Truthful Tuesday

New England Equitation Championships are this week/weekend, which means today is warm up day! But I'm not there. Wahhhhh. So today's confession is that I'm feeling pretty sad to be missing finals this year. Especially since it's ridiculously warm here this week and that's totally Jamp's weather. Double WAAAHHHH!!!! And the saddest part? That means I don't get one of those amazing chocolate covered apples they sell there... Maybe I should take a ride up there this weekend, just for an apple....
In an attempt to not be a total negative Nancy, I shall end this post with some nice photos of us looking like we know what we're doing:

Anything you need to confess today? Let's chat in the comments!

New England Medal Finals: Show Day!

I show in the middle age group at New England Finals. This year, that meant my open class would have our course walk at 1 and our finals class would start around 3. I went in the second section of the open class, and 31st in the order. Plenty of time to get ready! And also, that meant I could feed Jamp at his normal breakfast time of 7:30. Woohoo, sleeping in at the horse show!
Once Jamp was fed, I wandered up to the ring to take a look at the older course and get some much needed coffee. Our course would be different than the one in the ring, but you can at least get an idea for how some of the lines might ride.

I watched a few people ride, then headed back to the barn to give Jamp a little lunge. He was a little freshy pants! Which was good, let him get that out on the lunge line! I figured I should braid him next so I could be sure he was all ready to go on time.

FORTY BRAIDS! That's so many... 

Since I went so late in the order in the second section, I was able to watch a few riders tackle the course. It seemed pretty straight forward, and I was feeling pretty good about things.

My trainer hopped on Jampy first and gave him a good warm up. By the time I got on, he was pretty much all ready to go! I jumped a few fences and then it was my turn! My only goal for this class was to get Jamp acclimated to the ring. He generally isn't very comfortable the first time around, and is quite certain there are monsters hiding in every flower pot. The trip actually started out really well. One to two were fine. From fence 2 to 3, the best rides were doing 6. I got a little careful and did seven strides, but it worked out nicely. Since it was a bending line, you can get away with a different number as long as it's smooth. Next up was the outside line which was oxer to oxer in three strides. I jumped in a little slow, so pushed Jamp forward to make the three strides. Problem was, I didn't get him back fast enough, and went right past jump 6 which should have been a bending four strides away. Oops. So we made a circle to get back to it, and the rest of the course was quite nice.
So obviously, you really don't want to have a stop at finals, even if it is just in the warm up. But I really wasn't that worried about it. It was a pilot error, and other than that, the course went great. Jamp was relaxed and listening, and that's really all we wanted out of that practice round.
I had plenty of time to untack Jamp and get him settled back into his stall before I had to walk the finals course.

That turn from 1 to 2 looked a bit tricky! The only other element that might be problematic for Jamp was the turn from 4B to 5A. I wanted to be neat and turn in between fence 2 and 8, but I knew he would be staring at the flowers that were next to each of those jumps. My trainer and I discussed exactly where I needed to be looking to keep him from swapping his leads through that gap. The rest seemed pretty straightforward. I had time to watch a couple people go before heading back to get on. I was 41st in the order.
This time when Jamp came out to warm up, he was feeling a little stiff behind. But thankfully he worked out of it quickly. He schooled great, so we tried not to do too much. Just in case something was brewing in his back end. He jumped really well though, so we figured he was ok.
We walked into the ring and I gave Jampy a little rub on the neck to help him relax. We picked up a great canter and found fence 1 right out of stride. The turn to fence two came up quickly, but worked out perfectly, and we were able to get the six this time to jump 3. 4A-B worked out great, and then we were up to that gap we had to canter through. Jamp shortened his step a little and got a little looky, but he stayed on his lead and we found 5A right out of stride!

