Horse show yesterdayyyy. =]

Buster is a freaking saint. He was soooooooooo good yesterday. Since it was a schooling show at my barn, and they used mostly the lesson horses, he got ridden like a million times, and almost everyone used him for their jumping class, because he's like, the only decent jumper we have as a schoolie right now. But he still behaved all day, and he carried everyone around with no problem.
Our first class was Equitation, and he did so well. He got his leads and everything and he moved wicked nice for me. We got 1st. =]
Next classes was pleasure. He did really well in this class too. Only problem was that he had a little issue picking up the canter, which was my fault. He got really unbalanced in the corner, and he couldn't pick it up right, so it took us the whole long side of the arena to pick it up. We placed 3rd in that class.
After that was command. He did everything right when I asked, and he did all his canter departs like, right when I asked. We got 1st in that class as well. =]
Then our last class was x-rails. He was a little fast when we did lines, so he took off kind of big in those, but I can't blame him. He was probably wicked tired and sick of jumping. >.<>

We ended up getting Champion! =D It was my first champion or reserve champion or anything like that. I was so proud of Buster. =] He's such a good boy. <3

Walking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPl-ZyZAvnc
Trotting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n684vDWGohQ
Cantering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iv4ILzrBWw
Jumping. I know that I'm not consistent in this course, I switch from the trot to the canter. My plan was to do the whole thing at a trot, but he likes to canter in between jumps, so I kind of just let him go with. If I interfered with him right before the jump, he would've gotten all screwy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ-z2CwyYZs

I might put up videos of some of the whole classes if I get a chance to upload them. But they're all like 6 minutes long, so idk when I'll get a chance to, because those will take forever to upload. >.<

Pictures will be up at some point.

So someone needs to buy me one of these. [Video starts at 0:29]



And one of these.



Omfg. xDDDDDD One of these ninja cats too.

Soooo the barn owner called me back today. Buster is actually $6500. >.<> But I just got home from school (I was helping out at an open house after school, so I just got home) and my mom was like "So I hear Buster's a little too expensive?" I was like mhmm...And she said "There's no other horses you're interested in there? Just Buster?" I just said yeppp. So she was like, "Well, I asked Nana (my grandma) how much they'd be willing to spend on a horse, and once she figures it out, me and Ricky (my stepdad) can probably pay the rest as your graduation present from us. Then once you get a real job, you can make some payments and pay us back for some of him."

So as long as he passes the vet check in the next month or so, I'm deff. buying him. =]

Buster has to have rabies. There's no other explanation for his actions. xDDD

Buster had his hocks injected on Friday. Finally. =] So hopefully he'll be feeling good this weekend. We'll have to see, but I'm hoping that he'll be completely sound now, and that he'll be happy and moving well.

Saturday I had a lesson on Diamond. He's sooooo smooth. But at the trot, he gets nervous about the rider catching him in the mouth whenever he goes forward, becuase he's used to having so many little kids and beginner riders on him who catch him in the mouth whenever he goes faster than a turtle. So it was kind of hard to ride that, but other than that, he was good. =]

I called the barn owner yesterday and left a message about Buster and how much he was and that I was interested in him and everything. So I'm just waiting for her to call me back. Hopefully she'll get back to me by tomorrow.

So I just went to dinner with my grandparents and I brought up the topic of the pre-purchase exam (700 freaking dollars! >.<). I was worried that I was going to have to pay for it by myself, becuase they said that they were only going to pay for my horse, and everything else I'd have to pay for by myself. But since it's pretty much like, included in buying a horse, they said that they'd pay for ittttt!. =]=]=]

AND AND AND! My parents said that they'd help me out with board a little bit, so that means I can stay at my barn! I was looking into other barns in my area that were cheaper, because I wasn't going to be able to afford to pay board at my barn by myself, becuase it's kind of expensive, but I reallllllyyyyyy didn't want to have to leave my barn, and have to go somewhere else and leave all the people at my barn and everything, and now I don't have toooooo!

