In my last post I left saying that I took some time from riding for school & personal reasons.
That lasted 2 months.
With my dear mother trying to get me to ride again the whole time. If you dont follow her blog it is HERE.
Mother decided to call one of her friends who is in charge of a local barn about possibly having me exercise some horses for her or something along those lines. Later that week we went out and met a bunch of horses. 2 of which were kinda sorta not really broke to ride but I could do or better TRY to do whatever on. Then there was Cisco - Friends "lesson" horse. I use the " " because yes he is a lesson horse if you dont know what the hell you are doing. He is great with kids. But that smart horse figured out pretty quick that I had an idea of what I was suppose to do, whether I was doing so or not.
So I got up on Cisco, 16hh-ish TB/Paint. He jumps, does some dressage but like I said, lesson horse. I walk him out to the jumping arena & he looks a little excited but still nothing really excites a lesson horse. I get up on him and start walking. Gather up my reins to a better working length and ask for the trot. He seems a little confused.
"What? Trotting right out of the gate? & she is posting? What happens when I pull on my face? Oh her arms come with me but holds me back. And if I speed up? Oh her actually pulls me down without pulling me to a stop."
Cisco seemed to settle in quite nice & like I said, he knew that I knew what I was doing. I plopped him over a cross rail and cantered, did a bunch of random stuff then decided to get down to business. Over probably a 2' jump & RACE HORSE came out. Yup, I know what Im suppose to do but very out of shape, skinny girl fat can only do so much. The more we jump, the more excited he gets. He really was a joy to ride tho. Once I thought my legs were screaming I hopped down and that was that. I was allowed to ride him once or twice a week if I wanted and just have fun. Something for me to ride & something different for him to do.
& if you follow moms blog you know about the clinic she was to do. Well, they needed one more rider for said clinic. & who gets put into clinic, ME & Cisco, who Ive riden a who 2 times. Yup, I know what Im suppose to do, out of shape Miranda just cant do it for very long. By the time the clinic rolls around, I ridden Cisco a whole 4 times & we have not slowed down at all, probably sped up a tad too. I tell Amanda (Clinic lady) about Cisco, about me, about not riding, blah blah blah. We start and Cisco enters lesson mode, nice hunter even movements, nice to the jumps, nice away. Yup Lesson mode that lasted all of 5 Jumps. Then Speed Mode came on and Amanda laughs. I warned her. By the end we had some nice jumps & I had a better idea of how to slow down a speed racer (I'll do into that in my next post)
It was a great time. I got to watch mom in her lesson and I had fun in mine. Tho I took a lot more breathing breaks then anyone else. Not Kidding! I wheeze and wheeze! Totally forget to breath. At the end of the lesson I asked if there was anything for me to work on since most of my lesson we worked on Cisco, besides me being out of shape and rounding my back of course. Amanda had nothing for me besides the rounding which all has to do with me being way way way out of shape. So that felt pretty awesome.
I havent ridden since the clinic either. I had some minor health issues that needed fixed and hopefully this week I can get back in the saddle.
Stay tuned for the content of my Lesson with Amanda Wilson, big time Eventer.
I know, I said I would be blogging & BAM! I lied. But here I am to update.
In the last post I mentioned that I was taking Mulcahy to a show. We went & he was pretty darn awesome. I was very pleased. Schooled welled, listened, stayed pretty calm. Over all great.
Not only did we show in February but also in March in Cross Rails & 18". This show he was also amazing, a little bit more ready so we lunged to only make him tired & have a bad class. In March I also decided that even though I love this horse to death, I needed to separate myself from him & put more time into school. I had said goodbye to this horse once before & it was the hardest thing. As much as I loved going out to ride him, if he sold again & I had to say goodbye to him again I might not let him go. He sold once & was all set to go but the buyer backed out. My last lesson on him was the hardest & worst ride of my life. We laughed because my trainer said I could go with her to relieve him but mom figured that I would be bawling my eyes out & wouldn't make it a very exciting experience for the buyer. When he didn't leave I started riding him again but in fear of getting attached again I just wasn't myself. So I took a break from riding all together. Plus I needed to put school first.
