Sunday Showing

Today was a little schooling show at a local riding club. Ophie and her mom entered into it to get ready for next weekend's "Ride and Review." Ophie was such a good girl. She looked like a seasoned school horse! I was a very proud aunt!

I did get to do one thing today! I got to meet one of my readers. :) The fun part of having my blog! I'm sure he thought I was a crazy stalker, but who could forget his beautiful horse's face!

Ophie's mom's boyfriend and I sat by my care and judged the classes ourselves. I think we did pretty good if I do say so myself. There was one rider who didn't seem to do anything correct (it was equitation) and she still placed in 3rd a few times (out of large classes.) We were very confused!

I didn't bring Ms. D with us. Next time I'm going to do showmanship with her, that should be funny! I should have brought her, but wanted to be able to help with horses if I could.

My trainer also did really well! I love her horse, she's so sweet and is a great girl! I had to do my "homework" tonight and e-mail her my "plan" for the week. I love it! I'm glad she's asking me what my plan is. What I do know is I am going to put any doubt out of her mind. I guess if you looked at me you'd think it was a bad match, since I haven't really tried to make it work. This is my little extra kick in the butt I needed.

I didn't bring Denali because I didn't want to deal with a hot/crazy/wild Thoroughbred at the show. After watching some of those horses Denali looks dead broke and super quiet. There was one girl who walked past us with her horse. She was super buff! Muscles everywhere. After watching her on her horse I think she needs them to keep from dying! There were some horses who were just all over the place! It gives me hope. As long as I stay on!

After the show I ran to the barn to say hi to my girl. She nickered at me and I gave her some grass and loved on her for only a few minutes. I had promised my hubby I'd be home and spend some time there. I ran to Olsen's Tack Shop because they were having a sale, and I had a 20% off coupon that was burning a hole in my purse. I found some paddock boots that were nice. I was going to get them then remembered that although they were more than 1/2 off, I don't really NEED them. I really like riding in my field boots.

While I was there I talked to their saddle fitter. She's a wealth of knowledge and it was nice chatting with her. I have a really long femur, so she said the best option for me and my horse is a custom saddle (which I knew.) I asked to see what it looked like and she pulled out the 2000 Dressage Prestige. I sat in it and didn't want to get out, EVER! It was amazing, and it's not even fit to me. I am in love, now I need the $2,800. If anyone wins the Powerball remember me! :)

I have 3$ in my "saddle jar." My husband was trying to figure out what percentage of my saddle I have saved for. It was pretty funny.

I have a new "plan" and decided I want to lose 30 by 30. I have 8 months to do that. Along with my plan of 30 by 30 I have the equally important plan of "Ride my damn horse" and after those two are accomplished I am going to fulfill "Operation New Amazing Saddle." That's after I sell everything I own!!!

I think we have a winner

After work yesterday I ran up north 40 miles to pick up the saddle. 40 miles in traffic. Ugh! It only took an hour and a half, so not that horrible. I hate picking things up on the side of the road, but the woman seemed nice enough. She was very petite so I was worried about how the saddle would fit me. I had her draw up a bill of sale, along with a 48 hour return policy.

I rushed to the barn for my lesson. I'm glad my trainer is so understanding. I was an hour late! I told her what I was doing and that I thought I'd be half an hour late. I hate people like me! This was my first lesson in A LONG TIME!! Maybe before Christmas...I'm thinking October (first lesson at my barn.) I rode her show horse. He's an appendix and is awesome! He'll do anything if you ask him right, which is what I appreciate about him.

When I walked down to get him Denali saw me and kept nickering, and nickering at me. I felt so bad. I went and gave her some grass and some love and told her that I'd be back for her. She continued nickering at me until I got the other horse, then I got the butt.

Our lesson was great! I actually caught on to some things I wasn't sure I was doing right before. My half halts have always sucked, but I fell like I finally understand now. I over think EVERYTHING I ever do, so it was nice to feel successful.

I rode in my new saddle for our lesson. I really liked it. It doesn't have as deep a seat as my other one, but I feel really secure in it. We'll see. I'll need to ride in it a few more times to figure out the differences. I never really liked the way my Harry Dabbs pitched me forward. I do that myself, so to have a saddle emphasis that didn't help. I must say thought, I do love my HD saddle. I'm going to have a hard time parting with it.

After putting away the horse I went out to get Denail. I don't know how else to explain this, but she was terrified. She was just beside herself. I'm not sure what it was. The horses around her were brought in right before I got her. I could tell what kind of a mood she was in from the moment I haltered her up. Once we were inside the barn I decided to let her burn off some energy in the arena. I had to have Ophie's mom hold her because she was so "up" she spooked at me taking her blanket off, she was just really upset about something.

I knew leading her into the arena that we were going to have a hard time. She was doing her arab imitation. I didn't even get the halter the whole way off when she took off like a bat out of hell. It was crazy. I've never seen her run like that. At on point she fell down (took a turn way too sharp) and she just jumped back up and took off again. It was crazy.

At this point it was almost 9 o'clock and I couldn't just leave her. I got her halter on her and got her to stand while I sat the saddle on her back. It seems to be a much better fit than her last one. While the saddle was sitting on her two cats got into a fight, at the same time one of the horses was freaking out in her stall, while the BO was in his trailer in front of the arena going into and out of his trailer, and the trainers son was taking down hay. So, all 4 sides of the arena had something going on that was freaking her out. She started to prance a little bit with all this going on, but didn't move from her spot. As soon as I grabbed the saddle (which I had envisioned it hitting the dirt) she started to try to run away. I got her back under control and walked her around. She never calmed completely down, but she also didn't try to run me over. It was a good exercise for her. I wish I could get all those noises going again sometime (when I'm NOT ON HER) to work with her some more.

I called her lessee and told her about Denai's "Moments" and about the new saddle. She's going to ride in it tonight to see what Denali thinks of it. If it doesn't work I'll sell it. The woman who I bought it from has two other people who wanted it if I didn't take it.

I see there are some new followers! Thanks for joining our ride! I'm always curious how people find this blog.

For future reference

I often post things on here that I want to be able to reference later. That way I don't need to go trudging around the internet. I went over to From Racehorse to Showhorse today and watched this video. Thank you Wendy!