Next up was an inside turn to fence 6. That turn was a little rushed, but we found a nice distance and rode to fence 7 smoothly. The last turn back to fence 8 was tight, and I found the quiet distance, but it worked out nicely. And we were done!
I was SO PROUD of my Jamposaur! He marched around like a real horse, with no naughty antics like last year. He never once seemed nervous at the fences and really listened to what I asked of him. Unfortunately, I must have made a mistake that I can't remember because we only scored a 63. My trainer even went to the in-gate keeper to double check that was correct. She thought for sure it should have been a 73. I kind of thought so too, as I really can't think of any major errors. I even watched the video and am still a little perplexed. But you never know, they judges must have seen something!
So we finished up out of the ribbons this time, but I'm really happy with our trip to finals this year. We accomplished our goals, and I felt like I really rode my horse well around the course. Trainer thought so too, and her opinion matters more to me anyway!

New England Medal Finals Bound... or how to survive when nothing goes to plan.

I'm back! Sorry for the radio silence last week, but it was hectic. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably didn't miss much though! When we left off last week, I was still trying to decide which horse to bring as my alternate.

Huey

Cara (she's really not grumpy, she just didn't think she looked photo worthy)

Last weekend I had two lessons on Cara, one on Huey, and one on Jamp. I finally decided that Cara would be my alternate. And also that I'm too old for four lessons in two days. I slept like a rock Sunday night!

I worked a half day on Monday, and then went home to work Jamp and finish getting things ready for the show. Once I was done in my barn, I headed over to my trainer's to pick up Cara. All went smoothly. We packed her stuff into the trailer, as well as a couple bales of hay (she's allergic to certain hay, so best to bring what she's used to). Then we walked Cara into the trailer, kicked the goats out of the trailer (trainer has two baby mini goats, they are hilarious!), and we were ready to head back to my farm. AND that's where things started to go wrong. I hopped into the truck, turned the key, and... nothing. Bruce wouldn't start! Bad Bruce.
It was at that moment I decided to only bring Jamp. Assuming I could get there at all. So we unloaded Cara, all of her things, and the hay. Trainer's hubs opened the hood, and discovered a corroded battery. He cleaned it up for me, and Bruce started right up! He said though, that it was probably a bad battery, and I should have it looked at before leaving for the show. Heard that loud and clear! So Bruce, the trailer, and I headed for home without Cara. As I was driving home, the radio shut off. Then the lights dimmed... I was PRAYING I'd make it home without losing brakes or steering or anything vital. Thankfully I made it.

The repair guy arrived around 6 and got to work checking the batteries. When I explained what had gone on, he said it's probably the alternator. And that's not something they can fix in the field. Or that night. Of course not. So then this had to happen:

I had so much angst. SO MUCH ANGST! We have a company truck that is also an F350 and has a ball in the bed for my goose neck trailer, so I figured worst case, I should be able to use that. But I was waiting until 9 am on Tuesday to figure that out. That would be when I'd have more information on Bruce's status.

At nine I found out that the shop was having trouble getting the part I needed. Of course. Why would it be easy? So I called my dad at work and filled him in on the current status of the situation. He asked our dispatcher about using the other truck, but turns out the ball was frozen folded down so it was not going to work as a substitute. Poop. BUT the good news was that my coworker could run to the Ford dealer near work and get the parts Bruce needed AND drive them to the shop. I really have good people in my life. Not only did he do that for me, but he waited for the truck until it was ready and dropped it off at my house! By noon! Yay!
Jamp and I pulled into the show grounds with plenty of time to get in the ring and school. I decided to unpack the trailer, but not set up until after we did our warm up. Best to get the important things done first! Jampy schooled GREAT! Which I really needed... The angst was starting to catch up with me!

Once I had him all cleaned up and settled into his stall, I got to work setting up the grooming stall. It was kind of nice having Cara's stall for a feed stall too.

Jampy supervised:

Surprisingly, despite all the bumps in the road, I made it to the hotel by around 6 to check in and get cleaned up. I stay at the Hampton Inn every year, and I have to tell you, it's such a nice one! They even had free pizza!

mmmm pizza....

