Hunter Princess Blog Hop

So, even though I am now a pleasure, fun, lazy rider, I grew up in the Hunter Jumper World and I do still consider H/J "my discipline". I got so burned out on the politics and the snootiness that I ran as far as possible. I do still love my tall boots, my fly bonnets, my square pads with champion insignia, and open front jumping boots. In fact, the last 3 times I have ridden Trinity, she has been in full H/J regalia! I will have to post pictures this weekend.

Anyways, for this weeks Blog Hoppin'


What is your dream division?

My dream division was always the Junior Amateur Owners Division (affectionately known as the Jr A/Os). I only showed in the Jr A/Os once and bombed. I was comfortable and awesome in the Ch/A Jumpers at 3'3"-3'6", but that step to 3'6"-3'9" with 4' Verticals was enough to send me over the wall (literally). I was mostly a jumper, but the division that I had the most fun in was the Large Junior Hunters. My Hunter Horse (Charlie) was amazing. We came in a solid 2nd or 3rd a lot, because there was this most gorgeous of Grey WBs that kicked all of our asses a lot... Anyways, I went back to the jumpers with my next horse (Thelma), but I was never as happy as when I was doing the Jr. Hunters. I always wanted to make it to that next Jumper Level, but I never did before I got burnt out.

Me and my last show horse (Thelma) in the Ch/A Jumpers at Las Colinas Equestrian Center in Irving, Texas

The girl's new pasture!

So, due to rain and massive wedding planning, I haven't had much time to ride and whip Trinity's butt. I did, however, take some pictures of their new paddock space so you can see how awesome it is.

Frosty doesn't like that so many weeds are hiding behind her water bucket...

Trinity says, don't my flowing locks make me look like a shampoo model.

Frosty loves her new paddock!

From the near fence. 

Over the butt shot!

Plus the zucchini in our garden are out of control! They love all the wet weather and the heat mixed together. The zucchini are like a foot long. The small one is the size of a small zucchini you could get at the supermarket. The bigger tomatoes are about half the size of a normal tomato... THESE THINGS ARE HUGE!

...so much rain...

SO I haven't posted lately because I haven't had a lot of picture taking opportunities. It has been raining EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! YUCK! I am hoping to be able to get out tonight again.

Since the last post we moved the girls to a more pasture oriented living situation. The paddock is about twice the size of the first pen they were in. In the last 15 months they went from a 12x24 pen to a 12x50 pen to a 36x50(?) pen to now a 50x80(?) paddock. The paddock is grown up so they have some nice weeds to snack on throughout the day (at least for a few days, until Trinity eats them all...LOL). Yes, we are sure they are all horse safe weeds.

On Sunday, Shane and I went out and worked the girls. He lunged Frosty in her new leverage bit while I rode Trinity. Trinity was being a SNOT and is going to need some serious work. I am so irritated at her and myself. Her best gate was actually her canter...go figure...snot ass. When I was done fighting with Trinity, I got off and got on Frosty and Shane got on Trinity. He fought with her so much he finally just stood in the middle of the arena. Frosty killed it in her new leverage bit. She was so soft and worked so perfectly. I was shocked. It is a very very soft and flexible pelham bit. The rubber is so soft that you can really flex it in the mouth. He head immediately went to where it should be and she worked so well. I even put Shane back on her and let him trot her around. He was shocked and so excited. He did an amazing job.

We are heading out this afternoon to hopefully get a ride in, but we may just be visiting the horses. We have a packed weekend as well, so I don't know how the riding process will go, but I want to at least go out and ride again on Sunday!

Mud, Mud, Mud, Mud, and a Good Workout

So, When we got to the barn we knew it was going to muddy. It had deluges Saturday AND Sunday. We don't complain much about rain out here in COlorado because it prevents fires and helps the hay to grow! GROW HAY GROW! So, We got there, put on our much boots and ventured to the girls pen. It wasn't too bad, but they looked like this:

YIKES!

Shane always said he wanted a buckskin...

boy'o'boy!

So, before we could do anything I had to rinse the girls. I didn't have the time to worry about carefully brushing them and getting them cleaned. We used to rinse the sweaty, hot horses in Texas before we rode, so I wasn't too worried about rubbing. Some people are horribly against working a wet horse, but I am not. I wouldn't work them HARD, but a surcingle isn't going to kill them. 

I put Trinity in the Balance System for the first time since probably last August. I haven't really put her back to work since her surgery in October. That is ALL CHANGING NOW, much to Trinity's dismay...

She really started working in to her back and she really wasn't working too downhill. I think that she is actually very happy to be going back to work.

