Cute Picture

I haven't posted any pictures in a while, so here's a picture of Luke looking cute that my friend took today. Just a camera phone picture...I'll get new ones soon! I'm about to go out and have a nice gallop hopefully...at the very least, a long canter!

His Cuteness:

Crazy Busy!

Wow, I haven't updated lately, really. I've been so busy, I don't even know where to start! From last Saturday (the 16th) to this past Saturday, I took care of the barn so Mandi could go away. I knew it would be hard work, but I had no idea how much, I guess. I cleaned over 100 stalls last week, crazy! So, by the time I got done with everything, I didn't usually have much motivation to ride. I did ride a few times though.

Molly and I took a trail ride on Monday, and had a really nice time. Found a couple little logs to jump in the woods and had a nice gallop in a field...just what I needed. Luke was a good boy too.

On Thursday, Molly and I set up some jumps. As we were getting ready to tack up, some people drama happened, and I wasn't feeling much like riding. Molly convinced me too, and I ended up having a great ride. Luke jumped everything I pointed him at! We had one run out, cantering a 2'3" vertical...I think he does best if we trot towards it, and I sit and wait, letting him decide if he should canter. He picked up a canter 2 or 3 strides out, and jumped it beautifully...it was the best feeling in the world! Aside from that, we cantered little cross rails, jumped a couple of 2' verticals, and ended with a 2' oxer...it was crazy fun!

All in all, Luke has been a really good boy! I can't wait to get my new saddle at the end of the month, I hope we both like it! We are headed to South Farm on June 7th, hopefully with new saddle in tow, and Luke behaving like a good boy! I think we're just going to do the crossrails in schooling jumpers, and not do a dressage test. He gets so uptight, that we don't usually have good tests. We'll see how it goes...I might be able to sign up there for one. If not, there's always next time. I think this summer will be full of fun stuff!

In which Luke gets his butt kicked....

Ay yi yi.

Pony has my number. I discovered this on Tuesday night after a lesson that left me in tears. Granted, I was tired, which is never a good thing when combined with stress.

I've been trying really hard to make Luke use himself lately and go on the bit - at least I think I have. My trainer told me Tuesday night that I was still letting him go around la di da with his head in the air, doing a giraffe impression. Ouch. Okay, so we need to improve. We're getting a mirror in the indoor soon - Yay! She also slammed me about my position which seemed to be worse than usual on Tuesday...apparently my horse and I have the same tendency to hollow out our backs....

So, we moved on to canter work - note that this was supposed to be a jumping lesson, because we've been drilling flatwork lately. We'd planned on warming up and doing just a few minutes of flatwork, and going straight to jumping. Good plan...until...

I could. not. get. the. right. lead. It wasn't there....zip. zilch. nada. I mean, sometimes it takes me a couple of tries...but Tuesday night? After 10 wrong leads in a row, there were tears in my eyes. I know that I don't always ask the best, but I also know that Luke knows better.

So my trainer hopped on to see if it was me or him. Much to my surprise, it was him. He was giving her as much crap as he gave me. She would set him up perfectly, and bam. He'd take OFF with his head in the air on the wrong lead. She wanted to get the lead 3 times in a row, and then move on to jumping as a reward for him. He was such a brat...he'd do it perfectly twice, and then the third time, he'd pull out a wrong lead- run away type thing. She got mad. Not abusive, but she raised her voice with him, and stopped him quickly when he'd start off on the wrong lead. A couple steps of backing and then a trot to canter transition. Hmm.....after he realized that she was raising her voice, and not letting him canter on the wrong lead, he was perfect. They did a small course, and then she passed him back to me.

We decided that I wouldn't even try to canter, I'd just trot the jumps and if he landed on the right lead, keep it. He landed on the right lead every single time. So we ended up cantering some little crossrails.

So I learned a very important lesson - hey, that's what I pay her for! I learned that I can't be as nice to him as I have been lately...there's a difference between being nice and letting him get away with murder. I'm not doing him any favors by letting him grow up to be a spoiled brat.

I rode last night and he was on his best behavior - We got the right lead four out of four times, and blew it on the fifth. After two wrong lead takeoffs, I growled at him, and BAM! Right lead...like magic!

Amazing.... :)

Show Anxiety Sucks....

And I just need to be more patient. It's not going to happen overnight. Maybe not even in 3 years. I need to figure out how to get over my anxiety and nerves, and give him a fair ride. I'm not sure which one of us starts the cycle of tenseness, but it doesn't go away. He's the most sensitive horse I've ever ridden, by far. I need to start taking him places, and just letting him chill. It'd be easier if I had a trailer. So I guess my goal for this year is to take him to as many places as I can. If we ride, great, if not, that's okay too. I need to have more patience, and maybe readjust my goals. They were originally baby beginner novice, which wouldn't be a problem for his skill level I don't think. It will just depend on if I can get him to go places without a meltdown.

In fairness to him, I didn't prepare as well as I should have for this last show. Since it was at home, I figured he'd be great. And I had a wonderful ride on him the day before, so I thought - "Yay! We CAN do this!" The big brown horse proved me wrong :) When I saw how hyped up he was, I should have taken him somewhere and just let him canter it out. But I wasn't sure where to do it...the round pen was flooded, horses were in the pastures, and the outdoor looked pretty muddy as well. Indoor was used for the show. But now I know for next time :) Even if there's a show at home, I need to set him up for success by letting him get all his running and bucking out BEFORE I get on and tense up.

Anyway...back to the recap. We got on, we walked, we trotted. Trotting was like riding a giraffe, but he settled a little. Since it was just a schooling show, I should have said heck with it and ridden him in the running martingale, but I was *trying* to practice for real shows. But we went in to our walk/trot Eq. class, and managed a 1st place. Mostly because I was riding against little little kids who didn't know their diagonals. So I felt really bad. But then in the next class we got 4th out of 4 because he was head up, cantering, etc. Completely inconsistent. So I redeemed myself, and didn't have to feel bad anymore :)

I put him back in his stall for a while, and thought maybe he'd chill. When I got back on a couple of hours later, he seemed a bit more relaxed. But wasn't really. When we did Intro A, he tried to trot out of the arena. Came down centerline sideways and wouldn't stop, etc. I'm sure it was entertaining for everyone watching. Intro B wasn't a whole lot better. Both tests were videotaped, I can't wait to watch those...not. But...whatever. I need to just chill with him. I went back out that night and rode him and he was great. Rode both tests and he was 100 times better. Ugh.

I don't know what to do anymore :( I wish I could fix me, because I'm sure that's the problem. We have the hunter pace on the 25th, and I'm nervous already. But I need to go into it with the attitude that he will be okay. We CAN do this. I just wish he had the rider/owner that he deserves...I feel like all his talent is going to waste!