Sincerely Paige

Bipolar Pony

2012-02-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

So Pony's mysterious illnesss/fatigue has randomly gone away with no help from the vet.

However.

She now has the opposite problem..she's all like.....
"HOLYCANNOLIBATMANSQUIRRELONCRACK!!!!!"

I'm convinced she's actually bipolar...

Crazy Busy Craziness...

2012-02-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

So Life is absolutely insane right now....
School. Mom. Brother. School. Riding. School. Vet. School. Bills to Pay. and last but not least....School.

But pony oony pastaroni has been an angel lately!
Her collected canter feels like floating on a cloud...floating on a fucking cloud.
She can now stay collected and actually complete a circular less-than-10-meters circle and it feels wonderful!!
Canter pirouettes will not be a problem for her at all... Extended trot, that however will be a problem...
We are training third level and can barely get a medium trot...its sad. I actually have videos of us trying to get a medium trot with my trainers voice in the background saying "thats just depressing...well atleast its only two scores"

But anyway in other news India is very tired....all the time. At first I was all like "well she has been working really hard i'll just give her a couple days off" but she was just as tired as before. She doesn't look sick, she isn't sore i massaged her entire spine/neck/poll/hocks/...face, and she looks fine on the ground. But under saddle she has NO energy. She's not droppingtothegroundrightnow! tired but she just has no energy, so the vet-icles is coming to look at her on wednesday.
I'll keep ya'll posted.

Me and Pony :D

2012-01-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

TADA!! Bitx2

2012-01-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well It Came In!! and it fits!!! the only issue i've had is the bits....

We bought a bridoon that looks more like a snaffle, and i can't decide if the bridoon is super huge or if india's mouth is just really tiny....which is a viable possibility, she is quite dainty and lady-like.

And the other issue was directly related to me being a No0b. I put the curb chain on over the bridoon instead of behind it, Duh!! So that got fixed right after this picture.

I didn't really ride her in it i just got on bareback and let her doodle around and get used to multiple bits. She did fine, and as i'm a pretty proficient bareback rider we even did a little dinky western pleasure canter and trot.

Now....to oil the shit out of it....

Lesson with boobhead ;)

2012-01-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

Progressions and Overexcitement.

2012-01-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well new year, fresh start..... you know...all that jazz.

BUT!!

More important is the progress me and fancy pants have been making as of late.
I've really been cracking down on the fact that she cannot flip a shit everytime we do a transition. That just can't happen, so we've been doing canter-trot transitions till the cows come home. And i might be getting a little too excited about them...
And by that i mean everytime we did a really good one there might or might not have been squealing and dancing.....maybe.
Which garnered lots of attention from the poor western riders around the barn, actually i take that back.
Which garnered lots of attention from ~~the poor western~~ all the poor riders around the barn. No one could figure out what i was so excited about. Because i mean i'm doing second level dressage edging into third level and i'm flipping out because my horse went from canter to trot!!

But when you really think about it, its true! it is funny that we get so excited over such small victories. But dressage is all about humility and if you can't squeal and dance over a canter-trot transition then Dammit!! Dressage would be the worst sport ever!!
I relish my squealing dancing time...

The other big news is the search for Indie's fancy smancy new double bridle :)
I think i've picked it out too, its the Padded Crown Swedish Weymouth Bridle from Dressage Extensions, at first i was scared to look there because they do kind of have a reputation for being very expensive, however i was pleasantly surprised to find that they had some of the cheaper weymouth bridles. And my favorite part of this bridle is it has lots of padding on the crown piece and not the browband. I mean... what?!?! padding on the browband?? Most browbands don't even touch the horse's head, and these bridle makers are sooo excited that the browband is padded? i just don't understand. Someone please enlighten me...

Karmas a Bitch

2011-12-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

So short story of the day brings me back to first grade,
where i was mercilessly teased and bullied because i loved horses and me and my friends would "play horse"
I remember on numerous occasions coming home from school sobbing because they were so mean.

Well a couple clicks on facebook took me to their pages, where i discover, with unsuppressed glee that they are now dating girls who ride horses. Not only do they ride horses but they drag their boyfriends (the jerks who were so mean to me) to said horse shows, in the cold, the rain, and the blistering heat where they are employed at the lowest levels on the groom spectrum.

Their girlfriends all do hunters and not even good hunters, i'm talking about low level schooling shows. I could kick their butts any day of the week, and i'm a dressage rider!!

karma is a bitch boys, karma is a bitch....

Rolled Leather.......

2011-12-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

My first experience with a rolled leather bridle was at a horse show and a friend of mine was running late and asked me to put her horse's bridle on. She handed me her bridle and dashed off to the tack room, well hopped off to the tack room as she was also trying to take her pants off at the same time, but i digress.

i go to put this contraption on her horse's head (she was using a snaffle though not a double) and he's having none of it, as i'm chasing this gelding around the stall, because the day before he'd broken his halter but even though he was a thoroughbred his head was gigantic! No one had a halter that would fit him *sigh*
When i finally catch him the bridle is so tangled i cant make heads or tails of it..... Still not sure how that happened........
However we finally figure it out and off she goes, that started my dislike of rolled leather.

And then i had to clean one....... lets just say i missed so many spots it didn't look like anyone had cleaned anything except for the noseband because this particular one had a rolled leather browband. Now the dislike had graduated to strong dislike.

Then theres the cracks. If you get a crack in one of these suckers your screwed because the cracked leather can be ripped apart with your hands, i know i accidentally ripped one.

Strong dislike is now hatred.....

Not to mention the fact that I think their ugly...... and that they make the horse's nose look huge. Ewww

Anyone else have any tack fashion hatreds?

Oh hello there horse of my dreams.....

2011-12-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

this sucker's by Blue Hors Don Romantic and is out of a Rambo mare. Unfortuantly he is sold to some super lucky person, that i am incredibly jealous of.
Oh well i guess i'll have to find another one like him :D
Horse Porn here I come!!

Bucephalus

2011-12-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

Once long ago there was a horse, this horse was black as coal and had an innate courage that could not be surpassed. Many tried to tame this horse, but their cruel methods could neither subdue him nor force his obedience. If the horse could not be ridden by a man then he would have to die, no one could pay to feed a useless horse. However this all changed the day the king’s son met this horse. He came using gentle methods to train the horse and horse learned to trust him. When the horse and boy could move as one, the boy gave the horse a name, Bucephalus. Bucephalus carried the boy, Alexander into battle, across deserts, and into new lands. Alexander conquered them all, and earned the name Alexander the Great. However Alexander never forgot Bucephalus, and when the mighty stallion died of battle wounds Alexander had him buried near a town that from then on bore the name of the horse buried there.

I have always been facinated by Bucephalus, and its always been my dream to own a horse that looks like him. Which is a little like saying "i wantz The black stallion!!!!"
Except lets face it Bucephalus is way more noble and mystical than the black stallion. ;)

Oh Pony...

2011-11-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Lately in the Land of India...

India has learned how to do a lovely collected canter on the left lead, she can even collect the canter a bit further and really sit her little tushy down. It is absolutely lovely and feels like she's floating over the arena, Ground.. who needs it!!

The right lead? not as much.. i'm still trying to convince her that she can collect that lead just as much as the left lead.

I'm sure its something that i'm doing, cause you know all horses can do grand prix dressage already... it's these darn riders that need to learn a thing or two!

India has also learned how to open my locker in front of her stall, and as you can see she loves to demonstrate for everyone. she's not dumb she knows where the treats are!

The funny part is she has now started to try and open everyone else's lockers! I was leading her to the wash rack and stopped to talk to a friend and wasn't paying attention to indie, in the middle of the conversation she starts laughing when i turned around india was trying to open friends locker and friends horse was pinning his ears and trying to nip her. Apparently Indie had encroached on his treat territory.

She has also apparently re-discovered the joys of throwing her food bucket into the middle of the aisle. The stablehands got so fed up with her that they tied her feed bucket to the wall, and can i tell you how impressive this knot is?!? If i ever decide to move that bucket its gonna take a bowie knife to get it off that wall!! Now she just picks the bucket up and throws it over the stall guard where it hangs outside her stall.

I swear this horses is too smart for her own good!

Its that time again....

2011-11-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

For new breeches.....
Today I made the astonishing discovery that i own exactly two and half pairs of breeches.
Half a Pair?? Yes you heard that right Half a pair...

So... Challenge for today is to write down your favorite breeches and why you like them in the comments

BusyBusyBusy

2011-10-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

Pony says "please excuse my human, I'm doing my best to train her to update my blog more, but she is a very slow learner.....poor thing"

Well India pants has been super fabulous as of late, second level is coming along nicely we are even starting on third level -insert girly squeal here-

She can now half-pass from the rail to center line at walk and to about quarter line at trot, and even take a couple steps at canter. But the big news is collected canter which before about two weeks ago was dismal. I've been really cracking down on my own riding and getting me right before i ask her for anything, and boy has it made a difference! She's getting to the point where i can baby collect her the entire time and can do about a third of a circle of super collected canter with varying degrees of collected canter in between. She finally figured out what i wanted was for her to bring her shoulders up and bend her hocks more, not just go slower and then race off afterwards. So now comes my favorite part...Strength Training!! Where i get to do lots and lots of transitions >:)

Canter-walk, canter-halt, halt-canter, walk-canter cant wait!!

Blog Award :)

2011-10-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Awarded by the lovely Megan over at Megan and Scarface, Thank you!!

So with this awesome award i have to reveal 7 things about me that you (the reader) does not know. So here it goes...

1. i am in fact at the moment typing with one hand and eating a micky dees salad with the other (talented no?)

2. My favorite movie is Tangled

3. India is my horsey soulmate, but you probably already knew that ;)

4. Last weekend i was an assitant teacher at a biomechanics clinic, and i taught a girl doing third level O_0

5. My favorite food is bread

6. i go to a "liberal arts school" thats why i get along with bre so well ;)

7. I love country music!

For Gogo and Andrea...

2011-10-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Recently Andrea over at Eventing-a-Gogo had to put this beautiful girl down.

I have never seen a person try so hard, emotionally and physically to make one horse as happy as they could be, as i have watched Andrea do for two years. She and Gogo were truly the best human-equine partners i have ever seen or expect to see again.

"Heaven is high and earth wide. If you ride three feet higher above the ground than other men, you will know what that means." ~Rudolf C. Binding

Rest in Peace Sweet Girl...

Lesson With Mama Francie :)

2011-09-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

Never Forget.

2011-09-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

On this day ten years ago, i was seven years old. Sitting in my second grade class room, learning something about grammer. My teacher Ms. Alexandra was called outside by the principal, we all started talking in our normal carefree second grade way, wondering why the principal was there and who was in trouble this time (my grade was always the ones causing trouble, no help from me of course)

When she finally walked back in her face was white and she was crying. You could have heard a pin drop.

Now looking back i feel very sorry for my teacher, how do you explain to seven year olds that two planes had just struck two towers in new york, towers that none of your class had ever even heard of. How do you explain that thousands of people died in these towers?

How do you explain that?

We of course all lost it and started crying, we thought they might fly a plane into our school. Strangely enough we weren't too far off. Our school was near one of the largest oil refineries in Louisiana, it was one of the possible targets for another attack.

All of our parents were called to come pick us up. I just remember my mom crying the whole way home, then turning on the TV and watching the towers, over and over again. She would turn it off when they showed the people falling, I'm glad she did i was too young to understand that. At home was when i began to understand how big a deal this was. That night i was too scared to sleep alone so i slept with my mom in her bed. I don't think i really understood what a tragedy this was.

Even now i feel guilty that i never felt the horror all the older people did, yes i was scared, but for me and my family. I never felt the loss of all the people that had died in the towers.
It wasn't until two years ago when they were replaying the footage that i broke down and everything really hit me.

To the victims of September 11th 2001.
I Won't Forget You.

Movie Time!!!

2011-09-04T19:14:00.001-07:00

Well the damn cord finally came in and then i lost the directions to upload the videos.......
So this little movie is the product of many hours in front of the computer cursing XD

Heather Clinic

2011-08-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well this post is really late because i wanted to wait for pictures and video from the clinic... however on the way back home the cord for the camera broke (it had a fight with a car door .... the door won) so instead i will post the video and pictures when the new less confrontational cord comes in. (fixed it!!)

"Well I would like to start off... Hi my name is meredith and i......am a heather addict."
"Hi meredith...."
We started off with my position, Heather had me "push my chest into her hand" which means leave your shoulders where they are and only move the.... uh front area of your chest forward. But you cant just push it forward and thats it you also have to engage the muscles right under your ribcage to stabilize the push forward.

This little nifty trick fixes lots of problems at the same time. It fixes my shoulders, i have a tendency to have a very round turtle-like shoulders, but by leaving my shoulders alone and pushing my chest forward it makes my shoulders go back and then stabilizes the whole thing so i can then keep my shoulders back. Thats always been a big issue for me.

Then we went on to collected canter, because i've been having issues with it. She told me that i needed to lean forward just a smidge on the up beat of the canter. And to engage my knicker tendons and anchor my knees on the saddle and pull my seatbones back more to encourage her to be more floaty in her movement and step higher rather than just get slower while weighting her front end. The difference was incredible, she didn't feel like her normal indie canter it was completly different. Lots of auditors commented on how different she looked, it was amazing.

"I hate to say it but....wait....no i don't"

2011-08-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

So i don't actually know this horses name.....so i have decided to call him/her.....Steve.

Steve says "Thank you PETA for your wonderful work in helping me not get slaughtered in the US, that was very thoughtful. However my idea of not getting slaughtered somehow did not include the image of me getting shipped off to Mexico and slowly bleeding to death. It also did not include me starving to death...

Thanks bitches!!"

And i quote:

"The GAO reports that what was supposed to decrease horse cruelty turned out to have a devastating effect on the welfare of horses and is now urging action on the horse slaughter stoppage as they have found that since the cessation:

Export of horses for slaughter to Canada and Mexico has increased by 148 and 660 percent respectively

A staggering 138,000 horses are still slaughtered each year, roughly the same number as before the cessation of domestic slaughtering, but under much crueler conditions

Prices of lower-to-medium priced horses decreased by 8 to 21 percent

The number of abandoned or neglected horses has increased by 60 percent "

Ummmm Hello!!! isn't this what most actual, knowledgeable horse people predicted would happen?? When a bill that relates to animals welfare goes across a desk does anyone in the big oval office, or even a secretary bother to consult people that have been in the business for a long time?? Who know what goes down and all the other dirty gory details?? Apparently not. If they had this whole mess could have been avoided.

