Good luck

Good luck to all our friends starting the season tomorrow at Mullet Hall. Wish I could be there to cheer y'all on.

Welcoming new herd member

Our little herd grew by one this week....KJ received a call this week from Cecil Mills. Cecil had decided to sell Topaz and wanted to give KJ an option on her. As many of you know this pony (yes she's that small) and I have a very special connection. There are very few equines that I trust the way I do this mare. She is the only mare I've jumped 4 foot and better in my adult life where the reality of injury resides.

I'm very grateful to KJ for bringing her home this week. I know it was a tough decision for Cecil to decide to sell her.

I also want to let everyone know that I will not be posting much in the month of February. I accepted a new job this week as a animal removal specialist and pest erradicator with Trutech INC. I have to go to Atlanta for the next three weeks for training. I look forward to gettting home, and getting back in the saddle. In the meantime the horses can enjoy some down time trail riding with KJ. Hopefully when I get home I will have enough time to tune up Togey, Scout, and Topaz for some spring showing in March and April.

Togey's back in training

Many of you have been sending e-mails lately. I want all of you to know I appreciate hearing from you. My computer time is fairly limited by my new lifestyle, so I apologize if I haven't gotten back to you.

Togey came back from Katie's about 3 weeks ago. We gave him a couple of weeks of down time to adjust to his new environment here at the house. I started him back into work with some gentle trail riding around the cold and rainy weather. He's now well versed in the woods and doesn't look at much including decaying animals which is a smell that bothers many horses. We need that he had 2 triggers with water and steep hills. We don't have a lot of access to hills, and even if we did it would be too wet right now to work on them. On the flip side the wet weather makes it ideal to train in the water. The warm weather the last couple of days has finally given me the opportunity.

Horse training is an interesting business. Togey is a very intelligent horse and becomes bored easily. Living in the forest gives me the opportunity to keep his training very flexible. We hack 2 or 3 times a week in the woods for conditioning. We school another couple of times per week in the woods. There's nothing we can't work on in the woods that you would do in the arena. We do lateral work down the dirt roads, we use fallen logs to jump, and being in the woods gives us the opportunity to work on things that the arena doesn't. Today we got to the point where Togey is galloping through water without any thought at all. This is a really important skill for an eventer, as all cross country is required to include a water complex.

Today we also worked over logs quite a bit. I really enjoy jumping in the woods. Togey listens much better waiting for me to tell him where we're heading too next and listening for instructions. When we've had good days in the woods I usually come back and jump stadium style fences in the yard. Here's some video of 2'6" today. We worked really well at 2'3", but missed the video of it. My position is off at 2'6" as we were struggling to wait for spots.

It's amazing what you can make jumps out of with a little creativity. The jump in the video is actually an old bunk bed. We put feet on the headboard and footboard to use them as standards. This particular bed worked out really well because there were swells already cut in the rails that make perfect jump cups. KJ added a bit more creativity and drilled holes all across the top for flowers and holes down the posts so I can use actual jump cups and use it as an oxer.

The final part of Togey's training is spending one day a week in the yard working on circles. We are in the process of putting an arena up, but for the time being I work circles in the front yard. The arena going up is quite a process. We are relocating some equipment on the farm. Then we're mowing and leveling the area before bringing in footing and putting up the fencing for it.

Winding down

It has been almost two months since I last posted. There is a lot of change happening in my personal life right now. Some amazing relationships have been renewed, some amazing relationships are taking a break. Life is all about the ebbs and tides of the water. At this point in life I am needing to return to work full time, and have been winding down activity with CRA. I have retained a handful of private students who I really enjoy teaching, but otherwise we are taking a hiatus for awhile. My posting will be very limited in coming months. I wish you all well, and my phone is always one. Albeit with out voice mail. I hate checking messages.

MIA...

I've been MIA since just before we left for out trial in Tryon. To say the least the weekend did not go as planned. Togey did not take well to riding in the trailer for 5 hours with a mare in heat. I think he torqued his back during the ride as well. He came off the trailer a different horse. He was hot, looking at everything, and just unruly. We got unpacked and headed to the hotel, hoping lunging in the morning would help.

