Ponies in the Fog

Arrow's nose

The weather has been incredibly gross lately. I think everyone is complaining about all the cold and wetness that is plaguing the entire country. Any motivation to ride in the freezing cold or bone chilling dampness is quickly lost when I head out to the barn just to feed my ponies! Plus I don't have an arena at my house and most of my riding is done in Deer Field or on the side of the hill of my front pasture so I have to be careful not to tear up my pasture and someone else's property! (Deer Field is located on the trail system my house is connected to so I have access to ride in it)

Ponies in the fog

But trying to look on the positive side of the less than ideal weather we've had- yesterday was foggy which meant pretty foggy picturesque views from my front porch! Of course horses being horses, they moved from the perfect silhouette shot as soon as I grabbed my camera and turned it on. Then as I was snapping a few pictures I realized my bigger zoom lens wasn't on my camera so I couldn't really snug up the shot to edit out dead space. Oh wells! It ended up working out just fine because all the ponies met me at the fence looking for treats! Sadly all my treats are at the barn and they would of followed me there thus canceling out the fun impromptu photo shoot! I might have to bring some cookies up here for a future photo shoot! Next time ponies, next time!

Finn poses for the camera

Ponies wish you all warm snuggles and a short winter (HA! We can only hope) I know my guys are waiting for the grass to grow back because hay only tastes so good for so long... and I'm tired of finding blankets pulled into the stall and peed on (Thanks Finn) because I forgot to move it from curious teeth... naughty pony :P

The Princess likes pictures too

Chimi the goofball!

2015- The Year of Doing

headed home from Deer Field

I have self proclaimed this year to be the Year of DOING!!!!! I have been trying to compete successfully since graduating college but job, money, horse, life, seems to get in the way. I know I'm very fortunate to have a horse because many of my horse friends growing up don't ride anymore due to babies, money, grad school, job, living location, etc. I started to get back into the swing of things with Gus but the past 2-ish years have totally thrown any competition dreams for a loop with new additions to my family (I got married in November!), general horse problems that seemed never ending, moving, changing jobs, new job having ZERO flexibility, planning the wedding, buying a house, moving again, and millions more excuses that just find a way to pile up and before you know it- it's been 2 years.

NO EXCUSES! DO IT!!!! That is the motto for My Year of Doing! My friend Em is going to be joining me in the YoD and hopefully getting some rides on Gus and helping me keep all the beasties at my farm in riding condition.

Em on Finn during the New Years Ride

So GOALS for this year (like all the other blogs out there- but it's a good thing to do!)

• go Beginner Novice with Chimi
• Fingers crossed we'll shoot out of the starting gate in April at this level. Chimi has felt great these past couple of weeks that I really feel we have a shot at BN this spring. But horses are horses.... we'll see where we are come April...
• Compete in some of the local hunter/jumper shows
• There are lots of fun local shows in this area. PSJ, BRHJA, and a great little series of schooling shows that are perfect for getting some experience under your belt. Also hoping to find myself at Tryon International  for some of the shows there. We'll just have to see how that goes- schooling shows are much more budget friendly but potentially for winning money at TIEC??? We'll see :)
• Get Marley going again
• Marley's had a string of bad luck since fall of 2013 and I have given her some time off, made some changes, and will hopefully get her up and going again sometime this year. 
• Become fitter and stronger
• joined Curves end of November (closest gym to my house- Jillian Michaels workouts there kick my a$$!!!!)
• Blog More
• I think I average about 3-4 posts a year? My internet is crappy so uploading pictures takes forever to Blogger and I flip around the internet while waiting and then I get distracted and don't have time to finish the post. I probably have more drafts than completed blog posts- whoops! Going to work on this....
• Go Fox hunting
• I grew up hunting and there are 2 fabulous hunts in this area. I need to make it a priority and actually go hunting!!! 
• Go Novice with Chimi
• This would be a fall goal vs. the spring season. Chimi just needs experience because height is no biggie for him. The main difference between BN and Novice really is the height of the jump and if he feels confident I really think we could make our Novice debut this fall. I don't know what/if any show experience he's had in the past, but I don't think it was much. But he's a clever guy and I know just getting him out will help with his show nerves :)
• Go on a lot of Hunter Paces
• I want a year end ribbon! I love ribbons!! But starting this quest when half a season has gone by... even if the ribbon doesn't happen these are great ways to get out and about and see things. Plus major fitness points! 1.5-2 hours, 6-9 miles of walk, trot and cantering- Heck yeah.
• LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS
• have started back with weekly lessons. There's a covered arena so even if the weather is crappy I know my lesson will still be on!! (unless it's super cold- I don't do super cold- like below freezing super cold. I live in the south- I don't do major cold!)

Who? Me?

