Good lesson

So we had our first lesson with Lucy and D today.  Lucy was wound for sound!  She was hyper and a full of it, which made me nervous, but Dean put us to work jogging.  After a couple of trips around to get us both working, and then I was told to go faster, and to let go of the reins.  That's all we worked on!  It took almost the whole hour for both of us to be happy, extended jogging around the entire ring on a big loose rein.  It was just what we needed.  Lucy needs to trot out for the next week or so to open up her shoulders and get her reaching up under her self, and I need to go on a lose rein so I stop tensing up on her!

And by the end she wasn't spooky, and I wasn't tense.  All in all a good ride but I'll sleep good tonight!

More baby pictures

See below: also put some videos on my YouTube page Justaplainsam27

The barn was super busy today so Lucy had to wait until tomorrow, when we will have our lesson.  We did showmanship last night and that keeps getting better and better.  We still have lots to work on but we improve each time.  I got to lunge Chevy and Rusty today as they were both full of it, I'll be handling them less and less as breeding season starts going on in the next week or two, Chevy gets a bit rank when breeding and its Rusty's first year so I will try and stay out of the way.

Chevy's baby (1/2 sister to Max), Paisley

Special Invitation baby, Lily

No Doubt Im Lazy baby, Cinch

Pictures (including foal pictures!)

The final baby is here, by Special Invatation

3 week old by No Doubt Im Lazy

and Chevy's baby who was too busy eating

And our arena is still too snowy to even think about riding in, I dont want to hear any of you in the south complain!

Lucy in for a brush and a lunge

This is going to be our 'before' shot for Lucy.  We'll do an updated pic at the end of each month.

2 rides in one day

Yup you read that right, on Sunday I rode both Lucy and Oscar yesterday, walk, jog, lope on both of them.  Lucy's ride was significantly shorter than Oscar's but I did lope her for the first time. I'm taking today off to recover but other than a headache (from muscle tightness in my back) I feel good.

This is my last week with Oscar as "my" horse.  I will miss riding him, his predictability, and stability helped me so much over the past 6-7 months.  I was so scared to ride more than just a jog when I first started riding him, but now I can even do the occasional flying change.  (But only when we are both feeling 100%).  But he HATES being brushed, and I really do love brushing horses so that has always been a sore point between the two of us.  So this week he'll be getting a hair cut so that he'll be ready for when his owner comes home early next month, and then he'll have a little break before she starts getting him ready for show season. 

I'm still really nervous when I start riding Lucy each time I get on her, shes never given me a reason to think that she'll be bad under saddle, but I guess I have a little residual stress about the first 5 minutes of the ride from Lucas.  I am having a lot of fun trying to figure her out, and I always love that part of a new horse partner.  Shes very well broke, right now I just need to get both of us used to eachother and to get us fitter.

Chestnut Mares

Have never been my favorite.  I always seemed to end up being glad to pass them back to there owners at the end of the training and walk away.  I always seem to find them full of attitude and I usually end up getting in down right dirty fights with them.

Lucy is a chestnut mare.

And the other night (on Tuesday) I thought I had reached her breaking point.  I had lunged her and was working on showmanship and we were just hitting a brick wall with setting her feet and giving in to the chain under her chin.  We worked on it for 15 min but ended a bit earlier than I would have liked.  But she was getting upset and I didn't want to really piss her off.

Today I lunged her and started practicing showmanship and she got everything we worked on right away.  Set her up in 4 steps, trotted off great and even did some pivots.  Seems like she needed a day or two to process what I wanted and then was able to produce it.  Seems like I just need to change my opinions on what is 'good' for the day. 

This mare thing might take a little figuring out...

IV pictures

All taken after my drugs were done but while waiting to discharge me they keep a line open with saline "just in case". I had just gotten back from a bathroom break and my good vein protested my moving around by putting some blood into the line.

Another 4 rides this week!

