Rock Star Status

The title of this post obviously refers to Limerick, who was beyond fantabulous today! I'm not gonna lie, the last time we went XC schooling, he flipped his shit when other horses got to jump before him, proceeded to refuse a starter coop with my trainer onboard, and kind of made me question whether or not I'd ever be able to handle him (this was in August, maybe 3 weeks after I got him). As you can imagine, I was nervous and went in expecting the worst, which is why I was so pleasantly surprised when everything WAY surpassed my expectations :)

We started out watching Collyn and Frankie go around the training/prelim course for at least an hour, calmly standing and filming them the whole time and taking a minute to splash in the water. Let me just say that C+F are total badasses and I want to be them someday! Limerick started out ok, though a little bit nervous and insecure when Frankie wasn't in sight, but he calmed down as soon as we turned to watch them go or walked around a little bit to get out his jitters.

Then, Limerick and Frankie trotted/raced back to the starter course, and it was our turn to have fun :) S started the lesson by having us hack around the field, doing some trot and canter work. We had to canter downhill, which made me more nervous than anything else we did, but is SO much easier when I just lean back! We moved on to jumping one starter fence at a time, slowly moving around the field and occasionally jumping the middle fence. We jumped a little log, to a brown coop, to a white coop, to a black coop, to a stone wall, to a little wood jump with three poles, to barrels, to tires! I think I got all of those in the right order...

None of them presented any real problems, though some of them elicited bigger jumps from Limerick than others. There were also a few that he tried to get his head down afterwards, and I don't really know what that was about, but I'll chalk it up to a little bit of back soreness. He's getting adjusted on either Monday or Wednesday of this week, so YAY for that! I also got to use my new cooler today, and I highly recommend it! It's a weatherbeeta and actually does what it's supposed to do, as in doesn't make Limmers sweat more!

The day could not have gone better and was such a good first experience for Limerick and me :) He got a whole bucket of Nicker Doodles and lots of love, as well as some liniment on his legs and turn out when we got home. I can't wait to go schooling again and can't thank S, E, G, and Collyn enough!

Here's the video: (sorry it's mostly unedited, I suck at iMovie..)

Some pictures:

The cooler! Kind of weird, but super effective and the first one I've ever used that doesn't cause him to get hotter

Gorgeous ending to a gorgeous and perfect day :) 

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Limerick and I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas Eve/Happy Holidays and to thank you for following our journey thus far :) 

Today started out right with a relaxing and fun ride. It was just me and E at the barn, so it was pretty chill and I didn't have to worry about avoiding tons of people in the indoor. We schooled transitions, got a great round trot, and even managed quite a few lovely walk-canter transitions. He was still sticky  about them today, but not nearly as bad as he can be. I carried a dressage whip and wore spurs, both of which I had to use... he seemed happy and had his ears forward for most of the ride, which I consider a victory in itself! Then we headed outside for a quick cool down and hack in the foggy and grey morning. Limmers was adorable today and super loving, which was obviously his christmas present to me <3

After that, I did non-horsey things like go to church and have dinner with the fam. Tomorrow, I might get to see Lim in the morning and then will be driving around all day, visiting various family members. Wednesday, we leave for Florida, so I won't see the pony again until January :((

UPDATE: My little sister just started a blog about our cat, Rue! If you have some time, take a second to check it out... he's pretty adorable :) First he's sour, then he's sweet

I leave you with some pictures from today:

With my little sister <3

He didn't understand the point of standing in front of the mirror... 

GORGEOUS morning... NOT

The best view in the world

Huerston says hi!

treats?!?!

Foggy morning at the farm

Not a horse, a mule

My kitty, Ruecifer

M.I.A.

Sorry for neglecting the blog lately, my life has been crazy with school and coming back from break, etc. Next week is finals week, meaning this week is that fabulous time when professors throw last minute assignments at you and make term papers/projects due. I've actually been very productive since Sunday, powering through a bio quiz, a 22 page Holocaust journal, a 6 page bio paper and a group project. I'm almost there and finals week will actually be less stressful for me because I only have one real cumulative exam. I'll be home for break a week from tomorrow :) Which also means that starting next Thursday, I'll get to ride at my home barn with Hillary and Huey EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Collyn kindly offered to haul the Limmers and I'll drive my car with all of that unnecessary human stuff... I can't wait!

The day I got him :) You can really tell how big he is here...

Immediately after this, he got tired of posing and threw his head up, out of my reach... he can only handle so much cuddling

Because of this awesome and unusual productivity level, I've been out to see the pony and ride twice this week. Yesterday, he started out extremely stiff and I was concerned that he might be lame. Kimmie watched us trot around and agreed that he was short in his hind left... to me it felt like he was only willing to take baby steps with it and wasn't reaching forward. My B.O. aptly described it as a "flat tire," which is exactly what it felt like. She and Kimmie both thought I should keep working, and he did work out of it a little bit, but something still felt a little funny. We didn't do anything stressful, just trotted around in fun patterns and cantered a little bit over some poles. I figured I'd leave him be and see how he was today. 

