Quick Update...

Long time no post!
I've been busy with school, work, and riding, as usual.

Jesse has been to 3 events, and completed 2 of them!

His first event was King Oak. My goal for this event was to finish, not being worried about what place we finish, as long as we got over all the obstacles. We had a respectable 32.6 for our dressage, tying us to 5th place.

I trotted the scarier of the Show Jumping fences to give him confidence, this having been his second show he's had to jump at. We had one refusal, which took me by surprise because it looked just like the warm up fences. We also had 15 or so time penalties, because I went too slow, and knocked a pole down. We then moved to 17th place, better known as last.

Cross country was last, and Jesse was a superstar at his first event. We had a stop at fence 2 and 4, and went over the rest of the fences the first time! wooo! We trotted the fences in the woods, and cantered the fences in the field, and he felt like he was having the time of his life. I could tell after XC he felt like the toughest guy. :)
So, my goal was reached at that event!

Next, we went to Stoneleigh-Burnham School Horse Trials.
Our dressage score was awesome, a 30, placing us in 3rd. The scores from 1st-7th was about 6 points apart, making show jumping slightly nerve wrecking, because one pole could push us back a lot. Thankfully, we went clean, and we moved up to 2nd!
Cross country went great, and Jesse didn't bat an eye at the fences. We went fast and clean, and came home with a 2nd place ribbon!

Our last event of the year was Ethel Walker School Horse Trials.
I thought our dressage went awful, and it bothered me the whole day. We actually scored a 33, and were in 3rd place. Can you imagine that?! We went clean on show Jumping, but when cross country rolled around, we were eliminated at the 4th obstacle, the water crossing, and left empty handed.

At least we know what to work on for next year.

And as a side note... Jesse is officially mine!

KING OAK FARM HORSE TRIALS




STONELEIGH-BURNHAM SCHOOL HORSE TRIALS

A couple videos for now

Not the best quality, only because it takes forever to upload the higher quality videos.

For some reason the program I used to edit the videos cut off the ends of my dressage tests. I have no idea why. Although on test B, the camera died right at the end of my test, but I think the program cut some off of it too.

BN Test A : score- 32.6


BN Test B: score- 26


Jumping Videos Just added:

Jumper A (2'6")


Jumper B (2'6"-3')

pictures

These pictures are from Friday's lesson.
Wednesday I have a h/j schooling show with Jesse.
Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I'll have the Dressage show videos up. Who knows.


Jesse sticking his face in the air... How attractive.


One of his few nice jumps, although he's knocking it down. (3' high 3'6" wide)

Jesse goes to his first show!

Okay, maybe not his first show, but with me, it's his first. It was a schooling dressage show, to gear us up for Horse Trials on September 6-7th. Jesse did pretty good. He loaded well onto the trailer to go to the show, and wasn't dripping with sweat when he came off (yay!).
I had braided Jesse , so he could realize that being all dressed up wasn't a big fat deal.
Warm up went pretty well. He looked in the mirrors, and was looking at everything, but soon settled down, and began to listen.
When we went in, he was looking around again, but I got a lap and a half before the bell rang for my test to begin. For the most part he listened during the test, although was looky in the corners, because he saw the trailer outside. At the finish of our test, the judge said that my score would go up a ton of points (or in eventing's case, down) if he would only bend the correct way instead of looking out of the doors.
So, when my second test started I kept it in mind and kept asking him to pay attention (which I should have done from the beginning, but dressage tests make me oh so nervous, and I freeze up). Our second test was much better.
It was a short, quick day, but well worth getting out for him to see new things before we're surrounded by a couple hundred horses galloping and jumping and doing crazy things.
Our scores were calculated, and my first test recieved a 32.6, and my second test received a 26!!! wow! I was so excited, but when I talked to my trainer, she seemed rather unimpressed and said that 'it's just a schooling show'. Hopefully I can prove her wrong and kick butt in dressage at the event!
My dad took videos (although the video camera died just before the end of my test). I'll try to get the video up sometime next week, because I still have to study study study for my rating in 3 days! AHH!
I have a couple pictures from before riding.

