Erin came down from New York this past weekend with her boyfriend, David. They were heading to Six Flags, which is only half an hour from my barn. Since they had to pass the barn to get there, I invited them over for some pony time.
Dancer was off for the day so we played with JR instead.
We started off by giving David his first riding lesson, and things were going well (he even got to do some trotting on the lunge line!) David started to get an appreciation for how hard it actually is to ride a horse, and JR was plugging along, doing his job like the good boy he is.
When David had had enough, Erin hopped on the pony. She's the perfect size for him and I was excited to see her put him through his paces. Erin doesn't get to do a lot of jumping these days, and she was hoping to jump something a little more substantial than six inch cross rails.
Erin warmed up on the flat, then over some crossrails and a 2' vertical. After a few run-throughs, I invited her to take JR down the diagonal line, set at 2'6". I was taking pictures, of course.
On Saturday night Mike, OTB, and I joined Erin and her friend, Rebecca, at Devon for a night of show jumping. We stopped by later in the evening, just in time to catch the two big classes at the end of the night. I devoured an awesome caramel/chocolate chip apple and eye-balled some expensive knickknacks.
We brought Herbie and she got to meet lots of people and dogs, including a bull mastiff puppy who was taller than her and outweighed her by twenty pounds at only four months old.
I had a woman approach me to ask what kind of dog Herbie was. She seemed surprised that she was a pit bull and announced, "But she's so nice. I don't normally like pit bulls." She then went on to tell me that she has an American Bulldog who looks just like Herbie, and that's why she approached us. He's the same size and has the same face and blah blah blah. Then she whipped out a photo of her dog, who really does look like he was separated from Herbie at birth.
"Well," I told her, with the corners of my mouth twitching, "You may not think you like pit bulls, but congratulations, you own one."
"That changes everything!" she exclaimed. "I guess I like pit bulls after all!"
Seriously... shelters are not helping the breed by lying about what they are at the time of adoption. Sheeeeesh.
The showing itself was rather lackluster. It was one of the weeniest Grand Prix classes I've ever seen and there was some truly atrocious riding. I'm not one to critique people who ride at a much higher level than I will ever achieve, but some of it was really horrific. One guy slammed down on his horse's back and mouth so hard that the horse threw a rearing tantrum for several seconds before he could be convinced to go over the next jump. Another woman was hauling on her horse the entire time and leaning back so badly that I thought she'd topple right over his hindquarters. Not surprisingly, she plowed the poor horse right through one of the jumps.
Thankfully there were some very nice riders, some of whom were local, and a few of whom were even riding in snaffle bits :)
When one of the riders in the finale was announced, I actually did a double take. It was one of my old riding instructors, who I watched grow as a rider back in my lesson days.
"I rode with him!" I exclaimed.
OTB replied, "That explains why he's been looking over here all night, trying to get your attention!"
The jump off was actually pretty exciting. There were only three horses, two of which were ridden by Laura Chapot. At the last jump, she pulled a ballsy turn around that knocked seconds off the clock. She repeated it on her second round, setting an impressive time to beat. The other rider, undaunted, threw in a roll back and galloped over the last jump for home. She came in between the two Chapot times, earning second for the night, and the crowd burst into hearty cheers. It was very cool to have something to cheer about.
Over all I'm glad we went. Mike enjoyed seeing all the high end jumps up close, taking inspiration for future jump plans. I had a great time with good people and Herbie got to do!something.
I didn't take as many photos as I would have thought, but I have quite a few to share nonetheless.
On Thursday, I took CP for his second dressage show at DVHA. In stark contrast to our debut, I was completely unconcerned. I knew where I was going, what I was doing, and how I should expect to fare. At the last second, I recruited Erin to be my reader. I know the tests by now, but I still worry that I'll forget something once I'm actually in the ring.
It turns out that Thursday was wardrobe malfunction day for me. The zipper on my tall boots came apart when I was getting ready before my warm up. Thankfully, Jen had a pair of black half chaps in her trailer, so that saved the day. My calves are much bigger than hers, but I made it work. Thank goodness it's a schooling show! The tall boots will need to see a cobbler before championships (and I think there's going to be an elastic gusset in my future).
My big mistake for the day was that I warmed CP up too much. I really think I bored him and wore him out before he even entered the ring for his first test. Half an hour is way too much. I think he's fine with a 10-15 minute warm up just to loosen him up a little bit. He was pretty good in the warm up. He needed to look at the banners on the rail a few times before he stopped thinking about them, but once he got over that, he was giving me good stretches of relaxed trot. We spent a lot of time hanging out by the gate with Erin. CP even gained an adoring young fan, who very politely asked me if she could pet my horse. I keep reminding CP that if he keeps being good, he can have a little girl of his own some day.
This time, Mike had a short-ish day at work and was able to make it in time for both of my tests, despite the fact that we were going off nearly half an hour earlier than last time.
I entered the lower ring for Intro A, cool, calm, and ready to do it. There was an office mix up with my number (I was signed up as 180, but they gave me 292 when I checked in), but that got sorted out right away. The judge wished me luck and rang her bell.
CP blew our entrance at A right off the bat. Despite my best steering, he refused to stay straight down the centerline. Instead, he kept drifting to the right, and missed X by a good bit before I was able to correct him. My jabs to the right side of his rib cage went unheeded. I suspect he was trying to get over to Mike, the cookie/scratch man, who was standing on the rail with the camera. Thankfully, we reached C well enough and tracked successfully to the right like normal riders.
Our first 20m circle was sloppy, and I wasn't really surprised. CP was definitely less bendy to the right than usual.
Perhaps the strangest thing about the first test was that I really had to boot CP along to keep him moving. He really felt sluggish as we made our way around the letters. I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, and despite my outwardly calm demeanor, I felt like I had completely blown the test. I saluted at the end and approached the judge.
"You had a very nice ride," she told me.
"Really? I felt like it was terrible!"
She went on to tell me that my second circle was much better than my first and that we had some really nice moments at the trot. She also complimented our contact. I can't complain about having to push through some laziness with a pony who used to explode into the air at the mere thought of a rider.
It didn't take long to figure out just why CP was such a slug in the first test. As soon as we were in the grass, he practically crossed his legs. Before long, he found a good spot, parked way out, and took a giant pee. He'd probably been holding it since we left the barn! He grunted in relief and immediately loosened up EVERYWHERE. Much better.
My buddy from the Horse Park was riding two back to back tests in the upper ring before me, but she offered to let me sneak CP in in between rounds. I took her up on the offer, wanting to get it over with and get the pony home. The judge thanked me for my willingness to step in.
I have great news. We had halts this week! CP marched right down the centerline and stopped squarely while I saluted. Good man!!!
Once again, I blew the circle, but this time it was entirely my fault. I'm used to my 20x40 arena so when I ride in the 20x60 I make my circle too big on the first side, then do it correctly for the second side, effectively creating a ~20m egg. Oops.
I will say that I was pleased with CP's responsiveness through the transitions. It was also the first time he seemed to actually loosen up in his free walk. Progress! I finished the test feeling pretty satisfied, and with a pretty good idea of what we need to work on next.
The judge seemed to really love CP and called him all sorts of wonderful things when she heard his story.
