NC Arrival

Dakota is here! 

48+ hour trailer ride and Mr. D has arrived. I swear I hate moving and I hate uprooting him as well. Thankfully the shipper kept telling me he wished they were all behaved like Dakota and that he was a champion hauler. Ate / drank / slept like a pro on the road. It took longer to get here since I opted for a shipper that would stop and let the horses out of trailer at night (in stalls) at a horsey hotel. I hadn't done this before. I think Dakota is in better shape overall from it but he still looked exhausted last night.

After a final midnight check I actually got sleep... aka adrenaline rush of waiting for his arrival. I got up at 6 this morning to check on him and his attitude was much better. He had ate majority of his hay and drank even more water - good pony. Since he was looking good, I gave him literally a handful of grain with a 'bigger' breakfast later in the morning. He needs to gain weight. With a new grain, environment, hay and him being Mr. Sensitive to what I eat, it's going to be a slow process I think. He also needs a bath. Badly. However since I'm brilliant and left all my bathing supplies, grooming sprays, fly sprays, etc in Kentucky with Echo... he gets to wait that out. I'm not about to go buy all new shampoos, sweat scrapers, etc when I'm planning a trip to Lexington in the next month. I can retrieve a majority of what is in Echo's trunk since she's living the broodmare life and doesn't need half of whats there. 

Pre Groom - Aka gross.

Post Groom - Still needs another good grooming.

Finally heard back from the small animal vet clinic I interviewed with and now I'm waiting to set up a working interview so that they can see me hands on with the animals. 

Saturday I'm going to the Carolina International for the CIC 1-3* cross country day. Meeting up with a friend from Kentucky that now lives in NC as well. Really excited for the day. Also meeting up with her in a few weeks for the world premier of Harry & Snowman which of all places, is here in NC.

Cross Country School - Round 1

Monday = no work day for me and Lauren got out of work fairly early so we decided to take Echo and Dakota to Masterson Station. Masterson = free access to hundreds of acres to ride on. They hold events so there are jumps everywhere, arenas to use, etc. Neither horse had gone before and it was my first time riding there so I had no clue what to expect. 

I beat Lauren to the barn by maybe 20 minutes so I was able to get both horses groomed. Lauren got there as I was ready to tack up so she took over Echo and I got Dakota ready. We decided to tack up and trailer over instead of tacking at the park because we didn't know what kind of traffic would be at the park and how the horses would behave. Both horses loaded like pros and we were on the road by 5pm. 

20 minutes later we were parked, and unloaded. After Lauren made me go hug a tree when I made a rather stupid comment about falling off, we bridled the horses and off we went. Both horses stood to be mounted - no catastrophes.

We rode around one of the fields letting the horses settle in and Dakota and I trotted and did our own thing while Echo and Lauren warmed up. We regrouped and Lauren took Echo over the tiny fences to get her use to the idea of the jumps not being just standards and poles. Second time around they tried some additional fences and jumped the mid height ones. Echo seemed to love it, and had zero stop to her. If Lauren pointed her to a fence, no questions asked, Echo went over. 

Next we wandered our way to a different field where there were ditch jumps. We encountered a bike group and both horses minds were blown by all the bicycles but remained calm in their confusion. Echo jumped the ditch the first couple of times without hesitation but then began to question it and had a few moments of hell no, but got over it and jumped the ditches again without problem. While trying to film ditch jumping, Dakota decided a full body shake was necessary and my crop and phone went flying. I had to dismount, recollect my items and find a place to get back on. The unsteady pile of mulch didn't work so I led him into a covered pavilion and lined him up to the picnic tables.

Onto the next field. This required going through a creek. Dakota had conquered a creek once before but it was sandy on both sides and he leaped over it mostly. Echo had never been through it. Lauren ended up dismounting and leading her through. Once she realized it was water though, she didn't bat another eye at going through water. Dakota took some encouragement, but got through without leaping like a special horse. 

Echo's initial reaction to going through water and the creek. 

In the field were mostly training and prelim options for jumping but the water jump still was great to school both horses on. Echo walk, trot and cantered through the water like a pro. I held my breath the first couple of times because she started wanting to play in the water and knowing how much she loves to swim in water tanks I was afraid of her laying down in it. After watching Echo play, I decided to try Dakota in it, he actually went in! Proof is below!

Finally Lauren took Echo for a gallop and I decided to try cantering Dakota - something that doesn't happen often. After one more jump round, we headed back to the trailer, riding over a Dakota eating bridge that Echo had be his security blanket for. 

Tired ponies, ready to go home. 

I'll have more video of Echo on cross country by the end of the week. It's just taking me longer than I planned to get it uploaded. Dakota pulled a shoe yesterday after going to Masterson so he bought himself a few days off until I can get it back on. 

Pony Grow Up

Getting off work for a half day could have easily turned out to be the best part of my day. Echo could have been a complete nightmare refusing to load on trailer, been a mess to tack up, spooked at unknown horses, and lost her mind over a new arena. However she did none of these things, instead she was perfect, maybe too perfect.