Ingrid Visits

Jesse's owner came to watch a lesson with Elizabeth. She brought him some cookies and carrots- how sweet. Ingrid thought it was a good idea that I had the muzzle on him, and wondered why she didn't think of that when her daughter rode him. She was pleased with how he looked and how he seemed very happy and relaxed.

During the lesson, Jesse was being somewhat of a turd, not wanting to accept contact, and just run with his head in the air (very uncool). We did some leg yields on a circle, going from 20m-10m and then leg yielding out. Elizabeth was also pleased with his canter, how he was getting stronger in his hind end, and rocking back more, and also holding a consistant rhythm and not speeding up on the long sides.
Next lesson we'll be practicing my Dressage tests for the upcoming schooling show, then we'll do jumping lessons to get him stronger and developing his rhythm and understanding balance.

I won't be updating much for the next couple weeks because I am studying for my HB testing for Pony Club which is on August 16th, so I'll be cramming until then.

Ciao!

jump

Hello!
So three days ago we had our pony club lesson and did some mini courses. Jesse had a hard tome with the one stride, so I planned for my next jumping session to work on Gymnastics! woo!
Originally I had planned to jump tomorrow, but with me working pretty much from 11am-9pm, I thought it would be too much to squeeze in some jumps early in the morning, so instead I'll be doing some Dressage tomorrow morning (granted I can wake up early enough to feed).

So today I set up a 2-1-2 stride gymastic, but the last 2 stride didn't quite fit into my arena and after a few rounds of canter poles and a cross rail I felt too squished and moved the last fence closer and made an oxer.

Jesse was being very good right from the start, although was being a little too excited and was rushing through the ground poles. Eventually he settled in and found his rhythm and realized I was in no rush to get him to the other side.

I worked my way up to 1 X rail, and 2 poles, to 2 X rails and a pole and then 2 X rails and an X railed oxer. I then started making things verticals one by one, and Jesse acted like a super star.

By the end of the jumping session, we had 2 verticals (2'6") and a square oxer (also 2'6").

There's not much else to say about today except that he was a super pony!

Picture time! (this time they're not blurry!!)

New

Yesterday we had a Pony club lesson, and because it was bad weather (i.e. raining) we had a shorter lesson and went in when it started lightning. We got to do some jumping, and put together a little course just to get us all around and doing something. Jesse for the most part was good and listened, but he had a little bit of trouble doing some of the exercises, so I now know what to work on.
We had a one stride on the far side of the ring, a five stride or so on the other side of the ring, and a jump on the diagonal. Our course was to jump over the 5 stride, continue onto the 1 stride and then do the first of the 5 stride to the diagonal. Jesse was having an issue with the 1 stride, and ran out twice, although at two different times (1 was when we first went to the 1 stride when warming up and he got confused I think. 2 was when we changed directions and they were both verticals.) So, now I know to work on gymnastics with him!
The round after the second run out, he tried to run out and he realized there was no where to go but over and we sort of jumped like a giraffe. I thought he was going to land on the jump, because I didn't feel any propelling motion! After that jump, he decided to jump everything like a giraffe, which was funny and annoying at the same time.
As the lesson ended because of lightning, I was told to jump the 5 stride line, which was a vertical to a cross rail, Jesse was blowing me off and crashed through the vertical, and then jumped like a giraffe over the second one. We took it again, and the vertical was better, although not perfect, and the cross rail was almost perfect! I checked him inbetween the two fences, and once he was back listening to me, I let him do his thing, and he went over it like a super star! woo!

So, I may be jumping 1-2 times a week in preparation of the event and little schooling show so he can develop a rhythm and realize that jumping isn't too hard if he listens to me.

I did have my dad take some pictures, but he turned the dial at the top, and the settings were off, so they're hard to tell what's going on, but I can share some of the better ones.

Update!