Another little factiod about slaughter:
"Horses now travel significantly greater distances, while regulation on the transportation is very deficient as:

It allows movement of blind horses, heavily pregnant mares and injured horses

Double-decked trailers with ceilings so low that the horse injure their heads are commonly used

Horses are packed in so tightly, without segregation, that many horses are injured or even die during the ride

Lack of proper food, water and rest, cause exhaustion in journeys that last longer than 24 hours

It is often extremely unsafe and results in horrible accidents"

No Shit Sherlock......

CountDown: One Day!!

2011-08-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

One more day (counting today) until i get to ride with my idol!! :D I'm so excited you have no idea.

I'm also a little worried about making a good impression, gotta network ya know ;)

and right about now i really wish indie was in a double bridle...i know it sounds silly but a double is really like a statement item that says "pay attention, i'm serious about this" and not "i'mma doofus in a snaffle!!"

(I'm not hatin on snaffles though, they are God's gift to horse kind)

Like i said its really silly...So it got me thinking, and listening to Phil Collins, thinkin music right thur

And Dammit!! Phil Collins is Right!!

"You can't hurry *dressage*

No, you'll just have to wait

She said *dressage* don't come easy

It's a game of give and take"

So True Phil Collins....So True....

Quote of the Day

2011-08-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

"One day imma find me a straight guy that rides dressage.....and then im gonna marry him before anyone else can"

Amen Sister!!

Countdown!!

2011-08-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

The countdown to the Heather Blitz clinic is officially three days.....
And i still have to pack....
I really don't want to pack, but i was a good little PC'er and got all my horse stuff organized, my people stuff however.....not so much. The closest i got was i washed half a basket of dirty clothes (((drying them was not included) although i might want to wash them again cause i'm still getting sand and glitter out) loooong story)

So anywayyyy...... i'm so excited about riding with Heather!!!

I've met her about six times and she is so nice (she's also absolutely hilarious) she's also very expensive.... if i ever decide to take a lot of lessons with her i will have to be a working student, literally i can only pay for two lessons and thats four months worth of pay checks (i think i need a different job)

Oh! fun fact: the bay horse is Rambo, (a very successful grand prix stallion Heather rode) when i was about 6 or 7 we went to watch Heather ride and afterwards she let me wash him off (with help of course!) and feed him treats, sweetest stallion i ever met. The new resident stallion Willemoes? not so much.....gorgeous....yes......throws amazing chillens?......yes........good with human children?.....not so much.

One of my Bucket List items is to own a Rambo baby, they are very hot and sensitive, but so beautiful.

You may recognize this horse, he's by Rambo

But if you don't heres another picture

All i have to say on that subject is Todd had better give Heather a very heartfelt thank you

But now i'm off subject, so excited to ride with Heather!!!

First Level Test 3

2011-07-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

we stayed in the arena!! XD

USPC Championships 2011

2011-07-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well everyone :) It was awesome!!

May i point out.....second year in a row.....do i get a prize for that?!? XD

promoting the annual meeting, i'm one of the kids holding the DSR sign in the middle

Jog outs!!

Indie enjoying her stall at the kentucky horse park

Getting ready to ride :)

our adventure outside the arena during the freestyle

I got a 62%, 20%,58%, 61%
obviously day two wasn't good :P but we pulled it all together day three and got a 61% from a really really tough judge and i couldn't be more proud of my little paint pony :D

We got so many compliments it was amazing (my favorite was from a tiny little kid asking if i was going to the olympics) Everyone loved India!! :) it just does my heart good, and i haven't stopped smiling for days :D

Missississippi/Kentucky

2011-07-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

So basically whats been happnin is i was up in MS for a week as a working student, with Mrs Evie. i learned a lot getting to ride many different horses. And totally falling in love with a new horse named Walkman, who used to be an advanced eventer, and falling in love with Armani all over again!! And now we are in kentucky for Pony Club Champs. We moved into the barns today and i'm team captain....

Shoot Me.

But so far i havent set the whole barn on fire so i think it will be okay.
However why i really wanted to write today is because its been a hard week. And i have to warn everyone...i've been holding in all my whining for about three weeks...sooo get ready. And if your of age and are bound and determined to read this, i promise it will read easier with some alcohol.
Basically i've just been in a crazy estrogen-fueled roller coaster ride that doesn't have any high parts. there are two options: right side up and low and upside down and low.
I've felt like i can't do anything right, and i'm just a failure as a rider. Everyone else seems to be moving so quickly... logically i know their probably moving about as fast as me, but it sure doesn't feel like it.
All of a sudden i can't for the life of me do a change of lead through trot. Don't ask me why, i have no idea.
On a personal note; just went through a breakup, and finished two classes during the summer that the teachers weren't prepared to teach. And i'm totally surprised i passed.
Friends are going through really tough times, and i have a tendency to try and fix everything because i cant stand to see the people i love hurt.
Now i'm stressing out about Champs, i told one of my moms friends that i respect a lot that i'm stressed about it and she told me i'm too young to be stressed out. Which made me feel incredibly ignored, and makes me feel like i'm not being taken seriously.
I just want to be taken seriously.
and i'm just tired...
and i don't know why...
physically i've done way more than this, brain wise i've done way more than this. But for some reason i'm just really tired. I really wish i could just take a week and not do a single thing except go for hacks in a field. Also i'm so totally not looking forward to going back to louisiana. i really hate it there. It is the bumfuck of the horse world, its hot and humid and muddy and bug infested and i don't like it.
So basically thats the end of my rant the pony club rulebook is done printing and now i have to go accomplish 1000 other jobs.
Cest la vie.

We are da Bomb

2011-07-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

What i saw when i got on Delias website.

Just more proof that Equestrians are da bomb, and everyone else is just jealous ;)

How did i NOT know about this??

2011-07-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

There is a show just for ponies....with no age limit......
all i have to say is....when did this happen?!?! and why was i not informed???
They have all the levels from intro to Grand Prix, and its held at the kentucky horse park. and according to the website they just added musical freestyles, and by now all my minions should realize how much i LOVE riding musical freestyles. So much fun....

The ponies do however have to meet a height requirement, which is 14.2 1/4. And have to have a USEF and USDF membership. They also have special awards, like oldest pony and highest score from a current pony clubber and past pony club alum. They also have breed awards which is always nice.

So if anyone lives up near kentucky and wants to check it out, here is the website:
http://www.nationaldressageponycup.com/index.html

Into the land of.....Helmets

2011-06-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

So while i was in Dallas for a wedding we stopped in at the Dover store and bought a new helmet, because sadly my old troxel is dented and scratched and broken and has bits falling off....

its never good when parts of your helmet are falling off, or when someone comes into the barn after riding and hands you a big piece of black plastic and says "....umm this is yours, it came off your helmet while you were riding"

Nope not good at all. So even though i do love my troxel-ator it was time for a new helmet. After trying on lots of helmets that really didn't fit at all i succumbed to the inevitable and went to the "Charles Owens/IRH/GPA" Section. There i was greeted with a very nice young sales lady standing in front of a wall of suede covered protection. I slowly picked up a GPA, while the nice sales lady suddenly transformed into a vulture slowly craning her neck to check the price tag of the helmet i had picked up. I followed her gaze and saw the numbers "$584.89", I tossed the helmet back on the stand and stared at the sales lady, then quickly straighten the helmet in a manner any disney animator would have been thrilled to copy.

After that near fatal accident i was more cautious about what i picked up. I eventually fell in love with the IRH XR9, a beautiful piece of suede and awesome. So as i'm standing in front of this wall of sueded-protection clutching my prize, glad i've made it this far without being devoured by a rabid price-tag, i hear my 15 year old brother come up behind me "hey sis look at this i look like one of the SS!!" i whirled around just in time to see my little brother, poor naive child that he is, doing the hitler march with a 200 dollar charles owens skull cap on his head.

I look over at the counter where the other sales vultures have nested, to see them descending like a rain that never ends. My guess would be that its not good for business to sell skull caps with dents in them....or to have people doing the hitler march in the middle of their store.

"Stop marching!!.....and surrender the helmet!!" "but why?....." turns his head to see the never-ending rain of death swiftly approaching. "here you go!!" He tossed me the helmet, i stared at my impending doom approaching while clutching both helmets, then quickly replaced the skull cap on the rack. Then we both made a run for the counter, where i dumped the IRH helmet and a bottle of fly spray and said "i'll take these"

And Stay Away!!!

2011-06-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

India has a problem. She likes to flip her head and evade contact.

I've tried pretty much everything to fix it, nothing worked.

No allergies.

Got her teeth done.

No contact.

Lots of contact.

Tons of fly spray.
New bridle.
New Bit.
Nada.
Well i was riding today and the lady that owns the barn came up and said "you know i had a thought...what if the bit is sitting too low in her mouth?" well i had that checked before by the pony club nazis, they all said it was perfect. Well honestly by this point, what the heck we might as well try it...
The head flipping stopped. She flipped it a couple times but those were rider error and i know how to fix those. So i think she just likes it higher than the books say to put it. And honestly whatever makes her happy (with the exception of me just not riding) i'm up for it!!

Freestylin 2011

2011-05-25T16:37:00.001-07:00

DSR 2011

2011-05-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

So basically.......we kicked ass!!
1st: Horse management
1st: Overall
2nd: In the Freestyle
and winners of the "Mighty Fine Ride Trophy"

I rode first level (.....again) because last time was kinda fail, and i wanted indie to have a good experience this time. And she did so much better. She gets so nervous its hard to even keep her in the arena most of the time. And when she's nervous, she flips her head which results in comments like "unsteady" "unclear" "not submissive"
Despite some yucky comments, we actually did pretty good. Test one got a 62% and test 3 got a 63%. Although you have to note that the second judge scores lower than the first, even with that i think we did very good. Oh and the freestyle got a 71% !!
I tried to qualify again and qualified with my friend Kalie, who you can see on the video riding the cute little palomino. Cannot wait for Champs!! Especially since this will be my last one for pony club. Moment of silence everybody, moment of silence....

because it would be hard to qualify while I'm in ENGLAND!!!

wait a minute girl!!...England?? you don't live in England....
you are correct, i don't. i live in a proverbial flood plain down where de gators be..
so what the heck are you doing in England???
well dear reader, let me educate you...

England.

Home of...

Royalty and..

a strange obsession with being as creepy as possible....but saving the moment because they put pictures of the people they stalk on dainty tea cups

However!! England is also the home of...

Mary Wanless, who wrote...

Fabulous book.....

Anyways!! Mary teaches..

Heather Blitz, who is going to..

And she and P-monster will be awesome. End of discussion.

So dear reader i am, in fact, moving to..

To work with..

So that one day, i too, will not look like this..

Lazy lazy lazy.....Imma Bum

2011-04-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

And the reason imma bum is because apparently walking around the french quarter with a sick person is not conductive to being healthy..... who knew

So i went up to see my second Mother and David and to get two lessons :)

However since i'm being a complete bum i'm not going to give you, the poor readers a play by play but instead just write out my lesson notes, since i've never done that on here before. And who knows they might give someone who's never taken a Mary lesson some insight into her teaching methods......or at least i can hope

slingshot, seatbones away from knees

make X smaller point to opposite ears

make right board longer, jack up ribcage

lace up shoulders

button down front

beardown in lower back

lean forward from waist, bend at high pants line, bum doesn't move

beardown in bottom abs

right shoulder point toward left ear, and bring up

in leg yield lead horse out with outside rein

keep both seatbones plugged in, just think move over and if she stops get after her with leg then leave her alone

soccer ball under right arm

more beardown than reins

if you tell her to go and she doesn't kick multiple times rapidly

the "go" aid is one swift kick not a squeeze

For those of you who aren't familar with Mary Wanless, no one starts out with the stuff i just described i've been working with her for about seven years so this is the more advanced stuff, and i still haven't even scratched the surface XD

Why hallo thur!!

2011-04-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

So lifes been CRAZY lately what with exams (and prom! which i still don't have a dress for...) coming up, and making arrangements for mississippi movin :) and the fact that i got sick for a whole week and then the first day i felt better indie got a deep cut on her.....vulva. How did she hurt that part of her body?? I still don't understand what happened, the barn vet tech guy (whose clueless....) insists that she sat on wire and cut herself.

Number one:

ummm what?? sat on wire?? as you can see in the picture, i highly doubt she sat on wire.

Number Two:

what the hell aren't you telling me?? i would looove to know.

Number Three:

it probably happened when he once again turned the batshit crazy tennesse walker out in the wrong pasture, because i know that horse chases anything in sight and has gone after indie and me teeth bared going for the jugular

But i digress...

Other than that not a whole has been going on, i got indie's back worked on again by the lady that does accupuncture and chiropractics, and she was a lot better!!

Ie: Indie didn't try and kill the poor lady this time :)

and she taught me how to put her pelvis back in its socket, because it justs comes out that much

Putting a pelvis back in is very simple, you put your hands on top of the point of the hip and point then toward the horses front feet. Then you push and hold for a couple seconds and then push again but harder. And the hip will usually just pop right back in, but you might have to do it a couple times. The only thing is when i say it pops....i'm not kidding it sounds really loud. and i will admit that the first time i did it successfully, i totally freaked out and thought i had broken her...ooops XD

Why Horses?

2011-03-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

The other day some friend of my uncle's stopped by our house for some unknown reason. When i was introduced to her she paused a moment and looked at me funny, then asked "your the horse girl aren't you?"
"yes ma'am that's me" She then relaxed a little bit. "i never rode horses, but i wanted too. do you ride cowboy style?" "no ma'am i ride dressage, the saddle doesn't have a horn, and its kind of like ballet but on a horse" Blank stare. "we do the feet thing?" "Oh yes!!! the feet thing!! yeah" points at my uncle. "he told me about the feet thing!! what are your plans for riding?" "Well this summer I'm going to be a working student in Mississippi, and next summer I'm moving to England to ride there." She paused and her eyes got really wide.

"why in the world would you do something like that? you'll throw your life away!!"

I couldn't speak. I just stared at her. throw my life away, is that what she thinks I'm doing?
And the alternative is what? go to LSU like everyone else in my family. Become a nurse like everyone else is in my family. and stay here all my life popping out grandchildren.

So why am i moving thousands of miles away, across an ocean to ride horses? There are horses here.
Whats so special about dressage anyway? Wouldn't i rather stay here and have kids?

