Updates are hard when you aren't riding much!

So, I've been a total slacker with both riding and this blog!  I'm not sure what happened in the riding department - my motivation went out the window as soon as September hit.  Oh well...I'm not on any particular schedule here, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

I found out recently that Spencer and I are reserve high-point in halter AND western horsemanship at the little series of club shows we did this summer!  Very cool for me, considering I had no idea if I could even win a ribbon, let alone a reserve high-point award. The only slight bummer in this situation is that I'm going to miss the banquet because I'm going to Congress that weekend.  I guess I'll to have a friend pick up any loot I might win!  :-)

*************

I spend a lot more time on my computer when the seasons change and my riding slows down.  I've started riding English a bit with Spencer, so of course I have been searching for matching tack and all kinds of extra stuff I don't really need...!

I was teased a bit this summer for Spencer's training tack. I have a safety orange saddle pad and fly veil for him that I quite like. I also have an orange helmet cover that I'll have to get out now that it is cooler.

I noticed that emerald green is very popular in a lot of stores this year. Green is my favourite colour and it isn't often a colour that you find in clothes in retail stores.  I was browsing the internet to see if I could come up with a couple of super-matchy " tack items for Spencer just to bug my coach a bit.  ;-)

It turns out that there is a ton of bright green stuff for the English side! I attempted to make one of those clothing mash-up images that you see all over Pinterest.  You know what I mean, images like this:

I actually like this outfit, even if there is no green anywhere!  ;-)

Here is my bright green version.  I even included a Ralph Lauren model with a green polo shirt, 'cause I totally look like that when I ride! LOL  I really love the white saddle pad with the monogram and the beer and clover pad.  I'm part Irish (somewhere in my heritage) so that would be great to have, right?  The saddle pads and the polos are all from Ebay.  I actually can't remember where I found the black/green stirrups.  I'm trying to resist ordering some of that stuff this fall since it is my favourite colour and all!

Love all that green! 

I then decided to try and find some western tack with the same emerald colour. It doesn't really exist on the western side yet. Lots of lime and hunter green, but not emerald.  Here is my initial lime green western inspiration:

 And then I found a bunch of sites that make custom bling tack and you can choose your colours:

Emerald green - this could work!

 Or, I could get a whole set of matching tack in whatever colour I wanted!!!

This would look great with green crystals!

Luckily I'm able to resist buying anything right now! I'm sure I'll find all kinds of neat stuff to buy at Congress. I've heard the shopping there is pretty amazing!

An update, to move the grouchy post down!

Just a warning – this post is probably going to be all over the place…as I don’t have much to say on any one topic! ;-)  I also wanted to push down the grumpy whiny post!

I think my show season is done for this year. There are some fairs I could go to, but I think I just want to work on my riding at home and save up a bit of money. I have three things I want to save a bit of money for in the short term:

1. A mini shopping trip to PA with my family (DONE! Had fun, found some nice new clothes for the fall!)
2. Building some trail obstacles (more on that later);
3. And more importantly, I’m going to Congress in October!!! Woo-hoo! (That’s a big AQHA show in Columbus, OH, for those of you not into the QH scene… )

I was invited to go with my coach and two other ladies that I got to know this summer. I am pretty excited to go – mostly for the shopping – I can admit it! It will neat to be at such a big horse event and the gals I’m going with are pretty fun. I may have already started a shopping list! It will be fun to get some stuff that isn’t available here, or would cost me a fortune in shipping.

***************

A couple of weeks ago, I rigged up a little display in the barn for my ribbons. I still had two of Rusty’s old shoes, so I pounded the clips down a bit and spray-painted them John Deere green. I like green and that paint was sitting around, so why not? ;-) I bought a 6ft piece of fine chain from the hardware store and voilà! A ribbon display!

 

***************

What? I have to work?

My coach’s hubby came over today with his tractor to pull some sand off my ring - it was just too deep!  He didn't charge me anything either, which almost made me cry. They are such nice people and they know how much I appreciate the help.

In the end, we almost doubled the width of the ring. It is about 120' x 120'  now! I need some barrels or jumps or something, lol.  Or, I could almost set up a trail course on the one side and leave it there.

It is really hard to deal with workers and explain the type of sand you need for horseback riding. Not too deep, but not too shallow. Sand that won’t pack too much but isn’t too loose or too coarse or too fine. What??? Umm, right, ok. My sand is almost like beach sand and in hindsight I should have had the guys bring me a sample before dumping it all in the ring. I can work with it though, so that is the good news. I may have to have a load of a different type of sand brought in next year to mix with the stuff I have. I guess it is still a work in progress at this point!

A pretty nice panorama!  It was a beautiful day today...even if it was cool.

I also finally hauled all of my poles and jumps standards to the ring. We even Macgyver’d two harrows for the ring – one is an old piece of chain link fence and the other is made of pallets! I set up a small section of temporary fence to keep the horses away from it, since the ring is inside my larger pasture. I will fence of the riding ring eventually, but for now it is all open.

I have some plans this fall to build some trail obstacles, but I’ll save that for another post when I can get some pictures of my handy-work!

A very crappy lesson

I was away for five days last week and then my Mom came back to stay with me for a week. I didn’t really have a lot of time to ride, with work and entertaining my Mom. Unfortunately my Mom isn’t the slightest bit interested in horses or my riding, so it was hard to sneak away and have some time with my boy.


As a result of the above, Spencer had a nice little two week holiday. I rode for about 30 mins on Saturday and then had a lesson last night. The weather was dicey, but the rain held off, which was good. I had to laugh at Spencer when I first went out to the barn to get tacked up. He was trotting around and whinnied to me when he saw me. I wasn’t sure why he was so wound up when I got out there, but just attributed it to the cooler weather we are having.

We went out to the ring to lunge a bit before my coach arrived. Spencer was on high alert and was a bit snorty. I brushed it off and just kept working. A few minutes later, I found out why he was so jumpy. A neighbour (that we couldn’t see) was outside doing some target practice or something and gunshots were ringing out. This happened last fall too, so I’m sure the horses will get used to the sound. The first few times they hear gunshots, they get a little nervous, as do I, since it isn’t something we hear all the time.

When my coach arrived, she was surprised to see me lunging. Spencer hasn’t needed any lunging all summer and has been super calm. She asked why Spencer was all wound up and I smiled and told her she would soon find out why. I got on and started warming up at the trot. After a few minutes, another two gunshots rang out – Spencer did a little scoot, but didn’t spook. Coach exclaimed “oh my gosh! No wonder he is nervous!” We just laughed about it and carried on. Luckily the marksman next door gave up soon after that and went in for dinner or something!

The lesson never really got much better though. The sand in my ring is still a bit too deep, so Spencer had to work hard at the trot and canter to keep going. ( Coach’s hubby is going to come with the tractor this week and pull more sand off, which will help.) Spencer kept breaking at the lope and I was getting very frustrated. Frustrated with him, the sand and how weak my muscles became after a measly two weeks off… And we all know we don’t ride well when frustrated. I had to take a couple of walk breaks to calm myself down and start over.

Spencer was ignoring my leg, looking off in the distance and was just being difficult. It was one of the worst lessons we’ve had since our early lessons this spring! I’m sure it’s because we were both distracted by the weather and gunshots, as well as being a bit out of shape. I have been a bit spoiled this summer, as almost every ride and lesson I've had has been excellent - we were making so much progress, that I assumed every ride would be good!  I'm going to ride as much as I can this fall to keep him going, but the darkness and winter will catch up to us eventually.