Whirlwind Weekend

So, I had an eventful weekend. Why, one may ask… Let me tell you.
On Saturday I rode. I did horse stuff all morning. In actuality, I didn’t ride nearly as much as I should have given the time that I spent out there. I started my day with feeding CZ’s barn (one horse, one pony and two goats). After that, I headed over to the jumper barn down the road. I had to pick up London’s bridle. He’s been using Opie’s bridle since he’s been home, and it really bothers me to share between horses. What if we wanted to ride Opie and London at the same time?
As it happens, I took London for a ride with my mom (she rode Opie… See? I can’t share). He’s much happier as a hunter jumper. No more third level dressage for that horse… He’d rather go in a training level frame, long and low. And you know what, it’s a lot more fun riding him when he’s happy. Who knows, I’m even toying with the Idea of taking hunter lessons on him. Why not try it when I have a horse who seems to enjoy it? Obviously, it would be beginner stuff, but then I don’t know how to jump so beginner stuff seems fine and dandy to me. And it would be really nice to actually show sometime in the next year or so….
After the barn, I went to the Poodle Rescue of Houston. Did I mean to come home with a dog? No. Did I come home with a dog? Yes. Oops… But honestly it’s not a surprise. So now my little ‘family’ consists of me, Tempi and now Ronnie (formerly Bison. Who would name a poodle Bison? Seriously?). Anyway, he is not a prime example of good poodle breeding. He’s a “meaty” poodle. His legs look a little short, or his body looks a little long, it’s hard to tell which. His tail and his dew claws weren’t docked. But he’s a silver phantom, so he looks distinguished. Of course, by getting a poodle from a rescue, I knew I would be signing up for a variety of behavioral issues. BUT so far he seems to be simply unexposed to situations. He doesn’t come to his name (either one), and he lifts his leg on any number of things (but he’s getting better about that). He seems so thrilled to be out of a cage, that he just runs when let outside. I’m kind of worried that he’ll run right out to a road. Thankfully my house is totally fences with mesh horse fence, so he has three acres to just run but I did have one episode of chasing him down Clapp road. I don’t know if he was scared that I was going to punish him, or just joining the game, but he wasn’t stopping. Fortunately riding several horses a day put me in better shape than a dog that’s lived in a kennel for nearly a year. Who would have thought, right?
Anyway, now I have a new ‘training project’ to add to my Blog. Say Hello to Ronnie. I’m sure I’ll have more to write about him.

All of this, and I haven't even touched on Sunday which was the Church auction with Ed and my Dad and RC's uber abscess. I was really worried about it being a tendon since his leg looked all blown up, but when I brought him to the vet on Monday, my favorite Doctor Will took a look at him, blocked his foot, took some x-rays and declared it the largest abscess he's seen in a while. Will dug the abcess out, which he described in detail when I came by to pick RC up in the evening (I know, I know... but now that i have a REAL job too, I have to be one of those owners that drops horses off and picks them up after work). Evidently it was the icky black true abscess type pus, not the watery liquid type pus. Thanks, Will... Now I have to wait before eating dinner.

No hoof, No horse....

Caution: Dangerous Curves

Last weekend was yet another MD clinic. And I learned that I am still not doing enough right. Who would have thought that Dressage is more then just sitting up there and looking pretty? And who is better to pound that lesson into my poor sore body then AT the UberJerk. This sport doesn't have a learning curve, it's a learning slalom course.
Since RC is out with a tendon injury, I rode AT and Delight. AT was pulling out tricks left and right. He spent the whole 45 min all three days trying to thwart me. Catch his shoulder, find his inside hind, lower his poll, rinse and repeat. What a dork. He's teaching me to prepare, prepare, prepare though. I cant just sit back and let him do it for me (drat!), because he wont. Lots of learning there...

Today I shall make mistakes in the flying changes.....


And Delight was learning how to pay attention to me, even if there is something going on over there. We only had one "pony says NO" incident, so I'll call this weekend a win for her. She's getting there, but like always, the steps seem so small. One of these days she'll be an adorable little diva dressage pony....

Oh, and London came home. Mom is thrilled... and so is he.

Horse Person?

So, this week I am reevaluating my goals. Why? Because having horses is a lot of work!

My mom went up north to pick up my new truck for me (dont feel bad for her. She wanted to go). My dad went to Austin. So where does that leave me, and why does it matter? That leaves me at my house with three dogs and two barns of horses to take care of. It wears me out.
Truthfully, it wouldnt be so bad if RC wasn't in rehab for a tendon injury. How can one horse (with a sore leg) churn poop into his shaving so fast? Long story short, I havent been able to ride nearly as much as I would like due to all the cleaning-and the fact that now it gets dark before eight. Stupid fall. On the plus side, I've ridden Opie twice, just because she's awesome. And stress free.

Which leads up to a clinic this weekend! With my cranky pony :)

Dressage Pony

So...last weekend was Delight's first show! She wasnt actually signed up to show, but RC injured a tendon while I was at the Region II championships being support crew. So, instead of scratching, I changed RCs rides over to Delight and entered her in Intro A and B. I was a little nervous that she would be a naughty pony (she has been before), but she took it like a champ. What a wonder pony. Topsider Dressage is a one day show, so my day started at 4am. Ouch. I got the trailer and my mom ou to the barn, fed everyone and started braiding. AT's mane is so easy to braid, its nice and thin so no pulling is needed! Unfortunatly, I used rubber bands, and he thought that it was spiffy the way he could make them snap by rubbing on the stall at the show. What a jerk. As it would turn out, I used up all of ATs good graces earlier in the week. My 1-4 test consisted of warding off flying changes and catching his shoulders Every. Single. Stride. I didn't think that the flying changes were even possible in the trot. AT thinks otherwise. Jerk. My 2-3 ride was much more subtle, but he was still pulling out all of the stops. That horse can try a different evasion every stride. If he put half that energy into doing well, he would be unstopable. Oh, and have I mentioned that he's 23? That was the first half of my show. The second was Delight. I got her braided (they werent very pretty,since I didnt have her mane pulled). I didnt think that I was going to show her until next spring! She was a star about everything. Her only flaw was that she was trying to look at everything in and around the arena, so her head wasnt steady or collected (she's three!). No matter, She was adorable!

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.