So we didnt do much tonight. I finaly got on him tonight without anyone holding him or standing by his head (first time in a long time). He tends to back up 1 step as soon as I get to the top of the mounting block, so I have to get down and re-ajust the mounting block, then start over. Today I fixed it,,,, kind of,,,, Well I backed him up into a corner and got on there! Not a long term solution, but it worked! Then we just did some walk/trot transitions, halted in the middle of the ring and watch the other girl lope for a bit, then did some more. He flug his head around a bit when I first asked him to trot on but I just kept clucking with no presure either on the hands or legs and he trotted off a stride or two later. Im not sure what to do to make him happy. Somthing that wont work the first half of the ride works the second half, and somthing that works the first half wont work later on. He is due to have his teeth done when the dentist comes to the barn next so hopefully that helps. The worst thing is that I know his behavour is better outside... but its still to wet and cold to get into the outdoor.

National High Point Champion

Ummm no not Lucas, They re-tallied the points from 2009, the last year that I showed appaloosa. CC I Am Sassy Twist (Sassy) Ended up being named the top Open 2 Year Old Mare for 2009! With me showing her! The re-tailing of the points did move her owner down to 3rd place (all age amateur mares), but the owners son into 3rd as well (youth all age halter mares). She should have enough points in all three classes to earn her open superior award in Open, Amature and Youth. Rumor is that they are re-doing the 2008 as well, cross your fingers we only get bumped up! On the Lucas front, all is well. Im hopefully going to ride him either today or tomorrow.

Shopping!

Well the greenhawk stores had a huge sale today so I got myself a pair of full seat breaches, at 1/2 price I couldn't not buy them! I got a few other things that Lucas needed, and also got a saddle case for my english saddle. It just had the dust cover on it that came with it, and this had a wide and comfortable strap that will make carrying it easier. I seriously was planing on riding but it was cold and I was tired so I helped with chores and then went home and wrapped up in a blanket!

Halter

Well we didn't ride tonight, work has been stressful and I haven't been getting to the barn as early as I would like. Last night one of the boarders halter mares got inseminated with appaloosa semen, hopefully she catches, but she threw the whole barn out of sinc. Tonight I just lunged Lucas and discussed a fitting program with D and C. They both agreed that If we can fine up his neck a bit he should be in good enough shape to carry himself into the ring while looking good for halter.

His big bonus in the show ring is how balanced he is. He has many faults in his front legs but his rear legs are good. He is also has a small fine head, which makes his body look bigger than it is. And hes pretty!

So were in the market for a neck sweat, C has one I can borrow until I get one in but I don't want to do that too often. Hes still fitting into the Med size so I guess his neck isnt that big, just thick looking. Thankfully hes not thick though the throughtlatch so he wont have to wear the fuzzes but he will need to be sweated a couple of times a week.

Trust X2

So another fantastic ride on Lucas! Once I got on we stood in the center of the ring while one of the kids worked out some kinks on her own horse. Then once she was done she stood in the center while we practiced walking in and out of the "line" up, good practice for the show ring. Then we started working. We did our walking and trotting on a loose rein. Keeping both of us relaxed and forward.

Then we loped/cantered on a loose rein :) No head tossing, no freaking out on my part, just a smooth canter transition.

Then D started a bit of a challenge to me, I had my reins loose in my outside hand (of a large 20 meter circle) when he got heavy, or his head got too low I had to reach down and slide my inside hand down the rein and lift that rein up. Once he got re-balance I let go of the inside rein, and continued to ride with my outside rein. It involved me moving around a fair bit in the saddle (while keeping my legs solid and consistent) and a fair amount of trust.

So we worked on it at the trot and then we worked up to a canter. You know if you had told me less than a month ago I would be cantering Lucas one handed on a loose rein I would have laughed at you, but we did it! It was hard work, keeping my legs consistent, while moving around and picking up my reins. But I finally got my hips to flow which allowed my upper body to be more independent. We did have a bit of a misstep when I lost my outside leg for a moment when trying to push him out of the circle a bit and we got a fantastical smooth lead change!! It wasn't supposed happen but it was great all the same. :)

By the end of the ride we were doing great transitions on a loose rein. And keeping a good balanced canter (and wow it was nice! I totaly LOVE his canter on a good day!) and trot on a good loose rein. Lots of lift and drive, and so easy for once!!! Its really teaching me to stop being so dependent on my hands, (extremely bad habit I seem to pick up all the time!) and since he is always worse at home, if I can have him go like this at a show........ I need to stop picking on him!

