(Breezy does not want to get pinched so he has his green on too!)Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
...a butterfly
(hint: it's blue)Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Cactus Classic
Well, Thursday we had a major break thru on the run downs and minimizing the charging, but our solution had an unexpected side effect the really hurt our score. We didn't end up placing in any of our classes, but I felt really good about our run. Felt like we made progress! Oh, and as I was walking by the horse show office a poster caught my eye. It was a poster ad for the show photographer and it featured a photo of Breezy and I from the day before!!! So fun!
Friday was a day off from showing. So we took our win picture from Wednesday's big win and gave Breezy the rest of the day off. He came out of his stall a bit sore so we took him over to the horse chiropractor and got him a massage and an adjustment and then some cold compression therapy. Basically he had a spa day.
Saturday he warmed up great. He felt wonderful and completely dialed in. But, when we got in the show pen he turned into a total monster. He was bolting off like there was a bear chasing him and I lost my power steering. I some how managed to make it thru the pattern penalty free and still sitting semi-securely in the saddle, but then spun 5 times giving us a 0 score. Later when we checked the judge's score card we were running at an amazingly low 66 1/2 without any penalties!!! I was furious with Mr. Breezy!!!! He was a complete jerk! Needless to say no cookies, carrots, or hugs from him the rest of the day.
Sunday he was terrible again in the warm-up pen and Johnette had to get on him to try to get him to come around. Basically she stepped off and I stepped back on and walked into the show pen. Everything in me told me that this was going to be total disaster. I didn't see any way that it could work out well for us. Came close to just stepping back off and going home. But, I loped off and we were running toward the center of the pen. As soon as we passed the center cone I said whoa and Breezy through himself into the ground and stopped huge! We ended up getting a +1 for the maneuver! Then he turned better then he ever has! He circled great to the right and I pushed for some solid speed and then he came back great in the center into a small slow. He was a bit more difficult to the left to circle, but we managed to get a 0 on the maneuver. He was really challenging to run to the stops, but when it was time to stop he stopped huge. We scored a 71.5 which was good enough for 3rd in the $1000 Novice Horse Non Pro. Johnette thought it was one of our best runs which was a great way to end the show.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
We Did It!!!!
We won a bronze!!!
Today is day 1 of the Cactus Classic in Arizona. We didn't have our best pattern scoring only a 70, but our score help up in the Intermediate Non Pro for the win! Complete results as follows:
Today is day 1 of the Cactus Classic in Arizona. We didn't have our best pattern scoring only a 70, but our score help up in the Intermediate Non Pro for the win! Complete results as follows:$1000 Non Pro 4th of 10
$1000 Intermediate Non Pro 1st of 11
$200 Limited Non Pro 5th of 34
Tomorrow Johnette will school Breezy in the Ladies Open to try to tone down the charging in the run downs & then I will show him in the Non Pro classes.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Disneyland with Sarah
Used my 2fer pass from Valendisney Day to go to Disneyland with Sarah. It was an awesome day! Here are some pics to prove it:
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Riding the Rails
Today we cashed our 'rain check' day for our train ride to downtown San Diego. 
When we arrived we hoofed it over to Little Italy for some super cheezy pizza for lunch at Filippi's.
Then we walked off our lunch strolling around Little Italy.
Then we headed over to Seaport Village where we enjoyed fun shops, live music, & a yummy rocky road caramel apple.
Then we headed back to the train station for a relaxing ride home.
Got on the train at 9:35am and enjoyed the views of the ocean, rolling green hills, & bright spring flowers.
Then we headed over to Seaport Village where we enjoyed fun shops, live music, & a yummy rocky road caramel apple.Then we headed back to the train station for a relaxing ride home.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Happy Birthday Vera!
Just wanting to wish a very special Mother-in-Law a very special day!
F A I T H F U L
L O V I N G
S U P P O R T I V E
P R A Y E R F U L
A C C E P T I N G
Love you lots!!!!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Another Great Show
This weekend was the CRHA Winter Madness Reining Show at the LA Equestrian Center.
I got there Thursday to help Johnette get the tack rooms set up and to get another ride in on my horse. We had some problems in our run downs, but otherwise he was good.
Friday was the 1st day of the show and Johnette showed Breezy to get him all schooled up for me. Breezy wasn't very good for her so we figured she probably got a pretty good school in.
Saturday he was fantastic for me. We scored a 71 plusing all our stops and getting a -1/2 on one of your spins. And there were a couple scratches before us so we only had about 10 minutes to get warmed up before having to show. We were all very happy with the go, but one problem....I forgot to put my number on. Opps. That meant disqualification in the AQHA classes (so no points toward getting qualified for the World Show). Got a 1st and several 2nds in other classes though.
