Seabrook Schooling Show

Hey!
Had a really great day at the Seabrook schooling show (local hunter/jumper/eq thing). I met up with a really great local trainer who is letting me ride/show her aMaZiNg horse, Togey. He's a 16 Dutch Warmblood with potential through the roof. He's been trained through second level dressage but is a bit brainfried about it so he's being retrained for jumpers. He is quite possibly one of the coolest horses ever.

We had a bit of an interesting warm-up considering this was the second time I’ve ridden him (first time was a month ago). I made the mistake of getting on and thinking ‘second level dressage horse must totally understand being ridden off the outside rein and inside leg’. He might know what it is, but he didn’t like it. So after some figuring (and one tempi’s and random jumps into the air) we got everything going fairly right. At the jump. And clearing it. And even looking like a hunter. We tried a 2’ hunter class (unpinned but would have gotten 3rd) and everything came together really really well. Had to do simple changes and had 1 majorly funky spot but besides that, we had the pace/jumps/turns/ down nicely. After that we had some break time and then back on for the 2’6”/2’9” jumpers. We weren’t trying to be competitive. Just put something safe together as a good learning experience. The warm-up was supper great and we jumped up to 3’. He was really good over everything with nice pace and pretty jumps (good spots/nice square knees/happy horse). Once we got in the ring, he got a little disoriented with the course and moved jumps and newly soaked footing (it had been raining) so we ended up with some slightly funky spots and a few trotted fences. We ended up trotting most of the second course because he made it clear that that was where he was most comfortable and after a point, if he’s more confident trotting that’s ok. I was really happy with his performance through the day especially after our rough spot and it being his first jumper show.

So all in all, good day, good learning experience for both of us. Besides that, I also got to hang out with Togey’s owner who is absolutely amazing as a trainer/rider/owner/person/whatever. And with some pony club people. And it was pretty awesome.

Best Quote Ever: “Did those kids really just tell a trainer and formally attired rider to get out of the way while we’re course walking?”
“Yeah, I think they did.”

Oh and an older rider letting a young kid get chewed out by a judge for something they did like, I don’t know, screaming a curse word in the ring, is wrong. And is something people don’t forget easily. Or at least I won’t forget easily. Adding insult to injury by wanting to threaten show management and complaining about the fact that someone figured out the horse/rider mix up and let the judge know so you could receive the chewing out as well, is also really really not cool either. No worries, won’t forget that part either.

Besides that little issue, it was a great day with good rides and lots of funnn! Hoping for pictures sooon!!

Second Try - C3 Longing

Hey!

I managed to pass the C-3 longing retest this weekend with very good marks and almost an exceed standard. Jazz was not fed any sugar cubes and was very well behaved. Actually acted like a trained pony this time around. The only reason I did not receive an exceed standard mark, got a check plus instead, was because I attached my side reins in the non-classical way. I have always attached the inside first, then the outside side rein then stepped around their nose to start longing. The correct way, which makes total sense, is to attach the outside rein first, then the inside so that if a horse starts looking like it will back up or think about going up, you can send them on immediately without having to step around their noses.

That afternoon, I also got a separate lesson in longing to further dressage training with Jazz. We also talked a lot about correcting training problems on the longe line. It was really really informative and fun as well!

Side note, Jazz and I are hopefully getting a new dressage trainer (we've been without a consistent one since about early June) and I'm really really excited to see how much she can teach us. She's a great coach that has brought plenty of young horses and riders along to even the highest level of dressage competition. Can't wait!

Crazy School, Awesome Clubs and Skinny Jazz

hey!
school has been like beyond crazy lately with AP classes and whatnot. Love AP Bio, APUSH and H. Anatomy but they're kind of crazy sometimes. And with 2 more classes on top of that plus riding plus pony club stuff plus a 45 min drive to the barn plus student government things are getting kind of crazy. one thing I'm realllyyy looking forward to with school though is the newly formed equestrian club at my school.

The first meeting was today and it sounds like its going to be REALLY fun to be apart of. I signed up to be a coordinator for the events which will consist of some clinics, shows and fund raising. There will also be some cross country schooling but I will probably be loaning Jazz out to one of the club members who cannot take her leased horse off the property. Either way it should be a ton of fun.

And last but not least, I need some help with something. Jazz is a 13 year old off the track thoroughbred who is THE hardest keeper to I have ever dealt with. No matter what I feed him he still looks skinny and underfed. His coat looks really good, his hooves are great without shoes (currently has them on for added traction while riding though), he's perky and has tons of energy but he just will not put weight on for anything. He gets:
1 lb of Purina Mills 32% (32% protein, 5% fat)
1/2 lb of Omegashine (flax seed)
1 lb of Dry Beet Pulp (soaked before feeding)
4 lbs of Alfalfa Cubes (soaked before feeding)
5 lbs of Seminole Wellness Senior Mix (12% fat, 10% protein) - soon to be switched to Seminole Wellness Show and Sport (12/12)
and Consequin with MSM and a daily strongid wormer.
he gets all that PER FEEDING!!! (cept for the consequin and wormer, thats once a day)

This is what he looks like: (add in a little more muscles through his hind quarters since this was taken this spring)He had the Panacure Power Pack regemin done (with Probios to keep healthy gut bacteria) before switching to the wormer last week in hopes of getting rid of any possible resistent worms. It was also suggested last week that he could have ulcers so he's going on ulcer treatment starting this weekend. This treatmeant won't hurt him if he doesn't have any but it could always fix something. I'm not thinking he has ulcers though because he isn't displaying any symptoms besides lack of weight gain. After this though, I'm at a loss for possible reasons for the lack of weight. Any suggestions?

