My Pretty Pony

Here are some shots of Tipping and I in our dressage test from last sunday. Thanks to Kim for taking them!
I love this mare! She's wicked cool to ride. Just needs some confidence jumping. We have a hunter pace this Sunday so we'll get some more practice!

Ouch

I've been having a bit of pain in my hands and wrists for a few months now. It has gotten worse in the last 3 weeks though. Pains that shoot up to my elbows, weakness with grip, a bit uncoordinated....MIL says this is carpal Tunnel. Oh joy! SO I've done a bit of reading on it and decided to start wearing braces at night and my magnet wrap during the day. I think I'm going to have to go to braces during the day as well though. I didn't really want to because it definitely limits the things I can do physically.

In other news I had a horse show yesterday. I took Tipping to South farm for an unrecognized horse trial. It was the first one for her and I think she did well. Her dressage score was really good for a first time. She scored a 33 and was sitting 3rd. Three refusals in stadium eliminated us from being scored. Bummer! The course was maxed and very colorful. She gave me a big, "not today Mom" and that was that. We did complete our cross country course though. One refusal at the second fence on course and then she attacked the rest of the jumps. I think it was definitely a good learning experience.

Hannah has yet to start talking to us. She does let us know in her ways what she wants and doesn't want. She makes me laugh constantly. I just love being a Mom....maybe I will retract that statement at some point but for now it's pretty cool.

My friend Laura was supposed to be induced today. I've been wondering how she's doing and if that baby has arrived yet. Hopefully all is well!

We've had a few races recently. My favorite horse in the barn, For Pete's Sake won his first race last week. We had a couple of seconds and thirds as well.

I guess that's it!

Winna Winna Chicken Dinna!

John's Burger won a starter allowance race last night! He's the same horse who ran second in a stakes race on West Virginia Derby Day. Very exciting race! He sat back in 5th most of the race and let the few ahead of him duel it out. Then turning for home he made his move. Switched leads and shot off to the front! He won by 1 1/2 lengths. Ahhhh....so nice! Not only that, he's a pretty cool horse to be around which makes it all a bit more sweet.

Thanks Dad.

Today we ventured out to try our hand at a Hunter Pace. While I've been on several....some have gone really well and some really bad.....this was a first for Tipping. She is very green and this was our second time riding off the farm. Sharon came with her gelding, Rusty who is a paint/TB cross. Telese also came with her -fresh of the track - gelding Jack. This was also his first time. The weather was promising rain and the temps dropped to 65 with dark clouds and lots of wind. We were hoping to be done before the skies opened up on us!
So off we went onto a very muddy course. We started out in the ring and hopped over a couple of cross rails that were numbered at the beginning (in our division you can jump whatever jumps you feel like but do not have to jump anything if you don't want to). Off around the field and through a water complex....then down an electric line trail to the woods. MUD, MUD, MUD everywhere! This was something Tipping didn't like. She's not really into unstable footing so she had to get over it pretty quickly today. We had a rather steep and slippery hill to go down, then drop into a shin high muddy creek and back up a slippery incline. She didn't want to go at first but eventually decided it was better to go than stay there alone. We jumped several small coops and logs along the way. She was absolutely wonderful. We did a lot of walking due to the footing and figured we didn't place well on time since there were about 13 other teams.
Turns out we were wrong. We won!
We were about a minute off the optimum time and had no clue about it! I have to think that Dad had something to do with it. He always joked that I was going to school to learn how to shovel shit....and I guess that's kinda what I do.....but I also know he loved the fact that I loved what I did. I think had we not had such a fun day today I would have been dwelling on the fact that I miss him so much and might have blamed my mood on a bad ride.
For anyone who is reading and who does not know what I'm talking about....today marks 2 years since my Dad passed away. I miss him so much and think about him nearly everyday.
So thanks Dad for allowing me to have so much fun on "your" day. I guess it doesn't really surprise me though, you always put everyone else first. Love you forever...

Sweet smell of success!

