Horse Show, weeeee!!!!

Another horse show today; wish us luck! My MiL and I are both riding, and Elayne (Miss Toddler) will also be in the lead line class.

M'kay - the results are in! I came away with one blue, two reds, and a white ribbon. Not fantastic, but I learned a thing or two and we had fun. I've got some pictures. Here's Elayne and her Granny in the lead line class:




And here they are with the blue ribbon and the stuffed animal! The other boy in the class got the same thing, but hey, they're kids and they enjoyed it!



As for me, I got 5th in the Extreme Trail Class - Hammer just would NOT stick his head into that stupid "car wash" obstacle... Ashley and the Granny/MiL got 4th. So we kinda blew that one, hehe. But then I did okay; I got 3rd in Hunters over 2' - 2'3". There were only two other people, so that's last, but hey. We DID go off course and had to start over... The judge gave me great feedback and I know what to work on. She mentioned that Hammer's stride and movement was a lot better than the other horses'; they were pleasure type Quarter Horses, so that made me feel pretty great about my little Mustang! Then we pulled 2nd in the Jumping class. For this they raised the jumps a notch and put things like flower boxes and fake brick walls under the poles. Hammer didn't mind most of it, but he refused the brick wall the first time - he was looking at it really intently and knocked down the one he was going over at the time, too; So we had two big faults. Both other horses had at least one refusal as well, but I ended up with 2nd for whatever reason. But that's fine. Here's a good picture that highlights what the judge was saying about me "throwing" myself over the jump; this might actually be from the Hunter class:



So here's the flower box from the Jumpers round:



I got 2nd in the bareback horsemanship as well. I don't have any pictures from that, or from the egg and spoon race, but if you find me on Facebook (Christina de Pinet) then you can see some short videos my momma took. I got 2nd in bareback horsemanship and won the spoon and egg thing by a long shot! My MiL dropped her egg as soon as we were asked to trot, and the other poor girl's egg fell into the swell of her saddle soon after, so she got pretty messy! I told the judge that was too easy, so they asked me to canter. I made it ALMOST all the way around the arena before the wind caught my egg and tossed it. But my mother was very impressed. I was happy enough - yesterday while practicing (with a larger spoon and a smaller egg, to be fair) I was even able to jump twice without dropping my egg. Not the big jump, but still!

Okay, bedtime!

Trotting Nine

I don't know if you were aware, but Nine has this problem; when I ask him to trot when I'm leading him, he either flat-out refuses to speed up at all, or her takes off like a bat out of hell and jerks my shoulder out of the socket while he's at it. So, my mother in law got out her stud chain and we worked on it.

I asked Nine to stop from a walk a couple times so the sudden change from soft rope halter to stud chain wouldn't freak him out completely; the first time he slid to a stop! Only one leg, because he was just walking, but still. He has potential. So, after a crash course in what to expect, I asked him to trot. I had been asking him in the same spot because he would indeed speed up for me. It took about 2 or 3 times even with the stud chain before he would stay at a trot and not bolt. But once we tried it with a longer lead rope so I wouldn't let go as soon as he ran, he got it.

The we had to get him so he would pick up the trot when asked at any spot. Again, I had to employ the stud chain, but the=is time pulling him forward. Twice was all that took, then he was trotting nicely next to me and slowing down when I asked. He did that a few times then pulled away again, he he. However, once he realized I would just catch him and make him do it all over again, he calmed down and went nicely with me.

The only problem is that when my MiL is walking behind us, Nine gets too quick and I get left behind; so naturally I pull on his lead rope, but that makes him lean to the left (where I am) and he ends up crowding me... Ah well, it was a HUGE breakthrough for us, in trust and respect and all that good stuff. Soon I can take Nine with me on jogs and get into a decent shape!

Results from the Horse Show

Well, the show was last weekend - sorry this has taken so long; my internet died. We are getting satellite internet soon!

I was disqualified from Hunt Seat equitation because Hammer refused one of the jumps like 4 times... But we got blue in all three other classes! Bareback there was another girl riding in the arena with us, but she was being judged separately because she was doing novice and I was doing open. When we were asked to canter the second time her horse tried to do something silly, went over a jump that was set up, and she fell. She was alright, but disqualified. Here is a picture of Hammer and I with our ribbon:



In Hunter Hack we were the only competitors, so even though Hammer nearly refused both jumps, we got blue.



In Working Hunter there was another girl competing, but we still got the blue; it's the only ribbon I feel I earned!



This weekend is the actual Fair, and my chickens got blue as well, so I'm coming away with 5 blue ribbons this year!