Post show relaxation

Mystic has had quite the R and R this week post State Fair. Mostly because I needed to be working Tolo (someone came to try him today) and I had not fully recovered from the show and was exhausted all week after work! It was hard enough to ride one there was no way 2 was happening! Yesterday I finally rode both boys. I put the jumps down and had a nice short jump school with both of them. Of course they were both awesome!

Tolo had a potential leaser come out today and he was a total star. Just plunked around at the walk/trot/canter like a little lesson horse. Hopefully they are interested in leasing him! It would be so nice to only have a one horse bill instead of 2! Fingers crossed!

All braided up!

Gaining back the calories he lost in our jump school as I put fences back

Mystic had a nice easy bareback walk as it got hot here today after being off and on rainy/chilly all week. Then after being in a barn for 5 hours already I was ready to be home :) Tomorrow he goes back to dressage pony work!

State Fair!

I am pleased to write that we have survived the weekend! It was LONG and tiring but we made it and it was tons of fun seeing people again and also meeting new friends. We got there early on Saturday morning and I was able to stick him in a stall for some breakfast before hitting the wash rack to get cleaned up (I took him there filthy... was slightly embarrassing!). He of course settled in just fine and was a perfect gentlemen for all this beauty prep. Our first class was our gelding 5 and over class. There were 3 horses, including us, and I knew we didnt have a chance LOL! Judges dont seem to like the short and squatty look anymore :) I am pleased to say he has the best mane of the entire show though, the judge was impressed!

Our next class was our musical freestyle. I found a CD at 5 in the morning (that day!) and found out that there were some required elements 10 minutes before going in (it was very poorly planned and they didnt tell anyone). Im not sure why he got so nervous when the crowd got going but he got super tense and just kind of ingnored me. The good part about it was that he didnt totally flip me off so we went in the general direction I wanted but it wasnt the quality of bridleless work I expected to get. Maybe if I had they tell the crowd to hold the applause till the end he would have been better? It didnt matter the judges were super impressed and we won! Watching it back it was actually pretty boring but maybe that is because I know he can do so much more. Plus they only gave us like 3 minutes and they left the judges center in the middle.

Sunday we had a color halter class in the morning against 11 horses of all ages and genders and he got 4th! Behind 2 stallions that took supreme champion (this one was crazy) and reserve champion of the entire show. After a long wait in between we had 3 english classes: dressage suitability, walk/trot, and walk/trot/canter. He went in and got pretty tense in the dressage class. I dont know what it was but between the big crowd ( weird arena where the stands are above the arena) and the giant flashing lights for the show photographer he wasnt so sure about it. Definitely not naughty and im not sure that anyone else could tell, but I could. Luckily he settled down for his next two and felt much more relaxed although he was totally done with those rail classes! We ended up 2nd in all of them. Disappointing but it seemed like the judge liked the pleasurey type horses more. Its hard to tell when they dont explain their reasons. That is why I like dressage, they give you comments and explain whey they placed you low, etc!

It was a ton of fun meeting new people (and fellow blogger Michelle stopped and said hi! Sorry we couldnt chat more) and also reuniting with others who have also bought horses from my aunt and uncle. We had a little family reunion!

All dressed up for musical freestyle!

Tough enough

He was one sleepy dude!

Out of our element haha

Ready to go!

Family picture! All bred by Gypsy Elite (and most share the same daddy)

Dante and Mystic! Dante is Mystics newphew (and is just as nice!) :)

Not a great feeling

So the State Fair is tomorrow and we are NO WHERE near ready. Between work, my grandpa being in town, house sitting, etc this week has been crazy and I have literally done nothing to get ready. My horse is a mess, I still dont have music for the freestyle we are supposed to be doing tomorrow, trailer is not packed at all, and to say I am stressed is an understatement! Not stressed about showing (at all really) just about getting there is one piece with all my stuff.

Since I am currently trailerless I went and picked up a friends to borrow. Got there to find a flat tire and about 5 bees hives. That was tonight after work....and we leave tomorrow morning. Got it all cleaned up tonight hopefully.

Up bright and early tomorrow morning. I have to pack everything and head up early in order to bathe him before a 1 pm halter class! I think I need all the luck this weekend in making it up there!

Changes officially in progress!

Tired pony after his lesson tonight!

Yes! Pony has officially started learning his changes as of tonight! I left work and headed straight to the barn to get ready for our lesson tonight only to find out that the lesson in front of me had to cancel (poor mare got stung by a bunch of bees or something) so that put us having our lesson in about 10 minutes! I ran out and grabbed pony, who was so nicely standing right by the gate, and rushed to tack him up. Since I wasnt in my riding clothes yet and we had talked about her riding him soon I asked if our trainer wanted to ride him tonight in stead, perfect! I LOVE watching him go. You just cant help but smile as you watch him go around. He is looking seriously awesome and it is still crazy to me that he is mine. Its so much fun to have a horse with buttons!

Then this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgZWFRzx2s4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVHw-LY_2U2B0WK4ue3bJZQ
(sorry its bad quality. Used my phone and the lighting is hard to work with!)

