Kokanne

Worked and rode Kokanne on Saturday and he was miles better than last week, we re did the same course as on Thursday, which is from K's new book "50 ways to torture your lesson students". The course isn't really torture, the torture is trotting jumps. I hate doing that, it's the bain of my existance.  Kokanne did well enough though.
The usual problems of picking up the correct lead (usually the right) and my own inability to feel when he's got the wrong the one. How do you tell? She says its wrong, but doesn't tell me what to feel for. Must figure that out.
He had some really good jumps last day too, which was great, however he's been getting a bit rushy getting to the jumps the last while but we don't know why. I thought maybet he crop made him nervous, but you can't ride without it because if he knows you haven't got it, he will stop somewhere along the center line and not move, not matter what. Usually brushing him with the crop is enough to get him going again without actually hitting him. But K doesn't seem to think that's what it is, so we'll see.

Last uni exam tomorrow, thank god! Equine Science, should be okay I think. Mostly general health will some stuff about parasites and what not. They take waaaaay to freaking long to post the marks from the finals though. Except for French and English, they've all been multiple choice, and since the computer is what marks them and all that, they should have been up along ago. I would like to know asap what's going on with stats, are we redoing 141 or good to go to 252? Best be up by the end of the week because the uni shuts down on the 20th or something and it would be nice to know long before 252 starts...

a most unfortunate time of the year...

Have not died, it's finals week at uni and it's a most terrible hell, with little time for anything other than studying and drinking energy drinks (cause they are soooo good for you... but i figure every once in a while isn't so bad) however with out them I would have bombed the psych final and fallen asleep during it haha...ahh uni, such a treat!

So, thank you Monster, for not letting me fall asleep in the exam and staying up enough to get as much studying done as possible.

At Last!!

At long last! The first term of uni is over, the only sad thing is that now it's exam time! Saturday is the first of five. French should be okay, Equine Science-fine, stats/psych/English...mmmm yeah, we'll have to wait and see. But there's not enough hours in the day to get all the studying done. But shall just have to think of Scotland and Australia, that should make it more bearable...I hope.

Shawn!

Had a lesson with Shawn on Saturday, it was decent, but the jumping part didn't start out so great.

Shawn does a fair bit of dressage and so we had more of a dressage-esq warm up which I really liked, so I'm still planning on talking to K soonish to see if it would be possible to start doing more of that. He can bridle up but it takes a fair bit of work to do it and you have to work up to it more than with Zander and Pony. But with Shawn it's actually the coolest feeling! I don't remember actually being able to feel either Pony or Zanders' whole frame adjust to the bridling up, Shawn, it actually feels like he's shrugging his shoulders. So that was interesting. I like actually being able to feel when things are right or wrong, otherwise how would I know when its a free ride? Most of the time I can feel the wrong canter lead, but the correct posting diagonal has always been a bit lost on me, even after all this time. It's a bit sad, isn't it?

We also practiced upward and downward transitions and halting square, which he mostly did quite well. Not always up into the canter, sometimes he got that really annoying rushy trot that we get in trouble for having.

Jumping: we did really well over all, but the first couple times on the circle to the white vertical he ran out. Probably because I looked at it? That and there was no distance one time. After that he was miles better! He really likes the long rein and the longer release but it's not so hard to remember on him because I really don't want to pull on his mouth when he tries so hard to be so brave. Not that I'd ever want to pull on their mouths, but you know what I mean.
Then we did the same bending and straight lines as last week with Kokanne. The first time bending away from home was really awkward because he chipped to make 8 rather than 7, but he's not a horse that likes to take off long, so it was understandable and we made it over and left the jump standing.
However, he almost had a 6 up the straight! I didn't see that distance so I'm happy he didn't take it, but it's exciting that he was going well enough and maybe almost had enough passion do actually do it. Still it I think it's better for him to add the extra strides and make it over than have him losing confidence in himself if something happened.

Another lesson on Thursday, probably Kokanne?

