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 :)

Snow, Quiz, and Horsey adventures.

     Snow, snow, snow. We got a very cruel April Fools day joke! We got a foot and a half of snow. Not funny Mother nature! Haha. So the horses stayed in for the day, occasionally out for a few minutes to stretch. It was a great lazy, movie day!
 

     Saturday was the Northeast Region Quiz Rally. We had two D teams participate, one Sr. D team and a JR. D team. I didn't compete for the 1st time in 4 years! I helped out with Megaroom. After of counting a very long day of counting way to many 2's our club did fabulous! The Jr D's got 3rd place, and the Sr D's got 4th place! I was really proud of our teams. We usually get a 7th. (The purple ribbon, which is our teams color.) Good job guys! While there I did decide I'm going to do my H-B, thanks to Jessica C. She's also going to go for her H-B. We are going to have a local prep with Caitlin Donahue.(A local "A" ponyclubber) That would be GREAT! I want to also try to meet up with Marina DiMarco, she did her H-B and C-3 in 2010. (Marina's Blog). Hopefully is will go well :)

    Today I was able to RIDE! AH! I am so happy. There was a 15 meterishh circle at the far end of my pasture, right by the road. It had O.K. footing. Good enough to do  little riding :)
I rode Dixie 1st and she was pretty good. She just had way to much energy for her own good! Silly girl. A couple spooks here and there, but over all we had a nice little ride. She was really stretchy, so we just rode long and low for this ride. To the footing wasn't as great as I thought so I didn't want to ask to much of her.
Then it was Duellsa's turn!  I forget about how short I have had Duell. (since Oct.) and how little training she's had. (Broke by Me and my instructor in Nov.) We were walking up to my little circle I had made with Dixie, and she stopped and wouldn't go. After a few running spooks, couple bucks, and lots of encouraging words. She was finally confident enough to go by the road. Our road is SUPER busy, with log trucks, annoying people thinking they are funny to BEEP at me when I ride, and load mufflers. After about 15mins of just changing direction and keeping her brain busy, she was blowing, snorting, and when she'd spook it was in place not taking off! :) She is so smart, and picks up on things SO quick.

So thats my past few days :D