Snow

It's finally snowed here, and it's supposed to be something like 15cm (if not more) on Thursday, and if the roads are super sucky I might not be able to make it to the barn, so that's disappointing, but should give lots of time to start on the Equine Science assignment. We have to make a fact sheet on one of his topics or one of our own. Mine's going to be on bit and bridle fitting for jumping and dressage. It's not due until December, but should start...

Once uni is done in April, I should be able to ride a lot more and I really want to taking dressage lessons too. So I'll have to talk to K when it gets closer, but I'm hoping to swap a jumping lesson for a dressage one. There's basically zero chance of me and Rocky placing at all let alone winning, especially at Amberlea but cross training is always good and there will inevitably be another horse after him and perhaps we will have more of a chance.

This is what I did on my long weekend rather than homework. Hooray for procrastination!

And this is what I'm hoping to buy whenever the bookstore finally orders it in!The Riders Fitness Program and with any luck it will also help with the lower back pain at the trot, although there wasn't any with Zander this week and I don't remember if there was on Thursday.

New Horses(Thursday/Saturday)

Well Rocky is officially on winter break so on Thursday I rode Roxy. I rode her a couple times over the summer when she first got to the barn and she's really come along way from how nervous she used to be. Her canter is still weird, it really throws your leg back and when you aren't along the wall she's really wiggly. For the most part she was good, she did start to rush at the yellow jump but after a few times over the other two she was good to go. She's still new to jumping so sometimes she forgets about her back end when she really tries to jump ahead/up with her front end. So grabbing mane = important on her. Especially with being new to it, I don't want her to think jumping is painful by catching her mouth. She was more fun than I thought she would be for jumping and she wasn't the horse I wanted to ride, although other than Rocky I don't know who else there would be. And really I should be grateful just to have a horse to ride at all. Although it's been along time since I've had to look at the white board to find out who I was riding, plus it will be harder to the get the whole "team mate/bond" going on since it seems like I'll be going between horses until winters over the snows gone and who the hell knows when that will be.

Today I rode Zander and I liked him a lot more than I thought I would! I'm not sure why I thought I wouldn't like him, but he was fantastic. He has a really slow walk but once he's trotting or cantering he's got a lot of go! I was a bit worried, since he was compared to a sports car on ice as to how he would be when we got going and he was great. Sports car with snow tires.
He also bridles up really well and riding with more contact is something I really have to work and trying to "ball up" their energy rather than letting them getting long and strung out. Supposed to think of them as springs, which was the analogy with Pony. So must work on that. It seems to help that he has a German martingale, it does something different than a standing martingale I don't remember what exactly but it has something to do with flexing rather than keeping them from throwing their head around. We don't use it for jumping, just flat.
Zander is a lot of fun to jump! He does slow down abit before the jump if you don't keep leg on, but he has such a lovely jump, and no pain at the trot!! So that's exciting. He feels so different than Rocky, he's so narrow with such a long neck and he keeps he's head pretty low, some adjusting to do I think. It will be a different winter that's for sure, I guess we'll see how it pays of in the spring.

that's what a German martingale looks like, it straps around the neck and then the other two straps loop through the bit and then clips to loops on the reins.

Saturdays Ride (and a better article about Hickstead)

Saturday was the last ride with Rocky for the rest of the winter, and I have no idea who I'll be riding next.
For the most part he was really good. He's been slacking on lead changes though, he'll pick it up on one end but not the other and then he'll break to a trot, so will have to remember that for the spring. Jumping was decent, we had a few really nice ones but also some not so great ones, which is kind of lame because we'd done the course on Thursday.

Vancouver Sun
National Post

It's kind of hard to believe he really died, that would just be the most devastating thing, having your horse just collapse from under you that way. He was such an incredible horse. I got to see him competing in person before at Spruce Meadows..I wonder if I could find the pictures.
Such a tragic loss for his owners, Eric Lamaze and show jumping the world over, not just Canada.

Not Good Bye Yet

Saturday will officially be mine and Rockys last ride until spring.
I didn't ask who I'll be riding next week, but I should know tomorrow.