My next post will be about my mother, who is dead set on having me in the saddle.
Well, I'm alive. (:
Long time no post? Yeah, kinda.
But I promise it was all selfish reasons & really I just need to get over it.
We left off with Pippi & I going to Delaware to show, it was a cluster! In the end, I came to the conclusion that Pippi & I have had to many downs, not enough ups & it was time to move on. Don't get me wrong, I still love that horse to death but we fight to much & it is no longer any fun. So mom has this idea of Dressage with Pippi, whatever.
So I quit riding, completely, for about a month & a half. I worked mostly on school. Got caught up in being a normal young adult filled with boys, friends, night outs & the whole thing. Then I wanted back in, lets face it, I'm in for life probably. I started lessons again but this time instead of riding Boggie, I rode Mulcahy! 17+hh OTTB - Tall, Dark, & Handsome.
Meet Mulcahy!
He is a blast! Very green but so willing & a complete ASS - bites, pushes, all up in your bubble. He is for sale, though I love him to death, it is not fair to him for me to buy him then only spend 2 days a week with him like I do currently. I'm lucky though, Kay asked me to be his "trainer". As in I ride him in my free time as I wish along with in my weekly lessons, to get him more experience. & since he is for sale, someone is looking at him & if the match is there he might be sold. Kay has already told me that she will stick me on someone else if I like because she has plenty of green horses that need experience too. & I like training & green horses so it will be good.
Now I have been riding him for....3ish months. Tomorrow we are going to a schooling hunter show. We will be competing in ground poles & cross rails. Nothing too exciting but a good show to get him experience. I'm lucky to still have Donna to come be my Show Mom & my mother to be there for me.
But here is the reasons I'm blogging again. As much as I wish I could tell you it's because I want to keep up with everyone again, it's not. Time wise with nursing school there is no way I could read your posts. I am blogging again so in 15 months when I graduate nursing school & get my next horse, I can look back & reread the training things I've done with Mulcahy now & whatever horse I'm stuck on next & use them for my horse. I will though try & read everyone blogs during free time so don't be caught off guard with random comments.
Ive noticed over the years that there are 3 main types of riders out there - HORSE GIRLS; the girls who think they are horse girls; and the I really want to be a horse girl whooo crosss country, whoooo crew, whoooo horse backpack and I just love my boyfriend.
HORSE GIRLS -
These are the girls who give up partying late to wake up at 6am to feed, clean stalls, get hay, ride, break frozen water buckets in -10 degrees, ect. I like to think I fall into this area. The girls that will ride any horse even if last week it just thru someone off and broke their arm. The girls that take horseback riding seriously and even if they dont compete they still want to be the best equestrian and take the horses needs above their own.
Wanna Be Horse Girls -
These are the girls who think they are the shit. The girls who really can only ride the dead broke horses and have the parents with the money to spend 10k on a amazing horse then when they get on a normal horse they cant do jack shit besides know how to look pretty sitting on the horse.
Story- Girl who shows at the local show I go to has an amazing horse that is 18 hh and cost a fortune. He broke his jaw last spring and had to go to a big time vet a few hours away for surgery then come home a few days later. If I was this girl I would have been with Pippi nearly the whole time unless school or something very important got in the way and I would have been at the barn when she got home. This girl didnt see her horse till 2! days after he got home then proceeded to complain on FB about having to wash his mouth out and not ride for a few weeks. And this past month she rode a different horse at the show and OH MY, her distances to the jumps were huge or small and everywhere and was a mess. But she thinks he is Gods gift to the horse world. URG!
There is nothing wrong with these girls they just drive me nuts. Learn to ride!
Think They Are Horse Girls -
These are the girls who like to think they are all about their horses till something better comes along. They have the horse pencils, and backpacks, and can ride but whoooo there is a party tonight. I have a boyfriend. Grow out of it. Play other sports and put horses on the back burner till it is convenient for them.
