Friday, July 23, 2010
I take back all the bad things I said about you Winter!
I do apologize for not writing sooner. It has been very crazy attempting to settle into a work routine, house routine, riding routine, cleaning routine, eating routine, and sleeping routine! But I think I have down now!!!! (To bed by 10, up at 5:30, please who are you kidding you know you wish you had the social life I do, ooooh wait, I don't have one of those, in fact I might even need to catch up on the definition!). Everything is starting to slowly come together here, I'm getting used to the 12-14 hour days at the barn and having no cable or internet at home....ha, I'm currently sitting at the Starbucks 10 minutes from my house drinking something that is so sweet I'm pretty sure I need to make a dentist appointment for tomorrow morning!
I really do love my new job. I learn things everyday, I'm riding tons and tons, usually between 4 and 8 horses everyday, mostly young ones. I love the babies, so it suits me just fine.
My horses, however, are not very happy about this new situation. They are finally coming around and as of yesterday Tess has finally caved, she gave up her strike about living accommodations and is now starting to enjoy herself. She had a quick jump today and jumped me out of the tack several times, she's turning into a little ball of fire to jump; point, shoot, hold on. Her flatwork is coming along well also, she has lovely gaits, we just have to be able to relax to get them (I'm fairly sure Tess should qualify for medicinal marijuana)! I for one am very glad she is happy again because she bit the absolute snot out of me the other day, my bruise was not only black but also purple, yellow and blue.
Clif is loving the atmosphere of everything, he thinks it is great fun to watch and take it all in, I love to watch him watch everything...poor guy, he didn't know he had a stalker. He has been really super on the flat and really quite good jumping, he's just too rideable now! Geeeeeez Clif, get with the program, I can't ride a horse that listens to every single thing my pinkie finger does! In all seriousness though, he is good, very happy and healthy. He has done two events since I have been here. His first was a preliminary run, he was really good on the flat but the judge happened to have the nerve to disagree with me! Can you believe it?! Clif didn't, he assigned himself a score of 27, yes he told me that, I agreed. He skipped around the courses like the little maniac that he is to finish 3rd in the big ol' professional group, good pony! His next event was an intermediate. His dressage was decent, we are capable of more so that's annoying! But, he was tied for 3rd after dressage beyond two 4star horses, and the horse he was tied with was a 4star horse, so I guess you really can't complain when the only horses that beat you are on the short list for the WEG! He had an absolutely lovely show jumping round, clean thank god, I'm sick of making that poor horse have rails! His clean SJ put him into 2nd place. He was good on XC....I had an epic blonde moment /stess moment and missed my 9th jump. However....I actually was focused on the task at hand and didn't notice the people trying to stop me until the 14th jump....woooooooooops :). I was absolutely furious at myself, I mean really I was riding 1 horse in 1 division...not that hard to remember you course! Oh well, my horse was good and that is really all I can ask for ....besides come ADD medication.
Everyone take care, stay cool (both literally and figuratively of course!)
Hillary-
Friday, July 2, 2010
If Eventing were only Twilight...We'd All Be Rich!

Ah, I'm a bad blogger! Updates, Hillary, updates!
Everything here is going well! There is the update. Just kidding.
The past few weeks have been very busy, sprinkled with a week vacation at the beach...no, I did not get to sleep, the 2 year old slept in my room. It was a very fun vacation, the whole family...17 people in all were at the beach....in one house. It is fun, it's a once-a-year tradition...same house, same people, same lack of beach towels for the past 17 or so years.
The horses are also well. Clif is great, he's so much stronger now, he's really fun to ride because he knows all the tricks now (well, we are still working on those changes!). Tess is great; she is going better than ever, jumping like a wild woman, and she also did her first gallop back today....I need a nap. Tuc is also good, she is starting relax and figure out life...she went on her fist solo hack around the farm today and had to stop and eat grass, it was so exausting!!!!!! Irish is happy and good as well, she has started to be really fun to ride, she got shoes and now she can actually move!
Next week is the big move! Clif, Tess, the Sabb and I will head up to VA. Clif will also be doing Loch Moy I horse trials at preliminary and Loch Moy II horse trials the next weekend at Intermediate. He thinks that you should be allowed atleast one mistake for each corner on the course, nice Clif....reallllllll nice. Tess is going to be ANGRY when that trailer leaves for the show on Saturday morning without her...I'm glad I get to go with it!
I will update everyone when the 4 of us are all settled in to our new house! Clif loves the atmosphere of big barns, so I'm fairly sure he'll think it's great that the entire place is there just for him! Tess on the other hand is not going to be happy when people pass by her without cookies, hugs, time to itch and general admoration for her. I think the Sabb will have the easiest transition personally, but hey, that's just me.
Hillary
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Show Some of Those Pearly Whites!




