Pink Ribbon Classic 2013

Octopelle got his chance to go to a bigger show this year. I took him and Tommy to the Pink Ribbon Classic on July 27th-28th in Walla Walla under USEF judge Margo Hepner-Hart. I was so proud of both of the boys. They did so well. Octopelle had only been to a couple of shows in his entire life, (two local low-key schooling shows!) and he acted like an old pro at this bigger one.

There were horses there (um, a couple of arabs..) that were acting like total retarded idiots in the showring (and also in the outside warm-up pens as well), but both of my boys ignored their stupid antics. My horses have come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the effort to act like jackasses at shows...because it's just far too much work. I know that not all arabians are bad horses, but when a few rotten apples show up to events it gives the wrong impression to everyone, (both the general public and also to fellow exhibitors). There were some very nice quiet western arabs at the show, and it was nice to sit next to them in line and also in the ring. Not all are bad, but a few shouldn't have been there.

As an example, one of the "bad apples" that was acting like an idiot in the showring had actually hurt someone very seriously the night before the show started. On Friday evening the rider of the unruly horse was warming it up in the outdoor arena and it started acting like a total retard and threw the rider off. It then proceeded to gallop madly around the fairgrounds like a chicken with it's head cut off, and ran full steam broadside into an innocent bystander rider and her horse. The poor rider and horse got knocked off their feet and the stupid loose horse proceeded to scramble over the top of both of them while they were laying there on the ground. The unfortunate bystander girl (who was going to be a competitor at the show the very next day), was rushed to the emergency room and had a broken collar bone that will take her out of competition for awhile. I felt really horrible for her, as she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And after all that..... the person that had the problem horse had the guts to show the damned thing on Saturday and Sunday!!!! I was rather disgusted with the whole ordeal. The horse kept acting like a jerk in the showring and would spook and jump sideways into other exhibitors while they were trying to show. Octopelle and I had to maneuver around the nonsense most of the time and avoid the rider and her horse like the plague. I noticed that other exhibitors wouldn't even talk to that rider on both days. All that I have to say is: if one of my horses sent a fellow competitor to the emergency room - for whatever reason - I would be way too embarrassed to stick around for the next two days and compete! Ugh.

Also, there was also a stallion that showed up that was fairly out of control as well. He was REALLY green and probably should've done more schooling shows beforehand. Everybody that was in the arena kept holding their breath hoping that the rider wouldn't come off - or else all the rest of us would have to run like hell and try and get out of the way of the stallion. I'm just glad that I had two geldings and didn't take a mare this time....

But anyway, enough of the heavy. For the most part, the show was good fun, and everybody who was competing was doing it for a worthy cause. All the proceeds from the Pink Ribbons show goes to the St. Mary's Cancer Patients Assistance Fund program. It's nice to say that you are "riding for the cure"! - as most people were wearing t-shirts with that slogan on there...

On Saturday I was using my new english numbered saddle pad with a wedge. Upon using it further that day, I decided to remove the wedge since I was sitting a little too far up off of Ox's back...

A picture of the second day without the wedge. I'm sitting a lot lower now... =:) I also had to start using the crop on Sunday because Ox was getting too lazy to trot into the ring. (He thought that we should just saunter into the arena like an old plow horse taking a coffee break...)

And unfortunately in one of the classes I had forgotten my gloves! I really had to go pee in between classes, and I got back to the gate just in time for the next class - but had accidentally left the gloves on the fender of our trailer. I fortunately remembered them for the rest of the day...

Sibbea got a few pictures of Ox's russian mat. I didn't do as good of a job as I should've on it, because I was in a hurry to get him warmed up on Sunday morning. But it turned out good enough, I guess.

And I also sported my new "thrift store" Akhal Teke show vest in the western classes! I bought this little black vest for $1.50 at the local Salvation Army. I took it home and fixed it up with some swarovski crystals and designed a teke head from sparkly fabric that I sewed on. (I think that there is about $8 bucks worth of materials from Hobby Lobby.) I always drool over the Lisa Nelle and WannaGoSlow shirts and vests on the internet - but they generally cost hundreds of dollars for those beauties, so I bargain hunt for stuff that I can make myself. (My little cheapskate vest is nowhere as nice as some of the professionally made ones, but hey - it's personalized and works great for me...)

