Half a 5th Leg

...wherein I fuck up repeatedly and Yankee acts like its nbd and keeps up the badassery...most of the time.

XC schooling was well worth the 4 hour round trip and $145 I shelled out in fees, gas and caffeine. And my bestie, Jackie and her mare mare, Isis came, as well as our wonderful photographer, B. Quite worth it indeed.

Considering we will be jumping each fence at the event in two weeks that we tackled on Sunday, I am feeling a little more confidant that we won't have a refusal...if I can keep my shit together. Most of Sunday went well, unless you count the wonky barrel line and that damn bank down into water to the pesky bank up/ one stride/ log element. More on that latro.

Most eventers would give their left tit to have a solid XC horse that will pick up the slack when we get tired or royally screw up. AKA, a horse with a fifth leg. I am blessed to have one with half a fifth leg. Why half? He eventually gets tired of my shit and flat out refuses. I deserve it.. *Most* of the time hes like, "oh you arent really sitting back and focused, its fine mom, I got this" but sometimes Yankee is just like, "No. NO thanks. I don't really feel like it since you aren't pulling your weight around here, mother". I appreciate him doing more than his part and I love him for it. He really puts up with quite a bit.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Sunday dawned WAY too early. Jackie and I both had about 4-5 hours of sleep thanks to our pesky jobs. Damn that money. I hate it. JK I LOVE IT LOL. We loaded up and drove to Kansas, chattering about the day ahead, horses, shows, boys and bitching about dumbasses at work. Once we arrived, we let the horses graze for about half an hour, then slowly booted up, screwed in studs and tacked up. There were literally a million people there and of course we all want to ride as soon as we get there, so it was kind of a clusterF.

We also spent a MAJOR amount of time swooning over our new Dalmar XC boots (see front legs. I also have sports wrap underneath for support). Like seriously....best $92 I ever spent. I can't even. We are too legit now. Euro pad, 5 point AND dalmar?? Kill me  now, cuz I would die happy

We started out low and slow, letting the horses get used to the surroundings. Jackie was a little tense about the whole XC thing but slowly learned that Isis is kiiiiiind of a XC badass.

Superman that shit

Novice thing

Training oxer!!

Attacking the training water

From there on out, Jackie jumped most of all the things, even some training jumps, which Isis beasted. I think we might have a nice eventer on our hands here after all! Hopefully she got in to the event, but there was a discrepancy with the online entry.

(So I tried to post these in order, but of course blogger is a dick and decided to do them all at once and OF COURSE wont let me move them, so this will be a little disjointed but its fine.)

Yankee has always been game for pretty much anything, that was until our *incident* 3 years ago, and the rough fall I had XC 2 yrs ago, which shattered my confidence. Shit happens when you event. I LOATHE admitting that, but its true. I no longer have the big girl panties or give no fucks that I used to. Perhaps its a good thing, but I see it as a pain in my ass because I ride like dookey most of the time. I am afraid he will refuse, so I squee forwards, quite riding and brace. Most of the time he jumps. Sometimes he doesn't. And then I get tossed about, lookin' like a fool. When I'm *mostly* on though, he puts for a fantasmic effort.

Training table. Big enough to be Prelim I thought but whatever.

Massive Prelim table. I was scared. He wasn't.

 Video of that HERE

Prelim table from another angle

 Sometimes, I tell him to do something (not jump a jump and go around) and he feels he doesn't have to listen and jumps anyways. Then we get reindeer games like this....

This is a Prelim skinny by the way.

 I appreciate the effort Yanks, but now I just hauled on your mouth, slammed your back and risked a fall from both of us. But really, I'm not mad. I guess its cool that you jumped a big ass Prelim fence from a horrible distance and angle.

One of our two MAJOR issues that day was the banks up/down in water and the barrels (which I will get to). Normally Yanks is the one with the slight down bank aversion, but with a swift kick and a HAH! HAH! (my eventing scream. If you event, you know what I'm talking about) he gets right over, er, down it. Sunday though the instant I headed towards this bad boy (prelim down element)....

