Blogging Fail

is when you realize you have several posts that are half-written, and several more churning in the brain, but you somehow can't frikkin get any complete enough to warrant clicking "publish."  I'm working on it. In the meantime, please enjoy this haiku poem:

Big horse show today

Rolled in some lucky green poop

Why is mom crying?

By Leslie Wylie, editor of HorseNation.com and blooger of  Wylie Eventing blog

http://www.horsenation.com/2012/07/11/horse-haiku-18/#more-12455

Some Cuddles

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! On this day in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the USA was born. I hope all Americans take a quick minute to re-familiarize themselves with that moment our nation's history - it is interesting to compare the values of our country then versus now, given the current political divide on Affordable Health Care, corporations' rights, and elected representatives' differential compensation. Cough Excuse me! My anthropologist side is showing!

On to horse business!

I'm falling deeper in love with Hemie. He's smart and handsome and his black tipped ears are just the cutest. And he tries his heart out every time to learn and to be a good boy. He genuinely enjoys our rides, I think.

Yesterday we declared our own independence by going on our first solo trail ride (his third trail ride ever). He was very well behaved, and absolutely fascinated by the piebald cows in the neighboring field. They were too far to get a good picture, but here's some photos of the handsome boy.

 

First solo trail ride.

Trumping Hemie's normal level of dirtiness, I was greeted by this:

Just when you think he can't possibly get any dirtier...a bird shows that actually, yes, he can.

Yep, bird doodoo. 


Anyway, this morning I had a fabulous lesson. I had two light bulb moments: one in the jumping, one in the flatwork. On the flat, getting him to connect to the left rein has been a challenge, but we are now introducing shoulder-in and that is definately helping a lot. I'm getting the hang of it, but I'll need to continue so that Hemie can get it too. 


As to jumping, we had some "slip-n-slide" bulging out to the right, both before and after the jumps. But it turns out that the magical remedy is to keep him completely straight before the jump and not let his hips swing out. It worked like a charm, and I look forward to practicing it more. We also did a pretty good course of about 4 jumps. Thanks to J.D. for the video and pics:

Stacked Cavalettis

Okay, the pity party is behind us and we're back to the normal (positive outlook) broadcast. Let me show you what we jumped this weekend:

Yeah, baby! Note the two cavalettis underneath -  that was our "oxer" (which we've only done once before). We did that oxer a few times at the end of our jump lesson. Then Laurie said "let me make this a little higher" and threw up that third one. It may only be like 2 feet high, but still - the jump size DOUBLED! How did Hemie do? Like a pro. He was straight and balanced and popped over like it hadn't just doubled in size. :::warm fuzzy feeling:::

Now let me present our challenge jump of the weekend:

Yep - maybe 8 inches high, but Hemie really thought that going around was a better idea. We conquered it in a few tries, and it helped me learn the fine line between encouraging him to jump without pressuring him to jump. I had kissed at him in what I thought was an encouraging way, but it made him nervous. I think only practice will help me do this correctly.

Still needing the Corona ointment regularly   =(

Our feeding schedule has changed. I'm now just doing beet pulp and rice bran (and canola oil until our bottle runs out). No more Senior or SafeChoice Perform. He has put on a good amount of weight while my wallet has become much too empty, so I'm gonna try this out while keeping an eye on him. I think it will be fine - he gets a nice large scoop of rice bran so his fat intake should be good.

And lastly, we have reached the month of JULY. You know what that means? Our first show. At the end of the month. We had earmarked the Santa Ynez huter/jumper show on Sunday the 29th, but there's a show the day before at Stradivarius in Santa Paula. Strad is much closer and only slightly more expensive in fees, so I think that is the way we'll go. Either way...just one month until our FIRST SHOW!!!

A small pity party

In true SprinklerBandit fashion, I would like to have a moment of silence for my wallet. It is "too light" as my fav stand-up comedian Brian Regan would say. New horse = shoes, vet/shots, another vet/teeth, lots of extra feed for Mr. Skinny-pants, and tack to fit him (girth, halter, sheepskin pad). And we just got notice that board is increasing. Another $40 a month I need to find.

{Silence} Sigh.

To make matters worse, my BFF is moving her horse away and we'll no longer be in training together. She and I took the dive into Eventing together 3 year ago, but sometimes good things do come to an end. I gave Storm an extra kiss last night since he moved this morning - gonna miss riding with Jess and snugging with my favorite Godhorse (I'm his Godmother). 

There's more.  The other other gal who rides in the evenings, J.D. who owns the fabulous Pixie Dust, is moving her horse due to the board increase.

So I'm gonna be having even more alone rides than before. Woe is me. Seriously though. =(

Okay, pity party has concluded. Thanks for listening. Time to combat the sadness with my top horse-related things to be thankful for:

1. Amazing, sound horse.
2. Fabulous, affordable trainer.
3. Generosity of others (TBRCI & HBO for Hemie, reins & boots from trainer to fit him, etc).
4. Boarding facility caretaker I can trust.
5. Supportive husband and family. 

Okay. Feeling better already. "It could always be worse" as they say. And I truly am very blessed to be able to have horses in my life, especially one as smart and handsome and cute as Hemie. 

Horse Ballet Hiliarity

I don't know about everyone else, but I am loving all the attention that Dressage is getting right now in the media. Especially when its falling in the comedian's corner. I've been sharing Colbert's "sport of the summer" clip with anyone who will listen to me. Now allow me to share with you.

Colbert Report - Romney's Blue Collar Pastime

Colbert Report - Romney's Champion Horse

Also combining Dressage with funny-ness, this video of Freestyle "Sexy and I know It"!

Here's the youtube channel for more like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bksfunny?feature=watch

Thanks to HorseNation.com for sharing the hilarity.

Hemie meets Levi

This weekend was pretty relaxed on the horse front. Sadly I was out of town Friday and Saturday for a funeral, but I went out to see Hemie on Sunday and brought my little dog Levi. Levi is a schnauzer-cairn terrier mix (or so the adoption paperwork says) and this was his first time meeting Mr. Heems. They got along great.

 Hemie has been going through saddle pads like nobody's business. For having such a thin coat, I simply do not understand how he gets so dirty. I put in twice the elbow grease when cleaning him, but he's still incredibly dirty! I finally had the great idea to bring a baby pad to take to the barn, so that my washing machine doesn't have a premature death from saddle pad washing.

Well, this baby pad started off white. As in starched white. Granted it was a hot day, but by the end of our ride this pad was 100% drenched in sweat (literally completely soaked), and is a remarkable display of how much dirt I was NOT able to groom off of Hemie before the ride. How embarrassing! Seriously, I *did* groom before the ride. Sigh. At least it shows that the saddle is sitting pretty evenly on his back.