Lucas turns 10!

Well not today, his birthday was Monday the 21st. I went out last night and did some lunging and got some pics of him. I also did a little bit of showmanship practice just to keep him thinking. Ive noticed a big change in his body shape since last year, hes gained a ton of weight, although I would like him to loose a bit, its so much better than when he came and didnt have any muscle tone or extra weight over his ribs.

I should add that I got my IV today, one of the many drugs that they have me on is Orencia. I get it every 4 weeks from a nurse that comes to my house to give it to me. Im generally super tired and cranky for 24 hours afterwords but then Im ok. So far it seems to be working very well, the swelling isnt down too much, but I can do a bunch more than I could last summer without being as sore. Im still working up my stamina, and trying to loose the weight I gained last fall when the drugs wern't working (I eat when Im in pain) things should be good for the summer. The good thing is that the show clothes still fit!

Trust

So we had planed a ride for tonight, but when I got to the barn it was poring rain and blowing like crazy. I originally thought I should chicken out, but thought that if I did that it would just be another missed opportunity.

So I let him have some free time in the indoor to have a run (its much too muddy for them to do any actually riding outside) tacked him up and then lunged him. D came to the gate when I was putting his bridle on and I asked "am I chickening out if I ask you to get on him for a few minutes before I do?" D said yes, but that he would get on him first as he wanted to try something out.

So D got on him and just sat on his back for 5 minutes waiting for him to relax. Then he walked him around on a completely loose rein for another 10 and got off. The plan was to no put any pressure on him, and keep ourselves relaxed so that he could stay relaxed. So I got on I had a ton of slack on the reins and got told to keep my hand that wasn't holding the reins on the horn of the western saddle.

We did big 20 m circles and some figure 8's all at a walk and on an extremely loose rein, no leg except to steer. D's idea was that Lucas only got into panic mode (like when he reared the other night) was if he got his head up once we started 'working'. He then thought he was going to get punished so he was thinking about getting out of the beating before it even happened. (disclaimer: we know that Lucas was in an extremely hard training program before we got him, abuse of the show horses that didn't go as 'programed' happened)

So my whole objective was to bounce around in the saddle, pat his neck, pat his bum, do everything but grab the reins. Oh and stay relaxed, and not to panic about anything!

Lucas never picked his head up, didn't spook and certainly didn't even try to rear. We walked and trotted on a loose rein, with a big drape. I got worried occasionally about what might happen but I just grabbed onto the horn a little tighter! At one point I worried that he might not stop when we trotted off.... and the I remembered that he was spur broke (meaning if I apply my spurs together in one spot he will lift, and slow down, or stop if I continue to apply pressure)

It went really well. All of us were impressed with how well he was neck reining as he really isn't a western horse. He was the best he's ever been. I guess Ive been putting pressure on both of us that neither of us need, and I just need to trust him, and in our abilities.

Showmanship practice

Our first show is May 28-29, we show only on the 28th (the first day is halter and showmanship and English, second day is western and games). It is a combined APHA and ApHCC (appaloosa horse club of Canada) with Open classes included. All of the classes are double judged and the judges have multiple cards. (one has his AQHA card as well!) and at $10 a class it is much more affordable than the local AQHA shows.

So Lucas will be in Halter Geldings, Western Showmanship, English Showmanship, Hunter under saddle and a hunter under saddle stake. This is the same show that was our first show together last year.

Onto tonight's work, our showmanship practice:

OK crappy picture but it will explain the pattern that we did tonight!

Start at A, walk half way to B then trot.

Turn at B and continue to C.

Halt and set up for inspection.

Back up 4 steps. 275 degree turn.

Trot away in a loop toward B. At B walk, continuing past A to finish pattern.

Things didn't go so badly, on our right turn at the trot Lucas was almost in my way I'm pulling his head into my body too much. I need to keep my hands apart and away from my belly button. Things went well and this was our first time putting together a showmanship pattern like we will see this summer and it flowed fairly well (we've been doing the components, but not putting them all together.)

Well we got some attitude tonight!!! Lucas front feet actually left the ground tonight about 1 minute into the ride. The figure 8's at a walk and changing direction and size of the circle got him going forward again and we had a fantastic ride after that.

