"And I know I'll be okay, though my skies are turning gray"

Sooooo. Long time no post.

Last week wednesday. Ride on Oreo. grrr. It was...okay. we worked on bend and flying changes.

show friday. eww. I don't even want to talk about it. Video? yeah. I don't that'll be going up.

lesson saturday. it was actually pretty fun :)

I don't think I'm riding at all this week besides lesson saturday :) and also...show next saturday! either chase me charlie or speed jumping round!

"You used to shine so bright, but I watched all of it fade"

holaaaa! :1 <<<(really interesting smiley thing? idk. i like it.)

Lesson today on Gino! He was okay...but kind of interesting. He just wasn't really "himself". He's changed A LOT since when I started riding him....and not all in a good way.

You knowww...sometimes I just pick a random song quote. This one actually means something.

He used to be sooo great. He acted up sometimes, but he was really willing and a really fun ride. Now...he's not. He has his ears pinned the whole time and just...i don't know. He's just not the same anymore.

Yeah, he's gotten a lot quieter and does little kid lessons now. But I liked him because he was exciting! And fun! And now he's like...blah. He just kinda plops around the ring. And then once you get him moving he takes off. I just don't really like him that much anymore.

So show Friday. Hopefully convincing mi padre to take me to the barn on Tuesday? uhmyeah I kinda forgot to sign up. So I have to go do that. Murphy/Splash/(Gino/Hank?) Not sure which one for my 3rd choice.

IF I DO WELL IN THIS I COULD POSSIBLY BE CHAMPION FOR THE SERIESSSS XD

"Heaven can wait up high in the sky, it's you and I"

SOOOO!

I rode tuesday night! My original plan was to ride Hank because I really wanted to just ride bareback...but he's being leased. so I couldn't ride him.So I rode Aragon! He was realllllyyy good. We worked on our dressage test and some transitions and stuff. Then I got on him bareback :P He's SUPERR bony. It was....painful. haha

Friday I rode Aragon. We got 4th out of 9. Blah. I rode really crappily. And we had a really messed up warm-up. So yeah :(

SATURDAY! really interesting lesson with Murphy. He was AWESOME. We jumped really wide oxers and then at the end we jumped bareback. SO MUCH FUN XD

I'm probably not riding at all this week besides saturday. possibly tuesday/thursday/friday? ONE of those. There's a ton of people coming to my house for Thanksgiving. They'll probably want to go to the barn...so maybe I'll end up riding?

"But what do you say to taking chances, what do you say to jumping off the edge"

Hola chicos :)

Jumping show two fridays ago? I rode Aragon. I've never actually jumped a course on him...? And since he's really leggy and thin it's really..."different" to jump him. We managed 5th out of 11.He was really good...but just "different".

Lesson saturday on Tex :) I convinced my instructor to take us on a trail ride. BEST. LESSON. EVER. We had sooooo much fun XD

Then yesterday lessons were cancelled in the afternoon but my friends and I were out there and wanted to ride at 11:30 anyway. I wanted to ride Aragon but he had a lesson at 11:00 so I couldn't....I asked the lady who was filling in who I should ride and she said that Hank was being a brat for his 10:00 and I should get on him and beat him up :P

I warmed him up and then my friend got on him and did a bunch on transitions and changes and stuff. Then I got back on him and did some more transitions and changes and stuff :P Then bareback. Just to walk out.

Tuesday I'm riding, hopefully Aragon but if not then either Splash or Hank.

So I really haven't posted in a while.

The weekend after my last post I was sick. I basially begged my parents to let me show....and it payed off :) Aragon and I won by 1/2 of a point :) I love love love himm!!

Then Saturday and Sunday I slept. And watched Project Runway re-runs. And episodes of Glee online. I was reallllyyy sad I couldn't ride :( My lesson jumped bareback and played games bareback and such. AND I MISSED IT. I've been wanting to have a bareback lesson FOREVER. :(

Then lesson on Murphy last weekend. UGH. My normal trainer was gone, so the person who teaches on Sundays taught....and she's really...interesting? Yeah. We jumped. No hands and no sturrups stuff. Then a fun course :P

Show Friday with either Splash Murph or Aragon. Probably Murphy.

Aragonnn!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBsp9Jc4bVo

[Insert inspiring song quote that I'm too lazy to go find]

Soooo.

