Yes Ma'am

Wednesday I went up to the barn right after work to ride. We worked on exactly the things I said I would for once.

The quick walk-trot transitions worked wonders for Vinny. He was extremely responsive to my commands and was a lot less lazy than normal. I felt like by the time we did just a few of these, he was really saying ‘yes ma’am’ to my cues.

I took full advantage of this and made him leg yield on the long sides of the ring and really overly bent him around my leg on a big sitting trot circle. We also threw in a few laps of long-low trot in between these exercises.

At S’s suggestion, I begrudgingly dropped my stirrups for a few laps of sitting trot and canter. No—I was bad and didn’t do any posting trot. My legs hurt!

Next we worked on not breaking at the canter. We will be working on those transitions at the canter next time we have a day together. I would like to do walk-canter-walk-trot-canter-trot-canter-walk etc --- you get the idea. I gotta get this pony listening to me! If we break at the canter at our show in a couple weeks I’m going to be very upset. MUST WIN!

 

Finally I watched M jump Little D around while Vinny and I cooled down. They make quite the team and are very enjoyable to watch.

Tonight I am going up there to drop off the dreaded board check and chit chat a little bit. No ride. But tomorrow.... I think we're having round two of my lesson.

Can’t wait for finals! Just TWO weeks away!!!

Offish

Yep. I am going to CHSA Finals! YAYYYYY!

 

Vinny and I will be leaving bright and earlyAug 23^rd to go compete. I am so overly excited. It should be quite the event. Big tents and vendors, beautifully braided beasts, and me in the winners circle! Hahaha, I hope that is the case at least.

 

Have I really not posted about any of our rides since last Friday? Holy heck.

 

Saturday Vinny got his feeties done. He really has been quite the brat during his pedicures. Here are some blurry pics

 

After that I watched D (the other trainer at the barn) teach some lessons. Once S got back with E who had just competed in a show, the three of us went to get lunch, and then headed right back to the show so that S could coach one of the gals in her Children’s Hunter/Marshall and Sterling classes. I spent a few hours at that show and then headed on home.

 

Sunday I got to ride Vinny later on in the afternoon. He was just okay. Very lazy. I jumped him over a tiny gate jump, and through a one-stride cross rail line. It really seems like he is starting to require more and more leg.

 

Yesterday was my lesson. We warmed up on our own and then S had us practice keeping our canter straight as sometimes Vinny tries to over-bend on the long sides of the arena. In between talking to S, D, and M by the in gate, we began jumping a small vertical. Vinny really makes me laugh too much. We would be trotting up to it, nice and active, with intent, and he would take a second look at it and jump it huge! I mean, come on now, this thing is not even two feet high, and literally just a brown cavaletti, and you jump it like it’s going to eat you, Vinny! Lol seriously I love this horse.

The main things we worked on with this little fence were: getting the correct distance at the canter into the fence, and continuing with straightness after the fence on the correct lead. Apparently we were drifting a little after the fence, so this took several tries to get straight. It is really hard when I *think* I’m straight, but then I hear from the gallery that I am drifting over as if I’m leg yielding him. Boo.

After some more talking and laughing, S had us go through a grid set up in the middle of the ring. The grid consisted of three bounce cross rails to a one stride cross rail.

 

S warned me before hand that I would need a lot of leg. This warning did not click.

 

Vinny refused to go down the grid several times. Finally we halfheartedly made it down once. I felt as if I was being tossed all over the place. We eventually did make down decently, I suppose. It’s hard to remain off his back and steady while still urging him along with a lot of leg. Any tips?

 

S is having us do another lesson on Saturday with more grid work. The last time I did a grid was several years ago, and on Homey. With Homey I literally could just sit there in a light half seat and let him go through it. Vinny is sooo much different than him. So lazy. But I think we’ll get it eventually. Grid work sure is a lot of fun though!

 

Tonight we will be working on lateral movement, no stirrup work, and quick changes of transition. M and I were discussing this yesterday. She said she had been working on a pattern like such: trot six steps, walk one, trot six, walk one, etc to get her horse really listening to leg cues. Sounds good to me!