Rocky was pretty good, he had some super crazy pony trotting going on at the start of the lesson but he came back really nicely.
We were practicing 20m circles around pylons and we weren't bad but when we started out they looked and felt more like diamonds because we were turning around the the pylon sharper than we should have done. But we got it later.
He was super quick at the warm up canter so going around the pylons (and between the jumps that made it harder) was harder than it probably should have been and sometimes it seemed like he was dropping his shoulder and tipping in. All good things to remember for next year to work then.

Jumping was good for the most part, I've gotten a bit better about not expecting the longs from him at the start, so that's helped, the jumps were also pretty small though.

New Horse?

So the cold is apparently on its way (ah Canadian winters are always a treat) and because Rocky is terrified of blankets our time together will be over very soon until spring arrives. Which really sucks, I haven't talked to K today but it looks like Roxy and one other horse are in need or riders and between those two Roxy is my top pick because she's a tad bit crazy and I enjoy crazy. Although I don't think she's crazy like Pony was, she's terrified of getting booted or having her mouth yanked on and that's what makes her do weird things, she's just nervous, but once she figures out that you aren't going to do anything like that she settles right down. I so wish I had Pony back. Anyway, we'll find out if I have a horse at all tonight or if we're driving all the way to the barn for there to be no horses.

I'm rather annoyed now that I might not have Rocky because November is "challenge month" at the barn and today was going to be adding and lengthening strides but I think there's a new girl riding and for some reason this challenge is next week or something like that I don't know. Either way this would have been something me and Rocky could have owned, but now that will probably not be happening.

I guess the nice thing about getting to ride all these different horses is that you get a lot more experience and diversity will dealing with different personalities and preferences but at the same time it sucks soooo bad! One day, one day I can have my own horse and this will be a far smaller problem. But then every horse has something to teach and now it's time to find out what the next horse has to offer...until spring. Then it's back to Rocky.

Well Who Doesn't Like Eatting Rocks?

I had another lesson on Saturday, and again he was super good, but we probably could have been better considering we had already done the course on Thursday.

We also did the same warm up exercises which was trotting in from B or E and going through X and then changing direction at B or E, then eventually we had to walk 3-5 steps at X (we were trotting) and then we'd have to come to a complete stop and Rocky was really good!! He can actually stop and stand (mostly) square and he listens (mostly) to really light contact, which is good.

I think my leg is starting to get better, I usually get in trouble for not keeping my lower leg underneath me but it hasn't been so bad lately, so I'm happy about that.

For jumping: Rocky was really good again, sometimes we weren't coming in with enough canter which was why a couple jumps were really weird, and then around a couple of the tight turns I was leaning at him a bit rather than staying back and so he almost trotted. No bucking at all for being disunited today, he gets his front lead but not the back one. And he stood still at the mounting block! Yay!

Soon he's going to be to fuzzy and it's going to be to cold to ride him though and then I don't know what's going to happen. Since there's only 3.5 lesson horses (Rocky being the .5). Rocket, hahaha no. He's the one I rode when I was first learning to jump. Zander, can't. He's already being used in the same lesson I'm in. Kokanne isn't so bad, I rode him once before over the summer but I don't if he's a jumper or what level he would be. I miss Pony, despite her insanity. In fact I rather liked the insanity, Rocky is a tad bit crazy and I like him too.


Speaking of crazy. So Rocky and Rocket loooove cheerios, or anything in a plastic bag, because if it's in a plastic bag, it's food and its for them. After our lesson we brought them into the arena to let them roll or whatever they wanted and so we could move the jumps out for K. She'd put her zip lock bag of cheerios on the mounting block and one of the other girls but it underneath so the horses would be less likely to find it. Right when we were almost done Rocky found them! Flipped over the mounting block and since the bag wasn't completely closed, when he grabbed it and threw his head up, they spilt everywhere. He and Rocket were delighted, but the other horse had no idea what they were eating out of the dirt, so he just sniffed around and looked confused. Eventually they had them all cleaned up but they had a crap load of rubber crumb in their mouths. So they were making all these stupid faces trying to get it off their tongues and gums and one of the girls pointed out Shawn was looking at them like he was think "you guys are stupid". But then Rocky decided that little rock on the ground looks rather tasty, and tried to eat it. Several times. He would spit it out and pick it up again, crunch on it and spit it out. Maybe that has something to do with where he got his name?

Best Ever!!

Rocky was amazing yesterday!! It was probably the best ride I've ever had on him!

