Jones moves up to Novice, Revi returns to recognized competition, etc....

So, Seattle Jones has made the "big move up" to Novice, at the Carolina Horse Park, where he won his division on his dressage score of 30. Yowza! Now, Novice isn't that big in the grand scheme of things but, he's a 4yo OTTB, so winning the dressage is kinda awesome, and he did it in fabulous style.... jumped quiet and clean around stadium, galloped and came back politely on xc, not a bit of hesitation at the biggest xc jumps he'd yet seen. He also went to a schooling dressage show and won a test at First Level! He is going Novice again at TTC next weekend.

Revi is back in the recognized events now that the season is well under way, placing 6th at the Ark in Open Prelim and 4th at VA in the Preliminary Horse division. Dressage needs work still, but cross-country is a blast! I am developing confidence in her brakes, so the next event we'll be going full speed. The Micklem Bridle with the Happy Mouth mullen snaffle is just the ticket for Ms. Sensitive.

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy....

So Bolivia's filly is a trip. She had more attitude than any foal I have ever met....










But, at about three weeks, she started shedding her foal coat, and got ITCHY. Major attitude change.....


















I wish there was a FEH for weanlings because she is FANCY.....! Yumm. Can't wait until she is old enough to show!









Skipped the AECs.... just couldn't justify the time, expense, etc. when I've got so much else going on. But we're signed up for a dressage show (wait listed, but hopeful!) at 2nd level this weekend, and then Jones is going to CHP, Revi will run at the Ark, and then I'll be deciding where Jones will move up to Novice....woot!

He jumped a bunch of Novice xc fences winning the YEH at the Ark in August (with an 81!) and I think he's ready.

I'm Melting.....

It has been some kind of crazy hot all up and down the east coast! I have hardly been riding my own horses, quite frankly.... Revi is getting kind of ticked off, every time she sees me come up to the barn she starts running around the paddock bucking and doing sliding stops. Come on mom, let's JUMP something!

I have ridden her a few times in the new Micklem bridle, which she seems to like.... we did a combined test at Rivendale and she was really good aside from spooking slightly at some birds in the covered ring during the dressage test. She jumped very nicely around in stadium and finished 2nd. She's doing very well in the year end points at this point! Time to start getting her back to work to prep for the fall season....

Seattle Jones went to another horse trial at the Carolina Horse Park and jumped around beginner novice, winning on his dressage score + one rail (barely tapped that sucker!) He is doing fabulously and so far this season has three mares in foal on first cycle, waiting on an u/s on the fourth!

Bolivia, my semi-retired Intermediate horse, had her Formula One foal early Saturday morning, about three weeks early. A very refined filly--looks like she will have Livi's gazelle-like build but shorter-coupled, and she is a handful already!

I am a HORRIBLE blogger!!

But I have wicked awesome horses!

Revi spent some time recovering from a bruised heel, and skipped the VAHT... she seems to be back on track now. We did a combined test at TTC last weekend, and that went well. Revi warmed up decently and turned in an obedient-but-not-amazing dressage test.... we were going without a flash and with the noseband loose as an experiment, and she DID seem to appreciate it. There was only one other horse in the class.... a big flashy warmblood with the requisite score! Oh well!

So we hopped over a couple of fences in the warmup. Revi felt good so we hung out, watched thh big flashy warmblood stop at the last fence in the triple--garnering 4 jump penalties and 23 time--went in, jumped around decently with one rail and minimal 'discussion' about speed and way of going from Ms. Opinionated, and won the class. Gotta say it was a big course and laid out kind of strangely, and I was grateful for Revi's "I don't care how big it is or what it looks like, I'm JUMPING!" attitude. I'll work on the dressage!

Speaking of which they had Micklem bridles on sale in the tack store on-site for $93, and there was a 30% discount for competitors. In light of my noseband-loosening experiment I had actually been thinking about trying one on Revi, so I picked one up. So far she is going well in it, but it is a trifle big so I've ordered the next size down. Madison tried the one I have on her horse Lee, who went great in it so she's bought it from me. Everyone wins!

Young stallion Seattle Jones is a ROCK STAR! He did the BN combined test, winning the dressage by 7 points and staying on his dressage score with a lovely relaxed jumping round. He did squeal at some horses in a field near the warmup while I was opening a gate from horseback (to get to the lower part of the xc when we were schooling afterwards), but oh well. He didn't move, just squealed and stomped one foot! He schooled xc great, jumped a pretty big and deep ditch, up and down banks, and cruised through the water. He even jumped in and out of the water over a bank with no problem, on the first try. We are so excited about him!

