ninja moves out in the field

Today was the first time I have gotten launched since moving to my current barn, which was back in January. I think that's a pretty good stretch of time! Best part was that it was in the field, and we were having a nice gallop when she got a little excited, and started hopping through the air, and it was like riding a trampoline. I more or less got bounced right out of the tack and I landed on my FEET! I think that's only happened once or twice before. It was totally awesome. I felt very ninja like! The not so awesome part was that she spun around and galloped away from me, toward home, throwing in MASSIVE bucks as she hauled a** back to the barn. Kenny had come out to take photos for me and he was closer to the front of the field, so I called him to let him know that Lucy was heading in that direction. Unfortunately she had already gotten past him and was heading out to the road. She galloped down the main road toward the barn (WHY didn't she go down the trail?!? she has never even been ridden on that road!!) and of course it caused a huge ruckus with traffic. The police were called and someone managed to corral her into a large parking lot on the side of the road, by blocking the road with his car. Kenny was right behind the horse (he took the motorcycle to the field) and caught her and held her for me since I was on foot walking to the parking lot where she was.

Anyway, long story short, she's fine, I'm fine, a cop showed up and we explained what happened. Never a dull moment!

When I got back to the barn, I tied Lucy to the barn while I cleaned her stall and fed the other horses, then I worked with her on the ground for about 25 minutes. I didn't want her to think she could be naughty and then come home and get fed.

At least before I got tossed, we had a great ride. I spent about an hour and a half out in the field yesterday building some new jumps, and today we tried them all out.

mini tantrum after the first jump. she was just really excited!

"I love you despite your craziness"

I had to get off to fix a part of the jump - she was very good about
standing there quietly while I worked.

these two jumps worked out to be a perfect two strides apart. we had a
lot of fun jumping them as a line!

she was unsure about this jump, just a pile of rocks with a thick branch
over the top.

with a nice, confident ride to the base, however, she jumped it fine.

Equine Affaire video

Here's the video I ended up with for the Equine Affaire clinic application.



I hope it's well-received!

tonight's ride

The purpose of tonight's ride was to make a video that I could send in to apply for a clinic spot at Equine Affaire this fall. We got halfway through the ride and the stupid video camera died, despite showing that it had full battery at the beginning of the ride! I was annoyed, but at least I had the big camera and Kenny could get some photos.

seeing where you're going: optional
but seriously, I chopped my hair off this past weekend and so I just
had a small ponytail today. however, it managed to push my helmet forward,
probably assisted by my eventing vest pushing my hair up.

she ran out of this tyre jump in slow-mo, but ended up having to scramble
around the side of it because there was really no space between the jump
and the mound of dirt on the side!

she was really rude through this line and even over this jump, I am still
trying to slow her down.

maybe the best jump of the night

I am really happy with my long release in some of these shots.

this was kind of an awkward trip through and I was just trying my best
to stay out of her way!

this was a VERY dirty stop that she pulled. I knew she was getting tired
but hadn't had a trip yet that I really wanted to end it on, so we kept going.

I almost ate dirt but my heels saved me!

after her dirty stop that was clearly saying, "I've had enough!", we dropped
the top pole off and just went over this little vertical to end on a good note.

look at her face! so cute.

condition update

I was reminded by [a different] Kate's recent post over at Grey Brook Eventing that I really needed to do a condition update on Lucy. So, here they are!

kisses from Kenny

she just really wanted us to leave her alone so she could eat grass

I love my girl

being super cute

hunting for diamonds...in the barn?

What can I say, my husband spoiled me when he bought my engagement ring. It is a beautiful solitaire, but it doesn't fit well under my riding gloves. My wedding ring is much flatter, but it sometimes pinches the skin on my finger under my gloves. If I go to the barn directly from my house, I simply take my rings off and leave them at home, but if I go directly from work, I take my rings off once I get to the barn before I tack up.

Usually I leave them in my brush box, but yesterday for some reason I absentmindedly left them on the corner of my closed trunk lid. Lucy, Cairo and I went out and had a lovely long trail ride and returned just before dusk. I turned her out in the grass paddock while I did some tack room organizing, including taking a towel and briskly wiping all of the dust off the top of my trunk. I forgot that my rings were sitting right on the edge of the trunk and in my cleaning frenzy, they were flung straight across the tack room, landing in the back corner under a little tack cart. I happily continued with the cleaning, not realizing what I had done until all the horses were in and fed, and it was time to go home. I realized I didn't have my rings on and went to get them out of my brush box, where I normally put them...except they weren't there. I couldn't remember where I had set them down so I spent the next 45 minutes frantically searching the entire barn. I still can't believe I found them because they were very well hidden.

Do you wear your rings when you ride? If not, where do you store them? A friend suggested I put them on my necklace if I'm wearing one, and that's certainly a better idea than leaving them out in the open unattended at the barn while I'm out gallivanting around the trails for hours!

ask and you shall receive

One thing Lucy "said" to me the other night was that she loves trail rides the most, especially when she can jump things out in the woods and the fields. Lauren rode today and it was an all-about-Lucy day, so they went on a long trail ride, through the woods and fields, galloping around and jumping logs. I met them out in the field and played paparazzi. There was a look of pure joy on Lucy's face that you can't deny. She had such a great time! Lauren seemed to enjoy herself, too :D

they showed up in their supercool fly mask

brave Lauren used the snaffle :)

"and then we're gonna run that way, and that way, and THAT way!"

all business

I really love this shot

cantering downhill is harder than it looks!

look at her face, she is just so happy

Lucy was executing the most perfect lead changes as they galloped around
in a figure 8 :)

and here is the "leaping over things in the field" portion of the photos