We Came, We Saw, We Survived

I am not wearing white breeches.  I figured that white was not a smart idea in the rain and mud.  Good thing.

 The show was quite interesting.  The positives included the fact that Chili hopped right on my friend's trailer at 10pm at night and traveled like a boss.  Another positive is that no one died.

Downsides was that it rained.  It was wet.  It was windy.  It was really, really cold.

I had the first ride of the day and Chili did well in her warmup.  Unfortunately, due to the first ride, I didn't have much time to expose her to the full sized dressage court and the scary judge's house at the end of the ring.  When I was trying to school her down there before I went into the ring, a runner shooed me off and told me I couldn't be down there.  OK...

So, we went into the ring and the geometry wasn't very good on the far end of the ring.  The halt was a bit of a sprawl and stare.

But, we went and survived.  :) 

I then rode another mare Madison who was also not especially thrilled with the subpar weather conditions I was riding in, however, she did do her best to oblige.

She has been schooled in a more typical Arabian fashion with a tightly curled neck and martingale.  Whenever she got a bit anxious at the show, she would curl back and get tense.

However, I think she has great potential since she had a great attitude and a lot of try.  :)

After my two dressage classes in the morning, I retreated back under some shelter, trying to burrow under every blanket, sheet, and cooler I could find.

There was a tiny indoor about 60' x 60' (maybe) present on the property.  The management decided to move some of the later classes in this indoor because several of the classes were therapeutic classes and it didn't seem appropriate to subject those individuals to the miserable weather outside.

They also decided to move dressage trail, equitation, and suitability inside. 

Madison

I rode Madison, the other mare, in equitation and suitability.  She did wonderfully and the judge kindly talked to us after the fact about my equitation flaws, namely the fact that I turn my toes out.  Not sure where I picked that up along the way, but feedback is very useful indeed!

I then rode Chili in dressage trail.  It was a bit tricky because there were supposed to be 20 meter circles and such, which wasn't particularly easy in that small of an indoor, complete with obstacles. 

A couple of our halts took place right over the trot poles.

But I'll say that Chili handled all of the obstacles well.  There were trot poles, an "L", turns on the forehand/haunches, halts, and variations within gaits.  A nice introductory for sure and she got third with some positive comments. 

So overall, I consider that a win.  We came, we saw, we survived the coldest June horse show I've ever attended!

Meet Madison & The Extra Horse

I enjoy Facebook like many people do.  I saw an ad posted for a safe, quiet Arabian mare and instantly thought that she might be wonderful for my friend's therapeutic riding center.

The horses there primarily are Arabians, Morgans, and Morabs (Arabian/Morgan), so another Arabian would fit in perfectly.

So my friend & I set a date, met up, and went to the farm to see Madison.

She was a doll to ride.  Went everywhere I posted her quietly and was just easy going about standing around while the trainer and I chatted.

The farm where Madison was kept is also a busy facility, both training show horses as well as foaling out mares.  Who could resist a trip to go see the foals?

So we wandered up to see the mares & foals.  We also went through the paddock to see a Quarter Horse gelding for sale that might be of possibly interest to my friend's lesson student.

While I was walking through the paddock, this older grey mare kept walking up and putting her head on my shoulder.  I scratched her, petted her, gave her some attention and tried looking at the Quarter Horse. 

She was relentless.  

She tried sucking up to my friend as well.

So, an offer was made and somehow two sweet Arabian mares made their way to the farm.  There is still a bit of a joke about the "extra" horse, since it certainly wasn't in the plan to buy a 20 year old (!), but sometimes horses pick you.

Setting the Bar

Lots of things to catch up on, but as always, I'm trying to set the bar high.

Also known as trying to eat an elephant.

I am scheduled to go to a dressage schooling show this weekend.  I am glad it is just a schooling show, as who knows how things will work out.

I am just bringing Chili.  However, I am planning on showing two horses owned by a friend.

One is Alex, the amazing auction horse who is previously mentioned on this blog.  I will try and link back to him. 

The other is Madison, a horse that deserves her own blog post.  Suffice it to say, I had an adventure a couple weeks ago, which culminated in a new horse for my friend's program.  She is very sweet and I hope it will be a great show!

Madison, Alex, and Symphony.  I will be showing Madison & Alex

So far this is my plan:

Show Schedule

Intro A (Chili & Madison)

Training Level (Chili)
Dressage Equitation (Chili)

Western Dressage Trail (Alex)

Doesn't look too bad on paper.  Too bad there are three patterns to memorize! 

