♣Ambitious♣

I've got 99 problems, and my saddle is still one of them, but the Tredsteps (the Rosas) have made their way into the hands of another fortunate soul. My boots and red shaped pad also went to a girl who is starting to get into English riding. My fly bonnet was sold as part of an intensely purple set; the girl came into the stall and found everything purple and took all of it. I sold a handful of charms. It was mostly kids who wanted them, but if I can dress up another pony, I'm totally okay with that. I made away with a stock pin for $3, a headband from Miss Sue's store for $20, and a free gray hunt coat from Miss Terry. I have to get some alterations done on the coat, but if it fits, it'll look good with an orange or yellow show shirt. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be conservative because it's the hunter ring, but honestly fuck that, I'm a Dressage queen at heart with a taste for the unconventional. I came across quite a few lovely shops, and one girl...

Because Baby is a super pon. Everyone needs to be aware of that. Okay, not that kind of super, but you know what I mean. From Applejack2 I made an attempt to film my ride today because I wanted to post it on a forum for critique, but, apparently, when my DSLR shuts off, it stops filming, so I had less than a minute's worth of footage, and I hadn't even gotten on in that time yet, so that's that. Baby was super duper today. I actually rode her in a bridle (because that's what we do at shows, therefore I should probably do it at home). My main focus was the flatwork aspect. She was better about going into the corners, but we had inconsistencies in pace, as well as the usual jigging and breaking into a canter at random points. I will say though there was some definite arguing today, less than usual, but proper riding shouldn't include arguments. It just makes the whole ride a lot less productive. Fortunately, the woman that the new boarder does Dressage with ...

I can feel the floral, but I can't see the floral, mainly because winter decided to come late and covered the ground with ANOTHER 4" blanket of snow. I was planning on riding today, but the temperature is too low. Plus, the wind is going to rattle the indoor, and the horses haven't had much proper turnout lately. I'd rather not take my chances with a hyper Dork. The snow might also put a hold on mail, which means shipments won't go out as quickly. Urg, this is too frustrating! With the tack swap in two days, I think I'll spend today and tomorrow knocking out a couple more charms. Quite a few pendant have been lying dormant, and I found some cool swampy looking beads in my mom's collection. Sigma swamp charm, anyone? After the swap, I'm going to be working on a spring collection, so stay tuned. I was starting to look forward to an IEA lesson this weekend, too, but I doubt the arena is going to be clear by Sunday. If J² is up for it, Miss S might be ...

If you haven't yet, take a trip over to 'Fraidy Cat Eventing and comment for a chance to win one of my bridle charms for free! There are three available, and if you want them all, go for it. Emma has made it super easy to enter, too; just comment which one you want, that's it. I'm also adding more to the eBay shop today, and, after that, I'm sitting down to put those Greek charms to some kind of use.

Or at least let the rain fall from the sky, as if one could stop it. It's been precipitating since yesterday afternoon, started as snow and then proceeded to melt as the temperature rose. The white stuff on the ground also started as snow, but now that the temperature has risen, it turned into mush . . . well, a top layer of mush and a bottom layer of ice. Fantastic. Actual footage of me as a bear I also made a mistake when I went to get more charm materials yesterday. I'm adding letter charms to the collection, but I wasn't paying attention when I put the packs in my basket. The pack of silver letter charms are the Greek alphabet, from alpha to omega. So if you're a math geek, I've got you covered. I'm considering keeping a theta charm as a reminder that I made it through calculus. I was planning on riding today too, but the indoor flooded. Miss S is worried that one of the sprinkler pipes might have burst. Just another expense in the most expensive ...

Because I feel like I give Baby a new nickname every day, and I have no idea how you all are keeping up at this point. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Every horse seems to have at least three names: the “real” one, the barn one, and that special one. What are some of your pony’s names? Okay, well, she's registered and shown as For Unlimited Pleasure, which will always be an awkward name no matter how you explain it. When Miss S bought her, we considered changing her name to something other than Baby because, at the time, we had two babies on the farm, and some confusion ensued. My nicknames for her: - Babes - Queen B - The Dork And I know that there are numerous others that have come and gone, but I just can't remember them. "My name is 'Baby', get it straight." Eh, nah.