He was his usual peppy self when were just walking around the arena, anticipating having to actually do work. At the trot he was sooo good!! Usually he does his weird little short pony strides and he gets going really quick, and he definitely had his moments yesterday, it's most noticeable coming out of a circle that he (tries) to speed up. But it seemed easier to bring him back into a normal pace by just slowing the posting rhythm, when before it was that and using more hand contact to also try and pull him back. I don't remember doing that yesterday, but that doesn't mean I didn't I guess.

Picking up the canter was decent for the most part. He does sometimes do a rushy trot or just falls into the canter which was a bit of a problem yesterday but once he had the canter he was really good and it wasn't difficult to keep a fairly steady, forward pace. When other times he just wants to bolt forward or whatever.

He was super good over the jumps for the most part. He has a really round jump so it feels really weird sometimes and apparently he looks like a deer when it jumps a fence from how he takes off, but he was sooo good that I don't even care. He didn't buck that much and actually managed to stand relatively still at the mounting block.

I still have to do a lot of work on getting the following release correct because that really is what he prefers over having his head.
Lead changes are something else we need to work on, he can do them but he struggles a bit, probably because he's had so much time off and hasn't had to bother with them. But he used to start bucking when he got disunited, just little ones not big get-the-hell-off-me ones. I think he may have done a few little ones on Friday but still not like he did in the beginning.

I got a new computer and the keyboard is insanly difficult to get used too!

But anyway, Rocky did manage to stand still today, but only because he was distracted by the plastic bag on standard because if there's a plastic bag it must have food and it must before him! So he got some cherrios and was delighted.

Less "pony trotting" today, I get weird cramps in my lower back at the trot, usually on the left side and I have no idea why, it's only started happening the past few months, sometime while I was riding Pony. I think it's either my postion or not useing enough core strength and it must be the second one because K would have said otherwise.
But about his pony trotting: he was sooo much better today, at least at the start, that's when his trot is the nicest but once you start going over polls and stuff he starts to get more energetice and more excited he wants to go faster. So then I end up holding more with my hands than I want to, I'm sure there must be something else that would work better. Slowing down the posting rhythm works a fair bit but not always or not quite enough. Circiling helps and slows him right down but once he gets going straight he just picks up the pace again. Not even subtily like some horses do, you can feel him bolt forward.

The jump course was good, I have a bad habit of leaning at him/asking him for the long, especially during the warmup, so today I tried to practice counting strides leading up to the jump and it seemed to work and I was able to not lean at him and we had some really good jumps! One rail down but we weren't sure why he hit it because it was a good jump and there wasn't really a reason for it to come down.

As for bucking; only one big one which was okay because I'd been using to much hand, which he hates. On other one that was for no reason so he got a bit of a smack because he can't just keep doing that when there isn't a reason. If he's pissed that I did something wrong, that is different.

He also prefers to have a following hand over the jump and have steady contact, which is way different than Pony who really wanted her head and would get pissy and not jump as well otherwise. So that will take some getting used to because I'm still getting used to his jumping style.

But I have news about Pony! She's down south (south of this part of the province not the boarder) on some kind of lease where the rider pays 1/3 of the value of the horse and then leases her out for the year. So I'm still sad she's gone, but I know K is happy that no one came out to test ride her at the barn because she likes to test her new riders and just goes nuts, because she wants to know that you can keep up with her or whatever it is she's looking for because K was worried someone would come and try to ride her and then Pony would go crazy and the rider would get hurt.

So hopefully making it out to the barn for a lease ride tomorrow morning, but we'll see cause I need to study like mad from these stupid exams next week.

What I Remember From Saturday

Riding first: So Saturday was decent, we have to work on getting a proper horse trot not the rushy short stride pony trot he often has.

For some reason he felt the need to jump the trot poles during the warm up too. So that was interesting, but after a few goes he realized they would not eat him and it was safe to step between them. Jumping for the most part was good, except he had one HUGE buck and the typical few smaller ones.
We thought that he was pissed about a turn or something, we were going over a jump in a circle and I turned him on the land rather than the air or something like that, and he was just not pleased.
I must have jinxed things saying he was finally standing at the mounting block because he's defiantly not been standing the last few times.

I missed my Thursday lesson this week too because my mid terms are at the start of next week and I really need the study time right now. But I work and ride tomorrow, which is nice, but at the same time not because I have to get up super early and by the time I get home I don't want to do anything but sleep...not good for studying.

