It is cold, it is snowy, and it is busy here in West Virginia! We currently have a total of 35 horses at the farm and things are staying very busy, I thought winter was for rest and recovery. Rest, who needs it!? When it is busy you know you are learning a lot, jumping horses on a daily basis and riding anywhere from seven to ten horses per day will give you some muscle density! I am trying to keep a running tab of all the great courses we do here, we usually change the jumps about once each week, once again great for all that muscle density, not so great for that back of mine! I find it very interesting to watch each exercise and see how it effects the horses; strengthening their hind ends or their focus, both valuable and something I hope to able to pass on when I move on from here.
Two weeks ago three of us headed just north of Baltimore, MD to the World Horse Expo. It was an interesting experience! There was a good amount of western gear and people, culture shock! We were lucky enough to be asked to be Jimmy Wofford's demo riders for the two demonstrations he was giving at the expo (this made even more fun by the fact he is applying to be the new U.S. team coach!). I was riding Sharon's lovely homebred mare Bounce; talk about pressure, try riding your coach's favorite horse that they have incredibly high hopes for! Bounce found the whole thing rather fun, a hundred or more people to watch her jump around in a ring the size of the trailer she rode in on! The ring so small it was literally like being trapped, it only took about 10 strides to get from one end to the other, you try jumping in that! It was fun to do, great for the horses to be exposed to that atmosphere at such a young age, and it fun to do something different for a couple days. The theme of the demo for me was to keep my body still......I think that might just be the theme for the rest of my life, lets face it.
The next week Jimmy came to Sharon's farm and I was lucky enough to get two more lessons. I received another lesson on Miss Bounce (also known as Katy Perry), we jumped with two advanced horses so the needless to say I felt a bit too much pressure and we didn't have the best school we ever had, but hey it's nice not to be perfect all the time right? :). Still it was a good learning curve, dealing with a nervous horse and trying to keep my head still.....or as Jimmy says, "your head is attached to an elaborate system to wires, right?". My second lesson was on one of my favorite horses ever, Shoe. He is a lovely Dutch warmblood that I also had my Linda Zang lesson on. He is an incredibly nervous horse, and reminds quite a bit of Clif, just a bit more dramatic at his young age! He jumped quite well and really learned throughout the whole lesson which was fun to ride.
Last, but not least Gerd Reuter was here Wednesday to give us all some dressage guidance! He is so nice, but that though German accent will intimidate you! I had a lesson on Dolly, the mare I took novice last fall, and will hopefully continue to ride this spring! She was very good and Gerd seemed quite pleased with how far she has come in last two months since he last saw her. She is much, much stronger and more able to carry herself and use her hind end. Gerd has a real focus on making them deep and flexible, which I love and have been using all the horses since my lesson! Lots of learning!
Irish is doing well! She's great as usual, I really can't say anything bad about this little horse. She has the most fantastic attitude about absolutely everything, and she loves her cookies! She has done a few real dressage rides and is always learning and trying harder. She's the kind of horse I would love to keep if I could. I am hoping to find her a great home in the near future, of course ideally I would love for something to buy her and want me to keep riding her......but the reality is that problem won't happen, but maybe one day!
It's almost spring, it's almost spring, it's almost spring! (Just keep saying that to yourself!)
Hillary
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Winter Bootcamp!
The weather, oh the weather! While we have had two nice days (by nice I mean above freezing), the majority of days have been absolutely freezing! I have developed a nasty case of chillblanes, yes they are real, I promise. I have even read some articles about them! They are absolutely yucky; painful, itchy, ugly, you name it, they are it! Luckly I have found out how to deal with them: Lanolin from New Zealand, don't worry, they sell it cheap on Amazon :)!
Last Monday I had my very first Linda Zang lesson! Linda did a clinic all day at Sharon's farm. Most of the horses had the day off, so we were able to watch quite a bit of the lessons. I learned the most about position from watching a beginner rider, it was interesting to see how much small changes entirely changed his position. I was able to watch a horse with quite a few Clif like habits, so I am excited to try those little exercises out on him in a few months when he is able. I had a lesson later in the day, so I was trying to change everything I felt like she would have a field day with.....the list is large. My lesson was on a super fancy young horse that will hopefully be one of Sharon's next big horses. He is a very lovely Dutch Warmblood, and is the sweetest horse you will ever meet, but also the most worried and sensitive horse you will come across....and if you touch his face, he will run away with you. Linda loved the horse and was helpful with how to ride him. She had me constantly shift my weight at the canter to get him to relax, had me sit a bit further back to encourage his step and sit more to the inside in order to better keep his balance. All in all it was a very interesting experience, and I would love to get some help with Clif at some point. Tess benfits tons from the Gerd lessons, so when she is back in action I think we will stick to what was working for her.