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Tomorrow will be the third consecutive day off of school because of snow, and while I appreciate more time to do the homework that was going to be due on Tuesday, I just don't want to go through another day at work (although I could use the cha ching). Seniors don't even have to make up these days at the end of the year, but I know teachers are going to pile on the work because of the curriculum and just, gah! I'm not looking forward to that. On a good note, Miss S is planning on getting charms for all the school horse bridles (with Baby being an exception cause she's already blinged out), and I'm taking them to the community tack swap. With that being said, anything on eBay that doesn't have a bid or isn't sold by February 27th will go to the tack swap for in person sales. If you know me in person (which would be quite terrifying as this blog shows my weird sides), and you would like me to hold a charm for you to buy at the swap, just tell me at some poin...

I plan on moving Florida when I'm older because I cannot handle this. We got anywhere from 6" to 8" of snow last night, which means no school today (or tomorrow). I spent a couple of hours working at my mom's place, then I head over to the barn. Even though I hate snow, I think it looks super pretty, and I've been dying to get pictures in the snow. I groomed the pon and we head out. She was mildly cooperative. After that, I threw her in a stall in the indoor (which she did not like) so that I could set up some exercises if we actually get in a real ride this week. I'm jumping on the polework bandwagon. It looks super fun (and super difficult), but it was suggested as a way to teach her to engage her back end. I have both trot and canter poles set up, some elevated, some on the ground, plus a curve. It's gonna be fun. I was going to putz around on her bareback, but then I decided that I was too lazy to do that, so I just lunged her, a...

After a bit of headache and some hopeful thoughts, I finally have charms available for sale on eBay, and they actually show up in searches. I panicked a bit after I initially posted them and couldn't find any of them unless I went directly through my account settings. Everything has to be indexed before it shows up in the searches. A few days later, they were there! Besides eBay settings, I also had to set up the PayPal, which meant setting up online banking, which was not a very fun experience and took three tries to complete. Nevertheless, everything is done, and I am happy. I only have a couple up right now, but I have pictures taken of almost the entire collection (I make five or so a week and do pictures every so often). For custom charms, please email theambitiousequestrian@gmail.com.

It appears that the Corbinator 4.0 has been recalled; instead, today we met Corbinator 3.5, all with sass with, like, 90% of the speed. Honestly, today on the flat was probably the laziest he's ever been, minus two spooks. The only thing he was trying hard to do was hang on me when I asked him to move faster than the pace of dying grass. His real energy came out during the warm-up fence, which we did two or three times. Then, when we went to do a little course, he dropped back. However, I wasn't expecting that, so I didn't have much leg on. We got so deep to that fence it might as well have been poetry. He went up, I went up, he came down, I crash landed and had to pull my feet out of some tricky places. I did, however, hit my stomach fairly hard on the pommel of the saddle, which resulted in necessary deep breathing and some ab soreness. Of course, today was the day that we did heavy no stirrup work. The mid-section is on fire. Even Gabe turns to look at our failure....

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I have a mild obsession with Ariat as in I won't put anything else on my feet. Ariats have super duper quality at super duper prices. I wouldn't have gone with another boot when I needed up upgrade from my cheapo show boots. Image from SmartPak Equine Granted, I couldn't go with much else. I have a hard to fit calf. It's slightly too large for a regular width calf, but the difference is enough that a regular calf will not go up without a struggle, and it won't feel good while it's on. Fortunately, the Heritage Contours have a stretch panel. It has just the right amount of give for me. I get my zipper up without any issue, and it's a comfortable boot to ride in . . . after the break in process. Yes, Ariats are known for taking a while to break in and stretch out. Mine were no different. It took maybe two months worth of weekly lessons and a couple of shows to fully break them in. Now that mine are well used, they are comfortable to wear for lengthy...

