Del Mar Show - Day 1

Well, I made it!

Got up early this morning and headed to the horse show. Spent some time listening to a few of my favorite songs and reflecting on what I've accomplished on horseback to get this far. I had to do my visualizing in the car because I wasn't going to have any time once I got to the show grounds. But, it went well. As I crested the hill on the fwy and was able to see the show grounds I found myself smiling. Bottom line, I love showing and Breezy & I are a good team, no matter what else is going on win my life.

Breezy and I warmed up well and I was completely focused and relaxed by the time I walked in to show my horse. We had a good run. We scored a 71 1/2 and a 70 (this judge gave us 2 1/2 points worth of penalties the the other judge didn't). Good enough for a 4 way tie for 1st under on judge and a 3 way tie for 3rd under the other. We aren't quite sure how they broke the ties, but I ended up at the bottom of all of them with 4th and a 5th.

Tomorrow we with be show/schooling. Should get a score, but run the whole patter slow and correct. Then the same thing on Saturday. Then Sunday show full out.

Del Mar National Horse Show

So I've just crammed over 39 hours of work into 3 extremely long days. Now I have to somehow figure out how to let that all go and focus on showing my horse. Not sure how i am going to manage to do that at this point. Guess I have 12 hours to figure it out....

Congratulations, Wade & Michelle!!!

Spring Classic - Day 3

Well, you can't win them all.

We didn't even end up showing until after 6:30pm. By that time both Breezy and I were tired, cold, and extremely crabby. As soon as we started warming up I knew it wasn't going to be good. Breezy just didn't feel like he did the 2 days before. He just didn't want to perform. We got thru the pattern, but ended up with a score of 66 from 1 judge and 66 1/2 from the other. We aren't actually sure why so low without any major mistakes, but all the scores for the day were pretty low. I didn't think I heard any scores in the 70s.

Oh, well. We'll have anther chance to show in a couple weeks at the Del Mar National Horse Show.

Spring Classic - Day 2

Well, we did it again! Today was double judged and we scored a 72 under one and a 72 1/2 under the other!!!! And we won all our classes!!!! I looked at out score sheets and we +1/2ed on all maneuvers, but the turns where we got 0s.

I wish there was a video of it to post, because it was night and day from the video I posted from Cactus Classic. Breezy was relaxed and ready to do all that I asked of him. Everything was just right on. So FUN!!!!

Spring Classic - Day 1

Yesterday Breezy was awesome! The plan was to show, but get a good school so he'd be good for Saturday & Sunday. However, he was perfect! There was nothing to school him on. We got our new high score of 72 1/2!!!! It felt great! We ended up 1st in 3 classes and 2nd in the AQHA Amateur. We were actually tied for 1st, but the judged decided to give it to the other rider. But, we did get another 2 points toward qualifying for the World Show. We now have a total of 5.5 points with 10.5 to go.

Pics from Cactus Classic

The professional photos arrived from Cactus Classic!From Lt to Rt: Wendy, Maria, my Aunt Coletta, Johnette, Me on Breezy
Dogs (Lt to Rt): Jazzy, Jack, Jill, Arnold

He is Risen!!!

Welcomed in to the courts of the King
I've been ushered in to Your presence
Lord, I stand on Your merciful ground
Yet with every step tread with reverence

And I'll fall facedown
As Your glory shines around
Yes, I'll fall facedown
As Your glory shines around

Who is there in the heavens like You?
And upon the earth, who's Your equal?
You are far above, You're the highest of heights
We are bowing down to exalt You

So let Your glory shine around
Let Your glory shine around
King of glory, here be found
King of glory

(Lyrics of Facedown by Matt Redman)

Happy Easter

Photo Hunters: Metal

PhotoHunt

Good Friday

Your blood speaks a better word
Than all the empty claims I've heard upon this earth
Speaks righteousness for me
And stands in my defense
Jesus it's Your blood

What can wash away our sins?
What can make us whole again?
Nothing but the blood
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can wash us pure as snow?
Welcomed as the friends of God
Nothing but Your blood
Nothing but Your blood King Jesus

Your cross testifies in grace
Tells of the Father's heart to make a way for us
Now boldly we approach
Not by earthly confidence
It's only Your blood

(Lyrics from Nothing But The Blood by Matt Redman)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

(Breezy does not want to get pinched so he has his green on too!)

Photo Hunters: I Spy...

PhotoHunt

...an ant

...a butterfly(hint: it's blue)

Video of last day at Cactus Classic

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.

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:

$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.

So one of our goals for 2008 has been officially accomplished!

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:

Riding the Rails

Today we cashed our 'rain check' day for our train ride to downtown San Diego.

Got on the train at 9:35am and enjoyed the views of the ocean, rolling green hills, & bright spring flowers.

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.

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!!!!

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!