Show friday. I got 3rd with Splash :) It was a really.....BLAH course. I could have done a lot better. There are so many things I should have done that I didn't.... like actually ATTEMPT to get my lead changes. Or actually put my leg on for the whole first half of the course. And actually helping him through the one-stride instead of just sitting there (first time. the second=love.). So yeah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLFgiBXqNZs

I rode Aragon on sunday :) Love love love love love that horse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLyQTwP594g&feature=channel
I'm riding him in the show this friday. Hence the practicing of the test.

Saturday I had a lesson. Nothing too exciting went on. Then the next saturday I had a lesson with Splash. He was awesomeeeee :) We worked on suppling and rounding :P

SUNDAY - CROSS COUNTRY SCHOOLING :) It was awesomeeeeeee :P Aragon was amazing. I don't have anything from that on youtube yet but when I do I'll post it? Maybe? This is possibly my favorite picture of us :)


So show friday, lesson saturday. Maybe I'll ride Aragon on sunday? There's a pattern going on...

We could be a beautiful miracle, unbelievable instead of just invisible :)

Sooo. Silverwood (show last weekend) was AWESOMEEE.... there were 3 girls that I ride with that went. Andrea took Spike, Dani took Hank, and Tasha took Splash. They all did great in dressage. After that Andrea was in 7th and Tasha and Dani were tied for 3rd. Cross Country was good for Andrea and Tasha but Dani fell off. After xc Tasha was in 5th and Andrea in 6th. Even though she was eliminated, Dani was still allowed to jump the showjumping course, and she did great! Tasha ended up in 4th out of 5 and Andrea 5th out of 5. Even though I wasn't riding, I had a TON of fun :)

Yesterday I had a jumping lessonn.. I started on Gino and we did tortureous muscle-building exercises :P my ankles and knees are sooooo soreeee..... We had a really fun course set up. It was great.

Then I switched to Oreo and we jumped the course once. He's funny :P

THEN I RODE SPIKE. PIGLET. hahahahaha it was amusingggg....

So yeah. It was an interesting lesson :P I have a show on Friday and a lesson on Saturday and then I'm hopefully riding on Wedesday of next week. Then lesson Saturday and possibly cross country schooling Sunday? Possibly?

These walls that they put up to hold us back fell down :)

So I haven't posted in a while. But everything's been AWESOME :)

Let's see.....the last time I blogged was whn I rode Champion. The next week I rode Aragon :) We had a cool lesson - warmed up dressage and then jumped. I rode him again the next week and had basically the most random lesson EVER. Haha it was great...

Somewhere in between those, I had a free ride with Splash. We worked on some bending stuff, and then lead changes. He was good, but basically, this was my BEST RIDE EVER. Seriously. Splash was PERFECT, I thought I rode really well, and it really gave me a confidence boost. When I finish the video I'll post it...

The week after, I had a dressage lesson on Murphy to practice my test for the show on Firday that I rode Splash in and tied for 3rd....I was actually REALLY happy with him. He was great :)

Then last weekend I had an AWESOME jumping lesson on Giraffe. Keri taught again and we did grids - bounce to a one-stride. At the end we set up a hay-bale jump :P Giraffe was really good and I felt like my position was REALLY improving. Lately I've been having a lot of confidence issues in the jumping area, and this lesson really helped me. I even got some compliments on my position from my instructor xD I couldn't have had a better lesson :)

I'm not having a lesson this weekend because of a show that I'm going to - I'm not riding in it, but I'm being a groom for the girl taking Hank - so the next time I ride will probably be in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can get out during the week sometime...but that seems to be really hard for me right now :(

Bored. Nervous.

I'm bored. I have a seating audition tonight for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.... and I'm really nervous. I should REALLY be practicing, but my fingers hurt. And I'm mad because for some reason the laptop upstairs won't pick up internet connection, so I have to use the downstairs computer. Which is where my crazy little siblings are. Woo.

There's nothing TOO exciting going on in my life right now. I had a fun lesson with Champion, one of the horses that came at the beginning of the summer with Spot. He's super sweet :) We jumped, and he tried really hard for me :)

I have a lesson tomorrow. Woo. We're probably not jumping...which leads me to the next paragraph!

I have a show on the 11th! It's the first of our series of 6 schooling shows. They're every other Friday, switching off between dressage and jumping shows. We always start with dressage, and ride flat the lessons before the show, and then switch to jumping for two weeks to get ready for the next show.

Andd.......school starts on Tuesday. Woo.

OOHH!! Here's my jump course with Splash from the Camp Show! -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-XpYKif0I8

Show Results!!

Show was REALLY good today!! Since there's soooo many kids, everyone picks their horses out of a bag. I just happened to pick REALLY good horses for both of my classes and place REALLY well!!

