What's Up Wednesday

Last week was insane you guys. But somehow I made it through and proceeded to make the weekend a little crazy too. Why not, right?
So we last left off with braiding horses Monday and Tuesday. So that continued for Wednesday and then Thursday too. I wasn't supposed to have any for Thursday, but then I did. So that was a monkey wrench in the week too. But let's back up to Wednesday.
I worked all day Wednesday, went home and hand walked the free loaders at home. Then it was off to Durham to braid two manes.

Both horses were perfect angels so that fortunately went quickly. Next up, I drove back to the other barn to do two manes and two tails.

Also good ponies, so it went pretty quickly. I was home a little after 2 am. Changed Jampy's ice boots and fell asleep possibly before I even got into my bed.
Thursday was another regular work day. My mom and I had tickets to a play about forty minutes north of where I live. But I was kind of hoping she'd want to skip it and just get dinner instead. The tickets were a gift, so while obviously wasteful not to go, it wasn't like it came out of our own pockets at least. She was down for a nice dinner instead so that was pretty great. I was able to get to my braiding job at a fairly reasonable hour. I had the same two horses to do again.

I was home a little after midnight, but I couldn't go to sleep yet. Oh no. I still had to finish making our company's logo out of felt for the center pieces for my dad's retirement part on Friday. (Why yes, I SHOULD have finished those last weekend, but I didn't.)

It was close to 2 am by the time I finished. But hey, I FINISHED THEM! Phew. If any one's keeping track, I got no more than four and a half hours of sleep any night last week. Who needs sleep anyway?

Friday was the day of the big party for my dad. We had a full day of work to get through first, but the party started right at 5pm. I asked my horse sitter to tend to the boys for me so I could stay for the shindig. Everything really went great at the party, and my dad really enjoyed it.

I didn't really get photos, but I hired a photographer and will have those pictures in a few days. The party went until 9 so I was home at a reasonable hour. It was nice to be home and relaxing by 10 pm! I stayed up until midnight to change Jampy's ice boots, but had asked my weekend helper if she woulnd't mind changing them in the morning so I could sleep in a little. I was exhausted!
Saturday morning around 9 I got a call from my friend that runs the Skidmore show in Saratoga. She said I should drive up there and ride her horse in the Alumni classes. You all know I try to do that every year! Last year, it was going to go too late so we did a Q&A instead of actually riding. I wasn't planning to go this year since I need to stick around for Jampy's ice and special needs. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I could take off for a few hours and he would be ok. My weekend helper was barn sitting across the street, so she said she could take care of dinner for the boys and Jamp's ice. My mom could come to feed the pups.
After a brief scramble around the house to find show clothes that fit, I was on the road! It's about a three hour drive, and the class was getting earlier and earlier by the minute... They had a bunch of rain up there, and a lot of the adults had scratched their classes which ran before. Fortunately, my friend keeps her horse at a full service show barn, so he was all ready when I pulled in! (Such service... a girl could get used to that!) I quickly got my boots and hat on and off I went to the ring! Our flat class was first. And I'm sorry I have zero media, but I'm hoping to get a pro pic or two in a few days. Anyway, the flat went really well. Sochi (the horse I was riding) is an adorable little warmblood. He's MAYBE 16 hands, jet black. Adorable. Looks like a big pony. And he's SUPER broke to flat. Plus, I've flatted him a few times over the years, so I knew him a little bit that way. They tested us a little on the flat with some sitting trot and a change of direction at the canter via a simple lead change. Then we had to answer some questions from the judge individually. In years past the questions could be a bit risque... but with the me too movement and all, they kept it pretty tame. I wound up winning the class! Woohoo! Imagine that? I have barely ridden, and not at all for two weeks. And I won the flat! I was a little shocked honestly.
Next up was the fence class. I was a little more worried about that since I really haven't jumped much in a very long time. Other than a few single jumps with Bradley a few weeks ago. And I've never jumped Sochi. We warmed up ok though, and I wasn't feeling too petrified as I stood at the in gate. So that was good!