Little Irish is going along quite well too! She has now gone on her first hack, and after figuring out that mud is not actually quicksand, she was super! She is not intimidated by much..the fields have just been mowed and the hay baled...most horses freak at the big round bales the first time they see them, not her, she went right up, grabbed a bite, then went back to walking. She can now walk, trot, canter on a long rein very happily; she can also pick up both canter leads on the first try! Just do not get caught in a rain storm with her! She HATESSSSSSSSS being rained on...what a strange little horse.
Little Tuc...that is how I actually refer to her 24/7 ...is turning out to be quite the little monster, in a good way. She is already bored just walk/trot/cantering around. She walks over the poles on the ground and that thinks that is good fun...but I can already tell in about week, trotting over them will be fun and walking will only create more boredom. Talented and knowing it at 3 is a bit rough...I'd prefer she think she was a bit overwhelmed..because she sure does not right now..but I do!
On a personal note, I have some exciting news! It looks like I will be moving mid-July to Summit Point, WV....what??? WV...yes WV! I will be working for Sharon White for probably at least a year. I am very excited! I know it will be very hard, I am not new to the working student thing, but this will be all new; new people, new horses, new places, ekkk! I am hoping to be able to take both horses, still working out the logistics of that, but hopefully all of it will come together. July is coming quickly....I need to start packing!!!
Tess missed the notice that most horses are tired after their first three day! (Tess VA CCI*)
Everyone take care, drink lots of water :)
Hillary
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Whirlwind Continues


Sunday, May 23, 2010
Smell The Honeysuckle!
I went up to Sharon White's on Saturday. I was able to get a dressage lesson with Tess on Sunday and Tuesday, we worked on making her very forward, obediant and relaxed. Clif and Tess both went for a hop around XC on Monday and a last little gallop..they were wild! Tess was fabulous, she has this totally new attitude, she is finding the jumps whether you are or not....soooo you had better hold on tight! Clif was great, I learned a bit more how to ride him, he needs such a different ride than Tess it can be very hard for me to switch between the two with all three of us being so green. He was really quite good and seemed to gain some confidence throughout his school, which he most definitely needed. Clif had a flat lesson on Tuesday and was really lovely; he's a little dressage horse these days. Both horses had a lighter jump school on Wednesday working on shortening their strides and angling fences. Clif was really great, he lovessssssssssss to add strides (he hates to leave them out!). Tess was super, she was jumping me way out of the tack. Thursday morning we left for Virginia Horse Center.
Tess playing around during her less with Sharon!

Thursday was a good day for the horses. They arrived at the park early, had light flat schools and Tess did her in-barn check for the CCI* (Note to self: send passport in 3 months in advance!). I also walked the courses Thursday night, and holyyyyyyyyyy moly was I needed some direction! But on a happy...ish side note, while walking the course all you can smell is the honeysuckle that is everywhere. It smells so good!
(Clif jumping with the big kids!)

Friday was dressage for Tess and dressage and show jumping for Clif. Clif did his dressage first and poor guy only had about a 20 minute warm-up. He seemed to enjoy that though, he was absolutely super in the ring; there is still lots to improve, mostly his roundness through the transitions, but he was great and got a 28, putting him in first out about 13! Good Clif! Tess then did her dressage, she was as good as she could possibly be for this stage of her life, she just lacks the strengh and muscle to really come round and through. However, I was really really pleased with her, she got a 55 (which is basically mid 30's in horse trial scores). It was probably one of her best tests to date, she was quite pleased with herself...but she usually is, your opinion does not count with Tess. Clif also show jumped in the afternoon. The show jumping looked quite good, but was riding absolutely horrifically for some people, rails were flying! I know Clif does just about everything in his power to jump clean so you really have to try to just let him do his best and stay the heck out of the way. He tried so so soooooooo hard and was absolutely perfect until I ran him into a vertical...brilliant of me, I know. He was very good, he just had the one rail, but since everyone else was having serious rails he stayed in 1st :)...lucky guy!
Tess was the only one to do anything on Sunday. She had her jog at 8 a.m.. She was wild for her jog, and super sound and fresh. She then jumped at about noon. She was great! She tried soooo hard to leave the rails up; she was kicking up so high behind I nearly pulled out her braids trying to hang on! She had a double clear round, I think everyone was very proud of her! She was in 15th place after dressage, after her double clear XC she moved into 9th place, and after her double clean show jumping round she moved into 6th place!!! And, most importantly, I finally got a neck ribbon! HA! She was soooo good, if had told me she would do this last week, I would have laughed at you. I know she is a super horse, but you never know how great they are until they start rising to the occasion, and she did more than just rise to it. She is now getting some well deserved down time (which will probably lead to me being bucked off!).
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Yippe, Skipppppppe!
I have officially graduated from college (although they don't give you your diploma for two weeks!)! Not sure quite how I got here, but it has been an interesting trip. I started out at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is a great school as everyone already knows. I decided that it was most definitely not the place for me, and being so far from the horses killed me....literally, I was not such a happy individual. I then took a year "off" (I'm not sure working between 65 and 75 hours a week while taking 13 hours is a year off but whatever floats your boat).