That was the first time he has ever been asked or anything and he just pulls that out! Isnt totally clean but it was close. And it will only get better and better as he learns! I mean he couldnt possibly get the change the first time each way could he?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5HQ5wJeNwA

But he could! What a super pony :) Now its on to prepping for the state fair this weekend! 1 halter class plus musical freestyle on Saturday then 1 halter class and 3 under saddle classes on Sunday!

Tolo has also been doing super! Put some fences up and jumped him on Saturday and he was a total star. Confident to every fence and even remembered his changes! Of course they were just little fences but we did jump some flowers without problems also. Its so nice having 2 easy horses!

Just chasin the dream

Both boys have been fantastic the last week! Tolo is taking everything in very well and  goes on walks around the fields (1mile total around the edge, we walk it to warm up before heading to arena) while dogs run around us playing like it doesnt bother him a bit. His work continues to get better and better! He is even less 'bothered' by everything going on around him and is easier to keep focused during our rides each day.

Pony had a brief time where I thought he could spend his days grazing muzzle free before he all the sudden gained about 100 pounds over night and is now back in his eating jail cell. If only I could control my eating like I can my horses :) I feel like we are consistently getting really nice work by the end of our rides and I am better able to work him through things and ending our ride with some nice work. I can really feel a difference from when I first start warming up to about 3/4 of the way through our ride which is really encouraging! Along with our dressage schools we have been playing around bridleless more with our upcoming state fair show. I have even been riding him in the great outdoors! On Monday we were playing around outside bridleless when a swarm of bees all the sudden came after us! He was super good as I leapt off of him and tried swatting them away from him. After about 30 seconds of me fending them away (including me throwing my helmet off and praying he didnt take off because there were lessons going on in arena) he was calmly grazing about 20 feet away (right where I tried leading him to in order to get away from them!). It was so nice to be on him when that happened!

I am getting super excited for next year and our dressagey adventures. Already looking at pretty blingy brow bands (every 2nd level pony needs one right?!) and getting some scores towards my bronze medal. He will also be able to participate in end of the year All Breed awards if we can make it to enough shows (aka have the insane amount of money it takes to do these things!). Although we didnt make it to Devonwood this year it WILL happen next year. I hope to qualify and compete him at league champs at 2nd level, get my 1st level scores at USDF recognized,  hopefully test the waters at 2nd also, and qualify/compete at regional champs! A lot to do that is for sure! I am also hoping to do a little dressage boot camp this winter where I take a lesson a week (or every other week) for a month (or two depending on which I choose). I need to do a little saving first but it would be fun to see how much more progress we would make. I figure if we can make this much progress with one a month we should get a lot done if we have one every week! Who knows, maybe come next show season he will have cute pony changes?!

Growing up:(

Pony is officially not a 'baby' pony anymore... Today is his 6th birthday!! Definitely a bitter sweet day for me. I feel like he is growing up so fast but it is nice to not have age 'restrictions' anymore really. Not that I will push him hard (as you can tell by our week long work of bareback work this week haha!) but its nice not having to worry about over doing it with him as much. I headed out to the barn this morning and gave him a MUCH needed spa day. He got his mane/tail washed and conditioned then I half heartedly did his feather also. I have been super bad about keeping it clean this summer and we have a breed show coming up at the end of the month!

All week I have just been riding him bareback and bridle less (or in a halter). And it was no different tonight. It has been tons of fun and a nice way to relax after work. I have a different work schedule this week which has been putting me out to the barn later so its nice to be able to just hop on. We even did our first bridleless ride in the great outdoors and he was perfect! I love this horse! Now I need to start putting together a freestyle routine for the state fair! Im thinking we are going to do a Cars (the movie) themed one :)

Tolo is also doing great. He packed someone around that came to try him on Tuesday like he has done it all his life. It was super nice to see that I have my 'old' Tolo back! Last night I hoped on him bareback and in a halter and walk/trotted/cantered him around and he was awesome! I forgot how nice his canter is to ride bareback. So easy. He is moving a little funny on the knee he got kicked on so we are watching that but its not too bad so we are still working him. Hopefully it will clear up as it heals more.

Time Off

Well both boys have gotten almost a week off work sadly. I started house sitting about 40 minutes in the opposite direction last weekend and between work and having to take care of their animals it was hard to get out much. Then I left from their house on Friday morning to head out to our annual family camping trip. Siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins all together for a weekend full of tubing, wake boarding, camp fire games, etc! So there really hasnt been much to talk about.

The last time I rode them both was last Tuesday and I have someone coming out to see Tolo tomorrow... whoops! Oh yeah, and I am so sore from tubing/wake boarding that I can barely walk! Will be interesting to try to ride tonight. I did however manage to pull them out yesterday after I got back (and after a 3 hour nap!) and took them into the arena together to play with ponys big soccer ball as Tolo hasnt seen it yet. They were super unenthused by it and basically just stood together besides the times when I made them kick it. I rolled it under them, threw it over them, and even threw it at them and they didnt care at all. Hopefully they are not wild men tonight for our rides!