Lol, my horse is a mare.

Sasha was interesting at the last show.


She stepped of the trailer super relaxed, and she seemed very mellow. She schooled perfectly, and when we showed, our first round started out perfectly. It was a tricky course, and she was nailing it. Well, until the long approach to an oxer. Three strides out, she sucked back against my leg, so I closed it but not enough, and she stopped. Circled back around, jumped it, continued on our way. Perfect after that. Of course. So I got 5th in the class (half the horses refused, I was the "top" refusal lol) I figured, alright, she's being good, next course is our time. Nope, she got really strong and obnoxious, we left a stride out of a line, and she fought the whole time. Yayy, bit swap time.


My trainer tried to change her bit in the little waiting area. She flipped out and was backing up and rearing. Of course. Eventually we got her in her full cheek and then she settled down. However, she was swinging her butt out and backing up randomly in the waiting area, and all the horses gave us a large clearance zone lol! Our next two courses were a little better, but we didn't place in either of them. The last course we definately should have placed (quiet, all distances + changes, placed below horses that broke and were not pretty jumpers/movers), but the judging was super weird. Oh well.


In the eq flat, the first direction was a little fast, but the second direction was perfect, and my eq was good. I pinned 6th. Under people who's horse was bucking and crow hopping the whole way around. Woww. The hunter U/S had 13 horses in it. It was perfect until halfway through the last canter. A horse charged up bucking behind us, and Sasha freaked out and took off. Ohh boy. I was so so mad, I thought we bombed it. I placed 5th? Um, alright...not going to complain, but I so didn't deserve that!


Oh, and my lesson Friday was epic. I did a line around to a diagonal in and out. She was perfect through the line, but really strong through the in and out. Well. We jumped into the line, and she landed crosscantering. I couldn't figure out what she was doing until 3 strides out from the other jump (6 stride line) and so I half halted her a little late. She swapped her lead, and by then our distance was shot. I should have gone for the long spot. Instead, we got an itty bitty little chip, and she was practically under the jump. She stopped, slid into the jump, threw her head up and backed up. I was on her side with one foot in the stirrup and the other practically dragging on the ground. I knew I was either going to fall painfully or I could just sort of step off. I chose option two, and I got right back on and did it again.


She was perfect in my lesson Saturday. I'm going to just hack her around tonight, and I have a lesson tomorrow. Yay, funness.


It's been a crazy year. So many ups and downs, highs and lows. At the beginning of the year and this blog, I wouldn't canter her on my own. Now, we're showing 2'6" semi successfully. This year was all about getting her quiet and relaxed. I didn't care about ribbons, yet I ended up 5th in both my 2' divisions, and 4th in Open Pleasures even though I've done it twice. It's been a crazy journey, but it's only just started. I have several good years left to show with this horse, and it's only going to get better. We've both grown up and improved so much this year, and we've taught each other so much. She's taught me to be so much more confident with bad behavior in the ground and in the saddle, and my riding has improved so much. I've taught her to relax and quiet down, and  that life isn't a race. I can't wait for what next year will bring.


Until next time,
Cruce<3

...Well it's been a while!!

Hey everyone! I've been around. (; So anyways. So so much has happened! Sasha has been so perfect at shows lately, and we've moved up to 2'6". I've jumped her up to 3'6" in my lessons a few times, and she jumps it so effortlessly! She just canters to it, hops over, canters away without a second thought. I've ridden her with no hands: literally just dropped the reins and steered with my seat and legs. She has been amazing. I was reading through all my old blogs a while ago, and it's amazing how far we've come. This is the horse I was scared to trot and canter on my own, and here we are, cantering with no hands and jumping stirrupless (oh yeah, jumped stirrupless the other week.)


Here in New York, we have already had snow, and she's been wearing her light/midweight blanket. Yeah. I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but it's barely November. She's already worn a midweight.


She was a little fresh last week, but I was really really busy and couldn't ride her a lot. =/ So I feel bad. I have a show Sunday at Skidmore College, last one of the year! The official "finals" (Eq only) were the other weekend. She was awful my first round; tense, running through my hand, not responsive to any aids, etc.  She got swapped into her full cheek after being in a single jointed eggbutt for a while, and we shortened her martingale a hole. She responded a lot better, and I won the round. Then there was the "classic" round. I got a first round score of 75.5 and I was in the lead until the last person who got a 76. Yep. Well they decided to test. Sasha completely missed a change, which she has NEVER done, and then she wouldn't stop when I asked her to, which dropped us from 2nd to 3rd. I was really mad. >=( Then the person in front of us in the victory gallop wouldn't go faster than a lazy canter, and I wanted to go, but couldn't.


So yeah. She was perfect in my lesson last week -- shocking, because it was on a Wednesday and she hadn't been ridden since the show Sunday. We did a line because that was all that was set up in the arena, and then did a rollback to the second jump, which was 3'. She practically stepped over it. We did the same thing Saturday, but it was barely 2' because I was riding with my friends who have very green horses. She was really strong, but it was (hardly) kept under control.


My life, ttyl <3