Finals suck

Sorry guys, I'm just now getting to Day 2 of the 30 day challenge :( Exams start tomorrow and things have been hectic the past couple of weeks as the semester winds down. The question for day 2 is: Your most intense/exciting moment at a show

Hmm I would have to say that this honor goes to Limerick, though it really wasn't his fault. We were warming up for dressage at the KHP 2 years ago when all of the sudden, this horse on the edge of the warm up ring freaked out and dumped its rider. Said horse then turned and took off like a bat out of hell, of course choosing to run straight at me and Limmers. Limerick, trying to save both of us (or prolly just himself - let's be real) from certain peril, launched himself out of the way while simultaneously throwing his head/neck up in the air and smacking me in the face. So that's how I got a bloody and very sore nose at my first ever event ;)

Two of my favorite pictures of us, just because:

My last ride on him

And because it's almost Christmas :) 

Octoberfest!

37.5 dressage (improving slowly but surely), double clear stadium despite only having 5ish minutes to warm up (don't get me started), XC tomorrow. We're currently in 8th place -- hoping to maybe move up a few places tomorrow! Shoutout to Hillary for coming to help/watch/super-groom :) 

He loves me, I swear 

Jumping ahead, but he's so cute that I had to post it 

Bookin it 

Handsome pones 

Nostalgia

Talking about my time with Limerick has made me feel slightly nostalgic, so I decided to post some pictures of the day he was delivered to me :)

"Kentucky smells weird..."

"Hiiiiii guys" 

FRIEND?!

Love that sweet face

In other news, we have a show this weekend! I can't decide if I'm excited or terrified, given our last experience... I definitely need to set some goals for this weekend, but I haven't quite decided what they should be. I guess goal #1 would be to actually, ya know, complete. I also want to make it a positive experience for both of us, regardless of how we place! 

In other other news, I'm going to camp next week! Intense riding camp/clinic with Leslie Law squared (husband and wife) and Stephen Bradley :) I am beyond pumped! It's Monday through Thursday with a lesson or two every day. I'm heading to it alone, which is scary, but it should be a fabulous experience for us both. 

Back in Action

Sorry for the radio silence, I just got back from a week in FL and the Blogger iPad app is not fun to deal with, so I opted to take a break from blog stuff. The vacay was also a good time for me to recuperate and reflect on all things horse, though I finished the majority of my over-analyzing the night of the show.... Let's just say that my unplanned dismount caused me to question some things, namely if Limerick might be a little bit too much for me to handle. I don't remember how much I included about him in previous posts, but he came with a solid background at recognized events and had competed pretty successfully at training level. Therefore, I expected to get a relatively well-seasoned and experienced eventer, not the big ol' nervous baby that I was greeted with at our first show.

However, before last Sunday's show, I had never experienced any overtly dirty behavior from him and in the (almost) year that I have had him, he has NEVER stopped at a jump. We've had the occasional run-out, but I blame myself for those as he could sense that my heart/brain wasn't in it and politely opted to veer off course... Last Sunday I had to face a side of my horse that I had never seen before. For those of you who watched the video, you saw that he refused to get in front of my leg and tried with all of his might to do the opposite of what I was asking. You could tell even early on that he had no intention of jumping the course and was backed-off from the get-go, despite my best efforts to drive him on. Then, we got a few feet from the 100% not scary fence, he slammed on the brakes, and dropped his left shoulder. I was a total goner. Luckily, I was okay and landed on relatively soft grass! What the video did not show, and what I unfortunately missed due to my angry sobbing, was Limerick's rather expressive exit. You saw a brief glimpse of the buck/gallop away, but little did you know that he proceeded to give TB's a run for their money by galloping and bucking around for a good 3 minutes while numerous people tried to catch him. Not only did he put on quite the show, but he also tried to mow down all of the people who got in his path... not at all the sweet, loving, goofy horse that I know and love.

promising beginnings 

I discovered that I lean at the canter... uh oh

asshole. 

that hind end was workin'

we had a lot of these moments =|

Time to rewind. The day started with promise, as we loaded and unloaded calmly, got tacked up, and headed to dressage without much excitement. The dressage warmup was fab and he seemed incredibly relaxed and ready. Boy, was I wrong. We entered the ring and it was like something snapped inside his brain. Gone were the softness, the obedience, the submission that I experienced in warmup. Instead, Limerick suddenly had his sassy pants on and acted like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. Let's just say that we were hardly the picture of calmness or relaxation. This attitude continued until we got back to the trailer, where he calmed down noticeably and sort of returned to normal, though he was still a nervous nelly.

