Catching Up

I seem to have been missing out posting, I am working on a few posts but havent finished them yet.  I cant believe I even missed out on Sunday Stills, I had photos of the tv shows we watch and everthing.  Oh well its not all bad, the weather was half decent so I have been riding :)

Saturday I went over to Kand K livestock and only ended up buying the coolest pink bucket ever!  I also bought some treats and a calender, I was thinking I should look at saddles, but Karen was in Olds with the saddles.  Which is probly okay considering I can't buy one till I have a horse sold. 

Afterwards I rode Razz and she just ran through the stop which she has never done before, not sure what was  going on there, but she was also bracing really bad at the corners at a lope and it was horrible.  We put on a twisted wire snaffle and martingale on her and then she was a little better, but she hasnt been like that before, not sure what was going on.  Then I rode Tom cause he was just folowing me everywhere and we had the best ride ever!  We had such a normal trot it was amazing!!  I needed that after Razz too.

On Sunday I put the same twisted wire on her and we had a fantastic ride.  Not sure if it was the bit or she just had a bad day on Saturday, but I was way happier.  We also worked the flag and it was probly her best time yet.  We are gonna have to do a lot more flag work in the next few weeks to get ready for the clinics we are going to.

Glad I got those two rides in though, cause its yucky out today, not sure how it can be windy and foggy at the same time though.  and it sounds like the weather is gonna be bad for a while now.  I am hoping not, but....it sure has been a lot of cold this year.

I also got a call about Gypsy and they are coming to see her on Friday.  Sounds like a good fit, so we will see.

Cold and Info

The last few days have been cold again!  I am so sick of winter but if (and that's a big if) we can believe the weather people after Sunday it is going to warm up for the next two weeks. I sure hope they are right cause it has been to cold to do much around here.


I went and rode Tom and Razz on Tuesday and yesterday braved the weather and rode Razz.  Charlene called and said it was -13 so we went and when we got there it was -17!  but since we were there we rode anyways, it wasn't too bad while we were riding but afterwards it sure was cold!!!


I skipped out today and am hoping it will get nicer and go riding again tomorrow.  I am entered in a cow horse clinic on March 12 and 13, so I have to keep riding so we are both in shape for that.  We also looked at a cutting clinic the weekend afterwards but need to find out more about it because even though it is for beginners, we aren't sure if our horses need to be better than ours are.


I also have a question for you guys out there.  The Canadian Supreme is trying to get more people to go to watch, and they are starting with the 4H clubs and want to get some well known trainer/clinician to come up and give some talk or info and were wondering who to get.  They are trying to stay away from John Lyons/Parelli natural horsemanship types but want someone who everyone would want to see.  They are also trying to stay away from the Canadian trainers, cause they will all be competing there. 

Questions and A Discovery

Over the last few posts I got a few questions I thought I should answer. 

First off Tom.  He is now mine and he is not Jardis, he belongs to a boarder who couldnt ride last summer so Jardi was riding him and she didnt like him so somehow now I am riding him, although rather irregularily.  The boarder does know and probly will ride him later this spring. He is for sale, so the more people who ride him, wont hurt.  He is kinda lazy and totally safe, and happy!

Then Lisa asked if I do groundwork before I get on.  Well normally not, on a young horse I may do a little bending before I get on or if I see they look off, but normally I just get on and go.  After catching and brushing and saddling and then tightening the cinch again, I usually get a pretty good feel for them and I feel safe getting on.

Then about my trip, on Friday morning me, my sister, and my mom are heading down to San Juan and going on a carribean cruise.  We will get back on the 7th of February.  We have booked this forever and I am super excited about it!  The only sad thing about it is I will miss riding Razz, but she deserves a break.

I also came to the conclusion the other day.  I was riding Razz and for so long she was pulling on the reins when I asked her to turn or turn her head, so I had been pulling her in circles and we have soved that now.  But she seems to drop her shoulder as we do corners, and I was trying to hold her up with my leg without succes, unil I finally realized I was still pulling my rein out to the side to turn her, so I lifted it a little and we had a perfect corner!  I realized I used to always hold her shoulder up like that and it works way better, I am so happy I figured that out!

Friday Jan 21, 2011

Thursday was an amazing day and I got so much accomplished, sometimes it scares me when things go so well!  I went early and got a bunch of things done in town before I went riding.  I got the flooring (finally!!) for the basement room, I went to the bank, the grocery store, got my pictures from Christmas printed and had lunch. 

Then I headed out to go riding.  I got on Tom first and he was pretty good.  I can't wait till Sunday if the weather stays nice we are gonna ride outside and I will take him.  He is pretty nice when he tries, which isn't unless you can convince him to which takes a lot of effort. 