My French partner wanted to meet up then so we could work on our oral exam but I told him to stuff it because the last time I cancelled a lesson for him he couldn't be bothered to show up. Besides, better get it written tomorrow and Wednesday so it can just be over with. Uni is not what I thought, and at this point I feel that everyone who said it was the greatest time of their life, either lied or just had super boring lives (cause mine was sooo exciting...).

PS. Don't you like the new header and background?! I'm hoping to find a better picture of me and Pony for the background, but they are all on my computer at home,  so that won't be fixed until the weekend. But I think it's quite fitting! Would be better if I still had Pony, then we would all be mad, rather than just me! All the horse seem quiet stable so far, well Rocky had his moments I guess. Just not the same though.

Oh I got to see him on the weekend too! Only brought him in for a brush, but better than nothing. He was so cute! He's insanly fuzzy now too! When I went out to get him he did his little snort/whinny thing, but I don't know if it was because a.)he recognized me as the person who brought him food that morning b.)he recognized me not because of the food or c.) he was just happy to have someone come and give him attention...
I like to think B is the correct answer.

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.

An Sci- Animal Welfare Lecture: Sport Horses

-Tennessee Walking Horses---> soring/big lick
  -putting nails, tacks, glass etc in the padding to make the horse snap his foot up faster. Usually they don't last more than 3yrs in training because of this. (No market in Canada for these types of shows). USDA inspects these shows. 90% scratch rate when the inspector shows up.

Right this isn't the video she showed, I can't find it. And keep in mind it's put together by the HSUS. She mentioned the stuff about the nails, and they're found through xrays. This is what it looks like:

(and of course they aren't all trained that way but I'm just saying what she told us.)

-oh they also put acid in the padding.

Dressage --> Rolkur

this is the video she showed: 

So the girl lecturing is completely western which is perhaps why she thinks the Rollkur is not banned.  The rider is Patrik Kittle riding in the warm up ring of a competition in Denmark. She described it as "an accepted training method" which I'm pretty sure is bullshit considering the HUGE backlash this video caused and not just from people who don't know anything about horses. And the FEI has moved to ban it (but haven't yet?).

Rodeo Rough Stock: So the lecturer has spent a lot of time behind the shoot for bucking horses (and bulls) and says they like their job. They know exactly whats going on and if they don't feel like bucking, they won't.  However, this is different from the "wild horse saddle bit" I dont remember exactly what its called but basically the competitors have to catch an unbroken horse, trip it up and get it on the ground, saddle it, and ride it. Whoever stays on longest wins. Theres video on youtube.

"Natural Horsemanship": barefoot, tree less saddles, bit less bridles. Some horses are crippled for life because their owners want them to be barefoot. Natural is not always better. Solution must fit the individual. Bit less bridles don't work....(umm what the hell? Clearly you (lecturer) are stupid. They work very well if you know how to use one and it's something the horse responds too. What about Eric Lamaze and his mare that had a cut in her mouth so he used a bit less bridle at Spruce Meadows? Yeah he totally didn't win that because of not using a bit. OH wait! He DID win! Stupid woman.)

Use of drugs (sedatives/cocaine/hormones)

(who the hell is giving their horse cocaine?)

The horse in this video was give 5cc of a psychotropic drug (that is never supposed to be more than 2cc) and it gets or was given Valium shots several times a day. (I think there's sound and the chick says what happened but this is just what the presenter said happened) Fluphenazine is used as a calming drug. The presenter does western riding and apparently they give this to Quarter horses that get obscenely worked up when they see a cow?

An Sci- Animal Welfare Lecture

An Sci = Equine Science

Right, so today we had a guest lecuter who works for the provincal government training SPCA officers about Animal Welfare.  (Her words not mine. You'll be able to tell when it's mine =P)

Welfare Definition: UK Farm Animal Welfare Council: "The welfare of an animal includes it's physical and mental state and we consider that good animal welfare implies both fitness and a sense of wellbeing."

