BRRRRR - The "Graceful" Day

Yesterday was great! I came early to watch a bunch of my friends and old teammates ride in glory then I checked in for diagramming. We got our scores for Quiz 1 - 100% I was so happy! Then we headed out in the icy cold for a walk through. I was 2-5. So I peeled off for a maneuver and hit a patch of icy slush tried to save myself and ended up face planting and drenching myself from head to toe. It was super embarrassing but the whole team was laughing with me so it wasn't soooo bad. Now I was super cold though. We then switched to our second line up. I was expecting not point but I got put at 2-7! I was so happy to ride team for both drills! The positions are basically the same just opposite sides of the arena. We went back up and took sequence and Quiz 2. I have passed 3 sequences so I am done! Yay!! Then we finished diagramming Flag for 16 more diagrams plus corrections. I went to sign out my horse and I had Stretch! I was pretty happy to have stretchers back :) he was hyped up yesterday though!!! I turned his pad around backwards and it stopped the whole slipping problem! I was so happy. He wouldn't stand still for me to mount or at all for that matter. He does well once he has a job. When you start loping he gets soooo excited about loping that he forgets everything else. Our first drill actually went okay! We did it at a slow lope trot sort of. Stretch almost crashed into the points because he couldn't turn his big body in time. Then the second drill was a disaster. We couldn't keep our box for the star so all of them collapsed and it was just everywhere and out of control. For our first time though I guess it wasn't horrible. Stretch loved it. I actually got him to stop on a halt ho once!!!! Improvements!!!! Then I rode OD for JI at 1 and raced to our NHR pizza party at 2. Watched Colorado Stampede ride at 4 and headed home at about 5:30. It was sooooo cold by the end of the day.

First Cold Saturday

Saturday was hectic. There were last minute cancellations due to some snow. It was a pretty cold Saturday morning but it warmed up as the day progressed. I helped bring horses up and groomed Ringo before I checked in for training. We started out with a walk through and nighthorse has cool color coded t shirts. It really helps visually. I walked 3-7 twice and only slipped once. It was very humorous. Then I walked GPA 1 point for the last two. Then we went inside and took Quiz 1 and a sequence test. I felt amazing on both. We finished out with 16 more diagrams and I had about 5 corrections. After was batons. We did some partner tosses that were super challenging. I went to sign out my horse and I had Amigo. I think Stretch got hurt and went to the pasture for the day. I'm not sure. But amigo did absolutely wonderful. I basically rode the whole ride without stirrups though. His lead changes are amazing!!!!! We loped Spanish bowline and did thread in fours and worked on alternating. It wasn't a bad rise just some mishaps with people not paying attention. I honestly would be fine with Amigo or Stretch. I finally got to go to ropes! We worked on exchanging with partners and tie dances. Pretty boring. I watched Royal to help me study. For vaulting my partner declared owner so we rode her horse. We didn't try to many tricks on him. Mostly focused on getting him used to double and me moving  around. He did really well! I didn't get to JI this week because of scheduling and my liberty ride was cancelled.

Nighthorse, Cleaning, Diagrams

Hey sorry about the delay. I got caught up in life and school. Friday night I went to help at grooming. I found stretch laying down sleeping and got some super cute pictures. That went well and my kids did awesome. Then Saturday was interesting shall we say. I helped with grooming in the morning. Turbo laid down...darn weather stop making the horses colic! He is okay though. I found Stretch in the pasture and babied him. I also groomed his mane and tail while someone else groomed him. Then I checked in for Nighthorse and turned in my 20 sequences. For class we reviewed our quizzes. I got 100% and 98%. Then we watched some videos of Royals drill before taking a sequence test. I passed!!!! Yay :) to finish out class we officially started diagramming Flag. We did 5 maneuvers for 16 total diagrams. I finished mine on Sunday which was part of my delay in getting this post out. Now the fun part! I went to see who I had for my ride and I had Stretch!!!! I'm doing a three in a row rule before I call him my assigned horse. I picked his feet before the ride and started tightening his cinch while he was on the rail. I also tightened his cinch while I was waiting outside the volunteer. I didn't want his pad falling forward again. His stirrups are either too short or too long. I went with too long because the shorter ones cramped up my ankles and bounced me out of the saddle. For the ride we worked on not breaking gait during circles and reverses. Stretch favors his right lead but he will switch to the left with coaxing. Then we tried a full team Spanish Bowline and that was really fun. Stretch was super fired up and wasn't listening very well. I need to work on his stops lol. His pad also slipped again. I talked to my instructors after class and we are going to flip his pad around to change the build up and I also got some exercises to do with stretch before warm ups start. We also got to gather around the crows nest for the first time! EEK! Then we sang happy birthday and had to leave for the tractor. I handed off stretch to a JI and headed to clean. I was assigned to the lobby. It honestly didn't take too long. Once dismissed I headed up to JI at 2. I got OD (OverDrive) He was really good. Then I unsaddled him and watched my sister's first Colorado Stampede ride. Weird not being in there hahaha. Overall not a bad day but Stretch's trot makes me sooooo sore.

RIP - Sally

Yesterday Sally coliced and had to be put down. I am very upset as she was one of the first horses I loped a full drill on. Such a sweet horse any Tenderfoot would feel comfortable. She will be greatly missed. 

Sally #53

11/8/15

Dun Kyger Mustang

Age 14

First Nighthorse Ride!!!!

Stretch!!!!!!!

Yesterday was amazing!!!!!! I had training from 9-11 and we had a parent meeting and got assigned to our trainers. Then we took our first quiz and did four practice sloppy copies. So only 4 diagrams this week :( After I raced to batons and we played some games. It was honestly boring. I did get a new red bling belt though!!!! SO PRETTY! I got to leave batons early to go get my horse! I checked the list and I HAD STRETCH!!!!! The tallest horse out at Westernaires and he's only 4! You can tell when you ride him that he's really young. Clumsy oaf. Hahahaha. The ride was amazing! Getting on was a challenge though lol. I had two cinch malfunctions during the ride. I was sure it was tight! We figured out that he lets his air out only when the rider gets on him. So as long as I have someone tighten it again I'll be good. It was just really embarrassing because it looked like I couldn't tighten a cinch. I've never had a saddle slide on me before...ever. You can see it in the picture above how his pad slid way forward. Stretch was amazing though! His trot is really bouncy and uncoordinated so that sucks. But it does force me to constantly adjust my equitation. His lope is to die for though! It's not graceful but it's fun to ride. I really hope I get him as my assigned horse because I think we could teach each other a lot of things! For the ride we just worked on drill maneuvers and basic circling and such. But it was so much faster and a lot more fun! We tried a whole team propeller and that was a train wreck but we ended up pulling it together. At the end of the ride we got Royal's Flag sequence to study for next week. I JI'd at 1 on Fast Eddie and then had Hickory for WL3. We rode our drill. I'll just say I'm glad I studied because hickory darted to the side at one point so I lost my position and ended up leading most of the drill! Hahahaha. It wasn't terrible but I did need my spurs on hickory. I had to take him home and unsaddle. I stayed up in the Red and got Skeeter for Vaulting. I rode trick for warm ups but could barely hold a stand so my partner rode trick for all the drills. I actually volunteered to call the drill! It wasn't terrible for my first time. Then we took care of Skeeter and that was my long exhausting first day in red division!!!!!!!