"I will tell you," she said, "that I gave you a 9 on your trot to medium walk transition." My jaw nearly hit the ground. Our first 9!! I was delighted. "But... did you ever take geometry in high school?"
I laughed. "No, I think I skipped that one."
"That would explain it. You need to work on your circles."
"Yup."
"I think you're on the right track though. You had a very good ride. Good luck with him!"
"Thank you."
And then I got involved in some massive drama. It just wouldn't be horse showing without it.
On the other side of the parking lot was a cluster of rigs with an even bigger cluster of snotty show kids. I know one of the teenage girls was riding in a Kimberwick and after her horse had enough of her gacking on his mouth, he dumped her and she had to be seen by the medics. She seems to be fine, but it was still a poor judgement call on the mom/trainer's part.
At the end of the day, I saw a lot of commotion over by one of their trailers. A gaggle of people were trying to load an unruly warmblood mare, first up the back of their trailer, then up the side ramp. The poor horse was rearing and kicking out and just looked generally unhappy. Mike said something to me, but I decided to stay out of it, as usual.
That is, I stayed out of it until, about 20 minutes in, these people had the mare all but hog-tied with the lunge line and were beating her relentlessly with a broom.
After checking with Erin that I wasn't breaking some unspoken show world rule, I approached the scene.
Very calmly I said, "Hi. I don't mean to offend anybody. Please feel free to tell me to just go away, but I trailer load horses professionally. Would you mind if I give her a try?"
The heavyset woman who was putting a chain on the horse replied, "Yes please. Just do me a favor and don't flip her over." Really, that should have been the second I walked away, but I really wanted to help this poor horse.
As it turns out, this mare had sat in a field for the first five years of her life basically untouched. The trainer had loaded her for the first time ever earlier that afternoon. When the mare didn't immediately step onto the trailer, they lost their patience and did the old lunge-line-behind-the-haunches trick and forced her into the trailer.
Congratulations. You had the opportunity to make a horse's first trailer loading experience into a learning experience. Instead, you just did way more damage than you can even comprehend.
The mare was no dummy and figured out that if she stood sideways to the ramp, they couldn't physically pulley her into the box. Add the fact that they took away the horse's ability to step backwards if she became unsure of herself, and you have a mare who resorted to kicking out in protest. In the first few minutes that I had her, she tried to barge through me, cow kick me, and rip backwards away from me. She didn't succeed at any of the above, and ten minutes later I had her standing calmly with her two front feet on the ramp to the trailer.
That's when the heavy set woman (who I realized by now was in charge of the whole operation) stepped forward and snapped, "I'll have my horse back now, thanks." She ripped the lead rope out of my hands.
Very calmly I replied, "Ok. Good luck with her. Have a good night."
Mike was muttering darkly as I walked away, but I really thought that would be the end of it. A few minutes later, the horse was in the trailer and Mike and I were up at the show office waiting for my test results. I casually looked out the window and spotted our mom/trainer friend stalking up the hill and looking pissed.
"Uh oh, I bet she's coming up here to say something to me," I observed. I debated ducking out the back door of the office, but decided that I'm really much too old to be hiding from people who are mean.
"I don't think she knows we're up here," Mike reasoned.
"No, no... I'm pretty sure she's coming up here to yell." That angry walk is unmistakable.
Moments later, the office door slammed open and in stomped an angry bull of a woman. She glared at me and pointed an accusing finger in my face. Mike stepped defensively between us, but held his tongue.
"I don't appreciate the way you approached that situation," she growled. "And I just wanted to come up here and give you some feedback."
I wanted to just apologize and tell her I didn't need feedback and call it a night, but before I could open my mouth, she tutted over me like she was scolding a dog, "Upp, upp, upp..."
THAT did it for me. I'm sorry, I am not your fucking dog. You don't get to upp-upp me. We are both adults. You are twice my age. You are NOT going to speak to me like that. I thought Mike was going to slam the door in her face. Or hit her. Maybe both.
She whirled on Mike, "And I see you over there, rolling your eyes and laughing because you think your girlfriend or whomever," she was practically spitting, "is perfect."
"No. I just think you need to calm down," he retorted before falling silent again.
She went back to lecturing me. "I was trying to teach my daughter something." Yeah, I heard your brat of a kid walking around the showgrounds talking about how her pony, Chocolate, is being a real shit this week, and how 'Chocolate really needs a good beating.' Good parenting. "And I don't appreciate the fact that you stepped in."
"Did I or did I not ask you very politely if you wanted my help?"
"You did."
"And did I or did I not willingly give you your horse back the second that you asked?"
"Well, yes, but..."
"If you didn't want my help, the correct answer to my offer was 'no thank you' and we could have left it at that."
"Well, I just wanted to give you some feedback on your method. I'm a horse trainer and I think my feedback is valuable. You're young and you need to learn a thing or two."
"Lady, people like you call me in six months when that horse flips over and hurts somebody. I did learn a thing or two tonight, thank you. I learned NOT to approach people like you and offer my help. I need to wait until you go to far and come to me. In the future, I will turn a blind eye and ignore your struggles. Thank you for opening my eyes to the error of my ways."
"I just wanted to tell you that that mare has never kicked out at an aid before tonight. She has never reared before." Bullshit, I watched her kick and rear for twenty minutes before I finally stepped in. "And she has certainly never bled from her gums before."
At this point, I lost it a little bit. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa... I did not have a damn thing in your horse's mouth when I worked with her. I had her in a leather halter."
"Well, she wasn't bleeding when I worked with her..."
This time it was me who raised her voice and cut the other woman off, "Don't you DARE go insinuating that I in any way abused your horse. If your horse's gums are bleeding, that's something YOU need to be ashamed of and maybe YOU need to re-evaluate YOUR techniques."
She blathered on for a while, repeating a lot of what she'd already said about offering feedback and the correct way to approach people in a show setting and blah, blah, blah...
Eventually she got to the point (the point where she's trying to save face because she's ashamed of her atrocious behavior). "The way you handle this after tonight is very important and you need to be careful what you tell people."
"What I tell people? You and your horse are not that important to me. After this week, I won't think about it again."
"Well, I don't know what you observed or what you saw or what you thought you saw..."
"O, you mean the part where you were beating your horse with a broom?" The kid gloves came off.
"I did NOT beat her with a broom."
"Everyone in the parking area saw you beating that horse with a broom. That is NOT ok."
"O, but it's ok to hit her ten times harder than that with a crop like you were doing??"
Anybody who has ever seen me trailer load a horse knows how ridiculous THAT accusation is. If you think I can physically hit a horse as hard with a crop as you were hitting her with that broom, thank you. I didn't think I was that strong. I'm flattered.
"There is more than one technique, and your method isn't always correct," she continued on.
Deciding that I was done with the conversation, I made my closing statement. "Yes. You are right. There are many ways to handle a horse. It's YOUR horse. It is your job to be her advocate and look out for her best interest. I'm sorry my method wasn't well received and that I messed up your horse. Sincerely, I'm sorry." Her eyes were burning into mine, sensing the sarcasm, but unable to argue with the words without looking bad. "You got her on the trailer. Congratulations and good luck with her. I'm sure I'll see you at championships. Have a good night."