Our fledgeling venture one-handed at a big show. Tommy did pretty good, but he still noodles around a little bit with his body when he's allowed some leeway with the single hand. He loves the Kelly shank snaffle, so I showed him in that bit this time. This is his last year with a broken mouth bit (snaffle) that he's allowed, so he has to move up to a solid shank next year if we want to keep showing. (The Oregon/Washington Horseman rules state that a horse is allowed two years as a novice in a jointed mouthpiece, and then they're required to move up into a solid mouthpiece for competitions.)

We did pretty good at the show this year. Both Tommy and Ox got several second and third placings. But I'm still on the hunt for that elusive first place spot at this particular show....

My favorite picture that Sibbea snapped! Isn't he cute...? Tommy in the pleasure horse halter in-hand class. I'll probably end up ordering an 8 x 10 of this one... =:)

Lambies 2013

I didn't get hardly any pictures of the lambs this year, but we did have a good colorful crop.  =:)

I did manage to get this photo of Craig and "Mabel" above though, (in the house, with lots of hay chaff on him for decoration....)  Mabel was one of our cute little bottle lambs this year. We had several young first time lambing ewes that produced some very nice Soay lambs.  The predicament with young first year lambers is that some of them didn't have a clue about what to do with their lambs. I kind-of expected this outcome from the ewes - so it wasn't a huge surprise when I would find newborn lambs wandering around the pen with a young new mama hugging the fence terrified to death of it....

So we ended up with EIGHT bottle babies that I fed for two months this spring. Normally there are 2-3 bottle babies per year, but it was a bit of extra work this season. But very much well worth it. =:) The bottle lambies have created their own little "flock" out in the pasture and are absolutely adorable to pet and play with!  Mabel was so much of a little pet that she followed us around the farm and would come up to the front door of the house.  Craig would pick her up and carry her back out to the pasture where she would cry and want to come back out to be with us.  She's such a cute little buggar, and has quickly become one of our favorite lambs.

 

I deleted a few photos off of the blog yesterday due to an insecure, hypocritical, control freak of a horse owner.  It's okay for the photos of the horse to be openly posted to other websites and facebook for anyone in the world to view and use - but apparently I'm not allowed to have them.  (Even though it was someone else took the photos, not even the horse owner themselves....and I would've given full credit if I could've remembered who the photographer was at the time!)  Okay, whatever.  I deleted the pictures.  Why are there always a few "loons" in the Akhal Teke breed that make it so damned weird sometimes.....?   

Klikitat Photos

A few of Monica's photos from the Klikitat ride.  =:)  Thanks Monica!

Single Handedly...

This years Blue Mountain Paint Horse club open show at the Flying X arena was the beginning of a "one handed" journey between Tommy and I.  Last Saturday was the day we started showing one-handed for the first time.  We've practiced riding single handed a little bit at home, but have never tried it at a show before.  Tommy is seven years old, so it's time to start moving up and advancing a bit.  (We can't stay in a snaffle forever....)  Most stock horses are in a full straight bar shank by this time, so we're a little behind the curve - but slowly making the transition.

Overall, he did alright for his first time at a show. He had a little bit more freedom to creep forward slightly faster in the gaits and also crane the head, (which he exercised every once in awhile....) but it wasn't too bad for his first time. 

I had to correct him every once in awhile - "slow down, collect up."

It was probably a good thing that we started riding one-handed at this show, because the wind was playing havoc with my hat.  I had to keep my free hand anchored on top of my head to keep it from flying away!  I need to remember to pack some bobby pins for next time.....

And I'm starting to get smarter about wearing "quick change" outfits as well, for time management.  The show shirt made a quick transition from western...

to english - in rapid fashion!  I didn't have to re-pin the number or anything.  Just slip into some breeches and go.  I've struggled at a couple of the bigger shows with changing outfits multiple times and losing valuable warm-up time has stressed me out - so now I'm getting "smarter" about swapping out only one or two articles of clothing in order to give the outfit a whole new look.  It is working!  Yay! 

Klikitat Trek 2013

June 1st and 2nd was our annual camping trip at the Klikitat Trek endurance ride in Glenwood, WA.  Marilyn Milestone puts this ride on every year, and she's such a sweet and awesome lady.  Her kindness and graciousness seems to have no end....  =:) 

Craig and I like this ride a lot because the campsite parking is great and the Glenwood rodeo association usually puts on a dinner and lunch both days for the riders and campers.  It's really nice to have a hot meal after a long days ride out on the trail.  The weather for the ride this year was outstanding too!  Only in the mid/high 70 range and the trail dust was kept to a minimum from previous rainstorms during the week.