What is passion? no really what is it, why does it make us feel like we do? Why do people turn their backs on what society wants and devote their lives to horses? It can't be the money. As one of my friends so wisely put it "in order to make a small fortune in horses, you need to start with a large fortune." Why do people throw their money away to spend their lives with animals that only live about twenty years.
It cant be the fame. If theres one thing I've learned from horses its humility, and i promise you, i have a thick head and you can't imagine how many times I've been thrown onto my thick head for that lesson to sort of stick with me. It can't be because its a good investment for our futures, if there was a horseback riders nursing home the conversations would go something like this "hey Courtney how are you today?" "just fine
Guenter, except I'm really feeling that time my horse threw me and i fractured my skull" "aww really? I'm sorry, if it makes you feel any better i woke up this morning and could hardly get out of bed, my pelvis is acting up again!! must be from that fall" "oh hey Janet how are you?" -muffles something from body cast- "eventers, they just don't quit do they?" Because lets face it, besides extreme sky diving and rock climbing sheer cliffs, there's really not much that's more dangerous than riding horses.
It has to be something else.

For me its because, i feel freedom.
Pure unadulterated freedom. Freedom i can't get anywhere else.
Not at school. Not at the mall. Not a dance. Not a party. Not with a boyfriend, because come on girls, we all know boys are more of a hobby we have when Not riding horses anyway.

I Feel......like me. Like I'm a whole person, and not that shadow that goes to school and goes to the mall to look at clothes, which unfortunately is a necessary evil, Dover doesn't sell any kinds of pants i could wear to school. Even though i would love to go to school in my riding pants, because then i could just go straight to the barn after school and save tons of time.

When i went to the private christian bubble school, they had a speaker come talk to us one day about being ourselves and that we shouldn't attach "ourselves" to any earthly thing. then they asked us to define ourselves and write it on a piece of paper. I stared at that piece of paper for half an hour through the rest of the talk. Finally i realized the word i was looking for. All that piece of paper said when i turned it in was "horse" Because i feel closer to God on the back of my horse out in a field then i do anywhere else on the planet. I feel like there's a wall between me and God when my feet are on the ground. That must be how serious pilots feel. And rock climbers. And divers.

It's not that i placed my being on my horse's shoulders. Its that it was already there. I grew up with them. However I'm not going to claim my first word was horse, it wasn't, it was fan, not sure why but apparently i was fascinated by fans. I always, since before i can remember looked at horses and saw myself reflected. Even now that I'm a teenager and the boy hobby has taken up a little of my brain, and school has taken up even more. Every time i see a beautiful horse, i can't breathe. Doesn't matter how many times I've seen that horse up close, when they start moving i feel like some one's punched my stomach and knocked the wind out of me. Even if we're driving and i see a horse in a field i still turn around to look, and wonder what kind of riding they are trained for. Looking at double bridles, all shiny and clean makes my heart leap.

There's something exotic about horses. The long forelocks and tails, the arched necks. The Floaty movements they have. The way they run and buck when their excited.

There's a song by Lily Allen called "The Fear" and one of the lines is "I'll look at the sun and I'll look in the mirror I'm on the right track yeah we're on to a winner". The real lyrics should be "I'll look at my horse and I'll look in the mirror I'm on the right track yeah we're on to a winner" Because isn't that what we really want?
To be able to show off who we are without being a whore. Horses have perfected being exotic and classy all at the same time. Some humans have even gotten close to it, for example Audrey Hepburn or Princess Diana (both women mind you, sorry guys)

We want freedom. Freedom that the normal world cant give us. You could drive around in this landscape all day long, and it will never be as beautiful as if you were looking at it from the back of a horse.
You will never, i repeat never go as fast in a car as you can on a horse. No I'm not basing that conclusion on MPH, I'm basing that on personal experience. I've gone almost 100 mph in a car and galloping my horse felt twice as fast. Cars give no freedom, horses do. Instead of looking at your surroundings you are interacting with them. You feel the wind, you smell the grass, you hear the horses hoofs against the ground, you see the earth flying under you. In the car you feel the seat, smell the car, hear the radio, see lines on a road.

So where am i going with this? Essentially I'm saying..

"Its okay, you don't have to understand...

Because I do."

Mary Wanless Clinic

2011-03-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

The clinic was so much fun!! i learned so much its ridiculous, i once again realized how messed up my body is when i ride, but in a good way!! I tilt my pelvis back to do a down transition (big no-no). I was relying too much on my stirrups to post. I was leaning WAY too far back, and numerous other funky shit.
Most of the problems i had fixed by day three and really don't have to think about fixing them all that much anymore, except not tilting my pelvis. Which two weeks later i have finally figured out how to not do.
instead of trying to "scoop" my horse to get the transition, i need to anchor my knees and pull my seatbones back (slingshot) and squeeze with my knees. However i also learned that no matter what your doing you have to give your horse a direction and then release!! I can't drag the direction out and expect the transition or movement to be crisp and immediate.
In other words. Tell the horse what to do and get out of their way so they can!!

-HeadDesk-
........

Yeah i felt real smart about then......

oh well i know now, and its all part of the journey :)

In Which I Light my Horse on Fire.....

2011-03-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

India's poor hips were hurting again. However I'd prefer I didn't pay the ridiculous amount the chiropractic guy charged again, as I'm a broke student. My lovely mother did some research for me while i was studying for algebra II, and found a lady that does chiropractic work and acupuncture.
So she came out last night and started working on indie.
It was so cool to watch, did you know that acupuncture needles are about 6 inches long?? i didn't.
before i continue the rest of the story i have to tell everyone about my pathological fear of needles. I Cry. Everytime. And i might have once kicked my doctor in the nose.......maybe.
Needless to say the horse did much better than me. She didn't like the first one and tried to bite the lady holding her, but after the first one i think she actually enjoyed it (although i wouldn't really know because i couldn't watch her put the needle in)

After all the needles were in, she started to put these little pieces of rolled up paper on the needles and actually lit them on Fire. It's a little nerve racking to see your horse on fire. But after a while i got over myself and started to breathe again. Then she started doing chiropractics and really concentrated on her hips. After she was done, she said that the problem might not be in her muscles but her kidneys.
I'm going to try and explain this the best i can, but i'm no vet. The kidneys get impacted or something and hurts causing the muscles above them to tense up. Other than that i have no idea she started using big medical words that meant nothing to me. Good thing there was a vet tech at the barn that understood, i'll ask her about it later.
She said that giving her a medicine (that i can't for the life of me remember the name of) should flush out the kidneys and then she'll work on her again and relax the muscles. So i really hope this works because i really want her to enjoy work and not dread it.

Going Cross-Country :)

2011-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

I've been putting this off for a while........

2011-02-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of something you will never see again.

Red horse is permanently lame, he has a bone chip in his knee and arthritis in his fetlocks. The vet said he would be sound for the occasional pony ride at a walk, but thats it. So now we're looking for a pasture ornament home for him.

This makes me so angry because all this could have been avoided if he had not been raced as a two year old. The whole racing industry just disgusts me. This is a wonderful gelding that has just a perfect mind, he is willing, friendly, polite, and just so darn sweet. And there is NOTHING we can do to make him comfortable. NOTHING. All we can do is turn him out and hope he can still walk when he's 18. I HATE racing, it ruins so many good horses and makes so many more that no one can take, so they get a roadtrip to mexico. And ruining horses could be avoided for the most part by WAITING to race them until THEIR FINISHED GROWING!!

so all i have left to say is.........

SCREW YOU RACEHORSE OWNERS!!!! YOU GREEDY SLIME OF THE EARTH!!! THESE HORSES ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AND YOU FAILED THEM!!!!

i'm done..........

Estrogen Levels are reaching Toxic

2011-01-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

This my friends is the "guurrll i will cut you if you get any closer with that saddle" face.

Two females in close proximity is never a good a idea, because eventually the female hormone levels synchronize. And when that happens all hell breaks loose. Thats all i have to say on the subject

Indie-boo

2011-01-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

In my opinion this is the video that indie looks the best in :)

::Goals::

2011-01-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

So goals of last year, i think i actually did pretty good!!

Goals for 2010

Half-pass

(doesn't have to be pretty just git 'er done)
Well i got a couple steps so it totally counts!!

walk pirouette

(this however must be pretty)
once again.....i got a couple steps so it counts.......

get a real pretty legit lengthening
Hahah!! i actually did this one!!

conquer simple changes
Got it. now to clean it up......

show first level
Check!!

go to atleast two shows (minimum)
i went to exactly two so that one was close

get a summer job related to horses
you might think i failed at this one but truthfully i didn't!! i just got one for summer 2011, i'm going to be a working student over the summer. SURPRISE!!!

apply for riding scholarship from local dressage club
alright i did fail this one........epicly

attend dressage rally

not only dressage rally........championships :D and won!!

GOALS FOR 2011

1) An actual pretty more than three steps half-pass

2) Show Second level or Third level one of the two

3) Get first level scores for bronze medal

4) Start schooling third level

5) Flying Changes. kthanksbye

(i just know i'm jinxing myself)

6) Go to atleast four shows

7) Actually keep my bridle clean

8) Get working student postion somewhere

9) USPC Champs and/or Region Champs

10) Actually turn all forms in on time and worm indie on time (oops)

Merry Christmassss!!

2010-12-24T20:31:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

now i'll be the first to admit i am the biggest christmas grinch this year. i am just not overly enthused by the whole idea of not being able to ride for a week because of shopping for other people.

But i'm going to put all that aside, and hope that next year will be even better!! which reminds me i need some new goals for next year :)

But today on Christmas Eve i want to talk about India.

She is like my rock, the one thing that i know will always be there for me.

And she has been there, when my parents separated, when we sold the farm, when my grandfather died, when i was so depressed that i came home from school everyday and cried, I always knew i could go to the barn and see my baby.

It wasn't always easy, and i didn't always love her this much. For the first couple years together i would never admit it but i was scared of her. She liked to bolt and me being only about 50 pounds there was no way i was stopping her. All my lessons focused on keeping her in the arena, let me tell you i developed quite a survival seat!!

Every time we went to a Mary Wanless clinic everyone would always turn out for my lesson, probably because it was so painful to watch.

The change really happened when we put her in a kimberwick, that shiny piece of metal gave me confidence. I remember one judge at a show had to come see me try and ride without the kimberwick to see if i could ride without it at the show, she agreed with us, i needed the kimberwick.

One day i realized i didn't need it, i could control her on my own. As she got more sensitive i got more confidence. However it took me a while to realize that she wasn't the same horse she had been. as my mom put it "stop riding like a damn Nazis!!!"

Once i figured that out and learned to be soft, Indie really gave me more.

I still haven't discovered all she can do, she's always surprising me, like the other day when i took her over some ground poles, she passaged right through. Don't ask me why but she did and I'm sure we couldn't do it on purpose.

The progress we have made makes me so proud of her, and wonder what the hell i was thinking. The fix for all the problems we've had seem so simple now, why didn't i just do that before?? But hindsight is 20/20.

So to finish off..

India, i love you so much, every time i see you its like my chest fills up to the point of exploding.

I promise to always try my best for you.

I love you Boo.

Who needs Human Boys??

2010-12-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

Not Me!!

Actual riding will resume on friday for an hour then back to studying, then on tuesday riding will resume until finals.

Christmas is Coming!!

2010-12-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

Which means Christmas break!! can't wait!!
i will get to actually ride more than twice a week. seriously cant wait.
Exams = ~~riding~~ Death
so in the meantime......

Christmas List >:)

Patent Leather Double Bridle

no idea how i'd keep that clean...

Wintec jumping saddle

cause their easy to keep clean

Bell Boots

mine are about to bite the dust

White Polo Wraps

so we can look classy :)

And Good Weather

Repeat after me: "ahhhhhh beach.....*sigh*"

School project ignore

2010-12-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

Demo+Red Horse Update

2010-11-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

The therapeutic Riding Demo was so much fun!!

I would do it again in a heartbeat. Basically what i did was ride around following instructions while Missy Ransehousen narrated the ride. For those of yall that don't know Missy Ransehousen is the US Para Dressage team coach, who coaches Rebecca Hart. Who is in my opinion the best para-rider the US has. That and i love her horse :)

It was so much fun to meet Missy and one of her able-bodied riders, who rode a big chestnut tb from Australia who was so pretty!!
The only pictures we have of me were so blurry there is no point in putting them up, but i might be able to find some on the internet from their website, so we will see.

India was so good, i'm so proud of her!!
There were lots of kids diabled and abe-bodied in the metal stands that were jumping on the stands and dropping crutches during my ride and indie didn't even blink an eye. We got to show off some of the basic first level moves but mostly did the equivilent of training level, because there were three riders and the second rider was only riding second level and there had to be a distinction between riders.

So needless to say me and indie were kinda bored doing endless 20 meter and 15 meter and ten meter circles. I swear if india could talk this is what the ride would have sounded like
"mom mom mom mom mom mom moooooooom moooooooooooom!!! i'm boooreed........are we done yeett??"
but she behaved herself and did some nice collected and extended canter, and everyone loved her.
Highlight of the Demo: being asked if i was going to the Olympics next year and being told that india was a perfect angel and the best part of the demo :)
Thanks for the awesome opportunity ms. Shelley!! and thanks for volunteering me ms. lisa!!

So on to the red horse, who is so smart its not even funny. You can teach him something and come back a week later and pick up right where you left off.
So right now we're just working on keeping his noodly self straight and his head down and reaching for the bit, and taking a little more contact on the inside rein.

after only about three weeks we already have before and after pictures for walk and trot and actually being able to take a pictue of canter and concentrate enough to take a picture instead trying to take a picture and all you can think is "oh my lawd...........damn, its like a box of cockroaches, legs everywhere"

Brown shirt= me
Blue shirt= leslie
Black shirt= lindzay

i look like a peanut!!

Long time no see!!

2010-11-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

So school is made of fail right now, all my teachers decided to schedule their before-break tests at the SAME TIME!! and mid-terms is coming, and I've been lucky to get to the barn twice in a week. Two days out of seven is horrible!! we're making very limited progress and I'm just really put out about the whole thing.

But in other news.......THANKSGIVING!!!!
break starts in t-minus 20 hours and i have all elective classes tomorrow, thank the good lord in heaven!!

So in horse news on Saturday I'm going to be the "official dressage ambassador" for a therapeutic riding center, I'm going to be riding first level test four. Which I'm excited about because i love that test, like i love it :)

And I'm going to force into photography service some unlucky soul that is going to video me riding, cause how many times is one a demo rider in life??

Also we might be able to sneak indie up to Evie's to go visit Roamer and Armani over break, and hopefully start laying the groundwork down for third level and play around with the second level tests. So i can go get ma bronze medal!! ;)

Oh!! i almost forgot!!
Shout out to Ms Stephanie Bedford, CONGRATS on being a working student for Hassler Dressage!! We're all rooting for you, while secretly being really really jealous ;) love you and the big red guy!!

Pictas of da horsey

2010-11-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

~~tiny~~ ~~kenai~~ ~~red~~ ~~wrigley~~.................He who must not be named

Introducing Kenai!!

