Weekends are for rest.. kinda ha!

Saturday Henry just got turned out. I had miss Bayley since hubby was working.

Sunday I wanted to ride but for some reason was SO tired and was able to get in an hour nap, house cleaning, laundry and dinner with the hubby and daughter. So after dinner we turned Henry out, cleaned his stall and automatic water (nasty!), chased Bayley around and grained.

Henry got a nice relaxing weekend!

Monday hack, Tuesday hack, Wednesday trainer ride, Thursday lesson, Friday trainer ride, Saturday lesson.

Hello leg workout

Last night we started our lesson out in the big arena... any by big I mean this thing is BIG... 200x325. This pictures doesn't do it justice but you get the idea...








So we used half of it at the beginning and then once we started cantering we we all the way around.. well I did. My trainer had be get up in a 2 point (hello 2 point challenge) and let Henry go/get him moving. We cantered 8 1/2 (yes I counted) big a** laps around the arena in 2 point and my legs were DYING! I reversed, walked half way around and picked up my canter again (to the right) in you guessed it 2 point. This time I only had to go about 4 times around.. hello jello legs :)

Then we headed up to our arena to jump. Hacked a little to remind the horses we were working and then went back and forth over an X and worked on lead changes after the jump. I was having a hard time because every time we jumped Henry wanted to drop his shoulder and go left... this was exasperated by my outside leg/spur asking for the change. Eventually I was able to keep him to the right with a strong outside rein, inside leg holding him over and outside leg asking for the change... yay for having a trainer to fix the confusion in my head :)

Trainer ride today and hopefully tomorrow.

Oh and Kat and Andy came last night so we know what that means.. pictures! :)

Wednesday May 9th

Trainer ride. I showed up and they were hacking... he was nice and sweaty already as it's HOT outside. Hacked him around, cantered the poll on the ground which he is finally doing w/o the world ending.

On to jumping... they started with this

Then they moved to this

He was good, no stopping... trotted and cantered it both directions and even worked on lead changes.

Lesson Thursday, trainer ride Friday (and a course change thanks to Irene and Lyssette) and hopefully a trainer ride Saturday to make up for missing one last week.

Horse Show PICTURES!

Thanks Kat and Andy :)

Someone save me.. my mom left me! haha

sweaty face!

Super cute pic of Carlos and Henry!

So Serious!

Just keep hacking...

Got out of my meeting early so I went out and hacked Henry which means we might eat dinner tonight before 8 pm AND i'll be able to make dinner!

Back to Henry... it was hot and either of us wanted to do this ride business but it was needed so I got to it.

Tacked up, lunged (didn't last long cause it was hot and he was not high) and rode. The jumps had moved around so he was a little lookie but a few times by them and it was old news :) I had the arena to myself for half the ride, it was nice.

Walked, trotted, sitting trotted, walk to canter, halt from a canter, canter to trot, trot to halt, halt to canter...  you get the idea. He was a little fussy with his head but settled in. I wanted him to stay in the frame and work in the frame through our ride but there is more to be desired there... homework!

Henry got a new fly sheet...

And for good measure a cute picture of Henry :)

Monday 5-7-12

Well I didn't ride... hubbys softball game and him working late put a kink in the plans.

I did get Henry out, lunged, vetrolined and walked him.

Hack tomorrow, trainer ride Wednesday, lesson Thursday, trainer ride Friday and hopefully a trainer ride Saturday :)

Hey Henry- you da man!

So we loaded up and headed off to the show Saturday morning. I was nervous but the conversation in the car kept me mostly distracted. Once we got there and I got to work - it was like I knew it was game time and I was calm, so NOT what I was expecting! I lunged for like 30+ min till he was pooped ha!

Climbed on and went to hacking. He was awesome! There were three rings of classes and three warm up rings. I hacked around in the jumper ring first. He went around like he had been there a million times. Then we walked to the other side of the property and hacked around in one of the hunter rings, again he was awesome! *Side note- it was SO windy*

Then Lyssette and I went around the property (thanks Lyssette and Carlos for babysitting). We hacked some more.

