Rotten Horse?

Yes, Splash was rotten.  The Will Rogers Classic was my opportunity to ride in an open show so we did showmanship, hunter under saddle and hunt seat equitation.  The adult competition was pretty tough - including Tami C - it was fun to have a friend to ride with.  Saturday, Splash was like riding a run-away train.  Not much fun.  Then on Sunday, he was pushy (more than normal) in showmanship and stubbornly would NOT take the right lead canter in hunt seat eq.

Perhaps he needs to have some real training. Or perhaps his rider needs more training.

The good news? I didn't fall off.

So, the girls rode their main mounts and rode well. Their age group has some serious competition but Ivy won jumping both days and Alaina placed 1 and 2nd in trail.

Ivy got an extra treat when Rita brought Jurgen and she got a chance to warm him up. It was hard to get her back to Pico who was a little miffed that she was enjoying another horse.

Alaina rode the speed classes on Sunday just for fun.  She and Sunny - the golden bullet -

were under 50 seconds for all their speed classes.  Woo Hoo.

Next weekend is the first dressage show for the year and I will have a trip

to Kansas between now and then.  May the riding season begin - YaYa.

                        WRC I                         WRC II
                        Ivy  /  Alaina               Ivy  /  Alaina

Showmanship    --  /  NP                     NP  /  NP
Hunter Under     2  /  5                          5  /  6
Hunt Seat Eq      6  /  3                          3  /  2
Hunter Hack       1  /  -                          1  /  2
West Pleasure    9  /  7                         9  /  7
West Horse        7  /  4                         4  /  6
Trail                   6  /  1                         8  /  2
Barrels               -- /  6                          --  /  4
Poles                  -- /  4                          --  /  4
Stakes                 -- /  --                         --  /  4

The Left Diagonal

It may be President's Day Weekend, but sadly, I don't get Monday off.  But the girs do, so we will try for a lesson late afternoon to give them a chance to practice one more time before the Will Rogers Classic.  I plan to meet the gang at Patty's and get a quick ride in on Splash too.

Poor Splash got to work Friday and Saturday, not surprisingly, he didn't run to the gate to meet me when I went to catch him this morning.  He didn't run away either.  So, we loaded up and headed to Cheval Lake on the most beautiful Sunday in February.  Mallory worked Sister on "one-rein" stops (trot only) but Sister is resistant and not happy in her work.  She still expresses herself with tail swishes and even a kickout - she is not an easy mare and I will refrain from saying evil mare.  She is still a green mare.  Splash and I concentrated on trot and leg yeilds after warm up and brief canter both directions in the deep, sandy arena.  Our halts need a lot of work but at we no longer back at every halt.

The girls started their ride in their western tack and all three were cantering merrily before Mallory and I could get up the hill to get started.  Fairly soon, Roxy and Ivy went to swap to English so they could JUMP!  Alaina watched until she couldn't stand it and swapped to English too.  Sunny CAN jump.  Roxy/Trooper jumped Fri/Sat/Sun, Ivy/Pico jumped Sat/Sun, and Alaina/Sunny jumped on Sunday.  Roxy is working to slow and steady Trooper so he doesn't rush the jumps.  Ivy needs to help Pico have confidence to really jump and made good progress this weekend.  Both Ivy and Roxy rode an 8 jump course at Patty's including the scary barrel jump.  Sunny is willing and Alaina needs to work on her balance to help Sunny land balanced.  It looked like they were having to much fun.

Now, about that left diagonal.  If I am not paying attention, I always come up on the right diagonal.  This is probably because Splash is stronger on the left hind.  So, on Friday, Roxy and I worked on getting left diagonal first try during our equitation practice.  My method is to chant "up - up - up" with the left shoulder as we approach the transition.  After a couple of tries, I was getting it every time - except - when Splash would throw in a mini canter stride.  Was he trying to push me onto the right diagonal or was he just slipping into canter because I was pushing for impulsion?

At the Saturday Party Lesson, Splash had really good canter work - correct leads every transition and only one dropped canter while on the right lead.  He feels better all the time at Patty's - he seems to like the footing.  At Mallory's, he really labors in canter work in the deeper sandy footing.  Our arena has deep and solid areas and Splash goes well in the solid areas and labors in the soft spots.

In addition to 3 sessions of equine therapy, I also got to see a musical, Deer Camp, with my YaYa Sisters on Saturday evening.  It was a silly presentation about 4 men who go deer hunting every year but never really hunt.  They are just hanging with their buds drinking beer and teasing each other.  Very enjoyable and a good way to celebrate Nancy's birthday.  Spring is almost here so I hope to have a YaYa Trail ride soon.

Show Season Starts!

YaYa's celbrated Jan/Feb birthdays with a dinner gathering at Olive Garden Tuesday evening.  Alas, I was working late and could not partake.  I trust that my YaYa sisters had a toast for me and I look forward to our next outing.  Perhaps (a girl can dream) it will be a riding outing?  Ya think?

This past weekend the Rogers County 4-H Horse Club hosted the annual Will Rogers Classic horse show - it's part of the Rogers County Spring Livestock Show.  Two days of halter, english, western and speed events to give everyone the opportity to breath more dust than is good for you.  We moved the horses into the barn on Friday evening and then bathed (socks and manes and tails only since it was very cold) and banded in preparations of Sat./Sunday's classes.

Kathy B and I rode the English classes together and both of our mounts were fairly well behaved.  We alternated placing over each other and determined that we were the over all winners since the women who placed over us were either professional trainers or had been showing horses since they were 3 (or both).  I ended up with the reserve English award because Kathy and Call didn't do showmanship. 

Call was really very good and Kathy was rightly proud of her.  Even Splash was on his best behavior - because I LOUNGED him both mornings for attitude adjustment.  Sat., he was a little more consistant in the Hunter Under Saddle Class but Sunday, we either were rushing or trying to drop gait.  Our Hunt Seat Eq classes were decent.  The pattern on Sat. required counter canter and Splash got it.  Sunday's pattern required left lead from a standstill to start the pattern, followed by a trot sequence and then right lead canter and he got them too.  I did have to use VERY strong leg including some English spurs.

The girls had very successful show days too.  Alaina and Sunny focused on Western only and placed 2nd and 3rd in Trail.  Although she didn't win any of her classes, all of her rides were obedient and smooth.  The competion in 9-11 Western is very stiff.  Ivy and Pico had good rides as well; they did English, Western, and Speed events doing barrels/poles/stakes in a lovely dressage canter.  Ivy managed to win 9-11 English Reserve High Point and recieved a lovely monogrammed garment bag.  Also, Splash and Ivy won reserve halter high point and received a trophy to prove it.

The show ran very late this evening, but, overall, a way fun show.... Now, when will I get a chance to re-organize the trailer and take bands out of manes?