Regionals: Dressage Day

 Up early with the sun. So pretty. 

still clean so let him be. turned out some. banded his mane. bemered. like the mane banded!

got on, warmed up lovely. 

had A LOVELY test. Like.. our best one yet I think. Although overshot centerline to the halt. Ended up scoring a 69 with Doreen and a 68 with polly so averaged a 68 and change. Won the class. Whooo hooo!! square halts :) nice reinback. 

spent the rest of the day chillin in the stall with the fan or in the roundpen, while i watched tests and ate lunch. opted to not ride again because... migraine for me. plus no real reason too.

course walk in am but because i'm in first, I'm the last in my division so plenty of time. yay. hope he does well. supposed to be raining, but oh well. 

so proud of him! he's been sooooo good!

photos: 9-26 regionals dressage

video of test

Lemonade!

 Photos: 9-26 regionals

woke up at 5 am, loaded up and headed out at 6:15 am. arrived by 11:45 and he got to go in the roundpen while i parked and such. gorgeous facility and all close together. Got us both settled. bathed. 

Had vet inspection. Mostly well behaved until the trot back. had to circle a time or two, but.."sound". Passed :) Phew! 

video

then tacked up and rode in the covered and played with the obstacles. good boy. tripped a lot though. fatigue? (front end mostly) or footing or distraction? but sound and happy. 

finished up with 45 minutes til "opening ceremony" and no real place to ride sadly. Such a gorgeous place would have loved to have hacked around the trails. Wasn't brave enough to go out on the "road" on my own. 

hosed off and let him chill for a bit then got back on for opening ceromony. behaved himself quite well. paraded around like a good boy. no shenanigans. then stood and watched the guy with the flag in center of arena. (Walk only). Then paraded out. stood at arena rail and watched the guy canter with flag. Dan was like "big whoop, I can do that too". ha ha... do we get a turn?

then got another rinse... more roundpen time, some grazing... dinner. Competitors party.. then more grazing/turn out and bed.

so proud of him!

Ok I love you again

 Ha! I didn't really stop loving you. But you were really making me question my sanity recently sir! And, admittedly, making me laugh too. A little bit. 

 

Anyways... I was going to ride him at Ashland today and run through our test but the morning got away from me and I just... ran out of time. Plus, I panicked and wanted to do the obstacles once more. So I was going to ride at home. But when I went to catch him, he was flat out and fast asleep. So... continue your beauty rest, my silly boy. I'll ride a girl first. And then I rode a girl second too because I already had my tall boots on. By then, he was up and ready for his turn. And it kind of worked out better anyways, because then I could give him a bath and then feed him.

 

So we rode. I put my new reins on. They are VERY blue! But I kind of love them! We headed up to the arena because I was not about to risk the neighborhood again. My finger is still throbbing. We walked up there and did some walking warm up and then trotted. And he's sound!! He was maybe the teeniest bit off when we started but honestly.. it could have been my imagination. Or his usual right hind stickyness. I figured it wasn't enough to get us called out, so it's still worth heading to Tennessee. 

 

We did some flat work and worked on a nice forward trot with some good bend. He was quite good. We tried to run through the test but I had to do it piecemeal because of all the obstacles in the way. But he was good. So then we did some obstacles and he was REALLY good. Like... okay... I'd be quite happy with that at the show. Good job sir! We played a bit more and then finished with some canter. He is still a bit stiffer going to the right, but we got some nice bend. Good pony!

 

After I untacked I gave him a bath. I just used dawn dishsoap because I figured he'd probably be dirty again by Thursday but it was worth an attempt. And then I trimmed his mane and tail a bit. And then fed them dinner, so hopefully he won't roll horribly. Although he was so filthy just from the dust today. Between the arena dust and the ground dust from his nap... it's been sooooo dry here. My poor pastures are just crusting away and turning to dirt. 

 

I think I'm mostly packed and I think I mostly have our "outfits" planned. :) Debating how obnoxiously loud I want to be. But I think I do. :) Ha! At least for ease of handling... 

Dammit Dan!