2010-11-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Yeah a new pony to ride!!
well "pony" is a relative term seeing as he is 17.1 hands.
and i'm 5'2......i look a peanut.

He is an off the track race horse, whose official jockey club name is Going for Broke.
needless to say he didn't go and his owners went broke.

Our cowboy friend picked him up for about $100 and called us and said "i have your new dress-edge horse!!, his name is tiny!!"
He is a three year old so he's still growing, heaven help us. He's chesnut and has a white blaze. He needs to gain about 200 pounds, i don't like my dressage horses racing thin. We already renamed him, Kenai which is a national park in alaska.
He is the sweetest thing ever, nothing bothers him at all. His gaits are going to be HUGE once he learns to use himself correctly they are already big.
He's one of the nicest OTTBs i've ever seen, once his shoulders catch up with his butt.

My mom is technically going to be training him since she's started more horses then me, but i think we all know who is going to end up riding him most in the end ;)

Right now we're just working on getting him to round his back and reach for the bit, how to turn not like a western horse, and getting off your leg. He's already got the jist of turning correctly and putting his head down at walk and trot. and this is the third time he's been ridden in dressage, smart buggar.

By the way he will probably be for sale as soon as he is showing training level and training first level, so save your pennies!!

FAIL

2010-10-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

That's right, today was dressage fail.....
India behaved like a squirrel on caffeine......
it was baaaaaaad...........

She kept contact very nicely though...i mean she had some really brilliant moments where everything just fell into place
then there was the "OHSHIT!!!nobrakesdon'trunintotheWAAAALLLL!!!!" moments.

F.A.I.L

Lots of it was my fault, i was rough with my hands, because i had no brakes......i love having brakes. Because i was rough with my hands indie got nervous and flipped out losing more brakes. and so the cycle continued........
then it got dark and she started flipping out at everything, so i moved to the lit arena where she fell to pieces.......... and i finally just cantered around until she got some energy out and we cantered one good circle did a canter-walk (a really good one i might add) and quit right there.

Even though we had some hairy moments she was brilliant the rest of the time, i got some of the best quality trot i've ever gotten

Sooooo not total fail.......

But i am publically saying that
I Need Help!!!
i can't train this horse all by myself anymore, i don't need anyone else to ride her i can do that part. I just don't know where to go from here. I know the feeling i need to get i just don't know how to get it without making my horse have a meltdown......and i feel terrible about it.

Now that i have a job i'm going to start coughing up the 100 dollars every couple weeks and convince the rents to trailer the pony's butt up the expensive trainer, when dorothy's not here.

*Also please enjoy this not fail*

Quick Update!!

2010-10-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Basically i've just been working on stretching out her butt muscles and refining the aids. Exciting i know.....

i've also been actually seriously working on travers more. she can now take about four or five really good steps before it all goes to pot. success!!
also really been focusing on lateral work at canter because its been lacking in the past.

Now on to the refining the aids part, running away is not allowed neither is turning corners like a motorcycle, even though riding motorcycles is really fun. Its not on a horse. the thing i've been focusing the most on has been her relaxing and accepting the contact without pushing the base of her neck back at me. its been slowly getting better, if i don't ask "big" about every couple minutes, i have to start over and just halt and keep asking over and over again. BUT!! (hehe the big butt) she has been getting the hang of it and the amount of time i have to solely work on it has been decreasing each ride.

And on the weather front......it was actually 70 degrees today!!! i almost forgot what 70 felt like, its been the high 90s for so long.
i. love. cold. weather.

CHAMPS PICTURES!!!!

2010-09-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

Armani Man, Wonder pony, and The Princess.

2010-09-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

So we went back to visit Armani and Rumor, whose name i found out is actually spelled Roamer. But pronounced Rumor. If your confused please join the club.
Armani this summer was busy building muscles and teaching a hunter/jumper rider how to have contact with the bit. And i just have to throw this in, she did a very good job.

The first two days were spent perfecting canter-halt, halt-canter, halt-counter canter then do a simple change, and basically working on geometry. Ms E drug the arena and we got to make fun patterns in the sand. I made a ten meter circle four leaf flower thing. Working on geometry like that really helps one be aware of where they are in the arena. So once we could successfully navigate the arena she had us pick up counter canter from a halt then go across the diagonal and before we got to the other side do a .........drumroll please........flying change!!!

i can't even tell you how excited i was!! the first day we tried them poor Armani was so stiff he just barely got a couple clean ones, he needs his hocks injected again. But on the third day every single one we tried was clean and spot on when i asked. It was so cute he got so excited every time he did a change. This time was just so much better, i knew how to get him soft and waiting for me, and he just floated everywhere. I. Love. This. Horse.

Ms E cant ride herself because of a degenerative balance issue. Armani is her horsey-soulmate. The last day we were there after doing over 7 clean changes both directions she almost started crying, which made me almost cry. Overall it was just so much fun!!

We went out to dinner one night and i asked if she wanted a working student over the summer, she was a little hesitant until she found i can drive. We need to talk more to work some kinks out but i should be spending summer 2011 in mississippi, riding a schoolmaster in the morning and indie in the evening.

That Weekend there was a games clinic that my best friend was teaching, so i decided to ride too and got offered the ride on her own games pony Chino.
Anyone that has ever competed in advanced games east probably knows Chino. Because he's pretty much the best games pony ever. He knows the games better than his rider.

This is me riding Chino, the wonder pony. Yes i know my worst nightmare came true i am in fact...neckreining and his neck looks like a llama *gasp!!*
My inner dressage queen just died a little.
But apparently according to the best friend i'm really good at games, who knew!!
Did you know i can touch the ground from Chinos back?? its a little harder than it looks. And i'm really really good at the mug race, there are four poles every other pole has a mug on it and you have to pick up the mug from one pole and put it on the next pole, i like that race. The race i didn't like was the one where you have to put a tennis ball on a cone and then pick another ball off of another cone, every time i got close to the dang cone i'd knock it over.
My favorite race by far was the flag race. you run to the other side of the arena and put a flag into a cone and then go pick up a flag from another cone. I cantered that entire race and got the flag every time, except once but that one wasn't my fault!

Never fear dear readers i'm not switching to games. Dressage is still my first love. Friends dad was laughing at me the whole time because in the middle of a game i would be completely turned around in the saddle watching someone ride dressage on Winglet, the cute little mare that sometimes tries to throw you over her head because she has really really good brakes.

Alright so in India news, because we all know i can't have a blog without talking about the princess!!

The Chiropractor came back and worked on her butt, and there is good news not as much good news as i would have liked but still good news. Her poll, knees, shoulders, and ribs were pain-free yeah!! Her hips were still hurting all over, but not as much as last time yeah!! So we still can't do any collected work which is really making me crazy because everything else is just so damn good!!

All her lateral work is better and more expressive. Her gaits overall have improved ten times, she doesn't have those choppy short strides most ponies her size have, she is actually over-tracking which has never happened before ever. Her canter is bouncy and expressive. Her top-line is finally developing like it should and her neck has a slight arch to it now. The muscle that connects the shoulders to the neck is finally getting bigger and stronger. She is softer in the bridle and more flexible around her rib cage.
And i can't work on anything that takes collection!!! AHHH!!!
Driving me nuts. Oh well i guess we will just have to go visit Armani again.....damn. ;)

I've really been thinking hard about me and India because this year i become ineligible to ride in the FEI Pony and indie can't compete at FEI junior or Young Rider, which i would really like to compete in. So i've decided that i'm going to train indie up to FEI pony level and then find her a rider that is young enough to take her and i'll just have to work on FEI junior and Young rider on her and a bigger horse. Don't worry i'm NOT selling her. The only way someone will get indie from me is if they pry her out of my cold dead hands. But in a couple years make sure to look for Indies name at FEI pony!!

By the way i love indie so much she's my baby :)

Thou must be kidding thyself

2010-08-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

I found Indie's baby pictures!!! and aren't they just so adorable!! but of coarse i'm biased ;)

their are a couple more but i chose the cutest ones. I'm really lucky to have this many pictures of my horse as a foal not many people have this many.

So miss sassy pants got pampered by the chiropractor again, and didn't try to bite him!! so excited about that. Well she was not much better than the last time, bummer. However a 19 hour trailer ride right before a show really wasn't helpful. So until his next visit Sept 9. all we're doing is stretching and lateral work and oh yeah more stretching. But thats okay with me because it takes a lot of pressure off. Most of the time i feel like if i'm not doing real dressage work all the time i'm not making any progress (which is totally not true!!) and by "real dressage work" i mean stuff we have yet to master such as working on collection or half-pass. Stretching not included, even though it should be.

So i decided since we're not working on real dressage it would be a good idea to go to the now-dry cross country field and go stretch. There is a raised track around the field that stays mostly dry (most of the time) that goes through trees and borders a swamp-like pit hole, but still a nice place to ride. So we went around the track at a stretching trot once and then went around at a canter a couple times around. We did have to have a little "discussion" about cantering politely, and not running into trees. Other than that Indie enjoyed herself so much that as the ride went on her canter got boucier and bouncier and more wonderful and more wonderful. When i went back to the field next to the barn my mom was there and i started cantering and asked indie to canter slower and i hear from across the field "STOP ASKING HER TO COLLECT!!!" apparently her canter was so bouncy that she collected her canter enough to be seen across a giant field, which doesn't sound impressive but it definatly is!! well.........i was excited.

USPC Championships East

2010-08-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

USPC Champs was the most fun i've ever had in my life!! My scramble team was absolutly amazing, i loved them!! We were in the first level and up division so we were competeing against two people doing second level and one doing third. I was really surprised that their weren't more people doing "upper level" (thats what my region called first level and up, their such nerds!! but i love 'em!!) There were only about 20 people, there were way more people doing training however. I mean come on people!! whenever someone moves to second level they quit pony club, its happened in my region about four times and my region is tiny, really really tiny. Something is just not right about that, its like they move to second level and suddenly their too good to be on a team and have to fool with horse management. Okay enough with that, i'm over it.

So please enjoy this beautiful camera-phone picture my friend took, there was a Professional photographer but he hasn't posted any photos yet so the phone picture will have to do for now

That is a picture of my freestyle, and i'm about to do a ten meter circle and then lengthen to B

This year Champs was in Virginia, which is in the eastern time zone, i live in the central time zone. So every morning getting up at 5:00 to get to the barn by 6:00 was actually me getting up at 4:00 and getting to the barn by 5:00, for seven days because the drive took two days each way, the first two days i was fine. Even excited if that word can be applied to 4am. But by the third day i was so nauseated and this continued for four more days, so i daresay my rides really suffered because by the time i actually got on taken three ginger pills drunk two cans of ginger ale thrown half of that up, i really could have cared less about my test. Add to the mix that india was being as my friend put it "a little turd"

Examples: almost launching her self over a cliff twice, bucking, no steering, bolting, and she wouldn't walk in the warm-up.

Mix that all together and we got 61% on all of our tests and a 64% on the freestyle. But the part i was most excited about was that indie got a 7 on her canter lengthening!!! last time the highest lengthening score we got was a five, this time we got sixes for the trot lengthening and sevens for the canter.

Just those two scores made the whole time a success.

Another thing that i'm really proud of is that from the first test to the last india really improved, instead of slowly losing her mind she slowly found her mind.

My trainer watched all of my tests and she disagreed with a couple of the scores, she thought the first test should have scored much lower (and i have to agree with that one) and that the last test should have scored a little higher. But i'm happy everything was atleast in the 60s so that makes me feel better.

So placings we got fourth in horse management, because i was pretty much the only one that had ever been to a rally that went more than two days, so besides having a couple little mini heart attacks it all went pretty good.

and drumroll please........First overall!!! not only were we a scramble team but half of us had never been to championships at all and the other half had never gone in first level, thats pretty darn impressive!!

and i got fifth out of twenty people in the individual freestyles

Yeah!! so much fun was had :D

Chiropractor

2010-07-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Good and Bad news....
Bad news first, the chiropractor came and worked on india, he found that both her hips, one knee, one shoulder, and two ribs were out, like out of the socket and/or joint. Which was causing her a lot of pain. I feel really stupid now, "oh that would be why my horse doesn't want to collect, her hips hurt so bad she popped her knee out" she was trying to stay off her hips and in the process threw her knee out.
Super

But she was a very good girl and only tried to bite him when he put one of her ribs back in. Personally i don't blame her!!
Watching the chiropractor was really cool though. He used this...thing that looked like a giant syringe but had like a ball at the end and when he pushed it it put pressure on whatever he had it on (like ribs) i'm not exactly sure what it did but it was interesting.
Then he would put his hands on the point of the hip and push really hard while pulsing his hands, which i'm pretty sure put the hips back in the socket.
We also got some stretches that they need to do everyday in order to make the good feelings last longer because the first visit only lasts about two weeks but if your really good about the stretches it can go about three.
I also learned that what throws horses bones and joints out faster than anything is stalls. Horses are meant to move all day long, however if one has the same problem as me you can't turn them out all the time because there is simply no place to turn them out. I literally live in a swamp sometimes, the mud and water in the pastures has been known to claim footwear, horseshoes, a couple knees....and a few children, still haven't found them buggers.
So tunout is not an option sometimes, riding helps but there is nothing like walking around for hours.
The stretches we got are as follows, pull their head around and make them walk in a circle the trick is to get their inside hind leg to cross over the other hind leg. That is for their hips to keep them loose and pain-free. Another is make them briskly walk backwards about twenty steps, i think thats for the hips too. The other is to stand at their shoulder and take the hand closest to their hip and using the allure of a treat stretch their neck around you as far as they can go. I would like to report that india has a very flexible neck, she can touch her hip.
So now for the good news.......the chiropractor is a miracle worker.
the first time i rode her afterwards she felt ~~amazing, awesome, super~~ super awesomely amazing!!
She was soft, relaxed, but she had that electric feel, she felt so good!!
She was even excited about being ridden, she just fluffed up, rounded her back and lengthened her stride and just floated around the arena!! Her canter is even bouncier!! i really regret that i haven't taught her flying changes yet because her canter for the past two rides would have been perfect for them, i settled on simple changes :)

Off topic here but i really feel like life is looking up right now, like everything is just going to start falling into place, something good is going to happen. i mean just look at this blog, my first post was about just starting leg yields, now i'm talking about half-pass, simple changes, and about moving up to second level!!