Story - I had a friend like this and a new girl at a local barn is like this. My friend really did horses for awhile, then she went to high school and did crew. Okay I understand doing other sports. Then she got a boyfriend and as far as I know she never rides anymore but here or there and her horses sit in the pasture as decoration. New local barn girl is like this. She rides and went to the show with us last weekend. Normal people wake up and feed their horses, clean the stall, school before the show starts, bathe, ect. I drove 45+minutes to the show and did this all before she even woke up. When she did she went and got breakfast. And then when she did get around to schooling she was shocked when her horse was a hot mess and not being good. She will also go to the barn and follow the new trainer around like a lost puppy and is totally boy crazy (I guess the new trainer is cute). She will be their for hours and not touch her horse. When she asked me how often I ride Pippi (5-8 times a week depending on weather) and she was shocked. Uhm, they need exercise too sweetheart and if I plan on taking Pippi to a show to do 2 jumping divisions we best be physically fit and ready bc I can't afford to go and have her be a mess.
I had my lesson Sunday with Autumn for my flying lead changes. And I fell off in the first 5 minutes. Yes thats right, 5 minutes was all it took. See I got to the barn early to warm up and get the buck out of Pippi before Autumn got there. Then Autumn put ground poles in the corner. The point was to circle at one end of the arena, go over ground pole and change lead and circle again, go over ground pole, ect. Well it was early so the grass was still wet and over ground pole we went, change lead, back legs slip put from under us, Pippi catches herself, gets pissy and bucks bucks bucks towards the fence. I, in a weird position with no leg straight am losing it thinking Pippi is going to jump the fence but last moment turns on her haunches and off I go in the other direction. Straight on my butt/back. And just sat there. Of course I got back on and had a wet butt. Just peachie. So we worked on getting the lead change. Pippi did get one but then switched it back to the original lead. Urg! Pippi was super pissy that day too. She made if loud and clear that she was pissed that she only got worked once all week. She was crow hopping everywhere and bucking. Her ears were pinned and her expression was clear as day, Eff You!
Today I tried again. And I must say, this crow hopping thing is getting old quick! She is going to get in loads of trouble it she doesn't knock it off! I started out today with bending and curving around my inside leg. She started off nice then got bored and proceeded to make a fuss. I started trotting then moving to the canter. When I started asking for a lead change she was running thro my half halts, running thru the simple change, crow hopping again the whole nine yards. She did get one lead change in which she was crow hopping and either had to change leads or fall on her face. And I gave her lots of pats and praise till I asked again so she crow hopped even more. Tomorrow I am going to try a different method with jumping so maybe she will like it better(:
I have to have the best friends ever(: Last week we decided that we would go to a hunter jumper schooling show for the weekend after I got approved from my doctor to ride in boots again with no brace unless I was in pain! (PS my test results came back. Thyroid is fine, kidneys are fine, everything else is fine besides my Vit. D intake which was really low. which is weird considering I am outside all the time.) The plan was to steal my friend Donny's truck after he unloaded and mom would drive his truck, get the trailer, get Pip, and go to the show all while I was working. Well Donny ended up bringing his trailer to get Pippi just as I am getting off work because his ball didnt fit our hitch. Like I said, I have the best friends, be jealous(;
Friday-
After Donny got Pippi, I went to unload everything from the trailer that I had just put in there a few hours prior, to the car and drive to the show. When we got there my other friend Kole was on the phone all upset. Well by looking at her horse I would have been too. Her horse cut his eye BAD. It looked like he was trying to take off his eye lashes if he had fake ones on. Six stitches later he is just fine but no show for him. Anyways I decided school that night because Pippi is Pippi and she is a hot mess if not riden often and I had rode her twice this week. I tacked her up and off we went. Pippi hates to be lunged now, really always has hated it but now I figure it is easier to just ride the hot out of her then try and lunge it. Donny starts to watch us and Pippi is HOT WALKING around. This is not how Pippi was last year and Donny got a great kick out of it. He finally left me alone to get the Hot worked out and I rode and rode and rode. Finally I got tired of holding her back at the trot and I just hand galloped her around a few times. By now Donny has come back in and is watch our canter/hand gallop and has a smirk on his face and asks if I want the jumps raised as they are only at 18"/2'3 ish. I declined and kept running around. He left again and I started taking fences one at a time then stringing them together. Pippi was Running at them but we werent a total mess. So I hoped Off and raised them to around 2'6ish which we had not jumped yet even at home the whole 2 weeks we have been jumping again. haha. Again I start one line at a time and string things together. Oh I love my mare! Our spots were HUGE and we were speeding around but it was a consistent speed. Donny came back in and asked for me to take some jumps to watch. I did and he had the same smirk on his face.
