Countdown to Arabian Sporthorse Nationals

Only 30 more days until a lifetime dream comes true!

Growing up I never ever dreamed I would be able to own an Arabian - or Half Arabian, let alone take one to a show. I poured over Arabian Horse World magazines and even went to a couple of Class A shows. Back then Arabian horses were selling for tens of thousands of dollars. Now, in a month I will be taking My Very Own Half Arabian to Arabian Sporthorse Nationals!

This opportunity has been caused by a perfect storm of  happy opportunities. First (and foremost) was when Lynette chose me as Chardoney's new home. I can't thank her enough for the privilege of having her in my life every day. Next was all of the time and training Terie and her gang put into her breeding and training her. Then there are all of the shows she was taken to by Terie and Lynette which qualified her for this grand Show. There is no way I could have done any of this on my own.

On the home front, Tom has been paying the bills. What a wonderful husband to indulge me in this venture! Lyn has cared for Chardoney as if she were one of her own. She couldn't have a better person looking after her welfare. I am so Thankful for Lyn! Nancy has been training her. How could I do this with out Nancy? And then there are friends who will be showing her for me, friends and family who are supporting me. You get the picture. I am blessed.

This show is such a big deal to me that it had never even even made my bucket list - it is a far grander daydream than that.

I have started keeping Chardoney in the barn and with a light flysheet. She is shedding her summer coat. It is bleached and dry. Hopefully the blanket will cause the oils to come up and make her new winter coat shiny. I also hope her winter coat doesn't come in too quickly... Otherwise, she will need to be clipped - a chore I would rather skip! I have been grooming her, and currying her, trying to bring out that natural shine.

I decided to put shoes on her for this special occasion. My philosophy has been to keep my horses barefoot but, I think for this show I will make an exception. Chardoney will be competing with the best horses in the nation (gulp!). Shoes do make a difference in a horse's gait. And shod feet are what the judges want to see. I want to do everything I can to help her have the best chance against the best. Since my plans after the Nationals don't include showing on any grand scale I will pull them and let her go barefoot again.

Thanks to selling a saddle, saving and a loan from a special friend, all of Chardoney's premiums have been paid. She will be in 4 classes: Sporthorse In Hand both the Open class and Amateur to Handle class; and Sporthorse Under Saddle, both the Open class and Amateur to Ride class. Chardoney is also qualified for a Dressage class, but it was just too expensive to add another class.

I am so excited and nervous, and nervous and excited!

Tough Life of a Show horse

I've body clipped Chardoney in anticipation of the Horse Expo and the Treasure Valley Classic. It was my first attempt and it took me many hours over several days to get it accomplished. I think the end result looks quite nice, and Chardoney  looks sleek and shiny.

For the next couple of weeks she will have to wear a Superhero costume to prevent her from becoming sun bleached, and to bring the oils back up into her coat, which will make her even shinier. She gets to take everything off but a warm blanket at night.

Who is that behind that mask??


 

 The life of a Superhero is a tough one indeed.

Countdown to Busy Season

This weekend will be the first of six weekends in a row of horse related shows and events.

I am so excited to take Delight and Chardoney out as well as being involved with helping folks from Blue Note Arabians and JP Arabians with their horses. Then, there are my  comrades with Endurance Team Buttercup to help and to cheer on.

I gave Chardoney my first ever full body clip. I think it looks nice. It took me 3 days and two doses of sleepy stuff to get it accomplished due to a clipper snafu. I still have some detail work to do on her hocks. She isn't having much to do with it, so maybe one more time of clipping to get those tiny crevices finished will do the trick. I sure wish I would have done them while she was doped up. I thought they would be no problem. Silly me!

This weekend she is going to be "on display" at the Horse Expo. I hope she will be a good example of the Arabian/Half Arabian breed and stay inside the show stall! I can't wait to show her off.

Today Chardoney will get her first ride with Christy who will be riding her in the TVC and at Sport Horse Nationals. I won't be able to be there to watch. I am crossing my fingers that it will be a good match!

Catching Up - Part Two

Not of me, but of how I feel!

