Found a Western Saddle In Time!

Good news we found a western saddle in time for me to use! however, D was his normal angle self till the RIDDEN classes in which he almost took off with my 9yr old Niece so I scratched her from her youth w/t class and then in our very last class gave me two bucks. Not huge bucks but they were not small either lol. It really ticked me off because he was so wound up that he kept coming out of fram if I ever even got him back into fram that night. However, all the horses were having issues that night for some reason or other?? I am thinking it's the grain I have been giving D so that he can have his suppliments and gain a couple more lbs. I am going to keep him on the grain and maybe see if I can lunge him before we go to the show either at home or I can try at the show if needed. I am still waiting for pictures to be posted but as soon as they are I will post some pictures of my horses 'hot' night lol. Regardless this is how we did!

Halter Geldings & Stallions Didn't place out of 8 :(
Showmanship Open 1st out of 3 (I am planning on entering Ammy next time because that class always has at least 6 people in it)
English Pleasure w/t Color 1st out of 2 (our race horse class lol)
English Pleasure w/t Open 4th out of 8
English Pleasure Open 2nd out of 8
Western pleasure w/j Color 3th out of 9
Western pleasure w/j Open 4th out of 7
Western Pleasure Open 5th out of 7 (how we placed I don't know other than the judge must have missed his bucks)

Ok now to chat about showmanship a little. I believe D did the pattern almost flawlessly. The one issue I found in this class though was he lifted his head and trotted off a little late. When I have a crop he's a near perfect showmanship machine but he's a cleaver cookie and I think he has figured out when I have a crop and when I don't. We nailed both our pivots perfectly but I also descovered that I tend to over pivot him, so if I do a 90 degree pivot I do more like 92 or 94 so I need to work on that. I also believe that D's back is too slow (to me) but we are backing MUCH MUCH straighter! which makes me very happy and I am hoping that I can get a pattern on video one of these days so that I can show everyone what we're good at and what still needs more work. Something else on our flat and I have failed to talk about is D poping out of frame when we go from walk to canter or trot to canter. If I keep contact with his face then he keeps in frame fairly nicely just a slight lift but if I leave him on a loose rain it get's ugly. I am having problems though because my arena has no sand and has pretty hard ground so I am parannoyed about hurting his joints with lots of canter work. I thought about working him on the trail but that's meant to be relaxing time not work time so I am working on locating an arena that I can maybe ride to, to work him in. That's about where I am now, Oue next show is on the 7th and that will be the last of the SVQHA buckle series shows.

Might not be able to show western at the show this Friday.

So, as we know I do not own a western saddle of my own and my AWESOME friend/'mom' Pamela Britton's (also famous NASCAR romance author!) husband let me borrow his saddle. However; I will not be as lucky this weekend as I feel a little guilty having to ask to use his saddle again. I have asked another western friend of mine and have heard nothing back yet so I am thinking I might have to switch out of my Open Western classes and add into some Ammy English classes. I am going to give her a call tonight since all I did was text her and that can sometimes be a little iffy. So that is my latest stressor, We're going to work a little more tonight on showmanship and a little equitation tonight once it's not 108 outside *dies* Ok I am off to call her right now and hopfully I will get lucky and have a saddle to use!

Historic Nelson Ranch Hunter Show Results.

W/T Eq - AA 18&Over 3rd out of 3
HNR Champion W/T Pleasure* 1st out of 10 or 11
English Pleasure AA 18&Over 1st out of 4
HNR Champion English Pleasure Open* 2nd out of 13
English Eq AA 18&Over 3rd out of 3
HNR Champion Eq Open* Scratched
Hunter Hack 18&Over 18"-2' 2nd out of 2
Hunter Hack 18&Over 2'3" 2nd out of 2
Hunter Hack Open 2'6" 1st out of 2
Working Hunters 18&Over 2' 1st out of 2
Eq Over Fences 18&Over 2' 2nd out of 2
Working Hunter 18&Over 2'3" 1st out of 2
HNR Champion Working Hunter Open 2'3"* DQ
Eq Over Fences 18&Over 2'3" 2nd out of 2
HNR Champion Eq Over Fences Open* Scratch
HNR Nelson Ranch Medal Class Open 2'6"* Scratch
Open Eq Over Fences 2'9" Scratch

