Back from the weekend!
Busier than heck today but a quick post to let ya'll know I am a proud Mama once again.
Frank was a rockstar this weekend! We did Five classes and he placed in all of them!
Jed showed him for me as I was working the show office. We did have a bobble in our ranch reining class, he dove for the gate in his right circle. Not sure why, he has never done that before and it cost us plenty but he came back on Sunday full throttle. He got fourth out 12 in Trail class, 3rd out of 8 in ranch riding and then he smoked them all in reining by laying down some out of this world stops and a penalty free pattern. 1st out of 10 his first trip out in reining!!
I promise , promise, promise I did get pictures! My bestest girl Becca snapped about ten thousand for me and is sending me a disk asap. The header of the blog is right after he won his class and you can tell I am happy and boy was it HOT! 94 in the shade.
That's all for now. Be back soon!
Happy trails.......
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Memory Lane......breyer horses
As most of you know, I work in the Kentucky Horse Park and get to see lots of events coming and going around here. This morning driving in I was taken back down memory lane to when I was a young girl.
As you can see from the picture above, this weekend is Breyerfest at the horse park.
It is an event where thousands of young people with their parents in tow walk around vendors and events all surrounding the Breyer horse. There are statues for sale as well as tack, accessories, barns etc all for the little creations. It truly is amazing how busy it is and the varied crowd that it draws. Today they are invading our building here at USEF to do crafts in our kitchen. That means yours truly will be dining in her office at my desk. It's OK, I remember when.......
Matter of fact I can remember when I was 6 or 7, long before I had my first horse I would save any money I earned or got for birthdays, chores etc and save up for the next Breyer horse I could get.
Here are a few that I still have, most did not survive all the moves and er well... my very active young men who like to put GI Joe's on them and play rather rough.
This one is running colt I think, one of the very first I ever got.
My all time favorite! You can see I always liked horses of color!!
Yes, more colored ones! I had a whole family don't know where the other one got to.
Every one's favorite! STORMY !
Hope this brought back some memories for you. Do you have a collection? Share some with me!
Off to the ranch horse show! Be back next week with pictures and details!
Happy trails.......
As you can see from the picture above, this weekend is Breyerfest at the horse park.
It is an event where thousands of young people with their parents in tow walk around vendors and events all surrounding the Breyer horse. There are statues for sale as well as tack, accessories, barns etc all for the little creations. It truly is amazing how busy it is and the varied crowd that it draws. Today they are invading our building here at USEF to do crafts in our kitchen. That means yours truly will be dining in her office at my desk. It's OK, I remember when.......
Matter of fact I can remember when I was 6 or 7, long before I had my first horse I would save any money I earned or got for birthdays, chores etc and save up for the next Breyer horse I could get.
Here are a few that I still have, most did not survive all the moves and er well... my very active young men who like to put GI Joe's on them and play rather rough.
This one is running colt I think, one of the very first I ever got.
My all time favorite! You can see I always liked horses of color!!
Yes, more colored ones! I had a whole family don't know where the other one got to.
Every one's favorite! STORMY !
Hope this brought back some memories for you. Do you have a collection? Share some with me!
Off to the ranch horse show! Be back next week with pictures and details!
Happy trails.......
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Why?
Why?
It is such a simple little word, but used so often.
I use it alot. With my job, my kids and yes my horse. Monday I was supposed to have another lesson on Frank. Sigh.....I did not, it seems my little sugar problem is rearing it's ugly head again... WHY? So, not feeling my best thought better of it to get on and get dizzy or pass out on the big guy. Jed rode him. I would like to tell you it was all good, but alas we had some bumps.....WHY?
I swear it is like he lost all that he had learned......I attribute it to being like my kids, they must keep testing the boundaries. They know when they are doing something wrong, they know there will be consequences but they go ahead and do it anyway.....WHY? Perhaps it is the way of the world.
Tomorrow is another day and each day is just a small part of the journey.
So we will not ask why, we will just persevere and continue onward. Still taking him to the show this weekend and perhaps it will all come together again, we shall see.
happy trails......
It is such a simple little word, but used so often.
I use it alot. With my job, my kids and yes my horse. Monday I was supposed to have another lesson on Frank. Sigh.....I did not, it seems my little sugar problem is rearing it's ugly head again... WHY? So, not feeling my best thought better of it to get on and get dizzy or pass out on the big guy. Jed rode him. I would like to tell you it was all good, but alas we had some bumps.....WHY?
I swear it is like he lost all that he had learned......I attribute it to being like my kids, they must keep testing the boundaries. They know when they are doing something wrong, they know there will be consequences but they go ahead and do it anyway.....WHY? Perhaps it is the way of the world.
Tomorrow is another day and each day is just a small part of the journey.
So we will not ask why, we will just persevere and continue onward. Still taking him to the show this weekend and perhaps it will all come together again, we shall see.
happy trails......
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A first for me
Warning: This post will probably make you laugh til you cry!
