Let's just get right down to it -- up until Saturday, I really think Nikki was under the assumption she was the only horse in the world brave enough to jump anything. She's kind of a diva like that. :)
But I guess I need to start at the beginning...
Nikki, Nancy and I all pulled out right on time Saturday morning for the trek to Mocksville (TTC). Nikki loaded like a champ by herself, and let everyone in downtown Zebulon know that she was headed to a big-girl horse show by herself. Once we got there, she stood on the trailer while we got checked in, and was a very good girl in general. She warmed up great for dressage, and made the long walk down the road to the arena, where we stood for a couple of rides. Once we started around the ring, she got a bit tight looking at the new surroundings, but I was pleased with her test - other then trying to stop and poop going down centerline (which earned an error on my part, because I clucked at her "use of voice"), a minor break from the canter for a stride, and a moment where she tried to scratch her face in the free walk. :) All moments that I can definitely laugh about now, but at the time I was quite made at myself for not riding her better!
Nancy and I then went to walk the XC course - which seemed huge! :) There wasn't anything I felt Nik wouldn't be up to, but it definitely was going to be a challenge. We headed back and tacked the pony up (but not before getting her some new pink Woof boots, so she could look like the diva she is!). Once we walked out to warm-up, Nikki began to stare in amazement at all the horses jumping. I literally could feel her exclaim "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M NOT THE ONLY JUMPING HORSE!?!?!?!?".
When we attempted the very small cross-rail, Nikki's back turned into a 2 in long coiled spring that would unwind. Here's our first attempt! (the person saying "kick, kick" wasn't talking to us, although, maybe she should have been!) (One day, when she's a super successful eventer, I'm hoping we can look back and laugh at her very first jump at her very first event).
After that, things got better, but Nik sure wasn't her normal, confident self. At this point, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be riding the course for placings, so I asked Nancy what we'd scored in dressage. She smiled and informed me we were sitting in 3rd on a 34! (that included my error for 'use of voice')
After a LONG hold in warm-up due to a fall on course, we made our way to the startbox. Nikki cantered out on to the course, and then needed to peak at most of the fences one time before jumping. Luckily, since it was a schooling show, we got to continue on, and by the end of the course she'd figured out her job, finishing strong and looking for some more jumps!
The Show Jump course was not an easy one for the BN, complete with colored poles, flowers, a two-stride (second jump oxer) and lots of bending lines. I told Nancy that the plan was to go in, and if Nikki started taking peaks again, I'd get a good confident jump and then call it a day. Nik was way more confident in warm-up this time around, and went in the ring and rocked it! She did have a peak at the first jump, and then again at the first oxer, but over all, she went around smoothly and confidently. We were SO proud of her!!!!
The plan is to take Nikki for a lesson with MJS and a couple of XC schools to see where she is, and MAYBE a trip to Longleaf HT at the end of April (to play with the big horses!).
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Dreamer cont....
Here's the video of Dreamer from back in February when I first went to ride him. Keep in mind that this is his first time in English tack, and that he really hadn't been in 'steady' work for a while! He's going to be super special I think!
Dream a little dream(er) for me....
So, yesterday was my birthday. Aaaannnndddd, it's been rescheduled. At some point around the middle of the day, as I sat on the bags of feed by myself, crying because my bloodhound turned UFC fighter had tried her hardest to break my noise, while my very naughty horse (P) was trying his hardest to prove how much he did not approve of having the new horse join him and Ted, I just decided that this was not birthday material. I'd just *attempted* to take Prophet on a ride, in which he did some lovely moves that would have made the Spanish Riding School proud, and I got off mid-ride, and thought seriously for a moment there was a point that I would be run over by my suddenly 18.1 hand horse. Ugh.
