Today's lesson was different. I've been sick the past few days, and just walking up a flight of stairs gets me really winded, so I told my instructor that I didn't know how much I'd be able to keep up - but I'd do what I could. So she told me I could pretty much just do what I wanted, and I could take a break whenever I needed it, no asking. Ace was the horse that I rode. I've only ridden him a few times before. He's not completely horrible, but he's not my favorite. It's just his canter that bothers me. He just has a very odd stride, and I don't do good with odd-strided horses, xD.

We rode in the outdoor grass ring. I figured since it was very cold this morning, and it was definitely feeling like the beginning of fall, we'd probably ride inside. Nope. We had to "get outside and enjoy the sun!" Great. >.< I have like, a humongous fear of the outdoor grass ring. I can't ride in there, like, at all. I get freaked out and start shaking and getting so nervous before I even step foot in the ring. If you tell me to ride in the outdoor dressage arena, in the middle of the property, with no fence around it at all, sure, I'll ride in that. But ask me to ride in the grass ring outside, that's fenced in, and enclosed? Nope, not having it. Seems pretty backwards, doesn't it?
The grass ring is where I had my accident last year. My horse spooked while he was going down the side of the grass ring where there's pretty much a wall of trees, and then right behind the trees is the road. And now, almost every single time I've ridden in the grass ring since my accident, the horse that I'm riding has spooked. Not EVERY time since then, but let's say about 8 out of 10 times or so. I just can't ride in there. I can't trust any horse in there anymore, even if I know they're bombproof. Whenever we're in that ring, and my horse's ears go up, and they get alert, I get nervous. I can almost feel them spooking underneath me, even if they don't move a muscle. I just expect it's going to happen. And I don't handle spooks well. >.< I practically tear up riding in that ring, even if my horse just trips or something, because I just automatically expect him to spook. I hate it. So much.

But anyways, so pretty much all I did outside today was walk and trot. I actually trotted a lot more than I though I would, because Ace was being really good. Better than I expected him to be. I kept him on a fairly tight rein most of the time though, and I was leaning forward the whole time, just like, anticipating him to do something stupid. Which is obviously the completely opposite of what you should do, but I've already explain that I handle things pretty backwards. >.< So towards the end of my lesson, I realized that I'd made it through almost a whole hour without him doing anything. He put his ears up and acted really alert and uppity a few times, and I almost shit a brick each time, but I slowly trusted him more and more. I told myself to just trust him, and give him a looser rein. And so I did. I let a few braids slip out of my hands, and then I went around the ring a few times, and then let out a few more braids, and then some more. And it felt incredible to be able to do that. He did speed up a little bit a few times when I did that, so I got nervous a few times, but I was trotting around on a fairly loose rein, and I felt really good about it. I even let my defenses down long enough to voluntarily trot around the grass ring without stirrups.

I know I need to get over my stupid fear of that ring, but I just, like, can't. Yeah, can't is a bad word, I know. Don't ever say it. But until I find where my confidence has been hiding since my accident, it's hard for me to not say it. I hate it though, and I just wish I could get over it so bad. I WANT to get over my stupid fear of riding in that god damn ring, but I just can't. I get too scared. >.<

UGH.

Well I finally got around to making a video for Rachel & Apple at States. Here it is. =]

Wimpy's Little Chic.
I freaking LOVE this mare. She's an amazing horse, and she's a phenomenal reiner. She's the 2007 NRHA Open Reining Futurity Champion. Her rider was Shawn Flarida (who's also and AMAZING reining rider) with a score of 231.
This is her winning run.
This amazing mare is possibly the best reiner of all time. She's just amazing at what she does, and she's so athletic and so light and sensitive to her rider. It doesn't hurt that she's gorgeous as well. =]

Seriously folks. People in the horse world need to stop being so god damn stupid and selfish, and to think of their horse for once. I'm sick of people jumping young horses, just because they want to jump, and they have no patience, so they just get on with it and jump their young horses. JUST RIDE ANOTHER GOD DAMN HORSE. For Christ's sake. Honestly people. Just because you see another idiot jumping their 3 year old, doesn't mean it's right, or that you should do it too. Horses aren't physically or mentally ready to jump until they are AT LEAST 5 years old. Some lighter horses, even older. Stop being selfish and training your horse to jump early just because you want to jump now. Go take lessons at a local barn who has horses that you can jump, or borrow a friend's horse. What's the problem with waiting two years until your horse is of age to jump? They're still going to jump the same when they are 5 instead of 3, so I don't see what the problem in waiting is. The only thing your doing by jumping your horse at 3 or 4 is pretty much guaranteeing early lameness and leg problems, along with setting the horse up to burn out at an early age and get sour to jumping. Seriously people, just wait. For your horse's sake.