Wish me luck as I keep setting the bar high!

Happy Birthday Chili!

Can't believe the little spunk is four already!

 New saddle seems to be working out well so far.  I had some minor spooks and awkward moments with Chili when the horses were running around outside throwing sand against the indoor arena.  Nice thing is that the saddle certainly seems to put me in a better place to sit out the spooks.  ;)

This is seriously how she looks while grazing all the time.  Not angry ears, but she is kind of a dork.

Hopefully will give a couple more test rides with the Filly and the Mare tomorrow to draw my final conclusions, but so far seems like a winner to me!

And Happy Birthday to the little troublemaker who has brought me on so many journeys so far.  From a major horse show as a a yearling to a regional champion as a three year old, I am excited to see what our future holds.

Crazy Days aka The New Saddle

Time is precious and so very fleeting these days.  And such is that, I spent my day off Wednesday being a crazy person, as always.

I met up with a friend and went to a tack store a few hours away.  I have known the owner for more than ten years and she has always been very kind to me.

A Haflinger a friend used to own

Well, I may have gone a little bit crazy and splurged for a new dressage saddle that finally fits my conformation.  I have always worried about the horses so much, that I haven't focused on what works for me as well.

When I was at an equine expo the other week, I tried several saddles and it became apparent on what was more comfortable for me.  It was easy to go into an easy two point, rising and falling in the center of the saddle, and just general lack of back pain, which I thought was a constant fixture in my life.

I unfortunately arrived home way too late last night to try it on the semi ferals, but I did get the chance to sit on a friend's lovely mare with it.  And yep, it feels nice!

Tomorrow is the big day to try it on both of the girls.  It has an interesting adjustable gullet that is super simple to adjust, so I'm anxious to post how the test rides go!

Pat Parelli and the Fair

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Midwest Horse Fair.

Sadly, I was disappointed in particular by one clinician there:

Pat Parelli

One evening, I was back in the barns with a friend relaxing after a particularly stressful day.  We were discussing round pens for sale and decided to wander into the stallion avenue barn to look at the sales demo that was set up there.

Pat Parelli was warming up for the evening show in the arena.  That was fine.  He was riding one horse and had another horse loose with him.  OK.

So he exits the arena and rides right down the middle of the pedestrian walkway through the pavilion.  Riding in a pedestrian walkway (marked in a VERY LARGE SIGN that says No Equestrian Traffic) is bad enough, but the loose horse is with him.  The stallions are getting riled up.

There are still people in these barns.  There are people appropriately in the pedestrian walkway.

I am disappointed that someone that is supposed to be teaching others chose to be a poor example and put people in the pavilion at risk.  Not all the people at the expo were horse people.  Many are not.  Trust me after a weekend of people trying to feed fingers to horses, it is apparent that plenty don't have horse knowledge.

How can a clinician that makes a lot of money selling information to (often) newcomers, can not realize the danger of his actions?

I am so very disappointed by this.

What's even more disappointing is that this wasn't an isolated event.  After reading on Facebook, apparently other Parelli trainers also present also rode through the pedestrian walkway.  Why?  What's it to prove besides to endanger individuals present?

Reflection: Star

 There are always those weeks when you think about the past, about the what could have been, and how it relates to the now.

Star was my first Arabian mare.  It's such a romantic story that an individual and his or her first horse grow together and everyone learns and there's a happy ending.

There's not always a happy ending, but in this case, I am glad for my time with Star, however brief.

I learned how to handle a sensitive horse.  She was not what I would call a hot horse, but one that wanted to understand what was being asked before being forced.  Less was more. 

The more you fought, the more she fought. 

She came into my life at an ideal time.  I was angry.  I was sad.  I was upset and broken from severe depression in high school.  I'm sure this horse looked at me and saw an incredible conflict of confusing signals.

I, of course, was confusing at first to her.  I was used to almost pushing horses around.  I grew up working with often spoiled horses and was used to calling out bluffs, riding out nasty behaviors and then going on with life.  

Totally different situation here.

I learned.  She changed me.  I hope I changed her life too.

I miss her.  There are days that I wish I could just have her back. 

I love my girls now dearly, don't get me wrong, but Star was quirky, but quirky in many ways like mean I think.

So sometimes the heart hurts.  But I hope this is always for the best.  But thank you Star for all you had to offer.