And she stormed away.
What I WANTED to say, and might have if this hadn't happened right in front of the show secretary was, "If you want to man handle a horse into a trailer, fine. You're not quite a thousand pounds, though you are getting there, so I'm not sure you'll have much luck."
And after watching them peel out of the show driveway, I'm not surprised the horse didn't enjoy her ride down to the show in the Box of Death.
Next time, I'm taking pictures, finding out the so called trainer's name, and outing her all over the entire internet horse community. The photos would speak for themselves.
The show secretary rolled her eyes as I apologized for the scene, then handed me my scores.
In the first test, CP scored 66%, a whole percent higher than last time. He got a bunch of 7's and an 8 for his change of rein at the trot (and for his gaits). I think we may have broken 70 if he hadn't blown the entrance (our first 5. Ouch.) and if I knew what a circle was. Overall, no complaints.
And on the second test.
Drum roll please...
The pony scored a whopping 73%. Again, I was left slack jawed. 8 for his halt, 9 for the transition, 8 for the free walk, 8 fo rthe medium walk, 8 for the trot transition, 8 for the other halt. 8 for rider position and 8 for rider effectiveness (although I maintain that he would be even better if I stayed out of his way).
I think it's time to move up! Unfortunately, we're only qualified for Intro at the championships. I will be doing test C and *gasp* cantering though.
We left the show grounds after I thanked Erin for reading and Mike for having my back against Trainer-Mom. (He says I did a good job holding my own, but he was ready to step in if I looked distressed at all.) Mike wasn't quite over the whole thing, but I reminded him that 90% of show people are crazy and that it's why I DON'T normally show (no offense to you wonderful people who do).
But the eventful nature of the night was far from over. On the way home, we were making our way up the big hill on 31. I was in the right lane, minding my own business and talking to Erin when I heard the awful scrape of metal on metal. CP's nose ducked back into the trailer and my first response was, "What the hell? I'm nowhere near the guardrail!!!"
I could see Mike in the side mirror, swerving to avoid some kind of debris in the road.
At the top of the hill, I put on my four-ways and started to pull over, fearing the worst, but Mike waved us on. I had Erin called him and he informed us that we had simply lost a heat shield on the truck. It hadn't done any damage and when I told Jen, she shrugged and said, "Huh. I thought I took that off already." I think truck-truck needs a good once-over.
So there you have it. My overly-exciting foray back into the world of Dressage Queens.
CP is for sale. I use the term loosely because he's not being actively advertised anywhere and there's no price set on him yet. However, the goal is to find him a competition home and move him along. He has way too much talent to just sit around, and he's too small for his owner to ride, but too challenging for any of the kids he knows. What he really needs is one of those bad ass jumper teens who leap their ponies fearlessly over four foot fences... or a small eventer who wants an epic pony.
Obviously, we want to boost the pony's value as much as possible. One way to do that is to compete him. I've been dropping hints, but I'm very low-pressure and I'm letting the owner decide what he wants the pony to show in (and what entry fees he wants to shell money out for). I've reminded him that you have to pump money into a horse to get money out, but quite honestly, I'm not in a hurry to get rid of the pony. I'm going to miss the bugger when he goes.
CP is beginning to school First Level at home (he's pretty consistent at Training and we've started stepping it up) so I decided it was high time to put him in an Intro Level event. It just so happened that OnTheBit was debating scratching from Thursday Night Dressage and was willing to give me her ride times. After a few emails back and forth with the ride secretary, I found myself signed up for Intro A and B around 6:30 on Thursday night.
With a heavy sigh I went out to buy white breeches and and black gloves. It's only a schooling show, but I wanted to look professional. It's bad enough that CP had to wear a black saddle and brown bridle (o the horror!)
And then I started to get nervous. As you have probably gathered, I am not much of a show person. It just doesn't do it for me. I love dressage and think it should be the basis of all horse training. I enjoy jumping and find it exciting. I'm happy to hop around a course at home or jack the oxer up a few holes for a challenge. Cross country schooling is like crack to me. But I just find showing so tedious. I'd much rather ride 50 miles in the woods. At least there's a change in scenery involved there! I was really afraid this show was going to be a chore.
I set a few simple goals for myself and CP. After all, that's what show people do, right?
1. Don't fall off the pony. THAT would be embarrassing. If he could not bronc at all, that would be ideal.
2. Don't micromanage CP. It's his first show, his first time seeing the dressage fence, and a whole new environment. Don't expect him to perform at his best. Don't worry about a frame. It's freakin' Intro. Ride it like it's Intro.
3. If 1&2, then break 60%. That would be awesome.
The plan was to ride the pony Monday through Wednesday, bring him in early on Thursday, lunge him under tack, get him cleaned up, ship him up to the showgrounds, and warm up for half an hour before the test. It did not happen that way.
I schooled the tests at home on Monday night with Mike reading to me from the fence line. On Tuesday, Tor came and jumped the pony around and got him nice and tired. On Wednesday, it stormed really badly. Even with an indoor, it wasn't worth going out to work with him. Then, on Thursday, I worked in the clinic until 4pm, only to realize that I had left my Coggins at home. Dammit. I borrowed Carolyn's car and drove home to get it, leaving no time to lunge the pony.
Instead, I brought him in, cleaned him up, saddled him, and threw him in the trailer. I firmly believe that CP only acts up because he is cold backed. He has no soreness issues and doesn't put a foot out of line if you warm him up correctly. I was hoping the 20 minute ride to DVHA would loosen his back up. It's a trick that seems to have worked in the past. In fact, the pony had never acted up away from home.
I pulled out of the driveway with a steel three horse slant gooseneck in tow, with just one tiny pony in the middle stall. CP poked his nose out the window the whole way to the show, like a dog. I think he would stick his whole head out if I didn't have a stall guard up, making it impossible. He definitely loves trailer rides, the dork.
I parked far away from the other trailers just as Lynn and Erin pulled into the car parking. They had come out to show their support, and I was thrilled to have them. Shortly after, OnTheBit arrived. I had made her promise to be my Show Mommy and she arrived well-prepared, stocked with brownies and champagne, ready to hold my hand.
We got signed in and I wiggled in to my show gear. I had a jacket with me, but decided to ditch it because of temperatures in the high 80's, with lots of humidity. I had zipped up my tall boots the night before to make sure I still fit into them, but getting them on at the show turned out to be quite the event. It took three people to get me into the damn things, and there was a corkscrew involved. I wish I was joking.
"They fit, I swear!"
Once I was set, I bridled CP, who had been standing quietly next to the trailer without a care in the world, and hopped on board. The frisky pony didn't react. I was thrilled. We hung out by the trailer for a while, just chatting and getting relaxed. At six o'clock we rode up to the warm-up ring.
CP, who had been confident and quiet up until that point, was extremely concerned about the sponsor signs hanging on the arena fence. With a little bit of persuasion and steady inside leg, however, he got over it and went on to have a very nice warm up.
Ride times were running ahead of schedule and I was in Ring 1 for Intro A before I knew it.
CP had never seen a dressage fence before. The first time I showed Ozzy, he nearly sat down when he spotted it for the first time, then spent the entire test alternately trying to jump it and get away from it. OnTheBit assured me that the people running the schooling show tend to be very understanding about green horses and will give you a moment to get acclimated if you make it clear that you're letting the horse investigate the fence.