Things have been going well here for me, still busy as a one armed paper hanger but managing to get out and ride Frank three days a week at least. Let me start by saying Frank is doing GREAT!! I cannot believe how much progress he has made with Jed, the difference is amazing. The boy can stop ya'll! He consistently puts down a 20+ slide without even trying to hard.
I have been readjusting my riding form to reining. I say that because I was taught and rode very, well.... as Jed puts it "proper" you know the shoulder,hip, heel all in a straight row. Let me tell ya this does NOT work when reining. It is shall we say a much more relaxed look, feet forward and a bit of slouching thru the stop. I picture that I look like a vulture on a branch. It is taking me some real work to learn to relax and throw my feet forward but I am making progress...or I thought I was. Hence today's tale:
Last evening a very pleasant evening with temps that were tolerable compared to what we have been having I went for a lesson. It started much the same as usual: We jog some circles we work on softness, we lope some circles and work on softness, we move our shoulders in and out and we do some turnarounds. Then comes Fencing........
I HATE FENCING! There, I said it...... For those of you unfamiliar with fencing it involves loping then increasing speed down the middle of the arena from one end to the other. The goal is to sit deep at the end without picking up on the horse to teach him to stop at the wall. Most horses get this fairly quick and usually do not smack into the wall many times. Anyway, I was fencing which by the way did I mention I hate? Frank tends to drift one direction or the other while loping down the middle. Last nights goal was to use only my legs to steer him back on course instead of my reins (the thought being that if I were showing it won't show as bad).
Well...... I am not really sure what happened next, I may have accidentally hooked Frank with a spur or nudged a little to strong when he faded right but.... he whirled to the left at full speed and I was NOT sitting deep. What happened next you ask? Well.... I flew forward and left and got hooked on my 4 inch cutting saddle horn. (mistake #1: riding a cutting saddle while reining) I thought it was my xtra long tee shirt caught, but when I looked down to my amazement it was my jeans! Yep, the horn punched a hole right thru my thigh of my jeans and I was hooked on the horn. Jed left the building laughing and I was laughing so hard I was crying, some from the pain and mostly the absurdity of it all. I had to jump up to unhook myself from the horn which was no easy task whilst laughing so hard. I kept on riding but no more fencing for me! I loped off and did a beautiful stop down three quarters of the arena with no problem, just don't make me fence. I have several new nicknames at the barn now which I am not sharing with you. But heck, it is all in a day right?? I now sport a pretty bruise on my thigh and a great story to share with you all...
Taking Frank to a show next weekend in Indiana and looking forward to it. Stay tuned for more entertainment from my riding adventures....
Happy trails........
Things have been going well here for me, still busy as a one armed paper hanger but managing to get out and ride Frank three days a week at least. Let me start by saying Frank is doing GREAT!! I cannot believe how much progress he has made with Jed, the difference is amazing. The boy can stop ya'll! He consistently puts down a 20+ slide without even trying to hard.
I have been readjusting my riding form to reining. I say that because I was taught and rode very, well.... as Jed puts it "proper" you know the shoulder,hip, heel all in a straight row. Let me tell ya this does NOT work when reining. It is shall we say a much more relaxed look, feet forward and a bit of slouching thru the stop. I picture that I look like a vulture on a branch. It is taking me some real work to learn to relax and throw my feet forward but I am making progress...or I thought I was. Hence today's tale:
Last evening a very pleasant evening with temps that were tolerable compared to what we have been having I went for a lesson. It started much the same as usual: We jog some circles we work on softness, we lope some circles and work on softness, we move our shoulders in and out and we do some turnarounds. Then comes Fencing........
I HATE FENCING! There, I said it...... For those of you unfamiliar with fencing it involves loping then increasing speed down the middle of the arena from one end to the other. The goal is to sit deep at the end without picking up on the horse to teach him to stop at the wall. Most horses get this fairly quick and usually do not smack into the wall many times. Anyway, I was fencing which by the way did I mention I hate? Frank tends to drift one direction or the other while loping down the middle. Last nights goal was to use only my legs to steer him back on course instead of my reins (the thought being that if I were showing it won't show as bad).
Well...... I am not really sure what happened next, I may have accidentally hooked Frank with a spur or nudged a little to strong when he faded right but.... he whirled to the left at full speed and I was NOT sitting deep. What happened next you ask? Well.... I flew forward and left and got hooked on my 4 inch cutting saddle horn. (mistake #1: riding a cutting saddle while reining) I thought it was my xtra long tee shirt caught, but when I looked down to my amazement it was my jeans! Yep, the horn punched a hole right thru my thigh of my jeans and I was hooked on the horn. Jed left the building laughing and I was laughing so hard I was crying, some from the pain and mostly the absurdity of it all. I had to jump up to unhook myself from the horn which was no easy task whilst laughing so hard. I kept on riding but no more fencing for me! I loped off and did a beautiful stop down three quarters of the arena with no problem, just don't make me fence. I have several new nicknames at the barn now which I am not sharing with you. But heck, it is all in a day right?? I now sport a pretty bruise on my thigh and a great story to share with you all...
Taking Frank to a show next weekend in Indiana and looking forward to it. Stay tuned for more entertainment from my riding adventures....
Happy trails........
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