes consisted of Depends, Ben Gay, etc. She also got to wear around this big fluffy crown all day (sorry I couldn’t find my camera).

I took Max in for English Pleasure. I was asking questions from seasoned English peeps before the class but I wasn’t too worried about placing. Max did great except he was listening to the announcer and not me! Going clockwise I felt him lose his lead in the back but he quickly got it back and the judge apparently didn’t notice. We placed 1st. I’d woo hoo it but there were only 3 in the class and the one gal didn’t get her leads right.

Then we had a quick tack change as Chase’s walk/trot class was next. Ty was in his stroller playing in a bucket of water while I was swapping saddles. Somehow he managed to pull the stroller over and he took a head dive into the bucket. When he came back up he had blood all over his face. Spazmasta boy Chase went into panic mode. MIL thought he’d broke a tooth but it was just a bloody nose.

We finally got Chase up and in the arena. He was doing fine until they asked for a trot. Max started off nice and slow but you could see him increasing speed quickly and pretty soon he was in a canter. I yelled at Chase to do a ORS and he did and brought Max back down to a walk. In the line up Max wouldn’t stand still. Chase was trying to flex him but his foot was back so Max was yielding his HQ instead. I finally told Chase to dismiss himself from the class.

He had a look on his face (I thought he was mad at me) but when I finally got it out of him he said Max had scared him a bit. I decided to put him on Abby for poles and barrels. We already knew the worst she’d do was toss her head at the end but she’d ignore Chase’s leg cues.

MIL placed 2nd in walk/trot and then had me take Sis in pleasure. We didn’t place (not sure why) but that’s ok. The adult classes were HUGE! There was no room on the rail to move at all.

Chase went in and did his pole pattern with Abby and it was going great! It was the best run they’d had all year until…………. Instead of turning for home he started to weave again. He stopped, thought about the pattern and then came home the way he was supposed to but it took off from his time.

Then it was my turn. Max and I headed down to the end of the pattern and turned to weave. I all of the sudden had drunken horse who refused to weave the poles but instead kept throwing his head and trying to shoulder into them. We made it through, turned for home and half way home he blew! He bucked and I came off. I rolled a few times and when I came up to where I could see what was going on he was still bucking around the arena and I mean bucking! One of the members got him caught, I re-adjusted my saddle and we did the pattern again. This time it was smooth and perfect.

I took him out of the arena and over by the trailer and did some bending exercises. I didn’t want to discipline him per se for bucking because I think something is physically wrong with him. That’s just not his personality. But at the same time I didn’t want him to think it was acceptable either.

By this time Chase was in doing his barrel pattern on Abby. MIL said they did great and I looked up long enough to see Abby loping home with her head up and ears perked forward (no head tossing).

I unsaddled Max and scratched my barrel class and started looking him over. He had some swelling on the inside of his back right hock. Was that enough to cause his bucking fit? I don’t know. We headed home and I put some DMSO on his leg and gave him some bute.

I’m fine. The biggest thing hurt was my pride. There is nothing like getting dumped hard in front of your peers. My left leg is sore. For those of you who remember me going into the concrete wall with Buddy I think I re-injured that but other then that I just have a few some muscles. It was pretty soft ground and I was able to hit with my shoulder and roll.

Yesterday when I checked Max his hock was still swollen (although he doesn’t appear to be lame or sore). I have a call into the vet today to see if we can get him checked out.

Hindsight’s 20/20 after the fact but I think Max presented us with plenty of signs. They just weren’t clear enough for us to read. I think his final sign was his way of saying “can you hear me now!”.

First his cross firing going clockwise, then his misbehavior with Chase and I’m sure there were several others we completely looked over. I don’t think this was a disrespect issue at all (I’m sure some will think it is). Max has only ever kicked his feet up once with me since we’ve owned him but he has never bucked. Also, most horses that I see buck to get the rider off quit once the rider is off. They don’t take a full lap around the arena at a buck just for shits and giggles. If Max was typically a pushy, disrespectful horse I could see it being a training issue but he’s not.

I should have stayed home!

Saturday was just one of those days when you know you should have just stayed home. It started off with my first show where MIL and I took Cat. Cat was great! She was calm and quiet and didn’t spook at anything. She nickered a bit but that’s to be expected the first time out.

Here she is prior to her class. Doesn’t she look excited?





Isn’t she pretty!





We headed in, passed the judge and proceeded to go into our trot where my ankle proceeded to roll and I fell flat on my face. Cat jumped sideways to get out of the way but didn’t spook. I got up, brushed off my pants, sucked it up and went and stood Cat up in line. She looked like a miniature compared to the beast in the class with her.





We placed 3rd out of 3. I’d be a bit more disappointed if I actually bred for halter horses but I don’t and I’m not too sure I’d really want a horse that looked like the one behind us. I did however like the third filly. She was very refined.