Oh, and we had a really awesome guest lecturer in Equine Science so I'll put up some of that later.

No Bucking again! :)

I didn't get to ride on Thursday because I was really sick, but I got to ride and work today and for the most part it was really good.

He didn't buck today! His other big problem though is moving away from the mounting block and it's a big pain the ass but he was getting better the past couple weeks, but today not so much.
He was really peppy and really forward today which wasn't great heading into the bounce so the second rail came down a couple times, but once it was a bounce to a one stride he was a bit more backed off. He jumps super round and way higher than he needs to some everyonce in a while you get really popped out of the saddle you're basically standing in the stirrups and then the saddle hits you in the butt.
In the second part of course we had to try and get from the first jump to the second in as few strides as possible. N did it in 6 earlier in the week and her horse is huge! But he does have a bigger stride and takes of way far away from the jump.
Me and Rocky got 7 on our last try though, really had to be turing when we were in the air and looking around to the 2nd on the land. I'd lost my stirrup on the last try as well but we were doing so good I was like screw it and we did it and it was fine :). Not that it's some huge achievment, we used to jump with out stirrups, without reins, our eyes closesd...not at the same time, well the first two together sometimes but eyes closed was seperate. Loads of fun though. Haven't done it with Rocky but lots of time over the winter, so maybe...

I stopped by the English tack store yesterday just to see what they had in their sale room and pick up a lead rope. I had talked to K about what might be good things to stock up on since I do plan on having my own horse in the nearish future. She gave me a list but all I could find was a pair of open front jumping boots. All their brand new ones were white and like $45. Both unappealing factors. But they do have some used stuff and there was black pair for $8 in his size and I don't really care that they are super beat up because it's kind of hard to see and with a good cleaning they should look okay but either way they'll end up looking like they do now anyway.

I bought it today! I've heard it's supposed to be amazing so hopefully I can actually get to it sometime soon!

Rocky Pictures!!

Is he not the cutest horse ever? I surprised him and his pasture mates since they were all hiding on the other side of the hill, and got at least 1 good photo of him with his head up!

Rocky is the far one. Dexter is the other bay without a blanket, Zander is the one in green the back and Rockys son Rocket is the one in the blue. They quite obviously look nothing alike. Rockets mum is also a bay morgan, but he's like 1/16th Appy or something.

And surprise is over, it's just a boring human, back to eatting.

No Bucking!

Rocky was sooo much better this week than he's ever been! There was absolutely NO bucking! Not a single one for the whole lesson! Small, big, Stamped style, nothing!! So does that mean I was actually riding more with my legs?! I should hope so, because he would have made it clear otherwise.
The course wasn't to bad, good thing Rocky can do crazy little turns with out much difficulty.

We had some "first jumpitice" as K says, whatever that is....
The first jump in the course was a white vertical, and almost every time we had a messed up distance or take off, but the last time we turned to it sooner and it was fine. There was a few weirdish jumps, well not the jump, but how we got over them. Luckily I was able to get my hands out of the way so that wasn't a problem but when we first start jumping I find myself leaning at him a bit and excepting the long, which rarely comes, even on course. So I should stop that.

One of Rocky's sons, Rocket, is at the barn as well. And the girl who rides him has a lesson before me and we were talking after and comparing father and son. Rocky has the better colouring, main & tail, Rocket has the better legs and back. Rocky has a little bit of sway back, nothing to bad that's a problem, otherwise he wouldn't be getting ridden and "bench knees" not sure what those are, but he has them K was saying. Their common factors are being short, not liking bits and having a grumpy attitude. But Rocky's the cutest =P.

In Equine Science we've started body scoring as part of nutrition. So in my novice opinion Rocky's like a 7 or so. I'll have to double check on the sheet but I'm pretty sure a 7.  
5 is the best best place to be, possibly a 4 for racehorses.
1 is completely emaciated and 9 is morbidly obese.

Riding and Awkwardness..