Irish is continuing on her perfect pony path. I cannot say enough good things about this little horse, she is my favorite horse to ride everyday, as your horse should be. She is so smart, you never have to teach her something more than once. She also had her first big horse jump school, aka jumping more than one jump in a row! She jumped though an entire grid, did related distances and jumped the very scary liverpool without blinking! She's going to be a little superstar! I do need to be the responsible rider and sell her, but I really do not want too!!! I am trying to find her the perfect home, the ideal home would be, of course, for her to stay with me and have someone else own her. Dreams come true, right?
This weekend I am off to ride in one of Jimmy Wofford's symposiums. I am riding Sharon's lovelly mare Bounce, so the weekend should be interesting and entertaining, as Bounce truly hates to jump a liverpool on the first try! I will update you all next week. I am also working on getting the video of my Linda lesson, hopefully I can get my technilogically changed brain to figure out putting it up on here or at least You Tube and I will put the link on here!
Enjoy the heatwave of 40 degrees!
Hillary
Last Monday I had my very first Linda Zang lesson! Linda did a clinic all day at Sharon's farm. Most of the horses had the day off, so we were able to watch quite a bit of the lessons. I learned the most about position from watching a beginner rider, it was interesting to see how much small changes entirely changed his position. I was able to watch a horse with quite a few Clif like habits, so I am excited to try those little exercises out on him in a few months when he is able. I had a lesson later in the day, so I was trying to change everything I felt like she would have a field day with.....the list is large. My lesson was on a super fancy young horse that will hopefully be one of Sharon's next big horses. He is a very lovely Dutch Warmblood, and is the sweetest horse you will ever meet, but also the most worried and sensitive horse you will come across....and if you touch his face, he will run away with you. Linda loved the horse and was helpful with how to ride him. She had me constantly shift my weight at the canter to get him to relax, had me sit a bit further back to encourage his step and sit more to the inside in order to better keep his balance. All in all it was a very interesting experience, and I would love to get some help with Clif at some point. Tess benfits tons from the Gerd lessons, so when she is back in action I think we will stick to what was working for her.
Irish is continuing on her perfect pony path. I cannot say enough good things about this little horse, she is my favorite horse to ride everyday, as your horse should be. She is so smart, you never have to teach her something more than once. She also had her first big horse jump school, aka jumping more than one jump in a row! She jumped though an entire grid, did related distances and jumped the very scary liverpool without blinking! She's going to be a little superstar! I do need to be the responsible rider and sell her, but I really do not want too!!! I am trying to find her the perfect home, the ideal home would be, of course, for her to stay with me and have someone else own her. Dreams come true, right?
This weekend I am off to ride in one of Jimmy Wofford's symposiums. I am riding Sharon's lovelly mare Bounce, so the weekend should be interesting and entertaining, as Bounce truly hates to jump a liverpool on the first try! I will update you all next week. I am also working on getting the video of my Linda lesson, hopefully I can get my technilogically changed brain to figure out putting it up on here or at least You Tube and I will put the link on here!
Enjoy the heatwave of 40 degrees!
Hillary
Friday, January 7, 2011
New Year, New Leaf!
I hope that everyone had a good holiday season and got to spend lots of time with friends and family! I was lucky enough to go home for some time over Thanksgiving and Christmas. My time over Thanksgiving got extended some thanks to a nice little back problem, yuck! In hindsight, I do not do enough for me; I do a lot to make sure my horses are strong and healthy, but not enough to make sure I'm strong enough for the task I ask of myself.....yoga starts next week. Over Thanksgiving I got to see my most missed amigos! Clif and Tess are in North Carolina, so seeing them was just what I needed. They looked super fuzzy and as happy as can be expected when not in work; they have definitely grown accustomed to lots of attention and a workload, they actually appear to really miss both!