-HSUS: "Humane Society of the United States" - has more lawyers than any other type of employee (Ie. scientists) (we don't have a group like this, so we learned about yours America)

(I'll have to stick the graphs in when I get my laptop back and can scan and post them, now your stuck with descriptions)
The Social Licence to Operate

Flexible                                                                                                                    Rigid
Responisve                                                                                                             Sureaucratic
Lower Cost                                                                                                             Higher Cost
=Social Licence                                                                                                      = Social Control
                                                                      ^
                                                           Tipping Point
                                                      single triggering event
                                                      cummulative impact
High Trust                                                                                                               Low Trust
Autonomy                                                                                                               Prohibtion

ie. What happened to BP after the rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico

Animal Welfare =/= Animal Rights

The 5 Freedoms
1. Freedom from Hunger & Thirst
2.                  from discomfort
3.                  from Pain, Injury & Disease
4.                  from Fear & Distress
5.                  to preform Natural Behaviours

ALF (Animal Libertion Front)= terrorist organization in both Canada and USA. (It's basically a front for people to commit crimes in the name of saving animals...which is why they kill them? ELF is the same)

Four "I"'s of Animal Suffering
1.Ignorance: not knowing what to do
2.Inexperience: knowing what to do but not knowing how to do it
3.Incompetence: inabililty to do it
4.Incosideration: knowing what/how to do something and just not caring to do it

Wesland Hallmark (is that the name, not sure what she said exactly)= cattle slaughter in California. They didn't know it but hired and HSUS person who took a cell phone video of other staff using a fork lift to lift/push cattle around. Caused largest meat recall in the world.

Welfare is fluid and dynamic
What was acceptable yesterday may not be today
Quality is more expensive than quantity

"No one cares how much you know, until they see how much you care."

Under Canadas Criminal Code horses are legally considered livestock. Filed under cattle. If your horses stolen they will prositcute it as theft of cattle.

Dr. Terry Whiting 3 kinds of Equine:
Equus pecunia: an economic unit
Equus caballus: what we normally think of when we think of horses. Capable of suffering and pain.
Equus americanus: an icon that doesn't exist in the real world. ie) Spirit, Black Beauty, the Black Stallion

Alberta DOES raise horse for meat.
"horses and other equines play a vital role in the collective experince of the United States and deserves protection and compassion' and 'unlike cows, pigs, and many other animals horses and other equines are not raised for the purpose of being slaugtered for human consumption' House Bill H.R. 503
So it's okay to feed them to tigers and lions but not people?

(When I can scan the graphs i'll put up the bit about compare and contrast welfare) but appearntly horse feed lots are not like cattle feed lots (in alberta because the lecture has been to all of them and they are well looked after)

Slaughter.
2 slaughter houses in Alberta.
About 140k horses per year (including those shipped from America)
White washed industry- "processing"=slaughter
Canadian domestic market, theres butchers in this city that sell it (mostly to European ethnic groups living here).
Needs CFIA approval to ship to the EU.
Also requires and Equine Identification Document

Unwanted Horses:
-Loss of disposal method (US)
-Economic Downturn
-Overbreeding (supply and demand)

What do you do with a 1200lb animal with no monetary value?
-auction? -->no/reduced market
-give away? -->flooded/lack of homes
-euthanize? --> finacial/emotional burden
-turn loose? --> no cost/emotional burden (weren't two guys just arrested in the US a couple months ago because this is considered abandoment which is illegal?)
-home made euthanaisa (most disturbing of them all)-->injecting battery acid, shooting (most people assume between the eyes, but that's only the nasal cavity. Only increases suffering)

What Have We Learned Today?

(not much about horses in this post)

So I had my first ever psych midterm today and learned some mind numbingly obvious things:
1. You should eat breakfast before and exam or your stomach will be growling the whole time
2. You should know everything inside and out to avoid stupid mistakes like forgetting which guy first started messing around with ablation (taking bits of brain out)
3. You can't study like you did in jr high/high school (i guess i should say I can't do that)

Yeah, that first test was a real treat, I bet you I bombed it. Fantastic. But it's "only" 25% of the mark, which is better than I thought. Final is 55% need to get a 90... This class isn't on a curve either because it's "too small" with 275 people in it.