So, awkward stuff first.
I work at the barn right, and there's no set pay day, it's kind of just whenever really. And it's not such a big deal. I work like once a week so it's pointless to waste a cheque on that little amount , but it's been like two and a bit months so, I thought I would ask.
One of the most awkward moments of my life. Next to watching Sweeney Todd and my mum came in when they were singing about eating people. It's a good movie actually, but yeah, very creepy.
Anyway, so I sent my boss a text asking if she wouldn't mind paying and that I was sorry for not being able to find a less awkward way to ask that. Have you ever had to ask your boss for a check? Turns out there was no need to find it awkward she said she'd  pay me tomorrow, yay :).

Riding! From last weekend..
On Friday I had afternoon and night chores so I got to do my lease ride with Rocky. He was pretty good I guess. He kept spooking at this spot of grass the cat had been hiding LAST week, so that was annoying. And it seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn't get him to circle properly. It would start out fine, but he kept squaring it off, possilbly dropping his shoulder or something? But yeah, no matter what I tired to fix, we kept having problems. But he's not the greatest shape, so we couldn't keep at it forever, and I don't want him to end up hating work either.
Crazy dressage woman was out that night too, but she was practicing jumping in her dressage saddle, looked comfy [sarcasim]. Her horse is super cute and did really well too. Jumping about 2'6" or so.

Worked mornings on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I was able to ride with L when she came out to test her new western saddle. We rode inside because it was blistering hot. Roxy was pretty good, she chomps on the bit when we're just walking around though but other than that she was good. She's getting much better the more she realizes I won't yank on her mouth or boot her, like she's worried about so we had zero rushy trot/canter stepping thing.

Still doing nutrition in Equine Science, eventually I'll make some nice long post about it. Been super busy with other stuff and haven't had a chance.

Wednesday

I was just looking at the stables website and there's a bit about some of the horses that are for lease and it hasn't been updated in ages! There's horses on there that were sold years ago, like Diesel. Who turns out I lied about in the last post about his height, he was 15.3hh.

I was hoping to find a picture of Rocky to use until I can take one myself but no luck. There was a bit about him under the lease horse section as well: "Rocky. 14.2 hand Morgan gelding. Rocky has show experience in low jumpers,with many wins to his name. He is also the horse I use for ponying horses in
training. This quick and agile gelding has a wonderful jump, but he is very
particular with how he is ridden so needs a quiet rider who will cater to his whims."

Ahh yes, if there's one thing I can do it's whim catering.

So we had a lesson yesterday, there's been some confussion about the lesson times and what starts when and all that stuff, but oh well.

It was tough lesson, not because the course was super hard or Rocky was being an idiot, I was in a lesson with two other people who don't ride at the same level (sorry if this sounds mean and bitchy, I don't mean it too) the one girl is a really good rider but was riding Roxy who is a bit difficult because she's so nervous and she hasn't done a lot of jumping, fine whatever. It was the other girl. She seems really nice which is why it makes me feel a bit bad to complain but she keeps making the same mistakes and not correcting them and then it takes her forever when she's told to do something or correct something and so it gets a bit boring when you have to sit there for ages waiting for your turn while someone keeps screwing up. If it was a different thing each time, that would be different but it wasn't.
Not remembering courses: yeah, everyone forgets sometimes (see last week) and sometimes it's hard to remember the first time you here it. It wasn't a hard course though!
Left lead, circle to yellow, around to white, bend to skinny, long canter, up diagonal, over white, back to skinny.
Not that helps with what the course looks like but that doesn't matter.
This girl went last, after two other people who didn't go of course! It should have been easy to figure out, it was 8 jumps and not a very complicated pattern.

But when me and Rocky finally got to go, he did really well! At the warm up he had refused the white jump, but over the course he was so good. Not at all like last week.
He was a bit more bucky than usual, which was kind of frustrating because I really wasn't using my hands very much at all, but it could have been because we had a super energetic canter and he was just excited to go. It was fun! We got to do higher jumps in the end to and I think he had a bit more fun with and he seemed to respect them a bit more.
Over the last white jump I did get a bit left behind, good thing he has lots of mane so I didn't catch him in the mouth...or face really since there's no bit.

But K did point out that will take some time to find a rhythm with him, especially with all the bucking and the round jumping.

Nervous Mare

I worked on Sunday morning at the barn and got to ride Roxy again.