This show really Opened my eyes to a lot of things and I think it was really good for Dartanion and I. I learnt from the judge that I kept placing last in EQ because of how loose my lower leg was. I had twisted my ankle before the class and it was HURTING really badly BUT I don't want to use that as an excuse so I am going to be doing A LOT of stirrupless work from now on. I scratched the Champion Eq class because I knew she was not going to use me so I could save D's energy for another class. Plus is was already in the 90's at 10am. Then In our first Hunter Hack class I could only get D to change his incorrect lead in the front and so we cross fired for the rest of our 'pattern'. Something similar happened 2'3" accept he was too lazy to change so we just kept the wrong lead. Then we FINALLY got it together in 2'6". Speaking of 2'6" I've decided that I am going to keep him in the classes that are 2'6" and above since that is really what he does well in. Anything under 2'6" and he is just not motivated to look cute over those fences lol. I ended up scratching my last classes because when he wouldn't change I would give him a smack with my reins and then he turned into a speedy Jumper and it was near impossible to get him to slow down back into a hunter AND by this time is was about 103 out and poor guy was VERY tired. The other gal going for the high point started adding into my classes so that she could win, the high point was a pink saddle pad that said "HNR Champion" on it. Pink is not my favorite color so I tossed in the towl and called it a day. We ended up with Reserve Champion and got a pretty cool Pink bridle hanger! The next day was my friends AQHA show, we ended up hanging out ALL DAY just to have EVERYONE scratch out of her English classes. So it ended up I entered in the Open pleasure Champion class with her so that she got to ride in something. OH and our prize for the Champion class was a purple bucket with fly spray, vet wrap, jelly beans, show sheet, a hoof pick, a curry comb, and a little Jumping horse charm along with a fancy Blue ribbon. The prizes at this show were SOOOO cool I am shocked more people did not come to jump. At the next show I am only entering the Champion flat classes and Champion over fence classes and two or three 2'9" classes. Over all I had A LOT of fun and learnt a lot and found out some areas I have to polish up on, I always LOVE learning new things from shows!! And my next show is this Friday night the second of the SVQHA series shows.

SVQHA Results AND Historic Nelson Ranch Hunter Show

We got home from the SVQHA series at 3am!! and D was a real trooper! I wouldn't have known the time if I didn't have my watch. There was a HUGE turnout. I think there were about 15+ people in our halter geldings class and the Ammy Showmanship class was HUGE as well. We did A LOT better than I thought we were going to do so over all it was a lot of fun!

Halter Geldings: 4th out of 15ish
Showmanship Open: 1st out of 3
English Pleasure w/t Color: 1st out of 4
English Pleasure w/t Open: 1st out of 9
English Pleasure Open: 1st out of 7
Western Pleasure w/j Color: 2nd out of 9
Western Pleasure w/j : 4th out of 7
Western Pleasure: 3rd out of 10

I am honestly shocked we placed at all in Western and in all honesty I don't believe we should have. However, the judge that day was placing all of the speedy moving horses first so maybe his englishy western go worked out for us! The only complaint I have is that they had an Overall English High point and a girl who entered into Youth and Green Horse won the high point. Which I didn't think was very fair because now someone like me could do Ammy and Open to have a shot but if there is a trainer out there working they would have to have a green horse to even have a shot. So I think next time they should Have only ONE division points count. I am not getting sour because I did not win, I did because this girl won all her English Youth classes but then in Western a friend of mine won ALL her western classes and her showmanship class and the same girl got a couple of 2nds a first and some 3rds in western but because she did Youth and Green Horse she also won the western high point when my friend should have won it. However, this isn't a HUGE deal it's just something I am bringing up because sometimes at shows managment will make mistakes not because they are trying to be unfair but not everything was thought out. None the less it was a VERY fun show and everyone there was really friendly and I honestly had a GREAT time!

