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I'm Alive, And All Is Well

So much has happened since I last posted back in April. I've loved and lost, left my old barn, bought a farm, joined another barn, made friends, lost friends, and, yes - bought our own horses. Meet Ty and Sissy. More pictures, and possibly their own blog -- coming soon. (Blue halter: Ty, gelding. Red halter: Sissy, mare.)

Chief Is An English Horse And Buying A Trailer

LOOOKK! Chief's an English horse, too! And GORGEOUS! And perfect and amazing and he always knows exactly what I want and, and, and... I should stop bragging, so that ya'll don't get jealous. (;

While Chief is going to make a simply amazing English horse, I need to learn how to ride English again. My legs? Crappy and very jello. My hands? Too low. My shoulders? Hunched. My butt? Ow. 

Oh well. Who cares? We'll get there eventually.

And on Easter Eve, you'll never ever guess what my dad brought home for me...

That's right! A TRAILER. I was so excited, because now I don't have to rely on other people to haul Chief and I around. Yay! And now my mom's looking for a truck. I'm so excited.

Now that we have a trailer, it's decided that I'm going to take Chief to the Lewisburg, Ohio IBRA show on April 20th - 22nd. I get to skip school Friday because my dad loves me. I get to camp in a camper with Grace, and Chief gets a nice and cozy stall. Wish us luck!

Life is good!

Exciting Times

Lots has been going on around the farm lately! I have good news, sad news, scary news, and bittersweet news. Begin, shall we?

First and foremost, let's get the sad/scary news out of the way. Drumroll, please....

We almost lost Missy.


Yes, "lost" as in, she almost died. ALMOST. It was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life. Lisa and I were riding Missy and Chief, respectively, out back. We've been working on water crossings lately (more on that later) and so it was just another adventure. Well, it rained a few days ago and apparently out back where the river is tends to stay swampy a few days after a heavy rain. We reached the part of the river that we usually cross and Lisa decided to go first on Missy. It took a few minutes to convince Missy that the river was once again not too scary, and then she hopped right in. She would have been fine and nothing would have gone wrong, except Missy stopped and lowered her head to sniff the water. Naturally, Lisa allowed her to do so, but when Missy lowered her head, all of the weight shifted to her front feet. Her feet sunk into the river, and Missy proceeded to freak out. She tried to jump out of the river, and the spot that she picked to jump out at was slippery and there was a tree pretty much in the way. Lisa got scraped on her face by a couple branches (yes, it drew blood) and Missy couldn't get all the way up the bank. Lisa stayed out of her mouth and tried not to bother her much while she struggled to get up the bank. I jumped off of Chief to avoid him freaking out and adding to the problem, and I stood in pure terror and shock as Missy stopped struggling.

Just like that, she stopped trying. She laid down in the mud, closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

Now, I usually keep my cool pretty well in situations like this. But when a horse with a heart as big as Missy has just quits.. that's what really and truly scares me. Lisa jumped off, bleeding face and all, and pulled the reins over Missy's head. She let her rest for a minute, and while I stood with mouth agape and shaking like a leaf, she swatted Missy on the butt with her whip. Missy struggled to her shaky feet and eventually got up on solid ground. It was one of the scariest moments of my entire life. I thought, "She's going to die right here, right now, sitting on this river bank." What a horrible death that would've been. Thankfully, she survived. And she's okay. Completely. Not hurt one bit. Lisa, on the other hand, has some pretty awesome cuts on her face. Cute, right?

Next up, some bittersweet news.

I moved out of the english barn.


Unfortunately, I made the decision a couple of weeks ago to move out of the English barn. It's just time. I rarely ride out there anymore, and when I do, nothing's the same. I've worked with all the horses I can, and learned all that I can from them. I let Erica know about two weeks ago that I was going to come get my stuff. I went and got it on Wednesday, and that was that.

It was hard moving out, but it made me realize that I'm coming upon new horizons. It's a new year, I have a new horse with an amazing personality and a TON of potential, and it's time to start anew. And I'm ready to rise to the occasion, as I'm sure Chief is. I'm ready. (:

And finally, the rest of the news, which is all good!

Baby got teeth pulled today.


Chief's had a couple of teeth (wolf teeth and a few baby teeth) that have been really bothering him lately and made it next to impossible to get any real work done on a ride. He's been alright for trail riding, and he really wasn't in a ton of pain, but it bothered me knowing that he was hurting even a little. So, naturally, I had Mandy come out today and float his teeth and pull the problem teeth. She let me feel the points on his teeth and help her pull one of the baby teeth and weren't gone yet. I really like having her float our horse's teeth, she makes it an interactive experience in a friendly but professional way.

Baby gets a day off and we'll be back on a regular work/ride/conditioning schedule as of Sunday. (:

Chief is going to be an English horse this year. 