This time I go to learn more about her. She's here for training and eventually for lessons because the owners kid is afraid of her because she's a bit loopy but it's because she's nervous. K was saying she gets like this whenever a new person rides her because she's worried about being kicked and having her mouth yanked on.
Her weird nervous antics are when you're trying to get her to trot she does this weird canter step with her front feet when you sit down at the post, it took a lot less time this week to get her to come back to a proper trot but she's still a bit nervous. Then at the canter, she gets really scrambly or does a super fast trot. It's really hard to tell with her if she's on the right or wrong lead because she feels so weird and bumpy and the way she moves her body, she pushed your outside leg back to a weird angle and it's really hard to keep it still and in the correct position, so work to do there.

I took her over the trot poles that were out and other than get crooked to the second set she was really good. She stretches her neck out more over them and seems to relax a bit. I'm supposed to ride her again this weekend, so we'll be doing more of those. I'm trying (with little success) to find got trot pole exercises online for both her and Rocky so maybe I'll have to make up my own, unless you have some good ones to share?

As for Rocky, he was pretty good. We rode outside on Sunday since it was so nice. He was a bit more bucky because he had a lot of forward motion over the canter poles so I was trying to hold him back, clearly not the way he wanted, more things to work on! The poor girl that was taking lessons while I was riding! She said later she thought he was doing in on purpose or I was asking him to or something. Not sure why she thought that, but she's only been riding for about a month and I don't know how much time she's spent around horses before now. She's really nice though, she was like "that must be unnerving the first time he does it". I said yes a bit, but it's not. Because I know he does it, even if I think I'm not doing anything with my hands and he bucks, it just...no, it's not unnerving. It's just something that happens, like a weird take off or a fall, it happens and you have to get up and go again and fix the problem. I had a lesson with my friends mum the first time I rode Rocky and she was like "your so unphasable" when he had a few crazy jumps in a row and I'd said something about them being a surprise. I don't know that umphasable is totally correct, cause I was pretty freaked out when Pony had bolted and done her weird buck/rear thing but I still kept going, because what else is there to do?
I have friends that whine or complain when the course gets high or looks hard and I'm not a big whiner when it comes to stuff like that. Mostly I look at it and think "oh shit" but then ride it the best I can. Because whining won't change the course and being worried about Rocky bucking won't change that he does it, and worrying about Pony bolting won't stop her from doing it. Even when something like that comes as a total surprise, I try not worry about it and just be prepared for the next time. Besides, being unphasable may not always be a good thing. Or with the case of Rocky's bucking, ride better so he doesn't.

I'm actually quite pleased to be riding him and have had the time I did with Pony for all her insanity, she was a good teacher. You learn to expect the unexpected and ride better. She liked a quite rider who gave her head, and that's what I always tried to do, luckily that wasn't something I was new to doing (riding quietly I mean) same with Rocky because relying on your hands isn't the great, your supposed to ride more with your legs and body; using your weight and stuff to communicate with the horse not just your hands. So even just knowing how he reacts to to much hand use at the canter makes me more conscious of it and able to correct it when he does buck.
I always try to think of what the horses I've ridden before have taught me and Tangos lessons were loud and clear!
1. Do not look down at the jump because she will stop. Always.
2. Learn to fall. Because you will. A lot.

If it does take 6 falls to make a rider, I must be pretty damn good because there was a lot more falls than that. Diesel also reinforced the falling lessons, but the thing with both of them is they were easily 16hh, Diesel 15.3hh I think, so you have time when falling to catch yourself and try to control the fall. Less so with 13.3hh Pony, so with her there was a lot of falls on jumps or whatever because there wasn't enough time to try and land on my feet or not on the jump. 

I still have to get a picture of Rocky to put on here so you can see how cute he is! And the photos from Ride For Red that I still haven't posted...lazy lazy.

Disasters...are sometimes hilarious.

Thursday was a very...interesting jumping lesson with Rocky.

We have a jump that reminds me of Spruce Medows..on a much smaller scale. Usualy our jumps are only one or two poles, but this time one had 3 so it was special =P.
Rocky was really good for the first part, and he jumped beautifully, just round so it feels bigger than it is.

