Spring Break

My kids were out of school this whole week for Spring Break so my week was spent pretty much camped out at the farm everyday, all day. Both the kids and I were completely wiped each day when we got home. Working outside in the ever increasing sun and temperatures was wonderful, but exhausting. Dwight got to ride almost everyday on Jazzy. They are doing well together and seem to be having a good time. I'm happy he is finally getting some ride time. Faith also got plenty of ride time.....riding pretty much everybody else! She was riding anywhere from 3-5 horses a day. She was having a blast and it is actually a lot of fun to see her on something bigger. She looked really good on everything we put her on and did an awesome job. Both the kids were really helpful with farm chores and helping even with lessons. It's amazing how fast they are growing up and becoming so independent.

Here's an idea of what Faith was riding:
Chip - Everything from simple flat work to jumping to trail riding. They had both the good, the bad, and the ugly this week....but still have a great time with each other and love riding together.

Jazzy - Ride her english and keep her forward and consistent. I am allowing her to ride Jazzy independently with little supervision. I want her to start planning her rides on her own, deciding what they will work on and what she wants to accomplish. I can keep an eye on her but am free to work with other horses or teach a lesson. She has done well and Jazzy actually did her first hour lesson for me with one of my students. She did outstanding. Faith has really done a great job with her. My working student for the week McKenzie also rode her and worked her western. Jazzy did well with her as well and is going to be a nice all around horse for lessons and shows.

Lulu - This young horse you may remember from last spring when I had her in training with me. After the owners took over she didn't do anything. The owners wanted to start riding her again but since she hadn't been touched since July (by me) they decided she probably needed to be worked again. My concern was I would put in time and training into the horse again for her only to be ridden once or twice a month. I worked out a deal that I would put in the training and tune up rides for free if they let me use her for lessons. This gives my students another option for a horse to ride and keeps the mare tuned up and in shape. After ground work and lunging and getting her back in shape the week before last I put two rides on her. She did great and remembered her training from last year. I've only ridden her western and trained her as a pleasure mount. The last time I put her rider on her all she wanted to do was follow me and would not do much for the rider. I decided I needed a strong confident rider to take her around. McKenzie got on and rode her western. She loved her and they had an outstanding ride once McKenzie got after her a little and made her leave me. Then I had Faith ride her. I wanted to see what Lulu would do in English and Faith is most comfortable riding English anyways so it was a good fit. I started them in the round pen to make sure all went well. They did great! The next day Faith rode her for about an hour in the arena at walk, trot and introduced trot poles and small cavelletis set at 6 and 8 inches. Faith is going to start riding her regularly for me and work her in the canter and start her over fences. I had one of my students ride her for her lesson at the end of the week and they did great together. Lulu did really well going english and shows promise of being an awesome all around horse. I once again find myself wishing this horse was mine. I am very attached to her and the owners never seem to have the time to commit to her that she needs/deserves.

Billy - Faith got to be a trail guide for students on Tuesday on Billy. She felt super important and got to take Billy over running water that none of remembered he had never done before....so he kept jumping it. She had a blast.

Junie - Heather wanted Faith to try riding Junie for her. She needs an experienced rider to start riding her and working her through her stanky mare moments and start working her into the canter and over fences. She also needs work on her consistency at the trot. Faith absolutely loves riding this mare. She is very forward which is different for Faith and has a lot of movement to her (similar to Johnny). Faith rode her in the arena one day and out in the jump field another day. Heather also wanted Faith to kind of work it out on her own and get a feel for Junie and after their first ride gave her little input. They did great together and Faith was able to help Junie find and hold a rhythm. She also pushed her through all her stanky moments without getting frustrated, just stayed quiet and pretended it never happened. She can also be wiggly and slide all over the place and Faith did great and making her straight, blocking her with her leg. It sometimes amazes me how quiet of a rider she is and how great a feel she has developed. I keep having to remind myself she is only 9. Under saddle she has the poise of someone much older. Heather was so happy with them she has asked Faith to ride her consistently 2 days a week. Faith was tickled.

Marty and Addy - These are our unbroke rescue ponies we took so they wouldn't get put down. They were both 5 time returns and were basically wild. We have done a lot of ground work with them and they are doing well have started introducing saddling, etc... Faith got to be the first passenger (of sorts) on both of them. Faith introduced them to the mounting block going up and down, making noise, bouncing around on one until they stood quietly. She then started laying across them and petting them and once comfortable and quiet we would lead them around with Faith laying on them and petting them. Marty spooked the first time and Faith just slid off and started again. The second time he did great and quietly walked around. Addy did really well while Faith is on but struggles with the sliding off part. It freaks her out a bit, but she got better each time. The next day, Heather's working student Victoria worked with them and my working student McKenzie did another time. They are doing well, it just takes time and consistency.