Finally I said "what?"
He replies with "What am I going to ask you?"
UHM?
"Where were my spots? What Speed did I intend to take this at? Where was my half seat? How about a 2-point and a release? Does Pippi think she is a jumper this weekend and not a hunter?"
"No, what are you doing Labor Day weekend?"
Like I really plan that far ahead in advance.
"Delaware is having their Ride For The Ribbon show and Sherman and I are going, you and Pippi should go."
Delaware is the BIGGEST Hunter Jumper show in the State! Donny thinks if I work a bit on my legs and all that junk we will be ready for it. OH MY GOODNESS!
So I called it a night, fed and went to bed.
Saturday-
Got at the barn at 6:30am to school again, feed, wash and chill before my division. Pippi must have gotten a lot a rest because once again we were a hot mess and ready for the race track. Oh Paint Mare, you are a PAINT not a OTTB! If you OTTB people saw her I swear you would start to wonder. She acts more like a OTTB then Sherman does who raced till he was 9 and just got off the track in February and was fit to race again in March. Schooling was not exciting, tho thinking back I should have schooled way more. I didnt want to loose Horse because I have little leg so I didnt over school like I should have. Then I fed her, and gave her a quick bath.
I decided to only do 2' and if I had plenty of horse and Miranda left for Sunday I would do 2' and 2'3-2'6. Well again Pippi and I were racing around at a consistent speed of FAST. But we got 3 firsts in over fences out of three classes with 4 riders in them. Whoooo. Like I said we were consistent and got most of our leads. In my flat class Pippi had no head set, no speed control, nothing. We were trotting in place at the walk, hand galloping at the canter, hot trotting at the trot. URG. But we managed a 2nd out of 4 because thankfully we got our acts together the second direction.
Mom decided she wanted to do the english pleasure class. Well Pippi was still very hot and it didnt go as well as expected.
Sunday-
I got to the barn again at 6:30am and fed first because the course wasnt set and then schooled. I decided it would be better on my arms to just walk a few laps then canter/hand gallop around a few hundred times before trying to control the trot. I worked wonders. I schooled till we were just right. Then mom wanted to do the ground poles class. You can read all about her classes HERE!
For my classes Pippi was being lazy, not listening to my spots or my legs. We ended up having one refusal which was all me. I had my leg on her, leg, leg then my ankle gave and she was like UHM, WHAT?!?!?! and quit. Totally me. I probably should have only done one division again instead of pushing it. We even knocked a rail which we have never ever done at a show. WTF Pippi! It probably does not help that Friday I started to get sick with a cold so by Sunday it was roaring strong and I was having a hard time breathing at a walk let alone at a canter thru a course.
After the show I talked to the judge who has an ISHA team and an IEA team. She said I started out strong and had some really nice classes but then we knocked a rail or had to do a simple lead change which cost me. I ended up getting second or third in my classes. Here is a few courses that I approve of.
Please remember I have been in a saddle for a month by now, riding in boots for 3 days, and jumping 2 weeks. I now know that I forget to half seat at all while jumping! I dont know were it went but it was not there. And now I am having my friend Autumn, who does Dressage and Eventing, come get a flying lead change on Pip. I have tried everything and it just isn't working and she is really good at that kinda thing so she is coming Sunday. We must have a flying change by labor day so we can go to the show and kick butt!
Last night I rode her again and set up a single oxar to work on getting leads over the jump. This is our first oxar since February and it was great. LOVE MY PAINT MARE. Sunday starts boot camp with Autumn and hopefully it is a minor detail to get my flying change.
