Shocker!

Literally!

For 1, it has been 65 degrees the past 3 days here in Missouri, which was a horrid tease. Today it was a chilly 18 degrees when we (Brandon and I) went to feed this a.m. and school Yanks over some jumping gymnastics.

For 2, today while I was grooming Yankee for our ride, I shocked him, twice! Poor guy! He was scared shitless of me for about 10 min. I felt really bad....I guess it was just the static from his blanket or something because it crackled and popped when I took it off.

For 3, He was AMAZING. I shall explain....

Today my goal for Yankee was to school over gymnastics with relaxation and impulsion and for me to stay balanced and not jump ahead. Major win on both parts!



The gymanstic set up Brandon and I LABORED to set up was pretty simple since we didnt have a huge arena and I didnt want to confuse Yanks with too many poles and whatnot. I set up 3 trot poles, 4 ft apart. Following that, a bounce, prolly only 2ft high, 9 ft apart (I did this only to set him back on his haunches). Then a one stride to a 3ft vertical and one stride to a 3ft oxer.

He really kept his calm and used his booty over the fences. I noticed when I kept more weight in the right stirrup he stayed straighter (has a tendency to lean in). I used the mirrors to force myself to look up, and keep us straight.



I thought this was a pretty good pic, but center of gravity is pretty good (not doing my telltale jump ahead with the crotch routine), head is up, relaxed crest release (should have been doing the automatic but oh wells), ankle flexed, leg pretty solid and Yankee is jumping pretty well even though these are baby fences for him. Looks happy huh!
This picture made me REALLY realize how fat I look these days! Partly due to my 'concentration jumping face' and puffy jacket but also due to the fact that I HAVE actually gained a few lbs. Working on that...


I used to do this all the time with Janice and it really helps keep your seat back where it should be...minor drawback-makes me duck a little. I think I knotted Yankee's reins too tight too, its pullin on his mouth :( but he is still jumping well!


A video of the gymnastic


Walking out after a good workout. We both worked up a sweat!!


My new sparkly blue browband I got off ebay for $10!!! Ohhhh yeah sexy pony.

Christmas Joy, Travel NIGHTMARE and Dec. 30th Ride

Despite being away from Missouri and Yankee for 6 days, I had a pretty good christmas! My mom bought me a new sweet ass helmet since Yankee thought my last one was dinner (my spare was too tight!), winter riding boots (the tall ones), full seat devon-aire riding tights (AH-mazing btw) and some winter work gloves. Brandon bought me a gorgeous horsehair necklace laced with beads and a horse jewel (SO pretty). The bro bought me itunes (yay!). I got lots o' cash and gift cards (uber-yay!) and some more few odds and ends things that I felt very lucky to get this year- I thought that being (almost) 20 that I was excluded from gift giving!
The day after christmas Mom, Mike and I packed up in the car and headed to Wisconsin (to visit the grandparents) while Brandon went back with Zoey the dog to Missouri. AMPED on a caffiene pill, I drove for 5 of the 8 hour trip to Wisconsin. Sadly almost as soon as we arrived I got sick...AGAIN. 5 days after pulling through the flu. WTF. I barely did anything for 3 days, except go watch Little Fockers with the Auntie (tradition to go to a movie). On the 29th I packed up for Green Bay aiport to catch my 6pm flight home to missouri....not so easy. Flight was delayed 3 hours so I missed my connection in Chicago wich was a CLUSTER F*** already, and I had to stay the night in the airport, dreadfully sick.
It. Was. Horrible.
Couldnt sleep so I sat in the airport till my 6:30am boarding flight...left at 7am..arrived in Missouri at 8am...drove 2 hours to make it to an emergency Dr. appt for bloodwork at 10am. turns out I dont have Mono. which is good but I do have a sinus infection....
Which brings me to about 4pm when I drug my filthy mud covered ponyface out of his field. He was really good though while I spent 45 min. scrubbing the poop out of him. Yanks turned out pretty shiny, but look slike he might be getting thrush again so he gets to stay in tomorrow! Poor pony.
Seeing as I'm still sick, I thought a light dressage school would be best, espechially since he had 6 days off. Raquel was in the arena too so I had to lunge on the line-went really well, same impulsion and relaxation as usual.
I started off doing some breathing techniques and relaxed posture my book (Kottas on Dressage) from Cheryl (xmas gift) taught me. I concentrated REAAAALLLLY hard on stayin relaxed and centered. more difficult than it sounds. I just KNOW yankee's sudden, unexplainable crookedness is from me being crooked myself from trying too hard to bend him back the way he needs to go, I need to relax, he will relax. After struggling with him for 10 min I decided to try an excercise I thought up..teardrop figure 8's. On the top O part of the 8, i would walk, free walk or trot and on the stright part of the 8, I would either trot or canter. I concentrated on staying straight and keeping yankee straight too and after the straight-aways I would make a simple, clear change of bend with relaxation and soft hands... it worked about 50% of the time. NEW PLAN.
MIRRORS! Handy to have in the arena! Simple plan, I would walk, trot and canter as straight as possible using the mirrors as guides so I KNEW what we looked like. I would put more weight in the outside sturrup since he swings his haunches in and drifts in lately (I THINK thisis from a week of schooling renver and traver, my fault), as well as had an OPEN inside rein. WHA-la! it worked!
Thank the lord. More of this tomorrow, hopefully with pictures, must drag boyfriend to barn!