I wasn't completely sure on all of the placings that Rachel got this weekend at States, but I just found them all out, so here they are.

93 out of 100 in Fitting & Showmanship. She got a perfect 40 on the Fitting portion!
1st in Egg & Spoon
3rd in Barrel Racing
2nd in Pole Bending
5th in Keyhole
8th in Equitation
4th in Trail
5th in Pleasure
6th in Pony Road Hack
3rd in Command

=]

These are all pictures of Rachel & Apple at the 4-H State Horse Show this weekend. They did sooo good. Considering she was competing against some of the best 4-Hers in the states, she did amazing. =] I'm only posting a few pictures on here, because I got so many, but you can view all 60 or so of the pictures here.

States today! And yesterday too. Rachel & Apple did awesome! They got a bunch of ribbons, and they placed in every class I think. She even got a first in egg & spoon! I got a bunch of pictures, and I'm uploading them now. I'll post some of the good ones on her once they finish.
Good weekend. =]

STATES TOMORROW! =D
I've been waiting to go to States for like, ever, lol. It's the Massachusetts 4-H State Horse Show. A girl from my 4-H club, Rachel, is riding in it. So me & Jen are gonna go to cheer for her, and help her out, since in 4-H, the parents can't help with the horses at all. So that's where we come in. It's both tomorrow and Sunday. Tomorrow is Fit & Show in the morning, and then Games and the county costume class after that. And then Sunday is all the performance classes (Equitation, pleasure, command, etc.)
Hopefully it's gonna be really fun. =]

WTF. This pisses me off. I don't know if you've heard about Buck or not. This is his story, if you haven't seen it yet.
Well, they just posted an update on him. His wounds look MUCH better. He's doing good. =] But this just pisses me off - "Now for the bad news. The rescue will be unable to press charges against Buck's former owners. The fact that they did call the vet when the injury happened pretty much gives them a free pass, despite the fact that they obviously didn't follow the vet's advice. The idiots got away. :("
It sickens me to think of how people can get away with crap like this. They treat animals like this, and then they just get away with it, and they go on with their merry lives, while someone else cleans up their mess for them. >.<
This is the whole update on him, with new pictures of him. =] -

JANUARY! JANUARY! JANUARY! I get my first horse in four months! (Hopefully) I'm just praying there's a schoolie at my barn that I like at the time. If so, we're gonna start payments on the horse then. =]
*is excited*
Now I have to make a list of everything I need before Equine Affaire in November. xD
I actually don't need that much. I've got everything major, except for a saddle and girth, which I can't really get until I know which horse I'm getting, so I can make sure it fits. But I have almost everything else for now. I'll probably get new brushes, and maybe a new saddle pad & halter. I have a saddle pad & halter that I've only used a few times, so I could still use it on my horse, but I really want to have everything like that new, if I can.

There's a schoolie at my barn now, Buster, who's an Appy cross gelding, that I was thinking of buying, but he moves really weird, and he could appear lame to a judge at shows, and if he he ever does have any real lameness issues, which is highly possibly, he sort of already does, then I wouldn't want to have to deal with that, and I probably wouldn't have the money for a horse with leg issues. =/ He's a good horse, and I like riding him, but I just want something that's 100% sound.
Next week I'm gonna be trying out the barn's new schoolie, hopefully, if he's still there, xD. He's a chestnut gelding, around 14.2-15hh. He's got the cutest face ever, and he's got a mohawk. xD what's better than a cute pony with a mohawk? Hopefully I'll like him. =]
-Brie

I'm not sure what exactly I'm gonna put on here yet. Mostly all of my horse stuff. I'll probably update when I have a lesson, or my barn/4-H club goes to a show, or when I want to rant about something stupid in the horse world. Occasionally I'll probably post some stuff about my life outside of horses, like school and stuff. But who knows. I'm not even sure if I'll keep up with this thing or not. Probably not. xD Oh well. =]
- Brie