I entered the ring and made it very obvious that I was letting CP look at the fence. He was indeed gawking at it and trying to figure out what strange jump set up this was. Before I even got all the way around the first corner, however, the judge rang her bell. A look at the judge's stand revealed that I had the Tough Judge. Great.
I took a deep breath and entered at A at the working trot. CP performed very well for his first time in a dressage arena. He was definitely eyeballing the fence and I let him take a little distance from the rail. I'd rather have him a bit away from the edge than spooking. He did not mind the judge's booth at all and he was very steady through the whole test. As it turns out, Lynn got the whole thing on video:
When we finished our test, I praised the pony lavishly before riding up to the judge's booth. The judge's comment was as follows:
"Cute pony. Over all you had a very nice ride. My only suggestion is that geometry matters at this level. I would have liked to see him closer to the rail."
And I was dismissed.
Nice medium walk.
Mike pulled in just as I was exiting the ring after my first test. He had rushed over straight from work and would have made it on time if my test went off when it was supposed to. Christine was right behind him, having driven an hour and a half to watch me trot around for five minutes. I seriously have the best friends in the entire world. It was kind of a ridiculous crowd for Intro. Haha.
I had just enough time to compose myself and ride to Ring 2 for my second test. By then, I think CP was a bit bored with the whole experience. Walk and trot? Where's the cantering? Where's the jumping? It's ok, bud, I promise it gets more interesting after this.
There was no halt at the beginning of the first test and when I asked for one in the second, CP was not exactly obedient. Whoops. He did, however, stay right along the rail for the second test. The fence was no longer something he was concerned about. We did get attacked by a bomber during our free walk, so there was more head shaking than stretching down. CP also tried to convince me that the test was over at A by drifting his shoulder toward the exit. I blocked him with my leg and chuckled to myself. Smart ass! CP didn't want to halt at the end of the test either, but I insisted and he actually ended up pretty square at the end of it, all things considered.
Proof of halt.
The applause I got from the rail was really heart warming and I rode up to the judge with a big smile on my face. Again, I was told what a cute pony I had. "He needs to be a little more supple," I was told. I think he needs to be a little more off the farm. Haha.
We rode back to the trailer where I stripped the tack off the pony. Mike hand grazed him while I wiggled into more comfortable clothes before hosing CP off.
I was delighted. Our first outing hadn't been a disaster. In fact, I had accomplished my first two goals. CP had been on his best behavior and I had ridden through the glitches without getting overly nitpicky. The scores aside, I was satisfied with our first show.
Of course, I did stick around to get my score cards. So... did I accomplish all three goals? Here's the breakdown:
INTRO A:
I was thrilled to find my scorecard dotted with 6.5's and 7's. The pony hadn't scored less than 6 on anything. He got lots of nice comments on how straight he was. The remarks at the bottom said, "Steady and energetic. Horse needs to be more relaxed and stretch over his back." The comments on his circles said, "Counter bent at times, slightly off the rail." Yup, that would be from looking at the fence.
And the score?
65.3125%!!! That's with the strict judge! He broke 60! I could have done a cartwheel. GOOD PONY!
INTRO B:
Nothing below a 6.5 and not one, but two 8's (for his medium walk and his walk-trot transition). We did get a comment on our free walk that said, "Some loss of rhythm from bug," but I'm not going to hold it against him. But the best comment all night was under submission in collective marks. It said, simply, "Halts??" Yeah...
And the score for this one was a whopping 69.6875%. Wow. If he would just hold still or if I would just find the middle ground between micromanaging and leaving him completely alone, we would have broken 70 on our first time out!!
Nope, I certainly can't complain.
We drove back to the barn in a group to return the trailer and eat some celebratory pizza. I declared the night a success. And I didn't even pee my fancy white breeches.
Tuesday was a hectic day, but I managed to move some things around to make enough time to drive down to the Horse Park at the end of the day and catch Erin cross country schooling not one, but two horses. One of them was the beloved Jabby Moose. The other was Silver Gem. You can read Erin's much more detailed account of Gem's story, but the basic outline is that this registered quarter horse spent the last 8 years of his life chained to a fence in someone's yard (and I don't mean in the European grazing fashion). Thankfully, Horse Rescue United stepped in to save him. HRU is run by Anouk, who I have known since my breeding farm days, and the way she runs things is a real refresher for me after my disastrous three year employment at SRF. Gem is now available for adoption through HRU. His adoption fee is only $250 with an approved application. After seeing him in person, I have to say that he's definitely a horse I would recommend. He's well-built, honest, and fearless! What a cool horse!
Without revealing too much information, I got to see where Erin works now. She is now a groom at a local harness racing training center. You can read more about her adventures in racing on her blog, but let's just say it's bringing back some fond memories for me. I went with her when she fed the race ponies last Saturday afternoon. It was nice to put faces to some of her stories, and this was a farm I hadn't been to before. Herbie also had a blast (even if she did get hosed off at the end... stinky dog.)
(O look... I've made 400 posts on Blogger. Go me!)
CP has been doing really well in training. Our rides have been uneventful and we've been alternating dressage schooling with ground poles and lunging sessions. The pony is really learning to use himself correctly and his naturally nice gaits just keep getting better. After a particularly good string of rides, I decided it might be time to throw a second rider on him to see if it's just me or if the training is really sticking.
I was hoping to get Tor to come out since her riding style is the most similar to mine and she's itty bitty with a velcro butt. Unfortunately, she's not available until next week and I really wanted someone on him before then. Thankfully, Erin was available and willing to hop on the pony for me. Erin is an awesome rider and one of the only people I'd ever consider hiring as a second rider. She's got a great leg, good feel for the horses, and a way of praising good behavior that others would be wise to replicate. She also doesn't hold a grudge.
Erin and I drove out to the barn together and I had CP ready in record time. He walked calmly to the arena with Erin and stood like a gentleman to mount. He looked a little confused at the rider swap, but walked off obediently. It looked like we were off to a good start. Erin warmed the pony up and got a feel for his buttons before asking for the trot. They went around the ring happily while I snapped pictures. Eventually, Erin even picked up a canter. It went well and CP even pulled a flying change to correct his lead. Things were looking up!
And then CP decided that he'd been a good boy and would like to be finished working already. He slowed to a halt and ignored Erin's request to continue forward. This is unacceptable for a lot of obvious reasons, starting with the fact that I teach ALL of my horses that the answer is ALWAYS forward. Erin added more leg. A month ago, this would have led to CP kicking out or even bucking. Today, he simply ignored her. You can argue that this is progress of sorts, but I wasn't thrilled.
After some thought, I told Erin to go ahead and tap him with the end of the reins (something I frequently do to 'unstick' horses). I'd been worried that he might bronc then, but CP just livened up, got out his 'yes ma'am' attitude and carried on trotting. Unfortunately, his attitude at that moment changed and he seemed almost determined to say, "I'll show YOU to smack the pony with the reins..."
