WOW. (Update Part 1)

That's really all I can say. I have been so busy over the last three months, it's not even funny. That's why I haven't posted. In January, my trainer texted my Mom asking her if I could come be a working student for her while she was in Wellington for six weeks. & that is where all the busy-ness started.

Wellington

First Hack In Welly World

I packed my bags within two days & headed to Wellington, where I'd be staying for 6 weeks. The whole ride down there I was wondering what it was like, what the people were like, & what we would do outside of the barn. We weren't actually staying in Wellington, we were five minutes outside of Wellington, in Loxahatchee. The road where our barns were, was this beautiful winding road full of four board fence on each side. People were riding in their arenas, & on the side of the road. There were immaculate barns with gorgeous arenas. I went right to work when we got there, & that's where my six weeks began. Mondays were warm up days - Tuesdays were full work days - Wednesdays were full work days - Thursdays were trail days - Fridays were full work days - Saturdays were full work days - Sundays were off days. This was the schedule we lived by. I also forgot to mention that we had two different barns, six horses at each barn. Thankfully, they were right across the street from each other. But, I did a lot of running. On Friday nights, we went to the Global Dressage Festival & watched the Grand Prix freestyles under the lights. Saturday nights consisted of going to WEF & watching whatever was going on that night. During the week in our free time, we'd explore Wellington... Well, when we needed to go find food or go to the grocery store. Tackeria was my biggest nightmare & paradise all at the same time. The store was huge & it was the only decent tack shop in Wellington. We went often for the basic things like fly spray & Fox Fire. It was difficult to walk out of Tackeria with only those things. Thankfully, I didn't blow my money there like I thought I would end up doing. I enjoyed watching the lessons my trainer took with Anne Gribbons & Debbie McDonald.

Mirror Selfies Are Mandatory

I learned a lot from just watching & listening. I also enjoyed being surrounded by big, lovely horses. Dargenzio, sticking 16.2 hh, looked tiny compared to all of the other horses there. We also stuck out like a sore thumb, just a bit. The horses down there were nice & round, & Dargenzio is just awkward, long & lanky. There's a big difference between a dressage horse & an event horse. But oh well, I still love him & love what we do. Even though I was in Wellington, I still had a Horse Trial to attend two weeks after I got there. There was no turning back, I entered & there were no refunds... Anyway, Dargenzio didn't get to jump while we were down there & only got to gallop once, since he went nuts about it when we did. He also hadn't schooled since the beginning of January, so I knew this show was just going to be awesome... My trainer also couldn't come since she was going to a different show. Dargenzio came up with Cellulitis the week before the show. It had started off as Scratchies but quickly developed into Cellulitis overtaking his whole leg. After trying to treat it ourselve's (& failing), we called the Vet out to prescribe him some antibiotics. She gave him a loading dose of antibiotics since I was leaving for the show in three days, & gave him enough antibiotics for a week after the show as well. I wrapped him every night & he basically had the whole week before the show off (Perfect, right?!). He was sound & happy again the day we were leaving. His tendon was still puffy from infection but he was sound, so I did a lesson at 7 the morning I was leaving. The swelling in his tendon actually went down after riding him, because we were getting his blood circulating. Then, he hopped on the trailer & went schooling. I took him schooling at Rocking Horse, on the way up to the show. He was fabulous & schooled quite a bit of Training stuff. I was pretty confident with the way things went, that the Horse Trial would be no problem. The swelling in his leg quickly reduced after schooling as well, his tendon was actually back to normal. After sitting in his stall for a few hours, it came right back up but I was confident it wouldn't make him go lame since it would go down with riding. So, it was Dargenzio & I all alone. We did have my best friend, Lily, & her horse though. So, we weren't 100% alone. The show was actually pretty peaceful, for the most part, being just Lily & I with our parents. It did rain the whole time we were there, though, & that put a major damper on everything. Our stalls flooded & of course, Florida Horse Park doesn't have permanent stabling so the temporary stalls had maybe a foot of overhang. If you wanted to stay dry, you had to be in the stall. Dressage was decent, he was extremely tense but that was understandable considering they had 7 rings going... & we were at the very end, so we had to walk past warm up for all of those rings. We scored a 34, which is pretty normal for us. We had cross country the next day. I really was excited about 8AB & 9. It was a roll top, bending line to a big ditch, bending line to a big brush fence. Ditches were no problem for Dargenzio... Until we got up to this combination, where we got eliminated. He trucked it around the first half of the course & was fabulous, but then the ditch apparently scared the snot out of him. According to my parents, it was also filled with water as we were running in the pouring rain... He stopped three times which causes elimination. They allowed me to finish the course, I'm assuming they were probably going over the stops again & again to make sure they were correct. He did everything else well. I'm happy we at least got to finish the course. We didn't get to do show jumping on Sunday so we left as soon as Lily had show jumped. Back to Wellington I went. Typically, I would've went home & schooled the crap out of him before our next show. But since I had a job to do, I couldn't do that.