I went to the second jumping show yesterday. I was worried again, but this time for different reasons; "What if my wins last month were a fluke? What if I fall off? My goodness, I haven't ridden Delight in the English saddle in a month!" Worrying is my specialty it seems.

In the weeks before the show I had been teasing Sandra, who planned to ride Sam, about riding against "The Champion of the World," and that she needed to "Be Very Afraid." I didn't really expect to duplicate my wins of last month so I talked a lot of friendly "smack" with her. Sandra is my endurance riding buddy. In the summer we spend a lot of saddle time together and I enjoy riding with her very much. This winter we haven't been able to ride together much and so I was looking forward to spending the day with her almost as much as I was the show itself.

My husband Tom came along with us, so I had several of my best friends there: Lyn, Nancy, Pat and Sandra. I am so grateful and blessed with my circle of friends.

This time the jumps had numbers on them so learning the course was much easier! I didn't need the help of my little bitty pony girl to figure it out. I saw her pony there but he had a different rider on his back. Maybe she was her big sister.

I was a little later getting into the arena this time for warm ups. There were also nearly twice as many entries into this show so warm ups were quite chaotic. It was hard to get Tacki to settle in and drop her head. One of the areas Tacki is the greenest is in playing off of the emotions of the other horses. It's one of the biggest reasons I wanted to take her to these shows. She is a forward little horse and if another horse is cantering she thinks that the race is on! I am sure my hands were too high and my seat too forward, but I tried to work on them.

I worked Tacki for 1/2 hour and then I rode Delight into the arena. She was buddy sour, screaming and nearly bucking. Between hoping I could sit the English saddle that I was riding in and trying to keep her from darting out the gate every time we passed it, I was smiling at my little red dragon. Delight also picks up on the energy of the horses around and she thought she should gallop around like they were. I know my hands were high and I was quick to grab her, but again I concentrated hard to get us both settled.

Delight and I were first up. I could never get her into a nice even working trot in my training round nor my actual round. I knew we were too fast so I actually brought her down to a walk over the last "fence" both times. The first round we were 6 seconds off the pace and the second time we were only 3 seconds off.

Tacki had settled down quite a bit before my rounds on her. She always does better out there alone. There is something about this little mare that I love - actually there are many things I love about her- she really tunes in to her rider and tries very hard to trust when she is afraid. When we are both focused it is a wonderful feeling. On our training round she nearly refused one "jump" but I think it was my fault. We were coming around a tight circle and I didn't get her straight and focused on time. We were 4 seconds off the pace. The second time was very nice and we were only ONE second off of the pace!

Then Sandra rode Sam for his two rounds. During the warm up time Sam had been a little bit of a handful. Sandra is a great rider and she handled him beautifully. Sam's tail was flying. He was so lovely! Their training round was only off by 6 seconds. Their second round was better and only off of the optimum time by ONE second!

So, once again I took first AND second place! And, Sandra shared first place with me! I could not have dreamed up a better outcome! Congratulations Sandra, "Wee Ha!"

There were 16 rounds, twice as many as the last show.

Maybe I am learning to ride these horses after all? What a nice boost to my confidence. This is the second time in my adult life that I have won a ribbon riding horses. It has been beyond my biggest hopes and dreams.

The best part?

AOF - Zip. Me - Two Million!

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Some Catching Up to Do - Part One

No, it's not me. Just a lovely picture. In fact, I don't jump. My classes at the jumping show are over ground poles in between the standards.

I have a few things that I want to share, things I should have blogged here about as they were happening, but life got in the way.

I went to the Jumping show on the 18th, and won first AND second place! I took First on Tacki and Second on Delight.

I have never tried anything like this. I went because the series is a fundraiser for Nancy Roche and her horse Breezer so that they can go to some big horse shows this year. I took Tacki* because she is my green endurance prospect and I wanted to expose her to other horses, scary jumps etc. I took Delight because she is mine and I love her. ♥

My goals were to remember the course, and to not have any refusals. Oh, and staying on the horse was a goal too! The first time they blew the start whistle it spooked Tacki and she almost fell down right underneath me. Everyone laughed, including me.