I grabbed a shower, and then went for a more substantial dinner than the piece of free pizza I shoved in my face. After that, I headed back to tuck Jamp in for the evening. I rounded out my crazy day with a stop at the dollar store... Why yes, I DID forget to pack a hairbrush. Fortunately the dollar store had plenty to choose from. And candy... and more candy. And some snacks. I love the dollar store.
I pretty much fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow that night! Stop by later to find out how the big day went!

Truthful Tuesday

It's been a CRAZY weekend around these parts. And my confession today is that I'm probably going to be quite late in my other posts this week. I'm hopefully off to Medal Finals this morning, and I may not have the time to put together a proper What's Up Wednesday recap or a Thursday's Threads. But time will tell.
Why do I say hopefully off to finals? Because this happened Monday evening....

That's Bruce, the truck that hauls my trailer. I'll fill you in on the whole story when I do my finals recap. Assuming I get there. If not, it will be part of the belated What's Up Wednesday. Don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks. We're thinking it's just an alternator and battery situation.
Anything you need to confess this week? Let's talk about it in the comments!

What's Up Wednesday!

Well it's crunch time for medal finals.... So pretty much everything I do is revolving around horses. And work. But mostly horses. Sadly, I don't have much media to share from the past weekend. Hopefully I'll do better this weekend!
Jampy has been pretty fantastic of late.... I'm not sure why really, but I hope he keeps it up! I schooled him over jumps Thursday and Sunday. Both days went well, but Sunday he was really great. Very soft and was listening to everything I asked.

I know the photos are terrible. They're from Thursday and it was already getting dark out! Also, I grabbed them from video... so there's that.

You all remember Huey right? This guy:

Well, his owner wanted to take him to the Nona Garson clinic happening nearby last Saturday, but she doesn't jump anymore. She invited me to ride in the jumping portion of the clinic after she did the flat. It would be silly to say no to that! So obviously I jumped at the opportunity. For my non horsey and/or non hunter/jumper readers, Nona was a member of the US Olympic Show Jumping Team in 2000. She's a very accomplished rider, with many big wins under her belt.
Saturday morning was CRISP to say the least. The temps went from low 80's on Friday to low 50's. Brrr. And WINDY! But it was the perfect setting to see how Huey would behave away from his farm, especially in unsavory conditions. I'm not gonna lie... I was relieved to not be riding first. But as it turns out, Huey really could care less about new places, cold, nor wind. Quite a difference from Jamp! It was kind of refreshing to actually be able to focus on the task at hand rather than worry about what might be spooky.
 I'm sorry I don't have any photos from the clinic, but it was a lot of fun. I'm not sure I walked away with a ton of new information or things to work on, but Nona did reiterate the same things my trainer tells me. So I guess I already know what to keep practicing! Namely, I need to be looser through my elbows when approaching the jumps. I tend to get a little stiff through my arms when I see a distance I need to shorten our step for. Must stop doing that!

Sunday morning I went over to my trainer's farm to try one of her jumpers as another possible alternate for finals. This horse is a mare, also tall like Huey, but not as round. Her name is Cara. Here she is with my trainer winning the $10,000 Welcome Stake in VT in 2014:

Probably more scope than I need to jump around the New England Medal, huh? Cara is REALLY EASY to ride. If she isn't sold by this winter, I may actually try and head to WEF and do her in some adult jumpers.
My lesson with Cara went great. I had jumped her once last year, and had a tough time staying with her in the air. But I must be stronger this year, because that was less of an issue. She listens so well, I was actually able to be softer through my arms without even consciously thinking about it. The one possible negative toward using her for finals is that she does sometimes swap her leads in front of the fences. Not a problem in the jumper ring, but it's a pretty big mistake for an equitation class.
I'm hoping to have a lesson this weekend on Huey with my trainer since she hasn't seen me on him yet. Then she and I will decide which horse should be my alternate.
I'm pretty lucky to have these options! Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself if this is real life. I'm so grateful that I get to sit on such amazing horses. They are so far out of my budget, it's really special to me.

