A good one gone,

My first 4-h leader's (M) mother died today. She was 101, and until this summer lived at home on her farm that she and her husband built together. M retired from the vet practice that she bought from my Grandfather about 15 years ago now and she has always been a positive and encouraging force in my 'horse life'. She vetted my first horse, encouraged me when I thought nothing else could go right at horse shows, and taught me to barrel race. M and her mother are the longest established breeders of AQHA horses in the maritimes, started shorting after Marie started work as a veterinarian.

Her Mother was the group Grandmother. There were always cookies ready to be eaten and an ear for anything that might need to be talked about. Although she had 8 grand kids and 10 great-grand kids of her own she cared for a lot more than that.

When I would travel with my Dad on his rounds to breed cattle I would always ask to stop at her place for some cookies.

I spent the last two days at C and D's place looking after the farm and the animals (16 horses, 3 cats and 2 dogs). Lucas should be home tonight and I hope to go and ride him tomorrow afternoon.

Drama

So last week, the show committe that runs the Appaloosa/Paint/Open shows posted a rule change to there facebook site. I had ridden Lucas in a snaffle in the horsemanship class, and he is over the age of 5. The show however at that time had no rules. And I mean no rules. I did what I needed to do to get though the class, the judge knew that Lucas was an aged horse due to the halter classes in the morning. She still chose to place me.

So I didnt dispute the fact that they introduced the rule, what bothered me were the comments after the post. I wont go into them on here but they were extreamly hurtfull and attacked me personaly.

Thankfully a friend of mine saw them and requested the coments be pulled or else, and they were.

The worst part was that several of the people posting have broken rules at other shows that Ive been at. One of the directors rode a horse in a walk trot division last year (the horse was 6 she's applied several times for her AQHA judging card) riding in a shank bit alright, but with 2 hands... talk about throwing rocks in glass houses.

So emotions have run the full spectrum this week, everything from thinking about getting out of horses entirely to just switching to dressage.

My BF who knew what was going on in my head called me that night and offered me trailering to the Introductry AQHA horse show this comming weekend for less than it would cost me to take my own car there. C and D were unable to go and I didn't think I would be able to aford a ride to it. Its going to cost less than going to the next Appaloosa/Paint/Open show, and has a clinic with the judge on the second day (which is inculded in the price). Several friends have emailed me excited that Im going to get to go to this QH show, such a difference from people being pissed that Im going to a show....

I dont get it, If we were winning everything I could see some sore loosers, but were not, in fact we are very beatable somedays!

Anyways we're off on Thursday night, having a sleep over at my friends house that night, going to the show Friday, showing Saturday, clinic Sunday (im in showmanship and HUS) and then back to the friends untill Monday night. Im showing Lucas in Preformance Halter Geldings (AQHA), open showmanship, open sr hunter under saddle, and Open Hunter Under Saddle (AQHA) We had a huge rainstorm yesterday so it was too wet to ride outside today, and no one was home so I couldn't ride in the indooor but we did showmanship and got Lucas clipped.

Goals for 2011

So and I quote goals for 2010,

"And for next year;

1) To a great show season with Lucas :) I hope I can continue to ride for a few more years but when that time comes, he should be able to learn how to drive so that we can show in harness.

2) To good friends, and fun at all the shows.

3) I hope that my job continues to go well, and that I might get a raise soon ;)

4) to good National lists for the Apps :)

umm yeah so thats it! All I can say is that I hope the new decade turns out alot better health wise for me than the last one. And now Im off to the barn, to ride the year out in style :) "

Well we did have a great show season, the first show was a bit of a write off but we both improved as the summer went on. I love showing with my friends on the AQHA circuit. Some of my best friends I have met though quarter horses, and friends that have stuck though me thick, thin, and sickness and health.

The job is ok. The better I feel the more I want to just go clean stalls and work horses. Its high stress and low paying.

We did end up on the national list for the Apps, reserve in the open 2yo mares, and earning her open and amature superiors in Halter (and about 10 points away from her youth one as well) She got hurt in June, and was sound by the end of the summer but the owners have brought her gradually back into work and hope to show her under saddle for the summer.

Goals for 2011:

1) If we get to shows this summer I want to enter the ring as confident and as happy as I entered the show ring at the last show! None of this worrying about what everyone is thinking about, no one else's opinions matter EXCEPT the judge!

