Back Field Adventure

So yesterday I rode Jet through a neighbors yard, down through the trails, and into a few fields that have side trails and loop around back into the field. We walked the first field once so I could see where the holes/rocks were and then we picked up a trot. We trotted around the field once then moved to the second field. We trotted down one of the side paths and as we came back into the field, I saw a person. I said, "Hello!" Then I said it again a little louder. No answer. They had a heltmet for ATV riding on but no ATV. They saw me, then started running into the woods. I got freaked out and turned around and booked it back towards my house! (This is someone else's house that they let us ride in by the way) We galloped through a field, over a small stick that Jet jumped (I'm so glad he now watches where he is going!!) through another field, then back into the trail home. Not one buck, not one kick out to the side, not one bad or odd step. His ears were perked the entire time and he wanted to go go go! We walked back home then did a little work in the ring. He was perfect. Gotta love him (:

-Emily and Jet

Time off

The past week has been rain, rain, rain rain, and a little more RAIN. So I haven't ridden since Last Friday...but he has been lunged 3 times during the week and I have been working with him on bowing and he is getting very good at it!

Some of my State Line Tack order came in yesterday! I got a leather bracelet with a gold plaque that has Jet & Biscuit engraved on it. I also got fly spray. The other part should be here soon and that would be wormer, a hunter green crochet ear net, a blue ear net with tansels, and two packages of treats. Thank for the gift card Mimi and Grandpa!

Updates after our ride today!
-Emily and Jet Star

An Interesting Week

Sunday I went to HHF with Mom and we had a great time! w/t/c and a few jumps on Jet then a few on Elsa.

Monday I went by myself with Jet. We did w/t/c and jumping but he was a little freaked out being alone so we only did a few and called it a day. He was bucky and not happy alone. We ended on a good note (a perfect line!)

Tuesday was a much needed day off...it also thundered and lightninged....

Wednesday...Jacqie needed to take pics for her photography class so I brought Jet over again...alone. BAD mistake. He was not happy at all and I knew it from the second we got out there. I tried to work him through it and he got to the point where he was content and listening. Then we started jumping. I never should have jumped and I regret it. He was not comfortable and did not want to jump and I could feel it but pushed him anyways..I'm such a bad horse owner...We did a lot of jumping...had a lot of refusals and bucks, but a few perfect jumps. I decided that we just aren;t ready to start jumping about crossrails yet and I am going to go back to flat work for the rest of June. after June I will ONLY do crossrails until next year. Well, unless we go on a hunter pace and there is a little log...that's not technically a crossrail but nothing over 18".. I don't want to push him more than he is comfartable. If it turns out he doesn't like jumping, then we will try other things until he finds what he likes. I personally think he would love hunter paces...but only time will tell. Anyways, Wednesday was not a productive day at all and I was disappointed in myself for not listening to what my horse was telling me. Lesson learned.

Thursay I brought him up to the ring to brush him. We started out on the lawn but he decided it was fun to move away from me and make brushing difficult so we went in the ring instead. I finished brushing him and then when I went to go get the fly spray, he ran away. So it turned into a lunging lesson. He let out several HUGE bucks and he was happily galloping along whish was nice to see since I though I overworked him the day before. Obvioudly he was full of energy and not stiff at all. I finally caught him and took him for a cool down walk around the street.

Today Mom and I went to HHF again. Just to go on a trail ride. We had a blast! Lots of trotting on the trails and a canter around a field. Then Abby hopped on Elsa and I walked with her. We moved down to the jumping field where the footing was better to actually work a bit on flat work. He was really good w/t but he bucked twice when cantering... I am not sure if it is because he is being a pill or if there is something wrong. When the vet comes out I am going to ask her about it. Hopefuly he was just full of himself and giving me a hard time! It was a great day, he was a fabulous boy and we had an amazing time!

Possibly going to HHF again tomorrow?

-Emily and Jet

Redesigned!