I'm going to call the vet to come out and just go over everything if none of this works but really trying to avoid that. I've asked the vet about his weight a few times but have tried everything that was suggested so far but nothing has really worked. Giving free rein to a vet to just test everything will probably be extremely pricey though.... fabulous.

So any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Championship Pictures

Just random pictures from Champs in Lexington VA. I should have the videos and better quality pictures I ordered soooonnn!

Getting ready to salute the judge before the 3rd Speed/Knock-down Class

On course.Take Your Own Line Class.

Majorly angling an oxer. Funnn.

I like his knees. And kind of my leg. Thats about it though. Low fence in Speed/Knock-down 1

Fun parallel oxer in the Take Your Own Line Class.

3'6" oxer in the muddy ring on Sunday.
Same Jump. Different Angle.

The End! :))

I PASSED!

Hey! Well I went for my C-3 last weekend and passed! So excited that that is *mostly* behind me. I didn't pass the longing because I fed Jazz a whole bunch of sugar cubes before going and then couldn't get him away from me! I never hand feed Jazz, or any horse really, because it makes them so pushy but I was so happy with how good Jazz was being that I fed him the sugar. My bad.... He would not go to the end of the line no matter how much I shook the whip at him/his shoulder and clucked him on he just turned right in and tried to come at me for treats. It kind of sucked. But he's back on a no treats not ever regimen so hopefully he will back back to my nice little longe pony by the restest in 2 weeks. Anyway, it was really fun besides the longing issue.

Jazz was really good for the flat portion and we got through Training Level Test A without too much trouble. For my switch ride I got to get on a super cute 5 yr old Clydesdale/TB cross who was really fun. Reasonably good marks all around from the National Examiners.

The next day was the jumping portion which is, of course, my favorite part. Jazz wasn't as good as he had been (very much wanting to run on the forehand) but it ended up working out really well. When he is being naturally forward and not as determined to travel on the forehand I have a tendency to get more layed out on his neck and be less active with my leg so it occasionally will get a touch out in front of me/not totally under me. So by him being a bit lazy I really had to sit up and ride him through everything. But he was still forward enough to blast off my leg when I needed it XC so it all worked out. I got an Exceed Standard in my grid work meaning I surpassed the standard of riding. The NE was really funny about it, I could hear her as I went over each jump correctly going YES!YES!YES!. It was the same woman who had had to fail me in the longing the day before so I was really happy to be back on her good side. The actualy course work was kind of annoying becasue there was this hil going through the middle of the open area with the jumps and that realllyyyy messes with how you have to ride a course. The hill and the fact that it really wasn't a jumper course to show off exactly what I can do got frustrating. Jazz and I don't look as good or stand out as much over spread out courses with wide turns as we do with snappy turns and bending lines. But we got really good marks so I'll take it. The switch ride was soooo much fun! I got a 16.3/17 hh green warmblood that had a bad bolting tendency but it worked out. We put together a resonable nice (safe!) course that I was ok with. He had school the practice fences so nicely (waiting for my direct of whether to hold or go to the fence and keeping balanced) that I was kind of shocked when it all went out the window after the first jump on course. Anyway, the NEs again had really good remarks. :)))

After that was cross country. I am not a fan of it. And probably never will be. But we got through it fine (minus a little galloping issue - I have very bad depth perception with anything distance and I let Jazz get into a big gallop only to look up and not be able to tell where the water complex was so after a little bit of a rough pull up we ended up being a good 100 yards from the complex). The NE was happy with the work and had the canidates check our horses pulse and respiration as an added fun test. Anyway, it worked out fine.

The last little briefing where they handed out results was probably the scariest and most depressing scene I've seen in awhile. 6 people started the rating and only 3 passed. Hopefully they will go for it again soon because they're all very talented riders.

So now even with the C-3 is out of the way, my next year is still packed with crazy stuff! I am planning on taking my H-B rating in Novemeber to complete the second half of the C-3 rating. After that I plan to take the C-3 Show Jumping Speciality in the spring (both the NEs said they would have passed me on it this weekend!) and might look toward the B Traditional before college. If I pass the C-3 Show Jumping I will be one of 6 in the country which would be SO cool! hehe! It would make me a good pick for the Show Jumping International Exchange that I would like to go on. It would also mean I could do some traveling instructor stuff with PC. While that opportunity would be fabulous I'm not sure if it can be done becasue of college NCAA rules and amature status things and weird stuff. I'm also planning on qualifying for show jumping championships this spring but possibly at a higher level! Can't wait to see how everything comes out

oh and we moved Jazz to my families farm FINALLY! So excited that he's out there. Can't wait to move there myself!