 You are really being quite the twit this week sir!! Like.. you might not get your legends wednesday! Because... dangit I have to ride your butt and deal with you all weekend. 

I'm glad I waited til this morning to send Patrick a text instead of panicking and texting him yesterday. It was the right thing to do and he made a comment about someone else texting him on a Sunday and being annoyed. Granted, a new client, but still. Anyways, he texted back this morning and said he'd swing by this afternoon. So Mike grabbed Dan and put him in his stall and locked him in. Unfortunately the girls ignored him and stayed out so he was angry and kicking the whole time. Patrick arrived and said that Dan was all amped up so he couldn't get any reaction to the hoof testers. But one nail was kind of high so he pulled it. He was talking to me on the phone and said he was going to put some coppertox in the hole and then was like "Dangit.... maybe not.. there goes the cross ties". Wait... what?!? Ha ha. Then there was some noise and he was saying "If you can hear me, hold on... dan broke the cross ties... but it's only one... I got him". ha ha. Seriously Daniel!!!! Do NOT get me fired!!! Then Mike came out because of the commotion I guess. He was able to squiret some stuff in it and then they turned him out and he apparently galloped off. "Looks sound from here". Doh. Thank you Patrick!! I told him I'd check him when I got home and report back.

So, I got home and Dan was still pissed about being locked in so he didn't come up. It's dinnertime though. NOPE! I went out to catch him and he did let me catch him. I put him in the round pen to see if he was sound and he ws just cantering around and being a fool. Granted, the fan paraglider guy was out, but still... And then... He jumped out again. Luckily I was trying to video him so I could see if he was sound, so I caught it on video. Fool! But yay for catching it on video. And then the gallop off.

 

So... I walked back out and tried to get him to trot some. And he did and he looked pretty sound. But then I decided... screw it.. I went and got my helmet and his western bridle. I'm not getting my butt on you without a helmet and without a bit today... no sir. Not when you are clearly in a mood! So I hopped on and we walked over towards the girls and then I asked him to trot. I only asked for about 10 steps of trot but he was sound. I probably should have turned but he was already sounder than the last three rides, so I figured it was a win and hopped off. YAY! Thank you Patrick!.

Of course now I"m contemplating if he was still just amped up from the paraglider fan guy. He was watching it. Like looking up in the sky at it. And was on high alert the whole night. But... oh well. I'll ride tomorrow after the dentist. I bet he's sound. I would think I would have felt it or seen it at some point. 

He did finally come in for dinner and was pissed that he got closed in again, but... you have to let Funny finishe her feed sir. And then he made faces at me. 

Definitely Lame

 Sadness.

hoping patrick will be able to get him fixed before we leave. Or barrow. Sigh... this sucks. I feel awful. tried to be preemptive and screwed myself. sigh... 

packed and did outfit voting, just in case.

rode... but definitely still lame at the trot. But walked the obstacles and practiced some. he tried. good boy. now i feel bad for you. Though my finger still throbs and smarts!

photos: 9-26 still lame, sunset

Long Walk

 Trail ride with Jamie

Rode in his saddle pad. and breastcollar. They match and look good

walked at CE with elektra and saylor. he was a good boy mostly. Thought about being naughty once or twice but didn't. but... tried to trot a little bit and he's definitely lame. right front. sigh... probably where patrick replaced that shoe. ugh.. now I have to call him and have him come back again. I feel so bad. But dan was pretty darn lame. though he did work out of it yesterday so maybe??? Debating whether I try to do some arena work tomorrow. was planning to go to ashland and run through the test but maybe I'll wait til tuesday to do that??? Just ride at home tomorrow in case he's super lame? Or... go anyways because he was sound enough to walk...???

fun ride though. I do like Jamie and Dan loves elektra. mostly. he made a few snarky faces but also let her lead some. 

photos: 9-26 long walk

Naughty Pants!

 Daniel Floyd Breaux! No sir!!!