Schooling At Rocking Horse

Don't get me wrong, I loved being in Wellington & working for such a great person. But, I knew in my heart that I needed to get back out on the cross country course as soon as possible. I also kept kicking myself for weeks after that show, I should've rode harder. Since it was a ditch, & he's never been scared of them, I was intending on him just taking me to it... So, I didn't ride hard at all. I'm still kicking myself for it. The winning score was a 36, out of THIRTY competitors. If I would've finished on my dressage score, I would've won. UGH. Oh well, we live & we learn. I got back into a normal routine once we got back to Wellington & our dressage work just kept getting better & better. At this point, I actually thought I had a chance at scoring better than I typically do. Dargenzio was so much steadier in the connection (& I was too). Once we got that steady connection, we could try just about anything. We began schooling counter canter loops & leg yields. I also found that Dargenzio works better if he canters first (& that still seems to be the case, today). I also learned that a lot of dressage trainers canter their horses first because they also work better after cantering before doing trot work. The weeks flew by in Wellington. & it was almost like counting down the days until we were forced to go home. While I was in Wellington, I entered the March Horse Trial at Poplar Place Farm. I know Poplar, I've been there a million times, & I had no problem entering this show which was scheduled for two weeks after we got home. I also entered the March schooling show at Florida Horse Park, scheduled for 5 days after I got home, to get Dargenzio back on THAT course & jump THAT ditch again. If you ever go to Wellington, you'll understand the feeling. The last week we were there, it was really bittersweet... More bitter than sweet. No one wanted to leave.

Genzo Heading Home

We didn't want to leave the beautiful rolling four board fence, or the immaculate horses, or the fabulous trainers - We didn't want to leave that atmosphere. That's what I liked most about Wellington. Everyone down there is a horse person, they understand. You see more trucks than cars, carrying hay around in the back of your truck is normal, & seeing more than 10 horse trailers on a daily basis, is normal too. I didn't want to leave that atmosphere. But of course, I had to. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I got, to work in Wellington. It was a great experience for me & Dargenzio. I hope to go back next season, but for less time next go around. Doing just dressage really took a toll on Dargenzio, mentally. By the end of our time in Wellington, he was spooking, flying across the arena, & spinning & rearing... Because he needed to jump. There are plenty of places to jump in Wellington, & I hope to explore those places next year as I'll be mobile. Goodbye Wellington, I'll see you later.

I will post Part 2 later, when I can sit down & write again. I figured this bit was long enough for one entry. Coming up in Part 2 - FHP Schooling Show, March HT at Poplar, moving & what happened when I got home from Wellington. Stay tuned! (:

Merry, Merry, Merry, Christmas

So, I have not been posting lately because I've been soooo busy. I don't even remember much of the stuff I've done lately. Christmas break has been great because I haven't had to worry about school work & I've been able to focus on my boy. He's been wonderful, per usual, lately. We had a killer jump school today. It was just easy, as if my horse just took the reins & did it all. I love days like this. We've also been having some good dressage lessons. We are entered for the Ocala HT in February, & we're headed to Poplar on Friday! I'm excited for this upcoming year. We've had a wonderful 2013 & I know 2014 is going to be just as great!