The next time Erin asked for the canter, CP gave it to her, but only for a stride. Erin did the nice thing and decided to stay right out of the pony's way, to which CP said, "You do that. You know where you'd be most out of my way? On the round," and politely deposited her in the sand. He just sort of thrust both front legs out in mid stride, stopped, ducked his head, and trotted away. No nasty buck, no malicious intent, just a quick, athletic motion and away he went.
Erin was a good sport, picked herself up, dusted off, and got right back on the pony who, quite frankly, looked startled that she'd come off at all. They finished the ride on a good note with no further shenanigans.
I am disappointed that CP wasn't a total saint for Erin, but it gives us something to work on. She found the cheeky bastard to be quite adorable and will be back for seconds in the near future. I don't think I'll be sticking a kid on him any time soon, but I do think he is worlds better than he was this time last month.
I don't even know where to start. This is going to be a LONG entry.
Erin no longer works at SRF and she has done some serious job hunting over the past few months. Recently, a woman from North Carolina called her with what sounded like the perfect job offer. After some momentary mulling, Erin called and scheduled an interview.
I am always up for an adventure and Mike hadn't gone back to work yet, so I asked Erin if she wanted company. My car is more fuel efficient than the Exploder and 600 miles one way is a long way to drive alone. So with two days' warning, we planned a road trip.
Erin came down on Sunday night and we all went to bed at a reasonable hour. At 5am, we hit the road with the dog in tow. The 11 hour drive down was mostly uneventful. (I'll get to the mostly in a minute.) We stopped for food and gas periodically and the worst part was getting stuck in DC traffic along the way. We didn't even turn the GPS on until we were almost at the Virginia/North Carolina line, at which point it pulled us off the highway and took us down some dirt and gravel back roads to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The roads were twisty and steep and the views were breath taking. We pulled over on several occasions to take photos.
As we got closer to our destination, we got further and further away from civilization. At one point, the GPS turned us down Deer Road. Not only was this road not paved, it was so full of switchbacks that we could often see it running next to and below us as we drove. I didn't think to take video until we were past the worst of the twistiness, but here's some video that Erin took from the passenger seat towards the end of the street:
Not long after that, we pulled into the farm. We were instantly surrounded by a pack of dogs, all of whom were barking. All of the dogs were your typical southern farm dogs, but all seemed friendly enough. They were loud, but nobody seemed aggressive. I was a little concerned at first about the number of dogs. One dog in particular had a large tumor hanging off of his throat. He was under weight and un-neutered. I cringed, but kept my opinion to myself.
As it turns out, people are constantly dropping dogs off at this farm and abandoning them. The owner has the property and the funds so she lets them stay. I found out that the one un-fixed dog, charmingly named Sack, doesn't belong to her and is a recent arrival. All of the other dogs are fixed and happy.
After we made introductions, I asked permission to let Herbie out of the car. Following a brief discussion, I decided it would be best to keep her leashed until the other dogs got comfortable with her.
Most of the dogs were just fine, but the one alpha male, Cookie, didn't take kindly to Herbie. He ran over barking and snarling and jumped on top of Herbie. Herbie tensed up, but I told her, "Nice nice," and she backed down. Cookie, while extremely loud and intimidating, didn't actually bite or attack her.
The whole trip would be a big learning experience for Herbie. Every time she would think she was safe, Cookie would come stalking around the corner like a cat and run at her, barking and making a ton of noise. At first, Herbie simply retreated back to the cottage Erin was staying in.
On our first morning there, however, I was on the porch when Cookie came over. I told her it was ok, and she got a little braver, standing behind me and growling at the ill tempered dog. I stomped toward him and scared him off. As soon as he turned tail, she chased after him. He crossed the driveway and she came back to me, prancing as if to say, "I win!" After that, he left her alone as long as she stayed on 'our' lawn.
We started our stay by taking a walk around the farm. The pastures were gorgeous and the grass was thick and green. We wandered between horses at sunset and found our way down to the pond at the back of the property. There was a gorgeous sunset that night and we enjoyed just being out of the car and stretching our legs.
Eventually, Erin went off with the farm owner for her official tour, leaving me and Mike to enjoy the setting sun.
After Erin was done for the day, we packed back into the car, turned on the GPS and tried to find somewhere to eat. While I love the open space and easy going pace of southern living, I'll admit I'm spoiled by our proximity to EVERYTHING in NJ. Here we have places we can order from any time of day or night and there is a wide selection of foods and hang out places.That night, however, we had to drive 8 miles just to find someplace that was open. We found a Hardee's (and a CVS, woo!) and chowed down. NC definitely has NJ beat when it comes to food quality though. Even their fast food appears to be made fresh and out of REAL INGREDIENTS. *gasp*
That night, Mike and I camped out in my car alongside the pond. We set up an air mattress in the back of the hatchback and snuggled up under the stars to a chorus of bullfrogs. Before we went to bed, I pulled the tripod out of my trunk and set up some 30 second exposures. I can't even describe the number of stars we could see out there. It was darker than dark and it's true what they say about the sky being bigger down there.
As I laid on the dock with my head on Mike's chest, pointing out constellations and listening to the frogs sing, I thought, "Life doesn't get any better than this."
Unfortunately, sleeping in my car was a one-time deal. It is definitely not something I plan on doing again. There was plenty of space in the back, but we really should have had a piece of plywood or something to put under the air mattress. As it was, both ends of the mattress sort of sagged over the folded down back seats so we had to sleep in an awkward arc position. It wasn't too terrible for me (except for the part where I whacked my head repeatedly on the ceiling) because I sleep curled in a tiny little ball, but poor Mike just could not get comfortable. Every time I'd drift off, he'd wake up, needing to roll over because yet another body part had cramped up or fallen asleep. I've never been so happy to have 6am roll around. We would have just slept out in the grass, but we would have gotten eaten alive by mosquitoes and other biting insects.
Sound track for the night:
We were up before the sun that morning and went up to Erin's cottage for breakfast. The cottage itself was LOVELY with a full kitchen and bathroom, miniature living room and dining room, and roomy downstairs bedroom, which is probably extra cool in the hot Carolina summers. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy living in a house that size for the rest of my life. The farm owners were kind enough to fully stock the kitchen with food and drink and we got our day off to a brilliant start.
The plan was for me and Mike to get out of everyone's hair while Erin learned the ropes around the farm. We had picked a nice place to go hiking and took our time getting ready to head out. As luck would have it, Erin was just wrapping up with her riding evaluation and formal interview as we were getting ready to head out. We agreed to meet back in half an hour, which gave Mike and me just enough time to drive around some of the local back roads and scope out the 'neighbors'.
Poor Herbie learned yet another life lesson. I was standing in a ditch by the road, taking pictures of some cows. Mike made his way down the hill to stand next to me with Herbie on the leash. Herbie was fascinated by the cows and tried to make her way under the single strand of barbed wire to get closer. Mike told her 'no' but she didn't listen. As it turns out, not only was the fence barbed, it was also electrified so Herbie got jabbed AND zapped. She high tailed it back up the bank and cowered behind Mike, looking pathetic. She is now completely convinced that cows are evil.
After our drive around the 'block' we ran back to the farm to pick Erin up. She had had a good ride and a great interview and it was good to see her beaming and happy. The three of us (and Herbie) drove over to Hanging Rock Park, which the internet promised had great views and promising waterfalls. The park was only half an hour from where we were staying and the drive took us along even more beautiful country roads.