This weekend we had an equine massage therapist come to the barn. No, my horses aren't spoiled! As I suspected it was confirmed that Revi's issues are pretty much all tension and discomfort in her jaw and poll, a little bit in her neck. So the Micklem bridle will hopefully help with that. Jones really enjoyed his massage therapy session and in typical Jones fashion was very 'engaged' with the therapist throughout the process, just like he is in training sessions. "What are we doing and how can I help make it better?" is his attitude. His primary trouble area was tension/restriction in his left front, due to his grazing posture.

Madison did her first BN combined test at TTC, and finished in 2nd on her dressage score with Devil's Advocate (Lee), so she is real excited to go their first BN HT at Foxtrack next weekend! We have had several new students join the barn in the last month, including a new boarder who is very keen to start seriously eventing. So we are getting pretty busy, which is great! Lots of projects going on at the barn, things getting done..... which is why I haven't been posting much I guess! But I will try really hard to post again soon....!

Getting toward the end of the spring season.....

So guess I've gotten my hands on some nice young horses....

Vanity's Revenge finished 2nd at the Ark at Preliminary and is heading next to the Preliminary 3-Day in VA. Dressage is improving, we were just .4 behind a horse who has been getting low 30s all season!! Showjumping was mannerly, and cross-country we put on some speed and she flew over everything without the slightest hesitation....!

On Sunday we took Gracie, aka Vanity One, for her first show at the Ark's Future Event Horse competition. Jones went too, to compete in the Young Event Horse for the first time. Gracie was EXTREMELY good.... she whinnied a bit, but didn't act silly at all. She stood up for the judge, walked and trotted, and won the yearling class and Reserve Champion Future Event Horse out of nine competitors!! Including some very fancily-bred babies! She got a _9_ on her walk! And an 8 on correctness. She acquired a few fans amongst the spectators, too, with her personality!

Jones totally wowed me with his obedience in the dressage--I was really able to ride him through and show off his gaits and temperament, garnering eights on his walk and submission/willingness. He won the dressage section by 2 points! Then we jumped, and although he is still not terribly experienced he scored well for his willingness, responsiveness, technique and scope. He went readily into the water and barely hesitated before the drop and the ditch, which had already caused much consternation among the other young horses. And we got to GALLOP, which was pretty fun! So I was feeling pretty good as they started reading back the results.... though we might do okay for an Off Track TB. We weren't sixth. Then we weren't fifth or fourth. I was pleased! Then we weren't third, either. There was a REALLY nice grey mare, so I thought "Cool, we got 2nd!" But the grey mare was 2nd! Which left 1st for Jones! And then he was Reserve Champion YEH, just a hair behind the 1st placed 5yo Young Event Horse!

So we got a bunch of ribbons and a couple swank championship halters from Nunn Finer, and Revi won some lovely Nunn Finer boots! All in all an excellent weekend and I am really excited about having such nice horses of my own to ride! Have to say I am retooling my business plan a bit to give myself more time (and money) to do so, too..... More horse shoeing work and scaling down the lesson program.... selling surplus horses.... etc! I've picked up quite a few shoeing customers in the last couple of months, and things look good for further expansion.

The Heavenly Horse and the Law of Fences

Jones went to his first horse trial and it went pretty well. Dressage was good.... we were in fourth with a 37. Cross-country looked pretty inviting, with a couple of surprising fences for a schooling BN.... the fourth fence was two overturned metal water troughs topped by a log, with false saloon-fronts to either side, for instance! But I figured he's a good brave fellow and it would be no problem. Three fences were in fencelines between the pastures.

So if you've ever read The Heavenly Horse From The Outermost West (kind of a horsey Watership Downs) the horses in the book talk about The Law of Fences, where horses have an agreement with Man to obey fences as part of their "bargain" for shelter and food, etc. Well apparently Jones read the book or at least subscribes to the philosophy! LOL. Cantering up to the first fence, which was in the pasture fenceline, he said "What??" and stopped. We circled and I gave him a tap with the whip and he jumped it, but I could tell he thought I was NUTS! The next, oh, ten fences were great.... then we cleared a big table, galloped up the hill toward the second fenceline with jumps in it, and he started slowing down and giving me dubious ear-flicks. REALLY? A little kick and he hopped right over, down the hill to another fenceline, he just hesitated for the barest second there and went without needing additional encouragement. Galloped to the finish very happy and hopefully a better understanding of Legal Fence Jumping!!