Anyway, I have to come up with a better way to study, because I've pretty much forgotten how. As messed as that sounds. I haven't studied properly since like grade 6. I didn't need to jr.high it was soo easy! That my marks where high enough to get me out of every end of year final except for math. High school, it wasn't usually intensive studying. I made flash cards and mind maps for bio and some for social. Can't study for English and math was never my best so I did the reviews. But yeah, I've never really had to super intensive studying, best figure out how to do that....

"Can You Feed Them Meat?" and other ravings :)

My god, university is proving to be quite the treat!

So I had equine science yesterday and we are still doing lots on nutrition and we were talking about protein and what you can substitute to get it. Ie) Canola Meal when it's mixed and pelleted, Soybean meal, Field peas that can be mixed in with other things (but have less protein).
And so the prof asks, "can anyone think of other things/has anyone used other things?" some kid sticks up his hand and says "can you feed them meat?". There's a few people in the class who know nothing about horses and my guess is he is one of them. It really was probably just a simple question with no sinister motives behind it (see man that feed dead people to pigs) because meat does have protein and I'm guessing he's probably heard about feed lots that mix in meat with all the other disgusting things they feed to their animals.

What else is wondrous about school?
English! I love reading, but I hate having to pick a part the stories, plays etc, to find all the hidden meanings in them. Mostly because I can't find what everyone else seems too, and until last day that wasn't a big deal because he only asked if you put your hand up. But for whatever reason he feels he should be able to match every ones name to their face and so he's now forcing us to answer stupid things about the stories. It doesn't help that the little things I do find, someone else says just before I get the chance or he says it, and then I have nothing to say, because what is there to say after that? Luckily I escaped last day without having to answer anything, but I don't think I will be so lucky today. I was complaining to my friend that they were finding all this weird stuff in these stories and she's like, "no they're just good at making things up" HA! Very true, and I can make shit up! In fact I'm quite good at it! For example, she was telling me she had to find the meaning behind Hansel and Gretel and now a days the meaning is clearly about staying away from Internet pedos. The witch is a pedophile trying to lure the small children in to its web of creepy pedophile-ness by leaving candy (which is whatever creepy Internet people do to get people to tell them personal info) and snatching them away or whatever. See I can up crap! But the thing is, it's easier when you have at least one friend in the class. But I have got some stupid answer made up for a possible question about the latest story and how the rooster represented the kids original opinions and thoughts about his grandpa and then when the grandpas servant carried the rooster away to be killed and eaten it was like his idealize of his grandpa where being killed because now he knows what an ass his grandpa really is. Think it'll fly? I think it's pretty good all things considered, but an answer like that depends on the question too....

Enough of this, I have barn chores tonight so I get to ride both Rocky and Roxy and I'll find out if I can remember a simple dressage test :)

Equine Science- Colic & Nutrition

Fuck you blogger. I had a big huge post typed out from all the nutrition & digestive stuff we did in class today and the blog just ate it and now I can't get it back.

So now I get to start all over again!

Mouth, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Cecum
-horses can't throw up once food passes the soft palate and if it's choking you'll see saliva coming out of it's nose.
-they use their lips to sort food, like when you try mixing vitamins/minerals with oats but they leave all the vitamins behind
-horses can't burp (not so sure, there's a horse at the barn that does...) so they're subject to gas pains
-hay and other fibers aren't easily digested in the stomach
-the small intestine is coiled into the left flank area, it's approx 70ft. It breaks down soluble carbs and protein is absorbed as amino acids, but fiber materials aren't.
-fiber moves through faster than grain
-horses don't have a gall bladder
-the large intestine has about 1billion bacteria and protozoa, they ferment the grain/fiber
-bacteria produce B vitamins
-the cecum is the junction between the small and large intestines
-1m in length with a capacity of 25-35L
-1/2 the volume of the large intestine and cecum is bacteria
-this is where the fermentation of cellulose happens which can take days
-high quality hay takes about 3-4days and lesser quality hay takes much longer and they can't eat as much as they may need because it takes so long to ferment.
-Stabled horses are at a higher risk to colic if they don't get regular exercises because movement aids the digestive process.
-consistent diets are important because a change in the diet/time of feed can upset the bacteria ie) getting a substantial amount of grain when not used to it. Large amounts of grain in hind digestive system upsets the bacteria and can lead to founder.
-energy from hay doesn't go to the mind, but energy from glucose does

Colic: Conditions in the gastrointestinal tract cause pain. The interruption of smooth muscle contractions.

