Awesome horsey weekend!!!

My weekend started out okay. I was going to go riding Saturday, but circumstances caused me to not stray far from home. So, when Saturday morning rolled around, I decided that it was just too pretty not to do something outside. I got to the barn (my second home) at about 8:30 and got my chores done, then loaded my trail cleaning and marking stuff into the mule and headed out to do some much needed trail work. I guess I worked for about 3 hours and I was having a blast. Sometimes we just need that alone time with nature to recharge our emotional batteries. I took silly pictures of things I saw, texted 3 different friends repeatedly, and listened to my iPhones ipod. Had a great time!

Then about 12:15 James called me. (my sorting instructor) He called and asked if I was coming to my lesson. I wasn't sure if they were having one as I couldn't get a time from anyone and decided they must have canceled. So I quickly got back to the barn, unloaded and cleaned out the mule. Loaded my saddle and Summer in the trailer and off we went. (a whole 6 miles from my barn)

Let me just say, Summer was total game on this day. I was so proud of her and our lesson. James noticed one thing that Summer has always had a problem with and that is initially separating the herd when going for our first cow. He and I both noticed, she didn't hesitate once. I just felt that this was one of our better lessons and wished I hadn't missed so much time with my back issues. Oh well, God does everything for a reason.

On Sunday, Tracey and I went to the arena for sorting practice. Roy is starting up Sunday practice at $5 a run. This was Amira's second time to try this as the first time (a bit over a year ago) she decided it wasn't the right sport for her at that time. LOL She has since learned that cows are our friends and that horses and humans are the bosses of cows. And Summer has told her they taste pretty yummy too. LOL Amira has learned to move them around in open pastures, however, working cows in a little round pen is much different than working them in a pasture. But she was a good girl and decided to "cowhorse up" and show those stock horses that Arabs can do this too. Everytime she went in, she got a little more comfortable. It's just gonna take a lot of practice like Summer and I did.

Summer was very "game on" again this day so I was once again real happy with her performance. I did 7 runs with Tracey and James saved me one of his runs. James and I ran real good together until he let a trash cow by him. LOL I told Tracey that even the best can bust.

Another thing I like about how Roy is doing this now, is this. You buy tickets for your runs. You hand the gate keeper a ticket when you enter and you get your full 60 seconds. If you bust within the first 10 seconds, you still have 50 seconds for practice so you can still keep going. But, because you have to pay per practice run, you kinda have to have your partners lined up. I spent $35 to run with Tracey and Amira. I won't do that for just anyone else, just like I wouldn't expect someone to do that with me. But Toni and I both knew Amira had it in her. We all know that a horse can feed off fear and nervousness from another horse, but I have also read that they can feed off of the confidence of another horse. Maybe even Summer was "telling" Amira she could do this too.

Tracey also said yesterday that Amira would never win a jackpot. I told her I thought that exact same thing until Summer won 2 of the 5 I entered her in last year. Never say never. You can't have "can't" in your heart as Joe Dirt would say. Cause if you do, then you won't. Ever. But I have also learned in this sport, you MUST be an aggressive rider. No timidity allowed when working with cows. That's for sure. Just like the barrel racing saying, "Ride It Like You Stole It!" : )

NATRC Christmas at the Ranch 2010

Well, this was my first time I have ridden this ride as I have been ride secretary a few times and a go-fer one year. So it was a different feeling being on the other side of things at this years ride. I did help decorate the barn last weekend before the ride with Alanna and Liz so that was fun as I love to decorate. But to sit and just be a competitor had a weird but nice feeling about it.

I took off Thursday to get things done that I hadn't got done during the week to get ready to leave Friday morning. Lucky me, the ride is only 40 miles or so from my barn. Anyway, Friday I got to the ranch and set up my camp site, then saddled Summer and went on a 3 mile hack. We walked mostly and cantered a bit just so I could see where her head was for the competition. She was great.

At check in with the judges she was a good girl. Not fidgety or anything like some other horses were. Some just wouldn't stand still and made me nervous when their rear ends got way to close to the judges secretaries table. I am sure points were docked for that. Anyway, after the vet judge checked her in, I was to go to a horse trailer and tie a quick release for lead ropes with the horsemanship judge.