2014 Show Year!

So, I'm super excited for 2014 & I reallllllly hope we have a good year! I'm going to start the year off with a schooling show, doing three dressage tests & then going cross country schooling. Then, we're going to go to Rocking Horse Winter HT in February, nothing for March. In April, we're hopefully going to run a T/N at the Ocala Horse Properties Three Day Event. In May, we're going to Area Championships at Novice, at Poplar. Nothing in June, but then we'll be moving up to Training (hopefully) in July, at Chatt Hills or Poplar. Then, possibly a Training level event in August. Then, we're going to run Novice at AECs in September. Then, we'll probably do something in October or November & be done for the year!

A Tribute To Lightning

She was always waiting at the fence!

So, I never mentioned Lightning on this blog. I'm actually rather surprised that I didn't. Well, Lighting has been suffering from COPD for 7 years. It hasn't ever been so severe to the point that she can't breathe until Monday night. I didn't own Lightning until Monday night. Her owners called & said that if we would take her, we could have her. She couldn't breathe & was showing signs of colic, but hadn't been colicing. We have tried to get Lightning for the past few years. She was "my" first real pony. Things started looking up the night we picked her up & took her to the Vet. He put her on some anti-inflammatory steroids & told me to continue giving her Banimene for the pain. Yesterday, she hadn't shown much improvement & wouldn't drink or eat all day. This began worrying me. We gave her Gatorade by syringe so we could get something in her. This morning, she started looking worse. & she started showing signs of colic. We got her out of her stall, let her graze & she drank some. We had already called the Vet to tell him it was time to euthanize her. I've never lost a horse before. We just thought that she was going to be okay after grazing & drinking (finally). But when the Vet arrived, he checked her & her intestines had twisted. He didn't think she was a candidate for surgery either, with her condition. Lightning was euthanized about an hour ago. I am completely heartbroken. Her COPD attack could've been prevented but her owners didn't care, they didn't even try to help her with it. If she wouldn't have had the COPD attack, she wouldn't have coliced. Lightning was the pony that taught me the basics of riding - how to post, canter, & jump. She also taught me what love for an animal was, & how to take care of "my" own horse. I only officially owned her for two days before she had to leave this world. & I hate that. She has been with me multiple times over the past few years on free leases spanning from years to months. It is beyond ridiculous that it had to be a near death experience in order for me to finally get the horse. This horse was the first horse I ever did more than walk on. She always gave me her all, no matter what.

She had the cutest ears!

She hated jumping, but did it anyway. She also spent a year at a therapeutic riding facility. Lightning was 21 & deserved to live out the rest of her life, as a retired pasture mate. I could've given her that. I would've given her that. She meant the world to me & I absolutely hated to see her suffering. I really didn't want it to end like this. She was my best friend & I thank her for doing all of the things she has done for me. She is the reason I started riding again. She is the reason I gained the confidence to start eventing. This incident just goes to show who should & shouldn't own horses. I love you Lightning, & I hope you're galloping around in Heaven. You may have not been loved by your actual owners, but you were loved by me.

The old ladies relaxing - Winter 2012.

Lightning's last day.

FODS?

So what do you think that means? Finished On Dressage Score. This is the very first time I've been able to say that Dargenzio & I finished on our dressage score of a 33.5. I'm so so so so happy. We had an okay dressage test which put us in 3rd, tied with someone else. & we had a double clear show jumping round which broke the tie. We finished our cross country double clean! We were going more like Training pace so we circled three times before the last jump so we could waste some time, but oh well! We came in at 5:07, 4 seconds under optimum! I'm so incredibly proud of Dargenzio. He pulled me the whole course... which is why we were hauling. He loves his job & I'm so happy that he does. We finished in third out of 15 riders! I need to say a big thank you to everyone who has made this possible, my three amazing trainers - Katie Bryant, Jodie Kelly & Bart Brennan, my horse - Dargenzio, my parents & the rest of my family that has been a huge support. Also, a big thank you to all of you who are reading this right now! I started this blog mainly for myself, but I'm so grateful that I actually have viewers. Now on a more serious note - There was an unfortunate event involving horse & rider at Poplar this weekend. I was the cross country warm up ring steward so I heard everything going on. I'm not going to share exactly what happened because if it was me, I wouldn't want people going around spreading the whole story. The horse & rider had a rotational fall at fence 7 on the Open Preliminary course. In the event, the horse sustained horrific injuries & had to be euthanized on sight. The rider walked away okay. I cannot even begin to imagine what I would do without my partner in crime. From my understanding, this horse & rider had been together for a long time, from Beginner Novice all the way up. Please pray for Jacel Galloway & her family as they recover from this tragic incident. Eventing is a dangerous sport but USEA is trying to make it safer by adding frangible pins, aerovating the terrain, & changing the rules. Its sad to see this happen, especially since the horse was doing what it loved. Please take a second to appreciate your horse & what they do for you. They risk getting injured, but they love their riders & love what they do so they keep trucking. Give them an extra hug & an extra kiss, make sure you tell them 'thank you' after every single ride & don't leave the arena without a big pat whether they behaved or not. They still did what you wanted them to do. Before cross country, I was really nervous. The ground was hard, my horse doesn't have stud holes, & the course was also maxed out. I didn't want that to happen to Dargenzio. I know we're only running Novice, but its still scary. I rode the course as well as I could & Dargenzio tried his heart out for me. We got around safely - That's all that matters.