We parked by the info center and could see the rock we would be climbing. The trail out to the view was only a mile and a half long, but it was a grueling mile and a half. Add to that the fact that it was over 80 degrees and we were pretty sweaty and gross by the time we reached the top.
It was well worth the trek and the views at the top were to die for. I took a ton of photos and we all took turns posing against the back drop. We could even see my car parked down at the bottom! We lucked out and ran into a group of girls who agreed to take a picture of the group of us if we took a picture for them in return.
By the time we got back to the car, even Herbie was tuckered out. She was walking so slowly that we actually had to pause and wait for her to catch up. After a ten minute water break, however, Herbie was refreshed and ready for more. This was a good thing because we still had to check out the waterfall trail.
The way down to the falls was filled with stairs, stairs, and more stairs. I think if I lived down there, I'd be fit as a fiddle in no time.
Once again, the views were worth the walk. There were two sets of waterfalls on the short trail. One was Window Falls. The other was Hidden falls. We took our time exploring and climbing both. The cold water and shady rocks were refreshing and Erin even kicked off her shoes to wade in. The water was so clean that we actually drank from the falls (something you wouldn't dare do in Jersey). Waterfall water was tasty.
We finished our hike just as the skies darkened and rumbles of thunder echoed across the mountains. The rain itself missed us, but we heard on the radio that some nasty storms came through the area, bringing quarter sized hail with them.
Even though the worst of the weather missed us, we got to watch some beautiful storm clouds chase across the sky at the farm. We sat on the screened in porch, enjoying the cool breeze and relaxing after a long day. Erin even spotted a rainbow across the street while Mike and I were getting cleaned up.
On our way home from the park, we stopped at another Hardee's for dinner. Their onion rings made my night and I would move south just for the sweet tea. Mmmmm...
The three of us went to bed earlier than we would if we were home. Herbie was already out cold by the time Mike and I set the air mattress up in the living room. I slept like a rock that night, but felt completely rested by the time 8:30am rolled around.
Erin wrapped up some loose ends while Mike and I took our time packing. She has the job if she wants it and I think it's going to come down to the logistics of the move. We stopped across the street to say hi to Daisy, the pet cow. Apparently she was a twin so she's probably infertile. They were going to sell her for beef, but then the son got attached to her, so now she's just a pasture pet. She's also really friendly and I have a secret crush on cows. I couldn't resist the urge to go in for some snuggle time.
From there, we hit the road for the long return trip home. This time, we picked a route that didn't involve the DC area. As a matter of fact, I don't think we hit any traffic along the way.
Remember how I said that our drive down was mostly uneventful? Emphasis on mostly? Yeah... I did have one major downer on this trip and it made me want to switch banks. On the way down, we had stopped for gas and food. I used my ATM card to pay for everything. No problem. That was in Maryland. On our next stop, however, my card got declined at a Sheetz. I checked it at the ATM and had no problem checking my balance. I figured it was just a faulty swipe, but when it got declined AGAIN in Virginia, I knew I had a problem.
I called PNC to see what the deal was. Apparently there was a fraudulent purchase attempt on my card in December. I was never informed. No paperwork. No phone call. No email alert (even though they have no problem spamming me with programs and offers). I suspect that this has something to do with that time I applied for a job at TCNJ and they accidentally handed out my social security number, but that's a whole different rant.
Since the card was deemed compromised, any 'suspicious' activity freezes the card to protect my bank account, so when I went out of state, the card froze. I explained to the bank that I was traveling out of state for the week and that I'd call for a new card when I got home. They unfroze the card and supposedly put a note in the file to leave it working until Friday.
On our way home, we stopped for gas and my card got declined. Argh! I called again. They apologized and 'unfroze' my card. Three hours later, we stopped for lunch with Kelly in Virginia and I tried to buy a t-shirt. The card was still frozen. This time, I was severely annoyed. I called the bank back and asked to speak to a manager. The rep refused to put me through, but I managed to stay nice. He promised the card would be working in half an hour. We ate lunch and took our sweet time. An hour after the call, the card was still frozen (it takes half an hour to un-freeze, according to the people I talked to on the phone).
This time I got on the phone with a woman who gave me a nasty attitude and I lost my shit. I told her that I was 600 miles from home without access to ANY of my money and that they had essentially stranded me at a gas station for four hours because somebody is too dumb to un-check a box on a computer screen. I am usually really nice to customer service people because I know bitchy customers suck and that 99% of the time, the reps don't know what's going on and they have no direct control over whatever the issue is. But to get NASTY with me? ARE YOU KIDDING???
"Let me put it this way," I snarled into the phone. "Every minute that I'm stranded here, halfway across the country, and you refuse to help me, it's sounding more and more like a lawsuit."
Instantly, my call became a priority and my card went back to working. Dude, I shouldn't have to threaten to sue to get you to do your job. I'll tell you what though... I was one more phone call away from marching into my bank on Thursday, closing all my accounts, and taking my business somewhere else. *rage*
But back to the road trip...
As I said, we stopped in VA to see Kelly. It was really good to catch up and she introduced us to Three Little Pigs BBQ, which had AWESOME food. We also got to see the house she was pet sitting at, complete with two gigantic dogs that made Herbie realize she's not the big dog she thinks she is. I also got to photograph Texas Longhorn cattle, which made the cow-lover in me squee.
While we were waiting for my card to clear, we went back to Kelly's so I could see Poke and meet her other critters, including Panther, the three legged dog I almost adopted as a puppy.
There, Herbie learned yet another painful life lesson. Lately, Herbie has gotten into the bad habit of running with the horses when they get worked up. She won't go in the horse pasture unless she's with me, but if I've had to lock her up when I ride to keep her out of the ring, a problem she never had as a pup. While we were at Kelly's, her horses were running around and Kelly's dogs ran with them. Herbie decided to join in and got too close to Tricky, the thoroughbred. Just as Mike yelled at Herbie to back off and she ignored him, Tricky lined her up and kicked. He got her square in the rib cage, sending her tumbling and yelping. Kelly was mortified, but both Mike and I said, "Good, maybe she'll learn." Herbie was embarrassed and went slinking back to the barn. She was definitely tender for two days, but she wasn't seriously hurt. Guess who stays out of the way when I ride now.
Poor dog. 12 hours in the car each way, beat up on by dogs that didn't like her, zapped by fences, introduced to evil cows, and kicked by a horse. "This is the worst road trip ever. I'm going to lay down in this corner and die."
(Seriously, though, Herbie seemed to have the time of her life and I'm glad we brought her. She's been much more obedient since we got home. She did sleep for nearly 24 hours straight though.)
From Kelly's, we made a straight shot home. We made good time, cutting through West Virginia and across PA as night fell. It was good to sleep in my own bed, but Jersey seems dead and gray after a few days in the summer-like weather of the south. I have to say that I loved vacationing down there, but I don't think I could live with the summer heat. Let's not even mention the religious nuts...
Anyway... if Erin takes this job, I'll be more than happy to visit her a couple times a year (assuming she's not sick of us yet).
150+ photos after the cut (shut up, I took over 600. I'm sparing you.)
