♪♫♪ Here comes the.....snow ♪♫♪

-The snow is here! Still not quite thrilled about this fluffy white stuff that limits my riding, but the "Mares" are getting a break.-

      Sad news, H-b retest gone wrong. I had everything memorized. My unmounted lesson, inner/outer hoof structure, and conditioning schedule were great! But then, came the Toxic plants portion. I have no clue what happened. We'll just say I had a huge brain cramp. I could name them all, tell how much is toxic, what parts are toxic, and when they're toxic. For some reason I couldn't remember the symptoms! After Sarah trying to pry the answers out of me I finally got a few fine, but not enough to meet the standard of that section. I felt quite awkward, cause if you know me (perfectionist) I started crying. I didn't know Sarah very well so that made it embarrassing. Life goes on...so I hiked up my Zocks and sucked it up. Just means I have to do my C-3 and H-B in 2012. Not the end of the world.

    Next on the program was Christmas! We spent Christmas with my brother and his fiance on Friday. Then the family Christmas on Sunday. We had had NO snow, then the weekend of Christmas perfect 3 inches of snow :). I hate saying what I got for Christmas, but this year I got a lot of  "needs". Long lines and side reins  for Duellsa. A Equifit Shoulders back Posture Corrector. She help me with my recent right shoulder pain. One big "want" on my list was a camera. I totally did not expect it this year. It was under the tree though! I got a Fuji Film 24x zoom camera. It is really nice! Now I can actually take pictures of people at shows and the won't be fuzzy. Now, to teach my mother how to take jumping pictures.

    As for the four mares. They have had most of December off due to hard and uneven footing. I usually give them a break in December anyway. A "break" though, not a month. Hopefully January will be better. Now to set some goals for 2012 for Dixie and Duellsa!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and has a exquisite New year!

...And a month goes by...

Well, I didn't realize I had not written in a while!

    So this time of year for me is pretty slow. Mostly schooling as much as possible before snow flies. Sadly, in Maine it is going to be fairly soon. 

     Since the SP clinic, I had a really good group dressage lesson on Ryn in the beginning of November. We worked on her getting to come "through" with my seat and legs and not to be so "handsie". Which I tend to do. It's not like I am tugging on the poor horses mouth all the time, or at all. It's just I tend to go to my hands 1st. She was super at the end. It is really good, because she almost never has sweat on her neck/chest. She always is sweaty under her belly. I guess that is a good sign that she is actually using her self.

    On the 13th of November I had two dressage lessons Mary (Gunzel) O'Rourke @ Sawyer Equestrian Center in Newport, Maine. Duellsa and Ryn were really spastic, not sure why. Ryn's lesson was 1st. She was really rushing and not listening in the beginning, but after some lateral work she settled in. We actually worked lateral movements. I had just been working on leg yields &  half pass at home. Mary had me work on some shoulder in and haunches in movements. She was surprisingly good! I know she knows it, I just didn't think she was strong enough to do it "right". Her issue is too much neck bend. Which is obviously due to my lack of not wanting to give the contact when I have the horse in front of my leg. We'll work on it :)

     Duellsa was next. She was, well, probably the worst she has ever been. Walk/ Trot she was great, but at the canter she was leaning on me and dragging me around. She had her head down with such force that it was almost impossible to get her off the contact. (Atleast a little) She is fantastic on the lunge line, so Mary had me lunge her. That helped. Then I hopped on her while Mary was lunging me. SO much better. Every horse has their bad days, I totally accept that, as long as I learn how to fix it. So if I am at a event I can fix her. So sometimes I don't mind my horse misbehaving at a clinic, then you always learn something one way or another!

YAY, Figure trophy!
3rd time!!

    MeCTA BANQUET!!! On the 19th was the banquet for the Maine Combined Training Association. It 1st started out as a meeting, talking about where MeCTA is going and such. They had a really interesting  guest speaker this year. His name is Doug Hannum he is a Holistic Equine Professional. He goes any where and everywhere with the U.S. teams. He recently went to the Pan Ams with the teams. Then......came the awards!

Everyone did so great this year. Keiko ended the year with 1st for the Beginner Novice JR division!!! Also out of a BIG surprise she got the MeCTA Figure trophy award for the lowest scoring rider at Snowfields HTS under 21. I am so proud of her <3 . Our event team, Wingin' It event team, got 2nd for the year! Our team members are; Grace Davis ( Her Blog )  Jessica Flynn ( Her Blog  ) Ellie Demmons ( Her Blog ) and myself. 

Wingin' It event team! -Ellie :(
(Three phase photography)

       Last but certainly not least, Audrey Jump lessons! On the 25th I had two jump lessons with Audrey Bean! My 1st lesson was on Duellsa. Now this time, she was FAR from misbehaving. She was REALLY good. We did some canter poles in the beginning to get her thinking, then we moved to her course work. She only did her head flip thing once! She jumped a skinny with no issues, and a pretty high and wide oxer for her. I am not totally worried about height with her, I am worried about her balance and skill over jumps. Her canter still need some work, but it is 80% better then it was even a month ago! She just learns so fast it blows my mind ;). My next lesson was with Dixie. Yes, Dixie <3 It was a group lesson with Amanda Snow and Chelsie Oldfield. It went great! Dixie is jumping 1,000% better. We did mostly course work. we didn't jump as high as Duellsa's lesson, but still high enough for Dixie. She felt like she was "popping" every jump, but really she was just jumping nicer! I think that pony was the happiest pony in the whole world that night. I am so glad to be able to ride my DixieMuffin pony <3.  

I think that is about it. Cross all your possible limbs on the 9th for me! I have my H-B retest with Sarah Adams! :)

Out!

-Ashley Shaffer

       

Proud Momma #2.

 Alright, it's official. I love my horses so much.

I had a little stalker last weekend named Ellie! She was a ton of help :) So, we had the Infinity Farm Frost on the Pumpkin two phase in Dover (30 mins from me). I took Duellsa and Ryn! We had pretty great tests! Duelli got a 35.5 in Beg. Novice, and Ryn got a 31 in Elementary! Yes, I know, Elementary. I would have taken her BN if she was more confident over fences. Then jumping came.....Duelli's inner "Deer" came out! She was hopping over fences like nobody's business. I think we need some Gymnastics. Despite her jumping crazy we went clear and ended with 4th! She was calm all day, so proud of her. 