Rio has been hanging around happily as per usual. That leg of his is still swollen, but it does seem to be improving. They are getting fall vaccinations tomorrow, so I'll have the vet take a look while he's at the farm. Hopefully it's just a splint. Fingers crossed.

And yes, this guy is still here too:

Good thing he's that cute. I'm so frustrated with him!
The puggers are a bit annoyed with me since we haven't been able to fit in much play time outdoors. These already shorter days are the WORST! We miss summer! Thankfully, they have been getting in plenty of nap time:

In other news... I'm sure you've gotten your fill of lunar eclipse photos, but I have to share the ones my brother took:

I stuck them all together in a collage, so the quality is probably lacking, but they really were incredible shots. I have no fancy camera equipment, and I definitely couldn't get photos with the iphone! Thanks bro!

Saturday night, I met up with a bunch of friends and we went to a local fair. It was a ZOO! SO many people. I forgot they have a fairly major headline band (this year was Martina McBride) and that concert is always on Saturday night. There was a lot of trying to find each other throughout the night, as it was easy to get separated, but it was tons of fun! I ate lots of terrible food, pet some moo cows and llamas, and was just generally happy to be out doing something with friends. (I need to get out more!)

Pardon my 15 layers... it was freezing!

That's pretty much all I've been up to this week. What's up with you?!

What's Up Wednesday!

Sorry for the super late post! Today was Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. And how do we atone you ask? By sitting through a three hour morning service, fasting since sundown yesterday (seriously, no food NOR water!), then more synagogue. Only I'm not a very well behaved religious practitioner, so I skipped the last service and had a lovely break fast with my family instead. The lack of sustenance made it impossible to blog until I'd been fed. I had the hanger. No one wants to read hangry words!

Not a whole lot really happened this week with my kids, short or tall. Jampy has been GREAT! Even in the dark. (I miss long summer days SO MUCH!)

Rio somehow managed to injure his right front leg.... again. Since he's retired that doesn't mean much other than that he gets wrapped. I'm going to have the vet take a look next week when they get shots. Hopefully he'll be better soon. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. Always something with that boy!

And the Duck... I'm really disappointed to announce that he's reverted back to the stationary hony. I've put all the time and money I'm willing to into him already, so I don't think I'll be riding him anymore. I have a family member with a farm out in the midwest and I'm trying to see if he can go live out there. He'll have a good life there, safe from ending up in an unfortunate circumstance, and he won't have to work. Which seems to be what he wants. It's really disappointing after having a really great summer with him.

even the western spurs couldn't get him to move forward!

Life's been pretty fantastic for the short kids. It's a lot cooler out, so they can enjoy more walks!

And naps:

On Sunday, I went and tried my neighbor's pre-green horse. I may take him with me to New England Medal Finals as a back up in case Jamp decides he's going to be too nervous to compete (like last year...) This is Huey!

I am SUPER RUSTY when it comes to riding horses other than my own. Like SUPER SUPER RUSTY. Things started out ok since I'm pretty good flatting strangers. And the first few jumps were fine too. But then I jumped the first line... It was a four stride, a little forward since it was our first line. I jumped in and legged him forward, but the fourth stride was pretty far away from the jump! Huey jumped anyway, and I was so left behind! Ooops. Thankfully he has a sense of humor. I came back and did it much better the next time. We jumped a few little courses, then added in the five stride across the diagonal. My neighbor put the oxer out of the line up to 3' since that's what we'll be jumping at finals. Well... we didn't make it down there in five. But again Huey left anyway. He didn't quite make it this time, taking the back rail (standards and all) down and stumbling on landing. Somehow, we both managed to stay upright thankfully. We tried that again and got it right the next time. But sheesh! Talk about feeling inadequate. I feel badly for torturing that poor horse! He's a good guy and didn't seem to take it personally though. I'm going to ride him again after work on Friday. Saturday Huey's mom and I are sharing the ride on him at a Nona Garson clinic. She's going to do the flat portion and I'll do the jumping part. Hopefully we'll get our kinks worked out! Sunday I'm going to ride my trainer's jumper who is my other option for a finals back up horse. Lots of riding in my future!