Today, he was much more willing to reach forward with that leg :) I could still feel the slightest limp, but that was mostly because I was looking for it and being overly sensitive. The ride started out really frustrating though. Since G started riding him on a regular basis, he has become really pissy about my spurs. I've noticed that G keeps her spurs on/in his side the entire time she's riding, which to the best of my knowledge is improper use. However, S acted like that's how she should be doing it and thought he was reacting negatively to me intermittently tapping him with mine. I always thought that keeping a spur on a horse's side the entire ride would make them dead to leg aids... is that not true?

Regardless, he was not listening to my leg at all today and would swish his tail/pin his ears every time I nudged him with my spur, so I took them off and grabbed a crop. What a difference that made! I got the best, most forward walk I've had from him in a long time, he actually listened to me, and for some reason he was much more willing to go on the bit, come round, and actually carry himself. Coincidence? I didn't think so, and Kimmie said that he looked awesome and super relaxed. He also did not listen at all when I asked him for the canter transition, with or without spurs. The crop made a world of difference and allowed me to give him subtle (or not so subtle, if necessary) reminders to listen to me and pay attention. I think he learned a little bit of a lesson and that yes, I did want him to canter and keep cantering, not break to the trot the second I took my leg off or got distracted. After using it the first couple of times, just carrying it with me was enough of a reminder for him. The difference was incredible and I've decided that I'll be using a crop instead of spurs, at least for now.

One of my favorite pictures of us (even though he looks like he hates me)

Love this picture that Collyn took of us during a lesson with S! We both look so happy :)

From this summer. Hillary and I died laughing because of how freakishly small this fly bonnet was! Poor guy was embarrassed that we made him a public spectacle   

A normal fly bonnet

Exciting Weekend Ahead!

The early part of this week was kind of lacking in posts because I had tons of school work and the weather sucked. However, the sun finally came out yesterday and the past two days have been gorgeous (knock on wood!). I also had my last test of the week yesterday, chemistry, so I'm in the clear for a while and should get to spend lots of time at the barn in the next couple of weeks :) Random side note, chemistry is by far my worst subject, but I have to take it to major in biology and eventually go to vet school... no fun. I did really well on my test though, and I'm feeling really awesome about how school is going for me right now. Since my last post, Limerick got his hind shoes put back on (YAY FOR NO MORE WRAPPING!) and now has a pad in the one with the abscess, so everyone please cross your fingers that it stays clean and doesn't get infected again. That was Tuesday, and I didn't ride because it was raining, freezing, and windy... probably the least appealing weather imaginable for riding.

Snug like a bug in his Wug :)

love that face so much

He thought it was way too cold for pictures

See that giant hole on the left (his right)? Yeah, that's the abscess!

the pad

Wednesday, I went out on my own but right as I was warming up, Collyn pulled in to the drive and got out to come watch me. She helped me set up a little course of cross rails and baby verticals, and then recorded some of it. Lim was a total jerk though and totally ignored everything I told him to do, so the videos are a total mess... He hadn't eaten yet and really wanted to go out with his friends, so he kept trying to run for the gate and had his eyes fixed outside of the arena the whole time. He also totally plowed around the ring like a freight train/bulldozer. Not a ton of fun, but I was quite entertained by it, which is definitely progress! Just a few short months ago, I would get very tense and upset if anything went wrong or if he did something stupid, but now it's just funny to me. We ended it on a good note and then I cleaned all of my tack and boots, which I had been seriously neglecting.

Today, Kimmie, Kristen, and I all carpooled out to the barn and hacked around for fun. It was really lax and we talked more than we actually rode, but it was a blast! Plus, the sunset was beyond gorgeous and I'm still mad at myself for not taking a picture of it. It was really a perfect ride, capped off by a cool down out into the front field, where we had better access to the sunset and watched it go down. On to my plans for this weekend:

• Ride tomorrow, probably in a field to get out of the ring a little bit
• Lesson with S on Saturday at an away barn, where we'll have access to some XC jumps :)
• Dressage Clinic on Sunday with Collyn... I'm super excited and a little bit nervous!

I'll update soon with lots of pictures and videos! 

Gratuitous awesome Hermes video:

City Boy Visits the Farm

I wish I could say that said boy was mine, but sadly he belongs to one of my best friends, Brie. Brie's boyfriend, D, is originally from NY, goes to school in D.C., wants to be a politician, and oddly enough, loves horses. He gets really cute and snuggly with them and kept taking pictures of Limerick. He's also not scared in the least, even around Lim, who is definitely an imposing horse. Can you say perfect?! Brie had also never met Limerick, so they both came out to the barn today while I was riding and then we went to dinner, which was a ton of fun... I love it when D is in town. I basically just WTC both ways and then called it a day, since I was kind of pressed for time and didn't want to push Lim too hard after how hard he worked yesterday. He was a perfect gentleman for our guests, aside from the obnoxious pawing when he wasn't inhaling enough peppermints for his liking. He managed to convince D that I obviously don't feed him and he never gets treats... he is such a suck up and has completely mastered the lovey-dovey adorable snuggle thing that you just can't say no to.

Not horse related, but every night this week has featured a sunset like this! 

In other news, I get to go to KHP again tomorrow to stay with Hillary and some other girls from my home barn :) I'm grooming for Hill on Saturday, taking pictures, and just soaking in the eventing atmosphere. I can't wait to actually compete in one myself! She and Hue are going to kick ass and take names, and I'll have some great pictures to show off their awesomeness.