The boys

I need to seriously stay motivated with Luke's progress over the next few months, so I thought keeping a journal about the horses would work well. I didn't like my old blog, so I thought I'd start a new one :) I transferred all my old entries over, but lost the pictures :(

Jodi is my first horse, and first love, a 24 (almost 25) year old QH gelding. I've had him for 5 years now, and I've loved every minute of it.

Luke is a 7 year old TB gelding. He raced for a couple of years, and wasn't very good at it. I got him as a scrawny five year old. He's come a LOOOONG way in the past 2 years.

The boys are moving to a new farm next month, and I can't wait to be back with my friends :) We have lots of stuff planned for the summer, so winter needs to hurry up and go away!

Updates to come!

Progress!

Wow, I haven’t updated in a while. I’m going to make it a goal to update once a week so I can keep better track of Luke’s progress.
He’s doing really well. We’re back into lessons after all summer off. We had our first lesson last Monday, and worked a lot on cantering on both leads, with some ground poles and crossrails. We were both exhausted! Tonight is another lesson, so hopefully he does as well!
Yesterday we went cross country schooling with a few other horses. A couple of greenies, 2 experienced eventers, and a lesson horse. It was a blast! I wasn’t sure how Luke would react since he’s been so uptight lately. I lunged him before we left, and he hopped right on the trailer like a good boy. Like always. We got to BPC and unloaded them all. They all hopped off and stood nicely at the trailer. No more broken halter incidents! We tacked up and headed to an enclosed arena to ride. It was great, because we had it all to ourselves. It was a huge sand arena and just the five of us were there. Luke walked off nicely, a little bit up but not bad at all. We walked for a few minutes and then moved into the trot. He was perfectly smooth and balanced…reaching for the bit and keeping an even tempo. We did some circles and changes of direction. He was such a sweetie. Then we did some cantering in each direction. He picked up both leads correctly without a lot of help. I was very proud of him. After we warmed up in the arena we headed out on course. There was almost no one there, which was really nice for the greenies. Luke and I walked over a lot of intro jumps, and trotted a few. Not all of them were pretty, but he’s getting the hang of it. He’s doing so well and I’m so proud of him.
Today is Luke and my 2 year anniversary…I’m so proud of how he’s progressing!

I have a cow pony!

Okay, not really. But I rode Luke western last night, it was so fun! Two updates in one day because I’m catching up.
Last night, I just needed some alone time at the farm. So I headed out and spent about a half hour with Luke, just brushing him, and banding his mane. I got out Jodi’s western tack and decided to ride Luke western. I wasn’t sure how he would react to the bit, but he didn’t seem to mind it much at all.
We just walked and trotted, and he was really good. I tried a couple canter departs but they were not pretty to say the least. I’ll wait until my lessons start back up to attempt that. For now, he can just canter on the lunge.

I really don't know what all to say about him. He is such a superstar, so adorable.
On Sunday, Jen and I took Joey and Luke to Stone Gate Farm's mini trial. We were both entered in the intro division - Jen in intro horse, and me in intro rider. The intro divison consisted of the USDF intro test A, 9 stadium jumps no higher than 12", and 8 XC Jumps no higher than 12". It was a blast.
When we got there, Luke got to chill a little bit while Joey went and did dressage. When I was done watching Jen, I lunged Luke. He was falling asleep...trying to eat grass and trot at the same time, which doesn't work so well! I tacked him up and hopped on, because I wanted plenty of time to warm up. He was very tense, so it must be me. I sang the "Doe, a deer, a female deer" song to him. You know, the one from Mary Poppins? Give me a break, I was nervous!
We walked down the big hill to the dressage rings and warm up and started trotting around. He tried to leap into a canter a few times, but we stayed under control. They were running ahead of schedule, so we ended up riding about 15 minutes early. I probably should have used that time to warm up more, but I was afraid he would just escalate.
Our test wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but we DID it, and that's what counts! Down centerline to start was actually pretty nice, and this year we actually came to a complete halt for our first salute. He wasn't so sure about the brightly colored jumps beside the dressage arena, so there were lots of rubbernecking moments. Our trot circles both had some canter strides in them, but we did have some nice moments too. Not sure what our final score was, but hey, I didn't come off, and that's gotta count for something.
We had about an hour break before stadium, so I untacked him and let him eat grass and drink water for a while. Luke is funny about water, and usually won't drink away from home. Sunday was no different.
We headed down to warmup for stadium. Jumped a warmup crossrail a few times, he was so cute. The footing was bad, so he politely came down to a walk on his own accord, and walked over it, and then picked up a cute little trot.
When I went into stadium, the fatal error occured. I somehow managed to enter through the finish flags instead of the start flags, and was completely oblivious. We jumped the whole course clean though, although we got a little lost between 3 & 4. So I was E'd, but they let me do cross country, which was nice.
Our XC course was nice, albeit a little fast. He would. not. slow. down. He came back to me for the jumps, and didn't look at anything, just popped over it, but the XC starter thought that he was "a bit out of control" It's the OTTB in him.
All in all, we had a very successful day. Dressage left a lot to be desired, but Stadium and XC were clean even if they weren't pretty. I was very proud of my ponee..he's come so far.

I feel kind of silly writing this, not knowing who’s going to read it :) But I thought that it would be a good way to chronicle Luke’s progress, especially over the summer, since our show season is just getting started! Even though this is Luke’s blog, I’ll occasionally post about Jodi, my first horse and the love of my life. I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you already “know” my boys, but I’ll put up quick bios for each of them.
Jodi - Jodi is a 24 y/o red roan QH gelding. His registered name is Dial Jet Jodi, and we’re still trying to come up with a good show name for him. Currently in the running are “No One Like You”, “Aged to Perfection”, and Jen & Melissa’s current choice…. “I Cut Corners”. Jodi came to me at the beginning of my freshman year of high school. It was bittersweet, because I’d dreamt of owning a horse my whole life, and it was finally made possible by my grandpa introducing me to his neighbor, who found us Jodi. However, the week before Jodi “found” us, my grandpa passed away. I’ve always wondered what he would think of Jodi. Jodi and I have done everything together, from bareback trail rides, to county fairs, to Christmas parades. And I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every minute. He has a forever home here, and a happy retirement.
Luke - Luke is a 7 year old thoroughbred gelding. His registered name is Here Comes Luther, and his show name is Keep On Dreaming. Luke was a racehorse for the first few years of his life, and a very bad one at that. I bought him straight off the track at the end of his 5 year old year. He had run 14 times, and the closest he came to winning was one 6th place. Training Luke has been a huge challenge, but he’s a joy to be around, and he’s taught me so much. Our goal is eventing, and we’re slowly but surely reaching it. Most importantly though, we’re learning along the way.