I got to barn about 12:35 and headed over to find Lauren after a quick hello to both horses. Plan was to be loaded and ready to leave at 1:15 so I took Echo to the arena to groom since our wash stalls were both in use. She was a little confused by her early afternoon attention but wasn't about to refuse it. Lauren went off to hook the trailer up, I finished grooming MareFace and took her out toward the trailer in perfect timing since Lauren had just finished hooking everything up. 

Now I half expected Echo to not load in her normal well behaved fashion. Her last trailer experience was rather horrifying. After having her front hooves on the ramp and taking approximately 30 seconds to sniff the trailer divider, she walked right on and munched on hay while we secured her for the short trip. On the road, no problems so far, and on time. 

Snacking before loading.

Arrived to Team CEO, unloaded just as uneventfully as loading, took her into the grass and after letting her look around for a minute or two, tacked her up. We walked her over to the arena, the 'scariest' thing was a bush by a creaking gate. I say scary because Echo's nostrils flared once... She definitely was looking around, taking in all the new sights and sounds but was far from reacting to anything she saw. Got to the arena, which is huge with all weather footing, giant windows, and fans I was in heaven to get out of the sun and be able to watch the lesson. On a 90+ degree day I was worried about the heat but it was much cooler in the arena. Lauren got on and started introducing MareFace to the arena. Other than a quick WTF moment at the coiled up hose, which lasted about 90 seconds, she didn't blink twice at a thing. 

Lesson started - some more warm up so the instructor could see what she was like on the ground and get a feel for her since this was their first introduction. She w/t/c both directions with doing trot transitions at the canter to switch leads. Lauren got some pointers on exercises to do with Echo at home and then it was time for jumping. After all the circles and new exercises, Echo was tired but still willing. 

Considering this was her third time going over any jumps, the general consensus was she was great. Just before the first cross rail, someone came through the arena with their dog. Echo's mind was completely elsewhere going 'over' the first jump, and it shows in the video below. The second time, she was more focused but the dog was over by me and she still seemed to be concerned that the dog was around or that I was giving something other than her attention. Regardless, she knocked a rail pretty hard the second time over which seemed to refocus her because the third time she was perfect going over. Next jump to try was the pink/purple straight rail, Echo's first time going over anything not a cross rail. She got lazy going up to it and knocked it by not picking her feet up high enough. Definitely getting more tired. Tried it again - knocked it with her hind. Third time was the charm and she went over without problem. Finally was time to try the green/yellow rail which she went over without touching a rail and it was followed up by one last successful hop over the cross rail. 

Finally to finish off the day the instructor had her do a series of three jumps in a row which by that time Echo was officially tired and lazy. Still, she jumped all three without touching a rail.

After all was said and done, I fully understand now why Lauren takes 30 minute lessons. They both looked exhausted. We walked back to the trailer, untacked and gave MareFace a well deserved cold hose off. We walked her around a few more minutes and then loaded back up just as effortlessly as when we came and drove back to our barn after a quick Diet Coke pit stop. The confusion on Echo's face when she got off the trailer and was back home was priceless. I've never seen her more confused. The concept of leaving and getting to come back home may take a while to set in but with her now weekly off-farm lessons and her first show coming up in July I'm sure she'll get use to it!

Tired mare...

Cross Rails, Lessons and Showing

Echo... is a beast. I've said it before I know but I just have to reinstate her beastlyness. It's good and bad. When she's being a naughty mare... she's a beast, when she's in heat it's the most embarrassing thing possible. However, the rest of the time, she continues her beast ways. Healing fast, taking stall rest like a pro, and now under saddle, she remembers her previous day's lessons and is making huge strides so fast in her under saddle training. I keep assuming I'm just partial to the MareFace, mostly to keep myself from getting too high on a kite of her potential.

Last Friday, I set up the tiniest cross rail possible for L and Echo to tackle. Echo was... almost insulted by the tiny challenge. After trotting over it a few times, L asked us to raise it two holes. Echo still barely flinched at the difference but at least made an effort to pick her hooves up and jump it. Of course in typical Allison fashion, I didn't get my iPhone out until the very end and missed all the jumping. 

Busy with dinner, but MareFace has filled out finally. 

In 2 weeks, she is going to an off farm lesson at Team CEO Eventing, which is who L trains with. Her horse is going to a jumper show that evening so Echo is taking his lesson spot. 

She has lead changes down to switching within two strides and is picking up both leads 98% of the time correctly both directions. On occasion she jumps into a turbo canter or just trots really fast but once L brings her back to Earth and ask again she gets it right. 

After cooling out post ride. She also got her mane pulled. No more mustang mane.  

L is already talking shows, which just is blowing my mind because I'm still in the 'her hoof was gone 3 months ago' phase. The first of the Kentucky Horse Park shows options would be Kentucky Classique on August 29th. From there, Jump Start September 26th, Hagyard Midsouth October 16 and Oktoberfest Horse Trials October 25th. In addition there will hopefully be a Thoroughbred show again this fall and maybe some schooling shows out at Masterson Station. 

Shiny copper penny pony. 

Catching Up: Rolex

Ahhh it's already been 2 weeks since Rolex Cross Country day. I'm so behind on the blog world. I made it to the horse park in time to see the first rider mid course, so about 11:10am. As I put in my update from yesterday, I hiked around the horse park way too much and was sore, sunburned and dehydrated. So worth it though! Enjoy the pics!