Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The good is that I remembered my dressage boots today, and I did a half-decent rope braid in the Monster Morgan's mane.

The bad is the Morgan's attitude. I joked that I was on a mini-thoroughbred. She had energy to burn when we go to the show, and it took every ounce of my strength to get her to go into the warm up arena. You see, she's herd bound and freaks out when she's not near them or at least can see them. We went for a nice 20 foot run backwards. It was impressive!! She did calm down after a while, but I trotted on her for at least 20 minutes before I could even get her to respond to a half-halt.

The Ugly. Our test. It was bad, oh so VERY, VERY bad!! I'm glad I did it, because it gave me some good notes to remember when I ride her this week, but oh, it was ugly. Our free walk was non-existent and we ended up back on the rail at B. Oh so bad!! I'm glad I went first!! More people showed up after I embarrassed myself. Ugh. We got a whole 57% and 5th place. When I walked over to get my score, 1st - 5th were still set out. I told the woman I was there to pick up my 5th place ribbon. She seemed surprised that I was right. I told her she must not have seen our ride!! Ugh. On a fun note, Ophie's mom's boyfriend got 1st place with a score of 66% (It might be 68%, I don't remember.) I picked up his ribbon and prize and hid it from him until my trainer was around. I wanted her to see the look on his face, and of course it was priceless!!

Went out to the barn and did our 2nd day of hand-walking, or Kite flying as I call it. That's what hand walking a thoroughbred is like, flying a kite. Even with her stud chain on and ACE she was a live wire. She wasn't too bad, but then she saw Ophelia. Ophelia started running around like a bat out of hell, (it's their favorite game, "Who can go the fastest.") Denali got keyed up and didn't come back down. I had to hold her head into me to keep her from killing herself. Note to self. More ACE and hand walking no where near other horses.

I just feel bad for Denali, the poor thing just has so much crap going on. She doesn't seem to be in pain.

Here is your question of the day. What in the hell is this!?!!???! http://www.sstack.com/horse-care_therapy/q-link-equine/ All I know is it is 200.00 and you braid it in your horses mane and it calms them down. WTF!!??!? Anyone? Anyone? (I really want to continue in my Ferris Bueller's Day off tone of voice, but you won't hear that will you? ;0)

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

9 comments:

Beth said...

Well it sounds like you have an excellent attitude about the test. It may not have been what you wanted but you can learn from it! :)

Anonymous said...

Most horses get up like that at shows, unless they do a lot of showing. Good for you for just doing it and getting it done - it doesn't always have to be pretty to be an accomplishment!

Leah Fry said...

It's just good that you got through the test.

And I have no idea what that thing is, but I want to know what about that is worth $200.

Amanda said...

I want to know about the 200 dollar slab of leather too! My horse is really nervous without his pasture buddy, and When I want to ride him without his friend, its almost a joke. We make it 5 feet, he freaks out, I spend the rest of the ride doing schooling. Gotta love the herd bound horse!

Amanda said...

Oh, and mine too always finds some way to hurt himself!!!!!

Kristen Eleni Shellenbarger said...

Wow...I love how your attitude is about showing..it will make u a killer in the ring soon, just watch. :)
That $200 magic charm...interesting? is it magnetic?? All i know that is it had better work for $200!! :)

Kite flying is sooooooooo true. When I started hand walking Laz, he was soooo uppity (it was also soooo windy for a freakin month) that it was scary. She will settle down soon hopefully..How old is Ms D again??

Anonymous said...

At least you made it through the test! More than I could've done!

Here is what I was able to find about the magic charm:

(From their website):
HOW Q-LINK WORKS
Beneficial Resonance with your Biofield

In 1994, the National Institutes of Health in the United States adopted a new term – biofield – to describe a growing body of research showing a subtle field that permeates and extends beyond the physical body. The biofield is something you’ve probably already noticed: a vital force that animates our bodies and powers our daily lives. When our biofield is out of balance, we’re out of balance. Disease, fatigue, and apathy all reflect a compromised biofield. When something improves our biofield, such as the Q-Link, it can increase our mental and physical performance, reinforce our natural immunity to stress and enhance our sense of well-being.

Every day, our biofields are negatively impacted by flickering computer monitors, irate bosses, cell phones, emotional stress, tabloid television, and traffic jams. We are literally bombarded with frequencies that wear us down. That’s why it is essential to recharge.

Q-Link products tune up your biofield through a resonant effect that harmonizes your energy and helps you to navigate smoothly through a stressful world. Think of them like tuning forks that remind your biofield of its optimal functioning state. Worldly stress and performance demands cause the biofield to become more chaotic and incoherent. Q-Link SRT products enable you to handle these challenges more dynamically, ensuring greater efficiency, harmony, and balance in everything you do.

More on their website: http://www.clarusproducts.com/p_how_works.shtml

Jay Jennings said...

Glad you did alright. Sorry I didn't get to see your test. By the time I got Tweek saddled up and over to the warm up arena; you were already finished.

I'm also sorry Tweek tried to run over the morgan. I don't know if I told you or not but she's going blind and things off in the distance can cause spastics. Hence the name Tweek; stolen from the South Park cartoon, one of the characters.

Also sorry we didn't get to say goodbye. Our trailering friend was leaving for Montanan; so we were trying to get her on the road asap.

Hope you had fun; HH seems so laid back compared to the other venues we've been to. I think we are going try to hit the next test at that end of the month too.

Capilet said...

A 57% really isn't bad! Cayenne and I got 52.5% on Intro A, and I've ridden a 50% with Angie before :). We scored 59.5% on Intro B--probably because I had focused on that test at home. Gotta remember that a 70 is 'moving up' time!

It was nice to meet you and the monster in person! Hopefully someday it will be you and Ms D.