Ryn's jumping was actually pretty good! She was a bit squirmy to the jumps, but pulled off a clear round! That is, till the last fence. She was super squiggly to it and tried to refuse but I pushed her forward and tunneled my reins. She jumped it SO incredibly awkward! Her shoulders were at the left side of the fence, and her hooves on the right side. From the point of view when I was on her, it looked like I was headed for the jump standard. So, I shifted my weight to the right and lifted up my left leg to avoid it from whacking off the standard. Well, I guess I did it with too much force and my stirrup and iron few off the saddle! I  was thinking from that point on was "The dirt is getting close, oh woah there is the dirt!" *smash*. That was interesting.....It was not Ryn's fault by any means, she is just not confident jumping and she took it funny. Although if my stirrup stayed on the saddle, I probably would have stayed on. Couldn't pull a Buck Davidson that day! Even though I fell, I did not fall till after the finish cones so I still placed! She got 2nd for the day! So proud of them :)

    Next day was the Steuart Pitman clinic! I rode Ryn 1st. This was her first time out cross country, so we were going to see how it went :). I did get to ride is Debbie Place's Stackhouse saddle which made my day anyway. Ryn was really great. Although like the stunt double I am, I once again fell off. GO ME! :) It was ok. She did the same thing she did the day before. It so weird! It is like she goes up the the jump with all the confidence in the world and once she goes to "Take Off" over the fence she lifts her front legs, and then jerks them to the left or right. It is really awkward. So with now having a better relationship with the ground, I got back on and jumped it again. This time she was fantastic! That was probably her best jump of the day. From there she did banks, ditches, coops, logs, everything great! She had no fear of the ditches or banks. I thought that was kind of weird that she had no confidence over a little BN triple log, but then jumps the ditches and banks like she had been doing it for years! :)   (Pictures of Ryn)

        Duelli was... different. She was not bad, don't get me wrong. She was actually really good! But her "Head Flippyness" was a little exaggerated that day. Steuart gave me some tips to fix it and it worked awesome. She jumped everything in site :) Up to Novice stuff! I'd sat that's pretty good considering where she was a year ago. The only thing we really have to work hard on in our cross country is, balance at a faster canter, and banks. With banks she tends to launch off them, instead of just jumping down. It almost seems like she see's a 2"6 vertical on top off the bank. Oh, Duellsa.

(Pictures of Duellsa)

Also.....Just want to say congrats to the US team that went to the PAN American Games! They got Gold for eventing with NO FAULTS! They all ended on their dressage scores. The also took home Silver and Bronze individual medals! Congrats! (although they probably will never see this.)(Information)

Proud Momma :)

  No, I did not have a baby!

First off, I finally got my permit! I got to drive home from Brewer (About an hour away) on the interstate, first time going 75! The state recently raised the speed limit from Orono, ME and north. I'm not sure how far it goes.

Anyways....This past weekend was really exciting! I took Duelli and Keiko to the Lincoln HTS. I was kind of worried about taking Duelli because she can be kind of "Flighty" at times. She was the total opposite of flighty. Lets just say, she was simply perfection in my book. Yes, there were something things that could have been better but it was her 1st show and I would have been proud if we got eliminated! She got a 40 in her dressage (Everyone's scores were really high and I am not sure why, there were some NICE tests.) Clear cross country, and two rails and stadium(Beg. Novice). We ended the day with a 4th place ribbon! I don't think I can write about how proud I am of Duelli. Well, unless I put a video up of me jumping up and down screaming :). She tied to the trailer really nicely and stayed calm when I took Keiko away. She is a total different horse. (New goal for Duellsa! Spring UNH!)

   Keiko was fantastic also! It was her last hooray for the year. We got a 38 in dressage, clear cross country, and clear stadium! Ended the day with a 1st place ribbon!(Beg.Novice)  I'm also incredibly proud of the big Keiko mare, she has been learning so fast this year and really doing great <3.



*Also want to put a little shout out here for Grace Davis! She bought my little Ella mare a little under 2 years ago, and this was their 2nd Horse Trials ever! She has done fantastic with Ella! They are learning together and are really progressing in a strong way. They had a decent dressage test, clear stadium, and clear XC! They ended the day with 3rd! (Elementary) :)*


This was just a short little update, now this weekend we're off to a schooling two phase with Ryn and Duelli. Then Sunday is a Steuart Pitman clinic with them too!

Drivers Ed is the death of me.

FINALLY! I started Drivers Ed (a year late) on the 15th. It has been o.k. it's just the classroom portion is so boring. Also it is three days I cannot ride :(. We are trying to smoosh it into 3 weeks so it gets wicked time consuming. We are almost done I just have tomorrow (the 30th), Saturday, then the next Wednesday and Thursday. It will feel good to have my permit. I am hoping to send in for my Licence in March if it all goes as planned :).

Enough about me, It's the horses that matter. Like I usually say....all four of my mares are doing great. After King Oak, Keiko got a week off. I  rode her after one week and she felt ten times better. It is amazing what a little down time can do. I'm also trying to keep in mind not to push her too much. She is only 5, and a 5 year old Draft cross at that.

Duellsa is doing great also. She is really "Clicking" onto what to do, and what not to do. The past couple times she has loaded she has walked right on with no hesitation. I took her to a Judy Westlake lesson on the 25th. (Which was also Duelli and I's year anniversary.) Boy, did she show it. She was fantastic. I have been working with Judy &Gail on not using my hands as much. I can get kind of "Handzie" at times. Not bad, just a little bit. So we worked on that, and worked on her trot. We realized that if a cannot lengthen out her trot with her still staying though then she is not ready to canter. Which makes a lot of sense. When I canter when she is not ready she almost scares her self. It is kind of hard to explain. (Lesson Video and yes...I know I am on the wrong Diagonal the WHOLE time. Another flaw with my riding. I explain it in a comment) I took her schooling XC yesterday and she did fantastic. OH, and she loaded on a totally unfimiliar trailer!!!! It's such a big step for her. Her next debuts are the Stepping Stone Farm Equitation show,and Lincoln HTS. (Beg. Novice!)

Ryn has been doing great also. I have been working on jumping with her and she is "Different" but a good different. She is getting it! :D Her dressage is coming along so well. Finally she is gaining muscle and a top line. (Thank you Back On Track)

Dixie has been worked a little bit. Not as much as I want to be :(. She has been going sore off and on again. I'd really like her to be better so i can really work on our dressage again. I really miss riding her. Her Back On Track sheet is really helping. She is on Vit. E for her deficiency. I think it is going to just take time. She really loves one of my students, Kaya, and she also does fantastic with Dixie. :)



Possible Stuart Pitman clinic?!?!? I think yes :D

Four Incredible Mares.

