Saying "Hello" to the new year!

 HOLY Slacking....



    Starting where I left off! Foxcroft Pony Club took a trip to MA, for Equine Affair! We've been waiting for years to go. Sadly, my mother couldn't make it due to our Pomeranian getting hurt. NEXT YEAR! My parents were kind enough to let me go. (Thank you! <3) Anyway, it was tons of fun. Lot's of shopping opportunities, education, and great clinic to watch and see different perspectives of many types of riding. I'm pretty sure our pony club group could go to a dump, and make it soo much fun. Fantasia was a blast. After bread bowl soup, dough boys, shopping, and meeting fantastic people....and was sadly time to head home!

From the left: Emily, Jordan, Kirstin, Me, and my twin, Aaliyah.

   Next on the Agenda was getting Ms.Duellsa mare moved to Infinity Farm for the winter! I do want to thank Gail (owner & main instructor of Infinity Farm) for helping us be able to have Duellsa there for the winter so we can REALLY pursue our event season in 2013!

 

Duellsa and her paddock mate, Remmington.

From the left:  Grace, Keri, Me, Amanda, and Jess!

   Finally we had the MeCTA banquet! I was persuaded into wearing a dress. It was tons of fun to see our fellow eventers and instructors in Maine that we don't see in the off season. I was pleasantly surprised with Duellsa and I's winnings! <3 We got Training Reserve Champion for Pine State 2-phase series,  Novice Jr. Champion for Pine State 2-phase series, First in Novice for MeCTA (Only Horse Trials), Novice Jr. Champion for FPC Event series, and Overall Grand Champion for FPC event series. I wasn't expecting that at all! I mean, we did good this year. But, I didn't think we did that  good.

Pony Updates:

Duellsa- Duelli is doing super at Infinity. I'm really starting to see huge change in her training and just her all over attitude. We had a rough patch at the beginning. We had her tested for Lyme, because she had almost all of the symptoms. The test came back 100% Negative. That was a huge weight of my shoulders! Now, we know it is a hole in her training and it is not something medical. I'm going to try on some "Mare Meds" and see if that helps. Her dressage training in coming along SO well. I promised myself in November I was not going to jump. "No jump November." So with all that dressage boot camp, me being me, we jumped on December 1st! I was really happy with our jump ride. I think people forget that some (most) of their jumping issues can be fixed with more dressage work and strengthening. Yes, when you have spooking or cross country elements issues that's a different story. I'm excited to see how much improvement we'll have in a month or two!

Dixie- Dixie is on vacation at the moment. It is all ice here and really unsafe to ride. I wish I could afford to board her at Infinity as well. That would be fantastic. But, it won't happen so I've gotta do what I usually do and wait for better snow footing. She is on the fat side, so she's on a little Jenny Craig diet. :)

Brie- Brie is on vacation as well. Poor footing is not good for her unknown lameness (long story).

Morty- Mort is......fat and happy. He is loving the snow, but not so much on ice. :)

Goodbye Eventing 2012

    I cannot believe show season is almost over! Where did the time go!?

        So, right where we left off.  Our pony club's equitation show was on August 25th. We had a GREAT turn out! I took Dixie in the W-T-C classes, English and Western, and the majority of the open classes.  Duelli had an easy day, doing the W-T classes, English and Western as well! Yes, my Oldenburg did western. Most people would disagree to doing the equitation stuff with a future event horse, but i think it is excellent expose er for young horses. Especially where this one was during a fair. But anyway both horses were fantastic! Dixie ended the day with Reserve Champion in her division, and Champion in Open. Ms. Duellsa got reserve Champion in her division!

         Next on the schedule was our pony club's horse trials!!!! After SO many working days, and figuring out courses, we had an excellent turnout. Duelli was pretty great all day! Dressage warmup was  phenomenal, but in our test she was a bit tense. I'm thinking it was the slightly slippery grass ;). We ended up with a 35 in dressage, a clear XC round, and two rails in stadium. The rails were ALL my fault. We ended the day with 2nd! It was a pretty solid show, and we know we need to work on stadium.

Taken by Chris Hubbard!

   Duellsa had a 6 day break after the horse trials, and then it was back into work to prepare for our last two events of the season!

     Last weekend was the 2phase at Stepping Stone farm! it went SUPER. We got a 31 in Novice, and a clear round in stadium, and a 26  (AHHH!!!!) in Training and a clear round in stadium! Placed 1st in both divisions. I was super proud of her considering the conditions. It was not anyone's fault. Well, except for mother nature that is. The dressage was in an indoor so that wasn't so bad. But the jumping was in an outdoor and the whole arena was water! My thoughts on it? WOOHOOO! Water schooling for the Duellsa mare! The footing was totally fine under the water. Both courses rode pretty well.

