Bay Faces

Banana and Meatball

Dork

Today Meatball decided to jump over both the trotting poles I was lunging him over at the same time. Dork.

Banana and Meatball

Banana likes to pace her pen, one of her less endearing qualities. I guess yesterday she was just pacing and pacing and pacing. So, today we decided we had to find her a friend to get turned out with. She and Meatball have gotten along pretty well over the fence, so we cautiously gave it a try.

No drama. Not even pinned ears.

After a bit they figured out they both like to run around, so they did. Meatball gave a couple of little kicks in her direction at one point, and pinned his ears a bit, but it wasn't even real dislike.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Meatball and I "Jumping"

With commentary from my mom. We were just walking over it. At least he didn't over jump for once?

Meatball video

I am slightly hesitant to post this, but here's a video of me riding Meatball yesterday

Video here

Don't be hating

Dressage Show! Lots of Pictures

It has been almost ten years since I showed anyone other than Penny. I was supposed to show her yesterday at the local dressage show, but she's been off on her right hind since that day she set back. She's coming home Weds and the vet will be looking at her friday.

I was already planning on showing Meatball Intro B, so that didn't change. The Taskmaster was going to show Bean First Level, so I switched my entry on Penny to Bean. I've really only ridden her a couple of times, but while she's not an easy ride it's not because she misbehaves. she just only does what you tell her to do.

Meatball spent the night at the venue, a local boarding stable. He hasn't been off the taskmaster's property in a couple of years, so we tried to make it the least bit stressful on him we could by getting him comfy there. He was a nut while I lunged him that morning, so much so he was starting to scare me. When the Taskmaster got there I told her and she reminded me he's a nut until you get on him, then he settles. She warmed him up for me and sure enough, he settled.

Our ride... OMG, it felt awesome. I have harmony with that horse I don't have with anyone else, even Pony Toes. I knew we were trotting too slow, but I didn't care. It's the first dressage test I haven't done on fast forward (that's how Penny does them.) I was enjoying the slow balance on him. Of course, our score was low (55%) because we were not at all forward, but I could care less. It felt perfect. I came out of the ring almost crying because it was just so nice. I needed that ride desperately, to remind me that all dressage is not Penny throwing her head up, bucking when I ask for a canter, etc.

Most of the local ladies have only seen me on my pony and had no idea I could ride that nicely. Hearing their praises was awesome. The Taskmaster was very proud of us. That's her in the sparkly helmet. That's my doing. As I've told many people: I should not be left loose with glue and anything sparkly.

Meatball hugs you back if you hug him, as he's demonstrating in that last pic.

My ride on Bean didn't feel as nice as my ride on Meatball, but we got a far superior score: 72.5% on Intro B. I've only gotten a higher score once: Intro A on Penny at our first show 73.3%. I think that judge was being nice to us, though it was before our old trainer screwed her up. Bean and I got mostly 8s, including one for Rider's position, which I'm thrilled about, though I did get a comment about my overly rigid arms (big surprise there :D )  And yes, I changed my shirt. I had the dirty boob look going on and with a photographer there I decided that just wouldn't do.

It was an excellent show and I'm so glad I have horses to ride that make it a joy to ride dressage instead of an exercise in terror and embarrassment. I placed first on Bean and second on Meatball and there was another rider who got third. The Taskmaster is tickled pink by the fact that the 21 year old who is not really a dressage horse kicked the butt of the horse that came out of his mom built to do dressage.

Five horse day

Lots of riding down at Working Student Land today. First, Pony Toes. Who, while I was grooming her, decided it would be awesome to knock her teeth into the back of my head. I almost always wear my helmet when I'm working around the horses but hadn't put it on yet. I was pissed, so I showed her my boss mare and she ended up breaking the leather fuse on her halter. Thank goodness for the pile of hay not far away.

When I got on I deliberately left the drama outside the arena and we had the best walk work we've ever had. She was so quiet with her mouth, the quietest ever, even when The Taskmaster rides her. It was odd not hearing the constant sound of teeth chewing on metal. It Was Awesome.

Then I rode Meatball, who was his usual self and we cantered (not something we get to every ride.) After that Bean. I actually put a saddle on her and had a lovely, lovely ride. She is not built to do dressage, so it's always a bit of a struggle to get her to carry herself nicely. I guess I was doing a good job though, as The Taskmaster said to my friend that somewhere in here I figured out how to ride and Beanie and I looked awesome.

Next was Condi, bareback as usual, big swinging walk and some trot. I've been working on getting my hips to move more with the horse and doing it bareback on Condi is definitely the best way. There is no way not to, because if you don't you're sitting heavy on The Old Man Horse's back, which isn't at all fair to him. He's very tolerant of me.

Last was Brie, warming her up for The Taskmaster. I had some issues at first keeping her straight (always an issue with her) but we worked it out. Lovely, lovely canter work. Our best moment though was a calm, perfect collected trot. I was sitting up straight and it was natural and we had late afternoon sun. It was awesome.

Lots of awesome today.

Meatball and his mom

Today after I warmed up Meatball his mom, The Taskmaster, actually had some time to ride him. She popped him over a tiny cross-rail a couple of times and he's finally over his celebrating afterwards.

Not over the over-jumping thing at the canter yet though.

















Isn't he handsome?