Why yes, my title does mean what you think it does. :)

   Lately Dixie, Keiko, Duellsa, and Ryn have been doing fantastic. They're learning movements, and where and what to do with their bodies (the right way) too fast it is hard for me to wrap my little mind around it!

Clay Brook Horse Trials: (Home of Epona pony club!) Like I said in my last post, Clay Brook was postponed due to Hurricane Irene's fierce attack. (especially in Vermont!) So it was postponed till the 4th of Sept. After 3 hours in the car, Keiko and I finally arrived at Clay Brook. She was fantastic in warm up for our dressage test. She only needed a 10 minute warm up. She proceeded to have the best test ever! Or at least it felt that way. The judge thought so too, we got a 29.5! We were then off to Stadium. She was super pokey and didn't want to move! She knocked a rail, no biggy :) We got around and that's all that matters. Then came cross country. Well, lets just say if it had been timed we would have had slow faults. She was cantering as slow as possible till about jump #6. Who ever said a forward horse is harder then a slow horse is wrong! When you have every possible "GO!" aid on and she still doesn't want to go forward. Oh, Keiko. Anyway, she went clear and jumped the last 9 jumps at a forward canter. We ended the day with a very unexpected 1st place! (I actually WON A TIE!) Haha...

King Oak Horse Trials: Here we go Keiko!  We headed out on the road on Friday afternoon. After the longest 7 hours ever, we finally arrived at King Oak at 8:30p.m and got Keiko settled in and all my stuff set up :) Then we went to dinner with Jessica Flynn and Kathy! (Jess's blog.) The next morning we went over to the farm to bathe and braid Keiko. Then walked courses with Jess.  While walking courses we both lost track of time and ended up having to get ready in 10 minutes. Thank GOD for my mother being there and knowing how to tack up Keiko. Jess and I went down to the dressage ring with 10ish minutes to spare for warm up. After a few excited bucks from Keiko she settled down and had in O.K test. She was a little squiggly, and abrupt in her transitions but overall it was a pretty decent test! About an hour later we went to the stadium ring. Her warm up was slow, pokey, and she barely moved. Once getting into the "On Deck" warm up her inner Swedish WB came out and it felt great! We pulled off our course great. It was not "Equitation Pretty" but we got in time and no faults. Including me jumping jump #3 and #4, which were two oxers on a tough turn, with no stirrups. ( I was thanking Audrey Bean and Gail for those no stirrup jump lessons!) It was great. Once Jessie got done her course we got our XC equipment on because they said they were going to start XC quite a bit early then they thought. Well, that didn't happen. We ended about walking around XC warm up for at least and additional hour. That tired Keiko out completely. Once warmed up for XC we headed out to the  start box. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, have a great ride! We went to the first jump at a very nice........Lope. The whole course was at a nice (Or not so nice?) lope. I almost thought of retiring half way, but she got a little spurt of "GO!" and we finished in time with only one refusal at jump #3, which was a simple maxed red coup but and was off the road and in the shade. So it was a little spooky, plus it did not help that we had absolutely NO impulsion to that jump. She went through the water at a Champion walk, and cantered over the faux ditch with no problems. She was tired. We ended the day with a dressage score of 38.5 and 20 penalty points for the refusal and a beautiful 6th place ribbon! No big deal. I am so proud of this mare, with having someone that actually believes in her, it's amazing what a horse will do. They know when you don't believe in them.



Next on the Agenda is Lincoln HTS for Duelli (Or Ryn, still undecided) and Keiko! It's not till October 9th. It is also the last show! AH! Not winter again! Someone take me and my four horses south please! :)
There might be a possibility of a Babette clinic with Duelli! :D I hope so!


-Ashley.

Alfredo Hernandez && Equitation show.

Tuesday, August 23rd: Duellsa and I headed down to Inish Beg Farm with Gail McCormack to the Alfredo Hernandez Clinic. He specializes in Piaffe and Passage work. He does a lot of work on the ground with horses with/ or without riders. Duelli and I obviously are not ready for Piaffe and Passage quite yet. We worked on getting Duelli to accept contact, and getting her through back to front. For the ground work part, he had me stand in place and leg yield her till she started to come through and then I'd start walking towards her and pushing her away from me while keeping her going forward too. It's hard for me to explain. So for the riding part I got on and he saw a little bit of what she is all about. (wanting to curl instead of stretching down, normal green horse stuff) So he had Gail do the same thing that I did on the ground while I was riding. Once she would come through and round he'd have Gail unhook the lead and I would continue the exercise while pushing Duelli out on a 20 meter circle. By the end she felt 110% better. She was actually stretching down into the contact while still keeping weight in my rein. It's so different training a Warmblood type horse verses your normal day to day horse. One thing he said was, that I can get Duelli to stretch by doing this exercise but you never want her nose lower then her chest for our day to day work. His reasoning for not letting her stretch that far is because she'd get on her forehand and let her hindend just be there. It is like a Teeter totter. If their head goes too far down, then that causes their hindquarters to come up, but if their head is a little above (And supple) then their hindquarters can come under. It was good to see that when we were done she had sweat on her belly, so that was a good sign that she was using her "core" too. Duelli was great she loaded right up on the way home and got some much needed bute for a 2 hour trailer ride there and back, and the hard lesson :)


This past weekend was the FPC Equitation show! It was tons of fun to go to a show and just have some fun. I took Dixie. We did everything, English, Road Hack, Bareback, Western, Costume, Parade, Trail, Jumping...and some more. She such a handy/versatile pony <3. We got Reserve Champion for our age division, and Champion for the Open classes! It was also nice to see the little PCer's on their very cute ponies going around the equitation ring like Champions!

Sunday was supposed to be Claybrook HTS, but thanks to hurricane Irene that changes some plans. It was postponed for next sunday! :)




-Ashley

Dixie Update!

