Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Almost, Maybe. OK Its Me.

A few days ago I dragged Jessie to the barn to ride Yankee and see if she could figure out if his issues were real or not.

My conclusion,

Its me.

While we didn't do much besides a grid a small 2'9 oxer, he was perfect for her. Absolutely fine.


Much concentration. So try.
I got on and after the first round through the grid, this almost disaster happened because I can't ride...

SUCH FAIL

Yes. That would be us eating shit. Semi-rotational fall that I CAUSED because I can't stay out of Yankee's perfect brain. Causing him to trip over the fucking foot and a half crossrail, flail, take out three jumps and almost die.

I really don't know how we avoided even a scratch, but he was THE BEST HORSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD and stood up, shook off, checked on me, and we ran through it again NO HESITATION.

WHO DOES THAT. SUCH HORSE VERY WOW.

Horses are too trusting. I CAUSED that and even as we were falling to our almost death he tried SO DAMN HARD to fix the situation. Horses man. They are the best.

So I am going to take break from jumping Yankee until I get home to Ohio and can take a few lessons to fix whatever it is that is causing me to ride him like shit. Its obviously me causing him to refuse and jump badly because he was great for Jessie. Something in my position or brain.

I can jump other horses....just not my own apparently.

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IN OTHER NEWS.

I wanted to do a separate post on this BUT I AM TOO EXCITED.

Say hello to Bacardi.


uhhhh, HELLO tall, red and handsome.

And he is *almost* mine. 

A few more things to sign and a 6 hour round trip once we relocate to Ohio (MAY TWENTY EIGHTTTH) and all 17.1 hands of him will be in MY barn.




I have been obsessed with this horse since his current owner got him off the track and was DYING to have him.



I cannot EVEN begin to describe how pumped I am to begin my time with this horse. I truly believe he is something special. I saw something in him the INSTANT I saw him last September and was LIKE MUST HAVE VERY WANT..

2009 model, 17.1, 12 starts, $11k earnings. Northern Dancer and Secretariat on both sides, AND Bold Ruler. #OBSESSSED


BABY FACE BE MINE

Sunday, May 11, 2014

F*** YOU HOCKS I HATE YOU?

Yankee has been a dream lately.

...on the flat.

He's turned into a monster over fences.


Yankee...such  asshole. WHAT  HAPPENING.


He's starting to buck when I ask for the canter, chips at every fence, stops, or bunny hops. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Its like he is doing it on purpose and its INFURIATING. He refuses to even jump 2'6 oxers and I'm like



The last time we jumped I was so annoyed I threw my hands up in frustration and just let him walk for 10 minutes so I could cool off and then flatted him. Whats worse is every time I jump it seems like there are a hundred people watching and I'm always embarrassed my dumb horse won't even jump two feet.

The only moderately decent jump/picture all day.
 I wasn't sure last time if it was because of the heatwave or what, but he's like me, in that we melt in heat. Then I was like, well maybe he is hurting. Is it the saddle? I stopped using a half pad with the jump saddle and only use my thinline pad now. Thought maybe that was it. Or am I riding badly? Probably. BUT he always takes me over anyways-whether it be 2 ft or 4ft. Was he distracted by the amount of people hanging around? Maybe.

Then I remembered its been almost a year since he got his hocks done.




So there's that.

But it doesn't make sense to me. The vet thinks he should be good for three years. Definitely more than one. AND he's fab on the flat. Like, amazing.

HELLO FORWARD


DAT TROT DOH



And thats in a hackamore! He's engaged, through, and forward. His flying  changes are getting better too. And that requires a lot of hock action.





For now, since I can't afford to guess and get a vet out to test his hocks again when he is NOT showing lameness like last time,  I will use the half pad again with my saddle and see if that fixes things.