....I saw my ex trainer/employer who I had a HORRIBLE TERRIBLE AWFUL fallout with. I panic. Not sure why I care about her opinion. But I do. So of course we flail and I lose my stirrups, crop and end up hanging off his neck, barely hanging on. I take it again, same result. Ok, fuck that fuckery. We move to the training- up bank, one stride to log. Refuse. Again. Refuse. Again, almost fall off. GREAT. I guess when I'm trying to impress people I actually end up sucking...like really bad. I should try  not to do that anymore.

We ended up doing fine once she left so I'ma go ahead and blame her for that one. HA. Normal up banks were Gucci, I just can't maintain my position...Yanks doesnt normally care and carries on while I re situate.

Prelim

Prelim. Note how NOT to eq over an up bank.

Training Rolltop

 The second issue we had was over these damn barrels. The barrels themselves are nothing to bat an eye at. Not really big, not a hard approach..until you add the most fucked up line I've ever seen in my life. It literally was like this / times like 4. It was steep. I didn't like it. SO Of course I freeze up. almost fall off over the first, get a nice refusal over the second.

All shook up now.

try again over just the first. Refusal. Awesome. Again. refuse. Again, reeindeer games. COOL. So we end that and revisit afterwards. I was crushed. How in the hell could I event if I couldn't even do the course. WE were gonna get elim I just knew it. I *almost* quite right there, but had spent too much on the trip there. SO I cooled off, schooled some lower stuff, then moved on to other stuff, then came back. Nailed it the first time. Yankee is an honest boy, but over a tricky line like that, he needs help. He can't do it alone, so he refuses, with good reason. I suck sometimes haha.

The damn training barrels

Training Up Bank

Training rolltop

 The jump below was also equally as terrrifying, but I stared at the trees above it and he hopped right over. Not only did it look massive, but there is a nice drop afterwards. I'm pretty sure this is on the training course, but it looked scary enough to be prelim.

Pretty sure my eyes were closed haha

Fav shot of the day! Prelim table.

Another prelim table, equally as terrifying

 This last picture is of the scariest fence of the day. I almost peed my pants looking at the width of this fence. And its only training! Are you serious right meow?! Are training fences on steroids these days? Like, shit. I pointed Yankee at it, kept my leg on, stared at the sky and he gave me an effortless jump. God. I love him. Now I just hope we can do that at the event.

We rode for almost 3 hours, not of course all at once. There was a lot of walking. But we also raced. It was...MAGICAL. I've never let Yankee run full out before, or raced another horse. It was full power forward and I was in heaven. Yankee had a BLAST too. I think Isis did as well ;) She is damn fast too.

You can't tell, but we are FLYING

We gave them nice bathes, washed our tack, let them graze, then wrapped them and headed home.

 I gave Mr. Pony two days off and plan to hack out today. Unfortunately he only got one night of turnout before the heavens opened again and rained. and rained. and rained. and rained.

SUCK.

I Procrastinate and Sleep Instead

I shall be posting later today about Schooling Sunday!

Jomping Ponies

So a few of you might've already seen a lil tease of this post and thanks for the comments :D

Yankee recovered quickly from his little foot issue and a few days ago Jackie and I spent a day riding each other horses. Amid the tornado watch too. It was frightening, but fun. (later that night we had some massive hail accompany deathstorm. It was the size of my palm. DAMN NATURE YOU SCARY)

We first rode Yanks. I only have pics of the 3'9 oxers we tackled, but the grid work was pretty ridiculous and he loved it. I had 4 trot poles, a cavaletti, onse stride to x rail, one stride vertical, one stride vertical, bounce to oxer, one stride to x rail, one stride to oxer. It was awesome. We wanted him to sit a little back and not rush so much. Thats why we put the bounces in the the middle of the grid.

Here's a VIDEO... I swear in it though because I am a potty mouth that can't control my swear word usage. Heh.  So beware if you dont like cursing, dont watch!