I went to the community college in Southern Pines and started out working for David and Lauren O'Brien; I took my first lesson with David when I was 8 years old on my 13.1 hand pony Mima (THE COOLEST PONY EVER!), and first started working for them when I was 13 (not sure I helped so much then!) and had just gotten my first real horse Kilkeel (who was a bit nutty, but a great learning experience none the less). I decided it was a logical decision to work for them since I had been seriously riding with both Lauren and David since I was 13; it was a great experience, I learned a lot, but in the end decided I needed to branch out. It was an incredibly hard decision for more reasons than I can count, I owe a lot to them; David taught me so much about young horses and Lauren is the lameness queen (seriously, if you ever see her advanced horse Guinn, his legs look like he is 3, not a blemish to be found!).

(Fannie, holds the record for sweetest horse and worst canter in the history of world)



Saturday, May 1, 2010
What's A Road Without Some Pot Holes?

I learned some fun facts about my horses this week. Clif will nearly kill himself and you if a frog jumps out of a lake (even if it is the size of a half dollar and nearly terrified of you). Tess thinks everything about her is fun, how could I possibly narrow it down to one thing!? Clif enjoyed his time off. I have been riding him on the flat with a dressage whip this week...eeeek! He is almost unwilling to forgive me, even with cookies, this is a true sign of disaster people! Clif would totally be an underwear model if he were a person..weird comment, but just hang in there for a moment while I explain. I have never seen a horse that will adjust the amount of food they eat on the amount of work they are doing; if he is in normal work he eats his mountain of food in 10 minutes max, but this week while not working, he didn't finish his entire dinner once, and it took him over an hour to manage that! What a strange little horse. Tess is good as well, she is a wild woman these days...at Loudon when she finished XC and I pulled up, she promptly reared and spun back towards the XC..yes I know what your thinking, someone has replaced my horses personality, my thoughts exactly :)! She is jumping like a f-r-e-a-k these days, I need a seatbelt! She is truly the happiest she has been in years, it has taken a long time to undo some seroius anger that girl has bottled up inside!

On a bit of a fun note I will be getting 2 babies this summer! One will hopefully be sold quickly and the other will be my mom's horse...since I maybe, kind of, may have sorta taken Tess from her..opps, although really not thattttttt sorry about it :)! One is just an unraced TB, her name is Irish (which I am not a huge fan of, but it is bad luck to change names!) that my grandparents bred, but does not look as though it will be too quick in the dirt ;). She is super cute and seems to be quite sweet..we shall hope she stays that way! The second baby I am most excited to sit on! Her name is Tuc, she also is a product of Snooty Fox Farm..it is the Princess's half sister, they have the same mama....god help us all. She is very cute though, looks quite a bit like Tess, has that cute face and a bit of a long back (both my horses have long backs, I'm a fan them, they have worked out well for me!). Both of these two have been at a cowboy's for the last month, learning to be ridden and going on trail rides, such is the best thing in the world for babies! I'm excited to get them and will post pic's as soon as I am able to get them from Florida!
This is my LAST week of UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, I am so excited! I will finish up my last exam on Tuesday, yayyyy! I graduate the following Sunday..super exciting. Tess and Clif would rather I stay in school, they feel as though they see enough of me as it is.
Oh...quick side note! The ponies have been so good this season, I am on the Preliminary Am. Leaderboard as the #1 Preliminary Adult Am. Rider! Pretty Sweet! Clif has actually won 3 out of 5 of his events this year.
Until next time...everyone be smart and wear a helmet (that brain costs a lot of money!)
Hillary