Sunday Breezy was not as cooperative. It was raining and the there was mud everywhere so there wasn't much space to ride and get Breezy tired (a problem especially since he didn't get much work the day before). I loped dozens of tiny circles in the little bit of space I could find, but once I got in there and started my circles I knew I was going to be in trouble. His head went up and he was off to the races in the big-fast. I tugged on the reins as my back was to the judge and got him to back off a bit. But, just when he would feel like he was relaxing and I would start to relax he would tense up and bolt again. Surprisingly he did come back to the small slow well. But, steering was an issue. But, I managed to get him around. Felt like I just 'surviving' rather then 'showing' the whole time. As I walked out of the show area I braced myself for a low score, but they announced a 71 1/2!!! I'll be interested to see how it look on video since the judge obviously didn't think it looked as bad as it felt to me. When I later looked at how the judge scored us we got plus 1/2's on 3 stops and 0's on everything else (including our turns!). It felt really good. Even though my horse wasn't doing his best I was still able to pull together a good pattern. Johnette said I did well showing what I had and that I rode really well both days of the show. Ended up winning all my classes, but the AQHA class (was tied with barn mates Maria & Harry, but the judge decided to give the win to her for whatever reason). So that's another 1/2 point toward the 16 total that I need.
Feels good to start seeing some consistancy. That's 71 or better the last 3 time's I've showed!!! If I'm not careful I might start gaining some confience at this rate.
Detailed results from the show are on my myspace blog .
BTW...a big thanks to Nick, Vera & Dave for driving all the way out there to cheer us on!
I got there Thursday to help Johnette get the tack rooms set up and to get another ride in on my horse. We had some problems in our run downs, but otherwise he was good.
Friday was the 1st day of the show and Johnette showed Breezy to get him all schooled up for me. Breezy wasn't very good for her so we figured she probably got a pretty good school in.
Saturday he was fantastic for me. We scored a 71 plusing all our stops and getting a -1/2 on one of your spins. And there were a couple scratches before us so we only had about 10 minutes to get warmed up before having to show. We were all very happy with the go, but one problem....I forgot to put my number on. Opps. That meant disqualification in the AQHA classes (so no points toward getting qualified for the World Show). Got a 1st and several 2nds in other classes though.
Sunday Breezy was not as cooperative. It was raining and the there was mud everywhere so there wasn't much space to ride and get Breezy tired (a problem especially since he didn't get much work the day before). I loped dozens of tiny circles in the little bit of space I could find, but once I got in there and started my circles I knew I was going to be in trouble. His head went up and he was off to the races in the big-fast. I tugged on the reins as my back was to the judge and got him to back off a bit. But, just when he would feel like he was relaxing and I would start to relax he would tense up and bolt again. Surprisingly he did come back to the small slow well. But, steering was an issue. But, I managed to get him around. Felt like I just 'surviving' rather then 'showing' the whole time. As I walked out of the show area I braced myself for a low score, but they announced a 71 1/2!!! I'll be interested to see how it look on video since the judge obviously didn't think it looked as bad as it felt to me. When I later looked at how the judge scored us we got plus 1/2's on 3 stops and 0's on everything else (including our turns!). It felt really good. Even though my horse wasn't doing his best I was still able to pull together a good pattern. Johnette said I did well showing what I had and that I rode really well both days of the show. Ended up winning all my classes, but the AQHA class (was tied with barn mates Maria & Harry, but the judge decided to give the win to her for whatever reason). So that's another 1/2 point toward the 16 total that I need.
Feels good to start seeing some consistancy. That's 71 or better the last 3 time's I've showed!!! If I'm not careful I might start gaining some confience at this rate.
Detailed results from the show are on my myspace blog .
BTW...a big thanks to Nick, Vera & Dave for driving all the way out there to cheer us on!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The love watching golf with Dave
Spontaneous Sunday
On Sunday the plan was to ride the train from Irvine to downtown San Diego long the coast. Then to have lunch at Filippi's and explore Little Italy before catching the train back to the OC and enjoy the sunset while in route. However, after purchasing our tickets we found out that a issue on the tracks in San Juan meant significant delays. So we decided to take a rain check on the whole plan and save it for another weekend.
Instead we had breakfast at a crepe place at the Irvine Spectrum, looked at some books in the Barnes & Nobles, and went to Costco. Then we came home and Dave worked out & hit some golf balls while I watched Cinderella. Once Dave got home and cleaned up we took a walk to the creek below our neighborhood. It was really pretty and fun to spend the time together.
Pics from our walk:
This pic was actually taken just outside our front door
Instead we had breakfast at a crepe place at the Irvine Spectrum, looked at some books in the Barnes & Nobles, and went to Costco. Then we came home and Dave worked out & hit some golf balls while I watched Cinderella. Once Dave got home and cleaned up we took a walk to the creek below our neighborhood. It was really pretty and fun to spend the time together.
Pics from our walk:
This pic was actually taken just outside our front door
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