Long Days with Horses

Yesterday was a long day over at the barn.  I lunged Ink again, rode Errika and cleaned stalls.  I had Ink eat his grain in the round pen while I cleaned Squirt’s stall.  When I was done, Ink was finished with grain and it was dark.  I grabbed his blankets and walked to the round pen.  I put the blankets on and reluctantly started walking to the back.  Last time I drove the quad back there, thankfully I was on wheels, I came across a possum that glared at me and just kept walking towards me.  I rammed the quad in reverse and floored it until I was back at the barn.  No way was I going to go back there again in the dark and I swore, not on foot.  But last night I was all alone and I walked Ink to the back.  I kind of hid next to him and stomped really loud, so if something was there it would hopefully run away after it heard us coming.

 No scary possum or rat was around and we made it safely to the field.  I was so relieved.  But then I had the walk back..  Alone..without the big guy to protect me.  I ran all the way back, as fast as I could.  

 It was such a loong day.  It rained, got sunny, was windy, man the day was full of adventures. 

Ink looked really good yesterday.  I didn’t notice any lameness and he wasn’t short strided at all.  I’m not sure what that means.  But maybe a feed through joint supplement and a chiro or massage therapist is all he really needs.     

I’m off to the barn, have a great weekend everyone!!   

Coming Along

 

 

The progress Ink has made in this last month has been exciting and pleasing.  He pick’s up on things quickly and always tries to get it right.  I can only remember really riding him in the beginning and thinking, “oh this is going to be a long haul.”  Ink is such a tank and getting him on the bit eventually, was just way far out there.  I’m in love with how he feels now when he goes along soft in my hands and on the bit. 

Yeah, yesterday we did some more jumping again.  It was good practice for mom in the picture taking department.  Although she only got one of us actually going over the jump, I still give her props for the ones that did come out!  She’s getting ready to enter the contest =).

After the jumping, I just worked around the whole arena getting him to bend into the corners.  It was fun.

My mom rode Errika bareback and they did their own thing in between my mom taking shots.  Just the kind of day Errika likes.

Handsome Horse

Alas!  Some pictures to share with you guys!  Isn’t he looking great?

Errika had the day off.  She enjoyed a nice long grooming/pampering session from mom.  After I tacked Ink up, mom and Errika joined us out in the arena.  Errika nearly fell over because she was trying to nap.  I didn’t see it but my mom did.  The warm air, generous sun and grooming made Errika relax into high heaven and apparently she left her mind drift so far she forgot that she had four legs to keep on the ground.  My little sweet pea =D. 

Ink too, wanted to relax.  But he had to do some work.  In the beginning we walked and then trotted over a ground pole, did some circles and set up a small cross-rail to work over.  I must say he is getting jumping down pretty well.  He comes in deep sometimes, but he feels good other than that.  Mom said he looked nice over the jumps. 

For now we’re just working at the trot.  I figure that since we keep jumping light, it’s not an everyday thing, sometimes he gets weeks off for flat work and the jumps are small, we can work on a lot of jumping things in detail.  Like his confidence and mine.  (He’s come in deep sometimes and tripped over the jumps and it makes me a little jittery.)  He also can get a little rushy towards the jump, so I take my time and bring him back down if he gets a little too antsy.  Wee jumps are good just to help get things down, solid.  I know he doesn’t have a problem working over higher things, but it’s better we work our way up as well as properly developing muscles and strength. 

For the most part, at this point, I’m OK at jumping.  I’ve gotten rusty without having regular lessons.  I really miss jumping like I used to during weekly lessons.  I’d say Ink is better at jumping than I am.  Having days like this, I truly remember how much I loved jumping and dreamed of going big in stadium. 

I forgot to add this ealier but Ink is getting lighter and lighter in my hand all the time.  After jumping, he was so light.  Barely any movement from my hand made him bend on the bit.

VOTE for The Equus Ink in Blog Village

Blanket Question

Yay, it was clear outside today!  Oh California, how interesting the weather is.  I just got home from visiting with the horses and both were doing well. 

 When I was walking to the back, I noticed Errika’s new pink sheet, but I wasn’t supposed to be seeing that.  I was supposed to see her water-proof turn-out.  Where did it go?  When Matt and I got to the field, we found it lying by the gate directly across the field.  Lying a little off of the fence line.  It was strange because it looked like it had perfectly come over her head and set down.  There was nothing wrong with the fence or gate, nothing appeared like the blanket got caught or stuck on anything.  Plus to add to it the blanket was in perfect condition.  No rips, tears, nothing.  Her belly straps I cross, and they have a clip on the ends of them.  They aren’t those kind that you twist and place inside the opening.  And the were still attached?  How the heck did she manage to get the blanket over her head, and her legs through the belly straps?  Nothing was wrong with Errika, no marks, no place where something might of rubbed, no cuts.  She stood across the way watching me as I looked in confusion at the heap of blanket on the ground.  Errika gets pretty nervous about being in odd situations, so I can’t understand how the blanket managed to get away un-harmed.  I’m sure when she got to the point where her legs had to get through the crossed belly straps, she would have freaked out.  Most likely the blanket would have been lying out like it went through world war one, instead of just like someone came out and gently took it over her head.  Plus how the heck does a horse managed to get it that far over it’s body with the crossed belly straps???  Any ideas???  Has anyone had something like this happen before?

