That wasn't my best idea
With the impending and often intimidating show season rearing its ugly yet elegant head into my view, I decided to push it into my peripherals and take a nice relaxing ride yesterday evening. Baby was feeling up to it; she actually took her head away from her food to greet me.
I brushed her off loose in the stall because by that point she had resumed gorging herself. Man was she shedding! The weather has been so up and down the past few weeks, but horses can't just turn their shedding on and off, so everyone is letting their hairs go already. I must give a shout out to my respiratory system for not giving up on me after all this time. I was going bareback in a halter, but a while ago, Miss S got brand new halters and lead ropes. The new lead ropes are very short. A single one would not make sufficient reins, so I borrowed the one from Chess's halter and made myself a nice pair of split reins. Innovation at its finest!
I was riding with Fifi that night. Being as aware as she was, she actually put on a saddle and worked on important things. Me, on the other hand, I was happy with plodding. I plod for quite a while, walk, trot, and canter before I actually decided to work on something: leg yielding. She's getting to be less sassy about it (go figure), now it's just a matter of giving her a refreshing on what leg at the girth and leg behind the girth means. We actually did this in a lesson a while ago, I think December, but this was my first time trying it on my own. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty at first. She just walked forwards or walked backwards, and my cues were not the best, but I gave myself a refresher and started being more obvious and precise with my leg placement. She did quite a few good turns on the haunches and forehand in both directions. Next, we tried two-tracking. Oddly enough, she's really good at doing this unintentionally. If we need to get out of a tight situation, she'll two-track to Timbuktu. If I ask her for it any other time, she gives me the "This does not compute" response. She was good moving off of my left leg to the right, but going to the left? She might as well have laughed an evil laugh in my face. I could not get her to keep her body straight, which means that is what I will be focusing on in my lesson tomorrow. I haven't done a lot of "try it on my own" things much with Baby because I tried that a lot on Molly and I ended up with an out of line anatomy and PTSD, but I'm fairly happy with how she did.
We also gave Sanibel a hay weave.
As you can tell, we are a very serious bunch.
The reason as to why this ride wasn't my best idea (besides the fact that I did this without my trainer present) is because, when I got off, I had perhaps the most eccentric bareback butt one could imagine. We didn't very long, but all of her hair rubbed off on my butt and between my legs. With that much hair, someone could have pinned me as the Cruella Deville of the horse world; it looked like my pants were made of horse hair.
Current events wise, my first formal show is in April as opposed to May as it has been the past two years, and they association that we are showing with is having more shows this year. I have allowed myself to miss two as I want to have a good shot at high point. Miss S is still talking about going to HITS Culpeper, and I would say that it was a definite yes, but we can't figure out which one to go to. We were originally going to go to the one at the very end of the year, but then we spoke to a woman who has been to the shows, and she said to go to the one in April since it has fewer people and would be less stressful. Honestly, I'd rather go to the last show because I'm pretty sure that is the show where they have Pony Finals, and tiny children on tiny ponies jumping big things is adorable. I want to photograph adorable.
We've hit kind of a snag as to what I'm going to be showing in this year as well. In December, Miss S said that she wanted me to do long stirrup again this year because I was still at a talent level where I could do it and not get nasty looks for it. However, she also said that she wanted to see where I was when show season came around. At this point, it's looking more and more like I have to stay in long stirrup, and it's for one reason: jump height. The other girls in my lesson were riding on Saturday. I couldn't ride as I was heading out of town before the lesson ended, but I watched for a little while. Well, they were getting their jump on, and Miss S started raising the last jump in the course. It was an oxer, but that's not even what had my eyes widening. That jump kept getting higher and higher. I think it went from 18" to 3'0" by the end of the lesson. The reason for such a high (okay, it wasn't that high, but still) obstacle was that, now that we are all on horses, most of the Equitation divisions as well as Pleasure Horse have 2'6" jumps. I was astonished to hear this, but I guess that's what happens when you stop riding ponies. I found two divisions outside of long stirrup that I can and would like to do, so I think that's what I'll be working with this spring/summer.