NOW Historic Nelson Ranch Hunter Show
I had originally planned to attend this show but thought I was not going to have enough money. Well since I have this summer job I do! I am very excited about going and I have amping myself up about it so much I am starting to feel sick. I think this show will be REALLY good for D & I because it is going to give my the chance to really work on my nervs because let's face it this is 'just another show' the only difference between this and other shows is that there is no Showmanship or western classes, it's going to be all Jumping and Huntery. We've never shown at the Historic Nelson Ranch before but I've joined my friend there before a day or two after my surgery. I have entered 16 classes the AA 18+ (AA= Adult Amateur) classes and going to see if Ihave a shot at the high point, and I've entered my FIRST medal class! I am VERY excited about this class. Now I am doing a lot of classes because my usual number is 10ish classes BUT I am going to keep an eye on D and if I think he is getting too tired then we will end where ever we are. I will do my best to get pictures BUT my boyfriends parents had the camera and left it in the pocket of their pants ans washed the Camera so it's ruined now (yeah, don't get me started). I am leaving for my friends today at around 10am and then we will be leaving tomorrow morning. OH! I also got my new ATH International Helmit the other day! along with my new shapped pad and my new tall boots. However, the boots had cheap plastic zippers so once I had them zipped up they split apart. We have ripped the zippers out and we plan on replacing them with metal YKK zippers. Let's hope these don't split as well.
My classes:
W/T Eq - AA 18&Over
HNR Champion W/T Pleasure*
English Pleasure AA 18&Over
HNR Champion English Pleasure Open*
English Eq AA 18&Over
HNR Champion Eq Open*
Hunter Hack 18&Over 18"-2'
Hunter Hack 18&Over 2'3"
Hunter Hack Open 2'6"
I've entered in as many Hunter Hack classes as possible since this is our strong point and I am hoping will help me work out some of my nervs before I do courses.
Eq Over Fences 18&Over 2'
Working Hunter 18&Over 2'3"
HNR Champion Working Hunter Open 2'3"*
Eq Over Fences 18&Over 2'3"
HNR Champion Eq Over Fences Open*
HNR Nelson Ranch Medal Class Open 2'6"*
Open Eq Over Fences 2'9"

*Classes that have a special prize to the first place rider. I am not sure what it is but heck I am paying a $85.00 all day fee so why not try it?

I was thinking of adding a total Costs for the shows that I have been attending, this is by far the most expenstive one yet.

Overnight Stall: $35.00/night
Classes: $10.00/class or $85.00all day fee
Gas: $30.00 (Split with my friend who is showing AQHA on Sunday)

I believe we are only staying one night but I am not 100% sure of that.

SVQHA Series Starts Tomorrow Night!

Very excited and I decided that I will be doing western. We've been working on making everything slower so asking him to go English tomorrow night will be a change for him this week. I am hoping that after English he will be on the tired side and it will be easyer to get him to slow down. We've also been working on SMS all week because I did not like my pictures from the last show (which I will add pictures of at the end of this post) so we should be a lot better. my #1 problem right now is pivoting (well this has been huh? lol) however I have noticed that if I keep eye contact with D's eye and walking into him he will pivot perfectly (I have someone else watch his pivoting foot for any movement). However, In the ring I get nervous about him moving that foot so I drop my eye to make sure I can move his weight as needed. So I am thinking I will work in his pivots a couple of times outside the ring without looking at his pivoting leg and mabybe that will help me keep my gosh dang eyes up!! Ok so I will post again asap here are some pics from the 28th

CSHA Region 2 Buckle Series Winners & Series Champion Titles.

I think the title gives it all away but this is how we did in our classes:

Halter Geldings 3rd out of 6
Halter Color 1st out of 7 (our first, first in halter! yay)
Halter Open 3rd out of 10
Showmanship Open 1st out of 7
Showmanship 18&Over 1st out of 6
English Pleasure W/T 18&Over 3rd out of 5
English Pleasure Open 1st out of 7
English EQ W/T Open 1st ouf of 4
English EQ Open 1st out of 4
English EQ 18&Over 1st out of 2
Hunter Hack 18&Over 2' 1st out of 5
Hunters 2' 1st out of 7
Hunter 2'3" 1st out of 6
VERY proud of D it was 98 in the covered arena and 105 if you were in the sun (we lived in the shade) At the end of the day they announce the series Champion titles. I was not expeting anything I was just hoping I had a shot at the Silver Buckle. Turns out D cleaned up! Here are his titles for Region 2:
Halter Champion (Plaque & Champion Ribbon) (this was a fluke! lol)
Showmanship Champion (Plaque & Champion Ribbon)
English Open Champion (Plaque & Champion Ribbon)
English 18&Over Champion (plaque & Champion Ribbon)

THEN! turns out we won the English Buckle with 380 points! I am waiting for the pictures to be uploaded on the Photographers site but this is what I took at home! Enjoy!
OH!! and I forgot my hemit this day so lol ALWAYS double check that you have everything!