From racing to riding... the training diary of an off the track Standardbred

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

A Much Needed Update

Me and my Boy<3
We have just gotten back to our normal riding schedule since the ring is not longer a
death trap since all of the rivets were filled in (thanks Dad!).


Natalie's "sister" Brit and her horse Steve
Friday I went to my friend's, Natalie's, house for a sleepover then I went to her lovely
farm in the morning. She gave me a tour and showed me her ponies and all 27 at the farm.
She then tacked up her horse Bogger/Clinton/Feature Face Dude/ whatever you want to
call him really. She rode then gave me a lesson :) He is an awesome horse once you figure him
out! Then she rode her "sister's" pony Pepsi who needed to burn off some energy. When her
Mom finished the chores she had to do, she came out with a bag of candy... and bunny rockets!
hmm.... bunny rockets... JOUSTING! So natalie and her "sister" galloped towards eachother with
this plastic bunny rockets and shot them at eachother. *priceless* I have videos that I will post too.

Saturday was the Cape Cod Hunter Horse Show with Jacqie (http://www.dumbandbay.blogspot.com/)
and Kate (http://www.huntertobe.blogspot.com/) and their awesome horses! It was a hot day and the first
really big show at 2'6" for both of them. They were nervous but they did really well! No refusals, falls,
bucks, bolts, etc. Only a few awkward jumps but they both handled it really well. They did a Children's
Hunter 2'6" division as well as the MHJ, MHC, SEHA, etc. The both placed 8th in one of their classes
out of almost 20 people on their $50,000+ horses! Quite the accomplishment :) They both did fantabulously!

Sunday was Easter! I woke up to an Easter Basket filled with my favorite goodies in it! -Thanks "Easter
Bunny." I am not a candy fan by any means but chocolate covered pretzels and Little Debbie Cakes were
the perfect treat! Later in the day we had an easter Egg Hunt. There were 47 (?) eggs in all and I found
19 of them. They had money in them! I ended up with $18.50. Not bad at all! We had a nice dinner with
my Grammy aswell.

Monday was the opening day at Plainridge Racecourse so after school we went straigh there to watch
the races! We didn't get back until 7:30 but I still managed to get a nice ride in. After having so much time
off, I was surprised when he offered to bend, and round for me after a few times around. We did a lot of
trotting. Stretchy, collected, circles, changes of directions, etc. He was awesome! It was a great day!

Tuesday we had another ride. We did w/t in both directions extremely well so I asked for a canter
in both directions for about 3 strides and then a downward transition. He picked up both leads after
only having to ask twice! HUGE improvemt from me having to chase him around the ring. After that
I decided that it would be a nice reward to go on a trail ride to the back field...not so much. He freaked
out. He wasn't bad. He was trying to listen but he was very scared and nervous and I could tell.
We went once around the field, he spooked, galloped back to the entrance to the trail back home,
stopped, and turned around to make sure I was still there. We went back home because he was just not
happy and I didn't want to stress him out. But we didn't end on that not. We did more work in the ring
and ended on a good note. He then got a nice linament bath :)

No ride today. It reached the 90's! Too hot fora  horse that has been used to 70's or lower the past
few weeks. Riding tomorrow though :)

-Emily and Jet