No Ride Specialties 12-27-14

Sorry it has taken so long to get this post out. I've been sleeping a lot to recover from having my tonsils removed. But anyway on Saturday`almost all blue specialties and some whtite were cancelled. For me White Ropes, Blue Liberty 2, and Blue Batons were cancelled. But Blue Vaulting was still riding but in the evening. I wasn't riding but I still went out to watch my parnter. She rode Larry and then switched partners due to height and rode Cruiser. The learned so many new tricks! It was really hard not riding but it was also really nice to watch the tricks to see how to do them. So the tricks were kneel, stand, sit sideways (feet towards the rail for saftey), sit backwards, lay out on your tummy, and lay out over the croup. I can not wait until I can try the tricks. We did have an injury. While sitting backwards Rock bucked and the girl fell. She is okay. She broke her arm and got the wind knocked out of her. It was handled very well. The rest of the team went to the other side of the arena to give her space and first aid was there right away. Then there were some birthdays. In vauting instead of singing happy birthday the trick rider stands and they do the chicken dance. It was funny. Then they unsaddled. I talked with WesternaireForever and her family and got to use my pad carrier. OMG it is so nice. It has a strap inside to keep the pad upright and not pushing on the bottom. It's hard to describe. It makes it so much easier to carry. Overall it was a good night and I can't wait until I am able to ride again.

Westernaires Christmas Haul!!!

Wow! This Christmas has been great!!!! I got a lot of stuff that I can use at Westernaires so I figured let's make a post!!! 

Show Straps!!!

I am going to buy another pair of Spurs to complete these. 

Riding Socks!!!

White Sweathshirt! - Great for Roping

Saddle Pad Carrier - All my Vaulting Equipment 

Features a handle and shoulder strap. Zips closed and has vented sides :) 

I also got a new bag with my name on it for ropes and my carhartt embroidered with my teams but it's not done yet :) hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!!!

Colorado Stampede 12/20/14

So yesterday was fun but it could have gone better :(
So Stampede groomed and saddled again. I got my first AAA+ horse, Squirt #120. He is AAA+ for a good reason. I caught him no problem. He wouldn't go under the shelter for grooming so I just tied him to the pole outside. He was fine for grooming he just moved around a lot. He is also REALLY tall. So mounting was interesting. I had to jump and he wouldn't stand still. So our ride was okay. We trotted the whole time which seemed really boring after the last ride. Squirt is good he just has a lot of energy. His trot isn't terrible but it takes effort to sit it. His strides are also twice the size of everyone else. He responds great to leg cues. I had to check and release almost the whole time. He didn't want to slow down. I was double checking my feet the whole time to make sure I wasn't spurring him. We built 8's and practiced circling there. I think everyone was just having an off day and the outside riders wouldn't speed up. Squirt was fine when he was on the outside but he didn't want to pivot when he was on the inside. Then we built a one sided propeller and we had to turn it a couple times at a walk. That was basically our ride :( Then it was time for diagramming. I turned in my diagrams and waited while everyone else took sequence. Then we went over a couple charts that a lot of people had corrections on. Stampede scores 4,3,2,1. If you get a 2 or a 1 you have to correct them. 3's are optional, but 4's are required for officer ship. I got four 4's, nine 3's, and four 2's. I'm going to re do my 3's to get 4's. So I have 13 corrections and then we finished our drill so I have 10 more diagrams. 23 total. Not too bad :) As I'm writing this I already have them all done. So then my day was done :( I'm not going to be at specialties while I recover from having my tonsils removed. I could possibly ride with Stampede on Jan. 3 but we will see. At the least I will be present for the ride and diagramming.