After each round through the grid we took him over one of the two oxers. Both set at 3'9.. and he was rather....overzealous to say the least, HA. I'd rather have him jump well and be little cray than jump like shit an refuse stuff and come in too close. Yankee has ALWAYS preferred the long spot and I've learned to just stay out of his way and not hassle him when I'm 3 strides out. Also I still have to work on my eq and not shoot forward. Jackie helps.

Jackie rode him first

uhhh, long spot much?

Love this pic, wish my eq was better though

Not the best on for either of us. He is flat and my butt is waaay too high.

I don't know if you can see it well, but we put flowers ON the blue oxer top rail. He didnt even flinch at them. If anything he just jumped higher. I was extremely happy with his little self rocketing around because he wasn't out of control, just exuberant. Every time he listened to my half halts afterwards and collected right back up. For a little cooldown fun we played around in our little water jump. He refused the first time, which is worrysome considering that would be 20 penalties, but we shall sort it out this weekend schooling at Longview. You might also notice I jumped him in his lever noseband and waterford instead of the hackamore. Last time he was rooting with the hackamore so I put a bit in to remind him of his manners.

"Is this sanitary??"

After all that fun at my barn, we went to Jackie's to jump miss Isis.  She does the same thing Yankee did when he was a bebe-rushes the fences. She also hates contact. Which make sit quite difficult to execute half halts without her throwing a piss fit.

Jackie has been doing a TON of work with her since she came back from her injury (for new readers, she tore a hole in her butt muscle. A BIG one. Long story. But it was gaping and huge. Laid her up most of the winter. She's been back in work for about a month and a half?) and her head tossing has gotten LOADS better. Jackie's played around with bits and nosebands and rides her in a running martingale which has done wonders for Isis.

Jackie took her over a few low fences, including a water jump, and did a little bounce exercise trying to get her to to SIT back in her butt and not dive forward. It seemed to sink in a little bit and she nailed it after a few run throughs.

Can we please? this trot.

Over the "scary" water "jump"

Through the bounces

I had never jumped her before so I experienced QUITE the learning curve when I got on and tried to half halt her to the first fence when she dove for it. She basically stopped moving, threw her head up and we promptly ran smack into the standards and I about fell off. We re grouped and I re figured out how to ride her haha. Lordy. Jackie make sit look easy because let me tell you, it is not. Riding one horse for so long can def be a curse.

I took her though the small stuff a few times

 Then Jackie wanted to make an oxer and hop her over it a few times and try to see if I could help her figure out why she dives for fences/ throws a fit when you half halt. Sometimes a second opinion helps when you get stuck in training.

You cant tell, but I was struggling HARD to maintain my position on this gal. She has a massive jump and along with a floaty canter I was all kinds of all over the place. While she can be hard headed I really do like this mare. What I did was pretty unorthodox, but it seemed to help balance her and not charge so much. I would half halt 2 strides before our turn to the fence, literally loop the reins and just use my leg and body to turn her, then halt halt ONE TWO again, then just let go. I TRIED to not do it less than 4 strides out because by then she had her stride and if you mess with it she is bound to whack it. Like most horses. She's def more sensitive though to pressure so thats why I looped the reins after each strong halt halt. I liekd how she responded but I didn't know if Jackie was OK with how I had ridden her. I sometimes hate riding other peoples horses because I dont know their limits etc etc.

After that Jackie got on and tried the same thing and after a few rails she  nailed it with this beautiful jump...

Gorgeous huh? I can't wait to go schooling this weekend with them!  After our jump school we took her out to the field to let her let loose. J thinks that she's getting arena sour and needed to let loose.

And I agree! Mare mare loooooved it!! I think we might race Sunday >:)

Jackie also made a new blog now that she has her own horse, so you all should head over there and follow her. Link is www.theisiseffect.blogspot.com

Hopefully our next post will be some badass XC pics! (cross fingers that the ground stays firm with all this rain)

Tittilating Tease

...of a post! Haw haw haw.