1. Gas- is most common in stabled horses but walking the horse or letting it role can help
2. Impaction- the horse eats more than it can digest. This colic requires vet care to get oil into the hind gut or the palpitation of the gut to get the material to move. Not usually successful and risky.
3. Twisted Intestines- 21m of intestine, loosely wrapped with risk of them getting twisted. High risk in over weight and under conditioned horses. Lots of fat around internal/digestive organs. It cuts of the blood supply to affected area and nothing can move through. Horse will die with out vet care. The vet would preform surgery to remove the damaged tissue, this is somewhat successful, but the cost may be more than what it's worth because the horse is often not the same after.
4. Overload of grain

So he says to walk the horse, and I've heard that before but I've also heard that you aren't supposed to walk them or let them role. Does it just depend on the type of colic they have? I should have asked...

Founder/Laminitis: is inflammation of the hoof, causes pain and permanent problems if it's sever.
Its caused by excess grain, lush pasture or retained placenta.
- In mares: must make sure the placenta has been fully delivered otherwise it acts like dead tissue and releases toxins which can lead to founder.
-Healthy bacteria are not set up to use grain unless the they are used to it. If the bacteria is present in large numbers it can break down grain. Toxic material is released from damaged tissue and effects the feet. Histamine causes dilation of the blood vessels which causes problems in the legs and feet. The frog pumps the blood back up the leg but if it can't get ride of blood sufficiently it pools in the foot. The wall starts to pull away from the coffin bone and can cause permanent damage as they do not grow back together. Common in fat idle horses if the pasture is to good.
But if it's caught early ie) you know the horse got into a grain bin a vet can come out and treat the overdose early it can stop the effects of laminitis so they don't reach the onset and cause permanent damage.

Yeah, so that's basically what we did last day, there was lots about enzymes and stuff, but I think I should say that none of this should ever be considered as advice, this is just what my prof has said and may not always be right (see his opinions on standardbreds) so yeah. Don't take this advice, ever. Go call the vet :)

Standardbreds are....

...useless except for pacing/trotting.

That's my Equine Science profs opinion.
But yeah, he really thinks that. Appearntly they aren't atheltic enough for other things. Sure maybe they aren't Grand Prix matterial but really? How many horses are? Very, very few. There's loads of people here that use them for showing at the local level in both dressage and jumping and they do quite well.

I can't decide if I like this guy or not.
So on the second day of class he was talking about different breeds of horses and how they were created, stuff like that but he just went on and on and on. This class is already 1 hour and 20 minutes. Those extra 10 minutes people need to get all the way across campus to their other classes. But he's to old and senile to understand that. So the people who did need to leave started to because he had run over his time. The next day he was all pissy and was like "we have to finish breeds today as well because people just started leaving the day before" but imagine that in some horribly unappealing voice.

It's not like he doesn't know what he's talking about. He did a lot to get the pre-vet equine program going at the UofS and he's got his own horses, years of experience and was head of some big equine organization here in Alberta, until he retired to teach one class a term.
He seems nice enough, when he's not putting his jack ass opinions into what we're learning about.

Last Thursday we were learning about the genetics behind colours which is actually really cool and if I had any of my notes I'd show you a bit of what we did. But then he's talking about appaloosa colour patterns.
He only talks about 2 patterns and can't be bothered to mention there are several others.

 Leopard Appy
Blanket Appy
Snowflake
Varnish
Few Spots
Frost

His thoughts: Leopard spotted appaloosas have terrible colouring and it is undesirable. Ummmm, what? Well maybe that's an over reaction because the horse I leased for  3 years was an appy, not a leopard one, but still....

This is Firecracker aka Diesel (the varnish/frost Appaloosa/TB I rode for about 3-4 years)

 

  Haha I found these last two going through Facebook albums, quite a treat. But yeah, he decided he'd rather not jump the skinny vertical, didn't fall off, though.

These are all from about 2009.