Apologies for the terrible course diagram. I should have taken a photo of the actual course map, but I didn't. So enjoy this terrible recreation. Pretend like 1 and 7 aren't actually intersecting because in real life they did not. Anyway, back to the class!
I was maybe a hair slow to jump one, but it worked out just fine. Two was perfect. I think I was a little late with the change behind to fence 3, but we did get it. The line was lovely in six strides. 5 rode great. The roll back to six, went well, though he was a little tough to turn. He likes to bulge pretty hard to the right! And then things went awry. I mentioned yesterday that Sochi is a legit, fancy hunter. So he likes you to push him up to the gappier distance. I LOVE me a nice distance at the base. So that's a learning curve for me, trying to find that gap and get to it nicely. Well, at 7 I saw the base spot. And I didn't get him shortened to it in time so we had an ugly pop chip jump. I got jumped a bit loose, and wound up having to make a circle. It was supposed to be a bending seven strides. I definitely could have made it to the oxer without a circle, but I knew the other girls would be great (there were only four of us), so I had already clinched last place anyway. My thoughts were that I might as well get organized and end with a nice jump, rather than end flailing over it just to get over it.

While I was a little bummed I'd messed up that last line (and the earlier lead change) I was really happy with how things went. I had a BLAST! Got to ride a REALLY nice horse with a great sense of humor. And even came home with ribbons!

I hung out for a bit after the class to watch the grand prix, and catch up with some friends. And then I stopped back at my friend's house for a bit before the three hour drive home. I was home right around midnight to change Jamp's ice and snuggle the pugs for a few minutes before bedtime.
Sunday I really needed to do some catching up at home and in the barn. First I headed out for some errands and a stop at the farmer's market in town. And a breakfast sandwich of course.
After that I spent some time with the ponies. I let Jampy have a roll on the lead line this time, but I was too slow with the camera.

awkward.

He's looking svelte these days, which is what the vets wanted.

I'd forgotten how tiny his butt can get. So oddly proportioned when he's not rocking the dad bod.
Rio had a stroll and some grass too.

After ponies, I ran to the grocery store because Jamp was out of celery. And I mean, I was 100% out of groceries too, but I probably would have procrastinated that task if not for Jampy's needs. Then it was time to feed the equine and head to the lake! Unfortunately, it was looking like this out:

So as soon as my food was ready

best one of the year

 the skies opened up and the music was over. Booooo. I hung out with some friends inside the snack shack though and we shared a bottle of wine. All was not lost even if the weather hadn't cooperated!
That was about it for Sunday. After the wine and lobster my motivation for doing productive things was all gone.
Monday was back to work, but a good friend invited me for dinner so that was a lovely way to end a Monday!
Yesterday was the dentist (UGH!), work, and then ponies. AND THAT WAS IT! Also a good phone convo with trainer about the yellow pony and his future. I think he's coming up here, but I have to decide where he goes. I'm actually thinking of sending him to a friend that does a lot of horse sales. But I'm not 100% decided at this point. Will keep you posted.
Jampy has a vet appointment this afternoon to get blood work and have his weight checked. Hopefully that all goes well. He was able to have his breakfast, but he has to fast for four hours before the blood draw. He's NOT going to be a happy horse, that's for sure. Last night, when I went to give him his ace, he whirled around and kicked at me. Not in his character AT ALL, so clearly he's over getting shots. I'm going to ask the vet about trying some resurpine maybe. I hate having to sedate him at all, but I have to watch out for my safety too. And honestly, he's not going to recover if he's bouncing around on those feet. So we have to do what we have to do.
How was your past week? Did you show this weekend? Or do anything else fun?

Truthful Tuesday

My confession today is that I'm feeling a little bummed out. My most favorite horse show of the year is coming up and I don't have any ponies to take.

#firstworldproblems am I right?! This horse show is special to me for a couple of reasons. First, Skidmore is my Alma Mater and I love being able to give back to my school while doing my favorite thing. The other reason is that my very close friend runs the show, so supporting her is important to me. Plus I get to stay at her house with her doggie and have so much fun! But alas, I have a whole herd of horses not ready to horse show. I will recap their progress tomorrow, but just to put your minds at ease, everyone is hanging in there, nothing terribly bad to report!

Anything have you down lately? Anything awesome going on? Have something unrelated you need to get off your chest? Let's talk about it in the comments!

Skidmore College Saratoga Classic Horse Show

I love horse shows. I wish I could horse show ALL THE TIME! And I especially love horse shows where I feel like I know everyone. Skidmore College is my alma mater and I love coming back every year to support the scholarship fund, see all my friends, and win some pretty ribbons.