And today was my day off.  I managed to ride both Oscar and Lucy twice, and right now its a good mix.  Lucy is simply a walk/trot keep her balanced ride, where as with Oscar I'm working on riding him one handed in a shank and working on body control.  It is very nice to be on a horse again that finds it easy to work with a level neck.  Oscar is not built that way (the main reason he never made the 'big' shows) and although he can carry himself correctly its harder for him to do it.  Lucy doesn't have Oscars lope though, although I'm not sure I'm going to miss it, Oscars lope can be really rough!

Our ride on Saturday was good, we were in the 'broodmare' group, both mares have a 2 year old baby now and both hadn't been ridden much since then.  Oh and both are going to be breed to C &D's goodbar stud this spring!  We only rode for about 20 min with lots of walking and walk/trot transitions, Lucy was damp where she has a winter coat (she's been blanketed all winter) and at the end of 20 minutes she was tired.  She dried quickly and was bright eyed again after a short rest in a stall (she normally lives outside in a run-in) so I don't think it hurt her too much.

I have my IV this Thursday so I'm hoping to get out Tuesday and Wednesday and hopefully get a lesson with D on Wednesday depending on how things go.

I rode Lucy

So I went out last night but no one was around so Lucy got lunged again (and I took this pic).  And today was the day and I got on!  There was a lesson going on with some of the riders my age, but we only stuck around for the first 15 minutes, then Lucy was DONE!  We will need to work on her fitness!  She did really well, but is a very different ride from both Oscar and Lucas.  She travels level (much like Lucas) but is smoother than even Oscar.  And much shorter to the ground than either of them!  If she had a wither I might have been able to get on off the ground at some point but with no wither I'll stick to my mounting block  And although she is shorter, she does have some foundation blood in her and wears an 80 blanket and fits Lucas' girth.

She was a little "up" but for having several years off she never put a foot wrong. She does need her teeth done, but the dentist is coming out next month so she'll get put on the list to be done then. She did stop and back up on me at one point but I had just taken a strong hold on her mouth (she didn't want to stop) and I think it was just too much hand for her at that time.  But if that is the worst that I'll have to deal with that's ok!

Too lazy to get on the computer

So if I have typing errors it's because I'm on my phone. I rode Oscar on Monday and lunged Lucy. Took Tuesday and Wensday off and then went back out tonight and did the same tonight. C got on Lucy tonight after I lunged her and she was really good. Hopefully someone will be around tomorrow and I can ride! I rode Oscar in spurs tonight and he was really good. Quick pic of Lucy in the crossties tonight.

More riding and we have a healthy colt

So I managed to ride Oscar on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday!  My parents left for their Mexican vacation today so I spent Friday helping them finish pack and run a few errands.  This morning I drove to them to the airport than spent the rest of the day helping in the barn.  Lucy gets her shoes on tomorrow so hopefully by this time I will be riding her!

C and D's mare delivered a colt (by No Doubt I'm Lazy) on Thursday night and although there were a few minor scares (and maybe they were only worries because of what happened with the last colt) he is healthy and very active.  I hope to have some pics later this coming week.  We didn't want to jinx it, just in case, and the poor baby still doesn't have a name but C is working on that is well.  He is dark (either bay or black) with a huge white star and a tiny dot on his nose. 

Another good ride

And finally some pictures! My knee is really feeling back to normal now.  I'm back to sitting a little crocked again but that most likely is temporary.  So we had a good ride and hopefully will be back in the saddle again tomorrow.  (show season is coming!)

One of the mares is getting close to foaling so C and D are sleeping in the barn tonight (well in the heated viewing/party room!)  Cross your fingers this one makes it.

wearing my helmet!

Back in the saddle again.

One of the kids rode Oscar in her lesson yesterday, and at the end we switched saddles and I got on for a little bit.  Tonight I went out and had a little walk/jog ride for about 20 minutes.  Beleave it or not my hip is actually what is hurting the most.  I also found out that I tend to land on my left leg more heavy than my right (due to my ankle) but have had to swap that lately which has left me safe on the ground without hurting anything, but apparently I go though some interesting acrobatics to do so!

I keep taking my phone to the barn with the plans to take pictures but I keep forgetting!