On Thursday I glued both of the horses easyboot glue-ons on at the house.  The glue-ons have been working out great for doing the rides with, and I have a lot less stress since I don't have to keep getting off and on all the time.  I talked to a lady at the vet check who said there was some new easyboot glue-on prototypes that will be coming out soon for long term use (a month or more).  And this is exciting news, as the current ones that I have now are meant to be pulled off in 5-10 days in order for the hoof to breathe and dry out.  I'm very interested to see what the new ones will be like that are coming out on the market.

I started the LD on Saturday with Nettie.  On Friday night she was acting rather naughty and kept Craig and I awake all night long...(mare horomones at work).  I think that she suspected every horse in the neighboring camp pens just HAD to be a stallion - and she would beg them incessantly to come over to our trailer and visit with her.  By Saturday morning I was totally annoyed due to the constant nickering (and lack of sleep) - but we managed to start out the ride day pretty good nonetheless.  We happened to meet up with #24 out on the trail (we were #23) and rode with him to the vet check.  His name was Warren, and he was from from Estacada, OR.   He was a very nice guy and it was great to clip along the trail and chat with him. 

I had given Nettie 3 1/2 weeks off from the Grizzly Mountain ride to heal up from her previous injury and she had felt pretty good out on our light conditioning rides.  But at the out vet check on Saturday she started showing signs of slight lameness again in the left hind.  It was very mild at first, but then became progressively more obvious on our second trot out at the vet check.  Multiple vets watched her move and concluded that it was a muscle injury and not a suspensory injury or hoof problem.  So, we had to call it a day and returned back to camp where I gave her a good deep massage with liniment.  I think that she'll get 3 or 4 months off and I'll see what she feels like again this fall.  If all is well, we'll start conditioning again for next years ride season.   

Warren and his NSH cross mare.

Chris and Michelle on the trail on Sundays ride.

On Sunday I rode Tommy on the other LD.  Similar to last years ride, this was supposed to be a 25 miler but there were a lot of people who had GPS systems saying it was closer to 30-32 miles.  Tommy did great with the additional mileage, so it wasn't too big of a problem for us.  I rode most of the way with two nice ladies from Olympia, WA. Chris and Michelle.  Chris was on a buckskin paso fino that was doing her first limited distance ride, and Michelle was on a young QH x arab cross that was also on his first limited distance ride.  Unfortunately Chris was pulled at the vet check, so Michelle and I went on the rest of the way back to camp by ourselves.  We encountered a bunch of cattle on the trail that Tommy and I happily shooed away, and both Michelle and I finished the ride in good spirits with horses that vetted through well.

The dogwood trees were in full bloom with beautiful white flowers!  It was like riding through an enchanted forest.  I tried to get a picture of the gorgeous waterfall by the canal, but I couldn't get my camera out fast enough...darn it.  One of these years I'll eventually get a picture of that gorgeous waterfall and crystal clear water of the canal.



The final vet check in camp.  Tommy was happy to be finished.  He really liked taking a break from the show arena and getting out on the trail for about the first 20 miles, but the last 10 miles became more like a bit of work instead of a vacation...


Monica Bretherton came to the ride and was taking some photos out on the trail - (yay!)  So I'll post some of those as soon as we see them.  =:)

Sage Riders Show

Octopelle went to his very first show today.  It was a schooling show at the Sage Riders arena in Hermiston, and he did great!  What a good boy.  I fully expected him to be a little bit nervous about things, but nah.... he could've cared less.  Marched right into the arena and got right down to business.  No funny stuff.  What a sport!  =:)  I was very proud of him.  Craig has a new digital camera, so he snapped lots of pictures.


Trotting out for halter.

Setting up for the halter class.

Chugging along in an extended trot in the english walk/trot.  (The judge commented that he really loved his trot.)

And the western pleasure walk/trot class.  Octopelle is like Tommy - when they get it right, it's totally fabulous!!!

He stayed collected up for western very nicely.  I put a green ribbon (for a young horse) in the tail so that people wouldn't ride up behind us too closely - but in all honesty, we really didn't need it.  He was totally awesome.  Not so much as a spook or fidget the entire day. 

We entered 10 classes and got two first places, which wasn't too bad.  The show didn't award ribbons though, which was okay.  It was a schooling show and we were there to work on our horsemanship skills, so awards weren't a top priority.  There were roughly 6 people per class on average (give or take for some classes), so it was a good turnout for our area.

Happy campers.



The Sage Riders arena has a seasonal pond in back, so we used it for a photo.  =:)