Well that's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you?

Long awaited New England Finals Post

In all honesty, I pretty much forgot I hadn't written this post. Sorry about that! Obviously it wasn't such an exciting event that I couldn't wait to tell you about it... Ha!
Anyway, the New England Equitation Championships are always held in the middle of October. Us older folk show during the week, and the weekend is dedicated to the junior riders. On the one hand it's annoying to have to take so much time off from work, on the other hand... TIME OFF WORK! Woohoo!

Jampy all ready to head to the show!

My classes were held on Wednesday, but Tuesday they allow you to jump a simple course in the ring to practice. So Jampy and I headed up there Tuesday morning to get settled and take our turn in the arena.
It was a little stressful upon our arrival as the office was confused about who I wanted to stable near. Thus, they didn't give me stalls. Ugh. Jampy needs his hotel! That was worked out fairly quickly though, and I was able to get everything unloaded and set up. I was clearly a bit out of sorts as this is how I put the chair together:

Oops

My trainer arrived around 12:30 and at 1 we were able to get in the ring to practice. It's a very simple course with none of the "fill" in the jumps. Fill is the flowers and decorations that make the horses think they're scary.

Warmups went well, and it was almost like a vacation having only one horse to take care of! All my tack was cleaned and Jampy was bathed, fed, and tucked in by 5.

I had a nice relaxing evening. It consisted of checking into the hotel, dinner at Panera, night check, and an early bed time!

I was spoiled this year with the oldest group scheduled to show first. That meant I could get to the barn around 7:30 to feed, watch some horses show, and still have plenty of time to lunge and braid Jamp.

My trainer got on him first to make sure he was listening and give him a little tune-up before my open class. He seemed a little excited, but not terrible.
This was my course (sorry it's a little blurry!)

The course was pretty simple, the toughest part being the bending line early on. You couldn't really see the second jump of the line until after landing from the first, so you have to guess a little at how far away it is. Otherwise though, I felt pretty confident about this practice class. Until I actually started riding it. Jamp decided he was WILD! Or maybe that he was showing in a very important jumper class... Regardless, his plan was to go AS FAST AS HE COULD around the course. That my friends, is NOT the objective of this class. Not at all. Ugh. But really it was ok, because this class was meant to get the kinks out.
We let Jamp go back in his stall for a little while so I could learn the next course and walk it.

The finals course really looked straight forward to me. I was feeling pretty confident about working this one out, as long as Jamp changed his mind about traveling at the speed of light. To assist him in that, my trainer rode him around a bit and gave him a little bit of a physical pep talk. When I got on to school, he felt SO MUCH BETTER! Phew! I couldn't wait for my turn in the ring to redeem myself. Well my friends. This was not my finals. Nope. I walked in the ring, picked up my canter, thought "this feels so much better!", and headed to the first jump. Jamp looked at it from 5 strides away and decided the flowers next to it were definitely of the horse eating variety. He declined to jump it. Grrr. As I felt this happening, I had two choices: Cowgirl him over it, or accept the denial, and try again. Either way, my chances were done. I chose to circle back to it and try again. He jumped it with a little extra coaxing. The rest of the round was ok. He was still pretty strong, but he jumped everything willingly at least. We did manage to get some cute pictures from Reflections Photography, so all was not lost!

So sadly, that's my unsuccessful recap of finals this year. It was rather similar to CT finals this year. Hopefully next year will be our year! (Hey, you can't win them all!)