This past weekend was CRAZY busy with my brothers wedding and such. Friday we headed to the Salon to get spray tans, and manicures (SO new for a real equestrian). Then we had a cookout at my house with family and friends. Saturday morning we headed back to the Salon for hair and makeup. (Thank you Taylor Dow!) Then 2 o'clock came SO fast. It was my 1st time being in a wedding where I was more than a guest. The wedding was so nice. Kelli (the bride) looked absolutely gorgeous. Being a bridesmaid was neat because you could see everyone laughing and happy tears. One of the funniest moments was when the JP said "By the giving and sharing of these rings", you could see Kelli, My mom, and I crack up. The reason? We are obsessed with the show Friends. This is a video of the part in Friends that made us laugh.

Too funny. Everything and everyone were so beautiful. It made me feel old seeing my brother get married. I also have to give props to the Best Man, Ryan Heath (Kelli's brother) for pretty much the best speech ever. It made me, Ashley Shaffer, tear up. That's hard to do! It was so great to see the family that has moved away and such.

     Then Sunday I had the Lincoln Horse Trials. I wouldn't be me if I didn't cram a very important life event and a show in one weekend! It went really well! We got a 35.2 in dressage, clear XC, and clear stadium. Dressage was a bit stiff. It felt worse than it looked. Cross country was SUPER slick, but there was nothing the organizers could do. Stadium was a little nutty. She was super speedy and not listening to my core half halts. But, you've gotta work with the horse you have at that moment! This was the last bigger show of the year for Duellsa. It's very sad, but I am so excited to be in boot camp with Gail McCormack this winter! I'm so proud of my mare. We've had some ups and downs this year, but we worked hard on our issues and pulled through! Duellsa <3

The next events are a Mary O'Rourke clinic and a little "exposure" Equitation show this weekend. Then the MeCTA Banquet and Equine Affair! Woohoo! 

Taa taa fo now!

-Ashley

The Show goes on.

Ah, Horse Crazy and lovin' it!

            So, I FINALLY.......passed my HB! I am so relieved! I really felt like I had it in the bag this time. It is so nice to have that weight off my shoulders. Though, I did not end up doing my C-3. I would rather be over prepared than go and wing it. After hearing from a fellow HB candidate (Who also got her HB! Go Zoe!) after the C3 testing, I found out that no one passed. One girl passed the 1st day of testing, then trailerd her horse home and the girl ended up getting hurt. Which is really too bad. My thought is, if no one out of the 15 candidates that signed up this year (only 5 showed to the testing) and no one passed, that the changes and expansion of the expectations plus the increased expenses it is going to make the upper levels very hard to attain.  Passing your A now, or when I may be able to have that opportunity, it is going to be super crazy.

         Enough about ratings. On to the horses! Duelli is doing well at the moment. We are going through some "holes" in our training at the moment. Everyone goes through it. She has been doing SO well at shows! Let's see.....

FPC Ultimate, we competed Novice. Got a 28 in dressage and one rail in the stadium portion of the course. Ended in 1st!

Infinity 2-phase, we competed both Novice and Training! Got a 37 in Training with a clear stadium round. A 35 in Novice with two rails. (My bad, I was trying to clean it up too much) We got 1st in training (we were the only ones) and 3rd in Novice!

USEA Snowfields, we competed Novice. Got a 36.5, double clear stadium, and three refusals XC. Yes, I was a little disappointed. But, hey, it happens! We got a pretty pink ribbon though!

MeCTA Snowfields, we competed Novice. Got a 40 in our dressage. She was VERY tense, but we got through it. 1 rail in stadium, and.......CLEAR XC! It is such an accomplishment when you have problems from a show two weeks before, and work on it and it pays off! We ended in 2nd! Very proud.

Keri and Dixie have been doing fantastic together. Dixie is really coming back so well. I'm trying to bring her back slowly so we do not have any issues in the long run. Love my pony <3

        

This weekend is our pony clubs Equitation show! Duellsa? Western? LET'S DO THIS!

Taa taa for now!

-Ashley

Practice, Practice, Practice.

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

       That was my quote for the week. On Monday I had my license test (which I PASSED!) and then headed to a friends house in southern Maine, to study our brains out for the night. We left in the morning to UNH, I was incredibly nervous and my stomach was in knots. Finally we got there and studied some more. 1st I had bridle fit, Tpr's, and Farrier tools. Then I had the conformation for both front and hind legs, overall conformation of the horse I was given, hoof structure, and unsoundness's.  After that I was done for a while till we talked about our land conservation. That all went totally fine! My nervous were gone and I was feeling good about this time around.
    

