COSTUMING + VOLUNTEER

Today was a great and okay day. Stampede had to groom, I got Billy #9. I was pretty excited for the ride because we were riding in the Volunteer Arena!!!! So it was SUPER icy and cold. Billy was amazing for grooming he just stood there. He has the personality of a giant puppy dog. Such a sweet heart. His feet were awful because they were frozen but I eventually got them done. We walked the horses down. Just being on the other side of the rail in there feels amazing! I can't even describe what it feels like. Typically only Red Division gets to ride in there so being in there felt amazing. I can't wait until next year when I move up. Billy has a bit of rail issues hahaha. He doesn't like to stay on the rail. He doesn't neck rein at all, he doesn't stop, and he makes giant circles. He is a total leg and body cue horse. We mostly did equitation work because everyone on our team needs it a lot. Billy isn't smooth but he's manageable. Pretty average gaits. We were doing a four's split at the rail and a halt ho was called by a rider. Our team stopped on a dime, I was impressed. We had a rider come off in the middle of us and she was unharmed. Yay!!! She got back on and we did a thread at a lope which was really fun! We loped in fours then she gave us numbers and we had to go line up in the four number we got. I was a 1. Totally at random I ended up as 2-1 again! OUTSIDE OF PROPELLER IN THE VOLUNTEER!!!! AHHHHHH! So we started our drill but only got through the the first 6/7 maneuvers. But we did propeller! I had to urge Billy on a bit but we turned it really well! Then is was over. Because of the long walk our ride was cut like 20 minutes short so that sucked a lot. I wouldn't say my team had a great ride but just okay. We had a lot of issues going on. So then I watched WesternaireForever in J2. She had Smooch, and I watched a bit of Varsity. Then it was time to diagram. We got settled and got Test #2 back...... My instructor came up to me and said,"Looks like someone forgot to study like last time." I was like oh no! I flipped my page over to a blue 100%!!!!!! I was so happy!!!!! HUGE improvement from the last test. Then it was catch up time. We had the class hour to study and anyone who had a 2 or 1 had that time to correct diagrams in class to pass training. I spent the time helping people with diagrams and explaining stuff to them. After class we lined up shortest to tallest. It was time to COSTUME! Stampede was my #1 choice for AAA and I am in LOVE with their costumes. First we got fitted to our shirts. They are long sleeve and silver. They have a light blue piece that goes over our shoulders and Velcros in the front. The shirts are nice and simple they Velcro up the front. They are pretty comfortable too. They also have cuffs that Velcro onto the shirt and around our wrist. They are very loose and stretchy so not as annoying as White Star's last year. The first shirt they gave me, a medium, fit so that was awesome. Then is was time for CHAPS!!!!! Our chaps have a blue strip in the front and Velcro around our waist. they are all black with a silver star on each leg. They have one strap that hooks behind our thigh/knee to hold the chaps down. My instructor wanted all our chaps to be a little long so they would kind of cover our feet when we rode. I got a size large. I felt soooo cool! I love them! It will be a little weird mounting in them though. Then we were free too go. Costuming is such a tease. You get the costumes and get all excited and don't get to wear them again until pictures in May.... grrrr. So then I watched Nighthorse ride and went home. Overall not a bad day.

Liberty!

So today was good. Batons and ropes were cancelled so I didn't have to be there until 10:15. I woke up at 5am out of habit and panicked lol. I picked up my diagram for Stampede. I have all 4's on my diagrams now!!!! So I checked out my horse for Liberty and I had Pepper again! I was so excited he is such a good boy. He was in Precisionettes so I was one of the last few into my class. I almost got up by myself. Everyone had to take off their bridles today because we were in the Blue so we wouldn't have horses taking off. I wanted to anyway because Pepper is sooooo good! He responds to leg cues and the wire amazing. It's really weird having the bridle off but I like it. I got to speak to a 1,000 pound animal with my body and a thin wire. It was incredible. We had to practice lifting. It's so much easier at a trot. My friend's were right the momentum makes it easier. Then we had to hold it and that sucks. We also did some threads and stuff. It was a really good ride. So I didn't have Vaulting until 5 so I watched NHR/Circus Horse, Crimson, and Royal. Then I got a phone call saying Vaulting was cancelled. I was sooooo sad! I was really looking forward to doing the tricks. But the weather was awful!!!!

RIP - Ivan

We lost another horse this morning to colic. Old man Ivan. He was retired. RIP!