Specailties Can Be Rodeo 12/13/14

Ow!!!!! That's the first thing i thought this morning hahaha. So yesterday was super suoer fun. So my ropes instructor let me go to Vaulting because I had a conflict with White Ropes and Blue Vaulting. White Over Blue. So I was super happy. My partner and I got Shoshone for class, and Sue was our second horse we had to groom. Grooming takes forvever because we don't get our horses until 7:30 cause we are at the way back. Plus when we get down to the arena's we have to unsaddle and tack up in our vaulting equipment. Once I was done grooming I checked out my Liberty Horse (Chili #96) So I started out as the trick rider. I am always so close to vaulting up. So we went out on the rail. They let us try kneeling if we were comfortable. I had done it last time so I popped up pretty easily. It's always a little scary haha. So then we tried standing if we were comfortable. I tried. Now that is really scary hahaha. I'm proud of myself for trying it though. We attempted an Arabesque but i wasn't quite confident enough to lift my leg. So then we sat down. They told us to hook our feet under our base riders and lay back. This is called Lay Out over the Croup. I like this trick a lot. It's fun but kind of scary cause all you can see is the sky and you know you are moving but you can't see where lol. It takes a lot of core to hold your head up. You also out your hands over your head too. I was excited to finally be trying tricks. Then we trotted a little and we were out of time. We didn't get to change partners. I felt really bad since I am missing the next specialties class so my partner won't have a partner. So we were dismissed and I found Chili on the rail. One of my friends had unsaddled him for me. I took him to class and I was even closer to mounting up this time but I still needed a boost. BONY!!!!! Ouch. So today was a good class we worked on wire work and lifting. We did a column split and circle, and a pass through. Then they set a pole in the middle of the arena and we practiced lifting and cueing. Judging the space and trying to get our buts of the horse. It is way harder than it looks, OMG. So chili was doing good he just didn't like to go very fast but his gates weren't aweful. I was getting used to his bony back. So after we did the pole at a walk and a trot they took it away and we went into troopers. Time to lope. So I kicked Chili up into a lope and he bucked took a few strides at a lope and bucked again. I was a little unbalanced but I kept pushing. So he slowed down again and I tried to kiss him up nope still bucked and bucked. This time I came down on his withers. I had to pull in for a second and catch my breath. Then out I went again and kicked him up. I anticipated the buck this time and rode it out. His lope is hard to sit ugh he has some bad withers there. So we reversed and Loped the other direction. So I kicked him into his buck lope again and was coming around the corner when he bucked another time it threw me forward and I was slipping as he's bucking and loping again but I pulled back up and pushed him on. They called a walk and we made a line facing the gate. I slid/fell off of Chili hahaha. Then one of my instructors and gave me a high five! He said he was impressed that I stayed on. He thought I was going down when I slipped at the corner. Then another one of my instructors said Chili just doesn't like Liberty and I did really well with him. So overall I was impressed with myself. I just got to work on lifting. Chili is amazing when it's not bareback so if i ever get him for team I know he won't buck. So I limped around for the rest of the day and I helped Blue Ropes at 11. They are looking really good. A lot of them can switch hands already. They played the jump rope game and I got to help spin the rope. It was quite entertaining. Then I worked on some homework and watch a couple teams while I waited for Batons at 3. We made a circle and practiced 4 finger twirls. Then she taught us 8 finger twirls or continuous. I already knew them from my friend in white so I got to come help teach. Then the same story with vamps and pancake switches. So I did a lot of teaching. Then we got to play with the hoop batons and that was really fun!!! They feel really different. Since I knew Thumb tosses as well I got to throw them too. After class was over I stayed and our instructor taught me some more stuff with Flash Twirls and Fish Tails. Then I went home. I went to bed at 6pm so I guess you can say I was exhausted. I am so sore today I can barely move.

Guess The Horse #22

Last week's answer was Sunday #8

This weeks riddle is I am a dark gray, mare, quarter horse. I am only 6 years old so I've got a lot of energy. I have a tail that goes from gray to blonde and a star on my face. My number is between 40 and 45. Who am I?

Stampede Oh Yeah!!!!!!!

Wow so yesterday was AMAZING!!!!! Stampede groomed and saddled again and I started making a couple new friends on my team :) then I got Rock #31   My first thought was oh boy. Cause anyone who know rock know he has terrible ground manners and I had him my tenderfoot year as well. It was so weird because I grabbed him from the pasture and he was being a totally grump and pinning his ears at everything but I had to groom outside and he was eating the hay on the ground. He was staying calm so I let him and he didn't fuss AT ALL for grooming. I physically grabbed his head and made sure I had the right horse. He was an angel. The worst I got was two head tosses for bridling. But the weird part was anytime someone else came over he started being a grump again. But when it was just me I was fine it was so sweet! The ride was even better! We trotted and warmed up. Anyone who forgot their name tags had to stand without stirrups again. Thank goodness I remembered mine. Rock has a really nice slow trot. His fast one can be a little bumpy. So then we talked in the middle and went back out. Then we picked up the lope. We built pairs to fours and practiced circling the whole team at a lope. The first couple were aweful and really scary. But after a few more we got it and kept the pace consistent. It was a great feeling. So then we played the Catch Up game. It's done in troopers,pairs,fours,eights. Whatever the instructor wants. So I was one away from the rail in my four. The goal of the game is to go as fast as you can in control without leaving your group behind and catch up to the back of the team who is at a slow lope. So my group had a really slow owner horse on the rail. Two laps around and she just couldn't keep up. We tried to stay with her and encourage her horse. Finally my instructor said. She's not tryingb anymore (the rider gave up) leave her behind. So that left me on the rail and I booked it! Rock wanted to run so bad and I let him. My 2 other riders kept up with me and we caught up in less than half an arena. Man going that fast was great. We never stopped loping as the rest of the teams went. Then still loping we built 8's and did it again. Still never breaking the lope. 8's was really hard cause our inside had to stop on the corners for us to fit. We got it at the end but it wasn't as smooth. The pint of the game was for the instructors to see who was comfortable at what speeds. Then we walked the last 10 minutes to cool the horses down. We had to ride with someone we didn't know and get to know them. I walked rock around to the water. Man he was drenched in sweat. Poor baby. He did everything I asked of him the whole time. Stopped and turned on a dime. It was an amZing little connection. So then I had a little time to eat before classroom and then in we went. We started with sequence and turned in diagrams. I have 3 corrections and we diagrammed 15 more charts today. So 18 total. I passed all 3 sequences!!!!! I am done :) yay!!!!!! I'm super happy :) we are supposed to finish diagramming our drill next time so that's exciting. I hope we start riding it soon. I feel behind cause a lot of other teams are. But we are really focusing on basics which is good too. Overall it was a great day!