Over the practice/warm up jump, I was thinking he would take of long, but he didn't (since they usually don't over the first jump of the day so no idea what I was thinking) but after we got that one cleaned up he did really good on the first course.
Then she changed it and I forgot the turn after the second and jump and was still doing the first course by going straight through the line.
And some where between the third and forth jump Rocky lost his mind (this was also his first time jumping inside in ages). On the forth jump he put his feet through the rails, like he hadn't seen the top bar and it was like he was jumping inside the jump. Not sure if that makes sense. But anyway, the fifth jump (second in the bending line we were doing was okay, he might have knocked the top pole I don't remember) but then the last jump in the line he tried jumping inside it again. I don't know what he was doing, so we stopped after that so he could settle down and get his head back.
K said she's never laughed so hard, and that she wasn't sure if she should have been laughing at her students. But it was funny (since no one was hurt).
We started the course again, which starts over the 3 pole jump (2'3" ish) but he was not having it, he ran out several times so we went for a little hand gallop around the arena, and she lowered the top bar. So he went over that pretty well and we managed the rest of the course leaving all the rails up, when we came back to the 3 bar jump, it was 3 again, he did it perfectly, but I gave him a really retarded release, I had my arms out like chicken wings instead of straight forward, but other than my terrible arm form over that jump he did super well the last time through. Poor guy.
Hopefully Wednesday will be better for him.

There was a show on Saturday and because of our not so great lesson on Thursday I decided not to enter, but did go just to watch my two friends that were competeing. Kind of mad I didn't go now! There was 5 people in the 2'3" class and just my two friends in the 2'6" class. Could have gone! But the hosting barns outdoor arena was only finished on the 18th of August and there's a lot of sand in the arena, the footing is stupidly deep, so maybe that was good we didn't go. Rocky isn't in the best shape yet, so that would have been hard on him. It was on N's horse and he's in way better shape than Rocky or L's horse.

The next possible show is Amberlea Meadows and I'm not sure about that one, it's a big fancy show that's two days long at the end of September, entries are due this Friday but I'm thinking we won't bother this year. It's like $300 or more to enter because of stabling and I don't know that we have a chance to win anything back. Maybe next year.

Rocky, Roxy and Spruce Meadows!

So I had a jumping lesson with Rocky on Thursday, and he was super good. He seems to be getting back into the working mood quicker than was first thought.

He took two longs, the first one I was ready for so I could stay with him and then the second one was a big surprise because there was a short distance so I don't know quite what he was thinking, but I'm glad he uses a bit less bridle instead, then I don't catch him in the mouth. (Side note! Watching the Spruce Meadows Masters today, and Eric Lamaze was using a bit less bridle with his horse! Not Hickstead sadly but I thought it was quite exciting because I've never seen a pro rider use one.)
Anyway I can't really remember to much about the rider, other than the jumps were larger and he was great!

Today I worked at the barn in the moring and got to ride Roxy as well! She's quite a lot of fun, not in great shape either so we didn't do a whole lot. She's a quarter horse and K's advice was not to think she would be slow just because she was one. She has a lot of pep and was ready to trot as soon as I got on! But we just walked around to start with and when I asked her to trot, she had this super weird stride/motion, she was trying to canter with her front end but trotting in the back or vis versa, and then trying to post and pull her back to a real trot was one of the weirdest sensations. Eventually she came back and we could trot properly. She's got a nice trot when she's not doing...well, whatever that movement was. She also has a really nice canter when she's not breaking to the trot but she's out of shape so it's not a big deal.
I also did a quick hack with Rocky, and not bucking today! Lots of sweat though, poor guy, he's got suck a thick mane and it was pretty warm this morning. Not like yesterday which was 35 degrees Celsius, but still hot. He did well over the trot/canter poles and only stepped away from the mouting block twice before standing nicely.

Speaking of Spruce Meadows! We used to go to the Masters, but we haven't the past couple years *tear* it's so much fun I loved going. This morning was Suncores sponsored event and the one tonight is the BMO Nations Cup and tomorrow morning is the CN National. There's so many awesome riders this year, and some are so young, it would have been fantastic to go! I even cheered for an American! But only because she's a student of Eric Lamaze, and cause she's so young, like 17 or something. But she did amazing and almost beat her coach out, I can't remember her name though, Catlin something. Eric Lamaze won though, of course, since he always done. They said he's won $3 million at Spruce, Ian Miller "Captain Canada" has won $2.8million.
There was a young Dutch rider who was amazing as well, Stephanie Van something.
But my favorite new rider is Canadian Tiffany Foster, she only found out three days ago or something she would be riding for Team Canada, but she seems like the nicest, most enthusiastic person ever, and she's an amazing rider, I really hope she makes the Canadian Olympic team.
Looks like Canada is in 5th for the BMO cup, France, Britain, Mexico and someone else in the forth, America? I don't know. Netherlands in 6th, but the first three have a rider left, so Go Canada!