As you can see, the page has been redone and minor adjustments will continue to be made. I will be adding links, more pages, photo albums, etc.. so check back soon!
Sunday and Monday I went to HHF again. I went with Elsa and Mom on Sunday for a nice trail ride then a bit of jumping afterwards. We galloped on the trails aswell as trotting, tons of fun! Monday I went by myself. I worked more in the indoor, then went to the jumping field to go over a few jumps. He was silly at first but settled down a bit. It was his first time being there alone so he was very nervous. He also thought there was something in the woods which we agreed there was. He was getting a bit obnoxious after he saw something in the woods, not out of control but just more playful than he ever has been. He bucked! More than once! He was tellign me that he was DONE! So we did a bending line and ended on a really good note. His jumping skills improved 1000% this weekend! He only had 2 or 3 awkward jumps yesterday. I was so proud! I also did a course of 5 jumps yesterday with him. I think he liked it. His ears were up and he was enjoying himself. When we go to the jumps, he is much comfortable cantering to it. It helps him pick a spot (well, help me help him pick the spot) so he wouldn;t take it long and awkward.

Overall, it was a great weekend! He also got a bath, ate lots of grass, was spoiled and now has a well deserved day off today (:

-Emily and Jet

Ride at HHF with Mary-Kate

We jumped today! He was awkward to a few of them, refused a few, but the future is looking bright :) (these were our good moments, we have MANY more bad ones, LOL!)

And so did Mary-Kate and Katie! (Their first time over a jump with an obstacle like this underneath and their first 2'3" jump!)

And then like we always do, we went on a trail ride!

The pretty boy!

Videos Posted from show!

Please go to the bottom of the last post. I edited it to include links of the videos! It's not on a different post just so later down the road I only have to go to one to see all videos and pictures from this show (: Thanks!

Updates...No riding today (WAY too hot) but I did brush him, take him out for grass, and worked on his bowing. Now if I hold a treat and tap the back of his knee he lifts his leg, moves it forward, keeps it bent and lowers his head! Not a full bow, but he is learning what the word and aid for it is!

Hobby Horse Farm Show- 5/23. I cried.

Today was an amazing day. An AMAZING day. The show started an hour late but we got there when we planned to if the day was going to run like it was supposed to. We brough Jet and Mary-kate and her horse Katie (both Standardbreds!!). We thought she was going to just do the trail so we wanted to get tehre before it closed at noon. Flat classes ended up not starting until about 12:30 so Mary-Kate ended up showing in Green Horse with me :) Ofcourse...it was one of the LAST classes of the day. Oh joy. So we had 2+ hours to wait. We brought the horses down to the jumping field to watch the last few jumping classes, let them calm down, brush them, and let them eat some grass. We watched a few of our friends jump in classes and warm-ups (check out their blogs at http://www.dumbandbay.blogspot.com/ and http://www.huntertobe.blogspot.com/ ) They did really well! Congrats guys! Then we tacked up and warmed up during the lunch break. We still had 90min+ to our classes so we put them back on the trailer to munch on hay. Our extremelyyyy kind instructor let us put the horses in stalls that weren't being used so they weren't on the trailer for a long time. After a while, we went back in a brushed them and tacked up and wamred up for about 3 minutes before our class. He was a complete dofus. He was bolting, not listening, and even reared... I thought we were doomed. But then our class was called...and we entered the ring... and something clicked. He was AMAZING. Perfect. Listening 100%, on the bit more than he has ever been before...he felt great! We ended up with 2nd in Pleasure, 2nd in Equitations, 1ST IN DISCIPLINE RAIL! Yes. FIRST! When I hearrd that we won, I started crying, I was so happy! This was the first blue ribbon I have won with my boy...<3 Green Horse Champions (:

Mary-Kate did AMAZING with Katie aswell! She got 4th in Equitation, 2nd in discipline rail, and 1st in Pleasure! She tied for Reserve but since she placed lower in Eq, the other girl got reserve =/ Oh well, they were still amazing!