RIP - Larry

RIP Larry #20 - Radial Fracture
Larry was put down this morning :(
"You carried me when I could not carry myself. A little slow but a heart 3 sizes too big. Such a sweetheart."
~ Good bye big boy

Guess The Horse #25

The answer to Guess the Horse #24 was Princess #105 - Congrats to Westie's Girl!

Your riddle for this week is I am a quarter horse mare. I am 10 years old and a Light Brown and White Paint. I am very energetic and hyper and excel in Red Division and higher white division teams. My number is between 100 - 105. Who am I?

P.S. I've decided to make this a contest to see who can get the answer first - best of luck!
~ WesternaireGal

3 Days in One!

Friday 2/13 - 
It was just not a good night. It was absolute chaos in the pasture, I got kicked, the horses were fighting, it was absolute mayhem. Then for class the kids are so little they need a lot of help. Trinidad bit my back, and two horses pulled back. My car wouldn't start didn't get home until 10:45 pm

Saturday 2/14 - 
My friend on White Star made it onto JGE. SO PROUD! This was definitely my day! Stampede groomed and saddled but we didn't ride until 9 so we got some different horses. I GOT STRETCH!!!!!!!! I was so excited. I got him all groomed but need help from a taller teammate to get his ears in the bridle. I actually got up by myself!!!! I rode him down and lined up. Since I was AAA I GOT TO RIDE HIM!!!!!! My second time up wasn't as graceful but I still got it! My teammates heads were at my shoulder LOL!

> for those of you who don't know stretch is the tallest horse at westernaires and he is only 3 so he is still growing. <  

He likes to play with his bit and has a really hard time standing still. His trot is terrible! But he makes up for it in cuteness. He's so clumsy! You can feel he doesn't quite know how to control his legs. His personality is awesome. We RODE OUR DRILL! All the way through for the first time. We got to pick our positions but I couldn't call because I called the walk through. So I picked 2-1 (OUTSIDE OF PROPELLER) We actually didn't do too bad! Stretch LOVES the outside of propeller. His lope feels like you are flying. It was super easy to guide because I could see over all my teammates heads. Then I watched White Star they are actually looking really nice. I didn't get to see their drill because I went up to the fort and organized some walk throughs with my teammates. For diagramming we were in the Seminar Room. It brought back White Star memories.Then we took the second test. I felt really good about it. I was the first one done....again. I got an 87% on the first one :( Not my best performance. I diagrammed the wrong progression of diagonal pass through and missed a few points on written responses. I was freaking out so I asked my instructor for my class ranking. I can't share but it eased my fears a lot. I watched what was left of Nighthorse while my sister had costuming. It was an amazing day. The weather was fantastic. 

Sunday 2/15 - 

It snowed! I was so happy it waited until Sunday. The class went great today. Horse ID was paints but we brought up more to fill out the classes and keep some horses happy. I got to lead horses through the circle this year! I led Lacey and my baby Chey! It was a good class.

Wrangler Class 2015 - #1

Sorry it's been crazy but Sunday was the first wrangling class for 2015. It was so cool getting to be the ones already in green. Jr. Wranglers had to teach kids so basically it was a refresher course. WesternaireForever was in my group. I pulled up Nugget. It was a pretty easy class. I can't wait for the next class when we start horse ID more.

