Camp, Camp, Camp!

So, I just got back from camp but I guess I should probably do a recap from our cross country school at Poplar the week before camp. It was great, we did the whole Beginner Novice course & he didn't stop at anything. He was being funky about the water but oh well. Now for CAMPPPPPPP. Of course, it was extremely fun & has made me feel extremely confident going into River Glen next weekend! The first day was a little iffy for Genzo. We were in an arena with 12 other horses & riders... a few of which either didn't know how to steer, or just didn't watch where they were going. He was a little nuts but finally settled into everything by the end of the lesson. The second day was great! We worked on 20 meter circles in our dressage lesson but didn't get the opportunity to do our jumping lesson because it decided to rain. Wednesday was also good, starting off the morning with a great jumping lesson where we did a circle of jumps that was extremely difficult but we got through it! We played games on horseback that night, but I chose to not use Dargenzio because I didn't think he'd be very cooperative. Thursday was great! I had a private dressage lesson in the morning, where we really got Dargenzio in the correct show frame. Our jumping lesson was soooooo fun too! We did four bounces to a going three stride oxer! & Friday, my favorite day, we went cross country schooling! Genzo was being amazing so my trainer thought it'd be good for us to pop over some of her Training level questions including a humungous log/fallen down tree sort of thing. It was extremely wide but only like 3 ft. tall. Dargenzio went directly up to it without a question & popped right over it :p We also went over a Trakhener, which he also took like a piece of cake. Today, we had the camp show & I got to do the Beginner Novice test B for our dressage test (since I'm doing it next weekend) & we did Novice level show jumping! He was awesome, except for being a little uptight & looky in dressage. Our show jumping course was great except for the fact that I was having a difficult time finding my distances so we had quite a few long distances, but oh well. I'm excited for River Glen & I *hope* this is my last Beginner Novice! I also came home to "Christmas In July"... My parents went out & bought two mini four wheelers for shows & got Dargenzio a bunch of stuff including a saddle pad, a new set of open fronts, bridle, etc.

SIT ON YOUR BUTT!

That title basically sums up my last two weeks. We're teaching Dargenzio to sit on his lovely hindend that God blessed him with. You would think since he has such a nice hindend, he'd be willing to sit on it right? NOPE. He is a total cow about sitting on his butt. Thankfully, we are getting there. We've had quite a few dressage lessons. Most of them start out horrific, but end REALLY nicely. His canter work is really coming together & he realizes that it isn't that hard to sit on his butt for three strides. With all of this hindend work, he has become extremely balanced & I was more than impressed with our hill work yesterday. We've been gradually building up our trot & canter sets, because I need Dargenzio to get more fit or he'll die running around Novice. Yesterday, he was able to withstand two 5 minute trot sets, & two 3 minute canter sets. He was also sooooooo balanced that my job was easy. I'm normally having to half halt every few seconds & I have to help him balance going down the hill. Not yesterday. I was kinda playing monkey, just sitting up there & steering. I really hope he is like this at River Glen because I cannot have an unbalanced five year old running around cross country(; He is really starting to prove himself & the feeling that he is finally achieving what I've been working for, for such a long time, is awesome. Now for the truck. We have officially bought a new truck & it will be coming home while I'm at Summer camp! (More good news, I'm now going to my trainer's Summer camp) Big Blue is officially up for sale & I've decided to name the new truck, Debby Dually. I think it fits very well. She is a brand new (yes, we did get a brand new truck for the price of a used one, thank you Daddy-O) 2012 Ford F-350 Super Duty, with the King Ranch package! They're currently installing gooseneck hookups for us, so we will be set once we go get her! I'm getting pumped for Summer camp & River Glen, & I'm not too sure which one I'm more excited about! I'll try to keep everyone updated with Dargenzio's progress but for now, enjoy this picture of him moping before our third day of (SIT ON YOUR BUTT!) work...

& now for one of our new truck!

Forgot to add! We're going cross country schooling at Poplar, at the end of the week! Hoping to school their whole Beginner Novice course (even though Genzo thinks its nothing) & a few Novice questions!

Looking Up!

I've been MIA for a while since I've been extremely busy, but I'll give everyone a recap of what's going on. I have signed Dargenzio up for his first Horse Trial (& I went ahead & paid so I can't back out on this one) at River Glen, in August. I'm super excited but nervous at the same time since I don't know how well Dargenzio will take that 10 hour trailer ride without a buddy. We have been doing many lessons & will start doing three dressage lessons a week with my trainer, so we can get ready for River Glen. Hopefully River Glen will go well so we can move up to Novice. Now... My truck is NOT fixed like the mechanic said it was. You would think that after putting $800 into getting the engine fixed that it would actually be fixed, well no. We brought it home from Georgia & the day after we got home, the engine quit again. This time, we're going to take it to yet another Ford mechanic. But, we just bought a new truck so we now have a backup & don't have to worry about being stranded on the side of a busy highway(; We have decided to sell Big Blue, after we get the engine fixed, so we don't have four vehicles & a trailer sitting in our yard anymore. This Summer has been hectic but totally worth it & I'm enjoying it :D

Summer...