Of all the five years I’ve had this blanket, it’s been an amazing blanket and the fact that Errika is really gentle to them, I’ve NEVER had this happen.  All of the sudden, this winter has been horrible for blankets….

Man oh Man

Back to the drawing board I suppose.  I’m on the job hunt again, and I’m really contemplating work at a barn, unless it’s one that is owned by people who know nothing about horses and need someone to manage it.  The position I was offered ended up not being exactly for me.  I’ll end it at that really.  Even after working only 4 days total, I felt like I neglected my horses and missed them.  I feel so much better being able to go to this private place where I keep my horses and do what I want.  That sounds a little nieve, but I have developed my own ways of going about things and I just like being able to keep my horses on a schedule for exercise and all the other things that come along with responsible horse ownership.  Hmm.  So Ink might be moving to the other barn, where Meghan is, this month.  I need to persue that and work out the details, because I will be working to pay off some or all of the pasture board. 

Today Ink did some more free jumping and he was going over them perfectly and only knocked a rail once.  He’s smart when he approaches a jump.  Still green of course sometimes he comes in to late, but he saves or corrects himself really well.  He jumped 3′6″ today with ease.  I turned out Errika in the arena after we were done and she was a ball of energy.  Then Matt “attempted” to clip Ink.  He just wanted to practice so I let him re-clip Ink.  Meghan did it about 2 months ago.   

NY Resolutions YR. 2 + Jumping in Style

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  A new year is about to start so with that is my 2008 resolutions.  Last year I did the same thing and I pretty much did everything on my list.  Now I have a whole new list to put to work.  If you blog, you might consider writing down your new years resolutions or goals in a post, so you can always refer back to it, keep yourself updated and report back when you achieve something and when the year comes to an end.  This years I’m listing my goals/resolutions and a little detail with them, such as why they are on there.  Here are mine:

- Show Ink (Dressage and/or Jumping)

I would love to compete Ink in training level Dressage this year and really progress in that area.  However Ink can jump pretty well and if all goes well I would love to work towards showing him in some little schooling shows this year.  I would like to emphasize that if we do show I would like to do 2′6″ as a modest goal. 

- School Ink 3′3″

Because I want to possibly show him in 2′6″ classes, I want to properly be schooling him over 3′ fences.  But I have a goal of jumping him 3′3″ under saddle.

- Ride Ink at the Beach

We haven’t done that yet, so I would love to take a ride out there.

- Compete Errika (Dressage)

I am so happy with how Errika is coming along, back in work, that I would love to show her in some schooling shows as well, training level Dressage.  She shows much ability to go out there and compete with all the others. 

- Get a Paying Job

I think I’m working towards that now.  But I want to be in a paying position to pay for my horses expenses and some of my own so my parents do not have that burden. 

That’s what I have for now, I know not that great, but I’ll revise the list next week when I have more time to write it all down.

Ink has been doing great, we free jumped him on Wednesday the 26th, and he did about 3′.  He’s so awesome to watch, Tim says he could do 5′ no problem. 

Ink now has back shoes on too.

Here are the links to Ink’s jumping videos!

Please comment on here about what you think =)

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m139/royaels/My%20Videos/?action=view¤t=VideosDec018.flv

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m139/royaels/My%20Videos/?action=view¤t=VideosDec003.flv

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m139/royaels/My%20Videos/?action=view¤t=VideosDec006.flv

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m139/royaels/My%20Videos/?action=view¤t=VideosDec013.flv

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m139/royaels/My%20Videos/?action=view¤t=VideosDec015.flv

Warm Weekend

I hope you all had a great weekend!  I had a horse-filled weekend, and did some productive things yesterday.  The weather changed from Friday, it was warm and clear. 

Saturday I rode Ink, did a little jumping after working on what I’ll call going on the bit, the early process.  Tim helped me with his guiding, because Ink falls on my inside leg and it’s hard to keep him on the track.  We made great progress!  Later we went to the Home Depot to buy fencing for the gates in Ink’s field so he can’t wind-suck on them. 

Yesterday my younger brother Klint, our neighbor Kevin, Matt and I went over to see the horses.  We all went to the back first to put the fencing on the gates and I brought Errika out with us and turned her out to eat some grass while we worked.  Ink was curious about what we were doing and hung out with us some of the time, until he got too close and we had to shoo him away.

