Before the Show & Dressage Bitches

Yesterday wasn't the most ideal ride before a show but it was still pretty good.
We had one run out and 2 refusals that I fell off at.

She refused the fan jump because I caught her in the mouth when she surprised me on the take off and the jump before. Understandably she ran out, would have been better if she hadn't but oh well.
The two refusals were also understandable, she wasn't just doing it to be stupid. We didn't have enough canter to either, normally she'll still  try but obviously she's had enough of that, so she stopped and I fell off.  The good part was for both falls, even though she did run off after, it was nothing like it used to be and K was able to catch her right away. And on the first jump I got a lovely mouth full of dirt and rubber crumb.
The second one was  quite similar, it felt like she had more canter through the line, but I guess not, she stopped and ran off, I fell on the jump, so that was great, now I have a big, sick bursiey cut thing on my back.
So as K says, think sports car! She had told us that we were going to do smaller jumps before the show, but that didn't end up happening. Which I don't mind because despite falling and stopping it was still a really good lesson.

So there is this woman who rides at the barn, shes like a level 2 or 3 dressage rider and her horse is 4-ish years old. When she's on the ground and not riding she's actually a pretty nice person, but when she's riding, she's fucking insane.
She's always like "oh watch out for my horse, he's a bit young and crazy don't get to close." Fair enough, but it's reallllly hard to keep out of her way when you need to ride too. And that's just on the flat when you're doing a lease ride or something outside, in a massive ring!
Indoor is even worse. At our barn, people in lessons have the right of way, but if you aren't doing much, then pass left shoulder to left shoulder as always. But fucking hell, she expects you to stay away from her horse because "he's young and fresh", but she will NOT stay out of your way. Pony hates her horse and makes it well known, she flips her head, pins her ears and makes it quite obvious she doesn't want this psycho woman and her lunatic horse riding beside her. But guess who just doesn't give a fuck? Dressage Bitch! Yay!! Yeah, YOU can't ride past her horse because he's young (he doesn't care anymore, everyone including me and Pony have ridden past, he pays no attention), but SHE can ride past your horse who CLEARLY doesn't want him near her. I really, really wanted to tell her to get the fuck away from me and Pony.
But I didn't because I thought she might kill me.

Because of all the rain, the pleasure/flat classes will probably be inside, so the schedules all messed up and now we don't know when anyones riding anymore. Still waiting to hear back from the lady running the show though. And it looks like it's starting to clear up a bit so maybe it will dry out the arena for tomorrow.

Tuesday

I'm soooo tired, I don't even want to write this, but if I don't I'll forget what happened by tomorrow.

She was actually pretty good, and didn't run out on the first jump! Yay! She did run out at two others, just being naughty. She got a smack on the ass at the skinny jump and got all pissy (hence her nickname Pissy Pony), but she has to learn that she can't run at a jump just for the hell of it. Then second one she didn't get a smack 'cause I fell off and she took off as per usual. But she slowed down and came back much quicker than usual, unfortunately the cheek piece on her jumping bridle broke though, so that sucks ass.

We have to work a lot more on getting and keeping the left bend, because she just keeps getting stronger and stronger on the right.

K is taking her to a dressage show on Sunday, so I hope they do well! Going out to the barn on Friday so she can show me all the stuff to do for afternoon chores and ride Pony, then Sunday I do afternoon chores and ride Kokanne. Exciting! =)

Fail!

Haha, not quite.
First jumping lesson with Pony today!
I was mistakenly under the impression that indoor horse meant a slightly cleaner horse. Sadly this is not true, Pony is filthy and clearly likes to roll. The good thing is by the time I get there the mud's dried.

So we started with smallish jumps (even by pony standards). She refused the first time but just ran out to the side. The second time she felt like she was going to jump and then changed her mind and ran out to the left and I fell off. It's been a rough couple weeks since Tommy left!
She cantered off and did a few small bucks, at least P stopped last week!
Eventually she relaxed K ran beside her and got her over the jump.
She was much better after that. One more refusal at the skinny jump with the pylons underneath. Which is understandable, it's a scary looking jump.
Although K says she hasn't got an excuse for running out since she was a derby pony. They have derby's for pony's?
After that she was pretty good for the most part. She's a completely different horse to any I've ever ridden. I guess she's had some great training.

