Show Pictures: CAQHA May 8, 2010

I think the pictures say it all. We had a great day at the show, and at her very worst, Halo was a little fidgety before the first English classes. We had a couple of minor spooks during the hunter under saddle classes, but by the time western rolled around, she was riding like a pro.

Our final placings were:

3rd - Halter Mares 2-4 years old
3rd - Hunter In-Hand 19 & over
3rd - Hunter Under Saddle W/T green horse
7th - Hunter Under Saddle W/T 19 & over
5th - Western Pleasure W/J green horse

We ended up scratching from two of our classes, Western Pleasure W/J 19+ and Trail (green horse). I scratched from trail because they were going to require us to lope over poles. I didn't feel that Halo was ready to canter in the show ring, and loping over poles is not something we have practiced at home. I decided to scratch the second WP class because the indoor arena was VERY dusty and Halo has trouble with the dust. She coughed quite a bit in our second HUS class, and I didn't want to put her through two more classes in there. Fortunately they watered the arena between the English and western classes, which helped a bit.

Anyway, Halo was GREAT! I know we didn't win any blues, but we were there to learn and experience, not to win. By the time we got to her WP class, she was just amazing. She finally stopped thinking things around the arena were scary, and she was more focused. She was nice and soft and even gave me a pretty good jog. To give her complete credit, even in the first English class when she was gawking at everything around the arena, she still did exactly what I asked promptly when I asked her to do it. She had a couple of little spooks, but they were extremely minor, and she carried on afterward without becoming distressed. I was just amazed at her responsiveness and willingness to do what I requested even in such an unfamiliar environment. We never broke gait, and she got better and better with each class.

I was also pretty proud of her 3rd place in Hunter In-Hand. She is a SMALL horse, and the others in the class were big, probably HUS horses. She beat one of them to take the third, which made me really proud of her. She may be a little horse, but she has a big stride and a big heart!













A couple of pictures of us made it up onto the CAQHA website as well. I wish I hadn't been wearing my boot covers in this picture, but that was why the photographer took it!

Pre-Show Woes

In my long absence, another thing I failed to mention is that Halo and I have our first show this Saturday! Of course, that's the perfect time for her to develop a mysterious cough. The past two times I've tried to exercise her, it was cut short by intense bouts of coughing in the arena. Now that the rain has stopped, it has become dusty out there. Either she is having a reaction to the arena dust, or she has some sort of other allergy.

I took her temperature yesterday and it was 100.4, so I don't think she's sick. Her lymph nodes under her jaw are slightly swollen, but that is not unusual for her this time of year. Every spring and fall she seems to get some random lymph node swelling. I did have the vet out to look at it once, but he said it was most likely allergies.

ARGH!

Please cross your fingers for me and pray that my horse doesn't have an illness, or even worse, heaves. Heaves is unusual in horses under six, and her breathing didn't look as bad as the youtube videos I checked out on the condition. Today I'm going out to check on her again, and I will take her temperature. If she seems okay otherwise, I'll try working her outside the arena, and see if being away from the dust makes a difference. If worst comes to worst, we'll scratch the show. I would not feel comfortable bringing her to a strange new environment if she's not at 100%.

Ranch Ridin'

No posts in over a month! I've been committing the pinnacle of blogger sins with my prolonged silence. I have so many updates on Halo that I barely know where to begin. We've had some very good rides, and some very not-so-good rides, but she has made some amazing progress in the past couple of months.

The first thing I want to catch up on is a ride we went on at the very end of March. Casi and I were supposed to go trail riding at a fun place not too far from town, but an opportunity arose to haul out for an all day ride on a 1,500 acre ranch. How could I say no?

Of course this required us to get up at a very early hour, as evidenced by the semi-darkness and Halo's cranky face.

It was about a two hour drive down to the ranch. Halo did great with the trailering, and was quite content to eat all the way there. It amazes (and pleases) me that she trailers so well. My previous horse had trailer anxiety and would inevitably arrive at any destination covered in sweat.