Next, we tacked up for stadium and headed to that warmup. Once again, Limerick seemed calm and I felt like we were ready to go after some really great fences and probably the best walk-canter transition I've ever gotten from him. Yeah, we may have been showing off just a little ;) We stood around for quite a while (the show was terribly organized), headed into the ring, and I guess you all know the rest. Following my dismount, E hopped on and was graciously allowed to take him over both the stadium and XC courses. He even had some ridiculous moments with her up, definitely tried his sassy pants moves, and then sort of gave in and decided that it would be easier if he just did what she wanted.

Limerick says "Me no go."

Sassy much?

He was not happy that she made him work

For the rest of our time at the show grounds and the rest of the night, I received what I'm going to call an outpouring of support from everyone in my horsey life! E sent me this gem:

Hillary made me tear up with her text messages, Collyn was understanding and kind, Kimmie made me laugh with her typical oddball humor, and S texted me about how proud she was and how much progress we have made :)

Oh and in case you were wondering, E does not think that Limerick is too much for me to handle. The plan is to put this behind us and keep marching on. Given Limerick's extremely bizarre and uncharacteristic behavior (and NASTY bowel movements at the show/in trailer), I have been instructed to treat him for ulcers. The other part of the plan involves going everywhere we can get ourselves to. Schooling shows, field trips, XC, just going to different farms. We're going back to square one and sort of treating him like the baby he pretends to be, aka getting him used to going off property as much as possible.

The only visible evidence of my fall

Fun in FL! Me and my cousin

Heaven

A, my sister, me, cousin :) 

Blue heron on the beach

Back in the saddle for the first time since the fall

Irish-sport-horse-eating corn

Gorgeous weather greeted us upon our return home

Prep

.... For our "Big Mini Trial" on Sunday!! This will mark the first time we go cross country in a competition, which is both scary and exciting. It's all three phases in one day, which is going to be really exhausting and potentially miserable, depending on the temperature and humidity. YAY for summer in the Ohio valley =|. 

So far, we have had one jump school and two dressage schools in which I specifically practiced things for the show. The jump school was on Sunday, hence my new banner photo! Lim was a superstar and I believe the jump shown in the banner picture is the biggest overall that we've jumped to date. It was roughly 2'6", with a decent sized spread and a polka-dot panel that you can't really see from the picture. The attempt in the picture was our third and best, though the other two were not bad. Limerick launched himself over it the first time, we got a bad distance the second, and I guess third time really is the charm :) 

Limerick definitely understood the "question" ...

A better view

Down we go

This was the bad distance... notice the left-behindedness! I was clearly trying to slip my reins

Magic :)

Yesterday, Hill was kind enough to help me practice my dressage test and read from it when necessary. It wasn't terrible, but Limmers and I fought more than I was hoping we would. We're doing starter at the show, but for some reason we've been assigned BN test A. I'm not unhappy about this, but we have never had a dressage test with canter in it until now, which caused the majority of our problems. Our circles were more like ovals, though we did have some that were darn near perfect! Limerick also was not really feeling the whole canter thing, and many attempts were made on his part to break to trot (GAAAHHHH). I was stiff, he was unwilling, and it was mostly us fighting against each other with some magical moments interspersed here and there. We ended with a nice walk around the farm property and I vowed to make today's ride better and more positive. 

We both survived our first bareback hack! Yes, I'm a chicken, but his spooks are difficult to sit with a saddle and stirrups

Finally, E returned just in time for me to have a lesson this afternoon. It was positively disgusting outside (helllloooo humidity) and I was dripping in sweat before we even started working... E decided to give us a new warmup routine today, in which I'm supposed to get Limerick really moving, first in trot and then in canter. Holy hell is he hard to stay with when he really gets moving! His trot throws me out of the saddle and it was all I could do to keep my stirrups. Canter was a little bit easier, but once again made my legs really sore. However, it was definitely fun and new for both of us, and I think it'll be a perfect warmup given how free and loose he was afterwards :) 

Once we were done running around the ring, E had us practice collection and bending on a circle. We had some fabulous, swinging trot work and there were definitely multiple moments where I could actually feel his back come up underneath me! The coolest part of the whole lesson was when I had him somewhat collected, on the bit, and working through his back. When he really looked good, E had me look down at his neck, where I could see a huge muscle bulging out and bouncing with our movement, showing just how relaxed he was through his neck!! WAY COOL. 

The rundown for the rest of the week:

Wednesday- group jump school with Hillary and Hue! 

Thurs.- hopefully a flat lesson so I can practice my dressage test again

Fri.- XC schooling!

Sat.- pack, braid, and do last minute tweaking of dressage test

Sun.- show

Mon.- Florida for the 4th :) 

Notice that shiny silver thing through the rear window ;)