Wow, long space between the posts. Sorry! Everything has been crazy over here. Working and riding almost every day, went on Vacation this past week. But now I'm back for a little break (at least from work for 3 days :P ).

Jesse's been coming a long well. We've schooled some smaller cross country obstacles (no higher than 2'6") all of which were brush type fences. He was very excited about the whole thing and jumps them like he's been doing it all of his life. We've also schooled the larger (2'3" +/-) drop fence. He's very good about going up, although he is a little bit unsure about going down. The first attempt at the lager bank, he stopped/ ran out twice, and I brought him back and we jumped and landed about 20 feet away. We went back and jumped it 4 more times after that. I also had a lesson with Elizabeth last week, maybe, and she had me go down the bank, he ran out once, and then jumped it the second time. I came back around and popped down it again, and came up it. He was very good.
We also schooled a single fence with Elizabeth in one lesson, with placing poles on either side. He's a very honest boy, and hasn't refused or run out yet. He almost stopped one time, because he wasn't listening to me to stay straight, but then I let him know that it was okay to go, and he took the fence.
I'm going to do a schooling dressage show 8/13 , and a hunter jumper schooling show 8/20. Maybe throw in an XC schooling somewhere in there to try out water, and I'm hoping to do a BN event 9/6 or 7. I was hoping for the first event to be a schooling show so we can make more mistakes, but the closest one is about 2 hours away!

The farrier came out today to put some front shoes on Jesse, and trim his hind end. Very cool!
Jesse wasn't the best behaved horse, trying to rear a few times, and not wanting the farrier to hold his hind legs, but for the most part he was good.
He also got ridden, and there's a few pictures!




















Here's some comformation pictures I took about two weeks ago.







So that's it for now. I'll be having another pony club lesson Tuesday, but I'm unsure what we'll be doing during the lesson.
I'll also be having a lesson with Elizabeth. Jesse's owner wanted to come watch, so she'll be there too.

Over the past couple days

Time has flown by these past couple days with having so much to do!

Saturday- The lesson went really well. Elizabeth seemed pleased that he was so willing to go forward (although at times a bit too forward). he was consistent with circles, although the end of the circles closest to the barn, he would swing his hind end and go through my aids. He was also very light in his head, and wasn't pulling me down to the ground, with was great! After taking a break from the first trot, and returning to trot, he seemed displeased to work, by throwing his head in the air and trotting around like a giraffe. (I switched the nose band for the next day to use with a standing martingale). We got him to canter both directions, the second time getting into the canter was harder, because he was tired. He held a nice frame at the canter the first time, and then second time, I had to help him keep his front end up because he was falling asleep. But overall he was a very good boy.

Sunday- I only had a short time to ride, because I needed to leave to go to my ponyclub HB prep. I just did mostly walking with him, with some trotting in circles and up and down the hills. we also walked over a little trunk of a tree that had fallen and was in our way, and he walked over it quietly, and was a nice boy about it. He was also very excited, and wanted to run, but he's too wobbly and wiggly, and not to mention out of shape for that right now! he was sweating after a 30 minute workout, because it was a bit warm out, and got a nice hose down after, which he didn't seem too pleased about. I should build an outdoor wash rack, because he stood nicely at Elizabeth's when I washed him.

Today- Today was his 'day off' I just took him out on a halter and walked a few laps with him aroudn the ring, and one lap each way of trot/running. At times during the trot, he would try to bite out at me, which I made it clear to him was unacceptable. After our few laps, I walked him over to the small bank (about 18") and tried to get him to step down after me. He felt uncomfortable, and stepped down around it, on the steep sides. I told him no, then turned him and walked up it, and he followed me. Pats and words of praise were given and we turned around to go down again. once more, he seemed unsure of what was being asked and he went off to the side. Turned him back and went up, and was good again. Then I stepped to the other side of him when walking down the bank, and he watched me go down and he quietly stepped down! Good boy! Pats and rubs for him, and I went back and did it another 3 times. All times he was very good. I then walked him over to the little ditch, and he stopped to eat grass before it, and I said no, and he popped right over it! I did this once more, and went back to the bank, and he was jigging on the way to it, and popped up it! He was a very good boy, going over his first cross country obstacles, and the most important ones anyone wants to see a horse doing, and he did them like an old pro! It started to rain, so we hurried back to the barn, and was put away.