She was a little hyped when we got there, but I saddled her up and longed her for a couple of minutes to take the edge off. I was still a bit nervous after how the beginning of our 12 mile ride went just a couple of weeks before. The barn owner gave Halo a little bit of Ace to keep her head cool for the morning, and that made things much better. While I generally don't think Aceing your horse is a great solution to problems, it can be a huge help in keeping them calm through a new and potentially scary situation. The Ace ended up wearing off by after lunchtime anyway, which kept things interesting.

Here are a few scenes from the beginning of our ride:

Casi on Louie before her knees started to hurt (still cheerful):

We started out in a big open field, and eventually made our way up into the hills, which were covered with scrubby bushes and trees. Halo was pretty mellow about the whole affair, and stayed in the middle of the group. I like being there because she needs to learn that she can't always blast off to the front. She's a little nervous about having horses behind her, especially unfamiliar horses, so it's good practice for her to get used to that.

The only incident we had on the way to lunch was at a man-made reservoir. The trail leaders decided it would be fun to ride up to the edge of the reservoir, which was in a big built-up hill made out of very soft dirt. The footing was very loose, so the horses had to scramble a little to get up the hill. Halo was fine getting up, but then the path around the edge of the water was very narrow. A fence around the water was on one side, and a lovely steep slope of loose dirt was on the other side. We did fine until about halfway around the pond when we had to take a sharp turn to stay along the fenceline. Halo decided she wasn't going to go that way, and headed off down the hill. It took me by surprise, and I couldn't pull her around because I was afraid of her losing her footing. We did a slip and slide down the hill to the bottom, but made it in one piece. I wasn't about to try and go back up there, so we stayed along the bottom of the reservoir until everyone else came down on the other side. Halo was a bit anxious when she realized she'd separated herself from the other horses, but she listened to me well and we made it back to the group without incident.

I tied her up for lunch, and she took a nap under the trees like she'd been a ranch horse all her life.

After lunch we went through some very beautiful wooded areas. The pictures don't do it justice at all. Everything was incredibly lush and green, and the ground was carpeted in purple and white wildflowers.

When we came out of the woods, the group split up. A few people were ready to get back to the trailers, so they headed out. Casi had a bit of trouble getting Louie to go with the group of unfamiliar horses back to the trailers, so she ended up swapping horses to ride Buddy, who is less herd sour. Halo and I also had a very exciting moment right before the split - our first canter! Brynn, who is 15 years old and gutsy, was more than happy to take her horse out to lead Halo and I in a canter. Domino is a 17h giant, so Halo had to work plenty hard to keep up with him. We did the turbo trot of doom, and finally opened up into a lope. It was an amazing feeling! No bucking at all - just a nice big canter out into the open field. We cantered out and then back to the group. I was so excited I had to let out a whoop on the way back in. I'm a dork.

I felt a lot more confident after the canter, and felt like I had somewhere to direct Halo's abundant post-lunch energy. After a bit more riding in the trees, we finished off the ride with a gallop across a big open field. The wind stung my eyes, reminding me of the time I galloped Smot on the beach years ago. I felt like I was finally home on my horse's back.

Texas Star Rodeo Ride (12 Miles!)

So here's the story on the Saturday before last (March 13).

I got up at five in the morning, far too early for any kind of coherent thought. It was still dark when Casi dropped me off at the barn. Halo was out on the grass, which I figured was a good thing since I wound up not having time to longe her. In retrospect, I should have taken a longe line with me to the ride, but alas, I decided to be brave and assume she wouldn't need it.

We got everything loaded up and hit the road a little later than we meant to at about 7:00 am. I'd been helping load Taz, the horse I leased last summer. When we got to the Manor Ghost Town, Halo was a little amped up, but still behaved pretty well for saddling and all the rest. After we tossed all the tack on the girls, Cavelle (my riding buddy for the day) took her trailer down to the rodeo grounds to catch a shuttle back up to the start of the ride. That left me alone with the horses for about half an hour. We were scheduled to ride out at 8:30.

Here are the girls at the hitching rail, making their crabby morning faces.



Halo was in mid-head shake here, but her coat looks nice in the morning sun!



The Ghost Town is allegedly some sort of tourist attraction. I'm not sure what kind of events they usually have there, but it made for a fun old-west style picture. I wish I'd had time to take a few more, but it was more important to keep an eye on Halo and Contessa.