Saturday morning was okay. We timed out the head of the CP/Novice pack but that didn't help. Apparently, someone had switched the horse I rode Friday for an evil twin. I thought it was Summer, but apparently I had been had! She was very forward, too forward for what I would call a nice ride. But, she was a gaiting machine. She was SMOOTH....My only true complaint was she seemed to me, to rush through the obstacles. But I only lost 1 point on Saturday from the horsemanship judge for backing crooked up the hill. Summer lost 1 point from the vet judge at the side pass on the hill obstacle.

On Sunday, someone had come to my trailer in the middle of the night Saturday night and switched Summer back with her evil twin. So my Sunday ride was AWESOME! I rode with Sue and her molly mule, Sugar. They paced very well together. Sugar's dam is a TWH so there were no problems with them keeping up with each other. And Summer's Sunday obstacles were just flawless. The horse I rode Saturday reminded me to appreciate the horse I rode Sunday! There are still minor things on the obstacles we still need to work on, nothing that we had to do this weekend tho, just future ones we might encounter. But mostly, I need to work on her conditioning and getting that right so that someday my girl will finally get a NATRC blue ribbon.

So I finished the weekend with a Horsemanship score of a 99 and second place out of 3 in my class. And trust me, the two ladies I was competing against are good. I just knew I was gonna get 3rd. Which I would have been fine with as long as I had a decent score on my card. Cause I try to remind myself, I am competing against myself, not the others. I really liked the horsemanship judge too. His name is Kim and was a very nice guy and eeriely looked just like my sorting instructor James. Sounded just like him too. It was just weird. But they say, everyone has a twin.

Summer however, lost 15 points from her metabolics over the weekend. The judge is a AERC judge and they are very metabolicly conscience. I was glad for her judging as it showed me what we needed to work on and how to fix some of the little issues Summer was having over the weekend. And besides, Tamara is a super nice lady. And I would like to thank her too as she is a reserve, in the Army I believe, and is about to be deployed for a year. Thank you Tamara!

Summer received 3rd with a score of an 84. But I must remember, we haven't competed in NATRC in about a year and eight months. Now we just have to get ready for the next one which is in March.

All in all, I had a great weekend. Great horse, great company, great conversation and great food.
Can you tell I had a great time! LOL

Thanks for reading!

TTYL!

Well...where do I begin?

I guess at the beginning. Makes since I suppose.

Sounds like the start of an old western novel don't it? LOL

I haven't blogged in over 2 months. Not for the lack of wanting to, but I started a new job within my old one here at the county and have just been real busy. And on weekends, just busy there too.

All my equines are doing pretty good. At least they aren't complaining. Course, they might if they could speak "human" I suppose. : P

Guess I will just skip all that and talk about my last minute entry into The Galloping Goblins Texas Trail Challenge this past weekend (Saturday October 30th).

It was like this...I'm going, no I'm not, I'm going, no I'm not, I'm going, no I'm not....I could go on but I am sure you get the gist of it.

Well, I ended up going down there early that Saturday morning. Now, it isn't a far drive at all, about 68 miles or so one way. And it was a nice quiet drive for me. When I got there it was still dark. But the neat story of that was right before I turned into the ranch's driveway off of CR 172, about a 1/4 mile before the driveway, I noticed something running down the middle of the road about 100 yards ahead of me. I thought to myself it was a buck as I could see what I thought was antlers. But the closer I got the more I realized it wasn't a buck, but a huge mountain goat with a very large set horns. So I will honor him by calling him a Ram. Huge! And he ran that entire time down the middle of the road with me behind him. And just as the road curved right and my turn was on the left is when he finally jumped off into a wooded area. I thought it was pretty cool for God to send me an escort.

Once the sun came out, the office opened for check ins. I went in and this day decided I would step out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone would be anything novice in NATRC or intermediate in the TTC world. The intermediate class in a TTC is called Maverick. So this day I decided to step it up a notch and do the advanced class which is called Horseman. There is Adult class and Senior class. These are the hardest obstacles in the TTC competitions. I told the gentleman checking us in that I would do it for "poops and giggles" and whatever we bombed on I could go home and practice. And that is really what I said.

It was about 10am or so when the show got on the road. Here were our 14 obstacles and 1 extra credit:

**Mount your horse, but your left arm is broken. My first thought, "well, here is our first obstacle to practice at home". LOL But we did it with flying colors. Summer stood like a statue and didn't move until asked. Which is what she is supposed to do, but sometimes she forgets.

**Back threw an "L". We do this all the time at home so it was no biggy for her. Course I say that now and she'll blow the next time we are asked to do it. LOL

**Show the judge your hoof pick. After that, she handed you a magazine. Side pass to the mailbox, place the magazine in the mailbox, side pass away from mailbox. Another one we do all the time at our place.

