What Happened to September?

Well, its been 2 plus weeks since my last confession.... I mean blog post.  Since that time, we had a Party Lesson at Patty's, the girls rode with Sherry G, the girls rode in and I walked at (34,9587 steps) at the Tulsa State Fair FFA/4-H/Open horse show, tried to recover from the TSF by wasting a Sunday, traveled to both Wyoming and Kansas for work 2 weeks in a row, and... oh, yes, went to work in my cube some days.  Whew.  I need a vacation.  And signs of fall (or perhaps no rain) are showing in the color of leaves and light.  It is still warm to hot depending on your heat tolerance.  And, we have a new crop of baby chicks - 15 Rhode Island Reds pullets and 1 "straight-run exotic chick" who could be roster or hen.  They are pretty cute and are currently living in the big aquarium in the greenhouse with "chick cam" on 24/7 to provide entertainment and serenity (NOW).

Our party lessons have been small with Kathy B in the middle of campaigning with Ron for county commissioner and Mallory working day and night on their mobile so they can start remodeling the house and Mary off a Grand Lake and school back in session with volley ball games and x-country meets.  Small but fun and I sure do enjoy the equine therapy we share.

The girls each had a lesson with Sherry G down in Porter - her covered arena has footing made of ground tires and Nike shoes - the ground up tennis shoes hold more moisture and have no dust.  Really nice to ride and walk on - not deep or to squishy but really nice.  Alaina will be riding Sammy at dressage camp so we stopped at Gena's to pick him up for the lesson.  Sherry thinks that Sammy might already know some dressage.  The pair worked on Bow-ties using inside leg and rein to turn, rail leg yields, and walking turns on the 4-H using big toes on Sammy's sides with gentle inside reins and half-halts on the outside rein.  Alaina needs to remember that there are NO BARCA loungers, to keep her heels back/away, to carry hands like she is balancing a tray, and to ride with bloody stumps (walking on knees).  When Alaina was riding with all those things at once, Sammy looks like a million bucks. 
Ivy and Kismet made good progress too.  Sherry had Ivy balance a whip on her wrists to help steady her hands and she worked to cue with her toes, seat, and core to push Kizzy into the bridle.  Kismet will be a dressage horse yet.  Sherry has a lovely way with junior riders and gave both girls a note sheet with homework to do before junior dressage camp.  They can't wait.

Bandit AKA the Tiny Turd AKA the Land Shark gets an hour of grazing per day.  Gena has designed this red-neck tie out using a lead rope and dumb-bell weight.  TT did not waste time pulling his nose out of the grass for his close-up.  He is so darn cute!

The girls have been busy with school, volleyball (Alaina), and cross country (Ivy) so riding practices have been slim.  The Tulsa State Fair FFA/4-H/Open horse show was the last 4-H show of the year.  The format was different, a 2-day show on the first weekend of the fair.  Halter/showmanship/English/trail on Sat; Western/speed on Sunday.  Trail for the first time at the TSF but still no jumping.  The girls decided to show only Saturday (yay!); Ivy took Splash and Alaina showed Sunny.  With the inclusion of "open" classes, the girls had the option of twice as many classes.  Confusing because the age groups were different; 4-H is 15 to 18 for seniors while the open classes were 14 to 19.  Alaina and Sunny were 7th place in 4-H HSE and 4-H Trail.  Ivy and Splash received 8th in Halter Geldings, 10 in HSE as well as 8th/6th in Open/4-H Trail.  The girls lived on snacks with a little fair food.  Not enough to help my poor feet.  We were stalled on the very east side of the fair ground and showing in the main arena.  We were on-site for 14 hours.  I didn't have a horse to ride back and forth.  I vote to go watch not show next year.

Meanwhile, I am ready for a party lesson this weekend and was hoping to celebrate Kathy B's birthday (today) at the lunch after lesson.  Alas, Kathy and Ron will be campaigning so birthday cake will have to wait.  If the weekend is nice we can always go back and see a little more TSF.

Dog Days - NOT!

The girls had the last 4-H point show of summer on this past Saturday and the weather was lovely.  The show was casual/done-by-one (2:00pm really) to help us survive the brutal heat of the "dog days of summer."  But, we had rain and cooler temps and got home before the humidity heated things up.

Ivy and Pico had a good day winning Hunter Under Saddle, Hunt Seat Eq and Hunter Hack.  Alaina and Sunny (AKA TTG) won trail, and came 2nd in Showmanship and Western Pleasure (her palomino buddy Lindsey was first with Timer).  Ivy skipped speed to complete her work segment requirements and Alaina rode Sunny in Speed classes for the first time (6-6-5 out of 8); not bad for a western pleasure pony.

Sister got to stay home and Splash had the weekend off (there is no excuse for me......).  Diez got the torture bath Sunday afternoon and then rolled in the black dirt to return things to their normal appearance.

Hopefully, things can return to normal next week with the Saturday Party Lesson/Lunch and some work on the Splash-man.  We have work to do since the next dressage show is Sept. 3 and I want to ride in the Rogers County Fair.  But, work will have to wait until after my Kansas trip this week. 

Perhaps a YaYa Ride can happen next week - a girl can dream.

Spring is Sprung

Finally, beautiful weather for the weekend!  Wisteria, blooming trees, and tiny flowers in the grass - Green is beautiful.  And, it was Patty's birthday on Friday so Nancy E and I met Patty for a birthday lunch and had a lovely time.

The girls had a 4-H show on Sunday so I joined their lesson at 2 so that the 'boys' could have some pasture time on Sat. morning.  Alaina rode Sunny English for the first time since working with Dawn and I worked Splash withOUT the German Neck Stretcher.  All three of us practiced equitation and both Ivy and Alaina did better than Splash and me - Splash made all the transitions look heavy but did take correct leads.  Ivy concentrated on jumping and made good progress.  After the lesson, we trimmed, bathed and banded so that Sunday morning wouldn't be a frenzy. 

The show was 4-H only, so, for an all-day event it was fairly low-key.  Ivy showed Splash in halter and showmanship and they placed 4th in halter - then she switched to Pico and rode English, Western and speed but no Trail.  Pico was a really GOOD boy all day long and they won all three English classes and performed well in the others (although that Dressage canter doesn't cut it in the speed classes). This was the first show with straight bars this year so I was very proud.  Alaina and Sunny had a great day too although their placings weren't as high.  They concentrate on Western and Trail and the competition is very stiff with more competitors and very nice horses.  But, they placed 2nd in horsemanship and 3rd in Trail - they skipped the speed stuff.  Both girs had a fun day but still had energy to play with twins next door, fish (Ivy), and ride/show-off on Diez (Alaina).  I sat on the couch.

This evening, Kathy B, Marsha C, and Rita G and I went to the 'Taste of Home' cooking show and drooled over recipes to try after our YaYa sista's at future rides.  mmmmmmm - cooking......  The weather is good this week until Friday and YaYas will ride at Rita's on Thursday but I will be working at the food bank in Tulsa.  Have fun girls!  yaya!