My first class was walk/trot/canter equitation. I PULLED MURPHY!! I was really happy. Because of his short back, his canter is super easy to sit, and since that's one of my main problems right now, I was really happy. We pulled out a third!

The second was high jump, or jumps up to 2'3". I PULLED SPLASH!! Again, I was SUPER excited. He was sooo good :) I'll post the video as soon as it loads onto youtube.

Nervous :/

I've been volunteering for a few weeks...nothing much going on. I had a really fun lesson on Splash a few weeks ago and then a lesosn on Gino the next Saturday. Sunday, my friend came out to the barn and we went on a trail ride :)

Tomorrow I have a lesson on Giraffe, then show Sunday. I'm super nervous!!

It's the end of camp show, so there's going to be a ton of kids. We pick our horses out of a hat. I'm entered in walk/trot/canter equitation and 2'3" eqitation. For the jump course we have Hank, Gino, Jimmy, Murphy, Splash, and Spike. We have the same horses for flat but with a bunch more.... like Aragon, Casey, Blue, Freckles, Giraffe, and a bunch moreee.....

So yeah. Wish me luck!!

CAMP!!!

I've been home for a week and finally found the time to blog. It was AWESOME!! I was really excited because I got to ride Gino. On the first day though... we went outside on the cross country course to do some fitness workouts, and he started bucking like crazy. I only came off once, but I asked to be switched off of him.

The girl riding Splash was also feeling uncomfortable, so I switched onto him! He was amazing the whole week, and it really helped me focus on having fun.

Our schedule at camp goes something like this.

6:30 - wake up, go over to the barn to bring in our horses and feed them

7:10 - First bugle blows to wake everyone else at camp up

8:00 - breakfast

9:15 - at the barn, first group grooms and rides, second group has a lecture, then we switch

12:20 - lunch

1:00 - rest period

2:05 - back to the barn, but in the afternoons we all ride together

5:30 - dinner

6:00 - free period

7:00 evening activity

9:00 - in our cabins, get ready for bed, vesper

10:00 - lights out

Monday morning, we had a flat lesson (I was still on Gino). Gi was awesome, and I was getting really excited about how great the week would be if he kept this up. In the afternoon, we went outside and did trot and canter sets. The trot sets were great - we only had one spook - but the canter sets were disasterous. I came off, got back on, and he wouldn't stop bucking.

Tuesday morning we had a jumping lesson, and I tried to get to know Splash better. We did no-hand bounces - one of my favorite exercises. In the afternoon, we went outside and jumped cross country. Splash absolutely loved it! He was so funny....I tried to take a longer approach to a jump, but he wouldn't let me. He was like "No! The jump's over there!!"

Wednesday morning we went on a field trip to Silverwood, a big eventing barn in Illinois. We walked the cross country course and a person who boards her horse at our barn came and schooled her horse. In the afternoon we played polo. Splash was so funny. He kepy trying to eat the ball :P

Thursday, we had a dressage lesson. Splash was a little dissappointed that we weren't doing something exciting like cross country again, so he was really hyper. We went cross country again in the afternoon, and we both had a blast :)

Friday we had a really fun jumping lesson in the morning. The kids who have lessons on Thursday nights set up a jump course for their lesson and it was... interesting. But really fun!!! In the afternoon we walked to the other side of camp to the big cross country course to school over the bank. Splash refused a few times, but after we got down it once he was great.

Saturday, after camp was done and over, I had my normal lesson with Boomer, one of our newer horses. He was really good, and I think if I spent some time with him we would make a great team.

I volunteered a little during the week, but nothing too exciting...

The next Saturday, I had a jumping lesson on Splash. He was really good! We did a bending line exersice and it was really hard, yet a ton of fun.

This week, I'm going out to the barn every day as lead volunteer. Hopefully I'll get to ride once...but I doubt it :(

Wow.

I haven't written in forever.

The first week of summer was great - I got my braces off, had a great start in swim team, and even started my book report. Then we left for a big Canyon trip for two weeks. It was fun, but I would have rather stayed home.

I FINALLY RODE GINO!!! He was sooo good. He's calmed down a lot since the last time I rode him. He did everything I asked, and ever transition was perfect :)

I just wanted to post before I leave AGAIN....but this time I'm going to camp! It's going to be AMAZING. I'm SOOO excited and I realy hope it will be as fun as I think it's going to be!

7 Days...

I haven't written in a while. And a lot has happened.