I like this picture because 1) I remembered to take pictures of her tracking right and 2) She looks like she is really using her body even though the is behind the bit. 

I like the relaxed look of this picture. It was as she was transitioning back down to the walk. She stayed slightly behind the verticle for most of the workout, but she used her hind end (which is important for her to gain her muscle). She was also frothing at the bit like a fiend, which means she was soft and understanding the pressure on her mouth! 

For the first real workout in quite some time I was very happy!

Frosty - Progress Photos - August 1, 2013

Below are Frosty's plain photos. I never realize how much of a baby form she still has until I look intently at pictures. She is now about 4.25 years old; however, she is foundation bred, which means she will keep growing until about 6 or so. I need to take a tape out and measure her. Shane is 5'10" (or 17.2HH). I am guessing by looking at these pictures that she is maybe 6-10" shorter than him, which would put her somewhere between 15 and 16HH. I am thinking more in the 15.2 range because he shoulder is only about an inch or two shorter than me and I am 15.3HH. Okay, I will bring a tape out soon...

And now her line drawing: 

Here you can see her red lines are almost perfectly parallel. They aren't very evenly spaced, but I think this is due to lack of muscle in her QH shoulders compared to her naturally big QH butt. Her shoulder should fill out when she is done with this current growth spurt. The yellow lines are SO close to being even, and as I look at it, the top yellow line should be slightly higher on the right, which would make it almost completely parallel to the ground. Her hocks are slightly above her knee, but not enough to make a difference. The blue lines show a pretty straight up and down shoulder, but that also may change with muscle. Overall I am seeing a HUGE need to work on her front end (in addition to a whole body workout of course). 

What do you all think?

Trinity - Progress Photos - August 1, 2013

These are the first of the progress photos that I will be taking over the next many months while the girls get back in shape. Here you can see Trinity is hollow backed at the withers, ribby on her sides, and has a belly underneath. He neck is skinny and shows no muscle formation or top line. Her butt is small and drops off quickly. 

The first photos are original to show the simple transition. 

The next set show confirmation lines to see the transition as she moves forward. 

Here you can see the the red lines aren't straight or evenly spaced. I think she was standing slightly under herself. I don't think she is usually so tucked under, but it is the photo I got. Her barrel and neck proportions look good. The blue lines are almost perfectly parallel, which means her feet are at the right angle to keep with her shoulder angle. I think that the angle is perhaps a bit deep, but overall she has a nice shoulder. Her butt is low as a result of no muscle, so I think that the top yellow line will straighten up quite a bit over the next couple months. Her legs show a slight downhill slant, which is why she probably goes downhill when she gets lazy. 

What do you all think of her conformation? 

Back to Work

Wednesday I tested Trinity to make sure she was ready to go back to work. I just let her loose lunge on a line out in the big arena and she did great. I would say she is probably 98% sound. She had an off step every now and then, but she is doing well. Since it was the beginning of the month, I decided that I would take progress pictures and do a monthly transformation photo (if not more frequently because I am impatient!!!!). I will post those in a separate post.

Anyways, there isn't a whole lot to tell, because she was doing so well and we just had a relaxing lunge work, so here are some pictures. 

Trotting. She looks a bit downhill in this one. She has a tendency to go downhill when she is being lazy, but it could also be the point in her stride that she was at. 

Much better and less downhill. GEEEEEZ she needs some serious back muscle. She will be going in to the Pessoa system soon to start working that back out. The shadow makes it look MUCH worse than it really is. I mean don't get me wrong, she lacks muscle, but she isn't THIS hollow backed. 

I think this is a pretty good picture. She is stretching out. Though she is landing a bit tow first, she is fairly flat footed. He back leg is matching the front foot mark, so she is working up through her back (though when she is really in shape her back foot will cross over the front foot mark by about 4 inches...). See you can see her hollow back isn't as bad in this picture. 

Letting loose at the canter.

Cantering the other direction. Her canter pictures don't show her ribs and lack of muscle nearly as much as the trotting pictures above do. 

This is where the abscess blew out. I am keeping it as clean as possible with Betadine and then coating it in Corona (not the beer) and Swat to help it heal. It will take forever for it to finally completely close. Then it will be at least a year for the hoof to grow out normally again, but at least she is sound and has a vet release to continue working. 

While I was lunging Trinity, Shane was working Frosty. They both got nice rinse offs afterwards. Have you ever seen such a pissy face? HAHAHA! She usually doesn't mind a nice rinse off, but she was an unhappy camper during her rinse off on Wednesday. 

Happy ponies eating their vitamins and supplements after a good workout.