Then we were waiting around and everyone said I should do a class since he was being so good. QUICKLY- I hopped off him, got my coat and shirt, the show bridle and entered the class. We quickly changes him out of our hack stuff and just left the tack that was show ring approved :) It was a world win and I am thankful for all the people who helped me get in the ring in like 5 min flat!

There were 12 or 13 people in my class so I didn't expect to ribbon.. I just wanted him to behave. Which he did minus a little _ ok a lot of head shaking. He wasn't to happy with the bit I threw in his mouth right before going into the ring... we haven't ridden in it is probably 3-4 months.. next time I will make sure to practice in my show bit :)

Anywho NO SPOOKING, NO SCOOTING... such a good boy! I had one oh shit moment when cantering cause there was NO where for me to go so I did a tight circle- oops!

But overall he was awesome! Next show is in the end of June and it's a 2-3 dayer so we will be rock stars by the end of the weekend haha!

I rode for so many hours and I am def sore today! Back to the grind tomorrow.. Henry had today off which I am sure he was greatful for. Hack Monday, Hack Tuesday, Trainer ride Wednesday, Lesson Thursday, Trainer ride Friday and off Saturday.

Here is one picture from Kat and Andy.. hopefully more to come :)

Thanks to Kat and Andy for coming, Paulette for all her help, of course Irene for being and awesome trainer and Lyssette for being and awesome show buddy!

It's Show Time

Thursday I had a lesson. Gotta get in a good ride in pre show :) We jumped and Henry was good. Also worked on getting lead changes after the jumps. Oh and I did my baseline for Sprinkler Bandit's challenge... 3.5 min :)

Today Henry got a trainer ride. They worked on jumping him over the pile of "stuff" in the arena which eventually turned into a decent little jump. It ended up being one wide jump- three sets of standards- and X, vertical, X. Henry jumped it well from a trot but got a bit sticker at the canter. They worked through it and ended well.

After the ride I bathed him and packed for the show.

I've got everything ready at home as well. Meeting at the barn at 7 am tomorrow.

Heres to hoping my nerves stay at bay and Henry is good and not spookie :)

Ok this isn't funny...

Let me back up a second...

Last night we had a good ride. I was SO hungry so it was hard to focus but Henry gave me a good 30 minutes so that was awesome! We just hacked, went through the paces as all I could think about was food :)

Today was supposed to be a trainer ride but something happened and it's no longer. So I went up to take off Henry's sheet and he was out in the pasture with the nettle again! :-/ Yep you guessed it- he rolled and has hives again! This time they were everywhere but where his sheet was HA!

Another dose of Dex for Henry... Ugh!

Trainer ride and lesson for me tomorrow, poor Henry LOL! Trainer ride Friday and show Saturday :)

Hey Henry- that was NOT cool!

He just about gave me a heart attach last night...

I didn't take a lunch yesterday so I could leave early and ride Henry before hubbys softball game. I was on a tight timeline so my head was down and i was focused.

Got Henry, tacked, lunged and rode. I was the only one in the arena so we were on a mission and had the whole arena to use :) They had opened the sliding doors at the other end of the arena (one end is always open, the other end isn't and the sites are fixed walls). We had a few spooks but no blow ups... the moving shadows on the walls were the scariest I guess.

I hacked him around.. worked on straightness per my trainers instruction and transitions/extended trot/bending per my instruction haha!

After riding I groomed Henry and then put him out on the hill to graze while I cleaned up. I went out to grab him and put him away and noticed he was COVERED in hives- I just about freaked out! I quickly called my trainer and dragged him to the barn to see if Laura was still there. Between the two of them they talked and we gave him a shot of something to help counter the reaction. He wasn't fazed by any of this hoopla- curious why I was stressed and why he wasn't in his stall eating his grain.

So I put him back and went to survey the hill where he was- and low and behold he had rolled in stinging nettle. Stinken horse!

Henry isn't allowed out in the stinging nettle anymore!

On that note here is a super cute baby picture of Henry I borrowed from his Canter blog :) Way to cute!!!

Hack tonight, trainer ride Wednesday, lesson Thursday, trainer ride Friday and show Saturday...