When we got back I saddled up Max and rode him for a bit. He was very stiff and wanted to run instead of lope but we worked through it and he looked like a million dollars by the time we were done! It was hot so we didn’t work very long.

Then we had Chase’s show. My niece and nephews where at the show as well so I didn’t take a horse for myself but instead we took Nikki, Abby and Sis. Chase started things off with his walk/trot class on Abby. He decided to take her because “it’s not about winning mom, it’s about having fun”. LOL can you tell my lectures are starting to sink in.

He managed to get 2nd but not by much. Abby trotted around nicely but Chase needs to learn how to pass the horse in front of him not just stick on it’s butt.

Then MIL had her walk/trot class. There were a lot of nice horses in this class (very large class compared to normal). She placed 2nd! Woo hoo! Sis looked really nice. There were a few not so happy people at the end of the class. Not sure if they were upset on how they place or how others placed.

MIL also got 2nd in western pleasure. Sis’s lope just isn’t that great right now and we need to work on it more (I always say that don’t I).

Then Chase went into the arena for open riding prior to barrels and poles. Typically we don’t let him go in unless Brandon or I ride in with him because it’s all of the barrel/pole horses going mach 10 in the arena. He was doing very well with Abby so I let him go in. I was just getting ready to pull him out when I heard someone yell my name and then yell Chase and saw him on the ground with Abby running around the arena with no rider.

I got about 20 stories on what happened but knowing Abby and knowing Chase I’ve come to my own conclusions. There was a out of control horse in the arena and I was told it came running up behind Abby. My best guess is that Abby went to kick the horse and Chase lost his balance. He’s been very forward and stiff in the knees when Abby trots so if her hind end came up it was probably enough to throw him off balance.

He did hit hard enough to crack his helmet though but we are lucky he wasn’t trampled. I had a few people tell me he was cutting people off (duh, he’s 7) but I’ve been in there for open riding before and the adults pay less attention to the other riders than the kids. That’s not excusing Chase’s behavior (if he was cutting people off) but people need to remember kids don’t know any better (the woman complaining was one of the one’s upset that she wasn’t placing so I’m taking it with a grain of salt).

He got back on and did barrels and poles so I was very proud of him. He messed up his patterns which I wasn’t very happy about but he finished them. I guess it’s time to start practicing some more.

On the way home MIL and I took the back roads because I’m not fond of the interstate at night. They’ve had construction and the old truck just doesn’t get up to speed. I was on the phone with Brandon when I saw a momma deer and her babies starting to cross the road. I slowed but I knew we were going to hit. Yep. I hit my first deer. Brandon was of course going ballistic on the other end of the phone but luckily the only damage to my truck was a small dent in the license plate.

Needless to say I was very happy to get home but when I did I pulled up to a crabby mother (my mom) because Ty had an ear ache and wasn’t a happy camper.

Yesterday the heat index was over 102 so I just hose the horses off and put them in their stalls with the fans on. I took a few pics of Max for his sales ads. How does he look?

Pictures as Promised

Here are some of the pictures I promised from the show.

Grandma & Ty just hanging out



Warming up (look at those ears!)



Our pleasure class



Loping



MIL & Sis (don’t they look great!)



Here are a few pics from last night

Getting ready (Abby got to stand in for Sis last night for drill practice)



Max

It’s Show Time!

A lot has been going on lately but to update you briefly we were in the process of selling Max but the sale seems to have fallen through. I will bet money they will contact us in a few weeks to see if he is still available at which time we will inform them he is (if he is) but at a higher price. I’m a bit bitter if you can’t tell.

We took the horses to a schooling show this weekend. MIL took Sis, I took LLL and Chase took Abby. We showed up early so I could do the passenger lesson with LLL. I’ve needed to do this for a long time but it just doesn’t work in our pasture. We trotted and trotted and trotted (my thighs are killing me today) and she did great. For me this is the hardest gate to keep her in and she did awesome.

Then we loped. She’d kick up in protest and I’d whack her on the butt. Finally she started moving around nicely without the protest. I tied her up to the trailer to cool her down and jumped on Sis.

One of the drill members has been working with her (she’s going to use her for the queen contest at the fair) so I jumped on to see how she was doing. She did well. A little stiff but that’s nothing new for Sis.

Then I got on Abby……………..needless to say we had to leave the arena and have a “talk” elsewhere. She wants to buck in protest when you ask her to lope. This hasn’t been much of an issue since she’s never asked to lope but she does start to throw her head with Chase at the end of a barrel pattern in protest so I figured it was time to fix it. Needless to say by the time we returned to the arena she was happily loping where I wanted her to go. She could also benefit from the passenger lesson.