Booyah! I've been kind of planning on Chief being a pleasure/contesting horse, so that he has control and the ability to do speed events, but I wasn't really following through with that plan until I moved out of Victory. I took all my English stuff to SunnyBrook and it's getting a good cleaning tomorrow and I'm riding in it for the first time in three months on Sunday. (: I'm so excited. I've been working on contact and headsets with Chief and despite his teeth problems, he's been doing really well. Tomorrow, since I can't ride due to his teeth healing, I'm going to ground drive him and help him work on engaging his hindquarters with lunging. Fun stuff right there! It'll be fun to be all on my own with English stuff, and be able to make my own decisions!

Water isn't too scary anymore. 


Last week I took Chief to the reservoir and we did a TON of trail riding with my 4H group. Part of the trail even included a water crossing which required Chief to swim! (!!!!!!!) He barely hesitated and then jumped right in! I was so proud. And since then, he's enjoyed playing in water more than being scared of it! VICTORY!!!

Pasture re-arranging.


Lisa and I have worked out  a new pasture arrangement. Missy and Chief are now in their own separate pasture away from Grinder and T, so that neither Missy or Chief are getting bullied away from their food. We've also put Missy and Chief on a mixture of Strategy and senior feed to try and fatten them up, since they're both almost walking skeletons. So now, Missy and Chief get a half and half mixture every night and hoof supplement, and Grinder and T are just on grass with a scoop of grain and hoof supplement every night. Yay for finally getting the horses fat and happy. Missy and Chief already look better on the new feed after just a week. I'm so proud of that decision.

And I think that's it for the updates. Should be an exciting week! I love my life, I love my barn, and most of all I love my horses. So, so much.

Rant

Alright. I need to vent. Sorry if this makes no sense, but I am seriously angry right now.

My trainer has this friend, we'll call her M, who my trainer lets come ride any of our horses, any time, any day, whatever. In the past, M has used my tack without permission, gotten it muddy, stressed out my horse, etc. And I spoke with Lisa about it and she said she'd tell M not to use my tack anymore. So yeah, okay, fine, no problem.

Every time M rides Chief, my next ride on Chief is utter hell. My opinion on the horse's other riders really shouldn't matter, since he's not my horse, but I AM using him in 4H, and I AM using him for show season this year. I understand I am not a top priority. That's fine. But today, I went out to ride. I get there, and Chief is so stressed out that he is literally soaked in sweat. Do you know how worrying that is to me? He was breathing like a freight train. That's awful. No amount of bullying in the pasture from the other horses should make him sweat like that.

I talked to Lisa about M riding Chief just now. She said that M had ridden Chief a few times this week. Wow. Okay. That explains something. I told Lisa my opinion on M riding Chief, and said that maybe it's just conflicting signals, whatever, but that every time that I rode Chief after M did, Chief was stressed and confused and angry and wouldn't listen. The response I got back was:

"[M] is a professionally trained and very skilled rider. We've given her permission to ride any of the four SBS horses."


Okay, cool. I wasn't trying to disrespect M. I didn't confront Lisa about it or talk about M in a manner that was disrespectful or condescending. I simply stated my opinion. So, this is a time when I had to bite my tongue. I said back:

"i know. i respect her and appreciate her riding Chief, it's a good experience for him. he's not my horse and therefore my opinion really shouldn't matter, but i thought i'd tell you what i've observed. he may just be confused from two different riding styles. it's not a big problem. thanks for your time." 


What did I get back?

"K."


HONESTLY?!?! HONESTLY? THAT'S ALL I GET? "K"? I am stunned. Never have I texted more than a sentence to Lisa and gotten "K". I don't even know what to say.

My feelings on it is that M has no place riding Chief. Chief is FOUR YEARS OLD. FOUR! He gets confused easily, he's got a fragile mind, and there's only so much thinking that little bran can do at a time. Having a "professionally trained" rider ride him and end up confusing him? That worries me a little. If that's how the professionals train their students to ride, then the world's ending. If I can make Chief happier and less stressed than M can, and I'm just a 14 year old with 9 years of riding under my belt and M's a "professionally trained rider", then we have an issue.

Whatever.

Show Season 2012 Begins - Portland, 3/11/12

Why hello! We had a, erm, interesting show yesterday! This post will be fairly short, so lets begin!

We had to go get the trailer at Gracie's first. Then, we went back to my farm and picked up Chief. What a wonderful sight to walk into the barn and see:

He is gorgeous. Anyways. I got him and gave him a pep talk as Mom and her bf loaded my tack into the trailer. Then, it was Chief's turn. First, he walked up to the edge and then stopped. Huh? 