 

 

But yes, I'm sure there will be many more "excellent" stories from this class, hopefully most of them will just be on the science part and not the instructors own opinions.

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.

Yay Show!!

So we had our show today and Pony was brilliant!!


I was worried she'd do what she sometimes does at home and just take off or buck, stuff like that. But she was amazing, no bucking, no real big freak outs or getting frightened by sand hitting the jumps. During the coarse she would sometimes get a bit quick but she always came back when I asked.


In the 2' clear round we went clear, even over the trucks, which she doesn't like. Then we placed 4th in the Classic. Take that full sized horses. She can do all the super tight turns and she's super quick, not like a horse with longer legs, but whatever. Loads of people were telling her how cute she was.


In the 2'6" clear round we had to do it twice because the first time she stopped at the grey box jump and then the tudor tack plank jump, but she hasn't seen either of those two at home so that was part of it, but she worked so hard! Then the second time we did the course she didn't stop at the boxes but did at the plank, well actually we didn't really stop and when we came back we didn't cross our tracks so we still got a clear round ribbon. But since she was so good and it was boiling hot, I didn't take her in the classic, so we only got one ribbon.

Which is great because I wasn't expecting us to get anything at all. So I'm very happy with her and how we did.


Once all the pictures are uploaded I'll put a few up :)
Ahhhh, so I start my first year of University in less than two weeks and I'm kind of freaking out. I got an email from my English professor saying we needed to sign up for some website thing and then it talks about what we can expect from the class and, god damn it, we have write. Not a big surprise since it's uni but there's also "peer revision" and other equally horrifying things such as group work. So I'm really, really not at all excited about this class, but I'm sure the other classes will be like that too. It makes me miss high school when we didn't have to do that crap. At least the classes are only what 40 or 50 minutes? Then I can run away to math class. Hopefully I can find some decent people in that class, and all the others, haha I'm actually hoping that I have at least one of my friends is also in that class.



Everyone I know that's graduated from uni have always told me how much they loved it and that it was the best time of their lives and stuff like that. But they're also all super outgoing friendly people, which I think makes it easier. But this is starting to sound like a diary or something so, yay horse show was good and that's all that really matters!

Sweeeet!!

I got my final admission to the University of Alberta yesterday!

Awe I feel so bad for my neighbours dog, they went out and he escaped under their deck (they're redoing it). Now he's lurking out side my basement window, watching my dog climb up on the bed. Poor boy.

Went to the gym today, 4.0miles (have to change to km) on the bike and nothing note worthy done on the Summit Trainer. No stretching or abs today. Tsk tsk, have to catch up tomorrow.

Going on holidays for a bit, so no new Pony posts for a while :(

Awesome =)

Two lessons with Pony this week!

Tuesday: We did pretty good, the coarse wasn't to big, just complicated. The idea was to be able to navigate a complicated coarse and not go over the wrong jumps. We were successful every time, with two exceptions. At the same jump.
There was a diagonal at M a skinny between X and B and then another diagonal at F. The first time I thought we were going to fast over the skinny and panicked so we missed the F jump. After K thought we would have been okay to do it. The second time we really were going to fast so, again, missed the F jump.
But when we finally go over it she was great.

Thursday: She had Wednesday off and it snowed today so Pony spent the whole day in here pasture shelter. Thank god she's an indoor horse! She had A LOT of energy so took her into the arena to let her run around and chill out a bit. You don't even have to do anything, soon as you get her in the arena and take off the lead rope and off she goes.
She trots her self around, then pretends to spook at things and canters. After a while she'll come back to a trot and either scare herself some more or she'll comver over and say hi. She's so cute!
However, she also bucks and she canters. So I was a bit worried watching her do that. And they aren't little bucks either but HUGE ones...well, huge for a 13.3hh pony. Then she'll leap up in the air and buck in the air.

She was great for jumping though! Which were just under 3ft I think. There was a couple times over the bigger ones I thought I might die, but she was perfect! So pleased! She even collected herself a bit when I asked instead of doing what she did on our first jumping lesson and just freaking out. Had to do lots of deep yoga breaths over the longer canters between jumps to try and relax a bit, but I couldn't be happier with how she did.

