Banana's First Event

Late Thursday morning my partner-in-crime and I loaded the horses, picked up her daughter at school and headed out to Flagstaff. We had our usual, "Thank freaking goodness we don't live on the Navajo Res" conversations and sang along to ABBA.

Yeah, sorta not the most pleasant place to call home.

Her daughter was in the back of the truck wishing she didn't know us. We got to Flagstaff in the correct number of hours (6) and were unloaded and set up before the sun set. Banana happily munched on the hay in her stall and wasn't pacing.

Friday morning we did a stadium schooling round. Banana did a lot of "What the heck?!" as we went around the course. Colored jumps! Oxers! I had to really ride. One we did end up circling, but otherwise all was well. After that we schooled XC. Thank goodness they have that option for pre-comp. It just sets a greenie up for a better chance of success.

We went to the water jump and she put one foot in and drank. And drank. And drank. I'm pretty sure she lowered the water level by a couple of inches. We did eventually get in. Then left, then went back in. Good first experience. Afterwards it was bath time and some quality stall hanging time.

Saturday we didn't have Dressage until 2:59. So, I braided! It only took me half an hour to get the first braid done as I had to ponder what style we were doing. She was tolerant and my speed increased after the first.

Ah, sewn in button braids how I love you.

So, dressage. We got to warmup and she some "What the heck?!" moments. She was listening to my aids, so I wasn't worried, but it's always nicer when she'll stand still on the buckle. The ring steward gave her some scritches and she relaxed and stood still.

I was quite pleased with our ride. It wasn't perfect of course, and we still have a lot to work on. We got a 7 on one of our trot circles. But, when I finish and have tears in my eyes because I love riding my horse so much there's just nothing awesomer.

We look like a real dressage pair in this pic

We got a 44.5 which put us in 2nd place! Unheard of for me and I was giddy. The Pre-Comp scores were really close. 1st had a 42, 6th had a 49. We all had a chance of winning.

Naners enjoys her post-dressage snack

Sunday morning: chilly as a cold front was moving into Flagstaff. Jump judge meeting at 7 am. But...

Best Volunteer Raffle Prize Ever! I won a free entry for next year. And, I got to sit in a meadow and watch people jump.

After jump judging prelim and training back to the barn I went and soon Stadium and XC.

Things were going well, then fence 6... no ground line, scary filler that had just been pushed to the sides of the jump. We pulled a rail. Then she jumped the next one really big

Then off to XC! Where we got around everything and within time. However...

You wouldn't think that jump would cause her to stop dead 20 feet out, but it did. She wanted nothing to do with it. I had to use my crop! She never stepped back though, so no refusal. I think her attention was on the other jump, not our little stick.

When the scores were posted we were in 2nd! Alas, they'd forgotten to put my rail in. So, I informed them of the mis-scoring and got pushed down to 3rd. Oh well. They were nice enough to give me a 2nd place saddle pad for good sportsmanship though. I really didn't want the 3rd place rope halter because I have zero use for one.

And that is the tale of Banana's first event. Where she got a banana yellow ribbon.

Naners and I just continue to get better.

This last weekend we did a clinic with Daniel Stewart. If you ever have an opportunity to clinic with him do it. You will get so much out of it. I certainly did.

We're really starting to work as a team. As I guided her around, thinking heavily of the task at hand, she just did her job. We did rollbacks at a canter and jumped our first fences at a diagonal. She didn't even think of stopping, even when she was faced with obviously new things. I love my horse and I love riding her. What a change from 2 months ago, when I wanted to sell her.

I learned my flat eq is pretty darn good, but oh crud, is my jumping position shitty. Things I was getting away with on Penny Pony just do not work on a big horse. I have the tools now to fix it, just have to work at it. If anyone has been to one of Daniel's clinic I'll just say I parachute and need to remember to googly eye.

We leave in just a few days for Flagstaff. Ride times were posted today. I am super excited. But, I'm damping it down a bit so I'll actually sleep the next few nights.


In other news as I was leaving for Pony Club the other night I found Pinto on the outside of the gate. So, I had to disconnect the opener and chain it shut. So inconvenient, but better than the horses getting out.

Naners and Red wonder why they didn't think to go out the gate.

Horror of Hairnets

Back in my youth hair nets were so incredibly flimsy. Maybe it was just the ones my mom bought at KMart: they came three to a package and the wrapping was a strong paper envelope. We could never find blonde so I was stuck wearing white. I suspect they appealed to the white haired crowd.

I used two nets per show and they always just barely made it through the day. They were completely trashed and reuse was unthinkable. Hair nets today: not so. First, I can actually find them in something approximating my color. I've also decided they're almost indestructible if you take care of them. I wore the same pair of hair nets for three years with Penny. They got quite stinky, but still look really good (despite some run ins with the velcro on my gloves) and it felt wrong to retire something that still worked. I finally couldn't take it anymore and took out a new set (which I am never without, as I know hair net disaster will strike when I least need it to.) They're working well but after this weekend's show they were less than fresh.