Showjumping was a cinch, nice colorful course with turns and bending lines. He listened very well and handled it all no problem. Finished in 7th. He got a lot of attention for his good behavior as a young stallion, too.

Huggy, the medium pony I've been riding for four months, went and did his first horse trial also in the "Moving Up" division (his mum has no faith whatsoever, right Pam?). He is a little herd-bound and was NOT happy to be down in the dressage ring with no other horses in sight (it is in an isolated corner over a hill from the warmups), but he managed to pull off a 3-way tie for first. He jumped clean on cross-country, cantered quite a bit and nicely under control, and we trotted the last couple fences to avoid time penalties (275mpm is NOT very fast!) In stadium he was a little distracted and knocked the first fence, finishing in second overall.

Madison and her new horse, Lee, had a decent first show. He got spooked by a golf cart running right up behind him and was a bit tense in dressage, and as he was circling the start box for cross-country, the horse before him went flying across the course with its saddle under its tummy! So he was a little hyper! But he jumped around clean for cross-country and stadium and finished ninth out of 19. So, ribbons all around!

All's well at the barn.... new boarder coming in a couple weeks, a playmate for Gracie! Breedings starting to roll in for Jones as well, Vanna is at the vet's hopefully getting bred to Future Illusion (BSH eventing stallion by Fleetwater Opposition, the sire of Summersong, Opposition Buzz, etc), new training horse Sassy (Dutch cross 4yo) is w/t/c and trotting ground rails after less than four weeks work....

Revi says, "Is that all?"

So this last weekend we ran Preliminary at Southern Pines I. Last year, the xc courses there were pretty soft.... Revi ran her 2nd Training there and it was a total yawn. Well, they beefed it up this year!! There was a bank/bounce/skinny rolltop, huge hanging log, skinny/big drop/bending skinny combo, average coffin, average Prelim water, a good sized corner and a big trakehner.

First though we had to survive dressage. Revi warmed up decently but was a little fussy in the bridle during her test; however, she scored a 37 and ended up about midpack. I was not thrilled, she could do better, but she continues to improve so that's fine....

Warm-up for xc was uneventful, and we started out at a good clip over the first few fences but once we got to five (the bank with the bounce to the skinny) I slowed up a bit because I wanted to be prepared in case she had any hesitation at the more technical stuff (or that huge log that was next!) Revi had it handled, though! She sailed handily over the huge log and then we galloped down toward the skinny/drop/skinny. I slowed WAY down for that, which was probably a wasted effort.... she was all over it! The next few fences were simple, although the turn to the coffin was a yucky s-line, really blew rhythm to heck. Then a skinny, a log in the small water, and then I totally missed my path to the next fence (another weird course deviation) and had to loop around a couple extra plots of trees to get there, wasting some time. Water was uneventful--boathouse, drop in on an angle, out over a boat--then into the infield for the Big White Table (yawn, says Revi) and a good-sized corner ("Wait!" sez I.... "Fifth board from the edge toward the 2nd post over from the light colored one on the steeplechase rail! Gotta be accurate!" Sez Revi in response: "Hang your line and your spot, I see a JUMP JUMP JUMP YEEEHAAAAAHHHH!!!") Corner, check. Then there was... something, possibly a table?.... and a big trakehner (WHEEEE!!) and a house and done, much to Revi's disappointment.... So, clean jumping, with some time because I didn't expect her to make such light work out of the course on her 2nd "real" Prelim and rode conservatively. Considering she made a distinct effort to drag me to each and every jump, it was unnecessary and next time I'll put the hammer down and ride for time, too.

Meanwhile Melanie and Drayco had an excellent test--a 33 on their 2nd Training, for sixth place out of 33--but had miscues at two simple fences on xc. The first, coming up a hill, Mel just couldn't see the jump over the hill and was off her line enough to confuse Dray... the second was a faux corner next to the Prelim corner, and it looked like he got distracted by the decorations and wasn't paying attention until too late. He went through a similar phase when he started out at Novice, and I think he will get over it pretty soon and get a little more focused.

Sunday the hotel didn't provide the promised wake-up call, so I literally trotted around the warmup three times, jumped the cross-rail, heard them calling me, jumped the oxer, and went in the ring! Revi jumped GREAT--listened well, tapped a couple of jumps but left all the rails up! Due to time faults on xc, we ended up waaaaay down the results, but I was pretty excited that she handled everything so well. All we need to do is go a bit faster.... I think she'll be happy to do that!

Drayco turned in his usual flawless showjumping round. Once he gets back in the groove on cross-country, he will be really, really hard to beat!

