Another Season

Well, it's August, which means that summer is nearly over... right? Oh I hope so. It's been miserably hot for two months now. I cant go outside without sweat pouring off of me (pleasant, right? And they say that dressage riders are prissy), let alone work a horse or three.
But I'm not writing this to complain today. Nope. I am writing because this might be my best week on record.
1) I leased London to a young rider at a hunter barn. Now not only is someone else riding him at the level he prefers (long and low), I'm getting paid for it! Win-win! It's admittedly a little nerve wracking to send my Dutch boy away, but it's only two miles so I can stop by and see him as often as I like, and he seems blissful with the easier work.
2) I sold Larry, my trusty truck. I had just rolled over 240K miles, and the repairs were getting too frequent for my piece of mind. I even have the next vehicle lined up (crossing fingers that nothing falls through). I love it when everything works out.
3) I got a raise this week. Well, not an official raise, but I got a benefits package. Yippie! Money! Who wouldn't celebrate about that? Seriously?
And to top things off, I have a clinic today with MD in Katy. Yay... I hope. I'm not sure what the plan is, but I'll be working the Prima-donna pony and RC this weekend. Both have made progress this summer (whew). I can even keep the prima-donna pony in the arena (mostly) in the canter. Yay.

Trying Something New

So... Today I have tried something new. Kind of. I was supposed to have my first hunter/jumper lesson, and I brought London to try it out with. I figured the this place is less then ten miles from my barn, why not try it out ant see if London would be able to hop over a few ground poles.
As it woul dhappen, my lesson turned in to everyone oohing and ahhing over London ( finally! Someone else loves my horse!). We did a few jumps, nothing high, but london LOVED it. Then the trainer uttered those agical words "Can he go long and low?"

Can he go long and low..... He lives to go long and low!

Well, the long and short of it all. In two days, I'll be bringing London back.... for a potential lease. This is certainly something new...

Trying Something New.

Checking back in...

So… I know, it’s been a long time. In the meantime, I’ve had lamenesses, colic, lacerations and horse shows. This year is not going as I might have planned.
BUT, this last weekend was a MD clinic, so now I think I'm finally in the right frame of mind to get down to the business of riding (correctly). I had two days of lessons with RC and one lesson on Delight. That one was interesting.
Let start on RC. He’s coming back from foot issues, so he’s really had about two months off, leaving him porky, out of shape and easily winded. But he still tries very very hard. (Adorable). It seems that I’m chasing him out of balance and forcing him to run through my hands during transitions because I’m balanced too far forward on my pelvis and not enough back on my pockets. By that, I don’t mean that I need to sit like a reining trainer schooling sliding stops as much as I need to not tilt forward like a frightened saddleseat rider. Crap, it’s my fault again.
Day two with RC was much better than day one. There wasn’t nearly as much tenseness in the neck or trying to pop me off of his short little back when going into the canter. It was almost the RC of old… just about 200 pounds heavier.

Now for Delight. My third and final lesson was on the Diva pony herself. She spent the night at the clinic site, which was a new and different experience for her, but I’m told she handled it well. I had to work that night, so it was up to Mom and Court to deal with all that. Of course, she is only three so working hard in a brand new location was not to be without its kinks. Those kinks turned out to be three very large, very forward bucks in the canter. You know they were big because all the railbirds got quiet. As it would turn out, Delight objects to being corrected. Especially when she thinks that she’s doing everything correct. It is amazing how hard that little pony can buck… By the last buck, I was without stirrups and clinging to her mane while trying to stay in the center of the saddle and keep her in the arena.
What she actually worked on was not nearly as entertaining, I’m afraid. We worked on not letting her shoulder lean either in or out. Straightness is an issue with these young horses, it would seem. After that, we worked on getting her trot bigger and more forward. I do believe that my dark little pony in her bright pink saddle pad was the envy of the group. What a nice feeling, having a horse that other people actually like…. And now I have a little over a month to get RC into shape for the next show… GULP.

New Projects

So, today I added to the managerie already living at the farm. I'd like to officially welcome Ed to the herd.
I woke up later (cut me some slack, I worked til 2am yesterday) then I had planned, took my mother to breakfast at Hard Times, then we went to EG's to pick up the cows. EG had called earlier to let me know that they were penned and ready for removal (not quite in those words), so I hooked up the trailer and went out to go collect the new herd. As it would turn out, cows can ruin even the best laid plans. Due to a party at EG's neighbors, the cow had jumped, yes jumped, out of the pen, leaving little Ed all by himself. When I got there, backed up the trailer and got ready, we then had to figure out how to get Ed out of the round pen into my trailer with myself, my mom and EG, who's 80-something. Not as easy as I would have hoped. After quietly chasing Ed around the pen a few times, at the walk, we resorted to Plan B (not the birth control). We brought in some chain link panels forming an L parrallel to the round pen, leading to the trailer. Ed was having none of that and promptly ran through it, knocking the light weight pannels to the ground. On to Plan C: food. Unfortunatly Ed also didnt know wha the rattling feed bucket means, so that was slow going, tossing out pllets making a little path back into our chute.
Fail Again.
So we gave it a rest, singe Ed was starting to get aggitated and think about charging. No one needs a 500# pissed off bull, even if he is young. EG called his neighbors to come help, and we changed out panel configuration. Noe the pannel led straight into the trailer, instead of forming an L. It took, not 5 min for Ed to pop up into the trailer and us get the doos closed. Go figure.
Now he is out and in our little horse pen, not running and lowing nervously, but alternatly eating and napping. Not a high stress cow... i mean, bull. Now all I hve to do is teach him what a feed pan means, and possibly teach him to lead... Good luck with that. The equine herd isnt quite sure that they know what to make of him yet... Give them time.

What blog named "Poodles and Ponies" can pass it's self off if it doesnt include the occasional picture of Tempi being a dork? Here she is, cooling off in rain water in a decorative pot on the proch after an hour of fetch. What a smart poodle....

Settle Down...

Well, I have been graduated and moderatly employed for about four months now. And it's not quite as much fun being an adult as I thought it would be. Seriously. I spend alot of time tired. It doesn't help that the my commute is roughly 100 miles, round trip. It takes me about an hour to get to work. Two whole hours of my day. Wasted. Makes me sick... Well, in all reality, it makes me more tired then sick.
To be fair, I like my jobs. For the most part. The paperwork at the clinic sucks, but I'll get the hang of it eventually. And the engineering job is just a little nerve wracking because it's new. Give me a few months and it'll all be old hat, I hope. The huge plus side of my engineering job is that I have time to ride both before and after work. It's a helluva long commute, but I know my hours (and sometimes I get out early) where at the clinic my 8-5 hours are more realisticly 8-7. Blah. That doesnt leave a whole lot oftime or energy to ride.

Anyway, on my "I'm tired after a long day at the vet's" day ride, I took Delight for a field ride, with Mom and Sonnet for moral support. It was Deli's first trail ride in the big field and all the hay was laying down in the field. Scary stuff, but Deli was a pro, just striding along like a wonderpony.

So, all in all, how is life right now? In the words of Dierks Bentely "I could settle for a slow down". I'm exhausted.

Winds of Changes

So there are some changes around and about me.... Well, not about me, per se, but around me. For one thing, I am now dually employed. Neither of which pay enough and the commute to both sucks ass. But I have two jobs, so things could be worse. I could have no job...
Other changes... cows. We are adding to our little ranch. Say hello to Ed and friend. The cow doesnt have a name yet, so i'm open to ideas. Fire away.

Ed.

She needs a name.....