*did anyone catch the MGMT reference??*

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

2010-07-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

First off i'm realllyyy hyper, too much caffeine!!
So me and the madre went to Mississippi to train on some Grand Prix horses!! Two of the horses we rode were 25 and one that my mom rode looked like he was 10 max, his name was Rumor Has it and was trained by Carol Lavell. Apparently i am inept because i couldn't ride him at all!! Couldn't get him to go couldn't turn nothin. Ms E, the trainer we were taking lessons from eventually told me the secret, first you have to beat him to get him to take you seriously and then just have to figure him out. Thats my challenge next time we go. However i'm bringing my own saddle there was one saddle she put me in and it gave me bruises, big old black ones.
I think its so interesting how different saddles can be, they all have the same basic design but they are used for such different body types, for example if my mom can ride in a saddle you can know without a shadow of a doubt that i can't ride in it. Her thigh bones are long and mine are short, but we are about the same height, figure that one out.
Alright so back to the horses, the one i rode most of the time was a 16.3 hand warmblood named Armani. And now that i think about it he was almost an older carbon copy of Val (Grand Prix Someday's horse). He was also 25 and his gaits were HUGE!! It felt like jumping on a horse trampoline. He was so wiggily like a giant chesnut noodle, but i loved him. Then there was Winglet, she was about 7, and she was like butter. All you had to do was think what you wanted and it happened. She was wonderful!!
Most of what we worked on was fixing basic holes in my riding, stuff that india lets me get away with. Like getting the perfect angle for lateral work. We worked on shoulder-in, travers, half-pass, and leg yield.

Yes i really am that bored right now
We also worked on transitions, mostly canter transitions, and keeping mr. noodle butt straight. Once you create a corridor of aids (reins, legs, feet, those aids) then he was really easy to keep straight.
I also did some passage and piaffe on accident, Oops. but it was fun to be able to sit.
It was really fun, schoolmasters are so nice to ride after riding lower level horses my whole life. Can't wait to go back!

Oh and Hey Hannah!! Stevie and Sparky are amazinggg!! XD

When Life says Go

2010-06-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

WARNING This post has toxic levels of mushy lovey dovey stuff WARNING

Sometimes God holds you back, like collected trot and keeps saying "more energy, okay a little less now, sit on your haunches, more energy" He keeps you in one spot gearing you up towards the future. And then at one point in your life, or multiple times in your life depending on who you are, He says Go.
He lets you loose to wreck havoc on dressage shows, BMX tracks, football stadiums, whatever you love.
Like collected trot and extended trot. "sit on your haunches, more energy, sit more......now show them what you got" I feel like God has started to let me loose, and India has started to show everyone what she's got. Just the other day my non-horsey dad told me that he never thought me and indie would ever show first level, he didn't think indie was capable of it. He used to call her the little pony, now he calls her the horse. Our first time at first level we dominated, no one, not even the training level freestyles came close to our freestyle score. Our first time at first level we did test two and four, factor in the points i lost for talking in test two and we would have made a 61% in test four we made a 62%. The freestyle made a 69%.

A couple weeks before my trainer told me we couldn't break 60%.

On the way back from that show my mom looked at me and said "you proved yourself, you proved that i can teach, and you proved india is cut out for this"

A couple days ago India took two steps of half-pass, we've never worked on half-pass.
two days ago she took two more.
Yesterday she gave me collected trot...and canter.
The best i've ever felt, on any horse.

He's been gearing us up

Now its time to go.

Post-Show Epilogue

2010-06-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

I gave Indie (unintentionally) five days off, spoiled princess!! because we have had torrental rainstorms every single #$^&*%&!!!! day since dressage rally, the outdoors once again have sea creatures swimming in them, i love sharks as much as the next person but they are not conductive to dressage training.
i did however get to ride yesterday and it was kind of a disaster of major proportions. the sky was perfectly clear when we got there not five minutes later the sky is so dark we had to turn the lights on just to see, at this barn however we have an indoor that can be completely sealed, so off to the indoor we went.
The ride could be summed up as such
Me: "hey indie you remember that stuff we did at dressage rally?? yeah that didn't just magically go away, i know we proved ourselves at first level and showed everyone that yes we are competitive, but your still a dressage horse"
india: " ?!?!?!?"

Most of the ride was spent spooking at lightning (although i don't blame her for that we had some bigass lightning bolts) and convincing her not to run through my aids.
From a training dressage standpoint
ride = fail
BUT... i kept my temper in check, normally i would have been so mad at her that the other horses in the arena would have been running for cover, which was good when i was riding Austa but not so much for India. Austa was so bad about running through aids to convince her you were serious, one had to be mad enough to spit nails, India however gets mad back, thats her daddy coming out. And when she is mad she has all the other horses running for cover.....sometimes quite literally.
Take for instance one day when we were all practicing freestyles, those of us waiting our turn were just sitting on our horses under a tree and indie was mad because we had had a little come to jesus meeting about the speakers, another horse pepper (also known as the asshole) moved closer to her and she lunged for his jugular!!
scroll up to the picture
read my last sentence
now scroll up again
now read the sentence again
Whaaat?!?
i know she looks all sweet and innocent, but she is not to be trusted!! shes malicious its a wonder i've survived this long.
and then the other incident with a lesson horse where the lesson horse got too close and she tried to double barrel him, and on trail rides she tries to get as close as she can to horses she doesn't like just to bite them!!
So you see why me having a temper is not good. Last ride however i didn't get mad and just kept evaluating her the whole time and i eventually got her mostly sorted out and was happy with my ride. For me this is a big deal, and i'm proud of me and indie. :)

And i also found a treasure trove that those of us with cobs or ponies will apprieciate
http://www.justforponies.com/
its a website just for pony and cob sized equids!!

they even have a dressage section, with a reasonably priced double bridle and children sized dressage saddles, and pony sized martingales (do you know how hard it is to find a martingale for a 12 hand pony that fits correctly) With the emphasis on the cob sized double bridle i've been looking for one forever (not that we need one right now, just for the near future) and the only one i found that was actually cob sized was a really fancy one from a custom bridle shop that was about 2,000 dollars, this one is about 132 dollars, Yeah cheap stuff!!
So definatly go take a look if your horse is vertically challenged ;)

So cute!!

Dressage Rally!!

2010-05-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

Was so much fun!!
So everything goes well at jog outs and then i go to my formal and the person says "oh your a B so do your formal" my heart stops because i have no idea what she's talking about, do my formal?? I then tell her that i am in fact not a B but a D3 (for those of you not in pony club, a B is the second highest rating one can achieve a D is the lowest. the ratings go like this D1, D2, D3, C1, C2, C3, B1, B2, A, i think thats how it goes if i need correcting please dont hesitate)
then they kept insisting that i was a B and i couldn't possibly be a D3, i then show them my nametag and armband where it clearly states that i am in fact a D3. Disaster averted they then got the right sheet and i didn't fail my formal :)
The first ride was first level test two and i was really nervous and i guess indie picked up on it and spooked at M, i forgot that one is not to speak during a dressage test, i might have called my horse an ass in front of the judge.

My Bad.

the rest of the test was very nice though and i pulled a 57% out of a hat.
The second test was first level test four and this one went much much better. I rode my guts out pretty much nailed everything except for one simple change, i didn't shift her ribcage over enough and she picked up the wrong lead we got the correct lead back though in only about two or three strides, yeah!!
And my first halt in that test got a 10. a 10!!! OMG!! i was pretty excited :)
that test i got a 62% pretty good for our first show at first level, if i say so myself!!

Then on sunday the freestyle. I did a latin themed freestlye that had Mambo #5, Hips don't lie, and Cafe by the Sea, all instrumental. For this i got a 69%. The judges loved it!! the lowest score we got for it was a 6.5. I found out that i love doing freestyles if you ever get the chance to do one go for it!! and i would show everyone a video but four people tried to film it and all of their cameras died almost at the same time, i guess it was not meant to be. Poop. oh well i get to do it again in virginia..
BECAUSE WE QUALIFIED FOR CHAMPS!!!!!
even though i was the only one trying to qualify at first level, that doesn't matter because i still qualified and got the highest freestyle score out of everyone.

now i'm off to sleep for the next two weeks, Goodnight!

Exams + dressage rally+ job interview + new school + getting yelled at a lot = Super Excited

2010-05-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

Exams:
so exams start on tuesday and i haven't finished my math final assignment because my teacher won't e-mail the late codes, because apparently that whole "you guys can e-mail me anytime and i will answer" thing is not working out. I hate school. a lot. but its almost over an then i will be a junior!! :)

Dressage Rally:

starts the day after exams end, which is making me super stressed out. however watching August Rush really calmed me down, i love that movie :) i'm doing first level test two and four and a latin themed freestyle to try and quailfy for nationals!! :D where we will then kick some buttocks. however i will only be going if i first survive exams, crap.

Job Interview:
unfortuantly its not a horse job but it pays better so i think i can deal with that. Its at a party place where they have a giant inflatable room that the kids play in, and it provides cake and drinks and that great stuff. So giant inflatable room, cake, drinks, money, cake, friends, cake. with emphasis on the cakee :) i think this will be a good deal. Whoohooo minimum wage!!!

New School:
Next year i'm starting a different school and i'm really excited because i really don't like the school im at now. So the new school is a public magnet school where i won't have to wear uniforms!! and it will just be much more amazing than the private bubble school.

Getting yelled at a lot:
first Dorothy yelled at me because apparently after almost 17 years of knowing my left from my right i have inexplicably forgotten which is which. Damn. Then my mom yelled at me for "not being responsible" because i don't really know tests two and four, my response was "have you noticed that i have four grade determining exams in two days?!?! just wondering" that resulted in the "your being disrespectful!!" whatever. i'm over that now. i love the woman, but if she's stressed, being far away is the safest option.

So how does this Equal Excited??
because SUMMER IS HERE!!!! and i am determined to be training a teeny tiny wee bit of third level by the start of school, i want my bronze medal!!!
did everyone like how i already claim it as mine?? i liked it.
so yesss thats whats up right now. wish me luck!!

Thats Lame!!

2010-04-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Yup honey bunches of oats has a sore hoof (insert collective booing)
i don't know what caused it but she was just off, no swelling, no heat, no pulse.......well obviously she has a pulse.....just not in her leg....ok??
So me being the good horse mommy i am banged her tail, cut her feathers located on her fetlock (i'm studying for pony club can anyone tell??) and cut her mane. Just look how beautiful it is!!
That my friends was done with scissors, not pulled, not clipped, scissors. I haz skillz.

And i love this picture, i took it, just sayin. it looks like shes on a hill. which is actually an illusion because the land here is as flat as a pancake.

i also got some cool videos of her grazing, well as cool as grazing can be i tried to make them artistic, i think i failed but everyone else thinks they are good, but that's beside the point
I also just sat on her bareback while she grazed and laid down on her rump. Only afterwards did i realize that the vet school had sent a group of future vets techs to look at some horses, right outside where i was laying on my horse sticking my butt in the air. Awesome.
But all in all good relaxing day, if nothing else i am positive :)

Where did April go?!?!?

2010-04-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

i must be OCD because apparently i can't post without a picture, whatever inner OCD!! i'm breakin out!!
So not much has been going on lately except some crap that i'm not going to discuss here yet, jury's still out.
But on the India front she has been stellar these past few rides!!
I've really been focusing on collection because i wanna go to Second Level!! and thats the only piece we are missing. Its really not that she can't do it, she can, she is just not strong enough to hold the level of suspension needed for the actual test. Any ideas on strengthening collecting muscles?? Shoulder-in has been soft and forward, and her leg-yield has gotten so much more precise, i really feel like i own every single step, not every other step. Walk pirouettes are still coming along, they are getting better and slightly smaller now instead of being the size of russia we've moved to a more brazil sized one. But thats okay with me because i really did teach her walk pirouettes way too early, so big they are. Simple changes are now down to three steps of walk, its hard to actually convince her that yes i really do want her to go from the canter to walk, not a walkish trotty thing....ish. (i guess that would technically be considered the second missing piece of second level.....oh well)

Did i mention Counter-canter??
oh yes counter canter is pretty legit right now, we can now go into corners and not die or zoom around them at Lightspeed, Sucess!!
My show clothes for dressage rally came in yesterday and let me tell you they are pretty spiffy. Black coat, White breeches, stock tie, indie's show bridle (which is really her everday bridle but cleaner), white spotless saddlepad
we are going to look like i actually know what i'm doing!!

Hokan :)

2010-04-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hokan :)

So the last ride he had on Roxi (that we saw) was fabulous, she was relaxed and happy and he was even able to do some flying changes and extended trot!!
and afterward when he was taking off his helmet, which he put on after these pictures were taken i guess he is still not used to wearing one. She walked up behind him and put her head on his chest. It was seriously the sweetest thing i've ever seen

And i passed my D-2 rating!!! and fell in a huge sinkhole all in two hours
i haz skillz

Just Kidding.....

2010-03-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

Short short post today

soooo about that show its not gonna happen because i can't wear a helmet for another about four days, because on tuesday i feinted and fell and busted my head open on a door jam so that morning we spent an amazing two hours in the emergency room getting my head stitched back together.....joy.

The best part is though, i don't have black stitches, i have green stitches. be jealous. be very jealous.

Blog Award

2010-03-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

Wow i got the beautiful blogger award from confessions of a struggling dressage rider, can i just say thank you so much!!

So seven things about me

1: my theme song is All the single ladies, for a reason, i'm single and proud

2: i got india for christmas, big red bow and everything (thanks mom and dad)

3: I used to own a dressage farm, it wasn't fancy but i loved it.

4: i love music, and i listen to a bunch of random songs, i don't have a genre

5: i have a wintec isabel and i love it, me and my mom fight over which one of our saddles is better, don't tell her, but mine wins hands down

6: My favorite drink is dr. pepper

7: one of my nicknames is pinto bean, and my best friend's is soy bean, because we're cool like that :)

ok now i'm gonna give this award to some pretty amazing people

Foxypants (because this chick is hilarious)

Saving Faith

Spidersweb

A day in the Life

Grand Prix Someday

Dorothy!!

2010-03-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

So there is a reason that i waited so long to post about this lesson which was about a week ago and the reason is this

ok so i know i look like a turtle, but i was concentrating, and dumb-moment of the day award goes to me. Lesson learned?? never turn your horse out anywhere with tack on it gets really muddy.....really fast. My bestfriend wants to be a professinal photographer and wants to take show photos for some extra money and was practising on me and india and i'm telling you right now india is a lot more photogenic than i am :)

So first lesson (outside) we worked on getting her to take longer, calmer steps and walked most of the time...oh well. However we did work on trot lengthenings and finally got one!!

the exercise that we did was in every corner and at E and B do a ten meter collected trot circle then inbetween circles ask for a lengthening. It works so well!! but when she explained it i was like "oh this will be easy" i stand corrected it was hard. after a while she started to anticipate the lengthening, if she started to anticipate it we just did another slower circle then she was alright. She was high as a kite that day, getting her to listen to my aids was really difficult.

