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.

Cool in the 90's

The girls and I spent a week in Wyoming having a lovely time in the mountains.  I missed my YaYa Sisters but managed to get a ride in the Absakora Mountains.  My lovely mount was a percheron cross named Frosty (guess Grey with brown ears). Click this link for more Wyoming Pix .

Then, back in overheated OK, I spent the work week playing catch-up and with a bit of lunging work Friday night, rode in the Under the Stars dressage schooling show on Sat. eveing.  Ivy and Pico had a rough start with major spooking, off-course, dropped/added gaits, and etc. during her T-3 but had good rides for Prix Caprilli and F1.  Alaina and Sister were a bit tense in Intro B and noticed spurs still on her boots so removed them for Intro C - not bad considering - even got both canter leads.  Splash and I had a pretty decent Intro-C before a 90-min break.  Back in the arena, Splash was very clear - we were done and what did I think I was doing expecting obedience this late w/o supper.  The good news - I didn't fall off... The bad news - it wasn't pretty.  Ah, good to know there is room for improvement.  YaYa!

The heat wave is expected to continue but we won't get to ride next week since Patty will be off to Clayton's Wedding.  Mallory and Roxy will show at the Morgan show, so perhaps a horsey fix is possible.

Did you sell all your hats?

No, but one did find a new home - the blue hat Ivy modeled looked best so now I have no excuse for sunburn.  It is still my birthday month so we did birthday lunch at LaMansion in Catoosa since Graham's was closed and Ramona's was moving.  Our amigo the server looked cute in a pink hat too.



Krystal's birthday was June 28, Clayton's was the 10th and Larry's the 12th but I got the singing and the home made chocolate cake by master chef Nancy.  YUMMY.

The four girls rode in the "cool" of 10 am and Mallory, Kathy, and I worked our usual mounts and Reilly joined us on Eddie.  Other than the first left lead canter depart, Splash was fairly good.  Some head fussiness at the trot but no break of gait.  Mallory worked to slow Raffles down while I try to move Splash out a little faster.

We will all be sweating this weekend at the 4-H point show with more record temps expected - we hope to run a very fast / casual dress show at Expo on Sat.  The next dressage show is July 30 into the "cool" of the evening.  Alaina is considering Prix Caprilli on Sister but will ride 2 intro tests on her for sure.  Ivy is planning on First Level and Splash and I will try Training level. 

I am wait listed to ride training level with Splash at either the Sept. or Oct L-program so cross fingers that both Kathy B and I will get to ride (Kathy is wait listed to ride ahead of me).  Ivy is game to ride Pico so I will talk with Patty and Anne about that - she thinks it will be fun.  It is to hot to YaYa, but I think an Aug. 1 social is in order.  Maybe it will happen.

Birthday Ride

Had a great lesson on Splash - but it was short - 'cause it was HOT.  No neck stretcher or spurs - but its was OK.  We didn't need to WARM up but we warmed up anyway with some dropped stirrups, neck rolls and arm circles.  Trot work included changes of bend in and out along the long side - very hard for Splash to the right.  After leg yield exercises and bends into corners we concentrated on canter departs.  Splash took correct leads (just one miss to the left) and held together fairly well (just one drop to trot).  Mallory and Raffles make those canter departs look easy.  No LAL until next week. 

The next show is July 30, so cross fingers for continued good work at the party lesson next time.

My sister and bro-in-law were here for the week, so horsey stuff was limited to bringing Trisha to the lesson.  She got several pix of the girls in the trusk and on their horses.  Doesn't want to ride or be a YaYa Rider - its a mystery.  Trisah and Jim unhooked the Invader and headed east/south on the 4th and we headed to the annual Nowata bash.

it's HOT

But after minus 18 in February, I am NOT whinning.

