Riding High

After sitting through the Henrik Johansen dressage clinic at Wacky Nut Farm all weekend and watching some fabulous horses and riders, I am having a "Riding High." It's been almost a year since I purchased Ben and he has come such a long way in his training. I can happily say that we are finally in connection. When I ride, I can feel what he needs, I give it to him and in return he relaxes, lifts his back, rounds his topline and gives me his all. It's so exciting because today I was actually able to have a good photo taken of me riding him. In my riding lesson today, my trainer Ulla Boysen, commented that Ben has improved 1000 times since we started lessons with her last fall. He has overcome many obstacles and at one point I thought that he was unsound and had an off and on lameness. Come to find out he has just been trained improperly and forced to do upper level movements which caused him to tense up and resist contact. Now that I'm riding in a much more inviting way, he is so much more relaxed and we are having lots of fun together.

When I first bought Ben I didn't think that we'd do much competing since I didn't know if I really wanted to enter into all of that again, but now that he's preforming so well I'm thinking it might be fun to enter a show or two to see how well we'd score. It's always one thing to ride well at home, while the show ring truly tests your combined skills since you are under so much pressure and in a new environment. I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up too much too soon since even though we having been going so much better lately, we still have one other project to tackle and that is loading into the horse trailer.

For some reason last winter Ben no longer wanted anything to do with my horse trailer and wouldn't step foot into it anymore. He didn't get hurt, so maybe something scared him. Anyhow, before I can even start thinking about going to a show again I have got to get him used to loading and unloading from the trailer again. Wish me luck!

Henrik Johansen Clinic

This weekend I attend the Henrik Johansen Dressage Clinic at a brand new dressage facility, Wacky Nut Farm, located on Bainbridge Island. This is a multi-million dollar state of the art facility. It was HEAVEN for both horse and rider. The Brainard's didn't overlook any small details when building the place. Everything from heated footpads in the arena's viewing room, retractable screens on the sides of the riding arena to filter the sunlight, and rubber cobblestone in the main barn's aisle ways spelled top of the line comfort for horse and rider.

Side view of the indoor riding arena with it's retractable screens. These were a huge help on Saturday since it was 85 degrees and kept it nice and cool inside.

The outside entrance to the main barn. Located under the awning are wash racks.

Stall runs outside each horse stall.

The opposite end of the barn. Coming out this end takes you across to the arena.

An aisle way with rubber cobblestone. It was so odd to see a horse being lead through the barn and not hear the clip clop of it's hooves against the pavement.

A couple horses just hanging out waiting for their turn to be ridden.

The locker and dressing room.

Inside one of the lockers. There is plenty of room for 2 saddles, bridles, halters and lots of riding equipment.

The bunkhouse lodge where the riders spent the night while attending the clinic. I can't wait until August 21st when it'll be my turn to ride in a clinic here with Ben.

Jonah's Pony Ride

Poor Jonah is usually napping when Hyrum rides Jena. So this morning before my friend Alice and her boys showed up for pony rides, we decided we'd let Jonah take a little spin. He was super excited and once we got Jena out of the field and walked her up the driveway to cross tie her, he wanted to lead her all by himself and kept saying, "Ride it, ride it, ride it!"

Here's my budding little cowboy!

Hyrum of course had to pick a few roses to decorate "My Little Pony" with. She's such a pretty girl, especially with her shaggy winter coat all shed out. We couldn't have asked for a better pony. She's so great with the kids and has been so much fun to have. If any of you have little kids that would like to go for a ride, just give me a call or email and we'd be happy to have you over.

Lauren Sammis on Sagacious

For those of you non-equestrian readers of my blog who may not know much about Dressage, the type of riding that I do, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite Grand Prix Musical Free-Styles from a recent show in Raleigh, NC. This horse and rider combination is amazing! Lauren and Sagacious scored a 74.2% which was the top of the class. They are so fluid and make everything look so effortless! To get a horse to this level of competition takes many years of training for both horse and rider, which pretty much equates to lots of money. So although I'm no where near reaching this point in my riding career, it's always fun to have something to dream about. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do. Each time I watch it, it gives me the chills!