One thing I loved was that while I was having to remember all that stuff the Fear Monster was pushed right out of my brain. In fact, trying to remember everything turned out to be an unexpected bonus. "Which is the next jump? Stay straight, keep the horse soft, keep the working trot pace, and oh yeah, 'Which one is the next jump?' " I was focusing so hard there was no room left over for fear in my brain. I felt like I was riding like I did as a kid. It was a wonderful, powerful feeling.

There was a little bitty girl on a little bitty grey pony who helped me learn the course. She was the cutest thing. Her mom was trying to explain to me the mysterious symbols on the jump map and she suggested that her daughter lead me through the course. She was so proud to be helping a grownup! I gave her my second place prize, which was a bag of yummy candy! She was in another class, so I didn't see how she did.

So, I was not expecting to place, let alone win! I was one second off of the optimal time with Tacki and 4 second off with Delight. There were eight rides in the competition.

AOF - Zero, Me - One Million!


*Tacki (and Sam) belong to Lyn Kinney of Blue Note Arabians. Sandra and I are conditioning them for Endurance this summer.

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Ready For The Jumping Show and a Saddle

So no cantering on Tacki today although mentally I absolutely could have. We set up some jump standards and ground poles and I worked on getting Tacki and Delight used to them for the show tomorrow. Delight will be a piece of cake as long as I ride her "Western" on a loose rein. Tacki was really concerned, but she never refused and did her best to trust me. I love riding that mare, she is such a pleasure to ride even in her greenness.

I tried out a Wintec AP saddle today. It fit Delight and Tacki well. It is not my dream saddle but I think it might be a good transition-to-English-Endurance-type-saddle. When I am riding in it I feel like I am driving a Chevette with vinyl seats. My dream saddle will fit me more like a Jaguar. Unfortunately it will cost like one too. So, all that to say it's not real comfortable but I think it will do. It is 175oo. Of course I don't have the money right now. I am thinking about asking the tack shop where I have my western saddle on consignment if they want to buy it outright.

So tomorrow I will be going second up in the whole show. I am right behind Mr Mitleider. I was sure to thank Nancy for that honor. >.<

I haven't ever memorized anything but a trail course since I was 16. I figure if I can get the horses to actually trot the course in the right order I will be happy. I am thinking of using the English Wintec on Delight... we'll see how brave I am.

Fuzzy Shows

Even though my heart is out on the trail this Spring I have been going to some "fat and fuzzy" horse shows.

I rarely take pictures because it is dark outside and dark in the indoor arena where they are held. A couple of my friends challenged me to actually take some pictures anyways.

So here's your proof girls:

This is right before the adult beginner showmanship class, which we won fair and square inspite of the fact that there was another person in the class. I am pretty sure we only won because Delight stood still-er than the other horse did. Don't tell Delight though... it might go to her head! First place was my favorite candy bar!


Delight won 2nd in the mares halter class - again I am pretty sure it is because she stood stiller than the 3rd place horse!

Here's proof that I really did tack up...

I had her all saddled up and ready to go and then they canceled my class! There weren't many adults at this show riding English.

Delight hollered the almost *whole* time so I got lots of training opportunities in the practice pen doing hips over, shoulders over, back up, sidepass, head down.... wash - rinse - repeat. It takes a lot to keep her little mind busy! Making myself focus on moving specific parts of Delight's body helped me to relax. It helped her too.

I used a bunch of my Julie Goodnight techniques which really helped, especially when I realized I hadn't shown in an English saddle since I was about 16! Yikes! And I hadn't ridden in a regular English saddle in months and months! (What was I thinking??)

So, while I didn't actually ride in a class, I did:

1. Tack up, ride in the warmup time (think 'mass chaos in a pickle jar'),
2. Sit for 30 min on my horse who was being a nutcase, and was able to calm both of us down!
   
3. I did all this calmly and without panicking and running back to the trailer to cower in terror.

Come on Spring. I am so ready to hit the trails!!

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