I don't think Togey got any rest Saturday night. Sunday morning his stall was totally banked and he had obviously been turning donuts all night. He was also trying to climb the wall into Em's stall. Katie was an amazing groom. She took care of everything with out me asking her for anything. She may have a career as a professional groom ahead of her.

Kaijsa had an okay dressage ride, followed by my disasterous one. Togey's hind end was not working right. I couldn't keep him tracking, and he refused to bend. My second level dressage horse went down to a poor quality Intro horse. After our ride we went back to the warmup ring only for him to LAUNCH me 20 foot in the air. KJ reports that my feet were above Togey's head. I landed on my feet the same way you just step off a high dive and weight for the water to make contact.

Kaijsa headed out for cross country, which was set to be a very challenging course. You basically went up the side of a mountain over 5 fences, across the peak over another 5 fences, and back down over the final 5 fences to the water complex. Kaijsa was really looking forward to going cross country. She headed to the starting box, while Katie positioned herself at the first fence to take pictures, and KJ and I went on up the hill to get the best perspective of the majority of the fences. Kaijsa got out of the starting box in great style. About 5 strides out from the fence it was obvious there was some hesitation on the pairs part and Em broke to a trot. One stride out Kaijsa realized that the jump wasn't going to be there, but by the time she had an opportunity to react Em had stopped. Em gave Kaijsa her heart and all and tried to jump the fence from a stand still. She did get clear, just rubbing the top of the 3' fence with her hind feet. But Kaijsa got left terribly behind on take off. The concussion of landing popped her right off the side and she landed badly on a hip. Since mom wasn't with us we aired on the side of caution and scrapped the day. We headed to the ER to have x-rays taken, and pick up a set of crutches.

KJ and Katie were fantastic they took care of getting the horses settled, and squared away then brought the truck over to the hospital to pick Kaijsa and I up. I did learn one lesson I am not travelling without at least one other licensced driver. I'm not sure how we would have gotten home from the hospital without KJ to bring the truck.

When we got home we put the weekend behind us, and started looking towards a trial at Carolina Horse Park near Southern Pines, NC. This time Katie will be showing Jazz. Katie doesn't like to event because cross country is nerve racking for her. But, this course is where her pony club rally is held, so it's a fantastic opportunity to practice. I was planning to compete on Togey if he started behaving better, and if not I would take Riley. When we got home Togey continued to act a fool under saddle trying to buck me off with each canter attempt. I opted to give him a week off, which made a world of difference. I got him yesterday for the first time in just over a week. I have my horse back!!!! I have decided not to compete him in Southern Pines though. I'm going to take him along and stable to see if he travels better before planning to compete. One difference with eventing compared to hunter/jumper shows is that you have to prepay for your entry. I don't want to spend $100 to discover that I have a nut coming off the trailer. So, he'll just come to be Jazz's travelling companion this time.

CRA has a crazy month and a half ahead of us. It doesn't seem to matter how small our team is we keep busy enough. This weekend is the 4-H show at Mullet Hall. Chipper will be competing on Riley, and I may take Togey down for some under saddle classes.

Next weekend KJ and I are heading to Cherry Point, NC to bring Storm home. KJ has purchased him from Mary's daughter.

The following weekend is the trial at CHP. Followed by Thanksgiving. The first weekend in December "the boys" (KJ & Randall) and I will be going to a hunter pace in Ehrhardt, SC. I'm really looking forward to this one, as they are doing an oyster roast for lunch. If anyone else is interested in joining us we'd be happy to have you. This time out we are planning to do the trail division (at a slower pace) and see what the boys think of competing.

Then the second week of December is the Christmas show in Clemson. It looks like CRA will have a large turnout for this weekend. At this moment we have Gia, Bailey, Katie, Olivia, Lily, Sadie, and Myself showing. The boys will travel, and if there's trailer space we'll bring some horses for them to trail ride while we're there.

Then finally we have several weeks home in a row. We'll be using this time for Katie to prepare Togey to compete in the spring shows, and I'm sure I'll be doing some much needed trail riding with the boys in Jamestown.