Here's to the YEAR OF DOING!!!!!! May my Ponies be sound and happy, excess weight disappear, and all of my goals met/kept up! DOING IT!!!!

a winter ride

From Bay to Grey

Last year I was making plans with my little bay Connemara/TB cross. I was going to event him beginner novice, try to qualify for the Eventing Championships, and generally have fun with my cute little guy. But since change is inevitable, and plans don't always go accordingly, I find myself a year later with a exuberant grey OTTB mare that I'm trying to keep inside a dressage arena and not go advance speed around a BN cross country course!

schooling Gus through the water- April 2013

The grey ghost herself, Miss Marley- May 2013

I competed Gus at the FENCE HT in April, and we finished 4th overall. We would of been 2nd had Gus not been so in love with his friend Finn and looking everywhere but at the first jump on course, plus I wasn't riding him the way I needed to towards that jump, especially with him being an air head about his buddy. Even if the rail had stayed up and we did finish 2nd, I knew in my heart that Gus just wasn't all that jazzed up about jumping. He can jump, and is a cute little jumper, but his heart just isn't in it, and when the jumps get bigger it could become pretty dangerous. I've taken my share of falls from Gus because he wouldn't pick his feet up going over the jump. As my coach Annie says, he just doesn't have any self preservation and that can be very dangerous over bigger jumps. So I put some feelers out for Gus and ended up finding the perfect home for him. He is now trail riding and fox hunting with my mom's good friend Cyndi. She is a great rider who just wants to have fun and puts up with Gus's silly moments. Plus I get to see him every time I head to my parents' because he's boarding at their place! 

Gus is a cute jumper when he wants to be!!!

 With Gus now enjoying his life as a fat, happy, trail/fox hunting pony, the grey mare that I've been riding on and off for a while had a chance to step into the lime light and become my main focus. Previously I wrote a post about taking her XC schooling for her first time last fall, and then I took her to a Ralph Hill clinic back in January. She's such a cool OTTB with so much heart, but trying to keep her relaxed while riding her is like holding a ticking time bomb. If you "cut" the wrong wire you've got pieces flying everywhere, but there is very little difference between the right and wrong wire. To be fair to her, she's only been in consistent work for 3 months, and even that is a bit questionable b/c we've had sooooo much rain this summer!!!! Either way, Marley has been getting a lot of work and really is progressing, even if at times it feels like at a snail's pace.

This past weekend I decided to take her to her first event. We headed off to the Tryon Riding and Hunt Club Sizzling Summer Schooling Horse Trails (non recognized) for our first outing at Beginner Novice. Last year I won the event with Gus, but this year my goal was to stay in the dressage arena (no joke- this was real goal, not just a laugh!) and to stay in a controlled trot/canter in stadium and XC. I wasn't worried about time or jumping faults, or even what the final Dressage score would be. I just wanted to complete and not scare the living daylights out of the jump judges!

The end result- SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We stayed in the dressage ring, had a terrible score, but again considering I was worried about elimination, I could care less about the score.

Marley being calm...

submission- what?

ok, back to being good...ish

 Had a very green rail in stadium (not listening to a half halt to the 3rd jump on course which was a vertical with a downhill approach will do that to ya). We started to find our rhythm towards the end of the course, but we need to work on keeping a steady pace and not letting the momentum keep building jump after jump- gymnastics are going to be our life for a while!

weeeee!!!!! 

And to seal the deal, we had an amazing, mostly controlled, cross country round! She calmly cantered most of the jumps, and we came in closer to the optimum time instead of the speed time!

making the warmup jump look like a piece of cake

Overall we ended up in 6th place, I think out of 10 or 12, and I couldn't of been prouder! Technically we were last of everyone that completed, but that is not something I cared about at this event. Marley is still quite green, and is still learning the basics. We were nailed on submission and impulsion in the dressage which showed up in our stadium. But this horse has so much heart that I know I must take my time and do it right with her. There are no short cuts with this girl!!!!

Marley in her new pasture

she's such a pretty girl

Marley and her "gang"- Finn, Arrow, and Chimi

The Grey Ghost goes XC

The other weekend I took a green grey mare out cross country schooling. Only had plans to do little baby things and play in the water but that soon changed!!! After an exciting "walk" around the field (where we had many lovely airs above the ground!!! Levade anyone?) we headed towards the baby jumps. There was a nice inviting water that we started playing around in to get started and as soon as Marley (the horse I was riding) realizes we were there to work she settled down and had the softest trot. She was still very forward in the canter but at least we were going in a straight, forward line instead of up and sideways!!!! When it came time to start jumping the logs she didn't bat an eye, even over the scary black pipe she kept her cool and made it seem effortless. As the schooling went on we played around with banks, ditches, and water- for Marley it was all easy and the only thing she cared about was going forward!!! We has to work on control and still have a lot of steering issues to work on, but besides all that, Marley is a cross country machine!!! She was jumping baby coffins, jumping out of the water, actually dropping down banks instead of launching into space- overall one of the best horses I have ever ridden around a cross country course!!!! This little mare has future superstar written all over her!!!! Keep an ear our for the grey ghost (her nick name) because you might very well hear "Cool Marlene" over the speaker at an event and it will only be good things being announced!!!!