So, as some of you may know, my special Dixie pony has been able to be ridden off and on for 7 months now.
In 2010 we had some back issues with her (before and after AEC's) She had a tough year last year. We got some Chiropractic work done (in August 2010), no major issues. Finally in October we got her blood drawn for a vitamin test. Her vitamin E levels came back extremely low. I guess in Maine there have been a lot of vitiman E absorption issues due to horses not getting enough grass (the primary source of Vit. E). After finding that out we started her on Co Mega. Then we got her retested in January and her levels were rising! So we kept her on that supplement. When we got her shots done (May) she got another test, and it was lower than her 1st test in October. We started her on Health-E. Once again we got her retested in July, her level jumped up a ton! :)

Dixie has been doing great since we have gotten her levels up. It's odd how one little vitamin can make a horse so sore, and unable to be ridden. Before this week she had not been ridden in a month and a half. A good little break for her :). Monday (Aug. 22) I rode her, and 1. She has gotten a little fat so her dressage saddle did not fit. 2. She was so good. Ever since then, she has been the happiest pony in the pasture. It's so nice to be able to ride my little wonder pony again. <3

Shows, Clinics, and recovered ponies!

 The month of August is slowly coming to an end. I can't believe it! It feels like it was just yesterday I was complaining about the snow.

     Alright, I have been slaking on writing on this.  So after the FPC Ultimate craziness....came Snowfields!
When it comes to the time of the month to really get working and training for Snowfields I always feel bad that I cannot volunteer. It's a 3 hour ride for us, and with gas prices the way they are we're lucky if we can go to the event! But anyway, I took Keiko this year. She was great! It was her 1st real long trip show and her 1st USEA. She had a really nice dressage test scoring a 33.3 and tied for 1st. Then the dreaded stadium came next. It had been raining like crazy all night the night before and during the show. Always fun right? Her balance and footing and warm up was a little hairy scary, but we pulled through our stadium round with no jump penalties or time faults! ( SJ Video ) (STILL tied for 1st)  There was almost a 3 hour break between SJ and XC, so that gave us time to walk our cross country :) Warming up was again a little scary. We headed out on to cross country and the Swedish WB side of Keiko came out with a force! She was super forward and "up" it was fantastic. Clear over every jump and over finish fence I glanced down at my watch and we had 30 seconds! I was SO proud of my big Keiko mare! Come to find out the person I was tied with was really smart and after the last jump she walked to the finish flags cause she knew we were tied and she could win it on her time. I was thinking if  I did that; 1, We'd have to walk SO slow and 2, I thought there was some kind of penalty for doing that. So I don't really know. Honestly I am not totally worried cause Keiko got 2nd AND the Pony Club award. I was (and still am) so incredibly proud of her. It makes me happy that she is doing so well, because I know alot of people that think that the past few years I was winning because it was all Dixie.Wrong. It's a team effort, and with the right training  any horse can be a so called "Winner". This is kind of proof :) I am proud of all my horses and how far they've come.

Next on the agenda was....the Infinity Farm 2-phase! Keiko and Ryn went this time! Keiko did BN and Ryn did Elementary. Yet again, it had been raining the night before and everything was so wet. Dressage warm up was so slick that I didn't get much warm up with either horse. Keiko got a 29.5, and Ms. Ryn got a 33.8. Again, so proud. It was Ryn's 1st 2-phase ever :) They both went clear jumping too! Keiko got 2nd, and Ryn was tied in 1st after dressage and in jumping, so they did a coin toss (Our Collectives were all the same) and I lost. HAHA. I think I have come to the conclusion I am not lucky with ties. :) The day was winding down and people were leaving, everything was quieting down until.....I hear "LOOOOSSSEEEE HOOOORRRSSSEEE!" It was a fellow NER pony clubber's pony. They put a girl on the pony, and he took off and she came off. He headed down a four wheeler trail. So, thinking quickly my friend Keri and I tacked up Keiko and Ryn, and went on an adventure! Now, at the time I was not thinking and Ryn has never been on the trails, or a main road. So, poor Keri is in Danskos and someone elses helmet, and I'm in jeans and muck boots that are too big for me. So safe right? After about a mile and a half we came to a main road in Dover Foxcroft, and couldn't see hoof prints anymore. So we guessed and went right. A little ways down there was a logging road and he was right down it! We saw an older lady holding him, and his owner and another woman pop out of the woods. He was fine, no scrapes and didn't break any tack! The owner popped on Keiko and I got on the pony (Who I didn't know.) and went back to the fair grounds! It was such an adventure but way too fun :) We are just thankful that the pony was not hurt.

Then came the Peter Atkins Clinic! Thanks to Marina (Her Blog) and her mother Mary for offering to bring me! We took the trip to Lyman, Maine with Neil and Duellsa! It only took about 45 mins to get Duelli on a unfamiliar trailer this time :) I took about 3 hours from my house (Though, the DiMarco's had an additional 2 hours from traveling from Houlton) we got a little lost, not bad at all. We actually still ended up getting there early. The lesson was great! He wasn't the kind of instructor that said "Do this, this, and this!" He asked many questions like... "What does a horse need to be on the bit?" And being good pony clubbers, Marina and I way over thought the question. He said " THE BIT." Which, duh,  it made sense. Another good one was.

"Can you, and how long can you hold a bowling ball away from your body?" Thinking about it, it would be hard and you couldn't hold it for long. What he was talking about is when we jump, and throw our chest down to the mane it is like the horse holding your head up (like the bowling ball) it made sense too.

Like this.

This was a GREAT one for me, cause I fight with people about it all the time. Stirrup length! I always get talked to about my stirrup length and that it is much too long. Well, what Peter said is if your stirrups are short (like really short, not quite Jockey height) your legs cannot wrap around the horse as easily because your legs are now on the upper part of the horses barrel, and where it starts to go narrow. So when you add leg, it slides your leg up and pops you out of the saddle.

Like so :)

Now if you had a longer stirrup your able to wrap your leg around and use it effectively. Now, with your stirrups longer your on the part of the horses barrel where it is now starting to narrow on the lower half. May be hard to understand, but I agree with it 110%.








After Discussing ring work, we headed out to do some XC! 1st up was the water. Duelli was a little hesitant at 1st but once she got a hoof in she was perfectly comfortable. We cantered in and out and did a trot circle in the water, where Marina was on the outside going to the left, and I was on the inside going to the right. The reasoning behind that was most horses do not like the splashing in the water. Another thing we talked about is the hoof flotation in the water. Just like it is hard for us to run in water, it is for them too. When on solid the horse always knows where his/her hoof is going to land. In water they start to put their hoof down and once it is in the water it "floats" a little bit then lands. So the horses are always unsure where their hoof will actually land. After playing in the water, we talked about banks. That was my physics lesson for the day :). He was talking about how when jumping a bank the horse has to get the feel for not having much landing when going up. On a stadium fence, it's just the 2ft fence at 5 ft (in order to get their body over) and land the 2ft fence on the same level ground. On a bank they loose some of that landing spot. When going down a bank, almost every horse jumps it as if there was a 2ft stadium jump right at the edge. It made sense, because if you think of a regular 2ft jump. Your horse is not going to jump only 2ft, if they did they'd collide into it. They have to get their legs and body over it. So that adds at least another 2ft. :) (Banks) (Video 1   Video 2)

Duelli and Neil were great, and I would love to have another lesson with Peter someday.