There were about 20 or 30 horses on the ride in addition to several wagons pulled by mules. When everyone started getting hitched up and moving around, Halo's calm demeanor changed completely. She was on high alert and full of beans, not sure what was going on, but determined that she needed to look every direction at once. This is about when I started wishing I had brought my longe line. I did manage to get on her, but the commotion of the mules and wagons and everything else moving toward the road had her way too amped up to pay any attention to me. We bronced our way across the mounting area, and then someone got on the loudspeaker and said something about "keeping four feet on the ground" that I think was definitely directed at us. Crap. After we almost ran into the horse of an innocent bystander, I decided it was too dangerous to ride out on the road with her skittering around. So I got off. And thus began the most painful 3.7 miles of my life.

Leading Halo as I was, we quickly fell to the back of the ride. There was a rig following us, and the trail boss directing traffic from the rear was our only constant companion. She was nice, and asked repeatedly if I was okay. I was fine, but not happy about walking/running. Horses walk a lot faster than people do, so I was constantly having to jog to catch up. And every so often the trail bosses would crack the verbal whip, insisting that we keep up with the pack and not fall too far behind.

Halo leaned on me a lot while I led her, which was not very much fun for me or my arm. She was still hyped up and all too eager to trot to keep up with the pack. By a mile or so in, I was ready to get on, but there was no way. We weren't stopping, and if I'd tried to stop and get on, she would have become upset that the other horses were going on without her, not to mention that I doubt the trail bosses even would have allowed me to stop and fall any further behind.

I walked/ran until I couldn't go on. I walked/ran until I tore colossal blisters in the backs of both my heels. I walked/ran until I was completely out of breath and felt like a nap in the road would be preferable to taking one more step.

Let it be known that riding boots do NOT make good running shoes.

Just before we got to the first rest stop, I finally couldn't keep up any longer. The trail boss found someone to pony Halo, and I hopped in the truck pulling the water supply and outhouses. Ironically, the person who ended up ponying Halo looked about 11 or 12 years old, which worried me a bit at first since Halo had been so naughty earlier. But she and her mount seemed capable and took good care of things.

At the rest stop, I was committed to getting on. I certainly couldn't walk any longer, and I wasn't going to ruin a kid's ride by making her pony my rotten filly the whole way. Plus, riding would be harder work for Halo, which she obviously needed if she was going to be a turkey.

After our water break, I got on for the second time. It's a good thing she is okay letting me on from the ground now, because I didn't have a choice. She was fine when I first got on, but as the caravan departed, she started crowhopping and bucking again. I wasn't having it. She got to keep moving out whether she wanted to or not. We fell back behind some of our friends; they wanted to ride between mule wagons, and THAT was not going to be a good place for a spazzy, green filly who still had plenty of energy. We stayed in the pack of horses behind the last mule wagon, from which country music was blasting loudly.

Unfortunately, they also started up music from the truck following us, so we were surrounded by music on both sides that was completely deafening. The cacophony was awful, and the trail bosses couldn't even hear their walkie talkies. After riding in that state of torture for about half an hour, they finally turned down the music behind us, and it improved a bit. Halo was still full of energy, but there was no more bucking. Phew. I do not want to fall off on the road again.

Here's Halo about halfway through the ride, sweaty, but still plenty energized.



Anyway, we continued on for the rest of the 12 miles, and things steadily improved for me and Halo. She settled more and more into the rhythm of walking and trotting, and didn't show any signs of fatigue or overexertion. Someone's hat blew off in front of her at one point, and though she stopped, she didn't become upset at all. I was proud of her for not being spooky once she got over her initial antics.

We finally made it to the end! Here's Taz and his owner at the end of the ride. I must say, they pull off the cowboy image a lot better than I did. I was the only person there wearing a helmet, and I looked extra geeky with Casi's CamelBak on for my water supply. (I should add that the CamelBak saved me while I was doing all that running. I would not have survived without it).



In this last picture you can see the flags marking the rodeo grounds up ahead. We were instructed to ride in two by two, which we mostly did. However, there was a man on a very ill-mannered head-tossing Appaloosa that kept getting dangerously close to me and Halo as we closed in on the rodeo grounds. I finally told him Halo would kick him (not actually that likely) if he didn't back off, but he seemed oblivious. Fortunately he didn't cause a wreck.