So that was our exhausting week. On a side note, I got Johnny out on Friday to assess his shoulder and the knot seems to be almost completely gone and is no longer sensitive to touch and press on. He lunged sound and seems eager to go back to work. I'm going to lunge him on Monday and then try to ride him on Tuesday. If he seems like the weight still bothers him then he is back on rest until the following week. I have an appointment to get his teeth floated on Monday so it will be later in the week since he will probably be sore for a day or two after. If he seems sound and fine I will work him lightly the rest of the week and then give a few days off after the float and then hit it hard after that. No matter what since the vet will be out for teeth, I'm going to have them re-check his shoulder while they are there.

First Day of School

The kids had their first day of school today. Faith is starting 3rd grade and Dwight is going into 1st. It was less a first day of school and more registration and meet teachers (both got the teachers they wanted so they are super excited), then leave. So by 8:45 we were leaving the school with a whole day still on our hands. With the high being in the upper 70's - low 80's that meant we could enjoy some time outdoors! We headed to the farm to feed and work horses. Faith continued working on her jumping to prepare for her upcoming show. She also rode Jazzy again with me outside the arena. I worked Payton and lunged Pilgrim. Pilgrim gets his shoes back on tomorrow and we can finally get back to work. While we were all busy, Dwight got a little mud on the tires of his new bike!

No first day jitters here!

After we got home, we met Chuck and took the kids to the park for some more fresh air. Faith is deciding whether to do the Knoxville Track Club's cross country season this year. Her age group does a mile. Her school unfortunately does not participate so she has to join as an individual participant which means that we are responsible for her training. To give it a test run....literally, Chuck (who used to be an avid runner as well as an officer in the military) helped coach her through warm ups, stretching, and running about 3/4 mile. She did great and is a natural runner, but she is still deciding....and honestly so are we. It's tough having so much on our plate but if she really wants it I think we can make it work.

Dwight's new bike

Enjoying some quality time outside at the park

Wore Out

Battle Scars!

Run Faith, Run!

County Fair Fun

We went to the Fair last week to watch one of my students compete in the Fairest of the Fair competition. She had really tough competition, but brought home the Prettiest Smile! The pageant took like 4 hours....I was melting and a little drunk on funnel cakes and we got pretty loud when she went on stage. After all the hooting and hollering, the judges may have given her something out of fear of being beaten up afterwards! All joking aside, she looked gorgeous, and for kind of a tomboy, really played the part of the pageant diva! Faith, Dwight and Chuck made it back in time to cheer her on, but I sent them to go have fun during all the other divisions. Chuck kept texting me pictures of all their fun, and while I was slightly jealous...it did keep me entertained. Everyone seemed to have a good time, my only disappointment was I really wanted a deep fried marshmallow, but apparently they kept blowing up....so no death by marshmallow for me!

Truck Pull

Dwight Enjoying the Show

The owners of the winning truck let Dwight check it out

He's ready to go!

Faith and Dwight race down the slide

Faith looks a little sick after this one

Dwight didn't know this one went fast ;)

The Graduates!

Dwight in Cap and Gown

Dwight has officially graduated from Kindergarten and is moving on to 1st Grade! He's getting so big! Faith also graduated from 2nd Grade....with straight A's no less and on the High Honor Roll, and is looking forward to 3rd Grade. I am so proud of them both!

All Star

Dwight has broken out this year as the star of his team! His first game he played pitcher and got all the outs, the other team never even scored a point! Go Dwight!

Manic Monday

Super busy today and sweating to death....it was almost 80! I know I wanted warmer weather, but wow that came fast! It's suppose to be warm again tomorrow and then a cold front moves back in for cooler temps. Just when I was getting used to the warm.

Lulu had the morning off since I did a demo ride for her owners this afternoon and then her little girl ride her. She did great and so did Olivia (her kid). We also found out she can be quite the ham for the camera!

Getting groomed and looking good!

Pretty Lulu!

We worked Lotti this morning. It was the start of her 30 day tune up and since she hasn't been worked at all for months we decided to start with some in hand work and lunging with a saddle on. She has a previous bad habit similar to the one I just worked through with Pilgrim which is every time she wants to get out of work she sucks back and jigs while bracing on the bit, which was definitely evident today just on the lunge. Other than that she did well, just needs to lose a few pounds. After her tune up she will be offered for sale so if anyone is interested in a super cute 14.3 hh chubby buckskin mare let us know. I will post pics later this week of her.