I'm still waiting on the rest of them, but here's a sneak photo of the next post about Yanks and his wonderfully overzealous jumping yesterday...

Good Gravy....

....I SUCK at posting, or doing anything really. I'm sorry ya'll. Especially Cindy, I am SO behind. Forgive me *begs on knees*

After recovering from bronchitis and then the dressage show last week, shit hit the FAN. Of course. Thats how my life goes. I'm not surprised anymore. Not only did I work a milion hours, Yankee got an abcess, thrush and a fever ALL AT ONCE. He was laid up for a week and I was legit panicked about all the things.

Hurty pony is sad. But adorable.

He says "ouchies" :(

I felt so terrible for the poor guy. We've had nonstop rain for about 2 weeks (yes, and its still raining) and even though he stays in during the day and I pick his feet daily, he still got thrush. Per usual every spring. GO AWAY RAIN I HATE YOU.

It was horrifying. I said good night to him Monday night after our gallop (he was perky and fine) and the next morning his head was hanging, he was literally holding his leg up in the air and it was all puffy and hot. I picked the foot trying to find the problem, it starting bleeding ferociously, I panic, call my farrier, have him come out, he says he not only has thrush BUT an abcess in the BULB of his heel (WHAT THE FRICK, is this possible??) and the thrush was infected. How the HAIL did this all happen overnight??

Poor guy was a sad pony for about 4 days, but I gave him 8 days off anyways. He seems perfectly fine after much babying and we still plan to XC school this Sunday. I'm going to ride him today and am actually more worried about him killing me. Due to the foot ailments and the torrential rain, the horses have only been out ONCE in a week. They are going cray.

So there's that.

I guess I will never really do my second post on "Good Peeps" But I will say that I loved my bf a lot for coming to my show. Like a lot a lot. He hated it. But still came and videoed for me :) He MIGHT come schooling with us Sunday too. And he WILL come to my events >:)

Pretending to be thrilled

Poneh ready to travel! With my NEW shipping boots I got for Xmas-shanks mommy!

My Giraffe pre-show, just chillin

So the show- I will just touch on it since its a week later and I don't want to make this post hellas long. We did two tests and did great on the first and quite horrendous on the second. All my fault-sorta.

I couldn't have been more proud of my lil OTTB, he was chill from the second he stepped off the trailer. 7 years later I guess they chill out and stop caring. I only had to warm up for each test for 10 min because he was basically falling asleep he was so relaxed. HOPEFULLY he keeps that up for USEA dressage.

The first test he felt great, forward, bendy and overall just really fabulous.

We got straight 7's with the exception of our stretch work-5's. To be expected. The judge was harsh, played favs and we haven't worked on stretching in a while-oops. I love it when judges are like "really good" "great" "nice!" and still give 7s....uh thanks? We totally deserved the 5s on free walk and stretch circle though.

Overall we got a 68% on the first test and I was pretty happy with the exception of her comments in the end "Needs to be more relaxed" ...uh hwhat? Apparently he looked super tense, (I think thats just his TB head carriage) but to me he was THE MOST calm I've ever felt him. He was basically a cucumber. And I was SUPER impressed with his trot work. Looky!!

Our second test was alittle more...shitty. I had a reader because I get really confused trying to memorize USDF dressage letters for large arenas. Mistake. I could barely hear her and I missed TWO movements. Yes two. The judge yelled at her and felt bad for me but I still got 2 errors and I los tmy mind after making two mistakes.

I get really shaken when I mess up and I kinda quit riding. Yankee was still calm, but he felt me get nervous and wasnt great. Add to that I rode hella shitty and it wasnt fab. We got a 57%, mostly 4s and 5s HAHAHAHAHAAAA. Hwhat. Take a gander at my effed up eq...

Falling back much?

WHOA inside hand what the hail are you doin

Not a bad halt though

So that was Sunday. I was still MORE than happy with Yanks and our 68% got us a first.

Holla back later this week! Hope everyone is doing well and no one else is getting drowned with rain.

#PrayForBoston