Well, things haven't slowed down at all the last two days.
On Tuesday, Tor came down for the day. She was on her spring day and it had been too long since we saw her. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and Erin had mentioned that she was bored so we invited her to join us as well. The four of us went over to the barn for an afternoon full of riding. I started off by getting on the pony. He didn't even TRY to be bad. Good man. Then Tor rode Ozzy and Art. Oz was goofy, but good. Tor had a blast galloping him in the back field. Art was a rock star and seemed to appreciate being ridden by an experienced rider for a change. In the mean time, Erin was playing with Herbie and Mike was being manly and splitting wood by hand.
Yesterday after the funeral and nap, Erin called to ask if we wanted to join her and Willie at the Assunpink. It sounded like a brilliant end to a depressing day so we grabbed the dog and battled traffic down to the park. We took our time making our way to the lake. Everything is finally starting to bud and get green, and with peepers echoing in the reeds, it really felt like spring. Erin took turns riding and hand walking Willie and Herbie bounded along, thrilled with life. After playing in the lake for a while, we made our way back at sunset and I finally got to take the photo I've been wanting to take since the first time Erin and I rode at the Assunpink.
Yesterday we went to the Horse Park again to cheer for Erin and Jabby at their first show together. Kim and Lynn were already there when we arrived. Erin and Jabby made me proud and we all had a ton of fun together. It was nice for Jabby to have a show experience that didn't end badly for him. The progress Erin is making with him is awesome. I took a ton of photos, of course.
After the show, we were walking around the Horse Park when we spotted a loose Weimaraner running up the driveway. When no person appeared, we lured him over using Herbie as a bait dog (ha, get it? Cuz she's a pit bull? No? Not funny?) The unfixed dog was very friendly, but didn't have tags on his collar. Mike leashed him and we waited for his owner to appear. She did a few minutes later, and Mike handed the dog off. Moments later, he was back, trying to play with Herbie. His owner called and he ignored her.
THEN she came up to me and asked if they were going to fight.
"Well," I replied through gritted teeth, "MY dog is very friendly so as long as YOUR dog isn't a problem, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"O. You don't let him run loose?" she asked, pointing to the leash in Kim's hand.
"Not during a horse show when there's a big sign that says 'all dogs must be on leash', no."
I made my point and the woman leashed her dog and disappeared. Oy!
Yesterday, my new pony arrived. Well... ok, he's only mine for the month, but I'm really excited.
Last week, I got a call from Jen, who I boarded Ozzy with before I had him at SRF.
"So, I hear you work with problem horses," I could hear her grinning.
"Yes I do."
"Remember CP?"
"Yes."
"Well, he's a problem horse. I'd love to drop him off on Saturday."
CP was an adorable two year old pony that Jen's friend/client, Frank, picked up at the auction shortly before I moved Ozzy. He's now five, and apparently he has a nasty buck. Jen, who I have always respected as a rider, rode him last year and he tossed her. Last month, they sent him away for professional training. A week later, they called to check his progress.
The trainer said, "Well, he launched my assistant."
"And did you get back on him?"
"No."
"Well, then, you're not a very good trainer, are you?"
And so they dropped him off yesterday. It was like a mini reunion of people I haven't seen in forever. CP (which stands for Chestnut Pony, by the way) seemed to recognize me and came right over and shoved his head in my chest when he unloaded. He settled right in like nothing had happened. He'll be out by himself for a couple days. Then he'll go with the minis.
Today Mike and I went to play with the pony. I called and he came trotting across the field to meet me at the gate. I just about melted. I brushed him and his ground manners were stellar. He's great with his head, feet, and ears. He stands tied. He leads like a saint.
We threw him out in the outdoor so I could snap pictures and I'm pretty much in love. He has great gaits and an adorable face. Also, he has chrome and isn't bay! LOL. He was throwing in changes just for fun. Best of all, when I was done taking photos, I called him and he came right back over to me.
Tomorrow is pony launching day. We'll see how it goes. I have a crash vest just in case. At 13.2hh he'll be the SMALLEST horse I've ever ridden. Haha.
On Saturday, I had a new potential client come down for her first 'lesson'. A high school friend of Mike's brought her seven year old daughter over for her first ever ride. The little girl, L, is seven years old and is being badly bullied at school. Despite her parents' best efforts to curb the situation, the bullying continues and the school refuses to do anything about it. L's confidence has been shaken and she wants to be anywhere but school. L is a big time Saddle Club fan and loves horses. Unfortunately, lessons are a bit out of the parents' price range, but we were able to work something out. I know what it's like to be a horse crazy little girl who gets bullied relentlessly day in and day out.
Sadly, L immediately got shy and clammed up when the lesson started. I wore my fox hat as a sort of ice breaker and lucked out because her helmet also had a face on it. When it came time to get Ozzy tacked up, I led L over to the selection of saddle pads and told her she could pick whatever color she wanted. She stayed quiet, staring at the ground, until I asked, "How about pink? Do you like pink?" Her entire face lit up and she nodded vigorously, reaching for the saddle pad. When she saw my lavender pad with the little pink horses around the trim, she specifically told me, "That one!" She proudly marched the pad back to her parents and seemed a little less shy after that.
Ozzy was instantly enamored with L and followed her to the indoor like a puppy dog, despite gale force winds that tore a chunk off one of the barn roofs. L's lesson wound up not lasting very long. Dad boosted her into the saddle where she immediately burst into tears. At 16hh, Ozzy is a little taller than your standard children's pony and she was intimidated and scared. I told her we wouldn't move until she was ready, but after several minutes of clinging to the saddle and crying, L was ready to call it quits. Meanwhile, Ozzy had fallen asleep. He hadn't so much as swished his tail. Good man. He did seem baffled and concerned. Nobody has ever cried in a lesson before... especially not a kid!!
Thankfully, a bright pink brush pulled L out of her shell again, and Ozzy cracked a 'smile' when she started brushing him, which got her laughing and smiling again in no time. After Ozzy was put away, L asked permission to play fetch with Herbie. She seemed to relax and I was able to get her a little more comfortable by catching chickens for her and cracking jokes about all the animals. I'm hoping they'll come back and she'll get over her fear, but I'm not about to push the issue.
On Sunday, Mike and I drove down to see Erin and help her with some long distance saddle fitting stuff. Lynn was there to help and it was soooo good to see her. We went back to her house with her, where we ate pizza and drank cosmos and caught up on all sorts of news and gossip.
Yesterday Mike and I drove my mom to the surgical center for an epidural. The procedure was surprisingly fast. Mike and I had gone around the corner to a cafe for breakfast. Just as the food came out, the surgical center called telling us that she'd be done in ten minutes. We wolfed down our food and rushed back.
We spent the afternoon hanging out with Christine then drove over to Mike's mom's where he finished building me a mounting block! Cavaletti and jumps are next. Woo!
Today was going to be about lounging around and blogging, but we wound up spending the afternoon with Erin. We went to Tractor Supply and Horsemen's. Herbie had the time of her life. She got stuffed full of cookies and made two doggy friends, and she was off least at Horsemen's which meant lots of people and lots of sniffing. She was like, "Best store ever!"
So... nothing terribly exciting, but lots of photos nonetheless.