What a Day - Specialties 2/7/15

So yesterday was another 12 hour or so day of Westernaires for me :) I checked in for grooming at 7 and saw I had Bandit for Liberty. He was surprisingly not to grumpy for grooming, just the rubber curry and the cinch. So then I helped some teammates and we rode down. I was soooo close to mounting up. I should have it soon. Bandit is pretty comfortable. We warmed up with some circles and pair work. Bandit responds pretty good to the wire but He was throwing his usual morning bucks. They let anyone who wanted to take their bridles off. I chose not too :( I just wasn't comfortable enough with Bandit. So then we worked on a ground pole. I'm getting so much better at lifting! I can get air under my butt now! So Bandit likes to jump the ground pole and when he lands he does a little buck head shake thing. It's kind of funny. I'm glad I kept the bridle on though because he likes to race the horse next to him and doesn't stop very well. Then we handed our horses off to some red division riders and WE had to jump the full jump. It really put it into perspective how the horse can't really see what they are jumping. Overall it was a good class. I hope to be able to take my bridle off next time. Then I saddled Bandit and ran to batons. We worked on all our old tricks, turn around, and reverse figure 8's. I got dismissed early to go meet with my instructors. I picked up my two corrections I turned in and tried to turn in one but she told me what to fix so I'll turn it in next time. I had a little break so I got something to eat and headed to ropes. It was totally my day today I was on a roll! Somehow, I have no idea, I got back through Texas skip!!!!!!!!!!!!AHHHHHHH. I think I got a little too excited... oops. Then I had a guy teaching me and I have these jump exercises that I have to do 100 of each day. He also taught me how to catch the rope on the other side. He said if I could preform this at a show I would be the first white roper in eons if ever to preform it at a show. It would make history. I AM ON A MISSION! He said he couldn't believe how fast I had picked it up. He also showed me a trick for Double Spoke Hop and I kind of got that too!!!! Overall it was a really good class. I filmed Crimson and Royal because it was the graduation rides for the girls who just moved up to Precisionnettes. Congrats! Then I helped with Blue Ropes at 3. I think I see some white ropers in the making. At 4 I practiced ropes a little more and then checked in for Vaulting up at the Red. My partner and I got Brutus. I tried to use my new cinch on him but it was sooo big. So I went back to the rope one. I think 32 inch is the way to go. So I helped my partner up and as I was getting ready to mount Brutus shifted... onto my foot. I tried to push him over but another horse made him pivot. OW! I was also in my tennis shoes. I shook it off and got up. My toes were throbbing the whole ride. It was an important ride but super boring. The trick person hopped off and we met in a group. We practiced falling from the rail and then switched and rode in a circle. Brutus is soooo smooth and he listened really well. That was the ride. He cooled off really quick and rolled like 8 times. Then I went home and iced my foot.

200th POST!!!!! Amazing Stampede Ride

Okay sorry, life's been crazy but this is my 200th post!!!! Thanks for my 5 trusty followers :)

So Saturday was a Base Team weekend. Stampede groomed and Saddled. I got Shoshone #127. I was super excited to ride him for team! He was fine for grooming no fuss. Then I helped groom Rock but he was just in one of his funks. Our ride went really well! We just warmed up with some drill work and transitioning into pairs and fours. I was in a 3 with Banjo and Dee, and on the rail :) So she said 1st four speed it up. So I picked up a faster lope. Come on! Push him Catch Up! OH!!!!! That's what we are doing. So I give Shoshone full reins and a little nudge with the spurs, off we went! Shoshone was going as fast as he could! I can't even describe it! We flew around the corners so fast! Dee fell off but Banjo stuck right with me! The wind was freezing and my nose was running but I was flying!!!! It was amazing! As we approached the group in just about 1 1/2 laps I slowed Shoshone down and didn't pop out of the saddle! It was amazing I never wanted to stop! My first really really true Gallop and Shoshone is one of the slower horses!!!! It was so fun! His lope is really nice but his working trot is awful!!! My instructors said I looked like a floppy fish and my knees are rubbed raw. So after catch up we moved down the center, did a thread, made fours, went a crossed the center and split at the rail. Then we were in pairs and came up and down the center and into our Propeller! We were riding bits of our drill again! I was so excited. I was 1 away from the outside. So we moved into diagonal pass through and we made it through! We didn't die!!! HAHAHAHA. Huge improvement from last ride and it boosted my confidence in my team immensely. So we did the propeller and pass through one more time. I had to call a halt ho because Dakota's reins snapped. We pulled him out and she called star! I was leading and turned left at the rail and brought my team to the center turned left and stopped. It was here I figured out the spot I was riding. Totally at random I ended up as 1-1. I just laughed. So we spun our star called out and halted. We were out of time so we dismounted. Overall it was an amazing ride. Besides being bouncy Shoshone did amazing. So I tied him on the rail and headed up to the fort. I wrote a few sequences to jog my memory and I did a few walk throughs with my teammates. Then it was test time. We got started right away. It was about 35 questions and we had to draw and complete diagonal pass through. I finished SUPER early. I turned in my two corrections and picked up my new ones. I only have 1! I was out of the classroom by 10:35. So then I watched a little trick and decided I wanted to stick around. I met a person at 11 and bought a real light box, water bucket, and polo wraps. I figured I should start stocking for Red Division if I can find stuff cheap. Both are purple :) I guess my assigned horse will be wearing purple even if its a boy hahaha! Now I just need two purple lead ropes and a purple flat halter. So Nighthorse looked a lot better this week, so did Crimson and Royal. Then I met some of my old teammates as they came out of diagramming and went home. Overall a great day :)