Ok second lesson, she was very good this time and we worked on collecting and legthening again and lateral work. We worked on shoulder-in and leg yield, and indie gave me the best shoulder-in i've ever gotten. Also we had to share the arena with a bunch of western people that saw the part of the lesson where i was mostly walking, a couple of them decided to i guess show me up by cantering around with tie-downs. Dorothy looked over at them and started muttering about "ooh look i can canter with a tie-down i'm so fabulous"

Does anyone know the look people give you when they are thinking evil thoughts??

i do.

She told me to canter (without a tie-down) and had me lengthen the canter right under their noses and to do it big. Then to do some leg-yield and shallow loops. I swear the looks i got were priceless they ranged from disbelief to humbled.

If any western people are reading this i would like to point out that we have tons of western people at my barn and i love most of them, but there are two groups that come that i really strongly dislike, the first group is the one that beats the shit out of their horses, the second one is really mean to anyone who rides english dressage or jumping. They have kicked us out of the arena even though they never rented it (which you have to do to kick people out) They almost run us over pretty routinely. However i will give them some credit this time they where polite most of the time (i think dorothy scared them)

In other news we are going to a show this weekend, i'm showing first one and two. And i'm so nervous, i'm really not sure why i can do the tests with no problem, indie's been to these showgrounds before and we won everything we could have won. I think it has something to do with sleep deprivation, its making me very emotional. For example i was reading over my tests and was about to the point of tears, and i really don't know why. Note to self sleep is very important, the earliest i have gone to bed the past like four days was one in the morning and i woke up at six every morning, its really killing me, i stayed home today (because i'm a wuss) and slept until 12, can i tell you how much better i feel.

Note to all concerned sleep, its good for you.

Dentist!!!

2010-02-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

The horsey dentist came to see indie because she was long overdue. Apparently (as i'm told because i've been sick all week) They had to sedate her big time. Like walking around like a drunken sailor. And as some of you know none of our horses can see the horsey dentist without something going wrong, Roxi sees the dentist tries to throw him against the wall after being sedated, Romanche sees the dentist has to be snubbed to a tree because he thinks the dentist will try and pick ticks out of his ears, baron sees the dentist and tries to kill him, Rosetta was the only good one, but Rosettas perfect, because duh!! she's Rosetta!!
So this time india being the drunken wench that she is bit her tongue and it was bleeding all over the place. As i understand it my mom the nurse was calmer than the dentist, oh great!!
The dentist found some nasty spurs and points on her teeth and she had some ulcers. And now her mouth is all owchie so no riding until friday (which doesn't bother me since i've been sick)
BUT.... that only leaves two days of practice before Dorothy comes back!!, which is good and bad

Good: dorothy's coming!!!
Bad: crap she's gonna yell at me for not practising when i did!!

so yes this is my life....

but on another good note before all this crap happened, awesome trainer had me start working on collected stuffs Yeah!!!
and i jumped my first whole baby course on india and passed my D2 (i know i'm way behind but its hard when i had my first official jumping lesson the day i did my first whole baby course, cut me some slack over here!!)

now i shall put some real people cloths on, retreat to my living room with dressage day and try to get better.......joy

What Indie loves is.....

2010-02-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

So i was inspired by fugly horse of the day to really take a look at what india loves to do. So i have compiled this list of stuff indie loves to do for your viewing pleasure. :)

Eating: number one OMG!!! food=life (we all saw that one coming)

Running: she loves running, like tearin up the arena or field kind of running

Jumping: if i wasn't addicted to dressage indie would be a fabulous showjumper, she is fast and jumps really high for a being 14 hands
(thats a really bad picture, but whatevs)

stretching: she loves to stretch all the time

Un-tying knots: she is the master of knots

Being a camera whore: she secretly loves the camera :)

Facepalm

2010-02-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

Okay i'm an idiot. About half-way through the lesson with Dorothy i realized that i had left my camera sitting contently on the dash of my car.

Face, meet Wall. Wall, meet Face.

.......

But i did have a great lesson with Dorothy :)
I asked her about showing first level test 1 and 2 (about time i go to first level)
She asked about lengthenings, to which i replied "well......ummmm........did you bring a magnifying glass?"

She told me that lengthenings are the reason that most people don't move on to first level (guilty!!) and that its just one movement, you just have to make up for it elsewhere. She also said that at first level judges aren't really looking for a true legit one, what they want to see is the mechanics of the movement. What she said to do was to do baby steps (prolonged half-halt) then do big steps where the lengthening would be, when you get to the other side do baby steps again. Apparently most horses that don't have a natural lengthening *cough india cough* don't show a very big lengthening until about second level, which made me feel a lot better.
For the show in March i'm gonna do First level!!

Alright so the lesson, we worked on getting indie more responsive to my "WHOA DAMMIT!!" aids. We accomplished this amazing feat by doing transitions.......for two hours. I'm tellin ya when you pay Dorothy 90 bucks you get your moneys worth. Towards the end all i was thinking was "please Indie please stop!!! my half-halt aids are broken!!! and your not responding to telepathy!!!"
But by the middle of the lesson indie was stoppin like a champ!!

Dorothy sentenced us to four days of this "walk, halt, trot, halt, walk, trot, trot bigger, halt, baby trot, walk, halt, rein-back, trot, big trot.......well you get it" and no canter until i think slow down and she is slamming on the brakes. Dorothy said this exercise was the very beginning of collected work, and damn i can see why. Without absolute control of the horses speed collection ain't happin.
Dorothy also said that second level should be no problem for indie because she is built for the more collected movements, its those pesky extended ones we'll have trouble with. But again those are only one movement and we will make it up in the collected ones.

Now for one of the coolest parts of the lessons i was taking a much needed walk break and two girls that are notorious for having horses that won't stop for anything came over and said that they wanted to be able to stop their horses off of their seats like i was doing, and they thought i was useless because i don't jump high. ;)

DOROTHY!!!!!! :D

2010-02-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Dorothy is coming this sunday!! Last time i rode with her was almost a 6 months ago. Me and Indie have improved so much since then, i think she will be very impressed. Last time i rode with her we were working on getting Indies head out of the atmospere and tracking up. Now we are working on hauches-in. i'm really really excited!! One thing that i have been looking forward to for about a year since i went to the mary wanless clinic and rode with dorothy is showing everyone that me and my little mare can be successful at this whole dressage thing. We can do it, so don't count us out before we start. I think i proved that to the local show-goers last show i went to when we blew everyone else out of the water. Now then, one down two to go.

so i have posted pictures of (in order)

last Dorothy lesson

last Mary Wanless Clinic

So in the first one i look good Indie is another story, and in the second Indie looks good and i am another story. After sunday i'll post the Dorothy before and after pictures and hopefully there will be a big difference.

I really should become a hermit

2010-01-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

My barn rents out the indoor (currently the only place to ride) to people for a fee and they can do whatever the heck they want to and we aren't allowed in. i'm okay with that in fact i love walking indie around them and soaking up some good ole atmospere. but yesterday it just went too far.

they were ropers, i love ropers two of my best friends are ropers and i love them to death, these guys?? not so much. So i'm watching them warm-up and this one young guy looks really good all he had to do was switch saddles and he was doing dressage. And then another guy started riding and he was smoking on his horse. first red flag. then his horse spooked and he started using his rope to beat his horse up for a good five minutes while his horse is flailing around in a panic. second red flag. then another guys horse bolts and he gets him in the shute and starts giving his horse a royal beating for a good five minutes. this happens about three times. third red flag. then second guy (who i have officially re-named jerkwad) goes after a cow and misses and beats his horse up again except this time over its head, just my thought beating a horse who is already in panic mode with a rope over the head is not a good idea. fourth red flag.
After a couple of decent guys go, i hear something that sounds like metal hitting metal very loudly, so i look toward said sound and see jerkwad jerking his horse in the mouth with a bit that would make a knight of camelot proud, i could hear the sound of the bit hitting the horses teeth all the way across the arena. This is about the point where i was so angry i was shaking. Next thing that happens young guy, the one that can ride gets on the bolter and guess what happens?
nothing. the horse is calm and behaves himself. Just goes to show what good riding can do for you. After this i left, i really couldn't watch anymore.
Now i really wish i had gotten it on tape, hind-sight is 20/20.

But wait it gets better!! today i was in the arena and ride around the outside and guess what i find??
Beer, lots and lots of beer. The jerkwad and his cronies brought beer and were probably wasted the whole time.
Thats just great.
As soon as the barn manager finds out, she is going to transform into evil rabid barn manager from hell. I will not be sticking around for that one, i choose life.

And to top it all off Indie was a butt today. She bucked reared shied bolted, and just plain ignored me.
So now that i've ruined everyones day, i suggest intense self-renewal and meditation (preferably served on favorite sofa with a movie and ice cream....mmmm ice cream!!)

Need........MARY!!!........to.......ride!!

2010-01-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

i'm about to have a complete brain meltdown over here.

why you ask??

because the mary wanless clinic was cancelled. i can't afford the heather clinic. i don't have a trailer thats useable to get to david. and i NEED HELP!!!!!

.....*dies*.......

as soon as indie starts the cool stuff we get marooned on our little dressage island, so i'm going to peace out to curl up in a ball and slowly rock back and forth.

0_O

Some smart people and some really really dumb ones...

2010-01-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

As many of you know i am very VERY against Rolkur.

and me and my mom found a great magazine that expresses lots of views on Rolkur and other articles that relate to the riders aids, equipment, and relationships between horse and rider, with the added bonus of great pictures of lippizans and other absolutly stunning horses. Most of the articles are on training, which i think is amazing, because most of us riding dressage and other disaplines don't have horses that are already trained to grand prix or whatever level you aspire to. I would read this magazine even if you don't do dressage it has great techniques in it that apply to all kinds of riding. And for you dressage people it has all the great masters like Nuno Olivera (my personal favorite) and an assortment of spanish riding school gurus.

here is the link

http://www.horsesforlife.com/

So i know most of you have seen the blue-tongue video and if not here it is

in all its blue-tongued glory, i chose the un-cut version because some people think he only rode like that for maybe a minute, however that 9 minutes was nothing, that horse was ridden like this for TWO HOURS STRAIGHT

how anyone can even think this is ok is absolutly beyond me, and he even has the balls to put that poor horses tongue back in his mouth. There is a list of people i really want to drop-kick one day, this guy just made the list right under Monty Merola. This is just sick. sick. sick.

This guy has obviously put winning a 99 cent ribbon ahead of his horses well-being.

just. sick.

rant over

New year, New look

2010-01-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yep i decided that everything was gonna be new on this blog.
Notice the header??

yep, i made that :)

notice the side pictures??

yep made those too

notice the footer??

that too

i think it turned out quite well!!

So India update, not much going on in India land....except that we still can't use the paddocks. And i can't use the big pasture because they had to make a waiting list!!

that is beyond ridiculous

and they won't let boarders use the TLEC paddocks (even though they don't use them)

don't get me wrong, i understand the reason behind it, mixing too many horses = strangles *collective shiver* but when the boarders don't have any place to turn their horses out, it becomes an issue.

Oh well no place is perfect

other than that Indie got two new saddle pads that i found at the bottom of my mothers riding trunk (yeah free saddle pads!!)

.....

yep so that's about it

see you guys later!!

2010???..........I THINK SO!!!

2010-01-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Since the new year has started, i have given in to peer pressure and am making a Goals for 2010.
These will be very ~~difficult~~........nope thats not the word.

ummm.......

take us out of our comfort box????
okaayy well that will have to do for now.
so on to the goals!!

Goals for 2010
Number One:
Half-Pass
(doesn't have to be pretty.....just git 'er done)

Number Two:
Walk Pirouette
(this must be pretty, however)

Number Three:
Get a real pretty Legit lenghening

Number Four:
Conquer simple changes

Number Five:
Go to atleast two shows
(this should be easy, but i have failed in the past, so you never know)

Number Six:
Show first level

Number Seven:
Get summer job related to horses

Number Eight:
Apply for riding scholarship from local dressage club

Number Nine:
Attend Dressage Rally

Number Ten:
Plaid Breeches <3

So now for some updates

Shoulder-in: (that evil movement) is down pat, can do that in my sleep

Collected canter: could still use some work (and collection)

Lengthenings: India can hold it twice as long as she could before so now about half way across the diagonal. Then it kind of falls apart, she just isn't strong enough to hold it that long yet.

Haunches-in: we can go half-way down the long side before falling apart. My seat bones won't behave, and India still thinks that i've lost my mind and that i should be asking for a leg yield

Simple Changes: are down to four steps of trot and three steps of walk (which reminds me i need to work on canter-walk)

Turn on the forehand: got it. own it.

Turn on the haunches: getting better needs work

Walk pirouette: Slowly but surely getting better, and smaller, not quite there yet.

I'm going to risk bragging a little here, but screw it, its my blog!!
The last time India picked up the wrong lead was exactly one month ago (i've been counting)
Do i have the best pony ever?? Yes, i think so.

Mobile Shout-out to Dorothy M.
Come back!!! We miss you!!! (and i need help!!!!)
India.....however is quite happy that you haven't been around in a while
don't listen to the bad pony Dorothy!!!

What did you say puny human???

I'm sorry india

Happy 2010 everybody!!! :D

Rain, Rain, go away.......oh i give up

2009-12-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

no post is complete without a picture of India!!

Ok so it's been raining here a lot, like someone dumped a bucket of water on us. The indoor has been under construction and last time i looked at the outdoor a pirahanna almost got my foot and India spooked at a shark......sooo the only available place is the indoor roundpen. Don't get me wrong i like our roundpen its just that after a week of not being able to ride because of school then when i do get the chance all we have is the roundpen....frustrating. There is a lot of stuff we can do in the round pen but i can't work on anything thats not in circle, that includes working on simple changes which we almost had down to three steps...once again frustrating. India also can't go outside because it's so wet, now when most of you think "oh the field is wet and there is some standing water but mostly puddles" ok, no, when i say wet i mean there is almost 1 foot of water in that field. So i'm going to introduce you guys to some of my fav animals that happen to reside in barns that i am in or used to be in

Enjoy!!

so this is Lovey, who is a thirteen hand pony and is the sweetest pony ever....not even kidding.....ever and she has been on here before!! if anyone remembers the escaping pony?? yep thats her.

this is Rosetta and Baron, we used to own Rosetta, and got two HOT babies from her. and the other is Baron, we think he was abused and has people issues, so he only really likes his owner, who does equine massage!! So Rosetta and Baron are two lucky ponies!!

so this is roxi, Rosettas daughter, who we own, but is now for sale, because she is really really HOT. Incredibly sensitive.