Mike spent the day working at the farm. I rode Ozzy yesterday and plan on riding him tomorrow so I gave him the day off. The weather was drop dead gorgeous so I pestered Erin into doing lunch and going to Clayton Park for a walk. There was a surprising number of people for a Wednesday, but most of them were bikers and we had the trails mostly to ourselves. Herbie got a ton of exercise and was really good the whole time. It was a brilliant afternoon.
On Sunday, Erin had another jump schooling at the Horse Park. This time, her ride time was a more reasonable 3pm. Mike and I took Herbie and went down to cheer her on.
We beat Erin to the park by 15 minutes and spent the time watching a woman try to load her horse into her trailer. It was pretty bad. The horse obviously wasn't fearful, just stubborn. The error was so clearly in the handling that even Mike was cracking up. She did all the usual: try to push the horse onto the trailer, try to pull the horse onto the trailer, beg, plead, bribe, try to walk him up the trailer ramp by physically lifting one leg at a time, etc, etc. Mike was dying for me to offer to help. "This would be a good time for you to have business cards," he prodded. I explained that people often don't take kindly to that kind of interference. I said I'd give her 20 minutes and offer to help when she got REALLY frustrated. Eventually, the woman lost her temper and grabbed the crop. Magically, as soon as she looked like she meant business, the horse stepped up the ramp. As soon as he moved, however, the lady jumped back, clearly scared of her horse. A few more waggles of the crop and the horse was happily on board, munching hay with one foot cocked. Oy.
Erin arrived with Jabby in tow. The moose was obviously excited to be back at the park and wanted to go, go, go. Erin warmed him up in the big field behind the trailers, then headed to the indoor. You can read her account of her ride, but let's just say I was impressed. Jabby is coming along in leaps and bounds, literally
Mike and I got up early today and braved frigid temperatures to go show our support for Erin at the Horse Park. She has been taking Jabby on new adventures on a weekly basis and he's really getting an education. Today was the Woodedge schooling and Erin took Jabby over to look at some new and exciting jumps and to practice going around an unfamiliar ring with a bunch of other horses.
Mike held an anxious Herbie (why can't I jump the jumps, mom??) while I took pictures. Jabby was nervous, but Erin rode like a pro, sitting quietly while he worked it out and encouraging and reassuring him when he did well. She was far and away the best rider in the ring and the progress Jabby made in just an hour was visible.
I was busy judging a girl on a gorgeous, leggy chestnut. The horse was a lovely mover, honest jumper, and all around beautiful creature. It was clear that she paid a ton of money for him and isn't qualified to ride an animal of his caliber. She went around in spurs and a big honkin' double bridle and yanked him around after every jump. Poor thing. I heard her complaining that he rears from time to time. Gee, I wonder why. At one point, she commented that he's the dumbest horse in the world. I wanted to tell her I'm pretty sure it's not the horse.
ANYWAY.
After schooling we took a walk down to the cross country course. Erin introduced Jabby to banks and I let Herbie run off some of her energy. It's cold, but the weather is gorgeous and it was nice to be outside.
The whole morning made me really wish for a second horse to futz around with. I miss jumping (and, let's face it, Ozzy is not a jumper) and playing around on the XC course. And endurance. I miss endurance more than anything (not that I could afford to do it right now even if I had a horse).
It has been a crazy week here in the Life of Dom. I plan on doing this in sections!
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In completely unrelated news, my bunny is home!
For those of you who haven't been around for years and years and years (haha), this is Kodak, my six year old pet store bunny. Bryce and I picked him up for five bucks or something like that our junior year. When we got him, he fit in the palm of my hand. I used to take him to class with me in my pocket.
When Bryce dumped me, we were living at his parents' house. I decided to leave Kodak there. He had a HUGE outdoor hutch with heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, and Bryce's mom fed him all sorts of goodies all the time. She spent way more time with him than I did and it seemed only fair to leave the little bugger in familiar surroundings.
Lately, Bryce's mom has been super busy and has been feeling guilty about spending less time with Kodak. Bryce's dad built him a HUGE new hutch (or, as I'm calling it, an upgraded condo) and the little guy came home a few nights back. Herbie is fascinated by and enamored with the little fluff ball and would probably lick him to death if I let her.
Add bunny photos to the list of things you can expect to be spammed with in the upcoming months.
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After an enlightening morning with my mom, I went to lunch with Christine. Afterwards, we went clothes shopping, which is how I realized that I am decisively not trendy. I went to the mall for the first time in several years and even went in stores like American Eagle and Forever 21. *gasp*
The one girl at AE was staring at us while C tried on clothes and I flipped through a book in the waiting area. I'm pretty sure she thought we were dating. The good news for C is that I was the man in the relationship. I'm not sure how Mike feels about that. Later in the day, C and I got lured into the Godiva store by the heavenly aromas that float out the front doors of such a place. As we split a chocolate covered strawberry heart, C said, "All we need is that girl from AE to walk by now."
On the way home, I somehow got Limbo Rock stuck in my head... only I couldn't remember any of the words, which made identifying the song nearly impossible. Apparently Google searching 'ba ba-ba ba-ba, ba ba-ba ba-ba' doesn't do a lot for that.
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This week I also rode the only non-Ozzy horse I've been on since I walked away from SRF.
Erin and I typically do lunch on Tuesdays, her day off. This week, the skies were threatening to open up and the world was gray. I had Herbie with me and was feeling no inspiration to work with my own horse or go walking with the dog. I was basically killing time til Mike got off of work. When Erin went back to the barn to ride Jabby for a second time, I followed her, and when she offered to let me take Willie out for a hack, I willingly agreed.
Willie started off unamused, but when he realized that I was mostly leaving him alone he actually put on his happy ears and went along with it.
Herbie tagged along for the ride and we even went off the property with her. She listened extremely well and didn't stray from us. She sat politely before street crossings and even ignored a child on a swing when I called her to come back to me. Pup slept well that night!!
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Yesterday afternoon, Mike and I stopped at Bluestone to see Brenda and let Herbie play with Mitchel's new dog, Rio. We walked around and scratched weanlings and visited Bubba, Boo Boo, and Garland. Brenda also showed me the two year old thoroughbred colt they've currently got in the barn. He's a little over 15hh, chestnut with a blaze, and really mellow for such a youngster. He's sound, but not what his owner is looking for. I told her to find out if they're looking to get rid of him because I'm not looking to pay for a horse, but I'll take him if he's free.
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And last night we went to dinner at the Hibachi place in Flemington for a belated birthday dinner. Dev and C drove down and both Bryce and Andrew joined us. Our chef was a ton of fun and kept giving us Sake bonuses for catching food in our mouths. He was throwing shrimp at Mike and Bryce from clear across the room! Thank you Abnormally Large Mouth and Super Freak. LOL.
Did I mention C got me a super awesome hat?
Mike was unprepared for this photo, I think.
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So that's probably enough rambling for one entry. Things are going well and I've been so busy I can't even correct morons or start drama online. *gasp* The job search continues and I have a training client lined up for next week. Winter is fast approaching and life is blasting right past me as I have a quarter life crisis, but I can't complain. I'm happy and relaxed and I'm feeling loved in a way that makes my head spin and my stomach do back flips.