I wish I had some pictures of Cavelle and Contessa, because they stayed with us through most of the ride. Cavelle even rode alongside me while I was suffering through the running portion of my day. I'm glad to have good riding friends now - it's important to feel like you aren't alone, especially when things are going wrong.

I don't know that I will go on this ride again. While I feel that it was great experience for Halo, and I'd like a second chance to remedy her behavior, the noise level was a bit unpleasant at times. Also, many people brought alcohol on the ride. I know a lot of people drink and ride, but for me, alcohol and horses don't mix, especially a green horse like mine. It seems especially dangerous out on the roads. We had the sheriff with us at the back of the caravan, and I was surprised they allowed the drinking/riding. People weren't subtle about it at all - they were carrying beer cans in their hands and dancing around to the music on the backs of their horses. Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but it was too easy for me to picture a wreck happening due to drunken antics.

Anyway, the day was definitely not a loss, but could have been a better experience overall. I'm glad I took Halo, and it reminded me that some days are just not going to go as planned. It's all part of the process.

Frustration

Last weekend was very frustrating with Halo. I'll go into it in more detail once I have the pictures to post with the entry. I have my work cut out for me this Spring/Summer, and it is disheartening to realize how unfit I am. The bad days with Halo make me question whether I am doing the right thing for her, or if I should send her out for a month or two of professional training. It would be hard on my budget, but what's right for her is the more important thing.

Now that it is Spring, the horses are turned out in the big pasture most days. The one that Halo gets to go in has a pond, and according to the barn owner she's in and out of it all the time. She sent me this picture a few days ago.

Texas Independence Day Parade

I am so proud of my little yellow horse. For the first time since my show days as a teenager, I was up at 5:30am to head to the barn. We hauled down to the Texas Department of Transportation parking lot, and got the horses ready there.

Please ignore my weirdly-shaped phone-in-pocket butt. Halo got red glitter hooves, blue stars on her butt, and I was just starting to braid red ribbons into her mane in this picture.



Here we are just before getting on to head to the start of the parade. I wish someone had told me my helmet was crooked!



Mounted up and ready to go! I like how we unintentionally ended up in height order.



As the parade began, they fired off this thing, which some of the horses weren't too thrilled about. Halo and I both jumped out of our skin when it first went off, but by the 8th or 9th blast, she didn't react at all. Fortunately it was several blocks away from us, and we never had to get close to it.



There were some neat costumes worn by people in the parade. Halo wasn't a big fan of one woman's ruffly parasol.





These mules were the cutest thing ever!



We had to ride right under this giant flag that was hoisted up on a crane. I'd say the flag was flapping about five or ten feet above the horses' heads.



This man rode the one horse guaranteed not to spook.



Mexican dancers



Not part of our group, but they had neat costumes, and very calm horses.



Yes, they are carrying sparkly toilet plungers. Don't ask.





We were not too far behind this lawn chair brigade. Who comes up with this stuff??



Here we come! Halo really wanted to keep her nose up the tail of the buckskin dun in front of her. Fortunately he was very amicable and didn't mind the baby trying to hide in his tail and eat his ribbons.





We've now arrived at the capitol building...





I'm so proud of my girl!



Me and the DW posting in front of the State Capitol. I've always wanted a picture of this!



Once we got her home and washed off, Halo reminded us of the real focus of her existence.



The next day I came out to find this.



I'm so lucky to have a horse that puts up with all the crazy stuff I do with her.

Big Day Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Halo's parade debut! We're riding in the Texas Independence Day Parade, which promises to have lots of scary things like bands, giant flags, and shooting. I'm hoping there will be pictures - I think some of my friends are coming, but I'm not sure who is bringing cameras.

Let's hope the de-spooking work pays off!

In other news, Halo is doing well in training. We're having an awkward time transitioning from the sidepull to the snaffle, but it's mostly because I haven't been riding enough. I've decided that I must devote at least one weeknight every week to come out and ride. Just riding on the weekends isn't enough (I'm sure you're all saying "duh" right now).

I sold my hunt seat saddle and am now on a quest to find a new one that will accommodate Halo's wide shoulders. Hopefully we can find a good one before show season starts in May.

Pics will be up after the parade!