 

I might have been a little cranky earlier today but I'm definitely cranky now. I worked a half day today and got home around 2 pm with lunch for me and Mike. After I ate, I chilled out for a bit and then decided to go ride. I caught Dan and we tacked up. I decided to ride at home because of timing. And diesel prices. ($6.19-49/gallon these days!!!!). I put on his new pad and he looks smashing in it! I almost rode in it, to give it a test drive, but... I knew it would be dusty in the arena so I decided to save it for a trail ride break-in. Which, in retrospect, I'm glad I did because now I can't blame it for his awful behavior. 

Instead of going straight to the arena, we headed to the lake as our warm up. Luckily the neighbors dogs have been locked up or penned up or something because they haven't been coming at us the last few times we tried, so yay. We got to the lake and a golf cart was coming by. Dan froze but was good and we just watched them pass. They said "he's so cool". And I told them their puppy was adorable! So then I thought.. you know... let's go flat in the field next to the tennis courts. That way we can do some dressage without having to finagle around the obstacles and deal with the dust. So we did. He almost felt a bit lame. I don't know if it's because of having the nails replaced on the one shoe... or if his stifle is bothering him. But it was so subtle. And he was a bit tense. So we kept riding and he was being a bit of a brat. Not bad, just not soft and relaxed and he felt a little bit like he was going to be naughty. We did some trotting and then I asked for the canter. He was fine going to the left. So then I debated going to the right because he was escalating. But dammit.. I'm not a chicken. So, after a bit more trotting, we tried a right lead canter. He was silly and bolted into it and then was cross cantering so I brought him back down and resettled. Then I asked again, and...the fool stuck his head down between his toes and went to crow hopping/bronc bucking. Luckily, I've gotten better at sitting those kind of bucks out and he isn't as sneaky as Funny about it. But... it's a bit more scary without a bit because I've got no real leverage to get his head up. And of course he went skittering up the hill, crossed the road (thank God no cars were coming) and into the yard of the house on the corner. I finally got him stopped. I was yelling at him and calling him names. Once I got him stopped I jumped off and just screamed at him and whacked him with my dressage whip. Hard. I was pissed!! Skittering across the concrete road with four steel shoes in a bosal is scary. And we got lucky there wasn't any traffic! And then I noticed my finger was throbbing and pouring blood. Somehow I must have sliced some skin off at the nail bed. I was still pissed so I backed his butt up and then we walked over to a little concrete stand that I was going to use to get back on. I stopped and backed him up a few more times. I was fuming mad. I got back on and we headed back to the field. I trotted some more and did lots of transitions and halts and backing up. I debated cantering again, but decided it just wasn't worth it. Which, kind of pisses me off. Like... am I losing my nerve?? Am I going to be afraid to canter him in the open now? I'm almost wondering if I need to take him to ashland in the bit with the plan of cantering him in the field and maybe trying to break this habit. 

 

We headed back to the arena because we were damn sure going to canter in the arena. And we got back there and it was super dusty. See you jackass... you could have had a nice ride without the dust, but no.. you had to go a bit a jerkface and ruin it. We trotted and then picked up the right lead canter and of course, he was perfect. Ass! He knows exactly when he can take advantage. 

 

We did a bit more trotting and transitions and cantering and then we did the obstacles. I was a bit more strict than maybe I should have been, but... if you can try to bronc me off, you can sit your butt and do some tight circles on your hind end. We had some good obstacles and got better in the pen, after I had to get after him some for being a slug. At one point in the drums, he lost his right hind completely. It got left WAY behind and he felt ouchy for a step or two, but then I let him have a minute and he bounced right back. And really, I didn't feel any lameness after his broncing spree earlier. So yay. We got some nice canter and then played with the garocha pole a few more times to give me some practice. And because I was still a little mad at him. My finger was smartin'! And because I had hopped off to move the plastic barrel farther out because I was thinking it was too close. I just left him "parked" while I did it and then he wandered off. And then he took off cantering. Smartly, he only did one length of the arena and then let me catch him. So... I'm sorry dude. I really don't have much empathy for you today. I don't feel bad asking you to trot the bull line a few more times for my sake. 

 

He did get hosed off and he still got his carrot. A big fat one too. But he also got told that he was currently not my favorite child! And that he better be careful and watch himself because he was pissing me off! But I also told him I still loved him. Sigh...