2) To win a showmanship class at an open show. Lucas is broke enough and talented enough, its just me holding him back! There is lots of local competition so it should be tough enough to keep me working all year.

3) Hope that the RA stopes progressing and that the new drugs continue to improve my symptoms.

4) Go for a ride 'outside' of the ring this summer. Maybe just a walk on the lawn with the kids, but we both (me and Lucas that is) need to get more comfortable without fences all around us.

5) To put Lucas back into a 'normal' snaffle at some point this year. No twisted wires, no curbs, no ports. This will be a chalange but its time for us to try it, if we ever want to try dressage it is the one thing that we NEED to do.

6) Either teach Lucas to ground drive, or refersh his memory. Its possible that he was ground driven before, but I think thats somthing that were going to start working on soon.

So this should do for now, I may amend this at some point but we'll see how the year progresses!

Year end awards.

We had our year end awards night last night. Lucas won a cooler for high point preformance halter. We also got back our professional photos and Im putting a few on this post.


I love this one:

Standing up for halter at the last show:

Troting:

And Lucas in his new cooler:

Were also dealing with ALOT of rain. Its kinda crazy here. Mainstreet in the city that I work in is flooded. Roads are closed and alot of accidents due to the water sitting on the roads.

Last AQHA show

Well I recoved from the new drugs enough to go to the horse show. The Sunday before we left I could hardly move, and we left on a Wensday. I managed to get Lucas ridden on Wensday night and got him preped for the braider... who didnt show up.... I got up at 6 and he still wasnt braided. Did I mention the fact that he was in Halter that morning?

I got him Lunged and fed and found the braider to get his braids done. The poor kid was just about sick she was so sick but he needed to get done... We won our halter class (the only ones again) and I let him take a nap before our riding class. We've been doing a lunge, for about 10-15 min then a 10 min warm up then a bit of a break (sometimes 5 or 6 min in his stall or I get off him to walk him over to the ring) then right into the class. We got a 5 and a 6 out of seven, hes been anticipaging the right lead canter and I had my left leg on him to the last possible minute and he got the wrong lead. We had a quick and quiet transition back to the trot and then onto the correct lead but we got caught.

2 days later we did our show day over again for the last time this year. Did the halter and won again, which means he ends up with High Point open preformance halter gelding. Did our warm up and went into the ring. I tried for a slightly quieter ride and it worked untill we changed direction, I started anticipating the lead and he started being bad and stoped in the ring. I got him going again but it happened. Everything that beat us is going to the world show and or Congress. It was dissapointing only to get a 5th and 6th but the top 4 or 5 horses were really top class! (including a tom powers top 5, and a couple of world qualifiers)

We have a fun show left to to at the barn this comming weekend. I also get the IV on thursday night :( Hopefullly Ill be feeling good enough to ride firday night or atleast Sat in my classes... Atleast I have 2 in hand classes even if I cant ride (grooming and conditioning, and showmanship)

OH! I forgot to mention that Lucas old owner showed up at the show and thought that he looked awsome. She was really happy to see how happy and helthy that he was. His old trainer also told a mutual friend that he was really happy to see Lucas with somone who apreciated him and enjoyed him.

Our first 1/2 AQHA point!!

Well we have had a couple of tough weeks. About a week after the last show my left knee blew up to about double the size it should have been. I let it go for a week before getting into see my doctor, and she injected it. All in I ended up loosing about 2 weeks of riding time. On the 24th we went to a local show where we won halter, got second in showmanship, and won our HUS class! We went into the English stake, but there were over 20 horses in it and he really had a problem with getting boxed in. We handled it, and got though the class but didnt place.

Last weekend we went to the AQHA show, and won our preformance halter under one judge giving us half a point!! However after we won that class we had no competition the next day... which kinda pissed me off. I put the numbers up in there class but they cant help me out when I start to do well?

Our first HUS class wasnt bad but I had a bit too much contact and only placed under one judge. The next show day was awsome!! I think I finaly figgured out that we need a good lunge, 15-20 min of walk trot canter work to get us working together, a 5-10 min break for water for both of us then right into the class. It keeps us both confident, calm and happy. We placed 4th under one judge and 6th under the other! The judge we placed 4th under placed the breeder of 'Hunt coats required' on his personal horse, another girls Congress finalist and an All-arounder that has gone to congress as well above us. Not bad company!!!

I emailed Lucas breeder about his halter 1/2 point and she was very excited for us, and cant wait to see pictures of him in halter.