Cross Country Round 2

Cross Country

We took a big crew to Stono River Stables to school cross country today. We took 6 rider/horse combinations and 4 parents along for the ride. I had planned to get Togey ready for our trial this weekend, but things didn't go according to plans. Katie schooled Togey for me. I gave Jessie a training ride. Gia schooled Riley. Chipper got a rare treat on Jazz. Kaijsa and Em got ready for this weekend. Bailey brought Sassy out for her first cross country day.

I wanted to load a slideshow, but Dan's laptop and photobucket aren't cooperating. So here are some random shots of the day.

Upcoming Travel

It's been a long road to this point. Now that I have a suitable horse of my own I am re-entering the world of eventing. Kaijsa and I are heading to Tryon on the 24th of this month for my first horse trial in almost 15 years. This is a schooling level trial, so a great opportunity for the inexperienced rider. It's held all in one day with intro (fences 12") to novice (fences to 3') level.

If anyone is interested in convoying and/or sharing hotel rooms, or just coming to spectate please let me know we'd love the company. Here's a link to the show bill.

http://www.foothillsridingclub.com/images/2009_fall_horse_trial.pdf

Excellent showing

If I could add "We are the champions" sound track I think I would. Yesterday was a success on all fronts but the weather. We met personal goals for both riders and horses, we placed well in our classes, we had a fantastic social time, and all in all everything went beautifully.
I know all you guys want are the pictures, so here are a few.

Gia showed Jessie in the low hunters with the big boys. Although they had great rounds Jessie showed her dislike for Mullet hall by refusing the first fence of the outside line just as she does each and every time down there. She pinned well in her division, and then got a break before Gia's 11 and under equitation. This time Jessie did not refuse and they won both the flat and over fences eq classes bringing home the championship.

I am loving having Togey, but he is a ride every step horse. I have not been riding enough recently to be in the shape to do him justice all day at a horseshow. I decided to enter him in the unrestricted w/t/c with a hunter hack division. We had a beautiful u/s class, we blew a lead in the pleasure class, and had a really long spot to the second fence of the hack. I opted for the training moment and pulled him up hard following the second fence. I wanted to give the junior rider in the class a chance to take the class. Unfortunatley, she also had a long spot and we won the class. That gave us the championship in the division. When we left the ring the junior had a temper tantrum with their trainer. In the end perhaps learning to lose gracefully was a skill they needed to work on.

A very talented junior rider came down to show Togey in the mid height jumpers, while I had planned to do one lower height. Watching her school him I recognize she was in a better position to do him justice and put out a good training round which is what I was looking for than I was. She showed him in the 2'6'"-2'9" jumper divsion. They took a rail in the first class, and trotted the majority of the second class. Togey was a very good boy, but ran out of gas at the end of the day.

I rather enjoyed my role as sponsor to such a talented rider, and am looking forward to sharing Togey with her for some lessons with her regular trainer. I am also working on some upcoming show opportunities for her.

I apologize in advance for the slideshow transition taking too long, but I love the color what can I say?

Horse Show Crazies

Sea Island....what can I say? When we go to this show we never know what the turnout is going to be. We've had every trainer in town bring horses some months, and other months just us and one other farm.

This time it's been CRA's turn to be all over the map. We have gone from everyone showing this weekend, to no one and just this week we've swung back the other way. It looks like Gia will be out on Jessie, I'm showing Togey, Katie will be showing him as well. I haven't had enough time to ride to do justice to multiple classes. Chipper is still up in the air. He may be showing a pony for Charles again this weekend. Or he may show one of our horses.

Stay tuned for results.

Congratulations Chipper

Chipper had a big day today. He was invited to catch ride for Charles.
He rode an adorable pony that the owners are looking to sell or lease. He rode in the 2 foot green hunter and 2'3" low hunter. The divisions were both very large with about 15-20 entries each. Charles even had 5 rides (we think) himself in the green division and Paula rode in the low hunter.

Chipper did an outstanding job winning 3 of his 6 classes. He brought home the championship in the low hunter division. More importantly he was invited to come ride the pony again next weekend.

Congratulations Chipper!!!

R.I.P. Tank

Our sympathies and prayers are with the Johnson family and LEAP at this time. Sean's horse tank had to be put down yesterday. It was a horrible state of events that led to this situation. We know they are all at a loss and hurting right now.