Horse Euthanized After Fall At Poplar Place Farm November Horse Trial

Soooo...

This post might be super long. Bear with me.

Lessons leading up to the Horse Trial

Dargenzio schooling Friday, at Chatt

So, I went to the Chatt Hills Horse Trial two weekends ago. Dargenzio put in a lovely school on Friday, followed by a lovely dressage test on Saturday. We scored a 34, which put us in fourth after dressage. We ran cross country the same day & I was extremely excited. The course was mainly Training level questions, just at Novice height. Dargenzio was a machine up until the second to last jump which happened to be a stupid down bank. The line was a roll top to an up bank, two strides to a down bank, four strides to a house. The first jump & up bank rode really nicely. But I trusted Dargenzio way too much going up the bank & was thinking he'd *just* go down the bank without me having to add extra encouragement. Well, that didn't happen. He slammed on breaks right as we got up the bank & then backed up a buttload of steps which caused us two refusals. I was really frustrated with Dargenzio at that point but I was going to make time no matter what. So, we came in 10 seconds under the time even after our two refusals(; Considering I was sitting in second to last place, I really didn't care too much about show jumping which is why we had such a horrid round. I was kinda just sitting up there. Dargenzio sucked back way too much to one of the jumps (& I didn't put my leg on) & took the rail, because he literally climbed over the jump. I was at the point at not caring, we finished... That's all that matters, right? Monday after the Horse Trial was over, I went cross country schooling. Dargenzio was fantastic & schooled most of the Training combinations on course. We even schooled the up bank three strides to a roll top out of the water, which many horses had problems with on course. Dargenzio went to it the first time like it was no big deal. He was also much more confident while we were schooling. After Chatt, I went with my trainer to Virginia as a groom for the CCI*. The trip was long & exhausting but we finally made it there at like 1 in the morning. Then, we got the ponies settled in & got ourselves settled in. On Thursday, we had the first jogs.

San City - Accepted

Samson was looking pretty spiffy & there wasn't a hair out of place on his body. I cannot believe we honestly got him so clean. Katie & Samson were accepted after the first jog. Dressage came around (rather quickly) the next day & they put in a lovely third place test. Cross country was on Saturday & I had to wait impatiently at the Vet box, so I got to see nothing on course except the last few jumps. As we're waiting, I see a big black horse with a rider in a white shirt & tan breeches (exactly what my trainer was wearing) walking up the hill. Why were they walking? In my mind I was thinking, "That couldn't be Katie. Its not even her ride time yet, she has 15 minutes until she is supposed to go." Right before we noticed the horse, the announcer said they were running 10 minutes ahead. Well, she got down to the start box & it was her :( We were all upset since we were hoping for a clean finish. But, Katie retired on course which in the end, was probably best for Samson. The week before Virginia, she had been saying that Samson felt funny but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong. She decided to run the CCI* since she hasn't ran one in 9 years, anyway. When they left the start box, Samson had been good over the first few jumps but then stopped. Samson doesn't stop... ever. Katie kept trucking & then he stopped again. At that point, she knew something was wrong. She circled back around to jump the fence just because she didn't want him getting away with it & apparently, he was switching leads every stride. Something was definitely wrong with Samson. Even though she is extremely bummed about not being able to complete the CCI*, I think she made the best choice for Samson. He is going to the Vet's tomorrow to see what's up. Hopefully it's nothing major & he'll be back out competing soon. I got home yesterday night & I leave in three days to go back up north, to Georgia, to Poplar Place Farm for the November Horse Trial. Dargenzio & I are going to go clean. I do not care what happened at Chatt or the Poplar before. We will go clean. Dargenzio should know that course by heart now, we've only schooled it a bajillion times. He also rocked around most of the Training course at Chatt so we shouldn't have a problem.