The judge of the show was either new or didn’t realize the difference between a breed show and a schooling show because she wasn’t placing horses that should have placed based on their bits.

Lu did very well. We placed 5th in walk/trot and 3rd in western pleasure. I’m not sure either were deserved but I was very pleased with her attitude during the classes. She had her ears perked forward the entire time and was in a very good mood. She looked good too! (Pictures to come I promise).

I took Abby in barrels and poles and needless to say she was more than happy to be good for Chase when it was his turn.

I’m starting to fit Cat up for the PHBA show in October. We have our first “practice” show next weekend (if it doesn’t rain). It’s a larger show but I need to get her out and get her used to being in different places away from the other horses. If she doesn’t place well at these shows we won’t be going in Oct. The nice part about fitting her is it is forcing me to actually work with her. A novel idea I know.

Weekend Recap

Friday Night

Friday night was the rodeo. All I can say is thank god it’s over! When we got there I was a little surprised with how calm Max was. He was almost in a drug like state about everything that was going on. I took him into the arena and he didn’t even bat an eye at the bulls, cows, horses, people, etc. He was actually calmer than he was a few days prior in the same arena when it was empty. He was so calm that I honestly worried about getting the speed out of him for the performance.

Well that all changed after the grand entry! LMAO When we went in for that he woke up! We finally went in for our performance and it started out great. Then as I crossed my partner for the second X Max decided to go left instead of right and threw me off balance. I caught myself and pulled up where I was supposed to be but I would have loved to have killed him! I think the little shit did it on purpose. He knows the routine so he knows where he’s supposed to go. After his little “stunt” he was fine the rest of the performance.

When we went into the pinwheel I heard one of our riders yell “Tania lost her bridle”! I figured we’d pull up but Tania said to keep going until she couldn’t. Needless to say she ran the entire pattern without the bridle on. I’m not sure that the crowd noticed it though.

All-in-all it wasn’t a horrible performance but it definitely wasn’t a good one either. I think we looked better since we had an “equipment malfunction” than we would have had we ran it with no problems.

Sunday

Sunday was the first horse show of the year. I had hoped to work Sis on Saturday to try to slow her down but I didn’t have time so we went at it as we were. MIL didn’t show since it was a Sunday show so I rode Sis.

Chase decided to talk Abby in walk/trot. I was proud of him because he knows Abby won’t place (she’s too fast) so he’s finally getting off of the “I want to win a ribbon” mentality. I didn’t get to see his w/t performance because I was at the trailer trying to find the bridle I wanted for Sis (which we’d left at home). He had a HUGE class (there were a ton of people at the show) and I was told that he made it a w/t/c class but the judge must have missed the canter part because he somehow managed to place 4th.

Then it was our turn. I figured Sis would do ok in walk/trot because she seems to fall back into her trot well. The class was so large you hardly had room to move. We ended up placing 5th. I was in her face a lot (more of an English style contact) and I think she came behind the vertical a few times. Oh well. It was the first one of the year.

Then it was time for pleasure. I figured we were just going to go in for practice because her lope has been horrible lately (she needs to use that big ass she has instead of her front end). So this time I went in on a looser rein (why hold her back when I know we won’t do well). Her walk was slow as mud (almost annoying) and her trot was a bit faster than it was earlier. Her lope on her left lead wasn’t too bad (her head was up but she was slow). When we were asked to lope going to the right we were in a jam and when all of the horses picked up onto a lope I think Sis thought it was a drill team maneuver and wanted to catch up. I got her slowed down but we obviously need to work on that. Somehow, and I do mean somehow, we managed to place 2nd in WP. I can’t believe we placed at all but apparently either the other horses were much worse and I didn’t see it or the judge like Sis’s “forward” movement.

Then it was Chase’s turn for “mini” poles. Abby didn’t want to go to the end of the arena and Chase is going to loose his popper. He was too busy trying to whack her and not busy enough trying to steer her. He finally got her going and got through and I believe he placed 4th. I tried running Max in and let’s just say I have a few things to work on. :) Barrels with Max went much better. We got 2nd and we didn’t really get a bad time. Chase almost messed his pattern up but he corrected himself and got 2nd as well. Abby had her head down in that “I’m going to buck” way when they crossed the finish line so I wasn’t too thrilled with her.

Max

DH and I talked a lot about the horses while we were sitting waiting on classes and DH really wants a shorter/stalkier horse to rope off of. He doesn’t think Max will have the strength to do it. I don’t want him to sell Max because he’s grade and I’m afraid w/the market the way it is he could wind up in a bad spot. Then, the light bulb finally went off in my head and I told DH I’d keep Max and he could look for a new horse (instead of me looking for an new horse). It will be at least 2 years before Cat is ready to break and I’d love to prep Max to actually run barrels. I think if he got the pattern down he could fly! DH knows it will be a while before we can afford what he wants but I think it will be the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately for my sister we won’t be looking for that dead broke horse. She’ll have to learn to either ride Abby or one of the other horses.