One more try, and he was in. And as soon as he was in, and the door started to close... he literally jumped backwards out of the trailer, dragging me with him. 

Fabulous. 

He did that two more times before he finally settled down. And then, off we went! We picked up Gracie and her horse, JJ, and then traveled 45 more minutes (after driving two hours already back and forth from my house, to hers, to the barn, to hers) to the show. We got there, signed in, and tacked up. 

Standing still at the trailer like a good boy! WOAH!

warming up. good good gooood boy. 4 people told me he looked like a very nice horse, and one person actually asked about him and then asked if he was for sale. all before we even ran! they were shocked when I said he was 4 and this was his first show. he was so calm, cool and collected. 

Then, we ran. Exhibitions were amazing. He got better every time. And then, our actual runs came. Run one went terribly wrong. Run two was even worse. We had to have some pep talks: 

Picture of our first run: 

And last was dash for cash. He turned the barrel AMAZINGLY. I was SO impressed. And then, as we were running home, I let him go a little. Because he LOVES running. He was so happy to be allowed to go. We reached the end of the arena and he turned right and my momentum carried me forward. Literally directly into the wall.

ZOOM ZOOMMMM.

I am FINE! So many people came and helped me. I got up and screamed that I was okay. And then...

I broke down. I was SO frustrated that he didn't do what he KNEW  how to do - run the barrels properly, that is - that I just cried. Right there. In the middle of the arena. Covered in dirt. In front of everybody. Finally, I got up and walked out. Gracie had already taken JJ and Chief, since she was done.

Somehow, between the barn and the trailer, Grace got me from crying to laughing. She is truly an amazing friend. We untacked, loaded up, and went home. Everyone is fine and alive, thank god. 

I realized a lot of things yesterday. First of all, Chief did an amazing job for being a 4 year old at the first public place he's ever been to, at the first show of the year for me and the first show of his life for him. Second of all, we need to stop and SLOW DOWN in our training. The rest of this month and half of next month will be spent doing nothing but conditioning, 3-5 times a week. for BOTH of us. He will be doing trot sets, canter sets, rollbacks, cantering hills, sprinting, distance trotting, etc. I will be doing work on my legs and abs, particularly my right leg. By the time we have our next show - May 5th - we will be able to trot and canter perfect barrels. Last half of April will be a mix of conditioning and pattern work. We can do this. No matter what. We are a great team, and if we work together and not fight each other, we can win something. 

I signed up for IBRA. My goal is Nationals 2012 in KY. JJ, Gracie, Chief and I say bring it on. 

Sharing What I Love With Who I Love

Casey with Missy, Me with Chief, and Annie with T.

I am so grateful for my life with horses. So many people worked so hard so that I could have these privileges. And now, I'm passing on that knowledge and those experiences to my best friends. After less than 4 months of riding, which translates into maybe 15 rides, my friends have developed such strong bonds with their horses.

After MAYBE 15 rides, they can each problem solve with out much of my imput. Yes, they're still learning. But they don't ask as many questions because they can get inside their horse's heads and figure out what they're doing wrong. They're advancing as riders and they're helping the horses learn to be gentle with beginners. It's amazing to see the progress. It's even better that my friends are so willing to take part in the activity I love the most.

If this gives you any clue as to how far they've both come, today Casey was riding T and T reared. Casey immediately leaned forward and shifted her center of balance, and once T stopped rearing, she made her circle and then trot a line and then she got off. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "I need to get off. I need to lunge her. She's not listening enough." I don't think I've ever heard a beginner recognize when they've crossed the line and immediately identify the solution to the problem. I was in awe. And 30 minutes later, when I walked into the barn where Casey and T were working, I saw something amazing.

See, T has a problem lunging to the right. Even I have a hard time getting her to simply walk that direction. And when I walked into the barn, Casey was lunging T to the right. And as I watched, Casey relaxed her posture, dropped the lunge whip, lowered her eyes, and chirped with her mouth. T pricked her ears, stopped in  her tracks, and started licking her lips. She slowly turned to look at Casey and then walked up to her, stretching her neck to touch Casey on the palm of her outstretched hand with her muzzle. Casey praised T and then told me that she was good, they were done, problems solved for now. Everyone untacked and we turned horses out.

I am just in awe of the connections people develop with their horses, and how quickly it can happen. I know now why people tell me I am so lucky to have the strong connections I have with my horses. Looking on Casey and T's relationship, I see myself and Chief's relationship; myself and Zan's relationship; myself and Emmy's relationship. It's truly shocking to see how much horses have helped both of my best friends.

Today, I developed a new appreciation for the horse. They're a gift. Not just to me, but to the entire world as a whole. They've taught me how to love, how to be responsible, how to double check everything, how to problem solve, and how to think outside the box, among other things. They are truly a blessing.