Tomorrow we have a pony club lesson, of Cross country. Although Jesse and I won't be jumping, we'll be doing some ground poles in the field and maybe the baby drop and that fallen log again.
Hooray!
sorry, no pictures for today!

Welcome Home!

Very excited!
Jesse James is now at my house, (although it took an hour and forty five minutes to leave his old home, and we had to call in the reserves, aka Elizabeth) he and Fei get along great.
He was sweaty coming off of the trailer, because a 20 minute trailer ride is the scariest thing ever, like seriously. He got hosed down, and was checking out the big pile of wood, and Brutus the tractor. Overall, he was very well behaved about the new situation.
Fei obviously was in her stall screaming because she was excited also. Jesse got scraped down then let in the paddock for an hour or so while they ate some hay.
Pictures of Fei and Jesse meeting for the first time. (Fei is in the flymask, Jesse has the halter on)

Running around like fools


Fei being a crazy TB, that doesn't look like she's retired



Jesse almost being a pest



Lovebugs





Munchin' on some hay


They were being goofballs, and anytime Jesse would wander into his stall, Fei would panic and scream for him, and he'd stay in there, but poke out his head, like he was playing around with her.
I let them eat for a bout an hour, while I went inside and impatiently waited for my food. I wanted to ride so bad!
Finally, food was cooked, and then I rushed to the barn again.
I grabbed Jesse, who is very good about getting caught (at least with a halter on). We wandered into the aisle, and he got a nice brushing. His bridle path was trimmed, and his mane and tail were also combed out. He also got his mane braided quickly, because I hate riding and having the mane tangle in my hands.
Then I saddled him and put on the bridle, which I had to adjust, because its miss espresso's, and her head is not like an arab's. :P after that was all done, we went for a 20 minute or so ride!
He took a bit of getting used to, because my backyard is so crazy looking with a skeleton of a greenhouse, and some raspberry bushes (?) and crazy cross country (!) fences. He settled down a bit with a few laps of walk and a change of direction.
I soon asked him to trot, and he was great! He was a little bit looky, since my mom and brother and the doggie were coming up to the ring. After a lap or so, he got the idea, and reached into the contact, and was round through his back. He was holding himself very well for me having only ridden him 3 times prior to this ride, and once by another girl in early spring, and before that, he was a pasture pony for 6 months. We did some circles and serpentines, and a couple leg yields at the walk. He was very good, it took a bit of prodding for him to remember what a leg yield was, but he got the hang after a try. He also didn't suck back on the short sides (although, to be fair, my ring's short sides aren't so short). After about 20 minutes of walking and trotting, we took a lap in the grassy XC jump area while we cooled off. He was excited, and wanted to trot down the hill, but I brought him down to a walk again. The ride was very good, to say the least.
Picture time again!

walking around and looking at everything.


Hillary, where are your eyes!


BEST picture ever, it makes me so excited about this horse!


Trotting around




leg yield at the walk.


trot circles


My mom liked how I did his mane. It only took 5 minutes, and it looks dumb, because I took too much from the top, so it's not even straight. UGH.


Funny faces!


After the ride, we walked back to the barn, and he got brushed, and got some thrush buster, because his hooves were all yicky on the inside. He also got some EQyss MicroTek on his hind legs for a bit of rainrot.
Then he got his tail brushed because it was a but tangled still, and it got a trim! yay! now his tail is banged, but it's so sparse at the bottom, that it doesn't really look different... Gotta fix that...
A half hour or so later he got his grain, and then a bit later the ponies got shut in for the night.

Tomorrow at ten I have a lesson, so more pictures then! woo!