She has faith that I can watch horses school yet doubts my ability to keep a pair of pants clean. Trainers never cease to amaze me. I had my last show before regionals today. I qualified over fences, but I can't qualify on the flat unless I get a first place at my fifth show; I decided that it wasn't worth the price because there was no guarantee. I'll save money by doing one class anyway. I pulled Skipper over fences and Autumn on the flat. Skipper is your average Quarter Horse, laid back and prefers to not do anything. He was definitely the easier ride of the day. The crop helped. He was a little lazy during the warm-up, but after that he was great. I barely had to ask him for his simple changes because he would just respond to outside leg. I had one distance that I wasn't sure about, and I held on too tight with my thigh, but it was an okay course. I got third.   On the flat, I knew that I wasn't going to do well from the start. I missed my fi...

Introducing the all new Corbinator 4.0. This newer version of the Corbinator makes the old one look like a blessing. With its state of the art resistance to leg and a nack for running at fences, it'll teach you the meaning of sit-and-whoa. Stay in and you'll be the envy of the eq ring. At just the price of taking care of it (and your sanity), the Corbinator 4.0 is the perfect gift for that one barn brat that thinks they're special just because they rode a green horse once. If you like taking out strides, riding on the seat of your pants, and being thrown out of the tack on lead changes, call now and ship your new Corbinator today! The Ambitious Equestrian, T. A. Eyo ¥, and her associates are not responsible for any harm that comes to you, your property, or others in your property at the hooves of the Corbinator 4.0. *Pants not included I'll stick with the old version of the Corbinator. At least that one made me look good. In most cases, I get easily bothe...

Since I plan on working Baby up to 3'0" as the season goes on, I've made a plan regarding what classes I will do at each show. It's subject to change, but I like having a base timeline to follow. May 16th 14-17 Medal Jr. Equitation @ 2'6" May 17th Low Children's Medal 14-17 Medal Jr. Equitation @ 2'6" June 6th Hunter Derby @ 2'6" w/ high options 14-17 Medal Jr. Equitation @ 2'6" June 7th Hunter Derby @ 2'6" w/ high options 14-17 Medal Jr. Equitation @ 2'6" June 20th Low Hunter @ 2'9" 14-17 Medal June 21st 14-17 Medal Junior Equitation @ 3'0" July 18th 14-17 Medal Junior Equitation @ 3'0" July 19th 14-17 Medal Junior Equitation @ 3'0" Medal Finals (date is up in the air for now) 14-17 Medal Final Junior Equitation @ 3'0" MHSA & MAEF finals TBA I'll throw some pony medal on Molly in there somewhere, probably the second ...

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To cut to the chase, horses ain’t cheap, but there are ways to make it more affordable, so here are my tips. Feel free to add more ideas in the comments. I hope to have this post be a good reference point for equestrians looking for assistance. Affordable Riding Working off lessons : Depending on how often you ride, the cost of lessons can add up very quickly. Ask your trainer about working off some of your lessons. Stall cleaning and pasture cleaning are especially time consuming, and allowing students to take lessons in exchange for work can be cheaper than hiring a barn hand. Working for free rides : This is the same as working for lessons, except you can simply come out and ride whenever you like, or under the circumstances that your trainer/barn owner sets. Affordable Showing Limit your classes : Yeah, it’s pretty simple. Pick out divisions and classes that challenge you and will help you progress. It’s a matter of prioritizing. Do it yourself : On my show bil...

Since I actually put my stirrups to a decent length today, I rode like I kind of knew what I was doing. I was on Leo today which meant I got to use the cheese grater stirrups. Why keep weight in your feet when you can just nail the iron to your boot? I'll admit it, I took advantage of the graters; Leo did one fantastic canter transition when we first started, then the rest were just me throwing my outside leg back trying to get some sort of forward motion. Outside of our usual walk, trot, canter, Miss J threw in some no stirrup work at the sitting trot. She also had us pick up our stirrups while trotting which didn't work for me. weeeeeee We got to do some jumping too, but it was small stuff because, apparently, at the last show—which I was not at, let the record show—everyone was barreling through the rollbacks. For that reason, turns were the focus for today. The first turn was the brick to the green, ya know, the thing that I screwed up entirely on my first IEA less...