This Prissy, and she lives up to her name. She also likes to be scratched on the butt with a pitchfork :)

And so without further ado...meet the horse that taught me shoulder-in!!!
This is Viki who my mom used to ride, but she has navicular and she is just more comfortable not being ridden.

This is sage, i took some lessons on her and she is great!!

(that's not me riding her)

Hope you guys enjoyed!!

Harmony Farm Show

2009-11-27T17:24:00.001-08:00

Sorry for not writing about this sooner.....my bad!!

Anyways i did training level test 3 and 4, because this was Indie's first show in a year and i wanted to do something easy. I really enjoy these two test because i can really see how USDF (or whoever makes the tests) is really trying to ease riders up to the next level. While i was learning them, i was thinking "oh that sets you up for a lengthening, and this is for leg-yield" Very cool realization. So when we got there i went to school in the ring with some others from my level, and india spazzed out the entire time. She was spooking at everything. I could see the wheels turning in the other riders minds "wow look at that paint.....if it gets any closer i'm gonna die...........AHHHHH!!!!!"

But Yeah.......anyways we eventually worked all the energy out of her till she was puffing. Then the next day me and M walked over to the jumper show next door, because the jumper always have the cool stuff. There were two mobile tack shops, not one but two!! I got some sexy tall boots that were about $200, but i got them on sale for $35, Go Me!!

Then the Trainer wanna-be rode her fourth level test.....it was painful to watch. She had this poor horses head almost on his chest. I would have given her a piece of my mind if number one: i was a legal adult and number two: i spoke dutch.

damn language barrier

Back to my ride. First was test three and India was really good, i however was a basket case. I pulled it together long enough to pull a 60% out of a hat. Then another girl did test three, after her was me...again.

Note: i HATE being first, i like to watch someone do the test before me so i know i'm about to do the right one.

Test Four i was a lot less nervous and India was more impulsed so we pulled off a 67%

i was so proud of her!! i don't know if anyone remembers but last show we got a 53% and 58%

Next Show i'm going to be doing first level test one and might be doing test two also.

We ended up winning JR high point and JR training level champion, and as i was walking back to my stall all at once thousands of fans that wanted my autograph desended on me!!!..........just kidding! :)

Happy Holidays!!

Here's a video for you vultures ;)

2009-10-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Yep me and indie!! you can mute the video, it won't hurt my feelings :)
I however would just like to point out that India was a bit tired before i got on, because she had decided to run around in the pasture like a neurotic show jumper and her pasture antics were not going to hamper my plans for riding.

Ok i'm going to shut up and let you watch the video.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I Was Sickly :(

2009-10-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry guys, i was sick for about two weeks and just didn't ride at all, and by the way that's a really bad picture but it's the only one my friend took that wasn't on the other side of the arena (which is huge by the way, picture doesn't do it justice) making us look like little flys over there.

After i got better though we started progressing leaps and bounds!! :D
We started working on more serious lengthenings and......drum roll please........haunches-in.
Its at the same time one of the the most difficult movements and one of the easiest movements i've ever ridden. It takes so much work to get her correct with her haunches in towards the inside, but once i get it its like we've been doing it our whole lives. Of course one side is easier than the other, but that's to be expected.
We also started working on sitting down and really elavating her front end, before she was almost level with some moments of downhill. No more will downhill ever be acceptable, it's uphill all the way!! :D

And shoulder-in has been confirmed!! yeah!! so i have about 1/4th of second level....and about 2/3rds of first level (darn lengthenings!!)

AND!! i have unofficially been offered a working student position at the big fancy dressage barn down the lane!!! The trainer i'll be getting lessons from is a Grand Prix rider who is fantabulous!!
I'm also now riding another ladies horse, named Austa. Who is a second level drop out, she was injured and kind of has selective listening abilities and her owner, bless her heart only walks and really doesn't know how to ride dressage yet, she's getting there though. So Austa needs some tuning up.

Cantersss.........THEN WALK!!!

2009-09-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

i had a lesson today with awesome trainer (that should be her official name) who is going to be giving clinics at my barn :D once a month and guess who's the ideal demo rider......oh yeah!!
although that might be because awesome trainer is also my madre....but whateva
and we might be putting on a dressage show some time (i personally think we should name it after India.....but that's my thought). I'm really excited this would be the first dressage show ever at a mainly western/hunter jumper barn......this should be interesting
so back to the lesson it was in the indoor arena because it was raining cats and dogs outside. and India was really good during warm up and if horses could speak it would have sounded like this "yes ma'am........yes ma'am.........ummm not a chance... *WHOMP*.....yes ma'am"
yeah...she needs some tough love every once in while.
then my lesson got started and it was quick-rapid-fire-drill-Sergent-trainer, each command came two seconds after the last one. and it sounded like this shoulder-in...half-halt... walk...trot...shoulder-in...lengthen...what!!! did i hear that right?? Yep India did her first baby lengthening today!!! Yeah!!! and if i might add, she did really well. It only took us three tries to get it right.
then we moved on to canter work, and did a couple walk canters then back down to trot. Then trainer announces (loudly i might add) that we are going to be working on canter-walks, the epitome of awesomeness. This one took longer than the lengthenings did about 6 tries before we got two really amazing ones. she was cantering then boom we're walking. i am so happy!!!
ever since the last mary clinic when i saw ms. A do one, its been my ultimate goal to do a canter-walk...and i just did one!!! i'm so excited!!!.......can you tell??

my expectations are low ok?? that way i'm never dissapointed, but this one was high...at least for me anyway......YEAH!!!!

Really short post :)

2009-08-30T10:18:00.001-07:00

so i have finally narrowed down some names for Indies show name.

first: Taa Halona= seed of good fortune in Navajo (i think)

second: Nova Mika= smart raccoon chases butterfly's in Cherokee

third: Soyala= winter solstice in a native American language that escapes me at the moment

It would be super great if you guys could tell me which you like better, because i just can't decide :)

so please bear with my indecisiveness, i'll probably decide eventually :D

Witchy Pony

2009-08-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

OK so on Saturday Bad Pony cocked an attitude, and basically went "SCREW YOU!!!"
what she was doing was flipping her head up then getting stiff to the point where i couldn't steer. My hand was behind my saddle and her neck hadn't even turned toward the direction she needed to go to avoid hitting said hard metal fence (i would know, I've been run into it on numerous occasions).
Seeing as it was getting dangerous i asked my trainer to get on, and she couldn't steer her either, that's when you know it's really bad. By this time she was literally running into the wall , so awesome trainer went and got some twine and we made some Vienna Reins.
Or sliding side reins, i have provided you guys with a model complete with indie colored horse.

Basically what they do is when her head is down she feels nothing, they could be on or off makes no difference, but when she flips her head up she gives herself a jerk in the mouth. She figured it out really quickly and i had control back!!
On Sunday when i rode her (still in vienna reins) she was a perfect angel, and we even went outside!! It's been so muddy here was no point in even going outside.
So the show in Sept. is tempararily back on!!
I'm still waiting to see what she feels like closer to time, i really don't want to go then have no control. that. would. suck.

The Give

2009-08-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

So i have been seeing a lot of debates about getting the horse into a frame. First of all i HATE that word with a passion. That is what gets people into trouble, because it implys that the horse puts their head in one spot and never moves from that spot no matter what. It is impossible to do that while riding dressage, the horse has to move their head, it's essential.
What i was taught was to do the give, which is thousands of minute adjustments.
The give is by John Lyons, in his book Lyons on horses (hehe lions on horses :)
First you apply steady pressure on one rein. keep the pressure the same, don't increase or decrease. When the horse gives to the pressure, you should see a loop in the reins. Release the pressure IMMEDATLY, that part is really important, it has to be the second they give to pressure. Keep increasing how far they have to turn their head to release the pressure, do this until they give and almost touch your knee.
Now you can start the down part of the give. Put as much pressure as you did in the beginning on the inside rein and put a little less pressure on the outside rein.
In this situation the horse has two options A: hold on to the bit and not let go and keep the annoying pressure in his mouth or B: put his head down.The reason they have to put their head down is because the inside rein says give and the outside says don't turn your head, the only option is down. Some horses when they first start this go up, if they do just keep the pressure until they go down, then release all the pressure immediatly.

Don't expect them to keep it there in the sweet spot as we call it at my barn, really great riders might do the give or some form of it thousands of times in a ride, it's so small you don't see it. Thats where the myth of the frame came about, people saw the horses head seemingly not moving and assumed that the rider had taught the horse not to move his head.
This is also where Rolkur came from people struggling to get something that doesn't exist, so they just started pulling their horse's mouth. If your horse has a "frame" it's wrong

Totally Estactic!!!

2009-08-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

Indie is such a good girl, she has been listening to me so well. And for the first time i let someone else besides the the three people i trust on her. Now it's not that i don't trust the human, it's the horse i'm worried about. Like last time, she took off and refused to stop. Not. A. Pretty. Day.

I let the resisdent western/dressage convertee who just started taking lessons from my trainer, on indie to feel what a dressage horse is supposed to feel like (she rides an exworking cowhorse/dressage horse convertee, that is as stiff as a board)

I got on Cocoa while she was on Indie, and tried to get her to give and relax and stretch, it was like she had swallowed a broomstick. We made some progress and then switched horses.

Indie was good for me too, and we kinda tweaked with her canter transitions, to get them more clear cut.

And we have officially (thats right its official) been told we can do training level with our eyes shut and first level with a little more difficulty, yea!!......can we do second yet?? Apparently not judging by trainers face when i asked.

I swear i need to get her one of those hats that says "the trainer has spoken"

It fits her perfectly

This same day i also got to ride Austa, a second level drop out, who has absolutly no muscle mass what so ever (or as K says "flabby Mcflabbers") But she was a cool ride, she remembers leg yield, and sorta kinda shoulder-in, she even cantered a little. Cantering was a big deal,because when i say no muscle mass what so ever, i mean theres none, i was feeling her when i groomed her, nothing. Absolutly nothing. It's like fat and bones, and thats it.

Big collective ewwws followed that discovery

OMG I DID IT........

2009-07-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

from this

to

this...
i did it, i finally relaxed enough to let India really shine. i mean come on look at that she is gorgeous and the first picture is just blechh
she looks just like her daddy :)
except cuter...
and prettier...
and more compact...
and more colorful...
and......more huggable :)
and i el-oh-vee-ee her
she's amazing
i knew she was the whole time but now everyone can see it and i don't think I've gotten more compliments on her ever
all i heard was "she is so relaxed and happy she must really like dressage"
and "she is so pretty"
oh yes that she is

now what was i saying about FEI junior test??

...

oh yeah

watch out

there's a storm coming

there's a storm

practically a hurricane

but smaller
so i guess more like a tropical storm

see ya in 6 days :)

i love you indie <3

Canter Issues

2009-07-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

I swear it's not me!!......help me

OK i feel really dumb
but this happens every time we have an issue
so what's really wrong is me (darn it...)
i have been shifting her to the outside to ask for canter and putting weight on her inside leg
which is the one i was trying to get *smackshead*
OK new plan
shift to the inside and keep her straighter

And did i mention that we rode in the indoor??
yes we did!!
and India was supah!!!
we did some seriously awesome shoulder-in, and leg-yields

Her trot is finally where i want it, she is listening to my half-halts and is staying with me
before it almost felt like she was trotting out from under me (not a good feeling)
so just hang in there with us we are gettin closer every ride

OK show schedule 2009

July: cancelled :P

September: Harmony Farm schooling show

October: Tala Lake schooling show

November: Harmony Farm schooling show numero dos

December: Tala Lake Schooling show numero dos

Which one, which one?? :]
i think it's gonna be the november Harmony farm and the december tala lake
India just needs some more show experience before we start doing first level shows and rated shows

What do you guys think??

Theory Numba Two

2009-06-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Alright time for a second theory :)

i know way too many theories (she's probably just being bitchy, but i like this theory

Get ready for it.......

.........

India is tired of doing dressage all the time

(frankly so am i, i love dressage but sometimes i get really tense and it doesn't end well)

i know you are all wondering how i came up with this brilliant theory

aren't you??

OK well we went on a really long and mud filled trail ride

See?? lots of mud

and i asked India to canter (in the only non-mud filled area)

and off we go cantering away (on the right lead!!!)

F you, horse

F you

and then i jumped a little log!!

i would show you guys a picture but my friends were laughing too hard to take one

it was about 18 inches and wasn't even a real cross country jump, it was a limb that fell next to a cross-country jump. But I'm telling you i thought i was gonna die!! (from laughing so hard)

and once again off we go cantering on the right lead

thanks horse

(you never said i had to canter in the arena, i thought you meant a little later)

so on that note India's gonna get a visit from the vet to see if she can officially start to jump again

yea!! vet visits!! :(

I blame the turnout!!

2009-06-25T20:00:00.001-07:00

I do. I blame the turnout situation, for india's canter issues.

Here's my logic (so far.......)

A: india is not being turned out enough

B: paddock was disgusting

C: india goes crazy when i try to canter

so..... A+B+C= India is going crazy because she is not being turned out and has too much energy

That's my logic and i'm sticking to it......unless of course turning her out doesn't help, then i'll have to come up with another plan.

Let me explain exactly what she is doing. I ask for canter and she trots faster, i try again and use stronger aids again she trots faster, this continues until she explodes and canters around like an idiot. I am asking just like i did before: inside seat bone goes forward outside goes back, let her have a little rein and kick.

you know on second thought...........i think my logic might be flawed...........a little bit

But i still want to rule it out, so i'm going to try.

FEI junior test HERE WE COME!!!!

2009-06-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Wow India was amazing today!!
i started with walk halts then moved on to leg-yield halt leg-yield then did some stretchy trot swoops (many circles/serpentine....like things) and by this time she was already waiting for me and soft AND moving off my left leg about as well as she ever has....it's still not perfect...but I'll save that for a later date.
So i started sitting trot and it was effortless!!, sitting trot has always been really easy for me but today effortless, i could have sat her trot for hours (if it hadn't been 97 degrees) And for about two weeks i have been trying to get her to listen to me better. No not to go forward, but to BRAKE!!
And today i felt like i really OWNED IT!! that's right half-halts i OWN YOU!!! and whoa i OWN YOU TOO!!! MUHAHAHA!!!!!
*coughs*
sorry :]

Just give me about two years to conquer the gate into the indoor arena and we will be kicking their FEI ASSES!!!!!

So on to lateral work......whats there to say besides stunning!! :)

she even did shoulder-in going right AND canter leg-yields.......in the SAME ride!!!

speaking of canter we did it both directions (yea!!!) we've been having trouble picking up the correct leads

( i keep wanting to say right lead as in the correct lead but then i realize that right is also a direction *smackshead*)

so today we just kept at it until she got it, then got praised profusely by that crazy midget on her back that insists on the correct lead ;)

And to top it off i was looking at the USDF directory first level test one and realized with the exception of lengthenings i could do that test in my sleep!! (depending on if india wants to canter that day O_0)

(and now some lyrics from the musical Chicago)

There's really nothing to it!!! i just simply cannot do it alone!!!!