-Emily and Jet

EDITED to announce that the videos are now online!Green Horse Pleasure

Green Horse Pleasure Placing

Green Horse Equitation

Green Horse Equitation Placing

Green Horse Discipline Rail

Green Horse Discipline Rail Placing

Horse Show tomorrow!

Jet and I will be competing in the Green Horse division at the Hobby Horse Farm horse show tomorrow. Wish us luck! Update to come after the show...

Show. Hopefully.

This Sunday there is a horse show at HHF> If the floor in our trailer is done by then, we will be going! YAY!

Update...we have been working on crossrails this past week. He LOVES cantering to them at odd angles... no idea why but he does! You can definately tell that he likes cantering the fences more than trotting them. He also likes to jump on the high side instead of the middle ;) Silly horse! I put a low vertical up with scary halloween decorations underneath and around it. He refused it a couple of timws but if I really focused on the jump and keeping him between my legs, he went over it no problem! Those crossrails though....those are his favorites! Videos to come soon (:

-Emily and Jet

Videos!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=122364891117452&ref=mf

Trail Ride!!

Here is the pretty boy before the ride:

Trotting around the field:

Wow, he is actually listening! See what it can do? lol

Listening ended:

Taking a walking break:

Cantering!

(This is his bad way)

Grrr, wish the big cement thing wasn't there :(

Pretty Boy!

The trail ride was a blast! I went with my Mom (who rode Elsa) for a birthday present for her (Hapy b-day mom!) Elsa was a pill on the trails so mom had to dismount and walk her there. She settled down though. She only did walk trot and as you can see, I did w/t/c. I was so proud of him! I only asked for a few seconds of collection during the ride. It was more about having fun than working. I had a great time! We crossed a river, jumped a log, and cantered!

Post more later...

-Emily

Sorry for being MIA!

Time for much needed updates...

May 9th we had another show at Haskins...this one wasn't as great as the last. It was cold, windy, and the footing in the ring was deep and wet. We showed in the outdoor ring this time, the one with the scary corner. First thing I did with him was walk him, in hand, in the ring. He spooked at that corner every time I went by it. I hopped on for warmup and 3 minutes later, an announcement was made to exist the ring. Greaat. Didn't get to really warm up. So we went to another ring to warmp up a bit. He was doing wonderfully in that ring so we walked back to wait for our class.

Every class went the same for him. He was fast, spooky, and not really listening. There were 7 people in our classes. Most horses were not green....at all... which really bugged me. They could have easily gone into the walk trot division and swept up there. But since tehre were more horses in the ring, it was a good experience for Jet. Let me remind you that every puddle looked like a horse-eatting monster and there was the scary corner. Overall, I was proud that he didn't do anything too obnoxious. The more places we go, the quieter he will be.

One of our only good moments:

A beautiful picture on my boy (not me at all) by Matt Francis:

Third place in Discipline Rail:

Basically how the rest of our day went:

We got 7th in Eq and Pleasure since he spooked both times, 3rd in Discipline rail and 2nd in trail!

-Emily and Jet

Race History

These are the payouts for the three races that he won. Ohhh Jet! He definately wasn't the favorite!

Race: 3 7/14/04                                        Win    Place   Show


1st      5    DELPHI'S SPECTATOR      16.80   11.60   5.80

2nd     9    KATIEGOFAST                                 9.00   5.20

3rd    10   WONDERING CHILD                                 8.40

4th      8    SIS'S PADRE

$2 Exacta 5-9 123.20

$2 Trifecta 5-9-10 3486.40

$2 Superfecta 5-9-A-A 476.00

Refunds: None

$2 Pick 3 2,7/10/5 3 of 3 138.00



Race: 3 8/26/04                                     Win    Place    Show

1st     8    DELPHI'S SPECTATOR     49.00   20.00    9.20

2nd    9    NORFOLK                                       8.00    4.40

3rd     5   CROWNING CATCH                               15.60

4th     3    PERFECT DIVIDEND

$2 Exacta 8-9 372.60

$2 Trifecta 8-9-5 3767.20

$2 Superfecta 8-9-A-A 3628.20

Refunds: None

$2 Pick 3 1/1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9/8 3 of 3 92.20



