Sorry for abandoning you guys! =[
I'm not sure what happened. Either way, it has been theeeee craziest few months. Sasha has been the worst and the best she's ever been. She has been AWFUL whenever she goes into heat. I mean rearing, going crazy type awful.....yeahhh. She settled down since one incident where she randomly reared three strides out from a jump...I got super mad, whaled her with my leg, made her go to the jump and GALLOP after until she realized she was stupid. She didn't rear again lol.
Anyways, the show in my last post was awful. She schooled perfectly in her elevator bit, she was swapped into her snaffle to show, she took off one round, and promptly got thrown back into her elevator bit. Legal shmegal. We didn't place, due to the illegal bit, but she stayed under control.
At another show [Sasha's old barn!] several weeks later, I rode Velvet because Sasha was in heat/crazy haha. We did pretty well, I SOMEHOW managed to sit her canter. It is a super crappy pony canter. It was fun, considering I hadn't had a lesson on her since November and rode her about three times since then. xD
The next away show was at my old farm again. It took TWO. HOURS. to get her on the trailer. When we arrive at the show, my mom goes to back her off, and she spins around [I'm still not sure how....] and tears down the ramp. Anyways. She was strong, but in her snaffle bit and kind of listening. Except she decided to start being a jumpy little witch in our flat classes and she started spooking at things that she had just gone by without a fuss. Oh, and she took off in my hunter flat class at the canter. It suckedddd. I don't remember our ribbons, but they were meh.
Our last show, at my barn, was good! =D It was all outside, and it rained and rained and rained and rained the day before. The arena was kind of a little bit sort of really flooded. Anyways, Sasha's old owner was there. We talked a bit, I updated her on Sasha and I's shenanigans, etc.
GUESS WHO GOT HER FIRST CHAMPION RIBBON IN TWO OR THREE YEARRRSSS????? =_D Sasha was a little strong t first, but she settled. I got three firsts, three seconds, and two thirds....and I know she can go a lot better than she did.
Right. So towards the middle of June, I was riding Sash in a lesson, jumping crazy courses, etc etc. I was told to just canter calmly up an easy outside line after doing rollbacks, broken lines, and other crazy stuff. Sasha canters around the corner, sees the TINY, PLAIN CROSSRAIL, and stops dead and backs up. No matter what I did, she wouldn't go over it. She backed up, she galloped over it a few times, flipped out every time she saw it, etc. She finally trotted up to it calmly, started jumping it, I released and mentally went "yessss!" and then....she ripped backwards, fell on her butt, sent me flying [onto my feet like the classy person I am], slipped and almost fell onto the ground [the side of her haunches hit it] then jumped up, spun around, shook herself off and stood there patiently. After that, it went downhill even worse until my instructor ended up getting on her [I smashed my face on the saddle going down, couldn't breathe, and COULDN'T GET HER OVER THE FREAKING JUMP] after an hour of not going over the jump. That is the only time I have never been able to get Sasha to listen after a certain amount of time. Anyways, I get back on and do some other things with her, and she settles and snaps back into being an angel after another 20 minutes. Of course.
So then, a few days later, I'm popping over a few jumps on my own, and I jumped ahead ONCE [bad me! I know better!] and she slams on the brakes and twists her body. Totally my fault. Again, I land on my feet. If you're going to fall, fall with style!
I just remember two lessons. One of them I did a line and a broken line. The end jump of both was a three foot oxer. What do you know, little mare steps over it as if it's not there! She listens, is adjustable, and perfect!
The other one was yesterday. First, I first did crazy amounts of flatwork indoors while thunder and lightning quickly pass over the area. Then, I went outside and started with a little line trotting in with a little oxer at then end. We work on adding and subtracting strides. Then, I do another line, same thing, except with a not so little oxer. Finally, [I feel like I'm doing fourth grade English again lol] I canter a diagonal then canter up the other line.
Yeah. So I've been jumping Sasha on my own, and doing little courses. I make some pretty crazy ones up haha.
OHHHH! And we got our own trailer. A gorgeous, new Eclipse two horse straight load ramp with no dressing room but two saddle racks and six bridle hooks. Sasha now walks straight in. It was really funny, my instructor and I quickly loaded her last night after my lesson when the sky was kind of gray again, and there was some distant thunder. We get her on in under a minute. Then, we let her sit on there for minute with us up in the front of it, the ramp and butt bar down. My instructor then tells me to back her off. I take my time cueing her to back because of what happened last time I unloaded her. She's about to take her first step back, and all of a sudden it starts pouring, so we just chill in the trailer. It starts thundering and lightninging [?] really badly, but she just stands quietly in the trailer being fed treats. Eventually, the storm settles slightly but there's still rain. We back her out of the trailer into the rain, and she practically trots back into the trailer! Mission accomplished!
Today, we decided to drive the horses around so my mom can learn to drive the trailer before the stress of the show. We load Sasha and Velvet on [both walked straight in, no hesitation] and drive around. We drove to my house [our neighbors giving us interested looks lmfao xD] and back to the barn. Sasha bumps her head going out but had her headbumper. We tried loading her back in after that, and she was still fine. We worked on getting her backing out quietly with her head down.
And I've finally started cantering her bareback. I've done it with a halter [stupid friends pressuring me] and then did it in a bridle repeatedly after that.
In summary, [4th grade English again] Sasha has been very responsive and amazing lately. And I'm showing this weekend! Squeee apparently this may be my last show at 2'! Took long enoughg! xD
Love you! Thanks for being patient! <3
Cruce
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