      The four of us from NER got together that night to have, once again, another study session. It was difficult to study as we were all tired and so giggly it was ridiculous! We ordered Domino's, which was delicious by the way. Of course me being me, I could NOT fall asleep that night. I just kept on running over some of the knowledge for the next day. This worm goes here and damages this, this piece of tack is used for this and is made out of this. There was no counting sheep that night. I think I feel asleep around 2, and we headed to bed around 10.=/....I was up at 5 that morning to do some more cramming before we headed to UNH to start our unmounted teaching. This year, my teaching went SO well. The kids were great! **Note to self kids love stickers (Good thinking Phoebe!)** Next up we had Tack, Parasites, Diseases, and Distressed horse. Tack went fine, and so did the distressed horse portion. For diseases I got Tetanus, which I was happy about. I remembered everything about it except for the symptom, lock jaw. For parasites I got Ascarids, which was totally fine until she asked me, "What to the worms live off of." HUGE brain cramp and I said blood instead of nutrients. So I ended up failing those two. (It is really only considered one) Which really is not too bad. Then came Nutrition, I thought I did fine! But I guess I must have had missed something! The last thing was my conditioning schedule. First off, I have to get it in my brain that a Conditioning schedule for the H-b does not need to fit my horse. it should be adaptable. Someday, just someday I will get it >.<. **Note to hopeful HB's that read this, listen to the A pony clubber that you send your conditioning schedule too**  So really, it's not too bad. Yes it was really embarrassing to have failed once again, when the other 3 people from your region passed 1st try, and I failed.....for the second time. =(. Oh well, it happens! At least I got my license this week!

XC schooling for our pony club lesson this week! (we were just approaching a jump)

     I think my mom and I have decided that 1. I have a Trainers brain, and 2. I had my dads brain. It is hard for my to absorb information that has not actually happened to me. So for instance, Dixie has had strangles so I could tell you ALL about that. But, Rhino flu? I can basically tell you it's.....a flu. Time to go study those HB cards! Hahah!

 Now it is on to figuring out when my HB retest is going to be, and deciding if I am in fact going to go through with doing my C-3. :) Duellsa and I have our pony club's Ultimate 2-phase this weekend! I'll keep ya updated!

Goodbye June.

Holy Pony club craziness!

   In the beginning of June I had a schooling two phase at Stepping Stone farm. I did Novice with Duellsa. It went pretty well, our dressage was kind of a mess but our stadium round was flawless. It really showed me that inside her little brain she really is learning :).

 Next on the list of events was Dressage Rally. I was on a scramble team with 3 TFPC members. We all did great! My rides on Dixie were pretty decent! My tests on her ALWAYS look better than they feel. Our FPC team did great too!  know they got 1st for the riding, but I am not sure what their HM score was.

SMG PHOTOS

 The day after we had our Pony Club 2-phase. I took Duellsa and Keri took Dixie. Duellsa's dressage was.......I am speechless. It was that good. We ended up with a 28! I was so proud that our work had, and still is, paying off. Keri and Dixie did great as well! Keri said Dixie felt a bit "sticky" but you really couldn't notice. They got a 29! Jumping went SO great. Duellie was listening to me the whole time. After that dressage test, and that jump round. I decided.....I am just going to do my C-3 on her. Keri and Dixie looked better this time than at the jumper show! It's really just Keri getting used to Dixie's little quirks. We both ended the day with 1st!!

  

Finally Keri an I got to school cross country at Hyl-Tun Farm the Thursday after. It was all going very well! Jumping many ditches and the chevrons. We went back to the trailer to get a drink before going across the street to school, and I got super weak and nauseous. I proceeded to get sick, which is never fun. We decided to end it there. I felt SO bad. It wouldn't have been as bad if it was only me schooling, but I mostly felt bad for Keri. She said she understood, but I still felt bad.