I arrived back to the horse show on Thursday, just like the week before. My trainer and I liked how our plan worked for week 1, so we did the same thing week 2: He rode first, then I had a lesson. The only difference, Jampy didn't have a lunge first. I kind of wish he had... holy strong pony! He wasn't terrible, but was definitely pulling on me and not jumping his best. I wasn't too worried about it though, it was just a practice day! (Thank goodness for those!)
After riding, I met up with an old friend from my college days. She was one of the community riders at the Skidmore barn when I was in college, and is like a little sister to me. I love that we've stayed in touch, and it's great to get to visit and catch up every year! After dinner, it was off to bed early for my 4:15 wake up. Ugh. I'm so not a morning person!

I had Jampy all braided and ready to go by 6:30 so he could have breakfast and a nice lunge before show time. Like the first week, my trainer Bob showed Jampy in a low hunter class as a warm up. It had POURED the night before and the ring was pretty muddy. I really appreciate my trainer taking Jamp around once when the conditions aren't ideal! (Yes, I've turned into that kind of amateur.) My two classes went pretty well with just a small mistake in each round. (Yep, like I said AMATEUR!) We finished 4th and 5th this time, out of about 12 horses. Not bad at all!
I spent some of the day after showing playing with Moxie. I stay with great friends when I come to Saratoga and Moxie belongs to them. She's such a sweetie!

Saturday morning was another 4:15 wake up. Seriously. Ugh. The things we do to horse show! This time I put on my big girl pants and rode my own horse in the low hunter class. And I mean BIG GIRL PANTS because it was FREEZING out and Jampy was feeling a little sassy. It went fine though. We were a little too tight to one jump, and had a late change, but since it was practice, I wasn't too upset about it. (We finished 7th of 9). My adult classes went much better though! No missed changes, and I found the jumps pretty well. 6th in the first class and 3rd in the other out of 12. I was really proud of that yellow ribbon! Good boy Jampy.

We had a small break and then a couple more classes around 1 pm. These two classes are just for fun and are only held at this particular horse show. They are alumni classes open only to riders who attended Skidmore College. In years past, LOTS of people participated, but the last few years attendance has been low. There were only three of us this year. Jampy was perfect and we won both classes! Just for fun, I added some bling to his braids, and some wraps for his legs that are Skidmore colors. We like to play dress up! The beads in his tail actually spell out Skidmore, but I didn't take a good enough photo. Sorry about that.

Once Jampy was all tucked in, it was time to head up to the ring to watch the big class! I had a few friends competing in the grand prix, and was excited to watch. It was a $25,000 class, but was somewhat poorly attended with only 9 horses competing. I'm sure the horse show was disappointed, but I was kind of happy because I was pretty tired!

That's my friend jumping her two horses. After college, this amazing rider was just a little kid at the barn where I kept my horses. I'm so impressed with the rider she's turned into! Unfortunately, she had a rail down with each horse. But she still finished in the ribbons and won some money back. So not a bad day for her at all!
Jampy was all done Saturday, so Sunday we just packed up and headed home. I'm so happy with his performance the first time out this year! I can't wait to get back out there!

Now that you know all about how the show went for Jampy and me, I wanted to tell you about the horse show, and also show you the grounds a little bit. This is a big A show, meaning that they give a certain amount in prize money and horses/riders get the highest tier of points toward year-end awards. It is not however a HUGE horse show. There are only three rings running: 1 jumper and 2 hunter rings. And it is held at the Saratoga Race Course. At least it was. This is likely the last year as they plan on relocating to a more exhibitor and footing friendly locale. The amount of participants has dwindled over the years, mostly for two reasons. First, when it rains (and it always rains!), the footing here doesn't hold up well. It gets slippery which can be dangerous for the horses. Secondly, we stable in the race horse barns by the main track. They are across the street from the show grounds. The distance from where Jamp was stabled to the ring was a half mile. And we were in one of the closest barns! It can be tough if you have many horses going one right after the other, to get to the rings on time with that much of a commute.
So the plan is to build a brand new show grounds on a large piece of property that the college already owns. Here are the new tentative plans:

It looks like a great idea, so hopefully the competitors will come back and give it a chance! This is one of my most favorite horse shows, and I hate seeing it decline in numbers every year. Not to mention it raises so much money for my alma mater!
Ok, enough rambling... Here are some photos of the horse show!
Stable side:

Race horses on the track!

Race Track

Our barn

Jampy getting ready

Our set up

My trainer's barn had a great show! (yes Jampy's ribbons are up there :))

Horse Show side:

Entrance to the VIP tent

Inside the tent

VIP Section

My trainer's table

View from the tent looking at Hunter 1

Jumper Ring

Hunter 2

 So I guess that's a wrap! What's your favorite show (if you're a rider), race (if you're a runner), or other type of venue (if you're neither of those things)?