Saturday: K took her to a dressage show today, I don't know how well behaved she was but they got two 2nd places with scores of 66 and 69 or something like that.  Hopefully she was well behaved though. That was the great thing about Tommy, he was so sweet and quite at shows. And after the horses I had before him, that was the greatest thing ever.  Diesel really wasn't to bad, he just went a bit crazy a couple times. Over all he was good though.

Also today was Registration 101!! I have no idea why I was so panicked and freaked out about it, but whatever. There was about twenty other kids in my time slot and all we did was sit in one of the Engineering computer labs, watched a presentation by some of the Arts faculty and then started enrolling in classes. Three out of the four people helping out were really nice but the last one was a bitch.
Oh well. I have all my classes and that's whats important.
Fall Term:
Animal Science 101-Introduction to Equine Science (doesn't count for my degree, but still very excited for it!)
English 123- Literature in Global Perspective
French 111- Beginners French I
Psychology 104- Basic Psychological Processes
Statistics 141- Introduction to Statistics (gross I hate math)

Winter Term:
Biology 108- Introduction to Bio Diversity
English 121- Literature in Historical Perspective
Math 113- Elementary Calculus I (at least after this I won't have to take math ever again!)
Psychology 105- Individual and Social Behaviour
Religion 101B- Introduction to Religions of the World

Also got to donate blood today for the first time too so that was fun. Not lying it was! Except I was talking to my best friend and she was likes "why would you do that?" but all snotty and bitchy and I said "because it's selfish not too" (it is!) and now shes all pissed. But I don't care, if I ever need a blood transfusion, I'm going to be damn grateful that someone took time out of their life to donate, so she can fuck right off. =)

Hooray for helping save lives!

Ick

Is what I'm sure Tommy was thinking last night, he's not a fan of the beet pulp in his post-jumping meal, usually it's all mixed in with the grain and pellets, but it wasn't last night, it was off to the side. So he ate all the pellets and stuff but left as much of the beet pulp as he could. Even just holding it in my hand to try and get him to take it, he wouldn't, basically had to push it right against his mouth before he would take it. It's to cold for him not to be eating everything especially when he isn't gaining weight. He was doing really well when it was warmed up a bit, but now the cold is back so he has to burn more calories to stay warm, even with his thick blanket on.

As for the lesson, it was to cold to get them sweating actually doing a lot of jumping, so we did a lot of flat work and they had a lot of walking/standing breaks. Even L's mare who is horribly out of shape right now didn't sweat very much. So we just did a line and practiced hauling in the middle and then cantering out. Mostly transition work this week, but he's doing so well at them!! It's great! However, he's still not doing as well at the upward transitions, epsecially from the trot to canter, and those are the ones that make him sweat and until it warms up, we won't be doing many of them.

I really wish I had my own horse. I love Tommy but I want my own horse. There would be so much more I could do! More shows, go trail riding in the winter or off the property, try new things like side saddle! I've forgotten about it for a while. At my old barn (RBR) there was a girl who ride side saddle and I always thought I wanted to try that, then I forgot about it and moved to HS to start jumping. Then I was creeping through blogs and several had to do with side saddle and I really want to try it! But, HS doesn't teach it, Tommy doesn't know what the hell it is and I don't know how to teach him, or even if I could I don't know that K would let me. Besides, a saddle like that has got to be expensive, especially in Alberta, there's doesn't seem like a big market for it. I haven't even seen one in a tack shop here.But I think it would be awesome if I got to try it. Unfortunately, that's probably one of those things I won't get to do until I have my own horse, which is unlikely to happen for at least four or five years depending on what happens after uni.
I don't know how people can stop riding for university, it seems impossible really. The only time I can't see being able to ride is possible if I get to study abroad. I'm hoping I can study more than once abroad, three times would be prefect. Then I can go to the University of Dundee in Scotland, London Metropolitan University in England and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
I don't think Sydney is real option though, their calender is reversed from ours, so if I did get to study there it would have to for at least a year if not all four. It'll cost at least $17,000 Australian per year, and that's just tuition, not even living expenses...and a plane ticket. I want to go back so badly though! Fuck me, I should have been in the IB program (International Baccalaureate)! Where is the rewind button to my life?! IB is international, kids all over the world study it, it by far increase my chances of getting into Macquarie since there's few spots for international students as it is. At least in the UK I would be able to just go for a semester or something. But not for Australia, which really, really sucks! Sydney is soooo beautiful and I want to go back sooo badly! I don't know how my mum could have come back! I mean Canada's great and I love it of coarse, but it's...it's Sydney damn it! She had a job and friends and everything. Oh well, it would just be a brilliant excuse to go back.
I totally live in fear of having a life where I'm going to be stuck here forever and never have the chance to go to Europe or back to Australia or ride horses. I don't want to be one of those people that gets so caught up in there job and family that they don't get to do what they've wanted until it's to late.
But that's a whole other problem.