Three days later Duellsa and I had our first HTS! I was SO pumped. Partly because I could finally use all our XC stuff. Our dressage warm up was a little short, but that was my fault. Our test was not that bad. A little spooky and stressed. Probably due to the fact that warmup was in an indoor and the test was in the outdoor with a direct view to cross country. We got a 40, which I thought was agreeable for that test. Next was cross country! Warmup she was a little forward, and chipping in to the fences, but I kept our jump portion of the warm up short and sweet. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Have a nice ride! Duellsa was off! She jumped the 1st fence with no issue. After fence one it was a rollbacky (new word!) turn to the second fence. She did the 2nd fence fine! Next was a gallop up the hill into a trail with a stream that was not marked. It took us about 2 minutes to get threw the little baby stream. Once we got through the steam it was out of the trail over a maxed rolltop, then back in a trail to a telephone poll fence. She jumped the poll one a bit funny, but she was on a roll so I was not going to disrupt her pace to get the absolutely perfect spot.  Once out of the trail we took a hard left and went to the first combo of the course. It was called "Hooter Hills", which was basicly a short steep hill down, a stride on flat ground, then up the next one. Then once up the hill there was a skinny about 4 strides out. She was prefect through it. No squiggles at the skinny! The next 6 fences she did so well. Then jump 12 was in the same field as the first two fences. It was the scarey ditch! Which apparently was not too scarey to Duellsa! She cantered over it like it was a ground poll. Good Girly! The last fence was a simple stair type jump. I was so  #@&%$  proud of her. That was her 1st real cross country course and she did it like a pro! A few hours later was stadium, it was realllllly wet, but it didn't phase Duellsa. We got the rail down on the first fence but once we got to fence 7 it was better. Jump 7 was a maxed oxer, one stride to a vertical. It kind of backed her off a bit. I was flipping out inside my head. AH! We ended the day in first! Oh, Duellsa <3

    Next Pony club event we had was Show Jumping Rally! I was a stable manager for our team this time. I actually enjoy being a stable manager! Our team did great. I was proud of them for remembering their courses and such. We ended the day with 2nd for Horse Managment and 3rd for riding! Yes, you read that right. FPC did better in HM than riding! I think....that may be.....a FPC FIRST! Haha. It's because of their awesome stable manager **wink wink**.

Next is my H-b rating and my license test! WAHOOO!

  

Oh, the month of May.

     May is probably one of the most hectic months for me. I am trying to get my pony club stuff in order,  my show schedule setup for the year, and I am doing two PC ratings this year O_O.

   Now about the horses :). After being at Infinity Farm for 2 months of dressage boot camp, Ms. Duellsa is finally back home! The 1st week was a bit crazy, between horrid rides because of my saddle not fitting, and debating whether or not I should go to the two phase at Pendragon I had planned for the weekend coming up. I did end up going! I borrowed a friends saddle that I knew fit better than mine for dressage.( Thank you, Mandy!)  Our test was O.K,. but I was not going to take it out on Duellsa. Our jumping was spot on for Duelli. Yes, the head flipping was still there, but she was at a steady pace pretty much the whole time.
(Pendragon Stadium Video)

   Mid May I spent a week with my brother and his fiance in Biddeford. We went out to eat a ton, which is different anyway. I FINALLY got to see The Hunger Games, and we had a great walk on the beach. It was a week of "How my life would be if I didn't have horses." Though I had so much fun with them, I was missing my horses. I realized if I didn't have horses in my life I would be like 500lbs and be the most antisocial person ever. Besides, horses keep me in line and focused.

  I had a Mary (Gunzel) O'Rourke lesson on the 20th with Dixie. It was great! You know when you have those moments in your riding where you have ridden one horse SO much and know every quirk but you don't even know what to do when you ride them? That was me. We did some lateral stuff and shoulder-in, haunches-in exercises. There was one exercise in particular that helped a ton. We'd shoulder-in about 3 or 4 strides down the long side, half halt, and canter a 10 meter circle. For such a no brainier exercise, it was odd that I had never thought about that one. I wish someone was taking video or photos because  I felt like I was on a 16+ hand warmblood. Not a 13"3 unknown bred pony! It was great. I am so excited for Dixie this year :)

   Our pony club had our Jumper Fun Show on the 28th. We had an super turnout! I think everyone had tons of fun. I took Duelli and Keri took Dixie. Duelli was calm outside of the ring, but inside the ring she was a bit crazy! She was not crazy to the point that I didn't feel safe on her. We got through it and now I know how to control our crazy jumping rounds :) Keri and Dixie did great.Or should I say Keri did great. Dixie was the opposite of Duellsa. She was a brat out side of the ring, and an angel inside the ring. Goof ball. We have always had the "Herd bound" issue with her. Someday.....she will get over it.

  That's pretty much it for the month of May! Here we go June! :)  Happy riding!

"Less is more."

   After slacking on my blog, here is an update (finally!)