Race: 9 5/30/05                                       Win    Place   Show

1st    6    DELPHI'S SPECTATOR       10.20    5.20    2.40

2nd   4    MARC MY SPEED                           9.60     3.60

3rd   5    VICTOR V                                                    3.00

4th   2    SIGNAL HILL IRIS

$2 Exacta 6-4 80.20

$2 Trifecta 6-4-5 254.80

$2 Superfecta 6-4-5-2 999.80

Refunds: None

Cold. Wind. Rain. SNOW? Gotta love New England

So the past few days have felt like winter. It was freezing outside! I had to blanket the boys! IT was also rainy...with a few flurries of snow here and there that never hit the ground, but still...SNOW? Umm...Mother Nature, it is the end of April. Thankyouverymuch.

Monday I gave Jet the day off because we worked a lot on Sunday! W/t/c and jumping! We set up a vertical this time and he did it wonderfully! He didn't refuse once! We are definately getting somewhere. When we start jumping, he gets excited and to the right he forgets how to slow down, wait, and bend....something to work on.

Tuesday it was rainy..

Wednesday we did flat work. It was windy and cooler than normal. He was definately feeling the weather! We have started to do walk, one trot lap, then canter a bit to let him stretch out. He likes this alot and works soooo much better afterwards. It definately allows him to stretch out and have fun! Our left lead is definately easier to pick up and maintain. He is more balanced in that direction and pushes more from his hind end. To the right....it sorta falls apart. He races around and leans in. This is because he is unbalanced I think. We will work on it. His transitions are getting better though! Once we start cantering he is very eager to go again. Once we do it once, the transitions are better since he knows what I am asking. It also helps him when I use voice commands. If we cantered and he is ready to gallop off, I just say, "Easy...trot!" and he never bolts. He just merrily goes along at a nice trot. Our ride was short, but productive.

Today was a longgggg ride. A bit of everything. We combined everything that we did from the past week or so and put it into one ride. We worked on everything from flat, jumping, bending, our pace, etc. and he did fantastically! We had a LOT of walking breaks inbetween everything because I am not the type of person to work my horse for an hour and a half straight of just galloping and jumping. Jet is still green and I want everything to be a positive experience for him. We cantered in both directions. He did really well both directions but the left lead needs more work than the right. He was asking for the bit when we trotted. It was so nice to  have him reaching underneath himself! Jumping went REALLY well. He actually tucked up for about half of the jumps! I love my boy<3

Friday was a day off. I was just too tired to do anything. Ohwell... this weekend is supposed to be nice so I can ride both days!

-Em and Jet

Much Overdue Update

So Sunday, April 18th, we went ot the Haskins 4-h and Open Horse show. He was all braided and clean for once (:

We got there and I signed up and got ready. We bridled him in the trailer so we wouldn't have to worry about him escaping. He was definately interested in everything around him and a little spookier than normal. We gave him a brush and headed over to the warm up arena. As soon as I got on he was ready to go! I made him walk for a few times around before picking up the trot. And then....it started to rain....uggh!
After I was content with the way he was going, I brought him up to the in-gate to await our first class, equitation. We got in the ring first and we walked around a bit. The footing was a lot more different than he is used to. It was a nice, rubber footing. There was also a mirror on one side of the ring and every time we went by it he looked at himself. Silly boy!

Anyways, our equitation class was good. He was fast and not really listening to my aids to help him bend and collect but I honestly wasn't expecting that. We ended up third in the class. The judge went around after the class and gave everyone tips. He said that overall my equitation was great except my hands were too unsteady, which I knew because I was doing tons of half halts, so I was pleased to hear that I already knew my mistake.