My non-horsey sister Trisha and her favorite husband Jim are in OK for a visit so I am trying not to torture her with horsey activities - to much.  They arrived in the Intruder (very large RV) Saturday afternoon - after our party lesson.  Jim and Jason had hunted carp in the creek at Ray Ranch in Sapulpa and Trisha brought marinating filets with them to the WOR.  Pretty yummy fried up and served with newish potatoes.  Also stored in the Invader freezer is ground gator meat which made good SpaGattor. 

You can see that Trisha is trying to distract me from my horsey obsession with food.  Good plan.

A small contingent of the YaYa's rode at Rita's on Wed. evening (the coolest day of the week) - the four of us (Rita, Sherry, Judy, and me) had a lovely ride out the gate through College Park and beyond.  We feasted on Tetrazinni and fresh fruit salad including Glenbrook raised raspberries (Rita), chicken salad on cresants (Judy), and spicy cheese ball (Sherry) and garlic bread (pathetically me).  You can see that various foods are diversions from going outside in the heat.

The girls - Ivy, Alaina, and Roxy - had their lesson at 10 concentrating on equitation.  Then Mallory and Raffles joined Splash and me at 11.  Splash warmed up nicely and we worked trot and leg yeilds before concentrating on canter.  Mallory and Raffles make those transitions look easy although Mallory is trying to slow the canter down.  Splash was having trouble with leads so we worked on rollback exercises.  Splash does well with right rollback/right lead depart but has difficulty with left.  Perhaps there is a link between his right hind issues from last year (shortened muscles and habitual protection?) so that the pivot to the left gets bound up and he hold the right bend and gets the wrong lead.  Very hard for both of us but we got some improvement.  During canter work, Splash had a pretty big stumble so hopefully no re-injury will show up this week.

LAL was at Ron's in Claremore to avoid the crowds in Inola for Hay Days.  Fun until next weekend when we will ride again.  YaYa.

Horse Show Hangover.....

But it hurts good.

At long last, the 4-H State Horse Show - 2011 - was Thursday though Saturday and the Green Country Classic dressage show was Saturday-Sunday.  So, after returning from Shawnee Saturday night we volunteered at the Classic Sunday afternoon; Ivy and Alaina as runners and me on Paddock and "bit check:" duty.  So - horse - horse - horse - fun - fun - fun.

Although I didn't see Patty ride Dante, I did catch one of her rides on Jurgen and it was the best I have seen.  But the big news is that Patty earned her Bronze Metal with Dante this past weekend recieving a 62.368% from Dr. Paramjeet Chopra and a 60.526%Thomas Poulin - 2 qualifying scores when she only needed one! Congratulations to Patty and Dante! Yippeeeee.
Rita's Friesians did very well too. Silka's baby Teske Van G scored 68% and 68% in T3 and Jurgen Fan Bluffview received 64.828% and 61.724% in F1.


And.... the "girls" - Brady and Double Entrondre, Patty and Jurgen, Stephanie and Teske, and Sara and Rumba - placed second in the adult team competition.

 

At ride night Tuesday night, Krystal trimmed Pico, Sunny, and Sister and we got to see the Budwiser Clydesdales who were stalling at Expo on the way to TX.  So cool to see those dainty little feet.  Those feet got 5 bags of shavings per stall - no expense was spared.

Thursday morning, we met Mallory in Catoosa and headed west to Shawnee; I got the girls (Ivy, Alaina, Roxy, and Mattie) in the Truck with Me.  Mallory was lonely all the way.  The Rogers County 4-H horse club T-shirts were emblazoned with "Drop it Like its HOT" - but Alaina "Drops it like a Sock" - haha, she lost a sock out of the window between Chandler and Shawnee and I do not turn the trailer around for a sock.

 

We arrived in Shawnee before noon and checked in, unloaded, settled horses, decorated stalls, socialized a bit, made plans, watched a little speed, rode the horses, bathed horses and then.... around 6:30, went en mass to Red Lobster for a real dinner (my first in all the years of doing state horse show stuff - I think I like it).  We missed the 2-year old project but our club's Britton Carpenter placed 5th with his horse Perpetually EZ.
 