First Ride with Rocky and First day of Uni!

So yesterday was my first lesson with Rocky, K rode him on Sunday but other than that he hasn't been ridden in like a year, but he was soooo good. Besides being out of shape, but we both are. An unfit horse for an unfit rider. Good stuff.
He does buck, but only if you get really "grabby" with your hands at the canter or just start using them more than your legs. Which will be good because I think that can (and will) really help me stop relying on my hands for certain things.
He has the strangest canter, it feels like a merry-go-round horse where the motion is up and down instead of just forward. So that was a bit of a shock the first time. He also jumps super round so the >2' jumps we were doing felt waaaay bigger. K says when he does 2'6" it feels like 4' so good to know.
It's a very good thing he has a lot of mane! Except when your hands get caught, that's not so much fun.
He's not a dirty quitter like Pony was either, so he'll let you know way before the jump that he's thinking about stopping unlike Pony, who's just like "oh no, we're not doing this" at the very last second.
We didn't do a lot of stuff because we want him to enjoy work, not hate it.
But I really like him so far, he's great.
Uni! So it wasn't as bad as I thought, even though my first class is at 8am and it's a class of 275. The Prof is British and that just makes everything better, but he's really nice and kind of crazy, so I like that class..based of one day at least.
English was okay, also better than I thought, but we have to do this "peer revision" on our essays later on and that I think will suck ass, but again the prof was really nice. Not sure where he's from, kind of a middle eastern accent but you can only hear it sometimes so either he's like Ross on Friends and faking (that's always what I wonder when teachers have accents) or he's been here a long time, which is my best guess.
Stats sucked so many balls I can not even describe it. Other than to say I was day dreaming of Peaches and Cream porridge and that if I tried to pull a nail of my wall with the claw end of a hammer that I could hit myself in the face, or eye. You know it's a good class when!
French was good though, the instructor is the nicest person ever and I knew a couple people in the class which makes it better. Plus I do a decent bit of French, not enough to be in the higher classes, but enough that this first bit may be boring.

Tomorrow I have Equine Science so I'm quite excited for that class, but it's a super easy day! I have that around noon-ish and then a break and then French and then I can come home! And go riding! Yay Thursday.

Pony For Sale.

So yeah, Pony has been sold, or at least her owners found a buyer for her. Whether she's going back to her owners on Saturday or to her new place I don't know, but either way, she's leaving on Saturday.

They've already picked up her tack and stuff, so yesterday we were stuck in this awful synthetic saddle that's a bit to wide her for her and I just hate. So neither of us were to happy about that.

This is kind of what happened when I found out Tommy had been sold, when K would say to re do something we were having problems with all I could think was what the hell was the point? It's not going to do us any good since she's leaving. But oh well, eventually we got it.
It was a frustrating ride though, and Pony was being crazy but it might have been because the saddle wasn't hers and didn't fit 100%, but she stopped at a jump and I fell over her shoulder on to the jump. So as K said Pony was trying to make parting easy. I guess so too.

At least I won't be left without a horse when she's gone. There's a few options:
1. Rocky-my favorite he's so sweet. A smallish bay Morgan, he shows 2'6" but has jumped higher. He hasn't been ridden in about a year though, but K said he's usually pretty good to just hop on, even though he's out of shape. I've rode him once ages ago before Diesel and I quite liked him. He can't be used as a lesson horse because he sometimes bucks after jumping and he wasn't eve super well trained, but I really like him.

2. Zander- A big chestnut Arab? Arab cross? He's a decent jumper but used a lot in lessons so that's not a great thing I don't think other than him being in good shape. He's not my favorite horse at the barn but he's okay.

3. Roxy. She's less of a possibility I think. She's a quarter horse mare that's been out in a field a long time and is pretty much totally western. She's 15.3hh but only in the ass. K thinks she could be a good jumper but she might have to start at like cavallaties or something. Not that that's a problem, it could be fun and a very different experience. But I think she's there to be sold or to be retrained as a lesson horse I'm not totally sure.

So we just have to wait and see what happens next week.