Now for a week of more Clinics, and show crazy fun!


Pendragon 2phase videos (Dressage       Jumping)

FPC Ultimate 2-phase.

  This past weekend was our pony clubs show! After mowing, flagging, moving, and hammering stakes like crazy   our event was finally set up and ready to start.

(For those of you that dont know, and Ultimate two phase is a HTS mushed is to two phases. So you have your normal dressage phase, then your jumping phase is a 6 jump stadium course then you go straight out to Cross Country)

  Saturday was Keiko's turn to show at the FPC ultimate. We did Beg. Novice! She was really good in dressage considering I got on 5 minutes before my test. Thank god for Grace being there and knows all my equipment so she knew what went on Keiko, or else I would have been screwed. It was a scatter brained day for me. I was late getting on for dressage because I wanted to make sure our clubs D's that were competing knew their courses like the back of their hand. After my test, Grace yet again came to the rescue and took care of Miss Keiko because I was the only one at the show who knows how to work StartBox. Go Figure. It was fine we just got scores up a little late. Once posting the majority of scores I was yet again, a little late for jumping. Gosh I love Keiko for being such a sport <3. She was fantastic. In the stadium portion of the jumping we knocked 2 rails (totally my fault) and in XC she was spot on :) We ended the day with a 2nd place ribbon. I was so proud of my Keiko Mare. Once getting Keiko set with a full hay bag and plenty of water, I was up to post scores again! Fun fun day :) Congrats to everyone that competed and a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped out!

Right after our test <3

Now to get ready for Keiko's 1st USEA event. SNOWFIELDS!

Judy Westlake Camp Day 2&3

     

First off, Congrats to our regions pony clubbers who went to the USPC Festival!

Day #2:
     After the 1st day of camp with Dixie, I decides to switch horses and take Ryn! She had a little sleep over at Infinity Farm Due to our 1702 ford breaking down on the way home from day 1. On Thursday a close friend picked me and Ryn up (THANK YOU BROOKE) she was a little nervous, 1st time with a gooseneck. It is not much different than a bumper pull and she did great. Yet again, I can't really say anything I have not driven a trailer, car, truck, or anything else with a motor over 25mph. (Stupid Milo Driving School). Anyway, the camp went great! We did some stretches and strengthening exercises before we got on. One of them was this rotating stool Judy has and we had to use our core to move our hips to what ever way we're going and not move our upper body. That's hard for me. Either everything wants to stay too stiff and nothing moves or, my body is too loose and I do the "Ashley Wiggle" with my shoulders (Gail phrase). I have NO clue where I got that from.....Thank you Green horses :D.
   I was in the 1st group to ride. Who ever said there is know such thing as perfect, is wrong because Ryn was perfect. The exercise while we were on was to use our seats to steer, and she had us put a whip in our front belt loops with our hands under it, so the whip sat in the crease of our arm. It was really good for me because I tend to tilt forward on Ryn because of her gaits. So having the whip right infront of me help to keep me even over her back and reminding me to sit back.
  While the 2nd group rode we were watching them to help develop our eye on more advanced points rather than just the basic eye of correct leads, and posting diagonals. We had to write down what each rider tends to do, good and bad. Judy really was working on us to have constructive criticism, not just pointing about bad things about each rider.

Day #3:
 Today we talked over what we observed watching the lessons yesterday. Then did more exercises before getting on. We did more strengthening exercises vs. stretching and loosening. That was not good for me! I realized I am stronger than I thought. (Again thank you green horses) Which is good, but I should have stretched more because once I got on Ryn I was so tight and so was she. We had no stirrups and neck straps to hold on to-to try to plug on our seats. Not good for Ryn at all. I tried to just work her through it but then Judy gave me back my stirrups and said no strap. Ryn's back still isn't strong enough to sit the trot successfully. Plus, Her trot is huge and I cannot sit it yet. After we changed that Judy had us do another exercise. We had two whips, and we crossed them like X so the horses wither was in between the upper V.
This helped us stay straight and made us learn how to flex with our wrists instead of pulling. This worked great with Ryn. By then end of the lesson she was up and carrying herself nicely. If we did a 1st lvl test at that moment we could have done pretty good.  It was nice to bring Ryn to the camp because the last time Judyad seen us, we were not pretty. I looked like a hunt seat rider, and she looked like a giraffe. :)


 This coming weekend is our pony clubs Ultimate 2-phase! Fun fun!  

Full Schedule!

                  Wow, My horses never cease to amaze me! They have been SO good :)

           So first I'll start out with my H-B rating. It was pretty interesting. Jessica and I did great. I failed Poisonous Plants, Conditioning schedule, Structures of the Hoof, and my unmounted lesson. I was a little irritated. I thought I only failed Poisonous Plants cause I didn't study them enough, and when it came to that section my mind went blank.... They did not like my conditioning schedule because it was supposed to be something I can follow with any horse that is of the same fitness, instead it was more like a Log of what I actually did in preparation to AEC's. The Hoof part was a little ridiculous. I got all the inner and outer structures, but then she asked me was the Navicular Bursa was for, I simply answered "The navicular bursa is a synovial "sac" between the navicular bone and DDF tendon and serves to lubricate the tendon as it slides over the back of the navicular bone." and I guess she didn't like it. Also she failed me on the fact that,I forgot was the Sensitive Laminae was for. The weird thing is....She didn't ask anyone else about the functions of the parts in the hoof. So I thought that was a little funky :/. My Unmounted Lesson was kind of my fault. I had a great lesson for Cross country Jump Identification :D. I had two D-3's so they already knew it, and I taught  the lesson and it was too short. I planned it for 4-5 kids so there was a reason it was short. So I was kind of upset about it and I'm glad that a passed everything else. It was also odd that out of the two days of H-B testing 3 out the 20ish people passed.