But wait.... did I say new horse? Why yes, yes I did. 'Dreamer' is a 6 year old Quarter Horse that just got too big to be a reiner. He did the Futurity stuff a little bit when he was younger, but wasn't drilled to death, as he just kept growing! Now, apparently riding a spin on him is slightly like turning the Titanic. But he does try very hard. About a month ago, I went and rode him for the first time (his first time in English tack!), and he was a star. I have the video, and just need to find the time to post it, but really, I found myself cantering around and asked his (then) owner "Does he do changes?". She said "oh, yeah" and I made way across the diaganol, shifted my weight, and Ta-da! Flying change. Same thing the other way. What a cutie.
So, other then being a bit overweight at the moment, and in need of a new pair of Nike's, Dreamer has made his way to Cassidy-dressage land. He is for sale, and I think he will make someone a super fun horse. He's big and beautiful and black (until the NC sun gets ahold of him), and I'm excited to play with him until he finds a new home!
Here's some very poor camera-phone pics, but hopefully you can tell how stinkin' cut he is!!!
But wait.... did I say new horse? Why yes, yes I did. 'Dreamer' is a 6 year old Quarter Horse that just got too big to be a reiner. He did the Futurity stuff a little bit when he was younger, but wasn't drilled to death, as he just kept growing! Now, apparently riding a spin on him is slightly like turning the Titanic. But he does try very hard. About a month ago, I went and rode him for the first time (his first time in English tack!), and he was a star. I have the video, and just need to find the time to post it, but really, I found myself cantering around and asked his (then) owner "Does he do changes?". She said "oh, yeah" and I made way across the diaganol, shifted my weight, and Ta-da! Flying change. Same thing the other way. What a cutie.
So, other then being a bit overweight at the moment, and in need of a new pair of Nike's, Dreamer has made his way to Cassidy-dressage land. He is for sale, and I think he will make someone a super fun horse. He's big and beautiful and black (until the NC sun gets ahold of him), and I'm excited to play with him until he finds a new home!
Here's some very poor camera-phone pics, but hopefully you can tell how stinkin' cut he is!!!
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| Notice Prophet in the background looking very angry and 'protecting' Ted |
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| He's pretty darned cute! |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Southern Pines Wrap Up
Link to Prophet's pics from the weekend
Ah, the first event of the season always puts a few butterflies in my stomach. No matter how many jumps we jump, how many circles in the arena we do, how many times I tell myself things are fine - it's not until I actually cross that final finish line for show jumping that I know if I prepared enough after the winter.
For this event, I figured it was now or never with the Diddy - I went ahead and entered in the Prelim, as we've done training so many times, and had several successful Prelim runs last year. We did our gallops, we did our lessons, and he felt good to go.
First off, can I say how much fun it is to go spend the weekend with my best friend? Although I had a student there competing (more on her in a second!), for the most part it was just me and my main P-man. He tried very hard in the dressage, although he and I are still trying to figure out some new tools we've acquired through our lessons with Becky Blikslager, so we had a few notable bobbles, landing us around the middle of the pack.
Cross Country was a blast. It was a fairly gallop-y course, with a few good questions (and lots of BIG tables in typical CHP style). 5ab was a bank bounce to a roll top, and 7abc was a skinny, HUGE downbank, hard left to another skinny. There was also a sizable trekhener at 19 that was new. Enough to make me a little jittery once we were in the box, hearing the familiar 10, 9, 8....... but not enough to think that my horse wasn't up to the task at hand. Prophet seriously rocked the course, and finished feeling like he'd just gotten warmed up. I on the other hand need to do some serious P90x or something, ugh....
We did come away with several time faults, but really more because I was taking a few extra tugs before everything, making sure we came away with a confident, clean run.
Sunday morning came (after night two of sleeping in my trailer - this time with a thermal sleeping bag so I wouldn't freeze again), and Prophet was jumping out of his skin! Last year, he always felt a bit flat and tired when we Show Jumped after XC, but this time he was full of bounce! He jumped a fantastic course for me, smooth, out of rhythm, and I think Melissa Jones-Sarle would have been proud. What she wouldn't have been so proud of was me opening up too early over a sizeable square oxer, cause P to graze the back rail with a hind.