Dressage School Dissection

What a looooong day today, but good. I got up at 6am to feed the horses today, after that ate breakfast real quick then went to work from 8am to 330pm. Straight from work Brandon and I went to the barn to feed again and clean stalls and whatnot. He's such a helper!

I thought it'd be fun to teach Brandon how to free lunge Yankee so that in the future if I need him to work Yankee he could and it was....interesting, haha. Poor Yanks was SO confused with what Brandon was asking. Yanks is so used to my body language and my cues that he kept stopping or turning around or looking over to me...it was pretty funny. Brandon got the hang of the cues and how to hold his body but by that time Yankee learned he could take pretty good advantage of him. Better next time!

A very unflattering picture of me and my tall striped winter socks.

Today Yankee was a very good pony with one MIIIINOR issue which I think might actually need chiropractor work rather than more schooling. He is wicked stiff to the left especially at the canter. Its almost like when I ask him to bend he just CAN'T. I hope I can figure this out since I hate to think of my fantastical ponyface in pain.

But anyways...time for a dissection of today's ride.


In this picture you can't really see his back legs but from the front you can see he is actively moving forward with a good pep in his step. He is ok on the bit, but from the look on his face (either he is listening to me or a little upset) and the slight hollow in his back (look right behind the saddle pad-instead of being round, its dipped slightly down. Not good) you can tell it's not a true connection throughout. His poll is the highest point though which is good. My position is good too, since sometimes I have a tendency to tip forward (lack of riding and my hunter days coming back to haunt me). My knee and heel are up, but thats because I was asking him to move sideways here. Other wise I'm sitting up straight, but not looking ahead, shame shame.

I like this picture here of his trot. He is a little low in the head but I'm not too concerned about that. Unlike the last picture he is using his back more here (there is no dip behind the saddle pad if you look close, however it looks as if he is hollow simply because of his conformation. Yanks has a little hunters bump which I consider mostly aesthetic value..
It may give him problems later but it hasnt yet.) and looks very relaxed over his topline. He is swinging forward stellar too. I also look pretty good, straight for me. NIIIICE.

A Hunters bump.

I can pretty much say the same for this picture too with the exception that he is even MORE round over his back and swinging even more with his haunches. But FOR SHAME on me for looking down, again.

Here's a pretty good example of my problem....EEEK! And Yanks also is hollow and lagging, fail for both of us.

And here is what happens EVERYTIME I ask for the right lead canter. UGH. For about a two years he has done this now. Lately I've discovered he hollows less if I 2-point and use more inside as well as outside leg and half release inside rein when I ask, which is what I am doing here (pretty good one at that). This helps him balance a bit more and not rush into it, even though he throws his head straight in the air. He usually settles immediately into the canter though

This is a nice picture of his left lead canter. He is showing self carriage which is cool :) My only complaint is my position, I am a little forward.

Here is my wonderful horsey boyfriend walking my horse out :) Yankee loves him!

End of Exams Ride :)

Exams are FINALLLLLLLYYY over with!!! I feel like my brain is sufficiently fried and thoroughly raped. Poor Yankee didnt get much attention over the past 2 weeks due to my sickness and exam studying...but thankfully I have about a week and a half till I got home to Ohio for a holidays for a week, then after I come back I plan on working him everyday if I get the chance.

Today I warmed him up again inside free lunging with sidereins and thought I would post some pictures to show how very good this is working out for him. I used his jumping tack today since after the warm up we went for a good canter out in the field and walk around the property.

Yes this is him doing his usual freak out for a moment....


Then he settles right down into this AMAZING trot. Look how he is really pushing from behind, his front feet are off the ground before his back feet which show great use of the hindquarters. I love how you can see the muscling on his boot-tay :) He is accepting the bit and listening to me, and his poll is the highest point. He looks great :)


Pretty good active canter too, still reaching forward nicely and active behind as well as really relaxed in the neck....


This picture is fantastic and you can see the awesome spring he has in his step, I mean this is exceptional for yankee. He is very active and working over his back pretty good, maybe a little hollow but still nice. You can even see his stomach muscle. Relaxed in his poll and neck...just an overall good picture of a relaxed pony!


this looks really nice too for Yanks. His canter is naturally uphill but working free in the arena without a rider seems to help him gain more balance and use that muscley butt of his. I can say the same for this picture as the rest of them...so proud!