**A steep down hill with judge watching.

**Approach the judge, a slicker is handed to you on the near side. Take the slicker to a large boulder, and pull the slicker over your horse and place in on the boulder from the off side.

**Emergency stop.

**Side pass thru a mud bog.

**Ride thru a pond. Half way thru, turn your horse 180* and finish by backing out of the pond.

**Approach a judge sitting in a wheel chair. She rolls up to you and hands you a creepy looking Halloween hand with streamers hanging off of it. You are to take the hand from one side, pull it across your horses neck, to the other side, take a horse treat out of it and give it back to the judge. Summer tried to stick her nose into the hand. No fear with that obstacle. I guess her stomach is stronger than her right brain. LOL

**Cowboy carwash. Back thru it.

**Gate with wood debri all over the place and several strands of surveyor tape tied to the gate and the wind was blowing. We had to dismount, open the gate and back your horse thru the gate and remount.

**A wooden bridge. We had to stop in the middle of the bridge and answer a question.

**Pulse check. The judge was looking to see if your horse would stand quietly while you either did this or learned how to do it.

**Trailer loading and unloading.

**And the extra credit was a side pass obstacle which Summer got a Good on and an extra 6 points as she bumped one of the logs and it fell. But she didn't kill the obstacle like a few others did.

I felt that we did have a good ride, and decided to enforce what my very first instructor told me 20 years ago. "As long as you are pleased with you and your horse's performance, then that is all that matters. If you win, then that is just icing on the cake." And I was very pleased with our performance. I couldn't have been more pleased, especially when awards came and Summer and I took first in our class, Adult Horseman. When I got her card she either got a perfect score or an almost perfect score. But more perfects than almosts. (Can you hear the pride in my typing?)

Once again, that sweet but tough mare of mine showed me what she was made of. True grit, but with lots of "pretty" on the side. ; )

Thanks for reading.

Hot but nice weekend...

The weekend started earlier that I had planned. I was to have a 3 day weekend, but due to a bad rash, it was a 4 day weekend. Can't wait for this heat to go away down here in Texas. I love the heat when it is at 97 but 104, I just can't do.

So Thursday was a stay at home and treat the rash. I was going to go to the doctor but called Dr. Mom and told her what was going on, and she told me what to go buy. That saved me about $40 as she was right. Of course she was right, she's the mom!

Friday was David and I's 22nd wedding anniversary. I couldn't go away for the weekend as I promised to feed some horses Saturday morning for another boarder. And with this rash, I didn't feel like spending the weekend away from home anyway. So David and I went to Choctaw Casino in Durant OK. I wasn't impressed. It took forever to get there due to traffic and construction on the roads. And it just wasn't "eye candy" like WinStar is. I did win some $$ tho. So we left with as much as we went with and that is always a good thing.

Saturday morning I got up and headed to the barn early. Got horses fed and Summer's pen cleaned. I didn't even break a sweat. So I decided for an early Saturday morning ride. The wind was up and it felt good. Summer was a good girl in the woods but a bit nervous in the open pasture. Don't know why as with all those trees creaking while in the woods from the wind, she was fine, but not on the mesquite trails. Oh well, most of the time have her I figured out, but once in awhile, she still confounds me.

Sunday was just a stay at home in your PJ's day. And I loved it.

Way over a month since I have blogged....

I can't believe it's been over a month since I have blogged. I really haven't been doing much with my equine kids so I guess that could be the reason for my absence.

I haven't been sorting in 3 months. I didn't compete in May due to my Driving Trail Challenge on the same day. I didn't compete in June due to me throwing a birthday party for a senior friend of mine. And I didn't compete in July just cause it was hot, I have been having tummy problems and I was a bit short on funds. And I may or may not compete in August. That is going to depend on my mood and this blasted Texas heat.

But my kids are doing good. Summer is doing well. We trail ride mostly in the pasture as I just don't see hauling out somewhere in this heat. I can go to my barn (6 miles from the house), ride as much as I want and go home. Granted, it ain't no 1500 or 20,000 acres, but it is hard for me to reason on hauling my horse in the heat of the day in that hot trailer. I know hauling to the ride is fine, but by noon or later, it is just blasted hot in a horse trailer. Call me kookey, but I wouldn't want to be in that trailer if I was a horse. Just saying. Maybe when I finally get some bus fans in my trailer, then I won't feel like such a heel for hauling in 105* weather.