Oh well, I'll take my time penalties (XC), and 4 jump faults (SJ) and improve upon them next time.... but for now I have a CCI* qualified pony who is awfully proud of himself! He had a bit of a light week following the event (his next event isn't until the end of April), and I sure do wish school was out so I could put some students up to hack him out - it's not very fun when he's this fit!
My student who also ran at the event, Jennifer Lewis, had a fantastic weekend, finishing her first recognized Beginner Novice on her dressage score!!!!!! I'm so impressed with the progress Jenn's made with this mare (Jane) and can't wait to watch them grow together!
This weekend is Nik's first event (the Beginner Novice at TTC!), and the rest of the guys get to have a bit of down time from traveling.
Until next time - Kick on!
Ah, the first event of the season always puts a few butterflies in my stomach. No matter how many jumps we jump, how many circles in the arena we do, how many times I tell myself things are fine - it's not until I actually cross that final finish line for show jumping that I know if I prepared enough after the winter.
For this event, I figured it was now or never with the Diddy - I went ahead and entered in the Prelim, as we've done training so many times, and had several successful Prelim runs last year. We did our gallops, we did our lessons, and he felt good to go.
First off, can I say how much fun it is to go spend the weekend with my best friend? Although I had a student there competing (more on her in a second!), for the most part it was just me and my main P-man. He tried very hard in the dressage, although he and I are still trying to figure out some new tools we've acquired through our lessons with Becky Blikslager, so we had a few notable bobbles, landing us around the middle of the pack.
Cross Country was a blast. It was a fairly gallop-y course, with a few good questions (and lots of BIG tables in typical CHP style). 5ab was a bank bounce to a roll top, and 7abc was a skinny, HUGE downbank, hard left to another skinny. There was also a sizable trekhener at 19 that was new. Enough to make me a little jittery once we were in the box, hearing the familiar 10, 9, 8....... but not enough to think that my horse wasn't up to the task at hand. Prophet seriously rocked the course, and finished feeling like he'd just gotten warmed up. I on the other hand need to do some serious P90x or something, ugh....
We did come away with several time faults, but really more because I was taking a few extra tugs before everything, making sure we came away with a confident, clean run.
Sunday morning came (after night two of sleeping in my trailer - this time with a thermal sleeping bag so I wouldn't freeze again), and Prophet was jumping out of his skin! Last year, he always felt a bit flat and tired when we Show Jumped after XC, but this time he was full of bounce! He jumped a fantastic course for me, smooth, out of rhythm, and I think Melissa Jones-Sarle would have been proud. What she wouldn't have been so proud of was me opening up too early over a sizeable square oxer, cause P to graze the back rail with a hind.
Oh well, I'll take my time penalties (XC), and 4 jump faults (SJ) and improve upon them next time.... but for now I have a CCI* qualified pony who is awfully proud of himself! He had a bit of a light week following the event (his next event isn't until the end of April), and I sure do wish school was out so I could put some students up to hack him out - it's not very fun when he's this fit!
My student who also ran at the event, Jennifer Lewis, had a fantastic weekend, finishing her first recognized Beginner Novice on her dressage score!!!!!! I'm so impressed with the progress Jenn's made with this mare (Jane) and can't wait to watch them grow together!
This weekend is Nik's first event (the Beginner Novice at TTC!), and the rest of the guys get to have a bit of down time from traveling.
Until next time - Kick on!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Nik of Time
As many of you know, yes, Southern Pines Horse Trials was last weekend, and yes, Prophet went out and rocked it in his usually super/rock-star manner. However I'm waiting for the photographer to load the pics, since I was there by myself and thus don't have any of my own photographic evidence.
