Thursday, August 18, 2011

A sad case of the summer lazies.

Well, let me start off by saying that my horse is one of the kindest, gentlest, sweetest horses on the planet. He is also an idiot! Duke managed to cut the top of his head on his cross-tie, and of course the (thankfully pretty minor) cut is right under where the headstall of a bridle sits, so he has been on the DL for the past two weeks while I waited for the cut to heal.

The last of the scabbing sloughed off yesterday, so Big Boy is going back to work! I only rode him for about ten minutes yesterday, working on basics like backing off the bit and bending. He got turned out every day during his down-time, so he's still fit, and I hope to have him back in fighting form for our next show Labor Day weekend.

Louisville is next week, and I'm really looking forward to stake night! I am not looking forward to having to get all gussied up - despite my girlie-girl obsession with expensive shoes, I am very much a jeans-and-tee's-and-flip-flops kind of girl, so finding a dress for Louisville is always a pain! And of course, I've left it to the eleventh hour this year, so I'm off to go do a little web-browsing to even see if there is anything I like out there...

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Another Week, Another Show

WARNING: This entry is only a little bit horse-centric. Now, back to our irregularly scheduled programming:


I can't wait for my next show (Ohio State Fair, starts Tuesday-ish) to be over. Blame it on the heat that's just coming back, blame it on working and then having to go work my horse, blame it on the sun for waking me up every morning at 6 no matter how late I stay up, or blame it on a few too many midnight movie premiers (Harry Potter 7 part 2 is awesome by the way, go see it), but right now I'm looking forward to OSF like I'd look forward to a root canal performed without any lidocaine.

It's a nagging feeling that's been plaguing me more and more since midterms last spring: I'm just plain tired. When I've got things to do I'm ok and don't drag too much, but the second I can relax I feel like I've been hit with a Mack Truck and all I want to do is sleep all the time.

On a happy note, Duke has been working very well for me these past two weeks. I've ridden him the last few days, but we mostly jogged now that I have access to a harness again (long story), and he's up to 3.5 miles with a good heart and breath rate. I'd ideally like him to get him up to 4.5 to 5 before our next show in the beginning of September, but it's really up to the weather (specifically the temperatures, and how dry and hard our jogging path gets) to determine how hard I push him.

Well, that's all for now. I'll update you all after State Fair, which should start getting very entertaining for me right around Friday, which is the first day more than one of our horses shows in a day. And then there's Saturday when all five show, 4 of them within eight classes of each other... Oh joy.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Hackney's can be such fun!

For the last two days some friends from the nearby ASB barn I groom at a few days a week have been coming over to hop up on some of our ponies. K and B (Which is what I'll call them here since they are both minors) make me want to laugh hysterically when they are on Alex and Rebel respectively, even though they're riding the pants off those ponies!

K is pretty tiny, and she fits on Alex really well - and she is learning quickly just how to push a Hackney without pushing them off their feet. B is learning the same knack to riding a Hackney, but at 6 feet tall he makes me giggle - his feet are level with Rebel's knees! Fortunately Rebel is so up-necked that B actually doesn't look too tall. I wish I had some pictures, but I left my good camera at home, and the ponies are too quick for the camera in my phone!

Duke has been doing very well for me, and did very well at our last show. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm feeling confident for our upcoming show next week, but I don't have that impending sense of doom I've felt before many shows in the past! Right now I'm just taking things fairly easy with him, lots of bending, and lots and lots of transitions with an emphasis on walk, walk, WALK!

One week until our next show. I hope I remember to pick up my dry-cleaning before then, or I might be wearing my riding suit without a shirt!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Lost a friend today.

I'm sad to report that we had to put my beloved horse Adam to sleep today. Adam had been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, and even with medication wouldn't have had much time left.

Adam was a grand show horse, a five-gaited horse who was a fireball in the show ring and a lap-dog in the stall. In his retirement the same go-forward attitude that made him such a good show horse made him wonderful trail horse: there was no obstacle he wouldn't bounce over with his ears up and politely chomping at the bit for more - fallen logs, creeks, bridges, steep hills, he did them all without backing an ear. People we met on the trails didn't know what to make of him, racking along with his head and tail up, lifting his legs like he was in the show ring. He lived up to his registered name, Havin' Fun, every time we went out.

I know I made the right decision to let him go before his health failed more, and that he'd had a grand long and pampered life with my family, but I'll still miss him more than words can express.

I'm an Atheist and don't believe in an afterlife, but part of me really hopes that there's a heaven for horses, and that its full of carrots and geraniums for Adam to munch on.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

First show of the year

Yep, my first show of the year starts tomorrow. I don't have high hopes for my first class Friday night, since competition will be stiff and Duke is pretty consistently a bit squirrely during the first class, but I'm hoping to do well in my class on Saturday.

I'm both nervous as hell, and oddly calm and centered all at once. The multitude of personal things I have to schlep to a show are all ready to go (or they will be, just as soon as I pack my new riding gloves into my makeup case... ok, done) - my riding suit has been cleaned and is in it's bag, I have a brand spanking new derby hat that I'm a little afraid to take out of the box given the hell I put my last one through, and My saddle and bridle are already at the barn ready to be packed.

All I have to do tomorrow is pack the rest of the essentials (hay, pony cart, extra buckets), and then load up the boys to make the 35 minute drive to Springfield. I'm going to give Duke his bath there, since they have heated barns and hot water, just in case it's colder than expected.

Yep, getting a bit nervous, but after 25 years of doing this I'll get over it pretty quickly!

I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Finally warm enough to ride, but...

Well, it's finally warm enough to ride and Duke just got his feet done yesterday, but the skies refuse to stop dumping water on us! I don't really mind riding in the amount of rain we have, but I really don't want to deal with drying out the woolly mammoth Duke turns into over the winter! Sadly, our body-clippers haven't been fixed yet either, so that's not an option at the moment.

Blah, the end of winter is obnoxious when all you want to do is ride!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

It's that time of year again

I know, I know, it's been a while!

But, it's that time of year again! When it's time to dust off the jog-cart I haven't touched in six months, hunt down the inevitable missing piece of harness, and break out those body clippers, because show season is three short months away.

The end of April. It always seems like it's still ages away in January, but once February rolls around that little voice in the back of my head starts nagging at me that it's time to start training again. Nag nag nagnagnag.

Soooo, Duke's winter vacation ends this week: I'll start him back bitting, and long lining up and down the aisle until the weather improves. Also, I need to go get my body-clippers repaired, because Duke is hairy like a bear!