Next stop with these two is the FENCE Horse Trials in Tryon, first weekend in April, then Longleaf a few weeks later.

Not this weekend but the next is the TTC Schooling HT. Jones is going for his first horse trial, as is the training pony, Huggy, and Madison with her new horse Lee! Carrie and Pickles are hopefully going to get an entry in for Novice so they can join us. There are so many quality schooling events in our area that it is nice in terms of stress AND budget.... you can really stick with them until you're about ready to go Training, like I did with Revi. Unless you're doing USEA points/awards, of course! I will probably hit one or two recognized events with Jones, just to have him "seen", but mostly we'll be doing schooling events for a little experience while he finishes growing up.... he IS only four!

Spring is here, yay!

Ah it has been soooo nice out. Except this weekend when Revi ran her first recognized Prelim and it rained..... but at least it MOSTLY waited until after we were done.

Revi ran another schooling Prelim at Jumping Branch, and did well although still having some dressage tension. Cross-country was a blast! That was the weekend before last. This last weekend we ran the recognized event at Sporting Days, which had beefed up cross-country a bit! I was very happy with how Revi handled that. There were lot of skinnies, a coffin with a huge ditch and skinnies at A & C, a one-stride of skinnies, a huge drop into water, a corner, assorted large tables, etc. and she just cruised around. I am so not worried about skinnies now! Or ditches for that matter. Or water. Stadium and dressage still need work. We have been having a bit of a dressage boot-camp, though (for myself, riding with a crop across my hands to work on improving my position, and for her, working on improving her throughness) and I could definitely tell a difference in her test. Although she was a bit quick, her connection was a lot steadier! As a reward, I bought her a $$ Nathe snaffle for dressage.... (Gee, thanks mom! Revi says--NOT!) It has a thinner center than the Happy Mouth, which should better accomodate her fat tongue, while still being nice and thick at the bars for comfort. And it is a bit more rubbery.

So we are still in dressage boot camp and I'm pencilling in some showjumping boot camp now, mainly just doing more coursework so we are a bit more in tune with each other all the way around. "Head up and run" seems to have disappeared for the most part, so now we can smooth things out a bit more, instead of spending all our time on gymnastics and "just pay attention!" exercises. I am making a point of scheduling time to ride MY horses not just the training critters! Next for Revi is Southern Pines HT this next weekend.... a lot of events in a short span, but then she has a few weeks off.

Jones is doing very nicely, he placed 2nd in the Ark's BN Combined Test in February, and he will make his HT debut in two weeks at Beginner Novice at TTC. I am getting a LOT of inquiries about breeding to him via shipped semen, so I may have to investigate getting access to a phantom and teaching him to use it.

We have two training horses at the moment: Huggy, the 13+h pony making his HT debut in two weeks before heading back to his owner's barn, and Sassy, a 4yo Dutch WB cross who arrived last week and is here for basic manners on up. She had her first longeing lesson today and since she only just learned last week not to ignore and/or run over people, I thought she did quite well! Walked, trotted, and stopped on a circle both ways wearing a saddle.

We presently have one stall open at the barn so I should get organized and put the word out, but it is very nice to have a little extra space so I'm not in a big hurry, either.

I moved to NC to get away from this ()&#*(&$)(#$>>.....

So snow AGAIN! last week. We got something like six inches between Sunday and Monday, then rain and freezing temps hung in there so Tuesday everything was still frozen SOLID. Main roads were "iffy" but back roads were horrid. Dwayne did a couple of shoeing stops that were not too far into the worst of the snowzone, just so we wouldn't get TOO backed up--by Wednesday we were able to get out decently, in 4WD. So we only had to work half a day on Saturday to get caught up. Thursday I got home early enough to run the bobcat around the arena and break up most of the lingering ice so I could ride, and I had really good rides on Revi, Huggy, and today on Jones. Saturday I stopped at Victory Canter on the way home from shoeing and bought some goodies.... including a sliding gag snaffle for Revi, since I feel like that is less harsh than the 3-ring fixed gag, and also I needed a gag with a thinner mouthpiece since she has such a small mouth! Wrapped it in latex and tried it on her Saturday afternoon jumping and she felt really good. Yay!

But seriously, there is still ice everywhere A WEEK LATER. I moved down here to get away from snow!! I want a refund! I have been wanting to get to Southern Pines for a lesson for the last two weeks.... could have gone last week, it snowed.... wanted to go this week, but looks like I may be hauling a horse on my day "off" when I could have gone. Hmph! Might have to be next week, but if so I'll get a bunch of riding in meanwhile so that I can take Jones too.....