So, until then, I'd like to introduce a very promising new ride who's going to be joining Mr. P in the trailer. Nik of Time, or Nikki, has been part of the C-Horse crew for some time as a dressage pony with owner, Nancy Calhoun. Nik's decided she doesn't want to play dressage anymore and Nancy found herself a LOVELY mare to partner her in the sandbox. Thus, I started jumping Nik, and she's quite fond of it! She's got loads of jump, and super keen, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!
Nikki will be making her eventing debut next weekend in the TTC Horse Trials (unrecognized) and if all goes well, she's be doing the BN at Longleaf in April!
Here's Nik's video from her very first time schooling cross country (she's just been jumping since mid-January).
Nikki is for sale, and if she finds her new home, I'll be super sad to see her go, but until then I'm ecstatic to get to be her jockey!
On a side note, Nikki has been on the CurOst supplement for the last month and is doing wonderful on it! CurOst is a new sponsor to the C-Horse Crew, and I've really liked the results I've seen. Look for Nikki to be sporting the CurOST logo at all her big-girl shows!!
So, until then, I'd like to introduce a very promising new ride who's going to be joining Mr. P in the trailer. Nik of Time, or Nikki, has been part of the C-Horse crew for some time as a dressage pony with owner, Nancy Calhoun. Nik's decided she doesn't want to play dressage anymore and Nancy found herself a LOVELY mare to partner her in the sandbox. Thus, I started jumping Nik, and she's quite fond of it! She's got loads of jump, and super keen, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!
Nikki will be making her eventing debut next weekend in the TTC Horse Trials (unrecognized) and if all goes well, she's be doing the BN at Longleaf in April!
Here's Nik's video from her very first time schooling cross country (she's just been jumping since mid-January).
Nikki is for sale, and if she finds her new home, I'll be super sad to see her go, but until then I'm ecstatic to get to be her jockey!
On a side note, Nikki has been on the CurOst supplement for the last month and is doing wonderful on it! CurOst is a new sponsor to the C-Horse Crew, and I've really liked the results I've seen. Look for Nikki to be sporting the CurOST logo at all her big-girl shows!!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Belly flop...
I think it's pretty funny how I always pull up other people's blogs and am highly disappointed when there's not a current update, however I have no problem leaving all my readers (hi mom!) in suspense. :) Once again, things have been a bit crazy in Cassidy-land, moving houses, moving horses, planning a wedding, starting the season... you know, the normal things.
Last I wrote, the cold weather was getting ready to make a break for it. Now we are being blessed with mostly warm days, albeit a bit breezy at times. Prophet didn't get his XC run at the Ark as he decided the 4th warm-up fence was a awesome time to pull the left front shoe - with no farrier on grounds. Ugh. We did put in a decent enough dressage test (although I went OC twice!). The video of the dressage test is one of about 6 that I need to upload, so that may take me a bit. :)
We are headed to Southern Pines tomorrow for the first recognized event of the season. Prophet's prep has been good and he's jumping out of his skin! We dressaged last weekend at a schooling show (again, videos will be uploaded) and went straight out for a XC school - both of which he handled quite well.
This post is going to be a bit short, but I promise a timely follow up with posts regarding Prophet, Story, and Nikki, plus other fun things. :)
Last I wrote, the cold weather was getting ready to make a break for it. Now we are being blessed with mostly warm days, albeit a bit breezy at times. Prophet didn't get his XC run at the Ark as he decided the 4th warm-up fence was a awesome time to pull the left front shoe - with no farrier on grounds. Ugh. We did put in a decent enough dressage test (although I went OC twice!). The video of the dressage test is one of about 6 that I need to upload, so that may take me a bit. :)
We are headed to Southern Pines tomorrow for the first recognized event of the season. Prophet's prep has been good and he's jumping out of his skin! We dressaged last weekend at a schooling show (again, videos will be uploaded) and went straight out for a XC school - both of which he handled quite well.
This post is going to be a bit short, but I promise a timely follow up with posts regarding Prophet, Story, and Nikki, plus other fun things. :)
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