Did alot of work at the trot lifting his belly and shoulders up and driving from behind. Then we did some canter work as well, then threw some transitions into the mix. We had a great ride for the last 20 minutes :) I need to get on him more frequently. He only does that attitude thing when Im not riding him much, its just getting my ass in gear. And the longer Im not on his back the more I think about the bad stuff that could go wrong.

D is very encouraging, and seems to 'get' what I need, and when I need support. He thinks I should be riding more too, and that my horse can handle me (and that I need to stop making excuses!)

I finaly ditched my old black boots and started using my dress boots to ride in. They helped ALOT! My ancles werent rolling like they normaly do which gave me more stability. I went and ordered a pair of full seat breaches that should be in next weekend, which should help with the english riding as well.

quality time

I went and spent some quality time with Lucas tonight, who took every oppertunity he could to remind me how spoiled he is. :) And how lucky we both are.

Work has been a little crazy lately, and is only going to get worse.... however show season is coming, if there was ever a better excuse for late nights in the barn that makes 2 good reasons.

We did our 'halter' workout tonight, and we have a lesson scdeduled for tomorrow night. Hes getting stronger with the work so for only being back into work for 2 months (with me having to take a week off due to the flu) I think were doing ok. Truthfully hes so broke he could show by himself in 2 months.... Its me Im worried about!

Death of a dream

Back when I started my career in the western pleasure/quarter horse journey we had a mare come in for re-breeding to the stud on the farm that I worked on. She still had last years foal with her (she came back to our barn to be checked on first heat after her foal heat) and at about 1 month old it didn't really have a name. She was the most independent foal that I had ever seen, often leaving her mothers side to investigate things, people or other horses. So we named her Indy. (short for independent!)

We really enjoyed having her around, and when the mare was breed she went back to the home farm. Later that year we heard she was in serious distress. Apparently that summer her owners had turned her and her mother out in a newly seeded and growing Field of multiple clover blends. Indy got extremely sick. The vets at the local college were able to save her but she ended up having a horrible disfigured mussel and face.

This was the 'nic' cross of that mare to our stallion, and the owners were truly looking forward to keeping that filly to replace her mother as she got older. (the older siblings were all colts who were showing AQHA and winning)

They kept her, decided against riding or breeding her until they could be sure (or as sure as you can be in the breeding industry) that she was mature enough and strong enough to carry a foal to term.

Last spring they breed her.

Today she died.

On the one hand they did there best to give her a normal life, many people would have put her down as a yearling. And when I last saw her 2 years ago she was in good health and seemed very happy.

However, they are very much hands off breeders... most of there breed mares are outside 24-7 with only hay and no additional feed. While that may work for a large portion of people (and realisticly we did only have about 5 days with temps lower than -20 way less than people out west that do the same things) But this mare had issues,,, why couldn't they just keep her in for the winter??

I guess some days I wonder why people have horses.

One crazy day

Well the meatballs were a hit! I came home with no leftovers, and requests for more next weekend! Since my first cooking experiment worked, tonight I made a banana and strawberry smoothy. It was good too!

On the barn front, the BO's puppies were born last night/early this morning. 4 healthy and happy puppies, and a tired mommy dog, and 2 very tired BO's! So me and one of the kids helped do all the barn chores (and OMG I am so tired now... how did I used to do all those stalls before?!?) Two of the clients who have horses in for training were up and they had lessons while we were working.

The two kids that came with them were going to work on showmanship with the horses, but D and C hadn't had a chance to do much with them so C (and the owner of one of the horses) asked if I could take Lucas and one of the lesson horses out and give them a mini lesson on horses who know what they are doing. The truly funny part of this is that the person who asked if I could, was the same person who judged me and Lucas at the last show (and placed us second to last!). Anyways the girls had fun and Lucas was a very good boy but completely took advantage of the littlest girl, got a little bit sloppy with her. It was fun to teach again and they really wanted to learn (which makes it more fun!)

Spring cleaning

Well I decided to take a short break from riding, although I will be back on him by Monday. No long lasting effects from the head bump, other than my glasses are a bit twisted. Im in the process of spring cleaning all of my barn stuff. Lucas is back into his Mid/light weight turnout so his heavy turnout is at home getting cleaned before I re-water proof it. All my saddle pads also went into the wash as well as lucas boots. The SMB II actually had to get scrubbed, but they hadnt been cleaned in a while. Girths got done as well (I dont use leather girths as the neoprine is easer to clean in the summer, and I clean them after ever ride then)

Im in the process of making sweet and sour meatballs and biscuts to go to an exabition pot luck tonight. Mom and Dad left for the cruse at 7am this morning it will be a long week untill they get back. Every year they go south somthing bad happens... Our pig barn flooded, we ran out of propane (our main method of heat and how we get hot water) and last year they replaced our propane tanks, didnt tell us and then locked them off and I didnt know to get them turned on again.... so the count down is on to see what will brake this year!

