Sunday, March 29, 2009

Wing (Winter-Spring) or Sprinter..... Hmmmm

The forcast was Bleek - RAIN, followed by rain, followed by SNOW, and freezing fog for the weekend. Snow was supposed to come in late Friday and wind down by noon Sat. It poured cats, dogs, and chickens all night. It started snowing in Claremore at about 10 am on Sat. So, no riding in the yard or Wild Orban arena. The girls went out Sat. and built a snowman and I went out and took pictures of flowers in the snow.


Kathy and Patty were signed up to do the Pilates clinic for riders all weekend and from all accounts, learned alot and braved very cold and damp temps on Sat.


Then on Sunday, the sun came out and melted all the snow. So, muck was everywhere. I had plans to make moltashen (sausage/spinach dumplings in chicken soup) and was resigned to a weekend without riding when Marsha called around 3:00pm. She was headed to Patty's to ride in the dry arena with Larry's blessing. So, inspired, I rounded up the girls and loaded Pico, Sunny and Splash and headed to Inola. The horses were coated with mud and were shedding but we saddled up anyway.


The girls lunged their horses and then we all had good rides. Both Ivy and Alaina went western and Splash got to work in the dreaded German Neck Stretcher. Marsha was checking LB as a possible ride for next weekend's dressage show. He was pretty good, but Marsha decided they are not quite ready for prime time. So, Splash got lucky since work was pretty light, but he was mostly forward in the trot and took right lead canter the 2nd time I asked. We cantered circle/straight line transitions both ways and quit on good notes.


Wonderful to get unexpected horse time. YaYa.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Spring Break!

The girls and boy were off this past week for Spring Break. Kale and his buds went camping in the Wichita Mts. and had a big fire adventure early in the week but the girls and I went to Skull Hollow trail at Oolagah for a picnic and nature hike on Tuesday. It was in the eighties and a beautiful day in the sun with our friends the Hays'es - Julie, Abby, Lara, Annabelle, and Joe. Amazing to discover that we can have fun without our horses...haha.


Thursday night we had a 4-H ride night at the Claremore Expo and both Ivy and Alaina had a great time with Pico and Sunny practicing barrels with Emily and riding with their other friends. Splash went along for the ride and hollered from the trailer to his friends in the arena.


Then on Friday morning Angela, Sam, Ash and Liz stopped by for a visit. Liz wanted to ride so TC and Diez did the honors and I think made a new conquest for horse crazy girls everywhere. Ash was not to impressed but he is only 3 months old so I am not giving up yet.



Then, off to Rita's for a lesson with Pico and Sunny for the girls. Splash and I went along to play and he was very good since he was tring to get back into my good graces after last weekends's toady behavior. Rita's friend Julie was visiting with her TW horse named Music - did you know that Rita can ride a gray horse? Julie and Rita worked with the girls and both pairs made good progress with arm posisiton and transitions.



Then on Sat. Kathy B and Call and Splash and I had a great lesson. Splash was still on good behavior and we had very nice trot work with alot more give to the bit. Call and Kathy had good progress to since they are still getting used to each other and were looking great. After a yummy lunch at the Depot with the gang and icecream from Graham's for the girls thanks to Paula, Ivy and Alaina had a really good lesson on their horses working on canter transitions and equitation patterns. They will be really clicking with their horses by summer.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, YaYa riders and friends rode the Bonderosa Ranch (D & S Cattle Ranch) in Inola across golden pastures and through the woods. Fifteen riders in all including 2 guys! Sheila's sweet spouse (David) lead the riders along the trails across mostly dry creek beds for a very lovely ride. After settling the horses with some hay, we headed indoors to have snacks and social time. What a fabulous day. We also had one of my sister in laws along on Sunny and although very green, Steph did a great job for her first real trail ride ever. I think it was the purple gloves and helmet......

And, another new YaYa named Julie joined us for the ride - Julie is in town on her way to a Mexaco to Canada ride this summer - check out this link to find out the details. Very cool.
http://www.bestofamericabyhorseback.com/home.html

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Promise Acres ODS/GCC Show - Beware the IDES of March


Jolie put on a great show at Promise Acres in Sapulpa on Sunday, the first ODS/GCC schooling show of 2009. I was really looking forward to showing Splash and seeing how much progress we had made --- haha. I was in Kansas for work for the third week in a row and got home Thursday night in time to lay at deaths door for a couple of days. I even missed the party lesson on Sat. So, Slash spent the week plotting his revenge for having spent 2 days at the Will Rogers Classic. HE WAS BAD. We warmed up for our first test (Into B at 11:00am) without much incident but since the test has no canter, I didn't ask in warm up. Then, in the test, Splash was trying to push through my leg on every circle to get back to A (and the trailer with his hay). Vicki Sharp gave us a 68 which was better than the ride was although in his hurry to get through the test we had some nice impulsion at times.