About to cause probs 

This is what he thinks of the farrier 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopeful

 

I had my second lesson last night instead of Wednesday due to some scheduling complications between K and I. Vinny was pretty good. Pretty dang good. The only thing I was not happy with was his lack of sensitivity to my lateral aids. He was not really having it last night. Grr. Other than that we had a few good crossrail lines. I still feel like I am jumping way ahead. I guess I still expect a bigger effort over each fence? I don’t know.

 

All I can think of is more work without stirrups. Ughhhh L

 

As promised, S and I discussed the possibility of going to CHSA Finals in a few weeks. Basically, the way it works, is that you earn points each year in whatever division(s) you choose, the points add up and by the time finals come around, if you’ve earned the required amount of points, you are automatically qualified. Now, there are 17 horses that made it. Of that 17, a few are horses that I saw on the list only used the division as a warm up for jumping, so they won’t be entering finals. There must be at least 10 horses entered in the division for the big prizes to apply, and a minimum of five for the class to run at all.

 

With that said, S will be checking the roster to see if I should even enter. And then from there, if he says yes, then if I will even do well against the horses already going. They do call-backs at this show. So the judge runs the class and the top 10 are called back for another round and then the prizes are issued.

 

I was right when I said that S will most likely want to enter Vinny in the Color Breeds if I do the Pleasures. YES! Split the costs between the two of us?! I think yeah. Duh.

 

That should bring my total to about $100. Pretty doable I would think.

 

Hopefully S texts me and says YES we can go!

 

:D

 

Tonight I am off to go to Six Flags with a group of friends. I love me some roller coasters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHSA Finals? Maybe?

Okay okay, I know I just posted about how broke-ski I am, but can I just compete in one more show this year? I mean really. It’s finals. State finals. I’m thinking maybe I can scrounge up the money to compete in our division; I just found out that English Pleasure made it into the show. Vinny and I are third in the state so we definitely have all of our qualifications.

 

The show is Aug 23-25^th and this morning I received the invitation/prize list via email. As you know, I said a few weeks ago that I would not be competing any more this year at all. ehhhhhh as a truly competitive person, as soon as I saw that our division had made it and that I was still at the top of the state for qualifications, my brain started crunching numbers.

 

Maybeeee I can squeeze this one into the budget.

 

Tonight I have another lesson, yeehaw! So I will be talking to S about my options for the show. What I’m hoping is that S will want to have Vinny go in the Color Breed Pleasure classes (he is first in the state) with A, therefore S and I would be splitting any costs besides the actual class fees. That means fuel, braiding, office fees, parking fees etc would be split between the two of us.

 

I am probably the most impatient person on the planet. I can’t wait for 1700 to hit so that I can high-tail it up to the barn and talk to S to get a plan in motion. Either way I have that Friday, the 23^rd off so I will at least be able to watch everyone else.

 

Woohoo super excited for my fellow barn mates to compete even if I don’t!

 

Now I shall spend the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about fancy ribbons, embroidered coolers and garment bags, and my boy all fancy and braided up.

 

 

 

Moolah. Cheese. Dough. Bucks

Or, per Tyga, huneds. Yes, money. We all need cash flow. Nothing brings ya down quite like money; Or lack there of I should say. Living expenses are expensive, cars are money blowers, and horses…well horses…are the ever-cashsucking hobby.

 

I guess I really should have gone to college. Errr, completed college haha. But even then it doesn’t seem to help anyone at all. It just creates more loan to pay off, unless your parents are loaded and paid cash up front for your schooling. I feel that I make pretty decent money for my lack of education. I really do. But the time has come, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, I am looking for a third job.

 

I already have an office job, the barn job – which really only pulls a few bucks – and now it’s time to search for a weekend morning job. I’m not completely upset about this. I feel that it will help me get through my work week here at the office a little quicker. Here’s to hoping I can find something I enjoy! I am considering everything from serving at a restaurant to working at the local U-pick.

 

Any ideas? Please feel free to comment below.