Another OTTB

2009-06-14T20:16:00.001-07:00

Sinduda isn't that the coolest name, 5yo dark bay gelding yea!!! the gelding bus has made another stop!!, 15.3hh yea!!! playful personality, sound yea!! don't see that to often , too slow to be a successful racehorse.Asking $2000 Horse is located at Pleasanton Track, Pleasanton umm.....where is pleasanton, CA pretty pony, pretty pony, why liveth so far away, pretty pony??

ok as always

red is bad bad bad

green is oh goody!!

pink is kinda not good

blue is my comments

isn't he a cutie?? i think i like this one better than the last one. (at least he's gelded)

and the price would be about the same as the last one after you gelded the other one, so price isn't a big deal, wow the only bad thing i found was he lives in california (too far away if you ask me)

i REALLY want this one!! look how cute he is!! does anyone want to buy him for me for my birthday?? .................................................no takers?? thanks guys, love you too :P

BUT!!! (theres the BIG BUTT!!!! *snickers* sorry inside joke......moving right along)

if YOU, yes you want to buy him or check him out you can call Owner/Trainer Ron Wallace 510-307-6719

OR go to this website http://www.canterusa.org/california/norcallistings.htm

(ps: to find him scroll ALL the way to the bottom, i promise he is down there.....somewhere)

Hot as H-e double L

2009-06-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

It was so hot today. And the temperature thingy was lying to me it said 86 degrees.....LIES!!!! It was not 86 DEGREES today it was more like 205 degrees, i know what 86 feels like, NOT 86.

I am working a horse camp this summer, so i was at the barn from 8:00 to 5:30 (half of that was watching chillens and eating Popsicles :). there was one little boy who couldn't get his pony to move and just about cried! He is my little man :). We kept telling him to kick her and get mad but he couldn't reach her sides so he just sat there flapping around. I love that little kid, and another pony that combined are my little men!! I love them.

So on with India, i rode in the dressage arena (it was really hot...) and we did some really slow canter :) that is exciting because i recently got India to GO!! darn it!! she's tracking up!!..............now she just won't slow down, it's the recurrence of that stupid pendulum...but we did a ten meter circle stop before the rail and it worked!! YEA!!!!

i'm tired night-night :)

Rain Rot, Mud Fever, Scratches....whatever you want to call it

2009-05-31T13:00:00.001-07:00

OK imagine this on all four of India's pasterns, the reason for this??
the ridiculous amount of mud in all the pastures (except the lesson horse's that boarders aren't allowed to use....typical) all of the horses are getting it. As soon as one clears up another gets it

and i think i will permanently smell like Budeaux's butt paste.(did i spell that right??)
After i cleaned her pasterns with antibiotic soap, i put the butt paste on to keep it clean. hopefully it will work

PS: i HATE rain rot!!!!

We got RUN OVER

2009-05-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

I really wish someone had taken a video of it. it must have looked like the video of the harness horses where they all run into each other.

there was a hunter/jumper show at my barn, i wasn't in it but i snuck into the warm-up ring, just to ride in the hectic warm-up ring, good show experience. India was being a very good girl, even though NONE of the people could turn their horses without using a fence. They were all up in my space!!

There was one poor girl, i don't know who put her on this horse, but they should have been slapped upside their head. She couldn't make him turn, trot, canter, stop, or jump. She had NO control at all. All this horse did was bolt, rear, buck, and refuse to go.

They had to lunge him for an hour, attempt to ride him for another hour, just to do an equitation class where he bolted four times and threatened to rear. She was obviously a green rider too. Didn't know what to do when he refused. Didn't know how to canter properly. And the only advice the trainer gave her was put your hand on your butt and kick him as hard as you can. Which only made him flip around in a circle.

So i was on Indie talking to my trainer, when she did that flipping thing RIGHT BEHIND me, ok well suprise suprise he was so wigged out, that he started to canter sideways(dunno how he did it, it wasn't a leg yield, it was sideways, cantering SIDEWAYS)

He ran right into India's butt, India almost fell down, but recovered and took off cantering. Lucky i didn't fall off, cause when i got india to stop he was still cantering sideways. I'm serious it was one of the scaryiest things ever. If India had fallen down i'm pretty sure he would have run right over us and made a Paige and India flavored pancake. (i think we would have tasted pretty good honestly, yum....pancakes :)

So other than nearly dieing, it was a pretty good day :)

India Updates

2009-04-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

ok so some updates......

Numero Uno: we are officially moving India to TLEC tomorrow!!! i have picked out my stall and everything, all we need to do is move the gear and pony. it is a really nice Equestrian center

it has (get ready) three arenas, one outdoor jumping arena, one outdoor dressage arena, and one indoor arena. it has a cross country course

by the way here are some pictures of it (up there)

Numero Dos: India is wearing the dreaded muzzle again!!.....because someone asked me when her foal was due 0_O

Numero.....threeo: i got her a snazzy new halter, thats plaid!! it's maroon and black with some grey accents and it's a break-away!!!

But i Can't Help it!!!!! Look at Him!!!!

2009-04-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

Baby Rusch

Baby Rusch,(that would have to change, i'm thinking Chimera) black bay colt(drool), 16.0(do you think i would look like a pea up there??) hands, 6 years old. Hubba, hubba(a what???) – this horse is a HUNK(I AGREE!!), absolutely gorgeous! Beautifully put together(i love his butt), this boy looks like a power house, but with the elegance for which Thoroughbreds are bred. Baby Rusch is still intact (SAY WHAT!?!?!???)so he could be sought after for breeding (umm...no)or he could easily be gelded(gelding bus here we come!!) and you’d end up with a horse who has the looks of a stallion(a verryy sexy stallion) and the personality of a pet. This horse is super sweet and respectful(i could use some of that!!) with a very intelligent, but soft eye. His trainer describes the horse as a VERY good mover and from what we saw, we fully agree(me too!!!). The trainer only has the horse’s best interest in mind(awww) and wants to see him go to someone who values the boy the way he does(aawww....again). Unfortunately, he had a suspensory injury last week and full diagnostics have not yet been completed. Based on this type of injury, he will most likely be looking for a non-jumping home (not really an issue i can't jump anyway)and a certain amount of layup(don't you have to do this anyway??) will be required, but this horse is clearly worth it. This horse is STUNNING(swoons), you will not be disappointed! $500,(are they for serious??? i'll pick him up next week!!!) with special considerations to the perfect home.(me!!! right here!!! pick me!!!)

pink= kinda bad

red= bad bad bad

green=yea!!

blue= my comments

ok i don't need another horse and i'll never ever in a million years convince my parents to get another horse.....BUT HE'S SOOOO PRETTY!!!!!!! *pouts*

i discovered this boy yesterday and so far no progress has been made toward convinceing the parents to go see him (believe me i have been trying) but i'm not too hopeful with the economy and all, i don't think it's gonna happen (but don't worry if i do get him i will definatly tell you guys ;)

since i probably won't be getting him i really hope someone else will and blog about him (so we can ALL drool over his gorgous pictures!!!)

after seeing this horse i think i'm hooked on OTTBs <3

does anyone want to buy him and let me ride him???

seriously if you want to buy him contact Jeremiah Englehart 516-770-0085

and he will set you up with your own DROOLWORTHY STUD!!!!!

maybe i should post an available OTTB every (what day is it??)...........OH!!!! thursday!!!

(many pretty horses to drool over!!)

i was feeling left out.....

2009-04-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

*wow i really underestimated how much fun that would be*

1. How old were you when you first started riding?

ummm..... about two

2. First horse ridden:

a pony named Noel

3. First horse trotted on:

a QH horse named T Joe

4. First horse cantered on:

my mom's friend's rocky mountain spotted pony, lacy

5. First Horse fallen off of:

Lacy (second time cantering)

6. Most recent horse fallen off of

india (there was a deadly plant intruding into the arena)

7. Most terrifying fall:

i was riding cappachino and he bolted and jumped over the chain around the arena and i lost my stirrups. he raced around half the arena, nearly took out the judge (a 55, i'll show you what we do to judges who give out 55s!!!) and when i finally fell off he kicked my head and killed my helmet (really chino?? that was $75) then i got attacked by a paramedic

8. First horse jumped with:

ponyta, nasty little thing

9. First horse who ran away with you:

lacy

10. First horse that scared the crap out of you:

india, she likes to bolt......into trees

11. First horse shown :!)

lacy, we got fourth overall!!

12. First horse to win a class with:

india!! the class only had one person in it, me

13. Do you/have you taken lessons:

yep about once a week

14. First horse you ever rode bareback:

lacy.......bad idea

15. First horse trail ridden with:

lacy, our pastere was a fenced in forest with a pond, so i guess that counts

16. Current Barn name:

doesn't have one, but soon we shall be moving to TLEC!!

17. Do you ride English or western?:

english, i've tried western.....it was ok

18. First Horse to place at a show with:

Lacy (see question #11)

19. Ever been to horse camp?:

yep......hated it......all we did was walk in an arena

20. Ever been to a riding clinic?

yes!! i love clinics!!!! mary wanless is my fav!! :)

21. Ridden sidesaddle?

uhhhh......no

22. First horse leased:

never leased one......unless riding someone elses counts

23. Last Horse Leased:

none

24. Highest ribbon in a show:

first!!! on indie!!

25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?:

some might call me stupid but..........whats an A rated show???

26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?:

yess, on stormy who hadn't been riden in three years and acted like a stallion

27. Ever fallen off at a show

Oh Yes!!! most memorable was on Chino

28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?:

nope

29. Have you ever barrel raced?

nope

30. Ever done pole bending?:

no...

31. Favorite gait:

do i have to pick just one???

32. Ever cantered bareback?:

unintetionally

33. Have you ever done dressage?:

heck yes!!!!

34. Have you ever evented?:

no, but i might be soon

35. Have you ever mucked a stall?:

What kind of stupid question is that?!?!?!?

36. Ever been bucked off?:

yes, indie also likes to buck..........but not anymore....hehehe

37. Ever been on a horse that reared

yep, guess who............indie

38. Horses or ponies.

well it kinda depends on the equine

39. Do you wear a helmet?:

heck yes

40. What's the highest you've jumped:

two feet :) over a dressage arena chain

41. Have you ever ridden at night?:

haha yes!! bareback trailriding is much fun!!

42. Do you watch horsey television shows?:

yup! mostly animal cops and the whole time i scream at the tv that the punishments are not harsh enough

43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?:

nope *knocks on wood*

44. Most falls in one lesson:

twice, india was PISSED

45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?:

yes i do

46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?:

ummm......who hasn't???

47. Have you ever been bitten?:

yes, on the butt

48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?:

almost everytime i see one

49: Favorite riding moment:

when i did a shoulder-in for the first time :)

50. Most fun horse you've ridden:

definatly india!!! but Sage comes close ;)

Shoulder-ins and Leg-yields

2009-04-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

you know those days when you just know something is going to happen?? yea i just knew today i was going to have a good ride, i just knew it!! so today india felt wonderful and reminded me why i ride dressage :) when i asked her to do anything she just said "how much ma'am? and would you like a massage with that?" she kept her head in the right spot and when i asked her to move it it happened immediatly.

we also did a shoulder- in!! the elusive shoulder-in has finally been conquered!! and might i mention that it was done all the way down the long side. i figured out (finally) what the angle for the shoulder-in is, and that i was really over doing it *smacks head* and that i was trying to keep her on the rail with the wrong hand *headdesk* i needed to let her move toward the rail with my outside hand and i was trying to do that with my inside hand *headdoor* and now that i have my hands right i don't have to use so much leg. go figure *headfishtank*

i also did some canter leg-yields which aren't as elusive as shoulder-in, but still pretty elusive, india just cantered right on over to the rail

now that my self-confidense has returned, we focus on more important things like paige is starving, paige needs to eat, india is starving too, paige needs to feed her :)

Mary Wanless Clinic

2009-03-12T19:46:00.001-07:00

(yea!! i'm back!! iv'e been really busy lately)

ok so Mary Wanless was a lot of fun and i learned so much. like how i have to anchor my knee and lighten my bum on the saddle so i don't crush indies long back mucles (sorry indie) and i even have a video of me running my mom over with my horse :) and guess what else happened..............sorry just for suspence........................Mary Wanless told me that when i graduate high school i should come and be one of her working students!!!! is that amazing or what!!!

Sincerely Paige

Bipolar Pony

Crazy Busy Craziness...

Me and Pony :D

TADA!! Bitx2

Lesson with boobhead ;)

Progressions and Overexcitement.

Karmas a Bitch

Rolled Leather.......

Oh hello there horse of my dreams.....

Bucephalus

Oh Pony...

Its that time again....

BusyBusyBusy

Blog Award :)

For Gogo and Andrea...

Lesson With Mama Francie :)

Never Forget.

Movie Time!!!

Heather Clinic

"I hate to say it but....wait....no i don't"

CountDown: One Day!!

Quote of the Day

Countdown!!

First Level Test 3

USPC Championships 2011

Missississippi/Kentucky

We are da Bomb

How did i NOT know about this??

Into the land of.....Helmets

And Stay Away!!!

Freestylin 2011

DSR 2011

Lazy lazy lazy.....Imma Bum

Why hallo thur!!

Why Horses?

Mary Wanless Clinic

In Which I Light my Horse on Fire.....

Going Cross-Country :)

I've been putting this off for a while........

Estrogen Levels are reaching Toxic

Indie-boo

::Goals::

Merry Christmassss!!

Who needs Human Boys??

Christmas is Coming!!

School project ignore

Demo+Red Horse Update

Long time no see!!

Pictas of da horsey

Introducing Kenai!!

FAIL

Quick Update!!

CHAMPS PICTURES!!!!

Armani Man, Wonder pony, and The Princess.

Thou must be kidding thyself

USPC Championships East

Chiropractor

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

When Life says Go

Post-Show Epilogue

Dressage Rally!!

Exams + dressage rally+ job interview + new school + getting yelled at a lot = Super Excited

Thats Lame!!

Where did April go?!?!?

Hokan :)

Just Kidding.....

Blog Award

Dorothy!!

Dentist!!!

What Indie loves is.....

*Facepalm*

DOROTHY!!!!!! :D

I really should become a hermit

Need........MARY!!!........to.......ride!!

Some smart people and some really really dumb ones...

New year, New look

2010???..........I THINK SO!!!

Rain, Rain, go away.......oh i give up

Harmony Farm Show

Facepalm