Christmas came rather quickly and I was able to go down to Florida for four days to see the whole family! My mom had taken Clif and Tuc down; so I got to ride them both! Tuc was super cute and very quiet, which was not expected because she had over a month off due to both my injury and a nasty little battle some very determined cellulitis. Clif was absolutely w-i-l-d, he was trotting for 10 minutes and that was not enough for that attitude. He felt great though, which was exciting.
Just before Christmas my other 3 year old, Irish, came to Last Frontier Farm. I must admit, I was not exactly thrilled about her being there, she was not my favorite and I really did not think we would get along well. Fortunately I was wrong---surprise, surprise. She is absolutely adorable, her face suckers everyone in, everyone who walks by her stall has to stop and pet her (she actually more demands a pet rather than asks for one). She is coming along really nicely on the flat, she is starting to get a bigger stride and so responsive it is amazing she is so young.... "four and one week" since she is a TB! Her biggest love is jumping, she thinks its great fun and would like to do it every day, all day.
Work is going well. I am riding tons and tons, learning a lot. I ride anywhere from four to nine horses a day, some green and some experienced. Jumping days are very busy, I have jumped as many as 8. I stay busy! Yesterday I trotted and cantered 9 horses.......can you say ouch!? My legs are still in revolt.
I promise to be better about updating :-/, sorry!
Hillary
Christmas came rather quickly and I was able to go down to Florida for four days to see the whole family! My mom had taken Clif and Tuc down; so I got to ride them both! Tuc was super cute and very quiet, which was not expected because she had over a month off due to both my injury and a nasty little battle some very determined cellulitis. Clif was absolutely w-i-l-d, he was trotting for 10 minutes and that was not enough for that attitude. He felt great though, which was exciting.
Just before Christmas my other 3 year old, Irish, came to Last Frontier Farm. I must admit, I was not exactly thrilled about her being there, she was not my favorite and I really did not think we would get along well. Fortunately I was wrong---surprise, surprise. She is absolutely adorable, her face suckers everyone in, everyone who walks by her stall has to stop and pet her (she actually more demands a pet rather than asks for one). She is coming along really nicely on the flat, she is starting to get a bigger stride and so responsive it is amazing she is so young.... "four and one week" since she is a TB! Her biggest love is jumping, she thinks its great fun and would like to do it every day, all day.
Work is going well. I am riding tons and tons, learning a lot. I ride anywhere from four to nine horses a day, some green and some experienced. Jumping days are very busy, I have jumped as many as 8. I stay busy! Yesterday I trotted and cantered 9 horses.......can you say ouch!? My legs are still in revolt.
I promise to be better about updating :-/, sorry!
Hillary
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Insert Expletive!
Well, well, well aren't I just the best little blog updater ever!? ....Just kidding! I have been super busy (as always) but excuses, excuses; there is none. There is so much to tell.
Since August 7th. . . . . . . .
Clif and Tess were both going quite well. Sharon left August 9th for her 5 week trip to England for the Blenhiem CCI***. While she was gone we had some great help! Jimmy Wofford was helping us a bit from week to week with our jumping, the great Gerd was helping us on the flat, and on a regular basis we had the help of Kristin Bachmann, who was very helpful as well.
Clif was very much starting to come into his own. I took him XC schooling the week before Loudoun Horse Trials and he was great! He jumped around most of the intermediate course at Surefire Farm, so I was feeling really prepared and happy with where we were. At Loudoun he got a 36 on the flat, which for us a bit on the high side, but that was with the same judge we had in April and we improved our score by almost 3 points. So, there is some good there! He was in 6th out of about 15 after dressage, which was nice because I saw several lovely horses floating around the warm up! He also show jumped quite well, it need a bit of polish on both our parts. However, he was totally up to the challange and jumped really well; we did have one rail due to a big lack half halts and bit of wildness down the hill to a vertical! EKK! He jogged sound Monday, hacked and felt a bit sluggish on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I had a quick jump school with Kristin and he was the best he has ever been. The vet came out later that day and I told her I thought he felt a bit unlike him even though he was going so well, and she also wanted to get some base flextions so she knew him better going forward.....turns out those flextions were a good idea! He jogged up a bit sore, about a 1/5, bummmmmmmmmmmmer. After I put him on the lunge my first thought was "welllllll that looks like a nice high suspensory!". Sure enough, he has a strain to the origin of his suspensory. It is a strain, no lesions, no holes, nothing terrible, just annoying. He had some treatment to help strengthen his suspensory and is now on stall confinement for 30 days (translation: run for your life)! He is almost done with it though, he is soooooooo very excited everytime I take him out 2 times a day, he's so busy eating grass he doesn't even act so wild anymore! I must say this is a good/bad thing all around. It has made me realize several very important things. First, you know your horse better than anyone, trust that. Second, I adore Clif; I honestly miss riding him every single day, he is my best friend, we just know what the other one is thinking wich works both to our advantage and our disadvantage....something to know going forward to help with our riding communication! Also, when he is on his road to recover he will be getting several things to help build more muscle, especially behind. He cannot stay sound if he cannot support his front end properly. Learning experience 1, processing.