 

First thing Friday morning, Ivy and Sister showed Halter mares 6 and over - they qualified as 4th place mares at District but didn't place at State.  Then, Sunny and Alaina showed in Geldings 6 and over and showmanship 12-14 - no ribbon but Alaina and Sunny had a lovely showmanship pattern.  Competition is stiff in their age division.
 

Later, Ivy and Pico had their 2 riding classes - English Equitation and Hunter Hack.  Ivy was 2nd to go in Eq and watched the girl in front of her totally blow the pattern.  Did the pattern to perfection until almost the end, when doubt caught up with her and she skipped the last trot circle.  Ivy and Freako-Pico managed to place 7 in Hunter Hack - just a little hesitation in approaching the second jump.
 

Saturday morning it was time for Trail.  Sunny and Alaina placed 2nd out of 30 entries - and won an embroidered bridle bag.  Very exciting.  Sunny was very good, was steady and willing and accurate.  Just over-rotated a bit in the tiny box and looked a little uneven in the complicated back through.  Did not eat corn plants or pull down the gate (which has been done twice before).

Western Pleasure was good (canters a bit fast) and Western

Horsemanship very nice (just a head pop at the very end of the pattern) - neither good enough for call back.  But nice rides none the less.
 
So, now we can relax until the July shows (4-H and ODS/GCC).  and work in some YaYa rides too.
 

Getting Ready for STATE

The 4-H State Horse Show that is....  Mighty preparations have begun.  The girls and I unloaded lots of stuff we won't need in Shawnee from the trailer today and we added a few items already.  But we won't really get things in order until Wednesday evening - then on Thursday morning - we will head WEST.  The plan is to meet Mallory and Roxanne in Verdigris and caravan to the show grounds.

It's been a few weeks since my last post and my excuse is that I had two trips to Kansas and the girls got out of school.  I got lucky the last two Wednesday evenings in a row when my YaYa Sisters got a chance to ride at Rita's and have good eats afterwards. I rode Splash both evenings and he was a good boy.  I am still babying him by avoiding steep hills because he seems to have a bit of trouble - my thought is that his injury last year left residual effects.  He also seems to have trouble with right lead canter - it is hard to get and hard to keep.  But otherwise, he is working sound and making improvements.

We had Saturday Party Lessons the last two weekends - last weekend with Kathy B getting ready for Pinto World.  She and Call are reserve champion T-1 and Kathy has the buckle to prove it.  We are all very proud of the great progress they have made in their dressage training.  Woo Hoo!

Ivy has been working Pico over jumps every chance she gets since her riding classes at State are Hunt Seat Eq and Hunter Hack.  Pico is Freako a lot of the time but has some really nice jumping moments.  Alaina is working on Trail obstacles and making progress with Sunny.  They will practice a few more days but are really looking forward to having a lot of fun.

Work with Splash has been fairly good - no German Neck Stretcher at Rita's or Saturday; less fussy in the bridle and some give to the bit.  Besides the normal leg yield work, Patty had a new exercise for us.  We worked on canter transitions up and down from/to the trot (left lead) and from/to the walk (right lead).  Not surprisingly, correct lead wasn't guaranteed and downward transitions needed a lot of work.  Nancy and Doc were really making progress and Mallory on Raffles made it look easy. Susan and Sarah joined us and we all went to Graham's after the lesson.

Graham's has some competition in the new Mexican place just past the Depot.  It is fun to have contrast in eateries - the owner/chef/manager at Ricardo's LOVEs us.  We will have to come up with a Haiku for them too.

In other news - Bill's birthday was Saturday so we sang the birthday song!  And TC is loving life at Lake Cheval.  He has gained wait, shed out, and enjoying Christian's TLC.  Ivy, Roxie, and Mattie gave him a low intensity bareback workout and he seemed to enjoy the attention.

So, no YaYa for me this week (4-H gets the whole week with meeting on Monday, ride night on Tuesday, preparations on Wednesday and then the show in Shawnee Thursday through Saturday. Cross fingers for next week.  YaYa!