     The horses are doing very well. I have been able to work little Dixie pretty consistently for a month now. No signs of a sore back of right hock! YAY! I think she is almost fit to start jumping again. Shhhh....don't tell my mother! Duellsa is still at Infinity Farm working 6 days a week and progressing fast! We are really focusing on our dressage work. The jumping part is no issue, she loves it, is good at it, and is brave. It's our dressage work that's an issue. She is getting pretty steady now in walk and trot, and now we are strengthening her hind end and back so she can canter with out being totally out of balance all the time. It is getting SO much better. I hope to do her 1st show (May 26th) which is a two phase, at Novice. I think that is a pretty realistic goal! :)

   Now on to important news!!! On the second weekend in April I went to a Show Jumping clinic with Sandra Low-Mitchell, which...to say the least was amazing. Although Duellsa was not totally herself on the 1st day, it was still good. I have not ridden with Sandra before so it was a great new set of "eyes" for me. On the 1st day, we got to Safe Haven farm a few hours early so Duellsa could chill and such before our lesson. Once my lesson time came around and I got her tacked up the nerves started to kick in a bit. Not about the jumping, but about what Sandra was going to say about Duellsa. I walk in the arena and introduce myself and Duellsa, and then warm up a bit. Of course, Duellsa is her flinging headed, forward self. So  Sandra stops me and checks my saddle, and it doesn't fit. Which was not a surprise because we were looking for a new one anyway. Then she takes my bit off and puts a regular snaffle on, which was also okay because I meant to put my dressage bit on and forgot. Silly me. Then she takes Duellsa's figure 8 off. Her explanation for that was that Duellsa cheeks and jaw are so big that it actually prohibits movement in her jaw. So, we looked like a western pony for the day! Yay! Even though Duellsa was a bit of a nut that day, not listening to my leg or seat, and flinging herself over the jumps. I did learn a lot from the lesson. Sometimes I don't mind when the horse I am riding acts crazy in a clinic because then I learn ow to ride it so if  I am at a show, I know how to fix it. Sandra had me working on staying up out of the saddle through my whole course, even through the approach. Which is weird for my because with Dixie I had to sit three strides before to push her on and stay off her shoulders. After taking care of Duellsa, Jessie Flynn and I watched the rest of the lessons for the day and then headed to the Dinner and Lecture with Kat Bailey! Can we say best wedding soup ever? I swear I could have had eight bowls of it, but I held myself back to two :) After eating all the delicious food, we had a Q & A lecture! It was really good! Sandra is wicked funny in her own way.  At first when you meet her she seems dry, but once you start to get to know her she cracks jokes when you don't even notice. :)  Jess, Kat, and I headed to her sisters to stay the night. (Thank you Margaret and Jason!) Then up in the morning to do barn chores with Juice and a bagel in hand! That is until Kat opened her trunk and my bagel fell on the ground :'(. Hahah. Jess and I helped with chores at the Bailey's then at Safe Haven. Our lessons were not till the afternoon anyway :) I am always surprised how calm Duellsa is when we bring her somewhere and she goes in a stall. She neighs for a bit and then notices she has food. :) My second lesson went MUCH better! I kept the snaffle, the new saddle, and put a regular nose band on for the lesson. :) I had a group lesson with Kat and her gelding Remmy, and Mary and her mare Rosie (who reminded me a ton of Ryn). This lesson we only changed two things! Sandra had me put my stirrups up two holes and we converted my running martingale into a standing.  I was really skeptical about the standing martingale because Duellsa has a tendency to rear when pissed. She actually responded really well! Duellsa would start to try to fling her head, felt the tension and then gave. Yay progression!  After doing some warm up, which consisted of my standing in my saddle over the pommel for a while, we did some courses and Duellsa was great! I have not been able to canter full courses with her getting the right pace and leads in a while. In this lesson she could keep a steady rhythm and got the correct lead most of the time. If not she has finally got her changes. :) We love when she is balanced! I was so happy with my weekend and it made me more confident for this coming show season. Plus, something......great happened. After Jessie's lesson we got our horses set, and walked them up to the arena to get pictures with Sandra. Sandra is a total goof just like the rest of us. She put  Jessie and I in headlocks, then held our ponytails up behind our heads. After our mini photoshoot she talked to Jess and I and offered us to come work for her in Scotland! Yes, big deal. Very big deal. Jess and I are going to try as hard as we can to go. It would be an experience of a lifetime. Let's see if it comes true!! :)

Day 1 lesson photos.           Day 2 lesson photos.

Holy paragraph. So, as of now life is pretty freaking great. 

Oh, I've got to mention that...Keiko Keiko is sold!! Amy and Mark Leiberman bought her for their daughter Trishh! They have come up a few times and ridden Keiko and love her right to death <3 I'm excited to see where Keiko and Trishh will go! They'll do big things I'm sure! :) Congrats Keiko and Trishh!

Now to stalk Rolex photos and videos of Rolex, and be jealous of the Bean's and the Ginn's who are there! :)