As the day went on, he calmed down. Our pleasure class was ok. A gorgeous western paint spooked right infront of us and stopped, so we broke from the trot. The horse was gorgeous but just couldn't keep the jog. Somehow they placed second in the class...we ended up with fifth. I knew pleasure was going to be our worst class since this was his second show ever and the first show at this place.

After pleasure we did trail...which was interesting to say the least. First were four trot poles. I knew those would be difficult since he has been having trouble figuring out where his feet are. He did ok. He got over all of them at the trot. It was awkward, but we did it. The first time we tried it he buldged out of the way so we had two attempts at that. Next we had to pick up an item and place it back. We did that perfectly. We then had to back up through an L. I was feeling ok about this but he really surprised me. He did it PERFECTLY without taking one step outside of the L. I was so proud! Next in line were weaving poles...oh boy. We never tried that before... The reins got caught in my stirrup (I need shorter reins) and I lost my stirrup half way through but I continued the cones and he listened to me. They were extremely sloppy and I messed up which threw him off. After the cones, we had to walk over a pole. No problem there. Last but not least was a step up box. We walked right up to it and his foot hit it and he was like, "Oh! There was something there?" So I turned him around and tried it again and he did it no problem. We placed 4th in trail.

Our last class was discipline rail. It is basically a command class where you don't get "out" if you don't follow the command. You get judged on how well you execute the given commands. He was SUCH a good boy in this class! I thought we should have won it. Our transitions were amazing, our backup was perfect, and we never moved a step during the halts. We ended up seconds though...but I'm proud of that!

We are currently 3rd in our division! Woohoo!

Our next show will be May 9th, at Haskins. Then we will be doing the HHF show on the 23rd and Abby is bringing Elsa

That's all for now!

-Emily and Jet

I found the laptop!

Mom has been talking about how she made a blog for me. I wasn't sure what that was but it sounded pretty cool since it was about me. She said she wrote about our rides and stuff. Well, I think that is boring and I wanted to tell you about some other stuff. She left the laptop out in my reach so I decided to find this blog thing.

Hello! I look a bit funny here...

So basically...Mom has been riding me everyday since Sunday. It hasn't been easy work either! She is making me work muscles that I didn't even know I have! Oh Mother. When she isn't riding me, she is usually brushing me (I love getting curried in ym scritchy spot!), feeding me cookies, or just snuggling with me....or the other thing. I don't really know why she likes the other one so much. He doesn't do much. I guess he drives but he gets scared. I would rather have Mom loving me than the other thing that I guess I call....my brother...

That's him.

He does have a name...Biscuit...but I would rather call him the other one for now. We aren't really good friends when Mom is around because we both want her attention but when she isn't around we get along...ok.

So a few years ago when Mom first brought me home from the track, Grandma has a pyscho reader person talk to me. She asked me all of these questions that Grandma wanted to know about. I told her a few things...I like the dogs. I think they are part of my family. I see them enough so they might aswell be. I know my mouth is a bit funny (I am missing a ton of teeth on my bottom jaw...) but I don't like when people look in my mouth. You know what't in there and I do to so we can leave it alone. I want to be a Western horse too. I think it would be pretty cool. And they go slow, which I love to do too! When I got here, Elsa told me what would happen is I did this or that. For example, if I walked up to the humans and snuggle with them they will give me cookies! I love cookies!

Mom also said something about a Horse Show? I don't know what she plans to show me because I already have seen everything aroudn the street. Maybe she will show another horse that because I think ti would be rather boring. Well, now that I think about it....Mom said I went to a Schooling Show a couple of weeks ago. I don't like the idea of school that humans have to go to but I liked being able to go toa  new place and show off infront of other horses. Maybe that's what she's talking about!

Uh-oh. Mother is coming so I have to go. She might have cookies!

-Jet

This is what happened today :) Details tomorrow!

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

Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I will post about things that have been going on later today. I promise!