Sunday, September 26, 2010

Finally Fall

The first cool front of Fall 2010 came through early Sunday morning and the day was windy and, compared with the 95 degrees on Sat., felt pretty chilly.  My niece Amanda woke up and decided that she wanted to RIDE a HORSE for her birthday - so, she came to the Wild Orban Ranch and we had a horsey play birthday play day.  We saddled Splash, Pico, Diez, and Sunny in western saddles and loaded up.  In between, there was plenty of chicken chase'n.  I think there is a better than good chance that a future yaya was born. 

The Tulsa State Fair starts later this week, but the TSF 4-H/FFA show was held yesterday at the Tulsa Expo in the Mustang Arena.  Ivy and Alaina were excited and we did the standard show prep.  

Alaina came down with a cold and was not her usual perky self for the show - Sunny was pretty good and they placed in the ribbons in Showmanship (8th), Hunt Seat Eq(4th), Wst. Pleasure(7th), and Western Horsemanship(6th) - Sunny slid a wrong lead in for Hunter Under Saddle. 

Ivy and Pico had a pretty good day too.  They skipped Showmanship but placed in all their classes - 6th in Hunter Under Saddle and Hunt Seat Eq, 9th in Western Pleasure, and 5th in Western Horsemanship.  Trail and Jumping are not held at the TSF show.  Nancy E stopped by the show grounds to watch a little and treated the girls to sugar and caffeine - that helped Alaina and made Ivy a bit wild. 

We have a ride night this Thursday and food bank work night on Tuesday.  Then Friday night the girls get to go to the ODS/GCC kids camp.  Should be really fun and I get to help. 

Now that fall is here, I can dream of yaya rides together with my friends.  Ahhhh.


Sunday, September 19, 2010

Rogers County Fair 2010

It was a fun if frenzied weekend.  I was hoping to ride Sister in the fair this year but after a month with Dawn D, but she is still not ready for me.  So, I picked her up on Tuesday and then took Splash to the adult ride night to check his soundness - he seemed fine if a bit rotten.  But I love my German Neck Stretcher!  I felt like I was tiptoeing in the old white truck since my main truck had some sort of problem going the Rocking C last week.  Steve had treated the fuel with Lucus and then Kissee Ford checked it out on their road test machine and found nothing.  So, the red truck is hooked up and I guess we are back in business.

The girls entered muffins and cookies for the fair on Wed, then we helped with the Speed horse show on Thursday when my wonderful YaYa's had an evening ride without me.  I heard it was a lovely ride. Darn... sure do miss my horsey friends!  Then on Friday evening I took Splash out for another fair ride check and he seemed sound again.  We washed etc., worked the Steak Dinner, and then headed to Expo for the long show day Sat. 

The girls showed halter in the am - Alaina and Sunny took Reserve Palomino.  Ivy and Splash were 2nd Appy Geldings "3 and over" but placed 3rd in the Grand/Reserve.  Ivy showed Pico in Stock Type (hehe) and both girls showed 4H Halter.

Kathy B with Call, Amanda on Casper, and Julie with Stormy joined me in the English classes.  Splash was better than could have been expected after all this time off and seemed sound for the show.  He was really bad in Showmanship but didn't run over the Judge - so its all good.  The Hunter Under Saddle wasn't to bad, just a bit inconsistent with occasional head tossing.  Amanda won the class fair and square.  Call gave Kathy a hard time so she went and worked her in the warm-up until Call straightened-up. Equitation wasn't great, but I didn't fall off.  The pattern was: start with a 360 left on haunches, sitting trot/left posting trot/right posting trot stop; then 90 turn on forhand right, counter canter 1/2 circle, canter 1/2 circle (backwards S), sitting trot, stop and back.  Not precise but ... then no counter canter and a trot early... but... could have been worse.  He still felt sound so we quit for the day.  Even so - it was great to be riding my horse in a show again.  Splash spent the rest of the day eating hay while Sunny and Pico had to do western.

Ivy and Pico won Hunter Under Saddle with a lovely ride and then won jumping as well (2 riders) - Pico was a really good boy all day.  Alaina and Sunny had some good rides although he was a bit high headed and gave her a little trouble in the warmup before Trail.  Marsha C stopped by to watch and spoil the girls with limeaid.  Then, home late to eat/shower/bed... ahhh.

After sleeping in until 9am, the girls washed Diez and we hauled back to Expo for the Fun Show and Cloverbud show.  Pico got to go 2 days in a row but Splash and Sunny got the day off.  21 kids did Keyhole race, egg and spoon, tennis ball balance, cracker/snack/singing, goat decorating, and ride-a-buck.  Both Ivy and Alaina won their heats in the tennis ball balance and Ivy was a finalist in ride a buck (with Pico's high withers - I don't want to imagine).  Christiana had 6 Cloverbuds and Kathy brought Missy and Cisco for a couple of kids.  They had a great time and Ivy, Alaina, Emily, and Abby helped out.  Ruthie came out to watch and gave Pico one more ride before we headed home.

I guess I will go to sleep right now - no wonder I am tired...  Ahh, horse shows......  Next week, Tulsa State Fair 4-H and FFA at the Tulsa Fairgrounds.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Dressage at the Rocking C

The Remember September 11th Show at the Rocking C included 2 tribute rides - one for the heros of 9-11 and the other for our military.  Patty rode Dante and Marilyn rode Willy and a moment of silence was observed.  See some great photos at the OSD/GCC website (Jeanie's Photos)

I had our earliest ride time at 8:45 for my First-1 test on Pico and we scored a 63 along with high-point.  Ivy and Ruthie both rode Pico in training level tests in the morning - Pico was a good boy - we were finished riding him before the dreaded Pirates started warming up for the drill exhibition.  Ivy recieved 2 red ribbons and Ruthie had 7's for impulsion and gaits!  After lunch, Alaina rode Sunny in both Intro tests - she really did well and they recieved their best scores to date and 2-3rd place ribbons.  It is hard to ride that western pony since Sunny has taken all the recent training in SLOW to heart.  I didn't ride Splash because after a couple of weeks of sound work (very light work), he was off again on Labor Day. 

Christiana and Zoe escaped the dance frenzy and got to ride at the show - both were awsome with at least 2 blue ribbons to show.  Christiana rode both Oreo and Arde - Arde is coming along looking more steady and Oreo had a wonderful first show.  Kathy and Call had good rides too - taking Ameture Training Level High-Point.  Marsha got judges comments for Lakota that included gushing praise for trot-work.  Shannean and Jurgen recieved a blue ribbon for the walk/trot equitation class and Jessie looked great on Denali in their coordinating pad, shirt and horse-hat.

The Rogers County Fair is next weekend - we will work the speed events on Thursday evening, then show Sat. morning (10am) halter/showmanship; Sat. afternoon (2:00pm) horse show; Sun. morning (noon) fun show; and will help with Cloverbuds Sun. afternoon (2:00pm).  So, come and join us.  There will be an adult ride night on Tuesday evening.  With 4-H on Monday night and fair entries due on Wed., every night is booked up.  The fair will be fun but I sure hope YaYa's can get together next week and that the weather will continue to be cool.