Sunday Night

When we unloaded Abby out of the trailer she flew out so what did we do? LFR of course. She thought the fun show was hard well she was about to find out just how hard home life was! We did LFR until a) she was moving to the right off of halter pressure only (she has issues w/going to the right) and b) she was very humbled (dripping with sweat). Then, just for good measure I saddled her up with the English saddle, took her into the RP and rode her until I got a bit more of the “yes sir” attitude. I need to work with Chase but I also need to get my stuff together and start working w/Abby a little bit too.

There is roping practice at an arena close by and DH decided to take Max. Even if he does get a new horse (which will be a while) he needs the practice and Max is pretty cowy. He just went to score a few cows and I think he said Max did well for never doing it before. He said he tracked them well and DH even threw a rope off of him a few times. Poor guy had a long day (Max that is)! I think they are going to try to start going every Sunday (if DH is off of work) which will be good for both of them. DH needs his own thing to do w/the horses w/o me there to critique him.

We have a few things to work on w/Max this week and with Abby as well.

I should have tons of pictures tomorrow! I took some fun ones at the rodeo Sat. night and mom got some of the drill team. Until then………………

Weekend Update:

Yes this is going to be long!

Thursday night we got the ponies out and practiced barrels in the pasture. The kids for some reason couldn’t figure out the pattern so I jumped on Abby to show them and woo hoo the rodeo began.

As soon as I whacked her with the crop her back legs came up and her head went down. This happened a few times so we moved to the RP. She was not a happy camper at all! The bigger the fit the faster we went. Her behavior made me very nervous about taking her Saturday to the show.

Friday night we loaded up the ponies and hauled over to the arena to “practice” at the arena. I let Chase start out on Abby & figured I’d get on only if she was being bad. Of course she was an angel. The kids kept doing the pattern wrong (going to the outside instead of the inside of the barrels) so I figured Saturday would be a joke.

Saturday we loaded up ALL of the horses and headed over to the arena. The kids did all of the classes (it was an all games show), DH & MIL did most of the classes, my sister (who is scared to death of horses) rode in a few classes & actually enjoyed herself and I rode a few as well.

Here are just a few pics.

Chase & Shari doing the egg & spoon race. Chase dropped his egg before they even started the class but they gave him another one.





Then they did the candy bar race



They all got their patterns correct and Chase even won his division for barrels.

Tybo even joined in the fun and did a barrel pattern (I’m standing on the other side of him holding his hand/jeans and MIL is leading Sis).



I even “ran” LLL in barrels and poles. We had a 5 minute pattern time but it was fun. She spooked at a shadow on the ground in the arena though – silly horse. LOL

We had TONS of compliments on Abby. I think I could have easily sold her a few times. She was great with Chase and didn’t give him any flack until the end and I think she was just tuckered.

Needless to say we came home with a lot of happy children (and adults) and a stack of ribbons. We have to wait for them to post the results so we know who got what.


Sunday I helped out with a NBHA event at the arena and then came home and saddled up LLL. We worked on flexing, yielding the HQ, and then ORS. She kept trying to go back to the barn so we had to make that a not so nice place to be. She did get pretty upset with me a few times when I whacked her. Her “defense” it to turn sharp and fast to try to throw you off balance. I just pulled her head around and whacked her on the butt harder and then asked her to do what I originally had asked her to do.

We finally started getting some nice, smooth transitions so we moved into the RP and I just loped. I worked on me more trying to get into rhythm with her instead of riding against her (which I feel like I’m doing sometimes).

After that I hopped off and did some RP stage 2. She wasn’t thrilled. Once she was good and tired and following me around I unsaddled her and put on her halter. I then put the long line around her belly and proceeded to see if I could lay her down. She struggled a little bit and my ½ hitches weren’t hooked right (which didn’t help) but without too much of a battle she went down.

I rubbed all over her. She got VERY upset when I touched her nostrils. I mean to the point of trying to bite me while she was down. So once she got better about it (not perfect just better) I asked her to get up. I had to kick her pretty darn hard to get her to move. Once she came up to her belly she laid there for a minute or two and then went flat on the ground again. I finally got her up and then asked her to go down again.

She didn’t “struggle” as much this time but instead stayed up on 3 legs with her face crammed in the dirt. I swear her teeth have to be dirt covered. This time when she went down she fell like a ton of bricks! She hit hard but she went on the opposite side as last time so I was able to rub her other nostril. She wasn’t as bad about the right side.

When I finally got her up I rubbed her nostrils and surprise, surprise, there were no issues. She followed me around like a lost puppy dog. I think she had a very humbling experience.