I also have a ton of stuff that I would like to buy before show season as they would be a convenience, but I need to save money because Ariat tall boots are not as cheap as the paddock boots (I'm starting to wonder if I really needed those bedazzled half chaps or if they were an unnecessary indulgence and who am I kidding, of course I needed them!). Bags, a new coat, and a new show shirt are also on this list. The coat is the only thing that I can breathe a sigh of relief for because RJ Classics makes coats that are inexpensive but still high quality. Thank you, RJ Classics.
I brushed her off loose in the stall because by that point she had resumed gorging herself. Man was she shedding! The weather has been so up and down the past few weeks, but horses can't just turn their shedding on and off, so everyone is letting their hairs go already. I must give a shout out to my respiratory system for not giving up on me after all this time. I was going bareback in a halter, but a while ago, Miss S got brand new halters and lead ropes. The new lead ropes are very short. A single one would not make sufficient reins, so I borrowed the one from Chess's halter and made myself a nice pair of split reins. Innovation at its finest!
I was riding with Fifi that night. Being as aware as she was, she actually put on a saddle and worked on important things. Me, on the other hand, I was happy with plodding. I plod for quite a while, walk, trot, and canter before I actually decided to work on something: leg yielding. She's getting to be less sassy about it (go figure), now it's just a matter of giving her a refreshing on what leg at the girth and leg behind the girth means. We actually did this in a lesson a while ago, I think December, but this was my first time trying it on my own. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty at first. She just walked forwards or walked backwards, and my cues were not the best, but I gave myself a refresher and started being more obvious and precise with my leg placement. She did quite a few good turns on the haunches and forehand in both directions. Next, we tried two-tracking. Oddly enough, she's really good at doing this unintentionally. If we need to get out of a tight situation, she'll two-track to Timbuktu. If I ask her for it any other time, she gives me the "This does not compute" response. She was good moving off of my left leg to the right, but going to the left? She might as well have laughed an evil laugh in my face. I could not get her to keep her body straight, which means that is what I will be focusing on in my lesson tomorrow. I haven't done a lot of "try it on my own" things much with Baby because I tried that a lot on Molly and I ended up with an out of line anatomy and PTSD, but I'm fairly happy with how she did.
We also gave Sanibel a hay weave.
As you can tell, we are a very serious bunch.
The reason as to why this ride wasn't my best idea (besides the fact that I did this without my trainer present) is because, when I got off, I had perhaps the most eccentric bareback butt one could imagine. We didn't very long, but all of her hair rubbed off on my butt and between my legs. With that much hair, someone could have pinned me as the Cruella Deville of the horse world; it looked like my pants were made of horse hair.
Current events wise, my first formal show is in April as opposed to May as it has been the past two years, and they association that we are showing with is having more shows this year. I have allowed myself to miss two as I want to have a good shot at high point. Miss S is still talking about going to HITS Culpeper, and I would say that it was a definite yes, but we can't figure out which one to go to. We were originally going to go to the one at the very end of the year, but then we spoke to a woman who has been to the shows, and she said to go to the one in April since it has fewer people and would be less stressful. Honestly, I'd rather go to the last show because I'm pretty sure that is the show where they have Pony Finals, and tiny children on tiny ponies jumping big things is adorable. I want to photograph adorable.
 |
| Just let that cuteness sink in for a moment. |
I also have a ton of stuff that I would like to buy before show season as they would be a convenience, but I need to save money because Ariat tall boots are not as cheap as the paddock boots (I'm starting to wonder if I really needed those bedazzled half chaps or if they were an unnecessary indulgence and who am I kidding, of course I needed them!). Bags, a new coat, and a new show shirt are also on this list. The coat is the only thing that I can breathe a sigh of relief for because RJ Classics makes coats that are inexpensive but still high quality. Thank you, RJ Classics.
Pony Finals is at KHP August 4-10 :) But it would be great if you can go to any HITS show and take lots and lots of pictures (and have fun too)
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