Videos by WarmbloodsForSale.net

Two of a Kind

My time spent house-sitting was very relaxing. Much of my day was spent hanging out with the horses and letting them graze on the lawn. It was great to be able to soak up some sun while listening to them munch on the grass. They are two of a kind and get along so well. Almost too well at times, since when they are separated, the one left in the pasture runs around whinnying until the other returns.

If you look closely at this photos you'll see that Jena is being silly and sticking her tongue out at you. What goofy personalities ponies have!

Mia's Pony Ride

After Preschool we headed over to my parent's house for pony rides. Mia had a great time, she was such a little natural!

Feeding Ben a sugar cube.

Brushing Jena and making her pretty for her ride. Take a look at all of that hair that's on the ground. She's shedding like crazy!

We were lucky to have such a sunny day for riding! Hyrum of course was more interested in Mia's "Barbie" than in riding Jena, but at least that meant they didn't fight over who got more saddle time. Thanks for spending the day with us Mia! We had a lot of fun and will have to do it again some time!

Remembering Toasted

Today marks eight years since my childhood horse, Toasted Chance, passed away. I thought about her as I went on a trailride this afternoon with Ben. We rode on the same trails that I used to ride her on. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to own her and even more blessed to own another horse today. Because of Toasted, horses will always hold a special place in my heart and I hope that I will never have to span as much time without them as I have in the past 7 1/2 years. When I got home this evening I looked through my journal and read the entry I wrote on the day she passed away. In her remembrance, I'd like to post it here to share with you.

"Thank You for Teaching Me"

For the last 10 years we have spent together

Walking through fields,

Hiking on trails,

Swimming in the ocean,

Jumping over obstacles,

Dodging tree limbs,

Fancying ourselves up for a show,

Prancing to music,

We have become ONE.

ONE HEART, ONE SOUL, ONE MIND.

Thank you for listening to all of my complaints,

For letting my tears fall over your shoulder,

For making me smile when no one else could.

For teaching me love, trust, companionship,

Confidence, courage, responsibility, dedication,

The value of hardwork, and to listen with

My whole body and soul.

You have altered my life in so many ways.

Each decision that I look back on making over the

Past 10 years held you in mind.

I wouldn't be who I am today without your presence in my life.

Now that you are gone I feel empty.

I hope you know that no one wil be able to take your place in my heart.

I only pray that we will be able to meet again someday.

With you by my side,

Together we will ride,

Through valleys and hills left untried!

I'm sorry I had to be the one to make the decision to let you go.

Please forgive me for what I have done,

I just couldn't bear to see you suffer so.

Wherever I go now in life without you

I'll always remember your

Soft nicker,

Gentle nudge,

Wet kisses,

The smell of you in the rain,

The slickness of your coat just after a bath.

But most importantly the way you'd always make me laugh!

Thank you, Toasted, for teaching me!

Update on Ben

Okay, so maybe I overreacted on my last post, but the thought of having Ben in a cast for the next 4-6 weeks really saddened me. The more I thought about it the more I realized it would be torture for not only him, but for Jena (Hyrum's pony) since she would be without her best buddy for the next month and a half. I hate to see animals suffer and will do anything in my power to help them feel better. So the idea of casting Ben's leg just so it would heal with minimal scarring proved to be very selfish on my part.

Saturday morning the vet came out to check up again on Ben's wound. After seeing the progress it made in just 3 days, she agreed, there was no reason he would need a cast. YIPPEE! I was so excited to hear such great news! Especially for the fact that I saved $1000 by not doing it! It would have cost about $500 for the cast to be put on and $400/month to have him boarded over at Barnabee Farm for hospitalized care.

I am so thankful that everything is looking better of him! I've been changing his bandage every other day and it continues to improve daily. Hopefully by next week he'll be 100% healed and I"ll be able to be back in the saddle starting in February.