Two weeks ago, I had a great jumping lesson on Hulk. We jumped lines and corners. After the lesson, I volunteered with pony rides and then rode Spot for a little bit because Alex had to decide whether or not she wanted to send him back. She decided to let him stay! Overall, it was a pretty good day.

Last weekend I was down to ride Spot in the lesson because Alex thought he would be better in the group. Well, he wasn't any better than he is alone, and she made the decision to send him back. I was a really bad day and I really don't want to talk about it much...

I'm hoping to get out during the week to ride Gino soon. I really miss riding him! There are some new horses that Alex needs worked western and she asked my dad to do that, so we'll be going out there soon. He can ride western... and I can ride GINO!!!

There's only 10 days until summer! On the last day of school there will be exactly a month until I go to camp! I'm SUPER excited for camp this year because I'm going to eventing camp! I'm not sure who I'm riding for that, but I would really like to ride either Gino or Murphy.

I'm Bored. So I'm Blogging.

Eh, I'm really bored, have a ton of homework, and feel like blogging! Nothing really exciting has happened. WAIT!! MONIQUE'S GETTING A NEW HORSE! Haha its exciting :) Not much going on - Skip's lame, Dad's at the barn with my brother, I'm here doing homework. What fun! Eh... so I'm blogging and talking to Monique on AIM. I should probably go do homework... I have two projects due Thursday and one due Friday...

Woah... a Whole Month?

I've been very busy lately... I have had time to come on the computer... but never long enough to sit down and write out a blog post. Soooooo... lets see what's happened since I blogged last time!! Hmmmm


-the weekend after I blogged was really exciting. Everyone was gone at Rolex and we had at least one group of people every day (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). After my lesson and the pony rides on Saturday, I brought Taco in and pulled his mane. He looks AMAZING! Then I started working with him to bring him back into work. We did half an hour of walk/trot work undersaddle. Then Sunday, we did 20 minutes of walk/trot/canter work on the lunge line and then 10 minutes of walk/trot work bareback. In my lesson that weekend I rode Gino with the younger group of kids because my whole lesson group ditched me and went to Rolex :( They were just learning leg yeilds so Gi and I had a little refresher on what leg yields SHOULD be like... without the rearing.




-The next Friday, I was called out to the barn to help work with some of our new horses. Alex had me groom and ride a little black leapard spot Appaloosa named Skip. He was really nice... but has a bit of a rearing problem. I have "adopted" him and he is now my project! I think he could turn into a great little pony after some work. I also rode Taco for one last workout before we had a lesson together! We did walk/trot/canter on the lunge to warm up for about 5 minutes and then walk/trot/canter undersaddle for about 45 minutes. I rode him on Saturday for my lesson and he was great! I'm really proud of him for listening to me for a whole hour. Skip:



-Then..... I went to ENGLAND!! For a week. To visit people. And... to go to BADMINTON! Once I get all of the pictures on the computer, I'll post the photobucket link. There was only one competitor from the US and that was Bonnie Mosser. After the dressage she was in 18th place out of 110! She retired during XC though.

-This weekend I had another lesson on Murphy. We were working on changing leads over fences. He was awesome! We got every change and he really took care of me. We really fit each other size-wise. It was a great lesson!


Hopefully I will be able to blog more. I have another HUGELY busy week this week.... yeah. Bye!

Break Is Over :(

I had an awesome spring break in California! So not ready to get back into school work...

The main reason I went to CA was to look after my 5 year old cousin, Sasha, but I also got to spend a huge amount of time with my aunt, uncle, and grandma. Sasha has legg somethingsomethingsomething syndrome so she walks with a limp, and is in a lot of pain.

My grandma and I flew in Tuesday around 11:30, and were greeted at the airport by my Uncle John and Sasha. We drove around and saw where John works, where Sash goes to school, Ghiridelli Square, and the really crooked road. We went to a little cafe for lunch and met Anne (John's girlfriend) and played Life for a few hours... Sasha and I CLEANED HOUSE. It was really fun :)

On Wednesday, Nanny (grandma) and I were alone with Sash while John worked. We went to the Di Young musem and walked around until Sasha's leg hurt too much to keep going. It's a really cool museam... there's a sculpture garden with a really cool domeish thing that you go sit in. We put flowers in there and came back after lunch and they were all smushed to the ground :( We also went to the Japanese Tea Garden and it was beautiful. We had Jazzmine tea with these really spicy little cracker things that Sasha ate like candy and Nanny and I thought were REALLY hot...