Lou, Hannah and I drove up to Presque Isle yesterday to watch one of our horses run. He's a two year old we partly own and was making his very first start. The trip was well worth it. After months of training and getting ready, Midnight Medic won his Maiden Allowance race by 5 lengths! He broke sharp, went to the lead and never looked back. This was the first time that Hannah got to be in a win picture as well. Very exciting!

This weekend (sunday) I'll be taking Tipping to a hunter pace. This pace will give me an idea of how she'll be to ride cross country. I've already sent in my entry for a Mini Trial at South Farm on the 13th so I'm hoping she's a good girl!

Partly sunny skies with lots of thunder?

We are having a pretty loud thunderstorm. Big booms, power went out for a few minutes. Some lightening....and no rain. Hmmmm the sun is shining too. Very odd. Hannah and I went to lunch at Pizza Hut with Gammy. They have some really yummy pastas and so crazy pizzas! Then off to Walmart, Tractor Supply and Giant Eagle. Gammy walked Hannah Around Walmart instead of me pushing her in the cart. She had several people giggling at her silliness. She thought it was pretty cool to walk around the store like a big girl.

Last night during bathtime Hannah showed me that not only does she know where to find her: Toes, feet, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and bellybutton.....but she also knows her teeth, tongue, arms, knees and her butt.....the butt being the funniest thing she could possibly point out!

Back in the show ring!

After about 10 years I stepped back into the hunter ring this past weekend. I had a goal of taking Tipping to her first show to see how she'd handle the idea of all of it. I started her retraining a little over a month ago but did have some breaks due to mega amounts of rain. It's mostly been flatwork, getting ready for some dressage shows this fall. Of course I couldn't help myself though and started messing around with some ground poles and small cross rails last week. She was soooo good that I convinced myself we need to enter in some jumping classes as well. So Friday night I was in the barn until midnight braiding Tip's mane and making her spotless and shiny, packing up the trailer and getting all my clothes in order. Up bright and early at 5:30am....feed the racehorses and bring in the riding horses and then off we went. I was in the second division so I knew I had to be there early enough to let her see everything that was going on. The show started at 8:30am. Of course as it happened my class didn't run until 11:30......ugh, could have slept in a little bit longer than that. It was mega hot but Miss Tipping was an absolute saint. I couldn't be more happy with her behavior. We had never cantered a jump, let alone done a course. So I bit the bullet and she completely cruised around the ring! Happy dance, happy dance! I HAD FUN!! Yeah they were baby jumps but it was a proud moment for sure! We ended up with a 4th and 5th in the jumping classes and a 5Th and 1st in our flat classes. So the plan is to try a hunter pace on the 30th at the same farm. Maybe we will pop over a few cross country jumps as well.

Hannah is all better now form her bout with Roseola. Poor baby had a rough week. Lou and I are still hassled by a nagging cough but for the most part we are on the mend.

Jade is learning to be a good puppy. She comes when called now and keeps tabs on where I am when we are working outside. Tonight she was allowed to stay out of her crate when we went to dinner at Lou's Aunt's house. She's trustworthy with the whole potty thing now too. She still does silly puppy things (like barking madly at the horses or getting up on Lou's chair) but she seems to be getting better each day.

Sealy is still hanging out in the pasture. Theresa attempted to ride her for a new sale video but the ground was so wet she wasn't able to do a whole lot of jumping. Plus the air fern wasn't real fit so she got pooped out pretty quickly. Someday she'll find her soul-mate and will have a new home. I just don't have the time or energy to devote to her.

I can't remember if I posted about the tall, skinny gelding I am boarding for a friend or not. I bought him cheap and sold him to a friend (who will train him and sell him as a show horse) a while ago. He was a bag of bones when he came here a month ago. It has been a slow process getting him fattened up. Much slower in fact than I had ever expected. He was just THAT skinny, poor guy. Anyway, he's been named "Amos" and will head to GA soon so he can start his new career.

Hmmmmm....I think that's everything for now. Had a few good races and a few not-so-good races since my last post. It's been super hot and humid here which makes training uncomfortable. I'd like to see the milder temps come back that we had for the better part of the summer. I can totally deal with that! Walking outside and sweating just standing there just isn't my idea of fun!