Johnny also got back out today and after some lunge work I decided to take him for a spin. Just a walk around the arena with lots of stops, starts and turns, but he didn't attempt to kill me once! WIN!

Pilgrim had the day off to recover from all his hard work, but he is back to work tomorrow.

Faith and Dwight both got to ride today. Dwight has finally found the need for speed....well at least trot, and Billy was more than happy to oblige him! They trotted all over the place. Faith worked some flat and is working on correcting a bad habit she has gotten into with her hands that causes Chip to counter bend all the time. She's getting it, but it will take some time to correct, lots of practice. They also did some jumping. Heather had her work on sitting, instead of posting, trot to the jump. This is for two reasons 1. It gives Faith more control all the way to the jump. 2. To prepare Faith for cantering the jump course.

Some days are perfect!

What an awesome Saturday...although my sore body may argue otherwise. After teaching multiple lessons, riding 4 horses, ground working 2, and lunging Pilgrim, I think my body may start to revolt.

Dwight participated in his first Karate tournament and took 3rd place in his division! Great job Dwight! I had lessons starting at 8:30am so I unfortunately missed the tournament, but Chuck took tons of pictures for me, Faith helped cheer him on, and Dwight was proud to show off his medal.

Dwight receiving his 3rd place medal

Dwight sparring

Dwight sparring

Dwight and some pals

Faith and Dwight

After the tournament Chuck and the kids came by the farm. Chuck wanted to work on adding some additional padding to the inside of the trailer for me. Such a sweet horsey husband! Faith came in handy as I had her help me with Lulu. Her primary rider will be a 6 year old little girl. She's been taking lessons on Chip while I have Lulu in training, but I would like for her to at least be able to walk around on Lulu at her next lesson. So today after I rode the Lu of the Lu, I threw Faith up on her. Heather and I led them around the arena, then out in the field. After everyone was comfortable we let Faith take over in the round pen. Lulu seems to understand it's her job to take care of the kid and was very quiet and careful. The more I work with this horse the more I like her! Faith was so excited to get to help, listened very well and stayed quiet and patient in the saddle, and of course couldn't stop talking about it later!

Faith helping with Lulu

Future generation of horse trainers!

Hmmm....she looks awfully cute in Western....=)

Chip, having had several lessons, was fairly tired by the time Faith had a chance to visit with him. She wanted to ride but knew he'd had a long day so they decided to just go for a fun bareback walk....but of course they stopped to pose for some pictures!

They are both camera hams!

Don't ask me how she did this without falling off! But Chip obviously doesn't seem to care much. On a side note, you can't see, but her helmet was removed for this pic only per Faith's request (aka several minutes of begging) then immediately placed back on her head and there is someone within arms reach in front of Chip for safety. 

Setbacks

As I got Pilgrim out for our morning workout this morning, I find myself wondering if we'll ever be ready for a show if we keep having interruptions in our training. While grooming and getting ready to polo wrap him, I found another injury. He hurt his back leg on his pastern. Nothing serious, but there was a little swelling and warmth, so I decided to play it safe and doctor it, give him a little bute, and give him the day off. He also had some cuts and bruising on his gums and lips from playing bitey face with CJ. I'm going to recheck him tomorrow and hope he is healed enough to work.

Pilgrim's newest injury

Don't ask me how he did this

Oowww! Somebody get him some toothpaste! Yuck!

I have gotten the newest horse in training out, Lulu, the last two days. She has been surprisingly calm, sweet, and smart. She has wonderful ground manners, is not spooky, saddles fine. I rode her yesterday with Heather leading with no issues and rode today on our own. We only walked since we weren't even sure if she was broke when we got her in, but so far has done great and has nice brakes, just sit and say whoa. After watching her movement on the ground free longeing her she looks trotty but we think she may be a racking horse. We look forward to seeing what all she knows. I'll try to get pictures of her up soon.

Unfortunately MayMay had a real setback in her training. This is her last week and we were hoping she would really do well. She had several good days, and today started well with her really listening and being good on the ground and longeing. When I mounted her, one of the new boarded horses started calling in her pasture and she went into a total panic, running me into the side of the arena and then throwing herself backwards. We had just worked through this issue last week! I ended up having to dismount and take her into the round pen, get back on and try to work it out. Grrr. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. 

Dwight on the other hand was very excited. With the weather being warm enough, we could finally take his remote control boat he got for his birthday out on the lake! 

Chuck teaching Dwight how to steer

Dwight's boat

Dwight takes over

Look out geese!

Trooper keeping a close watch