*is exciteddddddddddddddd =D =D*

So I'm talking to the barn owner in like 2 -3 weeks about buying Buster. :) :) :)

Jennie jumping Buster in her lesson on Saturday -

Fail update.

Ok, I haven't posted in forever. x.x My lesson went reallllly well last week. I rode Buster, and he was awesome. =] I jumped him, and I got to do a 2' vertical a few times with him. Only at the trot, at 2' is nothing incredible, it's actually really tiny, but still. It felt really good. :]

Then I had another lesson yesterday. It was another half hour private in the afternoon, and I rode Chester. It wasn't as bad as the first time I rode him, but he was still really hard to get used to. He's got so much freaking power packed into such a small little horse. Everyone says I look so good on him, and that I look so pretty on him, and when my instructor was talking to me after my lesson yesterday she was like "You know, I hate to tell you, but you do look really good on him." She said I looked really secure and good on him, but I really felt like my leg was wobbling all over the place, and that it was soooooo unsecure. And I felt like I was posting huge, but my instructor said I actually looked perfect, it just felt big to me. *shrugs*

I get to ride Buster next week, and we're gonna practice a small course outside, to get ready for the barn's schooling show in 2 weeks. I haven't jumped outside in like, forever. I honestly can't remember the last time I jumped outside was. But Buster jumped sooooo good for Jen outside yesterday, he was really nice and soft, and was cantering so softly in between the jumps, and he wasn't jumping big or rushing at all, so I'm hoping he'll be have that well for me. xD

We're making these lesson times our permanent lesson times too. Which I'm actually really liking. It's actually really helping me a lot. When we had our lesson first thing in the morning, for an hour, I think that that was part of what has been bugging me. When I fall asleep, I was already thinking about what would happen in my lesson the next morning, because it was first thing. When I woke up, I would already be thinking about it, and I'd think about it all the way to the barn, and we'd be rushing around in the morning, and we'd usually be first to ride.

Now with these lesson times, I get to sleep later, it's not all I think about when I fall asleep, and when I get up, we're not rushing around, and I get to just like hang out for a while before we leave, so it's not the first and only thing that I think of when I get up. And we get to the barn like an hour or two early, so we just walk around and hang out ahead of time, so that keeps my mind off of it too. If riding is all I think about, and I don't keep my mind busy with something else, that's when my mind starts to wander, and get ideas of it's own, and that's how I get all worked up about it, before I even get on my horse. So this new time and stuff is really helping so far, and I'm really liking it. =]

Wow. o.O Long post.

If evil is attractive, then call me the devil.

Argh. >.< Stupid grounding. I'm freaking grounded from the computer because I apparently hate my little sister, according to my stepdad, and I didn't LOOK at her when I said hi to her last week.
Whatever.

I had another lesson on Saturday. It went ok at first, but then once we started to do some cantering and jumping, it started to go downhill. I rode Ace again, and he has a very short strided canter, and it's very uncomfortable to sit to. And he gets strong after jumps. He's fine riding up to the jump, and the actual jump is fine, but he just like takes off after. My instructor gave us, well, mostly me, this lecture at the end of our lesson, about how we could do more, and we had to push ourselves to do more. She doesn't know anything about my accident, and that I have confidence issues, so she just assumed that I wasn't pushing myself, and that I just wasn't "there" that day. So later in the day, I went to her and I talked to her about it. I apologized for my lesson, and I told her that I had a bad fall last year. I said that most days I'm fine, but some days I wake up and it's just all I think about. It like, literally takes over my mind, and I can't think at all when I'm riding. It just replays over and over in my head. She said that she understands, and that I just need to talk to her, and let her know how I'm feeling at the time.

This week, my sister has a soccer game at freaking 8 in the morning (WHO DOES ANY SORT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY WILLINGLY AT 8 AM?) so my lesson is rescheduled to 2:30. It's a half hour private, so all the attention is going to be focused on me, and hopefully I'll get somewhere. >.<>.<

So I guess we'll see how it goes.

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