Now on to learning experience number 2!
Tess had been quite the little monster since her return to competition! She was going great on the flat and jumping really well. She is a wondeful jumper. She had a very uncharacteristic elimiation at her first event of the season. I had the vet look at her since she was heading out for a competition the following weekend as well; we decided after her hext event she could an ankle injection. She then headed back out to Seneca, where she jumped her around super and then stopped and refused to jump a smaller jump near the startbox. I was absolutely livid, what a mare to not want to go any where except home! And, I should have known better! I took her XC Schooling and that took some serious riding to get her jumping well. She jogged up sound on Monday, but when the vet came Tuesday it was a whole different ball game. She was about a 2/5 lame and had swelling in her ankle. Turns out, when it rains, it poors. Tess had about a 20% core lesion in her lateral suspensory branch. Tears...lots and lots of tears is about that happened that afternoon! All of this reconfirmed my paranoid nature, now you can't get me to sit on a horse until I have multiple witness's to it's soundness! AH! Bad news for Tess is that the injury is such that she will have a limited chance to every being a true upper level horse, but that said, there is a chance. What's the fun of trying to do something you know you can do?! Tess will need nearly a year to heal before she can come back into work, so we have decided to breed her. Her new hubby is going to be Fleetwater Opposition (father of the stunning Opposition Buzz). Tess is quite unhappy about her change in attention level, but is having a good time eating all day every day!
I now have every so cute Tuc staying with me at LFF! She is super sweet, incredibly brave, and loves to hack alone; 3 year old weirdo! She is learning to jump and loves it. She isn't very amused with faltwork, but the more you ask her to do, the more she seems to enjoy it (with ears pinned mind you). She is most definitely princess #2, but she is not nearly as stuck up as Tess; she's a pretty laid back lady! If you know anyone who wants to get their hands on a LOVELY 3 year old that will make her competive debut in the spring send them my way! She's already quite clever, and I think she is going to be quite the catch!
I promise to be better about updating!
Hillary
Since August 7th. . . . . . . .
Clif and Tess were both going quite well. Sharon left August 9th for her 5 week trip to England for the Blenhiem CCI***. While she was gone we had some great help! Jimmy Wofford was helping us a bit from week to week with our jumping, the great Gerd was helping us on the flat, and on a regular basis we had the help of Kristin Bachmann, who was very helpful as well.
Clif was very much starting to come into his own. I took him XC schooling the week before Loudoun Horse Trials and he was great! He jumped around most of the intermediate course at Surefire Farm, so I was feeling really prepared and happy with where we were. At Loudoun he got a 36 on the flat, which for us a bit on the high side, but that was with the same judge we had in April and we improved our score by almost 3 points. So, there is some good there! He was in 6th out of about 15 after dressage, which was nice because I saw several lovely horses floating around the warm up! He also show jumped quite well, it need a bit of polish on both our parts. However, he was totally up to the challange and jumped really well; we did have one rail due to a big lack half halts and bit of wildness down the hill to a vertical! EKK! He jogged sound Monday, hacked and felt a bit sluggish on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I had a quick jump school with Kristin and he was the best he has ever been. The vet came out later that day and I told her I thought he felt a bit unlike him even though he was going so well, and she also wanted to get some base flextions so she knew him better going forward.....turns out those flextions were a good idea! He jogged up a bit sore, about a 1/5, bummmmmmmmmmmmer. After I put him on the lunge my first thought was "welllllll that looks like a nice high suspensory!". Sure enough, he has a strain to the origin of his suspensory. It is a strain, no lesions, no holes, nothing terrible, just annoying. He had some treatment to help strengthen his suspensory and is now on stall confinement for 30 days (translation: run for your life)! He is almost done with it though, he is soooooooo very excited everytime I take him out 2 times a day, he's so busy eating grass he doesn't even act so wild anymore! I must say this is a good/bad thing all around. It has made me realize several very important things. First, you know your horse better than anyone, trust that. Second, I adore Clif; I honestly miss riding him every single day, he is my best friend, we just know what the other one is thinking wich works both to our advantage and our disadvantage....something to know going forward to help with our riding communication! Also, when he is on his road to recover he will be getting several things to help build more muscle, especially behind. He cannot stay sound if he cannot support his front end properly. Learning experience 1, processing.