Then I rode Razz with Charlene riding Ricky.  And she is always good, I even did a bunch of rollbacks on her even if I hate doing them with her.  I think it's becasue Bailey is so awesome at rollbacks and its an effort with Razz.  I also noticed she tries to leave about half way through the turn, so a few times we turned right around and she is getting better, but still not real good.

Then after that I rode Gypsy.  She neck reins so nice, I forget how to ride with one hand, so its a good refresher for me to get on her everyonce in a while a practice.  Charlene's friend was gonna come out and I was gonna get her to ride Gypsy, but she was busy, so I ended up riding her and she was really good.  I love that I can rate her speed so nice, at any gait. That is something I still struggle with with my other horses. 

Then today I went and rode Razz again and she finally got 3!!! steps of counterbending the way we have been having trouble with forever!  I was pretty excited about it and after that we quit, it took us like 20 tries today, but we got a start, hopefully tommorow won't take so many tries!  Then I rode Tom again cause Jardi made me, lol.  He is getting better but two days in a row was like a workout for me!

We are heading up to Ponoka again for tomorrow and just doing practice cattle afterwards and maybe I will get a chance to ride Karcy again.  I really would like to try her on cattle and I have a few more questions about her before I make and decisions, but so far she a like:)

Monday January 2, 2011

Well I have made a few decisions.  First off Shirley asked if I am taking Razz in the cutting show.  And yes she is the one I decided to take, but we are not going to compete this weekend cause we haven't had enough practice getting a cow out of the herd.  We are going up on Friday to practice and after the show Saturday we will practice again.  Then in two weeks is another show and we will probly compete then.  Jardi figures the cutting part is good, but we don't have enough cows to practice the herd, and its hard to cut if you can't get a cow out of the herd.

So with that decided, I feel like I can relax again for a few days.  I have also decided Gypsy is not a horse I want to ride, although I rode her today and she was awesome.  I rode in a curb bit ans we did circles and rollbacks and figure eights at a walk and trot and she was amazing, I forget how nice she can be.  If I just wanted a horse to ride, she would be it, especially on the trails cause you can just relax on her and she will just wander along.  So I thought I would list her for sale again and already a friend's friend is interested, so we will see.

I also rode Tom and he has a pretty good bite mark on his back so I didn't ask much, but he was pretty good for Tom.  He acts like a colt with a couple rides on him until you catch him off guard and then he is really nice, so I just been asking without prepping and he's a little better.  I sure would like to try him on the flag, cause apperently Jardi said his dad (Annies Cat) scored a 77 while she was watching, she said it was pretty good, one of the better gos.  I guess the top score possible is 80, so 77 is  pretty decent. 

This is the message I get whe I go to upload pics, I may have to break down and buy the storage I guess.

Loading...Whoops! You're out of space. Purchase more storage.


Photos are stored in your Picasa Web Albums account and are included in your 1 GB free quota for photos. Additional storage you purchase is shared between Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, and Google Docs, and is in addition to your free quota
 
GRRR... blogger.

Tom and Razz and Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This year we are going to my mom and Clints for Christmas Eve, then stay over and go to Calgary to my Grandpas on Chritmas Day then i will stay over and go boxing day shopping with my sister.  It should be lots of fun although I would like to finish early so I can go riding, lol.  I have been impoving and having so much fun with Razz I just want to ride her all the time. 

Although today we hit a roadbump, but I asked Jardi to watch us to see what is going on.  Not sure if its me asking wrong or her not doing it or what, but its frusterating.  We are working on counterbending and going with her head right she is awesome and left is horrible, she tries to go backwards or around in tiny circles, anything but the correct way.

The top two pics are of Tom, and the bottom on of my Christmas tree with all the presents underneath.

Tom

Last night we went to a Christmas Party hosted by K and K Livestock.  It was fun, had drinks and dinner and shopping.  I bought a new Christmas ornament that will have to wait till tomorrow to see.  I also got a neoprene saddle pad and used it today and it worked well sofar, I still think i like my felt pad for longer rides, but it will be good in the arena.

I was so frustrated with Gypsy lately and I know Jardi has been hating riding Tom, so I made her a deal if I ride Tom, she will ride Gypsy.  She was pretty excited with this, although she said she would get in an argument with Gypsy and I said that's okay cause I been arguing with her for the last two weeks (except one ride) and I don't want to do that anymore, so maybe Jardi can fix her for me.

I rode Tom today and he has frustrating issues, mostly with not wanting to move.  I had him moving at a walk pretty good, then we trotted and wow is he ever rough.  He moves real slow, but we never had a time when he stalled out which is amazing.  He doesn't like to bend either, but when he does he can be really soft.  Now I understand what Jardi means when she said she didnt like him, its hard to like a horse that doesn't want to work.   

He sure has a nice stop and back up though, and he is pretty cute, with a big blaze, 4 white socks and a flaxen mane and tail, Jardi thinks he would make a good rope horse,  so maybe thats how we will go. Well I will keep riding him a while and see if there is any improvement.