Oh no...

So I may have gotten a black eye tonight. I was brushing Lucas' front legs (with my head down by his legs) and he kneed me in the head. I stayed upright but he made some serious contact. Glasses made it though ok, but my head is hurting now :( I've been icing and the Tylenol is helping. So I didn't ride or lunge, just finished brushing him and went home.

Another ride, and we cantered!

Had another ride last night, was only going to jump on for 15 min but D stayed in the barn to give me a hand with getting on Lucas (hes still backing up a step when I put my mounting block next to him, something were working on) Anyways D and C stayed and gave me an mini lesson for 1/2 an hour.

I was just walking off when he was pulling his 'lock and stop' move, and I was being too cautious about making him move on. I tend to nag, with both my hands and legs, more than fix and move on. He tried stopping a couple of times but didn't do anything once I bumped him with my spurs, I was really at a disadvantage using only my English spurs. My western ones are blunt ended rowels and give me more options about reactions from my legs, they also roll better instead of getting stuck like my English spurs do.

We really worked at getting him forward and up in his shoulders. We worked on figure 8's and spiraling out on circles from a 10m to a 20m. And we cantered for the first time since the September show!!! We had held off due to my health issues, then his health issues, so its been a while. (D has been cantering him some, just not me) Have I ever told all of you how much I love his canter? *sigh* and the lifting of his shoulders was a big help, even in his bad direction I had way more impulsion and lift than I thought I would get.

I really just had to turn off my emotions, and just ride. I stopped worrying about how he felt, or if he was going to like me at the end of it, and just rode for results, and what his feed back was telling me (light in one circle, change direction, keep a smaller circle until he lightens up...) It was good, it was how I should ride.

C and D were very happy with how he was going, they said that our canter was much better with as little work as we done this year, than how it looked in the middle of last summer. I think that because I am going to more of the shows that they will be at, they want me and Lucas showing at our best potential, and this year I asked for help. I wanted to do it on my own (mostly) last year but I've made my point that I can, but we can be even better with help, and that's what we want to do this year. Call me stubborn but it takes me alot to reach out for help.... but I did, and I'm glad that I did. C and D said they didn't want anything extra money from me, just an extra hand at chores on the weekend, or if they go away, which I really appreciate.

Now tonight I'm off to make cookies for D and C. They wont take any money but they will take food!

So the snow is almost gone!

But it kinda threw a wrench into all our weekend plans. It went from -28 with windchill to +6 on Saturday and +10 both Sunday and Today. The barn started flooding on Sunday as the water just couldnt flow away from the barn fast enough. Thankfully one of the kids parents owns an escavator and he came in and dug out an existing ditch (that was packed full of ice and snow and kept the water from draining). Most of the driveways are Ice free now, and the snow bank next to the barn that was 7feet tall is now 2 feet tall.

Lucas (and most of the other adult horses) have been crazy all weekend. The lesson horse was so bad D had to get on her and cancle the lesson, he said its the first time hes had to get on her in 3 years. The warm weather has turned them all into spring chickens!

We got the entry forms filled out for the first show in May. Me and Lucas are doing Halter geldings, sr western showmanship, sr english showmanship, and sr HUS and the HUS stake. Our goal is to get though the riding classes with all three gaits at both directions! (which would be a significant improvement on last year) And I would like to place in both showmanship classes.

Hopefully if the wind dies down I'll ride tomorrow, time for both Lucas and I to get our act together!

Barn Tour

So these pictures loaded a bit backwords, so play along.




This is the indoor, with a row of box stalls, and the viewing room over top (please excuse the floor we had more snow that day and we were too busy moving snow to sweep!) There is a row of hooks along the arena wall to hang jackets, or extra tack.

If you take a couple of steps backwords, you will be along the stairs to the viewing room and the new tack room for the BO.

Boarders tack room

Wash stall, again many frozen buckets, so they are around the hot water tap

Main barn ally