Today I washed hair nets. That they're so durable I had to wash them is actually pretty cool. I put all four in my hand, squirted a bit of lingerie wash on them, ran some water over them, squeezed my hand a bunch of times to move the soap through, then rinsed. They're now drying upstairs. If this goes well I might just wash them after every show. What a crazy thought.

Naner's first jumping show

On Sunday morning, while the sky was still dark, I loaded my horse in my very own trailer. Good thing it has lights inside, or I don't think I would have ever gotten her on. We crept down the gravel roads, on the lookout for deer, and got to town before the sun came over the mountain to blind us. The Albertson's parking lot was nice and empty at 7 am and I took up about 15 spaces when I parked.

With a Venti Salted Carmel Mocha Frappuccino in the cup holder and a 20 pound bag of ice in the truck bed, we went the rest of the distance to the barn the show was at. No problem parking, since I was the first one there. Banana was quietly eating on the trailer so I left her in there while I got the show office set up. People checked in and after about two hours I tied her to the trailer with her hay net and she continued to be a good girl.

My other mount showed up, Quirky the Connemara. We're still applying small amounts of pressure to him and he's getting better. After his freak out in the warmup at Watermelon I decided it might be good to go in a flat class with people I know can steer, so at the last minute we did a Hunter Under Saddle class. He was pretty fabulous. Quick, but listened. We placed 4th out of 10 or something like that. Then we did Pile Of Poles, to take out the possibility of him bucking. He decided then he was tired and I had to constantly keep my leg on him so he wouldn't walk. As a result, he had a lovely, constant speed to his trot and we placed 2nd out of 4.

Naners was a good girl. She stood around patiently as we waited our turn. Our cross-rail round was decent, considering we hadn't actually ever jumped a whole course before. We placed 4th out of 5. Our 2' round she whacked a rail and it flew about 6 feet, but we placed 3rd out of 4. I was very happy with her, though oh do we have a lot to work on, but it's just that she needs miles.

Afterwards back to the trailer she went, where she stood quietly napping for the rest of the day and I was stuck back in the office. When we got home she got to go out with Red (who is back) and his buddy Pinto and she couldn't be happier.

Wheels!

My friends have been very good to me the last couple of years, transporting my horses and I about. But now I can do it myself!

It's not the fanciest trailer in the world, but it will do its job. And most importantly, Banana should get in it.

Two Ride Day

Quirky showing off his carrot stretching skills.

Yesterday I started off my afternoon riding Quirky the Connemara. He's such a little stinker, but he's getting better. Then Banana and I went on a trail ride with some friends.

Lots of bushwhacking through the gamble oak, though in this pic we just happen to be on a trail.

I love Naner's ears.

Banana and I jumped a couple of logs out in the woods.

Love my horse. She's so solid on the trail.

Moving forward

Naners and I are entered in our first horse trial. Go Pre-Comp!

Yesterday I declared I was head over heels in love with Banana.

Yup, that feels right.

Women may be from Venus, but sometimes horses are from somewhere in another galaxy...

Way back when I taught horseback riding at a summer camp. I had a kid and horse that just could not get it together. Kid was, understandably, frustrated. She was a fine rider, horse was not the worst one in the barn. They were just having a massive communication problem. For whatever reason, it was like she was speaking German and the horse only knew Mandarin. When I told her this, that she wasn't bad, the horse wasn't bad, they just weren't communicating the right way yet all her frustration melted out of her. I think one of the big parts of frustration is knowing something is wrong, but having no idea how to fix it. For her, knowing what the issue was helped her figure out how to deal with it. So she fiddled and tried things until she and the horse were able to work together.

I'm pretty sure if I had been on the outside of my relationship with Banana I would have seen that our problem was like that camper and horse: a massive communications breakdown. I knew something wasn't right with us, but couldn't figure out what it was. I thought it was a problem with me, with her, that we'd never get past it, I should sell her, etc... Turns out, once she gets off the forehand she's a nice horse. However, getting her off the forehand is difficult and I wasn't given the tools to deal with it until recently. I suspect I do it without thinking on other horses, but Banana's forehandedness was on a whole new level than I've dealt with in a long time.

I had a lovely ride on her yesterday. She's figured out she can't be on the forehand and jump, so she's now getting off it herself when she sees a jump. It makes things far easier on me. I'm thinking if I went over a cross-rail before a dressage test we'd kick butt.

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo

A trip to the Denver Zoo. Lots of baby animals.

Baby Bongo

Baby Przewalski's horse

Baby Zebra

Baby Orangutan

Also, a Red Panda

And a Somali Wild Ass