 The Next exciting thing was the Steuart Pitman Clinic! On Friday I took Keiko. We worked on getting her straight to the fences, and pushing her forward. She was so good and jumped anything I pointed her to. On the + side Steuart REALLY liked her! Saturday I took Duelli. I was so ecstatic in the a.m. because she got on with only like 6 tries! In the lesson, I couldn't have asked her to be any better. She was literally perfect. Her 1st time on a real cross country course! Jumping ditches, banks, in&out of water, and everything else I pointed her too. I think she had way too much fun. At the end I asked Steuart what I should be working on, and he said "Nothing, keep doing what your doing." So I guess that is a good sign when a clinician says that. Better yet she got on the trailer on the 3rd try. I think I am going to be on a "OMG DUELLI WAS SO GOOD" high for a bit :) 

   Today, Tomorrow and Friday I am at Infinity Farm for Judy Westlake Camp.

I took Miss Dixie today. We worked on really stretching out before and while your riding. Oh, and learning to be more like Men. They ride with know emotions. Their horse does something wrong, BOOM correction and they continue on. Us women we don't get mad, don't get mad, don't get mad, don't get mad, then we get PISSED and take it out on everyone. Then it repeats. Which is SO true. She also said Positive emotions get in our way too. Like your jumping a course, and your horse jumps the jump he has always had trouble with and you say "GOOD GIRL/BOY" then you canter on past you next jump. I think everyone has done or is going to experience that sometime. I sure have!

Now to see what the next two days of Judy camp bring for me and Ryn!

-Ashley 

Why Hello Summer.

   Everyone is saying that the days get shorter now. I beg to differ, my days are getting much longer....

    I think people sometimes think my life is simple. They are so wrong. I have started getting a little burnt out, between doing all my barn chores on my own, working four TOTALLY different horses, and somehow fitting school work and sleep in there somewhere. BAH, it crazy. I have been slacking on my school work because I am to worried about keeping my horses going and studying for my H-B. (which is in 10 days!)So, my non-horsey education is slacking, so I need to get my ass in gear! Our town Drivers Ed Coordinator won't call us back ethier. I'm 16, I should have my licence. :P

  I have been SO happy with all four of my mares. (Go figure). Keiko got June 13th- the 16th off due to a puncture wound on her left front forearm, it is all healed now. Thank god! I wanted it to heal before Keiko's first
Beg. Novice 3 phase. Yes, it was only MeCTA, but it is a big deal for a horse who did NOT want to move and crashed through any jump you took her over. She did AMAZING @ the Carmel HTS. We got a (not easy) 24 on our dressage, clear cross country, and clear stadium! (Dressage Video)  I am so proud of her. This mare is such a packer on the cross country course. I cannot believe how far she's come.
   Dixie got a few days off because her back was getting  sore again! So she was snuggled in her stall @ night with her Back on Track sheet :) I rode her yesterday and she was okay, not bad just still a little sore. I guess it is not a bad thing for a hard working horse to get a break sometimes. :) Although we did have a dressage show on the 18th, before she started getting sore. It went GREAT. We did 1st lvl test 1 and go a 64. Then did 1st lvl test 3, twice and the first one we got a 59, and the second one we got a 60! So, it improved :)
  Ryn has been doing AMAZING. We had the farrier out to Peppergrass before she came home (she came home on the 19th) He trimmed and shod her front feet, no problem. Then he went to the left hind, looked and went "Hmmmmm...". Walked over to the right hind, picked it up and was like "HMMMMMM....." I was like..."Uh oh! whats wrong!" It was weird both shoes were put on crooked. (That or her foot grew out crooked) If you looked at her feet like    U   U  the outside of each shoe was almost an inch and a half higher than the inside. So, that was not helping her movement at all, nor the odd tripping. So he took them off and trimmed them, and she has NICE feet so she didn't need back shoes. About an hour later Debbie rode her and there was a 150% difference in her movement, and her hitch in her right stifle was almost nonexistent. YAY! :) So I guess taking those back shoes off was a good thing. Most horses you take off their shoes and they can't walk. Every ride on her since I got her home has been so so good. I was super worried to bring her home, but I guess now she has her "peep". She is such a one person horse, so it might be hard to sell her in a year or two.  
   Duelli has been great lately. We did have a lesson with Gail last Friday, and we found some "holes" in her training. She is the type of horse that breezes through anything you teach her so you forget about the small things. This time it was something so simple as giving to the pressure of my left leg. We have not really worked on much lateral stuff, we just wanted to get her stretching, going straight and learning basic stuff. Now, we start to get her moving off my leg. :) She'll get it.
   On the 25th FPC went to Show Jumping Rally and they got 5th in riding and 8th in Horse Management. YAY. They did really good for a team with only 1 person that had been to SJ rally before. :) I think this weekend will be the 1st weekend for a while where I have nothing going on :) Next weekend is H-B testing, and Jessica and I are freaking out! Partly because they changed the location of our rating, so it is not on familiar grounds anymore. But.....the weekend after is the Stuart Pitman Clinic!!! I am so excited. I'm doing a lesson with Keiko and Duellsa. I can't wait. I think I am going crazy, but I want to take Keiko to the GMHA event in August. She is such a great mare, I think she can do it with flying colors :) 


Now off to ride some horses :)
-Ashley Shaffer

I'm not dead!

 I am still here! Just been WAYY to busy for my own good. But, still loving it :)

All the horses are doing GREAT! Dixie is developing back muscle and getting back into it! Keiko is excelling in her dressage and jumping, she is finally growing into her self! Oh, Baby draft horses :) Duelli got a week off (May 31-June 7th) Due to lack of weight, we've had a hard time keeping weight on her. It is driving me CRAZY. She gets Poulin E-tec and Poulin Promax, 5 flakes of hay @ night, soaked alfalfa cubes every other night, a multi Vitamin, Ulcer Supplement, and Pro-biotics. So, she gets plenty of food. It is not worms ethier. But we started her back in work a bit and she is just amazing, I CANNOT wait till she is good in the trailer so I can event her! :) Ryn is in "Rehab" with me and Debbie Place. We are working on just getting her to stretch down, and over her back to build muscle. It's weird, when we get her to that point she almost as a fear of moving correctly. She is a BIG mare wit BIG gaits when she gets moving, But she's fussy and going slow. But with Me and Debbie working her she is getting there.  She is not as sore in her back which is good. I kinda want to keep her @ Peppergrass farm with Debbie for a little bit :) It is like and hour and 15 mins away, but totally worth the gas money. She probably won't be jumping too much till her dressage is fixed. Morty is fat and happy! :)

So, the busy part. I went to the CNE Mock H-B (May 28th) with Jessica Champange, and that went GREAT. It was a good confidence builder for me since I am still iffy about taking my H-B rating :\. 

