Friday, August 28, 2009

Show Time!

Horse show tomorrow! I am only just now, at 11 PM, starting to get tired! I don't know if I'll be able to sleep! WEEEE!

Wish us luck...

Friday, August 21, 2009

Ho Hum.

No baby sitter this week, so not much riding... Ashley's back to normal, don't know what was wrong with her. MiL is getting a medicine hat Paint, did I mention that yet? He's fat, but pretty good looking. I might be the first to ride him out here; we're not sure of his past training but he's apparently a really sweet guy.

So I have a problem; the Mustang Makeover blog is gone for me! The only way I can get to it is from the EMM website, and I can't post anything anymore :( I need an invite or something I think. So if you know anything, please help.

We're going camping this weekend, so I need to go pack.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Hammer Time

I've decided to officially change Hammar's name to Hammer, because it's pronounced the same and I don't want the announcer at the show later this month to mispronounce it or get confused.

Hammer has been getting very, very hyper (to say the least) over jumps, so I decided to take him out on a long ride today and just let him run as far and as fast as he wanted. We went about 4 miles, trotting most of the way, jumped a downed tree, then galloped around a hill and 1/4 of the way back. Hammer trotted most of the way home again until I brought him down to a walk to cool down. But then of course we saw the tree that I like to jump, so several tried later we got over it, then Hammer galloped around like a crazy horse for 10 more minutes (we practiced flying lead changes and "barrel racing" around trees). Finally we get home, so I took the saddle off Hammer, brushed the sweaty grime off and jumped back on bareback. I tried to practice my English bareback equitation, but I've determined it is completely impossible to post bareback, at least when your horse is acting like a complete maniac.

Long story short, Hammer is a beast who cannot be tired out.

Ashley, my mare, is feeling off, I think. We had been working her harder and it's starting to really show; she hasn't looked this muscled ever! But, her coat is dull, her head hangs even lower than usual (she's half Quarter Horse and it shows in her level top line) and her eyes have lost their gleam that is usually present during any weather (and it's monsoon season). Something's wrong with her. My MiL thinks she's either pregnant, in heat, or cystic. I've put her in the round pen so I can feed her separately and monitor her and all that. I might take her out tomorrow and see if maybe she's just more bored than usual or something. I doubt it though - it's something inside her, a virus or something. Or cramps; maybe it's just the wrong time of month and it's hitting her harder than usual... We shall see.

I have an eye exam tomorrow so Nine might have to wait until Friday, or next week.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Two Days, Two Spills.

On Thursday I had Fiance up on Ashley to hold Nine while I get on. It went well up until I asked Nine to move his hindquarters over so we could move out, then Nine started bucking. My fiance says I stayed on really well until he started spinning. But I made it about 5 seconds! Not bad, if I do say so myself. I wasn't hurt badly; My wrist hurt and I now have two bruises on my legs, but I'm fine. I got back on and had Fiance pony Nine around for about 7 minutes; that's all I could do because I started feeling the nerves. An airplane flew over head, which didn't bother Nine at all, but it made me feel like I would throw up, gah. So I got off, stumbled to the fence and sat down until I stopped shaking... Then I went and sat on Hammar and cried (I have no idea why that hit me that hard and so long after I had been thrown) while Fiance worked with Nine, sacking him out and all that.

Then, yesterday (Friday) my friend came over to get some more pictures taken for her Senior Pictures. We had daylight left over, so I saddled Hammar up in his English tack and took him over some jumps. Casie was crouching next to the bigger jump to get a shot while Hammar was air born, but evidently Hammar wasn't expecting it, he swerved to the side, and I fell off. Again, I was okay - I had dirt in my breeches, my hand is scraped up and my pinky finger was hurting... Luckily I was wearing my helmet, because my head did hit the ground fairly hard. But I didn't even have a headache later. I was also wearing the helmet on Nine but I didn't hit my head that time. Anyways, I got back on Hammar, walked him back and forth around the jump so he could see Casie and knew she was there, then he tried again. He did the jump, but the pictures we took came out pretty blurry...

The idea was to get some pictures of us jumping so I can have my position evaluated - I'm taking a Hunt Seat Equitation class at the horse show next month. So I guess I'll post them here and anyone who sees them can give some input. We have some decent ones of Takeoff, Airborn, and Landing. Sorry some are blurry! We'll try to figure out how to do it right by the time the show rolls around.

Takeoff on the smaller jump (I know my hands need to come forward; I have this problem on small jumps apparently):


REALLY blurry Airborn over smaller jump - again my hands should be more forward, but hey:


Takeoff on larger jump:


Landing from larger jump (yes, Hammar over did it, he gets very enthusiastic; and yes, that's my daughter on the mounting block in the background):


So there it is. Let me know what you think!