Thursday we took Sasha to Pier 39 on the cable car... or I should probably say she took us.... We got kinda lost and had to call John for directions. Nancy had us all over for dinner and we moved camp to her house.

On Friday John drove us down to the Monterey Aquarium. It was really neat! The sea otters are amazing :) I also really liked the new sea horse exibit. We stopped at a nice beach to watch the sunset. It was a great day, but really tiring. We didn't get home until around 11:30.

Saturday we drove across the bridge and went hiking. Sasha was fine, and we all had a great time. We played Apples to Apples for hours.

Sunday we went to the Japan Town Cherry Blossom Festival parade. It was really cool. The best part was the really big drums :) John made up a really special game called Blue Lips... but where's the thorax?

Nanny and I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday. We also got to go pick up Sahsa from school and see inside it. Nancy came home from New Orleans. Said goodbye to everyone.

We woke up early on Tuesday so we could go catch our flight intoo KC, then had a 4 hour delay in KC and didn't get hom until around 1:30. Mom let me sleep though 1st and 2nd hours :)

On the other hand..... I'm going to be spending my whole weekend ( literally the whole weekend, I might even be sleeping over at the barn manager's house so I get there early and stay late enough for all the commotion we have this weekend...) and I get to ride with some of my old friends in an earlier lesson :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter for all those who celebrate it, and happy Sunday for all those who don't!

I had a ton of fun yesterday at the barn :) Up until the point when the three boys decided to go hide in the lodge and no one knew where they were... yeah. So here's how my day went!

Around 9:55ish - Got to the barn, helped the 10:00 beginners bridle their horses, helped the 9:30 private lesson kid untack and turn out his horse, and then brought in Gino.

11:00 - Helped the 10:00 lesson kids untack/turn out their horses, brought in Murphy

After that - Stole the mounting block from the arena, asked Katie if I could use her pulling comb, and spent 1 1/2 hours pulling gino's mane

12:30 - Helped Tasha free school Gino, tacked up Murphy for the lesson

1:00 - AWESOME lesson on Murph, it was the first time I ever rode him and I LOVE him!

2:00 - Cooled out Murphy, grazed him for a while while Andrea and Dani broke the barn (tisk tisk) then turned him out and brought in Hank

2:15ish - Pulled Hank's mane for... 2 hours, then tacked him up and rode him because my instructor was interviewing a girl who wants to be a camp counsoler, and she needed to see her teach

5:00 - Finished pulling Hank's mane, then turned him out

After That - looked for the missing children for 1 1/2 hours.... turns out they were in the most obvious place and I can't believe no one thought of looking there earlier...

Overall, great day :) Made my two boys extra pretty, fell in love with Murphy, got to ride twice, and had breakfast for dinner!

Inside the Mind of a Horse Lover

Hey everyone! My name is Rosie, and I ride horses. I have been riding and caring for horses for around three years now. I do not own any horses, but two special lesson horses have stolen my heart.

The first is Hank, a 17 year old mutt pony. He was donated to our barn because his owners were having troubles with him. He has a little spunk, but is very calm and loving. This is a pony that knows when he has little kids on his back and will be a doll, but also knows when a more advanced rider is on him and he will throw some things at you. He used to be an eventing pony, and he absolutely loves cross country. At our barn, we ride dressage and showjumping, and we are currently working on a cross country course so we will become more of an eventing barn. Hank loves to be out of the arena and run around freely!

The second horse that I ride most of the time is Gino, a 5 year old Welsh/TB cross. Gino and his half brother Jimmy have a reputation of being naughty - rearing, bucking, biting, other fun stuff like that - but he also gentle side. My trust in him has been shattered recently, and I'm trying to build it back up. He and I have come a long way since I started riding him, and I think we make a great team and could go far together.

Personally, I do not have any show experience besides schooling shows at my barn. In those I placed pretty well, 4th overall in the series. With Hank I got a 4th and a 1st in dressage, and a 6th in jumping, and with Gino I got a 6th in jumping. I rode another horse, Splash, for the other two shows, and got a 3rd in dressage and a 7th in jumping with him. Last fall I only did one show, a jumping one, and got 1st with a horse named Taco. Taco and I made a great team, but sadly he got injured and I'm not sure how long he is on rest. The only other show I have done is a hunter pace with a bunch of other girls from my barn. I rode a haflinger/draft cross named Hulk, and we didn't place, but we had a ton of fun.

I've tried to start blogs or journals in the past, and hopefully I'll keep this one up. I ride once a week for a lesson and someimes I ride on my own in between. I hope you have as much fun reading my entries as I have writing them!