Extended Jog
Road to the World ChampionshipArchive for August, 2008
slacking.
That’s precisly what I’ve done the past few days. The family decided to take the boat up to the lake, which was a blast actually. Kneeboarding, just laying on the boat, relaxing, it was pretty much perfect. My brother starts school Tuesday, so we had to be home, but I don’t start until the 19th so I’m excited to really be able to ride since I won’t be stuck on ‘watch devious 9 year old’ duty anymore.
That pretty much means I don’t have much of anything to write about, other than the fact that my nose is sun burned despite my attempts to slather SPF 50 on every other second. And that my shoulder muscles kill from kneeboarding. Apparently I need better arm muscles. Hello gym.
Fun times. Riding tomorrow, dunno hunt seat vs western, depends on what it’s like when I drag myself out of bed at some ungodly hour so I don’t roast like a rotisserie chicken in the heat.
Oh, I recorded the first part of my NCAA video last week. Awesome, until we figured out it won’t freakin’ play back. Yeah. So I’m pissed off.
‘Flying Change of Lead please.’
That was definitely the judge’s favorite phrase today. He loved flying changes. Definitely not a bad thing for Lucy and I, considering how well she rocks them. I’m dead tired, so I’ll give give a brief overview:
Showmanship at Halter, Western: 2/3 Youth class, basic pattern but there was a trot to halt to back transition and we trotted up, halted, I turned to ask her to back and she raked her head across my body. Could have freaking killed her. Showmanship is definitely not my favorite class. No points picked up here today, 
.
Hunter Under Saddle: 2/3 Youth class, decent go, but I just made bad choices about my corners and what line to ride and she dived around a corner at the canter, got on the forehand and sped along. My last canter and my last trot were awesommme though. Since I learned how to really sit and drive her up, we’re getting a lot nicer HUS gaits. Her head stayed level or below level the entire class, no head bobbing, I was really happy.
English Equitation: 1/3 Youth class, yay, picked up a national point! It was a very.. open pattern, no cones. We did it a bit, er, unconventional, but because it was left so open, I guess he was fine with it. Plus we nailed the flying change in it (freaking gorgeous change) which helped.
Disciplined Rail English, Youth: 1/2 No points, sad, cause we had a really, really sweet go. Extended trot, counter canter, flying change, hand gallop, walk, halt, sidepass, forehand turn, back, trot, is how it went if I recall right. Atleast that’s what was asked for. Awesome, pretty go.
Disciplined Rail English, Open: 1/6 Fouurr national points. I’m psyched! Same stuff as the youth class, but I beat out my trainer (*giggle*) as well as a good amount of the amateurs. Luce was just awesome here. I should be nearing my ROM in this class.
Trail Youth: 1/3 One point, pretty go, she was like a little sports car (but slow, haha) in there. Slow, but pretty, smooth and just awesome. Two ticks I think, one at the trot and one on a curved lope 3 log combination. Otherwise – rockstar. Best lopeovers I’ve ever had.
Trail Open: 6/7 Yucky, all my fault, I rode wrong to a lope over, she banged through it, freaked herself out silly, and then it went down from there. I finally just halted in the middle of a obstacle, let her settle and continued because it was only going to get worse and I wasn’t going to win at that point.
Western Disciplined Rail Youth: 1/2 No points, again, but really sweet go. Last lope = absolutely amazing. Slow, long reins, just sat there and she carried herself. Trainer remarked how we’re already seeing a change in her neck muscles as she really learns to drop her head at the lope.
Horsemanship Youth: 1/3 Yay point. Decent go, pretty, pretty jog circles, just sat there and she was perfect. Flying change was a little rough, but got it done.
Overall I got Hi-Point Youth 14-18, so I’m happy. Picked up a few points.
Tomorrow morning, mom’s going to help me film the first part of my riding demo video. Scary, but fun! I’ll post how it goes.
Washing a horse..
… totally means you get more wet than they do. I’m totally starting to believe it’s a fact. At Worlds this year I’d get the strangest looks walking back from the wash rack, Lucy happy and clean, drying off, and me, soaked to the bone, covered in hair and horse snot, hair falling into my face, and trying to avoid looking like a wet t-shirt contest entrant. You learn real fast not to wash in white t-shirts there, being practically the only show all year I go to where there are actual males. Although, come to think of it, the odd looks could have been more on my choice of outfit, which typically consisted of, for washing, a t-shirt, shorts and my pink cowboy boots.