Sunday was the Big day of small showing(: But of course a real horse show starts the day before with preparing the trailer, and washing the horsie. Bathing is really not that exciting so we will cut straight to Sunday. Since this was just a local horse show and jumping normally doesnt start till 11ish we got to get some sleep and have a quiet morning. Only I woke up to big puffy eyes that looked like they were going to get pushed out of my head. Luckily the puffy-ness went down as the day went on. When we got to the show I went and got my show bill so I could sign up for all my classes, a total of 7. Which really isnt a bunch for Pip and I. But I didnt want to pay for my classes till I talked to the judge and made sure she didnt care about me showing in half chaps around my brace and tennis shoes. This particular show is, well, a pain in the royal butt! If one person doesnt like something then they like to bitch about it and get it changed. They dont like when new people come and show and they really dont like it when they win. I was told by one person that it isnt safe to ride in tennis shoes, which I am aware of but come on. Ive been doing it for 3 weeks now and thats the only thing I can do. Luckily the judge was perfectly fine with it when I told her I had broken my leg and still need the brace for support. I also made sure to walk Pippi around the show grounds a lot before tacking up and such. She hasnt seen Big horses since the accident and we thought she might get worked up. But not SHOW PIPPI. She was a champ.
Once tacked up I went into the ring for the warm up. No lunging before hand. Which at the time I thought "OH NO" and at first I was half tempted to get off and go lunge. Pippi was a weeee bit....."trigger happy". Any leg pressure sent her flying as fast as she could into the trot. We did lots of circles at first and half halts which she listened politely to each but wanted to go. Her canter was the best canter ever tho. Oh so nice and soft and flow-ie and Oh to have that canter every time we ride would be amazing. Once she calmed down I took her out to stand while the other classes started out. I opted to not do the big pay back class (and the only walk/trot/canter class) because I figured it would have been a waste of money. Now I wish I had done it.
Our first class was Walk/Trot Hunter under saddle. And since Pippi got to stand around she got excited again. And was trigger happy again. Her head set wasnt super pretty, she was hot trotting around some but we still managed a 4th out of 9 horses. I was very pleased. Next was Walk/Trot Equ and Pippi was more manageable and I pulled a 3rd out of 8 or 9 riders. While they set up the jumps I went and talked to the judge and her suggestion was mostly about Pippi and having her more on the bit at times and not so forward which I knew was an issue but she really liked Pippi. Yay(:
For jumping they only have four jumps. Yes thats right 4. Like I said local small schooling show. In cross rails first class (w/t hunter) Pippi was jumping round and cantered off every jump but pulled down nicely and we got a 1st out of 4 horses. In the Equ course we got 2nd out of 4 and I think thats because I didnt sit the trot. For the Equ courses on the opening circle you are suppose to sit the trot, well I am a little out of practice and forgot. So I'll take that 2nd place proudly. Then there was hunter hack and they raised the jumps to 2'ish. For hunter hack you are suppose to stop at the cone, wait for the judge to nod at you, canter off and take the 2 jumps assigned, then hand gallop off around to the cone, stop, back, drop your reins to show that your horse listens and look at the judge again. Our distances to the jumps were off, our hand gallop was awesome till the stop that wasnt. The cone was like 2 strides behind us. We got 2nd out of 4 again. 2' Hunter over fences we managed another 2nd out of 4 with bad distances to the same jumps again. We kept chipping in no matter if I held her to pushed her forward. Grrrrr. In 2' Equ we got 1st out of 4 which Im not sure how because I was super tired and my legs were everywhere.
So very good day. I was super proud of Miss Pippi. I love how nicely our flat work is coming along. Considering we only jumped twice before the show that wasnt bad at all either. I have videos of the jumping but havent edited it so you'll have to wait. I did get 2 PAC points that will need to be turned in. And Pippi got Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow off so Thursday I will hack around some hopefully. Or maybe tonight I will ride her bareback some. But super proud of my girl<3