Later that same day...... my second test scheduled for 4:20pm was to be Training 4. The show was running a bit late and I rode at about 5pm. I got a chance to warm up in the arena during a break and got some correct canter leads in the micro warmup area (slightly bigger than a round pen but square). Went into the arena for warmup just before my test and Splash was fairly good. I was not prepared for the toad he became as soon as we started the test. Trot with head shaking and at least one buck and wrong lead going clockwise (his bad side) about 5 times until we finally got the correct lead just in time to drop to trot at C..... add serious head shake, etc. Then, more head shaking for the rest of the test and agonizing canter depart going his good way. somehow, scored a 53. Add to all that - operator error. I went off course doing a second serpentine when I was supposed to change rein across the arena. Impusion was decent some of the time. Ugh. Splash may be pretty but he may never make a good showhorse for Ivy. The good news? I didn't fall off.

More good news! Marsha had some good rides on Miss Tender Lil and Christiana made her ODS/GCC debut with Ardemus doing a great job. Denise and Patty were fabulous on Jurgen and Silka and Elizabeth was looking good with her baby BaBay too. And, Ivy and Alaina really improved their performances with TC and Diez compared with last year. Ivy, Alaina, Zoe, and Roxanne played the day away gathering metal scraps out of the driveway gravel and playing wildly with every dog they could get their paws on. They were very dirty by the end of the day and had collected a bucket full of metal.

Finally, Ruthie and Shannean had been working with Pico in anticipation of a wonderful show season. Ruthie came out Friday night and Shannean Sat. evening to practice and were looking really good. Ruthie and Pico were first to go and had a lovely warmup. Then they started the test. Pico was suddenly very spooky and tense and fairly soon spooked big at K hurting Ruthie's hand which swelled up and was so painful she didn't finish her test or ride again - very disappointing. Then Shannean rode T1 and T4 and Pico was not fun. T1 was spooky from start to finish but T4 was somewhat better. Shannean rode him through both tests doing a good job handling all those spooks. So, things have to get better and if Pico doesn't shape up, we will call him GRADE instead of an Arab Cross.



Sunday, March 8, 2009

Will Rogers Classic - Day 2






After a full day of showing yesterday, we got up an hour early for daylight savings and headed back to the Claremore Expo for day 2 of the Will Rogers Classic. The ridiculous wind was gone and the temperature was cooler. With a closer parking spot, things were less hectic and we started the show with an English halter on Splash for halter and showmanship (borrowed from Kathy B) for the day.
Then, the girls were very excited when they spotted a motorcyclist in the midst of horses galore.
Uncle Jack dropped by to breath some arena dust and see the girls ride. As a bonus, he got to see me ride as well and helped the girls saddle their horses while I showed Splash in Adult Showmanship. Alaina did a great job on Sunny in English, placing first in Hunt Seat Eq for the second day in a row. Ivy was looking very nice and slightly more relaxed at the trot with Pico. Splash was about as expected in the Hunter Under class for me but no canter transitions in the equitation pattern.
Kathy B. decided at the last minute to bring Call and ride in the English classes with me. They did a great job and placed over Pico and me in both riding classes. Way to go Kathy! Tammy C. did a clean sweep of the English and took home the Grand Prize for Adult English and (surprise) Splash and I got Reserve. Even better, Alaina took Reserve English 11 and under which was very exciting! Both girls rode well in Western and Ivy relaxed a little and asked for canter in the western horsemanship - even got a stride. THEN! both girls decided to ride the speed events. So, with the pressure off, Ivy cantered Pico around the barrels, then weaved through poles, and finished of the stakes! All with lovely dressage-canters..... very elegant. So, the day finished with silly girls as these pictures show. Very fun -

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Will Rogers Classic - Day 1

Well, the girls had their first outing with Pico and Sunny - their new show horses for the 2009 show year. Ivy is still becoming aquainted with Pico but Alaina has had a few more lessons under her belt and is off to a good start with the Sunny-Boy (placed 1 in Hunter Under Saddle). Ivy also showed Splash in Halter and Showmanship and got placed in Halter6 out of 20 horses or so. Yippee. I rode Splash in the English Classes (except jumping) and was pleased overall even if last in both riding classes. We really had a decent ride in Hunter Under Saddle (but my heels were not down) and he picked up the correct lead both ways and then dropped gait down by the gate the first time round. Hilda joined us on her lovely dressage mule, June and was looking mighty fine. We had Tammy Copley and Jessie Kover to beat us in equitation, but Canter was not expected. Equitation was not pretty, our canters were not departing and the halt was resistant. But. I did not fall off. So a good day. Hope for the same or better tomorrow. Yaya!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Will Rogers Classic!

The first show (2 shows) of the season are this weekend! Claremore Expo starting at 9 am on Sat and Sunday. Classes include Halter, Showmanship, English, Western, Speed. Come on down!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Lipizzans!


Wow! Kathy, Patty, Krystal and I went to see the miraculous GRAY horses this evening and they were lovely. We had a wonderful time watching these fabulous equine athletes show their talents and it made us want to race to the barn and try those moves too. When they come back to Tulsa we must get a YaYa group to go together.