After the fencing we brought up both horses, I had Kevin and Klint put her on the hot walker.  I rode Ink, warmed him up, worked more on the guiding and going on the bit.  Then my instructor Matthew had Klint and Kevin be the pole boys.  The jumping in the beginning wasn’t super duper.  He generally stepped over, not jumped.  I think that when the jumps are that small he doesn’t feel like he needs to put any effort into it.  Then I had the pole boys set up two sets of standards about 3 strides apart and eventually we worked up to two cross rails, and kept raising the back one.  Then I wanted to try something new.  So they took down the first cross rail and left just a ground pole there, and took the two standards and put them behind the last pair of standards.  The front of the jump was a cross rail while the back was a verticle.  Ink’s first time over wasn’t pretty and he kind of took off too early and wasn’t expecting the little spread there.  But after that, he jumped it very well!  He was forward, ears and eyes up, it was great.  Finally a jump he felt worth some effort!  It was a lot of fun! =D  We raised it towards the end to about 2′6″. 

To critique myself, I need to put my heels down, my eyes are up, and sit deeper in the saddle before take off and let his thrust push me up.  After not being coached for four years, I’m a little rusty to say the least.  But the boots I’m wearing are thick rubber boots and it’s hard to flex your ankle or put your heels down. 

After I rode, I had Klint hop on Ink to cool him out while I took a break. 

Pooh my water is almost gone..

[ Softening 2 ] & Jumping

This evening it was expected to rain but it didn’t.  However it did get really gloomy and brisk.  I worked on softening Ink by myself.  I need to find a trainer to take lessons with, I’m not afraid one bit to admit I need help.  But I think this task with well today.  He was catching on so quickly, yet again.  I did that for about 30minutes, maybe a little less I’m not sure. 

I thought that I would have to make this ride snappy because my mom had to get back to change.  She was going to go to dinner with my dad and friends.  That was cancelled though so I had more time to ride. 

Matt was my jump helper and he set up a little cross rail and we worked up to the above.  Ink was great going over the jumps.  I just had to make sure he had enough impulsion to actually jump it, because otherwise he would just step over the jump.  No refusals, and even when he came in wrong he kept trying.  I was very proud of him. 

Towards the end, the rain started coming, but just a mist like rain.  It was fun jumping in that kind of weather, reminded me of my pony school days! =D

Errika spent the time while I was riding Ink, on the hot walker.  Then she got to eat some grass and then her grain.  She’s doing very well, I can’t wait to start exercising her again!

 

Cool Day

This morning it was raining so riding looked like it just wasn’t going to happen.  By any means I won’t melt, but it wasn’t a ‘come out not completely drentched’ rain.  Plus I wouldn’t want my ponay to get chilly. 

Matt and I went to the JC today and then over to the barn.  It was cold and gloomy, grey.  But it wasn’t raining anymore.  I had Matt go to the back to get Ink while I prepared Errika’s grain and got the arena ready for us (poles and lunging standards.) 

Adventures of Wind

It was soo windy today! I could not believe how gusty it got. As my mom and I were driving to pick Klint up from school, and then go to my doctors appointment, it started raining! The skies are blue and pretty, but a few grey clouds (a few, literally) were around, and the rain just came down like none other for a few minutes. If you looked out the car window, it would appear as if you were going hay wire, because all you could see was blue!

After my doctors appointment, my mom I dropped Klint off at home, got in my car and went over to the feed store. My car had the Equine Senior in it, and smelled sooo good. We had to go to the other feed store to get Ink’s grain and their wormers.

Heading back to the barn was interesting. My car is fairly light compared to my moms, and it was shoving me all over the place. My mom and I unloaded the grain, and then walked back to get the horses. They were just finishing up with their dinner. Errika was standing up byb the fence, as if she was pouting, because Ink the Stink was hogging all of the hay. As soon as Ink saw us coming, he started walking up. Everyday he is ready to come out and do something. No matter what, he just likes to do something.

I felt comfortable around the big guy, the day was at ease it seemed and all went well.

I groomed him and gave him hugs, which he is still learning aren’t a bad thing, and some kisses. He’s not much for kisses either, but I think he just doesn’t know exactly what they are..

We spent a little while grooming both of them, and then I put Errika’s boots on for a lunging session in the round pen. We worked poles again. It was quite interesting and cute, because I sat up these sequence of poles which asks Errika to really bring up her hooves, as she trots over them. Well the first time she went over, she jumped all three poles (that were spread out)! It’s not, not like her, she just gets bored and lazy trotting through them.

I TRIED giving Ink his wormer. All these times I have wormed, and wouldn’t you know it. I just stumbled across an article on the right way to worm, and I though ‘I got worming down, no mess at all!’ Then Today, I created just that, a mess. It was on the tie rack, ALL over his mouth, on me, all over the lead rope.. It just wans’t my worming day I guess!

They got their much desired grain and we turned them back out. The wind was just crazy.