Now on to learning experience number 2!
Tess had been quite the little monster since her return to competition! She was going great on the flat and jumping really well. She is a wondeful jumper. She had a very uncharacteristic elimiation at her first event of the season. I had the vet look at her since she was heading out for a competition the following weekend as well; we decided after her hext event she could an ankle injection. She then headed back out to Seneca, where she jumped her around super and then stopped and refused to jump a smaller jump near the startbox. I was absolutely livid, what a mare to not want to go any where except home! And, I should have known better! I took her XC Schooling and that took some serious riding to get her jumping well. She jogged up sound on Monday, but when the vet came Tuesday it was a whole different ball game. She was about a 2/5 lame and had swelling in her ankle. Turns out, when it rains, it poors. Tess had about a 20% core lesion in her lateral suspensory branch. Tears...lots and lots of tears is about that happened that afternoon! All of this reconfirmed my paranoid nature, now you can't get me to sit on a horse until I have multiple witness's to it's soundness! AH! Bad news for Tess is that the injury is such that she will have a limited chance to every being a true upper level horse, but that said, there is a chance. What's the fun of trying to do something you know you can do?! Tess will need nearly a year to heal before she can come back into work, so we have decided to breed her. Her new hubby is going to be Fleetwater Opposition (father of the stunning Opposition Buzz). Tess is quite unhappy about her change in attention level, but is having a good time eating all day every day!
I now have every so cute Tuc staying with me at LFF! She is super sweet, incredibly brave, and loves to hack alone; 3 year old weirdo! She is learning to jump and loves it. She isn't very amused with faltwork, but the more you ask her to do, the more she seems to enjoy it (with ears pinned mind you). She is most definitely princess #2, but she is not nearly as stuck up as Tess; she's a pretty laid back lady! If you know anyone who wants to get their hands on a LOVELY 3 year old that will make her competive debut in the spring send them my way! She's already quite clever, and I think she is going to be quite the catch!
I promise to be better about updating!
Hillary
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Medical School or Working Student....either way it's the same number of hours!
I was thinking the other day that I really am crazy. I work as much as a resident just out of medical school...while they do not make much money, I can promise they make more than me! Should have gone to medical school, if I had not had the other horses through college I might have, I need to be busy all the time apparently.
The horses are all having an interesting time since I last updated you! Tess is a little superstar every day, her flatwork is constantly improving, and if all goes according to plan this fall, I'm confident in her ability to hang out with the big kids. She is such a classy little horse, just don't make her mad because that little bit of bad woods North Carolina redneck will come out with a vengance. She is quite hysterical; she a side stall with 3 windows, she is always watching out of one of them to make sure everyone is doing their job. She would totally be the kid who told on everyone for copying crossword puzzles in elementary school, doing your own work is essential kids! Tess can actually canter a 10 meter circle happily now, and she has officially started doing proper walk/canter, canter/walks; she is so far from happy about this I cannot even describe it to you, but I'm quite thrilled! Her jumping is super. Working for Sharon is great on so many levels, one of them being your jump lessons with her other students. One of my last jump lessons was with a lovely lady who is just moving up to advanced.....needless to say the fences got JACKED UP, I looked like a total spaz trying to jump them, but Tess maintained her total "whatever stupid, this is still for kids who can't jump attitude" even though the jumps were a good 4 feet or higher. Holy moly, the horse can jump!