Please take a few minutes out to pray for them.

Moving Day

Today was a big day for Togey. His breathing had gotten pretty fierce last week, so he's been off. We had a long series of phone calls on Friday to discuss a treatment plan. Near miraculously he recovered with minimal care over the weekend. Dr. Miller called his respiration 90% this morning. I have renewed hope that he is adjusting to our climate and will work out for the longhaul for me.

The exciting part of him doing so well today was that cleared him to travel to his new home. I have moved him to Rose Court Farms in Summerville. I had planned to ride during the mornings while Kenzie is in school. I was finding I didn't have enough time to get to Whistle Stop and home again.

Riley and Pickles will continue to stay under the stupendous care of Tara.

Hopefully this move and his improved breathing will mean I can get back in the saddle on a regular basis now. Here's hoping I have a horse ready to show in November.

beautiful day

I got a rare treat today...I was slated to take Jackson out on a trail ride. For those of you who don't know Jackson is a 1400+ pound morgan x friesan. He's right about 16h, but wider than a aircraft carrier. Seriously you can land a helicopter on his back. He had shown some nervousness about limbs and such rustling/falling. I was expecting him to take me for a ride. IN the end we had a beautiful 2 hours, of fine tuning, and a tiny jump when my boot hit a tree trunk. I saw my first red (think toadstool) mushroom. It was really cool to realize those things in storybooks actually exsist.

We were crusing along really well until we hit water at the end. The first puddle was small and avoidable. After just a minute of protest I gave up so I wouldn't hold everyone up. The second wet spot was either go through water or at least deep suctiony mud. This fight I was in for the long haul. I ride Jackson in Kellie's treeless saddle which is about 3 inches too large for me, and the girth is about 2 inches too big for Jackson. SO not the ideal equipment for a fight. Jackson was definitley dug in for a fight. When he realized I was too. He answered my insistence with a High, Ho, Silver move. He went vertical and lunged over the mud. I can't say he jumped it because the hind feet didn't leave the ground until the front ones touched down, and he was truly vertical with every ounce of strength in his hind quarter. I gotta say it was fun:)

Another happy note. Bella aka. Palmetto Walk will be out of quarantine tomrrow. We're going to let her settle into her new routine this week, and then the girls will be able to start lessons regularly next week.

Ups and Downs...literally

Two rides ago I put Togey back in his KK loose ring that he has always been ridden in. He was perfect:) Waited for spots, jumped properly, etc.

Then today the weather was nice and cool, and he has become herd boss. I guess he is full of himself as he took me to the rodeo today. He schooled on the flat fine. He was willing through his circles, a bit strong at the canter, but not as bad as he has been. He schooled the crossrail fine. I tried a grid a few times and he was not happy that I asked him to be quiet and do the add. He was throwing a buck on landing. We backed down to a single vertical which wasn't much better, but rideable. I tried to finish out the ride with the crossrail, so we'd have a better stopping point. He jumped it perfectly, and I was prepared to allow him to canter down the rail. That's when the fun started. It was a true bronc ride buck, rear, kick, buck, bolt, rear, and so on. My apologies to Cassandra and Grizzly for interupting their lesson.

Oh, to figure out what it will take to get some consistency. Maybe a martingale next, and hoping the new bit I ordered will get here soon.

Bullys

I HATE BULLYS!!!! I don't necesssarily mean human bullies, although they aren't any good. I'm thinking of the equine varietey. All our horses try to be bullies from time to time. If you ask your mount to perform a maneuver and they protest (tossing their head, balking, dropping a shoulder, etc) they are trying to intimidate you into submission. This is no different than human bullies who nit pick, yell, demand, etc.

Last night Togey was just such a bully. I will confess I was asking for a lot more than I have done. This was only his second ride without his loose ring snaffle. Now I'm making excuses for him. The bottom line is it's his job to obey even when he doesn't want to.