So as you can see, this really seems to be benificial to him and I will most definetly continue to use this before every ride....now only if showsgrounds had an area where I could do this before every test....ugh.

After warm up we did a few laps around the field at a good lung blowing canter in the snow! we both had fun and he was listening like a good boy. His new bridle and bit are working like I hoped!

Speaking of the new bridle here is a pretty good picture of it. This is a $200 jumping bridle i got off ebay for $40! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and so does Yankee. He has a weird shaped head where his ear base is wider than the rest of his head so I looked for a while for one that would fit and this bridle is beautiful and functional! YEAH ebay!

Re-Clipping

Today I dragged this filthy thing out of his pasture to re-clip him. This was after currying and brushing for 15 min! GEEZ. I clipped him in October and his hair regrew pretty fast so I decided to re-do it today.


His tail is bagged up, no worries-it's still there!

After only 30 min I had re-clipped AND clipped up higher since he will be in heavier work now than he was earlier this winter. I LOVE the way this clip turned out :)



After his clipping, I had some time left before I needed to get back to studying so I thought a nice hack would be good for both of us. Yanks is still a little stiff so I wanted to get him outside


Yankee in his nice new 'shiny' half pad. State Line Tack $17! Fits awesomely.


The finishing touch of his weatherbeeta half sheet. Can't live without this!

Weeeellll, he was AWFUL in the beginning...the feeding lady showed up right as we went out to the field so of course all he could think about was dinner (it was only 3pm!). Great.

It was also 2 degrees out.

He pulled a Gogo (sorry andrea :P) and reared and spun like a retard. NOTHING I was doing settled him. So I took a big breath, calmed down, and just asked for little half halts while doing a biiiiig zig zag pattern to keep him from directly facing the barn. It actually worked and he settled right down, good boy!

I thought it would be bad training to dismount at the barn, rewarding his bad behavior, so I took him in the arena for a hot second. A compete opposite of earlier, he trotted out very nicely and cantered like a dream. I was satisfied.

Double blanketed tonight since its supposed to be a high of 2 degrees...high of 17 tomorrow during the day too....

Snow Day

Not really actually, I'm not in High school anymore and I had exams to study for all day. Here's a look from last nights WICKED snow storm. Blew in 2 days early out of nowhere...Can't say i'm surprised...weather in Missouri changes so often it retarded. Like 2 nights ago it was 60 deg. and thunderstorming, last night, 12 deg and blizzarding.



We were taking our dog, Zoey out to go pee and were surprised to see this happening outside! We had gotten a pizza and a movie an lo-and-behold an hr and a half later there were 2 in. of snow on the ground and 50mph winds blowing it all around! WTF



Zoey says "I dont care though, Ilovesnow mom and dad!"

I thought nothing of it really as we went to bed last night but....alomg with being sick and hearing the winds gusting all night I didnt get much sleep so when the alarm went off at 7am to get up and go feed the new Spring Farm horses, well, one can say we were surprised!



Thats our driveway, up a hill....covered in ice and snow...we had a MAJOR problem. I had 12 hungry horses waiting 10 miles away and we were uber stuck! Brandon also had to be at work at noon. We sat there and scratched our heads along with the taxi driver (he came down our drive and got stuck in the parking lot). there was nothing we could do so I had to call Raquel and wake her up to tell her to text Kyle to feed the horses. Kyle lives on the farm but he is off on weekends. I felt really bad since I had 'covered' Raquels feed shift for her. Gosh.

Oh and that ice on the window? Yeah thats on the INSIDE. Our windows suck. You can literally feel the cold wind come in from underneath. Talk about a waste of $$$$$ on heating bills.

Sick and Lame

Well last Saturday I tried to take Yankee out before the weather got too cold to jump, and before finals started, but he was ever so slightly lame. I had an inkling about how it happened too. The farm moved him to a new paddock and stall, closer to the rest of the boarded horses so he had better company and I am POSITIVE he ran around like a maniac on the cold ground. He always has a ball in a new pasture and closer to new horses, I can bet thats what he did.

I was a little disappointed since I really wanted to jump over the XC course but I knew it was better not to risk it, of course. I had tacked him up and free lunged him as usual, but immediatly I could see something was off on his right hind. Yanks was overcompensating with his back left but I had to be sure he was indeed lame so I asked him to trot the other direction. Then I remembered that the side reins could be effecting his gaits especially in the cold so I took them off and asked him to trot off again. Still was lame. Sadface.

He was a good sport though trotting out for me. I hoped letting him rest it off would let him get the kinks out and sometime later that week I could ride again...buuuut alas, I got really sick. OF COURSE right smack in the middle of exam week. So no riding, and no being outside for a whole week. I've really missed my boy but I know he's in good hands with tha stable workers. I have to feed saturday so I'm hoping I get better. I would have updated the blog earlier but I've really been out of it.

Anyways here are some pics I took a while back for the christmas cards I want to send out. :)