Clif is also mister fancy. His flatwork is continuously improving and he is always getting stronger, which is such a great great feeling. I guess for some people it's like writing a dissertation, but for me that feeling of completeness is having your horse feel effortless underneath you. He has also been jumping great too, we had a jump lesson with Jimmy Wofford this week, I think he quite likes Clif because all comments were directed at how not to screw up my horse! And seriosly...how could not like clif!? Poor Clif and I also had our first run-in with colic...EK! Poor Clif appears to have had a bit of a virus, and being so sensitive it just threw everything out of wack, his fever spiked at 104 and him hyperventilating...yes apparently horses can do that. He was on the mend quite quickly though, thank god. It is now about 3 days later and he is back to to his usual self and I will start riding him agian tomorrow, just starting back slowly to make sure Mr. Sensitive is going to be able to tough it out!
My exciting news is that I kind of have fall plans! Tess will be heading out to her first event back since her CCI* at preliminary, and then making the big move up to intermediate. This is definiately something I had not really seen coming, but Sharon seems to have faith in us...hopefully she will let me barrow that about the 1st of September! Tess will also hopefully get to do a nice little CIC** this fall to go ahead an have that qualification out of the way for the spring! Clif will also head straight back out at intermediate, he is totally capable and this stopping/running out stuff is just plain rediculous on both our parts, it stops now! He will run a few intermediates and hopefully a CIC** at Plantation or maybe just the CCI** at Fairhill, we will see how it all works out!
Hope everyone is enjoying the winding down of summer!
Hillary
The horses are all having an interesting time since I last updated you! Tess is a little superstar every day, her flatwork is constantly improving, and if all goes according to plan this fall, I'm confident in her ability to hang out with the big kids. She is such a classy little horse, just don't make her mad because that little bit of bad woods North Carolina redneck will come out with a vengance. She is quite hysterical; she a side stall with 3 windows, she is always watching out of one of them to make sure everyone is doing their job. She would totally be the kid who told on everyone for copying crossword puzzles in elementary school, doing your own work is essential kids! Tess can actually canter a 10 meter circle happily now, and she has officially started doing proper walk/canter, canter/walks; she is so far from happy about this I cannot even describe it to you, but I'm quite thrilled! Her jumping is super. Working for Sharon is great on so many levels, one of them being your jump lessons with her other students. One of my last jump lessons was with a lovely lady who is just moving up to advanced.....needless to say the fences got JACKED UP, I looked like a total spaz trying to jump them, but Tess maintained her total "whatever stupid, this is still for kids who can't jump attitude" even though the jumps were a good 4 feet or higher. Holy moly, the horse can jump!
Clif is also mister fancy. His flatwork is continuously improving and he is always getting stronger, which is such a great great feeling. I guess for some people it's like writing a dissertation, but for me that feeling of completeness is having your horse feel effortless underneath you. He has also been jumping great too, we had a jump lesson with Jimmy Wofford this week, I think he quite likes Clif because all comments were directed at how not to screw up my horse! And seriosly...how could not like clif!? Poor Clif and I also had our first run-in with colic...EK! Poor Clif appears to have had a bit of a virus, and being so sensitive it just threw everything out of wack, his fever spiked at 104 and him hyperventilating...yes apparently horses can do that. He was on the mend quite quickly though, thank god. It is now about 3 days later and he is back to to his usual self and I will start riding him agian tomorrow, just starting back slowly to make sure Mr. Sensitive is going to be able to tough it out!
My exciting news is that I kind of have fall plans! Tess will be heading out to her first event back since her CCI* at preliminary, and then making the big move up to intermediate. This is definiately something I had not really seen coming, but Sharon seems to have faith in us...hopefully she will let me barrow that about the 1st of September! Tess will also hopefully get to do a nice little CIC** this fall to go ahead an have that qualification out of the way for the spring! Clif will also head straight back out at intermediate, he is totally capable and this stopping/running out stuff is just plain rediculous on both our parts, it stops now! He will run a few intermediates and hopefully a CIC** at Plantation or maybe just the CCI** at Fairhill, we will see how it all works out!
Hope everyone is enjoying the winding down of summer!
Hillary
Friday, July 23, 2010
I take back all the bad things I said about you Winter!
It is so H-O-T ( And I've been really bad about writing...oooops!). I hope that everyone is surviving this, because I am definitely struggling!!! AH! I almost want winter back, and I'm so exciting about fall I can't even stand it. It's sad when a season is what you are looking forward too, not because you are doing fun events, but because you can actually breathe and not swim in sweat (attractive image don't you think!?).
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-
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
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