We have a one day, one judge Pinto show here tomorrow. Only about 15 minutes from my house, should be fun. I’m hoping for a point class in at least Showmanship, Eq and Horsemanship, but you never know around here – youth entries are such a toss-up.
Again, today was blistering hot. I had trouble sleeping last night, so I ended up sleeping later than I originally planned – a pain. So instead, I woke up, ran to Barnes & Noble to get my copy of Breaking Dawn (which is amazing, by the way, I just finished), came home, did stuff with the family. Around 5 I went down to the barn and washed.
Gotta say – I am so happy we have minimal white overos. All Lucy has is high white stockings and they’re a pain enough to keep clean. I can’t imagine keeping a really loud horse clean. Scrubbed her legs, scrubbed her belly spot.. just a basic wash. Did her tail, etc. Boring, routine pre-show stuff. Mom was awesome enough to clip her up for me earlier this week, so that was all taken care of.
Did quick bands, kinda big, still neat, but where as I’d to 60-75 for a big show, I think I topped out around 35-40 tonight haha. Banding’s somewhat annoying. I like it more at big shows when we all are out in the aisle, radio going, chatting, etc. It’s relaxing, somewhat mindless, and good for the ADD in me. Home is nice too though, I just crank the radio and zone. Basically have conversations with myself, sort through all the crap in my head. I seriously think the OCD in me makes me organize my brain and thoughts too, I can practically see the lists being made up. This paragraph has gotten really off topic, so anyways back to banding. Banding for other people is good money. I did 4 or 5 horses for a big show here in May (open/amateur classes were all full 6 point classes, the youth were 2 pt classes, two days, three judges, Jubilee show. Big deal.) and just popped in the iPod, rocked out to my banding playlist (yeah, I’m that much of a nerd) and banded my little fingers off.
Anyways, showing tomorrow, we’ll see how it all goes.
I only need a few points for some of my ROMs, so I’ll cross my fingers and toes for pointed classes.
Night all!
The Flip Side
Riding only does so much.
So last week, we joined the gym.
My legs officially hate me for it. Lucy is going to hate me for it.
I’ve always thought riding kept me in decent shape – well not according to the personal trainer apparently, who felt it necessary to inform me that where I’m doing 30lbs my soccer friends could probably do 60-90lbs. Thanks.
However, I do love the feeling of leaving, feeling as though I’ve actually done something (35 minutes on the treadmill, assorted machines with villainous sounding names like the Hip Abductor and the Thighmaster ). We’ll see how it turns out in the coming weeks.
Didn’t ride today, it’s been hellishly hot, like just hitting and pushing over 100 every day. It’s hell, I don’t even go outside between 11 and 3 unless it’s from the air conditioning to the car. Hoping to get up and ride tomorrow morning before it gets toasty, but we’ll see. Summer + teenager doesn’t equal getting up early.
Next week begins yoga and pilates classes. At this rate it’s entirely possible I won’t be able to actually mount my horse, but I’ll fit into my horse show clothes, dammit! Hah.
Chatted with mom about congress casually this evening. Haven’t gotten a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ yet, so I’ve still got hope. If we go I’ll miss 5 days of school.. but I can deal with that then.
Off to bed for me, so I can hopefully beat the heat.
Welcome to the World..
Of spurs, silver saddles and intense amounts of hairspray. We’re the girls waking up at 4am on a Sunday, the ones you see in Lucchese boots in the warm up arena. Perfectly made up, the picture of focus and concentration, we’re the top twenty in the world.
Now here’s your look behind the scenes into this world.
I don’t have the Big Name Trainer (BNT), the horse with 5 world championships and I’m not the rider whose continuing a legacy. My parents aren’t trainers, don’t own half of a large US city and my horse lives at home.
What I do have is dedication, hard work and a support team whose incredible. I have a mare who tries her heart out every day. I have the scars, bruises and memories of banding at midnight, riding at 4am, and long nights without sleep.
I’ve always considered myself mediocre. I live in a small state where national points are incredibly hard to accumulate (a one point youth class around here is a big deal), and so come the world show, it’s like going from neighborhood little league to the world series. I can hold my own, but this year I’ve decided I don’t want to be mediocre anymore. I’m going to put in the extra hours, go the extra mile and go big in 2009.
I’m Holly, the horse is Lucy and this is our journey to the World Championships.
Let’s bring home a buckle baby.