Hank is looking real good. It took all of the winter and spring, but I have really fattened him up. When we did the ADS July of 2009, the judge spoke with me on Hank's weight. That he was a little lean. Course, I was pouring food to him at the time. At least I thought I was. So, I did a power pack on him and uped his feed a little. Plus he gets out for about 8 to 10 hours a day now on coastal. So he looks wonderful now. Once this heat starts to give us a break, I will be taking lessons with him. It is just so hot that I don't go out to the barn until about 8pm now just to try and beat the heat.

Chompers is fat and sassy as ever. He got a new/used biothane harness the other day. I have been borrowing one that isn't pieced together right. And it's leather so it has to been cleaned a lot. Now that I have my own and he has his own cart now, I see us driving much more when the weather cools a bit. But he looks real snazzy in his new harness.

Anywho, that is pretty much about it. If we finally do something that folks might actually want to read about, well, y'all will be the first to know! LOL

Hugs!

Shiney new toy...maybe not

Well, a few weeks ago I started messing with a 9 year old Arabian mare named Harper. She is a sweet little thing. Has had professional training, but that was about 5 or so years ago. So, she is a total greeny as her training was not reinforced. But she is not mean or an idiot either, she just doesn't know what is right. She will move out when asked, she "plow-reins" as she doesn't know how to neck rein, but she gives to the bit wonderfully. She is also broke to drive. But again, it has been even a couple of years since she has driven, and that was only a couple of times around the barn yard.

Harper belongs to my barn owner who just doesn't have time for her right now as she has several horses. So, she told me to use her as I wished. If she did well moving down the trail, take her to CTR's or endurance. Her sire was a roping horse and grandsire was a cutting horse, then I could see if she took to sorting. But here in again, she needs a lot of wet saddle blankets and time before I would take her into a cow pen.

So I did a couple of weeks of ground work with her to see what she remembered and what she might spook at before I climbed aboard. Again, she was good mannered, but needs a lot of trail time.

Well, this got me to thinking when Tracey and I were riding around the barn yard. I have a great horse in Summer, but even she isn't "finished". There is still so much for her to learn. I didn't complete our homework from Toni J. in Summer's trailer issues (which I started back up doing the other night). I haven't driven her since last November and I haven't driven my ponies in a year.

So...what do I do? Play with my new shiney toy (Harper) and leave my "unfinished" projects by the way side. I know it may sound stupid to some, but when I started thinking about my other 3 equine kids and all the things that they have yet to learn, I started to have second thoughts about Harper. I talked to Barb the next day and told her my thoughts. She agreed. She told me that I had a blue ribbon pony in Hank as he proved himself last year at our one and only show. That I needed to drive him more, show him and bring home some more ribbons.

So, Harper is back out in the pasture. Barb told me though, if Summer ever comes up lame or something, to just pull Harper out of the pasture and use her anytime. But I have to say, as Tracey pointed out, riding Harper those couple of times, sure makes me appreciate the great horse I have in Summer.

May Flowers DTC is done...whew...

What a long, hard, hot, tiring experience that was....whew...But in the end, it was fun and I am glad I did it. BUT...I would not have been able to pull this off without the help of good friends.

Barb, June and Tracey were a huge help when working, marking, and clearing trails. Then I had Diane and her hubby Jerry (have chainsaw, will travel). Jerry cut some trees down for us with his trusty chainsaw. Then Barb, June and I made some gorgeous red and white numbered boards for the cones course. They looked very professional. Saturday morning, the day before the drive, my hubby David came out and pounded stakes into the ground for the plates that were to be the trail markers. Then June and I went back out and did the trail markers later that day with colored plastic plates.

There was just so much that was done to get ready that I know I am going to forget something or someone, but I appreciate it all so much that words are just not enough.

Then I had my judges. Tracey, Toni, Kelley and Alice. My photographer Peter. I had a couple of folks donate drinks. I had some volunteers come out and help the judges with their obstacles, Teresa, Jean, Maggie and Amanda. I had a Facebook friend that I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet come out and learn about this new driving venture, Noreen. Thank you Denise, who is a trainer/instructor, did a Q & A after the drive while the judges did the riders cards.

Again, I am sure I am forgetting someone and I am so sorry if I am. But know this, I am so thankful I had such a wonderful group of people to volunteer and compete. This was very stressful yet satisfying for me. I was the ride manager, ride secretary, trail master and senior judge. Once I (sort of) learned every thing, it started to flow more easily.