Tommy, Uni, and Work

Been slacking on the blog.

Saturday: So Tommy got his teeth done Friday afternoon, and apparently they were kind of nasty. Which is actually a surprise, he had them done less than a year ago. (I don't actually know how often they should be done, but based on what my coach said, it's an annual thing?). He did really well in the arena though, but at the canter he was doing this weird puffing breathing. It happened last year too, but then he stopped and we thought he was just getting in better shape. So I'm not to sure why he was breathing that weird, but I was a bit worried so that was the end of the ride. Before that, we worked on our trotting transitions, he's got a good working and collected/sitting trot, but we need to work on our extended trot. Instead of keeping a nice rhythm, it gets really quick. Lots of figure eights, some trot poles and practice halting straight.

Monday: Since it's exam break I got to go see Tom during the day. Thank god for no crazy breathing today! More figure eights, this time we tried them at the canter and using the hole arena, didn't go to well, so need to work on those. But the small ones at the trot were good. Did more work on the trot and practiced some turns on the forehand, just for something different. There's dressage letters stapled to the walls of the arena, so at each one we changed gait. Walk-trot-canter-trot-walk, but we only did that for a couple laps because he gets annoyed if we do it for to long. He had some trouble with the right lead by dropping it and not wanting to pick it up. He kept trying to rush it and would just get this crazy trot, normally he's pretty good and this only happens every once in a while. He also and a weird "cut" on his back left heel. It wasn't really a cut, it was a little patch of rough, scaly skin, but it was cracked and dark red were it was open. Although it looked like it was healing, I mentioned it to my trainer and she put some stuff on it to keep in clean. Keeping an eye on it, it's location makes me nervous, I don't want it to get infected or something and have him go lame.

Tuesday: Jumping lesson! No weird breathing, and little trouble with the right lead. Two bounces and a vertical.

   __//     =

Haha, that's my terrible rendition of the course. So we started on the left lead over the outside bounce to the vertical, around to the diagonal bounce and back over the first bounce. He did okay after the first bounce, but no matter what we changed, whether it was the approach or the  pace of the canter. Other than that he did okay. He's been a bit flat for most of the winter so my coach suggested carrying a small crop with me when jumping. Not even to use, but if he knows it's there, he may pick it up a bit. Especially on days like today, it seems like no matter what I try with him, he's still flatter than normal.

Now I have a bit of a break from riding for a week or so because I'm getting my wisdom teeth out. Yay, fun stuff.

As for uni and work, I need a job. I'm going to try and find a full time job in the city over the summer, this way there is loads more options and I can hopefully stay with my grandma. Which is also the plan so far for the actual school year. She lives about a 20 minute walk away from the campus and there's a LRT station a couple blocks away too. So really, it's almost the ideal place to be living. However, I need a car and my parents refuse to help my get one. Which is why it would be nice to get a decent and flexible part time job now.  Especially since if I do get a car, I'm going to need to pay for its insurance, gas, and maintenance, though I guess I could do some of that myself.
Has anyone worked part time and gone to full time university? If you have, how was it?

It's sad though, because when I get a job, I won't get to go on holidays this summer, which sucks 'cause I love camping. We (me and my family) usually go for about 3 weeks, but seems like this year I'll be lucky to get away for a couple days to camp and hike. But we'll see.