Togey worked on the flat well. He was far more submissive to his bridle. We worked on his side pass at both the trot and canter. I got him to give me a few steps of extended trot, although it did take half the diagonal to get him started. He gave me a perfect flying change the first time we reversed. I had been told he didn't really have them on the flat, so this was a suprise for me. We ran into problems when I asked him to rein back. Of course this conincded with the first time I had to get in his face. He was being so willing I hadn't really had need to pull on him at all.

I started asking for the rein back with my seat bones and leg only. He took a tiny bit of pull to get the first 3 steps. If I would have accepted what he gave me everything would have been perfect. But, 4 steps is customary so of course I had to ask for one more. This final step turned out to be a blow up. Togey expressed his hatred for me by hollowing out his back, elevating the bridle, and bracing against me. When that failed to elicit relief he tried pulling the reins out of my hand. From there we escelated into head tossing. His final attempt to gain submission from me was to give me a perverted version of what I was asking for. His answer to "Oh, you want me to sit down and use my hind end..." was to give me a beautiful Levade.

What's a Levade you ask? It is one of the 4 airs above the ground that make up the most advanced dressage moves. Your next question..."What's wrong with that?" When it's not done on demand/command it's also known as a rear. Togey clearly told me last night that my helmet is too big. He knocked the brim with his neck flinging it backwards off my head.

I should have been prepared for his desire to go air borne. Tara told me when she and Amy pulled up in the morning that Rebel was helping Togey practice his "airs". The boys were playing and air striking repeatedly as Tara and Amie pulled in. They got going so strong that Rebel actually flipped himself over backwards, and so stunned himself he lay there playing dead. He nearly gave Amie a heart attack. Not 5 minutes later were the two of them back at the rehersal for Togey's evening performance with me.

We continued to work on his submission to rein pressure with some super small circles and single steps backwards. After he had gone back to work on the flat we moved on to what he loves...

Jumping...my focus was to keep him quiet, find the base, maintain rein contact, keep him listening for instruction, and work on the landing side leads. We trotted a bunch of fences. He jumped like a champ and only protested with some head tossing when he got excited. He never took the bit and went without permission though. I felt like we were doing very well. I added in asking for the flying changes he had demonstrated on the flat. This resulted in more bullying. He would give me one, then he'd evade throwing his shoulder out and/or tossing his head for others. The worst protest came when he only got half a change. His protests varied between crow hops and the equivalent on his front end. I can't really say he reared as much as he popped up his front legs to make room for the change. All of this is typical green behavior for a horse learning his changes.

All in all, I LOVE this horse. If he didn't have some bully and attitude in him why would a trainer want one? I enjoy the challenge. No human bullies...You can keep your bossiness, opinions, and attitude to yourselves.

Fall Show Opportunities

This is what the fall show schedule will look like. If you want to attend any of these shows with us let me know.

Sept 19th Pinto Mullet Hall
Sept 26th Sea Island Mullet Hall
Oct 10th Pinto Mullet Hall
Nov 7th 4-H Fun Show
Nov 28th PSJ Schooling (Non USEF) in Aiken
Dec 19th Sea Island Mullet Hall

Road trip in the works

We are looking at organizing a trip to Quarter Horse Congress in October. We are toying with the idea of renting an RV and camping. We will drive up on Friday and back on Monday. This is the largest horseshow held in the US and an amazing educational opportunity as well as fun time. A lot of the kids have a 4 day weekend the 23rd-26th, although the 9th to 11th might be a better weekend to go.

If you might be interested please let me know very soon, as hotel and campground options will be VERY full in the area. I'd like to book something by the end of this month.

Growth, and Learning

The Pay Off
We had an amazing this weekend. I entered the weekend with trepidation. We had several people travelling with us who either haven't travelled with us in the past, or haven't travelled in quite awhile. The last several shows have run quite smoothly. I was worried that the addition of so many people to our group was going to rock the boat. I was proved wrong. We had our occasional moment where some of my seasoned kids had to step up to the plate and do a bit of hand holding, but all in all everyone pulled their weight. We were unpacked in lightning Sunday night.

Grazing at the Gas Station

We had a long day Friday. We picked a nail up in our tire on our way up. We had to stop in Chapin for Mr. Thomas and Shelton to plug and slime the tire. Our location was convenient because Lexy and Miss Sandy got to have lunch with Travis (her brother). One silly nail delayed us almost an hour.