New mount

Today was my first ride on Brie, one of the Taskmaster's favorite horses. She's for sale as her owner has a new fancy horse. If she was cheaper, and knew how to jump, I'd want her. She's incredibly sensitive to the aids and has a lot of training. As a result, I had a heck of a hard time riding her. Not because she's hard to ride, but every little weight shift told her something and most of the time I had no idea what I was telling her. We did a lot of travers (haunches in, I had to ask) because that's what I was telling her to do. A lot. I couldn't get her to go straight. Part of that is she's an amoeba like Penny. I have also figured out I'm also an amoeba while I ride, so we were all over the place. I joked that some day we could be doing some upper level dressage test and we'll get a 10 on our travers and a 1 on our trot down the center line. I'm going to teach her how to jump (seems to be my thing lately) and see how that works out. If it does, I'll really be hoping her owners drop her price into my range. She's just the right size for me and incredibly sweet.

I lunged Meatball over some progressively larger jumps today, finishing at 2'. He didn't over jump any of them or do the celebration hop afterwards. I might actually take him over a couple on his back on Saturday.

Ow

I did a stupid. A Big, Fat, Stupid. The kind of stupid that I know better than doing, yet for whatever reason I did it anyway. And oh, am I paying the price.

Today, when I got off of Meatball we did our carrot stretches and then he followed me around the arena. He and his buddy The Idiot get to stay out there tonight. Anyway, he were walking along and I started running, this gigantic horse next to me. It was awesome. Until he forgot I was a human, not a horse, and bumped me, hard.

Next thing, I'm on my side on the ground. I hit left back hip, elbows and head. Thank god, thank god I had my helmet on. Though I wouldn't have gone out there with him to begin with without my helmet. While I don't actually need to replace it, because I already had more helmets than I need, I recently found out I can get my favorite helmet in navy suede and I am very, very tempted.

Anyway, not concussed. Road rash on both elbows and on my butt (i was wearing really thin breeches.)  I have road rash between my eyes on my forehead (we're guessing my sunglasses did that.) I have a giant bruise on my right elbow. JM wrapped me up in ice packs to drive home. I stopped at Sonic and got a chocolate strawberry cream slush (mmmmmmmmm....)

I am going to hurt so bad tomorrow. And I'm riding in a clinic on Thurs/Fri/Sat and a schooling show on Sun. At least I'm riding Penny for the clinic. I might be a little scared of Meatball right now. Not because he hurt me, I know he didn't mean to, but he's just so damn big. He was more upset about the whole thing than I am. Though, the most frantic was the dogs. They all had to come over and check on me. Buffy was frantic to get in my lap and lick my face.

I think I had half of the arena's sand in my ear.

Nap Time

I took the above just after Penny woke up from her nap yesterday. She's been pretty awful under saddle as of late, a concern because we're leaving for St Johns in a few days. Our first time competing at BN. Cross your fingers.

Yesterday's ride on Meatball was quite an adventure. We cantered, basically for the first time. When he picks up the canter he hops for a couple of steps before he settles. Then, we cantered over some poles, which he launched himself over. We really need to work on that not over jumping thing. We were having an excellent time, then he whinnied and bucked! Then he did several flying lead changes, including a one tempi. I didn't ask for any of them, but he can certainly do them. We think he was just having a good time. JM says he looked about 18 hands as we were cantering around and the buck looked absolutely frightening from the ground. But I got off grinning. He doesn't scare me, despite his size and antics, because he always comes back to obedience when I ask him to. Penny, on the other hand, is running through the bit right now and not listening to me, so when she takes off I get a bit scared, because while she will eventually come back it's not immediate.

Anyway, when I was done I told JM she wasn't going to get to ride Meatball Grand Prix because I was going to :D

Sleepy horse

R, aka Meatball, taking a snooze in the sun.

Down in working student land yesterday I lunged and rode Penny, who was fine. I really think I'm missing something as far as communicating with her is concerned. Something is just not there. Then I rode R. Riding these big dressage horses is like learning a foreign language. I could not get R to trot. He takes the contact with the smallest cue, but getting him to move? Not so easy. I know it's just a communication problem, he obviously knows how. With help from JM's hubby S and a whip I got him moving. And oh, did we move. I thoroughly enjoy that horse. I remembered on my drive home that R's saddle has some of those flexible stirrups on them and when I had normal irons I didn't have an issue. Will be switching them out next ride to see if things go better.

Meatball wonders why I'm not feeding him something

Z's owner wants me to ride him on the days JM doesn't and DC's owner would like the same when she's out of town. I'm definitely not going to turn down a ride on DC, the Grand Prix horse. He's said to be a tough ride, but it's a technical tough as opposed to behaviorally. It couldn't be the latter, as his 87 year old owner does just fine with him.

Giant Horse!

It hasn't been very often in my life that I've gotten the opportunity to ride a really nice horse. JM is now letting me ride her Oldenburg that I call Meatball. He oozes awesomeness.
















He's so big, especially compared to Penny. I can feel each muscle move when Penny's are lost because her pony body is always moving so fast (even when we're going slow.) Meatball, there's almost pauses in between things. I've been on him twice and I love being able to practice the things we're teaching Penny on a horse that knows how to do it. I'm still figuring things out, because let's face it, I'm a horrible rider compared to what he's used to. He's being patient and kind with me and giving me things I really have no right to even consider. Today we did extended trot. That's about the most fun I've ever had doing flatwork and never before have I done it.

I'm all grins when I'm on him. How could I not be? And then I forget when I'm getting off that the ground is really far away.