  On May 30th I took Duelli to a jumper show! She was such a superstar! NO refusals all day. Only two rails down. I was  so so proud of her. We did and 18inch course, 2ft, and 2"3. Although she could have gone much higher, I wanted to keep it simple for her 1st show EVER.(Jump show Video I think we need a running martingale) 

  June 4th I took Keiko and Dixie to a Mary O'Rourke clinic. I had a amazing dressage lesson with Dixie! Mary even got on her :). It was an eye opening lesson for me because I didn't realize how much Dixie was hollowing her back out. :( But we worked on it and I have some exercises to work on. I had a Cross country lesson on Keiko. I couldn't have asked her to be better! Keiko? Jumping Novice fences with ease? Yep you read it right! She such a "Steady Eddie" :)

    June 11th was NER Dressage Rally! That went REALLY well. Our two FPC teams did fabulous! On my team we had to kids get 71's! all our scores were great. I  had a tough time though :\ After being up there for 12 HOURS Friday setting up, I did not get home till like 9:00pm and still had to get Dixie ready, and clean tack so I was up till all hours. So running on 3 hours of sleep at Dressage Rally? Not fun. I went to do my 1st test (Training 3) and went of course. Still got a 64! Then the 2nd test......(First level test 1) I went of course not 1, but 2 times!! I was so pissed at my self. I just couldn't remember the tests!(got a 63)  Finally, did my 3rd test (First 1) and it was simply perfection. I remembered it, and Dixie was holy smokes good.(Got a 65!) She was fabulous all day it was her silly mommy and her sleep deprived brain was not so good.. Over all we got 11th in Horse Management (opps) and FIRST for the riding portion! I was so proud of my team. Our other FPC team did great as well! They got 6th in Horse Management and SECOND in the riding portion! GO FOXCROFT PONY CLUB! :D

   Today was the Infinity Farm 2-phase. I took Ms. Keiko! We did Beg. Novice and she was AWESOME, we got a 32 in dressage and a clear stadium course! We ended the day with..............(drum roll)..........FIRST! I am SO happy <3 

Now for two dressage shows this weekend with Dixie!

Oh, Also I want you guys (the people that actually read this) to keep a friend of mine in there prayers. She is going through a tough time at the moment, with her horse having to be put down. She has not had him very long, almost a year. They were an amazing pair <3 Ellie and her family did absolutely everything they could to save Blaze, after thousands of dollars and lots of prayers, her family and the vets at NEEVH decided to humanely euthanize Blaze considering he was very sick, and wouldn't even be pasture sound :(. So why keep the poor guy in pain? They made the right decision, and did everything they could. R.I.P Blaze's Black Magic <3

Ellie Demmons and Blaze's Black Magic forever <3 LOVE YOU ELLIE!

Lame horses are never any fun!

       So, Friday the 13th (go figure) I went to go to Peppergrass farm to go have a jumping lesson on Ryn. We walked in the barn and she was on the cross ties. My mother and I were like..." Uhmmm." We went and talked to Debbie, and she said she was lame and she wasn't sure on which foot, she didn't really have time to check. We took her in the indoor, and she was limping and head bobbing at the walk! She did do a little trot.  We decided it was her left front. Her shoulder was hot as well as the rest of the left leg. We cold hosed her leg, shoulder, and the rest of her body. I picked out her hoof and rinsed it out, and pressed on multiple spots on her hoof to see if there was a possible abscess. Nothing.... On Monday we got the Farrier out and if found an abscess! it was not that big, and popped like a pimple. What a sensitive mare :) After soaking, and cleaning her foot everyday I was able to ride her on Thursday! (the 19th) She was REALLY good. It was the 1st time her back actually came up the right way. Now to just get my position on her.

     I really have not been able to ride this past week because of the crap load of rain we have gotten. Don't get me wrong, I would ride in the rain, but the footing is SO mucky and slippery. It's funny, with Duelli when she is not being worked she looses weight. It is kinda odd. Unlike Dixie, who does the normal thing and turns into a little marshmallow when she is not ridden.

       Tomorrow I am off to Hitching Post HTS in VT with Jessica Champagne and her mare Missy! It should be tons of fun. I have never been there, so it will be nice to see another USEA venue. Although, sometimes I dread going to USEA events when I am not competing.....this is for a good friend :) Hopefully, I'll get Duellsa and possibly Ryn out there to do some USEA stuff!

        After this weekend though, I have to get my BUTT in gear and start studying for my H-b. Jess and I are going to a Prep/Mock H-b on the 28th. :)

Taa taa for now! 

Finally....

                  Woohoo! My life is so horse crazy and I am absolutely loving it.

       I have had several fantastic rides on all four of my horses. Dixie, we think the saddle search is over! We bought a older Stubben for a STEAL of a price. It's looking like a great fit so far, and she seems to move fine. On the 8th I rode Dixie in a Judy Westlake lesson, and it was a great lesson. We worked on moving her lateral, cause when you do she gets extremely pissy and hollows out her back. So what she had me do was go on the long side of the arena and turn her at a 45* angle and leg yield down. kinda like /|   and every once and a while throw in a halt. Judy's reasoning for that exercise was, 1. Dixie and dominant so I have to push her around a bit, and 2. In order for her to actually cross over her hind legs she has to bring her back up. Which made sense. We did that both directions and when I'd get 4-6 good yielding steps We'd trot forward and it was amazing what the diffrence was. She was actually in my rein with her back up, instead of the alternative where she would be very fake with her back hollow and the contact was light, and then a little weight,  light, and then a little weight,  and so on. So our assignment is to do our regular warm up and then start the leg  yielding. So far we've had 2 great rides.  :)