K thinks that Pony just likes to test her new riders, so I hope that's it for the testing and that I passed! =P

On the flat though? She's got a nice trot but at the canter though? She's a bit crazy! Very, very, very peppy!! She does not want to slow down for anything! I'm going to have to get some really good gloves, I already have blisters forming. I tried not to brace against her and use "give and take" rather than constant pressure, but she didn't really want to listen and my arms hurt.
I like the challenge, but I hope she's better behaved at shows.
K is possibly showing her next Saturday, so I guess we'll find out.

Now I just have to figure out what's going on with the number of rides and lessons I get to do. Earlier she said I could have two lessons and they'd just be included in the lease price since her board has already been paid. And then lease rides whenever.
So I'll have to talk to K and see, because I'm not sure if that's still whats happening. I hope so though.

Well Hello Arena Floor

Ever the pleasant fun, my ass and hip got reacquainted with the sand and rubber crumb of the arena last night.
I was riding my friends horse P while she is on holidays. I rode him on Sunday not wanting to give him to much time off  before jumping. Good idea too.

He's insanely strong, you need an amazing core and arm strength to manage him. But we managed pretty well.  The jump course was a figure eight, so we went across the diagonal and around and back over the 2nd diagonal. For the first warm up we were jumping the first vertical and stopping before the second one. Me and P required the assistance of the wall for this, because he's so strong and doesn't like to listen.
Anyway, we then had to do the whole line, the first jump was fine, there was a <18" 'jump' and then one stride to a 2' vertical  and then 5 (or 4 for P) strides to another 2ft jump. P is big enough that we could trot into the 18" and 2' and then canter the rest of the line, which is when I fell of the first time over the 2nd jump (or third if you want to count the 18"). It felt like he could put in one last stride (and any normal horse would have) but he took off anyway and I had been bracing myself against him ( I forget how K described it) but I had to much weight on my butt and not enough in the stirrups. So I got thrown onto his neck, and I was trying to get him to walk or trot, but then fell of his neck. Not sure if I just slide off or flipped over his shoulder, either would have worked. Landed on my butt, quite gracefully in my opinion, and he stopped and looked at me like "what the hell are you doing?". Cute.
Got back on, then he did really well for the rest of the lesson, he listened (mostly) when I asked him to slow down and what not. Standing a bit in the stirrups (and grabbing mane!) really helped with his stupid longs and staying on over the jumps. Really pleased with him.
On what should have been our last go around the course, he got lazy over the last jump, knocked the rail, and started to do these weird little bucks and I hadn't got back into position in time and couldn't get his head up, so I fell off then too.
We redid the last line, and he did beautifully.
He's the kind of horse that really just wants to be amid at a jump and then left alone. Sadly that doesn't work so well for the rider. But I'd ride him again in a heart beat, it was fun. Even the falling. One of a couple things Tango taught me was how to fall, so not to bothered about it.
Talking to K after the lesson and she was saying he gets more obedient as the jumps get larger, which I've seen when N rides him, but unfortunately she didn't want to raise them to much since this was only the second time I'd jumped him.
There was a lady that had been watching the jumping, and when she brought her horse in after she said she "wouldn't ride that horse if someone paid her". Haha, he's fun though, and knowing N, she'll be pleased to hear about me falling off, she'll just be mad that I didn't bring the video camera so she could watch later.

So yeah that was fun.
Now I get a few days off to hang out at my mums friends farm for Spring Break. And when I come back, I'll have my first lesson with Pony on the Tuesday or Thursday.
Haha, went from Tommy 15.3hh to P >16.2hh to Pony 13.3hh. At least she looks like something I could get on without the mounting block.

Tommy went to his new home on Monday, they ended up buying YJ too. It should be good for them though I think. Especially Tommy and his clubbed feet, at least he'll stay sounder longer doing dressage than if he kept jumping.