We arrived at the show grounds about 3:30. We unloaded,unpacked and fed the horses dinner. Several of the riders schooled Friday night. As tradition dictates we did a late dinner at Fuddruckers. It was hard to find a table for all of us. The back room was closed for the night and we had 14 people at dinner.

Bailey and Sassy
Olivia and Doodle

Saturday was a full day. We had people showing in both arenas most of the day. Bailey and Olivia kick started the day in the amoeba division. I've only taught these two a couple of times each, so we are still getting to know each other. This was Bailey's first show. Sassy was a brilliant mount with the addition of a $4 piece of equipment. Now we're hoping she remains that good at home. Bailey will be moving up to 2 foot and 2'3" in the coming weeks. Olivia and Doodle have shown marked improvement in just the two weeks they have been with me. Olivia has found a love for the jumper world via the low gambler class. We will start working towards her goal of transitioning to jumpers.

Chipper and Pickles 2'
Chipper and Gia Flatting
Gia and Jessie 2'

Chipper and Gia rode the ponies in the hopeful hunter division. Gia and Jessie were an amazing pair. They are really coming into their own. They were the division Champions winning 5 out of 6 classes. Pickles gave Chipper a run for his money on Saturday. If there is a dirty pony trick Pickles pulled it. Pickles challenge turned out to be the best thing for Chipper. Chipper accomplished more than one of his life goals for his riding. He earned a "man up" award for how quick he climbed up after his fall. We have all been waiting years for that to happen. They went from the ground up. Each class improved until he was in the ribbons several classes in a row.


Sean and Maggie. Know that's square

from halt to gallop...

Sean was the King of Versatility for the day for Saturday. He rode in both rings. He showed 2' fences, trail, disciplined rail, and ran barrels and poles. He had a good day all the way around. Sunday was his outstanding performance. He rode both Intro dressage tests for the first time. He won the A test with a score of 62 and took 3rd in the B test with score of 67.

Shelton and Sonny w/t

Shelton also got to show the his horse Sonny. Sonny is a work in progress so we did not have high hopes, but they did very well in the trail class. I spent a few minutes tuning Sonny up, and then Shelton went to it. Placing 4th in the class. He also "ran" more standard bred trotted the barrels and poles.


Lexy and Pickles 2'6"

Lexy and Em Intro A

Sunday belonged to my teenagers, and for an odd occasion myself. Lexy showed Pickles in the moving up division at 2'6" and 2'9". They won the hack with 7 in the class. They were the smallest, but apparently the cutest. She also showed Em in Intro A scoring just 1 point behind Sean on Em. Her final class was the 2'6" jumpers on Jessie. The course was going well until Jessie refused an aquaduct. She's never seen one, so we have something to work on there.

Possibly my all time fave pic of this pair

Kaijsa showed Em training level and designed her own training level freestyle test. She set her test to Tim McGraw's "I Like it, I Love it". She came home learning that sometimes a horse is too well schooled to move down the levels, but had a great experience learning how to put together a freestyle test. Her rythm was compunded with my showing Em in the jumper division.

I showed Em in the 2'6" jumper, 3'-3'3" jumpers, and High Gamblers. I rode off course in the 2'6" as I was in a mad rush from one arena to the next. I settled for the 1 meter class and placed third. Then finally we were 5th in the Gamblers. For a mare notorious for 4' bucks on course I was very pleased to get clean lead changes instead.

My weekend continued into Monday when I picked up a new horse for the Serio's. I am very excited to announce that Palmetto Walk aka. Bella has been added to the Charleston Riding Academy stable. Look for her very soon being shown in the large hunter ring by myself or one of the teenagers. Hopefully she will soon be packing her new girls in the small ring walk/trot.

Friendly Reminder

I've registered before online, but decided to do it again with both my cell and home phones at the number below! Can't be too careful anymore!!!!
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> REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public next month.
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> REMINDER.... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls.
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> ...... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS Even if the message is saved on your phone, you will be charged for the minutes to listen to it.
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> To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:
> 888-382-1222 .
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> It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
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> HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.. I
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> =============