Duelli is getting back into working, and excelling! She is coming along so well. We're still having trailering problems but that will come with practice. She is finally stretching into my rein! It's taken a while to get back into it, because of the couple months off, but she is coming back with a force. She has a fantastic work ethic. Today (May 10th) We changed things up and went out and did some jumping! All my XC ish jumps are super homemade, but they work and they are safe. She was awesome! She is so fearless and didn't refuse one fence. She is still having a little issue with when to take off before a fence, but she's still green. So for a green horse she's doing excellent.
      Ryn is doing well :) We're mostly working on me at the moment, because she a a BIG mover, and I am not used to it. When she is like western jogging it feels fast when your on her. None of my other horses have a big stride like her! We had a Judy Westlake lesson Monday (May 9th). It was different. We didn't really worry about Ryn, because we needed to fix me first. We worked on me not have a "Jumper" position. Which is weird because I feel like I have that ear-shoulder-hip-heal line, but I don't it's more like a ear-knee-toe line.
So I ended up with a grab strap and trying to get my leg under me, and my shoulders "BACK, BACK, BACK" I think the word "Back" it engraved into my skull right now. :) From riding on my own 24/7 I get the silly little habbits. Like, leaning to forward and looking at the mane, posting from my knees not my hips, and that darn right hand I love to hang onto. But after a little while finally got it. It is SO different going from little Dixie, and then Ryn who's gaits are just huge! A Couple more rides with the mind set of "Upper body BACK, Lower leg BACK, Hips FORWARD  over the saddle, and right hand GIVE" should make some progress in my riding and Ryn happier. (Lesson Video)
   Keiko has been awesome as well, I have not been about to ride her as much as I would like to, But the couple of rides I have had on her have been fantastic. She is really growing up (Except for trying to eat everything!) and finally getting some Spunk!
     My 1st show of the season is this Saturday! Just a little 2-phase, but I love showing so I don't care. I am taking one of my friends training projects for her. His name is Shickoba and he is just way to cute and is a brave little sucker. This pony would jump anything! He is like fearless on the trails, NOTHING spooks him. Oh, did I mention he is for sale? (There's my advertising Jenna!) Sale Video 1    Sale Video 2

   

New horse and Pony Club :)

Lunging VideoMaine has been really warm and drying up. It is amazing!

     We have a new addition to Second Glance Farm! After some serious pros and cons talking, we decided to take in a horse. Her name is Labrynth, aka Ryn. She is a 13 yro, 16"3 Canadian Sport horse cross, mare. She has been doing Dressage for the past several years now, and is now moving to eventing! She is a hopeful project horse, and a horse I am hoping to get my C-3 in 2012 :) Our plan is to introduce her this year to eventing in MeCTA events and maybe some USEA later in the year.  This will be really good for me, because I can continue my passion while really taking my time to get Duellsa trained. ( Lunging Video )

      Our pony club took a trip to UNH Horse Trials this past weekend. It was a lot of fun, though I wanted to be competing! Our fellow Mainers did amazing! (Shout out to them!!). It was good for the pony clubbers that are getting their C-1 this year to see a REAL USEA event. It is SO different out there compared to our local combined training events.

    Getting lots of riding, lessons, and training done! I'm a happy horsey kid :)

Quick Update =)

Not much has been going on lately in the Shaffer household. I've gotten to ride several times since my last post! It's finally drying up :) I had a amazing weekend with my friend Jenna! I only get to do my 2nd hobby (Even though horses are not my hobby, it's life) once or twice a year. We went to Great Skates for the all night skate! it was from the 23rd at 8 p.m to 6 a.m. on the 24th. TEN hours of skating. Pretty sure Jenna and I were sore for a couple days after, but it was TOTALLY worth it.
    

       These next few weeks are going to get busy, busy! Our pony club is going to watch UNH horse trails this weekend. (though I wish I was competing!) That should be fun for them to see a REAL USEA event. Here in Maine we only have one USEA horse trials. Which stinks.

1st show is May 14th! Just a two phase, but still way too excited :)

Busy horse life is coming!

            Finally. My  life is getting horse crazy once again, and I absolutely love it! I have been able to ride Dixie and Duelli a few times. They have been fabulous as always. My arena has no snow, but still mucky. I'm estimating by the end of this week it will be dried up enough to ride. I can't wait to jump. I think I am getting a little "dressage sour".
    
           Friday (the 15th) my Mother and I went to the Dover Saddlery Tent sale. I brought a close friend with me, it was SUCH a blast. I ended up with some really nice items! got a Back on Track sheet for Dixie, sadly its a little small. My mom is going to try and alter it so it fits, because there is NO way I would be able to afford a new one. I love Dover because you can sit in saddles you dream to own for your own horse, try on attire that you would need rip off an arm and a leg to afford :) Way to much fun.
      
          The past 2 days I've working at a 3 day camp for Pony club. Oh, little pony club ponies are too cute. The kids in pony club are looking great! All I basically did was help with their D1-D-3 record books, safety checks, and tacking up. The instructor was amazing. She worked with me a little bit on the "teaching" part of my rating. Which was a big help. The second day I brought Dixie so I could ride. They used her for the lunge seminar for the group, and she was awesome. I rode her after and she was pretty good. She seemed a little sore on the front end, and I don't know why. She had no heat in her legs or anything. So she got some lineament when she got home :) I did get a chance to talk to Marina a little bit (Her Blog) about the whole H-b thing. I am still SUPER shaky about it. I'm so nervous.It's hard to study this soon because I'll cram, and cram, and then I forget it all. I have a hard time retaining some information. It is really weird. Hopefully going to some preps, and talking with some more upper level pony clubbers will boost my confidence a bit. Yet again i think about how nervous I was when going for my C-1 and C-2 and I did fine. I guess I might just be making it bigger than it actually is.

-Ashley :)

Snow-Mud-Snow.

       Well, we still have quite a bit of snow! It has been really warm out, so we now have mud....

    I was able to ride Sunday (like I wrote) but, I got to ride Monday too! My little 15 meter circle got a little icey so I was not able to do any Canter work. I rode Keiko 1st, she was really good! She was a little forward. (Which I'm not used to) She is mostly Draft, and a Draft baby at that. So she is kinda pokey and a little dead to the leg. She's only 5 and using every bit of energy to grow. Anyway, she was tight in her neck and poll but after a little flexing to the right, then to the left, then to the right, and so on... she finally loosened up and was amazing! 

  

After Keiko it was Dixie's turn! She was super! Again, I rode her kinda long and low. Her back was nice and up, loose at the poll, we even did a little lateral work! Well, as much as we can on a snowy 15 meter circle. I am so happy I finally found a saddle for her! We got a used, older Prestige. I LOVE it. So for the past few days I've been doing H-B paperwork, Showing paperwork, and figuring out my summer. Finally got some barn cleaning done! It was not too bad, but everyones barn gets a little scary after the winter.

Hopefully I'll be able to ride again soon :)