So, I'm no longer going to Chatt Hills like I have had planned for the last three months. Yay. I'm definitely not happy & all I want is to take my horse to his first Horse Trial. Really? Thats not going to happen until September, maybe even October now, since the next Horse Trial that I could go to is in September. Ugh. I think we're officially at the bottom of the goal, totem pole. I worked my way up maybe a fourth of a way there. Then, I got shot down for going to NAJYRC camp. Now, I'm getting shot down to taking my horse to his first USEA Horse Trial. This is not cool & I will never move up if this keeps happening. So, I guess we'll have a Summer filled with really nothing other than lessons. I can't go to my trainer's camp, I can't go to a single Horse Trial, & I couldn't even go to Young Rider's camp. Perfect. On the brightside, Dargenzio is having both of his saddles adjusted to fit him so he'll be more comfortable. Well... I guess if I think positive, maybe things will look up?

Officially An Event Horse

Dargenzio is OFFICIALLY an event horse. He is signed up for his first recognized Horse Trial at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, Georgia, in July! We will hopefully be participating in a clinic with Buck Davidson as well :D Anyway, Genzo has a USEA number of his own & we're getting pumped for Chatt. He has had the last four days off since the last show, & I got on him yesterday. Ya' know, he's five so any normal five year old would be stupid & be goofy. Not him. I guess he isn't normal. He went right to work & was really stretching! About 15 minutes into the ride, I was ready to get off. What's the point in riding a horse when he's being perfect? Especially a FIVE YEAR OLD. Well, I stayed on because he needs to get nice & fit so he won't die on cross country in the lovely Georgia heat. Its really nice to be able to ride my horse & feel the difference in his movement, suppleness, & willingness. Was he anything like this at the show? Of course not. He was really balanced as well & I normally expect a "I'm a giraffe, let me throw my head" into the canter transition. Did he do that? No. He was really really really good, I just can't get over it. He stayed nice & balanced, & only came up about an inch into the canter transition. It felt lovely! He was also nice & collected, whereas he is normally strung out & doesn't know what to do with his extremely large canter. Lets just hope he acts like this at our next lesson(; I love this horse more & more everyday. If it doesn't rain today, I'll be getting some conformation shots of him since he has really filled out since the day I got him!

Young Riders...

My only goal in eventing is to compete at the North American Junior Young Riders Championships, one day. Well yet again, I'm being taken one step further from my goal. As my area's Young Rider's camp approaches, I am realizing how far I am away from this goal. They have great instruction & even a selection trial (schooling show) for Team Challenge in KY, in October, at all levels. This will be the second year in a row that I've begged, hoped, & prayed that I could go, but was shut down because of the price of it. So once again, the door to NAJYRC has been slammed in my face.

Thats An Adventure... For Sure.

Its not a real horse show without an adventure, right? RIGHT. So, my truck decided to leave us stranded at a gas station 30 minutes from Poplar, with two horses in tow. Thankfully, my trainer was able to pick us up & the horses so we made it to Poplar! My Mom took the truck & had our gas mileage device unplugged because everyone thought that was what our problem was. WRONG. I'll get to that in a second... Anyway, Dargenzio was awesome cross country schooling on Friday night & went over everything well. We had an icky dressage test which we scored a 41.9 (?) on but we redeemed ourselves in show jumping, where we had a double clean round! Everything was MAX height, & we even had a TWO STRIDE. Are those even legal in Beginner Novice? I honestly don't think so, but whatever... We school them at home so it wasn't a big deal... for me at least. Dargenzio decided to jump in like an idiot, so it just made the whole thing like poop. Good thing he is careful(: Dargenzio zoomed around cross country like a champ, with one measly stop which was all my fault. I came unbalanced through the water since Dargenzio felt the need to leap in & out of it, & I couldn't find my balance as we came up to the squid. He wanted to go, but didn't because I wasn't with him. He literally came right up to the base of the fence, ears forward, & then just kinda stopped because he couldn't go. It wasn't dirty & he knew he wanted to do it, & I did too. Anyway, all of the other parts of our course were great! Time was easy to make & we came in right under optimum. Dargenzio didn't even think about stopping at anything else & he even had his first gallop through the woods(; Pony man was great & he came back to the barn, to a liniment bath & poultice! So, we get on the road to go home & our truck decides to completely DIE about 30 minutes away from Poplar... this time, on the side of a three lane (busy) highway. Thanks to technology (Facebook), we had three wonderful people come pick up the trailer & horses that were in it! Thank you to Ms. Mikki, Aidan & Lily for coming to the rescue! They were at USPC camp, which was held at Poplar, & were able to leave so they could come to our rescue! Now, it was time to find a way to get back to Florida...? How are we supposed to do that? We know all of five or so people with a truck that could pull our trailer, & all of those five people were having problems with their trucks as well (or were busy). My Uncle ended up coming to get us & I'm very thankful that he did. We got home about 3 hours ago & the ponies are happy to be out of crammed stalls & to finally get to graze. Now for even more of a fun part, I came home & opened up my feed bin to mix feed... to find that we are almost completely out of feed. So, my horses ate maybe 1/2 of what they normally would get & are just getting Beet Pulp for breakfast tomorrow. My awesome feed store lady is going to meet us at her store tomorrow, since they're normally closed on Mondays. Welp, my truck is stuck in Georgia... where we will have to get it if its not going to cost a ton of money to fix. If its going to cost quite a bit, we will be on the hunt for a new truck which we oh so desperately need but its really not in our budget right now since we are taking Dargenzio to so many shows, lessons, etc. as I would love to have him running Novice by the end of the year. But I mean, we won't be taking him anywhere unless our truck gets fixed or we get a new one. So, hopefully this fix will be easy & cheap. All I can do is hope. I highly doubt I will be doing my trainer's Summer camp or the Chatt Hills Summer Series which I wanted to do so badly.