First ride after I got home

I rode him today for the first time since Chatt, & he was wonderful. I can't believe he was so great especially since he had only been ridden twice while I was away. Hopefully he will keep up the good behavior & trot down centerline perfectly, at Poplar! While I was gone, my parents got me a new pony! I had seen her beforehand & I only said yes because she is a super cute mover. Until today, I didn't realize how much work she will really be. First thing, I can't ride her for quite a while. She is covered in fungus - where her girth goes, where her saddle goes, all up her neck, where her halter goes, everywhere. Obviously, I'm treating it & it will hopefully clear up soon. Her hooves were horrific when we got her as well, so they need some time to heal before I even think about getting on her. She has been sore the last few days & finally today, she was moving normally. (Yay!) She also hasn't been ridden in a long time so I'm basically going to start her over. I don't want to risk getting thrown, so I'm going to take it nice & slow. She is really cute & I think she'll be a wonderful event pony or hunter pony. After not being handled for years, she jumped right on the trailer, got her shots like a champ but wasn't that wonderful for the farrier. I wasn't here but according to my parents, she kicked the farrier & it took her over three hours to do her feet. Well, the pony picks up all four feet perfectly for me & will hold them for long periods of time.

The new pony - Lena

She also didn't try to kick me soooo, maybe the farrier just has bad luck? I (attempted) to lunge her today. She seemed really willing but didn't understand the concept & it also didn't help that I don't have a round pen, to guide her. She was going all over the place. Needless to say, she really only walked & did a bit of trot on the lunge line because I couldn't get her to do anything else without going somewhere else. Now that Winter is here, I think I'm going to start working Savannah again. I intended on riding her today but it takes me 2 hours + to work with the pony & I rode Dargenzio for over an hour, so I didn't have time with all of my school work & other necessary things. But, I'm excited to get her started again & hopefully she'll be able to do the hunters or some dressage once I get her going again. Last time I rode her, she was awesome... but that was months ago. She cannot stand the heat that we're having with her Antarctica Winter coat so I'm going to body clip her once my new clippers get here. Soon enough, I'll have three horses to ride on a daily basis! Okay so. Wish me luck at Poplar & now this post is finally over!

Lessons, Lessons, Lessons

I've been doing a buttload of lessons lately & I've been so busy that it's not even funny. Today is the first day I've been able to get on the computer for something other than school work, in like two weeks. I go to my eventing trainer's place 3 times a week to work all day & do lessons so it's been rather hectic. I also do one lesson a week with my jumper trainer! & we've started lessons with Jodie Kelly, in Destin, FL, once a week. Even though I've only done two lessons with Jodie so far, she has helped Dargenzio & I so much. He is just so much more balanced when I get him in the contact that Jodie wants him in. His canter is much easier to ride too. I normally have to work really hard to get his collected canter, but now, that's the only canter he does when I ask for it. It feels great. Since I didn't get to go to the Phillip Dutton clinic with my trainer, last Monday, my trainer set up the same exercise that they did in the clinic. Ohhhh, it was difficult. 3 bounces to a waiting (& I really mean waiting) four stride oxer, turn left & come around to an oxer to a going four stride vertical. Obviously, we worked on adjustability! Then we spiced it up a little bit & added a corner, & a skinny. So my course was - oxer to skinny, corner to oxer, waiting line, going line. Lots and lots and lots of half halts. Chatt Hills is getting closer & closer so I'm getting excited! Hopefully we'll be ready to go down centerline & get the blue :D Here is a video from our second lesson with Jodie!