Thank you Candy for re-doing the riders cards for me so that they "fit" my drive obstacles.

I have to say, I was stressed and my hubby said that if I did this next year, I better find a new place to live. LOL But I will be doing this next year and he will be pounding the stakes in then too.

Now...on with the drive story...

We did a drive briefing at 8:30 am, and soundness check at around 9am. Everyone harnessed up and hitched up and Denise did a tack safety check for me. I really appreciated having her there for her knowledge of everything driving.

The drivers began with my first obstacle, I called it Balls and Barrels. In our out door arena, I placed 5 large plastic barrels, 1 in each corner (but out far enough that carts could go around them) and 1 in the middle. The 1 one in the middle had a bucket on it with 4 tennis balls. The object of this was to go to the middle, settle your horse, pick up the bucket and drive to each corner barrel. When you arrive at each barrel, you are to settle your horse to a stop and place a ball on the barrel. The driver was to do this to each corner barrel. After all the balls were in place, the driver went back to the center barrel and returned the bucket. This was a walk pace, not a timed obstacle. The drivers really seemed to like that as it started their horse thinking but didn't jazz them up. And that is what I was going for in this obstacle. Calmness and responsiveness. Plus, it timed my drivers just right to head out to the pasture for their trail course.

Once the drivers were on course, they were to follow the plates. Red plates for all:

Green plates for Horse and Ponies, and pink plates for VSE's:

The first obstacle that they encountered on trail was a Back 1-Stride. After that, the horse and ponies were to do a clover leaf obstacle (barrel racing pattern). On each barrel was a cone and on the cone was a tennis ball. This was a timed obstacle with penalties. All my paced obstacles were walk/trot only. If they broke gait into a canter, that counted as a penalty.

After this obstacle, Tracey pointed them down the trail where they entered the Old Woods. No obstacles in there, but there might be next time. It is very pretty in there. Here is a picture of Summer and I riding in the Old Woods:

The VSE's next obstacle was the Marie Laveau trail. This was their paced obstacle since they didn't have to do the Clover Leaf. From start to end is 3/10ths of a mile. On this course, they had to pick up and return to judge, 3 clothes pens. Each clothes pen had a different colored ribbon on it. This was a walk/trot pace. I used the clothes pens to make sure the competitors didn't canter. This kept them aware of their trail and for each clothes pen they didn't return was a 2pt penalty. This trail is also decorated with cool yet creepy decor: This is the entrance to the trail.

Here are a few trail decorations:

The above picture is the end of the trail and where carts must turn around. Here is a close up of this trees decor:

The next obstacle for all was the cones course. It turned out better than I could have ever imagined. The only thing missing from making this look like a professional course were FEI cones! But I couldn't have asked for better! This was a 10 gate course and just looked wonderful with the meadow surrounding it.

Once they completed the cones course, the drivers were directed to the next trail which was lined with Pinwheels. I spaced the penwheels out from the trail enough that it wouldn't cause a wreck if the horse should decide to refuse. But my judge said they all completed it with flying colors.

Once they exited the pinwheels, they continued on trail and came to a figure 8 pattern which was a walk pace only. Once they completed the pattern, there was a mailbox at the end. They were to settle their horse, open mailbox, removed contents (rolled up magizine), return contents, close mailbox and continue on down the trail.

Two different trails returned the competitors home. The VSE trail was approximately 2 miles and the Horse and Pony trail was approximately 2.5 miles.

Once home, they were told to untack and return in 10 minutes for a P & R check. The horse was done immediately upon returning home and basically had a resting heart and resp rate.

After the P & R check was the final obstacle. Send your horse over a caveletti.

It took a bit to figure the cards as I couldn't get the computer to work so we had to do it all by hand. I was glad I made several copies just in case this occurred.

For awards I purchased blue feed buckets for first, red brushes for second and large sponges for third all along with 1st thru 3 ribbons. For high point I purchased a very nice helmet case and a grand champion ribbon.

This drive only had 6 entries, but I am grateful for that. I was competing with an established show in Houston. Next year I am going to shoot for May 22nd/23rd as there isn't usually a driving show that weekend.

After awards several of us went to Sam's Cafe and just enjoyed the air conditioning and good company.

Again, thank you all who attended to compete or volunteer and please know how grateful I am for you.

Tammy